IT'S THE REAL THING!

FRIDAY, JULY 8TH., 2016
  IT'S THE REAL THING!

   I'd like to teach the world to
sing in perfect harmony. But,
since I don't sing very well
myself, maybe I'll just it
back, relax, and enjoy the
day. With a can of coke of
course. After all things
go better with coke........right?
   And keep in mind...July 8th
is Coca Cola Day. I kid you
not. It's the real thing!
    Now to be honest no one
knows exactly when Coca
Cola was invented. But we
do know that July 8th., is the
birthday of Coco Cola's
inventor.....John Penberton!
   In April 1865, while serving as
a lieutenant colonel of the
Confederate Army, Pemberton
was wounded when we was
slashed across the chest with a
saber.
   He became addicted to the
morphine given to him to relieve
his pain and, while developing a
number of alternative medications,
accidentally produced a carbonated
mixture he decided to market as a
fountain drink rather than a
medicine. That combination
eventually became Coco Cola!
     Pemberton never did find the
medicine he was trying to develop.
He died at age 58, still addicted to
morphine. And even though he
had a good feeling about the soft
drink he invented he and his son
sold their interest in the company
long before Coke became a
household name!
      Hope you'll have a sip in his
honor and that all your NEWS
is good!

IT'S ONLY WARM FOR....WHO?

   THURSDAY, JULY 7TH., 2016
 IT'S ONLY WARM FOR....WHO?

   It's been a long long time since
WARM ruled the radio waves in
northeastern Pennsylvania. But
when it did many people voiced
its popular motto  "It's only
WARM for me."
   Well Wednesday turned out to
be just a little too warm for me!
One of the TV weather forecasters
claimed a high temperature of 92
degrees. But my indoor/outdoor
thermometer showed a 100 degree
outdoor reading at 6:30 pm with a
90 degree reading before we got
home and turned on the air
conditioner!
    The "snow birds" who head
north every year for the summer
must think they made a wrong
turn. Now you know why so many
leave the sunshine state between
March and September!
    Hey, I'm up for 75 to 80 degrees
most any day! But go much higher
than that and add high humidity
and you can feel the energy drain
out of your body as you search
for an icy drink, shade, a chair,
and AC where ever possible.
     Hope you remember the
suntan lotion and that all your
NEWS is good!

PICKERS

     WEDNESDAY, JULY 6TH., 2016
                   PICKERS

      A few of us joined the ranks of
Pickers last weekend as we found
ourselves in a field gathering
Strawberries, raspberries and
blackberries too.
       What I didn't know at the
time was that July is National
Blueberry Month! And that's
official! It was proclaimed so in
1999 by then U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture Dan Glickman.
        I've been picking Blueberries
since I was a kid. I think. I'm not
really sure because they could
have been Huckleberries!
        The first time I heard the
term "Huckleberry" I was listening
to the late Phil Rizzuto broadcasting
a Yankee game. Anytime some
player did something wrong he
called them a Huckleberry. I thought
he's the guy who named the berries.
         Now I come to find out there
are actually about 40 species of
Huckleberry and only about 20
species of Blueberry.
         We have a bush in our back
yard and we've been picking and
eating its fruit for years. But now
I'm not sure if it's a Blueberry or
a Huckleberry bush. So I'm not
sure if I should celebrate or not! Guess
it doesn't really matter. They're not
ripe yet! When they are we'll
pick them and eat them!
          Hope your fruit is fresh
and your NEWS is good!

          
       

LOOKING UP!

    TUESDAY, JULY 5TH., 2016
             LOOKING UP!

      A lot of us have been looking
up over the past couple of days.
The Independence Day holiday
always gives us good reason to
do so.
      In our area the fireworks
displays began Friday night and
continued right on through the
4th!
      And, if you didn't get out
to see any, you could enjoy them
from the comfort of your own
home as Macy's gigantic New
York city display and Washington
D.C.'s pyrotechnic display timed
with the Boston Pops were
broadcast and rebroadcast on
CBS and NBC TV.
     I found myself looking
up in te middle of the day
yesterday. But it wasn't the
rocket's glare that caught my
attention!
    It was a small aircraft pulling
a banner through the sky!
    In New Jersey you see them
over the beach all the time
pulling advertisements for local
nightspots and restaurants.
     But yesterday, about the
borough of Wyoming, the
banner I spotted carried
Birthday greetings for my old
friend and former colleague,
Frank "Scooter" Cerreta!
     Frank's birthday was
actually a day earlier. But
somebody thought the
celebration of his 80th year
was well worth an aerial display!
I'd have to agree. And Frank's
always been quite a "firecracker"
himself!
     Hope you got to see it, that
his Birthday was great, and that
all your NEWS is good!

