Awww Monday: New Crop of Kittens

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These kittens were at the shelter Friday.

Ahhh!  We love the hammock!

While i couldn't quite get a picture of him doing it, the brother at the bottom was not quite asleep.  Every time the sister at that side of the hammock flicked her tail over the edge, he would reach up and bat at it!

He's stretching to bat at his sister's tail!

If they could read the note on top of their cage, they might say, "We didn't know we were broken!"




Today is

Aso ote Tala Lei -- Tuvalu (Gospel Day)

Blow Bubbles for Your Cat Day -- internet generated entertainment urged for human and feline like

Cormorant Fishing Festival -- Nagara River, Gifu, Japan (traditional fishing with trained cormorants is celebrated nightly under the light of blazing torches through mid-October)

Eat What You Want Day -- since none of the "experts" can totally agree on what's good and what isn't, today, ignore them all! sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Fairy Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Royal Humans Founded -- Fairy Calendar

Holiday of the City of Miskolc -- Miskolc, Hungary

Hostess Cupcake Day -- the Hostess Cupcake, the first cmmercially produced cupcake, went on sale on this day in 1919

Lemuralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (second day)

Lokadagur -- Iceland (Final Day, festival to mark the end of the fishing season in the south-west of the country)

Ma Zu, Goddess of the Sea’s Birthday -- Buddhism; Taoism

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

National Mocha Torte Day

National Technology Day -- India

Nisga'a Day -- Nisga'a (one of the First Nations of Canada [ effective date of treaty])

Root Canal Appreciation Day -- Dr. Chris Kammer, the 'rock and roll dentist', declared this day back in 2005 because he said the much maligned proceedure saves millions of teeth a year and needs an image make over

St. Gengulf's Day (Patron of knights, separated spouses, victims of adultery or unfaithfulness; against unhappy marriages)

St. Mamertus' Day (first of the Ice Saints, whose days are supposed to herald the last frost)

Tubeless Tire Day -- B. F. Goodrich Company announced the development of a tubeless tire on this day in 1947

Twilight Zone Day -- no, it didn't premier on this day, nor was Rod Serling born or died on this day; it's today on the internet for no particular reason except that someone decided to celebrate it today

Witching Day -- Isle of Man (Mayday Eve based on the OS calendar, be careful of the spirits today)

Women's Check-up Day 2015 -- US (always the Monday after Mother's Day, encouraging women to be proactive about their health

Anniversaries Today:

Sammy Davis, Jr., marries Altovise Gore, 1970
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded, 1927
Glacier National Park established, MT, US, 1910
Minnesota becomes the 32nd US state, 1858


Birthdays Today:

Corey Monteith, 1982
Jonathan Jackson, 1982
Natasha Richardson, 1963
Boyd Gaines, 1953
Robert Jarvik, 1946
Mort Sahl, 1927
Bernard Fox, 1927
Foster Brooks, 1912
Phil Silvers, 1911
Salvador Dali, 1904
Martha Graham, 1894
Irving Berlin, 1888
Charles Warren Fairbanks, 1852
Chang and Eng Bunker, 1811


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Once Upon a Mattress"(Musical), 1959


Today in History:

Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman Empire and is also called Nova Roma and Byzantium, 330
Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam, 1647
Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented European to sail into the Columbia River, 1792
The waltz is introduced into English ballrooms, and becomes popular in spite of being called "riotous and indecent," 1812
William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth lead an expedition westwards from Sydney, opening the interior of Australia for settlement, 1813
Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British, 1857
Luxembourg  gains its independence, 1867
U.S. Congress  establishes Glacier National Park in Montana, 1910
Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies, 1924
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded, 1927
Siam officially changes its name to Thailand  for the second time, 1949
Israel joins the United Nations, 1949
In Baltimore, Maryland, the first heart-lung transplant takes place, 1987
In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions, 1995
IBM Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format, 1997
In Nepal, Sherpa Apa Sherpa achieves a new record by climbing Mount Everest for the 21st time, 2011

Hard To Go

Most of the time, i'm bottle raising for a couple of particular rescue groups, especially one that has a shelter of its own.

This call was from the group that tries to rescue the dozens and dozens of precious animals that end up at animal control.

Before this group started, most of those animals were euthanized.  Many still are.  It's much better now, though, as this group works very hard to get homes for as many animals as possible.

Kay called and asked for a favor, the companion group that works with animal control needed a bottle feeder.  She gave my name to Tina, who gave it to Maria, and Maria said she was desperate, these three were living on a multi-animal formula that another volunteer was feeding them when they were able to take out the time, as they are always so overworked.

The animal control center is forever and a half out on the edge of town, past the juvenile court, bail bond places, and parish prison.  Out in the area where no one wants to willingly go.  Yet the dedicated volunteers go out there, day after day, and take care of animals, doing so much more than the animal control staff can do.

When i pulled up to the place i hadn't been in over 15 years, i parked in the back near where the tangled weeds grow right up to the fence, with the woods beyond.  The on site veterinary "office" is a house trailer that has seen better days.

Then out of the car and i saw what's so hard to see.  Cage after cage, dog after dog, some two or three in a larger cage.  Most of the cages were clean, but a few needed attention.  Every tail wags and every pair of eyes follows hopefully when people pass.

Now, i have to admit that i am a messy mimi.  While i do clean, things can get a bit behind, and stuff tends to pile up in some places.  My floors, especially, often sport dried kitten formula and other dregs of raising these babies, but all litter boxes get cleaned daily and i sweep and try to spot clean as soon as i see anything and mop as often as i can.  It builds up, though, and my house smells like it has cats, it can't be helped.  It's something we are used to, we don't notice.  When i walk into other people's homes, if they have cats or dogs, i don't notice a smell, it's something i'm used to, unless it's a hoarding situation.

This time, following a volunteer into the large part of the back of the animal control building itself, the stench was almost overwhelming.  As much as i don't mind smells, and even enjoy the smell of a barn,  that beautiful, earthy scent of horses or cows, this smelled of death and illness, and it was awful.  It's the area the public doesn't see, the reason i have such a hard time coming out there.

It's the reason i think the people who volunteer out here are among the best people there are, because i'm not sure i could do it.

She brought me through to the front, where the public can sit and pick a happy, healthy companion, and from there Maria brought me in a tiny back office where one small dog was in a cage and another was wandering around, getting underfoot and being a darling.  On a table in a carrier were three kittens.  Next to the carrier, a cup full of formula that looked thin and watery to me, with syringes in it, the kind with no needled, to use to feed the babies.  No bottles are available here.

Maria asked me to fill out a volunteer form, which i did, and i fed the babies some more of their watery formula, which they took gladly, so they would perhaps sleep on the trip home.  As i stood there, she called two other volunteers back with her to discuss a man who had come in to claim his dog.  The dog had been left tied to a fence, so closely tied that it could hardly move, with no food, water, or shelter.  This in the hot south Louisiana summer can easily be lethal.  Yet she was explaining that there was no animal control hold on the animal, so she wasn't sure she could deny him.

A couple of phone calls, and she got someone from the staff to agree that, though there wasn't a hold, he would come out there on a Saturday and talk to the man, stressing that they would check up on the dog and telling him he had to provide shade and water at all times the animal was outside.  The whole conversation made me want to cry, and i know those volunteers hate having to give an animal back to an owner under such circumstances.  Yet they keep coming back and doing this job.

A few minutes later,  i put the kittens in my carrier and went out through the front door to walk around the building to my car, as i could not imagine trying to go through the back area again.

That last feeding was only partially successful; one of the babies screamed for about half of the long trip, and of course i came home to 13 screaming at me at home, all ready for a meal.  Many of those are weaned, though, or partially so, so it's not so bad.

