Feed them cake they actually like it.

The day before yesterday, this was a wall.  Things at the shelter are changing daily.

Now an arch, soon to be a very nice arch, but still rough around the edges.

We are keeping on top of things by labeling everything, and i do mean everything.

We have to know where these are.

Yes, even a special place for the dirty stuff, because we get a lot of that.

Even if you have to write on the masking tape on the wall.

Princess gets her usual special treatment, she is allowed outdoors most of the time in the fenced yard, since the weather has been nice.

The people who work there every day are keeping cheerful under the circumstances of trying to "live in a house and renovate it," and i'm trying to help.  Any time we have a cake we cannot sell for whatever reason, i bring it to them.  It seems to help, but somehow, cake often does.

 

Today is:

Adopt a Goblin Orphan Day -- Fairy Calendar

Blessed Wulfric's Day

Cherry Pie Day

Chinese New Year Parade -- San Francisco, CA, US (North America's largest Chinese community celebrates the Lunar New Year in style)

Clam Chowder Cook-Off -- Santa Cruz, CA, US (if you love clam chowder of any variety, this is the place for you)

Clean Out Your Bookcase Day -- supposedly begun in 1985, but i can't find information on who started it; donate books you don't need any more to a local friends of the library group

Desert Festival -- Jaisalmer, India (three days of local culture, contests, and fun)

Flying Car Day -- the Arrowmobile, the first flying car, patented this day in 1937 (and can you imagine, as bad as driving is, how many accidents we would have if these people were flying around instead?)

Hadaka Matsuri -- Inazawa Cho, Japan (thousands of loincloth-wearing men try to touch the closely guarded Shin-otoko [a man chosen, stripped naked, and shaved totally] as he is on his way to the shrine)

Hoodie Hoo Day (Northern Hemisphere) -- at noon local time, citizens are requested to go outside and yell "Hoodie-Hoo" to chase away winter and call in spring; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Ice Fishing Derby at Hell Creek -- Fort Peck, MT, US (subject to cancellation if there is no ice, so Hell has to freeze over for them to have this tournament!)

Khajuraho Dance Festival -- Khajuraho, India (annual gathering of Indian classical dancers from across the country and abroad; through the 26th)

La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros and Tucson Rodeo -- Tucson, AZ, US (celebrating the Old West heritage; through Feb. 28)

Love Your Pet Day -- a day to pamper pets, like they don't get pampered enough

National Handcuff Day -- yes, they are serious

Saidai-ji Hadaka Matsuri -- Okayama Prefecture, Japan (Naked Festival, in which a Shinto man strips, is completely shaved, then runs through town while thousands of townsmen in loincloths try to touch him while guard's throw cold water on them)

Showa-Shinzan International Yukigassen Tournament -- Japan; snowball fighting (yukigassen) at its best, through tomorrow

St Leo of Catania's Day (a/k/a Leo the Wonderworker, Patron of Rometta, Longi, and Sinagra, Sicily)

Toothpick Day -- first machine used to make them patented this day in 1872

World Day for Social Justice -- UN


Anniversary Today:

John Cleese marries Connie Booth, 1968
US Post Office, 1792 (George Washington signed the act which created it)


Birthdays Today:

Rihanna, 1988
Andrew Shue, 1967
Lili Taylor, 1967
Cindy Crawford, 1966
French Stewart, 1964
Charles Barkley, 1963
Ron Eldard, 1963
James Wilby, 1958
Patty Hearst, 1954
Gordon Brown, 1951
Ivana Trump, 1949
Jennifer O'Neill, 1948
Peter Strauss, 1947
Brenda Blethyn, 1946
Sandy Duncan, 1946
Phil Esposito, 1942
Buffy Sainte-Marie, 1941
Nancy wilson, 1937
Bobby Unser, 1934
Sidney Poitier, 1927
Robert Altman, 1925
Gloria Vanderbilt, 1924
Carl E. Stotz, 1920
Gale Gordon, 1906
Ansel Adams, 1902
Joseph Jefferson, 1829
William Prescott, 1726


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel"(Play), 1963
"Barber of Seville"(Rossini Opera), 1816
"Giulio Cesare in Egitto"(Opera, HWV 17), 1724


Today in History:

Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland so King Christian I can pay his daughter's dowry, 1472
An unnamed comet approaches withing 860,000 miles of Earth, the closest a comet has ever come to our planet, 1491
The first recorded wine auction is held, in London, 1673
The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington, 1792
Austria declares bankruptcy, 1811
Concepcion, Chile, is destroyed by an earthquake, 1835
The US Congress prohibits dueling in the District of Columbia, 1839
Luther Crowell patents a machine to manufacture paper bags, 1872
In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens, 1872
The first minor league baseball association is organised, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1887
King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra, 1913
A new volcano, Paricutin, erupts in a farmer's cornfield in Mexico, 1943
The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate, 1959
While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes, 1962
Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts, 1965
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands, 1976
Texas industrialist Ross Perot's U.S. presidential campaign begins, 1992
Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout, 2005
Estonia becomes the first country in the world to establish a national electric car charging network , with cars charging in less than 30 minutes, 2013