We Are Over the Rain

But the rain is not over us.

Not by a long shot.  We are supposed to have a good chance of rain every day until Thursday, and every morning i look at the forecast and the predicted return of the sunshine has been pushed back another day.

The constant gray is starting to affect everyone.

#2 Son and Little Girl are having wrestling matches, right next to the china hutch, of all places.

Young Jacob came over and entertained them by trying to snort a gummie vitamin up his nose.

Really.  It didn't work, of course, but the stir craziness is getting to us all.

Sweetie is staying home to do his hacking, coughing, sneezing, and snorting here instead of at work, and he's doing most of it hanging around in the kitchen, leaning over me as i cook, wanting to know why i am doing this or that.

He better be careful and remember i have cast iron handy.

After all, before his father became a Christian, and later a pastor, he learned about cast iron.  Don't come home drunk and try to get cute with a woman who wields a cast iron skillet, lest you spend the night knocked out cold on the floor.

Bigger Girl is coming out of her room only to argue politics with Sweetie, and show me stuff on YouTube.

Traffic is at a stop almost everywhere, almost all of the time.  It's as if we are all paralyzed with a mailaise that makes us unable to figure out where we are going and why.

If we lived in a proper, old fashined hunger-gatherer society, we could probably hole up in our caves and half hibernate until the sun came out again.

Alas, we have to keep society going now, so that just doesn't work.

So until the rain is over, i don't expect to get much thinking done.

Oh, and we had the generator checked out, oil change, filter cleaned, battery tested and water added, whole house system checked, and it is in fine condition.

At least, if the rain causes another transformer blow-out, like it did at the back end of the neighborhood yesterday, we are ready.

Rain, rain, go away,
magic yourself to the drought area today.

It's raining, it's pouring, 
The old man is snoring --
and it's making me nuts!

Told you i can't think clearly.


Today is:

Arbor Day -- Jordan

Armed Forces Day / Remembrance Day -- Nigeria

Army Day -- India

Basketball Day -- rules for the game were first published this day in 1892

Chosun-gul -- North Korea (Korean Alphabet Day)

Dia del Maestro -- Venezuela (Teacher's Day)

Feast of the Ass -- Ancient Roman Calendar (celebrates Vesta being saved by a donkey)

Feast of Entering Heaven and the Two Lands -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Fiesta Del Senor de Esquipulas/Pilgrimage of Cristo Negro de Esquipulas -- Esquipulas, Guatemala (Festival of the Black Christ)

John Chilembwe Day -- Malawi

Lenaea -- Ancient Greek Calendar (a Festival of Comedy; date approximate)

Moliere Day -- France

National Hat Day -- begun by a hat loving individual who has chosen to remain anonymous

National Strawberry Ice Cream Day

Procrastinator's New Year -- declared by someone who had a really great sense of humor

Sailing of Wadjyt -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (the icon of the cobra goddess, Wadjyt, is carried on the Nile to visit many cities; date approximate)

St. Ita's Day (Patron of Limerick, Ireland)

St. Paul the Hermit's Day (the first of the Egyptian hermits; Patron of clothing industry, weavers)

Thiruvalluvar Day -- PY, TN, India (remembrance of the celebrated Tamil poet)

Tree Planting Day -- Egypt

Tsunahiki Matsuri -- Japan (various shrines hold tug-of-war festivals in which the team for god Ebisu vie with the team for god Daikoku; if Ebisu wins, the next year will have good catches at sea, if Daikoku, it will bring good harvests)


Anniversaries Today:

Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England, 1559


Birthdays Today:

Charo, 1951
Margaret O'Brien, 1937
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929
John Cardinal O'Connor, 1920
Lloyd Bridges, 1913
Gene Krupa, 1909
Edward Teller, 1908
Aristotle Onassis, 1906
Pierre S. du Pont, 1870
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, a/k/a Moliere, 1622 (baptismal date, actual birth date unknown)


Today in History:

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign, in a siege lasting until July 23, BC588
Christopher Columbus sets sail for Spain from Hispaniola, ending his first voyage to the New World, 1493
Third sitting of the Council of Trent opens, 1562
The British Museum opens in Montague House in London, 1759
John Etherington of London steps out sporting the first top hat, 1797
The first US built locomotive to pull a passenger train begins its first run, with Mr. and Mrs. Pierson on board for the first US railroad honeymoon trip, 1831
The donkey is first used as a symbol for the Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly, 1870
The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia, 1889
James Naismith publishes the rules of Basketball, 1892
Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" premieres in St Petersburg, 1895
Dr. Lee DeForest patents a 3-element vacuum tube (one of the inventions that later made radio possible), 1907
The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women, 1908
The Boston Molasses Disaster, 2 million gallons of molasses spill, 21 killed, over 150 injured, 1919
The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio, 1936
The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia, 1943
The US Supreme Court rules that "clear and present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech and can be a cause for arrest, 1951
The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles; the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10, 1967
The USSR launches Soyuz 5, 1969
The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm, 1991
Wikipedia goes online, 2001
An intense solar flare blasts X-rays across the solar system, 2005
ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon, 2005