February Red Letter Days

By Dr. Patt Schwab with Dorothy Wilhelm.

From Dorothy: I haven’t checked my calendar, but there’s a pretty good chance it’s still winter in the Great Northwest. Here are a couple of Keep Warm in Pierce County activities that look good to me:

Monday, Feb. 27 – YOGA, MEDITATION, AND WELCOME WALKS LAKEWOOD (from the website) Live your best life! Engage with us at the Pavilion at Fort Steilacoom Park with yoga, meditation and welcome walks. This inclusive program is for everyone in the South Sound with activities for socializing, meeting new people, welcoming new neighbors, and improving your physical and mental health in a beautiful park setting. Check out the link for a full schedule of healthy events, with at least one taking place almost every day! 

All month: I’m Dying To Tell You – Dorothy Wilhelm’s project to record advice members of  the  older and younger generations would like to share with each other. If you’d like to have Dorothy visit you and share advice,   contact her at SwimmingUpstreamRadioShow .com

Patt Schwab’s

There’s some good news for those of you born in February: 

Scientists who research such things, tell us that you have the birth benefits of being more honest and more original than those born other months. This is a good thing because it’s also: “National Single & Searching” Month, and S.O.B. Month. “Single and Searching” is understandable, with February 14th sitting in the middle of the month.

S.O.B. Month, aka Spunky Old Broads Month, was created by the late Dr. Gayle Carson, founder of dozens of podcasts including Dorothy Wilhelm’s Swimming Upstream Radio Show where you can hear Red Letter Days every month on https://swimmingUpstreamRadioShow.com 

Alas, for you guys, Spunky Old Geezers Day has yet to be invented. 

Feb 2 – The first ever Winter Olympics is Held in France in 1924. The novel event attracted 258 athletes and over 1,000 reporters. The first ever Olympic Games winner was American speed skater Charles Jewtraw who won the first event, the 500 Meter Speed Skating Race.

Also – World Ukulele Day – Get out there and pull some strings

And – National Tater Tot Day – Spark up your day with a tasty breakfast of eggs, sausage and cheese. Make it yourself or pick a carton up in the frozen breakfast section of your favorite supermarket

Still Feb 2 – First British Public Men’s Toilet Opens on Fleet Street, in London (1852). Women had to hang on a little longer. Their first public toilet opened 9 days later on Bedford Street, Feb. 11,1852.

Again Feb 2 – The first motion picture made, copyrighted and still surviving in the US, was filmed in Thomas Edison’s Studio (1894). It was a close up film of a sneeze. The deed was done by Fred Ott, Edison’s Assistant and the office clown. He let loose after a large pinch of snuff. This is not Just Something to Sneeze About: The film is Still Available on the internet!

Feb 3 – National Women Physicians Day — honoring all women doctors and the birthday of Dr. Elisabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S. (1849)  When she was a 24-year-old school teacher, Blackwell visited a close family friend dying of uterine cancer. Her friend spoke of how she suffered at the hands of male doctors during her medical treatment. She urged Blackwell to study medicine. Blackwell rejected it at first but the idea was planted and began to grow. Not only did she get a medical degree, she founded the first medical college entirely for women. Her autobiography, “Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women,” is well worth reading. Perhaps Lucy Hobbs Taylor read it 17 years later. Also, a former school teacher, Lucy became the first woman in the world, to graduate from dental college. Having been rejected twice, based on gender, she studied privately with two dental professors, finally graduating (with Honors), from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery. (Feb. 21, 1866)

Dorothy says: Encourage the aspiring physician in your home with inspiring stories of women in medicine and give her a chance to take your blood pressure. 

Feb 4 – National Thank a Mail Carrier Day – A chance to say thanks to one of the most important people in our lives:

Patt says: During Covid, I brought Almond Roca candy into my Post Office to thank the hard-working staff there. When I got to the front of the long line, I put a can of the candy at each window. The frosting on the cake was that all the customers in line cheered and applauded. 

Feb 5 – World  Nutella Day – Nutella is a spread of hazelnuts and cocoa, introduced in Italy in 1964. It quickly found a devoted follower in Sara Rosso. She’s an American blogger, intent on spreading the love for Nutella worldwide via the Internet. She succeeded, and by 2007, it was world known and sponsoring popular events on this day with on-line prizes like a “Year’s Supply of Nutella.”and a “Month of Fun kit.” 

WARNING: As I wrote this, I suddenly found an e-mail, written as though I had written it, asking to be entered in their annual contest. It was a fake.  Watch what you click on.

Feb 6 – Dump Your Significant Jerk Day – Ideally, do this before Valentine’s Day so you won’t have to buy him/her a gift.

Also – National Send a Card to a Friend Day – Include a short upbeat note and you’ll make their day – and feel good yourself.

Dorothy says: since nobody checks the mail box anymore, send an e-mail to let them know to look in their mailbox and maybe clean out the cobwebs before the card gets there.

Feb 8 – Love May Make the World Go ‘Round, But Laughter  Keeps Us From Getting Dizzy Week, and if you can’t make them laugh, remember Dr. Schwab’s prescription to make 5 people smile every day. Also – Take Your Child to the Library Day.  Have fun reading old favorites and finding new ones.  

Feb 9 – Birthday of the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1960)   Joanne Woodward (Married to Paul  Newman) earned the first star. Over the next 16 months, more than 2,000 actors, musicians and filmmakers received stars. Today the Walk of Fame lines both sides of Hollywood Boulevard and is a major tourist attraction.

Also – Read in the Bathtub Day – Dorothy says, of course, for those of us who can’t bend over to fit in the bathtub any more, this means standing in the shower getting your book wet. 

And – Extraterrestrial Visitor Day – Just act friendly.

