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Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Unique "Try Before You Buy" (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 David M. Gascoigne (we thank him for the May prompts!) and they will be posted by Elephant's Child.         



This week's prompts are:

 

  • Lions
  • Resources
  • Choice
  • Course
  • Systematically
  • Predator


and/or


  • Occasionally
  • Firestorm
  • Land
  • Sight
  • Reproducing
  • Humans



Charlotte/Mother Owl's colour of the month is May green, if we choose to use it.



HUMANS are funny creatures.


Similar to some of the PREDATOR species, like LIONS, we are fiercely protective of our home territory.


Every year, one family would leave their home territory, packing the car to the gills and take off across the country in one of the great American pastimes, the vacation road trip.


OCCASIONALLY, these would go as planned.  Most often, there was a hiccup.


Every year, like clockwork, the mother would wait until the family was about 50 miles from home, and suddenly gasp, "I left the iron plugged in!  I just know I left the iron plugged in!  The house is going to burn to the ground!  We have to go back so I can unplug the iron!"


Please note, this was back in the days before permanent press or wrinkle free clothes and the irons of that day (the 1950s) did not shut themselves off after a certain amount of time.  The RESOURCES for making phone calls when away from home were limited mostly to finding a pay phone.  Then you'd have to hope you could get your neighbor at home, the one with the spare key to your house for emergencies, and etc.


That was, if you left a key with a neighbor, and if the neighbor wasn't at work when you'd left at seven in the morning, and it was still before noon.


In other words, dad would have no CHOICE but to reverse COURSE, retracing his steps (or his driving, really) over the LAND and miles he'd been so glad to cover and get behind him, because he knew if he didn't turn and go back, even if there was no fire at home there would be a FIRESTORM in the car.


Inevitably, they'd pull into the drive and mom would run in with dad right behind her only to find out that, no, she had not left the iron plugged in after all.


They kept REPRODUCING this scenario year after year, until the one year everything changed and dad became a major vacation-saving hero in the SIGHT of his children (who had also grown weary of this yearly futile ritual).


One year, mom gasped and said, "I left the iron plugged in, I just know it!  Honey, I know, every time before I was wrong, but this time I am absolutely sure I left the iron plugged in.  This time, I just know it and we have to go back and... wait, what are you doing?"


What dad was doing was pulling over to the side of the road.


He got out of the car, took the key and opened the trunk of the car, grabbed the iron he'd packed in there, got back in the car and set the iron in the lap of mom's May green dress.


Then he started the car and they proceeded with their now unhindered vacation road trip.


This scenario was SYSTEMATICALLY reproduced every year thereafter, with dad refusing to budge from the driveway until he was certain that doggone iron was in the trunk of the car, and mom had seen it.


Problem solving at its finest.


(Based on a true story from a Reader's Digest several years ago.)



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Today is:


Bicycle Race Day -- anniversary of what is supposed to have been the first bicycle race ever, at the Parc de Saint-Cloud, Paris, in 1868


Dia de Castilla-La Mancha -- Castile-La Mancha, Spain


Doha Document for Peace in Darfur Commemoration -- Sudan


Feast of the Visitation of Mary -- Christianity (Mary's visit of her cousin Elizabeth, chronicled in Luke 1:39-56)


"Make My Day" Day -- birth anniversary of Clint Eastwood


National Macaroon Day


National Senior Health and Fitness Day -- US (don't let age get in the way of staying healthy!) 


Royal Brunei Malay Regiment Day / Royal Brunei Armed Forces Day -- Brunei


Save Your Hearing Day -- because once it is gone, you will regret it; on the anniversary of the concert by The Who which set a Guiness World Record for loudest rock concert in 1976


Speak in Complete Sentences Day -- be a good example!


St. Petronilla's Day (Patron of mountain travellers; against fever)


Take This Job and Shove It Day -- birth anniversary of Johnny Paycheck


This Day (again) -- Fairy Calendar


What You Think Upon Grows Day -- Stephanie West Allen wants you to remember the power of positive thinking


World No Tobacco Day -- WHO 


World Parrot Day



Birthdays Today:


Jonathan Tucker, 1982

Colin Farrell, 1976

Phil Keoghan, 1967

Brooke Shields, 1965

Lea Thompson, 1961

Chris Elliot, 1960

Roma Maffia, 1958

Kyle Secor, 1958

Gregory Harrison, 1950

Tom Berenger, 1950

John Bonham, 1948

Sharon Gless, 1943

Joe Namath, 1943

Johnny Paycheck, 1941

Terry Waite, 1939

Peter Yarrow, 1938

Clint Eastwood, 1930

Patricia Roberts Harris, 1924

Prince Rainier of Monaco, 1923

Denholm Elliott, 1922

Don Ameche, 1908

Norman Vincent Peale, 1898

Fred Allen, 1894

Walt Whitman, 1819



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Survivor"(TV), 2000

"Seinfeld"(TV), 1990

"Beatlemania"(Musical), 1977



Today in History:


