The rain, rain, rain...

...came down, down, down.

Friday morning i got up to head to Bible study.  As i approached the highway the rain was getting heavier and i decided to go a longer way rather than risk being run off the road in the deluge by the nuts who see every drive, even in the pouring rain, as a challenge to scare as many other people as they can.

The closer i got to the church, the worse the roads were.  Pitch dark, pouring rain, and some roads so flooded i couldn't even see the pavement, i turned around and tried to go another way more than once.

When i realized i was going to be horribly late anyway i struck out for home, sticking only to the highest roads.

As i pulled into our area, i realized all the entrances to our neighborhood were almost flooded, and it was very dicey getting through.

On my way back home, i did stop to call a couple of other people who attend the study and told them i couldn't make it, the roads were too bad.  In the end, only one person made it and he called everyone else and told them to stay home if they weren't already on the roads.

My next concern, after getting safely back home, was what to do about my job.  A text to Ms. R telling her i was flooded in and couldn't get there was sent, and she replied that it was okay, she actually had water in her house.

We are having floods in some areas here in south Louisiana, many people can't get to work, and while most of our own neighborhood entrances have drained, our house is doing the usual trick of taking on water in the laundry area.

Friday evening, i did make it to the shelter, where they have closed to the public and declared they are only having one cleaning shift per day until this lets up.

Please pray that it lets up.



Today is:

Anniversary of Snick-Snacker's Right Foot -- Fairy Calendar

Bud Billiken Parade -- Chicago, IL, US (second largest parade in the US, as well as the oldest and largest African-American parade in the US, begun in 1929)

Celebrate Your Lakes Day -- originally a senate resolution in the US state of New Hampshire to celebrate local lakes and ponds, now more widely observed; go enjoy some recreation at a pond, lake, or even river or stream near you!

Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival -- Coupeville, WA, US (one of the longest-running arts festivals in the Pacific Northwest, with only the best artisans, lots of entertainment, and proceeds donated to the community; through tomorrow)

Crater Lake Rim Runs and Marathon -- Crater Lake National Park, OR, US (one of the toughest and most spectacular runs ever, around the deepest lake in the US)

Day of Battle between Horus and Set; Aset gains the Horns of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Ferry Fair Day -- South Queensferry, Edinburgh, Scotland (centuries old fair, the biggest day of the modern festival that was originally a way for farmers to find labour for harvest, but is now just for fun)

Festival of Aventine Diana / Nemoralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (commemoration of the dedication of her temple; celebrated between now and the 15th, and rededicated as the Festival of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin after Christianization)

Festival of Xocotl Huetzi -- Ancient Aztec Calendar (first fruits of harvest festival; date approximate, but two weeks around the end of August)

Hartjesdagen -- Amsterdam and Haarlem, Holland ("Little Hearts Day"; the folklore is that this was the day non-nobles could hunt deer in the woods around Haarlem, and became a two-day cross dressing festival, all men dressed as women, and women as men, to see how the other half lived; revived in recent years on the 3rd weekend of August, because the 3rd Monday was the original celebration, and is still the biggest day)

Independence Day -- Central African Republic(1960)

International Federation of Library Associations Annual Conference -- Columbus, OH, US; through the 19th

International Left-Hander's Day -- sponsored by Lefthanders International 

Lao Issara -- Laos (Day of the Free Laos)

Leadville Trail 100 Bike Race -- Leadville, CO, US (100 miles of off-road bike racing over Colorado's high peaks)

Lesser Festival of Flora -- Ancient Roman Calendar

National Filet Mignon Day

National Garage Sale Day -- US (the goal, according to C. Daniel Rhodes, is to turn the nation into a giant shopping mall on the second Saturday of August each year)

Obon -- Buddhist (celebration to revere the ancestors; celebrated at different times even within Japan, but usually the biggest dates are in mid-August)

Runic Half Month As begins (the gods)

Skinny Dipping Day -- funny t-shirt:  I no longer skinny dip. I chunky dunk!

St. Cassian's Day (Patron of students and teachers; Brixen, Italy; Comacchio, Italy; Imola, Italy; Mexico City, Mexico)

St. Concordia's day (Patron of nursing mothers and wet nurses)

St. Hippolytus' Day (Patron of horses, prison guards/officers/workers; Bibbiena, Italy)

Stillaguamish Festival of the River and Pow Wow -- Arlington, WA, US (sponsored by the Stillaguamish Tribe, activities for everyone; through tomorrow)

Streetscene -- Covington, VA, US (car show, open to all types of vehicles; come show off your ride!)

Tisha B'Av -- Judaism (begins at sundown, through tomorrow; fast in remembrance of the destruction of the First Temple in 586BCE and the Second Temple in 79AD)

Wall Day -- anniversary of the day in 1961 that the Berlin Wall began going up; observe it by trying to break down a wall or communication barrier somewhere in your own life

Watermelon Festival -- Rush Springs, OK, US (fun all day and free watermelon for all)

Women's Day -- Tunisia


Birthdays Today

Shani Davis, 1982
Midori Ito, 1969
Quinn Cummings, 1967
Danny Bonaduce, 1959
Dan Fogelberg, 1951
Kathleen Battle, 
Philippe Petit, 1949
Kevin Tighe, 1944
Don Ho, 1930
Pat Harrington, Jr., 1929
Fidel Castro, 1926
George Shearing, 1919
Ben Hogan, 1912
Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, 1907
Alfred Hitchcock, 1899
Bert Lahr, 1895
Annie Oakley, 1860
Lucy Stone, 1818


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Zaire/The Tragedy of Zara"(Voltaire's "Tragedy in Verse"), 1732


Today in History

The English army under King Henry V lands at the mouth of the Seine River, 1415
Tenochtitlan of the Aztecs is conquered by the Spanish, 1521
Tenbun Hokke Disturbance, in which Buddhist monks from Kyoto's Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto, 1536
John Smith submits the story of Jamestown's first days for publication, 1608
Christiaan Huygens discovers the Martian south polar cap, 1642
Founding of Litchfield, CT, 1651
Marie Antoinette and other French royals are imprisoned by Revolutionaries, 1792
Nat Turner sees the solar eclipse which he interprets as a sign from heaven to begin his ill-fated slave rebellion, 1831
Earthquake in Peru and Ecuador kills 25,000, 1868
Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his "Navigable Balloon", 1889
First production in the UK of stainless steel by Harry Brearley, 1913
Opha Mae Johnson is the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, 1918
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is established as a public company in Germany, 1918
The first barbed wire fence that would become the Berlin Wall is erected, 1961
The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker-tape parade in New York, 1969
Michael Phelps sets the Olympic record for most the gold medals won by an individual in Olympic history, 2008
Footage of the previously unseen Kawahiva tribe is released; the Kawahiva is an indigenous tribe living in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, and is thought to have had very little contact with the outside world, 2013