Friday, July 24, 2026

Cat and Bonus Cat (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!


Cat, our Link Linker the Stinker.





Bonus cat, what little of a photo i could get of the latest waif which has made its way to Ms. GA and Mr. BA.  They are calling the three pound mite Suzie.








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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. ___________________is my favorite kind of cake.


2. The best part of my week was _____________.


3. I _________ in a room full of strangers.


4. If I opened a restaurant, it would be called _________ and would serve _________.



 

1. Vegan "cheez"cake made with coconut   is my favorite kind of cake.


2. The best part of my week was   getting the A/C fixed in Lawrence the Honda.


3. I   take a deep breath and do my best to smile and seem normal   in a room full of strangers (if there's no way to avoid them or stay on the periphery, of couse).


4. If I opened a restaurant, it would be called   Freedom   and would serve   vegan and allergen free foods.



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


After several days of wondering if we would or would not have tropical weather, this was yesterday's sunset.






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Today is:


Amelia Earhart Day


Birth Anniversary of Guru Rinpoche -- Bhutan


Children's Day -- Vanuatu


Cousins Day -- because cousins are wonderful people to have around! sponsored by Claudia Evart of New York City, who must have had great cousins


Festival of St. Eloi -- French Basque


Jakaba Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (beginning of St. James' [Jacob] Festival, whose day is tomorrow; the beginning of hay harvest)


National Drive Through Day -- but only if you won't pass out from the heat when you roll down the window! on the founding date of Jack-in-the-Box, the first drive through burger chain


National Tequila Day -- celebrate North America's first native-born distilled spirit


Pioneer Day -- Mormon Christian


Pop a Wheelie Day -- before, not after, the tequila, please; a hospital visit is no fun


Public Opinion Day -- the first public opinion poll was published this date in 1824!


Schools Tree Day -- Australia (because National Tree Day is always a Sunday, the schools participate in planting trees the Friday before)


Simon Bolivar Day -- Ecuador; Venezuela


Sts. Boris and Gleb's Day (Patrons of princes; Moscow, Russia)


St. Christina the Astonishing's Day (Patron of all with mental handicaps, disorders, or illnesses, and mental health care workers, psychiatrists and therapists; against insanity and mental disorders)


St. Christina of Bolsena's Day (Patron of archers, mariners, millers)


Tell an Old Joke Day


Tenjin Matsuri -- Tenmangu Jinja, Osaka, Japan (one of Japan's 3 major festivals, through tomorrow)


 Days -- Elmwood, Wisconsin, US (Wisconsin's UFO capital, visit the petting zoo, shop at the community wide thrift sale, take part in the fun run, softball games, medallion hunts, bed races, and dances; watch the crowning of Miss Elmwood, the tractorcade, the car and truck show, the nightly fireworks, and stage bands; let the kids have a ball in the greased pig race and kiddie water fight; enjoy the Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast and the bake sale; and no need to miss church Sunday morning, bring a lawn chair for the ecumenical service so you don't miss a moment of the fun and excitement! through Sunday) 



Anniversary Today:


Richard Moll marries Susan Brown, 1993



Birthdays Today


Bindi Irwin, 1998

Dhani Lennevald, 1984

Anna Paquin, 1982

Summer Glau, 1981

Rose Byrne, 1979

Eric Szmanda, 1975

Jennifer Lopez, 1969

Kristin Chenoweth, 1968

Kadeem Hardison, 1965

Barry Bonds, 1964

Julie A. Krone, 1963

Lynda Carter, 1951

Michael Richards, 1949

Peter Serkin, 1947

Robert Hays, 1947

Chris Sarandon, 1942

Ruth Buzzi, 1936

Pat Oliphant, 1935

Billy Taylor, 1921

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, 1900

Chief Dan George, 1899

Amelia Earhart, 1897

Oswald Chambers, 1874

Alexandre Dumas, pere, 1802

Simon Bolivar, 1783

John Newton, 1725 (wrote Amazing Grace)



