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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, yours truly is providing the prompts on my blog.
Please feel free to use some of the prompts, none of them, or all of them as you see fit. The point is to get the creative juices flowing in whatever manner your muse leads you.
This week the prompts are:
fraud
weak
unaware
wind
cope
morning
and/or these not as common as they used to be words
fusty
prepense
clement
Charlotte/Mother Owl has also chosen Mouse Grey as the color of the month, which you may use as a prompt if you wish.
The phone rang, startling us. My Sweetie and i were sitting at the kitchen table, Bigger Girl was on the floor nearby on a Mouse Grey blanket playing with her baby toys and #1 Son was playing with Lego blocks in the next room. (#2 Son and Little Girl were not even thought of yet, so this is way back in the day.)
At least, that's where he had been when i came to the table to sit and do some paperwork.
Being closest, i picked up the phone and was quite surprised to hear the voice of a 911 operator asking if there was an emergency at our location.
I am UNAWARE of any emergencies here, i told her, and as my husband and i were the only adults in the house and were both sitting at the table and not on the phone, i was unsure what had happened.
After all, it can be considered FRAUD to call the emergency number if it's not a real emergency.
At that moment, #1 Son peeped around the corner with a scared look, followed by a WEAK smile, and then his little head disappeared.
I told the emergency operator the four-year-old most likely culprit had just poked his head up and we would have a talk with him about not dialing that number again, and she thanked me and we ended the call.
In a more FUSTY, old fashioned time, punishment might have been handed down, but i decided there needed to be a more CLEMENT way of dealing with the situation. After all, we never know what the WIND of Providence might bring and having a child who knows how and when to properly use the phone to call for help can be a boon.
Also, children have their fears, and fear of not being able to handle an emergency can make things worse.
I chose to COPE with the situation by first asking him why he'd called the number, sneaking into our bedroom and using the extension phone in there. His answer told me what i already suspected, it was not from malice PREPENSE.
First, he was curious about what happened when you dialed the number.
Second, he was worried about being able to handle it if something bad happened as a member of our church had an emergency the week before and he'd heard the talk about it.
The next MORNING, after breakfast and morning Bible story and prayer, we played "calling 911." With two unplugged phones, he pretended to call and i pretended to be the 911 operator and we went through telling his name and parents' names, phone number, location, and what kind of emergency it was. We talked about how you never tell this information to a stranger unless you called them at 911, or it's a police officer or firefighter in a uniform.
After a couple of practice sessions, we'd taken the mystery out of what to do in an emergency, and we never had a repeat of such a false alarm.
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Today is:
Anniversary Day -- Tristan da Cunha
Assumption Eve -- France; Holy See
Crayfish Premiere -- Sweden (although they are now available year 'round, it used to be that crayfish could only be sold and served in restaurants the day after the season opens; the actual premiere date is often still celebrated with crayfish parties and lots of schnapps)
Day of Peace between Horus and Set -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)
Faradda di li candareri (Descent of the Candlesticks) -- Sassari, Sardinia (beginning of the celebration of the Assumption)
Festival for Fortuna Equestris -- Ancient Roman Calendar
Independence Day -- Pakistan(1947)
International Nagging Day -- ignore this one if you have any sense, the founder was smart enough to leave no trace
La Torta dei Fieschi -- Lavagna, Italy (this city on the Italian Riviera comes to life with dance and music every year to commemorate the wedding, on this day in 1230, of Bianca de Bianchi and Count Opizzo Fiechi, as he had invited everyone in town to share the 30ft. high cake he had made for the occasion)
Liberty Tree Day -- Massachusetts, US
Mantoro Lantern Lighting -- Kasuga Taisha, Japan (through tomorrow; 3,000 lanterns light the shrine, and the main hall is open for visitors, with Bugaku and Kagura performed in the apple garden)
National Creamsicle Day
National Financial Awareness Day -- can't find the history on who started this for which country, but it's wise to become financially literate no matter where you live
National Navajo Code Talkers Day -- Navajo Nation; US
Oued Ed-Dahab Day -- Morocco; Western Sahara (celebrating the recovery of this area from Spanish occupation in 1979)
Pramuka Day -- Indonesia (Scouting Day)
Royal Queensland Show -- QLD, Australia
St. Maximillian Kolbe's Day (Patron of families, imprisoned people, journalists, political prisoners, prisoners, recovering drug addicts, the pro-life movement; against drug addictions)
St. Werenfrid's Day (Patron of vegetable gardeners; Arnheim, Netherlands; Elst, Netherlands; Westervoort, Netherlands; against gout and stiff joints)
Wiffle Ball Day -- the wiffle ball was introduced this day in 1953
Anniversaries Today:
Jackie Mason marries Jyll Rosenfeld, 1991
V-J Day, 1945
Birthdays Today:
Tim Tebow, 1987
Terin Humphrey, 1986
Mila Kunis, 1983
Spencer Pratt, 1983
Jay Manuel, 1972
Catherine Bell, 1968
Halle Berry, 1966
Earvin "Magic" Johnson, 1959
Marcia Gay Harden, 1959
Gary Larson, 1950
Danielle, Steel, 1947
Antonio Fargas, 1946
Susan Saint James, 1946
Steve Martin, 1945
Lynne Cheney, 1941
David Crosby, 1941
Arthur Betz Laffer, 1940
Alice Ghostley, 1926
Buddy Greco, 1926
Russell Baker, 1925
John Ringling North, 1903
Ernest Everett Just, 1883
Ernest Lawrence Thayer, 1863
Doc Holiday, 1851
H.C. Oersted, 1777
Emperor Hanazono of Japan, 1297
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"The Front Page"(Play), 1928
Today in History
The young Emperor Antoku and three sacred treasures are taken by Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan, fleeing to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan, 1183
Kublai Khan's invading fleet disappears in a a typhoon near Japan, 1281
