Saturday, March 21, 2026

A Plethora of Potatoes and Other Blessings, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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When i get to Thankful Day, i'm always thankful i keep a running list through the week.





Grandma was craving a baked potato last Saturday, so we ordered one.  Then Ms. C, the family friend who takes it upon herself to cook and bring a meal to Grandma and Grandpa every Saturday, brought stuffed baked potatoes!  Grandma had a plethora of potatoes and we were very thankful as it's one of the few meals she really enjoys now.


We're also thankful for Ms. C, who has brought them a meal (or a cake) almost every weekend since Uncle P died almost five years ago.


I'd rented a car last weekend and my Sweetie was going to be pushed for time having to pick me up from the rental place as he and Brother-in-Law had an event they wanted to attend.  We were thankful Daughter-in-Law was able to pick me up instead, freeing them to go to their event without rushing.


Sunday morning i arrived at Becca's house and we got ready for our walk with Mr. Cal.  Pets have a way of telling you when they are just not feeling it, and Mr. Cal must have been hurting that morning as he was not feeling in a walking mood, after i had the leash on him, he climbed under a piece of furniture!  It was so unlike him we were worried.  He did accept his treats, though, and we were thankful, as only a very sick dog will not accept his treats.


That afternoon, as #2 Son was dropping our little Annie off for me to watch, he mentioned he was thankful he didn't get electrocuted that day.  I told him i was thankful, also, and i am, and he explained he had repaired a piece of equipment at one of his stores and when he plugged it in, it wasn't quite correct, but he managed to unplug it fast enough to prevent damage to himself or the equipment and redo it correctly.


This is the same son who used to come home from the creek and tell me how many snakes he'd caught that day, and sometimes how many times he'd been bitten (by the non-venomous ones, thankfully the venomous ones never bit him), so i'm not surprised to hear he is still taking his life in his hands and somehow surviving.




While watching Annie, i was thankful she wanted a walk as it gave me a chance to meet a new neighbor and let him know about rEcess.  He has a daughter with Down's Syndrome, and he and his wife will look into the program.


Late Sunday night or early Monday morning, after another hearty rainstorm, the electricity went out in part of our neighborhood (not on our block, but up the street).  Ms. D was without electricity until about 15 minutes before i arrived to clean her house.


She was starting to get cold enough to consider where she could go to warm up, and i'm thankful it came back on when it did so she could get the heat going, and also thankful as she wanted the whole house vacuumed which requires electricity.


We're all thankful #2 Son decided to check Slow-Moe's oil after the valve cover change last month just to be sure and realized enough oil had leaked out before he changed it that more was needed.  All seems to be well now.


Getting our little Annie down for her naps has been getting harder and harder, each time she actually does fall asleep for me i am very thankful, as you will think she's out and then you realize once again those little peepers are no longer closed but are peeping back at you.


On Wednesday, Ms. G had us moving furniture and artworks, we visited her storage unit 4 times to ferry stuff over there.  I'm thankful i can still lift and fetch, and very thankful i can still climb into the bed of a pick-up truck easily and move things around up in there when needed.


Ms. SE's boys are almost finished with switching up their bedrooms, so most of the disarray as been cleared out and we're thankful as it is much easier to clean a home when it's not cluttered and with pieces of beds all over as they're being moved around.


Also, her mother had been in town and folded a lot of the clothing, and i'm always thankful for help with folding.


I'm also thankful we were again able to do a double cleaning, getting Ms. GA done in good time after.


Mr. M next door has passed on one of those "Little Tykes" cars for children to us, as his grands have outgrown it.  We're thankful little Annie seems to like it, although she has to scoot it with her feet and can only go backward for now.


Friday was a beautiful day, Annie and i were thankful for a walk.  


The cat shelter was quietly busy, with lots of volunteers, for which i was thankful as Ms. M who does room while i do cages was out for a church event.


On the way home i was thankful to see a lemonade stand in our neighborhood.  It's always great to see kids taking the initiative and being entrepreneurs, so even though i don't drink lemonade, i do stop and make a donation.


