Dear Reader:

I was so excited yesterday when I saw the rain drops falling on my car window as I was running errands that I about wrecked the car. Rain…beautiful rain! I found myself, gleefully, sing-songing the little verse we all grew up with as a child:

Thankfully for all the cars around me…I had my windows up (since it was raining) so they were spared my musically challenged vocal pitch.

After I had sung it two or three times…I began to wonder again, just like I did as a child, what happened to the snoring old man after he bumped his head? Was it a concussion or something worse… where he never got up again…(that is kind of a downer for a children’s nursery rhyme ending.)

I want the ‘rest of the story‘…just like Paul Harvey always gave us with his short stories. (Maybe he should have written this jingle!)

When I googled the rhyme, I discovered that I am not alone in my quest to solve the mystery of the ‘snoring old man.’ Others, too, are in ‘pursuit of the truth’ but have all come up short-handed, like me.

However, one writer, Chad Skelton, with a little tongue-in-cheek approach… at least made the process of searching entertaining to us readers. Here are some excerpts from his article: Did the Old Man (It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”) Die?”

“…Why couldn’t the old man get up in the morning? Did he die? Fall into a coma? Or was he just too lazy to get up?

To my surprise, after a fair bit of time spent searching online — far too much time, really — I couldn’t find a clear answer.

But no definitive evidence of what the actual intention of the original song was — at least in part, I imagine, because the exact origins of the song are unclear.

Skelton did stumble across a pretty hilarious 2003 study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal that complained-  “Several popular nursery rhymes portray head injuries as inevitable events that do not require medical follow-ups.” (The Five Monkeys jumping on the bed, the Old Man Snoring, Humpty Dumpty,  Jack (as in…and Jill)…just to name a few.)

Another version has evolved over time that makes the situation less suspect and more hopeful.  The last lyric reads: “And he wouldn’t get up in the morning.” Which, hopefully for the old man, suggests that he just didn’t want to get up, as opposed to not being able to.

The sequence of events in the nursery rhyme becomes a critical clue in the final analysis.

“Obviously, establishing the exact sequence of events is crucial to the creation of a differential diagnosis.

If the elderly gentleman bumped his head after retiring for the evening, one is forced to entertain potential foul play, seizure activity or even a MI (there is no evidence to confirm the commonly held belief that he was alone).

Also, it should be noted that he was “snoring.” Could his death have been precipitated by severe obstructive sleep apnea?

If he actually bumped his head before going to sleep, the list of potential mechanisms is endless, and a good forensic investigation is required to determine the cause of death.

The notoriously poor documentation of factors precipitating head injury in nursery rhymes makes it impossible to determine what really happened in this case.

And so the mystery continues…perhaps if we call in Mr. Sherlock Holmes he will discover the answer to the crime in no time…“Quite elementary my dear chaps…quite elementary.” 

What about you? What do you think happened to the old man in the nursery rhyme?

(In the meantime….all I want to know…”Is it going to keep raining…we need lots and lots of rain.”)

So until tomorrow…

“A Rainy Day is a special gift to readers.” Amen!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*We do have a mystery solved around Ludens Cough Drops! Dee said her husband, Mike, was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and the blog story (the other day) on Ludens brought “shades of nostalgia” to his face while shaving!

“Reading, Pennsylvania boasts the origin of the Luden Cough Drop. William Luden began his business in the rear of his family’s jewelry story in Reading in the late 1800’s. 

Mike said that, as a young child, he and his brother often walked downtown with their grandmother. He remembers passing by the Luden factory on 8th Street where smells of cough drops filled the air. 

Interesting tidbit: ” ...The Luden plant also made many different varieties of candies and that, to a young boy, the sweet aromas of chocolate coming from the factory were “to die for.”

Dee said “Who would have guessed?” I could get this much information out of my husband while shaving… that I never knew.

Memories are powerful, aren’t they? Thanks Dee for sharing with all of us! Now I want to try some of the chocolate!

*Latest Cardinal Targeting and Solution:

After moving my car to different driveways…even to the back yard by the garden…the infamous “RED CARDINAL” kept finding my car and “Poop” there it went again.

*I told my neighbor Luke I might have to make a police report on being a targeted victim by a cardinal. He said he watched the bird attaching my mirrors too from his front porch…and, he explained, they can really cause some damage to the mirrors…to the point that they have to be replaced.

So yesterday I went in Family Dollar and bought two black hair turbans…they fit each mirror like a glove. I had just put them both on when the “storm” hit full force…sending me running back in the house.

Last time I looked they were both still on…now I just have to remember to take them off before driving. Pray this works! I am out of paper towels and cleaning solution.

*Marcia sent this adorable picture of Lachlan and Rutledge when they were visiting her a few weeks ago and went to the children’s museum…they got to play veternarians… quite professionally.