Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a sunny day with a high of sixty-two in the Whippet City today. Sunrise is 7:10 and sunset 6:58, for 11h 47m 22s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 63.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1933, FDR gives his first fireside chat:

…eight days after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives his first national radio address or “fireside chat,” broadcast directly from the White House.

Roosevelt began that first address simply: “I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking.” He went on to explain his recent decision to close the nation’s banks in order to stop a surge in mass withdrawals by panicked investors worried about possible bank failures. The banks would be reopening the next day, Roosevelt said, and he thanked the public for their “fortitude and good temper” during the “banking holiday.”

Here is the first part of that chat:

Puzzability‘s Thursday game is part of the week’s Miss Taken series:

This Week’s Game — March 9-13

Miss Taken

Who are all the missing misses? For each day this week, we started with a name or word that can follow “Miss,” like “Congeniality” or “Hannigan.” Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with a girl in place of the answer.

Example:

I think the creator of this strawberry rhubarb pie reciieved the utmost in baking perfection.

Answer:

Peach (recipe achieved)

What to Submit:

Submit the name or word (as “Peach” in the example) for your answer.

Thursday, March 12

The mint juleps at the elegant picnic were of a high capical of the hostess’s other high-class events.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Our morning will be foggy, giving way to sunny skies and a high of forty-nine. Sunrise is 7:12 and sunset 6:56, for 11h 44m 27s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 72.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1941, Pres. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Bill into law, assuring Britain and others a supply of armaments in their fight against Nazi Germany. Here is a New York Times account of the signing:

Washington, March 11 _ President Roosevelt signed the history making lease-lend bill at 3:50 P. M. today immediately after receiving it from the Capitol, where the House completed action by accepting the Senate amendments by a vote of 317 to 71.

Five minutes after the bill was signed the President approved a list of undisclosed quantities of war materials to be transferred at once from the American Army and Navy to the British and the Greeks, to bolster these powers in their life-and-death struggle with the Axis. Most of these first materials, the nature of which the President guarded, will go to Great Britain. Having thus promptly set the machinery to motion toward making the United States “the Arsenal of democracy,” Mr. Roosevelt began work on a request to be sent to Congress tomorrow for an immediate appropriation of $7,000,000,000 with which to press the lease-lend effort to the fullest possible extent under the new law. This, he intimated, would be likely to include help to China as well as to Great Britain and Greece, and to all other nations which later may find themselves under threat of the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo alliance.

Puzzability offers the Wednesday game in its Miss Taken series:

This Week’s Game — March 9-13

Miss Taken

Who are all the missing misses? For each day this week, we started with a name or word that can follow “Miss,” like “Congeniality” or “Hannigan.” Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with a girl in place of the answer.

Example:

I think the creator of this strawberry rhubarb pie reciieved the utmost in baking perfection.

Answer:

Peach (recipe achieved)

What to Submit:

Submit the name or word (as “Peach” in the example) for your answer.

Wednesday, March 11

My elderly aunt finds correct use of gramasing to the ear, and won’t put up with any misused words.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday will be a day of gradual clearing with a high of fifty-two. Sunrise is 7:14 and sunset is 6:55, for 11h 41m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 81.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets this afternoon at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1864, the Union Army’s Red River campaign begins:

1864 – (Civil War) Red River Campaign Begins in Louisiana
The Red River Campaign took place in Louisiana and Texas. At a crucial moment in the campaign, Wisconsin Captain Joseph Bailey (1827-1867) of Wisconsin Dells freed 60 stranded transport ships and their accompanying ironclad gunboats as Confederate troops approached to capture them. The 8th, 14th, 23rd, 29th and 33rd Wisconsin Infantry regiments and the 1st Wisconsin Light Artillery participated in the Red River Campaign. The Red River expedition lasted until May 22.

Here’s the Tuesday game in Puzzability‘s Miss Taken series:

This Week’s Game — March 9-13

Miss Taken

Who are all the missing misses? For each day this week, we started with a name or word that can follow “Miss,” like “Congeniality” or “Hannigan.” Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with a girl in place of the answer.

Example:

I think the creator of this strawberry rhubarb pie reciieved the utmost in baking perfection.

Answer:

Peach (recipe achieved)

What to Submit:

Submit the name or word (as “Peach” in the example) for your answer.

Tuesday, March 10

The crerried into the dining room for tea doesn’t quite match the sugar bowl that’s already there, but it’ll do.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Our first second week of March begins with sunny skies and a high of forty-six. Sunrise is 7:15 and sunset 6:54, for 11h 38m 36s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 88.3% of its visible disk illuminated. (Update: It’s the second week of the month, of course. Too silly that I’ve let a whole week slip by.)

Whitewater’s Planning and Architectural Commission meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1862, the second day of a two-day naval battle near Hampton Roads raged:

The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack (or Virginia) or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies. It was fought over two days, March 8–9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia’s largest cities, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade.[1][2]

The major significance of the battle is that it was the first meeting in combat of ironclad warships, i.e. the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. The Confederate fleet consisted of the ironclad ram Virginia (built from the remnants of the USS Merrimack) and several supporting vessels. On the first day of battle, they were opposed by several conventional, wooden-hulled ships of the Union Navy. On that day, Virginia was able to destroy two ships of the Federal flotilla, USS Congress and USS Cumberland, and was about to attack a third, USS Minnesota, which had run aground. However, the action was halted by darkness and falling tide, so Virginia retired to take care of her few wounded — which included her captain, Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan — and repair her minimal battle damage.[3]

Determined to complete the destruction of the Minnesota, Catesby ap Roger Jones, acting as captain in Buchanan’s absence, returned the ship to the fray the next morning, March 9. During the night, however, the ironclad Monitor had arrived and had taken a position to defend Minnesota. When Virginia approached, Monitor intercepted her. The two ironclads fought for about three hours, with neither being able to inflict significant damage on the other. The duel ended indecisively, Virginia returning to her home at the Gosport Navy Yard for repairs and strengthening, and Monitor to her station defending Minnesota. The ships did not fight again, and the blockade remained in place.[4]

The battle received worldwide attention, and it had immediate effects on navies around the world. The preeminent naval powers, Great Britain and France, halted further construction of wooden-hulled ships, and others followed suit. A new type of warship was produced, the monitor, based on the principle of the original. The use of a small number of very heavy guns, mounted so that they could fire in all directions was first demonstrated by Monitor but soon became standard in warships of all types. Shipbuilders also incorporated rams into the designs of warship hulls for the rest of the century.[5]

Puzzability starts a new weekly series entitled, Miss Taken:

This Week’s Game — March 9-13

Miss Taken

Who are all the missing misses? For each day this week, we started with a name or word that can follow “Miss,” like “Congeniality” or “Hannigan.” Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with a girl in place of the answer.

Example:

I think the creator of this strawberry rhubarb pie reciieved the utmost in baking perfection.

Answer:

Peach (recipe achieved)

What to Submit:

Submit the name or word (as “Peach” in the example) for your answer.

Monday, March 9

The tablecloth outside on the veranellow, but I believe I’ll replace it with a green one for the afternoon social.