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Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Fun At The End Of The Year, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus 

Dr. D is back from her Christmas travels, and it resulted in several errands, including 4 trips to one store yesterday.  Apparently it takes the people at that store until 2pm to have ready the roast chickens that are supposed to be out at 10:30am.

We also added up columns and columns of figures for one of the lawsuits.  To make sure i only had to do it once, i made her hand me a pencil and i totaled each line item as i went along.  It worked.

She is very upset about all of the attention being given to a local celebrity.  “They need to leave that poor man alone!” she said.  “I’d hate to be famous, he can’t even take a pee without someone wanting to take his picture!”

Over the course of this Christmas season, i have had occasion to go to the library.  Children are out of school, and i was quite gratified to see several of them at the library, too.  There were two boys, in the 7-10 year range, who were running to get into the building while their mother tried to get them to slow down.  There was no slowing them, they wanted to get to the books!  Their mother said they always hurry to the library that way, and it just made me grin.

The other day, i actually found myself rounding the corner of a building where there was a drive-thru window, and i was treated to a quite unusual sight.  Somehow the people in the building had managed to let a metal coffee pot fall out of said window right into the middle of the lane.  The daring young man working the window managed to lean out far enough to pick it up, which was quite a feat.  Everyone in and out of the building who saw it was laughing over the whole thing.

Over the course of Christmas, Bigger Girl came out with a few funnies, as she often does.  This time, the one that stuck with me was when she said, “Every time I see Grandpa, I want to tell my brothers to enjoy their hair while they have it!”  (She’s right, too!)

And finally, you haven’t quite seen it all yet, as these prove:







Happy New Year to all!!!





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Today is:

Check Your Smoke Alarms Day

Fairy Eve's Year News -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of Sharaf (Honor) -- Baha'i

International Solidarity Day -- Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis worldwide

Kwanzaa, Day 6, Kuumba (Creativity)

Leap Second Adjustment Day -- if a second needs to be added or subtracted to coordinate the atomic and astronomical time, it will be done today, by the International Earth Rotation Service of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at Paris, France

Lhosar -- Gurung People of Nepal (sometimes called the Tamu People; Losar is celebrated by the rest of Nepal in February or March)

Make Up Your Mind Day/Procrastinator's Day -- you have to make up your mind

National Champagne Day

New Year's Eve -- a selection of related observances
    Allendale Tar Barrel Burning/Baal Fire Festival -- Allendale, England (locals burn out the old year by carrying burning tar barrels on their heads, then use them to light one huge bonfire)
    Feast of Father Time -- because he ultimately overcomes us all
    Festival of Yemaya -- Yoruba/Santeria (celebration of the mother of the sun and moon)
    Fire and Ice New Year's Eve Celebration -- Anchorage, AK (fire jugglers, ice carvers, fireworks, and more)
    First Night -- a non-alcoholic alternative to New Year's Eve
    Fravartigan -- Parsi Zoroastrian (celebration to honor the dead through the night)
    Gamlarskvold -- Icelandic traditions; cows gain human speech, seals take on human form, the dead rise, and Elves move house
               obtain gold from the Elves by sitting at a crossroads and waiting for them to pass
               Housewives greet the Elves by reciting the rhyme of protection
                       Let those who want to, arrive
                       Let those who want to, leave
                       Let those who want to, stay
                       Without harm to me or mine
               Light a bonfire, and "blow out the year" with fireworks 
    Harvest Day Celebrations -- Benin (celebration of the end of harvest season at the turn of the year)
    Hogmanay Day -- Scotland (Auld Year's Night)
    Japanese Observances (a few, at least)
         Joya no Kane -- Japan (ringing out the old year with temple bells; Buddhists believe humans are born with 108 worldly desires which are removed when the bells are rung 108 times)
         Namahge -- Oga Peninsula, Japan (devil appearing holiday; young men dress as demons and run through the town warning children to behave during the coming year)
         Okera Matsuri -- Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto, Japan (Sacred Fire Rite)
         Omisoka Day -- Japan (the second most important day on the Japanese Calendar; tomorrow is the most important)
    Noche de Pedimento -- Oaxaca, Mexico (Night of the Petition)
    Ritual for Iemanja -- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (seaside rituals for the goddess of the sea and carnal pleasure, followed by a swinging party in the city and on the beaches overnight)
    Samoan Fire Dance -- Samoa
    Swinging the Fireballs -- Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland
    Universal Hour of Peace -- begins at 11:30pm your local time, welcome the New Year with peace
    Watch Night -- Christian
    World Peace Meditation Day (International observance of one hour beginning 12:00 PM GMT, focusing thought and energy on peace.)

