A Sad and Sudden Farewell

My lovely princess flew over the Rainbow Bridge very suddenly yesterday; my apartment caught fire while I was at work and she (thank G-d for small favors) died of smoke inhalation.

We would have been together for 16 years later this month. 

I will not lose her; I have always rented and when her predecessor, Scruffy, aka Quartermaster Scruffy, died, I had him cremated and still have his remains.  I had always planned to do the same with her and she is being cremated right now.  I plan to have them in the coffin with me when I make my departure.

The emergency personnel were wonderful; when they found her little body, they put it in a suitcase.  They explained how she died.  They offered to let me see her, which I chose not to do.

A wonderful friend and co-worker took her to a place and arranged the cremation.

I will leave the blog up, but don't know if or when I will feel like checking in.  Please know that I loved this blog and the community we were a small part of.

If the Admiral was a Lion of the Veldt, the Princess was a Lion of Judah, as any proper Jewish kitty would aspire to be.

A (Symbolic) Treasure Hunt (get it?)

So, as we know, in the virtual world, time and place have little, if any, meaning.  Cats and other creatures travel through the quantum world with ease.

Due to that, we consider it imperative to throw the best possible adventure of all from the Princess' Sweet Sixteenth:  A Treasure Hunt.  Pun intended.

Since we won't be physically gathering, searching for clues and small items to show off, everyone will be given riddles; the first one with the answer wins that clue.  The kitten with the most clues in the end wins!

Princess Coco is serving as Missy of Ceremonies--so we consider the field wide open!

First clue:  This very large object of art, located in the land wherein the Sphynx Dynasty began, combines the best of felines and humans......

Humbly submitted,

Prime Minister Neora Warmlapp
Sir Ambassador Scout Ringo

Changes...

Entry from the Princess' diary:

The PM is experiencing several changes today; the two interns in her office had their last day, the staff had a small luncheon for them.

Additionally, her rabbi leads services tonight for the last time before he retires.

Both of these changes are the kind that make her sad and happy at the same time.  Sad that this phase of her relationship with these people are over; happy that she had time with them.  She also knows this does not have to be the end of her relationship with any of them.  She will just have a different relationship with them.

She does wish them well on the next phases of their lives.

I will be 16 at the end of the month and, if I didn't know better, I would think something was being plotted.  There is alot of gossip zipping through the Realm and I am not included in it.  That leads me to believe the gossip is about me and the upcoming birthday.

We will see.

Treasure

Sweet Sixteen!

That is right!  The Princess turns 16 at the end of this month!  Plans must begin ASAP to celebrate this auspicious day!

Do our friends and allies have any suggestions?  We've been away for a while due to browser issues...so we have some catching up to do......please let us hear from you!

BTW, the Princess now has a fairy godmother:  Sarah the Serene.  More on her later.

Blogger woes!

So, the PM has tried to post on many occasions since the last time.  However, Blogger is not cooperating.  Sometimes it won't let her post at all; other times, she gets frustrated when she tries to put up pictures and it doesn't work.  In either case, we have missed talking with everyone.  Maybe we will have to have a spring festival of some kind to make up for our absence.

Hibernating!

Between fathers  and jobs passing, as well as adjusting to new jobs, all of the Royal Court have joined me in hibernating this cold, cold and snowy winter!


The PM enjoys her new fundraising endeavor.  It is with a smaller group in her unit.  In addition, they have many other programs, including a senior program and some youth program and that livens things up!


It has been so cold I don't even like to go to the closed screen door for whiffies when the PM comes and goes!  I hate to see her go out in this kind of weather.  Eventually, the PM will have the option of working from home up to 10 hours per week and I think she may like this; she states she prefers to go into the office as I can try to interfere when she is not worshipping me.... Hmmmph!


Anyway, we miss you all and hope to be back on a regular basis really soon.  We have discovered information about the Mitten Clan that we hope all allies will find interesting!

Settling Down

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all your well-wishes in recent weeks.  It has been a rough time for the PM, yours truly, and all kind thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.

This year has been a rough year and I'm glad next year starts off with some changes.  The job I am leaving has been good in a number of ways over the years, but anything can go sour, and so did this.  I feel blessed that I found a job in the same field and two of my co-workers have also accepted positions there.  I feel especially blessed that on the day a client killed himself (which could have been a train wreck for my career), some of the most high ups at the government agency which funds us decided to entrust me to continue working with my clients.  She has given permission for them to transfer to my new job as well.

The thing about my client is especially hard; when you work in mental health, you know this could happen to someone you work with and prepare for it.  I do not take any responsibility for the action, and the investigation shows I did everything I should have. However, having come uncomfortably close to suicide myself once or twice, it does have an emotional impact for me that it probably does not for other people.

