Orion (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-ins, and Nature Friday

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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!

Orion was brought in as an underweight kitten with a bad case of ringworm and eyes so infected they were bulging.  The infection is gone but he is totally blind and when he's done with all the ringworm meds, he'll have his neuter surgery and his eyes will be removed (otherwise they will always be prone to infection).

He doesn't let lack of vision stop him from playing with his toys or interacting with people, and we know he will adapt well to a good home.

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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. When I need to make a tough decision, I ______________________.

2. If I were a dance, I would be a ______________.

3. _________ is my current life motto.

4. _________ is the best part of being an adult, and _________ is the worst part.

1. When I need to make a tough decision, I   pray a lot.

2. If I were a dance, I would be a   weird one.

3. One foot in front of the other   is my current life motto.

4. Grandchildren   (is)are the best part of being an adult, and   working just so you can pay bills   is the worst part.

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

The crepe myrtles are popping out!

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Today is:

Agriculture Day and Labor Day -- Haiti

Amtrak Day -- the train service began this day in 1971

Beltaine / Samhain -- Wiccan/Pagan

Bladder Cancer Awareness Month  

Calends of May -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observances

     Day sacred to Maia

     Feast for Lares Praestites (household gods)

Childhood Stroke Awareness Month -- also called Pediatric Stroke Awareness Day, because kids can have strokes, too   

Chimney Sweeps Day -- the boys as young as 4 trained to help master sweeps got Mayday off each year

Constitution Day / National Day -- Marshall Islands

Executive Coaching Day -- a reminder, on what is most countries' Labor Day, that workers deserve great leaders

Feast of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage -- Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines (pilgrimages to the shrine of Nuestra Sra de la Paz y Buen Viaje; through the month)

Festival of Saint Efisio -- Cagliari, Italy (one of the most colorful religious festivals anywhere in the world; through the 4th)

Full Flower Moon / Corn Planting Moon / Milk Moon

     Buddha Day/Vesak/Waisak  -- Bhuddist's Buddha Day; date varies with many celebrating tomorrow, and some areas already started the celebrations yesterday; sometimes called "Buddha's Birthday"

     Heavenly Sage Bao Sheng’s Birthday -- Taoism

     Kasone Full Moon -- Myanmar

     Vesak Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

     Waisak/Vesak Festival -- Borobudur Temple, Java, Indonesia (on the day of the full moon, a stunning and spiritual celebration of Buddha's birthday)

Garland Dressing -- Charlton on Otmoor, England (a wooden cross is bedecked with yew and box leaves)

Global Love Day -- sponsored by The Love Foundation 

Go Fetch! National Food Drive for Homeless Animals -- PALS Foundation 

Gujarat Day / Maharashtra Day -- MH, India

Hug Your Cat Day -- sponsored by Apricat 

International Space Day -- UN

International Tuba Day   

Journée Internationale de la Guérilla Tournesol / International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day -- begun in Belgium, now celebrated worldwide, guerrilla gardeners are encouraged to plant sunflowers (or an appropriate plant for their climate) in a neglected public place or shabby flower bed

Keep Kids Alive! Drive 25 Day -- 20-25mph in school zones, please   

Kevadpuha -- Estonia (Spring Day)

Law Day, USA -- US, by Presidential Proclamation

Lei Day -- Hawai'i (where you celebrate Mayday with a lei instead of mayflowers)

Loyalty Day -- US

Magic Dragon Street Meet -- Historic Bagnell Dam Strip and Prewitt's Point, MO, US (if you like car shows, this is the place for you! through tomorrow)

     

May Day / Labor Day / Worker's Day -- International; celebrated as the beginning of summer in some places, as a Labor Day in others

Mother Goose Day -- as declared by the Mother Goose Society 

National Chocolate Parfait Day

National Love Day -- Czech Republic (couples flock to the memorial of the poet Karel Hynek Mácha in Prague and kiss)

National Purebred Dog Day -- US (as proposed on this page)

New Homeowner's Day -- can't find confirmation on this one, listed at a few sites but no history or records of why this day

No Pants Day -- first Friday in May, and not to be confused with the annual No Pants Subway Ride in NYC

'Obby 'Oss (Hobby Horse) Parade -- Padstow, Cornwall, England (every May 1 since 1502, if the records are correct)

Play of St. Evermaar -- Belgium (annual performance of a mystery play, in its original form from over 1,000 years ago, by the village)

Riding of the Bounds -- Berwick-upon-Tweed, Casey, England (riders scour the countryside to be sure the Scots have not encroached upon English soil in this 5-century old tradition)

