Losing my best friend: Tammy

This Tuesday i lost something that was very precious to me, Tammy would have been with me 12 years this June and i never knew her true age which was estimated when i adopted her at that time to be around 2 years old. At that time before adopting her i really had wanted a dog but living in an apartment which didn’t allow any pets helped me go in a different direction, and am i ever grateful that i did because i loved her like she was my child.       

Let me go back to the year 2000 when i was thinking about adopting, and i hate calling them pets so for this post I’m calling them little family members. My mom had this cat who used to stop by her home and somehow get in the back yard, and she would feed him and in time would name him Jessie. Since my folks already had 3 cats at the time she asked me “why not take in Jessie”, as my mom was a huge lover of cats and dogs and would have take-in Jesse except she had a pretty full home already. But i knew that my mom was getting really attached to him and really wanted me to take him so he could be part of our family, so i decided to bring him in to the veterinarians office for a check-up and to get all of his shots.

After bring in Jessie for his check-up i was told that he had Feline Immunodeficiency Virus which is very similar to the aids virus in people, i was floored when i first heard this as the doctor explained what it was and how it would effect his health. So i asked him how long could he live and was told that Jessie could live for years, or he could die from a severe cold that his compromised immune system may not be able to handle, i was floored and sick to my stomach.

He could never come in contact with any other healthy cat because they would get FIV as well, and this decease is spread through saliva so its very different than aids in that respect. So i had to stand there in the doctors office and think about what i wanted to do, so i told him that “ill set him free”. And the doctor said if you do that more cats will get infected, So here i am a grown man crying in the vets office trying to figure out what to do. And since i knew if i adopted Jessie i could lose him because of this, i made the very tough decision to put  him to sleep.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Well i knew that my mom would fall in love with both of them and after accepting taking both of them i took his mom (Tammy) and my folks taking her son (Chance). I’ve made many mistakes in my life and so many wrong decision’s, but in spite of myself one of the best choices that I’ve made in my entire life was to take her home with me. She understood me and i knew and understood her personality so very well, and when she became sick i knew something was very wrong.

Tammy suffered from asthma and was first diagnosed with this  disease in 2010, and since cats are able to hide their illnesses’ very well she may have had it even earlier. This January i noticed Tammy was having a little more trouble breathing than she normally would have and brought her in to her vets office, and i was told that she had what most likely was a chest infection. And in this time Tammy was seen and was on antibiotics for the most part of 4 months and me driving to another vet in Lancaster for another opinion, and then i finally placed her in a animal hospital located in Allentown with specialists.  

Tammy was named by my mother from the movie Tammy and the Bachelor staring Debbie Reynolds that was made in 1957. When my mom had her very first look at her she said “she’s a Tammy“, and so her name was born from one of my mothers favorite movies and songs.

                                                                                                Tammy was in Allentown and was placed on oxygen (Saturday) and was at least breathing better which is what i had wanted, i also wanted answers and hoped her life would be saved. After Tammy receiving many drugs those few days x-rays were taken and i went over them with her doctor on Monday, since her oxygen level was too low they were not able to do a  tracheal wash and send a scope down in her lungs to really see what and how much damage was done. But her last x-ray taken on that day (Mon) did show some improvement in her lungs, and the doctor brought her in the room and i had her in my arms and she never wanted me to let her go. Since she seemed to be improving the doctor wanted 1 more day to monitor her and make sure that she was stable, and that i was all set to pick her up on Tuesday morning.                                                             

                                                                                                                                                              

The doctor did say that she felt Tammy’s lungs were damaged and that in the very near future this would be ending her life in some way, so my goal was to get her home and spend quality time and to try and help her live as long as possible. Tuesday morning at 7:30 i recieved a call from the hospital that Tammy had trouble breathing and became very agitated and was sedated and placed on 100% oxygen, x-rays were also taken and i was told on the phone that her condition (x-rays) showed that over the night to have become worse from the ones i had looked at on Monday.

