Herndon's Hollow

Herndon's Hollow Small batch herbs/seasonings, gluten free baking mixes and freeze dried candy.

08/27/2026

🧾 Thursday Tidbit

The @ symbol wasn’t originally created for email.

Long before it showed up in email addresses, it was used in accounting.

It stood for “at.”

So instead of writing something like:
7 items at $2 each

It could be written more compactly as:
7 items @ $2

That usage dates back hundreds of years.

It was a simple way to shorten common phrases in trade and record-keeping—nothing special, just practical.

For a long time, it stayed that way.

Just a symbol used occasionally in bookkeeping, invoices, and notes.

Then in 1971, a computer engineer named Ray Tomlinson needed a way to separate a user’s name from the computer they were using.

He chose the @ symbol because it wasn’t commonly used in names… and it already meant “at.”

User at computer.

That one decision turned a relatively obscure symbol into something used constantly.

Now it shows up in email, social media, usernames—everywhere.

But it started as nothing more than a shorthand in accounting.

A small, practical symbol… that ended up everywhere.

đź’¬ Check the website for up-to-date ordering details.
đź›’ Order: hotplate.com/herndonshollow

✍ Blog: herndonshollow.blogspot.com

🛍 Culinary blends & popcorn toppers available at The Boise Refillery
(10530 W Fairview Ave, Boise)

08/20/2026

🌻 Thursday Tidbit

Sunflowers don’t spend their whole lives facing the sun.

It’s one of those things that gets repeated often enough that it starts to feel like a fixed rule—

sunflowers follow the sun.

And for a while, they do.

When the plant is still growing, before the flower fully opens, it moves throughout the day.

In the morning, it faces east.
As the sun rises and crosses the sky, the plant gradually turns with it.
By evening, it’s facing west.

Then overnight, it resets—slowly turning back to the east again before sunrise.

It’s a daily cycle, and it’s not random.

That movement helps the plant grow more efficiently, capturing light throughout the day and supporting faster development.

But it doesn’t last.

Once the sunflower matures—once the bloom fully opens—that movement stops.

The stem stiffens.
The turning slows… and then ends.

Most mature sunflowers settle facing east.

And they stay that way.

Not because they can’t move anymore, but because they no longer need to.

Facing east allows them to warm up more quickly in the morning sun, which makes them more attractive to pollinators early in the day.

Bees tend to visit warmer flowers first.

So what looks like a simple trait—“it follows the sun”—is really just one stage in a longer process.

Movement while it’s growing.
Stillness once it’s finished.

It’s one of those details that’s easy to miss, because you usually only notice the plant once it’s already in that final stage.

By then, the part everyone talks about… has already passed.

đź’¬ Check the website for up-to-date ordering details.
đź›’ Order: hotplate.com/herndonshollow

✍ Blog: herndonshollow.blogspot.com

🛍 Culinary blends & popcorn toppers available at The Boise Refillery
(10530 W Fairview Ave, Boise)

08/13/2026

âś‹ Thursday Tidbit

August 13 is known as International Left-Handers Day.

Left-handed people make up only about 10% of the population, which means most tools, spaces, and systems are designed with right-handed use in mind.

It’s not always obvious… but it shows up in small ways.

Scissors that don’t cut quite right.
Notebooks that dig into your hand as you write.
Measuring cups, desks, and even certain kitchen tools that feel just slightly off.

Nothing major on its own.

But consistent.

Historically, it went further than that.

For a long time, left-handedness wasn’t just uncommon—it was discouraged. In some places, children were trained or even forced to switch to their right hand for writing and everyday tasks.

Over time, that changed.

Left-handedness is now recognized as just another natural variation—something that doesn’t need correcting.

And because it’s less common, it’s also one of those things that quietly reshapes how someone interacts with the world around them.

Same environment.

Slightly different experience.

So while today is set aside to recognize it, it’s really just highlighting something that’s always been there… just not always designed for.

đź’¬ Check the website for up-to-date ordering details.
đź›’ Order: hotplate.com/herndonshollow

✍ Blog: herndonshollow.blogspot.com

🛍 Culinary blends & popcorn toppers available at The Boise Refillery
(10530 W Fairview Ave, Boise)

08/06/2026

🪞 Thursday Tidbit

Mirrors don’t actually reverse things.

It feels like they do.

Raise your right hand, and the reflection raises what looks like its left.
Turn your head, and it seems to turn the opposite way.

But a mirror isn’t flipping left and right.

