What Would Jimmy Do?

Claire believes that cows can predict rain. Every time we go somewhere in the car, she notices if the cows are laying down — or not — and always tells me about the chance of rain. Lots of people scoff at her and a few agree that there might be something to it. There are lots of old wives tales and folklore about predicting the weather. Actually most of them are based on some sort of logic or long term observations and many are based on some scientific principles. I have no idea how the weather forecasters on TV arrive at their predictions — most claim to have super-computers and the latest radar, but I’m not convinced that they don’t drive around and check out what the cows are doing before they go on the air.

Animals have been used since ancient times to predict weather. Claire uses cows, but people look to lots of animals for weather predictions. Every February 2nd, people turn to Punxsutawney Phil to see if he sees his shadow and we’re stuck with six more weeks of winter or we can look forward to an early spring.
Besides cows and groundhogs, how about these weather forecasters…
Frogs — frogs are said to croak even louder and longer than usual when bad weather is on the horizon. So if you hear their volume go up, you can bet a storm is brewing.
Birds — check out how high they’re flying; if they’re flying high, weather is clear, but if they’re flying closer to the ground, the air pressure of a storm system is causing them pain at higher altitudes. A very old wives tale says if birds feed in a storm it will rain for a long time, if they don’t it will clear soon.
Bees and Butterflies — folklore goes that if they have disappeared from their usual spots in the flower beds, something is up.
Sheep — “When sheep gather in a huddle, tomorrow will have a puddle.” Folklore again says that you can expect a storm if sheep crowd together and shield each other.
Ladybugs — “When they swarm, expect a day that’s warm.” If you notice them looking for shelter, colder weather is on the way.
Ants — in preparation for bad weather, red and black ants have been know to build up their mounds for extra protection and even cover the mounds’ holes.
Cats — tend to clean behind their ears before rain.
Turtles — often search for higher ground when a large amount of rain is expected. You often see them in the road a day or two before the rain.

Of course there a other signs from nature that are used to predict the weather….
Check the grass for dew at sunrise. If the grass is dry, it usually indicates clouds or strong breezes that can mean rain. If there’s dew, it probably won’t rain that day.
When the dew is on the grass
Rain will never come to pass
When grass is dry at morning light,
Look for rain before the night.
So is there some scientific fact behind this? If dew has time for form on the ground overnight, it means the night was clear without any clouds. Clear skies allow the earth to cool, and water to condense in the form of dew (frost at cooler times of the year.) If the night is cloudy, the clouds act as a heat barrier keeping the heat in and not allowing the dew to form.
Summer fog means fair weather is on its way. Based on some science? Fog is made up of condensed water droplets which are the result of the air being cooled to the point where it can no longer hold water vapors. In the summer, the air can only cool enough if the night sky is clear enough that the heat can be radiated into space. If the night is cloudy, the clouds act as a blanket to keep it in. If you see fog during the summer, it usually means the next day will be clear. Just remember…
Summer fog for fair,
A winter fog for rain.
A fact most everywhere,
In valley or on plain.
Fishermen have an old saying:
Trout jump high,
when a rain is nigh.
The belief behind this one is that when air pressure lowers, gasses created by decaying plant matter, which resides on the bottom of the lake or body of water, begin to release. This, in turn, causes the tiny microorganisms that live in these plants to be released into the water, creating a feeding frenzy among the fish. This frenzy sometimes causes the fish to start jumping around.
If the rooster crows on going to bed,
You may rise with a watery head.
Many people believe birds can sense when there’s a decrease in air pressure. It’s been observed that an approaching storm makes birds restless. And when a rooster can’t rest, he tends to crow more.
We were visiting some friends in the mountains of West Virginia last spring and an Appalachian belief was pointed out to us. Look at where the hornets nests are built to predict snowfall. We were shown a nest that was very low and it had been rebuilt from being fairly high the year before. If the nest is high,  more snow is expected, when the hornets build them low, less snow is expected. It did prove true, we didn’t have much snow at all this past winter.
But back to Claire and her cows… the fact is she’s almost made a believer of me and it appears she has support from a new study by scientists. The study was conducted by the Universities of Arizona and Northwest Missouri and discovered that cows stand up for longer periods when it is hot — proving there is a definite link between their behavior and the weather. The study was conducted to research the body temperature of cattle because when cows are too hot, their milk production suffers. Cows stand up longer when it is hotter because it helps lower their core body temperature by exposing more of their surface area — it allows their body heat to disperse in the air. They lie down when they want to conserve heat, and energy. So — this may explain why it may be true that cows lie down when rain is on the way. Rain is usually preceded by a bout of low pressure and it is also a sign that it is about to get cooler. If cows lose heat by standing up, then detecting the arrival of cooler weather will make them lie down.
Although I’ve never heard Claire talk about the cow’s tails, this may also be an indicator of bad weather approaching. When the weather gets warmer and more humid, flies become more active and swarm around the cows — this causes the cows to increase the swashing of their tails.
And to give her even more to observe on our next trip, she can note which direction their tails are facing. Cows and horses prefer not to have the wind blowing in their faces, so they usually stand with their back to the wind. Since westerly winds typically mean arriving or continuing fair weather and easterly winds usually indicate arriving or continuing unsettled weather, this is as good a tail/tale as any of knowing knowing what the weather will be up to….. it could even have its own weather rhyme:
Tails point west,
Weather’s at its best
Tails pointing east,
Weather is least.