I made the extremely hard decision on Tuesday to put Tammy to rest, i was there with her and she  was lying on one of her favorite blankets when it happened. She was sedated but her eyes were open and i only hope that she knew i was with her, i had my private time with her and told her i loved her and held her hand as the end came. Along with a great loss i feel angry that i was cheated her spending her last moments on earth at home with me, and i know some of that anger will pass as my wonderful memories’ of her will take its place, and there were so very many of those. This post is for Tammy and my love for her, and i thank you so much for being one of the best things that  had come into my life, and now your in my mother arms. Richard

Knowing If I had known that on that day our time was near the end I would have done things differently, my forever friend. I would have stayed right next to you deep into the night but I thought I’d see you in the early morning light. And so I said “Good night” to you as I walked in through the door never thinking of the time when I’d see you no more. But if I had known that on that day our time was at the end I would have done things so differently, my forever friend. For Tammy

www.fritzthebrave.com :   A  web site  to learn about feline asthma and treatments.

Read Full Post »

The slinky: How it all started

Today I found the Slinky was originally intended to be used as a tension spring in a battleship engine horsepower meter.

In 1943, Richard James, a marine engineer in a Philadelphia shipyard, was working at his desk, developing a special meter designed to monitor the horsepower output on naval battleships. This meter required the use of special springs in order to stabilize the instrument in rough seas. At a certain point, James accidentally knocked a length of one of the springs he was working with off his desk. To his amazement, the spring fell from its position on the desk, then “walked” from that point to a stack of books, and eventually on to the floor where it coiled back up.

Richard rushed home and told his wife about what happened and said, “I think if I got the right property of steel and the right tension, I could make it walk.”. He went on to tell her he thought he could make a child’s toy out of it.

After some time, Richard made a few prototypes, which he let children in his neighborhood play with in order to gauge the response, which ended up being overwhelmingly positive. His wife, Betty, then searched for a name for this new toy. After searching through the dictionary for hours, she finally settled on “Slinky”, meaning “sinuous and slender” and had previously been used mainly as an adjective to describe women or clothing.

With a $500 loan to pay a company to manufacture a small quantity of Slinkies, in 1945, Richard and Betty made an attempt to sell the toy in a retail outlet store in Philadelphia. The retail store agreed to put 400 Slinkies on display for the upcoming Christmas shoppers. After a few days and no sales, Richard began to fear the worst. He decided to go down to the store and display what the toy could do. His wife Betty agreed to meet up with him later that night. When she arrived, she saw a line of customers purchasing every last slinky. All 400 Slinkies sold in 90 minutes.

And the rest, as they say is history…

Bonus Factoids

In 1960, Richard James left his struggling company, which was deeply in debt, and moved to Bolivia where he became a missionary. When Betty refused to go with him, he told her she could have the company and he didn’t care what she did with it. Betty then took over the company and proved to be a much better business person than her ex-husband. The company expanded greatly under her leadership and to date has sold over 300 million Slinkies.

For her contributions in making the Slinky one of the all time best selling toys in the world, Betty James was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 2001. She died in 2008, at the age of 90. Her ex-husband, Richard James, died just 14 years after moving to Bolivia, in 1974.

Around 80 feet of wire was used in the original slinky design.

In 1945, the original Slinky toy sold for $1.00. Today, the same Slinky sells for about $1.99.

Other than toys, Slinkies have been used in pecan picking, drapery holders, antennas, light fixtures, window decorations, gutter protectors, bird house protectors, therapeutic devices, wave motion coils, table decorations, and mail holders, among other things. Notable among these were U.S. troops in Vietnam using the Slinky as mobile radio antennas and NASA later using Slinkies in certain zero-gravity experiments.

