So...There I was...* Flat out of Airspeed, Altitude and Ideas. (Yes, Beans, been there before, never liked it, nor the usual outcome). Fortunately, in a comment on Sarge's post from yesterday where he had revealed his inner U-Boat driver wish, Scott the Badger had mentioned "Norwegian Forest Rescue Cats".
My first thought was "We have two of those!" But the "Forest" part threw me for a loop. I didn't think that had been part of their breed's name. So, I went to the source of all possible knowledge about any possible subject both in the known Universe and the unknown Universe.
Why, Beans, that would be my Wife, of course, not Google! What a silly question to ask.
I will edit out portions of her response, because Sarge wants this to be a Family Friendly Blog.
"juvat, you **** ***** ****, They're not Norwegian anything Cats! They're Korats!"
Me being me, and ever curious where my brain has wandered off to, decided to confirm her answer.
Yes, Beans, after we had returned from Breakfast and I was alone in my office.
ANYHOW, and as usual, she was right.
You decide
| Norwegian Forest Feline | Korat Feline |
|---|---|
 |
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| MoushKa | MooshKa |
 |  |
| Guarding Mrs. J's Desk | This Guard Cat Thing is HARD work |
So, juvat, what new and important information did you find out about Korat Cats? Well, Sarge, interestingly this site had some pretty good info about them. Much of that, I had already learned from the cats themselves. They are quite affectionate, vocal, playful and very friendly. First written about in 1350 BCE, until the '60s, they were only given away as gifts as a sign of respect and affection. There was one other statistic in the article that caught my eye.
Korat's cost between $400 and $2000. We have two.
So, juvat, how did you afford that much for a couple of cats?
Well, Sarge, apparently their former owners are either extraordinarily generous in "giving" them to us or they are dumber than a box of rocks. My vote is on the latter.
You see, there appears to be a program in place where city folk who have grown tired of their pets, drive out into the country and drop them off in the middle of nowhere. The Animal Good Fairy then directs them to a suitable domicile where they will be welcomed with open arms.
Or, they starve to death, get killed by a predator, run over by a car or otherwise meet their demise.
Moushka and Mooshka showed up at our doorstep early one morning. They were pretty dirty, very thirsty and incredibly hungry. A bit of water, a small helping of kitty food, a wipe down with a damp rag and a successful introduction to the other adoptees all obtained from a similar situation (grand total for the family is now 7 Cats and 1 Dog, plus 2 pound puppies and 2 pasture ponies, 3 cats, 3 dogs and 2 horses are still with us).
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| From Front to Back: Oskar (pound puppy), Cooper (pound puppy), Annie (wandered onto the property) |
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| Schmedley wandered onto the property. Based on injuries she had, the Vet believed she'd been thrown from a moving car. |
Suffice it to say, if I EVER catch someone doing that dump and run crap...well, I hope the jury is composed of animal lovers.
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| This was done right. Breeding farm was going under. Turned the horses over to a Vet, who advertised them. Cabernet and Merlot (L to R) now reside on Rancho juvat |
Oh, well, on to a happier subject. MBD and The Rev have signed the contract for their house. Our plan is to visit next Saturday and give it a look see. It was a bit pricey, but doable. Our objective is to see what Mrs. J and I can do to help and lower fixing/moving costs a bit. Back in my caveman days, I painted my way through college, so I should be able to help there. We'll see. I may have to negotiate with my blogger boss as painting on the weekends with a 3 hour drive each way, may impart a slight impedance to blogging on Monday, we'll see.
Had a good time Saturday nite at our Wine Maker Friend's Winery. They host a quarterly dinner for their wine club members. This one's theme was Poor Man's Dinner. It's generally held around April 15th and features Beans and Corn Bread as the menu, hence the name. It did include Wine (of course). Surprisingly, the meal was quite tasty. Many of the participants had gone on the Wine Cruise in March, so Mrs. J and I knew most folks there. Mrs. J's heavily into planning another Wine Cruise from Nuremburg to Luxembourg on the Rhine,Moselle and Main Rivers in November '24. Our Friends wanted her to give a short spiel about the trip to start generating interest. The March Cruise was a blast, this one should be no different.
While we were sitting at the table eating, we got introduced to the Brother of one of the ladies that went on the cruise. He'd obviously been briefed as the first thing he asked was what had I flown. I told him and he told me that he'd been a C-130 and C-5 pilot. He was about a year ahead of me going through pilot training, so we had a blast telling "war" stories. All in all, it was a good time.
Finally, MBD and Little J had asked me to put together a notebook of my favorite recipes that I cook. It's one of those on again/off again projects. While I've typed up a lot of my recipes, I haven't had much enthusiasm about the project. Until now.
