Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of Lent; a time of sacrifice, self-discipline and reflection leading up to Easter. Christians across the world often decide to give up something they enjoy like chocolate or alcohol for instance or they agree to do special works of service/goodness. The Ranch Hands said “No dice!” on giving anything up but they assured me they would step up and be better doggos on their walks after kind of forgetting what a loose leash walk really means following the recent extended cold spell when walks were impossible. Apparently short term memory can be a problem with dogs.
In addition to Lent, today also marks a different kind of celebration. Today is “Read Across America Day,” created in 1998 by the National Education Association (NEA), as a way to encourage children to read. This annual day is typically held today on Theodor S. Geisel’s birthday, a longtime proponent of reading. You may know him as the estimable, Dr. Seuss. The NEA endorses and promotes the importance of reading and decided to combine their efforts every year on his birthdate.
Little known fact: did you know Dr. Seuss created the word nerd? The first documented use of the word was in his 1950 book, “If I Ran the Zoo” about a boy named Gerald McGrew who visits a zoo and wonders how it might look if he ran it.
We hope you’ll join ‘Thing One and Thing Two’ along with the cats and dogs of Blogville today by reading a book as we celebrate National Read Across America day.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Lulu: “I had no idea Dr. Seuss invented the word nerd! This is a very important word ― how would we ever describe our Dada without it?!”
{Snicker} Lulu, we’d all be lost without that pAwsome word!
Nope, didn’t have a clue where “nerd” came from. We always enjoy the blogs on Dr. Seuss Day! Have a great week, and some good, easy walks. (It’s in the low 80’s here this week and sunny!)
It’s always a great blog hop.
P.S. It’s been warm and sunny here these past few days. Winter returns again tomorrow and over the weekend…also known as Springtime in the Rockies. 😉
Happy Dr Seuss Day!
I heard about the nerd origin on the radio this morning.
t sure got to be a popular term/moniker…must have been a lot of young peeps reading Dr Seuss…or their parents, more likely!
Either way, it’s a pretty cool thing to ‘create’ a widely used term…among kids AND their parents. 😄
We are spending our time reading some of our favourite things – our pals blogs! Didn’t know about the word nerd!
Isn’t that a cool fact about the wonderful Dr. Seuss? We loved that.
I had no idea that nerd originated with Dr. Seuss. And look at us now, nerds are cool.
That fact caught me by surprise as well. It’s pretty cool it’s deep in everyone’s consciousness these days.
It sure is.
happee seuss day frum sum catz in trout towne who joined in on de blog hop thiz yeer ! ☺♥
Thanks for joining and thanks for swinging by our ‘Ranch.’ We 💙 visitors. Hope you had a pawsome Dr. Seuss Day.
Dr. Seuss and his many books have always been favorites here. Mom has quite the collection too. We are all in favor of Read Across America Day – reading opens one to so much!!!
Happy Dr. Seuss Day!!!
Woos- Lightning, Misty, and Timber
We can only hope that the reading of books (rather than timelines) will open minds up to possibilities and diversity…these days that kind of seems to be in short supply. Hope your Dr. Seuss Day was ‘pawsome.’
Lookin so cute Thing 1 an Thing 2 aka Sweet Norman an Elsa!
An wee did NOT know Doctur Seussy cree-ated THE werd NERD! One of our FAVE streamers on Twitch is called JayNerdsPlace 😉
**nose bopss** BellaDharma an {{huggiess}} BellaSita Mum
We’ll have to check out JayNerdsPlace. We’re fans of all nerds. 😉
A great holiday for sure…maybe I’ll read a banned book today 😉
Excellent! I was thinking of reading Mouse myself. Bwahahaha.
Teehee!
Cat in the Hat was a tough slog but I finally finished it and it was worth the effort.
You’re no doubt a much better person for all your persevering.
What a fun Seuss fact, I never knew he created the word nerd!!
Have a Seussical Day!!!
xoxo,
Beth,Jakey,Rosy & Sunny
I had no idea either. Kind of cool factoid. And a Seussical day to you as well!
No one here is giving up anything either. Cats aren’t even promising to be good. They don’t want to bore me.
Haha! I guess a ‘little’ excitement can be a good thing.
Wishing you a happy National Read Across America Day! If only people read more and watched less TV. 🙂
Amen, Lavinia!
No chance of the Thugs giving anything up either….
What is it about dogs and Lent sacrifices anyway?
Oh boy – well “nerd” has certainly come in handy more than a few times in my years and now I know who I can thank for adding it to my vocabulary! Happy Dr. Seuss Day!
Hugs, Pam
Happy Dr. Seuss Day to you and Teddy! Yup, the nerd-osphere is quite alive and well.
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║╔╗║╔╗║╔╣╔╩╗╔╝ ★ DR. SEUSS DAY! ☆
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Scritches to the pups, a smooch to Norman and a hug to you. ♥
And to you as well, Sandee!
that’s interesting, one thing I never knew about Dr.Seuss was that he created the word “nerd”, interesting!!!
Isn’t that cool? I had no idea either.
How wonderful is that?
Does that mean I can leave work to go home and read?
Thank you Dr. Seuss for creating one of my favorite words!!
Thing 1 and Thing 2, you be good on those walks or Dr Seuss’s ghost will coming after you. 🤣
I don’t worry about Norman keeping his word, it’s Elsa who’s seemed to gone feral again whenever we see another dog. Sigh.
You betcha. Tell your boss I said it was okay. 😉
Sweet! Just so happens she is an avid reader, too. However, I don’t see it flying…
Puppy dog eyes may help as well. 😉
He he he… 🙂