A to Z: Unexpected (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     

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

This month, i am providing the prompts.  You can write your story on your blog and leave a link here, or write your story in the comments, your choice.

Pick words from one list, or both, use them all, or use none.  The whole point is to get us writing, so please have fun with it!

This week's words are

introduce

bawdy

insidious

outgoing

laborer

polite

and/or

hall

conscious

ad hoc

sign

yarn

share

Now, about the picture above, the wordless one.  As some of you may have guessed, there's a story, a long YARN connected with it.  Of course, i have to SHARE.

For those of you who never met Bigger Girl's car Cicero, this is a lousy way to INTRODUCE you.  For those of you who have met her, please join me in wishing that she rest in peace as of this past Monday night.

Yes, Monday night, after all that running around for Dr. D, as i wrote up the story for the Tuesday post an INSIDIOUS voice told me the day was not over.  It was right.  About 8:30 pm, Bigger Girl called.

"Mom, I've really messed up this time, I mean really, really messed up, I've had an accident, and this time it's not just a bump, Cicero is leaking fluid all over the place and she's going to have to be towed and I don't think anyone was hurt but i was slowing down for the light and my phone was on the dash, I wasn't talking on it or anything and it started to slide and I got distracted and reached to catch it and when I looked up I realized I hadn't braked hard enough and it was too late to stop and I'm so sorry!"

Now you would think, after saying all of that in one sentence with no breaths, the person speaking would no longer be CONSCIOUS, having turned blue and passed out.  Not Bigger Girl.  For her, that's just a warm up exercise.

Yes, she is rather OUTGOING sometimes, why do you ask?  (She is a bipolar Aspie, so sometimes she's like this, and other times she won't leave the microbiology lab except to eat and sleep, and won't talk to anyone except for business, so this happened on an up day.)

Anyway, as is usual in these situations i put on the mommy-take-care-of-it hat and headed out.  The place was easy to find, what with all the flashing blue lights and three cars on the median being a SIGN i could not miss.  Pulling up in front of them all, as much out of the way of passing traffic as possible, i got out and tried to take in the scene.

Cicero, her hood hiked up like the skirt of a BAWDY dancing girl showing off what's underneath, had indeed poured fluid and sprayed glass and plastic all over.  Two other cars were in front of her, and Bigger Girl was pacing around like a caged tiger.  

When she saw me, she ran over and said, "Oh, mom, there you are, tell me, do I look concussed?"

No more so than usual, i told her drily, then i gave her a hug and asked if she thought she was hurt or needed a doctor.

"No, I'm okay, and I think the other drivers are okay, and I rear-ended this guy, but his car is drivable and it got pushed into that lady's car that was ahead of him and that one is drivable, and the only one that isn't drivable is Cicero and mom, I'm so sorry!"

By now one of the officers had approached and i introduced myself as the mom person and owner of the car.  The officer told me the tow truck had been called and we had a few minutes to get things out of the vehicle before it arrived.  After that, i'd have to go to the tow yard.

While Bigger Girl filled in all of her information to share with the other drivers, i went and spoke with both of them, trying to be POLITE and offering my apologies and telling them i hoped they were okay, while reassuring them we have good insurance.

The first car she hit had a dent in the hatchback and a scuff mark across the front bumper.  The car that was in front of it had a scuff mark on the back bumper.  The lady in that car at the front of the line had bonked her head on the steering wheel and had a small bruise.  Other than that, everyone was unhurt and the driver of the car that ended up in the middle was on his phone laughing with a friend and telling him he'd be along soon, that everything was fine.

Then i pulled Lunceford the Land Yacht as close to Cicero as i could and proceeded to show that being a manual LABORER agrees with me, as i hauled a very heavy boxed ergonomic desk, a chandelier (yes, really!) and a whole lot of other stuff from Cicero to Lunceford in just a very few minutes.  The back seat of my car looked like an AD HOC storage unit whose contents had been tossed around like the ingredients of a good salad.  There were even some of Bigger Girl's balloons for making balloon animals weaving colorful streamers throughout.

Once the tow truck driver had come, swept up much of the debris and deposited it unceremoniously in Cicero's back seat, strewn cat litter over the liquid in the road, given me all the contact information i needed and loaded Cicero, the officers told us we could leave.  The other drivers were already on their way, so Bigger Girl and i got in and i asked where she had been heading.

