Distracting a Pumpkin (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!

Pumpkin is the cat who bit me a couple of weeks ago when i was doing caretaking.  He's not bad, just jumpy and easily overstimulated, even if all you are doing is giving him food and he's in another part of his very large cage.

He has a treat dispenser.  I now fill it up before tending him, and it generally keeps him distracted long enough for me to get everything done.

I dare not open his cage to get a better picture, he would try to get out and it's very hard to get him back in.

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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. The longest I have been without electricity is ______________________.

2. I am so tired of waiting for _____________________.

3. I can’t believe I still remember _________.

4. I wish I could go back and experience _________ for the first time again.

1. The longest I have been without electricity is   about six weeks, between hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

2. I am so tired of waiting for _____________________.   Right now i can't think of anything.  Almost everything seems instant these days.

3. I can’t believe I still remember   old phone numbers and addresses from my childhood. 

4. I wish I could go back and experience   going to Europe   for the first time again.

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

We're seeing more bees!

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

Abigail was taking a bath as Ruth(less) walked past.

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It's the Equinox!  It occurs at 14:46 UTC, and is the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the Autumn Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.

Here are some festivals associated with the equinox around the world:

     Akitu Festival begins -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar

     Chunfen -- China

     Festival of Dumuzi -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (return of the god of life and death to be with the goddess of life and bring the spring)

     Festival of Iduna -- Ancient Norse Calendar (goddess of spring, keeper of the apples of youth for the gods)

     Haru-no-Higan -- Japanese Buddhist

     Harvest Festival and Coming Forth of the Great Ones from the House of Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

     Jare -- Old Slavic Calendar

     Kukulcan Snake God in Chichen Itza -- Yucatan (the snake shadow appears only at the equinox, and celebrations are held before and after)

     Maslenitsa -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar

     Ostara/Mabon -- Wicca/Pagan, Ancient Norse Calendar, Old Anglo-Teutonic Calendar

     Pacha Pucuy -- Ancient Inca Calendar ("Earth Ripening")

     Shunbun no Hi -- Japan

     Snowman Burning Day  -- Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, US (celebration of the start of spring)

     Taoist festival of Shen -- Deities of water, East, and Spring

Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere for the event badge.         

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Today is:

Big Bird Day -- it's his birthday, and he's still only 6 years old!  (wish i could figure out that trick)

Bockbier/Bock Beer Day -- bock is the German word for strong, so a day to honor very strong, very dark, sweet, heavy beer

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Day -- birth anniversary of children's author Bill Martin

Eid al Fitr -- Islam (celebration of the end of Ramadan; began sundown yesterday, runs through sundown on the third day, although local dating and official government observances may vary)

Extraterrestrial Abductions Day -- another silly made up one, but try telling that to the people who believe in it!

Feast of Tou Tei -- Macau (earth god; celebrated on the second day of the second lunar month, so if i've mixed up the date in Gregorian, i'm sorry, i tried)

Great American Meat Out Day -- go vegetarian today!    

Independence Day -- Tunisia

International Day of the Francophonie /  Journée internationale de la Francophonie

International Day of Happiness -- UN

International Earth Day -- the traditional date, still observed in many countries

Jumatul Bidah/Wida -- Bangladesh; JK, LA, India

Kiss Your Fiancé Day -- do you really need to be reminded to do this? a wedding planner thinks so, that you should stop today and focus on each other, not the wedding

Lajos Kossuth Day -- Hungary

Martyrdom of Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi -- Pakistan

National Cherry Blossom Festival -- Washington, DC, US (through April 14; Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival and parade on April 13)

National Native American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day  

National Jump Out! Day -- sponsored by Discovery Girls Magazine and Fundex Games; encouraging kids to get out and get active

National Ravioli Day

Nowruz/Nauruz/Novruz Bairam/Norooz (begins at sunset) -- Iranian diaspora, Kurdish diaspora, Zoroastrians; Afghanistan; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Iran (Persian New Year); Iraq; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan

     celebrations go on for up to seven days or more

     Naw Ruz -- Baha'i (New Year, and an end of the time of fasting; begins sunset)

Proposal Day® -- a day for singles to propose to their true love; on the equinox, equal night and day symbolizing equal commitment 

Shunki-Korei-Sai -- Shinto (rite to honor ancestral spirits, around the vernal equinox)

Smile Rejuvenation Day -- another one from the ecard companies, make someone smile today

St. Cuthbert of Lindisfane's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors, shepherds; England; Durham, England; Lancaster, England; Northumbria, England; against plague and plague epidemics)

