Ready or Not (Random Tuesday)

And now, bits of random news and pictures from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.  

It’s time for The Great Neighborhood Candy Exchange, and we are as ready as we can ever be. 

One of my Monday clients rescheduled for this afternoon for health reasons, so i may be late for handing out candy.  It’s okay, Sweetie enjoys doing it, too, and since i’ll have it all set up for him, he can start and i can finish.

The neighborhoods have been getting their spooky on:

Little Girl has been busy making treat bags, and Bigger Girl has been busy making plans for the wedding of two of her friends.  Because she is now an official minister in the Universal Life Church, she has registered with the state and can perform weddings.  Said church only has two tenets:  be excellent to each other and respect each other's beliefs. She's just glad she can perform the wedding for her friends and save them some money (their only costs will be the marriage license and punch and cookies for the officiant and witnesses).

Sweetie got his new boots with his birthday money, and he is as happy as a kid at Christmas.  He's been talking about these boots forever, the ones with the steel shanks for arch support and real stitching so they can be resoled and reheeled when they need it and thus last forever.

This especially makes sense when you find out he has more clothes and shoes than i do, and spends more time and money on his hair than i do on mine.  He's a musician, and all musicians have that prima donna in there someplace.

The weather has been lovely, the parts of the pet geranium that have survived the dog are repotted into two separate pots and seem happy, and Tripod SissyCat and i are spending most evenings on the porch, her nice and cozy in her fur coat and me wrapped in jackets and clutching my rice sock.  No, it isn't that cold, but it only takes temperatures below 70° for my body temperature to drop and my fingers and toes to turn to ice cubes.  That's one reason i am willing to visit almost anyplace, but i don't want to live full time anywhere but a desert or the Deep South.   Well, maybe Hawaii or Tahiti, but i'd have to be rich to live either of those places.

Happy Halloween everyone!  May you receive only treats and no tricks.

Today is:

Admission Day -- Nevada, US

Allantide -- Cornwall, England

All Hallows Eve -- Christian

Apple and Candle Night -- Wales

Books for Treats Day -- San Jose, CA, US (give gently used books to kids, not candy -- feed their brains, not their cavities!)

Chiang Kai-Shek Day -- Taiwan

Day of the Seven Billion -- day in 2011 the UN declared the world population to have reached 7,000,000,000  

Dias de los Muertos -- Mexico, esp. Michoacan and Oaxaca (through Nov. 2; ceremonies, sand sculptures, decorated altars, and parties through the nights in the cemetaries)

Dookie Apple Night -- Newcastle, England

Duck Apple Night -- Liverpool, England

Feast of Sekhmet Bast Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of Inner Worlds -- Pagan (fight between the old and new year)

Founder's Day -- Girl Scouts of the USA (Juliette Gordon Low's birth anniversary)

Ghostwriter's Day

Hallowe'en or Beggar's Night

Increase Your Psychic Powers Day -- originated in England in the 19th century, some celebrated on the 30th

King Father Nordom Sihanouk's Birthday -- Cambodia

National Candy Apple Day

National Knock-Knock Joke Day

    Knock, Knock

    Who's There?

    Police.

    Police who?

    Police stop telling knock-knock jokes!

National Magic Day -- Society of American Magicians (in honor of Harry Houdini, who died on this day in 1926, and who was president of the SoAM)

National UNICEF Day

Nut-Crack Night -- England; Scotland

Old Celtic New Year's Eve

Out of the Broom Closet Day -- Pagan, Heathen, and all earth-based and ethnic religions

Reformation Day -- Protestant Christian (trad.)

    Official Holiday -- Germany; Slovenia

Samhain (northern hemisphere) / Beltane (southern hemisphere) -- Druids, Gaels, Welsh peoples, Neopagans, Wiccans (begins at sunset)

Scare a Friend Day -- just not so much that he/she isn't a friend any more

Senior Absurdity Day -- Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY, US (a day the kids look forward to each year)

Sneak Some of the Candy Yourself Before the Kids Start Knocking Day

St. Quentin's Day (Patron against coughs)

St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon's Day (Patron of apoplexics, carpenters, paralysed people, stroke victims; Regensburg, Germany; against apoplexy, paralysis, stomach diseases, strokes)

Thump-the-Door Night -- Isle of Mann

Trick or Treat Night

Vetmaetr -- Norse Calendar (Winter Nights; beginning of winter, the New Year, and the start of Odin leading the Wild Hunt)

