Busy, Busy, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

***************************

As i look back on Thankful Day, i'm seeing a new pattern emerge, and so far it’s a busy one.

The first thankful, however, needs to be to any and all who read this blog and may have noticed i'm not visiting and commenting as much as usual.  I am behind, and thank everyone for their patience, as this new pattern means some evenings i had free before to be online are now spent in other ways.

Last Saturday, i was thankful to get to NOLA and back with no trouble and get the work done even with extra people still in the house.

I am also thankful the "check your tires" lights have not been coming on.

The check engine light, not so much.  Lawrence is living up to the reputation given him by the pastor, that light comes on a lot, and it's often the gas cap, which i am very careful to put on properly and very tight.  I'm just thankful as long as it pops off and on, it's nothing serious.

Last Sunday was our church's annual Kirkin' o' the Tartans and it was a delightful celebration.  We were thankful all went well, the dinner served was delicious (according to those who partook, this weirdo vegetarian abstained), and when some of our security officers came quickly and quietly into the back of the church during the service, all must have been well because after a silent look around, they went back out.

Annie and i were thankful to visit Ms. D that evening and i was even more thankful to get errands run the next morning and then get back to clean her house, i was chomping at the bit to finally give her glass cooktop the good scrubbing it's been needing.

After work while driving down to NOLA, i was thankful when the freeway got shut down by a big rig losing a load on the spillway bridge, there was a cut around which i took and was there almost as fast as if i'd taken the normal route.

Uncle J and i went through lots of things again, and were thankful we were both in agreement about what to keep, what to give, what each of us wanted (no arguments) and all the stuff Grandpa needed to see and keep.  We found love letters he'd written Grandma and other treasures.  I think we've decided one corner of Grandma's room, which will be a guest room, will be the keepsake corner with a place for all her photo albums and other such goodies.

Tuesday was a beautiful day with Annie once i got back in town, she's a treat, and so is little Ben when i get the chance to be with him.

Don't ever let anyone tell you young children won't voluntarily eat salad.

On Wednesday, a friend said something which really tested my patience and i was thankful i held my tongue, said nothing i would regret, and will simply let it go.

This was also the day Ms. G and i were thankful to empty out Patience, her camper, because she was thankful she had a potential buyer.

Double cleaning day Thursday was a marathon and i was thankful my Sweetie and i had the stamina to go the distance.  Ms. SE's kitchen was almost the worst i'd seen and i'm thankful all those pans used to make venison jerky came clean.  Because i'd had to miss out on Ms. GA's place two weeks before to go to Grandma, the soap build-up in the shower was awful, but i'm thankful it got done and hope it won't get this bad again.

While at Ms. SE's house, trying to take out garbage, i stepped back and tripped over the weed eater which had been left lying on the ground nearby and i'm very thankful i did not get hurt when i tripped and went down backwards, landing on the weed eater and concrete and up against the other garbage can.  I know i felt my guardian angel slow my fall and keep my head from hitting the ground (it's not the first time i've felt this happen).

My once every three months prescription refills were ready, so i was thankful to get them Friday morning while doing all my other errands after prayer time.  Then it was time with Annie again, for which i'm always thankful, and the cat shelter.

We were thankful for adoptions Friday evening and in spite of a staff shortage (one person left to move out of state for a spouse with a new job), we got everything done.

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

**********************************

Today is Hallowe'en or Beggar's Night!  Some other names for this day:

Allantide -- Cornwall, England

All Hallows Eve -- Christian

Apple and Candle Night -- Wales

Books for Treats Day -- San Jose, CA, US (give gently used books to kids, not candy -- feed their brains, not their cavities!)

Dookie Apple Night -- Newcastle, England

Duck Apple Night -- Liverpool, England

Nut-Crack Night -- England; Scotland

Sneak Some of the Candy Yourself Before the Kids Start Knocking Day

Thump-the-Door Night -- Isle of Mann

Trick or Treat Night

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

**********************************

Today is:

Admission Day -- Nevada, US

Chiang Kai-Shek Day -- Taiwan

Day of the Seven Billion -- day in 2011 the UN declared the world population to have reached 7,000,000,000   

Dia de las Iglesias Evangelicas y Protestantes -- Chile (Day of Evangelical and Protestant Churches/Reformation Day)

Dias de los Muertos -- Mexico, esp. Michoacan and Oaxaca (through Nov. 2; ceremonies, sand sculptures, decorated altars, and parties through the nights in the cemeteries)

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))

Feast of Sekhmet Bast Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of Inner Worlds -- Pagan (fight between the old and new year)

Founder's Day -- Girl Scouts of the USA (Juliette Gordon Low's birth anniversary)

Ghostwriter's Day

Increase Your Psychic Powers Day -- originated in England in the 19th century, some celebrated on the 30th

Martyr's Day -- Burkina Faso

National Candy/Caramel Apple Day

National Knock-Knock Joke Day

     Knock, Knock

     Who's There?

