Wednesday, September 28, 2022

In the Local Paper (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Sandee at Comedy Plus, and BeThere2Day.     






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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, the prompts are being provided by David M. Gasciogne and posted by Elephant's Child.          


This week's prompts are:

 

  • Afternoon
  • Furrowed
  • Enchanted
  • Knowing
  • Organized
  • Singing

 

And/or

 

  • Clutched
  • Beyond
  • Metaphysical
  • Symbiosis
  • Vital
  • Father

 Have fun. 



Moving day was finally here.  FATHER, with brow FURROWED and clipboard in hand, wanted it to be smooth, easy, and ORGANIZED.


He knew his family, thus he knew what he jokingly called the METAPHYSICAL SYMBIOSIS from BEYOND understanding would interfere with his plans at some point.  Something always did, and he had to keep a sense of humor about it, so he called it that when the inevitable hiccup or snag happened.


Looking over the checklist again, he realized he really shouldn't worry, but he did.  He'd interviewed the movers twice and he knew they were good, he'd insisted on references and checked them thoroughly, too.  The family had been living out of only the clothes they'd packed in suitcases for the last 3 days, all the rest of the clothes were in boxes and ready.


He'd even had them sleeping in their sleeping bags on top of the mattresses for a couple of nights, since they'd packed up all the linens.


This morning they'd be chivvied into whatever clean clothes were left, the dirty clothes would be picked up by the "laundry magicians" as his wife liked to call the wash/dry/fold laundromat that delivered, something they seldom used but now was the time.  That was one thing to do, remind the pick-up person that the drop-off location would be the new house, not here, that was VITAL.  The rest of the clothes might not get unpacked right away and he and his wife both had what his youngest boy probably thought was an unreasonable prejudice against them and their children running around in the buff.  He made another note on his clipboard.


Youngest daughter came down the stairs first, her favorite rabbit FooFoo CLUTCHED protectively in her arms.


"Daddy, the movers won't lose FooFoo, will they?" she asked before he could even give her a good morning kiss.


"No, sweetheart, they won't.  In fact, why don't you do a big job today.  You be in charge of FooFoo and all the stuffies.  Put them all in your sleeping bag, since the bags are coming with us in the car along with the suitcases, and they'll all be in one place, safe and sound."


"Okay, Daddy," she said.  "What's for breakfast?"


"We still have milk, bread and jam, so that's breakfast," he said.  While he was fixing toast with jam for her, the rest of the family came traipsing down the stairs so he simply toasted the whole remainder of the loaf, four slices at a time, put jam on them, and let everyone help themselves.


"I hope this cloud cover does clear off," he said to his wife as she poured milk for everyone.


"Relax," she said.  "The forecast is for some clouds this morning and an ENCHANTED AFTERNOON, which we will spend doing our best to make this your dream move."


"You're laughing at me," he sulked a little.


"Of course, I am, if I can't, who can?" she laughed.  "KNOWING you as I do, you're now at the 'worrying about things that are physically impossible' stage.  Quit worrying.  You did a great job organizing us, down to paper plates for breakfast today, pizza to be delivered for lunch, and my parents having us to their house for supper tonight when we're all moved in so we won't have to cook.


"Listen," she said, and they paused.  Youngest daughter was SINGING to the stuffed animals, hers and those of her siblings, as she put them in the sleeping bag.


"After it's all over, your family is with you.  That's what's important, remember?"


"Yes, I remember.  Thank you," he said.


"Here, have some toast," she said.  "No more worry!"



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Today is:


Czech Statehood Day -- Czech Republic


Drink Beer Day


Feast of Hapi and Creation of the Nile -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)


Fish Tank Floor Show Night -- the Wellcat Holidays people say that your fish keep you entertained all year long, so turn-about is fair play, entertain your fish tonight!


Frances Willard Day -- Minnesota


International Right to Know Day -- FOI Advocates Network, promoting the right of access to information for all people and the benefits of open, transparent, and accountable governments


Menkhet Festival -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)


Michaelmas Eve -- Celtic celebration, bake your bannock bread tonight for eating on St. Michael and All Angel's Day tomorrow; tonight, build a bonfire and dine on roast lamb, and make sure the menfolk protect the horses, for anyone is allowed to "borrow" one for the celebration tomorrow


National Day of Awareness and Unity against Child Pornography -- Philippines


National Good Neighbor Day -- US (begun when Mrs. Becky Mattson from Lakeside, Montana, began campaigning for this National Day in the 1970's; go greet the neighbors, and be a good neighbor yourself!)


