I remember the statue well. It is so beautiful, and pictures really do not do it full justice. As we walked across the polished floors to gather under the domed roof of the Accademia Gallery in Florence, I was flabbergasted by the detail. Each muscle, the curls in the hair. Michelangelo's David stands out from the blur of great art I have seen, and I remember two rather amusing stories about it.
The first has to do with the day of its unveiling, 506 years ago today. The story goes that the city fathers had gathered around, and were determined to find something wrong with it. After all, they were not like the masses, easily cowed by the fame of the artist; they were going to give him his comeuppance.
They oohed and aahed a bit, then began looking critically, discussed it among themselves, and told the great artist that the statues' nose was too big.
Michelangelo did not say a word. He bent and picked up a couple of tools, and palmed some marble dust and a few small chunks of marble. He slowly and seemingly reluctantly climbed the ladder, and gave a couple of glancing blows that did no damage, allowing the dust and small bits of marble he had swept up with the tools to sprinkle down. Then he climbed back down and waited.
The city fathers agreed, now it was perfect.
Artist 1, City Fathers 0
The second funny story is personal. I was so taken with the statue that I bought a postcard of it, and used it as a bookmark for quite a while.
One day, in a high school class, the teacher mentioned the statue and said she wished she had a picture to show. This quiet, not at all popular girl with braces and a reputation for being a goody two shoes pulled a picture postcard of the statue out of her current book and held it up. The teacher looked surprised but thanked me and passed it around, to the shock of everyone else in the class.
You would be amazed at the amount of respect you can get in an all girls Catholic high school by carrying around a picture post card of a naked male statue.
Today is:Feast of 'Izzat -- Baha'iFeast of Our Lady of Meritxell -- AndorraFeast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin -- Catholic ChristianFeast of Papa-Lea (god of Kava Drinking)Fiestas de Santa Fe -- New Mexico (includes burning of the Zozobra - Old Man Gloom effigy)Independence Day -- MacedoniaInternational Literacy DayNational Date Nut Bread DayNational Day -- AndorraNational Pardon DaySheriff's Ride Ceremony, Lichfield, UKSt. Adrian's Day (patron of arms dealers, butchers, prison guards)Victory Day/Feast of Our Lady of Victories -- MaltaWorld Physical Therapy DayBirthdays Today:Frankie Avalon, 1940Guitar Sorty, 1939Patsy Cline, 1932Peter Sellers, 1925Sid Caesar, 1922Claude Pepper, 1900Antonin Leopold Dvorak, 1841Richard I (Lionheart), 1157Today in History:The Statute of Kalisz, guaranteeing Jews safety and personal liberties and giving battei din jurisdiction over Jewish matters, is promulgated by Boleslaus the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland, 1264Michaelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence, 1504St. Augustine, FL, becomes the first permanent European settlement of the New World, 1565The US "Pledge of Allegiance" makes its first appearance in print, in the Youth's Companion, 1892Galveston, TX, is struck by a hurricane and tidal surge that kill 6,000, 1900First appearance of the comic strip "Blondie", 19303M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape, 1930The Beatles perform their new hit "Hey Jude" as their last live TV performance on the David Frost show, 1968Chinese athlete Wang Junxia sets a new women's 10,000 m world record of 29:31.78, breaking the former record by 42 seconds, 1993Two EMERCOM Il-76 aircraft land at a disaster aid staging area at Little Rock Air Force Base; the first time Russia has flown such a mission to North America, 2005
On my soap box, ranting a bit. Please bear with me.
Rant #1
Yes, you have a right to a day off once in a while.
Even if you are the shelter caretaker coordinator, you have the right to leave town once in a while.
Please, before you leave town, make sure all the shifts are covered! Even if you are out of town, make sure you have someone assigned to cover your rump!
If you are the person next up the chain of command, and you know this person is out of town, please answer your phone when we call! Yes, you deserve a day off, too, but emergencies happen.
