Indestructible

Sweetie got off work early Friday.  That always leaves him more time for musing.

So looking out of the kitchen window, he noticed a bush by the fence line.  "Is that bush by the fence on our side or the neighbors'?" he asked.

Ours, i told him, and yes, i know i should get out there and deal with it.

"Nah, give our youngest son the chance."

Yes, i agreed, he could do it.

"Of course he could.  Give the kid a hacksaw and he could dismantle the Empire State Building!"

Most likely, i answered.  After all, he has managed to destroy everything we've ever asked him to.  That's why he's in charge of garbage, and getting old worn out furniture or anything else we are throwing away out of the house.  He destroys it, dismantles it, makes sure it is small enough to go into the pick up containers we are assigned or is small enough to be left near the drain for the "trash" truck.

He always survives whatever he is doing, too.  Even taking down small trees when he was younger.  He takes his bumps and bruises in stride, and learned first aid by patching himself up after his escapades.

That's why i keep encouraging him to go into the military and learn demolition.  He says he could already do a lot of it, and after seeing his science experiments for school with home made bombs, i don't doubt it.

The bushes days are numbered.


Today is

Abbotsford Berry Beat Festival -- Abbotsford, BC, Canada (enjoy berries at the height of the season, as well as music, clowns, games, a "berried" treasure hunt, and more, through tomorrow)

Aphrodisia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (bathing festival of Aphrodite and Peitho [Persuasion]; date approximate)

Bonza Bottler Day

Chocolate Day  -- no one knows why today, so why not?  Enjoy chocolate cereal with chocolate milk for breakfast, some chocolate covered raisins and nuts as a midmorning snack, chocolate milk with lunch, chocolate truffles as a midafternoon snack, chocolate liquer before dinner, chocolate cake for dessert, and sip chocolate coffee any time through the day!

Father-Daughter Take a Walk Together Day -- encouraging fathers to take some special time out with their girls today

Harrison Festival of the Arts -- Harrison Hot Springs, BC, Canada (through the 15th; a celebration of the world of music, dance, theater, and visual arts)

International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship -- Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm, Eau Claire, WI, US

Independence Day / National Day -- Solomon Islands(1978)

International Day of Cooperatives -- U.N.

Macaroni Day -- it goes with more than just cheese!

National Strawberry Sundae Day

Nones of July -- Ancient Roman Calendar; celebrations on this day included:
     Festival of Feriae Ancillarum -- "Feast of the Serving Women", when female servants dressed up and "attacked" men of free birth with fig boughs; in honor of the serving women who helped free the city of Rome from the Gauls
     Nonae Caprotinae -- "Nones of the Wild Fig", honoring Juno Caprotina with a sacrifice under a wild fig tree
     Parilia -- festival for Pales, god of the herds

Saba Saba Day -- Tanzania (Peasants' Day or Workers' Day)

Sodbuster Days -- Fort Ransom, ND, US (learn how rural North Dakotans lived in the early 1920s; through tomorrow)

St. Paul's Carnival -- Bristol, England (annual African Caribbean Carnival; richly multicultural celebration)

St. Willibald's Day (Patron of Eichstatt, Germany)

Tanabata -- Japan (star festival, 7th day of 7th month; some areas go by lunar calendar, but most larger cities celebrate by the Gregorian Calendar now)

Tell The Truth Day -- a yearly challenge to go the whole day without telling a lie or saying or doing anything misleading or dishonest

Unity Factory Day -- Yemen (all workers are encouraged to play at work today, to build team and national unity)

West Quoddy Head Light Keepers Association Anniversary -- Quoddy Head State Park, Lubec, ME, US (including US Coast Guard supervised lighthouse tower climbing, for the daring!)



Anniversaries Today

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr., marries Eleanor Rosalynn Smith, 1946


Birthdays Today

Michelle Kwan, 1980
Cree Summer, 1969
Shelley Duvall, 1949
Ringo Starr, 1940
Doc Severinsen, 1927
Pierre Cardin, 1922
Robert Heinlein, 1907
Satchel Paige, 1906
Marc Chagall, 1887


Today in History

A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death, 1456
Raid of the Redeswire, the last major battle between England and Scotland, 1575
United States begins first military draft; exemptions cost $300, 1863
An International Railway trolley with an extreme overload of 157 passengers crashes near Queenston, Ontario, killing 15, 1915
Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri; it is described as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped", 1928
Alleged and disputed Roswell UFO incident, 1947
Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere, 1959
In Canada, the Official Languages Act is adopted making the French language equal to the English language throughout the Federal government, 1969
Sharia is instituted in Iran, 1980
Samantha Smith, a U.S. schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov, 1983
The Western Black Rhinoceros is declared extinct due to poaching, 2006