Friday, January 31, 2020

Linker Stinker (Feline Friday) and Friendly Fill-Ins

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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.

Link is showing why he is called Linker Stinker, as i tried to take his picture for today while he was napping and this stink eye was the result:

You are disturbing my rest, how rude!




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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. My favorite quote is ______________________..

2. My favorite part of February is ____________________.

3. A little known fact about me is _________.

4. _________ is the most rewarding experience in the world.


1. My favorite quote is   impossible to choose, but if i am limited to just one, it would have to be Luke 6:31, “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” It's commonly called The Golden Rule, and simply means treat other people with the same kindness, consideration and respect you would like them to use toward you.

2. My favorite part of February is  Groundhog Day.  No, Valentine's Day.  Wait, what about Mardi Gras, and then there's the fun of an extra day every four years, Leap Day.  Oh, forget it, i just like February, my favorite part is the whole month!

3. A little known fact about me is  i really am tempted to hold grudges sometimes and have to work hard against it (which is why i quote The Golden Rule to myself frequently).

4. Living true to yourself and your beliefs  is the most rewarding experience in the world.  Yes, having and raising children ranks right up there, too, but not every person can or wants to have children, and the one most rewarding experience should be defined as something anyone can choose to do, at least in my opinion.


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Today is:

Backward Day -- no info on the origin, but if you want to do something backward, go ahead

Eat Brussels Sprouts Day --  saute in olive oil with some garlic, they are worth it!

Eve of Brigantia -- Ireland (St. Bridget's Eve, the night when she crosses the countryside and bestows blessings)

Feast of Great Typos -- another that no one will claim inventing, but since we've all made them, we may as well celebrate them

Feast of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Fun At Work Day -- inject laughter and fun into your workplace (if you dare); some sites have this as a national or international day, and dates given vary, but my warning stands if you decide to celebrate this at all

H&ll is Freezing Over Day -- internet generated day to review the list of things you said you would do when h*ll freezes over

Independence Day -- Nauru(1968)

Inspire Your Heart With the Arts Day -- begun by Rev Jayne Howard Feldman as a day to use art to feed your soul

National Brandy Alexander Day

National Bug Busting Day -- UK (this is one idea that needs export to the whole world! the aim is to have every child checked for head lice on the same day, and thus get rid of them in one fell swoop, so they don't circulate endlessly)

National Gorilla Suit Day -- Mad Magazine's Maddest Artist, Don Martin, says this is the day to pull that gorilla suit out of the closet and step out in style.

National Preschool Fitness Day -- US (working to get young children to love moving and exercise) 

Phlegm-Green, Moldy-Grey, and Gazzard Day -- Fairy Calendar (don't ask what color Gazzard is, it doesn't exist in the human world, and you don't want it to)

Play An Old Game You Haven’t Played in Years Night -- internet generated, and a great idea, bust out that old Monopoly or Clue board and have at it

Scotch Tape Day -- it hit the market this day in 1928

St. John Bosco's Day (Patron of apprentices, boys, editors, laborers, schoolchildren, students, young people-especially youth of Mexican descent)

Winterlude Festival -- Ottawa, ON, Canada (enjoy parades, dances, snow races, and more; through the 17th, with most of the festivities on weekends)



Birthdays Today:

Justin Timberlake, 1981
Kerry Washington, 1977
Portia de Rossi, 1973
Minnie Driver, 1971
Kelly Lynch, 1959
Jhn Lydon, 1956
Nolan Ryan, 1947
Charlie Musselwhite, 1944
Richard Gephardt, 1941
Jessica Walter, 1941
Stuart Margolin, 1940
Queen Beatrix, 1938
suzanne Pleshette, 1937
Philip Glass, 1937
James Franciscus, 1934
Ernie Banks, 1931
Jean Simmons, 1929
Carol Channing, 1923
Norman Mailer, 1923
Mario Lanza, 1921
Jackie Robinson, 1919
Thomas Merton, 1915
Garry Moore, 1915
Tallulah Bankhead, 1903
Eddie Cantor, 1892
Zane Grey, 1872
Franz Schubert, 1797
Robert Morris, 1734
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan, 1543


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"These Are My Children"(TV), 1949 (first daytime TV Soap Opera)
"The Green Hornet"(Radio), 1936
"The Lone Ranger"(Radio), 1933
"Three Sisters"(Chekhov Play), 1901
"Hedda Gabler"(Ibsen Play), 1891


Today in History:

Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England, 1606
The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital, 1747
The Corn Laws (tariffs on imported grains) are abolished in Britain, paving the way for more free trade, 1849
The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations, 1876
The Bulletin of Sydney is founded, publishes for 128 years, 1880
An automobile exceeds 100 mph (161 kph) for the first time, at Daytona Beach, driven by A. G. MacDonald, 1905
The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky, 1929
Scotch tape is first marketed by the 3M Company, 1930
Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, US receives the first US Social Security monthly payment check, for $22.54, 1940
President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb, 1950
A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands, 1953
Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit, 1958
James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt, 1958
Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space, 1961
The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program, 1966
Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon, 1971
The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow, 1990
Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake, 1996
NASA reveals the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR), a lunar mining robot which could be used to produce fuel and water directly on the Moon, 2013
Lydia Ko, 17, becomes the youngest golfer in men's or women's golf history to be ranked No. 1 in the world, 2015
Sergio Matarella is elected President of Italy, 2015
"World's best chef" French-Swiss Benoît Violier is found dead after apparent suicide weeks after being named world's best by La Liste, 2016
Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah is crowned King of Malaysia (Yang di-Pertuan Agong) to serve a five-year term, 2019

Thursday, January 30, 2020

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

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“It’s been a long day, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, it has, but what made you say that?”

