December 5 - Bathtub Party Day

Posted on December 5, 2019

I take showers, not baths. How about you? 

As a society, most adults take showers but many, many kids take baths - and the younger the kids, the more likely that clean-up time is a nighttime bath rather than a morning shower. 

(Of course, baths and showers can occur ANY time during the day or night. I'm waaaaay talking in generalities here!)

There are three awesome reasons for taking a shower when you're older:

1. It saves water. Filling a bathtub can use as much as 50 - 70 gallons of water, and a 5-minute shower uses only 10 - 25 gallons. 

2. It saves time. Adults are often scurrying between bed and breakfast and chores or jobs and need the time savings every bit as much as the environment needs the water savings.

3. It feels cleaner. The soap and dirt and oils are rinsed down the drain, instead of sitting in it all!

But here are a few great reasons to take baths when you're little:

1. It's less scary than having water constantly pouring down on you, and it's easier for grown ups to help you.

2. Kids don't need the tub as full as adults do, and they often share a tub! Water savings!

3. It can be so relaxing as a transition time between the busy-busy day and nighttime.

4. Bubbles!

Today, Bathtub Party Day, we are all (kids AND adults) encouraged to at least once in a while luxuriate in all the water and time we need for a super relaxing soak! A grown up might want to have a good book, aromatherapy bath scent, and candles for a special once-in-a-very-blue-moon bath, whereas kids might like bubbles and bath toys.

Also on this date:

National Sachertorte Day 

World Soil Day

The King's Birthday in Thailand

Physicist Werner Heisenberg's birthday

Sinterklaas in the Netherlands

Day of the Ninja (aka Creep like a Ninja Day)

Discovery Day in Hispaniola

Anniversary of Mozart's Death

Educator Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz's birthday 

International Volunteer Day

Birthday of President Martin Van Buren

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• December holidays 
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January
  
  

September 5 – Great Bathtub Race in Nome, Alaska

First Monday in September

Posted on September 5, 2016

I did not know that there are such things as “bathtub races,” but apparently a mayor in Nanaimo, British Columbia, started the tradition in 1967.

I'm thinking, um, how do bathtubs even float, let alone race?

But it turns out that the famous Nanaimo bathtub race involves boats made mostly of fiberglass or other lightweight materials. They have to have a portion that looks like or is modeled on a roll-top bathtub....but they aren't actually bathtubs. 

It turns out, the bathtub boat builders add pointy prows so that their boats can cut through the water, plus outboard motors so the boats can, you know, move... And the results look a lot like boats but (to me, at least) not at all like bathtubs!

Hmmm...the boats aren't bathtubs, and they don't even end up LOOKING LIKE bathtubs...so...what's the deal?

The Great Bathtub Race in Nome, Alaska, is nothing like the Nanaimo race. It's a lot more “bathtub,” for one thing!

There is a dress code of sorts.
Racers are supposed to wear large-brimmed
hats and suspenders.

Entrants to Nome's Great Bathtub Race must consist of teams of five. Four push a bathtub on wheels about 100 yards, down Nome's main street to a finish line.

The fifth member (the Captain) must be in the bathtub as it is pushed. The Team Captain is urged to pretend to be taking a bath!

I see more holding-on-for-dear-life than pretending-to-take-a-bath!

Note that many contestants wear stripes
of duct tape as their suspenders.

One team member must carry a large bar of soap, one must carry a washcloth, one must carry a bath towel, and one must carry a bath mat! They are called the Bath Soap Guard, the Wash Cloth Guard, the Bath Towel Guard, and the Bath Mat Guard.

Sadly, it didn't work out for these guys.

The bathtub must be full of water at the start of the race. By the end, it must have no less than 10 gallons of water still in the tub! And soap bubbles must be apparent in the water!!

No motors are allowed. No mechanical devise may provide any propulsion. It's all muscle, weight, and wheels!

It all sounds incredibly silly but also fun. I'd like to see this one – far more interesting and different, to me, than the Nanaimo race!

Have you noticed that many of the Team Captains
are smaller than the rest of the team? As in, often,
they are little kids?

Smart...very smart.

Also on this date:

Labor Day in the U.S. (first Monday in September)

Anniversary of the founding of Chachapoya

Musician Freddie Mercury's birthday

Anniversary of the opening of the world's longest tunnel

Anniversary of a tax on beards

Anniversary of the killing of Crazy Horse

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• September holidays
• September birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in September

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• October holidays
• October birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in October

February 9, 2013 - Read in the Bathtub Day

If one thing is clear to most moms, it's that books and water don't mix well! But if you are very, very careful not to splash, reading in the bathtub is a time-honored luxury. With some sweet-smelling bath salts in warm water, sitting almost immersed, your head cushioned on a fluffy towel and your toes stretched out the length of the tub, reading in the tub could be wonderfully relaxing.

(Let's stick to reading inexpensive paperback books, though! Not library books! And certainly no electronic readers or tablets!!)

Here's another way to go with the whole Reading in the Tub thing!

When I read the words “Read in the Bathtub Day,” I immediately thought of artist Chuck Close. I read that Close had learning difficulties, but he discovered a way to study in the bathtub. He would darken the bathroom but have a single spotlight on the book he was trying to study. He would draw a bath with water as hot as he could stand to get into. And then he would sit in the tub, in that hot water, and he would read the stuff he was studying over and over and over and over again, until the water was really cold.

When Chuck Close did that, he was able to focus on the ideas he was studying, and then he was able to remember them, too!

Each of us has to find out what helps us to learn things. Maybe you need to memorize lines of a play. Maybe you are taking a driver's test on the hundreds of rules-of-the-road. Maybe you are learning a new language. Whatever the case, you should try out many different ways of studying. Some people love making flashcards. Some people teach a younger sibling—because the act of teaching makes us learn more surely and more deeply. Some people make color-coded notes. There are gobs more ideas here.

Chuck Close is amazing.

He creates huge portraits. Sometimes he makes the portraits photorealistic, but way larger than reality.

Yes, this is a painting!

Other times he creates portraits using many small abstract pictures. One painting was made by countless fingerprints made with different colors of paint. Somehow, he ends up with a portrait you can recognize from far away—but you can only see blocks or dabs of color when you are up close.

Check out some of Chuck Close's pictures here. 

Here is a short video about Chuck Close's portraits and his process. 

Here, Close is interviewed by Stephen Colbert—and he reveals that he paints faces even though he has face blindness!

Read the book Chuck Close Up Close, by Jan Greenberg. 

Also on this date:

Feast of St. Maron in Lebanon 

Mini-golf and Volleyball Day

Glaciologist and aerial photographer Erich Dagobert von Drygalski's birthday