Summer Days: A Six Sentence Story

Pulling up to the red light with brakes squealing, she threw the car into park and everyone spilled out in a red light fire drill.

As they ran around the car and hopped into different seats, she popped the trunk and grabbed her CD box, getting back to her own place just in time for the light to turn green.  The CD box had landed in the shotgun seat where she had thrown it in her haste to get the car moving again, and so her cousin picked out the next CD to put in the player.

When their favorite song came up, they rolled the windows down, cranked the music louder, and sang along, neither noticing nor caring what they looked or sounded like.  Arriving at the movie theater, they fairly danced across the parking lot, anticipating popcorn and the latest release, knowing that afterward they would all spend the night at one of their houses, staying up to talk and eat and laugh until dawn.

Four high school teens, let loose from school for the summer, were going to make the most of their time.

Linking up with Uncharted Blog and Six Sentence Stories, where the cue is Drill.


Today is:

Aizen Matsuri -- Shoman-in Temple, Osaka, Japan (celebration of Aizen Myo-oh, greatest of the 8 Buddhist guardian gods, and is also called the Yakuta Festival; through July 2)

Armed Forces Day -- Guatemala

Crab Races -- Fairy Calendar (Pixies, Elves, and some Fairies)

Day of Aestas -- Ancient Roman Calendar (culmination of the festival that begins the summer)

Dixon Petunia Festival: The Pink. The Proud. The Petunias. -- Dixon, IL, US (food, entertainment, fun, and petunias! through Monday)

Freedom Days -- Farmington, NM, US (the Four Corners region celebrates freedom and The 4th in a big way; through Monday)

Feast of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome -- remembrance of the first Christians killed in Rome by order of Nero as scapegoats for the fire in Rome

General Prayer Day -- Central African Republic

Independence Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire)(1960)

Lailat al Kadr (Lailat al Qadr) -- Islam (Night of Destiny; begins at sundown, through sundown tomorrow, although local observances may vary)

Leap Second Time Adjustment Day -- if one is needed

Meteor Day -- because of the Tuskunga Event

National Bomb Pop Day -- on the Thursday in June right before US Independence Day, to kick off the celebration with the original red, white, and blue bomb pops

National Corvette Day -- US (vehicle introduced this day in 1953)

National Handshake Day -- US; sponsored by professional development companies on the last Thursday in June

National Ice Cream Soda Day

Pridie Kalendas July (Day Before the Kalends of July) -- Ancient Roman Calendar (a day when dies comitiales -- citizen committees -- voted on political and criminal matters)

Revolution Day -- Sudan(1989)

Roswell UFO Days -- Roswell, NM, US (tons of stuff for the serious and those who just want to have fun with the whole concept; through Sunday)

St. Theobald of Provins' day (Patron of bachelors)

Tech Support Appreciation Day -- if you can get a hold of them, they can be great to have around

Tom Sawyer Days -- Hannibal, MO, US (frog jumping, mud volleyball, Tom and Becky Contest; parade, Tomboy Sawyer Contest, fireworks, and more, with the highlight being the National Fence Painting Contest; through Monday)

Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival -- Greensburg, PA, US (multicultural celebration of food, fine arts, handicrafts, and music from many nations; through Sunday)


Anniversary Today:

Greg Allman marries Cher, 1975


Birthdays Today:

Michael Phelps, 1985
Fantasia Barrino, 1984
Ralf Schumacher, 1975
Michael Gerard (Mike) Tyson, 1966
Rupert Graves, 1963
Vincent D’Onofrio, 1959
David Alan Grier, 56, 1955
Leonard Whiting, 1950
Patricia Schroeder, 1940
Nancy Dussault, 1936
Harry Blackstone, Jr., 1934
Susan Hayward, 1919
Lena Horne, 1917
Czeslaw Milosz, 1911
William Almon Wheeler, 1819


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Johnny Carson Show"(TV), 1955
"Guiding Light"(TV), 1947
"Brenda Starr, Reporter"(Comic strip), 1940



Today in History:

