A Time For Everything

I usually only have two to four things to share for Miscellaneous Monday, but today you get a laundry list!

CALL OR TEXT FOR ASSISTANCE

The number to the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 988.

I heard this on the radio while driving to Omaha and thought it a vital piece of information to pass along.

* * * * *

It seems humanity is doomed to repeat too many of its past mistakes.

You may have heard that there is a spate of book banning going on once again. From what few articles I've read--which isn't many, to be honest--most of the books are LGBTQ-themed. A library in Michigan was defunded after librarians refused to remove certain books, although they did move some books to behind the counter. Librarians in the small Michigan town have been harrassed and accused of trying to "indoctrinate" the town's children.

Long story short, Nora Roberts, donated $50K to the GoFundMe campaign that was started on the library's behalf. She might have donated more, but that was the max allowed!

For the full story, click here...

* * * * *

Did you know that not only was September once the seventh month of the year, but until 46 BC, it only had twenty-nine days...?

 * * * * * 

I read recently that Canada's population is smaller than California's! I suppose I should have included images of both the locales, but I'm sure you know the difference in size. If not, go to Google Maps and look at North America...

* * * * *

Remember all that time spent yanking sticker burrs from my yard?? Yeah, for all the good it did. Those are some pervasive little buggers. We had two drenching rains about a month or so ago and everything greened right back up and there were little explosions all over my yard of these things.

click on the image and

LOOK AT THEM ALL!

YIKES! 

Because we have animals who spend time in the yard, I didn't want to buy harsh chemicals that would be toxic for any of them. DD suggested vinegar and a quick Google-search verified this as a valid option. To test its power, I took about 1/2 cup of vinegar and poured it on a handful of those sticker burr plants one evening. The next evening when I checked them, they were browning up/drying out quite nicely. I yanked them out and poured the rest of my gallon jug of vinegar into a sprayer and went to town on several other large swaths of these things.

Lo and behold...

Eradicating these things is going to be an ongoing process. I'm up for the task now, but how long will this enthusiasm last, I wonder... 

* * * * *

And one last tidbit... I've taken on the job of providing the writing incentive theme & goodies for next years' writers retreat at Lake Conroe.

One dear friend has provided this bit of extra fun for us since the beginning and has asked (finally) that someone else do the honors.

I volunteered immediately because I love this kind of thing. I came up with an idea within minutes and ran it by DD. She liked and now I have ten months to plan the fun and gather the goodies.

And no, I'm not sharing on the off-chance one of them reads this. I don't think they do, but they don't get to know until they arrive at the lake, so it's not fair of me to spill the beans here.

*

And that's all I got for you today. Have a great week. See you on Thursday...

P.S. ~ I think I figured out the blog via email thing...I hope it's working out for you. (Let me know if there are issues.) It's working out much better for me.

Let's have some more fun facts. So, in honor of the state of my birth...

