Little Girl's Boy(friend) and His Dog (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.)

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

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Words for Wednesday is a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.  This month, the prompts are being posted by Delores of Mumblings.   

Here are this weeks prompt words:

engine, thunder, rolling, blast, ancient, boulder

and/or

misstep, ponder, volume, crib, split and brilliant.

"BRILLIANT!" she muttered to herself as she heard the first stirrings of sounds from the CRIB through the baby monitor at her side.

She was at a critical point in rebuilding the ENGINE, a place where one MISSTEP would make much of her previous work need to be redone.  As she took a moment to PONDER her next step, hoping the sound from the child was just a bit of a dream and not a true awakening, the VOLUME began to rise like the ROLLING of THUNDER added to the BLAST of a BOULDER crashing down the mountain from which it has just been SPLIT, the ANCIENT sound of child in need screaming louder and louder for help to come now!

Heaving a sigh that came from her toes, she grabbed a wrench and propped it where she hoped it would prevent a total collapse back into chaos.  Wiping her greasy hands on an almost equally greasy rag, she bounded into the nursery where her entrance cut the noises short and brought a sunshiny smile from the boy, who grinned and raised his arms and snuggled in as soon as she lifted him up.

Her previous irritation melted at the joy of this reunion and she changed his diaper, then they headed through the kitchen to grab a box and she took him with her out to the garage.  Plopping him in the old high chair she kept there, she poured the oat circle cereal bits onto the tray and went back to her work, telling him the steps she was taking and the names of her tools as she went, while he munched his snack and listened and watched her every move with wide eyes, not yet old enough to know he was watching his destiny.

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Today is:

Children's Picture Book Day -- while i can't find a sponsor for this day, starting kids on a lifelong love of books is as good an excuse for a holiday as any

Commemoration of Sen no Rikyu -- Urasenke School of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, Japan (remembering the influential master in The Way of Tea)

Feast of Artemis -- Ancient Greek Calendar (as protector of wild animals, vegetation, and places, begins at sundown; date approximate)

Festival of the Sacrifice at the Tombs -- Ancient Roman Calendar (to honor the ancestors)

"Greatest Show on Earth" Day -- Barnum and Bailey merged their circuses on this day in 1881

Hot Tub Day -- because we all need one!

Invasion of Loaming Shores Beyond the Certain Sea Anniversary -- Fairy Calendar

Khordad Sal (Birth of the Prophet Zarathushtra) -- Zoroastrianism (Fasli Calendar)

Komamorijinja Reisai -- Nakaedo, Kashi-sh, Gifu, Japan (festival of the the Kosazukeishi "child-granting stone")

National Black Forest Cake Day

Ragnar Lodbrok's Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (remembrance of this Viking's sack of Paris)

Respect Your Cat Day -- anniversary of King Richard II's edict in 1384 forbidding the consumption of cats

Serfs Emancipation Day -- Tibet

Something on a Stick Day -- something edible, of course, what were you thinking?  never mind; almost everything tastes better on a stick

St. Guntramnus' Day (Patron of divorced people, guardians, repentant murderers)

Teachers' Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia

Weed Appreciation Day -- at last, for those of us with black thumbs, since this is all we can grow! "Weeds are flowers once you get to know them!" A.A. Milne

Birthdays Today:

Lady Gaga, 1986

Julia Stiles, 1981

Annie Wersching, 1977

Kate Gosselin, 1975

Scott Mills, 1974

Juliandra Gillen, 1971

Vince Vaughn, 1970

Reba McEntire, 1955

Dianne Wiest, 1948

Ken Howard, 1944

Conchata Ferrell, 1943

Jerry Sloan, 1942

Freddie Bartholomew, 1924

Dirk Bogarde, 1921

Irving "Swifty" Lazar, 1907

August Anheuser Busch, Jr., 1899

Maxim Gorky, 1868

Frederich Pabst, 1836

St. Teresa of Avila, 1515

Fra Bartolomeo, 1472

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hair"(Rock musical), 1968

"Philadelphia Story"(Play), 1939

Today in History:

Roman Emperor Pertinax is assassinated by Praetorian Guards, who then sell the throne in an auction to Didius Julianus, 193

Viking raiders sack Paris, who leave in exchange for a huge ransom, 845

The origin of the Fasli Era in India, 1556

Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco, 1776

Nathaniel Briggs of NH patents a washing machine, 1797

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man, 1802

The US Salvation Army is officially organized, 1885

Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane, 1910

Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv & Jaffa by Turkish authorities, 1917

Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara, 1930

The McGill français movement protest occurs, the second largest protest in Montreal's history, 1969

Operators of Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania fail to recognize that a relief valve in the primary coolant system has stuck open, leading to a partial meltdown, 1979

In South Africa, Zulus and African National Congress supporters battle in central Johannesburg, resulting in 18 deaths, 1994

The 2005 Sumatran earthquake rocks Indonesia, and at magnitude 8.7 is the second strongest earthquake since 1965, 2005

At least 1 million union members, students, and unemployed take to the streets in France in protest at the government's proposed First Employment Contract law, 2006

Australian diplomat Peter Woolcott's draft for the first-ever treaty to regulate the conventional arms trade is discussed by members of the United Nations, 2013

Dr. D is Random Enough for Tuesdays

(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.)

