Happy Birthday Jeff Gordon!!

Man, I had so much fun over the weekend that today is a major bummer!! I really wanted to throw myself on the floor this morning and have a temper tantrum and scream 'I don't want to go to work!" but didn't figure anyone would listen. The cats would just run and take cover and the hubby would probably kiss me on the forehead and step over me on his way out the door! Wish I could stay home and play every day :( Of course it wouldn't take long before we would have no food or money for gas! But, gas was down to $3.67 today! woohoo! Still sad that those prices seem like a bargain... Was suppose to be a sunny day without too much humidity. Cracks me up as I sit here looking out the window at the rain. I used to tell my kids to be a psychiatrist or a weather anchor...no wrong answers! Did they listen to me? Ha!

We got to watch a decent race this week. Came down to fuel mileage. Carl Edwards won but a handful ran out of gas coming to the checkered flag. Jeff Gordon being one of them but he managed a 10Th place finish. Jimmie Johnson ran out too but he was closer to the line and finished 3rd with Dale Jr. coming in 12Th. Not too bad of a day but would have like Jeff to win one. He is listed today on the 'Today in History' site. Today is his birthday (along with my daughter-in-law ;) was the only way I could remember her birthday for a long time!) the funny thing is it's listed in Automotive and not Sports! NASCAR gets no respect as a sport. Happy Birthday Jeff!

The Nationwide race on Saturday was a hoot. Didn't get to watch it live as we were babysitting but I taped it and we watched it after the girls were in bed for the night. They were in Montreal on a road course and it began to rain. NASCAR had put in place several years ago that if it rained on the road course then the cars would have to put on rain tires. (tires with grooves) It was pretty hilarious to watch. Some went off-course but mostly they just drove slow. Some cars had windshield wipers and some didn't. Really felt for the ones without because it was raining pretty good. Officials finally called the race 26 laps early because of visibility.

Today in History:

August 4, 1892

Borden parents found dead

On this day in 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden are found hacked to death in their Fall River, Massachusetts, home. Andrew was discovered in a pool of blood on the living room couch, his face nearly split in two. Abby was upstairs, her head smashed to pieces; it was later determined that she was killed first. Suspicion soon fell on one of the Bordens' two daughters, Lizzie, age 32 and single, who lived with her wealthy father and stepmother and was the only other person besides their maid, Bridget Sullivan, who was home when the bodies were found. Lizzie Borden was arrested and charged with the double homicide. As a result of the crime's sensational nature, her trial attracted national attention.

Lizzie Andrew Borden was born on July 19, 1860. Her mother died when Lizzie was a young girl and her father, who became a bank president and successful businessman, married Abby Gray, who helped raise Lizzie and her older sister Emma. The sisters reportedly despised their stepmother and, as adults, argued with their father over money matters. Lizzie claimed she was in the barn at the time of the murders and entered the house later that morning to find her father dead in the living room.

The evidence that the prosecution presented against Borden was circumstantial. It was alleged that she tried to buy poison the day before the murders and that she burned one of her dresses several days afterward. And, although fingerprint testing was becoming commonplace in Europe at the time, the Fall River police were wary of its reliability, and refused to test for prints on the potential murder weapon--a hatchet--found in the Bordens' basement. The fact that no blood was found on Lizzie coupled with her well-bred Christian persona convinced the all-male jury that she was incapable of the gruesome crime and they quickly acquitted her.

Lizzie, who inherited a substantial sum after her father's death, moved from the murder site into a different home, where she lived until her death on June 1, 1927. Today, the house where the Borden murders occurred is a bed and breakfast. Despite Lizzie Borden's acquittal, the cloud of suspicion that hung over her never disappeared. She is immortalized in a famous rhyme:

Lizzie Borden took an axe, And gave her mother forty whacks; When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one.

August 4, 1944

Anne Frank captured

Acting on tip from a Dutch informer, the Nazi Gestapo captures 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. The Franks had taken shelter there in 1942 out of fear of deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. They occupied the small space with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man, and were aided by Christian friends, who brought them food and supplies. Anne spent much of her time in the "secret annex" working on her diary. The diary survived the war, overlooked by the Gestapo that discovered the hiding place, but Anne and nearly all of the others perished in the Nazi death camps.

August 4, 1942

Holiday Inn premieres

Audiences around the country are introduced to a new holiday classic as Bing Crosby croons "White Christmas" in the film Holiday Inn, which opens on this day in 1942.

Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma, Washington, in 1903. As a child, he was such a fan of a cartoon character named Bing that the nickname was pinned on him. During college in Spokane, he began singing and playing the drums with a band and abandoned an interest in law to pursue a career in show business. He and a college friend, Al Rinker, moved to Los Angeles in 1925 and started a vaudeville act.

