Opening Salvo (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, Nature Friday, and Flashback Friday, an A to Z Challenge Post

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.   

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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 has entrusted 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!

These are the "opening salvo," so to speak of the spring kitten season.  It hasn't hit peak yet, but more and more kittens are dribbling in to the cat shelter, and soon it will be full to the brim.

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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. If I had to choose a fictional world to live in it would be _________.

2. _________ is a book or movie that changed my life.

3. As a kid, I gave _________ the name _________.

4. If I had a parrot, I would teach it to say _________.

1. If I had to choose a fictional world to live in it would be   Narnia.

2. The Bible  is a book or movie that changed my life.

3. As a kid, I gave   our solid black cat  the name   ShadowBoxer.

4. If I had a parrot, I would teach it to say   "Forget the cracker, gimme a short beer!"

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Nature Friday is hosted by LLB in Our Backyard.  Simply post a picture of the natural world, and link up!   

A spring morning near the water.

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Flashback Friday is hosted by FiveSibes.  Come hop along memory lane with us!  

Just as we are starting to have kittens at the shelter now, nine years ago, we had these little guys.

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Today is:

American Academy of Arts and Letters Charter Day

Bat Appreciation Day -- sponsored by Bat Conservation International, at the time of year when bats begin awakening from hibernation

Blah, Blah, Blah Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Ebertfest-The Last Dance/Roger Ebert's Film Festival -- Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL (in the best show biz tradition, the show will go on this one last time, through tomorrow)

Ellis Island Family History Day -- US (by proclamation of the nation's governors and in conjunction with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, a day to celebrate the achievements and contribution of the immigrants and their descendants who came through Ellis Island; on the anniversary of the day, in 1907, when 11,747 immigrants were processed through the island, the most in one day)

Equality Day -- Canada (the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force on April 17, 1985, guaranteeing equality without regard to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability)

Flag Day -- American Samoa

Ford Mustang Day -- International (on the "birthday" of the vehicle)

Independence Day / Evacuation Day -- Syria

International Day of Peasants Struggle

Myanmar New Year -- Myanmar

National Cheeseball Day

National Haiku Poetry Day -- sponsored by The Haiku Foundation

National Pet ID Week -- the week beginning April 17, you are reminded to make sure your pets are microchipped or have an ID tag, just in case

Nosy Neighbor Appreciation Day -- to be celebrated, if you dare, by greeting and thanking your neighbor for being nosy

Nothing Like A Dame Day -- a day to pay homage to the unique wit, wisdom, style and strength of dames past and present, and to cultivate the dame in you or in your life

St. Kateri Tekakwitha's Day (Patron of ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalism, environmentalists, exiles, people who have lost their parents, people ridiculed for their piety)

St. Stephen Harding's Day (Co-founder of Cistercian Order)

Thargelia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (two-day festival for the birthday of Apollon and Artemis; date approximate)

Toothbrush Appreciation Day -- think of what it would be like without one!

Tortoiseshell Cat Appreciation Day -- according to Catster Magazine  

Verrazano Day -- New York, US (Celebrates discovery of New York harbor by Giovanni Verrazano, Florentine navigator)

Women's Day -- Gabon

World Hemophilia Day

Birthdays Today:

Victoria Beckham, 1974

Jennifer Garner, 1972

Liz Phair, 1967

Lela Rochon, 1966

Norman Julius “Boomer” Esiason, 1961

Sean Bean, 1958

Olivia Hussey, 1951

Don Kirshner, 1934

Cynthia Ozick, 1928

Harry Reasoner, 1923

William Holden, 1918

Thornton Wilder, 1897

Nikita Khrushchev, 1894

Adrian Constantine “Cap” Anson, 1852

J.P. Morgan, 1837

Samuel Chase, 1741

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Caveman(Film), 1981

"McCartney"(Album), 1970 (first solo album)

"No Time for Comedy"(Play), 1939

Today in History:

Geoffrey Chaucer tells his Canterbury Tales for the first time, at the court of Richard II, ten years to the day after the pilgrimage actually began, 1397

Christopher Columbus signs his contract with Spain to find the Indes, 1492

Martin Luther stands firm and refuses to recant before the Diet of Worms, 1521

Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America, 1797

The first Sino-Japanese War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, 1895

A one day record 11,747 immigrants are processed at Ellis Island, 1907

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios is formed by the merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and the Louis B. Mayer Company, 1924

Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, debut, 1937

At midnight, 26 Irish counties officially break with the British Commonwealth and form the Republic of Ireland, 1949

The Bay of Pigs Invasion fiasco begins, 1961

Ford Motor Company unveils the Mustang, 1964

Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air, 1964

The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely, 1970

Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, 1982

The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ends, 1986

NJ Devil Martin Brodeur becomes the 2nd NHL goalie to score in a playoff game, 1997

The 5th Summit of the Americas takes place in Port of Spain; Trinidad, thirty-four heads of government attend, 2005

An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, causes 15 deaths and major damage to nearby buildings, residences, a nursing home and middle school, 2013

Jazz composer and musician John Coltrane is awarded a posthumous Special Citation by the Pulitzer Prize board, 2015

A report from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital says that 10 children with SCID-X1 (Bubble Boy Disease) have been cured by gene therapy, 2019

The funeral of Prince Philip, Consort of Queen Elizabeth II, is held under Covid restrictions at Windsor Palace, 2021

Research of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch shows it now has coast creatures living and breeding in it, including jellyfish, sponges and worms, raising concerns about the spread of invasive species, 2023