Morning Mayhem (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins and It's a Wonder (Monthly Poetry Group)

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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.

The cats were being good one morning so i gave them the 'nip, and the boys had a small tussle.

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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. I wouldn't mind being stuck in an elevator with _________.

2. Now that the formula shortage is fixed, I wish something could be done about the _________ shortage.

3. If I had to sum up my life in one sentence, it would read as follows: _________. 

4. _________ is an awkward situation in which I once found myself.

1. I wouldn't mind being stuck in an elevator with   Jesus.  After all, it would take Him to keep me calm if such a thing happened to me.

2. Now that the formula shortage is fixed, I wish something could be done about the   common courtesy  shortage.

3. If I had to sum up my life in one sentence, it would read as follows:   You messed it, she tried to clean it. 

4. Having a credit card declined, taken away and cut up  is an awkward situation in which I once found myself.  (It wasn't my fault, either.  Back in the day of the dinosaur, boys and girls, the credit card companies would print a little booklet list of card numbers that were to be declined and send a copy to each vendor, updating on a regular basis.  When you presented your card, the vendor looked up your number and if your card number was in that little booklet, your card was declined, they cut it and sent it back to the company, and you had to find another way to pay.  Sometimes, no matter how hard the credit card companies tried, they'd print a wrong number, and that happened to me.)

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It's time for the Monthly Poetry Group, hosted by Karen at Baking in a Tornado.  Participants write a poem about a topic one of us chose.  This month, Diane chose Underwear.  Be sure to go check out all the poems.

I'm not sure how I got here

To be born is what I mean,

Now let me explain it further

Before you think me very green.

Oh, I understand the process,

When two people love each other

They make a little whoopee,

Out pops sister or brother.

Yes, there is the length of time

Spent growing all within,

Grandparents each wearing

Such a happy little grin.

No, that is not the wonder,

Though a wonder it truly be,

I have a different wonder

That just occurred to me.

I think it a wonder and lucky that

I got to here from there,

I've seen both of my parents

In only their underwear!

(This is not my joke.  My brother, the children's Uncle P, who died of Covid last year, was a stand-up comedian and used to say, "I realize I'm lucky to have been born.  I've seen both my parents in their underwear."  This is in his memory because he was so funny, i wanted to turn it into rhyme.)

The other participants:

Karen at Baking in a Tornado     

Diane at On the Border     

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To those of you who pray, please remember #1 Son, he is having surgery on a torn meniscus and cartilage today.  Thank you! 

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Today is:

Abolition Day -- Guadeloupe; Saint Martin

Buttercup Day -- an internet holiday that just sounds fun

Cellophane Tape Day -- patented this date in 1930

Children's Day -- Nigeria (a school holiday)

Don't Fry Day -- another day to raise awareness of the need for sun protection through the summer    

FindleFritter's Stoat-Wheedling Event -- Fairy Calendar

Heat Awareness Safety Day -- US (your guv'mint at work, and actually doing something right that you really should pay heed to)  

Mother's Day -- Bolivia

National Death Busters Day -- US, because the upcoming Memorial Day weekend in the US is the most dangerous for driving; be careful out there!

National Grape Popsicle Day

National Wig Out Day -- US (on the Friday before Memorial Day, don your wig and your alter ego and have fun!  there are events around the country)    

Pop-up Toaster Day -- Charles Strite applied for his patent on the first pop-up toaster on this day in 1919

St. Augustine of Canterbury's Day (Roman Catholic Church observance; Patron of England)

St. Melangell's Day (Patron of hares)

Sun Screen Protection Day -- an annual, and unsponsored, reminder to use that SPF protection, every day!

Throw the B*st@rds Out Day -- originally directed at politicians, (and if you want to do that, too, great!), and celebrated on various days on various sites, but whomever is making your life miserable, toss them out!  or at least, toss them out of your thoughts for today.

Birthdays Today:

Chris Colfer, 1990

André Benjamin, 1975

Jamie Oliver, 1975

Jack McBrayer, 1973

Joseph Fiennes, 1970

Jeremy Mayfield, 1969

Todd Bridges, 1965

Pat Cash, 1965

Adam Carolla, 1964

Peri Gilpin, 1961

Richard Schiff, 1955

Bruce Weitz, 1943

Louis Gossett, Jr., 1936

Ramsey Lewis, 1935

Lee Meriwether, 1935

John Barth, 1930

Henry Kissinger, 1923

Christopher Lee, 1922

Herman Wouk, 1915

Sam Snead, 1912

Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911

Vincent Price, 1911

Dolores Hope, 1909

Rachel Louise Carson, 1907

Dashiell Hammett, 1894

Isadora Duncan, 1878

Arnold Bennett, 1867

Wild Bill Hickock, 1837

Julia Ward Howe, 1819

Amelia Bloomer, 1818

Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1794

Debuting/Premiering Today

From Russia With Love(Film). 1964

The Three Little Pigs(Disney animated short), 1933

Today in History:

Habeaus Corpus Act, codifying how the writ of habeaus corpus is to be used, passes in UK, 1679

