Um, Grandpa, How Long Has This Been a Problem? (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Catsynth, Keith, 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, River is providing the prompts on her blog.

This week's words/prompts are:

1.bowed  

2.snoring  

3.barefoot  

4.tears  

5.memory  

6.swamped

and/or:

1.taped  

2.cream  

3.moonlit  

4.beach 

5.soft  

6. salty

Charlotte's colour of the month is Vivid Tangerine.

use either list or both, or mix and match, just have fun.

Once again i find myself starting my Wednesday story with, you can't make up this stuff.  In fact, i think that line needs to be TAPED and simply played back almost every day of my life.

Things have been SWAMPED around this part of the swamp, and yesterday the plan was for me to go to the ladies' circle meeting, then come home and take care of Annie and proceed from there.

It started well, the meeting was attended and was very good, everyone enjoyed seeing everyone else and we had new members join us for the start of our new book.

When i arrived home, #2 Son texted me Annie was up early and so was taking an early nap, he'd bring her over later, or maybe bring Ben and let Annie spend some time with her mama.  Either way, i'll watch either or both, and it means now i can have a little feets up time (although i should be catching up online, i'm so sorry i'm missing many posts i usually read, but really, i needed a few minutes).

Anyway, while i knew i wouldn't be sleeping (or SNORING), i thought i could doze a while and dream of being BAREFOOT on a MOONLIT BEACH, no need for sun CREAM, with a soft blanket under me and the SALTY tang of the air and the sound of the waves...

When the phone rang, i BOWED to the inevitable and answered.  It was my Sweetie, who was supposed to be on his way somewhere, and i knew when i saw he was calling it couldn't be good news.

No, i did not shed any TEARS when he told me the front passenger tire fell off his car during a turn as he tried to get off the road after hitting something someone had dropped in the road, but it was close.

It brought back the MEMORY of the time #2 Son's car had this happen.  I texted #2 Son, he grabbed Annie (who wasn't asleep quite yet) and his car jacks and we went to find him.

A tow truck was called as two lugs had snapped off and the other lugs were mostly stripped.  The spare was put on the three remaining lugs and the set of lug nuts #2 Son keeps in his car were put on as tight as they could go, not tight enough to drive on, but tight enough to keep the car on the tire to be pulled onto the tow truck, which didn't take long to arrive and was easy to spot, being dark blue with Vivid Tangerine lettering.

Slow-Moe the Pontiac was taken to Kevin and Lenny's, they will look at it tomorrow and tell us if it can be repaired (we think there's a hole in the oil pan from when it hit the ground).

We're in a pickle if it costs too much to fix, but that's a story for another day.  Meanwhile, if you haven't seen me visiting your blogs much, please know, i'm trying, it's just getting harder every day to keep up.

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Today is:

Bison-Ten-Yell Day -- celebrating the imaginary Native American Bison-Ten-Yell, inventor of 10 battle yells now used as American football signals

Celtic Tree Month Muin (Vine) begins

Feast of Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Independence Day -- Transdniestria

National Blueberry Popsicle Day

National Day -- Vietnam

Sacrifice to Hekate and Artemis -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Sedantag -- Germany

St. Agricola of Avignon's Day (Patron of rain -- for or against, whichever you need! -- of good weather and storks; Avignon, France; against misfortune and plague epidemics)

VJ Day -- Surrender Ceremony took place on this date aboard the USS Missouri

Anniversary Today:

Beginning of the Marathon Runs during the Persian War, Sept. 2-9, 490BC

Birthdays Today:

Cynthia Watros, 1968

Salma Hayek, 1966

Lennox Lewis, 1965

Keanu Reeves, 1964

Linda Purl, 1955

Jimmy Connors, 1952

Mark Harmon, 1951

Eric Dickerson, 1950

Christa McAuliffe, 1948

Nathaniel “Tiny” Archibald, 1948

Terry Bradshaw, 1948

Peter Victor Ueberroth, 1937

Marge Champion, 1923

Cleveland Amory, 1917

Lili'uokalani, 1838

James Forten, 1766

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Rose-Marie"(Operetta), 1924

"East of Suez"(Play), 1922

Ordinance on the Danish Church(Publication Date), 1637

Today in History:

Cicero's first Philippic (oratorical attack) on Marc Antony, BC44

Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion, BC44

Octavian's troops win the Battle of Actium which ends the Final war of the Roman Republic, BC31

The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days; it ends with 8 dead and 13,000 houses destroyed, 1666

