Homecoming Weekend -- The Big Day

The plan for Saturday morning was to get to the shelter early to bathe Anna and Uriel and get them settled in a cage, and it started out just fine.  The hitch came when i couldn't find the special shampoo i was supposed to use for them.

Many minutes were wasted looking high and low, and i finally gave in and called Carol to ask where she hid the stuff.  It turned out to be right where it should have been, in the cabinet under the sink in which we wash them.  In fact, Carol and i had washed the other 7 kittens i had brought up in that sink a couple of days before.

It was in a gallon jug, not the regular size bottle such as i used to have at home, so i passed it over, thinking it was a bottle of bleach.

Two kitty baths, plus the requisite 15 minutes of marinating time (the kittens have to have the stuff on them for 15 minutes to make sure it kills everything they may have carried in) later, i ran back home to pick up Bigger Girl and go back to the hotel for breakfast.  We were about 5 minutes away when we were called, which i knew we would be.

After breakfast, we had time to simply enjoy the fun atmosphere of homecoming until the parade started.  Grandma and Grandpa were supposed to ride in the parade, but Grandma didn't want to, so Grandpa sweet talked them into letting Bigger Girl ride with him.  It was fun to see them, sitting atop a yellow Corvette and smiling as they threw out candy, beads, and other fun things.

The parade is typical for the area, and my main reason to go is the camaraderie, getting to hear the bagpipes, and watching the children catch stuff.  Someone once told me that in some states, when there's a parade, it is illegal to throw things into the crowd.  Here, it's expected.  Cheap plastic beads have replaced the glass ones we used to get as kids, and now they will throw cups, mini plastic toys,small logo items like keychains, and candy.  A local bank was this year's main parade sponsor, and they were even throwing rolled up t-shirts.

The parade itself only lasts about a half hour from where you are standing to watch, but it takes a good hour-and-a-half to two hours for the participants to actually go the whole route.  Sweetie had gotten off work by then and headed home, so when Bigger Girl got back, she and i went to the house to rest and freshen up, then the three of us returned for the football game.

It was not one of our team's better nights.  The other team came to win, ours simply came to not lose.  At least, that's how it was until halftime, when i think the coach gave them a good talking to.  The second half was much better, and i'm glad, because you really aren't supposed to lose the homecoming game.

Grandma actually attended, for the first time in years.  She had grown weary of it long ago, but she did enjoy herself.  Grandpa was out on the field during the halftime ceremony of crowning the new homecoming king and queen, representing the alumni association.  It was all very nice, as it's supposed to be, and i don't know why we still even have such things, but i guess it's tradition and some tradition simply must be.  Ours not to reason why, and etc.

Little Girl and #2 Son again stayed at the hotel with Grandma and Grandpa after the game, while Bigger Girl, Sweetie and i went home.  The next morning, we returned to again have breakfast with them and say our good-byes.  From there, it was time to go to church, and before we left we firmed up the coming plans for this next weekend, when the kids will go to Grandma and Granpa's house.  There is an insectarium visit in the works, and Grandma has threatened to boycott it and go to the shopping area next door instead.  No matter what, though, they will have fun.

Just like we did this latest homecoming weekend.


Speaking of fun, if you celebrate Trick-or-Treating where you are, i hope you have a wonderful time tonight!




 

Today is:

Admission Day -- Nevada, US

Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security

Allantide -- Cornwall, England

All Hallows Eve -- Christian

Apple and Candle Night -- Wales

Books for Treats Day -- San Jose, CA, US (give gently used books to kids, not candy -- feed their brains, not their cavities!)

