And in other news...

Kida the Mosquito, the asthmatic Siamese who is always buzzing around, has another sinus infection, and is back on an antibiotic.

We have 19 kittens, and four of them have ringworm, so we are quarantined.  None of them can go up for adoption until they are all clear.  The will be treated 3 times a day, even those that have no ringworm, to make sure it goes away and doesn't spread.

#1 Son is finally feeling better, although he still sounds stuffy and his voice is scratchy.  He has gotten some time off so that he and #2 Son can go back up to Kansas to get the remainder of his property out of storage.

Bigger Girl has been pondering the question, "What if it turns out G-d is an alien from another planet who just wanted to see what would happen if he set a bunch of naked apes loose on a planet?" and is writing reviews of art films for a website.  She is currently working on one about art films that are so bad they should never have been made.  "Mom, I have to warn people away from these!" she says.

Little Girl has gotten her first set of grades from school, and is making all As and Bs.  She and a friend are having a reading contest, and she has decided she loves riding the bus home (i take her to school in the morning so she won't have to get out there so awfully early).

Speaking of early, why does school now start at 7am?  When i was very young, it was 9am, and by the time i was in high school, it was 8am.  It's been creeping earlier and earlier, and it certainly doesn't take the teenage biological clock into account.  They can barely remember to breathe at that time of the morning!

Brother-in-Law, The Mouth, actually turned down some leftovers yesterday.  Will wonders never cease?

Sweetie is in the busy season at work -- football season.  He will be "busy from can to can't."

Also, it's amazing to me how, no matter where the university ranks in academics among other schools around the nation, the alumni only donate money if the football team is winning.

And that's about all the news from kitten central right now.


Today is:

Blessed Father Jacques Leval Day -- Mauritius (physician turned priest who lived among and ministered to the poorest of the poor in Mauritius; people of all faiths make a pilgrimage to his tomb today)

Bonza Bottler Day

Chrysanthemum Day or Kiku no Sekku -- Japan

Day of the Victims of Holocaust and of Racial Violence -- Slovakia

Festivity of Our Lady of Aranzazu -- Oñati, Basque

Ganesha Chaturthi -- Hindu (festival to honor the god of prosperity, prudence, and success, Ganesha; local customs and dates can vary, as can official government holiday status)

Independence Day -- Tajikistan

Karasu-zumo -- Kamigamo-jinja Shrine, Kyoto, Japan (a distinctive local festival where the Shinto priests imitate crows)

Liberation Ceremony -- Petange, Luxembourg

Milk-Bathing Festival -- Fairy Calendar

National Boss/Employee Exchange Day -- US (or anyone else who wants to foster understanding between bosses and employees)

National Day -- North Korea

National Sports Day -- Indonesia

National Steak Au Poivre Day

Peddler's Village Scarecrow Competition -- Lahaska, PA (through Oct. 27th, with the big Scarecrow Festival this month on the 21st and 22nd)

Pendleton Round-Up -- Pendleton, OR, US (traditional rodeo with the participation of local Native American tribes; through Saturday)

Pennsylvania RV & Camping Show -- Hershey, PA, US (the largest RV and Camper show in the world, with the first to days for industry only; through Sunday)

St. Giles Fair -- Oxford, England (dates back to 17th century; through tomorrow)

St. Peter Claver's Day (Patron of African missions, inter-racial justice, race relations; Colombia; Lake Charles, LA; Shreveport, LA; Witbank, South Africa; against slavery)

Synaxis of Ss. Joachim and Anna -- Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches

Teddy Bear Day -- internet generated, but since it's so much fun to have one, celebrate your old friend

Wakes Monday -- Abbots Bromely, England; related festival
     Abbots Bromley Horn Dance -- Abbots Bromley, UK (a/k/a Antler Dance or Ceremony of the Deermen; uses deer horns from the 11th Century, and a traditional dance, tune, and circuit around the neighboring farms, and includes a fair)

Wienerschnitzel Day

Wonderful Weirdos Day -- we all have a few in our lives, they remind us to be true to ourselves, so thank them today; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays


Anniversaries Today:

California becomes the 31th US State, 1850


Birthdays Today:

Adam Sandler, 1966
Hugh Grant, 1960
Angela Cartwright, 1952
Michael Keaton, 1951
Billy Preston, 1946
Otis Redding, 1941
Cliff Robertson, 1925
James Hilton, 1900
Colonel Harland Sanders, 1890
Alf Landon, 1887
Leo Tolstoy, 1828
William Bligh, 1754


Today in History:

William I, The Conqueror, dies in a horse riding accident, 1087
The New England colonies declare war on the Wampanoag Tribe, 1675
The first steam engine arrives in the US colonies, 1753
The first recorded black to graduate from a US college, Alexander Lucius Twilight, receives a BA from Middlebury College, 1817
Charles Durant, the first US aeronaut, flies a balloon from Castle Garden, NYC to Perth Amboy, NJ, 1830
The first plate glass photograph is taken by John Herschel, 1839
California becomes the 31st state and the territories of New Mexico and Utah are created, 1850
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is finalized, 1886
Orville Wright makes the first one hour plane flight, 1908
J. Verdrines becomes the first person to fly at over 100mph, 1912
First actual case of a computer bug being found: a moth lodges in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University, 1947
Hurricane Betsy makes its second landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, becoming the first hurricane to do over $1billion in actual unadjusted damages, 1965
The four-day Attica Prison riot begins, 1971
The Palestine Liberation Organization officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state, 1993
At exactly 01:46:40 UTC, the Unix billenium is reached, marking the beginning of the use of 10-digit Unix timestamps, 2001