The two in the kitten cage had been bathed and let out of isolation earlier, and the cage cleaned for these new ones.  So i fed everyone and moved these three into the cage, the tiniest babies into a much larger carrier, and the other 11 are running around the kitchen, dining area, library, and front hall, terrorizing my own cats who find the situation of all these invaders intolerable except that they bring with them the opportunity to steal kitten food and formula.

Now i have 16 kittens, from 3 different rescues, ranging from 2-7 weeks in age, and from 6 different litters.  Next Friday, the biggest of them can go to the one rescue that has a shelter of its own.

And in a few weeks, i'll have to go back out there, where it's hard for me to go.  At least these babies will get homes from out there, but i'm in more awe of the volunteers who work in that place than ever before.  They have nerves of steel.




Today is:

Banti Meskerem -- Eritrea (Revolution Day)

Bonnat Pig Fair -- Bonnat, France

Building and Code Staff Appreciation Day

Chicken Boy's Day -- the mascot of the now defunct restaurant by that name, the 22 foot statue of a boy with a chicken's head was saved from destruction and is now a pop icon in L.A. on Route 66

Constitution Day/National Day -- Slovakia

Day of Knowledge -- Estonia (an official Flag Day); Russia

Disaster Prevention Day/Kanto Earthquake Memorial Day -- Japan

Ecclesiastical Year begins -- Orthodox Christian

Father's Day -- Australia; Fiji; Papua New Guinea; New Zealand

Festival of Juno Regina and Jupiter Liber -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Giostra del Saracino -- Arezzo, Italy ("Saracen Joust," a tilting contest dating back to the 13th century, with knights in armor)

Harvest Wine Celebration -- Livermore, CA, US (open-house visits to 43 wineries; through tomorrow)

Hassaku Oshi-tsuki -- Tsuma, Oki Island, Japan (bull sumo, with bulls pushing each other out of the ring)

Historical Regatta -- Venice, Italy (competition among two-oar racing gondolas, preceded by Venetian ceremonial boats)

Mustaqillik Kuni -- Uzbekistan (Independence Day, 1991)

National Cherry Popover Day

National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day -- the day to celebrate the amazing words in the English language that do not rhyme with any other words

Nutt Day -- for Emma M. Nutt, the first female telephone operator

Oyster Season begins

Partridge's Day -- partridge hunting season begins in UK

Presidential Message Day -- Mexico

Random Acts of Kindness Day -- New Zealand

Running of the Sheep -- Reed Point, MT (matched only by the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, hundreds of sturdy Montana bred woolies charge down the six blocks of the main street in town, plus there is a parade!)

Sing A Silly Song in Bed Day -- now, this one has no real rhyme or reason

Sneeze-Wobbling Festival -- Fairy Calendar

St. Fiacre's Day -- Ireland and France (the rest of the church celebrates this Patron of gardeners on August 30)

St. Gideon the Judge's Day (Patron of Saint-Gedeon-de-Beauce, Canada)

St. Giles' Day (Patron of the beggars, blacksmiths, breast feeding, cancer patients, disabled/handicapped people, epileptics, forests, hermits, horses, lepers, mentally ill people, noctiphobics, paupers and the poor, rams, spur makers, woods; Edinburgh, Scotland; Toifa, Italy; against breast cancer, epilepsy, fear of the night, insanity, leprosy, mental illness, noctiphobia, sterility)

St. Simeon Stylites' Day -- Eastern Orthodox Christian

Teacher's Day -- Singapore

Wattle Day -- Australia


Birthdays Today:

Gloria Estefan, 1957
Dr. Phil McGraw, 1950
Barry Gibb, 1946
Lily Tomlin, 1939
Seiji Ozawa, 1935
Conway Twitty, 1933
"Boxcar" Willie, 1931
Rocky Marciano, 1923
Yvonne DeCarlo, 1922
Vittorio Gassman, 1922
Edgar Rice Burroughts, 1875
Englebert Humperdinck. 1854 (composer, esp of opera Hansel and Gretel)
Johann Pachelbel, 1653


Today in History:

Rabbi Moses Ben Nachman establishes a Jewish community in Jerusalem, 1267
Adi Granth, now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, was first installed at Harmandir Sahib, 1601
The first yacht race is held, between England's King Charles I and his brother James, 1661
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa forms in California, 1772
Juno, one of the largest main belt asteroids, is discovered by German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding, 1804
Narcissa Whitman, one of the first white women to settle west of the
Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington, 1836
The first Pullman sleeping car is put into service, 1859
The Solar Superstorm/Carrington Event: a huge solar sunspot and solar flare storm that disrupted telegraphy and allowed the Aurora Borealis to be seen as far south as the Caribbean occurs, 1859
Joseph Lister performs the first antiseptic surgery, 1865
Robert T. Freeman becomes the first African American to graduate from the Harvard Dental School, 1867
The first underground rapid transit system in North America, the Boston Subway, opens, 1897
One of the first science fiction films ever, A Trip To The Moon, opens in France, 1902
Alberta and Saskatchewan become the 8th and 9th Canadian provinces, 1905
Martha, the last passenger pigeon, dies at the Cincinnati Zoo, 1914
The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty, 1951
In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky and becomes the world chess champion, 1972
Canada adopts the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as part of its Constitution, 1982
A joint French-American expedition locates the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, 1985
Luxembourg becomes the first nation to complete the transition to all digital tv broadcasting, 2006

Generating Interest, Part Two

So, did you think a two hour stint at the new school was my only adventure of the week?

Oh, silly, of course not!  That was the beginning.

Because my phone didn't get reception in the counselor's office, i came out of the building to a voice mail.  It was Blair.  Knowing she only calls for one reason, i dialed her.

"I'm on my way right now to pick up a newborn kitten, just one.  Can you take it?"

Can i say no?

Hurrying home so i could meet up with her, i was barely ahead of the generator guy, who was scheduled to come but hadn't told me what time.  Looking out of the window, i suddenly realized he was there, hard at it.

Eventually he and i ended up on the front porch with Blair coming up the drive, and he was asking me to open the indoor room where the box is (actually, Sweetie's man cave) while she handed me a baby so new the umbilical stump wasn't even dry yet.  It couldn't have been more than an hour or so old.

Blair handed me the baby and left, and i went in, opened the room, turned off the central A/C because i knew the electricity would be going on and off as he worked, and fed the baby.

On and off was right.  He worked, and replaced, and tested, and replaced, and my internet went in and out as the electricity came off and on and as i struggled to answer my dad's emails that were fast and furious, never quite knowing which ones were going out and which were getting lost in the shuffle.

Mick finally came in and said he needed another part, and he would be back.  He left the electricity on, thank heaven, as it took him quite a long time.  In fact, i was starting to wonder what had happened when he showed up again, saying, "A big accident on the Interstate,  Every major artery is locked up."

Figures.

He worked more, and i fed kittens and finally got my dad the information he wanted and Mick finally said, "I've put in a call to my Supervisor.  We're going to get this!"

Great, i thought, what now!  No, don't tell me, i'm not sure i want to know.

Eventually, though, i did know.  The Supervisor showed up, and they went through the turn it on/turn it off again a few times, and the Supervisor figured out the problem.  He had to look very closely, but there was one wire loose.  In replacing the relay, it had been knocked ever so slightly askew.

"Do you know how much I want to flip you off for finding that so fast when I thought I had checked everything!" Mick said to his Supervisor with a grin.  "You are lucky she is in the room, so I can't!"

We all laughed.

New control board, new relay, naughty wire back in place, and finally, the last test.  Success.  The generator will once again come on automatically when the power goes out, and cut off properly when it comes back on.

