What Do You Do? (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, Rocket

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

If your favorite place to sit at the table and doodle with pens and paper is taken up by a very big uncle

What do you do?

You make your own place!

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Sparks is the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, who wanted us to post something positive and uplifting at the start of the week.  While she no longer blogs, i like to post an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.     

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Our dear friend Diane is taking a break

accommodations we must make

we miss her poetry and wit

so carry on as Poetry Monday's a hit!

Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Charlotte/Mother Owl and i are keeping it going while she takes a blog break, we hope temporarily.  Anyone else is welcome to join in the fun, just let us know!

This week the theme is Rocket.

At wind powered rockets

many may scoff,

but the last I heard,

sails are taking off!

*******

He tried to attach a rocket

to a deer, but no such luck,

it seems it wasn't so easy

for him to make a quick buck.

*******

Future themes are:

Oct 5 Rocket (Today!)

Oct 12 Contents of the Safe

Oct 19 X-ray Vision

Oct 26 Clam

Nov 2 Big bird

(All themes are from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and Other Arts Facebook group.)

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Indonesia (Hari Tentara Nasional)

Child Health Day -- US (as established by President Calvin Coolidge in 1928)

Constitution Day -- Vanuatu

Country Inn, Bed-and-Breakfast Day

Do Something Nice Day -- internet generated; make someone's day brighter, it will brighten your own

Festival of Mania -- Ancient Roman Calendar (held to placate the Manes, on dates when it was believed the doors to the underworld were open and the dead were free to roam)

International Day of No Prostitution 

King's Birthday -- QLD, Australia

Labour Day -- ACT, NSW, & SA, Australia

Long Walk Day -- David Kunst finished his walk around the world on this day in 1974; go for a long walk in his honor

Most Common Birthday -- US (yes, according to Anybirthday.com, on average, more people are born in the US on this day than any other; wonder if it has anything to do with today being 9 months after New Year's Eve?)

National Apple Betty Day

National Education Day / World Teachers' Day -- Kiribati

National Get Funky Day -- the brainchild of Funkytown Fitness Center in St. Augustine, FL, US, urging you to get funky and break free of your comfort zone!

Noisy Munching Day -- a fun day for kids, or your own inner child; munch chips, celery, pickles, anything loud, to annoy others

Nubaigai -- Pagan Lithuanian Calendar (harvest festival; can't get independent confirmation that it's always on this day)

Peat-Cutting Day -- Falkland Islands (Spring Holiday)

Republic Day -- Portugal

Semana Morazánica, una Fiestas Patrias -- Honduras (through Saturday)

St. Placid's Day

Territory Day -- Christmas Island

Thanksgiving Day -- Saint Lucia

Thesmophoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (start of a 3-day women's festival of Demeter; date approximate)

Unicorn Questing Season begins -- as established by the late W. T. "Bill" Rabe, get your official license here   

World Architecture Day -- International Union of Architects (this year's theme: Empowering the Next Generation in Participatory Urban Design)    

World Habitat Day -- UN (Habitat for Humanity) 

World Teachers Day -- UN

Birthdays Today:

Jesse Eisenberg, 1983

Kate Winslet, 1975

Parminder K. Nagra, 1975

Josie Bissett, 1970

Mario Lemieux, 1965

Laura Davies, 1963

Michael Andretti, 1962

Maya Ying Lin, 1959

Bernie Mac, 1957

Bob Geldof, 1954

Clive Barker, 1952

Bob Geldof, 1951

Karen Allen, 1951

Jeff Conaway, 1950

Steve Miller, 1943

Vaclav Havel, 1936

Bill Dana, 1924

Glynis Johns, 1923

Bil Keane, 1922

Donald Pleasence, 1919

Allen Ludden, 1917

Larry Fine, 1902

Robert Hutchings Goddard, 1882

Louis Lumiere, 1864

Chester A. Arthur, 1829

Denis Diderot, 1713

Jonathan Edwards, 1703

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Monty Python's Flying Circus"(TV), 1969