Won't You Be My Neighbor Day -- in honor of Mr. Rogers' birth anniversary

World Frog Day -- an initiative, on the first day of spring, to remind people of our fragile ecosystems and the disappearance of our amphibian friends   

World Storytelling Day -- to celebrate the tradition of oral storytelling

Zhonghe/Longtaitou -- China (Double Second Festival and Blue Dragon Festival, the time to wake the dragons that control the rains; celebrate the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month the modern way now by cleaning the house, getting a hair cut, and eating popcorn, pancakes, and noodles)

Zipper Day -- the 'Separable Fastener' by Gideon Sundback was patented this day in 1917

Birthdays Today:

Louis "Louie" Vito, 1988

Fernando Torres, 1984

Kathy Ireland, 1963

David Thewlis, 1963

Holly Hunter, 1958

Spike Lee, 1957

Theresa Russel, 1957

Jimmie Vaughan, 1951

William Hurt, 1950

Bobby Orr, 1948

Pat Riley, 1945

Paul Junger Witt, 1943

Brian Mulroney, 1939

Lois Lowry, 1937

Hal Linden, 1931

Fred "Mr." Rogers, 1928

Carl Reiner, 1922

Marian McPartland, 1920

Bill Martin, Jr., 1916

Ozzie Nelson, 1906

B.F. Skinner, 1904

Frederick Winslow Taylor, 1856

Henrik Ibsen, 1828

Ovid, BC43

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Uncle Tom's Cabin"(Publication date), 1852

Today in History:

Sixth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 141

Maximus Thrax, who never set foot in Rome, becomes the first of the Foreign or Barracks Emperors of the Roman Empire, 235

A Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction is thought to be the "cause of plague epidemic," 1345

Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment, 1616

France and Spain sign an accord for fighting protestantism, 1627

Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne, 1739

The Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings, 1760

After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule, 1815

US and Siam sign commercial treaty, 1833

Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published in Boston, 1852

An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina, 1861

The first AC power plant in the US begins commercial operation, in Massachusetts, 1886

In the first known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10, 1897

The first international figure skating championship takes place, in New Haven, Connecticut, 1914

Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity, 1916

The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, 1923

A test of a practical radar apparatus is made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany, 1934

The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established, 1964

Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, 1985

Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering, 1990

Stephen Harper wins the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, becoming the party's first leader, 2004

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Fukuoka, Japan, its first major quake in over 100 years, 2005

Cyclone Larry makes landfall in eastern Australia, destroying most of the country's banana crop, 2006

In Morocco, thousands rally to demand and end to corruption and more civil rights for the Moroccan people, 2011

The Indian rivers Yamuna and Ganges are declared to be "living entities" by a court in the state of Uttarakhand, 2017

Finland is the world's happiest country, South Sudan is world's least happy, according to annual World Happiness Report, 2019

Japanese organizers of the Tokyo Summer Olympics confirm that overseas spectators will not be allowed because of the pandemic, 2021

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says world has less than a decade to stop catastrophic warming, 2023

Former swimmer Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe is the first woman and the first African to be elected president of the International Olympic Committee, 2025

Too Busy (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day, and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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Ms. G is, as always, busy as a one armed paper hanger with everything and everyone, so much so she can't do what she wants, which is take her boat out and float the day away; she just can't swing it.

For now, though, she is all business as she works on getting a house cleared out and ready for the closing date.  The seller (her client) is the son of an old friend who died, and as part of the pay for her getting the house ready to sell for him, she is being given a good many items from the house.

Yesterday we made three trips over there to load up her truck and move those things into her storage unit.  A few of them will go to her new place in the country where she hopes to retire one day.

The rest, well, "when things slow down" she plans to sell them online along with a lot of the contents of her house so she can retire and move, but at her pace i can't see her packing her bags any time soon, she's too busy with clients to get to her own stuff.

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

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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!

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

The beauty strikes me every time

I come home for a short stay

and makes me wonder why

I ever moved away.

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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 we realized Slow-Moe was low on oil in time and no damage seems to have ensued.

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Today is:

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day -- Camp Fire USA encourages everyone to send a note or letter to a young person today, telling him/her exactly what an incredible kid s/he is!

