Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week she talks about, Spring Clean! What do you do to prepare for the new season?
Since the swamps don't have a harsh winter, our preparations don't include things like taking snow chains or snow tires off of vehicles or trading out sleds for bicycles.
We use the grill year 'round if we want, since we don't have to dig it out of the snow.
Our preparations are more about helping the aquatic club get the pool ready, and opening the windows a lot to cool the house before we have to turn on the A/C.
Also getting ready for the hot season, which will be here before you know it.
Then there's hurricane season preparation. Make sure you have water and batteries for the flashlights and radio and a non-electric can opener and canned food.
The idea of a big spring clean out here, when our winters are such pussycats compared to those in other areas, is a bit of overkill.
We have to clean the house after the summer, once the kids are done tracking in all the mud and grass and everything else they track in all through the season. That means a good, big clean out just before the holidays.
None of my clients have mentioned spring cleaning, either. They seem content with the usual stuff, and an occasional special project for a problem area.
Several years ago, i heard a person say that since we don't shut up our houses and heat them with stoves that leave a layer of grime on everything all winter, we don't need to spring clean. That sounds like a good reason to me.
Today is:
Bendideia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival for Bendis; date approximate)
Dutch-American Friendship Day -- anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the US, America's oldest continuously peaceful diplomatic relations
Education and Sharing Day -- in honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)
Eighty-Niner Days Celebration -- Guthrie, OK, US (commemoration of the Oklahoma Territory Land Run of April 22, 1889, celebrating their heritage with chuck wagon feeds, "gunfights", a parade and carnival; through Sunday)
Independence Declaration Day -- Venezuela
John Parker Day -- many US States (anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, where parker said “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon; but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”)
King Mswati III's birthday -- Swaziland
Lozenge Competition -- Fairy Calendar (no, i don't know what they do with the lozenges that makes it a competition)
National Amaretto Day
National CPA's Goof Off Day -- US, the day after tax day because they deserve it!
National Garlic Day
National Hanging Out Day -- Project Laundry List and other organizations promote bringing back the clothesline to save energy and the planet!
Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day
Okoshi Daiko Festival -- Furukawa, Japan (today, hundreds of men in loincloths fight to touch a wooden frame supporting a huge taiko drum as it is carried through the streets, and tomorrow is an elegant parade with lion dancers and traditional music)
Primrose Day -- UK (anniversary of the death of Disraeli)
St. AElfheah's Day (Patron of kidnap victims; Greenwich and Solihull, England)
St. Expeditus of Melintine's Day (Patron of merchants, navigators; for expeditious and prompt solutions; against procrastination)
St. Leo IX's Day
Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day -- US (the day after you pay your taxes, bring the comforts of home to the office; sponsored by PajamaGram)
Anniversaries Today:
Grace Kelly marries Ranier III of Monaco, 1956
Cheyney University is founded as The Institute for Colored Youth, 1837
Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI by Proxy Marriage, 1770
Birthdays Today:
Maria Sharapova, 1987
Hayden Christensen, 1981
Kate Hudson, 1979
James Franco, 1978
Luis Miguel Basteri, 1970
Ashley Judd, 1968
Al Unser, Jr., 1962
Tony Plana, 1954
Paloma Picasso, 1949
Tim Curry, 1946
Alan Price, 1942
Elinor Donahue, 1937
Dudley Moore, 1935
Jayne Mansfield, 1933
Dick Sargent, 1930
Hugh O'Brian, 1925
Eliot Ness, 1903
Lucretia Rudolph-Garfield, 1832
David Ricardo, 1772
Roger Sherman, 1721
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope"(Musical revue), 1972
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"(Musical), 1951
"Carousel"(Musical), 1945
"Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder/Mother Courage and Her Children"(Play), 1941
"National Barn Dance"(Radio), 1924
"The Bing Boys are Here"(Musical revue), 1919
"Revizor/The Government Inspector"(Comedy), 1836
"Iphigenia in Aulis,"(Opera), 1774
Today in History:
Sir Francis Drake sails to Cadiz and sinks the Spanish Fleet, 1587
Because he has no male heirs, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, assuring Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would go to his daughter, Maria Theresa, 1713
Captain James Cook sights Australia, 1770
John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States, and his home in The Hague becomes the first American Embassy, 1782
Venezuela achieves home rule, 1810
The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and Luxembourg as a Grand Duchy, 1839
Charles Duryea claims to have taken the first automobile built in the US for a spin, 1892
The first Boston Marathon is won by John McDermott of NY in 2:55:10, 1897
Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful voluntary free-fall parachute jump, 1919
The 125th and final fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary is published, 1928
Burma (now Myanmar) joins the United Nations, 1948
The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends in success for the defenders, 1961
Sierra Leone becomes a republic, 1971
India's first satellite, Aryabhata, is launched, 1975
The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168, 1995
The German Bundestag returns to Berlin, the first German parliamentary body to meet there since the Reichstag was dissolved in 1945, 1999
His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church, taking the name Benedict XVI, 2005
Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba's central committee after 45 years, 2011