"I'll have them send you an invoice," the Supervisor said.  "Cost of the two parts, plus the truck fee and only one hour of labor.  That's all it should usually take to change out those two parts, so that's all I'll charge you for."

Since it's $95 an hour, and the parts will be around $300, and the truck fee is $100, only having to pay for one hour when it took so many trips and several hours more than that is a blessing. 

Meanwhile, i'll be up nights again for a while.

Today is:

Air Guitar World Championships -- Oulu, Finland (through Saturday; "The purpose of the Air Guitar World Championships is to promote world peace.")

Aquino Day -- Philippines

Buhe -- Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Christian remembrance of the Transfiguration.)

Cadillac Day -- the first Caddy was built this day in 1902

Chung Yuan Festival -- China (Festival of Hungry Ghosts; according to legend, during this 7th lunar month the souls of the dead are released from Purgatory to wander the Earth, and so today is the day to appease those spirits with joss stick burning, prayers and food, "ghost money", and other offerings; dates of this vary in other countries)

Consualia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival of Consus, god of grain and silos)

Corn Palace Festival -- Mitchell, SD, US (harvest celebration and redecoration of the world's only Corn Palace; through Sunday)

Crazy Day -- go crazy, in honor of Patsy Cline recording Willie Nelson's song Crazy on this date in 1961

Fete de la Jeunesse -- Morocco; Western Sahara (Youth Day, on the Birthday of HM Mohammed VI)

Gospel Day -- Kosrae, Micronesia

National Pecan Torte Day

National Senior Citizens Day -- US

National Spumoni
Native Wild Rice Harvest -- Northern Cree, Ojibwa, and Algonkian Native Americans (celebrated during the August full moon; if there are two full moons, it is during the second)

Poet's Day -- a day to celebrate the poet in you, and share special thoughts about poets and poetry

Raksha Bandhan -- Hindu (festival honoring the loving ties between brothers and sister in a family; local observances date may vary)

St. Pius X's Day (Patron of first communicants, pilgrims; Des Moines, Iowa, US; Great Falls-Billings, Montana, US; Kottoyam, India; Santa Lucija, Malta; Springfield-Cape Girardeau, MO, US; Zamboanga, Philippines)

Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration -- Shelbyville, TN, US (an 11-day festival celebrating the world famous Tennessee Walking Horse and crowning this year's World Grand Champion)


Anniversaries Today

Seminole Tribe of Native Americans is legally established and recognized, 1957
Hawai'i becomes the 50th US state, 1959


Birthdays Today

Ozma, Queen of Oz, year unconfirmed
Jackie DeShannon, 1944
Clarence Williams III, 1939
Kenny Rogers, 1938
Wilt Chamberlain, 1936
Shimon Peres, 1923
Christopher Robin Milne, 1920
Friz Freleng, 1906
Count Basie, 1904
William Murdoch, 1754
Francis de Sales, 1567


Today in History

Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shogun and therefore de facto ruler of Japan, 1192
Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt, 1680
James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales, 1770
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
Physicist Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1945
James Anderson, Jr., posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine, 1968
Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. is assassinated at the Manila International Airport, 1983
Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometer range, 1986
Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses, 1991
The Red Cross announces the famine in Tajikistan and calls for international aid there and in Uzbekistan, 2001
Hurricane Dean becomes the first storm to make landfall as a Catagory 5 since Hurricane Andrew, 2007

Plus Two

The results of several calls last week about more kittens has resulted in our numbers reaching nine.

The two latest were an interesting case.  Feral mama cat had them in an elevator shaft, of all places, in the tiny space at the very bottom behind the elevator.  The lady who lived in that apartment complex whom the management knew worked in animal rescue was called.

She answered the call, although she has never worked with cats, bottle raises dogs that are abandoned by their mamas, and is highly allergic to cats.

For three weeks, despite her worsening symptoms, she took pristine care of them.  They are used to baths, and know their names.  She socialized them through lots of handling, and even let them play with her dog (who was scared of them!).  That's dedication.

Natasha and Boris

She picked just the right names, too.



Today is:

Jeshen -- Afghanistan (Independence Day)

Hanawa Bayashi -- Kazuno City, Japan (parades and music in the merchant's quarter, through tomorrow)

Hot & Spicy Food Day

Manuel Luis Quezon Day -- Quezon City, Philippines

National Aviation Day -- US

Onam Festival -- Kerala, India (10 day harvest celebration observed by Malayali Hindus)

Potato Day

San Martin Day -- Argentina (obs.)

Stay at Home With Your Kids Day -- begun by Work at Home Moms ezine in 1999, to encourage and support parents who work from home

St. John Eudes' Day (Patron of Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada)

St. Sebald's Day (a/k/a Sebaldus) (Patron of Bavaria, Germany; Nuremburg, Germany; against cold weather and freezing)

Vinalia Rustica -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Festival of Ripening Grapes)

Watch the Pot Wednesday -- Fairy Calendar (sometimes actually occurs on a Wednesday, more often not)

World Humanitarian Day -- UN

Yukon Discovery Day -- YT, Canada


Birthdays Today:

Snuffleupagus (year unconfirmed)
LeAnn Womack, 1966
John Stamos, 1963
Adam Arkin, 1956
Mary Matlin, 1953
Jonathan Frakes, 1952
John Deacon, 1951
Tipper Gore, 1948
Bill Clinton, 1946
Jack Canfield, 1944
Jill St. John, 1940
Diana Muldaur, 1938
Willie Shoemaker, 1931
Don Ho, 1930
Gene Roddenberry, 1921
Malcolm Forbes, 1919
Jimmy Rowles, 1918
Ring Lardner, Jr., 1915
Philo T. Farnsworth, 1906 (forgotten inventor of television)
Ogden Nash, 1902
Coco Chanel, 1883
George Bellows, 1882
Orville Wright, 1881
John Dryden, 1631


Today in History:

The Roman Senate is compelled to elect Octavian, later Augustus Caesar, Consul, BC43
Augustus Caesar dies, 14
Crusaders defeat the Saracens in the Battle of Ascalon, 1099
Mary Queen of Scots arrives in Leith to assume the throne, 1561
Five people are executed for witchcraft in Salem, Mass., 1692
Presentation of Jacque Daguerre's new photographic process to the French Academy of Sciences, 1839
The New York Herald reports the discovery of gold in California, 1849
The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio, 1934
Hurricane Dianne kills 200 and does about $1 Billion in damage, 1955
Leonard Bernstein conducts his final concert, ending with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, 1990
Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events which began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989
A series of strong storms lashes Southern Ontario spawning several tornadoes as well as creating extreme flash flooding within the city of Toronto and its surrounding communities, 2005

Haiku

Who always puts back
Empty cartons in the fridge?
Teenagers strike again.

Should i clean the fridge?
Bacon grazes on lettuce
Take that as a yes.

Where is cheese i bought?
Children have opened the new
Before old is gone. 


Kittens, how can you
Be hungry again so soon?
All bottomless pits.

Peaceful kittens snooze,
And if i ever need more
Much cat hair to knit 


Dust bunnies seem quiet
When i put them in trash
But looks do deceive

Hear them giggle late
In the night as they scatter
O'er the house again!


