Moving Right Along (Cajun Joke) and Sunday Selections

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Just because Sandee of Comedy Plus is no longer hosting a Silly Sunday blog hop, do not expect me to quit telling Cajun jokes, especially as it has now become a habit.

The talk turned yesterday to a friend who had been laid off due to cutbacks, a man with a PhD in chemistry who had been doing research for many, many years.  Someone mentioned he could always teach.

Tee be workin' to try to unnerstan' de chemistry lesson from de school, an' someone done tole him dat if'n you can esplain som'pin to somebody else, you can unnerstan' it better youse'f.

So he be tryin' esplain pH to Boudreaux.  He say, "If'n a solution done gots a pH 'tween 1 an' 6, it done be a acid, an' if'n it gots de pH 'tween 8-14, it be de base, an' de pH o' 7 be neutral.  Distilled water done be a 7, it be neutral."

An' Boudreaux, allus tryin' to he'p, done ax, "Mais, if'n de pH o' de stilled water be 7, what de pH of de movin' water be?"

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Sunday Selections was started as a way for bloggers to use photos that might otherwise just languish in their files.  The rules have been relaxed, and it is now simply a showcase for your photos, new or old, good or bad, although nothing rude, please.  It is now hosted by Elephant's Child.   

This week, Mr. BA and i were talking about the plants, and he noted that his spider lilies have popped up for a second round this season, very unusual.

A few things that caught my eye this week at Ms. PA's house:

Last week, we had lots of clouds and a bit of rain on Wednesday.  The sky to the west was bright and sunny, the sky to the east still clouds, and so i was treated to a rainbow:

Finally, a few sunset pictures:

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Today is:

Ancestor Appreciation Day -- sponsored by the Ancestor Appreciation Day Association of Ann Arbor, MI, US

Banned Books Week begins -- US (sponsored by the ALA; Celebrating the Freedom to Read, It's Everybody's Job; celebrate your right to read what you want!)     

Crush a Can Day -- internet generated, so have fun seeing how many (safe) ways you can crush a can, and how flat you can get it!

Feast of Mashíyyat (Will) -- Baha'i

Fun and Fancy Free Day -- go out and have a great day, in honor of the release on this day in 1947 of the Disney film Fun and Fancy Free

French Community Holiday -- French Community of Belgium

Gold Star Mother's Day 2018 -- US (the day to honor mothers who have lost a child who was serving in the US Armed Forces)

Independence Day -- Turkmenistan (1991)

Meskel -- Ethiopian/Eritrian Orthodox Christian (True Cross Day)

National Corned Beef Hash Day

National Milk Chocolate Day

Shut Up and Let Somebody Else Talk Day -- begun by someone with an overly verbose spouse, perhaps?

St. Vincent De Paul's Day (Patron of charitable societies/charitable workers, charities, horses, hospital workers, hospitals, lepers, prisoners, spiritual help, volunteers; Brothers of Charity; Saint Vincent de Paul Societies; Sisters of Charity; Vincentian Service Corps; Madagascar; Richmond, Virginia; for finding lost objects; against leprosy)

Thanksgiving Day for Disappearance of Kelp-Koli Again -- Fairy Calendar

World Rivers Day -- International   

World Tourism Day -- World Tourism Organization   

Yom Kippur -- Judaism (begins at sundown)

Anniversary Today:

Google is founded, 1998

Birthdays Today:

Avril Lavigne, 1984

Gwyneth Paltrow, 1972

Bello Nock, 1968

Sophia Milos, 1965

Shaun Cassidy, 1958

Mike Schmidt, 1949

Marvin "Meat Loaf" Aday, 1947

Delores Taylor, 1939

Claude Jarman, Jr., 1934

Greg Morris, 1934

Wilford Brimley, 1934

Sada Thompson, 1929

Arthur Penn, 1922

William Conrad, 1920

Jayne Meadows, 1919

Thomas Nast, 1840

Raphael Semmes, 1809

George Muller, 1805

George Cruikshank, 1792

Samuel Adams, 1722

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Tonight Show"(TV), 1954

Strike Up The Band(Film), 1940

"Rip Van Winkle"(Bristow opera), 1855

Today in History:

Severe earthquake in the Gulf of Chili, China; reports of 100,000 killed, 1290

Jesuits founded by Ignatius Loyola, 1540

John Adams negotiates peace terms with Britain, 1779

Constitution submitted to the states for ratification, 1787

Jean-Francois Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone, 1822

The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens, and begins operation of the world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains, 1825

The physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc²,1905

The first production of a Ford Model T automobile rolls off the line at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan, 1908

