Gas Caps and Pets and Checks, a Random Tuesday Post

And now, a bit of random news from around here, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked.

You know you spend too much time and money getting your cars fixed at the garage when you pull your car in and they ask if anything is really wrong or if it's just that the kids left the gas cap off again.  Yes, they hadn't secured the gas cap again.  It's okay, Kevin and Lenny know we will be back with a real problem soon enough.  Sooner than we want, anyway.

Score one for procrastination.  Grandpa made reservations for the kids to stay at the hotel on campus again this year for a weekend.  As usual, when they went to check out, the front desk wouldn't charge Grandpa's card on file.  (Why they give this much trouble to a big donor every year boggles my mind.)  Little Girl just gave them her debit card, and Grandpa wanted to pay her back.  She said that no, it was her treat this year.  He sent a check anyway.

Because of Hurricane Nate and the threat to the coast, she was called up to her duty station to be ready of the Guard was needed.  Because she has never found the time to take my name off of her checking account, i was able to deposit the check into her account and text her that, by the way, because you are out of town, i went ahead and deposited your check for you.  Grandpa is happy, and she will get over it.  She will probably also make the time now to change that account, so it is a one time shot.

Dumpling now weighs a whole two pounds and is at the vet today getting spayed.  She and Comeaux will be going to the shelter to be put up for adoption tomorrow.  It's one of those happy/sad/glad/wistful things, but i cannot keep them all and now i will have a free space to take a bottle feed litter next time they need me.

Comeaux

Dumpling, with her two white toes showing.

Pepe and Buff are going to the vet today, too.  Buff needs his second "puppy shot" and i want to get both of them on the heartworm preventive on the same day of the month to make it easier.  Buff has grown, and we need to weigh him so we get the dose right, and he might also be ready for his first rabies shot, we will see.  Grand-dogs seem to grow up as fast as children/grandchildren do.

Mr. BA, who sometimes has me come to his house on Saturdays to weed the garden or work on sorting tools and such in his workshop, had been suffering much indigestion the past few months.  Last weekend it turned out not to be indigestion, and he will have bypass surgery tomorrow following the very mild heart attack he suffered.  A full recovery is expected.

That's about all the news, so i leave you with this random thought from Bigger Girl:  Do not cross an old person.  Old people have time and intelligence and they can dedicate all of it to getting even.

Today is:

Alex Kivi Day a/k/a Kivi Day -- Finland (The Day of Finnish Literature)

Arbor Day -- Poland

Bonza Bottler Day

Cephalopod Awareness Days:  Squid Day/Cuttlefish Day -- celebrating the most intelligent invertebrates in the world; today, celebrate the tentacular species

Curacao Day -- Curacao

Double Tenth Day/National Day -- China; Taiwan (In remembrance of the revolution against the Imperial Manchu Dynasty.)

Face Your Fears Day -- Stephen Hughes encourages you to use this as a day to try to do something you've always been afraid to do

Festival for Juno Moneta -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Juno as goddess of money)

Independence Day / Deed of Cession Day -- Fiji(1970)

Journee Nationale de la Femme Marocaine -- Morocco (National Women's Day)

Kruger Day -- South Africa

KWP Foundation Day -- North Korea (1945)

Maroons Day -- Suriname (celebration of indigenous peoples)

Moi Day -- Kenya

National Angel Food Cake Day

National Cake Decorating Day -- some websites say today, some say the 17th

National Handbag Day -- started by www.PurseBlog.com

Naval Academy Day -- US

St. Francis Borgia's Day (Patron of Portugal; Rota, Marianas; against earthquakes)

St. Paulinus of York's Day (Patron of Rochester, England)

Tag der Volksabstimmung -- Austria (Referendum Day)

War of Independence Anniversary -- Cuba

World Day Against the Death Penalty -- International

World Homeless Day -- no one should be homeless 

World Mental Health Day -- International

World Porridge Day -- celebrating Scotland's traditional national dish 

Anniversaries Today:

Edward M. Kennedy, Jr., marries Katherine Anne "Kiki" Gershman, 1993

Richard Burton marries Elizabeth Taylor, 1975 (second time)

The United States Naval Academy opened with 50 midshipmen and 7 professors, 1845

Birthdays Today:

Adrian Grenier, 1976

Bob Burnquist, 1976

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 1974

Mario Lopez, 1973

Brett Favre, 1969

Daniel Pearl, 1963

Tanya Tucker, 1958

David Lee Roth, 1955

Nora Roberts, 1950

Jessica Harper, 1949

Charles Dance, 1946

Ben Vereen, 1946

Harold Pinter, 1930

Richard Jaeckel, 1926

Thelonious Monk, 1917

Edward D. Wood, Jr., 1924

Helen Hayes, 1900

Giuseppe Verdi, 1813

Henry Cavendish, 1731 (discovered hydrogen)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Upstairs, Downstairs"(TV), 1971

"The Bob Newhart Show"(TV), 1962

"Milk and Honey"(Musical), 1961

"Porgy and Bess"(Folk opera), 1935

"Die Chinesische Mauer/The Great Wall of China"(Play), 1946

The Tuxedo, 1886 (introduced at The Tuxedo Club in New York)

Today in History:

The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000 to 30,000 in the Carribean, 1780

The first non-Native American settlement is founded in Oklahoma, 1802

William Lassell discovers Neptune's moon Triton, 1846

The first "Dinner Jacket" is worn to the Autumn Ball at Tuxedo Park, NY, 1886

President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal, 1913

Ho Chi Minh enters Hanoi after the French pull out of the city, 1954

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant, 1957

The Windscale fire in Cumbria, U.K. is the world's first major nuclear accident, 1957

The opening ceremony at The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is broadcast live in the first Olympic telecast relayed by geostationary communication satellite, 1964

The Outer Space Treaty, signed on January 27 by more than sixty nations, comes into force, 1967

In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group, 1970

Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, 1971

After having closed borders for about two hundred years, Armenia and Turkey sign protocols in Zurich, Switzerland to open their borders, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI adds Arabic to the languages in which the weekly Vatican address is broadcast, 2012

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday; Don't let Tripod's...

...sweet, gentle look fool you...

...just a few hours ago, she was a raging lunatic when she...

...tried to bite me, scratched the vet tech, and peed all over the vet, the exam table, the floor, and her carrier!

To say this one doesn't like the veterinarian is an understatement.

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

Today is: 

Bonnie Blue Horse Show -- Virginia Horse Center, Lexington, VA, US (a major, A-rated, all-breed event of the American Horse Show Association; through Saturday)

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

Donate a Days Wages to Charity Day 2017

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

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

National Bike to School Day -- US (encouraging kids to have fun, get their exercise, and get to school under their own steam) 

National Nightshift Workers Day/Third Shift Workers Day -- US (remembering those intrepid souls who keep things running smoothly through the night)

National Receptionist Day -- US (because that first impression is important; National Receptionists Association) 

National School Nurse Day -- US (the school nurse is there to help!) 

National Shrimp Day

Occupational Safety and Health Professionals Day -- US (info here) 

Royal Windsor Horse Show -- Windsor, England (through the 17th)

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

Visakh Bochea -- Cambodia (Buddha Day)

World Lupus Day 

Birthdays Today:

Kenan Thompson, 1978

Amanda Borden, 1977

Jason Brooks, 1966

Paul "Bono" Hewson, 1960

Phil and Steve Mahre, 1957

Donovan, 1946

Dave Mason, 1946

Marie-France Pisier, 1944

Judith Jamison, 1943

Gary Owens, 1936

Barbara Taylor Bradford, 1933

Pat Summerall, 1930

Ara Raoul Parseghian, 1923

Nancy Walker, 1922

T. Berry Brazelton, 1918

"Mother" Maybelle Carter, 1909

David O. Selznick, 1902

Fred Astaire, 1899

Max Steiner, 1888

Karl Barth, 1868

George Ross, 1730

Emperor Fushimi of Japan, 1265

Emperor Claudius, 213

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Twister(Film), 1996

"The Rest of the Story"(Radio), 1976

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major(Shostakovich Op. 102), 1957

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

Living High On the Cat Food

Guess who went to the vet for the yearly visit yesterday?

This month it was Horizon and Dansig who were the lucky winners of the "take two pets to the vet each month so we can afford it more easily" lottery.

Dansig, as soon as i put the carrier on the table and lifted him up gave a yawn and climbed in, good as gold.

Horizon had to be dragged out from under the bed, howling, and forced into his box.  (We can't put him in a regular carrier, he hurts himself trying to escape, so a cardboard box holds him but has enough give that he can't injure himself in it.)

