Monkeyshines (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!

Some kitty thinks she's a monkey and is always trying to climb her cage.  She does get higher than this, but every time i try to take a picture of her at the top of her cage, she scoots back down.

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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 Name Your Car.                         

What to name your car is

a matter of great import.

Now, don't just call it, "Mr. Car,"

that's being a poor sport.

Your car is what will take you

hither and yon all through the day,

just ask your car what to call it,

and listen to what it will say.

My Sweetie drives a "Land Yacht,"

and Lunceford is its name,

those big old Lincoln Towncars

are stuffy but never lame.

Bigger Girl was driving Cicero

then it's frame in an accident bent,

so she bought Bessy LowKey,

an ancient "scratch and dent."

#1 Son has an old Acura,

given by a friend for a song,

not big or bright or flashy,

but White Goose moves him along.

#2 Son now has a great job

and he bought a used SUV,

his motorcycles scare this mama.

so Happy Honda brings me glee.

Little Girl still drives Talulah,

though her glamor has worn thin,

like a trouper she goes on with the show

which to me is a very big win.

As for me, i needed something

and i ended up needing it quick,

a mechanic friend had a Pontiac

and for now it does the trick.

It's been slow in giving me clues

as to what it wants to be called,

it's designed a lot like a sports car

but has uncomplainingly hauled

This janitor and church lady,

it can run but seems okay

with my keeping it to lower speeds

as it's only so fast i will play.

That's why i'm calling it Slow-Moe

as it takes me all over town

as well as on the highways,

so far it's not letting me down!

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Today is:

Buttering-Up Semi-Finals -- Fairy Calendar

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

Country Inn, Bed-and-Breakfast Day

Festival of Bacchus/Dionysus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (tasting the old and new wine and celebrating the harvest)

Independence Day -- Iraq

Kae Chun Jul -- Korea (National Foundation Day, BC 2333)

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

Morazan Day -- Honduras (Soldier's Day, trad.)

National Butterfly and Hummingbird Day -- internet generated; celebrate these beauties today, no matter where you are

National Carmel Custard Day

Oschophoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (in honor of the return of Theseus after killing the Minotaur; deities celebrated were Dionysius and either Athena or Ariadne, depending on the source cited; date approximate)

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.)

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

Queen's Birthday -- QLD, Australia

Relief of Leiden Day -- Netherlands

Reunification Day/Unity Day-- Germany

Sts. Ewald the Black and Ewald the Fair's Day (Patrons of Westphalia)

Techies' Day -- give your techies some well-deserved appreciation

Territory Day -- Christmas Island

Thanksgiving Day -- Saint Lucia

World Architecture Day -- International Union of Architects     

World Habitat Day -- UN (Habitat for Humanity) 

Birthdays Today:

Neve Campbell, 1973

Gwen Stefani, 1969

Janel Maloney, 1969

Clive Owen, 1964

Jack P. Wagner, 1959

Dennis Eckersley, 1954

Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1954

Dave Winfield, 1951

Lindsey Buckingham, 1949

Roy Horn, 1944

Chubby Checker, 1941

Erik Bruhn, 1928

Gore Vidal, 1925

James Herriot (James Alfred Wight), 1916

Harvey Kurtzman, 1902

William Crawford Gorgas, 1854

George Bancroft, 1800

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"L.A. Law"(TV), 1986

"Scarecrow and Mrs. King"(TV), 1983

"Quincy"(TV), 1976

"The Dick Van Dyke Show"(TV), 1961

"The Andy Griffith Show"(TV), 1960

"The Pat Boone Show"(TV), 1957

"The Real McCoys"(TV), 1957

"Captain Kangaroo"(TV), 1955

"The Mickey Mouse Club"(TV), 1955

"Father Knows Best"(TV), 1954

"Our Miss Brooks"(TV), 1952

"The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"(TV), 1952

"The Maltese Falcon(Film, NYC release), 1941

Today in History:

The state of Gojoseon (modern-day Korea) is founded by Dangun Wanggeom during the reign of the Chinese emperor Yao, BC2333

The siege and battle of Alesia is ended by the surrender of Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls, to Julius Caesar, BC52

Julius Caesar's assassins suffer a decisive defeat at the First Battle of Phillipi, BC42

Jews are expelled from Eger, Bohemia, 1430

The Duke of Montrose issues a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor, 1712

British Captain James Cook anchors in Alaska, 1778

General Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence being named to defend the French National Convention against armed counter-revolutionary rioters, 1795

George Washington proclaims the first national Thanksgiving Day will be held on Nov. 26, 1789

American author Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland under mysterious circumstances; it is the last time he is seen in public before his death, 1849

J.S. Thurman patents a motor-driven vacuum cleaner, 1899

The first conference on wireless telegraphy agrees to adopt SOS as the warning signal and sign of distress, 1906

Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles in Vienna, Austria, found the Pravda newspaper, 1908

Mrs. W.H. Felton, of Georgia, becomes the first woman seated in the US Senate, 1922

A V-2 /A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany is the first man-made object to reach space, 1942

The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon, 1952

Germany is reunified, 1990

Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy is attacked by one of the show's tigers, 2003

Archaeologists on the Egypt-Gaza border find the first evidence of a 2,000-year-old city, 2010

The Nobel Prize for Physics is awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves," 2017

The first exomoon, a moon outside of this solar system and about the size of Neptune, is discovered 8,000 light-years away by astronomers at Columbia University, 2018

Ten Things of Thankful, Be Careful What You Wish For Edition

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Folks, you are not going to believe this one.

