The Good Things, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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It's Thankful Day, and i'm ready to list the good things!

GusGus Die Fledermaus came home last Saturday running as well as she used to.  We're thankful to have two cars, one of which we can use for going to NOLA.

While she was in "the bone yard" as the car people call the area where they have cars sitting for months waiting for parts, her inspection sticker expired and i don't happen to trust oil that's been sitting in an engine for 7 months.  She got an oil change and passed inspection Monday, thankfully she's good to go.

Sweetie and Brother-in-Law have been planning a trip to see their sister who lives about a four hour drive north of here.  It was to be a "spend a couple of days at their house" trip and we're all thankful it came off beautifully.

Their sister had been wanting to see a particular movie series, and Sweetie had a copy on DVD.  Since it was her birthday, he gave it to her, and i'm thankful he was able to bring a gift he knew she'd like.  Guessing what someone wants always makes me nervous, i'd rather find something they've asked for so i know it's right.

They left Monday morning, after they dropped GusGus off for me, so i'm thankful that Ms. D had outdoor work for us and she dropped me back at Kevin and Lenny's, just a couple of minutes from here, so i could pick it up.

This also meant they were gone Tuesday, and i had a day off as planned.  Having a day and the house to myself hasn't happened in so long i can't remember when, and i enjoyed it and am thankful.

The cat rescue organization from across the river is needing help again, and i'm thankful Ms. G gives me extra time before work on Wednesdays to do it.

This week, Ms. G had me climbing in the attic, moving furniture and getting something down she needs.  We're both thankful attic climbing is still in my repertoire, and i'm thankful she let me choose where and how to move the items that stayed up there.  It's set up a little easier for me to get into now.

Ms. SE and Mr. DE have an electronic gate which has to be opened to let us onto the property to clean.  They have "clickers" in the cars, but we have to get out and push the buttons on the keypad.

The keypad has always been on the right side of the gate, requiring me to put on galoshes and wade through the low part of the driveway where there's standing water after every storm.

This past weekend, trying to figure out yet again what might be wrong with the system, Mr. DE made the discovery that the keypad is not hardwired in, so it could be moved to the high, dry side of the gate, and it runs on batteries, which he replaced.  Success!  It's now much easier, the whole system is working right.

Friday evening at the cat shelter was busy, busy, and we had extra volunteers!  We're always thankful when that happens.  Also, i can say with certainty the brothers featured this past Awww Monday were adopted together.

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:

Army Day -- Armenia

Data Privacy Day -- International

Festival of the Lenaia to Dionysus -- Ancient Greek Calendar, end January through early February

Gasparilla Pirate Fest -- Tampa, FL (reenactment of the invasion of Tampa by pirates, this is the adult version of last weekend's celebration for kids)

Jackhammer Day -- US (the pneumatic jackhammer was patented this day in 1894 by Charles Brady King of Detroit, MI)

National Blueberry Pancake Day

National Kazoo Day -- because anyone can play one!

National Spieling Day -- internet generated, and whatever your area of expertise, spiel about it today

National Storytelling Week -- UK (the Society for Storytelling encourages you to celebrate one of the most ancient art forms; through Feb. 5)  

Rinkydinks Annual Snowball Fight -- Fairy Calendar

Runic Half-month Elhaz (elk) commences

St. Charlemagne's Day (Patron of the University of Paris)

St. Thomas Aquinas's Day (Patron of academics, apologists, book sellers, chastity, colleges, learning, pencil makers, philosophers, publishers, scholars, schools, students, theologians, universities; Aquino, Italy; Belcastro, Italy; Falerna, Italy; University of Vigo; all Catholic academies, schools, and universities; against lightning, storms)

Telephone Exchange Day -- US (the first telephone exchange was set up in New Haven, CT with 22 subscribers on this day in 1878)

Wakakusa Yamayaki -- Nara, Japan (Grass Burning on Mt. Wakakusayama, and fireworks; an annual New Year tradition)

Anniversary Today:

Adoption of the Great Seal of the United States, 1782

Birthdays Today:

Elijah Wood, 1981

Nick Carter, 1980

Joey Fatone, Jr. 1977

Kathryn Morris, 1969

Sarah McLachlan, 1968

Harley Jane Kozak, 1957

Nicolas Sarkozy, 1955

Rick Warren, 1954

John Beck, 1943

Susan Howard, 1943

Alan Alda, 1936

Susan Sontag, 1933

Claes Oldenburg, 1929

Jackson Pollack, 1912

Robert Stroud, 1890 (The Birdman of Alcatraz)

Arthur Rubenstein, 1887

Auguste Piccard, 1884

Jean Felix Piccard, 1884

Colette, 1873

Jose' Marti, 1853

Henry Morton Stanley, 1841

Alexander Mackenzie, 1822

Peter the Great of Russia, 1775

St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Fantasy Island"(TV), 1978

"Barnaby Jones"(TV), 1973

"Symphony No. 1/Jeremiah"(Bernstein), 1944

Today in History:

The Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor is lifted by Pope Gregory VIII, 1077

The first Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria, 1099

Pope Alexander VI gives his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France, 1495

Edward VI, age nine, succeeds his father Henry VIII as king of England, 1547

By the Edict of Orleans, the persecution of French Huguenots is suspended, 1561

Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland, 1573

Sir Thomas Warner found the first British colony in the Caribbean, on St. Kitts, 1624

The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented in the Senate decree (it was called St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917), 1724

Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity, 1754

London's Pall Mall is the first street lit by gaslight, 1807

Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom, 1813

The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway, 1855

In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick, 1887

Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent became the first person to be convicted of speeding in an automobile. He is fined 1 shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thus exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h), 1896

The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie, 1902

An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard, 1915

The first Jewish US Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis, appointed by Wilson, 1916

A symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is installed beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to honor the unknown dead of World War I, 1921

The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhary Rehmat Ali Khan and is accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence, 1933

The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today, 1958

The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament, 1965

Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region, 1984

Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief, 1985

Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart after liftoff killing all seven astronauts on board, 1986

Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled up the Egyptian's streets in demonstrations referred to as "Friday of Anger" against the Mubarak regime, 2011

DNA analysis confirms that the 6th C Plague of Justinian was caused by a variant of Yersinia pestis, which is the same bacteria for the Black Death, 2014

Seven survivors from the missing Kiribati ferry carrying 100 people are rescued after week at sea, 2018

A draft framework for a peace agreement to end the 17-year conflict in Afghanistan is agreed upon by US and Afghan negotiators, 2019

Bernie Sanders mittens, worn to the inauguration, raise $1.8 million for Vermont charities after images go viral, 2021