Today is Sunday, June 25 and there are only 183 days until Christmas.  Is that Christmas music I hear in the background?  Today we remember the birthdays of Henry (Hap) Arnold, Lord Louis Mountbatten and Ziggy Talent.  On this day in 1178 five Canterbury monks reported something exploding on the Moon, in 1788 Virginia became the 10^th state to ratify the US constitution and in 1941 FDR issued Executive Order 8802 forbidding discrimination.  In Gibraltar it is Spring Bank Day, in Mozambique it is Independence Day, in Virginia it is Ratification Day and in the US it is National Catfish Day and National Strawberry Parfait Day.

Every week I list the various holidays and always include the National Holidays here in the US.  I have always wondered about these days and decided that this would be a good time to do some research on them.  National Catfish Day is a national observance celebrating “the value of farm-raised catfish.”  The day was designated in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan, who issued a Presidential Proclamation after the US Congress called for the day to be established in House Joint Resolution 178.

National Strawberry Parfait Day is a day to enjoy strawberry parfaits.  Researchers have been unable to find a creator for the day or the origin, but they were able to determine that it has been celebrated for years.  There are a number of other National Days that are like this.  There is National Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day, National Mojito Day, National Tapioca Pudding Day, National Hammock Day and National Vinegar Day as examples.  These days are celebrated each year, but research has been unable to come up with a creator or origin for them.

Another interesting example is National Chicken Boy Day. Each year on September 1st, people across the United States recognize National Chicken Boy Day in honor of his September 1 ceremonial birthday. Standing 22 feet tall and holding a bucket of chicken, this fiberglass statue of a boy with a chicken head stands along Route 66.  Named after the former 1960s Chicken Boy Restaurant, he is also known as the “Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles”.

The iconic statue remained in place at the restaurant until the owner died in 1984.  At that time, Chicken Boy was given to Los Angeles art director, Amy Inouye, and was placed in storage until a suitable location could be found.  Some twenty years later, Chicken Boy was moved to his new home at Inouye’s design firm.  The result of the restoration of Chicken Boy was a community effort and donated funds.

A famous landmark on historic US Route 66, Chicken Boy was recognized by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with the Governor’s Historic Preservation Award in 2010.  Other awards it has received are:

Community Beautification Grant, City of Los Angeles, 2005-2006.

California Preservation Foundation, Three Minute Success Story, 2009.

 Highland Park Heritage Trust Preservation Award, 2009-2010.

 Commendation, City of Los Angeles, 2009.

Commendation, California State Assembly, Sacramento, California, 2010.

The most interesting part of this particular National Day is that no one has been able to come up with the creator or origin of the day!

I did not spend the time going through the entire year looking up each day, but I did find a few days that had a known creator and/or origin.  An example of that, and a new favorite of mine, is National Nude Day, July 14.  This day is a way to keep cool on a hot summer day.  Nudists around the world celebrate the day and take it seriously.  The founder of the day is unknown; however, it has origins in New Zealand.  Another day is National Prosecco Day on August 13. It was founded by Riondo Prosecco to celebrate the sparkling summer months.  Riondo Prosecco earned #1 Prosecco in Italy in 2010 by Il Mio Vino Magazine.  There is also Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19.  This day was founded in 2002 by John Baur and Mark Summers.  The story of how it started is amusing, but long.  If you are interested, you can Google it.  One more day is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator day on November 15.  This day was created by home economists at Whirlpool Appliances.  It was suggested as a way to prepare for the upcoming holidays.

This should give you a lot of not real valuable information that you can use at summer parties and barbecues that will cause people to look at you strangely and ask where you got that from.  Feel free to mention where you read it.  They have no idea who I am and will simply shake their heads and go get another drink.

This week our fact tells us that a Michigan state law states that a wife’s hair legally belongs to her husband.  Does that mean it is his responsibility to see that it is cut and styled and kept clean?  Does he get to pick the color?  I imagine the more important question, at least from the wife’s standpoint, is why?  Once again I am left wondering what could possibly have led to this legal head scratcher.

I continue to notice that people from various countries have read my blog.  I would love to know how you came across it.  When you see it is it in English or does it translate for you.  Please make a comment to let me know.  Thank you.

