Saturday, February 8, 2025

Unstrung but Still Thankful, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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It's been a week to almost unstring us, but there it is Thankful Day and there is always more good than bad if you look for it.


Saturday went well, in spite of my trepidation about driving a long distance alone so soon after surgery and i'm thankful.


After a difficult week, Becca and i were thankful to enjoy an excellent church service Sunday.


My eye doctor told me my eye is healing and i'm cautiously hopeful he's right and thankful for the option to consult another doctor.


I am very thankful for our ladies' circle meeting.


While i'm not thankful at all about my broken phone, i'm thankful

     it is being fixed,

     i have a spare phone to use

     if i really work my way around, i am able to do almost everything with my other devices my phone is able to do by itself, including sending photos to Sweetie's phone, then forwarding to email, then uploading -- hey, i have a system, hoorah!


rEcesss.  Ripping and running and gym time and movies and:


Lots of food.



Plenty of dessert.



Puzzles.



Crafts.




The abandoning of shoes (and a random fish).



And one epic game of steal the crown up and down the halls and through the rooms.






Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Clark and his co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.   


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter



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Today is:


Boy Scout Day -- celebrates the birthday of Scouting in the US


Cowtown's Last Old West Gunfight -- White Elephant Saloon, Fort Worth, TX, US (annual reenactment of the last gunfight in what was then Cowtown, between White Elephant Saloon owner Luke Short and former marshal T.I. “Longhaired Jim” Courtright on this date in 1887)


Hari Kuyo -- Sensouji Temple, Japan (Festival of Broken Needles, in which all of the worn or broken sewing needles from the previous year are put in a sacred resting place.)


Hold Onto Your Head Day -- invented by someone for people like me, because heaven knows i'm losing mine!


Laugh and Get Rich Day -- a day to recognize the power of laughter


Love May Make the World Go 'round, But Laughter Keeps Us from Getting Dizzy Week -- annually, the week before and including Valentine's Day; dedicated to Victor Borge’s notion that “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people” and Joel Goodman’s notion that “Seven days without laughter makes one weak.”


National Molasses Bar Day


Preseren's Day -- Slovenia (Honors their national poet, France Preseren, often called Day of Slovenian Culture)


Rebel Day -- birth anniversary of James Dean


St. Jerome Emilani's Day (Patron of orphans; Taos Indian Pueblo)


Tako-ichi -- Kita-ku, Tokyo, Japan (kite fair dating back to the Edo period)



Anniversary Today:


Founding of Universiteit Leiden, with the motto Praesidium Libertatis, 1575



Birthdays Today:


Josh Keaton, 1979

David "Phoenix" Farrell, 1977

Seth Green, 1974

Alonzo Mourning, 1970

Gary Coleman, 1968

Claudette Pace, 1968

Vince Neil, 1961

John Grisham, 1955

Mary Steenburgen, 1953

Brooke Adams, 1949

Robert Klein, 1942

Nick Nolte, 1941

Ted Koppel, 1940

John Williams, 1932

James Dean, 1931

Jack Lemmon, 1925

Audrey Meadows, 1924

Freddie Blassie, 1921

Lana Turner, 1921

Elizabeth Bishop, 1911

Lyle Talbot, 1902

William Tecumseh Sherman, 1820

Jules Verne, 1828

Samuel Butler, 1612



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Good Times"(TV), 1974

"RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day"(TV), 1952

"Danses Concertantes"(Stravinsky Ballet), 1942

"Two for the Show"(Musical), 1940

"The Plough and the Stars"(Play), 1926

"The Stars and Stripes"(US Armed Forces Newspaper), 1918

"The Birth of a Nation"(Film), 1915

"Boris Godunov"(Mussorgsky Opera), 1874

"Flora; or the Hob in the Well"(Cibber's Opera, first opera performed in the Colonies), 1735



Today in History:


Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, 1587

Isaac Newton reads his first optics paper before the Royal Society in London, 1672