Tuesday means linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.  

Monday night i got a text from Dr. D asking me to meet her at 7:30am at her favorite car repair shop.  When i got there Tuesday morning, she promptly handed me a sterling silver spaghetti stirring spoon, a Swiss army knife, a gallon jug of water, a note to herself about something she wanted to do, a pair of pants in a plastic bag, and a business card from someone who calls herself "The Pie Lady" (whom we later called to order pies -- chicken pot pies, to be specific).

After giving the key to her truck to the mechanic and a note about what she wanted done, we stopped at the cleaners, then went to the locally owned bookstore where she used to have a small office.  Five crates of papers from her former office overloaded into Lunceford the Land Yacht later and we were on our way to the donut shop for her pig-in-a-blanket.

Dr. D has now got me involved in stealth gardening.  Up the street from where she lives is the home of an elderly gentleman she knows who loves plants but cannot tend them much any more on his own.  She has secretly planted five tomato plants right at the servitude that adjoins his house, and on the way to her house we stopped and used the Swiss army knife to open the packet of fertilizer she left over there (under the bucket by the back window) and used the sterling silver spaghetti stirring spoon to mix the fertilizer into the dirt.  After all, what else do you use a sterling silver spaghetti stirring spoon for?  She showed me how to water the plants and gave me a schedule to keep while she is out of town.  Her ultimate plan is to surprise him with garden fresh tomatoes in a few months.

My spaghetti stirring spoon, most assuredly not silver but you can see how the business end would do well digging in the dirt.

Back at her house, most of the day was spent going through the papers from her former office and looking for one specific file which we never did find (after hours of looking everywhere, she has finally decided it is at the attorney's office).  She also sent me to make copies of a very rare book about Huey Long.

Near the end of the day, we loaded all the files into her storage building, went to the post office to mail the copies of the Huey Long book to her friend in France, then stopped at a fried chicken place to buy apple pies to take to the nice men who had fixed her truck.  Her van is still over there, by the way.  They found an engine for it, and will be installing it soon.

From the van we retrieved two canes (no, at age 80 she still does not use a cane, why would that matter?), two umbrellas, books, clothes, moon pies, boxes of crayons, her favorite hat, leg weights, and some glassware, along with other things i cannot remember.  Sometimes by the time i leave that house my brain is so full it is reeling.

She is leaving town soon to go visit her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters, and she is taking the cats with her.  There will be a list waiting for me next Monday of things i can take care of while she's gone.  Wish me luck.

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Myanmar

Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Viewing and Celebrations begin -- Japan (the festivities get started around now, and vary by region depending on when the trees bloom in that area over the next 6 weeks)

Commemoration of Sen no Rikyu -- Omotesenke School of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, Japan (remembering the influential master in The Way of Tea)

Corkscrew Day -- M.L. Byrn of New York patented "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" on this date in 1860

National "Joe" Day -- no, it isn't official, but today you can make everyone call you "Joe" if you want, and call them the same; probably started by someone who had no memory for names

National Spanish Paella Day

Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day -- after all, they do need their own day; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays    

St. John Damascene's Day (Patron of pharmacists, icon paiting, theology students)

St. Rupert of Salzburg's Day (Patron of Salzburg; celebrated on the 24th in the rest of the Church)

World Theatre Day

Anniversaries Today:

Mary Pickford marries Douglas Fairbanks, 1920

Birthdays Today:

Brenda Song, 1988

Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson, 1975

Nathan Fillion, 1971

Mariah Carey, 1970

Quentin Tarantino, 1963

Xuxa, 1963

Maria Schneider, 1952

Austin Pendleton, 1940

Michael York, 1942

David Janssen, 1931

Anthony Lewis, 1927

Mstislav Rostropovich, 1927

Sarah Vaughan, 1924

Harold Nicholas, 1921

Gloria Swanson, 1899

Thorne Smith, 1892

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, 1886

Edward Steichen, 1879

Patty Smith Hill, 1868

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, 1845

Nathaniel Currier, 1813

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Starlight Express"(Rock musical), 1984

Funky Winkerbean(Comic strip), 1972

Singin' in the Rain(Film), 1952

"La Rondine/The Swallow"(Puccini Opera), 1917

"The Colleen Bawn"(Play), 1860

Today in History:

Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt, BC196

Pope Clement V excommunicates the entire population of Venice, 1309

Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida, 1513

The first English child born in Canada at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland to Nicholas Guy, 1613

The dike at Hardinxveld breaks, causing the Alblasserwaard flood, 1709

Spain losses Menorca & Gibraltar, 1713

John Parker Paynard originates medicated adhesive plaster, precursor to the band-aid, 1848

