That Incredulous Look, Take Two (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.)

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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.

That incredulous look you get when you just handed the dog a doggie treat for going potty outside, but you did not simultaneously hand the cat a kitty treat for simply being a cat.

Enigma SissyCat giving me a glare -- the new kitty treat box is right next to her, after all.

Of course, a kitty treat was forthcoming once the picture was taken -- i know who runs the place.

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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. The best teacher I ever had was _____________________.

2. The worst teacher I ever had was ____________________.

3. I recently learned how to _________.

4. I think everyone should know how to _________.

1. The best teacher i ever had was — it’s a three way tie.  Mr. Z was my 6th grade teacher, and he was the first teacher i ever had that everyone in the class liked, and he liked all of us.  He taught us well, and rewarded us well.  For getting our work done, at the end of the day while waiting for the bell, he would read to us from The Hobbit as a treat.  He timed it so that he finished the story on the very last day of school  Brilliant and fun, he even made learning easy.  The only class he didn’t teach us was math, which will be covered below.

Then there was Ms. P, my senior high school English teacher, who was simply fabulous.  She expected a lot out of us and got it, too.

Sister Ruth, our high school Physics and Chemistry teacher, was very strict and if you followed everything she said to the letter, you learned and learned well.

2. The worst teacher i ever had was — it’s another tie.  Mrs. Weed, fourth grade, was a horror.  She was not very pleasant to look at, and she resented having to teach in a day when most women were stay at home moms.   She took it out on us, and had no patience whatsoever.

Ms. C, sixth grade math.  Another mean teacher who never took the time to explain anything, and she was the exact opposite of Mr. Z.  If he’d taught me math in 6th grade, i probably wouldn’t have spent the rest of my school years with a phobia about it.

3. I recently learned how to clean stainless steel appliances.  The secret is a microfiber cloth and WD-40.  Use a barely damp rag to get any food off, make sure the appliance is dry, spray the microfiber cloth generously, rub it in and watch the appliance magically come clean and shine.

4. I think everyone should know how to work hard when it’s time to do so, and drop it when the work day is through.  That includes bosses!

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Today is:

Be Kind to Humankind Week:  Forgive Your Foe Friday   

Blackpool Illuminations -- The Promenade, Blackpool, Lancashire, England (five miles of spectacular lighting; through Nov. 4)

Day of Solidarity and Freedom -- Poland (Anniversary of the 1980 August Agreement)

Eat Outside Day -- as long as you won't pass out from the heat

Eleusinia Games -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate; 3 days of games with grain as prizes)

Festal Day -- Order of the Eastern Star

Invent A New Sandwich Day -- spread around the internet like good mayo; go ahead, have fun with this

Independence Day -- Kyrgyzstan(1991); Malaysia (Hari Kebangsaan/Freedom Day, 1957); Trinidad & Tobago(1962)

International Day of Blogs and Bloggers    

International Overdose Awareness Day -- prevention and remembrance     

Limba Noastra -- Moldova (Day of Our Language)

Love Litigating Lawyers Day -- yes, G-d tells us to love everybody, even litigation attorneys but He never said doing it would be easy; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

National College Colors Day -- US (win money for your favorite college by sporting your colors today and following the rules on this site)   

National Trail Mix Day

Petersfield Antiques Fair -- The Festival Hall, Petersfield, Hampshire, England (one of the best in the nation; through Sunday)

Puyallup Fair -- Puyallup, WA, US (one of the top ten fairs in attendance in the world; through Sept. 23rd)

St. Raymond Nonnatus' Day (Patron of babies, childbirth, children, expectant mothers, falsely accused people, infants, midwives, newborn babies, obstetricians, and pregnant women; Baltoa, Dominican Republic; against fever)

Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw And Festival -- Prairie du Sac, WI, US (come try to break the state record of 248 feet; through tomorrow)

World Championship BBQ Goat Cook-Off -- Brady, TX, US (through Sunday))

Zucchini Festival -- Obetz, OH, US (family fun and zucchini; through Monday)

Labor Day, shmabor day!

