Perking Up

When our electricity flashed off and back on within about two seconds, i ran to turn off the A/C and check a few things, make sure it wasn't a problem within the house or with our electrical connection.  While i was doing that, i also checked the oil level in the generator, which had tried to kick in for a moment, then stopped, and looked in our outdoor electric panel.  All was well, our whole house surge protector still sporting a double green light, so it's good.

By the time i got all of that done, i was pretty sure it was either a local outage that didn't shut us totally down (which happens on occasion) or the electric company repairing something (which also causes such flashes around here, sometimes as often as twice a week).  Then i turned the A//C back on and checked to make sure it was okay, and walked into the library, where i noticed that Festus had arrived and was sitting rather crookedly in a chair, with #1 Son, #2 Son, Little Girl, and Young Jacob gathered around him.

"Hey, mom, come check it out and talk to Festus!" #2 Son said.  "He had his wisdom teeth pulled this morning, and he's on Percocet, and he's hilarious!"

What, i asked, is he doing here, and how did he get here on medication?  Sincerely did i hope at that moment that he hadn't ridden his bike, which is his preferred method.

"His mom brought him when their electricity went out a few minutes ago," Little Girl answered.  "She doesn't want him to get overheated, and he wanted to come visit."

That put my mind at ease, it wasn't our house, it was an outage close by, right in our own neighborhood in fact.  Also a common occurrence, unfortunately.

"Teeth!" Festus mumbled at that moment.  "I had teeth!"

Yes, you had your wisdom teeth out, i said.  When i had mine out, i continued, i only had two of them, the top ones never formed, and the bottoms were small and were just pulled right out.

"At 4am, impacted," Festus said.  "They said it would pinch, and I felt pinched, on the arm, and next I was in a wheelchair in the elevator, and I thought I was in the car already."

"Cat!" he said next, noticing Kida the Mosquito, the aging, asthmatic Siamese, who had come in to find someone in the crowd to pet her.  She loves to be petted and would let us brush all the fur off of her hide if we didn't call a halt before that.

"Yeah, that's Kida," #1 Son said.  "You remember her!"

"Like this cat," Festus said.  "Nice cat."  He petted her for a moment as she weaved in and out between his legs.  Then he leaned so far over i was concerned, but he picked her up and put her up to his ear.

"I like that sound," he told her as she purred her approval of the attention.  "Cat, can you teach me to make that sound?  Oh! You have claws, I don't like claws, they look sharp."

He set Kida down again and looked at his sandal-clad feet.  "How many toes?" he said, and started counting.  Then he noted, "There's only four!"

"No, there are five," Little Girl assured him.  "Look, your little toe is almost hidden by that strap."

"It looks flat and broken," he said.

"Well, it's not," she answered.

"I could make it flat and broken," he said, pulling on his toe.

Um, i wouldn't do that if i were you, i told him.  That would hurt tremendously, even on Percocet.

He looked at me dazedly, then we all turned as we heard the honk of a car horn in the driveway.

"I think your mom is here with your smoothie," Young Jacob observed.

"I'll go get it," Little Girl said, and headed out there.  She came back in with some kind of coffee smoothie thing from the Golden Arches, a mound of whipped cream on top promising that the rest of this item would be easy and cool to the hurting mouth.  She went in the kitchen and grabbed a spoon for him, because he can't have a straw yet.

"Down," Festus said, "outside."

"You want to go outside?" #2 Son asked, and Festus nodded.  So they helped him down the stairs and out to the side porch of the house to watch him try to eat a smoothie with a spoon, which i was told was quite entertaining.

Eventually the electricity came back on at his place and his mother came and fetched him home to go lie down.  They said he seemed a bit more coherent by then, too.

He's young, i thought.  He'll be fine.





Today is

Canadian Multiculturalism Day -- Cananda

Day of National Unity -- Tajikistan

Day of Turkmen Workers of Culture and Art -- Turkmenistan

Day Sacred to the Lares -- Ancient Roman Calendar (personal household gods); also
     Festival of Jupiter Stator -- Jupiter, Stayer of the Rout, god who helped soldiers especially to stand their ground
     Initium Aestatis -- three day festival for the goddess of summer, which season they saw as beginning on this day

Decide to Be Married Day -- sponsored by Barbara Gaughen-Muller; to focus n the joy of couples deciding to be married

Findle-Fritter's Stoat Wheedling Event -- Fairy Calendar

"Happy Birthday to You" Day -- tune composed this day in 1859

Independence Day / National Day -- Djibouti

Industrial Workers of The World Day -- founded this day in 1905

Martyrdom of Joseph & Hyrum Smith -- Mormon

Mixed Races Day -- Brazil

National Bomb Pop Day -- Thursday before US Independence Day, to kick off the celebration with the original red, white, and blue bomb pops

National Handshake Day -- sponsored by a professional development company on the last Thursday in June

National HIV Testing Day -- US (info here)

National Indian Pudding Day

National Orange Blosssom Day

Saint Ignace Auto Show -- St. Ignace, MI, US (parade, cruise night, and swap meet; through Saturday)

Seven Sleepers Day (Siebenschläfertag) -- Germany (according to legend, today's weather determines the pattern for the next seven weeks)

St. Ladislaus' Day (Patron of Szekszard, Hungary)

Sunglasses Day -- a reminder to wear those shades, protect your eyes from UV damage!

Telluride Wine Festival -- Telluride, CO, US (meet winemakers, celebrity chefs, experts and authors for an unparalleled educational and epicurian experience; through Sunday)

Watermelon Thump with World Champion Seed Spitting Contest -- Luling, TX, US (fun for all, and lots of juicy watermelon, bring lots of wet wipes, enjoy the music and food and crafts, too; through Sunday)


Birthdays Today:

Gabi Wilson, 1997
Madylin Sweeten, 1991
Ed Westwick, 1987
Drake Bell, 1986
Tobey Maguire, 1975
Julia Duffy, 1951
James Daughton, 1950
H. Ross Perot, 1930
Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan, 1927
Helen Keller, 1880


Today in History:

General James Wolfe begins the siege of Quebec, 1759
Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are murdered by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail, 1844
George Dixon becomes the first black world boxing champion in any weight class, while also being the first ever Canadian-born boxing champion, 1890
The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia, 1898
Sailors start a mutiny aboard the Russian Battleship Potemkin, denouncing the crimes of autocracy, demanding liberty and an end to war, 1905
Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter perform the first ever aerial refueling in a DH-4B biplane, 1923
The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War, 1950
The world's first nuclear power station opens in Obninsk, near Moscow, 1954
The world's first ATM is installed in Enfield, London, 1967
The President of Uruguay dissolves Parliament and heads a coup d'état, 1973
U.S president Richard Nixon visits the U.S.S.R., 1974
France grants independence to Djibouti, 1977
The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, ILO 169 convention, is adopted, 1989
Slovenia, after declaring independence two days before, is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War, 1991
Bill Gates resigns from Microsoft to focus on his charity work, 2008
Tests show radioactive cesium is present in small quantities in residents of Iitate and Kawamata, Fukushima, towns located 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 2011