Cast Iron Stomach

Clank!

The sound told me that something, most likely a fork, had hit the floor.  Turning, i could see where #2 Son was serving up an extra plate of rice and tomato gravy from where i had put the leftovers in the fridge.  He had dropped his fork on while trying to balance that with the Nutella sandwich he was making.

He picked the fork up and wiped it on his pants.  "Ten second rule!" he grinned at me.

No way! i said.  The kittens run all over this floor, and even if i do mop it, their paws have been in the litter box and then all over the floor!  Go clean it.

"Nah, ten second rule!"  He was still grinning.  "I'll be fine.  I've been known to eat pizza that's so old it's almost petrified!  Young Jacob, didn't we eat petrified pizza?"

"Yes, we did," Young Jacob confirmed, sitting at the counter with his own plate of leftovers.  "It was yummy, too!"

Well, i don't care, wash the fork! i said, laughing along with them as #2 Son was already heading for the sink and the soap.

Besides, i added, there's no such thing as an any second rule.  Studies show that items pick up germs the very second they hit the floor.

"Oh, well," #2 Son said as he finished rinsing the now clean fork.

The things you survive in your youth, when you still have that cast iron stomach, shouldn't include germs picked up where kittens roam free.



Today is:

Anniversary of Cerro de Pasco -- Peru (founding of the city and its silver mine)

Bargle Day -- Fairy Calendar (a fairy day with no human equivalent)

Electric Guitar Day -- birth anniversary of Jimi Hendrix

Feast of Ullr and Skadi -- Asatru/Norse Pagan (celebrating craftsmen)

Freckle Pride Day -- show your spots, you are beautiful!

Get the Giggles and Give One Away Day -- internet generated, and great if your a preteen girl

Hanukkah -- Judaism (Festival of Lights; begins at sundown, through sundown Dec. 5)

Khoiak Ceremonies -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (ceremonies surrounding the stories of the death of Osiris, date approximate)

Lancashire Day -- Lancashire, England (celebrating their first elected representative in Parliament in 1295)

Maaverar Naal -- Tamil Eelam, Sri Lanka (Tamil Heroes' Day)

National Bavarian Cream Pie Day

National Day -- Myanmar

National Family Caregivers' Day -- US (if you are a caregiver who needs support, you can get it here or here)

Pie in the Face Day -- internet generated, and supposed to be a virtual one, so no mess to clean

Pins and Needles Day -- celebrating the 1937 opening of the Pins and Needles Music Revue

St. Virgilius of Salzburg's Day (Patron of Salzburg, Austria; Slovenes)

St. James Intercisus' Day (Patron of lost vocations, torture victims)

Thanksgiving Day -- Norfolk Island

Tie One On Day -- an apron!  on US Thanksgiving eve, write a note of encouragement or prayer, tuck it in the pocket of an apron, and wrap the apron around a good home or bakery made loaf of bread, then deliver it to someone who needs a kind gesture

Tori No Ichi -- Japan (a "rooster day" in which to wish good luck and prosperity at temple and shrine ceremonies around the country)

Weihnachtsmarkt auf dem Romerberg -- Frankfurt, Germany (Frankfurt Christmas Market, including glockenspiels, trumpets, and bells rung from 9 churches at regular intervals; through Dec. 22)

Wonderland of Lights -- Marshall, TX, US (through Dec. 31, includes parades, candlelight home tours, and more)



Anniversaries Today:

William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway, 1582


Birthdays Today:

Jaleel White, 1976
Brooke Langton, 1970
Robin Givens, 1964
Caroline Kennedy, 1957
Rick Rockwell, 1956
Jimi Hendrix, 1942
Eddie Rabbit, 1941
Bruce Lee, 1940
"Buffalo" Bob Smith, 1917
Chick Hearn, 1916
James Agee, 1909
L. Sprague de Camp, 1907
Forrest Shaklee, 1894
Chaim Weizmann, 1874
Charles A. Beard, 1874
Bat Masterson, 1853
Robert R. Livingston, 1746 (O.S. date)
Anders Celcius, 1701
Emperor Xiaozong of China, 1127


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Dinah Shore Show(TV), 1951


Today in History:

The first elected representatives from Lancashire were called to Westminster by King Edward I to attend what later became known as "The Model Parliament", 1295
The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703
The Portuguese Royal Family leaves Lisbon to escape from Napoleonic troops, 1807
Adoption of Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland, 1815
NY Times dubs baseball "The National Game", 1870
Alfred Nobel establishes the Nobel Prize, 1895
In New York City, the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held, 1924
The Soviet space program's Mars 2 orbiter releases a descent module; it crashes, but still becomes the first man-made object to be on Mars, 1971
The left-wing Labour Party takes control of the New Zealand government with leader Helen Clark becoming the first elected female Prime Minister in New Zealand's history, 1999
A hydrogen atmosphere is discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope, the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet, 2001
The Canadian House of Commons endorses Prime Minister Stephen Harper's motion to declare Quebec a nation within a unified Canada, 2006