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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.
It's Groundhog Day, one of my sentimental favorite holidays. Nothing special to do, no foods to cook, no gifts to get, just celebrate.
What do we celebrate? Contrary to what Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, would have you believe, we don't celebrate one critter predicting the weather for everyone. That was, however, a nice public relations coup they pulled, getting themselves famous that way.
It's based on your location, and no critter is actually needed. If you are having lousy weather where you are today, winter is "spending itself out" right now, and you should get an early spring.
If your weather today is beautiful and bright and clear enough for whatever local critter -- groundhog, badger, hedgehog, etc. -- to see a shadow, then winter is having a break and will come roaring back, so you should get a late spring.
Does it work? Well, it worked often enough that our ancestors used to plan their garden plantings around it. However, between the changes in the calendar that Gregory instituted and climate differences, who's to say if any of the old weather predictor rhymes and stories are still accurate?
Meanwhile, enjoy your Groundhog Day. If all holidays were this easy to celebrate, some of us might not have so much gray hair.
For your entertainment (and possibly amazement) i present, Carl's room yesterday, before and after my cleaning visit:
Now how about a few of the things Grandma passes my way before we go:
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Invention: the water fountain you and your dog can drink from. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Invention: in Switzerland, a "mountain finder." |
Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!
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Today is:
Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu -- Estonia
Bonza Bottler Day™
Candlemas -- Christian -- or Presentation of Our Lord (f/k/a the Purification of the Virgin Mary) - commemorates the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and purification of Mary on the 40th day after the birth of Jesus. Candles have been blessed on this day since the 11th century, and this was the original forecaster, “If Candlemas is fair and clear, there’ll be two winters in the year.”
Bank Holiday -- Liechtenstein
Candelaria Festival -- Puno, Peru (Virgen de la Candelaria, through the 16th)
Dia de la Candelaria/Virgin of Candelaria -- Mexico; Spain
La Fete de la Chandeleur -- Canada; France
Matka Boska Gromniczna (Mother of God of the Blessed Thunder Candle) -- Poland
Festival of Juno Februa -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Juno as goddess of motherly and matrimonial love)
Groundhog Day/Hedgehog Day/Badger Day -- what animal you looked to in order to predict the weather depended on where you lived
Hromnice -- Czech Republic (hrom = thunder, a weather forecasting day)
Imbolc/Sughnassad -- Pagan/Wiccan (Northern Hemisphere/Southern Hemisphere)
Brigmid -- Druid Calendar, also called Feast of Imbolc, celebrated later as St. Bridget's Day, but originally a festival for Brigid, (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) goddess of poetry, healing, and smithcraft. It is always halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, so some years it is on Feb. 1 with St. Brigid's Day
Disting/Charming of the Plough -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (a feast of new beginnings and spring)
Serpent Day -- Celtic (The tradition was that on this day, the Brigmid, snakes or badgers would come out of their winter dens and predict the weather; perhaps a precursor to North America's Groundhog Day.)
Wives' Feast Day -- Northern England (ancient celebration in association with Imbolc)
Inventors' Day -- Thailand
Le Jour des Crepes -- France (Crepes Day, as crepes are traditionally served on Candlemas; if you can flip the crepe pan and catch the crepe in it with your right hand, while holding a gold coin in your left, you will become rich this year!)
National Heavenly Hash Day
Presentation of Christ in the Temple -- Anglican Catholic Christian
Sled Dog Day -- anniversary of the arrival, in 1925, of diphtheria antitoxin in Nome, Alaska; in memory of the sled dogs, especially lead dogs Togo and Balto, who made it possible
St. Cornelius the Centurion's Day (the Cornelius converted by St. Paul in the Book of Acts)
Veja Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (day of wind, with rituals performed to assure no wind damage next summer)
Wand Dedication Day -- Fairy Calendar
World Wetlands Day -- UN
Anniversaries Today:
Marina Ogilvy (daughter of Princess Alexandra) weds Paull Mowatt, 1990
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) marries Olivia Langdon in Elmira, NY, 1870
Birthdays Today:
Shakira, 1977
Michael T. Weiss, 1962
Christie Brinkley, 1954
Ina Garten, 1948
Farah Fawcett, 1947
Graham Nash, 1942
David Jason, 1940
Tom Smothers, 1937
Les Dawson, 1934
Stan Getz, 1927
Elaine Stritch, 1925
James Dickey, 1923
Liz Smith, 1923
Ayn Rand, 1905
George “Papa Bear” Halas, 1895
William Rose Benét, 1886
James Joyce, 1882
Solomom R. Guggenheim,1861
Toyotomi Hideyoshi,1536 (Japan's second "great unifier")
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"The Rich Little Show"(TV), 1975
"The Midnight Special"(TV), 1973
"And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little"(Play), 1971
"What's My Line?"(TV), 1950
"Le Dame aux Camelias"(Play, Dumas, fils), 1848
"Artaxerxes"(Opera, Thomas Arnes), 1762
Today in History:
Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates The Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum) a collection of Roman law, 506
Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1536
New Amsterdam (later New York) is incorporated as a city, 1653
The first leopard is exhibited in the US, in Boston (admission 25 cents), 1802
Russian settlers establish the Ft. Ross trading post north of San Francisco, 1811
Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral afire, does £60,000 damage, 1829
The first Chinese workers arrive in San Francisco, 1848
The first public men's toilet in Britain opens, on Fleet Street in London, 1852
Samuel Clemens uses the pen name Mark Twain for the first time, 1863
James Oliver invents the removable tempered steel plow blade, 1869
The SS Strathleven arrives in London with the first frozen mutton imported from Australia, 1880
The Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, Connecticut, 1882
The first official Groundhog Day is observed in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, 1887
The bottle cap with cork seal is patented by William Painter of Baltimore, 1892
The longest boxing match under modern rules takes place in Nameoki, Illinois; 77 rounds between Harry Sharpe and Frank Crosby, 1892
The first movie close-up, of a man sneezing, is made at the Edison Studio in West Orange, NJ, 1893
The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne, 1899
Queen Victoria's funeral takes place, 1901
Musher Gunner Kaasan and his sled team, led by Balto, finish the serum run from Nenana to Nome, Alaska, delivering the much needed diphtheria medication (inspiration for the Iditarod), 1925
Leonarde Keeler tests the first polygraph machine, 1935
The Groundhog Day gale hits the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada, 1976
F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to function legally and promises to release Nelson Mandela, 1990
Iran launches its first domestically made satellite, Omid, into orbit, 2009
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister, vows to defend the Senkaku Islands "at all costs", 2013
All 955 miners are rescued from the Beatrix gold mine in Welkom town, South Africa, after 2 days underground, 2018
More than 40 mummies from around 323-30 BC are found at a burial site at the Tuna el-Gebel archaeological site south of Cairo, Egypt, 2019
Palindrome Day: today's date, 02/02/2020, reads the same forward and backward, whether you are putting the order as month/day or day/month; the last time this happened was 11/11/1111, 2020