How Far?

"Hey, mom, can you come pick me up?"

#2 Son sounded breathless on his phone, and i knew he had gone to the creek for some snake catching, which he loves to do.  He always comes home smelling like snake poop, because he scares the crap out of them catching them, literally, but he figures that's just part of what happens when you catch a snake.

Sure, i told him, and asked where he was.

"At the part of the creek behind the homicide detective's house, and I'm dehydrated."

Okay, i said, i'll be right over.  Then i filled his water bottle that he had forgotten with cool but not ice water, because i didn't want him to get sicker if he was truly very overheated, and set out.

He climbed in the van looking rather exhausted, and i asked him what happened.

"Wasps!" he said, getting a drink of water.  "I was minding my own business, catching snakes and observing them and letting them go, and I got chased for almost 2/3 of a mile by 3 wasps!  They wouldn't give up."

That's pretty far for wasps to chase you, i guess they wanted you very much gone, i noted, and he responded, "Yeah, and while I was running away, I ran into a spider's web.  I hate that!  I hate getting that stuff on me!"

So my son will not balk at wearing snake poop, but gets squicked out by spider's silk.  Why does this not surprise me?

Yes, he washed his hands well when he got home, and next time, he better have that water bottle.


Today is

Ambedkar Jayanti -- India (birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, father of the Indian Constitution)

Americas Day -- Honduras

Black Day -- South Korea (for those who got neither Valentine's gifts nor White Day gifts; singles wear black and get together to eat black noodle soup)

Caballo de Paso Peruano -- Pachacamac, Peru (National Contest of Paso Horses/The National Horse Competition of the native Peruvian horse, the Paso; through the 21st)

Celebrations in the Houses of Ra, Osiris, and Horus -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Children with Alopecia Day

Cimarron Territory Celebration and World Cow Chip–throwing® Championship Contest -- Beaver, OK, US ("a highly specialized organic sporting event", as well as poker fun, food, crafts, and a parade; through Saturday)

Day of Mologa -- Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia (commemorates the destruction of the town of Mologa during the construction of the Rybinsk Reservoir)

Day of the Georgian Language -- Georgia (marking the 1978 protests of Soviet attempts to suppress the Georgian language)

Elfin Choir Congress -- Fairy Calendar

Ex Spouse Day -- why?

International Moment of Laughter Day -- started by Izzy Gesell www.izzyg.com

Look Up At The Sky Day -- internet generated, no history on this one, but if it's a pretty day, take advantage of it (some sites say April 12, but since we don't know who started it, today is fine)

National Library Week begins -- US

National Love Our Children Day -- sponsored by STOMP Out Bullying and Love Our Children USA

National Pecan Day

N'Ko Alphabet Day -- Mande Language Speakers

Pan American Day -- Order of the American States

Rato Machhindranath Jatra -- Nepal (chariot races for the god of rain; cannot confirm this year's date, but always begins mid-April)

Reach as High as You Can Day -- internet generated, and listed on various dates; a good idea, anyway, whenever you decide to celebrate it

Runic Half Month of Man (humanity) begins

Sacrifices to Leto, Pythian Apollon, Zeus, Hermes, and the Dioscuri in the Deme of Erichia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Sidereal Equinox New Year Celebrations -- throughout South and Southeast Asia, including
     Assamese New Year, or Rongali Bihu (India's Assam Valley)
     Bengali New Year, or Pohela Boishakh (Bangladesh and India's West Bengal state)
     Burmese New Year, or Thingyan (Burma)
     Hindu and Sikh New Year, or Vaisakhi (Punjab region)
     Khmer New Year, or Chol Chnam Thmey, most commonly celebrated on April 13 (Cambodia)
     Lao New Year, or Songkan / Pi Mai Lao, generally celebrated from 13 to 15 April (Laos)
     Malayali New Year, or Vishu (India's Kerala state)
     Nepali New Year, or Bikram Samwat / Vaishak Ek (Nepal)
     Oriya New Year, or Maha Visuba Sankranthi (India's Orissa state)
     Sinhalese New Year, or Aluth Avurudhu (Sri Lanka)
     Tamil New Year, or Puthandu (India's Tamil Nadu state)
     Thai New Year, or Songkran, celebrated from 13 to 15 April (Thailand)
     Tuluva New Year, or Bisu (India's Karnataka state)


Sommarsblot -- Ancient Norse Calendar (celebration of the coming summer, with sacrifices to the gods over the next several days; through Walpurgis/May 1)

Spring Hula Hooping Day -- try out the old hula hoop one more time, then toss it

St. Benezet's Day (Patron of bachelors, bridge builders; Avignon, France)

St. Lydwina of Schiedam's Day (Patron of ice skating/roller skating/skaters, prolonged suffering, sick people; Schiedam, Netherland; against bodily ills and sickness)

St. Peter Gonzalez's Day (Patron of boatmen, mariners, sailors, watermen)

St. Tiburtius' Day (Considered the day the cuckoos return to England for the spring)

Takayama Spring Festival -- Takayama City, Japan (often considered one of the 3 most beautiful festivals in Japan; through tomorrow)

Vaisaki/Baisakhi -- Sikh (celebration of the spring grain harvest and of the rebirth of the Sikh religion in the 15th Century)

Yasurai Matsuri -- Imamiya Jinja, Kyoto, Japan (festival to prevent ill health)

Youth Day -- Angola


Birthdays Today:

Abigail Breslin, 1996
Sarah Michelle Gellar, 1977
Robert Carlyle, 1961
Brad Garrett, 1960
Ritchie Blackmore, 1945
Julie Christie, 1941
Pete Rose, 1941
Loretta Lynn, 1935
Rod Steiger, 1925
John Gielgud, 1904
Anne Sullivan, 1866
Emperor Momozono, 1741
Christiaan Huygens, 1629


Today in History:

Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, who is wounded, BC 43
Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, surrounds the Jewish capital with four Roman legions, beginning the Siege of Jerusalem, 70
Temur, grandson of Kublai Khan, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, 1294
The foundation stone of Cathedral St. Peter and St. Paul in Nantes, France is laid, 1434
Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush establish the first abolitionist society in the US, 1775
Napoleon calls for establishing Jerusalem for the Jews, 1799
Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary, 1828
The Donner Party departs Springfield, Illinois, 1846
Harriet Tubman begins her first Underground Railroad run, 1853
William Bullock patents the continuous-roll printing press, 1863
Abraham Lincoln is shot at Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth, 1865
Canada sets denominations of currency as dollars, cents, & mills, 1871
Canada passes the Dominion Lands Act, 1872
The RMS Titanic hits an iceberg  at 11:40pm and sinks 2 hours later, 1912
The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden, 1927
The Grapes of Wrath, by American author John Steinbeck is first published by the Viking Press, 1939
The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit, 1958
The heaviest hailstones ever recorded, at 1 kilogram, hailstones fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92, 1986
The most costly natural disaster in Australian history, a hailstorm, strikes Sydney, Australia, 1999
The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%, 2003
The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to gay couples a year earlier by Multnomah County, 2005