Pumpy gave me a good wash last night after our guests left. He's a good brother except when he tries to sneak my fudz.

Boxing Day

Oh Christmas was fun.



I inspected the crackers and they were acceptable.



The table was set while we waited for guests to arrive.



And dinner was served.

It's Christmas Eve here in Farnham, England. All the presents are wrapped. The night is peaceful.



Our Aunt Debbie made this mantel cover for us. We're impressed.

Tomorrow Grandma Pat will be here and the beans are cooking Christmas dinner.

Our litter is clean. We've had our fudz.

All is well.

We want to thank all of our friends out there in the blogsphere for blogging with us and we want to wish you all peace and a joyous New Year.

Yule like this.

This morning a certain woman in this house got up before sunrise and drove to Salisbury Plain.

...to celebrate the Winter Solstice...

Here she saw a beautiful woman.

And listened to the drums welcome the sun on the shortest day of the year.

It's all downhill from here. We can now look forward to longer days and more sunbeams.

If you'd like to learn a bit about Pagan beliefs, then you should go here.

Happy Yule, everyone.

Peace,
Pearl.

Pumpy got a bag of cheese stuck on his head. There was a loud ruckus in the kitchen and the beans found him like this.

Normally when we have guests in the house I go upstairs and sit under the bed. However, I decided to join in the party fun and so here I am sitting carefully amongst the guests. Thankfully nobody tried to stroke me (without my permission) yet they did play charades and so I had to leave the room. I really hate charades.

Yesterday it rained and rained and rained and rained. The dog got depressed and I joined the woman for a lovely afternoon nap.

Today there's a Christmas market in town and the beans are off to buy free range eggs and home made bread. I'll stay here and sleep on the radiator.

That is all.

Hello.

I understand that we're having a few people around for fun and games tonight. It will probably be like this:



Bwhahaha. Not really.

I've got to run. I think Pumpy's on the kitchen counter and I just heard a plate crash. Really!

Hello. It's beginning to get Christmasy around here. Remember that cheesy cone tree we had last year? Well, it's back. But I hear we're also putting up a proper tree this year as well. And by proper tree I mean the one they drag out of a box that's stored in the closet. It's not real, yet I still like to chew on it.




And here's our Christmas picture this year. Notice how Pumpy and I are all like "WTF?" (pardon my French). We're not really into that group photo thing and we pretty much refused to cooperate and ruined any chances of a decent Christmas card this year. Heh heh heh.

Sunday Morning Comics

Here's a funny cartoon that I found. I put it next to the dog's bowl so she would be sure to see it.



Last night I got cold downstairs and so I went to the bean's bed and found a nice place on the lady bean's pillow. I thought I was being very generous, giving both the beans half of the bed but apparently they took issue and tried to move me to the foot of the bed. You'll be glad to know that I held my ground. It's a shame about the shredded pillow case.

How are you today?
Love, Pearl.

Gobble Gobble

Hello. I'm resting up before the big dinner. Anyone who's interested should run over to Mrs. G's place to get one amazing recipe.

I intend to get some turkey and cheese today, one way or the other. And if I can lick the butter I'll do that too.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

love, Pearl

Get This Party Started

We made a video of the dog.

Good heavens, is it Thursday already?

The woman tried to make the three of us pose for a Christmas picture but we wouldn't do it. Notice that Pumpy wasn't even in the photo. He skittered and skedaddled away before the photo was taken.

Saturday Spider

Hello. Whilst having my milk this morning I found a spider on the wall. Pumpy and I decided not to pat him with our paws as we sometimes like to do with small creatures. He will live with us for the time being.



After breakfast I like to relax by the radiator -- except it isn't very relaxing when a camera is being pointed at one. I only hope that they don't try to touch me. You KNOW how I feel about being touched without my permission.

I hope you have a nice day.

Breakfast at our house. All cereal bowls come to me.

Did I mention that I broke the butter dish? Well, I did. How's a girl supposed to get at the butter if they keep it in a covered dish, for heaven's sake?

Hello.

I'm resting after this very busy and emotional week. As one of my readers noted, it looks like my NAPS FOR OBAMA campaign really paid off.

On to other news: We're getting a wood stove installed in our house. Pumpy and I have reserved our seats right in front of the hearth and that stupid dog better not try to horn in on us either or I will spit and hiss.

That is all.

Barack Obama - Signed Sealed Delivered

The Waiting is the Hardest Part...

We hope the American voters don't have to wait as long to vote as Pumpy and I have to wait for our fudz EVERY SINGLE EVENING.

Notice that Pumpy has a new spot. He sits there every day and every night. He just discovered it a few weeks ago. I still prefer the front window where I can get a nice sauna between the radiator and the curtains.

The BBC and Autumn Watch

The BBC is wonderful, no? They're airing Autumn Watch this week and if you don't know what this is, then I urge you to go here and read about this very interesting programme.