Jews are expelled from Berne Switzerland, 1294
The Spaniards are expelled from Tenochtitlan, 1520
Native American forces under Blue Jacket attack Fort Recovery, Ohio, 1794
French  acrobat  Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope, 1859
The 1860 Oxford evolution debate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History takes place, 1860
The first transcontinental train trip across Canada departs from Montreal; it arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia on July 4, 1886
Albert Einstein publishes the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", in which he introduces special relativity, 1905
The Tunguska event, probably caused by a meteor or comet fragment, occurs in remote Siberia, 1908
The Regina Cyclone hits Regina, Saskatchewan, killing 28; it remains Canada's deadliest tornado event, 1912
Congo gains independence from Belgium, 1960
The first leap second is added to the UTC  time system, 1972
The Royal Canadian Mint introduces the $1 coin, known as the Loonie, 1987
East Germany and West Germany merge their economies, 1990
The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China, 1997
After nearly 7 years in space, the Cassini spacecraft becomes the first to orbit the planet Saturn, 2004
The Molecule of the Year 2011 is announced, BMP7 (Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7), a potential therapeutic utility for recurrent metastatic disease, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: How do you know...

you are keeping house for a woman whose husband is an engineer?

When he buys her a new washer and dryer, he has already made sure he will never let the hoses on the washer go bad.

A masking tape note to "change hoses 2021", in five years, as manufacturers recommend.

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.



Today is:

Autonomy Day -- French Polynesia

Camera Day -- internet generated, but a fun one to celebrate

Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul -- Christian
     St. Paul, Patron of Greece, Malta, rope makers, tentmakers, upholsterers
     St. Peter, Patron of clockmakers, fishermen, Russia; against fever, foot trouble, wolves
     a recognized holiday in Chile; Holy See; Italy; Malta[l-Imnarja]; Peru; GR and TI, Switzerland; Wallis and Fortuna
     Haro Wine Festival -- Haro, LaRioja, Spain (a festival that includes a Battle of Wines, where wine is thrown from buckets at opposing teams; on the feast day of the city's patron, San Pedro)
     Rat-Catcher's Day -- often cited because some of the earliest legends of the Pied Piper claim he took the children on the Feast Day of Sts. Peter and Paul

Hug Holiday -- while the National Hug Holiday Week has been moved to the beginning of May, this is the original day, and was for quite a while, so go give someone a big hug!

Independence Day -- Seychelles

National Almond Butter Crunch Day

Oharai/Grand Purification Festival -- Shinto

Runic Half-month Feoh (wealth) commences

Smithsonian Folklife Festival -- Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., US (through Sunday, then again July 7-10; a model of research-based presentations of contemporary living cultural traditions of people around the world)

Waffle Iron Day -- don't know why today, but it's a great gadget, and if you have one, pull it out and use it today

Wicked Fairies Summer Debate -- Fairy Calendar (i'd love to hear this!)


Birthdays Today:

Prince Aristide Stavros of Greece and Denmark, 2008
Amanda Donohoe, 1962
Sharon Lawrence, 1962
Fred Grandy, 1948
Richard Lewis, 1947
Gary Busey, 1944
Robert Evans, 1930
Ray Harryhausen, 1920
Slim Pickens, 1919
Bernard Herrmann, 1911
Nelson Eddy, 1901
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, 1900
James Van Der Zee, 1886
William James Mayo, 1863
George Washington Goethals, 1858
Julia Clifford Lathrop, 1858


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Moonraker(Film), 1979


Today in History:

An Irish monastic chronicler records a solar eclipse, 512
Jacques Cartier makes the European discovery of Prince Edward Island, 1534
The Globe Theatre in London, England burns to the ground, 1613
Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario, 1786
Coal is discovered on Vancouver Island, 1850
Ninety-nine people are killed in Canada's worst railway disaster near St-Hilaire, Quebec, 1864
France annexes Tahiti, 1880
The first known recording of classical music, Handel's "Israel in Egypt", is made on a wax cylinder, 1888
Street railway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, commences operation, 1891
Doukhobors burn their weapons as a protest against conscription by the Tsarist Russian government, 1895
France grants 1 km² at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes," 1922
Joseph-Armand Bombardier of Canada receives a patent for sprocket and track traction system used in snow vehicles, 1937
Isabel Perón is sworn in as the first female President of Argentina, 1974
The Seychelles  become independent from the United Kingdom, 1976
The space shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir Space Station for the first time, 1995
Two car bombs are found at Piccadilly Circus, in the heart of London, 2007
News that European Union members agree on a deal to help some struggling Eurozone members causes world stock markets to soar, 2012

Where in the World to Go Next? A Tuesday Coffee Chat

Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week she asks the question, What journey do you most want to take?   It can be a geographical place, an emotional or spiritual quest, or even a creative pursuit. 

