Rambling because i don't know what to say.

#2 Son works with Alton Sterling's first cousin.

We get so many conflicting reports, i have determined not to be among those who spread rumors, and will await the official report, hoping it's accurate and fair and correct.  

The police in town and sheriff's deputies out here are on extra long duty, so on Sunday the officer who usually watches at our church could not be there.

Yes, we pay an off duty officer to watch at our church every Sunday, and have for years.  Our church is in the middle of downtown, and we are happy to be there and to work with the homeless, the down-on-their-luck, the people who live in the area who need help.  They are welcome to come, and if they come and are in need, they are helped.

We also have small children on our church campus, and have had homeless men who were obviously under the influence of something come in and wander the nursery hallways, so we are careful.

This past Sunday, we kept the front doors of the church open, with a couple of extra deacons there to welcome people.  Other doors were locked, and deacons at those doors opened them as needed.  Usually all of the doors are just unlocked, and i hope we can go back to that soon.

There was a small prayer meeting after the service and people from another church came.  (Because i was in the baby nursery, i was late, and didn't catch which church they were with.  One of the ladies also asked for prayer as she begins treatment for a brain tumor, and i've added her to my prayer list and asked her to come back and give us an update on how she is doing.  If you are the praying sort, send a few up for Ms. E.)  One of our church administrative team marched in one of the protests, with our full support, giving out water bottles.  Pastors from several churches around town have done the same, joined at the protest sites to give out water, snacks, and hugs when needed.

Protestors have been told they are welcome to meet and march as long as they do not block streets.  The authorities are sticking to that, making sure they are given their rights, and that they do not block access to others simply trying to go about their business.

Meanwhile, life will never be the same for #2 Son's friend at work, and the other members of Mr. Sterling's family.

Today is:

Alpenfest -- Gaylord, MI, US (a Swiss inspired festival for the whole family that includes "The World's Largest Coffee Break"; through Saturday)

Cow Appreciation Day® -- sponsored by Chick-fil-A; wear something cow-like and get a free entree!

Different Colored Eyes Day -- people with heterochromia, celebrate!

Etch-a-Sketch Day -- the toy was first manufactured on this day in 1960, timed to hit toy shelves for Christmas that year

Independence Day -- Kiribati(1979; a/k/a National Day); Sao Tome & Principe(1975)

Kronia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate, a festival for Kronos, part of which included masters and slaves switching places for a meal)

National Pecan Pie Day

Orangemen's Day (a/k/a Twelfth Day) -- Northern Ireland (Battle of the Boyne commemoration)

Rainmaker Day -- Salem, Oregon (while it is understood that in Salem, you are more likely to rust than sunburn, from 1892 until 2006, no measurable rain fell on this date in this normally wet city)

Simplicity Day -- sponsored by www.doonething.org on Thoreau's birthday, highlighting the concepts in the book Voluntary Simplicty by Duane Elgin, and advocating finding sustainable ways to live

St. John Gualbert's Day (Patron of foresters and forest workers, park services and parks)

St. Veronica's Day (Patron of laundry workers and photographers)


Anniversaries Today

Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr, 1543 (the lucky wife who outlived him)


Birthdays Today

Erik Per Sullivan, 1991
Michelle Rodriguez, 1978
Brock Lesnar, 1977
Anna Friel, 1976
Kristi Yamaguchi, 1971
Lisa Nicole Carson, 1969
Rolonda Watts, 1959
Mel Harris, 1957
Paul Guilfoyle, 1955
Cheryl Ladd, 1951
Jamey Sheridan, 1951
Richard Simmons, 1948
Denise Nicholas, 1945
Christine McVie, 1943
Bill Cosby, 1937
Van Cliburn, 1934
Andrew Wyeth, 1917
Curly Joe DeRita, 1909
Milton Berle, 1908
Pablo Neruda, 1904
R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895
Oscar Hammerstein II, 1895
George Washington Carver, 1861
George Ohr, 1857
George Eastman, 1854
Henry David Thoreau, 1817
Josiah Wedgwood, 1730


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Northern Exposure"(TV), 1990
"Family Feud"(TV), 1976
"Evening At Pops"(TV), 1970
"The Adventures of Sam Spade"(Radio), 1946
"Baseball's Sad Lexicon (Tinker to Evers to Chance)"(Publication date), 1910


Today in History

England is unified by Athelstan of England, 927
Saladin's garrison surrenders to Conrad of Montferrat, ending the two-year siege of Acre, 1191
Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatan, burns the sacred books of the Maya, 1562
Ostrog Bible, the first printed Bible in a Slavic language, is published, 1580
The United States invades Canada at Windsor, Ontario, 1812
The Commonwealth Franchise Act, granting women's suffrage in Australia, is given royal assent and takes effect, 1902
Pune, India floods due to failure of Khadakvasala and Panshet dams; half of the city is submerged and the death toll exceeded 2000, 1961
A fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States, 1973
Boris Yeltsin quits the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1990
Israel invades Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, 2006
A ticket holder in Britain wins the largest EuroMillions jackpot in history, 161,653,000GBP, 2011
The Rolling Stones, English rock band, celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its first performance at the Marquee Club in Oxford Street, London, 2012

So, what do you write about...

...on the second Monday in July?

Right now, i have no clue.  Thus i am just rambling.

Misha and Collins, the two bottle kittens, are growing and eating more, and both use a litter box now.

#2 Son's cat, Dansig, is limping and we have no clue why.  He's going to the vet later today.

#1 Son has decided he is moving back to this area.  He's going to be rooming with some friends who have a rental house just a few blocks from the cat shelter.  In the next few days he will be going back to Kansas to pick up the rest of his stuff.  This was a big surprise in some ways, and in others not so much.  He didn't seem happy up there to me.