"To see my friend Paul, and give him some chocolates, I hadn't seen him in a long time," she said.  So we went to see Paul and give him chocolates, then i brought her home.  All of her stuff from Cicero went in the HALL closet.

Tuesday, while working, i called and filed the claim, then after work i went to the tow yard to retrieve anything we'd forgotten.  It shocked me how much we'd overlooked in the dark, although i drew the line at grabbing all of her soy sauce packets (yes, she lives in her car the way i do).  Then i gave permission for them to give the car to the insurance company for an adjuster to move and inspect it.

Now we just wait to see what they decide, although a 13-year-old car that looks like an accordion and had an airbag deployed is most likely to be declared a total loss.

Rest in peace, Cicero.

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Today is:

Administrative Professionals Day -- US

Ambivalence Day -- a holiday to tell your friends about, or not

American Quilter's Society Quilt Show -- Paducah, KY, US (auction, workshops, and prizes for the best quilts; through Saturday)

Concord Day -- Niger

Feast of Eros -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Genocide Remembrance Day / Martyrs' Day-- Armenia

Happenstance and Coincidence Evening -- Fairy Calendar

International Guide Dog Day

Kapyong Day -- Australia (Battle of Kapyong, 1951)

Loktantra Diwas -- Nepal (Democracy Day, celebrating the restoration of the Nepali Congress on this date in 2006)

Mesir Paste Festival -- Manisa, Turkey (mesir paste is a blend of 41 different spices and is intended as a general cure-all and tonic; lots of craft exhibitions, concerts and sporting tournaments, as well as traditional throwing of paste off minaret of the Sultan Mosque, as has been celebrated for almost 50 years; through Sunday)

Peppercorn Ceremony -- St. George, Bermuda (commemorates the renting of what is now the Old State House by the Masonic Lodge to the governor of Burmuda for the cost of one peppercorn per annum, now a well attended festival)

Pigs in a Blanket Day

Poetry & the Creative Mind Gala -- Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, NY, US (an extraordinary evening celebrating the role of contemporary poetry in American culture sponsored by Academy of American Poets)

Spring Cat Cleaning Day -- because someone, somewhere, thinks you need to bathe your cat; ask the cat, he will refuse, and if you become insistent, be careful

St. Ives' Day (Patron of St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, England)

St. Mark's Eve*

Tucson International Mariachi Conference -- Tucson, AZ, US (festival showcasing the best of balle folklorico and mariachi; through Saturday)

USA Film Festival -- Dallas, TX, US (major showcase of new studio and indie films; through Sunday)

Walk @ Lunch Day -- founded and encouraged by Blue Cross / Blue Shield

World Day for Animals in Laboratories   

World Meningitis Day    

*A young lady may eat a boiled dove's egg sprinkled with salt and place a tulip, sacred to St. Mark, in a vase next to her bed, and so she will dream of the man she will marry.

Anniversaries Today:

Mary, Queen of Scots marries Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris, 1558

Birthdays Today:

Courtnee Draper, 1985

Kelly Clarkson, 1982

Eric Balfour, 1977

Chipper Jones, 1972

Cedric the Entertainer, 1964

Djimon Hounsou, 1964

Michael O’Keefe, 1955

Eric Bogosian, 1953

Jean-Paul Gaultier, 1952

Doug Clifford, 1945

Barbra Streisand, 1942

Richard M. Daley, 1942

Sue Grafton, 1940

Jill Ireland, 1936

Shirley MacLaine, 1934

Stanley J. Kauffmann, 1916

Robert Penn Warren, 1905

Michael J. Dady, 1850

George N. Bascom, 1836

Anthony Trollope, 1815

Robert Bailey Thomas, 1766

Edmund Cartwright, 1743

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Dancing at Lughnasa"(Play), 1990

"Die Jahreszeiten/The Seasons"(Oratorio, Haydn H 21/3), 1801

The Boston News-Letter(Newspaper), 1704 (first successful newspaper in the British colonies)

Today in History:

Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut, BC1479

Traditional date for the Greeks entering Troy using the Trojan Horse, BC1184

The appearance of Halley's Comet causes monks in England to predict evil happenings, 1066

"La Marseillaise" is composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 1792

The Boston "News-Letter" becomes the first successful newspaper in the colonies, 1704

The Library of Congress is established, 1800

A patent is granted for the first soda fountain, 1833

William Price of the Washington Star becomes the first reporter to be specifically assigned to the White House, 1897