There's a part of me that wants to be a homebody, and a part of me that wants to see the country and then the world.

The part that wants to be a homebody would love to have enough money to repair our very-sadly-in-need-of-many-things home, fix it up so the foundation trouble doesn't matter, the main floor has a restroom, and it would be simple, somewhat minimalistic, and easy to live in.

Unlike the current lived-in-by-a-tornado look it tends to have, i would take a journey toward a home that i could come home to after being on the road, and not have to worry about what went wrong this time.

In fact, if i had enough funds, i'd buy another house, move what i want to keep into it, empty and redo this one, and move back in.  The second house could then be a rental property or one of the children could live in it.

Hey, if i'm going to dream, i might as well dream big, right?

Beyond that, i want to someday get in a small RV or camper or even one of those tiny, build it yourself houses on wheels and just go.  In summer, i'd head to cooler locations, in winter, i'd be where the weather is warm and beautiful.

My itinerary would be based on which friends i wanted to go visit where at what time of year, or what historical sight i wanted to see, or just whatever caught my fancy at the moment.  Maybe once in a while i would ask myself where do i want to go next, throw a dart at a map on the wall, and just head there!

It would be nice to drive to Canada, and Alaska, and lots of points in between, and when i'm tired of driving, take a cruise or two or three and see Europe again.

Yes, i also want to visit Australia and New Zealand.

A life where i could be home when i want, and travel when and where i want, and simply enjoy visiting and getting to know people from anywhere and everywhere i go appeals to me.

Maybe someday i'll get to do some travel beyond Florida every June and going to see my friends on my sanity retreat every September/October.

Until then, i'm going to keep dreaming.

Today is:

Constitution day -- Ukraine

Festival of Terrible Poetry -- according to The Daily Bleed, and since there is some hilarious, if terrible, poetry out there, go find some, and bust a gut

Insurance Awareness Day -- now who do you think invented that!?!

International Body Piercing Day -- on the birthday of James Mark "Jim" Ward, "the granddaddy of the modern body piercing movement" 

International CAPS LOCK DAY -- a parody holiday created by Derek Arnold, a user on Metafilter, in 2000

Mnarja / L-Imnarja Festival begins -- Buskett Gardens, Malta (folk festival for Sts. Peter and Paul, begins this evening and continues through the 29th)

National Ceviche Day

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 Tapioca Day

Paul Bunyan Day -- the tall tale hero of the lumberjacks; celebrated at different times in some parts of the country, but most sites cite this date

Ra goes forth to propitiate the Nun -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Stonewall Rebellion Day -- now seen as the start of the gay liberation movement in 1969

St. Irenaeus' Day (Patron of Mobile, Alabama)

St. Paul's Feast -- Kato Paphos, Cyprus (religious festivities with the archbishop officiating and a procession of the icon of St. Paul through the streets, through tomorrow)

St. Peter's Eve -- English Christian tradition, night of bonfires and continuation of midsummer celebrations

Thanksgiving for Useful Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Vidovdan (Festival for St. Vitus) -- Eastern Orthodox Christian, based on the traditional Julian Calendar date
     a recognized holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina


Anniversaries Today:

Harry S. Truman marries Bess Wallace, 1919


Birthdays Today:

Kellie Pickler, 1986
Steve Burton, 1970
Danielle Brisebois, 1969
John Cusack, 1966
Mary Stuart Masterson, 1966
Mark Grace, 1964
John Elway, 1960
Thomas Hampson, 1955
Alice Krige, 1954
Kathy Bates, 1948
Gilda Radner, 1946
Bruce Davison, 1946
Turkan Soray, 1945
Pat Morita, 1932
Mel Brooks, 1926
Maria Goeppert Mayer, 1906
Richard Rodgers, 1902
Clara Louise Maass, 1876
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712
John Wesley, 1703
Peter Paul Rubens, 1577
Henry VIII, King of England, 1491


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Nutty Professor(Film), 1996
"Amos 'n' Andy"(TV), 1951
"Quiz Kids"(Radio), 1940


Today in History:

Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul, 1098
Ottomans defeat Serbian army in the bloody Battle of Kosovo, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of Southeastern Europe, 1389
Guadeloupe becomes a French colony, 1635
The coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom, 1838
The Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris premieres the ballet Giselle, 1841
The first conformation dog show is held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, 1859
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I, 1914
The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, formally ending World War I, 1919
The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces, 1922
Israel annexes East Jerusalem, 1967
COMECON, as part of the last vestige of the Soviet Bloc, is formally disbanded, followed by the Warsaw pact 3 days later, 1991
Slobodan Milosevic is deported to ICTY to stand trial, 2001
The Republic of Montenegro is admitted as the 192nd Member of the United Nations, 2006
The U.N. reports 10 million people are effected by the worst drought in 60 years, 2011

Awww Monday: Home Sweet Home

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Someone decided the cover for our porch light would make a good house:

It's a nice little nest!

Today is:

Canadian Multiculturalism Day -- Canada

Day of National Unity -- Tajikistan

Day of Turkmen Workers of Culture and Art -- Turkmenistan

Day Sacred to the Lares -- Ancient Roman Calendar (personal household gods); also
     Festival of Jupiter Stator -- Jupiter, Stayer of the Rout, god who helped soldiers especially to stand their ground
     Initium Aestatis -- three day festival for the goddess of summer, which season they saw as beginning on this day

Decide to Be Married Day -- sponsored by Barbara Gaughen-Muller; to focus n the joy of couples deciding to be married

Discovery Day -- NL, Canada

Findle-Fritter's Stoat Wheedling Event -- Fairy Calendar

"Happy Birthday to You" Day -- tune composed this day in 1859

Independence Day / National Day -- Djibouti

Industrial Workers of The World Day -- founded this day in 1905

Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon -- Wimbledon, England (through July 10)

Martyrdom of Joseph & Hyrum Smith -- Mormon

Mixed Races Day -- Brazil

National HIV Testing Day -- US 

National Indian Pudding Day

National Orange Blosssom Day

National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day -- US (by Senate resolution)

Please Take My Children To Work Day -- originally sponsored by mamasaid.net; a tongue-in-cheek way to request that you give a full- or part-time stay-at-home mom a break today!

Seven Sleepers Day (Siebenschläfertag) -- Germany (according to legend, today's weather determines the pattern for the next seven weeks)

St. Ladislaus' Day (Patron of Szekszard, Hungary)

Sunglasses Day -- a reminder to wear those shades, protect your eyes from UV damage!


Birthdays Today:

Gabi Wilson, 1997
Madylin Sweeten, 1991
Ed Westwick, 1987
Drake Bell, 1986
Tobey Maguire, 1975
J.J. Abrams, 1976
Jason Patric, 1966
Isabelle Adjani, 1955
Julia Duffy, 1951
James Daughton, 1950
Norma Kamali, 1945
Shirley-Anne Field, 1938
H. Ross Perot, 1930
Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan, 1927
Helen Keller, 1880
Patrick Lafcadio "Koizumi Yakumo" Hearn, 1850
Charles Stewart Parnell, 1846


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Live and Let Die(Film), 1973
"Dark Shadows"(TV), 1966
"Captain Video and His Video Rangers"(TV), 1949


Today in History:

General James Wolfe begins the siege of Quebec, 1759
Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are murdered by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail, 1844
George Dixon becomes the first black world boxing champion in any weight class, while also being the first ever Canadian-born boxing champion, 1890
The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia, 1898
Sailors start a mutiny aboard the Russian Battleship Potemkin, denouncing the crimes of autocracy, demanding liberty and an end to war, 1905
Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter perform the first ever aerial refueling in a DH-4B biplane, 1923
The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War, 1950
The world's first nuclear power station opens in Obninsk, near Moscow, 1954
The world's first ATM is installed in Enfield, London, 1967
The President of Uruguay dissolves Parliament and heads a coup d'état, 1973
U.S president Richard Nixon visits the U.S.S.R., 1974
France grants independence to Djibouti, 1977
The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, ILO 169 convention, is adopted, 1989
Slovenia, after declaring independence two days before, is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War, 1991
Bill Gates resigns from Microsoft to focus on his charity work, 2008
The first democratic election in the history of Guinea is held, 2010
Tests show radioactive cesium is present in small quantities in residents of Iitate and Kawamata, Fukushima, towns located 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 2011
NASA launches IRIS, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, a space probe to observe the Sun, 2013

Silly Sunday: Hold the Onions!

