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Happy birthday, Donald Duck!

I’m going to be straight with you — there is nothing Mickey Mouse about today.

That’s because today, Wednesday, June 9, 2021, is — get ready to quack up — National Donald Duck Day.

Yes, today is the day this pompous, hard-to-understand anthropomorphic duck turns 87 years old. It was on this day back in 1934 the fowl little guy in his trademark sailor suit and cap made his film debut in The Wise Little Hen.

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If you have not seen this animated treasure, it features a semi-intelligible Donald and his buddy Peter Pig trying to avoid work by faking stomach aches until Mrs. Hen teaches them the value of labour. 

In contrast, not that anyone cares today, Mickey Mouse will turn 93 on Nov. 18 — the day back in 1928 when he made his big-screen debut in the black-and-white animated short Steamboat Willie.

According to nationaldaycalendar.com: “National Donald Duck Day was first proclaimed by L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley in 1984 on Donald’s 50th birthday. The world’s most famous duck gave the city a silver statue of himself as a gift in memory of the big day. He also toured the country leading up to the big Disney birthday party bash.”

Personally, I have always sided with Team Donald as opposed to Team Mickey. I like the fact Donald has appeared in more films (200 plus) than any other Disney character, including the world’s most famous rodent.

APThe cantankerous and often unlucky Disney legend, Donald Duck, poses for a photo on his 70th birthday at Disneyland Paris in Marne La Vallee, France. (AP Photo / Disney / files)

APThe cantankerous and often unlucky Disney legend, Donald Duck, poses for a photo on his 70th birthday at Disneyland Paris in Marne La Vallee, France. (AP Photo / Disney / files)

I also am impressed by the fact Donald has spent the past 87 years wandering around without pants. If you or I were to try that today, there is a good chance we would get arrested — and it would not be for violating public health orders, if you catch my duck-like drift.

Speaking of not wearing pants, I should mention today is also (Warning: You must be at least 18 to read the rest of this paragraph) a day we normally do not discuss in family newspapers, by which I mean National Sex Day.

“National Sex Day is one of a number of unofficial holidays of unknown origin, but that doesn’t make it any less real or any less… enjoyable… to celebrate,” gasps dictionary.com. “As its name implies, National Sex Day is dedicated to having sex, getting down, knocking boots, enjoying an afternoon delight, and a host of other euphemisms for the big s-e-x.”

Despite the fact Winnipeg has been ranked the No. 5 sexiest city in Canada — based on per-capita sales of adult novelties, so to speak — I can tell by the awkward expressions on your faces that it’s time to move on.

So let’s do that right now, because I have a bunch of stories to share that will amuse you, confuse you, and cause you to speak in a barely intelligible manner, kind of like a certain duck we were talking about earlier…

 

Shelley Cook, Columnist

 

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OUR SPIDEY SENSES ARE TINGLING

“Spider-Man, Spider-Man, helps Winnipeggers whenever he can.”

That could easily be the theme song for a 20-something Winnipegger who is making headlines for his penchant for dressing up like his favourite superhero, putting smiles on faces, and doing good deeds.

He’s not swinging from rooftops, but Winnipeg’s version of Spidey is not averse to helping elderly pedestrians cross busy streets. Get your spidey-senses tingling. 

NO SLEEPING ON THESE MATTRESSES

A green-hearted Winnipeg company is helping to save the planet, one mattress at a time.

Since 2015, Mother Earth Recycling, a North End firm that is 100 per cent Indigenous owned, has diverted more than 50,000 mattresses from the local landfill.

Which means they have prevented about 1,660,148 kilograms of mattress waste from rotting away while also rescuing fabrics, foam and springs for other items. Maybe counting mattresses instead of sheep will help me sleep?

TEEN MAKES A SCARY ‘MAMA BEAR’

What do you do if an angry bear climbs the fence around your house and threatens to make a snack of your small pet dogs?

Well, if you happen to be 17-year-old Hailey Morinico of California you do something heroic and potentially lethal — charge the bear and push it off the wall.

Then scoop up your small dogs and beetle back to the safety of your house. I can bear-ly believe it.

ALBUM NO LONGER BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

A double Bob Dylan album finally has a direction home — thanks to a San Francisco man who mailed it back to an Ohio library 48 years after it was supposed to be returned.

Howard Simon, who borrowed Dylan’s Self Portrait album in 1973 as an eighth grader, recently found it between two other Dylan albums in his personal collection.

So Simon returned it — “approximately 17,480 days overdue” — along with a nice note and a $175 replacement fee. That vinyl always knew there must be some way outta there.

YOUR FEEL-GOOD ANIMAL STORY OF THE WEEK

As you already know, there is nothing Mickey Mouse about today, but it does feel like the perfect time to sing the praises of a truly heroic rodent.

A seven-year-old giant African pouched rat made headlines last week when he retired after five years of sniffing out land mines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia.

The award-winning rat detected 71 landmines and 38 items of unexploded ordnance in his remarkable career, but now it’s time to kick back and eat bananas. We can all be glad his career didn’t end with a bang.

 
 

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Doug Speirs :

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