Happy Humbug

Quite a full day today; not only is it the solstice, complete with a dandy juxtaposition of planets, it's also National Humbug Day in the U.S.  Who can ask for more?

-----

That wildlife camera looks like it was a good investment, Mr. Beagles.  It almost mimics the human eye in that it loses color sensitivity in low light conditions; all cats are gray in the dark.  It might be fun to play with those images to make it look like all the critters are in the same image, showing Feeding Time in Beaglesonia.

-----

I remember Uncle Ken mentioning Hetty Green quite a while ago but it wasn't until a few days ago that I jumped down into that rabbit hole to see what I could find.  One link leads to another and I can't help but wonder why such a fascinating story has not gotten more attention.  At one time she was the richest woman in the world, yet she took frugality to an extreme level.  She could have also been the world's biggest tightwad but that was mainly regarding her personal life and housing.  She would eat dry oatmeal but she fed her pet dog beefsteak.

The moniker "Witch of Wall Street" has to do more with her worn out black dress than any evil intent.  She was tough, but fair, and was much more financially astute than any of her male peers.  Anyone who can bail out New York City three times knows their way around an accounting ledger, that's for sure.  And looking at the photos of her later years you would never know that she was a debutante from a moneyed family and considered to be quite the charming beauty.

There must have been a few screws loose, though.  She was too cheap to get her fourteen year-old son proper medical treatment when he injured his knee and his leg had to be amputated.  He did okay, though.  Consider this:

Following a 1910 interview in Paris where he expressed a desire to find a wife, Ned received 5,000 written marriage proposals. But he claimed that women were only interested in his money. This six-foot-four, 300 pound eccentric, who lavished millions on racing cars, yachts, planes, coins, stamps, politics and pornography, didn’t marry until age 48, a year after his mother died.  His 47-year-old bride, his “housekeeper” for 15 years, was a former prostitute.

I'd call that a happy ending.