Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Random Tuesday News

Stacy Uncorked

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

Anyone who knows anything at all about me knows that my skills at plant killing are legendary.  Plants commit suicide when they know i will own them and i have been able to kill even silk houseplants.

It seems i have found a use for this talent.

Mr. BA, for whom i work every other Saturday, and now occasionally on random weekday evenings, pulled me off of my previous chores in the workshop and showed me a flower bed.  "I want you to pull the weeds," he said.

My response was, which ones are the weeds?  (As a notorious black thumb, i don't pay enough attention to which plants are which, i figure why bother.)

He carefully pointed out the day lilies, two small plants with red leaves, and a tiny rosebush.  "Don't pull those," he said.  "Everything else goes."

Three hours later, i had wiped out every sign of life in that bed that was not one of those three things, down to the tiny clovers.  It looked like parched earth with just day lilies, the rose bush, and whatever those other two plants were.

He and his wife were quite impressed with my plant killing skills, and i am now an official weeder.  He points out what is supposed to live, and i leave it solely alone.  Everything else gets dug out down to the roots, which i follow and pull up to make sure they don't grow back soon.

Little Girl is home from her training, and she got to practice her combat medic skills, especially treating people for heat exhaustion.

One night, she said, everyone was leaving the range at dusk and a call came in for a medic.  She said she and her partner thought it was a joke, but it wasn't.  The Lieutenant had missed her footing in the dim light and sprained her ankle and aggravated a previous back injury.  Her leg was going numb and she was in pain.  They stabilized her and called for a med-evac helicopter to get her to a local hospital.  

Little Girl was quite excited to have been there, using her training the way she was meant to.

This coming Thursday Sweetie and i have a date for our anniversary.  How long has it been?  Let's just say long enough to have four grown children and leave it at that.  Big numbers can make me depressed, unless they are the balance of my bank account.


Today is:

Act Like A Caveman Day -- internet generated, just to be fun, especially if your neighbors think you are crazy anyway

Bayreuther Festspiele -- Bayreuth, Germany (Wagner festival, through Aug. 28)

Be Adamant About Something Day -- it's good practice

Commonwealth Constitution Day -- Puerto Rico

Culinarian's Day -- another one here because of the internet, but a good excuse to let your inner chef go wild, and enjoy the results

Ebernoe Horn Fair -- Sussex, England (ancient horn fairs were pagan fertility rites, now just a fun time for all)

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

Festival of the Knee-Knockers -- Fairy Calendar

Furrinalia -- Ancient Etruscan Calendar (Furrina, goddess of the sacred grove and spring on Janniculum hill)
      also Ancient Roman Calendar (to honor those who searched for underground water sources)

Guanacaste Day -- Costa Rica

Guayaquil Day -- Guayaquil, Ecuador

Ilyap'a -- Ancient Inca Calendar (festival of the lightning god; date approximate)

National Hot Fudge Sundae Day

Rath Yatra & Bahuda Jatra-- Puri, India (the first is the Chariot Festival, pilgrims pull huge chariots across the city, and the second is 8 days later, the Return Festival; one of the most awaited Hindu festivals in the state and country)

Republic Day -- Tunisia

Soma-Nomaoi -- Haramachi City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (wild horse chase which recreates a battle from over 1,000 years ago; through Monday)

St. Christopher's Day (Patron of archers, automobile drivers/motorists, bachelors, boatmen, bookbinders, busdrivers, cab drivers,epileptics, fruit dealers, fullers, gardeners, lorry drivers, mariners, market carriers, porters, sailors, taxi drivers, transportation/transporation workers, travellers, truck drivers/truckers, watermen; Baden, Germany; Barga, Italy; Brunswick, Germany; Fubine, Italy; Havana, Cuba; Mecklenburg, Germany; Rab, Croatia, St. Christopher's Island; Saint Kitts; Toses, Girona, Calalonia, Spain ;for a holy death; against bad dreams, epilepsy, floods, hailstorms, lightning, pestilence, storms, sudden death, toothache)

