Good Morning Everyone! Did you have a great weekend?  We had an incredibly lazy day on Saturday, watching stupid sci-fi movies on TV. Seriously they call them B movies, but they really didn’t reach the level of B, in my opinion. We spend quite a bit of time laughing at them.  Sunday Russ hung out in the garage, doing garage organization tasks, while I worked on menu planning, tested a recipe for a cookbook author, made a multi-step dinner – that was delicious – and did laundry.  I feel like I’m ready for the work week, whatever it may bring.

 

Verse of the Day

February 18, 2019

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

—Psalm 107:1

 

Thoughts on the Verse of the Day

What do we have that won’t wear out, break, die, go out of style, or ever need repair? We can rejoice and give thanks, because our life and our future are tied to the Eternal Father, the creator of the heavens and maker of our world. Not only is God good; he is good to us. But more than just being good, he is loving and his love will not wear out, grow old, fade away, or need repair.

www.verseoftheday.com

 

Food for Thought

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve heard about the scandal of Jusse Smollett setting up a fake attack, hiring two guys from Nigeria who were extras on a show he’s in, pretending they were white guys wearing MAGA hats who beat him up, put a rope around his neck, screamed racial and homophobic things at him, etc. Rumor has it the show – something called Empire – was going to write him out, so to appear to be relevant and generate pity and attention, he made this whole thing up.  Of course, in doing so, he pointed at Trump supporters – and conservatives in general – as being hateful people who would do this type of thing. The truth is that these attacks have ONLY been perpetrated by liberals, at the expense of conservatives. Look at what happened to the kids from the Catholic school who were targeted by both black racists and that Native American con artist.  Those kids did NOTHING wrong, yet everyone jumped on the anti-Trump bandwagon without any proof of wrong doing – even after they had the proof in the form of videos from multiple sources, they couldn’t do the right thing, apologize, admit they were wrong and try to fix the problem. Now they are being sued for the horrible things they said, and so they should be. I hope Smollett goes to jail. He made a false police report, took taxpayer money to investigate a crime that did not happen, and took those police away from work they could be doing investigating real crime. He deserves to be fired and not be hired again, by anybody. He’s a whining, mewling excuse of a human and deserves to be punished and his crimes held up as an example of what not to do.

 

 

Battery Day – We use batteries in just about everything, don’t we?  Think about how many devices you use each and every day need batteries.  Hm . . .  let me think. . . starting when I get up in the morning and look around at my nightstand . . . my cell phone, pedometer, watch, the scale, electric razor, smoke alarm, portable shortwave radio, digital camera, clocks on the wall, flashlight, laptop and track ball, the Wii Fit board and Wii-motes. . . moving on to outside the house and at work . . . the car, the mouse for my computer at work, GPS . . . well the list goes on and on.  We use them everywhere, every day. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and power capacities to fit a wide array of needs.  Can you imagine where we would be without them?  We would still be using a crank to start our cars, we’d have to haul around long extension cords for things we want to take places with us, and don’t forget the hand-held games that the kids use!  How popular would those be if they had to be tied to an electrical outlet!  With as many as we use, do you know who invented them? I didn’t either. A man by the name of Alessandro Volta – an Italian physicist, invented them in 1800. He also made very important discoveries in pneumatics, meteorology and electrostatics. Of all those things though, he is best known for batteries.

 

Cow Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day – I get a kick out of this every year. I’m not sure why, I just do! Today is the 88th anniversary of ‘Cow Milked While Flying In an Airplane’ Day. And what does this mean, you ask?  I’ll tell you!  According to the Dairy Farmers of American website, a cow by the name of Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane on this day in 1931.   Why did they do this you ask? Well, they say that this trip was made to allow scientists to observe midair effects on animals, as well as for publicity purposes, so during the International Air Exposition, in St Louis, Missouri.  Ollie (also known as Nellie Jay and after her flight as Sky Queen) became the first cow to fly in an airplane and be milked in flight.  According to reports Elm Farm Ollie was an unusually productive Guernsey cow, requiring three milkings per day, and producing 24 quarts of milk during the flight itself.  The milk was sealed into paper containers and parachuted to the spectators below, and it is said that Charles Lindbergh was one of the people on the ground who received a glass of her milk.

Though I’m really not sure what the meaning or intention behind this study was, I’m sure Ollie’s owners were very proud.

 

Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day – I’m sure that eating ice cream for breakfast would be a dream come true for so many children. If you were to add eating hot dogs or pizza every night for dinner, they’d probably think they had a perfect life – at least as far as food is concerned.  Even as an adult though, you have to admit that there is something pretty tempting and fun about the thought of having a bowl of ice cream first thing in the morning – and honestly, wouldn’t it balance well with your coffee?  This special day was started in the 1960s by a housewife, Florence Rappaport, from New York. They believe the actual year was 1966 since a huge blizzard had hit that year, but the idea was that Florence’s 6 children were pretty bored one snowy, cold morning in February and she had to come up with something that excited and entertained them so they wouldn’t be so cranky.  On the spur of the moment she said “Let’s have ice cream for breakfast!” They loved it so much that the next February and snowy weather came around and they reminded her so they could celebrate it again.  They did, and a special holiday was born.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?