Great Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe, 1752

US Treasury Dept. is established by Congress, 1789

The solar super storm continues to affect electrical telegraph service, 1859

Theodore Roosevelt adivses the US to "Speak softly, and carry a big stick." 1901

President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia, 1957

The Principality of Sealand is established, ruled by Prince Paddy Roy Bates, 1967

Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia; all 229 people on board are killed, 1998

Pope Benedict hosts an eco-festival, "Save Creation Day," in Loreto, Italy, to encourage Catholics to live an eco-friendly lifestyle, 2007

Ending a 50-year ban on veiled female news presenters, Egypt's state television gives its female presenters a choice of wearing, or not wearing, a veil, 2012

Swimmer Diana Nyad makes history, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, 2013

The public learns about AT&T's The Hemisphere Project, which gives telephone call data to law enforcement agencies, including the DEA, 2013

Earth's trees number just over 3 trillion according to study published in "Nature" by Thomas Crowther of Yale University, 2015

A major fire at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro destroys most of its 20 million artifacts, 2018

The attempted assassination of Argentina's vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner fails when the assassin's gun jams, 2022

India successfully launches its first spacecraft to study the sun, Aditya-L1, 2023

Garden Whimsey (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Catsynth, Keith, 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, i am providing the prompts and they are being posted on my blog and by River.

This week's prompts are:

attention

vague

orbit

game

think

insistence

and/or 

single

brand

barrel

bless

stake

cap

Charlotte's colour of the month is Steel Blue.

Folks, you can't make my life up.

I've had more than a VAGUE notion for a while now i was going to need to step up my GAME in helping out with Grandma and Grandpa.

After all, Grandpa and Uncle J can help Grandma with a lot, but not a bedbath, and it came to my ATTENTION recently Grandpa can no longer help her into the walk-in tub.

When i'm planning any kind of changes in my routine, i need to look everything over, THINK carefully about everyone in my ORBIT, and try to fit things in where i can.

For right now, where i can fit in a second trip to NOLA each week is either by doing Ms. D on Sunday after church and before taking care of Annie, then going down on Monday for the day, or doing Ms. S's house as early as i can on Monday and then driving down and spending the night until Tuesday morning, coming back early so as to take care of Annie on Tuesday.

No SINGLE thread can be pulled without pulling others.

This is how, after going to Dr. BowTie's office Monday morning for part one of my annual physical (the take enough blood to fill a BARREL, do an ECG, hearing and vision test, whiz quiz, and, at their INSISTENCE, step on a scale), i then cleaned Ms. S's house, packed and headed down to give Grandma some TLC.

Everything went pretty well, considering this was a recently concocted plan.  I did figure out while down there we will need to buy a BRAND new basin for the warm water, the old one has seen better days.  I put on my nurse assistant CAP and Grandma got her bath as well as a clean top sheet, since she'd gotten some food on it.

I also put her blankets, including the Steel Blue one, in the dryer, as she'd gotten a bit of ice water on them, and once they were dry and toasty they also warmed her up well when we were through.

All through the evening, i tended whatever she needed and fielded calls from my Sweetie.  One of them was simply about his day.  The other was about how he looked at the old lamp in the corner of the room with all his gear and thought he'd try and see if it still worked.  He shorted out the socket and blew the breaker.  He then had to flip every breaker in the box to get the right one, so i knew i was coming home to blinking clocks, as he doesn't know how to set them.

Grandma did call me late to come help, and then again early in the morning, which was fine as i needed an early start to get home.  Once i was packed, i stepped into the hall and walked past the closet where Grandpa keeps supplies, and once again, the floor was wet there.

Grandpa keeps bottled water in case we lose water pressure during a storm or have a boil water order, and he should own a STAKE in a couple of those companies, he has so much.  Some of it is old.  Very old.  A few of the gallon bottles were 20+ years old.  Of course, the plastic develops leaks over such a long period, and we'd played this game before.  He said he'd replace the old ones but had forgotten, and here i was mopping water again.  This time i got rid of them and just told him i had, he was glad.

Now i can leave, right?  Nope, Lawrence the Honda wouldn't start.  Grandpa, of course, had run an errand.  Once he got back, we jumped Lawrence and it started and i got back home, barely in time to watch Annie.

The day with Annie was going great and #2 Son diagnosed Lawrence with needing a battery, which he got and installed, but little Ben, BLESS his heart, was not feeling well.  His mama took his temp and he had a fever, so they called the doctor's office and were told any baby this young with fever needed to be in the Emergency Room.

