The Call (Six Sentence Story) and It's Still Carnival Time (Good Fences)

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

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The phone call no parent wants, episode whatever/whatever (too many to count at this point).

#1 Son:  Mom, I think I just had a seizure!

Me, trying to come out of a sound sleep at 11:45pm:  What?

#1 Son:  I was in my room playing a video game, and then I came to and didn't know who I was or where I was, and my tongue is all bit up, and I can't move my right arm, it hurts!

Me, stumbling out of bed:  Okay, i'll get there as quickly as i can.

While i still wasn't sure what had happened, one thing was clear, it was going to be a very long night.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Clear.      

Yes, this really happened.  #1 Son, probably from anxiety, fatigue/lack of sleep, and low potassium, had a grand mal seizure.  He dislocated and broke his shoulder, and ripped the rotator cuff off of the bone.  He is still in the hospital, with surgery today.  Prayers are much appreciated.

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Gosia at Looking for Identity has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit other blogs to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.    

Since i'm usually driving, i don't get the chance to take too many pictures of this decorative phenomenon:

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Today is:

Car Keys and Small Change Day -- ???

Dia de Andalucia -- Andalucia, Spain

DNA Day -- day in 1953 when Watson and Crick determined the double helix structure of DNA

Feast of the Incappucciati -- Gradoli, Italy (members of the Confraternity of Purgatory make the rounds of the town gathering food for the souls in Purgatory, which is served at a banquet next week on Ash Wednesday)

Februalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (purification of Rome performed by citizens making sacrifices to the dead)

Fettiger Donnerstag  -- Swabia, Germany ("greasy Thursday", so called because of the greasy Kuchli cakes and pastries made today to use during carnival before the Lent fast)

Floral Design Day -- a day to acknowledge this art form, sponsored by Rittners Floral School     

Florida Strawberry Festival -- Plant City, FL, US (celebrating the winter strawberry harvest, this year's theme is "Building New Memories"; through Mar. 11)

Kalevala Day -- Finland (Finnish Culture Day)

National Chocolate Souffle' Day

National Chili Day  

National Science Day -- India

National Tooth Fairy Day - and/or August 22, depending on whom you ask

Nylon Day -- the first aliphatic polyamides were produced on this day in 1935

Peace Memorial Day -- Taiwan

Public Sleeping Day -- this one even has a wikiHow page 

Rare Disease Day -- International      

St. Hedwig of Poland's Day (Patron of queens)

St. Romanus' Day (Patron of the mentally ill; against drowning, insanity)

Teacher's Day -- Algeria; Bahrain; Egypt; Jordan; Libya; Morocco; Oman; Saudi Arabia; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates; Yemen

Weiberfastnach -- Cologne, Germany (Women's Carnival, the day the women run the pre-Lent celebration)

Anniversaries Today:

University of Pittsburgh is chartered, 1787

Birthdays Today (followed by Feb. 29 Birthdays)

Ali Larter, 1976

Robert Sean Leonard, 1969

John Tuturro, 1957

Gilbert Gottfried, 1955

Bernadette, Peters, 1948

Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith, 1945

Brian Jones, 1942

Mario Andretti, 1940

Tommy Tune, 1939

Gavin MacLeod, 1930

Frank Gehry, 1929

Svetiana Allilueva, 1926

Charles Durning, 1923

Zero Mostel, 1915

Earl Scheib, 1907

Milton Caniff, 1907

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, 1906

Vincente Minnelli, 1903

Linus Pauling, 1901

Ben Heckt, 1894

Charles Blondin, 1824

John Tenniel, 1820

Mary Lyon, 1797

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1533

Antonio Sabato, Jr., 1972

Tony Robbins, 1960

Gretchen Christopher, 1940

Jack Lousma, 1936

Dinah Shore, 1916

Jimmy Dorsey, 1904

William Wellman, 1896

Herman Hollerith, 1860

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"On Golden Pond"(Play), 1979

"La Reine de Saba"(Opera), 1862

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling(Publication date), 1749

Today in History:

Coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China, BC202

The first edition of Henry Fieldings' "Tom Jones" is published, 1749

John Wesley charters the Methodist Church, 1784

The first commercial railroad in US, Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) is chartered, 1827

Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec), 1838

Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor, 1849

The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire, 1870

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone, 1885

The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched, 1893

Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force, 1897

Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British troops remain, 1922

DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents Nylon, 1935

Basketball is televised for the first time, 1940

In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of 30,000 civilian lives, 1947

James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April Nature (pub. April 2), 1953

The first-ever color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public, 1954

The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué, 1972

Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum, 1980

GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way, 1997

First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace, 1998

Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947, 2004

Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer spacecraft, 2007

Egypt annunces the discovery of a granite head from a statue of King Tut's grandfather, Amenhotep III, 2010

The brains of two rats are successfully connected so that they share information, 2013

It's Carnival Time! (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by River at Drifting Through Life.    

