By Gentle Mouse, chronicler of family mischief.

Well, dear friends, the end of the year has arrived and it has been a great one. Oh, yes, there have been ups and downs but those downs were minimal: a mini-flood from melting snow that invaded our hardwood floors by way of the balcony/kitchen wall and Grammy catching flu and other viruses... but the delightful ups of those were a proper sealing of the wall along the balcony floor once spring arrived and Grammy getting better.  And while she regained health we got more Grammy time.  Also, she was home a little more this year than in past years and that always meant more cuddles, more snuggles, more 'boys, stop picking on the girls', and more time in Grammy's lap for morning coffee or sitting on the arm of the chair getting pets while she knitted various things. 

It was a year to remember fondly.   So, let's go look at a few posts from this wonderful year 2018. ​

As you all must remember our Facebook page features adventures, poetry by Rondo, Thursday's Cat Joke of the Week and as the year progressed we added in Wacky Wednesday posts and Friends and Family Fridays.  We also had an occasional Somnolent Saturday.  

Here we will share a few highlights from our year starting January 1st when the boys headed to the Virgin Islands for a Beach Party.  You can view the party on our friends' page at Many Claws in St Croix. 

We mentioned Grammy took sick in late February and was ill with Influenza and at least one other virus through March and another in November. Sweetie and I went into nursing mode each time and nursed the old girl back to health with chicken noodle soup, honey/lemon tea, purrs and cuddles. And while she slept we got into mischief with the boys.

With Spring also came Rondo and his poetry in all its beauty, mischief and cheekiness. Here is a sampling of his poetry more of which you can see by accessing the blog category Poetry by Rondo and reading the blogs. 

As Winter Fades. 
As winter fades and eases into spring
It makes me dance and want to sing.
For joyous am I as winter warms
To see the end of nasty storms.

It brings back birds to flit and fly 
Past glass and sill where I do spy 
Them soar on air that oft will swirl
In gusty attempts to make them hurl
To ground. Clever are these birds who soar.
They know their stuff and ask for more.
For it is a joy to be so free
Above the shrubs, above the tree.

They land on branches when sailing’s done
To preen their feathers and fluff their down
To set selves up for another day
And keep the chill of night away.
And as they do, they songs impart
That cheer me up and warm my heart.

As night comes down to hide their nest
I set in to do what I do best.
Find spot to nap and dream my dreams
Of birds aswirl over rippling streams.
And when dawn wakes to early morn
On sill I’ll be to watch the swarm
Leave nests and twigs to swirl and sway.
As on they soar to greet new day
​They sing their songs to Him on high
As past my pane on wing they fly.
And toward the heavens these hymns are sung
​To praise the creator, God and Son.

​Then as the heat of summer arrived in June Grammy was out and about undeterred by it. With her gone we were always planning mischief... as you can see by the following two posts...​

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We have been posting weekly Jokes since 2017 but introduced Wacky Wednesdays and Friends and Family Fridays around mid-year.  Here we'll post only a Joke reminiscent of our repertoire.  For the others you may visit our page and check out past posts.




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Then suddenly December was upon us once more... with more mischief, lots of love for you, our dear friends and Christmas wishes for all. Again, all of these can be seen on our Facebook page.

Now we would like to wish you all the best for the coming year.  May 2019 be wonderful for all of you.  

by Whiskers, Matriarch of Mischief

Good afternoon dear friends.  Today I thought we should take a look at our lives at Mischief and Mayhem Central.... not  much to say here but check out the Captions under each photo.  For our Bios you can go to our Bio page.

We would just like to wish you once again, a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and don't forget to  return next week for a short retrospective of our year.

We love you all so very much.  Whiskers and the crew...  Gentle Mouse, Sweetie, Etude and Rondo.... oh and Grammy too.

We'd love to hear your comments.  
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by Sweetie, intrepid protector of the family.

Good morning, friends.  
Well, life is never dull around Mischief and Mayhem Central.  Never!

Sunday mornings when Grammy needs to be at church for 9 AM she is up at 5. It takes the old girl a few hours to limber up the old joints and her first pickup is usually between 7 and 7:30.  Well, Saturday night Grammy was up around 2ish for whatever reason and suddenly there was a loud bang and everything went DARK... and SILENT.

The power was out.  Now that means a number of things.... Primarily … No lights! No heating! and No morning alarm! No trickling water fountains!  No humming refrigerator! and No quiet music to keep us calm through the night. Oh my.... and possibly NO COFFEE! Oh the horror of it all!

