It Was Full (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day and Brian's Thankful Thursday

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While all the stuff i don't know would fill an entire library and then some, what i do know is Ms. G can fill a day even when she isn't in town.

Yes, Ms. G is out of town this week, dealing with her other property she's planning to retire and move into someday, and i'm in charge of critter tending and house duty.

All the creatures, indoors and out, including the bees, need their water refilled, food topped up, and in the case of the indoor kitties, litter boxes tended.

You'd think, though, with her being out of town, there'd be no real housework to do on my usual day, right?

Well, nothing but vacuuming all the hair the cats have shed over the last few days, especially Miss Sassy with her long black floof, and picking up all the stuff Ms. G drops when she sits in her favorite recliner (you'd be amazed what's under that recliner every week), and sweeping up all the leaves tracked in from traipsing out every day to feed and water all the outdoor critters, and a good wipe down of the kitchen surfaces which got something on them when Ms. G touched them with something sticky on her hands, and...

Yes, Ms. G is one of those people who can fill your day or even your week and your life, even in her absence.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Fill.      

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While Good Fences Around the World seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird, i still enjoy looking for and posting interesting fences, so i will!

The seasonal fences are popping up.

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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    

I came on this vacation

wanting traffic to eschew.

How'd I end up here?

I read the wrong review!

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Angel Brian's Family of Brian's Home - Forever hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

Today i am thankful Mike-Next-Door, who still mows our lawn after all these years (he's 34 and now has a company! he started mowing when he was 14!), got it done after the deluge of rain Monday and before all the sprinkles Wednesday.

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Today is National Pet Obesity Awareness Day, because about half of pets in the US are overweight or obese. 

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

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Today is:

Abolition Day -- Saint Barthelemy

Boun Suang Heua -- on the Mekong River near Vientiane, Laos (second day of the Ok Phansa festival, the Boat Racing Festival)

Cephalopod Awareness Days:  Nautilus Night -- celebrating the most intelligent invertebrates in the world; today, celebrate all of the lesser-known extant cephalopods

Community Day -- Valencia, Spain

Establishment of the Samitinget in Norway -- Sami People's Parliament

Feast of Abraham the Patriarch -- Christian

Festival for Fausta Felicitas -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of good luck and joy)

Festival for Venus -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Give Peace a Chance Day / Instant Karma Day -- in honor of the birth of John Lennon

Guayaquil Independence Day -- Ecuador

Independence Day -- Uganda(1962)

Korean Alphabet Day -- Korea (Hangul Nal)

Leif Erickson Day -- Iceland; Norway; Minnesota and Wisconsin, US

Messenger Appreciation Day -- 10/9 in radio talk is a request to repeat information

Moldy Cheese Day (sorry, but i do not like the stinky, moldy cheeses, at least not the heavier ones; if you enjoy them, then by all means you may have my share!)

Mop Fair -- Tewkesbury, England (through tomorrow; festival dating back to the 12th century, originally a fair in which prospective employers came to find laborers, now two days of fun, fairgrounds rides, traditional games and sideshows, and more)

National Chess Day -- US (declared by President Ford in 1976) 

National Day of Honor -- Peru (sometimes translated as Day of Dignity; commemorates the nationalization of the countries' oil fields)

National Depression Screening Day® 2025 -- US (find out where to get screened or help others get screened) 

National Submarine/Grinder/Hoagie/Hero/PoBoy/Pierogi Day -- each of these has its own special day, but today you get to pick which one you want

St. Denis' Day (Patron of possessed people; France; Paris, France; against frenzy, headaches, rabies, and strife)

St. Dionysius the Areopagite's Day (considered the first Bishop of Athens, mentioned in Acts 17; Patron of Zakynthos Island, Greece; against headaches and the devil)

St. Louis Bertrand's Day (Patron of Caribbean vicariates; Columbia; Dominican novices)

Takayama Matsuri Autumn Festival -- Takayama, Japan (ancient, elaborate floats parade through the old city; through tomorrow)

World Post Day / Universal Postal Union Day -- UN

World Sight Day -- International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (#LoveYourEyes)    

Ziua Nationala de Comemorare a Holocaustului -- Romania (National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust)

Anniversaries Today:

Mission San Francisco de Asis, the oldest building in the city of San Francisco and now called Mission Delores, is founded, 1776

King Louis XII of France marries Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII of England, 1514

Birthdays Today:

Zachary Ty Bryan, 1981

Brandon Routh, 1979

Eddie Guerrero, 1967

David Cameron, 1966

Michael Pare, 1959

Mike Singletary, 1958

Tony Shalhoub, 1953

Scott Bakula, 1954

Sharon Osbourne, 1952

Robert Wuhl, 1951

Jackson Browne, 1948

John Entwistle, 1944

Brian Lamb, 1941

Joe Pepitone, 1940

John Lennon, 1940

Russell Myers, 1938

Donald Sinden, 1923

Jacques Tati, 1908

Bruce, Catton, 1899

Alfred Dreyfus, 1859

Camille Saint-Saens, 1835

Mary Ann Shadd Cary, 1823 (with her husband, the first black newspaper publishers in the US)

