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The swamps have cooled off a bit and we are very thankful, especially me when i am driving around with no A/C.
It started with last Friday and Saturday, when rain blew through and brought the cooler air behind it, as often happens here.
We’re thankful for the needed rain, and I’m thankful for the safe trip home in the rain last Saturday.
Last weekend was also when #2 Son and Co. went to Arkansas and were supposed to “car camp” on their new property. They got deluged upon, but they are thankful they did get to put up their signs and sign the last piece of official paperwork.
I’m thankful Daughter-in-Law let me use her car while they were away, no need to rent a car for the Saturday trip.
Sunday morning was, well, unique. Every year, the last Sunday of October is Reformation Sunday, and our church celebrates the Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans.
Extra plans were in place for rain, and we were thankful because the morning began wet and dreary, but the real problem was when the electricity went out in that part of town!
Kirkin’ in the rain and in the dark?
Sure, why not. I’m thankful we made the best of it, opened windows, propped doors (by service time it was lovely out), grabbed hymnals (remember those? as the choir director pointed out, they’re still in the pew rack in front of you!) and had a good time until the electricity came back up, just at the moment when the pastor said, “Christ brings light.”
You can’t make this stuff up, it really happened, and we were thankful.
Everyone was thankful all the ranges and ovens in the big kitchen where they were cooking the lunch were gas and still worked, and best of all, the coffee all got brewed right before the transformer blew and power went out for three blocks.
One for the record books and we’re thankful.
Monday was the day Ms. D woke up and figured out her plumbing issue was still an issue, an overflowing toilet will do that. I’m thankful i had the bright idea to take all the sheets and towels, sheets her guests slept on that weekend and towels she’d used to clean up the overflow, to the laundromat and get it all done and over with.
I’m also thankful to report the plumbers came back with the cameras and tools and got her unstopped.
Tuesday was a lovely day with my little Annie, and i'm always thankful for her.
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| We're thankful for the bear, we love him lots. |
Someone else had signed up for shift i usually cover on Wednesday mornings at the cat shelter so i went to my second volunteer job, and when i arrived Ms. G called.
She asked if i would be hugely disappointed if she canceled. I told her i would not, for thought it does mean i will miss a payday, we're not down to the wire this month, and so i was thankful to have a partial day off, once the volunteer duty was done.
Anyone familiar with my phone saga will know it's been a bother, not having my regular phone and contacts, and some kind person as church had left some money to help me toward getting this whole problem resolved. With the money and now, time off to get to the repair shop, i was thankful they think a repair is possible, they're almost sure a work around is possible to retrieve all my contacts and photos and notes, and it all cost, thankfully, what someone left for me plus thirty-four cents which i had in my coin purse.
We find out when the part comes in next Tuesday.
My Sweetie and i had steeled ourselves for Ms. SE's house, which is usually a huge disaster, and we arrived to, well, not much. We were thankful Mr. DE had the day off on Wednesday, did most of the laundry himself and tidied the place enough we were able to just get the work done.
Another reason to be thankful for this was, Mr. BA had another heart attack Wednesday. We're thankful he survived, thankful it was nowhere near as bad as the first (he was home by Friday), and thankful we always do Ms. GA and Mr. BA right after we finish with Ms. SE and Mr. DE.
We got there at a reasonably early time, thankfully, because the first house wasn't a disaster, and this meant i was able to do extra work, especially with the cats. I was thankful to have a way to help, so Ms. GA wasn't worrying about who was feeding and scooping boxes and etc., i made sure she could stay with him and not keep having to come home.
Friday worked out well, especially with the cat shelter. We were thankful to all be finished early so we could go home and be ready to distribute candy. We didn't have many takers on our block but i was thankful to have tape handy to help one little guy with his costume malfunction.
Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Clark and his co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.
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Today is:
All Hallows' Day a/k/a All Saint's Day -- Christian, and a Holy Day of Obligation in the Roman Catholic Church; a recognized holiday (although not necessarily a day off work) in Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, East Timor, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea, Holy See, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Monaco, New Caledonia, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of the Congo, Reunion, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre et Miquelon, San Marino, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, Wallis and Fortuna)
Apaturia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (three day Phratriai brotherhood festival; dates approximate)
Bulgarian National Revival Leaders' Day -- Bulgaria
Cake Appreciation Day -- while i can't find a reason or sponsor for this, i'm sure the Cake Appreciation Society would approve
Children's Day -- Malaysia
Cook for Your Pets Day -- did the dogs lobby for this?
Coronation Day of Fourth Druk Gyalpo -- Bhutan
CrossQuarter Day
Day of the Innocents -- Mexico (first Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead)
Digital Scrapbooking Day -- it certainly takes up less room than the other kinds!
Fall Back Night -- all areas that end Daylight Saving Time tomorrow; set your clock back one hour before you go to bed and change the batteries in your smoke alarms/carbon monoxide detectors (Bermuda; Canada (most areas); Cuba; Greenland (some areas); Haiti; Mexico (Baja area); Saint Pierre and Miquelon; The Bahamas; Turks and Caicos Islands; US (most areas))
Graveyards Day -- a traditional day to tend the graves of ancestors
I Am So Thankful Month begins -- before the "holiday" frenzy, spend not just a day, but a month, practicing gratitude
Haryana Day -- Haryaha, India
Independence Day -- Antigua & Barbuda(1981); North Yemen (Yemen Arab Republic, from the Ottoman Empire)
International Coaches Day -- no one claims to have started this; if you have, or had, a great coach in your life, let him/her know
Kalends of November -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also
Pomonia -- Festival to Pomona
Kanhada Rajyothsaya -- Kamataka, India (Kamataka Formation Day)
Kite Festival of Santiago Sacatepequez -- Santiago Sacatepequez, Guatemala (kite flying in the graveyard to scare away evil spirits)
Liberty Day / D. Hamilton Jackson Day -- US Virgin Islands
NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writer's Month, write one if you have it in you!
