With Lasers On (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, again.  He turned his lasers on in his box, so i had to indulge him.

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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!      

1. I could not _______________ without _________________.

2. A simple pleasure I enjoy is _________________________.

3. If I could change one thing about myself, _________.

4. _________ is hard to find these days.

1. I could not get up and function well in the morning without coffee.  Yes, i’ve tried, it’s not pretty.

2. A simple pleasure I enjoy is lying in bed doing crosswords and other puzzles until i fall asleep.

3. If I could change one thing about myself, i’d be just a bit taller.  Having to climb to reach the top shelf at the store is a pain.  Not to mention the time the cat litter i needed that was at the back of the top shelf, and i had to use a broom i borrowed from the cleaning aisle to manipulate it until i could get to it.  A few inches more of height would be nice.

4. A vacuum cleaner that will last more than a couple of years is hard to find these days.

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Today is:

Apple Wassailing Day -- Carhampton, England (ancient tradition to bless the trees, waking the tree spirits and scaring away bad spirits)

Arbor Day -- Florida and Louisiana, US

Art Deco Weekend -- Miami, FL, US (for die hard fans; through Sunday)

Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo -- Rapid City, SD, US (everything you could want in such an event, including the stockman banquet and ball; through Feb. 8)

Blessing of the Animals -- Hispanic Christian (in association with St. Anthony's Day)

Ditch Your New Years Resolutions Day -- no info on origin, but probably someone who gave up; will you?

Felicitas -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring the goddess of good luck)

Festival of Janus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (main festival for the god of beginnings, endings, and doorways)

Hot Heads Chili Day -- no clue what this one means, but i guess we can have chili for dinner

Kid Inventors' Day -- celebrating how inventive kids are; on the birth anniversary of Ben Franklin, who invented swim fins at age 12

Lee-Jackson Day -- Virginia, US

Liberation Day -- Poland (liberation from the Nazis in 1945)

Make Your All-Time Top Ten Favorite TV Characters List -- because nothing says you can't make your own top ten lists

Milwaukee Boat Show -- Milwaukee, WI, US (where boys can find their big toys; through the 26th)

National Hot Buttered Rum Day

Patras Carnival -- Patras, Greece (the town crier announces the opening ceremony, with festivities through Clean Monday)

Patrice Lumumba -- Democratic Republic of the Congo (Heroes' Day)

Popeye Day -- The Sailor Man debut in the comics this date in 1929

Professional Boxer's Day -- Ali's birth anniversary

Southwestern Exposition Livestock Show and Rodeo -- Fort Worth, TX, US (the world's first indoor professional rodeo, since 1918; through Feb. 8)

St. Anthony the Great's Day (a/k/a Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Patriarch of the Abbots; Patron of amputees, animals/domestic animals, basket weavers, brush makers, butchers, cemetary workers/grave diggers, epileptics, hermits, monks, relief from pestilence, swine/hogs, swineherds; Hospitaliers; Burgio, Sicily, Italy; Canas, Brazil; Castrofilippo, Agrigento, Italy; Fivizzano, Italy; Fontainemore, Italy; Mook, Netherlands; Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Italy; against eczema, epilepsy, ergotism, erysipelas, pestilence, Saint Anthony's Fire, skin diseases and rashes) related observance

    Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral -- Church of San Antonio, Mexico City, Mexico (where this saint is San Antonio Abad)

Tip-Up Town USA -- Houghton Lake, MI, US (Michigan's largest family winter festival, through Sunday and next weekend, Friday-Sunday)

Uzhavar Thirunal -- PY, TN, India (Farmer's Day portion of the Pongal celebrations)

Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival -- Whittlesea, England (the "straw bear" goes through the town collecting gifts and performing, and on Sunday, the costume is burned amid much celebration; a festival celebrated since medieval times and revived recently)

Wings Over Willcox -- Willcox, AZ, US (tours of the playa and wetlands, birding, workshops, and more; through Sunday)

Zirgu Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (Day of the Horses)

Anniversaries Today:

George Burns marries Gracie Allen, 1926

Octavian marries Livia Drusilla, BC38

Birthdays Today:

Kid Rock, 1971

Naveen Andrews, 1969

Michelle Obama, 1964

Jim Carrey, 1962

Susanna Hoffs, 1959

Anthony Glise, 1956

Andy Kaufman, 1949

Muhammad Ali, 1942

Maury Povich, 1939

Shari Lewis, 1934

James Earl Jones, 1931

Don Zimmer, 1931

Vidal Sassoon, 1928

Eartha Kitt, 1927

Betty White, 1922

Al Capone, 1899

Nevil Shute, 1899

Robert Maynard Hutchins, 1899

Mack Sennett, 1884

David Lloyd George, 1863

Anton Chekhov, 1860

Anne Bronte, 1820

Benjamin Franklin, 1706

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Frontline"(TV), 1983

"The Goldbergs"(TV), 1949

"Popeye the Sailor Man"(Comic character created by Elzie Segar, in the Thimble Theatre comic strip), 1929

"The Cherry Orchard"(Chekhov Play), 1904

"The Rivals"(Sheridan Play), 1775

Today in History:

Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon, 1377

Cesare Borgia returns in triumph to Rome from Romagna, 1501

Giovanni da Verrazzano begins his voyage to find a passage to China, 1524

The Edict of St Germain recognizes Huguenots in France, 1562

England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War, 1648

An avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switzerland, kills 53, 1718

Capt James Cook becomes the first to cross Antarctic Circle (66° 33' S), 1773

The first cable car patented, by Andrew S Hallidie (begins service in 1873), 1871

Queen Liliuokalani is deposed, the Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic, 1893

Sir Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen, 1912

The first fully automatic photographic film developing machine patented, 1928

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, is arrested by secret police in Hungary, 1945

The United Nations Security Council holds its first meeting, 1946

The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first airs, 1949

The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts, 1950

The world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, makes its maiden voyage, 1955

A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares incident, 1966

Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V, 1991

The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union, 1996

Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people, 2002

Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, which resulting in at least 200 deaths, 2010

Japan unveils plans to build the world’s largest wind farm near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, 2013

Academics report that a pelvis bone discovered in 1999 may belong to King Alfred the Great or his son, Edward the Elder, 2014