Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Already!?!

Okay, Father Time, head's up!

There's some explaining to do.

The month of January is over already!?

Really?

Oh, well.

Yes, i admit it did have the usual compliment of 31 days.

And, yes, last i checked, each one was 24 hours -- although while i was asleep, you could have subtracted a couple, i really don't feel like i'm getting enough sleep.

Yes, you are right, the people who have day while we have night would have noticed.

But, still. This is really way, way too soon.

You are bringing tax time around way too fast.

Oh, you have nothing to do with that, i need to complain to the government.

Well, it's hard to find intelligent life there to converse with, so that's probably a lost cause.

Okay, so how about you slow things down a bit in February.

Nothing you can do? What do you mean, nothing you can do? Aren't you in charge of time?

Um, well, yes, i guess you would answer to a higher Authority, too.

So this is it? Good-bye to January?

Excuse me, i think i need another cup of coffee. Maybe it will speed me up so i can catch up to how fast the time is passing.


Today is:

Backward Day -- no info on the origin, but if you want to do something backward, go ahead

Eat Brussels Sprouts Day -- saute in olive oil with some garlic, they are worth it!

Eve of Brigantia -- Ireland (St. Bridget's Eve, the night when she crosses the countryside and bestows blessings)

Feast of Great Typos -- another that no one will claim inventing, but since we've all made them, we may as well celebrate them

H&ll is Freezing Over Day -- internet generated day to review the list of things you said you would do when h*ll freezes over

Independence Day -- Nauru

Inspire Your Heart with Art Day

National Brandy Alexander Day

National Gorilla Suit Day -- Mad Magazine's Maddest Artist, Don Martin, says this is the day to pull that gorilla suit out of the closet and step out in style.

Phlegm-Green, Moldy-Grey, and Gazzard Day -- Fairy Calendar (don't ask what color Gazzard is, it doesn't exist in the human world, and you don't want it to)

Play An Old Game You Haven’t Played in Years Night -- internet generated, and a great idea

Scotch Tape Day -- born this day in 1928

St. John Bosco's Day (Patron of editors, apprentices)

Up-Helly-AA Day -- Lerwick, Shetland (fire festival)



Birthdays Today:

Justin Timberlake, 1981
Kerry Washington, 1977
Minnie Driver, 1971
Kelly Lynch, 1959
Nolan Ryan, 1947
Charlie Musselwhite, 1944
Richard Gephardt, 1941
suzanne Pleshette, 1937
James Franciscus, 1934
Ernie Banks, 1931
Jean Simmons, 1929
Carol Channing, 1923
Norman Mailer, 1923
Mario Lanza, 1921
Jackie Robinson, 1919
Thomas Merton, 1915
Garry Moore, 1915
Tallulah Bankhead, 1903
Eddie Cantor, 1892
Zane Grey, 1872
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan, 1543


Today in History:

Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England, 1606
The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital, 1747
The Corn Laws (tariffs on imported grains) are abolished in Britain, paving the way for more free trade, 1849
The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations, 1876
The Bulletin of Sydney is founded, publishes for 128 years, 1880
An automobile exceeds 100 mph (161 kph) for the first time, at Daytona Beach, driven by A. G. MacDonald, 1905
The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky, 1929
Scotch tape is first marketed by the 3M Company, 1930
President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb, 1950
A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands, 1953
Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit, 1958
James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt, 1958
Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space, 1961
The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program, 1966
Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon, 1971
The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow, 1990
Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake, 1996

Monday, January 30, 2012

It Isn't Easy If They Won't Eat It

In the never ending search to answer the question, "What's for dinner," i've about given up on those sites that give you "Easy Weeknight Dinners" or "Quick and Easy Meals."

Mostly because around here, there is picky and then there is picky.

We have vegetarians, vegans, and "give me a huge chunk of meat the rest doesn't matter" carnivores. We have egg lovers and egg haters. We have the ones who would eat pasta three times a week, and those who won't let simple carbs pass their lips.

What we have is enough different tastes, except for the salad i make every night and that everyone has to have -- they will all eat at least some veggies, for which i am thankful -- to keep a short order cook busy, and i can't be a short order cook, especially with the food prices now.

Then some of the recipes themselves. They tell you to follow their shopping list and make just what they tell you, it will help you get dinner on the table every night. That's fabulous if you can afford the shrimp for the Garlic Shrimp Pasta, and if Peppery Portobellos were on everyone's list of "Yes, I'll eat that" foods. The fungi only have a couple of fans around here.

And how do you get a confirmed meat at every meal guy to agree to Blistered Potato and Corn Taquitos? Served with Greek yogurt and salsa, no less.

It's getting harder and harder to find something i'm not tired of cooking and they aren't tired of eating, so i'll keep looking at the articles that promise to solve the dinner woes.

Maybe someday one of them will be written by, not a dietician, but someone with a real family.

Don't hold your breath, either.


