The Fourth of July may be a time for celebration, but our pets and wildlife often feel very differently about the booming fireworks. And as if loud explosions weren’t enough to worry about, summer brings its own parade of problems—like lice, which are awful enough on their own and even worse when they turn into a full-blown infestation. Then come the ants. Or in my case, an outright invasion of ants. What can you do when these tiny troublemakers take over? To wrap things up, the last week of July is packed with holidays—some meaningful, some unusual, and all worth a closer look.
July 1-8
Celebrations of The Fourth of July didn’t take pets into consideration. While we enjoy the firework displays, most pets do not. Most of them probably feel like they are in a war zone, and they feel the need to escape.
I live way out in the county, and one year a dog ran away from a fireworks show taking place about twenty miles from me. The dog did have his owner’s name and phone number attached to his collar, so I was able to return him home, but I’m sure the poor dog was scared to death.
I’m not saying that we don’t need to have fireworks displays. But it probably would be a good thing to keep your pets away from them.
For your writing prompt, write a story about an animal that flees from a fireworks show. This pets owner didn’t realize just how badly the lights and the booming would frighten his animal. Where does this animal end up? How did he get there? Was he shown kindness or not? And does he make it back to his owner.
There is a funny reel about dogs and fireworks from FB that I saw just this morning, but for some reason, it won’t let me add it here, Go to https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Hm6gABwGn/ to watch it.
The above story makes me so mad. I can’t imagine having lice so bad that it leads to death. I’ve had lice before, and it was a nightmare, but they are simple to get rid of. LiceFree Spray! Instant Head Lice Treatment from Walmart gets rid of it instantly. I’m so glad I found it. So to let your child keep lice once they get them when the cure for them is so cheap, well, the parents probably already have them anyway as do the rest of the members of the household. This people failed at being responsible parents. It sounds like they didn’t even try not to fail.
Write a story where you write about how the parents of this child are punished for letting things get so out of hand.
July 16-23
Invasion of the Ants sounds like a good name for a movie. And they could probably film it right here in my house. Yes, I’ve been invaded by ants, and it is maddening. I tried to look up what kind of ants they are, but the ants are tiny, and the pictures of the common ants that invade houses are so large. I haven’t taken the time to examine any of them closely; I just want them gone. So I have set about getting rid of them. I think they should be called “persistent ants.”
Ants as a whole are industrious creatures. They live in colonies (and I think there is a huge colony of them right outside my house), and they store up food for winter. And I’m sure there are many other things they do to ensure their survival. I do appreciate their want to survive and find food, but I am not going to share any of my food or my animal’s food with them.
I discovered them this morning when I got up. They had come in around my kitchen air conditioner and were all over the top of my dishwasher that doesn’t work and is used as a feeding station for my cats. What to do? For the time being, I had to change where the cats’ food is, and they’re not very happy about that. I have killed so may little ants today that I can still feel them crawling on me even though none have been on me. And my entire kitchen now smells like peppermint. I walk in there every few minutes to see how many stragglers (ants) I can smash. Peppermint isn’t a bad smell at all, but still . . .
Okay. Writing prompts. The first thing that comes to mind is a story about a literal invasion of ants. And these ants are indestructible. No matter what is used to try and kill them, they just won’t go away.
Where is this invasion? Is it a home? A business? A campsite? Somewhere else?
How is this situation handled?
July 24-31
July is full of holidays, well-known ones and lots of not so well-known ones. This writing prompt is for the last week of July and covers eight days, so listed below are eight holidays. The first holiday is on July 24, the second on July 25, the third on July 26, and so on. Mind you, each day has many, many more holidays attributed to them. I just picked out the ones most interesting to me, but your favorites could be very different. Just in case they are, I also supplied the link I got the holidays from.
So for each day this week or for the whole week, choose a holiday and write a story around it. It could be a factual story – where the holiday came from, who created it, why it is celebrated, how it is celebrated, and so on. Or it could be a fictional tale centered around the holiday.
Amelia Earhart Day
National Wine and Cheese Day
National Coffee Milkshake Day
Take Your Houseplant for a Walk Day
National Milk Chocolate Day
International Tiger Day
Paperback Book Day
National Mutt Day
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