And it never did rain.

Because i am a tightwad, i don't use the clothes dryer unless i am desperate.  Instead, i use the back fence, and let the stuff air dry.  If i can't hang things outdoors, i either skip doing a load that day, or i do a smaller load of things i can hang indoors to dry.

So when i woke up yesterday morning to a radar picture of rain moving our way and a prediction of intermittent showers, i skipped laundry.  After all, i thought, i can do it tomorrow before work, and today i have plenty of ironing and a freezer cleaning to keep me busy, as well as the kittens and cooking meals and everything else.

Also, i had to take Kida to the vet to get more advice about her chronic sinusitis.  We are just going to keep her on prednisone and antihistamines for it, as she needs prednisone for her asthma and arthritis anyway.  Unless she has side effects, it should keep her comfortable.

After i got back with her, i did chores and fed kittens, and then decided to tackle the freezer.  As i was getting into the rhythm of it, Little Girl came to me and asked if we could go return her goggles.  We had just bought her new swim goggles the day before her last meet.  Sure enough, even though we got the nice, expensive ones, they leaked, badly.  Knowing she had swim practice later that evening, i dropped what i was doing.

At that moment, i had a feeling of foreboding.  When it came down to it, i didn't want to stop what i was doing, because when i get into a project, and get interrupted and leave the house, it usually doesn't turn out well.

Sure enough, we got to the place where we'd bought the goggles and as i got out and grabbed my sweater (yes, really, even in summer, i get cold everywhere), i felt it snag, snatched it and pushed the door to close.  As i did both of those at the same time, i heard the sickening sound of the doors of Sweetie's vehicle lock, and the click as the door closed.  Drat!

We only have one set of keys to his car.  The door lock is broken and cannot be opened with the keys, they don't turn the lock any more.  The remote lock button doesn't work.  So we just never lock his car.  This means a call to a service that unlocks cars.

Going into the store, which is locally owned and which i had never entered before we bought the goggles the week before, i asked for the number of the door unlocking service.  Then i explained why we had come in, showing them the defect in the goggles and the receipt.

The clerk informed me that they do not do returns or exchanges on defective merchandise.  If you buy it, and it doesn't work or is defective, tough.  Nice policy, right?  Oh, and the owner can't be reached right now, sorry.  The clerk did then call the car unlocking service for me and give them the address, as well as my phone number.  Little Girl and i went outside to wait.

About ten minutes later the phone rang, and i answered.  A voice on the other end said something i couldn't understand, and then the person hung up.  Figuring it was the lock person, i called back right away.  No answer.  A few minutes later, i tried again.  No answer.  A third and fourth attempt also yielded no results.

So i went into another business in the same small shopping center to ask for the number of the lock company.  The nice clerk there gave it to me, and i called.  Explaining what happened, the lady at dispatch said the driver notes were that i didn't answer when he tried to call to say he would be delayed.  At that, i almost lost it, telling her i did answer, he hung up on me, and he now wouldn't answer.  She said she would make a note of it.

Eventually as we waited i got desperate enough to use the restroom that i wandered back into the second shop and asked if they had one i could use.  "Through the double doors in the back and to the right," the nice clerk said, and i went back there to discover the back of the shop was being reconstructed.  The restroom consisted of a door that didn't lock a toilet, places from which a sink and another toilet had been ripped out, and no toilet paper or paper towels or anything.  Being desperate, i used it anyway.

Back outside, we waited and waited, much longer than the time they had originally said it would be.  As i told Little Girl, that's pretty common.  They have to take emergency calls first, such as children locked in cars.  That has happened to me twice, having kids locked in cars with the keys inside, and both times i was blessed, but those are stories for another day.  Eventually the lock guy pulled into the lot and i waved him over.

They are very thorough.  They take down everything except your blood type, so that if the car later proves to have been stolen it's on you, not them.  Ten minutes and $45 later, we were able to get into the car and finally head home.

Home again!  It's all going to get better now, right?  Well, i walk in to screaming kittens and the recycle bin chose that moment to let me know, in no uncertain terms, that the final piece of recyclable straw had been added and it needed to be emptied into the bigger outdoor bin.  As i was emptying it, Sweetie got home, didn't see that i was outside, and locked me out of the house.

So here it is late, i've not gotten the freezer done, not gotten to the ironing, had to have the car unlocked for me, found out a local business doesn't stand behind its merchandise, the kittens are crying, dinner isn't even started, and it never even rained, so i could have done laundry that day.  When Sweetie finally realized it was me out there beating on the door, he let me in and handed me the mail -- bills.

Upon realizing this, i finally had to burst out laughing.  We had leftovers and i made a salad, fed the kittens, and laughed my way through the rest of the evening.

Sometimes so much stuff goes wrong that it's a comedy routine.


