Plenty to Do, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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If i ever get to Thankful Day and i'm not sliding in on a wing and a prayer (except during vacation week), it will be one for the record books.

This isn't the one for the record books.

For the second week in a row, i arrived at Becca's house to find her already awake and a bit agitated.  A quick application of breakfast solved it, and i'm thankful.  Also, i put a bug in her parents' ears about the fact that maybe she's just "hangry" when she gets that way first thing in the morning.

This past Sunday service included a recognition of those who have been members of our church for 50 years or more.  Ms. PA was one of them and since she is now bedridden, i took copies of the program and the small gift for her and ran it up to her on Monday for a surprise visit.  It was a joyful time, she was so happy and she loved the chocolates that were part of the gift.

(Side note, every woman i've ever known who is over 80 has a sweet tooth to beat the band and seems to subsist on nothing but sugar.  Is that universal or just my experience?)

Little Girl brought Coda and Bart on Tuesday morning and i'm so thankful to have a week with the pups.

Bart is learning to wait, like Coda does, for his food, sitting still and letting me put it down and step back, then waiting until i say, eat! to come and get it.

Ms. G left town and i am catsitting, and thankful it's going well.  CatCat is coming in the house at night most of the time, Buddy and Angel are well, when i get there in the morning there's no blood or fur and everyone is content.

One of the bird feeders over there was leaking seeds everywhere, and i was able to find the piece that had been pried off by a persistent raccoon, get it reattached and secured better, and refill the feeder.  So far, so good, although i'm sure the raccoon is not very thankful.  (He, the squirrels, and the possum family that lives under the deck get plenty from what falls out of the feeders, they're just greedy.)

#1 Son came by to get his packages and i was glad and thankful to see him.

Sweetie helped me at Ms. GA's house and i was able to get a good nap in on Friday, both a help on a week where i'm tending dogs and catsitting before the regular work even starts and again after work, too

He's also giving the dogs too many treats, and they are thankful for that.  Little Girl will be thankful it's only for a week.

The cat shelter was busy, busy, busy which is a joy to see.  There are still more new volunteers and that frees me up to clean the places that don't get enough attention.

Today i'm thankful i can take the dogs to visit Grandma, she always loves to see them.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Dyanne and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.   

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Today is:

Accession Day -- United Arab Emirates (accession of H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan)

Andorra La Vella Festival -- Andorra (through Monday)

Best Elf Awards -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of Everything Green Except Money -- Hooray for veggies! You'll need them before you have that root beer float.

Festival of Nut and Ra; Chief Festival of Thoth -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Hiroshima Day

Independence Day / National Day -- Bolivia; Jamaica

International Hangover Day -- always the day after International Beer Day, which should tell you something, and sponsored by the same group that does International Beer Day, which should tell you something more!

National Fresh Breath (Halitosis) Day -- shouldn't that read, anti-halitosis?

National Mustard Day -- US, sponsored by the National Mustard Museum 

National Root Beer Float Day -- A&W Root Beer really gets into this day 

Peace Festival -- Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima, Japan

Royal Queensland Show -- QLD, Australia

Sts. Justus and Pastor's Day (Patrons of Alcala, Spain; Madrid, Spain)

Tanabata Festival -- Sendai, Japan (Japan's largest Tanabata 'Star Festival', through the 8th)

Teinne Festival -- Ancient Celtic Calendar (Teinne, the Celtic Holy Fire, sometimes called Tan; date approximate)

Tisha B'Av -- Judaism (begins at sundown, through tomorrow; fast in remembrance of the destruction of the First Temple in 586BCE and the Second Temple in 79AD)

Transfiguration of the Lord -- Orthodox Christian

Wiggle Your Toes Day -- internet generated, and my suggestion is to celebrate it with a cool drink out by the pool!

Birthdays Today:

Romola Garai, 1982

Melissa George, 1976

Soleil Moon Frye, 1976

M. Night Shyamalan, 1970

Michelle Yeoh, 1962

Catherine Hicks, 1951

Dorian Harewood, 1950

Shirley Ann Jackson, 1946

Peter Bonerz, 1938

Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob, 1934

Andy Warhol, 1928

Robert Mitchum, 1817

Lucille Ball, 1911

Clara Bow, 1905

Hoot Gibson, 1892

Alexander Fleming, 1881

Louella Parsons, 1881

Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, 1861

Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1809 

Daniel O'Connell, 1775

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Help"(Album debut), 1965

Today in History:

Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada founds the city of Bogota, Colombia, 1538

Holland (The Dutch Republic) sells Brazil to Portugal and the two 

countries sign the Treaty of The Hague, 1661

The first private military school in the US, Norwich University, is 

founded in Vermont, 1819

The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg, 1845

William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by the electric chair, 1890

Alice Ramsey takes three friends (none of whom could drive) to become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, 1909

Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel, 1926

Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the world's oldest tree, is cut down by the US National Forest Service, for reasons even they cannot explain, 1964

The Federal Voting Rights Act is signed, 1965

A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimeters (13 inches) of rain in a day on Sydney, 1986

The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, 1990

NASA makes the still disputed announcement that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms, 1996

The incoming coalition government of the United Kingdom discontinues the use of the controversial ContactPoint database of all children in that country, 2010

After a century of silence, Mount Tongariro in New Zealand erupts, spreading volcanic ash across the country's central North Island and affecting airports, 2012

The Curiosity Rover, controlled by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, lands safely on the surface of Mars, 2012

The world's largest ever Pinball tournament, "Pinburgh," is held in Pittsburgh, PA, US, with 700 machines, 2015

In an attempt to end 5 years of civil war, South Sudanese President Salva Kilr and rebel leader Riek Machar sign the South Sudan Peace Accord, 2018

According to the World Resources Institute, a quarter of humanity is running out of water, 2019

Vandy

 A few weeks ago, while we were on vacation, Little Girl's close friend Annie came by each day and took care of our cats.  (She was earning money for her mission trip to Guatemala, and it was her first year doing it for us.  Though i was afraid she would be overwhelmed by our numbers -- no kittens, just all the adult cats -- she did a great job.  She can have the job every year from now on, as far as i am concerned.)

