Awww Monday

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus, because we could all stand to start the work week with a picture that makes us say, "Awww!"

It's difficult to get a picture of a kitten when you are bottle feeding it yourself, but i tried.

Appleblossom loves her bottle.

For good measure, here's one of Lorax.

Lorax, chilling out.

Today is

Accounting Day -- promoting the profession of accounting and financehttp://www.accountingday.org/

Boy's Club Day -- founding in 1906

Circus Day -- the four Ringling Brothers opened their first circus on this day in 1884

Dance to Mark the Third of January -- Fairy Calendar (Third of January is when the Founding Fairy Fathers and Mothers arrived in what is now called Fairyland [no one knows where they lived before, or what lived in Fairyland before], so it is one of their most important days; no one knows why it is celebrated in May, either, although some suspect it's that the weather is better)

Discovery Day -- Cayman Islands

European Maritime Day -- European Council (this year's host for the conferences is Germany; through tomorrow)

Greek Genocide Remembrance Day -- Greece

HerrinFesta Italiana -- Herrin, IL, US (a whole week of celebrating all things Italian, with a Midwest Pasta Sauce Contest, races, music, grape stomp, and more; through Memorial Day)

May Ray Day -- to celebrate being able to go out into the sun's rays as summer nears

National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day -- US (information at Banyan Tree Project)

National Devil's Food Cake Day

National Geographic Geography Bee -- National Geographic Society Headquarters, Washington, D.C., US (through Wednesday, with the finals aired then)

New England's Dark Day*

Oulu Children's Theatre Festival -- Oulu, Finland (a week-long festival for children and young people, presenting 80 or more performances centering on traditional and contemporary children's theater; through the 24th)

Plant Something Day -- because it's fun, and summer is coming so you can!

Praia Municipal Day -- Praia, Cape Verde

St. Dunstan of Canterbury's Day (Patron of armourers, blacksmiths, blind people, gold workers and smiths, jewelers, lighthouse keepers, locksmiths, musicians, silver workers and smiths, swordsmiths; Charlottetown, PEI, Canada)

St. Peter Celestine's Day (Patron of bookbinders; Aquila, Italy)

Victoria Day -- Canada

World Autoimmune Arthritis Day -- The International Foundation for Autoimmune Arthritis sponsors an online virtual convention in all time zones around the world from today through Wednesday

Youth and Sports Day / Commemoration of Atatürk -- North Cyprus; Turkey


Anniversary Today:

Eric Clapton marries Pattie Boyd, 1979


Birthdays Today:

Rachel Appleton, 1992
Jordon Pruitt, 1991
Eric Lloyd, 1986
Kevin Garnett, 1976
Kyle Eastwood, 1968
Grace Jones, 1952
Joey Ramone, 1951
Archie Manning, 1949
Andre the Giant, 1946
Pete Townshend, 1945
Nora Ephron, 1941
James Fox, 1939
Francis R. Scobee, 1939
David Hartman, 1937
James Lehrer, 1934
Malcolm X, 1925
Ho Chi Minh, 1890
Nancy Astor, 1879
Johns Hopkins, 1762


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith(Film), 2005
Smokey and the Bandit,(Film), 1977
"Room Service"(Play), 1937
Gone With The Wind(Publication date), 1936
"L'heure espagnole / How They Keep Time in Spain"(Ravel comédie musicale), 1911


Today in History:

Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America, 1535
Anne Boleyn is beheaded, 1536
Queen Elizabeth I orders the arrest of Mary, Queen of Scots, 1568
French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power, 1643
The Long Parliament declares England a Commonwealth, and England remains a republic for the next 11 years, 1649
King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River, 1749
*A combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 10:30 A.M, 1780
Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Légion d'Honneur, 1802
Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the Mexican-American War and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for $15 million USD, 1848
Jan Matzeliger begins the first mechanized shoe production, 1885
Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol, 1897
White women win the right to vote in South Africa, 1930
Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind is published, 1936
Churchill and Roosevelt set May 1, 1944 as their goal date for D-Day (it had to be delayed over a month because of weather), 1943
The Soviet Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus, 1961
Croatians vote for independence, 1991
The Sierra Gorda Biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts, 1997
Hundreds of Albert Einstein's scientific papers, personal letters and humanist essays were make available on the Internet. Einstein had given the papers to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in his will, 2003
A rare 19th century torpedo is discovered off the coast of California by the US Navy dolphins, 2013

Kittens and jalapeno peppers do not mix.

