Four Boys (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Thoughts on Soap (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!

These four are up for adoption, and it's hard to get all of them in one picture, if i open the cage they rush the door!

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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.

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  She and Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey take turns providing a theme each week, and Mother Owl almost always has a contribution.  The theme for this week is Soap.          

Thoughts On Soap

No dad has ever had the hope

That his gift would be Soap on a Rope

The person who came up with that

May have been himself on dope.

My #2 Son used to think

It was fun to give off "man stink"

Then he discovered girls and uses soap

And enough cologne to make you blink.

Cleansers and soaps are my stock-in-trade

At one time i've used almost each one made

But when there's something gooey stuck and won't budge

Then i pull out my trusty razor blade.

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Today is:

Apple Day -- U.K. (to inspire local orchard revival and celebrate local varieties)   

Antillean Day -- Bonaire; Curacao; Saba; St. Eustatius 

Armed Forces Day -- Honduras (Dia de las Fuerzas Armadas)

Babbling Day -- an internet generated day for Blatherskites

Caramel Apple Day -- US (leave it to the US to add sugar to a delicious, nutritious snack!)

Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day -- actually a good idea

Count Your Buttons Day -- whoever came up with this one needs to count his marbles maybe?

Egyptian Naval Day -- Egypt

Garbanzo Bean Day

Global Iodine Deficiency Disorder Prevention Day

Humble Yourself By Having Your Picture Made Wearing A Bicycle Helmet Day -- no comment

Hurricane Bebe Day -- Funafuti, Tuvalu (commemoration of the destruction by this hurricane in 1972)

Hurricane Thanksgiving Day -- US Virgin Islands (only celebrated if no major storms have come through that year)

Independence Day -- Marshall Islands(1986)

International Adjust Your Chair Day -- because you need to check at least once a year to make sure your chair has you in an ergonomically correct position     

International Day of the Nacho -- Mexico; U.S.

Jailhouse Rock Day -- Elvis' song hit #1 today in 1957

National Heroes Day -- Jamaica

National Nurses Day -- Thailand

National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day

Overseas Chinese Day -- Taiwan (Republic of China)

President Ndadaye Day -- Burundi

Reptile Awareness Day -- hooray for snakes and turtles!  and lizards, don't forget lizards, and gators, and...

Seeking of King Look Under Your Mattress -- Fairy Calendar

Simchat Torah -- Judaism (day to celebrate the reading of the Law; begins at sunset, through sunset tomorrow)

St. John of Bridlington's Day (Patron against complications in childbirth)

St. Ursula's Day (Patron of educators/teachers, holy death, schoolchildren, students; British Virgin Islands; Catholic education, especially of girls; Cologne, Germany; University of Paris)

Trafalgar Day -- British Empire (noted, but no longer an officially holiday)

Anniversaries Today:

Juan Peron marries actress Evita (María Eva Duarte), 1945

Birthdays Today:

Jeremy Miller, 1976

Ken Watanabe, 1959

Carrie Fisher, 1956

Benjamin Netanyahu, 1949

Elvin Bishop, 1942

Judge Judy Sheindlin, 1942

Frances Fitzgerald, 1940

Ursula K. LeGuin, 1929

Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford, 1928 

Celia Cruz, 1925

Joyce Randolph, 1925

Dizzy Gillespie, 1917

Georg Solti, 1912

Edwin Myers "Ted" Shawn, 1891

Will Carleton, 1845

Alfred Nobel, 1833

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Butterflies are Free"(Play), 1969

"Orphee aux enfer/Orpheus in the Underworld"(Offenbach operetta), 1858

Today in History:

Sultan Kilidj Arslan of Nicea defeats 1st Crusaders, 1096

Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg., 1512

Ferdinand Magellen arrives at Tierra Del Fuego (Pacific Ocean), 1520

Sea battle at Dunes, Lt Admiral Maarten Tromp defeats Spanish Armada under De Oquendo, 1639

First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America, 1774

US Navy frigate Constitution, Old Ironsides, launched in Boston, 1797

Battle of Trafalgar, Adm Nelson defeats French & Spanish fleet & dies, 1805

The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings. It is the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia, 1816

Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement (Yorkshire England), 1824

Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb, 1879

First transatlantic radiotelephone message, Arlington, Va to Paris, 1915

Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time, 1945

Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun, 1965

The European Patent Institute is founded, 1977

The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second, 1983

Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in its discovery by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz, 2003

The European Parliament awards Cuban Dissident Guillermo Farinas the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, 2010

Kateri Tekakwitha is canonized as the first Native American saint by Pope Benedict XVI, 2012

The Parliament of Canada confers Honorary Canadian citizenship on women's rights and education activist Malala Yousafzai, 2013

Oscar Pistorius is sentenced to five years in prison for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, 2014

The Spanish government suspends Catalonia's autonomy in the face of a deepening political crisis over the region's push for independence, 2017

So, about these last two days.

Most weeks i do not work consecutive days.  Since i am a janitor/housekeeper with some health considerations, it's better that i space out my work.  That's because when i work, i really, really get into detail.

One of my female clients was amazed that i cleaned the insides of her make-up cases, and one gentleman was quite surprised that i commented that if he had me back the next week, i would do more to tackle the atrocious state of his baseboards.  Being older and single, he didn't even know he had baseboards, much less that they needed attention.

This past week, though, i ended up working two days in a row.  Most of that time was spent cleaning carpets with a large, heavy machine.  Pour in three gallons of hot tap water and the cleaner formula, clean a small area of carpet, empty the dirty water tank, start again.

In some areas where children had been using markers on the carpets, i also had to stain treat, and clean the area multiple times for it to even fade them at all.  Then there was the upholstery cleaning there, too.  Kids are hard on upholstery, and one ottoman i simply had to declare a lost cause.

