Saturday

The Red Flag Warning expired, and it was a beautiful day here. No wind, fire under control, and a high of only 75°. Since I was a little kid, I have always had a summer birdbath for our feathered friends. I grew up with the cement birdbath that was the thing back then. When I moved to AZ I got a plastic one, where you filled the base with dirt. Just before I left Tuba I got a metal one. I have never liked it. It rusts and every time it is filled, it has to be cleaned of the rust. Today I was out and about and found a hanging birdbath that can be converted to a standing one. It is great. Better yet, the birds love it. It is on a tree branch, with lots open area, so the birds feel safe. It is high off the ground. The metal one is still there, at ground level, but the birds seem to not like it…maybe it’s the cats that are around our area. The birds started drinking and bathing within two hours of me setting it up. While it is a metal basin, it is well treated so it won’t rust. Good for the birds and easier for me. I have about 10 different species that feed in my yard. A couple of different species of woodpeckers, a couple of blue jays, robins, finches, small sparrows, and some others I have no idea what they are. It gets pretty noisy around sunrise and sunset. The water in the new birdbath seems to bring them in a little earlier in the afternoon.

I also spent some time on my front area. It has been really hot, and kids like those frozen juice things that come in a plastic wrapping. Seems the kids love the juice, but haven’t learned what to do with the wrappers. So every so often I need to clean up the area. Yesterday’s wind certainly didn’t help. I learned in Tuba that while the wind blows, it always seems to blow more stuff into the yard that out of the yard. Not a big deal, but frustrating that the parents are not teaching their kids about what to do with wrappers.
<> <> <> <> <> <>

Random Facts…

If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.

Facebook was originally named TheFaceBook and it was developed by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg.

The sound of cracking knuckles is actually caused by bubbles of nitrogen being displaced.

Crazy Stuff In The News…

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - An Oregon auto mechanic said he pulled a 3-foot diamondback rattlesnake out of a car belonging to a woman who complained about a strange hissing sound. Marvin Schenck, a 28-year veteran of auto service, said his friend and employer, Dave Prewitt, called him to his Klamath Falls home July 30 to examine his wife's Geo Tracker, after she complained it was making a strange hissing sound and said she noticed a "rope" dangling from the car's undercarriage, the Klamath Falls Herald & News reported. Schenck said he identified the problem when he caught a glimpse of the venomous snake slithering between engine components. "It didn't take too long to figure out that sticking our hands in any part wasn't a good idea," Schenck said. He said the snake was initially resistant to exiting the vehicle, but he was able to yank the animal out of the car when its tail fell to the ground in front of a tire. Schenck said he decapitated the agitated reptile with a shovel and removed the rattler for the Prewitts to keep as a memento.

Month long events in August

Edinburgh Festival is an internationally famous arts festival that takes place during August National Immunization Awareness Month… National Psoriasis Awareness Month… Women's Small Business Month... National Back to School month…American Adventures Month…Golf Month…National Inventor’s Month…National Win with Civility Month…What will be your legacy Month

Week of Aug 9…

Assistant Dog Week
National Resurrect Romance Week

9 Aug…

221 days so far this year…144 days remain in 2009

International Day of the World’s Indigenous People
Veep Day—since 1974—commerates Constitutional Succession
*Singapore: National Day—since 1965
*Canada: National Peacekeepers’ Day
*Japan: Nagasaki Memorial Day--1945

BIRTHS ON THIS DAY…

1593….. Izaak Walton England, biographer/fisherman/writer (Compleat Angler)

1819….. William Thomas Green Morton dentist, used ether (HOF 1920)
1896….. Jean Piaget Switzerland, pioneer developmental psychologist, zoologist

1901….. Charles Farrell Cape Cod Mass, actor (Vern-My Little Margie)
1928….. Bob Cousy Basketball Hall of Famer
1930….. Betty Boop animation
1938….. Rod Laver Australia, tennis ace
1942….. David Steinberg Winnipeg Canada, comedian
1943….. Ken Norton Boxing Hall of Fame
1963….. Whitney Houston Grammy Award-winning singer
1968….. Gillian Anderson actress: The X Files

Events on this day…

378….. In the battle of Adrianople, Gothic horsemen destroy the attacking Roman forces led by Emperor Valens. The Goths kill an estimated 20,000 of the 30,000 Romans, including Valens.

1638….. Jonas Bronck of Holland becomes 1st European settler in the Bronx

1803….. 1st horses arrive in Hawaii
1814….. The Treaty of Fort Jackson (7 stat.120) officially ends the Creek War
1854….. Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden"
1859….. Nathan Ames of Saugus, MA patented the escalator
1870….. The British Parliament passes the Married Women's Property Act

1910….. Alva J. Fisher of Chicago, IL received a patent for the electric washing machine.
1936….. Jesse Owens wins 4th gold medal of Berlin Olympics
1945….. US drops 2nd atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Japan destroys part of Nagasaki
1956….. South African women demonstrate against pass laws
1969….. Cult leader Charles Manson and his disciples committed one of Los Angeles’ most heinous crimes
1971….. The British government in Northern Ireland begins the practice, known as internment, of imprisoning suspected antigovernment guerrillas without trial.
1974….. Richard Nixon resigns presidency, VP Gerald Ford becomes 38th pres
1988….. Just 1 day after 8/8/88 NY's daily number is 888


Word Ends Puzzle:

In each of these puzzles, a word starts and ends with the same letter. Can you figure out what the word is?

Example: _fric_ Solution: Africa

1. _rom_
2. _rou_
3. _ooda_
4. _hrif_
5. _regan__
6. _ypis_
7. _apto_
8. _umm_
9. _verd_
10. _otato_
*Bonus: _ardia_

<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
<>
Answers:
1. Aroma
2. Trout
3. Doodad
4. Thrift
5. Oregano
6. Typist
7. Raptor
8. Yummy
9. Overdo
10. Rotator
*Bonus: Cardiac

<> <> <>11 <> <> <> <>