Too Much Cute (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, Nature Friday, and Flashback Friday

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Feline Friday was originally started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude (may he rest in peace), and i'm going to believe it's because he liked cats.

He handed hosting duties off to Sandee at Comedy Plus, and now she has entrusted it to me.

Feline Friday is simple to join.  All you have to do is: Post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (they may be silly or cute).  Then add your link!

One thing for sure is this is a fun and easy meme to do.  So come and join us in Feline Friday.

What better way to start the weekend than with a feline!

There's just too much cute in the shelters right now.

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Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing, and the final two are offered by Lorianne The Menagerie Mom of Four-Legged Furballs. They try to make sure the statements will be fun to both answer and share. The linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM on Friday. Please head over to one of their sites, link up, and share your thoughts!      

Here are this week's statements with my responses underlined:

1. _____________________ is a first world problem I have.

2. I’ll never understand why so many people enjoy ____________________________.

3. My sense of humor would be best described as _________.

4. I think schools should teach _________.

1. So much to do it's hard to find time to make healthy meals   is a first world problem I have.

2. I’ll never understand why so many people enjoy   mushrooms.

3. My sense of humor would be best described as   a little bit warped (think Weird Al).

4. I think schools should teach   penmanship.  Scientists have shown the brain to hand connection, stopping to choose the right word, forming it properly, etc., is good for brain development and we are losing some skills by neglecting to teach this.

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Nature Friday is hosted by LLB in Our Backyard.  Simply post a picture of the natural world, and link up!   

The small neighborhood where we have our Wednesday evening Bible study is rightfully proud of their rows of oak trees.  They've even removed parking areas just to preserve the trees.

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Flashback Friday is hosted by FiveSibes.  Come hop along memory lane with us!  

As can easily be seen in this photo from five years ago, having too much cute up for adoption is not a new problem.

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Today is:

Air Conditioner Day -- the first modern electrical air conditioning unit, invented by William Carrier, began working on this day in 1902

Constitution Day -- South Korea

Feast of St. Kenelm -- saint mentioned in "The Nun's Priest's Tale" of The Canterbury Takes

Feast of the Clockless NowEver -- can't find any confirmation on what this one is, but it sounds like fun if i don't have to bother with a clock or schedule

Festival for Victoria and Virtus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of victory and god of bravery in warfare)

Gentse Feesten -- Ghent, Belgium (a ten day music and theatre festival)

Gion Matsuri -- Yakasa Shrine, Kyoto, Japan (one of the largest and best Gion festivals)

King Letsie III's Birthday -- Lesotho

National Peach Ice Cream Day

St. Alexius Day (Patron of Alexians, beggars, belt makers, nurses, pilgrims, travelers)

Wear Crazy Socks to Work Day -- at your own risk

World Day for International Justice

Wrong Way Corrigan Day -- anniversary of the flight of Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan, who was supposedly heading for California from New York and ended up in Ireland instead

Yellow Pig Day -- mathmatics festivals at various universities, celebrating the number 17 and the yellow pig with 17 eyelashes, created by mathematicians Michael Spivak and David C. Kelly

Birthdays Today

Tash Hamilton, 1982

Alex Winter, 1965

Dawn Upshaw, 1960

Mark Burnett, 1960

Aaron Lansky, 1955

J. Michael Straczynski, 1954

David Hasselhoff, 1952

Phoebe Snow, 1952

Lucie Arnaz, 1951

Camilla Parker Bowles, 1947

Diahann Carroll, 1935

Donald Sutherland, 1934

Phyllis Diller, 1917

Art Linkletter, 1912

James Cagney, 1899

Berenice Abbott, 1898

Erle Stanley Gardner, 1889

John Jacob Astor, 1763

Elbridge Thomas Gerry, 1744

Isaac Watts, 1674

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Yellow Submarine(Animated film), 1968

Punch(Magazine, first publication), 1841

Today in History

Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians, the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world, 180

