Tell us some interesting historical facts about the town you live in

[betsygee]

 

  Not in my town, but in the closest city, Worcester, MA,  the Smiley Face 

 was created in 1963 by Harvey Ross Ball.   The original does look different than the one seen today as computer icons.  The original was the one I remember in the 1970's.  The grin was very wide and the eyes were oval, one bigger than the other.  My sister and I were thrilled when we each got to pick out a groovy necklace with a big, colorful Smiley Face on a long pendant!     

 

Whaaaat?!  I love smiley faces.  Your town rocks.  

 

[huntersdad]

My town is also right on the Susquehanna River in upstate NY.  In 2006 we had a historical flood like we had never seen before.  There was no way this could ever happen again, right?  However, in 2011 we were drenched for days from Hurricane Irene and just as that left town just ahead of the sheriff, Tropical Storm Lee came up from the Gulf and just sat on top of us for days.  The result was a flood that made the '06 flood look just silly. 

It was during this flood when I became involved in animal rescue.  Every night we could hear 4 kittens in the trees and when the river finally subsided they came down.  They obviously were very skittish and nobody could get near them.  With all the displaced animals it was impossible to find a shelter to take them but after hundreds of calls and telling their story a shelter called Life Long Tails took them in.  Each kitten was given a foster mother and socialized for several months and were adopted in the end.  The local news even did a story on them!

I met many amazing people after the flood and none more so than a woman who opened her home to so many displaced cats after the flood.  At any given time she has between 30-40 cats and can't adopt them out faster than she can take them in.  She was retired at the time but has since gone back to work to help defray the costs of her effort.  We have fundraisers and deals w/ local vets but it's tough to stay ahead.  She can't take anymore in but word has spread and it's a common occurrence for her to get up in the a.m. and see a box of kittens on her front porch.  She never says no.  Truly, the most amazing heart and she always says this to me "I am exhausted every minute of every day but when I lie down and a few of them lie next to me and purr it makes it all worth while."

Sorry, even stories about my town end up as a cat story!

 

[catdavidlouis]

The 13th step on the west side of the capitol building downtown is exactly 5,280 ft above sea level