Break

In the heat.

Up north, where the seasons are winter and road repair, they eagerly await the spring, with the promise of warmth.

Down here, where the seasons are wet and hurricane, and the only real difference is that hurricane is hotter, we like spring, but we really look forward to the arrival of cooler weather.

Sometimes we wear shorts well into December.

Yesterday, thanks to a quick moving very cloudy cool front, we will actually have a bit of autumn, with highs that won't get above 70ºF. Of course, the temps in the 80's will be back by the weekend, but the nights will stay cooler.

So, a break in the weather. Just when we wondered if we really were going to melt this year.

Of course, i'm not thrilled about what it may do to my hands, but this will be a test, see if i can keep the pernio at bay, at least until later in the season.


Today is:

Armilustrium -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival of Mars)

Bettara-Ichi -- Japan (Pickle Market Fair, enjoy the pickled radishes, a specialty; through tomorrow)

Constitution Day -- Niue

Day of National Concern About Young People and Gun Violence -- US (go to www.pledge.org to take the pledge that you won't resort to gun violence to solve your problems)

Evaluate Your Life Day -- a day to make sure your life is heading where you want, and course correct if it isn't

Feast of St. Paul of the Cross

Greasy Spoon Day -- internet generated, a day to go revel in the love of your favorite greasy spoon diner

Hagfish Day -- a day to celebrate the uniqueness and necessity of even the ugliest of sea creatures, like the hagfish

Jesuit Martyrs' Day

Medical Assistants Recognition Day -- US

Mother Teresa Day -- Albania

National Seafood Bisque Day

National Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day -- US

Samora Machel Day -- Mozambique

Seeking of King Look Under Your Mattress -- Fairy Calendar

St. Frideswide's Day (Patron of Oxford and the University of Oxford)

St. Rene Goupil's Day (Patron of anesthesiologists)

Yabusame Festival -- Koyama, Japan (horseback archery, samurai costumes and dragons, oh, my!)


Birthdays Today:

Ty Pennington, 1965
Evander Holyfield, 1962
John Lithgow, 1945
Jeannie C. Riley, 1945
Peter Max, 1937
Robert Reed, 1932
John Le Carre, 1931
Jack Anderson, 1922


Today in History:

Battle of Zama, Scipio Africanus and his Roman legions defeat Hannibal Barca and the invading Carthagian army, BC202
King Gauseric and his Vandals take the city of Carthage, 439
The Thirteen Years' War ends with the Treaty of Thorn, 1466
Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology, 1512
The first general court is held in Boston, 1630
Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown at 2PM, end of the US Revolutionary War, 1781
Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow, 1812
Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to receive a medical degree, 1849
The first 4 blacks are elected to the US House of Representatives, 1870
The USPS first used an automobile to collect and deliver mail, 1914
Streptomycin, the first antibiotic which could treat tuberculosis, is isolated at Rutgers University, 1943
Black Monday - the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points, 1987
Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II, 2003
Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity, 2005
Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb, 2005

Dream On

Yahoo Shine has come up with a list of 7 dream inventions that every mother would love to have, including Insta-Dinner and the Aqua Alarm Clock (squirts water on the kids who won't get up).

What would i like? How about the automatic car? Program it, and it takes the kids to school for you! Know for sure they didn't use the opportunity of being out running an errand for you at the store to also cruise by the mall!

The automatic change scrounger. Gets everything from between those couch cushions, and makes sure the change goes right into the change jar. No more digging for milk money. If they really want to make it great, it would also dig around in the kids' rooms for all the pens, scissors, and other tools they didn't take, and return them to where they belong.

A self cleaning floor would be nice, while we are dreaming.

A dishwasher that empties itself, anyone?

What you would love to see invented?

Today is:

Alaska Day -- Alaska, US

Clean Water Act Day -- Native Americans in US (day to give thanks for water; may be observed by any who are grateful for clean water)

Independence Day -- Azerbaijan

Information Overload Awareness Day -- we all get bombarded, take stock of how it affects you!

King Look Under Your Mattress's Unique Hiding Display -- Fairy Calendar (Finally! Proof, on the internet, that you do, indeed, need to look under the mattress!)

