All the news, plus, it's not (and that's not news).

You know it is hot when you get to the shelter and begin your shift (after signing in and taking a sad look at all the cats now on medication, we have the sniffles going around and a few with eye infections) by filling the water pitcher for water changing.

Then you take the full pitcher, and the one set aside to pour the dirty water from the bowls into, and go to the first kitten cage.  Pick up the water bowl and pour out the water, then realize, when pouring in the fresh stuff, that the water straight from the cold tap is warmer than what has been sitting in their bowls in the air conditioning!  It's hot out there when the cold water from the tap is warm, and the water sitting in the bowls is cold.

You know it's hot when you go to the outdoor utility room and you don't realize the dryer is finished because of the heat in there; it's usually only that hot when the dryer is running.

You know it's hot when SissyCat (a/k/a Tripod) starts panting before she is done eating grass and you have to bring her in with the promise to let her have more grass later, after nightfall.

 

You know it's hot when you are tempted to bring pot holders with you to the car to use in gripping the steering wheel until the air conditioning kicks in.

You really know it's hot, though, when i feel it, because i am almost always cold.

In other news, HopeCat was not pleased yesterday to find herself being shoved into a carrier, as she knows that nothing good ever happens when you are shoved into a carrier.  She was already cranky at not being fed, and then the carrier, and the vet removed the cyst from above her eye.

When i asked Dr. Bea how it went, she said it came out very easily, and i told her that was great.  A doctor i once knew said, "If it comes out easily, it's not cancer.  Cancer holds on, benign stuff falls out."  She laughed and agreed that most of the time it's true.

And in other good news, Little Girl now has her schedule set so she gets off school every day at 1pm.  Not a bad way to finish out high school.

Today is:

America's Cup Day -- the first America's Cup was won this date in 1851 by the yacht America

Bartletide -- West Witton, Yorkshire Dales, UK (a/k/a Burning Bartle, a ceremony in which a straw effigy of Owd Bartle, a sheep theif of yore, is paraded, then burned after sunset, as a warning to the light fingered; always on the Saturday nearest St. Bartholemew's Day, which is August 24)

Be an Angel Day -- Sponsored by Angel Heights Healing Center, encouraging people to be a blessing and perform an act of service for someone

Corvette Crossroads Auto Show -- Mackinaw City, MI, US (show that includes a Corvette parade across the Mackinaw Bridge; through tomorrow)

Country Fair and Auction -- McHenry, MD, US (sponsored by the local Mennonite churches, a good old-fashioned time of family fun)

De Ducasse -- Ath, Belgium (Giants of Ath Festival or Wedding of the Giants, a celebration since medieval times in which "Goliath" marries, then goes to do battle with David; through tomorrow)

Eat a Peach Day

Feast of the Queenship of Mary & Immaculate Heart of Mary -- Catholic Christians

Ferret Buckeye Bash -- Colombus, OH, US (ferret show)

Flag Day -- Russia

Hoodie Hoo Day, Southern Hemisphere -- Wellcat Holidays says to go outside at noon and call "Hoodie Hoo" to chase away winter and call spring
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
International Tongue Twister Contest -- Logic Puzzle Museum, Burlington, WI, US (an afternoon of fun, come to watch or try your hand at the tongue twisters, with a gift for everyone, and the prize of a portion of a peck of pickled peppers for the winner!)

Leadville Trail 100 Ultramarathon -- Leadville, CO, US (race 100 of the toughest miles in the country through the Rocky Mountains beginning at 4am; you have 30 hours to complete the course to the ghost town of Winfield and back)

Minnesota Renaissance Festival -- Shakopee, MN, US (one of the countries largest and finest; weekends through the beginning of October)

National Honey Bee Day -- US (this year's theme is Ban Ignorance - Not Honey Bees)

National Spumoni Day (I don't think I've had really great spumoni since I went to Italy all those years ago -- nothing like getting things at the source.)

National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day -- US (started by a vet who declared today a cat's only day for his practice, so his feline patients wouldn't be upset by any dogs in the place; now many vets will only schedule cats on a particular day)

Rumpleskunkskin's Wedding Anniversary -- Fairy Calendar (Goblin celebration)

Saddleworth Rushcart -- Saddleworth, West Yorkshire, England (similar to rushbearing, a cart goes through the area with Morris men, the bounds of the area are checked for enemy breaches, rushes are gathered to line the church floor, and there is celebrating, gurning, wrestling, singing, and a final procession tomorrow to St. Chad's Church at Uppermill for the 11am service)

Sidewalk Art Festival -- Portland, ME, US

St. Symphorian's Day (Patron of children, students; Autun, France; against eye problems, syphilis)

Vuelta a Espana -- Spain (the third of cyclings' prestigious Grand Tours; through Sept. 13)


Anniversary Today:

Henry Leland founds the Cadillac Motor Company, 1902


Birthdays Today:

Kristin Wiig, 1973
Giada De Laurentiis, 1970
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, 1967
Tori Amos, 1963
Cindy Williams, 1947
Steve Kroft, 1945
Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells, 1941
Valerie Harper, 1940
Carl Yastrzemski, 1939
E. Annie Proulx, 1935
Norman Schwarzkopf, 1934
Gerald Paul Carr, 1932
Ray Bradbury, 1920
John Lee Hooker, 1917
Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1908
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl, 1902
George Herriman, 1880
Dorothy Parker, 1893
Claude Debussy, 1862
Archibald MacNeal Willard, 1836
Samuel Pierpont Langley, 1834
Virginia Clemm Poe, 1822
St. Anthony of Padua, 1195


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Later with Bob Costas"(TV), 1988


Today in History:

St. Columba reports seeing a monster in Loch Ness, 565
The Battle of Bosworth Field, in which King Richard III is killed and his forces defeated by Henry VII, 1485
Madras, India (now called Chennai) is founded by the British East India company on land purchased from the local Nayak rulers, 1639
Jacob Barsimon, the first Jewish immigrant to what would become US territory, arrives in New Amsterdam/Manhattan, 1654
The Newport, RI newspaper, Mercury, becomes the first in the US to hire a female editor, Ann Franklin, 1762
Austria laundches pilotless balloons against the Italian city of Venice, thus staging the first air raid in history, 1849
Gold discovered in Australia, 1851
12 nations sign the First Geneva Convention and the Red Cross is formed, 1864
William Shepphard patents the first liquid soap, 1885
Founding of the Cadillac Motor Company, 1902
President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first US chief executive to ride in an automobile, 1902
The first Victor Victrola is manufactured, 1906
The Mona Lisa is stolen, 1911 (recovered 2 years later)
Althea Gibson becomes the first black competitor in international tennis, 1950
Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogota, Colombia, becoming the first pope to visit Latin America, 1968
Rhodesia is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies, 1972
The first ring of Neptune is discovered, 1989
A version of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway, 2004
The Storm botnet, a botnet created by the Storm Worm, sends out a record 57 million e-mails in one day, 2007