Friday, March 29, 2024

Miss Mimi (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins and Pet Photo Fails

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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!


When i noticed Miss Mimi's name on the board at the shelter, i had to get her photo.  This was the best one, many of the fails are below.  (And yes, since the photo session, she has been adopted.)









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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 hope my Easter basket has _________ in it.


2. March has been _________.


3. If there ever was a time to _________, it's now.


4. I _________ in preparation for _________.



1. I hope my Easter basket has   a vegan chocolate bar   in it.


2. March has been   busy, especially the last few days.


3. If there ever was a time to   pray,   it's now.


4. I   read our church's Lent devotional   in preparation for   Easter.



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


It's hard to get a picture of a Miss Mimi when she wants petting, not posing.


















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Today is:


Barthelemy Boganda Day -- Central African Republic


Big Red Horse Day -- birth anniversary of Man O' War (1917) and Secretariat (1970), both of which had the nickname "Big Red"


Borrowed Days begin -- old English/Scottish/Irish legends about how March borrowed the next 3 days from April; these are still seen as weather prognostication days based on several different legends


Good Friday/Passion Friday -- Christian (remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus)

     National Hot Cross Bun Day -- US (always on Good Friday)

     Procession of the Mysteries -- Taranto, Italy

     Via Crusus (Way of the Cross) -- San Fernando, Philippines (reenactment of the Passion)

     World Marbles Day (always on Good Friday)


Knights of Columbus Founders Day


Martyrs' Day -- Madagascar


National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day


National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day -- as recognized by AICPA


Smoke and Mirrors Day -- some sites call it "Festival of Smoke and Mirrors Day," but appropriately no one knows who started it


St. Armogastes of Africa's Day (Patron of the poor and torture victims; against poverty and torture)


St. Gladys' and St. Gwynllyw's Day (the Welsh "Bonny and Clyde", who led a life of crime before their conversion)


Youth Day -- Taiwan



Anniversaries Today:


Harry Hamlin weds Lisa Rinna, 1997

Yeshiva College (now University) is chartered in New York, 1928



Birthdays Today:


Hideaki Takizawa, 1982

Jennifer Capriati, 1976

Lucy Lawless, 1968

Elle Macpherson, 1964

Christopher Lambert, 1957

Kurt Thomas, 1956

Earl Christian Campbell, 1955

Karen Ann Quinlan, 1954

Bud Cort, 1950

George Blaha, 1945

Eric Idle, 1943

John Major, 1943

John Joseph McLaughlin, 1927

Pearl Bailey, 1918

Sam Walton, 1918

Eugene Mccarthy, 1916

Philip Ahn, 1905

Denton True "Cy" Young, 1867

Isaac Mayer Wise, Rabbi and Founder of Reform Judaism, 1819

John Tyler, 1790

Carlo Buonaparte, father of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1746



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Woman of the Year"(Play), 1981

"The King and I"(Play), 1951

"Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows"(circus), 1919

"Mutt and Jeff"(Comic strip), 1908

"Jevgeni Onegin/Eugene Onegin"(Opera; Tchaikovsky Op. 24), 1879



Today in History:


The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded, 1549

Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629, 1632

Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in Delaware, 1638

Ludwig von Beethoven, age 24, debuts as a pianist in Vienna, 1795

Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway, 1806

Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam, 1848

The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab, 1849

Ohio makes it illegal for children under 18 & women to work more than 10 hours a day, 1852

Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867

Queen Victoria presides over the opening of Albert Hall in London, 1871

The Knights of Columbus are established, 1882

Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in his back yard, 1886

The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time, 1941

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, 1951

NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first space probe to fly by Mercury, 1974

The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982

Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province, 1993

Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members, 2004

The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants, 2004

Thirty-five countries and over 370 cities join Earth Hour for the first time, 2008

A transistor-like transcriptor is built out of DNA and RNA molecules by American bioengineers at Stanford University, 2013

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announces that Arab leaders will be combining their military resources to combat violence in the region; Saudi Arabia has already led joint forces in airstrikes on Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen, 2015

UK Prime Minister Theresa May sends a letter to the EU invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally triggering Brexit, 2017

The megaship Ever Given is freed after nearly a week stuck in and blocking the Suez Canal, 2021

A new study of Pluto based on 2015 footage from NASA's New Horizons Telescope is published which shows evidence of cryovolcanoes and ice lava, 2022

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Playground Memories (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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The best slide on the playground was the big one.


It was almost as tall as the tallest tree on the property, and if you got up there in a quiet moment, you could stop and stare off into the infinite blue above you until you'd almost get dizzy, then go sliding down and keep the sensation all the way to the bottom.


This didn't happen often, as it was a very popular attraction even with the youngest students, who sometimes on their first attempt got stuck at the top and wouldn't go down when they first found themselves up there, making everyone else back down the ladder, In Order (that was enforced by strict playground rules, you stayed in place and didn't cut in line), so they could get off and go do something else.


If they were lucky, they had an older sibling or another older student slide with them the first couple of times to get them accustomed to it, and most of even the tiniest denizens of the school would scrabble up like little monkeys and slide down like happy, playful otters by the end of their first semester.


Those huge, high slides have been replaced, of course, by safe, low, wide plastic slides, not metal you could get cut on or burned on during the hot days, perched over special surfaces designed to give to help prevent injuries, unlike the hard ground we'd land on before popping back up and going for another round.


