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Of Cheyenne
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j A N U A RY 3, 2016
T h e N e at e s t pa p e r y o u’l l e v e r r e a d
Published by Burchett Publishing, LLC
Issue 1056
For advertising call 632-7360 or 631-3036
TIDBITS® CELEBRATES NATIONAL TRIVIA DAY by Janet Spencer • January 4 has been designated National Trivia Day, so come along with Tidbits as we delve into the most trivial of facts! TRIVIAL DRIVEL • On an average day in New York City, almost a million people use taxis. • Washington, D.C., has the lowest marriage rate in the U.S., along with New Jersey. Nevada has the highest, and Hawaii is second. • Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland, married Jack Haley, Jr, the son of Jack Haley who played the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz.” Turn to page 3 for more Tidbits!
Time, Temperature and Weather Forecast Line
632-5555 Accurate, GPS time
DONNA’S DAY: CREATIVE FAMILY FUN By Donna Erickson
Turn Holiday Cards Into DIY Toys Boxes and bins filled with holiday decor are taped shut, and lids are snapped on tight. Up to the attic they go. Only select items remain on display, like the string of white indoor mini lights framing my kitchen windows that boost our moods through cold and gloomy wintry days. A hodgepodge of December’s Christmas cards spilling out of a cookie tin also are day brighteners. It’s so much fun to browse through them again, especially with kids. Here are two ideas for enjoying the greetings in new ways when recycled into DIY fun. If some are photo cards, your kids will become more familiar with faces and places as they create. PRESCHOOL SEWING CARDS Make simple lacing cards for preschoolers by punching holes around the sides of a large card. Or, punch holes around dominant designs such as a pine tree. Then take a shoelace with a plastic-coated end, and show your child how to poke it in and out of the holes. As they work, talk about the images on the card, count them, identify colors. Note: If you don’t have a shoelace handy, wrap tape around one end of a long piece of yarn to form a tip and begin threading. SCHOOL-AGE HOUSE OF CARDS Create a construction toy for school-age kids and build structures of all shapes and sizes. For a basic set of interlocking cards, cut 20 cards in equal sizes such as 4 inches by 7 inches. Now you are ready to cut slits, either six or eight. For six slits, with a card upright in front of you, find the midpoint at the top. Make a dot to mark the spot, then use scissors to cut a 1/2-inch vertical slit. Measure down 1 inch from the top right corner. Make a dot and cut a 1/2-inch horizontal slit. Measure down 1 inch from the top left corner, mark and cut a horizontal slit. Now cut slits the same way at the midpoint of the bottom of the card and the two lower sides. If you prefer eight slits on your cards, measure 1 inch in both directions from each corner and cut slits. Start construction by sliding cards into each other at the slits in a perpendicular fashion to create a house, tower or imaginary structure.
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Note: Vary construction possibilities by cutting some slits at angles, or cut cards into geometric shapes such as a circle, half moon or square. Cut slits on them and begin assembling your structures. *** Donna Erickson’s award-winning series “Donna’s Day” is airing on public television nationwide. To find more of her creative family recipes and activities, visit www. donnasday.com and link to the NEW Donna’s Day Facebook fan page. Her latest book is “Donna Erickson’s Fabulous Funstuff for Families.” (c) 2016 Donna Erickson Distributed by King Features Synd.
Published by Burchett Publishing Co. LLC Contact for advertising or distribution information 1102 Crescent Dr. Phone 307-632-7360 Cheyenne, WY 82007 Fax 307-773-8654 burchettpubl.tidbits1@bresnan.net All the news you never knew you never needed to know
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Forecast frequently updated
• Steven Spielberg was just 26 years old when he directed “Jaws.” • The average American business lunch lasts 67 minutes, but the average French business lunch lasts 124 minutes. • When Hitler’s associate Ernst Hanfstaengl told him that his short mustache was unfashionable, Hitler responded: “If it is not the fashion now, it will be because I wear it.” • Only 2% of the world’s population is naturally blonde. • There are no rivers in Saudi Arabia. • The average home buyer looks at 14 homes before making a purchase. • The average American lives in 30 different abodes over the course of a lifetime. • Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has gone on record saying he witnessed a UFO. • Between 1900 and 1920, Tug of War was an officially sanctioned Olympic event.
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• Diamonds are simply crystallized carbon (like coal or soot) and will burn at a temperature of 1652° F. (900° C.) • Red wines are fermented from grapes that still have their skins on. White wines come from grapes with no skins. • When Walt Disney went to collect his Academy Award for the film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” he was handed one regular sized award statue and seven little tiny ones. • The term ‘carpet’ comes from the Latin word ‘carpere’ meaning ‘to pluck’ probably because carpets were made from ‘plucked’ fabric. Carpet has the same Latin root as ‘carpe diem’ meaning ‘pluck/seize the day.’ • Caterpillars completely liquefy inside the cocoon as they transform into moths. Turn to page 4 for more Tidbits!