Chiang Kai-Shek Day -- Taiwan

Dias de los Muertos -- Mexico, esp. Michoacan and Oaxaca (through Nov. 2; ceremonies, sand sculptures, decorated altars, and parties through the nights in the cemeteries)

Dookie Apple Night -- Newcastle, England

Duck Apple Night -- Liverpool, England

Feast of Sekhmet /Bast/ Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of Inner Worlds -- Pagan (fight between the old and new year)

Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show -- Ft. Lauderdale, FL, US (hosted at the "Yachting Capital of the World"; through Sunday)

Ghostwriter's Day

Hallowe'en or Beggar's Night

Increase Your Psychic Powers Day -- originated in England in the 19th century, some celebrated on the 30th

King Father Nordom Sihanouk's Birthday -- Cambodia

National Candy Apple Day

National Knock-Knock Joke Day
     Knock, Knock
     Who's There?
     Police.
     Police who?
     Police stop telling knock-knock jokes!

National Magic Day -- Society of American Magicians (in honor of Harry Houdini, who died on this day in 1926, and who was president of the SoAM)

National UNICEF Day

Nut-Crack Night -- England; Scotland

Old Celtic New Year's Eve

Out of the Broom Closet Day -- Pagan, Heathen, and all earth-based and ethnic religions

Punky Night -- Hinton St George, Somerset, England (a celebration for children and adults who carry candle-lit punkies -- the best one wins a prize -- made out of mangel-wurzels, a type of beet, and sing old punky songs asking for money or treats)

Reformation Day -- Protestant Christian (trad.)
     Dia de las Iglesias Evangelicas y Protestantes -- Chile
     Official Holiday -- BB, MV, SN, ST, & TH, Germany; Slovenia

Samhain (northern hemisphere) / Beltane (southern hemisphere) -- Druids, Gaels, Welsh peoples, Neopagans, Wiccans (begins at sunset)

Scare a Friend Day -- just not so much that he/she isn't a friend any more

Senior Absurdity Day -- Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY, US (a day the kids look forward to each year)

Sneak Some of the Candy Yourself Before the Kids Start Knocking Day

St. Quentin's Day (Patron against coughs)

St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon's Day (Patron of apoplexics, carpenters, paralyzed people, stroke victims; Regensburg, Germany; against apoplexy, paralysis, stomach diseases, strokes)

Thump-the-Door Night -- Isle of Mann

Trick or Treat Night

Vetmaetr -- Norse Calendar (Winter Nights; beginning of winter, the New Year, and the start of Odin leading the Wild Hunt)

Youth Honor Day -- Iowa, US



Anniversaries Today:

Mt. Rushmore is completed, 1941
Nevada becomes the 36th US State, 1864


Birthdays Today:

Adam Horovitz, 1966
Peter Jackson, 1961
Larry Mullen, Jr., 1961
John Candy, 1950
Jane Pauley, 1950
Deidre Hall, 1947
David Ogden Stiers, 1942
Michael Landon, 1936
Dan Rather, 1931
Michael Collins, 1930
Barbara Bel Geddes, 1922
Dale Evans, 1912
Ethel Waters, 1896
Chaing Kai-shek, 1887
Juliette Low, 1860
John Keats, 1795
Jan Vermeer, 1632


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Car Talk Radio Show, 1987 (national debut, ten years after their start as a local show in Boston)


Today in History:

Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites after their return to Jerusalem from exile, BC445
First All Hallows Eve observed to honor all the saints, 834
Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door, marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 1517
Georg Ludwig van Hannover is crowned as the English King George I, 1714
Execution of Girondins at Paris during the Reign of Terror, 1793
Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents the miner's safety lamp, 1815
A standard uniform is approved for US Postal workers, 1868
A tropical cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die, 1876
John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tire, 1888
Arthur Conan Doyle publishes "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", 1892
Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States, 1913
The Battle of Beersheba of WWI marks the last successful cavalry charge in history, 1917
The first of 160 consecutive days of 100°F + temps at Marble Bar, Australia, 1923
World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress, 1924
Mt. Rushmore sculptures are completed, 1941
The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal, 1956
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards, 1984
EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board, 1999
Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted, 1999
Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station, which has been continually crewed since, 2000
Surfer Bethany Hamilton loses her left arm and 3 liters of blood in a tiger shark attack; within a month she would be back on her board, and competing again within the year, 2003