“Well, for one thing, you are standing here with your underwear in one hand and a frying pan in the other, looking like you don’t know what to do with either one.  For another, I just looked in the refrigerator and when you put away the groceries, you put the dry dog food and the dry cat food in there, but I’m afraid to ask where the eggs ended up.”

“It’s time for a vacation.”

“I concur.”


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


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Gosia at 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 other blogs to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.     

Another fence decorated (a bit) for Mardi Gras:




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




Jump in, jump out
When’s my turn?
Then it was easy
The calories to burn.
When your turn’s over
Then you shout,
Period, question mark, 
Comma, out!


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Brian of Brian's Home hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

We had great fun at the ladies’ circle meeting Tuesday night, and i am thankful i joined two groups this year so i could read and study both books.  (C.S. Lewis’ book on the Psalms, and Liturgy of the Ordinary)


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Today is:

Cash Register Day -- James Ritty and John Birch were granted a patent on this day in 1883 for an early mechanical cash register

Congressional Brawl Day -- marking the first ever all out brawl in the US Congress in 1798

Draw A Dinosaur Day -- and post it to the web site    

Feast of King Charles the Martyr -- Anglican

Fred Korematsu Day -- US (honoring the civil rights activist who protested the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII) 

Inane Answering Message Day -- the day to change those annoying messages, sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

King's Birthday -- Jordan

Martyrs' Day -- India (assassination anniversary of Gandhi)

National Croissant Day

Pax -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Festival of Peace)

Puce and Ochre Day -- Fairy Calendar

School Day of Nonviolence and Peace -- sponsored by DENIP

St. Aldegund's Day (Patron of cancer patients; against cancer, childhood diseases, sudden death, wounds)

St. Bathilde's Day (Patron of children, sick people, widows; against bodily ills and sickness)

St. Martina of Rome's Day (Patron of nursing mothers; Rome, Italy)

Three Archbishops' Day -- Eastern Orthodox (a/k/a Holy Hierarchs' Day)

Yodel For Your Neighbors Day -- Why?  Do you hate your neighbors?


Birthdays Today:

Johnathan Lee Iverson, 1976
Christian Bale, 1974
Brett Butler, 1958
Phil Collins, 1951
Charles Dutton, 1951
Steve Marriott, 1947
Marty Balin, 1942
Dick Cheney, 1941
Vanessa Redgrave, 1937
Boris spassky, 1937
Tammy Grimes, 1934
Louis Ruckeyser, 1933
Gene Hackman, 1930
Dorothy Malone, 1925
Dick Martin, 1922
Barbara W. Tuchman, 1912
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1882
Isaiah Thomas, 1749
Thomas Rolfe, 1615 (Only child of John Rolfe and Pocahontas.)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Yogi Bear Show"(TV), 1958
"Robert Montgomery Presents"(TV), 1950
"City Lights"(Chaplin Movie), 1931


Today in History:

The Jews of Freilsburg, Germany, are massacred, 1349
King Charles I of England is beheaded, 1649
Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed after having been dead for two years, 1661
The Forty-seven Ronin, under the command of Oishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, 1703
Henry Greathead tests the first boat intended to be specialized as a lifeboat for rescue purposes, which he invented, on the River Tyne in England, 1790
The burned Library of Congress is reestablished, with Thomas Jefferson contributing, 1815
Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica, 1820
The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world's first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales is opened, 1826
A fire destroys two-thirds of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, 1841
The city of Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco, for the nearby mission of the same name, 1847
William Wells Brown publishes the first Black drama, "Leap to Freedom," 1858
The US Navy's first ironclad warship, the Monitor, is launched, 1862
The pneumatic hammer is patented by Charles King of Detroit, 1894
The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy, 1911
The House of Lords rejects the Irish Home Rule Bill, 1913
"The Lone Ranger" begins a 21 year run on ABC radio, 1933
Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is assassinated by Pandit Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist, 1948
American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1956
The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police, 1969
Carole King's Tapestry album is released, it would become the longest charting album by a female solo artist and sell 24 million copies worldwide, 1971
Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations, 1972
The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary was established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary, 1975
Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner", 1982
Peter Leko of Hungary becomes the world's youngest chess grand master at age 14, 1994
Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease, 1995
Over half a million people participate in the world's largest wildlife survey after extreme cold drives exotic birds into Britain's back gardens, 2011
Peter Paul Rubens’s 1608 drawing, "Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms," sells for $8.2 million at auction in New York, 2019

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

It’s Carnival Time! (Wordless Wednesday) and Frugal Fun (Words for Wednesday)

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at 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 to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by Mark Koopmans, and are being posted by Elephant’s Child.           

