messymimi's meanderings

Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, started Feline Friday, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

These last several days have been cold. Not cold by Michigan or Ohio or Alaska standards, but cold by swamp standards. The temperatures went into the teens one night and low twenties the next. That happens on occasion here, but not much.

The cats have been seeking out warmth and snuggling a lot.

Dansig, and the kittens all inside, keeping warm.

The next few days should see moderate temps, and i hope everyone has survived this Arctic whatever-it-was.

Today is:

Ati-Atihan Festival -- Aklan, Kalibo, Panay Island, Philippines (start of the vivid religious carnival/feast dating back to the 13th century to honor Santo Nino [Baby Jesus]; through the 19th)

CHA Winter Convention and Trade Show -- Anaheim, CA, US (largest Craft and Hobby Association show of the year; through the 14th)

Feast of St. Geraint -- Wales (legendary Welsh hero who fought King Arthur)

Hitsuichi -- Yamagata, Japan (famous market dating back to the Edo Period)

Majority Rule Day -- Bahamas

National Bittersweet Chocolate Day

National Cut Your Energy Costs Day

Peculiar People Day -- an internet generated day to celebrate all the strange and peculiar people in your life, including me!;)

Scalloway Fire Festival -- Shetland Islands (viking festival)

St. Peter Orseolo's Day

Sturdy Flat-Heeled Shoes Appreciation Day -- listed on many sites, and since i appreciate them, i included it

The Big Chill -- Racine, WI, US (formerly the Flake Out Festival, lots of snowy fun; through Sunday)

The Fairy Lunch -- Fairy Calendar

Vaudoun Day -- Benin (Traditional Religions Day, with a huge festival in the seaside town of Ouidah)

Where's The Beef? Day -- the slogan premiered this day in 1984

Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival -- Whittlesea, England (the "straw bear" goes through the town collecting gifts and performing, and on Sunday, the costume is burned amid much celebration; a festival celebrated since medieval times)

Word Nerd Day -- originated by Maria Schneider of WritersDigest (to celebrate those who enjoy playing with words)

Anniversaries Today:

Princess Margriet of the Netherlands weds Pieter van Vollenhoven, 1967
UN General Assembly first meeting, 1946
Uniform Penny Post (the reformed postal system) starts in the UK, 1840

Birthdays Today:

Pat Benatar, 1953
Bonnie Hellman, 1950
George Foreman, 1949
Rod Stewart, 1945
Jim Croce, 1943
Sal Mineo, 1939
Bill Toomey, 1939
Gisele MacKenzie, 1927
Johnnie Ray, 1927
Paul Henreid, 1908
Ray Bolger, 1904
Robinson Jeffers, 1887
Grigori Rasputin, 1869 (O.S.)
Mary Ingalls, 1865
George Washington Carver, 1864
Charles Ingalls, 1836

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Masterpiece Theater"(TV), 1971
"That Was The Week That Was"(TV, US version), 1964
"Finian's Rainbow"(Musical), 1947
"Arsenic and Old Lace"(Play), 1941
"Pete the Tramp"(Comic strip), 1932
"Street Scene"(Play), 1929
"Rosalie"(Musical), 1928

Today in History:

Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, begins a civil war, BC46
"Common Sense" by Thomas Paine is published, 1776
Napoleon divorces Josephine, 1810
Poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning begin their correspondence, 1845
The first underground railway opens in London, 1863
John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil, 1870
The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas, 1901
The League of Nations is established, 1920
The United States Army Signal Corps successfully conducts Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the moon and receiving the reflected signals, 1946
The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations after 117 years, 1984
Torrential rain in the Lockyer Valley region of South East Queensland, Australia causes severe flash flooding, killing 9 people, 2011

Yesterday, i took Ladybug, a/k/a Porch Kitty, to the pound to meet a potential adopter.

The meeting went well, and if the lady decides to adopt Ladybug when she moves in a month or so, she will let us know. Meanwhile, Ladybug is still up for adoption, as we can't pass up a certain home now for a potential one in the future that might never work out.

Ladybug showed off very well how loving she is, and how fearless. She made no moves at all, even when dogs came up to her carrier. No growls, nothing, and she was purring and enjoying being petted by anyone who would do so. Whoever adopts her is going to get a lovely cat.

While i was there, though, waiting to meet the potential adopter, a lady came in with her two sons and a small dog on a leash.

Because i was reading, i missed most of the discussions she had with the front desk people, but watched as they brought the pup to the front cage area and put him in one. It turned out that the family had fostered him and bottle raised him, and were bringing him up to be put up for adoption.

From the moment the little guy went into the cage, he whined and barked. The lady stopped and talked to the front desk people for another moment, and then she and the boys left.

The pup whined and barked, and didn't let up. For over 10 minutes, he kept up a steady stream of yips and whines, wanting his pack to come back for him.

Then, the mother walked back in.

"I can't do it!" she said. "We can't afford to adopt him. Financially, it's totally unfeasable. But we can foster him until he is adopted. I can't leave him, and my kids were in tears, and I'm in tears, and we will bring him to adoption events, and his picture is on the website so someone might adopt him that way, but we can't leave him in the cage!"

The front desk ladies smiled, and i did, too, when she opened the cage and the noise immediately stopped. She put the leash on him, and he pranced, as much as a puppy can prance, as they left.

Whoever adopts him is going to get a happy, spoiled puppy.

Today is:

Banquet of Fairies, Goblins, Pixies, and Elves -- Fairy Calendar

Burning of the Clavie -- Burghead, Scotland (ancient ritual to ensure good luck through the year)

Carmentalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival of the goddess of childbirth)

Children's Day -- Thailand

Cuckoo Dancing Week begins -- in honor of Laurel & Hardy, whose theme song was "The Dancing Cuckoos"; watch some of their fabulous material this week, and introduce it to a new fan

Designated Hitter Day -- the American League adopted the "designated hitter" rule on this date in 1973

Feast of Sokar -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Great Fruitcake Toss -- Manitou Springs, CO, US (what to do with leftover fruitcake? toss, hurl, or launch it for fun and prizes)

Independence Manifesto Day -- Morocco(1944); Western Sahara(1944)

International Thank You Day -- as declared by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith

Juturnalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of prophetic waters festival)

Kosrae Constitution Day -- Micronesia

Milk Day

National Hot Toddy Day

National Western Stock Show and Rodeo -- Denver, CO, US (106th edition of the Super Bowl of livestock shows; through the 26th)

Secret Pal Day -- no info found on the origin, it's a secret! do something nice for someone, secretly.)

Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day -- just don't do it to your secret pal

Sts. Paldo, Taso, and Tato's Day (founders of the monastery of San Vincenzo)

St. Theodosius of Cappadocia (Patron of file makers)

Tattoo Pride Day

Birthdays Today:

Amanda Peet, 1972
Mary Blige, 1971
Kim Coles, 1962
Stanley Tucci, 1960
Ben Crenshaw, 1952
Christine Kaufmann, 1945
Naomi Judd, 1946
Jim Hightower, 1943
Clarence Clemens, 1942
Jean Chretien, 1934
Rod Taylor, 1930
Grant Tinker, 1926
Alice Paul, 1885
William James, 1842
Eugenio Maria Hostos, 1839
John A. Macdonald, 1815
Alexander Hamilton, 1755
Theodosius I, 347

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Daktari"(TV), 1966
"Have a Heart"(Musical), 1917

Today in History:

Prophet of Islam Muhammad leads an army of 10,000 Muslims to conquer Mecca, 630
The first recorded lottery in England is drawn in St. Paul's Cathedral, 1569
Isaac Newton is elected a member of the Royal Society, 1642
Mt. Etna erupts, 1693
William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, the moons of Uranus, 1787
An earthquake in Martinique destroys half of Port Royal and results in about 700 deaths, 1839
Charring Cross Station opens in London, 1864
Milk is first delivered in bottles, 1878
Martha H. Cannon becomes the first woman state senator in the US, in Utah, 1897
The Hudson, the first sedan type automobile, goes on display at the 13th Auto Show in NYC, 1913
The first use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient occurs in Canada, with 14-year-old Leonard Thompson, 1922
Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Honolulu to Oakland, California, 1935
The first recorded snowfall in Los Angeles, California, 1949
United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., publishes a landmark report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking nation- and worldwide anti-smoking efforts, 1964
The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia is officially opened, 1986
The government of Ireland announces the end of a 20-year broadcasting ban on the IRA, 1994
Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois' death row based on the Jon Burge scandal, 2003
Forty-six people are killed and 12 are missing after a landslide buries a village in the Yunnan province, China, 2013

"Mom, I'm going to Google 'how to cause a catastrophe,' And do you know why?"

Bigger Girl had been drawn into the kitchen where #2 Son was frying "donuts," his own recipe, of course. They have chocolate and are calorie bombs, like most of his dessert and snack creations.

Surprise me, i said.

"Because in the state of Utah, it is against the law to cause a catastrophe. So I'm going to find out the exact definition of 'catastrophe' and how one goes about causing one!"

"It's easy," #2 Son said. "It's a huge event that causes loss of life."

"Loss of life!" she exclaimed. "That's not a catastrophe, that's just Darwinism! Oh, and why is a raven like a writing desk?"

"I heard the answer to that one the other day," Little Girl came in and said. "A raven is like a writing desk because Poe wrote on both!"

"Correct!" Bigger Girl said. "Unless, of course, Poe wrote on a pad held on his lap while sitting on the loo. Wouldn't that be embarrassing?"

"Donuts!" #2 Son said, and Festus came running in. The four of them crowded around the plate of hot treats and made short work of several of them.

"This is so good, it'll cause diabetes!" Festus said.

"That's my goal!" #2 Son said. "To make stuff that good, and yet that bad!"

#2 Sons' version of donuts. Chocolaty goodness.

Today is:

Ati-Atihan Festival -- Aklan, Kalibo, Panay Island, Philippines (vivid religious carnival/feast dating back to the 13th century to honor Santo Nino [Baby Jesus]; through the 19th)

Baptism of the Lord Jesus -- Christian

Blessing of the Sea -- Margate, UK (ceremony with the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Thyateria and Great Britain)

Compitalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (slave festival to the Lares and Manes, household gods)

Curried Chicken Day

Eat Crackers and Try to Whistle Day -- just to see if it's as much fun as it was when you were young

Feast of Fabulous Wild Men Day -- an internet generated holiday with whatever purpose you decide to give it

Goblin Gala -- Fairy Calendar (Fairies not invited)

Hen Galan -- Gwaun Valley, Dyfed, Wales (New Year Celebration begins -- yes, they still use the old calendar)

Jackson Day Race -- New Orleans, LA, US (106th annual, a 9k run through historic areas of New Orleans; the oldest street race in the South and 5th oldest in the nation.)

Little League Girls Baseball Day -- girls were finally allowed to play this date in 1974

Mawlid an Nabi -- Islam/Muslim (Prophet's Birthday, celebration begins at sunset)

Meitlisunntag -- Meisterschwanden and Fahrwangen, Switzerland (procession and festival celebrating the role of women in the victory of a battle in 1712)

Memorial Day -- Turkmenistan

National Marzipan Day

National Pharmacist Day -- US

Rubber Band Veteran Day -- to commemorate the warriors and heroes of rubber band fights around the globe and in your very own school or office

Stick to Your New Year's Resolution Day -- because it's too soon to give up

St. Benedict Biscop's Day (Founder and Patron of English Benedictines, and Patron of musicians, painters; Sunderland, England)

Zanzibar Revolution Day -- Tanzania

Birthdays Today:

HAL, 1997 (according to A. C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey)
Jeff Bezos, 1964
Oliver Platt, 1960
Kirstie Alley, 1955
Howard Stern, 1954
Rush Limbaugh, 1951
Joe Frazier, 1944
Glenn Yarborough, 1930
Ray Price, 1926
Ira Hamilton Hayes, 1922
James Farmer, 1920
Luise Rainer, 1910
Tex Ritter, 1905
Joe E. Lewis, 1902
Jack London, 1876
John Singer-Sargent, 1856
Edmund Burke, 1729
Charles Perrault, 1628
John Winthrop, 1588 (O.S. date)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Dynasty"(TV) 1981
"All in the Family"(TV), 1971
"Batman"(TV), 1966
"Arthur Godfrey and His Friends"(TV) 1949
"Ottone, re di Germania"(Handel's Opera, HWV 15). 1723

Today in History:

Tsarina Elizabeth establishes the first university in Russia, 1755
The first US public museum is established, in Charlestown, South Carolina, 1773
Mission Santa Clara de Asis is founded in California, 1777
The first cargo arrives in New Orleans by steamship, from Natchez, 1812
Anthracite coal is first used to smelt iron, in Mauch Chunk,Pennsylvania, 1839
The Royal Aeronautical Society is founded in England, 1866
The Dow-Jones closes above 100 for the first time, 1906
A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time, 1908
The University of the Philippines College of Law is formally established; three future Philippine presidents are among the first enrollees, 1911
The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to give women the right to vote, 1915
Finland's "Mosaic Confessors" law went into effect, making Finnish Jews full citizens, 1918
Hattie W. Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate, 1932
Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation, 1967
An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait, 1991
A new constitution, providing for freedom to form political parties, is approved by a referendum in Mali, 1992
Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning, 1998
The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage, 2004
Deep Impact launches from Cape Canaveral on a Delta 2 rocket, 2006
The French warship Clemenceau reaches Egypt and is barred access to the Suez Canal, 2006
Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) reaches perihelion becoming the brightest comet in more than 40 years, 2007
An earthquake in Haiti kills an estimated 230,000 and destroys most of Port-au-Prince, 2010

Garfield the Cat may consider Monday the 13th to be bad luck, and stay in bed, but this cutie wants to help you ward off the bad luck.