National Strawberry Cream Pie Day


National Women's Health and Fitness Day -- US, sponsored by Fitness Day    www.fitnessday.com/women


Nobel Conference 58 -- Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN, US (annual two-day symposium, this year, Mental Health (In)Equity and Youth)


Read a Child a Book You Like Day -- someone started this to get us to remember the books we loved as kids, and share them with children now


Runic Half Month Gyfu begins (gift)


St. Wenceslaus' Day (Patron of brewers; Bohemia; Czech Republic; Moravia; Prague, Czech Republic)


Tales of Kelp-Koli's Second Visit -- Fairy Calendar (through the 30th)


Teacher's Day -- Taiwan (on the traditional Western date of Confucius' birthday, of course)


Tzom Gedaliah -- Judaism (Fast of Gedalia, a dawn to dusk day of fasting to lament the assassination of Gedalia the righteous governor of Judea)


World Rabies Day 




Birthdays Today:


Frankie Jonas, 2000

Hilary Duff, 1987

Gwyneth Paltrow, 1973

Naomi Watts, 1968

Mira Sorvino, 1967

Janeane Garofalo, 1964

Suzanne Whang, 1962

Steve Largent, 1954

Jeffrey Jones, 1947

Ben E. King, 1938

Koko Taylor, 1935

Brigitte Bardot, 1934

Arnold Stang, 1925

Marcello Mastroianni, 1924

William Windom, 1923

Al Capp, 1909

Max Schmeling, 1905

Ed Sullivan, 1901

Kate Douglas Wiggin, 1856

Frances Willard, 1839

Confucius, BC551



Debuting/Premiering Today:


Ed Wood(Film), 1994

"Cosmos: A Personal Voyage"(Documentary series), 1980

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"(Single release, Gladys Knight), 1967

"Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales"(TV), 1963

"Dr. Kildare"(TV), 1961

"Hazel"(TV), 1961

"Purlie Victorious"(Play), 1961

Radio Times(Magazine, first issue), 1923



Today in History:


Pompey the Great, member of the Triumvirate, is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy of Egypt upon landing in that country, BC48

King/Saint Wenceslas murdered by his brother, 935

William the Conqueror invades England, 1066

Sinking of the Spanish fleet during a hurricane off the coast of Florida, 1528

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo becomes the first European to reach San Diego Bay, 1542

Publication of "Pilgrim's Progress", 1678

Divorce is legalized in Maryland, 1701

American and French forces begin the siege of Yorktown, 1781

Napoleon Bonaparte, age 16, graduates from the Military Academy of Paris -- 42nd in a class of 51, 1785

Donati's comet becomes the first to be photographed, 1858

Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario, 1867

Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mould growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin, 1928

Indonesia joins the United Nations, 1950

Mali and Senegal join the United Nations, 1960

SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit, 2008

Research teams from Exeter and Cambridge Universities announce in the journal Nature Genetics their discovery of the DNA controllers that determine at what age women go into menopause, 2015

Elon Musk unveils the SpaceX spacecraft Starship, which is designed to travel to Mars and other parts of the solar system and land back on earth, 2020

The United States National Inventors Hall of Fame announces it will induct two Black women for the first time, Engineer Marian Croak and ophthalmologist Dr. Patricia Bath, 2021

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Change in the Pockets, Powder on the Floor, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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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 


When the dryer is already up and running as i walk in to Carl's, i know he's at least awake, and that's something.


This time, it was a mixed blessing.  He's out of his special laundry detergent he has to use (he can't have the dyes or perfumes) and he doesn't know how to pre-dissolve the powdered detergent so it won't leave powder marks.  This meant that while he had washed clothes, i wasn't sure how much if any soap was used.


The clothes in the sink had a dryer ball mixed in with them, which sometimes means they've been cleaned, but they smelled a bit questionable.  When i found change in the pocket of the shorts, i knew they'd not been washed.


The wet clothes in the washer had, but with how much detergent?


For the sake of certainty, i stopped the dryer and peeked in.  Only 7 items, meaning whatever was in the washer, he'd only taken 7 items out and was drying only those.  Yes, he does that regularly, washes a big load then only dries part of it.


When my back was turned, he took four of the seven items out of the dryer and was trying to put them away.  It took me distracting him with a question about his lunch to be able to grab them before they made it into the drawers and got mixed in with clean things and caused a worse problem.


As we ran circles around each other, he was dirtying things faster than i could clean them.  While i made his lunch, he searched the room for gloves with no luck.


Making his sandwich, i realized once again that many of his behaviors are just how his brain works, and some are simply an extreme form of things his parents do.




Take this "upside down" mayonnaise squeeze bottle as an example.  They have a squeeze opening that is supposed to be kept on the bottom.  Even the label is on in what would normally be the wrong direction to encourage you to leave the bottle turned in a way to encourage all the mayo to be by the squeeze opening, making serving easier.


No one on the family turns it the correct way, preferring instead to fight "the battle of the bottle," trying to get the mayo to settle so it can be squeezed out, or simply giving in to use a knife.  That's what i finally did, as i don't have time for the fight.


