Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Never Guess Again (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, BeThere2Day, 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 yours truly, right here.


This week's prompts are:


push

leash

shelf

help

talk

mail


and/or this photo





Shoemaker's wives go barefoot and contractor's wives have to put up with a not-quite-latching-correctly gate, Ana thought to herself ruefully as she gave it an extra PUSH with her shoulder.


She stopped for a moment to notice and enjoy the colors of the autumn leaves, and to think with a sigh that it was probably going to be another year where the raking didn't get done before the first snow.  She was going to TALK to Rob again about getting some HELP, but she knew he hated spending the money.


"Why pay for what we can do ourselves?" he would say, when he knew good and well neither of them ever had time to do it.


Ah, there are worse things, her train of thought continued, and at least the leaves protect the grass from the snow.  She knew that was just an excuse, but it did make her feel a bit better.


Rob had already gotten the MAIL and set it on the SHELF, so she flipped through it quickly just to make sure there was nothing unexpected in it.  Satisfied that it didn't hold anything needing immediate attention, she looked up to see Bruno, a picture of canine patience, sitting under the hook from which his LEASH hung.


"Just a minute, Bruno, I need to change into walking clothes," she said, and he laid down.  He had a doggie door to use through the day, so he could wait, and would, knowing his time was coming.


Ana stuck her head into the kitchen where Rob was clattering away.  "You've got dinner?" she asked.


"Skillet gnocchi," he said.


"I'll change and take Bruno."


"It'll be done when you get back."


"Not if Bruno gets his way," she said with a laugh.  "You know how he loves to prolong the walks when it's cool outdoors."


"Tell him I'll save him a bite."


They grinned, and Ana headed to the bedroom to change.



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Today is:


Can You Find Your Old Rubik's Cube and Still Work It Day -- internet generated, and why would you bother?


Color Photos Day -- anniversary of the Kodak introduction of modern color film in 1935


DrinksGiving -- if you've come home for Thanksgiving and are meeting up with old friends for a night on the town, don't forget to call for a ride


Eat A Cranberry Day -- just to see why you add sugar, i guess


Feast of Qawl(Speech) -- Baha'i


Fibonacci Day -- celebrating the mathematical Fibonacci Series, which begins as 1,1,2,3


Giorgoba -- Georgia (St. George's Day; they celebrate their patron saint twice a year, today and May 6, his feast day on the OS calendar)


Hadakambo Festival -- Hofu, Japan (men dressed only in loincloths brave the cold carrying floats to the shrine)


International Image Consultant Day -- Association of Image Consultants International 


Jukebox Day -- many days compete for this title, but the first known nickel-in-the-slot record machine went into service on this day in 1889 in San Francisco, CA, US


Kinro Kansha no Hi -- Japan (Labour Day Thanksgiving, when people express gratitude to each other for their work through the year)


National Cashew Day -- some sites list it on the 22nd, i'm celebrating both as i love cashews


National Espresso Day


National Family Caregivers' Day -- US (if you are a caregiver who needs support, you can get it here or here)


Pencil Sharpener Day -- John Love of Massachusetts patented the first one this day in 1897


Repudiation Day -- Maryland, US (anniversary of the Franklin County Court refusal to cooperate with Britain's Stamp Tax Act)


Rudolf Maister Day -- Slovenia


St. Clement's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, marble workers/stonecutters, sick children; Dundee, Scotland; Velletri, Italy)


St. Columbanus's Day (Patron of motorcyclists; Bobbio, Italy; against floods)


St. Felicity's Day (Patron of martyrs, widows; against the death of children, sterility)


Tie One On Day -- an apron!  on US Thanksgiving eve, write a note of encouragement or prayer, tuck it in the pocket of an apron, and wrap the apron around a good home or bakery made loaf of bread, then deliver it to someone who needs a kind gesture



Birthdays Today:


Miley Cyrus, 1992

Lucas Grabeel, 1984

Salli Richardson, 1967

Steve Harvey, 1956

Bruce Hornsby, 1954

Susan Anspach, 1945

Krzysztof Penderecki, 1933

Jerry Bock, 1928

Johnny Mandel, 1925

Emmett Littleton Ashford, 1914

Harpo Marx, 1888

Boris Karloff, 1887

Billy the Kidd (William H. Bonney), 1859

Franklin Pierce, 1804

Edward Rutledge, 1749




Debuting/Premiering Today:


"I Feel Fine"(Beatles single release), 1964

"Dr. Who"(TV), 1963

"Fiorello!"(Musical), 1959

"Of Mice and Men"(Play), 1937

Life Magazine(First issue), 1936

First play-by-play American style football game radio broadcast, 1919 (Texas A&M beat University of Texas, 7-0)



Today in History:


Thespis of Icaria becomes the first actor to portray a character onstage, BC534

Charlemagne arrives at Rome to investigate the alleged crimes of Pope Leo III, 800

Conquest of Seville by the Christian troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile. 1248

Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship, and written by John Milton is published, 1644

People of Frederick County Md refuse to pay England's Stamp tax, 1765

Henry Burden patents Horseshoe manufacturing machine, 1835

Patent granted for a process of making color photographs, 1863

The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco, 1889

King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law is passed to allow his daughter Princess Wilhelmina to become his heir, 1890