I'm cute enough to ward off bad luck!

Today is:

Australian Open -- Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia (part of the Grand Slam tennis tournaments; through the 26th)

Clean Off Your Desk Day -- me and what army? (Note: some sites put this as always on Jan. 9, some the second Monday of January; either way, my question remains)

Democracy Day -- Cape Verde

Duelo Nacional -- Panama (Martyrs' Day)

Eugenio Maria de Hostos' Day -- Puerto Rico (birth anniv. obs.)

Feast of St. Kentigern (a/k/a St. Mungo) (Patron of Glasgow whose given name meant "head chief" but whose nickname meant "dear one.")

Ides of January -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Liberation Day -- Togo

Maghi -- Sikh

Mawlid an Nabi -- Islam/Muslim (Prophet's Birthday, began sunset yesterday; celebrated over the next several days, depending on which country)

Make Your Dreams Come True Day -- no info on the origin of this; maybe someone who broke their New Year's resolutions by this day used the fact that it's New Year's by the Julian calendar to start over

Midvintersblot -- Ancient Norse Calendar (midwinter festival)

National Day -- Maldives

National Peach Melba Day

North American International Auto Show -- Detroit, MI, US (a showcase for the world's vehicle introductions; through the 26th)

Old New Year's Day -- Belarus; Georgia; Montenegro; Republic of Macedonia; Republic of Srpska (Yes, that's how it's spelled; no, i don't know how to pronounce it); Serbia; Russia; Ukraine; Wales (Julian Calendar)

Peddler's Village Quilt Competition and Display -- Peddler's Village, Lahaska, PA (handmade quilts of all types, open daily through April 6)

Plough Monday -- UK (farm work is resumed the Monday following the 12 Days of Christmas, and ploughs are brought to the church to be blessed)

Pongal begins -- India (thanksgiving festival at the end of the harvest season, honoring Indra, god of clouds and rain)
     first day, Bhogi

Radio Day -- anniversary of the first public radio broadcast in 1910

Recuperation Fortnight begins -- Fairy Calendar (i think i need one of those!)

Runic Half-month of Peorth (womb) begins

Rubber Ducky Day

Seijin-no-hi -- Japan (Adult's Day, or Coming of Age Day; celebrating all who have reached age 20, full legal adult age, in the past year)

Sidereal Winter Solstice Eve -- celebrations through South and Southeast Asia, including
     Bhogi -- Tamil (first day of Pongal)
     Lohri -- Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh
     Uruka -- Assam

Silvesterklausen -- Switzerland ("Old" New Year's celebration, based on the Julian Calendar)

St. Hilarius' Day (according to English tradition, the coldest day of the year; Patron of learning challenged children; Argusto, Italy; Vervio, Italy; against snakes and snake bites)

St. Knut's Day (a/k/a Little Christmas or Twentieth Day or Tyvendedagen among the Scandinavians, it celebrates Canute IV of Denmark and is the day to "plunder" the tree put up on Christmas Eve, eating the candies and cookies that were decorating it, and puting all the other decorations away before the tree is removed.)

Strive and Succeed Day -- Horatio Alger's birth anniversary

Theogamia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (anniversary celebration of the marriage of Zeus and Hera; date approximate, but during Gamelion, the month of marriages)

Tiugunde Day -- Old England (midwinter offering, a celebration picked up from the Norse Midvintersblot)

Tyvendedagen -- Norway (Twentieth day after Christmas, official end of Yuletide or "Juletid")

Birthdays Today:

Joannie Rochette, 1966
Orlando Bloom, 1977
Nicole Eggert, 1972
Keith Coogan, 1970
Patrick Dempsey, 1966
Penelope Ann Miller, 1964
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 1961
Kevin Anderson, 1960
Jay McInerney, 1955
Richard Moll, 1943
Frank Gallo, 1933
Charles Nelson Reilly, 1931
Frances Sternhagen, 1930
Gwen Verdon, 1925
Army Archerd, 1922
Robert Stack, 1919
Alfred Carl Fuller, 1885
Sophia Tucker, 1884
Horatio Alger, 1832
Salmon P. Chase, 1808

DEbuting/Premiering Today:

"The Sopranos"(TV), 1999
"Mickey Mouse"(Comic strip), 1930

Today in History:

Crusaders set fire to Mara, Syria, 1099
Sicut Didum, the papal bull prohibiting the enslavement of Canary Island natives who had converted to Christianity, is promulgated, 1435
The controversial play Eastward Hoe by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston is performed, landing two of the authors in prison, 1605
The Bank Of Genoa fails after the announcement of national bankruptcy in Spain, 1607
Jonathan Swift is ordained and Anglican priest in Ireland, 1695
James Oglethorpe and 130 colonists arrive in Charleston, South Carolina, 1733
John Walter publishes the first issue of the London Times, 1785
The Great fire of New Orleans, Louisiana begins, 1830
Dr. William Brydon, a surgeon in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole European survivor of an army of 16,500 when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, 1842
Anthony Foss patents the accordion, 1854
A chenille manufacturing machine is patented by William Canter of NYC, 1863
A circus fire in Poland kills 430, 1883
The Independent Labour Party of the UK has its first meeting, 1893
U.S. Marines land in Honolulu from the U.S.S. Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution, 1893
The first radio set is advertised, a Telimco for $7.50 in Scientific American; claimed to receive signals up to one mile, 1906
The first public radio broadcast takes place; a live performance of the opera Cavalleria rusticana is sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, 1910
An earthquake in Avezzano, Italy kills 29,800, 1915
The Black Friday bush fires burn 20,000 square kilometres of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people, 1939
Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car, 1942
Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, is appointed archbishop of Krakow, Poland, 1964
Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American US Cabinet member, 1966
Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom Prison, 1968
A passenger train plunged into a ravine at Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa, 1985
L. Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American US governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia, 1990
Soviet Union military troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, 1991
An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800, 2001
The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy, 2012

Lately, i've been reminded of the old "How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie-Roll center of a Tootsie-Pop" commercial, as i contemplate how many visits it takes to actually have a meeting with a guidance counselor at Little Girl's school.

The day the students went back, even though they had used the day prior as a special faculty/teacher preparation day, the decided to have a 5 hour meeting, tying up all of the guidance counselors. After three visits, and being told they were still in the meeting, i gave up.

The next day, it took an hour to track down Little Girl's counselor, and she just said she couldn't meet with me yet.

The next time i saw her, she said she still didn't have an answer to one of the questions about courses. This, after she was supposed to have gotten in touch with the people in that office before the winter break.

Finally, a phone call saying she had an answer, and so i went to meet with her. After standing there for 35 minutes, being told she was busy, she took two other people who came in after me to talk to first. Do i look like i need to be walked on? Maybe so, cats certainly seem to think so.

The upshot is that Little Girl has actually completed enough civics to satisfy her requirements, and can take two online courses to make up for the proficiency tests she didn't get at the beginning of the year. This is a good thing, as it means she will go into Algebra 2 next year having just completed Algebra 1, and it will still be fresh in her mind. Why we separate them by a year with Geometry in the middle i have never understood. So much of the first course gets forgotten in that year, it makes no sense.

Also, i got her report card. All A's, and i'm relieved. It was a hard decision, putting her in this school, and it seems to have been the right choice.

Today is:

Assembly Line Workers' Day -- listed on many sites but no particular reason for it to be this day; then again, why not today?

Azhirnikhua -- Abkhazia (Day of World Creation)

Cakes and Ale Day -- emblems of the good life, a day to remember the good things we have, and be grateful

Celebration of the 2nd Week of Moonhopper -- Fairy Calendar

Daikoku Matsuri -- Kanda Myojin Shine, Tokyo, Japan (purification ceremony; through tomorrow)

Day of Defenders of the Native Land (Army Day) -- Uzbekistan

Feast of Divina Pastora -- Barquisimeto, Venezuela (religious procession attended by about 2million people)

Feast of the Ass -- Medieval Christianity (commemorates the Flight Into Egypt)

International Kite Festival -- Jaipur and Ahmedabad, India

Makar Sandranti -- India/Hindu Calendar (part of the sidereal solstice festivals)

National Dress Up Your Pet Day -- do you really dislike your pet this much?

National Forest Conservation Day -- Thailand

National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day

Niino no Yukimatsuri -- Izu shrine, Niino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (snow festival with offerings made to bring a good harvest in the coming year; through tomorrow)

Organize Your Home Day -- another one that i can't figure out who started it, but i will say s/he was nuts to think this could be done in one day

Orthodox New Year -- RS, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Serbia

Pongal continues -- Tamil New Year, among the Tamil People (multiple day thanksgiving festival at the end of harvest)
Tamil Thai Pongal Day -- Sri Lanka
Maghi Parba/Maghe Sankranti -- Western Nepal

Ratification Day -- US (anniversary of the Treaty of Paris that recognized the independence of the US from England)

Revolution and Youth Day -- Tunisia

Sidereal Winter Solstice Celebrations -- throughout South and Southeast Asia

St. Felix of Nola's Day (Patron of domestic animals, eyes; Nola, Italy; against eye diseases, false witness, lies, perjury)

St. Sava's Day (Patron of Serbia and all Serbs)

Take a Missionary to Lunch Day -- to honor Albert Schweitzer's birth anniversary

Anniversaries Today:

Joe DiMaggio marries Marilyn Monroe, 1954

Birthdays Today:

Kristin Cavallari, 1987
Jason Bateman, 1969
Emily Watson, 1967
Shepard Smith, 1964
Steven Soderbergh, 1963
Lawrence Kasdan, 1949
Carl Weathers, 1948
Nina Totenberg, 1944
Holland Taylor, 1943
Faye Dunaway, 1941
Jack Jones, 1938
Andy Rooney, 1919
William Bendix, 1906
John dos Passos, 1896
Hal Roach, 1892
Hugh Lofting, 1886
Albert Schweitzer, 1875
Thornton W. Burgess, 1874
Richard Felton Outcault, 1863
Matthew Fontaine Maury, 1806
Benedict Arnold, 1741

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Bionic Woman"(TV), 1976
"Sanford and Son"(TV), 1972
"Sinfonia Antartica"(Vaughan Williams' 7th symphony), 1953
"Today Show"(TV), 1952
"Tosca"(Puccini Opera), 1900

Today in History:

The Knights Templar are formally approved by the Roman Catholic Church, 1129
Pope Leo X issues a papal bull against slavery, 1514
Spain annexes Cuba, 1539
The "Fundamental Orders", the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in Connecticut, 1639
Massachusetts holds a day of fasting for wrongly accusing "witches", 1699
Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the American Revolutionary War, 1783
The US Supreme Court rules that racial separation on trains is unconstitutional, 1878
An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills more than 1000, 1907
Henry Ford introduces the assembly line to the production of the Model-T, 1914
The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight, 1950
The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank and banknote issuing authority, is established, 1960
Toronto, Ontario Mayor Mel Lastman becomes the first mayor in Canada to call in the Army to help with emergency medical evacuations and snow removal after more than one meter of snow paralyzes the city, 1999
The national flag of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years, 2004
Landing of the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan, 2005

Sweetie and i had an appointment yesterday. The Jalopy is still in the hospital, her new heart (a good, used engine) should be delivered today, and they can start working on her next week, so we arranged to meet Ms. Freely at Sweetie's work as he got off for the day.

It was concerning something i'm probably going to be pulling teeth to convince him we need -- long term care insurance.

Ms. Freely as been in the business for over a dozen years, and in the course of talking it turns out her husband is a gear head guitar player just like Sweetie, and they know all the same people here in town. Even if nothing else, the two of them will get together, and probably end up working on music together at some point.

Back to the business at hand. The average person age 50 or up, which we both are now, has a 40% chance of needing long term care at some point in life, usually toward the end of life.

The cost of care is enough to make you faint. The average nursing home stay nationwide is now up to close to 80,000/year. Yes, really. The average story is that mom outlives dad. He goes into the nursing home, his care costs them everything they've ever saved, and she's left after he's gone with nothing.

No policy pays for everything, but you can at least protect yourself to an extent by having a policy, and the later you wait to get it, the more it costs.

The insurance is rated, as life insurance is, but by morbidity, not mortality. In other words, they don't look at how likely you are to die, but at how long you are likely to live with a medical condition that makes you need care. Women are now charged more than men, in fact, i'm 10 years Sweetie's junior and my cost of insurance is already higher. If i wait until i'm 60 to get it, as he is, it will be prohibitive.

We kicked around a few numbers, and the only thing left is to decide which policy to try for, fill out the paperwork, and convince Sweetie that he has to have a physical so we can get this.

He has a holy horror of doctors and tests and needles, and the sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) scares him out of his mind.

This is something we will have to do, though. There's no way, if he needed care, that i could give it to him. He's 6'2" and weighs over twohundredmumbledymumbldy pounds, while i'm 5'0" and don't weigh a hundred soaking wet. There'd be no way i could physically handle his care, and you don't want to wait too long to apply and get this. In the case of something like this, late is not good.