"Love Me Do"(Single release), 1962

"Zane Grey Theater"(TV), 1956

"The Diary of Anne Frank"(Play), 1955

"You Bet Your Life"(TV), 1950

"Secret Service"(Play), 1896

"Orfeo ed Euridice/Orpheus and Euridice"(Opera), 1762

Today in History:

Founding of the city of Concepcion, Chile, 1550

The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Italy and other Catholic countries, 1582

March on Versailles by the women of Paris, 1789

Shawnee Chief Tecumseh killed in the battle of the Thames, 1813

Founding of the City of Anaheim, 1857

Destruction of most of Calcutta by cyclone, approximately 60,000 die, 1864

A strong hurricane devastates the Bay of Fundy region of Maritime Canada, 1869

The surrender of Chief Joseph, after the 1,700 mile retreat, marks the end of the Nez Pierce War, 1877

The first individual time trial for racing cyclists is held on a 50-mile course north of London, 1895

Sir Samuel Griffith is appointed the first Chief Justice of Australia and Sir Edmund Barton and Richard O'Connor are appointed as foundation justices, 1903

First appearance of the Little Orphan Annie comic strip in the NYC Daily News, 1924

Suffrage is extended to women in France, 1944

The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake kills 110,000, 1948

The first documented recovery meeting of Narcotics Anonymous is held, 

1953Dr. No, the first in the James Bond film series, was released, 1962

The first episode of the famous comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus aired on BBC, 1969

Signature of the European Patent Convention, 1973

Raoul Wallenberg is made an honorary US citizen, 1981

Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, 1984

The first official version of the Linux kernel, version 0.02, is released, 1991

The Bulldozer Revolution begins in Belgrade, eventually leading to the resignation of Slobodan Milosevic, 2000

A new, though threatened, language known as Koro, is discovered by a team of linguists on an expedition to Arunachal Pradesh, in northeastern India, 2010

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Edvard Moser, May-Britt Moser and John O'Keefe, neuroscientists who discovered the brain cells responsible for positioning and navigation memory, 2014

Governor Jerry Brown of California signs a bill giving terminally ill patients the "right to die," 2015

The constitutional court of Spain suspends the Catalan parliament to prevent declaration of independence, 2017

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded jointly to Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad for "efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war", 2018

Jenny Saville's "Propped" brings a record price at auction for a living female artist, £9.5 million, 2018

The Nobel Prize for Medicine is awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, 2020

Russia launches an actor and director to the International Space Station to make the first film in orbit, 2021

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry awarded to Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless for their work on click chemistry, 2022

In the first loss of a New Zealand naval ship at sea since WWII, HMNZS Manawanui runs aground off the coast of Samoa and catches fire, with all hands rescued to lifeboats, 2024

Is It Clean? You Tell Me! A Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

Just in case you think Carl is the only humorous person in my life, the other day my Sweetie was saying The Big Boss has been calling him for work so much he's starting to feel as if he's being milked like a cow.  Brother-in-Law responded, "It's the udder truth!"

And Ms. D yesterday was telling me about seeing a lizard between her front door and the glass storm door, and asked if while we were out there cleaning the doorposts we could look for it and try to remove it.

As i reached out to open the storm door, she said, "Oh, you can't open it, I've taped both doors shut because they are drafty!"

No, we did not find the lizard.

As always, Carl wants to sleep "a little longer" when i arrive, so he was up and moving to the sleep chair as soon as i walked in.  He didn't get in the chair right away, though, he stood looking at the kitchen table, puzzled.

"No pills," he said, and i asked if he was looking for his pill container.  He was, and he knew where to look for it as Ms. V had just refilled it.  I left him to do that and then lie down as i checked laundry.

He's getting better about making sure he's getting his clothes into the dryer promptly, but that doesn't mean the clothes are totally dry.  I got the dryer going and sniffed the wet clothes in the washer, he'd also run that correctly and that would be next.

