Getting Close, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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As usual it's been quite a week and i'm running into Thankful Day on my way to a busy weekend.

Arriving at Becca's house last Sunday, i found out two things.

It was Mr. Cal's birthday.

After his walk, the birthday pup took his treat under the table and didn't want to come out.

I'm thankful this 11-year-old "shih-poo" mix loves walks.

Second, Ms. A was missing her jar of pepperoncini she'd bought especially for a crock pot recipe she was making for company later that day.

Because she'd awakened about ten minutes early and had already finished breakfast, i asked Becca if she wanted to help her mama and we'd run to the nearest store to buy some.  She was quite amenable to the adventure so we set out to "rescue dinner!"  I'm thankful she was in a good humor, we found pepperoncini easily in the pickles area of the store, and we still had time for Mr. Cal's walk and our story before getting dressed and going to church.

I'm also thankful Becca's dad, Mr. J, has been so amenable to taking my Sweetie to church since we've had only one working car.

Tuesday i actually did get a day off.  I could get used to that!

Ms. G texted me Tuesday evening with an emergency request from a different rescue organization which rescues more than just cats asking if i'd go clean the cat adoption cages they maintain at a local pet store.  This rescue recently took on 10 horses and their hands are overfull.  I'm thankful i was able to do it, they are angels.

Speaking of angels, Ms. G and i went to clean one of the houses she has for sale and on the way she checked on some dogs she'd heard were in a bad way.  Our drive past showed the reports didn't tell the half of it, and i'm thankful she put a bug in the ear of the right person to get the animals picked up by day's end.

In exchange for much of the work she's done on the house she's putting on the market, Ms. G was given the 3 almost new window unit A/C's which have been replaced with central air.  She asked if all ours were working, and the one in the library bit the dust last summer.  She gave us one, and we're thankful as it really does help.

Ms. V's house was quite the workout Thursday, i'm thankful she and Mr. L woke up earlier than usual so i was able to get the sheets off the bed sooner rather than later.  There was extra laundry as she wanted to change out from summer to winter sheets and the summer bedspread needed washing, too.

I'm thankful for an excellent Friday with a good prayer meeting to start and a fun evening at the shelter to end.

Now for the bigger news, all thankful things.

The dealership called, GusGus is repaired and we're supposed to get it back today.  We're thankful and cautiously optimistic that this time the fix is for real and for good.

Some friends at our church noticed how difficult it's been for us with just the one older and not-exactly-reliable car and someone whispered to someone else in the pastoral office about what's going on and the church gave us money to pay toward our repair bills.  We're most thankful.

Ms. JAI only calls me about once a month, and this past Monday was my day to go.  I'm thankful i was able to work her in after Carl and my new every-other-Monday client.

She told me things are getting worse with her family.  We talked a lot while i cleaned, and i hugged her while she cried.

When she went to pay me, she said, "My family only want my money, and I'm going to start giving it to charity.  You're my first charity!"  She handed me a check which, when paired with the one from the church, has brought our repair bill down to needing only about 3 more payments.

Talk about blessings and being thankful!  If we have two working cars, don't need to rent a car every Saturday, and can save up the money we've been paying on car repairs, we may yet get a week away this summer and get some other debts paid down.  Again, thankful and cautiously optimistic.

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.   https://iwantbacksies.blogspot.com/

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Today is:

Anniversary of the Elf Wars -- Fairy Calendar

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

Celtic Tree Month Luis (Rowan) begins

Errol Barrow Day -- Barbados

International Bon Jovi Day -- they released their first album this date in 1983

Lady of Altagracia Day -- Dominican Republic

Lunar New Year's Eve (year of the Rabbit)

     Seol-nal -- South Korea (Lunar New Year Holiday begins)

     Spring Festival -- China; Taiwan (Chinese New Year's Eve, start of the festival)

     Tet Eve -- Vietnam

National Hugging Day™ -- includes the announcements of the Most Huggable People of the Year

New England Clam Chowder Day

Quebec Flag Day -- Quebec, Canada

Squirrel Appreciation Day -- sponsored by Christy Hargrove of the Western North Carolina Nature Center

St. Agnes' Day (Patron of betrothed couples, bodily purity/chastity, crops, gardeners, Girl Scouts, girls, rape victims, virgins; the Colegio Capranica of Rome; Manresa, Spain; Rockville Centre, NY)

St. Meinrad of Einsiedeln's Day (Patron of hospitality; Einsiedeln, Switzerland; Swabia, Germany)

Anniversary Today:

Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit, 1915

Birthdays Today:

Robby Benson, 1956

Geena Davis, 1956

Billy Ocean, 1960

Jill Eikenberry, 1947

Mac Davis, 1942

Placido Domingo, 1941

Jack Nicklaus, 1940

Wolfman Jack, 1939

Benny Hill, 1925

Telly Savalas, 1924

Benny Hill, 1924

Paul Scofield, 1922

Barney Clark, 1921

Karl Wallenda, 1905

Christian Dior, 1905

Roger Nash Baldwin, 1884

John M. Browning, 1855

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, 1824

Ethan Allen, 1738

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Kid"(Film), 1921

"The Daily News"(first issue, edited by Charles Dickens), 1848

"Power of Sympathy"(publication date of WH Brown's novel, considered the first American novel), 1789

Today in History:

Philip II, Henry II, and Richard the Lionheart initiate the 3rd Crusade, 1189

The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded, 1525

The first American novel, WH Brown's "Power of Sympathy," is published, 1789

After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine, 1793

Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination is introduced, 1799

The envelope-folding machine is patented by Russell Hawes, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1853

The first US sewage disposal system that is separate from storm drains opens in Memphis, Tennessee, 1880

The first slalom ski race is run in Murren, Switzerland, 1922

The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec, 1948

A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete, 1968

The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts, 1971

Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes, 1976

Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, 1981

NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Eart, 2004

Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%, 2008

The Eyak language in Alaska becomes extinct as its last native speaker dies, 2008

LA Lakers forward Kobe Bryant becomes the youngest NBA player to reach 25,000 career points at 31 years, 151 days, beating Wilt Chamberlain by 35 days, 2010

Gambian Dictator Yahya Jammeh finally concedes office and leaves Gambia 2 months after losing the presidential election, 2018

The journal Nature Communications reports a study of the world's oldest known meteor impact from an estimated 2.2 billion years ago in Yarrububba, Western Australia, implicating the impact in the ending of an ice age at that time, 2020