Most people know that the Bald Eagle is a National Symbol for the United States of America.  Thomas Jefferson was well in favor of this.  And most people know that old Ben Franklin thought the Wild Turkey should take the place as the Bird for the National Symbol.

Yet few people know this.  Of the 56 men, from the 13 colonies, who signed the Declaration of Independence, 38 of those men thought the common pigeon should be the bird of choice.

Among those 38 were John Hancock of  Massachusetts, and Thomas Heyward Jr. of South Carolina.

But Jefferson made his case and we got the Eagle.

Had it been the other way, we would have Pigeon-Brand Condensed Milk, the NFL’s Philadelphia Pigeons, and American Pigeon Outfitters.  And my friend Bertie Conroy, who walked with his feet pointed inward, would have been Eagle-Toed.

So it is, the American Way.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
 
Happy Fourth.  Here is to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

And for celebrating your Independence, no matter what your feathers look like.

Sure.   I am a self-confessed home body.  No question about it.  I like being home more than anywhere else in the world.
I am home now, and it feels good.

But sometimes it is nice to get out and see the sights.  Smell the smells.   Taste the tastes.    You get the idea.  Hear the heres.

The past couple of days, we went to Indy and kicked around the city a bit.  I really hadn’t been there in about a hundred years.   Since I went to Butler University.  (Shout out to all the Bulldogs in the world.)

At any rate, we explored and learned and enjoyed.

Some of it made us happy.   Some of it made us sad.

But all of it made us more aware of the world in which we live.   And I am very aware now…. of  things I never knew before.  In all my years.

Around every minute of the day, there are intriguing and mysterious things for us to find.  If we look.

I find this this characteristic of life…. to be a pretty incredible thing. And I am thankful that we can explore, as we can.

Especially when you find pizza at Izzy and Harry’s.

Other cool facts:

Abraham Lincoln’s birth mother may have been illegitimate. 

Shriners don’t wear their Fez Caps all the time.  They also drive regular sized cars in real life.

There are 330 steps going up inside the Circle Centre War Memorial Monument.

Most cities have secret gems.

This is kind of a creepy day, historically speaking.
It is filled with dark events, I’ll tell you that much right now.

Probably the most famous incident occurred on July 2, in 1937.  Yep.  That is when that shining young star of an aviator….. Amelia Earhart….  and her trusty navigator Fred Noonan……. disappeared over the big blue Pacific Ocean.  They got in a little plane, revved it up,  and decided to fly all the way around the world…. by way of the equator.   Away she went.  For good.

Jump back to the Civil War.  Bad things happened every day during that war.  But on this date in 1863… the Battle of Gettysburg was just getting underway.

A few decades later… in 1881….  President James A. Garfield was fatally shot by Charles J. Guiteau.   Old Chuck shot Jim at the Washington railroad station. Stubborn Garfield hung on for a while.  He died 2 1/2 months later…. on September 19th to be exact.

Back up to the 20th Century.    On July 2nd…. Ed Delahanty, disappeared.  He was the American and National League batting champ.  This whole deal happened in 1903.  Delahanty was found dead a few days later.  There are varying theories ….  all which have evidence of a drunken accident, OR a suicide, OR even possibly a robbery murder (there were reports of a mysterious man following Delahanty).  At any rate…. strike threeeee, you are out.

On this date in 1940, Hitler orders invasion of England.  It was called Operation Sealion.  No good came from that point on.  War, is….. war.

A whole bunch of other dark and dreary things happened on July 2nd.  For instance, in 1961, Author Ernest Hemingway was as down as a man can be.  He decided to shoot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.  He was quite a writer, I’ll say.   He was only 61 when he did it.  I bet he had a few more stories in him.

But….. quite possibly….  the very worst is this.  Today is Lindsay Lohan’s birthday.

And that… my friends…. is a short account of the dark side of this historical date.

On a brighter note… I guess….  Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid rob train of $40,000 at Wagner Montana.  I guess that’s brighter.

“Weather forecast for tonight: dark.” – George Carlin

The Secret Lives of Mushrooms.  A toad’s stool.  A pie’s topper.  A sky’s boom.

(My personal favorite today is the variety which tops the pie.  Graciously.)

“The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.” – W. Somerset Maugham

My “Living in the Country” Quest continues….

Here is a good little fact.  Cows Know.

You see…. the revelation unfolded like this.  I went to a birthday party tonight.  The Guest of Honor turned three.  Great party. Fabulous food.

I took a walk toward the end of the festivities.  And yes.  You know how at some parties… people will “rent” swan or geese for “atmosphere”?  Welllll…. these folks brought in an entire field of cows.

I went to the fence, to talk to the old girls.    At any rate… they seemed a little hacked off.  In fact, they wouldn’t say a word to me edgewise.

Then it hit me.  I had a big ol’ juicy hamburger for dinner.

They knew it.  THEN… I KNEW that THEY KNEW.

Oh my.  And then.  There was a long…… extended……….. awkward silence….. standing there at the electric fence.  Those cows stared at me hard.  They were moving their mouths…. like they were chewing something.   But I knew better.  They were mocking me.

And then I quickly skulked off. (Before the Bulls got the word on the street.)

The next time I will know better.  I’ll either steer clear of the burgers…. or not hang out with the Rent-A-Cows.

“The lesson is that you can still make mistakes and be forgiven.” – Robert Downy Jr.

America loves baseball.  It is true.  But why do we love it so, I wonder.  It isn’t the fastest-paced game on the planet.  That is for sure.  In fact, at times…. it can be a little boring.  Yet it seems that all of us have played… at some point or other.

