We finally managed to get down to Tricities (Pasco, Kennewick, Richland) on the Columbia and visit Patty, who breeds (besides books) show horses. She has 8 babies. And they’re wonderful. Hand-tamed, so they’re willing to be petted, if a little shy.
And so tempting I walked more than I should on a newly PT’d leg, and gave myself problems which meant I didn’t get to go to Spocon this weekend.
Mostly we’re just writing and prepping the house (basement) for the next round of remodeling. Looking forward to getting Scott back.
We promised to have this next Alliance book ready by November, and we’re trucking. By turns.
Anyway, that’s what we’re doing.
Weather was brutally hot during the horse adventure, but has turned off chill and rainy, unusual for August in the PNW.
Hanneke, hearing that Amsterdam had a tornado, of all things! Hope all is well with you.
Oh wow, thank you both! I need to think over those, but I think I can use one or two from each of you.
@chondrite – Is that Hawaiian-English dictionary available via Amazon, ebook or print? (Funny we don’t have a “pbook” term or something for printed books now.) If so, I’ll get it.
@Hanneke — “zijn daden benne groot” — daden looks like “deed, deeds” to me, as in a good deed or a heroic deed; there’s also a deed to property. Although “deed” doesn’t get used as much in the sense of “things done” (do and deed are related), it’s a word any native English speaker would recognize there. “Acts” or “actions” works fine for the translation too, but for the rhyme and for special or poetic usage, for a little grander flavor, it works well for the children’s rhyme. You know, it’s funny, little rhymes like that, or popular songs like Yankee Doodle Dandy, haha, have a surprisingly long life down through a culture. (And really, who would think an admiral’s crucial deeds would be carried down through a few hundred years of history in a children’s schoolyard rhyme?) — Is that used by kids playing jump rope, or some other game, or just a rhyme they sing? That is a neat bit of sailing and linguistic history all knitted into one. At that time, the silver / gold fleet would’ve been also important because Spanish doubloons and “dollars” and “pieces of eight” were made, both in the New World and in Spain, for world commerce. So the Dutch scored a major coup in limiting that.
Piet or Pieter could work for a character name — what would be the nickname, Pietje or Pietie? Or something else? Pietkin?
I may have other questions for both of you along these lines; thanks.
Now I want to look for that show, “Admiral.”
I also would not want to besmirch the Dutch Tromp name with the current office-holder.
I came across a neat-looking Dutch flag variant when looking about the flag. It has the three colors, blue, white, and orange in 6ths as triangles radiating from a central point out to the edges. It makes for a striking, bold flag. I’m surprised it didn’t catch on as the primary flag. — I may try something like that, with a heraldic device or a horizon line, for a ship’s patch.
Ah, another question: Since canals and levees are important in Dutch life, what are those? (I am going to get a dictionary also.)
Chondrite, you said different types of fishing, but I’m not going to pester you to ask to look that up, unless I think up something specific. This seems like enough.
Hmm. — What is a dolphin / porpoise in Hawaiian and in Dutch? — For Romance (Latinate) languages, you get things like Delfino, Delphin. Somehow, English liked it better with an O instead of an E. And from what I can find, it’s from Greek and related to Delphi and their Oracle…which in turn are related to two different historical groups, for, ah, connection with snakes, with women’s fertility (the womb) and possibly male fertility (phallic symbol), and/or with the navel, the umbilicus or omphalos, I think I have that right, the umbilical cord or the world, in their belief-system. At least one of those is thought to be early Greek while the other is thought to be pre-Greek that was then incorporated into the Greek pantheon. Apparently, the Greeks then connected the dolphins near Delphi to the city and the divination and so the dolphins got a name from it.Which led down a rabbit hole with a few summaries of Greek stories about dolphins, humans, and the gods. (Humans who were turned into dolphins with tragic results before and after, humans who felt in love with dolphins, humans who loved to swim so much they got involved with or turned into dolphins, stories with dolphins, boats, and sailors, you name it.)
Now I have to look up “Cooper” in English. I think the word was for an old occupation, making wheels or barrels, putting the metal rings around them to bind them. But I may be confusing that with another old job name. I’m going to have to keep the Dutch and English words separate. Heh.
Several of those look good; I’ll have to pick what fits best to me.
A cooper makes or repairs or (dis)assembles barrels and casks. In a Royal Navy tall ship it was an imporant office because they had no way to purify water. (Steamships could always condense the steam.) IIRC, the cooper was a petty officer, reporting to the purser, a higher level petty officer who had to post a bond.
Barrels were routinely disassembled, transported to shore, reassembled, and filled with water. Then they were towed back to the ship. I do not think they would stay watertight when empty. Food barrels, I think, were routinely discarded or burned, but the iron hoops were valuable.
I’ve been playing the SF game Surviving Mars recently. (A challenging game, even though it’s a pausible strategy game with no real opponents except Mars itself.) One of the oddities is that you must constantly mine water; how do they think the water disappears when you’re living entirely in domes?
From Wikipedia:
The word “cooper” is derived from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German kūper ‘cooper’ from kūpe ‘cask’, in turn from Latin cupa ‘tun, barrel’.
Correction: I think the purser was a warrant officer.
Thanks, Walt, that saves me looking it up. Hadn’t yet. — And I wouldn’t have gotten the bit of age of sail lore to go with it, so thanks doubly. (Landlubber that I be, I had thought once you made a barrel, it stayed that way until it was unusable, and then got torn down for the iron bands and to use the wood for kindling or whatever. Neat information.)
As best as I can figure, “warrant officers” and “petty officers” started out as almost the same thing, although a warrant officer was made so by a “warrant” document, and a pesty officer was promoted or appointed from within the ordinary sailors. The early warrant officers appear to have been the non-military positions aboard ship, basically filled out by the captain or else the ship’s master (originally, often an experienced sailing man, not the captain). So warrants versus petties may have started also as a social class distinction (noble or bourgeois versus commoners). But it looks like there wasn’t initially much difference, and the two diverged by class and by purpose as time went on.
If Joe knows more of the history, that’d help. I know he’s busy right now. — I will have to look again, but somehow I think I’ve lost track of his email addy from my contacts list and his mailing addy from back when I’d gotten a thermostat part from him, which was, by the way, an exceedingly kind favor, still.
I think if you go back to around the War of the Roses, the ships mainly sat at dock, maintained by what later became the warrant officers, such as the carpenter and bosun for maintenance of the hull and rigging respectively. When activated, a noble would come on board to give orders, but not being a sailor, these were actually implemented by the master (called the sailing master in the early USN and not to be confused with the “master and commander” of a ship).
By the Napoleonic / Georgian period, the warrant officers were appointed to a ship, and promotion lay in being promoted to a larger ship. Petty officers were rated (or disrated) by the captain, who might only be a master and commander. Midshipmen were considered beginning commissioned officers, but they were legally petty officers and could be disrated. Once they passed for lieutenant and were commissioned, then they could only be degraded by a court martial.
The tension between noble/gentry captains, usually carried by their warrant officers and other subordinates, and the technically proficient professional captains persisted, I think, to some of the officers who fought at Jutland, who didn’t practice their gunnery because the RN would win as the RN always had won. But:
[From Wikipedia]
The Dutch, under nominal command of Willem Joseph van Ghent and Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, over several days bombarded and captured the town of Sheerness, sailed up the Thames estuary to Gravesend, then sailed into the River Medway to Chatham and Gillingham, where they engaged fortifications with cannon fire, burned or captured three capital ships and ten more ships of the line, and captured and towed away the flagship of the English fleet, HMS Royal Charles.
I looked up “Dan liever de lucht in” and Google Translate gave me, “Then rather the air in” (Then rather in the air.) (Lucht instead of the German cognate Luft, or the English cognates Lift and Loft, Aloft.) — Liever for “rather” — English has “I would as lief” or “then as lief” from older or more poetic usage. (Merriam-Webster also says it occurs in “as liefer” in some places, a comparative or intensive suffix added.) The dictionary gives the English lief, liefer usage as two different meanings, either lief, related to the old Shakespearean and earlier word, lehman, (I think there are other spellings for that one), in the sense of loved, beloved, someone or something beloved; or (2) in the “would as lief” or “liefer” sense, meaning, I would as gladly, as willingly, I would just as soon, do something, have something, for something to take place, and so on. Both senses are given as: Modern English lief, liefer; from Middle English lief, lef; from Old English lêof, related to lufu, love. (I’ve used the circumflex / rooftop / hat accent in place of the macron).
But that “would as lief, liefer” usage looks almost the same to me as “dan liever” (then rather) in Dutch. It’s the same basic sense behind it, almost, ad the word-forms are nearly identical, with Dutch V being common for English F, and pronounced as an F in Dutch, and English has F voiced to V in middle or final position in history, where we now have a V or rarely an F in spelling. Liebemann, in German and lehman in English (lehman in English is archaic or moribund usage these days), are related, and I’m sure Dutch has an equivalent word. (The English and German words, and probably the Dutch word, mean a loyal or trusted or beloved, well-liked man, a friend or relative or someone serving someone else but who is especially trusted, liked, loved. It also seems to shade into someone who is so loved as to be a best friend or a blood-brother or counted as a relative or member of the household (in the feudal or family senses) or, possibly, shading into a couples relationship or romantic or courtly love. However, the sense I always heard in English and literature classes was more like a trusted, loyal man, a follower, but someone so close as to be considered beyond reproach and belonging to the house/family (again, in that older feudal and family sense, a servant or retainer).
— And those specialized or multiple different words, or phrases, to give specific types of fishing, nets, and so on? Sure, that gives more detail, more insight into how they live and do things, adds to the richness of it.
— Also — I didn’t mean to play favorites. I’d be happy for input from other languages spoken around here. My feeling is, people will choose to immigrate to space if/when they can, maybe eager to leave Earth and start a new life elsewhere, maybe fleeing bad conditions on Earth, maybe well-off or dirt-poor, or maybe shipped off on purpose. (Both the American and Australian colonies did have the poor, orphans, criminals, all of whom were shipped over here from Europe to get rid of them, frankly.) I expect it’ll be similar, to send excess population out to colonies and mining, in space.
From a language standpoint, there are all kinds of ways that language groups combine, split, merge, subsume, overwhelm, other languages they come in contact with. So that would play out with people in space making contacts, needing to communicate, like it does on Earth, but initially, those interactions are very small groups, and later, larger groups, so things would slowly take shape out in space for their own slang and lingua franca and pidgins and patois and creoles, becoming languages or remaining interface points.
I’d expect both major world languages and less common ones, as well as endangered languages, to make it into space and then combine or grow. And it would take something major for any of the world’s top 20 languages not to be spoken in space and evolve over time. Meanwhile, 4 to 5 centuries is time enough for current languages to change, and for mergers and splits to happen. So whatever we’d really end up with will be quite different. — But I will likely be conservative about not putting in too much like that, without a side-by-side translation, say, or notations for it. — I intend to have a guide volume or section anyway, for notes like that. (For one thing, I have to keep track of this stuff too, lol.)
I found myself wondering, with things like global warming, or political and religious unrest, rivalries between groups, what is likely to happen there, and that’s too hard to predict. If global climate change, warming, and sea levels rise as expected, even by the most conservative estimates, within the next few centuries, that means that the majority of the world’s most populous and influential and historical cities, important for trading and manufacturing, ideas, cultural ties — are likely all to go underwater, unrecoverable. So are entire island chains and sections of coastline on the mainlands of all the continents. (My city and some portion of the counties inland would become part of the Gulf of Mexico, for instance. But oddly, parts of some island chains will still be there, habitable.) Plus, I came across the info that apparently, a large swath of land in the Indo-Chinese / South Pacific, between India and China, Southeast Asia, and Australia, had been above water in prehistory, and then with climate change after the last Ice Age, it was inundated, giving us the huge range of islands from Southeast Asia to Australia that we have now. But the Polynesians and Melanesians who colonized prehistoric Australia and the Pacific islands did so by sea, in small to large boats, as an early but advanced seafaring and very brave culture, way before the Bronze Age. So changes do occur across the millennia.
But that means, well, all those displaced people would have to go somewhere. This means people mixing into existing populations or remaining their own group within a new place. So…all sorts of things would be happening in Earth’s near future and once we get into interplanetary space and then interstellar space.
That boggled my mind, and it doesn’t have to do with the story I’m working on, except, it would mean the people between now and that time would go through all those changes, to affect their languages and their cultures. — And humans just don’t keep a single, monolithic culture and language. Even with the Roman Empire or English influence (or similar influences by Chinese and Sanskrit, Maya, Inca, Egyptian…) people still have had separate languages. Or you get something like the lingua franca used in the Mediterranean. So…that’s all just things to think about, but how much will be there in the story, I don’t know. It’s what any writer has to think of when world-building. This story has taught me that more so than the previous world-building I’ve done.
My current story sill feels very…present-day in things ike that. So I can see I need to do a rewrite when I get a first rough draft done. This is likely to need better crafting done on it, if I want it to show more depth to how they live.
BCS, depending how comprehensive you want to get, there are two versions of the seminal Hawaiian dictionary, both by Mary Kawena Pukui. One is a pocket dictionary and one is the ‘revised and expanded’ version, which has much more in-depth etymology, etc. Another good resource is ‘Olelo No’eau, a big book of Hawaiian proverbs and phrases, which is just fun to look through. For fun, I’ll see if I can snag a copy of Pidgin to Da Max, Hawaiian slang. Ho, f’reals da kine!
LOL, Chondrite, you’re asking a guy who can type off a page-long post without trying, a guy who likes words and language, whether he’d want the newer, revised, more-words dictionary, or the handy pocket one? Heeheehee.