No Resolution Day / Ditch the Resolutions Day -- if you don't want to, you don't have to!

Restoration Day -- Geneva, Switzerland

Seventh Day of Christmas

St. Sylvester's Day (Patron of Feroleto Antico, Italy; Poggio Catino, Italy) related observances
    Saint Sylvester's Day Celebrations-- Belgium, Germany, France and Switzerland
    Silvesterklause -- Urnäsch, Switzerland

St. Zoticus of Constantinople's Day (Patron of the poor; often titled Feeder of Orphans)

You're All Done Day -- sponsored by something i haven't been able to pin down online called The Long Haul Committee (and it's more like "all done in" if you are like me!)


Anniversaries Today:

Gregory Peck marries Veronique Passani, 1955
Rocky Marciano marries Barbara Cousins, 1950
Bette Davis marries Arthur Farnsworth, 1940


Birthdays Today:

Joe McIntyre, 1972
Nicholas Sparks, 1965
Val Kilmer, 1959
Bebe Neuwirth, 1958
James Remar, 1953
Donna Summer, 1948
Tim Matheson, 1947
Barbara Carrera, 1945
Diane Halfin von Furstenberg, 1945
John Denver, 1943
Ben Kingsley, 1943
Andy Summers, 1942
Sarah Miles, 1941
Anthony Hopkins, 1937
Odetta, 1930
Simon Wiesenthal, 1908
George C. Marshall, 1880
Henri Matisse, 1869


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The London Eye(World's Largest Ferris Wheel), 1999
"Lost in Yonkers"(Play), 1990
"Pirates of Penzance"(Comic Opera), 1879


Today in History:

80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians attack the Rhine at Mainz, crossing into and beginning the invasion of Gallia, 406
Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year, 535
Ch'an monk Ho-tse Shen-hui interred in a stupa built in China, 765
James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca, 1229
100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily, 1492
The British East India Company chartered, 1600
The first Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope, 1687
A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax, 1695
Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors, 1776
Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada, 1857
The cornerstone is laid for Honolulu, Hawai'i's Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the US, 1879
Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp, 1879
Ellis Island (NYC) opens as a US immigration depot, 1890
Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into NYC (1/1/1898), 1897
Boers & British army sign peace treaty, 1902
The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York, 1904
For the first time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the new year, 1907
The last San Francisco firehorses are retired, 1921
The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC, 1923
Dr R N Harger's "drunkometer," the first breath test, is introduced in Indiana, 1938
The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom, 1960
The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia, 1963
The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government, 1983
All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved, 1991
Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 1992
This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones, 1994
The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency, 1998
The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama, 1999
The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, 2004
Italy's ban of plastic bags goes into effect, 2010
A ship abandoned by human traffickers who deliberately set it on a collision course with the Italian coast is brought to shore safely by the Italian Coast Guard with 900 Syrian refugees on board, 2014
A ban on the ivory trade in China comes into effect, 2017

Monday, December 30, 2019

Sleepy (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Resolved Not To Make Resolutions (Poetry Monday)

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at 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!

A sleepy little one from the shelter:







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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.




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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border She and Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey take turns providing a theme each week.   Mother Owl and Merry Mae almost always participate, too.  This week’s theme is New Year’s Resolutions.                    


