Happy Birthday #2 Son (Ten Things of Thankful)

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

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It's thankful time again, and i am very glad.

Yesterday was #2 Son's birthday.  Here are several things about him for which i am thankful.

He laughed a lot as a baby.  His adventures made us laugh as he grew.

He loved hugs, and still does.

He was never a whiner, always bandaging himself up when he got hurt climbing trees, landing wrong off the bike ramps he built, or whatever else he was doing.

He really likes snakes (so do i).

He knew he wanted to be either Legolas the Elf or a Jedi warrior when he grew up, at least until he decided he loves to cook.

He made his own bow and arrows and practiced with them.

He taught himself to golf (just in the field across the street, and just for fun).

He was never afraid to climb on the roof (so he can help me clean the gutters).

He took over the BBQ pit here when he was 9 -- he learned from Grandpa.

He was always a big help with bottle raising kittens.

He is a cook and crew trainer at a restaurant that serves real food, not just fast food.

He is a huge help when he have water trouble in the house.

For more reasons that i could ever list, i am very thankful for #2 Son.

Please join us and our gracious and wonderful hostess Kristi from ThankfulMe, write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Special PSA -- Daylight Saving Time begins in many places 2am tomorrow, so "spring forward" one hour before you go to bed tonight

Today is:

Armored Warships Day -- the first battle between armored warships, the Monitor and the Merrimac, was this day in 1862

Baron Bliss Day -- Belize

Birthday of Wenchang Wang, the God of Literature -- China

Celebrate Your Name Week -- Saturday:  Geneology Day, begin or continue the journey to learn about your family

Daylight Saving Time begins tomorrow -- Bermuda; Canada (most regions); Cuba; Haiti; Mexico (some areas); Saint Pierre and Miquelon; The Bahamas; Turks and Caicos Islands; US (most areas)

Day to Mourn Slavery -- commemorates the day slavery was outlawed worldwide in 1927, and to mourn that it still exists

Eid Al Moalim -- Lebanon (Teacher's Day)

Get Over It Day™ -- halfway between Valentines and April Fools, a day to just get over something or someone that is bugging you   

Highland County Maple Festival -- Highland County, VA, US (this weekend and next)

International Fanny Pack Day -- started by someone who really likes the things (although i do admit they come in handy for keeping your money with you at all times when you have a garage sale)

National Crabmeat Day

National Meatball Day

Panic Day -- a day in which to run around in a panic and tell everyone you can't take it any more, to get it all out of your system, i guess; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Saitousai -- Kashima-shi, Ibaraki-ken, Japan (festival to pray for good harvest that dates back to the Nara period of 710-794, and still includes traditional dress)

Second Day of No Interest to Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

St. Catherine of Bologna's Day (Patron of art, artists, Bologna Academy of Art, liberal arts, painters; against temptation)

St. Dominic Savio's Day (Patron of boys, children's choirs, choir boys, choirs, falsely accused people, juvenile delinquents, and Pueri Cantores)

St. Frances of Rome's Day (Patron of automobile drivers/motorists, cabbies/taxi drivers, lay people, people ridiculed for their piety, Roman housewives, widows)

Strinennia -- Slavic Pagan Calendar (festival to call birds and spring to come back)

Takaosan Hiwatari Matsuri -- Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan  (fire walking festival, usually on this date but can vary)

Anniversaries Today:

Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, 1796

Gustav Mahler marries Alma Schindler, 1902

Birthdays Today:

Emmanuel Lewis, 1971

Juliette Binoche, 1964

Terence John "Terry" Mulholland, 1963

Linda Fiorentino, 1960

Jeffrey Osborne, 1948

David Hume Kennerly, 1947

Bobby Fischer, 1943

Trish Van Devere, 1943

Raul Julia, 1940

Marty Ingels, 1936

Mickey Gilley, 1936

Joyce Van Patten, 1934

Yuri Gagarin, 1934

Keely Smith, 1932

Ornette Coleman, 1930

Wally Bronner, 1927

Irene Papas, 1926

Mickey Spillane, 1918

Samuel Barber, 1910

Will Greer, 1902

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, 1890

Amerigo Vespucci, 1454

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Family"(TV), 1976

"Rising of the Moon"(Play), 1907

"Hamlet"(Opera), 1868

"Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor/The Merry Wives of Windsor"(Opera), 1849 

"Ernani"(Opera), 1844

"Nabucco"(Opera), 1842

The Wealth of Nations(Publication Date) 1776

"Horace"(Play), 1640

Today in History:

Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han Dynasty of China, BC141

First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg, 1009

Jews are expelled from Carintha Austria, 1496

Nicolaus Copernicus makes his first recorded astronomical observation, 1497

Marten Luther preaches his first Invocavit sermon, 1522

Kissing in public is banned in Naples, punishable by death, 1562

Publication of the economics book The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, 1776

Prussian government limits work week for children to 51 hours, 1839

The Amistad Ruling:  The US Supreme Court rules that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally, and were to be set free, 1841

The first documented discovery of gold in California occurred at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush, 1842

Albert Potts of Philadelphia patents the street mailbox, 1858

The Westmoreland County Coal Strike, involving 15,000 coal miners 

represented by the United Mine Workers, begins, 1910

Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, 1916

Pink's War: The first Royal Air Force operation conducted independently of the British Army or Royal Navy begins, 1925

President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to the Congress, the first of his New Deal policies, 1932

CBS television broadcasts the See It Now episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy", produced by Fred Friendly, in which Edward R. Murrow criticizes the senator, 1954

The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York, 1959

Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as Surgeon General of the United States, becoming the first female and Hispanic American to serve in that position, 1990

Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Comet Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day, 1997

Liquid water is discovered on Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn, 2006

Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights, 2011

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft transmits images that for the very first time, allow scientists to create a 3D reconstruction of ancient water channels below the surface of Mars, 2013

Asteroid 2013 ET comes within 960,000 km from the Earth’s surface, 2013