Oh, that slang / pidgin book sounds neat!
I learned when I was taking French and Spanish that I needed a comprehensive desk volume, “the big guns,” and for class, I’d sometimes toss in a pocket dictionary. There was a really nice, reliable Spanish-English pocket dictionary out, and mostly good pocket French dictionary then. (I don’t recall at the moment the Spanish dictionary publisher, but I can append that tomorrow afternoon or evening.)
I also got the larger Barron’s 501 verb book for each, and usually got a grammar précis volume. This was in self-defense, even as someone good with languages. And when I had my own home, and before that in my parents’ home, those language reference books plus my big American Heritage Dictionary (English) sat on the bookshelves above my desk, ready to use in seconds. (I _think_ they are in the bookcase in the living room here at the apt., but the Great Reshuffle did indeed reshuffle pretty much everything, books included. Sigh.) Still unboxing, rebooking, unshuffling. Heh. (My college calculus and trig books also sat by those, and a computer science book or two, plus an MLA handbook, now outdated, and a copy of, ah, The Harbrace College Handbook of English, I think was the title, I don’t recall the edition now. Small, pocket-sized, hardbound volume red and beige. My mom had used an older edition back when she was in college, and I got one when I went to college. It’s a good, solid, concise book on English grammar, especially if you have a good grounding in grammar already. I also got the Strunk and White Elements of Style back then. Those, and a few other books, formed my core reference arsenal. My French college lit. texts went along with those and a few others.
If and when I get into a house again, and it can be permanent or at least nearly so, a proper desk with ample bookshelves above and nearby will be a requirement.
Side Note: Modern ebooks seriously need to quit putting tables into _graphics_ and start using real text tables in the proper ebook / html tags instead, so they can scale properly. — One or more of my ebook language references has… blankety-blank _bitmapped_ _graphics_ in much of it, instead of readable text tables. So not helping.
Books are good. Home libraries are good.
That said, I need to take time out Friday evening and study Spanish. I’ve put it off this week, and yesterday evening, I was exceeding unhappy with myself for not remembering how two of the tenses go for the -er/-ir conjugations. Mostly, they parallel the -ar conjugation, but there are a few places where they go and do something else. — And I still need to re-memorize and drill on irregular verb forms. — I caught myself trying to recall how to say something to a friend or a maintenance man, which I used to know how to say with no problem, and…completely blank on which verb it is and what form it takes in that tense/mood. So — I need to set aside time every other day or so and be serious about this. I need to be fluent again, and it’s silly that I haven’t been reviewing properly. Once I’m back in the groove, it shouldn’t be a problem, and it might kick my other study habits back to normal again too.
Buy Greenland? That’s flippin’ insane, barking mad!!
For some reason, the people of Greenland are not wildly enthusiastic about it. 😀
Ah, that was what Paul’s comment was about! I’d not heard of that brain-fart yet.
The US has enough landmass it should be able to relocate people in-country.
For the Netherlands, and Bangladesh, and the Pacific island nations, that will not be possible IF we pass the tipping point of runaway methane clathrate melting. That means all the ice on Greenland will melt and sealevel will eventually (well beyond 2100) rise 50-60 meters.
Luckily the Netherlands and Denmark are good friends and quite similar in culture, so maybe somewhere in the 22nd century, if it becomes necessary, we can come to a deal with them and Greenland, and a bunch of Dutch refugees from the rising sealevels could relocate to a newly defrosted bit of Greenland and create (another) “New Netherlands”…. hopefully with better results than previous tries.
I’ve read that a pacific island nation which will be drowned by a much smaller sealevel-rise (as they are only 1-2 meters above sealevel at present, and coral islands can’t thrive if you try to protect them with the type of dikes and seawalls that the Netherlands uses) is already implementing a plan like that.
From what I remember they’re buying up land (I think it was in Australia) from a collective fund (from the sale of .tv internet URL licences IIRC) where the whole small island population can move to together, once the islands become uninhabitable.
At least for us Dutch and the Pacific islanders I can see a peaceful possible solution in case the worst happens.
And then there are those parts of the world where, in that scenario, things will not go that well.
@BCS,
Your translation of “Then rather up in the air” is literally correct; “liever” = rather/I’d prefer.
Up in the air has acquired (probably from this saying, which is still in use figuratively – the Dutch love using old proverbs and sayings) the secondary meaning of blown up / exploded into nothing. When on New Year’s Eve everybody sets off fireworks, the newspaper headlines the next day are always “x milioen de lucht in” = x million blown away.
The standard diminutive for Piet is Pietje, but Pietie is maybe more likely.
My grandma sometimes (rarely, when I was young) called me Pietie, from Hanneke via Hannepiet (I don’t know why she added the piet) to Pietie.
Historically, such -je diminutives of some men’s names like Pietje or Hansje have been sporadically used as women’s names – that does not work for all male names, just a few of the short old ones.
Cooper = Kuiper, which is again a common surname, as is Kuipers.
Dolphin = Dolfijn.
Porpoise = Bruinvis (“brown fish”, though it’s neither!).
Both are used as ship’s names, but not as surnames.
Canal = Kanaal, kanalen.
Seawall = zeewering
Levee = waterkering
Dike = Dijk (surname Dijkstra is in use)
Dike surrounding a piece of land = omringdijk
Drainage ditch = sloot, waterloop
Several mills in a row raising the water from a low-lying polder to a canal for drainage = molengang
Dam = Dam, “van Dam” is a common surname (“from the dam”)
Broek is an older word for polder, a piece of land that’s been reclaimed from water, as in the name of the town “Broek in Waterland”, or our neighboring town “Broek op Langedijk” (Polder on the long dike).
Marsh or peat = Veen, van Veen is a common surname, sometimes Van ‘t Veen.
The Dutch flag has a slightly darker blue and red 🇳🇱; the flag of the duchy of Luxembourg has paler blue and lighter, more orangy red but is otherwise the same🇱🇺. Set the Dutch flag on its side and you’ve got the French flag🇫🇷.
In those simple European tricolors these little details make all the difference!
The English and American and Australian flag use the same colors but in more complex configurations, and there are more that use those three colors, some with only some small element added or changed, like 🇵🇾 🇨🇷🇨🇺🇨🇿🇵🇦🇷🇺🇸🇮🇸🇰🇸🇽.
So changing it into a pinwheel makes it unclear to which you are referring; which might work for a mixed crew.
If you want a really Dutch symbolic color, go with bright orange – the Dutch are attached to their royal family, the House of Orange, so it’s added as a pennant to the Dutch flag if that is flying for a royal celebration, and it’s the color the national sports teams wear, and most of the country if there’s a national celebration like the King’s birthday or winning the soccer cup. Also, no-one else uses it.
And buying (a coastal part of) Greenland? A better idea than going to war to gain a higher and dryer refuge if we pass the climate change tipping point and need to relocate our entire country, now at 17 million people.
Greg Shapiro is an American stand-up comedian who has lived in the Netherlands for 15 years or so. He has a few episodes on YouTube about strange Dutch names – I don’t have time to find them, but here’s his channel. https://youtu.be/u35ZWwMuqBs
Huh? Who was trying to buy Greenland, when? Or has that been a suggestion for how to deal with global warming? That is, people would settle newly ice-free or more habitable arctic tundra areas, like Greenland, northern Canada and Siberia and the Scandinavian countries? Huh, wouldn’t that be something, people in a land rush…the arctic turning into farmland, green…coastal plains sinking undersea for marine habitats, undersea colonies maybe, but around tropical latitudes, large parts of Africa and upper South America, for instance could become really hard to live in for anyone or any lifeforms. Deserts and dustbowls where places used to be good farmland. Whew.
Or was that something historical? I mean, Russia and America made a deal to buy Alaska, so someone buying Greenland in the past, I suppose isn’t any more far-fetched. Just, yeah, wow.
(Sorry, Paul, I must have missed a connection or the reply post that goes with. Wild thought, though, it sure is.)
That’s the most recent ‘impulse buy’ from our nutty 45th president. Chuck it out there and see who bites. Somehow, I don’t think Denmark is on board with this.
eta: Denmark has counteroffered to buy the US. “By providing a good educational system and universal health care, we believe it could be transformed from a landmass to a great nation.” Heh.
Hahaha! Ohhh, OK, now I gotcha. Paul, GreenWyvern, Chondrite, Hanneke, et al. — Yeah, somehow, I think the Greenlanders are already keen on using Greenland, once it’s, er, greener land. Since, y’know, they’re already there and all. 😀
That comment — Oh, I think I love the Danish folks.
Hanneke, thank you for the great information.
John Dysktra, a US or UK (US, I think) SFX and model maker guy, I presume his last name is an alternate Dutch spelling.
Langedijk — I was going along just fine until I got to that, and my mind took a detour into the gutter. :blush: My apologies.
I’m copying those down for reference.
Molengang somehow appeals to me.
Kâlepa also. — I discovered I have real difficulty getting the glottal stop at the start of a word. In the middle, between vowels, I can just pretend I’m saying a Cockney accent “bottle,” where the T turns into that glottal stop. But at the start, hmm, I have trouble making that there.
When I was a kid and teen, in summers, my parents and I would often visit pioneer historical sites, things like working old mills. So I saw a few of those old stone mills with a water wheel in a river or stream, working to turn millstones to grind grain or saw wood, things like that. (Typically, the mills were no longer doing that, though we got to see one or two that did.)
The old western pioneer style windmills in use here in the US are different than the Dutch kind, but I’ve seen the American kind.
Wanted to buy Greenland, did he? Why didn’t someone tell him Antarctica is bigger? He could move there. And be quiet. Oh, if only….
I hope the next man or woman in office is, ah, qualified; and not a racist or a crook. (And I’ll hush on my opinions on it.)
Just try pronouncing ‘Kaaawa’, a town on the windward side of Oahu. Think ‘Caw’ or ‘Ka’, then the cautionary ‘Ah-ah’, followed by ‘va’. Have fun!
Regarding global warming, wasn’t Greenland once, in fact, green (at least on the coast)?
It was. It had a prosperous Norse settlement.
I see I have to rework my story starship’s crew roster and work out the ship’s family tree, before I get it too out of whack. I’ve realized I’d added one adult who hadn’t been in the planned crew roster, plus I need two more adult crew or officers, given what I’ve got. It needs tweaking besides.
Plus, oops, I somehow hadn’t clued in that between the two lists I had going — The only way that would work, given the “cadets” (kids aboard), would be if a toddler, a 6 year old, and 3 elementary school age kids were in those “cadet” positions as active crew, assistants to the adults. Well, no, they are too young to be doing that, except one or two of the big kids in the elementary age range. Uh, oops! Hahaha! Hey, Ensign Toddler! Uh, no, I don’t think so! Hahaha.
That, and I needed to work out why I supposedly have one cadet whose kinship path to the adults is somehow long and complicated, when this is 3 or 4 generations total. But in thinking of that, I’d realized, OK, I need to know everyone’s relationship. Who’s a blood relative, who’s married in, (I’m presuming this family doesn’t really care about that distinction, once you’re in, you’re in), and who is hired crew, unrelated to the family, but may have brought a relative with them.
I discovered that (1) I needed enough people to have a working ship, but (2) also it ended to be a family unit with unrelated crew aboard, and (3) if I was going to have even just a few cadets, then that needed a certain number of adults. Then having the family ties there means working out who’s who.
Eegad. — But I had at least a couple of examples of extended families to work from, plus my experience growing up in two small churches. But only working from memory on the church analogy. (That would still be a good, possibly better, one to work from if I had needed a bigger ship and crew.)
So I think my ship has gone from 24 adults and kids, to 27 or 28, plus the two kids and cat who get added at the start.
Hmm, yeah, I also need to decide how old each person is, from the baby to the oldest senior citizen. I’m presuming physical lifespans are not much different than for modern first-world countries, for good nutrition and medical care and better living conditions. But colonies and dockside and urban decay plus overpopulation on Earth, would mean not everyone is that lucky in space.
I have enough happening so far in the regular universe, that I like how that’s going, but hey, we’re supposed to have our main story once the cat and keyboard meet. So I need to get going toward that. It also means I still need to figure out if or how they get back to their original reality.
I got all excited this morning when I saw I had 128 half-letter-size pages. But then I calmed down a bit when I thought, no, that’s 64 pages front and back, 32 sheets, where the binding is through the middle. IIRC, that’s either 2 or 1/2 a signature / folio of pages. Anyway, it’s not even novella length, I don’t think. However, I’m still just getting started, getting everything established.
So…my gosh, I think I have a full-length novel in this thing, and so far, it’s filling itself in. I may have surpassed my all-time maximum for a story by now.
But also, I need to step back and figure out a plot outline for this before I end up wandering aimlessly in-story.
Golly, I’m pretty happy with how this is going. — I am also sure it needs a lot of rewriting to make sure I get in what I think needs to be there, in-universe and in-character, and to pare down any repetitions or unnecessary bits that don’t contribute to the story or ambience.
So, wow, I’m happy with how this is going. — The characters still have names like, Ens1, Cargo-Chief, Boy1, Cat1, but so far, so good.
@BCS, in Dutch ij is a dipthong, like y but with dots on, denoting one vowel a bit like -ai- sounds in English, while y sounds more like -ee-. When learning to write, kids practice the “long ij” as one letter in the spot where English has the y; only later do we learn the “exotic” variation without dots, which only occurs in loanwords. Old Dutch typewriters had a separate key for y-with-dots-on, but when the shift to computers happened it became customary to write it as ij, to denote the difference from y. So yes, Dykstra = Dijkstra.
