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Our Daily Thread 4-11-14

Good Morning!

It’s Friday!!!

Today’s header photo is from Janice.

On this day in 1814 Napoleon was forced to abdicate his throne. The allied European nations had marched into Paris on March 30, 1814. He was banished to the island of Elba. 

In 1941 German bombers blitzed Conventry, England.  

In 1951 President Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur as head of United Nations forces in Korea. 

And in 1985 scientists in Hawaii measured the distance between the earth and moon within one inch. 

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Quote of the Day

“There is no sanctuary of virtue like home.”

Edward Everett

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Today is Jean-Joseph Mouret’s birthday.

It’s Michael Card’s too. And with Phil Keaggy.

And it’s Tammy Trent’s as well.

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Anyone have a QoD?

62 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 4-11-14”

  1. Up an at em, everybody!
    It’s Friday!
    You know what that means?

    The Y and Lions, and I need to start getting stuff into the ground, even though we don’t have bees or earthworms. I’m gonna do it.

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  4. Mornin’, Chas! Have fun at Lions and I hope your planting goes well.

    I’m headed to Belton, TX (close to Temple/Waco) today about noon for my niece’s mother/daughter weekend at her college. Originally, my sister was coming, but she missed her flight.

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  6. I firmly believe that Chas could have done that measuring. Not sure how.
    Friday is ending and looking forward to a quiet weekend. Feeling a little grumpy as was given some documents to update at noon today. No one has mentioned those documents for over a year. Oh, well…

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  7. Good morning, evening and all the between times to all. I have to make an early morning delivery for husband. Trying to discern best way to avoid traffic. I just need Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang that can take wings and fly!

    The plant in the photo is my latest excuse for not mowing. It is the ajuga ground cover. I have two sizes planted and this is the larger. The flower spikes are probably four inches tall and the smaller plants are half that tall. As you can tell, there are all kinds of weeds, etc., growing with it. I want just ajuga to be there. This is on the bank beside our driveway and it goes up to where the Birthday Tree is planted.

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  9. Purple flowers! It must be spring. 🙂

    I went to bed early but then woke up at around 3:30 and could not go back to sleep. Gonna be a long day I’m afraid.

    But it is Friday.

    Janice, are all the late-filers going to be surging into the H&R Blocks and other offices this weekend? I remember covering the final day of tax filing a few years ago, they sent me out to interview people lugging in all their paperwork for the year, some in paper bags. 🙂 Guess it’s usually folks how will owe money who figure they might as well do it late.

    I’m not an early filer, but do try to get it done by mid- to late-March.

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  10. Good Morning. What a difference a good night’s sleep can make.
    Chas, the other night we were watching History2 Channel and they were talking about the space program. I can’t remember the name but it was where they sent up satellites to take photos and dropped the real film back down to Earth in little capsules with a parachute. I thought of you and what you have told us.

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  12. My federal has been done, we wanted our money back early. The local are done, owed nothing more than what they took already. Same goes for the state, I’ll finish that tomorrow.

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  13. Y’all are fortunate to have your tax returns complete. Some years our return is done early, but not this year. There are those who wait until the last minute, maybe they are the ones who like to be in the muddle of stressful situations because they enjoy the zombie looks of staff and the crowds mingling and waiting. Our office only does a few walk-ins. Most are by appointment, especially as it gets down to the wire. We have been in the long line at the post office at midnight on April 15th seeking the valuable post mark showing it got in on time.

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  16. I shouldn’t talk, though, I’ve done both of those things at the last minute in the past. 😉 E-filing is a wonderful thing — I’m only sorry I forgot to ask my guy to set up direct deposit. Looks like I’ll be waiting for paper checks now.