In his room, i was heartened to see he'd actually taken out the garbage and put a fresh bag in, with clips to keep it from falling into the bottom of the can.  I also noticed he had two of his pairs of shoes together where he seemed to have kicked them off.  Then i looked closer.

The shoes look enough alike, with only a slight color difference in one spot, that i think he's been wearing them mixed.  If he has, no one else would be close enough to his shoes to notice, and if he noticed he would not care.  I still rematched them and put only one pair in the bathroom with his clothes for after his shower.

I also noticed this.

He uses the lotion, gets lotion all over the outside of the bottle, and then sets the bottle on his chair, which gets lotion on it and i can't get it all off.  We're going to have to work on it.

Next, to the fridge, what surprises are in the fridge today, many hidden in bags he comes home and just stuffs in there without emptying?

Empty drink bottle, check.  Cheese sticks he has me include in his lunch that he has not been eating, check.  Two pieces of leftover cake from somewhere, check.  A small piece of cookie cake in a huge amount of foil, his bottle of tea and a greeting card, check.  A half full water bottle, an avocado, and his work schedule, check.

About this time, Carl wandered in and asked, "Can I sleep longer?"  Looking at the clock, i told him he could rest another half hour.  He wandered out, then came back in two minutes, heading for the shower.  Aren't you going to sleep? i asked.  "No," he answered, went in the bathroom and shut the door.

Well, alrighty then.

He came out ready to tell me about the fair he had attended at a friend's church complete with raffles and games and fun, and a party with the community group.

Then he went for breakfast and came right back in to change shirts.

What was wrong with the shirt? i asked.

"My dad said it's dirty," he said and so i asked where he'd put it.  It was on the pile of clean clothes on the bed.

Finding it, i took it to Mr. L to let him know, it's not dirty, it just came out of the dryer, and these are stains no one is going to notice because he wears his ice vest over it.

"Oh, yeah, that's right!" Mr. L said, and laughed, and went back to his breakfast.  If he has Carl change out of every shirt that has some grease spots which have been baked into his clothes by the dryer, he won't have much left to wear, as he seldom remembers to use the stain remover on those spots.

Of course, he's still trying to use laundry stain remover on the spots in his car, even though his mother long ago bought more upholstery cleaner.

We just go with it, right?

While checking his closet, i noticed several pair of pants on the top shelf.  Knowing how Carl will sometimes stuff dirty clothes up there to get them off the floor, then forget them -- no, he can't just put them in one of the three laundry bins, why would you even think about that? -- i pulled them down.  They looked and smelled clean, and i remembered Ms. V had said he's lost weight and inches, and she was making him try on pants and taking away those which are now too big.

I asked her later, and yes, that's what these were.  When i asked why they were still in his closet at all, she said, "Well, I need to label them and put them in a bag in the top of the closet."

Naturally, as we can't get rid of stuff that doesn't fit.  We're too frugal for that.

After his breakfast, Carl came in to supervise me packing his ice vest and lunch.  I'd gotten the vest ready, was filling the chest with extra ice packs, and put in his sandwich, some carrot sticks and one of the infamous cheese sticks that he might or might not eat, as well as the cookie in the ridiculous amount of tin foil.  He said, "What else?" and i told him i'd go get him a bag of peanuts to snack on and a fruit cup, and he seemed satisfied.

For the first time in years, there were no fruit cups in the pantry, just apple sauce packets, so i grabbed one and put it on the counter, then got a small baggie and the peanuts.  While pouring the peanuts into the baggie, Carl came into the kitchen, grabbed the applesauce and left.  By the time i caught up with him, he was out the door with his ice chest and i handed him the peanuts.  He handed me this from inside his car.

Most of a cake.

What is this? i asked him.

"It was my friend's birthday, but he could only have one piece and couldn't keep it because he has to watch his blood sugar."

So do you! i told him.

"No, the pharmacist told me..." and he trailed off into mumbling.

I took the cake in and put it in his favorite place to keep big cakes, on top of the fridge.  There's just no stopping his sweet tooth.

