Unfortunate Choice (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day and Brian's Thankful Thursday

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Sometimes you wish you could get a replay or a do-over or whatever you want to call it, and for the Pastor, this was one of those times.

The annual trip to visit the extended family had started off well, they were making good time, and as all men on road trips with the family will tell you, that's the most important part of everything and nobody better interfere with it.

Of course, that "making good time" never takes into account the size of the wife's bladder and the inevitable occurred, whereupon he argued with her for waiting another 50 (non-interstate) miles, and she balked, demanding relief now.

He didn't want to have to pull into a gas station and let the boys out as well, and fill the car, and all of the delay all of it would entail, so he pulled off on the side of the two lane highway and told her to go in the woods.

She looked at him incredulously but finally had to give in, as this was as far as he would budge in his accommodation to her need; she found a couple of disposable facial tissues in the glove box and reluctantly headed for the tree line.

Not being used to such things, she had squatted over some poison ivy and somehow brushed against it, and the resultant misery made her infuriated and made him learn his lesson, wishing he could turn the clock back and try again.

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

(Based on a true story from Sweetie's early teen years, and yes, his Pastor father never tried that again!)

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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:    

They make us wear these crazy styles,

no dignity, the runway feels like miles,

at the end of each show, I have to say

I didn't realize modeling would be this way!

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

Today i am thankful to share the news we got from #2 Son and His Bride on Father's Day, they are expecting!  This will be a "Honeymoon Baby" or, as i like to say, a nine months and fifteen minutes baby.

This means i am going to be a G. G. (Gran Gran) again, as Red-headed Alec dubbed me when Lee was born, and i've already been designated babysitter-in-chief.

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Today is:

Anti-Fascist Resistance Day -- Croatia

Bouphoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (sacrifice of an ox to symbolize social order dissolving and being restored; date approximate)

Dairy Queen Day -- the first Dairy Queen® opened this day in 1940 in Joliet, Illinois

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War -- Belarus

Duanwu Jie -- China; Hong Kong; Macao[Tung Ng]; Taiwan (Dragon Boat Festival, spectacularly decorated boats loaded with rowers and drums race each other; the actual festival day this year is today, but the official holidays last through Sunday)

Elfin Music Festival -- Fairy Calendar

Festival of 1 Lithe -- Hobbit Calendar

National Chocolate Eclair Day

National Onion Rings Day

Soap Microphone Day -- grab your soap in the shower and pretend you are on stage! (promise i won't tell)

Solennität -- Morat, Switzerland (on Morat Commemoration Day, a Youth festival remembering the pivotal role this tiny town played in winning a battle in 1476)

St. Nicetas' Day (Patron of Romania)

St. Thomas More's Day (Patron of adopted children, civil servants, difficult marriages, large families, lawyers, politicians/politicos/statesmen, step-parents, widowers; Arlington, VA; Ateneo de Manila Law School; Pensacola-Tallahassee, FL; University of Malta; University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters)

Stupid Guy Thing Day -- included under protest; "guy things" aren't necessarily stupid, it should just be Guy Thing Day; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, who want all women to just not count anything against guys today, but chalk it up to being a Stupid Guy Thing

Teacher's Day -- El Salvador

Anniversary Today:

Harry Houdini marries Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Rahner, 1894

Birthdays Today:

Eric Stretch, 1980

Donald Faison, 1974

Carson Daly, 1973

Mary Lynn Rajskub, 1971

Kurt Warner, 1971

Amy Brennenman, 1964

Dan Brown, 1964

Randy Couture, 1963

Tracy Pollan, 1960

Freddie Prinze, 1954

Cyndi Lauper, 1953

Todd Rundgren, 1948

Meryl Streep, 1949

Lindsay Wagner, 1949

Pete Maravich, 1947

Klaus Maria Brandauer, 1944

Ed Bradley, 1941

Michael Lerner, 1941

Kris Kristofferson, 1936

William Ralph "Bill" Blass, 1922

Joseph Papp, 1921

Billy Wilder, 1906

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1906

John Dillinger, 1903

Captain George Vancouver, 1757

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Rescuers(Animated film), 1977

Lady and the Tramp(Animated film), 1955

Today in History:

Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom, BC217

Bilbo Baggins returns to his home at Bag End, (Shire Reconning), 1342

The  Jewish quarter of Prague is burned and looted, 1559

Galileo Galilei is forced by Inquisition to "abjure, curse, & detest" his Copernican heliocentric views, 1633

A poisonous cloud from Laki volcanic eruption in Iceland reaches Le Havre in France, 1783

