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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.
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I guess it was the right day for us to see each other in a new and different way, even if his dog was always barking up the wrong tree, and I was more of a cat person.
He walked his dog past my place every day, and since dogs are creatures of habit, and I guess so are squirrels, there was always a squirrel, it seemed to wait for the dog, then go running and by the time his dog got to my tree to bark at it, the squirrel had long since jumped into the canopy of the neighbor's tree and was gone.
If I happened to be outside sitting on the porch, we'd say hello or wave, or maybe exchange a pleasantry or two, but I didn't even know his name and didn't think I'd be interested. After all, my first husband was enough in my book, a man who was kind and loving but always chasing the next dream that was going to make us rich that never quite worked and the only reason I had enough to live on was because I'd scrimped and hidden money in investments that were now keeping me out of poverty in my widowhood although not lavishly.
That day, for some reason, we got to chatting, and then really talking, and the next thing I knew I was actually letting both a dog and a man into my house for a light supper (Mr. Whippersnapper, the cat, was not impressed) and then we were spending time walking the dog together, among other things.
We've been together almost a decade now, our kids like it, the pets we have now grew up together, and I owe my present happiness to a dog that didn't quite know how to track a squirrel through a tree.
Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Tree.
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While Good Fences Around the World seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird, i still enjoy looking for and posting interesting fences, so i will! Ms. G's fence, near the sinkhole, needs attention after she gets the shed moved.
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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day! This week's image and my poem:
Hey, big guy, I gotta say
We little dogs have it ruff in a way,
So tiny I have to sit in her purse!
Sometimes being small is really a curse.
I know small's ruff, but big ain't so hot,
From us bigger dogs they expect a lot.
Pulling sleds or herding till you sleep like a log,
There's a reason they call it working like a dog!
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Brian of Brian's Home hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop. It's time to share something for which i am thankful.
Today i am thankful for books and reading. The last few nights i've not been able to sleep well, and i am thankful to be able to read myself to sleep when this happens.
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Today is:
Administrative Professionals Day (original date)
Aggie Muster -- Texas A&M University
Birthday of Rome -- Rome, Italy (753 BCE)
Feast of Wadjet (a/k/a Udjet or Buto) -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)
First Day of Ridvan -- Baha'i (began sunset yesterday; through May 2)
Get to Know Your Customers Day (celebrated the 3rd Thursday quarterly)
Grounation Day -- Rastafari (one of the Rastafarian's most important festivals, in honor of Haile Selassie's 1966 visit to Jamaica)
Harpa Month Begins -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (Harp, dedicated to young women as last month was dedicated to young men)
Sumardagurinn Fyrsti -- first day of summer, a legal holiday
Heroica Defensa de Veracruz -- Mexico (Heroic Defense of Veracruz)
Homecoming of the Elves -- Fairy Calendar (Singing Festival)
Iroquois Corn Planting Ceremony -- Iroquois Native Americans (three day celebration, always around this time of year)
John Muir Day -- US (American conservationist)
Kartini Day -- Indonesia (honoring a leader who helped emancipate women)
Kindergarten Day -- Germany; US (birth anniversary of Friedrich Froebel, in 1782, who began the first Kindergarten in Germany in 1837)
Mibu Dainembutsu Kyogen -- Mibu Temple, Kyoto, Japan (nine day festival of kyogen performances which dates back to 1299)
National Chocolate-Covered Cashew Truffle Day
National D.A.R.E Day -- US (by Presidential Proclamation)
National Tree Planting Day -- Kenya
Paralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (shepherd's festival of Pares, goddess of herders)
Queen's Birthday -- Falkland Islands; St. Helena(except Tristan da Cunha)
San Jacinto Day -- Texas, US
St. Anselm of Canturbury's Day
St. Bueno Gasulsych's Day (Patron of diseased cattle, sick animals, and sick children)
Tiradentes Day/Brasilia Day -- Brazil (honors Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, called "tooth puller", who fought for Brazilian independence)
Inauguration of Brasilia, Distrito Federal -- Brazil (anniversary of the 1960 inauguration of the new federal capital)
World Creativity and Innovation Day -- final day of World Creativity and Innovation Week, which always begins on DaVinci's birth anniversary
Birthdays Today:
Robert Smith, 1959
Andie MacDowell, 1958
James Morrison, 1954
Tony Danza, 1951
Patti LuPone, 1949
Iggy Pop, 1947
Charles Grodin, 1935
Elaine May, 1932
Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, 1926
Anthony Quinn, 1915
John Muir, 1838
Charlotte Bronte, 1816
Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel, 1782
Catherine the Great, 1729
Jan van Riebeeck, 1619
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"Annie"(Musical), 1977
"Inherit the Wind"(Play), 1955
"Arms and the Man"(Play), 1894
Today in History:
Traditional date for the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus, BC753
Marc Antony continues to battle the senators who assasinated Julius Caesar in the Battle of Mutina, which he loses, BC43
Henry VIII ascends the throne of England, 1509
Hernan Cortez lands in Veracruz, 1519
The Maryland Toleration Act is passed, granting religious freedom to all in that colony, 1649
Catherine the Great ends noble privileges in Russia, 1785
Tiradentes, leader of the independence movement in Brazil, is executed, 1792
Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat Mexican troops under Santa Ana, winning the Battle of San Jacinto and the independence of Texas, 1836
The first train crosses the first bridge over the Mississippi River, crossing from Rock Island, Illinois to Davenport, Iowa, 1855
Alexander Douglas patents the bustle, 1857
Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i' faith, declares his mission, 1863
The first firehouse pole is installed in a firehouse in NYC, 1878
The Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen)is shot down, 1918
The first Aggie Muster is held, a remembrance of fellow Texas A&M graduates who had died in the previous year, 1922
Brasilia is officially inaugurated as the capital of Brazil, 1960
In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang, 1989
Alexander Wolszczan announces his the discovery of extrasolar planets, 1994
The ashes of Timothy Leary and Gene Roddenberry are launched into orbit, 1997
By order of an Egyptian court, the name of Egypt's former President, Hosni Mubarak, is stripped from public spaces, schools and streets, 2011
Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks at the Extinction Rebellion protest in London, 2019
