★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 14, 2013

★~Today’s Quote: Never let the fear of striking out get in your way. ~ Babe Ruth 

★~ It’s National Creamsicle Day:

Creamsicles are  the perfect way to sit back, relax, and cool down on a hot August day. The combination of vanilla cream and fruity ice is pure genius!

If you are in inclined to make your own Creamsicles the recipe is pretty easy: Mix together 3/4 cup of fruit juice (usually orange juice), and one pint of vanilla ice cream in a large bowl. Gradually beat in about 1 1/2 cups of milk and continue to mix. Pour the mixture into small paper cups and place them in the freezer when they are partially frozen, insert popsicle sticks into them and place them back inside the freezer. When the Creamsicles are frozen solid, peel off the paper cups, and ENJOY the cool refreshing taste.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1893 – The world’s first automobile license plates reportedly were issued in Paris.

♥~ 1901 According to some press accounts, the Wright Brothers do not deserve credit for the first airplane flight in the U.S.  Aviator Gustave Whitehead claimed he flew a plane in Connecticut on this date in 1901, two years before the Wrights flew successfully at Kitty Hawk.

♥~ 1953 – David N. Mullany and his 13-year-old son, while trying to come up with a ball that would curve every time it was thrown, wound up inventing the Wiffle Ball. The ball had oblong holes on the top half, and a solid bottom. The original Wiffle bat was wood, but for many years it has been a skinny yellow fungo-shaped plastic bat. You can still buy the bat-and-ball set for a few dollars.

♥~ 1979 – Burglars broke into Jennie Martelli’s apartment in Niagara Falls, New York, and stole her kitchen sink. Nothing else was taken or damaged.

♥~ 1982 – Bill Neal became the first person to row a bathtub across the English Channel. In 13 hours and 29 minutes he paddled the 21 miles from Dover, England, to Cap Griz, France

♥~ 1992 –  A local health board in Massachusetts briefly closed a Chinese restaurant for the way it drained water from cabbage. They had placed the cabbages in laundry bags between two pieces of plywood in the parking lot and drove over them in a van.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1851 – Doc Holliday dentist, gambler, gunfighter of the Old West: usually remembered for his associations with Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; died Nov 8, 1887

♥~ 1863 – Ernest Thayer writer: Casey at the Bat; died Aug 21, 1940.

♥~ 1945 – Steve Martin Emmy Award-winning comedy writer: The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour [1968-69]; comedian, actor: All of Me, Roxanne, L.A. Story, Parenthood, Father of the Bride, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, The Jerk, The Man with Two Brains, Three Amigos, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Saturday Night Live, Cheaper by the Dozen series, The Pink Panther series

♥~ 1941 –  David Crosby, singer  and musician, Crosby, Stills, and Nash

♥~ 1947 – Danielle Steel (Schuelein-Steel) author:  of a romance novelist who has sold nearly 600 million books: Danielle Steel published her first novel, Going Home, in 1972. Her next five novels were rejected, but she kept writing, and she has recently published her 97th novel.

♥~ 1950 – Gary Larson cartoonist: The Far Side

♥~ 1961 – Susan Olsen actress: The Bradys, The Brady Bunch Hour, The Brady Bunch

★~ Good to know: WHERE DID WIFFLE BALL ORIGINATE?

♥~ In 1953, David N. Mullany was watching his 12-year-old son and some friends playing a baseball-like game with a perforated plastic golf ball and a broomstick in their Fairfield, CT, backyard. The boys were trying to sneak pitches past each other by throwing curveballs and sliders, but to no avail.

Mullany, who had been a semipro hurler himself, knew all too well what thousands of Little Leaguers have had to painfully learn: nothing shreds a tender adolescent arm quite as effectively as throwing breaking balls. Mullany set about trying to save the boys’ shoulders and elbows by creating a ball that would curve and bend on its own.

His original medium was an unexpected one: a hard plastic ball that served as packaging for Coty perfume. After having the boys experiment with various designs, Mullany hit on the Wiffle Ball as we know it today.

♥~ WHAT’S WITH THE NAME?

Like a lot of baseball fans, Mullany’s son and his friends referred to strikeouts as “whiffs.” Since the new invention made knee-buckling curveballs a breeze to throw, pitchers started racking up the punchouts. Mullany named the product the Wiffle Ball to honor its strikeout-friendly breaks.

♥~ WHAT MAKES IT BREAK AND SPIN?

It’s a pretty simple concept even if you’re not a physicist. The side of the ball without the holes cut into it obviously has greater surface area than the other half. Thanks to this difference in surface area, a larger amount of atmospheric pressure acts on the hole-free side, which makes the pitch curve towards the holes.

 #

I love capturing moments with my camera; the El Morno Pup Rocky was “a moment.” He popped up and I clicked. Isn’t he cute?

Next up in my day, is helping  Cole’s take his VW Bug off the blocks it’s sitting on. Oh, I’m not lifting, I’m pushing the brake while he puts the tires on and then I’ll lend moral support while he jacks it up and takes it off the blocks. Can I just say this project plays hell on my manicure??

Cole will report later today about the June Bug on his blog, but for now this mechanic assistant Mom will say, over and out…. see ya later good buddies.

What are your plans for the day?

Odd Loves Company!