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Hemi Lighted Forest of Hope - Through February 28 - 6:30 to 9 p.m. - 6565 Ashley Drive - Over 600 lighted Christmas trees in a Wyoming setting and a trackless train, this tradition began with the goal of promoting the Hemisperectomy Foundation. Hay rides and train rides most nights (no rides when the University of Wyoming Ladies basketball team plays at home!). Free, but donations requested. Call 630-6641 for information. Hay rides from 6:30 to 9 p.m., lights on until 10:30 p.m. Book Club Social - January 13 - 7 p.m. Laramie County Library - Are you in a book club, or do you wish you were? Come to the book club social and find like-minded book lovers in town. Talk about what your current club has read, or what’s next on the list. Refreshments provided. Staff will be on hand to answer questions related to the library’s book club resources. Boys & Girls Club of Cheyenne Chili Challenge - January 29 - 5 to 8 p.m. Holiday Inn - Join us for a night of fun and food at the annual Chili Challenge! Over thirty teams will compete for a number of prizes. Sign up to be one of those teams or come to judge. We’re also looking for sponsors. Call 778-6674 or email rsample@bgcchey.org for details. Governor’s Arts Awards Dinner February 26 - 6 p.m. - Little America The Wyoming Governor’s Arts Awards is a gala event celebrating the awardees and the vibrancy of the arts in Wyoming. The event includes a social hour, dinner, the State of the Arts speech by the Governor, awards ceremony, and entertainment. 2015 awardees include Cedric Reverand and Paul Taylor of Laramie, Chris Navarro and Brian Scott Gamroth of Casper, Sarah Rogers of Sundance and the Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation of Thermopolis. If your organization has an event you would like to have published here, please contact us. Space is limited but we will make every effort to list special events. Please send your information no later than 14 days prior to the event. Email: burchettpubl.tidbits1@bresnan.net
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
Sour Cream Cookies
Subtle nutmeg flavor and a light cake-like texture make this treat an elegant partner for a cup of afternoon tea. 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick), softened 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 cup sour cream
Paws Corner
1. Heat oven to 400 F. Grease large cookie sheet.
By Sam Mazzotta
Guinea Pig’s Death Sparks Questions DEAR PAW’S CORNER: Tonight our dear guinea pig “Sparks” had a heart attack and left us within a couple of hours. There was no chance to take her to an emergency vet. Is tension in the house a cause of heart attack in guinea pigs? Is there anything we could have done to prevent this? -- Yamile, via email DEAR YAMILE: I’m sorry to hear of Sparks’ death. I’ll try to offer some explanation why, and I encourage my readers to send their advice as well. Heart attack (and stroke) are, sadly, very common causes of sudden death in guinea pigs, a.k.a. cavies. Cavies are very sensitive to their environment, particularly changes in temperature. Being unable to rest peacefully also causes stress that affects their system. In short, cavies love a comfortable routine and a rest area sheltered from light and noise. Deficiencies in diet also can be a factor. This can get tricky, so speaking with other cavy owners or vets who specialize in them can help deduce whether a cavy needs a specific type of feed or supplement (too much can be as bad as too little). Because it’s often hard to detect illness in cavies until they suddenly decline, you should learn a bit of “cavy first aid.” One important step when a cavy takes ill is to contact the vet by phone first and describe the symptoms. Sometimes a cavy is too ill to safely be transported. The vet might tell you to make your pet comfortable and wait out a very long night -- not because he or she doesn’t care, but because the added stress in moving the cavy could be fatal. Send your questions or tips to ask@pawscorner.com. (c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.
2. On waxed paper, combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg. 3. In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat in egg and vanilla, then sour cream, until well-combined. With mixer at low speed, beat in flour mixture just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl.
• Humans can survive longer without food than they can without sleep. • Months that start on a Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th. • The State of Florida is bigger than England. • Ants stretch when they get up in the morning. • About 7 to 12 million slaves were transferred from Africa to the Americas between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. • Men outnumber women in U.S. prisons by about 25 to 1. • Michael Jackson’s 1988 autobiography “Moonwalk” was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. • Horses can’t vomit. • Koalas sleep up to 22 hours a day. • The sentence, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” which uses every letter in the English alphabet, was developed by Western Union to test communication systems. • One out of every five people on the planet is Chinese. • On Valentine’s Day, nearly 189 million stems of roses are sold in the U.S. • The little dot over the lowercase letter ‘i’ is called a tittle. • The mask used by Michael Myers in the original “Halloween” movie was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white. • About 10% of the world’s bird species live in Thailand, a greater diversity than in all of Europe or North America. • Voice actor Thurl Revenscroft sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and was also the voice of Tony the Tiger. Turn to page 7 for more Tidbits!