Now it's Little Girl's turn, as Annie's family is on a weekend family reunion getaway to the shore.  We are watching Vandy.

 

Vandy

Vandy is a pure bred Basenji, and he's very strong for his size and fast as he can be.  He is so strong that a few weeks ago he pulled Annie's mother right off her feet and she ended up with a huge black eye where she hit the pavement.  He even made Festus, who is over 6 feet tall and weighs over 200 lbs., stagger when he pulled on the leash unexpectedly.


Little Girl is keeping him part time at his house, and part time at ours.  He began his adventures here by, when Little Girl tied his leash to our front porch column like we used to do with the Hazelnut so she could grab his water bowl that was just inside the door, chewing through his leash and high-tailing it back home, with Little Girl in hot pursuit.

You can tell that the cats have mixed feelings about this.

Link's language has been downright forcible.

 Dansig doesn't seem to mind too much, but Link is using the worst language i've ever heard out of him, everyone else is staying clear, and even the kittens are preparing to sell their lives dearly.

Misha wants no part in this adventure.

At night, he sleeps in Little Girl's room, looking very down in the dumps, she tells me.  He misses his family.

During the day, she keeps him mostly over at his house, where she is enjoying spending a lot of time reading in the peacefully quiet and empty house.

He's mostly a good dog, and as i've said before, if i didn't have to walk one every day and if i could trust myself not to let the training slip up, i'd have a dog.  The cats might not agree, so maybe it's for the best that i just enjoy everyone else's dogs and stick to what i know i can handle.


Today is

Anne Hutchinson Memorial Day -- Portsmouth, RI, US (honoring Anne Marbury Hutchinson, co-founder of Portsmouth, in 1638)

Codman Estate Antique Auto Show -- Codman Estate, Lincoln, MA, US (a day to appreciate antique and classic cars, trucks, motorcycles, and fire engines)

Coldest Day Ever -- the lowest natural temperature ever recorded on Earth was -89.2 *C (-128.6 *F; 184.0 *K) at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica on this day in 1983

Concours D'elegance -- Forest Grove, OR, US (one of the premier vintage auto shows in the US)

Dornach Commemoration Day -- Dornach Battlefield and nearby city of Solothurn, Switzerland (victory in 1499 which ended the Swabian War)

Feast of Damo -- Ancient Greek Calendar (keeper of secrets of philosophy; daughter of Greek sages, Pythagoras and Theano, date approximate)

Feast of the Redeemer -- Venice, Italy (a procession of gondolas commemorating the end of the epidemic of 1575)

Galla Bayramy -- Turkmenistan (celebration of the wheat harvest)

Hemingway Birthday Celebration -- Hemingway Museum, Oak Park, IL, US

Independence Day / National Day -- Belgium(1830)

Kazanskaya -- Russia (Feast of Our Lady of Kazan)

Lakota Sun Dance -- Lakota Native Americans (festival of the sun god Wi, with offerings to Maka (mother earth) and Haokah (father sky), both aspects of Creator Tukaskanskan; dating approximate, as outsiders are usually no longer allowed at these multi-day ceremonies)

Liberation Day -- Guam (1944; from Japan)

Lucaria -- Ancient Roman Calendar ("Feast of Clearings", with prayers said as land was cleared for planting)

Luxembourg Beer Festival -- Diekirch, Luxembourg

National Ice Cream Day -- by US Presidential proclamation on the 3rd Sunday of July each year; at this time of year, the trick is to eat it fast enough that it doesn't melt, but not so fast that you get a brain freeze!

National Junk Food Day

Racial Harmony Day -- Singapore

Ragbrai / Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa(TM) -- Iowa, US (the oldest, largest and longest bicycle touring event in the world; through the 27th)

Sapporo Summer Festival -- Odori Park, Sapporo, Japan (through Aug. 20, the park becomes a beer garden)

Schoelcher Day -- French West Indies; Martinique (Schoelcher worked for abolition)

St. Lawrence of Brindisi's Day (Patron of Brindisi, Italy)

St. Praxedes' Day (Patron of single laywomen)

Touch Hammer's Birthday Bargain Day -- Fairy Calendar

Tug-Of-War Tournament Day -- if you have a problem with someone today, solve it with an old fashioned tug-of-war!


Birthdays Today

Hatty Jones, 1988
Josh Hartnett, 1978
Jon Lovitz, 1957
Michael Connelly, 1956
Robin Williams, 1951
Cat Stevens, 1948
Kenneth Starr, 1946
Norman Jewison, 1926
Don Knotts, 1924
Kay Starr, 1922
Isaac Stern, 1920
Marshall McLuhan, 1911
Ernest Hemingway, 1899


Today in History

Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, BCE 356
A tsunami devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt, 365
The first landing of French troops on the coast during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight, 1545
Twenty-four-year-old Scottish physician and explorer Mungo Park became the first European to see the Niger River, the third longest river in Africa, 1796
In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown, 1865
At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West, 1873
Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land, driving a 15-liter Gobron-Brille in Ostend, Belgium, 1904
In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100, 1925
Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission, 1969
After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed, 1970
The world's lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at -82.9*C (-129*F), 1983
The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years, 1997
NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135, 2011