It’s flipping front to back.

What you’re seeing is a reversal along a single axis—the one that runs straight through you, from front to back.

The confusion comes from how we interpret it.

When you imagine someone facing you, you mentally rotate them around to match your perspective. That’s what creates the left-right swap.

But the mirror itself isn’t doing that.

It’s showing exactly what’s in front of it… just reversed in depth.

If you were able to step through the mirror instead of turning to face it, everything would line up the way you expect.

Same sides. Same orientation.

It’s not the mirror that changes things.

It’s the way we think about what we’re seeing.

đź’¬ Check the website for up-to-date ordering details.
đź›’ Order: hotplate.com/herndonshollow

✍ Blog: herndonshollow.blogspot.com

🛍 Culinary blends & popcorn toppers available at The Boise Refillery
(10530 W Fairview Ave, Boise)

07/30/2026

🤝 Thursday Tidbit

The idea of friendship hasn’t always meant what it does now.

Today, it usually points to something personal.

Someone you trust.
Someone you choose to keep in your life.
Someone you know beyond just circumstance.

But that wasn’t always the case.

For a long time, the word “friend” was used much more broadly.

It could refer to someone on your side of a conflict.
Someone who shared your beliefs or position.
Someone connected to you through circumstance rather than closeness.

In older texts, alliances between nations were described as friendships.
Political supporters were called friends.
Even people who had never met could be grouped under the same word simply because they stood for the same thing.

It wasn’t necessarily about personal connection.

It was about alignment.

Over time, that meaning shifted.

As societies changed and daily life became less tied to survival through group loyalty, the word narrowed.

It became more specific.

Less about who you were associated with…
and more about who you chose to keep close.

Now, when someone is called a friend, it usually carries weight in a different way.

Not just shared circumstance… but shared time.
Not just proximity… but familiarity.
Not just alignment… but trust.

The word didn’t disappear.

It adapted.

And maybe that’s why it’s lasted as long as it has.

So even though today is known as International Day of Friendship, the idea behind it isn’t new.

It’s just something that’s been redefined… slowly, over time, into what we recognize now.

đź’¬ Check the website for up-to-date ordering details.
đź›’ Order: hotplate.com/herndonshollow

✍ Blog: herndonshollow.blogspot.com

🛍 Culinary blends & popcorn toppers available at The Boise Refillery
(10530 W Fairview Ave, Boise)

07/23/2026

🔑 Thursday Tidbit

Keys feel like they should be unique.

You get one cut for your lock, you carry it around, and it works exactly the way it’s supposed to.

Turn it one way, the lock opens.
Turn it back, it closes.

It gives the impression that there’s something very specific—almost one-of-a-kind—about that pairing.

But most standard keys don’t work that way.

They’re built from a system of patterns.

Each notch along the edge of a key corresponds to a specific depth and position. Inside the lock, pins are set to match those exact heights. When everything lines up just right, the lock turns.

It feels precise… but it’s not unlimited.

There are only so many depths.
Only so many positions.
Only so many combinations those can be arranged into.

Which means there’s a limit to how many “unique” keys can exist within a given system.

In larger buildings, older locks, or mass-produced systems, overlap isn’t just possible—it’s expected.

Two keys cut for completely different locks can sometimes be close enough to partially work… or, in some cases, fully open the same door.

Modern locks have improved on this.

More pins.
Tighter tolerances.
More complex keyways.

But the basic idea hasn’t changed much.

It’s still a physical system of shapes aligning just enough to allow movement.

And when you step back and think about it, it’s a little strange.

Something that feels personal… specific… almost exclusive…

is really just one variation in a much larger, shared set.

đź’¬ Check the website for up-to-date ordering details.
đź›’ Order: hotplate.com/herndonshollow

✍ Blog: herndonshollow.blogspot.com

🛍 Culinary blends & popcorn toppers available at The Boise Refillery
(10530 W Fairview Ave, Boise)

07/16/2026

🧵 Thursday Tidbit

Velcro wasn’t invented in a lab.

It started with something most people would’ve brushed off and forgotten.

In the 1940s, a Swiss engineer named George de Mestral went out for a walk with his dog.

When he came back, both of them were covered in burrs.

The kind that cling to fabric, get tangled in fur, and take a little effort to pull free.

Instead of just removing them and moving on, he stopped and looked closer.

Not casually—really looked.

Under magnification, those burrs weren’t smooth or random.