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs.  The rules are simple, just have fun.

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

1. Post a joke.
2. Link Up with the URL to your joke in the Linky Tools Widget.
3. Read my joke.
4. Leave a comment to tell me how much you enjoyed my joke.
5. Try and visit a few others participating in Silly Sunday.
6. Go to Sandee's site, linked above, and get the Silly Sunday code for your blog, too!

Bigger Girl was just trying to help.  She cleaned out the refrigerator, and decided the mushy onions could go down the garbage disposal instead of into the trash.

The result, of course, is that now we have no kitchen sink, because it is clogged.  This happened yesterday, and with the home warranty company this is not an emergency, so we will get a call from a plumber tomorrow to schedule a visit, probably for Tuesday or Wednesday, knowing how all of these things go.

Boudreaux know all about how de plumbers be, an' how much dey cost.  He run into Gautreaux, an' Gautreaux be braggin' 'bout how his two younges' boys be doctors.

"So, what be you oldes' boy?" Boudreaux ax.

An' Gautreaux say, "Mais, he be de plumber!  How you t'ink we pay for de younger boys to go to medical school?"

Today is:

Alexandra Rose Day -- anniversary of the tradition started by Queen Alexandra on this day in 1912, in which roses and rose emblems were sold in London and the UK, with the money going to smaller charities that are not usually in the national spotlight; also by tradition, the Lord Mayor of London bought the first rose
     Alexandra Rose Charities still exists, but uses other forms of fundraising and now supports healthy eating initiatives among lower income mothers and children

America's Kids Day -- US, founded to encourage parents to teach their children the value of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

Armed Forces Day -- Azerbaijan

Barcode/UPC Day -- the first scanner, at Marsh's Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, scanned its first item, a pack of Wrigley's gum at 8:01am this day in 1974

Beautician's Day -- on a couple of websites, while other list other days; if yours puts the "beauty" in beautician, remember her next time you go have your do tended to

Descendent's Day -- on the final Sunday of June each year, an encouragement for all the world's citizens to take an accounting of their activities during the prior year and how those will affect those who come after us

Feast of All Saints -- Orthodox Christian

Gioco Del Ponte -- Pisa, Italy (the Battle of the Bridge or Game of the Bridge, a medieval parade and contest for possession of the bridge)

Handing Back of Tiger-Get-By's Presents -- Fairy Calendar

Holiday for the Shemsu of Heru -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Independence Day -- Madagascar[Fetin'ny Fahaleovantena]; Somalia

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking -- UN

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture -- UN

La Festa Dei Gigli -- Nola, Campagna, Italy (Festival of the Lilies, in honor of St. Paulinus; through tomorrow, with the traditional Ballad of the Lilies on June 28)

Log Cabin Day -- The Log Cabin Society, dedicated to preserving log cabins and the old fashioned ways of life; many places that have historic log cabins plan big events the last Sunday in June to celebrate

Mother's Day -- Kenya

National Canoe Day -- Canada

National Chocolate Pudding Day

Singing on the Mountain -- Grandfather Mountain, Linville, NC, US (traditional and modern gospel music, with local and nationally known artists and speakers)

St. Pelayo's Day (Patron of abandoned people, torture victims; Castro Urdiales, Spain; Torreira, Portugal) 

Sunthorn Phu Day -- Thailand (celebration of the country's best-known Royal Poet)

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

Ziua Tricolorului -- Romania (Flag Day)


Birthdays Today:

Jennette McCurdy, 1992
Jason Schwartzman, 1980
Derek Jeter, 1974
Gretchen Wilson, 1973
Chris O'Donnell, 1970
Paul Thomas Anderson, 1970
Sean P. Hayes, 1970
Harriet Wheeler, 1963
Greg LeMond, 1961
Chris Isaak, 1956
Claudio Abbado, 1933
Eleanor Parker, 1922
Charlotte Zolotow, 1915
"Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, 1914
Colonel Tom Parker, 1909
Peter Lorre, 1904
Pearl S. Buck, 1892
Sir Robert Laird Borden, 1854
Lord Kelvin, 1824
Abner Doubleday, 1819
Arthur Middleton, 1742


Debuting/Premiering Today:

