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Although in my better moments i know it is not true, sometimes i wonder if no good deed goes unpunished.
On Tuesday, a fine autumn day, i decided to walk across the street to our polling place and do my civic duty by casting a ballot. I had done my due diligence by studying the slate of candidates for each office and thoroughly familiarizing myself with the amendments and propositions, as i figure if i'm going to vote i might as well be an informed and conscientious voter.
All was going well, the line was not long, the bit of time spent in line was passed talking to a neighborhood friend i haven't seen in a while, i had my ID at hand and then i bent over to sign the book and felt a "pop" in my back and the pain started.
Fighting for control, i signed, got in the booth and used my cheat sheet i always take with me to quickly make my selections, thanked the poll workers and got my "I voted" sicker, then got a ride home from that neighborhood friend as there was no way i'd have been able to walk back.
Be careful out there, people, back pain doesn't play nice.
Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Play.
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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!
Some people like these horizontal style fences, and while they're okay, all i can think of is that if we'd had such a fence when the kids were growing up, they'd have used it as a ladder and been out of the back yard in a heartbeat!
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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day! This week's image and my poem:
they say, "grow up!" but we refuse
to get stale and old we do not choose
we'll splash in the puddles on a rainy day
have fun in life along our way
they say, "grow up!" but we already did
and now we're going to throw off the lid
enjoy the times that now remain
splashing the puddles here in the rain
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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 ice packs and being able to use my work apron to hold one tight against my back as i work.
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Today is:
Area Code Day -- US (went into effect this day in 1951)
Ashi Vanguhi -- Ancient Persian Calendar/Zoroastrian (celebration of Ashi Vanguhi, or Holy Blessing; date approximate, but always two days after a full moon around this time of year)
Day of Russian Militsiya -- Russia
Dia de la Tradicion -- Argentina (birth anniversary of Jose Hernandez)
Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Beacon Lighting -- Split Rock Lighthouse, Two Harbors, MN, US (memorial for the Edmund Fitzgerald and all who have lost their lives in Great Lakes shipwrecks)
First Cry of Independence Day / Los Santos Uprising Day -- Panama (an official flag day)
Forget-Me-Not Day -- informal day to spend a bit of time with relatives you don't see often
Goddess of Reason's Day (Revolutionary France)
Guinness World Records' Day -- celebrating ordinary people who do extraordinary things, go try for a record! anniversary of the day in 1951 that Sir Hugh Beaver got the idea to create a book supplying answers to much debated questions, such as which game birds are the fastest fliers
The Guinness World Records Book now holds the title of the best-selling copyrighted book of all time, and is one of the most frequently stolen books from US libraries!
Hari Pahlawan -- Indonesia (Heroes' Day/Warrior's Day)
Martini -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (beginning of winter festival that starts on Martinmas Eve)
Maputo Day -- Maputo, Mozambique
National Toothpaste Appreciation Day -- not official, but i'm sure the dentifrice industry loves this one
National Vanilla Cupcake Day
Sleep Dangerously Night -- internet generated, a night to switch sides of the bed with your spouse and see who falls out of bed first
St. Andrew Avellino's Day (Patron of apoplexics, for a holy death, stroke victims; Badlato, Naples, and Sicily, Italy; stroke victims; for a holy death; against apoplexy, strokes, and sudden death)
St. Martin's Eve -- Germany; Portugal (Martimas Eve)
USMC Day -- US (anniversary of founding in 1775, includes the Marine Corps Birthday Ball)
Wish-Spoiling Sports Day -- Fairy Calendar (Imps, Gremlins, and grumpy Goblins)
World Science Day for Peace and Development -- UN
Anniversaries Today:
Establishment of Badlands National Park, SD, US, 1978
Establishment of the United States Marine Corps, 1775
Birthdays Today:
Ellen Pompeo, 1969
Vanessa Angel, 1963
Neil Gaiman, 1960
MacKenzie Phillips, 1959
Sinbad, 1956
Roland Emmerich, 1955
Ann Reinking, 1949
Donna Fargo, 1949
Tim Rice, 1944
Russel Charles Means, 1940
Russel Means, 1939
Roy Scheider, 1932
Richard Burton, 1925
Jane Froman, 1907
Claude Rains, 1889
Friedrick Voon Schiller, 1759
Oliver Goldsmith, 1728
William Hogarth, 1697
Martin Luther, 1483
Debuting/Premiering Today:
Microsoft Windows, 1983 (sometimes so slow, it's called "win-doze")
"Sesame Street", 1969
Today in History:
Rene Descartes has the dreams that inspire his Meditations on First Philosophy, 1619
The Dutch formally cede New Netherlands to the English; it is renamed New York, 1674
France ends forced worship of God, substitute the Goddess of Reason, 1793
The US state of Kentucky outlaws dueling, 1801
Stanley presumes that he has met Livingston in Ujiji, Central Africa, 1871
The first Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting is held in Boston, 1891
The first Gideon Bible is put in a hotel room, 1908
Hirohito ascends the throne as Emperor of Japan, 1928
The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston, 1958
The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board, 1975
A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history, 1979
The communist regime of Bulgaria falls, 1989
The "Codex Leicester", the only Leonardo da Vinci manuscript owned in the United States and the only one in the world still in private hands, was sold at auction to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who paid $30.8 million, 1994
Thousands of people people march toward the royal palace of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur to hand over a memorandum to the King demanding electoral reform, 2007
Vietnam evacuates about 600,000 citizens under the threat of Typhoon Haiyan, 2013
The Collins English Dictionary chooses "Lockdown" as the word of the year, 2020
China and the US announce plans to work together on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, 2021