This Soon?

We went to the shelter as usual last night.  Usually we are greeted with several cages of kittens in the front room.  Last night, all were empty.  That means all the kittens have been adopted.

And Carrie was giving me the look that said she has news.

Kittens already? i asked.

"Yes, if you are ready for them," she said.

It's early.  Generally we don't get kittens in February.  Since when has that ever stopped us?  Or stopped the mama cats, either?

So this morning i am out getting kittens.  The mama is feral and had them on the porch of a condo which belongs to a lady who is scared of animals.  All animals.

This should be interesting.


Today is:

Arizona Renaissance Festival -- Apache Junction, AZ, US (the official sister event to the Robin Hood Festival in Sherwood Forest, England; Saturdays, Sundays, and President's Day through Mar. 31)

Carnaval de Barranquilla -- Barranquilla, Spain (four days of pre-Lent celebration and street dances that mostly shut down the city)

Farm Toy Show and Auction -- Sauk Center, MN, US (come watch the kids have fun with farm toys, and be one yourself again!)

Feast of Apollo -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Goa Carnival -- Goa, India (Indo-Latin fusion of music, dance, parades, and revelry; through the 12th)

James Dean Birthday Celebration -- Fairmount, IN, US (the town he grew up in celebrates James Dean's birthday today and tomorrow, with a movie screening, refreshments, and more)

Lunar New Year's Eve
     Seol-nal -- South Korea (Lunar New Year Holiday begins)
     Spring Festival -- China; Taiwan (Chinese New Year's Eve, start of the festival)
     Tet Eve -- Vietnam

Narvik Sun Pageant (Vinterfestuka) -- Norway (annual festival held since ancient times to honor the sun goddess)

National Bagels and Lox Day

National DAV (Develop Alternative Vices) Day -- internet generated, in hopes that bad habits will be altered to positive coping mechanisms

Orchid Festival/Tropical Extravaganza -- Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, London (through March 3)

Pizza Pie Day

Read in the Bathtub Day -- another one that no one will claim to have invented, and please don't try it with a digital book

Remembrance for Eyvind Kinnrifi -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (martyr)

Royal Hobart Regatta -- Queens Domain Hobart and Derwent River, Tasmania, Australia (Australia's largest aquatic event, includes an Australian Wooden Boat Festival; through Monday)

Scout Sabbath -- BSA (Boy Scouts are encouraged to wear their uniforms to synagogue and represent scouting to their congregations)

St. Apollonia's Day (Patron of dentists; Achterbos, Belgium; Ariccia, Italy; Cuccaro Monferrato, Italy; against toothaches, tooth disease)

St. Maroun's Day -- Lebanon (Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch, an Eastern Catholic Church)

Tales of Kelp-Koli begin -- Fairy Calendar (through the 16th)

Toothache Day -- and someone thought this needed a day because...?  Okay, I guess because there is a patron saint for it.  Or against it.  However that works.

Weather Day -- US (Weather Service Founding)


Birthdays Today:

David Gallagher, 1985
Ziyi Zhang, 1979
Travis Tritt, 1963
Charles Shaughnessy, 1955
Mia Farrow, 1945
Alice Walker, 1944
Joe Pesci, 1943
Carole King, 1942
Roger Mudd, 1928
Brendan Behan, 1923
Kathryn Grayson, 1922
Gypsy Rose Lee, 1914
Ernest Tubb, 1914
Carmen Miranda, 1909
Ronald Colman, 1891
Amy Lowell, 1874
William Henry Harrison, 1773


Today in History:

The Synod of Breslau orders Jews of Silesia to wear special caps, 1267
The first recorded race meet in England in Roodee Fields, Chester, 1540
The British ex-premier Walpole becomes the Earl of Oxford, 1742
After no presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams President of the United States, 1825
– The U.S. Weather Bureau is established, 1870
The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii, 1885
The Davis Cup competition is established, 1900
The first forestry school is incorporated at Kent, Ohio, 1909
Snow falls on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, 1922
Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty, 1922
Year-round Daylight saving time is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources, 1942
Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1960
Jamaica becomes an independent nation within the Commonwealth of Nations, 1962
The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a "record-busting" audience of 73 million viewers, 1964
First test flight of the Boeing 747, 1969
Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1971
Space Shuttle astronauts Bernard A. Harris, Jr. and Michael Foale become the first African American and first Briton, respectively, to perform spacewalks, 1995