French and Indian troops set Schenectady, NY, afire, 1690

A doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony suggests that two girls in the family of the village minister may be suffering from bewitchment, leading to the Salem witch trials, 1692

The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia, 1726

The first opera in the US, "Flora," opens in South Carolina, 1735

A minor earthquake shakes London, 1750

The strange phenomenon called the "Devil's Footprints" mysteriously appear in Devon, England, 1855

Martin Robinson Delany becomes the first black major in the US Army, 1865

The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce, 1910

D.W. Griffith's controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles, 1915

The Stars and Stripes newspaper is published for the first time, 1918

Swiss men vote against women's suffrage, 1920

Radio arrives at the White House, 1922

Allende meteorite falls near Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico, 1969

The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time, 1971

After 84 days in space, the crew of the first American space station Skylab returns to Earth, 1974

The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night, 1983

The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" takes place, 1996

A freak storm in the Hindukush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, 2010

Noriaki Kasai of Japan becomes first athlete in history to participate in 8 Winter Olympics, 2018

King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand issues a royal decree calling Princess Ubolratana's candidacy for Prime Minister for the Thai Raksa Chart political party “improper and highly inappropriate”, 2019

After 3 years with no rainy season, the Horn of Africa is declared to be in drought and on the brink of a humanitarian crisis by the UN, 2022

Friday, February 7, 2025

Bon Voyage (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins and Nature Friday

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Please note, my phone broke.  I can't get photos except by emailing them from a different device to my computer and then hoping Blogger will agree to upload them.  


I can't get to some websites to comment because my computer won't and my tablet won't either, so if you don't see comments from me, i'm trying but it might not work.


If my blog only posts the Today Is section or has odd photos or doesn't have your blog hop badge or anything else weird, it's because i can't get the devices to cooperate until my phone is fixed, which could be up to a week.


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Feline Friday was originally started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude (may he rest in peace), and i'm going to believe it's because he liked cats.

He handed hosting duties off to Sandee at Comedy Plus, and now she's entrusting it to me.


Feline Friday is simple to join.  All you have to do is: Post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (they may be silly or cute).  Then add your link!


One thing for sure is this is a fun and easy meme to do.  So come and join us in Feline Friday.


What better way to start the weekend than with a feline!


It is with great sadness i must say Ms. GA and Mr. BA, my every Friday clients and staunch cat lovers, had to say good-bye to two felines this week.


Abigail, everyone's sweetheart who never met a stranger, was almost 14 and had been sick for over a year.






Lewis was around 19, part of the feral clowder they care for.





Both simply couldn't go on with their various illnesses and ailments, and it's not going to be the same going over there to clean without them.





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Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing, and the final two are offered by Lorianne The Menagerie Mom of Four-Legged Furballs. They try to make sure the statements will be fun to both answer and share. The linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM on Friday. Please head over to one of their sites, link up, and share your thoughts!      


Here are this week's statements with my responses underlined:


1. My February plans include ________________ and ___________________.


2. I should get rid of ______________________ because I never use them.


3. _________ is the most useful purchase I’ve made recently.


4. I would excel in the _________ category on trivia night.



1. My February plans include   working   and   getting my phone back.


2. I should get rid of   old Christmas popcorn tins   because I never use them.


3. A new cover for my phone which will make it almost unbreakable   is the    first purchase i'm going to make when i get that phone back and it will be the   most useful purchase I’ve made recently


4. I would excel in the   Bible   category on trivia night.




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Nature Friday is hosted by LLB in Our Backyard Simply post a picture of the natural world and link up!   


We were concerned the freezing weather, which destroyed all the camellia blossoms blooms, would also kill the buds and we'd have no more camellias this year.  We were happy to see it didn't!









