~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
May 23, 2012

★~Today’s Quote: “Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.” James Bryant Conant, Harvard President

★~ Lucky Penny Day:

Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you will have good luck!” El Morno Friend Nancy tells a cool penny story. Nancy’s  dad believed in the charm of lucky penny and always encouraged Nancy to pick them up.  These days she shares that her dearly departed dad drops pennies from heaven  all the time and especially when he wants her attention. Mr Nancy today we are thinking  of you!

★~ Turtle Day:

Do you remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare?  The story begins with the Hare mocking the slow-moving Tortoise for being, well, a slow-moving Tortoise. This then leads to the Tortoise making an announcement about how he would be able to beat the Hare in a race because of his determination. The Hare laughs and accepts the challenge. When the actual race begins, the Hare unsurprisingly bolts out to an early lead while the Tortoise trots along doggedly. After a while, the Hare realizes that he is so far ahead that he has time to stop and take a nap, which he does. Suddenly the Hare is awaken from his slumber by the cheers from the crowd and he quickly recognizes that the Tortoise has won the race. The moral of the story (the one we’ve all heard hundreds of times) is, “slow and steady wins the race.”

When I recently used the moral “slow and steady wins the race” to try and make a point with Cole, he told me the moral of the Tortoise and the Hare was all wrong; it is impossible to win a race by going slowly. He acknowledged the importance of knowing the racing course and having a racing strategy, but in the end being the fastest was going to win the race. Curious, I wondered why the Hare lost? Cole explained that the Hares big mouth, and over confidence cost him the race and if the hare had just shut-up and run he would have easily beaten the tortoise.  I guess he learned the real moral of this timeless tale from a motor cross racing magazine. I agreed he’d made a valid case for why the hare really lost and told him to stop talking and get busy on his project.

★~ Taffy Day:

The exact history of how taffy came to be is still a mystery. Taffy has been part of American life since the late 1800s and has been a beach-side tradition since it appeared in Atlantic City more than 100 years ago. Some say taffy appeared in the Midwest at county fairs even earlier. However, Atlantic City is known as the home of salt water taffy. Legend has it that salt water taffy received its name by accident. A young candy merchant opened a taffy stand on the first Atlantic City Boardwalk — then just two steps above sea level. One night, a generous tide brought in a lively surf, which sprayed sea foam over his establishment and dampened his stock of candy. The next morning, the merchant was dismayed to find his merchandise wet and responded to a girl’s request for taffy with a quick and clever “You mean salt water taffy.” The name, stuck.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1938 – LIFE magazine’s cover pictured the actor Errol Flynn as a glamor boy.

♥~ 1969 – The Who released their rock opera Tommy.

♥~ 1975 – Singer B.J. Thomas received a gold record for the single with the extremely long title, (Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.

♥~ 1984 – U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop announced that cigarette smoking cost the country $40 billion a year in health expenses and lost productivity

♥~ 1994 – Pulp Fiction, by American director Quentin Tarantino, won the Golden Palm for best film at the 47th Cannes Film Festival.

♥~ 1995 – The nine-story bombed-out shell of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was demolished. The bodies of three remaining victims were recovered shortly thereafter.

♥~ 1991: Seinfeld’s “Chinese Restaurant” episode was broadcast.

♥~ 1998 – Mariah Carey was #1 in the U.S. with My All. It was her eighth #1 single of the year.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1846 – Belle Aurelia Babb 1st US attorney: It took some 23 years, but Belle, who later changed her name to Arabella Mansfield, became the first women to practice law in the U.S.

♥~ 1910 – Margaret Wise Brown author:  In the great green room…. how many times did you read this book to your children? Goodnight moon. Margaret or Brownie as her friends caller her attributed her success to being able to reach down into the soul of the child that still lived within her and bring it to life. She never had children of her own, but she left the royalties for most of her booksto a nine-year-old neighbor boy, Albert Clarke.  She said, “A good picture book can almost be whistled. … All have their own melodies behind the storytelling.

♥~ 1933 – Joan Collins actress: Dynasty, appeared in Playboy at age 50; sister of writer, Jackie Collins

♥~ 1958 – Drew Carey comedian, actor, producer, writer: The Drew Carey Show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?; TV game show host: The Price Is Right

★~ Did You Know: These facts about turtles:

♥ ~ This is a picture of of Camp-Run-A-Pups favorite turtle Maxine-we have enjoyed her camp visits over the last couple of summers

♥~ The first known turtles existed 200 million years ago.

♥~ Turtles live on every continent except Antarctica

♥~ Some female turtles produce eggs four years after mating.

♥~ Some land turtles can out run a human

♥~ Turtles have good eyesight, seeing in full color and a strong sense of smell.  They have excellent hearing and sense of touch.  Their shells have feeling due to nerve endings.

♥~ Some turtles can live up to a year without food.

♥~ Several species, including the American Box turtle, can live to be over 100 years old. One documented case of longevity is of an adult Indian Ocean Giant Tortoise.  After being captured and estimated to be 50 years old, it lived another 152 years in captivity.

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When I was a dumb little kid growing up in the southwest, someone told me that snapping turtles were really called “thunder turtles,” because if a snapping turtle bit you, it wouldn’t let go until it heard thunder. One day, my uncle Mike found a snapping turtle and brought it home to me. I was delighted, but cautious. Even a dumb little kid knows better than to stick her fingers anywhere near a snapping turtle. Uncle Mike, trying to convince me my turtle would not bite, kept reaching out his hand and saying, “See, he won’t bite.” After doing this about five times, I guess the turtle had enough and latched onto Uncle Mike’s finger hard. Lucky for Uncle Mike, the turtle had a kinder, gentler side and let go of his finger before it thundered, because thunder in the southwest is rare.

Visit  Merrilymarylee  who posted some wonderful turtle pictures last year on turtle day and a very funny turtle joke.

It’s Wednesday. Do you mentally says Wed-Nes-Day when writing Wednesday? Or is it just me?

Odd Loves Company! Thanks for dropping by!