Heroes With Feathers...!

In WW2 there were some very heroic deeds performed by some unlikely stars. Carrier pigeons.

Often these birds were wounded while delivering their messages, but they still managed to make it through...at least some of them did.

President Wilson

Photo credit: US Army Center of Military History

President Wilson was another pigeon that valiantly served with the US Army during World War I. He was with the Tank Corps during his first deployment and was stationed in the forwardmost tanks to deliver the location of enemy machine gun nests.

He was then transferred to the infantry unit and participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918. Released to request artillery support, Wilson flew through waves of German bullets to deliver his message. In the process, he lost his left leg and was shot through the breast.

However, he survived his wounds and lived a quiet life until he died in 1929. A taxidermist then prepared the bird for display at the Smithsonian Institution.

There are many more stories of the heroics of these proud birds. You can read more of them right here!

Coffee in the kitchen again. The heat is just too great to be outside and they are asking us to stay inside the a.c.

Mark Twain On Western Wednesday...!

No matter what name you want to use, Samuel Clemmens was one of the most celebrated writers of his day.

Writing under the name of Mark Twain, he penned stories that are still in print today. One of my favorite authors, and that's the truth.

1862

Mark Twain begins reporting in Virginia City

Writing under the name of Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens begins publishing news stories in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.

Born in Missouri in 1835, Clemens followed a circuitous route to becoming an observer and writer of the American West. As a young man he apprenticed as a printer and worked in St. Louis, New York, and Philadelphia. In 1856, he briefly considered a trip to South America where he thought he could make money collecting coca leaves. A year later, he became a riverboat pilot apprentice on the Mississippi River, and worked on the water for the next four years.

In 1861, Clemens’ brother Orion was appointed secretary to the territorial governor of Nevada. Clemens jumped at the offer to accompany Orion on his western adventure. He spent his first year in Nevada prospecting for a gold or silver mine but was no more successful than the vast majority of would-be miners. In need of money, he accepted a job as reporter for a Virginia City, Nevada, newspaper called the Territorial Enterprise. His articles covering the bustling frontier-mining town began to appear on this day in 1862. Like many newspapermen of the day, Clemens adopted a pen name, signing his articles with the name Mark Twain, a term from his old river boating days.

Clemens’ stint as a Nevada newspaperman revealed an exceptional talent for writing. In 1864, he traveled farther West to cover the booming state of California. Fascinated by the frontier life, Clemens drew on his western experiences to write one of his first published works of fiction, the 1865 short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” The success of this classic western tall tale catapulted Clemens out of the West, and he became a world-hopping journalist for a California newspaper.

In 1869, Clemens settled in Buffalo, New York, and later in Hartford, Connecticut. All told, Clemens spent only a little more than five years in the West, and the majority of his subsequent work focused on the Mississippi River country and the Northeast. As a result, Clemens can hardly be defined as a western writer. Still, his 1872 account of his western adventures, Roughing It, remains one of the most original and evocative eyewitness accounts of the frontier ever written. More importantly, even his non-western masterpieces like Tom Sawyer (1876) and Huckleberry Finn (1884) reflected a frontier mentality in their rejection of eastern pretentiousness and genteel literary conventions.

I know some folks don't like Twain, but everyone has different taste, I reckon. Like I said, he was one of my favorite authors. I really like his style!

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. Dangerous heat outside!

Haunted House Mystery For Tuesday....!

Something a little different for this Tuesday, just to keep things interesting.

The Jersey Watcher

For sale: large, six-bedroom home in Westfield, New Jersey. Three bathrooms, wood flooring, and one unnerving stalker. Soon after Derek and Maria Broaddus purchased the Westfield home (above) in 2014, they received a letter from someone who called him/herself “the Watcher.” The anonymous individual seemed to be the latest in a long line of family members who obsessed over the Jersey home. “My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched it in the 1960s. It is now my time,” the letter read.