St. James' Day (The Apostle, brother of St. John and son of Zebedee, the first Apostle martyred; Patron of apothecaries/druggists/pharmacists, arthritis sufferers, blacksmiths, equestrians and horsemen, furriers, knights, laborers, pilgrims, soldiers, tanners, veterinarians; Altopascio, Lucca, Italy; Antigua, Guatemala; Bangued, Philippines; Brentino Belluno, Italy; Caltagirone, Italy; Cassine, Italy; Chile; Cicala, Catanzaro, Italy; Comitini, Italy; Compostela, Spain; Galicia, Spain; Gavi, Italy; Guatemala; Hettstedt, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; Jemez Indian Pueblo; Loiza, Puerto Rico; Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Montreal, Canada; Nicaragua; Pistoia, Italy; Rivarolo Canavese, Italy; Sahuayo, Mexico; Seattle, Washington; Spain; Tesuque Indian Pueblo; against arthritis and rheumatism; sometimes called Jacob, the Latinized version of his name, also Iago and Jaques in Romance languages) related observances
     Dia Nacional de Galicia -- Galicia, Spain (National Day of Galicia, a/k/a Apostole Santiago, St. James the Apostle's Day)
     The Pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela -- Galicia, Spain (one of the world's largest pilgrimages still, to the church that has the supposed relics of St. James, culminates on the Saint's feast day)
     Loiza Aldea Fiesta -- Puerto Rico

Video Games Day -- yet another one, this on the founding of the "U.S. National Video Game Team" 


Birthdays Today

James Lafferty, 1985
Brad Renfro, 1982
Louise Brown, 1978
Matt LeBlanc, 1967
Illeana Douglas, 1965
Iman, 1965
Walter Payton, 1954
Nathaniel "Nate" Thurmond, 1941
Barbara Harris, 1935
Midge Decter, 1927
Estelle Getty, 1923
Jack Gilford, 1907
Walter Brennan, 1894
Maxfield Parrish, 1870


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Chorus Line"(Musical), 1975
"You Can't Hurry Love"(Single release), 1966


Today in History

Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler, 285
Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops, 306
The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings, 864
Sebastián de Belalcázar, on his search for El Dorado, founds the city of Santiago de Cali, Colombia, 1536
Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, 1567
Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism, 1593
James VI of Scotland is crowned James I of England, bringing the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into personal union; political union would occur later, 1603
Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, México, 1693
British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians; thousands of Acadians are sent to the British Colonies in America, France and England, and some later move to Louisiana, while others resettle in New Brunswick, 1755
Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain), 1797
Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua, 1824
The first commercial use of an electric telegraph is successfully demonstrated by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone between Euston and Camden Town in London, 1837
The Japanese daimyo begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms, 1869
Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it, 1908
Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure, 1917
The first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast takes place, 1920
Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established, 1925
At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team, 1946
Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51, 1956
The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed, 1957
Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" is born, 1978
Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, which formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948, 1994
K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as India's 10th president and the first Dalit— formerly called "untouchable"— to hold this office, 1997
Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde supersonic passenger jet, F-BTSC, crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground, 2000
Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first woman president, 2007
Wikileaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history, 2010
Scientists in Britain identify the mechanism causing human allergy to cats; they believe a general cure for the condition could be available in the next five years, 2013

12 comments:

  1. Weeding is therapy for me, but this year with travel it has become an exhausting chore. That is wonderful that you can be as tidy outside as inside. Love that your daughter is a medic. What a good profession and maybe she will continue onto med school. Maybe the military will help pay for it?

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  2. Ha ha... I could use your skill in weeding. Very interesting post. Have a beautiful day!

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  3. Enjoy your anniversary date night :-) I hate weeding, but the end result is so worth it.

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  4. You and my wife should get together. She's always going outside weeding in our yard, and you know something, that's why our yard is looking so great. My wife is fantastic and probably so are you.
    See ya Mimi.

    Cruisin Paul

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  5. I hate weeding. I really hate weeding. I'm and outdoor person, but not a work outdoor person. Glad you did a great job for them.

    Way to go on Little Girl getting to use her training. Excellent.

    Thursday is your anniversary. I know you'll have a wonderful date with Sweetie. We want to hear about your date too. What did you get each other and where did you go.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  6. You are too sweet, I would have told him to hire a landscaper because that is not part of my job description. I don't like being outside :) I hope you have a wonderful anniversary dinner.

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  7. I actually have weeding along with other outdoor sprucing up I need to do today.

    Happy Anniversary to you, enjoy your date night with Sweetie, we just celebrated our 20th yesterday.

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  8. Love the reformulating "plant killer" into "expert weeder!" Black thumb here myself, but I'm the lazy kind of weeder. I sincerely try to get the roots, but if the ground is too hard, I give up pretty easily and it all grows back in minutes.

    Yay for little girl using her medic skills! Hardly "little" anymore!

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  9. How great that Little Girl could use her training in this situation. A feather in her cap.

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  10. Little Girl earned some serious brownie points by saving her LT. And judging by your post, I do believe I have been uncrowned as queen plant killer. It's great that you turned a bad skill into a winner.

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  11. so you do not have green fingers

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  12. I have killed many a plant, so don't feel bad. Glad you were able to save some of them. And glad Little Girl could use of her skills. Have a great evening.

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