Today is:

Arbor Day -- Jordan

Armed Forces Day / Remembrance Day -- Nigeria

Army Day -- India

Basketball Day -- rules for the game were first published this day in 1892(day debated, year is certain)

Bikaner Camel Festival -- Bikaner, India (colorful camel activities, including a beauty competition, and fun for people also in this gorgeous fortified desert town; through tomorrow)

Chosun-gul -- North Korea (Korean Alphabet Day)

Dia del Maestro -- Venezuela (Teacher's Day)

Feast of the Ass -- Ancient Roman Calendar (celebrates Vesta being saved by a donkey)

Feast of Entering Heaven and the Two Lands -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Fiesta Del Senor de Esquipulas/Pilgrimage of Cristo Negro de Esquipulas -- Esquipulas, Guatemala (Festival of the Black Christ)

Illinois Snow Sculpting Competition -- Rockford, IL, US (frozen art fun; through Saturday)

John Chilembwe Day -- Malawi

Lenaea -- Ancient Greek Calendar (a Festival of Comedy; date approximate)

Madurai Float Festival -- Madurai, India (spectacular celebration under the full moon in Madurai, the oldest city in Tamil Nadu; through tomorrow)

Moliere Day -- France

National Hat Day -- begun by a hat loving individual who has chosen to remain anonymous

National No-Tillage Conference -- Indianapolis, IN, US (conference to encourage ecologically sound farming; through Saturday)

National Strawberry Ice Cream Day

Procrastinator's New Year -- declared by someone who had a really great sense of humor

Sailing of Wadjyt -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (the icon of the cobra goddess, Wadjyt, is carried on the Nile to visit many cities; date approximate)

St. Ita's Day (Patron of Limerick, Ireland)

St. Paul the Hermit's Day (the first of the Egyptian hermits; Patron of clothing industry, weavers)

Thiruvalluvar Day -- PY, TN, India (remembrance of the celebrated Tamil poet)

Tree Planting Day -- Egypt

Tsunahiki Matsuri -- Japan (various shrines hold tug-of-war festivals in which the team for god Ebisu vie with the team for god Daikoku; if Ebisu wins, the next year will have good catches at sea, if Daikoku, it will bring good harvests)

Tu B'Shvat -- Judaism ("New Year of the Trees", begins at sunset)

Wings Over Willcox -- Willcox, AZ, US (tours of the playa and wetlands, birding, workshops, and more; through Sunday)

Anniversaries Today:

Opening of the British Museum, 1759
Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England, 1559

Birthdays Today:

Drew Brees, 1979
Chad Lowe, 1968
Mario Van Peebles, 1957
Charo, 1951
Andrea Martin, 1947
Margaret O'Brien, 1937
Ernest J. Gaines, 1933
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929
John Cardinal O'Connor, 1920
Lloyd Bridges, 1913
Gene Krupa, 1909
Elie Siegmeister, 1909
Edward Teller, 1908
Aristotle Onassis, 1906
Goodman Ace, 1899
Pierre S. du Pont, 1870
Philip Livingston, 1766
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, a/k/a Moliere, 1622 (baptismal date, actual birth date unknown)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hill Street Blues"(TV), 1981
"Happy Days"(TV), 1974
The Democratic Donkey(symbol in newspaper comic), 1870
"Stella"(Goethe Play), 1816

Today in History:

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign, in a siege lasting until July 23, BC588
Christopher Columbus sets sail for Spain from Hispaniola, ending his first voyage to the New World, 1493
Third sitting of the Council of Trent opens, 1562
The British Museum opens in Montague House in London, 1759
John Etherington of London steps out sporting the first top hat, 1797
The first US built locomotive to pull a passenger train begins its first run, with Mr. and Mrs. Pierson on board for the first US railroad honeymoon trip, 1831
The donkey is first used as a symbol for the Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly, 1870
The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia, 1889
James Naismith publishes the rules of Basketball, 1892
Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" premieres in St Petersburg, 1895
Dr. Lee DeForest patents a 3-element vacuum tube (one of the inventions that later made radio possible), 1907
The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women, 1908
The Boston Molasses Disaster, 2 million gallons of molasses spill, 21 killed, over 150 injured, 1919
The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio, 1936
The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia, 1943
The US Supreme Court rules that "clear and present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech and can be a cause for arrest, 1951
The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles; the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10, 1967
The USSR launches Soyuz 5, 1969
The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm, 1991
Wikipedia goes online, 2001
An intense solar flare blasts X-rays across the solar system, 2005
ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon, 2005
The Stardust space mission returns dust from a comet to Earth, 2006

"Doggone cat!" #1 Son was yelling as he came running through the kitchen, chasing Dansig.

What's wrong? i asked.

"That insane cat! He keeps getting on my dresser and falling behind it, and he can't get out! As soon as I rescue him, he goes right back up there!"

You would think he would learn, i noted.

"He doesn't. Here!" He saw his brother coming, and scooped the cat up, handing him to #2 Son. "Your insane cat keeps getting stuck behind my dresser!"

"There's no room behind your dresser," #2 Son said. "It's right up against the wall."

"That's why he gets stuck!" #1 Son said.

"Maybe he's trying to get attention," Bigger Girl said, coming in to get breakfast. "After all, if a creature isn't acknowledged, does it exist?"

Meaning what? i asked.

"Well, if a creature existed and had consciousness, but there was no other consciousness to note its existence, does it really exist? Is to be, to be acknowledged? Maybe that's why famous people get addicted to fame, they are trying to prove their existence. And maybe that crazy cat doesn't feel like he exists unless he's got someone rescuing him, or he's bugging someone."

Maybe, i said, somewhat dubious.

"Well, I don't care why, I just want him to stay out from behind my dresser," #1 Son said, heading out to work.

"Oh, and mom, I made a goals list for this year. It has 50 things on it, and I might not get to all of them, but I do want to learn CPR and go visit the place where Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed. Those two are a must! Also, I want to go visit the leper colonly. Those people have some amazing experiences to tell about!"

Quite a list of things to do, i said drily. Somehow i get the feeling she's going to get to it, too.

Today is:

Appreciate a Dragon Day -- share stories of your favorite dragons from literature; begun by author Danita K. Paul

Concordia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring the goddess of harmonious relations)

Day of Offerings to the Shemsu of Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo -- Espace de Fontvielle, Monte Carlo (the best circus acts and performers from five continents; through the 26th)

Full Wolf Moon -- the wolves howl hungrily during this cold month, sometimes called the Old Moon or the Yule Moon
     Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka
     Mahayana New Year -- Buddhist
     Pyatho Full Moon -- Myanmar (traditionally the time of equestrian festivals)
     Thorrablot/Thurseblot -- Ancient Norse Calendar (feast honoring Thor, guardian of Midgard, at the first full moon of the new year)
     Thaipusam/Thaipoosam Cavadee -- Tamil People; Malaysia; Mauritius (Tamil Hindu multi-day celebration of the birth of the god Murugan)

Inflatable Tire Day -- birth anniversary of Andre Michelin

International Hot and Spicy Food Day

Laurent Kabila -- Democratic Republic of the Congo (Heroes' Day)

National Day of Peace -- El Salvador (anniversary of 1992 peace treaty)

National Fig Newton Day

National Good Teen Day -- which really is most of them, isn't it

National Nothing Day -- created by newspaperman Harold Pullman Coffin in 1973 “to provide Americans with one national day when they can just sit without celebrating, observing or honoring anything.”

National Work At Home With Your Spouse Day -- internet generated; try if you dare, i won't, as much as i love him, i'd have to kill him.

National Religious Freedom Day -- US (anniversary of the passage, in 1786, of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom)

Nosso Senhor do Bonfim Festival -- Salvador, Brazil (Our Lord of the Happy Ending Festival, at the church by that name; through the 26th)

Religious Freedom Day -- US (in 1786, the Virginia legislature adopted a statute guaranteeing religious freedom to citizens of that state, and protecting them from discrimination for their religious choices)

St. Anthony's Eve -- Abruzzo, Italy (Fires of Saint Anthony -- Anthony the Great)

St. Honratus of Arles' Day (Patron for rain; against drought, misfortune)

Sundance Film Festival -- Park City, UT, US (the premier US independent films festival; through the 26th)

Teacher's Day -- Thailand

There's No Business Like Show Business Day -- Ethel Merman's Birth Anniversary!

Tu B'Shvat -- Judaism ("New Year of the Trees", began yesterday at sunset)

Uzhavar Thirunal -- TN, India (Farmer's Day portion of the Pongal celebrations)

Women in Blue Jeans Conference -- Mitchell, SD, US (celebrating women in agriculture; through tomorrow)

Birthday's Today:

Kate Moss, 1974
Sade, 1959
Debbie Allen, 1950
John Carpenter, 1948
Dr. Laura Schlessinger, 1947
Ronnie Milsap, 1944
A.J. Foyt, 1935
Dian Fossey, 1932
Dizzy Dean, 1911
Ethel Merman, 1908
Frank Zamboni, 1901
Harry Carey, Sr., 1878
Robert W. Service, 1874 (Poet, The Cremation of Sam McGee)
Andre Michelin, 1853

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hello, Dolly"(Musical), 1964
"A Pastoral Symphony"(Ralph Vaughan Williams' third symphony), 1922

Today in History:

The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Casesar Octavian by the Roman Senate, BC27
The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison, 550
A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt, 1362
The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy, 1412
The first grammar of a modern language, in the Spanish language, is presented to Queen Isabella, 1492
Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia, 1547
English parliament passes laws against Catholicism, 1581
The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, 1605
The Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks, 1776
The Commonwealth of Virginia enacted the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson, 1786
The refrigerator car is patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit, 1868
The Pendleton Act creates the basis of US Civil Service system, 1883
The British explorer Ernest Shackleton finds magnetic south pole, 1909
The British House of Commons accepts Home-Rule for Ireland, 1913
Writer Maksim Gorki returns to Russia, 1914
The US ratifies the constitutional amendment on Prohibition, to take effect one year later, 1919
The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, 1920
The first photo finish camera installed at Hialeah Race track in Hialeah Florida, 1936
Benny Goodman plays the first jazz performance at Carnegie Hall, 1938
Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard, 1942
Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk, 1969
Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects, 1970
The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt, 1979
First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force., 1986
El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City ending the 12-year Salvadoran civil war , 1992
The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban, 2002
The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107, but disintegrates 16 days later on reentry, 2003
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president, becoming Africa's first female elected head of state, 2006

Feline Friday was started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

Cats have secrets.

Psst! I has a secret!

HopeCat tells Kida all of her secrets. Probably this one was about Sweetie, who was hogging the covers.

Today is:

Apple Wassailing Day -- Carhampton, England (ancient tradition to bless the trees, waking the tree spirits and scaring away bad spirits)

Arbor Day -- Florida and Louisiana, US

Art Deco Weekend -- Miami, FL, US (for die hard fans; through Sunday)

Blessing of the Animals -- Hispanic Christian (in association with St. Anthony's Day)

Camel Wrestling Championship -- Selcuk, Turkey (a medieval tradition, and the camels are not allowed to actually harm each other, so it's a spectacular sport to watch; through Sunday)

Ditch Your New Years Resolutions Day -- no info on origin, but probably someone who gave up; will you?