50,000 tons of wire (around 3,030,000 miles worth) has been used in making the slinky since 1945 to present. That’s about enough wire to go around the Earth 121 times at the equator. Story published with permission from www.todayifoundout.com

Carrot Cake recipe from the 1940s Serves: 15 Cake 2 cups sugar 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil 4 large eggs 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 3 cups grated carrots 1 cup chopped walnuts Frosting 12 ounces confectioners’ sugar 2 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons milk Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, beat sugar and oil. Add eggs and beat well. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into egg mixture; mix well; fold in carrots and nuts. Place batter in greased 9 x 13-inch pan; bake 1 hour and 10 minutes. FROSTING: Beat together confectioners’ sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, butter and milk; spread on cooled carrot cake. Recipe from http://www.Recipegoldmine.com

Read Full Post »

Resipe of the week : Sadie Glick’s Shoo-fly Pie

With the recipe of the week i thought id include this video which i Stumbled Upon while browsing YouTube. I remember going on a buggy ride sometime in the late 80s or early 1990s and having Jessica drive the buggy. A buggy ride is a good way to see what the Amish see and feel when they are on the road, so i recommend trying this when your in any Amish community across America. Richard Sadie Glick’s Shoo-fly Pie

Liquid: Lightly mix eggs and sugar. Add syrup and stir till smooth before adding boiling water and soda. Stir well and set aside.

Crumbs: Mix together; add 2 double handfuls of crumbs to liquid and fold in lightly. Divide into 4-8″ pie shells. Spread rest of crumbs over top. Bake at 300° for approximately 50-55 minutes. Liquid:

4 eggs

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 cups King syrup (fresh sorghum molasses)

2 cups boiling water

1 tsp baking soda

Crumbs:

3 cups dark brown sugar

6 scant cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup lard (heaping)

When Norman and Marlena Miller, along with the entire Evart, MI Amish community, set out to compile their family favorites, they did so with a song and plenty of inspirations. And that’s exactly the recipe they used for Cooking With Praise. This cookbook has a delicious spread of Amish favorites: Potato Salad, Poor Man’s Steak, Tator-Tot Casserole, and Oreo Pudding, to name a few. Then there are the seven sections for those who watch their diet. Then like a good cook who adds a pinch of this and a dash of that, bringing the taste to perfection, the Millers have added hymns and inspirational thoughts throughout. Cooking With Praise is ready for your table and your guests. 450 recipes. 254 pages. Spiral bound with laminated covers. Fully indexed. To buy this book just go to www.Amishshop.com.

Read Full Post »

This week on Jean: The update

Jean is old order Mennonite from New York State.Jean and her husband David and family live on a dairy farm, and travel their community using horse and buggy. She tells her story exclusively on Amish Stories.

David and Michael are out plowing this morning with the beautiful weather we are having in Upstate New York right now. They have plowed our field, my parents field, the two Amish behind us and David’s parents. David’s parents was the hardest to do as the previous owner had not plowed the field in over 10 years. It will be great land to plant this year as it has not been used and has rested as we say. David bent one of the plows when he hit a rock on his parents field. Michael was right behind him in our other plow when David hit it, but Michael had time enough to stop before he hit the rock. Now the men are considering planting. The weather is beautiful, but it is March and they don’t want to plant too soon, get a freeze and lose all they planted like happened a few years ago. That year they had to re-plant the crops again as the first planting was ruined in the freeze. But on the other hand, they are getting the Itch to plant. The men even plowed for my garden already this year.

Thought I would update and how things are going. Our house is almost all done. The kitchen is completed except for a couple additional cupboards that weren’t in the old kitchen but are going in the new kitchen. Between Michael’s school and David’s plowing they haven’t completed them all yet. Sears delivered the new stove, refrigerator, freezer, washer and dryer so I am able to cook in the kitchen again. David, Michael and Susan agreed my Mother was a great cook, but they were glad I was cooking back in our own kitchen again. We still also have some painting to do where the walls were taken down and replaced for the new plumbing and electric, but they are in our bedrooms. We finished the living room, downstairs bedroom, downstairs and upstairs bathrooms so we haven’t got much left to do.

