Month: January 2017

The invention of Otis Elevator

Golden Brodie rides elevators and finds history

Published on by goldenbrodie12 Comments

I work daily at expanding my golden horizons. Each day my training broadens my possibilities of one day perhaps being a therapy dog…so I’m riding elevators now.  Elevators are just a fact of life that I will need to understand as my world broadens.  Gotta not be thrown by those doors that seemingly suddenly open sideways…acclimate to the up & down feeling in my dog gut when the box stops or takes off going up…gotta walk into that box and sit down…give peeps their space…move to the back…you know all of the etiquette of elevator riding.  Next time you ride one…look for this name OTIS.  I noticed that OTIS is always in those boxes.  Here’s why.

In 1853, the inventor Elisha Otis demonstrated his stellar emergency spring that allowed a platform to stop and suspend itself.  That day people who attended  P.T. Barnum’s Traveling World’s Fair in New York, gasped with disbelief when Elisha stood on a platform raised 40 feet in the air…and with his swift sword slashed the rope that held him & the platform mid-air.  The platform dropped only a foot and stopped… And that my friends was the beginning of  Otis Elevator Co. that lead to safe elevators and the construction of those “skyscrapers” we all admire.

Space age looking elevators in Berlin
Space age looking elevators in Berlin

Just a little info nugget for ya…let’s go ride some elevators.  Pick up those paws!

Adorable Red Panda in a tree

Brodie marvels at escape artists: Rusty and Sunny

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It’s in my dog genes to want to run and hide…jig and jag…get out there and run like the wind…but I must admit that I am a homebody…you’ll never find me running away…I have way too much to leave my happy golden space…and my training keeps me safe by coming when called.  Now Rusty and Sunny…those little escape artists think differently…after all they are wild and precious.

Rusty the Red Panda ran away from his home in the National Zoo in Washington, DC in 2013.  He pushed the boundaries of his safe life and headed out to Adams Morgan…a popular dining and entertainment spot on the fringes of the zoo…a lovely and diverse… vibrant neighborhood.  I’m guessing he enjoyed his escapade…and eventually he was found.  Hopefully, Sunny the Red Panda who escaped from the Norfolk Virginia Zoo just this week...will be safe until she is found by the many volunteers who continue looking for her.  The word is she was trying to get away from Thomas the Male Red Panda…mating season is on…guess Sunny needed to express herself by fleeing the scene.

These red cat-bears are really great looking creatures…so furry, full of life and kinda…sorta…thrill seekers?!?  Sending out golden prayers for Sunny’s safe returned to her home in the Virginia Zoo.