messymimi's meanderings

The street was dark, the street lights few and far between, and she was jumping up and down in the middle of the road so that i had to swerve to avoid hitting her. Pulling into a parking lot, i rolled the window down a bit and she approached, begging for money.

She claimed it was to pay her rent so she wouldn't be kicked out the next day. The truth was in her eyes, though, she either hadn't made enough money to pay her pimp and she was facing a beating (or worse), or she owed someone money for the drugs she had used.

And deeper still, i could see in her scared face a question. "How," she was asking herself, "could I fall this far?"

Linking up with Six Sentence Stories at Uncharted Blog.

Today is

Adonia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (date approximate, but always in July, a ritual to honor Adonis)

Asalha Puja Day -- Buddhism (Buddhist "Lent" begins)

Cherokee Green Corn Ceremony -- honoring maize goddess Selu with thanksgiving for the maize harvest; date approximate, as many towns set their own times to celebrate

Distressed Elves' Creditors' Day -- Fairy Calendar

Eastport Fourth of July and "Old Home Week" -- Eastport, ME, US (bounded on all sides by the Bay of Fundy and Canadian islands, the celebration runs through Sunday)

Flag & Anthem Day -- Curacao

Freedom Days -- Farmington, NM, US (the Four Corners region celebrates freedom and The 4th in a big way; through Sunday)

Freedom From Fear of Public Speaking Day -- as proposed by Beverly Beuermann-King, because you don't want to blow it when your big opportunity comes because you are afraid to speak out!

I Forgot Day (the day to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, or other special days that you forgot during the first half of the year)

Mescalero Apache Ceremonials and Rodeo -- Mescalero Apache Reservation, NM, US (a great way to learn about Native American culture, and including Apache Maidens' Puberty Rites; through Sunday)

National Anisette Day

Palio di Provenzano -- Siena, Italy (horse race and pageant, named after the Madonna di Provenzano, whose church is in Siena)

Rebild Festival/American Independence Day Celebration -- Aalborg, Denmark (the town dresses in red, white and blue, celebrating with BBQ, American beer, and more; through the 4th, with an After Party through tomorrow)

Remember to Feed the Hummingbirds Day -- internet reminder to be nice to these beautiful creatures

Roswell UFO Days -- Roswell, NM, US (tons of stuff for the serious and those who just want to have fun with the whole concept; through Sunday)

St. Swithin's Day (Patron against drought; of Stavenger, England; Winchester, England)

Tom Sawyer Days -- Hannibal, MO, US (frog jumping, mud volleyball, Tom and Becky Contest; parade, Tomboy Sawyer Contest, fireworks, and more, with the highlight being the National Fence Painting Contest; through Sunday)

Try to Find Your Slinky Day -- the weird holiday of the day!

Violin Lovers' Day

Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival -- Greensburg, PA, US (multicultural celebration of food, fine arts, handicrafts, and music from many nations; through Sunday)

World UFO Day -- unfortunately, a real day observed by many around the world (on the "anniversary" of the UFO crash in Roswell, if such a thing even happened, which i doubt*)

*i believe that if there's life elsewhere, it shows its intelligence by staying away from us!

Anniversary Today:

Prince Albert of Belgium marries Paola Ruffo di Calabria, 1959

Birthdays Today:

Lindsay Lohan, 1986
Ashley Tisdale, 1985
Johnny Weir, 1984
Jose, Jr., and Ozzie Canseco, 1964
Jimmy McNichol, 1961
Ron Silver, 1946
Vicente Fox Quesada, 1942
Richard Petty, 1937
Polly Holiday, 1937
Dave Thomas, 1932
Medgar Evers, 1925
Dan Rowan, 1922
Ken Curtis, 1916
Thurgood Marshall, 1908
Jean René Lacoste, 1904
Hermann Hesse, 1877
Thomas Cranmer, 1489

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Andy Williams Show"(TV), 1957
"The Lawrence Welk Show"(TV), 1955
"Finlandia"(Sibelius' Op. 26), 1900

Today in History:

Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine, 1698
Vermont becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery, 1777
Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from an infection on September 19, 1881
Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinque take over the slave ship Amistad, 1893
Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains patent for radio in London, 1897
The first zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany, 1900
Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight 1937
The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas, 1962
North and South Vietnam, divided since 1954, reunite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 1976
The AbioCor self contained artificial heart is first implanted, 2001
Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon, 2002
Planetoid Pluto's fourth and fifth moons officially receive the names Kerberos and Styx from the International Astronomical Union, 2013

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

Feline Friday is simple to join. All you have to do is..

1) post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (They may be silly or cute)
2) go to Steve's page, linked above, then on the menu bar click on the Feline Friday tab to get the code
3) paste the code under your cat picture
4) add your name and link

That’s all there is to it! Be sure to check back every so often and visit all the Feline Friday bloggers. Also, please leave a nice comment on their blogs. Nasty comments will be deleted!

Link, a/k/a LinkerStinker, is a 3-year-old, but you'd never know it by the way he plays. He acts like a kitten, and he loved playing with the sheets on the bed.

He's loved this sheet until it has a tear in it -- it's the one i pull up over the bed to keep fur off of the blankets. He dives under and comes up through the hole he has torn.

Here he is full in a game of hide-and-seek:

Mom! Don't quit playing to take a pic!

Today is

Action Mesothelioma Day -- UK (bringing "meso" cancer into the spotlight)

Air Conditioning Appreciation Days begin -- Northern Hemisphere (around here, they last until Thanksgiving!)

Calgary Stampede -- Calgary, AB, Canada (The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth; through the 12th)

Compliment Your Mirror Day -- remind your mirror how great it is to have an owner like you, and look at other mirrors to meet to see if they greet you with a smile

Dipolieia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Zeus as god of the city)

Disobedience Day -- internet generated, but if you have a bone to pick, use your civil disobedience today to let it be known!

Distressed Elves' Creditors' Pets' Day -- Fairy Calendar

Dog Days of Summer begin (according to the almanac, but not in all cultures)

Eat Beans Day -- bring the humble legume up to main dish status!

Edmonton International Street Performers Festival -- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (the finest street performers anywhere; through the 12th)

Fiesta del Fuego -- Santiago, Cuba (festival of fire, through the 9th)

Fishermen's Day -- Marshall Islands

Independence Day -- Belarus(1944)

International Plastic Bag Free Day -- working toward a plastic bag free world

Montreux Jazz Festival -- Montreaux, Switzerland (a premier jazz event for music lovers from around the world and one of the world's greatest music festivals; through the 18th)

National Chocolate Wafer Day

Old-Time Fiddlers' Jamboree and Crafts Festival -- Smithville, TN, US (through tomorrow; with 32 categories of old-time bluegrass music!)

Red White and Boom -- Columbus, OH, US (the Midwest's largest fireworks display)

Savonlinna Opera Festival -- Savonlinna, Finland (one of Finland's most illustrious and internationally significant cultural events; through Aug. 2)

Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Matsuri -- Shounan City, Kanagawa Prefecture (one of Japan's largest Tanabata festivals; through Sunday)

Stay Out of the Sun Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; for health's sake, give your skin a break!

St. Thomas the Apostle's Day (Patron of architects, blind people, builders, carpenters, construction workers, geometricians, masons, people in doubt, stonecutters, surveyors, theologians; against blindness, doubt; Certaldo, Italy; Ceylon/Sri Lanka; East Indies; India; Pakistan)

Virgin Islands Emancipation Day -- US Virgin Islands

Ways with Words -- Dartington, Devon, England (The UK's most stylish literature festival, through the 13th)

Anniversaries Today:

Prince Alois of Liechtenstein marries Duchess Sophie of Bavaria, 1993
Ted Kennedy marries Victoria Anne Reggie, 1992
Idaho becomes the 43rd US State, 1890

Birthdays Today:

Moises Alou, 1966
Thomas Gibson, 1962
Tom Cruise, 1962
Montel Williams, 1956
Alan Autry, 1952
Betty Buckley, 1947
Dave Barry, 1947
Kurtwood Smith, 1942
Tom Stoppard, 1937
Pete Fountain, 1930
Ken Russell, 1927
Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, 1908
Franz Kafka, 1883
George M. Cohan, 1878
Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, 1870
Samuel Huntington, 1731(O.S. date)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"ITV News at Ten"(TV), 1967
"Mister Peepers"(TV), 1952

Today in History

Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France till the French Revolution in 1792, 987
Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain, 1608
Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret, 1767
Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded and the first edition is published, 1767
George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1775
The Bank of Savings in New York City, the first savings bank in the United States, opens, 1819
The last pair of Great Auks is killed, 1844
Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) by Peter von Scholten in the culmination of a year-long plot by enslaved Africans, 1848
Dow Jones and Company publishes its first stock average, 1884
Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen – the first purpose-built automobile, 1886
The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand, 1886
World speed record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 126 miles per hour (203 km/h), 1938
The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad, 1969
First mention in the New York Times of a disease that would later be called AIDS, 1981
The Stone of Scone is returned to Scotland, 1996
Asteroid 2004 XP14 flies within 432,308 kilometres (268,624 mi) of Earth, 2006
New Zealand sustains a major earthquake, with minor damage reported, 2012
In El Paraiso, Peru, property developers destroy a 4,000-year old pyramid, 2013
In Belgium, King Albert II abdicates his throne to son, Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, due to health reasons, 2013

"Hey, mom, did you know there are places on earth where it's been declared illegal to die?" Bigger Girl asked as i came in yesterday.

Well, i know they don't officially allow anyone to be declared dead on Disney property, i noted. They want the official declaration to wait until you are removed from their property because no one should die at 'The Happiest Place On Earth.'

"Well, this is different. There are places where it's illegal to die, and what I want to know is, how do they punish you if you break the law?"

Good question, i said.

A moment later, Friend Becky and #2 Son came in, dressed to the nines.

Going somewhere special? i asked.

"Yes, we are," she answered just as we heard a boom from outdoors.

Are they setting off fireworks already? i asked.

"Yes, it was Festus, and we're leaving to go get more," Little Girl said as she walked in and grabbed a nectarine. "We want to be ready."

"Then we are going to The Hole in the Wall, you know, where we sometimes go to hear bands," #2 Son said. "They are having an 80's Prom Night, and she never got to go to the prom in high school, so when we get back with the fireworks, I'm taking her there."

He and Friend Becky are starting to be more than just friends. Time will tell, and they have plenty of it.

"Well, I have to work tonight, and tomorrow I have off so I will go downtown for the fireworks instead," Bigger Girl noted.

Will your friends be with you? i asked.

"Of course, We have a girl who claims to be a bobcat, a 6'1", 350 pound Cuban with a Mohawk, one of us considers herself a dragon, and one makes everyone call her 'Princess Pop Rocks.' Where else would we go but down to the fireworks? Downtown by the levee is the only place we all fit in!"

Um, no comment.

Happy Independence Day to all who celebrate, and Happy Saturday to those who don't!

Today is

American Independence Day Celebration -- Rebild Park, Aalborg, Denmark (yes, really, every year except during the two World Wars, they have celebrated American Independence Day here; as a way of thanking the country that has accepted over 300,000 Danish immigrants, and to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the countries)

Baal Fire Day -- Whalton, Northumberland, UK (a bonfire, Anglo-Saxon "bael", with traditional morris dancing -- originally a Moorish dance)

Boom Box Parade -- Willimantic, CT, US (dating back to 1985, when no marching band could be found for the Memorial Day parade, five weeks later, the local radio station staged the first Boom Box Parade, in which they play the march music on their station, and marchers carry boom boxes tuned in on the station; it makes for one unique parade!)

Buffalo Bill Day -- he staged his first Wild West show on July 4, 1883

Bullion's Day -- Anglican tradition, the translation of the relics of St. Martin of Bullion; rain today means rain for the next 20 days, according to the legends

Calithumpian Parade -- Biwabik, MN, US (clowns, hilarity and patriotism reign together as the 1,000 citizens of Biwabik put on a show for more than 15,000 guests)

Day of Pax -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Filipino-American Friendship Day -- Philippines; U.S.

Garibaldi Day -- Italy

Hop A Park Day -- US (several years ago the Colleyville, Texas, Park and Recreation Commission started this celebration on the first Saturday of July, which is National Parks and Recreation Month; go visit a park today, or make plans to do it soon!)

Independence Day -- US and Territories(1776)

Independence from Meat Day -- don't be a slave to tradition! sponsored by Vegetarian Awareness Network

International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship -- Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm, Eau Claire, WI, US

International Day of Cooperatives -- U.N.

Jumping on the Mattress Night -- Fairy Calendar

King Tupou VI's Birthday -- Tonga

Liberation Day -- Rwanda

National Barbecue Spareribs Day

National Country Music Day -- US

Nazul Al-Quran -- Brunei Darussalam; Malaysia (Quran Revelation Day)

Old Midsummer Eve -- by the Julian Calendar

Rockport Art Festival -- Rockport, TX, US (top artists from around the country line the waterfront today and tomorrow, with good music and good food to add to the fun)

Sidewalk Egg Frying Day -- you can do this anywhere that it's hot enough, but for the real deal, plan to go to the Solar Egg Frying Contest, held annually on July 4 on old Route 66 in Oatman, Arizona, US, where the rule is you must use solar heat only

St. Paul's Carnival -- Bristol, England (annual African Caribbean Carnival; a richly multicultural celebration)

St. Elizabeth of Portugal's Day (Patron of brides, charitable societies, charity workers, charities, difficult marriages, falsely accused people, peace, queens, tertiaries, victims of adultery, victims of jealousy, victims of unfaithfulness, widows; invoked in time of war; Coimbra, Portugal)

St. Ulrich's Day (Patron of peaceful deaths, pregnant women, weavers; Augsburg, Germany; Creazzo, Italy; against birth complications, dizziness, faintness, fever, frenzy, mice, moles, vertigo)

Stone Skipping Tournament -- Windermere Pointe Beach, Mackinac Island, Michigan, US (open to all, come skip some stones and have a blast!)

