Water Use and Cat Bites, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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It's inevitable some Thankful Day posts are going to be more good news than others, but there's always a reason to be thankful.

Last Saturday, #2 Son and Daughter-in-Law had a wedding to get to, i'm very thankful i got back home in time for them to be on time and i got to spend the whole evening with our little Annie.

Someone loves her tool set.

I'm also thankful i did get all the work done in NOLA before i had to call time and leave.

Sunday was chilly again and i couldn't find Mr. Cal's sweater, but i'm thankful we got a walk in anyway and got back before he really had time to get too cold.

I'm also thankful i was able to do Ms. G's critter tending before even going over to Becca's place.  It makes for a long day when i have to start that early so another thankful is not having to do it often.

While at the church, i was offered two buckets of very good gumbo, which i promptly claimed for our next rEcess meal.  I'm thankful to have the base of our meal covered.

By Monday i was very tired and was thankful to get home early enough to actually take a one hour nap.

Our water bill had gone up dramatically over the past month, even beyond what happened last year (it always goes up when we have freezing weather from letting the faucets drip, but this was more than usual).  This is a double concern, as it means our sewer fees will go up as dramatically.

I'm thankful #2 Son was able to check and confirmed we do not have a water leak, and my Sweetie has been warned against being a little too aggressive in letting the water drip when a freeze is anticipated.

There are several small trees in the yard which need to come down, and i'd been talking to #2 Son about it.  Daughter-in-Law, five plus months pregnant, decided she wanted to cut trees.  I'm thankful she got several of them down and thankful we all know better than to disturb a pregnant woman with a chainsaw who just wants to get something done.

Wednesday morning at the shelter, i was doing caretaking and got to Pumpkin's cage.  He was on the third level giving himself a bath and i opened the door on the second level to give him fresh water.  He took exception to my doing so, and being Pumpkin, charged down to bite me.

I'm thankful i was wearing a glove and his tooth did not puncture the glove, even though it dug the glove into my hand deeply enough to draw a little blood.  I'm thankful for bandages and thankful the bruise from where he slammed into me so hard is fading (he really did charge down at an amazing pace).

As for Pumpkin, he's thankful we love him anyway, even if we do have to be very, very careful with him.

My Thursday with Ms. V's house went as fast as it has ever gone, i'm so thankful she has exercise class on Thursday so i can get to her bedroom before 11am.  It meant i was home, thankfully, when Daughter-in-Law suddenly needed me to take care of Annie so she could have a quick meeting with her supervisor before signing off for the day.

Friday evening back at the cat shelter was another of those nights where you practically meet yourself coming and going.  Ms. T actually approved someone adopting Lana and taking her home, several people were looking and adopting, and there was extra help so two rooms got cleaned in addition to the usual work.

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:

Dia de Andalucia -- Andalucia, Spain

DNA Day -- day in 1953 when Watson and Crick determined the double helix structure of DNA

Februalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (purification of Rome performed by citizens making sacrifices to the dead)

Floral Design Day -- a day to acknowledge this art form, sponsored by Rittners Floral School

International Sword Swallowers Day   

Kalevala Day -- Finland (Finnish Culture Day)

National Chocolate Souffle' Day

National Science Day -- India

National Tooth Fairy Day - and/or August 22, depending on whom you ask

Nylon Day -- the first aliphatic polyamides were produced on this day in 1935

Open That Bottle Night -- time to finally drink that bottle of wine you've been saving for a special occasion; after all, the final Saturday in February only comes once a year (sponsored by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher of The Wall Street Journal)

Peace Memorial Day -- Taiwan

Public Sleeping Day -- this one even has a wikiHow page 

Rare Disease Day-- International 

St. Hedwig of Poland's Day (Patron of queens)

St. Romanus' Day (Patron of the mentally ill; against drowning, insanity)

Teacher's Day -- Algeria; Bahrain; Egypt; Jordan; Libya; Morocco; Oman; Saudi Arabia; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates; Yemen

Anniversaries Today:

University of Pittsburgh is chartered, 1787

Birthdays Today (followed by Feb. 29 Birthdays)

Ali Larter, 1976

Robert Sean Leonard, 1969

John Tuturro, 1957

Gilbert Gottfried, 1955

Bernadette, Peters, 1948

Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith, 1945

Brian Jones, 1942

Mario Andretti, 1940

Tommy Tune, 1939

Gavin MacLeod, 1930

Frank Gehry, 1929

Svetiana Allilueva, 1926

Charles Durning, 1923

Zero Mostel, 1915

Earl Scheib, 1907

Milton Caniff, 1907

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, 1906

Vincente Minnelli, 1903

Linus Pauling, 1901

Ben Heckt, 1894

Charles Blondin, 1824

John Tenniel, 1820

Mary Lyon, 1797

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1533

Antonio Sabato, Jr., 1972

Tony Robbins, 1960

Gretchen Christopher, 1940

Jack Lousma, 1936

Dinah Shore, 1916

Jimmy Dorsey, 1904

William Wellman, 1896

Herman Hollerith, 1860

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"On Golden Pond"(Play), 1979

"La Reine de Saba"(Opera), 1862

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling(Publication date), 1749

Today in History:

Coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China, BC202

The first edition of Henry Fieldings' "Tom Jones" is published, 1749

John Wesley charters the Methodist Church, 1784

The first commercial railroad in US, Baltimore \& Ohio (B\&O) is chartered, 1827

Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec), 1838

Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor, 1849

The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire, 1870

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone, 1885

The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched, 1893

Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force, 1897

Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British troops remain, 1922

DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents Nylon, 1935

Basketball is televised for the first time, 1940

In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of 30,000 civilian lives, 1947

James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April Nature (pub. April 2), 1953

The first-ever color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public, 1954

The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué, 1972

Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum, 1980

GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way, 1997

First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace, 1998

Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947, 2004

Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer spacecraft, 2007

Egypt announces the discovery of a granite head from a statue of King Tut's grandfather, Amenhotep III, 2010

Scientists announce they've been able to connect the brains of two rats so that they share information, 2013

The Caravaggio painting "Judith and Holofernes" (1607), lost for many years and rediscovered in an attic in Toulouse in 2014, is finally brought to auction, selling for to $171 million, 2019

A United Nations climate report states climate change is outpacing human efforts to adapt and could result in a real threat of extinction of up to 14% of the world's species of plants and animals, 2022

Parts of Wisconsin in the US set a record for their area with a 60 degree temperature drop in 24 hours, 2024

Feb. 29 Historic Events:

The Romans create the first Leap Year by adding a day to their calendar, BC46

The Scottish Parliament makes it illegal for a man to refuse to marry a woman who proposes on Leap Day, the only day women could propose; his penalty for refusing would be to give her a kiss, some gold, and a pair of gloves (to hide the fact that she didn't have a wedding ring), 1288

Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies, 1504

February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style, 1712

The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations, 1796

St. Petersburg, Florida, is incorporated, 1892

In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old, 1916

Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, 1936

For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award, 1940

In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco, 1940

An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country, 1960

The Family Circus comic strip debuts, 1960

In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds), 1964

Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract, 1972

Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal, 1980

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader, 1984

South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town, 1988

Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as President of Haiti following a coup, 2004

Construction of the Tokyo Skytree is completed, the tallest tower in the world and the second tallest artificial structure in the world, 2012

The US and The Taliban sign a deal to end 18-year war in Afghanistan, 2020

The Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas panhandle, home to most of the state's cattle ranches, becomes the second-largest fire in US history, 2024