Nature vs Man-Made

The Old Man of the Mountain was a series of five granite cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire,USA. The rock formation measured 40 feet tall and 25 feet wide. The first mention of the Old Man was 1805. It collapsed on May 3,2003. The formation was carved by glaciers,and thought to be 2,000 to 10,000 years old. Freezing and thawing opened fissures and attempted repairs began in the 1920's,but nature eventually defeated mans attempts. A sad loss for New Hampshire.
Mount Rushmore is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota,USA. Mount Rushmore features 60 foot heads of former US presidents George Washington,Thomas Jefferson,Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln,sculpted by Gutzon Borglum a Danish-American and his son Lincoln Borglum. Construction began in 1927,and was completed between 1934-1939. Initially the presidents were to be depicted from head to waist,but lack of funding forced construction to end.
I can't help but wonder if the days are numbered for this national monument as they were for the Old Man of the Mountain.

Elvis is in the Building

We all know that "The King" has been a major influence in music. The reason for today's blog is that I discovered a tidbit in a book by Tim Dorsey. His writing is always wild and mostly features Serge Storms as the main character,but he also includes bits of history on Florida where his books are set.
Tom Petty met Elvis Presly in 1962 on the set of "Follow that Dream"in Ocala FL. Petty's uncle Earl Jernigan owned a film developing business and worked on location shoots when films were being made in the area. After his meeting Elvis he traded in his slingshot for 45RPM records which he listened to the rest of the summer. At the age of 11 Petty began playing the guitar and the rest as they say is history.

Bite Worse Than Their Bark?

According to African myth,Basenjis can't bark because Rukuba (the dog) stole fire for Nkhango (the man) and the Fire God took away the basenji's ablility to bark.
Known as the barkless dog from Africa,Basenjis are not silent. Their sounds range from a yodel to a scream as well as the usual growls,whimpers and whines made by all dogs. The reason for the lack of bark is due to an unusually shaped larynx. One theory on how the basenji became barkless is the result of selective killing of the barking dogs so that the sound would not lead enemies to their camps. The basenji is thought to be the most ancient dog breed. Dogs resembling basenjis can be seen in the tombs of Egyptian pharoahs.

Baths

A Bath Oliver is a hard dry cracker made from flour,butter,yeast and milk. It was invented around 1750 by Dr. William Oliver of Bath,Somerset and given it's name from the inventors.

Countess Elizabeth Bathory (August 7,1560-August 21,1614) was of Hungarian nobility. Also known as the "Blood Countess" she has been labeled the most prolific female serial killer in history,though her guilt is debated.
After her husbands death she and four of her servants were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls,one source attributing over 650 victims to them,though the number they were convicted for was 80.
Later writings have led to accounts of the Countess bathing in the blood of virgins to retain her youth and also to comparisons with Vlad III the Impaler on whom the fictional Count Dracula is partly based.
Kind of takes vanity to a new level,and gives a whole new meaning the the phrase Blood Bath! Blood Bath incidentally is also the name of a 1966 horror film and a Swedish death metal band.

Day In and Day Out

The most recognized holiday for this April will of course be Easter,with April Fools Day coming in at 2nd place (excluding the other Easter related days). The occasions you may not know about is what I am going  introduce you to today. They are nothing to serious and mostly for fun.
The first week in April is Be Kind to Spiders Week and also Publicity Stunt Week. April 3= Don't Go to Work Unless it's Fun Day
April 4th= World Rat Day
April 7th= No Housework Day (my personal favorite)
April 11th=International Louie Louie Day
April 12th= Look Up at the Sky Day
April 14th=Ex Spouse Day
April 15th=That Sucks Day
April 16th=High Five Day
April 17th=Blah Blah Blah Day
April 19th=Hanging Out Day
April 22nd=National Jelly Bean Day
April 23rd=International Nose Picking Day
April 24th=Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day
April 25th=National Pet Parent's Day
April 27th=Morse Code Day
Finishing out the month on the 30th are two=National Hairball Awareness Day and National Honesty Day.
Celebrate in good taste!

Seeing Dead People

Before you count me among the crazies,let me say it isn't quite what it sounds like. I think it may be a trick a person's mind plays on them,a way of remembering someone you have lost?
The first time I experienced seeing someone I knew was deceased I was grocery shopping,in the produce area if I recall correctly and I froze in place and if someone were to have told me my mouth was agape I would not have been surprised. The woman I thought I was seeing had died about 2 years before this happened and the person I was seeing was a "dead ringer",if you will excuse the pun. She even had the same mannerisms and body language,the physical looks were amazingly like those of the deceased friend. I had to mentally shake myself to quit staring.
The next time I noted this strange phenomena was last week and this time I was walking downtown and a man driving by in a pickup looked just like another friend that died around 5 years ago,same thick glasses,baseball cap,jacket and the way he had his hand on the steering wheel was all just the same. It is an eerie feeling to say the least,but nice in that it brings back pleasant memories of those that have passed on before me.
If anyone else has had this type of experience I would love to hear about it. First of all it would put me more at ease about it and secondly it is interesting once you get past the initial shock.

April Fools

Last night I nodded out watching TV. I woke up to the end of a news cast where the announcer said that the Devil's Spout (or Punchbowl ) in Depoe Bay,OR. was going to be filled in with cement today. First thing I thought was how sad,then as I woke up a bit more I thought now wait a minute,#1 how can that be done to a state park? #2 Even if it was done at low tide the cement would never have time to setup before the next high tide came and blasted it all out of there. #3 What would be the point in destroying a natural phenomena that is also a tourist attraction? I turned off the tube and went back to sleep determined to look into it further in the light of day. After many attempts at finding any reference to this faux pas on the stations website I decided that either someone had pranked them for April Fool's Day a little early and they went ahead and put it on the air without verifying the story,or it was the news team's attempt at an April Fool's joke. The latter seems like it might be a bit detrimental to their credibility,but what do I know?