Leisure at the Lake Adventure: Preparing

Preparing to go anywhere means i have a lot to do ahead.  This includes leaving very explicit letters of instructions for everyone in the house.

These take the form of notes on the front of the fridge.  An example would be:

Every morning
     feed kittens (make sure tiny baby gets his special food)
     spray everyone with bleach water for ringworm (clean the sprayer after each use, if you need more bleach water it's 1 1/2c water to 1/4c bleach
     bail water from A/C area, spray bleach
     feed and water all cats
     school days, get Little Girl to school by 7am

Every day
     feed kittens (make sure tiny baby gets his special food)
     spray everyone for ringworm with water/grapefruit seed extract mix (1 1/2c water with 25 drops GSE)
     change kitten litter boxes
     scoop all other litter boxes, add litter as needed
     turn on small A/C in man cave before noon
     scrub all kitten bottles with soap

Every evening
     feed kittens (make sure tiny baby gets his special food)
     spray everyone for ringworm with half water / half apple cider vinegar 
     bail water from A/C area

As needed
     wash dishes
     trash out
     trash to curb on garbage night
     recycling to curb on recycling night
     do laundry, and that means everyone's laundry, and towels

If Mike-Next-Door wants to mow the lawn next week, tell him i'll pay him when i get back in town.

Little Girl has a youth group Fun Day on Saturday at 3:30pm, and regular youth group on Sunday evening

Sweetie has an ear doctor appointment on Friday afternoon

#1 Son and #2 Son may be out of town for a few days, too,

That is just a little of what i have to write out and post on the front of the refrigerator (which is normally totally empty, i post a few things on the side of the fridge, but it looks to cluttery to have anything on the front).

While i am gone, i know, from experience, that i will be getting calls from the family frequently.  (The first time i went, five years ago, it was about once an hour for the first two days.)  Right now, i am tempted to record a message for my voice mail and let it pick up every time they call.  It would say:

Thank you for calling, but the magic Blue Fairy is not available right now.  If you are noticing that things done by the magic of the Blue Fairy, such as clothes being washed and ironed, floors being mopped, meals being cooked and cleaned up after, bathrooms remaining clean, etc., are not currently being accomplished, and you wish to complain and demand the magic Blue Fairy come home early, you may refrain from leaving a message and go soak your head instead.  Thank you.

They will be just fine.  There's frozen pizza (which they don't get often) in the freezer.  And i am packing and getting out of here.

After the parent meeting at the school.  There's always one more thing to do.  



Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Mozambique

Black Walnut Festival -- Stockton, MO, US (tours of the world's largest black walnut processing plant, plus parade, crafts, carnival and entertainment; through Saturday)

Join a Cabal of International Bankers Today Day -- internet generated, and only for people without a conscience

Kamarampaka Day -- Rwanda (Republic Day, marks the 1961 abolition of the monarchy)

National Comic Book Day -- internet generated, but go read one, they are fun

National Crabmeat Newberg Day

National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims -- US

National Food Service Employees Day -- because everyone wants to eat out once in a while 

National One-Hit Wonder Day -- US, remembering those who had only one hit on the rock charts

National Women's Health and Fitness Day -- www.fitnessday.com

National Youth Day -- Nauru

Old Holy Rood Eve -- OS calendar Holy Cross Eve, the last day to pick blackberries (after this, the devil poisons them because when he fell from heaven, he landed in a blackberry bush)

Petit Jean Fall Antique Auto Swap Meet -- Morrilton, AR, US (swap meet and the Museum of Automobiles; through Saturday)

Shemini Azteret -- Judaism (Jewish completion of the annual cycle of reading of the Torah; begins at sunset, through sunset tomorrow)

St. Cadoc's Day (Patron of the deaf; against cramps, deafness, glandular disorders, scrofula)

St. Finbarr's Day (Patron of Barra, Scotland; Cork, Ireland)

Toad Tempting Day -- Fairy Calendar

World Ataxia Awareness Day



Birthdays Today:

Catherine Zeta-Jones, 1969
Will Smith, 1968
Scottie Pippen, 1965
Aida Turturro, 1962
Heather Locklear, 1961
Christopher Reeve, 1952
Mark Hamill, 1951
Cheryl Tiegs, 1947
Michael Douglas, 1944
Juliet Prowse, 1936
Glenn Gould, 1932
Barbara Walters, 1931
Shel Silverstein, 1930
Phil Rizzuto, 1918
Dmitri Shostakovich, 1906
William Faulkner, 1897
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, 1358 (Japanese Shogun)


Today in History:

St. Ferment is beheaded in Amiens, France, after voyaging there to preach the gospel, 303
The Battle of Stamford Bridge marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon era, 1066
Columbus begins his second voyage, with 17 ships, 1493
Vasco Nunez de Balboa becomes the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the west coast of the Americas, 1513
The first printing press in the Americas begins operations, 1639
Old Style date; two very accurate clocks are set in motion at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England, the start of Greenwich Mean Time, 1676
Ethan Allan, American Revolutionary War hero, is captured, 1775
Benedict Arnold joins the British, 1780
The first all-black university in the US, Howard University, is created by Congress, 1867
Yosemite National Park is established by Congress, 1890
Charles Follis becomes the first black to play professional American football, 1904
Birth of the remote control -- Leonardo Torres Quevedo successfully demonstrates the invention of the "Telekino" and guides a boat from the shore in the port of Bilbao, 1906
Jimmy Doolittle performs the first blind flight from Mitchel Field proving that full instrument flying from take off to landing is possible, 1929*
Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, is integrated by the use of United States Army troops, 1957
In a referendum, the people of Norway reject membership of the European Community, 1972
Belize joins the United Nations, 1981
The last of the Magdalene Asylums closes in Ireland, 1996
The Vitim event, a possible bolide (comet nucleus) impact in Siberia, Russia, 2002
China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7, 2008



*Personal family history:  He was a great man, and taught my brothers to hunt dove.