Good 59º clear sunny morning.
Yesterday by 5pm we topped at 108º!!! It only lasted a few minutes and then the temperature started back down. Today is supposed to be super hot again. Joy.
Picture of the Day ... perfect timing.
Interesting about hummingbirds....
Hummingbirds drink with their long tongues by rapidly lapping nectar. Their tongues have tubes which run down their lengths and help the hummingbirds drink the nectar. While capillary action was believed to be what drew nectar into these tubes, high-speed photography has revealed that the tubes open down their sides as the tongue goes into the nectar, and then close around the nectar, trapping it so it can be pulled back into the beak.
The tongue, which is forked, is compressed until it reaches nectar, then the tongue springs open, the rapid action traps the nectar and the nectar moves up the grooves, like a pump action, with capillary action not involved. Consequently, tongue flexibility enables accessing, transporting and unloading nectar.
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and constituting the biological family Trochilidae. They are the smallest of birds, most species measuring 3–5 inches in length. The smallest extant bird species is the 2.0 inch bee hummingbird, which weighs less than 0.07 oz.
They are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound created by their beating wings, which flap at high frequencies audible to humans. They hover in mid-air at rapid wing-flapping rates, which vary from around 12 beats per second in the largest species, to in excess of 80 in some of the smallest. Of those species that have been measured in wind tunnels, their top speeds exceed 34 mph and some species can dive at speeds in excess of 49 mph).
Hummingbirds have the highest mass-specific metabolic rate of any homeothermic animal. To conserve energy when food is scarce, and nightly when not foraging, they can go into torpor, a state similar to hibernation, slowing their metabolic rate to 1/15th of its normal rate.
The hummingbird evolutionary tree shows ancestral hummingbirds splitting from insectivorous swifts (family Apodidae) and treeswifts (family Hemiprocnidae) about 42 million years ago, probably in Eurasia. One key evolutionary factor appears to be an altered taste receptor that enabled hummingbirds to seek nectar. By 22 million years ago the ancestral species of current hummingbirds became established in South America, where environmental conditions stimulated further diversification.
The Andes Mountains appear to be a particularly rich environment for hummingbird evolution because diversification occurred simultaneously with mountain uplift over the past 10 million years. Hummingbirds remain in dynamic diversification inhabiting ecological regions across South America, North America, and the Caribbean, indicating an enlarging evolutionary radiation.
Female hummingbirds tend to be larger, requiring more energy, with longer beaks that allow for more effective reach into crevices of tall flowers for nectar. Thus females are better at foraging, acquiring flower nectar, and supporting the energy demands of their larger body size. Directional selection will thus favor the larger hummingbirds in terms of acquiring food.
Hummingbirds have long lifespans for organisms with such rapid metabolisms. Though many die during their first year of life, especially in the vulnerable period between hatching and fledging, those that survive may occasionally live a decade or more. Among the better-known North American species, the average lifespan is probably 3 to 5 years.
If you want to read a lot more about hummingbirds, go here:
Deli-Style Roast Beef Sandwiches....
From Mr. Food
No one makes a roast beef sandwich quite like your favorite deli...or at least until now. With our recipe for Deli-Style Roast Beef Sandwiches, you can whip up this sandwich classic right at home, and it'll take you less than 10 minutes to do it!
- 2 (12-ounce) jars beef gravy
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3/4 pound deli sliced roast beef
- 4 slices thick-cut homestyle bread
- 4 cups warm prepared mashed potatoes
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat gravy, pepper, and beef 5 to 7 minutes, or until hot.
- Top bread with beef and gravy. Serve with a scoop of warm mashed potatoes topped with additional gravy.
Historically this date.....
1873 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West.
1969 – Space Race: Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission (July 20 in North America).
1983 – The world's lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −128.6 °F.
2011 – NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
And births this date include....
1899 – Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1961)
He was also a collector of polydactyl cats, like my Bruiser! His home in Florida is a museum and they still have a lot of his cat relatives there.
Here is Bruiser and his extra toes.... looks like thumbs!
1924 – Don Knotts, American actor (d. 2006)
1948 – Snooty, was the oldest known Florida manatee (d.2017)
1951 – Robin Williams, American comedian/actor (d.2014)
All I know. Nuff said. Happy Tuesday. Ciao.
xo Sue Mom Bobo
July 21st dedicates a giant menu of items to National Junk Food Day. Each year, the day permits us to chow down on the foods we usually don’t include in our daily diet. Junk foods, by definition, typically contain high fats, sugars, salt, and calories and very little nutritional value.
With the advent of packaged foods during the late 1800s, junk food made its way into American life. Still, home-cooked meals remained the standard for several more decades. Eventually, after World War II, the artery-clogging industry took off. Since the population ate out more, traveled more, the industry was primed to produce products at an increased rate.
From the frozen food aisle to fast food chains, a myriad of choices for consumers flooded the market. Potato chips, baked goods and so much more filled supermarket shelves, prepackaged and ready to go.
By the 1970s, junk foods earned a name and a bad one, too. Michael Jacobson, a microbiologist, is credited with coining the phrase. He also set out to curb our appetite for the high sugar, high salt, high preservative foods Americans consumed at an alarming rate.
While deep-fried, fat-laced foods increase our waistlines, cholesterol, and blood sugar numbers, an occasional indulgence shouldn’t impact a healthy, diverse diet and lifestyle. Also, producers make healthy versions of our favorite junk foods to entice us to enjoy a little.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Snack a little. Chow down on your favorite chip, dip or treat. In fact, treat the family or workplace to a beverage or take out.
