For the past few days, i have been wondering why in the world i have so much trouble keeping my right shoe tied. It's odd, i am retying it a few times a day, while the left shoe stays nice and neatly done up with a bow as it is supposed to be. Then it occurred to me to look down while standing at the computer. Lo and behold, the kittens only play with my right shoe, specifically paying attention to the string. Amazing how you can get so used to the little guys, you don't even notice when your shoe strings are being eaten.


On the way home from school, we pass a construction company storage site. The company constructs big projects, like roads and huge buildings. As we passed one day, #2 Son asked, "Mom, could i buy a thousand pound brick, if i use my own money?"

Why, i asked him, would you want a thousand pound brick?

"Oh, well, if you're going to ask questions, then never mind."

I never know what is in that fertile brain of his, but i know it scares me.


As i was brushing Kida Cat today, she purred as usual. Also, as usual, she kept moving further and further away from me, toward the center of the bed. I kept having to haul her back toward me. Why, i wondered, do cats, even though they are enjoying it, move further and further from the comb they so desperately want you to use on them? Even when i am just petting Hope, the mentally challenged cat, she keeps moving further away while expecting the petting to continue.


So far, it seems to be working out that Sweetie gets a ride with his brother to work each day. What will happen after Brother-in-Law, The Mouth, gets laid off in July, well that's a bridge we will cross when we get there. Maybe through a miracle we will be able to purchase a hooptie that can go the few miles there and back five days a week.


All of the kittens are totally weaned, and have decided that it is fun to scrap over food. Every time anyone drops anything edible, Ashfur, the runt, grabs, growls, hisses, and runs to make sure she doesn't have to share. Each of the others run around at that point to try to get their own share. I boiled off some turkey necks for the stock, and gave the cats the meat off the bones. Wow. Growling, scrapping, and tons of gulping. Yep, they are weaned.


For those who celebrate their gift giving today, on the Epiphany -- visit of the Wise Men -- may you get all you need, and much of what you want.



Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Iraq

Befana -- Italy (Befana is the fairy who resides in chimneys, flies on a broom, and leaves toys and candy in stockings on Epiphany, their traditional day to exchange gifts.)

Bean Day (Bake a bean or penny into a cake, whoever gets the slice with the bean is king for a day. A tradition continued in New Orleans and vicinity, especially, all the way through Mardi Gras Day, only now a plastic baby toy, representative of Jesus, is put in the traditional cakes.)

Blessing of the Waters -- Piraeus, Greece; Turkey; among Greek Orthodox worshipers worldwide (on the traditional date of the Baptism of Jesus)

Carnival Season begins -- Christian, through Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday

Children's Day -- Uruguay

Cuddle Up Day

Day of Sirona -- Gallic Calendar (healing goddess)

Dezome-shiki -- Tokyo (fire fighters perform acrobatic feats from the tops of ladders to show agility)

Dia de los Reys (Three Kings Day) -- Hispanic Christians

Epiphany -- Western Christian

Epiphany of Kore (Persephone/Proserpina) -- Ancient Greek Calendar

Feast of Aesculapius (Greek god of healing)

Feast of the Theophany -- Orthodox Christian

Four Freedoms Day -- US (commemorates the FDR speech about the four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear.)

Greek Cross Day -- Tarpon Springs, Florida (as part of the Greek Orthodox Church

Little Christmas -- Ireland

Maroon Festival -- Jamaica

National Shortbread Day

Nativity of Christ -- Armenian Christian

Perch Tenlauf, Austria (A festival with scary masks and music to frighten away winter.)

Shorinzan Daruma-Ichi -- Japan (Good luck dolls are purchased, with no eyes. One eye is painted on when you make a wish, the other when the wish comes true.)

St. Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchoir's Day (patron of travelers)

St. Macra's Day (patron against breast disease)

St. Peter Baptist's Day (patron of Japan)

Swap Day

Take a Poet to Lunch Day


Anniversaries Today:

Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves, 1540 (his 4th wife)
New Mexico becomes the 47th US State, 1912
George Bush marries Barbara Pierce, 1945


Birthdays Today:

Susan Perabo, 1969
Nancy Lopez, 1957
Rowan Atkinson, 1955
Bonnie Franklin, 1944
Vic Tayback, 1929
Sun Myung Moon, 1920
Loretta Young, 1913
Danny Thomas, 1912
Kahlil Gibran, 1883
Tom Mix, 1880
Carl Sandburg, 1878
Sherlock Holmes, 1854 (As celebrated by the Baker Street Irregulars.)
Joan of Arc, 1412


Today in History:

The first Roman Catholic Mass is celebrated in the "New World," at La Isabela, Hispaniola, 1494
All Jews are expelled from Syria, 1497
The city of Lima, Peru, is founded by Francisco Pizarro, 1535
The first recorded boxing match of the style now called English Boxing is held -- the Duke of Albemarle's butler versus his butcher, 1681
Massachusetts slaves petition the legislature for freedom, 1773
Samuel Morse makes his first public demonstration of the telegraph, 1838
The most damaging storm in 300 years sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin, 1839
A patent for reducing zinc ore granted to Samuel Wetherill of Pennsylvania, 1857
The Washington National Cathedral is chartered bu the US Congress and signed by President Benjamin Harrison, 1893
The first telephone call is made from a submerged submarine, by Simon Lake, 1898
Maria Montessori opens her first school and day care for working class families in Rome, 1907
The Great White Fleet passes through the Suez Canal, the largest group of ships to pass through up to that time, 1909
Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta to begin her work among the poor of India, 1929
The first diesel-engined automobile trip is completed, from Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York City, 1930
Thomas Edison submits his last patent application, for a "Holder for Article to be Electroplated," 1931
Barbara Hanley becomes Canada's first woman mayor, of the city of Webbwood, Ontario, 1936
The Pacific Clipper lands at Pan American's LaGuardia Field, completing the first around the world flight, 1942
The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II, 1978
The Ady Gil, a ship owned by Sea Shepherd, is sunk during a skirmish with the Japanese Whaling Fleet's Shonan Maru, 2010