Youth Honor Day -- Iowa, US

Anniversaries Today:

Mt. Rushmore is completed, 1941

Nevada becomes the 36th US State, 1864

Birthdays Today:

Robert "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle, 1967

Adam Horovitz, 1966

Dermot Mulroney, 1963

Rob Schneider, 1963

Peter Jackson, 1961

Larry Mullen, Jr., 1961

John Candy, 1950

Jane Pauley, 1950

Deidre Hall, 1947

Stephen Rea, 1943

David Ogden Stiers, 1942

Ron Rifkin, 1939

Michael Landon, 1936

Dan Rather, 1931

Michael Collins, 1930

Barbara Bel Geddes, 1922

Dale Evans, 1912

Ethel Waters, 1896

Chaing Kai-shek, 1887

Juliette Gordon Low, 1860

John Keats, 1795

William Paca, 1740

Jan Vermeer, 1632

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Car Talk"(Radio), 1987 (national debut, ten years after their start as a local show in Boston)

"Jamaica"(Musical), 1957

"Capricio Espagnol"(Rimsky-Korsakov Op. 34), 1887

"Tamerlano"(Handel opera, HWV 18), 1724

Today in History:

Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites after their return to Jerusalem from exile, BC445

First All Hallows Eve observed to honor all the saints, 834

Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door, marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 1517

Georg Ludwig van Hannover is crowned as the English King George I, 1714

Execution of Girondins at Paris during the Reign of Terror, 1793

Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents the miner's safety lamp, 1815

A standard uniform is approved for US Postal workers, 1868

A tropical cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die, 1876

John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tire, 1888

Arthur Conan Doyle publishes "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", 1892

Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States, 1913

The Battle of Beersheba of WWI marks the last successful cavalry charge in history, 1917

The first of 160 consecutive days of 100°F + temps at Marble Bar, Australia, 1923

World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress, 1924

Mt. Rushmore sculptures are completed, 1941

The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal, 1956

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards, 1984

EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board, 1999

Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted, 1999

Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station, which has been continually crewed since, 2000

Surfer Bethany Hamilton loses her left arm and 3 liters of blood in a tiger shark attack; within a month she would be back on her board, and competing again within the year, 2003

The NYSE reopens after its first weather related shut down since the late 19th century; the two-day closure was due to Hurricane Sandy, 2012

Don't Take My Picture! (Awww Monday) and A CEO's Reasons (Sparks)

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's 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!

Pepe has a new sweater, but he is being shy and doesn’t want a picture taken.

Don't take my picture!

I'll run down the stairs!

I'll run across the room!

I'll hide behind mommy's chair!

Okay, take my picture, but I'm giving you the stink eye!

***********************************

The wonderful Annie of McGuffy's Reader has started the blog hop called Sparks as a way to put more positive energy into the world.  Join her in combating the often negative influence of social media by adding your own Spark!

I believe we are meant to be lights in this world. If we allow our light to shine, we can see where we are going. It is then that we can begin to truly see each other clearly. Together, we can light up the entire world! ~ McGuffy Ann Morris

My "Spark" for the day:

Ted Jones, when asked why he wasn’t interested in taking his company public to make more money, displayed an attitude we could all do well to emulate.

    His rationale is a symbol of the company’s culture that still exists today.

• I am the richest man in America. 
• I have a wife who loves me in spite of my faults. 
• I have four dogs. Two love only me. One loves everybody. One loves no one, but still is very loyal and follows me everywhere I go on the farm. 
• I have a horse I love to ride around the farm, and best of all she comes to me when I call her. 
• I have too much to eat and a dry place to sleep. 
• I enjoy my business. 
• I love my farm and my home. 
• I have a few close friends, and money has never been my God. 

Edward “Ted” Jones
1925-1990

Today is:

Anniversary of the Declaration of the Slovak Nation -- Slovakia

Buy A Doughnut Day -- any wonder who started this one? (insert eye-roll here)

Checklists Day -- prevent tragedy, create great checklists; in honor of the development of the first well known checklist following a B-17 prototype's crash due to pilot error

Create a Great Funeral Day -- don't make your family choose the plans in the midst of grief, plan your sending away party now, it's more fun when it's done -- in advance!

