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March 24, 2010

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Mothers Day Trivia: Believe It or Not Records

Youngest Mother
The youngest mother whose history is authenticated is Lina Medina, who delivered a 6½-pound boy by cesarean section in Lima, Peru in 1939, at an age of 5 years and 7 months. The child was raised as her brother and only discovered that Lina was his mother when he was 10.

Oldest Mother
On April 9, 2003, Satyabhama Mahapatra, a 65-year-old retired schoolteacher in India, became the world's oldest mother when she gave birth to a baby boy. Satyabhama and her husband had been married 50 years, but this is their first child. The baby was conceived through artificial insemination using eggs from the woman's 26-year-old niece, Veenarani Mahapatra, and the sperm of Veenarani's husband.

Shortest Interval Between Two Children
Jayne Bleackley is the mother who holds the record for the shortest interval between two children born in separate confinements. She gave birth to Joseph Robert on September 3, 1999, and Annie Jessica Joyce on March 30, 2000. The babies were born 208 days apart.

Longest Interval Between Two Children
Elizabeth Ann Buttle is the mother who holds the record for the longest interval between the birth of two children. She gave birth to Belinda on May 19,1956 and Joseph on November 20, 1997. The babies were born 41 years 185 days apart. The mother was 60 years old when her son Joseph was born.

Highest Recorded Number of Children
The highest officially recorded number of children born to one mother is 69, to the first wife of Feodor Vassilyev (1707-1782) of Shuya, Russia. Between 1725 and 1765, in a total of 27 confinements, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. 67 of them survived infancy.

Mothers Day Trivia: Highest Number of Children in Modern Times
The modern world record for giving birth is held by Leontina Albina from San Antonio, Chile. Leontina claims to be the mother of 64 children, of which only 55 of them are documented. She is listed in the 1999 Guinness World Records but dropped from later editions.

Mothers Day Trivia: On Women and Motherhood

24.8 is the median age of women when they give birth for the first time - meaning one-half are above this age and one-half are below. The median age has risen nearly three years since 1970.
The odds of a woman delivering twins is 1-in-33. Her odds of having triplets or other multiple births was approximately 1-in-539.
August is the most popular month in which to have a baby, with more than 360,000 births taking place that month in 2001.
Tuesday is the most popular day of the week in which to have a baby, with an average of more than 12,000 births taking place on Tuesdays during 2001.

Mothers Day Trivia:
Strange But True about Celebrity Moms and Kids

Katherine Hepburn's father was a surgeon and her mother was a dedicated suffragette and early crusader for birth control.
Elvis Presley, was a mama's boy. He slept in the same bed with his mother, Gladys, until he reached puberty. Up until Elvis entered high school, she walked him back and forth to school every day and made him take along his own silverware so that he wouldn't catch germs from the other kids. Gladys forbade young Elvis from going swimming or doing anything that might put him in danger. The two of them also conversed in a strange baby talk that only they could understand.
Many of the sweaters worn by Mr. Rogers on the popular television show, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, were actually knitted by his real mother.
Eric Clapton was born to an unwed mother and to shield him from the shame, Eric grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister.

Mothers Day Trivia: From the Animal Kingdom

A female oyster over her lifetime may produce over 100 million young.
A mother giraffe often gives birth while standing, so the new born's first experience outside the womb is a 1.8-meter (6-foot) drop.
Just like people, mother chimpanzees often develop lifelong relationships with their offspring.
Kittens are born both blind and deaf, but the vibration of their mother's purring is a physical signal that the kittens can feel - it acts like a homing device, signaling them to nurse.

March 7, 2010

Spring= Pesky little Dandelions...but their history is kind of neat!

