~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
January 10,2014

★~ Today’s Quote:  

The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursing his own education. This will not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else. ~ John W. Gardner

★~ Houseplant Appreciation Day:

Time to give the loyal houseplant a little TLC now that the holidays are over and the fussy poinsettia has wilted. I start growing paperwhites in my window in late December so they will bloom the first part of January when I need a little prettiness, and the lovely smell will waft through the house. I have two other houseplants. One has lasted 27 years and I have no idea what kind of plant she is, but I call her Longevity since she has stuck with me through thick and thin. Oddly enough, the second plant was gifted to me shortly after El Morno friend Debbie blogged about her shamrock plant Fiona (real name oxalis—the plant’s real name, not Debbie’s). I named my oxalis Clover since her leaves are shaped like clovers. Since my houseplants don’t need watering, I’ll show my appreciation by thanking them for hanging in there with me despite my rather feeble gardening attempts.

Here is how I start my paperwhites (easy peasey)

Materials:
Paperwhite bulbs: I plant lots and lots!
gravel, small stones, or glass pebbles
mason jars (I plant several bulbs per jar so I use the large Mason jars-any jar or container will do)

Add a layer of small stones to the container: Paperwhites do not need soil. They just need the stones to support their roots and to help hold them upright.

Center and place the Paperwhite bulb on top of the stones with the tip up. (kitchen tongs can help with this)

Water and put in a moderately sunny spot. Paperwhites will bloom in about 6 weeks. I turn the jars when they start to bloom so they will grow straighter.

★~ Peculiar People Day:

It’s our day to shine! Both Odd and Peculiar celebrate ‘different.’ Of-course, I’m using the collective “Our” because I know you’re a bit “Odd” too in your own peculiar wonderful way!  I like that about you…Odd Loves Company! Happy Peculiar People Day! May the odds be with you.

★~ Cut Energy Cost Day:

Finding ways to save money is something we can all embrace. Doing an energy audit on your home is a great way to celebrate CuttingYour Energy Costs Day.” Twenty Things You Can Do to Conserve Energy

★~Bittersweet Chocolate Day:

Bittersweet chocolate is a sweetened form of dark chocolate that does not contain milk. According to FDA standards, bittersweet chocolate must contain at least 35 percent chocolate liquor. The more chocolate liquor that’s added, the more intense the bitter flavor of the chocolate.

Research shows that daily consumption of bittersweet chocolate is actually quite good for you. It contains antioxidant compounds and flavonoids, helps lower blood pressure, and helps protect your heart.

So go ahead and eat a few pieces of bittersweet chocolate, and perhaps chase it down with a glass of heart-healthy wine.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1960 – Marty Robbins’ hit tune, El Paso,  ran 4 minutes and 20 seconds, giving many radio station program directors fits; because the average record length at that time was around 2 minutes, and formats didn’t allow for records much longer than that, (e.g., 2-minute record, 3 minutes for commercials, 60 seconds for promo, 2-minute record, etc.).

♥~ 1976 –  Convoy was the #1 single in the U.S. — on both pop and country charts. “Ah, breaker one-nine, this here’s the Rubber Duck … You gotta copy on me, Pig Pen, c’mon? Ah, yeah, 10-4, Pig Pen, fer shure, fer shure. By golly, it’s clean clear to Flag Town, c’mon. Yeah, that’s a big 10-4 there, Pig Pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy…”

♥~ 1984 – Cyndi Lauper became the first female recording artist since Bobbie Gentry [1967] to be nominated for five Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

♥~ 1994 – Lorena Bobbitt went on trial in Manassas, VA. She was charged with the malicious wounding of her husband John. She had cut off his penis, but was eventually acquitted by reason of temporary insanity

★~ Born Today:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/Hphwfq1wLJs[/youtube]

♥~ 1836 – Charles Ingalls, otherwise known as “Pa” in his daughter Laura Ingalls Wilder’s  Little House on the Prairie books. Born in Cuba, New York , Ingalls descended on his father’s side from a Mayflower passenger, and on his mother’s from an early settler of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His family had been New Englanders for generations, but they moved to the tallgrass prairies of Illinois when Ingalls was a boy. As an adult he moved by covered wagon from areas that are now Wisconsin to Kansas, back to Wisconsin, to Minnesota, to Iowa, back to Minnesota, and to the railroad town of De Smet, South Dakota, where he lived the rest of his life.

♥~ 1945~ Roderick David “Rod” Stewart, is a British rock singer-songwriter of Scottish and English ancestry. He is one of the best selling music artists of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide. In the UK, he has had six consecutive number one albums, and his tally of 62 hit singles include 31 that reached the top 10, six of which gained the number one position. He has had 16 top ten singles in the U.S, with four of these reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

♥~ 1949 – George Foreman boxer: oldest heavyweight champion at age 45 [Nov 5, 1994]; commercial pitchman

★~ Good to Know: 

Researcher Kamal Meattle lives in New Delhi — and breathing the air landed him in the doctor’s office with diminished lung capacity. He embarked on research to find a way to clean the air around him using houseplants (much of this work had already been done by NASA and the folks at Biosphere 2). In this four-minute talk, Meattle share’s the very simple results — using just three species of common houseplants, you can create measurably cleaner indoor air, increase oxygen levels, and decrease indoor air pollution. Breathing easier, does take some work (and a lot of plants — a single person requires more than ten large houseplants!), but, hey, you can not underestimate being able to breath. I might try one or two and see how it goes. Can’t hurt, right?

The basics of Meattle’s recommendations:

“The Living Room Plant”
Areca Palm (Dypsis lutescens)
The workhouse of Meattle’s plan. Get four of these per person, and wipe the leaves regularly to clean off crud. Needs occasional time outdoors.
Pets: Considered safe if consumed by cats or dogs, states the American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals or ASPCA.

“The Bedroom Plant”
Mother-in-law’s Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata)
Works at night, so put them in the bedroom.
Mother-in-law’s tongue plant is one of, if not the, easiest plants to grow and the only way to kill it is to over water it, fertilize it or allow it to freeze.
Pets: Can be toxic: Generally mild to moderate, depending on the amount ingested.

“The Specialist Plant”
Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum)
Filters out formaldehyde and other nasty stuff.
Pets: Considered a safe houseplant for dogs and cats.

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What’s Odd about you from another persons perspective–not your’s, of-course.

Have a fun Friday!

Odd Loves Company!