Fun Friday Facts- Last Day of Summer-

Today is the last day of Summer.. can you believe it?? For us, Summer was extremely busy with road trips and the little kids. 

It was so much fun! I won't lie.. it was exhausting too. Each summer, Scott and I get older.. making it hard to keep up with a houseful of kids With Jackson starting school 3 weeks later, it seemed that summer really just kept going.. going.. going.  But once all 3 kids were back in school, that's it felt like the end of summer at that point to me! 

I think summer knows whats up.. because its got cooler and cooler around here. However, I think its going to warm up to the low 80's today. Scott is spending his last day of summer at the golf course. He took the day off to play in a tournament. Jackson is spending his last day of summer in school of course.. and for me.. I think I am just going to take the day as it comes. I might grill out tonight.. which I think would be perfect for the last day of summer! 

 Here are some fun Summer facts.. 

1. The first day of summer is known as the summer solstice and in the US it falls on June 20 or June 21 each year, depending on when the sun is furthest north of the equator.
2. People in the Southern Hemisphere have their longest day of summer in December.
3. Solstice comes from two Latin words sol and sistere. Sol means sun; stitium is the verb which means to stand still.
4. The first day of summer has been celebrated for centuries by people around the world.
5. The names of the key summer months have Roman origins. June is named after Juno, who was the wife of Jupiter. Marc Antony named July after Julius Caesar and August was named after Caesar’s nephew, known as Augustus.
6. Even though this is the longest day of the year, it’s not the hottest, due to something called seasonal temperature lag, which means that it takes a while for the oceans to let their stored summer solstice heat back into the air. That’s why it tends to be hotter in July or August than in June.
7. One of the more annoying parts of summer are the mosquitoes, which have been around for 30 million years. It’s said they can find warm-blooded mammals from 100 feet away.
8. Until the early 19th century there was no summer vacation. Depending on the location of schools breaks came either quarterly (town schools) or to coincide with planting and harvest seasons (rural schools).
9. School summer vacations were invented by educator Horace Mann in 1840.
10. Summer vacations in other parts of the world are much shorter than in the US.
11. France’s Eiffel Tower can grow by more than 6 inches in summer due to the expansion of the iron on hot days.
12. The oldest song sung as a round in English is about summer. It’s called Summer is Icumen In.
13. The word honeymoon has associations with summer. The Pagans used that name for the first full moon in June because they drank fermented honey (mead) as part of summer wedding celebrations.
14. July is the month where most ice cream is sold in the US. That’s why it’s National Ice Cream Month. Americans eat about 5.5 gallons of ice cream per year on average.
15. Ice pops were invented by accident in 1905 by 11 year old Frank Epperson. He mixed soda and water and left the mixture out overnight with the stirring stick still in it. Since the temperature was low, the mixture froze. He patented the idea in 1924.
16. Watermelon is not a fruit, but a vegetable.
17. Many people enjoy throwing Frisbees in summer, but they were originally designed as pie plates in the 1870s. Students started throwing them in the 1940s.
18. In ancient times, most people swam in the nude; laws about decent swimming attire were created progressively from the 17th century onwards.
19. The first Summer Olympic Games were held in 1896 in Athens. Women were first allowed to compete in 1900.
20. Summer camps in the US date back to the start of the 20th century. There are more than 12,000 camps in the US. Of these, 7,000 are resident camps.

And since we are moving right into fall.. here are some fun fall facts too! 

• Trees take water from the ground through their roots & take carbon dioxide from the air. They also use the energy from sunlight to produce sugar which together is called photosynthesis.
   
• Because of its wide verity of trees, the Eastern United States, especially the North Eastern U.S., is one of the best places in the world for viewing fall colors.
   
• Bright red & purple colors come from anthocyanin (an-thuh-'si-uh-nuhn) pigments, like imaple leaves, are formed from trapped glucose.
   
• Brown colors come from a waste product called tannin, orange colors comes from carotene ('kar-uh-teen) & the yellows from xanthophyll ('zan-thuh-fil)
   
• The leave colors red, yellow & brown are in the leaves all year long & only become exposed when the green chlorophyll disappears in the fall.
   
• Mulching fall leaves where they fall lets them decompose so that they can release their minerals back to the underlying soil.
   
• Maples, Oaks, Elms, Birch & Ash trees are just a few of the trees that give spectacular colors during the Autumn season.
   
• Fall colors are best when late summer is dry & autumn has bright sunny days & cool nights below 40 °F.
   
• Fall days become shorter & many plants stop making food. That is when the green chlorophyll starts to disappear from the leaves.
   
• Most leaves fall from trees because the ends of the branch are sealed off near the leaf stem to protect the tree through the long winter months.
   
• Composting fall leaves is an excellent way to improve yard & garden soils. Mixing green & brown materials together is the basic rule.
   
• An acre of trees can grow 4,000 pounds of wood in a year, using 5,880 pounds of carbon dioxide & giving off 4,280 pounds of oxygen in the process.
  
  
  I am ready for fall but not winter. Every winter I complain.. complain.. complain.. and it always makes me realize why I want to move south! 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How are you going to be spending the last day summer?
  
  
  K Jaggers
  
  
  ♥