Saturday, October 31, 2020

One More Time, With a PSA, a Ten Things Of Thankful Post

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For the third (fourth?) time this year, or maybe more, we get to Thankful Day with being once again thankful that we did not get the full force of a hurricane in our immediate area.


This year has been interesting, to say the least, and i will choose to be thankful for interesting.


Also, i got off work an hour earlier than i expected on Monday, so i went to get the twins their glamor shots (get a mammogram).  And speaking of that, here’s my annual PSA, please, if you are due for any tests of your own, please go get them!  Yes, thankfully the results were normal.


Once i was done with that, i took GusGus der Fledermaus in for an inspection sticker.  It passed, hooray!


On Tuesday, i did not have anything to do until my Ladies’ Circle meeting at 9:45, so i went back to sleep not once, not twice, but 3 times!  Talk about luxury, i got to sleep in until 7:30 am. 


That evening, Red-headed Alec came by to visit.  We chatted for over an hour, it was great to see him, and he gave me the details on Lee’s birthday party that is coming up.


On Wednesday, Ms. G and i went to a rescue out in the country to help them do hurricane prep.  We were so glad to be able to go help, as one of their vet techs had lost her mother the night before and another was in the hospital and they were so short staffed they didn’t know what they were going to do.


We did get some rain on the way home, and that was about all we got.  The day was drizzly and there was some wind, but not as much as we got with Delta, and we’re thankful the power stayed on.


Grandma and Grandpa are grateful for their generator, it came in handy.  We are also thankful they were able to get some text messages out, and got their electricity back by Friday.


We are thankful Handyman Mike, the generator guy, is bring our used but still in great shape generator here today.


This hurricane did something i’ve never seen before, it left autumn behind.  We got up Thursday morning and you can absolutely tell that it’s fall, y’all.


 Yes, we dearly love autumn, it breaks the worst of the heat.


It also showed us that last year’s space heaters have absolutely bitten the dust.  We are thankful for scoring 3 of them for $20 each, and Mr. RA gave us an old one he does not need now.  That makes one for Brother-in-law’s room, one for our room, one for the man cave, and one for the kitchen/dining area.  Perfect!



Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Kristi and her 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:


Admission Day -- Nevada, US


Allantide -- Cornwall, England


All Hallows Eve -- Christian


Apple and Candle Night -- Wales


Books for Treats Day -- San Jose, CA, US (give gently used books to kids, not candy -- feed their brains, not their cavities!)


Chiang Kai-Shek Day -- Taiwan


Day of the Seven Billion -- day in 2011 the UN declared the world population to have reached 7,000,000,000 


Dia de las Iglesias Evangelicas y Protestantes -- Chile (Day of Evangelical and Protestant Churches/Reformation Day)


Dias de los Muertos -- Mexico, esp. Michoacan and Oaxaca (through Nov. 2; ceremonies, sand sculptures, decorated altars, and parties through the nights in the cemetaries)


Dookie Apple Night -- Newcastle, England


Duck Apple Night -- Liverpool, England

Fall Back Night -- all areas that end Daylight Saving Time tomorrow; set your clock back one hour before you go to bed and change the batteries in your smoke alarms/carbon monoxide detectors (Bermuda; Canada (most areas); Cuba; Greenland (some areas); Haiti; Mexico (Baja area); Saint Pierre and Miquelon; The Bahamas; US (most areas))


Feast of Sekhmet Bast Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)


Festival of Inner Worlds -- Pagan (fight between the old and new year)


Founder's Day -- Girl Scouts of the USA (Juliette Gordon Low's birth anniversary)


Forgiveness Day -- a day to reconcile or forgive, for your own peace of mind; sponsored by Positive Peaceful Partners and the Center of Unconditional Love 


Full Beaver Moon / Full Frosty Moon

     Palden Lhamo Festival -- Tibet (protectress of Tibet, celebrated mostly by women)

     Loy Krathong -- Thailand (Floating of the Lamps festival; to appease the water spirits, dedicated to Mae Kongkha, Goddess of Rivers)

     That Luang Festival -- Laos (Ventiane's most important Theravada Buddhist festival)

     Thadingyut Full Moon (End of Buddhist Lent) -- Myanmar

     Vap Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka



Ghostwriter's Day


Hallowe'en or Beggar's Night


Increase Your Psychic Powers Day -- originated in England in the 19th century, some celebrated on the 30th


Martyr's Day -- Burkina Faso


National Candy/Caramel Apple Day


National Knock-Knock Joke Day

     Knock, Knock

     Who's There?

     Police.

     Police who?

     Police stop telling knock-knock jokes!