All my canned goods were replaced by our Mennonite and Amish neighbors – we appreciate it very much. Our Englisher neighbors across the street’s parents have come to live with them. The parents were bored and were looking for a “job”. As they have a car we asked them to drive us to the grocery store so we could replace all the groceries we lost in the fire. We went after the public school let out so Michael could help carry the groceries. We hardly had room for us in the car because I bought lots of groceries and filled the trunk and some in the back seat of the car. I have highly recommended our neighbor’s parents as drivers. They patiently waited while we went through the grocery store and took us to a couple of other places I wanted to stop. When we got home they didn’t want to be paid for doing this, but I explained that if they wanted the job they had to take payment or we wouldn’t call them. Since that day other Old Order Mennonite and Amish have asked them to drive them. It gives us another driver and gives our neighbor’s parents a little extra income.

Regarding the automobile accident that happened where the 6 Amish were killed that David and our Fire Department were at. The man that caused the accident plead guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 12 to 24 years in prison. What may have not been in the paper is that some of the Amish went to prison or wrote letters to him telling him that he has been forgiven. Some of the Amish still visit him in prison. We hope and pray that if this man has not already known the Lord that during his prison time he does and his life changes. Also the Amish have contacted his family telling them they forgive and helping them in anyway that they could.

David and I went to the most recent Town Meeting and a moratorium was put on new dog kennels and dog breeding operations. This was done by the opposition to a plan for the dog breeding facility in the town. There was so much opposition from across our country and overseas by telephone and e-mail. They even had to shut down the phones for a few days at Town Hall because of so many calls. This gives the town board time to review existing laws and maybe enact new ones. After a year the board can renew the moratorium or maybe adopt an ending to the moratorium. So at least for a while they can be no new dog-breeding farms in our town. We hope it remains that way.

As my kitchen was done and all my recipes backed in boxes after the fire I am behind in giving recipes. Now that my kitchen is back I will be unpacking the recipes books, cards, etc. I know someone wanted rye bread, another wanted Amish bread and there was a third recipe someone wanted that neither Marilyn nor I can remember. If you would leave what you wanted in comment-I will see if I have that recipe.

Be With God, Jean

An update on Jean: As of this writing Jean is leaving the hospital today (Monday) and will be going home to rest, with her husband David making sure that  she takes it easy with other’s helping more around the house and farm until she’s better. Jean will also be working on a post of her  hospital stay at some point when she is able, and i will be keeping Jean in my thoughts as she gets stronger and as her health fully recovers. Richard

Ham and Onions over Noodles recipe This is an old Mennonite recipe. 6 slices ham 3 x 3 1/2 x 1/4 inches 3 onions, sliced 1/2 cup sour cream Hot noodles Fry slices of ham until nicely browned. Remove ham from pan and add onion slices. Cook until slightly browned. Add sour cream. Let come to a boil and pour over hot noodles. Recipe from www.Recipegoldmine.com

Read Full Post »

Amish baseball game part: 2

More Amish coming in to catch the game

A good shot of the action

All eyes are on the hitter

Running the base’s

Checking out who showed-up at the game

A young Amish girl moves  in for a better seat, and shes holding her seat as well!

Soft Amish Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe 1/2 cup shortening 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1/2 cup milk 2 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 3/4 teaspoons baking soda (place in the milk) 1 (12 ounce) bag chocolate chips or butterscotch chips Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and milk with baking soda. Mix together and add baking powder. Gradually add flour and stir well. Stir in chocolate or butterscotch chips. Place dough by teaspoonful on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F until the edge is light brown. Recipe from http://www.Recipegoldmine.com

Read Full Post »

Recipe of the week : Potluck Potatoes




  Potluck Potatoes

Slice potatoes, cook till almost tender. Combine the rest of the ingredients and heat till cheese is melted. Put in layers in casserole and cover with 2 C. crushed corn flakes crumbs. Mix with 1/2 C. melted butter. Bake for 45 minutes in 350° F oven. 2 lbs. potatoes

1/2 C. butter

1 can cream of mushroom, chicken or celery soup

1 t. onion salt

1/4 t. pepper

1 pt. sour cream

2 C. Velveeta cheese

1 t. Lawry’s seasoning salt

From mouth-watering Amish-style main dishes to kitchen dream desserts, this on has it all. Over 600 from-scratch recipes that please the appetite and are easy on the food budget. You’ll get a whole section on canning and food preparation. The Amish, long known for their originality in the kitchen, share their favorites with you. This 275 page spiral bound cookbook has over 600 recipes .