The British Parliament abolishes feudalism and the seigneurial system in British North America, 1825

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee procession in London, 1897

The Flag of Sweden is adopted, 1906

The Flag of the Faroe Islands is raised for the first time, 1919

Erwin Rommel is promoted to Field Marshal after the capture of Tobruk, 1942

The Cuyahoga River catches fire, which triggers a crack-down on pollution in the river, 1969

The Canadian House of Commons abolishes capital punishment, 1976

Charon, a satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto, is discovered, 1978

The largest hailstone ever recorded falls in Aurora, Nebraska (7inch diameter, 18.75-inch circumference), 2003

Eastman Kodak Company announces that it will discontinue sales of the Kodachrome Color Film, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon, 2009

UNESCO officially names Mount Fuji a World Heritage Site, 2013

An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association's Internal Medicine Journal claims that obese Americans now outnumber those who are merely overweight, 2015

Eurozone countries agree to a debt relief deal for Greece, signaling end to the country's economic crisis, 2018

The Russian volcano Raikoke erupts for the first time in 95 years from its 700m-wide-crater; the eruption is seen from International Space Station, 2019

The Japanese supercomputer Fugaken produced by the Riken Institute is declared the worlds fastest and most powerful, 2020

Unesco proposes Australia's Great Barrier Reef be put on the list of World Heritage Sites that are "in danger", 2021

C for Coffee Chat: Crazy, Baby!

Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week she asks the question,  Foolish Me -- What's the silliest or craziest thing you've ever done? 






Crazy is, of course, in the eye of the beholder (or occasionally, the eye of the beer holder, but the crazy things people do when intoxicated is another discussion altogether).

When i think of my crazy, i think of a lot of things.

Perhaps it really was crazy that i went into the barrios in the Dominican Republic when i was 17 to give polio vaccines.

Devoting years of my life to bottle raising orphaned kittens is crazy.  You are up with them every 2 hours when they are little, and for the trouble you get messed on and flea bitten.  The ones that survive go on to destroy your house and then get adopted and break your heart because you have to let them go.  It's nuts.  Worth it, but nuts.

Certainly it was crazy to accept Farmer Pickles' invitation that time and go off on my first yearly sanity retreat.  She had never met any of us except on the chat forum, and she invited us to come visit her in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It was crazy that i set off in the Jalopy (she was much younger then) to go to San Antonio and meet Grace for the first time, and for us to continue to travel on to San Antonio together.  Grace knew i was okay by the time my family members had called me multiple times in the first few hours to complain about things like burning the fish sticks and arguing over whose turn it was to wash dishes, but still.  We are all friends now and don't know what we'd do without each other, but back then, it was a crazy thing to do.

Of course, the craziest thing i've ever done is go get hitched and have kids.  No way anyone can deny that's the purest craziness of all.  The cast of characters in my life because of marriage and having children wouldn't ever make it on TV because fiction has to be believable.  Some of what goes on in my children's friends lives is unbelievable.  If you have children in their late teens/early 20s, you've probably seen it first hand.

No matter how crazy things get, though, i wouldn't trade any of them for anything, because i may be crazy, but i'm not insane.



Today is:

Ballroom Dance Day -- dance with your sweetheart today in honor of the birth anniversary of Arthur Murray

Bonza Bottler Day™

Children's Day -- Taiwan

Cold Food Day -- China (especially celebrated in the Shanxi Province, a commemoration of Jie Zitui, a loyal servant; no fires are to be lit and all food is too be served cold)

Homogenized Milk Day -- a machine to homogenize milk was patented this day in 1892 by Auguste Gaulin

Hug a Newsman/Newswoman Day -- an internet holiday, and be careful, no more fiascos like the gropings in 2009, please, just a nice hug

Independence Day -- Senegal(1960)

International Carrot Day -- really! 

International Day for Mine Awareness & Assistance in Mine Action -- UN

Matsuyama Haru Matsuri -- Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan (Spring celebrations incorporating the Matsuyama Castle festival and the Dogo Hot Springs festival)

Megalesia, a/k/a Festival of Magna Mater -- Ancient Roman Calendar (great mother festival for Cybele; through the 9th)

National Cordon Bleu Day

National Equal Pay Day -- US (the date of how far into 2017 a US woman had to work to earn what a US man did in 2016) 

National Reading a Roadmap Day -- another internet holiday that some sites call "Learn to Read A Roadmap Day," but a good one to observe; you need to know how to read one when your GPS battery dies, after all