The fathometer, which measures underwater depth, is patented, 1928

Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, 1953

Cosmonaut  Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1, the first person to die during a space mission, 1967

Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations, 1968

The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched, 1970

Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine, 1990

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI, 2005

Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog is born in South Korea, 2005

Iceland announces that Norway will shoulder the defense of Iceland during peacetime, 2007

Scientists in Kamchatka, Russia, report sighting the first adult white orca to be seen in the wild, 2012

Suffragist Millicent Fawcett is the first woman to have a statue erected in Parliament Square, London, England, 2018

Red Tape and License Tags, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

Now about the truck that we do not own that someone drove on a toll road in Texas.

The back story starts over 40 years ago when Louisiana decided to start allowing personalized license plates.  Grandpa got one that is the name of a local university.  We've kept it in the family as we are allowed to transfer it from car to car, it is on Bigger Girl's car Cicero (which is in my name to keep the insurance rates down). 

Louisiana only puts tags on the backs of cars, not the back and front like many states, including Texas.

People in Louisiana can put a plastic "tag" on the front of the car that says anything they want, and such plastic tags that read the name of the local university are popular.  They are very fake looking, have no stickers to show date of expiration, and can be bought in many stores.

A truck went on a toll road in Texas over a year ago.  There they let you get on the road, take a picture of the front and back of your vehicle, track your tag, and send you the bill (it's a few dollars).

The truck from Louisiana that drove on that road had an official Louisiana tag on the back, and one of those plastic decorative ones on the front.  Guess what the plastic one was?

Someone in the TexTag department decided that the fake tag on the front of the truck was the actual tag.  They sent the bill to us.

For over a year now i've been fighting with them trying to get them to send the bill to the owner of the truck.  Every time i call, they say, file online, and every time i file online, they send me an automated email that says, "If we need more information, we will contact you" and they never contact me, except to send another bill with another late fee tacked on.

Finally, this past Friday, i spent a good bit of time on hold but finally got someone in the TexTag system to tell me that i need to get a vehicle history of my car that proves our car and that truck are not the same, and supposedly then they will reread the pictures, realize the front tag is decorative and the back tag is the correct one, and send the bill to the truck owner.

Ever try to get your official vehicle history report from the state of Louisiana?

We went to the place of waiting for hours, the DMV.  They don't do that (they told us the moment we walked in, thank heaven).  They gave us a number to call, the Public Assistance number.

After 25 minutes on hold with Public Assistance, someone asked me what i needed, and said, "I will transfer you to that department."

After 50 minutes on hold, someone asked me again what i needed, and said, "Just a moment, please."

After one hour and five minutes on hold, someone asked me what i needed, and told me, "Okay, you have to write in to request that, let me give you the address."

Yes, an hour and five minutes on hold, and they can't take your request over the phone, all they can do is tell you where to write to in order to get what you need.

The next step is a ten dollar money order, mailed in requesting the vehicle history.  Then i can fax that to the TexTag people, and supposedly they will review it and see that our car and the truck are not the same vehicle.

The story is not over yet, but i am going to hold on to that vehicle history and if i keep getting bills from TexTag, send it to them over and over.  The people who work there went to Texas schools, which are supposed to be pretty good, so i hope someday one of them figures it out.

Hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday!

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Today is:

Ayyám-i-Há -- Baha'i (intercalary days, devoted to service and gift giving; through Mar. 1)

Dance of the Known Places -- Fairy Calendar

For Pete's Sake Day -- Wellcat Holidays asks us, who is Pete, and why do things for his sake?  think about that as you celebrate this today

Intercalary Days -- Baha'i (through Mar. 1)

Levi Strauss Day -- his birth anniversary

Liberation Day -- Kuwait

National Personal Chef Day -- heaven knows we all have one of those; some websites list it today, some on July 16

National Pistachio Day

Rooks Nesting Day -- Olde England (12 days after Candlemas on the Julian Calendar)

Single-Tasking Day -- encouraging you to do one thing at a time, and not feel guilty; begun by Theresa Gabriel, who claims multitasking is inefficient and hurts your brain! she suggests it be on the 4th Tuesday of the month, although other sites list other dates

Spay Day USA -- sponsored by the HSUS; Sit! Stay! Spay! Good Owner! 