Hauling water to and from the machine, over and over, and even carrying the machine up and down stairs, as well as doing the regular cleaning at one of the houses, did my back in for the time being.

After the second house, where i only did carpets in the morning and the regular cleaning in the afternoon, as well as the laundry, i went and did the shelter caretaker shift alone, as the girls were both busy, but through miscommunication each thought the other would be helping me.

Today, after the funeral i will attend this morning, i am coming home to give my back some TLC.

It better recover quickly, i'm in the nursery for 3 1/2 hours at church tomorrow.



Today is:

Betty Boop Day -- she debuted in "Dizzy Dishes" on this day in 1930

Book Lover's Day -- internet generated, but if you love books, go sit under a shady tree with a cool drink and indulge!

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 -- of unknown origin but worth celebrating

Clean Out the Kitchen Cupboards Day -- because someone, somewhere, thought it would be a good day to remind us to get rid of the junk in there we haven't seen since last year

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)

Dag der Inheemsen -- Suriname (Indigenous People's Day)

Elvis Week -- Memphis, TN, US (ten days of celebrating The King)

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 for Sol -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Goblin Ugly Contest -- Fairy Calendar

Independence Day / National Day -- Singapore(1965)

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples -- UN

Jesse Owens Day -- the day he became the first American to win 4 gold medals

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

Nagasaki Day / Moment of Silence -- Japan

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)

National Hand Holding Day -- sponsored by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith of Chicago

National Rice Pudding Day

National Women's Day -- South Africa

Quad City Air Show -- Davenport, IA, US (large family aviation weekend; through tomorrow)

Remembrance for Radbod, King of the Frisians -- Asatru/Norse Pagan

Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross' Day (born Edith Stein, killed at Auschwitz; Co-Patron of Europe; Patron of converts, martyrs, those who have lost their parents, World Youth Day)

Smokey the Bear Day -- Smokey first appeared on a U.S. Forest Service poster on this day in 1944

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

Veep Day -- US (commemoration of the day in 1974 Richard Nixon's resignation let Gerald Ford succeed to the presidency)

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

Women's Day -- South Africa

Yosakoi Matsuri -- Kochi City, Japan (over 100 groups come up with their own Bon dance and costume and have dance competions in the streets, through the 12th)


Anniversaries Today:

Coronation of Albert II of Belgium, 1993


Birthdays Today:

Audrey Tautou,1976
Eric Bana, 1968
Gillian Anderson, 1968
Delon Sanders, 1967
Hoda Kotb, 1964
Whitney Houston, 1963
Michael Kors, 1959
Amanda Bearse, 1958
Melanie Griffith, 1957
Sam Elliot, 1944
David Steinberg, 1942
Robert Joseph (Bob) Cousy, 1928
P.L. Travers, 1899
Joseph Locke, 1805
Amedeo Avogadro, 1776
John Dryden, 1631
Izaak Walton, 1593


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Béatrice et Bénédict (Beatrice and Benedick)"(Berlioz Opera Comique), 1862
Walden(Thoreau, publication date), 1854


Today in History:

Battle of Pharsalus, in which Julius Caesar defeated Pompey, who fled to Egypt, BC 40
Bulgaria is founded as a Khanate on the south bank of the Danube after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta, 681
Start of construction of the Tower of Pisa, 1173*
Sistine Chapel opens, 1483
First horses arrive in Hawai'i, 1803
The Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains, 1842
Thoreau's Walden is published, 1854
Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph, 1892
Betty Boop makes her debut in the cartoon, Dizzy Dishes, 1930
Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement, 1942
The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time, 1944
Singapore is expelled from Malaysia and becomes the first and only country to date to gain independence unwillingly, 1965
Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office, 1974
Wayne Gretzky is traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial player transactions in ice hockey history, 1988
The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on national leadership, 1993
Tensions escalate between North and South Korea, when South Korea claims North Korea fired over 100 rounds of artillery into the Sea of Japan, 2010
David Rudisha of Kenya becomes the first athlete at the 2012 Summer Olympics to set a new world track record and secures the 800m gold medal, 2012

*completed two hundred years later

I agree with Garfield. No one should get up on Monday the Thirteenth.

I mean, really. For this I went to college? To end up writing the world's most boring blog? To end up bottle feeding kittens? To end up wiping noses and slinging hash and being a janitor?

Well, at least the place getting dirty again all the time is job security. They can fire all the CEOs they like, the person who cleans the toilets and mops the floors will always have work.

Today is:

Barbershop Music Appreciation Day (Best barbershop quartet I ever heard was on Main Street at Disney World. They were wonderful.)

Embrace Your Geekness Day

Festival of the Lanterns, Japan

Festival of Our Lady of Fatima

Festival of the Three Cows, La Retraitre, France

Fool's Paradise Day

Go West Day

Gruntled Workers Day

National French Fry Day (Good thing I have some in the freezer.)

National Ice Cream Day

St Mildred's Day

Ulambana (Obon), Buddhist (Ancestor Day)


Birthdays Today:

Cheech Marin (1946)
Harrison Ford (1942)
Patrick Steward (1940)
Bob Crane (1928)
Nathan Bedford Forrest (1921)


Today in History

The US Patent Office, after issuing 9,957 unnumbered patents, issues Patent #1, for a type of locomotive wheel, 1836. (Wow, you can patent wheels!)
Queen Victoria becomes the first British monarch to take up residence in present day Buckingham Palace, 1837
Battle of Bayou LaFourche, La., 1863
The Nazis execute 5,000 Jews of Rovno Polish Ukraine, 1942