What a dumb day!

You hire some jerk,

Then send him away,

To celebrate work,

By playing all day!

Garfield the Cat

While i may not agree with his assessment of the importance of Labor Day, Garfield is right in that this upcoming Labor Day Weekend has become a time for play, as evidenced by the following celebrations that always occur on this weekend around the US*:

Benton Neighbor Day -- Benton, MO

Britt Draft Horse Show -- Britt, IA

Bumbershoot: Seattle's Music & Arts Festival -- Seattle, WA

Cal Farley's Boys Ranch Rodeo -- Boys Ranch, TX

Central City Rock 'n' Roll Cruise-in & Concert -- Central City, KY

Cleveland National Air Show -- Cleveland, OH

Clothesline Fair -- Prairie Grove, AR

Colombia River Cross Channel Swim -- Hood River, OR

Colorado Balloon Classic -- Colorado Springs, CO

Commonwheel Labor Day Weekend ARts and Crafts Festival -- Manitou Springs, CO

Daniel Boone Pioneer Days -- Winchester, KY

Eastern Idaho State Fair -- Blackfoot, ID

Fort Bridger Rendezvous -- Fort Bridger, WY

Great Bathtub Race -- Nome, AK

Great Grove Bed Race -- Coconut Grove, FL

Harvest Wine Celebration -- Livermore, CA

Hog Capital of the World Festival -- Kewanee, IL

Hoisington Celebration -- Hoisington, KS

Hopkinton State Fair -- Contoocook, NH,

Iroquois Arts Festival -- Howes Cave, NY

Johnson City Field Days -- Johnson City, NY

Jubilee Days Festival -- Zion, IL

Lifelight Outdoor Music Festival -- Worthing, SD

Mackinac Bridge Walk -- St. Ignace, MI

National Championship Chuckwagon Races -- Clinton, AR

National Hard Crab Derby and Fair -- Crisfield, MD

National Sweetcorn Festival -- Hoopeston, IL

Oatmeal Festival -- Bertram/Oatmeal, TX

Odyssey - A Greek Festival -- Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, Orange, CT

Old Threshers Reunion -- Mount Pleasant, IA

On the Waterfront -- Rockford, IL

Oregon Trail Rodeo -- Hastings, NE

Payson Golden Onion Days -- Payson, UT

Pennsylvania Arts & Crafts Colonial Festival -- Greensburg, PA

Santa-Cali-Gon Days Festival -- Independence, MO

Scandinavian Fest -- Budd Lake, NJ

Sta-Bil Nationals Championship Lawn Mower Race -- Delaware, OH

Snake River Duck Race -- Nome, AK

Taste of Colorado -- Denver, CO

Taste of Madison -- Madison, WI

Totah Festival -- Farmington, NM

Waikiki Roughwater Swim -- Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, HI

West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival -- Clarksburg, WV

Westfest Czech Heritage Festival -- West, TX

Wisconsin State Cow-Chip Throw -- Prairie du Sac, WI

Woodstock Fair -- Woodstock, CT

World Championship Barbecue Goat Cook-Off and Arts & Crafts Fair -- Brady, TX

*Note:  Some of these begin today, some begin Saturday or Sunday, and all go through US Labor Day

Birthdays Today:

Jeff Hardy, 1977

Chris Tucker, 1972

Debbie Gibson, 1970

Glenn Tilbrook, 1957

Edwin Corley Moses, 1955

Richard Gere, 1949

Itzhak Perlman, 1945

Van Morrison, 1945

Jack Thompson, 1940

Marva Collins, 1936

Frank Robinson, 1935

James Coburn, 1928

Buddy Hackett, 1924

G.D. Spradlin, 1920

Alan Jay Lerner, 1918

William Saroyan, 1908

William Shawn, 1907

Arthur Godfrey, 1903

Maria Montessori, 1870

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Argo(Film), 2012

"Alice"(TV), 1976

"The Great Gildersleeve"(Radio), 1941

"The Threepenny Opera/Die Dreigroschenoper"(Play), 1928

Today in History:

Traditional date upon which Ayonwentah (Haiwatha) and Deganawidah (The Great Peacemaker) assist the Iroquois tribes in establishing the Confederation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy, or League of Five Nations), 1142

Lewis and Clark begin their expedition, 1803

A nuts and bolts machine is patented by Micah Rugg, 1842

The first professional football game is played in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 1895

Edison patents the Kinetograph, 1897

Mrs. Adolph Landenburg, a horse rider, debuts the split skirt, 1902

Debut of Foghorn Leghorn, 1946

Solidarity Labor Union forms in Poland, 1980

Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris, 1997

Stolen on August 22, 2004, Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police, 2006

In Sudan, the People's Liberation Army announces it will demobilize its child soldiers by the end of the year, 2010

Apple loses its patent dispute with Samsung in Tokyo, Japan, 2012

Protests erupt after China issues a decision to not allow free elections in Hong Kong, instead requiring government approval of any candidate running for office, 2014

The International Organization for Migration states 18,500 Rohingya Muslims have fled from violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state after 110 deaths, making for Bangladesh, 2017

Where Do You Get Them? (Six Sentence Story) and Good Fences

(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.)

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"How do you end up with these people?" she asked her friend after hearing about the latest dramatic episode.

"I wish I knew," her friend answered.  "They must see a flashing sign over my head that's invisible to me that says, 'Sucker for hard luck cases, latch on here!'"

"Well, something has to give, you can't keep running yourself ragged for people who only care about what you can do for them."

"I know you are right, but once you are in such a situation, how do you get out gracefully?"

"May I suggest that much of the problem is the 'gracefully' part, you simply need to put your foot down and nip it all in the bud."

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

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Gosia, of Looking for Identity, has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit others blog to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.     

Took this one on the fly from the car.  Sometimes there's no time to really pull over and stop, so if no traffic is coming, i pull to the side and do the best i can.

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Today is:

Be Kind to Humankind Week:  Thoughtful Thursday 

Blue Hill Fair -- Blue Hill, ME, US (beautiful "down to earth" country fair; through Labor Day)

Chatter Champion Announced -- Fairy Calendar

Constitution Day -- Kazakhstan

Day of Satisfying the Hearts of the Ennead (Nine Major Gods) -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Eid-e-Ghadir -- Iran

Festival of Charisteria -- Ancient Roman Calendar (a day to give thanks)

Frankenstein Day -- in honor of Mary Shelley (Interesting, when juxtaposed to the next entry.)

Huey P. Long Day -- Louisiana, US

International Day of the Disappeared -- Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of Detained-Disappeared

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances -- UN

International Whale Shark Day -- WiseOceans has more information    

Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials -- Stamford, England (within the beautiful parklands of Burghley House, Stamford in Lincolnshire; through Sunday)

Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival and Fair -- Morgan City, LA, US (celebrating the importance of the shrimping and petroleum industries in Louisiana, it includes one of the most unique children's villages among such events and a Blessing of the Fleet; through Labor Day)

National Holistic Pet Day -- celebrating the growing interest in natural/holistic medicine for animals

National Toasted Marshmallow Day

Popular Consultation Day -- East Timor

Santa Rosa de Lima -- Peru

St. Fiacre's Day (Patron of box makers, cab drivers, costermongers, florists, gardeners, hosiers, pewterers, taxi drivers, tile makers; against barrenness, fistula, haemorrhoids, piles, sterility, syphilis, venereal disease)

Talk Intelligently Day -- holiday thought up by someone tired of non-intelligent conversations (maybe with co-workers?)

