A to Z: Just a Friendly Game (Six Sentence Story) and Good Fences

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     

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It's just a friendly little game, a rendezvous, he told me, to get me interested.

Only it's more than that, it's a breeding ritual and a contest of wills.

He thinks he's smart enough to outsmart me.

He thinks I'm not strong enough to stand my ground.

That's what the last one thought, too.

He's not around any more, and soon, this one won't be either; they don't call my species the black widow spider for nothing.

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

(We've had several black widow spiders around here lately, and they inspired me.)

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Gosia, of 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.    

This fence is sporting its spring colors:

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Today is:

Barbershop Quartet Day -- founding day of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America

Buchenwald Liberation Day -- at 3:15pm local time, by the Third Army

Eight Track Tape Day -- do you remember those; someone who fondly does has a day to honor them

Festival of Unmediated Play -- just go out there and have fun, like kids do

French Quarter Festival -- New Orleans, Louisiana, US (celebrate all that makes the Vieux Carre special, antiques, food, and 275 hours of musical entertainment; through Sunday)

Houston Art Car Parade Weekend -- Houston, TX, US (the world's oldest and largest art car parade is on Saturday; festival through Sunday)

International "Louie Louie" Day -- a song that caused such a stir it deserves a day; on the birth anniversary of its composer, Richard Berry

Juan Santamaria Day -- Costa Rica (commemoration of the hero of the Battle of Rivas)

Liberation Day -- Uganda (fall of Idi Amin)

M&M Crisis in Space Day -- on this day in 1996, American astronaut Shannon Lucid reported from Space Station Mir that she was out of M&Ms; it was the only thing she regularly requested for resupply in her 188 days there!

National Cheese Fondue Day

National Pet Day / Pet Day USA -- US (it's about the love, so adopt, don't shop!)    

National Pie Championships and Great American Pie Festival -- Orlando, FL, US (celebrating the best pies anywhere; through Saturday)

Spring Fair in Puyallup -- Puyallup, WA, US (fun for the family, every year since 1900; through Sunday)

St. Antipas' Day (spiritual student of St. John, mentioned in the Book of the Revelation of St. John)

St. Stanislaus' Day (Patron of soldiers in battle; Cracow, Poland; Plock, Poland; Poland, where he is celebrated on May 8)

Support Teen Literature Day -- US (on the Thursday of National Library Week)

The Masters Tournament -- Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, GA, US; the matchup for the Green Jacket is the first of golf's major championships in 2018, running through the 14th

World Parkinson's Disease Day     

Anniversary Today:

Spelman College is founded, 1881

Birthdays Today:

Joss Stone, 1987

Tricia Helfer, 1974

Vincent Gallo, 1961

Bill Irwin, 1950

Ellen Goodman, 1948

Meshach Taylor, 1947

Peter Riegert, 1947

Louise Lasser, 1939

Richard Berry, 1935

Tony Brown, 1933

Joel Grey, 1932

Ethel Kennedy, 1928

Oleg Cassini, 1913

Jane Matilda Bolin, 1908

Dalia "Dale" Messick, 1906

Percy Julian, 1899

Lizzie “Lillie” Bliss, 1864

Charles Evans Hughes, 1862

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Avengers(Film), 2012

"On Your Toes"(Musical), 1936

"Matthäus-Passion/St. Matthew's Passion"(Bach BWV 244), 1727

Today in History:

William III and Mary II are crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain, 1689

The last execution for witchcraft in Germany takes place, 1775

President Abraham Lincoln makes his last public speech, urging a spirit of concilliation during reconstruction, 1865

The Shogunate is abolished in Japan, 1868

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is organized, 1876

Ellis Island is designated as an immigration station, 1890

Spain cedes Puerto Rico to the United States in the treaty ending the Spanish American War, 1899

The US Navy aquires its first submarine, designed by John P. Holland, 1900

Albert Einstein announces his Special Theory of Relativity, 1905

The International Labour Organization is founded, 1919

The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found in Arbroath Abbey where Scottish nationalist students had taken it from Westminster Abbey, 1951

Britain agrees to Singaporean self-rule, 1957

Apollo 13 is launched, 1970

The Apple I is created, 1976

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed, 1979

The London Agreement is secretly signed between Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan, 1987

Australia beats American Samoa in a 31-0 win, the biggest ever in an international match of football, 2001

The French ban of Islamic women's face coverings goes into effect, 2011

Fossilized dinosaur eggs complete with embryos are found in China, 2013