Impressed by the act, bandleader Paul Whiteman hired Crosby and Rinker to tour with his band in 1927. Three years later, Crosby made his film debut as part of the band. Meanwhile, he married a starlet named Dixie Lee, with whom he had four sons.

Crosby became one of the most beloved entertainers in history. In 1931, he landed his own radio show, which ran in various forms until the mid-1940s. Radio boosted his popularity, and before long he was a hit at the box office as well as on the radio.

Crosby signed with Paramount in 1932 and appeared in The Big Broadcast the same year. His comic flair surfaced in the 1940s with the Road movies that co-starred Bob Hope. During the same period, however, his dramatic work also gained attention: He won an Oscar for his performance as a priest in Going My Way (1944) and was nominated for his performances in The Bells of Saint Mary's (1945) and The Country Girl (1954). Widowed in 1952, he later married actress Kathryn Grant, who was 30 years his junior, and had three more children. He had a short-lived TV sitcom from 1964 to 1965 called The Bing Crosby Show, in which he played an aging singer trying to settle into domestic life. Years later, his daughter Mary Crosby played the girl who shot J.R. Ewing in the TV soap Dallas. Bing Crosby died on the golf course in 1977.

August 4, 1971

"The Kid" is born

Jeff Gordon, a stock-car driver known as "The Kid," was born on this day in 1971. Gordon raced onto the NASCAR scene in 1997 by winning the Winston Cup season points championship for a prestigious second time at the age of 26. "The Kid" was also the first driver to win the Southern 500, NASCAR's oldest race, three years in a row. His clean-cut California image was initially disliked by many racing fans, who tended to prefer the gritty personas of traditional stock-car drivers. However, Gordon had talent, an aggressive driving style, and a knack for publicity, which drew many new fans to the sport.

They didn't say on This Day in History that it was Dale Earnhardt that gave Jeff the nickname 'The Kid'. Some people did, and still do, think Dale and Jeff didn't get along but they were very close friends and business partners. They were also very competitive drivers. Which made for some reeeeeal good racing! :)
I gotta scoot...storm cell moving in (imagine that!)....until next post....

Sick kitty, co-workers vacations, more storms

When I got home from Kentucky (sat.) one of the smaller kittens was under my car, tucked back behind the tire. I needed to move it so hubby could mow but it wouldn't move. I went and got the broom out of the garage but still it didn't move. Warning signals were going off in my head...'this isn't normal'. I finally get it out and the reason it wasn't moving is because it's eyes are matted completely shut! I spend the next hour or 2 soaking and cleaning and I finally get them open only to have lots of puss come out of it's eyes! I'm about in tears due to my soft heart and being tired and it's so tiny and weak. I look all around for something to feed it because it was still nursing and not sure if it knew how to eat yet. I finally grabbed some shaved ham out the frig. and tore it into tiny pieces and literally put it in it's mouth. It got the hint and began eating the ham on it's own. I had a syringe from some other cats trip to the vet and fed it some water. It seemed to be doing better so I took it back to the wood shed to find it's momma but she wasn't around. One of it's litter mates was there and they took off together to nap in the wood. Sunday, same thing only it's on the back porch. I think it follows momma up but when it fall s asleep it's eyes dry shut and when it wakes up it can't see so it just stays put and cries. So, this time I take some chicken noodle soup and mash it up. Man, did she (at this point I checked) scarf it down :) after a little milk, which she drank from a bowl, I put her back in the wood shed and she headed to the back to sleep. Well, Monday after work it became apparent that the momma was leaving it to survive or not soooo back in the house we go and she had a dinner of chicken noodle soup, chicken in gravy cat food, milk and water. By now I have a box lined with towels ready for her. If her momma isn't going take care of her I guess it's up to me, poor little thing. I took 1 picture of her last night and will edit post later to add it. It ended up she slept in the box in our bedroom for the night. This morning she opened her eyes on her own. Not all the way but the corners were open enough to see out of so I'm hoping that's a good sign. Sure hope she's alright. I'm babysitting at my daughters after work tonight so hubby gets the chore to feed her.
For the past 3 weeks I've been covering for someone at work and between that and Linda's moving...I'm pooped! Next week is same story, covering different person. Will try to get picture posted whenever I get home, it's on my laptop. More storms to move in later tonight but will try to do that before they hit.

Today in History: This first story is close to my heart. I did a lot of research into Tecumseh and his life for a book I wanted to write around this time period. There is a lot this article doesn't say but from what I gathered Chief Tecumseh's failure to unite the Indian tribes and the loss of the Battle of Tippecanoe was due more to the antics of his brother, The Prophet, than anything else.

July 2, 1809

Chief Tecumseh urges Indians to unite against whites

Alarmed by the growing encroachment of whites squatting on Native American lands, the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh calls on all Indians to unite and resist.

