Hammer It Home

 "Hey, Mom, look what I bought!"  

Since it was #2 Son speaking, i feared the worst, and i was right.

"It's an 8lb sledgehammer!"

Yes, i noticed.  And what, pray tell, are you doing buying a sledgehammer?  Are you expecting trouble?  Or planning to cause some?

"Mom, you know that I don't cause trouble around here, I prevent it.  That's why I know all the deputies who patrol the neighborhood, so I can keep up with things and tell them if anyone is planning anything."

Wonderful.  So, the sledgehammer?

"For laughs!" he grinned.  "No, not really.  I'm going to use it and a wedge to split wood for fires in our fire pit this winter."

That's understandable.

"But meanwhile," he said as he wrapped a chain around the end of the handle, padlocked it on, and shouldered the contraption, "I'm ready for anything!"

Oh, to be 16 and believe you are ready for anything.


Today is:

Dog Day Road Race -- Harvey Cedars, NJ, US (sponsored by the High Point Volunteer Fire Company)

Hanawa Bayashi -- Kazuno City, Japan (parades and music in the merchant's quarter, through tomorrow)

Hot & Spicy Food Day

Manuel Luis Quezon Day -- Quezon City, Philippines

National Aviation Day -- US

Potato Day

Schuebermess Shepherd's Fair -- Luxembourg (a two week fair that dates from 1340)

St. John Eudes' Day (Patron of Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada)

St. Sebald's Day (a/k/a Sebaldus) (Patron of Bavaria, Germany; Nuremburg, Germany; against cold weather and freezing)

Vinalia Rustica -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Festival of Ripening Grapes)

Watch the Pot Wednesday -- Fairy Calendar (sometimes actually occurs on a Wednesday, more often not)

World Humanitarian Day -- UN


Birthdays Today:

Snuffleupagus (year unconfirmed)
LeAnn Womack, 1966
John Stamos, 1963
Adam Arkin, 1956
Mary Matlin, 1953
Jonathan Frakes, 1952
John Deacon, 1951
Tipper Gore, 1948
Bill Clinton, 1946
Jack Canfield, 1944
Jill St. John, 1940
Diana Muldaur, 1938
Willie Shoemaker, 1931
Don Ho, 1930
Gene Roddenberry, 1921
Malcolm Forbes, 1919
Jimmy Rowles, 1918
Ring Lardner, Jr., 1915
Philo T. Farnsworth, 1906 (forgotten inventor of television)
Ogden Nash, 1902
Coco Chanel, 1883
George Bellows, 1882
Orville Wright, 1881
John Dryden, 1631


Today in History:

The Roman Senate is compelled to elect Octavian, later Augustus Caesar, Consul, BC43
Augustus Caesar dies, 14
Crusaders defeat the Saracens in the Battle of Ascalon, 1099
Mary Queen of Scots arrives in Leith to assume the throne, 1561
Five people are executed for witchcraft in Salem, Mass., 1692
Presentation of Jacque Daguerre's new photographic process to the French Academy of Sciences, 1839
The New York Herald reports the discovery of gold in California, 1849
The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio, 1934
Hurricane Dianne kills 200 and does about $1 Billion in damage, 1955
Leonard Bernstein conducts his final concert, ending with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, 1990
Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events which began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989
A series of strong storms lashes Southern Ontario spawning several tornadoes as well as creating extreme flash flooding within the city of Toronto and its surrounding communities, 2005