The following is a Public Service Announcement. Because of our Thanksgiving deadline, I started working on this column a couple of weeks ago, adding information here and there. Selfishly I want to have a weekend to do stuff like plant bulbs at home, garden, cook, and serious cleaning. I had written a great article about my new dog, Teller, and I was ready to go except for pulling up the birthdays. Then catastrophe arrived…my computer froze up and no amount of searching can find the 47-page word document that I use to build this column. PCCare couldn’t find it either and they are professionals. My computer did not save when it was supposed to. No recycle, no nothing. I have tried everything. So, remember to name your documents, save, and live everyday to the fullest. OK, that’s not really part of this paragraph, but I need additional words to help me pull this together before my deadline.
Did you know that if you cut bars of Ivory soap in half, drill a hole in each half, thread them on a string about ten feet apart, then tie them to stakes around the perimeter of a piece of property, that it will keep the deer away from gardens and landscaped areas that you would like to keep. Deer have an extraordinarily strong sense of smell, and gardeners can use this to their advantage when they want to keep deer away from your precious edible plants. The scent of soap tricks deer and falsely alerts them to predators, which can keep them out of your garden or landscape.
Years after their deaths, Whitney Houston (2012, age 48, accidental drowning), the Notorious B.I.G (1997, age 24, drive-by gang shooting) and T. Rex’s Marc Bolan (1997, age 29, car crash), were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Artists become eligible for induction to the Rock Hall 25 years after the release of their first record. Houston released her debut album in 1985 and became one of the greatest singers in music history. B.I.G. only released two albums but made a major impact on both the rap and pop music scene. T. Rex’s 1971 album Electric Warrior, with all songs written by Bolan, including the chart topper “Get It On“, has been described as the album that kick-started the glam rock craze. Others inducted in the 2020 class were Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, and the Doobie Brothers.
Sixteen U.S. presidents sat in office before we finally got a cat in the White House. Abraham Lincoln received his presidential pets, Tabby and Dixie, as gifts from Secretary of State William Seward. Lincoln was quite the cat person, even rescuing three motherless kittens while visiting General Grant during the Civil War. In the White House, cats became a source of comfort and de-stressing for the president. He was often seen petting, playing, and even holding one-way conversations with his cats for extended periods of time. Once, he was caught sneaking Tabby food under the table during a formal White House dinner. When Mary Todd Lincoln shamed him for feeding a cat from a golden fork, he replied, “If the gold fork was good enough for former President James Buchanan, I think it is good enough for Tabby.”
Cats are like potato chips, it’s hard to have only one.
Calling all ‘Friends’ fans. Revolution Beauty released a collection of eyeshadow palettes, lipsticks, lip glosses, bath & body, and accessories, all inspired by the Friends TV show. You can get the Monica Eyeshadow Palette, for your favorite person’s Christmas stocking.
You do not realize how old you are until you sit on the floor and try to get back up.
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Actor Meg Ryan is 59. Actor Jamie Lee Curtis is 62. Actor Michael Callan is 85. Riff in West Side Story on Broadway, Gidget Goes Hawaiian, The Interns, Cat Ballou (one of my favorites.) Movie director Terry Gilliam is 80. Screenwriter, animator, actor, comedian, and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. International Tennis Hall of Fame Billie Jean King is 77. Guitarist-actor Little Steven is 70. The E Street Band, The Sopranos. Bassist Tina Weymouth is 70. Talking Heads. Singer Lawrence Gowan is 64. Styx. Actor Mariel Hemingway is 59.
Actor Scarlett Johansson is 36. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 66. Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts is 60. Singer-actor Miley Cyrus is 28. Country singer Johnny Carver is 80. His highest-charting single was a cover of Tony Orlando’s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”, a cover that reached No. 1 for him in 1974. Former Beatles drummer Pete Best is 79. Singer Lee Michaels is 75. Actor Stanley Livingston is 70. My Three Sons. Drummer Clem Burke is 66. The Romantics and Blondie.
Actor Kathryn Crosby is 87. Singer Amy Grant is 60. Actor Christina Applegate is 49. Impressionist Rich Little is 82. Singer Tina Turner is 81. Singer Jean Terrell is 76. The Supremes. Bassist John McVie is 75. Fleetwood Mac. TV personality Bill Nye the Science Guy is 65. Actor Robin Givens is 56. Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. is 91. Singer Randy Newman is 77. Musician Paul Shaffer is 71. Late Show with David Letterman. Actor Ed Harris is 70. Actor Judd Nelson is 61.
Pat Quinn was an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) activist, diagnosed in 2013, who co-founded and helped popularize the viral Ice Bucket Challenge, the greatest social media campaign in history. He died at the age of 37. Spencer Davis, whose namesake, The Spencer Davis Group, died at 81. Two of their hits were, Gimme Some Lovin, and I’m a Man.
