Car Repair Blues (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day and Brian's Thankful Thursday

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For economic reasons which are way too complicated to discuss here, my Sweetie and i, as well as our #1 Son, are working stiffs who never manage to sock away quite enough for emergencies and retirement and all the things and still pay the bills, although we do mostly get by.

Buying a new car is a foreign thing in our world, we drive old "clunkers, beaters and hoopties," the kind of car which, if it would quit needing repair so often, would possibly allow you to save up for a bit better of a "clunker, beater or hooptie."

Meanwhile, though, you have to get to work to earn grocery (and car repair) money, and the saving for something better never quite adds up as fast as you'd hoped it would, so you patch and patch and patch again, feeling like you are holding it together with chicken wire and bubble gum.

Slow-Moe is our best car between my Sweetie and i (yes, we name our cars, don't judge) as it has air conditioning, driving without it in my GusGus die Fledermaus is torture down here in the swamps, and poor Slow-Moe went down last week when some kind of seal broke; they played havoc getting the part but at least it was available.

Meanwhile, #1 Son's car, High Dudgeon (don't even ask), which also had no A/C, started to make a high-pitched squeal so he took it in to our regular shop where they told him he has to fix the A/C or the belt which runs the engine, which runs through the now broken A/C compressor, would shred and tear the engine apart and he'd lose the whole engine.

Thus we and he start again to work to pay off yet another repair to our various clunker/beater/hooptie cars, and hope they hold together a little bit longer.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Patch.      

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While Good Fences Around the World seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird, i still enjoy looking for and posting interesting fences, so i will!

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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    

I know the camper was eating cookies last night

I'll sneak in while he's out and just snitch a bite

I promise I'll take two or three and it'll be enough,

oh, here they are, um, well just one more, um, um, umph...

Well, that took out the package and they sure were good,

if the camper had been here he would have understood,

once a bear gets going, he's pro'lly not gonna stop,

oh, and here's his ice chest, can I pry off the top?

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Angel Brian's Family of Brian's Home - Forever hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

Today i am thankful the mechanics at Kevin and Lenny's were able to fix our cars once again.

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It's International Mutt Day!  Because mutts deserve a day just as much as the purebred dogs do.

Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere for the event badge.

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Today is:

Always Live Better Than Yesterday Day

Cotton Candy Day

Emancipation Day -- Bermuda (first day of the Cup Match)

Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola -- (Founder of the Jesuits, especially revered in Spain; Patron of retreats, soldiers, and the Society of Jesus which he founded; Basque country; Bilbao, Spain; Bizkaia, Spain; Gipuzkoa, Spain; Guipuscoa, Spain; Guipúzcoa, Spain; Spiritual Exercises (by Pope Pius XI); Vizcaya, Spain)

Hachinohe Sansha Taisai -- Hachinohe City, Japan (one of the most elaborate neputa festivals, through Aug. 4)

Jump for Jellybeans Day

Ka Hae Hawai'i Day -- Hawai'i (State Flag Day)

Lammas Eve / Lughnassad Eve

Lithasblot -- Norse harvest festival with a "blot", or offering, to the gods, celebrated through tomorrow

Loki and Sigyn's Day - Asatru / Norse Pagan (aka Devoted Couples Day)

Make Homemade Ice Cream and Invite the Neighbors Over Day -- summer's almost over, make the most of the days we have left!

Moby Dick Marathon -- aboard the last US wooden whaler, the Charles W. Morgan, Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT, US (through tomorrow, from noon to noon, a marathon reading of Moby Dick in honor of Melville's birthday)

National Chili Dog Day

National Raspberry Cake Day

St. Germanus' Day (Patron of Auxerre, France)

St. Joseph of Arimathea's Day -- Eastern Orthodox Church (Patron of funeral directors)

Uncommon Instruments Day    

World Ranger Day -- the International Ranger Federation wants us to honor wildlife rangers around the world as they work to protect the world's natural and cultural treasures, and remember those killed in the line of duty

Birthdays Today

Eric Lively, 1981

Dean Cain, 1966

J.K. Rowling, 1965

Jim Corr, 1964

Wesley Snipes, 1962

Bill Berry, 1958

Michael Biehn, 1956

Barry Van Dyke, 1951

Evonne Goolagong, 1951

Gary Lewis, 1946

Geraldine Chaplin, 1944

Susan Flannery, 1943

France Nuyen, 1939

Ted Cassidy, 1932

Don Murray, 1929

Curt Gowdy, 1919

Milton Friedman, 1912

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Living Daylights(Film), 1987

"The Shadow"(Radio), 1930

Today in History

Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide, BC30

The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji, 781

Thessalonica falls to the Arabs, who destroy the city, 904

The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect, 1492

On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus

becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad, 1498

Aurangzeb is proclaimed Moghul emperor of India, 1658

The Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War, 1667

Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers, 1703

The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Marquis de Lafayette  "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States," 1777

First U.S. patent is issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process, 1790

Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city, 1856

The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia, 1865

The radio mystery program The Shadow is aired for the first time, 1930

Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius in Persepolis, 1938

First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio, 1954

At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning because of rain, 1961

