Drippy, Drizzly, and ?

It is drippy and drizzly and i can't think of another "d" word to go with it because my brain is as gray as the slate, leaky sky.

For a swamp where it rains a whole lot, people around here sure don't react like they're used to it.  At least, not when they are driving.  You would think it was an amazing new happening every time there's a drop from the way they drive in it.

Except for the guys in big trucks, who think they are immune to everything, including death and taxes and traffic tickets i guess, and who weave in and out of traffic anyway.

The problem i have with the rain right now is it feels like it is in the wrong place, and going the wrong direction.  If it were heading to the areas of the country that were under drought conditions, i would accept it coming through quite gladly.  It's not moving that direction, though, and so i get grumpy seeing so much wet here when they need it there.

Weren't we supposed to have machines that control the weather by now?  Science fiction has been right in many things, but that one is still way off, if it ever happens at all.

Somehow, i'm not sure it should.  The way we argue about politics, imagine having a discussion about when it should rain.  No matter which day you pick, you are going to ruin somebody's birthday or outing or wedding or something.

Wishing you all a dry Wednesday.  We are under our usual flood watch.


Today is:

Balloon Ascension Day / Aviation in America Day -- the first manned free balloon flight in the US was on this date in 1793 at Philadelphia

Feast of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene -- Quiapo District, Manila, Philippines (culmination of the celebrations; a 400 year old Catholic procession with a black life-sized wooden statue of Jesus)

Festival of the Agonalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (gifts given to Janus)

Hatsu-Ichi -- Maebashi, Japan (a daruma -- good luck doll -- market, to start the year off right)

"I Will Stay" Day -- Brazil (anniversary of the start of the Independence Movement in 1922)

National Apricot Day

National No-Tillage Conference -- Indianapolis, IN, US (conference to encourage ecologically sound farming; through the 12th)

Peace Agreement Day -- South Sudan

Positively Penguins Day -- a day to celebrate all things penguin

Republic Day -- Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Static Cling/Static Electricity Day -- on some sites, listed as April 26; i can only ask why it's listed anywhere for any reason

St. Marciana's Day (Patron of those with wounds)

Stepfather's Day -- not official, but it should be, there are some great stepfathers out there

Stuffed Animal Laundry Day -- give that old bear a bath!

Toka Ebisu -- Japan (parades and shrine rituals through Japan, but especially in Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka; through the 11th)


Anniversaries Today:

Connecticut becomes the 5th US State, 1788


Birthdays Today:

Dave Matthews, 1967
Mark Martin, 1959
Crystal Gayle, 1951
Jimmy Page, 1944
Joan Baez, 1941
Susannah York, 1941
Bob Denver, 1935
Les Paul, 1915
Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick), 1914
Richard Nixon, 1913
Chic Young, 1901
Gracie Fields, 1898


Today in History:

Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, 475
Seven hundred Jews, believed to be causing the Black Death, are burned in their homes in Basel, Switzerland, 1349
The first sighting of manatees by a European (Columbus), 1493
Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London, 1768
The first hot-air balloon flight in the US lifts off in Philadelphia, 1793
Income Tax is introduced in the UK (to fund the war against Napoleon), 1799
Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral, 1806
Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery, 1816
The Daguerrotype photo process is announced at French Academy of Science, 1839
Thomas Henderson makes the first measure of stellar parallax, of Alpha Centauri, 1839
The Astor Library opens in NYC, 1854
The first hostilities of the Civil War, at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, 1861
The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow, 1880
New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts, 1894
Alfred Tennyson's son, Hallam, the Second Baron Tennyson, becomes the second Governor General of Australia, 1903
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., the first historically black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity to be officially recognized at Howard University is founded, 1914
The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated, 1916
Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogiro (helicopter) flight, Spain, 1923
A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Quebec, Montreal, kills 78 children, 1927
Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians, 1964
Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is succeeded by Rawhi Fattouh, 2005
Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group sign a peace agreement in Naivasha, Kenya, 2005