What Happened and What Didn’t, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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This week’s Thankful Day finds me thankful for many things that did happen and two things that didn’t happen.

Last week i mentioned being thankful that my Jury Duty wouldn’t be this week.  This week i can say i am thankful that i have been “dismissed for this period,” whatever that means.  While i’m not totally sure what period they’re talking about, i was not rescheduled and that’s a good thing.  That’s the first thing that didn’t happen for which i’m thankful, the second one came much later in the week.

Saturday was a fun day with Coda and Lulu cutting up together even more than usual.  First Coda would chase Lulu around the pool, then Lulu chased Coda.  It gave me a good belly laugh for which i was thankful.

Becca’s  mom told me she wasn’t going to be singing on Sunday so she wouldn’t need my help with Becca.  Thankfully i kept my morning open anyway, and sure enough, Becca was having a meltdown and refusing her meds.  When Ms. A called, i got over there and Becca and i had meds, teeth brushed, Mr. Cal walked and ourselves on the way to church in short order.  We were a few minutes late, but that didn’t matter.

Afterward i had a heart to heart with Ms. A.  Becca, like everyone i know, thrives on routine.  Special needs people get especially thrown off when their routine is messed up, and Becca’s routine on Sunday is i wake her, we take meds, we brush teeth, we have a bite of breakfast, we walk Mr. Cal, we go to church.  That is how Sunday is defined in her mind, and that’s how Sunday needs to be every single time unless i’m out of town or she is.  Her mother, thankfully, now agrees.

While i’m sad that Coda is not at our house any longer, i am thankful for the time we had and the friends we made.  Coda played with Jazzie and Beau and Copper and Bud and Maya.  We had a regular little gathering in the field across the street as doggie friends would come and go, and everyone played and had a good time.  If you are sad, watch dogs play and you’ll be glad again, it’s a huge thankful thing.

In addition, i am thankful i found out Coda loves a pup cup from the coffee place, and the bank gives dog treats at the drive-thru.  Any time she’s here in the future, i will take advantage of that.

Last week while at the doc’s office, i mentioned how long it takes to get a prescription from our pharmacy, the lines, the waits, that i still hadn’t been able to make an appointment for the shingles shot like he wanted me to do.  He suggested i go to a smaller, non-chain pharmacy, and i reminded him that the one we use is close to where we live, the others would be a bit of a drive (never a good thing around here).

Then he told me of a new one in the same shopping center across the highway as the supermarket, and i had to check it out.  When i walked in, i wasn’t faced with a huge, long line, just a nice lady behind a counter asking if i needed help.  When i asked how i would go about transferring my prescriptions, she took care of it, told me that they do automatic refills just like the big places, and, get this, they offer free same-day delivery if you call before 2pm and the next day if you call after.  Score!

My luck there didn’t run out, either.  Not only do they give vaccines, they had the shingles vaccine available right that moment, would i like to go ahead and do it now?

That place is gold, and i am thankful in addition that i can tell the doc i got that shot.

Thursday afternoon was wonderful, i got a very long nap that i really needed and i am thankful and refreshed.

My Friday mornings start very early with getting to the church at 6am to make coffee for the prayer group.  Yesterday, just as i was about to leave for the church, Ms. GA sent a group text saying that Mr. BA had a sore throat so we’d not meet in person but by a group phone call.

She and i then had a talk about getting Mr. BA tested before i would come over to clean their house.  Their own clinic takes up to 2 days to get results, i told them where to go for a 15 minute turnaround.

Yes, he turned out to be positive for Covid.  That’s why the second thing that didn’t happen this week for which i am thankful is that i did not get exposed, which would have happened if we’d just gone ahead with prayer group or me cleaning the house.

What did happen Friday is that i got a morning off work unexpectedly, and again because i was not exposed, i was able to go to Ms. PA’s house so we could do the ladies’ meeting via Zoom.  Thankful things abound.