Peter the Great founds St. Petersburg, 1703

In Bolivia, the Battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba  fight against the Spanish army, 1812

In Canada, American forces capture Fort George, 1813

Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco, California, 1907

The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight, 1919

The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public, 1930

Richard Gurley Drew receives a patent for his adhesive tape, later manufactured by 3M as Scotch tape, 1930

The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon  The Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", 1933

In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, , 1937

Toronto's CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) becomes Canada's first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n' Roll music format, 1957

Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census, 1967

In Culpeper, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition, 1995

Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire, 1996

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milosevic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity, 1999

The May 2006 Java earthquake strikes at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing over 6,600, 2006

Scientists in Canada bring 400 year-old bryophyte specimens left behind by retreating glaciers during the Ice Age back to life, 2013

The director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde calls for "tougher regulation and tighter supervision" of the banking sector, 2014

Commercial space company SpaceX is approved as a contractor to the U.S. military for satellite launches, 2015

A research team from University of York publish a study based on 711 samples from 72 countries that shows the world's rivers are widely contaminated with antibiotics, especially in Africa and Asia, 2019

A Lovely Service, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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Every week i get to thankful day and wonder how much more hypergratitudinous (not a real word, but Clark will understand) a week can get.

(Before we go further, for any who don't know, Grandma and Grandpa are parents to me, Uncle J, and Uncle P, who passed away 3 weeks ago.  The reason i call them by these names is because that's what i started calling them when i had kids, and the children call them by these names, so they've stuck.)

Last Saturday i got to get down to NOLA for the first time since over a week before the hurricane.  On the way, i saw first hand as i got closer and closer to NOLA the level of destruction rose and rose.  The number of trees down, limbs down, and limbs hanging broken but still in the trees was astounding.  Entire areas that used to be forest had almost no tree tops, just the trunks jutting up into the sky.

When i arrived, almost every traffic light on the way to their house was out, you could see broken poles, billboards with nothing on them because they'd been blown away, it was the usual unusual that we see after a major storm, and you never get used to it.

No, you are just thankful to have survived, and we all are.

Uncle J had driven in and as noted in last Monday's Awww Monday photos, the four dogs had a whirlwind visit for which all of them were thankful.  Grandpa took me to the store, but they were on emergency power only.  No ice, no fresh food, limited amount of bread, nothing refrigerated or frozen, limited produce.  We got what we could and were glad for it, then got back to the house where i commenced to cleaning.

After the cleaning, he got the bright idea to drive to Sam's Club and see if they were open and not too crowded and had anything.  With the exception of ice, we were able to get everything food related we needed there. 

Grandma had been after Grandpa to get a new house generator, and when this one just about bit the dust during their prolonged outage, she finally got him to agree.  They were able to run one A/C, one fridge/freezer, and some lights.  They had to leave the lid open to keep the generator from overheating, and take turns staying up all night to watch for rain so the generator wouldn't get wet.  We're thankful they survived that part!

Sunday was a great day, i got to take Becca to church, see and talk to a good many people, and go visit Ms. S.

Then the workweek came, and i'm thankful i got to do the usual on Monday (Carl and Ms. P), Tuesday (Ms. RW), and Wednesday (cat shelter and Ms. G).  On Tuesday i also worked Ms. GA in, they're having a houseguest and i managed to go dust and de-cat-hair the guest room.  It took 3 dustings and two dust moppings and then a regular mopping, but it got done.

Thursday, Sweetie, Coda and i drove to NOLA to do another cleaning, this time with full furniture moving.  Since the electricity was back on (wahoo!), we got to vacuum and i started on Mount Washmore.  The sheets got done, and enough towels to hold everyone out a couple of days, plus the clothes.

Are there thankful things about a funeral?  Of course there are things you can look upon with gratitude.  #1 Son got to our house on time.  We've not had gas lines, so we had gas to get down there.  The traffic was awful but we were still on time, we had clean clothes to wear that were appropriate, and the church had also gotten their electricity back so we could actually have the service.  (This last is a huge, over the top thankful thing, as Grandma was wound tighter than a high-tension spring, and if there'd been another delay, she would have snapped.)

Then there's the fact that i didn't pass out from stage fright giving the Words of Remembrance (eulogy), and they found me a stool to stand on so you could actually see me behind the lectern that was taller than i am!

The funeral director was there guiding us the whole way, which was wonderful.  He even had a cooler with water and a box of different types of snack crackers if any of us needed them.  He put them under the front pew where we were going to be sitting so we could get to them during the visitation.  When the service started, i moved and pushed Grandpa over next to Grandma (he was trying to sit in the pew behind us, don't ask me why) and he leaned over and said, "Good you put me right next to the food!"

We're all thankful for a lovely service that was very befitting of Uncle P, who was dearly loved.

After the service, we're thankful Grandpa had ignored Grandma's "Nobody is coming over, we're not having any food at the house after!" declaration.  The same core family who come for Thanksgiving and Christmas will always be there, essentially, just the family.  We number 12 now when all of us are together, but Little Girl and Bigger Girl were not there.  That still leaves 10 hungry people, and Grandpa had ordered meatballs and gumbo, both much appreciated.