Much safer, of course, but i sometimes wonder if our children have lost something of the adventure in life in our rush to protect them from the bumps and bruises we took for granted, and just once more i'd like to look off into the blue, and get a little dizzy, and slide down, holding on to it as long as possible.



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





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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:    





We just need a few minutes,

our days are so long and so full,

there's always one more thing to do,

and with children life's not dull.


In a few minutes we'll get up

and realize it's time to eat,

one of us will pour the cereal

while the other makes things neat.



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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.  


Today i am thankful Sweetie and Brother-in-Law have managed to head out on a long-deferred trip to see their sister, a four-hour drive away.  They're supposed to be back on Saturday.






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Today is:


Children's Picture Book Day -- while i can't find a sponsor for this day, starting kids on a lifelong love of books is as good an excuse for a holiday as any


Commemoration of Sen no Rikyu -- Urasenke School of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, Japan (remembering the influential master in The Way of Tea)


Daylight Saving Time begins -- Albania; Andorra; Austria; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Germany; Gibraltar, Greece; Greenland (some areas); Holy See (Vatican City); Hungary; Ireland; Isle of Mann; Italy; Jersey; Kosovo; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Malta; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; San Marino; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Western Sahara

     European Union: Daylight Saving Time (Summer Time) Begins


Feast of Artemis -- Ancient Greek Calendar (as protector of wild animals, vegetation, and places, begins at sundown; date approximate)


Festival of the Sacrifice at the Tombs -- Ancient Roman Calendar (to honor the ancestors)


"Greatest Show on Earth" Day -- Barnum and Bailey merged their circuses on this day in 1881


Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa -- Buddhism (birthday of Guan Yin, the goddess of mercy)


Hot Tub Day -- because we all need one!


Khordad Sal (Birth of the Prophet Zarathushtra) -- Zoroastrianism (Fasli Calendar)


Komamorijinja Reisai -- Nakaedo, Kashi-sh, Gifu, Japan (festival of the the Kosazukeishi "child-granting stone")


Maundy Thursday -- Christian (a/k/a Holy, Green, Chare, Sheer, or Shere Thursday; commemoration of the Last Supper)

   

National Black Forest Cake Day


Nazul Al-Quran -- Brunei Darussalam; Malaysia (Quran Revelation Day)


Ragnar Lodbrok's Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (remembrance of this Viking's sack of Paris)


Respect Your Cat Day -- anniversary of King Richard II's edict in 1384 forbidding the consumption of cats


Serfs Emancipation Day -- Tibet


Something on a Stick Day -- something edible, because almost everything tastes better on a stick


St. Guntramnus' Day (Patron of divorced people, guardians, repentant murderers)


Teachers' Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia


Wear a Hat Day -- UK (a brain tumour awareness event and fundraiser) 


Weed Appreciation Day -- at last, for those of us with black thumbs, since this is all we can grow! "Weeds are flowers once you get to know them!" A.A. Milne



Birthdays Today:


Lady Gaga, 1986

Julia Stiles, 1981

Annie Wersching, 1977

Kate Gosselin, 1975

Scott Mills, 1974

Juliandra Gillen, 1971

Vince Vaughn, 1970

Reba McEntire, 1955

Dianne Wiest, 1948

Ken Howard, 1944

Conchata Ferrell, 1943

Jerry Sloan, 1942

Freddie Bartholomew, 1924

Dirk Bogarde, 1921

Irving "Swifty" Lazar, 1907

August Anheuser Busch, Jr., 1899

Maxim Gorky, 1868

Frederich Pabst, 1836

St. Teresa of Avila, 1515

Fra Bartolomeo, 1472



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Hair"(Rock musical), 1968

"Philadelphia Story"(Play), 1939



Today in History:


Roman Emperor Pertinax is assassinated by Praetorian Guards, who then sell the throne in an auction to Didius Julianus, 193

Viking raiders sack Paris, who leave in exchange for a huge ransom, 845

The origin of the Fasli Era in India, 1556

Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco, 1776

Nathaniel Briggs of NH patents a washing machine, 1797

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man, 1802

The US Salvation Army is officially organized, 1885

Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane, 1910

Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv & Jaffa by Turkish authorities, 1917

Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara, 1930

The McGill français movement protest occurs, the second largest protest in Montreal's history, 1969

Operators of Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania fail to recognize that a relief valve in the primary coolant system has stuck open, leading to a partial meltdown, 1979

In South Africa, Zulus and African National Congress supporters battle in central Johannesburg, resulting in 18 deaths, 1994

The 2005 Sumatran earthquake rocks Indonesia, and at magnitude 8.7 is the second strongest earthquake since 1965, 2005

At least 1 million union members, students, and unemployed take to the streets in France in protest at the government's proposed First Employment Contract law, 2006

Australian diplomat Peter Woolcott's draft for the first-ever treaty to regulate the conventional arms trade is discussed by members of the United Nations, 2013

Britain introduces the first new pound coin in 30 years with a secret security feature inside to stop counterfeiting, 2017

The world's largest dinosaur footprint at 1.7 metres found in Kimberley, Western Australia, 2017

The study of a gene mutation that allows a 71-year-old British woman to never feel pain is published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2019