Sassy and April (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, Nature Friday and Pet Photo Fails

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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's entrusting 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!

Ms. Fiona is safely at the facility where she should be able to spend the rest of her life.

Ms. G is taking care of her cats.  The feral cats which have not been fixed yet (only 2) will be fixed and all will go to barn homes or feral colonies.

Ms. Fiona's two special pets are are at Ms. G's house.

Sassy is 15, her senior bloodwork is perfect, she had heaven only knows how many kittens before she was spayed at age 7, and she is a friendly, tiny little minx.

April is a bit shyer, and wouldn't come out for her photo, although she did let me pet her a little.  She's is from Sassy's last litter and is age 8 and is bonded with her mama.

She's a calico, not that you can tell here.

That's the best she would let me do this time, but I'm sure I will get better photos in the future.

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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 have changed _________ in the past year.

2. I need to get moving on _________.

3. Though it might seem childish, I _________.

4. _________ wasn't as _________ as I thought it would be.

1. I have changed   very little   in the past year.

2. I need to get moving on   getting my things moved into my new rolling pack from my old backpack.

3. Though it might seem childish, I   still read fairy tales and children's stories.

4. Being a grown up  isn't/wasn't as   much fun  as I thought it would be.

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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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Pet Photo Fails is hosted by Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries & Meows.     

I tried to take pictures of me petting Sassy to show how friendly she is, and of course, taking pictures with one hand while petting a cat with the other resulted in fails.

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Today is:

All or Nothing Day -- no history on this one, but it's supposed to be the day you decide to live as if it's going to be your last!

Aunt and Uncle Day -- originally proposed on this day in 2005 by Florida State Senator Tony Hill; if you have aunts and uncles you love, why not give them a call today 

Dia de la Rebeldia -- Cuba (Revolution Anniversary)

Festival of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of Sleipnir -- Norse Pagan (date approximate, honored Odin's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir)

Green Corn Ceremony -- Native Americans (thanksgiving for the maize harvest; these are celebrated by many tribes in many different ways and are not generally scheduled as they depend on how the corn grows; some have with rites including a Thanksgiving Prayer, Confession Chant, and Feather Dance; the Santa Ana Pueblo holds an annual Corn Festival on this date each year that is open to the public)

Groovy Chicken Day -- don't ask, just enjoy

Independence Day -- Liberia(1847); Maldives(1965)

Kargil Vijay Diwas -- India (Kargil Victory Day)

National Coffee Milkshake Day

One Voice Day -- readings around the world of the Universal Peace Covenant, sponsored by the School of Metaphysics

Otaru Tide Festival -- Otaru Wharf, Otaru City, Japan (one of Japan's biggest sea festivals, through the 28th)

Racial Desegregation Day -- date in 1944 the US Army ordered training camp facilities desegregated, and the date in 1948 President Truman signed the order integrating the US armed forces

Schools Tree Day -- Australia (because National Tree Day is always a Sunday, the schools participate in planting trees the Friday before)

St. Anne's Day (traditional name given to the mother of Mary; Patron of broommakers, cabinetmakers, carpenters, childless people, equestrians, expectant mothers, grandmothers, grandparents, homemakers, horse men, horse women, housewives, lace makers, lace workers, lost articles, miners, mothers, old-clothes dealers, poor people, pregnancy, pregnant women, riders, seamstresses, stablemen, turners, women in labour; Canada; France; Micmaqs; over 20 cities around the world; against poverty and sterility)

St. Joachim's Day (traditional name given to the father of Mary; Patron of fathers, grandfathers, grandparents; Adjuntas, Puerto Rico)

System Administrator Appreciation Day -- the day to thank your system administrator for keeping your computer up and running

Talk in an Elevator Day -- help break the taboo!

