They're Coming! (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, and Nature 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!

They're starting to arrive, the spring kittens are trickling into the shelter a few at a time.

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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. I know I am having a good day when ___________________.

2. I _________________when I am ______________________.

3. _________ makes me feel helpless.

4. I have a lot of confidence in my ability to _________.

1. I know I am having a good day when   all the work gets done and i still have time to do some things i just like to do.

2. I   enjoy doing word and number puzzles  when I am   trying to relax.

3. Being overtired  makes me feel helpless.

4. I have a lot of confidence in my ability to   clean a lot of stuff.

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

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It’s Animal Disaster Preparedness Day in the US, sponsored by FEMA!  Don’t wait, be prepared to evacuate or take care of your animals during a disaster or emergency.

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

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Today is:

Anniversary of the Election of Pope Leo XIV -- Holy See (Vatican City)

Child Care Provider Appreciation Day -- US (on the Friday before Mother's Day, to recognize the important role of child care providers in society today)

Fête de l'iris -- Belgium (Brussels Region Day)

Fintastic Friday: Giving Sharks, Skates, and Rays a Voice -- Whale Times or Shark Research Institute (to raise awareness and encourage advocacy to protect elasmobranchs)    

Iris  Day -- celebrate these beautiful spring flowers

Liberation Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia

Miguel Hidalgo Day -- Mexico (birth anniversary of the father of Mexican independence)

Military Spouse Appreciation Day -- US (Friday before Mother's Day)

National Coconut Cream Pie Day

National Empanada Day

National Student Nurses Day -- US

No Socks Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, who want you to let your toes go free, and cut down on your laundry a bit today

Parents' Day -- South Korea

St. Ida of Nivelles' Day (Patron of erysipelas patients, toothache sufferers; against erysipelas and toothache)

Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War -- International

Truman Day -- Missouri, US

V-E Day -- some countries celebrate today, some celebrate tomorrow

World Donkey Day -- to recognize the significant contributions of donkeys to human society and raise awareness of the challenges they face

World Ovarian Cancer Day -- International (because while up to 89% of women with breast cancer are likely to survive 5 years or more, only 45% of women who get ovarian cancer will survive that long) 

World Red Cross Day / World Red Crescent Day

Birthdays Today:

Enrique Iglesias, 1975

Robert M. Hensel, 1969

Melissa Gilbert, 1964

Janet McTeer, 1961

David Keith, 1954

Toni Tennille, 1943

Peter Benchley, 1940

Rick Nelson, 1940

Thomas Pynchon, 1937

Charles “Sonny” Liston, 1932

Don Rickles, 1926

David Attenborough, 1926

Robert Johnson, 1911

Bishop Fulton Sheen, 1895

Harry S Truman, 1884

Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 1829

Jean-Henri Dunant, 1828

Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla, 1753

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Let It Be"(Album), 1970

"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"(Musical), 1962

"Look Back in Anger"(Play), 1959

Concerto in E-flat, "Dumbarton Oaks"(Stravinsky concerto), 1938

Today in History:

Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River and names it, Río de Espíritu Santo, 1541

Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, is tried and guillotined by the Reign of Terror, 1794

Future US president Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the Mexican-American war, 1846

At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens, 1877

George B. Selden files the first patent for an automobile in the US, 1879

Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine, 1886

In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people, 1902

In Rheims, France, German forces agree to an unconditional surrender, ending the war in Europe, 1945

The rollercoaster Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain, 1976

Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler make the first ascent of Mt. Everest without supplemental oxygen, 1978

The World Health Organization announces the eradication of smallpox, 1980

The new Canadian War Museum opens, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of V-E Day, 2005

The last piece of Yankee Stadium falls in the Bronx, New York, marking the end of the two-year demolition process, 2010

The world's oldest astrolabe (mariner's navigator tool) c. 1498 from Portugeuese shipwreck of explorer Vasco da Gama is found near Al Hallaniyah Island, Oman, 2015

The largest-ever wave at 23.8m is recorded in the Southern Hemisphere at Campbell Island by New Zealand scientists, 2018

Eleven-year-old Brazilian skateboarder Gui Khury sets a world record by performing a 180-degree turn on a vertical ramp, 2020

British actor Ncuti Gatwa is named as the first black actor to play Doctor Who (as the fourteenth doctor), 2022

Dutch runner Jo Schoonbroodt, age 71, breaks Canadian Ed Whitlock's 2004 record for fastest the marathon by person over 70 by 29 seconds (2:54:19), 2022

Cardinal Robert Prevost (69) is elected as the 267th pope of the Catholic church, 2025

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

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For a couple of years now, both of our cars have been giving us signs they are nearing the end of their useful lives for us as neither can be trusted on the highways, and heaven knows we do a lot of highway driving every weekend going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

GusGus die Fledermaus, the Ford Focus which has had so much transmission trouble it's not even funny any more also needs a gas tank sensor and is having other problems, and we think the transmission is going to go again at some point, and it has had no A/C for the last two summers which is brutal in our heat, especially when you have to roll up the windows in the rain and turn the heat on full blast to defog the windows.

Slow-Moe, the Pontiac G6, has a plethora of problems, the smallest of which is the turn signal lever is held on by duct tape and prayer and light use and if you want the right-hand headlight to come on, get out of the car and give the hood above it a good bang when you first turn the lights on and it should work until you get where you're going, most of the other electrical problems are not fixable unless you can track down the serious short in the whole electrical system which is expensive.

