Bits From Two Weeks, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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Last week i concentrated on the birthday boys, so i have Thankful things from the past two weeks.

Ms. PA presented me with two small difficulties.  One was a picture frame that had fallen and needed to be reset for the picture to rest in it properly.  She was sure i could fix it, and i did (although i had no hammer easily available and had to tap the edge on the cement steps to get it back where it belonged).

Then there was the matter of the washing machine.  For some reason, the socket it was plugged into wasn't working, and i had bedsheets that were wet and locked in there that needed to get finished and back on the bed.

Sometimes extension cords are your best friends, and the cord having a built in light (since the same socket runs the light down there) is an extra thankful.

The last time i went to the store for Grandma, i found both liver cheese (don't ask me, i just work here!) and the American cheese that is in the deli and has to be sliced (she cannot stand the prepackaged stuff in the wrappers).  With Grandma, mostly what i say is that at least she is eating.

There was one Sunday in the past couple where Ms. A, Becca's mom, wasn't feeling so well so she decided they'd all stay home from church.  That meant i got to sleep in until 6am that Sunday!

The people from the office we used to clean regularly called and we went back over there for one more cleaning.  They're going to have a remodel of the office starting this coming Monday, so they will most likely be getting a bigger company than mine (which is just me and sometimes Sweetie) to clean up all of the construction dust and debris.  After that, i think they will also want a bigger company to be coming in regularly, which is fine.  We'll still go over there since that is our financial advisor, but cleaning there is going to be too big of a job.  We're thankful it was a good run.

Cleaning at Ms.G's house has been a bit bittersweet, mostly sweet though.  We've gotten through most of Widdle Baby the Wart's cat things that the other cats won't use, and they are now being sent to a friend who has a brand new kitten.  It's a thankful thing to know it's all going to a good place where it will be used.

Also at Ms. G's, Buddy and Angel are getting friendlier.  Angel actually comes in the same room with me, as long as her mama is there.

One house i was cleaning with Ms. G for her to put up for sale had a lot of pants hangers, the kind with the clips on them, and they were going to be thrown out.  It was a thankful that i could snag them for Carl, since the hangers play musical closets in that house and you never know if you are going to have enough or have to go hunting for more.

A weather front came through on Wednesday and we are thankful that we got some rain but not too much, and some nice, cool weather behind it.

Today i'm thankful it's grocery day again for Grandma and Grandpa.  Maybe i'll score liver cheese for Grandma again, you never know.

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:

Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security

Anniversary of the Declaration of the Slovak Nation -- Slovakia

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

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 (Aland Islands; Albania; Andorra; Antarctica (Troll Station); Austria; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Germany; Gibraltar; Greece; Greenland; Guernsey; Hungary; Ireland; Isle of Man; Israel; Italy; Jersey; Kosovo; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Malta; Mexico; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; North Macedonia; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; San Marino; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Vatican City[Holy See])

     Note:  This does not apply to the United States, we have one more week of "summer time" left

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 

Haute Dog Howl'oween Parade -- Long Beach, CA, US (dress up your dog and have a howling good time)

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

Make A Difference Day -- US (Whoopie Goldberg once said that if every American would donate 5 volunteer hours a week, it would be the equivalent of several million full time jobs; whether or not it's strictly accurate, volunteering is a great thing to do no matter where you live.  This day is no longer sponsored, but if you are looking for volunteer opportunities in your area, go here.)   

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

National Breadstick Day

National Candy Corn Day

Pit Bull Awareness Day -- it's not the breed, it's the owner   

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

New DNA studies of dogs suggest they were human's first domesticated animals, at the end of the Bronze Age about 11,000 years ago, 2020