Do You Want to Play? (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, Nature Friday, and Pet Photo Fails

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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!

Our little Annie was wondering if Link Linker the Stinker wanted to play with his toy.

He didn't seem very interested.

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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 rue the day ________________.

2. One thing I wish I had closure with is __________________.

3. _________ recently took a turn for the worse when _________.

4. My _________ has improved thanks to _________.

1. I rue the day   the young lady ran a stop sign and wrecked my Sweetie's Honda, the best car we ever had.

2. One thing I wish I had closure with is   my best friend from high school who decided to move off the grid almost 30 years ago and i haven't been able to find anything about her since.

3. Our budget   recently took a turn for the worse when   someone in this house (and not me) ran the water a little too vigorously during the freezes last month, causing our water bill to double, which will be reflected on our sewer user fees for months to come because of how they figure such things here.

4. My   sodium level   has improved thanks to   me being diligent about it.

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

More azaleas are popping up.

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Pet Photo Fails is hosted by Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries & Meows.     

I was trying to get Abby to post for a Sunday Selection, but she wouldn't cooperate and stay in the light.  This was too dark to use as anything but a fail.

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Today is:

Aspirin Day -- Bayer received its US patent for the medicine on this day in 1900

Day of Selene -- Ancient Greek Calendar (goddess of the moon, date approximate)

Equirria -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Cavalry Horse Festival)

Feast of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows/Gabriel Possenti (Patron of clerics, students, young people; Abruzzi, Italy; Catholic Action)

Independence Day -- Dominican Republic(1844)

Majuba Day -- South Africa (celebration of the Boers victory at Majuba Hill)

National Kahlua Day

National Plan for Vacation Day -- US (don't wait, and don't forfeit your paid leave, plan your vacation early in the year and get that much needed time off)

National Strawberry Day -- no, i don't know why this isn't in June, when the berries are best; maybe the person who put it here had too much Kahlua

No Brainer Day - this day is for me! created by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith, "America's Premier Eventologist"

Polar Bear Day -- as declared by Polar Bears International

Read Five Pages in the Dictionary Day -- internet generated, and am i the only one who likes the idea?

Runic Half Month Tyr commences (cosmic pillar)

St. Galmier of Lyon's Day (Patron of locksmiths)

Threepenny Day -- Eton College, England (By the last will of two Provosts in the 16th century, each boy receives a threepenny piece on this day -- enough to buy half a sheep back then.)

Anniversary Today:

African Burial Ground National Monument is established, 2006

Birthdays Today:

Josh Groban, 1981

Chelsea Clinton, 1980

Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, 1971

Grant Show, 1963

Adam Baldwin, 1962

Michael Bolton, 1953

Alan Guth, 1947

Mary Fran, 1943

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, 1942

Howard Hesseman, 1940

Ralph Nadar, 1934

Elizabeth Taylor, 1932

Joanne Woodward, 1930

Ariel Sharon, 1928

John Connally, 1917

James Thomas Farrell, 1904

John Steinbeck, 1902

Gene Sarazen, 1902

Marian Anderson, 1897

David Sarnoff, 1891

Hugo La Fayette Black, 1886

Alice Hamilton, 1869

Ellen Terry, 1847

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807

Constantine I, 272

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"What Makes Sammy Run?"(Musical), 1964

"Road to Utopia"(Film), 1946

Today in History:

The first Russian Embassy arrives in London, 1557

The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland, 1560

Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci, 1626

Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I, 1670

The Pacific island of New Britain is discovered, 1700

Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire, 1812

The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti, 1844

Composer Robert Schumann is saved from a suicide attempt in Rhine, 1854

Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland, 1861

The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships, 1870

Charlotte E. Ray becomes the first African American woman to earn a law degree, from Howard University, 1872

Lord Kitchener opens Khartoum-El Obeid (Nyala) railway, 1912

Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14, 1940

The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over, 1964

The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1973

People magazine is published for the first time, 1974

U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated", 1991

A Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, 2002

The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years, 2007

Central Chile is hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, 2010

Wikileaks begins releasing 5 million emails from Stratfor, a private intelligence company, 2012

At Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his farewell address, 2013

The smallest baby boy ever born who grew enough to be released from the hospital goes home from a Tokyo hospital, after an original birth weight of 268g (9.45oz), 2019

Doctors announce the world's second known case of semi-identical twins, a boy and girl from Brisbane, Australia, 2019

Astrophysical Journal publishes the results of a study of the largest cosmic explosion ever detected from a supermassive black hole in the Ophiuchus galaxy, 2020

The Philadelphia Orchestra renames their concert hall Marian Anderson Hall in honor of the noted contralto from that city, 2024

One Small Item (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day, and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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Ms. G had gotten back in town from the funeral and hit the ground running, having not even had time to scoop litter boxes or do much of anything else around her own house in the past two days.