Debuting/Premiering Today:


The Fellowship of the Ring(Publication date), 1954



Today in History


Death in Kyoto, Japan, of Kamo no Chomei (b. 1155), Japanese author, poet (waka) and essayist, critic of Japanese vernacular poetry and major figure of Japanese poetics, 1216

Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands strike against a ban on foreign beer, 1487

Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France, 1534

Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI, 1567

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701

A Spanish treasure fleet of 10 ships under Admiral Ubilla leaves Havana, Cuba for Spain; on the 31st, all ships will be lost and come to be known as the !715 Treasure Fleet, 1715

Slavery is abolished in Chile, 1823

The first opinion poll was carried out in Delaware, USA, 1824

Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by using Wyoming's South Pass, 1832

After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City, 1847

The first tramway opened in England, 1861

Tennessee becomes the first U.S. State to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War, 1866

Captain Matthew Webb, who was the first person to swim the English Channel, drowned while trying to swim the rapids above Niagara Falls, 1883

O. Henry is released from prison in Austin, Texas after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank, 1901

Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas", 1911

The passenger ship S.S. Eastland capsizes while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. A total of 844 passengers and crew are killed in the largest loss of life disaster from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes, 1915

The first insulin treatment is carried out, on a six-year-old girl, at St Guy's Hospital, London, 1925

The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect, 1929

The dust bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (44°C) in Chicago and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee, 1935

During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! ("Long live free Quebec!"), 1967

The Quietly Confident Quartet of Australia wins the Men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time the United States has not won the event at Olympic level, 1980

Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becoming the first monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office, 2001

Lance Armstrong wins his 7th consecutive Tour de France, 2005

Over half of the country of Peru enters a state of emergency as a result of unusually cold weather, 2011

The scientific theory of supersymmetry is challenged after experiments with the Large Hadron Collider yield an incredibly rare particle decay event, 2013

After being reintroduced to Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, the first bison is born there in 140 years, 2018

The US Federal Trade Commission hands down it’s largest fine ever, $5 billion, to Facebook for violating consumer privacy, 2019

In Yamaguchi City, Japan, a series of wild monkey attacks on people lead to the police carrying tranquilizer guns, 2022

The gender pay gap in the US between men and women working full time falls to its lowest level ever, with women earning 84 cents for every $1 men earn, up from 78 cents a decade ago, 2023

Wildfire destroys much of the historic Canadian town of Jasper, Alberta, 2024

Thursday, July 23, 2026

A Working Lunch, Ms. G Style (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day, and Brian's Thankful Thursday

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Ms. G warned me Tuesday evening she wouldn't be there when i arrived at her house Wednesday morning but said she'd be along rather quickly.


I had time to get most of the usual chores done, with the exception of vacuuming as it takes the longest, by the time she arrived and when she did arrive, she had to immediately lie down on her recliner chair heating pad as her sciatic nerve had a pinch, as she calls it, and she was really hurting.


She sat and sent texts as i vacuumed, removing all the evidence of Ms. Sassy Floofypants and Mr. Gray which was scattered hither and yon.


Once i was done she said we had an errand, and she took me out to lunch, which was an unexpected treat, and while there, she fielded calls from Ms. Fiona, whom she placated with a promise to come by tomorrow and call Humana for her to get them straight, and texts from the family of Ms. J, her godmother, who is still in a rehab place which wanted to label her psychotic for her constant yelling and confusion when what she really had was a UTI about to go septic.


That morning, Ms. G had been up at the rehab fighting with the nurses to get them to give Ms. J her meds on a schedule, instead of the "whenever we get to it" way they'd been doing it, which was leaving her still in pain and still prone to "act crazy" as they try to call it.


In some ways it's rather sad Ms. G can't even have a meal out without all the drama following her, but she's at her happiest with life, i think, when she's in the thick of it and when i left her house she was preparing to go back up to the rehab place and try to calm Ms. J's older daughter who is not handling this so well.



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





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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!