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:

Arbor Day -- Jordan

Armed Forces Day / Remembrance Day -- Nigeria

Army Day -- India

Basketball Day -- rules for the game were first published this day in 1892(day debated, year is certain)

Chosun-gul -- North Korea (Korean Alphabet Day)

Dia del Maestro -- Venezuela (Teacher's Day)

Feast of the Ass -- Ancient Roman Calendar (celebrates Vesta being saved by a donkey)

Feast of Entering Heaven and the Two Lands -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Fiesta Del Senor de Esquipulas/Pilgrimage of Cristo Negro de Esquipulas -- Esquipulas, Guatemala (Festival of the Black Christ)

John Chilembwe Day -- Malawi

Learn to Ski Day -- always the 3rd Saturday of January, and you go right ahead

Lenaea -- Ancient Greek Calendar (a Festival of Comedy; date approximate)

Moliere Day -- France

National Hat Day -- begun by a hat loving individual who has chosen to remain anonymous

National Strawberry Ice Cream Day

Procrastinator's New Year -- declared by someone who had a really great sense of humor

Sailing of Wadjyt -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (the icon of the cobra goddess, Wadjyt, is carried on the Nile to visit many cities; date approximate)

St. Ita's Day (Patron of Limerick, Ireland)

St. Paul the Hermit's Day (the first of the Egyptian hermits; Patron of clothing industry, weavers)

Thiruvalluvar Day -- PY, TN, India (remembrance of the celebrated Tamil poet)

Tree Planting Day -- Egypt

Tsunahiki Matsuri -- Japan (various shrines hold tug-of-war festivals in which the team for god Ebisu vie with the team for god Daikoku; if Ebisu wins, the next year will have good catches at sea, if Daikoku, it will bring good harvests)

Anniversaries Today:

Opening of the British Museum, 1759

Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England, 1559

Birthdays Today:

Drew Brees, 1979

Chad Lowe, 1968

Mario Van Peebles, 1957

Charo, 1951

Andrea Martin, 1947

Margaret O'Brien, 1937

Ernest J. Gaines, 1933

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929

John Cardinal O'Connor, 1920

Lloyd Bridges, 1913

Gene Krupa, 1909

Elie Siegmeister, 1909

Edward Teller, 1908

Aristotle Onassis, 1906

Goodman Ace, 1899

Pierre S. du Pont, 1870

Philip Livingston, 1766

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, a/k/a Moliere, 1622 (baptismal date, actual birth date unknown)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hill Street Blues"(TV), 1981

"Happy Days"(TV), 1974

The Democratic Donkey(symbol in newspaper comic), 1870

"Stella"(Goethe Play), 1816

Today in History:

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign, in a siege lasting until July 23, BC588

Christopher Columbus sets sail for Spain from Hispaniola, ending his first voyage to the New World, 1493

Third sitting of the Council of Trent opens, 1562

The British Museum opens in Montague House in London, 1759

John Etherington of London steps out sporting the first top hat, 1797

The first US built locomotive to pull a passenger train begins its first run, with Mr. and Mrs. Pierson on board for the first US railroad honeymoon trip, 1831

The donkey is first used as a symbol for the Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly, 1870

The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia, 1889

James Naismith publishes the rules of Basketball, 1892

Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" premieres in St Petersburg, 1895

Dr. Lee DeForest patents a 3-element vacuum tube (one of the inventions that later made radio possible), 1907

The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women, 1908

The Boston Molasses Disaster, 2 million gallons of molasses spill, 21 killed, over 150 injured, 1919

The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio, 1936

The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia, 1943

The US Supreme Court rules that "clear and present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech and can be a cause for arrest, 1951

The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles; the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10, 1967

The USSR launches Soyuz 5, 1969

The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm, 1991

Wikipedia goes online, 2001

An intense solar flare blasts X-rays across the solar system, 2005

ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon, 2005

The Stardust space mission returns dust from a comet to Earth, 2006

Chesley Sullenberger lands US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in NYC. All passengers and crew members survive in what becomes known as the "Miracle on the Hudson", 2009

The American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan unveils its newest exhibit, a replica skeleton of a Titanosaur dinosaur (found in 2010 in Argentina), the largest known dinosaur at 70 tons, 37m, 2016

Chinese scientists confirm that they have germinated a cotton seed on the moon on board the Chang’e 4 lander, 2019