This time, Brother-in-Law had been there ahead of me and had bought a loaf of the home baked bread they were also selling - these kids are serious about raising some dough ;) - and i gave them a bit more with my thanks and we'll be thankful to have fresh bread in the morning.




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.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter



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Today is:


Aizu Higan Shishi/Sanbiki Shishimai -- Aizu Wakamatsu, Japan (lion dances to mark the end of winter)


Back Badge Day -- Gloucestershire Regiment, British Army


Birthday of Wenchang Wang, the God of Literature -- China


Birth of Benito Juarez, a Fiestas Patrias -- Mexico (trad.)


Fragrance Day and Flower Day -- the first full day of spring


Harmony Day -- Australia (managed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship)


Human Rights Day -- South Africa


Independence Day -- Namibia(1990)


International Day of Forests -- UN


International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination -- UN


Memory Day -- internet based, to examine the use of memory aids throughout history


Mother's Day -- most Arabic nations


National Common Courtesy Day -- commonly listed on this day on many sites, with no origin given, but i guess it's not so common any more, someone had to declare a holiday to try to foster some


National French Bread Day


National Single Parent Day -- US (by Presidential designation in 1984)


National Tree Planting Day -- Lesotho


National Quilting Day -- US, sponsored by the Quilt Alliance     


Paper Dress Day -- the paper dress was introduced as part of an ad campaign by the Scott Paper Co. on this day in 1966


Save the Florida Panther Day -- FL, US


Single Parents' Day -- sponsored by Parents Without Partners, on the date of their inception in 1957


St. Nicholas of Flue's Day (Patron of councilmen, difficult marriages, large families, magistrates, parents of large families, Pontifical Swiss Guards, separated spouses, Switzerland)


World Down Syndrome Day -- UN


World Forest Day/International Day of Forests and the Trees -- UN


World Puppetry Day  


World Poetry Day -- UNESCO


Youth Day -- Tunisia



Birthdays Today:


Ronaldinho, 1980

Kevin Federline, 1978

Matthew Broderick, 1962

Rosie O'Donnell, 1962

Ayrton Senna da Silva, 1960

Gary Oldman, 1958

Eddie Money, 1949

Timothy Dalton, 1944

Peter Brook, 1925

Julio Gallo, 1910

John D Rockefeller III, 1906

Bascom Lamar Lunsford, 1882

Florenz Ziegfeld, 1867

Modest Mussorgsky, 1839

James Jesse "King Strang" Strang, 1813

Benito Juarez, 1806

Francis Lewis, 1713

Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Annie"(Film), 1982

"Stop the Music"(Radio show), 1948



Today in History:


The Byzantine emperor Heraclius restores the "True Cross" to Jerusalem, 630

Accession to the throne of Japan by emperor Antoku, 1188

3,000 Jews are killed in the Black Death riots in Efurt, Germany, 1349

n Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake, 1556

Czar Peter the Great begins his tour through West, 1697

Fire destroys 856 buildings in New Orleans, Louisiana, 1788

With the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché, 1800

Code Napoléon is adopted as French civil law, 1804

The Bahá'í calendar begins, 1844

An earthquake in Tokyo, Japan kills over 100,000, 1857

The Zoological Society of Philadelphia, the first in the US, is incorporated, 1859

Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone, 1871

Loretta Walsh becomes the first female US Navy Petty Officer, 1917

Charles Lindbergh is presented the Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight, 1928

Shah Reza Pahlavi formally asks the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, which means 'Land of the Aryans,' 1935

Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio, 1952

Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, 1965

The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto, 1970

Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research, 1985

Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon, 1999

The first full face transplant is performed by surgeons at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, 2011

Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard formally apologizes to people affected by forced adoptions during the 1950s through 1970s, 2013

Dave Patterson and John Hennessy win computings' Turing Award for RISC computer chips, 2018

A Bangladeshi woman with two uteruses safely gives birth to twins 26 days after giving birth to another child, 2019

As large crowds descend on the area for spring break, Miami imposes a state of emergency and a curfew, 2021

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake strikes Afghanistan's north-east near the border with Pakistan, 2023

Neuralink company posts a video of a patient playing chess online using a brain implant, 2024

Social media company Reddit makes it's debut on the New York Stock Exchange, 2025

Friday, March 20, 2026

Distracting a Pumpkin (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, Nature Friday, and Flashback Friday

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Feline Friday was originally started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude (may he rest in peace), and i'm going to believe it's because he liked cats.