Rodonitsa -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (day to offer feasts to the ancestors, named for Rod, god of family and the cosmos)

Santacruzan / Flore de Mayo -- Philippines (lasts through the month, with the biggest celebratory days being May 26-27 this year)

Save the Rhino Day / Rhino Mayday -- International

School Principal's Day -- since teachers get a day, so should the principal

Silver Star Day -- US (to honor all military who have earned a Silver Star) 

SOS Radio Week -- UK (The Royal National Lifeboat Institution keeps the seas safer, and Radio Amateurs help them raise funds www.sosradioweek.org.uk; it used to be a week, and though that's still the name, it now lasts the whole month of May)          

Stepmother's Day -- sponsored by secondwivesclub.com

St. Joseph the Worker's Day -- Holy See(Vatican City)

St. Peregrine Laziosi's Day (Patron of AIDS patients, cancer patients, and the sick; against cancer, open sores and skin diseases)

St. Walpurga's Canonization Day (The saint who banishes the evil from Walpurgis night.)

Swieta Panstwowe -- Poland (National Day)

Tammany's Day / St. Tamenend -- US soldiers in the Revolution wanted a patron saint to rival St. George of the British Army, and chose Delaware Indian chief and wise man Chief Tamenend, also called Tammany

Upper Canada Village -- Morrisburg, ON, Canada (through early October, various programs that let visitors and students enter the world of the 1860s)

     

Unity Day -- Kazakhstan

Virgen de Chapi Festival -- Peru

Visakh Bochea Day -- Cambodia (Buddha Day)

Yotaka Matsuri -- Fukuno, Toyama, Japan (enjoy floats, paper lanters, and mock battles in this two-day festival)

Zuni Green Corn Dance -- Zuni Native Americans (welcoming back the Corn Maidens who fled during the winter; dating approximate as many Native ceremonies are closed to outsiders)

Anniversaries Today:

Cheerios go on sale, 1941

Empire State Building Ribbon Cutting, 1931

Birthdays Today:

Wes Anderson, 1969

Tim McGraw, 1967

Charlie Schlatter, 1966

Steve Cauthen, 1960

Ray Parker, Jr., 1954

Paul Teutul, Sr., 1949

Rita Coolidge, 1945

Bobbie Ann Mason, 1940

Judy Collins, 1939

Sonny James, 1929

Charles "Chuck" Bednarik, 1925

Terry Southern, 1924

Jack Paar, 1918

Glenn Ford, 1916

Archie Williams, 1915

Kate Smith, 1909

Mark Clark, 1896

Leo Sowerby, 1895

Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Burke), 1852

Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, 1837

King Kamehameha I of Hawai'i, 1738

Joseph Addison, 1672

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"My One and Only"(Musical), 1983

Citizen Kane(Film), 1941

"Batman"(Detective Comics #27), 1939

"Buffalo Bill's Wild West"(touring Western show), 1883

"Le nozze di Figaro/The Marriage of Figaro"(Mozart Opera, K492), 1786

Today in History:

The Wars of Scottish Independence end with a treaty recognizing the Kingdom of Scotland as a separate entity, 1328

The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, 1707

Species Plantarum is published by Linnaeus, marking the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, 1753

Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood  pottery company in Great Britain, 1759

Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt establishes the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), 1776

Kamehameha, the king of Hawai'i defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawai'i, 1785

The British colonies abolish slavery, 1834

The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom, 1840

The first wagon train leaves from Independence, MO, bound for California, 1841

Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second, Asia's first modern police force is established, 1844

Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London, 1851

The Empire of Brazil, Argentina  and Uruguay  sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance, 1865

The Folies Bergère opens in Paris, 1869

Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States, 1884

The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic, 1915

The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris, 1927

The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named, 1930

The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City, 1931

The Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war, 1940

The Salk vaccine is made available to the public, 1956

Fidel Castro proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections, 1961

Amtrak is formed to take over the U.S. passenger rail service, 1971

Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, 1987

On the same day, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A's sets the record for stolen bases (his 939th), and Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers pitches his 7th career no-hitter, breaking his own record, 1991

Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, , 2004

Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden, 2009

Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, 2011

The U.N. Human Rights Office determine it is a violation of international law to force-feed hunger strikers at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison, 2013

Scotland becomes the first country in the world to introduce a minimum price on alcohol, 2018

Naruhito officially succeeds his father Akihito as the Emperor of Japan after the latter abdicated the day before due to ill health, 2019

New York City officially names a street "Sesame Street" in honor of the show's 50th anniversary, 2019

Cognitive psychologist and computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, known as "the Godfather of AI," resigns from Google to begin speaking out about the dangers of artificial intelligence, 2023