So, What Did We Do On Boxing Day?

 Just break into our own car.

Sweetie's vehicle can't be locked.  Well, it can be, but the keys won't open it, and the "clicker" remote doesn't work, and it would cost several hundred to replace the whole mechanism so it would work.  Thus, we don't lock it, and we don't leave anything in it that can be stolen, either.

Until Sweetie accidentally locked himself out yesterday.

Breaking in to your own car because you are too cheap to call Pop-a-Lock isn't easy.  First, we straightened out a coat hanger.  Since Sweetie hadn't quite closed the door all the way, we managed to get it in, but it was too short.  Then we electrical taped a second coat hanger to the first, and hooked it around the trunk release and pulled.

That got the trunk open, which was a great start.  There's a small access into the back seat, a little arm-rest that folds down.

To get the whole seat to fold in, though, you have to turn the lock that is in the back panel, right under the rear window.

#2 Son, ultra skinny with long arms, was able to reach in and put the key in that lock, and turn it.

Then i pulled the lever in the trunk so the entire back seat folded down.  #2 Son climbed in and opened the back door, and we unlocked all the doors again.

The whole operation took a good 20 minutes, but it was worth it.

We just hope we don't have to do that again any time soon.


Today is:

Calli (House) Day -- Aztec Calendar (a good day for all things hearth and home and family. a bad day to participate in public life; date approximate, but soon after the solstice)

Constitution Day -- Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)

Doody Day -- the premier in 1947 of the first successful children's TV show, "Howdy Doody"

Festival of Nehebkau -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (Beginning of Eternity, celebrating the snake god and his role of binding the sun to the earth at the beginning of time; date approximate)

Kwanzaa, Day 2, Self-Determination

Make Cut Out Snowflakes Day -- internet generated, with Christmas over, you need to do winter decorations

Modern Medicine Day -- birth anniversary of Louis Pasteur

National Fruitcake Day -- unless, of course, you are like me and have spent your last several days with fruitcake relatives, at which point you get a day off from fruitcakes! ;D

St. Fabiola's Day (Patron of difficult marriages, divorced people, victims of abuse, victims of adultery, widows)

St. John the Divine's Day (Patron of art dealers, authors, bookbinders, booksellers, burn victims, compositors, editors, engravers, friendships, lithographers, painters, papermakers, printers, publishers, tanners, theologians, typesetters, writers; Asia Minor; Boise, Idaho, Borgo Santo Sepolcro, Italy; Cleveland, OH; Eger, Hungary; Milwaukee, WI; Morra, Netherlands; Saint-Jean – Longueuil, Québec; Sansepoicro, Italy; Sundern, Germany; Taos, NM; Umbria, Italy; Wroclaw, Poland; against burns, poisoning)

St. Stephen's Day -- Eastern Orthodox, a public holiday in Romania

Third Day of Christmas

Unduwap Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

Unfairies' Gathering -- Fairy Calendar

Visit the Zoo Day -- don't know who put this one in the middle of winter, but there it is

Watch the Children Day -- internet generated, a day to take a page from the book of the young and remember how to play like a child


Birthdays Today:

Heather O'Rourke, 1975
Bill Goldberg, 1966
Gerard Depardieu, 1948
Cokie Roberts, 1943
John Amos, 1939
Oscar Levant, 1906
Marlene Dietrich, 1901
Sydney Greenstreet, 1879
Louis Pasteur, 1822
Johannes Kepler, 1571


Today in History:

The Hagia Sofia of Constantinople is completed, 537
The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New World, 1512
The first public railroad using steam locomotive completed in England, 1825
Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle, 1831
Worst English avalanche kills 8 of 15 buried in Lewes Sussex, 1836
Ether is first used in childbirth in US, in Jefferson, Ga., 1845
The world's first cat show is held at the Crystal Palace, London, 1871
Carrie Nation's first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel, Wichita, Kansas, 1900
Unsuccessful attempt on prince-regent Hirohito of Japan, 1923
Stalin's faction wins All-Union Congress in USSR, Trotsky is expelled, 1927
Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City, 1932
The Shah of Persia declares Persia is now Iran, 1934
The World Bank was created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations, 1945
Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon, 1968
The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States, 2001
Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet, 2004
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated, 2007