HAPPY ALMOST END OF SUMMER..AUGUST.

sooo august is here and time has flown, and whether fun or not summer is almost over. Speaking of "august," that is the name that is in a very good book and now movie- Water for Elephants. In the book (and now movie), an old man in a nursing home remembers his life in the circus, as a vet. The old man, Jacob-played by Robbert Pattinson- remembers how his life was as the circus pulls into his town. The book is amazing and about how Jacob falls in love with a women who is totally off-limits and married to Jacob's boss..who's name is August. August is the man who you do not want to mess with and he of course finds out that Jacob and Marlena, (Augusts wife) are secretly seeing each other...the book ends in a very sad and unexpected way but it is an awesome book and movie..No disrespect to Hollywood, but read the book first because of course, Hollywood has its own version of everything..

Now here are some actual August-related facts..

August is the eighth month, renamed by the Romans from Sextilis', meaning sixth, to honor their emperor, Augustus.

August is the height of the summer time in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. The longest days of the year is passed, but the hot days remain. In the northern regions and mountains, cool nights and early frosts lets one know that the summer is about to come to an end. In the Southern Hemisphere, August means the winter will soon be over.

The birds are already planning to fly south for the winter. The insects are more noisier and numerous than in any other month. This is perhaps the busiest month for businesses, since most people take their vacations in August.

National Independence Day is observed in Bolivia, Ecuador, India, andSwitzerland, during August.

The sardonyx and peridot are the gems for August. The poppy and gladiolus are the flowers for the month of August.

IMPORTANT AUGUST EVENTS Colorado became the 38th state, August 1, 1876. William Clark, a leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, born August 1, 1770. Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," born August 1, 1779. Maria Mitchell, American astronomer, born August 1, 1818. Lincoln penny issued August 2, 1909. Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, on his first voyage across the Atlantic, August 3, 1492. Ernie Pyle, newspaper columnist, born August 3, 1900. Union forces won the Battle of Mobile Bay in the Civil War, August 5, 1864. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet, born August 6, 1809. Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel, August 6, 1926. An American bomber dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare, on Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945. Ralph J. Bunche, American statesman, born August 7, 1904. United States troops landed on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in World War II, August 7, 1942. American poet Sara Teasdale born August 8, 1884. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, born August 8, 1896. Ernest Orlando Lawrence, American atomic physicist and Nobel Prize winner, born August 8, 1901. Richard M. Nixon became the first U.S. President ever to resign from office, August 9, 1974 The Columbia, under Robert Gray, completed the first voyage around the world by a ship flying the American flag, August 10, 1790. Missouri became the 24th state, August 10. 1821. Smithsonian Institution founded, August 10, 1846. Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States, born in West Branch, Iowa, August 10, 1874. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, August 12, 1877. George Bellows, American painter and lithographer, born August 12, 1882. The United States annexed Hawaii, August 12, 1898. Lucy Stone, women's rights leader, born August 13, 1818. Annie Oakley, sharpshooter, born August 13, 1860. U.S. Social Security Act approved, August 14, 1935. Indians massacred soldiers and settlers of Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, August 15, 1812. Panama Canal opened to traffic, August 15, 1914. American frontiersman Davy Crockett born August 17, 1786. United States and Canada arranged for joint defense of North America, August 17, 1940. Virginia Dare, first English child born in America, born August 18, 1587. Meriwether Lewis, a leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, born August 18, 1774. American merchant Marshall Field born August 18, 1835. Orville Wright, pioneer American aviator and airplane designer, August 19, born 1871. Philo T. Farnsworth, engineer who discovered a system for electronic television, born August 19, 1906. Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States, born in North Bend, Ohio, August 20, 1833. Hawaii became the 50th state, August 21, 1959. John Fitch successfully demonstrated his side-paddle steamboat, August 22, 1787. The Savannah, first steamship to cross the Atlantic, launched, August 22, 1818. First local chapter of the American National Red Cross founded by Clara Barton, August 22, 1881. Edgar Lee Masters, American poet and biographer, born August 23, 1869. William Wilberforce, British statesman and crusader against slavery, born August 24, 1759. British troops captured Washington, D.C., and burned the White House, August 24, 1814. Bret Harte, author of stories about the Western United States, born August 25, 1836. Leonard Bernstein, American composer, conductor, and pianist, born August 25, 1918. Lee De Forest, American inventor, born August 26, 1873. Ottmar Mergenthaler received a patent for his Linotype machine, August 26, 1884. Amendment 19, giving women in the United States the right to vote, proclaimed, August 26, 1920. Oil production began commercially in the United States when Edwin Laurentine Drake struck oil, August 27, 1859. Theodore Dreiser, American novelist, born August 27, 1871. Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States, born near Stonewall, Texas, August 27, 1908. Spanish explorers landed in Florida where St. Augustine now stands, August 28, 1565. Great Britain provided for the end of slavery in its colonies, August 28, 1833. More than 200,000 civil rights demonstrators staged a march on Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963. Oliver Wendell Holmes, American physician and man of letters, born August 29, 1809. Inventor and automobile pioneer Charles F. Kettering born August 29, 1876. Second Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, ended in a victory for the Confederates, August 30, 1862. Huey Long, Louisiana governor and U.S. senator, born August 30, 1893. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands born August 31, 1880. Facts about The month of August