     Police.

     Police who?

     Police stop telling knock-knock jokes!

National Magic Day -- Society of American Magicians (in honor of Harry Houdini, who died on this day in 1926, and who was president of the SoAM)

National UNICEF Day

Old Celtic New Year's Eve

Out of the Broom Closet Day -- Pagan, Heathen, and all earth-based and ethnic religions

Reformation Day -- Protestant Christian (trad.)

     Official Holiday -- Germany; Slovenia

Samhain (northern hemisphere) / Beltane (southern hemisphere) -- Druids, Gaels, Welsh peoples, Neopagans, Wiccans (begins at sunset)

Scare a Friend Day -- just not so much that s/he isn't a friend any more

Senior Absurdity Day -- Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY, US (a day the kids look forward to each year)

St. Quentin's Day (Patron against coughs)

St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon's Day (Patron of apoplectics, carpenters, paralyzed people, stroke victims; Regensburg, Germany; against apoplexy, paralysis, stomach diseases, strokes)

Vetmaetr -- Norse Calendar (Winter Nights; beginning of winter, the New Year, and the start of Odin leading the Wild Hunt)

Youth Honor Day -- Iowa, US

Anniversaries Today:

Mt. Rushmore is completed, 1941

Nevada becomes the 36th US State, 1864

Birthdays Today:

Robert "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle, 1967

Adam Horovitz, 1966

Dermot Mulroney, 1963

Rob Schneider, 1963

Peter Jackson, 1961

Larry Mullen, Jr., 1961

John Candy, 1950

Jane Pauley, 1950

Deidre Hall, 1947

Stephen Rea, 1943

David Ogden Stiers, 1942

Ron Rifkin, 1939

Michael Landon, 1936

Dan Rather, 1931

Michael Collins, 1930

Barbara Bel Geddes, 1922

Dale Evans, 1912

Ethel Waters, 1896

Chaing Kai-shek, 1887

Juliette Gordon Low, 1860

John Keats, 1795

William Paca, 1740

Jan Vermeer, 1632

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Car Talk"(Radio), 1987 (national debut, ten years after their start as a local show in Boston)

"Jamaica"(Musical), 1957

"Capricio Espagnol"(Rimsky-Korsakov Op. 34), 1887

"Tamerlano"(Handel opera, HWV 18), 1724

Today in History:

Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites after their return to Jerusalem from exile, BC445

First All Hallows Eve observed to honor all the saints, 834

Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door, marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 1517

Georg Ludwig van Hannover is crowned as the English King George I, 1714

Execution of Girondins at Paris during the Reign of Terror, 1793

Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents the miner's safety lamp, 1815

A standard uniform is approved for US Postal workers, 1868

A tropical cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die, 1876

John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tire, 1888

Arthur Conan Doyle publishes "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", 1892

Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States, 1913

The Battle of Beersheba of WWI marks the last successful cavalry charge in history, 1917

The first of 160 consecutive days of 100°F + temps at Marble Bar, Australia, 1923

World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress, 1924

Mt. Rushmore sculptures are completed, 1941

The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal, 1956

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards, 1984

EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board, 1999

Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted, 1999

Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station, which has been continually crewed since, 2000

Surfer Bethany Hamilton loses her left arm and 3 liters of blood in a tiger shark attack; within a month she would be back on her board, and competing again within the year, 2003

The NYSE reopens after its first weather related shut down since the late 19th century; the two-day closure was due to Hurricane Sandy, 2012

In a landmark verdict, the Pakistani Supreme Court acquits a Christian woman of blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed after she has spent eight years on death row, 2018

A fire destroys most of the historic Shuri Castle, once seat of the Ryukyu Kingdom, on the island of Okinawa, Japan, 2019

The world's largest solar farm goes live in Sirindhorn Reservoir, Thailand, 2021

President of Kenya William Ruto holds a state dinner for King Charles III in Nairobi at which the King gives a speech, stating, “the wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret,” 2023