Born around 1768 near Springfield, Ohio, Tecumseh early won notice as a brave warrior. He fought in battles between the Shawnee and the white Kentuckians, who were invading the Ohio River Valley territory. After the Americans won several important battles in the mid-1790s, Tecumseh reluctantly relocated westward but remained an implacable foe of the white men and their ways.

By the early 19th century, many Shawnee and other Ohio Valley Indians were becoming increasingly dependent on trading with the Americans for guns, cloth, and metal goods. Tecumseh spoke out against such dependence and called for a return to traditional Indian ways. He was even more alarmed by the continuing encroachment of white settlers illegally settling on the already diminished government-recognized land holdings of the Shawnee and other tribes. The American government, however, was reluctant to take action against its own citizens to protect the rights of the Ohio Valley Indians.

On this day in 1809, Tecumseh began a concerted campaign to persuade the Indians of the Old Northwest and Deep South to unite and resist. Together, Tecumseh argued, the various tribes had enough strength to stop the whites from taking further land. Heartened by this message of hope, Indians from as far away as Florida and Minnesota heeded Tecumseh's call. By 1810, he had organized the Ohio Valley Confederacy, which united Indians from the Shawnee, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Winnebago, Menominee, Ottawa, and Wyandot nations.

For several years, Tecumseh's Indian Confederacy successfully delayed further white settlement in the region. In 1811, however, the future president William Henry Harrison led an attack on the confederacy's base on the Tippecanoe River. At the time, Tecumseh was in the South attempting to convince more tribes to join his movement. Although the battle of Tippecanoe was close, Harrison finally won out and destroyed much of Tecumseh's army.

When the War of 1812 began the following year, Tecumseh immediately marshaled what remained of his army to aid the British. Commissioned a brigadier general, he proved an effective ally and played a key role in the British capture of Detroit and other battles. When the tide of war turned in the American favor, Tecumseh's fortunes went down with those of the British. On October 5, 1813, he was killed during Battle of the Thames. His Ohio Valley Confederacy and vision of Indian unity died with him.

July 2, 1881

President Garfield shot

Only four months into his administration, President James A. Garfield is shot as he walks through a railroad waiting room in Washington, D.C. His assailant, Charles J. Guiteau, was a disgruntled and perhaps insane office seeker who had unsuccessfully sought an appointment to the U.S. consul in Paris. The president was shot in the back and the arm, and Guiteau was arrested.

Garfield, mortally ill, was treated in Washington and then taken to the seashore at Elberon, New Jersey, where he attempted to recuperate with his family. During this time, Vice President Chester A. Arthur served as acting president. On September 19, 1881, after 80 days, President Garfield died of blood poisoning. The following day, Arthur was inaugurated as the 21st president of the United States.

July 2, 1934

Fox signs Shirley Temple

On this day in 1934, Fox Film Corp. strikes a new contract with child star Shirley Temple. Temple was six years old at the time. Starting at age four, Temple starred in a series of shorts spoofing current movies, called Baby Burlesks, and appeared in bit parts. Her song and dance number "Baby Take a Bow" in the 1934 movie Stand Up and Cheer brought her wide acclaim. Her new contract with Fox raised her salary from $150 a week to $1,000 a week, plus a $35,000 bonus for each film she made. The contract also paid her mother $250 a week.

Under the new contract, Temple quickly became one of the most popular actresses of the day. From 1935 to 1938, she was Hollywood's top box office draw. By 1936, she was earning $50,000 per film. Her films included Little Miss Marker (1934), The Little Colonel (1935), and Heidi (1937).

Temple made more than 40 films by the time she reached her teens. However, her box office magic wore off as she aged, and by her late teens her career was petering out. She married actor John Agar in 1946, at age 17. The marriage ended by 1949, the same year she made her last film, A Kiss for Corliss.

She remarried in 1950, to TV executive Charles Black, and changed her name to Shirley Temple Black. Two attempts in the 1950s to launch her own TV shows failed. In the late 1960s, the former actress entered politics, running unsuccessfully for Congress. In 1968, President Nixon appointed her U.S. representative to the United Nations. She served as ambassador to Ghana from 1974 to 1976 and later as chief of protocol for President Ford. She became ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1989 and served until 1992.

July 2, 1937

Amelia Earhart disappears

On July 2, 1937, the Lockheed aircraft carrying American aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Frederick Noonan is reported missing near Howland Island in the Pacific. The pair were attempting to fly around the world when they lost their bearings during the most challenging leg of the global journey: Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island, a tiny island 2,227 nautical miles away, in the center of the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca was in sporadic radio contact with Earhart as she approached Howland Island and received messages that she was lost and running low on fuel. Soon after, she probably tried to ditch the Lockheed in the ocean. No trace of Earhart or Noonan was ever found.

Ok, I gotta go for now but will be back to add kitty picture....stay safe....until next post...