Today is

Abolition Day -- Guadeloupe; Saint Martin

Bolder Boulder 10k -- Boulder, CO, UK (a fun way to spend Memorial Day)

Buttercup Day -- an internet holiday that just sounds fun

Cape May Music Festival -- Cape May, NJ, US (through June 13; world class music performances of many genres)

Cellophane Tape Day -- patented this date in 1930

Children's Day -- Nigeria (a school holiday)

FindleFritter's Stoat-Wheedling Event -- Fairy Calendar

Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling -- Cooper’s Hill, England (ancient tradition -- pre-Roman -- of rolling a large wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the hill; winner of the races to catch it wins the cheese, and the rolling is now always held on the Monday Spring Bank Holiday)

Memorial Day -- US and Territories (obs.)
     Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day -- US (on observed Memorial Day, an interfaith encouragement to pray and work for permanent peace in the world)

Mother's Day -- Bolivia

National Grape Popsicle Day

National Heroes' Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands

Pop-up Toaster Day -- Charles Strite applied for his patent on the first pop-up toaster on this day in 1919

Sovereign's Day Holiday / Commonwealth Day-- Belizeusually24th

St. Augustine of Canterbury's Day (Roman Catholic Church observance; Patron of England)

St. Melangell's Day (Patron of hares)

Sun Screen Protection Day -- an annual, and unsponsored, reminder to use that SPF protection, every day!

Tetbury Woolsack Races -- Gumstool Hill, Tetbury, England (this formerly important wool producing town still holds races up and down the hill, from the Royal Oak Pub up to the Crown Pub and back; part of traditional Whitsuntide folklore customs, which is now always held on the Monday Spring Bank Holiday)

Throw the B*st@rds Out Day -- originally directed at politicians, (and if you want to do that, too, great!), and celebrated on various days on various sites, but whomever is making your life miserable, toss them out!  or at least, toss them out of your thoughts for today.

Tour of Somerville -- Somerville, NJ, US (the oldest continuously run major bicycle race in America, always on observed Memorial Day)



Birthdays Today:

Joseph Fiennes, 1970
Jeremy Mayfield, 1969
Todd Bridges, 1965
Adam Carolla, 1964
Louis Gossett, Jr., 1936
Ramsey Lewis, 1935
Henry Kissinger, 1923
Christopher Lee, 1922
Sam Snead, 1912
Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911
Vincent Price, 1911
Dolores Hope, 1909
Dashiell Hammett, 1894
Isadora Duncan, 1878
Wild Bill Hickock, 1837
Julia Ward Howe, 1819
Amelia Bloomer, 1818
Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1794


Today in History:

Habeas Corpus Act, codifying how the writ of habeas corpus is to be used, passes in UK, 1679
Peter the Great founds St. Petersburg, 1703
In Bolivia, the Battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba  fight against the Spanish army, 1812
In Canada, American forces capture Fort George, 1813
Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco, California, 1907
The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight, 1919
The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public, 1930
Richard Gurley Drew receives a patent for his adhesive tape, later manufactured by 3M as Scotch tape, 1930
The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon  The Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", 1933
In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, , 1937
Toronto's CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) becomes Canada's first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n' Roll music format, 1957
Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census, 1967
In Culpeper, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition, 1995
Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire, 1996
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milosevic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity, 1999
The May 2006 Java earthquake strikes at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing over 6,600, 2006

Well, it was supposed to be

...just a normal, average day of feeding the cats at the shelter.  That was before i got there.

Well, really it started a few hours before.  We had 13 foster kittens in the house; five most certainly ready to go to the shelter for pre-adoption, one that was a maybe, one weaned that is nowhere near ready, four that are on the verge of weaning, and a two-week-old that we just have for a few days so we can get her to eat from a bottle before the new-in-training feeder gets her.  No use giving her a kitten that won't cooperate for her first time, it might scare her away, and we need all the help we can get.

Anyway, as i was trying figure out when we would go and get the carrier ready and fix dinner early because Sweetie got home extra early (he had gotten to work just before 5am to help with a special project and got to come home early), and keep an eye out for the bigger kittens so that none of them would pull on a cloak of invisibility right before it was time to go, #2 Son asked if he and Festus could take the van, Jalopy (yes, i name my cars, they are clunkers that deserve names), to a friend's house.  (And if you kept that previous sentence straight, you are saner than i am after all of this happened.)

It turns out the friend lives just a couple of blocks from the shelter, so i offered to drive them when i left, and picked a leaving time.  They decided to walk, which i wasn't too thrilled about.  It's hot as blazes already, but they didn't want to wait another half hour.  They headed out, and fifteen minutes later, as i was gathering kittens, #2 Son called.  He and Festus were hot and dehydrated and could we pick them up off the side of the road on our way past, please?  Sometimes they have to learn the hard way.\

Soon we were on our way, five oldest kittens in tow.  The questionable one, i decided, is just too dinky in size and needs to get a little bigger and stronger.  Besides, she found her invisibility cloak just in time.

Little Girl and i got about a mile up toward the shelter when we saw #2 Son and Festus.  "Ah, the damsels in distress!" she grinned.  She isn't going to let her brother live this one down for a long time.  After dropping them at the friend's house, she and i proceeded to the shelter.

This is where everything got even more complicated.

Carol and 3 volunteers were there.  Carol and one volunteer were doing a combo test on a kitten for a lady who will foster these herself until there is room for them in the shelter, Ms. Vivian was going from cage to cage and room to room clipping everyone's claws as she does on Friday, and Anne was trying to get one of the stepladders to collapse so she could put it away.  The lady who was to foster the kittens was filling out her paperwork and as i walked in, i noticed the computer wasn't working.  Turned out the server was down, so i couldn't clock in, which is really no big deal, as i sign off on the book after we do all the work anyway, checking off all the medications and food given, so they would know i had been there anyway.  When i asked Carol if i should sign in the old fashioned way, she said not to bother, she wasn't going to do anything with it anyway, it would just turn into another piece of paper on her desk.  She was already very stressed, and it was about to get worse.

Right after i came in, a family walked in to look at adopting a cat.  The mom and daughter had seen a couple they were interested in, and brought back dad and other sister to pick one to be the companion to one near the same age they had at home.  Apparently the one at home, which they had adopted off the street a couple of months before, was making their 6-year-old Siamese very cranky with his 4-month-old antics, so they wanted another one of about 4 months to keep it entertained.  Their first request was to go sit in a room with the kitten so they could get to know her better, but as there is no such room where we could put them, we simply shut the door to the rest of the shelter and let them put her down in the big room.  She promptly tried to explore the whole place and climb inside the only piece of furniture in the hallway, prompting a frenzied game of chase and rescue..
 
Meanwhile, Little Girl and i had put our 5 in the tri-level cage that was ready for them, keeping only Ame out so she could be combo tested.  Because she was only found with one sibling, which didn't survive, she had to be tested separately (in a litter, we only test one, and if it's negative, then they all pass, as if one of them has these illnesses, then all the kittens in the litter have it).  Little Girl tried to hold Ame, but when Carol couldn't hit the vein because of too much squirming, i ended up doing it.  The thumps from the other room told us that Ms. Vivian was not having much success with trimming Oscars nails.

About this time, the lady who would foster the other 3 kittens she had found having left, we checked their combo test.  It was positive for FIV, which means that she can't bring them to the shelter for 4 weeks, when they will be tested again.  Often by that time the kittens test negative and are fine, they are just positive because they have the mama cat's antibodies in them, but they have not actually been exposed to the disease.  Carol set the test on her desk to remind her to call the lady with the news.  (The good news from this very nice lady is that, after a year of trying, she finally caught the mama that has been presenting her with kittens every so often, and got her spayed, so this is her last litter.)

The family up front had made their decision and were filling out paperwork, which Carol was handling, another couple of people were milling around looking at cats, the other volunteers were doing whatever needed doing at that moment, and the phone was ringing when Little Girl came out from filling the water pitcher and said the washing machine was leaking.