Zhu Di, better known by his era name as the Yongle Emperor, assumes the throne over the Ming Dynasty of China, 1402

Catherine II (the Great) becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia, 1762

Londoner Thomas Saint patented the first sewing machine, 1790

The first issue of Punch magazine was published, England, 1841

The Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established in Boston as the first dental school in the U.S, 1867

On the orders of the Bolshevik Party carried out by Cheka, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia, 1918

The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; 5 lives are lost, 1918

An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain begins the Spanish Civil War, 1936

After being denied permission to make a transatlantic crossing, Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the "wrong way" to Ireland and becomes known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan, 1928

Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California, 1955

An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations, 1975

The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team, 1976

The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business, 1997

A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 3,183, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless, 1998

A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crime against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, 1998

South Korea develops a long range cruise missile, 2010

Astronauts, Sunita Williams of the United States, Yuri Malenchenko of Russia and Aki Hoshide of Japan, arrive at the International Space Station for a three-month long mission, 2012

In an effort to curb obesity rates, the United Arab Emirates offers its citizens one gram of gold for every kilogram of weight they lose, 2013

The discovery of the oldest evidence of bread, made from wild grains, is announced by archaeologists in a dig at a 14,000-year-old site in the Black Desert, Jordan, 2018

Typhoon Talim makes landfall on China's Guandong coast, forcing the evacuation of nearly 230,000 people, 2023

US Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro officially exonerates all 258 Black sailors who protested work conditions after the 1944 Port Chicago Disaster, 2024

British government announces the voting age will be lowered to 16 years old across the UK in time for the next general election, 2025

Back in Her Element (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day, and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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Ms. G, as noted before, has pretty well trained most of her side of the family and many of her close friends to rely on her to be the go-to for everything, especially if there is an emergency or crisis.

When i arrived yesterday, she was just coming in from her hair appointment and immediately began fielding calls for Ms. J, her godmother who has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks, and who is at a critical point where her children are being called on to make decisions they are looking to Ms. G to help with.

I simply started the usual chores, not knowing if it was going to be a long work day or short, but as i finished in the cat room and got all the cold drinks into the fridge, she got a text.

"My cousin has just gone to the hospital, internal bleeding, I guess I'm going to have to go up there and see to it," she was saying, then adding, "you do take Paypal, right, 'cause I won't be here to write a check."

Then there was a flurry of new texting as i worked away, and with all the starch taken out of her like a child whose balloon has popped she said, "Well, this cousin is like me, good head on her shoulders, thinks straight and clear, takes care of a lot of the stuff on her side of the family and she says she doesn't need me up there right now, so I'm going to put my sciatica on the heating pad and when you're done, well, we'll see what happens."

What happened was she wasn't feeling better when i was finished with the chores, she felt she needed to stay on the heating pad so she let me go home, but as i was leaving she got a text from someone who needed help with a feral mama cat and five kittens, and once again she was in her element, from her throne of a recliner chair with heating pad in place, taking charge of someone else's crisis.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Balloon.     

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While Good Fences Around the World seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird, i still enjoy looking for and posting interesting fences, so i will!

I like fences with "character."

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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    

He promised to do it, and did,

though he just about flipped his lid,

to dress like a girl,

ride a bike called "pink pearl,"

it's amazing what you'll do for your kid.

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Angel Brian's Family of Brian's Home - Forever hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

Today i am thankful i got home just early enough yesterday to run an errand with #1 Son, one which we needed to do but had no clue when we'd get to it.  We're thankful it's done!

Bonus, i am thankful for #1 Son whose birthday is today.

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Today is:

Atomic Bomb Day -- the first experimental bomb was set off today in 1945

Closet Space Appreciation Day -- if you have some, enjoy (we have tiny closets!)

Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; related observances (many noting her relationship to Carmen, ancient goddess of healing and midwifery)

     Fiesta of the Virgin of Carmen -- Santurtzi, Basque Region, Spain

     Lady of Carmen Day -- Chile 

     La Madonna della Carmine -- Naples, Italy (all of Italy, actually, but especially here)

     Virgen Del Carmen -- Cetano, Puerto Rico

Fresh Spinach Day -- yippee!

