On our big day, i headed out to begin deliveries before 7am.  By the time i was done, it was 7pm.

Two items returned from my routes, one because there was no such address and we were given no contact number (remember my hints!), one because it was misrouted and ended up getting there after the person had left work.  It had to be redelivered.

Oh, and i am ashamed of myself; i popped a balloon by accident.  At least i was able to run back, get another, and still get it to the lady, but for heaven's sake, i know better.

Today is my last day, i will "bat cleanup," taking care of the ones that couldn't be delivered yesterday, for whatever reason.

Then, i get a break until Mother's Day.


Today is:

Candlemas -- on the Julian Calendar, and in the Orthodox Churches

Decimal Day -- UK (anniversary of the 1971 currency conversion to the decimal system)

Flag Day -- Canada (Maple Leaf adopted this date 1965)

Great Back Yard Bird Count begins -- birdsource.org; a four day project for anyone from across North America; count birds for a few minutes a day today, or every day for the next four days, giving a real time idea of where the birds are now

John Frum Day -- Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Kamakura Matsuri -- Yokote, Akita Prefecture, Japan (Snow Cave Festival; through tomorrow)

Kuromori Kabuki -- Kuromori, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan (traditional Kabuki, through the 17th)

Lupercalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (remembrance of the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus)

National Date Festival -- Indio, CA, US (a most exotic county fair, the date comes from the land of the Arabian Nights and this festival celebrates all aspects of the theme; through the 24th)

National Gum Drop Day

Nice Carnival -- Nice, France (dating back to the 14th century, this celebration is one of France's best; through Mar. 6)

Nirvana Day -- Jain

Reenactment of the Battle of Olustee -- Olustee, FL, US (largest Civil War battle in Florida; through Sunday)

Remember the Maine Day -- US (remembrance of the Spanish War)

Singles Awareness Day -- although some celebrate on the 14th as an anti-Valentine's Day

Sretenje -- Serbia (National Day)

Stop and Smell Your Compost Pile Day -- snort away the winter blues and think about spring (but i think this one is just plain weird)

St. Sigfrid's Day (Patron of Sweden)

Susan B. Anthony Day -- US (birth anniversary)

Tokamachi Yukimatsuri -- Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture, Japan (snow fest and kimono festival; through Sunday)

Total Defense Day -- Singapore

Vasant Panchami / Saraswati Puja  -- Hindu (celebrating Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge)

Wings Over the Platte Spring Migration Celebration -- Grand Island, NE, US (the world's largest concentration of sandhill cranes is celebrated through next month)


Birthdays Today:

Renee O'Connor, 1971
Jane Child, 1967
Chris Farley, 1964
Matt Groening, 1954
Melissa Manchester, 1951
Jane Seymour, 1951
Claire Bloom, 1931
Harvey Korman, 1927
Miep Gees, 1909
Cesar Romero, 1907
John Barrymore, 1882
Elihu Root, 1824
Susan B. Anthony, 1820
Cyrus McCormick, 1809
Henry Engelhard Steinway, 1797
Galileo Galilei, 1564
Babur, 1483 (founder of Mughal dynasty in India)
Claudius Drusus Germanicus Caesar Nero, 37


Today in History:

Philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death, BC399
Khosrau II is crowned as king of Persia, 590
Ho-tse Shen-hui, Zen teacher, disputes the founder of Northern Ch'an line, 732
The city of St. Louis, Missouri, is founded by Pierre Laclade Ligue as a French trading post, 1764
The first US printed ballots are authorized, in Philadelphia, 1799
Sarah Roberts is barred from attending a white school in Boston, 1848
Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits its first patient, 1852
A fire in Rotterdam, Netherlands, damages the Museum Boymans, 1864
American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, 1879
Nine inches (23cm) of snow falls on New Orleans, Louisiana, 1898
The USS Maine sinks in Havana harbor, cause unknown-258 sailors die, 1898
The first Teddy Bear is introduced in America, made by Morris and Rose Michtom, 1903
Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls, 1949
The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty, 1950
Canada and the United States agree to construct the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska, 1954
A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner, 1965
The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day, 1971
The 1976 Constitution of Cuba is adopted by the national referendum, 1976
The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers, 1982
The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan, 1989
At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing an unannounced number of people, 1996
First draft of the complete Human Genome is published in Nature, 2001
YouTube, the Internet site on which videos may be shared and viewed by others, is launched in the United States, 2005