April 27, 2014

Today we celebrate:

National Drive It Day – Always on a Sunday close to April 23rd, this day celebrates April 23, 1900 and the 64 cars that left London and embarked upon the Thousand Mile Trial. Forty-six of the cars finally returned to London on May 12th. Don't forget that back then cars were very new and not accustomed to traveling very far or very fast for that matter because today it would only take about 10 hours give or take a little to travel that distance. Plus they had the added handicap of not having paved roads because there were no such thing back then.  http://www.national-awareness-days.com/national-drive-it-day.html

National Prime Rib Day – Are you a beef lover? Well, then, today is your day. Have some prime rib for dinner tonight.

Babe Ruth Day – Proclaimed by Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler, this was a day to support Babe Ruth during his fight against cancer and it has endured, particularly with the Yankees, ever since.

Tell A Story Day – Today is a day for stories. Tell your kids a story today. You don't need to read it out of a book, try making one up. Maybe a story about when you were a kid or some other kind of completely made up story. You could even write it down for them so they can read it again and again.  You  may find events celebrating this day at your local Library.

Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day – This day is not only about appreciating bulldogs, who are beautiful in their own way. It is also about celebrating the beautiful differences between people of all sizes, shapes, colors and coordination.

Mantanzas Mule Day – On this day in 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Navy bombarded a village in Cuba named Mantanzas. They hit it with everything they had. I'm sure it was impressive for its' time considering how long ago it was. When it was over and the villagers looked for dead bodies, they discovered that the entire village suffered a casualty count of: 1 mule.

Morse Code Day – On this day in 1791, Samuel Morse was born. He, of course, created the Morse code which was used regularly to pass telegraph messages for many years and is probably still used today in certain circumstances.  Most everyone knows at least some Morse code, even it it’s just the code for SOS( . . . _ _ _ . . .).

Eeyore's Birthday Day – Always celebrated on the last Saturday in April, this is Eeyore's birthday! The idea came from one of A.A. Milne's stories where Eeyore thinks everyone forgot his birthday only to find out that they had been planning a party all along. Ever since 1963, Austin, TX has had a huge all day festival to celebrate this day with live bands, food, drinks, family oriented games and arts and crafts.

Sense Of Smell Day – Today is a day to celebrate your sense of smell. The world would be a pretty bland place without the ability to smell. Granted, when we smell stinky things, we're not so pleased about it, but the good generally outweighs the bad. In fact, I think that a smelling app has even been invented for one of the latest idevices.

National Pet Parent's Day – Celebrated on the last Sunday in April, this is a day to give appreciation to the special people who open their hearts and their homes to pets of all kinds. Pets are not easy to take care of, even fish need to have their tanks cleaned and sometimes need special water and temperatures.  Bigger pets make bigger messes, need to be walked, fed, cleaned up after, and let us not even talk about those vet bills.  Kudos to all those pet parents who take these tasks on so willingly.

Mother, Father Deaf Day – Also on the last Sunday of April, this is a day to honor the deaf parents of hearing children. Raising children is difficult under the best of circumstances.  If you can’t hear them when they cry or you can’t hear them when they get quiet because they’re up to no good, it gets a hundred times harder.

Pinhole Photography Day – This day encourages you to make your own camera, take a picture and share it with the world in the hopes of encouraging creativity. All you need is a “light-tight” container, a pinhole in the side of it and a photo sensitive surface inside it. http://www.pinholeday.org/org/

Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) – This day begins at sundown today and ends at sundown tomorrow. It is a day to remember the 11 million people (6 million of whom were Jewish) who died in the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis while Hitler was in power.  This day is celebrated in either April or May depending on when the 27th of Nisan ( a Hebrew calendar reference) occurs.

To celebrate today, tell your kids a story about bulldogs and mules with Eeyore as the main character.  Then get in your vehicle and drive them to Yankee Stadium where they can learn about Babe Ruth and smell the popcorn and hot dogs.  Stop for a prime rib lunch on the way home.  Then, since you got them a bird for a pet yesterday, you qualify as a pet parent so teach your children how to do those pet care chores you don’t like to do.  Next, plug up your ears so that you can see what it would be like to be a deaf parent while you attempt to work with your children on making a pinhole camera and take some great pictures.  This evening, teach your children Morse code so you can use it to tell them about the Holocaust in an age appropriate way.