~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
April 29, 2011

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.  ~Nelson Henderson

Today we are celebrating Arbor Day:

I think that I shall never see
lovely as a tree.
Indeed, unless the billboards fall
I’ll never see a tree at all
~Ogden Nash

Arbor Days Roots: The first Arbor Day was observed in April 10th, 1872 with an estimated 1 million trees planted. It was the brainchild of Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902), a Nebraska journalist and politician originally from Michigan.  Throughout his long and productive career, Morton worked to improve agricultural techniques in his adopted state and throughout the United States when he served as President Grover Cleveland’s Secretary of Agriculture. But his most important legacy is Arbor Day. The goal of Arbor day is to encourage the planting and conservation  of trees and other plants for a greener, healthier, and more beautiful world.

Today is also Shrimp Scamp Day:

Why not toss some shrimp, butter, wine and garlic in a skillet and celebrate this ohhh so tasty dish!

★~ Odd News In History from the 1990’s….

♥~ Richard Nieves, 21, called Aurora, Ill., police and reported that he had witnessed a child’s kidnaping. “People say you can speak with your eyes, and hers seemed to be saying, Help me. Get me out of here. Do something for me’,” Nieves said at the time. A massive police hunt turned up nothing, and after flunking a lie detector test, Nieves admitted making the story up. He was sentenced last week to two years’ probation and 500 hours of community service. Why did he do it? He needed an excuse for taking a day off work as a machine operator.

♥~ In a survey by Amtrak where people were asked to choose a “dream traveling companion” from a list of several well-known people, Oprah Winfrey was on top at 18 percent. Kevin Costner was the top male, at 10 percent. President and Hillary Clinton each received 5 percent of the votes, but the Pope, just 2 percent. (Reuters) …Sure: Oprah would know all the good places to eat.

♥~ A 94-year-old career criminal is heading back to prison yet again, this time on assault and gun possession charges. On Friday, Wesley (Pop) Honeywood was sentenced to serve seven years. He pleaded guilty in October to armed assault and possession of a firearm by a felon for pointing an unloaded gun at a man who warned him not to eat grapes growing in the man’s yard. Under one sentencing option, he could have been sent to a nursing home. But he resisted that, saying: “If I go to jail, I may be out in a couple of years. If I go to a nursing home, I may be there the rest of my life.”

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1954 – Jerry Seinfeld Emmy Award-winning producer: Seinfeld [1992-1993]; comedian, actor

♥~ 1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer actress: Dangerous Liaisons, Batman Returns, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Grease 2, Ladyhawke, Scarface, The Witches of Eastwicke, The Age of Innocence

♥~ 1970 – Uma (Karuna) Thurman actress: The Truth about Cats and Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Mad Dog and Glory, Final Analysis, Robin Hood, Henry and June, Dangerous Liaisons, Kiss Daddy Goodnight.

★~ Did You Know: The tallest tree in the country is a Coast Redwood growing in northern California’s Redwood National Park. It is 369 feet tall and over 2000 years old!

♥~ The shade and wind buffering provided by trees reduces annual heating and cooling costs by 2.1 billion dollars.

♥~ A single tree produces approximately 260 pounds of oxygen per year. That means two mature trees can supply enough oxygen annually to support a family of four!

♥~ Over the course its life, a single tree can absorb one ton of carbon dioxide.

♥~ The death of one 70-year old tree would return over three tons of carbon to the atmosphere.

♥~ The presence of trees in urban neighborhoods has been linked to less crime.

♥~ Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water, as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds

A panda walks into a restaurant, sits down, and orders a sandwich. He eats the sandwich, pulls out a gun, and shoots the waiter dead. As the panda stands up to go, the manager shouts, “Hey! Where are you going? You just shot my waiter, and you didn’t even pay for your sandwich!””Hey, man, I’m a PANDA!” the panda shouts back. “Look it up!”The manager opens his dictionary and reads: “Panda: a tree-dwellingmammal of Asian origin, characterized by distinct black and whitecoloring. Eats shoots and leaves.”

Joe’s dad planted the pine trees on our property over 50 years ago. Joe and the saplings grew up together; Cole has climbed and swung from our trees over the years; they provide a playground for our squirrels, and our cardinals, gold finches, and woodpeckers call them home. I love our pine trees. In the winter, when the sun-light hits them, it looks like ice fairies are dancing on the branches; in the summer, the shade is very welcoming. I am not a gardener (I take very little interest in yard work!), but I consider our trees members of our family.

Do you have a favorite tree or a favorite trees story? If so, I hope you will leaf me a comment.

Kb