“Broek”, besides being an old word for polder, also means trousers; so the town of Broek op Langedijk is being quite decent; even if English ears might take an unintended detour 😉 it’s keeping its trousers on.
Those are just the sort of jokes Greg Shapiro makes about Dutch names, both the sounds-spicier-in-English ones and the simply strange ones like Floor and Door (Flora and Dora), Harm and Freek (that are just ordinary in Dutch, not strange at all). He’s done short standup comedy routines in English on YouTube about first names, surnames, business names and advertisements in Dutch that sound really weird in English.
Sorry, not much use if you’re looking for a bit of multi-culti flavoring in the names without puttng people off by using such weird-sounding ones; but he might be someone you might get a laugh from at a later point, when you’re done with the story. He’s also the voice of “Trump” on the YouTube video of “America first, Netherlands second” that was a hit in January 2017 and sparked a whole bunch of comic sendups from many different countries.
That’s one of those times when you’d never expect something to be so unintentionally funny. It’s a good reminder also that as similar as Dutch and English are, just because a word looks familiar, doesn’t mean that it means the same in the other language. And haha, I got a good laugh out of it. Well, the town is certainly memorable now! With or without pants. Hah.
We’ve had higher temps lately, so venturing outside of the air conditioning could make one think the Dutch could be onto a good idea there anyway. 😀
Broek — In the sense of pants (trousers), English has breeches and britches (dialectal but still common), and breech birth. Then in a sense of, “to break, to break open,” the verb, to breech, breeches, breeching, breeched. Then “to break” is related in form, so to break, breaks, breaking, broke, had broken. The noun brake(s), and from it the verb to brake (as in to put on the brakes) are all related. One can also broach a subject (broached, broaching). Also related forms, from the same ultimate roots.
Broek — Connected with water, I can think of a babbling brook. Hmm, and bracken; when water is bracken; also, if I’m thinking of it right, bracken as a collective noun, (now I’m having trouble, ah, “dredging up” (bad pun, sorry 😉 ) the meaning, but IIRC, bracken is a type of fungus like on trees, but in water.) — And now I think I need to look in my English dictionary to see if (or how) those are related to each other, or if they’re from separate roots.)
Brackish — water that is not wholly fresh, but has a salt tinge. maybe in an estuary, or the mingling of river and sea water?
Oops, I was mixing three different things there.
Yes, brackish not bracken, for the sense of unclear, murky, or non-fresh water (or salt water and fresh water mixed). — Where was my mind? I know the word brackish.
But bracken is a plant, and as it turns out, it’s not what I thought. It’s a large, coarse fern, common worldwide, according to the dictionary and Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracken
But I was thinking “bracken” meant a type of fungi, like the semicircular, shelf-like, orange, white, or other-colored fungi that grows on the sides of trees or fallen logs, but I was thinking, near or in water. I don’t know how I got that impression, but I don’t think I’d ever looked up “bracken” anyway. — And I am sure there’s a type of name for the many kinds of mushrooms / fungi that grow on trees like that. (That is, it’s not moss or algae, but those stair-step, small to medium sized things, fleshy, thick, common in temperate woods, and I presume also common in subtropical and tropical climates. I think there’s a more specialized common English term for them, besides their scientific name, but I’m blanking on it now.
Kaaawa, huh? Without glottal stops (apostrophes) in between? Hmm, sort of a singing way of saying it, drawing it out, then. Hah, never let it be said that Hawaiians don’t have a sense of humor. LOL, that’s something I would not have expected. — And somehow, given where we are, that’s giving me a sort of knnn-song vibe. — OK, should I vary my pitch up or down, down or up, rising steadily, falling steadily, or level throughout? Just in case it matters for that word. (I don’t remember reading anything about Hawaiian using tones / pitch as meaningful per words or syllables, only like we use it in English for things like questions and emotional expression, separate from the word’s meanings.)
‘Bracket’ fungi — looks like a shelf sticking out of wood, hence its other name, shelf fungi.
Kaaawa actually has all 3 ‘a’s pronounced, so you get kind of a stutter.
Interesting, so I was sort of in the ballpark and sort of not, and didn’t know it. 😀 Thank you!
Kaʻaʻawa — the fourth A is pronounced, also. 🙂
We’ll be here all week — tip yer waitress! 😛
Just don’t tip her over. They get understandably irritable at that! 😀
That bit with the vowels is so unusual, I would never have predicted it would actually occur. And the idea of singing elements, like tone and pitch, but singing, for language is really intriguing. That’s just got to be used for some aliens somewhere.
Really, CJ’s anticipated that by having knnn-song, similar to sailors hearing whale song in the old days and not sure what they were hearing.
Bracken is a sort of fern, poisonous to livestock (which I learned from “I bought a mountain”).
I looked it up in highschool because of a book called ” A boy called Bracken”, by Elizabeth Webster, about a man who’s dying of cancer and moves to the countryside to come to terms with that. He makes friends with a local boy and together they rehabilitate some wounded animals. It’s sad but peaceful. I liked “Bracken” and “Johnny alone” (about a deaf young boy looking for his dad) best of her books, but don’t read too many of them one after the other, as they’re all tearjerkers and it starts to feel manipulative, while just the one “Bracken” book by itself doesn’t feel that way, it’s just a sensitive story.
And yes BCS, brackish water, in an estuary between sweet and salt, has the Dutch equivalent of “brak water”. “Brak” is also the past tense of the verb “breken”, to break, and may be related to ‘to breach’. So maybe it got that brackish name because it’s where the river ‘breaks into’ the sea, or because it’s what you get at those spots where the sea breaches a dike and breaks into a sweet water land area.
Those historic depressions/pools are still recognizable along the “Westfriese omringdijk”, which used to be a seadike around here but now it’s in the middle of Noord-Holland; they’recalled “waterwiel” i.e. waterwheel, as the breaching seawater would whirl around and dig out a depression right behind where the dike was. Then after the storm passed, people’d build up the omringdijk around the depression to safeguard their land. You can see the bends and curves in the old dike if you look on the map, like the sudden little swerves it makes in the north around Kolhorn here.
Kolhorn used to be a seaport, important to the trade in dyer’s madder, where the captains of the VOC ships lived, before it became a landlocked forgotten but picturesque little village – hard to realise when you look it up on a map now!
Big Mews:
I think I’ve been adopted by a stray cat, the friendly tabby from a few weeks ago.
So much for reasoned plans about separation, quarantine.
Uh, but…so far, they are doing fine. The new cat and Goober are…maybe…making friends. This is proceeding without anyone fighting. (Please, kitties, don’t.)
And…as I was sitting down to type this out, the new cat discovered one of the toy balls (with jingle bell) and…chasing it around.
Goober is not yet convinced, but he is also VERY curious. He and the new cat are (so far) giving each other some space, getting within a few feet of each other without any fighting or yelling.
Huh. I, uh, think I suddenly have a new cat. — Yeah, the cat came in and has stayed.
Sigh. So much for separation of cats, food and water bowls, exposure or crossing of anything the new cat might have. — And so there will be a vet checkup for both cats soon. — I don’t have contact info for the friendly guy who was feeding them, and haven’t seen him since. So I’ll try to get a message to him and see him.
Oops, the new cat and Goober are now talking, after the new cat was playing with the ball. Going to monitor this and see if we are still OK.
The cat hasn’t been near the door to offer to let him/her out. But it’s been something like 45 minutes. The cat has had food and water in here. (And polished off the rest of Goober’s can from when I fed him, besides.)
So…I think I have a new cat. Pretty sure of this.
Tabby, brown tabby, I think. Not sure on that yet. No idea yet if it’s a he or a she.
More news, er, mews, later.
…Or…Or Not… — I will be following up on this.
So, the new cat settled down, Goober and he/she may have crossed paths, no fighting, but a startlement, I think, and…er, one or both cats had…not a fight, but calls of nature.
Goober spit up. The new cat (I think) is the one who, ah, didn’t realize the litterbox was available, and…my brain was working enough to realize, this is a possible sample for the vet, if we get to that. So I, er, played amateur veterinarian / biologist and…bagged the sample. (Ick, messy.) Double-bagged. Freakin’ triple-bagged. (Cats aren’t the only ones fastidious.) Now sealed from anything (I sincerely pray) … It’s in the dorm freezer. (Ugh.) (Yes, the whole freezer will be Cloroxed within an inch of its mechanical life, later. (I don’t like this, but…a cat’s health is a concern.
Before this, though, the new cat was lounging in the room. We were doing fine. But the cat discovered the door back out, and asked, and…I figured, well, if he/she comes back, I’ve got a cat (or the cat has me). If not, well, we’ve made friends, things could develop, but I think I’m on the way to having a new cat.
Then bagged the poop. Ugh. — Where is my Lysol spray? Can’t find it, will order more. — Sprayed with another cleaner instead, in hopes of disinfecting and removing smell. Sigh.
But wait, there’s more. Went back out, thinking, will he/she now come back in? After waiting a bit, still making friends, no, interruptions from cars, people, and the cat is wary of all that from long experience. The cat can easily hop from the stairs to the carport roof, and look down at me, very pleased with him/herself. Heheh. And then came back again. Got a bit overly frisky and caught my hand while petting him/her. The cat was playing, but doesn’t know any better. Something to work on. I’ve had experience, didn’t make it worse, pulled my hand away with no further problem, and might have gotten across an idea that hey, that hurt, I didn’t like that, but I wasn’t going to be mean.
I had better luck meeting the cat than a neighbor, to whom I said hello and got a hi back before he went inside. Heh. But OK, cool, at least we said hi. It’s a start? Maybe.
I hung around a while. It’s now good daylight and the cat has taken cover wherever he/she dens up. Close by, I think.
So…I am going to try again tonight, and if I’m lucky, at some point, I’ll get to talk to the cat-friendly guy again, share name and apt. number, compare notes on the cat, and let him know that if the cat does move in, he/she will be safe, welcome, and get a vet checkup.
Goober — I don’t know quite what Goober thinks of the whole thing, but his response was not to fight, but to give the new cat some space, be shy but curious, and see what happened. — I am guessing the two surprised each other when Goober went to get a drink, and this precipitated, not a fight, and not quite territory-marking, but…mutual scares and response? — Well, much better than a major battle, I’ll say.
So…food and water bowls get emptied and washed, and Goober will get attention, and the new cat…may or may not show up again and may or may not decide, hey, that was a cushy deal after all, and stay.
But…given how it went, I think I am likely to be cat-adopted soon. — The new cat was inside and ate and so on, for around an hour. I got a couple of photos, and I discovered I need to make sure my camera’s battery charger is where it’s supposed to be.
So…also, I’m going to call local friends to alert them I may need to make a vet trip with a new cat, and Goober, for a checkup. I’ll be on the lookout for the new cat. Since he knows there’s a sucker, I mean, a friend who’ll feed him and let him in, hah, I’d say it’s likely I’ll get adopted sometime in the near future. (I don’t have a good guess on age or sex, but male, at a guess, maybe not quite full grown or less than two years old.)
Darn that show. I almost wrote that winter is coming. Hahaha.
So…hmm…I narrowly missed being cat-adopted, or else that’s going to happen sooner or later. Sure thought it was going to happen there.
The Cat Who Walked By Himself (Herself) has not named Him/Herself yet. — I am leaning towards Rudyard, after thinking of that line. But if the cat’s a girl, well, she’ll need some other name. Dunno if Rudyard fits yet either, if he’s a boy kitty.
Best Outcome: Goober and the new cat did not fight. I kinda feel sorry for them both, for the outcome, but, well, it’s better than a fight, and I’d say it signals non-hostile intentions. But the new cat has been an outside stray, so I presume he has the habits that go with that, such as being willing to fight offense/defense, or a few other bad habits.
Also, (groan) the old couch needs to be moved out.
LOL, so, we had quite an adventure this morning. As adventures go, this was a good start, a pretty good outcome, and could still have a happier ending. — I did tell the cat it’s an awful good offer, a good home, family, a friendly cat and human. Beats the heck out of living outdoors, hot and cold, not enough good water or food. Downright cozy. But he/she is not yet convinced. Thought for a bit there, it was a done deal before I had much say in it. So…well, if the cat comes back and stays, then I’ll know. And we’ll see how Goober and the cat do.
Be it noted: I do not generally tolerate it if a guest comes in for an hour, poops on the carpet and leaves. But OK, cat, you’re a cat, I almost understand. — Sigh.
I am very lucky. I have a good cat in Goober, and maybe this will turn out OK, so everyone knows what’s going on and a stray cat doesn’t have to live stray forever.
That’s how we got all our cats — they invited themselves. We apparently have a sign somewhere that says ‘soft touch’ in Cat.
Funny you should mention… Hobos would draw a cat at a property to signal “a kind lady lives here”.
It is always helpful when dealing with cats to remember that they come with a built in “–or not”. They are basically quantum creatures. I’m sure that’s where Heisenberg, the father of quantum mechanics, came up with his uncertainty principle.
Hoo boy, isn’t that the truth? — To both comments. 😀
I missed the new cat this morning, or he/she was busy elsewhere around, doing kitty-cat things, and never mind me. 😉 Knock the ol’ ego down a peg, it does. My sleep/wake cycle may have done another periodic flip-flop or time-shift, and so I slept through the same time as yesterday around dawn. OK, I’ll keep trying, just because, yeah, there’s a reason there’s one of those signs around my door too. Heh. I was all set to have a new cat, and then he went back out. But I do know he’s around, and may change his mind, as cats are won’t to do. Because if a cat comes in, stays, eats, stays some more, then goes out, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve been adopted and don’t know it yet. I, ah, have come to recognize this about cats.