The Dam Experience -- Warsaw, MO, US (fireworks viewed from land and boat at the Truman Dam)

Tour de France -- through Sunday, July 26

World's Greatest Lizard Races -- Chaparral Park, Lovington, NM, US (cheer the lizards and iguanas as they race down a 16 foot ramp, and yes, trophies will be awarded!)

Anniversaries Today

Tuskegee Institute opens, 1881

Birthdays Today

Becky Newton, 1978
Koko, 1971 (gorilla who speaks sign language, and has now taught it to her offspring)
Pamela Howard "Pam" Shriver, 1962
Signy Coleman, 1960
Geraldo Rivera, 1943
George Steinbrenner, 1930
Al Davis, 1929
Gina Lollobrigida, 1927
Neil Simon, 1927
Eva Marie Saint, 1924
Ann Landers, 1918
Abigail Van Buren, 1918
Mitch Miller, 1911
Gloria Stuart, 1910
George Murphy, 1902
Rube Goldberg, 1883
Louis B. Mayer, 1882
George M. Cohan, 1878
Calvin Coolidge, 1872
Stephen Foster, 1826
Hiram Walker, 1816
Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1804

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"American Top 40"(Radio), 1970
"Honky Tonk Women"(Single release), 1969
"America the Beautiful"(Publication date), 1895

Today in History

A supernova is observed by the Chinese, the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star Tauri; for several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day, and its remnants form the Crab Nebula, 1054
Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye, 1534
The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (Quebec, Canada), 1634
City of Providence, Rhode Island forms, 1636
The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress, 1776
The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, opens, 1802
The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American public, 1803
Construction of the Erie Canal begins in Rome, New York, 1817
The world's first long-distance railway, the Grand Junction Railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool, 1837
The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end, 1840
Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, 1845
The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, is published, 1855
Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell and her sisters a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, 1862*
The Anglo-Zulu war ends, 1879
The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States, 1886
The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia, 1886
Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4, 1892
The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole, 1894
Dorothy Levitt was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a 'motor race', 1903
African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States, 1910
First flight of the Lockheed Vega, 1927
Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball, 1939
After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States, 1946
The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe, 1950
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law, 1966
NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars, 1997
The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1, 2005
The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks, 2009
Discovery of a picture of the Biblical Samson and a Hebrew inscription in an ancient synagogue in the Galilee region of northern Israel is announced, 2012

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs. The rules are simple, just have fun.

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

Post a joke.
Link Up with the URL to your joke in the Linky Tools Widget.
Read my joke.
Leave a comment to tell me how much you enjoyed my joke.
Try and visit a few others participating in Silly Sunday.
Go to Sandee's site, linked above, and get the Silly Sunday code for your blog, too!

The other day, i was talking to The Big Boss. He was sending texts on his iPhone, and he looked up and said, "You know, when I had to retire so quickly, I suddenly didn't have a staff any more. It was a crash course, let me tell you. I had to learn how to use all the technology to do the stuff I'd been letting others do for years!"

His comment reminded me of the time Tee Boudreaux was complaining about his phone.

"De kids at de big high school nex' year will all have dem one of dose iPhones! An' all I gots is dis little phone dat's t'ree-year-old an' slide open! How can I go to school an' pull dat out in front de kids?"

At dis, Boudreaux, he start givin' Tee a talk about how hard he had it when he was a kid. Tee had done heard lots a dat befo', an' fin'ly when Boudreaux say, "Why, back in de good ole days..." one time too much for him, Tee interrup' an ax, "Jes' when was de good ole days?"

"Das easy!" Clothile jump in to say befo' Boudreaux can. "Dat's back when Boudreaux wadn't old, an' he wadn't good, neither!"

Today is

Abbotsford Berry Beat Festival -- Abbotsford, BC, Canada (enjoy berries at the height of the season, as well as music, clowns, games, a "berried" treasure hunt, and more, through tomorrow)

Alice in Wonderland Day -- on July 5, 1862, Dodgson began writing the adventure story he had told Alice Liddel and her sisters the day before

Bikini Day -- the skimpy suit made its debut on this day in Paris in 1946

Buxton Wells Dressing -- Buxton, Derbyshire, England (preserving the 650+ years of traditional "dressing" wells in foliage to thank the patron saint of that well for blessings, now with parades and carnivals; through the 13th)

Constitution Day -- Armenia

Ducktona 500 Family Festival & Car Show-- Sheboygan Falls, WI, US (lots of fun for everyone, culminating in the annual plastic duck race)

Fast of Shiva Asar B'Tammuz -- Judaism (a day of fasting and mourning the destruction of the tablets by Moses, the disruption of Temple services in 423BCE, and the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem right before the Temple was destroyed in 70AD; as a minor fast it begins today at dawn and ends at nightfall)

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

Graham Cracker Day -- birth anniversary of inventor of graham flour, the Reverend Sylvester Graham, in 1794

Independence Day -- Algeria(1962); Cape Verde(1965); Venezuela(1811)

National Apple Turnover Day

National Work-a-holics Day -- we will know it's you if you are all "back to business" after a holiday

Poplifulgia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (a ceremony to commemorate the "Flight of the People" when they had to flee enemies)

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Day -- Roman Catholics in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Apostles to the Slavs, created the Glagolithic alphabet and translated the Bible into the Slavonic language)

Sts. Grace and Probus' Day (married co-Patrons of Probus, Cornwall, England)

Birthdays Today

Dolly the Sheep, 1996 (first cloned mammal)
Edie Falco, 1963
Huey Lewis, 1951
Richard Michael "Goose" Gossage, 1951
Jackie Robertson, 1944
Eliot Feld, 1942
Shirley Knight, 1936
Katherine Helmond, 1934
Warren Oates, 1928
Janos Starker, 1924
Georges Pompidou, 1911
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., 1902
Jean Cocteau, 1889
Clara Zetkin, 1857
Cecil Rhodes, 1853
P.T. Barnum, 1810
David Glasgow Farragut, 1801

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica(Publication date), 1687

Today in History

Scotland and France form the beginnings of the Auld Alliance, against England, 1295
John Guy sets sail from Bristol with 39 other colonists for Newfoundland, 1610
Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, 1687
The Salvation Army is founded in the East End of London, England, 1865
Police open fire on striking longshoremen in San Francisco, on Bloody Thursday, 1934
Spam, the luncheon meat, is introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation, 1937
Highest recorded temperature in Canada, at Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan: 45°C (113°F), 1937
Larry Doby signs a contract with the Cleveland Indians baseball team, becoming the first black player in the American League, 1947
National Health Service Acts created the national public health systems in the United Kingdom, 1948
The Knesset passes the Law of Return which grants all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel, 1950
William Shockley invents the junction transistor, 1951
The BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin, 1954
Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title, 1975
Japan launches a probe to Mars, and thus joins the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation, 1998
The SARS virus is declared to be contained by the WHO, 2003
Indonesia holds its first presidential election, 2004
Roger Federer wins a record 15th Grand Slam title in tennis, winning a five set match against Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, 2009
The largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever discovered, consisting of more than 1,500 items, is found near the village of Hammerwich, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England, 2009
Europe's tallest, habitable, free-standing structure, The Shard, which stands at 1,016 feet (309.6 metres) officially opens in London, England, 2012
In Rome, Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII are canonized by the Vatican, 2013

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays. Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you. What better way to start the week than with a smile!

We are back in the bottle-feeding of kittens business.

Two bottle babies, snuggled up against Little Girl.

These two are so young they still have their umbilical cords attached. It's touch and go when they are orphaned this young, but since they are eating so well we are very hopeful.

The solid black boy is Wolfgang, and the dark tabby girl is Kala.

Today is

Birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama / World Tibet Day -- Tibetan Diaspora, to bring awareness to the cause of restoring freedom to Tibet

Buy Yourself a Toy You Always Wanted As a Child Day -- internet sites that list this suggest you then donate it to a child in need

Caricom Day -- Guyana; Saint Vincent and Grenadines

Carnival Monday -- Saint Vincent and Grenadines

Constitution Day -- Cayman Islands

Day of the Capital -- Kazakhstan

Earth at Aphelion -- @19:41 UT (Earth at its furthest distance from the sun)

Ettelbruck Rememberance Day -- Ettelbruck, Luxembourg (remebrance of Patton's 3rd Army liberating the area from the Nazis)

Feast of Isaiah the Prophet -- Roman Catholic

Fill an Aquarium Day -- they are fun and entertaining; probably spread around the internet by an afficionado who wants to share the love

Heroes Day -- Zambia

Independence Day / National Day -- Comoros (1975)

Independence Day / Republic Day -- Malawi (1964)

International Kissing Day / World Kissing Day -- noted everywhere, but not sponsored; that doesn't matter, kiss someone you love today!

Iriya no Asagao-ichi -- Kishibo-Jin Shrine, Taito Ward, Tokyo (morning glory flower festival, buy one for good luck, through the 8th)

Ivan Kupala Day -- Belarus; Poland; Russia; Ukraine (through tomorrow; Feast of St. John the Baptist in Orthodox Churches using the Julian Calendar)

Jan Hus Day -- Czech Republic

Kaustinen Folk Music Festival -- Kaustined, Finland (the largest international music festival in the Nordic countries; through Sunday)

King Mindaugas Day / Statehood Day -- Lithuania

Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod -- Eisteddfod Field, Llangollen, Benbigshire, North Wales, UK (Six days of the best music and folk dance, and all the world in one place; through Sunday)

Los Sanfermines -- Pamplona, Spain (bull running, through the 14th; don't be bored, be gored! a part of the San Fermin Festival)

Ludi Apollinares -- Ancient Roman Calendar (first day of games in honor of Apollo; through the 13th)

Millennial Fairy Olympics -- Fairy Calendar (through the 14th)

National Fried Chicken Day

Old Albums are Frisbees Day -- if you have nothing to play them on, and they are scratched anyway, why not?

Ra o te Ui Ariki -- Cook Islands (House of Ariki[Tribal Chief])

Sempach Battle Commemoration -- Lucerne, Switzerland (remembrance of the battle in 1386 includes a solemn procession to the battlefield and services in the chapel)

St Godelieve of Ghistelles's Day (Patron of difficult marriages, healthy throats, in-law problems, throat diseases, victims of abuse, victims of verbal spouse abuse)

St. Maria Goretti's Day (Patron of children, teen girls, martyrs, poor people, rape victims, young people; Albano, Italy; against poverty, the death of parents)

Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day -- because your online business depends on keeping him/her happy and well fed; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Tynwald Day -- Isle of Man (Manx National Day; assembling of the year's session of the High Court of Tynwald, as their Parliament is called, to read the laws to the citizens; oldest continual parliament in existence)

Anniversary Today:

Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert (King George V) marries Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (Queen Mary), 1893

Birthdays Today

Matthew O'Leary, 1987
Gregory Smith, 1983
Tia and Tamera Mowry, 1978
Jennifer Saunders, 1958
Kenny G, 1956
Allyce Beasley, 1954
Grant Goodeve, 1952
Hilary Mantel, 1952
Geoffrey Rush, 1951
George W. Bush, 1946
Sylvester Stallone, 1946
Burt Ward, 1945
Ned Beatty, 1937
Dalai Lama, 1935
Della Reese, 1932
Janet Leigh, 1927
Pat Paulsen, 1927
Merv Griffin, 1927
Bill Haley, 1925
William Schallert, 1922
Nancy Reagan, 1921
Sebastian Cabot, 1918
Laverne Andrews, 1915
Frida Kahlo, 1907
Beatrix Potter, 1866
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, 1781
John Paul Jones, 1747

Debuting/Premiering Today:

A Hard Day's Night(Film), 1964
"Name That Tune"(TV), 1953
"Judith"(Play), 1840

Today in History

Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) is crowned King of England, 1189
Papal bull of Pope Clement VI protecting Jews during the Black Death, 1348
Jan Hus is burned at the stake, 1415
Richard III is crowned King of England, 1483
Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River, 1484
Sir Thomas More is executed for treason against King Henry VIII, 1535
Córdoba, Argentina, is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, 1573
The dollar is unanimously chosen as the monetary unit for the United States, 1785
In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held, 1854
Lyman Reed Blake receives the first patent for a machine to sew the sole of a shoe on to the upper, 1958
Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies; the patient is Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog, 1885
David Kalakaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is forced at gunpoint, at the hands of the Americans, to sign the Bayonet Constitution giving Americans more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian citizens of their rights, 1887
Dadabhai Naoroji elected as first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain, 1892
The British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship, 1919
The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Chicago's Comiskey Park; the American League defeats the National League, 4–2, 1933
The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed, 1939
Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse, 1942
The Hartford Circus Fire, one of America's worst fire disasters, kills approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut, 1944
Davis Phinney became the first American cyclist to win a road stage of the Tour de France, 1986
The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years, 2006
Exiled Tibetans are banned from celebrating the Dalai Lama's birthday as Nepalese authorities fear they will turn into anti-Chinese demonstrations, 2011

Little Girl was on swim team again this year, and enjoyed it as much as ever.

