Hey, Mom!

"Hey, mom, want to come see the snakes I caught? They are on the side of the house!" #2 Son was so excited.

"Where on the side of the house?" I asked in resignation.

"In the cool safe someone was throwing away because it is broken. I brought it to the side of the house to hold the snakes I catch in."

Yes, there they were, 3 water snakes from the creek, probably wondering if they were going to end up as a meal, swimming in 2 inches of water in a broken safe.

"Okay, I've seen them. Now you and your friends take them back to the creek, okay?"

"Oh, we will. This makes 7 snakes I've caught today! And I haven't been bitten yet, even though yesterday I caught two and got bitten twice!"

Just what mom wants to hear. Snakebites. At least he knows to leave the vipers alone.

A half hour later, I went out to check the mail, and something else was afoot.

"Hey, mom, we found a table and made a ramp! Want to see me jump it? We have it propped up on the safe! We tried to use just one set of legs to make it into a ramp, but we broke both sets of legs off by accident."

"Please don't kill yourself, son. It would ruin my karma."

"Hey, Miss Mimi, want to see me jump it on my scooter?" asked the neighbor child who is always in in the action.

"I won't say yes," I told him. "That way, if you do it and kill yourself, I won't be responsible."

He stood on his scooter at the top of our hill of a driveway, scoured the area for cars, and zoomed off and across the street, up the ramp, and onto the grass. He managed to stay in one piece.

Then #2 Son positioned himself on his friend's bike.

"Why aren't you on your bike?" I asked.

"Because his doesn't have brakes!" he was so excited.

"Son, please don't get hurt."

"I promise, I won't." Famous last words.

Scour the street for cars, down the hill, across, up, and...

"Oh! My butt! Ouch, that hurt! My butt cheek! Owwww!" Even though he nailed the landing, he found out the hard way that it is not a comfortable thing.

I grabbed the mail and beat a hasty retreat.

Boys. Gotta love 'em, gotta wonder how they ever live to grow up.


In honor of national humor month:

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment ,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

Then you are probably the family dog!

Today is

Chakri Dynasty Day, Thailand

Dogwood Festival

Drowsy Driver Awareness Day

Fete of the Little Boats, France

Jump Over Things Day

National Caramel Popcorn Day

National Tartan Day (Scottish-American)

Plan Your Epitaph Day - a little morbid if you ask me

Sorry Charlie Day (Honors those who have been rejected and lived through it.)

Sorting-Out of the Doggets Day -- Fairy Calendar

Student Government Day

Tartan Day


Birthdays Today:

Candace Cameron, 1976
Zach Braff, 1975
Ari Meyers, 1969
Paul Rudd, 1969
Marilu Henner, 1952
John Razenberger, 1947
Philip Austin, 1941
Merle Haggard, 1937
Billy Dee Williams, 1937
Andre Previn, 1929
Lowell Thomas, 1892
Butch Cassidy, 1866
Raphael, 1483


Today in History:

Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus, BC46
The Roman army under the command of Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia, 402
King Richard I, The Lionheart, of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder, 1199
The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath, 1320
Charlemagne confirms his father Pepin the Short's "Donation of Pepin," which had established the Papal States, 774
The Italian poet Petrarch first sees his beloved Laura, 1327
At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town , 1652
An earthquake devastates Dubrovnik, then an independent city-state, 1667
Peter the Great of Russia ends the tax on men with beards in that country, 1722
Rama I succeeds King Taksin of Siam (modern day Thailand), who is overthrown in a coup d'état, 1782
The Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic in France, and the period known as the Reign of Terror begins, 1793
John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, 1808
Celluloid, the first plastic, is patented, 1869
The city of Vancouver, BC, is incorporated, 1886
The Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City is dedicated, 1893
In Athens, the first modern Olympic Games are opened, 1,500 years after being banned by Emperor Theodosius I; James Connoly of the US becomes the first gold medalist of the modern games, 1896
The Kishinev pogrom forces thousands of Jews to seek refuge in Israel and the West, 1903
Robert Peary and Matthew Henson allegedly reach the North Pole, 1909
Governor Huey P. Long is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1929
Mohandas Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." Thus he starts the Salt Satyagraha, 1930