When you are bottle raising kittens, which I am, although I have not mentioned it because the previous litter came to such a disastrous end, you end up with small nicks, cuts, and scratches all over your hands.

Chop jalapeno peppers for dinner with all those tiny scratches all over and..., well. Let's just call that the recipe for hand pain, shall we?

Speaking of peppers, supposedly if you add lots of peppers or a peppery taste to your birdseed the squirrels will leave it alone. They don't like hot, goes the theory. And birds cannot taste the capsaicin, the substance that makes it hot, so they don't care. Doesn't seem to work in this house. I tried squirrel proofing stuff I didn't want that crazy squirrel of ours chewing up using Tabasco sauce. She licked off the Tabasco sauce. I would end up with a Cajun squirrel.

Do yourself a favor, never have a squirrel for a pet, anyway. For the record, this one was not my idea. I knew we were in for a wild animal that would chew up everything. Sweetie wanted her. She hates men. Did I mention that it is never a good idea to have a squirrel as a pet?

Today is:

Daffodil Day

Festival of Goliath, Ath, Belgium

Good Roads Day

Men's Grooming Day (Don't tell my Sweetie! He already prinks in front

of the mirror forever every morning!)

National Spumoni Day (I don't think I've had really great spumoni since

I went to Italy all those years ago -- nothing like getting things at

the source.)

Poet's Day

Senior Citizen's Day

St. Bernard Tolomei's Day (Patron Saint of Olive Growers)

St. Francis de Sales' Day

St. Jane Frances de Chantal's Day


Birthdays Today:

Ozma, Queen of Oz, year unconfirmed
Jackie DeShannon, 1944
Clarence Williams III, 1939
Kenny Rogers, 1938
Wilt Chamberlain, 1936
Friz Freleng, 1906
Count Basie, 1904
William Murdoch, 1754


Today in History:

Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shogun and therefore de facto ruler of Japan, 1192
The Nat Turner slave revolt in Virginia leaves 55 dead, 1831
Mighty Casey (Dan Casey) is struck out! In a game against the N.Y. Giants, 1887
William S Burroghs patents the adding machine, 1888
Oldsmobile is incorporated as a division of General Motors Corp. 1897
Arthur Rose Eldred becomes the first Boy Scout to earn the rank of Eagle Scout, 1912
Hawai'i becomes the 50th US State, 1959
Mary Langdon becomes the first female fire fighter in England, 1976

I am about to feed the kittens. I am about to have been feeding kittens. I will be feeding kittens. I will have been feeding kittens. I am feeding them now.

Typing with one hand is slow, and I make lots of mistakes, and the 4am feeding comes early.

Every time I get another batch of kittens, my respect for momma cats grows. A momma cat has to be on duty all day, at least I get to share the job with willing helpers. Also, while we have been blessed, my mortality rates are much higher.

This batch is doing very well. They are eating, no diarrhea, and they are getting good bacteria mix in every bottle.

This "feed every time you look at them around the clock" stage is short. Soon they will be tumbling over each other, wobbly legged, all over the kitchen. We will be cautioning each other to watch where we step and to do "the kitten shuffle" so as not to step on anyone. Then they will learn to climb, get into everything, have their spay/neuter surgery, and be up for adoption.

Usually the house is clear of fosters by Christmas. By the time kitten season comes around again in late March/early April, we are ready to start the dance over.

Yes, we are crazy.

No, we can't save every stray.

We can, however, stay just crazy enough to save this one. And this one. And this one. Over and over again.


Today is:

Accountant's Day

Celebration of Our Lady of the Snows

Domhnach Chrom Dubh, Ireland (Grain Festival)

Festival of Hungry Ghosts, China

Imp-Handling Conference (Fairy Calendar)

Independence Day, Peru, Puerto Rico

Kermesse, Brussels, Belgium

National Hamburger Day (Please, this is all kids eat besides pizza, it needs a day!?!)

National Milk Chocolate Day

Singing Telegram Anniversary (Whom do we hang, er, I mean, thank for this one?)

St. Nazarius' Day

Terry Fox Day


Birthdays Today:

Sally Struthers, 1948
Rudy Vallee, 1901
Beatrix Potter, 1866


Today in History:

Emperor Theodosius defeats Emperor Magnis Maximus at the Battle of Aquileja, 388
Crusaders attack Damascus, 1148
Henry VIII marries Catharine Howard (#5), 1540
Sir Thomas Harriot bring the very first potato to Britain, 1586
Hawaii's first US elections, which sent the first Asian Americans to Congress, 1959