National Author's Day -- US
National Calzone Day
National Family Literacy Day® -- US (but no matter where you live, turn off the tv, pick up a good book! National Center for Family Literacy)
National French Fried Clam / Deep Fried Clam Day
National Vinegar Day
No Driving with Cell Phones Day -- the first law against talking on a hand-held device while driving went into effect in NY, US, on this day in 2001
Old Celtic New Year
Olive Festival -- Galilee, Israel (through the month, especially centered around Kawkab and Hurfeish, with open houses, oil production tours, feasts, lectures, concerts, dance performances, and olives galore)
Ozark Mountain Christmas/Branson Festival of Lights -- Branson, MO, US
Plate Tectonics Day -- birth anniversary of Alfred Wegener, who came up with the theory of continental drift
Remembrance Day -- Slovenia
Revolution Day/National Day -- Algeria
Samhain -- Celtic, 3rd Station, and Wicca, Northern Hemisphere (Beltane in the Southern Hemisphere)
State Foundation Day -- Andhra Pradesh, India; Karnataka, India; Kerala, India
World Vegan Day -- International
Anniversaries Today:
The Prime Meridian is set at Greenwich, England, 1884
Boston Female Medical School opens, 1848
Birthdays Today:
Penn Bagdley, 1986
Toni Collette, 1972
Jenny McCarthy, 1972
Fernando Valenzuela, 1960
Rachel Ticotin, 1958
Lyle Lovett, 1957
Dan Peek, 1951
Larry Flynt, 1942
Gary Player, 1935
Betsy Palmer, 1926
James Jackson Kilpatrick, 1920
Alfred Wegener, 1880
Stephen Crane, 1871
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"The Foreigner"(Larry Shue comedy), 1984
Hello Kitty, 1974 (condsidered her "birth date")
"Top Banana"(Mercer musical), 1951
Ebony Magazine(First edition), 1945
"Harvey"(Mary Chase comedy), 1944
"The Constant Wife"(Maugham play), 1926
"Emperor Jones"(O'Neill play), 1920
The Crisis: A Record of The Darker Races(Magazine of the NAACP, first edition edited by W.E.B. DuBois), 1910
"John Bull's Other Island"(Shaw comedy), 1904
Harper's Bazaar(Magazine, first edition), 1867
Today in History:
The name "Austria" is first used for Ostarrichin, 996
King John of England begins imprisoning Jews, 1210
The Duke of Brabant orders the execution of all Jews in Brussels, claiming they were poisoning wells, 1349
First exhibit of the works of Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1512
The Netherlands is hit by a flood disaster, resulting in the deaths of thousands, 1570
Shakespeare's "Othello" first presented, 1604
Shakespeare's "The Tempest" first presented, 1611
An earthquake in Lisbon leaves over 50,000 dead, 1755
The Stamp Act goes into effect in the British colonies, 1765
George Washington gives his "Farewell Address" and the Continental Army is dissolved, 1783
John Adams becomes the first Us president to move into the (still not quite finished) White House, 1800*
*Note: It was still called the Executive Mansion at this time
The first published reference to poker, as a Mississippi riverboat game, 1834
The Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse, which is still in use, is lit for the first time; its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for 19 miles in good conditions, 1859
Passage of the first US Civil Rights Bill, 1866
First publication of "Harpers Bazaar", 1867
The US Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) begins operations, with 24 locations, 1870
Edward Scripps and John Sweeney found Penny Press (now the Cleveland Press), 1878
The Gaelic Athletic Association is founded at the Hayes' Hotel in Thurles, County Tipperary, 1884
Dr. Roux of Paris introduces a vaccine for diphtheria, 1894
Nicholas II becomes the new Tsar of Russia, 1894
The National Geographic Magazine publishes its first picture of bare breasted women (from a Zulu tribe), 1896
The first Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public, 1897
Sigma Phi Epsilon, the largest national male college fraternity in the US, is established at Richmond College, 1901
Parris Island becomes the officially designated Marine Corps Recruit Depot, 1915
The Ottoman Empire is officially abolished, 1922
Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed "the match of the century" in horse racing, 1938
The first animal conceived by artificial insemination, a rabbit, is displayed, 1939
American photographer Ansel Adams takes a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography, 1941
The first issue of Ebony Magazine is published, by John H. Johnson, 1945
Charles Cooper of the Celtics becomes the first black NBA player, 1950
The first hydrogen nuclear device is exploded, by the US, at Eniwetok Atoll, 1952
Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jacques Plante wears a protective mask for the first time in an NHL game, 1959
The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opens, 1963
The Motion Picture Association of America's film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X, 1968
Honda becomes the first Asian automaker to build cars in the US, 1982
Serbia joins the United Nations, 2000
First part of the Gomery Report, which discusses allegations of political money manipulation by members of the Liberal Party of Canada, is released in Canada. 2005
Astronomers claim to have detected light from the first stars in the universe by studying high-energy radiation data, 2012
Australian scientists announce the discovery of three new marsupials in Queensland, all shrew-like antechinus species, 2013
Palau becomes the first country to ban sunscreen because of the chemicals in them which bleach coral reefs, 2018
Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, the first protein-based COVID vaccine, receives its first emergency use authorization in Indonesia, 2021
Chambers Dictionary calls "AI" the most notable word of the year, 2023