The week is shaping up to be the typical swamp weather week, hot, with a bit of rain in the afternoon or not as the clouds and humidity see fit.  There will be days with thunderous "frog stranglers," and days with clouds looking like they could wash away the world, and yet not producing a drop.  Some days will have no rain at all except in very limited areas from a few stray dark clouds.  The other day, there was no rain on the radar at all, and the sun was beautiful as one dark cloud moved in and started raining in our front yard.  We watched it move, eventually bringing rain to the back, and continuing on its merry way until it was no longer over us.

It's something i've come to expect, having to watch like a hawk for rain so i can go get clothes off the line and put them back as needed.  Sometimes you only have to take them down for 10 minutes, it's like playing cat and mouse with the sun.

Swim league is done, so Little Girl is preparing for City Meet, and spent the weekend helping a friend and her mother get ready for the older daughter to move back to the area.  Older daughter and her husband will live with them for about 2 weeks while they apartment hunt and he gets used to his new job.  It ought to be interesting as they still have the four younger kids (of their eight) living at home and it's not a big house.  Son-in-law may well be in for some culture shock, i understand he's an only child.

The morning caretaker for Mondays at the shelter is out of town, so i'm filling in this morning.  The new Friday lady did better last week -- she brought her mother to help.  If she continues to do that, it may work out quite well to have her, as she is very thorough.

The news this weekend about the railway accident in Ontario has hurt my heart.  Like other such disasters, there is so much more than the news can show, lives taken, lives disrupted so much that the person feels there is nothing much left.  Living in a hurricane zone and having gone through them makes it easy to put yourself in their places.

Finally, to wrap up this meander through my abnormal brain, a wonderful idea that comes from Brunete, Spain, which is near Madrid.  It seems that they have seen a radical drop in the amount of unscooped poop from dogs by using volunteers to get the name of the offending dogs off their tags, match them with the town dog registration records, and send the dog's business in the mail to said owner, deeming it "lost property."

It's fun to think about implementing that, at least.  Now if only we could take pollutants and mail them to factory owners or board members and CEOs.  That would be something.

 


Today is


Buxton Wells Dressing -- Buxton, Derbyshire, England (preserving the 650+ years of traditional "dressing" wells in foliage to thank the patron saint of that well for blessings, now with parades and carnivals; through next Sunday)

Celtic Tree Month Tinne begins (Holly)

Feast of St. Sunniva (Ancient Norse solar maiden Sunna's worship around this time of year was merged with the story of this medieval saint; Patron of Bergen, Norway and the Norwegian west coast)

Gospel Day -- Kiribati

International Town Criers Day

Kaustinen Folk Music Festival -- Kaustined, Finland (the largest international music festival in the Nordic countries; through Sunday)

King Tupou VI's Birthday -- Tonga (obs.)

Nagoya Sumo Tournament -- Nagoya, Japan (one of the 6 major tournaments; through the 22nd)

National Milk Chocolate with Almonds Day

Old Crafts Day -- it's listed in a few places, but i can't find the history; Old time crafts, or old crafts you've had sitting around the house and never gotten done? If you have the latter, do them or toss them!

Olive Branch Petition Day -- the final attempt, by the 13 Colonies, to avoid a complete break with England in 1775

SCUD Day (Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama) -- a good habit, on every day

Soapy Smith Wake -- held simultaneously in 4 locations: Skagway, AK, US; Hollywood, CA, US; Denver, CO, US; Chicago, IL, US (held by Soapy Smith Preservation Trust and Friends of Bad Man Soapy Smith, preserving the memory of one of the Wild West and Alaskan Gold Rush's most notorious con men, killed in a gunfight this day in 1898)

#Sempach Battle Commemoration -- Lucerne, Switzerland (remembrance of the battle in 1386 includes a solemn procession to the battlefield and services in the chapel)

Sts. Aquila and Prisca's Day

St. Kilian's Day (Patron of people with gout or rheumatism, whitewashers; Bavaria, Germany; Paderborn, Germany; Tuosist, Ireland; Wurzburg,Germany)

Video Games Day -- do they really need a day?

Vitulatio -- Ancient Roman Calendar (when Vitula was given the first fruits of the earth)

Ziegfeld Follies Day -- the first "Follies of 1907" opened on this day



Birthdays Today

Jaden Smith, 1998
Sophia Bush, 1982
Kathleen Robertson, 1973
Beck Hansen, 1970
Toby Keith, 1961
Kevin Bacon, 1958
Christopher G. Moore, 1952
Marianne Williamson, 1952
Anjelica Huston, 1951
Wolfgang Puck, 1949
Raffi, 1948
Steve Lawrence, 1935
Marty Feldman, 1933
Roone Arledge, 1931
Billy Eckstine, 1914
Nelson Rockefeller, 1908
Alfred Binet, 1857
John D. Rockefeller, 1839
Ferdinand von Zeppelin, 1838
Etienne De Silhouette, 1709


Today in History

Vasco da Gama sets sail on first direct European voyage to India, 1497
Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island, 1663
Battle of Restigouche – British defeat French forces in last naval battle in New France, 1760
The Olive Branch Petition is drafted by the Second Continental Congress as the Congress' last attempt to get King George III of Great Britain to reason with them, 1775
The Declaration of Independence has its first public reading, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Liberty Bell is rung, 1776
Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom, 1822
Commodore Perry sails into Tokyo Bay, 1853
The initial force of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin their March West, 1874
The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published, 1889
St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22, 1932
The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF), 1948
Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American Self-Determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination Act, 1970
The Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe creates the office of High Commissioner on National Minorities, 1992
NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance, membership to become effective in two years, 1997
The Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program, 2011