Missy Is Talented (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, and Nature Friday

 ***********************************

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!

Missy is talented, she can eat without really leaving her hammock.

***********************************

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. I ___________________ for fun.

2. I am tired of seeing _______________________.

3. I once had the crazy idea to _________, and it worked.

4. I spoke too soon when I said that _________.

1. I   blog and read blogs   for fun.

2. I am tired of seeing   drivers running red lights, it's an epidemic here.   

3. I once had the crazy idea to   repair part of a coat seam with double sided sticky tape,   and it worked.

4. I spoke too soon when I said that   i couldn't live without meat, even for health reasons.

***********************************

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

It's Carnival time and Nature is again sporting some fun decor.

***********************************

Today is:

Aldus Day -- death anniversary of Aldus Manutius, inventor of *Italics*

Bob Marley Day / Reggae Day -- Jamaica (birth anniversary)

Bubble Gum Day -- US Schools (with the principal's permission, pay a $.50 fine and get to chew gum at school today; money is to be donated to a charity the school chooses)  \

Gamelia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (anniversary celebration of the marriage of Zeus and Hera; date approximate)

Give Kids A Smile Day -- US (ADA sponsors dentists giving free care to children from low-income families)

International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation -- United Nations

Lame Duck Day -- US, on the anniversary of the passage of the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution; a day to recognize those whose tenure is running out

National Chopsticks Day

National Wear Red Day -- US (wear red for women's heart health awareness)

Oto Matsuri -- Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan (fire festival)

Pay-A-Compliment Day

Sami National Day -- Finland, Norway, Russian, and Sweden

Scout Sabbath/Shabbat -- BSA (Boy Scouts are encouraged to wear their uniforms to synagogue tonight or tomorrow morning and represent scouting to their congregations)

St. Dorothy of Caesarea's Day (Patron of brewers, brides, florists, gardeners, midwives, newlyweds; Pescia, Italy)

St. Peter Baptist's Day (Patron of Caceres, Philippines; Japan)

Waitangi Day -- Māori, New Zealand and Niue (treaty with Britain, 1840; also considered National Day)

Anniversaries Today:

Accession of Queen Elizabeth II, 1952 (upon the death of her father, George VI)

Massachusetts becomes the 6th US State, 1788

The College of William and Mary in Virginia is founded by royal charter, 1693

Birthdays Today:

Axl Rose, 1962

Barry Miller, 1958

Kathy Najimy, 1957

Robert Townsend, 1957

Natalie Cole, 1950

Bob Marley, 1945

Michael Tucker, 1944

Fabian, 1943

Gayle Hunnicutt, 1943

Gigi Perreau, 1941

Tom Brokaw, 1940

Mike Farrell, 1939

Francois Truffant, 1932

Rip Torn, 1931

Mamie Van Doren, 1931

Zsa Zsa Gabor, 1919

Mary Leakey, 1913

Ronald Reagan, 1911

Babe Ruth, 1895

Aaron Burr, 1756

Nicolaus II Bernoulli, 1695

Chongzhen, Emperor of China, 1611

Christopher Marlowe, 1564

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Masque of Kings"(Play), 1936

"Rhenisch"(Schumann's 3rd Symphony), 1851

Today in History:

The United States signs its first treaty, in which France recognizes the US and promises aid, 1778

New Jersey issues the first US railroad charter to John Stevens, 1815

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore, 1819

The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society started a settlement in present-day Liberia, 1820

Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony, 1840

Harper's Weekly publishes the first picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers, 1869

The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree, 1900

The Young Women's Hebrew Association organizes in NYC, 1902

The "Monopoly" board game goes on sale for the first time, 1935

Turkey holds its first election in which women can vote, 1935

K Elizabeth Ohi becomes the first Japanese-US female lawyer, 1937

Elizabeth II becomes the first Queen regnant of the United Kingdom and several other realms since Queen Victoria, upon the death of her father, George VI, 1952

Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit, 1959

Justice Mary Gaudron is appointed to the High Court of Australia, the first woman to be appointed, 1987

The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe, 1989

Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile, 2000

A magnitude 8.0 earthquake causes significant damage to villages along the coast of the Solomon Islands, 2013

Qatar Airways achieves the longest-ever commercial flight in service when its B777 aircraft lands in Auckland after a 16 hour and 23 minutes flight from Doha, 2017

SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful rocket, 2018

According to research from RMIT University in Australia, honeybees are able to add and subtract and understand the concept of zero, the first invertebrates shown to demonstrate this capacity, 2019

US astronaut Christina Koch completes the longest continuous spaceflight by a female astronaut after 328 days on the International Space Station, landing in Kazakhstan, 2020

Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee (70 years on the throne), 2022

Swedish automaker Polestar introduces its Polestar 4, the first mass-market car with no rear window but a rear mounted camera instead, 2024

Ms. G on a Tear (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day, and Brian's Thankful Thursday

 ***********************************

"We have our work cut out for us," Ms. G started in the moment i walked through the door, "the cats managed to get up under the boat cover, and if they've been scratching the seats in there I'm going to really be angry, we have to re-secure the cover and stop up any holes so they can't get in there, then Costco has started carrying a different brand of bird seed and it's crap and we have to go to Tractor Supply, and we need to take some snacks to Ms. Fiona, plus the people are coming today to fix the water heater so everything has to come out of the laundry closet that could be in their way."

I put my coat back on and we went outside, climbing into and out of the boat multiple times and then using bungee cords to "batten down the hatches" so to speak; we were out there until my feet and fingers were numb from the cold while Ms. G fussed and fumed and threatened to ship the cats off to another continent she was so very upset (although they had not, in fact, scratched her seats).