 

 

National Hate Florida Day – I have no idea if this is a new one or not, but apparently it is National Hate Florida because they are warm and ostensibly the rest of the country isn’t. Seriously, I don’t hate Florida because of their weather – I don’t actually hate them at all, but let’s be serious – doesn’t it seem like most of the truly weird crimes and other oddball stuff happens in Florida? Maybe we shouldn’t hate them so much as pity them.

 

Pluto Day – Pluto, at one time called the 9th planet, was discovered at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ by astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh.   There was a long- held theory that an unknown 9th planet existed, and this theory was first proposed by Percival Lowell.  He thought that the wobbles in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune were caused by the pull of gravitation of an unknown planet and searched for one for more than a decade.  Sadly, he never found it.  In 1929, using both of Powell’s and W.H. Pickering’s calculations as a guide, the search for Pluto was started up again at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.  On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh discovered the tiny, distant planet by use of a new astronomic technique involving photographic plates and a microscope.  His finding was confirmed by several other astronomers, and on March 13, 1930, the anniversary of Lowell’s birth, the discovery of Pluto was publicly announced.  The surface temperature of Pluto is estimated to be about -360 Fahrenheit – BRRRR – so it appears that Pluto was appropriately given the Roman name for the god of the underworld in Greek mythology.  Pluto’s average distance from the sun is nearly four billion miles, and it takes about 248 years for it to complete one orbit of the sun.  It has the most elliptical and tilted orbit of any of the planets, and at its closest point to the sun it passes inside the orbit of Neptune, the eighth planet.  It wasn’t until 2006 that the International Astronomical Union announced that Pluto was not going to be considered to be a planet after all, because of new rules that said planets must “clear the neighborhood around its orbit”.  So, all that stuff we learned in school?  Disregard it!  It’s no longer true!

 

Presidents Day – is a day set aside to honor all of the U.S. presidents. We often think of two great presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln when we celebrate this holiday, as it falls by design between their birthdays. More and more of us, look at this day as a tribute to each and every person who has ever served in the office of the President of the United States of America. It is a national holiday. While Federal employees, the post office, and banks have the day off, most businesses and industry do not recognize it as a paid holiday.  Today, and every day, I offer up prayers for our President and First Lady, for the strength to deal with a selfish population who chooses to hate him, rather than recognize all of the good he is doing.  May he stay strong in faith, safe from those who would wish him harm, and continue doing the good work he is doing.

 

This Day in History –

1885 – Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published.

1930 – A ninth planet is discovered in the solar system and is named Pluto. The discover is Clyde Tombaugh.

 

 

Food Celebration of the Day –

Crab-Stuffed Flounder Day – Crab is completely delicious, but it’s so messy to eat. Try stuffing it in your favorite seafood or chicken, and you can enjoy it mess-free on the fanciest of occasions.

• Crab-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
• Creole Stuffed Shrimp
• Crab-Stuffed Fillet of Fish
• Avocado Stuffed With Crab
• Phil’s Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms
• Super Stuffed Crabs
• Stuffed Cha-Cha Crab Chilies

 

Drink Wine Day – Today is the perfect day to pop the cork on a bottle of our favorite vino and start sipping.  There used to be rigid rules that were associated with drinking wine, but there has been a lot of change in recent years.  Wine connoisseurs now agree that you don’t always have to drink red wine with meat and white wine with fish. They just say to drink what tastes good to you!  The main thing is just to enjoy it.  It also wasn’t that long ago that many thought that wine bottles with a twist-off top were cheap and not very good.  This has also changed.  Many of the world’s finest wineries are now using screw tops on their wine bottles.  Well, heck.  This is such an easy one to celebrate it may have to happen BOTH days of the weekend!  Here are some interesting things about wine:

1. It takes around 2 1/2 pounds of grapes to make one bottle of wine.
2. Before corks were broadly used in wine bottles, wooden stoppers wrapped in oil-soaked rags were common. These would need to be changed at least once a year.
3. Even though corks were commonly used since the 1600’s it wasn’t until 1795 that the corkscrew was patented. Before then the corks would have caps, similar to champagne corks.
4. An average bottle of wine is about 25 fluid ounces (officially 750 milliliters).
5. Most ancient urns found in Greece, Egypt, and the Mediterranean are ‘casks’ that held wine.  The sealed elongated box that holds them are called ‘caskets’.

 

As you head out for your Monday, be safe, be positive and celebrate something fun! God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.

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Celebration list sources:

www.verseoftheday.com   www.brownielocks.com   www.holidayinsights.com   www.thenibble.com   www.foodimentary.com