Confusion and Avocado, 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.  

Before i get into my usual tales about Carl, i have to share something Becca told me at church this past Sunday.

She has been stumbling on occasion, and we need to help her work on her balance as the house they live in has stairs and we can't let her lose that skill.

This means we take stairs, carefully, at every opportunity at church, but she did something this last time she'd never done before.  Instead of grabbing the rail with one hand and starting down, she bent over to put both hands on the rail.  I offered her my hand instead and she took it, and i asked her if she was okay.

She said, "I just woke up on the wrong side of my brain this morning!"

Brilliant, and priceless.

Kiddo, i feel like that sometimes, too.

Walking into Carl's yesterday, he smiled at me and told me he'd already showered.  One step ahead on that front, i thought, then got to the laundry room.

I asked him if the wet items in both the washer and dryer were clean, and he wasn't sure.

The washer was set on spin only, not even rinse and spin this time.  "Did you wash first, then do an extra spin to get it dry?" i asked.

"Well,"  he said, "I think I washed it.  I hope.  Now I'm confused."

If Carl's confused, everything gets rewashed.

Then i headed into his room and couldn't open the door all of the way.

No, i don't know what he's doing with a sleeping bag, much less having it live behind his door.

He didn't have any dirty clothes in his baskets.  Of course not, they were all on the floor.  Usually, there's at least a few items in the baskets, but yesterday, not a single one.

There's no lunch box still, and i keep reminding him he needs to buy one.  I asked what he wanted with his sandwich yesterday, and he said, "I have an avocado..."

It was a whole avocado in the fridge.  Yes, he wanted the whole avocado in the bag.  I tucked in a sturdy disposable knife and hoped for the best.  Either the whole bag will not make it home because he ate everything, or i'm going to find a bag stuffed in his fridge next week with goop in it that was avocado.  Time will tell.

Avocados can be plenty funny and punny, so let's have a few avocado jokes.

Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Anniversary of the 3rd Druk Gyalpo -- Bhutan

Baby Day -- birth anniversary of Dr. Spock

Brothers and Sisters Day/Sibling Appreciation Day -- an internet generated holiday, not to be confused with National Siblings Day on April 10 each year

Carnival Day -- Sint Maarten

Community Day -- M, Spain

Day of Osiris going forth from his mountain -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Door-Banging and Window-Tapping Conference -- Fairy Calendar (Gremlins)

Flag Day -- Poland

Give Local America -- US (encouraging people to support local charities with the largest crowdfuning event in history)   

Holiday of the Region of Madrid -- Madrid, Spain

International Scurvy Awareness Day -- because yes, some people do still get this disease of Vitamin C deficiency 

King James Bible Day -- marking the publication in 1611 of the King James Version of the Bible

National Education Day -- Indonesia

National Play Your Ukulele Day -- just because it's fun!

National Truffles Day

Roberts Rules of Order Day -- birth anniversary of Henry M. Robert, author of the standard parliamentary guide Robert's Rules of Order

Rowdy Friends Day -- go look up the ones you haven't seen in a while

St. Athanasius the Great's Day

St. Zoe's Day

Teacher's Day -- Bhutan; Iran

Twelfth Day of Ridvan -- Baha'i

World Asthma Day -- International (Global Initiative for Asthma; this year's theme is "Asthma Care for All")  

Birthdays Today:

Sarah Hughes, 1985

Jenna Von Oy, 1977

David Beckham, 1975

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, 1972

Elizabeth Berridge, 1962

Christine Baranski, 1952

Larry Gatlin, 1949

Lesley Gore, 1946

David Suchet, 1946

Bianca Jagger, 1945

Engelbert Humperdinck, 1936

Roscoe Lee Browne, 1925

Theodore Bikel, 1924

Satyajit Ray, 1921

Dr. Benjamin Spock, 1903

Baron Von Richthofen, 1892

Hedda Hopper, 1885

Henry M. Robert, 1837

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Sunday in the Park with George"(Musical), 1984

"Peter and the Wolf"(Prokofiev Op. 67), 1936

"The Jack Benny Program"(Radio), 1932

Good Housekeeping(Magazine), 1885

"La Bottega del Caffe/The Coffee Shop"(Play), 1750

Authorized King James Version of the Bible(Publication date, by printer Robert Barker), 1611

Today in History:

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft, 1536

John Knox returns from exile to Scotland  to become the leader of the beginning Scottish Reformation, 1559

Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle, 1568

King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America, 1670

William Herschel discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris, 1780

Charles Fremantle founds the Swan River Colony in Australia, 1829

Peruvian defenders fight off Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao, 1866

Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for the first time, 1885

Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion, 1885

The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium, 1885

Hannibal W Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film, 1887

General Motors  acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware, 1918

Pearl S. Buck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Good Earth, 1938

