Nature Friday and Talk Like a Pirate Day

 It is a mixed bag today.

First up, let's talk like a Pirate!

Now on to Rosy and Sunny's Nature Friday.

Arrr, these apples be fer feedin’ the deer, fattenin’ 'em up good ‘n proper for the cold days o’ winter! 

Wordless Wednesday - Hunting

 

Tuesdays with Tigris - Trust

 Dear reader,

We just celebrated 5 months living with Lady and Man and overall, I would give them a B+.  Points have been removed for not being home 24/7, cutting my nails and putting me in hats. They are generally good with feeding us (although one of our current foods is not our favourite, but we will eat it). We have lots of toys to play with. We have great bird and wildlife TV. The house is fairly quiet most of the time. There are many comfy places to sleep. For the first time last week, when I was climbing on Lady (because unlike Styx, I really like my Lady, I may even love her), I fell asleep on her lap. 

Sleeping 

Lady was so excited it happened. It didn't last long because there was a noise outside I had to check, but it is the start.  I have to make up for the embarrassing behaviour of my boy Styx.

Tigris

Mischief Monday - Lady Called Me a Jack$$$ - by Styxy

 Hi pals, hi pals,

Can you believe it? Lady called me bad names? I Styxy am perfect and I can't imagine why she would do such a thing?

Here I am cuddling with my Man. I love my Man. I will sit on his lap, I will let him pick me up and pet me. I like to sleep at his feet. I will play blanket monster with him. He is my guy. We are bestest boys.

My relationship is a bit different with the Lady. I will not tolerate sitting on her knee. I may let her pet me if I am sitting on something not touching her. I only climb on her to try and wake her up to feed me. I would never do that to my Man.  When she does try and engage me, I get vicious and I hurt her. 

Just because I barely tolerate her, doesn't make a Jack$$$, does it?

your perfect pal, Styxy

Nature Friday - Wildlife Spottings

 Hi pals, hi pals,

It is Styxy your favourite window watcher with some very exciting news. It has been very exciting at our house, as always.

The other day, I was sitting guard on my guard stool when I saw them. I saw them and then more of them and more of them. Lady counted at least 19! They are hard to count because they keep moving around, and I wasn't even there to chase them!

Did you guess it was all my turkey friends? So many turkey friends. They are so fun to watch. They move around and they sometimes fight each other. I wish I could be like angel Phod and chase them. He just wanted to see them fly. I would want to taste them.

They were out there for a long time and then they moved on. I hope they come back soon.

your pal, Styxy, the window watcher warrior 

Remembering

I have wanted to find a way to remember Loki, Gemini, Bagheera, Nin, Hailey and Zaphod and all of those who will come after (as we know there are at least 2 more).  I found a creative way to remember them all and help other animals in need out.

Labour Day weekend, one of the local rescues had a tattoo charity event. The artists put together I am guessing 100 dog and cat themed tattoos that they would do that day. The only adjustments allowed were size. We went into the city and while Man, not a tattoo lover, supported the charity by eating tacos, I supported them my giving some of my skin. 

Many people are reading this as a weird signature - and if you are one of those people it is a heart, with a heartbeat, leading to paw.  It took about 10 minutes to do, which to be honest is about my tolerance for a tattoo.  I love it and it is healing well, and now I have a permanent reminder of my loves. 

-----

I realize after writing this, it is a fitting day for remembering, as we remember how our world changed on this day 24 years ago. 

Wordless Wednesday - It is Only Fun When It Is Empty

 

Tuesdays with Tigris - Hunt Training

 Dear reader,

As Lady and Man have mice in the house every year, they are hoping we are going to be able to help with this. We have started hunt training.

I shared with you my butterfly that spins and you can catch.

Me and my butterfly toy

Lady has upped her game and brought home a few other hunt training toys.

The next one to add to our collection was an electronic mouse. It has a rechargeable battery and it runs across the floor and you can chase it.

Caught it and am chewing the feather

Her latest find when buying me food on Saturday was this all in one toy. It is a ball, that dispenses treats. It also has a battery so it wiggles around and you can get the bee on top. There is also a laser to chase when it is moving around.  It is an everything toy. It is also fun to play with when it is turned off.

Styx enjoying the treat feature

Checking it out

 

She may not be the perfect Lady (wanting to pick us up when we don't want to be and all the singing), but she is a good provider of the toys. Some might even say we are spoiled. I would say I am fairly compensated. 

Tigris, who loves to play and hunt

Mischief Monday - Lost and Found - by Styx

 Dear pals, dear pals,

Lady was a little frustrated with me because in the night, I got up on the charging counter and I knocked her AirPods on the floor. Did you know AirPod cases are really fun to chase around the floor? They are flat and slippery and so much fun. You can slide and chase them and have lots of fun. 

