weather radar: Firewater Friday

A bit of a klutz. Yep, it’s true. If I’m not dropping one thing or tripping over another thing then I’m probably slicing my finger open cutting veggies. Bruises, bumps and boo-boos are all a part of life . . . it makes me the colorful person I am!

At the early part of the 20^th century there was another clumsy woman. Her name was Mrs. Josephine Dickson. No matter what the reason, it’s a fact that Josephine was accident prone. During the first week that she was married to Earle Dickson, she cut her self twice with the kitchen knife. After that, it just went from bad to worse. It seemed that Josephine was always cutting herself. And, her groom had to minister to her wounds.

Fortuitously, Josephine had the good luck to have married a man who worked for a company that manufactured gauze and adhesive tape called Johnson & Johnson. So they had plenty of the stuff on hand. One day it occurred to Earle that he could make his lovely bride bandages that she could easly apply herself. After all, he couldn’t be home all time and what if she bled to death while making a pot roast?

He sat down with some tape and gauze and a pair of scissors. Then he cut the tape into strips. In the middle of each strip he stuck a little square of gauze. From then on, whenever Josephine had an accident, ready-made bandages were on hand for her to use quickly and without a lot of fuss.

At Johnson & Johnson, they heard about new bandages that could be easily applied with one hand. They loved the idea. The first year they made Band-aids they didn’t sell very well. So, Johnson and Johnson came up with a gimmick to boost sales. They distributed free Bandaids to Boys Scout Troops . . . in a couple years Band-Aids were machine made, ten years later they were sold sterilized, and the 1960’s the vinyl Band-aid we know and love to day was the norm.

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Early in his career, Barry Manilow was involved in what he would later call "the jingle jungle". He made a living, writing and performing commercial jingles. Some of the advertising tunes he wrote were for Bowlene Toilet Cleaner, State Farm Insurance, Stridex and . . . you guessed it . . . Band-Aids.

I am stuck on Band-Aid brand 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me!

I am stuck on Band-Aid brand 'cause germs don't stick on me!

'Cause they hold on tight no matter what on fingers, toes, and knees.

I am stuck on Band-Aid brand 'cause Band-Aid helps heal me!