Do i want to know how her kids got the toothpaste all the way up there? (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, Delores is providing the prompts.  

blasted, withered, derelict, broken, chained, and ground

and/or

fresh, growing, alive, active, hope, and dreams.

She looked up from her window seat at what sounded to her like a vehicle in pain.  Around the corner came a tow truck that looked like a DERELICT, with an even more decrepit vehicle CHAINED on, riding it piggyback.  Certainly, she thought, it can't be coming to this house.

It was, and she knew, as surely as she breathed, that he was about to get ACTIVE again with a new hobby.  Every one started with HOPE, DREAMS, and a FRESH infusion of cash, GROWING for a time as if ALIVE and on the way to becoming something enduring, then ending with either his heart BROKEN or his interest GROUND down in the nitty gritty details.

He jumped out of the passenger side of the truck, and started directing the driver into the back yard.  She walked over and he was so busy watching the truck he almost stepped on her.

"Oh, hi honey!" he said.

"What," she asked, "are we getting ourselves into now?  And watch where you direct that thing, if it gets too close to the chicken coop, it will scare the girls and we won't get eggs for days."

"Don't worry, we're going to put her in the machine shop," he said, indicated what, up until then, she had thought of as the BROKEN down tool shed, the one she hadn't had time to tear down yet.  With the poison ivy clinging to it, WITHERED now with the weed killer she'd sprayed, she hadn't been looking forward to the job, and had put it off.  Now, she realized, she had left it too long and it had given him another of his ideas.

"Isn't it a beauty?" he said, indicating the chassis of a vehicle, covered in rust, now being manipulated into what was left of the old building.  As if on cue, one of the doors of the building collapsed as the chassis dropped with a thump.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's the 1958 Ford Fairlane that I'm going to restore!" he said.  "The guy who sold it to me has most of the parts it needs, he just didn't have time to mess with it any more."

"Hmmm, it looks like it's going to need a lot of work," she said, choosing her words carefully.

"Well, sure, it needs to be -- watch out!  BLASTED wasps!" he yelled as they both beat a hasty retreat from the shop.  The tow truck driver had pulled back to the front of the house, and was now approaching with a clipboard.

He ran over to finish dealing with the driver, and she watched, bemused.  How long will it take him, she wondered, to figure out he hasn't a clue how to restore an old car?  At least, she thought, it will keep him busy during the long summer evenings. 

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Today is:

Big Bird Day -- it's his birthday, and he's still only 6 years old!  (wish i could figure out that trick)

Bockbier/Bock Beer Day -- bock is the German word for strong, so a day to honor very strong, very dark, sweet, heavy beer

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Day -- birth anniversary of children's author Bill Martin

Cumbre Tajin -- Veracruz, Mexico (Tajin Summit, alternative therapies, art, music, and dance; through the 24th)

Dieticians Day -- Canada   

Equinox -- related celebrations (21:58 UTC)

    Akitu Festival begins -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar

    Chunfen -- China

    Festival of Dumuzi -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (return of the god of life and death to be with the goddess of life and bring the spring)

    Festival of Iduna -- Ancient Norse Calendar (goddess of spring, keeper of the apples of youth for the gods)

    Haru-no-Higan -- Japanese Buddhist

    Harvest Festival and Coming Forth of the Great Ones from the House of Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

    Jare -- Old Slavic Calendar

    Kukulcan Snake God in Chichen Itza -- Yucatan (the snake shadow appears only at the equinox, and celebrations are held before and after)

    Maslenitsa -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar

    Ostara/Mabon -- Wicca/Pagan, Ancient Norse Calendar, Old Anglo-Teutonic Calendar

    Pacha Pucuy -- Ancient Inca Calendar ("Earth Ripening")

    Shunbun no Hi -- Japan

    Taoist festival of Shen -- Deities of water, East, and Spring

Extraterrestrial Abductions Day -- another silly made up one, but try telling that to the people who believe in it!

Full Worm Moon -- also called Leaf Moon, Seedling Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sap Moon, Light Snow Moon, White moon, Virgin Moon, Paschal Moon, or Lenten Moon; considered the last full moon of winter

    Medin Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

    Taubaung Full Moon -- Myanmar

Great American Meat Out Day -- go vegetarian today!     