Time is a funny thing. Everything can change in an instant, or nothing can change for decades. You never know what life will yield. It’s important to take every moment and live in a way that moves you, moves others. Make your time here purposeful and authentic. – Pat Quinn
If I told you that Constance Weldon died at the age of 88, you would probably get a puzzled look on your face. Well, she was believed to be the first woman to play the tuba in a major American orchestra, when she began playing with Arthur Fiedler’s Boston Pops orchestra in 1954. She had tried playing the flute, the trumpet, and other instruments, but fell in love with the tuba after her father brought one home from a pawn shop. “I played it and said, ‘This is for me,’” she said. “On no other instrument I played had the sound come so naturally.” It was 50 years before another woman was appointed to play.
Bruce Springsteen became the first music artist to have a Top 5 album in each of the last six decades. The release of his latest record Letter to You last month, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. He started topping the charts in 1975 with Born to Run. Seems like yesterday. The Wedding Crashers may get a sequel. Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson have been seriously discussing a follow-up to their 2005 comedy hit. I do not remember finding the first one that funny, so perhaps I should watch it again. Maybe I have grown since then. 17-year-old Maci Currin has, according to Guinness World Records, the world’s longest female legs and longest legs on a teenager. She is 6 feet, 10 inches tall, with her left leg is just a slight bit longer than her right. She plays on her high school volleyball team in Cedar Park, Texas. Surfer Bethany Hamilton is pregnant with her third child. Kentucky Fried Chicken is replacing its Finger Lickin’ Good sauce name. It will now be called KFC sauce. KFC said that the 64-year-old slogan “doesn’t feel quite right” during this current COVID environment, but the slogan will return when the time is right. Interesting and well-thought out name. ☹
The experimental drug given to President Trump to treat COVID has received FDA authorization. The drug made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, is designed to prevent infected people from developing severe illness. Looks like it works. As of Tuesday, November 24th, there are no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, in the Eastern North Pacific or in the Central North Pacific, just one disturbance in the central Atlantic a few hundred miles south of Bermuda, with a 30% chance of cyclone formation in next 5 days. Here’s an idea: For every dollar you spend ordering from Amazon this year, spend the same dollar amount locally with small businesses. Seems fair to me. They need you desperately.
Connie does our sales report each week and since COVID, she started adding sweet notes, gently reminding me that there is a deadly virus out there and perhaps that is why our numbers are not where we want them to be. Normally she mentions election year, pandemic, the names of the hurricanes, rain, hot weather, etc., but today it said, “Same o’, Same o’. Perhaps, things are looking up.
On November 28th, two spring chickens, 54-year-old Mike Tyson, and 51-year-old Roy Jones Jr., will return to the ring. Tyson has been teasing his return ever since he released a workout video where he declared, “I’m back.” He looks terrifying. For Tyson, the fight will mark his first in-ring appearance since a 2005 loss to Kevin McBride. His last win was back in 2003, when he knocked out Clifford Etienne in 49 seconds. Most of us remember in 1997, when Tyson bit the ear of Evander Holyfield and only received a two-point deduction. Moments later he bit Holyfield on the other ear and was disqualified. In recent years, he has rehabilitated his image as a kinder, gentler version of himself, appearing in films, hosting a podcast, and becoming an outspoken advocate for marijuana. Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx has confirmed that he will play Mike Tyson in an upcoming biopic about the life of the American former heavyweight champion of the world and is showing the world his new bulked-up physique. There is a YouTube video of Jamie Foxx detailing the opening scene to the movie that is excellent. I could not find a release date.
Scientists have found that female moles have developed testicular tissue that produces large amounts of testosterone, helping make them more aggressive and muscular for digging and defending territory. Some mole species’ females have higher levels than males, with the gene responsible for male hormones appearing three times in their genome, not just once. The mutation lets them develop male reproductive tissue without a Y chromosome. Isn’t science amazing? The female Iberian mole is functionally intersex, with both ovarian and testicular tissue, only developing a vagina during mating season.
Yes, I know they pick on you at school and call you names, but you still must go. You are the teacher!
Scientists say that Greenland has now shrunk past the point that it can recover from global heating even if the goal to limit temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius this century is achieved. There is no longer enough snow in winter to replenish the glaciers of snow and ice that are being lost to the melt of summer. 138 million estimated hours of sleep were lost across the U.S. on election night. Ken Jennings will be the first interim guest host when Jeopardy resumes production. The show is not naming an immediate successor to Alex Trebek since they plan to have a series of guest hosts. Jennings won 74 games and has the highest winnings in regular season play, winning a total of $2,520,700. So, he doesn’t really need the job. 😊
During the Middle Ages, they celebrated the end of the plague with wine and orgies. Does anyone know if anything is planned when this one ends? Have a great Thanksgiving weekend. Stay safe…please.
Lisa