National Chocolate Cupcake Day

National Statistics Day -- Japan

No Beard Day -- internet generated, a day to shave, which is illogical in the northern hemisphere, with winter coming

Pandrosus Festival -- Ancient Greek Calendar (all-refreshing goddess, or all-dewy one; date approximate)

Persons Day -- Canada (Marking the ruling that women are persons in 1929.)

Procession of the Lord of Miracles (Senor de los Milagros) -- Lima, Peru (Christian celebration of the Lord's miracles, with song, dance, prayers, and parades; through tomorrow)

St. Luke's Day (Patron of doctors, painters, glassmakers, artists, butchers, notaries, sculptors)

Watch a Squirrel Day -- internet generated, and different from squirrel appreciation day in January

World Menopause Day


Anniversaries Today:

University of Heidelberg opens, 1386


Birthdays Today:

Wynton Marsalis, 1961
Erin Moran, 1960
Jean-Claude Van Damme, 1960
Martina Navratilova, 1956
Pam Dawber, 1951
Laura Nyro, 1947
Mike Ditka, 1939
Dawn Wells, 1938
Peter Boyle, 1935
George C. Scott, 1927
Chuck Berry, 1926
Melina Mercouri, 1923
Jesse Helms, 1921
Anita O'Day, 1919
Lotte Lenya, 1900


Today in History:

Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest), 320
Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroys the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, 1009
Battle of Assadun (Ashingdon), Danes defeat Saxons, 1016
Basel, Switzerland is destroyed by the Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, 1356
Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima -- Takeda Shingen defeats Uesugi Kenshin in the climax of their ongoing conflicts in feudal Japan, 1561
The shoemakers of Boston form the first labor organization in the Colonies/US, 1648
The Mason/Dixon line is agreed upon, 1767
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London, 1851
The US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia, for $7.2 million, 1867
Edison makes electricity available for household use, 1878
John Owen becomes the first formally timed person to run 100 yd dash in under 10 seconds, 1890
United States takes possession of Puerto Rico, 1898
The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded, 1922
The Grand Ole Opry opens in Nashville, Tennessee, 1925
Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio, 1954
The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet, 1967
Azerbaijan becomes independent from the USSR, 1991

Home

The kids are home. It's parent teacher conference time again.

The teacher wants the kids to come along and take notes.

This should be fun, but not until Wednesday. Meanwhile, they get to lounge around and bug their mother.

Yes, i'm looking forward to it.


Today is:

Boss' Day -- work date, since the actual day was on a Sunday; either celebrate, or roll your eyes, both are acceptable responses

Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day -- actually a good idea

Dessalines Day -- Haiti

Doburoku Festival -- Oita Prefecture, Japan (one of the few sake festivals at a shrine; through tomorrow)

Four Prunes Day (Only if you dare!)

Gaudy Day a/k/a Wear Something Gaudy Day

Hurricane Thanksgiving Day -- US Virgin Islands (only celebrated if no major hurricanes have struck that year)

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Large Fairies Come First Day -- Fairy Calendar

Loyalty Day -- Argentina

Mulligan Day -- internet generated, give yourself or someone else a free do-over today

National Cake Decorating Day

National Heroes Day -- Jamaica

National Pasta Day

St. Ignatius of Antioch's Day

St. John the Dwarf's Day


Anniversaries Today:

Crown Prince Fernando of Aragon marries Princess Isabella of Castile, 1469
Composer Johann S. Bach marries his niece Maria Bach, 1707


Birthdays Today:

Norm MacDonald, 1963
Alan Jackson, 1958
Howard Rollins, 1950
Margot Kidder, 1948
George Wendt, 1948
Ronn Owens, 1945
Evel Knievel, 1938
Jimmy Breslin, 1930
Tom Poston, 1921
Montgomery Clift, 1920
Rita Hayworth, 1918
Arthur Miller, 1915
Jean Arthur, 1905
Spring Byington, 1893


Today in History:

King Cyrus the Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon and releases the Jews from their 70 years of exile and making the first Human Rights Declaration, BC539
Battle of Neville's Cross, the defeat of King David II of Scotland by Edward III of England, 1346
German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes a supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus, 1604
Boston blacks petition the legislature for equal school facilities, 1787
The political rights of Jews are suspended in the Duchy of Warsaw, 1808
Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie), 1888
Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Clifden, Ireland, 1907
Albert Einstein arrives in the US as a refugee from Nazi Germany, 1933
The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield,in Cumbria, England, 1956
Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies opens the artificial Lake Burley Griffin in the middle of the capital Canberra, 1964
Botswana and Lesotho join the United Nations, 1966
Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte murdered by members of the FLQ terrorist group, 1970
OPEC starts an oil embargo against a number of western countries, considered to have helped Israel in its war against Syria, 1973
Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1979
The pinnacle is fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, making it the World's tallest highrise, 2003

Quadruple the Fun

After trying for several days, i finally got in touch with the lady for whom we are bottle raising Datsig. The little guy is nibbling dry food soaked in milk, and will be ready for a new home soon.

So i was not very happy to find out that she suddenly has cat allergies and doesn't want him back. If she had said that at the beginning, i could have already had him in a foster program.

Thus when Miss Betty called, it was at a very fortunate time. She is the one who asked me to take Mikey, who is about a week younger than Datsig and has become inseparable from his foster brother.

It was, of course, a call for the usual reason. Some flower of humanity had dropped a box of very tiny kittens in the pet store parking lot, and could i take them?

Naturally i could, and could she also accept Datsig as a foster? Yes, i told her yes before i asked. If she had said they really couldn't swing it right now, i still would take these new ones. Unless i am dying myself i'm not going to let babies starve.

Now we have them. Four of the stinkiest, filthiest female kittens, all black and white tuxedos, just like Mikey and our own HiCat.

Eye infection in one, fleas on all. Plus, joy of joys, they all have the runs already.

We are hanging on, these are going to give us a run for the money, but they should be beautiful, loving girls in spite of their rough start.


Today is:

Boss' Day -- traditional date; either celebrate, or roll your eyes, both are acceptable responses

Chrysanthemum Festival -- Japan (various shrines; through Nov. 15)

Clean Your Bug Zapper Day -- internet generated, and we're getting a bit overboard here, aren't we?

Day of Pope John Paul II -- Poland

Dictionary Day (Noah Webster's birthday)

Ether Day (first demonstrated use, see History)

National Feral Cat Day -- US

National Liqueur Day

Sennin Musha Gyoretsu -- Tochigi, Japan (procession of 1,000 warriors; through tomorrow)

St. Hedwig's Day (Patron of orphaned children)

Teachers' Day -- Chile

World Food Day -- International


Anniversaries Today:

Girton College, Cambridge is founded, becoming England's first residential college for women, 1869
Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah, 1875


Birthdays Today:

John Mayer, 1977
Kellie Martin, 1975
Flea, 1962
Tim Robbins, 1958
Suzanne Somers, 1946
Angela Lansbury, 1925
Eugene O'Neill, 1888
Oscar Wilde, 1854
Noah Webster, 1758


Today in History:

Jadwiga (yes, a she) is crowned King of Poland, 1384
Olivier van Noorts' ships reach the Philippines, 1600
George Washington takes Yorktown, 1781
Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, is guillotined, 1793
Sir William Rowan Hamilton comes up with the idea of quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers, 1843
Dentist William T. Morton demonstrates the effectiveness of ether, 1846
Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" is published, 1847
John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, 1859
The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is "discovered", 1869
John Harwood takes out a patent on a self-winding watch, 1923
The Disney Company is founded, 1923
Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army, 1940
Fidel Castro is sentenced in Havana to 15 years in prison, 1953
The People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon, 1964
In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act, 1970
Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1973
Pope John Paul II is elected after the October 1978 Papal conclave, 1978
Wanda Rutkiewicz is the first Pole and the first European woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1978
Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1984
Reinhold Messner becomes the first person to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders, 1986
Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated, 2002

RIP Lucky the Cat

Our shelter mascot, Lucky, has crossed that rainbow bridge.

Lucky was one of the oldest cats we had ever taken in, and also the ugliest. He came to us when an elderly person was entering hospice care herself, and that was all we could really offer him, as he was never up for adoption due to age and medical condition. We just kept him comfortable until the end came.

He never weighed more than 6 pounds his whole life, though he was as tall and long as a normal sized cat. His extremely hyperactive thyroid was to blame for that.

