Chill!

The tropical storm wasn't near enough to do much around here, but it did do a few things.

First, it brought in a lot of seaweed on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it was no longer out there by Thursday.

Also, it caused the highest tides i had ever seen out here.  It caused the highest tides the park ranger had ever seen, either.  He was having a difficult time looking for sea turtle nests -- they've found two already this season, which is a good start, and more turtles have been seen out there.  Sea turtle nests are a treasure around here, marked off with wood and the stuff i call crime scene tape even though it's used for other stuff than crime scenes.  There are signs telling you to call the park rangers if you see the babies hatching, and it's a really big deal.  Anyway, he was having a hard time finding enough beach to look on, the tide was so high.

Finally (if you've stuck with me through that last run-on sentence), it kept everything cool  In fact, the mornings and evenings were downright chilly.  More than once i was very glad i had my coat with me as the temperatures were unseasonably cool.

Thursday, because it wasn't so blazingly hot, we went to the zoo.  The official title is the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, but the Discovery Channel called it "The Little Zoo That Could," and that's what we call it.  It's small and you can tell the animals are well cared for.  We got to pet the lemurs, and i didn't get bitten this time.

Bigger Girl and Little Girl also went in with the kangaroos, and they swarmed Little Girl.  It turns out they love chewing bracelets, and she was wearing several of the bands she makes out of yarn.

That afternoon, Miss Prissy got to do some more shopping.  She didn't buy much, but she got a ton of ideas for stuff to make once she gets back home.  In other words, she'll go spend as much at the hobby stores buying the supplies and making the stuff as she would have spent buying it in the first place, but she is an artist and it keeps her happy.

Sweetie and i went out to dinner Thursday, and the rest of the family went to see Iron Man III.  Afterward, when #2 Son walked in, he put on the new suit we just bought him and came out looking like a member of La Familia.  He announced, "It's time for the poker tournament."

They apparently had organized a poker tournament, no money, just cards, and he was up all night.

That is why Friday was spent just lounging.  Being at the beach is wonderful, it's so nice to do nothing all day and then relax after.

Today, sad to say, is going home day.  One last sunset walk last night, one more sunrise walk this morning, and then the mad rush to get home.  To the cats.  That i've already had calls about.

Enjoy your Saturday, everyone!


Today is

Belmont Stakes -- Belmont, NY, US (145th Annual, the third jewel of the Triple Crown)

Best Friends Day -- as declared by the ecard people

Betty Picnic -- the Betty Club, founded by Betty Wilder and Betty Patterson of Grant's Pass, Oregon, began hosting a picnic for all with their name in 1987, and want Bettys all over the world to have a Betty Picnic on the second Saturday of June each year

Big Mac Shoreline Spring Scenic Bike Tour -- Mackinaw City, MI, US (weekend bike tours of varying lengths along the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline, with a concluding ride over the Mighty Mackinac Bridge; through tomorrow)

Billy the Kid Tombstone Race -- Fort Sumner, New Mexico (racers carry an 80 pound tombstone through an obstacle course! a tribute to the number of times the tombstone has been stolen over the years; there is also a triathlon)

Bounty Anniversary Day -- Norfolk Island (celebrates the arrival of the Bounty descendents from Pitcairn Island)

Do-Dah Parade -- Kalamazoo, MI, US (a "Salute to Silliness" that is worth seeing)

Elfreth's Alley Day (Fete Day) -- Philadelphia, PA, US (one of the oldest continuously inhabited streets in the country)

Feast of Bona Mens -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of right thinking, the personification of the mind)

International Young Eagles Day -- Experimental Aircraft Association members and chapters focus on providing introductory flights to children 8-17

Judgement Day -- Fairy Calendar (The Good and Evil are given their just rewards)

Kaiko Kinenbi -- Yokahama, Japan (Yokahama Port Opening Festival; through tomorrow)

Lindisfarne Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (commemorating the Viking raid on Lindisfarne in 793)

Name Your Poison Day -- just another wacky holiday with no explanations

National Caribbean-American Health and Aids Awareness Day -- with events all over the US

National Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day

Primoz Trubar Day -- Slovenia (birth anniversary of the author of the first Slovene language books and consolidated the Slovene language)

Sovereign's Day/Queen's Birthday -- British Virgin Islands; Pitcairn Island (leave it to the descendants of mutineers to celebrate on a different day from the rest of the Commonwealth, and convince others to do so, also!)

St. Medard's Day (Patron of brewers, captives, imprisoned people, mentally ill people, peasants, prisoners, vineyards; for good harvests, good weather, and rain; against bad weather, imprisonment, sterility, and toothache) related event:
     Festival of the Rose -- Salency, France (on St. Medard's Day, and supposedly begun by that saint before the year 545)

Upsy Daisy Day -- the day to remind people to get up joyfully and gratefully each morning (tell that to my sleep-til-noon family!)

Vacuum Cleaner Day -- Ives W. McGaffee obtained a patent on this day in 1869 for the first carpet cleaner that worked on a vacuum principle

Watch Day -- the sign that you are over 30, you still wear a watch!

World Brain Tumor Day -- International

World Oceans Day -- this year's theme is "Together we Have the Power to Protect the Ocean"

World Wide Knit in Public Days -- better living through stitching together! through the 16th


Birthdays Today:

Kim Clijsters, 1983
Kayne West, 1977
Keenen Ivory Wayans, 1958
Tim Berners-Lee, 1955
Boz Scaggs, 1944
Nancy Sinatra, 1940
Joan Rivers, 1933
Jerry Stiller, 1927
Barbara Bush, 1925
Robert Preston, 1918
Francis Crick, 1916
Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867


Today in History:

Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England, 793
Richard the Lionheart's Crusade begins with his arrival at Acre, 1191
American attackers are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec, 1776
The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine, 1783
Mr. Hall of NYC advertises the first commercially made ice cream, 1786
Ives W McGaffey of Chicago patents the first vacuum cleaner, 1869
Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punched card calculator, 1887
Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value, 1906
Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures, 1912
Milton Berle hosts the debut of Texaco Star Theater, 1948
The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C. restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons, 1953
The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992
The first Transit of Venus since 1882 takes place, 2004
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State's worst storms and flooding in 30 years, 2007