Combined with the death of my father, the fatigue from my fibromyalgia and sleep apnea and the 'eustresses' of two marriages in my family, this second half of the year has been tumultuous.  Part of the reason I have not been posting as much here.

Hopefully things will settle down in the  new year and we will be dreaming up fun activities for all friends and associates of the Realm in 2014.

Topsy Turvey emotions!

The Mommeh has been having mood swings a lot lately!  They happened according to these events, in this order:

Good news is that she has another fund-raising position doing exactly the same kind of work.

Bad news is that one of her clients dies in a sad way.

Good news is that she is told she gets to move her clients with her and gets to continue working with them.

Good news is that she is cleared of any wrong-doing in the death.

Believe me, she understands that the three good things do not really make up for the bad one in some ways.  But she appreciates the confidence shown in her and we are both happy that the Realm will not suffer much financially.

Mommeh has several days off between the two places and she thinks she will do a lot of things around the annex.  We will see!

We hope all our Christian friends have a Merry Christmas.

Snow!

Since the PM tends to stay home a bit more when it snows, I always look forward to it.  I know others do not agree and I do not like it when she has to go out in the icky stuff!  I understand stoopid humans can behave even more stoopidly in the snow.  Hard to believe, but there it is.

We hope all of you are staying warm and dry!  If you know of some yardcats that are getting cold, Pinterest has interesting suggestions for making homes out of Rubbermaid crates for them.......just a thought.  We wish we had known about this when we were still on Capitol Drive and had yardcats......

More Sadness

As you know, the PM is the primary fundraiser for the kingdom.  She found out this week that, due to bad behavior on her boss' part, her agency is losing the contract which pays for her job.  So this job ends at the end of the month.  She has been very sad because she has so much loved this job, her clients and her co-workers.  She is also angry and scared about having to look for another fundraising opportunity.

Please keep us all in your prayers and wishes during this time and understand if we are not around quite as much.

Quiet time

We have been having a quiet fall since the PM's Daddah died.  She has been tired from the trip and there have been complications at fundraising.  So we are all trying to rest and help her feel better.

The PM was able to sit shiva one night when some lovely friends of hers offered to host it; our current annex is too small to hold enough humans to have the service. She was very happy to do this and we are all grateful to her friends who hosted it.

We lit a different menorah this year as things seem more solemn this year.  Normally we light the royal menorah, which is a purple tabby cat with a pink polka-dot bow tie.  This year, we lit a brass one which goes with some brass cranes the PM brought back from her Daddah's house.  Here is a picture:

 

Those are also Shabbat candles burning with them.  We took this picture on Friday night.

 

TTYL,  Happy Hannukah, everyone!

So Sad

The PM got a very sad phone call this morning; her Daddy died.  She had to leave almost immediately to drive all the way across country to be with the rest of her family when they pay him the final tributes daddies receive.

Her father had been in the hospital since October 23 and she had been working  with her brothers on helping to plan a nice, peaceful retirement for him at the age of 84.  However, Friday afternoon, he took a turn for the worse and was moved to ICU.  I guess that is something very serious.  I am afraid I do not understand all this kind of human stuff.


The PM has a very good friend from work who will come to check on me while PM is gone.  Her name is Missy Sue and she actually asked if I would like to stay with her and her two kitties while the PM is gone.  Luckily the PM knew better than to try as I have stayed alone in the past very well.  Mommeh just wanted someone to check on me because she does not know how long she will be gone on this trip.

I am thinking of her a lot.  I sent Ringo with her to watch out and protect her.

Gotchas, minks, butterflies and books of life

The PM and I had another big milestone recently; August 22nd was our 15th Gotcha Day!  After the grand festivities of my jubilation, we celebrated this day somewhat more quietly.  We had haddock, which I must admit was very tasty.

I have not been outside again since the last time I caught a bunny.  I read the PM's feelings very well and I know she worries about what she has been told can happen when I take on rabbits.  But, the Royal Patience wears thin at times and I do wish I could get out for a brief time.

The PM took the past week off from work.  She usually takes a couple days off this time of year to celebrate our holidays:  Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.  Rosh HaShanah is the birthday of the world!  What a fun thing to celebrate!  Some people will actually have  a birthday cake and sing 'Happy Birthday'. 

The PM has not taken off time just to relax in about a year and a half.  She really needed it.  She has had a rough year what with dentists, car troubles and other misadventures.  As she was able to relax, she found herself sleeping much better and much of her pain going away.  I had been trying to tell her that some of that pain was tension, but she didn't see her way to doing much about it before now.  And, of course, when she sleeps better, I sleep better.

Of course, she was at synagogue on Wednesday night and Thursday.  She enjoyed seeing everyone again and catching up with them.

On the first Saturday of her vacation, she swam, napped and rested.  Wednesday, she got a haircut and went swimming.  Today she rested and then came to the coffee shop where she used to hang out all the time.  The rest of the time, she and Ringo were out having adventures! 