First reported sighting of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans, 1851

M L Byrn patents "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" (corkscrew), 1860

The first international rugby football match, England v. Scotland, is played in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place, 1871

Famous Apache warrior, Geronimo, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars, 1886

The first Japanese cherry blossom trees planted in Washington, D.C., 1912

The first successful blood transfusion takes place in Brussels, 1914

Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine, , 1916

Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor, 1931

Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union, 1958

The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes South Central Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage, 1964

The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight. 1970

Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins, 1975

The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212, 1980

The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours, 1981

The US FDA approves Viagra, 1998

HMS Scylla (F71), a decommissioned Leander class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe, 2004

The UN General Assembly condemns Russia's annexation of Crimea, 2014

Russia's Soyuz TMA-16M launches to deliver three crew members to the international space station to research the long-term effects of micro gravity, 2015

Farm Friends (Awww Monday) and Sparks!

(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.) 

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Daughter-in-Law Becky has some new additions for the farm:

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The wonderful Annie of McGuffy's Reader has started the blog hop called Sparks as a way to put more positive energy into the world.  Join her in combating the often negative influence of social media by adding your own Spark!

I believe we are meant to be lights in this world. If we allow our light to shine, we can see where we are going. It is then that we can begin to truly see each other clearly. Together, we can light up the entire world! ~ McGuffy Ann Morris

My "Spark" for the day

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And on a personal note, Happy Birthday to Bigger Girl!


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Today is:

Day to Mourn Victims of Biological Weapons -- commemorates the day they were outlawed in 1975

End of Zimbor-Quattor's Revenge Week and Day of Reconcilliation with All Those Whose Hats Have Been Damaged -- Fairy Calendar

Fiesta del Arbol -- Spain (Tree Festival or Arbor Day)

Independence Day and National Day -- Bangladesh(1971)

Khordad Sal -- Zoroastrian (Birth of the Prophet Zaranhushtra)

Labour Day -- Christmas Island

Legal Assistants' Day

Make Up Your Own Holiday Day -- Wellcat Holidays, which has made up a bunch, wants you to do the same today!

Martyr's Day / Democracy Day -- Mali

National Nougat Day

Otago Provincial Anniversary -- Otago, New Zealand

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianole Day -- Hawaii, US (Hawaiian Royal who worked to preserve the Hawaiian culture)

Purple Day -- International (supporting epileptics around the world)  

Seward's Day -- Alaska, US

Spinach Day -- on this day in 1937, spinach growers in Crystal City, Texas, erected a statue of Popeye in honor of their favorite veggie

St. Braulio's Day (Patron of Aragon, Spain)

St. William of Norwich's Day (Patron of kidnap and torture victims)

Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel -- Eastern Orthodox Christianity (celebration of his role is the Annunciation)

Anniversaries Today:

Ricki Lake weds Rob Sussman, 1994

Founding of the University of Utrecht, 1636

Birthdays Today:

Keira Knightley, 1985

Amy Smart, 1976

T.R. Knight, 1973

Josh Lucas, 1972

Leslie Mann, 1972

Kenny Chesney, 1968

John Stockton, 1962

Marcus Allen, 1960

Jennifer Grey, 1960

Catherine Keener, 1960

Leeza Gibbons, 1957

Curtis Sliwa, 1954

Teddy Pendergrass, 1950

Martin Short, 1950

Vicki Lawrence, 1949

Steven Tyler, 1948

Diana Ross, 1944

Bob Woodward, 1943

Erica Jong, 1942

James Caan, 1939

Alan Arkin, 1934

Leonard Nimoy, 1931

Sandra Day O'Connor, 1930

Pierre Boulez, 1925

Tennessee Williams, 1911

Viktor Frankl, 1905

Robert Frost, 1874

Jane Arminda Delano, 1862

Nathaniel Bowditch, 1773

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Fences"(Play), 1988

"The Young and the Restless"(TV), 1973

"Cannon"(TV), 1971

"Funny Girl"(Musical), 1964

"Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi/The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi"(Play), 1952

Today in History:

William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop's Fables, 1484

The first British Sunday newspaper is published (British Gazette & Sunday Monitor), 1780

The US Congress orders removal of Indians east of Mississippi to Louisiana, 1804

An earthquake destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela, leaves 20,000 dead, 1812

The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, NY, 1830

Eastman Film Co manufactures the first commercial motion picture film, 1885

New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capital of British-Indies, 1931

William H. Hastie becomes the first black Federal Judge in the US, in the US Virgin Islands, 1937

Jonas Salk announces the first successful test of his polio vaccine on a small group of adults and children, 1953

East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form People's Republic of Bangladesh, 1971

Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C., 1979

The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world, 1999

A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man, 1999

The Taiwanese government calls on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China, 2005

Canadian filmmaker James Cameron becomes the first person to visit Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth, in over 50 years, 2012

Carrie Lam becomes first woman elected to lead Hong Kong, 2017