  

A GOOD BET!

   MONDAY, JULY 4TH., 2016
           A GOOD BET!

     Sometimes you just know! I
returned from a family outing at
Knoebels last evening and I just
knew. I should have turned into
the Casino and place a bet. I
just knew there would be fireworks
in the air last night!
      In fact some of them actually
came from the Casino. Or, at least
the racetrack next to the casino.
      There were others. I couldn't
tell where all of them were being
launched. But you had a good
chance of seeing some no matter
which direction you were looking!
       But the fireworks from Mohegan
Sun are the most impressive to us.
And it's not just a matter of seeing
them!
       We're about a half mile, as the
crow flies, from the casino and
racetrack. We're also downwind.
The explosions from those "bombs
bursting in air" can literally rattle
our neighborhood and send even
the herds of cats into hiding!
       Then, now long after the big
finale, the sulfur stench of the
spent explosives drifts over our
place sometimes sending me to
my inhaler!
        But, make no mistake, the
aerial display is impressive and
I enjoy it.....at least the one
coming from the casino. Those
fire off by the rest of the night
from neighborhoods all across
the area are a little less welcome.
Especially around 2am!
        Hope you enjoy the rockets
red glare, Independence day, and
a lot of goof NEWS!

STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER!

     SUNDAY, JULY 3RD., 2016
STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER

     My daughter-in-law invited my
wife and I to join her, her sister,
two grandkids, and some close
friends to go strawberry picking
on Saturday.
      I wasn't sure why we needed
so many people. Usually I just
go to the Fruit department at
Walmart and pick the container
of strawberries I like all by
myself.
      But, as it turns out, strawberries
don't come from Walmart! They grow
in fields like the one we visited in
Noxen. The folks that own the place
allow civilians like us to take empty
containers into the field and fill them
with strawberries you pick yourself.
       First they weigh your empty
containers so when they're filled
they'll know the weight of the
berries picked and can charge
accordingly.
        Fortunately they did not
weight me before I entered the
field. You see it's not unusual
for the pickers to eat a berry or
two (or three, or so) while they're
in the field.
         The kids had it a little
easier picking than I. You see
they're a lot closer to the ground.
         But in the end we came
away with quite a haul and I
enjoyed a bowl right before
bedtime.
          Hope I can get the stains
off my fingers and that all your
NEWS is good!

     

THE ALIEN ISSUE !

    SATURDAY, JULY 2ND., 2016
           THE ALIEN ISSUE!

      I'm hearing and reading a lot
about concern over aliens these
days. July 2nd is a day that has
been set aside to focus on the
controversy! It is World UFO
Day!
       Oh. You thought I meant
those "other aliens." No. The
question about these aliens has
been confronting us since 1947!
That's the date the so-called
"Roswell Incident" took place.
        A rancher in New Mexico
discovered wreckage of a metallic
object on his property and reported
it to the military which removed
the debris and initially labeled it
as coming from an Unidentified
Flying Object.
       The official story later changed.
But many people believe that's
because of a government cover
up/ Who ever heard of anything
like that ever happening?
        Back in the late 50's and
early 60's I was a volunteer member
of the Ground Observer Corps. I
and my fellow volunteers manned
control tower like observation
posts and scanned the skies for
aircraft in the hope of heading off
a Russian attack on the United
States.
       I've heard tell a couple of
our volunteers reported a UFO
in the area above our post in
Hazleton. Then there were
reports on a UFO coming down
in a Carbondale pond in 1974
.
        I never saw anything
that couldn't be identified.
       But what if the aliens are
actually out there? And with
ill intentions! I don't think a wall
would keep them out...no matter
who paid for it!
        So today is a day to join
others, throughout the world,
in discussing the issue. Heck
it might even make a good
topic for politicians running
for office!
       Of course there's always
the possibility the aliens who
came to Roswell are already
here and living among us.
Maybe some ARE politicians!
That could account for their
strange behavior!
        Hope you're watching
the skies and that all your
NEWS is good!