First test of a twin engine airplane, in France, 1910

Native American Day is first celebrated, 1916

Democratic National Committee votes to allow female members, 1919

The first Santa Clause Training School opens in Albion, NY, 1937

The Balinese tiger is declared to be an extinct species, 1937

Sierra Leone joins the United Nations, 1961

Richard Stallman announces the GNU project to develop a free Unix-like operating system, 1983

East Timor joins the United Nations, 2002

CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7, 2008

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity discovers direct evidence of a fast-moving stream bed, showing a prior water source on the Red Planet, 2012

Thai Ex-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra found guilty of criminal negligence in rice subsidy scheme, sentenced to 5 years in absentia, 2017

Aired Up, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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First, an aside.  As to brushing my teeth with Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap, the Peppermint one, i started doing that several years ago.  One small bottle of the liquid soap lasts me several years, as you only use a drop, it gets teeth very, very clean, and the very first time i went to Sweetie's dentist he said i had some of the nicest teeth he's seen in a long time.  Once you get used to the taste, it actually grows on you.

There's a first thankful right there, i am thankful to the friend who mentioned several years ago that she uses this soap instead of toothpaste.  It's a great alternative for those who cannot use the conventional dentifrices.

As for the rest of the thankfuls, well, we have to start last Saturday.

Last Saturday, on the way to Grandma and Grandpa's house with Coda, i was startled out of countenance to hear a loud dinging in the car, and seeing the light on the dash which indicates that a tire has low pressure.

Of course, it happened in a construction zone on the freeway in the dark and rain before dawn, so i am very thankful that i managed to get to the next exit.

The first gas station at which i stopped told me their air machine was broken, and i am thankful i stopped in to ask before parking by it and trying it and finding that out for myself the hard way.

The next station already had someone at the air machine, and he was getting back in his car in the drizzle, muttering about how you have to have quarters.  That seemed like a good sign to me, i was thankful at least it was working at all.

Pulling up to the machine, i went in to beg for change, as i had plenty, but just not too many quarters and it takes six; i was ready to offer them extra change to simply get quarters.  This is where thankful things pile up.  The nice people said they were going to turn the air on for me free of charge, as they didn't want me to be out there in the rain trying to struggle to pay for enough air.  They had fix-a-flat, which i purchased to have on hand just in case.  Equally thankfully i had the money in the checking account to pay for the fix-a-flat, as i had been paid by Mr. BA.  

When i went back out to try to put the air in, thankful that this particular kind of machine measures the tire pressure for you as i did not have a gauge, the man who had been there before me and left pulled back up behind me and offered to do it for me.  He was quick and efficient, and they had told him he could use the machine free, also.

Thankfully, none of the tires were really that terribly flat.  All of them were just a bit low, one of them one pound lower than the rest, and it was enough to set off the alarm.  The nice gentleman filling my tires reassured me that sometimes tires can lose air when the weather changes, and the weather had gotten much cooler for a couple of days.

Where was Coda all this time?   Thankfully, that very well behaved dog was sitting in the back seat, behaving.  There wasn't a peep out of her with all of my moving the car from place to place, running into and out of the stores at the gas stations, and a strange man running around the car playing with the tires.

The rest of the trip down and back was uneventful, for which i am thankful, and i did not have to mention it to Grandpa.  That's a thankful because he would have insisted on taking the car to the shop to have the tires checked for leaks, which they might not have been able to do last minute on a Saturday, and he would have wanted me to stay until Monday, and it would have been quite the big to-do.  It's nicer when there's no to-do, i am thankful it never had to come to that.

While i was down there, Little Girl called to say she'd come back into town, she was released from her orders.  We are thankful she's back, and Coda is especially thankful as she got to go home with her favorite person.

The rest of the week has been good, we got rain on Wednesday and are thankful it was just enough and not too much.  Our temps were cooler until Friday afternoon when the cloud cover broke, so we were thankful not to be sweltering.

Sweetie is thankful for the chiropractor, i am thankful he's feeling better and can come with me to NOLA today to do the cleaning.

Finally, a really, really odd thankful thing, one i never thought of before.  Just over a month ago, i placed an order online with a vitamin company i'd used several times before with no incident.  This last time, though, they contacted me after they'd shipped the items and said that Paypal had cancelled the payment to them.

It was very odd, but i went ahead and called their toll free number and paid with my debit card.  The whole thing left me wondering why Paypal would do that, i've had no trouble with any such thing before.

Then i got on the vitamin website on Thursday to place an order, and noticed that for my previous order which cost about $35, the amount i paid over the phone, they had tried to bill Paypal $75!  No wonder Paypal wouldn't let it through, i am so glad they didn't.  Thank you, Paypal, for not approving a transaction for so much above what i had agreed to pay.