The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1, makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg, 1952

Tennessee Williams is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1955

The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City, 1969

The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, opens, 1986

The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy, 1998

President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military, 2000

Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Myanmar killing over 130,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless, 2008

Conservationists determine poachers killed the last known rhinoceroses in Mozambique; these poachers worked with game rangers responsible for protecting them, 2013

New research published in the journal "Plos One" shows plants "talk" to each other through their roots and the soil in a study on corn, 2018 

For the first time, a drone delivers a kidney for transplant, to a hospital in Baltimore, MD, US, 2019

Second-only sketch known of Leonardo da Vinci (from Queen Elizabeth's collection) is revealed on the 500th anniversary of the artist's death, 2019

A clean-up on Mt Everest ends, having removed three metric tons (6,613 pounds) of rubbish and four bodies in just two weeks, 2019

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the Icelandic actor who played Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane in Game of Thrones, sets a world deadlifting record, lifting 501kg (1,104lb), 2020

After being closed for two years because of the pandemic, New Zealand reopens its borders to international travelers from 60 countries, 2022

Blue Heeler (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!

While i was at Grandma and Grandpa's house this past Saturday, #2 Son and his bride-to-be came down for a visit.  They brought Jock, the blue heeler, who is 14-months-old now and quite handsome.  He'll be staying with us for 10 days while his parents go on their honeymoon later this month.  Wish us luck, he squirms a lot and will probably pester the life out of the cats.

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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 Rhinos.                         

As with last Friday's topic, i found it rather difficult to get inspired (although i do have one longer poem i'm working on, who knows, maybe someday there will be a sonnet staring a rhino), so a few shorter poems will have to suffice.

The zookeepers weigh their rhinos

every week without fail.

They say it's like weighing a person,

only on a much larger scale.

*******

Last time i was at the safari park,

the rhino tried to charge me that day,

It took a lot of explaining that when

I'd come in, they'd already made me pay.

*******

Rhino skin is so very wrinkly,

and you'd have to measure it by the yard,

which is why we simply leave it,

to iron that much would be too hard.

*******

If I cross a rhino with an elephant,

would that even be relevant?

Well, I'll cross an elephant with a rhino,

and end with an 'ellifiknow'!

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Today is:

Agriculture Day and Labor Day -- Haiti

Amtrak Day -- the train service began this day in 1971

Beltaine / Samhain -- Wiccan/Pagan

Bladder Cancer Awareness Month  

Calends of May -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observances

     Day sacred to Maia

     Feast for Lares Praestites (household gods)

Childhood Stroke Awareness Month -- also called Pediatric Stroke Awareness Day, because kids can have strokes, too   

Chimney Sweeps Day -- the boys as young as 4 trained to help master sweeps got Mayday off each year

Constitution Day / National Day -- Marshall Islands

Executive Coaching Day -- a reminder, on what is most countries' Labor Day, that workers deserve great leaders

Faint-Hearted Fairies May (or May Not) Ball -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage -- Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines (pilgrimages to the shrine of Nuestra Sra de la Paz y Buen Viaje; through the month)

Festival of Saint Efisio -- Cagliari, Italy (one of the most colorful religious festivals anywhere in the world; through the 4th)

Garland Dressing -- Charlton on Otmoor, England (a wooden cross is bedecked with yew and box leaves)

Global Love Day -- sponsored by The Love Foundation 

Go Fetch! National Food Drive for Homeless Animals -- PALS Foundation 

Gujarat Day / Maharashtra Day -- MH, India

Journée Internationale de la Guérilla Tournesol / International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day -- begun in Belgium, now celebrated worldwide, guerrilla gardeners are encouraged to plant sunflowers (or an appropriate plant for their climate) in a neglected public place or shabby flower bed

Keep Kids Alive! Drive 25 Day -- 20-25mph in school zones, please   

Kevadpuha -- Estonia (Spring Day)

Law Day, USA -- US, by Presidential Proclamation

Lei Day -- Hawai'i (where you celebrate Mayday with a lei instead of mayflowers)

Loyalty Day -- US

May Day / Labor Day / Worker's Day -- International; celebrated as the beginning of summer in some places, as a Labor Day in others

Melanoma Monday -- learn how to check yourself for skin cancer, and how to get someone else to check your back, the most common spot for melanoma 

Mother Goose Day -- as declared by the Mother Goose Society 

National Chocolate Parfait Day

National Love Day -- Czech Republic (couples flock to the memorial of the poet Karel Hynek Mácha in Prague and kiss)

National Purebred Dog Day -- US (as proposed on this page)

New Homeowner's Day -- can't find confirmation on this one, listed at a few sites but no history or records of why this day

'Obby 'Oss (Hobby Horse) Parade -- Padstow, Cornwall, England (every May 1 since 1502, if the records are correct)

