Today on Monday Musings, we’re offering a bit of a pun-ish haiku pi-ku for you. Celebrated on March 14, Pi Day is the recognition of that mathematical constant known as the Greek letter ‘π,’ you know…that transcendental number where 3.14 are the first digits (but which go on indefinitely). March 14 marks Pi Day because of the numerical date and because it happens to be the same birthdate as theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein, who discovered the theory of relativity.
A ‘Slice of Pi’ ~ History/Background
Founded back in 1988 by San Franciscan based physicist, curator and artist, Larry Shaw, March 14 was chosen because the numerical date (3.14) coincides with the first three digits of Pi. Today is also Albert Einstein’s birthday. The official U.S. designation of Pi Day began in 2009 while UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) officially proclaimed March 14 as International Day of Mathematics in 2019.
Back in high school, we all learned that Pi is the calculation of the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. But did you know that Pi has been around since ancient times? Egyptians and Babylonians knew about Pi with the first known calculation made by Archimedes in 250 B.C. The earliest known use of the Greek letter ‘π’ to represent the ratio was made by Welsh mathematician, William Jones in 1706, and is thought to be some form of shorthand for the word “periphery.”
As noted, today also marks the birthdate of Albert Einstein, the theoretical physicist. So for those who may prefer a different kind of tasty treat for a birthday bash (and we think Einstein just might be one of them), how about we serve up a yummy celebratory treat with this formula? Happy Birthday, Mr. Einstein.
Delicious coincidence? I think not.
Two additional, but all important questions for today then are: (1) cherry or apple and (2) with or without ice cream?
We hope your Monday is extra tasty with loads of smiles.
Last week we promised to share some exciting news about the goings on around the Ranch and today is that day. Normally we don’t post on Thursdays so today seemed like the perfect opportunity to share the news.
As you probably know, Norman was rescued from the Old English Sheepdog Rescue of Colorado two years ago. Since bringing this sweet boy home, I’ve become more and more involved as a volunteer with the rescue. They are a great group of folks whose sole mission is totally dedicated to the rescue and rehoming of unwanted, abandoned and neglected Old English Sheepdogs. Like most rescue groups, we’re constantly trying to stretch limited financial resources to best fulfill our mission.
We recently became aware of an amazing opportunity which will further our efforts. I am pleased to announce, Old English Sheepdogs of Colorado has been chosen by Canine Colorado Magazine for its latest fundraiser. The magazine features a two page spread of each dog from the recipient rescue and we’re very excited at the fundraising potential. Ranch Hand Norman is one of the dogs who makes an appearance in the magazine. Here’s a brief video look behind the scenes at last week’s modeling session (Elsa also had professional photos taken of her by DelaFoto Portraits, photographer for Canine Colorado Magazine but will not appear in the magazine- sorry Ninja…only Sheepies for this spread). The session latest about 45 minutes and the big guy was a total professional.
I may be slightly biased, but think he’s every bit as handsome as David Beckham’s days on the runway. Guess there’s more pressure than ever for him to sign an agent now with his new job as a SuperModel.
Once the final magazine is published, I’ll share more of this new newest modeling phenome. So far fame hasn’t gone to his head (yet) and he continues to be the same easy going ‘grounded’ pup as always.
In other news, we are no longer able to post images to Instagram. The “MetaVerse” has been less than responsive in resolving an issue despite multiple requests. Sadly we cannot even log in to see others’ feeds. On the plus side, it’s one less black hole to be dragged into go down {insert snarky snicker}. I’ve wasted enough energy and brain power trying to resolve this issue. I’m done. {mic drop}
See you guys tomorrow for our regular Nature Friday post. I hope to not post any more snow images though Nature isn’t quite cooperating and may need to dig into the old archives to avoid playing into Mother Nature’s cold, cruel hands. Happy ‘Fursday!’
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.
Today marks a national federal holiday (Presidents’ Day) in the U.S., originally implemented by Congress in 1879 to honor George Washington, the first president and ‘father’ of the country on his birthday, February 22 but subsequently switched to the third Monday in February on January 1, 1971 by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, honoring both Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. Both Ranch Hands will tip their hats to the office of the presidency today so we may be somewhat late in responding to comments or reading your posts as Norman be visiting nurses and patients this week. As usual, I am merely the designated driver.
After a weekend filled with grooming, baths and more dog hair than I could have imagined, Norman is all fluffed and spic and span clean to mark Presidents’ Day at the same time Winter decided to reappear with a vengeance with snow and bitter cold temperatures for most of the week. Tomorrow’s HIGH is only expected to be in the single digits which makes today’s smile seem all too appropriate. Guess I’d better re-locate the extra warm gloves.
However you mark today’s holiday, we hope you’ll stay warm and snuggly. Here’s to a super Monday. And remember there’ll be no postal deliveries and bank’s will be closed.
