A King A Queen and a Mischievious Count

I cohabitate with  3 members of Feline Royalty which suits me very well as I also consider myself as Queen of Hamilton.

3 great whites by Tom Barwell

They each have their charms and challenges although once you get used to challenges therein lies the charm.

Front and center is King Jack.  King of the household – he thinks and perhaps at one time it was true.  To soothe his easily ruffled feathers – uh – fur – I still address him as King. KJ likes to stake his claim on territory or person and has not experienced any challenge to that until recently.

King Jack by Tom Barwell

But before I get into that I must tell you that KJ has been known to stretch himself across a doorway or kitchen floor, fluff himself up and no mortal dare cross his path.  He is pretty swift with the old ankle swipe and since he still has claws I pretty much always wear socks or long pants before crossing his path.  At least he used to.  I am not sure if he is just used to me or the kitty treats I give him on the side are sufficient bribery.

Lying innocently behind KJ appearing rather submissive is Gus, the Count of Mischief.  He is the youngest and when he first joined our troupe KJ took a very protective role with the sweet baby.  Wherever Gus frolicked Jack was not to far behind usually  sitting above somewhere watching.  He followed the baby from room to room.  At least that is the way it was for the first three months or so.

Gus by Tom Barwell on Instagram

You see, Gus is younger and faster and a male like King Jack and pretty soon he was contesting Jack’s kingship.  Jack is not that old but the smaller and mightier Gus is  aging the king quickly.  I first noticed in when it came to bed territory.  When KJ stretched out on a bed, it was his.  But.  But.  One day the old king lay across his throne and the frisky frolicking youth jumped up to challenge him.  HA! thought the King and gave a mighty swat sending the youth spinning into the middle of next week.

But then it happened again and again and one day I said to Gus, “Gus you will never be king so just stop challenging him.”   Gus gave me a look from his blue marble eyes, threw his head back and leaped upon the throne once again.  A few tries of persistence and the King was gone.  Long live the Count.  Poor Jackie.  Now he reigns as King only when Gus allows him so now I whisper words of royal adoration to KJ quietly to let him still feel regal.

On the right side of the first photo in a more subservient pose is Jewels Grace.  Queen Jewels was the first feline to arrive of the group but she always gives way to the male who of course for so long was KJ.

Jewels Grace by Tom Barwell Instagram

Poor Jewelsy (as G2 calls her) has several disadvantages; she is deaf, she is not pretty at all, her fur is all scrunchy here and there and she has eyes that are yellow.  Devilishly yellow which at times appear vampire red.  She has a belly that almost reaches the floor.  She has a plaintive meow and kneads everything with her claws including all furniture and people.  She is not attractive at all.  She is needy always asking to be touched and stroked. And she is my fave of course.  A woman surviving in the midst of a male driven society.  She sleeps a lot and I am trying once again to let her stay in my room at night where she sleeps on my bed. The lady needs 1:1 attention.  I look at her and think, what if that was me?   So project Jewelsy is on!

Once Upon A Time..again..

Once Upon A Time

…..in a land separated by decades rather than geography where rivers and oceans ran clear and children romped in the sun for hours with no knowledge of sunscreen played outside until the glow of street lights or hunger drove them home there lived a princess.  At least in her mind and heart she was sure of her royal lineage convinced a mistaken baby switch at the local hospital.

She endured the hardship of every day life convinced that a magic carpet, or genie, or fairy from Walt Disney’s Magical Kingdom would someday arrive and transport her to her proper palace beloved by her prince.

Imagination is a wonderful thing, a wonderful place to live and I have wondered if modern technology has taken away this joy from today’s youth but everyday I see children’s dreams at work.  I visit a school yard and see them running and laughing joyfully.  I listen in on a three year old’s conversation at play with his toys.  The young I see have lost nothing.  Instead they have gained a wider scope of knowledge and understanding in technology but it is still nice to see imagination at play.

Oh and the princess?  Never did meet her prince unless he was well hidden in all the frogs she kissed but oh my she still dreams, imagines, and maybe someday..just maybe….

Oh and this is my post number 200 and very shortly, today will hit 10,000 hits, a modest record compared to some but not too shabby for this princess!

The Queen of Hamilton gets to Know the Local Gentry

The Queen of Hamilton Gets to Know the Local Gentry

It’s been a busy time lately sorting through years of storage accumulated, most of which needs shredding or dumping or giving away.  I thought when I started rising earlier in the mornings to get to the walking track I would have hours and hours extra a day to accomplish tasks and read and write blogs and books and all things wonderful.

