Hammock Time (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Something Needs Changing (Poetry Monday)

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at 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!

Sometimes it’s nice to just snuggle in the hammock:

especially when another cat is making a ruckus and you want a buddy to watch with you

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Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

EverydayPower

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Border.  She and Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey take turns providing a theme each week.   Charlotte (Mother Owl) and Merry Mae almost always participate, too.  This week the theme is Duty.                      

This week’s free form, unrhymed poem is entitled Something Needs Changing.

When the children were little

And needed diapers

Much of the time i was

The one who did that duty,

But when i was out

Sweetie would step up,

Saying he was a member of D.A.D.D.

Dad’s Against Dirty Diapers,

And their motto was

It’s not just a job,

It’s a doody!

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Today is:

Auckland Province Anniversary -- Auckland, New Zealand

Big Snow Day -- remembering the 15 inch snowflakes that fell on in Fort Keough, Montana, on this date in 1887

Bubble Wrap® Appreciation Day

Chocolate Cake Day

Clean Out Your Email Inbox Week -- cure your email e-ddiction, get rid of the old stuff clogging up your inbox; see InboxDetox for details 

    

Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism -- Germany (anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz)

Day the Netjers of Heaven Receive Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Elementary School Teacher Day

Family Literacy Day -- Canada

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

Iroquois Mid-Winter Ceremony -- Iroquois Native Americans (for the continuation of all life-sustaining things; a multi-day ceremony and feast that begins around this time of year)

Listen to Classical Music During Lunch Day -- in honor of Mozart

Mozart Day

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering -- Elko, NV, US (the nation's greatest celebration of the American West, with working cowboys, this year including butteri from Italy, attend workshops, jam sessions, performances, and enjoy art and exhibits; through Saturday)

National Heroes' Day -- Cayman Islands

Punch the Clock Day -- internet generated, and no reason for it given; this has to be one of the more baffling ones

St. Angela Merici's Day (Founder of the Sisters of the Order of St. Ursula; Patron of the disabled and ill; against bodily ills and the death of parents)

St. Devota's Day (Patron of Corsica; Monaco)

Thomas Crapper Day -- death date, in 1910, of the perfecter of the flush toilet mechanism

Anniversaries Today:

Founding of the National Geographic Society, 1888

The first sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, is founded at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, 1870

The University of Georgia is chartered, the first state university in the US, 1785

Birthdays Today:

Julie Foudy, 1971

Jennifer LB Leese, 1970

Patton Oswalt, 1969

Alan Cumming, 1965

Bridget Fonda,1964

Cris Collinsworth, 1959

Mimi Rogers, 1956

Mikhail Baryshnikov, 1948

Nick Mason, 1944

Mairead Corrigan, 1944

James Cromwell, 1942

Troy Donahue, 1936

Donna Reed, 1921

David Seville, 1919

Skitch Henderson, 1918

Hyman George Rickover, 1900

Jerome Kern, 1885

Samuel Gompers, 1850

Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), 1832

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Laverne and Shirley"(TV), 1976

"Tarzan of the Apes"(Film), 1918

Today in History:

Trajan becomes Roman Emperor, 98

The Rashidun Caliphate ends with the death of Ali, 661

Song Dynasty General Yue Fei is wrongfully executed, 1142

Dante Alighieri becomes a Florentine political exile, 1302

The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31, 1606

The first American lime kiln begins operation in Providence, Rhode Island, 1662

Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Instanbul, 1695

Czar Peter the Great sets the first Russian state budget, 1710

Abdication of Stanislas, the last king of Poland, 1736

The US Congress approves the opening of Indian Territory for settlement, which led to the forced relocation of Native Americans on the "Trail of Tears," 1825

Manitoba and the Northwest Territories are incorporated, 1870

Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the electric incandescent lamp, 1880

The National Geographic Society is organized, in Washington, D.C., 1888

"Tarzan of the Apes," the first Tarzan movie, premiers, 1918

Apollo 1 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, 1967

More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space, 1967

Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper, 1980

The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, breaks through, 1983

American-born sumo wrestler Akebono Taro becomes the first foreigner to be promoted to the sport's highest rank of yokozuna, 1993

Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 1996

Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services, 2006

Where Men Have Gone Before

Listening to the radio yesterday, i heard a news report that had me shaking my head.

It seems that Ashton Kutcher, an actor and new dad, is asking for more baby changing tables in men's restrooms.  He promises to promote the first business in which he finds one.

My first thought was, where have you been, sir?  Or have i only been dreaming that men's rooms have had changing tables for a while?  Did i only imagine it when everyone laughed over the sign above a changing table in the men's room near the fishing dock in Florida that told men they couldn't clean fish there?

A caller to the radio station to which i was listening confirmed my feelings.  He said that his oldest is 20, and he was finding changing tables in men's restrooms all those years ago.

Then the caller began mentioning names of places that have them, and i realized the problem.