Happy Valentine’s Day. We hope you had a fun, sports-filled weekend. Fans were treated to a plethora of events from the Olympics, NHL hockey and NBA basketball games, as well as the Super Bowl. Whichever team you supported in yesterday’s big sporting event (Super Bowl LVI), we’re ‘pawsitive’ yesterday’s Puppy Bowl XVIII hosted by Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart was the most fun of it all. Team Fluff came from behind (much like that other team did in the Super Bowl). Long-time ‘rufferee’ Dan Schachner (himself a former NFL referee), was the only human to take the field at Sunday’s Puppy Bowl game along with over 100 pups.
View from the ‘water cam’
Puppies from both teams gave it their all, but in the end it was Team Fluff that slid into the end zone with 7 seconds to go for the last-minute victory. A lineup with photos of the on-screen competitors can be found here.
More than 100 adoptable dogs from 67 shelters across 33 states dragged various toys around a miniature field in the event’s largest competition yet. Nine special needs dogs were featured during the game, led by one year-old Benny, a wheelchair-bound Labradoodle. Benny was born with an abnormal and inoperable spinal deformity and is paralyzed from the shoulder blades but was a zooming dynamo on the playing field. Moby, a French Bulldog with a cleft palate; and Rocket, a deaf Chihuahua/Dachshund, were also part of the event designed to raise awareness about shelter adoptions.
Benny Photo courtesy of Discovery+/Animal Planet/’The Dogist’ Elias Weiss FriedmanPhoto from Facebook
Kirby, a Labrador retriever and service dog in-training, was named Team Fluff’s MVP after helping his team win the coveted “Lombarky” Trophy.
It was a fun alternative to the Super Bowl and all the dogs and kitties were winners.
All best wishes from both the Ranch Hands for a ‘pawsome’ week as well as a love-filled day with your Valentine.
Welcome to February’s first Nature Friday edition, where we join our pals Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard. Rosy and gang recently relocated to the Land of enchantment so make you you click on the link to check out their adventures.
Originally I had planned on doing a post about the big storm that hit the Mile High City this week, bringing windchill temps down to sub-zero levels. And then I heard a most remarkable story on the radio this morning about a nature story of sorts from the Western Slope and decided to rewrite it.
It all started the day after Christmas. Returning to their Grand Junction home from Denver, Charles Reigies, girlfriend Hannah Poscente and their dog, Mia hit a spot of black ice near Gypsum, CO late at night and crashed. When Charles came to, Hannah was injured, Mia had disappeared and their Jeep was on its side. Hannah was rushed to the hospital by ambulance with a broken neck. Charles searched for Mia until the tow truck arrived. He wasn’t able to find Mia in the snow but that’s not where this story ends.
When Hannah was released from hospital the next day, she reactivated her Facebook page and joined various lost pet sites hoping for a miracle.
Photo Courtesy of Hannah Poscente’s Facebook page
At the time, this was one of the first snowstorms to hit the region and cold temps moved in. Hannah’s post were liked and shared and thus the ‘village’ began the implausible quest of Charles and Hannah finding their beloved pet.
Enter Janet Cross, who lived near the crash site, and heard about it. She set up a trail camera near the accident. When reviewing footage, she realized Mia (like many pets do when separated from their family) returned to the area twice a day. Mia was skinny, temps were freezing, but she was alive. There were other sightings among various people but living 2 hours away from the crash made it difficult for Charles and Hannah to follow up quickly on them. But Janet didn’t giving up. She obtained a trap from animal control and checked it every hour. She refused to give up on finding Mia and continued to help reunite the family.
The deer fence the vehicle crashed into was rebuilt making Mia’s reunion even more challenging. Mia was not seen for 8 days. Then a miracle happened. Janet received a call from someone who lived 10 miles from the crash site indicating that Mia had been spotted so Janet repositioned the trap near that area. Mia was initialled scared off but after receiving a message about being sighted, Hannah and a friend returned to the area to continue the search. Still in a neck brace, Hannah decided to go out and look again while the friend took a meeting on her phone. Snow and sagebrush camouflaged the surrounding landscape but Hannah continued walking along the train tracks. Mia was there! And she didn’t scare off, instead she came walking toward her person. Hannah recorded the reunion with her cell phone.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Poscente
Mia was so excited to see her mom, she began jumping all over her and the video cut off. The same scene was repeated when Hannah returned to her Grand Junction home with Mia with Charles being knocked down by his happy pup. This improbable rescue ended one month and one day after Mia was lost. “She’s still got a lot of weight to put back on,” said Charles, patting Mia, her ribs showing, “but the vet says she’s doing good, all things considered.” No one will know what Mia endured while lost and her story continues to be shared on Facebook, often with the title “Never Give Up Hope.” And what about Angel Janet, the caring soul who made it her mission to help out? “She fought traffic and predators and snow and wind,” Janet said, “and I mean, she made it.”
Courtesy of Stina Sieg, CPR News
{sniffle} I hope you can now see why this week’s nature post needed to be rewritten and how it really does take a village sometimes.