The great thing about the neighborhood pool is that the same kids come year after year, and the members of the team grow close as friends as well as teammates.

They may start as young as 6, and swim until the summer after senior year of high school, so she has one more year to participate.

This year, she got some ribbons:

Her ribbons.

Because the ribbons were handed to parents at the pool party while the kids were swimming and eating, i got to take a picture of them. Her medal i will probably not even see unless i go dig it out of her room.

By being sneaky, though, i did get a picture of her standing with the girls in her age group.

You have to get her picture from the back, she's in the black t-shirt.

It's a small team, the smallest in the league, so they partner us up with another small team, and together the teams came in 3rd place overall for the league!

We have great coaches, and kids who are dedicated to coming back year after year, who want to improve and swim better and get exercise and have fun and be with friends, and that's the best part of all.

Today is

Aphrodisia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (bathing festival of Aphrodite and Peitho [Persuasion]; date approximate)

Bonza Bottler Day™

Carnival Tuesday -- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Chocolate Day -- no one knows why today, so why not? Enjoy chocolate cereal with chocolate milk for breakfast, some chocolate covered raisins and nuts as a midmorning snack, chocolate milk with lunch, chocolate truffles as a midafternoon snack, chocolate liquer before dinner, chocolate cake for dessert, and sip chocolate coffee any time through the day!

Global Forgiveness Day -- encouraging "citizens of this global village" to forgive and be forgiven; sponsored by the CECA

Father-Daughter Take a Walk Together Day -- encouraging fathers to take some special time out with their girls today

Independence Day / National Day -- Solomon Islands(1978)

Macaroni Day -- it goes with more than just cheese!

National Strawberry Sundae Day

Nones of July -- Ancient Roman Calendar; celebrations on this day included:
     Festival of Feriae Ancillarum -- "Feast of the Serving Women", when female servants dressed up and "attacked" men of free birth with fig boughs; in honor of the serving women who helped free the city of Rome from the Gauls
     Nonae Caprotinae -- "Nones of the Wild Fig", honoring Juno Caprotina with a sacrifice under a wild fig tree
     Parilia -- festival for Pales, god of the herds

Saba Saba Day -- Tanzania (literally "Seven Seven" Day, a/k/a Peasants' Day or Workers' Day, and the biggest day of the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair)
     Maonyesho ya Saba Saba -- Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Dar es Salaam Trade Fair, through July 8)

St. Willibald's Day (Patron of Eichstatt, Germany)

Tanabata -- Japan (star festival, 7th day of 7th month; some areas go by lunar calendar, but most larger cities celebrate by the Gregorian Calendar now)

Tell The Truth Day -- a yearly challenge frm Kepa Freeman of Teens Express to go the whole day without telling a lie or saying or doing anything misleading or dishonest

Unity Day -- Zambia

Unity Factory Day -- Yemen (all workers are encouraged to play at work today, to build team and national unity)

Anniversaries Today

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr., marries Eleanor Rosalynn Smith, 1946

Birthdays Today

Michelle Kwan, 1980
Cree Summer, 1969
Jorga Fox, 1968
Billy Campbell, 1959
Shelley Duvall, 1949
Ringo Starr, 1940
Doc Severinsen, 1927
Pierre Cardin, 1922
Gian Carlo Menotti, 1911
Robert Heinlein, 1907
Satchel Paige, 1906
Marc Chagall, 1887

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Ryan's Hope"(TV), 1975
"All You Need is Love"(Single release), 1967
Waverly(Novel, publication date), 1814
"Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate"(Canticles, HWV 278 & 279), 1713

Today in History

A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death, 1456
Raid of the Redeswire, the last major battle between England and Scotland, 1575
United States begins first military draft; exemptions cost $300, 1863
An International Railway trolley with an extreme overload of 157 passengers crashes near Queenston, Ontario, killing 15, 1915
Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri; it is described as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped", 1928
Alleged and disputed Roswell UFO incident, 1947
Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere, 1959
In Canada, the Official Languages Act is adopted making the French language equal to the English language throughout the Federal government, 1969
Sharia is instituted in Iran, 1980
Samantha Smith, a U.S. schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov, 1983
The Western Black Rhinoceros is declared extinct due to poaching, 2006
In efforts to avoid food shortages and political oppression, South Korea begins work on a new facility to house North Korean refugees, 2011

It's Vacation Bible School week, and this is just a fraction of what it takes to feed the volunteers:

One day's supply, 150 pizza rolls and 60 bagel pizzas, plus other items.

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

Today is

Celtic Tree Month Tinne begins (Holly)

Feast of St. Sunniva (Ancient Norse solar maiden Sunna's worship around this time of year was merged with the story of this medieval saint; Patron of Bergen, Norway and the Norwegian west coast)

Math 2.0 Day -- celebrating the intermingling of math with technology

Nagoya Sumo Tournament -- Nagoya, Japan (one of the 6 major tournaments; through the 22nd)

National Milk Chocolate with Almonds Day

Old Crafts Day -- it's listed in a few places, but i can't find the history; Old time crafts, or old crafts you've had sitting around the house and never gotten done? If you have the latter, finish them or throw them out and get rid of the guilt!

Olive Branch Petition Day -- the final attempt, by the 13 Colonies, to avoid a complete break with England in 1775

Ottawa Bluesfest -- Ottawa, Canada (12 days of fabulous music)

SCUD Day (Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama) -- a good habit, on every day

Soapy Smith Wake -- held simultaneously in 4 locations from this evening through noon tomorrow, local time: Skagway, AK, US; Hollywood, CA, US; Denver, CO, US; Chicago, IL, US (held by Soapy Smith Preservation Trust and Friends of Bad Man Soapy Smith, preserving the memory of one of the Wild West and Alaskan Gold Rush's most notorious con men, killed in a gunfight this day in 1898)

Sts. Aquila and Prisca's Day

St. Kilian's Day (Patron of people with gout or rheumatism, whitewashers; Bavaria, Germany; Paderborn, Germany; Tuosist, Ireland; Wurzburg,Germany)

Video Games Day -- do they really need a day?

Vitulatio -- Ancient Roman Calendar (when Vitula was given the first fruits of the earth)

Wyandotte Street Art Fair -- Downtown Wyandotte, MI, US (over 250 seasoned and emerging artists display and sell their wares, with music and entertainment; through Saturday)

Ziegfeld Follies Day -- anniversary of his first, "Follies of 1907"

Anniversary Today:

Prince Richard of Gloucester marries Birgitte Eva van Deurs, 1972

Birthdays Today

Jaden Smith, 1998
Sophia Bush, 1982
Milo Ventimiglia, 1977
Kathleen Robertson, 1973
Beck Hansen, 1970
Billy Crudup, 1968
Toby Keith, 1961
Kevin Bacon, 1958
Christopher G. Moore, 1952
Marianne Williamson, 1952
Anjelica Huston, 1951
Wolfgang Puck, 1949
Kim Darby, 1948
Raffi, 1948
Cynthia Gregory, 1946
Jeffrey Tambor, 1944
Steve Lawrence, 1935
Marty Feldman, 1933
Roone Arledge, 1931
Billy Eckstine, 1914
Nelson Rockefeller, 1908
Louis Thomas Jordan, 1908
Philip Cortelyou Johnson, 1906
Alfred Binet, 1857
John D. Rockefeller, 1839
Ferdinand von Zeppelin, 1838
Etienne De Silhouette, 1709

Today in History

Vasco da Gama sets sail on first direct European voyage to India, 1497
Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island, 1663
Battle of Restigouche – British defeat French forces in last naval battle in New France, 1760
The Olive Branch Petition is drafted by the Second Continental Congress as the Congress' last attempt to get King George III of Great Britain to reason with them, 1775
The Declaration of Independence has its first public reading, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Liberty Bell is rung, 1776
Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom, 1822
Commodore Perry sails into Tokyo Bay, 1853
The initial force of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin their March West, 1874
The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published, 1889
St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22, 1932
The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF), 1948
Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American Self-Determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination Act, 1970
The Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe creates the office of High Commissioner on National Minorities, 1992
NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance, membership to become effective in two years, 1997
The Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program, 2011
Pope Francis condemns the 'global indifference' to the plight of immigrants who have drowned trying to reach Europe, 2013
The mission of the NASA Curiosity Mars rover begins, 2013

"Sometimes it be hard to sleep, you know?" he said to her over his plate of chicken spaghetti, green beans, small salad, a roll, and two cookies, the offering that day as a meal to the homeless.

She had asked him how she could pray for him, and his answer started as a simple, "Pray for my family, I worry about them."

She sat in silence, and waited for him to expound on that, knowing there had to be more, because there was always more for these people who so seldom had anyone listening to them with rapt attention.

"At night, I worry about them. I mean, I live on the streets and sleep under the bridge, where the traffic be making noise over your head all the time, and it ain't easy, but they got it hard, too, all of them crammed into one small house and they don't always have enough. It be like a constant worry, pounding in my head when it's hard to sleep, so pray for my family."

Linking up with Six Sentence Stories at Uncharted Blog.

Today is

Call of the Horizon Day -- can't find any history on this one, but if the idea of following your dreams over the Horizon has ever called you, take the time to follow today!

Comic-Con International -- San Diego, CA, US (through Sunday)

Constitution Day -- Australia; Palau

Constitutionalist Revolution Day -- São Paulo, Brazil

Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo -- Vernal, UT, US (one of the top rodeos in the country; through Saturday)

Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Omelet Day

Feast of Our Lady of Chiquinquira (Patron of Colombia; the Venezuelan National Guard)

Hodag Country Festival -- Rhinelander, WI, US (at the Hodag "50" Track, a large open-air country music festival; through Sunday)

Independence Day -- Argentina(1816); South Sudan

Martyrdom of the Bab -- Baha'i

Muffler Appreciation Day -- if you've ever had a loud vehicle, you will understand why someone started this one

National Sugar Cookie Day -- what could be simpler or more versatile? make them plain or make them fancy, but be sure you make enough!

Nunavut Day -- NU, Canada

Offerings to Heru and Amun -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (day Heru hears prayers in the presense of the Netjers; date approximate)

Oregon Trail Days -- Gering, NE, US (the oldest continuing celebration of the Oregon Trail; through Sunday)

Shiman Rokusen-nichi -- Sensou-ji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo (Day of 46,000; a visit to the temple on this day through tomorrow credits you the same as visiting 46,000 times on ordinary days)

St. Mary Hermina Grivot's Day (Patron of martyrs)

Turkey Rama -- McMinnville, Oregon (family fun on "Oregon's Favorite Main Street" that includes the "World's Largest Turkey BBQ"; through Sunday)

Worshipful Company of Vintners (Winemakers) of the City of London Annual Procession

Anniversary Today:

Steven Cauble marries Lisa Whelchel, 1988

Birthdays Today

Mitchel Musso, 1991
Kiely Williams, 1986
Fred Savage, 1976
Jack White, 1975
Courtney Love, 1964
Kelly McGillis, 1957
Tom Hanks, 1956
Fred Norris, 1955
Jimmy Smits, 1955
Margaret Gillis, 1953
John Tesh, 1952
Chris Cooper, 1951
Mitch Mitchell, 1947
O.J. Simpson, 1947
Richard Roundtree, 1942
Brian Dennehy, 1938
David Hockney, 1937
Vince Edwards, 1928
Ed Ames, 1927
Mathilde Krim, 1926
Ottorino Respighi, 1879
Elias Howe, 1819
Anne Ward Radcliffe, 1764

Today in History

Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed emperor of the Western Roman Empire, 455
Henry VIII annuls his marriage to Anne of Cleves (his 4th wife), 1540
In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution, 1789
The Act Against Slavery is passed in Upper Canada and the importation of slaves into Lower Canada is prohibited, 1793
The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law, 1868
In Provident Hospital on Chicago’s South Side, black surgeon Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the first successful open-heart surgery, 1893
Queen Victoria gives royal assent to an Act creating the Commonwealth of Australia thus uniting separate colonies on the continent under one federal government, 1900
Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier', 1922
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London, 1955
In a seminal moment for pop art, Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1962
Margaret Thatcher begins her second term as British prime minster, 1982
South Africa is readmitted into the Olympic movement after 30 years of exclusion, 1991
The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2002
South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan, 2011

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

Feline Friday is simple to join. All you have to do is..

That’s all there is to it! Be sure to check back every so often and visit all the Feline Friday bloggers. Also, please leave a nice comment on their blogs. Nasty comments will be deleted!

Mikey, EnigmaSissy, and the people in the house are in a continual battle over KidaMosquito's food. They want to steal it from her, and we don't want them too. Mikey likes to sit near her bowl when she's taking a break from eating (she's getting old, and sometimes she eats and then rests, then eats more). That way he can reach his paw out and swipe a bit.

