Games Kids Play

From where i was sitting on the floor feeding kittens, all i could see was that Festus was carrying a box, a rather large box.

Festus, what are you bringing into my house? i asked.

"Well, it's nothing that explodes, causes fires, or is really dangerous," he said, somewhat evasively.

As i turned a bit more, i could see a computer cord hanging out of it, and i know he's a computer genius.  He and his father build all of their own, and he's come in handy a couple of times with ours.

Okay, i said, and turned back to feeding the kittens.  Somehow i couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it, but in the course of cooking dinner and attending prayer service and all the other stuff of the day, i forgot about it.

Until i got home from prayer service.  Sweetie let me use his car, as #2 Son takes the Jalopy to school in the evenings.  As i got out, i saw something fly over my head and land at my feet with a clank.

It was a soda can.  Turning to look behind me, i noticed Festus, looking sheepish.  He had a tennis racquet in his hand.  Looking the other direction, there was Young Jacob with another, and Little Girl laughing fit to be tied.

So it turned out the box did have his computer so that they could set up a three way competition game with our computer and an old laptop.  It also contained two tennis racquets and an empty soda can, so they could play their own form of tennis, or maybe badminton, using Bigger Girl's car, Cicero, as the net.

Around here, somehow, there's always more than meets the eye.


Today is:

Africa Scout Day -- Africa (celebration of all Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in Africa)

Anniversary of the Election of Pope Francis

Ear Muff Day -- invented by Chester Greenwood in 1873, when he was only 15; if you need them today, keep a good thought for Chester

Good Samaritan Involvement Day -- emphasizing the importance of unselfish aid to others

Kasuga Matsuri -- Kasuga Grand Shrine, Nara, Japan (Monkey Festival)

K-9 Veterans Day -- US (on the day in 1942 the US Army K-9 Corps was established)

Louisiana Sportsmen's Show and Festival -- Gonzales, LA, US (boat show for NOLA, BR, and the Gulf Coast, and includes a jambalaya cook off; through Sunday)

National Coconut Tort Day

National Jewel Day -- for no other reason than that someone who liked jewels wanted a holiday for them

National Open An Umbrella Indoors Day -- an experiment in whether or not bad luck ensues

Saint Ansovinus of Camerino (Patron protector of crops)

Sticking Very Close Together for Fairies of the Fourth and Fifth Flights -- Fairy Calendar

Uranus Day -- the planet was discovered this day in 1781

World Kidney Day -- www.worldkidneyday.org



Birthdays Today:

Emile Hirsch, 1985
Rachael Bella, 1984
Will Clark, 1964
Adam Clayton, 1960
Glenne Headly, 1957
Dana Delany, 1956
Deborah Raffin, 1953
Charo, 1951
William H. Macy, 1950
Neil Sedaka, 1939
Helen "Callaghan" Candaele Saint Aubin, 1929
William Casey, 1913
L. Ron Hubbard. 1911
Sammy Kaye, 1910
Walter Annenberg, 1908
Percival Lowell, 1855
Lorenzo Delmonico, 1813
Joseph Priestly, 1733


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Larry King Show"(TV), 1983
"Same Time, Next Year"(Play), 1975
"Brigadoon"(Musical), 1947
"Three Musketeers"(Musical), 1928
"The Pink Lady"(Musical), 1911
"Marie Magdalena"(Opera), 1846
"Médée"(Opera), 1797


Today in History:

Twelfth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 607
Spanish explorer Cortez lands in Mexico, 1519
The Spanish fleet occupies Djerba, at Tripoli, 1560
Cambridge College is renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard, 1639
Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam, 1656
Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000, 1677
The twenty-seventh recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 1759
William Herschel discovers Uranus, 1781
The Uncle Sam cartoon figure makes its debut in the NY Lantern weekly, 1852
The US Senate begins Pres Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial, 1868
Oxford defeats Cambridge in their first golf match, 1878
The Siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins, Madhist Sudanese against the Egyptian, British, and loyalist Sudanese forces, 1884
In France the length of the workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours by law, 1900
Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China, 1921
A law is passed in the US state of Tennessee prohibiting the teaching of evolution, 1925
Clyde Tombaugh announces the discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory, 1930
Rotaract begins as a youth program of Rotary International, 1968
Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module, 1969
The Seikan Tunnel, the longest undersea tunnel in the world, opens between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan, 1988
India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader, 1997
Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time, 2008
A Harvard Medical School study claims that red meat increases the risk of death and has additional negative health implications, 2012
In Greenland, the Siumut party wins the parliamentary election, setting up Aleqa Hammond to become the country's first female Prime Minister, 2013