Cooking with the Horse & Buggy People – To order go to http://www.Amishshop.com.

Read Full Post »

Special quest writer Martha : As an old order Mennonite Martha shares with us how she and her family celebrate Easter.

Martha and Joseph are old order Mennonites who live on a farm in New York state with their family, and like the Amish use horse and buggy when traveling.

    Hello Everyone

I am filling in for Jean this week and telling you about how we celebrate Easter.

Our Easter really starts back on what we use to call before I became Old Order Mennonite, Ash Wednesday. On the Tuesday before we have a large dinner and later in the evening have snacks. On Wednesday we fast until noon. Only those 15 and older have to fast. During this time our thoughts are to be on our sins and the many things Jesus has done us for us. All during lent we think of how Jesus suffered and died on the cross for our sins. In the morning when we get up Joseph reads us from the Bible and we pray. When we have out meal at noon, he reads from the Bible again and we pray before lunch. We also do that at dinner in the evening and before bed time. The only work we do on that Wednesday is milking the cows and feeding the animals-chores we have to do.

Throughout lent all our evening Bible readings and prayers is about Jesus suffering for us. We also think if we have offended or sinned against something. If we have we should ask that person for forgiveness. We encourage our child to do the same. Also, as we adults give to charities, help others, – we ask the children to do kind things for others. Maybe a child will do a chore that they know their brother or sister doesn’t want to do. Because one of our daughters does very well in Math at school-she helps another student with the subject. They really are not close friends, but the student needs help and she gives it.

In our schools or homes we do not believe in bunnies, Easter Baskets (although we do have some candy), etc. Our feelings are they have nothing to do with God, but man created. In school the students may draw pictures of Jesus on the cross or His suffering in the Garden, but nothing from the outside world. With children, especially little children we want them to understand that this is a sad time, but don’t want them to be sad or afraid. We want them to understand that Jesus did this for us and we should be happy that He did. During Lent we honor Him for doing this.

Good Friday, we do no chores except milking the cows and feeding the animals. We fast on Good Friday morning. Of course, if you are ill or have to eat for medical reasons-you are allowed to eat. Not all Old Order Mennonite go the same way. I am telling your what our Old Order Mennonite, do. I make breakfast for the small children. Our school is closed today. On this day, only those that have been baptized can attend the meeting. Our oldest children that are not baptized watch the other children while Joseph, I and our baptized children attend meeting.

We are at our meeting place at 9:00 AM. Our Preachers start with Bible readings and sermons. Then we are asked if anyone has a sin or offended someone-if so we are to ask that person to forgive us. All of us are asked at once-not by individual. Any of these should have been settled before meeting. I have never known anyone to say yes. If anyone had a problem, it should have been taken care of during lent. After that we have washing of the feet. Men was men feet and ladies wash ladies feet. If Jean and I were there say I would wash her feet and she would wash mine. This is to remind of us of when Jesus washed the feet of his apostles. Also it reminds us that we should be humble. After the washing of the feet, we have communion. In order to receive communion you must be baptized and as close to without sin as a person can be. No one is completely sinless. After communion the preachers read of the Crucifixion from the bible and base their sermons on that. We pray in memory of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Meeting closes after 3:00PM-as 3:00PM represents the time that Jesus died on the cross.