Here he is in action one day, in the storage area where we feed her:

Oh, that sure looks good!

Maybe she won't notice if I just snag a taste.

Oh, that's paw-licking good!

No more beating around the bush, gimme! NomNomNom!

Sometimes if i'm not watching, he will reach that paw out and slide the bowl out from under KidaMosquito while she is eating! He's sneaky that way.

Today is

Armed Forces Day -- Mauritania

Bear Lake Days --Bear Lake, MI, US (the fun even includes a Venetian boat parade; through Sunday)

Blissfest -- Harbor Springs, MI, US (three music stages, workshop areas, and the preservation of folk and roots music; through Sunday)

Circus City Festival -- Peru, IN, US (did you ever want to run off and join the circus? This is the week kids age 7-21 get to do just that, so go watch and have fun with them! through the 18th, when they have the big circus parade)

Collector Car Appreciation Day -- brought to you by the SEMA Action Network

http://www.semasan.com/page.asp?content=celebrate_collectorcar_day&g=SEMAGA

Clerihew Day -- in honor of the poetic form he invented, the clerihew:
     Edmund's middle name was Clerihew
     A name possessed by very few
     But verses by Mr. Bentley
     Succeeded eminently!

Don't Step On A Bee Day -- Wellcat Holidays wants to remind you, when going barefoot this time of year, watch out!

Feast Day of Knut the Reaper, Hela, Holda, and Skadi -- Norse deities whose celebration this day is due to their later association with Danish King Canute the Great

Independence Day -- Bahamas(1973)

Kilburn Feast -- Kilburn, North Yorkshire at The Square, England (dating back hundreds of years, it's no longer a horse-fair, but a great many fun events for villagers; the Mayor and Mayoress, both men in costume, are the highlight, handing out "fines" for "crimes" such as carrying an umbrella or having a moustache, with money going to a local charity; through Sunday)

Lady Godiva Day -- tradition says she took her famous ride on this day in 1040

Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant -- DeSmet, SD, US (get a taste of pioneer life, this weekend Friday-Sunday plus the next two weekends, in the original Little Town on the Prairie she wrote about)

National Pina Colada Day

Pick Blueberries Day -- variously set on different days in July depending on the website; with blueberries being so good for you, find a day to go gather or buy some soon

Pictou Lobster Carnival -- Pictou, NS, Canada (a tail gate party and more; through Sunday)

Silence Day -- followers of Meher Baba

St. Amalburga's Day (Patron of people with fever; Ghent, Belgium; against arm pain, bruises, and fevers)

Teddy Bear Picnic Day -- no idea why today, especially when the author of the song, Jimmy Kennedy, was born on July 20

Three Rivers Festival -- Ft. Wayne, IN, US (Fort Wayne's biggest summer party; through the 18th)

Wayne Chicken Show -- Wayne, NE, US (this year's theme is "#chickenselfie2015", and the family friendly fun includes a rubber chicken chuck and National Cluck Off; through Sunday)
     note that because of the avian influenza outbreak, other fowl will be allowed but there will be only cement or rubber chickens allowed at this year's event

White Cloud's Birthday and Tatanka (Bison) Festival -- National Buffalo Museum, Jamestown, ND, US (annual 3 day celebration of bison and their role in American history, near the birthday of White Cloud, the true albino bison born in 1996)

Anniversaries Today

Wyoming becomes the 44th US State, 1890

Birthdays Today

Jessica Simpson, 1980
Andre Nolan Dawson, 1954
Arlo Guthrie, 1947
Sue Lyon, 1946
Ron Glass, 1945
Virginia Wade,1945
Arthur Ashe, 1943
Lawrence Pressman, 1939
Jerry Herman, 1933
David Norman Dinkins, 1927
Fred Gwynne, 1926
Jean Kerr, 1923
Jake LaMotta, 1921
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 1921
David Brinkley, 1920
Don "Mr. Wizard" Herbert, 1917
John Gilbert, 1897
Edmund Clerihew Bentley, 1875
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune, 1875
Marcel Proust, 1871
Nikola Tesla, 1856
Adolphus Busch, 1839
James Whistler, 1834
George Mifflin Dallas, 1792
William Blackstone, 1723
John Calvin, 1509

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Fox And The Hound(Disney animated film), 1981
"Your Hit Parade"(TV), 1950

Today in History

Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia at the Battle of Dyrrhachium, BC48
The most severe of several early fires of London burns most of the city to the ground, 1212
Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England, 1553
Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Mackenzie River delta, 1789
The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company, 1806
The United States takes possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain, 1821
Big Ben, the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, rings for the first time, 1859
The eruption of Tarawera volcano destroys the famous pink and white calcium carbonate hot-spring terraces of North Island, New Zealand, 1886
Meher Baba, self declared Avatar of the Age, begins his silence of 44 years; his followers observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration, 1925
In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" begins with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act, 1925
Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world, 1938
Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, is launched into orbit, 1962
Boris Yeltsin begins his 5-year term as the first elected President of Russia, 1991
In London scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which supports the "out of Africa theory" of human evolution, 1997
Spain opens its first mosque since the Moors were expelled in 1492, in Granada, 2003
France O'Grady is appointed the first female General Secretary by Britain's Trade Union Congress, 2012

they will be a much happier work crew.

When i mentioned, the other day, that i was doing the snacks for the volunteers for Vacation Bible School this past week, commenter Tabor asked when they had started serving food at VBS.

Ever since my eldest went to his first VBS about 17 years ago, every church VBS i've seen has had a break room with some snacks for the volunteers.

That's a lot of VBS's, because we used to do two or three each summer, one at our church, and sometimes the one where the kids were in AWANA and the one where i was working at the Mother's Day Out.

My favorite volunteer position is snack lady, keeping the volunteer room stocked so every volunteer has a break during the morning to get some refreshments. Little Girl comes to help, and loves it, too.

They like it when i do the snacks. At the church Sweetie and i now attend, i have the break room to keep stocked, and i make a tray to take up to the ladies who teach music, and i make a tray for the people teaching gym, and i make up a rolling cart to take to the nursery hallway.

We do four days, and for starters i set out mini donuts, or small muffins, or scones, along with coffee, so when the volunteers come in at 8am they have something to grab (or hand their own kids to keep them quiet for a few minutes).

Using the old crock pot with the non-removable crock from the early 70's, i warm up cheese sauce and set up a nacho station. Then i have lemonade and water available, and a trail mix/candy table.

Trail mixes and candy, and a note about the ones with nuts in them.

There's always a table with fruit tray, veggie tray, and cheese, as well as apples and a slicer and some caramel sauce for caramel apple dipping.

Fruits and veggies with dips, caramel apple dip tray, and cheese cubes.

Finally, i have a dessert tray going and i fix a hot snack each day. Tuesday was mini quiches and toasted spiral sandwiches, Wednesday was Bagel Bites and Pizza Rolls, Thursday was a variety of quesadillas, and yesterday was spring rolls and egg rolls.

Quesadillas, with a few leftover pizza rolls and bagel bites, and desserts.

Yesterday was an especially long day, as i had Bible study at 6:30am and by the time we had let everyone come and eat all they wanted while doing clean up, we packed the leftovers for a needy family, delivered it all, and then went to the cat shelter for our Friday night rounds.

If anyone wants me today, i may still be lying down. Disturb me at your own risk!

Today is

Advice-to-the-Lovelorn-Day -- date, in 1896, the New Orleans Picayune first published the advice column of Dorothy Dix, Mother Confessor to Millions; it eventually ran in 300 papers for 55 years

Art Fair on the Square -- Madison, WI, US (one of the Midwest's largest juried art fairs; through tomorrow)

Bald In - Bald Out Day -- sponsored by Bald Girls Do Lunch; if men can be bald and brazen, then women and children who cannot grow hair should bring bald INto their lives, and never feel on the OUTs!

Bohemian Club Annual Rites begin -- Bohemian Grove, CA US (if you are into conspiracy theories, this is supposedly when and where the male movers and shakers of the world meet for two weeks and decide the fate of the world for the next 12 months; the members of the club, including former presidents and other high level officials, do meet for a couple of weeks this time of year to have, among other things, a Cremation of Care ceremony)

Bonfire Night -- Northern Ireland (precursor to The Twelfth a/k/a Orangemen's Day)

Bowdler's Day

Carver Day -- George Washington Carver National Monument, Diamond, MO, US

China National Maritime Day -- People's Republic of China

Convenience Store Day -- the first Seven Eleven opened on this day in 1927 in Dallas, TX; it was open 7am to 11pm, thus the name

Day of the Flemish Community -- Flemish community of Belgium, commemorates the Battle of the Golden Spurs of 1302

Feast of Theano, Philosopher, Mathmatician, wife of Pythagoras, patron of vegetarianism (date approximate, supposedly when she was born)

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

Free Slurpee Day at Seven-Eleven -- if you have these stores where you live, stop by between 11am and 7pm to get a free 11.7oz. Slurpee (TM) today

Galicnik Svadba -- Galicnik, Macedonia (wedding festival, when one lucky couple gets to be married in a traditional "Galichka" style wedding, through tomorrow)

Harrison Festival of the Arts -- Harrison Hot Springs, BC, Canada (a celebration of the world of music, dance, theater, and visual arts; through the 19th)

Imamat Day -- Ismailism

Naadam Festival -- Mongolia (a/k/a Revolution Day/National Day, traditional sporting events nationwide, but best at Ulaanbaatar, through the 13th)

National Blueberry Muffin Day

National Cheer Up The Lonely Day -- begun by Francis Pesek of Detroit, Michigan; he chose to spend his birthday as a day to promote kindness, especially the forgotten at nursing homes and shut ins who have no visitors

Omaha Railroad Days -- Omaha, NE, US (sponsored by the Union Pacific Railroad and celebrating all things track and train, through tomorrow)

Pori Jazz Festival -- Pori, Finland (a major international music event with world class performances; through the 19th)

Reading Guilt Day -- the day you are supposed to start reading that book you only read the Cliff's Notes on in school

Sodbuster Days -- Fort Ransom, ND, US (learn how rural North Dakotans lived in the early 1920s; through tomorrow)

Sourdough River Festival -- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Float Fest and a big water fight! with the famous Sourdough Raft Race tomorrow)

St Benedict's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, cavers/speliologists/spelunkers, civil engineers, coppersmiths, farm workers/farmers, Italian architects, monks, people in religious orders, people who are dying, school children, servants who have broken their masters belongings, students; Europe; Heerdt, Germany; Norcia, Italy; Subiaco, Italy; against erysipelas, fever, gall stones, inframmatory diseases, kidney disease, nettle rash, poison, temptations, and witchcraft)

Stone House Day -- Hurley, NY, US (tour of several 250+ year old stone houses within 150-yards of each other)

West Quoddy Head Light Keepers Association Anniversary and Annual Lighthouse Celebration -- Quoddy Head State Park, Lubec, ME, US (music, food, artists, and also including US Coast Guard supervised lighthouse tower climbing, for the daring!)

World Population Day -- UN

Birthdays Today:

David Henrie, 1989
Marie Sernehold, 1983
Michael Rosenbaum, 1972
Justin Chambers, 1970
John Henson, 1967
Greg Grunberg, 1966
Rod Strickland, 1966
Al MacInnis, 1963
Lisa Rinna, 1963
Richie Sambora, 1960
Richie Sambora, 1959
Suzanne Vega, 1959
Mark Lester, 1958
Sela Ward, 1956
Leon Spinks, 1953
Stephen Lang, 1952
Bonnie Pointer, 1951
Beverly Todd, 1946
Giorgio Armani, 1934
Tab Hunter, 1931
Harold Bloom, 1930
Yul Brynner, 1920
E.B. White, 1899
John Quincy Adams, 1767

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Space Oddity"(Single release), 1969
"The Newlywed Game"(TV), 1966
To Kill A Mockingbird(Publication date), 1960

Today in History

Admiral Zheng He sets sail on his first exploratory expedition for the Ming Dynasty, 1405
Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec, 1616
Jews are expelled from Little Russia, 1740
Halifax, Nova Scotia is almost completely destroyed by fire, 1750
Captain James Cook begins his third voyage, 1776
Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister sparking the Storming of the Bastille, 1789
French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons made his first comet discovery (he discovered 36 over the next 27 years, more than any other person), 1801
Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel, 1804
Waterloo railway station in London opens, 1848
Tijuana, Mexico, is formally founded, 1889
The Lumière brothers demonstrate film technology to scientists, 1895
Babe Ruth makes his Major League debut, 1914
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, 1960
The first U.S. space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, 1979
According to the UN, the Earth's population crosses the 5,000,000,000 mark, 1987
The United States announces it will reestablish full diplomatic relations with Vietnam, 1995
Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called "Barefoot Bandit", is caught in the Bahamas after a 2 year manhunt, 2010

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs. The rules are simple, just have fun.

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

Post a joke.
Link Up with the URL to your joke in the Linky Tools Widget.
Read my joke.
Leave a comment to tell me how much you enjoyed my joke.
Try and visit a few others participating in Silly Sunday.
Go to Sandee's site, linked above, and get the Silly Sunday code for your blog, too!

Today is a sad anniversary for me, but as years go by i find the immediacy of the sadness has lessened, and i can participate in Silly Sunday anyway.