Ose Matsuri -- Ose Shrine, ShizouKa Prefecture, Japan (men dressed in women's clothes dance a lively jig on board a boat afloat in the harbour which is festooned with flags and streamers while taiko groups play drums on shore in this festival thought to date back to a wife wanting to protect her fisherman-husband by giving him a kimono)

Peace Day -- Angola

St. Benedict the African's Day (Patron of African missions; African-Americans; Palermo, Sicily, Italy)

St. Isidore of Seville's Day (Patron of computer technicians, computer users, computers, the Internet, schoolchildren, students)

Sun 'n Fun International Fly in & Expo -- Lakeland, Florida, US (preserving and enhancing the future of flight; through Sunday)

Swedish-American Friendship Day

Tell a Lie Day -- an internet generated holiday; the only day it is acceptable! make sure, after today, to clear it up, trust me

Victims of Violence Day -- anniversary of the assasination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Vitamin C Day -- the vitamin was isolated on this day in 1932 by C.C, King at the University of Pittsburgh

Walk Around Things Day -- fun to do, it makes people look at you funny

World Rat Day -- pet rat lovers everywhere, unite and introduce your friends to your pet rats

ZAB Death Anniversary -- Pakistan (38th anniversary)


Anniversary Today:

Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft Corporation, 1975


Birthdays Today:

David Blaine, 1973
Dave Mirra, 1972
Jill Scott, 1972
Barry Pepper, 1970
Nancy McKeon, 1966
Robert Downey, Jr., 1965
David Gavurin, 1963
Gary Moore, 1952
Christine Lahti, 1950
Craig T. Nelson, 1946
Kitty Kelley, 1942
Angelo Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti, 1938
Michael Parks, 1938
Anthony Perkins, 1932
Maya Angelou, 1928
Muddy Waters, 1915
Frances Langford, 1914
Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, 1908
John Cameron Swayze, 1906
Arthur Murray, 1895
Isoroku Yamamoto, 1884
Linus Yale, Jr., 1821
Dorothea Dix, 1802


Today in History:

Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world, 1581
Sir Robert Walpole becomes First Lord of the Treasury of England, and is so influential in the Cabinet that he is considered the de facto first Prime Minister of England, 1721
Napoleon abdicates for the first time, 1814
Casparus van Wooden of Amsterdam patents chocolate milk powder, 1828
William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and the one with the shortest term served, 1841
Bryant's Minstrels debut the song "Dixie" in a blackface minstrel show, 1859
Susanna Medora Salter is elected the first US woman mayor, in Argonia, KS, 1887
Cecil Rhodes scholarship fund is established, 1902
An earthquake in India's Kangra Valley kills 20,000, destroys most of three cities, 1905
Vitamin C was first isolated by C.C. King at the University of Pittsburgh, 1932
Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty, creating NATO, 1949
Martin Luther King, Jr., is assasinated, 1968
Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart (the patient survived for 65 hours), 1969
The World Trade Center in NYC is dedicated, 1973
Bill Gates and Paul Allen form Microsoft, 1975
Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space, 1983
Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name "Mosaic Communications Corporation", 1994
Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, 1996
The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War, 2002
15 British Royal Navy personnel held in Iran are released, 2007
The most distant supernova on record is found by the Hubble Space Telescope, 2013

Silly Sunday: What Will You Be?

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.  It's the place to come for weekly laughs, and the rules are simple, just have fun.  We can enjoy other great bloggers, so Laugh and Link Up!

Yesterday i came downstairs to hear a conversation in progress.

#2 Son:  She can be a doctor!

Festus:  That sounds good, Dr. Kid!  (Note: Kid is their nickname for Little Girl.)

Little Girl:  I'd love to be a doctor!

Festus:  Hello, Dr. Kid!

Red-Headed Alex:  Here, take this!  (Handing Dr. Kid a stick.)

Little Girl:  What do I need that for?

Red-Headed Alex:  It's The Stick of Truth!

Little Girl:  And I need that so...

Red-Headed Alex:  So your patients will tell you the truth!

Festus:  Or so that you can be a lawyer, too! &nbsp A lawyer needs something like that.

Little Girl:  So I can be a doctor and a lawyer?  I like that!

The next day, i got to find out what kind of doctor she would be.

Young Jacob:  I have a big bag of M&M's and I've been eating them for breakfast!

Me:  That doesn't sound very healthy.

Young Jacob:  They are peanut M&M's.

Me:  The peanuts do not make much of a nutritional difference, do they, Dr. Kid?

Little Girl:  They are chocolate, so all bets are off!  I declare them healthy!

All this reminds me of the time Boudreaux and Clothile were trying to determine what Tee Boudreaux was going to be when he grew up.