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4. Drop dough by rounded measuring tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheet. Sprinkle lightly with some of remaining sugar. Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough and sugar. Makes about 30 cookies. * Each cookie: About 95 calories, 4g total fat (3g saturated), 1g protein, 13g carbohydrate, 0g fiber, 17mg cholesterol, 100mg sodium. For thousands of triple-tested recipes, visit our website at www.goodhousekeeping.com/ recipefinder/. (c) 2016 Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
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Upcoming Events Zumba Kids! - January 5 - 4 p.m. - Laramie County Library - Combines movement, world music, fun games, and community in a welcoming environment where physical fitness is a party. Ages 4-12. • On Jan. 19, 1809, author Edgar Allan Poe is born in Boston. By the time he was 3 years old, Poe’s parents had died, leaving him in the care of his godfather, John Allan. Allan eventually disowned Poe for gambling debts. • On Jan. 22, 1879, U.S soldiers badly bloody Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife and his people as they make a desperate march to flee the Indian Territory where they had been relocated and return to their Wyoming homeland. • On Jan. 18, 1912, after a two-month ordeal, the expedition of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott arrives at the South Pole only to find that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had preceded them by just over a month. • On Jan. 21, 1959, Carl Dean Switzer, the actor who as a child played “Alfalfa,” the freckle-faced boy with a cowlick, in the “Our Gang” comedy film series, dies at age 31 in a fight in California. • On Jan. 23, 1968, the U.S. intelligence-gathering ship Pueblo is seized by the North Korean navy and its crew charged with spying. Negotiations to free the 83-man crew dragged on for nearly a year, and required a signed confession by the ship’s captain admitting to spying. • On Jan. 24, 1972, after 28 years of hiding in the jungles of Guam, farmers discover Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese sergeant who was unaware that World War II had ended. Yokoi had gone into hiding rather than surrender to the Americans. • On Jan. 20, 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Teheran, Iran, are released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis. President Jimmy Carter had been unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis. (c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.
Dinner And A Movie: The Iron Lady January 5 - 7 p.m. - Pine Bluffs Branch Library - A surprising and intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher, the first and only female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. One of the 20th century’s most famous and influential women, Thatcher came from nowhere to shatter barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male-dominated world. Wyoming Grasslands & Invasive Paper IV: Opening - January 6 - 7 p.m. - Laramie County Library - Experience the grasslands and open spaces of Wyoming from the perspective of an expert from the Wyoming chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and meet artists exhibiting in Invasive Paper IV. Enjoy refreshments and take a look at the photography and art throughout the Library. Baby Music - January 8 - 10:15 a.m. Laramie County Library - You and your baby can engage in musical activities at this unique session for babies and caregivers. Educator Laura Sutton will teach you how to encourage your baby’s learning through vocal play, exploration, instruments and creative movement. Following the story, babies can play with our educational toys while caregivers visit. Ages Birth – 24 Months. “Cinderella” By Ballet Wyoming - January 16 - 2 p.m. - Civic Center - A beautiful orphan. A fairy godmother. A charming prince. No fairy tale touches us like this classic journey of long suffering and grace which are rewarded one night with magic, love, and a fabulous pair of shoes. Join Ballet Wyoming for this performances of fairy tale magic, CINDERELLA! A Ticket is required for each person regardless of age. $20 for Adults, $15 for Seniors, Military and Children under 12.
Cheyenne Activities English High Tea at the Nagle Warren Mansion every Friday and Saturday, seating at 2 and 3 p.m. For reservations call 637-3333. Municipal Pool and Spray Park - Daily - Hours vary between 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. - Visit CheyenneCity.org or call 637-6455 for information. Cheyenne Botanic Gardens - Monday through Friday - 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday - 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Call 637-6458. Cheyenne Ice & Events Center - Ice skating, laser tag and video games. Monday to Thursday - 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday - 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday - Noon to 8 p.m. - 1530 W. Lincolnway. Visit CheyenneCity.org or call 433-0024 for information. Bingo Am. Legion 635-7213 Bingo AMVETS 632-2999 Grandma’s Pickle Parlor 637-3614 Movie Theaters Frontier Nine Lincoln Palace Capitol 12
634-9499 637-7469 638-SHOW
Country Western Dancing Redwood Lounge 635-9096 Outlaw Saloon 635-7552 Top 40 Music Crown Underground 778-9202 Governor’s Residence Tours - Free - 5001 Central Avenue - Tuesday through Thursday - 9 a.m. to Noon. Call 777-7398. Visit the Famous Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum - Monday through Friday - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday - 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 778-7290. Terry Bison Ranch - Daily tours to the bison herd and horseback rides. Sunday lunch train includes meal on old-fashioned dining car (reservations needed). Call for departure times: 634-4171. Cheyenne Depot Museum - A National Landmark with railroad history exhibits and gift shop. Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday - 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 638-6338. Big Boy Steam Engine 4004 - Worlds largest steam locomotive. Located in Holliday Park.