This week's words are:

1. passport

2. movies

3. puffed

4. complete

5. transport

6. bleach

and/or:

1. avenue

2. helicopter

3. fair

4. clearly

5. foolishness

6. ability

If this was the MOVIES, now would be the time to BLEACH my hair, grab my PASSPORT, and find some form of TRANSPORT, train, plane, bus, HELICOPTER, anything, and make my break. 

It would be a COMPLETE removal of myself from the FOOLISHNESS with which I am surrounded and which I have no ABILITY to change.

There are currently no FAIR skies in my forecast, and no AVENUE open before me which I can pursue that will bring the change I desire.

Resistance is futile, the PUFFED up little tyrants who run my world will remain in charge of everything.

Or so they think.

My thoughts and dreams are CLEARLY my own.

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Today is:

Aspirin Day -- Bayer received its US patent for the medicine on this day in 1900

Carnaval de Ponce -- Ponce, Puerto Rico (through Mardi Gras)

Day of Selene -- Ancient Greek Calendar (goddess of the moon, date approximate)

Equirria -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Cavalry Horse Festival)

Feast of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows/Gabriel Possenti (Patron of clerics, students, young people; Abruzzi, Italy; Catholic Action)

Inconvenience Yourself™ Day -- enrich your life by looking for ways to make a positive impact on the world, even if it inconveniences you    

Independence Day -- Dominican Republic(1844)

Majuba Day -- South Africa (celebration of the Boers victory at Majuba Hill)

National Kahlua Day

National Strawberry Day -- no, i don't know why this isn't in June, when the berries are best; maybe the person who put it here had too much Kahlua

No Brainer Day - this day is for me! created by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith, "America's Premier Eventologist"

Polar Bear Day -- as declared by Polar Bears International

Read Five Pages in the Dictionary Day -- internet generated, and am i the only one who likes the idea?

Read Me Day -- local and national celebrities, with community volunteers, are encouraged to visit classrooms this week and read to children; the original idea included wearing t-shirts with writing on them and encourage the children to read the shirts, thus "read me"   

Runic Half Month Tyr commences (cosmic pillar)

St. Galmier of Lyon's Day (Patron of locksmiths)

Teal Ribbon Day -- Australia (wear a teal ribbon, raise awareness of ovarian cancer)    

The Hop -- Fairy Calendar

Threepenny Day -- Eton College, England (By the last will of two Provosts in the 16th century, each boy receives a threepenny piece on this day -- enough to buy half a sheep back then.)

Anniversary Today:

African Burial Ground National Monument is established, 2006

Birthdays Today:

Josh Groban, 1981

Chelsea Clinton, 1980

Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, 1971

Grant Show, 1963

Adam Baldwin, 1962

Michael Bolton, 1953

Alan Guth, 1947

Mary Fran, 1943

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, 1942

Howard Hesseman, 1940

Ralph Nadar, 1934

Elizabeth Taylor, 1932

Joanne Woodward, 1930

Ariel Sharon, 1928

John Connally, 1917

James Thomas Farrell, 1904

John Steinbeck, 1902

Gene Sarazen, 1902

Marian Anderson, 1897

David Sarnoff, 1891

Hugo La Fayette Black, 1886

Alice Hamilton, 1869

Ellen Terry, 1847

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807

Constantine I, 272

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"What Makes Sammy Run?"(Musical), 1964

"Road to Utopia"(Film), 1946

Today in History:

The first Russian Embassy arrives in London, 1557

The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland, 1560

Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci, 1626

Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I, 1670

The Pacific island of New Britain is discovered, 1700

Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire, 1812

The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti, 1844

Composer Robert Schumann is saved from a suicide attempt in Rhine, 1854

Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland, 1861

The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships, 1870

Charlotte E. Ray becomes the first African American woman to earn a law degree, from Howard University, 1872

Lord Kitchener opens Khartoum-El Obeid (Nyala) railway, 1912

Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14, 1940

The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over, 1964

The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1973

People magazine is published for the first time, 1974

U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated", 1991

A Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, 2002

The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years, 2007

Central Chile is hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, 2010

Wikileaks begins releasing 5 million emails from Stratfor, a private intelligence company, 2012

At Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his farewell address, 2013

Red Tape and License Tags, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

Now about the truck that we do not own that someone drove on a toll road in Texas.

The back story starts over 40 years ago when Louisiana decided to start allowing personalized license plates.  Grandpa got one that is the name of a local university.  We've kept it in the family as we are allowed to transfer it from car to car, it is on Bigger Girl's car Cicero (which is in my name to keep the insurance rates down). 

Louisiana only puts tags on the backs of cars, not the back and front like many states, including Texas.

People in Louisiana can put a plastic "tag" on the front of the car that says anything they want, and such plastic tags that read the name of the local university are popular.  They are very fake looking, have no stickers to show date of expiration, and can be bought in many stores.

A truck went on a toll road in Texas over a year ago.  There they let you get on the road, take a picture of the front and back of your vehicle, track your tag, and send you the bill (it's a few dollars).

The truck from Louisiana that drove on that road had an official Louisiana tag on the back, and one of those plastic decorative ones on the front.  Guess what the plastic one was?