"I swear, I'm just going to move to work!" #1 Son said, coming through from the laundry room with his work pants and shirt.

They've had you there a lot, haven't they? i asked.

"I work six days a week! And often, on my day off, I'm on call! Ever since Jazz moved away, our manager schedules have been messed up. I spend a third of my life at work and a third sleeping, but because I go to work in the middle of the afternoon, the time I'm awake is when everyone else is either sleeping or working! It's crazy!"

The good thing about management, i noted, is the better pay. The bad thing is the hours.

"You got it!" he said.

This talk of work and business reminds me of Boudreaux's idea of work, and of the lazy Sunday afternoon when Boudreaux was lying in his hammock, and Thibodeaux came over.

"Boudreaux, what you be doin', layin' dere?" Thibodeaux ax.

"Oh, I be doin' nuttin' right now," Boudreaux answer.

"Boudreaux, da's what you did yestiday!" Thibodeaux say.

An' Boudreaux say, "Mais, I wan't finished!"

Today is

Different Colored Eyes Day -- people with heterochromia, celebrate!

Disability Awareness Day -- UK (the world's largest "not for profit"volunteer-led disability exhibition) http://www.disabilityawarenessday.org.uk/index.shtml

Etch-a-Sketch Day -- the toy was first manufactured on this day in 1960, timed to hit toy shelves for Christmas that year

Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival -- University of Fairbanks, AK (a unique study and performance festival; through the 26th)

Independence Day -- Kiribati(1979; a/k/a National Day); Sao Tome & Principe(1975)

International Carthage Festival -- Tunis, Tunisia (the country's biggest arts event and music festival, through Aug. 23)

Kronia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate, a festival for Kronos, part of which included masters and slaves switching places for a meal)

Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta -- Republic of Ireland (National Day of Commemoration, honoring all Irish people who have died in war or as part of a UN peacekeeping mission)

Lailat al Kadr (Lailat al Qadr) -- Islam (Night of Destiny; begins at sundown, through sundown tomorrow, although local observances may vary)

National Pecan Pie Day

Orangemen's Day (a/k/a Twelfth Day) -- Northern Ireland (Battle of the Boyne commemoration)

Rainmaker Day -- Salem, Oregon (while it is understood that in Salem, you are more likely to rust than sunburn, from 1892 until 2006, no measurable rain fell on this date in this normally wet city)

Simplicity Day -- sponsored by www.doonething.org on Thoreau's birth anniversary, highlighting the concepts in the book Voluntary Simplicty by Duane Elgin, and advocating finding sustainable ways to live

St. John Gualbert's Day (Patron of foresters and forest workers, park services and parks)

St. Veronica's Day (Patron of laundry workers and photographers)

Vardavar -- Armenia (continuation of an ancient pagan festival that encourages people to pull pranks, especially dousing everyone, friend and stranger, with water)

!98 days after Easter!

Anniversaries Today

Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr, 1543 (the lucky wife who outlived him)

Birthdays Today

Erik Per Sullivan, 1991
Michelle Rodriguez, 1978
Brock Lesnar, 1977
Anna Friel, 1976
Kristi Yamaguchi, 1971
Lisa Nicole Carson, 1969
Rolonda Watts, 1959
Mel Harris, 1957
Paul Guilfoyle, 1955
Cheryl Ladd, 1951
Jamey Sheridan, 1951
Richard Simmons, 1948
Denise Nicholas, 1945
Christine McVie, 1943
Bill Cosby, 1937
Van Cliburn, 1934
Andrew Wyeth, 1917
Curly Joe DeRita, 1909
Milton Berle, 1908
Pablo Neruda, 1904
R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895
Oscar Hammerstein II, 1895
George Washington Carver, 1861
George Ohr, 1857
George Eastman, 1854
Henry David Thoreau, 1817
Josiah Wedgwood, 1730

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Northern Exposure"(TV), 1990
"Family Feud"(TV), 1976
"Evening At Pops"(TV), 1970
"The Adventures of Sam Spade"(Radio), 1946
"Baseball's Sad Lexicon (Tinker to Evers to Chance)"(Publication date), 1910

Today in History

England is unified by Athelstan of England, 927
Saladin's garrison surrenders to Conrad of Montferrat, ending the two-year siege of Acre, 1191
Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatan, burns the sacred books of the Maya, 1562
Ostrog Bible, the first printed Bible in a Slavic language, is published, 1580
The United States invades Canada at Windsor, Ontario, 1812
The Commonwealth Franchise Act, granting women's suffrage in Australia, is given royal assent and takes effect, 1902
Pune, India floods due to failure of Khadakvasala and Panshet dams; half of the city is submerged and the death toll exceeded 2000, 1961
A fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States, 1973
Boris Yeltsin quits the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1990
Israel invades Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, 2006
A ticket holder in Britain wins the largest EuroMillions jackpot in history, 161,653,000GBP, 2011
The Rolling Stones, English rock band, celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its first performance at the Marquee Club in Oxford Street, London, 2012

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays. Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you. What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Every year, while on vacation, we go to the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. One of the best things about the zoo is being able to pet the lemurs.

This baby loved being petted:

This two-month-old lemur loved having his back petted. He's relaxed!

Today is

Anne Hutchinson Memorial Day -- Portsmouth, RI, US (honoring Anne Marbury Hutchinson, co-founder of Portsmouth, in 1638)

Barbershop Music Appreciation Day -- anniversary of the founding of Sweet Adelines International

Beans and Franks Day

Central Maine Egg Festival -- Pittsfield, Maine (more fun with eggs than you ever thought you could have; through Saturday)

Embrace Your Geekness Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, celebrate your love of online dungeon games, comic books, or dressing up like a vampire

Feast of Kalimat (Words) -- Baha'i Faith

Fool's Paradise Day -- a day to figure out how a fool can achieve paradise? or how it can be paradise if it is full of fools?

Go West Day -- commemorates Horace Greeley's "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country."

Gruntled Workers Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; those of us who are gruntled, as opposed to the disgruntled, should unite and pass along some "great work" compliments to those doing a good job

International Puzzle Day -- some sites say Jan. 29, but today is Erno Rubik's birth anniversary

International Town Criers Day

Lailat al Kadr (Lailat al Qadr) -- Islam (Night of Destiny; began at sundown yesterday, through sundown tonight, although local observances may vary and governmental days off vary from country to country)

La Retraite Aux Flambeaux -- France (night watch, before Bastille Day)

National French Fries Day

Obon (Ulambana) -- Buddhist; Shinto (Festival of the Lanterns, a time of honoring the ancestors, a reunion of them with the living; through the 15th, although Obon festivals are held on various dates in July at temples throughout the world)

Statehood Day -- Montenegro

St. Henry the Emperor's Day (Patron of childless people, disabled people, dukes, handicapped people, kings, people rejected by religious orders, physically challenged people; Bamberg, Germany; Basel, Switzerland; Benedictine Oblates; against sterility)

St. Joel the Prophet's Day (Old Testament prophet of the Book of Joel)

Birthdays Today

Anthony Jerome “Spud” Webb, 1963
Cameron Crowe, 1957
Jane Hamilton, 1957
Michael Spinks, 1956
Louise Mandrell, 1954
Cheech Marin, 1946
Erno Rubik, 1944
Harrison Ford, 1942
Roger McGuinn, 1942
Robert Forster, 1941
Patrick Stewart, 1940
Jack Kemp, 1935
Wole Soyinka, 1934
David Storey, 1933
Bob Crane, 1928
Dave Garroway, 1913
Nathan Bedford Forrest, 1821
Julius Caesar, BC100

Today in History

Capt James Cook begins 2nd trip (Resolution) to South Seas, 1772
William Wordsworth, on a walking tour through the Wye Valley, visited the ruins of Tintern Abbey and a few miles further on composed a poem about them, 1798
Greek War of Independence: Greeks defeated Ottoman forces at Thermopylae, 1822
Henry R Schoolcraft discovers the source of the Mississippi River, 1832
After 9,957 unnumbered patents, the U.S. Patent Office issues Patent No. 1, for locomotive wheels, 1836
Queen Victoria becomes the first British monarch to live at Buckingham Palace in London, 1837
First day of the New York Draft Riots in response to President Abraham Lincoln's Enrolment Act of Conscription, 1863
Horace Greeley publishes his editorial advising young men to "Go West, young man, go west and grow up with the country," 1865
PT Barnum's American Museum was destroyed in one of the most spectacular fires in New York City's history, 1865
Gold was discovered near Cochrane, Ontario, Canada, 1909
The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight, 1919
Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in, 1973
The Live Aid benefit concert, a telecast fundraising concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, was held in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow, 1985
American Thoroughbred racehorse Cigar wins his 16th consecutive top-class race, the first horse to do so since Triple Crown winner citation, 1996
Researchers reveal two studies showing the antiretroviral drugs prescribed to treat AIDS can also prevent HIV infections, 2011

Some Mondays are better left to fade into anonymity. Yesterday would have been one of them.

Ms. S, whose home i have recently started cleaning on Mondays, wanted me to take stuff out to her "garage." It's a storage shed stuffed to the gills and i didn't mind going out there except for the mosquitoes, which she cannot help. Now i'm itchy.

The Big Boss got a speeding ticket yesterday morning. By early afternoon, he wanted Sweetie to go ahead and use the credit card Sweetie keeps for The Big Boss's purchases to pay the ticket online. It won't be available online to pay for up to two weeks. The Big Boss does not understand the processing of paperwork, but he's figuring it out.

Sweetie was in a fender bender yesterday. He switched lanes, the young lady didn't see he had already done so and pulled over and hit him. No damage to Humphrey the Honda but a slight scratch and we aren't even going to bother to repair, but her boyfriend's car is going to need a bit of work. Boyfriend stood there while they were waiting for the officer and coached her through saying that she moved over first, which obviously from the damage could not have happened. We both have the same insurance company, and the officer who came out put on the official report that the person at fault "could not be determined." It's going to end up being a lovely battle, i'm sure.

Today is

Alpenfest -- Gaylord, MI, US (a Swiss inspired festival for the whole family that includes "The World's Largest Coffee Break"; through Saturday)

Barn Day -- celebrating barns, old and new, and their history and importance

Bastille Day / National Day -- France, French Territories and some former Colonies (Quatorze Juillet/Fete Nationale)

Birthday of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden -- an official Flag Day of Sweden

Children's Party at Green Animals Topiary Garden -- Portsmouth, RI, US (annual party for children and the young at heart)

Cow Appreciation Day® -- sponsored by Chick-fil-A; wear a partial cow costume, get a free entree, dress head to hoof, get a free meal

Feast of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

Festival of Millennial Fairy Olympics -- Fairy Calendar (Closing Ceremonies)

Macaroni Day

M&Ms Argument Day -- which are best? plain? peanut? almond? minis? spend the day in a heated discussion with friends and end with an M&M feast

Nachi Himatsuri -- Kumano-Nachi Taisha, Nachi-Katsuura, Japan (one of Japan's 3 largest fire festivals, a grand summer festival and purification ritual, through tomorrow)

National Grand Marnier Day -- on Bastille day, to show the friendship between France and the US

National Nude Day -- New Zealand (although now it's often called International Nude Day, and celebrated everywhere as a day to enjoy your beautiful human form)

Pandemonium Day -- internet generated; don't let the crazy things that happen in your life get you down, celebrate instead!

Phyang Tse-dup Festival -- Ladakh, India (Buddhist festival, through tomorrow)

Republic Day -- Iraq

Runic Half-Month Ur begins (primal strength)

Shark Awareness Day

Snake River Stampede -- Nampa, ID (the 100th year of one of the top 15 professional rodeo events in the nation; through Saturday)

St. Kateri Tekakwitha's Day ("Lily of the Mohawks", first Native American proposed for canonization; Patron of ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalism, environmentalists, exiles, people ridiculed for their piety, people who have lost their parents)

Tape Measure Day -- the first modern spring tape measure was patented this day in 1868 by Alvin Fellows of New Haven, NJ, US

Birthdays Today

Missy Gold, 1970
Robin Ventura, 1967
Matthew Fox, 1966
Jackie Earle Haley, 1961
Jane Lynch, 1960
Joel Silver, 1952
Tommy Mottola, 1949
Steve Stone, 1947
Roosevelt "Rosie" Grier, 1932
Polly Bergen, 1930
John Chancellor, 1927
Harry Dean Stanton, 1926
Dale Robertson, 1923
Ingmar Bergman, 1918
Douglas Edwards, 1917
Gerald R. Ford, 1913
Woodie Guthrie, 1912
William Hanna, 1910
Ken Murray, 1903
Dave Fleischer, 1893
Florence Bascom, 1862

Debuting/Premiering Today:

License to Kill(Film), 1989
"Spring Symphony"(Britten Op. 44), 1949
Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care(Publication Date), 1949

Today in History

Foundation of the Mission San Antonio de Padua in modern California by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra, 1771
Citizens of Paris storm the Bastille and free seven prisoners, 1789
First ascent of the Matterhorn, by Edward Whymper and party, four of whom die on the descent, 1865
The Campanile in St Mark's Square, Venice collapses, also demolishing the loggetta, 1902
The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation, 1969
A powerful solar flare, later named the Bastille Day event, causes a geomagnetic storm on Earth, 2000
The United States Government admits to the existence of "Area 51", 2003
In Borneo, a rainbow toad, believed to be extinct since 1924, is sighted, 2011
Neptune, discovered in 1846, completes its first orbit of the sun since that date, 2011

It's nice to be able to make meals at home. On days when i am at work, Sweetie usually picks up something from the buffet at the hotel.

