★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 19, 2014

★~ Today’s Quote: Why’d the chicken cross the road? (To prove to the possum that it CAN be done!)

★~ St. Joseph’s Day:

The Feast of St. Joseph or La Festa di San Giuseppe was credited with preventing a famine in Sicily and as a result, the day is commonly commemorated with a festival and special feast. St. Joseph’s Day, is also known as the day the swallows traditionally return to the Mission San Juan Capistrano in California. Every March 19th since 1776 (with very few exceptions), the birds come back to usher in spring in this Southern California seaside town.

A few St. Joseph’s Day customs:

~ St.Joseph’s Day is traditionally a day to show hospitality. On this day, all who come to the door are invited to dinner.

~ Traditionally red is worn on St.Joseph’s Day. Why is red worn?  Mary mixed colors when she washed and turned Joseph only robe red; he showed up at the feast and from that time on red was considered the feast color.  Italians wear royal purple.

~ Giving food to the needy.

~ St.Joseph is the patron saint of pastry chefs so feel free to honor him by eating lots of sweets today. St. Joseph’s Day Zeppoles are a real treat! I’m sorry if you gave up sweets for Lent.

~  When you visit a St. Joseph’s table, you often receive gifts of fava beans and breads. Fava beans play an integral part of the celebration because this was the food that saved the Sicilians from starvation. The bean is said to bring good luck, and it is believed that if  St. Joseph’s bread is kept in the home, the family will never starve.

~ A popular St. Joseph custom: burying a St. Joseph statues upside-down in order to sell one’s home more quickly.

★~ Poultry Day:

In the past I have shared videos of Chickens doing agility, Beanie the piano singing chicken and chickens referring a fight between two rabbits.  This year in honor of poultry day click over to Beth Ann’s blog and view the  Feral Cocks that she saw in Bermuda . .

★~ Chocolate Caramel Day:

Celebrate Chocolate Caramel Day by enjoy your favorite candy bar, ice cream flavor, topping or whip up this super easy Caramel-Chocolate Cream Puffs recipes. How easy? You start with frozen cream puffs!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1831 – The first bank robbery in America was reported. The City Bank of New York City lost $245,000 in the heist.

♥~ 1931 – Nevada legalized gambling.

♥~ 1957 – Elvis Presley plunked down a $1,000 deposit on a 13.8 acre hunk of land with a 23-room manor on it (at 3764 South Bellevue Boulevard) in Memphis, Tennessee. He finalized the purchase March 25th, paying a total of $102,500 to the home’s original owner, Ruth Moore, who had christened the home Graceland after her great-aunt Grace. More than 600,000 people visit Graceland annually, touring the home, filing past Elvis’s grave in the estate’s Meditation Garden and purchasing souvenirs in the shopping complex across the street.

♥~ 1983 – Michael Jackson’s Beat It, featuring lead guitar work by Eddie Van Halen, entered Billboard magazine’s Hot 100. The song, from the Thriller album, eventually hit #1 and was on the charts for 18 weeks.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1848 – Wyatt Earp –  A legendary figure of the Old West, Earp worked as a railroad hand, saloon keeper, gambler, lawman, gunslinger, miner and real estate investor at various times. Best known for the gunfight at the OK Corral Oct 26, 1881, at Tombstone, AZ.

♥~ 1936 – Ursula Andress actress: Dr. No, Casino Royale, Fun in Acapulco, What’s New Pussycat, Clash of the Titans

♥~ 1947 – Glenn Close Tony Award-winning actress: The Real Thing [1984], Death and the Maiden [1992], Sunset Boulevard [1995]; Emmy Award: Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story [1995]; Fatal Attraction, The Big Chill, 101 Dalmations

♥~ 1955 – Bruce Willis actor: TV series “Moonlighting” (1985),Die Hard (1988),Look Who’s Talking (1989), Death Becomes Her (1992),Pulp Fiction (1994)

★~ Good to Know:

♥~ Why do Chickens lay so many eggs?  Some birds lay a certain number of eggs at a time. These are “determinate” layers. Other birds, including the chicken, will keep laying eggs until they accumulate a satisfying nest’s-worth. They are “indeterminate” layers, and if you keep taking eggs away from them, they’ll keep laying more, forever dissatisfied. The more you take, the more they give. Still, it took modern breeding and lighting technology to get chickens to lay year-round.

♥~ How many feathers do chickens have?  Apparently, one man went to the trouble of counting all the feathers on a Plymouth Rock chicken. His result was 8325. No one seems to have bothered to verify this, which is fine.

♥~ Are Catholics allowed to eat Chicken during lent?  In the 9th century, during Charlemagne’s campaign to standardize Christianity in his Holy Roman Empire, it was determined that chicken was too luxurious and delectable a meat to be eaten on fast days — and monks were disallowed from eating chicken ever, except during four days at Easter and four more at Christmas. In the 13th century things changed: Thomas Aquinas, all-star theologian, decided that chickens were of aquatic origin, and therefore could be eaten whenever it was okay to eat fish, which included fast days. The Church later reneged, and proscribed chicken once more. It just didn’t seem right: chicken tastes too good for days that are meant to be unpleasant. The real question here is what God thinks about the matter, and I am just not sure.

♥~ Is it hard to catch a loose chicken: Yes. Chickens can run up to 9 mph, and they have the ability to fly into trees. They can also zigzag like professional football players. The easiest way to catch one is while it sleeps. Which seems kind of mean to me.

♥~ How to Hypnotize A Chicken: 

The chicken mind is an easy thing to control, and chicken handlers have found several ways of hypnotizing the birds. Here are three surefire ways to make a chicken very, very sleepy:

• Hold a chicken’s head under its wing and gently rock its body.

• Hold a chicken upside down and wiggle a finger in circles around its beak.

• Stare intently into a chicken’s eyes.

Generally, they’ll stay spellbound for several minutes, or even hours, until a loud noise snaps them out of their trance. Scientists think this state is a form of tonic immobility, a defense mechanism in which animals “play dead” in order to shake off a predator. Why would you hypnotized a chicken? Well Former Vice President Al Gore recalls using them as doorstops during his childhood days on his family’s farm. Or maybe just to see if you could….

♥~ Are Chickens Magical?  Perhaps. Throughout history, various cultures have kept chickens for divination and religious rites, and some still do. Ancient Romans believed strongly in using chickens to foretell the future. There was even a public flock that authorities maintained specifically to predict affairs of state. If the roosters dropped some food when they emerged from their coop in the morning, good things were in store for the Republic. Today, the Azande tribe of Sudan uses chickens like Magic 8-Balls. Basically, they poison a chicken and ask it questions. If the chicken dies, the answer is yes; if the chicken lives, the answer is no. Similarly, in Cambodia, cocks are believed to be messengers of the gods. Lastly, some orthodox Jews use chickens in a ceremony leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Participants swing the birds around their heads three times as they pray, transferring their sins to the fowl. The chickens are then ritually slaughtered and given to the poor.

Stay tune next year we’ll talk about gizzards and answer an important question about Roosters. Always something to look forward to on Odd!

#

This was posted on Facebook and I thought it was wonderful especially since it rings true for Cole and I. . .

A cardinal is a representative of a loved one who has passed. When you see one, it means they are visiting you. They usually show up when you most need them or miss them. They also make an appearance during times of celebration as well as despair to let you know they will always be with you. Look for them, they’ll appear. Posted on Recycled Catholic

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Odd Loves Company!