President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country. On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. The single day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under the Department of Defense and is observed on the third Saturday in May.
Daily Calendar for Saturday, May 20, 2023
Question of the Day
I’m intrigued by the idea of a cutting garden, but I’m uncertain how one keeps such a garden generating new flowers. Any advice?
Different gardeners have different ideas about what a cutting garden should be, but generally speaking, it includes unpretentious rows of flowers, sometimes added to a large vegetable garden, that are intended to be decimated. They are the overflow, beyond the more formal borders, edgings, and patio beds that you want to keep looking their best. A cutting garden is best situated in some sunny, out-of-the-way spot. A skilled gardener will plan successive plantings to provide a steady supply of cuttings as the summer progresses. Some good choices for cutting gardens are the taller, longer-stemmed, not-so-neat varieties of flowers that adorn a bouquet but can make a formal border look disheveled. They may be annuals or perennials. Shasta daisies, feverfew, baby’s breath, statice, zinnias, cosmos, strawflowers, poppies, delphiniums, sweet peas, and ornamental grasses are all good choices.
Advice of the Day
Strong chamomile tea, rubbed over your skin, is a natural bug repellent.
Home Hint of the Day
If the bricks in your chimney are starting to crumble from age, seal the outsides with a clear masonry sealer, applied with a paintbrush. Preventing the bricks from absorbing rainwater will extend their life.
Word of the Day
Sleet
Sleet falls in the winter when the air temperature is below freezing near the ground and above freezing up in the clouds. Rain forms in the warm air and falls into the cold air, freezing into little pieces of ice on the way down.
Puzzle of the Day
What did Mama Tomato say to Baby Tomato when he lagged behind?
Ketchup!
Died
- Christopher Columbus (explorer) –
- Joseph Carr (president of NFL) –
- Gilda Radner (actress) –
- Stephen Jay Gould (paleontologist & author) –
- Robin Gibb (musician; member of the Bee Gees) –
Born
- William Thornton (architect) –
- Dolley Madison (U.S. First Lady) –
- William Fargo (businessman) –
- Allan Nevins (historian) –
- Jimmy Stewart (actor) –
- Joe Cocker (musician) –
- Cher (singer & actress) –
- Tony Stewart (race car driver) –
Events
- First Council of Nicaea (which standardized how to calculate the date of Easter) likely convened–
- D. Hyde patented the fountain pen–
- Homestead Act signed–
- The Saturday Evening Post published its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting–
- Charles Lindbergh began first nonstop solo flight across Atlantic–
- First airplane catapulted from a dirigible–
- A 680-pound goliath grouper was caught off Fernandina Beach, Florida–
- Rare Madagascar teal duck born, Louisville Zoo, Kentucky–
- Up to 20 million honeybees escaped from a tractor-trailer after it overturned on a highway in Newark, Deleware–
Weather
- Strafford, Vermont, received 10 inches of snow–
- Six inches of snow fell on Lexington, Kentucky–
- Codell, Kansas, hit by a tornado–
- For the second year in a row, Codell, Kansas, was hit by a tornado on this date–
- For the third year in a row, Codell, Kansas, was hit by a tornado on this date–
- A tornado took to the ground in Kansas City, Missouri, and traveled 71 miles–
- Near Eloy, Arizona, scientists began a 3.5 week experiment to study the nature of dust devils.–