Let Me In (Feline Friday) and Friendly Fill-Ins

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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.

Starting Jan. 6, Sandee is entrusting Feline Friday to me.  Wish me luck!

When i went to pick up Bigger Girl at the house she was visiting, the cat came to the door and wanted me to let him in.  The door was locked so we both had to wait until they answered!

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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 focus word for 2023.

2. 2022 was _________.

3. _________ is the most important lesson I learned over the past year. 

4. I hope 2023 is the year that _________.

1. Serve  is my focus word for 2023.

2. 2022 was   full.

3. "I'll get there somehow"   is the most important lesson I learned over the past year. 

4. I hope 2023 is the year that   we can get at least one slightly newer car.

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Today is:

Araw ni Rizal -- Philippines (commemoration of the martyrdom of Dr. Jose Rizal in 1896, as well as all victims of the Spanish government during their rule of the Philippines)

Bacon Day -- for those tired of the same old winter holidays, see www.baconday.worldbreak.com

Day of the Declaration of Slovakia as an Independent Eccliesiatic Province -- Slovakia

Fairy Frequent Fliers' Awards

Falling Needles Family Fest Day -- gather the family, watch the needles fall from the tree, and have a party; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Feast of the Holy Family -- Catholic Christian

Festival of Enormous Changes At the Last Minute -- internet generated, and i'm not sure i'm up to it

Kwanzaa, Day 5, Nia(Purpose)

Lhosar -- Gurung People of Nepal (sometimes called the Tamu People; Losar is celebrated by the rest of Nepal in February or March)

National Bicarbonate of Soda Day -- shouldn't this be on Jan. 1, to help us get over the indigestion from the night before?

No Interruptions Day -- let people finish up what needs to get done before the New Year at work, and silence the devices at home that keep us from spending uninterrupted time with family 

Sixth Day of Christmas

St. Ruggero of Canne's Day (Barletta, Italy)

Anniversary Today:

The Arroyo Seco Parkway, California's first freeway, opens, 1940

Rutherford B. Hayes (19th US President) marries Lucy Ware Webb, 1852

Birthdays Today:

LeBron James, 1984

Kristin Kreuk, 1982

Eliza Dushku, 1980

Laila Ali, 1977

Tiger Woods, 1975

Sean Hannity, 1961

Tracey Ullman, 1959

Matt Lauer, 1957

Meredith Vieira, 1953

Patti Smith, 1946

Davy Jones, 1945

Concetta Tomei, 1945

Michael Nesmith, 1942

James Burrows, 1940

Del Shannon, 1939

Joseph Bologna, 1938

Noel Paul Stookey, 1937

Sandy Koufax, 1935

Russ Tamblyn, 1935

Bo Diddley, 1928

Jack Lord, 1920

Bert Parks, 1914

Stephen Leacock, 1869

Simon Guggenheim, 1867

Rudyard Kipling, 1865

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Let's Make a Deal"(TV), 1963

"The Roy Rogers Show"(TV), 1951

"Kiss Me, Kate"(Musical), 1948

Today in History:

Hugh Capet, King of the Franks, crowns his son Robert the Pious king and co-ruler, 987

A Muslim mob storms the royal palace in Granada, crucifies Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacres most of the Jewish population of the city, 1066

Tokyo is hit by an earthquake, about 37,000 die, 1703

The first coffee is planted in Hawaii (Kona), 1817

Gyula, Count Andrássy, of Hungary, issues the Andrassy Note, calling for Christian-Muslim religious freedoms, 1875

Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," premieres, 1879

The American Political Science Association founded at New Orleans, 1903

Iran becomes a constitutional monarchy, 1906

The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, which later laid down the foundations of Pakistan, 1906

Lincoln's Inn in London admits its first female bar student, 1919

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed, 1922

Japan dedicates the first subway in the Orient (route under 2 miles long), 1927

The Cole Porter Broadway musical, Kiss Me, Kate (1,077 performances), opens at the New Century Theatre and becomes the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award, 1948

In the 39th game of his 3rd NHL season Wayne Gretzky scores 5 goals giving him 50 on the year setting a new NHL record , 1981

Israel and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations, 1993

Tropical Storm Zeta forms in the open Atlantic Ocean, tying the record for the latest tropical cyclone ever to form in the North Atlantic basin, 2005

The last roll of Kodachrome film is developed by Dwayne's Photo, the only remaining Kodachrome processor at the time, concluding the film's 74-year run as a photography icon, 2009

The opening of Line 6 of the Beijing subway makes it the longest metro network in the world at 442km, 2012

San Antonio assistant Becky Hammon becomes first female to coach an NBA team after Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is ejected in a game against the LA Lakers, 2020

You Never Know (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day and Brian's Thankful Thursday

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My assignment at Ms. G's every Wednesday is a roll of the dice, you never quite know what you're going to get.