Feb 10 – Teddy Bear Day – Take a minute or two to think fondly of a Teddy Bear or other toy you had as a child. Dorothy says: why not find a child to share that Teddy Bear with you.  Maybe make Teddy a new suit of clothes or have a tea party, or write a book about Teddy’s life.

Also Live to Give Week begins — Best: Do community service.  Most Fun: Buy a stranger a candy bar.

Feb 11 – National Shut-In Visitation Day

Also – National Inventors Day — Tune into all the wonderful inventions that make your life easier, more interesting, or just more fun. For example, think of the umbrella, designed by the Egyptians around 1000 BC. 

Feb 13 – Random Acts of Kindness Week begins

Feb 14 – Note: Today is also a fairly major holiday, which, of course, due to the rules of Obscure Holidays, can’t be mentioned here.

Also – National Ferris Wheel Day — to honor G. W. Gale Ferris, Jr., who invented it in 1891, specifically to “rival the Eiffel Tower.”  We’ve been going around in circles ever since. 

And-National Organ Donor Day — If you give your heart away today, make it for a worthy cause!

Feb 16 International Friendship Week begins – Give a shout out to a friend in a foreign land. Don’t have one? Make one, on-line at least. 

ALSO – Pope Gregory the Great, decrees that saying:  “God bless you” is the correct response to a sneeze. (541AD)   

Feb. 17 – Girl Scout Cookie Weekend begins —Feb. 17-19 Dorothy says: This year’s cookies are -The Adventurefuls, Caramel deLites, Lemonades, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwich, Thin-Mints, Toast-Yay! and Trefoils cookies are $5 a box. The Caramel Chocolate Chips cookies are $6. The new Raspberry Rally cookies are available to purchase online only at girlscouts.org. 

AND:  The Great Backyard Bird Count, begins It runs February 17-19 and is a chance to have fun with family and friends while doing a good deed for nature, picking up a some valuable learning, and feeling part of the 192 countries that participate. You can find how to participate at https://www.birdcount.org/

ALSO: National Random Acts of Kindness Day – Do a few kindnesses that fit your style and let us know how it worked out. Dorothy@swimmingupstreamradioshow.com

Feb 18 – Give to Others Week — Put one thing aside (book, clothing, furniture, etc.) every day, to be given to charity at the end of the week. (Bonus: this helps clean out your closet.) 

Also – National Caregivers Day — The third Friday in February. Now, more then ever, we need to show caregivers our appreciation. Dorothy says:  We sometimes lose sight of the fact that life is so hard for the caregiver that many are lost physically and mentally in the experience.  Do just some little thing. Go sit with their best beloved  person for an hour and give them a break.  Bring something to eat.  Do not just sit there. Care. 

Feb 19 – Residence Hall Student Staff Recognition Day — A shout out to some of the smartest, coolest, most thoughtful folks on any campus. 

Feb 20 – Volcano Paricutin Erupts (1943) in a Mexican cornfield owned by Dionisio and Dolores Pulido. Sitting casually on their porch after work, they see smoke coming out of their corn field. They suddenly become the first, and so far, the only, humans ever to see the birth of a volcano.As for Paricutin, it quickly soared to over 9,000 feet, swallowed two villages, and became one of the Seven Wonders of Nature.

February 21 – Single Tasking Day Forget multitasking. Just focus on something that needs doing.  Get it done.  TODAY. 

Feb 22 – National Margarita Day — You can celebrate it outside of Margaritaville — although it’s more fun if Jimmy Buffett is in the neighborhood. 

Also -Native Americans introduce the Pilgrims to popcorn (1630)  They had been growing and popping it in clay pots as early as 5,000 B.C.

Feb 23- Pinocchio Day — Be sure not to tell a lie. 

Also -The Tootsie Roll rolls into American stores, starting in a small  shop in Brooklyn (1896). Named after its inventor Leo Hirshfield’s 5 year old daughter, nicknamed “Tootsie,” the candy quickly grew to producing 64 million tasty Tootsie Roll candies a day. Old timers insist they tasted a lot better back then. February 25 – Rubber Ducky Day — Celebrate with one of the least expensive and most fun, pets you can get your kids. Dorothy says: and let’s give a salute to that day in 2017 when 200,000 people turned out to see this 6-story-tall Rubber Ducky on Foss Waterway in Tacoma.  I took this picture to prove I was there. 

And – Spay Day -A reminder from the Humane Society to pet owners:  It’s not just rabbits that multiply like rabbits. 

Feb 26 – National Tell a Fairy Tale Day — Make one up or read one to your kids. Only criteria: It must have a moral and a happy ending to be a real fairy tale. 

Also- For Pete’s Sake Day — Do something terrific for Pete today. 

Feb 27 – International Polar Bear Day – Unlike many of us, polar bears make their fat work for them.

Feb 28 National Tooth Fairy Day — Smile to show off your pearly whites and celebrate this most unconventional of fairies. Dorothy says: Like all the rest of us, the Tooth Fairy is dealing with rising prices.  Growing up in the 40’s, I didn’t get the time of day when I lost a tooth, kids of the 50’s got 25 cents, and today’s GenZ er’s can look forward to $3 to $5 Smile!!

Since Dr. Patt Schwab issued her first Obscure Holiday eBooks two years ago, she’s developed a talent for finding weird, wild, and surprisingly informative days to celebrate.

You can find Patt Schwab’s Obscure Holiday eBooks on Amazon.  Just look for her name.  You can hear Patt Schwab and Dorothy Wilhelm on the Swimming Upstream Radio Show. A new edition of the podcast on the first Monday of every month. The link to her books and she’ll be back next month with more great Red Letter Days to celebrate.