~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
June 8, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote:  “One of the finest protections against disappointment is to have a lot going on.” – Alain de Botton

★~ Best Friend Day:

As we grow older, more friends become best friends in different ways. There is a childhood best friend that knew you back in the days; the best friend that you raised your children with over the years; the best friend you may only talk to twice a year, but it only takes you a few moments to catch up; perhaps the best friend you gossip with at the office; or, perhaps, the sister or brother that was once a thorn in your side but grew up to be your best friend.  While our list of best friends may have grown to include more people, what makes a friendship “best” is sharing our most important secrets, hopes, dreams, aspirations, and disappointments with each other throughout the day or over the years.

★~ Name Your Poison:

“Name your poison” is what bartenders say when someone sidles up to the bar (in the movies). However, it can also mean ‘make a choice.’ Maybe it’s the choice about how you plan to kill someone —

In any casem the Long Goodbye might be a good choice of Poison…

♥~ The Long Goodbye: “The Long Goodbye is a smooth, crisp twist on gin classics with curious herbacious notes from the chartreuse. The Dolin Blanc is slightly sweeter than a dry vermouth, more of an aperitif, and mixes swimmingly with gin.”

2 oz dry English gin
0.5 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
Dash of citrus bitters
Stirred
Wash a frozen cocktail glass with a tiny splash of Yellow Chartreuse, garnish with a lemon twist

★~ Belmont Stakes:

The Belmont Stakes is the third race in the Triple Crown. It is both the oldest and the longest of the three events. The first running took place in 1867 at Jerome Park in Elmont, New York. The track is 1.5 miles long and has become known as the “Test of the Champion.” Another nickname for the race is “the Run for the Carnations” because the winning horse is draped in a blanket of white carnations.

Only eleven horses have won all three races in the Triple Crown. The first was Sir Barton in 1919, and the most recent was Affirmed in 1978, but there have been many famous winners in between. Perhaps the most notable are War Admiral and Secretariat.

To celebrate the annual running of the Belmont Stakes, grab your fancy hat and gather around the TV to witness this exciting event!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1786 – Commercial ice cream was advertised for sale for the first time — in New York City. Could this be the reason why we have celebrated both Chocolate Ice Cream and Rocky Road ice cream in the last couple of weeks?

♥~ 1947 – Lassie debuted on ABC radio. It was a 15-minute show about an extraordinary dog. Lassie’s barking on the radio was provided by the star of the movie Lassie Come Home, a collie named Pal. Animal imitator Earl Keen provided the whines and other dog noises. The announcer was Charles Lyon; Marvin Miller and Betty Arnold played Lassie’s owners. The sponsor was Red Heart dog food. (El Morno friends and Sheltie owners Debbie and Dawn insist that if a SHELTIE had been in charge…Timmy would never have fallen into the well to begin with…Do you think that’s true?)

♥~ 1948 – Television was born and Milton Berle ushered in the television era for the next 18 years as the host of the Texaco Star Theater. Known as Mr Television he sold millions of television sets ultimately making TV the most popular form of entertainment in America. Mr. Television … Uncle Miltie … Milton Berle made generations of televisions  laugh till tears ran down their faces. Those were simpler times. Those were the days…

♥~ 1988 – All Nippon Airways announced that painting eyeballs on its Jets cut bird collisions by 20 percent. Update April 2000: All Nippon Airways will remove the eyeball markings, which proved useless in preventing birds from flying into the engines and causing damage.

♥~ 1991 – Battle Creek, Michigan, served breakfast to 44,938 people at the world’s longest breakfast table, a new world record.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1867 – Frank Lloyd Wright architect: Pennsylvania’s Falling Water, NYC’s Guggenheim Museum; “No house should be on any hill or on anything, it should be of the hill, belonging to it …”; died Apr 9, 1959

♥~ 1933 – Joan Rivers (Joan Alexandra Molinsky) comedienne; author: Bouncing Back: I’ve Survived Everything… and I Mean Everything …and You Can Too!; TV host: The Tonight Show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers; “Can we talk?”

♥~ 1940 – Nancy Sinatra singer: These Boots Are Made For Walkin’, Sugar Town, Somethin’ Stupid [w/pop, Frank], Jackson [w/Lee Hazelwood]; actress: The Wild Angels, Speedway

♥~ 1957 – Scott Adams cartoonist: Dilbert

♥~ 1966 – Julianna Margulies actress: The Good Wife, ER, The Newton Boys, What’s Cooking?, The Mists of Avalon

♥~ 1970 – Kelli Williams actress: The Practice, Zapped Again!, Switched at Birth

★~ Good To Know:  Odd News for this week

When Scooter the llama busted out of his penned-in yard in Tallahassee, it took three county sheriff’s deputies and a taser gun to get him back in again.

The 6-foot-tall, 7-year-old llama outran the authorities in Tallahassee for a while, even leaping over a 4-foot fence to avoid capture, Leon County Lt. Tony Drzewiecki said Sunday.

Police cornered the furry fugitive Saturday morning. After putting a lasso around its neck, it took six deputies to place the roughly 300-pound Scooter into a trailer. Drzewiecki said they used a taser gun to subdue the animal because llamas don’t respond to voice commands.

Conrad, Scooter’s owner and the owner of three other llamas, will not be cited but has agreed to beef up his fence line, Drzewiecki said. Conrad could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Llamas are considered a domestic species and do not require a permit, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

In other Odd Florida News this week….

Outside of Tampa,  authorities chased an errant kangaroo for 10 hours before finally getting close enough Sunday to stop him with tranquilizer darts.

A family living in the area owns other kangaroos, but has not yet claimed this one as theirs, said Pasco County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Melanie Snow.

Wildlife officials say a person can own a kangaroo if they have the specific permits to do so. (I want a Kangaroo  I have always wanted a Kangaroo. . .I wonder what permits Chicago requires?)

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I bet Scooter the Llama and the Kangaroo wanted to visit Disney! Isn’t that your guess? I mean what else could it be? We will ask Cousin Carla who is from the Sunshine state!

By the way, today is also jelly donut day, but since we celebrated donut day yesterday, jelly donut day felt redundant. Do feel free, to indulge, tho…I mean, WHY NOT.

Beautiful day in Chicago! I better get hopping and start enjoying it! What are your plans for the day?

Odd Loves Company!