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







You may not think it's much

but we love to call it home,

the view is great, the water cool,

and we very seldom roam.


We've found everything we love

is really right around here,

so we don't need a castle,

just our little cabin so dear.



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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 the A/C in Lawrence is fixed and there's a plan afoot to repair the timing chain this weekend.






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Today is:


Birthday of Emperor Haili Selassi I -- Rastafari


Flag Day -- Abkhazia


Gorgeous Grandma Day -- a day to celebrate those who age, date, and mate in style!   www.gorgeousgrandma.com


Hot Enough For Ya Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays as the only day on which you may utter these words; any other day, and you will get high fived on the back of the head!;)


Mayan Sun Festival -- honoring Ahau Kin, the sun god, date approximate


National Vanilla Ice Cream Day


Neptunalia and Salcia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god and goddess of the ocean and wide seas, celebrates Neptune in his role as god of irrigation)


Private Eye Day -- internet generated


Remembrance Day -- Papua New Guinea


Renaissance Day -- Oman (celebrates the accession of Qaboos bin Said Al Said, 14th Sultan of Oman)


Revolution Day -- Egypt


St. Apollinaris' Day (Patron against epilepsy, gout; of Aachen, Germany; Burtscheid, Germany; Düsseldorf, Germany; Ravenna, Italy; Remagen, Germany)


St. Bridget of Sweden's Day (Patron of widows; Europe; Sweden)


St. Phocas the Gardener's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, boatmen, farm workers, farmers, field hands, gardeners, husbandmen, mariners, market-gardeners, sailors, watermen)


Tisha B'Av -- Judaism (began sunset yesterday, through nightfall)


Warei Shrine Summer Festival -- Warei Shrine, Uwajima City, Japan (through tomorrow, includes "bull-sumo", a non-fatal type of bull fighting, where the bulls try to push each other out of the ring)



Anniversaries Today


Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson, 1986

Coronation of King Mohammed VI of Morocco, 1999



Birthdays Today


Daniel Radcliffe, 1989

Michelle Williams, 1980

Omar Epps, 1975

Nomar Garciapara, 1973

Marlon Wayans, 1972

Charisma Carpenter, 1970

Philip Seymour Hoffman, 1967

Eriq La Salle, 1962

Woody Harrelson, 1961

Lamont "ShowBoat" Robinson, 1961

Edie McClurg, 1951

Belinda Montgomery, 1950

Don Imus, 1940

Nicholas Gage, 1939

Ronny Cox, 1938

Anthony M. Kennedy, 1936

Don Drysdale, 1936

Bert Convy, 1933

Arata Isozaki, 1931

Gloria DeHaven, 1925

Amalia Rodrigues, 1920

Harold "Pee Wee" Reese, 1918

Arthur Treacher, 1894

Haile Selassie I, 1892

Raymond Chandler, 1888

Samuel Augustus Maverick, 1803



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha! Ha!"(Single release), 1966

"The Gene Autry Show"(TV), 1950



Today in History


William Austin Burt patents the Typographer, a precursor to the typewriter, 1829

The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union, 1840

The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, the world's oldest international sport federation, is founded, 1881

The Ford Motor Company sells its first car, 1903

Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film, 1926

Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite, 1962

The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling within 4 years, 1982

Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba, 1983

Comet Hale-Bopp is discovered, 1995

Cape Verde becomes the 153rd member of the World Trade Organization, 2008

Patent law disputes between Samsung and Apple deadlock as the dispute addresses valuation of each other's patents, 2012

NASA's Kepler mission announces the discovery of the most Earth-like planet yet - Kepler-452b, 1,400 light years from Earth, 2015

Japan records its highest ever temperature at 41.1 degrees (105.98F) in Kumagaya, 2018

China launches its first mission to Mars, Tianwen-1, a combined orbiter, lander and rover, 2020

The XXXII Summer Olympic Games officially open at the Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan, 2021

Greece evacuates 19,000 tourists and residents from the path of wildfires on the island of Rhodes amid the country's hottest July in 50 years, 2023