Last night we saw a fox sniff a deer's booty!! And then the deer turned around and looked at the fox like, "WTF?!" (Pardon my French.) And we were all like... Whoa!! And then the fox ran away.

It's getting cold here and all of the animals are preparing for the winter, including Pumpy and me. We are now living on the radiators.

Sorry I've been gone for awhile. Things got crazy. The woman caught a cold. Etc etc.

I hope you are well.

The dog and I sit in the window together and watch the people who walk by our house. Sometimes the dog barks when the traffic light changes from red to green or from green to red. Who knows why she does that. It irritates me, I can assure you.

Apparently people from our neighborhood often comment on how cute we look together (gah!).

This morning I went upstairs quite early and made terrible retching noises while in the human's bedroom. This stirred the woman and she got up and fed us at 5:45 AM. How fun.

Last night that black and tan cat (see two posts down) sat in our driveway. I don't like that.

That is all for now.

Kiss your 700,000,000,000 Goodbye.

I'm just sayin'

Boundaries

I was extremely concerned when I saw this neighbor cat sit on MY FENCE in our back garden. I stayed out there for a very long time and saw him off. This fence walking will not go down with me, I can assure you.

In other news... last night I ate the dog food, Pumpy ate my food and the dog ate Pumpy's food. It was total chaos but it makes for a change.

A Stern Reprimand

Pumpy got on the kitchen counter again (and got caught). He was given a very severe talking to:



*** All is forgiven***



We had a very nice birthday celebration for the man-- and thank you for all of your good wishes. We so enjoyed the festivities... we ate some of the greenery off of the fresh flowers that were on the table... we licked a pan... we got some strokes from our guests.

H.B., Fudz Dudz

He is 52 years old today. Tonight we're having a birthday dinner for him and we're making him his favorite fudz. Happy Birthday, Man.

Pumpy and I have been outside today because the sun is shinning. We sat on the patio for a long time and then Pumpy ate some weeds and that never ends well for him when he does that.

I've got to go finish my nap now.
love, Pearl

Nigella Lawson

We watched Nigella Lawson's cooking show on the TeeVee the other night. She makes wonderful fudz with CHICKEN and SHRIMPS. After awhile, Pumpy and I got bored and so Pumpy started to clean himself. It always annoys me when Pumpy cleans himself and so I had to turn my head and wait for him to finish.

Nigella Lawson is a domestic goddess. Apparently she knows how to throw together a dinner party in less than one hour and this includes cooking the meal and setting the table. We are not so skilled in this house.

Homecoming

This is what happens when we're left alone for an hour in the evening:



They went shopping. We were alone. It was terrible. A lot of cuddles are in order!

Hello.

We are very disappointed in the TEE VEE line up this evening. We may be forced to read a book or something.

Last night the dog had a trans-Atlantic Skype chat with another dog and much hilarity ensued. Oh it gets so tiresome around here.

Clotted Cream

These are scones with CLOTTED CREAM



For my British friends... you know what I'm talking about! And for my friends across the pond, I can only say that I pity you because to my knowledge you cannot buy clotted cream in the grocery store. But if you can get your paws on some, I highly recommend it.

And here's a picture of me napping in the sunshine:



Remember me, my friends, because tomorrow we're scheduled to get heavy rain with gale force winds and I won't be basking in the sun anymore.

Nap-In for Obama

Everybody's getting into the spirit of my "Naps for Obama" campaign. This could really be a successful initiative! How exciting.

In other napping news: Two bedroom doors were inadvertently left open when the humans went to work this morning and so Pumpy took the master bedroom and I took the guest room. The dog had to stay downstairs on the sofa. That's the way the woman found us when she came home from work today.

Finally... our paws are crossed for everyone down in NOLA.

As royalty (and a cat) I normally look down upon politicians. However, I can no longer remain apolitical. I've committed to a nap-in for Barack Obama. Please join me.

How Very Dare You...

In keeping with my previous post... I really hate it when people touch me without my permission...

Just because I allow him to feed me his cereal milk he thinks he can just reach over and stroke me -- whenever.

I left the sofa immediately after he touched me.

Grandma Pat went home today. I like her. She really gives me my space and also... she has white hair just like mine. Seriously. It's white. Not grey... not salt and pepper. White. It's lovely.

I don't much like it when people try to stroke me. I tolerated this woman because she's a close family friend. Otherwise it would have been totally unacceptable.

Grandma Pat's coming this weekend. She's OK. She doesn't try to stroke me or get all up in my stuff like what other people might do.

I found a cupcake wrapper this morning and I licked it clean.

That is all.

She's 49 today.

She made herself two birthday cakes -- with REAL BUTTER. When I saw her pull that butter out I howled loud for her to give me some but it was a no-go. She hid the cakes so I couldn't get to them -- because I sure would have unwrapped them and licked the top.