Robert de Sorbon, 1201 (founded Sorbonne University, Paris)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"High Button Shoes"(Musical), 1949

"The Iceman Cometh"(Play), 1946

"June Moon"(Play), 1929

"Topaz"(Play)1928

Today in History:

Leif Ericson discovers "Vinland" (somewhere in New England or Nova Scotia, possibly?), 1000

Leif Ericson lands in L'Anse aux Meadows, Canada, a definitive European landing in the "New World", 1003

The Korean Hangual alphabet is devised, 1446

Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land, 1635

Collegiate School of CT (Yale University) is chartered in New Haven, 1701

Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California, 1776

City of Hobart, Tasmania, founded, 1804

Official opening of the University of Ghent, 1817

Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine motor, 1855

Joshua Stoddard of Worcester, Mass., patents the first Calliope, 1855

The first US underground pipeline for carrying oil is laid in Pennsylvania, 1865

Aaron Montgomery starts the mail order business that will later become Montgomery Ward, 1872

The Universal Postal Union is created as part of the Treaty of Berne, 1874

The first 2-way telephone conversation over outdoor wires occurs, 1876

Washington Monument opens to the public, 1888

Woodrow Wilson becomes the first US president to attend a World Series Game, 1915

National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) forms, 1926

Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to L.A., 1936

A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia, 1967

The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia, 1970

Abolition of capital punishment in France, 1981

A 13 kilogram (est.) fragment of the Peekskill meteorite lands in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York, destroying the family's 1980 Chevrolet Malibu, 1992

North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device, 2006

First lunar impact of the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrafts as part of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program, 2009

Women's rights and education activist Malala Yousafzai is shot three times by a Taliban gunman as she tried to board her school bus in Swat district of northwest Pakistan, 2012

Producer Harvey Weinstein is fired from The Weinstein Company after allegations of sexual abuse, 2017

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry is awarded to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for their work with lithium-ion batteries, Goodenough becoming the oldest-ever Laureate at the age of 97, 2019

The brightest cosmic explosion ever seen, a gamma ray burst 2.4 billion light years away, is thought to be a massive star collapsing to form a black hole, 2022

A world record is set for the heaviest pumpkin, a jack-o’-lantern gourd weighing 2,749 pounds, grown by Travis Gienger from Anoka, Minnesota, weighing enough for 687 pies, 2023

Hurricane Milton makes landfall near Siesta Key, Florida as a Category 3 storm, causing at least 23 deaths during one of the state's largest evacuations, 2024

Like Father, Like Son (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday

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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!

While i still call him Mike-Next-Door, he doesn't live next door any longer, although his parents still do.  He has mowed our lawn for years and now has a wife and 2 kids.  His son has watched him do yard work and from his first days loved riding on the mower (blades turned off, on level ground only, of course) with his daddy.

Last week i caught them.  Dad in our yard on the riding mower, son pushing his toy mower around the grandparents' yard at the same time and grandmother and young sister looking on.  Then, the young guy was handed his own leaf blower and went to it just like Dad.

Standing with his toy mower in front of him, watching dad with sister and grandmother.

Getting back to it!

Father and son with leaf blowers.

The child already handles it like a pro!

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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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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is on a blog semi-break and her poetry is sorely missed, we hope she comes back soon.   Charlotte/Mother Owl participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in at least once a month, too.  Anyone else is welcome to join in the fun, just let Diane know!

This week the theme is Be Humble.                         

An officer in uniform of blue

was on the mall guard duty crew,

and a small girl near to him drew.

"My mom said if I'm in a stew,

and I just don't know what to do,

I can get help from an officer like you!"

"You are right, little one, it is true,

I'm here to help you through!"

"Then will you help me tie my shoe?"

(True story, and yes, the officer bent down and tied her shoe.)

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An older woman was flying,

and nervous as she could be,

but she really desperately wanted

her daughter and grandchild to see.

She managed to get to the airport,

but the walk to her gate was so long,

her carry-on was growing heavy,

her carrying arm, not so strong.

Two ladies in uniforms passed her,

one stopped at a security door,

the other said, "I'll meet you there,

we're going from Gate Twenty-four."

The grandmother thought, "Flight attendants!

This one can help with my plight."

She took a deep breath and called her

before she could get out of sight.

"Oh, miss," the grandmother called,

I'm going to that gate, too!

My bag is so heavy, I'm not sure I'll get there,

could I get some help from you?"