Holi -- Hindu (Festival of Color, where everyone gets doused with colored water, or powder, or paint, or all of them; it's been described as an iridescent madhouse)

    officially recognized holiday in Guyana; India; Nepal; Suriname

    Phagu Purnima / Basanta Utsay -- Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Independence Day -- Tunisia

International Day of the Francophonie / Journée internationale de la Francophonie

International Day of Happiness -- UN

International Earth Day -- the traditional date, still observed in many countries

Kids Kick Butts Day -- Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids      

Kiss Your Fiance Day -- do you really need to be reminded to do this? a wedding planner thinks so, that you should stop today and focus on each other, not the wedding

Lajos Kossuth Day -- Hungary

Martyrdom of Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi -- Pakistan

National Cherry Blossom Festival -- Washington, DC, US (through April 14; Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival and parade on April 13)

National Native American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day -- US 

National Jump Out! Day -- sponsored by Discovery Girls Magazine and Fundex Games; encouraging kids to get out and get active

National Ravioli Day

Nowruz/Nauruz/Novruz Bairam/Norooz (begins at sunset) -- Iranian diaspora, Kurdish diaspora, Zoroastrians; Afghanistan; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Iran (Persian New Year); Iraq; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan

    celebrations go on for up to seven days or more

    Naw Ruz -- Baha'i (New Year, and an end of the time of fasting; begins sunset)

Proposal Day® -- a day for singles to propose to their true love; on the equinox, equal night and day symbolizing equal commitment   

Purim -- Judaism (begins at sundown)

Shunki-Korei-Sai -- Shinto (rite to honor ancestral spirits, around the vernal equinox)

Smile Rejuvenation Day -- another one from the ecard companies, make someone smile today

Snowman Burning Day  -- Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, US (celebration of the start of spring)

St. Cuthbert of Lindisfane's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors, shepherds; England; Durham, England; Lancaster, England; Northumbria, England; against plague and plague epidemics)

Won't You Be My Neighbor Day -- in honor of Mr. Rogers' birth anniversary

World Frog Day -- an initiative, on the first day of spring, to remind people of our fragile ecosystems and the disappearance of our amphibian friends   

World Storytelling Day -- to celebrate the tradition of oral storytelling

Zipper Day -- the 'Separable Fastener' by Gideon Sundback was patented this day in 1917

Birthdays Today:

Louis "Louie" Vito, 1988

Fernando Torres, 1984

Kathy Ireland, 1963

David Thewlis, 1963

Holly Hunter, 1958

Spike Lee, 1957

Theresa Russel, 1957

Jimmie Vaughan, 1951

William Hurt, 1950

Bobby Orr, 1948

Pat Riley, 1945

Paul Junger Witt, 1943

Brian Mulroney, 1939

Lois Lowry, 1937

Hal Linden, 1931

Fred "Mr." Rogers, 1928

Carl Reiner, 1922

Marian McPartland, 1920

Bill Martin, Jr., 1916

Ozzie Nelson, 1906

B.F. Skinner, 1904

Frederick Winslow Taylor, 1856

Henrik Ibsen, 1828

Ovid, BC43

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Uncle Tom's Cabin(Publication date), 1852

Today in History:

Sixth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 141

Maximus Thrax, who never set foot in Rome, becomes the first of the Foreign or Barracks Emperors of the Roman Empire, 235

A Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction is thought to be the "cause of plague epidemic," 1345

Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment, 1616

France and Spain sign an accord for fighting protestantism, 1627

Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne, 1739

The Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings, 1760

After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule, 1815

US and Siam sign commercial treaty, 1833

Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published in Boston, 1852

An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina, 1861

The first AC power plant in the US begins commercial operation, in Massachusetts, 1886

In the first known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10, 1897

The first international figure skating championship takes place, in New Haven, Connecticut, 1914

Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity, 1916

The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, 1923

A test of a practical radar apparatus is made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany, 1934

The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established, 1964

Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, 1985

Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering, 1990

Stephen Harper wins the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, becoming the party's first leader, 2004

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Fukuoka, Japan, its first major quake in over 100 years, 2005

Cyclone Larry makes landfall in eastern Australia, destroying most of the country's banana crop, 2006

In Morocco, thousands rally to demand and end to corruption and more civil rights for the Moroccan people, 2011

The Indian rivers Yamuna and Ganges are declared to be "living entities" by a court in the state of Uttarakhand, 2017