Uncle J asked for dessert after, saying, "Is there any ice cream?"  Grandma said, "Yes, it's Grandpa's."  He replied, "Good, he's easy!" and went to ask Grandpa where it was and if he could have some.  He enjoyed a modest bowl of butter pecan, Grandpa's favorite.

On the way home later, i was grateful for #1 Son thinking to check the traffic on his phone as we were leaving.  Friday afternoon traffic is no joke, either in NOLA or up where we are, so he found the fastest route which was not the most direct but had no accidents or breakdowns.  Going the long way is sometimes faster, and i'm thankful we got home in one piece.

Today is go back to NOLA day to finish the laundry and clean up after the 10 people who were eating there (and some sleeping over there), making sure the house is shipshape.

This is also the 3rd day in a row for Coda to play with Lulu.  Those two are about in heaven getting to see each other so often, a bonus in the midst of all this.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Dyanne and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.   

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Today is:

Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day 2020 -- US (the Saturday after Labor Day, everyone is encouraged to volunteer in cleaning federal land, recreation areas, or waterways, to help do their part to keep these places beautiful)

Day of Remembrance/Patriot Day -- US (all flags at half staff)

Discontinued Thoughts Exhibition -- Fairy Calendar

Eleven Days of Global Unity -- Day 1, Unity (sponsored by We, the World) 

Emergency Number Day/National 911 Emergency Day -- US

Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day -- Quincy, WA, US (a fun and tasty way to celebrate and learn how food gets from the farm to your table; through Sunday)

Fiesta Nacional de Cataluna -- Catalonia, Spain (National Day of Catalonia)

Great Procession of Tournai -- Tournai, Belgium (religious procession held since 1092, in thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague; through tomorrow)

International Drive Your Studebaker Day -- an official event of the Studebaker Drivers Club Inc. (and i wish i could!) 

Jinnah Day -- Pakistan (Founder's Day)

Libraries Remember Day -- encouraging libraries, which preserve knowledge and heritage, promote tolerance, and represent all that is the antithesis to terrorism, to remain open the entire 24 hours of this day as symbol of freedom, tolerance, and hope

Make Your Bed Day -- make your mom happy!

National Day of Service and Remembrance/Patriot Day -- US 

National Hot Cross Buns Day

Nayrouz -- Coptic Orthodox Church (Coptic new year and day of confessors) related observances

     Enkutatash -- Ethiopia

     Keddus Johannes -- Eritrea (a/k/a Geez New Year)

No News is Good News Day

Pohnpei Liberation Day -- Micronesia

Queen Paola's Birthday -- Belgium (an official flag day)

Sacrifice to Zeus Epoptes -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

St. Sperandea's`Day (Patron of Cingoli, Italy)

St. Vincent of Leon' Day (Patron of Cercemaggiore, Italy)

Teacher's Day -- Argentina

Anniversaries Today:

Diocletian New Year

Remembrance of 9/11/2001

Birthdays Today:

Harry Connick, Jr. 1967

Moby, 1965

Virginia Madsen, 1963

Kristy McNichol, 1962

Amy Madigan, 1951

Donna Lopiano, 1946

Lola Falana, 1943

Tom Dreesen, 1942

Brian DePalma, 1940

Paul "Bear" Bryant, 1913

D.H. Lawrence, 1885

O. Henry, 1862

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Little House on the Prairie"(TV), 1974

"The Rookies"(TV), 1972

"The Carol Burnett Show"(TV), 1967

"The Queen's Messenger"(TV, first drama ever broadcast), 1928

Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale"(first US performance), 1850

Today in History:

Battle of Teutoburg Forest ends, 9

Michimalonko leads indigenous warriors to attack and destroy Santiago, Chile, 1541

Alexander Hamilton is appointed first US Secretary of the Treasury, 1789

The Hope Diamond is stolen along with other French crown jewels when six men break into the house used to store them, 1792

Stephen Foster's well-known song, Oh! Susanna, is first performed at a saloon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1847

Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale", gives her first US concert, 1850

The Olympia Columbian becomes the first newspaper published north of the Columbia River, 1852

The postal mail chute is patenteted by James Cutler, 1883

Mahatma Gandhi coins the term "Satyagraha" to characterize the Non-Violence movement in South Africa, 1906

The Quebec Bridge's central span collapses, killing 11, 1916

Hurricane Carla strikes the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the second strongest storm ever to hit the state, 1961

U.S. President Jimmy Carter, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel meet at Camp David and agree on the Camp David Accords, 1978

Hungary announces that East German refugees there are free to leave for West Germany, 1989

Hurricane Iniki, one of the most damaging hurricanes in United States history, devastates Hawaii, especially the islands of Kauai and Oahu, 1992

September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, 2001

The State of Israel claims completion for its unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip, 2005

Russia tests the largest conventional weapon ever, the Father of all bombs, 2007

The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is attacked by terrorists, 2012

The UN imposes new export sanctions on North Korea, 2017

The journal Nature Astronomy publishes findings which claim water has been detected for first time on planet outside our solar system, on exoplanet K2-18b, 110 light-years away, 2019