Ten Things of Thankful

There are weeks when the "ten things of thankful" don't add up to ten and others when a blogger has way more than ten. Whatever may be the case, there is a spot saved just for you to join in with this blog hop hosted by Kristi of Thankful Me and you are not held exactly to the number 10. As it turns out, I do have ten this week, and most other weeks, but that is just me. I will be linking my post as usual to Ten Things of Thankful. If you click here you will be able to click on the sites of others who have shared a TToT post.

1. Knowing when and what to question

I caught a huge error on a statement I received. After my phone call to get some clarification about it and my still not understanding how that could be correct, they did some further checking into the matter. Instead of having to pay over a thousand dollars, I will not have to make payment and will receive instead a bit of a refund because I had been overcharged. Phew!

An amount indicated by an accountant on a line of our tax return didn't seem correct considering the records I had submitted. A phone call quickly took care of that matter.

2. Discovery

One of the ways people can find the names of children born to ancestors is by checking to see the names of children included on some census records for the family. Sometimes children are born and die between census years, and if no mention is made of them in family records, i.e. Bible, journals, letters etc., they may not be known by future generations. This week I found the name of a little girl who passed away between census years, and other than the mention of her in a tiny article in a newspaper, there seems to be no other record of her existence. (When her birth certificate. . . if there is one . . . becomes public information, there would be proof.) There is no mention in the article as to her age when she died, but she would have been under 10 and most likely under two, based on the years the other children were born.

3. The unexpected scenes that bring a smile

These made me smile this week: Seeing a young woman wearing a beautiful flower printed dress sitting on a riding mower mowing her yard; seeing a young girl, perhaps six years old, in a restaurant where we were eating, smile ever so sweetly at us when she saw my husband pass me something he wanted me to taste.

4. Nature and spring at the coast

Being able to witness Swallowtail butterflies flitting from flower to flower and then “spiraling upward” together and  seeing a couple of birds behaving similarly was a reminder that it is unquestionably springtime.

Whales are headed north along the Oregon coast and we were able to see quite a few of them spouting just off shore.

Whales were sited spouting near a large
congregation of murres (The murres appear
as white specks in the photo.)
Unfortunately, I didn't get capture the
spouting.

We were delighted to be able to listen to the calls of peregrine falcons to see proof that they are intent on making sure that there will be a next generation.

Bald eagles 

Bald eagle resting in a tree near
the ocean before being pestered by a crow
dive bombing him

Elk grazing in green pastures

5. Being places at the right time

There was one thing I needed to buy at an outlet store this weekend, but then I decided that it made more sense to buy two. (Thanks to the clerk who pointed out that they were having a special two-day sale and how it really made sense to buy more because in this instance I would end up spending less.) The total came to almost $50. The clerk then told me that if I my total purchase came to $100, I would be entitled to 50% off the total purchase. (All the items are sold at discounted prices  and some were on clearance before the 50% discount of the total order, so WIN WIN.) I added a couple of clearance items to bring my total to $105 and my actual cost to just over $50.  Since this store was out of town, I had not been aware of the sale.

6. Those who are able to consider the possibilities

One day this past week I visited the place I lived during most of my school years. Imagine my surprise upon learning that the barn where I had milked the cow, and fed the hogs, chickens, and rabbits was now being remodeled into a home! 

That barn has quite a history because before it was used as a barn it was a very large prune dryer. It was built between 1922 and 1923. It was built on a hillside, so one half of it is actually two stories high, plus there was a loft above the tunnels where the plums were dried. 

I am grateful that I was taken on a tour to see the progress that is being made to eventually turn the barn into a beautiful home. 

My dad standing with the barn
(once a prune dryer)
in the background (1953)

7. "Now's the time" occasions

Whether it is now time to get (fill in the blank) fixed, or is now the time to stop at that little antique store you have driven past for years, and thought about going into and never did, maybe now is the time. We had a now is the time week!

8. A prayer answered 

I am thankful for the times I am aware of prayers being answered. My belief is that they are always answered, but sometimes the answer is no, or not yet. Maybe there are things I, or others (if I am praying for someone), still need to learn or do before the prayer will be answered. Sometimes the prayer is answered slightly differently than one expects.

9. New knowledge to me

Years ago I would have needed to drive over an hour to another town to research my state's newspaper morgues. One of the universities had a large collection. It was a challenge that I never attempted then. This week I learned that by clicking this link I could access those newspapers online. Now I am anxious to find out if other states have such online repositories of the newspapers in their states.

10. Conversations that lead to a better understanding of what people feel, how they interpret the world around them and their own experiences PLUS the places and occasions that allow for that openness of mind and thought