Anniversaries Today

Signing of the American's With Disabilities Act, 1990

New York becomes the 11th US State, 1788

The United States Postal Service is founded, 1775

Birthdays Today

Taylor Momsen, 1993

Kate Beckinsale, 1973

Jeremy Piven, 1964

Sandra Bullock, 1964

Kevin Spacey, 1959

Angela Hewitt, 1958

Dorothy Hamill, 1956

Susan George, 1950

Roger Taylor, 1949

Helen Mirren, 1945

Mick Jagger, 1943

Dobie Gray, 1940

Stanley Kubrick, 1928

Blake Edwards, 1922

Jason Robards, Jr., 1922

Vivian Vance, 1912

Gracie Allen, 1902

Aldous Huxley, 1894

Carl Jung, 1875

George Bernard Shaw, 1856

George Catlin, 1796

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Alice In Wonderland(Animated film), 1951

The Babe Ruth Story(Film), 1948

"The Bob Howard Show"(TV), 1948

"Young Widder Brown"(Radio), 1938

Today in History

The first recorded women's cricket match took place near Guildford, England, 1745

The birth of what would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress, 1775

The Surrey Iron Railway, often considered the world's first public railway, opens in south London, 1803

In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway, 1878

Premiere of Richard Wagner's Parsifal at Bayreuth, 1882

Publication of the Unua Libro, founding the Esperanto movement, 1887

United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation), 1908

King Edward VIII, in one of his few official duties before he abdicated the throne, officially unveiled the Canadian National Vimy Memoria, 1936

The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power, 1945

U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council, 1947

U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military of the United States, 1948

Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution, 1953

Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster, 1963

The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government, 1977

A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 1989

Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days, 2005

Over 92,000 classified documents detailing incidents related to the war in Afghanistan are released by Wikileaks in the largest leak in U.S military history, 2010

President of France, Francois Holland finalizes a deal with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara to forgive $4.7 billion dollars in debt incurred by the Ivory Coast when it was a French Colonial Power, 2012

Great Britain announces it will ban gasoline and diesel cars by 2040, 2017

The Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics publishes findings about the observation of a black hole by a telescope in Chile that proved Albert Einstein’s prediction of gravitational redshift, 2018

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz makes history becoming the first athlete from the Philippines to win gold at the Olympics, 2021

Russia announces it will leave the International Space Station in two years, 2022

Until It Did Matter (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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She really didn't mind working the odd shifts, getting off at 1am or 4am, it was all the same to her, she enjoyed being on call for nothing but the varying night work hours and the pay was great.

"No, I don't want to slow down," he told his friend, "that's part of the fun of driving at this hour, nobody is on the road to get in the way of your doing whatever you want."

She really didn't mind the drive home after work, either, in the quiet with almost no other cars around, she felt almost safer in the protective cocoon of darkness.

"No, it doesn't matter," he told his friend, "it's only one way here in this lane in the day when there are other cars around."

She really didn't expect to meet another car at this hour as she turned on the one way lane toward her street, after all, everyone else was asleep, right, and the sign says one way and to have him there heading straight toward her, well, she was not taking into account that for some young men, hyped up on adrenaline and in possession of dad's truck keys, a driving license is a platform for stupidity to take place.

"No, it doesn't matter, it's the middle of the night, there's no one out here," he said,  until the moment it did matter, and those became his famous last words.

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

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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:    

Hello, look where mommy has me!

I'm as happy as I can be,

snug as a bug in a rug, you see,

ready for my baff!

First the water pours over my toes,

then up my little legs it goes,

I splash and kick, get drops on my nose,

and then I start to laff!

I wiggle and squirm in the slippy soap

all up and down, dirt has no hope,

mom swoops me up and in a towel I grope,

she's my baby cleaning staff!

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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 two days in a row of lunch at a restaurant, unheard of in my world.

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Today is:

Bayreuther Festspiele -- Bayreuth, Germany (Wagner festival, through Aug. 28)

Be Adamant About Something Day -- it's good practice

Commonwealth Constitution Day -- Puerto Rico

Culinarian's Day -- another one here because of the internet, but a good excuse to let your inner chef go wild, and enjoy the results

Ebernoe Horn Fair -- Sussex, England (ancient horn fairs were pagan fertility rites, now just a fun time for all)

Eve of the Hathor Festival -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Furrinalia -- Ancient Etruscan Calendar (Furrina, goddess of the sacred grove and spring on Janniculum hill)

      also Ancient Roman Calendar (to honor those who searched for underground water sources)

Guanacaste Day -- Costa Rica

Guayaquil Day -- Guayaquil, Ecuador

Ilyap'a -- Ancient Inca Calendar (festival of the lightning god; date approximate)

National Chili Dog Day

National Hot Fudge Sundae Day

Republic Day -- Tunisia

Soma-Nomaoi -- Haramachi City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (wild horse chase which recreates a battle from over 1,000 years ago; through Monday)