Dansig protested only once, when i put him in the car, and i don't blame him, until the A/C kicks in, The Jalopy is a very hot vehicle.

Horizon howled the whole way across the highway.

When we got there, Horizon went first, scrunching down so he couldn't be scruffed, protesting being weighed (he is the same as last year), and gave every indication that he was being killed when the vet was just listening to his heart and lungs, clipping his claws, cleaning out his ears, and making sure he is in pretty good health.  Which he is.

Dansig sauntered out of his carrier as if he owned the place, submitted to everything, and guess who is on a special diet and has still managed to gain almost 5 pounds in less than a year?

That's right, I'm a big boy!

Yes, and he looked pretty proud of it at the moment, too.  When he runs out of this bag of special food, he's going on the diet version.



Today is:

All or Nothing Day -- no history on this one, but it's supposed to be the day you decide to live as if it's going to be your last!

Aunt and Uncle Day -- originally proposed on this day in 2005 by Florida State Senator Tony Hill; if you have aunts and uncles you love, why not give them a call today 

Dia de la Rebeldia -- Cuba (Revolution Anniversary)

Festival of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of Sleipnir -- Norse Pagan (date approximate, honored Odin's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir)

Green Corn Ceremony -- Native Americans (thanksgiving for the maize harvest; these are celebrated by many tribes in many different ways and are not generally scheduled as they depend on how the corn grows; some have with rites including a Thanksgiving Prayer, Confession Chant, and Feather Dance; the Santa Ana Pueblo holds an annual Corn Festival on this date each year that is open to the public)

Groovy Chicken Day -- don't ask, just enjoy

Independence Day -- Liberia(1847); Maldives(1965)

Kargil Vijay Diwas -- India (Kargil Victory Day)

National Coffee Milkshake Day

One Voice Day -- readings around the world of the Universal Peace Covenant, sponsored by the School of Metaphysics

Otaru Tide Festival -- Otaru Wharf, Otaru City, Japan (one of Japan's biggest sea festivals, through the 28th)

Racial Desegregation Day -- date in 1944 the US Army ordered training camp facilities desegregated, and the date in 1948 President Truman signed the order integrating the US armed forces

St. Anne's Day (traditional name given to the mother of Mary; Patron of broommakers, cabinetmakers, carpenters, childless people, equestrians, expectant mothers, grandmothers, grandparents, homemakers, horse men, horse women, housewives, lace makers, lace workers, lost articles, miners, mothers, old-clothes dealers, poor people, pregnancy, pregnant women, riders, seamstresses, stablemen, turners, women in labour; Canada; France; Micmaqs; over 20 cities around the world; against poverty and sterility)

St. Joachim's Day (traditional name given to the father of Mary; Patron of fathers, grandfathers, grandparents; Adjuntas, Puerto Rico)

Wonderful Drinks Day -- Fairy Calendar


Anniversaries Today

Signing of the American's With Disabilities Act, 1990
New York becomes the 11th US State, 1788
The United States Postal Service is founded, 1775


Birthdays Today

Taylor Momsen, 1993
Kate Beckinsale, 1973
Jeremy Piven, 1964
Sandra Bullock, 1964
Kevin Spacey, 1959
Angela Hewitt, 1958
Dorothy Hamill, 1956
Susan George, 1950
Roger Taylor, 1949
Helen Mirren, 1945
Mick Jagger, 1943
Dobie Gray, 1940
Stanley Kubrick, 1928
Blake Edwards, 1922
Jason Robards, Jr., 1922
Vivian Vance, 1912
Gracie Allen, 1902
Aldous Huxley, 1894
Carl Jung, 1875
George Bernard Shaw, 1856
George Catlin, 1796


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Alice In Wonderland(Animated film), 1951
The Babe Ruth Story(Film), 1948
"The Bob Howard Show"(TV), 1948
"Young Widder Brown"(Radio), 1938