Next i did a few things indoors while Ms. G got Ms. Fiona's goodies ready, and we made the run to buy the good kind of birdseed and at Ms. Fiona's, she stayed in the car to rest her back and i went in for a visit, which was a very nice one.

Running back to the house, we unloaded 80 pounds of birdseed, aired up the tires on the green cart so we could haul said bird seed, fed the birds, and came in to unload the laundry closet, moving out almost everything except the washer, dryer, and leaky water heater.

Then it was time to do the usual cleaning, cat room, load drinks in the fridge, vacuum, but mostly where she'd spilled some peanuts and then the places where there were straw and leaves in the house - oh, did i mention checking to make sure the straw was dry in the "cat hotels" where she sets up warm areas for the feral cats and then adding more where the straw back packed down too much?

All this "fun" was crammed into about five hours and as i was leaving, the plumber was on the way to take care of the leaky water heater which is turning her back yard into even more of a swamp than normal.

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

***********************************

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!

***********************************

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

When the family reunion

gets to be this big,

the table to hold the food

is like a tractor/trailer rig.

And yes, though it's hard to believe

we will eat all of this, every bite,

with this many cousins and kinfolk,

it will all be gone by tonight!

***********************************

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 Brother-in-Law's taxes done and filed on TurboTax.

***********************************

Today is:

Constitution Day -- Mexico (trad.)

Feast Day of Jacob, Patriarch -- Catholic Christian

Kashmir Day -- Pakistan

Liberation from the Alberoni Occupation -- San Marino (also St. Agatha's Day)

Longest War in History Ends -- The Third Punic War, between Rome and Carthage, was officially ended on this date with a peace treaty signed in 1985, which is 2,131 years after the war began

Move Hollywood & Broadway to Lebanon, PA Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, and Why would they want it?

National Chocolate Fondue Day

National Weatherperson's Day -- US (mostly, though some other countries now observe it as well; in honor of the first US meteorologist, John Jeffries)

Nones of February -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also

    Fornacalia -- celebration in honor of bread and the ovens used to dry grain; held any day between now and the 17th, one of Rome's few movable feasts)

Runeberg's Birthday -- Finland (National Poet)

Scout Jumuah -- BSA (Boy Scouts are encouraged to wear their uniforms to mosque today or tomorrow and represent scouting to their congregations)

St. Agatha's Day (Patron of bell-founders, fire prevention, jewelers, martyrs, nurses, rape victims, single laywomen, torture victims, wet-nurses; Malta; San Marino; as well as over 50 cities around the world; against breast cancer, breast disease, earthquakes, eruptions of Mt. Etna, fire, natural disasters, sterility, volcanic eruptions)

Unity Day -- Burundi

World Nutella Day

Birthdays Today:

Jeremy Sumpter, 1989

Sara Evans, 1971

Bobby Brown, 1969

Michael Sheen, 1969

Laura Linney, 1964

Jennifer Jason Leigh, 1962

Christopher Guest, 1948

Barbara Hershey, 1948

David Alan Ladd, 1947

Charlotte Rampling, 1946

Roger Staubach, 1942

Jane Bryant Quinn, 1941

David Selby, 1941

H.R. Giger, 1940

Alex Harvey, 1935

Henry "Hank" Aaron, 1934

Andrew Greeley, 1928

Red Buttons, 1919

William Burroughs, 1914

John Carradine, 1906

Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr., 1900

Andre' Citroen, 1878

Belle Starr(Myra Maybelle Shirley), 1848

Dwight Lyman Moody, 1837

Ole Bull, 1810

Robert Peel, 1788

John Witherspoon, 1723

Sanjo, Emperor of Japan, 976

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Where On Earth Is Carmen San Diego"(TV), 1994

"Hagar The Horrible"(Comic strip), 1973

"Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"(TV), 1967

"Peter Pan"(Disney cartoon film), 1953

"Otello"(Verdi Opera), 1887

Today in History:

Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy, 62

King Alfonso V orders Sicily's Jews to attend conversion sermons, 1428

A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society, 1597

The first US livestock branding law is passed, in Connecticut, 1644

Georgia becomes the first state to abolish both entail and primogeniture, 1777

Sweden recognizes US independence, 1783

Hannah Lord Montague of New York creates the first detachable shirt collar, 1825

The "Oregon Spectator" is the first newspaper published on the American West Coast, 1846

An adding machine employing depressible keys is patented in New Paltz, NY, 1850

Two innovations which helped pave the way for motion pictures are patented, a hand turned stereoscope by Samuel Goodale of Cincinnati, and the Kinematoscope by Coleman Sellers of Philadelphia, 1861

Four inches of snow falls in San Francisco, 1887

The loop-the-loop centrifugal railroad (a/k/a the roller coaster) is patented by Ed Prescot, 1901

Greek military aviators, Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis performed the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane, 1913

Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists, 1919

Reader's Digest magazine is first published, 1922

The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal, 1924

A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered, 1958

The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families, 1997

Danish special forces storm a ship captured by Somali pirates, freeing 25 crewmembers on board, 2010

Archaeologist and runologist K. Jonas Nordby publishes his suggestions for how to decrypt the 13th C Viking jötunvillur runic code, 2014

Computer hackers try to steal 1 billion from Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but a typo in their codes alerts authorities before they can finish, 2016

Six days before his 50th birthday, 11-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater wins his 8th Pipeline title beating 22-year-old Hawaiian Seth Moniz in the final, 2022

US President Donald Trump signs an executive order banning transgender women from competing in female sports, 2025