Of course timezone was the first thing I thought about. It seems to be set correctly. When the date corrects itself in Calendar -- it is not at the top of the hour, which is what one would expect if it were purely a TZ issue. Instead, it seems to self-correct at some unknown time (unknown, because I wasn't watching or messing with it when it happens) or at some point while I'm poking around in the app, then when I come back out the date on the desktop icon is corrected. Also, the main, default, clock/calendar icon that is on the desktop by default is always correct.
app -- Calendar 4.4-4
device --- Motorla Droid Mini
android version - 4.4
07-08-2014 08:33 AM