Ask your relatives if they have any experiences with the Dandelion. Remember that it originally came from Asia where it played an important role in both food and medicine. Arabian physicians, even before the year 1000, used this plant as a medicine. The Dandelion has not established itself in the wild in the Southern Hemisphere. Dandelions made their recorded appearances in Canada with the French in the 1700’s where it was used in salads and as a health remedy

This plant also appeared in New Mexico, USA when Spanish people brought it over for a medicine and food source, they called it chicoria. Germans brought the plant to Pennsylvania in the 1850’s and used it as an early spring infusion of nutrition and vitamins. The English also brought the plants over to cure liver problems and other illnesses. Native Americans soon started to see benefits from the plants and started to grow them for the same uses as others. The plant is grown in India and is used mainly for a remedy for liver problems. Most recently the dandelion root is being grown and exported to Russia for use in medical remedies.

Interesting Facts

The word Dandelion comes from the French name for the plant dents de lion. This means teeth of the lion and refers to the jagged edges of the leaf of the plant.

The other French name for this plant means wet the bed. Dandelions deserve this name because their greens, when eaten, remove water from the body. So eating the greens could cause someone to well… you can guess the rest. Not recommend for a bedtime snack.

The dandelion first came from Asia but it now calls the entire planet home!

Each year fifty-five tones of coffee substitutes made from roasted Dandelion roots are sold in England, Australia and Canada.

The Dandelion provides an important food source to bees. The pollen from this plant helps bees out in the spring because it flowers early and the flowers continue through to the fall providing constant food. In fact no less then 93 different kinds of insects use Dandelion pollen as food.

The Dandelion seeds are important food to many small birds.

February 15, 2010

Olympics Fun Facts

The early Olympic Games were celebrated as a religious festival from 776 B.C. until 393 A.D. In 1894, a French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin, proposed a revival of the ancient tradition, and thus the modern-day Olympic Summer Games were born.
Host Greece won the most medals (47) at the first Olympic Summer Games in 1896.
The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924.
Norway has won the most medals (263) at the Winter Games.
The United States has won more medals (2,189) at the Summer Games than any other country.
The five Olympic rings represent the five major regions of the world – Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceana, and every national flag in the world includes one of the five colors, which are (from left to right) blue, yellow, black, green, and red.
Up until 1994 the Olympics were held every four years. Since then, the Winter and Summer games have alternated every two years.
The first Olympics covered by U.S. television was the 1960 Summer Games in Rome by CBS.
No country in the Southern Hemisphere has ever hosted a Winter Games.
Three continents – Africa, South America, and Antarctica – have never hosted an Olympics.
A record 202 countries participated in the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens.
Only four athletes have ever won medals at both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games: Eddie Eagan (United States), Jacob Tullin Thams (Norway), Christa Luding-Rothenburger (East Germany), and Clara Hughes (Canada).
Speed skater Bonnie Blair has won six medals at the Olympic Winter Games. That's more than any other American athlete.
Nobody has won more medals at the Winter Games than cross-country skier Bjorn Dählie of Norway, who has 12.
Larrisa Latynina, a gymnast from the former Soviet Union, finished her Summer Olympic Games career with 18 total medals—the most in history.
The United States Olympic Committee established the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 to recognize outstanding American Olympic athletes, however, a plan to build a hall has been suspended due to lack of funding.
The Summer Olympic sports are archery, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe / kayak, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon (shooting, fencing, swimming, show jumping, and running), mountain biking, rowing, sailing, shooting, soccer, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, track and field, triathlon (swimming, biking, running), volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, and wrestling.
The Winter Olympic sports are alpine skiing, biathlon (cross-country skiing and target shooting), bobsled, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing), skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating

January 5, 2010

Valentine's Day Fun Facts

About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in US each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
Women purchase 85% of all valentines.
In order of popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to teachers, children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
Parents receive 1 out of every 5 valentines.
About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.
Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are the biggest holidays for giving flowers.
Worldwide, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.
California produces 60 percent of American roses, but the vast number sold on Valentine's Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America. Approximately 110 million roses, the majority red, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.
73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
Men buy most of the millions of boxes of candy and bouquets of flowers given on Valentine's Day.
In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.
Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentines Day candy box in the late 1800s.
Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent on the telephone, an "Improvement in Telegraphy", on Valentine's Day, 1876.
The oldest surviving love poem till date is written in a clay tablet from the times of the Sumerians, inventors of writing, around 3500 B.C
Amongst the earliest Valentine's Day gifts were candies. The most common were chocolates in heart shaped boxes.
In some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a prospective suitor. If the gift is kept, then it means she has accepted his proposal of marriage
If an individual thinks of five or six names considered to be suitable marriage partners and twists the stem of an apple while the names are being recited, then it is believed the eventual spouse will be the one whose name was recited at the moment the stem broke.
In Medieval times, girls ate unusual foods on St Valentine's Day to make them dream of their future husband.

Information borrowed from: http://www.stvalentinesday.org/

December 28, 2009

New Years Resolutions - The Facts

During this week, millions upon millions of people around the world will be formulating their New Years Resolutions.

Here's how things usually end up.

63% of people are still keeping their resolutions after the first two months.

67% of people actually make 3 or more resolutions.

The top resolutions usually involve promises to exercise more (37%), increasing the time devoted to study or work (23%), losing weight, stop smoking or drinking (alcohol and/or coffee), and eat healthier.

People make more resolutions to start a new habit (84%) , than to break an old one (16%).

65% of people made their resolutions between the 28th of December and New Year's Day. The rest usually take up until the end of January.

Of those who successfully achieved their top resolution, 40% of them did so on the first attempt. The rest made multiple tries, with 17% finally succeeding after more than six attempts.

So what will your resolutions be for 2010, and do you think you can achieve them?

Information borrowed from: http://www.funfacts.com.au/new-years-resolutions-the-facts/

December 10, 2009

Did you know these fun facts about Christmas Trees?

Christmas Tree History

The use of evergreen trees to celebrate the winter season occurred before the birth of Christ.
The first decorated Christmas tree was in Latvia in 1510.
Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United states since about 1850. Until fairly recently, all Christmas trees came from the forest.
The first Christmas tree retail lot in the United States was started in 1851 in New York by Mark Carr.
In 1900, large stores started to erect big illuminated Christmas trees.

Christmas trees and the environment

Growing Christmas trees provides a habitat for wildlife.
Recycled trees have been used to make sand and soil erosion barriers and been placed in ponds for fish shelter.
Christmas trees remove dust and pollen from the air.
Artificial trees will last for six years in your home, but for centuries in a landfill.
59 percent of real Christmas trees harvested are recycled in community programs.
An acre of Christmas trees provides for the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people.

Christmas Tree Numbers

Thirty-four to thirty-six million Christmas trees are produced each year and 95 percent are shipped or sold directly from Christmas tree farms.
28 million Christmas trees were sold in 2001.
More than one million acres of land have been planted in Christmas trees. The industry employs over 100,000 people. Many Christmas tree growers grow trees on a part-time basis to supplement farm and non-farm income.
More than 2,000 trees are usually planted per acre. On an average 1,000-1,500 of these trees will survive. In the North, maybe, 750 trees will remain. Almost all trees require shearing to attain the Christmas tree shape. At six to seven feet, trees are ready for harvest. It fighting heavy rain, wind, hail, pests and drought to get a mature tree.
Christmas trees take an average of 7-10 years to mature.
100,000 people are employed in the Christmas tree industry.
98 percent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms.

Origin: from where do they come?

Oregon is the leading producer of Christmas trees - 8.6 million in 1998 and in 2001, 8.3 million trees were harvested in Oregon.
The top six Christmas tree producing states Oregon, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Washington & Wisconsin.

Christmas Tree Varieties / Types

The best selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine.
Other types of trees such as cherry and hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the past.