Felicitas -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring the goddess of good luck)

Festival of Janus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (main festival for the god of beginnings, endings, and doorways)

Hot Heads Chili Day -- no clue what this one means, but i guess we can have chili for dinner

Kid Inventors' Day -- celebrating how inventive kids are; on the birth anniversary of Ben Franklin, who invented swim fins at age 12

Lee-Jackson Day -- Virginia, US

Liberation Day -- Poland (liberation from the Nazis in 1945)

Make Your All-Time Top Ten Favorite TV Characters List -- because nothing says you can't make your own top ten lists

Milwaukee Boat Show -- Milwaukee, WI, US (where boys can find their big toys; through the 26th)

National Hot Buttered Rum Day

Patras Carnival -- Patras, Greece (the town crier announces the opening ceremony, with festivities through Clean Monday)

Patrice Lumumba -- Democratic Republic of the Congo (Heroes' Day)

Popeye Day -- The Sailor Man debut in the comics this date in 1929

Professional Boxer's Day -- Ali's birth anniversary

Slamdance -- Park City, UT, US (an independent film festival by and for film makers; through the 23rd)

Southwestern Exposition Livestock Show and Rodeo -- Fort Worth, TX, US (the world's first indoor professional rodeo, since 1918; through Feb. 8)

St. Anthony the Great's Day (a/k/a Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Patriarch of the Abbots; Patron of amputees, animals/domestic animals, basket weavers, brush makers, butchers, cemetary workers/grave diggers, epileptics, hermits, monks, relief from pestilence, swine/hogs, swineherds; Hospitaliers; Burgio, Sicily, Italy; Canas, Brazil; Castrofilippo, Agrigento, Italy; Fivizzano, Italy; Fontainemore, Italy; Mook, Netherlands; Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Italy; against eczema, epilepsy, ergotism, erysipelas, pestilence, Saint Anthony's Fire, skin diseases and rashes) related observance
Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral -- Church of San Antonio, Mexico City, Mexico (where this saint is San Antonio Abad)

Tip-Up Town USA -- Houghton Lake, MI, US (Michigan's largest family winter festival, through Sunday and next weekend, Friday-Sunday)

Zirgu Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (Day of the Horses)

Anniversaries Today:

George Burns marries Gracie Allen, 1926
Octavian marries Livia Drusilla, BC38

Birthdays Today:

Kid Rock, 1971
Naveen Andrews, 1969
Michelle Obama, 1964
Jim Carrey, 1962
Susanna Hoffs, 1959
Anthony Glise, 1956
Andy Kaufman, 1949
Muhammad Ali, 1942
Maury Povich, 1939
Shari Lewis, 1934
James Earl Jones, 1931
Don Zimmer, 1931
Vidal Sassoon, 1928
Eartha Kitt, 1927
Betty White, 1922
Al Capone, 1899
Nevil Shute, 1899
Robert Maynard Hutchins, 1899
Mack Sennett, 1884
David Lloyd George, 1863
Anton Chekhov, 1860
Anne Bronte, 1820
Benjamin Franklin, 1706

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Frontline"(TV), 1983
"The Goldbergs"(TV), 1949
"Popeye the Sailor Man"(Comic character created by Elzie Segar, in the Thimble Theatre comic strip), 1929
"The Cherry Orchard"(Chekhov Play), 1904
"The Rivals"(Sheridan Play), 1775

Today in History:

Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon, 1377
Cesare Borgia returns in triumph to Rome from Romagna, 1501
Giovanni da Verrazzano begins his voyage to find a passage to China, 1524
The Edict of St Germain recognizes Huguenots in France, 1562
England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War, 1648
An avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switzerland, kills 53, 1718
Capt James Cook becomes the first to cross Antarctic Circle (66° 33' S), 1773
The first cable car patented, by Andrew S Hallidie (begins service in 1873), 1871
Queen Liliuokalani is deposed, the Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic, 1893
Sir Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen, 1912
The first fully automatic photographic film developing machine patented, 1928
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, is arrested by secret police in Hungary, 1945
The United Nations Security Council holds its first meeting, 1946
The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first airs, 1949
The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts, 1950
The world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, makes its maiden voyage, 1955
A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares incident, 1966
Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V, 1991
The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union, 1996
Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people, 2002
Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, which resulting in at least 200 deaths, 2010

My parents are not big consumers of alcohol.

Grandpa will have a screwdriver (orange juice with liquor added) once in a while, and Grandma never imbibes.

They do, though, keep a few bottles of wine in the house, and have a few bottles of beer in the second refrigerator. They like to have these around to offer guests.

Since they don't have parties much any more, and the only people who stay over regularly are their grandchildren, there's not much call for alcohol in their house.

Thus, this past Christmas, while we were there and i was making gravy and #2 Son was picking oranges off of the orange trees in the back yard and Little Girl was mashing potatoes and Bigger Girl was setting the table and Bryn and Dre were playing with their new puppies, Grandpa asked #1 Son, the only grandchild there who was over the age of 21, to go look through the beers in the fridge, and get rid of any that were expired.

He went and pulled them out, and found this:

No, not photoshopped; i barely know how to take pics, much less alter them!

Yes, really, he found that while most of it was more recently expired, at least a few cans were 16 years old. He opened each, poured it down the drain, and recycled the cans and bottles.

Only one beer in the house was still drinkable, so Grandpa told him to go ahead if he wanted to, and he did.

And he is now assigned to look over the beer annually, just to make sure, as Grandpa still plans to buy a few to have on hand to offer guests.

Some habits just die hard, i guess.

Today is:

Anniversary of the Founding of Lima -- Lima, Peru

Bald Eagle Appreciation Days -- Keokuk, IA, US (through tomorrow)

Confession of St. Peter -- Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican Christian
Feast of the Chair of St. Peter -- Roman Catholic Church (celebrated as the founding of the papacy)

Feast of Neith -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (goddess of war and hunting)

Four an' Twenty Day -- Scotland (24 days after Christmas)

Gasparilla Extravaganza -- Tampa, FL, US (the rum free version of the Pirate Festival celebration, with a kid's parade and lots of fun; the adult version is next Saturday)

Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti -- Sikh

Hair Dryer Appreciation Day -- no history on this, but if you love your hair dryer, more power to you

Jazz Day -- Jazz gets recognized, it plays the Met!

Learn to Ski Day -- always the 3rd Saturday of January, and you go right ahead

National Lay Awake and Whisper in the Dark Night -- another one i can't fathom or find out why it even exists

National Peking Duck Day

Polar Bear Festival/Polar Bear Jump -- Seward, AK, US (lots of fun, if you want to freeze!)

Revolution Day -- Tunisia

Royal Thai Armed Forces Day -- Thailand

Santa Prisca Day -- Taxco, Mexico

Sight-Saving Sabbath Weekend -- to alert synagogue and church members to the importance of regular eye exams

Sounkyo Ice Festival -- Hokkaido, Japan (snow and ice sculptures, through March 30)

Thesaurus Day -- birth anniversary of Peter Roget

UFO Day -- see the history section, 1644

Unsliced Bread Day -- from this day in 1943, until the war ended, US bakers sold only unsliced bread loaves so no steel had to be diverted from the war effort for slicing machine blades

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity -- Christian (from the celebration of the Confession of St. Peter to the celebration of the Conversion of St. Paul, Jan. 25)

Winnie the Pooh Day -- birth anniversary of Winnie's author A.A. Milne

Anniversaries Today:

Wesley College, Melbourne is established, 1866
Henry VII of England weds Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV, 1486

Birthdays Today:

Jason Segal, 1980
Dave Batista, 1969
Jesse L. Martin, 1969
Jane Horrocks, 1964
Kevin Costner, 1955
Bobby Goldsboro, 1941
Davis Eli "David" Ruffin, 1941
Curtis Charles (Curt) Flood, 1938
Ray Dolby, 1933
Evelyn Lear, 1931
John Boorman, 1930
Constance Moore, 1920
Danny Kaye, 1913
Cary Grant, 1904
Oliver Hardy, 1892
A.A. Milne, 1882
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, 1856 (The African-American doctor who performed the first open heart surgery.)
Thomas A. Watson, 1854 ("Come here, Watson, I need you," said Bell)
Peter Mark Roget, 1779
Daniel Webster, 1782
Daigo, Emperor of Japan, 885

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Jeffersons"(TV), 1975
"Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour"(TV), 1948
"The Nose"(Shostakovich' opera), 1930

Today in History:

Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong, 1126
Francisco Pizarro founds Lima, Peru, 1535
The first documented UFO sighting in America, by some very perplexed pilgrims in Boston, 1644
Pirate Henry Morgan defeats the Spanish defenders and captures Panama, 1670
San Jose, California is founded, 1777
Captain James Cook stumbles upon the Sandwich Islands (Hawai'i), 1778
The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay, 1788
Electro-Magnetic Intelligencer, the first US electrical journal, begins publication, 1840
Dr. William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, J. C. Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the United Kingdom, 1884
Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England, 1886
The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time, 1896
President Theodore Roosevelt sends a radio message to King Edward VII: the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States, 1903
The first shipboard landing of a plane (Tanforan Park to USS Pennsylvania, flown by Eugene B. Ely), 1911
English explorer Robert F Scott & his expedition reach South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had gotten there before, 1912
Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia, 1915
A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite strikes a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri, 1916
The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time. The performers were Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden, 1944
Willie O'Ree, the first African Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut, 1958
A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War, 1974
Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease, 1977
Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs), 1981*
The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals to his family, 1983
Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided, 1997
The Tagish Lake meteorite impacts the Earth, 2000
Sierra Leone Civil War is finally declared over, 2002
A bushfire kills 4 people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia, 2003
The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France, 2005
Hurricane Kyrill becomes one of Western Europe's deadliest storms, 2007
An amateur astronomer in Peterborough, England, discovers a new, Neptune-sized exoplanet, 2012

*Leading me to wonder why, and whether i am looking at the future of my own daredevil child!

"Mom, Young Jacob is here." Little Girl had knocked on my door, and told me that when i told her to come in.

Yes, he usually does come by after work, i noted. What's up?

"Well, he got a new tattoo, and it's really neat, but he needs some Vaseline or something to put on it. He has to do that several times a day until the skin heals. Do we have any Vaseline?"

No, i don't keep petroleum type stuff around most of the time, i told her. But i do have this, see if it will do.

Then i handed her this:

Several minutes later, she brought it back up to me.

Did that work? i asked.

"Yes," she said. Then she added, "And I wish I hadn't read the back of the box!"

********************

That reminds me of a joke.

Boudreaux and his family were visiting Clothile's family in Mamou. Little "Tee" Boudreaux came downstairs the first morning to have breakfast and axed his MawMaw, "Where be Mere and Pere?"

"Dey still up in dey room," MawMaw said, and "Tee" giggled as he ate his grits, then went out to play.

When "Tee" come back in for dinner, he ax agin'," Where be Mere and Pere?"

"Dey's up in dey room still," MawMaw said, at which "Tee" giggled even harder. He grinned all the way through is bowl of okra and tomatoes and his cornbread, then went back out to play.

Comin' on toward evenin', "Tee" come in for supper. Once more he ax, "Where be Mere and Pere?"

Dis time, MawMaw say, "Don' you know, chile, dey still be up dere, and why you be laughin' so much? All day you bin gigglin' and carryin' on!"

"Tee" was laughin' so hard he was holdin' his side. When he fin'ly catch his breath, he say, "Oh, mais, I know why dey still up dere! Las' night, Pere come knock on de door when I was in de bat'room, and he ax me for to han' him de Vaseline, and I done give him de super glue!"

Today is:

2014 Healthy Weight Week -- sponsored by Healthy Weight Network, including the Slim Chance Awards (highlighting the unhealthiest fad diets of the previous year), the Women's Healthy Body Image Awards, and, on Tuesday, Rid the World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day

Annual Visit of the Poe Toaster -- the mysterious person who, for almost 75 years, dressed in black with a wide brimmed hat and scarf, annually visited Poe's grave on his birthday, leaving roses and cognac; has not been seen since 2009

Ati-Atihan Festival -- Aklan, Kalibo, Panay Island, Philippines (main feast and final day of the vivid religious carnival/feast dating back to the 13th century to honor Santo Nino [Baby Jesus])

Augusta Futurity -- Augusta, GA, US (the top cutting horses and riders in the world to compete for purse and awards; through Saturday)

Birth of Prophet Mohammad and of Imam Sadegh -- Iran

Brew A Potion Day -- internet generated, no reasons given

Carlsbad Marathon and Half Marathon -- Carlsbad, CA, US

Confederate Heroes Day -- Texas, US (some things never change)

Feast of Sultan (Sovereignty) -- Baha'i

Horror Novels Are Horrendous Day -- for Poe's birth anniversary

Hunt For Happiness Week begins -- sponsored by the Secret Society of Happy People, who want you to join this week; through Saturdayhttp://sohp.com/society-celebrations/hunt-for-happiness-week/

La Tamborrada -- San Sebastian, Spain (begins in the evening, a 24 hour drum jam session and the city's biggest fiesta)

Little Ricky Day -- marking the date of his arrival on "I Love Lucy"

National Activity Professionals Week begins -- celebrating the contributions of Activities Professionals in all senior living communitieshttp://naap.info/2013/11/2014-national-activity-professional-week/

National Popcorn Day

Neon Sign Day -- patented this day in 1915

Sacrifices to Apollon -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Santos Tour Down Under -- Adelaide, Australia (a world class cycling event; through next Sunday)

Sinulog -- Cebu City, Philippines (a very colorful festival about the pagan origin of the people, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism)

St. Canute's Day a/k/a St. Knud (Patron of Denmark)

St. Henry of Uppsala's Day (Patron of the Catholic Cathedral of Helsinki; Finland; against storms)

Theophany/Epiphany -- Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christians who still follow the Julian Calendar
Timket -- Ethiopian Orthodox Christian (with huge, colorful festivals through the whole country)
Blessing of the Waters -- Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia, Bayswater, London, UK

Tin Can Day -- patented this day in 1825

World Religion Day -- Baha'i

Birthdays Today:

Shawn Johnson, 1992
Jodie Sweetin, 1982
Frank Caliendo, 1974
Drea de Matteo, 1972
Shawn Wayans, 1971
Wendy Moniz, 1969
Junior Seau, 1969
Paul McCrane, 1961
William Ragsdale, 1961
Thomas Kinkade, 1958
Simon Rattle, 1955
Desi Arnaz, Jr., 1953
Dewey Bunnell, 1952
Robert Palmer, 1949
Paula Deen, 1947
Dolly Parton, 1946
Shelley Fabares, 1944
Janis Joplin, 1943
Michael Crawford, 1942
Phil Everly, 1939
Richard Lester, 1932
Robert MacNeil, 1931
Tippi Hedren, 1931
Fritz Weaver, 1926
Jean Stapleton, 1923
Guy Madison, 1922
John H. Johnson, 1918
Lester Flatt, 1914
Edgar J. Helms, 1863
Paul Cezanne, 1839
Edgar Allan Poe, 1809
Robert E. Lee, 1807
James Watt, 1736 (O.S. date)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"48 Hours"(TV), 1988
"The Millionaire"(TV), 1955
"Woman of the Year"(Film), 1942
"Il Trovatore"(Verdi Opera), 1853
"Faust Part I"(Goethe tragic play), 1829

Today in History:

Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy, 1419
San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is currently the oldest church in the Philippines, 1607
The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, 1788
The United Kingdom occupies the Cape of Good Hope, 1806
Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett obtain a patent for a process of storing food in tin cans, 1825
Goethe's Faust Part I premiers, 1829
Verdi's Il Trivatore preniers in Rome, 1853
The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey, 1883
Ibsen's play The Master Builder premiers in Berlin, 1893
Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising, 1915
The US Senate votes against membership in League of Nations, 1920
Coopers Inc. sells the world's first briefs, 1930
For the only time in recorded history, snow falls in Miami, Florida, 1977
The last VW Beetle made in Germany leaves the plant, 1978
United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity, 1981
The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced, 1983
Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations, 1993
The New Horizons probe is launched by NASA on the first mission to Pluto, 2006

In this house, i try to recycle everything that can be recycled. We are blessed with curbside recycling, and things that aren't taken curbside can be dropped off at different places at times though the year.

