No, not the extermination of the Irish, the day the Irish celebrate St. Patrick and his Orkin-like ability to drive the snakes and toads from Ireland (of course, they just came back disguised as politicians).

Seattle officially celebrated on Saturday with a parade down 5th Avenue. The city painted a green stripe down the street for the benefit of those in the crowd who started tipping early. The line made it much easier for them to crawl along the route.

Someone asked me why the parade was being held on Saturday and not on St. Paddy's Day Monday. I told them it was because you wouldn't find an Irishman in Seattle who can walk straight on Monday.

There's a lot of Scots here in the Northwest and we'd like to remind everyone that we have our St. Andrew's Day on November 30th. That day being normally wet and cold here though, we have a much shorter parade. Most of us just march across the liquor store parking lot.

Ok, ok. Happy St. Paddy's Day to everyone and just remember that though everyone is an honorary Irishman today, if you're truly not Irish leave the damn sheep alone.