So there you have it all you non-believers. Never underestimate the weather predicting power of the cow. Let’s raise our (milk) glasses for a toast….
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Happy Anniversary to my favorite kid’s parents — Kelly and Chris!!!

Love You Guys….
Dad

We had our air conditioners serviced a few days ago — they don’t do much, basically just check the pressures and clean the coils. I was just thinking that when I grew up, we didn’t have air conditioning. We had fans and during the summer we sat outside a lot. That’s pretty much what everybody did — only the “rich” people had air conditioning.

That’s not surprising, because air conditioning as we know it really didn’t exist until the 1930s and even then the individual room air conditioner ( the kind that sits on a window ledge) were only purchased by the people least likely to work up a sweat — the wealthy. Those cooling systems cost between $10,000 and $50,000 — that was a lot of money in the 1930s.

Primitive air-conditioning systems have existed since ancient times — attempts to control indoor temperatures seems to have started in ancient Rome, where (again, the wealthy) citizens took advantage of the city’s remarkable aqueduct system to circulate cool water through the walls of their homes. But until fairly recently, fans were the coolant of choice. A Chinese inventor is credited with building the first room-sized rotary fan, powered by hand.

Credit for the development of the air conditioner as we know it today is credited to Willis Haviland Carrier, a Buffalo native. Carrier worked for a heating company in upstate New york and was tasked with devising a solution for a printing company whose equipment was going haywire because of the summer humidity. His proposal involved fans, coils and coolants. He later developed the first residential “Weathermaker” — an air conditioner for private home use.

During one of our far-reaching discussions after playing golf recently, we were talking about what one invention has changed the world the most — three out of four of us thought it was the invention of air conditioning. (One of us thought it was sliced bread.)

I personally am not a big fan of air conditioning — air conditioned places are generally too cold for me, and I just prefer ‘fresh’ air. I do certainly agree that air conditioning has made quite a contribution to our lives — although not necessarily for the best. Washington, D. C. turns into what some have called a sweltering swamp in the summer. It just may be that problems with the government began to get out of hand with the invention of air conditioning. Before AC, Congress and government officials only stayed in town a few months and left town during the summers. Along comes air conditioning and they stick around all year, generally mucking things up.

But all that aside, our air conditioner has been serviced and we’re ready for warm weather — so here’s to you W. H. Carrier.

Actually our AC is a Carrier so the company deserves a mention; since I’m writing this on a Mac, I suppose they should be mentioned in a favorable light, too. Do you know why computers are like air conditioners? They quit working properly when you open Windows. My apologies to Bill Gates….
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I was working in the yard the other day and my neighbor pulled out of the garage — I waved at her and she waved at me and then honked her horn. I am at a complete loss as to why she (and a lot of other people) do that. She waves and honks if she’s coming in or if she’s leaving. What’s the point of honking? I already know she’s leaving. Does she just like the sound of the horn? is she testing it in case she needs it later? Does she just want to annoy me?

