Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Well.... For those of you who don't know... Today is St. Patrick's Day.  :)  The one day a year where anyone can claim to be Irish, most people are trashed, and perfect strangers are allowed to pinch you for not wearing green. 



I've been told that somewhere in my blood I have a bit of Irish in me.  I don't know for sure if I do or not.  My family also tell me we're very distantly related to Hugh Hefner, but I haven't seen a penny of his Playboy money to support that, so.... Yea.

My mother tends to get a little overly-exuberant on most holidays.  Today is no exception.  She made green eggs and ham for breakfast.

She also made some green pancakes.



At some point this evening, she'll put her little weenie dog in it's green sweater.  As much as I purely hate and despise that dog, I must say.... She looks so cute in her little green sweater!!  :D

Americans believe that EVERYONE is Irish on St. Patrick's day.  At least most of us do...  I seem to forget that I'm American at times.  >_>;

Predominantly today is a day for fun I suppose.  People drink beer that looks like this:



And they have parades and parties and have an obscene amount of fun trying to figure out what foods and drinks can be turned green.  I'm pretty sure people have green shit for at least a week after. 

Obviously, I'm greening things up for a day myself.  But not to the extent of some.  In Chicago, they dye the river green.

This tradition has always fascinated me.  Not sure why.  I guess it's because....Well....They're dying a freaking RIVER green.

The tradition of dyeing the river green arose by accident when some plumbers used fluorescein dye to trace sources of illegal pollution discharges.  The dyeing of the river is still sponsored by the local plumbers union.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency outlawed the use of fluorescein for this purpose, since it was shown to be harmful to the river.  The present ingredients used to dye the river green today are safe for people and wildlife.  Forty pounds of powdered vegetable dye are used to color the river for the celebration.

In my house, we only dye food green.  St. Patrick's day is the one day per year my mother bakes home-made bread.  Why?  So she can dye it green...

Yup.  I'm dead freaking serious.  Green bread.  It kinda looks like Sponge Bob laid in green food coloring...  Just saying.  It's pretty tasty though, if you get past the color.

I'm not sure how I feel about some of the more silly traditions of St. Patrick's day.  Like the pinching.  I hate the pinching.  I'm not really sure why people do it.  Other than to be mean.  I hit people that pinch me.  Besides... I have green eyes.  Which means I am eternally safe from being pinched.  Woot!

Scooter Out.