More Than Toes

"Ow! Hey! What is wrong with these shoes?!" The cries of #2 Son, as he struggled to get his shoes on and walk out the door to head for school at the same time could be heard all over the house.

Thunk, thunk. He banged them up against the wall, and peered in, and thunked them again. Then he looked up and said, "There's something alive in there!"

He wiggled the tongue around, and again looked into the depths, then said, "There's a gecko lizard in there!"

Sure enough, he shook and banged, and eventually a very startled little mottled reptile made its appearance, falling to the driveway and running off.

That does it. From now on, I'm shaking my shoes out before putting them on. I don't want anything in there alive that isn't part of me.


Today is

Festal Day -- Order of the Eastern Star

Limba Noastra -- Moldova (Day of Our Language)

Independence Day -- Kyrgyzstan; Malaysia (Hari Merdeka); Trinidad & Tobago

Love Litigating Lawyers Day (Yes, God tells us to love everybody, even litigation attorneys. He never said doing it would be easy.)

National Trail Mix Day

Day of Solidarity and Freedom -- Poland

St. Aidan's Day


Birthdays Today:

Jeff Hardy, 1977
Richard Gere, 1949
Itzhak Perlman, 1945
Marva Collins, 1936
Frank Robinson, 1935
James Coburn, 1928
Buddy Hackett, 1924
Alan Jay Lerner, 1918
Arthur Godfrey, 1903
Maria Montessori, 1870


Today in History:

Traditional date upon which Ayonwentah (Haiwatha) and Deganawidah (The Great Peacemaker) assist the Iroquois tribes in establishing the Confederation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy, or League of Five Nations), 1142
Lewis and Clark begin their expedition, 1803
A nuts and bolts machine is patented by Micah Rugg, 1842
The first professional football game is played in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 1895
Edison patents the Kinetograph, 1897
Mrs. Adolph Landenburg, a horse rider, debuts the split skirt, 1902
Debut of Foghorn Leghorn, 1946
Solidarity Labor Union forms in Poland, 1980
Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris, 1997