The US National Christmas Tree and Christmas Trees in the White House

In 1856 Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States, was the first President to place a Christmas tree in the White House.
President Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the White House lawn in 1923.
Teddy Roosevelt banned the Christmas tree from the White House for environmental reasons.
In 1963, the National Christmas Tree was not lighted until December 22nd because of a national 30-day period of mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.
Since 1966, the National Christmas Tree Association has given a Christmas tree to the President and first family.
In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was not lighted except for the top ornament? This was done in honor of the American hostages in Iran.
In 1984, the National Christmas was lit on December 13th with temperatures in the 70's, making it one of the warmest tree lightings in history.

Christmas tree safety

You should never burn your Christmas tree in the fireplace. it can contribute to creosote buildup.
In the first week, a tree in your home will consume as much as a quart of water per day.

Christmas tree lights and ornaments

Using small candles to light a Christmas tree dates back to the middle of the 17th century.
Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees in 1882.
Christmas tree lights were first mass produced in 1890.
Tinsel was banned by the government... it contained lead at one time, now it’s made of plastic.

Christmas tree economics and marketing

In 2002, 21% of Christmas trees sold were from chain stores; 16% by non-profit groups; 22% from retail lots and 35% from choose and cut farms.

The value of all Christmas trees harvested in 2001 was $360 million.

Christmas trees are baled to protect the branches from damage during shipping.

34-36 million Christmas trees were harvested in the United States in 2001.

Information provided by pickyourownchristmastree.org

October 13, 2009

Amazing Forest Facts:

Each year, the forest community plants 1.5 BILLION tree seedlings in the United States--that's more than 5 new trees for each American, and nearly 2,000 for every bear
There are 747 MILLION acres of forest land in the United States. Most forest products are recyclable
Trees are a renewable resource. We can plant more trees...and we do!
Forests are oxygen factories. To grow a pound of wood, a tree uses 1.47 POUNDS of carbon dioxide and gives off 1.07 POUNDS of oxygen
America's forest and paper companies are committed to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program, which balances the need for forest products with the need to protect and conserve our environment
About 1/3 of the United States is covered by forests
More trees are grown through replanting and natural regeneration than are harvested in the US each year
Thanks to today's new technologies, close to 100% of a tree can be used...hardly NO waste
More than 5,000 things are MADE FROM TREES: houses, furniture, baseball bats, crutches, fences, mulch, books, newspapers, movie tickets, clothing, carpeting, toothpaste...to name a few
Sawdust and wood shavings saved from manufacturing are recycled to help make grocery bags, corrugated boxes and other products

CLOSE TO HOME...

Wilkes County is the 5th largest county in the state of N.C. and the larges among mountain counties with about 71% of land in some form of timber. Wilkes is unique among mountain counties in that most of the land is owned by private individuals and little is owned by the government. Forest products industry employs over 1,800 people in Wilkes with a payroll of ~$50 million annually with the timber amounting to $10 million annually.

North Carolina's forests are among the state's most valuable natural resources, not only in terms of beauty and environmental benefits, but also in terms of their contribution to the state's economy. N.C. ranks 4th in the nation in total forest acreage. In N.C. alone, over 118,000 individuals are employed and $3.8 BILLION in distributed payroll...all thanks to the forest industry.

Union Grove Lumber, Inc. would like to say "thank you" to all of those who support the forestry initiative. We support the renewable and sustainable resource that God has granted us with.

September 20, 2009

On August 1, 2009, Union Grove Lumber developed and put into production a new logo in an effort to brand our name. Union Grove Lumber had been relying solely on its name for the previous 25 years, but with the growing wholesale lumber industry, we felt the need to create a logo that will stand by our product and personnel from start to finish.

On September 14, 2009, the website was launched for Union Grove Lumber, which you are enjoying now. This website was created to keep our clients and potential clients up-to-date regarding our daily business endeavors and events in which we host.

The North American Shed Show is scheduled for November 12th in Statesville, NC and November 13th in Cookeville, TN. More information regarding this event can be found by clicking here.

On Target from Start to Finish