On days when i'm home, i cook dinner for noon, and whether i cooked or he picked something up, he has sandwiches or soup or something light for supper.

He used to ask for nothing but plain, country cooking. Veggies cooked until you couldn't recognize them, everything liberally covered in butter or bacon grease or gravy, lots of rice or mashed potatoes.

As Brother-in-Law, The Mouth, always said, the potatoes or rice were the socially acceptable excuse you needed with the meal because it's considered unacceptable to drink the gravy or eat the butter by itself.

He and Sweetie grew up skinny as sticks and able to eat monstrous mountains of such food and never gain an ounce.

They were over 6 feet tall and each weighed about 140lbs. when they graduated high school. It was normal for them to split an entire loaf of bread and gallon of milk to accompany the rest of the meal if they had spent the day in the hay fields of a local farm, or doing similar outdoor work.

The years have caught up, though. No longer do the "boys" shake off the calories. Sweetie has decided it's time to take his diet in hand, and has asked that all soups, stews, or items that can be served over rice be served with barley or 100% whole wheat bread instead.

He wants cauliflower instead of potatoes.

He is monitoring what he eats, asking for veggies more lightly cooked, wanting them with just a touch of butter.

A lot of his dinners now are a lean protein, plus veggies, and maybe a slice of bread. It's starting to have some effect.

The meals are taking a bit less time to prepare, but they are more nutritious.

Don't get me wrong, he still sometimes wants a dab of bacon grease in some things. But now it's a dab, not a couple of tablespoons.

It's nice being able to prepare meals for him and know i'm less likely to kill him with what i fix.

And while i do like to make nice meals, including roast chicken, i do not have the time to do this:

1950's housewives supposedly had time to do this.

Today is

Be a Dork Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, which encourages you to wear goofy clothes and fall off a swingset today and be proud of Dorkiness

Cigarette Warning Day -- anniversary of the 1968 law passed in the US that requires health warnings on cigarette packaging

Fairfest -- Hastings, NE (county fair fun plus world class stage entertainment; through the 20th)

Feast of Rowana/Rauni -- Druid/Cornish/Flemish (rowan tree goddess; date approximate)

Festival of Castor and Pullox -- Ancient Roman Calendar every five years (celebrated with a cavalry and chariot procession)

Festival of Santa Rosalia -- Palermo; Sicily (remembrance of the Patron saint of the city on the date, in 1624, when she stopped the plague)

Friendship Festival -- Lathrop, Missouri, US (this year's theme is "Born Free!"; through Saturday)

Gorestnici -- Bulgaria (fire festival of 3 days duration, honoring the ancient belief that these are the 3 hottest days of the year)

Gospel Day -- Kiribati

Gummi Worm Day

Hakata Gion Yamagasa -- Kushida Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan (festival of floats, dates back to the 13th century, includes dousing teams carrying one ton floats with water as they race!)

Hundadagar -- Icelandic tradition, the "dog days" of summer begin, through Aug. 23

Ides of July -- Ancient Roman Calendar

I Love Horses Day -- all over the web with no specific reason given, but do you need a reason to celebrate horses?

National Baby Food Festival -- Fremont, MI, US (in the hometown of Gerber Products, adults have a baby food eating contest and tots have crawling races, among other fun things; through Saturday)

National Tapioca Pudding Day

No-Hitter Day -- George Bradley of the St. Louis Brown Stockings pitched the first officially recognized no-hitter in MLB against the Hartford Dark Blues on this date in 1876

Petal-Hopping for Beginners Day -- Fairy Calendar

Pet Fire Safety Day -- make a plan to get yourself and your pets safely out of your home in case of a fire!

Respect Canada Day -- because Canada deserves it!

Shab-e-Qadar -- Bangladesh (Night of Destiny)

Sinclair Lewis Days -- Sauk Centre, MN, US (a grand celebration in Lewis's hometown; through the 19th)

St. Bonaventure's Day (Patron against intestinal problems; of Bagnoregio, Italy; Cochiti Indian Pueblo; St. Bonaventure University, New York)

St. Swithun's Day -- Saint Swithun's Society Annual Celebration in Toronto, ON, Canada; the weather prognostication associated with this saint says if it rains today, it will rain for the next 40 days (Patron against drought; of Stavenger, England; Winchester, England)

St. Vladimir of Kiev's Day (Patron of converts, parents of large families, reformed and penitant murderers; Russia; Ukranian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, Connecticut; Winnipeg, Manitoba)

Sultan's Birthday -- Brunei Darussalam

Birthdays Today

Tanner Maguire, 1998
Emily Roeske, 1991
Brian Austin Green, 1973
Beth Stern, 1972
Adam Savage, 1967
Irene Jacob, 1966
Forest Whitaker, 1961
Lolita Davidovich, 1961
Kim Alexis, 1960
William Aames, 1960
Terry O’Quinn, 1952
Jesse Ventura, 1951
Arianna Huffington, 1950
Richard Russo, 1949
Linda Ronstadt, 1946
Jan-Michael Vincent, 1944
Alex George Karras, 1935
Ken Kercheval, 1935
Julian Bream, 1933
Clive Cussler, 1931
Jacques Derrida, 1930
Mother Fraqnces Xavier Cabrini, 1850
Thomas Bulfinch, 1796
Clement Clarke Moore, 1779
Rembrandt Van Rijn, 1606

Debuting/Premiering Today:

MSNBC(Network), 1996
"One Life to Live"(TV), 1968

Today in History

Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege, 1099
John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, is hanged, 1381
Alexei Chirikov sights land and sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska, 1741
The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, 1799
Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west, 1806
Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon, 1815
A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, 1823
Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union, 1870
The stratovolcano Mount Bandai, Japan, erupts killing approximately 500 people, 1888
In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing), 1916
Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others, 1955
AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation; the Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day, 2003
Entire villages are burned to the ground and 40,000 people flee their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2010

Dear #1 Son, Happy Birthday!

It's so hard to believe it was 24 years ago when labor was induced on my birthday, and i got to meet the best birthday gift i've ever received.

You've gone through ups and downs, teething and tantrums, rebellion and high school, and the day i took you to enroll at the two-year college and we realized i was the only parent there so i decided you didn't need my help for that, and you were a bit upset but you did it by yourself and gained so much confidence!

The year you lived in Kansas was difficult for me, because you were so far away, getting to know the woman you wanted to marry; her death was a shock and it both broke my heart for you and brought you back here where you've tried three times to move out on your own again and had roommates flake out on you each time.

Now you're a restaurant manager, working extra-long hours and doing a great job, saving as much as you can while trying to pay for the computer your cat drowned and your phone that got run over; sometimes things just happen that way.

Know that no matter what, no matter how crazy things get, i love you and you will always be the sweet little boy who made me a mother on my birthday.

Linking up with Uncharted Blog for Six Sentence Stories, where this week's prompt was Letter.

Today is

Atomic Bomb Day -- the first experimental bomb was set off today in 1945

Closet Space Appreciation Day -- if you have some, enjoy (we have tiny closets!)

Cuti Bersama 2015 -- Indonesia

Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; related observances (many noting her relationship to Carmen, ancient goddess of healing and midwifery)
     Fiesta of the Virgin of Carmen -- Santurtzi, Basque Region, Spain
     Lady of Carmen Day -- Chile
     La Madonna della Carmine -- Naples, Italy (all of Italy, actually, but especially here)
     Virgen Del Carmen -- Cetano, Puerto Rico

Folkmoot USA -- Waynesville, NC, US (festival of international folk dance; through the 26th)

Hot Dog Night -- Luverne, MN, US (free hot dogs to all comers!)

Fresh Spinach Day -- yippee!

Get To Know Your Customers Day -- third Thursday of each quarter

Ice Cream Cone Day -- this is one of the many days people say the confection was invented, so why not?

LaPaz Day -- Bolivia

Manu'a Cession Day -- American Samoa

National Corn Fritters Day

National Personal Chef Day -- some websites say Feb. 24, but since i'm not going to have one, you may celebrate it whichever you choose

Parking Meter Day -- the first parking meter was installed on this day in 1935 in Oklahoma City, OK

Petal-Hopping for Non-Starters Day -- Fairy Calendar

Ramazan Bayrami Eve -- Turkey

St. Eustathius' Day

Talk to a Telemarketer Day -- only if i can mess with his/her mind in some way!

Uniwaine / Unaine Day -- Kiribati (Senior Citizens' Day, specifically Elderly Men's Day / Elderly Women's Day)

Virginia Lake Festival -- Clarksville, VA, US (fun for the family, including tethered hot air balloon rides; through Saturday)

Anniversary Today:

Michael J. Fox marries Tracy Pollan, 1988

Birthdays Today

Mark Indelicato, 1994
Jayma Mays, 1979
Corey Feldman, 1971
Larry Sanger, 1968
Barry Sanders, 1968
Will Ferrell, 1967
Phoebe Cates, 1963
Michael Flatley, 1958
Stewart Copeland, 1952
Ruben Blades, 1948
Pinchas Zukerman, 1948
Bess Myerson, 1924
Ginger Rogers, 1911
"Miss Frances" Horwich, 1907
Barbara Stanwyck, 1907
Orville Reddenbacker, 1907
Roald Amundsen, 1872
Ida B. Wells, 1862
Mary Baker Eddy, 1821
Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1723
Andrea del Sarto, 1486

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Golden Horseshoe Revue"(Disneyland show), 1955
The Catcher in the Rye(Publication date), 1951
"Das Entfuhrung aus dem Serail"(Opera, Mozart K. 384), 1782

Today in History

The Islamic Calendar begins, 622
East-West Schism between the Eastern and Western Christian churches begin, 1054
The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco, 1661
Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands, 1683
Father Junipero Serra founds California's first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, 1769
First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, 1782
The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown, 1809
Emily Stowe becomes the first female physician licensed to practice medicine in Canada, 1880
The world's first parking meter is installed in the Oklahoma capital, Oklahoma City, 1935
The world's first nuclear weapon, the "atom bomb," is detonated in New Mexico, 1945
The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane, 1948
J.D. Salinger novel The Catcher in the Rye published by Little, Brown and Company, 1951
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its very last "Big Tent" show in Pittsburgh, due to changing economics all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas, 1956
USS George Washington (SSBN-598) a modified Skipjack class submarine successfully test fires the first Ballistic missile while submerged, 1960
The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens, 1965
Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1969
Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister; he will be in office 22 years, Asia's longest-serving political leader, 1981
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter (impacts continue until July 22), 1994
John F. Kennedy, Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies in a plane mishap over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, along with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, 1999
Chicago's Millenium Park is opened to the public, 2004
The funeral for the final heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Otto von Habsburg, occurs in Vienna, attended by monarchs and members of the political elite, 2011

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

Feline Friday is simple to join. All you have to do is..

That’s all there is to it! Be sure to check back every so often and visit all the Feline Friday bloggers. Also, please leave a nice comment on their blogs. Nasty comments will be deleted!

#2 Son's cat, Dansig, could use some prayers or good thoughts coming his way.

As is typical on my birthday, i had fun and enjoyed some things, and a few things went beyond nuts. The beyond nuts stuff includes the A/C went out, i found out our sump pump is no longer working, and Dansig had to have an emergency procedure because he had a bladder blockage.

He's still a very sick kitty who will be at the vet for a few days, and if what they've done to clear out the blockage doesn't keep it clear, he will have to have surgery.

Dansig is always up for adventure, sure something fun will come out of that bag!