——
Complication: When I went out to look a bit ago, there were two large vehicles, which may have been a fire truck and another (red-painted ambulance? or other fire vehicle about that size). No sirens, just their strobe lights going. — I don’t know what this was, and didn’t think going over and rubbernecking, getting in the way, was a good idea. — I hope whoever it was, is all right.
—–
Story Progress: Well, I still have some momentum going. I’ve got several more things written down for future plot points. This thing keeps growing. But I’ve realized one of the characters — doesn’t seem to have a plotline much past his introduction, despite that being something to add some meaning and interest to the start. So…something I have rarely done before…I think that character may need to be written out. That means a substantial edit in with other things I think need rewriting.
Well, heck, do I stop the draft and do that now, or later? My inclination is to stop this draft and save it, and use a copy to start a revised draft 3. In with this, I am not sure one of my main character’s motivations (backstory) is what it needs to be for him. I don’t yet know if I should combine the one character with him or with another, or just drop that aspect. But…it needs something. The basic thing, and the second part I haven’t even got to yet, are good.
This story is proving to be a head-scratcher in ways I haven’t exactly had yet. But it also feels like it’s still going and needs to be written. The impetus and momentum are still there, I think.
Hmm, what if, since I’d need to rewrite anyway, I put down what I’ve got into an outline, try to finish out the outline as much as possible, and then rewrite the draft? Aha, well, it has the virtue of not having been tried in years.
So that’s where it sits at present. Current count: 142 pages half letter size, plus I don’t know how many pages now of background notes. This is either near or exceeds my all-time story completion level. So yay. Still progressing.
—–
I’m still having a rough time again because I’m still feeling so isolated without best friends or many friends locally. (Oh, I rambled on about it, but deleted that.)
My situation hasn’t changed appreciably. Fonts and writing are still my best bets to increase my income any, so I am working on those daily as opposed to other things. That’s probably OK, a priority that has to get done, but…do I need to be spending some time on other things too? Probably. I need to make time to study and review; I’ve been neglecting that. I need to make some time for reading fiction too. I haven’t been doing enough of that lately. And stuff still needs to be gone through, unboxed, reboxed, to reduce down. I may get some more movement on that, now that we’re moving into cooler weather and my friends’ schedules will be changing routines into school year mode. (They have young families, and one daughter is a few years away from going off to college.)
Hah, zero movement by the one friend on the possibility of a rent-to-own house or renovation. It’s going to need to move forward soon, since my lease is set to renew in June. — And, oh heavens, I hope I will have made progress by then, so I can still afford to do so. :-/
So…dang it, that’s life right now. Gotta eat and get to work again. (And start another load of laundry. Stupid no-account dryer and line.)
If, uh, I do get adopted by said new cat, there will be a vet checkup for him/her and Goober, with booster shots for Goober and new shots and surely neutering for the new cat, when that’s feasible. Pricey, but necessary.
So…at least I avoided (mostly) a long thing on relationship frustrations. — I wish that would improve.
@Chondrite, when I was on Maui and took the tourist bus ride up Haleakala in ’14, it socked-in quickly. I did get a brief glimpse of a some facilities above us before they disappeared. Tuesday evening PBS may remedy that.
“Quietest Place on Earth
The massive crater located at the summit of the Haleakala volcano on Maui in Hawaiian is explored.”
I will look that up on my local PBS schedule. It’s one of the earliest PBS stations in the country. I don’t know if they all sync up on times and shows carried, though. ‘Would be very scenic and restful to see a part of the world I haven’t seen before. Hawaii’s gorgeous. (And I hope and pray civilization and sea level rise do not ruin the islands.)
—–
Mews – Part Deux – El Gato Libre Se Aparece Otra Vez – Le chat livre s’apparait encore.
Google tells me “stray cat” is «gato callejero» (literally, a street-er/-or cat) and «chat errant» like a knight errant, très chevalreux, surely Monsieur Puss in Boots would approve. (I _think_ he’s originally an English story, but I know he has a French counterpart, borrowed in translation…unless he was originally French and emigrated. Heh.) — And I feel there’s a better way in Spanish to say what would be “again” in English and «encore» in French.
Human languages aside (and I need to learn how to say that in Dutch and probably anything else around here) the cat came back, as the song goes.
And the cat snarfed down a regular-size (5oz?) can of moist food, and didn’t want me going back in. Friendlier, including tail on my foot and sitting behind me next to the door. We sat for a bit, made friends again, and I went in to feed Goober. Came back out, still there, back to polish off the bowl. So, kitty, you’ve got a potential good deal here. Warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, fresh water, good food, a friendly human and a friendly cat. Pretty nice.
The cat came in. So let’s test this. Open the other door. Aha! There’s an outside again. Lounge there a minute. So, back in? Yep, cool, I’m in, dude.
Whereupon, OK, if this is gonna be a thing, we’ve gotta do a little prep. Food and water in two places, with two food bowls so possibly there’s no issue about that. And…the spare litterbox is sitting in front of the other door, in the tiled living room. It was the best compromise I could come up with. (No, I am not starting a litterbox in a carpeted apt. bedroom. Bad idea.) I demonstrated digging with my paws in the litterbox, in case this might be an unheard-of thing for him. (I think this is a young male cat. Still haven’t gotten that personal, hah.)
And — The new cat was on the couch, last seen. He has so far investigated a little, but not everywhere, such as my room.
Goober and the new cat have come within a few feet of each other a couple of times, and I think got close enough to greet or sniff or bump noses, whatever they felt like doing, twice now. — No cat fight has ensued.
Goober is feeling unsure, but he’s going with it. The new cat seems OK with this too. He’s been in, oh my, a couple of hours now. The two have not really decided they are friends yet, but there is a willingness to co-exist within feet of one another without yelling or fighting. Very good sign, that. (And I am sure the new cat knows how to fight and probably how to mate. Goober can sort of defend himself if need be, but it takes a lot for him to go from “Ow, why’d you do that?” and defensive, to, “I’ve had enough of that, now I’m gonna fight you until you leave me alone.” (While still being defensive about it.) It always took a lot for him to get mad enough at Smokey to fight back, and it was almost always, Goober had lost his patience and temper, but was still, bless his heart, on the defensive about it. He didn’t want to fight.
So…I am sure that will hold with Goober, always. — And so, if the new cat is not inclined to fight when he doesn’t have to, we may be OK. — I’m very aware that a cat who’s probably been stray all his life and probably was born around the apartments, has the habits associated with a fight-or-flight existence. And I know cats can react on miscues.
Well, so far, so good. The new cat’s still in, there’s an interlude, and possibly the two are going to get curious enough to make further attempts at getting to know each other.
Be it noted, the new cat hasn’t explored my room. He seems OK in the apartment and is friendly enough, he may have been in people’s apartments before. He thinks the couch and a few other places are OK to hang out. But I don’t know if he has any idea that a bed might be a very nice place to curl up, or if he knows that a bed can be sharable with a human and another cat he doesn’t know. Or possibly, he’s OK around other, non-hostile cats.
Brown tabby shorthair, striped rather than swirly or spotty / barred. Possibly brown with a hint of ginger, like Toby was. But this little guy is stockier and shorter than Toby was, and yet slim. Goober is of the ultra-svelte, long and lean (OK, just plain skinny) build.
Yes, any idea of keeping them separated to avoid cross-contamination went out the window on the first visit. I don’t want to confine one or the other, and they’ve already gotten close enough to pass on anything airborne. (Goober should be free of anything, but needs his booster shots renewed. So he’d need a checkup, at least.) (And, well, I once had a cat (Toby’s brother) who was FIV+, so I know about that.)
Hmm…It’s very quiet. Where are you two characters? Going to check up on them.
The new cat may have to wait for his checkup, shots, neutering, pending an appointment, but that will most definitely happen if he stays. Looks like he’s going to stay. A collar, flea medicine, will happen soon. An ID tag will happen if he stays, and when he’s named himself. I firmly believe cats name themselves. But then, I think dogs do too.
I’m leaning toward Rudyard, if he’s indeed male, but I am not certain that’s his name yet.
Oh, and he got to see the big container of dry food. I wonder if it occurred to him that’s a very, very good deal indeed. Heh.
So…well, new cat is in and staying, I think. — Or not. As WOL said, there is an “or not” factor with cats. Heheh. However, the cat won’t be Heisenberg. He doesn’t seem like Cheshire. Rudyard, he might be. (I prefer not to call animals “it,” and I nearly always use “who” instead of “what” when referring to an animal.)
Going to check on them and see what’s up. Still quiet, no chasing, yelling, hissy-fits, or fighting. Détente, at least, working towards a friendship, maybe. Updates as anything happens.
“I’ve got my eye on you!” — I went in to check on them. New cat, Rudyard?, is on the couch, curled up and happy. Goober is across the room on an end table, watching. He did make some comments, and the tone of voice was something like, “Is he staying? Do I have to share? I’m not sure I want to share you with him. Am I still your number one cat?”
So Goober is not entirely sure, but the two were peacefully sitting in their spots across the room from each other, content enough to nap and watch each other. 🙂 A very good sign again.
I gave them both attention. Got a very loud purr from the new cat, who curled up with his back to me. So I’m officially not such a bad guy now. 😉 Goober got petting and I picked him up when he grumbled about the new guy and me, and got down. So Goober has joined me in the bedroom, swishing his tail in that, unsure, slightly annoyed, yet still happy to be with you mood. And getting reassurance that, hey, after almost 13 years, he’s still my kitty.
The new kitty is happy too. Nobody’s trying to fight him or take his food and water or sleeping spot, and hey, it’s not hot in here. A friendly human and a friendly enough cat.
So, this is good, going better than expected so far. At some point, I’ll go back to bed. Going to stay up a bit more, write a bit or read.
Or, perhaps, Kipple? Kip being a nap, of course.
Well! — I’m running on less sleep than usual, didn’t get back to sleep either time I tried, so I’m up until I crash this evening, likely.
I have addresses for a vet’s office and what may be another vet, both in my zip code. Darn it, my previous vet retired. I’m hoping a new vet can confirm with him verbally that Goober had had all his shots and then annuals up until around when my grandmother passed away. I can at least tell the vet that.
The new cat did a bit of exploring and (sigh) pooped on the carpet, but successfully peed in the litterbox. So, er, I cleaned up, and I’m counting it a win, mostly. Thought for a bit he was going to join me when I tried to sleep, but he didn’t want to chance that and Goober was there, not objecting, but not approving. The new cat has now walked through my room, so he knows the place.
After dawn, I went to the mailbox and dumpster, and oh my, when I got back, both cats were shaken up. Goober’s doing better. The new kitty decided to hide under the card table, which has a tablecloth plus a box under it, and is therefore, in cat terms, a secret hides-hole, I guess. — He’s ventured out a couple of times when I’ve checked on him, but hasn’t stayed out or come back to be with me (or us). Goober thinks that’s OK. Goober is not entirely sure he wants the new guy around, but other than some chittering, complaining about it, and jealous, doing OK there. — Also an instance of one or the other hissing when they both wanted the food and water bowls. (I have two food bowls out at both stations, one in the kitchen, one in the hall. — And the new kitty, during the night, wanted me to stay and keep paying him attention, did so by grabbing my Hand with front and back paws. Luckily, I know cats, so didn’t panic and pull away, and eased myself out of that without getting any more scratched up. What this tells me is, he wanted attention but doesn’t know how to play or get attention from humans. He’s used to the cat equivalent of bash-grab-and-run, the term I’ve heard used for humans. — He and Goober had one instance where they were two or three feet apart, both getting attention from me with nothing more than a bit of jealousy and chittering from Goober, nonchalance from the new kitty.
I didn’t get enough of a look to be sure, but I think those were boy cat bits I saw. And I’m now estimating he’s under two years old, maybe six to nine months old, still a juvenile. There was a little bit of running and playing, exuberance.
So, all in all, going well still. Much better than I would’ve thought. He’s hiding, so I’m not going to push anything, and I’ll call one of my local friends so we can set up when to take the new kitty and Goober by for a checkup. — As far as I know, the new kitty has never had a vet trip, shots, and is probably not neutered. — I really, really want him to learn to use only the litterbox. (And oh please no more pooping on the carpet.)
Going well so far. Pleased with this. — Rudyard doesn’t quite fit him (or her), but so far, no other name has turned up. I thought of “Spicer,” due to his coloring, but then thought of how that’d sound calling him: “Spyyy, Siirrr.” So, ah, no, Spicer won’t quite do. LOL. (So glad I thought of that before trying it!)
Definitely brown tabby with ginger undertones. Toby was like that, but a different build or frame to his body. The mail arrived, a pkg. at my door, so he’s still hiding, but thought he might try playing, fishing a paw out. So he’s fine. — Appears healthy, except for a spot on his neck that’s healing OK. The, ah, poop sample…after a full can of cat food earlier..well, I didn’t examine that too closely, but I didn’t see anything worrisome in it. I don’t think I missed seeing anything. — So possibly the little guy (or girl) is mostly pest-free. I am hoping he’ll be negative for any of the usual feline illnesses.
So far, so good. — And if they make friends for sure, I’ll be happier about it. Still have to get past two new cats eating peacefully near each other, but we may be OK on that. — Cross yer tails.
I treated myself to ordering the Horatio Hornblower DVD box set, the one that aired on A&E however many years ago, I think.
I’m not going to like the vet bill, but the new kitty (and Goober) have to get proper care.
I haven’t seen the cat-friendly guy since the one time. I want to let him know the new cat is safe and will get a vet trip and a good home with me.
