In Threes

 My thoughts, post V-Day.

Three days, 12 delivery routes, and 100 successful deliveries.  Two returns, one popped balloon that got replaced and the delivery made anyway.  My best holiday yet.

Some people just can't catch a break; some of the people on the disabled cruise ship ended up on a bus back to Texas that also broke down.  Ouch.

Third and finally, between all of those deliveries i went for my annual physical.  All is well, and i need to call back in 6 months to check my thyroid levels again, as well as schedule my mammogram, first ever DEXA scan, and first colonoscopy.  Oh, joy.

Oh, and i should have said, fourth, that i'm going to get a lot of rest this weekend (when i'm not bottle feeding the 5 kittens and cooking meals and doing laundry).

Sometimes i have to quote the cartoon my mother keeps on her refrigerator.  It's a picture of Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes,and you can tell he is angry and frowning.  It says, "G-d put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things.  Right now, i am so far behind, i will never die!"

While i jokingly tell people i want to live to be 127 and still be the life of the party to the end, i'm now wondering if it's not going to take me that many years to get through my to do list.

Well, better to wear out than rust out.

Have a beautiful weekend, everyone!


Today is:

Akiyoshidai Yamayaki -- Akiyoshidai, Japan (dry grass on the mountain side is burned in this coming of spring ceremony)

Bonten Matsuri -- Miyoshi-jinja Shrine, Akita, Japan (two day festival to ask for good crops this year)

Camellia Festival 2013 -- Chiswick House and Gardens Trust, London, England (through Mar. 17)

Do a Grouch a Favor Day -- internet generated attempt to get us to either get the grouches on our side, or make us cynical

Festival au Desert -- Bamako, Mali (continuation of the most remote music festival in the world)

Galesburg Historical Society Chocolate Festival -- Galesburg, IL, US (home made and commercially made chocolates, all you can eat for the price of the low admission fee; through tomorrow)

Ice Fishing Derby -- Fort Peck, MT, US (subject to cancellation if there is no ice)

Independence Day -- Lithuania (National Day/Restoration of Statehood)(1918)

Kyoto Protocol Day -- International (treaty on climate change; today is proposed as "Wear purple for Kyoto Day")

La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros and Tucson Rodeo -- Tucson, AZ, US (celebrating the Old West heritage; through the 24th)

Lemon Festival -- Menton, French Riviera (through Mar. 6)

National Almond Day

Respectable Tales of Kelp-Koli -- Fairy Calendar (5 minutes only)

Saidai-ji Hadaka Matsuri -- Okayama Prefecture, Japan (Naked Festival, in which a Shinto man strips, is completely shaved, then runs through town while thousands of townsmen in loincloths try to touch him while guard's throw cold water on them)

St. Juliana of Cumae's Day (Patron of the ill)

St. Onesimus' Day (runaway slave of Philemon, converted by Paul, of whom the Letter to Philemon was written)


Birthdays Today:

John McEnroe, 1959
LeVar Burton, 1957
Sonny Bono, 1935
Vera-Ellen, 1921
Patty Andrews, 1920
Jimmy Wakely, 1914
Hugh Beaumont, 1909
Richard McDonald, 1909
Edgar Bergan, 1903
Johann Strauss, 1866
Nichiren, 1222
Emperor Yingzong of China, 1032


Today in History:

9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 374
Pope Gregory the Great issues a decree saying that "God bless you" is the correct response to a sneeze, 600
English king Charles I accepts Triennial Act, requiring the king to assemble Parliament at least once every 3 years, 1641
The first known check (cheque) is written, for 400 English Pounds Sterling (currently on display at Westminster Abbey), 1659
Kentucky passes a law permitting women to attend school under certain conditions, 1838*
Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus, 1838
American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica, 1840
The Battle of Sobraon ends the First Sikh War in India, 1846
Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established, 1852
The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch, 1859
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks forms, 1868
The "Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing, 1883
The first Chinese daily newspaper in the US, Chung Sai Yat Po, begins publication in San Francisco, 1900
The first US Esperanto Club organizes in Boston, 1905
The first synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid, Spain, 1917
Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, 1923
The first patent is issued for a tree, to James Markham for a peach tree, 1932
Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon, 1937
Canadians are granted Canadian citizenship after 80 years of being British subjects. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen, 1947
Britain abolishes the death penalty, 1956
Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1, 1959
In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service, 1968
The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois), 1978
The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem, 1987
The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia, 2005
The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army, 2006


*This is the same US state that still has a law on its books requiring every resident to take a bath at least once a year, whether the person needs it or not!