 Today is Sunday, June 18 and there are only 92 days until the birthday of the US Air Force.  As an Air Force veteran, I thought you should be reminded of that day.  Today we remember the birthdays of Feofan Prokopovich, James Montgomery Flagg and Paul McCartney.  On this day in 1812 the War of 1812 began as US declared war against Britain, in 1873 Susan B Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote for President and in 1991 President Zachary Taylor’s body was exhumed to test to see how he died.  In Egypt it is Evacuation Day and in the US it is Father’s Day, National Go Fishing Day and National Splurge Day.

As I am sure you all know, today is Father’s Day.  I am also sure you have seen all the ads advertising gifts for Dads and Grads.  Frankly, I feel like Dads are not getting their due because they have to share with Grads.  I think Grads should be mentioned, but separately.  Dads deserve their own recognition.

Anyway, I am going to give just a few Father’s Day info bits.  I may have told you some of this before, but just in case a couple pages got lost from your useless information file, I thought I would offer them again.  Father’s Day is celebrated to recognize the contribution that fathers and father figures make to the lives of their children.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.  Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law.  I am sure you now have enough to talk about at your big neighborhood Father’s Day barbecue so we will stop here.

This past week, I decided it was time to go down the shore.  The weather was sunny and the temperature was in the 90’s.  So we put the beach chairs in the car and hit the road.  We got to the beach and found a good place to sit and enjoy the water and the show.  I will say that the water was on the frigid side.  I never feel that a trip to the shore is official if I do not get my feet wet.  I walked down to the water, let a small wave hit me, stepped back and waited for the feeling to come back into my feet and went back to my chair to sit.  My exact words at the time are not for publication, but as I said that water was *%&$#@$ cold!

One of the first things I noticed was that a number of people were not prepared to be out in the sun all day.  There was a lot very red skin out there.  Just because it is not officially summer, it doesn’t mean you cannot get sunburn.  I saw one bald guy wearing a red bathing suit.  He was so red it was hard to tell what was skin and what was bathing suit.  I understand that people want to get out and get started on their tan, but suffering from sun poisoning is not the smart way to go.

The next thing I noticed is that people are still not seeing themselves the way they actually look.  One example of this was two young ladies I saw.  They were wearing the same bathing suit.  On the one girl it looked very nice.  It was sexy and showed her off quite nicely.  On the other girl it was not sexy and showed way too much of her.  In fact she would have been better off buying a different style.  I saw one girl wearing a suit that looked like it belonged to her 6 year old sister.  When your back cleavage is bigger than your front cleavage, you need to rethink your swimwear choice.  There were a couple women there that I just wanted to say, “Put on a caftan and cover yourself.  No one wants to see that!”  Especially since they hadn’t gotten any color yet.  They were what I unkindly refer to as land whales.  Not nice, but sometimes I have to call them as I see them.

Later, we went to walk the boardwalk.  If you are a people watcher, like I am, the boardwalk is the place to be.  I saw one girl wearing an outfit that looked like she had put on underwear and pantyhose and forgot to put on her pants.  I saw a guy walking along wearing what looked like a red, white and blue wig that he had cut down to a buzz cut.  I saw a guy with a very loud plaid shirt and striped shorts with colors that did not even come close to going together.  I saw women walking along that really should have been wearing a bra.  There is no reason why you would want that much bouncing around going on.  Besides, it was not attractive on the women that I saw.  In one case it was sort of disturbing.

We went to this one stand where the guy will fry anything.  Barbara got what she wanted and I got what I wanted and then we sat and watched the show.  It was interesting to see how people reacted as they came by.  Their first comment was usually something about not wanting to eat anything fried.  Then they would glance at the menu, slow down and start looking at all the items that are available.  Before you knew it they were ordering and as they waited for their fried treat, one person would turn to the other and say, “I can’t believe I am getting this, but it just sounded so good.”  The friend responded, “I know.  I didn’t even know they could fry that.  I may have to come back to try some of the other things.”  Welcome to the club!

This week our fact tells us that on this planet there is a can of Spam opened every four seconds.  How many are opened on other planets?  What is it about Spam that so many people want to eat it? I would think that, with that many cans being opened, we would hear the noise, but I apparently would be wrong.  Until I read this fact I would not have guessed that there was that much being consumed.  I will have to look into this further.

Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there.  Go splurge and get yourself a can of Spam.