That's why i debated titling it the "Believe It Or Not" thankful, but decided to go with being careful what you wish for.  Either works.

Yes, i'm getting to it, i am also savoring it.

Back in May, Brother-in-Law's 20+ year old Nissan truck finally went to car heaven.  Our Jalopy had become unusable due to needing brakes and tires, she could only go around the block twice a week to keep her running, but we had to finish paying for the repairs on Lunceford the Land Yacht before we could get Jalopy fully functional again.

This meant that there were 3 of us using one vehicle that kept going back in the shop for various thing.  (That's a gratitude there, that our mechanics take payments!).

We'd been praying for miracles, trying to save and being stymied every time Lunceford needed something, and Brother-in-Law was saving as much as he could, but it would take him a long time to save up enough for a car.  While his truck had been running, he'd been in the same boat as us, unable to save as he was always repairing the vehicle he had.

Last Friday, December 20, one of the Friendly Fill-Ins was:  All I want for Christmas is a better car that won't need to be repaired so often.  (Of course, peace on earth would be fantastic, but i'm trying to be slightly more realistic.)  You notice i didn't wish for a new car, just a better one.

Also we were wishing Brother-in-Law could get something, too.

Right after i wrote that, someone gifted Brother-in-Law with a nice sum of money to put toward getting a car.  He was going to ask a friend from our church who facilitates buying and selling used cars to be on the lookout for something in his price range.

Instead, that same Friday afternoon, one of the deacons at Brother-in-Law's church called him and said that his neighbor was selling a car.

The details were a dream, within his price range, an older model Toyota Corolla, owned by an elderly lady, only about 3,000 miles per year put on it, maintained beautifully, clean inside and out, running perfectly.  Daughter, who was the neighbor of the church deacon, had convinced mom it was time to stop driving.

Brother-in-Law leapt on it like a fly on a cow patty.  He went over on Saturday for a test drive, and the daughter told him to call on Thursday, the day after Christmas, they would meet then at the title place to do the deal.

All of us were elated, and then, on Sunday, the daughter's husband called Brother-in-Law and told him that mom had died in the night.  He told Brother-in-Law to call on Thursday anyway and they would let him know the status.

It was deflating, as we were figuring they'd have to get a death certificate, then get permission to liquidate the car, and probably a family member would want it.  We decided to be thankful he still had the money and we could look elsewhere.

Thursday, as he promised but without much hope, Brother-in-Law called the daughter.  She said she'd meet him at the title company that afternoon.

What!

Yep, turned out that when she'd convinced mom to sell a couple of weeks earlier, the daughter had mom turn over the title to her so she could handle it all.  It was her way of making sure mom didn't have access to the car any more and couldn't change her mind!

Daughter was still sure she wanted to go through with the sale, too, since she'd promised.

This past Thursday, Brother-in-Law bought a vehicle that probably has at least another 10 years in it, if he takes great care of it (which he will).

There's more to the story.  There always seems to be.

Sweetie and i went to work Friday morning as usual, but it's our "easy" Friday so only one house, then a break, then the cat shelter.  While at the one house, i got a call from Grandma.

"Grandpa and I have decided we both need new cars, the kind with all the safety features for elderly drivers who need assistance, so we are going to give his old car to Uncle P and give my old car to you.  We're at the dealership now getting our new ones.  Can you come down here today and get my old one?"

Our insurance agent was in the office for a few hours, we finished that house lickety split, got an insurance card, and were in NOLA by just after 1pm.

Grandpa drove us to the title place down there and there was no waiting.  We got the title transferred and the car registered and went back to their house where Sweetie was waiting (they'd left him to babysit the dogs), then he and i headed back up.

Usually we are at the shelter by about 4pm on Fridays.  Yesterday, at 4:15, we pulled up after driving straight back from NOLA, Sweetie in Lunceford and me in the new-to-us car.

It's a six-year-old Ford Focus with, get this, 15,000 miles on it.  Yes, Grandma only goes to church every day, to the hairdresser, to "go make groceries" (as they say in NOLA), and once in a while to visit a friend.  Every place else, Grandpa drives her.  She barely goes 2,500 miles a year.

In less than 24 hours, we've gone from one 21-year-old car for the three of us to share to each having our own vehicle again, and all of it dropped in our laps.

Dreams do come true.

Let's top it with some icing on the cake.  #1 Son has been without a car for a while.  He lives walking distance from work, so most of the time it's not a problem, but eventually he will need wheels, at least for groceries and errands.

Now we can offer him Jalopy, and he can get on a payment plan with our mechanic to get it running right.  For just the cost of brakes and tires, we can get him back on the road as well.