If you are the shelter caretaker, and you can't make it, please call until you find someone to cover for you!
I did not want to spend my Labor Day morning cleaning the shelter because I happened to come by to get medicine for my kittens and find the cats in the dark, hungry, litter boxes unscooped, medications not given to those that need them. I hadn't had breakfast yet, it was already almost 10am and I was working so fast to get back home to my own work, I ended up having two tachycardia episodes doing your work for you.
Rant # 2
Brother-in-law, The Mouth, just got paid last Tuesday, as did Sweetie.
He called on Labor Day, begging for food because he is out of money already.
How in the world, when you know that you only get paid once a month, do you end up spending it all so fast that you have no money for food only one week in?
This is going to be a long month, with him calling and begging a lot. We struggle month to month also, so I'm not sure how much we can do. It just gets me furious that he will be so irresponsible, then expect us to take up the slack for him.
Rant #3
People who abandon kittens.
I don't mind bottle raising orphans when the mama runs off, or is hit by a car, or something else happens -- we once had a mama cat caught by a hawk!
I do mind having to give my 7 that I have raised to go to another foster home so that I can raise 5 more, from two litters, that people have taken from the mama on purpose and left on purpose because they don't want the babies, and they won't spay the mama.
Speaking of which, we now have 3 newborns and 2 that are around 2 1/2 weeks. The older are colorpoints like the older litter we just raised, and the newborns are an orange tabby and two regular tabbies, one with white paws.
End of rants.
Today is:
Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary -- Catholic Christian
Festival of Durga (goddess of Energy and the World)
Fiesta de Santa Fe
Grandad's Day
Grandma Moses Day
His Holiness Sakya Trizin's Birthday -- Buddhist
Independence Day -- Brazil
National Napoleon Day
National Threatened Species Day -- Australia
Neither Snow Nor Rain Day
St. Cloud's Day
United Tribes International Pow-Wow
Victory Day -- Mozambique
Welsh Fairies Nonnet-Hurling Competition -- Fairy Calendar
Birthdays Today:
Gloria Gaynor, 1949
Richard Roundtree, 1942
Cuneyt Arkin, 1937
John Phillip Law, 1937
Buddy Holly, 1936
Don Messick, 1927
Peter Lawford, 1923
Anthony Quayle, 1913
Elia Kazan, 1909
Michael E. DeBakey, 1908
Grandma Moses, 1860
Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533
Today in History:
Traditionally, the solar eclipse date that marks the birth of Heracles of Thebes (Latin Hercules), BC1251
The Roman army under Titus occupies and plunders Jerusalem, 70
In the world's first submarine attack, the American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor, 1776
The "Troy Post" of NY first uses "Uncle Sam" to refer to the US, 1813
Last hold-up of Jesse James, 1881
Edith Eleanor McLean becomes the first baby in the US to be put in an incubator for premature infants, 1888
The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ends with the signing of the Boxer Protocol, 1901
The first day of the first Miss America Pageant is held in Atlantic City, NJ, 1921
Philo T. Farnsworth demonstrates the first use of television in San Francisco, 1927
The last surviving member of the thylacine species, Benjamin, dies alone in her cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania, 1936
Integration begins in Washington, D.c. and Baltimore, MD public schools, 1954
Desmond Tutu becomes the first black man to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa, 1986
A 5.9 magnitude earthquake rocks Athens, rupturing a previously unknown fault, 1999
Hurricane Ivan, a Category 5 hurricane, hits Grenada, killing 39 and damaging 90% of its buildings, 2004
The first presidential election is held in Egypt, 2005
To quote Garfield the Cat:
Labor Day
Shmabor Day!
What a dumb day.
You hire some jerk
Then send him away
To celebrate work
By playing all day!
My friend didn't have to bring her cat over for more fluids -- he was up and around and eating on his own by morning, and his own kidneys should process the rest of that stuff out of him with no trouble.
