Interlopers

There are interlopers among us, as of today.

Dr. Born Organized Clean (a/k/a Grandpa or Doc) and Miss Prissy (a/k/a Grandma) have decided to evacuate from the New Orleans area, just to be safe, thanks to the interloper in the Gulf..

They wanted to do this well ahead of any evacuation orders.

So, being the hyperorganized person he is, Grandpa has his files in his file boxes, his one valise, his contact at the hotel saving "their" room for them, and he could restart his whole life from what he can carry in one half of an average car trunk and not even miss a beat.  

Grandma has everything but the kitchen sink.

And the dog.  Who will be here with us.

Imagine a huge, fat brown sausage with legs.  Sheba is a very overweight chocolate lab, the goofy kind that would gladly oblige you by showing you where the silver is hidden if you slip her a treat.  The kind who greets you as if she hasn't seen you in years, even if it was only 5 minutes ago.

The cats will be beside themselves.  The children are ecstatic.

Oh, and #1 Son has decided this is a good time to drive down here for a visit.

It's going to be a wild ride, and i will post as long as we have electricity or the generator holds and we continue to have online access.

Who am i fooling?  If i have to, i will camp out someplace that has internet access.

Let's be real, too; i am not calm about this.  No one wants this thing.  If it could just skip over all the Gulf states and take the rain straight to the heartland that has suffered so much from drought, it would be fine with all of us.


Today is

Araw ng mga Bayahi -- Philippines (National Heroes' Day)

Banana Lover's Day

Be Kind to Humankind Week:  Motorist Consideration Monday

Birthday of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Burning Man 2012 -- Black Rock Desert, NV, US (through Sept. 3; a radical way to celebrate the arts through desert survival and building a 50-foot statue to be burned)

Day Sacred to Consus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of graineries, horses, and mules)

Feast Day of Pan -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Feast of Incandescent Rebellion -- on lots of websites, and supposedly something celebrated in China, but no detail as to what it is really celebrating

Just Because Day -- internet generated, enjoy something ordinary you like to do, just because!

Liberation Day -- Hong Kong

Moldova National Day/Independence Day -- Moldova(1991)

National Heroes' Day -- Philippines

National Old-Time Country, Folk, and Bluegrass Music Festival -- LeMars, IA, US (largest and oldest festival devoted to rural music, arts, and crafts; through Sept. 2)

National Pots de Creme Day

Ould Lammas Fair -- Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, Ireland (claims to be Ireland's oldest festival; through tomorrow)

Petroleum Day -- on the anniversary of the opening of the first commercial oil well in Titusvilla, PA, US, in 1859, a day set aside to work on figuring out how to do without petroleum

St. Caesarius' Day (Patron against fire)

St. Monica's Day (Mother of St. Augustine; Patron of abuse victims, alcoholics, difficult marriages, disappointing children, homemakers, married women, mothers, victims of adultery and unfaithfulness, victims of verbal abuse, widows, wives; Bevilacqua, Italy; Mabini, Bohol, Philippines)

Summer Bank Holiday -- UK and much of the Commonwealth

"The Duchess" Who Wasn't Day -- birthday of Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, who wrote under the pseudonym "The Duchess" and first said, "Beaty is in the eye of the beholder" in her novel, Molly Bawn

Threethousandth Thnork of the Year -- Fairy Calendar

Umhlanga -- Swaziland (Reed Dance for the Zulu King; a fascinating week long ritual with beautiful costumes, dancing and singing, culminating as well as in a speech in which the King addresses the people, on Sept. 3)

Volturnalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of water)


Birthdays Today

Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens, 1952
Barbara Bach, 1947
Tuesday Weld, 1943
Martha Raye, 1916
Mother Teresa, 1910
Lyndon B. Johnson, 1908
C.S. Forester, 1899
Samuel Goldwyn, 1882



Today in History

The Persian invasion of Greece is halted with Greek victories in two separate battles, BC479
Koreans battle and prevent Japanese invasion, 663
The first unmanned hydrogen balloon flight reaching 900 m altitude, 1783
Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well, 1859
The shortest war in world history occurs from 09:00 to 09:45 between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar, 1896
Edgar Rice Burroughs' publishes Tarzan of the Apes, 1912
First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft, 1939
The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA, 1962
Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altikat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1982
The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed, 1993
Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, 2003