This week, I happened to have been going through the closet in my office (sometimes referred to as "The Dump") when I saw a plastic box I had forgotten about quite a while ago. It was full of my Mom's favorite (and therefore my favorite) recipes.
Well, retyping them into the computer should keep me off the streets at night for a while. All were hand written. Yeah, my eyes leaked a bit. Only fair...She is my Mom!
Peace out y'all!
An animal haven, another thing I like about you guys.
ReplyDeleteSarge,
DeleteThanks, I don't know if gratitude is actually an animal attribute, but I definitely think they realize they got lucky in which fork in the road they chose. They're good for my Blood Pressure also. So...Win/Win!
Having recipes typed up is a neat thing, actually making some of them is something else... well it is in my world.
ReplyDeleteRob,
DeleteWhile I think of myself as the Family "Chef", Chief Cook and Bottle Washer is more applicable. That having been said, I find cooking relaxing. Back in the working days, I could let off a lot of steam (to use a figure of speech), mixing/chopping/stirring or otherwise smacking the raw food around whilst thinking of that day's frustrations. Now, that's not needed as much, thankfully. But...the Family does generally like my cooking, which is nice.
Rescuing any four-footed critter is a Good Thing juvat, abandoning any critter is just..... grrrrrrrrrr. Reformatting the recipes is indeed eye straining, take your time on that.
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteYou're right, and I was semi-serious about the finding someone leaving an animal behind. At a minimum, there would be...words.
Yeah, MS Word isn't a very good platform (or I haven't figured out how to use it that way yet). I'm open to other recommendations (costing less than the National Debt of course).
Animals. I wound up with some Muscovy ducks. Started with 5, now have 2. I guess I'm feeding a possum or a racoon. I remember the dogs dumped out around us back in Carter's Malaise. They banded together and chased livestock. Our old cow gave birth, and they started in after the calf. She didn't clean out well because of it. Watching the long glove do it's thing, and what fell out made up my mind about being a vet. She died of sepsis, I learned how to bottle feed an orphan. I'm glad you are giving them a home. When they go feral, I do too.
ReplyDeleteTake care if you do the commute to work. The return trips can be rough. I know of one DRT because of that. Driving tired isn't good for anyone.
I visited my sister last year and got to take some photos of Mom's recipes. Lots of dust in the air seeing that cursive hand. I plan to print them out in color so I can have copies of the originals... Good memories.
STxAR sends. New pc, won't stay logged in.
DeleteSTxAR,
DeleteFortunately, haven't seen any packs of dogs around here. That would be a difficult problem with no "good" solutions.
Will do. But, being retired, means I don't have to come back the same day. My days of driving from Lubbock to Columbus MS or Las Vegas NV in one fell swoop (AKA 14+ hours) are long gone. Agreed about driving tired.
I may have to ponder that last. Maybe scanning them would work. Preserve her work in the "original" version, but make it digital so importing it into a file format easier. Thanks for the suggestion.
STxAR,
DeleteI have a similar issue when using Brave browser. Anonymity is good, except when blogging or commenting.
Any 4 legged critter that shows up and claims sanctuary at our place is given a name by the Straw Boss and automatic citizenship.
ReplyDeleteGerry,
DeleteThe naming authority, luckily, is my responsibility. Hence, the conventional naming conventions for them. Other than Cabernet and Merlot. Those came with the Horses. At one point in the retirement planning, growing grapes and making wine was being considered. Ultimately, we learned that growing grapes is Farming and not something we really what we wanted. So, we've got Cabernet and Merlot on the property. They're quite a bit less work.
Juvat, appreciate the cat rescues. We did the same with mother cat who brought 3 brand new little ones over the wall into our back yard in the Magic Kingdom (the one bordering the Red Sea) & placed them on the porch. Once a sliding door was opened she took one, ran into the 2nd bedroom, deposited it under the bed and then a repeat for the other two. She couldn't have found a better place as Mrs. Valvecore loves cats. Needless to say those cats had plenty of airline miles. Magic Kingdom to Germany then to Texas...Texas to Singapore...Singapore back to Texas. Unfortunately, no airline gave 'em frequent flyer status. We estimate mother cat was appx. 20 years old when she went to cat heaven and one of the female offspring was 22. Her imported male (solid black with yellow eyes) played with a Texas Cotton Mouth and departed early on.
ReplyDeleteReally got a kick out of a customs officer in the Kingdom wanting to look into the traveling box to determine what was howling and not enjoying being cooped up. After peeking inside, he decided everything was ok and the Kingdom would be a better place without another cat.
Cletus
Cletus,
DeleteWhat a great (and hilarious) story. Thanks for the morning chuckle. I understand the customs officer's logic and wise decision.
