It’s Civil at the Civic Association, 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.  

The time has come for another civic association meeting.  Hooray.

We do not, thank heaven, live where there is a homeowner association.  You know, where Mr. and Mrs. Barney Fife have nothing better to do that snoop in everyone else’s business, and have a bunch of rules they can enforce.

We do have a civic association that cannot enforce anything other than the actual rules passed by the parish council that apply to every neighborhood.  No one having to approve our choice of paint color or fussing if our mailbox gets a dent in it is a nice thing.

The meeting itself is always at the Baptist church across the highway.  It starts with a prayer from the pastor and the Pledge of Allegiance, and no one complains about either one.

As far as such meetings go, it is pretty standard stuff, but we all look forward to the door prizes at the end of the evening.  Not that i ever win, but hope springs eternal.

And now, to top it off with some of the pictures Grandma sent.  No, i don’t know who takes these, but they get passed on to her and she passes them to me, and they are too good to just keep to myself.

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Army Day -- Armenia

Data Privacy Day -- International

Festival of the Lenaia to Dionysus -- Ancient Greek Calendar, end January through early February

Jackhammer Day -- US (the pneumatic jackhammer was patented this day in 1894 by Charles Brady King of Detroit, MI)

National Blueberry Pancake Day

National Kazoo Day -- because anyone can play one!

National Speak Up and Succeed Day -- become one of those people who aren't afraid of public speaking, practice! originally sponsored by Polished Presentations International, but they no longer have a website, but i'm sure Toastmasters International can help 

National Spieling Day -- internet generated, and whatever your area of expertise, spiel about it today

Rinkydinks Annual Snowball Fight -- Fairy Calendar

Runic Half-month Elhaz (elk) commences

St. Charlemagne's Day (Patron of the University of Paris)

St. Thomas Aquinas's Day (Patron of academics, apologists, book sellers, chastity, colleges, learning, pencil makers, philosophers, publishers, scholars, schools, students, theologians, universities; Aquino, Italy; Belcastro, Italy; Falerna, Italy; University of Vigo; all Catholic academies, schools, and universities; against lightning, storms)

Telephone Exchange Day -- US (the first telephone exchange was set up in New Haven, CT with 22 subscribers on this day in 1878)

Up-Helly-AA Day -- Lerwick, Shetland (the largest fire festival in Europe, with tomorrow as a day off so everyone can recover)

Anniversary Today:

Adoption of the Great Seal of the United States, 1782

Birthdays Today:

Elijah Wood, 1981

Nick Carter, 1980

Joey Fatone, Jr. 1977

Kathryn Morris, 1969

Sarah McLachlan, 1968

Harley Jane Kozak, 1957

Nicolas Sarkozy, 1955

Rick Warren, 1954

John Beck, 1943

Susan Howard, 1943

Alan Alda, 1936

Susan Sontag, 1933

Claes Oldenburg, 1929

Jackson Pollack, 1912

Robert Stroud, 1890 (The Birdman of Alcatraz)

Arthur Rubenstein, 1887

Auguste Piccard, 1884

Jean Felix Piccard, 1884

Colette, 1873

Jose' Marti, 1853

Henry Morton Stanley, 1841

Alexander Mackenzie, 1822

Peter the Great of Russia, 1775

St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Fantasy Island"(TV), 1978

"Barnaby Jones"(TV), 1973

"Symphony No. 1/Jeremiah"(Bernstein), 1944

Today in History:

The Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor is lifted by Pope Gregory VIII, 1077

The first Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria, 1099

Pope Alexander VI gives his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France, 1495

Edward VI, age nine, succeeds his father Henry VIII as king of England, 1547

By the Edict of Orleans, the persecution of French Huguenots is suspended, 1561

Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland, 1573

Sir Thomas Warner found the first British colony in the Caribbean, on St. Kitts, 1624

The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented in the Senate decree (it was called St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917), 1724

Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity, 1754

London's Pall Mall is the first street lit by gaslight, 1807

Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom, 1813

The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway, 1855

In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick, 1887

Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent became the first person to be convicted of speeding in an automobile. He is fined 1 shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thus exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h), 1896

The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie, 1902

An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard, 1915

The first Jewish  US Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis, appointed by Wilson, 1916

A symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is installed beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to honor the unknown dead of World War I, 1921

The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhary Rehmat Ali Khan and is accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence, 1933

The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today, 1958

The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament, 1965

Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region, 1984

Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief, 1985

Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart after liftoff killing all seven astronauts on board, 1986

Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled up the Egyptian's streets in demonstrations referred to as "Friday of Anger" against the Mubarak regime, 2011

DNA analysis confirms that the 6th C Plague of Justinian was caused by a variant of Yersinia pestis, which is the same bacteria for the Black Death, 2014

Seven survivors from the missing Kiribati ferry carrying 100 people are rescued after week at sea, 2018

A draft framework for a peace agreement to end the 17-year conflict in Afghanistan is agreed upon by US and Afghan negotiators, 2019

Mindfulness and Repetition and Squirrel Mayhem, 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.  

Yesterday, at Dr. D’s, i tripped over a book called Mindfulness while we were looking for all the things she had lost since the last time i was there, such as her coin purse, her debit card, and, again, the check book.  It made us both laugh when i told her that book was like Sweetie and the memory supplement pills he can never remember the name of.  The pills are not working, obviously, and neither is that book!

Our Sunday night Bible study group decided a few years ago that we will not have our Christmas potluck and White Elephant gift exchange in December, as there are too many other things going on and too many people wouldn’t be able to make it.  Instead, we do it on Super Bowl Sunday and make it a party and watch the big game. 

Yesterday, Sweetie noted that this year, it would be on Groundhog Day, and Mr. LS said, “Yes, come on Groundhog Day and you will get to eat the same food over and over!”