More letters arrived once the couple moved in with their three children. “I am pleased to know your names now and the name of the young blood you have brought me,” one read. Another chilling missive asked: “Found out what’s in the walls yet?” The Broaddus’ have since moved out—and sued the home’s previous owners for failing to mention its, uh, pre-existing condition. According to CBS New York, the house is back on the market.

Just a little something to creep you out after a long holiday weekend. Can't say I'm not a fun loving guy, right?

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. Too hot to go outside...83 degrees at midnight!

L.A. Air Raid For Monday Mystery...!

After reading this article from Listverse, you have to wonder just how many things labeled "weather balloons" by the government actually were just that!

Over the years we've been told time and time again that something we've seen is nothing more than weather balloons or something similar. Seems to be a rather handy way to try and prevent folks from asking too many questions, doesn't it?

The Battle of Los Angeles

On February 24, 1942 in Los Angeles, the air raid sirens began to go off. Many believed that the United States is experiencing another attack from Japan and we were ready to go. A complete blackout was fired as the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade unloaded 1400 12.8lb anti-aircraft shells at a mysterious object floating in the night sky. The bombardment went on for a full hour with the “all-clear” being given at 7:21am.

The media went crazy after the incident, and it became front-page news. What could possibly remain in the night sky with multiple spotlights on it soaking up 1,400 rounds of anti-aircraft munitions over the course of an hour? A weather balloon of course! Well that’s what the government said when questioned about the incident. The missiles killed four to five civilians, and three people died of stress-induced heart attacks. The craft then moved over the state, hovering at certain times while it was being fired at. Some described it as one large object and others as multiple small objects. Regardless, there was something mysterious over the city of Los Angeles that night that, to this day, defies explanation.

In a way it's sad to think that our own government will keep certain bit of information from us for our "own protection", don't you agree? I don't think everyone will drop dead from hearing the truth. After all, some people died just from the threats of "what-ifs", so telling the facts might have been a good choice anyway.

Coffee out on the patio this morning.
BTW...HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY 4TH !!!

Cartoons For Sunday...!

Got some more of the classic 'toons for ya today. Some folks don't seem to be into the cartoons too much, but we like'em anyway, right?







And just one more...



OK...that's enough for a bit. Don't want to overload you.

Coffee out on the patio this morning before it gets too hot!

Sunday Funnies On Saturday...!

Remember how Sundays used to be...reading the Sunday comics? How about the early days of television. All black and white with many shows done live...ring any bells?

Here are some of the early shows from the old days of television. Some still call these early times the "Golden Years!"







And one more...



These guys were some of the superstars of their day. No cussing, nothing but slapstick and a few bad jokes! Pretty good stuff back then!

Coffee out on the patio once again!

Medicine That Can Kill Or Cure...!

Actually, I don't think the medicine can kill ya, but rather the ingredients.

I guess I was lucky in the fact that I never took any Castor Oil, but I heard that it tasted really bad. Most medicine tends to taste less than good, in my opinion. Aspirin, which is my go to for aches and pains, taste terrible if you let it dissolve on the tongue.

Castor plants

Thinking back to the time your mother forced Castor oil down your throat, I bet you would never have guessed that it came from the most poisonous plant in the world (even if it did taste like it).

Castor plants are indigenous to the Mediterranean basin, eastern Africa and India, but are widely grown as an ornamental plant. A toxin called ricin is found throughout the plant, but is concentrated in the seeds/beans (which castor oil is made from). One raw seed is enough to kill a human in 2 days, which makes for a long, agonizing and unstoppable death. The first symptoms will be experienced within a few hours and will include a burning sensation in the throat & mouth, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea and vomiting. The process is unstoppable and the final cause of death will be dehydration.

Strangely, humans are the most sensitive to these seeds, as it takes 1-4 to kill a full grown human, 11 to kill a dog and a whopping 80 seeds to kill a duck. The castor plant currently holds the Guinness World Record for most poisonous plant.

Guess it lends new meaning to the saying "If it don't kill ya, it will make you stronger!"

Coffee out on the patio, hot as it is!