Nuts to You!
It's National Almond Day today, along with "Do a Grouch a Favor Day," and the day that Nylon was patented by DuPont.
Somehow I can make these three categories work, because you could do this grouch a favor by passing the almonds and reminding me that I don't have a job where I have to wear nylons every day. That's actually a misnomer, because the nylons invented by Wallace Carothers in 1938 were not the "panty hose" that came along later, in the 1960s.
However, there was a time when nylons were currency (WWII) - stamped on the cultural landscape by Slim Pickens' listing the contents of "Dr. Strangelove"s survival kit - and drawn-on nylons would suffice in the absence of the real thing.
Well, we also used to think nuts were bad for you, too, until the Mediterranean diet came along and taught us otherwise. California is the nut capital (please), producing more than half of the world's almonds, and that translates to a short transit time from picking in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys to the supermarket shelf.
If you want to grow your own, most varieties are self-unfruitful and require cross-pollination with the help of honeybees (that's why they ask you if you are importing any insects over the border) so you may want to opt for a roadside stand instead. Pollination is a big business, and there have been thefts and hijacks of almond trucks. Who knew?
Time to put on my stockings and bake my almond cake, for tomorrow is Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead's anniversary. Yes I know they aren't real, but I'm no longer grouchy.
PS. Survival kit contents from Dr. Strangelove:
1 .45 automatic.
2 boxes of ammunition.
4 days' concentrated emergency rations.
1 drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills.
1 miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible.
100 dollars in rubles.
100 dollars in gold.
9 packs of chewing gum.
1 issue of prophylactics.
3 lipsticks.
3 pairs of nylon stockings.
"A feller could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!"
Photo by Tree-Species via Flickr