Henry looks for some attention from his human. (Photo courtesy L.D. Porter)
Greetings friends! I cannot believe that it is warm and spring-like on this warm and spring-like afternoon.
Oh, yeah, there’s 168 more days till you know when. Mom is just unbelievable. We had our basement cleaned out a couple of weeks ago. The guys were really interested in the old Halloween corner and even asked if they could take some photos. Mom was of course delighted and showed them some of the packed stuff. There was one item of particular interest, a large globe with a plastic head inside that offers advice, sort of.
The story goes that many years back after a Halloween party, my “hooman” brother Liam and friends were playing around with it. At that time my mom and dad lived in Massachusetts on a hill. The next morning, Mom was leaving for work and stopped at the bottom of the hill, looked to her left and there was the “globe guy” in the middle of the road still speaking. Apparently, the boys watched it roll down the hill, still yammering on. They got involved in other things and totally forgot about the whole thing. Ahhh, Halloween.
Anyway, so here it is, May. We found out some pretty cool things about May from Farmers’ Almanac and want to share them with you all.
May is likely named after the Roman goddess Maia, who oversaw the growth of plants. Apparently, it may also come from the Latin maiores, meaning elders.
May’s full moon traditionally is called the flower moon. It appears on May 1, reaching peak illumination at 1:23 p.m. It will be below the horizon at this time, so for the best view of the full moon, the best time to look is the night of April 30 or May 1.
May acts as a bridge between spring and summer. It is also the time when hummingbirds start to arrive; apparently moles, too. Mom loves all the critters, and with the good weather we can sit on our screened in porch that has been Brody, aka the Brodster proofed (don’t ask) and watch everyone.
May’s birthstone is the emerald. I like the color green but I hear that dogs are color blind. Is this true? Maybe something for a future column.
May’s zodiac signs are Taurus and Gemini and the birth flowers are hawthorn, which means hope, and the lily of the valley, which means sweetness or the return of happiness. I know Mom and Dad are certainly happy that the warmer weather is here.
This sure has been a tough winter. Mom got the wildlife in our yard through the toughest of it. They seem to be very grateful. Mom found a beautiful white scallop shell in our yard the other day. A suspected “gift” from her crow pals. She was so excited!
Some fun holidays include May Day (May 1), Cinco de Mayo (May 5), Mother’s Day (May 10), Armed Forces Day (May 16), Victoria Day in Canada (May 18), National Maritime Day (May 22), and Memorial Day (May 25).
May is also Get Caught Reading Month and National Good Car-Keeping Month, in case you didn’t know.
Some of the fun days in may include School Principal Day (May 1), World Tuna Day (May 2), No Socks Day (May 8 – or every day for me!), Root Canal Appreciation Day (May 13), Dance Like a Chicken Day (May 14), and (Slugs Return from Capistrano Day (May 28).
Well, that’s it for now. Happy spring to all!
Please remember to leave us home if we can’t go into stores with you. It is starting to get warmer.
XOXOXOXO, Henry
