~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
September 22, 2011

★~ Today’s sunrise:   I just love this sunrise! Thanks Abby Girl!

★~  Today’s Quote: “Little by little, one travels far”  J.R.R. Tolkien

★~  Hobbit Day: 

My Hobbit name is Melilot Brandybuck of Buckland. If you want to know your Hobbit name, click here: http://chriswetherell.com/hobbit/index.php

Hobbit Day is the birthday of the Hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, two fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s popular set of books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In the books, both Bilbo and Frodo were said to be born on September 22, but in different years. Bilbo was born in the year 2890 and Frodo in the year 2968 in the Third Age (1290 and 1368 respectively in Shire-reckoning).Tolkien Week is the week containing Hobbit Day.

Celebrate by going barefoot all day and having seven meals. Enjoy literary discussions and readings, Lord of the Rings movie marathons, and throwing parties in honor of the “Long Awaited Party” at the start of the Fellowship of the Ring.

★~ Elephant Appreciation Day:

When people call this beast to mind,
They marvel more and more
At such a little tail behind,
So LARGE a trunk before.
(Hilaire Belloc)

The largest living land animal is the elephant. Their great size, and the thickness and toughness of their skins protect them from every other wild animal. Since they have no enemies to fear except man, elephants are usually peaceful and easy going. They show great affection for one another and spend their lives as members of a family herd, which is made up of several generations of blood relatives, with occasional additions from other herds by mating.

Today we celebrate the earth’s largest, most interesting, and most noble endangered land animal. See ‘Did You Know,’ below for more interesting facts about the elephant.

★~ Ice Cream Cone Day:

Italo Marchiony was a lemon ice pushcart vendor and a problem solver. He invented a paper cone to conveniently hold his products, and in1896, using the paper cone as a mold, he created a new and improved cookie-like cone out of pastry dough. People whined and complained about the change, and threatened to take their lemon ice business to another vendor: The cone was stiff and uncomfortable to hold, the cone bits and pieces could get stuck in your teeth, and for some, there was a deep desire to bite the end of the cone off before they were done eating their lemon ice. Groups formed, and people banded together in dislike of the new cone. But Italo stood firm and asked his customers to just try the cone. Some insisted on finding a pushcart that only used paper cones, but others tried Italo’s cones and loved them. In 1903, he applied for a patent, and the ice cream cone was born. That may not have been exactly how it happened, but it’s close enough.

If you have some stale cones left over from summer, fill them with bird seeds, and hang them in the trees for the birds.  Or celebrate by enjoying an ice cream cone and embracing change.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1780 – William Lynch and his Virginia neighbors drew up a compact to deal with criminal elements in the neighborhood. Since the local courts were quite a distance away, the agreement cleared the way for Lynch and company to punish criminals locally, without due process of law. Although ‘lynch law’ and ‘lynching’ are mainly associated with hanging, other, less severe punishments were also meted out.

♥~ 1976 – Charles Angels  premiered: This extremely popular show of the ’70s featured Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson), Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) and Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) signed on with detective agency Charles Townsend Associates. Their boss was never seen, only heard (the voice of John Forsythe); messages were communicated to the women by his associate, John Bosley (David Doyle).

♥~ 1982- Family Ties Premiered: 1982. This popular ’80s sitcom was set at Columbus, OH, and focused on the Keaton family: ex-hippies Elyse (Meredith Baxter-Birney), an architect, and Steven (Michael Gross), a station manager of the local public TV station; Alex (Michael J. Fox), their smart, conservative and financially driven son; Mallory (Justine Bateman), their materialistic, ditzy daughter and Jennifer (Tina Yothers), their tomboy youngest daughter. Later in the series Elyse gave birth to Andrew (Brian Bonsall). Marc Price played Irwin “Skippy” Handleman, the nerdy next-door neighbor who adored the Keatons, and Mallory in particular. The last episode aired Sept 17, 1989.

♥~ 1994: The comedy “Friends” premiered on NBC-TV.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1956 – Debby Boone:  Grammy Award-winning singer: Best New Artist [1977], You Light Up My Life [1977], With My Song I Will Praise Him [1980], Keep the Flame Burning [w/Phil Driscoll – 1984]; group: The Boone Family; daughter of singers Pat and Shirley Boone

♥~ 1958 – Joan Jett singer: group: The Blackhearts: I Love Rock ’n’ Roll, Crimson and Clover, I Hate Myself for Loving You; actress: Light of Day; group: Runaways

♥~ 1960 – Scott Baio actor: Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, Charles in Charge, Diagnosis Murder

♥~ 1964 – Bonnie Hunt: actress: The Green Mile, Beethoven, Beethoven’s 2nd, Jumanji, Jerry Maguire, Random Hearts

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~  Elephant trunks can get very heavy. It is not uncommon to see elephants resting them over a tusk!

♥~ Elephants cry, play, have incredible memories, and laugh.

♥~ Elephants are sensitive fellow animals. If a baby elephant complains, the entire family will rumble and go over to touch and caress it.

♥~ Elephants have greeting ceremonies when a friend that has been away for some time returns to the group.

♥~ Elephants grieve at a loss of a stillborn baby, a family member, and in many cases other elephants.

♥~ Elephants don’t drink with their trunks, but use them as “tools” to drink with. This is accomplished by filling the trunk with water and then using it as a hose to pour it into the elephant’s mouth.

♥~ Elephants spend up to 16-18 hours per day eating

♥~ Elephants use their feet to listen, they can pick up sub-sonic rumblings made by other elephants, through vibrations in the ground

♥~ Elephants love to swim and use their trunks as a snorkel when they are in the water.

♥~ The Elephant is considered a symbol of luck – keep a lucky elephant at the door to your house to protect from bad luck and to stimulate good luck for all who live there.

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Policeman: “One of your elephants has been seen chasing a man on a bicycle.”

Zoo Keeper: “Nonsense, none of my elephants knows how to ride a bicycle!”

Now it’s your turn!! Odd Loves Company.