Batters Up

Hi Puzzlers,

Sports fans across the nation have begun to rejoice- it's spring training time! So today I would like to tell you about a fact from our country's national pastime that seems to be fading from memory, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

During World War II major league baseball players were not drafted, but many of the young men who played on the minor leagues were. As a result most minor league teams disbanded. This disbandment left a huge gap in revenues generated by the Major League Baseball parks. Fear of collapse spurred Chicago Cub owner Philip K Wrigley to form a committee to search for possible solutions. The committee thus recommended using the girl’s softball league and so in 1943 the All-American Girls Professional Base-Ball League was born.

The first issue the committee needed to decide on was which game would be played. Women’s semi-pro softball teams at the time used a 12-inch softball and under handed pitching and teams consisted of ten players. In an effort to incorporate the two games the distance between bases were increased and men’s base running rules were incorporated; this allowed for the stealing of bases - and we all know how fun it is to watch for a stolen base! The team’s size was also reduced to 9 players.

Next, talent scouts scoured the country and Canada looking for players. Try-outs were held in all major cities and hundreds of women showed up looking for their chance to play for this new professional league. Sixty lucky women were chosen.

The women that were chosen had strict contracts forbidding any other type of employment during the season. Salaries ranged from $45 -$85 a week, which was higher than most of their professional parents. Strict moral codes of conduct would also have to be adhered to. Femininity was crucial. The girls received training on hygiene, etiquette, and dress codes. Charm school training also taught the girls how to act in every situation. “Physical attractiveness was a must and players received beauty kits and instructions on how to use them.” The All-American Girl Next Door, along with outstanding athletic ability was a top priority.”

The League's popularity peaked in 1948, selling 910,000 tickets to paying fans. By 1950, the league became decentralized and televised major league game saw to the demise of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, but not before giving over 600 women the chance to play baseball at a level never before obtained.

Happy Puzzling!

Who Let The Dogs Out

Hi Puzzlers,

Last night's Westminster Dog show was amazing! I can’t believe the dog that won. Hickory, a 5-year-old Scottish deerhound, was named "Best in Show." I hadn’t even heard of a Scottish deerhound. I am familiar with several breeds including my very own Tibetan terror-Oops- I meant Tibetan terrier, Mario, but a Scottish deerhound? Nope-never heard of them. This got me thinking how and where did all the breeds come from?

Dogs, as many of you may already know, are said to come from wolves. It is believed that orphaned wolf pups taken at an early age could be tamed and socialized. These orphan pups were also, thought to have been nursed alongside human babies. Along with the tamed qualities, wild wolves that were the most social and least fearful (of humans) were bred together and overtime they would become more dog-like. It is also believed that dogs were used as beast of burdens, long before the horse and ox, and as a source of meat! WOW! Eat my dog? No way!

Over time the domestication of the wolves produced several physical changes including the reduction in overall size, smaller teeth and cranial cavities. The reduction in brain size affected the areas no longer needed by the domesticated wolves, such as alertness and the regurgitation of partially digested food to feed the pups.

As humans moved towards agricultural societies, desirable dog traits would also change. Now there are seven classifications used by the AKC. 1) The Sporting Group- bred to aid hunters by finding, flushing out and retrieving game. 2) Working Group-“bred to perform such jobs as guarding property, pulling sleds and performing water rescues.” 3) Toy Group- companion dogs. 4) Terrier Group- bred to hunt small animals. 5) Hound Group- bred to follow game by sight or smell. 6) Herding Group- bred to herd and control cattle and sheep. 7) Non-Sporting Group- breeds that don’t fit into these other groups. My Mario fits here.


Happy Puzzling!

Victory Garden

Hi Puzzlers,

The buzz here at the office has been all about getting ready for spring and picking out garden seeds. Well I don’t have a garden but I’ve been thinking about planting a small raised one, so I pulled out our Victory Garden puzzle and started looking at all the different seed packets to find inspiration. WOW! I really did find some inspiration.

I found out that the term Victory Garden was an actual term used to describe home gardens that were planted during both World Wars. These gardens were planted in backyards, empty lots, rooftops, and public parks and on community land. All this was done in the name of patriotism.

As a part of the war effort Allies across the world had put rations on foods like sugar, eggs, coffee, milk, cheese, meat and canned goods. Citizens were urged to produce their own “war garden” in an effort to reduce the pressure on the public food supply. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt even planted a “food garden for defense” on the White House lawn. Nearly 20 million Victory Gardens were planted yielding an estimated 9-10 million tons of fresh fruits and vegetables. This amount was equal to “all of the commercially produced fresh vegetables, so the program made a difference.”

Citizen were also encouraged to can their own fruits and vegetables so the commercially made items could be sent to the troops. In 1943, 315,000 pressure cookers were sold versus the 66,000 sold in 1942. Popular women’s magazines began including gardening and canning articles.

One of the oldest remaining Victory Gardens is the Fenway Victory Garden in the Back Bay Fens of Boston, Massachusetts. The gardens are located on 7 acres of the Fens. Presiding over the 500 plots, each 15 feet by 25 feet, is the famous Prudential building. “The gardens are named for Richard D. Parker, a member of the original garden organizing committee. Thanks to his efforts the gardens are now an official Boston Historic Landmark.”

In 2009 First Lady Michelle Obama planted a vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House. This is the first garden to be planted at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden. The First Lady planted the garden to help “educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.”

Happy Puzzling!

Hen Pecked

Hi Puzzlers,

Check out our newest puzzle Hen Pecked by artist Rollie Brandt. I just love it! It reminds me of my trips to Cape Cod. “Cape Cod and chickens?” I know, it sounds strange, but when we go to the Cape the first thing we do is go to my sister-in-law’s and pick up a dozen of what we call rainbow eggs. Sheri raises the chickens in her back yard, with the help of the family dogs, Ruby and Riley. These eggs are delicious and the different colors are just fun. Once we have the eggs picked everyone claims his or her eggs by color. I like the green ones; it’s like the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham. Yes, its fun not to have to completely grow-up!

Sheri says the eggs are different colors due to the breed of the hen. She likes the rainbow effect and therefore raises several different types of hens. She also claims that free-range eggs taste better than any egg you’ll buy at the store. And I would have to agree. It did take me a while to get past the strange new colors of the shell. Growing up I had only seen white or brown eggs in the grocery stores. Also, the egg itself looked different. The yolk was a deep golden color and the white was not even a little runny. But, oh my yummy-ness they taste GREAT!!!

“The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Jungle fowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food, consuming both their meat and their eggs.” Recent evidence indicates chickens have been domesticated for over 10,000 years.

Chickens are omnivores and may live for five to ten years depending on the breed. Hens of special laying breeds can produce as many as 300 eggs per year. The world’s oldest chicken died at 16 of heart failure. Domestic chickens aren’t able to fly long distances, though; they can fly short distances to explore their surroundings or to roost on a tree or fence.

Chickens live happily in flocks. They establish pecking orders as new hens are added or as roosters are removed. This disruption can lead to violence and injury but once the order is established the flock returns to a harmonious state. The more dominant hens will have priority on food and nesting areas. Hens like to lay eggs in nests that already have eggs in them. Some hens have been known to move eggs from another hens’ nest to their own. An old trick used by farmers is to put fake eggs or golf balls in a nest to encourage the hen to lay eggs in a particular nest.

Now on to the Easter Bunny’s best kept secret. The Araucana and Ameraucana, also known as “Easter Egg Chickens”, are the two breeds of chickens that are known for laying colored eggs. Sorry Sheri, AKA Bunny, your secret is out!

Happy Puzzling!