Twinkle Toes (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!

Her name is Twinkle Toes, and she is a polydactyl cat, meaning she has extra toes.

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Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing15AndMeowing, 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 summer bucket list includes _________, _________, and _________.

2. _________ and _________ are things you will never find in my home.

3. I'm good at keeping _________ very tidy.

4. I can't _________ without making a mess.

1. My summer bucket list includes   work, work,   and   a baby shower for #2 Son and His Bride.

2. Regular TV   and   books you wouldn't want your mother to see on your shelf   are things you will never find in my home.   To save money, we gave up TV years ago; Sweetie has a monitor and speakers and DVD/Blueray player and watches his movies and series he's collected over the years.

3. I'm good at keeping   other people's houses   very tidy.   As for mine, i tend to relax when i'm home so don't come without an appointment!

4. I can't   pack all the cleaning gear in my car   without making a mess.

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Nature Friday is hosted by LLB in Our BackyardLLB 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.     

A few pictures of Twinkle Toes that didn't turn out, as she was so busy asking to be petted it was hard to get her to pose.

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Today is:

Constitution day -- Ukraine

Festival of Terrible Poetry -- according to The Daily Bleed, and since there is some hilarious, if terrible, poetry out there, go find some, and bust a gut

Insurance Awareness Day -- now who do you think invented that!?!

International Body Piercing Day -- on the birthday of James Mark "Jim" Ward, "the granddaddy of the modern body piercing movement"

International CAPS LOCK DAY -- a parody holiday created by Derek Arnold, a user on Metafilter, in 2000

Mnarja / L-Imnarja Festival begins -- Buskett Gardens, Malta (folk festival for Sts. Peter and Paul, begins this evening and continues through the 29th)

National Ceviche Day

National Tapioca Day

Paul Bunyan Day -- the tall tale hero of the lumberjacks; celebrated at different times in some parts of the country, but most sites cite this date

Ra goes forth to propitiate the Nun -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Stonewall Rebellion Day -- now seen as the start of the gay liberation movement in 1969

St. Irenaeus' Day (Patron of Mobile, Alabama)

St. Paul's Feast -- Kato Paphos, Cyprus (religious festivities with the archbishop officiating and a procession of the icon of St. Paul through the streets, through tomorrow)

St. Peter's Eve -- English Christian tradition, night of bonfires and continuation of midsummer celebrations

Vidovdan (Festival for St. Vitus) -- Eastern Orthodox Christian, based on the traditional Julian Calendar date

     a recognized holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Anniversaries Today:

Harry S. Truman marries Bess Wallace, 1919

Birthdays Today:

Kellie Pickler, 1986

Steve Burton, 1970

Danielle Brisebois, 1969

John Cusack, 1966

Mary Stuart Masterson, 1966

Mark Grace, 1964

John Elway, 1960

Thomas Hampson, 1955

Alice Krige, 1954

Kathy Bates, 1948

Gilda Radner, 1946

Bruce Davison, 1946

Turkan Soray, 1945

Pat Morita, 1932

Mel Brooks, 1926

Maria Goeppert Mayer, 1906

Richard Rodgers, 1902

Clara Louise Maass, 1876

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712

John Wesley, 1703

Peter Paul Rubens, 1577

Henry VIII, King of England, 1491

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Nutty Professor(Film), 1996

"Amos 'n' Andy"(TV), 1951

"Quiz Kids"(Radio), 1940

Today in History:

Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul, 1098

Ottomans defeat Serbian army in the bloody Battle of Kosovo, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of Southeastern Europe, 1389

Guadeloupe becomes a French colony, 1635

The coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom, 1838

The Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris premieres the ballet Giselle, 1841

The first conformation dog show is held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, 1859

Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I, 1914

The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, formally ending World War I, 1919

The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces, 1922

Israel annexes East Jerusalem, 1967

COMECON, as part of the last vestige of the Soviet Bloc, is formally disbanded, followed by the Warsaw pact 3 days later, 1991

Slobodan Milosevic is deported to ICTY to stand trial, 2001

The Republic of Montenegro is admitted as the 192nd Member of the United Nations, 2006

The U.N. reports 10 million people are effected by the worst drought in 60 years, 2011

A power company uncovers a Neolithic wooden trackway 2,300 years old in Suffolk, England; it will become one of the largest archaeological digs in Europe at 16,000 square meters, 2018

For the first time since the position was created in 1343, Amsterdam elects a woman mayor, Femke Halsema, 2018

Due to lack of rainfall dropping the water level in the Mosul Dam reservoir, a 3,400-year-old Bronze Age palace from the Mittani Empire is uncovered on the banks of the Tigris River, 2019

AirCar, a prototype flying car capable of flying 1,000km (600 miles), at heights of up to 8,200ft (2,500m), completes a 35 min test flight between Nitra and Bratislava airports in Slovakia, 2021

Rocket Lab launches NASA's CAPSTONE from Mahia peninsula, New Zealand, to orbit the Moon, research for future Gateway and Artemis missions, 2022

Doggie Smarts (Six Sentence Story)

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Mimi had gotten in the habit, when puttering around in the Six Sentence Cafe and Bistro kitchen while Hūnga was in there, of speaking to the dog the same way she would talk to anyone else.

She knew he might have trouble understanding certain words, but she also knew he spoke "human" well enough to understand the intent and would have pitted his vocabulary against that of many so-called educated people who couldn't talk a lick of sense.

"The frequency with which you have to take puppies out for potty breaks is inversely proportional to the number of piddle accidents you want to clean on any day," she was saying, "but as for you, my grown-up dog friend, you have sense to use your dog door if you grow desperate enough not to wait for your daily constitutional."

