Is this the real life? Is this just Fantasy?

When the band Queen began looking for someone to replace the late, great Freddie Mercury they shouldn’t have looked further than this surveilance tape from the back of an RCMP cruiser. How amazing is this schlub who was arrested for being drunk and disorderly singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” in its entirety? I’d rather pay money to see him sing after drinking a 40 of Mad Dog than guy-liner wearing Adam Lambert any day. Be sure to watch to the end when he ad-libs a line dedicated to his captors.

While this has become a YouTube sensation garnering over 6 million views and counting, the man behind the music, 29-year old Robert Wilkinson of Edson, Alberta is feeling pretty overwhelmed by all the media attention. He put the video up as a lark figuring a few friends would see it not intending it to go viral as it has. At heart he’s a small town boy hailing from a community of a few hundred people, nothing prepared him to have to deal with record label EMI for not seeking permission to post the Queen song, the fact that he has to stand trial still for drunk and disorderly behaviour, not to mention having to deal with the wrath of his mum.

While we’re all getting a giggle out of this Wilkinson had this to say: ”I’m in Edson, and there’s not much opportunity, no one is at my door or anything, no talented lawyers representing me. It’s just me, sitting in my room.”

Let this be a warning to be careful what you wish for, look at what happened to Jon Gosselin.  Oh well, easy come, easy go. Maybe he can be a contestant on next season’s Canadian Idol.

You got chocolate on my peanut butter. You got peanut butter on my chocolate.

Last week in northern Ontario neither of those things happened, instead $3 million in loonies and toonies got dumped on Highway 11. A Brink’s tractor-trailer en route from the Canadian Mint with a cargo full of the coins scraped along the side of a rock ledge opening it like a sardine can spilling the booty onto the road. And as if that wasn’t enough, there was a chain reaction with two more trucks and a mini-van crashing into the downed truck, one of them containing candy! Imagine it, millions of dollars worth of coins and candy strewn all over the road. I wouldn’t know which to jam into my pockets first, the money or the cash.

On a sadder noter, the driver of the truck and a passengers were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and I wish them a speedy recovery.

They were trying to figure out how to collect all the loose change that’s blanketed the highway. Might I suggest this:

And I can’t resist adding this blast from the past:

Squirrelly Kitty.

What’s not to love but a mama cat from Mississippi who took in an orphaned squirrel and raised him along with the rest of her litter. He even learned how to purr.

Gretzky!

Joey Moss first came to our attention when Wayne Gretzky made that infamous commercial where Joey psyches out “The Great One” with his trick handshake. Here is an alternative version of the PSA made for The Canadian Association for the Mentally Retarded. Sadly the original one is lost somewhere in cyber space.

And while some cruel kids made fun of this tenacious young man when the commercial first came out, he showed us all. Joey has been working as a locker room attendent for the Edmonton Oilers for over a quarter of a century and has won the admiration of the fans in Edmonton and throughout the NHL.

Oh yeah, and Wayne dated his sister!

Not your typical teddy bears picnic.

I’m not sure how I missed this when it happened in 2010 but last week when photographing in the Kootenays I was made aware of this pot grow op near Christina Lake, British Columbia, a summer vacation spot near the US border. Seems that instead of savage guard dogs the RCMP officers were welcomed by black bears, and docile ones at that.

These weren’t your typical marijuana growers: apparently the proceeds of their illegal crops were to continue feeding the 14 black bears that were “guarding” the property. Alan and Kathleen Piche had begun feeding an elderly bear dog food some 10 years earlier and then proceeded to feed other bears as well. In fact some of the bears were so docile they would come in and sit on their couch.

While it appears funny and in true BC nature for some pot growers to come up with the cockamamie idea of using bears to guard their crops the sad truth of their ignorant ways is that 24 bears in total were destroyed. Conservation officials were hoping the bears could be weened off of dog food and after a winter of hibernation go back to their normal routine but unfortunately that didn’t happen. The Piche’s continue to deny they were growing pot.

In addition to the bears police found a friendly raccoon and a pot belly pig also keeping watch on the property. Maybe next time they should use ferocious bunnies.

Happy Birthday Jimmy Doohan!

Everyone always gets so excited and harps on about William Shatner being Canadian but did you know that the actor who played Scotty was Canadian as well? Of course you didn’t, he gets over shadowed by The Shat in Canadian know how. James Montgomery Doohan was born on March 3rd, 1920 in Vancouver, British Columbia and had he not passed away July 20, 2005 (the anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing) he’d join us in lifting a glass of scotch and toasting him on his birthday.

The Doohan family moved to Sarnia, Ontario when he was but a wee lad and he excelled in maths and sciences. He served his country as a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery, his first combat being the invasion of Normandy at Juno Beach on D-Day. He was shot 6 times (by a nervous Canadian sentry) and lost his middle finger on his right hand so couldn’t even flip you the bird if he wanted to. What were you doing during the war, eh Shat?

My brother used to watch Star Trek as a child and this episode was my favourite. Love Scotty’s pun “it will be no tribble at all.”

And not only is was he the chief engineer responsible for transporting the crew of the USS Enterprise , but he also saved a young woman from committing suicide. Talk about beam me up Scotty.

In accordance to his will, a portion of his ashes were sent up into space, a fitting end to a gent of a man.

A cat named Pudding.

