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Every second Sunday in May marks the day when we celebrate that special lady in our lives. Or if you’re like me, it’s a day of panic and guilt when you realize you haven’t gotten her a gift yet. Thank God for one day shipping! Unlike people, pumps aren’t just dropped off by storks. Pumps have gone through various evolutions and designs throughout the course of human history. In the spirit of being topical, PumpProducts.com is celebrating this year’s Mother’s Day by talking about the mother of all pumps! I give you... the shadoof.  What is a shadoof you ask  It is the earliest known ancestor of the pump. The shadoof was used by ancient Egyptians as early as 2000 BC. If the Archimedean screw pump is the aunty of modern pumps then I guess the shadoof is more like the grandma. It’s basically a long pole with a bucket hanging from a rope at the end of it. The bucket’s main purpose was to move water from bodies of water onto land for irrigation. Water could also be transferred between different bodies of H2O. In some cases waterproof animal skins were mustered since ancient people didn’t have access to advanced bucket technology. A counterweight, made of such substances as clay or stone, was attached to the shorter end of the stick, giving it a sort of see-saw like resemblance. A shadoof is simple enough to use. A person just pulled on the rope, lowering the bucket into water and allowing the counterweight to raise the bucket. Shadoofs are even still in use in some countries today! Are pump’s responsible for civilization I’ll let you be the judge…but yes they totally are! The ability to move water made irrigation and farming more achievable which supported greater populations in the ancient world. To get back to my main point though, which is you should probably get your mom something nice this year. Of course, nothing let’s your mother know you love her more than a brand spanking new pump or shadoof.  Actually you probably shouldn’t get her a shadoof. It’s probably more fun to say than to use. Plus you can find a good Goulds pump with a better GPM at PumpProducts.com. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there from everyone at PumpProducts.com!

Happy Mother’s Day from Pump Products! I sincerely hope that you have something nice planned for the special lady in your life that raised you - whether it’s a nice brunch, a trip to the zoo or just a day out. I also hope that you got her some flowers and a nice card. As for me, Grandma Pumphead is a huge Metallica fan so I bought her tickets to a show. Mother’s Day has become quite the commercial holiday and it certainly has an interesting history. The History of Mothers Day The day actually originated as an organizing effort by working class mothers in 1850s West Virginia to lower the infant mortality rate. There were fewer regulations protecting working class people from poor sanitary conditions, food contamination and the general malaise of disease. Organizer Ann Reeves Jarvis started Mother’s Friendship Day events to bring mothers together, consolidate their common interests and encourage political activity. After Jarvis’s death, her daughter Anna started organizing Mother’s Day ceremonies in recognition of her own mother’s pioneering work. Jarvis (the daughter) envisioned Mother’s Day being a mostly private, familial affair, with children honoring their own mothers in a manner similar to her own celebration. Of course, many other ceremonies began to be held across the country, and as the holiday grew in stature, so too did its purpose and meaning to different people. Businesses noticed and started marketing certain products, such as flowers, greeting cards, and candy, specifically for the day. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made the second Sunday in May the official day of Mother’s Day. Interestingly enough, Jarvis grew to disdain what Mothers’ Day (now in the plural) had become. The commercial aspect now dominated and it was very far from the family-oriented day that she had envisioned. She spent much of the rest of her life organizing protests and threatening legal action against the purveyors of the new, commercial Mothers’ Day. She died in 1948. Last Minute Gift Ideas Naturally, many will gravitate towards cards, flowers or books. But consider not giving your mom some dimestore “obviously purchased at the last minute” joke card or the kind of flowers that she doesn’t even like. Instead, why not give her what every woman, indeed what every person, wants I’m talking about buying her a brand new pump! I’m personally partial to a Liberty OmniVore grinder pump, which carries our highest recommendation. Of course, depending on system needs and application, your mom may not need a grinder, but never fear. We have virtually all types of fluid moving pumps; just browse the online store or call and ask an application engineer to find the right pump for mom. Bonus: Yo Momma Jokes “Yo momma so fat that when she sits around the house, she sits AROUND the house.” “Yo momma so old God signed her yearbook.” “Yo momma so old she rode dinosaurs to school.” “Yo momma so ugly she went into a haunted house with tickets and came out with a job.” Bonus Fact: In 2007, MTV actually produced and aired a game show called “Yo Momma” in which contestants took turns making yo momma jokes to each other. It was hosted by Wilmer Valderrama from “That 70’s Show.” Seriously. This remains one of the most inexplicable things that has ever happened and I’m not just talking about TV. The show ran for three seasons. Pump Products application engineers are standing by to provide ordering assistance, price quotes or to answer any question you may have regarding pumps. Call our toll free number 1-800-429-0800.