May 28 - Slugs Return from Capistrano Day

Today's event is short and sweet, and one I never knew anything about - Slugs Return from Capistrano Day! Until today, apparently slugs have been vacationing in Capistrano! Those slimy and slow gastropods like to leave trails of slime and feed on flowers and vegetables. Keep a sharp eye for these slimy little suckers - they like to hide during the day!

Today is also Sierra Club Day, and Ascension of Baha'u'Llah!

Here are some interesting things that happened on this day in history:

- A solar eclipse occurred in 585 BC, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes battled Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
- Samuel de Champlain left Québec and arrived at Lachine in 1611; he named the island in the middle of the St Lawrence River St. Hélène for his wife.

- All Hebrew books in Papal State were confiscated in 1731.
- Albert Rogers, railway surveyor and discoverer of Kicking Horse Pass and Rogers Pass, was born in Orleans, Massachusetts in 1829.

- Outlaw William Johnston seized and burned the steamer Sir Robert Peel in the Thousand Islands in 1838, carrying off $175 000 in cash and plunder.
- The Sierra Club was formed by John Muir in San Francisco in 1892, for the conservation of nature.
- John B. Gruelle patented the Raggedy Ann doll in 1915.
- The House of Commons approved the old-age pension plan in 1927.
- The Dionne Quintuplets - Annette, Emilie, Yvonne, Cecile, and Marie - aroused worldwide attention after their birth in Corbeil, Ontario, to Oliva and Elzire Dionne in 1934. They were the only quintuplets to survive for more than a few days.

- The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opened to vehicular traffic in 1937.
- Foundation for the Tel Aviv harbor was laid in 1938.
- Cartoonist Lynn Johnston, author of the daily comic strip "For Better or For Worse," was born in Collingwood, Ontario in 1947.

- BC's worst flood on record caused 10 deaths and $300 million in damage along the lower Fraser River in 1948. 200 families were left homeless, rail service was disrupted for 2 weeks, and more than 80 bridges were washed away.

- The women of Greece won the right to vote in 1952.
- Monkeys Able and Baker zoomed 500 km into space on Jupiter missile in 1959; they became the 1st animals retrieved from a space mission.
- Wide World of Sports with Chris Schenkel premiered on CBS radio in 1962.
- Alberta premier Harry Strom opened the Alberta Resources Railway in 1969, a 378-km line from Grande Prairie north to Solomon.
- White House "plumbers" broke into the Democratic National HQ at Watergate in 1972.
- Pitseolak Ashoona, Inuk graphic artist known for her lively prints showing "the things we did long ago," died in Cape Dorset, NWT (now Nunavut) in 1983.

- Civil War warship Monitor was discovered by a deep sea robot in 1987.
- Bob Dylan was hospitalized in England with histoplasmosis in 1997.
- Patrick Roy, one of the NHL’s premier goalies, retired after 18 seasons in 2003. He won 551 games during the regular season and 151 in playoffs.

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!