This week, my Dear Dad turned 88.  Eighty eight.  A-Dee-Ate.  No matter how you say it, that was a few years ago.  Eighty eight years is 771,408 hours.  Or 32,142 days.  Either way.  We had a party for him today at my house.  Yep.  1922.

The Tomb of Tutankhamen was discovered on November 4th in the valley of the kings in Egypt in that year.  Warren G. Harding was President of the United States. A box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cost 12 cents.  And a biggie:  The 19th Amendment passed in 1922, giving women the right to vote.  It was a good year; a very good year.

Pauley

“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”  – John F. Kennedy

Today I sewed a button on my favorite pair of shorts. Not my strongest suit. Frankly, I suck at sewing.

So tonight, I sit down to write this deal, and I see that today is Elias Howe’s birthday (1819)! Imagine my surprise. “Who the HECK?” you say? Well, he was the American Inventor of the Sewing Machine. I bet you good money, this guy couldn’t sew on buttons. Hence, the invention.

And, a snappy dresser, to boot.

Elias Howe (could be related to Thurston Howe III, judging by his outfit.)

Today is Max’s Birthday. Maxine Virginia Swift.

Sort of. We found her on July 2nd, 2002. The vet said she was probably about a year old. Since my favorite two numbers are 7 and 8, we donned her birthday, July 8, 2001. That makes her around 9 years old…if you can go by the tooth-inspection she got 8 years ago. But if she is 9, that makes her roughly 49 years old as humans go, according to this handy-dandy calculator. http://www.onlineconversion.com/dogyears.htm

So Max and I are roughly the same age. Now that you have all the numbers, count backwards from 100 by 7 while thinking of 3….. or should you be thinking of 2? Either way, you should be doing this while eating some cake!

Another birthday is around the bend....

Yes, they eat our fish. And we love them. Not so much that they are eating our fish, but they are awesome, awesome birds. I’ve asked them to snack on things other than our Koi. So far, so good.

Did you know….As Great Blue Herons attempt to swallow their prey whole, they have been known to choke to death at times? Their long, S-shaped necks makes it difficult for them to swallow fish which are too long or large. I have never had to Heimlich a Heron. And let me stress this next point: I hope I never do.

Big Girl

The Great Blue

This is Titus, the no-knee-capped, breath holding, aquatic baby. Did you know all babies are born without kneecaps? They are also born with natural swimming abilities and can instinctually hold their breath under water. This is really something, I think.

Titus at 9 days old

Glad my knee caps grew in. I’m also thankful I held on to that swimming thing.

Took a nice long walk around our prairie field this morning. We saw so many amazing things.
This was one of them.

I think they are pipe cleaners.....

The Fourth of July commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

It was initially adopted by Congress on July 2, 1776, but then it was revised and the final version was adopted two days later.

To Johnny A., Tommy J., Benny Frank, and the whole wig-wearing crew….. nice work boys.

Astronomers have identified numerous stellar black hole candidates, and have also found evidence of supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. In 1998, astronomers found compelling evidence that a supermassive black hole of more than 2 million solar masses is located near the Sagittarius A* region in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and more recent results using additional data find evidence that the supermassive black hole is more than 4 million solar masses.

It could be....

It pretty much is......

My favorite number.

Seven days in a week. I am the youngest of seven kids. Lucky Seven. Seven brides for seven brothers. 7-11. Seventh Heaven. There are seven continents on earth. Seven wonders of the world. Seven colors in the rainbow. Seven stars in the Big Dipper. It just keeps going, and going.

Hey…….. Why was six afraid of seven. Because seven ate nine.