While today’s post was about a shy dog whose adventures in nature we’ll never know the details about, here are a few photos of the Ranch Hands who finally were able to take a brief walkabout yesterday afternoon when temps finally reached 25Fº. The snow was still deep enough to require boots (much to their chagrin) with warm jackets but the Vitamin D outing was much needed by all 3 of us. For those still in the grips of Mother Nature’s cruel hands, we hope you stay safe, warm and cozy.
How are we supposed to walk in these stupid boots?Ahhhhhhh! This is how you spell relief.Hurry up, bozo. I have snow drifts to enjoy.
Welcome to Monday, where we salute the week with a smile. Today is also Norman’s ‘Gotcha Week’ because everyone deserves to be treated extra special for [at least] a week (his actual Gotcha Day was yesterday). Can’t believe this adorable hunka-fur has been with me two years now. The time has flown by and with each day I count my lucky stars this boy came into my life. He brings such joy to all he encounters, In fact, he’ll do so later today and tomorrow when he’s visiting folks at the hospital.
Happy Gotcha Day, sweet boy.
Now for today’s secondary smile. We can thank Vince, the Sign Guy of Indian Hills. Given the latest turn of weather, it seemed rather perfect. Stay safe, warm and keep smiling.
Welcome to this week’s edition of Nature Friday where we join our pals Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard. This week’s gander at Nature is a hodgepodge of pics from our recent visit to my Dad’s home in southern Colorado.
No view is more emblematic of the region than Pikes Peak, this view being inspiration for a song. Katherine Lee Bates, a young English professor from Wellesley College, was so taken by the wide open vistas on her trip to Colorado Springs, she wrote a poem based on her travels in the late 1890’s. Samuel A. Ward, an organist and choir director for Grace Church, Newark, New Jersey, was equally inspired by the poem and composed a tune for an old hymn (“O Mother Dear, Jerusalem,” retitling the work “Materna”). Ward’s music combined with Bates’ poem were first published together in 1910 as the song we now know as “America the Beautiful.”
The view from the area surrounding my Dad’s house always makes me stop to take in those “…beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain” landscapes but I can’t help but noticing just how extremely dry everything looks. Even Pikes Peak only had a tiny dusting of snow. While a storm is forecast to arrive later, not much accumulation is expected. It may however build into a monster for other regions east of us. Sigh.
Where are the bunnies?
Even while walking along our regular route, the tawny colored grass was as crunchy and dry as I’ve seen it. Norman kept scanning the landscape for bunnies but there were none to be seen.
Still there was colors other than brown to be found at sunrise when Nature pulls back the curtains on the unfolding day with this gorgeous view from the front door.
When the day greets you with that scene, surely all is not lost.
Do you have any big plans for the weekend? Here in Denver, the National Western Stock Show is slated to open today. With the rise in COVID cases, the annual parade of longhorns strolling down Seventeenth Street was cancelled and I won’t be attending the show, but it may be interesting to watch local news coverage from the show. Mutton Bustin’ is one of the more popular events during the rodeo performances and always seems to be a visitor favorite. Nothing like watching a 5-7 year old weighing less than 55 pounds trying to hang on to a wily mutton, bound and determined to rid itself of the hanger-on. While entertaining to many, it seems rather barbaric to me.
Photo courtesy of National Western Stock Show
Whatever you do, we hope you remain safe and enjoy Nature’s symphony of beautiful ‘music’ much like Katherine Lee Bates did.
Welcome to the first Friday of 2022. We’ve hooked up with our mates, Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard for this latest edition of Nature Friday. Norman here to share a couple of photos with you from what I’ve been seeing in Nature this week while visiting my Grandpa in Southern Colorado.
Winter early mornings and early evenings are colorful and with open landscapes at Grandpa’s. Just look at this morning’s early morning sunrise. The colors were so intense on a chilly morning.
There’s something about the wide open spaces here that really provides some amazing sunsets as well. The evening we arrived, the sky was a study in blues and oranges. Mum had to pull over to savor the quiet beauty.
It was bitter cold yesterday but today should be a perfect day for walking about the countryside. Yesterday’s walk was all about staying warm after a skiff of snow fell with single digits. Mum says I’ve adapted nicely to being a good house dog since I really prefer spending time lounging about and always within ear-scratching distance from my Grandpa. I wasn’t even interested in sniffing out bunny or other critter trails too much on the walk-I just wanted to get back and see Grandpa.
With 2022 being almost a week old, it’s been fun experiencing new adventures at Grandpa’s house. What’s your first week of the year been like? Have you been able to check out what Nature’s been serving up? We sure hope you’ve made time to see what’s going on outside. Got any plans for the first weekend? Whatever you do, we hope you’re safe, cozy and are enjoying these winter days.
While it may be Wordless Wednesday, we’re using this opportunity for sending out our ‘howliday’ greeting with apologies for its lateness. Thank you to everyone who has sent us their greetings; we loved them all. Both Norman and Elsa wish you a season that is merry and bright.
Today on Monday Musings, we’re offering a bit of a pun-ish 
