late 16th century (in the sense ‘boiling’): from Latin ebullient- ‘boiling up’, from the verb ebullire, from e-(variant of ex- ) ‘out’ + bullire ‘to boil’.
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Best example I could find. The enthusiasm of the goats and patience of the other animals is contagious 🙂
Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.
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We owned a little mom-and-pop motel for three years in central Minnesota, back in the ’80’s. It was an enlightening experience (roll eyes,vast understatement). We had regulars–truckers, salespeople. We had entertainers for the local watering holes, of which there were plenty.
And we had tourists. Tourists are usually in a pretty good frame of mind, and they rarely caused us trouble. Usually, they were passing through to points north. Sometimes they were there for the Brainerd International Racetrack, at which even the great Paul Newman showed up now and then. Not that we ever saw him. He used the more upscale motels in the area, I’m sure.
Some of the tourists were just unbelievable.
There was the night we notice headlight pulling into the parking lot, long after we knew all our roomers were safely tucked into bed. Being of a suspicious turn of mind, Terry grabbed the shotgun he kept under the bed and let himself out the side door into the back yard, which was surrounded with lots of shrubbery and trees. Stood very still. It was a moonless night, so he couldn’t see much, but he could hear rustling and–yup–giggling. Hmmm. He crept out into the yard, staying in the shadows, found the car, and followed his ears to the bushes. As he was lifting the shotgun, several girls came running out of the bushes, pulling up shorts and pants and yelling, “Don’t shoot, mister! We just needed a bathroom, and we couldn’t find one! We’re leaving, honest!” Doubled over in laughter, Terry watched them peel out of the parking lot and disappear into the night.
We had become a motoilet. Good grief.
There was a night when I had to be alone. Our bedroom faced directly into the tiny hallway that was the entrance/office. Suddenly, around 3 a.m., someone banged on the locked office door, over and over. Groan. I grabbed the trusty shotgun, donned robe and slippers, and fumbled my way to the door. I switched on the light, which of course revealed to the drunk outside the door that I was carrying a gun. His eyes got as big as plates, and backed away shaking his head and waving his hands, and the next thing I heard was the squeal of tires as he peeled out. I had a little trouble getting back to sleep.
(A Brainerd tourist attraction)
One more. Loved this one. Our sons were about 15, 13, and 11. All big boys, looking older than they were. It was the middle of the day when a single man came into the office and I went to do my duty. He must have thought he was some punkins, because he actually started to flirt with me! As the air froze around him from my frosty response, he smirked and made as if to come around the desk.
I hollered, “Mike! Ken! Dan!” and three sets of feet came thundering down the stairs, three big teenagers poured into the very small office space, and Romeo looked as if he was about to faint.
My boys thought it was hilarious. They kind of grouped around him and ushered him back outside to his car, and I admit I had to sit down and unshake for a minute after that one. What if they hadn’t been there? What if it had been just me and my 9-year-old daughter? It was a slow time of day, no one else was in the motel, and I wasn’t a pistol-packin’ mama at that moment. Never occurred to me to keep my shotgun handy in the daytime hours.
All’s well that ends well, as they say.
It was an interesting life.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/tourist/
Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.
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First thing that popped up in my noggin: The price of pencils.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/price/
I was looking through some of my first posts for this blog, and found this one. I’d forgotten that I wrote it. I was tempted to punch it up a bit, but frankly I’m just too lazy this morning. It’s an absolutely true story in every detail. Poor Terry. His big romantic plans just didn’t go the way he thought they would. Didn’t matter, though. Love triumphs 🙂
Prompt:
Tell us your funniest relationship disaster story.)
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The relationship wasn’t–isn’t–a disaster, but the story is disastrously funny.
He told me we were going on an outing, a picnic. We’d be driving up to Lake Mille Lacs. I wasn’t sure how to dress, because he made it sound very casual, but also pretty important. So I asked.
“How should I dress? Shorts? Skirt and top? Long pants?”
“Uhhh, well, I’m not sure. Wear something nice. I like that dress with the brown and gold stripes.”
“For a picnic? Really?”
“Yeah, that should work out ok.”
So I got myself ready, and back in 1968 that meant stockings, if you were wearing a dress. It meant fixing your hair and wearing a little perfume, a little makeup. Nice shoes. I felt fluttery, because I kind of suspected what he had in mind.
The drive up to the lake was typically Minnesota-in-August. Blue sky, puffy clouds. Since it wasn’t a weekend, the traffic wasn’t that heavy. We chatted all the way up, me loving the power of his GTO as it ate up the miles.
Once we got to the lake, he began to search for the perfect spot to park. It’s a process I’ve become familiar with over the years. Finally he pulled into a small parking area, grabbed a blanket and the picnic basket, and locked up the car. He thought we were close to a picnic area.
Yeah. “Thought” is the operative word. Now, remember: I’m dressed up. Pantyhose, dress, perfume, hairspray. Go look at a picture of some girl in 1968. You’ll get the idea. Well, here you go; I found one for you 🙂
Now, she was probably going to a party. I wasn’t quite that glammed up, but you get the idea.
Remember also that it’s August in central Minnesota. Hot. Humid.
We were at a lake that was surrounded by lots of woods. Mosquitoes. Deer flies.
I was wearing perfume. I attract stinging insects even without perfume. They love me.
We walked, looking for the fabled picnic ground. And we walked. We sweated. We slapped bugs. We came across lovely, romantic things like discarded paper diapers–full. Dead fish. Malodorous. Other unseemly dead things that I didn’t want to ask about. We never did find the picnic area. We finally did find a relatively clear patch of water, and we both took off our shoes; I found a bush and got rid of the hose, hiked up my skirt, and went wading into the deliciously cool water.
Clouds of mosquitoes lifted gently from the weeds along the water’s edge and elegantly settled back down all over me. Flies landed where mosquitoes feared to go.
Well, Terry wisely bagged the idea of proposing to me along the fabled shores of Gitcheegoomee. Instead, we ran (I was screaming) from the evil swamp monstersbackthroughtheweedsandunderbrushandsandanddiapersandfish until we reached the safety of the car.
Poor guy. I think he was more embarrassed than he’d ever been in his life.
But we ended up living happily ever after.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/third-rate-romance/
Just Writing! 