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  17. Kim, that was top secret stuff back in those days. I was astounded when I first saw those images. That was in 1964. You can see better on Google Earth today. Makes me wonder what the technology is like today. I knew what they were doing in 1990, but have no idea what it is today.
    To retrieve the photos, the capsule was dropped from the satellite and de-orbited. The capsule was then snagged by a plane. If the snagging wasn’t successful, as sometimes it wasn’t, the Navy had to get it. That didn’t happen often, but it did happen.
    The lunar photography was transmitted back to Earth and then reconstructed. That presented lots of technical challenges because there were distortions in the imagery. And there was no ground control. I presented a couple of papers to the ASP (American Society of Photogrammetry) Convention on that.
    It was the most fun job I ever had. Challenges were great, but the rewards were too.

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  18. I e-filed my federal because I already paid the fee when I bought TurboTax. I didn’t e-file the state form because they charge me for that.
    As a matter of principle, I mail it in. The benefit is for the state to get it online, Why should they charge for something that if to their benefit.
    You don’t remember this, but years ago, the telephone company charged for push button dialing that replaced rotary. I kept the rotary. It was the company’s benefit to have push buttons or quick-dial. They wanted us to pay. I’m sure that is hidden somewhere in the present bill.

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  19. We used to get our taxes in ASAP. We especially did this when our children were in college, since the earlier the better for possible financial aid. Unfortunately, we now have a couple of places that send out their statements very, very late. It is quite irritating. My husband got them to the preparer yesterday, finally. We haven’t found out what we will have to pay or what we may get back. It is usually a wash between federal and state.

    Our state actually told people to file later, since there were still questions about the taxes. I guess those who filed early will get refunds, if they overpaid, now that things are settled. Ridiculous! That’s government for you.

    It is always interesting to see the new picture with the writing from the day before under it. I could not imagine these flowers were slobbering, but they did look big. 😉 Very pretty!

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  21. I’ve a busy, yet good, day today: off to walk the lake with my 13-year Friday walking pal. We’re going early because I have to be in the Redwoods at a conference center at 9 for a half-day retreat with the PCC folk. (Dear God, thank you! I need this so badly!). Must bug out 15 minutes early to catch a long-overdue doctor appointment and immediately go to church for a musicians rehearsal.

    I told my husband dinner was up to him tonight.

    He was shocked, then relieved to learn we have plenty of leftovers. He not only has to work from home, but he’s got a visiting Australian sheepdog to dog sit!

    Blessings to your days and nights!

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  23. Good Morning! Janice I had quite a bit of ajuga in my front garden when we lived in town…boy does it ever spread and I love the purple flowers! I have planted several ajuga plants out here in the forest, but, I doesn’t grow as well out here…I don’t know if it’s due to the cooler temps or if it is the elevation…but at least it grows somewhat 🙂
    We filed our federal a couple weeks ago…we will send in our state in a couple of days…we always owe the state for some reason…
    Two more days left of Spring before the snow flies again..I’m off to have breakfast with my friends…stay safe out there…praying for a good trip and wonderful visit with your niece Ann…you are a sweet Auntie..and I am certain your sister cherishes you for doing this…sad that she missed her flight…will she be rescheduling a visit soon? I hope so!

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  27. You guys always make me smile.

    In Canada, the CRA has shut down their website and if you hadn’t e-filed already you can’t until the heart bleed bug is fixed. Glad we got our taxes done early and already received our refund.

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  28. Ok, I tried to do what Peter L did, be repetitive, because, in my experience, it tells you you are making a duplicate statement and won’t let you. At first it did not post, then it did. Then I tried to do the same about Donna but I got the duplicate statement comment. How am I ever going to figure out technology it if keeps changing?

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  29. Mumsee, just buy a pair of those ballet pointe shoes so you can stay on your toes to keep up.

    Difference between boys and girls? When neighbor had first two children who were girls I rarely ever heard them. Third child was a boy and things got much more lively!

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  30. I had trouble posting so I refreshed the screen, didn’t see my post so I reposted. At one point I got the “you’ve already posted that” message, but when I refreshed the screen again it wasn’t there. I agree with mumsee, that we almost elderly folks have a hard time adjusting to something that is ever changing.