Victory Day -- North Cyprus; Turkey

    Turkey's Hellespont Swim -- one of the world's busiest shipping lanes is closed so that over 300 participants can swim the Hellespont from Europe to Asia, a Victory Day commemoration of winning the Turkish War of Independence in 1922 against the Greeks

Anniversary Today:

Roman Polanski marries Emmanuelle Seigner, 1989

Birthdays Today:

Cameron Diaz, 1972

Michael Michele, 1966

Michael Chiklis, 1963

David Paymer, 1954

Timothy Bottoms, 1951

Lewis Black, 1948

Peggy Lipton, 1947

Frank "Tug" McGraw, 1944

Jean-Claude Killy, 1943

Elizabeth Ashley, 1939

Warren Buffett, 1930

Kitty Wells, 1919

Ted Williams, 1918

Fred MacMurray, 1908

Roy Wilkins, 1901

Shirley Booth, 1898

Huey P. Long, 1893

Claire Straith, M.D., 1891

Ernest Rutherford, 1871

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1797

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Ten Years a Slave(Film), 2013

"Anna Lucasta"(Play), 1944

Today in History:

European leaders, in an attempt to end war "for all time", outlaw the crossbow, 1146

One of the largest naval battles in history, during the last decade of the ailing, Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty, begins between the forces of two Chinese rebel leaders, 1363

Capture of the entire Dutch fleet by British forces under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell, 1799

Founding of Melbourne, Australian, 1835

Founding of Houston, Texas, 1836

Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner, 1901

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in south Louisiana, the longest bridge over water (continuous, not aggregate) that is not also a viaduct, opens, 1956

The Hotline between the leaders of the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union goes into operation, 1963

Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the United States Supreme Court, 1967

Guion Bluford becomes the first African American astronaut in space, 1983

NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces, 1995

A commercial expedition to raise part of the sunken British luxury liner Titanic ended in failure, 1996

Harley-Davidson celebrates its 100th anniversary in Milwaukee with a parade of 10,000 motorcycles, 2003

India and Pakistan agree to release hundreds of fishermen and other civilians in each other's jails as part of their ongoing attempts to negotiate peace between their nations, 2005

Sumatra's Sinaburg volcano continues to erupt, two people are killed and 21,000 are evacuated from the vicinity, 2010

In Chile, 33 miners trapped half a mile beneath the surface make contact with their families for the first time in three weeks since the incident, 2010

In the face of signs that Russian troops and equipment are aiding rebels in eastern Ukraine, the E.U. proposes further sanctions against Russia; President Vladimir Putin denies the charges while calling for independent statehood of the region, 2014

Busy Day at the Laundromat (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

(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.) 

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee's Comedy Plus.

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by River at Drifting Through Life.    

This week's words are:

1. kitchen

2. long

3. modicum

4. notice

5. overly

6. perfectly

and/or:

1. quivering

2. roasted

3. strawberry

4. theory

5. umbrage

6. vestige

His nose picked up the savory smell LONG before he got to the apartment, much less the KITCHEN, and what his nose told him had the rest of him QUIVERING with delight.

As he crossed the floor heading toward the stove, he was determined to get himself at least small sample of the PERFECTLY ROASTED onions he knew would be in the big black cast iron Dutch oven, along with potatoes and celery and a chunk of beef so tender it would melt in his mouth, with a gravy even better than his mama used to make.

So determined was he to snatch a taste that he didn't NOTICE she was standing in the pantry closet.  The fact that the kitchen was a typical small apartment size kitchen, about the size of a postage stamp, and the pantry closet was not a walk in, tells you just how OVERLY engrossed he was in getting himself that small sample.

"I had a THEORY," she said with a mischievous grin, surprising him so much that he dropped the Dutch oven lid with a clang before he had even gotten it up by an inch.  "Knowing you don't have a MODICUM of decency about snatching samples before dinner is served, I made you a small appetizer plate."

As she held out a plate of some simple stuffed tomatoes to him, he said, "I should take UMBRAGE at your accusation."  Then he took the tomatoes, ate one, smiled, and said, "I should, but I don't, because I can't.  You know me too well."

