~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
April 29. 2013

 ★~ Today’s Quote:  I am so busy doing nothing… that the idea of doing anything – which as you know, always leads to something – cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything. ~ Jerry Seinfeld

★~ Shrimp Scampi Day:

Toss some shrimp, butter, wine and garlic in a skillet and celebrate this ohhh so tasty dish! I have made the 16-Minute: Shrimp Scampi and it turned out great!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1968 – Hair made its way from Greenwich Village to to the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. The show certainly opened eyes. It was the first time that actors appeared nude in a Broadway musical. Hair ran for 1,844 shows on and off Broadway. It was even more successful in its London run later. Big songs from the show: Hair (The Cowsills) and Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The 5th Dimension).

♥~ 1985 – George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, fired manager Yogi Berra. Berra was canned after only 16 games into the young baseball season. In his place, Steinbrenner brought Billy Martin back … for the fourth time.

♥~ 1988 – Molloko, the first California condor both conceived and hatched in captivity was born at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park.

♥~ 2005 – JAG ended it’s ten-season TV run with a flip of a coin — frozen in mid air — that still leaves us wondering if it was Harm, or was it Mac (Sara), who gave up their career in order for the couple to be together.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1727 – Jean-Georges Noverre, the creator of modern ballet. His is birthday is also now observed as International Dance Day.

♥~ 1899 – Duke (Edward Kennedy) Ellington musician, composer, bandleader; died May 24, 1974;

♥~ 1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis Academy Award-winning actor: My Left Foot [1989]; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, In the Name of the Father, Age of Innocence, Gandhi, A Room with a View

♥~ 1954 – Jerry Seinfeld Emmy Award-winning producer: Seinfeld [1992-1993]; comedian, actor

♥~ 1955 – Kate Mulgrew actress::Star Trek: Voyager, Columbo, Ryan’s Hope, Roots, Daddy, Throw Momma from the Train

♥~ 1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer actress: Dangerous Liaisons, Batman Returns, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Grease 2, Ladyhawke, Scarface, The Witches of Eastwicke, The Age of Innocence

♥~ 1970 – Uma (Karuna) Thurman actress: The Truth about Cats and Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Mad Dog and Glory, Final Analysis, Robin Hood, Henry and June, Dangerous Liaisons,Kiss Daddy Goodnight

★~ Good To Know:

♥~ California condors are vultures. Like all vultures, they feed on carrion. Condors prefer large dead animals like deer, cattle, and sheep, but they also eat rodents, rabbits, and even fish.

♥~ Condors eat 2 to 3 pounds (1 to 1.36 kilograms) of food at a time, and can then go without food for several days until they find another carcass. Like other scavengers, condors are part of nature’s cleanup crew, and they are an important part of the ecosystem. Without them, things could get pretty messy!

♥~ Some people think of vultures as “dirty,” but actually, California condors are pretty tidy. After eating, they clean their heads and necks by rubbing them on grass, rocks, or branches. Condors also bathe frequently and spend hours smoothing and drying their feathers. They even have a very hardy and effective immune system, so they don’t get sick from any of the bacteria they may come in contact with when feeding on decaying animals.

♥~ Adult California condors have distinctive pink, bald heads. Their bald heads are perfectly designed to keep rotting food from sticking to them as they eat. The skin on the bare heads of adults can also express some emotions. It turns a deep red-pink during courtship or when the birds are excited or alarmed. The adults also have a throat sack that they can puff out during courtship displays.

♥~ Crevices and caves in rocky cliffs make for great condor nest sites, although no nest itself is constructed for the egg. The adult female will lay a single whitish or pale green-blue egg between January and March. The chick hatches almost two months later with bare patches on its head, neck, belly, and underwing. At about eight weeks old the chick will start to wander outside of its nest area. By five or six months the youngster is ready to practice flying.

♥~ When they fly, California condors are a wonderful sight to behold. They can reach speeds of up to 55 miles per hour (88 kilometers per hour), and they can climb to altitudes of 15,000 feet (4,600 meters). California condors are one of the largest flying birds

♥~ Destruction of habitat, poaching, and lead poisoning almost wiped out the California condor population. In 1982, only 22 birds remained in the wild. San Diego Zoo Global was given permission to begin the first captive propagation program for California condors. Thanks to the conservation-breeding program, within 20 years the population of California condors grew to almost 200 birds. It took a variety of techniques developed by scientists and bird keepers to do this. Eggs were removed from condor nests, encouraging the females to lay replacement eggs. This is called “double clutching.” The removed eggs were placed in incubators for hatching. To make the hand-raised condors feel like they were being raised by their parents, the newly hatched chicks were fed and cared for using adult look-alike condor puppets. Taped sounds of adult condors were played to the chicks as well. In the wild, both parents incubate the egg and care for the chick, and they may only raise one chick every other year.

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Yesterday. I had an overwhelming desire buy some shoes. I wonder why? Do you want to see my favorite pair?

I’m so glad I bought a pair that will go with everything. My goal was to buy black ballet flats. It’s my mother, she is a very bad influence on me.  I’m pretty sure today will include some Mexican food, and a mani-pedi. If she is in the mood, Trinket will draw the name of our Zappo gift card winner. Fortunately, I brought some world famous Garrett’s popcorn with me from Chicago, and she is partial to cheesy popcorn. We will get back to you with the results.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Monday!

♥~