My children know, when in doubt, check to see if we can recycle it. Most of the friends who hang around here also know that i'm a stickler for putting everything i possibly can in the bin.

What the children and their friends don't always do is clean things like soup cans thoroughly before tossing them in. So, the kittens always stand ready to help notify me when something is in there that shouldn't be.

Sulu, who jumps in there himself.

But, mom! I know there's something in here that shouldn't be!

He does climb in, and cries and digs until i pull out what he wanted -- the chicken soup can, not quite rinsed properly, that he was smelling.

Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Mali

Blue Monday -- UK (it's gloomy winter, it's after the holidays, it's time to cheer someone up by doing something nice for him/her)

Camcorder Day -- five companies agreed, this day in 1982, to cooperate and construct a camera with a built in VCR

Celtic Tree Month Beth (Birch) ends

Clean Out Your Email Inbox Week -- cure your email e-ddiction, get rid of the old stuff clogging up your inbox; see InboxDetox for details

Coffee Break Day

Day of National Mourning -- Azerbaijan (a/k/a Martyrs' Day)

Festival of Jubilation for Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate, in Busiris)

Heroes Day -- Cape Verde; Guinea-Bissau (death anniversary of Amilcar Cabral)

La Tamborrada de San Sebastian -- San Sebastian, Spain (24 hours of drumming, begun last evening)

Maouloud -- Mali (Baptism of the Prophet)

Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- US and Territories (obs.)

National Buttercrunch Day

National Cheese Lover's Day

National Granola Bar Day

National Disc Jockey Day -- listed lots of places, but no particular reason given for the choice of date

Penguin Awareness Day -- lots of celebrating, but no history of who started it

Sacrifices to Athena -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Stay Young Forever Day -- celebrate the child in all of us, do something fun

St. Sebastian's Day (Patron of archers, armorers, arrowsmiths/fletchers, athletes, bookbinders, diseased cattle, dying people, gardeners, gunsmiths, hardware stores, ironmongers, lace makers/lace workers, lead workers, masons, plague victims, police officers, Pontifical Swiss Guards, raquet makers, soldiers, stone masons/stone cutters; several cities, but especially of Rio de Janiero, Brazil and San Sebastian, Puerto Rico, where today is marked with celebrations; against cattle disease, enemies of religion, plague)

Take a Walk Outdoors Day -- unless it's storming, a good way to get some exercise

Tenmangu Kowakamai -- Setaka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (festival of old style Japanese dances)

Wellington Province Anniversary Day -- Wellington, New Zealand (obs.; trad. date 22nd)

Birthdays Today:

Skeet Ulrich, 1969
Rainn Wilson, 1968
Rainn Wilson, 1966
James Denton, 1963
Lorenzo Lamas, 1958
Bill Maher, 1956
David Lynch, 1946
Dorothy Provine, 1937
Arte Johnson, 1934
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, 1930
Patricia Neal, 1926
Otis Dewey "Slim" whitman, 1924
Federico Fellini, 1920
DeForest Kelley, 1920
Joy Adamson, 1910
George Burns, 1896
Harold Lincoln Gray, 1894
Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, 1889
Carolus Linnaeus, 1778
André-Marie Ampère, 1775
Richard Henry Lee, 1732

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Meet the Beatles"(Album, US release), 1964

Today in History:

The first elected English Parliament called into session by the 6th Earl of Leicester, and meets in the Palace of Westminster (a/k/a Houses of Parliament), 1265
The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro is first explored, 1502
The Casa Contratacion (Board of Trade) is founded in Spain to deal with American affairs, 1503
The cornerstone of Amsterdam town hall laid, 1648
The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides that Botany Bay is unsuitable for the location of a penal colony, and decides to move to Port Jackson, 1788
China cedes Hong Kong to British, 1841
L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster, 1885
The first full length talking motion picture filmed outdoors is released, "In Old Arizona", 1929
Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee conference in Berlin deciding on "final solution" calling for extermination of Europe's Jews, 1942
The first atomic submarine, USS Nautilus, is launched at Groton, Connecticut, 1955
Witnesses report sightings of a Bottlenose whale swimming in the River Thames, the first time the species had been seen in the River Thames since records began in 1913, 2006
A three-man team, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1958 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance, 2007

Really?! Already?!

That was the first thought that went through my head when i knew that it was Miss W. from the shelter calling. She only calls for one thing.

Sure enough, it was the one thing.

"A lady inherited her daughter's cats when it turned out the boyfriend was allergic. Apparently, neither cat was fixed, although she does have an appointment to get them done at the upcoming spay Sunday. As of right now, though, the mama had four babies, and three are already gone. Mama won't care for them at all. Do you think you can take the fourth surviving kitten?"

Please note that it is only January. It is, in the Northern Hemisphere at least, still the middle of WINTER! Cats shouldn't be having kittens in the middle of winter!

We usually don't get our first kitten calls before March, and sometimes April. This better not be a sign of things to come, but instead just a freak occurrence.

So, the newest arrival, too late for an Aww Monday post, but somehow i don't believe that the kitten cares.

Yes, he's tiny.

Today is:

Anniversary of the Elf Wars -- Fairy Calendar

Celtic Tree Month Luis (Rowan) begins

Errol Barrow Day -- Barbados

International Bon Jovi Day -- they released their first album this date in 1983

Lady of Altagracia Day -- Dominican Republic

National Hugging Day™ -- includes the announcements of the Most Huggable People of the Year

National Speak Up and Succeed Day -- become one of those people who aren't afraid of public speaking, practice! sponsored by Polished Presentations International

New England Clam Chowder Day

Quebec Flag Day -- Quebec, Canada

Rid The World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day -- always the Tuesday of Healthy Weight Week and includes the announcement of the Slim Chance Awards, highlighting the worst fad diets of the prior year

Sioux Empire Farm Show -- Sioux Falls, SD, US (great winter farm show, since you can't be planting, come out and have fun; through Saturday)

Squirrel Appreciation Day -- sponsored by Christy Hargrove of the Western North Carolina Nature Center

St. Agnes' Day (Patron of betrothed couples, bodily purity/chastity, crops, gardeners, Girl Scouts, girls, rape victims, virgins; the Colegio Capranica of Rome; Manresa, Spain; Rockville Centre, NY)

St. Meinrad of Einsiedeln's Day (Patron of hospitality; Einsiedeln, Switzerland; Swabia, Germany)

"Stonewall" Jackson's Birthday Celebration -- Lexington, VA (at the Jackson home)

Anniversary Today:

Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit, 1915

Birthdays Today:

Robby Benson, 1956
Geena Davis, 1956
Billy Ocean, 1960
Jill Eikenberry, 1947
Mac Davis, 1942
Placido Domingo, 1941
Jack Nicklaus, 1940
Wolfman Jack, 1939
Benny Hill, 1925
Telly Savalas, 1924
Benny Hill, 1924
Paul Scofield, 1922
Barney Clark, 1921
Karl Wallenda, 1905
Christian Dior, 1905
Roger Nash Baldwin, 1884
John M. Browning, 1855
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, 1824
Ethan Allen, 1738

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Kid"(Film), 1921
"The Daily News"(first issue, edited by Charles Dickens), 1848
"Power of Sympathy"(publication date of WH Brown's novel, considered the first American novel), 1789

Today in History:

Philip II, Henry II, and Richard the Lionheart initiate the 3rd Crusade, 1189
The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded, 1525
The first American novel, WH Brown's "Power of Sympathy," is published, 1789
After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine, 1793
Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination is introduced, 1799
The envelope-folding machine is patented by Russell Hawes, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1853
The first US sewage disposal system that is separate from storm drains opens in Memphis, Tennessee, 1880
The first slalom ski race is run in Murren, Switzerland, 1922
The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec, 1948
A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete, 1968
The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts, 1971
Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes, 1976
Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, 1981
NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Eart, 2004
Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%, 2008

Upon hearing an odd sound from outside, a rather loud clanking that sounded like metal on metal, i stuck my head out of the back door to see whether one of the gates was attempting to fly away again in the crazy wind we've been having lately.

Instead, i saw #2 Son and Festus. #2 Son had the barbell from the weight set over one shoulder, as one would a baseball bat, and Festus was poised to throw a 6 pound sledgehammer. As i bemusedly watched, Festus swung the hammer toward him and #2 Son took a swing at it, barely clipping the edge of the wooden handle.

"That's a strike!" Festus yelled.

What are you doing? i asked.

"Playing baseball!" #2 Son answered. "If I hit the metal part of the sledgehammer, it's a hit, but if I hit the wood or miss, it's a strike. You should hear the neat sound it makes when I get a hit!"

Well, i did hear it, and are you sure you two aren't trying to kill each other? i asked.

"No, ma'am!" Festus answered. "If we were, we could both think of much more efficient ways to do that!"

Nice to know, i muttered, then i added, please don't break any windows!

"We won't, mom," #2 Son answered as he took another swing and hit the metal part of the sledgehammer squarely, making the loud clinking noise that had sent me out there.

As i opened the door to come in through the back door, Bigger Girl was coming in through the front door. She had just attended her first day of classes, and was ecstatic.

"Mom, the Music Appreciation teacher is amazing! Her first name is Kimberly, and she's the first Kimberly I've ever met who isn't a perky and annoying cheerleader type!"

Good to hear, i said, making a mental note to try to figure out whom else we know named Kimberly.

"It was a great class. The teacher says she knows nothing about rock 'n roll past Elvis, because her mother was an Elvis fan. We discussed classical music, and I was the only student in the class who knew that Beethoven was deaf. and the only one who had ever heard of Vivaldi. In fact, our first assignment is to listen to Vivaldi."

Easy enough, i noted. We have the CD's, if it's one of the more common selections.

"It is," she said. "Also, we discussed classifications of instruments. The teacher was surprised that I knew so much.

"It's funny. When I dress the way I love to dress, people always wonder what I'm about. It especially surprises teachers that I sit at the front of the class and answer lots of questions. I think they don't expect someone who dresses the way I do to know anything!"

Bigger Girl, in a typical outfit.

Yes, i can imagine, i muttered.

Fishnet gloves, ammo belt, and tattoo on her, and a son who likes to play baseball with a sledgehammer. Yep, my kids are nothing if not unique.

Today is:

Answer Your Cat's Questions Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; meditate on what your cat's question might be, then answer it

Celebration of Life Day

Come in From the Cold Day -- somebody at an ecard company decided today would be a good day to do that

Day of Unity and Liberty of Ukraine -- Ukraine

Dia de la Fundacion del Estado Pluinacional de Bolivia -- Bolivia

National Blonde Brownie Day -- i thought these were just called "blondies."

Polka Dot Day -- looking up why they are called "polka dots" gives lots of stories, but no concrete evidence; they were probably named after the dance craze that became fashionable around the same time the pattern appeared

St. Vincent of Zaragoza's Day (Spanish martyr and Patron of vine dressers, vinegar makers, vintners; Lisbon, Portugal; Portugal; vicenza, Italy; Vilamalla, Catalonia, Spain)
a sunny day today indicates a good wine crop next season

Vancouver International Boat Show -- Vancouver, BC, Canada (with two venues in the city, there is sure to be enough to delight even the pickiest sailors; through Sunday)

Zehnder's Snowfest, Ice Carving, and State of Michigan Snow Sculpting Competition -- Frankenmuth, MI, US (fun for the whole family; through the 27th)

Birthdays Today:

Christopher Masterson, 1980
Balthazar Getty, 1975
Olivia D'Abo, 1967
Steven Adler, 1965
Diane Lane, 1965
Michael Kelland Hutchence, 1960
Linda Blair, 1959
Steve Perry, 1949
John Hurt, 1940
Joseph Wambaugh, 1937
Seymour Cassel, 1937
Sam Cooke, 1935
Bill Bixby, 1934
Piper Laurie, 1932
Ann Sothern, 1909
Robert E. Howard, 1906
George Balanchine, 1904
Rosa Melba Ponselle, 1897
D.W. Griffith, 1875
Grigori Rasputin, 1869
August Strindberg, 1849
Richard Upjohn, 1802
Nat Turner, 1800
Lord Byron, 1788
Andre Ampère, 1775
Sir Francis Bacon, 1561

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Emergency!"(TV), 1972
"Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In"(TV), 1968
"The Crucible"(Miller play), 1953
"Our Town"(Wilder play), 1938
"Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District"(Opera; Shostakovich Op.29), 1934

Today in History:

The first contingent of Swiss Guards arrive at the Vatican, 1506
Postal service between NYC and Boston is inaugurated, 1673
The Native American Iroquois tribes renew their allegiance to the British against the French, 1690
Spain ceded the Falkland Islands to Britain, 1771
A severe earthquake in southern Syria kills thousands, 1837
The Zulus attack the British Army camp in Isandhlwana, South Africa, 1879
The Ancient Egyptian obelisk "Cleopatra's Needle" is erected in Central Park, 1881
After 63 years, England stops the sale of Queen Victoria postage stamps series and begins King Edward VII series, 1901
First live radio commentary of a football match anywhere in the world, between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United at Highbury, 1927
KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood, California, 1947
Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space, 1968
The Boeing 747, the world's first "jumbo jet", enters commercial service, 1970
The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, is issued, 1971
The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, is introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with its famous "1984" television commercial, 1984
Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. is convicted of releasing the 1988 Internet Computer worm, 1990
Kmart becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, 2002
Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous president, 2006

"Honey, I can't find my phone! Will you call it for me?" Sweetie asked as he came in the kitchen, trying to get ready for work.