They laughed and he offered her a tomato, which she accepted before turning back to the pantry.  Then he said, "So, where you do you think I should look for the last VESTIGE of my dignity after being caught red-handed this way?"

"How about at the bottom of the STRAWBERRY trifle I made for dessert?" she suggested, which about sent him into orbit.

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Today is:

According to Hoyle Day -- death anniversary of Edmond Hoyle

Be Kind to Humankind Week:  Willing to Lend a Hand Wednesday 

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

Chop Suey Day

Columbia County Fair -- Chatham, NY, US (be a kid again at the 176th annual fair; through US Labor Day)

Day of Loose Talk -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (Patron of baptism, bird dealers, converts, convulsive children, cutters, epileptics, farmers, French Canadians, lambs, monastic life, motorways, printers, tailors; over 70 cities and countries around the world; against convulsions, epilepsy, hail and hailstorms, spasms)

    Head Day -- Iceland (a weather omen day; whatever today's weather, it will stay the same for at least 3 weeks)

Individual Rights Day -- on the birth anniversary of John Locke, the first philosopher to argue that a human being has basic rights based on his status as a sovereign human being, and that people are not slaves of their government, but their human rights should be protected by government

International Day Against Nuclear Testing -- UN

Judgment Day -- according to "The Terminator"

La Tomatina -- Buñol, Valencia, Spain (annual citywide food fight festival in which around 30,000 people take to the streets to pelt each other with tomatoes)

Lemon Juice Day

More Herbs, Less Salt Day

National Sarcoidosis Awareness Day -- US (by presidential proclamation in 1991)

Nugget Best in the West Rib Cook-Off -- Sparks, NV, US (with rib cookers from across the country competing, this is a rib eater's delight, and even includes a rib-eating contest and free nightly concerts; through Labor Day)

Runic Half-Month Rad begins (Motion)

Slovak National Uprising Anniversary -- Slovakia

St. Medericus' Day (also called Saint-Merri or St. Merry, acclaimed as the Patron of the Right Bank of the Seine River in Paris)

Birthdays Today:

Lea Michele, 1986

Rebecca De Mornay, 1962

Mark Morris, 1956

Michael Jackson, 1958

`Richard Gere, 1949

Robin Leach, 1941

William Friedkin, 1939

Elliot Gould, 1938

John McCain, 1936

Richard Attenborough, 1923

Charlie "Bird" Parker, 1920

Isabel Sanford, 1917

Ingrid Bergman, 1915

Preston Sturges, 1898

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809

John Locke, 1632

Today in History

Era of Diocletian (Martyrs), the last major time of persecution for the early Christian churches, begins with Gen. Gaius Aurelius V Diocletianus Jovius becoming emperor of Rome, 284

Japan mints its first copper coins, 708

The last Incan King of Peru, Atahualpa, is executed by order of Francisco Pizarro, 1533

The first Indian "reservation" is formed by the New Jersey Legislature, 1758

Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction, 1831

The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of slavery in its empire, 1833

Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War, 1842

The first motorcycle is patented in Germany by Gottlieb Daimler, 1885

The chef of a visiting Chinese Ambassador invents "chop suey" in NYC, 1896

The Goodyear tire company is founded, 1898

The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers, 1907

Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California, 1911

The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, 1949

Speedy Gonzales makes his debut, 1953

The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, 1966

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party, 1991

Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, 2005

Sumatra's Sinabung volcano erupts for the first time in 400 years, killing one and causing Indonesia to evacuate thousands of people, 2010

London holds the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, 2012

Austrian researchers announce they successfully grew 'cerebral organoids' or mini-brains, containing several distinct regions of the brain; the mini-brains will help scientists understand how brains develop, and what causes schizophrenia and autism, 2013

Hurricane Harvey sets rainfall record (51.88 inches in Cedar Bayou) from a tropical cyclone in continental US, according to US National Weather Service, 2017