Today is

Air Conditioner Day -- the first modern electrical air conditioning unit, invented by William Carrier, began working on this day in 1902

Arts in the Park -- Kalispell, MT, US (juried arts and crafts show, with food and entertainment; through Sunday)

Big Sky Games -- Billings, MT, US (an Olympic-style festival for citizens of the Big Sky State, to encourage all ages and abilities to be physically active and even compete sometimes; through Sunday)

Cheyenne Frontier Days -- Frontier Park, Cheyenne, WY, US (held annually since 1897, the world's largest outdoor rodeo; through the 25th)

Constitution Day -- South Korea

Eid al Fitr -- Islam (celebration of the end of Ramadan; begins at sundown, and runs through sundown on the 31st, but local dates and official government observances may vary)

Feast of St. Kenelm -- saint mentioned in "The Nun's Priest's Tale" of The Canterbury Tales

Feast of the Clockless NowEver -- can't find any confirmation on what this one is, but it sounds like fun if i don't have to bother with a clock or schedule

Festival for Victoria and Virtus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of victory and god of bravery in warfare)

Georgia Mountain Fair -- Hiawassee, GA, US (an authentic Pioneer Village with demonstrations, arts and crafts fairs, family fun; through the 25th)

Gentse Feesten -- Ghent, Belgium (a ten day music and theatre festival)

Gion Matsuri -- Yakasa Shrine, Kyoto, Japan (one of the largest and best Gion festivals)

Great Wellsville Balloon Rally -- Wellsville, NY, US (balloons galore, plus food, music, and fireworks; through Sunday)

Jumatul Bidah/Jumat-ul Wida -- Bangladesh; JK, UK, & UP, India

King Letsie III's Birthday -- Lesotho

Lindenfest -- Geisenheimer, Rhineland, Germany (a new wine festival in the shade of a 600 year old linden tree; through Monday)

Marrakech Popular Arts Festival -- Marrakesh, Morocco (the country's best Folklore Festival, featuring art and music as well; through the 21st)

National Culture Day -- Kiribati

National Peach Ice Cream Day

Northwestern State University Folk Festival and the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship -- Prather Coliseum, NSU, Natchitoches, LA, US (this year's theme is "Back Roads and Bayous: Celebrating Louisiana's Rural Folklife", and only traditional Louisiana folk art and music are featured; through tomorrow)

Petal-Hopping for Hopeless Cases -- Fairy Calendar

Sherwood Robin Hood Festival -- Sherwood, OR, US (a free Renaissance festival, which includes an archery contest between archers both in Oregon and in Nottingham, England, with results tallied as each group sends in the information from their respective locations; through Sunday)

St. Alexius Day (Patron of Alexians, beggars, belt makers, nurses, pilgrims, travellers)

Stirling Settler Days -- Stirling, Alberta, Canada (parade, pancake breakfast, firefighter games, a movie in the park, dancing, rodeo, and more; through tomorrow)

Targhee Fest -- Grand Targhee Mountain, Alta, WY, US (food, games, fun and tons of music in the beautiful Grand Teton mountains; through Sunday)

Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival -- Dorset, England (celebrating freedom, especially the freedom of workers to form unions; through Sunday)

Vancouver Folk Music Festival -- Jericho Beach, Vancouver, BC, Canada ( folk music from around the globe, performed in a beautiful outdoor venue; through Sunday)

Wear Crazy Socks to Work Day -- at your own risk

World Day for International Justice

Wrong Way Corrigan Day -- anniversary of the flight of Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan, who was supposedly heading for California from New York and ended up in Ireland instead

Yarmouth Clam Festival -- Yarmouth, ME, US (annual 3 day celebration of the gifts of the sea that are clams with 120,000 of your closest friends)

Yellow Pig Day -- mathmatics festivals at various universities, celebrating the number 17 and the yellow pig with 17 eyelashes, created by mathematicians Michael Spivak and David C. Kelly

Birthdays Today

Tash Hamilton, 1982
Alex Winter, 1965
Dawn Upshaw, 1960
Mark Burnett, 1960
Aaron Lansky, 1955
J. Michael Straczynski, 1954
David Hasselhoff, 1952
Phoebe Snow, 1952
Lucie Arnaz, 1951
Camilla Parker Bowles, 1947
Diahann Carroll, 1935
Donald Sutherland, 1934
Phyllis Diller, 1917
Art Linkletter, 1912
James Cagney, 1899
Berenice Abbott, 1898
Erle Stanley Gardner, 1889
John Jacob Astor, 1763
Elbridge Thomas Gerry, 1744
Isaac Watts, 1674

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Yellow Submarine(Animated film), 1968
Punch(Magazine, first publication), 1841

Today in History

Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians, the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world, 180
Zhu Di, better known by his era name as the Yongle Emperor, assumes the throne over the Ming Dynasty of China, 1402
Catherine II (the Great) becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia, 1762
Londoner Thomas Saint patented the first sewing machine, 1790
The first issue of Punch magazine was published, England, 1841
The Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established in Boston as the first dental school in the U.S, 1867
On the orders of the Bolshevik Party carried out by Cheka, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia, 1918
The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; 5 lives are lost, 1918
An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain begins the Spanish Civil War, 1936
After being denied permission to make a transatlantic crossing, Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the "wrong way" to Ireland and becomes known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan, 1928
Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California, 1955
An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations, 1975
The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team, 1976
The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business, 1997
A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 3,183, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless, 1998
A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crime against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, 1998
South Korea develops a long range cruise missile, 2010
Astronauts, Sunita Williams of the United States, Yuri Malenchenko of Russia and Aki Hoshide of Japan, arrive at the International Space Station for a three-month long mission, 2012
In an effort to curb obesity rates, the United Arab Emirates offers its citizens one gram of gold for every kilogram of weight they lose, 2013

Dansig is slowly recovering. He will be in the vet hospital for a few more days while we see if he needs surgery. He will be on an expensive diet for the rest of his life, and someone donated a bag of that kind of food to the shelter, and they don't use it, so they gave it to us. It's enough for us to start with when he gets home.

The sump pump is probably down for the count, and we're not sure what we are going to do there. Even if i go buy another, i'm not sure how to hook it up to the hose it needs to drain through. The person who installed it could be called, but we will have to wait until we have the money to do that.

As for the A/C, i called the warranty company, and they passed our name on to a local contractor. That contractor called me while i was at work Friday for a new client, Ms. R. They said the soonest they could come was Monday.

Folks, we are facing 100+ degree F days here. We've lived in this house during the summer without A/C before, it's an oven, and it's not easy or pleasant. Heat illness happens. The refrigerators can overheat in such temps. We've survived a couple of summers with limited or no A/C and my heart and lungs cannot take that again.

When i asked if there was any way to get in an appointment Friday, i offered to pay a bit above what the warranty company has us put up as a co-pay. (The warranty company has us pay a co-pay on the spot, but that's all we pay, they cover the rest, and at a reduced rate they've contracted with the service company. The companies always put warranty work last, unless you sweeten the deal a bit, grease a palm or two. It's still cheaper if you have to have major work done as the warranty company covers the largest portion of the charges.)

Bingo. For $100 extra, they could come that same afternoon. It would cost us more than that if we had to put everyone in a hotel for a weekend, which we probably would have to do if we had to go without A/C that long.

The nice lady assured me they would come by between 2-6pm. That was fine, i said, because i figured i'd be home by then.

She called back at 11:20am, saying the techs were going past our area and this was the only time they'd have to stop.

A panic call to Bigger Girl, and she got her prepared to let them in, show them the thermostat, indoor, and outdoor units, and she even found the checkbook so she could pre-write the check.

Another panic call to Sweetie and he rushed home right after work to sign said check before running his errands.

By the time i got home at almost 3pm, the deed was done and the house was cooling off, which was a huge relief. (The diagnosis was that it got stopped up again, and in trying to keep working anyway, had burned out two wires.) That gave me just enough time to empty the dishwasher, feed KidaMosquito, and cram in a quick meal, before Little Girl and i headed out to the shelter for our Friday night cleaning/feeding/medicating of cats.

And they wonder why i spend most Saturdays trying to rest!

Today is

Anti-Bigot Day -- doesn't seem to be sponsored by any particular group, which is good on a day to practice tolerance of all

Bannack Days-- Bannack, MT, US (through tomorrow; explore the territorial capital now turned ghost town and celebrate the pioneer spirit)

Canada's Parks Day -- Canada (showcasing Canada's beautiful parks and historic sites, it's worth traveling to a park near you!)

Celebration of the Horse -- Charlotte's Saddlery, Houston, TX, US (in honor of the human/equine bond; through tomorrow)

Concours D'elegance -- Forest Grove, OR, US (one of the premier vintage auto shows in the US; through tomorrow)

Constitution Day -- Uruguay

Eid al Fitr -- Islam (celebration of the end of Ramadan; began sundown yesterday, runs through sundown on the 11th, although local dating and official government observances may vary)

La Festa del Redentore / Feast of the Redeemer -- Venice, Italy (procession of gondolas and other craft to commemorate the end of the epidemic of 1575; through tomorrow)

Lunch of the Forward Goblins -- Fairy Calendar (not surprisingly, attended by Fairies only)

Mandela Day -- UN

National Caviar Day -- no one knows how it started, but even The Russian Tea Room in New York has celebrated it for years and caviar importers know all about it; pair it with ice cold vodka or a Burgundian pinot or unoaked chardonnay, but never with champagne!

National Woodie Wagon Day -- paying homage today to this great American symbol of freedom and the casual lifestyle

Prince Lot Hula Festival -- Moanalua Gardens, Hawai'i

Rath Yatra & Bahuda Jatra-- Puri, India (the first is the Chariot Festival, pilgrims pull huge chariots across the city, and the second is 8 days later, the Return Festival; one of the most awaited Hindu festivals in the state and country)

Route 66 Summerfest -- Albuquerque, NM, US (a free celebration)

St. Theneva's Day (Patron of Glasgow, Scotland)

Toss Away the "Could Haves" and "Should Haves" Day -- write down all the "could have" and "should have" things in your life, then toss them in the trash! Resolve from this day to live in the present, not the past.

Vitulatio -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Vitula, goddess of exultation, joy, and life, is given the first fruits of the earth)

Wienermobile Day -- celebrating the creation, in 1936, of the now iconic vehicle by Oscar Mayer's nephew Carl

World Listening Day -- here for information http://www.worldlisteningproject.org/

Wrong Days in Wright, Minnesota -- in honor of "Wrong Way" Corrigan (through tomorrow)

Anniversary Today:

Timothy Verner Taylor marries The Lady Helen Windsor, 1992
Bobby Brown marries Whitney Houston, 1992

Birthdays Today

Chace Crawford, 1985
Priyanka Chopra, 1982
Kristin Bell, 1980
Vin Diesel, 1967
Elizabeth McGovern, 1961
Ricky Skaggs, 1954
Richard Branson, 1950
Steve Forbes, 1947
James Brolin, 1941
Martha Reeves, 1941
Joe Torre, 1940
Dion DiMucci, 1939
Paul Verhoeven, 1938
Hunter S. Thompson, 1937
Yevgeny Yevtushenko, 1932
Dick Button, 1929
Screamin' Jay Hawkins, 1929
John Glenn, 1921
Nelson Mandela, 1918
Harriet Nelson, 1914
Richard "Red" Skelton, 1913
Hume Cronyn, 1911
Clifford Odets, 1906
Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, 1906
George "Machine Gun" Kelly, 1895
Charles E. "Chick" Evans, Jr., 1890
Vidkun Quisling, 1887
Margaret "Unsinkable Molly" Brown, 1867
William Makepeace Thackeray, 1811
Gilbert White, 1720
Robert Hooke, 1635

Today in History

A Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome, BC390
The Great Fire of Rome begins in the merchant area of the city, 64
King Edward I of England issues the Edict of Expulsion, banishing all Jews (numbering about 16,000) from England; this was Tisha B'Av on the Hebrew calendar, a day that commemorates many Jewish calamities, 1290
Matthew Flinders leaves England to circumnavigate and map Australia; it was he who gave the continent its name, 1801
The First Vatican Council decrees the dogma of papal infallibility, 1870
Britain introduced voting by secret ballot, 1872
Marie and Pierre Curie announce the discovery of a new element and propose to call it polonium, 1898
Adoph Hitler publishes Mein Kampf, 1925
The Intel Corporation is founded in Santa Clara, California, 1968
Nadia Comaneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics, 1976
Beverly Lynn Burns becomes first female Boeing 747 airline captain, 1984
On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts; over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee, 1995
Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River, beginning one of Quebec's costliest natural disasters ever, 1996
Phoenix, AZ, US, is hit by a dust storm of the kind known as a "haboob", 2011
King Jong-un, son of King Jong-il, is announced the official Supreme Leader of North Korea, 2012
The 'immediate and severe' fiscal emergency declared by the U.S. city San Bernardino, California, allows it to declare bankruptcy without negotiating with creditors, 2012
Investigators on the case of the October 2012 Kunsthal gallery theft of paintings by Picasso, Matisse and Monet, discover paint, canvas and nails in the oven of a woman whose son has been charged with the crime, 2013
Detroit, Michigan files the largest municipal bankruptcy in history, 2013

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"Mom! Do you know how many text messages you can get in one minute?" Little Girl asked. Then her phone chimed, denoting another incoming.

"Aaaagh! Will you stop!" she emphatically said to her phone as it chimed three more times.

How many? i asked, smirking.

"Well, if they'd -- stop it! -- I could count!" she said.

When the messages ceased to come in (turned out they were from several friends, and sometimes her phone doesn't get messages until she hooks up to wi-fi, so gets all of them at once), she counted 17.

"Seventeen! In about a minute! I wonder how -- let's see, 60 seconds divided by 17, um..., that's about one every three and a half seconds!"

Her math is much better than Clothile's.

The census taker was asking Clothile how old she was.

"Lessee," she say. "I was 18 when I marry Boudreaux, an' he was 30. An' now we done been marry 30 year, an' he's 60. So dat mean twice, an' so, I t'ink dat make me 36!"

Today is

Back-to-Front Yad -- Fairy Calendar

Bloomer Day -- anniversary of the opening day of the first US women's rights convention in 1848*

Codman Estate Antique Auto Show -- Codman Estate, Lincoln, MA, US (a day to appreciate antique and classic cars, trucks, motorcycles, and fire engines)

Dornach Commemoration Day -- Dornach Battlefield and nearby city of Solothurn, Switzerland (victory in 1499 which ended the Swabian War)

Festival of Honos -- Ancient Roman Calendar (personification of morality and honor)

Galla Bayramy -- Turkmenistan (celebration of the wheat harvest)

Kokura Gion Taiko -- Yasaka Shrine, Fukuoka City, Japan (shrine festival that incorporates a taiko drumming competition with up to 100 teams; through the 21st)

Lake Superior Day -- info at the Lake Superior Forum

Liberation Day -- Nicaragua

Luxembourg Beer Festival -- Diekirch, Luxembourg

Martyr's Day -- Myanmar

National Daiquiri Day

National Ice Cream Day -- by US Presidential proclamation on the 3rd Sunday of July each year; at this time of year, the trick is to eat it fast enough that it doesn't melt, but not so fast that you get a brain freeze!