During Gris and my play with it, she played too,  we opened it and while Lady found one earbud, the other was missing. She looked and looked and count not find it. Later that day, the Man found it on the floor by her mats. This made her happy. She did not want to buy new AirPods. 

Now she has ruined the fun by keeping them in a drawer. I haven't figured out how to open the drawer yet. I will keep working on it. 

I will give Lady a point, since she took the AirPod case away, she got me  a ball. I love my ball, but it is not as fun as an AirPod case.

Gris playing with the ball, cause the mischief may be there is no picture of me playing with it

Have you found a fun new toy at your house?

your pal, Styxy

Nature Friday - Up High - By Styx

 Hi pals, hi pals,

I am so jealous, so, so jealous. My people left me for the day to drive to Mount Tremblant to go up in the trees!  People aren't lucky like me, they can't just climb the tree. They need to build things, big things. 

The tower peaking from the trees - about 131 feet/40 meters high

I would have loved to climb those trees. 

But on to  nature you may care about more, me fighting with Gris. I love to get her! She does not love when I get her. 

Thanks to Rosy and Sunny for hosting this event.

Dreaming of a tree, your pal, Styxy

Travels - Quebec City - Last Day

Welcome to the last day of our travels to Quebec City. As mentioned last week we started the day by visiting the Citadel. Then after lunch and some wandering the wonderful streets, we did a tour of the Chateau Frontenac. 

The hotel, which has been built in 6 parts over 100 years, opened in 1893 and was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was the second hotel they build on their route from Quebec City to Vancouver (Banff's hotel being the first one) and was originally built so those using the railway had a place to get off and stay.  To get British Columbia to join Canada, it needed to be joined with the country and the railroad allowed this. 

It has become a very famous hotel where celebrates etc. like to stay. It has an exclusive section within the hotel. It also hosted several secret meetings of Ally leaders during WWII. We did not stay there. When looking at rooms, during the time we were there, a normal room was going to cost about $800 Cdn a night  ($580 US/497 Euros). That was just a little less than the cost of 4 nights at the hotel we stayed in (which was lovely).   

Our tour took us into a guest room as one was available.  This was part of a suite. 

In 2014 they redid most of the hotel. Trying to keep the charm alive with a modern touch.

From the lobby looking up towards 2 of the ballrooms

One of the original chandeliers in the 3rd wing built in the 1920

A ballroom

The balcony in the ballroom

One of the old fireplaces in a meeting room - since a fire in 1926 fireplaces have not burnt wood

A modern light fixture

After our indoor tour, we wandered the streets some more.  We saw some fun street art.

After dinner, before our last big event, we sat in a park and watched children (and a few adults) play in this fountain. I love when cities allow people to use all the spaces like this. 

Our last event of the day was a Crimes of New France tour. Led by the ghost of Marie Riverie, the wife of the longest serving executioner in the city, we wandered the streets learning about some of the history of the city and much of the crime history and history of the criminal justice system.  Marie, was a woman who was sent from France by the King, at the King's expense (known as the King's Daughters), to provide a wife for a settler. Approximately 800 women came to New France with this program. 

Our guide

On our walk, we met other ghosts, criminals and victims alike, who shared tales as well. It is so fun to see the faces of other people when you are walking around talking to ghosts. 

A criminal we met who had 12 burned bodies in his house when captured

Fun fact: No one wanted the job as executioner, so it was given to a criminal facing execution. It paid well (300 a year, compared to the 250 a surgeon would make a year) and came with a house outside the city. The executioner also delivered all the other sentences (beatings etc.). It was a rough and dangerous time. 

My favourite ghost - not pictured here was executed after killing her 2 husbands. While telling her story, she tried to recruit the Man for her 3rd husband. I laughed so hard. 

A victim, whose family was murdered by the people who were helping them leave the city

Me with the actors

After a fun evening, we walked back headed back to our hotel. 

The next day, we were tried and we had a slow morning before hitting the road home.

It took me a long time to get to Quebec City, but I can imagine going back again. I hear you can get reasonable prices for the Chateau Frontenac mid-week in November, so maybe that is in my future.

                   

I hope you enjoyed this snapshot of our trip. Thanks to Gris and Styxy for sharing the blog.

Wordless Wednesday - Harvest Time Tax

 

Tuesday with Tigris - Disruption

Dear readers,

First, Lady says I should apologize on her behalf for not having a post yesterday and for not getting to visit you all recently. By the time you read this she should have remedied the latter at least. Life has been busy and while she doesn't talk about it here much, her grief remains a big thing. She and Man are making their way through it, with our help of course.