They were covered in tiny hooks.

Each one designed—without intention, without planning—to catch onto loops in whatever they touched.

Fabric. Fur. Anything with a surface they could grab onto.

That’s why they stuck so well.

That one observation turned into a question:

Could something like this be made on purpose?

It took years of experimenting to get it right.

Creating a material that had hooks small enough to latch on, but strong enough to hold.
Pairing it with a surface that had just the right kind of loops.
Making it durable enough to be used over and over again.

Eventually, it worked.

And that simple hook-and-loop system became what we now know as Velcro.

It’s one of those things that feels like it must have come from careful design from the start.

But really, it came from noticing something small… and deciding it was worth understanding instead of ignoring.

đź’¬ Check the website for up-to-date ordering details.
đź›’ Order: hotplate.com/herndonshollow

✍ Blog: herndonshollow.blogspot.com

🛍 Culinary blends & popcorn toppers available at The Boise Refillery
(10530 W Fairview Ave, Boise)

07/09/2026

🌽 Thursday Tidbit

Corn isn’t just a vegetable.

It’s also a grain… and a fruit.

Which sounds like one of those technicalities that doesn’t really matter—until you look a little closer.

When corn is harvested fresh and eaten the way most people are used to—on the cob, soft and slightly sweet—it’s treated like a vegetable.

That’s how it shows up on the plate.
That’s how it’s cooked.
That’s how most people think of it.

But if you let it mature and dry out on the stalk, it changes.

At that point, it behaves like a grain.

It can be ground into cornmeal or flour.
Used for baking.
Stored for long periods in a completely different way.

Same plant. Same kernels.
Different stage… different use.

And then there’s the botanical side of it.

Each individual kernel on an ear of corn develops from a fertilized o***y of the plant.

Which means, technically, each one is a fruit.

Not in the way most people picture fruit—but by definition, that’s what it is.

So an ear of corn isn’t just one thing.

It’s a collection of hundreds of tiny fruits…
that can be treated like a vegetable…
or processed like a grain…

all depending on when it’s picked and how it’s used.

It’s one of those everyday foods that seems simple—until you realize it doesn’t really fit into a single category at all.

đź’¬ Check the website for up-to-date ordering details.
đź›’ Order: hotplate.com/herndonshollow

✍ Blog: herndonshollow.blogspot.com

🛍 Culinary blends & popcorn toppers available at The Boise Refillery
(10530 W Fairview Ave, Boise)

Independence Day marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.It’s easy to think of it as a single mome...
07/04/2026

Independence Day marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

It’s easy to think of it as a single moment—one day, one decision, one clear turning point.

But like most things, it wasn’t that simple.

It came after years of tension.
Disagreements that kept building.
Decisions that didn’t get made all at once.

And even after it was signed, it didn’t settle everything immediately.

What it did do was set a direction.

A statement of intent.
A line drawn that said, “this is where things change.”

Over time, that moment became something more—something recognized, remembered, and marked each year.

However it’s spent—gatherings, food, fireworks, or something quieter—

It’s still tied back to that idea of choosing a different path forward.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Fourth of July from Herndon’s Hollow 🇺🇸

07/02/2026

📬 Thursday Tidbit

Not every piece of mail makes it to where it’s supposed to go.

Wrong address.
No return information.
Illegible handwriting.
Missing details.

When that happens, it doesn’t just disappear.

It gets sent to what’s known as the Dead Letter Office—now officially called the Mail Recovery Center.

It’s not quite the way it’s shown in shows like Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

There aren’t people opening every letter, reading through messages, and tracking down long-lost connections.

Most mail is handled based on what can be verified.

If something can be identified and redirected, it is.
If it can’t, it’s eventually disposed of—especially letters, which are protected by privacy laws.

Packages are a little different.

Those can be opened, not to read anything personal, but to look for information that might help get them where they were meant to go.

And if that still doesn’t work… they’re eventually auctioned off or discarded.

It’s a practical system, not a sentimental one.

But it still sits on the same foundation the postal service was built on in 1775—

moving things from one place to another, as reliably as possible.

Even now, nearly 250 years later, that basic purpose hasn’t really changed.

đź’¬ Check the website for up-to-date ordering details.
đź›’ Order: hotplate.com/herndonshollow

✍ Blog: herndonshollow.blogspot.com

🛍 Culinary blends & popcorn toppers available at The Boise Refillery
(10530 W Fairview Ave, Boise)

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Caldwell, ID
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