Skidding In, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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I'm skidding a bit late into Thankful Day, it's best just to get started.

Last weekend, Ms. GA and Mr. BA went on an overnight out of town trip, which meant i went over and did cat care after the shelter last Friday and then again early Saturday morning before driving to NOLA.

Generally this means a late night Friday, and then an even earlier morning Saturday, i'm very thankful i didn't get overtired on the drive back.

I'm also thankful the car got there and back even though, surprise, surprise, the check engine light is suddenly on.

I'm thankful doing the blankets on Grandpa's bed last week proved much easier than Grandma's, as he doesn't care if there are spare blankets on it while his are being washed, thus i don't have to make it, then unmake it and put away the spares, and then remake it.

I'm thankful i also found out why there are curtains in the laundry room, piled in a corner.  They are not needed at the moment and i was able to wash them, fold them and get them out of the way.

When i arrived at Becca's Sunday morning, i was told Mr. Cal was not allowed to go on a walk, as he has a slight limp and they were resting his paw.  Becca and i were thankful to simply have a walk, just the two of us.

Sunday afternoon, after church, i was thankful to go to a party at the church, a surprise 90th birthday party for a friend.

It was a "3 job Monday" again this week.  Carl made my job just a bit harder by having the day off for an appointment, i'm thankful i've gotten used to working around him.

I'm also thankful his mother, Ms. V, woke up in time to pay me, and i was able to run to the bank.

Ms. D kept me hopping with small jobs around the house here, there and everywhere.  I'm thankful i was up to all of them.

Ms. JAI wasn't feeling well and cancelled our last visit, so i'm very thankful i was able to go this time.  Not that her place is ever really dirty, but things do need to get cleaned up and i was glad to do it.

She is apparently getting along better with her daughters, which is a thankful answer to prayer, and i was thankful i managed to find her bottle of vanilla for her.

On Tuesday, we found out why the check engine light is on in Slow-Moe.  It's an oxygen sensor, it won't be super expensive to find and best of all, thankfully, we can still drive it all we want, it won't cause any trouble, and the part will be in next week.

My shift at the shelter Wednesday morning was hectic.  A new volunteer had done caretaking the night before, and almost every cage was empty of food and water.  All the kittens were in a right state, cutting a rumpus until i managed to fill every bowl.  I'm thankful the animal care specialist is going to have a special training session with that volunteer and make sure s/he understands how much food and water to give next time.

Ms. G had some light things for us to do, and not much outdoor work.  We were both thankful to get it done quickly and get back indoors.

Everyone was thankful for the bit of rain Wednesday evening, except, of course, those who had something outdoorsy planned for then.  We really needed the rain and it didn't last long (the sun was shining the whole time), so i'm sure most outdoor activities resumed quickly.

Ms. SE and her family have had a wild last few weeks, so when we showed up Thursday morning and i realized she hadn't been able to start her third load in the washer, which was nothing but towels, i was thankful to be able to surprise her and do it for her. 

Little Buddy at Ms. GA's is up to his usual tricks, and this week he outdid himself.  He has been digging in the plants, that's normal for kittens.  This time, he'd managed to knock an entire potted fern off of the shelf behind the couch, breaking it and ending up with dirt and fern and pieces of the pot under and behind the couch.

I'm thankful i was able to move the couch and get everything thoroughly clean, and since the pot broke into nice, big pieces, no one was hurt and it can be glued back together.  Even the fern might survive.

When i arrived for the Friday evening shift at the shelter, the adoptions manager was noting it's been a bit slow.  While i was there, several people came in to look and there were two adoptions and another family picked out the cat they want, paid a deposit and will be back Saturday (today) to fill in the paperwork, as it was too near to closing time by the time they chose a cat.

We were all thankful for extra help, lots of people interacting with cats, and the bonus news of the week is Fred and Ginger (10+ years old) went to a foster home that will likely adopt them, 14-year-old Barney got adopted, Taz is back from his foster home and is preadopted and will be picked up Saturday (today), and Edith the kitten that doesn't like any other cats has decided she loves Julep, the extremely shy adult cat, and is bringing Julep out of her shell!

