Oh, Say Can You Say What You Are Thankful For Today, a Ten Things of Thankful A to Z Post

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     

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It is Thankful Day and today is the letter "O" in the A to Z Challenge.

On with the Thankful Things!

Opportunities come to mind.  

There's the opportunity to work and earn money to pay the bills.  

Then there's the opportunity, opening back up more and more, to go to church and spend time with the people there i love so much.

The opportunity to work at the cat shelter.  While i was there last night, i got to watch a family pick up their new juvenile cat and take him home.  The four and six year old girls were beside themselves with happiness.

Oatmeal, which is a nice end to supper, making it just enough.

Not being overlate to work, even when it has been storming and i have to drive slowly.  (And yes, my spellchecker is upset by overlate, but the Scrabble dictionary recognizes it, so i'm using it!)

Oak trees, of which we have a plethora here.  None in our yard, but plenty in other yards and across the way.  They are so beautiful.

Officers, EMTs, and Firefighters, who were out in full force yesterday.  It was raining off and on, and it was Friday, and people get cranky and careless and there were a lot of accidents, all handled by the men and women who do more than we would ever think unless we know the work.

Our oddball schedules, that allow us to work in things when needed.  Sweetie needed to be with The Big Boss yesterday, and i had Ms. GA as usual, and Mr. Mike, The Generator Guy, wanted to come by and do our annual service.  We were able to make it work.  (The generator is fine, even if the transfer switch is still making us flip it by hand, it's a small price to pay to have electricity when storms roll through and take out so many wires.)

Offbeat humor, especially Cajun jokes, Weird Al Yankovic, and Ray Stevens.

Walks in the great outdoors, when it's not raining, of course.  Also, the chance to let Tripod SissyCat go outdoors when the weather is nice and not too hot.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Dyanne and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.   

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Today is:

American Academy of Arts and Letters Charter Day

Bat Appreciation Day -- sponsored by Bat Conservation International, at the time of year when bats begin awakening from hibernation     

Blah, Blah, Blah Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Ellis Island Family History Day -- US (by proclamation of the nations governors and in conjunction with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, a day to celebrate the achievements and contribution of the immigrants and their descendants who came through Ellis Island; on the anniversary of the day, in 1907, when 11,747 immigrants were processed through the island, the most in one day)

Equality Day -- Canada (the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force on April 17, 1985, guaranteeing equality without regard to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability)

Flag Day -- American Samoa

Ford Mustang Day -- International (on the "birthday" of the vehicle)

Huband Appreciation Day

Independence Day / Evacuation Day -- Syria

International Day of Peasants Struggle

"Just Pray No" Worldwide Weekend of Prayer and Fasting -- people around the world pray for healing for those who are addicted to drugs, through tomorrow   

Make a Quilt Day -- obviously begun by someone who has no idea how long the process really takes! not associated with National Quilting Day or Project Linus' Make a Blanket Day 

Myanmar New Year -- Myanmar

National Auctioneers Day -- recognizing the contribution of auctioneers to American commerce    

National Cheeseball Day

National Haiku Poetry Day -- sponsored by The Haiku Foundation

Nimble Fairies' Scattering -- Fairy Calendar

Nosy Neighbor Appreciation Day -- to be celebrated, if you dare, by greeting and thanking your neighbor for being nosy

Nothing Like A Dame Day -- a day to pay homage to the unique wit, wisdom, style and strength of dames past and present, and to cultivate the dame in you or in your life

St. Kateri Tekakwitha's Day (Patron of ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalism, environmentalists, exiles, people who have lost their parents, people ridiculed for their piety)

St. Stephen Harding's Day (Co-founder of Cistercian Order)

Teach Your Daughter to Volunteer Day -- encouraging awareness of volunteerism, but the original sponsor of the day is no longer online

Thargelia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (two day festival for the birthday of Apollon and Artemis; date approximate)

Toothbrush Appreciation Day -- think of what it would be like without one!

Verrazano Day -- New York, US (Celebrates discovery of New York harbor by Giovanni Verrazano, Florentine navigator)

Women's Day -- Gabon

World Hemophilia Day

Birthdays Today:

Victoria Beckham, 1974

Jennifer Garner, 1972

Liz Phair, 1967

Lela Rochon, 1966

Norman Julius “Boomer” Esiason, 1961

Sean Bean, 1958

Olivia Hussey, 1951

Don Kirshner, 1934

Cynthia Ozick, 1928

Harry Reasoner, 1923

William Holden, 1918

Thornton Wilder, 1897

Nikita Krushchev, 1894

Adrian Constantine “Cap” Anson, 1852

J.P. Morgan, 1837

Samuel Chase, 1741

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Caveman(Film), 1981

"McCartney"(Album), 1970 (first solo album)

"No Time for Comedy"(Play), 1939

Today in History:

Geoffrey Chaucer tells his Canterbury Tales for the first time, at the court of Richard II, ten years to the day after the pilgrimage actually began, 1397

Christopher Columbus signs his contract with Spain to find the Indes, 1492

Martin Luther stands firm and refuses to recant before the Diet of Worms, 1521

Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America, 1797

The first Sino-Japanese War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, 1895

A one day record 11,747 immigrants are processed at Ellis Island, 1907

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios is formed by the merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and the Louis B. Mayer Company, 1924

Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, debut, 1937

At midnight, 26 Irish counties officially break with the British Commonwealth and form the Republic of Ireland, 1949

The Bay of Pigs Invasion fiasco begins, 1961

Ford Motor Company unveils the Mustang, 1964

Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air, 1964

The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely, 1970

Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, 1982

The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ends, 1986

NJ Devil Martin Brodeur becomes the 2nd NHL goalie to score in a playoff game, 1997

The 5th Summit of the Americas takes place in Port of Spain; Trinidad, thirty-four heads of government attend, 2005

An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, causes 15 deaths and major damage to nearby buildings, residences, a nursing home and middle school, 2013

Jazz composer and musician John Coltrane is awarded a posthumous Special Citation by the Pulitzer Prize board, 2015

A report from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital says that 10 children with SCID-X1 (Bubble Boy Disease) have been cured by gene therapy, 2019