Do you remember when everyone was putting strange messages on their answering machines? Most of them were humorous the first time you heard them, but then they were just “old”. For example, “Yes, we ARE avoiding people and screening our calls. Please leave a message and if we like you, we’ll pick up the phone or call you back. If we don’t pick up the phone or call back, take a hint…” or “Hello, hello, hello?”

During that time, answering machines were becoming the big thing for everyone and it was fun to record something different for your message. Now, most everyone has either voicemail or an answering machine and many of those messages are considered just annoying. Jan 30th is a day for eliminating those irritating messages.

I find it interesting how we all take voicemail and answering machines for granted anymore. Did you know that the answering machine was first thought about before the 1900’s? In 1878, shortly after inventing his phonograph, Thomas Edison created a “top ten list” of uses of the phonograph. Number ten read: “Connection with the telephone, so as take that instrument an auxiliary in the transmission of permanent and invaluable records, instead of being the recipient of momentary and fleeting communication”. Edison actually experiemented with creating an answering machine for many years but had trouble connecting his recording machine to the telephone.

Valdemar Poulsen, a Danish telephone engineer and inventor, patented what he called a telegraphone in 1898. The telegraphone was the first practical apparatus for magnetic sound recording and reproduction.  It recorded, on a wire, the varying magnetic fields produced by a sound. The magnetized wire could then be used to play back the sound.

Willy Müller invented the first automatic answering machine in 1935. This answering machine was a three-foot-tall machine popular with Orthodox Jews who were forbidden to answer the phone on the Sabbath.

The Ansafone, created by inventor Dr. Kazuo Hashimoto for Phonetel, was the first answering machine sold in the USA, beginning in 1960.

According to Casio TAD History (Telephone Answering Devices): Casio Communications created the modern telephone answering device (TAD) as we know it today. The product, the Model 400 is now featured in the Smithsonian.

In the late seventies Gordon Matthews began working on the technology that would eventually be called “voicemail.”  In 1979, he formed a company called VMX, which stands for Voice Message Express. He applied for a patent in 1979 to cover his voicemail invention and sold the first system to 3M.  A few years later, in 1982 the patent for his invention was awarded.  Eventually, the company was sold to Octel.

So there you have it. Let’s give answering messages the respect they deserve and eliminate inane messages!

Chia Pet Rescue

Jan 28th is National Kazoo Day. This day is usually celebrated on the fourth Thursday of January. It is not clear how this day started but I think it is a day worthy of celebrating.

The kazoo has a long history in America. It was invented by an American named Alabama Vest and made to his specifications by a German clock master named Thaddeus Von Clegg in Macon, Georgia in the 1840’s. A traveling salesman by the name of Emil Sorg brought the idea of manufacturing metal kazoos to Western New York around 1912. He teamed up with Michael McIntyre, and they found a way to manufacture the first production kazoos. McIntyre moved to Eden, New York where he formed a partnership with Harry Richardson, the owner of a metal forming plant. McIntyre and Richardson began producing metal kazoos in 1914. McIntyre received a patent for the kazoo in 1923.

The Original American Kazoo Company is now the only metal kazoo factory in North America. The museum highlights history, amusing trivia, and shows step by step the way kazoos are made.

The factory continues to manufacture a complete line of kazoos even today. Kazoos are made the same way today as in 1916. The Kazoo Factory machines that make kazoos are the same die presses that were installed in 1907 when the building housed a sheet metal workshop. Over the years, demand for kazoos became so great that the other metal operations ceased. Today, as in the past, over 20 machines are run with one 10 horsepower motor connected with overhead jack shafts and leather belts. The factory is truly one of the few remaining working museums.

Take out your kazoo today and celebrate!

Chia Pet Rescue

Chocolate Thing

Any day that involves chocolate is a good day for me. Jan 27th is National Chocolate Cake Day. So if you are wondering what that means, it means that you should eat chocolate cake today!

Chocolate cake was popularized at the end of the 19th Century. Before that, in 1828 Conrad Van Houten of the Netherlands developed a mechanical extraction method for extracting the fat from cacao liquor resulting in cacao butter and the partly defatted cacao, a compacted mass of solids that could be sold as it was “rock cacao” or ground into powder. This new process transformed chocolate from an exclusive luxury to an inexpensive daily snack.