Most of these are not a problem and can be dealt with … but the alarm!.  To get Grammy up at 5 AM at least 3 alarms are mandatory.  The home phone alarm was out, for sure...no power, no phone.  Then there is the iPad alarm... fortunately multiple alarms can be set on it... just had to hope it was charged enough to last the night.   Then the Android phone... which was an issue... it had been put on the charger for the night and would have gone off... but with the charger out of commission there was no guarantee that it wouldn't be dead by morning.  What a dilemma.

The lack of lights was not an issue.  It seems that the power outage was limited to our condo complex so lights from other buildings, street lamps and such were enough for Grammy to get her bearings. 

The problem it turned out was US - Mouse and Whiskers are dark, the backs of the boys and yours truly are dark too  - and Grammy couldn't see us scooting around the floor and had to step carefully.... because of course, most of us had to stick close to Grammy to protect her and were 'underfoot'.  AND I was on duty patrolling the perimeter to be sure nothing attempted to breach the ramparts.   To add to the chaos Rondo was howling like a banshee!  Yes, he does not like the dark.

Thankfully, Grammy has three flashlights strategically placed for emergencies so she shuffled across the floor, brushing against furry bodies but not stepping on toes to the closet and then 'the light came on!' No, not the power, just the flashlight.  But it was enough to see us and dance around us and enough to stop Rondo's howling.

So, light taken care of, Grammy's next concern... would there be hot water for a shower in the morning?  No hot water, no shower!  No shower, well, we wouldn't like to think about those consequences.  No siree. Gross, to say the least.

With that, and just to be sure, Grammy grabbed a second flashlight and tucked it into the drawer beside the bed and then crawled in.  Of course, no power, no heat...so she called us all to snuggle on the bed to keep each other warm... and for the rest of the night was in semi-alert mode listening for the power to come on, or if not the power... for the 5 AM alarm... so not much restorative sleep.  

At 5 AM all was still silent except the iPAD alarm... and Grammy was wide awake.  Dilemma!  Should she get up? Brrr, no heat all night and it was mighty chilly.  Okay for us in our furry coats but the old girl... that was an issue... and no way could she shower under such conditions... so we all opted to stay in bed...including Grammy... and Alarm 2 went off at 5:10, and a third at 5:15.  Still no light, no heat and no coffee.  No sense climbing out from under that toasty duvet but the wait was unbearable.  The old girl needed time to get ready unlike us who keep ourselves perpetually groomed for whatever.

Finally, 6:15 we heard another big CLUNK, some whirring and the nightlights and the refrigerator all came on... the power was back!   Grammy made a mad dash to the kitchen and put on her brew, fed us then got ready to go out the door... though she was a little stiff in the joints.   Like I said... never a dull moment.

Now, for those of you who's email addresses we have, we sent out the e-cards this morning... and it turns out for some there is a problem.  The cards use Flash and of course, it doesn't work on iPads or Apple devices and now seems to have a security issue in Windows 10 so unfortunately you cannot see the card and the photos.

BUT we have a solution for the card itself.  Send an email to [email protected] and Grammy will take a screen shot of the card with one photo and send it back to you.  
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We apologize for this.  The good news is that Jacquie Lawson is working on converting all older versions of cards to the new format so hopefully in future this won't be an issue.  Meantime, Grammy is happy to do this.

Well, that's it for this week, friends.  Stay tuned for our Christmas post next Monday and have a wonderful week.  We love you!  Sweetie, intrepid defender of the home turf.

Comments are always welcomed, friends... especially the ones with humour, mischief and fun..
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by Rondo, poet in a slump and mischief maker

Good day, dear friends. 
​
This past week has been a bit of a downer.  The old girl has been under the weather which has left us without a topic.  Now I ask you, when aren't we under the weather? Whether rain, shine, snow or whatever we are subject to it 24/7/365 which means we are never without weather. AND it is all around us and above us. which means we are under it.

So what does that have to do with not having a topic? 

Well, I suggest that while she's been under the weather so have we.  AND we've been under the same weather as she has....thus we have a dearth of mischievousness to report on since we've been so busy doing the nursing thing leaving us no time to dream up new mischief, new antics, new poetry.  Absolutely nothing comes to mind for any of us.  How boring!

But boring must end so here goes.

​Christmas is coming and that means good food, presents and all that goes with the celebration.  Grammy has been in touch with a Facebook friend in New Zealand and her cat family... Skye and Charlie and that suggests, or at least we hope it does that there are pressies coming for pussycats.  

Only question is, will sniffer dogs stop the shipment?  The pressies Skye's mom makes have catnip in them, or at least we assume so since they are called Catnip Kickers.  Do those dogs in customs know the difference between catnip and that other stuff that Grammy detests and wouldn't have anywhere in the house or anywhere else on the planet for that matter?  Also, will our import laws allow vegetation from another country into Canada?  Grammy didn't think about that when she was talking to Skye's mom... and we have to admit she was in a state with this virus at the time... so her noodle wasn't working at 100%.  I guess we'll find out. So stay tuned and we'll let you know. 