The work around here with the kittens continues unabated, though. Despite ponazeril and Reglan, they are still having trouble with "loose bowels." Frostfur is the only one that is dehydrated enough by it to need fluids, but if this doesn't let up soon, I'm going to go batty. They need to be able to run around the house more, as they are getting bigger, and I can't let them yet. So they live under my feet in the kitchen.
At least. by the Lord's mercy, they are all still alive. The early vaccination seems to have helped. I'm going to jab the poor things again today, and get them to the vet's office to be weighed and scheduled for surgery later this week.
Then will come adoption days, and they move on to forever homes. The cycle of kitten life around here.
Today is:
Defence Day -- Pakistan
Ear and Trumpet Contests for Mice -- Fairy Calendar
Fight Procrastination Day
Independence Day -- Swaziland
Labor Day -- US
National Coffee Ice Cream Day
National Do It Day
Peach Days begin
Player Piano Day
Read A Book Day
Salami Day
South Carolina Apple Festival -- Through next weekend
St. Bega's Day (aka Bee; patron of laborers)
St. Giles' Fair -- Oxford, UK (M & T after Sunday after St. Giles Day)
St. Magnus of Fussen's Day (patron of crops; against caterpillars, hail, reptiles, vermin)
Stillbirth Remembrance Day
Unification Day -- Bulgaria
Birthdays Today:
Jeff Foxworthy, 1958
Jane Curtin, 1947
Swoosie Kurtz, 1944
Jo Anne Worley, 1937
Joseph P. Kennedy, 1888
Jane Addams, 1860
Marquis de Lafayette, 1757
Today in History:
The Victoria, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world, 1522
The Spanish "Silver Fleet" disappears off the Fla. Keys, 1622
Founding of Salem, Massachussetts, 1628
The first US lighthouse is built in Boston, 1716
Hurricane hits Martinique and Guadalupe, hundreds of ships sink and thousands die on land and at sea, 1776
Thomas Blanchard patents the lathe, 1819
Oberlin Collegiate Institute of Ohio becomes co-ed, with 4 women and 30 men in attendance, 1837
Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807, 1870
Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands, 1948
Canada's first television station, CBFT-TV, opens in Montreal, 1952
Nine Israeli athletes are killed during a rescue attempt after being kidnapped at the Munich Olympic Games; two had died during the kidnapping the day before, 1972
The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and restores the name St. Petersburg to Russia's second largest city, 1991
Cal Ripken Jr of the Baltimore Orioles plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking a record that stood for 56 years, 1995
Diana, Princess of Wales is laid to rest in front of a television audience of more than 2.5 billion, 1997
She was almost sobbing on the phone, telling me that Anubis cat was dead and her other precious cat was very sick.
Of course, it is 7am on a Saturday, vets offices still closed. They had called the emergency clinic, and were told if they even walked in it would be about $300. In advance, please. These are people who live in a trailer.
So Anubis seized and finally died. They watched as her poor body just shut down.
Now the other cat. Similar symptoms, but not as bad, and she wants to know where she can take him.
I told her about my vet, and told her to say upfront that she would need a payment plan.
Then I took a sample from my own sick kittens over there, and told them that if she couldn't pay it all, to let me know, I would help as much as I could.
After grocery shopping, I went back over there to get meds for my kittens, along with another IV set up. She and her sister and friend were there, with the cat.
The story turned out to be that they had bought a flea product, from Hartz, at the local big box store. Used it on both cats. These cats have apparently managed to ingest some, and had allergic reactions of some kind.
It is made for cats, so it shouldn't be that toxic. They didn't use too much, most of it was still in the bottle, which they had with them.
The vet gave supportive care and a shot of steroid, and other things to help the cat's kidneys process the stuff out. Since they are closed over the weekend, I agreed to give fluids again over the two day holiday weekend.
I went home and dosed my babies, and tended them all day. She called again a couple of times, her cat is very sore, not moving if he can help it, even wet the bed rather than get up and go to the box.
It's going to be a long night, and I hope he makes it, that he didn't have so bad a reaction that he goes the way of his sister.