One thing they wanted to do to celebrate Gotcha Day was to bring me a mink stole.  They actually went to Mink Creek looking for one.  But there were no minks there, alive or prepared.  They felt very gypped.  Of course, my royal training helped me to be gracious in my own disappointment as I think a mink stole would have been very flattering and warm in our winter times.

They almost brought me a damselfly lavaliere.  The PM and Ringo thought they found one, but when the PM went to collect it, it was gone.   The poor thing was bent in the middle a bit and resting on the ground instead of flying.  We hope it was not in a lot of pain.

The big birds, like the cranes and hawks, have been hiding.  The PM remembers them doing this about the same time last year, and knows that she will see more when migration starts.  However, she is seeing a lot more of the smaller birds like goldfinches and woodpeckers.  Did you know that woodpeckers are thriving as they enjoy eating those nasty little emerald ash borers?  At least one good thing comes out of the bug's presence!

They also say that some of the butterflies have been huge this year!  The PM is finally getting adept enough with her camera to get a picture of some of them now and then.  There is a tiny blue one she loves and a big swallowtail she got some nice pictures of.  She finds it bittersweet to see how tattered their wings can get, yet they keep flying. 

The PM just tried to upload some pics, but it is not working.  She will try to add some more later.

And our wish for all creatures this year is that they are sealed in the book of life for a good and sweet year.

Big Game Huntress!

This is the latest of her many names and accolades that the Princess has collected.  She has caught 4 teenage rabbits this summer and killed three of them.  Rabbits are much bigger than the rodents and birds she has caught in the past and she is justifiably proud of herself.

She is a bit upset with me, the PM, right now, because I recently was informed that cats and rabbits are mortal enemies.  A fundraising friend of the PM's notes that she has witnessed a rabbit eviscerate a cat with its back paws.  I am afraid now to let the Princess out.  The Princess of course, believes she is invincible.

Over the summer, SAS Ringo and I have had many adventures.  Remember this barn?

 

Do you see the sneaky little surprise between the trees on the silo?  Look closely!

 

Nasty spiders!  These were too big and too many for me to handle!  Ringo began donning his spider-fighting gear when I finally got it through my head that these were pretend spiders, not real one.  Panic attack over!

 

Along the way, we have had our usual friendly encounters with songbirds, birds of prey, cranes, deer and, new this year, damselflies and frogs.  We will try to introduce you to some in the near future!



The Princess engages in a piece of gossip....

The Princess was overheard discreetly gossiping with the Queen Bea (Emeritus).  She noted that 'the Mommeh had dedded a spider at work'.  They were both pleasingly amazed at this development as the Mommeh is known to cringe at the sight of spiders and to not be able to move to escape them.

The Princess did clarify that the attack was not hand-to-hand combat or smackdown.  Rather, the Mommeh squirted the spider with cheap perfume and it dropped like a rock!

Princess Treasure feted at Jubilation for 15 years of grace, wisdom

--Fannie Flooff, American Cats Syndicated

Princess Treasure, beloved ruler of the Realm of Capital Drive and Regent of the Stallis Annex, was roundly feted at a tasteful, yet informal, jubilation cookout at Frog Alley.

 In attendance were Princess Coco the Most Adorable, Countess Katie Isabella, Lady Audrey, Royal Musician Mario and Sirs Spitfire and Simba.  Also in attendance was Lady Scamper representing the equine species.  Prime Minister Neora Warmlapp and Sir Ambassador Scout Ringo were also in attendance.  (Please check archives for more information on the momentous occasion of the feline/equine treaty.)

 The Princess was surprised by the sight that greeted her upon arriving at the alley, having been told that her attention was needed to break up a pack of nefarious dogs conspiring with members of the Acorn Liberation Front to patrol the borders of the Realm and to conduct guerilla attacks on the Bird and Butterfly Network.

 The PM and SAS Ringo accompanied the Princess on the ride via UPS.  The peregrine providing transport rode especially quiet thermals, ensuring the smoothest ride possible. 

Imagine her pleasure to see a buffet and hammock swaying in the breeze on Bald Bluff!  Imagine her comfort at seeing lavender and peridot satin pillows in the hammock and artistically arranged around the grounds!  Imagine her delight at seeing the men's obvious pleasure splashing in the sand while netting frogs!

 Upon her arrival, events rolled into action; Ringo cleaned the frogs and put them on to boil.  Countess Katie Isabella stirred the rabbit ragout.  Lady Audrey passed honeysuckle punch and toasted shrew toes.

 As the Princess' toes touched the daisy trail leading to the hammock, an honor guard was formed by all attending.  P. Treasure warmly waved and greeted each member of the guard as she passed.  Upon arriving at the hammock, she nestled against the peridot pillows which accented her eyes and drew a deep breath.

