Could be worse...

...could be raining.  Right?

First, the Jalopy goes out while #2 Son is in the middle of nowhere on the interstate.  We are slowly working out a way to get it fixed, but every step is slow as we trace down an engine we can afford, find a way to have it delivered, and etc.  Then will come paying for installation, and we are blessed that the wonderful Kevin and Lenny are willing to work with us on that part.

Then, there's the call the other day, again from #2 Son, that he had locked the keys to the Honda in the car.  He was, of course, out at his school over in the next parish, and we don't have a spare set because #1 Son lost them a couple of years ago.  The teacher paid for the lock people to come out and get it open, and i sent her a check the next day, so at least we didn't have to drive out there to take care of it ourselves.  Now, however, the remote doesn't work.  The lock guy must have messed up something, and there's no way we are going to get it fixed.  The car can, therefore, no longer be locked at all.

Add to it, Bigger Girl decided to take the scenic route the other day to go pick Sweetie up from work.  Of course, she was watching the ducks on the lake and not her speed.  She now has her first speeding ticket under her belt.  The good thing is, though, that because it's her first, she can take the class and get it erased.  We still have to deal with all of the hassle, though, and she's distraught about it.

All these things could be worse, and if i'm ever tempted to be upset, i just have to think of Little Girl's friend Anne.

Over a year ago, Anne stepped off of the school bus and somehow stepped down wrong, and injured her foot.  Several doctors later, they still couldn't figure out what was wrong, until they got an orthopedist who realized she needed surgery to repair a ligament.  She had the surgery, and was moving around on crutches and having physical therapy, with high hopes that she would make a full recovery.

Her foot will still probably fully recover.  However, the other day she was crutching through the kitchen where the dogs had spilled some water from their bowl, and down she went.  She broke her arm and seriously jammed her wrist and may need surgery, as her hand is losing feeling and circulation.

No matter how badly you think you have it, there's always someone in more need for whom to pray.


Today is:

Balloon Ascension Day / Aviation in America Day -- the first manned free balloon flight in the US was on this date in 1793 at Philadelphia

Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival -- Chicago, IL, US (12th annual, celebrating the best in local and national sketch comedy; through the 19th)

Feast of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene -- Quiapo District, Manila, Philippines (culmination of the celebrations; a 400 year old Catholic procession with a black life-sized wooden statue of Jesus)

Festival of the Agonalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (gifts given to Janus)

Hatsu-Ichi -- Maebashi, Japan (a daruma -- good luck doll -- market, to start the year off right)

"I Will Stay" Day -- Brazil (anniversary of the start of the Independence Movement in 1922)

National Apricot Day

Peace Agreement Day -- South Sudan

Positively Penguins Day -- a day to celebrate all things penguin

Republic Day -- Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Static Cling/Static Electricity Day -- on some sites, listed as April 26; i can only ask why it's listed anywhere for any reason

St. Marciana's Day (Patron of those with wounds)

Stepfather's Day -- not official, but it should be, there are some great stepfathers out there

Stuffed Animal Laundry Day -- give that old bear a bath!

Toka Ebisu -- Japan (parades and shrine rituals through Japan, but especially in Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka; through the 11th)

Ultimate Fishing Show -- Detroit, MI, US (through Sunday)

Winterskol -- Aspen, Colorado (Aspen's annual "toast to winter", through Sunday)


Anniversaries Today:

Connecticut becomes the 5th US State, 1788


Birthdays Today:

Sergio Garcia, 1980
Dave Matthews, 1967
Joely Richardson, 1965
Mark Martin, 1959
Imelda Staunton, 1956
J.K. Simmons, 1955
Crystal Gayle, 1951
Jimmy Page, 1944
Joan Baez, 1941
Susannah York, 1941
Byron Barlett "Bart" Starr, 1934
Bob Denver, 1935
Judith Krantz, 1928
Lee Van Cleef, 1925
Les Paul, 1915
Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick), 1914
Richard Nixon, 1913
Simone De Beauvoir, 1908
Chic Young, 1901
Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, 1859
Gracie Fields, 1898


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"It Takes a Thief"(TV), 1968
"Rawhide"(TV), 1959
"Dear Abby"(newspaper column), 1956
"Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze"(Film), 1894


Today in History:

Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, 475
Seven hundred Jews, believed to be causing the Black Death, are burned in their homes in Basel, Switzerland, 1349
The first sighting of manatees by a European (Columbus), 1493
Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London, 1768
The first hot-air balloon flight in the US lifts off in Philadelphia, 1793
Income Tax is introduced in the UK (to fund the war against Napoleon), 1799
Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral, 1806
Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery, 1816
The Daguerrotype photo process is announced at French Academy of Science, 1839
Thomas Henderson makes the first measure of stellar parallax, of Alpha Centauri, 1839
The Astor Library opens in NYC, 1854
The first hostilities of the Civil War, at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, 1861
The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow, 1880
New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts, 1894
Alfred Tennyson's son, Hallam, the Second Baron Tennyson, becomes the second Governor General of Australia, 1903
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., the first historically black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity to be officially recognized at Howard University is founded, 1914
The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated, 1916
Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogiro (helicopter) flight, Spain, 1923
A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Quebec, Montreal, kills 78 children, 1927
Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians, 1964
Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is succeeded by Rawhi Fattouh, 2005
Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group sign a peace agreement in Naivasha, Kenya, 2005