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There are weeks where Thankful Day finds me with lots of separate things to list, and weeks where just a few events have made an impact.
Most of this week relates to Ms. S. First, i had a brainstorm about her shopping. The week i clean for Ms. RW, i don't have as much time to be with Ms. S on Tuesday. If shopping needs to get done, it makes for a very long day, so this week i took the list and Ms. S's debit card with me on Monday afternoon and got to the store when it opened at 7am Tuesday, then went to Ms. RW's house, then to Ms. S.
It worked beautifully, no late afternoon crowds and i got almost everything on the list.
Ms. S has had more than her share of troubles this week, she's been so weak at times she couldn't even stand up. She's had horrible "digestive trouble," and Sweetie said, "It's like cholera or dysentery, the disease doesn't kill you, the dehydration and depletion of electrolytes does."
Bingo. She was supposed to receive a medication almost two weeks ago that the doctor ordered to help with this problem, and the insurance took extra time approving it, the pharmacy dropped the ball, she hasn't had it, and she's gotten weaker and sicker from dehydration and electrolyte depletion. She got to where she was afraid to eat or drink, it would inevitably "set things off" with her digestive trouble.
When i called her daughter-in-law and told her all of this, the lights went on, the pharmacy got a call, her son came in town and made sure he got the medicine to her, and we have hope she may not be so far gone as we thought. Lots of praying going on over this, if it doesn't help, she will be going to the 24-hour assistance place that she fears above all else.
Ms. G, my Wednesday lady, spent all of our "frozen week" feeding the birds even more than their usual rations. She said, "They were pretty pitiful, and there were more of them than usual."
My first job this past Wednesday was cleaning out all of the spent seed from the porch and patio. Then she put more seed out, and we both got the treat of getting to watch the sparrows and a female cardinal very shyly sneak in, one or two at a time, until there was quite a pretty little flock all feasting. It's not often i get to stop and bird watch, it was lovely.
As we headed out to do the office and Ms. SE's house on Thursday, i am very thankful Sweetie remembered that he'd not yet put in his glaucoma drops before we left the neighborhood and got to the highway. Next to remembering before you leave, remembering before you get too far away is a blessing and a thankful thing.
Finally, a fun thing for me. Ms. RW's vacuum cleaner had a broken part she'd taped back together (it's been working fine like that for us for several weeks) and it needed new filters. She'd bookmarked the parts she needed to order, and then decided to simply treat herself to a new vacuum cleaner and ordered it.
While i was there Tuesday, she told me it was due to arrive soon, and i asked her what to do with the old one. She said to just throw it out, and i asked her if i could have it.
She said i could, and i asked her to forward me the info for ordering the part and the filters, since this model is discontinued it needs to come from Ebay.
The whole rest of the time i was cleaning, i was so excited! Little Girl borrowed my vacuum over a year ago, so i've been back to sweeping carpets with a broom again since then. When i told Ms. RW how excited i was to finally have another vacuum, she could hardly believe it, and she offered to order the parts for me herself, as a gift!
Until you've spent as long as i have sweeping carpets with a broom, you don't know how much a good vacuum cleaner means, and this is a good one.
All is well at the shelter, we are thankful kitten season hasn't started yet, it's a needed break.
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:
Aspirin Day -- Bayer received its US patent for the medicine on this day in 1900
Butter Lantern Festival -- Tibet (the final celebration of the Tibetan New Year)
Day of Selene -- Ancient Greek Calendar (goddess of the moon, date approximate)
Equirria -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Cavalry Horse Festival)
Feast of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows/Gabriel Possenti (Patron of clerics, students, young people; Abruzzi, Italy; Catholic Action)
Full Snow Moon -- sometimes also called the Full Hunger Moon, as the most snow falls this month and finding food is hardest
Meaka Bochea -- Buddhist (celebration of the final sermon of Buddha)
Navam Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka
Spring Lantern Festival -- China (final day of the Chinese New Year celebrations)
Tabodwe Full Moon -- Myanmar (month of Hta-Ma-Ne Feast, the harvest festival of Thanksgiving)
Guru Ravidas Jayanti/Magha Purnima -- CH, HP, HR, MP, and PB, India
Independence Day -- Dominican Republic(1844)
International Sword Swallowers Day
Majuba Day -- South Africa (celebration of the Boers victory at Majuba Hill)
National Kahlua Day
National Strawberry Day -- no, i don't know why this isn't in June, when the berries are best; maybe the person who put it here had too much Kahlua
No Brainer Day - this day is for me! created by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith, "America's Premier Eventologist"
Open That Bottle Night -- time to finally drink that bottle of wine you've been saving for a special occasion; after all, the final Saturday in February only comes once a year (sponsored by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher of The Wall Street Journal)
Polar Bear Day -- as declared by Polar Bears International
Read Five Pages in the Dictionary Day -- internet generated, and am i the only one who likes the idea?
Runic Half Month Tyr commences (cosmic pillar)
St. Galmier of Lyon's Day (Patron of locksmiths)
The Hop -- Fairy Calendar
Threepenny Day -- Eton College, England (By the last will of two Provosts in the 16th century, each boy receives a threepenny piece on this day -- enough to buy half a sheep back then.)
Anniversary Today:
African Burial Ground National Monument is established, 2006
Birthdays Today:
Josh Groban, 1981
Chelsea Clinton, 1980
Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, 1971
Grant Show, 1963
Adam Baldwin, 1962
Michael Bolton, 1953
Alan Guth, 1947
Mary Fran, 1943
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, 1942
Howard Hesseman, 1940
Ralph Nadar, 1934
Elizabeth Taylor, 1932
Joanne Woodward, 1930
Ariel Sharon, 1928
John Connally, 1917
James Thomas Farrell, 1904
John Steinbeck, 1902
Gene Sarazen, 1902
Marian Anderson, 1897
David Sarnoff, 1891
Hugo La Fayette Black, 1886
Alice Hamilton, 1869
Ellen Terry, 1847
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807
Constantine I, 272
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"What Makes Sammy Run?"(Musical), 1964
"Road to Utopia"(Film), 1946
Today in History:
The first Russian Embassy arrives in London, 1557
The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland, 1560
Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci, 1626
Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I, 1670
The Pacific island of New Britain is discovered, 1700
Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire, 1812
The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti, 1844
Composer Robert Schumann is saved from a suicide attempt in Rhine, 1854
Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland, 1861
The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships, 1870
Charlotte E. Ray becomes the first African American woman to earn a law degree, from Howard University, 1872
Lord Kitchener opens Khartoum-El Obeid (Nyala) railway, 1912
Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14, 1940
The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over, 1964
The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1973
People magazine is published for the first time, 1974
U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated", 1991
A Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, 2002
The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years, 2007
Central Chile is hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, 2010
Wikileaks begins releasing 5 million emails from Stratfor, a private intelligence company, 2012
At Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his farewell address, 2013
The smallest baby boy ever born who grew enough to be released from the hospital goes home from a Tokyo hospital, after an original birth weight of 268g (9.45oz), 2019
Doctors announce the world's second known case of semi-identical twins, a boy and girl from Brisbane, Australia, 2019
Astrophysical Journal publishes the results of a study of the largest cosmic explosion ever detected from a supermassive black hole in the Ophiuchus galaxy, 2020
