According to folklore, Farmers’ Almanac, and Melissa Bunker aka The Persimmon Lady (who reads persimmons and has been making predictions for years); if you split open the seeds of locally grown persimmon fruit slice through the seed, look at the pattern that the seed makes inside, it will tell you everything you need to know to predict the winter. Now, mind you, The Persimmon Lady lives in North Carolina not Texas, but her prediction is that 2023-2024 will be very cold and bitter. To make a persimmon forecast, one source said to take 10 persimmons, split the seeds and see what pattern you find the most of. A fork shape indicates a mild winter, a spoon shape stands for snow that will need shoveling, and a knife shape means a bitter cold icy winter where wind will cut you like a knife. Or you can just watch your local weather or the weather app on your phone.
Thou shall not try me. Mom 24:7
National Make a Dog’s Day is October 22nd. Hmmm. What can you do? Adopt a dog. Take a dog walking at local shelters or donate supplies. Visit a dog park with your own pooch or take her on an extra lap around the block, or just spend time with the loving animal that creates so much happiness throughout the year.
Don’t Drink and Drive! Your dog would never understand why you didn’t come home.
Speaking of man’s best friend, I just received the nicest newsletter from the SPCA along with pictures of some of the sweet babies that were loved, are now healthy and were adopted over the summer. They welcomed so many incredible animals into the shelter. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, 360 dogs and 480 cats came into their care – that’s a total of 840 animals – (wow), and 794 animals were adopted, along with vaccinating hundreds of pets in our community. Support them when you can. Spay and neuter.
The Dallas Cowboys are bringing in Dolly Parton as their Thanksgiving Day halftime show. Dallas will play the Washington Commanders. WOW. Janet Jackson is returning to Houston on December 1st, to celebrate AIDS Day at NRG Arena. Houston native Debbie Allen who starred with Jackson in Fame, will speak. Actor Blair Underwood will receive the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
When Teller and I opened our first fortune cookie this weekend, it was blank. Hmmm. No fortune. I didn’t take it personally. The second cookie said, “Some folks dream of fortune, others dream of cookies.” Teller says he dreams of dog biscuits.
The Brazoria County Beekeepers Association presents their Bee Expo at Wild Peach Market 21155 North Hwy 36 Brazoria, Sat. October 28th from 5:30 – 9:30PM. Yes, it’s Saturday evening now that the weather is cooler. There will be live music and food, shopping, local honey, baked goods, desserts, décor, kid crafts, classes, an observation hive, face-painting and more. Vendor space available. For further info: 979-480-3223 or facebook.com/WildPeachMarket. Costumes are welcome! BEE there. I went to the most fun class on mushrooms at this place last Saturday morning. I’ll tell you all about it next week. I’m growing two containers of mushrooms in my kitchen right now and should see results beginning in about 10-days.
Sir Ian Wilmut, British embryologist best known as the leader of the research group that in 1996 first cloned a mammal from an adult somatic cell, a lamb named Dolly, who died of a respiratory disease in 2003. In 1966, Wilmut spent eight weeks working in the laboratory of Christopher Polge, who is credited with developing the technique of cryopreservation in 1949. The following year Wilmut joined Polge’s laboratory to undertake a PhD with a thesis on semen cryopreservation. In 1996, he was the leader of the research group that first cloned a mammal, a lamb named Dolly, who died of a respiratory disease in 2003.
Rudolph Isley, founding member of the Isley Brothers who performed R&B classics, Shout, Twist and Shout, That Lady, It’s Your Thing, Lonely Teardrops, and so much more, died at 84. Rudolph Isley left the group in 1989 to become a Christian minister but was still inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
Suzanne Somers of Three’s Company fame died at 76. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 during a routine mammogram, receiving a lumpectomy and radiation as well as alternative therapies, but continued to battle cancer multiple times throughout her life. She said, “every now and then it pops up again, and I continue to bat it down.” If you haven’t made your mammogram appointment, then do it right now!