This honking — for no apparent reason — is on my list of things that annoy me (I know, the list is getting pretty long.) I’m trying to remember the last time I used the horn in my car. I actually wonder if there is good reason for cars to have horns today…. I think they were initially installed to warn others, when there’s no other practical way, of avoiding trouble, like a potential collision. Today, the horn is rarely used just for that purpose.

In many countries that I’ve lived in, constant horn honking is just a routine part of driving like braking, turning and accelerating. It’s a kind of way to let everybody know where everybody else is…. around here, the horn is mostly used to rebuke or reprimand — often being used after the danger has passed or just to let another driver know that they did something stupid or made the honker mad. Often times, blowing the horn is the driver’s way of saying I’m here — just get out of the way and let me through.

I’ve noticed that honking has become a method to express your like (or dislike) for all sorts of things. In the past few months I’ve seen bumper stickers that say Honk if you Love Jesus, Honk if you Love Cheese, Honk if you You’re Amish, Honk if you Love Clowns, Honk if you Love Honking, and Honk if you Love Peace and Quite.

So it appears that honking is here to stay — There are aggressive honkers, angry honkers, force-of-habit honkers and of course the friendly honker. I guess we just have accept the fact that the horn has become more than the warning device that was its original intent. It now is used for acknowledgement and celebration. What’s more touching that a guest leaving your neighbor’s house at 2 a.m. and giving a good honk to top off that farewell kiss — or meeting someone on the road you haven’t seen since yesterday and some mysterious force compels you honk — and expect one in return….

As far as the Honk if you Love Jesus bumper sticker goes, maybe Jesus would be flattered, but I’m pretty sure he’d have been happy if you’d just use your turn signals.
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I received a compliment a few days ago — at least I think it was a compliment. Someone said that I was doing pretty good for someone my age. I don’t think this was (at least not intentionally) a backhanded or left handed compliment. A compliment that falls into that category is usually an insult disguised as a compliment. Sometimes people don’t recognize compliments as backhanded but the one offering it is being intentionally slighting and insulting. Anyhow, I’ll take the statement as meaning that I really am doing pretty good, not that the person was surprised that I was still alive. Fairly often, I hear, “you are much older than you look” — again, I don’t know how react to this one. Are they implying that I look young (I guess that’s good,) but do they still think I’m a geezer? I just never know how to react or respond to such a statement.

Compliments are tricky — they have to be given at the right moment and phrased in such a way that they’re not misunderstood. Even when you’re sincere with a compliment, it can often fall into an assumed “backhand” compliment category. For instance, if you tell a girl that she has such a pretty face, most people think you’re calling her fat. Sometimes that might be true, but not always — probably best to just get that one out of your compliments list.

In my working days, I never liked writing performance reports, or as we used to call them, “fitness” reports. Invariably, there were always a few employees that you just wished would quit or leave, but really couldn’t dismiss for any legitimate reason. What was written (and given) to the employee didn’t always totally agree with what was passed up the line to higher management. I always tried to be honest and as diplomatic as possible, but I did use some phrases that weren’t even as nice a backhanded compliments. I remember using, “…. will stick with us until retirement, unless we do something first.” I don’t know for sure if it helped, but the employee was re-assigned shortly after his review.

In case you’re wondering, there is a National Compliment Day (of course.) It’s not one of the many holidays that I celebrate, but if that sort of thing appeals to you, it’s January 24 every year. Both faithful readers know why I don’t celebrate National Compliment Day — unfortunately, it falls on Beer Can Appreciation Day (in case you’ve forgotten, this is that memorable day in 1935 when beer was first sold in cans.)

I read somewhere that the overwhelming number of compliments fall into two major categories — those having to do with appearance and those which comment on ability. I suppose that’s probably true — they’re both pretty broad categories. But the fact is, that it’s nice to give, and receive, compliments. In fact, both of you are even now thinking about complementing me on this blog. Not that you couldn’t come up with some great compliments on your own, but just in case, here’s some possible suggestions….

I always feel more intelligent after reading your thoughts and ideas.
I love this blog.
Your advice is pretty good for a blog.
I don’t care what anyone says, I think your blog is useful!!
You don’t do a bad job for someone your age.
I usually dislike sophomoric writing, but I enjoy reading your blog.
I love to read your blog when I have nothing else to do.