List of California Facts and Trivia

1.    California's Mount Whitney measures as the highest peak in the lower 48 states. Its most famous climb is Mount Whitney Trail to the 14,495 feet summit. Wilderness permits are required.
2.    In 1925 a giant sequoia located in California's Kings Canyon National Park was named the nation's national Christmas tree. The tree is over 300 feet in height.
3.    More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state in the United States.
4.    Pacific Park, on the venerable Santa Monica Pier, re-creates the amusement parks once dotting the ocean areas along the Pacific Coast. Featured are 11 amusement rides including the 1910-vintage hand-carved merry-go-round appearing in the movie "The Sting."
5.    Alpine County is the eighth smallest of California's 58 counties. It has no high school, ATMs, dentists, banks, or traffic lights.
6.    Fallbrook is known as the Avocado Capital of the World and hosts an annual Avocado Festival. More avocados are grown in the region than any other county in the nation.
7.    In the late 1850s, Kennedy Mine, located in Jackson, served as one of the richest gold mines in the world and the deepest mine in North America.
8.    An animal called the riparian brush rabbit calls Caswell Memorial State Park (near Manteca) its home. Endemic only to the state's park system, the critter lives in approximately 255 acres stretching along the area's once-vast hardwood forest.
9.    In city of Pacific Grove, there is a law on the books declaring the molestation of monarch butterflies to be illegal.
10.    The largest three-day rodeo in the United States is held on the Tehama County Fairgrounds in Red Bluff.
11.    Demonstrations on making toothpaste from orange by-products were popular attractions at the Los Angeles County fair in 1922. The fair is held in Pomona.
12.    Located in Sacramento, the California State Railroad Museum is the largest museum of its kind in North America.
13.    Several celebrities are buried at Hillside Cemetery in Culver City. Included gravesites are those of Al Jolson, George Jessel, Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, and Percy Faith.
14.    California Caverns claims the distinction of being the most extensive system of caverns and passageways in the Mother Lode region of the state.
15.    Totaling nearly three million acres, San Bernardino County is the largest county in the country.
16.    On Catalina Island in 1926, American author Zane Grey built a pueblo-style home on the hillside overlooking Avalon Bay. He spent much of his later life in Avalon. The home is now a hotel.
17.    Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge contains the largest winter population of bald eagles in the continental United States.
18.    Author Richard Dana (1851-1882) wrote the novel "Two Years Before the Mast." He inspired the name for the beach community of Dana Point.
19.    In Atwater the Castle Air Museum has the largest display of military aircraft in the state.
20.    The Country Store in Baker has sold more winning California State Lottery tickets than any outlet in the state.
21.    Reputed to be the most corrupt politician in Fresno County history, Vice-leader Joseph Spinney was mayor for only ten minutes.
22.    The Hollywood Bowl is the world's largest outdoor amphitheater.
23.    The first person to personally receive a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood was actress Joanne Woodward. She received it in 1960.
24.    Death Valley is recognized as the hottest, driest place in the United States. It isn't uncommon for the summer temperatures to reach more than 115 degrees.
25.    The first motion picture theater opened in Los Angeles on April 2, 1902.
26.    Inyo National Forest is home to the bristle cone pine, the oldest living species. Some of the gnarled trees are thought to be over 4,600 years old.
27.    San Francisco Bay is considered the world's largest landlocked harbor.
28.    Sequoia National Park contains the largest living tree. Its trunk is 102 feet in circumference.
29.    Yorba Linda is home to the Richard Nixon Library.
30.    The Coachella Valley is nicknamed The Date Capital of the world and The Playground of Presidents.
31.    One out of every eight United States residents lives in California.
32.    California is the first state to ever reach a trillion dollar economy in gross state product.
33.    California has the largest economy in the states of the union.
34.    If California's economic size were measured by itself to other countries, it would rank the 7th largest economy in the world.
35.    Los Angeles is ranked the fourth largest economy in the United States compared to other states.
36.    Simi Valley is the home of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
37.    It is estimated there are approximately 500,000 detectable seismic tremors in California annually.
38.    During his engagement at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, Otis Redding stayed on a houseboat in Sausalito. While there he wrote his last song and greatest hit: "The Dock of the Bay."
39.    The state motto is Eureka!, a Greek word translated "I have found it!" The motto was adopted in 1849 and alludes to the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada.
40.    California is known variously as The Land of Milk and Honey, The El Dorado State, The Golden State, and The Grape State.
41.    There are more than 300,000 tons of grapes grown in California annually.
42.    California produces more than 17 million gallons of wine each year.
43.    The redwood is the official state tree. Some of the giant redwoods in Sequoia National Park are more than 2,000 years old.
44.    The California poppy is the official state flower. The California grizzly bear (Ursus californicus) is the official state animal.
45.    California holds two of the top ten most populous cities: Los Angeles and San Diego.
46.    Fresno proclaims itself the Raisin Capital of the World.
47.    The highest and lowest points in the continental United States are within 100 miles of one another. Mount Whitney measures 14,495 feet and Bad Water in Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level.
48.    Castroville is known as the Artichoke Capital of the World. In 1947 a young woman named Norma Jean was crowned Castroville's first Artichoke Queen. She went on to become actress Marilyn Monroe.

I've been pretty healthy and malady free all my life. I grew up in Southern California and moved to the Omaha, NE area as a young adult. Never suffered an allergy in my life. Now, eleven years in Texas and I am an annual allergy sufferer.

I realize I'm older now and my body's changed over the years, and the "stuff" here in Texas is different than the "stuff" in California or Nebraska.

I'm not really complaining. I mean, I don't feel bad. I just have mildly itchy eyes and nose and am doing a lot of sneezing. My ears are a bit itchy today, so it may be morphing into a cold. I can go without taking allergy medication unless I'm outside for extended periods of time--which I have been with marching band boy's football games and competitions. (Last competition--the big one--is this coming Saturday.)

I wonder if marching band boy will develop allergies at some point in his life. And the only reason I mention it is because we moved to Texas from Nebraska when he was 31/2 years old; and right before we left, he'd had an ear infection. (He had his fair share, though not chronically.) He got antibiotics and the doctor said to bring him back in a couple of weeks for a re-check. And when I mentioned we were moving to Texas the doctor basically said that my son would probably never have another ear infection then. And once we moved to Texas he never did. Amazing!