The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy, 1970

Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover, 1971

NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, 1976

A rare, class F4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage, 1987

Georgia joins the United Nations, 1992

Fidel Castro hands over power temporarily to brother Raúl Castro, 2006

Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end, 2007

U.S. Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps wins a record 19th Olympic medal, with gold in the 4x200metres freestyle relay, 2012

Facebook discloses and removes a Russian-linked network of site pages that are attempting to interfere in American politics, 2018

American swimming superstar Katie Ledecky wins the women's 800m gold for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympics in Tokyo, 2021

The McKinney fire at Klamath National Forest, becomes California's largest fire of the year, 2022

The exact location of Fort Kormantine, built in 1631 by the English as their first slave fort in Africa, is found in Fort Amsterdam, Ghana, 2023

A 5,000-year-old large-scale farming settlement is discovered at Oued Beht, Morocco, confirming North Africa's significance during the Neolithic Age, 2024

Why the Knights Had Pirate Eye Patches (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Hey there!
Where's the treasure???
"But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Steve at BeThere2Day, Catsynth, 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.    

The prompts will be posted by Elephant's Child this month and are provided by  Alex J. Cavanaugh.    

This week's prompts are:

• staple
• symbolic
• relic
• ebony
• flames

 

And/Or 

• moon
• general
• drums
• presto
• thrilled

Charlotte (MotherOwl)  has given us Pearl Opal Green as the colour of the month.  If you can also incorporate it into your stories she (and I) will be grateful.

Last week it was #2 Son, this week, it's #1 Son's turn to be showcased in my WfW story and the whole of it is SYMBOLIC of the kind of stuff that happens to me, or to my family.

In fact, such stories are a STAPLE of family lore.

Being that i'm an old RELIC who gets up between 3-4am most days, i'd gone to bed by 9 last Friday after cleaning Grandma and Grandpa's house that day to have Saturday free for babysitting my little Annie.

At about 11:55pm, i was awakened by my phone, and through bleary eyes saw it was #1 Son, who wouldn't call me at that time unless it was an emergency.  My kids know my hours.

I answered while trying to blink the sleep from my eyes and he said, "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have called you, but I didn't know who else to call, I was on my way home from work and the axle cracked and the tire fell off my car!  I've been calling towing companies and some of them the person answering sounded sketchy and the others are busy and..."

It's okay, i stopped him, i have AAA for just this reason and i will be on my way in a few minutes.  Where are you?

He told me his location, one of the worst areas of town which he drives through on the way to work and back.

"Are you sure you don't mind helping?" he asked, and i reassured him it was fine, especially since i'd probably be able to sleep a bit later in the morning, babysitting was for the afternoon.

"That's good," he said, "and I don't have work tomorrow, either."

Slipping into my daytime duds, i went to the loo (never, ever pass up the opportunity to use the can or take a nap) and headed out, calling AAA while on the way over.

The nice lady reassured me they'd get there within about an hour, which sounded great, considering the area.  No one would be THRILLED to wait there long.

I noticed the waning MOON on the way, and took time at the red lights to admire the skies.  The light pollution from a city seems to my eyes to turn the sky EBONY and the few stars we see, and the moon, stick out when you catch a glimpse of them.

When i arrived the scene was unmistakable, as there was a police car with him.  The unmarked vehicle had its back blue lights going, but not the ones in the front, just the regular hazard lights could be seen from the front.  This is important later in the story.

#1 Son had been turning onto a side street to try to get off the main roadway and slid to where he was at an odd angle right in the intersection, and a very nice sheriff's deputy, who had just gotten off duty and was going home, stopped and decided he'd best stick around to keep trouble at bay.

I pulled onto the side street and up a ways, knowing a tow truck had to get in there somehow to get him, and walked back toward them.

They were discussing DRUMS (#1 Son plays a bit of piano and guitar, but he's a drummer at heart and has a regular and an electronic set).  They apparently both know the same member of a cover band they admire, and their GENERAL discussion after i arrived was about the music scene in the area and how it has dwindled.

We talked about lots of other topics, too, including the officer's time in Germany while he was in the military, as the towing company kept giving us later and later times to arrive and the cold began really seeping in.

#1 Son at one point laughingly said he was glad he'd stopped to use the restroom before leaving work, as he's only a ten minute drive from his place and considered waiting.  "I'd be hurting if I'd done that!"

Yep, always use the can or take a nap, every time the opportunity arises.

Finally, around 1:30am we got the call, the tow truck was on the way.  He pulled up a few minutes later, his Pearl Opal Green lettering on the side announcing he was from the company i'd been told to expect.  

The driver pulled around, tried to back up in such a way as to be able to easily get at the disabled car, and wasn't able to do it.

He pulled back into the main road to think about the situation and how to proceed when we heard the most awful sound from up the road, engine and tire sounds, crunching sounds, then revving sounds.

A small pick-up truck had hit a parked car up the side road and was fleeing the scene!