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Today is:


Bubble Gum Day -- US Schools (with the principal's permission, pay a $.50 fine and get to chew gum at school today; money is to be donated to a charity the school chooses)  


Charles Dickens Day -- read a chapter or two of his work, in honor of his birth


Daniel Boone Escape Day -- he escaped from the Shawnee tribe which had captured him


Feast of Mulk (Dominion) -- Baha'i


Give Kids A Smile Day -- US (ADA sponsors dentists giving free care to children from low-income families)


Ice Cream for Breakfast Day -- because you have to do it at least once a year


Independence Day -- Grenada(1974)


Marriage Week -- UK (part of the Futureway Trust, and now observed around the world, celebrating the diversity and vibrancy of marriage as the heart of family life)     


National Fettucini Alfredo Day


National Hangover Awareness Day -- internet generated, and shouldn't it be on Jan.1?


National Wear Red Day -- US (wear red for women's heart health awareness)


Scout Sabbath -- BSA (Boy Scouts are encouraged to wear their uniforms to synagogue tonight or tomorrow morning and represent scouting to their congregations)


Send a Card to a Friend Day -- wonder which card company created this one


St. Theodore Stratelates' Day (Patron of soldiers; Brindisi, Italy; for finding lost objects)


Wave All you Fingers at Your Neighbor Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; wave to your neighbors, let them know you like them



Birthdays Today:


Tina Majorino, 1985

Ashton Kutcher, 1978

Chris Rock, 1965

Garth Brooks, 1962

Eddie Izzard, 1962

James Spader, 1960

Miguel Ferrer, 1954

Hector Babenco, 1946

Pete Postlethwaite, 1945

Gay Talese, 1932

Keefe Brasselle, 1923

Eddie Bracken, 1920

Oscar Brand, 1920

Larry "Buster" Crabbe, 1908

Sinclair Lewis, 1885

James Hubert “Eubie” Blake, 1883

Alfred Adler, 1870

Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1867

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, 1834

Charles Dickens, 1812

John Deere, 1804

Sir Thomas More, 1478



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"America's Most Wanted"(TV), 1988

"Blazing Saddles"(Film), 1974

"Pinocchio"(Disney animated Film), 1940

"The Cat and the Canary"(Play), 1922

"Kid Auto Races at Venice"(first Charlie Chaplin "Little Tramp" Film), 1914

"Chantecler"(Rostand Play), 1910

"The Deserter"(first ballet performed in US), 1827

"Il Matrimonio Segreto" (Comarosa Opera), 1792



Today in History:


The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir, 1238

Edward of Carnarvon, later Edward II, becomes the first English prince to hold the title Prince of Wales, 1301

The bonfire of the vanities occurs in which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy, 1497

King Philip II forms an inquisition in South America, 1569

Academie Francaise begins a Dictionary of the French Language, 1639

An 8.2 magnitude earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri, 1812

The colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the Electoral Act of 1856, the first piece of legislation anywhere in the world providing for elections by way of a secret ballot, 1856

The Battle at Ingogo, Transvaal: the Boers defeat superior British forces, 1881

The Great Blizzard of 1891 begins, 1891

Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse, 1898

Baltimore catches fire; 1500 buildings are destroyed in 80 blocks, 1904

The Mud March, the first large procession organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), 1907

Charlie Chaplin debuts "The Tramp" in "Kid Auto Races at Venice," 1914

The first wireless message sent from a moving train to a station is received, 1915

Bert Hinkler begins the first solo flight from England to Australia, 1928

Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered, 1979

Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered spacewalk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), 1984

The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power, 1990

Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in, 1991

The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union, 1992

Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein, 1999

Bushfires in Victoria left 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history, 2009

In Europe, ready-meal manufacturer, Findus, withdrew its beef lasagne meals from supermarkets after confirming beef supplied by French manufacturer, Comigel contained horsemeat, 2013

All citrus fruit can be traced to the southeast foothills of the Himalayas, according to a DNA study published in Nature, 2018

Sarah Thomas becomes the first woman to referee a Super Bowl, 2021

LeBron James becomes the NBA's all time leading scorer, surpasseing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 2023