Blue Bowl Blues (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!

Olive has a touch of the blues.

She put her toy in her water bowl, and yes, it turned the water blue!

Of course, she got fresh water (and a different toy).

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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. My zodiac sign is __________________.

2. My Chinese zodiac animal sign is _____________________.

3. For me, _________ brings back memories of _________.

4. _________ is the only thing keeping me from _________.

1. My zodiac sign is   not something i pay attention to.

2. My Chinese zodiac animal sign is   not something i pay attention to, either.  It may seem silly to some, but i do take the Biblical prohibition of astrology and divination seriously.  Yes, we are still friends if you disagree.

3. For me,   Elmer's Gold Brick Eggs (candy)  brings back memories of   my whole childhood.  In fact, it tastes like my childhood!

4. Not being debt free and still needing grocery money  is the only thing keeping me from   retiring.

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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 Japanese magnolia/tulip trees and the azaleas are getting serious.

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

Held down by fluff!

Bottle babies, plus The Lorax.

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Today is Love Your Pet Day!  Make sure you give your pets a little extra love today.

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

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Today is:

Blessed Wulfric's Day

Cherry Pie Day

Clean Out Your Bookcase Day -- supposedly begun in 1985, but i can't find information on who started it; donate books you don't need any more to a local friends of the library group

Flying Car Day -- the Arrowmobile, the first flying car, patented this day in 1937 (and can you imagine, as bad as driving is, how many accidents we would have if these people were flying around instead?)

Heritage Day -- Yukon Territory, Canada

Hoodie Hoo Day (Northern Hemisphere) -- at noon local time, citizens are requested to go outside and yell "Hoodie-Hoo" to chase away winter and call in spring; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Kabuki no Hi -- Japan (Kabuki Day, commemorating the first performance by Izumo no Okuni, the founder of kabuki, for Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1607)

National Handcuff Day  

St Leo of Catania's Day (a/k/a Leo the Wonderworker, Patron of Rometta, Longi, and Sinagra, Sicily)

Toothpick Day -- first machine used to make them patented this day in 1872

World Day for Social Justice -- UN

Anniversary Today:

John Cleese marries Connie Booth, 1968

US Post Office, 1792 (George Washington signed the act which created it)

Birthdays Today:

Rihanna, 1988

Andrew Shue, 1967

Lili Taylor, 1967

Cindy Crawford, 1966

French Stewart, 1964

Charles Barkley, 1963

Ron Eldard, 1963

James Wilby, 1958

Patty Hearst, 1954

Gordon Brown, 1951

Ivana Trump, 1949

Jennifer O'Neill, 1948

Peter Strauss, 1947

Brenda Blethyn, 1946

Sandy Duncan, 1946

Phil Esposito, 1942

Buffy Sainte-Marie, 1941

Nancy Wilson, 1937

Bobby Unser, 1934

Sidney Poitier, 1927

Robert Altman, 1925

Gloria Vanderbilt, 1924

Carl E. Stotz, 1920

Gale Gordon, 1906

Ansel Adams, 1902

Joseph Jefferson, 1829

William Prescott, 1726

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel"(Play), 1963

"Barber of Seville"(Rossini Opera), 1816

"Giulio Cesare in Egitto"(Opera, HWV 17), 1724

Today in History:

King Christian I, ruler of Denmark and Norway, pawns the islands of Orkney and Shetland to Scotland so he can pay his daughter's dowry, 1472

An unnamed comet approaches withing 860,000 miles of Earth, the closest a comet has ever come to our planet, 1491

The first recorded wine auction is held, in London, 1673

The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington, 1792

Austria declares bankruptcy, 1811

Concepcion, Chile, is destroyed by an earthquake, 1835

The US Congress prohibits dueling in the District of Columbia, 1839

Luther Crowell patents a machine to manufacture paper bags, 1872

In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens, 1872

The first minor league baseball association is organised, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1887

King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra, 1913

A new volcano, Paricutin, erupts in a farmer's cornfield in Mexico, 1943

The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate, 1959

While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes, 1962

Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts, 1965

The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands, 1976

Texas industrialist Ross Perot's U.S. presidential campaign begins, 1992

Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout, 2005

Estonia becomes the first country in the world to establish a national electric car charging network, with cars charging in less than 30 minutes, 2013

A 4-inch lock of John Lennon's hair sells at auction for $35,000 to a memorabilia collector, 2016

Famine is declared in Unity State, South Sudan, affecting 4.9 million, 2017

Venezuela becomes the first country to launch a virtual currency, the petro, to counteract their financial crisis, 2018

Englishwoman Jasmine Harrison (21) becomes the youngest woman to row across an ocean arriving in Antigua as part of the Atlantic Challenge after 70 days, 3 hours, 48 minutes, 2021

Earthquakes and aftershocks near the city of Antakya, Turkey, on the Syrian border, cause mayhem just two weeks after earthquakes devastated the region, 2023

David A Lindon, a micro artist, sets a world record for the smallest handmade sculpture, creating a miniature Lego piece about the size of a human white blood cell, 2025

Be Generous (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day and Brian's Thankful Thursday

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Ms. G will be traveling again, for her ex-brother-in-law's funeral, as she wants to be there to support her niece, which means i will again be going over there before work to tend critters, her indoor cats and the birds/squirrels outdoors.

This meant yesterday was spent tidying up all the loose ends before she could leave town, buying snacks for Ms. Fiona and going to visit her, emptying the car as much as possible, especially in the back, so someone can get to the spare tire if it's needed, and, most important, buying more bird seed.