Okay, i said, and i did, but of course he had it turned off, so that didn't help.

What did you do last night? i asked him, as he ran around flustered, looking in impossible places.

"What do you mean? I came home from work, and then my brother called, and what does that have to do with it! It's in the house, I know it"

And then you took Bigger Girl's car to go get him and run an errand, because #2 Son was using your car to get to school, i thought, but did not say. When you came home again, you went in your Man Cave to play your guitar and turned it off so your brother couldn't call and bother you again.

So i went to the Cave, and there it was, on his table, with a magazine carelessly tossed on top. As i stepped out, he had come back down, and i handed it to him.

"But I know I brought it upstairs! How did you find it out there!"

Mommies are magic, don't you know.

*******************

"Mom! I can't find my wallet anywhere!" Bigger Girl was calling from upstairs.

Where have you looked? i asked.

"Everywhere!" she responded.

Including in your car? i further inquired.

"Yes! It's not there!"

Remembering that she had been stopped the day before by an officer who was concerned that her inspection sticker expires very soon, and while he was at it he asked her for her proof in insurance, i went out to her car and opened her glove box, on the chance that she had been flustered enough to put the wallet in there with the registration and proof of insurance. Bingo!

As i came back in the house and handed it to her, she yelped, "What! Where! How did you do that?"

Mommies are magic, i responded.

****************

"Mom, I can't leave for school! I can't find my notebook with all of my algebra and geometry work in it!" #2 Son was calling from the front door.

Did you check your room? i asked.

"Yes, but I know I put it in the car, and now it's not there!"

Remembering that he had actually left it on the small piece of furniture on the front porch where we keep the umbrellas and the squeegee for cleaning car windows and the spare car jack, i went out there, right past him, and pulled it out from under the jumble that the kids tend to leave there that they aren't supposed to.

"How did you know it was there!"

Mommies are magic, i replied.

*****************

"Mom, I can't find my work shirt! I just did laundry, and I can't find it anywhere! I'm gonna be late for work!" #1 Son was calling out in a panic.

It was all hung up on the line, i said. Remember, i hung yours when i needed to get it out of the washer so i could do the next load.

"Yeah, I know, and I got all of my stuff, and now I can't find it anywhere!"

Knowing that, half of the time, the kids don't get all of their things before i take my and Sweetie's things to my room, i went and grabbed it out of the pile at the end of my bed that was awaiting folding.

"How did you find it!"

Mommies are magic, i smiled.

*******************

"Boy, am I glad to be home!" Little Girl said as she walked in. "It's so cold."

Coming into the kitchen, she spotted the deviled eggs and yelped, "You made them! You are a domestic goddess! How do you make these so good!"

Not a goddess, mommies are magic, i grinned at her.

And so we often are!

Today is:

Bounty Day -- Pitcairn Island (celebrates the burning of the HMS Bounty in 1790

Clashing Clothes Day -- "officially" (although i'm not sure who declared it) on the 4th Thursday of January, but some people seem to celebrate it every day

Cold, Cold, Cold Day -- coldest temp ever recorded in the US, -79.8°F (-62.11°C), this day in 1971 at Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska

Day of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Get to Know Your Customers Day

enaia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (three day Dionysian festival to arouse the sleeping vegetation and bring spring; date approximate)

Montana Winter Fair -- Lewistown, MT, US (from farm exhibits to a fiddler's contest, there's fun to be had here; through Sunday)

National Pie Day -- US, sponsored by the American Pie Council

National Handwriting Day -- US, on the birth anniversary of John Hancock, to encourage the dying art of legible handwriting by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association

National Rhubarb Pie Day

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti -- TR and WB, India (birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose)

Measure Your Feet Day -- one can only ask...."Why!?!"

Ragwort Dance -- Fairy Calendar (Pixies only)

Snowplow Mailbox Hockey Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; plow drivers, see how far you can make those rural mailboxes go!

St. John the Almoner's Day (Patron of Knights Hospitaller; known for his generosity to the poor, "If we are able to enter the church day and night and implore God to hear our prayers, how careful we should be to hear and grant the petitions of our neighbor in need.")

Winter Carnival -- St. Paul, MN, US (a tradition over 100 years in the making; through February 2)

Women's Healthy Weight Day -- on the Thursday of Healthy Weight Week, encouraging women to strive for a healthy weight and lifestylehttp://www.healthyweight.net/hww.htm

Women in Medicine Day -- Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman awarded the degree of Medical Doctor in 1849

Anniversary Today:

The founding of Georgetown University, the first US Catholic college, 1789

Birthdays Today:

Tito Ortiz, 1975
Tiffani Thiessen, 1974
Mariska Hargitay, 1964
Gail O'Grady, 1963
Princess Caroline of Monaco, 1957
Antonio Villaraigosa, 1953
Pat Haden, 1953
Richard Dean Anderson, 1950
Rutger Hauer, 1944
Gil Gerard, 1943
Chita Rivera, 1933
Jeanne Moreau, 1928
Ernie Kovacs, 1919
John M. Browning, 1855
Edouard Manet, 1832
Stendhal(Marie-Henri Beyle), 1783
John Hancock, 1737
Joseph Hewes, 1730

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The A-Team"(TV), 1983
"Roots"(TV miniseries), 1977
"Barney Miller"(TV), 1975
"King Family Show"(TV), 1965
"After the Fall"(Miller's Play), 1964
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"(Film), 1948

Today in History:

Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga (Hindu Iron Age of the Gods), BC3102
In China, the war elephant corps of the Southern Han are soundly defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops, 971
The first printing of Ramban's Sha'ar ha-Gemul, 1490
The first printing of the Pentateuch, 1492
The second version of Book of Common Prayer becomes mandatory in England, 1552
What is probably the most deadly earthquake in history kills 830,000 in Shensi Province, China, 1556
Queen Elizabeth I opens the Royal Exchange in London, 1571
Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales, 1656
Joseph Pease, a Quaker, is admitted to Parliament on his affirmation, 1833
Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first female physician in the US, 1849
The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1855
Alesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Alesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless an one person dead, 1904
Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American US senator, 1907
Pianist Ignaz Paderewski becomes premier of the Polish government in exile, 1940
Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time, 1943
The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 m (35,798 feet) in the Pacific Ocean, 1960
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley, 1986
Final communication between Earth and Pioneer 10, 2003
Six Venezuelan cable television channels are taken off the air by the Venezuelan government after refusing to transmit government messages, 2010

Feline Friday was begun bySteve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

In this house, you have to be careful where you sit.

Why'd you wake me up?

Watch out, or you might remember too late, as Calvin did with Hobbes, that five of the six ends are sharp and pointy!

Today is:

Alasitis Fair -- Aymara Indians, Bolivia (offerings to the god of prosperity, now celebrated in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Feast of Our Lady of Peace, for whom La Paz is named)

Americana Indian and Western Art Show -- Yuma, AZ, US (Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, and Western art, rugs, and jewelry; through Sunday)

Beer Can Appreciation Day -- the first canned beer went on sale today in 1935

Belly Laugh Day -- at 1:24pm local time, join the Belly Laugh Bounce Around the World!

Dinagyang -- Iloilo, Philippines (huge religious and cultural festival, this year's theme is "Bringing More Fun to the World"; through the weekend)

Eagles Etcetera Festival -- Bismark, AR, US (bald eagles in the wild, birds of prey demonstrations, and lots of outdoor fun; through Sunday)

Economic Liberation Day -- Togo

Eskimo Pie Day -- patented this day in 1921

Fairy-Four Paganalia -- Fairy Calendar

Fun At Work Day -- inject laughter and fun into your workplace (if you dare)

Gold Rush Day -- US (gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill, sparking the California Gold Rush, in 1848)

National Compliment Day -- begun by Debby Hoffman and Kathy Chamberlin, a day in which to compliment at least 5 people

National Peanut Butter Day

Opposite Day -- internet generated, and fun if you play it right

Oregon Truffle Festival -- Eugene, OR, US (celebrating the high-end culinary delight that is the lowly truffle, with seminars, cooking demos, and more; through Sunday)

Paul Pitcher Day (So called because it is the eve of the Celebration of St. Paul's Conversion on the road to Damascus. Cornish tin miners would traditionally set up a water pitcher in a public place and throw stones at it to destroy it. A replacement pitcher was then bought and filled with beer, which was drunk and replenished through the day. These miners were great inventors for reasons to celebrate, and they did this to rebel against the rule that only water was to be consumed during the work day.)

Porri Month begins -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (the name means Middle of Winter, and personifies him as Old Man Winter; often the harshest month, so greet him kindly, to soften his heart and hasten spring)
Bondadagur (Husband's Day) -- first day of Porri (various traditions honoring the man of the house; these days, women often give the men flowers)

Sailing of Bast -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (people sailed the Nile to converge on Bubastis and celebrate the cat goddess; date approximate)

Sementivae, in honor of Ceres and Terra, begins -- Roman Empire (one of the few dating approximate items on the Roman Calendar, as each area of the Empire celebrated according to the timing of a local magistrate, but now through Feb. 2 was a typical time)

Social Sipping and Nibbling Rehearsal Day -- a day to practice cutting a piece of cake on a paper plate, using a plastic fork, and also balancing a napkin and punch in a paper cup; or practicing what clever thing you will say if you drop it all

St. Francis de Sales' Day (Patron of authors/journalists/writers, confessors, deaf people, educators/teachers; Champdepraz, Aosta, Italy; against deafness)

TV Game Show Day -- birth anniversary of Mark Goodson

Ziua Unirii -- Romania (Unification Day)

Anniversaries Today:

Popeye meets Olive Oyl, 1929 (in Elzie Segar's Thimble Theater comic strip)

Birthdays Today:

Mischa Barton, 1986
Tatyana Ali, 1979
Ed Helms, 1974
Matthew Lillard, 1970
Mary Lou Retton, 1968
Nastassia Kinski, 1960
Jools Holland, 1958
Yakov Smirnoff, 1951
John Belushi, 1949
Warren Zevon, 1947
Michael Ontkean, 1946
Sharon Tate, 1943
Neil Diamond, 1941
Aaron Neville, 1941
Ray Stevens, 1939
Maria Tallchief, 1925
Jerry Maren, 1920
Oral Roberts, 1918
Ernest Borgnine, 1917
Jack Brickhouse, 1916
Mark Goodson, 1915
Granny D, 1910 (formerly Granny Haddock, or Ethel Doris Haddock, political activist)
Edith Wharton, 1862

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"I, Puritani"(Bellini Opera), 1835

Today in History:

Caligula, known for his cruel despotism, is assassinated and succeeded by his uncle Claudius, 41
Connecticut colony organizes under Fundamental Orders, 1639
The first Jewish doctor in US, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland, 1656
Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga, 1776
The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first full-fledged university in south Asia,1857
The Romania principality arises under King Alexander Cuza, with Bucharest as the capital, 1862
General Baden-Powell's publication of Scouting for Boys starts the Boy Scouts movement, 1908
The Gregorian calendar introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People's Commissars effective from February 14(NS), 1918
Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada, 1952
A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost, 1961
Jackie Robinson is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame, 1962
Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II, 1972
Soviet satellite Cosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered, 1978
The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale, 1984
Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 km (50,680 miles) of Uranus, 1986
Japan launches Hiten, the country's first lunar probe,and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States, 1990
Lara Giddings becomes the first female Premier of the Australian state of Tasmania , 2011

We live in south Louisiana, which is mostly a swamp.

There are some who think that someday it will all be underwater anyway, but meanwhile, it's a swamp. Like most swamps, it's mostly hot. Our two seasons are wet and hurricane, with the major difference being that hurricane is hotter.

In the deeps of winter, though, we do get a few days of freezing cold. No, it's not what the rest of the country thinks of as freezing. It's what the flora and fauna and people here think of as freezing though.

On those days when "winter weather" is expected, meaning there might be the remotest possibility of a bit of frozen rain or even snow, everything shuts down and the area goes nuts.

