Ponies

"Hey mom, guess what happened to me at work today!" Bigger Girl was grinning as she climbed into the van.

Let me guess. The angry cow tried to come after you again?

"Nope! The usual afternoon thunderstorm came up, and the electricity went out. You know what that means, right?"

Um, what?

"Well, actually, it means the automatic locks on all the doors come on, so I was locked out of the building, and i had to stand under a metal overhang in a lightning storm surrounded by the ponies!"

That must have been both fun and scary.

"Yes, it was, and the ponies tried to eat me!

Somehow i doubt they wanted to eat you.

"Well, they use their mouths to feel everything, and they try to nibble everything. So i stood out there in a storm with ponies and got so bored cause i couldn't get back in the building that i spent the time taking their pictures with my phone."

Why didn't you use the phone to call the boss to come open the door?

"Oops. I didn't think of that. But it's okay, i got lots of good pics, of ponies that try to eat you!"

And to think i wanted a pony when i was a kid.


Today is:

*Champagne Day

*Coast Guard Day -- US

*Constitution Day -- Cook Island

*Edmonton Folk Music Festival -- Gallagher Park, Edmonton, AB, Canada (through the 7th)

*Fairy Drying-Out Day, Fairy Calendar (Makes sense, as we washed them yesterday. Now it begs the question, how does one dry a fairy?)

*Festival of the Dead; Sunset Ceremony -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

*Fiestas de la Virgen Blanca -- Vitoria-Gasteiz, Alava, Basque Country, Spain; through the 9th

*Halifax International Busker Festival -- Halifax, NS, Canada (through the 14th)

*Matica Slovenska Day -- Slovakia (main Slovak cultural institution, established 1863)

*Mountain Dance and Folk Festival -- Ashville, NC, US (through the 6th, celebrating the heritage of the Appalachian Mountain region)

*Naag/Nag Panchami -- India (Hindu Snake Day Festival, best in Jodhpur)

*National Day / Revolution Day -- Burkina Faso

*National Lasagna Day

*National Underwear Day -- sponsored by www.freshpair.com, which encourages men to drop their pants and women to flash their bras, and sign a petition in support of making this an official "National" day. No comment.

*Nicole Robin Day -- St. John, USVI (Celebrates her safe return, with the crew, to the Virgin Islands after being held by Cubans.)

*Satchmo Summerfest -- New Orleans, LA (through the 7th, free music, seminars, childrens activities and cultural displays)

*Shiogama Port Festival -- Shiogama, Japan (one of Japan's top 3 port festivals, through tomorrow)

*St. John Baptist Mary Vianney's Day (patron of parish priests)

*The 59-Minute, 37-Second Anvil Mountain Challenge -- Nome, AK, US (a race of 834 feet, up and down the face of Anvil Mountain, which must be completed in less than 59 minutes, 37 seconds)

*Vigil of St. Oswald -- Anglo-Saxon holy day

*Zuni Corn Dance -- the Zuni Native Americans give thanks to Mother Earth, the Kokos (Nature Spirits), and the Corn Maidens for the maize harvest; through the 7th


Birthdays Today:

Cole and Dylan Sprouse, 1992
Roger Clemens, 1962
Barack H. Obama, 1961
Billy Bob Thornton, 1955
Maurice "Rocket" Richard, 1921
Raoul Wallenberg, 1912
Louis Armstrong, 1901*
Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, 1900
Louis Vuitton, 1821
Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792


Today in History

The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans, 70
A supernova is observed in constellation Cassiopeia, 1181
The first printing of Zohar (Jewish Kabbalah), 1558
A hurricane in the Carribean kills thousands in Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St. Christopher, 1666
Dom Perignon invents champagne (traditional date), 1693
First edition of the Saturday Evening Post, which was published until 1969, 1821
The family of Lizzie Borden is found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home, 1892
The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens, 1902
The Supreme Court of Japan is established, 1947
The Billboard Hot 100 is founded, 1958
American civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21, 1964
The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso, 1984
Operation Storm begins in Croatia, 1995


*In several interviews, Satchmo claimed to have been born on July 4, 1900. Historians always disputed that claim, saying it was too neat and tidy, and his baptismal records, found in a church basement, proved otherwise. Some biographies still give the July 4, 1900 date in error.