Friday, April 19, 2024

Quite a Good Indicator (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins and Nature Friday

 ***********************************


To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     



***********************************







Feline Friday was originally started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude (who no longer blogs), and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

He handed hosting duties off to Sandee at Comedy Plus, and now she's entrusting 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!


If you want to adopt a cat that is unflappable, it’s quite a good indication this cat is a good candidate when a jumpy, yappy dog goes by and the cat is not even phased by it.


Cleaning the adoption “catio” at a local pet store, one of the grooming salon customers walked past right after his session, and these two cats never turned a whisker.


By the time i
 thought to take a photo, he was a bit of a distance away.







They both just watched as the dog leapt and barked, then went on with their day.  Milo even got up for a closer look, Nora just sat.






***********************************






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. A remake of _________ would be fun.


2. My favorite cartoon character is _________.


3. I wish I had better _________ skills so that I could _________.


4. I'm proud of the progress I've made with _________.



1. A remake of _________ would be fun.   I cannot think of anything right off hand.  If it was that good the first time, why mess it up with a remake?


2. My favorite cartoon character is   Snoopy.


3. I wish I had better   office type work   skills so that I could   get a desk job.


4. I'm proud of the progress I've made with   feeling more comfortable saying a few phrases in Spanish around native Spanish speakers.



***********************************


Today is:


Bendideia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival for Bendis; date approximate)


Education and Sharing Day -- in honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)


Dutch-American Friendship Day -- anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the US, America's oldest continuously peaceful diplomatic relations


Independence Declaration Day -- Venezuela


John Parker Day -- many US States (anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, where parker said “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon; but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”)


King Mswati III's birthday -- Swaziland


National Amaretto Day


National Cat Lady Day -- and don't say "Cat Lady" like it's a bad thing!


National Garlic Day


National Hanging Out Day -- Project Laundry List and other organizations promote bringing back the clothesline to save energy and the planet!


Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day


Okoshi Daiko Festival -- Furukawa, Japan (today, hundreds of men in loincloths fight to touch a wooden frame supporting a huge taiko drum as it is carried through the streets, and tomorrow is an elegant parade with lion dancers and traditional music)


Primrose Day -- UK (anniversary of the death of Disraeli)


St. AElfheah's Day (Patron of kidnap victims; Greenwich and Solihull, England)


St. Expeditus of Melintine's Day (Patron of merchants, navigators; for expeditious and prompt solutions; against procrastination)


St. Leo IX's Day




Anniversaries Today:


Grace Kelly marries Ranier III of Monaco, 1956

Cheyney University is founded as The Institute for Colored Youth, 1837

Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI by Proxy Marriage, 1770



Birthdays Today:


Maria Sharapova, 1987

Hayden Christensen, 1981

Kate Hudson, 1979

James Franco, 1978

Luis Miguel Basteri, 1970

Ashley Judd, 1968

Al Unser, Jr., 1962

Tony Plana, 1954

Paloma Picasso, 1949

Tim Curry, 1946

Alan Price, 1942

Elinor Donahue, 1937

Dudley Moore, 1935

Jayne Mansfield, 1933

Dick Sargent, 1930

Hugh O'Brian, 1925

Eliot Ness, 1903

Lucretia Rudolph-Garfield, 1832

David Ricardo, 1772

Roger Sherman, 1721



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope"(Musical revue), 1972

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"(Musical), 1951

"Carousel"(Musical), 1945

"Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder/Mother Courage and Her Children"(Play), 1941

"National Barn Dance"(Radio), 1924

"The Bing Boys are Here"(Musical revue), 1919

"Revizor/The Government Inspector"(Comedy), 1836

"Iphigenia in Aulis,"(Opera), 1774



Today in History:


Sir Francis Drake sails to Cadiz and sinks the Spanish Fleet, 1587

Because he has no male heirs, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, assuring Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would go to his daughter, Maria Theresa, 1713