Ok, now onto things I care more about, me.

I have recently decided that sleeping in the hammock part of my downstairs tree is one of my favourite things. I like to curl up and stay low, so I can sleep and also keep an eye on the bird feeders and other nature. 

Of course I look very cute while I do this. I always look cute. However, I don't think this is justification for the disruptions to my sleep I get when the Lady comes over and looks at me and wants to my picture. 

I guess it is the price I pay for room and board and it is much better than the hat tax. 

Tigris 

FFF Nature Friday - With Styx and Tigris

 Hi friends, hi friends, hi friends,

I am super excited because today I get to do both Aunty Yam's FFF and Rosy and Sunny's Nature Friday. It is the best day, the best day!

Before I poem, I want to share a picture of me look at Gris' butterfly. This was before she decided it was hers and she wasn't sharing with Styxy.

Now here is the picture that is inspiring my poem. There were so many turkeys, so many turkeys, I couldn't count them. Lady said at least 20. At least 20, so many, so many. We couldn't even get a picture of them all. They were every where.

Now to my poem about them by Styx - not using AI

Sometimes when I am deep in sleep

I hear loud squawking, no a peep.

To the window I do go,

Where I see my turkey foe.

They yell and eat and make a fuss,

Hunting them would be such a plus.

To be living in nature deep,

When they leave I go back to sleep.

I dream about actual hunting,

Because staying indoors is stunting.

It may be safer, it may be ok,

But I would prefer to run away.

For now I will lay in wait,

Watching for an open gate.

I will get brave and off I will go.

Going wherever the wind will blow.

Until I  gets bored and wants to come back,

Hunting is not an easy way to get a snack. 

Maybe I would rather stay,

Inside the house day after day.

It is comfy, it is warm,

It is better than a resident dorm.

For now I will dream of another life,

And stay in the house with Man and his wife. 

I hope you liked my poem. 

Now, even though Gris won't share the butterfly with me, I am going to share this post with her and let her write a poem about the turkeys.

By Tigris, AI not used

Scram.

The End

Travels - Last Day in Quebec City

Our busiest day in Quebec City was our last full day. Again, it was super hot and while we saw a lot and got over 22 000 steps, we went at a slow place,

Our first stop of the day was the Citadel. 

A very brief history. 

This point of the city was seen as having a strategic importance since the founding of the city in 1608. While there were defensive fortifications on this spot, the Citadel was built between 1820-1850, by the British to protect the city from an American attack. While the current fort has never been used as a defensive point, it is still an active military base and home of our only French speaking regiment, the 22nd, aka the Van Doos (22 in French is vingt-deux, which sounds a little like Van Doo to the English speaking world). 

While the Citadel itself was not part of a battle, the land just outside it, has important battle significance. This site was a pivotal battle point in the 7 year war between the British and the French. Named after the farmer whose land the battle took place on, the Plains of Abraham, the one hour battle lasted with a British victory, leading to the capture of Quebec City by the British. It is now a huge park, seen as important to Quebec City as Central Park is to New York. 

Looking towards the Plains of Abraham

We were lucky enough to arrive int he morning and get to enjoy a 30 minute show put on by the Royal 22nd Regiment's musicians. It has replaced the changing of the guard. 

The highlight for this for us was the mascot, a goat named Batisse. This is Batisse X. The offspring of the original Batisse given to the regiment in 1955 by Queen Elizabeth.

After the music, we joined a tour. We had a very unique guide who kept using her umbrella like a gun and saying if there had been an attack, this is what would have happened. In spite of this, it was nice to wander around.

The Citadel also has one of the 2 official residence for our Governor General when she is in Quebec. (Her other home is in Ottawa).  Being part of the commonwealth makes Canada's politics a little complicated. While we are a Constitutional Monarchy where we elect our Prime Minister, King Charles III is our head of state. His representative in Canada, who is appointed by the Prime Minister, is the Governor General. The GG generally holds this position for 3-7 years. In general the GG, manages parliament (prorogues, dissolves, summons), after an election, swears in the Prime Minister and ministers, gives royal ascent to bills to become law, fosters unity, hosts dignitaries, and is the commander in chief for the Armed Forces.  While it has never happened, a Governor General could dismiss the Prime Minister. 

Our current Governor General is Mary Simon. She is an Inuk leader for Nuavik Quebec and the first Indigenous person to hold this office. 

Looking from the Citadel into the old city.

Lady having a little fun! 

Come back next week and we will finish our visit to Quebec City.