Thanksgiving 2024
Yes, it has certainly been quite a month for this Constitutional Republic called the United States of America!
The Glorious Revolution, followed by the Glorious Restoration of Democracy, has taken up a lot of our time, here in the States. There have been many tears shed, and patriots have bled, but I do believe that the Patriots, those Redcoats, have presently attained the post-Restoration phase where fears must be shed.
For many Patriots, fears come in the form of gripes, moans, whines, and snit fits.
Count me not among the malcontents!
We-the-Patriots have reached the part of the Post-Election Victory Celebration where the malcontents among us aren't happy unless they are complaining.
It's not an easy thing, being a conservative Republican, especially a conservative libertarian independent Republican. Being disappointed, let-down, frustrated, impatient, demoralized, and forever fearful of the next preemptive surrender by a President/Senator/Congressman became too much the norm, post-Ronald Reagan.
I can say with absolute confidence that Pres. George H.W. Bush was disastrous for the GOP. Grover Norquist still has not gotten over the "Read my lips. No new taxes" promise that got swiftly broken by George the Elder.
We the Patriots of the GOP have gone from a President who didn't want to kick Saddam Hussein when he was down in 1990 -- to a President who really knows how to give the murderous tyrant the business!
And, yes, the way you win is to demolish the enemy when he, or she, is down!!!
Consequently, millions of Patriots in the USA find themselves in-training.
I’m way ahead of the curve on this Patriot-in-Training phase. I’ve learned how to be vigilant and feisty at the same time. I might have been born that way. In fact, I think I was, but I owe the persistent success of my en marche en garde attitude to all of the beagles I’ve known and loved. Those hounds indubitably graced my life with poise and go-get-em aplomb!
The scent hound, and all the accompanying sweet memories, at Thanksgiving offer to this Registered Owner timeless and invaluable lessons in the perky and optimistic protection of the realm.
Protection of the Pumpkin Pie is a lesson that I learned the hard way, but what other way is there for a stable creative genius like myself to learn, and never forget????
There I was, duking it out in the Suburbs, during Thanksgiving 1997, when Puppy Boy, that would be Bootsie, schooled me in the opportunistic art of sneakily accessing the traditional dessert. For his very first Turkey Day, he was left to his own devices with the dining room table and a home-baked pumpkin pie that sat atop it.
Dear Hubby, Dear Children and I had gone for the post-prandial walk among the tract homes on that Thanksgiving Day. Bonnie, the first beagle had joined us, but all of her inter-actions, such as they were, and were not, with Bootsie aimed to basically ignore his existence.
I’d unwittingly left one chair away from the table which, from the perspective of the beagle, must look like a big, flat doggie plate. Upon returning to the domicile, I let Bootsie into the house, through the front door. I then tended to other matters, for only a few minutes. By the time that Dear Hubby & Kiddies entered the tract-home (the gilded cage from which I would spring myself in less than one year!) —
Bootsie had eaten most of the pie, from the center out.
There has not been a single Thanksgiving since then when the Bootsie Pumpkin Pie is not remembered!
Jolene is now 16 months old. Last year, at this time, she was still very much a small pup, an incredibly small, but swiftly moving, canine creature. She was in her Pup Room during the holidays. It formed a phase of her training that I’ve come to realize, just this past week, delayed the Holiday Training of the Hound.
The Holiday Training of the Hound is, in actuality, the Training of the Humans.
Upon rising from my chair, any chair, at the kitchen table, I must remember to push it in, up against the round flat, horizontal feeding plate. It’s been a few years since I was in-training with Chance. I’ve been busy with other matters, serious matters, comedic matters, matters that matter!
Jolene has, consequently, had a rip-roaring fun time this month, going where all previous hounds dared to go!
She did not get up onto the table, a feat almost achieved by Bridget whenever Scrabble was being played in the Peach House. Jolene is more floor-bound, and very curious as to what this meal-preparation is all about. She sniffs, and licks the cabinetry, and looks up at me, with gentle, questioning eyes, those softly pleading eyes that are irresistible to ignore.
In fact, Jolene reminds me of Lady, in the Disney animated classic, Lady and the Tramp:
“Just what is a holiday meal, anyway . . .?”
This Windkist beagle is the essence of restraint, considering the stunts she could be pulling off.
Earlier this week, she took a most definite attitude during the final day of 8 days of autumnal rain. The expression, The Pineapple Express, has been horridly revised into the Cyclone Bomb by the always-accurate meteorologists.
I truly felt for my little queen, Jolene. She was under the weather, whereas I, and my sinuses, merely felt under water, due to the barometric pressure during this typical weather of the rainy season.
Yesterday, the sun came out, brilliant and beaming! What a difference the sun makes!
Jolene has taken on the training of her Registered Owner with a very sunny disposition. She was absolutely silent as she quickly slipped in between my feet while I chopped the celery, onion, and Granny Smith apples for the turkey stuffing. She’s not really under-foot, just between feet.
I don’t want Jolene du Près to miss out on the discovery phase of Thanksgiving — on the discovery phase of any feast. It shouldn’t happen to a dog, particularly a scent hound. I therefore decided that the serving of the celebratory meal for November 2024 shall be in the form of a buffet on the kitchen counter.
She most certainly cannot jump up onto the counter, the way Chance did (from a couch) at the Peach House during Thanksgiving 2016.
Jolene has to find her own way into the memory-making of any holiday. It’s her right and her due as my cherished pet. I believe it’s extremely important for this beagle to develop her own individuality, her unparalleled place among the plethora of beagles she’s never met — but somehow is in constant contact with!