A Mixed Bag of Ten Things of Thankful

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This week was a mixed bag, with plenty of Thankful Things in the mix.

Last weekend i had the opportunity to cat-sit for Ms. GA and Mr. BA, as well as do bird feeding duties.  There's a learning curve to the new bird regimen, so i for the second weekend in a row i had to get up at 3:30am on Saturday to get everything done that needed to be done that day.

Not only am i thankful i got it all done, i'm thankful it didn't rain much on the way home.

Sunday was one of the days our church has only one service instead of three.  When this happens, Becca and i have time to take Mr. Cal on a walk to the bridge and we were thankful to get to feed the turtles.

Sunday afternoon's nap was a big blessing.

Labor Day was a work day, and what a work day.  It's a thankful thing Carl has gone back to work, having him at loose ends is exhausting for all of us.

Tuesday was a relatively easy work day.  Ms. D had me check the pan of the refrigerator, mop, help clean out the outdoor garbage can, and scrub the bathroom floor really well where the plumbers had been.  That last shouldn't need an explanation.

Tuesday afternoon we got a call from Kevin and Lenny's, they found the part Lunceford needed at a wrecker yard two states away.  It would take until Thursday to get the part, was that okay?  Any port in a storm, i told them, i am thankful my miracle working mechanics came through again.

Oh, and i'm thankful i noticed one of my medicines was almost out, i got Dr. BowTie's office to call in the refill just in time.

Those who read my post yesterday and didn't skip the sad part know on Wednesday i was gifted with an actual petting session with CatCat, Ms. G's only recently slightly tamed cat.  It was the third time ever he's let me pet him, and the longest.  Thursday afternoon he very suddenly got ill and crossed to the Rainbow Bridge, as they say, making me very glad for the privilege of having that special time with him.

Ms. G also had us hopping on Wednesday, getting the house ready for someone she was expecting and whom she wanted to impress with more than her usual level of the clean-but-lived-in look.

Lunceford's part came in Thursday and Sweetie and i are both thankful he has his wheels back.  He was going to get cabin fever soon.  We're also thankful we got Ms. SE's house done despite the extended fight with the security gate.  That thing is going to get stuck closed one of these days and Mr. DE, contractor that he is, is going to have to call a friend with an acetylene torch to come cut them out of their own driveway, or worse, try to take a hacksaw to it.

My visit to Ms. PA on Friday was wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time.  She's 93, and has declined severely.  She's only awake and aware for a couple of hours a day, and even then sometimes she's hallucinating.  She knew me, and stayed awake while i was there, even ate part of a sandwich the aid fed her.  She can't move on her own any more, though.  Her daughter-in-law says they haven't put her in the actual hospice only because she is lucid enough at times they're concerned she'd be scared to wake up in a strange place.

My plan all summer has been to do the ladies' church meetings via Zoom with her when they start again this month.  She's not aware enough, and we think she'd be frustrated with trying to follow any kind of conversation or discussion like that, so instead i'm just going to go increase my visits to once a week for as long as she's still aware she's got a visitor.

Carl, heaven bless him, loves to be helpful and volunteer.  He has volunteered at the cat shelter before so he has decided to start coming again.  On Friday evenings when i'm there, he comes and helps me (he has to shadow someone as he can't do the work on his own), and i was very glad for his assistance this week.  His father is highly allergic to all pets, so he's thrilled to get to visit with kitties once on a while, and i'm thankful for the help.

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:

Aloha Festivals Royal Court Investiture and Opening Ceremonies -- Oahu, Hawai'i, US (opening events of the Aloha Festivals, a month-long series of free events on every Island celebrating Hawai'ian culture)

Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day 2020 -- US (the Saturday after Labor Day, everyone is encouraged to volunteer in cleaning federal land, recreation areas, or waterways, to help do their part to keep these places beautiful)

Dia del Nino -- Honduras (Children's Day)

Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day -- Quincy, WA, US (a fun and tasty way to celebrate and learn how food gets from the farm to your table; through Sunday)

