Today's low temperature was 1 or 2 degrees F. We have about 5 inches of snow on the ground, with drifts up to about 10 inches. But this is likely to be the end of our snowy season, so I'm happy to wear my snowman tie that includes an electronic chip that chirps "Jingle Bells." According to my blog I last wore it in December 2021!
The third week in February is both Future Farmers of America Week and CSA Week. My tractors tie is great for celebrating agriculture! Our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is Lazy Eight Stock Farm, between Berea and Paint Lick. We have just signed up for our (usual) weekly share of vegetables from Lazy Eight, scheduled to start in May. We pick up our share at the Berea Farmers Market.
Five random trivia for 16 February, to go along with this randomly chosen Veggie Tales tie!
1. In 600, Pope Gregory I decreed saying "God bless you" is the correct response to a sneeze.
2. In 1890, my grandfather Frank Albert Kleppinger was one day old.
3. In 1923, Howard Carter opened the inner burial chamber of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb and found the famous sarcophagus.
4. In 1925, the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association of America was formed.
5. In 1937, DuPont Corporation patented nylon, developed by employee Wallace Carothers.
When we came home last Monday we heard very loud caterwauling (what a wonderful word!) outdoors, and we knew it was not coming from our indoor resident cats Andrew, Esther, Portia and Muffin. The source was on a neighbor's front porch, across the street. The precious, very friendly orange cat in the photo with me came to stay in our house until we could find a good home for him. Our vet checked his sex (male) and age (about 7 months) and health (no HIV or leukemia). We posted his photo on Facebook and some local online groups.
On Friday I took "Kitten" with me to my usual morning donuts at EKU, and later that day I got a call from my friend Dr. Gary Kuhnhenn, asking us to let him and his wife Melinda adopt Kitten! I'm wearing one of the ties that Gary handed down to me in 2023. It's a Jerry Garcia design, "Paris in the Rain." We took Kitten to their home in Winchester, KY today and he was very happy with his new family.
On Valentine's Day 1975 (50 years ago, also a Friday), Beth Wollenweber and I sat together in the student lounge at Houghton College (NY). As we cuddled I turned to her and said "I want you to marry me." Her initial response was "What?!" -- but she maintains that she was only trying to make sure she had heard me correctly. She quickly agreed with my "proposal"! And then we called our parents and told them that we were engaged -- and they were not surprised but very, very happy. In our excitement the following day we forgot our duty to monitor the still for triple-distilled water in a chemistry lab, bur the faculty accepted our apology. Around this time we arranged for our senior yearbook photo, where we sat together in a chemistry lab hood reading a "book" we titled "Chemistry Made Simple by W. T. Pooh." Our clothes were fashionable for 1975! We've had a wonderful 50 years since then.
.JPG)
To celebrate his birthday, our son (by inclusion) David Anderson asked me to wear my EKU "swoosh" logo tie. David works in student services at Vanderbilt University. Happy Birthday, David!
Happy Birthday to my dear sister Glo! We grew up together in Bethlehem, PA, but she went off to college when I was in grade school. She was my first piano teacher (when I was five), and she helped inspire a lifelong love for music. She hoped I could choose a tie for today that symbolizes hope in a desperate world. I think the diverse children holding hands on this globe under a smiling sun and moon fit that theme nicely.
Today is National Wear Red Day, raising awareness of women's heart health issues. My shirt and hair tie are bright red, and this tie's damask-like pattern includes lots of red. I named this tie "royal flair in red and lime."
For my second tie today I felt very moo-ved to celebrate Cow Day (Vache, 15 Pluviôse) on the French Republican Calendar. (The French revolutionaries revised the calendar so that each day honored a crop, a farm tool or a farm animal.) My tie features the comic art of Gary Larson: a cow sitting at the side of a street with a homemade sign that says "BARN-LESS," near a bar named the Cowcatcher; a movie theater named The Udder Palace, showing a movie titled "101 Dead Matadors"; a pair of cows driving a vehicle tagged the "Moofia Staff Car"; and a pair of cigar(?)-smoking bovines wearing a shirt that says "SAME MANURE, DIFFERENT DAY.
For my first tie today I'm helping Mary Lou Stephens celebrate her birthday! She asked me to wear groundhogs, and so just as in the Groundhog Day movie we're getting a repeat . . . from last Wednesday!
Major League Baseball history: The National League was organized on 2 February 1876. Baseball teams from Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis joined to form the National League. It would be another 25 years before the American League was founded. My baseball-action tie is labeled "YOU'RE OUT, CIRCA 1886." But the U. S. flag shown is wrong -- it had only 38 stars in 1886, while the one in this image has 45. The first NL game was played in Philadelphia on 2 April 1876, between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Caps.
I think this tie's design represents minimalism in art, which I describe as the repetition of a simple, compact unit, with minor variations. One of the major figures in minimalist music, Philip Glass, was born on 31 January 1937, so he is now (minimally) 88. You can listen to a sample of his piano music at this tweet. He prefers to describe himself as a "classicist" and as a composer of "music with repetitive structures." I like his music!
I'm getting a jump on Groundhog Day this year! My sister Faith's birthday comes around every year on 29 January, and so one of her favorite holiday dates on the calendar is 2 February. She chose this tie for her special day this time. She and Beth and I are in the crowd who love winter and snow, and so we are hoping for a long wintertime -- and we expect Punxsutawney Phil to agree with us (on Sunday)! You can see the history of his predictions at Groundhog.org. Happy Birthday (again), Faith!
In 2024 I followed tradition for the last Monday in January, celebrating Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. In so doing, I missed the opportunity to honor my sister (-in-law) Faith's birthday. So I'm making up for that lacuna now by offering her two tie-days, to-day and to-morrow. She asked me to wear my lighthouses tie, because she loves lighthouses, and to use the Trinity knot -- so here it is! Happy Birthday Eve, Faith!
Happy Birthday, Beth! She asked me to wear my mushrooms tie because she likes mushrooms and I had not worn it in a while. For her birthday dinner she ordered the famous portabello mushroom sandwich from Papaleno's in Berea. We celebrated on Sunday with a super-chocolatey ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.
