Unusually Unique, an A to Z Challenge Ten Things of Thankful Post

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We're on the last Thankful Day of the A to Z Challenge, so we are up to the letter "U."

To that i can say, "Uh, oh!" or "how unusual and unique!"  Does it surprise you that i am thankful for the opportunity to say the latter?

One thing i am thankful for us the unusual way my favorite radio station came in for me all the way to NOLA the week we had the rain storm.  Usually i am fiddling with the stations about 3/4 of the way there, but this time, when it would have been too dangerous for me to do that, the station stayed strong all of the way.  It hasn't happened since, either.

It's also unusual the way the cat shelter is not overfull right now.  In fact, we are close to empty until the spring kittens get big enough to come in to be adopted.  They are trickling in, but they are going out just as fast.

Umbrellas are a thankful thing, we do live where the seasons are wet and hurricane, after all.

There have been many good uncles in my life for whom i am thankful.  Then, too, my brothers are good uncles to my kids.

While i am not a particular fan of the undergrowth of Mr. BA's garden from a visual standpoint, i am thankful that it affords me the opportunity to earn money by pulling it up and getting rid of it.  Weeds have their place in the economy!

Which reminds me that while i was there yesterday, fighting said weeds, i am thankful i got the upper hand against my foe, a mosquito.  He's squashed, and i'm not sorry, not one bit.

The local university is a thankful, it gave Sweetie a career and still employs Brother-in-Law.

My children may not be little urchins any longer, but i am thankful for them and for the growing up years.

The whole universe of wonder beyond this planet keeps me thankful as more is discovered about it every day.

My favorite utensil, i am thankful for my plastic mayo knife that is shaped to get every last bit of whatever it is out of the jar -- i  use it for my peanut butter, as i hate to leave any behind.

There's an upside to trying to be thankful by the letter, also, it makes me think carefully about my words!

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:

Ambivalence Day -- a holiday to tell your friends about, or not

Concord Day -- Niger

  

Feast of Eros -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Gathering of Nations -- Albuquerque, NM, US (the biggest PowWow in North America, with natives from every tribe welcome to participate, it includes singing, feasting, art exhibits, a horse parade, and much more, with non-Natives who want to learn more about Native culture welcome to attend; through tomorrow)

Genocide Remembrance Day / Martyrs' Day-- Armenia

Happenstance and Coincidence Evening -- Fairy Calendar

International Marconi Day -- a 24-hour amateur radio event annually near the birth anniversary of Marconi (Apr. 25, 1874)

Kapyong Day -- Australia (Battle of Kapyong, 1951)

Lazarus Saturday -- Orthodox Christian

     Lazarovden -- Bulgaria (along with celebrating the raising of Lazarus, there are fertility rituals, especially involving young maidens, and honoring the goddesses of spring and love)

Loktantra Diwas -- Nepal (Democracy Day, celebrating the restoration of the Nepali Congress on this date in 2006)

National Go Birding Day -- US (but feel free to participate wherever you are, birding is fun!)

National Herb Day -- different from the HerbDay in May, and unsponsored

National Sense of Smell Day -- US (sponsored by the Sense of Smell Institute, encouraging museums and science centers to focus on how the sense of smell plays an important role in daily life and how it interacts with other senses; while celebrating, remember those with anosmia [diminished ability or totaly inability to smell])

Penguin Day -- originated by a different group from World Penguin Day, but you can't have enough days dedicated to these cute guys, can you?   

Pigs in a Blanket Day

Save the Frogs Day -- the world's largest day of amphibian education and conservation action 

Spring Cat Cleaning Day -- because someone, somewhere, thinks you need to bathe your cat; ask the cat, he will refuse, and if you become insistent, be careful

St. Ives' Day (Patron of St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, England)

St. Mark's Eve*

World Day for Animals in Laboratories   

World Healing Day / World Tai Chi and Qigong Day   

World Meningitis Day 

World Veterinary Day -- World Veterinary Association    

*A young lady may eat a boiled dove's egg sprinkled with salt and place

a tulip, sacred to St. Mark, in a vase next to her bed, and so she will 

dream of the man she will marry.

Anniversaries Today:

Mary, Queen of Scots marries Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris, 1558

Birthdays Today:

Courtnee Draper, 1985

Kelly Clarkson, 1982

Eric Balfour, 1977

Chipper Jones, 1972

Cedric the Entertainer, 1964

Djimon Hounsou, 1964

Michael O’Keefe, 1955

Eric Bogosian, 1953

Jean-Paul Gaultier, 1952

Doug Clifford, 1945

Barbra Streisand, 1942

Richard M. Daley, 1942

Sue Grafton, 1940

Jill Ireland, 1936

Shirley MacLaine, 1934

Stanley J. Kauffmann, 1916

Robert Penn Warren, 1905

Michael J. Dady, 1850

George N. Bascom, 1836

Anthony Trollope, 1815

Robert Bailey Thomas, 1766

Edmund Cartwright, 1743

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Dancing at Lughnasa"(Play), 1990

"Die Jahreszeiten/The Seasons"(Oratorio, Haydn H 21/3), 1801

The Boston News-Letter(Newspaper), 1704 (first successful newspaper in the British colonies)

Today in History:

Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut, BC1479

Traditional date for the Greeks entering Troy using the Trojan Horse, BC1184

The appearance of Halley's Comet causes monks in England to predict evil happenings, 1066

"La Marseillaise" is composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 1792

The Boston "News-Letter" becomes the first successful newspaper in the colonies, 1704

The Library of Congress is established, 1800

A patent is granted for the first soda fountain, 1833

William Price of the Washington Star becomes the first reporter to be specifically assigned to the White House, 1897

The fathometer, which measures underwater depth, is patented, 1928

Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, 1953

Cosmonaut  Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1, the first person to die during a space mission, 1967

Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations, 1968

The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched, 1970

Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine, 1990

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI, 2005

Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog is born in South Korea, 2005

Iceland announces that Norway will shoulder the defense of Iceland during peacetime, 2007

Scientists in Kamchatka, Russia, report sighting the first adult white orca to be seen in the wild, 2012

Suffragist Millicent Fawcett is the first woman to have a statue erected in Parliament Square, London, England, 2018

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, streaming music services overtake worldwide sales of CDs and vinyl for the first time, 2018