Captain James Cook sights Australia, 1770

John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States, and his home in The Hague becomes the first American Embassy, 1782

Venezuela achieves home rule, 1810

The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and Luxembourg as a Grand Duchy, 1839

Charles Duryea claims to have taken the first automobile built in the US for a spin, 1892

The first Boston Marathon is won by John McDermott of NY in 2:55:10, 1897

Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful voluntary free-fall parachute  jump, 1919

The 125th and final fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary is published, 1928

Burma (now Myanmar) joins the United Nations, 1948

The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends in success for the defenders, 1961

Sierra Leone becomes a republic, 1971

India's first satellite, Aryabhata, is launched, 1975

The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168, 1995

The German Bundestag returns to Berlin, the first German parliamentary body to meet there since the Reichstag was dissolved in 1945, 1999

His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church, taking the name Benedict XVI, 2005

Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba's central committee after 45 years, 2011

A shipwreck that may have drowned up to 900 North African migrants traveling to Europe has prompted the European Union to meet in order to develop a plan to fund and organize rescues while reducing human trafficking incidents, 2015

US Senator Tammy Duckworth, the first US Senator to give birth while holding that office, is the first parent to bring a baby into the US Senate a day after the Senate votes to allow babies on the chamber's floor, 2018 

King Mswati III changes the name of Swaziland to eSwatini, or “land of the Swati”, 2018

New Zealand and Australia open a travel bubble between the two countries after more than a year of border closures, 2021

NASA successfully flies its drone helicopter Ingenuity on Mars, making it the first powered aircraft to fly on another world, 2021

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Present Reality (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day and Brian’s Thankful Thursday, an A to Z Post

 ***********************************






Ms. G wants to stay home and organize her own house and do her own projects; Ms. G spends almost all her time doing everything but that.


Ms. G is the kind of realtor who walks into some pretty tatty places, homes that have been treated horribly by renters, homes that have had the same couple in them for 50 years and at the end they couldn't keep up and let the place go somewhat to ruin, places that haven't seen a lot of love or care in a long time, mostly belonging to friends or family of friends, neighbors, people she grew up with, etc.


She hires workers (the good ones she's worked with for years), gets initial cleanouts done, gets walls repaired and painted, flooring replaced, doors rehung, whatever it takes (all paid by the owner) and gets them sold, that's what buys her groceries and makes the payments on "Patience," her camper.


As a favor to the painter, she hired his daughter to do a cleaning on the house he was working in, but when she went in to inspect the work, the young lady had fallen way short of the mark, as her father agreed.


Yesterday, instead of the two of us being able to tackle those long deferred projects at her house, we went to the place she's readying for sale and armed with Ring King, 409, steel wool, rubber gloves and an attitude, i attacked the bathtubs with a vengeance, as well as scrubbing toilets, vanities, and getting paint and crud off mirrors.


It's not how she wants to be spending her time when she has me on Wednesdays, but for the present, it's the reality of her life.



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





***********************************



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!








***********************************






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






I love to come to the park each week

with the whole family.

The kids are now in the big kid swings

so mamma can push me!



***********************************






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


This week i am thankful not every week turns out to be quite so topsy-turvy as this one seems to be going.  It's not bad, it's just busy and the scheduling of everything is uncertain.






***********************************



Today is:


Adult Autism Awareness Day  


Army Day -- Iran (Rouz-e-Artesh)


Get to Know Your Customers Day (celebrated the 3rd Thursday quarterly)


Gio to Hung Vuong Day -- Vietnam (National Day; celebrating the founding of the nation by Emperor Hung Vuong some three millennia ago)


Goddess Month of Maia begins


Independence Day -- Zimbabwe(1980)


International Amateur Radio Day/World Amateur Radio Day -- celebrating "ham radio" around the world with the AARL


International Day for Monuments and Sites -- UNESCO


Invention Day -- Japan


Laundromat Day -- the first self-service "washateria" opened on this date in 1934 in Fort Worth, TX, US