We think these pressies are another attempt to get Whiskers, Etude and I to exercise.  (Yes, we listened in to the conversation and know what's coming, if it gets through customs)  Skye's mommy makes these kickers.  They are long sticks of cotton stuffed with stuffing, of course, laced with catnip and are meant to be kicked by kitties.  Well, we'll see.  

It's more likely that we'll lick the things into a soggy mess rather than kick them and then snooze for the rest of the day.  Another thing Grammy didn't think about is that Etude and I get overly stimulated by catnip and like to beat up the girls.  Unfortunately if we do, and we might, she'll remove them and put them away.  Again, we'll see. 

What else is happening?  Well, this year Grammy plans to cook 'the bird'.... yes, she has decided we kitties and she ought to have turkey and all the fixings - you know... smashed taters, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, lemon-thyme parsnips, butternut squash, cranberry sauce, gravy (oh, we LOVE gravy) and whatever else she has the energy to make.   Dessert is up in the air at the moment... and we don't really care about the dessert part anyway so....I say, forget about it, Grammy!  Don't waste your energy on dessert. The turkey bird is the priority.  For sure!

Well that's all I have 'nothing to write about' for this week, dear friends.  Have a great week revving up for Christmas.  We at Mischief and Mayhem Central love you.

Comments are welcomed.

By Gentle Mouse,  Reteller of Tales of Woe and Wonder

Hello friends, I thought since the others don't have much to say this week I would take a turn.   As you know I'm not too keen on visitors and when they come over I hide.  Sometimes Grammy cannot find me, other times she's pretty quick but I have to tell you about a recent visit from Aunty Melody... you know, Sugar's and Gordito's mom.

Well, it was pretty dramatic when she walked through the door.  Now, you must know I didn't witness this.  No way!  As soon as the buzzer went and Grammy let someone 'in' I scrambled off my aerie and into the closet. This isn't an easy task since there are latches on the doors that I have to overpower, but desperate enough, I do it!   But I got the scoop from Rondo who moments later followed me into the closet wide-eyed and told me what transpired.  The poor boy was so traumatized he stayed with me for the duration.

Aunty M  (yes, another Aunty M - we have many!) staggered through the door, discombobulated and kind of bloody.  She had tripped over something coming out of the subway onto the sidewalk and took a header - kind of like Grammy does. Not pretty, but eventful! 

Now when Grammy does it we run for the hills and stay out of reach until she uprights herself... but Whiskers, Sweetie and Etude were right there with Grammy all of a dither but ready to commiserate with Aunty M.  

So, back to Aunty M and her header... She hit her front teeth and upper lip and was pretty shook up. Some nice folks helped her up, offered to walk her here, but once she got her wind back Aunty M walked the rest of the way holding her parcels and her upper lip.  It wasn't until she entered the elevator that the mirror revealed the damage: swollen lip and oozing that red stuff.  Fortunately it will heal. 

Grammy, helped her into the condo then, always prepared, grabbed a Ziplocked frozen facecloth  from the freezer to help reduce the swelling, Whiskers climbed up to kiss it better while Etude and Sweetie kept pacing and saying, 'Oh dear, oh dear, what can we do to help? What to do! What to do!"   That's really useful, don't you think?  Grammy sent them off to make the coffee.  Quick thinking, Grammy!

Well, cup of coffee in hand and painful lip easing, Aunty M and Grammy started talking that boring stuff - you know - Knitting?  Yes, Purl, Knit, Slip Stitch, the projects they were working on currently AND the big bag of baby yarns that Aunty M brought for Grammy to make into items for the babies in the hospital  Woohoo!  Maybe when they are distracted we can get into it and 'help'!  We are experts at unravelling and chewing yarn, dragging projects into our lairs.  We often get wrapped up in our 'work'.  Literally!

Meantime, on with the story. After knitting chatter died down and the lip swelling too, and before Aunty M would head out for home she decided to take some photos of us... and they are doozies.  Posting a few in here.

Aunty M wrote Grammy to show how a little concealer covered the damage and she was off to start a new work chapter.... Hope you love your new job, Aunty M.

Oh, and in case you haven't already heard … Sugar has a book out called Paws for Thought My Furry Tail.  It's a page turner.  We read it in one go... couldn't put it down... and then Grammy read it again, leant it to Paige who loved it and plans to read it to us again.  And we hear that Gordito has a book planned too... but we'll have to wait until Aunty M has time to take dictation and publish it.  Her new job takes precedence for some reason. Don't understand that but then, we think Kitties should have first place in EVERYTHING.​

Comments are welcomed.... very much welcomed. ​