This week's prompts are:


  1. Splurge
  2. Bonking
  3. Veterans
  4. Windows
  5. Lasagne
  6. Inconceivable!

        

And/Or 

  1. Ruling
  2. Extinguished
  3. Ebonics
  4. Dresser
  5. Marley
  6. Yikes



“Which movie do you want to watch tonight?”

“You mean we will SPLURGE on watching a movie while we eat our cheap, frozen LASAGNA!”

“Very funny.  We have plenty of DVDs, so even if we are watching our money this month, it doesn’t mean we can’t have some entertainment.  We’ll cover the WINDOWS to make it darker, like a dinner theater.  Who knows, by the end of this saving money experiment, we’ll know we are RULING our money instead of it ruling us, and we might be VETERANS of enjoying cheap thrills.”

“YIKES, that’s a scary thought.  Okay, so give me a couple of movie choices.”

“How about The Princess Bride?”

“INCONCEIVABLE!  We watched that about two months ago, didn’t we?”

“Okay, MARLEY and Me.”

“I’m not sure I’m emotionally up to that one tonight.”

“Hmmm, here’s The DRESSER.

“It’s perfect if you want to have me BONKING my head against the wall over and over by the end of the evening.  I never liked that one.”

“Then let’s have a laugh tonight, Airplane!”

“Yes!  The scene where they are speaking EBONICS is a scream.”

“Excellent choice.  Dinner is on the table, the main lights are EXTINGUISHED, and it’s showtime!”

“Did I ever tell you that you get some crazy ideas?”

“Frequently.  And you love me anyway.”

“You’re right!”


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Today is:

Blue and Pink Day -- Fairy Calendar

Bubblegum Sculpture Day -- commonly listed on ecard sites, and not to be confused with National Bubble Gum Day, coming in February

Carnation Day -- in honor of William McKinley; also on the date of his assassination each year, Sept. 14

Curmudgeons' Day -- W.C. Field's birth anniversary

National Corn Chip Day

National Puzzle Day -- because they are just fun

Sahid Diwash -- Nepal (Martyrs' Day)

St. Constantius of Perugia (Patron of Perugia, Italy)

St. Gildas the Wise's Day (one of the earliest British historians)

Thomas Paine Day/Freethinkers' Day -- birth anniversary of Thomas Paine

Vasant Panchami / Saraswati Puja  -- Hindu (celebrating Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge)

Winterfest & US National Snow Sculpting Competition and Championships -- Lake Geneva, WI, US (through Sunday)



Anniversaries Today:

Establishment of The Seeing Eye, 1929 (first US guide dog school)
Kansas becomes the 34th US state, 1861


Birthdays Today:

Adam Lambert, 1982
Jonny Lang, 1981
Andrew Keegan, 1979
Sara Gilbert, 1975
Heather Graham, 1970
Bobby Phillips, 1968
Nick Turturro, 1962
Greg Louganis, 1960
Oprah Winfrey, 1954
Teresa Teng, 1953
Ann Jillian, 1950
Tom Selleck, 1945
Katharine Ross, 1942
Germaine Greer, 1939
John Forsythe, 1918
Victor Mature, 1913
Huddie William "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, 1885
W.C. Fields, 1880
Anton Chekhov, 1860
William McKinley, 1843
Henry Morton Stanley, 1841
Thomas Paine, 1737
Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Black Panther(Film), 2018
"Sweet Charity"(Musical), 1966
Dr. Strangelove(Film), 1964
Sleeping Beauty(Cartoon movie), 1959
"The Potting Shed"(Play), 1957
"All My Sons"(Play), 1947
"The Raven"(publication date), 1845
"Idomeneo"(Mozart Opera), 1781
"The Beggar's Opera"(Gay Ballad Opera), 1728


Today in History:

The first performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1595
John Beckley of Virginia is appointed the first Librarian of Congress, 1802
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" is first published, 1845
The Victoria Cross is established to acknowledge bravery, 1856
Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, 1886
Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch, 1891
Walt Disney starts his first job as an artist, earning $40/week with the KC Slide Co, 1920
North America's first guide dog school, The Seeing Eye, is incorporated in Nashville, Tennessee, 1929
The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced, 1936
The first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced, 1963
Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so, 1989
President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear weapons testing, 1996
La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire, 1996
The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing, 2005
Ken Dryden's #29 jersey is retired by the Montreal Canadiens, 2010
American snowboarder Shaun White achieves the first ever SuperPipe perfect score (100) in Winter X Games history, 2012
Archaeologists discover the oldest Roman Temple (6th C BC) at Sant’Omobono, 2014
Scientists announce they have discovered how to convert normal cells into stem cells in mice, 2014
Malaysia officially declares the disappearance of missing flight MH370 an accident, 2015
The Norwegian government proposes building a floating road tunnel as part of a new roadway between Kristians and Trondheim, 2019