Andrew J Beard invents "jerry coupler," to connect railroad cars, 1897

Pencil sharpener patented by J L Love, 1897

Enrico Caruso makes his US debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, NY in "Rigoletto", 1903

Wright Brothers forms million-dollar corporation to manufacture airplanes, 1909

Life Magazine publishes its first issue, 1936

The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia, 1955

The BBC broadcasts the first ever episode of Doctor Who (starring William Hartnell) which is the world's longest running science fiction drama, 1963

Representatives of the People's Republic of China attend the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, for the first time, 1971

A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people, 1980

The first all-woman expedition to the south pole (3 Americans, 1 Japanese and 12 Russians), sets off from Antarctica on the 1st leg of a 70-day, 1287 kilometre ski trek, 1990

Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary, 2001

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia and becomes the first woman to lead an African country, 2005

A message is found on the leg of a mummified pigeon from WWII in Surrey, England, in a code that is unrecognized, 2012

A special 50th anniversary episode of Dr. Who is aired, simulcast to 94 countries and earning a Guiness World Record for the largest simulcast of a TV drama, 2013

The Sumatran rhino is officially declared extinct in Malaysia after the last known specimen, 25-year-old Iman, dies of cancer in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, 2019

China launches the Chang’e-5 mission to the Moon to collect lunar rock and soil samples, 2020

Egypt reopens its 3000-year-old Avenue of the Sphinxes in Luxor, 2021

One of Albert Einstein's early manuscripts on the working of the theory of relativity sells at auction for USD13million, 2021

NASA launches its DART Mission, to test the technology to prevent a future impact on earth by a hazardous asteroid, by deliberately crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid (in a real-life echo of the movie Armageddon), 2021

20 comments:

  1. Love your use of your prompts. That is a family that has its priorities right.
    Sorry, I am passing this week. My brain is porridge.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like your story and thanks for the words. I'm late today, had no internet until 5pm.

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  3. Is the tree leaning on the fence? Or the fence leaning on the tree?

    God bless.

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  4. We always have to google fan direction at our house. Mom's father was a builder. Their homes were never quite finished until they were sold and then they moved to the next new build that wasn't quite finished. Mom would never live with a builder after that, but her brother does carpentry as a hobby and his house is now always under construction but his wife doesn't seem to mind.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Harbor Freight. I know that place.

    You're an amazing wordsmith.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Big hug. ♥

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  6. Love the story, youy always write such cozyness that I like to crawl into the story. I am going to do the "Can You Find Your Old Rubik's Cube and Still Work It Day"-challenge!

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  7. Lovely story ~ sweet writer ~ Xo

    Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  8. We have one of those gates that don't latch properly! My husband is a keen DIYer and everything gets almost finished and he starts on the next thing. Infuriating, but I love him!!

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  9. I am elbow deep in two pies and a sausage stuffing and I do admire your persistence and consistency.

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  10. That was a fabulous story and a cool pull chain!

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  11. Good story. My hubby never lets me hire anyone to do anything- so frustrating. XO

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  12. I enjoy reading your story using the prompts. Some men will always tell their wives that they will do the job but always took such to start the job.

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  13. A delighful story and some very sensible chains!

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  14. I put the mail on the shelf so I could help get the dog on the leash and push it out the door as I gave it a talk.

    ReplyDelete
  15. NEW NEIGHBORS by Granny Annie

    Sylvia did not mind the opening in her fence as long as nobody lived next door. She believed if neighbors moved in they could talk at the opening in the fence. Maybe share a cup of coffee or two. However when the Wilson's moved in things did not turn out as Sylvia had hoped. They brought along their huge dog Killer.

    Killer was kept on a leash every time one of the Wilson's went out. That was okay. There were occasions though when Killer would escape the house and push his gigantic head through the fence opening. Sylvia knew it was just a matter of time before Killer would get into her yard.

    Sylvia was not well acquainted with the Wilson family. They had not seemed friendly when she tried to visit with them. She decided the best form of communication would be to depend on the mail. She sent them a letter describing her concerns and they responded by yelling at her when she was outside. They screamed that she should repair the opening in her fence. It was actually the Wilson's fence and was on their property line so she informed them of that in another letter rather than yelling at them. 

    It was time to solve this concern. Sylvia found an old shelf board in her garage that was just the right size and she nailed it across the opening in the fence. No, it was not a pretty fix but it did the job. Killer could not get in her yard.

    Killer did not like the fence being blocked. He had enjoyed peeking his head through. His only alternative was to dig under. He worked most of the night was was fully in Sylvia's back yard when she came out in the morning.  

    Sylvia screamed her final word "help!".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's sad when neighbors are like that, and this is worse they are dangerous.

      My neighbors are great, we are blessed.

      Thanks for playing along!

      Delete
  16. Here is my story a bit late. Mimi your prompts this month are great. I loved the tip about the fan chains. Went around and checked all four of my ceiling fans and sure enough...

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  17. What a perfect snapshot of a life! Well done!

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