Driving Us Buggy

We were a bit late getting going that first morning.  It was okay, though, we were at least getting there.

As we drove, the bug smears on the windshield were making Ninja buggy.  We stopped for gas, and she cleaned it all quite throughly.  Then she let me take over driving.

In less than half a mile, another bug smear was on the window, with many, many more to come.  It proved to be a futile quest, keeping them off.  We didn't give up, though, and faithfully cleaned everything at each gas stop.  It was actually quite funny.

One tradition Ninja taught me when riding with her is to say hello to every herd of cows as we pass them.  She says it brings good luck and she never gets a ticket, as long as she doesn't miss any.

As we drover through Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky, i received phone calls, of course.  The family can't go without calling me, and it's a good thing my friends think it's funny.  The first one, though, almost scared the tar out of me.

Sweetie called, and the connection was spotty so his first words were garbled. It sounded to me like he said, "I'm going to have to pay for a hotel," which, to me, means getting a room.  Immediately all sorts of terrible possibilities flooded my mind and adrenaline  surged.  "What!  What happened?" i asked.

"I'm going to have to pay for a lunch at the hotel," he said, at which point my heart rate began to go back toward normal.  "When they were packing the refrigerators for the event yesterday, they took my packed lunch out and set it aside, and whoever did it forgot to put it back in, so my lunch is ruined."

"Don't scare me like that!" i told him.  Buy a lunch, it's no big deal.

The rest of the drive was peppered with calls and texts.  "Where is my..." texts.  "The mail is here, what do you want me to do with...." calls.  That last one was easy.  Deposit the checks and set the rest aside, i'll deal with it.  If it's junk, throw it away.

Sweetie called to say that #2 Son took several of his favorite pot pies and absconded with them over to #1 Son's house.  Naturally, i told him to go buy more, they are only eighty-nine cents at the MegaSuperStore.

Bigger Girl called to thank me for texting her to open the mail, because it gave her an excuse to use her hunting knife to slit open the envelopes.  Glad to oblige, i told her, shaking my  head.

Phone calls to the guidance counselor at school were made, too.  Those proved mostly fruitless over the next couple of days as they wouldn't answer the phones, wouldn't return messages and said they would do things that didn't get done.  Oh, well, it's nothing that will end the world, but it would be nice if we could get it settled sooner rather than later.

At one stop, where we were trying to get something out of one case, we had our first (and i hope, only) casualty.  A bag dropped and my glass jar of laundry detergent bit the dust.  We tied it into a garbage bag, so i could clean the other stuff packed in there with it later, and stuffed it back in the car, we had mileage to make.

In fact, that first morning, as noted, our plan to get up around 3am and get going ended up being sabotaged by a late start the day before.  So we made plans to get almost to Cincinnati, and stop in Florence, Kentucky instead.

That way, we could go on into Cincinnati and pick up Cince the next morning very early.

We drove as fast and consistently as we could, stopping as little as possible, and Tennessee was beautiful.  So was what little i saw of Kentucky before the sun went down.  We stopped in Bowling Green for dinner, where i had, once again, salad and guacamole.  That had been my only options that day, at both lunch at a deli and dinner at a TexMex place.  Somehow, i was determined, we were going to find an oriental style restaurant at some point so that i could get some vegetables.  Meanwhile, bananas, cheap roasted cashews from BigBoxStore, and raw food bars bought on sale over month before would have to suffice, and they did.

We finally pulled into the motel in Florence at a bit after midnight, which was when i was able to log on and write up yesterday's very short, and probably a bit scattered, post.  We went to sleep a bit after, once a text from   one of our friends confirmed that the Eagle had landed.  It meant Eagle, Grace, Westie, FiveCat, and Script were at the house.  Pepper stopped in, too, i understand, but didn't stay the night.

Today is:

Ancestor Appreciation Day -- sponsored by the Ancestor Appreciation Day Association of Ann Arbor, MI, US

Baltimore Book Festival -- Baltimore, MD, US (the mid-Atlantic’s premier celebration of literary arts; through Sunday)

Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival -- Custer, SD, US (buffalo round up, Western and Native American entertainment, arts and crafts; through tomorrow)

Celtic Classic Highland Games & Festival -- Bethlehem, PA, US (largest highland games and Celtic Festival in the US; through Sunday)

Chili Cook-Off and Fall Festival of the Arts And Crafts -- Washington, MO, US (chili fest and contest, juried art festival, beer, specialty foods, music, and fun; through Sunday)

Crush a Can Day -- internet generated, so have fun seeing how many (safe) ways you can crush a can, and how flat you can get it!

