Visiting

Right before Thanksgiving, my friend DiDreaming came to our house to visit.  She invited me to come see her, and we made plans for the weekend between Christmas and New Years.

Friday morning, i ran my last minute errands and went to Trader Joe's to get her some Two Buck Chuck, because there is no TJ's yet in her area, although i hold out hope for some time in the next couple of years.  Meanwhile, she had enjoyed it when visiting California a few years back, so i brought her some, and got some dog treats for the Terrorist Terrier (the Yorkie), as well as the geriatric Golden Lab and Doodlebug, the medium sized mixed something or other that this person so ignorant of dog breeds couldn't fathom in a year of trying.

Then home to make the post-Christmas gumbo, and packing, and feeding the cats at the shelter.  Finally, finally, on the road with Bigger Girl.

We listened to Spanish lessons on CD, and music, and discussed the philosophy of David Bowie's music.  The trip didn't take long, we are used to making a trek right past this area every June on the way to the annual family vacation.

She gave me the best directions, and has a great sense of humor, so i will quote them (with the actual numbers X'ed out for privacy):



Get on I-XX come East, cross the XXX and it's the 2nd exit from there I don't know if it's a county road or a state Hwy but it's XXX. Turn right. Go South to XX (There's a light, a service station, a vegetable market, a white house, and a wine store on the 4 corners (There is a light) Turn Left, go past a white church and TWO storage building units and by the 2nd storage facility there WAS a pecan grove.. all the trees have been pushed down now getting ready for building something more important than trees.. it's kind of sad. Anyway that's County Road XX, turn right. Go to the 2nd neighborhood entrance on your right and turn right. Pass the entrance and turn left onto E. Circle. It's the 3rd house on your left. There is a white light up dog on the front porch and a fountain in the front flower bed. It's really easy to find but if you have trouble you have my phone number.

We knew for certain we were in the right place because the Terrorist Terrier, in her Christmas dress, was running around the front yard waiting for us.

The Terrorist Terrier

No, i have no clue what kind of dog this is, just that she's medium sized.

A beautiful old Lab.

We arrived to Di cooking a wonderful dinner, and talked until very late.  Then i was shown a beautiful bedroom, and slept well until the smoke alarm decided to start chirping.

The offending smoke alarm

Luckily, there was a ladder nearby:

Who keeps a ladder next to the closet in the bedroom?

Once Di got me a new battery, i got to climb a ladder!

Anyway, Saturday morning i didn't just change the battery in the smoke alarm -- i also let the dogs in and out in the rain, and dried them with an old towel.  Again, i'm reminded of why i love dogs, but do not have one.

At one point during the day, i got a strange message from my mobile phone carrier, saying they were sorry our call was interrupted.  But i hadn't called them, so i called, and was told everything was okay.  Somehow, i didn't believe it, and when i later couldn't send a text, i called again.

It turned out someone was trying to change my phone number over to an IPhone.  Since i don't own one of those, i filed a fraud report and changed the pass code on my account and had them put a note on my account not to make any changes unless i come in to a store and do it in person and show an ID.  If that doesn't stop them, i'm not sure what else i could do.

We didn't let it ruin our day, as i called to take care of the phone trouble.  Saturday afternoon, we had lots of fun wandering around some nice shops, and we went to the Publix (which we don't have back home) and got Sweetie some of the huge bowls they carry that he loves.  We also went to a charity shop, where i saw two of the ugliest pieces of furniture i've ever seen.

Ugly.

Even uglier!

Close-up of ugly,

And yes, ugly was already sold.  Can you see this in your house?  Ugh.

We had a fun afternoon, then went back to Di's house for the evening, and her grandsons made brownies and the dogs begged for treats and we all just enjoyed each other's company.



Today is:

Constitution Day -- Ireland

Enjoying ESP Day -- internet generated, and it means eating, sleeping, and partying!

Fifth Day of Christmas

Illegal Pants Day -- commemorates Emma Snodgrass' arrest in Boston in 1852 for wearing pants

Kwanzaa, Day 4, Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

National Chocolate Again Day -- because someone, somewhere, believes it can't be chocolate something-or-other day often enough

Paternoster Row Day -- in memoriam of the famous area destroyed by the Blitz this date and tomorrow in 1940

Pepper Pot Day -- Pepper Pot Soup was invented today in 1777 at Valley Forge for the army to have something warm to eat

Sacrifice to Zeus Horios -- Ancient Greek Calendar (sacrifice in the deme of Erichia; date approximate)

St. Gabriel's Day -- Ethiopia

St. Thomas of Canterbury's Day (Thomas a Becket, Patron of clergy, secular clergy; Exeter College, Oxford, England; Portsmouth, England)

St. Trophimus of Arles' Day (Patron of children; Arles, France; against drought)

Tick Tock Day -- end of the year is getting closer, stop putting off your dreams! sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Yodel in the Shower Day -- internet generated, and i promise not to tell if you do


Anniversaries Today:

J. Paul Getty, Jr., weds Victoria Holdsworth, 1994Texas becomes the 28th US State, 1845


Birthdays Today:

Jude Law, 1972
Bryan "Dexter" Holland, 1966
Patricia Clarkson, 1959
Paula Poundstone, 1959
Ed Autry, 1954
John Polito, 1950
Ted Danson, 1947
Marianne Faithfull, 1946
Jon Voight, 1938
Mary Tyler Moore, 1936
Klaus Fuchs, 1911
Billy Mitchell, 1879
Pablo Cassals, 1876
William Gladstone, 1809
Andrew Johnson, 1808
Charles Goodyear, 1800


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Thunderball"(Film, UK release), 1965
"The Andersonville Trial"(Play), 1959
"The Adventures of Kathlyn"(Film, first movie serial), 1913


Today in History:

Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church, 1170
The first nautical almanac in US published by Samuel Stearns, Boston, 1782
Gas lights are installed at White House, during the Polk administration, 1848
The first Young Men's Christian Association chapter in the US opens, in Boston, 1851
Emma Snodgrass is arrested in Boston for wearing pants, 1852
The first telegraph ticker used by a brokerage house, Groesbeck & Co, NY, 1867
The Wounded Knee Massacre takes place, 1890
Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically" (radio), 1891
Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty, 1911
The first movie serial, "Adventures of Kathlyn," premieres in Chicago, 1913
Fred P Newton completes longest swim ever (1826 miles), when he swam in the Mississippi River from Ford Dam, Minn, to New Orleans, 1930
Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology, 1959
Filming began on Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in England, 1965
Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees, 1989
Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war, 1996
Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives, 1998
The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct, 2003