We gave him thyroid medication twice a day. He was the easiest cat in the world to pill, as he would eat anything at all if you put it in a Greenie's Pill Pocket.

Spoiling him with eats and treats was a habit everyone there got into. In return, he gifted us with his morning "offering" on the floor in front of the sink, not far from the litter box he used at other times.

Loving, affectionate, and allowed to roam at will, he was everyone's friend.

When we went to clean the shelter yesterday, i was distressed to see him in a cage. As it turned out, he had put himself in the cage, and when they would pull him out, he would stay for a while, then wander back in.

It took him three tries to get his Pill Pocket down, and he turned up his nose to Fancy Feast. That's when i knew it was time.

Later i called Miss W. so i could tell her what i thought. She said they had watched him closely for a week, hoping for improvement, and she agreed with my assessment. His body had quit, although his brain didn't quite realize it yet, and he was still up for affection.

That, as my vet says, is just the right time. Don't let them get to where they don't react to you at all, that's too long.

The decision was made, and Miss W. took him to the vet and held him.

Good-bye, Old Man, i'm going to miss you.


Today is:

Adai Caddo Indian Nation Pow Wow -- Robeline, LA, US

Cayenne Festival -- French Guiana

Equirria -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Egremont Crab-Apple Fair -- Egremont, Cumbria, England (dating back to the 13th century, the most fun part is the gurning [face making] contest)

Evacuation Day -- Tunisia (celebrates the day all foreign military finally and fully left)

Feast of the Hunters' Moon -- West Lafayette, IN, US (through tomorrow; come help recreate French and Native American life at a mid-1700's fur-trading outpost)

Feast of the Three Noble Ladies -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (female pharaohs)

Global Handwashing Day -- International (scrub up! prevent the spread of germs)

Guangzhou Autumn Trade Fair -- Guangzhou, China (through Nov. 15)

International Day of Rural Women -- UN

London Bridge Days -- Lake Havasu City, AZ, US (through tomorrow)

Ludi Capitolini -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Makahki -- Hawai'ian New Year

Mertz of All Possible Mertzes -- internet generated and on the day "I Love Lucy" premiered; i guess Fred and Ethel were the definition of what a Mertz should be!

Nagoya Festival -- Nagoya, Japan (biggest festival in the city)

National Chicken Cacciatore Day

National Grouch Day -- in honor of Oscar the Grouch

National Roast Pheasant Day

National Tree Planting Day -- Sri Lanka

Newspaper Week -- Japan

Old Farmers Day -- Loranger, LA, US (through tomorrow; learn how farmers used to live)

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day -- Canada; US

Rectification Day -- Burkina Faso

Rainbow Pickling Day -- Fairy Calendar

Sewing Lovers' Day -- internet generated, as those who love to sew deserve a day to celebrate

St. Teresa of Avila's Day (Patron of Spain, lace makers; against headaches, heart attacks)

Sweetest Day -- autumn version of Valentine's Day, but i suggest not bothering, they try to guilt us into too many "buy something holidays" each year already!

Teacher's Day -- Brazil

White Cane Safety Day -- US (celebrating the achievements of the blind/visually impared, and recognizing the white cane as the symbol of their independence)

Wishbones for Pets begins -- US program asking professional pet sitters to gather pet supplies and donations for homeless pets through Thanksgiving

Woolly Worm Festival -- Banner Elk, NC, US (woolly bear caterpillars race up 3-ft pieces of string, winner gets to predict the severity of the upcoming winter; through tomorrow)



Birthdays Today:

Sarah Ferguson, 1959
Emeril Lagasse,1959
Tanya Roberts, 1955
Richard Carpenter, 1946
Jim Palmer, 1945
Penny Marshall, 1942
Linda Lavin, 1937
Lee Iacocca, 1924
Mario Puzo, 1920
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., 1917
John Kenneth Galbraith, 1908
Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844


Today in History:

Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals, 533
Commissioned by Catherine De Medici, the 1st ballet "Ballet Comique de la Reine," is staged in Paris, 1581
Asser Levy is granted a butcher's license for kosher meat in New Amsterdam, 1660
The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon marks the first human ascent, by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, (tethered balloon), 1783
George Washington takes the first formal presidential tour, of New England, 1789
Napoleon Bonaparte is exiled to the Island of St. Helena, 1815
Child labor law takes 12-year-olds out of the work force, 1874
Edison Electric Light Company is incorporated, 1878
Koln cathedral is completed, 633 years after it was begun, 1880
The German dirigible "Graf Zeppelin' lands in Lakehurst, NJ, 1928
LaGuardia Airport opens, 1939
Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time, 1946
The start of the 2500-year celebration of Iran, celebrating the birth of Persia, 1971
The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England, 1987
Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL, 1989
Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1990
The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ThrustSSC (United Kingdom), exactly 50 years and 1 day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth's atmosphere, 1997
The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn, 1997
NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io, 2001
China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission, 2003

Low, Low, Low

Low, down in the back.

Sweetie's back is out again.

He's home resting.

Heaven help me, men should be outlawed when they are ill or hurting.

They should at least have their mobile phones confiscated.

If the old ring a bell for help method was annoying, the phone call from upstairs is worse.

Especially when it's that he wants me to look up the history of a town i've never heard of, because he has all that time to just sit and think.

But i will stay patient and help him, because eventually he has to go back to that crazy workplace. At least, for now.

Heaven help me even more when he retires.


Today is:

Be Bald and Be Free Day

Belfast Festival At Queens -- Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland (arts festival; through the 29th)

Big Kids Day -- Channel Islands, UK

Blessing the Fish Harvest -- St. Oswald's Church, Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, England (the blessing is this month, and it was on this date in 2009, cannot confirm that it is the same date each year)

Day of the Cathedral of Living Pillar -- Georgian Orthodox Church

Day of Formation of the Tajik Republic -- Tajikistan

Dessert Day -- another one?

First Fiddle of the Month -- Fairy Calendar

Festival for the Penates -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Flag Day -- Madagascar (flag adopted this day in 1958)

Founder's Day / Youth Day -- Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Mega Kenka Matsuri -- Hyogo, Japan (Roughhouse Festival, wrestling for a blessing; through tomorrow)

Mother's Day -- Belarus

National Chocolate Covered Insect Day (I'll pass. Sorry.)

National Education Day -- Poland

National Fallen Firefighters Weekend -- US (through the 16th)

National Frump Day -- National FRUMPS of America (to honor the frugal, responsible, unpretentious, and mature people everywhere)

National Gaelic Mod -- Scotland (Gaelic Language Festival; through the 22nd)

Nyerere Day -- Tanzania

Peace Corps Birthday -- US

Petkouden -- Bulgaria (Feast of St. Petka)

Republic Day / October Revolution Day -- Yemen

Santa Fortunata -- Pilgrimage to the remains of the saint at the Cathedral of Santo Domingo in Peru

Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word -- Nashville, TN, US (through the 16th)

St. Donatian's Day (Bishop of Rheims, Patron of Brussels)

St. Petca Paraskeva's Day (Patron of people who spin thread and those who do any needlework)

Vinternatsblot, a/k/a Haustblót, is to bid Winter welcome (start of winter in the Old European Calendar of the Norse, date approximate)

World Egg Day

World Standards Day -- International



Birthdays Today:

Harry Anderson, 1952
Sir Cliff Richard, 1940
Ralph Lauren, 1939
Roger Moore, 1927
John Wooden, 1910
e.e. cummings, 1894
Lillian Gish, 1893
Dwight Eisenhower, 1890
William Penn, 1644


Today in History:

William the Conqueror wins England in the Battle of Hastings, 1066
Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence, 1322
Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for conspiracy against Elizabeth I of England, 1586
Massachusetts enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), 1656
Rabbi Judah Hasid & Chayim Molocho arrive in Jerusalem, 1700
Henry Blair receives a patent for a corn planter, becoming the first black to obtain a US patent, 1834
The 15th and the last military Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate resigns in Japan, returning his power to the Emperor of Japan and thence to the re-established civil government of Japan, 1867
George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film, 1884
Theodore Roosevelt is shot while campaigning in Milwaukee on the "Bull Moose" ticket, 1912
The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, is first published, 1926
Ethel Merman makes her Broadway debut in "Girl Crazy", 1930
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Indian Untouchable caste leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 of his followers, 1956
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Canadian Monarch to open up an annual session of the Canadian Parliament, presenting her Speech from the Throne in Ottawa, Canada, 1957
The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when a U.S. Air Force U2 Reconnaissance pilot takes pictures of Soviet missiles being installed in Cuba, 1962
The city of Montreal, Quebec, begins the operation of its underground Montreal Metro rapid-transit system, 1966
The first live telecast from any manned spacecraft, the Apollo 7, 1968
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, The Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, and the Foreign Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the establishment of the Oslo Accords , 1994

You know it's a tough tree to pull up...

