Living From The Heart

Every year I give to the Veterans disabled society. For over 60 years, they have been there for wounded veterans, fighting for them at every turn. For over 60 years, America has trusted this society to help vets become productive members of society. They are a non-profit organization.

I received a calendar, as a gift for my donation, it has some of the most beautiful quotes posted on each month, if any of you friends have received this calendar you will already have read the quotes.

*When we become wise, our lives are lived from the heart.*
*To love someone is to know the song in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten the words *
*Where friends meet the heart is warm and life is simple*
*Love is not, just, looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction*
*You hold in your hand a precious gift=the freedom to be who you want to be*
*Free yourself by dancing with the wild flowers, wherever you find them*
*Sometimes our dreams, like a cats whiskers, are soft and elusive= and sometimes we build them, stitch by stitch, like a well loved quilt*

Sixty years ago, when United Spinal Association was founded, veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders were confined to hospital beds, some were given only 18 months to live.With help from the Americans, our advocacy and modern medicine changed all that. These efforts has gotten the vets out of the hospitals and back into the community.

But going back to their families and friends, they faced a completely different challenges= a nation that was unprepared and unable to accommodate their special needs. Jobs, transportation, housing, and education were largely unavailable to paralyzed veterans. In today's world a lot has changed to accommondate the vets.

I hope all of you enjoyed this tribute to a fine association, that has dedicated its time and efforts for our men and women who have served our country and came back not able to function as they once did. God Bless everyone.

Pork Chop—A Miracle

Trevor Fallis (age 7) of Mount Pleasant, Mich., holds kitten Pork Chop.

I read this in our newspaper on Monday the 17th and thought I would pass it on to my friends, who love animals. I am always up for a human interest story.

Other than being a bit smaller than his two siblings, Pork Chop seems to be the picture of health. That wasn't the case when the fuzzy kitten stopped breathing during an emergency visit to the local vet, who used mouth to mouth resuscitation to bring him back to life, this in its self was something of a miracle.

Pork Chop, 9 weeks old, got into the trash, along with his mother, and started munching on the remains of a pork chop,it became lodged in his throat .His owners tried the Heimlich maneuver, patted his back and put water in his mouth in an attempt to dislodge the meat, but to no avail.

They could not get an emergency visit with any vet that night. The next morning, Pork Chop was gasping for air, they called the vet, rushing the kitten to the hospital. The vet thought the kitten had a cold because his nose was running. Using a veterinary instrument, the vet reached into the kittens throat and pulled out the obstruction.

Then to the vets horror, the kitten laid down for a minute, "and then the little kitty died," the vet told them the kitten was not going to make it. The little boy, age 7 years, began to cry, so the vet put her mouth over the kittens nose and mouth, rubbed its belly and soon the kitten began to breath again. Pork Chop was put in an oxygen room on a heating pad, and he was soon ready "to go".

The family went ahead with their camping trip, taking Pork Chop along so he could be nursed back to health. His growth is still slow, he will stay with his owners but his siblings will find a home. The little kitty that had not been named before his ordeal, will henceforth be known as Pork Chop.

Labor Day—How It Came About—What it Means

Labor Day Parade, Union Square, New York, 1882 - Wikipedia

Labor Day is a United States Federal holiday, observed on the first Monday in September. The holiday orginated in 1882 as a Central Labor Union of New York City sought to create "a day off for the working citizens". Congress made Labor Day a federal holiday on June 28, 1894. This came about two months after the May Day Riots of 1894. All 50 states have made Labor Day a state holiday. Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as a symbolic end of summer.

Labor Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United States since the 1880's. The celebration was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday, a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organization," followed by a festival for the workers and their families.

Records show the first labor day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. Today, Labor Day is often regarded as a day of rest and parades, picnics, BBQ's, firework displays and different public events. I know our town goes all out for this day. Some schools may have already started their fall schedules.

The vital force of labor has added materially to the highest standard of living, therefore, the nation should pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership==the American worker.

We will be celebrating this day this year on the first Monday, which is September 7th, 2009. I hope my good friends celebrate with much fun and be safe in whatever you do.

Thought For The Day

I don't usually jot down thoughts for the day, but I really liked this one and wanted to pass it on.

Love knows no limits and true friendships last a lifetime,
get back in touch with someone today,
you'll be glad you did.
God bless you all.

Pop Goes Bubble Gum

Who doesn't like to chew gum, it makes our mouth's feel good. and it tastes good. Kid's have always loved bubble gum and like to blow bubbles. I write this for my grand-son Drew, he is grown but still likes to chew bubble gum.

The bubble gum has gone through a lot over its long history. In the early 1900s, a man named Frank Fleer tried to come up with the perfect bubble gum recipe for his candy company. He experimented with a lot of gum recipes to find it. His first bubble gum however turned out to be too sticky and his recipes never sold.

In 1928, Walter Diemer was working as an account for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia, what he was doing in his spare time was playing around with new gum recipes. His latest batch was less sticky than regular chewing gum and it stretched more easily. He took his discovery to a grocery store to test it, all the gum sold out in one day. Walter brought his invention to the Fleer Company, it was named and marketed as "Double Bubble" gum. Before long the folks at the Fleers Company was teaching salesman to blow bubbles., to demonstrate exactly what made this gum different from all other gums. The only food coloring in the factor was pink, Walter used it, that is why bubble gum today is pink and when the final cut for the gum was done it was sprinkled with powdered sugar. This is probably why it tastes good when put in your mouth. Walter Diemer stayed with the Fleer for decades, eventually becoming a senior vice president. He never received royalties for his invention, his wife told the newspapers that he did not seem to mind this, knowing what he'd created was reward enough. Sometimes he'd invite a bunch of kids to the house and tell them the story of his wonderful accidental invention and then he would hold bubble-blowing contests for them.

People have enjoyed chewing gum-like substances in many lands and from very early times. Some of these materials were thickened resin and latex from certain kinds of trees. Others were various sweet grasses, leaves, grains and waxes.

Bubblegum has come a long way from Bazooka Bubble gum, did you know the average American chews 300 sticks of gum a year. In the United States, total retail sales of chewing gum (including bubble gum) is over $2.0 billion. Over the years we all know lots of different brands of bubble gum, they are; Bazooka, Bazooka Joe, Double Bubble, Hubba Bubba, Big League Chew, Bubble Yum to name a few. There are also different flavors, baseball cards with sheet of bubble gum included and even Trident makes bubble gum. In the Guinness Book of World Records we have a person, Chad Fell, he blew a bubble gum bubble measuring 20 inches.

I have found many articles, through Google, about bubble gum, I thought I would share a little of the bubble gum history, but I enjoyed knowing more about my grand-sons favorite gum.