Indeed it was.  Being the closest, i went to see and found a steady drip from both sides.  Thinking fast, to keep the water from seeping into a colony room, i grabbed three huge dirty towels from the hamper and just threw them down there.  This is about the fourth time we've had the washer repaired, so this time, if it's more than a small leak in a hose, it's going to get itself replaced and go to that great appliance heaven.

Walking back up to see the kittens and grab one from the litter of four to run a combo test on, i noted that my 5 weren't too bright.  They had huddled on the top level, not realizing they could climb to the bottom where the litter box was, and one of them had left a very stinky mess in the middle of the clean cloth that covers the top level.  So it was back to the linen closet to find a fresh cloth to fit.  At that point i moved them all to the bottom so they would see they had a litter box available, and grabbed Gambit so he could be the one tested.

Carol and i got his sample, noted that Ame's was negative (whew!), and when i put Gambit back in the cage, i noted that all of them were now huddled on the bottom level, not realizing they could climb up to the top where the food and water are.  When did it happen that i raised such a set?

At this moment, i took the time to help Carol by grabbing her information sheet that has the list of all the kittens in each foster home, and finished up filling out all of the information on each of mine, so she could get it all into the computer, when once the computer is back up and running.

After that, i was trying to read the medications chart, Little Girl was feeding and watering, the phone was ringing again, the washer had finally finished its cycle, leaving behind a bigger mess on the floor with the now dripping towels, one of the cats in an intake cage that hasn't been feeling too great had barfed all over his cage, the adoption had been finalized and the family had left, Carol had tried to call the repair people for the washer and been told they would have to call her back, and the computer tech people had managed to remotely dig around the innards of the server and decide it probably needed to be replaced.  Poor Carol commented that she was the one who was going to be replaced if things kept going this way.

By the time i finished medicating everyone, including the ones with ringworm (again we have ringworm! will it never end!), cleaning the really nasty cages where sick cats were, helping haul traps for this weekend's trap/neuter/release day, listened to poor Carol take at least a dozen phone calls (including one from the pet store telling her that a cat needed to be taken out of the adoption area of the store that very moment because the fax of the cat's rabies vaccine paper had a slightly smeared line so it wasn't acceptable and a second from the same pet store telling her that one of our cages had been taken over by another rescue group), noted that Gambit's combo test was negative (whew! again), and we had fed and watered every animal in the place, #2 Son and Festus had walked over from the friend's house to catch a ride back.

As i was trying to fill out the paperwork so i could go, a nice man came to request that we take the cat his last tenants had abandoned when they moved out of the house two days before, as he already had one cat they had adopted from us and another stray they had taken in.  Poor Carol was about to have a nervous conniption by now, because we have to put people on waiting lists, and it's so hard when they show up with a cat and we just can't take it, we have no room.

We headed home down by 5 kittens, and i hated having to leave, because it was mayhem, and i know they could have used more help, but i had to get the kids back and cook dinner.  Of course, when i walk in this house it is always mayhem, with kittens screaming for bottles and lots of activity, even if i bring the activity in with me from the car in the form of my passengers as i did this time.

What's really fun about the situation is that vacation season has started, so the volunteers are taking turns being out, and sometimes they are very shorthanded.  In fact, we are going to go do it all again tonight, as it's the Saturday evening caretaker's turn to be out.  Taking an extra day is the least i can do, as we will be out the first week of June.

If i find Carol wandering around with a vacant stare on her face, muttering incoherently, i won't blame her one bit.




Today is

Africa Day / African Liberation Day  -- African Union; related observance
     President Yajya Jammeh's Birthday -- Gambia

Alma Highland Festival and Games -- Alma College, Alma, Michigan (annual celebration of Scottish heritage, with world class entertainment and fun; through tomorrow)

ARMAD: AMATEUR RADIO MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY -- US ("Ham it up for the troops!" is the motto of amateur ham radio operators on the Saturday before Memorial Day)armad.net

First Patriotic Government / National Day -- Argentina (Dia de la Revolucion de Mayo)

Flitting Day -- parts of England; Scotland (traditional day on which leases were up for the year and people moved)

Geek Pride Day / Nerd Pride Day -- celebrate the geek /nerd in you!  Geek culture is the obvious choice to laud when it's Glorious 25 May, Star Wars Day, and Towel Day at the same time; began in Spain as "Día del Orgullo Friki"

Glorious 25 May -- in Terry Pratchett's Discworld

Grubstake Days -- Yucca Valley, CA, US (parade, carnival, rodeo, fun!)

Independence Day -- Jordan(1946)

International Jazz Day -- originated with the New Jersey Jazz Society and sanctioned by the United Nations Jazz Society, the American Federation of Jazz Societies, and the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society, which encourage local festivals of Jazz on the Saturday before the observance of US Memorial Day

Isle of Man Tourist Trophy -- Isle of Man (through June 7; two weeks of the finest road racing on earth)

Julia Pierpont Day -- she came up with Decoration Day, the precursor to US Memorial Day; prepare veterans' graves for Memorial Day today

Liberation Day -- Lebanon

Lobster Days -- Mystic Seaport, CT, US (a New England lobster bake on the banks of the Mystic River; through Monday)

National Brown-Bag-It Day

National Missing Children's Day -- US (promoting awareness of the problem of missing children)

National Tap Dance Day -- US, birth anniversary of Mr. Bojangles

National Wine Day

Offering to Demeter -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Poetry Day -- Florida, US (since 1947, the state legislature declared this for all public schools in the state; if you don't live in Florida, enjoy a poem today, anyway)

Procession of the Statue of Artemis -- Ancient Greek and Roman Calendars, at Ephesus (date approximate, but always near the Thargelia)

Self-Reliance Day -- an internet originated holiday, based on the idea that we should all become more self reliant in this day when it is a dying art.

Skerpla Month begins -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (Sharpness)

Star Wars Day -- Part IV, A New Hope was released this date in 1977

St. Bede the Venerable's Day (Patron of lectors; Father of English History)

St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi's Day (Patron of the ill; against illness and sexual temptation)

Taste of Cincinnati -- Cincinnati, OH, US (6 blocks of Downtown Cincinnati is turned into a big food extravaganza; through Monday)

Towel Day -- Douglas Adams fans, unite!  Always know where your towel is.

Utica Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Festival -- Utica, OH, US (local artisans, pony rides, antique gas engines, car show, motorcycle show, magic show, and more, plus tons of ice cream! through Monday)

Waisak/Vesak Festival -- Borobudur Temple, Java, Indonesia (on the day of the full moon, a stunning and spiritual celebration of Buddha's birthday)

War of Jenkin's Ear Living History Demonstrations -- Wormsloe State Historic Site, Savannah, GA, US (a colonial living-history event with musket demonstrations, military drills, tomahawk throwing and more)

Week of Solidarity with the People Of Non-Self-Governing Territories begins -- United Nations


Birthdays Today:

Lauryn Hill, 1975
Anne Heche, 1969
Stacy London, 1969
Mike Myers, 1963
Connie Sellecca, 1955
Frank Oz, 1944
Leslie Uggams, 1943
Ian McKellen, 1939
Tom T. Hall, 1936
Beverly Sills, 1929
Robert Ludlum, 1927
Jeanne Crain, 1925
Claude Akins, 1918
Igor Sikorsky, 1889
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, 1878
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803


Today in History:

First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, BC240
Alfonso VI of Castile  takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors, 1085
Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ, 1420
The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw, 1521
Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England, 1659
Jews are expelled from Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek, 1784
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States, 1787
In the May Revolution, citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the Semana de Mayo, 1810
The Patriots of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom, 1837
The first telegraphed news dispatch is published in Baltimore Patriot, 1844
Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London, 1878
The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president, 1895
John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in Tennessee, 1925
Henry Ford stops production of the Model T to begin the Model A, 1927
Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks five world records and ties a sixth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field  Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1935
The first ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition, 1955
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established, 1963
Star Wars (retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981) is released in theaters, inspiring the Jediism religion and Geek Pride Day holiday, 1977
Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people, 1985
Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion, 2000
32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 2001
Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, 2011

Having a Jubilee

 Yesterday, we got the call to please take in one more kitten.  It was supposed to be about the age of my current younger litter, and how could i say no?