Today in History

The first recorded women's cricket match took place near Guildford, England, 1745
The birth of what would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress, 1775
The Surrey Iron Railway, often considered the world's first public railway, opens in south London, 1803
In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway, 1878
Premiere of Richard Wagner's Parsifal at Bayreuth, 1882
Publication of the Unua Libro, founding the Esperanto movement, 1887
United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation), 1908*
King Edward VIII, in one of his few official duties before he abdicated the throne, officially unveiled the Canadian National Vimy Memoria, 1936
The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power, 1945
U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council, 1947
U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military of the United States, 1948
Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution, 1953
Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster, 1963
The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government, 1977
A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 1989
Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days, 2005
Over 92,000 classified documents detailing incidents related to the war in Afghanistan are released by Wikileaks in the largest leak in U.S military history, 2010
President of France, Francois Holland finalizes a deal with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara to forgive $4.7 billion dollars in debt incurred by the Ivory Coast when it was a French Colonial Power, 2012



*Yes, the grand-nephew of Napoleon I started the FBI -- I'm not sure why that seems so odd to me.

Six Sentence Story: How It Often Winds Up

Looking at the red spot over HopeCat's eye and then reading the text from Little Girl, i mentally stifled a sigh, knowing what it all meant; i would wind up making another unscheduled trip to the vet and wind up with another vet bill, to boot.

The text was about SissyCat, also called Tripod, and the fact that she had an angry looking swollen sore on the side of her face that hadn't been there the day before.  After dropping Little Girl at school i went to the store for milk and bread, and then showed up at the vet's office just in time to find the staff walking the dogs and the office manager talking on the phone to yet another person who needed to come in, and they had only been open 3 minutes.

"What's going on?" Ms. Nancy asked, and i explained about the stye over the eye of HopeCat and the serious sore on SissyCat, noting that it was most likely because she and Enigma had been in a huge fight two days prior, and a bite from said Enigma had probably caused a big infection, the way cat bites tend to do.

"Bring them and drop them off, and we'll get them seen between other patients, we are full so I can't give you a specific appointment time," Ms. Nancy said, and so i did, then went back later to pick up HopeCat and get the results.

"Bring HopeCat in on the 21st, and we'll surgically remove the stye," Dr. Bea said, "and as for SissyCat, you were right about it being a bite wound, and we had to sedate her to clean it, it's bad enough that we will keep her here until Friday."

Linking up with Uncharted Blog and Six Sentence Stories.

Today is:

Anniversary of Snick-Snacker's Right Foot -- Fairy Calendar

Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival -- Bucyrus, OH, US (food and fun celebration of German heritage; through Saturday)

Day of Battle between Horus and Set; Aset gains the Horns of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Earth Overshoot Day -- according to the Global Footprint Network, this is the date on which humanity has exhausted the Earth's budget of resources for the year

Festival of Aventine Diana / Nemoralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (commemoration of the dedication of her temple; celebrated between now and the 15th, and rededicated as the Festival of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin after Christianization)

Festival of Xocotl Huetzi -- Ancient Aztec Calendar (first fruits of harvest festival; date approximate, but two weeks around the end of August)

Great River Tug Fest -- Port Byron, IL, and LeClaire, IA, US (the only tug-of-war across the Mighty Mississippi, this year's theme is "Safari" and the cause supported is King Harvest Pet Rescue; festival through Saturday)

Independence Day -- Central African Republic(1960)

International Left-Hander's Day -- sponsored by Lefthanders International

Jersey Battle of Flowers -- Jersey, Channel Islands, UK (two days of floats and family fun)

Lao Issara -- Laos (Day of the Free Laos)

Lesser Festival of Flora -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Milwaukee Irish Fest -- Milwaukee, WI, US (the world's largest Irish music and cultural event outside of the Emerald Isle; through Sunday)

National Filet Mignon Day

Obon -- Buddhist (celebration to revere the ancestors; celebrated at different times even within Japan, but usually the biggest dates are in mid-August)

Perseids Meteor Shower peaks

Runic Half Month As begins (the gods)

Skinny Dipping Day -- funny t-shirt:  I no longer skinny dip. I chunky dunk!