Be careful what flea or other products you use on your cats. Get it from the vet if you have to in order to be sure.
The cheap stuff costs too much.
Today is:
Be Late For Something Day (I was early celebrating this one, I got it out of the way yesterday!)
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Day
Historical Regatta -- Venice, Italy
Jupiter Stator -- Ancient Roman Calendar (commemorates that Jupiter helped Romulus to stop the Sabine invasion under Titus Tatius)
National Cheese Pizza Day
Running of the Sheep -- Reed Point, MT
St. Laurence Gustiani's Day
St. Zacharias' Day
Teacher's Day -- India
Wag and Carrot Fancying Day -- Fairy Calendar
Birthdays Today:
Cathy Guisewite, 1950
Raquel Welch, 1940
Carol Lawrence, 1934
Bob Newhart, 1929
Arthur C. Nielsen, 1923
John Cage, 1912
Darryl F. Zanuck, 1902
Jesse James, 1847
Johann Christian Bach, 1735
Today in History:
Hernan Cortez and his men fight the Tlascala Aztecs in the Second Battle of Tehuacingo, Mexico, 1519
Peter the Great of Russia imposes a tax on beards, in an attempt to Westernize his people, 1698
The First Continental Congress is assembled in Philadelphia, 1774
Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas, 1836
The First Opium war begins in China, 1839
Sioux Chief Crazy Horse is killed, 1877
The First Labor Day Parade is held in NYC, 1882
The first gasoline pump is delivered to a gasoline dealer in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, 1885
The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger, 1932
Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay, 1977
The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel, 1980
The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, came into force, 1991
More than you could possibly want to know about an animal rescue group.
We are a "no kill" organization, which means we do not euthanize adoptable animals, we work to find them homes.
We can only take in as many as we have room for at any one time.
We always, and I do mean always, make room for bottle-fed kittens, which are my main duty.
Yes, if we are full, we turn people down. They then probably take the animals to the "pound," called Animal Control here, where they might be euthanized. Sometimes I'm sure they abandon the animals, and that is terrible.
It is the unfortunate reality that we can only do so much. Some people criticize the "no kill" model, because they claim we are living in a dream world, refusing to take more animals than we can handle. We also offer low cost spay/neuter, we do trap/neuter/release with feral colonies, and we are trying to work with all of the animal rescues in the area to make the whole metro area a no kill zone. We want there to be no unwanted animals.
Crazy? Yes. Doable? We will see, and we will keep working toward it.
Meanwhile, we make sure every cat that we do have, or get, that is adoptable, gets its photo on petfinders, and is either at adoption days, or in the adoption center for at the pet store, or gets exposure at adoption events at the shelter.
No animal is left in a cage for any longer than absolutely necessary. The adoption center at the pet store has a one week limit that we impose on ourselves. We work to get well animals into colony rooms at the shelter, or into a foster home, as quickly as we can. They stay in cages only when they are sick if we have any way to move them out.
Every one has been adopted, sooner or later. We have found homes for elderly cats that had to be given up by their even more elderly owners who died or went into nursing facilities. We have found homes for blind, maimed, and special needs cats.
It is our wish and our work to try to get a home for every animal we can, and work on the other end of it to get people to spay/neuter their pets, so we can someday put us out of business.
Yes, I know it won't every happen, but we can dream.
Meanwhile, if you want a new cat or kitten, rescue one. It is a gift to the animal and to yourself.