12 hours, from about 12:30 midnight to, oh, 1:00pm. Doing OK, kitty. Looks like I’m a two-cat person again. — I won’t update with the apts. until after the new cat has had his vet trip and is back home. But that also has to happen. 🙂
Moray (‘moire’) for the stripes and spots 😀
I’ve decided I like Myrrh as a cat name. I think it would sound curious and friendly to a cat. I do like Moiré, though.
Oh, I like Moiré and Myrrh. Not sure they suit him, but hmm, I will try those out, and besides, I may need cat names for fictional felines. The cat in the story is still Cat1. Moiré might suit a cat that goes Elsewhere. 😉
It’s now been over 24 hours since the new kitty (Rudyard? Moiré? Myrrh? …?) showed up again, and he’s been in for nearly all of that.
I slept some this evening, with Goober happily (and possibly jealously) accompanying me.
When I woke up, I fed them both moist food, in the quite narrow kichen, which meant one cat or the other was going to be a bottleneck / gatekeeper. — Well, Goober ate most of his, then dithered a little then excused himself with a slight chirr, passing the new kitty. Wow, not a peep from the new kitty, who was scarfing down his food. Possibly would’ve eaten the bowl if he could. So yay, another hurdle cleared at least once with no trouble.
After a pause for attention and to thank me, the new kitty then ate all the rest of Goober’s food. — OK, lesson learned, next time, I pick up Goober’s bowl and save it for him. Or feed him another can later.
Fresh water, some more attention, Goober being dubious but hanging around to keep an eye on him and me, haha.
Oh, thank you, successful use of the litterbox again, poop. LOL, he’s still kitten enough to try playing with me when I scooped it out. (Kitty, that really smells, are you OK?)
And two endearing bits, one, a tap, hey, don’t go, I still want petting. And earlier, before I had gone to bed, he had darted by with a “tag, you’re it!” tap with both front paws, which meant, hey, he still wanted attention after they’d had dry food and I’d had supper. Curiosity, smelling the refrigerator.
There was, I think, a very happy new cat, finding out he could get a can of moist plus he could get what Goober left. One full little cat.
And when I got back to my room, he followed a few minutes after and…decided since the bed was unoccupied, he’d try that out. Went to sleep on my hand. Yup, it’s official, I have a new cat, or rather, he has me. Goober has not yet come back in to discover this. I think he’s guarding the kitchen and food bowls. Or he’s unsure what’s going on or pouting.
If they can make friends about the bed as neutral territory, good. The new kitty can surely smell that Goober sleeps there with me.
Hoping for a trip to the vet this (Wednesday) afternoon or Thursday or Friday. Hoping the new kitty will prove negative for any of the feline diseases, and might be OK on fleas and ear mites and such. I’m presuming he may need to stay for deworming, and later, for neutering.
I need to find where I put the other pooper scooper or get another. Lysol spray is due soon. — I will get cleaning vinegar with the next grocery buy.
Aside from whatever behavioral things there may be, so far, this is proving to be an easy win. If the new kitty and Goober will make friends, rather than just looking at each other (haha) I’ll know we’re fine. But Goober’s not too sure he wants to share me with this new guy.
The new guy is busy purring, very pleased with this. Comfty bed, friendly human, good food and water, it’s nice and cool in here, no hassle from other cats, etc. He is just beginning to discover what a good deal this is. La vie domestique, cela c’est bonne.
Call him Curry? Doesn’t quite fit. I tried Cinnamon, but it doesn’t quite fit him either.
So far, Rudyard’s the top pick. But I’m OK with telling the vet the name is to be decided.
@BCS, if he’s a she, her name could be Minoes, or Miss Minou (sounds the same but minus the -s) as she’s called in the English translation of a much-loved Dutch MG childrens’ story, The cat who came in off the roof.
Moiré and Myrrh (Myrrah is callable) would work for girl-cats too, as well as for boys.
“Minou” looks like it’s borrowed from a French word for kitty, little cat, kitten. This one’s onomatopoeic, the other one is chaton/chatonne.
— What’s the “MG” ? An author or a rating?
The “What do I know, I just live here,” Department —
(Now we’re getting to the realities of integrating two cats who don’t know each other.)
(No vet appt. today, but possibly tomorrow or Friday.)
Success again with the litterbox this morning. LOL, kitty, I’m trying to sift that, not play catch/tag with you. Hahaha, but OK, still a lot of kitten in there.
Oh my. Last night when I went to bed — hi, new kitty. I had a new buddy the rest of the night and past dawn. — But Goober didn’t try to come in until after dawn. — And…oh, Mr. Most Non-Assertive Cat in the Universe…sat on the headboard but would not go further to get on the bed with me in his rightful place anywhere on the bed, or to upset at all the new kitty’s place by me. :big-sigh: I fed them. Both ate with no problems, the new cat ate most of Goober’s food (again). But no squabbling. I tried to sleep again. Zip, zoom! Instant new cat — specifically to demonstrate he could and to counter Goober, I think. He wants to be the alpha, and Goober isn’t doing a dang thing to claim he’s the alpha.
I got a good look last night while the new cat was bathing. Yup, he’s a boy. (I have a strange track record of all-male cats, except for one who was really my mom’s, and a mama cat when I was a teen. I don’t get that. The law of averages ought to send a girl cat far more often. And I would be happy either way.)
I am also pretty sure he’s not full-grown yet, somewhere around 6 to 9 months is my guess. We’ll see what the vet thinks. — I haven’t seen any spraying / territory-marking yet and no “bull neck” of some very male and burly tomcats.
The new kitty’s a bit frisky now. Goober tried to “hide” (turned around so his face is away, near the wall in a corner and his butt was out, sitting “couchant” style. I picked him up to reassure him. The new kitty and he have gotten closer twice to (almost) check each other out. Once was a sort of “tag,” either “let’s play” or “watch it, dude” from the new kitty. That’s what made Goober “hide.” Oh, kitty, if only I knew how to cure your self-esteem / non-assertive issues. Lovable lunk. (Are humans that way? Am I that way? I don’t think to nearly that degree, but wow.)
And just now, a dash between them which was, I think, the new kitty trying to initiate play. They _might_ be working up to a better meeting. I really want them to be friends, buddies, a team, but…it looks like the new kitty is going to have to get over his own alpha inclinations long enough to reach Goober’s…omega-male inclinations? Golly, Goober, I would’ve thought you wouldn’t do like this with another cat. Poor baby. Maybe Goober can overcome this as the new cat is here longer. — This needs to work out. I think it can. I’m still not seeing any real aggression from the new kitty, just a little pushy. Almost no inclination from Goober to assert his rights as senior or alpha male.
Well, so they’ve got to work this out. I know better than to interfere too much and make it worse. I already don’t want jealousy over who gets the human.
I’m working on the new cat’s tendency to grab when he wants attention or play. This hasn’t been intentionally aggressive, only that he doesn’t know any other way, and doesn’t know to hold in his claws. — But a good sign, he only held on or mouthed my hand or fingers a couple of times, and with his mouth, that wasn’t biting or nipping, it was a very light hotd for a second or two, attempting play or affection. Still, gotta work on this by letting him know if it hurts or by not escalating, easing out of the hold. — I haven’t had a truly street cat except for Smokey before. Others had been neighborhood strays.
So far so good. — I tried Rusty. Tried a few Cherryh bookish names. Nope, those did not fit. Rusty is a runner-up to Rudyard, but he’s not ginger enough for that.
It’s odd for me to see a cat with a personality in some ways like Smokey’s, but who looks like a more medium-build version of my two previous cats, Toby and Ham. However, I can see this little guy is not going to be the same personality as Smokey. (I’m still dealing with my feelings about him.)
Another almost-meeting there…with Goober retreating and grumbling. Oh, kitty, please don’t give up so easily.
So the new kitty just discovered the computer and me. Hahah. He’s exploring the new place today.
—–
I haven’t written the new outline or the 3rd draft. I considered breaking down what I had from the long Draft 02 into outline form and going from there. — But then I thought, I can go back and incorporate things from there, but if I’m really going to try an outline, why not start from scratch and include what I liked, exclude what didn’t seem to be working? I’m claiming I’ve been involved with the new kitty, but I’ve also been slightly stalled. Not enough to quit on it, though.
So I’m going to try outlining and doing a brand new 3rd draft. This is still going better than most or all previous story attempts, aside from two or three which went about as well.
So I’m feeling pretty good about this one, and will see what I get. I think I am learning. — Oddly, this time I have not gotten that feeling of wanting to keep something because it’s “perfect” in places. I still get that this is a malleable work in progress and _needs_ to be reworked. That, I think, is a step forward for me, maybe a hurdle over a plateau.
things are mostly positive and my mood is up. Being productive.
I am leaning toward Moiré for the name of the story cat.
LOL, Myrrh and Moiré had me thinking of Murray, but not sure that one works. Murrey is (or was) a heraldic color, mulberry or a dark red-violet, sometimes brownish in heraldic terms, but conventionally, a wine or dark red-violet.
We’ll see how we do today. I’m still on a big sleep deficit, but up for a while.
Sorry BCS, I thought MG was a recognizable age range for kids in English book reviews, meaning middle grade, 7-12 years old (maybe up to 14 years old).
The writer is Annie M.G.Schmidt, famous in the Netherlands but not many of her books and poems have been translated. Maybe if Minoes does well, some more might get translated.
Aha, thanks. — What’s the Dutch story title, please? I’ll see if it’s available over here in Dutch or in English.
MG as middle grades, about 7 to 12 or 14 years old — That sounds like either a librarian or teacher (school system) classification of reading level, rather than school class year (grade) level. I _think_ that Dutch schools don’t differ hugely from the US or UK school system in where the dividing lines are for primary / elementary, middle, and high school / secondary education. — In the usual US system, there’s a little variation for the age/grade levels, but in general, K is Kindergarten, 5 or 6 years old, 1st through 5th grade are 7 to 11, 6th to 8th grade is typically middle school, 11 to 14 (there’s about a half-year overlap either way for registration for kids’ ages), and high school is usually 9th to 12th grade, 14 to 17 or 18, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. Some school systems have 6th grade in with the elementary kids and count middle school as 7th to 9th, high school as 10th to 12th, or, more often in smaller towns / counties, not so much in bigger towns and cities, they will put 6th or 7th to 12th all together as “secondary” or “high” school, particularly for private college prep schools. — And back when I went to school, it was called junior high school instead of middle school. But sometime after I graduated high school, they changed, and now my old junior high is called a middle school. Heh. It is, however, less confusing that way.
So I’d guess 7 to 12 as MG middle grade, is more in terms of an average juvenile early reading level, as opposed to average teens at a higher, still not adult reading level. (Er, probably most of us here had a nearly adult reading level, even by 12 or so. I am still sometimes shocked at what the average levels are.)
Over here, there is a series of mystery novels called The Cat Who…, by (IIRC) Lillian Jackson Braun. Each book in the series has its title starting with “The Cat Who,” and then something for the specific volume. I haven’t read those, but I know one of my mom’s friends loaned her several books in the series, in the 1990’s. They sounded very good. My mom liked mystery novels and science fiction, and some other things too. I wish I’d read more of those.
A brief search for Annie M.G. Schmidt on Amazon for books yielded several Dutch-language children’s books and a couple that might be for older readers. There were at least two books in English translation, Minoes, as you said, and a younger readers’ book called Tow-Truck Pluck in English, and (I skimmed reading too fast) Pluk en de Floddenflet, I think it was, in Dutch. Hmm, I have that wrong, I think. I’ll need to do the search again.
There was a Dutch edition of Minoes / The Cat Who Came In Off The Roof, but only in paperback or hardcover, no ebook format in Dutch, only in the English version.
There was also a whole series of kids’ books about Jip and Janneke, but I don’t understand Dutch names and nicknames enough to be sure which one was the boy and which one was the girl. (From the book covers, it looks like a boy and a girl having fun little adventures, in early reader stories.) — Janneke looks either like a variant of Hanneke or something like Johnny / Jackie (Male) or Janey / Janie / Jackie (Female). Jip, I don’t know. That looks like a nickname to me.
Then there was something about “The Island of Nose” in an English translation.
And a one-word title that I think is a nickname for something, Otje. — Is that for Otto or is there a Dutch version of Otis, which is an English boys’ name? Or do I misunderstand, I’m way off track? 😀
The Dutch book cover art for Minoes looked very nice. The English version cover art was more line art, OK, but it didn’t grab my (adult, painter-friendly) eye as much as the Dutch cover art did.
Dutch words which I see I don’t have memorized yet; Dutch words that I think I should be able to guess, if I had a bit more context; Dutch words which baffle me and yet seem like they also should be guessable. That, from skimming the titles. — I have studied too little and am not retaining as much as I think yet.
Ah, also, a first name, Hiep, which might be a nickname, but isn’t something I can guess at. I skimmed too fast to absorb the last name, but Hiep is listed as a co-author or illustrator on some of Ms. Schmidt’s books.
I fell over at the hardcover prices for those kids’ books. $22.79 for those, about $12 or $13 now for a paperback for a kids’ book. And these are, I think, now typical for novels and larger-format editions, and more fore coffee-table large-format books.
Parents and college kids shopping for clothes at $20 to $33 or so per shirt or pants (jeans, khakis, trousers, slacks), I’m not sure what for the low end for dress-casual shoes or sneakers. — Gah, prices these days.
Pretty sure the new kitty’s vet bill will be about the price of a month of groceries, maybe that for when he gets neutered in itself. Well, kitty, I did open that door, didn’t I? I made the commitment and got involved. So you have a home and you and Goober will get checkups. Could be more ramen than usual for a while. But hey, I’m kinda liking having another cat around. Still hope Smokey somehow got lucky and got a new home. He should not have had to suffer loss because I made a serious mistake. So…well, doing a good deed for another kitty, when he and I both benefit from it, isn’t quite atoning for that, but it still does help one kitty have a better life.
