~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
September 23

Besides the autumn poets sing,
A few prosaic days
A little this side of the snow
And that side of the haze.
~Emily Dickinson

★~ Celebrate Checkers Day! 

We’re not referring to the game of checkers, here. This is about a dog named Checkers. The dog, a cocker spaniel, belonged to former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon.

In 1952, Richard M. Nixon was a candidate for Vice-President of the United States. There was Media speculation that he had used a portion of $18,000 campaign contribution, for his personal use.  In a brilliant political maneuver, Nixon took his case to the American people.and gave a speech that directly addressed and explained the issue and ssured the public that he did not use any of the funds for personal use. Towards the end of the speech, he stated that his daughters had received a dog, which they named “Checkers”, as a gift. He said they would keep the dog.

This speech quickly became known as the “Checkers” speech, and went on to be one of the better speeches in American political history.

★~Dogs in Politics Day:

After “Checkers” the dog was included in Nixon’s “Checkers” speech, Prominent dogs in  American politics were recognized.: Abraham Lincoln’s dog, Fido; Franklin D. Roosevelt’s much-traveled terrier, Fala; Harry S. Truman’s dogs, Mike and Feller; Dwight D. Eisenhower’s dog, Heidi; Lyndon Johnson’s beagles, Him and Her; Ronald Reagan’s dogs, Lucky and Rex; George H.W. Bush’s dog, Millie; Bill Clinton’s dog, Buddy; and George Bush’s scottie, Barney. President Obama’s Portuguese Waterdog, Bo.

★~  Love Note Day: 

Words of love—powerful and poignant—expressed on paper. Who doesn’t like to receive a love note? When it is so easy to get caught up in the “busy-ness” of life, here’s a day to remember our love one. Pen a love note to celebrate today.

★~ White Chocolate Day:

White chocolate was invented by the Nestlé company in Switzerland. The first white chocolate bar debuted in 1930. Despite its long history, for many years the confection we know as “white chocolate” was not officially chocolate at all. White chocolate does not contain cocoa solids—one of the main ingredients in traditional chocolate. In 2004, ten years after chocolate manufacturers filed the first petition, the FDA finally relaxed its definition of “chocolate” and accepted white chocolate into the family. According to the regulations, true white chocolate must contain at least 20% cocoa butter, 14% total milk solids, 3.5% milk fat, and less than 63% sugar.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ Sept 23–Dec 22 – Happy Autumn – In the Northern Hemisphere, autumn begins today with the autumnal equinox, at 5:04 AM, EDT. In the Southern Hemisphere today is the beginning of spring. Everywhere on Earth (except near the poles) the sun rises due east and sets due west and daylight length is nearly identical—about 12 hours, 8 minutes.

♥~  Sept 23–Oct 22 – For the next 29 days we will celebrate the Libra’s in our life’s.  Libra is the only zodiac symbol that’s neither animal nor human — but surely that doesn’t make them any less human. In fact, Libra is among the most sociable of the signs. Libra’s seek balance,  respond to situations with grace, and try to  put others at ease. Libra’s are artistic and creative.   The Libra motto might be “To every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.” Libra’s  are very effective strategists.  Their easygoing attitude, and desire to help others can sometime leave their own needs unfulfilled.

♥~ 1846- Planet Neptune Discovery – Neptune is 2,796,700,000 miles from the sun (about 30 times as far from the sun as Earth). Eighth planet from the sun, Neptune takes 164.8 years to revolve around the sun. Diameter is about 31,000 miles compared to Earth at 7,927 miles. Discovered by German astronomer Johann Galle.

♥~ 1848 – John Curtis produced the first commercially available chewing gum, which he called ‘State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum’.

♥~ 1962 – The Jetson’s TV Premiere –  “Meet George Jetson. His boy, Elroy. Daughter Judy. Jane, his wife.” These words introduced us to the Jetsons, a cartoon family living in the 21st century, the Flintstones of the Space Age. We followed the exploits of George and his family, as well as his work relationship with his greedy, ruthless boss, Cosmo Spacely. Voices were provided by George O’Hanlon as George, Penny Singleton as Jane, Janet Waldo as Judy, Daws Butler as Elroy, Don Messick as Astro, the family dog, and Mel Blanc as Spacely. New episodes were created in 1985 which also introduced a new pet, Orbity.

♥~ 1967 – The Box Tops from Memphis hit #1 with The Letter.  The song was #1 for four weeks and remained on the charts for 13 weeks. The Box Tops reorganized right after their first hit and never made it to #1 again.

♥~ 1971 – The Honey Cone scored their second gold record with Stick-Up on the Hot Wax label. It was a follow-up to their #1 smash, Want Ads (June 12, 1971).

♥~ 2009 – Australia’s worst dust storm in 70 years blanketed the heavily populated east coast in a cloud of red Outback grit. The storm left millions of people coughing and sputtering in the streets.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1800 – William Holmes McGuffy educator, author: McGuffy Readers [122 million copies sold as of 1999]; 4th president of Ohio University; died May 4, 1873

♥~ 1930 – Ray Charles (Robinson) ‘The Genius’: Grammy Award-winning singer: Georgia on My Mind [1960], Let the Good Times Roll [1960], Genius of Ray Charles [1960], Hit the Road Jack [1961], I Can’t Stop Loving You [1962], Busted [1963], Crying Time [1966], Living for the City [1975], Lifetime Achievement Award of 1986, I’ll be Good to You [w/Chaka Khan – 1990]; What’d I Say, One Mint Julep, Take These Chains from My Heart, You Don’t Know Me; actor: The Blues Brothers, Ballad in Blue, Limit Up; died June 10, 2004

♥~ 1943 – Julio Iglesias singer: To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before [w/Willie Nelson]; Guinness Book of Records: sales of more than 100 million copies of 60 LPs in five languages; soccer: professional goalie [Spain]

♥~ 1947 – Mary Kay Place Emmy Award-winning actress: Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman [1976-1977]; Forever Fernwood, The Big Chill; singer: Baby Boy

♥~ 1949 – Bruce Springsteen ‘The Boss’: singer: group: E-Street Band: Born in the U.S.A., Born to Run, Hungry Heart, Dancing in the Dark, Cover Me, I’m on Fire, Glory Days, My Hometown, War; songwriter: Blinded by the Light [Manfred Mann’s Earth Band], Fire [The Pointer Sisters]; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [3-15-99]

♥~ 1959 – Jason Alexander actor: Seinfeld, Everything’s Relative, E/R, Duckman, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, For Better or Worse, Dunston Checks In, Bye, Bye Birdy, The Paper, North, Blankman, Coneheads, Pretty Woman, Jacob’s Ladder, The Mosquito Coast, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Burning, Bob Patterson

★~  Did You Know: 10 things we like about fall:

♥~  Cozy socks

♥~ Chili and corn bread smothered in honey

♥~ Jumping in a pile of leaves

♥~ Roasts, Potatoes & Carrots

♥~ The glorious fall colors

♥~ Snuggling

♥~ Fresh Starts

♥~ Tv Premiers

♥~ Apples, Apple Cider, Pumpkins

♥~ Football, soccer

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Hugs to all the vegetarians out there! I’m happy to hug and support all vegetarians but refuse to honor a day created by Peta. Someday, I’ll rant about Peta but today is much to pretty a day to waste on Peta nuts.

Fall is my favorite season. What do you like best about this time of year? Odd Loves Company.

♥
Kb