Everyone wants to rescue a kitten. Older cats are generally overlooked and remain in shelters for long stretches at a time. But 36-year old Amy Jung took one look at the 81/2-year old orange tabby named Pudding and knew he was destined to have his new home be with her. And good thing for Amy because just that same night as Pudding was checking out his new digs she had a diabetic seizure.

Pudding acted fast, he jumped on her chest and began swatting her face and nipping at her nose when he sensed something was wrong with her. He managed to rouse her up long enough so she could call out to her son to call 911. Then Pudding rushed to Ethan’s room and startled him out of bed to go his his mum’s aid. Needless to say Pudding’s quick thinking and swatting saved the Wisconsin resident from falling into a diabetic coma! Amy was so thankful to Pudding she went back to the shelter to pick up his friend 3-year old Wimsy whom they were brought in together when their owner passed away.

So next time you visit a shelter don’t write a cat off because they are mature in years…they can live to be 20 years old so you’ll have many good years with them and who knows, they might just save your life.

And completely unrelated but who can resist a video of a television set in Japan where a cat is eating a wobbly pudding:

Dinner time.

I’m in Halifax. I’m hungry. So are these kittens waiting for their dinner.

Canada Vignettes – Woolly Mammoth

Today I’m in Moncton, New Brunswick (working on a project with The Canadian Immigration Museum of Canada at Pier 21) but later today I’ll be driving south to Halifax and you know what that means, driving past the World’s Largest Mastodon in Stewiacke, Nova Scotia.

I visited the roadside attraction this past summer with my friend Jeff Harris but that’s not their only claim to fame: the same town houses the halfway mark between the equator and the north pole.  It’s not as easily marked as the Mastodon, in fact it’s in someone’s back yard, but there is a sign and marker to prove it.

I don’t plan to get out of the car to visit these world wonders as it’s cold and gloomy here so to honour the occasion I share with you a Canada Vignette from my childhood, The Woolly Mammoth (but heck if I know if a Mammoth and Mastodon is the same thing or not).

They just burst with flavour in my mouth.

Oh hell to the no (that’s for you Whitney) this woman is addicted to eating cat treats! The good folks at TLC have a new season of “My Strange Addiction” and what better way to kick off the season than to showcase a woman who is addicted to eating her cats treats. Her addiction began 5 years ago after a divorce, she lives alone and has 3 cats, surprise, surprise.

Mary says she thought it was alright to eat cat food (yes, she’s begun to progress to wet cat food as well) as it has all these vitamin supplements….FOR CAT CONSUMPTION! This CCL just set back all us other cat lovers decades in the eyes of society.

I often joke that if the economy doesn’t get better I’m going to have to start sharing my animals food but heck, my cats eat organic raw food that actually states on the label that the quality is fit for human consumption. They eat venison, quail and rabbit not the crap that Whiskers and Pounce have in them.

Ok, one more gem of a clip:

Je t’aime l’homme de sirop d’érable.

The quickest way to my heart is through my stomach but specifically by dousing everything with maple syrup first.

The second sure fire trick to making me fall in love with you is to sport this Grizzly Adams-like beard and speak in Quebecois accented English. Pierre Faucher, owner of Sucrerie de la Montagne, I am in love with you sir. Please let me learn your sweet syrupy ways.

Sending Valentine’s Day well wishes to you all from Montreal, the land of love and syrup.

Tokyo Cat Cafe

I’ve heard of these places in Japan where people who can’t have pets in their apartments come to play with cats in a cat cafe. And after watching this video I say nice in theory but wait, YOU CAN’T PICK UP THE CATS?!? Why I never.

It’s long been a dream of mine to open up a cat B & B (along with a maple syrup farm) where travelers who have left their own cats at home can tuck into bed at night with a surrogate furry friend. I mean really, how amazing would that be. Now if only I could find the funding….(hint, hint).

* excerpted from The Guardian

After nearly a year off of this thing I am FINALLY blogging again thanks to a brand spanking new website. No more confusing flash (thanks to the late Steve Jobs). From here on out we’re easy-peasy with a new neat and tidy format. Come back often to the blog as I’ll be starting up Touque-for-Tuesday’s! and Cat-tastic Fridays again, and to the site for updates and new images!

Sweetie, darling.

Best known for her role as Patsy Stone on UK comedy Ab Fab, Joanna Lumley is also a humanitarian, activist (huge supporter of Gurkhas right to reside in Britain) and cat lover. I recently caught her program called  “Joanna Lumley Catwoman” and it made me love her more for being a CCL than boozy broad Patsy.

Joanna’s love for cats began at a very young age when she was out for a walk with her mother and dog in what was then Malaya (today Malaysia). They walked by a well and like a tragic cliche heard a desperate meowing from below; a tiny kitten was swimming around, the rest of the litter evidently already drowned. Joanna’s mother lowered the dogs leash and the frantic kitten grabbed hold being raised to safety.

In the show “Joanna Lumley Catwoman” our hostess travels around the world from Japan to LA, Mexico to Belize, Egypt to Namibia all to bring stories of the often revered sometimes misunderstood creature. Definitely worth the watch if you love cats and love Joanna.I tried in vain to find it on YouTube to share but did manage to find the show on a Chinese website so enjoy!

Happy Passover/Easter.

God how I loved this Canada Vignette as a child. I can still remember watching it as a youngster.

Touque-for-Tuesdays is taking a bit of a break. I have launched my Trans-Canada project website today, so please follow The Maple Highway. Touque will resume regularly scheduled postings in the fall.