Today (August 24) the Queen turns 12. We always take Jolene’s birthday as a reminder to adopt the moms. Jolene was dumped at outside the shelter in a box with her kittens when she was 5 years old. She watched all her kittens be adopted and then was there for several months before she picked me out. Kittens are cute but look at the moms also. 

Jolene is the life of our household. She is strongly bonded to Simon. It is very noticeable if Jolene does not feel well because the life just drains out of the house. Jolene is friendly, playful and keeps things interesting.

She enjoys moving her favorite stuffies around daily. In the new house, Jolene likes to transport carrot and the large yellow mouse that a friend had made for Flower. Jolene will move her toys from room to room, depending on where she thinks they need to be that day.

Jolene is our Lead Hedgewatch-er and caught her first live mouse in June. I sometimes caught mice in the live traps in the basement. This was the first time a mouse was brave enough to enter our living space. Jolene was on cat cam with the mouse in her mouth. She tried to put it in a toy box and seemed quite surprised when her toy jumped out and began to be interactive.

The mouse successfully escaped two cats (Jolene and Simon – Flower was sleeping in the bed with me). I’m sure that mouse is legend with its tale of escape. Hopefully all its little friends got the message not to come into our living space due to the fierce Hedgewatch-er who lives here. 

Jolene must know everything that goes on inside and outside the house. She supervises our neighbors who help with the snow in winter. She runs to the window to watch the school bus go by so all the children can wave at her. She looks for her “boyfriend” Snowball (lives 2 houses down) out the window in the summer.

Jolene brings so much life and love to our home. She was very closely bonded with Jude until his passing. I truly had a bonded trio with Jude, Simon and Jolene. Now that it is just Jolene and Simon, they continue to be closely bonded. When Flower was alive, Jolene had a healthy respect for Flower. She knew to keep her distance, as Flower did not like them close to her. However, Jolene would look for Flower at certain times of day and still try to be as near to Flower as she would tolerate. 

I truly think Jolene would have been even more closely bonded to Flower if Flower would have let them near her. I do have some photos of the girls touching noses and both of them were ok with it. 

With Simon being 10, Simon is still the baby. Now that Jolene is 12 and both Jude and Flower have passed, Jolene is the oldest cat in this house. 

Jolene alternates between sleeping with me at night and patrolling the house. She has to keep an eye on things. She is very loving and is a true cuddle bug. She does perform coworker duty still now that Jude is gone.

Jolene is the only one curious enough to fully explore our new home. She has had supervised time in the basement to explore. She was the one to successfully identify the mouse point of entry. Jolene has also expressed interest in the attached garage and has had some brief supervised time there also. 

At the vet office, Jolene comes right out of her carrier like she owns the place. Jolene is there to be adored by all the staff and she knows it. She uses her cuteness to try to get out of things she doesn’t like (such as getting her nails cut). When that doesn’t work, she wiggles like Houdini to try to escape whatever it is she doesn’t like. 

If Simon brings the love to the house, Jolene brings the LIFE. She is the Queen of the house. We love you, Jolene! Happy 12^th Birthday!