Today is:
Anthracite Coal Miners Day
Glass Day
Immigrant's Day -- Argentina
Looking For the Boundaries -- Cuchumatan Indians, Guatemala Highlands
National Macadamia Nut Day
Newspaper Carrier Day
St. Boniface I's Day
St. Rose of Viterbo's Day (patron of florists)
Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw -- Marion Park, Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin
Birthdays Today:
Beyonce Knowles, 1981
Mitzi Gaynor, 1930
Dick York, 1928
Paul Harvey, 1918
Henry Ford II, 1917
Richard Wright, 1908
Nigel Bruce, 1895
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, 1768
Today in History:
Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor in the West, is formally deposed, 476
Edmund Halley, English astronomer, first observes the comet that now bears his name, 1682
The city of Los Angeles is founded in Bahia de las Fumas (Valley of Smokes), 1781
Robert Fulton begins operating his steamboat, 1807
Barney Flahery, age 10, is hired to be the first newsboy, by the NY Sun, 1833
The last major US-Indian war ends with the surrender of Apache Chief Geronimo, 1886
George Eastman patents the first roll-film cameral and registers the trademark name "Kodak", 1888
Beatrix Potter first tells the story of Peter Rabbit, 1893
Comic strip "Beetle Bailey" first appears, 1950
The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel, 1957
Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games, 1972
Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University, 1998
It was two for one day at the shelter -- we covered the morning and evening shift, as the morning person was out of town.
We are having a bout of upper respiratory running through the cat shelter.
Rory, Princess, Runt, Allie, Bowie, and JuJu are all isolated, and Frieda sneezed three times while I was taking care of her. At least she is already by herself in the office.
Right now we also have a rash of very, very skinny cats up there.
Gidget is eating more, but still bony. She also hisses, then allows petting, then hisses again. She wants affection but seems afraid to allow it. Poor thing, we can only guess what she has been through.
Lucky, of course, is hyperthyroid, and eats all day and stays thin. Great if you are a fashion model, terrible for a cat.
Leia is new, was spayed only two days ago, and is the skinniest and most talkative Siamese I have ever seen in my life. She may look like a princess, but she makes a royal mess. Her cage was so trashed she had pawprints on the ceiling! We had to replace her bowls with the kind she couldn't move because she spilled her food twice in five minutes. She chattered at us the whole time, too.
Curly Sue is now in with Grady, Clint, Prissy, and Ginny. Clint still hides, and Grady has chased and bothered Ginny so much that she now growls and hisses if any of the other cats come near her. For the record, because I took care of all the sick cats, I didn't go in there with them, so I didn't let Grady out. Little Girl did, 3 times, and Bigger Girl once.
Oreo of the soft fur is getting mean being in a cage, at least when you have to put him back in. He wants more room, and I don't blame him.
Rosie actually came out of her cage! She is so shy, I was amazed. Sweet thing, she needs a very calm home.
Devon has been adopted, and will be picked up Saturday, but meanwhile he and Nacho are doing well. Angel and Dustie are as usual angelic and calm. Corrie is holding her own, Nanette is getting fat, and Roxanne is steady and lovable.
Then we have Chica and Chili. Both solid black, but Chili has a bit of white on the tips of 3 toes on his right hind foot. Otherwise you can't tell the difference between them unless you do a bit of unthinkable snooping. They are lovely lithe little things, and very fast, as we found when we went to pick up kitten milk one day and had to help that morning's caretaker catch Chica. The goal is to get them adopted together, and they would certainly make a great team to keep a household busy.
As for our own menagerie, the kittens have a very bad case of the trots. I hope they get over it quickly, it is more than time for them to be weaned. I can't until this is over, because I can't take the chance that they will dehydrate.
