It is Sunday, April 12 and there are only 148 days until Labor Day, so keep an eye out for the back to school specials.  Today is the birthday of David Letterman, Alexander Briley and Claire Danes.  On this day in 1654 England, Ireland and Scotland united, in 1877 a catcher’s mask was used for the first time in a baseball game and in 1988 Sonny Bono was elected mayor of Palm Springs, CA.  In North Carolina it is Halifax Independence Day.

Since there is not much going on holiday-wise today, I thought I would give you a brief explanation of the one holiday that is happening.  The Halifax Resolves is the name later given to a resolution adopted by the Fourth Provincial Congress of the Province of North Carolina on April 12, 1776.  The resolution was a forerunner of the United States Declaration of Independence.

In February 1776, the first battle of the War for American Independence in North Carolina occurred at Moore’s Creek Bridge.  There, the North Carolina Whigs defeated the North Carolina Loyalists. This Patriot victory was fresh on the minds of the members of the Fourth Provincial Congress when they reconvened on April 4, 1776, in Halifax, North Carolina. Independence from Britain seemed imminent to all present.  Colonel Robert Howe remarked to the assembly: “Independence seems to be the word; I know of not one dissenting voice.”

On April 12, the committee submitted the Halifax Resolves to the Provincial Congress for its consideration. The Resolves directed North Carolina to declare independence, to join with other colonies in similar endeavors, and to reserve the right of North Carolina to create a Constitution.  The Provincial Congress unanimously adopted the Halifax Resolves, and a copy was sent to the North Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress.  So there you have it.  Your folder of useless information just keeps growing.  You are welcome.

Last week, I spent some time discussing eggs and their significance to Easter.  In thinking about it, I can’t help but wonder how eggs came to be a food item in the first place.  Who looked at a chicken and thought, ‘I am going to eat the next thing that comes out of that bird’s butt.’  Meanwhile, someone else was looking at the bird thinking, ‘Once he eats that I am going to eat the bird itself.’  Fortunately, they must have had more than one of those birds because we still have chickens today.

Those thoughts sent me off on several other musings.  For example milk.  Someone looked at a cow and decided that they would drink whatever came out of those things hanging under it.  Why?  Was there no source of water around?  Picture the event – two Neanderthals are standing around looking at a cow.  One turns to the other and says, “See that animal over there with those things underneath it?  I am going to squeeze them and drink what comes out.”  The other says, “Go ahead.  I may have some, too.  I bet it would be good to have with cookies.”  The first responds, “What are cookies?”  The second says, “I do not know, but I think cookies whenever I think about drinking that liquid.”  I’m kidding about the cookies part, but why would they think what came out of that animal was something they should drink?

Let’s talk seafood for a bit.  Be honest, if you did not know better and you looked at a lobster, a shrimp or a crab, would you think that you were looking at something to eat?  Someone had to take one, cook it, crack it open and think that this was good and they should do it all the time.  Look at one critically sometime and ask yourself if you would consider it a potential source of food or just something that would hurt you if it got hold of you.  How about clams or oysters?  How did someone look at them and think that if they could just get that shell open, there would be some good eating inside?

I wonder that about many of the things we eat.  Someone looked at cattle and thought they would be a good source of meat.  Why cows?  Sure they provide sustenance and the skin can be used to make clothing and car seats, but why cows and not deer or moose or any of the other animals out where the deer and the antelope play.  At one time we had a huge number of buffalo roaming around.  Why did we kill them all off, but saved cows for food and such?  Who looked at a pig and thought ‘BACON!’  Pigs were animals that lived in slop and ate garbage and yet someone thought they would be a good source of meat.  “Yep, I get me one of them animals and I got bacon and some pink meat for Easter.”  Next time you sit down to dinner, ponder the question of how what you are about to eat came to be.

Speaking of eating, the lovely Elaine and I were out at a local diner for dinner the other evening.  I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, deluxe.  I got the deluxe because it came with fries, cole slaw, lettuce and tomato.  I ate everything but one slice of tomato and a couple pieces of lettuce.  I told the lovely Elaine that I was going to tell the waiter that I wanted the leftovers wrapped up.  She wouldn’t let me.  She felt that he was nice and that I shouldn’t mess with him.  Fear not, I will get someone with that and I will let you know how it went.

This week our fact tells us that in Taiwan, a third of all funeral processions feature a stripper (I’m pretty sure they do not mean a guy who cleans old paint off furniture).  And people thought I was crazy because I want a New Orleans-style jazz band for my funeral.  I may have to change my thinking and start auditioning performers.