Letting Out Their Wild Side (Feline Friday) and Friendly Fill-Ins

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

Feline Friday was started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

He has handed hosting duties off to Sandee, of Comedy Plus, and it's simple to join, just follow the link to Sandee's page for the rules and the code.

Some of the kittens at the shelter were feeling their oats this week:

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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 McGuffy Ann Morris of McGuffy's Reader. 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! 

My fill-ins for the statements are underlined:

Week 93: February 16, 2018

1. My Chinese zodiac animal is                     .

2. My zodiac sign is                   .

3. Income tax season                   .

4. In hindsight,                         .

My Chinese zodiac animal is, from the chart on McGuffy's Reader, the rabbit.  Sweetie's is the snake.  Maybe that explains a few things, but i doubt it.

My zodiac sign is (pardon me while i check to make sure) the crab, Cancer.  Sweetie is a Scorpio (thus my delight in the holiday on November 18 called "Married to a Scorpio Support Day").  No, i don't believe these signs explain much, either.

Income tax season (pardon me while i run screaming from the room [Sound of retreating footsteps.  Door slam.  Muffled scream.  Door opening.  Sound of approaching footsteps.] there, that's better) could probably be a lot worse, but i would rather not know how.

In hindsight, i should have started saving for retirement a lot earlier, and so should everyone else.

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Today is:

9-1-1 Day -- the first 911 call in North America was placed, demonstrating the new system, on this day in 1968

Akiyoshidai Yamayaki -- Akiyoshidai, Japan (dry grass on the mountain side is burned in this coming of spring ceremony; date subject to change)

Bonten Matsuri -- Miyoshi-jinja Shrine, Akita, Japan (two day festival to ask for good crops this year)

Do a Grouch a Favor Day -- internet generated attempt to get us to either get the grouches on our side, or make us cynical

Great Back Yard Bird Count begins -- a four day project for anyone from across North America; count birds for a few minutes a day today, or every day for the next four days, and report in, thus giving a real time idea of where the birds are now     

Independence Day -- Lithuania (National Day/Restoration of Statehood)(1918)

Kyoto Protocol Day -- International (treaty on climate change; today is proposed as "Wear purple for Kyoto Day")

Losar/Loshar (Lunar New Year) -- Bhutan; Nepal; Tibet (this is Tibetan Year 2145, and it's dominant gender is male, dominant element is earth, and dominant animal is the dog)

Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year/Lhosar/Seol-Nal/Tet -- celebrations throughout Asia, some before and some after this "official" Western date, some for up to a month; Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist celebrations

    Sonam Lhosar -- Nepal (Tamang New Year)

National Almond Day

National Date Festival -- Indio, CA, US (a most exotic county fair, the date comes from the land of the Arabian Nights and this festival celebrates all aspects of the theme; through the 25th)

Reenactment of the Battle of Olustee -- Olustee, FL, US (largest Civil War battle in Florida; through Sunday)

Respectable Tales of Kelp-Koli -- Fairy Calendar (5 minutes only) 

St. Juliana of Cumae's Day (Patron of the ill)

St. Onesimus' Day (runaway slave of Philemon, converted by Paul, of whom the Letter to Philemon was written)

Tokamachi Yuki Matsuri -- Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture, Japan (snow fest and kimono festival; through Sunday)

Wings Over the Platte Spring Migration Celebration -- Grand Island, NE, US (the world's largest concentration of sandhill cranes is celebrated through mid-April)

Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous -- Whitehorse, YT, Canada (mad trapper competition, flour packing, beard growing contest, old-time fiddle show, and more, with this year's theme being "The Magic and the Mystery"; through next Sunday)

Birthdays Today:

Christopher Eccleston, 1964

John McEnroe, 1959

Ice T, 1959

LeVar Burton, 1957

James Ingram, 1956

William Katt, 1951

Richard Ford, 1944

Barry Primus, 1938

Sonny Bono, 1935

Vera-Ellen, 1921

Patty Andrews, 1920

Jimmy Wakely, 1914

Hugh Beaumont, 1909

Richard McDonald, 1909

George Kennan, 1904

Edgar Bergan, 1903

Robert Joseph Flaherty, 1884

Johann Strauss, 1866

Nichiren, 1222

Emperor Yingzong of China, 1032

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"What's My Line"(TV Game Show), 1950

"Le Voyageur Sans Baggage"(Anouilh Play), 1937

"The Marquise"(Coward Play), 1927

Chung Sai Yat Po(Publication; first Chinese daily newspaper in US), 1900

"Werther"(Massenet Opera), 1892

Ladies' Home Journal(Publication), 1883

"Orpheus"(Liszt Opera), 1854

"Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard"(First Publication), 1751

Today in History:

9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 374

Pope Gregory the Great issues a decree saying that "God bless you" is the correct response to a sneeze, 600

English king Charles I accepts Triennial Act, requiring the king to assemble Parliament at least once every 3 years, 1641

The first known check (cheque) is written, for 400 English Pounds Sterling (currently on display at Westminster Abbey), 1659

Kentucky passes a law permitting women to attend school under certain conditions, 1838*

Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus, 1838

American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica, 1840

The Battle of Sobraon ends the First Sikh War in India, 1846

Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established, 1852

The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch, 1859

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks forms, 1868

The "Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing, 1883

The first Chinese daily newspaper in the US, Chung Sai Yat Po, begins publication in San Francisco, 1900

The first US Esperanto Club organizes in Boston, 1905

The first synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid, Spain, 1917

Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, 1923

The first patent is issued for a tree, to James Markham for a peach tree, 1932

Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon, 1937

Canadians are granted Canadian citizenship after 80 years of being British subjects. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen, 1947

Britain abolishes the death penalty, 1956

Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1, 1959

In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service, 1968

The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois), 1978

The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem, 1987

The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia, 2005

The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army, 2006