Today is:

Auckland Province Anniversary Day -- New Zealand

Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

Congressional Brawl Day -- marking the first ever all out brawl in the US Congress in 1798

Escape Day

Feast of King Charles the Martyr -- Anglican

Inane Answering Message Day -- the day to change those annoying messages, sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Juan Pablo Duarte Day -- Dominican Republic

Martyrs' Day -- India

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering -- Elko, NV, US (through Feb. 4; the nation's greatest celebration of the American West)

National Croissant Day

Pax -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Festival of Peace)

Puce and Ochre Day -- Fairy Calendar

Sahid Diwash -- Nepal (Martyrs' Day)

School Day of Nonviolence and Peace -- Spain

St. Aldegund's Day (Patron against cancer, childhood illness, fever, eye disease, sudden death, wounds)

St. Bathild's Day

Three Archbishops' Day -- Eastern Orthodox (a/k/a Holy Hierarchs' Day)

Yodel For Your Neighbors Day -- Why? Do you hate your neighbors?

Yogi Bear Day -- his show debuted today in 1958



Birthdays Today:

Brett Butler, 1958
Phil Collins, 1951
Steve Marriott, 1947
Marty Balin, 1942
Dick Cheney, 1941
Vanessa Redgrave, 1937
Boris spassky, 1937
Tammy Grimes, 1934
Louis Ruckeyser, 1933
Gene Hackman, 1930
Dorothy Malone, 1925
Dick Martin, 1922
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1882
Thomas Rolfe, 1615 (Only child of John Rolfe and Pocahontas.)


Today in History:

The Jews of Freilsburg, Germany, are massacred, 1349
King Charles I of England is beheaded, 1649
Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed after having been dead for two years, 1661
The Forty-seven Ronin, under the command of Oishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, 1703
Henry Greathead tests the first boat intended to be specialized as a lifeboat for rescue purposes, which he invented, on the River Tyne in England, 1790
The burned Library of Congress is reestablished, with Thomas Jefferson contributing, 1815
Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica, 1820
The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world's first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales is opened, 1826
A fire destroys two-thirds of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, 1841
The city of Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco, for the nearby mission of the same name, 1847
William Wells Brown publishes the first Black drama, "Leap to Freedom," 1858
The US Navy's first ironclad warship, the Monitor, is launched, 1862
The pneumatic hammer is patented by Charles King of Detroit, 1894
The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy, 1911
The House of Lords rejects the Irish Home Rule Bill, 1913
"The Lone Ranger" begins a 21 year run on ABC radio, 1933
Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is assassinated by Pandit Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist, 1948
American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1956
The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police, 1969
Carole King's Tapestry album is released, it would become the longest charting album by a female solo artist and sell 24 million copies worldwide, 1971
Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations, 1972
The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary was established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary, 1975
Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner", 1982
Peter Leko of Hungary becomes the world's youngest chess grand master at age 14, 1994
Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease, 1995

Sunday, January 29, 2012




And, as of today, neither Mikey or Datsig are this kind of boy, either.

They are going it to a spay/neuter day at the local low cost clinic, and will be given rabies shots as well as having their fertility attended to.

Since #1 Son is paying this instead of the standard adoption fees, he is now considered their proud owner, as much as a cat can be owned.

When he moves out later this year, they will go with him.

Meanwhile, we now have 7, including them, plus Sissy, whom we are babysitting for one of the stray children, and 3 fosters.

Add the Hazelnut, and it's a full house.


Today is:

Blue and Pink Day -- Fairy Calendar

Bubblegum Sculpture Day -- commonly listed on ecard sites, and not to be confused with National Bubble Gum Day, coming in February

Carnation Day -- in honor of William McKinley; also on the date of his assassination each year, Sept. 14

Constitution Day -- Gibraltar

Curmudgeons' Day -- W.C. Fields' birthday

Freethinkers Day -- to honor Thomas Paine

National Corn Chip Day

National Puzzle Day -- because they are just fun

Sounkyo Ice Festival -- Hokkaido, Japan (snow and ice sculptures, through March 5)

St. Constantius of Perugia (Patron of Perugia, Italy)

St. Juniper's Day

St. Sulpicius Severus' Day

Thomas Paine Day

World Leprosy Day



Anniversaries Today:

Kansas becomes the 34th US state, 1861


Birthdays Today:

Adam Lambert, 1982
Jonny Lang, 1981
Andrew Keegan, 1979
Sara Gilbert, 1975
Heather Graham, 1970
Greg Louganis, 1960
Oprah Winfrey, 1954
Teresa Teng, 1953
Ann Jillian, 1950
Tom Selleck, 1945
Katharine Ross, 1942
John Forsythe, 1918
Victor Mature, 1913
Huddie William "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, 1885
W.C. Fields, 1880
Anton Chekhov, 1860
William McKinley, 1843
Henry Morton Stanley, 1841
Thomas Paine, 1737
Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688


Today in History:

The first performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1595
John Beckley of Virginia is appointed the first Librarian of Congress, 1802
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" is first published, 1845
The Victoria Cross is established to acknowledge bravery, 1856
Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, 1886
Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch, 1891
Walt Disney starts his first job as an artist, earning $40/week with the KC Slide Co, 1920
North America's first guide dog school, The Seeing Eye, is incorporated in Nashville, Tennessee, 1929
The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced, 1936
The first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced, 1963
Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so, 1989
President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear weapons testing, 1996
La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire, 1996
The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing, 2005