THURSDAY JANUARY 31ST 2013

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES and hold on to your hats...quite the wind out there this morning as Mother Nature comes to blows with us after a couple of very mild days.  There is a weather watch out on this Swan Song day of January and we could get up to 15 cms...the Temperature has dropped from about +7  last night to about -3 at 8:30 am. We have gotten rid of all the snow on the roof but I guess the Boomerang effect is coming back. We had a huge storm on this date back in 1982 with over a foot of snow even in Toronto. 
On this date in 1839  John 'Radical Jack' Lambton, Lord Durham handed his 'Report on the Affairs of British North America' to the British Prime Minister. The former Governor of the colony blamed the power of the Family Compact and Chateau Clique for the 1837 rebellions, and recommended uniting the Upper and Lower Canada be under one responsible government, with English the only official language, so as to assimilate the French Canadians. 
In 1961 a CHIMPANZEE was launched into space to become the the first U.S. animal to orbit earth.  The U.S.S.R of course had used a dog Laika prior to the U.S. CHIMP. The United States had thought of using Goldfish as well on the flight but the mission control workers said....OH NO NOT FISH AND CHIMPS AGAIN. The chimp did not have the name 'HAM' until it came back successfully in case it didn't make it. The chimp was named after the  Holloman AerospaceMedical Center, located at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico...(by the way Laika's trip was one way) After the flight, Ham lived for 17 years in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., then at the North Carolina Zoo before his death at the age of 26 on January 19, 1983 and appeared many times in movies and on TV.
Still with Space....in 1971, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roose blasted off in their Apollo 14 Spacecaft on their way to the Third Moon Landing. 
In Hockey Wayne Gretzky had 61 goals and 92 assists for 153 points in 52 games in 1984 and Rick Vaive was top leaf with 40 goals and 24 assists  for 64 points in 50 games.  The next season the Great One had 53 goals and 92 assists for 145 points in 51 games. Baseball great Nolan Ryan was born 66 years ago on this date.  as well Franz Schubert , born in 1797,  (shall I continue with the  Liszt)....Zane Grey in 1875, Mario Lanza , Justin Timberlake and one of my favourite new people on TV, Kerry Washington (who is on a show called "Scandal" is 35 today. If you are blowing out the candles today....many happy returns. 
Timothy Eaton founder of the T. Eaton Company of Canada, died in 1907.He was an innovative retailer,who maintained fixed prices and cash sales, with satisfaction guaranteed. . luckily we still have The Bay giving us some sense of history. 
And Finally........Keep in mind tomorrow morning...what the Hurons did when they woke up in their Longhouses to a big snowstorm...what was the first thing they did?.....DUG-OUT CANOES.
Mornin' everybody...mornin'