He came back in twice, leaving the door open each time.  The first time, he went to talk to his father about something.  The second time he was asked for a regular work vest (with the logo) and i handed him one.

"Is it clean?" he asked and i responded, it came out of the dryer and you washed that load, so you tell me!

He took it and left, and i made one more round for dirty clothes before starting the 3rd washload.  Dirty and clean socks were behind the bathroom door.  Glad i looked.

Time for funnies:

Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!

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It's Firepup's® birthday,  have fun learning fire safety from Firepup here. 

It's National Black Dog Day.  Like black cats, sometimes it's harder to adopt out black dogs, but they make great pets.

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Today is:  

Armed Forces Day -- South Korea

Bat Appreciation Month -- hooray for Bat Conservation International! 

Bonn Phchum Ben -- Cambodia (Ancestors' Day; official holidays through the 3rd)

Christmas Seal Campaign begins

Chuuk Constitution Day -- Chuuk, Micronesia

Cut Out Dissection Day -- let's find alternatives for school kids!

Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux a/k/a Therese of the Child Jesus or The Little Flower of Jesus (Doctor of the Church; Patron of African missions, AIDS patients, air crews/aircraft pilots/aviators, florists/flower growers, missionaries, sick people, those who have lost parents, tuberculosis; Australia; France; Russia; several cities around the world; against bodily ills and tuberculosis)

Festival of Penha -- Rio de Janiero, Brazil (through the 31st; pilgrimages to the Church of Our Lady of Penha)

Global Diversity Awareness Month begins -- to foster and further our understanding of the value of people of all races, genders, nationalities, ages, religions, sexual orientations, classes, and physical disabilities

Guoqing Jie -- China; Hong Kong; Macau (National Day/Founding of the Republic)

Independence Day -- Cyprus(1960); Nigeria(1960); Palau(1994); Tuvalu(1976)

International Coffee Day -- and i thought this was every day!  

International Day of Older Persons -- UN

International Music Day -- information from the International Music Council

Investiture of the Captains Regent -- San Marino

Kalends of October -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also

     Day Sacred to Fides -- (goddess of faithfulness and keeping your word)

     Festival of Juno Sororia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Juno the Sister, protector of young women at puberty)

Little Golden Books Day -- the first twelve were published on this day in 1942 (Baby's Book of Objects, Bedtime Stories, Mother Goose, Nursery Songs, Prayers for Children, The Alphabet from A to Z, The Animals of Farmer Jones, The Golden Book of Fairy Tales, The Little Red Hen, The Poky Little Puppy, This Little Piggy and Other Counting Rhymes, Three Little Kittens)

Month of Freethought -- inspired by Freethinkers who emigrated to the US in the 19th century

National Book It! Day -- teachers across the US can join together with Pizza Hut to encourage the love of reading each school year from today through March 31 

National Homemade Cookies Day 

National Lace Day -- US (a day for lace fanciers share their love of lacemaking!  there's no history of who started this day, and other dates are given on some websites) 

National Walk Your Dog Week begins -- a campaign to bring awareness of and fight the increasing problems in the US with canine obesity

Nobel Conference 60 -- Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN, US (annual two-day symposium, this year, Sleep, Unraveled)

O'qituvchi va Murabbiylar Kuni -- Uzebekistan (Day of Teachers and Instructors)

Pageantry in Oslo -- Oslo, Norway (Storting [Parliament] convenes to decide the date for its ceremonial opening, which is usually the following weekday, when the King opens the session in the presence of the Corps Diplomatique, preceded and followed by a military procession between the Royal Palace and the Storting.)

Popcorn and Tears Movie Appreciation Night -- go see a tear jerker; if guys don't want to go, make them stay home and vacuum

Pudding Season begins (Time to preserve meat from slaughtering for the winter by making meat puddings.)