Some nuts, outdoors in the cold -- #2 Son, Little Girl, Young Jacob, and Festus.

The schools closed yesterday, and my nuts went outdoors to play in the "snow." It was actually frozen rain, but it gathered in some spots, and they had a blast throwing it at each other.

Not snow, just frozen rain, but it looked the part.

We don't have a ton of winter gear -- we seldom need it. So they put together what they could -- old, unmated sox make great ersatz mittens -- and made the most of what they had, playing outdoors for a while, then coming in to get on the computer and drink cocoa and warm up, then going back out.

Today is:

Afrma Fancy Rat and Mouse Annual Show -- Riverside, CA (don't laugh, rats and mice make great pets!)

Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show -- West Springfield, MA, US (8 1/2 acres of hobby train fun; through tomorrow)

A Room of One's Own Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, for all of those who just want a space to call their own; on the birth anniversary of Virginia Woolf

Around the World in 72 Days -- this date in 1890, Nellie Bly broke the fictional Phileas Fogg's record and went around the world in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds

Big Garden Birdwatch -- UK (sponsored by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; through tomorrow)

Big Rock Day -- discovery of the Cullinan diamond (3,106 carets) this day in 1905

#Brookfield Ice Harvest -- Brookfield, VT, US (demonstrating traditional ice harvesting using original equipment near the Brookfield Floating Bridge, one of only two such bridges still extant; through tomorrow)

Conversion of St. Paul -- Christian
Observe the Weather Day -- a beautiful St. Paul's Conversion day means a prosperous year, precipitation means an expensive year, clouds mean much loss of livestock, and wind means war looms in the year ahead

Dydd Santes Dwynwen -- Wales (For St. Dwynwen, Patron of lovers, especially Welsh lovers, and sick animals; the Welsh Valentines Day)

Eagle Day at the Lake -- Wyandotte County Lake Park, Kansas City, KS, US (learning about bald eagles in the environmental learning center, as well as eagle viewing over the lake and children's activities)

Feriae Sementivae -- Ancient Roman Calendar (a Feast of Spring, asking protection for seeds sown in the fall, and those to be sown in spring)

Festival of Constructive Energy -- another internet generated day with no explanations

Gasparilla Pirate Fest -- Tampa, FL (reenactment of the invasion of Tampa by pirates)

G. F. Betico Croes Day -- Aruba

Greater Springfield Garage Sale -- Springfield, MO, US (if you want to find it used, you can probably find it here; through tomorrow)

Hoggetowne Medieval Faire -- Gainesville, FL, US (jousting, birds of prey, medieval arts, food, entertainment; through tomorrow, and again next weekend)

IceFest -- Ligonier, PA, US (ice sculpture contest and lots of family fun; through tomorrow)

IV Nurse Day -- US (sponsored by the Infusion Nurses Society)

January 25 Revolution Day -- Egypt

Ka Moloka'I Makahiki -- Molokai, Hawaii (traditional ceremonial end of the harvest festival, a time of peace; still celebrated with ceremonies and sporting events)

Kidfilm Festival -- Dallas, TX (international children's film festival; through tomorrow)

Kumquat Festival -- Dade City, FL, US (because kumquats are not just funny, they are delicious!)

Macintosh Computer Day -- debuted this day in 1984

National Irish Coffee Day

National Seed Swap Day -- find or set one up in your area, so you can expand your garden, and help others expand theirs

National Voters' Day -- India

Old Disting -- Norse Calendar (date approximate; a market day held at the same time as a sacrifice to the female powers.)

Orange City Blue Spring Manatee Festival -- Orange City, FL, US (learn about the manatee and have fun doing it; through tomorrow)

Poverty and Homelessness Action Week begins -- UK (information on how you can help is here)

Robert Burns' Night -- Scotland; Newfoundland (celebrated with a Burns' Supper and reciting poetry)
Dinner Party Day -- for Bobby Burns, of course

SOS Radio Week -- UK (The Royal National Lifeboat Institutionhttp://rnli.org/Pages/default.aspx keeps the seas safer, and Radio Amateurs help them raise fundsww.sosradioweek.org.uk)

St. Ananias of Damascus' Day (Saint who baptized St. Paul)

Swamp Buggy Races -- Naples, Florida (the world famous swamp buggy races; through tomorrow)

Wakakusa Yamayaki -- Nara, Japan (Grass Burning on Mt. Wakakusayama, and fireworks; an annual New Year tradition)

Winter-een-mas -- a holiday for gamers, begun by Tim Buckley; through the 31st

Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities -- Eatonville, FL, US (celebrating Hurston's work, hometown, and cultural contributions, and the contributions of all Africa-descended people; through Feb. 2)

Anniversaries Today:

Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn, 1533 (secret wedding)
Moscow University is established, to coincide with St. Tatiana's Day, 1755

Birthdays Today:

Alicia Keys, 1981
Ana Ortiz, 1971
China Kantner, 1971
Dinah Manoff, 1958
Leigh Taylr-Young, 1945
Etta James, 1938
Corazon Aquino, 1933
Dean Jones, 1931
Edwin Newman, 1919
Florence Mills, 1896
Virginia Woolf, 1882
William Somerset Maugham, 1874
Robert Burns, 1759
Robert Boyle, 1627 (O.S. date)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Rent"(Musical), 1996
"M*A*S*H*"(Film), 1970
"One Hundred and One Dalmatians"(Cartoon film), 1961
"Metamorphosen, Study for 23 Solo Strings"(Strauss composition), 1946
"The Guiding Light"(Radio), 1937
"R.U.R./Rossum's Universal Robots"(Play), 1921 (the word "robot" enters the world lexicon)
"Wedding March"(Mendelssohn, Op. 61), 1858
"La Cenerentola"(Rossini Opera), 1817

Today in History:

Founding of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1554
Battle of Mikatagahara, in Japan; Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu, 1573
The Treaty of Utrecht marks the beginning of the Dutch Republic, 1579
Eliakam Spooner of Vermont patents the first seeding machine in the US, 1799
The first US engineering college opens, Rensselaer Polytechnic, Troy, NY, 1825
Sojourner Truth addresses the First Black Women's Rights Convention, in Akron, Ohio, 1851
Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" is first played, at the wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Victoria, to crown prince of Prussia, 1858
The soda fountain is patented by Gustavus Dows, 1870
Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company, 1881
Bilu, a Russian Zionist organization, forms, 1882
Nellie Bly beats Phileas Fogg's time around world by 8 days (72 days), 1890
The first US transcontinental telephone call is made when Alexander Graham Bell in NY calls Thomas Watson in SF, 1915
The League of Nations is founded, 1919
The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, France (in the French Alps), inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games, 1924
At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented, 1949
The first scheduled transcontinental flight in the US takes place, an American Airlines flight from California to New York, 1959
The Clementine space probe launches, 1994
Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile, 1995
During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands the release of political prisoners and political reforms while condemning US attempts to isolate the country, 1998
Three independent observing campaigns announce the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb through gravitational microlensing, the first cool rocky/icy extrasolar planet around a main-sequence star, 2006

About two years ago, #1 Son moved away. He headed out of state (to Kansas), and it just didn't work out. So he came back, and has landed back at home.

He's in the converted garage, paying rent, working, and planning to go back to school to finish his education.

It seems that a lot of young people these days try to get out of the house, and realize they tried too much, too soon, and come back.

Some parents don't like it, but i don't mind a bit. After all, he's working and making plans, and wants his own place, but he wants to be in a more stable place when he tries again. That's actually a good idea, we think.

This trend of kids to stay home, or come back home, reminds me of a joke.

"Tee" Boudreaux had gotten to be 24 years old and was still living at home.

Marie and Boudreaux were discussing what to do, when Boudreaux hatched a plan.

"Here what we gonna do," he said. "We put a $10 bill, a Bible, and a bottle o' whiskey on de table. Den we hide, and when he come in, we see what he decide to pick up. If he pick up de money, he gonna go in bidness, if he pick up de Bible, he gonna be a preacher, and if he pick up de bottle, he gonna be a no count bum."

Marie agrees, so they put the items on the table and hide in the closet, peeking out so they can see the table.

"Tee" walks in as they expected, and he first picks up the $10 and puts it in his pocket. Then he tucks the Bible under his arm, and finally takes a swig from the bottle.

After "Tee" leaves the room, Boudreaux and Marie come out, and Boudreaux puts his head in his hands.

"Marie!" he say. "What we gonna do? Dat boy, he gonna be a politician!"

Today is:

Australia Day -- Australia (National Day); Christmas Island; Cocos (Keeling) Islands; Norfolk Island; (Commemorates Captain Arthur Phillip's arrival at Sydney Cove with the First Fleet, on January 26, 1778.)
Australia Day Cockroach Races -- Brisbane, Queensland (the greatest gathering of thoroughbred cockroaches anywhere, with competition proceeds going to charity)

Dental Drill Day -- George F. Green, of Kalamazoo, MI, US, patents the electric dental drill, 1875

Duarte Day -- Dominican Republic

End of the Fifth Quarter of the Ninth Dozen of the Thirteenth Set -- Fairy Calendar

Farmhouse Breakfast Week begins -- UK (encouraging you to refresh your wake up routine, this year's challenge is "Shake Up Your Wake Up")

Liberation Day -- Uganda

Lotus 1-2-3 Day -- released this day in 1983

Lowcountry Oyster Festival -- Mt. Pleasant, SC, US (80,000lbs. of oysters, come have some fun!)

National Peanut Brittle Day

National Pistachio Day

Republic Day -- Delhi, India (pompous and splendid celebrations through the 29th)

Sailing of Anubis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (celebration of the god of the dead; date approximate)

Spouse's Day -- an internet generated reason to tell your SO how much he/she means to you

St. Paula's Day (Patron of widows)

St. Timothy's Day (Patron against stomach and intestinal disorders)

St. Titus' Day (Patron of Crete)

Toad Hollow Day of Encouragement -- begun at Toad Hollow School in Kalamazoo, Michigan in the 1800s, a day to encourage your friends

World Leprosy Day -- International

Anniversaries Today:

Establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park, 1915
Michigan becomes the 26th US state, 1837

Birthdays Today:

Kherington Payne, 1990
Kirk Franklin, 1970
Andrew Ridgeley, 1963
Wayne Gretzky, 1961
Anita Baker, 1958
Ellen DeGeneres, 1958
Eddie Van Halen, 1955
Lucinda Williams, 1953
David Strathairn, 1950
Gene Siskel, 1946
Angela Davis, 1944
Scott Glenn, 1942
Bob Uecker, 1935
Father George Harold Clements
Jules Feiffer, 1929
Paul Newman, 1925
Anne Jeffreys, 1923
Jimmy Van Heusen, 1913
Maria Augusta von Trapp, 1905
Bessie Coleman, 1893
Douglas MacArthur, 1880
Mary Mapes Dodge, 1831
Julia Dent Grant, 1826
Emperor Go-Nara of Japan, 1497

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Phantom of the Opera"(Musical), 1988
"The Dukes of Hazzard"(TV), 1979
"Duchess of Padua"(Oscar Wilde play), 1891
"Cosi Fan Tutte"(Mozart Opera), 1790
"Esther"(Racine play), 1689

Today in History:

The fifth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 66
Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil, 1500
The Council of Trent issues its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, 1564
Isaac Newton receives Jean Bernoulli's 6 month time-limit problem, and solves the problem before going to bed that same night, 1697
The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake took place off the west coast of the North America, as evidenced by Japanese records, 1700
The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent of Australia, 1788
The Rum Rebellion, the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in Australia, 1808
Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States, 1838
Hong Kong is proclaimed a sovereign territory of Britain, 1841
The first US income tax, passed to raise funds for the Civil War, is repealed, 1871
Muhammad Ahmed ("Mahdi") rebels conquer Khartoum, Sudan, 1885
The World's largest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, is found, 1905
The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III is officially introduced into British Military Service, and remains the oldest military rifle still in official use, 1907
Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane, 1911
Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera, 1911
Former Ford Motor Co. executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer, 1920
Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses, 1952
Danny Heater sets a worldwide high school basketball scoring record when he records 135 points for Burnsville High School (West Virginia), 1960
Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon, but misses its target by 22,000 miles (35,400 km), 1962
Hindi becomes the official language of India, 1965
The Great Blizzard of 1978, a rare severe blizzard with the lowest non-tropical atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the US, strikes the Ohio – Great Lakes region with heavy snow and winds up to 100 mph (161 km/h), 1978
Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations, 1980
An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths, 2001
President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan. 2004
The 41st World Economic Forum convenes in Davos, Switzerland, 2011

The latest foster kitten is doing well so far, for one born so out of season. In other good news, the mother and father cats have both been fixed, at the special spay/neuter day held once a month, so there won't be any more to follow!

He's eating well, every couple of hours.

For some reason, the children want to name him (we are pretty sure it's a him) Lorax. This despite the fact, as Bigger Girl keeps pointing out, he doesn't look like a fuzzy Cheeto with a mustache.

Today is:

Auckland Province Anniversary -- Auckland, New Zealand

Australia Day -- obs.