Just don’t wait around for National Compliment Day – compliments are always appropriate….
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Both of you faithful readers may remember a blog a few years ago about goats from a neighboring farm wrecking havoc in our neighborhood. You’ll also remember that the hero of that episode was an Australian Sheep Dog named Ralphi. Ralphi was our neighbor and although he had never done it before, herded all the goats into our neighbors driveway and kept them there until we found out where they belonged. Ralphi then proceeded to herd them all the way back to the farm and into their pen.

Ralphi attended all the Field Crest Court circle parties. He brought the paper in every morning – and if guests were visiting, he took the paper to their room. When Ryan was visiting a few years ago, he said that Ralphi was a better ball player than most of the Indians, or “Tribe” as they’re called in Cleveland.

Well, after 15 years of bringing happiness to everyone around him, Ralphi has gone to Dog Heaven. People that like dogs know that they express their love in many ways and no matter how bad a day you’ve had, they’re always there for you – think it’s called unconditional love or something like that and it’s probably one of the best feelings in the universe.

To call Ralphi a dog doesn’t do him justice. He had four legs, wagged his tail and he did bark. But to all of us on Field Crest Court that knew him well, he was just our neighbor. Rest in Peace, Ralphi.
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I heard a phrase the other day that I hadn’t heard in years. Someone said, “she’s got more shoes that Carter’s got liver pills.” When I was a kid, one of the items advertised on the radio was Carter’s Little Liver Pills. If I remember correctly, they were called Carter’s Little Liver Pills, and were really mostly for back pain, but were considered a treatment for just about anything. As truth in advertising came along, they weren’t allowed to call them Liver Pills because they did nothing for the liver so the name was changed to Carter’s Little Pills. I don’t ever remember them being so popular after the name change. I think using Liver in the name helped keep them in people’s mind — it just had a nice ring to it. Plus, because lots of people believed if there was anything wrong with you, Carter’s Little Liver Pills would fix it, it became a kind of joke — if you bumped your head or broke your arm, someone was sure to suggest you “take a Carter’s Little Liver Pill.”

I don’t remember much about “medicine shows” that traveled around the country putting on a “show” and peddling some sort of medicine during intermission — they had mostly disappeared by the time I was old enough to remember them. But I do remember all sorts of medicines being hawked on the radio. They all fell into the “Toddies for the body” category and cured whatever ailment you were suffering from or thought you were suffering from. And even if you thought nothing was wrong with you, the man on the radio could convince you otherwise. If you listened close, the man “on the radio” would eventually describe your ailment — even though you didn’t know you had it when you started listening. Turns out that a cure was always available for your ailment and would be sent to you for a dollar or two (plus 25 cents for shipping and handling.)

I don’t remember the names of most of the “medicine” we had in our house when I was growing up — I know one was Campho-Phenique — I’m not sure what it was supposed to do, but I think my mother used it for everything from a sore throat to a cut finger. The one “medicine” I remember the most was Hadacol. Most people my age remember Hadacol because at one time it was the second largest advertiser in the US — right after Coca-Cola. I even had a dog named Hadacol — because I “hadda call” him something. The name was a big joke and I’m sure at least partially the reason for its success.

Hadacol was “invented” by Dudley LeBlanc. Dudley was a born entrepreneur that ventured into all kinds of schemes — he sold shoes, tobacco, patent medicine and funeral insurance. He also ran (unsuccessfully) for governor of Louisiana.

Anyhow, in 1941 LeBlanc ran into trouble with the FDA over the patent medicines he was selling. He stopped selling Dixie Dew Cough Syrup and Happy Day Headache Powders rather that fight with the FDA and came up with something much better — Hadacol. According to LeBlanc, he was suffering from pain in his big toe, and the only doctor who could help him wouldn’t share the recipe for the medicine he used. So LeBlanc stole some from the Doctor’s inattentive nurse and researched the ingredients on the label. From that information, he developed Hadacol.

Hadacol was a mixture of vitamins B1 and B2, iron, niacin, calcium, phosphorous, honey, and diluted hydrochloric acid in 12% alcohol. Even though the alcohol content wasn’t all that high, the hydrochloric acid speeded up the delivery through the body. So the mixture probably did really make people feel better, even though it wasn’t a cure for any disease. It was advertised to cure high blood pressure, ulcers, strokes, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, pneumonia, anemia, cancer, epilepsy, gall stones, heart trouble and hay fever.