If you want to know
What i think of this week’s theme,
Ask if i make them.

The answer is no,
Not any longer.   They just 
don’t work out for me.

If you want to change
And resolutions help you,
By all means, use them.

Let me, however
Meander in my own way
And changes will come.


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Today is:

Araw ni Rizal -- Philippines (commemoration of the martyrdom of Dr. Jose Rizal in 1896, as well as all victims of the Spanish government during their rule of the Philippines)

Bacon Day -- for those tired of the same old winter holidays, see www.baconday.worldbreak.com

Day of the Declaration of Slovakia as an Independent Eccliesiatic Province -- Slovakia

Fairy Frequent Fliers' Awards

Falling Needles Family Fest Day -- gather the family, watch the needles fall from the tree, and have a party; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Feast of the Holy Family -- Catholic Christian

Festival of Enormous Changes At the Last Minute -- internet generated, and i'm not sure i'm up to it

Kwanzaa, Day 5, Nia(Purpose)

National Bicarbonate of Soda Day -- shouldn't this be on Jan. 1, to help us get over the indigestion from the night before?

No Interruptions Day -- let people finish up what needs to get done before the New Year at work, and silence the devices at home that keep us from spending uninterrupted time with family 

Sixth Day of Christmas

St. Ruggero of Canne's Day (Barletta, Italy)


Anniversary Today:

The Arroyo Seco Parkway, California's first freeway, opens, 1940
Rutherford B. Hayes (19th US President) marries Lucy Ware Webb, 1852


Birthdays Today:

LeBron James, 1984
Kristin Kreuk, 1982
Eliza Dushku, 1980
Laila Ali, 1977
Tiger Woods, 1975
Sean Hannity, 1961
Tracey Ullman, 1959
Matt Lauer, 1957
Meredith Vieira, 1953
Patti Smith, 1946
Davy Jones, 1945
Concetta Tomei, 1945
Michael Nesmith, 1942
James Burrows, 1940
Del Shannon, 1939
Joseph Bologna, 1938
Noel Paul Stookey, 1937
Sandy Koufax, 1935
Russ Tamblyn, 1935
Bo Diddley, 1928
Jack Lord, 1920
Bert Parks, 1914
Stephen Leacock, 1869
Simon Guggenheim, 1867
Rudyard Kipling, 1865


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Let's Make a Deal"(TV), 1963
"The Roy Rogers Show"(TV), 1951
"Kiss Me, Kate"(Musical), 1948


Today in History:

Hugh Capet, King of the Franks, crowns his son Robert the Pious king and co-ruler, 987
A Muslim mob storms the royal palace in Granada, crucifies Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacres most of the Jewish population of the city, 1066
Tokyo is hit by an earthquake, about 37,000 die, 1703
The first coffee is planted in Hawaii (Kona), 1817
Gyula, Count Andrássy, of Hungary, issues the Andrassy Note, calling for Christian-Muslim religious freedoms, 1875
Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," premieres, 1879
The American Political Science Association founded at New Orleans, 1903
Iran becomes a constitutional monarchy, 1906
The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, which later laid down the foundations of Pakistan, 1906
Lincoln's Inn in London admits its first female bar student, 1919
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed, 1922
Japan dedicates the first subway in the Orient (route under 2 miles long), 1927
The Cole Porter Broadway musical, Kiss Me, Kate (1,077 performances), opens at the New Century Theatre and becomes the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award, 1948
In the 39th game of his 3rd NHL season Wayne Gretzky scores 5 goals giving him 50 on the year setting a new NHL record , 1981
Israel and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations, 1993
Tropical Storm Zeta forms in the open Atlantic Ocean, tying the record for the latest tropical cyclone ever to form in the North Atlantic basin, 2005
The last roll of Kodachrome film is developed by Dwayne's Photo, the only remaining Kodachrome processor at the time, concluding the film's 74-year run as a photography icon, 2009
The opening of Line 6 of the Beijing subway makes it the longest metro network in the world at 442km, 2012