 Today is Sunday, June 11 and there are 165 days until Thanksgiving.  You should still be able to get a good spot to watch the parade, if you go now.  Today we remember the birthdays of Charles Fabry, Jacques Cousteau and Gene Wilder.  On this day in 1517 Sir Thomas Pert reached Hudson Bay, in 1936 the Presbyterian Church of America was founded at Philadelphia and in 1959 the Postmaster General banned DH Lawrence’s book, Lady Chatterley’s Lover.  In Hawaii it is King Kamehameha I Day, in Massachusetts it is Children’s Day and in the US it is National Corn on the Cob Day and National German Chocolate Cake Day.

Recently, I found that when I ran my dishwasher, water would run out onto the kitchen floor.  Because of my extensive DIY experience I was able to immediately diagnose the problem as a leak.  I further surmised that it had something to do with the dishwasher.  By now you have been able to tell that I have a keen grasp of the obvious.  It has always been my belief that I should start with the simplest and/or least expensive solution first, so I called a plumber.  Understand, I was pretty sure what the outcome would be, but there was always the chance that I was wrong.

As it turned out, I was not.  The plumber came in, asked me a few questions and told me the problem was the dishwasher.  He explained what I would have been seeing if it was a plumbing issue and I was not seeing that.  Because the dishwasher was over ten years old, he said it was not surprising.  I remember a time when you bought an appliance and knew it would last forever.  My parents had a refrigerator in their kitchen that was easily 50 years old and worked quite well … but I digress.

Nowadays, you are lucky if an appliance lasts five to seven years.  They are built with planned obsolescence.  They are made to fall apart after a few years.  To make things even worse, after a couple years, you can’t find parts to fix anything or if you do they cost a fortune.  Of course, you generally have to have a repairman come in to do the work for you.  He usually is ready to do the job, but needs a couple more things.  Now the repair has stretched out for a week or so and is more expensive.  The ultimate goal is to have you simply buy a new appliance.

The plumber I had suggested just that.  He explained that it would be a good idea because of the age, etc.  I had anticipated that this would be the likely solution, so I decided to be proactive and started looking at dishwashers over the previous couple days.  I went to two different stores and found several models that I thought might be good choices.  What I found interesting was that in both stores, I spent a fair amount of time looking at the choices and discussing various features with Barbara.  We opened them, checked the racks and silverware trays, looked to see if the top rack was adjustable and so on.  At no time did a salesperson come over and offer to tell us about any of the models we were looking at.

I came home and got on the computer to see the reviews on the models I was considering.  The first thing I discovered was that every model I had looked at, initially, had drawbacks.  I suppose I could have done some research before going to the stores, but I thought I knew what to look for.  Apparently not.  Having found that out, I decided to go to the store and find one that would give me the features that I wanted and wouldn’t require me to take out a home equity loan to pay for it.

We went back to the store and started looking again, avoiding the ones that I had found were not good.  That allowed us to narrow the field considerably.  The next thing I tried to do was ignore the hyped-up names for features.  Names like the “storm fall” washer system or the “cyclone drier” or the “devours anything” food grinder.  I just needed to be sure it would clean the dishes, pots and pans, not shatter the glassware and not leak for the next ten years.  I found one and I will let you know how it goes.

When the time came to actually order the item, I had to find the person who worked in the area.  I went over to the desk where he was sitting and he spent the next ten minutes typing information into the computer.  Next he went and got a pile of papers from a printer, had me sign in a couple spots and then handed me part of the pile and told me to go to the register to pay.  What bothers me is that I will not get any commission for having sold the dishwasher to myself and he will get credit for the sale.  Oh well, I guess he figures he will be obsolete sometime soon, anyway, so why work too hard.

This week our fact tells us that unless you have a doctor’s note, it is illegal to buy ice cream after 6 PM in Newark, NJ.  I cannot think of a reason why, but someone thought it was necessary.  The bigger questions are why a doctor’s note and how to get the doctor to write the note?  Is it covered under insurance and will it be covered if the new government plan is put into place?  Is the need for ice cream considered a pre-existing condition?  I think it would be simpler to just buy it earlier in the day and avoid the need for the note.

 Today is Sunday, June 4 and there are only 149 days until Halloween.  The candy should be in the stores any day now.  You might be able to get a deal with the back to school specials.  Today we remember the birthdays of George III, Dino Conte Grandi and Robert Earl Hughes.  On this day in 780 BC the first total solar eclipse was reliably recorded, in China, in 1070 Roquefort cheese was created in a cave near Roquefort, France and in 1929 George Eastman demonstrated the first Technicolor movie.  In Botswana it is Commonwealth Day, in Tonga it is Independence Day and in the US it is National Cheese Day, National Cognac Day and National Cancer Survivor’s Day.

