Already!

It's August already?

That means today is Link's birthday!  He's a year old now.

Link, at close to a week old, if i'm remembering correctly.

A year ago today, someone came to the shelter with the tiniest newborn kitten i had ever seen.  He looked like a premie, a runt, or both, so small his head was barely as wide as my thumb.  He had been found alone, his mama had him and abandoned him.

Little Girl loved him from the start, and in a moment of sheer insanity i allowed her to convince me to adopt him.  After all, her sister has Little Girlie and #2 Son had Dansig, so it wouldn't be fair to not allow her to keep one special cat.

A year later, here he is.

Link, by Little Girl's feet, waits for a treat.

They dote on each other, and Link still likes it when she puts her pinkie out for him to suck on, just like when he was a fussy kitten.

Happy Birthday to Link!  

Happy August to Everyone!

And yes, both of my daughters make it a point to always wear odd socks, unless they are dressing up for something.  Just another interesting fact of life in my little nuthouse.


Today is

Air Force Day -- US (declared by President Truman in 1947)

Anniversary of the Founding of Scouting -- first day of Brownsea Island Camp in 1907, where Robert Baden-Powell began Scouting

Armed Forces Day -- Lebanon

Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival -- Davenport, IA, US (fifteen bands at 3 venues and a great time for all; through Sunday)

Blessing of the Waters -- Whitstable, Kent, England (ceremony dating back to 1657, this event is held to appease the cruel seas and give thanks for its bounty; held during the community's annual Oyster Festival)

Emancipation Day -- Barbados; Guyana; Jamaica; St. Lucia; St. Vincent and Grendines; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands

Emancipation Day -- Bermuda (first day of the Cup Match)

Fast in Honor of the Holy Mother of Jesus / Procession of the Cross and Dormition Fast -- Orthodox Christian

Feast of Kamal (Perfection) -- Baha'i

Festival at Sandpoint -- Lake Pend Oreille, Sandpoint, ID, US (internationally renowned summer concert series in a casual and relaxed atmosphere; through the 11th)

Fiesta de Santo Domingo -- Managua, Nicaragua (patron saint; through the 10th)

Girlfriends' Day -- a day to celebrate the women who enrich your life

Harriet Quimby Day -- first woman to earn a pilot's license, this date in 1911

Hirosaki Neputa Matsuri -- Hirosaki, Japan (through the 7th, parade and purification ritual to rid the the town of future illness and bad fortune)

Homowo -- Ghana (a festival of thanksgiving and remembrance, among various groups of Ga peoples, all through August and September.)

Imps Charity Scramble -- Fairy calendar (Do they scramble the imps, or do the imps scramble for something?  The fairies keep their own counsel on this, but i'd love to know.)

Independence Day / National Day -- Benin(1960)

Kalends of August -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observances
     Feast of Spes (personification of hope)
     Festival for Victoria (goddess of victory)

Lammas Day / Lammac Tide -- Christian, a Cross Quarter Day (called the Gule of August in Wales, and known as August Eve and Lady Day Eve)

Liberation of Haile Selassie -- Rastafari

Lughnassad / Imbolc -- Wicca and Pagan (based in the Northern Hemisphere on the Celtic Feast of Bread, beginning of the harvest season)

Minden Day -- British Armed Forces

Mountain Dance and Folk Festival -- Asheville, NC, US (celebrating the cultural heritage of the southern Appalachian Mountains; through Saturday)

Nagaoka Festival -- Nagaoka, Japan (through the 3rd, samuri procession, traditional music and dances, fireworks)

National Day -- Switzerland (where it is also called Swiss Confederation Day, when Switzerland became a single unit in 1291)

National Minority Donor Awareness Day -- US (bringing awareness to the fact that there are fewer minorities who are organ donors)

National Non-Parent Day -- sponsored by The National Organization for Non-Parents and No Kidding!

National Raspberry Cream Pie Day

Parents' Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo

"Pastimes of Colonial Virginia" Theme Month -- Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, VA, US & Yorktown Victory Center, Yorktown, VA, US (Games and other diversions of 17th- and 18th-century Virginia are shown through hands-on activities and interpretive programs, play a variety of games, including whirligigs, corncob darts, ninepins, quoits, mancala and nine-men's morris all through the month of August)

Quilt Exhibition -- Billings Farm, Woodstock, VT, US (a juried show, demonstrations and other activities; through Sept. 22)

Ribfest -- Kalamazoo, MI, US (live festival and cook off; through Saturday)

Rockhound Gemboree -- Bancroft, ON, Canada (expeditions to prime mineral locations as well as dealers, demonstrations, swapping, and the chance for rockhounds to have a great time; through Sunday)

Rounds Resounding Day -- sponsored by Rounds Resounding Society (Grab your friends and sing a few songs that go in rounds, like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Frere Jacques".)

Satchmo Summerfest -- New Orleans, LA, US (because one jazz festival in this city is never enough; through Sunday)

Social Resistance Day -- North Cyprus

Spiderman Day -- he first appeared today in Amazing Fantasy #15, released Aug. 1, 1963

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori's Day (Founder of the Redemptorists, a/k/a Ligourians; Patron of confessors, final perseverence, moralists, scrupulous people, theologians, vocations; Pagani, Italy; Sant'Agata de' Goti, Italy; against arthritis, scrupulosity disorder)

Yorkshire Day -- Yorkshire, England


Anniversaries Today:

Colorado becomes the 38th US State, 1876
MTV begins broadcasting, 1981
World Wide Web


Birthdays Today:

Tempestt Bledsoe, 1973
Robert Cray, 1953
Jerry Garcia, 1942
Yves Saint Laurent, 1942
Dom DeLuise, 1933
Herman Melville, 1819
Francis Scott Key, 1779
William Clark, 1770


Today in History:

The future Caesar Augustus, Octavian, enters Alexandria, Egypt, and brings it under the control of Rome, BC30
Japan sends Ono no Imoko to the Sui court in China as envoy, 607
The Swiss Confederation is formed with the signature of the Federal Charter, 1291
Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile drive the Jews out of Spain, 1492
Henry Tudor, soon to be Henry VII, sails with his army to England, 1495
The first black Americans arrive in Jamestown, Virginia, 1619
Oxygen is "discovered" for the 3rd time, by Priestly, 1774
The Act of Union is passed in which merges the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1800
Slavery is abolished throughout the British Empire, 1834
First coast to coast automobile trip, from San Francisco to New York, is completed, 1903
The first Jeep is produced, 1941
Anne Frank makes the last entry in her diary, 1944
The United States and Canada form the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), 1957
Israel annexes East Jerusalem, 1967
Peat cutters discover Lindow Man, Lindow Moss, Cheshire, England, 1984
CERN physicists begin discussing building what would eventually become the World Wide Web, 1990
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia join the European Environment Agency, 2001