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  31. There seems to be a lag time on some posts appearing — I posted something on the political thread that didn’t show up for several minutes. I almost posted it again but remembered what happened when I did that last night and refrained. Eventually it showed up. 🙂

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  32. Oh, it’s ajuga in the photo. That might be what I’ll need in the house we just bought. It has a slope which is currently uncovered and eroding. Once we do the regrading and install some drainage, I’ll try it. I’m new to gardening (as I said the other day I have a brown thumb) so I don’t know what the website Janice linked to means by “Zones 4-10”.

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  34. This elderly guy doesn’t have a hard time adjusting.
    He doesn’t try to adjust.

    TSWITW and i are finished and leaving the Y.
    I say, “I’ll be out in the truck”
    She, “Don’t leave me.”
    Me, “then you better hurry”
    That same scene has gone on for years. I have never left her. If it’s raining I come around for her.

    I take her to the mall in Spartanburg or Columbia.
    Me, “I’ll wait here in the food court”
    She, “Stay here till I get back”
    Me, “I’ll be her unless Shannon Bream of Martha McCallum comes by and wants me to run off with her.”
    That gives her something to worry about while she’s in Belk or Penny.

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  35. Nancyjill: Thanks for the well-wishes! My sister and her family are coming home for six months at the end of July. They have things to take care of, like selling their house, etc. before beginning a five year commitment in Kibigora, Rwanda. The ticket is good for one year (with a change fee, of course), so they’ll now use it for the return trip in July. I was really bummed about not seeing her, but once she missed her flight, there was no way she could get here in time for the party, which was the entire reason she was coming! Two of her children are currently home on break from their boarding school in Kenya. She had been really torn about coming–not knowing which daughter needed her presence more–so it may be best it worked out this way.

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  36. Hi y’all!

    Although I’ve been keeping up on the Prayer Requests thread, I’m two days behind on Our Daily Thread. So I’m jumping in here with a couple random comments related to comments I have read.

    Butter. We keep it in a butter dish on the counter, & have no problem with it going bad.

    Make-up, a little bit, some eyeliner to bring out my eyes, since I wear glasses. And I wear lipstick, too. But my eyes have become watery, a somewhat common problem among those of us with Moebius Syndrome as we age, because of the dryness of our eyes, so I have to switch to waterproof eyeliner. (Did you know your eyes can be watery & dry at the same time? It has something to do with the kinds of tears.)

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  37. Tax day is the first day my husband and I spent the whole day together. I used to do my taxes way early (January) when I got refunds of a few hundred dollars and when it was fairly straightforward. But in my years in Nashville, I still did my own taxes but they were more complicated with self-employment, and they took longer, so I didn’t do them as early.

    The year I met my husband, we spent so much time on the phone, and my taxes weren’t coming together smoothly, so I was at risk of not getting them done. Besides, we were supposed to be meeting in person April 15. He didn’t know we were actually meeting April 14–and part of the reason was that April 15 just didn’t seem like the right date to meet for the first time! So I was stressing to get my taxes done before he came to town, and having a hard time focusing on them! (I’d already done them once, but I always went through and did the forms a second time and made sure they came out the same way both times; if they did, I knew I had done them correctly. That year some numbers were being stubborn.) Somehow I managed to get my taxes done, and surprise my man by showing up at his hosts’ house Thursday night though we had originally agreed that we wouldn’t meet till the next morning. (I decided neither of us would sleep well that night if we didn’t get the meeting “over with” that night, and that an eight-hour day the first time we met in person would be a lot if we didn’t break the ice the night before. But I didn’t tell him my change of plans because I knew that it would make him nervous, driving down, if he knew he’d meet me that night, but he could be calmer if he didn’t know. He later verified that my thinking was right in all of that.)

    A few days later I found out that one of my aunts, who’d had Alzheimer’s for several years, died that April 15, and I was doubly glad that we’d ended up meeting in person on the 14th.

    But tax season is our anniversary (third) of the first time we laid eyes on each other . . . and how many couples actually have a photograph of the first time they saw each other? (Both of us were laughing in delight.)