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions -- most former Soviet Republics

Look in the Back of Your Refrigerator Day / Haunted Refrigerator Night (And hope the old hamburger isn't grazing on the moldy salad.)

Marlborough Provinical Anniversary Day -- Marlborough, New Zealand

Mischief Night, a/k/a Goosey Night, Devil's Night, Cabbage Night -- US

National Candy Corn Day

October Bank Holiday -- Ireland

Practice Winter Snuggling Night -- when it gets really cold, you'll be glad you practiced

St. Dorothy of Montau's Day (Patron of brides, difficult marriages, dying children, parents of large families, widows; Pomerania; Prussia)

St. Marcellus' Day  (as a Roman centurion who threw down his armor and refused to take part in pagan worship, he is Patron of conscientious objectors)

The Rhyne Toll -- Chetwode Manor, UK (through Nov 7) -- the Lord of the Manor may tax any cattle he finds on his Liberty (free pasture) on these days

Try on Your Halloween Costume Early Day -- to see how goofy you look, and make sure you have everything you need

Birthdays Today:

Nastia Liukin, 1989

Matthew Morrison, 1978

Gavin Rossdale, 1967

Diego Armando Maradona, 1960

Kevin Pollack, 1958

Charles Martin Smith, 1953

Harry Hamlin, 1951

Andrea Mitchell, 1946

Henry Winkler, 1945

Ed Lauter, 1940

Grace Slick, 1939

Claude Lelouch, 1937

Dick Gautier, 1937

Dick Vermeil, 1936

Robert Caro, 1935

Louis Malle, 1932

Ruth Gordon, 1896

Charles Atlas, 1893

Ezra Pound, 1885

William "Bull" Halsey, 1882

Emily Post, 1872

Alfred Sisley, 1839

Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1821

Richard Sheridan, 1751

John Adams, 1735

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Symphony No. 11 in G minor(Shostakovich Op. 103), 1957

"Panama Hattie"(Musical), 1940

"War of the Worlds"(Radio), 1938

Today in History:

Antioch surrenders to Rashidun Caliphate and his Muslim forces after the Battle of the Iron Bridge, 637

End of the 8th Crusade, 1270

King Henry VII, Tudor, crowned, 1485

Queen Isabella bans violence against Indians, 1503

The first Methodist church in the US is initiated (Wesley Chapel, NYC), 1768

Dr. Richard Gatling patents the machine gun, 1862

Founding of Helena, Montana (capital city), 1864

John Willis Menard, of Louisiana, becomes the first black elected to the US Congress (by special election, he was challenged by the loser, but was allowed to address Congress from the lectern), 1868

Daniel Cooper patents the time clock, 1894

Martha Hughes Cannon of Utah becomes the first woman US Senator, 1896

The first US Automobile Show opens in Madison Square Garden, NYC, 1900

Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly, 1905

Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy, 1922

John Logie Baird creates Britain's first television transmitter, 1925

Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States, 1938

Anne Frank and sister Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 1944

Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier, 1945

Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, 1960

The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise, 1961

The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time, 1973

The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire, 1974

Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain's acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco, 1975

In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine, 1987

Quebec sovereignists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote is 50.6% to 49.4%), 1995

The last Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) early time-sharing operating system is shut down at the Canadian Department of National Defense in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2000

George Lucas sells Lucasfilm, Ltd., to the Walt Disney Company, 2012

Cheap Show (Silly Sunday)

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!

Our church is entering into the spirit of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation with a big celebration.  Bagpipes, the calling of the Clans, Highland Cathedral on the organ as the closing hymn, a picnic and Highland Games after (and a cardboard box maze for the children, as well as sack races and other fun).  The annual church meeting to elect officers will be snuck into the middle of it so we know we will have a quorum, but that won’t take but about 7 minutes (these are the candidates, all in favor, aye, hearing no opposition, we are done —  that’s about how fast it goes).

Boudreaux an’ his son, Tee, was out o’ town one Sunday.  Dey done decide to dry fishin’ on a river up North, near Arkansas, an’ come Sunday mornin’ dey decide to stop dem in to de local church befo’ dey head home.

Now Boudreaux an’ Tee be good Cat’lics like all dem Cajuns, but dere only be a Baptist church in de place neares’ where dey was fishin’.

Durin’ de collectin’, Boudreaux be searchin’ his pocket, but he don’ have him but one lone li’l dollar, so he give dat to Tee, an’ Tee put it in de plate.

