Counting Words With Dr. D, Funny Stuff, and a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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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.  

Part of today’s post is also a writing challenge. This is how it works: contributing bloggers each picked a number between 12 and 74. The submitted numbers were then assigned to other bloggers challenged with writing at least one piece using that exact number of words.

I was assigned the word count number: 35

It was submitted by: Spatulas On Parade  

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge.  Check them all out, see what numbers they got and how they used them. 

My plan is to write three thirty-five word snippets about our favorite, Dr. D.

Dr. D is going to go see her daughter and family in Dallas for Christmas.  Getting her ready to go out of town takes as much planning as an army does when invading another country.

We almost had to breach the storage unit for a box for packing the gifts.  Cue the sound of Fibber McGee's closet!  Instead, i moved the Goodwill items to paper bags and used that box.

Preparing the cats takes strategy.  The portable cage has to be wrangled into the car, and everything for their possible comfort obtained (treats!) and made readily available.  Nothing is too good for the pampered purebreds.

Links to the other Word Counters posts:

Baking In A Tornado                        

Spatulas on Parade                      

Wandering Web Designer               

Sarah Nolan                              

On the Border                            

Yes, Dr. D is going to be taking off and i will be minding the empty house.  She worries, so i will stop and make sure all is well a couple of times while she is gone.

While there yesterday i also moved more stuff to the office, and found that Christmas has come early to the office.  That old copy machine, the one i had so much trouble with the last few times, the one that had bugs in it, has been replaced!  There's a nice, new one, the kind that will do everything except give you nine cents change, and it worked like a dream.  If being happy over that sounds silly, remember that i take my breaks where i can find them.

And since you thought you'd seen everything, a few more from Grandma's files:

Have a fabulous Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Christmas Festival in Salvador -- Salvador, Brazil (one fun party, with many different activities, that begins around now, lasts until New Year's Day)

Clean Air Act Day -- US (passed this day 1963; a day to give thanks for the air we breathe)

Cookie Cutter Day

Daniel the Prophet's Day -- Orthodox Catholic Feast Day

Feast of Babalu Aye -- Yoruba/Santeria (celebration of the healer of deadly diseases)

Feast of the Fairy Godmothers -- Fairy Calendar

Hagoita Ichi -- Sensoji Temple, Japan (sale of specially decorated paddles, called hagoita; through the 19th)

Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Askasleikir -- Bowl-licker, who hides under the bed and snatches bowls set on the floor to lick them clean

Kasuga Wakamiya Festival -- Nara, Japan (rarely performed traditional dances at a festival held every year since 1136)

National Day -- Bhutan

National Maple Syrup Day

Procession of Agnios Dionysios -- Zakynthos, Greece (one of the biggest festivals of the year, when the relics of this island's patron saint is honored)

Saturnalia begins (through Dec. 23) -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival for Saturn, the planter god)

Sow Day -- Orkney Islands, Scotland (ritual slaughter of a sow for the Yule feast)

St. Lazarus of Bethany's Day

Take a New Year's Resolution to Stop Smoking -- Tanyrtss, the annual campaign goes through February; make the decision now to improve your life and health next year  

Wright Brother's Day -- US

Anniversary Today:

Tiny Tim weds Miss Vicky, 1969

Birthdays Today:

Milla Jovovich, 1975

Duff Goldman, 1974

Sean Patrick Thomas, 1970

Mike Mills, 1958

Bill Pullman, 1954

Wes Studi, 1947

Eugene Levy, 1946

Chris Matthews, 1945

Ernie Hudson, 1945

Bernard Hill, 1944

Tommy Steele, 1936

Bob Guccione, 1930

William Safire, 1929

Willard Frank Libby, 1908

Arthur Fiedler, 1894

John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807

W. L. Mackenzie King, 1874

Joseph Henry, 1797

Deborah Sampson, 1760

William Floyd, 1734

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Simpsons"(TV), 1989

Turner Broadcasting System(Cable TV Network), 1976

"El Pessebre"(Casals' Oratorio), 1960

On The Beach(Film), 1959

Today in History:

The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison, 546

Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur, 1398

Pope Paul III excommunicates England's King Henry VIII, 1538

Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan, 1586

Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu, 1637

Congregation Shearith Israel of NY purchases a lot on Mill Street in lower Manhattan, to build NY's first synagogue, 1728

France recognizes independence of English colonies in America, 1777

Aztec calendar stone discovered in Mexico City, 1790

NYC traffic regulation creates first 1-way street, 1791

Opening of the first legislative assembly of Lower Canada in Quebec city, 1792

The US state of Kentucky abolishes debtors prisons, 1821

General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky, 1862

First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert, 1865

Violent riots in Montreal, as workers demand work or bread,1875

France declares Madagascar a protectorate, 1885

George Brownell patents a machine to make paper twine, 1895

A first prize of 100,00 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrialsbut Martians are excluded - considered too easy, 1900

The Wright Brothers make their first successful flights, 1903

First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane, 1935

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and dummy Charlie McCarthy first appear on TV, 1936

The SALT I talks begin, 1969

Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President in almost 30 years, 1989

SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight, 2003

NASA completes a successful mission to map the Moon’s gravity field, 2012

French sailor François Gabart sets the round-the-world record for the fastest solo navigation of the globe in 42 days 16 hours, 2017

Astronomers announce they have identified the furtherest object in the solar system, 2018 VG18 (nicknamed Farout); it is 120 times further from the sun than earth, 2018