Ram Mating Ceremony -- various towns and villages in Turkey (through the 20th, each village setting its own date; after being separated from the females for two months, the rams are returned with ceremonies to ensure good luck and lots of babies next spring)

Right-Brainers Rule Month begins (because left handers / right brainers are in their "right" minds)

St. Remigius of Rheims' Day (Patron of France; Rheims, France; against epidemics, fever, plague, religious indifference, snakes, and throat pain)

St. Romanos the Melodist's Day (hymn writer of the early 6th Century whose surviving works are still sung)

Unification Day -- Cameroon

US Fiscal Year begins (Why in October?)

World Bullying Prevention Month™   

World Vegetarian Day

Anniversaries Today:

EPCOT opens, 1981 (Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, or, if you work there, the insider title, Every Person Comes Out Tired)

Walt Disney World opens, 1971

Johnny Carson marries Joan Morrill Wolcott, 1949

Stanford University opens, 1891

Yosemite National Park and Yellowstone National Park are founded, 1890

South African College is founded, 1829 (Now University of Cape Town)

Birthdays Today:

Zach Galifianakis, 1969

Mark McGwire, 1963

Esai Morales, 1962

Grete Waltz, 1953

Randy Quaid, 1950

Stephen Collins, 1947

Tim O'Brien, 1946

Rod Carew, 1945

Stella Stevens, 1936

Julie Andrews, 1935

Albert Collins, 1932

Richard Harris, 1932

George Peppard, 1928

Tom Bosley, 1927

Jimmy Carter, 1924

William Rehnquist, 1924

James Whitmore, 1921

Walter Matthau, 1920

Bonnie Parker, 1910

Vladimir Horowitz, 1903

James Lawrence, 1781

Richard Stockton, 1730

Henry III, King of England, 1207

Debuting/Premiering  Today:

Compact Discs, 1982 (Billy Joel's 52nd Street)

"Remington Steele"(TV), 1982

"Kung Fu"(TV), 1972

Night of the Living Dead(Film), 1968

"The Merv Griffin Show"(TV), 1962

"The Honeymooners"(TV), 1955

"This is Your Life"(TV), 1952

"Tom Corbett, Space Cadet"(TV), 1950

"Best Foot Forward"(Musical), 1941

Ford's Model T, 1908

World Series Baseball, 1903 (the Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates)

Postal Special Delivery, 1885 (USPS began special delivery services)

Postcards, 1869 (in Vienna, Austria)

Today in History:

Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia, BC331

The Russian Parliament accepts the annexation of the Ukraine, 1653

First session of the new French legislative assembly is held, 1791

Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty, 1800

The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orléans, Louisiana, 1811

Maria Mitchell discovers a non-naked-eye comet, 1847

A cyclone strikes Calcutta, India, killing 70,000, 1864

Karl Marx' "Das Kapital" is published, 1867

The world's first postcards are issued, in Vienna, Austria, 1869

John Philip Sousa becomes the new director of the USMC Band, 1880

Thomas Edison opens the first electric lamp factory, 1880

The USPS begins special delivery mail service, 1885

Jews are expelled from major Russian cities, 1898

Arab forces under T.E. Lawrence, a/k/a Lawrence of Arabia, capture Damascus, 1918

An oil field accident cost aviator Wiley Post his left eye, but he used the settlement money to buy his first aircraft, 1926

The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens, 1940

Mensa International is founded in the United Kingdom, 1946

First broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, 1962

The Concorde supersonic transport plane breaks the sound barrier for the first time, 1969

Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, United States, 1971

The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama, 1979

EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World, 1982

William Gibson's groundbreaking novel Neuromancer is published, introducing the word "cyberspace" to the English language, 1984

Denmark introduces the world's first legal modern same-sex civil union, 1989

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes over the judicial functions of the House of Lords, 2009

A dedicated 3D TV channel, Sky 3D, launches in the UK, 2010

The NY Yankees record the 10,000th win in their illustrious history, 2015

A new trade deal to replace NAFTA is agreed upon by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, 2018

Peru's President Martín Vizcarra dissolves Congress over its refusal to support his anti-corruption reforms, sparking a political crisis, 2019