Three years after Gutenberg, the oldest known exactly dated printed book is published, 1457
Queen Elizabeth I refuses sovereignty of the Netherlands, 1585
Great Britain annexes Tristan da Cunha (remotest occupied island), 1816
Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida to Oklahoma, 1842
Oregon Territory created, 1848
Magazine "Field and Stream" begins publication, 1873
Construction of Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, is completed, 1880
Japan issues its first patent, for rust-proof paint, 1885
A recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's The Lost Chord, one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London, 1888
France begins requiring motor vehicle registration, 1893
The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21, 1901
Mt. Rushmore project first proposed, 1925
United States Social Security Act passes, creating a government pension system for the retired, 1935
British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland, 1969
Longest game in softball history begins, as The Gager's Diner team takes on the Bend'n Elbow Tavern; the game was played to raise money for a new softball field in Monticello, NY, went to 365 innings over two days, and the Gagers won 491-467, 1976
Lech Walesa leads strikes at the Gdansk, Poland shipyards, 1980
Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada, 2003
More than 2,000 people found in Poland's largest mass grave during World War II are reburied in a military cemetery, 2009
As a sponsored event of the IOC, the 2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games, first ever Youth Olympics for athletes age 14-18, officially starts in Singapore, 2010
North and South Korea agree to reopen the jointly-operated Kaesong Industrial Region, 2013
Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt becomes the first man to win the coveted 100m Olympic gold medal three times, with a win at the Rio Olympics, 2016
According to a survey published by the US Department of the Interior and the US Geological Survey, 90% of rain samples taken in Colorado have plastic in them, 2019
Stephanie Frappart of France becomes the first woman to referee a major men's football/soccer match in a European men's tournament, 2019
Spain records its highest ever temperature of 47.2C (117F) in Montoro, Córdoba, 2021
"Knights in white satin."
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I liked that Knight's just wanna have fun heheh!
ReplyDeleteHave a knighttastic week mimi and thanks for linking up 👍
The knights are fun. Good story about calling 911.
ReplyDeleteKnights in Shining Armor. Huge too. I am feeling much better in this 4th week.
ReplyDeleteI just love those knights - they sure have fun.
ReplyDeleteI'll return to read your story once my two brain cells have rubbed enough together to produce just something from those words ;)
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOh, I feel with you and #1 son in this story. I have done that same drill with our children, but never had any false alarms. Earlier our emergency number was 0-0-0 because on an old phone it was hard to call by accident. Now it's 1-1-2 here as it is in the other European countries.
DeleteLove the knight pictures!
ReplyDeleteThose knights seem like they would be a good photo start for the poem day!
ReplyDeleteI have heard of kids trying the same thing, they know what 911 is, just not the concept of the appropriate time to call...
I accidentally called 911, because a neighbor had it as a single button on his phone. Fortunately, as an adult, I could explain that I had hit a button by accident. The reaction told me it wasn't an uncommon happenstance...
Cat
Love the knight. I want one.
ReplyDeleteI love your use of the prompts and love how you taught your little ones how and when to use 911. You're a jewel.
Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Love and hugs. ♥
Java Bean: "Ayyy, our Dada says this is true! Especially for the Knights of the Round Table, who dance whenever they're able!"
ReplyDeleteCount me in for National Creamcicle Day!
ReplyDeleteI thought of (k)Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues. haha Music brain! I like how you handled your son and 911. Here they just come to the house or did when my kids were small. Hannah and Jeremy both tried it. Jeremy did it twice. Once he thought it he took the cordless phone in the neighbors yards they would go there! He was about 6.Always my pleasure to be here. Thanks for the smiles and all you do.
ReplyDeleteLooks like someone is having a good Knight! That was a terrific story!
ReplyDeleteArgh! I scrolled down too far and put my link under the words! Trying again!
ReplyDeleteHi Mimi! I wish I had more time to comment everyday, but I want you to know that I absolutely LOVE your blog and the smiles it brings me when I read it daily. THANK YOU and
ReplyDeleteThank you for your condolences, it means a lot to me. Cinnamon is missed terribly. Love Barb (and Marv, Jo Jo, Kozmo and Nutmeg)
I have a knight like that. It is very sharp. That was the best way to handle the 911 situation. XO
ReplyDeleteI had read stories where kids called 911 and saved parents and such and I like that. It's good kids know what to do in an emegency.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for providing the WFW prompts.
My take on the prompts is here: Fiction: The truth will set you free, sort of
Have a lovely day
Of course, the knights just want to have fun. It must get rather boring hanging around all day in all that heavy metal:)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to do that roleplaying - good practice just in case there would be a 911 emergency.
Woos - Misty and Timber
Who knew that knights were so much fun? :)
ReplyDeleteThose knights are fun!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your story with a very sensible solution to allay son's fears.
It would be great to have a Knight ~ awesome photos ~ thanks and hugs,
ReplyDeleteWishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
clm ~ A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
l like the knights, and as for the 911 lesson, excellent!
ReplyDeleteMay it look fusty: He prepensed to react clement.
ReplyDeleteIf they thought this mouse grey old man were weak and unaware to cope with fraud – the wind was not in their favour. ;-)
I'm glad the wind went against them. I loathe frauds. Nice use of the prompts!
DeleteYour story is once again really taken from life, Mimi. Thanks for a good read.
ReplyDelete