National Magic Day -- Society of American Magicians (in honor of Harry Houdini, who died on this day in 1926, and who was president of the SoAM)


National UNICEF Day


Nut-Crack Night -- England; Scotland


Old Celtic New Year's Eve


Out of the Broom Closet Day -- Pagan, Heathen, and all earth-based and ethnic religions


Reformation Day -- Protestant Christian (trad.)

     Official Holiday -- Germany; Slovenia


Samhain (northern hemisphere) / Beltane (southern hemisphere) -- Druids, Gaels, Welsh peoples, Neopagans, Wiccans (begins at sunset)


Scare a Friend Day -- just not so much that s/he isn't a friend any more


Senior Absurdity Day -- Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY, US (a day the kids look forward to each year)


Sneak Some of the Candy Yourself Before the Kids Start Knocking Day


St. Quentin's Day (Patron against coughs)


St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon's Day (Patron of apoplexics, carpenters, paralysed people, stroke victims; Regensburg, Germany; against apoplexy, paralysis, stomach diseases, strokes)


Thump-the-Door Night -- Isle of Mann


Trick or Treat Night


Vetmaetr -- Norse Calendar (Winter Nights; beginning of winter, the New Year, and the start of Odin leading the Wild Hunt)


Youth Honor Day -- Iowa, US




Anniversaries Today:


Mt. Rushmore is completed, 1941

Nevada becomes the 36th US State, 1864



Birthdays Today:


Robert "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle, 1967

Adam Horovitz, 1966

Dermot Mulroney, 1963

Rob Schneider, 1963

Peter Jackson, 1961

Larry Mullen, Jr., 1961

John Candy, 1950

Jane Pauley, 1950

Deidre Hall, 1947

Stephen Rea, 1943

David Ogden Stiers, 1942

Ron Rifkin, 1939

Michael Landon, 1936

Dan Rather, 1931

Michael Collins, 1930

Barbara Bel Geddes, 1922

Dale Evans, 1912

Ethel Waters, 1896

Chaing Kai-shek, 1887

Juliette Gordon Low, 1860

John Keats, 1795

William Paca, 1740

Jan Vermeer, 1632



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Car Talk"(Radio), 1987 (national debut, ten years after their start as a local show in Boston)

"Jamaica"(Musical), 1957

"Capricio Espagnol"(Rimsky-Korsakov Op. 34), 1887

"Tamerlano"(Handel opera, HWV 18), 1724



Today in History:


Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites after their return to Jerusalem from exile, BC445

First All Hallows Eve observed to honor all the saints, 834

Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door, marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 1517

Georg Ludwig van Hannover is crowned as the English King George I, 1714

Execution of Girondins at Paris during the Reign of Terror, 1793

Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents the miner's safety lamp, 1815

A standard uniform is approved for US Postal workers, 1868

A tropical cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die, 1876

John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tire, 1888

Arthur Conan Doyle publishes "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", 1892

Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States, 1913

The Battle of Beersheba of WWI marks the last successful cavalry charge in history, 1917

The first of 160 consecutive days of 100°F + temps at Marble Bar, Australia, 1923

World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress, 1924

Mt. Rushmore sculptures are completed, 1941

The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal, 1956

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards, 1984

EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board, 1999

Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted, 1999

Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station, which has been continually crewed since, 2000

Surfer Bethany Hamilton loses her left arm and 3 liters of blood in a tiger shark attack; within a month she would be back on her board, and competing again within the year, 2003

The NYSE reopens after its first weather related shut down since the late 19th century; the two-day closure was due to Hurricane Sandy, 2012

In a landmark verdict, the Pakistani Supreme Court acquits a Christian woman of blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed after she has spent eight years on death row, 2018

Friday, October 30, 2020

Just a Few (Feline Friday) and Friendly Fill-Ins

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Feline Friday was started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

He has handed hosting duties off to Sandee, of Comedy Plus, and it's simple to join, just follow the link to Sandee's page for the rules and the code.


Just a few of our adoptable kittens:












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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. I keep ___________________, but _____________________.


2. I don’t need _____________, but I want _________________.


3. I would want _________ to be etched onto my tombstone.


4. If I heard something go bump in the night, _________.



1. I keep  trying to figure out time travel,   but   so far no luck


2. I don’t need  another computer,   but I want   to take the one i have in and get them to help me put in a different web browser.  It won't let me do it for some reason.


3. I would want   nothing  to be etched onto my tombstone.  (My family have strict instructions, after any organs that can still be used are taken, what's left of me is to be donated to the medical school.  When they are done, the cremains they return to the family are to be used to fertilize a garden somewhere, so the family can visit by going and seeing a beautiful garden, not a cold, hard piece of stone.)


