~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
July 5th, 2014

 

★~ Todays Quote: You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck

★~ Bikini Day:

On July 5, 1946, a French engineer called Louis Réard unveiled an outfit “smaller than the world’s smallest swimsuit.” It arrived with a bang, so named after the nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll, and remains popular to this day.

★~ Graham Crackers Day:

The Reverend Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister who became a social reformer and a ferocious advocate of healthful living, is the man who put the ‘graham’ into the treat we now know and love as graham crackers. Sylvester Graham (1794-1851) believed physical lust  was harmful to the body and caused such dire maladies in the sexually overheated as pulmonary consumption, spinal diseases, epilepsy, and insanity, as well as such lesser ailments as headaches and indigestion. He also thought too much lust could result in the early death of offspring, who would have been conceived from weakened stock. 

Graham believed a strict vegetarian diet would aid in suppressing carnal urges; to this end, he advocated a regimen devoid of meat and rich in fiber as a way of combating rampant desire. His famed “Graham bread” was fashioned from the coarsely ground wheat flour he espoused and which came to bear his name:

Who actually produced the first ‘graham crackers’ — so named because they were made of the unsifted wheat flour that Sylvester Graham promoted — is the subject of dispute. Some sources assert Graham himself invented the snack in 1829; others claim the graham cracker did not come into being until 1882, 31 years after Graham’s death. (The latter date appears to be based on the year recipes for graham crackers started appearing in cookbooks.)

Many bakers tried to market the crackers, but it wasn’t until 1898 that the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) made any real inroads into the market with their Nabisco Graham Crackers product. Nabisco achieved even greater success with their Honey Maid line, introduced in 1925, which boosted the original graham flavor through the addition of honey.

Today’s graham crackers are made with bleached white flour, a deviation that would have set Sylvester Graham to spinning in his grave — he regarded refined flour as one of the world’s great dietary evils.

We celebrate Graham Cracker day on anniversary of his Grahams birth in 1794.

★~ Apple Turn-Over Day:

There’s nothing quite like an apple turnover—the bubbling, cinnamon-scented contents bursting out of a buttery crust, in a portable pie made for individual consumption! Fruit-filled turnovers first started making an appearance in the early 19th century, when the individually packaged pies were largely sold by street vendors to the working class.

I really like Pepperidge Farm apple turnovers—you bake them in your oven. Easy and delicious!

★~ Today in History:

♥ ~ 1865 – United States Secret Service was created. At first, the agency was only responsible for protecting against the counterfeiting of U.S. currency. In 1901, following the assassination of President William McKinley, the Secret Service began protecting the President of the U.S. The scope of responsibility for the Secret Service has grown enormously over the years. This arm of the U.S. Treasury is now also responsible for guarding the White House, the Executive Office Building, the Treasury building and annex along with all the billions of $$$ stored in its vaults.

♥ ~ 1937 – The Hormel Company introduced SPAM luncheon meat.

♥ ~ 1942 – Edsel Ford family produced 30-million automobiles but weren’t allowed to  own new car because of strict wartime rationing.

♥ ~ 1980 – Tom Shufflebotham charmed 511 worms out of the ground in 30 minutes at the World Worm Charming Championships in Willaston, England. Worm charmers ply their talent by shaking the ground (digging?) with various garden tools. Water may not be used.

♥~ 1996 – The first cloned animal, a sheep named Dolly, was born in Scotland.  Because scientists cloned Dolly from a mammary gland cell, they named her after Dolly Parton.  (Would scientists lie to you?)

♥ ~ 1986 – Janet Jackson made it to the top of the charts. She was the youngest (19 years old) to hit number one with an LP since twelve year old Steve Wonder  in 1963. Produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Control was Jackson’s  third album, but her first to hit number one.

★~Born Today:

♥ ~ 1810 – P. T. (Phineus Taylor) Barnum circus showman; Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey’s circus, the Greatest Show on Earth, was the brainchild of a man who said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” P.T. Barnum. His first ‘pull the wool over their eyes’ act happened in 1830, when he had people believing that an elderly black woman, Joice Heth, was George Washington’s childhood nurse. Barnum,created the circus as we know it. Merging with Mr. Bailey and later, the Ringling Brothers in 1907, P.T. Barnum left us the lasting legacy of the circus extravaganza, the cotton candy, the clowns, the daring young man on the flying trapeze, and the parade of elephants

♥ ~ 1950 – Huey Lewis musician: harmonica, singer: group: Huey Lewis and the News: Power of Love, Stuck with You, Trouble in Paradise, Heart of Rock and Roll, Heart and Soul, Doin’ It [All for My Baby], Do You Believe in Love, Power of Love, [Too] Hip to Be Square

♥ ~ 1968 – Jillian Armenante actress: Judging Amy, The Seven Mysteries of Life, Delivered, Girl, Interrupted

♥~ 1980 – Eva Green actress: Casino Royale [2006], Therese Raquin, Kingdom of Heaven, The Dreamers

★~ Good to Know:

For the Journal of the American Revolution, Todd Andrlik compiled a list of the ages of the key participants in the Revolutionary War as of July 4, 1776. Many of them were surprisingly young:

Marquis de Lafayette, 18
James Monroe, 18
Gilbert Stuart, 20
Aaron Burr, 20
Alexander Hamilton, 21
Betsy Ross, 24
James Madison, 25

I’d always assumed our Founding Fathers were ancient. But I guess in retrospect all startups need young people… Some more ages, just for reference:

Thomas Jefferson, 33
John Adams, 40
Paul Revere, 41
George Washington, 44
Samuel Adams, 53

The oldest prominent participant in the Revolution, by a wide margin, was Benjamin Franklin, who was 70 years old on July 4, 1776. Franklin was a full two generations removed from the likes of Madison and Hamilton. But the oldest participant in the war was Samuel Whittemore, who fought in an early skirmish at the age of 80. I’ll let Wikipedia take it from here:

Whittemore was in his fields when he spotted an approaching British relief brigade under Earl Percy, sent to assist the retreat. Whittemore loaded his musket and ambushed the British from behind a nearby stone wall, killing one soldier. He then drew his dueling pistols and killed a grenadier and mortally wounded a second. By the time Whittemore had fired his third shot, a British detachment reached his position; Whittemore drew his sword and attacked. He was shot in the face, bayoneted thirteen times, and left for dead in a pool of blood. He was found alive, trying to load his musket to fight again. He was taken to Dr. Cotton Tufts of Medford, who perceived no hope for his survival. However, Whittemore lived another 18 years until dying of natural causes at the age of 98.

 

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My teen is still feeling crappy so we made an early morning run to the doctor to take advantage of walk-in hours. He still doesn’t have strep, but they did a throat culture and sent it to the lab to double check and gave him some, “just in case antibiotics”  which we would usually pass on, but after 5 days the antibiotics at least offer some hope of a cure. The good news is the popsicles and Klondike bars are flowing. Naturally, I have to join in. it’s more festive that way.

We made it through the 4th and  while this group of campers doesn’t like the fireworks they are handling much better than other groups that have come through on the fourth in the past. I’m hopeful it will rain tonight and give us all a break from more fireworks tonight. Our camp Facebook page has some pictures and videos.

Happy July 5th. Hope you are having a laid back day.