Now…. I got my start on the ball field in Little League.    The  roots of baseball…. and Little League …. extend  far back into American History. Heck … way back into the 18th century.  Perhaps that is why we love it so.  It is imbedded in our heritage.

When fighting was slow….. the Soldiers of the Continental Army played a version of ball at Valley Forge during the American Revolution.

Funny.  It caught on with common U.S. citizens.  They began playing more modern versions of the British games of cricket and rounders through the early 19th century.  Back then, they called it “town ball.”

In the 1840s, New Yorker Alexander Joy Cartwright and his acquaintances played a game they called “base ball” that was very similar to the game we know today. So.  That is all how baseball got its go.

But what about the young?  Of course there was the sandlot.  That was about it.  But low and behold….
In 1938, a man named Carl Stotz hit upon the idea for an organized baseball league for the boys in his hometown of Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Carl devised this whole deal as a way to teach kids the ideals of sportsmanship, fair play and teamwork.

On June 6, 1939, in the very first Little League game ever played, Lundy Lumber defeated Lycoming Dairy, 23-8.

From those humble beginnings, Little League Baseball has become the world’s largest organized youth sports program.

In the space of just six decades….. Little League has grown from three squatty little teams in Podunk, Pennsylvania…. to nearly 200,000 teams, in all 50 U.S. states and more than 80 countries.

I used to be on one of them.
Today I watched some kids play Little League Baseball.
And it is easy to see why we all love it so.  The love of the game. The fun of the game.  The satisfaction of sportsmanship, and a job well done.

And of course, there is nothing like a ballpark frank.  With lots of mustard AND ketchup.

Play Ball.

“When they start the game, they don’t yell, “Work ball.”  They say, “Play ball.”  ~Willie Stargell, 1981″

I think I have some sort of genetic imprint of a dog.  Maybe, somewhere, in some other life…. I was a dog.  If those sorts of things happen.
Or maybe as a child, I was rescued by a band of dogs….  and they dropped me off at the orphanage.  I was later adopted by Mom & Dad, my human parents.  Or maybe, I just like the way Milkbone dog biscuits taste…. dipped in peanut butter and melted chocolate, of course.
Whatever the reason, I love dogs.

Dogs are cool in so many ways.   They are kind, and loving, and loyal.   Smart. Protective.  Intuitive.  Funny.  Sweet.

But…. they are very fabulous in other ways too.  They sniff out crimes.  They rescue people.  They help those with handicaps.  On and on.

They also have quite a past. Did you know that three dogs survived The Titantic?  Twelve dogs boarded the ship, but only three made it through.  A Bulldog, a Great Dane, and a little Wired Terrier.  I’d love to know THAT story.

As a sidebar…. did you know a dog’s face can indicate the length of its lifespan?  Flat-faced dogs don’t live as long as dogs with sharper, pointier features.  Yet…. when a big boat hits an iceberg, it doesn’t seem to play into the outcome of things.  Bulldogs are pretty flat-faced, after all.  I am thinking they must be good at either swimming, or clinging on to floating debris.

Whatever the case, no matter.  I just hope this little dog here….. sticks around for a long time.   Because flat-faced or not, she is the best kind of dog….. to me.  The Big Heart in a Little Body Kind.  Best of friends….we’ll always be.

“Kindness, I’ve discovered, is everything in life.” – Isaac Bashevis Singer

Some days are really good.  You know…. when you can hang out in the trees… zip lining through the air up there …. and the woods.  With three of your favorite people in the world.

With funny yellow helmets on our heads.  2319!  2319!

Ah. The beautiful gifts of life.

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. – Thornton Wilder

I am a City Girl.  Admittedly.
There are all sorts of things I continue to learn about country living.  My friends help me  out.
Take for instance…. those funny looking pink tubes that hang out of cows….. well wouldn’t you know …. milk comes out of those things.
And the big round buildings that you see near barns… the ones that look like they are wearing a silver Yarmulke?  Those are not called High Lows.  They are Silos… and farmers put grain and such inside.  They are not missile holders either.

Now horses.  I finally figured this one out for myself.  When you see a couple of them out in a field, with their noses to the ground…. they are not smelling things… like the roses.  No.
You see… one of them has simply lost a contact lens.  And his buddy is helping him find it.
Horses have terrible eyesight.  That is why they are always eating carrots.  Seriously.

Now that…. is a horse of a different color blind.
Yep.  I am getting better at this farm living thing.

As the old John Denver song goes….. Thank God I’m a country girl.

This my friends… is a sad, but true story.

Seriously.  I found it in the ‘Only in America’ Section of THE WEEK.  (  http://theweek.com/  )

It seems this guy…. a New Hampshire man, to be exact….  lost his life savings on a carnival game.  Here is the deal.  He tried in vain to win the grand prize…. which was of all things….. an Xbox Kinect.

The guy’s name is Henry Gribbohm.  He is 30 years old, according to the report.  Old Henry, was playing a game called “Tubs of Fun,” in which you throw balls into tubs.

He must not have been a very good shot….  as it turns out…. he quickly lost $300.  As if that wasn’t enough.  He then went home to get the rest of his life savings — which he subsequently lost.

All told, Gribbohm lost $2,600 and according to the news report… he was left with only a stuffed banana.

Sometimes life is hard.  Like a lone monkey on an empty road… who would absolutely kill for a stuffed banana.  You win some.  You lose some.

“Rule No.1: Never lose money.
Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.”
– Warren Buffet