Bits of News

#1 Son is now among the gainfully employed. He is a pizza delivery guy! Today I took him for an eye exam, as he is coming due for new driving glasses anyway, and I'd rather do it now to make sure he can get those pies there hot and on time and safely.

So much for kids never get outside any more. #2 Son has managed to wear out the tires on his 4-month-old bike. The tires were rated for 500 miles, and he wore the tread off of them that fast. For a few days he has walked around saying, "I want to...oh, wait, I can't. The bike is broken."

We went to get new tires. It took trips to 3 stores, and we finally got them put on -- for 1/3 the initial cost of the bike! He still had one good inner tube, or so we thought. That went about 5 hours after we got home with the bike. So, I will be going to MallMart for another inner tube. I'm glad that is the cheap part, and he can change that himself.

Bigger Girl is loving her job still. The other day she really made friends with one of the mares. It allowed itself to be led without a halter over a step that most of the mares shy at. Bigger Girl just put her hand on the side of the mare's neck and said, "Let's go, it's okay," and the animal followed, and a second followed behind.

Little Girl is very much enjoying her freedom from having therapy or slings or anything to do with arm trouble. Today she went out to the creek to play, no worries. It's nice to watch her heading out, so excited.


July 21

Today is

Bregenzer Festspiele (Bregenz Festival) -- Bregenz, Austria (performing arts festival, through August 22)

Feast of Damo (keeper of secrets of philosophy; daughter of Greek sages, Pythagoras and Theano)

Friendship Festival -- Missouri, through the 24th

Independence Day -- Belgium

Legal Drinking Age Day

Liberation Day -- Guam

National Creme Brulee Day

National Junk Food Day

National Tug-Of-War Tournament Day

Monkey Day (monkey around with your friends -- pull a joke and make a monkey of someone)

Racial Harmony Day -- Singapore

Schoelcher Day -- French West Indies; Martinique

St. Lawrence of Brindisi's Day

St. Praxedes' Day


Birthdays Today

Hatty Jones, 1988
Josh Hartnett, 1978
Jon Lovitz, 1957
Michael Connelly, 1956
Robin Williams, 1951
Cat Stevens, 1948
Kenneth Starr, 1946
Norman Jewison, 1926
Don Knotts, 1924
Kay Starr, 1922
Isaac Stern, 1920
Marshall McLuhan, 1911
Ernest Hemingway, 1899


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 of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight occurs, 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
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
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