What is Memorial Day?

    As a country, we know Memorial day as a day to honor and mourn those who died in battle while serving in the U.S Military. There is much history behind Memorial Day, celebrated on the last Monday in May, that some of us do not know about and was presented by History Channel. 

    Before it was Memorial Day, Americans celebrated Decoration Day in the years following the Civil War. In 1971, it was officially named a federal holiday observed by Americans by visiting cemeteries or memorials and holding family gatherings or participating in parades. Memorial Day also marks the beginning of the summer season.

    The Civil War claimed more lives than any other conflict in U.S history requiring and establishing the first national cemeteries, which then encouraged Americans from all over to hold tributes in Spring for fallen soldiers by decorating their graves with flowers and holding prayers for them. This tradition began in 1865 and was named by General John A. Logan in 1868 as Decoration Day to be held on May 30th every year. He chose that date as it was not the anniversary of any battle. 

    

    As the United States started seeing itself in more conflicts throughout history, Decoration Day shifted from only honoring those who died during the Civil War to honoring those who died in all wars and later known as Memorial Day. In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act that established Memorial day to be the last Monday in May to purposely create a three day weekend for federal employees which went into effect in 1971.

    Unofficially marking the beginning of Summer, Memorial Day is celebrated by honoring our fallen heros with barbeques, parties, visiting cemeteries and memorials. 

Sanitation Station

    Returning to normalcy from a year and a half of quarantine and Covid policies is a relief but we're not completely safe yet! Don't forget the importance of continuous sanitation, which is an always policy. At 2 Pees in a Pot, we know the importance of sanitation and not spreading germs, especially after using the restroom or one of our wonderful and clean portable toilet rentals. 

    We offer wash station rentals equipped with paper towels, soap and hand sanitizer. We just hook it up to the closest water hose and you pump the water out of the faucet with a foot pedal. This helps you stay completely hands free post hand washing!

    Our toilet rentals come equipped with hand sanitizer dispensers and are sanitized once dropped off. Our drivers make sure the toilet rental is completely wiped down with sanitizing product and ensure the sanitizer dispenser is filled with hand sanitizer, along with fresh rolls of toilet paper.

    The Elite Trailer rental is a gorgeous four stall restroom, two stalls for men and women, with wood floors, mirror, decor and running water for the soap provider. This rental is also sanitized with drop off by our driver and is a perfect rental for weddings, or elegant event!

    2 Pees in a Pot guarantees sanitized rentals before, during and after Covid policies begin to lift. We want nothing more than our customers and people all over to stay safe and healthy! 

The Importance of Shopping Locally

    It's been quite a popular topic lately, 'support and buy locally', 'stop using corporations', 'give your local vendors your business'! Before Walmart, Target or even Amazon, what did we do? We bought from our local farmers markets, from our neighbors who could do trades others couldn't like make clothes, jewelry, landscaped, or went to our local general stores owned by someone in our community. Unfortunately, we started seeing a lot of that fade and started shopping at bigger chains where we could find items less expensive and more convenient. That's not a bad thing at all but we tend forget the benefits and importance of shopping locally. There's the environmental benefits, local economic benefits, and benefits for the community, including job retention and non profit support! 

    Large chain grocery stores, clothing stores, Amazon all use some sort of transportation to get the products in stock for your enjoyment. It's great when our product is in stock but we don't think what it took and what it did to our environment to get that product on the shelf. Planes, trains, 18 wheelers all add to the pollution! Buying locally does help reduce that because items are already available within your community and majority made in the backyard of the shop. That means less travel for everyone to get a product on the shelf. 

    Local businesses provide economic benefits to communities by providing jobs that usually have a higher retention rate. A higher job retention means employees are happy with their employers which gives a better customer experience. Who wouldn't want that?! Another benefit to shopping locally is knowing your money does go back into the community. Typically a local business has a heart for the community and neighborhood they're established in leading them to be the best donors for local non profit organizations that they believe to help continue making their neighborhood strong. If you pass a cute looking shop, would you have no temptation to walk in? Let's not forget the pride that local business owners have of their shops by providing aesthetics for the neighborhood with uniqueness to their shops. It's hard to not want to walk in! The more unique the shop, the more unique the product as well.

    The next time you pass a shop that is locally owned, just walk in, even if you don't buy anything, it will show so much respect for the owners to know that anyone had the slightest interest in what they do and bring to the neighborhood! That alone is rewarding for our local vendors, general stores, floral shops and more!

Summer Health

    

                                                                                    Photo credit: google image search

    Now that Summer is creeping upon us, we need to think about going outside more, being able to go to pools, events, lakes, camping, etc. The most important thought should be staying healthy and cool to get through the Summer to survive the all the fun activities.

Surviving the heat while being outdoors is important. Think about all the precautions you can take while staying active. The most common and practical step to take is drinking plenty of water. Avoid all sugary drinks that don’t provide any hydration. Also, don’t wait until you’re thirsty to get in some water. Drink constantly to avoid getting thirsty as it only leads to dehydration. Wear light clothing as in lightweight, light colored, and loose. This help sweat evaporate and keep you cooler. Try to keep exercise outside in the early mornings or later in the evenings to avoid the hottest times of the day. Try to stay in shady areas as well and if it’s too hot, take the workout inside an air-conditioned building. 

Sun safety is another important tip to keeping healthy in the Summer. The most important and most commonly expressed precaution is the use of sunscreen. It helps and works when used consistently. Using a sunscreen with at least 30 SPF every two hours (before and after swimming or sweating) will help with UV protection to protect your skin. Sunglasses are the eyes sunscreen when using a dark lens that can block 99% of UV light from your eyes.

Taking basic and simple precautions during the Summer will help provide safer and longer outside time to spend with family and friends and enjoy your time in the sun. Definitely do not let your fun distract you from your health! Have a great and safe Summer!!