@BCS, Annie M.G. Schmidt wrote children’s books for different ages, verses for kids, and some (collected) columns for adult readers of women’s magazines, and one musical short tv-series/theatre-production.
The lady who illustrated most of her children’s books is Fiep Westendorp. (Fiep like Phoebe but shorter ending). That started in the 1950s with black and white illustrations of the adventures of Jip and Janneke for kindergarten kids (read-aloud collections of little bedtime stories that most of us grew up with).
Janneke is the girl, any name ending in a diminutive like traditional -eke or -ina, -je or -tje is a girl’s name. So it’s like Hanneke, but based on little John (Jan) instead of little Hannah. The diminutive name is the traditional full female name (i.e. my passport says Hanneke, not Hannah), but historically derived from the shorter (often male) name.
Otje is another example, not a traditional name like the -eke names, but immediately recognizable none the less, as turning the male name Otto into a girl’s name Otje.
Pluk van de Petteflet is a bit younger than Jip and Janneke, for the same age group. Where some of the Jip and Janneke stories, real life in the 1950s, are getting a bit dated – Pluk is still appealing as it’s a bit strange anyway, like Minoes.
Flet is phonetical spelling of flat, the Petteflet is a flat or appartment building where little Pluk (who’s maybe 5, and drives his red toy towtruck everywhere) goes to live, with a seagull to keep him company, meeting other unusual people who live in the building, and saving a creature in the little park nearby, if I remember it right.
The Dutch school system is a bit complicated. Kids can start kindergarten at 4 and almost all do; at 5 it becomes mandatory.
Those two years of kindergarten have been integrated into the primary schools, which used to be 6-12 years but now are 4-12.
Then you choose a secondary school (the teacher and a standardized test indicate the direction that would likely fit best), of which the first year is considered a bridge year, so if you chose the wrong type of secondary school, you can change direction after the first year. Depending on the type of secondary school you choose, this takes 4-6 years. Then the third level varies from vocational training to university, depending on the track you’re on. Here’s a video explaining it, if you’re interested: https://youtu.be/hes7RfuNqvU
Book prices: yes, those are the kinds of prices for books which we are used to in The Netherlands. Because it’s a much smaller market, production prices are a lot higher.
English-language buyers talking about $9.99 is too much for an ebook tend to make me smile; the Dutch ones tend to start at €14.95 and go up… It does enable me to buy and read a lot more in English than in Dutch, for the same monthly book-buying budget, which makes me happy.
There used to be a law prohibiting supermarkets and fire-sales type of stores from selling only bestsellers at below-market prices, but it’s been gone for a decade or two. It didn’t inhibit competition among bookstores and publishers, but it did make it possible for publishers to use the extra income from bestsellers to ‘subsidize’ their midlist book prices, keeping all book prices within a range the public was willing to pay and allowing for more books to be published. Once that publisher-internal subsidy was gone, because places that could afford to sell bestsellers below market price and didn’t have to make a living by selling the midlist books undercut that option, prices for midlist books rose, damaging sales and bookstores. Another example of where a bit of regulation did a lot of good, and deregulating the ‘free market’ lets the big rich players damage the environment for everyone else.
Now I know I have to take time and study Dutch more. — I looked again at Amazon’s listings for Annie M.G. Schmidt. — What I’d seen as possibly travel or life in the Netherlands was one of the collections of Jip en Janneke stories. — The Island of Nose (great title, great cover illustration, English translation) sounds like fun from the summary and reviews. The Amazon summary thinks it might not be appropriate for children. But a reviewer (in English) says she found the story as a young girl, loved it and checked it out often from the library, and as an adult, sought it out for herself and her kids. The summary says the story and illustrations are “Monty Pythonesque,” but doesn’t elaborate much. — And a collection of poems for kids, “A Pond Full of Ink,” has a wonderful, catchy title.
But what got me irritated at myself for not studying more was the title, Floddertje, which I think is what I’d confused with Pluck’s flat. (Nuts, I didn’t retain the word, from just hours ago.) The Amazon listing for Floddertje didn’t help me figure out the meaning of that word, but appears to be in the Jip en Janneke series. And if I’d studied more, I might be able to translate the summary by now:
This tells me: The winter is beginning (or has begun, I’m unsure of the tense there). Jip and Janneke are / have been (I should know hoe, it’s how, who, why, or another interrogative word, wh- words in English.) The (something) on their (winter-sleep? winter’s laap… leap, lap, lope, winter break, vacation?) Their winterslaap begins. (Krijgen, I feel I should be able to guess, but I can’t think of a cognate. That g could be a y or w in English, though, and the ij seems to be long EE or EI or I/Y in English. Crewel is a type of needlework, so I’m guessing in context, maybe knitting. Warm hand-shoes (mittens, cognate from a German word I knew)… om buiten… I should know that preposition already. Buiten… I would expect the Dutch version of “bought” or “built” (made) would not be buiten; I’d expect a ch in the cognate for bought, something close to (ge)buchte, (ge)bochte, but I’m not close enough, and (ge)bilde, (ge)bylde, (ge)bulde, or t instead of d, for the cognate for build, built. (I can’t recall why English has the peculiar ui there.) By now, I’m mostly just winging this (guessing from what little I know, trying it out based on intuition, mainly). But they want to get warm mittens, is the idea I get from that. Te spleen en vieren… I should know te. I am going to study weekly, at least. So irritated at myself…. Te spelen… to play? Again, I know the German cognate, zu spielen. — Vieren, is that a form of the number four, or is that something else? — sinterklaas en Kerstmis is Santa Claus / Father Christmas (the kind one, not the naughty one like Pére Fouetard, who gives coal or switches, sticks) for Christmas. — Ze (OK, I really thought I had those memorized) But zij is the nominative / subject form for she and they, not ze. There’s something in Dutch about unstressed profoun forms, though. So that looks like they, to me. They are making/doing some? same? no, that’s got to be some, and it looks like it is plural with the -en… but it doesn’t fit quite right there. Same teen… someone? Een, one, prachtige… I would not expect practice or practical to change to ch yet in a Dutch borrowing, unless it was borrowed very long ago. Prakitsche in German doesn’t change the K to CH, either. It’s an adjective or adverb form, from the -ige, though. Sneeuwman has got to be a snowman. They’re making a snowman and putting globes on him, possibly, but definitely making a snowman. — Maar wear is die de volgende dag gebleven. — Hmm. More were is (something) the following day (gebleven) blown? — I am fairly sure ice is ijs in Dutch. Dutch “is” is English “is,” but Dutch could well have another word spelled “is” with a different meaning. I’m guessing on maar = more and waar = were, but I should know those from having read them before. Volgende, I can get because I know enough about Old English and Middle English. The Old English form of “following” would have been approximately follgende, where that g was a blurry gh, like in Spanish and Greek, which changed to W when around a, o, u, w, and L, but went palatal to Y when around æ, e, I, y. The -ende was the Old English and some dialects of Middle English form of -ing, with -ing and -yng (cf. -ung in German) being another grammatical form for that ending. (I don’t recall why the two forms, because I didn’t study Old English in college. We read in translations.) I did my own reading about Middle English, besides what we had in the first lit. survey course. So volgende is following, as different as that looks. If English had gone another way, we might have folwend now. Dutch die is not thou, thee, thy, thine, because Dutch uses jij (ye/you) forms there. I think I should be able to guess “die,” but I’m not getting it. It isn’t a form of this/these, that/those. And “gebleven,” I don’t think Dutch drops the E from the old Germanic be- prefix, which could be spelled be-,bi-,by- in Middle English. So that isn’t “believed.” And based on how Dutch has w or uw where English often has W, I’m also pretty sure blow, blew, blown would have an e and a uw or an o and a uw, almost bleeuw or blouw with ge- and -en around it for the participle forms. But wind is wind in Dutch, not waar, and winter is winter. Only the pronunciation differs. I am off on the wrong track there.
So… “The dog ate my homework,” meaning, someone (me) has not studied nearly enough to absorb even what I thought I had of the most basic grammatical forms of cognates for common English and Dutch words.
I think I got fairly close, even so, but, ah, VERY obviously, I have not been doing any regular study. — Well, I’ve not only gotten embarrassed at myself, but ticked off at myself too. So…OK, from now on, I take an hour off every other night, at least, for reviewing or learning in each language, Spanish and French review, Dutch learning. After that’s become a routine habit again, I can maybe add in others I’ve been curious about.
With sincere apologies, Hanneke, because this is something I want to do. I keep saying I will, and then I am writing or doing fonts or something else, but not taking time out for something fun and important to me. I can also see that in the times I have studied, wow, I am not retaining things like I should be. I think this is, for all three languages, a problem of, I’ve seen that before or it’s close enough to what I know that I think I’ll retain it. But I haven’t truly absorbed it. For Spanish and French, things are coming back, and would be back to my prior fluency by now, if I’d be diligent with it. I’d even be picking up a lot of new Spanish vocabulary by now. (But I am sure Cathy’s grandson is more fluent than even my old level of Spanish fluency. So I need to be on par.)
What I did there were almost all educated guesses based on what little I know of Dutch yet, with what I had in 12 weeks of German in 7th grade, and what I know of Old English and Middle English from college and self-study, back when I actually, ah, studied. Hmm. While I may have gotten pretty close, that’s mostly by educated guesses and intuition, and not enough solid knowledge. It might give a clue as to my thinking processes or knowledge, but I also think most language students could do about as well as that.
It also says that if I were studying, I’d be able to pick up a lot more, a lot faster.
And my initial question was going to be, Floddertje, that looks to me like flooder or more likely flutter, as in, possibly a butterfly. But I think I’m on the wrong track there too.
Man, I would have been so shocked at such a lax, lazy study ethos, when I was a student. Nuts, I made one B in French lit. in College, and all A’s in French and Spanish otherwise. Language study is not something I should be this neglectful in. Parraisseux, moi. (One R or two? I should know that without having to think about it.)
Again, my apologies, but it’s a window into how I’m doing, or how much I can put together by guessing without knowing.
I know I’d read through enough chapters that I should have retained more. I am going to restart and practice more. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to read Dutch properly, at least, and with enough of that, I should be able to follow spoken Dutch and begin picking it up, toward the first levels of fluency. I’m clearly not at the point where I know enough to think in Dutch, but I might be able to start that in a few months with regular study. It is so very close to English in so many ways. (By the way, one of the sound changes, medial F to CH, seems very odd to me. It surprised me, since I would have thought they would’ve kept the F/V sound there. But hey, I can’t very well argue with about three countries full of Dutch speakers from the middle ages. Heh.)
So everything gets reviewed again before I go forward. Sheesh, I’d give myself an F if I were grading myself. (I was a student assistant in my last year of high school, for my teacher’s French I class that year. I was in French III. I tested out of a lot of college French and took the remaining semesters plus two French Lit. semesters. I am afraid to find out just how low my fluency is when I reread my old French Lit. text next, but that needs to happen. Yes, we had selected passages and short essays from before the 1700’s, up through modern times. I have caught myself unsure of some basic grammar and spellings and vocabulary, when I was fluent enough to follow written conversational French, with a dictionary in hand, in college.)
My earlier self is really, really put out with me. I have a lot to review and get back into fluency. This is intolerable. So unhappy with myself. Dang it, I love Spanish and French, and I liked the German I had. Dutch should be completely doable. I still think I might be able to manage Russian, and try Japanese again. Heck, I’m still curious about Hawaiian. — I don’t know for sure if I’m a potential polyglot, but I think likely so. — But that only happens if you actually study. — Aarrgh.
Anyway, I was very intrigued by the little blurb in Dutch there, and thought I’d show my (lack of enough) progress. Heh. Consider this motivation.
Hmm, can one throw down the gauntlet toward oneself? Eh bien, je le manquais…. C’est ma faute; il faut repasser et faîre mes devoirs. Euf, si trop parraisseux, je suis.
With, also, apologies to Miss McAdams, Miss Seegar, and Dr. Hunting, wherever they are. (Dr. Hunting was a Frenchwoman who’d married an Englishman or American. Eccentric lady, but a good prof, and kind.) I learned quite a lot from those three ladies, and loved it. — Too bad I didn’t listen to Dr. Hunting and switch to a foreign language major. Heh, I thought I knew better at the time. Oh, well. — Life went in other directions anyway. I sure never would have expected most of what real life threw at me. — As a student in there classes, I was about as fluent as you could get, for a non-native, new learner. College French Lit. was a real challenge, and if I’d been tossed into immersion in France or Québec, I would’ve had to walk around with a dictionary all the time for a while. But I could’ve likely done all right. Likewise with Spanish.
So, studying will, and must, happen.
(I should know what “rusty” is in French, but I think the idiomatic sense, to be rusty at something, doesn’t hold across the languages. To be rusty colored, hmm, there’s a word for that besides roux, I’m sure, but I don’t recall it. Cheveux roux is a redhead, and Rousseau is cognate with Russell. But I am missing something I should know.)
Hrrumph. Past lunchtime. J’ai hont mais j’ai faim, bien aussi.
BCS, try academic books. Ouch! $100+, probably often over $200 now.
I think the earlier the better to fix the cat. Fewer behavioral issues??
(I’m reminded of a guy who runs contests. He vehemently denied it when someone suggested they were fixed. “So they’re still broken?”)
