The title probably suggests one of those old “B” films from old Hollywood. It was usually the second feature and ran while we scooted from our front row seats to get hot dogs, popcorn, and a Godzilla-sized Coke. You could hear giggles and lots of frantic searching for coins to pay for our goodies.
This is the 2020 version of that old relic which usually featured John Wayne, Claire Trevor, and Ward Bond/John Payne/John Carroll in the title roles.
Duke
Duke, of course, is the newest member of our furry family. He’s the one who’s injected new energy into the household even if today’s pictures suggest otherwise. Duke is always good for laughs as our court jester. He’s the very randy suitor of Princess Bonnie who’s very particular about her men. Bonnie, no doubt, was dreaming about some of the passionate lover affairs from her gilded past.
The eyes of the Duke
Bonnie, it turns out, is also a cover girl. She’s “Miss May” in the calendar on a kitchen wall. She’s the face that could launch a thousand ships. Bonnie has more internet followers than the tweeter-in-chief, much to his agitated dismay.
Calendar 1
Calendar 2
Then, there’s the Gyrene. The young Gyrene. Garry Armstrong in his USMC uniform – almost 61-years ago when Dwight Eisenhower was the Commander-In-Chief.
Armstrong, the Private E-1, who somehow enlisted right after high school graduation, from comfy, cozy Long Island to the heat, bugs, and D.I. hell of Parris Island, the USMC training base. Young Garry, inspired by John Wayne movies, envisioned a career as a Marine and then life as a movie star. Great expectations all the way!
Garry’s hearing disabilities, miraculously, were not uncovered until months and many exams in basic training. Leather-necked drill instructors were dismayed to learn of Garry’s hearing problems. They had him branded as a wise-ass Yankee “boot” who laughed in the face of their heavy-handed efforts to terrorize all the young Marines in that long-ago summer and autumn of ’59.
Garry, the young Gyrene in 1959
This came on the heels of a national scandal about alleged harsh treatment of fuzzy faced Marines in the swamps that surrounded Parris Island.
Garry’s departure, on medical grounds, from the Marines left many of those hard-nosed Sergeants melancholy, deprived of their favorite target to toughen the young Leathernecks. It was a story retold many times in years to come. Oo-rah!
The face that launched a thousand cookies!
Sixty-one years later, Bonnie and Duke are unmoved by Garry’s colorful recollection of his brief time in the United States Marine Corps. They are recharging their batteries for another marathon barkathon later today and tonight, a major barkathon to wreak havoc on the now old gyrene and his bride.
The furries show NO RESPECT for the old, mumbling and grumbling leatherneck.
Semper Fi!
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“This,” she said to herself, “Is ridiculous. How many of them ARE there?” She opened the window and yelled out the window, but the squirrels ignored her. They didn’t even twitch a tail.
So, barefoot and lacking eyeglasses, she trundled to the kitchen, opened the back door and yelled at the squirrels. There was a wild reaction as squirrels appeared from behind the rails, under the rails, under the deck, on and atop the feeders … and it turns out there were half a dozen chipmunks there, too.
One big one, the biggest, fattest, most hostile of the squirrel gang stood his ground. She finally opened the door and tried pushing him off the railing. That was when the cadre of apparently karate-trained squirrels came at her from every direction.
Only white bones were left on the deck, left for the sun to whiten and the sun to bleach. The retiree was done in by squirrels and a few chipmunks.
