The human spent the holidays sick as a dog, trying to keep up with work on a laptop perched on the bed, day after endless day. The Queen of the Universe, as ever attentive to the underlings, reclined in her chamber, keeping an eye on the creature.

Her Exalted Highness in the Royal Bedchamber

More recently, the Queen's relative in royalty, Prince Charley the English Golden Retriever has been visiting, having sent his own underling on an ambassadorial trip to Colorado.

Some time back, when Prince Charles was a mere pup, Queen Cassie impressed upon him that she was bigger than he was. That was almost true then. Today, Charley weighs more than three times what the Queen weighs. But he still thinks she's bigger!

Cassie herds him around like a sheep -- to which, it must be allowed, he bears some resemblance, both physically and intellectually. Yesterday she took to nipping at him, which really got him very alarmed. To my surprise, though, I managed to make her quit it simply by telling her to knock it off when she went after him. So far she hasn't started that again.

It does annoy her when he lobbies for attention or nabs her toys.

Off with His Head!

This morning Her Stratospheric Highness nagged me until I retrieved a ball that had rolled under a piece of furniture. As I was crawling to my feet, Charley stepped over and grabbed the ball from my hand.

He headed for the back door, which (at the Royals' behest) was standing open.

Cassie made a fast end run through the kitchen and cut him off at the threshold, blocking his way to the back yard.

Standoff.

The impasse was broken, though, when the human produced a treat for Charley. Food in the mouth trumps Ball in the mouth.

Food, food, wonderful food. Both of the Royals make it a habit to extort food from humans who dare to sit at a table to eat a meal. Charley is a great deal more assertive about this, partly because he has acquired barbarian manners at the remote court where he rules and partly because he's so large his head is exactly at the height of, say, a dinner table.

Cassie merely sits nearby, emanates cuteness, and watches for a weak moment on the part of the human. Charley insinuates himself -- onto your lap, if he can manage it!

The Royals at Table

Fork It Over!

Speaking of bringing up puppies, the Cassie's future pup-mate is a-borning! The breeder sent pix of five tiny mouse-like babes, fresh out of the oven. I'll have to ask her permission to reproduce before publishing them here. But they're sooooo tiny and adorable!