He handed hosting duties off to Sandee at Comedy Plus, and now she has entrusted 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!




Pumpkin is the cat who bit me a couple of weeks ago when i was doing caretaking.  He's not bad, just jumpy and easily overstimulated, even if all you are doing is giving him food and he's in another part of his very large cage.




He has a treat dispenser.  I now fill it up before tending him, and it generally keeps him distracted long enough for me to get everything done.




I dare not open his cage to get a better picture, he would try to get out and it's very hard to get him back in.






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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. The longest I have been without electricity is ______________________.


2. I am so tired of waiting for _____________________.


3. I can’t believe I still remember _________.


4. I wish I could go back and experience _________ for the first time again.



1. The longest I have been without electricity is   about six weeks, between hurricanes Katrina and Rita.


2. I am so tired of waiting for _____________________.   Right now i can't think of anything.  Almost everything seems instant these days.


3. I can’t believe I still remember   old phone numbers and addresses from my childhood. 


4. I wish I could go back and experience   going to Europe   for the first time again.



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Nature Friday is hosted by LLB in Our Backyard.  Simply post a picture of the natural world, and link up!   


We're seeing more bees!







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Flashback Friday is hosted by FiveSibes.  Come hop along memory lane with us!  


Abigail was taking a bath as Ruth(less) walked past.





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It's the Equinox!  It occurs at 14:46 UTC, and is the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the Autumn Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.


Here are some festivals associated with the equinox around the world:

     Akitu Festival begins -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar

     Chunfen -- China

     Festival of Dumuzi -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (return of the god of life and death to be with the goddess of life and bring the spring)

     Festival of Iduna -- Ancient Norse Calendar (goddess of spring, keeper of the apples of youth for the gods)

     Haru-no-Higan -- Japanese Buddhist

     Harvest Festival and Coming Forth of the Great Ones from the House of Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

     Jare -- Old Slavic Calendar

     Kukulcan Snake God in Chichen Itza -- Yucatan (the snake shadow appears only at the equinox, and celebrations are held before and after)

     Maslenitsa -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar

     Ostara/Mabon -- Wicca/Pagan, Ancient Norse Calendar, Old Anglo-Teutonic Calendar

     Pacha Pucuy -- Ancient Inca Calendar ("Earth Ripening")

     Shunbun no Hi -- Japan

     Snowman Burning Day  -- Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, US (celebration of the start of spring)

     Taoist festival of Shen -- Deities of water, East, and Spring


Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere for the event badge.         



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Today is:


Big Bird Day -- it's his birthday, and he's still only 6 years old!  (wish i could figure out that trick)


Bockbier/Bock Beer Day -- bock is the German word for strong, so a day to honor very strong, very dark, sweet, heavy beer


Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Day -- birth anniversary of children's author Bill Martin


Eid al Fitr -- Islam (celebration of the end of Ramadan; began sundown yesterday, runs through sundown on the third day, although local dating and official government observances may vary)


Extraterrestrial Abductions Day -- another silly made up one, but try telling that to the people who believe in it!


Feast of Tou Tei -- Macau (earth god; celebrated on the second day of the second lunar month, so if i've mixed up the date in Gregorian, i'm sorry, i tried)


Great American Meat Out Day -- go vegetarian today!    


