Saturday, September 30, 2023

Some Weeks...A Ten Things of Thankful Post

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Some weeks as you head into Thankful Day, you're thinking you already know most of what you're going to be saying.


Then everything changes.


Yesterday morning, around 5:30 while i was getting ready for work, i got the text no one wants.


#2 Son and His Bride lost their little girl.


Our Daughter-in-Law was 20 weeks pregnant and they'd been in the doctor's office 3 days before, there were no problems.


She suddenly went into preterm labor and there was nothing anyone could have done at that point.


In the midst of grief, we are thankful His Bride was not in danger and has not suffered any physical effects besides the usual ones after a woman gives birth.  


We're thankful Sweetie and i have room here at the house to store all of the baby things they'd already gathered or been given so she doesn't have to look at them.


We're thankful #2 Son's work and her school have given them 2 weeks of leave so they can begin to recover.


The other thankful things which had already been in the works to be counted were:


Last week, we left off with Slow-Moe in the garage.  On Monday, we found out "nothing" was wrong, it behaved perfectly at the shop.  Yesterday, it started again.  We're thankful we can try again this week to find out what's happening with it.


Carl had Covid again, and i'm thankful this time he did not give it to his parents and he is already testing negative.  


I'm thankful Bigger Girl was in town last Saturday at Grandma and Grandpa's and we got to see her.


Many of us are thankful Becca is still sleeping through the night.  The reward system is working!


Kevin and Lenny are now paying us to clean their waiting room/office/kitchenette area once a month and i'm thankful the first cleaning went well, they seemed pleased.


We had extra volunteers at the shelter this week, which is always welcome.


We're thankful we ended the month with a positive balance in the checking account.  It's been close, since Brother-In-Law needed money for the dentist and with not cleaning Carl's last week, it left us scrambling.



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.   


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter





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Today is:


Agricultural Reform Day -- Sao Tome and Principe


Celtic Tree Month Gort begins (Ivy)


Day of Liberation of the Republic of Abkhazia -- Abkhazia (disputed territory on the Black Sea)


Do Something Wacky With A Grandparent Day -- just not the monkey bars, please; old bones don't knit fast enough; whatever you do, take some pictures!


Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (the Greater Mystery Rites, date approximate; mystery rites of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, one of the most sacred times of their year)


Family Health and Fitness Day USA  


Independence Day -- Botswana


International Translation Day -- International Federation of Translators 


Kokkeisetsu -- Chinatown, Yokohama, Japan (Chinese National Founding Day in the largest Chinatown in Japan; through tomorrow)


Medetrinalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival fruits offer to the goddess of medicine)


Monkey Bars Day -- a day to go see if you can still do tricks on the monkey bars, because the internet wants to kill us and let the machines that would never do anything so silly take over


Monkey King Festival -- China (a celebration of this popular character in East Asian stories, with the best place to see the rituals being the Monkey God Temple at Po Tat Estate in Sau Mau Ping, Kowloon)


National Hot Mulled Cider Day


National Mud Pack Day -- give yourself a facial


Qatar Prix L'arc de Triomphe -- Longchamp Race-course, Paris, France (one of the world's greatest horse races, first run in 1920; celebrations and events through tomorrow)


St. Gregory the Enlightener (or Illuminator; Patron of Armenia)


St. Jerome's Day (Patron of archaeologists, archivists, Biblical scholars, librarians, libraries, school children, students, translators; Saint-Jerome, Quebec)

     also an Apache celebration of Geronimo, the Native American who was named after this saint


Sukkot -- Judaism (begins at sundown, through sundown Oct. 7)


Truth and Reconciliation Day -- Canada




Anniversary Today:


Haleakala National Park is established in Maui, Hawaii, 1960



Birthdays Today:


Dominique Moceanu, 1981

Marion Cotillard, 1975

Jenna Elfman, 1971

Crystal Bernard, 1964

Eric Stoltz, 1961

Fran Drescher, 1957

Deborah Allen, 1953

Victoria Tennant, 1953

Marilyn McCoo, 1943

Z.Z. Hill, 1935

Johnny Mathis, 1935

Angie Dickinson, 1931

Elie Wiesel, 1928

W. S. Merwin, 1927

Truman Capote, 1924

Deborah Kerr, 1921

Buddy Rich, 1917

William Wrigley, Jr., 1861

Rumi, 1207



Debuting/Premiering Today:


Millie's Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush(Publication date), 1990