Yesterday I stepped outside for a moment and then someone shut the door. I was so peeved. Finally the man saw me sitting on the table and he was all like "Oh my goodness! Pearl!" and he let me in. I really gave him what-for when I got inside. He apologized about a million times as I circled around thinking to myself, "yeah whatever..." I need a cat flap. And one of those heated cat cups, for that matter.

Oh -- and happy birthday, woman. I'll come and sit on your lap later on...

Lately Pumpy and I have enjoyed sleeping in the dog's bed. Before that, we really enjoyed sleeping on a small sofa in the dining room. Before that, we really enjoyed sleeping on the loveseat in the living room.

Do you change sleeping places very often?

Hello

While I have my morning bath, I thought I'd pop in to report that my blood tests came back fine. Get this... it turns out that I've just been sneaking too much dog fudz and maybe it was the hot dog that Pumpy retrieved off the countertop last week. Go figure.

I've just come back from the V-E-T and I had my blood drawn. I've had a bit of the big "D" lately. I'll let you know how things progress.

I was most impressive at the VET's today. I only peed a little on his table and I didn't make one sound when he took my temperature (really... it's so humiliating) or when he drew my blood. I've learned how to meditate and go to a place that's far, far away whenever I'm stressed. Pumpy does this all the time, even when he's not stressed.

RIP Shadow

Our friend, Shadow, went over the Rainbow Bridge on Wednesday.  Shadow lived in North Carolina with his family and his beloved mistress, Kate.  He was a great friend companion and his family is very sad.  Goodbye, dear friend.

Addendum from Kate: 

"He was 13 years old, and the pick of the litter when we bought him from Emerald Valley Shelties in Siler City. My mom always laughs when I say that, because Shadow was the only dog left when we bought him. He was 10 weeks old, and people could tell he was going to be too big for a sheltie. When Kristy sold him to us she made us sign a form promising that we would have him neutered so he wouldn't pass those big genes on to other pupsters.
A few weeks after we brought him home I was in a bad accident. I was in the hospital more than four months, and I had to learn to talk and move again. Shadow helped when I came home. I had to call his name in one breath or he didn't know that I was calling him. I also had to talk loud enough that he could hear me. He would jump on my bed or sleep at the foot of it every night when I called him.
But sometimes he would get into trouble while everyone was sleeping. One time after Halloween my parents woke up to this crunch, crunch, crunching sound. They found him nose deep in a plastic jack-o-lantern. Somehow he managed to get the candy out of the wrappers! He had a white lightning mark on his forehead that looked like Harry Potter's, and he put up with us dressing him like a wizard and tying kites to his leash.
We named him Shadow because he followed us everywhere. He would run around us when we played in the back yard to make sure we stayed together. When I came home from the hospital I wanted to feed him every morning. At first I walked very slowly, so he would go to his bowl and come back to me two or three times while I walked toward his bowl. When we went on vacation Shadow would go to Kristy's house, which we called the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. His mom was there, and he always seemed to like visiting as long as we weren't gone too long.
Then he got a bum leg and a bad heart, and even though he was taking heart medicine we could tell he was getting weaker. But every time Mom and Dad talked about how he wasn't going to live much longer he would do something that made us laugh -- like walking into the kitchen and staring at us like "I know you're not talking about me," or kicking off one of the boots that kept him from slipping on the floor.
Sunday was my brother's birthday, and my Dad was afraid Shadow would die. He was breathing really hard and wouldn't eat. But as soon as my brother woke up Shadow made a dog-gone awesome recovery! He ended the day eating ribs and birthday cake, and he hung in there for a few more days. He died Wednesday on the way to the vet. We are sad, but he will always be a part of our memories, and I will smile when I remember the funny things he did."

We found this video over at A Fanciful Twist. After everyone watched it they all had big smiles on their faces and their eyes leaked a little. We hope you enjoy it!

Hello. How are you?

As you can see, Pumpy and I are enjoying some bonding time. Our food dude is away for a few days and so we're all sleeping on his side of the bed -- stretching out on the cool sheets with the whirl of the ceiling fan lulling us to sleep.

The Red Arrows are Here

Yesterday whilst sunning myself in the back garden, there was the most thunderous noise and then THESE PLANES flew overhead in perfect formation.  Then they peeled off and re-joined and then they circled back and -- oh it set my furs to tingling.  These are the Red Arrows and they are the RAF's Aerobatic Team.  They are in town for the Farnborough Air Show which is a world premier military air show and it's near my house.

I just thought I'd tell you.

In other news, it has been discovered that Pumpy lost a tooth.  I continue to climb on the countertops whenever I get a chance -- this is so much fun I don't know why I didn't discover it sooner.  I got into the butter again.  Oh it's lovely.  I licked my lips about a thousand times after I got shooed off the counter.