I left for Hamilton this morning to visit and see how renovations on my new abode were coming.  Getting out of the car I notice the front driver’s tire was flat.  Very flat.  So for the first time ever I had a chance to use my roadside service.  The fellow arrived within 5 minutes; he came, he saw, he changed my tire and diagnosed my air valve failure and directed me to the nearest Canadian Tire.  

So here I sit, a lovely and very welcome breeze blowing as I wait.  The service itself will apparently not take long however there appears to be quite a long waiting line before my Fusion gets admitted to a bay.

I’ve been looking for time to catch upon my blogs and comments and thankfully the time is now!!

As soon as I arrived G2 proudly told me he is finished with diapers and he pees and poops in the toilet!  Then he proudly  took me into the bathroom to demonstrate but did not have to really go. He then let me know that when he does number 2 he gets a sucker.

G1 turns 8 next Saturday and his passion right now is collecting Angry Bird stuffies.  Seems he has the birds and now is completing his pig collection!
Now I am off to read and comment!  When you get lemons……

1947 and 9 Reasons Why I was not a Star Back Then

Origin Unknown

1947 and 9 Reasons Why I was not a Star Back Then

When the future Queen of Hamilton, and the Granny Nanny of the next millennium was born there was a fair bit of joy and celebration across the land.  Actually there was a fair bit of joy and celebration across the street, but in my mind I prefer to think of it as ‘The Land’.  But regardless how far the joy extended there were other events that stole my thunder and made my arrival less auspicious than it should have been.

THAT WHOLE ROSWELL THING
Yup  William W. “Mac” Brazel a ranch foreman found debris.  Air Force Colonel Blanchard instructed another Colonel to notify the media they had a “crashed saucer”. Well the rumors and contemplations have not settled it to this day. *  Now how’s a girl to compete with that?

THAT WHOLE ROYAL WEDDING THING
Uh huh a Royal Wedding.  That of the then future Queen of England and her dashing Prince Phillip stole the spotlight.  And it was one of the last Royal Weddings that stuck. Sort of.  There were always rumors of his dalliances and of course I have no proof but in 1974 ish I stood not more than ten feet from the man and he exuded pure sexual attraction.  It’s a good thing he had a tight schedule else I could have been more famous than I would have liked. In my mind anyway.  But when his blue eyes met my brown it aroused a..curiosity in me.   It might have been all me..I’m just sayin……

MORE UFO STUFF
My BFF Wikipedia also reports…Seaman Harold Dahl claims to have seen six UFOs near Maury Island in Puget Sound, Washington. On the next morning, Dahl reports the first modern so-called “Men in Black” encounter.
Really now…UFO or me?

CIA and BIG GUNS
Wikipedia – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into law, creating the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
*Since I do not want to be crossing CIA and all I have no comment on their intrusion on my fame.

COMPUTERS..I swear!
After being shut down on November 9, 1946, for a refurbishment, the ENIAC computer, the world’s first electronic digital computer, is turned back on again. It then remains in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.
*Neither do I wish to negate any computers that would some day lead me to POF adventures.

PREHISTORIC MEN
Wiki again..Thor Heyerdahl’s balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101 day, 4,300 mile, voyage across the Eastern Pacific Ocean, proving that pre-historic peoples could hypothetically have traveled to the Central Pacific islands from South America.

AIRPLANES!
Chuck Yaeger breaks the speed of sound.  * I was barely breaking sound past goo goo ga ga.

THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK
Apparently was set?  Wikipedia says…The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face, maintained since 1947 by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global disaster. As of January 14, 2010, the Doomsday Clock now stands at six minutes to midnight.[1][2] Since its creation, the time on the clock has changed 19 times.[3]
*****So now my competition for fame is a doomsday clock?  I was born and they felt the need for doomsday???

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
The first of the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries occurred in 1947 in Qumran, a village situated about twenty miles east of Jerusalem on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. A young Bedouin shepherd, following a goat that had gone astray, tossed a rock into one of the caves along the seacliffs and heard a cracking sound: the rock had hit a ceramic pot containing leather and papyrus scrolls that were later determined to be nearly twenty centuries old. Ten years and many searches later, eleven caves around the Dead Sea were found to contain tens of thousands of scroll fragments dating from the third century B.C. to A.D. 68 and representing an estimated eight hundred separate works.  **Now I also have to fight the bible book fame!  Thanks Wikipedia!