A couple of weeks ago, our then soon-to-be-retiring church pastor grabbed me after the service, told me he knew about our car situation (which boils down to they are held together with the equivalent of chicken wire and bubble gum) and our lack of ability at this time to get anything different, And Told Me He Wanted To Give Us His Old Car When He Retired And Moved Away, talk about a huge blessing!

Sunday, April 26th was his last sermon and Thursday, April 30 was his last official day as pastor, and he leaves town today to fly up and meet his wife, who drove her car up last week to the home they kept when they came here 22 years ago, so yesterday one of the attorneys who is a church member and works right across the street from the church met us and we signed all the paperwork!

We are now the proud owners of a 2010 Honda Accord with about 157,000 miles on it which has been kept in pristine condition by a church pastor and as #2 Son, who works on cars, says, if you keep it carefully you can get more than twice that out of a Honda engine and transmission and replacing anything else that goes wrong is easy as it's a common car with parts available, so we have a good car for the foreseeable future, no more renting a car or getting a ride every weekend to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house!

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

(For those looking for a Ms. G story, sorry, i had to take the day off in order to make the transaction above possible, but she should be back next week.)

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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!

One of our neighbors has these lights on the fence, i caught it when our little Annie and i were out for a walk.

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

I know the place looks odd

but don't judge by what you see,

decor's a little weird

but this is the food for me.

The clam and garlic spaghetti

is served in a mini bathtub,

chocolate ice cream in mini loos,

and it really is great grub!

(This is Modern Toilet Restaurant in Taipei, it's very popular and the food is supposedly delicious, a combo of Italian and Asian.)  

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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 to our church's pastor emeritus, who gifted us his old car upon his retirement, i can pick it up Friday after i'm done babysitting and before i go to the shelter.

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Today is:

Beaufort Wind Force Scale Day -- birth anniversary of the British Navy officer whose wind scale, in refined form

Box Camera Day -- George Eastman patented the Box Camera on this day in 1888

Day of the Soldier -- El Salvador

Experience the Awesome Stomach-Churning Wonder of a Thrill Ride Day -- internet generated, and they can have it!

Feast of St. Nicola -- Bari, Italy (celebrates's the moving of the relics of St. Nicholas -- yes, later Santa Claus -- to this town, where they still are; here he is patron of orphans and pirates, and the date of his body's arrival is celebrated as a huge three-day festival with fireworks included)

Fire Escape Ladder Day -- Joseph Winters patented a wagon-mounted version on this day in 1878

Hamburg Harbor Day -- Hamburg, Germany (founding of the city)

Homeland Defender's Day -- Kazakhstan

Homespun History Day -- internet holiday often exploited by Modern Drunkard Magazine as a day upon which to drink specifically so the stories will sound better

National Barrier Awareness Day -- US (declared by Presidential Proclamation in 1986)    

National Day of Prayer -- US / Interfaith

National Day of Reason -- US Humanist alternative to the National Day of Prayer

National Roast Leg of Lamb Day

Nones of May -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Radio Day -- Bulgaria; Russia

St. Domitian of Huy's Day (Patron of Huy Liege, Belgium; against fever)

Anniversaries Today:

Founding of Univerzita Karlova in Prague, the first university in Central Europe, 1348

Birthdays Today:

Owen Hart, 1965

Peter Reckell, 1955

Amy Heckerling, 1954

Tim Russert, 1950

Johnny Unitas, 1933

Teresa Brewer, 1931

Darren McGavin, 1922

Eva Peron, 1919

Gary Cooper, 1901

Archibald Macleish, 1892

Gabby Hayes, 1885

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1840

Johannes Brahms, 1833

Robert Browning, 1812

Francis Beaufort, 1774

David Hume, 1711

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Strike It Rich"(TV), 1951

Choral Symphony in D Minor(Beethoven's Ninth), 1824

Today in History:

The dome of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople collapses, 558

Joan of Arc leads the final charge in the Battle of Orleans, 1429

Louis XIV of France inaugurates The Palace of Versailles, 1664

The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, 1718

Jews are expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia, 1727

Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit, 1763

The independence of Greece is recognized by the Treaty of London, 1832

George Eastman patents the "Kodak Box Camera," 1888

In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning  detector — a primitive radio receiver, 1895

German  submarine  SM U-20  sinks RMS Lusitania, 1915

England lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21, 1928

Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees, 1946

The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress, 1948

The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer, 1952

Canadian Patrick Morrow became the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits, 1986

The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, 1992

Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40 billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history, 1998

The tomb of Herod the Great is discovered, 2007

A new study reports that all Europeans are related to a small group of ancestors dating back only 1,000 years; researchers believe it's likely that everyone in the world is related over the past few thousand years, 2013

Underwater explorers discover a silver ingot of Captain William Kidd's treasure near Madagascar, 2015

Global tourism accounts for 8% of the world's carbon emissions according to a University of Sydney study, 2018

Berklee College of Music bestows honorary doctorates to Beatles drummer Ringo Starr; bassist Chuck Rainey; composer James Newton Howard; and R&B singer Lalah Hathaway, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s swearing in for his fifth term as Russia’s President is boycotted by many world leaders, 2024

The conclave to elect a new Pope begins with 133 cardinal electors, 2025