"Why, of course!" the woman smiled,

gladly took the small suitcase,

slowed her steps to match the elder,

and took her to the right place.

Later when all were boarding,

and the flight crew they did meet,

the "flight attendant" who carried her bag

was the captain each person did greet!

When the grandmother tried to apologize,

she said, "I was glad to help you!

After all, I have nothing to prove,

I am simply a part of this crew."

(Another true story.)

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Today is:

Adopt a Goblin Orphan Day -- Fairy Calendar

Blessed Wulfric's Day

Cherry Pie Day

Clean Out Your Bookcase Day -- supposedly begun in 1985, but i can't find information on who started it; donate books you don't need any more to a local "friends of the library" group

Family Day -- AB, BC, NB, ON, SK, Canada

Flying Car Day -- the Arrowmobile, the first flying car, patented this day in 1937 (and can you imagine, as bad as driving is, how many accidents we would have if these people were flying around instead?)

Heritage Day -- NS, Canada (honouring Mona Louise Parsons)

Hoodie Hoo Day (Northern Hemisphere) -- at noon local time, citizens are requested to go outside and yell "Hoodie-Hoo" to chase away winter and call in spring; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Islander Holiday -- PEI, Canada

Louis Riel Day -- MB, Canada

Love Your Pet Day -- a day to pamper pets, like they don't get pampered enough

Lundi Gras -- Fat Monday, Carnival, one of the last to days to feast before the Lenten fast begins Wednesday

     Bolludagur -- Iceland (Bun Day, the children wake the parents with a "spanking" while calling for cream buns that will be eaten that day)

     Old Mask Parade -- Oranjestad, Aruba (with the Burning of the Momo tomorrow, marking the end of Carnival)

     Rosenmontag -- German-speaking Countries (Rose Monday, highlight of Karneval)

National Handcuff Day

Presidents' Day -- US and Territories

St Leo of Catania's Day (a/k/a Leo the Wonderworker, Patron of Rometta, Longi, and Sinagra, Sicily)

Toothpick Day -- first machine used to make them patented this day in 1872

World Day for Social Justice -- UN

Anniversary Today:

John Cleese marries Connie Booth, 1968

US Post Office, 1792 (George Washington signed the act which created it)

Birthdays Today:

Rihanna, 1988

Andrew Shue, 1967

Lili Taylor, 1967

Cindy Crawford, 1966

French Stewart, 1964

Charles Barkley, 1963

Ron Eldard, 1963

James Wilby, 1958

Patty Hearst, 1954

Gordon Brown, 1951

Ivana Trump, 1949

Jennifer O'Neill, 1948

Peter Strauss, 1947

Brenda Blethyn, 1946

Sandy Duncan, 1946

Phil Esposito, 1942

Buffy Sainte-Marie, 1941

Nancy Wilson, 1937

Bobby Unser, 1934

Sidney Poitier, 1927

Robert Altman, 1925

Gloria Vanderbilt, 1924

Carl E. Stotz, 1920

Gale Gordon, 1906

Ansel Adams, 1902

Joseph Jefferson, 1829

William Prescott, 1726

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel"(Play), 1963

"Barber of Seville"(Rossini Opera), 1816

"Giulio Cesare in Egitto"(Opera, HWV 17), 1724

Today in History:

King Christian I, ruler of Denmark and Norway, pawns the islands of Orkney and Shetland to Scotland so he can pay his daughter's dowry, 1472

An unnamed comet approaches withing 860,000 miles of Earth, the closest a comet has ever come to our planet, 1491

The first recorded wine auction is held, in London, 1673

The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington, 1792

Austria declares bankruptcy, 1811

Concepcion, Chile, is destroyed by an earthquake, 1835

The US Congress prohibits dueling in the District of Columbia, 1839

Luther Crowell patents a machine to manufacture paper bags, 1872

In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens, 1872

The first minor league baseball association is organized, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1887

King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra, 1913

A new volcano, Paricutin, erupts in a farmer's cornfield in Mexico, 1943

The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate, 1959

While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes, 1962

Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts, 1965

The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands, 1976

Texas industrialist Ross Perot's U.S. presidential campaign begins, 1992

Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout, 2005

Estonia becomes the first country in the world to establish a national electric car charging network , with cars charging in less than 30 minutes, 2013

A 4-inch lock of John Lennon's hair sells at auction for $35,000 to a memorabilia collector, 2016

Famine is declared in Unity State, South Sudan, affecting 4.9 million, 2017

Venezuela becomes the first country to launch a virtual currency, the petro, to counteract their financial crisis, 2018

Englishwoman Jasmine Harrison (21) becomes the youngest woman to row across an ocean arriving in Antigua as part of the Atlantic Challenge after 70 days, 3 hours, 48 minutes, 2021