St. Alexander's Day (Patriarch of Alexandria)

St. Isabella of France's Day (Patron of the sick)

Tell a Fairy Tale Day -- shouldn't this have been two days ago, on Wilhelm Grimm's birth anniversary?

The Man In Black Day -- Johnny Cash's birth anniversary

Thriller Day -- Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" hit #1 today, and stayed there for 37 weeks

World Spay Day -- don't let your pets litter!   

Anniversaries Today:

Grand Teton National Park is established, 1929

Grand Canyon National Park is established, 1919

Birthdays Today:

Marshall Faulk, 1973

Erykah Badu, 1972

Mark Dacascos, 1964

Michael Bolton, 1953

Johnny Cash, 1932

Fats Domino, 1928

Betty Hutton, 1921

Tony Randall, 1920

Jackie Gleason, 1916

Margaret Leighton, 1922

Tex Avery, 1908

Madeleine Carroll, 1906

Jean Vercors, 1902

William Frawley, 1887

Herbert Henry Dow, 1866

John Harvey Kellog, 1852

William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, 1846

Levi Strauss, 1829

Honore Daumier, 1808

Victor Hugo, 1802

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Jerome Robbins' Broadway"(Musical), 1989

"Deathtrap"(Play), 1978

Today in History:

Origin of the Epoch of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era, BC747

An earthquake in Lisbon leaves 20,000-30,000 dead, 1531

Christiansborg Castle, Copenhagen burns down, 1794

The Bank of England issues its first banknotes, 1797

Vice-admiral William Bligh ends the siege of Fort Amsterdam, Willemstad, 1804

Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba, 1815

In New York City a demonstration of the first pneumatic subway opens to the public, 1870

HMS Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic, is launched at Harland & Wolff, Belfast, 1914

The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York, 1917

Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom, 1935

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb, 1952

Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada, 1952

National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation, 1970

Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations, 1980

The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections, 1990

On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, 1991

In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand, 1993

The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses, 1995

Mount Hekla in Iceland erupts, 2000

Republic of Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2004

After winning a Liberal Party of British Columbia ballot, Canadian politician Christy Clark becomes the second woman to be Premier of British Columbia, 2011

Scientists in Illinois, announce they've developed stretchable batteries that can power a new generation of flexible electronics, 2013

The Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, receives its 1 millionth seed on 10 year anniversary, 2018

Of Cars and Tonsils and Moving and New Clients, a Random Tuesday Post

And now, a bit of random news and some random thoughts from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.  

The biggest news is Bigger Girl’s car, Cicero.  The transmission is gone, and we all know what that means.  Big, big bucks, and i may have to sell something to swing it.  Right now, we are so tapped out i’m thinking my engagement ring may finally have to go.

Meanwhile, she is driving the Jalopy and Sweetie and i are sharing Lunceford the Land Yacht.  It’s a good thing school is about over for the semester.

Also, she has strep throat again.  It’s starting to look like we need to get her tonsils yanked.  She’s 24, same age i was when mine came out.  Same age as Grandpa when he had it done, too.  It’s a sign, i’m sure.

Friend Chris has moved away.  He is in Colorado, starting a new life.  He took Sneaux, the rabbit, and says he has great roommates and the job worked out.  He has needed this, and i’m glad he got to go.

#1 Son has moved out.  He has left most of his big stuff as he moved into an already furnished place with roommates.  We hope it lasts, he is anxious to be out of the nest.

Ms. P.R. from church gave my name to a friend, and after meeting with Dr. D, i’m not sure whether to thank her or blame her!  When i told Ms. P.R. that, she laughed and said that summed it up perfectly.

Dr. D is a retired professor of economics who taught behind the Iron Curtain and can tell stories about escaping the Chernobyl fallout.  Brilliant, quirky, never at a loss for words (which flow in a steady stream, just like with Sweetie and Bigger Girl), with a house that i’m sure will take years to straighten out the higgle-piggle of paperwork and everything else, it’s going to be a fun ride working with her.  She says she wants me to edit her books, too, but we will have to see how much time i can dedicate to such projects.

My favorite quote from the past week is from Ms. V.  After i cleaned her windows, she said, “Wow!  It’s like putting on that new pair of glasses for the first time after your prescription has changed and you didn’t realize how much you needed new ones!”