Ms. G is quite hot under the collar about her favorite store to buy bird seed changing to a cheaper brand which is mostly filler seeds the birds do not eat and which do  nothing but clog the bird feeder and she is planning an email campaign in which she will ask many friends to also participate and see if they can get the old brand back.

In the meantime, under protest she is buying bird seed from another place which has a slightly better brand but not as good as the one she wants, and when we went yesterday she was glad to find the snacks we needed as well as a few other items at this other store.

This brand, however, comes in 40lb. bags, rather than the 30lb. bags, which of course means more for me to lug to the back yard and put in the protective metal garbage bins.

Last order of business before i left was to make sure i spread out a good bit of the sunflower seeds, bought separately from yet another store, on the ground for the mama squirrel who is raising 3 babies in the crepe myrtle tree up front and i was left with strict instructions while she is gone to be very generous with my portions as 3 babies is a lot for a mama squirrel.

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

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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:    

If you don't think I can make it to town

well, you'd best just think again.

This ol' truck has carried many such a load

and it will take this one, friend!

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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 for a local church that has an evening service so i was able to go get ashes yesterday, Ash Wednesday.

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Mexico

Birthday of Minerva -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Birth Anniversary of Shivaji -- Maharashtra, India

Chaoflux -- Discordianism

Chief Leschi Day -- US, especially Washington State (Native American chief wrongly executed for murder on this date in 1958; fully exonerated 2004)

Cracker Jacks Prize Day -- the first prizes were added to the boxes of caramel popcorn this date in 1913

Flag Day -- Turkmenistan

National Chocolate Mint Day (because every day needs chocolate in some form)

Prajatantra Diwas -- Nepal (Democracy Day, celebrating the overthrow of the Rana Dynasty in 1951)

Ramadan -- Islam (began sunset yesterday, through March 19)

Solar System Day -- birth anniversary of Copernicus

St. Conrad of Piacenza's Day -- (Patron against hernias)

Straw Wrapper Appreciation Day -- an internet spread holiday to remind you of how much fun it was as a kid to blow the wrappers off the straws

Temporary Insanity Day -- anniversary of the first time someone successfully pleaded temporary insanity in a court of law; Daniel Stickles, in 1859

Vassil Levski Day -- Bulgaria (Bulgaria's "Apostle of Freedom")

Anniversary Today:

Knights of Pythias founded, 1864

Birthdays Today:

Haylie Duff, 1985

Andrew Shue, 1967

Benicio Del Toro, 1967

Justine Bateman, 1966

Jonathan Lethem, 1964

Seal, 1963

Prince Andrew, Duke of York, 1960

Ray Winstone, 1957

Jeff Daniels, 1955

Margaux Hemingway, 1955

Amy Tan, 1952

Stephen Nichols, 1951

Lou Christie, 1943

Smokey Robinson, 1940

Lee Marvin, 1924

Merle Oberon, 1911 (some sources say Feb. 18)

Willam III of the Netherlands, 1817

David Garrick, 1717

Nicolas Copernicus, 1473

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Woman of Independent Means"(TV Miniseries), 1995

"Crazy For You"(Musical), 1992

"Eastenders"(TV), 1985

"Rumours"(Album release), 1977

"The Feminine Mystique"(Publication date), 1963

"Picnic"(Inge Play), 1953

"Alexander's Feast"(HWV 75), 1736

Today in History:

Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus' defeats beats Clodius Albinus at Lyon, 197

Emperor Constantius II shuts down all pagan temples, 356

The second Medieval Iconoclastic Controversy ends as a council in Constantinople formally reinstates veneration of icons in the churches, 842

Jews of Tyrnau, Hungary (then Trnava, Czech) are expelled, 1539

The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America, 1600

Britain and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster, and New Amsterdam formally becomes New York, 1674

British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III, 1819

The first practical coal burning locomotive in the US makes a trial run, in Pennsylvania, 1831

Tin-type camera is patented by Hamilton Smith of Gambier, Ohio, 1856

Daniel E. Sickles is acquitted of the murder of his wife's lover, Phillip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key), on the grounds of temporary insanity, the first time this defense is successfully used, 1859

Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom in Russia, 1861

Thomas Edison patents the gramophone (phonograph), 1878

Kansas becomes the first US state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages, 1881

WK Kellog and Charles Bolin found the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co., 1906

The first prize is inserted into a Cracker Jack box, 1913

Ed Wynn becomes the first talent to sign as a regular radio entertainer, 1922

Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize for poetry, 1949

Bill Keane's "Family Circus" comic strip makes its debut, 1960

Artificial heart recipient William J. Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital, 1985

The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft, 1986

NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system, 2002

NASA loses communication with the International Space Station's for three hours as a result of updating the station's command and control software, 2013

Nigeria confirms 110 girls are missing from a school in Dapchi, Yoba State, and were  presumed kidnapped by Boko Haram, 2018

After a 4-year ban, the World Anti-Doping Agency decides to allow some Russians to complete in international sports under the Russian Olympic Committee, 2021

Two weeks after the devastating earthquakes that stuck in the south-east of Türkiye and in northern Syria, Türkiye ends rescue efforts in all but Kahramanmaras and Hatay, 2023

Brightest known object in the universe identified as a quasar powered by a supermassive black hole, 2024

The SS United States, the ocean liner which holds the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing, departs Philadelphia, Pennsylvania under tow on her final voyage before being scuttled to become the world's largest artificial reef, 2025