Yesterday as i walked in, it did not surprise me at all when she said, "We have to go back out of town today, we're picking up more of those blankets, they're distributing to the 'Grandparents Raising Grandchildren' event."

We made the hour drive out to the warehouse, Ms. G on the phone the whole time as she called for a hairdresser appointment -- "She didn't cut it short enough last week!" -- spoke to a fellow animal rescue worker, and called the state police troop headquarters located in the parish we drove to in order to report a pickup truck with garbage flying out of the back, as she has every state police number on her phone and is a local police community liaison board member.

The warehouse was humming like a hive of bees as one crew was trying to repair the plumbing damage from a pipe that burst in the cold and others were moving and packing and shifting items for distribution to other places.  They loaded us up with about 200 blankets and throws, then handed us bottles of laundry detergent, bottles of dishwashing liquid, and rolls of paper towels for out own use!

"We gotta take care of the community volunteers who help move stuff out," Mr. Dale told us with a wink as we thanked him for thinking of us, "it keeps you coming back!"

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

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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!

More holiday fences, before they disappear for the year.

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

There's no doubt about it, we partied quite a bit,

Music was great, crowd was wild, it really was a hit.

It was one of those quite crazy nights that proves who is a friend,

One who'll stick around with you until the bitter end.

I have a good friend, I've already called, with bail money he will run,

But my really best friend is next to me saying, "Didn't we have fun!"

(I couldn't resist, as i do like the line, "A good friend will bail you out of jail, a great friend is sitting in the cell with you saying, 'Boy, howdy, wasn't that a good time!'")

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Brian of Brian's Home hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

Today i am thankful the winter cold has moderated here for a while, also that i now have laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, and paper towels.

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Today is:

Constitution Day -- Ireland

Enjoying ESP Day -- internet generated, and it means eating, sleeping, and partying!

Fifth Day of Christmas

Illegal Pants Day -- commemorates Emma Snodgrass' arrest in Boston in 1852 for wearing pants

Kwanzaa, Day 4, Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

National Chocolate Again Day -- because someone, somewhere, believes it can't be chocolate something-or-other day often enough

National Independence Day -- Mongolia(1911, from the Qing Dynasty)

Paternoster Row Day -- in memoriam of the famous area destroyed by the Blitz this date and tomorrow in 1940

Pepper Pot Day -- Pepper Pot Soup was invented today in 1777 at Valley Forge for the army to have something warm to eat

Sacrifice to Zeus Horios -- Ancient Greek Calendar (sacrifice in the deme of Erichia; date approximate)

St. Gabriel's Day -- Ethiopia

St. Thomas of Canterbury's Day (Thomas a Becket, Patron of clergy, secular clergy; Exeter College, Oxford, England; Portsmouth, England)

St. Trophimus of Arles' Day (Patron of children; Arles, France; against drought)

Tick Tock Day -- end of the year is getting closer, stop putting off your dreams! sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Yodel in the Shower Day -- internet generated, and i promise not to tell if you do

Anniversaries Today:

J. Paul Getty, Jr., weds Victoria Holdsworth, 1994

Texas becomes the 28th US State, 1845

Birthdays Today:

Jude Law, 1972

Andy Wachowski, 1967

Bryan "Dexter" Holland, 1966

Patricia Clarkson, 1959

Paula Poundstone, 1959

Ed Autry, 1954

John Polito, 1950

Ted Danson, 1947

Marianne Faithfull, 1946

Jon Voight, 1938

Mary Tyler Moore, 1936

Thomas Edwin Jarriel, 1934

Klaus Fuchs, 1911

Billy Mitchell, 1879

Pablo Cassals, 1876

William Gladstone, 1809

Andrew Johnson, 1808

Charles Goodyear, 1800

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Thunderball(Film, UK release), 1965

"The Andersonville Trial"(Play), 1959

The Adventures of Kathlyn(Film, first movie serial), 1913

Today in History:

Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church, 1170

The first nautical almanac in US published by Samuel Stearns, Boston, 1782

Gas lights are installed at White House, during the Polk administration, 1848

The first Young Men's Christian Association chapter in the US opens, in Boston, 1851

Emma Snodgrass is arrested in Boston for wearing pants, 1852

The first telegraph ticker used by a brokerage house, Groesbeck & Co, NY, 1867

The Wounded Knee Massacre takes place, 1890

Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically" (radio), 1891

Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty, 1911

The first movie serial, "Adventures of Kathlyn," premieres in Chicago, 1913

Fred P Newton completes longest swim ever (1826 miles), when he swam in the Mississippi River from Ford Dam, Minn, to New Orleans, 1930

Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology, 1959

Filming began on Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in England, 1965

Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees, 1989

Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war, 1996

Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives, 1998

The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct, 2003

Chaparrastique volcano erupts in El Salvador, 2013

The Ebola epidemic in Guinea is declared over by WHO, after 2,500 died over 2 years, 2015

The American weather satellite NOAA-20 records the coldest ever temperature of -111C at the top of a storm in the western Pacific, 2018