Skowhegan State Fair -- Skowhegan, ME (since 1818, ten days of grand fun; through the 22nd)

South Mountain Fair -- Arendtsville, PA, US (celebrating agriculture, arts, crafts, and industry; through Sunday)

St. Cassian's Day (Patron of students and teachers; Brixen, Italy; Comacchio, Italy; Imola, Italy; Mexico City, Mexico)

St. Concordia's day (Patron of nursing mothers and wet nurses)

St. Hippolytus' Day (Patron of horses, prison guards/officers/workers; Bibbiena, Italy)

Wall Day -- anniversary of the day in 1961 that the Berlin Wall began going up; observe it by trying to break down a wall or communication barrier somewhere in your own life

Women's Day -- Tunisia


Birthdays Today

Shani Davis, 1982
Midori Ito, 1969
Quinn Cummings, 1967
Danny Bonaduce, 1959
Dan Fogelberg, 1951
Kathleen Battle,
Philippe Petit, 1949
Kevin Tighe, 1944
Don Ho, 1930
Pat Harrington, Jr., 1929
Fidel Castro, 1926
George Shearing, 1919
Ben Hogan, 1912
Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, 1907
Alfred Hitchcock, 1899
Bert Lahr, 1895
Annie Oakley, 1860
Lucy Stone, 1818


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Zaire/The Tragedy of Zara"(Voltaire's "Tragedy in Verse"), 1732


Today in History

The English army under King Henry V lands at the mouth of the Seine River, 1415
Tenochtitlan of the Aztecs is conquered by the Spanish, 1521
Tenbun Hokke Disturbance, in which Buddhist monks from Kyoto's Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto, 1536
John Smith submits the story of Jamestown's first days for publication, 1608
Christiaan Huygens discovers the Martian south polar cap, 1642
Founding of Litchfield, CT, 1651
Marie Antoinette and other French royals are imprisoned by Revolutionaries, 1792
Nat Turner sees the solar eclipse which he interprets as a sign from heaven to begin his ill-fated slave rebellion, 1831
Earthquake in Peru and Ecuador kills 25,000, 1868
Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his "Navigable Balloon", 1889
First production in the UK of stainless steel by Harry Brearley, 1913
Opha Mae Johnson is the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, 1918
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is established as a public company in Germany, 1918
The first barbed wire fence that would become the Berlin Wall is erected, 1961
The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker-tape parade in New York, 1969
Michael Phelps sets the Olympic record for most the gold medals won by an individual in Olympic history, 2008
Footage of the previously unseen Kawahiva tribe is released; the Kawahiva is an indigenous tribe living in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, and is thought to have had very little contact with the outside world, 2013

Silly Sunday: Stray Cat

Silly Sunday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Silly Sunday is the place to come for weekly laughs.  The rules are simple, just have fun.

This is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers and have a laugh or two in the process.

Here is how it works: Laugh and Link Up!

1. Post a joke.
2. Link Up with the URL to your joke in the Linky Tools Widget.
3. Read my joke.
4. Leave a comment to tell me how much you enjoyed my joke.
5. Try and visit a few others participating in Silly Sunday.
6. Go to Sandee's site, linked above, and get the Silly Sunday code for your blog, too!

This past week's visits to the veterinarian's office to get 9 cats up to date on exams and shots reminds me of a joke.

A stray cat wandered up to a couple's house, and it was in horrible shape.  She was skinny, with matted fur and weepy eyes.  The wife felt terrible for it, so she gave the cat a bit of meat and decided she was going to keep it.

The first order of business, of course, was to get the cat to the vet.  Because this was a small town there was only one veterinarian, and the vet and the lady's husband did not get along well.  The vet thought the husband was cheap, and the husband thought the vet just charged too much.  They were always trading jibes and sniping at each other.  Having no other place to go, however, the lady put the cat in a cardboard box and she and her husband went to the vet's office.

The husband told the vet, "Keeping this cat is my wife's idea, not mine.  I do feel sorry for it, but it's dirty and it stinks and do you even think it will survive?  And please don't charge us a bunch of money to work on a cat that isn't going to recover from being half starved and so dirty."

"Leave it with me for a couple of days," the vet answered with a sigh.  "We will examine her and get her cleaned up and see what we are dealing with.  No charge until we know if she'll live, and then I'll only charge you for the shots, cleaning, and defleaing/deworming."

The following day, the husband had a doctor's appointment with the one general practitioner physician in town, and it just so happened, so did the veterinarian.

When the vet came out of the doctor's exam room and into the busy waiting room, he noticed the husband and his look brightened.  He told the husband, "We shaved your wife's pussy, got rid of the fleas, and she now smells great!  By the way, she's pregnant, and there's no way to know who the father is!"