When we get home, we do not have dinner until 6:00 PM or after. In the evening bible reading and prayer is still of Jesus dying for us. We thank Him for what He did for us who are so unworthy. Saturday we do our chores and prepare for dinner on Easter Sunday. We do all the baking, defrosting the meat, etc. Anything I can prepare that day, I do.

Easter Sunday we get up, door the chores that we had to do, and have a quick breakfast before meeting at 9:00AM. That day we have hard boiled eggs as part of our breakfast. These eggs are to show that He has risen and a time to rejoice. That Jesus is solid, we can count on Him at all times. We do not color our Easter eggs. Meeting this morning is one of rejoicings that Jesus is risen. Our who family attends this meeting. After meeting we return home and have dinner at about noon. It is just our immediate family. We usually have ham, turkey, sweat potatoes, mashed potatoes, salads, rolls, relishes and of course pies and cookies. None of our cookies have a bunny or other earthly image in them. We usually have some candy, but it is egg shaped in honor of Jesus. After dinner we have Bible reading and prayer on the happiness of Jesus.

On Easter Monday we have family and friends. Our school is closed that day. We have another big dinner at noon time, usually at our house, where our family and friends are welcome. The children play and we folks talk. Sometimes we go visiting those that are home bound. It is a great day of thanksgiving for what Jesus did for us-we are to rejoice. We only do the chores that we have to on that day. In the evening sometimes the children get a group together to go house to house singing to those that are home bound. I make up plates of candy, bread, Cinnamon rolls, etc. so the children can give them to the people they sing to. Our Bible readings and prayers are for rejoicings of Jesus.

We feel that we should be humble and remember that Jesus died for us all year through-not just during lent and Easter. Also, we should remember all that Jesus has done for us and given us. We ask so much, but do we always thank Him for what He has given us? God Bless you this Easter,

Martha

Martha’s homemade Brownies 1 1/2 cups flour 2 cups sugar 1 tsp salt 1 cup butter 4 eggs 2 tsp vanilla 10 Tbsp cocoa Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 325 degrees for about 20-25 minutes in a 9 X 13″ greased pan until sides just begin to pull from pan when cool. Enjoy. Martha

Read Full Post »

Amish baseball game: part 1.

The first post i had done on Amish Stories was at this same location which has proved to be a very popular spot for the Amish to have baseball game’s, and to be honest like the first post that i had done  i pretty much just stumbled on to this game as it was in progress. I did notice that on both teams most were wearing fire dept Tee shirts from 2 different fire stations, so i believe what we are watching is  just a friendly game between volunteer fire personal.(part 2 next Friday) Richard

I wonder what the changes will be to Amish life when this young man grows-up?

They came by foot, buggy and by scooter!

An Amish version of box seats!

Amish Meatloaf recipe 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef 1 beaten egg 1/2 teaspoon sage 1/2 cup Pet milk About 2 cups Ritz crackers, crushed 1/4 cup onion 1/2 cup Swiss cheese, shredded (plus some extra) Salt and pepper Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients well; pat into an oval loaf in a baking dish. Put the extra shredded Swiss cheese over top of loaf. Bake for 1 hour. This meatloaf freezes well. Recipe from www.Recipegoldmine.com.

Read Full Post »

Baby Ruth candy bars really were named after Babe Ruth!

The rumor that they were not was actually started by the company who made them originally, the Curtiss Candy Company founded by Otto Schnering. They claimed it was named after Ruth Cleveland, the granddaughter of President Grover Cleveland. Ruth Cleveland supposedly visited their plant and, while there, inspired the name for the candy bar.

There are a quite a few problems with the official line, but the main problem is that Ruth Cleveland died in 1904 at the age of 12 years old, some 17 years before the Baby Ruth candy bar was created and about 15 years before the Curtiss Candy Company was created. Further, Grover Cleveland hadn’t been President for 24 years and had been dead for 13 years when the candy bar was named, so there doesn’t seem to be a good reason they’d have randomly picked his granddaughter to name a candy bar after.