Today is

Araw ng Maynila -- Philippines (Manila Day)

Bannockburn Day -- Scotland (decisive battle of the first Scottish War of Independence, led by Robert Bruce)

Burning of the Lamps in Egypt at Sais -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar, a celebration of Isis and Neith (date approximate)

Calcio Fiorentino -- Florence, Italy (reviving 16th century style football in period costumes, through the 28th)

Carabobo Day -- Venezuela (battle commemoration)

Celebration of the Senses -- Wellcat Holidays urges you to enjoy all five (six?) of your senses today

Countryman's Day -- Peru (one of Peru's three Fiestas Patrias Peruanas)

Day of the Caboclo -- Amazonas State, Brazil

Feast of Rahmat (Mercy) -- Baha'i

Flying Saucer Day -- anniversary of Kenneth Arnold's 1947 sighting, while flying near Mt. Rainier, of 9 metallic, circular objects he could not identify

Fors Fortuna -- Ancient Roman Calendar (rites and festival for the goddess of good luck and fortune)

International Fairy Day/Faerie Day -- day for collectors, believers, and artists to share their love for the little folk

Lost Handkerchief Day -- Fairy Calendar

Museum Comes to Life Day -- another fun and funny day someone came up with

National Columnists' Day -- on the fourth Tuesday of June each year, set aside some time to thank your favorite newspaper columnists, whether local or syndicated

National Creamy Pralines Day

St. John the Baptist's Nativity Day and related Midsummer celebrations (Patron of baptism, bird dealers, converts, children with convulsions, epileptics, farriers, French Canadians, lambs, monastic life, motorways, printers, tailors; against convulsions, epilepsy, hail and hailstorms, and spasms; Patron of over 60 cities and countries around the globe)
    Inti Raymi -- Peru (Incan Sun Festival)
    Jaanipaev -- Estonia
    Jani -- Latvia
    Jónsmessa -- Iceland (feast of St. John the Baptist, considered a magical night when cows can speak, seals take on human form, finding magical stones and herbs is propitious, and rolling naked in the dew is healing.)
    Macau Day -- China (celebrating the defeat of Dutch invasion forces in 1622 and paying homage to St. John as the port's Patron Saint)
    Midsummer Day -- England
    National Holiday -- Quebec, Canada (Sant Jean-Baptiste)
    Saint John the Baptist Day -- Andorra
    Saint Jonas Festival or Jonines -- Lithuania
    San Juan -- CT and GA, Spain
    Surinal -- North Korea
    Zuni Buffalo, Corn, and Comanche Dances -- Zuni Native Americans (for fertility of land and people; Vespers is also observed, as San Juan is their Patron Saint)

Swim a Lap Day -- just for fun!

Swing a Kid Day -- if swimming isn't right for you

Western Days -- Elgin, TX, US (music, carnival, parade, live music and more; through Saturday)

Windjammer Days -- Boothbay Harbor, ME, US (the premier maritime event on the coast of Maine, with something for everyone; through tomorrow)


Anniversary Today:

Eton College is founded by Henry VI, 1441


Birthdays Today:

Sherry Stringfield, 1967
Joe Penny, 1956
Nancy Allen, 1950
Phyllis George, , 1949
Peter Weller, 1947
Mick Fleetwood, 1947
Ellison Shoji Onizuka, 1946
Jeff Beck, 1944
Michele Lee, 1942
Claude Chabrol, 1930
John Anthony Ciardi. 1916
Phil Harris, 1904
Jack Dempsey, 1895
Roy O. Disney, 1893
Ambrose Bierce, 1842
Henry Ward Beecher, 1813


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Catch-22(Film), 1970
"Hopalong Cassidy"(TV), 1949


Today in History:

Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces, takes place, 972
A sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion, 1374
John Cabot lands in North America at Newfoundland; the first European
exploration of the region since the Vikings, 1497
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founds Manila, the capital of the Republic of the Philippines, 1571
Samuel de Champlain discovers the mouth of the Saint John River, site of Reversing Falls and the present day city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1604
The colony of New Jersey is founded, 1664
Kingston, Jamaica is founded, 1692
The Premier Grand Lodge of England, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world (now the United Grand Lodge of England), is founded in London, England, 1717
The first republican constitution in France is adopted, 1793
The decisive battle in the war of independence of Venezuela from Spain, the Battle of Carabobo takes place, 1821
First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada, at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français, 1880
The first exhibition of Pablo Picasso's work opens, 1901
Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to get a million dollar contract, 1916
The first airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto begins, 1918
Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Pibulsonggram, the third prime minister, 1939
The Soviet Union makes overland travel between the West with West Berlin impossible, 1948
The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government, 1963
Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud completes his first mission, becoming the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a Payload Specialist, 1985
John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history, 2010
The last known Pinta Island Tortoise, Lonesome George, is found dead in the Galapagos Islands, 2012