...when the strap tied to the truck breaks.

It wasn't a small truck, either. It was #1 Son's friend, who does handyman work and mows lawns, who was using his truck and tow strap to try to pull up the tree that was growing up through our Sega palm.

Squirrelly squirrels bury acorns, forget where, and we get trees growing in the craziest places. Including up through other plants.

We've cut this one down every year, and it keeps growing back, so this year when #1 Son's friend offered to pull it out by the roots, we agreed.

It broke his strap. Granted, and older strap, not his best, but still.

He had to resort to the chain saw.

So, i guess we haven't seen the last of this tree, it will probably try to regrow next year.

By then, he'll be using the better strap, or a new one.

Bring it on, tree. We will be ready.


Today is:

Assassination of the Hero of the Nation Day -- Burundi

Biketoberfest -- Daytona Beach, FL, US (through the 16th; last chance to ride before winter, and enjoy concerts and shows, too)

Fontinalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (garlanding of fountains)

International Skeptics Day

John Peel Day -- UK (in honor of his last broadcast)

Midosuji Parade -- Osaka, Japan

Modern Mythology Day -- internet generated, go look up a few modern myths on truthorfiction.net or snopes and have a good laugh

National Face Your Fears Day -- a good idea in any nation

National Police Day -- Thailand

National Yorkshire Pudding Day

Navy Establishment Day -- US

Runic Half-month Wyn (joy) begins

St. Colman's Day (Patron of Austria, horned cattle, horses, and those who are to be hanged; a blessing of horses and cattle is still held at Melk on this day)

St. Edward the Confessor's Day

Sukkot -- Jewish (began yesterday at sundown)

Toronto Ski, Snowboard, and Travel Show -- Toronto, ON, Canada (through the 16th)


Anniversaries Today:

Founding of Georgia Institute of Technology (Ga. Tech), 1885


Birthdays Today:

Nancy Kerrigan, 1969
Kelly Preston, 1962
Jerry Rice, 1962
Marie Osmond, 1959
Chris Carter, 1957
Sammy Hagar, 1947
Paul Simon, 1941
Nan Mouskouri, 1934
Lenny Bruce, 1925
Margaret Thatcher, 1925
Nipsey Russell, 1924
Yves Montand, 1921
Cornel Wilde, 1915
L. L. Bean, 1872


Today in History:

Nero becomes emperor, 54
The Vandals and Alans cross the Pyrenees and appear in Hispania, 409
Rabbi Issac Abarbanel begins his exegesis on the Torah, 1483
Jonathan Swift publishes the last of Drapier's letters, 1724
Charles Messier discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy, 1773
First publication of the "Old Farmer's Almanac", 1792
George Washington lays the cornerstone of the "Executive Mansion" (White House), 1792
Founding of B'nai B'rith, 1843
The first arial photo taken in the US, from a balloon over Boston, 1860
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda & friends agree to use Hebrew exclusively in their conversations, which begins the revival of it as an active and growing language, 1881
Greenwich, in London, England, is established as Universal Time meridian of longitude, 1884
Edward Emerson Barnard discovers D/1892 T1, the first comet discovered by photographic means, on the night of October 13–14, 1892
Ankara replaces Istanbul as the capital of Turkey, 1923
Premier of "Kukla, Fran, & Ollie", 1947
Fiji joins the United Nations, 1970
The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle was obtained by Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who was then working at the C.D.C, 1976
Ameritech Mobile Communications (now AT&T) launched the first US cellular network in Chicago, Illinois, 1983
End of the Lebanese Civil War, 1990
The 2010 Copiapó mining accident in Copiapó, Chile comes to an end as all 33 miners arrive at the surface after surviving a record 69 days underground awaiting rescue, 2010