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:

Bureflux -- Discordian Calendar

Cobweb Pie Making Day -- Fairy Calendar

Dia de la Bandera Nacional -- Ecuador (Day of the National Flag)

Dominion Day -- New Zealand (trad.)

European Day of Languages -- European Union

Fall Astronomy Day -- Bringing Astronomy to the People (local astronomical societies, planetariums, museums and observatories sponsor public viewings, presentation, workshops, etc., to increase public awareness of astronomy and our amazing universe) 

     sponsored by The Astronomical League; find out what your local astronomy society is doing today, and go enjoy

Family Health and Fitness Day USA  

Festival of Venus Genetrix -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Fish Amnesty Day (same as National Hunting and Fishing Day in the US, because it hurts fish to be caught!)

International Rabbit Day -- learn to care for these wonderful pets and promote responsible rabbit ownership   

International Tool Day -- internet generated, now gladly embraced by toolmakers

Johnny Appleseed Day -- birth anniversary of John Chapman

Kiwanis Kids' Day -- local clubs sponsor events for kids on the fourth Saturday of September

Love Note Day -- take pen and paper and send that special someone a love note today, the idea of Leona Hamel of QC, Canada

Mesothelioma Awareness Day -- bringing to light this cancer caused by asbestos exposure 

National Hunting and Fishing Day -- US   

National Pancake Day

National Public Lands Day -- US (Helping Hands for America's Lands -- a day to volunteer on America's Public Lands) 

Old Holy Rood Day -- OS calendar (the day blackberries become unsafe for picking) related observance

     Mid-Autumn Day -- Scottish Highlands (traditional; considered the day harts begin to mate and a weather prognostication day)

Search for Your Baseball Cards Again Day -- on lots of trivia sites; recommended because you never know

September Revolution Day -- Yemen (a/k/a First Revolution Day)

Sts. Cosmas and Damian's Day (Patrons of apothecaries/druggists/pharmacists, barbers, blind people, chemical industry/manufacturers, doctors/physicians/surgeons, hairdressers, midwives, people with hernias; Alberobello, Italy; Ossimo, Italy; against blindness and pestilence) related observance:

     Begin now to lay in supplies for your Michaelmas supper on the 29th

Thimphu Tsechu / Thimphu Drubchen -- Thimphu, Bhutan (three day Drukpa Buddhism tshechu festival, sacred masked dances dedicated to Bhutan's protective spirit which tourists may watch but are strictly prohibited from taking pictures; this is Bhutan's largest tshechu and has been held every year since 1867)

United States Postal Service Day -- US (the first postmaster general under the current constitution, Samuel Osgood, was appointed this day in 1789)

World Contraception Day -- International

Birthdays Today:

Serena Williams, 1981

Lawrence Leritz, 1962

Melissa Sue Anderson, 1962

Linda Hamilton, 1956

Jane Smiley, 1949

Mary Beth Hurt, 1948

Olivia Newton-John, 1948

Lynn Anderson, 1947

Brian Ferry, 1945

Anne Robinson, 1944

Kent McCord, 1942

Julie London, 1926

Jack LaLanne, 1914

George Gershwin, 1898

T.S. Eliot, 1888

Edmund Gwenn, 1877

John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman, 1774

St. Francis of Assisi, 1181

Debuting/Premiering Today:

George(Magazine), 1995

"Knight Rider"(TV), 1982

"The Brady Bunch"(TV), 1969

"Hawaii Five-O"(TV), 1968

"Gilligan's Island"(TV), 1964

"The Beverly Hillbillies"(TV), 1962

"West Side Story"(Musical), 1957

"Lucia di Lammermoor"(Opera), 1835

"The Gladiator"(Play), 1831

Today in History:

In keeping a vow he made at the Battle of Pharsalus, Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix, BC 46

Sir Francis Drake returns to England with Spanish treasure, 1580

In a battle between Venetians and Turks in Athens, the Parthenon and Acropolis are seriously damaged, 1687

New Jersey passes a bill requiring a license to practice medicine, 1772

Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first Secretary of State of the US, 1789

Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson proved tomatoes weren't poisonous by eating several on the steps of the courthouse in Salem, New Jersey, 1820

The Diamond Match Company patents book matches, 1892

New Zealand and Newfoundland each become dominions within the British Empire, 1907

Indonesia is admitted to the United Nations, 1950

Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time, 1973

The United Kingdom agrees to the handover of Hong Kong, 1984

An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse, 1997

Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy becomes first person to fly a jet engine-powered wing across the English Channel, 2008

Georgia changes its second language from Russian to English, 2010

Saudi Arabia announces it is overturning its ban on women driving, the last country in the world to do so, 2017