Get To Know Your Customers Day -- third Thursday of each quarter

Ice Cream Cone Day -- this is one of the many days people say the confection was invented, so why not?

LaPaz Day -- Bolivia

Manu'a Cession Day -- American Samoa

National Corn Fritters Day

National Personal Chef Day -- some websites say Feb. 24, but since i'm not going to have one, you may celebrate it whichever you choose

Parking Meter Day -- the first parking meter was installed on this day in 1935 in Okalahoma City, OK

Rath Yathra & Bahuda Jatra-- Puri, India (the first is the Chariot Festival, pilgrims pull huge chariots across the city, and the second is 8 days later, the Return Festival; one of the most awaited Hindu festivals in the state and country)

St. Eustathius' Day

Talk to a Telemarketer Day -- only if i can mess with his/her mind in some way!

Anniversary Today:

Michael J. Fox marries Tracy Pollan, 1988

Birthdays Today

Mark Indelicato, 1994

Jayma Mays, 1979

Corey Feldman, 1971

Larry Sanger, 1968

Barry Sanders, 1968

Will Ferrell, 1967

Phoebe Cates, 1963

Michael Flatley, 1958

Stewart Copeland, 1952

Ruben Blades, 1948

Pinchas Zukerman, 1948

Bess Myerson, 1924

Ginger Rogers, 1911

"Miss Frances" Horwich, 1907

Barbara Stanwyck, 1907

Orville Reddenbacker, 1907

Roald Amundsen, 1872

Ida B. Wells, 1862

Mary Baker Eddy, 1821

Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1723

Andrea del Sarto, 1486

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Golden Horseshoe Revue"(Disneyland show), 1955

The Catcher in the Rye(Publication date), 1951

"Das Entfuhrung aus dem Serail"(Opera, Mozart K. 384), 1782

Today in History

The Islamic Calendar begins, 622

East-West Schism between the Eastern and Western Christian churches begin, 1054

The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco, 1661

Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands, 1683

Father Junipero Serra founds California's first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, 1769

First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, 1782

The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown, 1809

Emily Stowe becomes the first female physician licensed to practice medicine in Canada, 1880

The world's first parking meter is installed in the Oklahoma capital, Oklahoma City, 1935

The world's first nuclear weapon, the "atom bomb," is detonated in New Mexico, 1945

The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane, 1948

J.D. Salinger novel The Catcher in the Rye published by Little, Brown and Company, 1951

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its very last "Big Tent" show in Pittsburgh, due to changing economics all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas, 1956

USS George Washington (SSBN-598) a modified Skipjack class submarine successfully test fires the first Ballistic missile while submerged, 1960

The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens, 1965

Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1969

Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister; he will be in office 22 years, Asia's longest-serving political leader, 1981

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter (impacts continue until July 22), 1994

John F. Kennedy, Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies in a plane mishap over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, along with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, 1999

Chicago's Millenium Park is opened to the public, 2004

The funeral for the final heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Otto von Habsburg, occurs in Vienna, attended by monarchs and members of the political elite, 2011

NASA's Dawn space probe enters orbit around the protoplanet Vesta, 2011

Scientists reveal the first close-up pictures of Pluto, sent by the New Horizons probe, 2015

The BBC announces that the first ever female Doctor Who will be played by Jodie Whittaker, 2017

Scientists at the Carnegie Institute for Science announce the discovery of 12 more moons orbiting Jupiter, bringing the total of Jupiter’s known moons to 79, 2018

The Persian Gulf International Airport on Iran’s southwestern coast registers a record high heat index of 152 degrees Fahrenheit (66.7 C) at 12:30 p.m., 2023

One of three known "Rosebud" props from the 1941 film 'Citizen Kane' sells at auction for $14.75M , 2025