Carl has been trying to keep his room a bit tidier, his mother's main concern is that i will fall over something that's on the floor and get hurt, or she will.


He has a love affair with Gold Bond powder, using it liberally.  He sometimes gets it where it belongs, and sometimes gets almost as much on the floor.




The powder is slick, so i leave the bottle on the floor next to it to remind me to step carefully until i have time to get to the broom.


Once his lunch was packed, he started asking about snacks.  Since i'd given him a whole sandwich, a banana, a fruit cup, and a snack bar for a four hour work shift, i told him he had plenty.  He was not convinced and added a string cheese.  The boy can eat!


It took a while to shoo him out the door.  He is determined he wants to find a different job and was looking at job listings online when he should have been boogying down the road to the job he already has.  When he did get out to the car, he had to come back in to tell me he couldn't find gloves there, either.


His parents buy him packs of a dozen pair at a time, and it doesn't take him long to lose them all.  It's a talent he has.


Question:  do i want to know why his garbage can was clean and empty except on the outside at the very bottom, which had something nasty and sticky on it?


Answer:  no, i do not.


Time for the funnies.



















Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!






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Today is:


Ancestor Appreciation Day -- sponsored by the Ancestor Appreciation Day Association of Ann Arbor, MI, US


Crush a Can Day -- internet generated, so have fun seeing how many (safe) ways you can crush a can, and how flat you can get it!


Feast of Mashíyyat (Will) -- Baha'i


Fun and Fancy Free Day -- go out and have a great day, in honor of the release on this day in 1947 of the Disney film Fun and Fancy Free


French Community Holiday -- French Community of Belgium


Independence Day -- Turkmenistan (1991)


Meskel -- Ethiopian/Eritrian Orthodox Christian (True Cross Day)


National Corned Beef Hash Day


National Day -- Maldives


National Milk Chocolate Day


National Voter Registration Day -- US (Celebrating Democracy in America) 


Rosh Hashanah -- Judaism (ends today at evening)


Shut Up and Let Somebody Else Talk Day -- begun by someone with an overly verbose spouse, perhaps?


St. Vincent De Paul's Day (Patron of charitable societies/charitable workers, charities, horses, hospital workers, hospitals, lepers, prisoners, spiritual help, volunteers; Brothers of Charity; Saint Vincent de Paul Societies; Sisters of Charity; Vincentian Service Corps; Madagascar; Richmond, Virginia; for finding lost objects; against leprosy)


Thanksgiving Day for Disappearance of Kelp-Koli Again -- Fairy Calendar


Woman Road Warrior Day -- to recognize the traveling businesswomen in today's world


World Tourism Day -- World Tourism Organization   



Anniversary Today:


Google is founded, 1998



Birthdays Today:


Avril Lavigne, 1984

Gwyneth Paltrow, 1972

Bello Nock, 1968

Sophia Milos, 1965

Shaun Cassidy, 1958

Mike Schmidt, 1949

Marvin "Meat Loaf" Aday, 1947

Delores Taylor, 1939

Claude Jarman, Jr., 1934

Greg Morris, 1934

Wilford Brimley, 1934

Sada Thompson, 1929

Arthur Penn, 1922

William Conrad, 1920

Jayne Meadows, 1919

Thomas Nast, 1840

Raphael Semmes, 1809

George Muller, 1805

George Cruikshank, 1792

Samuel Adams, 1722



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"The Tonight Show"(TV), 1954

Strike Up The Band(Film), 1940

"Rip Van Winkle"(Bristow opera), 1855



Today in History:


Severe earthquake in the Gulf of Chili, China; reports of 100,000 killed, 1290

Jesuits founded by Ignatius Loyola, 1540

John Adams negotiates peace terms with Britain, 1779

Constitution submitted to the states for ratification, 1787

Jean-Francois Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone, 1822

The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens, and begins operation of the world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains, 1825

The physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc²,1905

The first production of a Ford Model T automobile rolls off the line at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan, 1908

First test of a twin engine airplane, in France, 1910

Native American Day is first celebrated, 1916

Democratic National Committee votes to allow female members, 1919

The first Santa Clause Training School opens in Albion, NY, 1937

The Balinese tiger is declared to be an extinct species, 1937

Sierra Leone joins the United Nations, 1961

Richard Stallman announces the GNU project to develop a free Unix-like operating system, 1983

East Timor joins the United Nations, 2002

CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7, 2008

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity discovers direct evidence of a fast-moving stream bed, showing a prior water source on the Red Planet, 2012

Thai Ex-Prime Minister Yingluck is  found guilty of criminal negligence in a rice subsidy scheme and sentenced to 5 years in absentia, 2017

India's Supreme Court overturns the 158-year-old law against adultery as it is discriminatory against women, 2018

Houston officials confirm the water supply around Lake Jackson, Texas, is contaminated with brain-eating amoeba, 2020