The call to the nice lady ended with me agreeing to meet her at a local coffee shop about a mile from me, and a mile from her, too.  She showed up right on time and gave us a beautiful little tortoiseshell kitten that was dehydrated, but appeared healthy.

Then she pointed out the small cut and burn up by the kitten's ear.  Apparently, she had found the kitten earlier that day trapped in the engine of her car!  A call to 911 ended up with a fire truck and a rescue squad taking two hours to free the poor thing.

Bigger Girl says we are having a jubilee because the kitten is safe now, and we have named her that, Jubilee.  She's skittish and needed hydration from the vet's office, and of course she doesn't want a bottle yet, it doesn't taste like mama and she's not quite hungry enough yet.  She will be soon.

Today is

Abolition Day -- Martinique

Bath International Music Festival -- Bath, UK (with musicians from more than 30 countries, this is truly a premier festival; through June 2)

Bear Waking Day -- Norway (traditionally said to be the day the bears awaken from their hibernation, at least according to many sites)

Buy a Musical Instrument Day -- even just a kazoo, and have some fun making music; maybe if this one spreads around the world and enough of us do it, it will foster some harmony in our lives

Election Day -- Cayman Islands

Elf Fest -- Lothlorien Nature Sanctuary (near Needmore, Indiana; through next Tuesday)

Emergency Medical Services for Children Day -- because children need different care, they aren't just tiny adults

Independence Day -- Montenegro

International Day for Biological Diversity -- UN

National Maritime Day -- US (commemorating the first transoceanic voyage under steam power)

National Sovereignty Day -- Haiti

National Vanilla Pudding Day

St. Julia's Day (Patron of torture victims; Corsica, Portugal; Livorno, Italy)

St. Rita of Cascia's Day/La Abodada de Impossibles (Patron of desperate causes, difficult marriages, forgotten causes, illness, lost causes, parenthood, sick people, sterile people, victims of physical spousal abuse, widows, wounded people; against abuse, infertility, loneliness, sickness, sterility, wounds, unhappy marriages; Cascia, Italy; Dalayap, Philippines; Igbaras, Philippines)

Toad-Pinching Day -- Fairy Calendar (Pixies)

Toothpaste Tube Day -- the tube was invented on this day in 1892 by dentist Washington Wentworth Sheffield, who wanted to replace the unhygenic practice of dipping the brush into a jar of dental cream

Unity Day / National Day -- Republic of Yemen


Birthdays Today:

Apollo Anton Ohno, 1982
Ginnifer Goodwin, 1978
Morrissey, 1959
Paul Winfield, 1941
Richard Benjamin, 1938
Susan Strasberg, 1938
Peter Nero, 1934
Sir Laurence Olivier, 1907
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859
Mary Cassatt, 1844
Richard Wagner, 1813


Today in History:

The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus, BC334
The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to murder Saladin near Aleppo, 1176
Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe, 1377
Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England, 1455
A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason, 1807
On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna), Napoleon is repelled by an enemy army for the first time, 1809
The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean; the ship arrived at Liverpool, England on June 20, 1819
HMS Beagle  departs on its first voyage, 1826
The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished, 1840
Farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discover Howe Caverns, 1842
The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is officially opened, 1897
The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine", 1906
Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain other than Mount St. Helens to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century, 1915
The most powerful earthquake ever documented, the Great Chilean Quake, measures 9.5 and strikes southern Chile, 1960
The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores, 1968
Ceylon adopts a new constitution, thus becoming a Republic, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations, 1972
Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man, 1980
Microsoft  releases the Windows 3.0 operating system, 1990
Johnny Carson retires from The Tonight Show after 30 years, 1992
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations, 1992
A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, 2002

Feline Friday: Count the Kittens

Can you tell how many kittens are in the kitten quilt on the floor?

Count the Kittens!

 If you can count 11, you are right!  The current crop is from 5 litters.  The eldest are just over five weeks old, so i'm trying to get them to start drinking out of a bowl.  They already nibble at the dry food.

The youngest are about 3 weeks old, and so are just allowed to roam the kitchen in the last few days.  They were in the cage until three days ago.

So far this kitten season, i have probably gone through about 20lbs. of dry kitten formula mix.  That's just the kittens i've raised, as we do have a few others who will take one litter at a time, or only litters on the cusp of weaning.  They aren't crazy like me.

At this time, i've already informed Miss W that vacation is coming up the first week of June, so any new kittens i take will have to have somewhere else to go by then, as will all of these.  These shouldn't be a problem, and should all be weaned by then and up for adoption.

Then i get to come home from vacation and start over!

\

Today is

Armed Forces/Amateur Radio Crossband Test Day -- US (ham operators and the US military team up to test ham operators ability and expertise in contacting appropriate military radio stations in an emergency)

Blueberry Hill Open Dart Tournament -- St. Louis, MO, US (America's oldest and largest pub dart tournament; through Sunday)

Child Care Provider Appreciation Day -- US (on the Friday before Mother's Day, to recognize the important role of child care providers in society today)

Clean up Your Room Day -- one of those holidays that no one knows how it got started, but it's a good idea, especially if your house is decorated by teens in "Recently Ransacked" style!

Constitution Day -- Federated States of Micronesia

Electra Goat BBQ Cook Off & Craft Show -- Electra, TX, US (with a salsa dance contest, Cow Patty Drop, live bands, games, a Jackpot Steak & Beans Competition, there is something here for everyone; through Sunday)

Fintastic Friday: Giving Sharks A Voice -- they are really amazing creatures

Golden Spike Day -- finishing the first US Trancontinental Railroad in 1869

Josey's World Champion Junior 4-D Barrel Race -- Josey's Ranch, Marshall, TX, US (finest youth barrel racing in the world; through Sunday)

Lilac Festival -- Rochester, NY, US (a beautiful ten days of the biggest and best lilac festival anywhere)

Military Spouse Appreciation Day -- US (Friday before Mother's Day)

Mother's Day -- Belize; El Salvador; Guatemala; Mexico

National Shrimp Day

St. Cathal's Day (Patron of blind people, drought relief, epileptics, paralyzed people; Taranto, Italy; against blindness, drought, epilepsy, hernias, paralysis, plagues, storms)

St. Father Damien of Moloka'i's Day (Patron of lepers, outcasts, those with HIV/AIDS; Hawaii)

St. Job the Patriarch's Day (Patron against depression and ulcers)

Trust Your Intuition Day -- practice, and you'll get better at it

World Lupus Day  -- www.worldlupusday.org



Birthdays Today:

Kenan Thompson, 1978
Amanda Borden, 1977
Paul "Bono" Hewson, 1960
Phil and Steve Mahre, 1957
Donovan, 1946
Judith Jamison, 1943
Gary Owens, 1936
Pat Summerall, 1930
Nancy Walker, 1922
David O. Selznick, 1902
Fred Astaire, 1899
Max Steiner, 1888
Emperor Fushimi of Japan, 1265
Emperor Claudius, 213


Today in History:

