Heaven Protect Him, Because I Can't

"Mom, I sure know my way around a medical kit!" #2 Son was bragging.

He tends to do this, brag about his injuries and how much pain he can take.

"I should, after all," he continued, "I use them enough!"

Please, don't tell me more, I silently pleaded. No use, he was in a garrulous mood.

"Like, the other night when I tripped with a glass in my hand, and it broke, and I had to pull glass out of my arm with the tweezers. And then there was the time someone dropped a toothpick, and I was barefoot, and I had to pull it out. I've had so many puncture wounds, and so many times I needed stitched and just didn't tell you."

Why not, I asked, wishing I didn't have to listen to the answer.

"Well, I just don't like having to go to the hospital, that's all. Besides, I can take care of it. After all, one time a metal wire ran so far into my arm, it was almost out the other side, so I pushed it through and pulled it out!"

Son, I protested, you could have gotten an infection!

"Nah, I put antibacterial stuff on both ends!"

What about all the germs it left inside as it went through! I wailed, to no avail, he wasn't really listening.

"Yeah, I can do almost anything with a medical kit!"

Well, now I understand why we go through so many bandages and tubes of antibacterial gel. He covers them with his Bob Marley jacket if he has to, so I didn't quite know how much was him.

Heaven protect him. Keep him alive long enough to grow a brain.


Today is:

Candies Day (They have to be kidding -- this close to Hallowe'en?!)

Coronation Day -- Cambodia

Cumhuriyet Bayrami -- Turkey (Republic Day)

Hermit Day

Hide From Everyone Day (I know the feeling.)

Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day (And end up either getting yourself and everyone around you in a good mood, or yourself being observed at the hospital in a padded room.)

Mokosh Day -- Ukraine (Slavic goddess of "women's work")

National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day

National Frankenstein Day

Oatmeal Day

St, Baldus' Day (patron of cattle and against family problems)

World Psoriasis Day


Birthdays Today:

Winona Ryder, 1971
Kate Jackson, 1948
Richard Dreyfuss, 1947
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 1938
Bill Mauldin, 1921
Fanny Brice, 1891
James Boswell, 1740 (wrote the biography of Samuel Johnson)
Edmund Halley, 1656 (yes, that Halley, found the comet)--this is the date based on the OS calendar, often you will find his birthday listed as Nov. 8, because of the switch in calendar use.


Today in History:

Cyrus the Great entered the city of Babylon, BC539
First trial for witchcraft in Paris, 1390
Sir Walter Raleigh, adventurer, writer, and courtier, is beheaded, 1618
A severe earthquake shakes New England, 1727
Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague, 1787
The first Ohio River steamboat leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans, 1811
Queen Victoria grants Cecil Rhodes rights to Zambezia, 1889
The first intercity trucking service, from Colorado City to Snyder, Texas, begins running, 1904
Turkey declares its independence as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, 1923
Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal, 1956
Cassius Clay wins his first professional fight, 1960
Syria exits from the United Arab Republic, 1961
Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors, 1967
The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet, 1969
The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid, 1991
In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities, 1998
Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space, 1998
In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution, 2004