My favorite chocolate cake, Devils Food Cake, was introduced in cake mixes in the mid 1930s by The Duff Company of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, it was put on hold during World War II.

In the U.S. chocolate decadence type cakes were popular in the 1980s. Laterin in the 1990s, individual molten cakes “with liquid chocolate centers and infused chocolates with exotic flavors such as tea, curry, red pepper, passion fruit, and Champagne become popular. Rich flourless and all-but-flourless chocolate cakes are now standard in bakeries.

Traditional approaches to chocolate cake are still popular and chocolate cake is also a basis for other cake varieties such as Black Forest cake and German Chocolate Cake, which includes coconut, pecans, caramelized cream, and chocolate cake.

In my opinion, my Grandmother made the best Devil’s Food Cake and it is a very simple recipe:

Never Fail Devils Food Cake

• 2 C sugar
• 3/4 C shortening
• 1 C boiling water
• 1/2 C cold coffee
• 2 C sifted flour
• 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs. Sift flour, cocoa, and salt. Add slowly while mixing. Disolve baking soda in boiling water. Slowly add water, coffee and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Pour into well-greased  pan(s) and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes (or until done).

I have found that the baking time on this varies slightly according to altitude and humidity.

Chia Pet Rescue

Herding Cats

Well, at least learn the cat rules. Did you even know that your cat asks you questions? Cats are very inquisitive, so it only makes sense that they ask you questions. But the trick is to understand what questions your cat is asking. Jan 22nd is really Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day. So what does that really mean? This appears to be another holiday that was created by Wellcat.com. They have created many fun holidays and this has the potential to be a really fun day to celebrate also.

Cats always appear to be asking questions. They will sit and stare at a door for very long periods of time as if they wanted to know what is behind that door. Even though they were probably on the other side about 10 minutes ago.

In celebration of this day, spend some time with your cat and try to figure out what his/her questions are. If you can, answer them. I have also compiled a list of cat rules for you to remember.

Cat Rules

1. If you have to throw up, get into a chair quickly. If you cannot manage this in time, get to an Oriental rug. Shag is good!
2. Determine quickly which guest hates cats. Sit on that lap during the evening.
3. For sitting on laps or rubbing against trouser legs, select colors which contrast with your own.
4. Always accompany guests to the bathroom. It is not necessary to do anything. Just sit and stare.
5. If one person is busy and the other is idle, sit with the busy one. For book readers, get in close under the chin, unless you can lie across the book itself.
6. Get enough sleep during the daytime so that you are fresh for playing at night between 2 & 4 a.m.
7. Whenever possible, get close to a human, especially their face, turn around, and present your butt to them. Humans love this, so do it often. And don’t forget guests.
8. When supervising cooking, sit just behind the left heel of the cook. You cannot be seen and thereby stand a better chance of being stepped on and then picked up and comforted.
9. Curtains are for climbing only.

Chia Pet Rescue

Scrappy Squirrel

Jan 21 is Squirrel Appreciation Day. Some people would think that we shouldn’t have a day to appreciate squirrels. Because they are really rodents. But squirrels are interesting creatures.

Most squirrels we are familiar with are tree squirrels. And even more often, we see the gray squirrel. Gray squirrels like acorns but their diets also include fungi, insects, pine nuts, and various other items. You have also probably noticed that squirrels dig a lot in flower beds and gardens. This is because they find a lot of extra nuts in the soil and these areas are very soft. You may see them chewing on electrical wire and hoses. This is not because they are trying to eat them. A squirrel’s teeth grow very fast so they must continually sharpen and shorten their teeth. They will chew on hard things (like electrical wire or hoses) to sharpen, clean and trim their teeth.

I have always liked squirrels because of their long tails. But their tails are not just for “looks”. A squirrel’s tail serves a few purposes. The most common purpose is the long tail helps them to balance them as they run from tree to tree. They also use their tail as kind of an umbrella to shelter them from rain or hot sunlight.

Since today is the day we should appreciate them, take some time to watch them scurrying around today or maybe even share a few nuts with them.

Chia Pet Rescue