Good 33º SUPER foggy morning.
Yesterday the freeze, 26º , was followed by snow at 8:30am.
By 10am it had warmed to 32º and the snow stopped.... by noon it had all melted.
One of the things I love about living here in Southern Oregon is that when it snows, we never in the last 20 years I have lived here, had to shovel or chain up!
Dude was exploring for a few minutes......
Picture of the Day .... Snow Cat!
Interesting about braille ...
LOUIS BRAILLE (1809–1852) was born in Coupvray, a town in north central France, on January 4, 1809. At the age of three, he accidentally blinded himself in one eye with a stitching awl taken from his father's leather workshop. His other eye went blind because of sympathetic ophthalmia, an inflammation of both eyes following trauma to one.
After hearing a presentation on a system called "night writing" created by Charles Barbier, he became inspired to improve it and began experimenting with a raised dot system that would be an improvement upon the existing embossed letter system that was currently being used to teach reading to the visually impaired.
In 1825, just barely 16-years old, Braille created a code of six dots arranged in two parallel rows, each set of rows representing a letter. This configuration was simpler than Barbier’s system, but still versatile enough to allow for up to 64 variations, enough for all the letters of the French alphabet and punctuation.
By the later nineteenth century braille had been adopted throughout most of the world, except the US, who held out until 1916.
Farmer's Breakfast Bake is a spin on an old favorite. Sort of a cross between a quiche and a tart, this breakfast dish features an amazing hash brown crust and creamy cheese layer your whole family will love!
- 1 (20-ounce) package refrigerated shredded hash browns
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup half-and-half
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/3 cup diced ham
- Preheat oven to 450º . Coat a 9-inch deep dish pie plate with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine potatoes and butter until evenly coated. Press potatoes into bottom and up sides of prepared pie plate to form a crust. Bake 30 minutes or until crust begins to brown.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine eggs, half-and-half, and pepper; mix well.
- Sprinkle cheeses and ham over crust. Pour egg mixture slowly over cheeses and return to oven.
- Reduce temperature to 350º and bake 30 minutes or until set in center. Let cool 5 minutes; slice and serve.
Historically this date....
1959 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missiles accomplished.
1976 – In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of 4" an hour.
1996 – Willamette Valley Flood of 1996: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.
1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
And births this date include....
1845 – Isidor Straus, co-owner of Macy's department store and former Congressman from New York (d. 1912)
1849 – Ida Straus, American passenger aboard the Titanic (d. 1912)
1911 – Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
1912 – Eva Braun, German mistress and wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
1917 – Zsa Zsa Gábor, Hungarian-born actress (d.2016)
..................nine husbands!
1931 – Mamie Van Doren, American actress
................only 5 husbands!
1940 – Tom Brokaw, American news anchorman
1943 – Fabian Forte, American singer
1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican musician (d. 1981)
...... LOVED his music!
All I know. Nuff said. Happy Hump Day. Ciao.
xo Sue Mom Bobo
On February 6 National Lame Duck Day recognizes the ratification of the 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution or the Lame Duck Amendment.
The term “lame duck” originated as a description of stockbrokers in 1700s England who could not pay off their debts. The name later carried over to those in business who, while known to be bankrupt, would continue to do business.
In politics a lame duck is a person currently holding a political office who has either:
- lost a re-election bid
- chosen not to seek another term
- been prevented from running for re-election due to a term limit
- holds a position that has been eliminated
Prior to the ratification of the 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution, there was for Congress a 13-month delay between election day and the day the newly elected officials took office. In the case of a lame duck, this was a 13 month notice his or her job was terminating crippling their influence. Hence the ‘lame’ or injured duck.
An awful lot of people are confused as to just what is meant by a lame duck Congress. It’s like where some fellows worked for you and their work wasn’t satisfactory and you let ’em out, but after you fired ’em, you let ’em stay long enough so they could burn your house down. – Will Rogers
The same applied to the president. The 20th Amendment changed the date the newly elected president took office from March 4th to January 20th.
During a lame duck session, members of Congress are no longer accountable to their constituents. It is possible for their focus to switch to more personal gain instead of acting on behalf of their constituents with an eye toward re-election.
The 20th Amendment shortened this period from 13 months to 2 months. While lame duck sessions still occur (20 such sessions have occurred since the amendment took effect in 1935), there is less time for sweeping legislation to be approved. Even so, lame duck Congresses have declared war, impeached a president, censured a senator and passed the Homeland Security Act among other actions.
It is also considered a time when the peaceful transition of power occurs. Preparations take place for the out-going president to leave office and the newly elected president to take over the role.