Someone in the TexTag department decided that the fake tag on the front of the truck was the actual tag.  They sent the bill to us.

For over a year now i've been fighting with them trying to get them to send the bill to the owner of the truck.  Every time i call, they say, file online, and every time i file online, they send me an automated email that says, "If we need more information, we will contact you" and they never contact me, except to send another bill with another late fee tacked on.

Finally, this past Friday, i spent a good bit of time on hold but finally got someone in the TexTag system to tell me that i need to get a vehicle history of my car that proves our car and that truck are not the same, and supposedly then they will reread the pictures, realize the front tag is decorative and the back tag is the correct one, and send the bill to the truck owner.

Ever try to get your official vehicle history report from the state of Louisiana?

We went to the place of waiting for hours, the DMV.  They don't do that (they told us the moment we walked in, thank heaven).  They gave us a number to call, the Public Assistance number.

After 25 minutes on hold with Public Assistance, someone asked me what i needed, and said, "I will transfer you to that department."

After 50 minutes on hold, someone asked me again what i needed, and said, "Just a moment, please."

After one hour and five minutes on hold, someone asked me what i needed, and told me, "Okay, you have to write in to request that, let me give you the address."

Yes, an hour and five minutes on hold, and they can't take your request over the phone, all they can do is tell you where to write to in order to get what you need.

The next step is a ten dollar money order, mailed in requesting the vehicle history.  Then i can fax that to the TexTag people, and supposedly they will review it and see that our car and the truck are not the same vehicle.

The story is not over yet, but i am going to hold on to that vehicle history and if i keep getting bills from TexTag, send it to them over and over.  The people who work there went to Texas schools, which are supposed to be pretty good, so i hope someday one of them figures it out.

Hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday!

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Today is:

Ayyám-i-Há -- Baha'i (intercalary days, devoted to service and gift giving; through Mar. 1)

Dance of the Known Places -- Fairy Calendar

For Pete's Sake Day -- Wellcat Holidays asks us, who is Pete, and why do things for his sake?  think about that as you celebrate this today

Intercalary Days -- Baha'i (through Mar. 1)

Levi Strauss Day -- his birth anniversary

Liberation Day -- Kuwait

National Personal Chef Day -- heaven knows we all have one of those; some websites list it today, some on July 16

National Pistachio Day

Rooks Nesting Day -- Olde England (12 days after Candlemas on the Julian Calendar)

Single-Tasking Day -- encouraging you to do one thing at a time, and not feel guilty; begun by Theresa Gabriel, who claims multitasking is inefficient and hurts your brain! she suggests it be on the 4th Tuesday of the month, although other sites list other dates

Spay Day USA -- sponsored by the HSUS; Sit! Stay! Spay! Good Owner! 

St. Alexander's Day (Patriarch of Alexandria)

St. Isabella of France's Day (Patron of the sick)

Tell a Fairy Tale Day -- shouldn't this have been two days ago, on Wilhelm Grimm's birth anniversary?

The Man In Black Day -- Johnny Cash's birth anniversary

Thriller Day -- Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" hit #1 today, and stayed there for 37 weeks

World Spay Day -- don't let your pets litter!   

Anniversaries Today:

Grand Teton National Park is established, 1929

Grand Canyon National Park is established, 1919

Birthdays Today:

Marshall Faulk, 1973

Erykah Badu, 1972

Mark Dacascos, 1964

Michael Bolton, 1953

Johnny Cash, 1932

Fats Domino, 1928

Betty Hutton, 1921

Tony Randall, 1920

Jackie Gleason, 1916

Margaret Leighton, 1922

Tex Avery, 1908

Madeleine Carroll, 1906

Jean Vercors, 1902

William Frawley, 1887

Herbert Henry Dow, 1866

John Harvey Kellog, 1852

William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, 1846

Levi Strauss, 1829

Honore Daumier, 1808

Victor Hugo, 1802

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Jerome Robbins' Broadway"(Musical), 1989

"Deathtrap"(Play), 1978

Today in History:

Origin of the Epoch of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era, BC747

An earthquake in Lisbon leaves 20,000-30,000 dead, 1531

Christiansborg Castle, Copenhagen burns down, 1794

The Bank of England issues its first banknotes, 1797

Vice-admiral William Bligh ends the siege of Fort Amsterdam, Willemstad, 1804

Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba, 1815

In New York City a demonstration of the first pneumatic subway opens to the public, 1870

HMS Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic, is launched at Harland & Wolff, Belfast, 1914

The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York, 1917

Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom, 1935

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb, 1952

Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada, 1952

National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation, 1970

Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations, 1980

The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections, 1990

On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, 1991

In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand, 1993

The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses, 1995

Mount Hekla in Iceland erupts, 2000

Republic of Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2004

After winning a Liberal Party of British Columbia ballot, Canadian politician Christy Clark becomes the second woman to be Premier of British Columbia, 2011

Scientists in Illinois, announce they've developed stretchable batteries that can power a new generation of flexible electronics, 2013

The Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, receives its 1 millionth seed on 10 year anniversary, 2018