For Your Eyes Only(Film), 1981
"Absurd Person Singular"(Play), 1972
"A Hard Day's Night"(Album, US version, release), 1964
"The Valkyrie"(Opera, WWV 86B), 1870


Today in History:

Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire; General Jovian is proclaimed Emperor by the troops on the battlefield, 363
The legendary Pied Piper leads 130 children out of Hamelin, German, 1284
Richard III is crowned king of England, 1483
Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima, 1541
W. K. Clarkson patents the first bicycle, 1819
The Christian  holiday of Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States, 1870
The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity, 1909
The United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco, 1945
William Shockley files the original patent for the grown junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor, 1948
The Berlin Airlift begins, 1948
The Saint Lawrence Seaway opens, opening North America's Great Lakes to ocean-going ships, 1959
The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, 1974
Indira Gandhi establishes emergency rule in India, 1975
The CN Tower, the world's tallest free-standing structure on land, is opened to general public, 1976*
Biologists J. Craig Venter and Francis S. Collins announced that their research groups had mapped the human genome, 2000
Wangdue Phodrang Dzong, the four thousand year-old ridge-top monastery in Bhutan catches fire and is destroyed; no relics were lost in the fire because the monastery was under renovation, 2012


*It is still the tallest in the Western Hemisphere

Odds and Ends

Little Girl has been sending letters regularly and fussing at Red-headed Alec because he has only written back one time.

The problem is it takes him so long to write things out by hand that i finally convinced him to type it into a notepad on the computer, then i copied and pasted it into an email to myself, which i will print at the library (my computer is allergic to printers and kills them).  It's a round about way of getting there, but it works.

Speaking of what works, this week i'm helping Ms. V's son while she is out of town.  It's great to have the extra work because i've lost two clients in the last two weeks.  It looks like i might have to take a job with a cleaning service if this keeps up.  Not right away, though, first i'm going to re-order some of the clients i have and see if i've got at least one most days of the week.  If i do, that will probably have to be enough.  The pace i was keeping up before was wearing me a bit thin.

We are still waiting to hear from Dr. Bea about Pepe.  She took out his baby teeth that wouldn't fall out, and the "cherry eye" gland on his eyelid, and she wanted to neuter him but DIL Becky says absolutely no.  The x-rays show his ligaments seem to be fine and his hips don't show signs of the femurs having blood supply trouble like some dogs with hip dysplasia.  What he really has are femurs that are very badly curved at the knee ends, and because his growth plates are mostly closed, there's probably no way to correct that.  She's still going to consult with a specialist friend.

In the end, we will probably just figure he has always had this problem so he doesn't know any different, he's in no pain, has great quality of life, and loves to run and play.  As long as that is so, we can just let it be and accept that he will always walk a bit funny.  DIL Becky knows he cannot be bred, as this is obviously a genetic flaw, but she claims neutering changes their personality, so she won't allow that.

When i asked her where she got the dog, she said from a breeder about a fifty mile drive from here, and that she saw the mother of the litter and she looked fine.  What the father looked like is anyone's guess.

Bigger Girl has decided she might try for a new job in the fall.  It seems one of the museums on campus is trying to catalog and classify all of the specimens in their collection.  In other words, as she puts it, "There are decades worth of dead animal remains to sort, and no one wants to do it, so I can make money doing what no one else wants to!"

That sounds a lot like my job!

Today is:
Afrma Fancy Rat & Mouse Display and Pet Show -- Riverside, CA, US 

Arbor Day -- Philippines

Armed Forces Day -- Great Britain

ARRL Field Day -- American Radio Relay League's most popular on-air operating event, in which amatuer/ham radio operators practice and drill for communications during emergencies; through tomorrow

Baymen's Seafood and Music Festival -- Tuckerton, NJ, US (this year including a micro-brewers tent with the seafood and music; through tomorrow)

Colorado Brewers' Festival -- Fort Collings, CO, US (celebrate Colorado's rich brewing history with over 30 breweries; through tomorrow)

Color TV Day -- CBS broadcast the first program in color on this day in 1951

Day of the Seafarer -- The International Maritime Organization (this year’s campaign is "At Sea For All", emphasizing how everyone benefits from the maritime shipping industry) 

Eastern Music Festival --  Guilford College, Greensboro, NC, US (an acclaimed festival and school, with world-class guest artists; through July 30)

Elf Thumping Day -- Fairy Calendar (no details on what the Elves thump, and no, no one is allowed to thump an Elf!)