MUSIC AND MOVIES AND BOOKS
AtLeast there were some memorable ones!  
Movies
Gentleman’s Agreement, Miracle on 34th Street, Great Expectations, The Bishop’s Wife

Music
Doris Day, “Confess”
Al Jolson, Al Jolson Album
“Woody Woodpecker”
“A Fellow Needs A Girl”
Frankie Lane, “That’s My Desire”
Glenn Miller, “Glenn Miller Masterpieces—Vol. 2”

Books
Saul Bellow, The Victim
Gerald Warner Brace, The Garretson Chronicle
Martin Flavin, The Enchanted
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano
Thomas Mann, Dr. Faustus
Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism

So it seems there have been some hitches to achieving my destiny of world wide fame (and adoration).  Guess I had better get cracking!

To My Disney Crew…1) The Firetrucks are gone. 2) It wasn’t my Fault

To My Disney Crew, ..1) The Firetrucks are gone 2) it wasn’t my fault
From the Queen of Hamilton

Dear T &H & G1 & G2

I know how good you must feel having left on Saturday for all things Disney and making me the Queen of Hamilton.

Bree has been delightful although she misses you guys.  She sleeps beside my bed each night quite contentedly.  I have not had to lock the cats downstairs at all.  They came up the first night, poked their heads around the corner, figured they had missed the Rapture and disappeared.

Bree, powerful Yellow Lab that she is takes walks without dragging me along the road by the leash.  By last night the cats decided that if I was the only game in town they would come up and socialize.  Once I read them the proclamation that I was Queen of Hamilton they reverently genuflected and were fine.  I woke up at eight-thirty this morning with Bree snoozing away on the floor and at least one cat in the bed.  Fortunately it is a huge bed so there are no territorial disputes.

Bree has had only one time out in her cage.  And that WAS territorial…Last evening she and one of the cats (I still don’t know which of the wee white beasties is Jack and which one is Jewels), got into a dispute.  All I saw was a blur of white and one giant yellow circling the room around and up, on sofa, walls and chairs. So Bree ended up with a ten minute penalty in the box which she took without pouting following which all was well.

This morning I needed to make a quick run to Kitchener for a bag I had forgotten which contained essentials…primarily shoes, books and makeup.  Bree was secure and happy in her cage.  I had a quick lunch with B&J, retrieved the bag and headed back.  Fortunately the streets on this holiday weekend were barren..just the way they should be when I am driving.

As I was about to turn onto your street I suddenly braked because a police cruiser was blocking the street.  All I could see were Firetrucks (3), police cruisers (4), and several hydro trucks.  All smack dab in front of your house.  Unsure what to do I stopped a woman and her children scurrying from the scene.  She said someone had cut through a gas line and they evacuated part of the street.

I rapidly reviewed my morning actions through my computer like brain and decided I had nothing to fear.  I would not have to make a run for it, going on the lam.  Besides I had to get the doggy out of the cage.

Parking my car a block down I strolled along approaching the house.  I talked to a couple of police and the fire fighters in their gear…sigh..uh but I digress.

Turns out your neighbor across the street at 32 was rebuilding his front porch and cut through the gas line.  The gas itself had dissipated and any resultant bodies removed.

So you see all is well.  Bree and I are on the patio this sunny afternoon and the cats are..doing whatever it is they do.  Everything is normal and the winds have carried the noxious gases elsewhere.

So hope y’all are enjoying Disney!

Signed ..the Queen!

The Royal Wedding and Me

The Royal Wedding And Me

I just got a mini lesson on royal etiquette so I can be prepared for my attendance at the wedding of my old friends Will and Kate.  Actually they are too young but I always considered his dad as an old friend.  Okay not really. Truthfully as a very young child when I first heard there was a prince in England about my age I was convinced that someday I would be his princess.  I think I was five.  What did I know?

The mini lesson was on the evening news and aside from which piece of cutlery to use when and how, or curtsy the most important instructions were: don’t speak unless spoken to and don’t touch. Oh and don’t chew gum.  

It seems Kate’s mom came under criticism when she was spotted chewing gum at William’s graduation.  And First Lady Michelle Obama came under severe criticism when she met the Queen and in a friendly gesture put her arm around the Monarch’s shoulder.

Strange to say my invitation has not arrived which may mean that for some reason I was left off the list.  It might be just as well as I am not sure I could abandon my gum chewing shoulder hugging ways!

Oh yes…I never did find my prince..just the odd court jester or two!