Hūnga was watching her but listening beyond the room they were in, and when he heard a tell-tale sound, his whole back end began to wag as it always did when he was excited about something; Mimi noticed it and reached for the leash and harness.

As the Gatekeeper came through the swinging door, Hūnga launched himself at the man who was ready for it and you couldn't have told which was the more excited at the meeting, man or dog.

As Mimi smiled mischievously and handed the man the dog's gear, she teasingly told Hūnga, "You should be flattered, Hūnga, no person born can command this man but he bows to your every whim," and she heard the Gatekeeper still laughing as he and the dog went out the door for their walk.

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

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Q&A (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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"What are you doing?"

"Hanging around you."

"Why?"

"Because I can."

"Are you always so annoying and obnoxious?"

"With frequency and malice aforethought!"

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

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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!

Here, a fence rebuilt.

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

This isn't right

packed in tight,

I'm not meant to be a sardine.

I need to go

out in the snow

where the air is crisp and clean.

I'll celebrate

the Christmas date

in a simple, quiet way.

Instead of rush,

in quiet hush,

we'll have a family day.

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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 i had my annual checkup with Dr. BowTie this past Tuesday.  In his words, "What a dandy checkup!"  Meaning i may have outlived my warranty, but I should be good for a few years yet.

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Today is:

Canadian Multiculturalism Day -- Cananda

Day of National Unity -- Tajikistan

Day of Turkmen Workers of Culture and Art -- Turkmenistan

Day Sacred to the Lares -- Ancient Roman Calendar (personal household gods); also

     Festival of Jupiter Stator -- Jupiter, Stayer of the Rout, god who helped soldiers especially to stand their ground

     Initium Aestatis -- three day festival for the goddess of summer, which season they saw as beginning on this day

Decide to Be Married Day -- sponsored by Barbara Gaughen-Muller; to focus on the joy of couples deciding to be married

"Happy Birthday to You" Day -- tune composed this day in 1859

Independence Day / National Day -- Djibouti

Industrial Workers of The World Day -- founded this day in 1905

Martyrdom of Joseph & Hyrum Smith -- Mormon

Mixed Races Day -- Brazil

National Bomb Pop Day -- on the Thursday in June right before US Independence Day, to kick off the celebration with the original red, white, and blue bomb pops

National Handshake Day -- US; sponsored by professional development companies on the last Thursday in June, encouraging everyone to develop a good, professional handshake

National HIV Testing Day -- US 

National Indian Pudding Day

National Orange Blossom Day

National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day -- US (by Senate resolution) 

Seven Sleepers Day (Siebenschläfertag) -- Germany (according to legend, today's weather determines the pattern for the next seven weeks)

St. Ladislaus' Day (Patron of Szekszard, Hungary)

Sunglasses Day -- a reminder to wear those shades, protect your eyes from UV damage!

Birthdays Today:

Gabi Wilson, 1997

Madylin Sweeten, 1991

Ed Westwick, 1987

Drake Bell, 1986

Tobey Maguire, 1975

J.J. Abrams, 1976

Jason Patric, 1966

Isabelle Adjani, 1955

Julia Duffy, 1951

James Daughton, 1950

Norma Kamali, 1945

Shirley-Anne Field, 1938

H. Ross Perot, 1930

Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan, 1927

Helen Keller, 1880

Patrick Lafcadio "Koizumi Yakumo" Hearn, 1850

Charles Stewart Parnell, 1846

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Live and Let Die(Film), 1973

"Dark Shadows"(TV), 1966

"Captain Video and His Video Rangers"(TV), 1949

Today in History:

General James Wolfe begins the siege of Quebec, 1759

Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are murdered by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail, 1844

George Dixon becomes the first black world boxing champion in any weight class, while also being the first ever Canadian-born boxing champion, 1890

The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia, 1898

Sailors start a mutiny aboard the Russian Battleship Potemkin, denouncing the crimes of autocracy, demanding liberty and an end to war, 1905

Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. John P. Richter perform the first ever aerial refueling in a DH-4B biplane, 1923

The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War, 1950

The world's first nuclear power station opens in Obninsk, near Moscow, 1954

The world's first ATM is installed in Enfield, London, 1967

The President of Uruguay dissolves Parliament and heads a coup d'état, 1973

U.S president Richard Nixon visits the U.S.S.R., 1974

France grants independence to Djibouti, 1977

The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, ILO 169 convention, is adopted, 1989

Slovenia, after declaring independence two days before, is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War, 1991

Bill Gates resigns from Microsoft to focus on his charity work, 2008

The first democratic election in the history of Guinea is held, 2010

Tests show radioactive cesium is present in small quantities in residents of Iitate and Kawamata, Fukushima, towns located 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 2011

NASA launches IRIS, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, a space probe to observe the Sun, 2013

The European Union fines Google a record $2.7 billion for unfair competition practices, 2017

The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2 arrives at asteroid Ryugu, 2018

The science journal Nature publishes an article describing carbon-based molecules, previously only seen on Earth or in meteorites, that were found by the Cassini spacecraft on Saturn's moon Enceladus, 2018

Apple's chief designer, Jony Ive, designer of the iMac and the iPhone, announces he is leaving Apple after 30 years, 2019 

A locust invasion is named "Swarmageddon" by The Times of India as it reaches Delhi, 2020

NASA launches a rocket from a commercial spaceport outside the US for the first time, at Arnhem Space Centre, Northern Territory, Australia, 2022

Archaeologists in the city of Pompeii uncover a fresco which shows a flatbread with toppings, possible evidence of "pizza" style foods as early as the first century, 2023