Weird Facts

I heard on the news today that scientists have discovered that mice sing -- and they sing in melodies. Hmmm, I thought. That doesn't stop me from gluing their four little feet to glue and have them break their backs struggling to free themselves. Let's see -- maybe the mouse could sing "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen" as it tries to get loose. Or "Help me Rhonda" or something.

Just thought of another mouse song: Lionel Richie's "Stuck on You."

Along that same topic, I threw away the glue trap as I think it wasn't glue-y enough. I noticed a mouse dropping on it and then an area that looked disturbed. This glue trap looks like a shallow plastic dish of yellow jello. Anyway, I dumped that one and put out a fresh one so we'll see.

And now, here's a fun fact from Mary which she picked up on the train trip. She writes: Did you know Selma North Carolina is named after Selma Alabama and it was here in 1880 that Vick's ointment was first concocted?

My response is Uh, no. But I do remember my father putting Vicks VapoRub on me when I was about three years old. That stuff stunk.

Stop the presses. UH-OH

Mary is trying to pass off incorrect information. When I went to find a photo, here's what I found:

It's pitiful I have to fact-check my best friend's information. This historic marker is in Greensboro, NC, not Selma, NC.

Here's the caption which accompanies this photo -- it's from the Greensboro newspaper:

Well, it is high time we feature the Richardson family and make sure the world knows that Vicks VapoRub was first compounded in Greensboro in the late 1800's. In 1912 the menthol salve got renamed Vicks VapoRub. The flu pandemic of 1918 really made Richardson's product a household name as it was the most popular croup/cold/flu remedy at the time. Sales of the inhaled breathing treatment soared from $900,000 to $2.5 million in that year. While Proctor and Gamble bought Richardson-Vicks, Inc. in 1985, we are proud to say that America's #1 inhaled breathing treatment got its start in Greensboro, North Carolina. There aren't many commercial products around today that were thriving 100 years ago: VapoRub is one of the elite!

And that, folks, is more than you may have wanted to know about Vicks VapoRub.