Pesky Pests

"Mom, I hate having to kill bugs in the house, even though I know we really have no choice," Bigger Girl, my vegan activist, said as she handed me the fly swatter.

"Yeah, it's really no fun, after all, they need a place to live, too, just not in our house," Little Girl added to the discussion.

At that point, i told them about the Buddhist whose method was to announce, very loudly, to all pests and vermin in the house that the exterminator was going to be coming in 3 days.  That way, he felt they had been warned, had time to leave, and stayed at their own risk.  What happened to them after that wasn't his fault.

"So if they stayed, they were committing pesticide!" Bigger Girl noted.

Exactly, i replied after i quit choking on my coffee.




Today is

Anguilla Day -- Anguilla

Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival -- Windsor to Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada (through June 4)

Arrival Day -- Trinidad and Tobago

Bath International Music Festival -- Bath, UK (through June 10)

Canary Island Day -- Canary Islands

Einherjar -- Asatru (Modern Norse Pagan) Calendar (a memorial for the war dead in Valhalla)

Feast Day of St. Joan of Arc (Patron of France)

Heirloom Seed Day -- while i can't find the history of this one, it's a good one to celebrate, we need to raise awareness of and preserve heirloom seeds

Hug Your Cat Day -- some sites give other dates, but any day is a good one

Indian Arrival Day -- Trinidad and Tobago

Lod Massacre Remembrance Day -- Puerto Rico

Loomis Day -- because if we are going to honor Marconi, we should also honor the man who patented a wireless telegraphy system before Marconi was even born

Mother's Day -- Nicaragua

Mother Shipton's Day -- fortune teller of Yorkshire, said to be patroness of women who work in laundries

My Bucket's Got a Hole In It Day -- this one may be listed on another day as well, since no two sites agree; mercy, just go get a new one already! or go get out your HanK Williams records

National Mint Julep Day

National Senior Health and Fitness Day -- don't let age get in the way of staying healthy!

Parliament Day -- Croatia

St. Walstan of Bawburgh's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, farmers and farm workers, field hands, husbandmen)

This Day -- Fairy Calendar

Water a Flower Day -- annual reminder to the Northern Hemisphere that it's getting hot out there, you flower(s) (and maybe lawn, too?) need watering regularly


Anniversaries Today:

Henry VIII marries Jane Seymore, 1536


Birthdays Today:

Wynonna Judd, 1964
Tom Morello, 1964
Meredith MacRae, 1945
Michael J. Pollard, 1939
Keir Dullea, 1936
Benny Goodman, 1909
Mel Blanc, 1908
Peter Carl Fabergé, 1846


Today in History:

Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem; the Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall, 70
19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal, 1431
In Florida, Hernando de Soto  lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold, 1539
Publication of La Gazette, the first French newspaper, 1631
The Pennsylvania Evening Post become the first daily paper in the US, 1783&
John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria, 1842
Westminster's Big Ben rang for the first time in London, 1859
Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time, 1868
New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public, 1879
The Treaty of London, 1913, ends the First Balkan War and Albania becomes an independent nation, 1913
In China protests erupt against the Great Powers infringing on Chinese sovereignty, 1925
A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes, 1948
The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened, 1959
launch of Surveyor 1 the first US spacecraft to achieve landing on an extraterrestrial body, 1966
At the Ascot Park in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined up in a row, 1967
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: the 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators, 1989
272 days after the September 11 attacks, closing ceremonies are held for the clean up/recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site in New York City. The last remaining steel beam is removed and transported to the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, 2002