Play of St. Evermaar -- Belgium (annual performance of a mystery play, in its original form from over 1,000 years ago, by the village)

Riding of the Bounds -- Berwick-upon-Tweed, Casey, England (riders scour the countryside to be sure the Scots have not encroached upon English soil in this 5 century old tradition)

Rodonitsa -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (day to offer feasts to the ancestors, named for Rod, god of family and the cosmos)

Santacruzan / Flore de Mayo -- Philippines (lasts through the month, with the biggest celebratory days being May 26-27 this year)

Save the Rhino Day / Rhino Mayday -- International

School Bus Driver Appreciation Day -- US

School Principal's Day -- since teachers get a day, so should the principal

Silver Star Day -- US (to honor all military who have earned a Silver Star) 

SOS Radio Week -- UK (The Royal National Lifeboat Institution keeps the seas safer, and Radio Amateurs help them raise funds; it used to be a week, and though that's still the name, it now lasts the whole month of May)          

Stepmother's Day -- sponsored by secondwivesclub.com

St. Joseph the Worker's Day -- Holy See(Vatican City)

St. Peregrine Laziosi's Day (Patron of AIDS patients, cancer patients, and the sick; against cancer, open sores and skin diseases)

St. Walpurga's Canonization Day (The saint who banishes the evil from Walpurgis night.)

Swieta Panstwowe -- Poland (National Day)

Tammany's Day / St. Tamenend -- US soldiers in the Revolution wanted a patron saint to rival St. George of the British Army, and chose Delaware Indian chief and wise man Chief Tamenend, also called Tammany

Upper Canada Village -- Morrisburg, ON, Canada (through early October, various programs that let visitors and students enter the world of the 1860s)

Unity Day -- Kazakhstan

Virgen de Chapi Festival -- Peru

Yotaka Matsuri -- Fukuno, Toyama, Japan (enjoy floats, paper lanterns, and mock battles in this two day festival)

Zuni Green Corn Dance -- Zuni Native Americans (welcoming back the Corn Maidens who fled during the winter; dating approximate as many Native ceremonies are closed to outsiders)

Anniversaries Today:

Cheerios go on sale, 1941

Empire State Building Ribbon Cutting, 1931

Birthdays Today:

Wes Anderson, 1969

Tim McGraw, 1967

Charlie Schlatter, 1966

Steve Cauthen, 1960

Ray Parker, Jr., 1954

Paul Teutul, Sr., 1949

Rita Coolidge, 1945

Bobbie Ann Mason, 1940

Judy Collins, 1939

Sonny James, 1929

Charles "Chuck" Bednarik, 1925

Terry Southern, 1924

Jack Paar, 1918

Glenn Ford, 1916

Archie Williams, 1915

Kate Smith, 1909

Mark Clark, 1896

Leo Sowerby, 1895

Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Burke), 1852

Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, 1837

King Kamehameha I of Hawai'i, 1738

Joseph Addison, 1672

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"My One and Only"(Musical), 1983

Citizen Kane(Film), 1941

"Batman"(Detective Comics #27), 1939

"Buffalo Bill's Wild West"(touring Western show), 1883

"Le nozze di Figaro/The Marriage of Figaro"(Mozart Opera, K492), 1786

Today in History:

The Wars of Scottish Independence end with a treaty recognizing the Kingdom of Scotland as a separate entity, 1328

The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, 1707

Species Plantarum is published by Linnaeus, marking the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, 1753

Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood  pottery company in Great Britain, 1759

Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt establishes the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), 1776

Kamehameha, the king of Hawai'i defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawai'i, 1785

The British colonies abolish slavery, 1834

The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom, 1840

The first wagon train leaves from Independence, MO, bound for California, 1841

Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second, Asia's first modern police force is established, 1844

Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London, 1851

The Empire of Brazil, Argentina  and Uruguay  sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance, 1865

The Folies Bergère opens in Paris, 1869

Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States, 1884

The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic, 1915

The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris, 1927

The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named, 1930

The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City, 1931

The Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war, 1940

The Salk vaccine is made available to the public, 1956

Fidel Castro proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections, 1961

Amtrak is formed to take over the U.S. passenger rail service, 1971

Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, 1987

On the same day, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A's sets the record for stolen bases (his 939th), and Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers pitches his 7th career no-hitter, breaking his own record, 1991

Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, , 2004

Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden, 2009

Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, 2011

The U.N. Human Rights Office determine it is a violation of international law to force-feed hunger strikers at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison, 2013

Scotland becomes the first country in the world to introduce a minimum price on alcohol, 2018

Naruhito officially succeeds his father Akihito as the Emperor of Japan after the latter abdicated the day before due to ill health, 2019

New York City officially names a street "Sesame Street" in honor of the show's 50th anniversary, 2019