After de service, dey be on de way home an’ Tee say, “Père, how you done like dat church compare wit’ de one back home?”

An’ Boudreaux say, “De homily be too long, de Communion don’ taste right, an’ de choir sing off key!”

An’ Tee say, “Mais, I t’ink it were okay for jes’ costin’ a dollar!”

Today is:

A Family Halloween -- Billings Farm and Museum, Woodstock, VT, US (a great time for all)

Candies Day -- they have to be kidding -- this close to Halloween we need another candy day

Coronation Day -- Cambodia (anniversary of King Norodom Sihamony, in 2004)

Cumhuriyet Bayrami -- North Cyprus; Turkey (Republic Day)(1923)

Daylight Saving Time ends -- Aland Islands; Albania; Andorra; Antarctica (Troll Station); Austria; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Germany; Gibraltar; Greece; Greenland; Guernsey; Holy See (Vatican City); Hungary; Ireland; Isle of Man; Israel; Italy; Jersey; Kosovo; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Malta; Mexico; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; Norway; Palestinian Territories; Poland; Portugal; Romania; San Marino; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Western Sahara 

    National Sleep-In Day -- begun by those who want you to spend the extra hour gained resetting your clocks catching up on your ZZZZ's

    Zero Tasking Day -- spend the extra hour gained when turning the clocks back doing nothing, just practice being

Haute Dog Howl'oween Parade -- Long Beach, CA, US (dress up your dog and have a howling good time)

Hermit Day / Hide From Everyone Day -- internet generated, for those who would rather have a peaceful day today than celebrate the other holidays listed; look up how to be a hermit on wikihow 

Internet Day -- it's predecessor went live today, see Anniversaries Today for detail

Jounen Kweyol -- Dominica; Saint Lucia (Creole Day, one of the biggest and most colorful celebrations in both of these countries, celebrating the Creole language and culture)

Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day (And end up either getting yourself and everyone around you in a good mood, or yourself being observed at the hospital in a padded room.)

Naming Day -- Tanzania

National Cat Day -- US (with the goal of getting 10,000 cats adopted from shelters today) 

National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day

National Oatmeal Day

Reformation Day/Reformation Sunday -- Protestant Christian (obs.)

Second Fiddle of the Month -- Fairy Calendar (a very poorly attended event -- who wants to play second fiddle?)

St. Mary of Edessa's Day (Patron against sexual temptation)

Visit a Cemetery Day

World Psoriasis Day 

Birthdays Today:

Gabrielle Union, 1972

Winona Ryder, 1971

Joely Fisher, 1965

Randy Jackson, 1961

Finona Hughes, 1960

Kate Jackson, 1948

Richard Dreyfuss, 1947

Melba Moore, 1945

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 1938

Dominick Dunne, 1925

Bill Mauldin, 1921

Fanny Brice, 1891

Charles Hercules Ebbets, 1858

Daniel Decatur Emmet, 1815

James Boswell, 1740 (wrote the biography of Samuel Johnson)

Edmund Halley, 1656 (O.S. Date) (yes, that Halley, found the comet)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Internet, 1969 (the first connection between computers that would become the Internet someday was made on this date when bits of data flowed between computers at UCLA and Stanford Research Institute; this grew into ARPANET, and is now the Internet we know and yell at.)

"Let's Face It"(Musical), 1941

"Don Giovanni"(Mozart K. 527), 1787

Today in History:

Cyrus the Great entered the city of Babylon, BC539

First trial for witchcraft in Paris, 1390

Sir Walter Raleigh, adventurer, writer, and courtier, is beheaded, 1618

A severe earthquake shakes New England, 1727

Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague, 1787

The first Ohio River steamboat leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans, 1811

Queen Victoria grants Cecil Rhodes rights to Zambezia, 1889

The first intercity trucking service, from Colorado City to Snyder, Texas, begins running, 1904

Turkey declares its independence as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, 1923

Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal, 1956

Cassius Clay wins his first professional fight, 1960

Syria exits from the United Arab Republic, 1961

Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors, 1967

The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid, 1991

In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities, 1998

Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space, 1998

In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution, 2004

The 3G wireless transmitters at Mt. Everest make coverage available to the summit, 2010

Random House and Penguin merge to become Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the world, 2012

Turkey opens the first underwater rail tunnel linking Europe to Asia, 2013