The Roman armies under Titus open a full scale assault on Jerusalem, 70
Vienna's church orders all Jews to wear a distinctive garb, 1267
Scottish nobles recognize authority of English king Edward I, 1291
Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves on a voyage to the New World, 1497
Christopher Columbus "discovers" the Cayman Islands, 1503
Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland, 1534
Scottish Protestants under John Knox uprise against queen-mother Mary, 1559
England forcefully annexes Jamaice from Spain, 1655
Benjamin Franklin first tests the lightning rod, 1752
Louis XVI becomes King of France, 1774
The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America, 1801
New York City banks fail, and unemployment reaches record levels, 1837
In India, the first war of Independence begins, 1857
The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah) with the golden spike, 1869
Romania  declares itself independent from Turkey, 1877
The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883, 1893
The first Mother's Day is observed, 1908
J. Edgar Hoover is appointed Director of the FBI, 1924
First successful launch of a V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground, 1946
Bill Haley & His Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts, 1954
The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth, 1960
The Federated States of Micronesia  becomes self-governing, 1979
François Mitterrand becomes the first Socialist President of France in the French 5th republic, 1981
Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president, 1994
Deadliest day on the mountain: a rogue storm on Everest claims 8 lives, including experienced climbers, 1996
The Maeslantkering, a storm surge barrier in the Netherlands that is one of the world's largest moving structures, is opened by Queen Beatrix, 1997
Solicitor General Elena Kagan is the youngest Justice and third woman nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States, 2010
Microsoft announces plans to purchase Skype, 2011

A quick update

A Christmas miracle (for us, anyway).

Every kitten that I have fostered here in the past months -- Ruffino, Phineas, Phileas (Chunker), Phillip (Loudmouth), Philemon (Smartypants), Hogan, Mickey James, BooBoo, and The Goose -- have all been adopted within the last two weeks before Christmas!

This leaves us with only Billie Jean, who has an eye infection and couldn't be taken to adoption day today, and Meggie, Moe, Ozzie, and Bug, who haven't been altered yet because they are still too young. They will all get spayed/neutered in early January, and will be the only small kittens available at adoption days, so they should get homes quickly.

Then we get to rest up for a month or so before kitten season starts again.

It will be my 27th kitten season next year. After a short rest, bring it on.

Two of our kittens were adopted yesterday!

Hogan, who is white except for 3 small grayish/black smudges right on the top of his head, went to a very nice family that will relish his high energy.

The Goose, who is solid black except for the white spots on the very tips of 3 toes on one front foot and 2 on the other, went to a couple who will love that he is a snuggler.

This is why I foster.


Today is:

Ice Cream and Violins Day

Independence Day, Namibia

International Children's Day

International Shareware Day

Little Yule a/k/a Luciadagen (Festival of Lights in many parts of

Scandinavia, honoring St. Lucia.)

National Cocoa Day

Republic Day, Malta

St. Jose's Day (patron of harvests, ships; against fire, fever, storms)

Saint Lucy's Day (patron of writers, lights, people with eye trouble,

glass workers, lamplighters; against dysentary, throat disease,

blindness, hemorrhage)


Birthdays Today:

Taylor Swift, 1989
Amy Lee, 1981
Tom DeLonge, 1975
Christie Clark, 1973
Jamie Foxx, 1967
Ted Nugent, 1948
John Davidson, 1941
Aga Khan IV, 1936
Christopher Plummer, 1927
Dick Van Dyke, 1925
Archie Moore, 1913
Kenneth Patchen, 1911


Today in History:

The Council of Trent opens, 1545
Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to circumnavigate the globe, 1577
Emperor Ferdinanad II delegates the first Anti-Reformation decree, 1621
The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes 3 militias which are today seen as the founding of the United States National Guard, 1636
Dutch navigator Abel Tasman becomes the first European to land in New Zealand, 1642
Dartmouth College in New Hampshire is chartered, 1769
Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" is published, sells 6,000 copies, 1843
Italo Marcioni patents an ice cream cone, 1903
The Relay 1 communication satellite is launched, 1962

Cold Irony

It is cold in these here bayous, but not cold enough to sustain snow, as I predicted last night.

Oh, we got snow, during the night, but with temps just barely at freezing, it left nothing but a light dusting on sheltered rooftops. That did not stop the children from running around and catching it as it fell, making slushballs to throw at each other in the dark. They lasted about an hour before their lack of proper winter gear and inability to stand much cold caught up to them.

By this morning, it was gone except from a few roofs in the shade of trees, and that melted quickly.

The worst was that on Friday nights I go to the cat shelter to feed and clean up after the cats. Since the electricity went out at the shelter, I got called and told not to go up there. The volunteer coordinator was there, and she made sure every cat had food, that was all she could do in the dark while juggling a flashlight. This meant I didn't have to go out and drive in the wet, cold, and wind, but it also meant I ran out of kitten food! (Not kitten formula for the littlest babies, but chow for the bigger kittens.) I was going to pick up more while I was there. The kittens were in classic "I'm dying because no one ever feeds me" mode by this morning, the full blown act, complete with yowls and climbing my legs like I am a piece of playground equipment. They survived until I got up there and got food for them, but in their opinions, they have been sorely abused by having to wait.

I find it ironic that it is during this very cold time of year that the first US nudist society was founded (see Today in History). This is the time of year that I wish they had nice lingerie made of flannel, with feet! ;)


Today is:

AFL-CIO Day

Bathtub Party Day

Discovery Day, Haiti

Festival of Faunus -- Ancient Roman Calendar

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development

King's Birthday, Thailand

National Sacher Torte Day

Repeal Day, celebrating the repeal of Prohibition

Skywarn Recognition Day

St. Clement of Alexandria's Day

St. Nicholas' Eve

St. Saba's Day


Birthdays Today:

Gary Allan, 1967
John Rzeznik, 1965
Morgan Brittany, 1951
Jim Messina, 1947
J.J. Cale, 1938
Little Richard, 1932
Otto Preminger, 1906
Strom Thurmond, 1902
Walt Disney, 1901
George Armstrong Custer, 1839
Martin Van Buren, 1782


Today in History:

Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations, BC63
The French franc is created, a gold coin to celebrate the release of King John II, whom the English had captured, 1360
An earthquake in Naples leave about 35,000 dead, 1465
All Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I, 1496
London auctioneers Christie's hold their first sale, 1766
Henry Knox begins the transport of Fort Ticonderoga artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a key to later forcing the British Fleet out of Boston Harbor, 1775
C F Schoenbein obtains a patent for cellulose nitrate explosive, 1846
President Polk confirms that gold has been discovered in California, triggering the next year's "Gold Rush", 1848
Daniel Stillson of Massachusetts patents the first practical pipe wrench, 1876
The first automated telephone switching system is patented, 1879
The first electric car makes its debut; it could go 15 miles between charges, 1893
University of Pittsburg makes the first use of numbers on football jerseys, 1908
The American League for Physical Culture is founded in NYC, the first US nudist organization, 1929
The 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, is ratified, 1933
Sister Elizabeth Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis receives approval, 1941

Mighty Hunter

The big, mighty, 4-legged hunter creeps forward.

His prey is unsuspecting, he is sure he will get it.

He pounces, and it is his! It weighs almost as much as he does, but this does not deter him from seeking the stranglehold that will allow him to drag it off.

Then, as he finally gets it balanced and begins to make off with his kill, his brother unexpectedly catches him, dealing him a blindside blow.

The prey, the sock-full of rice, tied off to be put in the microwave as a source of warmth for cold kittens, is forgotten as the kittens themselves tumble off to chase each other.

If they only behaved like this all of the time, instead of trying to find new ways to spill their water bowls and claw the furniture without being caught, I would have a houseful!

Oh, wait a minute, I do have a house full. Eleven foster kittens.

People ask how I can bottle raise them then let them be adopted to good homes, especially when they are "so cute." How could I keep them all? It would be doing them a disservice. I would have to stop doing what I love and tend full time to the ones I had, with no room to help more.

