Bored Kids

Now that school has been out for several weeks, our neighborhood is getting filled with bored children. We have about seven kids under school age and about ten kids in elementary school. Moms seem to be tired of trying to keep the school kids occupied with anything. Flagstaff is not known for its young youth programs, especially around here. So these kids are ‘taking to the streets’ with their kid games. Most are good kids. However, a couple are kids who seem to have no supervision at home. One preteen girl is just mean. She spends her time setting up other kids to get into mischief. She will start a simple game of tag, and then chase the little ones. To get away the kids run between the bushes and the buildings at all the houses. This is a small area, a couple of feet wide. The little ones scream at the top of their lungs. It is just no at my unit, it is at all the units in our building. The same mean girl will tell young ones to hit smaller kids then stand back and act all innocent. I don’t want to get the reputation as the ‘mean old guy’ so I usually just go out on my front porch, water some plants, and am pleasant. So far the kids have gotten the point. They have quieted down and quit getting so close to the buildings. I do feel sorry for the kids, because we don’t have a playground or anything else for kids to do. So I guess a little kid noise during the day isn’t that bad. I just hope the mean girl stops picking on the little ones.

On my way to lunch today, I was held up by a huge funeral procession from the Catholic Church. It was for a 90 year old veteran who lived in Flagstaff. The procession must have had at least 60 cars coming out of the church. There were still about 25 cars in the lot, I assume, preparing for the after burial feast. As I was coming back from a long lunch with a friend, the church parking lot was overflowing again. I mention this only because, to my knowledge, a funeral of this size is rare in Flagstaff for a man of this age. He sure had quite a following.

We started out cloudy today, with hope for rain. The clouds dispersed after lunch, rekindled about 4pm. They did not drop any rain on this end of town. I heard there were some sprinkles
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Random Fact
German chemists made a replica of a trophy the size of one molecule.

June is…
Adopt a Shelter Cat Month…Effective Communications Month…Gay & Lesbian Pride Month [National GLBT Month]…Great Outdoors Month…National Accordion Awareness Month…Rebuild Your Life Month…National Candy Month

Week of June 21

Carpenter Ant Awareness Week
National Mosquito Control Awareness Week
National Old Time Fiddler’s Week

June 24—175 days so far this year…190 days remain in 2009

Celebration of the Senses Day
*Irland: Quarter Day
*Venezula: Battle of Carabobo Day—Boivar v Spain
*Bahá'í Faith: Feast of Rahmat (Mercy)
* Newfoundland and Labrador: Discovery Day (celebrating the 1497 discovery by John Cabot)

BIRTHS ON THIS DAY…
1771
E I Du Pont France, chemist/scientist (Du Pont)
1839
Gustavus Franklin Swift founded Swift & Co
1895
Jack Dempsey heavyweight boxing champion (1919-26) (Manassa Mauler)
1912
Norman Cousins editor (Saturday Review)
1919
Al Molinaro Kenosha Wisc, actor (Odd Couple, Happy Days)
1923
Jack Carter Bkln NY, comedian/actor
1942
Mick Fleetwood drummer (Fleetwood Mac)
1944
Jeff Beck Surrey England, singer/songwriter
Bruce Johnston rocker (Beachboys)
1956
Joe Penny actor

IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY…

1314
In the Battle of Bannockburn, the decisive victory for Scottish independence, forces led by Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, defeat the troops of English king Edward II.
1497
John Cabot claims eastern Canada for England
1540
Henry VIII divorces his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves
1610
Membertou (MICMAC) becomes the 1st Indian Catholic.
1817
1st coffee planted in Hawaii on Kona coast
1894
Decision to begin modern Olympics every 4 years
1901
Painter Pablo Picasso has his first exhibit in Paris, at the age of 19
1947
Flying saucers sighted over Mount Rainier by pilot Ken Arnold
1948
Soviets blockade West Berlin when they block all off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin
1949
"Hopalong Cassidy" becomes 1st network western (NBC)
1951
Mexico has agreed to continue providing farm labor until the Bracero agreement runs out on July 15th , On June 15th the Mexican Government gave 30 days notice that it would end its migratory labor agreement.
1963
1st demonstration of home video recorder, at BBC Studios, London
1982
Equal Rights Amendment goes down to defeat


Word Puzzle from NPR Sunday Puzzler…1987

Every answer here is a word or name that begins with the syllable “say” in any spelling

EX: Polio vaccine discoverer Answer: Sabin

1. Calvalry sword
2. Holy
3. Mass. Town where Nathaniel Hawthorne was born
4. To enjoy the taste of
5. Game show host Pat
6. Paul ___, French painter of “The Card Players”
7. “60 Minutes newsman Morley ___
8. Northern animal with valuable fur
9. Popular watch maker
10. Extreme cruelty
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Answers:
1. Saber
2. Sacred
3. Salem
4. Savor
5. Sajak
6. Cezanne
7. Safer
8. Sable
9. Seiko
10. Sadism
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