"Murder, She Wrote"(TV), 1984

"Cheers"(TV), 1982

"Love Child"(Single release), 1968

"The Flintstones"(TV), 1960

"Tea and Sympathy"(Play), 1953

"The Red Skelton show"(TV), 1951

"Porgy and Bess"(Opera), 1935

Little Women(Publication date), 1868

"Les pecheurs de perles/The Pearl Fishers"(Bizet opera), 1863

"Die Zauberflote/The Magic Flute"(Mozart opera, K. 620), 1791

The Gutenberg Bible(first section, publication date), 1452



Today in History:


Rambam (Maimonides) authorizes Samuel Ibn Tibbon to translate the Guide of the Perplexed from Arabic into Hebrew, 1199

Anesthetic ether is used for the first time by Dr. William Morton, who extracted a tooth, 1846

German scientist Hermann von Meyer announces the discovery of the first fossil of an archaeopteryx, 1861

The first Portuguese immigrants arrive in Hawai'i, 1878

The world's first commercial hydroelectric power plant begins operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States, 1882

Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner, 1901

The first manned rocket plane flight, made by auto maker Fritz von Opel, 1929

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Yemen join the United Nations, 1947

The World Series, featuring the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, is televised for the first time, 1947

The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus is commissioned as the world's first nuclear reactor powered vessel, 1954

James Dean is killed in a road accident, 1955

Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founds the United Farm Workers, 1962

James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying segregation, 1962

General Suharto rises to power in Indonesia after an alleged coup by communists, and massacres over a million Indonesian people suspected of belonging to the Communist Party, 1965

BBC Radio 1 is launched and Tony Blackburn presents its first show, 1967

Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation, 1980

The Dalai Lama unveils the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Canada's capital city of Ottawa, 1990

The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken 600 miles south of Tokyo, 2004

The controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, 2005

A case of Ebola virus is diagnosed in Dallas, Texas, US, 2014

A 315-billion-ton iceberg named D28 calves from the Amery ice shelf, Antarctica, 2019

Canada observes its first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, honoring victims and survivors of residential schools for indigenous children, 2021

Land, including the world's oldest living rainforest, Daintree National Park, is returned to the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people in Far North Queensland, Australia, 2021

Friday, September 29, 2023

Who, Us? (Feline Friday) and Friendly Fill-Ins

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Feline Friday was originally started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude (who no longer blogs), and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

He handed hosting duties off to Sandee at Comedy Plus, and now she's entrusting it to me.


Feline Friday is simple to join.  All you have to do is: Post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (they may be silly or cute).  Then add your link!


One thing for sure is this is a fun and easy meme to do.  So come and join us in Feline Friday.


What better way to start the weekend than with a feline!


They're innocent, they tell you!








Make sure locks are on doors, they figured out how to open it.

They wouldn't do such a thing!





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Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing, and the final two are offered by Lorianne The Menagerie Mom of Four-Legged Furballs. They try to make sure the statements will be fun to both answer and share. The linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM on Friday. Please head over to one of their sites, link up, and share your thoughts!      \


Here are this week's statements with my responses underlined:



1. I find _________ annoying.


2. _________ is a favorite charity of mine.


3. I often have to explain _________ to others.


4. There's a lot of _________ in my life these days.



1. I find   traffic   annoying.


2. Mission to Haiti   is a favorite charity of mine.


3. I often have to explain   rEcess  to others.   


4. There's a lot of   blessing   in my life these days,   and all the time, in fact.



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Today is:


Ask A Stupid Question Day -- teachers wanted to get students asking more questions, so they started this day, telling them to ask even if the questions were stupid; now, it's a holiday on the last school day of September each year! 


Battle of Boqueron Day -- Paraguay


Constitution Day -- Brunei


Festival of Tezcatzonctl -- Ancient Aztec Calendar (chief god of intoxication; date approximate)


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)


Gwynn ap Nudd's Fest -- Celtic Calendar (god of the underworld; date approximate)


Hug a Vegan Day / Hug a Vegetarian Day -- i'm open!  please note that several dates are given on many websites for this "event," and i've chosen the final Friday of September which seems to be the original as sponsored by PETA


International Coffee Day -- and i thought this was every day!  It's also National Coffee Day, which should also be every day  


Inventors Day -- Argentina


Make a List of the Top Ten Happiest Days in Your Life Day -- must have been started by an optimist


Manit Day -- Marshall Islands (Culture Day)


Mutation Day -- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles


National Attend Your Grandchild's Birth Day -- a day to remind grandparents to be active in their grandchildren's lives (and if you need a reminder, i wonder about you; if you aren't allowed by bitter parents, i feel badly for you)


National Mocha Day


National Youth Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands


Quick Draw Day -- debut of Quick Draw McGraw and his side kick, Baba Looey, in 1959


Sport Purple For Platelets Day(sm) -- Platelet Disorder Support Association   


Sts. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and All Angels' Day (Michaelmas)