The thing that made Hadacol a success was LeBlanc’s advertising genius. He kept supplies low in some pharmacies to create demand and he paid people for their testimonies — sometimes being ridiculous, but people liked them — for instance, “Two months ago I couldn’t read nor write. I took four bottles of Hadacol, and now I’m teaching school.”

The Food and Drug Administration objected to claims that Hadacol could cure diseases, and wanting to avoid trouble, those claims were pulled. So Hadacol became a cure-all for whatever people hoped it wold cure. No matter what was wrong, the medicine made people feel better — and that was all that mattered.

Back to the name — the name was short for Happy Day Company, with an L for LeBlanc. However, when someone asked how he named the drug, LeBland said, “Well, I hadda call it something.” At least the older medicine advertisements were entertaining — the new ones are just scary.
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If you haven’t been under a rock someplace, you’ve probably heard a lot about the bombing in Boston. I was just thinking that when I was growing up, not only did you not hear about these things (because they rarely, if ever, happened) but if you heard the word “bomb” you pretty much thought it was an explosive device dropped out of an airplane.

I remember knowing the words bomb, bombed, bomber, bombproof, bombshell, bombsight, and maybe divebomb — but they all pretty much referred to something blowing up…. Today, when you hear the word bomb, it may or may not relate to explosives. If you’re into drugs, bomb may refer to crack or heroin; bomber means a marijuana cigarette; bomb squad is a name given to a crack-selling crew. And the use of the term keeps expanding, making it even more confusing — as I understand it, “bomb” can mean something really bad or something really good??? I think the term bombshell can still refer to a very attractive woman and I was just catching on that “the bomb” meant really cool.

So even though our language and newspapers now include mail bombs, super bombs, letter bombs, firebombs and the like, it’s good to know that the majority of people only use the word in a positive sense — as we say, they’re Da Bomb!!
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Earth Day is the day designated for fostering appreciation of the Earth’s environment and awareness of the issues that threaten it. Some people celebrate Earth Day on the first day of Spring, around the 21st of March. Since about 1970, the “official” recognition of Earth Day has been on April 22nd.

Earth Day is observed by lots of people in lots of different ways. I always choose to observe the day by using as little energy as possible — I didn’t do a lot of things today, not because I didn’t want to, but to conserve energy for Earth Day. Some people choose to eat only non-endangered species, or vacuum all the dirt out of their cars and put it back on the ground…or hug a tree.

However you do it, Happy Earth Day 2013.
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Went to Walmart today and while waiting at the checkout stand, I noticed the carousel filled with plastic gags – tons of them. Seems like every few weeks I hear about how bad plastic bags are for the environment. I’ve heard that the sheer volume of plastic bags will soon completely fill all the landfills and the resources needed to produce and transport them produce emissions that may wipe out humanity. I’ve also heard that practically none of the zillions of plastic bags are ever recycled.

I looked up plastic bag facts on the Internet — according to one site, about 380 billion plastic bags are used in the US every year and approximately 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags. Only 1 to 2 percent of plastic bags in the US end up getting recycled.

Well, these are pretty scary numbers so I thought I’d do a little extensive research. What I found out was there is a group of people that believe plastic bags are the root of all evil and another group that believes the first group are fatalists and making them a much bigger issue than necessary.

I couldn’t find any proof one way or the other that 380 billion bags are used annually in the US, but it appears that most of the raw material used to make plastic bags in the US is produced from natural gas, not oil. I couldn’t find exact numbers, but I did find some statistics that indicated that plastic bag recycling has more than doubled in the past nine years. Additionally, I found that there are growing industries that use recycled plastic bags to make building products like decks, playground equipment and fences.

And I discovered some interesting facts about landfills — according to a study sponsored by the University of Arizona, almost all the organic material from the 1950s in a Phoenix landfill remained readily identifiable. The study concluded that the tightly compacted contents of landfills create low-oxygen environments that inhibit decomposition.

I’m not taking sides — this just seems like yet another subject, similar to gun control, that people become passionately for or against. The real magnitude of the problem probably lies somewhere in the middle — they may not be as harmful as some think, but then again, you probably shouldn’t go stick your head in a plastic bag.
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