4. If I heard something go bump in the night,   i'd look to see which cat was acting up again



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Today is:


Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security


Anniversary of the Declaration of the Slovak Nation -- Slovakia


Bon Om Touk -- Cambodia (a/k/a The Water Festival, it is Cambodia's largest party, always held for two days around the time of the full moon in November)


Buy A Doughnut Day -- any wonder who started this one? (insert eye-roll here)


Checklists Day -- prevent tragedy, create great checklists; in honor of the development of the first well known checklist following a B-17 prototype's crash due to pilot error


Create a Great Funeral Day -- don't make your family choose the plans in the midst of grief, plan your sending away party now, it's more fun when it's done -- in advance!


Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions -- most former Soviet Republics


Frankenstein Friday -- a day to celebrate the "mother" and "father" of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff


Lakshmi Puja -- OR, TR, WB, India (Hindu celebration during the Festival of Lights)


Look in the Back of Your Refrigerator Day / Haunted Refrigerator Night (And hope the old hamburger isn't grazing on the moldy salad.)


Makoshe's Holiday -- Asatru/Pagan Slavic Calendar (honoring Mother Earth)


Mischief Night, a/k/a Goosey Night, Devil's Night, Cabbage Night -- US


Mokosh Day -- Ukraine (Slavic goddess of "women's work", a wanderer and spinner, still popular as a life giving force and protector of women, always assoociated with Friday; date approximate)


National Bandanna Day -- Australia (to raise funds for teens with cancer)    


National Breadstick Day


National Candy Corn Day


Practice Winter Snuggling Night -- when it gets really cold, you'll be glad you practiced


St. Dorothy of Montau's Day (Patron of brides, difficult marriages, dying children, parents of large families, widows; Pomerania; Prussia)


St. Marcellus' Day  (as a Roman centurion who threw down his armor and refused to take part in pagan worship, he is Patron of conscientious objectors)


The Rhyne Toll -- Chetwode Manor, UK (through Nov 7) -- the Lord of the Manor may tax any cattle he finds on his Liberty (free pasture) on these days


Try on Your Halloween Costume Early Day -- to see how goofy you look, and make sure you have everything you need




Birthdays Today:


Nastia Liukin, 1989

Matthew Morrison, 1978

Gavin Rossdale, 1967

Diego Armando Maradona, 1960

Kevin Pollack, 1958

Charles Martin Smith, 1953

Harry Hamlin, 1951

Andrea Mitchell, 1946

Henry Winkler, 1945

Ed Lauter, 1940

Grace Slick, 1939

Claude Lelouch, 1937

Dick Gautier, 1937

Dick Vermeil, 1936

Robert Caro, 1935

Louis Malle, 1932

Ruth Gordon, 1896

Charles Atlas, 1893

Ezra Pound, 1885

William "Bull" Halsey, 1882

Emily Post, 1872

Alfred Sisley, 1839

Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1821

Richard Sheridan, 1751

John Adams, 1735



Debuting/Premiering Today:


Symphony No. 11 in G minor(Shostakovich Op. 103), 1957

"Panama Hattie"(Musical), 1940

"War of the Worlds"(Radio), 1938



Today in History:


Antioch surrenders to Rashidun Caliphate and his Muslim forces after the Battle of the Iron Bridge, 637

End of the 8th Crusade, 1270

King Henry VII, Tudor, crowned, 1485

Queen Isabella bans violence against Indians, 1503

The first Methodist church in the US is initiated (Wesley Chapel, NYC), 1768

Dr. Richard Gatling patents the machine gun, 1862

Founding of Helena, Montana (capital city), 1864

John Willis Menard, of Louisiana, becomes the first black elected to the US Congress (by special election, he was challenged by the loser, but was allowed to address Congress from the lectern), 1868

Daniel Cooper patents the time clock, 1894

Martha Hughes Cannon of Utah becomes the first woman US Senator, 1896

The first US Automobile Show opens in Madison Square Garden, NYC, 1900

Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly, 1905

Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy, 1922

John Logie Baird creates Britain's first television transmitter, 1925

Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States, 1938

Anne Frank and sister Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 1944

Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier, 1945

Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, 1960

The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise, 1961

The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time, 1973

The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire, 1974

Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain's acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco, 1975

In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine, 1987

Quebec sovereignists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote is 50.6% to 49.4%), 1995

The last Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) early time-sharing operating system is shut down at the Canadian Department of National Defense in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2000

George Lucas sells Lucasfilm, Ltd., to the Walt Disney Company, 2012

Canada and the EU sign a free trade deal, 2016

India officially strips Kashmir of its autonomous status, its flag and its constitution, and brings it under federal control, 2019