     Archangel Gabriel, Patron of broadcasters, clergy, communication workers, diplomats, messengers, philatelists/stamp collectors, post offices and postal workers, radio and radio workers, secular clergy, telecommunication workers, telegraphers, telephones, television and television workers; Argentinian ambassadors; Seattle, Washington

     Archangel Michael, Patron of artists, bakers, bankers and banking, barrel makers/coopers, battle, boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, dying people, emergency medical technicians/paramedics/ambulance drivers, fencers and fencing, grocers and greengrocers, haberdashers and hatmakers, knights, milliners, paratroopers, police officers, radiologists and radiotherapists, security guards, sick people, soldiers, swordsmiths; for a holy death and safety at sea; England, Germany, and over 25 cities around the world; against danger at sea and temptation.    

     Archangel Raphael, Patron of apothecaries/druggists/pharmacists, blind people, doctors/physicians, guardian angels, happy meetings, love and lovers, mentally ill people, nurses, shepherdesses/shepherds, sick people, travelers, young people; Dubuque, Iowa; MacKenzie-Fort Smith, Northwest Territories; Seattle, Washington; against bodily ills, eye diseases/eye problems, insanity/mental illness, nightmares, sickness

     related observances:

     National Day of Remembrance for Policemen Killed -- Australia (St. Michael, Patron of police officers)

     Payment of Quit Rent by London Royal Courts of Justice -- Michaelmas is a traditional English "Quarter Day", when rents come due


VFW Day -- US (The Veterans of Foreign Wars was established on this day in 1899)


World Heart Day -- International (to raise awareness of the signs and dangers of cardiovascular disease)


World's Biggest Coffee Morning -- UK (Macmillan Cancer Support fundraiser, host or attend a Coffee Morning gathering or go to M&S Cafe, the official partner in the event!)


Zhong Qui Jie -- China (mid-Autumn festival)



Birthdays Today:


Emily Lloyd, 1970

John Paxton, 1960

Bryant Gumbel, 1948

Patricia Hodge, 1946

Lech Walesa, 1943

Dave Wilcox, 1942

Ian McShane, 1942

Madeline Kahn, 1942

Jerry Lee Lewis, 1935

Anita Ekberg, 1931

Lizabeth Scott, 1922

Trevor Howard, 1916

Stanley Kramer, 1913

Michelangelo Antonioni, 1912

Greer Garson, 1908

Gene Autry, 1907

Enrico Fermi, 1901

Horatio Nelson, 1758

Miguel de Cervantes, 1547

Pompey the Great, BC106



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Grace Under Fire"(TV), 1993

"Thirtysomething"(TV), 1987

"Designing Women"(TV), 1986

"MacGyver"(TV), 1985

"Houdini, A Circus Opera"(Opera), 1977

"The Judy Garland Show"(TV), 1963

"My Favorite Martian"(TV), 1963

"The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show"(TV), 1962

"My Three Sons"(TV), 1960

"Outlaws"(TV), 1960

"The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis"(TV), 1959

"Sergeant Preston of the Yukon"(TV), 1955

"A View from the Bridge"(Play), 1955

The Barefoot Contessa(Film), 1954

A Star is Born(Film), 1954

"Make Room for Daddy"(TV), 1953



Today in History:


Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumata, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire, BC522

Battle of Salamis, at which the Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I, BC480

Pompey the Great Celebrates ending the Mithridatic Wars on his 45th birthday, BC61

Saladin's army marches into Jerusalem, 1187

The First Congress of the US adjourns, 1789

"Scotland Yard", London's Metropolitan Police Force, goes on duty, 1829

The first practical public electric tramway ever opens in Blackpool, England, 1885

John D. Rockefeller becomes the first billionaire, 1916

The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed, 1954

Alouette 1, the first Canadian satellite, is launched, 1962

WGPR in Detroit, Michigan, becomes the world's first black-owned-and-operated television station, 1975

Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to set foot on Irish soil with his pastoral visit to the Republic of Ireland, 1979

The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passes within four lunar distances of Earth, 2004

The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history, 2008

An 8.0 magnitude earthquake near the Samoan Islands causes a tsunami, 2009

The Koreas agree, for the first time in two years, to hold working-level military talks, 2010

Researchers discover a biofluorescent hawksbill sea turtle in waters off of the Solomon Islands; though biofluorescence has been observed in captive reptiles, this is the first occurrence seen in a wild reptile, 2015

Scientists confirm that Mars does have underground lakes, 2020

Tunisian President Kais Saied appoints Najla Bouden Romdhan as Tunisia's and the Arab world's first female prime minister, 2021

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declares 23 species of bird, fish and other wildlife extinct, including the ivory-billed woodpecker, 2021