Ragbrai / Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa(TM) -- Iowa, US (the oldest, largest and longest bicycle touring event in the world; through the 25th)

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival -- Santa Fe, NM, US (highly acclaimed chamber music festival that draws international talent; through Aug. 24)

Stick Out Your Tongue Day -- internet generated, do it just because it's fun

St. Justa's Day (Patron of potters; Seville, Spain)

Triple Play Day -- the first Major League unassisted triple play was made by Neal Ball on this day in 1909

*Amelia Bloomer's birth anniversary on May 27 is also called "Bloomer Day"

Anniversaries Today:

Frank Sinatra marries Mia Farrow, 1966
Isis marries Osiris (year unknown, ask the ancient Egyptians!)
Adonis marries Aphrodite (year unknown, ask the ancient Greeks!)

Birthdays Today:

Stephen Anthony Lawrence, 1990
Jared Padalecki, 1982
Topher Grace, 1978
Angela Griffin, 1976
Clea Lewis, 1965
Anthony Edwards, 1962
Campbell Scott, 1962
Brian May, 1947
Ilie Nastase, 1946
Vikki Carr, 1941
Arthur Rankin, Jr., 1924
George McGovern, 1922
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, 1921
Eve Merriam, 1916
Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, 1904 (last direct descendent of Abraham Lincoln)
Max Fleischer, 1883
Charles Horace Mayo, 1865
Lizzie Borden, 1860
Edgar Degas, 1834
Samuel Colt, 1814

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"That's All Right"(Elvis' first single release), 1954

Today in History

A dragon more than 100 metres long was found dead on Yehwang Mountain in Henan province and was seen as a bad omen for Emperor Huan, who ignored it and died at age 35 (three years later); Xiang Kai, who had warned him of the omen, was released from the prison the emperor had placed him in, and lionised as a hero, BCE164Moslem forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeated the Visigoths led by their king Roderic, 711A hailstorm brings down the ceilings of the Papal Palace, Rome, 1500Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after having that title for just nine days, 1553Five women are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England, 1701Australia's first recorded use of gaslight was commenced in a Sydney shop, 1826The British Medical Association was founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association by Sir Charles Hastings at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary, 1832The two day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York; "bloomers," named after developer Amelia Bloomer, are worn at this very early feminist convention, 1848A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg explodes over the town of Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona causing approximately 16,000 pieces of debris to rain down on the town, 1912Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 metres (347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention, 1963The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua, 1979The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published, 1983President Clinton announces his idea for a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in regards to gays in the US military, 1993A Tel Aviv judges orders safe deposit boxes that contain manuscripts of Franz Kafka to be opened, 2010A Pontifical Commission is established by Pope Francise to investigate current accounting practices and implement new strategies for greater fiscal transparency and fiscal responsibility among all Vatican office, 2013

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Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays. Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that it.

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We have two bottle-babies right now:

The gray brother is sleeping under his brown tabby sister.

These two are running around and playing, and while their teeth are just growing in so they are still not eating solid food, they already use the litter box!

Unfortunately, they also came with ringworm, so we are back to dealing with that. What is it with us that we always either get the very sick or the ones with ringworm?

Anyway, for those who are wondering about Dansig, he's had an up and down weekend. Sometimes he's better, sometimes worse. Today is the big day, when Dr. Bea will decide whether or not he needs surgery.

Today is

Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera / Munoz-Rivera Day -- Puerto Rico (obs.)

Cleat Dancing Day -- don't ask me who started this, i don't want to know what kind of mind came up with trying to tap dance in cleats

Dia del Amigo -- Argentina; Uruguay

Experimental Aircraft Association Airventure -- Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh, WI, US (world's largest sport aviation event, through Sunday)

First Sermon of Lord Buddha -- Bhutan

Fortune Cookie Day

Global Hug Your Kids Day -- begun by the person who owns this Facebook page, but who no longer has a specific website for this day

Independence Day -- Colombia(1810)

International Chess Day -- "Of Chess it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not Chess" ~ William Ewart Napier

Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival -- Kirkpinar, Edirne, Turkey (since 1362, the oldest wrestling festival in the world as well as the oldest continually running, sanctioned sporting event in the world, in which men clad in leather britches and covered in olive oil wrestle; through the 26th)

La Guelaguetza a/k/a Los Lunes del Cerro -- Oaxaca, Mexico (folk dance, music and costumes, an extension of the celebrations of the Lady of Carmel, which used to be the feast of Xilonen, goddess of tender corn; now celebrated on two consecutive Mondays)

Moon Day/Space Exploration Day -- one small step...was taken 45 years ago today

National Get Out of the Doghouse Day -- the day to work out any troubles with people you care about, so that you "get out of the doghouse"

National Hot Dog Day

National Ice Cream Soda Day

National Lollipop Day

Peace and Freedom Day -- North Cyprus

Perun's Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (celebration of Perun, great god of thunder)

President's Day -- Botswana

Special Olympics Day -- anniversary of the first Special Olympics in 1968

St. Elijah the Prophet's Day (Patron of Carmelites; Romanian Air Force; against drought, earthquakes) related observance;
Festival at the Monastery of Profitis Ilias -- Santorini, Greece (Prophet Elijas' festival)

Saint Margaret of Antioch's Day (Patron of childbirth, dying peple, escape from devils, exiles, expectant mothers, falsely accused people, martyrs, nurses, peasants, people in exile, women, women in labor; for safe childbirth; against kidney disease, loss of mother's milk by nursing mothers, sterility; Lowestoft, Suffolk, England; Montefiascone, Italy; Queens College Cambridge; Rixtel, Netherlands; Sannat, Gozo, Malta)

St. Uncumber's Day (Patron of difficult marriages; against men's lust; Las Tablas, Panama)

Synoikia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate; a celebration of the unification of all Attica, held in Athens)

Thgir-yaw-Dnuor Day -- Fairy Calendar

Ugly Truck Day -- must be a guy thing, they know where every scratch and dent came from, after all!

Umi No Hi -- Japan (Ocean Day / Marine Day)

Vigil for Peace, Justice, and Respect for the Human Rights of all in Columbia -- a movement begun among Native Americans of many tribes, now open to all who seek peace

Birthdays Today

John Daley, 1985
Gisele Bundchen, 1980
Josh Holloway, 1969
Chris Cornell, 1964
Billy Mays, 1958
Donna Dixon, 1957
Carlos Santana, 1947
Kim Carnes, 1946
Judy Chicago, 1939
Diana Rigg, 1938
Natalie Wood, 1938
Chuck Daly, 1933
Cormac McCarthy, 1033
Sally Ann Howes, 1930
Michael Ilitch, 1929
Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919
Alberto Santos-Dumont, 1873
Gregor Mendel, 1822
Francesco Petrarch, 1304
Alexander the Great, BCE 356

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Like a Rolling Stone"(Single release), 1965
"Stop the World I Want to Get Off"(Musical), 1961
"The Arthur Murray Party"(TV), 1950
"Gang Busters"(Radio drama), 1935

Today in History

Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount; the Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots during the Siege of Jerusalem, 70
The Riot Act takes effect in Great Britain, 1712
French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan, 1738
Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain, 1810
British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada, 1871
Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford, North Dakota, 1881
Ford Motor Company ships its first car, 1903
Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson becomes the first woman to preside over the US House of Representatives, 1921
In London, 500,000 march against anti-Semitism, while in Nuremburg, Germany, 200 Jewish merchants are arrested and paraded through the streets, 1933
The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain, 1959
Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government, 1960
The Special Olympics is founded, 1968
Apollo 11 successfully lands on the Moon 3:39 a.m. GMT 21st July, 1969
India expels three reporters from The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and Newsweek because they refused to sign a pledge to abide by government censorship, 1975
The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars, 1976
Hank Aaron hits his 755th home run, the final home run of his career, 1976
In Zimbabwe, Parliament opens its new session and seats opposition members for the first time in a decade, 2000
Canada becomes the 4th country to permit same-sex marriage, 2005
The Olympic Torch arrives in London, beginning the final countdown to the Summer Olympics, 2012

Dansig is home from the vet and holed up in Little Girl's room.

He is on antibiotics for three weeks and another med for a week and a special diet for the rest of his life. That's why he's in her room, so he won't eat the regular cat food.

It's a good thing he likes the special diet, as i understand most cats don't. He was always odd that way, refusing to eat canned food or people food or even treats from the time he was a kitten. It makes perfectly good sense that he would love the diet food that other cats refuse.

Meanwhile, his vet bill came to over $400, and that's with Dr. Bea being very kind to us on it.

If he goes back out with #2 Son to where he can catch frogs and lizards and mice and such, instead of just getting his diet food, he may well end up at the vet again. Keeping him here, locked up all of the time, is not a very attractive alternative, either.

He may have to live here, and we may have to alter how we feed all of our cats. This has been tried before, feeding them on a schedule, not letting them have food available all of the time.

Sweetie always sabotages it, because he feels sorry for them, saying "They look so hungry!" He can't say no and make them stick to a schedule.

So i'm working on a solution, and don't know what to try next.

Any suggestions?

Today is

Annie Oakley Days Festival -- Greenville, OH, US (keeping alive the legacy of "Little Miss Sure Shot" with a shooting contest today as well as a pilgrimage to her grave, then tomorrow starts the Melodrama performances, ugly boot contest, Family Fun Games, and more; through Sunday)

Coldest Day Ever -- the lowest natural temperature ever recorded on Earth was -89.2 *C (-128.6 *F; 184.0 *K) at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica on this day in 1983

Feast of Damo -- Ancient Greek Calendar (keeper of secrets of philosophy; daughter of Greek sages, Pythagoras and Theano, date approximate)

Hemingway Birthday Celebration -- Hemingway Museum, Oak Park, IL, US

Independence Day / National Day -- Belgium(1830)

Kazanskaya -- Russia (Feast of Our Lady of Kazan)

Lakota Sun Dance -- Lakota Native Americans (festival of the sun god Wi, with offerings to Maka (mother earth) and Haokah (father sky), both aspects of Creator Tukaskanskan; dating approximate, as outsiders are usually no longer allowed at these multi-day ceremonies)

Liberation Day -- Guam (1944; from Japan)

Lucaria -- Ancient Roman Calendar ("Feast of Clearings", with prayers said as land was cleared for planting)

National Junk Food Day

No Pet Store Puppies Day -- ASPCA sponsored this on this date last year, and while i can't find a confirmation of another campaign, you can still Take The Pledge to not shop at any pet store that sells puppies, because they are almost certainly from puppy mills

Racial Harmony Day -- Singapore

Sapporo Summer Festival -- Odori Park, Sapporo, Japan (through Aug. 20, the park becomes a beer garden)

Schoelcher Day -- French West Indies; Martinique (Schoelcher worked for abolition)

St. Lawrence of Brindisi's Day (Patron of Brindisi, Italy)

St. Praxedes' Day (Patron of single laywomen)

Touch Hammer's Birthday Bargain Day -- Fairy Calendar

Tug-Of-War Tournament Day -- if you have a problem with someone today, solve it with an old fashioned tug-of-war!

Birthdays Today

Hatty Jones, 1988
Josh Hartnett, 1978
Justin Bartha, 1978
Lance Guest, 1960
Matt Mulhern, 1960
Jon Lovitz, 1957
Michael Connelly, 1956
Robin Williams, 1951
Garry Trudeau, 1949
Cat Stevens, 1948
Kenneth Starr, 1946
Tony Scott, 1944
Edward Herrmann, 1943
Janet Reno, 1938
Norman Jewison, 1926
Don Knotts, 1924
Kay Starr, 1922
Isaac Stern, 1920
Marshall McLuhan, 1911
Ernest Hemingway, 1899
John Joseph "Johnny" Evers, 1881

Today in History

Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, BCE 356
A tsunami devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt, 365
The first landing of French troops on the coast during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight, 1545
Twenty-four-year-old Scottish physician and explorer Mungo Park became the first European to see the Niger River, the third longest river in Africa, 1796
In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown, 1865
At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West, 1873
Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land, driving a 15-liter Gobron-Brille in Ostend, Belgium, 1904
In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100, 1925
Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission, 1969
After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed, 1970
The world's lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at -82.9*C (-129*F), 1983
The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years, 1997
NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135, 2011

Six Sentence Stories: Fall

Feline Friday: Come Play!

All in Fun

Silly Sunday: Back When?

Awww Monday: Back in Business

Swim Team, 2015

Wordless Wednesday: A Fraction

Six Sentence Story: Pound

Feline Friday: Food Thief

If you feed them,

Silly Sunday: This Work Never Ends!

Awww Monday: Lemur Love

Check Yesterday's Date

His meals, they are a-changing.

Six Sentence Story: A Letter to My Son

Feline Friday: Dansig

Grease

Silly Sunday: My Kind of Math

Awww Monday: Little Critters Need Lots of Naps

Update