Tee had got to be 24, an' Boudreaux an' Clothile was gittin' worry about him.  So Boudreaux, he come up wit' a plan.

"We goin' put a ten-dollar bill, a Bible, an' a bottle o' booze on de table," he tell Clothile.  "When Tee come in, if'n he pick up de money, he showin' he gonna be a man o' business.  If he pick up de Bible, he showin' interest in de Good Book an' likely he want to be a preacher.  But if he pick up de booze, well he likely gonna be a bum!"

Clothile agree, an' dey put de stuff on de table an' hide in de pantry to see when Tee come in.  A bit later, he come home an' walk in an' see de table.  He walk over an' pick up de money, look at it, an put it in his pocket.  Den he pick up de Bible, flip de pages a bit, an' put dat unner his arm.  Fin'ly, he pick up de bottle, take a swig, and walk off wit' all three.

Boudreaux an' Clothile come out de pantry and Boudreaux let out a big sigh.  "Mais!" he say.  "It look he gonna be a politician!"






Today is:

Banquet of Fairies, Goblins, Pixies, and Elves -- Fairy Calendar

Baptism of the Lord Jesus -- Christian

Blessing of the Sea -- Margate, UK (ceremony with the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Thyateria and Great Britain)

Burning of the Clavie -- Burghead, Scotland (ancient ritual to ensure good luck through the year)

Carmentalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival of the goddess of childbirth)

Cuckoo Dancing Week begins -- in honor of Laurel & Hardy, whose theme song was "The Dancing Cuckoos"; watch some of their fabulous material this week, and introduce it to a new fan

Designated Hitter Day -- the American League adopted the "designated hitter" rule on this date in 1973

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

Independence Manifesto Day -- Morocco(1944); Western Sahara(1944)

International Thank You Day -- as declared by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith

Juturnalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of prophetic waters festival)

Kosrae Constitution Day -- Micronesia

Meitlisunntag -- Meisterschwanden and Fahrwangen, Switzerland (procession and festival celebrating the role of women in the victory of a battle in 1712)

Milk Day

National Hot Toddy Day

No Pants Subway Ride -- NYC, NY, US (ImprovEverywhere is sponsoring the NYC ride, and encourages people everywhere to stage their own around the world)

Secret Pal Day -- no info found on the origin, it's a secret!  do something nice for someone, secretly.)

Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day -- just don't do it to your secret pal

Sts. Paldo, Taso, and Tato's Day (founders of the monastery of San Vincenzo)

St. Theodosius of Cappadocia (Patron of file makers)

Tattoo Pride Day

Ullr Festival -- Breckenridge, CO, US (festival of the mythical Norse god of winter; through the 17th)


Birthdays Today:

Amanda Peet, 1972
Mary Blige, 1971
Kim Coles, 1962
Stanley Tucci, 1960
Ben Crenshaw, 1952
Christine Kaufmann, 1945
Naomi Judd, 1946
Jim Hightower, 1943
Clarence Clemens, 1942
Jean Chretien, 1934
Rod Taylor, 1930
Grant Tinker, 1926
Alice Paul, 1885
William James, 1842
Eugenio Maria Hostos, 1839
John A. Macdonald, 1815
Alexander Hamilton, 1755
Theodosius I, 347


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Daktari"(TV), 1966
"Have a Heart"(Musical), 1917


Today in History:

Prophet of Islam Muhammad leads an army of 10,000 Muslims to conquer Mecca, 630
The first recorded lottery in England is drawn in St. Paul's Cathedral, 1569
Isaac Newton is elected a member of the Royal Society, 1642
Mt. Etna erupts, 1693
William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, the moons of Uranus, 1787
An earthquake in Martinique destroys half of Port Royal and results in about 700 deaths, 1839
Charring Cross Station opens in London, 1864
Milk is first delivered in bottles, 1878
Martha H. Cannon becomes the first woman state senator in the US, in Utah, 1897
The Hudson, the first sedan type automobile, goes on display at the 13th Auto Show in NYC, 1913
The first use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient occurs in Canada, with 14-year-old Leonard Thompson, 1922
Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Honolulu to Oakland, California, 1935
The first recorded snowfall in Los Angeles, California, 1949
United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., publishes a landmark report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking nation- and worldwide anti-smoking efforts, 1964
The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia is officially opened, 1986
The government of Ireland announces the end of a 20-year broadcasting ban on the IRA, 1994
Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois' death row based on the Jon Burge scandal, 2003
Forty-six  people are killed and 12 are missing after a landslide buries a village in the Yunnan province, China, 2013