In addition to the above stated bits in the company’s official story, the Curtiss Candy Company also went on to discuss the fact that Babe Ruth wasn’t even famous in 1921 when the candy bar was named, so why would they name it after some random baseball player? Here’s another problem with the official story, Babe Ruth was incredibly famous by 1921.

In that year, Babe Ruth hit 59 home runs, had a .378 batting average, and a .512 on base percentage. The year before that, he had his breakout year with the Yankees hitting 54 home runs with a .376 batting average and a .533 on base percentage. From 1919-1921, he hit an astounding 142 home runs and was well on his way to revolutionizing the game of baseball. This all resulted in Babe Ruth’s fame skyrocketing from what it had been only a few years before serving primarily as a pitcher and pinch hitter for the Red Sox. Babe Ruth was a national celebrity in 1921.

Further, the original version of the “Baby Ruth” candy bar was actually called the “Kandy Kake” and was coincidentally renamed to “Baby Ruth” directly after Babe Ruth had become a national celebrity. The Curtiss Candy Company also tried to get Babe Ruth to endorse their product after its launch, which he refused to do. Not only that, but the Curtiss Candy Company was headquartered very close to Wrigley Stadium and, in 1932, they setup a giant lit advertising sign near the spot where Babe Ruth’s supposed “called shot” landed, advertising Baby Ruth candy bars, fully visible from Wrigley Stadium. This sign remained there for four years.

Over and over again they attempted to associate their candy bar with Babe Ruth. The cover story told by the company was simply a way to get around having to pay Babe Ruth royalties for the use of his nickname and last name in their marketing efforts. The Curtiss Candy Company even had to use this story in actual legal proceedings when the manufacturer of the Babe Ruth Home Run Bar challenged the Baby Ruth name in court, claiming the Curtiss Candy Company were using the name without Babe Ruth’s permission, something the makers of the Babe Ruth Home Run Bar had managed to get from Ruth. The Curtiss Candy Company then successfully defended their candy bar’s name using the above “granddaughter of Grover Cleveland” story, which is full of inaccuracies and strains credibility.

Bonus Factoids:

Seventy four years after the Baby Ruth candy bar was named after Ruth, Nestle, who now owns the rights to the Baby Ruth candy bar, finally officially acquired the rights to use Ruth’s name and likeness in Baby Ruth marketing campaigns.

Nestle has since played this up even more when in 2007 they claimed the Baby Ruth candy bar is “the official candy bar of major league baseball”.

In 1923, Otto Schnering, the founder of the Curtiss Candy Company, hired a pilot to fly his plane over Pittsburgh and drop several thousand Baby Ruth candy bars over the city. Each candy bar was equipped with a parachute, to avoid injuring people.
Published with permission from www.todayifoundout.com.   
Richard from Amish Stories

Amish baseball game part 1 this Friday

Read Full Post »

Recipe of the week: Harry Caray’s Beef Medallions in Beer Sauce recipe

Harry Caray’s Beef Medallions in Beer Sauce recipe

Chip Caray, grandson of Harry Caray and announcer for the Cubs, Chip is not only talking baseball this morning, but he’s cooking too! Since Dutchie couldn’t make it in this year, she volunteered her grandson. Chip is making a recipe for “Beef Medallions in Beer Sauce.” It’s from the cookbook Harry helped promote called “Now You’re Cookin’ with Bud”. This was a favorite dish of Harry’s and will be offered at his restaurant.

8 beef medallions

1 quart beef stock

1 bunch green onions, diced

1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced

16 ounces Budweiser, divided

1/2 pound sliced mushrooms


1 cup fresh tomatoes, diced


Serves: 4


Sauté medallions to rare. Add 6 ounces of Budweiser, lower to medium heat for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, green onions and garlic. Sauté until tender. Add beef stock and tomatoes, cook to preferred temperature. Add remaining 10 ounces of Budweiser and lightly thicken with roux. Recipe from www.recipegoldmine.com

This Thursday: The history of the baby Ruth bar!

Read Full Post »