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  38. Janice – (Someone may have mentioned this among the comments I haven’t yet read.) You described how Bosley can kind of turn on you & bite you while you are petting her. That’s a pretty common thing with cats. I recently read that cats begin to get a little annoyed with the petting going on a little too long for their liking, & will bite as a warning to stop.

    Sometimes we can learn the signs the cat gives off that she is getting annoyed, before the biting comes. My late cat Peanut would begin to swish her tail as she got annoyed.

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  40. Our anniversary is April 14th. My birthday is April 22.

    I shouldn’t have put down my birthday- I despise Earth Day. It is like Kwanza, a made-up holiday that is neither Holy nor anything to celebrate.

    Stupid!

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  41. Thanks, Karen O and AJ for cat tips. I need all the help I can get! Donna has been helpful, too.

    I finally replaced the small aluminum litter pan with a bigger litter pan. Bosley has gotten so long that she needs the increased length of the box more than the greater depth. I also got a nice brush for her which we will be working up to using to vut fown on hairballs. And I felt it necessary to get her some nail clippers. That will be attempted after tax season when hubby can help.

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  44. Looking for one missing thing leads to unexpected discovery in son’s room. The first lamp and light bulb casualty. Must have happened when I made my morning excursion to the office. 😦
    Bosley is suffering from Tax Season Sad and Mad Cat Blues.

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  45. Guess what species of bird I just photographed? 🙂 Hint: it’s a woodpecker.

    I was sitting in my in-laws’ living room and the bird was on a tree outside their window, actually a fair way from me, with my husband between me and it and we weren’t smack up against the window, but as I looked at it, I thought, “Hmm, that doesn’t quite look like a downy. I wonder if it’s a sapsucker?” So I went over to the window and got some photos, and confirmed: yellow-bellied sapsucker (male). I bet if we hadn’t had the photos posted on here last week, or whenever it was, I would have just assumed it was a downy and wouldn’t have bothered to take a second look, because it looked “enough” like one from that distance that I would have been fooled. And I have lots and lots of photos of downies, so I wouldn’t have bothered to get up and take a photo. It hung around that area for a while (flying a bit and then landing in a different spot), so I got photos on different sides of the tree and in different lighting. No bird-magazine quality pix, but some that show all different sides of it. And a new species for my photography, thanks to AJ and Roscuro! I also haven’t even seen a sapsucker in many years, probably two or three decades, so it was kinda cool even to see it, and even better to have my camera with me.

    (Ealier today I got quite a different kind of bird photo. A turkey vulture landed in our backyard, and within two or three minutes, three or four others had landed on the fence. I say “three or four” because one flew away and then another came, and I don’t know if it was the same bird returning or not. I don’t know anything about vulture courtship, but since we don’t have any dead animals in our backyard, it was either an error or some kind of courtship thing, like maybe the first one that landed was a female and all the others were males. It takes a lot of effort for vultures to come in for a landing and have to take off again, and odd that they might do it for no reason at all.)

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  46. First progress made in preparing to mow grass. I found the empty gas can. I am glad it was empty so I don’t have to worry about old gas clogging up the mower. Usually I have some left over and question if I should use it.

    Once when I was a girl we had kittens in our yard and one got under a running lawnmower receiving a bad cut. I was terribly upset. Somehow the kitten survived. The recouperation may have felt like the first miracle I had witnessed. God is good.

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  47. Last year we had an ostrich in one of our locust trees. At least, the children said one of the children said it was an ostrich. It was a blue heron. A little lost I suspect. But I would have said that had it been an ostrich, as well.

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  51. Just finished D3’s taxes. 1040EZ. I wish I could still do a one page return. And her state form took 2 minutes online. I wish I could do that. Mine takes four or five hours total for federal and two states.

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  52. Another couple of garden boxes planted. Today was beets and carrots. Yesterday was beets and ,,,, I don’t remember. The indoor plantings are straining at their boxes, waiting to go outside. But they will have to keep waiting.

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