Every week i figure i will tell the story of my friend, DiDreaming, and the squirrel, and every week i either forget or have something else come up.

She was feeding a squirrel in the park, and another squirrel came up wanting his portion, and in his excitement ended up accidentally biting her finger.  How a squirrel can mistake a finger for a peanut i do not know, but i guess he was just a very eager squirrel when it comes to food.

Please note that all of them are eager when it comes to food.

She was right across from the police station, and an officer noticed her trying to stem the bleeding while also trying to shoo the squirrel out of her purse where it was trying to get at the whole peanut package, as well as get something from the purse, such as a tissue, to wrap on her finger, and he insisted on helping.

After escorting her to the police station, he called for paramedics.  Yes, it was a slow day for the police, and the paramedics next door, too.  The paramedics came and bandaged the finger while one officer took a report of the incident, another tried to get a description of the perpetrator, and a third was attempting to draw a picture to put on the wanted poster.

When one paramedic asked if they were going to form a search team, an officer said, “How are we going to do that?  All the squirrels look alike to me!”

That created pandemonium as others told him, “You can’t say that!” and “Now the squirrel anti-discrimination committee is going to be after you!”

All in all, it was quite an adventure, and one she does not want to repeat.

Having run out of the previous set of photos Grandma sent, i am starting in on a new set, photos which undoubtedly took great patience on the part of the photographers, and no, i don’t know where she gets this stuff:

Have a fabulous Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Assembly Line Workers' Day -- listed on many sites but no particular reason for it to be this day; then again, why not today?

Azhirnikhua -- Abkhazia (Day of World Creation)

Cakes and Ale Day -- emblems of the good life, a day to remember the good things we have, and be grateful

Celebration of the 2nd Week of Moonhopper -- Fairy Calendar

Daikoku Matsuri -- Kanda Myojin Shine, Tokyo, Japan (purification ceremony; through tomorrow)

Day of Defenders of the Native Land (Army Day) -- Uzbekistan

Feast of Divina Pastora -- Barquisimeto, Venezuela (religious procession attended by about 2 million people)

Feast of the Ass -- Medieval Christianity (commemorates the Flight Into Egypt)

International Kite Festival -- Jaipur and Ahmedabad, India

Makar Sandranti -- India/Hindu Calendar (part of the sidereal solstice festivals)

National Dress Up Your Pet Day -- do you really dislike your pet this much?

National Forest Conservation Day -- Thailand

National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day

Niino no Yukimatsuri -- Izu shrine, Niino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (snow festival with offerings made to bring a good harvest in the coming year; through tomorrow)

Organize Your Home Day -- another one that i can't figure out who started it, but i will say s/he was nuts to think this could be done in one day

Orthodox New Year -- RS, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Serbia

Pongal continues -- Tamil New Year, among the Tamil People (multiple day thanksgiving festival at the end of harvest)

    Tamil Thai Pongal Day -- Sri Lanka

    Maghi Parba/Maghe Sankranti -- Western Nepal

Ratification Day -- US (anniversary of the Treaty of Paris that recognized the independence of the US from England)

Revolution and Youth Day -- Tunisia

Sidereal Winter Solstice Celebrations -- throughout South and Southeast Asia

St. Felix of Nola's Day (Patron of domestic animals, eyes; Nola, Italy; against eye diseases, false witness, lies, perjury)

St. Sava's Day (Patron of Serbia and all Serbs)

Take a Missionary to Lunch Day -- to honor Albert Schweitzer's birth anniversary

Anniversaries Today:

Joe DiMaggio marries Marilyn Monroe, 1954

Birthdays Today:

Kristin Cavallari, 1987

Jason Bateman, 1969

Emily Watson, 1967

Shepard Smith, 1964

Steven Soderbergh, 1963

Lawrence Kasdan, 1949

Carl Weathers, 1948

Nina Totenberg, 1944

Holland Taylor, 1943

Faye Dunaway, 1941

Jack Jones, 1938

Andy Rooney, 1919

William Bendix, 1906

John dos Passos, 1896

Hal Roach, 1892

Hugh Lofting, 1886

Albert Schweitzer, 1875

Thornton W. Burgess, 1874

Richard Felton Outcault, 1863

Matthew Fontaine Maury, 1806

Benedict Arnold, 1741

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Bionic Woman"(TV), 1976

"Sanford and Son"(TV), 1972

"Sinfonia Antartica"(Vaughan Williams' 7th symphony), 1953

"Today Show"(TV), 1952

"Tosca"(Puccini Opera), 1900

Today in History:

The Knights Templar are formally approved by the Roman Catholic Church, 1129

Pope Leo X issues a papal bull against slavery, 1514

Spain annexes Cuba, 1539

The "Fundamental Orders", the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in Connecticut, 1639

Massachusetts holds a day of fasting for wrongly accusing "witches", 1699

Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the American Revolutionary War, 1783

The US Supreme Court rules that racial separation on trains is unconstitutional, 1878

An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills more than 1000, 1907

Henry Ford introduces the assembly line to the production of the Model-T, 1914

The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight, 1950

The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank and banknote issuing authority, is established, 1960

Toronto, Ontario Mayor Mel Lastman becomes the first mayor in Canada to call in the Army to help with emergency medical evacuations and snow removal after more than one meter of snow paralyzes the city, 1999

The national flag of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years, 2004

Landing of the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan, 2005

The MESSENGER spacecraft performs a Mercury flyby, 2008

American rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson become the first to successfully free-climb the Dawn Wall face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, 2015

The US National Safety Council publishes a report saying that, for the first time ever, an American’s chance of dying of an opioid overdose is greater than the chance of dying in a traffic accident, 2019