Today is:

AFL-CIO Day (date of merger in 1955)

Bathtub Party Day -- celebrate how much fun it is to take a nice, long, hot bath in these days when showers prevail; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Boycott Day -- commemoration of the city bus boycott begun this day in 1959 in Birmingham, AL, US in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks

Constitution Day -- Sudan

Day of the Ninja -- sponsored by Ninja Burger! with its own website 

Dingle-Fritter, Gooseberry Humple, Tiger-Get-By, LoneFolding, and Zimbor-Quattor's (Multiple Squishing of) Celebration -- Fairy Calendar

Discovery Day -- Haiti

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development -- UN

King's Birthday -- Thailand, also National Day and Father's Day (for His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birth anniversary, the founder and "father" of the nation)

National Sacher Torte Day

Nones of December -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also observed

    Faunalia -- rural festival of Faunus

Repeal Day -- US (celebrating the repeal of Prohibition)

St. Bassus of Nice's Day (Patron of Nice, France)

St. Nicholas' Eve  -- Belgium; Czech Republic; Hungary; Netherlands; Romania; Slovakia; parts of the UK; special observances include

     Avond -- Leewvarden, West Friesland (St. Nicholas visits and, if you are good, promises to return with trinkets and candies, which are left in waiting shoes)

     Bonhomme Noel -- France (Celebration of "Goodman Christmas")

     Klausjagen -- Arth and Kussnacht, Switzerland (with a procession of mitre-wearing figures by the Lake of Four Cantons)

     Krampuslauf -- Austria (St. Nicholas celebration, which begins the evening before the Saint's day, involving chasing and throwing snowballs at the Krampus, the imp who travels with St. Nick to punish the bad children)

     Zwarte Piet -- "Black Peter", the companion of St. Nicholas who keeps track of the good and bad children, arrives in many areas tonight

Swap a Christmas Cookie Recipe Day -- because it's fun to try new ones

World Soil Day -- International Union of Soil Sciences  

Birthdays Today:

Frankie Muniz, 1985

Margaret Cho, 1968

Gary Allan, 1967

John Rzeznik, 1965

Art Monk, 1957

Morgan Brittany, 1950

Jim Messina, 1947

Jose Carreras, 1946

Jeroen Krabbe, 1944

J.J. Cale, 1938

Chad Mitchell, 1936

Calvin Trillin, 1935

Joan Didion, 1934

Little Richard, 1932

Otto Preminger, 1906

Strom Thurmond, 1902

Walt Disney, 1901

Bill Picket, 1870

George Armstrong Custer, 1839

Christina Rossetti, 1830

Martin Van Buren, 1782

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Catskills on Broadway"(Revue), 1991

"I Do! I Do!"(Musical), 1966

"Band on the Run"(Album), 1973 (US release date)

"The Dark at the Top of the Stairs"(Inge play), 1957

"The Abbot and Costello Show"(TV), 1952

"Dragnet"(TV), 1951

"Kejser og Gililaer/Emperor and Galilean"(Ibsen play), 1896

"Symphonie Fantastique"(Berlioz symphony), 1830

Today in History:

Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations, BC63

An earthquake in Naples leave about 35,000 dead, 1465

All Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I, 1496

London auctioneers Christie's hold their first sale, 1766

Henry Knox begins the transport of Fort Ticonderoga artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a key to later forcing the British Fleet out of Boston Harbor, 1775

C F Schoenbein obtains patent for cellulose nitrate explosive, 1846

President Polk confirms that gold has been discovered in California, triggering the next year's "Gold Rush", 1848

Daniel Stillson of Massachusetts patents the first practical pipe wrench, 1876

The first automated telephone switching system is patented, 1879

The first electric car makes its debut; it could go 15 miles between charges, 1893

University of Pittsburg makes the first use of numbers on football jerseys, 1908

The American League for Physical Culture is founded in NYC, the first US nudist organization, 1929

The 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, is ratified, 1933

Sister Elizabeth Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis receives approval, 1941

A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow, 1952

The United Nations General Assembly adopts Pakistan's resolution on security of non-Nuclear States, 1976

Shuttle Atlantis launches world's 1st nuclear-war-fighting satellite. 1988

The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there, 2005

Human remains previously found in 1991 are finally identified by Russian and American scientists as those of Tsar NicholasII, 2008

NASA successfully tests its unmanned Orion spaceship for potential human flight over 3,500 miles from Earth; several years and more tests will be needed before the vessel is ready for human travel, potentially paving the way for manned trips to Mars, 2014

Malta becomes the first country in Europe to outlaw conversion therapy, 2016