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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.
Part of today’s post is also a writing challenge. This is how it works: one of the contributing bloggers picked a number between 12 and 50. The submitted number is a challenge to participating bloggers to write at least one piece using that exact number of words.
This month, the word count number is: 39
It was submitted by: Karen at Baking in a Tornado
Links to the other Word Counters posts:
Ms. V called me Sunday night to let me know Carl has his car back so he wouldn't need a ride to work Monday morning. Instead, he would need help packing his ice chest and getting his vest ready.
I went in and put my stuff down, then went for his ice chest. It was in a corner under his DVD collection he was supposed to sort weeks ago. I moved those boxes and went to the freezer.
He has a cooling vest that holds ice blocks to keep him cool on these hot summer days. I filled it with blocks and put it and extra ice blocks in the chest, then looked for his lunch box.
Opening the fridge, i was greeted with bags. One held sunscreen. The others held an artichoke, a cucumber, a banana, and a peach. No, i do not want to know what his plans are for this variety of produce.
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| Sunscreen in the fridge. |
The lunchbox was in there, with a book in it from the local park system detailing summer programs. When asked, he said he'd gotten it from the free rack and had to put it somewhere to bring it home.
Also it contained some grapes, some crackers, and a partially eaten apple. Also the peels he'd gnawed off of said apple and dropped back in there. Now you know why i wear gloves and always watch where i reach..
Once i got all of that squared away and a snack made and packed, he was asking me about shorts. I managed to find him one pair, and went on a hunt for the rest. I did find them.
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| The shorts were in the box marked, "Save," and i took them out to stain treat and wash. |
I washed them as i was doing laundry and set them aside to ask why they were all in a box in the laundry room instead of in his closet. Ms. V says they don't fit him any longer!
We know Carl loves to eat, and we tend to think of him as a young man. He's actually just over 40, and the middle age spread is starting to get him in spite of his physically demanding job.
Before he left, he also asked, "Do I need shoes?" while holding one shoe and digging through the boxes of stuff from his car that litters the hall. He generally caries spares but the car is empty as noted.
I told him not today and shooed him off, and he went, leaving doors open again. Before i could close them, he was back looking for his phone, which was on the couch, of course, then out and gone.
After sorting all the shoes onto his shoe rack, i found the spare shoe he'd been holding, and dug around and came up with another single shoe. Most of the time his spares are all rights or all lefts.
This time he had an unmatched right and left set, which made me wonder. I didn't look too closely at his feet before he left, was he wearing another mismatched set just like it to work? Time will tell.
In honor of shoes, some funnies.
Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!
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Today is:
Cuckoo Warning Day -- if you hear the cuckoo today, it will be a wet summer, according to old European traditions
Day of the National Flag -- Argentina (Anniversary of General D. Manuel Belgrano's Death)
Day of the Purification of All Things -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)
Feast of the Great Spirit / Great Mystery -- various Native Americans (celebrations are around the time of the solstice)
Cherokee call the spirit Asgaya Galun Lati
Iroquois call the spirit Orenda
Lakota call the spirit Wakan Tanka
Zuni call the spirit Awonawilona
Festival for Summanus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (the god who threw thunderbolts at night)
Festival of the New Knee -- Fairy Calendar
Hogueras de San Juan -- Alicante, Spain ("Bonfires of St. John," through the 29th, with the night of the 24th being the most magical as the festival is for St. John, whose day that is)
Ice Cream Soda Day -- i guess because it's hot enough here now for one
International Surfing Day -- The Surfrider Foundation and Surfing Magazine suggest contests, barbecues, film screenings, and organizing beach clean ups to celebrate
Iron Skegge's Day -- Vikings (martyrdom of Iron Skegge, who died defending the temples of Maeri against Christians)
Martyr's Day -- Eritrea
Midsummer's Eve -- many and varying traditions, with some celebrating the day before the solstice, and some always tying it to June 23, St. John's Eve
Night of the Fairy Goddesses Aine and Finnen -- Ireland (watch out for the antics of the little people on Midsummer's Eve, whichever day you celebrate it!)
National Vanilla Milkshake Day
New Identity Day -- an internet generated holiday, just have fun thinking about who you might want to be for a day
Rath Yatra & Bahuda Jatra-- Puri, India (the first is the Chariot Festival, pilgrims pull huge chariots across the city, and the second is 8 days later, the Return Festival; one of the most awaited Hindu festivals in the state and country)
Scira/Skirophoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival for Demeter, organized by the women of Athens; date approximate)
St. Michelina of Pesaro's Day (Patron of mentally ill people, people with in-law problems, widows; against death of children, insanity and mental illness)
Takekiri Eshiki Matsuri -- Kuramadera, Kyoto, Japan (bamboo cutting festival; the bamboo represents snakes, so cutting it symbolizes victory over evil)
World Productivity Day -- no central focus, just a day for suppliers of productivity tools and training to celebrate what they contribute to society
World Refugee Day -- UN
Anniversaries Today:
The University of Oxford receives its charter, 1214
West Virginia becomes the 35th US state, 1863
Birthdays Today:
Robert Rodriguez, 1968
Nicole Kidman, 1967
Michael Landon, Jr, 1964
Cyndi Lauper, 1953
John Goodman, 1952
Lionel Richie, 1949
Andre Watts, 1946
Bob Vila, 1946
Anne Murray, 1945
Brian Wilson, 1942
John Mahoney, 1940
Danny Aiello, 1933
James Tolkan, 1931
Martin Landau, 1931
Olympia Dukakis, 1931
Chet Atkins, 1924
Audie Murphy, 1924
Jean-Jacques Bertrand, 1916
Errol Flynn, 1909
Lillian Hellman, 1905
Charles W. Chesnutt, 1858
Scipio Africanus, BC236
Debuting/Premiering Today:
Jaws(Film), 1975
"The Ray Stevens Show"(TV), 1970
"The Ed Sullivan Show"(TV), 1948
Today in History:
Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun; the battle was inconclusive, and Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory, 451
Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique, 1567
The Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates, 1631
A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756
King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during The French Revolution, 1791
The U.S. vessel SS Savannah, the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, arrives at Liverpool, 1819
Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne, 1837
Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph, 1840
Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 1877
Caroline Willard Baldwin becomes the first woman to earn a doctor of science degree, at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1895
A rare June hurricane struck Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35, 1959
The so-called "red telephone" is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1963
The German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin, 1991
The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida, 2003
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers grants private companies the right to create new website domain suffixes, 2011
Instagram offers users the ability to upload videos to their service, 2013
Dunedin and Christchurch, New Zealand, have roads cut off and flights cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, 2013
Rome elects its first female Mayor, Virginia Raggi, who is also its youngest ever, at age 37, 2016
The Hungarian government passes legislation that criminalizes aiding undocumented migrants, 2018
An historic dust cloud reaches the Caribbean Sea, making it the largest in a half century, 2020
A record high temperature is recorded within the Arctic Circle, 38C (100F) in Verkhoyansk, Siberia, 2020