He mentioned places like Wal-Mart, Target, Albertson's, McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, and other such places.

Mr. Kutcher's problem may be that he only dines in high end restaurants and shops where you can't buy a sock for less than $100.  Those places just may not have changing tables in the men's rooms.  People who own such places may assume that anyone coming in there has a nanny to do the changing anyway.  Who knows?

But i think it's the places he goes, not that no place has baby changing stations in the men's rooms.  Maybe he needs to expand the places he goes.

"Hey, mom!  Do you have any of the needles you use to give the kittens shots?" #2 Son came into the kitchen to ask.

Sure, i said, and handed him one.  What's up?

"Friend Becky's dad killed a copperhead, and I'm going over there to fill its body with alcohol to pickle it!  I'm going to keep it in a jar in my room!"

Mr. Kutcher probably doesn't live anywhere that he would hear something like that.

Today is:

Alfred Hitchcock Day -- some internet sources say March 8, and no one knows who picked either day, but he is worth celebrating

Arbor Day -- China; Taiwan

Donkey Appreciation Day -- formerly celebrated, but the lowly donkey is no longer as indispensable as he was; if you share my fondness for beasts of burden, celebrate it anyway

Girl Scouts Birthday -- US

Huddling of Fairies of the Third Flight -- Fairy Calendar

Kronprinsessans Namnsdag -- Sweden (Name Day of HRH Crown Princess Victoria, the Heir Apparent; an official flag day)

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (three day festival, dates approximate; celebrates the marriage of Kore and Dionysos)

Louisiana Sportmen's Show and Festival -- Gonzales, LA, US (boat show for NOLA, BR, and the Gulf Coast, and includes a jambalaya cook off; through Sunday)

Martyrdom of Hypatia of Alexandria -- in 415, she was murdered for the three crimes of being intelligent, female, and pagan

National Baked Scallops Day

National Day -- Mauritius (anniversary of independence in 1968)

Plant a Flower Day -- sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation; now's a good time to give wildlife friendly perrenials a head start, starting them indoors if you have to

Quebec City Hunting, Fishing, and Boat Show -- Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (through Sunday)

Rockhound Round Up Gem and Mineral Show -- Deming, NM, US (through Sunday)

St. Gregory the Great's Day (Patron of choir boys, educators, masons, musicians, popes, schoolchildren, singers, stonemasons, stone cutters, students, and teachers; England; Kercem, Malta; Legazpi, Philippines; Montone, Italy; San Gregorio nelle Alpi, Italy; West Indies; against gout and plague)
     note that Pope St. Gregory is also celebrated on Sept. 3, the date he was elected pope
     Graekarismessa (Mass of St. Gregory) -- Torshavn, Faroe Islands (traditional day on which the oystercatcher, their symbolic national bird, returns)
     Gregoru Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (Gregory's Day, similar to groundhog day for weather prediction)

St. Seraphina's Day (Patron of the disabled and handicapped, and of spinners)

World Day Against Cyber Censorship -- sponsored by Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International

World Kidney Day -- www.worldkidneyday.org

Youth Day -- Zambia


Anniversaries Today:

Mick Jagger marries Bianca Perez Morena de Macias, 1971
Paul McCartney marries Linda Louise Eastman, 1969


Birthdays Today:

Frank Catalano, 1978
Aaron Eckhart, 1968
David Daniels, 1966
Darryl Strawberry, 1962
Marlon Jackson, 1957
Rob Cohen, 1949
James Taylor, 1948
Liza Minnelli, 1946
Al Jarreau, 1940
Barbara Feldon, 1933
Andrew Young, 1932
Edward Albee, 1928
Wally Schirra, 1923
Jack Kerouac, 1922
Gordon MacRae, 1921
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 1881
Simon Newcomb, 1835
Charles Cunningham Boycott, 1832
Clement Studebaker, 1821

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Moses und Aaron"(Opera), 1954
"Fervaal"(Opera; d'Indy Op. 40), 1897
"Simon Boccanegra"(Opera), 1857


Today in History:

Martyrdom of Hypatia of Alexandria, philosopher, 415
Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Roman general, Belisarius, 538
Orvieto, Italy, rules it will behead and burn Jewish-Christian couples, 1350
Jews are expelled from Syria, 1496
New Jersey becomes an English colony, 1664
The first steam engine in America installed, to pump water from a mine, 1755
Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain, 1881
In Vicksburg, Mississippi, Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time, 1894
The first main line electric train in UK, from Liverpool to Southport, begins running, 1904
The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States, by Juliette Gordon Lowe, 1912
The foundation stone of the new Australian capital in Canberra is laid, 1913
Mohandas Gandhi begins 200m (300km) march protesting British salt tax, 1930
The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism, 1947
The Church of England ordains its first female priests, 1994
Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO, 1999
Financier Bernard Madoff plead guilty in New York to scamming $18 billion, the largest in Wall Street history, 2009
The U.S. Census Bureau reports the world now has 7 billion people, 2012