Today, i have a day off work.  Mr. BA is not ready for us to get back to it, he wants to wait until January to start our every-other-Saturday schedule again.  That means another thing for which to be thankful, i will have a day to sort through my cleaning supplies and move everything to the Ford, which i've decided to name GusGus, after my favorite mouse in the Disney Cinderella movie.  (The car is gray, so it fits.)

Sometimes the stars line up and you have thankful after thankful, and this past week was one of those times.

Be careful what you wish for, the Almighty might see to it that you get it.

  

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Kristi and her 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:

Bairns Day -- Scotland (Begins the runic half-month of Eoh, the yew tree, which signifies the dead, and is now associated with the Slaughter of the Innocents of Christian tradition, so today is considered by some the unluckiest day of the year, and no work should be undertaken today.)

Call a Friend Day -- just to catch up a bit

Card Playing Day -- internet generated, enjoy a fun game with friends and family; "Go fish!"

Childermas a/k/a Holy Innocents Day -- (Patrons of babies, children's choirs, foundlings)

    various Christian traditions celebrate under many names and in various ways

    Els Enfarinats -- Ibn, Valencia, Spain (flour fight, and if it's anything like the tomato throwing in other towns of Spain, it's probably lots of fun)

    French Childermas tradition interpreted what the Norse saw as evidence of the Wild Hunt of Odin as the spirits of the Holy Innocents running from King Herod

    Inocentes -- Mexico, and sometimes celebrated as Mexican December Fool's Day (Herod fooled himself into thinking he had gotten rid of his rival king born in Bethlehem.)

Dysemas Day -- Northhamptonshire, UK (an unlucky day to begin any new undertaking, "what is begun on Dysemas Day will never be finished")

    origin unknown, but often translated as Tithe Day, being very close to the Portugese word for tithe

Eat A Vegetarian Day -- an internet generated joke; yes, the vegetarian in question can be a cow

Endangered Species Act Day -- US (act passed 1973; a day to mourn species already extinct)

Fairy Academy of Window-Frosting Winter Exhibition -- Fairy Calendar

Fourth Day of Christmas

Incwala Day -- Swaziland (the biggest day of the 8 week Ncwala Festival, which loosely translates as "first fruits", although today's tasting of the first of the harvest by the King is only a portion of the many days of ceremonies)

King Taksin Memorial Day -- Thailand

Kwanzaa, Day 3, Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)

National Chocolate Candy Day

Proclamation Day -- South Australia (trad.)

Return a Gift for the Cold Hard Cash Day -- and good luck, these days

Runic Half-month Eoh (yew) commences

Take a Drive and Enjoy the Christmas Lights Day -- before they are gone for another year

Unluckiest Day of the Year -- various traditions state no work should be started today, for whatever is started today will never be finished!  In Olde England, nothing of importance was ever undertaken on Childermas, because it would prove unlucky

Anniversaries Today:

Billy Ray Cyrus weds Leticia Finley, 1994

The US Pledge of Allegiance is formally adopted, 1945

Iowa becomes the 29th US State, 1846

Birthdays Today:

David Archuleta, 1990

Sienna Miller, 1981

John Legend, 1978

Joe Mangianello, 1976

Todd Richards, 1969

Malcolm Gets, 1964

Denzel Washington, 1954

Edgar Winter, 1946

Don Francisco, 1940

Maggie Smith, 1934

Nichelle Nichols, 1933

Martin Milner, 1931

Johnny Otis, 1921

Sam Levenson, 1911

Lew Ayres, 1908

Cliff Arquette, 1905

Earl "Fatha" Hines, 1905

Hendrik Meijer, 1883

Woodrow Wilson, 1856

John Molson, 1763

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Gulag Archipelago(Publication date), 1973

"Last of the Red Hot Lovers"(Play), 1969

"Night of the Iguana"(Play), 1961

"On the Town"(Musical), 1944

"Tip-Toes"(Musical), 1925

"St. Joan"(Play), 1923

"Cyrano de Bergerac"(Play), 1897

Today in History:

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, a/k/a Westminster Abbey, is consecrated, 1065

The reign of Emperor Hanazono of Japan begins, 1308

Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star, 1612

King Taksin is crowned as king of Thailand and establishes Thonburi as a capital, 1768

Construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto, Ontario), 1795

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Echigo, Japan, killing 30,000+, 1828

John Calhoun becomes the first US Vice President to resign (over differences with President Andrew Jackson), 1832

Spain recognizes independence of Mexico, 1836

South Australia and Adelaide are founded, 1836

Rangoon Burma, destroyed by fire, 1841

The United States claims Midway Island, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits, 1867

The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines, marking the debut of the cinema, 1895

The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California, 1912

The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park, 1950

Alexander Solzhenitsyn publishes "Gulag Archipelago", 1973

Winnie Mandela is banished from South Africa, 1976

The first American "test-tube baby", Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia, 1981

U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years, 2000

At 115 years old and 266 days, Jiroemon Kimura of Japan becomes the world's oldest living person, 2012

Iranian woman Vida Mohaved is arrested for protesting against the policy of the compulsory hijab, sparking other protests, 2017