Quackers (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Good for a Laugh (Poetry Monday)

(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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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Last Wednesday, we arrived for the morning shift at the shelter to find the mama duck which has been nesting at the building next door, right in full view of our front door, has a surprise for us:

Later that same day, while Ms. G was driving us around to work on the house of a friend who is recovering from surgery, she has us stop and feed the rest of the flock at their pond around the corner:

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Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

KeepInspiring.me

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Delores and her friend Jenny are taking turns providing a theme for Poetry Monday, and i am trying my hand at participating.  This weeks theme is Stitches.      

My brother's a comedian

He keeps us all in stitches.

He comes up with some crazy stuff

To make you wet your britches.

Because he's seminary trained

You won't hear any cuss words

Come out of his mouth yet anyway

His stuff is not just for the birds.

He asked where Adam was that day

The snake to Eve did talk,

He said he just did not believe

The man was simply on a walk.

"He went out to the store, I think,"

said my brother with suppressed glee,

"To buy apples and snake repellent,

But got back too late, you see!"

He said, "I needed money,

So I decided to pray,

I offered up a novena,

But stopped on the eighth day.

I'd asked God for ten thousand,

He kindly sent me cash

But when I counted what He'd sent,

I knew that I'd been rash.

A novena should be nine days,

He knows how to prorate,

Because I only did part of it,

He gave me eight thousand, eight hundred eighty-eight!"

Yes, my brother's a comedian,

He keeps us all in stitches,

You'll hear some funny stuff from him,

Even if it won't ever make him riches.

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Today is:

Broken Dolls Day -- Japan (all broken dolls are taken by their children to monks for burial)

Callynteria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (a service of atonement and cleaning Athena's temple; date approximate)

Chimborazo Day -- to publicize that while Mt. Everest may be the highest, the top of Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador is the furthest from the center of the earth

Coal Miner Days -- Sparwood, BC, Canada (festival and fun! through Sunday)

Dr. Charles Drew Day -- honoring the man who made blood transfusions possible

Emanicipation Day -- Tonga (obs.)

Festival to Bellona -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of war)

Impersonate Authority Day -- at your own risk, i will not bail you out just because i noted an internet holiday and you decided to celebrate it ;)

Jack Jouett Day -- Virginia (the "Paul Revere" of his day and place, rode to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson that the British were coming, 1781)

Mabo Day -- Australia

Martyr's Day -- Uganda

National Chocolate Macaroon Day

National Egg Day

National Leave the Office Earlier Day -- sponsored by Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, who urges people to maximize productivity so they can leave the office earlier every day 

Opium Suppression Movement Day -- Taiwan

Pull Your Pants Up Day -- internet generated, various dates given, and some are trying to make it a national movement; to encourage young men to pull up their pants for 24 hours and see if they enjoy having both hands free

Queen's Birthday -- New Zealand; Niue

Ramazan Bayrami Eve -- Turkey

Repeat Day -- i said, "repeat day" (no, i don't know who comes up with this stuff, sometimes; if i do, i try to place the blame appropriately)

Sovereign's Birthday -- Cook Islands

St. Clotilde's Day (Patron of adopted children, brides, disappointing children, exiles, parenthood, parents of large families, queens, widows; against the death of children)

St. Kevin of Glendaulough's Day (Patron of blackbirds; Dublin, Ireland; Glendaulough, Ireland; Ireland)

Western Australia Day -- Western Australia (formerly called Foundation Day)

Worst Day in the Fairy Year -- Fairy Calendar (must be nice to know when your worst day will be)

Anniversaries Today:

U.S. Air Force Academy first graduating class, 1959

The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson, 1937

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo founded, 1797

Birthdays Today:

Lalaine, 1987

Rafael Nadal, 1986

Anderson Cooper, 1967

Charles Hart, 1961

Scott Valentine, 1958

Deniece Williams, 1951

Suzi Quatro, 1950

Curtis Mayfield, 1942

Larry McMurtry, 1936

Norman Brinker, 1931

Raul Castro, 1931

Chuck Barris, 1929

Colleen Dewhurst, 1926

Allen Ginsberg, 1926

Tony Curtis, 1925

Leo Gorcey, 1917

Josephine Baker, 1906

Dr. Charles Drew, 1904

Ransom E. Olds, 1864

Jefferson Davis, 1808

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Dragnet"(Radio), 1951

“Casey at the Bat”(Publication date), 1888

Today in History:

French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy, 1140

Hernando De Soto claims Florida for Spain, 1539 

Construction of the oldest stone church in French North America, Notre-Dame-des-Anges, begins at Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, 1620

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo is founded in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, 1770

President John Adams moves to Washington, D.C., to live in a tavern (the White House wasn't ready), 1800

In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kg of opium confiscated from British merchants, which prompts the First Opium War, 1839

In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, Cree leader Big Bear escapes the North West Mounted Police, 1885

The poem "Casey at the Bat", by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner, 1888

The coast to coast Canadian Pacific Railway is completed, 1889

One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa, Ontario, 1935

Launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew, which included the first space walk by an American, 1965

A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill ever recorded, 1979

SkyDome is officially opened in Toronto, Ontario, 1989

Aboriginal Land Rights are granted in Australia in Mabo v Queensland (1988), a case brought by Eddie Mabo, 1992

USS Carter Hall engages pirates after they board the Danish ship Danica White off the coast of Somalia, 2007

A pageant on London's River Thames marks the highpoint of a series of events celebrating The Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, 2012

Three of the most extremely well-preserved and most complete triceratops specimens ever found are unearthed in Wyoming, 2013

The Amazing world of Dr Seuss Museum opens in Springfield, Massachusetts, 2017