The Prime Minister led the group in a toast to the Princess, recounting her wisdom and generosity through the years.  Mario, Court Musician, lead all in a festive round of 'For She's a Jolly Good Princess' and 'Happy Birthday'.  Princess Coco read a poem she had written for the occasion.

 All passed through the buffet, accepting those generous portions needed to satisfy appetites sharpened in the fresh air.  As the dinner was winding down, hoof beats were heard and shortly Lady Scamper, without ess or tunnel, arrived.  Resplendent in topaz livery setting off her chestnut coat, she whickered her respect to the Princess.

 With a light touch, the Princess settled onto Lady Scamper's back.  Lady Scamper then provided the Princess with a tour of the Realm's boundary, allowing the Princess to ride the perimeter and thank all those who assist in maintaining the safety of the Realm.  In return, Princess Treasure provided Lady Scamper with a head bonk, marsh hay and wetland wheat for a repast.

 After the formalities were finished, the company entertained themselves royalty with pet human impersonations, counting damselflies, and catpiling.  Sirs Simba and Spitfire, accompanied by Mario, ensured the bluff was kept clear of squirrels.  Goldfinches provided bright spots in the trees below in the fading light.

 After a final serving of honeysuckle punch, fond adieus were exchanged and trips home begun.

Pop-up Party for a Princess!

The Princess reached the grand old age of 15 sometime in May! 

The Prime Minister and Sir Ambassador Scout Ringo wondered what they could do to mark the occasion.  They consulted with friends and consulted with the media to see what may be especially pleasing to the Princess.  A surprise Pop-up Party seemed to be the answer.

Remembering the success of the frogs-legs picnic last summer, it was decided that Frog Alley would be a good place to meet; not only are there plenty of frogs, but the alley ends on a hill overlooking a creek and is especially scenic.  Being on a hill, there might be a breeze to keep the insects away.

With that solved, next came the question of the menu.  A frog-leg grill would be lovely if enough were caught, but they did not want to depend on the luck of the catch.  Over Memorial Day weekend, the Princess caught two more bunnies, so it was thought that perhaps she had a taste for rabbit.    A tasty rabbit stew would fill in any gaps left by a shortfall of frogs.

Since this was a surprise, and arranged on short notice, all guests were advised to travel via ess or tunnels if at all possible.  At the same time, a frog-netting contest was announced. 

A special surprise for the Princess would be the attendance of Lady Scamper, representative of the equines with whom Ringo had treatied several years back.  Scamper had consented to providing the Princess with a ride during the festivities.

Countess Katie Isabella and Lady Audrey agreed to meet Sirs Simba and Spitfire in advance to prepare the site.  They found little to be done beyond arranging pillows and setting up the buffet area.  They took time to relax and net a few frogs in preparation for the lunch.

The PM is starting to receive messages that the other guests are in transit!  More to report soon!

SSShhhhhhhh! It's a Surprise!

PM and Ringo here.....we don't know when the Princess was born as she was kidnapped and abandoned when her sire did not pay the ransom.  However, we know it is around the end of May.  The PM uses Memorial Day to remind her it is THAT TIME.  Humans have their own big deals to make of that weekend, though.

So, we're having a Pop-up Party for Princess Treasure on Sunday.  We are hoping all the regulars and maybe some new ones can join us:  Countess Katie, Sir Spitfire, Sir Simba and Lady Audrey.  Mario, Daisy and Harley, Dante, Princess Coco.....the more, the merrier.

We will meet at dusk at the barn on the end of Frog Alley......

Mighty Huntress!

The PM has been slacking off lately; ever since I gobbled up my treats, she has not bothered to replace them.  (She states she's tried, but hasn't had any luck in the stores.  Hmph!  Treats are not that rare!)

So, I showed her.  She left the door ajar last evening so I could go inside and out while she was 'reading'.  Well, she was 'reading' really hard, snoring and everything!

So, I figure she's recently into bones and dedded stuff, and not giving me treats, I'll show her.  I caught a rabbit and brought it inside.  I left it for her where she gives me treats.  She was surprised this morning when she found it and not too happy about having to take the garbage out before work.

She was also surprised I got it inside the house as I had to haul it up two steps and it was half my size.

That'll teach her!

I was a greedy little gus

From the Princess' diary:

Wow!  I shocked myself and the prime minister a few days ago.  She brought home a new bag of treats, since I was almost out of the last ones and didn't really like them anyway.

She gave me one and put them where she normally keeps them on top of the refrigerator.  I was so clearly enjoying them that I got several more. 

The next morning, she heard me making a strange sound in the kitchen; when she came out, I had gotten the treats from the top of the frige and was trying to open them up.  She gave me one and put them away.

Last night, she got home, found the bag with a big hole I chewed in it on the living room floor.  It was empty.  I had eaten the whole bag of treats!

I guess she's right when she called me a greedy little gus.....