Today is

Audubon Day -- birth anniversary of John James Audubon

Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day -- this one has its own Facebook page

Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl tragedy -- Belarus

Delphinia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Apollo; date approximate)

Drive It Day -- England (commemorates the 64 cars that left London on the first day of the Thousand Mile Trial on 23 April 1900)

Fairy Laughter Convention -- Fairy Calendar

Festival of Individual Sovereignty -- an internet holiday that i think is a good idea!

Festival of Renenutet -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (as Lady of the Robes, who invented the bandages in which to wrap mummies; date approximate)

Helena Railroad Fair -- Helena, MT, US (largest railroad hobby event in the area)

Hug an Australian Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Landsgemeinde -- Appenzell, Inner Rhoden Canton, Switzerland (one of the last examples of direct democracy left; the final Sunday of each April all voters in the canton age 18 and older, wearing traditional swords, gather for a church service and then vote directly on all affairs of the canton for the year; no secret ballots, all raise their hands to vote yea or nay; festival follows.  This tradition dates back to the 14th century.)

London Marathon -- Greenwich to The Mall, London, England

Mayan Rain Festival -- to honor the rain gods and welcome the fruitfulness of the earth; date approximate

Mother, Father Deaf Day -- to honor deaf parents and recognize the gifts of culture and language they give to their hearing children; sponsored by CODA (Children of Deaf Adults International) 

National Help A Horse Day -- US (Join the ASPCA in several rescue events) 

National Pretzel Day

Pet Parent's Day -- honoring those who consider pets a part of the family

Remember Your First Kiss Day

Richter Scale Day -- birth anniversary of Charles Francis Richter

Sacrifice to Zeus Epacrios -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Shuffleboard Day -- on the adopted birthday of the game (no exact date of origination can be pinned down, and fans want a day to celebrate, so here it is)

Southern Appalachian Dulcimer Festival -- Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, McCalla, AL, US (through next Sunday)

St. Rafael Arnaiz' Day (Patron of diabetics and against diabetes)

St. Stephen of Perm's Day / Old Permic Alphabet Day -- Russian Orthodox Church (inventor of the alphabet used for Russian before the Cyrillic was developed)

Sun 'n Fun International Fly in & Expo -- Lakeland, Florida, US (preserving and enhancing the future of flight; through Sunday)

Turkmen Racing Horse Festival -- Turkmenistan

Union Day -- Tanzania

World Healing Day / World Tai Chi and Qigong Day -- information here

World Intellectual Property Day -- UN 

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day -- anyone, anywhere in the world who makes a pinhole photograph today may upload it to the world wide online gallery

Anniversaries Today:

Prince Albert (future George VI) marries Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, 1923
The Independent Order of Oddfellows, American branch, is established in Baltimore, MD, US, 1819
Moscow State University opens, 1755


Birthdays Today:

Jon Lee, 1982
Jason Earles, 1977
Tom Welling, 1977
Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, 1970
Kane, 1967
Kevin James, 1965
Jet Li, 1963
Joan Chen, 1961
Michael Damian, 1962
Giancarlo Esposito, 1958
Boyd Matson, 1947
Gary Wright, 1943
Bobby Rydell, 1942
Duane Eddy, 1938
Carol Burnett, 1933
I.M. Pei, 1917
Hans Detlef "Douglas" Sierck, 1897
Anita Loos, 1889
Gertrude Bridget "Ma" Rainey, 1886 (Some say April 3)
Frederick Law Olmsted, 1822
John James Audobon, 1785
Marcus Aurelius, 121


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Jelly's Last Jam"(Musical), 1992
"Dinosaurs"(TV), 1991
"China Beach"(TV), 1988
"Company"(Musical), 1970
"Grand Polonaise Brillante"(Chopin Op. 20), 1835


Today in History:

Copernicus makes his first observations of Saturn, 1514
William Shakespeare is baptized, 1564
English  colonists of the Jamestown settlement  make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia, 1607
Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France, 1802
Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election  to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic, 1925
In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections, 1963
Tanganyika  and Zanzibar  merge to form Tanzania, 1964
A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario is shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting, 1965
The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force, 1970
A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world's worst nuclear disaster, 1986
Physicists  announce first evidence of the top quark subatomic particle, 1994
Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country, 2005
During the second day of evidence at the Leveson Inquiry, Rupert Murdock reveals there was a 'cover-up' at 'News of the World' but that he had no knowledge of it, 2012