Out and Away?

The plan was:

#2 Son would have no classes or work, so he could have the joy of sleeping in and then getting ready for us to leave.

Bigger Girl would take Little Girl to school in Happy the Honda, then go do whatever ti is she does on Friday (i think she goes to the tutoring center, then has fun with her friends, and then goes to work).

Sweetie would take Cicero to have her tires checked, then take #2 Son's car, Humphrey, for an oil change.  After that, he was to pick Little Girl up from school, checking her out early to go get her driver's license.  Then the two of them could go home to pack.

As for me, Bible study at 6:30 am, then high-tail it to the flower shop and see how many deliveries i could get done.

After a route or two, depending on how much they could give me, i would go home in the early afternoon, get stuff packed up and ready, and we'd be gone by 3pm.

Fat chance.

Upon arriving at home, after two successful routes and 22 completed deliveries (yea! over $100 earned!) we were tripping all over ourselves and each other in trying to get ready, and then discovered the worst glitch.  Bigger Girl's old insurance card on Cicero expired on the 13th, and her new one picked up on the 14th.  She only handed Sweetie the new one, so we would have no insurance the first lap of our trip.  (Yes, you have to have both with you.  The one that picks up tomorrow is no good if you get stopped today.)

The Sweetie realized the registration had expired on Cicero, too.

Of course, it was too late to get back to the DMV.

Bigger Girl had to haul herself home in Happy so we could take it, despite the fact that it was too small for the luggage and we hadn't had it vetted for a trip.  She will have to go on Monday and renew the registration.

By the time she got back, and we got it all straight, and we got out on the road, it was 4:30pm.  Because, of course.

And there were four construction zones, because, of course.

And there were 3 accidents, all of them off of the road, for which the traffic came to a complete stop, because, of course.

It was almost 6:30pm before we even crossed into Mississippi, and miles to go before we sleep.

 

Today is:

Bird Mating Season begins -- according to legend, in honor of St. Valentine

Blessing of the Salmon Nets -- Norham, Northumberland, England & North Shields, Northumbria, England (just before midnight, nets are blessed and right after midnight, the first nets of the season are thrown out; anything caught is presented to the officiating vicar)

Carnaval de Barranquilla -- Barranquilla, Spain (four days of pre-Lent celebration and street dances that mostly shut down the city)

Day Sacred to Juno Lupa -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Juno of the Wolf)

Feast of Vali -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (archer god, an Asatru answer to the Valentine celebration, which is really a thinly disguised Lupercalia)

Ferris Wheel Day -- birth anniversary of G.W.G. Ferris, Jr.

Fjortende Februar -- Denmark (Danish lovers send each other snowdrop flowers.)

Galesburg Historical Society Chocolate Festival -- Galesburg, IL, US (home made and commercially made chocolates, all you can eat for the price of the low admission fee; through tomorrow)

International Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day

International Quirkyalone Day -- a day to value your individuality, whether you are partnered or not

League of Women Voter's Day -- US

Library Lovers Day -- for those whose favorite companion is a great book

Lemon Festival -- Menton, French Riviera (through Mar. 4)

National Call In Single Day -- what a lot of men who feel pressured to be romantic on this day wish they could do, i'm sure!

National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day

National Have-a-Heart Day -- to create awareness of the impact of our food choices on the environment, world hunger, animal welfare and human health—especially heart health

National Nest Box Week -- UK; US (begun in the UK, this is a week to build or put up a nest box in your yard to encourage our avian friends and give them safe places to raise their young)
 
National Organ Donor Day -- US, but no matter where you live, consider leaving instructions about this to your loved ones

Quirkyalone Day -- for those who prefer to be single and not dating just for the sake of dating 
 
Race Relations Day -- originally on Lincoln's birth anniversary, now on the day promoting love

Rafik Hairi Memorial Day -- Lebanon

Read to Your Child Day -- to start their love of learning early (and do it daily!)

Sts. Cyril & Methodius' Day (Patrons ecumenism, unity of Eastern and Western Churches; Bohemia; Bulgaria; Czech Republic; Europe; Moravia; the Slavic peoples)

Trifon Zarezan -- Bulgaria (Viticulturists' Day; since Thracian times, a day to celebrate Dionysus and wine)

Valentine's Day (St. Valentine of Rome, Patron of apiarists/beekeepers, betrothed couples, greeting card manufacturers, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, travellers, young people; Bussolengo, Italy; against epilepsy, fainting, plague)



Anniversaries Today:

Jerry Garcia weds Deborah Koons, 1994
US League of Women Voters formed, 1920
Arizona becomes the 48th US state, 1912
Oregon becomes the 33rd US state, 1859


Birthdays Today:

Drew Bledsoe, 1972
Jessica Yu, 1966
Zach Galligan, 1964
Enric Colantoni, 1963
Meg Tilly, 1960
Renee Fleming, 1959
Raymond Joseph Teller, 1948
Gregory Hines, 1946
Carl Bernstein, 1944
Michael Bloomberg, 1942
Andrew Prine, 1936
Florence Henderson, 1934
Vic Morrow, 1932
Hugh Downs, 1921
Mel Allen, 1913
Jimmy Hoffa, 1913
Jack Benny, 1894
George Washington Gale Ferris,Jr., 1859
Winfield Scott Hancock, 1824
Frederick Douglass, 1817
Mary Ann "Aunt Mary" Prout, 1801


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Cloud Nine"(Play), 1978
"The Maltese Falcon"(Publication date), 1930
"Sinbad"(Musical), 1918
"Importance of Being Earnest"(Play), 1895


Today in History:

The annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg make the first known mention of Lithuania, 1009
Approximately 2,000 Jews are burned to death by mobs or forcibly removed from the city of Strasbourg, 1349
Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases the Jews out of Vienna, 1670
The United States Flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones, 1778
James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii, 1779
John Jervis and Horatio Nelson lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar, 1797
The apple parer is patented by Moses Coats of Downington, Pennsylvania, 1803
US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of the US Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is void, 1803
The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio, 1835
In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken, 1849
Esther Hobart Morris is appointed the first female Justice of the Peace in the US, in South Pass City, Wyoming, 1870
A.G. Bell and Elisha Gray both apply for a patent for a telephone; Bell first by only 2 hours, and is ruled the rightful inventor, 1876
The first trainload of California grown fruit, oranges, leaves L.A. for the east,1889
Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections, 1899
The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar, 1918
The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois, 1920
The Bank of England is nationalized, 1946
ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled, 1946
The Knesset (Israeli parliament) convenes for the first time, 1949
Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California, 1961
The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit, 1989
Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system , 1990
Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft becomes first vehicle to land on an asteroid (433 Eros), 2001
Love letters written between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning are published online by Wellesley College and Baylor University, 2012