I have been providing information regarding the month we are in recently and have decided to make it a regular thing, so here is information about June.  The month of June, named аftеr the Roman gоddеѕѕ Junо, the wife of Juріtеr, іѕ the ѕіxth month оf thе year іn the Gregorian and Julіаn саlеndаrѕ.  Juno wаѕ knоwn as thе patron оf mаrrіаgе and was responsible fоr thе wellbeing оf women.  In the рrе-Cаеѕаr Roman calendar, the mоnth of Junе had 29 dауѕ іnѕtеаd of 30. Whеn thе winter dауѕ wеrе gіvеn twо mоnthѕ аnd mоrе days were аddеd to thе саlеndаr, Junе was gіvеn an аddіtіоnаl day.

Thе birthstone оf Junе is thе pearl.  Thе реаrl rерrеѕеntѕ friendship, lоуаltу, fаіthfulnеѕѕ, рurіtу, аnd mоdеѕtу.  Pеаrlѕ are also representative оf еnhаnсіng реrѕоnаl integrity аnd аrе thоught to hаvе healing properties thаt rеlаtе tо hеаrt, ѕtоmасh, intestine, ulсеr, and spleen рrоblеmѕ.  Thе flоwеr оf June іѕ the rose whісh symbolizes love аnd beauty. Thе lоngеѕt dау оf thе уеаr іѕ іn thе mоnth оf Junе. The 21ѕt of Junе is Summer Solstice; this day mеаѕurеѕ as thе lоngеѕt day on earth.  Aсrоѕѕ thе wоrld, ѕсіеnсе еnthuѕіаѕts сеlеbrаtе thе day аѕ a scientific еvеnt.  I am sure by now you know more than you wanted to, so let’s move on.

Recently, I had occasion to tell Barbara that my hand span was nine inches.  She just looked at me and asked why I would know that.  I explained that I measured it once to see what it was.  I do not really recall why I felt it was something I should know, but I measured it to find out.  Now, when you go to measure your hand span (which I know some of you will do) be sure to open it as wide as you can.  The easiest way to measure it is to place a ruler on the table, put your thumb at the end and spread your hand out.  The question may never come up, but it is good to know that if it ever does you have the answer.

I was out recently and saw a man deal with a problem that I have had a number of times.  He had something under his false teeth and took them out to remove it.  I can honestly say that I have never taken my teeth out in a restaurant to remove something, like he did; however, there have been times when it was tempting.  In answer to the first question you might have, yes I have false teeth.  I had to have all my teeth pulled while I was in the service.  I will not bore you with what the problem was or any of that.  I will say that false teeth can be an issue.

Usually, I can remove the offending bit of food just by taking a drink and sloshing the water around.  The problem comes when it is something like a tomato seed.  They are flat and do not want to come loose.  When that happens, I go to the bathroom and clear it.  I do not take the teeth out and clean them while sitting at the table where everyone can see.  I am pretty sure that no one wants to see that, especially kids.  “Mommy, all that man’s teeth just came out of his mouth and then he put them back in.  Why didn’t he save them for the Tooth Fairy?  He could be rich!”

Speaking of things that men do or don’t do, I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day and had the opportunity to observe the man in front of me.  What is it about men, as they grow older, that they stop worrying about personal grooming?  The man in front of me had nose hair and ear hair that really needed to be trimmed.  I mean REALLY needed to be trimmed.  If he let it go much longer he would be able to cut it and donate it to Locks of Love.  I realize that sometimes you forget to trim it and then you look and realize it needs attention, but this guy apparently had not looked at it for several months.  If you know a guy like that, a trimmer is always a good gift.  Drop a hint like, “Looking up your nose is like looking up at a tall person’s armpit.”  C’mon guys!  It only takes a couple minutes.  

This week our fact tells us that hedgehogs are lactose intolerant.  My first question is who cares?  Next is how do we know that?  Did a hedgehog try some of someone’s milk and then leave a note complaining?  What did it cost to study this issue, why did we feel it needed to be studied and now that we know, what are we supposed to do about it?  Tell me something important like how to get a tomato seed out from under my dentures.