Independence Day -- Tunisia


International Day of the Francophonie /  Journée internationale de la Francophonie


International Day of Happiness -- UN


International Earth Day -- the traditional date, still observed in many countries


Jumatul Bidah/Wida -- Bangladesh; JK, LA, India


Kiss Your Fiancé Day -- do you really need to be reminded to do this? a wedding planner thinks so, that you should stop today and focus on each other, not the wedding


Lajos Kossuth Day -- Hungary


Martyrdom of Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi -- Pakistan


National Cherry Blossom Festival -- Washington, DC, US (through April 14; Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival and parade on April 13)


National Native American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day  


National Jump Out! Day -- sponsored by Discovery Girls Magazine and Fundex Games; encouraging kids to get out and get active


National Ravioli Day


Nowruz/Nauruz/Novruz Bairam/Norooz (begins at sunset) -- Iranian diaspora, Kurdish diaspora, Zoroastrians; Afghanistan; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Iran (Persian New Year); Iraq; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan

     celebrations go on for up to seven days or more

     Naw Ruz -- Baha'i (New Year, and an end of the time of fasting; begins sunset)


Proposal Day® -- a day for singles to propose to their true love; on the equinox, equal night and day symbolizing equal commitment 


Shunki-Korei-Sai -- Shinto (rite to honor ancestral spirits, around the vernal equinox)


Smile Rejuvenation Day -- another one from the ecard companies, make someone smile today


St. Cuthbert of Lindisfane's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors, shepherds; England; Durham, England; Lancaster, England; Northumbria, England; against plague and plague epidemics)


Won't You Be My Neighbor Day -- in honor of Mr. Rogers' birth anniversary


World Frog Day -- an initiative, on the first day of spring, to remind people of our fragile ecosystems and the disappearance of our amphibian friends   


World Storytelling Day -- to celebrate the tradition of oral storytelling


Zhonghe/Longtaitou -- China (Double Second Festival and Blue Dragon Festival, the time to wake the dragons that control the rains; celebrate the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month the modern way now by cleaning the house, getting a hair cut, and eating popcorn, pancakes, and noodles)


Zipper Day -- the 'Separable Fastener' by Gideon Sundback was patented this day in 1917




Birthdays Today:


Louis "Louie" Vito, 1988

Fernando Torres, 1984

Kathy Ireland, 1963

David Thewlis, 1963

Holly Hunter, 1958

Spike Lee, 1957

Theresa Russel, 1957

Jimmie Vaughan, 1951

William Hurt, 1950

Bobby Orr, 1948

Pat Riley, 1945

Paul Junger Witt, 1943

Brian Mulroney, 1939

Lois Lowry, 1937

Hal Linden, 1931

Fred "Mr." Rogers, 1928

Carl Reiner, 1922

Marian McPartland, 1920

Bill Martin, Jr., 1916

Ozzie Nelson, 1906

B.F. Skinner, 1904

Frederick Winslow Taylor, 1856

Henrik Ibsen, 1828

Ovid, BC43



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Uncle Tom's Cabin"(Publication date), 1852



Today in History:


Sixth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 141

Maximus Thrax, who never set foot in Rome, becomes the first of the Foreign or Barracks Emperors of the Roman Empire, 235

A Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction is thought to be the "cause of plague epidemic," 1345

Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment, 1616

France and Spain sign an accord for fighting protestantism, 1627

Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne, 1739

The Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings, 1760

After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule, 1815

US and Siam sign commercial treaty, 1833

Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published in Boston, 1852

An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina, 1861

The first AC power plant in the US begins commercial operation, in Massachusetts, 1886

In the first known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10, 1897

The first international figure skating championship takes place, in New Haven, Connecticut, 1914

Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity, 1916

The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, 1923

A test of a practical radar apparatus is made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany, 1934

The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established, 1964

Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, 1985

Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering, 1990

Stephen Harper wins the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, becoming the party's first leader, 2004

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Fukuoka, Japan, its first major quake in over 100 years, 2005

Cyclone Larry makes landfall in eastern Australia, destroying most of the country's banana crop, 2006

In Morocco, thousands rally to demand and end to corruption and more civil rights for the Moroccan people, 2011

The Indian rivers Yamuna and Ganges are declared to be "living entities" by a court in the state of Uttarakhand, 2017

Finland is the world's happiest country, South Sudan is world's least happy, according to annual World Happiness Report, 2019

Japanese organizers of the Tokyo Summer Olympics confirm that overseas spectators will not be allowed because of the pandemic, 2021

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says world has less than a decade to stop catastrophic warming, 2023

Former swimmer Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe is the first woman and the first African to be elected president of the International Olympic Committee, 2025