I’ve never liked the expensive sneakers with huge logos, so the trend to plain washable wool sneakers piqued my interest. I didn’t get them, but I snagged a few pair of $20 sneakers from Target online. The soles are a little slippery in wet conditions, and they don’t look particularly durable; but they’ll save wear on more expensive leather shoes. No washing instructions, so…? From China, so they might have been less before tariffs and may be more later.
Thanks, that helps with name patterns. Language seems to go in patterns of changes, so cousin-languages are close, and learning how those patterns match up, or the new ones, does a lot to help.
Otje — I like that name, somehow. I would not have guessed there’d be a female version of Otto, but hah, why not, I suppose.
The books sound very good for younger reasders, and I’m still curious about the one about living and traveling in the Netherlands, even though it’s 1950’s era, which was when my dad was stationed in occupied Berlin and West Germany. (He liked what he saw of Germany, England, and Europe. But things would have been so different then than they are now, throughout Europe, just like they’re not like my grandmother’s 1950’s era subdivision house, haha.
Book prices; really, I should’ve known, it somehow surprised me. And to Walt’s point — when I moved into my apartment, I looked for a current version of my old Spanish textbook. I was shocked at the printed textbook price and the ebook version. Yes, I think it was over $150 or $200, which means sci/eng/tech textbooks must be in the truly astronomical price range, maybe two, three, or more times that. Heh, these days, I mostly wear cheap slip-on sneakers about like Walt mentioned, at least for kicking around the house or housework. Luckily, I’m OK on things now, but I may get a heavy coat this winter, undecided.
I think I like Dutch nicknames. There’s a sense of humor in them, not just a diminutive. — I am still learning Spanish nicknames, being around more Spanish-speaking people. They tend to shorten things, with a few regular suffixes, or they omit part of a name or create something altogether different, or by typical language changes. But I get surprised now and then, and I’m learning each time.
@BCS, font work and writing is how you hope to generate income, so those rightly get priority. You also want to get in the habit of reading again, and have been busy with the new cat and the sorting of stuff and the housework. Those are all more necessary than studying a language you’re not likely to ever need. If you want to spend some time on language studies, it might make more sense to concentrate on Spanish, given your location, instead of spreading your scarce available time out over 3 languages at once.
Floddertje is a very messy, dirty little girl with an even dirtier little dog, who get in trouble jumping in mud puddles and such little adventures; there are four or so read-aloud short stories about her for toddlers. She isn’t part of the Jip & Janneke books, so the blurb is strange for that title.
Flodder = a messy, dirty, flighty woman, there’s a set of Dutch films about the Flodder family that exemplifies that meaning.
Losse flodder (loose floppy rag?) also means a blank, in the shooting sense.
Here it’s changed into a nonexistent girl’s name by adding the diminutive. Annie M.G. Schmidt does that a lot, inventing new but recognizable names like Floddertje, Ibbeltje, Otje (little girls), Pluk and Jip (boys). She had a sense of humor that appeals to kids, in her names and her stories and her kid’s rhymes and songs.
Like Dikkertje Dap, (dik= chubby or fat, here turned into a name for a chubby little Kindergartner), who climbs a ladder each morning at 7.15 to give the giraffe a lump of sugar (klontje). He tells the giraffe he’s got new red rainboots, and the giraffe is astounded (“ik sta paf”). He brags about having learned three letters already, and being almost able to do math (rekenen), and draw stick figures (poppetjes, little dolls). Then he begs the giraffe if he might slide down his neck, lands with a bump and an “ouch”, and promises to come back tomorrow with his ladder.
She wrote lots of little songs like that, cheery and with a slightly absurd element to them but treated as if it’s all quite normal; which are still sung with preschool and kindergarten kids today, and sometimes get memorised by older kids like me 😄
Translating the blurb (fairly literally).
De winter is begonnen. = The winter has begun.
Jip en Janneke zien hoe het egeltje aan zijn winterslaap begint, = J and J see how the little hedgehog starts his hibernation, (on his wintersleep starts)
krijgen warme handschoenen om buiten te spelen = (they) get warm gloves (handshoes) to play outside (om= [in order] to; the exact order is: get warm gloves to outside to play)
en vieren sinterklaas en Kerstmis. = and celebrate Saint Nicholas and Christmas.
Vieren = to celebrate, in both the liturgical and birthday-party sense (not often both together), and has nothing to do with vier = four (4).
Ze maken samen een prachtige sneeuwman, = Together they make a beautiful snowman (the Dutch sequence is “they make together”)
maar waar is die de volgende dag gebleven? = but where is that the next day gone? (Meaning, but the next day, where has that snowman gone? It’s disappeared!) With a J&J story that probably means it melted, as she only started adding in fantastical elements later.
I think my frustration there is that I’m showing some kind of blockage to studying or reading, and I’m not sure what it is, but it’s hampering (interfering with) getting back to some good habits, and the reluctance seems like it shouldn’t be there, like it’s out of character. I have a feeling it’s interfering in other things for me to move forward. And heck, I’m interested in languages, I like them, so it’s a way to do something I like. — For all the fussing and grumbling I was doing at myself in that post, I was also enjoying guessing at the translation, to see how much I could do, what I’d get right and what I’d miss.
I did a short review of a Dutch grammar summary book. While it wasn’t enough and there were gaps, also, right there were examples of some of the things from another book that I’d read, but haven’t yet really learned.
I should have recognized “zien” as seen, since I’m sure I’ve seen that in the other book. Somehow I’d forgotten die versus dat, daze versus dit. Dit and dat and doze as the plural for dit look so close to English, I think I just dropped dele and die from my memory. I was probably too tired the nights I read those. — I should have recognized hoe as how. But I hadn’t retained op versus om, for instance, and didn’t know maar was “but.”
So een egeltje is a little hedgehog, like the little friends you and Teasel have, and “winterslaap” is a perfectly good kenning for hibernation, a winter-sleep. (I really hope I haven’t forgotten the definition for a kenning, but kennings and another literary device were used a lot in Old English poetics and literature, as learned substitutes for other words. They’d often put together two nouns or a noun and an adjective, say, to describe something. So a winter-sleep makes sense there.
So I got something less than 50-50. But I got close in some places.So with some study, I might be able to read simple paragraphs like that.
—–
Ms. Schmidt sounds like she liked to play with words and entertain kids and families. The description of little Floddertje sounds a little like Pig Pen from Charles Schulz’ Peanuts cartoons. (Pig Pen is the little boy in the light brown overalls who is always surrounded by a cloud of dust, even after he’s just washed.) And her sense of fun and wordplay sounds a little like Dr. Seuss. — Those stories sound charming.
Your descriptions earlier reminded me of some of the Little Golden Books and other early readers that I had as a little boy. Those dated from the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s, I think, and are still in print today, I think. I remember there were at least two or three different series by various publishers, each with different book sizes, either heavier paper stock or cardboard stock for durability. They were meant for bedtime stories, families reading to their kids, or for the kids to try to read along by themselves. Then there were older reading level books, Dr. Seuss’ stories among them, before getting to the big kids’ and then the young adult books.
My parents kept at least some of those, and we gave them to family friends at the time when they had their two toddlers. So the books had a good life. I remember them as being wonderful little stories, so I didn’t mind having them around, even as a big kid, before getting into my teens. They sat in my old bookcase until then.
I’m sure I’d find them really sweet today. (One of those, the extra small format, involved several cats, one of whom was a sailing cat. Hmm, I don’t recall the title of that one. There was another with a cat covered in yellow, orange, and red spots, polka-dots, in random sizes. Hmm, and one larger format children’s story about a boy and his dog, Sandy and Corky, I think, who have a visit to the beach. All sorts of good little books for very little kids.
One book hopefully in storage from my move was a repurchase because I’d loved that as one of the first science fiction stories I read as an elementary school boy, home sick with bronchitis or the flu. The story was for bigger kids, not yet YA level, about a boy who discovers a really big egg and hatches it, and gets…a stegosaurus! And of course all sorts of things happen after that, with villains, with problems the boy and his family and friends have with the growing baby dinosaur, and so on. (I can’t recall the author or title, but fellow fans recognized it so I could order a used copy.) It would be good for elementary school kids. It was long enough to provide a real challenge at the time.
That combination of whimsy and imagination that’s so unique to children’s stories really is special, and produces memorable things. When the author is also good at writing for other ages, up into adulthood, still with that special combination, that’s really something. — The Amazon reviews as I skimmed through a few of her titles were all positive, from English-language readers all over the world, small towns in America, the UK, New Zealand, and others.
Oh, and (hmm, my retention really needs work) Jan Marinus … something was listed as the illustrator for one of her books. Marinus or Marino, or Mariner, is interesting as a name. (Compare Marina Sirtis.)
When I’m a little further along, I’ll probably add the Dutch edition of Minoes to the books you’d sent months ago.
The dinosaur-from-egg story is ‘The Enormous Egg’ by Butterfield.
@BCS, Marinus is a first name and a surname, in several spellings and variations – Jan Marijnissen was a leader of the Dutch Socialist party a decade ago. The first names Marinus and Marijn might be related to Marius and to Martijn/Martin? Names starting with Mar- are legion…
Doze and dele are not Dutch words, “deze” is, meaning “these”.
The closest I can come to doze is “dozijn”, a dozen…
Little d-words point at things, while the complementary w-words ask questions.
Die is a pointing-at word, but a complicated one, as it can refer to people and things, singular and plural.
Dit & dat – this & that
Die & deze – those & these
Die & wie – that (person or thing) & who
Deze & welke – these & which
Dat & wat – that (object) & what
Daar & waar – there & where
Wanneer & dan – when & then
Waarom & daarom – why, wherefor & (just) because, therefor, that’s why.
Hence the shocking-to-tourists giant advertising poster of a toddler shouting “Mama, die, die, die!””Please?” seen everywhere last year… She’s just shouting for that brand of baby food 😅
Both Floddertje and Pig Pen appear to be inspired by Struwwelpeter.🙃
And yes, we used to get those Golden books for little kids here too, I’ve still got my (very 1950s illustrated) favorite, plasticized because I ‘read’ it to bits as a toddler, my first read-along book.
You might try tapping the young cat’s nose if he oversteps by trying to take Goober’s food, acting like his mom and setting boundaries for him; then move him back to his own bowl. Counting on non-assertive Goober to set and guard his own boundaries is likely to lead to the same outcome as before, especially since Goober isn’t used to gulping all the available food as fast as he can, which any cat who’s lived rough does.
Yelping so he knows he’s hurt you (even if it was only a little scratch or just feeling a tooth), and carefully taking your hand away & refusing to play for a bit, is the advice I got on how to train my two new young ones if they get a bit too rough playing – that’s how they learn from each other.
I might use Marijn, that appeals to me.
“Doze” was a guess based on Dutch deze and English these, those, but heh, it doesn’t work that way. 😉 Dele — Is probably the browser’s spell check as you type, manic insistence, which, oh, deeply interferes with English typing, much less any multi-lingual typing.
Your summary of what would be, in English, the th- and wh- demonstrative and interrogative words, is better than the two “essential grammar” summary books I have. (I need to look tonight at what you and Chondrite sent. Last night, I was looking at the Kindle books.) The one grammar book covered the alphabet and double, long and short vowels, open and closed syllables, and how Dutch spelling handles those, but it did not then cover the multiple other vowel combinations. Dutch seems to use just about every two vowels together for particular vowels, some of which have later merged into modern pronunciations, if I understand it right, and then there’s uw, where the w retains English w rather than going to v. So uw is a longer u and seems to be mostly in ouw and euw. These are the impressions I’m getting from not enough coverage in a single section of things like that. Or for instance, the summary tables of d- and w- (th- and wh-) didn’t include daarom and waarom, or even waneer; instead going for deze/dit/deze, die/dat/die. (Possibly they put the interrogative (wh-) words further on.) — And I wish the Kindle would let you keep a sidebar, top or bottom or left or right side, with the TOC or chapter/section links, something.
“Mama, die –” for “Mama, that!” Heheh, has got to be someone who knew the shocking pun value between English and Dutch, and was probably counting on Dutch speakers of English getting a momentary stun from it, to read the ad. But, whew, yeah, fierce! And yet it’s perfectly normal and fine in Dutch. — Must surely confuse and alarm some tourists! Ouch, aïe, bébé.
I will keep trying things to get the new kitty trained. The bump on the nose trick is one I should have tried already. I think you’re right about me taking the initiative, since Goober just isn’t inclined to. He’s well fed plus polite and mild enough that he just doesn’t seem to see the need to object to the food bowl behavior. We are definitely going to work on that habit. — The new kitty is now well-fed enough that he is doing that, instead of sticking jealously to his own bowl and letting Goober stick to his. Since he’s doing it when he knows I just put food in his bowl, it’s a dominance / territorial thing, seeing how far he can get away with something.
—–
The new kitty is still somewhere between Rudyard, Rufus, and Curry.
So I thought, what about Puss in Boots? (He doesn’t have “boots” or “socks,” and I had a cat named Boots when I was a middle school kid. — I checked Wiki. I think the boy / young man in the tale is called Thomas in one version. Naturally, I’ve had a Thomas cat before.) I hadn’t known there was an earlier Italian source for the tale. I did remember the French version existed, but not the title or author. And I think the English version is in multiple translations since it was originally translated from French in the 1700’s.
Well, M. Charles Perrault was the Frenchman who wrote L’histoire out conts du temps passé. Which is, aha, available in French for Kindle. — Oh, I can just hear me calling, «Perrault, Perrault!» which to my Spanish-speaking neighbors would sound like the wrong RR for «¡Perro, perro!» (“Dog, dog!”) (Not even doggy or puppy, just a plain adult dog.) Hahaha, and my new cat is remarkably un-dog-like. 😀 Les bottes / Las botas and the Italian version’s gli stivali, don’t quite have that zing. Stivali would be nice for a booted / socks cat, though.
