Okay, i won't.

"Hey, give that back!"  #2 Son was chasing his younger sister, who had snatched his beloved green baseball cap from his head.


After a couple of seconds of giggles and a bit of a chase, she tossed it back to him and saw my stern look.  "Here," she said, and then, "don't worry, mom.  I wouldn't keep it really, I'd have nothing to gain."


"Yeah, cause I would eat her," was #2 Son's mischievous response.


She grinned at him, then asked, "By the way, mom, where did you put my backpack?  You did get it out of the van before dad left, right?"


Yes, i told her, and showed her where it was in the library.


"Thanks!  I have everything in there, and I do mean everything!  My swimsuit, the permission slip for the jet skiing trip with youth group, the copy of the Declaration of Independence in Spanish, my extra hair..."


Extra hair?!


"Don't ask!"


Okay, i won't.  But to paraphrase Foghorn Leghorn, "Somethin' the matter with that kid."


Happy Friday the Thirteen, everyone.





Today is

Barbershop Music Appreciation Day -- anniversary of the founding of Sweet Adelines International

Beans and Franks Day

Blissfest -- Harbor Springs, MI, US (through Sunday; three music stages, workshop areas, and the preservation of folk and roots music)

Cow Appreciation Day -- sponsored by Chick-fil-A

Embrace Your Geekness Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, celebrate your love of online dungeon games, comic books, or dressing up like a vampire

Feast of Kalimat (Words) -- Baha'i Faith

Fool's Paradise Day -- a day to figure out how a fool can achieve paradise?  or how it can be paradise if it is full of fools?

Go West Day -- commemorates Horace Greeley's "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country."

Gruntled Workers Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; those of us who are gruntled, as opposed to the disgruntled, should unite and pass along some "great work" compliments to those doing a good job

International Puzzle Day -- some sites say Jan. 29, but today is Erno Rubik's birthday

La Retraite Aux Flambeaux -- France (night watch, before Bastille Day)

National French Fries Day

Obon (Ulambana) -- Buddhist; Shinto (Festival of the Lanterns, a time of honoring the ancestors, a reunion of them with the living; through the 16th)

Rath Yatra -- Puri, India (Chariot Festival, pilgrims pull huge chariots across the city)

Statehood Day -- Montenegro

St. Henry the Emperor's Day (Patron of childless people, disabled people, dukes, handicapped people, kings, people rejected by religious orders, physically challenged people; Bamberg, Germany; Basel, Switzerland; Benedictine Oblates; against sterility)

St. Joel the Prophet's Day (Old Testament prophet of the Book of Joel)

St. Swithun's Festival -- Worcester, England (3 day festival at St. Swithun's Church, this year featuring a celebration of the life and mind of John Donne)

Targhee Fest -- Grand Targhee Mountain, Alta, WY, US (through the weekend; food, games, fun and tons of music in the beautiful Grand Teton mountains)

Three Rivers Festival -- Ft. Wayne, IN, US (Fort Wayne's biggest summer party; through the 21st)

Turkey Rama -- McMinnville, Oregon (through tomorrow)

Vancouver Folk Music Festival -- Jericho Beach, Vancouver, BC, Canada (through the 15th)

Wayne Chicken Show -- Wayne, NE, US (through Sunday; this year's theme is "Nightmare on Egg Street", and the family friendly fun includes a rubber chicken chuck and National Cluck Off)


Birthdays Today

Cheech Marin, 1946
Erno Rubik, 1944
Harrison Ford, 1942
Patrick Stewart, 1940
Jack Kemp, 1935
Bob Crane, 1928
Dave Garroway, 1913
Nathan Bedford Forrest, 1821
Julius Caesar, BC100


Today in History

Capt James Cook begins 2nd trip (Resolution) to South Seas, 1772
William Wordsworth, on a walking tour through the Wye Valley, visited the ruins of Tintern Abbey and a few miles further on composed a poem about them, 1798
Greek War of Independence: Greeks defeated Ottoman forces at Thermopylae, 1822
Henry R Schoolcraft discovers the source of the Mississippi River, 1832
After 9,957 unnumbered patents, the U.S. Patent Office issues Patent No. 1, for locomotive wheels, 1836
Queen Victoria becomes the first British monarch to live at Buckingham Palace in London, 1837
First day of the New York Draft Riots in response to President Abraham Lincoln's Enrolment Act of Conscription, 1863
Horace Greeley publishes his editorial advising young men to "Go West, young man, go west and grow up with the country," 1865
PT Barnum's American Museum was destroyed in one of the most spectacular fires in New York City's history, 1865
Gold was discovered near Cochrane, Ontario, Canada, 1909
The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight, 1919
Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in, 1973
The Live Aid benefit concert, a telecast fundraising concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, was held in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow, 1985
American Thoroughbred racehorse Cigar wins his 16th consecutive top-class race, the first horse to do so since Triple Crown winner citation, 1996
Researchers reveal two studies showing the antiretroviral drugs prescribed to treat AIDS can also prevent HIV infections, 2011