If your organization has an event you would like to have published here, please contact us. Space is limited but we will make every effort to list special events. Please send your information no later than 14 days prior to the event. Email: burchettpubl.tidbits1@bresnan.net
Chess Laramie County Library - Wednesdays - 4:15 p.m. All skill levels - Call 634-3561 Godfather’s Pizza - Thursdays - 6:30 p.m. All Skill levels - Call 634-5222
Live Music The Bunkhouse - Friday and Saturday - 7 to 10 p.m. The Crown Bar - Friday - 7 p.m. Midtown Tavern - Friday - 8 p.m. Outlaw Saloon - Nightly - 8 p.m. The Paramount Cafe - Saturday - 7 p.m.
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Wyoming State Museum - Monday through Saturday - 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Free exhibit of Wyoming history. Call 777-7022.
DJ Music Scooter’s Scoreboard - Friday - 9 p.m. Cadillac Ranch - Friday and Saturday - 9 p.m. Tuskers - Saturday - 8 p.m. The Crown Underground - Daily - 9 p.m.
• The Corduroy Appreciation Club celebrates 11-11-11 as ‘The Day That Most Resembles Corduroy.’ • Bug repellent doesn’t repel mosquitoes; it simply masks your body odor with a new scent that female mosquitoes dislike. • Rome was the first city to reach a million people. • Fortune cookies were invented by a cook in San Francisco in 1920. • The bladder of a male lobster is located in its head. When they fight, they squirt each other in the face with urine.
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• The oldest living organism on earth ever verified was a Great Basin bristlecone pine tree in Nevada called Prometheus that was measured by a ring count to be about 4,900 years old when it was cut down in 1964. • George Washington was a redhead. • Michigan has more shoreline than the entire eastern seaboard of the U.S. • Texas is larger than every country in Europe.
• It was 20th-century American historian, sociologist, philosopher and literary critic Lewis Mumford who made the following sage observation: “A man of courage never needs weapons, but he may need bail.” • In the 1960s, American spies in the Soviet Union had a novel way to eavesdrop on conversations: They used cats. The CIA agents placed listening devices on the felines in order to hear conversations that might take place on a park bench or near an open window. • Polar bears and grizzly bears are similar enough genetically to successfully mate. Any offspring produced from such a union is known as a “pizzly.” • If you’re a book lover who is fortunate enough to be planning a trip to Japan’s capital sometime soon, then Book and Bed Tokyo needs to be on your agenda. For a mere $30-$40 per night, you can sleep in a bunk surrounded by bookshelves and have access to free Wi-Fi and a vending machine. The bathrooms and a large seating area (furnished, reportedly, with deep, comfy couches) will be shared with other guests -- but that’s just an opportunity to meet like-minded literary travelers! You can bring your own reading material, of course, but with 1,700 titles provided in both English in Japanese, there’s no need. • It’s common knowledge that the ostrich is a flightless bird, but many people don’t realize that, even confined to land, the ostrich can outrun a racehorse. • If you use rats or mice to tell the future, you’re engaging in myomancy; if you prefer to base your divination on the flight or song of birds, you’re an ornithomancer. *** Thought for the Day: “I would like to see anyone -prophet, king or God -- convince a thousand cats to do the same thing at the same time.” -- Neil Gaiman
• The characters Bert and Ernie on “Sesame Street” were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s film “It’s A Wonderful Life.” • When director George Lucas was mixing soundtrack for the film “American Graffiti” he numbered the reels of film starting with an R and numbered the dialog starting with a D. When the sound designer requested Reel 2, Dialog 2 by requesting “R2D2” George liked the way it sounded so much that he worked it into his Star Wars project. • The Sahara desert is larger than the continental U.S. • Whales, dolphins, and porpoises move by plunging their tails up and down, unlike fish, which move their tails from side to side. • In 1949, brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel created a restaurant that sold roast beef sandwiches. They spelled out the initials “Raffel Brothers” (RB) to create the name Arby’s. • The deadliest natural disaster in the U.S. was the Galveston hurricane of 1900, which killed between 8,000-12,000 people. • China and the U.S. are about the same size but China’s population is four times larger. • Thomas Jefferson first introduced French fries to the White House.
(c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.
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