Never Mind (Six Sentence Story), Halloween Time (Good Fences), Cool Dude (Sammy's Poetry Day) and Change of Attitude (Brian's Thankful Thursday)

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First, it was the cats, as they decided this was the best time of day to go romping across the bed.

Next, it was that doggone toilet, it started running again, so it was time to crank the fan up louder to cover it.

A text message came through, from Jo, updating about a friend of hers who lost his son, so of course a reply has to be sent, it's a difficult time for them all.

Then a call from #1 Son, we all still have a family account with something, and he forgot the password.

Finally, the lawn mower dude started up in the field across the street.

Giving it up as a bad job, i decided i did not really need a nap on my unexpected afternoon off yesterday anyway, and got up and wrote this!

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Field.      

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Gosia at Looking for Identity has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit other blogs to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.     

We are starting to see some Halloween fences:

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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    

I’m keepin’ so cool,

Yeah, I’m all that,

With my floatie and my glasses

And my really neat hat.

Love bein’ in the water,

Gonna float the day away,

Until I get real hungry,

This is where I want to stay!

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Brian of Brian's Home hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

Yesterday, the electricity went out again, a tree went down not far from here.  When i called to report the outage, i decided to sign up again for text message alerts.  This is something i've done in the past, but it seems that for some reason, i keep getting unsigned up somehow.

There was not a long wait for a representative, only about a half a minute, that's a thankful right there.  The lady who took the information was very kind, we laughed a lot, especially when she told me, "Remember you can sign on to your account online and update your preferences," and i said, yes, i can, when the electricity comes back on!  How i love when customer service people are nice and have a good sense of humor.

In just over an hour, service was restored, and we are thankful we weren't facing another long outage and the need to call the generator back into play.

Also, i got the text alert telling me service was restored, which is the main reason i want the alerts to begin.  If they think they've restored service, and i still have none, i have no way of knowing and neither do they that there's a problem without such a notice.

While waiting for the service to be restored, i was very tempted to grouse about the whole situation, but i gave myself a stern talking to.  Instead, i prayed and thanked the Good Lord that i have lived in a world with electricity and all of the conveniences it offers.  Then i said that even if i never had electricity again, i knew i've had it so good for so long in ways many people in the rest of the world have not, that i have no room or reason to complain.  The power, instead of being out until midnight like they thought it would, came on within one minute of my change of attitude, and i am very thankful.

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Today is:

Cayenne Festival -- French Guiana (celebration of the capital city)

Conflict Resolution Day -- Association for Conflict Resolution   

Day of Hommage for the late King Father -- Cambodia (Norodom Sihanouk)

Dine with TV Dinners on the Floor Night -- probably started by someone who wanted to see how many websites would be crazy enough to even list this

Feast of the Three Noble Ladies -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (female pharoahs; date approximate)

Fete Nationale de l'Evacuation -- Tunisia (Evacuation Day, celebrates the day all foreign military finally and fully left)

Get Smart About Credit Day -- sponsored by the American Bankers Association   

Get to Know Your Customers Day -- third Thursday of every quarter

Global Handwashing Day -- International (scrub up! prevent the spread of germs)   

Guangzhou Autumn Trade Fair -- Guangzhou, China (through Nov. 15)

Ides of October -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also on this date

     Harvest Festival of Mars

     Ludi Capitolini (games in honor of Jupiter)

     Winter's Day

International Credit Union Day -- World Council of Credit Unions   

Mahakiki -- Hawai'ian New Year Season (a four month season where warfare is forbidden and many ceremonies take place; begins around the time of the first sighting of the Pleiades in the Northern Hemisphere)

Mertz of All Possible Mertzes -- internet generated and on the day "I Love Lucy" premiered; i guess Fred and Ethel were the definition of what a Mertz should be!

National Cake Decorating Day -- again, because every website gives a different date

National Cheese Curd Day

National Chicken Cacciatore Day

National Grouch Day -- sponsored by Alan Miller, chairman of the board of NAG (National Association of Grouches)

National Latino AIDS Awareness Day -- US  

National Mushroom Day

National Roast Pheasant Day

National Tree Planting Day -- Sri Lanka

Newspaper Week -- Japan

Poetry Day -- birth anniversary of the Roman poet Virgil

Preaching of the Lion Sermon -- St. Katharine Cree Church, London, England (Sermon dating back to the 1640's in commemoration of a gift for the poor made by Sir John Gayer, who was delivered from a lion while in Turkey)

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day -- Canada; NSW, Australia; UK; US   

Rectification Day -- Burkina Faso

Rainbow Pickling Day -- Fairy Calendar

Sewing Lovers' Day -- internet generated, as those who love to sew deserve a day to celebrate

St. Teresa of Avila's Day (Founder of the Reformation of the Discalces[Barefoot] Carmelites; Patron of lace makers/workers, people in need of grace, people in religious orders, people ridiculed for their piety, sick people; Amos, Canada; Berzano di Tortona, Italy; Pozega, Croatia; Spain; against bodily ills, headaches, sickness, the death of parents)

Teacher's Day -- Brazil

White Cane Safety Day -- US (celebrating the achievements of the blind/visually impared, and recognizing the white cane as the symbol of their independence)

Wishbones for Pets begins -- US program asking professional pet sitters to gather pet supplies and donations for homeless pets through Thanksgiving

World Rural Women's Day/International Day of Rural Women -- UN; related observance

     Mother's Day -- Malawi

Birthdays Today:

Paige Davis, 1969

Sarah Ferguson, 1959

Emeril Lagasse,1959

Tanya Roberts, 1955

Tito Jackson, 1953

Richard Carpenter, 1946

Victor Banerjee, 1946

Jim Palmer, 1945

Penny Marshall, 1942

Linda Lavin, 1937

Lee Iacocca, 1924

Mario Puzo, 1920

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., 1917

John Kenneth Galbraith, 1908

Marty Mann, 1904

P.G. Wodehouse, 1881

Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, 1872

John L. Sullivan, 1858

Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844

Publius Vergilius Maro / Virgil, 70BCE

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Untouchables"(TV), 1959

"I Love Lucy"(TV), 1951

"Abe Lincoln in Illinois"(Play), 1938

To Have and Have Not(Publication date), 1937

"La Mer/The Sea"(Debussy orchestral composition), 1905

Today in History:

Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals, 533

Commissioned by Catherine De Medici, the 1st ballet "Ballet Comique de la Reine," is staged in Paris, 1581

Asser Levy is granted a butcher's license for kosher meat in New Amsterdam, 1660

The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon marks the first human ascent, by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, (tethered balloon), 1783

George Washington takes the first formal presidential tour, of New England, 1789

Napoleon Bonaparte is exiled to the Island of St. Helena, 1815

Child labor law takes 12 year olds out of the work force, 1874

Edison Electric Light Company is incorporated, 1878

Koln cathedral is completed, 633 years after it was begun, 1880

The German dirigible "Graf Zeppelin' lands in Lakehurst, NJ, 1928

LaGuardia Airport opens, 1939

Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time, 1946

The start of the 2500-year celebration of Iran, celebrating the birth of Persia, 1971

The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England, 1987

Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL, 1989

Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1990

The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ThrustSSC (United Kingdom), exactly 50 years and 1 day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth's atmosphere, 1997

The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn, 1997

NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io, 2001

China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission, 2003

The final breakthrough occurs on the east bore of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps, now the world's longest railway tunnel, 2010

Actress Alyssa Milano tweets "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’", prompting a flood of replies across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, 2017