St. Christopher's Day (Patron of archers, automobile drivers/motorists, bachelors, boatmen, bookbinders, busdrivers, cab drivers,epileptics, fruit dealers, fullers, gardeners, lorry drivers, mariners, market carriers, porters, sailors, taxi drivers, transportation/transporation workers, travellers, truck drivers/truckers, watermen; Baden, Germany; Barga, Italy; Brunswick, Germany; Fubine, Italy; Havana, Cuba; Mecklenburg, Germany; Rab, Croatia, St. Christopher's Island; Saint Kitts; Toses, Girona, Calalonia, Spain ;for a holy death; against bad dreams, epilepsy, floods, hailstorms, lightning, pestilence, storms, sudden death, toothache)

St. James' Day (The Apostle, brother of St. John and son of Zebedee, the first Apostle martyred; Patron of apothecaries/druggists/pharmacists, arthritis sufferers, blacksmiths, equestrians and horsemen, furriers, knights, laborers, pilgrims, soldiers, tanners, veterinarians; Altopascio, Lucca, Italy; Antigua, Guatemala; Bangued, Philippines; Brentino Belluno, Italy; Caltagirone, Italy; Cassine, Italy; Chile; Cicala, Catanzaro, Italy; Comitini, Italy; Compostela, Spain; Galicia, Spain; Gavi, Italy; Guatemala; Hettstedt, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; Jemez Indian Pueblo; Loiza, Puerto Rico; Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Montreal, Canada; Nicaragua; Pistoia, Italy; Rivarolo Canavese, Italy; Sahuayo, Mexico; Seattle, Washington; Spain; Tesuque Indian Pueblo; against arthritis and rheumatism; sometimes called Jacob, the Latinized version of his name, also Iago and Jaques in Romance languages) related observances

     Dia Nacional de Galicia -- Galicia, Spain (National Day of Galicia, a/k/a Apostole Santiago, St. James the Apostle's Day)

     The Pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela -- Galicia, Spain (one of the world's largest pilgrimages still, to the church that has the supposed relics of St. James, culminates on the Saint's feast day)

     Loiza Aldea Fiesta -- Puerto Rico

Video Games Day -- yet another one, this on the founding of the "U.S. National Video Game Team" 

Birthdays Today

James Lafferty, 1985

Brad Renfro, 1982

Louise Brown, 1978

Matt LeBlanc, 1967

Illeana Douglas, 1965

Iman, 1965

Walter Payton, 1954

Nathaniel "Nate" Thurmond, 1941

Barbara Harris, 1935

Midge Decter, 1927

Estelle Getty, 1923

Jack Gilford, 1907

Walter Brennan, 1894

Maxfield Parrish, 1870

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Chorus Line"(Musical), 1975

"You Can't Hurry Love"(Single release), 1966

Today in History

Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler, 285

Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops, 306

The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings, 864

Sebastián de Belalcázar, on his search for El Dorado, founds the city of Santiago de Cali, Colombia, 1536

Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, 1567

Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism, 1593

James VI of Scotland is crowned James I of England, bringing the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into personal union; political union would occur later, 1603

Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, México, 1693

British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians; thousands of Acadians are sent to the British Colonies in America, France and England, and some later move to Louisiana, while others resettle in New Brunswick, 1755

Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain), 1797

Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua, 1824

The first commercial use of an electric telegraph is successfully demonstrated by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone between Euston and Camden Town in London, 1837

The Japanese daimyo begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms, 1869

Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it, 1908

Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure, 1917

The first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast takes place, 1920

Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established, 1925

At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team, 1946

Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51, 1956

The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed, 1957

Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" is born, 1978

Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, which formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948, 1994

K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as India's 10th president and the first Dalit— formerly called "untouchable"— to hold this office, 1997

Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde supersonic passenger jet, F-BTSC, crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground, 2000

Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president, 2007

Wikileaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history, 2010

Scientists in Britain identify the mechanism causing human allergy to cats; they believe a general cure for the condition could be available in the next five years, 2013

News of a liquid lake found on Mars under its South Pole by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter is reported in the journal "Science", 2018

Asteroid 2019OK, which is large enough to be dubbed a “city killer,” passes about 45,000 miles from Earth, which is closer than the Moon, 2019

Japanese judokas Uta Abe (women's 52kg) and brother Hifumi (men's 66kg) make history as first siblings to win Olympic gold medals in different events on same day at the Tokyo Games, 2021

Scientists say the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation current could reach its tipping point middle of this century and collapse, 2023