Reminder

When cleaning the shelter the other day, i was reminded, again, why we do this.

Quite a while back, we had a resident of the shelter named Rory. He was a beautiful orange tom who was rescued from the mouth of a German shepherd that almost did the neutering for us.

Rory was in isolation and needed lots of medical care for a while, but recovered beautifully, and was adopted.

At the shelter, right now, is a photo Christmas card from his owner. The outside shows Rory wearing a Santa hat, and an expression that would make the LOLcats proud. Inside is a greeting from his owner, thanking the rescue again for bringing them together.

That's why i step over kittens that rip up my couches and mess on my floors, as well as why we clean the shelter once a week.

If you've ever adopted an animal from a shelter or rescue group, do them a favor and let them know how things are going. It gives everyone a boost.


Today is:

Acadian Remembrance Day -- Acadians

Acatl Day -- Ancient Aztec Calendar (Honoring of the sceptre of authority, a day for justice; date approximate)

Count the La's in "Deck the Halls" Day -- just so you can say you know

Festival of Tellus -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Fiesta de Santo Thomas -- Chichicastenango, Guatemala (week long festival celebrating the town's Patron Saint that includes the Palo Volador dance, where men hang by ropes from 30 meter poles, spinning and swinging)

Ice Cream and Violins Day -- another of those silly made up holidays that no one can trace, but would be fun to celebrate. Get yourself a bowl of buttered pecan or rum raisin -- if you are going to celebrate, do it in style -- and put in a Mozart or Bach CD, and enjoy!

Incwala Day -- Swaziland

Jum ir-Repubblika -- Malta (Republic Day)

Little Yule a/k/a Luciadagen -- Festival of Lights in many parts of Scandinavia, honoring St. Lucia.

Most Boring Celebrities of the Year Awards -- Boring Institute (date approximate, but always right around now)

National Cocoa Day

National Day -- Santa Lucia

New Calendar Day -- time to get the 2012 model, unless you contribute to so many charities you are already flooded with them

Peace Day -- Korea (day the fighting stopped in 1953)

Runic Half-month Jara commences (fruition)

St. Jodocus' Day (Patron of boatmen, harvests, mariners, sailors, watermen; against fever, fire, storms, and shipwrecks)

Saint Lucy's Day (Patron of writers, lights, people with eye trouble, glass workers, lamplighters; against dysentary, throat disease, blindness, hemorrhage)

Unreturned Library Book Sale -- Fairy Calendar (Imps)


Birthdays Today:

Taylor Swift, 1989
Amy Lee, 1981
Tom DeLonge, 1975
Christie Clark, 1973
Jamie Foxx, 1967
Ted Nugent, 1948
John Davidson, 1941
Aga Khan IV, 1936
Christopher Plummer, 1927
Dick Van Dyke, 1925
Archie Moore, 1913
Kenneth Patchen, 1911


Today in History:

The Council of Trent opens, 1545
Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to circumnavigate the globe, 1577
Emperor Ferdinand II delegates the first Anti-Reformation decree, 1621
The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes 3 militias which are today seen as the founding of the United States National Guard, 1636
Dutch navigator Abel Tasman becomes the first European to land in New Zealand, 1642
Dartmouth College in New Hampshire is chartered, 1769
Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" is published, sells 6,000 copies, 1843
Italo Marcioni patents an ice cream cone, 1903
The Relay 1 communication satellite is launched, 1962
Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17, 1972
The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004, 2002
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured, 2003
The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, is announced as extinct, 2006