Nobel prize winning poet Louise Gluck, died at 80. When she received the literature prize in 2020, it was the first time an American poet had been honored since T.S. Eliot in 1948.
Bruce Weaver, the photographer who was able to capture the unbelievable images of space shuttle Challenger breaking apart into smoke and fire after lift-off on January 28, 1986, has died at 77. Eroded O-ring seals in the right booster failed, causing the explosion. In 1986, actual film was still used, and Weaver had not yet filled up 36 frames of his roll while photographing the launch when the Challenger began breaking apart. Other photographers had finished their rolls and needed to rewind before replacement with a new roll.
Joanna Merlin, who created the role of Tzeitel in the original production of Fiddler on the Roof, died at 92.
Piper Laurie, nominated nine times for an Emmy and three times for an Academy Award, best known for Carrie (Sissy Spacek’s ultra-religious mother) and The Hustler (love interest of Paul Newman), died at 91.
Gail O’Neill, supermodel, and journalist, died at 61.
While filling up my car with gas the other day, I could hear the truck beside me topping off his tank. You know, when the pump stops, and you try to get a little bit more in the tank. Klunk. I just read that doing this can damage a piece of your gas tank called the onboard refueling vapor recovery system. This part collects harmful fuel vapors and emits them into the outside air. It can cost several hundred dollars to repair this part. Gas also needs room to expand and packing the tank with gas prevents it from expanding. FYI.
“They say everything looks better with odd numbers of things. But sometimes I put even numbers – just to upset the critics.” Bob Ross
A 91-year-old Wisconsin man, tired of retirement, opened a new barber shop called Bob’s Old Fashioned Barber Shop. Bob Rohloff said he has followed in his father’s footsteps and had been cutting hair since 1948, while he was still in high school. He said that he doesn’t have arthritis, so why not continue to work… but he didn’t tell his family what he was doing because they wouldn’t have understood. (Everyone is going to get old, but you don’t have to act old…)
This week was my regularly scheduled dental appointment. I love going for cleanings. My hygienist is going to become a first-time grandmother, so we discussed grandma names. Just in case you’re in need of a cool name, a recent survey says the most-used alternate names for grandmother or grandma are Gigi, Nana, Mimi, Gran, Bibi, & Momo. The most used-alternate names for Grandfather or Grandpa are Poppy, Pops, Papi, G-Pa, GranDude, & Papa.
There is a disturbance in the Atlantic, named at this time AL94, that the National Hurricane Center is monitoring. Hurricane season ends November 30th but that doesn’t really matter because all the rules have changed on what the weather is going to do.
Bobby Flay has restaurants, cookbooks, television shows, and surprise, a premium cat food brand Made by Nacho, named after his Maine Coon, Nacho and sister, Stella. Nine-year-old Nacho died this week. My cats love this brand, so I mix it with the stuff they’re not so fond of… Reportedly, prosecutors are planning to recharge Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting on the 2021 movie set of Rust ... The Los Angeles Olympic Committee has released new sports for the 2028 games, Baseball/Softball, Flag Football, Lacrosse, Squash, & Cricket… The state of Arkansas ordered Chinese owned company, Syngenta, to sell 160 acres of farmland in the U.S. that they own, within two years. The same company owns about 1,500 acres of U.S. agricultural land for research, development and regulatory trials on products used by U.S. farmers. Arkansas also fined Syngenta $280,000 for failure to report foreign ownership in a timely manner. Sigh… Vladimir Putin‘s arrival in Beijing this week received the red-carpet treatment. The visit was Putin’s first trip outside countries of the former Soviet Union since the International Criminal Court, of which China is not a member, issued a warrant for his arrest in March … Apple has unveiled a brand-new affordable third-gen Apple Pencil that costs $79 and has a USC-C port.
So far, we have 34 Garage Sales listed on page 6. It should be a great weekend for shopping! Thanks for reading us this week. We appreciate you.
LISA
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com