Look-Alike Day -- internet generated, a day to try to look like someone you admire; some sites list it on the 20th


National Animal Cracker Day


National D.A.R.E Day -- US (by Presidential Proclamation)


Newspaper Columnists' Day -- The National Society of Newspaper Columnists in honor of the anniversary of the death of Ernie Pylehttp://www.columnists.com/2009/04/story-behind-national-columnists-day/


Pet Owners Independence Day -- the day to let your pet do the work and chores while you lie around and enjoy having only the responsibilities of your pet; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays


Poem in Your Pocket Day -- carry your favorite with you to share with friends and family to celebrate National Poetry Month     


Sleep Apnea Awareness Day 


Smile Big and Say Hi for No Particular Reason Day -- if some site gave the reason for this, it would defeat the purpose


St. Agapitus Day (Patron of Palestrina, Italy; against colic)


St. Agia's Day (Patron against lawsuits)


"Third World" Day -- the phrase was first used on this date in 1955


Ushibuka Haiya Matsuri -- Furukawa, Japan (one of the liveliest dance festivals, with elements of dance styles from around the country; through the 20th)


Zhabdrung Kuchhoe -- Bhutan (death anniversary of Zhabdrung)



Anniversaries Today:


The University of Alabama is founded, 1831



Birthdays Today:


America Ferrara, 1984

Cheryl Ann Haworth, 1983

Melissa Joan Hart, 1976

Eli Roth, 1972

David Tennant, 1971

Maria Bello, 1967

Conan O'Brien, 1963

Eric McCormack, 1963

Jane Leeves, 1961

Eric Roberts, 1956

John James, 1956

John Pankow, 1954

Rick Moranis, 1954

Dorothy Lyman, 1947

James Woods, 1947

Hayley Mills, 1946

Robert Hooks, 1937

Barbara Hale, 1921

Leopold Stokowski, 1882

Samuel Earl "Wahoo Sam" Crawford, 1880

Clarence Darrow, 1857

Lucrezia Borgia, 1480



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Beauty and the Beast"(Musical), 1994

"Real People"(TV), 1979

"Call Me Mister"(Musical), 1946



Today in History:


Boleslaw Chrobry is crowned the first king of Poland, 1025

The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid, 1506

The Real Academia de la Historia (Royal Academy of History) is founded in Madrid, 1738

The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and William Dawes, upon seeing two lanterns in the church steeple, set out to warn that "The British are coming!" 1775

Fighting ceases in the American Revolutionary War, eight years to the day after it began, 1783

Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico, 1881

The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria, 1899

Denmark becomes the first country to formally adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals, 1902

Quetzaltenango, second largest city of Guatemala, is destroyed by an earthquake, 1902

The Great San Francisco Earthquake, 1906

The Los Angeles Times story on the Azusa Street Revival launches Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement, 1906

The RMS Carpathia brings the Titanic survivors to NYC, 1912

"The House that Ruth Built," Yankee Stadium, opens, 1923

Simon and Schuster publishes the first crossword puzzle book, 1924

The first "washateria" (laundromat) opens, in Ft. Worth, Texas, 1934

The League of Nations is formally dissolved, 1949

29 nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference., 1955

A United States federal court rules that poet Ezra Pound is to be released from an insane asylum, 1958

The Republic of Zimbabwe is officially established with the swearing in of Canaan Banana as its first President, 1980

The Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings, from the Triple-A International League, begin the longest game in professional baseball history, 33 innings, 1981

The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-4 decision, 2007

Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, two planets resembling planet Earth are discovered revolving around the star Kepler-62 in the habitable zone, an area around the stars whose atmospheric pressure can suport liquid water at the surface, 2013

Black Panther is the first film shown at a commercial cinema in 35 years in Saudi Arabia as cinemas are reopened, 2018

South Africa declares a state of disaster in the Durban area after serious floods and mudslides resulting in numerous deaths and much destruction, 2022