Rameses II (The Great) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, BC1279

A devastating earthquake strikes Antioch, Turkey, killing 250,000, 526

Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans, 1223

Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary, 1669

The Godiva procession through Coventry begins, 1678

The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions, 1759

In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains, 1813

In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, 1866

Dr James Moore of the UK wins the first recorded bicycle race, a 2k velocipede race at Parc de St Cloud, Paris, 1868

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes, 1884

Arrival at Plymouth of Tawhiao, King of Maoris, to claim protection of Queen Victoria, 1884

Over 2,200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1889

The Union of South Africa (predecessor of the Republic of South Africa) is created, 1910

The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles, 1927

A 7.1 magnitude Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan, 1931

The Republic of South Africa is created, 1961

The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide  that buries the town of Yungay, Peru, 1970

In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30, 1971

The Muppet Movie, Jim Henson's Muppets' first foray into the world of feature length motion pictures, is released, 1979

The burning of Jaffna Library, Sri Lanka, is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century, 1981

Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead, 1985

Athena 98.4 FM, the first legal private radio station in Greece, starts broadcasting, 1987

Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was Deep Throat, 2005

Asteroid 1998 QE2, an asteroid measuring nearly 1.7 miles across, and its moon, pass within 3.6 million miles of the earth, 2013

Asteroid 1998 QE2, an asteroid measuring nearly 1.7 miles across, and its moon, pass within 3.6 million miles of the earth, 2013

The Danish government bans garments that cover the face, including the niqab and burqa, 2018

China's ruling Communist Party announces it will allow married couples to have three children, in effort to boost falling birthrates, 2021

Archaeologists announce the discovery of 100 cuneiform tablets in a Bronze Age city unearthed on the Tigris River, Iraq due to drought, 2022

17 comments:

  1. What a brilliant solution. And yes, I remember those irons. Another great take on the prompts.

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  2. That is a great story and solution by the dad.

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  3. Okay, I believe this one is for May 31st, and I want to thank you for your prayers for my son in that he's going to have surgery on Friday to remove 2 hernias. He's a boss at Fed Ex and works mainly on the dock with the trucks & packages. He's my eldest son he just turned 50 Dec 22nd. I told him to stop it, but he won't listen to me cuz the older he gets the older I get!!!! hahaha Love that boy I'm so very proud of him. He was also in the Marines so that should tell you a lot about his character. Well, thanks again & we'll talk soon! Hugs & have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, this link isn't where I'm normally at. You see my computer hates me & it does what it wants to do, but I'll probably get it fixed tomorrow. Great Post my friend... So did you like this Scentiva stuff & does it smell good? I love that it is also a disinfectant. Hmmm I'll have to go back & read where you bought it at, and if you liked it or not. I always spray our bed with disinfectant. Hubby sweats a lot at night. I'll tell I'm this close to getting twin beds. hahaha Have a great day my friend!

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  5. LOL now the scratch n sniff made me giggle :-)
    Have a snifftastic week 👍

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  6. Scratch and sniff, who invented that? What a great story about the iron. Our brains play such games with us, I wonder why that is.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Scratch and Sniff? Bwahahahahahahahahaha.

    Love the use of the prompts. You made me laugh out loud.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Big hug. ♥

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  8. I really dislike fragrant anything unless it's perfume. I don't like air fresheners for the car (really hate) or house. I loved the RD's story! I can't imagine going through that year after year. The Dad had a great way to fix it, though. lol

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  9. Scratch & sniff was a thing when I was in school. We had stickers, Tshirts, pencils and all and syndry with this idea, I have never seen it used for adverticing before - maybe because I go for unscented products.

    I'll be back and read WfW when I have either written something or given it up ;)

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    1. Oh, I love that story. My parents always did something similar. But now I always go throught the house before leaving, assuring the stoveor oven is not on, the iron unplugged (until 2 years ago I never heard about irons that shut themselves off - now I own one), the computers unplugged (against lightening), all lights turned off, doors and windows closed, and the fridge either unplugged and open or still running (We once unplugged it and left it closed - yuck!).
      The dad in your story sure was an everyday hero!

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  10. That is funny. he dad sounds clever. :)

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  11. That was a really good story! Scratch and Sniff products might be okay, but not for toilet tissue.

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  12. That's a good idea -- better than getting a whole bottle and having it smell terrible. :) Great story, too -- that dad is a clever dude.

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  13. Great story but how annoying to have the exact scenario play out year after year until a solution is found.
    I have been know to open bottles and sniff the contents right there in the shop, especially with fabric softeners and laundry liquids. 99.9% of those now are so powerful, so heady, I couldn't possibly use them.

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  14. Sniff? Yes. Scratch? Not sure! Great sory, all the more so being based on truth.

    ReplyDelete

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