Big Snow Day -- remembering the 15 inch snowflakes that fell on in Fort Keough, Montana, in 1887

Bubble Wrap® Appreciation Day

Chocolate Cake Day

Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism -- Germany (anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz)

Day the Netjers of Heaven Receive Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Elementary School Teacher Day

Family Literacy Day -- Canada

Festival au Desert -- various locations in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger (the final installment of most remote music festival in the world, with lots of African music and traditions, and ending in the Great Night For Peace; through Feb. 6)

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

Iroquois Mid-Winter Ceremony -- Iroquois Native Americans (for the continuation of all life-sustaining things; a multi-day ceremony and feast that begins around this time of year)

Listen to Classical Music During Lunch Day -- in honor of Mozart

Luanda City Day -- Luanda City, Angola

Mozart Day

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering -- Elko, NV, US (the nation's greatest celebration of the American West, with working cowboys, this year including butteri from Italy, attend workshops, jam sessions, performances, and enjoy art and exhibits; through Saturday)

National Heroes' Day -- Cayman Islands

Punch the Clock Day -- internet generated, and no reason for it given; this has to be one of the more baffling ones

St. Angela Merici's Day (Founder of the Sisters of the Order of St. Ursula; Patron of the disabled and ill; against bodily ills and the death of parents)

St. Devota's Day (Patron of Corsica; Monaco)

Thomas Crapper Day -- death date, in 1910, of the perfector of the flush toilet mechanism

Anniversaries Today:

Founding of the National Geographic Society, 1888
The first sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, is founded at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, 1870
The University of Georgia is chartered, the first state university in the US, 1785

Birthdays Today:

Julie Foudy, 1971
Jennifer LB Leese, 1970
Patton Oswalt, 1969
Alan Cumming, 1965
Bridget Fonda,1964
Cris Collinsworth, 1959
Mimi Rogers, 1956
Mikhail Baryshnikov, 1948
Nick Mason, 1944
Mairead Corrigan, 1944
James Cromwell, 1942
Troy Donahue, 1936
Donna Reed, 1921
David Seville, 1919
Skitch Henderson, 1918
Hyman George Rickover, 1900
Jerome Kern, 1885
Samuel Gompers, 1850
Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), 1832
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Laverne and Shirley"(TV), 1976
"Tarzan of the Apes"(Film), 1918

Today in History:

Trajan becomes Roman Emperor, 98
The Rashidun Caliphate ends with the death of Ali, 661
Song Dynasty General Yue Fei is wrongfully executed, 1142
Dante Alighieri becomes a Florentine political exile, 1302
The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31, 1606
The first American lime kiln begins operation in Providence, Rhode Island, 1662
Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Instanbul, 1695
Czar Peter the Great sets the first Russian state budget, 1710
Abdication of Stanislas, the last king of Poland, 1736
The US Congress approves the opening of Indian Territory for settlement, which led to the forced relocation of Native Americans on the "Trail of Tears," 1825
Manitoba and the Northwest Territories are incorporated, 1870
Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the electric incandescent lamp, 1880
The National Geographic Society is organized, in Washington, D.C., 1888
"Tarzan of the Apes," the first Tarzan movie, premiers, 1918
Apollo 1 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, 1967
More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space, 1967
Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper, 1980
The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, breaks through, 1983
American-born sumo wrestler Akebono Taro becomes the first foreigner to be promoted to the sport's highest rank of yokozuna, 1993
Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 1996
Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services, 2006

That school is canceled. Like we couldn't have guessed.

It was plastered all over the news, and they robo-called us and sent home a letter to boot, just to make sure we knew.

Yes, it's another of those ice on the roads, interstate shut down, most streets impassible because they have a bridge over a creek that has ice on it, no school, no government workers to report except essential personnel, uni is closed, junior college is closed, everyone go home, stay home, and don't come out until it warms up enough that you Southerners won't kill yourselves trying to drive in the mess that you aren't used to kind of days.

As Bigger Girl says, "The South shut down."

These are the kind of days we don't get very often, and thank heavens. Last Friday's big shutdown resulted in over 200 accidents that can be blamed on weather.

Yet, Sweetie has to go to work. The women in his building do not have to report. Maintenance, since they can't mow or weed or do set ups for meetings (there aren't any), do not have to report. The whole university, except those who work the power plant so nothing freezes or is destroyed, is staying home.

He works for the alumni association, and he has to report for duty for a couple of hours so the Big Boss can brag that his people came to work when no one else at the university did. It makes him feel superior. We just hope Sweetie can get back home, there are so many road closures that "you can't get there from here" becomes a real possibility.

#1 Son keeps updating me on how cold it is in Chicago, Bigger Girl is lamenting her broken computer screen (yes, she broke it again) and begging Little Girl to allow her on the tablet, #2 Son is camping out with Festus and Young Jacob around a fire on the side porch, and Little Girl has turned the "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" song into "No School 'til Brooklyn" and is singing it with glee.

As for me, i'm tempted to hibernate with the heating pad. Sweetie is accusing me of having a love affair with it. Since he won't snuggle because he can't sleep with anything or anyone touching him except his blanket, it certainly is my second-best friend at the moment.

If you are in the cold weather places right now, i hope you thaw out soon, and i hope we do, too!

Today is:

Army Day -- Armenia

Data Privacy Day -- International

Feast of the Holy Family -- Catholic Christian

Festival of the Lenaia to Dionysus -- Ancient Greek Calendar, end January through early February

Jackhammer Day -- US (the pneumatic jackhammer was patented this day in 1894 by Charles Brady King of Detroit, MI)

National Blueberry Pancake Day

National Kazoo Day -- because anyone can play one!

National Speak Up and Succeed Day -- encouraging joining Toastmasters International, as fear of speaking can block your road to success!

National Spieling Day -- internet generated, and whatever your area of expertise, spiel about it today

Rinkydinks Annual Snowball Fight -- Fairy Calendar

Runic Half-month Elhaz (elk) commences

St. Charlemagne's Day (Patron of the University of Paris)

St. Thomas Aquinas's Day (Patron of academics, apologists, book sellers, chastity, colleges, learning, pencil makers, philosophers, publishers, scholars, schools, students, theologians, universities; Aquino, Italy; Belcastro, Italy; Falerna, Italy; University of Vigo; all Catholic academies, schools, and universities; against lightning, storms)

Telephone Exchange Day -- US (the first telephone exchange was set up in New Haven, CT with 22 subscribers on this day in 1878)

Up-Helly-AA Day -- Lerwick, Shetland (the largest fire festival in Europe, with tomorrow as a day off so everyone can recover)

Anniversary Today:

Adoption of the Great Seal of the United States, 1782

Birthdays Today:

Elijah Wood, 1981
Nick Carter, 1980
Joey Fatone, Jr. 1977
Kathryn Morris, 1969
Sarah McLachlan, 1968
Harley Jane Kozak, 1957
Nicolas Sarkozy, 1955
Rick Warren, 1954
John Beck, 1943
Susan Howard, 1943
Alan Alda, 1936
Susan Sontag, 1933
Claes Oldenburg, 1929
Jackson Pollack, 1912
Robert Stroud, 1890 (The Birdman of Alcatraz)
Arthur Rubenstein, 1887
Auguste Piccard, 1884
Jean Felix Piccard, 1884
Colette, 1873
Jose' Marti, 1853
Henry Morton Stanley, 1841
Alexander Mackenzie, 1822
Peter the Great of Russia, 1775
St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Fantasy Island"(TV), 1978
"Barnaby Jones"(TV), 1973
"Symphony No. 1/Jeremiah"(Bernstein), 1944

Today in History:

The Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor is lifted by Pope Gregory VIII, 1077
The first Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria, 1099
Pope Alexander VI gives his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France, 1495
Edward VI, age nine, succeeds his father Henry VIII as king of England, 1547
By the Edict of Orleans, the persecution of French Huguenots is suspended, 1561
Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland, 1573
Sir Thomas Warner found the first British colony in the Caribbean, on St. Kitts, 1624
The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented in the Senate decree (it was called St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917), 1724
Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity, 1754
London's Pall Mall is the first street lit by gaslight, 1807
Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom, 1813
The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway, 1855
In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick, 1887
Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent became the first person to be convicted of speeding in an automobile. He is fined 1 shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thus exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h), 1896
The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie, 1902
An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard, 1915
The first Jewish US Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis, appointed by Wilson, 1916
A symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is installed beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to honor the unknown dead of World War I, 1921
The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhary Rehmat Ali Khan and is accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence, 1933
The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today, 1958
The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament, 1965
Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region, 1984
Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief, 1985
Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart after liftoff killing all seven astronauts on board, 1986
Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled up the Egyptian's streets in demonstrations referred to as "Friday of Anger" against the Mubarak regime, 2011

Sort of, a whine, but not really.

By G-d's grace, this area was not nearly as hard hit as originally predicted. It's been cold, but the ice/sleet/snow/freezing rain wasn't as abundant as it could have been.

Even so, our streets are ice, and you can't drive to most places, from what i gather. No, i wasn't silly enough to try to venture out yesterday.

Schools and government are shut down, and although he had to go to work yesterday, Sweetie is actually not having to go in today. Even the Big Boss can't get there because of the frozen roads.

In the midst of all of that, though, the uni basketball team still played their game, and a few thousand die-hard fans showed up. #1 Son was shocked that they had the game, but as i said, the other team was in town, probably couldn't reschedule, and as long as they physically could get to the arena, why not? They had nothing else to do.

The kids are all home and underfoot in ways they haven't been since they were little and they were cuter and i was more used to it. They, along with Festus and Young Jacob, are running in and out, playing in the ice, sliding down our sloped driveway, exploring the frozen creek, using up every towel we have in the house when they come in wet and melting, wearing every single spare coat in the coat closet, eating constantly, and just generally goofing off and having fun.

There are screams from outdoors when someone gets ice shoved under their clothing, Bigger Girl keeps yelling, "Bad pet redneck!" to Young Jacob, and they all look like shapeless lumps because of all of the layers of clothing and coats. Little Girl is hoarding ice balls in the freezer, hoping to be able to use them in the summer.

My heavy coat that i left at Grandma and Grandpa's house at Christmas arrived. While i told him not to, Grandpa decided to mail it to me! He got it here just in time for Little Girl to wear it outdoors and get it frozen solid with ice.

If we thaw out enough today, i think i will venture out this afternoon. Only, though, if the doors of the van thaw enough to open. They froze shut yesterday, as i found when i tried to go out and get something.

Today is:

Blue and Pink Day -- Fairy Calendar

Bubblegum Sculpture Day -- commonly listed on ecard sites, and not to be confused with National Bubble Gum Day, coming in February

Carnation Day -- in honor of William McKinley; also on the date of his assassination each year, Sept. 14

Curmudgeons' Day -- W.C. Field's birth anniversary

National Corn Chip Day

National Puzzle Day -- because they are just fun

Sahid Diwash -- Nepal (Martyrs' Day)

St. Constantius of Perugia (Patron of Perugia, Italy)

St. Gildas the Wise's Day (one of the earliest British historians)

Thomas Paine Day/Freethinkers' Day -- birth anniversary of Thomas Paine

US Nationals Snow Sculpting Competition and Championships -- Lake Geneve, WI, US (through Feb. 8)

Anniversaries Today:

Establishment of The Seeing Eye, 1929 (first US guide dog school)
Kansas becomes the 34th US state, 1861

Birthdays Today:

Adam Lambert, 1982
Jonny Lang, 1981
Andrew Keegan, 1979
Sara Gilbert, 1975
Heather Graham, 1970
Bobby Phillips, 1968
Nick Turturro, 1962
Greg Louganis, 1960
Oprah Winfrey, 1954
Teresa Teng, 1953
Ann Jillian, 1950
Tom Selleck, 1945
Katharine Ross, 1942
Germaine Greer, 1939
John Forsythe, 1918
Victor Mature, 1913
Huddie William "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, 1885
W.C. Fields, 1880
Anton Chekhov, 1860
William McKinley, 1843
Henry Morton Stanley, 1841
Thomas Paine, 1737
Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Sweet Charity"(Musical), 1966
"Dr. Strangelove"(Film), 1964
"Sleeping Beauty"(Cartoon movie), 1959
"The Potting Shed"(Play), 1957
"All My Sons"(Play), 1947
"The Raven"(publication date), 1845
"Idomeneo"(Mozart Opera), 1781
"The Beggar's Opera"(Gay Ballad Opera), 1728

Today in History:

The first performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1595
John Beckley of Virginia is appointed the first Librarian of Congress, 1802
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" is first published, 1845
The Victoria Cross is established to acknowledge bravery, 1856
Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, 1886
Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch, 1891
Walt Disney starts his first job as an artist, earning $40/week with the KC Slide Co, 1920
North America's first guide dog school, The Seeing Eye, is incorporated in Nashville, Tennessee, 1929
The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced, 1936
The first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced, 1963
Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so, 1989
President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear weapons testing, 1996
La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire, 1996
The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing, 2005

Feline Friday: Cozy

Article 1

Silly Sunday: More stuff heard around here

Aww Monday: Monday the 13th Cutie

How many times?

Late, Later, Latest

Being

Feline Friday: Psst!

Project Expiration

Silly Sunday: That Reminds Me of a Joke

Aww Monday: Let Me Help!

Al-flippin'-ready?!!!

Unique

Do You Believe in Magic?

Feline Friday: Watch Where You Sit

Making the Most of It

Silly Sunday: All About Sons

Aww Monday

We Officially Announce

A Wednesday Whine