I just hope the ones that lead lonely, feral lives get their prey.

"Aren't five sparrows sold for two pennies in the market? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God." Luke 12:6


Today is:

Community Day

National Adoption Day

National Stuffing Day

National Survivors of Suicide Day (There are lots of people out there who had a loved one die by suicide, so go give one a hug and some support.)

St. Gelasius' Day

World Hello Day

World Television Day


Birthdays Today:

Ken Griffey, Jr., 1969
Troy Aikman, 1966
Bjork, 1965
Cherry Jones, 1956
Goldie Hawn, 1945
Harold Ramis, 1944
Juliet Mills, 1941
Marlo Thomas, 1938
Joseph Campanella, 1927
Stan Musial, 1920
Coleman Hawkins, 1904
Rene Magritte, 1898
Hetty Green, 1834
William Beaumont, 1785
Voltaire, 1694


Today in History:

The Pilgrims, aboard the Mayflower, reach what is now called Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, and sign the Mayflower Compact, 1620
Richard Johnson, a free black, is granted 550 acres in Virginia, 1654
Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic, 1791
First Jewish Reform congregation in US forms, Charleston, SC, 1824
Moses F Gale patents a cigar lighter, 1871
Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph), 1877
First commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper), 1935

Heart to Heart, Mom to Mom

There are two moms I want to have a heart to heart talk with, and one I want to compliment.

First, "Mother Nature." She apparently has forgotten that mid-November is way too late in the season to send hurricanes! She sent the cold earlier than usual, and very little tropical weather. What is she trying to do, make up for lost time? Or did she just get a mix up, with sending cold and a tropical system to cancel each other out? Either way, we need to work on her scheduling. The cold she sent kept the hurricane from coming here, and moderated it down to tropical storm strength before it hit. Still, I don't wish those things on anybody, and I believe the areas of Georgia that flooded a month or so ago could have skipped out on this particular event and been the happier for it.

Second, mama cat. Specifically, the mama cat that abandoned an eyes just opened kitten at one of our shelter volunteer's place of employment. Didn't she get the memo that it is too late in the season to be having babies? I mean really, in November? This poor little thing won't even be ready to adopt at Christmas time, she will still be just a week too soon for surgery. As a black kitten, she will come up for adoption in January, when everyone is facing the bills from the holidays and cutting back on everything.

Meanwhile, I am back to bottle feeding around the clock, and the kitten is constipated, and the bigger kittens have the runs again and can't be taken to adoption day until I figure out what is causing that, and the laundry has backed up because Sweetie wants me to rewash everything he owns with a different detergent (he is convinced he is allergic to the new one that I switched to 4 months ago, I say he went out the day the yard got winter fertilizer put on it, and is allergic to that).

A salute, finally, to moms of active duty military, moms who stay home while their husbands are stationed far away, moms who are themselves active duty military, moms of veterans, moms who have lost children during military service. May you have special blessings from Heaven for all you have sacrificed. Happy Veterans' Day.


Today is:

Air Day

Beggar's Day, Netherlands

Bonza Bottler Day

Concordia Day, St. Marten

Einherjar - "Feast of the Fallen"

Feast of Dionysus

Lunantishees, Ireland

National Day, Monaco

National Sundae Day

Old November Day

Original Poppy Day

Remembrance Day, Canada

Republic Day, Maldives

St. Martin's Day a/k/a St. Martin of Tours's Day (Western), Martinmas (Old England), Martinigian - in Switzerland- patron of beggars, drunkards, equestrians, harvests, horses, innkeepers, new wine, tailors; highly celebrated through Sweden and Switzerland

St. Menas of Egypt's Day

Variante Festival, Angola (music festival)

Veterans' Day a/k/a Armistice Day

Vox Populi (People’s Voice) Day

Wish-Spoiling Sports Day (Imps, Gremlins, and grumpy Goblins) -- Fairy Calendar


Anniversaries Today:

Washington becomes the 42nd US State, 1889


Birthdays Today:

Leonardo DiCaprio, 1974
Peta Wilson, 1970
Calista Flockhart, 1964
Demi Moore, 1962
Marc Summers, 1951
Bibi Andersson, 1935
Jonathan Winters, 1925
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 1922
Alger Hiss, 1904
Pat O'Brien, 1899
George Patton, 1885
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, 1821
Abigail Smith Adams,1744



Today in History:

The Congress of Carnuntum: Attempting to keep peace within the Roman Empire, the leaders of the Tetrarchy declare Maxentius and Licinius to be Augusti, while rival contender Constantine I is declared Caesar of Britain and Gaul, 308
41 pilgrims land in Massachusetts, sign Mayflower Compact, 1620
Massachusetts passes 1st US compulsory school attendance law, 1647
Chrysanthemums are introduced into England from China, 1790
Mary Edward Walker, the 1st Army female surgeon, is awarded the Medal of Honor, 1865
The 11/11/11 cold wave: Many cities in the U.S. Midwest broke their record highs and lows on the same day as a strong cold front rolled through, 1911

It is 2pm. I have been up since 4am. It is Saturday.

This is the first chance, in all of that time, that I have had to get to write.

I have bottle fed kittens multiple times.

I am waiting for another kitten to arrive, they just called.

I have done 2 loads of laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, run multiple errands, taken #1 Son to new student orientation at college, and still have several errands to run, and now no way to rest because, as I noted, another kitten is on the way, and it is about 3 weeks younger than the 4 I was brought a couple of days ago.

Three of my 4 kids are not even home, and I still have no time to stop and rest.

How much longer can I go like this?

Since there is no end in sight, I guess I will find out.

There's the door. Another day, another kitten.


Today is:

Best Friends Day

Chauvin Day

Dog Days end

Dormition of the Theotokos -- Orthodox Christian

Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary -- Catholic Christian

Ferragosto, Italy (Oven of August)

Fool's Dance begins, Japan

Great American Tomato Canning Tournament

Great Mother Goddess Day

Independence Day, South Korea, Congo, India

Indian Independence Day (A National Day of Celebration of Indian and American Democracy)

Korea Republic Day

Loaded Dice Day

National Day, Lichtenstein

National Failures Day (May I suggest a book called "Fail Better", a small quotations book about how failure is just the beginning.)

National Homeless Animals Day (I got plenty of those, will be up for adoption in 6-10 weeks if you are interested.)

National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

National Relaxation Day (Wow.)

Our Lady of Flowers Festival, New York, Florida

Our Lady of Monte Festival, Portugal

Sandcastle and Sculpture Day

St. Mary's Day


Birthdays Today:

Joe Jonas, 1989
Ben Affleck, 1972
Melinda Gates, 1964
Jimmy Webb, 1946
Linda Ellerbee, 1944
Mike Connors, 1925
Rose Marie, 1925
Huntz Hall, 1919
Julia Child, 1912
Ethel Barrymore, 1879
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769


Today in History:

Battle of Roncevaux Pass, the Basques defeat Charles the Great (Charlemagne) and Roland is killed, 778
Macbeth defeats his cousin and rival King Duncan I, who is killed in the battle, and becomes king of Scotland, 1040
Battle of Lumphanan, in which King Macbeth is killed by the forces of Mael Coluim MacDonnchada, 1057
The "Mainz Psalter" is completed, the earliest dated book, 1457
Founding of Panama City, 1519
Jesuit priest St. Francis Xaverius land in Kagoshima, Japan, 1549
The Mayflower sets sail from Southhampton, carrying 102 Pilgrims, 1620
Joseph Haydn departs England, never to return, 1795
Country of Liberia is founded by freed American former slaves, 1824