AAAAHHHHHHHH

That was the sound of the scream in the next room. It emanated from #2 Son, who as at the library computer.

"I can't believe it! Nooooooooo!" he continued to wail. "That nut! Why did he do it? Why?"

As i walked in to see what was up, i asked what happened.

"Festus shaved the 'fro!" he wailed. "He said he was going to finally trim it after 3 years, but just a couple of inches!"

Why was he even going to trim it? i asked.

"He said it was so he could get a summer job. You know no one would hire him looking like that."

Yes, i know it. My father, the kids' Grandpa, wouldn't take Festus with them to a ball game unless he pulled it back into a pony tail and wore a baseball cap over it.

Approaching the computer i saw what was obviously a picture of Festus, shorn as a sheep.

"He shaved his head!" #2 Son shook his own head full of black, curly locks in disgust. "I can't believe this. It's awful!"

Oh, to be only 16 and your worst problem is your best friend shaved his head.


Today is

Celtic Tree Month Saille (willow) begins

Domingo del Angel -- Palma de Mallorca, Spain (Angel Sunday, a fiesta dating back to the 15th century)

Easter/Pascha -- Orthodox Christians following the Julian Calendar

Fast Food Day -- the first franchised McDonald's opened this day in 1955 in Des Plaines, IL, US

Father Damien Day -- Hawaii, US

Festival of Heru; Festival of Bast -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Fluff Appreciation Day -- internet generated; i guess as a distraction for Tax Day

Fordicalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (cow sacrifice to the earth mother, Tellus Mater)

Hillsborough Disaster Memorial -- Anfield at Liverpool, England

Income Tax Pay Day -- Philippines; US (most years; this year, we have until Tuesday)
related observances:
National Griper's Day (after all, you have to pay your taxes, and the Titanic sank today*)
Tax Resistors' Day -- good luck!
That Sucks Day (appropriate, isn't it)

International Crow Day -- Global Green Community

Jackie Robinson Day -- Major League Baseball

Low Sunday / Thomas Sunday -- Orthodox Churches honoring the day Jesus appeared to Doubting Thomas

National Contest of Paso Horses -- Peru

National Glazed Ham Day

Rubber Eraser Day -- today in 1770, Joseph Priestly described a vegetable gum which had the ability to rub out pencil marks

Sechselauten -- Zurich, Switzerland (Six Ringing Festival, traditional driving out of winter through the symolic destruction of the Boog - Old Man Winter - in the form of a snowman; through tomorrow)

St. Hedda's Day (Patron of laundresses, laundry workers, washerwomen)

Swallow Day -- England (traditional date of the return of chimney swallows)

Take a Wild Guess Day -- sponsored by Jim Barber as a day to honor guesses, hunches, inspirations, speculations and other forms of “intuitive intelligence;” just not on your taxes, please

Tipsa Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (celebration of the start of plowing)

Titanic Remembrance Day

*If you want to add others reasons why today should be considered "That Sucks Day", please go share your horror story of the day at www.thatsucks.net


Birthdays Today:

Emma Watson, 1990
Seth Rogen, 1982
Patrick Carney, 1980
Emma Thompson, 1959
Claudia Cardinale, 1939
Roy Clark, 1933
Elizabeth Montgomery, 1933
Leon Schotter, 1922
Hans Conried, 1917
Bessie Smith, 1894
Sam Rodia, 1875
Henry James, 1843
Joseph E. Seagram, 1841
Leonardo da Vinci, 1452


Today in History:

Pope Innocent III refuses to grant permission to the Jews of Cordova, Spain, to build a synagogue, 1250
Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London, 1755
The first school for the deaf in the US opens in Hartford, Connecticut, 1817
The last day US silver coins are allowed to circulate in Canada, 1870
Harley Proctor begins producing Ivory Soap, 1878
General Electric Company is incorporated, 1892
The Titanic sinks, 1912
Insulin becomes available to diabetics, 1923
Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas, 1924
Jackie Robinson debuts with the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1947
White Rock, British Columbia officially separates from Surrey, British Columbia and is incorporated as a new city, 1957
Tokyo Disney Resort (and the Tokyo Disneyland park) opens in Tokyo Bay (Japan), 1983
Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China, 1989
Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and initiating the World Trade Organization, 1994
Astronomers at San Francisco State University announce the discovery of the first multiplanet solar system besides our own, three planets around Upsilon Andromedaie, 1999
Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe, 2010