Smart, but not as much common sense as they could have.

"Mom, guess what happened at work today!"  Bigger Girl will sometimes come home and say that almost before the door is open.

My usual answer is, Since i'll never guess, you'll have to just tell me.

"Well, today was the day they were supposed to run the mares from the front pasture to the back pasture.  These are the pregnant mares, and they wanted them closer where they could watch them as they get close to foaling.  And guess what!  One of them had already had her foal, and it's a month early!  They didn't notice it until after they ran them all, too!  So the little thing had to take a long run the day he was born!"

Well, i said, they are made to run, and in the wild, he'd have to run from predators as early as the day he was born, so he should be fine.

"Yes, but they are all worried about him.  They were fussing about whether the mother has enough milk, and she had so much he couldn't drink it all!  They are also upset she hasn't passed the placenta yet, but it's her first time to foal, so it can take up to 24 hours."

Can it, now? i asked.  Well, what have they decided to name this one?

"Since it was Ms. Sonnie's birthday, they said she could name it.  And she said, since it came early, she would name it 'Early'!  So that's its name, Early!"

That's cute, i said.  And the mom will probably be fine.  He might have trouble being born so early.

"Well, Felipe, who is the main stable hand there and has been around horses for 30 years, says they need to quit worrying.  The foal is eating, and he's looking good, and the mare isn't hemorrhaging, and she's eating, so there's nothing to worry about.

"Those scientists may be smart, and they may know a lot about the science of horse genes, but they need to listen to the stable hands more.  Those are the guys who know what's up.  If Felipe says to quit worrying, they need to quit!"

You're right, i noted, and they may be smart, but they don't have as much common sense about it as the men who work directly with the horses day to day.

"Yep!  Oh, and Felipe says this new one has enough quarter horse in him, and has that perfect black stripe down the back, he's going to be much sought after for stud when he grows up!"

Good for him, i said drily.

"And I like my friends at work, but all of them being scientists, they need to get more common horse sense!" she said with a mischievous grin.  


Today is

Air Conditioner Day -- the first modern electrical air conditioning unit, invented by William Carrier, began working on this day in 1902

Constitution Day -- South Korea

Feast of St. Kenelm -- saint mentioned in "The Nun's Priest's Tale" of The Canterbury Takes

Feast of the Clockless NowEver -- can't find any confirmation on what this one is, but it sounds like fun if  i don't have to bother with a clock or schedule

Festival for Victoria and Virtus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of victory and god of bravery in warfare)

Get To Know Your Customers Day -- third Thursday of each quarter

Gion Matsuri -- Yakasa Shrine, Kyoto, Japan (one of the largest and best Gion festivals)

Hot Dog Night -- Luverne, MN, US (free hot dogs to all comers!)

King Letsie III's Birthday -- Lesotho

National Peach Ice Cream Day

Petal-Hopping for Hopeless Cases -- Fairy Calendar

St. Alexius Day (Patron of Alexians, beggars, belt makers, nurses, pilgrims, travellers)

Virginia Lake Festival -- Clarksville, VA, US (fun for the family, including tethered hot air balloon rides; through Saturday)

Wear Crazy Socks to Work Day -- at your own risk

World Day for International Justice

Wrong Way Corrigan Day -- anniversary of the flight of Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan, who was supposedly heading for California from New York and ended up in Ireland instead

Yellow Pig Day -- mathematics festivals at various universities, celebrating the number 17 and the yellow pig with 17 eyelashes, created by mathematicians Michael Spivak and David C. Kelly


Birthdays Today

Tash Hamilton, 1982
Alex Winter, 1965
Dawn Upshaw, 1960
Mark Burnett, 1960
Aaron Lansky, 1955
J. Michael Straczynski, 1954
David Hasselhoff, 1952
Phoebe Snow, 1952
Lucie Arnaz, 1951
Camilla Parker Bowles, 1947
Diahann Carroll, 1935
Donald Sutherland, 1934
Phyllis Diller, 1917
Art Linkletter, 1912
James Cagney, 1899
Berenice Abbott, 1898
Erle Stanley Gardner, 1889
John Jacob Astor, 1763
Elbridge Thomas Gerry, 1744
Isaac Watts, 1674


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Yellow Submarine(Animated film), 1968
Punch(Magazine, first publication), 1841


Today in History

Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians, the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world, 180
Zhu Di, better known by his era name as the Yongle Emperor, assumes the throne over the Ming Dynasty of China, 1402
Catherine II (the Great) becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia, 1762
Londoner Thomas Saint patented the first sewing machine, 1790
The first issue of Punch magazine was published, England, 1841
The Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established in Boston as the first dental school in the U.S, 1867
On the orders of the Bolshevik Party carried out by Cheka, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia, 1918
The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; 5 lives are lost, 1918
An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain begins the Spanish Civil War, 1936
After being denied permission to make a transatlantic crossing, Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the "wrong way" to Ireland and becomes known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan, 1928
Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California, 1955
An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations, 1975
The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team, 1976
The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business, 1997
A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 3,183, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless, 1998
A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crime against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, 1998
South Korea develops a long range cruise missile, 2010
Astronauts, Sunita Williams of the United States, Yuri Malenchenko of Russia and Aki Hoshide of Japan, arrive at the International Space Station for a three-month long mission, 2012
In an effort to curb obesity rates, the United Arab Emirates offers its citizens one gram of gold for every kilogram of weight they lose, 2013