Today is
Cromwell's Day
Day of Universal Alarm -- Fairy Calendar
Flag Day -- Australia
Independence Day -- San Marino; Qatar
Lost Day
Memorial Day -- Tunisia
Merchant Navy Remembrance Day -- Canada
National Welsh Rarebit Day
Skyscraper Day
St. Gregory the Great's Day (invented Gregorian Chant; patron of music, popes, singers, teachers, school children; against plague)
St. Marinus' Day
Birthdays Today:
Charlie Sheen, 1965
Mort Walker, 1923
Kitty Carlisle Hart, 1914
Alan Ladd, 1913
Nicolo Amati, 1596
Today in History:
Sextus Pompeius, son of Pompey, is defeated in the Battle of Naulochus by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, which ends the resistance to the Second Triumvirate, BC36
Saint Marinus founds San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, 301
King Richard I (the Lionheart) crowned, and 30 Jews are massacred as part of the celebration, 1189
The first large group of Swiss and German colonists reach the shores of the Carolina area, 1709
Gregorian calendar adopted, 1752
Signing of the Treaty of Paris, end of the US Revolutionary War, 1783
John Dalton, English scientist begins using symbols to represent different atomic elements, 1803
The first daily newspaper, a "penny paper", The Sun (New York), begins publication, 1833
68th and final transport of Dutch Jews, including Anne Frank and her family/friends, leaves for Auschwitz, 1944
Wally Gator premiers, 1962
The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, 1976
"If we're not willing to settle for junk living, we certainly shouldn't settle for junk food." ~ Sally Edwards
Try telling that to my #2 Son, who would live on junk if I would allow it. How did I raise a kid who only wants pizza, ramen noodles, chicken noodle soup, and anything from a fast food restaurant?
Now I will admit he does have good taste, and loves expensive restaurant food and steak and bbq, as well as roasted chicken. He even asks for salad on occasion. The fact remains, however, that even more than the other kids, who will gladly take a bit of junk now and then, he craves the stuff and would almost live on it, to the exclusion of most things healthy and great detriment to his health.
The kids also seem ready to often settle for junk living, as well. #1 Son is outgrowing this as he becomes more responsible with college and work. Bigger Girl is determined to spend her life working to end all animal cruelty, of every sort. The two younger ones are all about entertainment, when they are done with school and chores and work, and lowest common denominator entertainment at that.
Wrestling on television is one of the ultimates in junk viewing, for example. #2 Son and Little Girl both love it. They also love crude humor; the meanness that seems to pass for funny these days they find highly enjoyable and take great delight in quoting the latest to me not funny at all lines at every opportunity.
Yes, some of it is that they are 14 and 12, and some of it they will probably outgrow, despite the examples of some supposed adults I know to the contrary. Still, the entire culture, the entertainment industry, advertising, everything, seems determined to make and keep them prisoners of junk. Junk food, which destroys their health and therefore their lives. Junk thinking, leaking to junk reasoning and the inability to see when they are being had by whomever controls the information of the moment. Junk activities when they could work to make a difference. Junk lives, the kind of living that leads to not caring what is going on in the world so long as they can still order a pizza on Saturday night and be entertained whenever they want.
I don't want my kids to settle for junk, in their stomachs, in their minds, in their lives.
Today is
Beer & Can Day
Bison-Ten-Yell Day
Coughing and Spluttering Convention -- Fairy Calendar
Feast of Bishamon-Ten -- Japan
Good Society Day
National Blueberry Popsicle Day
Old Timer's Day
Sedantag -- Germany
St. Agricola of Avignon's Day (patron of rain -- for or against, whichever you need! -- against bad luck)
St. Sulien's Day
VJ Day -- Surrender Ceremony took place on this date aboard the USS Missouri
Birthdays Today:
Lennox Lewis, 1965
Keanu Reeves, 1964
Jimmy Connors, 1952
Mark Harmon, 1951
Christa McAuliffe, 1948
Terry Bradshaw, 1948
Cleveland Amory, 1917
Lili'uokalani, 1838
Today in History:
Cicero's first Philippic (oratorical attack) on Marc Antony, BC44
Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion, BC44
Octavian's troops win the Battle of Actium which ends the Final war of the Roman Republic, BC31
The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days; it ends with 8 dead and 13,000 houses destroyed, 1666
Great Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe, 1752
US Treasury Dept. is established by Congress, 1789
A solar super storm affects electrical telegraph service, 1859
Theodore Roosevelt adivses the US to "Speak softly, and carry a big stick." 1901
President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia, 1957
The Principality of Sealand is established, ruled by Prince Paddy Roy Bates, 1967
Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia; all 229 people on board are killed, 1998