We watched as he roared past us and barely stopped at the stop sign, only long enough to note the two cars with emergency flashers on, remember the blue lights were only flashing behind the unmarked "cop car."  Thinking he was fine to turn and keep fleeing, he stepped on the gas and pealed out wide, planning to turn into the outer of the two lanes on the street, and pulled right into the side of the tow truck!

As #1 Son and i both agreed after, we'd seen it coming but he didn't.  He was shocked to see a tow truck stopped there as he'd been looking left to make sure he could turn right, but after his truck hit and stalled a moment, he threw the truck into reverse, tires squealing and burning so much rubber i was surprised it didn't burst into FLAMES.

He completed his turn, squealing and taking off with the sheriff's deputy, who'd gotten back in his car as soon as the tow truck showed but was waiting for the driver to get the car on the tow bed, took off after him, full lights now on and siren screaming.

The tow truck driver, who'd been a bit surly (he said he'd had a long day and this was his last job when we were on the phone), got out of the truck as #1 Son and i walked over to survey the "damage."  We realized all the debris on the road was from the guy's truck, the tow vehicle had sustained no damage, and PRESTO, the tow driver was laughing and in a much better humor as we were all asking ourselves, did we really just see that?

We did, and the driver still managed to get the car onto the bed of the tow truck with a slider and some clever maneuvering.  He'd drop it at Kevin and Lenny's with the key in the key slot of the building, and i took #1 Son home then went home myself.

As a postscript, the next morning #1 Son sent me his usual good morning text, followed by, "Sorry I'm so late, you wouldn't believe the night I had!"

Somehow, i do.

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Today is:

Anniversary of Cerro de Pasco -- Peru (founding of the city and its silver mine)

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

Electric Guitar Day -- birth anniversary of Jimi Hendrix

Feast of Ullr and Skadi -- Asatru/Norse Pagan (celebrating craftsmen)

Freckle Pride Day -- show your spots, you are beautiful!

Khoiak Ceremonies -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (ceremonies surrounding the stories of the death of Osiris, date approximate)

Lancashire Day -- Lancashire, England (celebrating their first elected representative in Parliament in 1295)

Maaverar Naal -- Tamil Eelam, Sri Lanka (Tamil Heroes' Day)

National Bavarian Cream Pie Day

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

Pie in the Face Day -- internet generated, and supposed to be a virtual one, so no mess to clean

Pins and Needles Day -- celebrating the 1937 opening of the Pins and Needles Music Revue

St. James Intercisus' Day (Patron of lost vocations, torture victims)

St. Virgilius of Salzburg's Day (Patron of Salzburg, Austria; Slovenes)

Thanksgiving Day -- Norfolk Island

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

Anniversaries Today:

William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway, 1582

Birthdays Today:

Jaleel White, 1976

Samantha Harris, 1973

Brooke Langton, 1970

Robin Givens, 1964

Fisher Stevens, 1963

Caroline Kennedy, 1957

Rick Rockwell, 1956

Kathryn Bigelow, 1951

Jimi Hendrix, 1942

Eddie Rabbit, 1941

Bruce Lee, 1940

Gail Henion Sheehy, 1937

Alexander Dubcek, 1921

"Buffalo" Bob Smith, 1917

Chick Hearn, 1916

James Agee, 1909

L. Sprague de Camp, 1907

Forrest Shaklee, 1894

Chaim Weizmann, 1874

Charles A. Beard, 1874

Bat Masterson, 1853

Robert R. Livingston, 1746 (O.S. date)

Anders Celsius, 1701

Emperor Xiaozong of China, 1127

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Magical Mystery Tour"(Beatles album release), 1967

"Never Too Late"(Play), 1962

"The Dinah Shore Show"(TV), 1951

Today in History:

The first elected representatives from Lancashire were called to Westminster by King Edward I to attend what later became known as "The Model Parliament", 1295

The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703

The Portuguese Royal Family leaves Lisbon to escape from Napoleonic troops, 1807

Adoption of Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland, 1815

NY Times dubs baseball "The National Game", 1870

Alfred Nobel establishes the Nobel Prize, 1895

In New York City, the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held, 1924

The Soviet space program's Mars 2 orbiter releases a descent module; it crashes, but still becomes the first man-made object to be on Mars, 1971

The left-wing Labour Party takes control of the New Zealand government with leader Helen Clark becoming the first elected female Prime Minister in New Zealand's history, 1999

A hydrogen atmosphere is discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope, the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet, 2001

The Canadian House of Commons endorses Prime Minister Stephen Harper's motion to declare Quebec a nation within a unified Canada, 2006

Icelanders vote for their own constitution after using a modified Danish constitution for 66 years, 2010

The Nissan Leaf self-driving car completes its first test in Japan, on the Sagami Expressway, 2013

The wreck of the San Jose, considered the "Holy grail" of shipwrecks, sunk 1708, is confirmed found by an international team off the coast of Colombia, 2015

Pope Francis begins a three-day trip to Myanmar, amid the Rohingya refugee crisis, 2017

Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano, erupts for the first time in nearly 40 years on Hawaii Island, 2022