~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
May 11th, 2011

★~ Today’s Quote: There’s nothing more daring than showing up, putting ourselves out there and letting ourselves be seen. ~ Brené Brown

★~ National Tick Pickers Day:

Here Ye! Here Ye! I am proclaiming today National Tick Pickers Day to honor Vickie, our friend and Camp Run A Pup helper and George a much loved camper. Please read VIckie and George’s story at the end of El Morno.

★~ National Twilight Zone Day:

National Twilight Zone day doesn’t correspond to any important Twilight Zone anniversaries, or to Rod Serling’s birthday—but for some odd reason, today is National Twilight Zone Day.

Today, nothing will be as it seems…in fact, are we even really sure today is National Twilight Zone Day…?

Cue music.

★~Eat Whatever You Want Day:

Now that we have entered the Twilight Zone, eat whatever you want.  Forget healthy, forget calorie counts,  just eat whatever makes your heart and tummy happy, from French fries to cinnamon buns. Put peanut butter on your buttered toast; enjoy a bag of Lays potato chips; have multiple breadsticks at the Olive Garden with your pasta; eat a fully- loaded baked potato. Eat whatever you want, but please, do take care not to eat too much…we don’t want you to end the day with a tummy ache.

★~ Military Spouses Day:

This is a time to recognize the sacrifices made by military spouses in support of their Soldiers. The Strength of the Nation is the Army; the Strength of the Army is the Soldier; and the Strength of the Soldier is the family.

★~ Today in History:

♥~1858 – Minnesota became a state known for its lakes, mosquitoes, harsh winters, and walleye. It’s also known for some great writers, including Robert Bly, August Wilson, John Berryman, Sinclair Lewis, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Not all of them were born in Minnesota, but they became associated with the state over the course of their careers. Bob Dylan, another native son, was born in Duluth and grew up in nearby Hibbing.

♥~1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded; although the first Oscars were not presented for several years after its founding.

♥~ 1970 – The triple soundtrack album ‘Woodstock’ was released in the US, going gold within two weeks.

♥~ 1978 – Margaret A. Brewer became the first female general of the U.S. Marine Corp.

♥~ 1997 – Deep Blue, IBM’s supercomputer, made history by defeating chess-master Gary Kasparov. After losing the first game in the match, the computer gained a win in game two, and managed draws in games three, four and five. The final score was 3 1/2 points for Deep Blue and 2 1/2 for Kasparov, who, for the first time ever, conceded defeat. Afterwards, he bolted from the room shaking his head in disgust. “I’m ashamed by what I did at the end of this match,” Kasparov said at a news conference. “But so be it.”

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1888 – Irving Berlin– Little Israel left school after his father died. He was only 8 years old when he took to the New York streets and sang on street corners and in saloons to make money for his family. This was the start of his career in song, dance and movies.  Although, Irving never learned to read or write music, and he never learned to play in any key but F sharp he wrote God Bless America (1917) and scores of Broadway tunes

♥~ 1894 – Martha Graham modern dancer:  Denishawn dance school and performing troupe, Graham company, established school of modern dance at Bennington College; choreographer: Cave of the Heart, Appalachian Spring; “The center of the stage is where I am.”; died Apr 1, 1991

♥~ 1904 – Salvadore Dalí surrealist artist: Accommodations of Desire, The Persistence of Memory, Visage of War; died Jan 23, 1989

♥~ 1946 – Robert Jarvik physician: inventor of the Jarvik 7 artificial heart [implanted into Barney Clark in 1982: kept Clark alive 112 days]

★~ Did You Know:

♥~ After WWII, Rod Serling tested experimental parachutes for the U.S. Army at $500 per jump!

♥~ The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964

♥~ Rod Serling served as executive producer and head writer; he wrote or co-wrote 92 of the show’s 156 episodes. He was also the show’s host, delivering on- or off-screen monologues at the beginning and end of each episode.

♥~ Guest stars on the Twilight Zone  included :Jack Klugman, William Shatner, Burgess Meredith, Dick York, Roddy McDowell, Cliff Robertson, Lee Marvin, Jonathan Winters, Carol Burnett, and  Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds

♥~ The Twilight Zone won an Academy Award for its final episode. The final episode was a short film made in France, which qualified it for an Oscar.

♥~ The Twilight Zone won an Academy Award for its final episode. The final episode was a short film made in France, which qualified it for an Oscar.

♥~ Rod Serling has been hailed as the most honored and prolific writer in the history of television.

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And now the story behind National Tick Pickers Day…

Vickie, our camp Mary Pupkins, has a special attachment to one of our long-time campers, George, and likes to take him on a field trip to her house for a visit with her cat Ninja when he comes to camp. George was on his outing with Vickie when she sent me a text:

I think George either developed a sudden mole or he has a tick by his ear. I’m not sure which one it is, but I think it is a tick. Poor George!

I tried to appear intelligent, but I had only seen one tick before, and it had attached itself to Joe’s . . . ok, never mind. Suffice to say that when we had that particular show and tell, I was laughing so hard I did not get a good look at the offending tick. I was not always the most sensitive spouse.

I suggested googling ticks, which Vickie did, and she reported back that indeed it was a tick. She then asked how it should be removed.

To which I responded, “I don’t know nothin’ ’bout removin’ ticks.”

Vickie went back to google and discovered that tick removal was pretty straight forward.  She even had the right tweezers for the job! She asked if she should pick the tick. I didn’t hesitate to give my go ahead. A few minutes later she sent me a text saying

“SUCCESS.”

I applauded wildly and bestowed upon her the title “ Tick Picker Extraordinaire” but sadly had to tell her that new title did not come with a pay raise or a corner office. But I would do something special to honor her. I  asked her if she had taken a picture of the tick, and she said she had smashed it on the alcohol pad wrapper and tossed it in the garbage.

“Vickie,” I explained, “when I blog about your heroic tick picking, Odd readers. will want to see a picture of the body.”

She completely understood and said that the tick had not fallen too far into the garbage can and that she would recover it and bring me his body (I would have settled for a picture).

A little while later she brought George back to camp along with the tick‘s body and told me George handled the whole tick orderal like a champ.

Keeping my promise to honor Vickie and the pup behind her greatness George…..I’m proclaiming May 11th  ‘Tick Pickers Day.’ Please congratulate Vickie by leaving a comment. Tick Pickers Day is also a reminder to check your own precious furs for ticks on a regular basis!

TGIF! What are your plans for the weekend? Odd Loves Company!