Fabulous 1890's Weekend -- Mansfield, PA, US (celebration of the first ever night football game in Mansfield in 1892; through tomorrow)

Feast of Mashíyyat (Will) -- Baha'i

Fun and Fancy Free Day -- go out and have a great day, in honor of the release on this day in 1947 of the Disney film Fun and Fancy Free

French Community Holiday -- French community of Belgium

Hug a Vegetarian Day -- i'm open!

Liberty Fall Festival -- Liberty, MO, US (right in the heart of the town square, among the historic buildings from the 1800s, lots for everyone to do; through Sunday)

Literally, A Haunted House -- Culbertson Mansion, New Albany, IN, US (each weekend through Hallowe'en; a haunted house in a literal haunted house with a history of some very weird stuff)

Love Note Day -- take pen and paper and send that special someone a love note today, the idea of Leona Hamel of QC, Canada

Manit Day -- Marshall Islands (Culture Day)

Meskel -- Ethiopian/Eritrian Orthodox Christian (True Cross Day)

Mount Pleasant Glass and Ethnic Festival -- Mount Pleasant, PA, US (a "front porch neighborhood" festival; through Sunday)

National Milk Chocolate Day

National Corned Beef Hash Day

National Youth Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands

Native American Day 2013 -- US (a day to honor all Native Americans, always celebrated the fourth Friday in September, and different from those celebrated next month, around Columbus Day)

Neptune Festival -- Virginia Beach, Virginia (a Boardwalk Weekend; through Sunday)

New York Film Festival -- NY, NY, US (51st Annual, through Oct. 13)

North American Sand Sculpting Championship -- Virginia Beach, Virginia, US (through Oct. 6)

Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show and Grand National Wedding Cake Competition -- Tulsa, OK, US (set up today, tomorrow and Sunday the judging with this year's theme as "Ballet 2013", it's fun for everyone, as the best of the best cake designers vie for the Grand National title; for astounding pictures of last year's competition, go herehttp://oklahomasugarartists.com/)

Shut Up and Let Somebody Else Talk Day -- begun by someone with an overly verbose spouse, perhaps?

St. Vincent De Paul's Day (Patron of charitable societies/charitable workers, charities, horses, hospital workers, hospitals, lepers, prisoners, spiritual help, volunteers; Brothers of Charity; Saint Vincent de Paul Societies; Sisters of Charity; Vincentian Service Corps; Madagascar; Richmond, Virginia; for finding lost objects; against leprosy)

Taca Fall Craft Fair -- Nashville, TN, US (the state's premier outdoor showcase for American fine crafts; through Sunday)

Thanksgiving Day for Disappearance of Kelp-Koli Again -- Fairy Calendar

Warrens Cranberry Festival -- Warrens, WI, US (tour a cranberry bog, enjoy the festival and food; through Sunday)

Wild West Show and Bullwhacker Days -- Olathe, KS, US (celebrate the Santa Fe Trail; through Sunday)

World Tourism Day -- World Tourism Organization


Birthdays Today:

Avril Lavigne, 1984
Gwyneth Paltrow, 1972
Sophia Milos, 1965
Shaun Cassidy, 1958
Mike Schmidt, 1949
Wilford Brimley, 1934
Greg Morris, 1934
Arthur Penn, 1922
William Conrad, 1920
Jayne Meadows, 1920
Thomas Nast, 1840
George Muller, 1805
Samuel Adams, 1722


Today in History:

Severe earthquake in the Gulf of Chili, China; reports of 100,000 killed, 1290
Jesuits founded by Ignatius Loyola, 1540
John Adams negotiates peace terms with Britain, 1779
Constitution submitted to the states for ratification, 1787
Jean-Francois Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone, 1822
The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens, and begins operation of the world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains, 1825
The physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc²,1905
The first production of a Ford Model T automobile rolls off the line at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan, 1908
First test of a twin engine airplane, in France, 1910
Native American Day is first celebrated, 1916
Democratic National Committee votes to allow female members, 1919
The first Santa Clause Training School opens in Albion, NY, 1937
The Balinese tiger is declared to be an extinct species, 1937
Sierra Leone joins the United Nations, 1961
Richard Stallman announces the GNU project to develop a free Unix-like operating system, 1983
Google is founded, 1998
East Timor joins the United Nations, 2002
CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7, 2008