Not only was she in the midst of re-readying a house for the market (the expected closing did not happen), she was also in the midst of setting out to right a wrong, one of her favorite activities.

Upon finally deciding to kick her boyfriend of over 30 years out of the house, a woman up the street had also made the rush decision to sell her house simply to get away from the memories and had engaged the services of a realtor.

Said realtor had convinced the woman, "sell it to me [for a ridiculously low bargain price] and I'll repair and flip it and you won't have to worry about doing anything," which was really low of her and unfortunately for her, Ms. G found out and loathes when such things are perpetrated on clients by a fellow realtor.

Swinging into action, she'd gotten the client to give her a copy of the contract, which she'd been silly enough to sign, and there, between lines 97 and 99 was something which Ms. G could use to help the woman legally get out of the contract, as the realtor in question had not met one tiny condition.

Ms. G had also convinced the woman to use her home's equity to update and pretty it and stay in it, saving herself a ton of trouble selling and moving as well as keeping her payment on the house lower than an apartment rental; said scummy realtor got a lot more than she bargained for when Ms. G took up the client's cause.

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

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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:    

When preacher Dwight L Moody

on his deathbed did lay,

with his last breath he looked up,

and to his wife did say:

I see the gates of Heaven opening.  

I never did it justice.

(True story.)

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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 we figured out the problem with the water bill.  Someone was a little too generous in leaving the water dripping during all the freezes last month, and i'm very thankful that's all it was.

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Today is:

Ayyám-i-Há -- Baha'i (intercalary days, devoted to service and gift giving; through Mar. 1)

For Pete's Sake Day -- Wellcat Holidays asks us, who is Pete, and why do things for his sake?  think about that as you celebrate this today

Intercalary Days -- Baha'i (through Mar. 1)

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day -- some student programs at universities are set for this weekend, as encouraged during National Engineers Week 

Levi Strauss Day -- his birth anniversary

Liberation Day -- Kuwait

National Chili Day  

National Personal Chef Day -- heaven knows we all have one of those; some websites list it today, some on July 16

National Pistachio Day

Rooks Nesting Day -- Olde England (12 days after Candlemas on the Julian Calendar)

St. Alexander's Day (Patriarch of Alexandria)

St. Isabella of France's Day (Patron of the sick)

Tell a Fairy Tale Day -- shouldn't this have been two days ago, on Wilhelm Grimm's birth anniversary?

The Man In Black Day -- Johnny Cash's birth anniversary

Thriller Day -- Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" hit #1 today, and stayed there for 37 weeks

Anniversaries Today:

Grand Teton National Park is established, 1929

Grand Canyon National Park is established, 1919

Birthdays Today:

Marshall Faulk, 1973

Erykah Badu, 1972

Mark Dacascos, 1964

Michael Bolton, 1953

Johnny Cash, 1932

Fats Domino, 1928

Betty Hutton, 1921

Tony Randall, 1920

Jackie Gleason, 1916

Margaret Leighton, 1922

Tex Avery, 1908

Madeleine Carroll, 1906

Jean Vercors, 1902

William Frawley, 1887

Herbert Henry Dow, 1866

John Harvey Kellog, 1852

William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, 1846

Levi Strauss, 1829

Honore Daumier, 1808

Victor Hugo, 1802

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Jerome Robbins' Broadway"(Musical), 1989

"Deathtrap"(Play), 1978

Today in History:

Origin of the Epoch of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era, BC747

An earthquake in Lisbon leaves 20,000-30,000 dead, 1531

Christiansborg Castle, Copenhagen burns down, 1794

The Bank of England issues its first banknotes, 1797

Vice-admiral William Bligh ends the siege of Fort Amsterdam, Willemstad, 1804

Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba, 1815

In New York City a demonstration of the first pneumatic subway opens to the public, 1870

HMS Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic, is launched at Harland \& Wolff, Belfast, 1914

The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York, 1917

Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom, 1935

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb, 1952

Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada, 1952

National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation, 1970

Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations, 1980

The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections, 1990

On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, 1991

In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand, 1993

The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses, 1995

Mount Hekla in Iceland erupts, 2000

Republic of Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2004

After winning a Liberal Party of British Columbia ballot, Canadian politician Christy Clark becomes the second woman to be Premier of British Columbia, 2011

Scientists in Illinois announce they've developed stretchable batteries that can power a new generation of flexible electronics, 2013

The Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, receives its 1 millionth seed on its 10 year anniversary, 2018

The city of Venice, Italy, introduces a day visitor tax, 2019

Scientists publish research about a possible "lost continent," Balkanatolia, that may have linked southern Europe with Asia, providing passageway for animal migrations 35 to 38 million years ago, 2022

Winter storm deposits snow in parts of southern California for the first time in decades, 2023

The US has its first measles death in over 20 years when a child dies in Texas during an outbreak affecting 124 people, 2025