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:

Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day (Buy your cheese that will be sacrificed on Cheese Sacrifice Day, and no, I never have found out why there is a Cheese Sacrifice Day anyway or to whom you are supposed to sacrifice it.)*

Chicken Wings Day -- Buffalo, NY, US (they want it to be a national day, and maybe someday it will be)

Cowes Week begins -- Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK (the largest, longest-running and most prestigious international sailing regatta in the world; through August 5)

Feast of St. Martha, Virgin, Dragon Charmer, Sister of Lazarus (Patron of butlers, cooks, dieticians, domestic servants, homemakers, hotel keepers, housemaids, housewives, inkeepers, laundry workers, maids, manservants, servants, servers, single laywomen, travelers; Villajoyosa, Spain, which village she saved on her feast day by sending a flash flood to wash away the Moorish invaders in 1538)

Fiesta de Santa Maria Ribarteme (a/k/a Festival of Near Death Experiences) -- As Neves, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain (festival of Mary in which those who have come back from near death are carried to the shrine in open coffins, or walk there clad in shrouds)

International Tiger Day

NASA Day -- marking the day President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law, creating NASA

National Anthem Day -- Romania

National Dance Day -- US (begun by Nigel Lythgoe, now a congressionally recognized day to encourage dance education and physical fitness, so go out and bust a move on a Saturday night, but don't bust you, please)

National Lasagna Day

National Thai Language Day -- Thailand (Wan Phasa Thai Haeng Chat)

Photograph Your Children When They're Not Looking Day -- get a good, candid shot to enjoy

Rain Day Festival -- Waynesburg, Pennsylvania (yes, it has rained at 113 out of the 140 observances of this festival on this date) 

Runic Half-Month Thorn begins (defense)

St. Lazarus' Day -- date given in the Martyrologium Romanum; celebrated on Lazarus Saturday by most Eastern Churches and on Dec. 17 in most Western Churches

St. Olaf's (Olav) Day (Norway's Viking king; patron of carvers, difficult marriages, kings; Norway)related observances

     Olavsokadagur -- Faroe Islands (opening of Logting, or Parliament; a National Day, on the Feast Day of St. Olav)

     Oslok Eve -- Norway (celebrating the valiant death of their hero on this evening at the battle at Stiklestadt in 1030)

     sometimes associated with Thor's Day among the Norse and Thunor of the Anglo-Saxons

Territory Day -- Wallis and Futuna

*"A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains cheese, milk's leap toward immortality." Clifton Fadiman

Anniversaries Today

Andy Taylor marries Tracey Wilson, 1982

Charles, Prince of Wales, marries Lady Diana Spencer, 1981

Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, 1565

Birthdays Today

Danger Mouse, 1977

Josh Radnor, 1974

Wanya Morris, 1973

Wil Wheaton, 1972

Julian McMahon, 1968

Martina McBride, 1966

Alexandra Paul, 1963

Patty Scialfa, 1956

Ken Burns, 1953

Tim Gunn, 1953

Marilyn Quayle, 1949

David Warner, 1941

Peter Jennings, 1938

Elizabeth Dole, 1936

Paul Taylor, 1930

Chester Bomar Himes, 1909

Melvin Belli, 1907

Clara Bow, 1905

Dag Hammarskjold, 1905

Stanley Kunitz, 1905

Benito Mussolini, 1883

Newton Booth Tarkington, 1869

Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, 1861

Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Friday Night Videos"(TV), 1983

Help(Film), 1965

"Steamboat Willie"(Animated short, first appearance of Mickey Mouse), 1928

Today in History

King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes, 1030

James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling, 1567

English naval forces under command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France, 1588

John Graves Simcoe decides to build a fort and settlement at Toronto, having sailed into the bay there, 1793

Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, 1836

In Tipperary, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police, 1848

The First Hague Convention is signed, 1899

Sir Robert Baden Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England; this is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement, 1907

The International Atomic Energy Agency is established, 1957

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel, 1987

The film Cry Freedom is seized by South African authorities, 1988

Astronomers announce the discovery of Eris, the largest dwarf planet in the solar system, 2005

South Sudan becomes the 54th member of the African Union, 2011

Scientists reveal new research identifying a mechanism by which Earth-warming carbon is pulled deep into the Southern Ocean, and locked away, and scientists claim this process may be threatened by climate change, 2012

Microsoft launches Windows 10, 2015

A scaled back Hajj pilgrimage begins in Saudi Arabia, with no foreign visitors permitted, 2020

Sunisa Lee becomes first Hmong-American Olympic champion in any sport when she wins the women's artistic individual all-around gymnastics gold in Tokyo, 2021