Good 48º very slightly hazy sky morning.
Yesterday stayed clear like it has been for the last 9 days or so. We warmed to 93º.
Amazing, with all the smoke and fires. For about the last 4 days the hummingbird population here has decreased. We had 4-5 hummers per feeder for awhile with all the smoke, I know they were getting away to a less smokey place. I was filling the feeders every couple to three days. Now there are only about 3 hummers hanging out here!
Today is the first day back to school for Sami and Tucker. Tucker is now in high school, freshman. Sami is in the 5th grade.
Pictures of the Day
While we traveled to and from Jacksonville on Sunday, Sami, who likes to take pictures, had my camera and took the following....
This was at Schoolhaus Brewhaus ... while we ate he slept in his bed. The waitress brought him a dish of water....
She totally took about 40 photos! When we got back to my house Dash was so happy to run around with Dude!
Interesting about babies mailed through the US Postal Service....
Once-upon-a-time, it was legal to mail a baby in the United States. It happened more than once and by all accounts, the mailed tots arrived no worse for wear. Yes, "baby mail" was a real thing.
On January 1, 1913, the then Cabinet-level U.S. Post Office Department — now the U.S. Postal Service — first started delivering packages. Americans instantly fell in love with the new service and were soon mailing each other all sorts of items, like parasols, pitchforks and, yes, babies.
As documented in the article, “Very Special Deliveries,” by curator of the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Nancy Pope, several children, including one “14-pound baby” were stamped, mailed and dutifully delivered by the U.S. Post Office between 1914 and 1915.
The practice, noted Pope, became affectionately known by letter carriers of the day as "baby mail."
According to Pope, with postal regulations, being few and far between in 1913, they failed to specify exactly “what” could and could not be mailed via the still very new parcel post service. So in mid-January 1913, an unnamed baby boy in Batavia, Ohio was delivered by a Rural Free Delivery carrier to its grandmother about a mile away. “The boy’s parents paid 15-cents for the stamps and even insured their son for $50,” wrote Pope.
Despite a “no humans” declaration by the Postmaster General, at least five more children were officially mailed and delivered between 1914 and 1915.
If the very idea of mailing babies sounds sort of reckless to you, don’t worry. Long before the then-Post Office Department had created its “special handling” guidelines for packages, children delivered via “baby-mail” got it anyway. According to Pope, the children were “mailed” by traveling with trusted postal workers, often designated by the child’s parents. And fortunately, there are no heartbreaking cases of babies being lost in transit or stamped “Return to Sender” on record.
The longest trip taken by a “mailed” child took place in 1915 when a six-year-old girl traveled from her mother’s home in Pensacola, Florida, to her father’s home in Christiansburg, Virginia. According to Pope, the nearly 50-pound little girl made the 721-mile trip on a mail train for just 15 cents in parcel post stamps.
According to the Smithsonian, its “baby mail” episode pointed out Postal Service’s importance at a time when traveling long distances was becoming more important but remained difficult and largely unaffordable for many Americans.
Perhaps even more importantly, noted Ms. Pope, the practice indicated how the Postal Service in general, and especially its letter carriers had become “a touchstone with family and friends far away from each other, a bearer of important news and goods. In some ways, Americans trusted their postmen with their lives.” Certainly, mailing your baby took a lot of plain old trust.
The Post Office Department officially put a stop to “baby mail” in 1915, after postal regulations barring the mailing of human beings enacted the year before were finally enforced.
Spinach and Artichoke Dip Pasta
All of the flavors of spinach and artichoke dip in the form of a pasta!
- 8 ounces penne
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
- 1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
- 1 14 ounce can artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
- 8 ounces spinach, coarsely chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Option: For One-Pan: Make this a one-pan meal by adding 8 ounces of pasta and 2 1/4 cups broth or water (or 1 cup of rice and 2 cups broth or water) to the sauce in step 5 and simmer, covered, until cooked, about 12 minutes (or 20 minutes for rice).Start cooking your pasta as directed on the package.- Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat, add the onion and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
- Sprinkle in the flour and cook for a few minutes while stirring.
- Add the milk and cook while stirring until it thickens up, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the cheese and cook while stirring until they melt, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the artichokes and spinach and cook while stirring until the spinach wilts, about 1-2 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste, remove from heat and enjoy.
Option: Add bacon or sun-dried tomatoes, chicken, tuna etc.
Option: Add red pepper flakes, hot sauce or cayenne for some heat.
Option: Add red pepper flakes, hot sauce or cayenne for some heat.
Three special birthdays today.........
Loren Otto, Marine Corps League, is celebrating. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOREN!
Also today is the birthday of Patty (Hickey) McNaughton. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATTY!!!
Patty is the daughter of Jerry's pals John and Susan.
AND........ my pal Karen Baertschiger, aka Sugar Bear is celebrating, again. Enjoyed the luncheon last week SB!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! xo
With her sons James and Herman Jr.
Historically this date......
1781 – Los Angeles, California, is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola) by 44 Spanish settlers.
1888 – George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.
1957 – The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel.
1972 – Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games.
1998 – Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.
1913 – Mickey Cohen, American gangster (d. 1976)
1931 – Mitzi Gaynor, American actress
All I know. Nuff said. Happy Tuesday. Ciao.
xo Sue Mom Bobo
National Wildlife Day is observed annually on September 4th.
This National Day is an opportunity to learn more about endangered species, preservation and conservation efforts around the world. Zoos, aviaries, and marine sanctuaries provide a variety of ways to get involved. From participating in presentations and volunteering to fund-raise for rehabilitation services, these facilities have something for everyone to learn.
HISTORY
Colleen Paige, the Pet Lifestyle Expert, and author founded National Wildlife Day in 2005 in memory of wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin. The day serves to bring global awareness and education concerning the number of endangered animals and the need for conservation and preservation.
