Saturday Ramble

After Bible study yesterday morning, i cleaned Ms. J's house, and Bigger Girl and i did her windows.  Then it was time to go to the shelter.

Even though it was closed, the cats and kittens need food and water, so everyone got fed and watered.  Only one of the male kittens of our four is left, and he's in a cage with a new friend that he is enjoying playing with.  He wouldn't hold still for a picture, although i tried.  One of the blurry photos of him might make it here for Monday.

Anyway, i was on schedule for having everything done and having a day off today and Ms. G, my Wednesday lady, came by the shelter to feed a couple of feral cats that have decided we have a nice place there.  (They don't know it yet, but they are going to be trapped and "fixed" soon, and i don't know if they will like us as much after that.)  Ms. G was out of town for 3 Wednesdays in a row, then i was out for two in a row, and she wants me today, and i need the money more than i need the sleep.

Thus, hidey-ho, it's off to work i go.  Ms. G is a very nice lady, and it takes two hours to vacuum her house.  As she notes, we are not just vacuuming the top of the carpet, we are trying to properly clean the carpet, pulling the dirt out as much as possible to keep it in good shape.  When i clean an area that is looking worn, she pulls out the paint and takes care of that right away.  If something is broken, it gets repaired within the day if possible, even if it's something very small.  After all, that's the only way to protect the value of your home.  Deferred maintenance is another word for laziness in her book.

It's a great book, i'm glad i only have to read it once a week most of the time.


Today is:

Banquet for Monkeys / Monkey Buffet Festival -- Khmer Ruins of Lop Buri, Thailand (about 3,000 monkeys are served lunch while humans get to watch; some describe it as a riot but without the police) 

ClauWau: Santa Claus World Championship -- Samnaun, Switzerland (Santa Claus aspirants compete in in such things as the chimney climb with toys, a geography bee, and the sledge race with timed gift giving to be crowned the world champion Santa)

Constitution Day of the Republic of Abkhazia -- Abkhazia

Day of the Covenant -- Baha'i

Day of the Tan-Wallopers -- Fairy Calendar

Good Grief Day -- birth anniversary of Charles Schultz

Guadalajara International Book Fair -- Guadalajara, Mexico (through Dec. 4)

Holodomor Remembrance Day -- international commemoration of the Death By Hunger Genocide in Ukraine

Independence Day -- Mongolia(1924)

International Aura Awareness Day -- to increase the awareness of the human energy body, or aura 

Lantern Light Tours begin -- Mystic Seaport, CT, US (walking tour of performances showing Christmas past, on various dates through the month)

Light of the World Christmas Pageant -- Minden, DE, US (pageant and lighting up the downtown square; also tomorrow and next Sunday)

Mungabareena Ngan-Girra Festival -- Albury area, NSW, Australia (formerly called the Bogong Moth Festival, now an indigenous cultural showcase)

National Cake Day

Small Business Saturday -- encouraging everyone to patronize local businesses for your holiday shopping

Sojourner Truth Day -- died this day in 1883

St. John Berchmans' Day (Patron of alter servers, Oblate novices, young people)

Swine Time Festival --  Climax, Georgia, US (Come on out and join the fun, the first Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Contests & Events include best dressed pig, corn shucking, hog calling, eating chitterlings, pig racing, syrup making, baby crawling and the greased pig chase!)

Territorial Christmas Celebrations -- Guthrie, OK, US (old time fun this weekend and through Dec. 19)



Anniversaries Today:

Founding of Sigma Alpha Mu in the City College of New York, by 8 Jewish young men, 1909
The first official Thanksgiving in the US, by presidential proclamation, 1789
Founding of the University of Notre Dame, 1842
Founding of Kappa Alpha Society, the oldest surviving US college fraternity, 1825


Birthdays Today:

Natasha Bedingfield, 1981
Shannon Dunn, 1972
Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, 1966
Dale Jarrett, 1956
Tina Turner, 1939
Rich Little, 1938
Robert Goulet, 1933
Charles Schultz, 1922
Eugene Ionesco, 1912
Eric Sevareid, 1912
Lefty Gomez, 1908
Mary Edwards Walker, 1832
Sarah Moore Grimke, 1792
John Harvard, 1607
Emperor Go-Daigo of Japan, 1288


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Anarchy in the UK"(Sex Pistols single release), 1977
"The Price is Right"(TV), 1956
"Twenty Questions"(TV), 1949
Casablanca(Film), 1942
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland(Publication date), 1865


Today in History:

The Second Triumvirate alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus ("Octavian", later "Caesar Augustus"), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony is formed, BC43
Vlad III Dracula (Vlad the Impaler)defeats Basarab Laiota with the help of Stephen the Great and Stephen V Bathory and becomes the ruler of Wallachia for the third time, 1476
The first lion exhibited in the US makes his debut in Boston, 1716
Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui, 1778
The Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of the United States established, 1784
The first national US Thanksgiving is celebrated, 1789
The first streetcar railway in the US begins operation in NYC, fare 12 cents, 1832
The refrigerated railway car is patented by J.B. Sutherland of Detroit, Michigan, 1867
The first photograph of a meteor is taken, 1885
The National Hockey League is formed, with the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas as its first teams, 1917
King Tut's tomb is opened by English archaeologist Howard Carter, 1922
Four young lads from Liverpool have their first recording session under the interesting name "The Beatles", 1962
Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Republic of Ireland's parliament, 1998
Concorde makes its final flight, over Bristol, England, 2003
A male Po'ouli (Black-faced honeycreeper) dies of Avian malaria in the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda, Hawaii before it could breed, making the species in all probability extinct, 2004
NASA launches the Mars Science Laboratory, its largest rover ever, 2011