Commemoration of the Victory over Kadhafi -- Libya

Companies That Care Day -- national event that encourages employers to highlight and expand their employee and community initiatives, and recognize the people who make their companies successful

Corn Dog Day -- some sites say the 20th

Eid al Fitr -- Islam (celebration of the end of Ramadan; begins at sundown, and runs through sundown on the 5th, but local dates and official government observances may vary)

Greater Dionysia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (largest festival to Dionysus, lasting five days; date approximate

Hindu New Year -- Hindu (local custom/date may vary)

     Hari Raya Nyepi Tahun Baru -- Indonesia (New Year in the Balinese Saka calendar)

     Nyepi Day -- Bali, Indonesia (Day of Silence, Balinese New Year/Saka New Year celebration on which everything is closed, even the international airport)

     Ougadi -- Mauritius and some regions of India (the Telugu New Year)

     Ramayana -- Hindu (local customs/celebratory dates may vary)

       is often with Hindu New Year, but sometimes starts a day later  

International Read to Me! Day -- a day for children to remind the adults in their lives to read to them often  

Kashubians' Unity Day -- among Kashubians in northern Poland

Let's Laugh Day -- a holiday spread by ecard companies, because any day is a good day for a laugh

Mojoday -- Discordianism

National Chocolate Caramel Day

Oil Nationalization Day -- Iran

Pet Passport Day -- today in 2000, the UK passed the pet passport law, allowing pets into Great Britain without quarantine if they met certain criteria

Poultry Day -- a day to honor the role poultry plays in our lives

Quinquatria -- Roman Empirical Calendar (celebration of Minerva and Mars, especially the birthday of Minerva today; through the 23rd)

Ramazan Bayrami Eve -- Turkey

See If You Can Find Someone Who Remembers Honey West Day -- internet generated trivia question

Swallows Return to San Juan Capistrano Day -- despite what you think, the bird you saw there yesterday was not a swallow, the natives will tell you

St. Joseph's Day (Patron of bursars, cabinetmakers, carpenters, civil engineers, confectioners, craftsmen, dying people, emigrants, expectant mothers, families, fathers, happy death, holy death, house hunters, immigrants, interior souls, laborers, married people, Oblates of St. Joseph, people in doubt, people who fight communism, pioneers, protection of the church, social justice, travelers, unborn children, wheelwrights, workers; Universal Church; over 50 cities, diocese, and countries; against doubt and hesitation)

     As Patron of fathers, his day is also Father's Day in Belgium, Bolivia, Honduras, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

     Valencia, Spain has it's biggest day of the Las Fallas Festival today, with the fireworks.

Time Zone Day -- US Congress passed the Standard Time Act to sort out the fact that different states and cities used different times, with no rhyme or reason

Birthdays Today:

Michael Bergin, 1969

Bruce Willis, 1955

Glenn Close, 1947

Clarence "Frogman" Henry, 1937

Ursula Andress, 1936

Phyllis Newman, 1935

Renee Taylor, 1935

Phillip Roth, 1933

Ornette Coleman, 1930

Patrick McGoohan, 1928

Brent Scowcroft, 1925

John Joseph Sirica, 1904

Earl Warren, 1891

Edith Nourse Rogers, 1881

Charles M. Russell, 1864

William Jennings Bryan, 1860

Albert Pinkham Ryder, 1847

Wyatt Earp, 1848

Sir Richard Burton, 1821

David Livingstone, 1813

Thomas Mckean, 1734

William Bradford, 1590

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Kate and Allie"(TV), 1984

"A Child of Our Time"(Oratorio), 1944

"Amos and Andy"(Radio), 1928

"Faust"(Opera), 1859

"Die Braut von Messina"(Schiller Play), 1803

Today in History:

A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China, 1279

Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men, 1687

The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000, 1863

Pluto is photographed for the first time but is not recognized as a planet, 1915

Eight American planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first United States air-combat mission in history, 1916

The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time, 1918

Willie Mosconi sets a world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio. The record still stands today, 1954

Gumby makes his debut, 1957

The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction, 1965

Texas Western becomes the first college basketball team to win the Final Four with an all-black starting lineup, 1966

India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty, 1972

The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN, 1979

Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating the Falklands War with the United Kingdom, 1982

Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election, 2002

A cosmic burst, GRB 080319B, that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed, 2008

After two decades of being closed due to civil war, the Somali National Theater reopens in Mogadishu, 2012

The papal inauguration ceremony for Pope Francis is held in St. Peter's Square, 2013

The world's last male northern white rhino, 45-year-old Sudan, dies in Kenya, 2018

American Karen Uhlenbeck becomes the first woman to win mathematics' Abel Prize, 2019

The Icelandic volcano Fagradalsfjall erupts for the first time in 800 years, 2021

In a deal brokered by the Swiss government, Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, agrees to buy its rival Credit Suisse to help ease global financial panic, 2023

Finland is ranked the happiest country in the world by the UN for the seventh year in a row, 2024

New data on dark energy from the DESI telescope further upends scientific belief that the universe is constantly expanding, its results show it has instead weakened, 2025