Feast of the Optional Holiday -- pick one, and celebrate it or don't, your option!

Festival of Ranting and Vaporing -- sponsored by The Daily Bleed

Gettysburg Civil War Relic and Collectors Show -- Gettysburg, PA, US (featuring leading collectors and dealers; through tomorrow)

Global Beatles Day -- read about the meaning of this day, and why this date was picked, here

Gotanshin Sai -- Kitano Tenmangu, Kyoto, Japan (festival to commemorate the birth of Lord Sugawara, with ceremonies to ward off summer infections)

Great American Campout -- sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation, the theme this year is Happy Campers Protect Wildlife

Great American Picnic Day -- various dates given, with the most common being the final Saturday of June

Independence Day -- Mozambique(1975)

Ladies of Country and Bluegrass Music Show -- Waretown, NJ, US (at the historic Albert Music Hall)

Leon Day -- Noel spelled backward, the turning point on the calendar when Christmas starts getting closer; those who make Christmas/Noel gifts need to start thinking about their projects

Ludi Taurii -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Games of the Bull, a two day festival held once every five years)

Midsummer's Day -- Aland; Finland; Sweden

Mineral Collecting Field Trips -- Bancroft, ON, CA (every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday through July and August, geologists lead mineral collecting field trips, educating participants about mineral identification, collecting techniques, and earth sciences)

National Catfish Day

National Fried Okra Day

National Strawberry Parfait Day

Purple Hull Pea Festival and World Champion Rotary Tiller Contest -- Emerson, AR, US (the tiny town of Emerson, population 368, puts on a big show that also includes a World Cup Purplehull Pea-Shelling competition)

Sense of Humor in Bed Appreciation Day -- i'm not touching this one

Slovenian Sovereignty Day / National Day -- Slovenia

Statehood Day -- Croatia

St. Eurosia's Day (a/k/a Orosia; Patron of Jaca, Spain; against bad weather)
     Fiesta de Santa Orosia -- Jaca, Spain

St. Molaug's Day (Patron of Argyll, Scotland; against mental illness)

Tohoku Rokkon Matsuri -- Yamagata City, Japan (a special matsuri, bringing together six major festivals from the district that was hard hit by the 2011 earthquake; through tomorrow)

Veteranendag -- Netherlands (Veterans Day)



Anniversaries Today:

Virginia becomes the 10th US State, 1788


Birthdays Today:

Scott Terra, 1987
Linda Cardellini, 1975
Dikembe Mutombo, 1966
George Michael, 1963
Ricky Gervais, 1961
Sonia Sotomayor, 1954
Jimmie Walker, 1949
Phyllis George, 1949
Carly Simon, 1945
Willis Reed, Jr., 1942
June Lockhart, 1925
Sidney Lumet, 1924
Anne Revere, 1903
George Orwell, 1903
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold, 1886
Rose Cecil O'Neill, 1874


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Het Achterhuis. Dagbrieven van 14 juni 1942 tot 1 augustus 1944(First publication of excerpts from Anne Frank's diaries), 1947
"It Pays To Be Ignorant"(Radio), 1942


Today in History:

The Book of Concord or Concordia, the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, is published, 1580 
Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy, from the University of Padua, 1678
Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Hungary, 1741
Lucien B. Smith of Ohio patents the first version of barbed wire, 1867
The Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, 1876
Dr. Douglas Hyde is inaugurated the first President of Ireland, 1938
The Diary of Anne Frank is published, 1947
The Berlin airlift begins, 1948
The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea, 1950
CBS broadcasts the first color television signal, 1951
First live global satellite television programme – Our World, 1967
Mozambique achieves independence, 1975
Microsoft  is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington, 1981
Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia, 1991
Kim Campbell is chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and becomes the first female Prime Minister of Canada, 1993
An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir, 1997
The Soufrière Hills volcano in Montserrat erupts resulting in the death of 19 people, 1997
The Harvard School of Health Study concludes that since 1980 the number of adults with diabetes has doubled, 2011
A portion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protects minority voting rights, is struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling that Congress has not taken into account the nation's racial progress when singling out certain states for federal oversight, 2013