Off they rushed, just about the time Annie and i needed to have nap time, but there's another hitch.

Did i mention Mr. BA and Ms. GA are out of town and, starting yesterday evening, i was caring for the cats before and after work?

Once Annie was up from her nap, #2 Son came and got her, took her up to the ER so i could go take care of the clowder of kitties, and while i was there he told me Ben had a UTI and they were doing a spinal tap for meningitis.

Even with a negative result, and it was negative, it means a bag IV for antibiotics which takes 24 hours to infuse, so a night in the hospital for mama and baby.  I came home, #2 Son dropped off Annie to me again and went to bring mama supper and whatever she needed for the night in the hospital, then he finally went and found something to eat, and here i am at 10pm typing this, he just came and got Annie to put her to bed.

Tomorrow, cat shelter, the clowder for Ms. GA, Ms. G, back to the clowder, and Bible study, but i'm also on call and will have to drop everything if they need help for any reason with Ben.  The rest of the week looks the same.

Once again, it may be a day or two before things settle enough for me to visit other blogs.

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It's World Dog Day!  This began as National Dog Day, started 21 years ago by the Colleen Paige.  

  

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

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Today is:

Be Kind to Humankind Week:  Willing to Lend a Hand Wednesday 

Birthday of Set -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Heroes Day -- Namibia

Ilmatar Day -- Finland (Water Mother, goddess of the heavens)

La Tomatina -- Buñol, Valencia, Spain (annual citywide food fight festival in which around 30,000 people take to the streets to pelt each other with tomatoes)

Make Your Own Luck Day -- for those who refuse to sit around and wait for it

Mawlid an Nabi -- Islam/Muslim (Prophet's Birthday, began sunset yesterday; celebrated over the next several days, depending on which country)

National Cherry Popsicle Day

National Day of Repentance -- Papua New Guinea

Onam -- Hindu (start of a 14-day Hindu harvest festival observed by Malayali Hindus celebrating the legendary King Maveli/Mahabali)

St. Adrian of Nicodemia's Day (Patron of butchers, prison guards, soldiers; against plague)

Women's Equality Day -- US (commemorates Women's Suffrage)

Yoshida no Hi Matsuri -- Yoshida, Japan (fest to mark the end of Mt. Fuji climbing season; through tomorrow)

Birthdays Today:

Chris Pine, 1980

Macaulay Culkin, 1980

Christopher Burke, 1965

Branford Marsalis, 1960

Leon Redbone, 1949

Ben Bradlee, 1921

Mother Teresa, 1910

Albert Bruce Sabin, 1906

Christopher Isherwood, 1904

Peggy Guggenheim, 1898

Lee de Forest, 1873

Albert "Bertie" von Saksen-Coburg-Gotha, husband of queen Victoria, 1819

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, 1743

Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, 1740

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Cincinnati Reds vs. Brooklyn Dodgers Doubleheader(first MLB games televised), 1939

"Lightnin'"(Play), 1918

"Elijah"(Mendelssohn Op. 70 MWV A25), 1846

Today in History:

Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pieta, 1498

The Pennsylvania Ministerium, the first Lutheran denomination in North America, is founded in Philidelphia, 1748

John Fitch is granted a US patent for his working steamboat, 1791

Charles Thurber patents a typewriter, 1843

The first news dispatch by telegraph is made, 1858

Major eruption of Krakatoa, 36,000 dead, 1883

19th Amendment to the US Constitution, granting women the vote, takes effect, 1920

The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, 1939

The USSR announces the first successful test of an ICBM, 1957

The Charter of the French Language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec, 1977

John Paul I is elected Pope, 1978

The agreement on how to divide the Czech Republic and Slovakia is signed, 1992

Russia unilaterally recognizes the independence of the former Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia, 2008

Israel requests that Germany arrest Klaas Carel Faber, a Nazi war criminal who killed 20 Jews at Westerbork concentration camp, 2010

Burger King agrees to purchase Canadian donut chain Tim Hortons for $11.4 billion, 2014

Half a million people take part in a peace march in Barcelona after terrorist attacks, 2017

Dutch author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, age 29, becomes the youngest to win the International Booker prize for the debut novel "The Discomfort of Evening", 2020

The longest alligator ever recorded in Mississippi, at 14ft, 3in (4.3m) and weighing 802.5 pounds (364 kilograms), is captured in the Sunflower River, 2023

Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen becomes the first MLB player to play for both teams in the same game; the game against the Toronto Blue Jays on June 26 is suspended due to weather, and he is traded prior to the resumption, 2024