★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
May 28, 2015

★~ Today’s Quote:  Are you green and growing or ripe and rotting? Ray Kroc

★~ Hamburger Day:

Nothing is more American than a big, juicy hamburger. Hamburgers and cheeseburgers have been a staple of the American diet for decades.

Although hamburgers originated in Hamburg, Germany, eating the burger in a bun is actually an American innovation. The hamburger sandwich was most likely invented in Seymour, Wisconsin. Each year the city hosts a hamburger festival called Burger Fest. That is where the world’s largest hamburger made its debut in 2001. It weighed 8,266 pounds!

~ Americans eat about 14 billion hamburgers a year!

~ Hamburgers and cheeseburgers are responsible for a whopping 71 percent of all the beef served in U.S. restaurants.

(If you would rather have a slow-cooked brisket, go ahead, it’s also Brisket Day!)

★~ Amnesty International Day:

Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. Their vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

Amnesty International is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion, and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations..

 ★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1928 Walter P. Chrysler  worked out a deal that made automotive history and took him from rags to riches. He merged his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge Brothers, Inc. The merger of Chrysler and Dodge, the largest automobile industry merger in history at the time, placed the newly consolidated firm third in production and sales, just behind General Motors and Ford Motor Company.

♥~ 1934 – The Dionne quintuplets were born near Callender, Ontario to Oliva and Elzire Dionne. They were the first quints (that’s five babies, for those who may have forgotten) to survive infancy. This increase in Canada’s population became known as Marie, Cecile, Yvonne, Emilie and Annette.

♥~ 1959 – Able and Baker were two monkeys who survived a trip into space from a launch at Cape Canaveral, FL.

♥~ 1961 – Amnesty International was founded. It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

♥~ 1966 – Percy Sledge hit number one with his first — and what turned out to be his biggest — hit. When a Man Loves a Woman would stay at the top of the pop music charts for two weeks. It was the singer’s only hit to make the top ten.

★~ Born Today:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/meaVNHch96o[/youtube]

♥~ 1779 – Thomas Moore poet, lyricist: Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms, The Last Rose of Summer, Oft in the Stilly Night; died Feb 25, 1852

♥~ 1888 – Jim Thorpe -Charlotte and Hiram Thorpe had a son near Prague, Oklahoma. They named him Wah-tho-huck, meaning “bright path,” but the world would call him Jim. In 1950 the Associated Press called him the outstanding athlete of the first half of the 20th Century. Olympic gold medalist: decathlon, pentathlon, [Stockholm: 1912]; baseball: NY Giants, Boston Braves; football: All-American; president of what became the NFL

♥~ 1908 – Ian Fleming author: creator of Bond … James Bond; When he was 31, he joined British Naval Intelligence and spent the years during World War II plotting intelligence operations, some of which later wound up in his spy fiction. His first spy thriller was Casino Royale, published in1953, starring the British spy, the stylish James Bond. died Aug 12, 1964

♥~ 1910 – Aaron ‘T-Bone’ Walker Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician: guitar: pioneered the sound that helped create the blues; recorded such songs as T-Bone Blues and Stormy Monday; died Mar 16, 1975

♥~ 1931 – Irwin Winkler Academy Award-winning producer: Rocky [1977]; Double Trouble, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Raging Bull, The Right Stuff, Goodfellas, The Mechanic, Home of the Brave, Life as a House, The Net

♥~ 1944 – Gladys (Maria) Knight singer: w/The Pips: Midnight Train to Georgia, If I Were Your Woman, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Neither One of Us, Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me, Every Beat of My Heart.  

★~ Heron Gallimaufry:

The Great Blue Heron (pictured here and at the top of the post) has been visiting the pond and marsh at Prairie Wolf Dog Park this past week. He flies over the pond and nonchalantly lands 30 or so feet from us and our pack of pups. He’ll then look over at us, as if to say, I am really GREAT.  I agree.  Intrigued, I look up a few facts about the majestic Heron.

♥~ The Great Blue Heron belongs to a large family that includes herons, egrets, and bitterns. This world-wide family has about 60 species. The Great White Heron of Florida is a local color variation of the Great Blue and belongs to the same species.

♥~ The Great Blue Heron’s long legs allow it to hunt in deeper water than most other herons and egrets.

♥~ Herons have special patches of powder down feathers, which they rake with a foot, causing the powder to fall on fish it has caught. The powder causes the fish slime and oil to clump up so that the herons then can simply brush it off with a foot. Herons also rub the powder especially on the underside of their bodies to repel swamp slime and oils.

♥~ The Great Blue Heron can swallow a fish many times wider than its narrow neck.

♥~ Herons look for food anytime there is enough light. Studies suggest that cloudy weather is ideal for the birds to look for fish. Herons don’t just eat fish, however. They eat a wide variety of prey, including frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, insects, rodents, and small birds.

♥~ In catching fish, the Great Blue Heron grabs smaller fish between the two mandibles of its bill; with a quick strike it stabs the larger fish.

♥~ Herons nest in colonies. One of the largest colonies in Washington is located in Renton; last year there were approximately 135 active nests there.

♥~ Great Blue Herons often reuse a nest, adding sticks to it each year. The male brings sticks and the female works them into the nest. Older nests can be recognized by their large size

♥~ Great Blue Herons lay from three to seven eggs, but the usual number is four.

♥~ Young Great Blue Herons are semialtrical: they emerge from the eggs with a downy coat and their eyes open, but they aren’t able to move about and must be fed by their parents. They grow to adult size in about six weeks.

♥~ Heron chicks are often aggressive toward each other, and some are pushed out of the nest.

♥~ Adult Great Blue Herons have no natural predators, although bobcats and coyotes occasionally kill one while feeding on the ground. Young herons in the nest are often killed by crows, ravens, gulls, hawks, eagles, and raccoons.

It is dangerous to handle a Great Blue Heron. It can strike quickly; its bill is strong and very sharp and can cause serious injury. (There goes my plan for snatching one and relocating it to my back yard–Darn it) 

The Great Blue Heron breeds throughout North and Central America, the Caribbean, and the Galapagos Islands. Some populations migrate to South America for the winter.

Adult herons stand around three feet tall, but can stretch to about four feet; their wingspan is about six feet. These large birds weigh only about 5 to 6 pounds.

The Great blue Heron has special neck vertebrae that allow the neck to curl into an “S” shape, and its structure allows a lightning-quick strike at prey. In flight the neck is folded back into the S-shape and the legs are stretched out behind them.

In flight Great Blue Herons average about 25 mph, their maximum flight speed can approach 35 mph.

In the nineteenth century herons and egrets were hunted for their plumes. These beautiful feathers were popular decorations for women’s hats. Some heron species were severely depleted by hunting, which was outlawed in the early twentieth century.

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We are off to Prairie Wolf this morn whilst Vickie (our friend and camp helper) runs camp at home. We’ve had on again off again rain these last few days with fluctuating  temperatures  which makes dressing for the weather a challenge. Seersucker shirts paired with jeans are fast becoming a part of my summer uniform. Rain means mud which means after a run in the park we have 6 pups to wash down, check for any hitchhiking critters, and spruce up before sending them home.  Camp-Run-A-Pup over-night and day-campers go home happy and squeaky clean. Yep, it is a lot of work, and absolutely worth it.

Wishing everyone a terrific Thursday!

Odd Loves Company!

♥