Fill-Ins and Funny Faces

Happy Friday, furiends! Today brings us to the always anticipated Frindly Filll-Is challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and McGuffy's Reader.

Here are are the fun fill-ins our hosts created this week:

1. It is good to have a spare _________.
2. I don't understand why _________ is/are so popular.
3. The spookiest thing that ever happened to me was _________.
4. My favorite Halloween tale is _________.

And here are my best attempts at doing them justice:

1. It is good to have a spare lip balm.
(This one may be something more or less exclusive to myself. I can't stand the feeling of chapped lips, and so I always have a lip balm on hand. I also always have a spare one tucked away somewhere. Why? Because all three of my feline furbabies think that their mom's lip balm is just about the best thing since fresh nip. If I leave my lip balm unattended in their reach, it will be gone when I get back. Guaranteed.)

2. I don't understand why duck face is so popular.
(Do you know what I'm talking about? That pose that a lot of folks, mainly girls and women, are using these days when posing in photos? They quite literally stick their lips out to look like ducks, it would seem, and I just don't get it. When I was a kid, duck face was when you shoved two Pringles chips between your lips to give yourself a duck bill. Nowadays, though, the chip props have been nixed and folks would rather go au naturel duck in every photo they post online. No offense to any of our pals who do this, I myself just don't get it.)

3. The spookiest thing that ever happened to me was when I heard the sound of my deceased dog's barking.
(Growing up, I had a Sheltie mix who was a barker. She loved to talk. This was especially the case as she got older, I believe due to both cognitive decline as well as her deafness. Sadly, at the age of 14, she developed leukemia and passed away not long after her diagnosis. Just one or two nights after she crossed the Rainbow Bridge, I woke up to the distinct sound of her barking. We had no other dogs at the time, and the sound was coming from within the house. Sure, it could have been my grieving imagination, but it sounded like she was right there. I even got out of bed and looked around the house, because I just kept hearing it. I made my way to one of her favorite snoozing spots, and that was when it finally stopped. I've had many experiences where I think I see or hear deceased furbabies, but this was the only one that felt so tangibly real.)

4. My favorite Halloween tale is "The Hound" by H.P. Lovecraft.
(This isn't really a definitive Halloween tale, but it is the one of my absolute favorite scary stories that always read every single Halloween. I love me a spooky tale, and Lovecraft is a master of that.)

Next up, it's that time of the month! Come on, you know what I mean. The Pet Blogger Bloopers Round-Up, hosted by The Lazy Pit Bull!

For this month's set of bloopers, each of my furbabies decided to share a funny face, in one way or another.

Astrid went for the smiley face in motion:

Evan went for the in-your-face pose:

Thimble took her big brother's lead and also got all up in the camera's face:

And Eddy, well, I don't even know what this is:

Did anybuddy else make funny faces for their bloopers this month?

And now, lastly, we have today's drawing for JNW's Halloween Challenge. Eddy usually gets to be the sole star of our Friday posts, but since today she had to share that honor, I told her she would get to be the sole star of today's illustration. Using today's prompt of broom, my active and acrobatic Eddy inspired me to create this:

We're wishing all of our furiends a beautiful day!

***

Our Tip of the Day:

How many of you out there have a kitty that likes to chew on broom bristles? This is not uncommon, as these bristles spark a kitty's instinct to clean their teeth or floss, not to mention that it mimics the fibrous material that a cat's instinct prompts them to consume for intestinal health. That being said, although most brooms are more or less harmless, they aren't really meant as proper kitty chew toys or consumables. Instead, to give your cat a more natural, proper source of floss and fiber, try giving them their very own cat grass. You can get seeds or fully grown plants at many stores, and most kitties love to chew on it and even consume it. Like a broom, except far more natural, cat grass aids in dental health, and of course also gives a source of fiber to get kitty's intestinal contents moving properly.