Kittens, Ball Games, Begging, and Light My Fire

Neither Sasha nor Dan were adopted out this weekend.

The kittens have the runs again -- I thought I had conquered that -- and some of them are now sneezing.

Oh, help. If they have any sort of upper respiratory, they cannot be adopted out. Poor babies, I hate to see them get sick, and by the time they are able to be adopted they're not tiny "aren't they so cute" kittens any more, and get passed over.

In somewhat happier news, the home team held on for a win this weekend, Barely, but it counts. This is a good thing, too, for Sweetie. He gets cranky when they lose, as he works in alumni relations, soliciting donations (say that three times fast!), and the alums don't give when the team loses.

Speaking of donations, 'tis the season. The calls and mailouts are coming in thick and fast, as everyone tries to make quota or budget or whatever by the end of the year. I have had more than the usual number of begging calls already this year. Please know that I don't mean that in a nasty way, I call Sweetie a professional beggar because that is what he does, too. I'm just noting that the numbers are up for before Thanksgiving.

I wonder if this is in any way related to the fact that stores have forgotten that Thanksgiving comes first. What I mean is, in the retail community, no one wants to miss a possible sale, so when one place starts early, everyone else seems to feel compelled to do the same, and the result is madness. Have the charities soliciting donations noticed that people run out of patience, not to mention money, if they wait too long, and everyone is trying to beat everyone else to the punch?

It's something to think about, but not just right now. #2 Son has come in asking if anyone has any fire starting liquid he can have, and is heading for his dad's cabinet where the cologne is. Time to go divert a pyromaniac.



Today is:

Alascattalo Day -- Anchorage, Alaska (The longest running, shortest parade in the world, held in the alley behind Club Paris from 12:03 to 12:07 pm. A prize is given to the smallest and ugliest float -- yes, it must be both small and ugly. An anonymous queen will be crowned, if she has the bad sense to show up.)

Armed Forces Day -- Bangladesh

Feast of Christ the King -- Catholic Christian

Feast day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin -- Catholic Christian

Festival of Madonna della Salute -- Venice, Italy

Full Beaver Moon a/k/a Full Frost Moon

Mother Goose Parade Day -- San Diego, California

National Stuffing Day

National Survivors of Suicide Day (There are lots of people out there who had a loved one die by suicide, so go give one a hug and some support.)

Our Lady Halfsower/ Our Lady Manysower -- Greece (a good Greek farmer has half of his field sown by the Feast of Presentation.)

St. Gelasius' Day

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

World Hello Day

World Television Day


Anniversaries Today:

South Carolina becomes the 12 US State, 1789


Birthdays Today:

Ken Griffey, Jr., 1969
Troy Aikman, 1966
Bjork, 1965
Cherry Jones, 1956
Goldie Hawn, 1945
Harold Ramis, 1944
Juliet Mills, 1941
Marlo Thomas, 1938
Joseph Campanella, 1927
Stan Musial, 1920
Coleman Hawkins, 1904
Rene Magritte, 1898
Hetty Green, 1834
William Beaumont, 1785
Voltaire, 1694


Today in History:

Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem; this is the event commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah, BC164
The Pilgrims, aboard the Mayflower, reach what is now called Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, and sign the Mayflower Compact, 1620
Richard Johnson, a free black, is granted 550 acres in Virginia, 1654
In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight, 1783
Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic, 1791
First Jewish Reform congregation in US forms, Charleston, SC, 1824
Moses F Gale patents a cigar lighter, 1871
Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph), 1877
Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator, 1922
First commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper), 1935
The Alcan Highway is completed, 1942*
The British Natural History Museum announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull is a hoax, 1953
The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and SRI, 1969
The Dayton Peace Agreement is initialed at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1995
NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members, 2002

*Not opened to general vehicular traffic until the next year