I have a feeling boots are booten or boots in Dutch, but hmm, it doesn’t quite work for him.
@Hanneke and @Chondrite and @ anyone else who wants to play, what is “striped” or “tabby (cat)” in Dutch and Hawaiian? Or Japanese or Sanskrit? — Come to think of it, I need to look that up for French and Spanish. There’s “agouti” in English and “barré” in French is barred, striped, but I think there’s a more appropriate match for striped like a cat, or striped like clothing.
Maybe a word for reddish-brown? He’s more brown with a ginger undertone, not truly ginger or rust-colored, if that helps. (Cat owners have seen both colors in cats.)
I’m getting a ‘Ru’ vibe for the name; those are the ones you seem to like for the new gato. Russell? Runyon (Damon), a notable cat person and author? ‘Cat’ in a non-English language, like ‘Neko’ (Japanese)?
The cat my husband lost was called O Tetsu Neko; The Iron Cat.
O Tetsu Neko would almost fit for Rusty, but I feel sure there are Japanese words for rust and other oxides. This little guy is most likely to be a mix, mostly Anglo and Latino cats. He doesn’t seem very Japanese.
I am currently thinking of:
* Rudyard — name sources say this is from Middle English for red or ruddy yard. And Kipling is either a nap or a Kipper-ling, where a Kipper or Kip is a type of fish (I don’t recall if it was salmon or another kind.) But Kipper as a boy’s name comes from that. Named after a fish. I’m not judging. — Of course, I’m going from Rudyard Kipling, author of “The Cat Who Walked By Himself,” from his Just So Stories.
* Rusty? — Rufus, I wasn’t going for, but the image of him looking down from the carport roof, so proud of himself and still curious about me, makes “Roof Us” a possibility.
* Tiki – because a few months ago, I got a Tiki brown pattern Hawaiian shirt. So, maybe. It doesn’t seem to fit him. (The name, the shirt either. 😉 )
* Curry — given that most curry spice mixes are reddish-brown to greenish-brown, and that matches him pretty well, I am trying this out.
I’m still thinking of Rudyard, Curry and Rufus are alternates, but I feel there’s this Eureka! moment where the cat clearly names him/herself. That hasn’t happened yet. This could mean the little guy has an ineffable secret name to be revealed. 😉
—–
I have an appt. set for the vet on Tuesday morning, for checkups for both, and I’m anticipating the new guy will need to stay for deworming because, er, ick, I’d rather not have to deal with that, and they are better equipped. — I don’t see evidence, so maybe h’s fine. I’ll know what’s what on Tuesday. By then, he’ll have been here about 5 days. at noon, he’ll have been here 60 hours, 2.5 days.
We’ve had two incidents feeding them together, where the new guy wants to see what Goober is getting and take it, when before, he’d been fine to stick to his own bowl. Goober, bless his furry, silly head…did not feel any need to fuss at the new cat about this. Lord love him, Goober retreated instead. He’s 13, long and lean, but still probably could take the new half-grown kitty down a peg or two if he was of a mind to. I wouldn’t blame him for at least grumbling or for cuffing the new kitty. — My guess is, Goober was not sufficiently hungry or aggravated or threatened enough to want to bother, and the new kitty, while pushy then, has mostly been more easygoing or nonchalant, not too much tendency to be aggressive. Yet he’s got alpha tendencies I’m also seeing, and because Goober won’t stick up for himself enough…I think the new kitty is going to be alpha by default.
But they have also gotten close enough to sniff each other, eat or sit pithin a couple of feet or less, with no fussing. (Maybe a little unsure or jealous looks from Goober.)
And last night, two nights into this, we had a breakthrough. Goober got brave enough to get on the bed twice, with the new cat there by my feet, and Goober stayed a while both times, for attention. So…I think things are progressing.
Silly new cat has tried to play tag with me while sifting his litterbox, twice now. Hahaha. I am OK with this. I am just glad he’s showing signs he’ll learn to use the litterbox and not elsewhere.
This morning, before I got up, I heard something clatter or tinkle. I haven’t found anything broken, so perhaps disaster was avoided thanks to feline balance jutsu. (Jutsu? Jitsu? Jutsu, I think, and will look it up.) — Either the new cat was exploring or he and Goober might have been playing / getting to know each other, with whatever results. — Ah, neither cat appears damaged, and I don’t find (yet) any signs of anything broken.
Tentative soft meows, a few times, and some playful chirring and similar sounds. He’s feeling more comfortable.
If Goober can relax and accept him, and if he will go easy with Goober, I think we’re in for a better pairing. They might decide to be friends. Still in the getting-to-know-each-other phase for them and for me.
But I’m seeing a mostly mild young male cat who does show he can be an alpha male, in a mostly good sense, and yes, I’m seeing he has habits or simply does not know better, from being an outside stray all his life. I would guess he was born around the apartments. — Still have not bumped into the cat-friendly guy, darn it.
I may try feeding Goober in the hall and the new kitty in the kitchen, or vice versa, to give Goober a better chance to get as much food as he wants. But I also want them to get used to eating together, to the idea that they can both do so peacefully, without jealousy and without the new guy trying to get Goober’s food first too. — Just the two instances of that, with other times being very agreeably polite, good behavior by both.
All in all, still going well. I am not sure yet, but it seems like they could end up deciding to be friends, perhaps better than Goober and Smokey, who squabbled some but mostly got along, and would tag-team the human when they felt like it. 🙂
If Goober and the new cat would decide to be good buddies, make peace, not be jealous of each other’s “ownership” and attention with me, that would be ideal. I’d very much like for Goober to have a mild friend to pal around with, and the new cat seems like he is mostly mild if given a chance. So…we’ll see.
Rustam, like the hero in the story?
Wow, Tommie, that’s a story I had no idea of. (Rostam and Sohrab) (or Rustam, or Zohrab, other transliterations). Thanks to Wiki for a précis.
I’ve never tried naming a cat Neko, and didn’t know the word until a few years ago.
LOL, Runyon (with apologies to all) reminds me of a quip from Shakespeare, “anoint thee, runion!” though I’ve forgotten the significance as well as which play it was from. (I think either Julius Caesar or Macbeth.)
— Has anyone had good luck with pine cat litter, like Feline Pine or another brand? I saw a video recommending this. Goober is _still_ doing it just outside the box, which is, y’know, unpleasant when you traipse into the bathroom and have to check before you walk further. Ahem. And then clean it up before or after why you went in there. 😉 So I’m thinking of trying it a time or two, and with another cat again, I’ll need litter soonish.
The new guy is now doing OK with the litterbox, and I’m hoping that will hold true. Also hoping he’ll start using the bathroom litterbox, once they’re friends and he’s free and clear by the vet. — “His” litterbox is in front of the door. Haha, not a nice booby-trap if anyone were to come in unannounced, but if they did, I might not mind being too nice about that, haha. (Don’t want to test that theory, really, either, thanks.) I’ll have to do a little rearranging to move it to a better spot, but still near the door. Sigh. The apartment’s nice enough for one or two, but would feel smaller if there were three or four people. — I am way too used to, but not really liking, being too on my own.
Somewhere over 36 hours since cat acquisition. Still fine; the two are not buddies but more importantly, not arch enemies. Signs are unclear, said the Magic Eight Ball, as to whether they are really progressing yet, but there’s a smidgen more tolerance. Maybe.
Rufus!
Okay that’s enough spitting out of names 🙂
I think Rufus would imply a gender for the individual.
Having returned from the outer darkness (my sister’s place) after an unscheduled 1 1/2 week delay, I am again home and unwinding.
(Let me tell you, you don’t want the catalytic converter on your Prius to be removed by lowlife scum. They finally found one for mine – in Boston – and it took a full week. This happened in the Bay Area, where it’s actually that big of a problem. They scum can get 20 or 30 in a night, and apparently there are metal recyclers who don’t ask questions about where they’re getting them.)
Here’s my catalytic converter story. I had a sports car with one. In one of the rare very rainy periods we get in SoCal, I was driving through puddles and gutters with abandon, enjoying the rain. When I got to the verges of my housing development, the car started missing at least one of its only 4 cylinders. I nursed it along, sometimes even using the starter to move the car when all four cylinders seemed to be misfiring. I eventually got it backed into my garage. I closed the door.
And the garage seemed somehow pink! I looked around somewhat bewildered. The light seemed to be coming from underneath my car. I bent down and looked and the catalytic converter was glowing white-hot. Well, pink-hot. I got my fire extinguisher and waited until it went through all the steps of red-hot until it wasn’t glowing.
Next time I started my car it gave its usual growl then tinkle tinkle tinkle. I revved the engine: growl (from the engine) tinkle tinkle tinkle (from the rear). I stopped the engine and inspected the rear. Little white nodules from the catalytic converter littered the garage floor. All the gas passed through the engine without burning was catalyzed.
But, and my point, even this was covered under the 100,000 mile emission warranty. I rather doubt theft is covered, but it doesn’t hurt to ask; and it would motivate manufacturers to make them theft resistant.
Oh, insurance covers it – it’s “vandalism” – but the problem is that it’s so common in some areas that it’s slow getting replacements.
They like Priuses because they’re relatively light-weight cars: a floor jack to raise one side, a small power saw to cut the pipe, and a fast twist with a ratchet wrench, and they have a converter. Maybe as much as three minutes work, and in the middle of the night no one will notice.
Hmm. Having an eager, hungry new cat and a non-assertive cat is sure a challenge at feeding time.
Goober thought it was time for food, at least a snack or treats. OK, kitty. The new kitty has been asleep on the bed most of the day, and showed zero interest in going near the door when I got the mail (new litterbox scoop arrived). Something like, “Ah, dis iz da lyfe, I iz livin’ laarge!”
So we go into the kitchen to be fed. (Hey, new kitty, you don’t know the words snack or treats yet.) — Comedy of errors as I put in just enough dry to top off their bowls, plus a few Greenies treats. Feed the new kitty to occupy him, and think this will actually work. Feed Goober, but he won’t come up to his bowl last enough, and so (of course) the new kitty comes over to _take_ Goober’s bowl, because he must be getting something more interesting, plus, you know, cat reasons, alpha versus whoever else. — OK, so I put just a little more in the other bowl and think Goober will come over. — Nope, repeat of same. — Once more? Uh-oh, we have a definite trend there. Not looking too good from Goober’s end of it. — This did include lifting the new kitty bodily (potential risk, but I got away with it) and plunking him down at his bowl. Goober still didn’t help himself any.
Conclusion: The Most Non-Assertive Cat in the Universe Strikes Again. This is not helping the new kitty learn good manners, either. Such as, there is more than enough food to go around, you don’t have to hog it all or prove you’re the boss.
Also Conclusion: Goober and new kitty, if you two were truly hungry, neither one of you would be doing that, you’d be at your own bowl, guarding it against any approach.
So…the human has decided we need to try a new approach next time. — I am going to try feeding Goober in one spot and the new kitty in another, kitchen or hallway, to see if we can stop this from becoming a bad (worse) habit. — And then we can work on reintegrating the two to eat together. Little nerds.
I wish I knew how to get Goober past his issues, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. So he’s going to be the omega to the new kitty’s alpha. :-/ The new kitty does not seem to have any self-esteem problems. :p
One side note: around noon, there was a cat altercation outside. Goober got concerned and wanted to look out the window to see who was yelling and carrying on, cats, that is. The new kitty didn’t care one bit. He’s too happy having this new gig as an indoor housecat. — But it also says the new kitty hasn’t usually been the one doing the fighting outside, he knows who that is, and is glad to be away from that. — I only saw one of the cats, not the other.
Despite the comedy duo for their supper, they seem to be doing fine. — Still not best buddies yet, still not curled up together or grooming each other. But also still no fighting, just the passive-aggressive and alpha-beta-omega thing going on. I’m thankful they are doing this well. Maybe I can be a smart enough hew-mon to train the new guy out of some of his bad habits and bad manners. Guys, you can _share_, there’s plenty of attention and food for you both, and then some. You’d be happier if you decide you can be equal partners. If you two figure out you can cooperate, be friends, hang out and help each other, grooming, whatever, I sure would appreciate that.
As WOL said, “or not.” It’s just as possible that this is the inter-fur-sonal dynamic. Oh, you two, I would love to find the way to overcome the imbalance. I don’t know how to get Goober to be assertive, though. Sweet, overly-polite little guy that he is. — Gotta love hthem like they are.
(Hmm, playing of some kind, but are they playing together, mutual interaction, or is it one-sided?)
So you’ve got a regular Laurel and Hardy routine going on, nightly in your living room?
“Gee, I don’t know, Ollie…”
A kipper is a very oily fish, definitely not a salmon, or so I’m herring.
Especially for mail order, I suggest Land’s End. I have a couple microfiber jackets and a hooded parka fit for a blizzard–and a bit too warm for anything less, really. All microfiber. A warm scarf and a watchcap/toque can make a huge difference. And gloves if you can’t keep hands in pockets.
You can get some good bargains at Land’s End if you snipe for sales and clearances.
Indeed — in our house, we know well the power of the Wooly Hat.
L.L.Bean is also a possibility.
I got my raincoat from LL Bean, and I don’t regret the money it cost. It’s ankle length, really water-repellent, and not the usual color (it’s periwinkle blue,) I’d like to get a rain hat to match, as the hood doesn’t do it, but they don’t have any I like. (I think Wallaroo does, though.)