Full Harvest Moon a/k/a Full Corn Moon/Indigo Moon/Wise-Crone Moon (with so much food ripe for gathering, harvesting can go on well into the night by the light of the hugely full Harvest Moon)

     Binara Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka (began yesterday evening)

     Chusok -- South Korea (Harvest Moon Festival; began yesterday, through the 20th; a harvest festival and day to give homage to the ancestors and celebrate family)

     Han'gawi -- North Korea (Harvest Moon Festival; through the 21st; a harvest festival and day to give homage to the ancestors and celebrate family)

     Navajo Sing Festival -- Navajo Native Americans festival in thanksgiving for the harvest, begins at the full moon and goes on for one week 

     Taw Thalin Full Moon -- Myanmar

     Zhongqiu Jie / Chong Chao -- China; Macau; Taiwan (Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival, the birthday of the earth god T'u-ti Kung, celebrating the harvests, family, and eating moon cakes, matchmaking, sky lanterns, Fire Dragon Dances, and more)

Great Procession of Tournai -- Tournai, Belgium (religious procession held since 1092, in thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague; through tomorrow)

Harvest Home Nibbling Contest  -- Fairy Calendar (Gremlins)

International Drive Your Studebaker Day -- an official event of the Studebaker Drivers Club Inc. (and i wish i could!)    

National Day -- Gibraltar

Saint George's Caye Day -- Belize (National Day)

Sewing Machine Day -- date of issuance of an early sewing machine patent, to Elias Howe; some sites call this "Sew Be It! Day"

Swap Ideas Day -- Robert L. Birch of Puns Corp wants people to explore ways in which their ideas can be put to work to benefit all humanity and develop incentives to encourage using our creative imaginations

St. Finian's Day (Patron of Ulster, Irland)

St. Nicholas of Tolentino's Day (Patron of animals, baby, dying people, mariners/sailors, sick animals; Albi, Italy; Cabanatuan, Philippines; Guimbai, Philippines; Lambuna, Philippines; Mati, Philippines; Tandag, Philippines; Toentino, Italy)

Teacher's Day -- China

TV Dinner Day

World Suicide Prevention Day -- a great resource is here 

Birthdays Today:

Clark Johnson, 1964

Randy Johnson, 1963

Colin Firth, 1960

Amy Irving, 1953

Joe Perry, 1950

Judy Geeson, 1948

Jose Feliciano, 1945

Stephen Jay Gould, 1941

Karl Lagerfeld, 1938

Charles Kuralt, 1934

Roger Maris, 1934

Arnold Palmer, 1929

Rin Tin Tin, 1918

Fay Wray, 1907

Adele Astaire, 1896

Elsa Schiaparelli, 1890

Franz Werfel, 1890

Ian Fleming, 1888

Isaac Kauffman Funk, 1839

Marie Laveau, 1801

Carter Braxton, 1736

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The X Files"(TV), 1993

"Gentle Ben"(TV), 1967

"The Road Runner Show"(TV), 1966

"Gunsmoke"(TV), 1955

"Benvenuto Cellini(Berlioz opera), 1838

Today in History:

The Battle of Marathon takes places between the forces of the Persian Empire and those of Athens, BC490*

An earthquake known as "The Lesser Judgment Day" hits Istanbul, 1509

John Smith is elected president of Jamestown, Va., Colony Council, 1608

Nathan Hale answers the call of George Washington for a volunteer spy, 1776

Simón Bolívar is named President of Peru, 1823

Elias Howe is granted a patent for the sewing machine, 1846

George Mary Searle discovers the asteroid 55 Pandora, 1858

Lincoln Highway, the first paved coast-to-coast road in the US, opens, 1913

Austria and the Allies sign the Treaty of Saint-Germain recognizing the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, 1919

20 African-American students enter public schools in Alabama, 1963

Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of torture and murder, is the last person to be executed by guillotine in France, 1977

Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, joins the United Nations, 2002

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland, 2008

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres makes an urgent call for a climate change conference saying "climate change is moving faster than we are," 2018

Researcher Martin Hairer wins Breakthrough prize for mathematics for work on stochastic analysis, 2020

*actual date disputed, but it was the 9th day of the 9th moon on their calendar