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Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Grandpa Likes The Old Fashioned Kind (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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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 to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    


This month, the prompts are being provided by Charlotte/Mother Owl.    


The words this week are:


rivers

heavy

shell

mischief

searchlight

yell


and/or


arm

east

fruit

languages

voice

thought


 and/or this photo




"Mom, mom!" Sal and Brady came running in to where their mother was at her loom, weaving.


"No need to YELL children, I'm right here!" mom smiled at them brightly, but they didn't smile back.


"Mom, Jerry is missing!"  Sal was breathing heavily, like she'd been running, and she gasped the words out but that didn't hide the fear in her VOICE.


"Well, he's a good dog, but he does like to wander out a bit.  Remember the last time you thought he was lost, he was just ignoring your calls because he was chasing a porcupine..." mom started, but Brady interrupted.


"No, mom, you don't understand.  With all the HEAVY rain lately, the RIVERS are all swollen, and we were out by the EAST branch when I saw Jerry slide down the bank, and we lost sight of him, and now we can't find him anywhere, he won't come when we call!  He's gone!"


Mom stood up and said, "Okay, both of you, take a deep breath, and go in the kitchen and each grab a piece of FRUIT from the basket.  Neither of you have had a bite since breakfast, and no one can think on an empty stomach.  I'm going to get dad and and you two try to remember exactly where you were, we'll start searching."


A few minutes later, mom and dad were heading back up to the house where the children waited.  Dad was muttering about the dog and children always getting in MISCHIEF when there was work to be done, but the looks on the children's faces convinced him they were truly distraught and were sure their dog was gone.


Sal clung to her father's ARM as they all headed out.  They went down the rough driveway made of gravel and SHELLs, then across toward the water, which dad always said sounded to him like it spoke all the LANGUAGES of the world at once.


They arrived as nearly as they could tell to the place where the dog went missing, and started searching, dad and Sal going downstream, mom and Brady heading up.  They hoped he hadn't fallen in, but had just ignored their calls to go chasing some critter, and hoped it wasn't a porcupine this time.


They'd only been out there about a quarter of an hour when Brady and mom smelled that odor that told them a skunk was in the area, and it wasn't happy.


"Oh, no," mom said, and Brady responded with, "Please don't tell me..."


Sure enough, Jerry came running toward them, having obviously tangled with what dad always called a "polecat."


"Stop, Jerry, stop!" Brady called out in a futile attempt to keep the dog from jumping on them.  Wrangling him into the leash mom had brought, they headed back downstream calling for dad and Sal, who finally heard and came running.


On the way back to the house, dad said he'd clear out a pen in the yard to keep Jerry in until he was fit to have back in the buildings, and mom talked about tomato juice and how they'd probably have to burn the clothes they were wearing.


Just as they got back to their own driveway, dad said, "Well, this is bad, but not as bad as the porcupine incident."


"How is it not as bad with all this stink?" mom asked.


"Well, first, it isn't night and I didn't have to get out a SEARCHLIGHT to find him, and I don't have to run him to the vet."


"Mmmph," mom muttered noncommittally.


"And," dad continued, "now the crazy dog knows what a skunk does, maybe he'll avoid them the way he avoids porcupines."


"We can only keep a good THOUGHT" mom said, shaking her head.



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Today is:


Big Snow Day -- remembering the 15 inch snowflakes that fell on in Fort Keough, Montana, on this date in 1887


Chocolate Cake Day


Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism -- Germany (anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz)


Day the Netjers of Heaven Receive Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)


Family Literacy Day -- Canada


International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust


Iroquois Mid-Winter Ceremony -- Iroquois Native Americans (for the continuation of all life-sustaining things; a multi-day ceremony and feast that begins around this time of year)


Listen to Classical Music During Lunch Day -- in honor of Mozart


Mozart Day


Punch the Clock Day -- internet generated, and no reason for it given; this has to be one of the more baffling ones


St. Angela Merici's Day (Founder of the Sisters of the Order of St. Ursula; Patron of the disabled and ill; against bodily ills and the death of parents)


St. Devota's Day (Patron of Corsica; Monaco)


Thomas Crapper Day -- death date, in 1910, of the perfector of the flush toilet mechanism


Tu B'Shevat -- Judaism ("New Year of the Trees", begins at sunset)



Anniversaries Today:


Founding of the National Geographic Society, 1888

The first sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, is founded at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, 1870

The University of Georgia is chartered, the first state university in the US, 1785



Birthdays Today:


Julie Foudy, 1971

Jennifer LB Leese, 1970

Patton Oswalt, 1969

Alan Cumming, 1965

Bridget Fonda,1964

Cris Collinsworth, 1959

Mimi Rogers, 1956

Mikhail Baryshnikov, 1948

Nick Mason, 1944

Mairead Corrigan, 1944

James Cromwell, 1942

Troy Donahue, 1936

Donna Reed, 1921

David Seville, 1919

Skitch Henderson, 1918

Hyman George Rickover, 1900

Jerome Kern, 1885

Samuel Gompers, 1850

Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), 1832

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Laverne and Shirley"(TV), 1976

"Tarzan of the Apes"(Film), 1918



Today in History:


Trajan becomes Roman Emperor, 98

The Rashidun Caliphate ends with the death of Ali, 661

Song Dynasty General Yue Fei is wrongfully executed, 1142

Dante Alighieri becomes a Florentine political exile, 1302

The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31, 1606

The first American lime kiln begins operation in Providence, Rhode Island, 1662

Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Instanbul, 1695

Czar Peter the Great sets the first Russian state budget, 1710

Abdication of Stanislas, the last king of Poland, 1736

The US Congress approves the opening of Indian Territory for settlement, which led to the forced relocation of Native Americans on the "Trail of Tears," 1825

Manitoba and the Northwest Territories are incorporated, 1870

Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the electric incandescent lamp, 1880

The National Geographic Society is organized, in Washington, D.C., 1888

"Tarzan of the Apes," the first Tarzan movie, premiers, 1918

Apollo 1 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, 1967

More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space, 1967

Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper, 1980

The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, breaks through, 1983

American-born sumo wrestler Akebono Taro becomes the first foreigner to be promoted to the sport's highest rank of yokozuna, 1993

Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 1996

Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services, 2006

21 comments:

  1. Two problems that no dog faces here - for which I am grateful. Yet another great use of the prompts.

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  2. Well written story of a mischievous dog. I hope he learned the lesson. And as always thanks for the lists - that giant snowflake sounds impressing.

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  3. I emjoyed your dog tail (pardon the pun!) As it's Mozart Day I'll be relaxng to one of my favourite pieces of music, his unfinished choral masterpiece, Requiem.

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  4. I am glad the dog was found even though he did stink to high Heaven!

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  5. Not only is "Day the Netjers of Heaven Receive Ra" a magnificent name for a holiday but looking up "netjer" took me down a fascinating rabbit hole on this snow-delay morning. Thank you, Miz Mimi, for a fun start to my day!

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  6. Good story of the dog and family. I am glad the story has a happy ending.

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  7. Sometimes the old fashioned things are just better. Gramma used to have a big loom like that when Mom was little. Not sure what ever happened to it.

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  8. I bet that makes a huge racket when it goes off. No snooze button either. Just: WAKE UP!

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  9. We have an alarm clock like that one here. That was some story, yikes!

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  10. Big Ben and I had them over the years back in the day. They were dependable clocks and if the power went out at night it didn't matter because the clock would still wake you up and at the right time.

    Love your story and it was a happy ending. At least the pup was safe.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Big hug. ♥

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  11. Oh no, I'm glad our dog granny won't meet skunks here. It's bad enough she likes to roll in fox poo...
    Have a wonderful Wednesday!

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  12. Great story ~ well done and love the 'vintage' clock ~ some of the historical things were much simpler and more dependable ~

    Moment by Moment,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  13. Those alarm clocks were very loud heheh!

    I agree with above I liked the story and it was written well :-)

    Have a safe alarmingtastic week 😷😷😷

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  14. I am a bit of a luddite...I like the old things that are analog- however I do appreciate my little Microsoft computer! Take it east and I loved your story- you are so good at writing! Cheers!

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  15. Great story and exactly why dogs need to not run free. :)

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  16. I liked the story! Have a marvellously Happy Day!

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  17. Dad remembers those big old wind up clocks. If you put your head under the pillow the alarm would wind down MOL

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  18. I haven't seen one of those alarm clocks in ages, scares the bejeebers out of me when it goes off if I remember correctly. I loved that story, what a creative person you are and you used all the words.

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  19. I have a "big ben" wind up that belonged to MY grandpa !!!!

    and been there done that with the skunk/dog scenario ~~~~~~ PHEW~~~~~~~~~ !!! ♥♥♥

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  20. May God bless Tom Crapper and his descendants. His invention changed the world.

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  21. I love your story and I'm thinking a nice big dog run built in the yard would be a good place for Jerry and maybe a reminder to the kids to keep him on a leash when going near the river.

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