My Kegan, 100% Cane Corso, was dumped outside of our new friend's house way out in the middle of nowhere in Alabama. 4 months old, and he waited for 2 weeks for the rectal muscles to come back. Dawn (new friend) kept him alive by tossing food his way, but he'd shy away from actually being caught because he was waiting for the very abusive mommy and daddy. She finally got him close enough to her low fence that she could snag him. So off to the vet, to discover he's full of worms and had a full-blown case of heart worms. And this wasn't the first CC she'd rescued the same way.
ReplyDeleteIf'n I had the money, I'd commission a Starship launch with a whole buncha small 'rods from God' and find the addresses of these rectal muscle people and drop a few...
As to recipes, I type up mine using LibreOffice (free software, pretty good, there's no great word processor software out there.) Print them up and use binder clips on the cabinet doors to hold them (a trick I learned from the wonderful Mrs. Andrew back in the days of cooking for 150 people at SCA events.)
LibreOffice works well. It's got a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a presentation system, a formula writing program, a drawing program, database program and can be used to bring in XTML and export XTML so one can edit said Xsss... stuff. And it's free. And it's not a memory hog like the applicable MS programs are. You can even leave the spreadsheet program open without it sucking all the memory out of the computer and causing said computer to shut down. I highly recommend it. Maybe there is something to this whole 'not-MicroSerf' thing. And it works on Windows 7, 10 and 11. Did I mention that it's free?
As to cats... yeah, dumb butt. There's a tad difference from NFC and a Korat. Bit difference in size, hair length, coloring, disposition. You lucked out bigly. Could have been Russian Blues. Which have the temperment of very drunken Russians, either overly friendly or just mean and argumentative in a painful 'I have a mouth of teeth and lots of claws and I like to see how much blood I can spill every day' way. Seriously, if Stalin had been smart, he'd have just bred Russian Blues and sicked them on the Germans. (I, personally, witnessed a RB being taken out of the judge's ring at a cat show. It only required 5 big, strong men to do it. One on each leg and one with his hand in said cat's mouth being lacerated by said mouth and spraying blood everywhere.)
Beans,
DeleteI think I thought they were Norwegian Blues. But...I stand corrected. They're great cats and I'm glad they found us. Don't think I'd get rid of them even if someone offered full price. They're good company as are the rest of the animals each a bit different in their own way.
As to the Word Processing program. I think I'm looking for a Template, with a Chapter Title block, an index and then a Recipe Title, Ingredients section and Cooking steps section. Right now, I have to format each of those individually. (Yes, it's entirely likely, maybe even probable, that Word has that capability. I just haven't discovered it yet.)
Rods from heaven. Good Idea. Roasting on a Spit over a large fire...Even better.
You can set up a template in Word. Save as Template. Or you should be able to, ask Mrs. Juvat.
DeleteBasically you set up the page, with all the fonts, and save it as 'Save as Template.'
Or, set up a style guide. Basically a document or note that says, "Title is size 24 font, Headers are 16, body is 14, separation between paragraphs is 6 points." And then just do that. Which is the way I do mine, as it allows me to fudge the spacing to get everything on one page.
Beans,
DeleteI think I understand. I'd have a Book Template, a Chapter Template (Meat Recipes...Vegetable Recipes) and a Recipe Template. That makes sense. Thanks for the advise.
When starting out, perhaps try emulating the templates using Excel (It can be used [almost] like a word processer), but much easier to control things like indents, etc. until you get what you want (Being a lazy heretic, I probably would do the whole thing in Excel - Word and I do not get along well).
DeleteThere's a reason I've been a staff ass all my life. Glad to be of help.
DeleteI want to know how you got such a great pic of my former kitty?? I always thought he was a Russian Blue, but nope, guess not, he was a Korat kitty. He was a freebie from the sister of a nurse I was working with at the time. He was the runt of the litter, and they just wanted him gone. I had just had to put down my (cranky) old calico a month before. She belonged to me....or I belonged to her, she would barely tolerate the rest of the family, and those 2 young pups that I had brought into the house over the past year were not amusing at all to her. So after she was gone, and I was missing kitty-cuddling greatly, my friend told me about her sister's cat having kittens, and one was left, and was headed for the shelter...so I caved.
ReplyDeleteSpike was the coolest cat ever!! He thought he was a dog, since that was all he had to play with. I had rescued a shelty about 3 months before, and they both weighed about the same. They used to wrestle around on the bed. The older sheltie I had didn't know what to do about THAT!! It was a lot of fun. He was totally grey, nose, lips, pads of feet, everything. And definitely was "vocal"...downright talkative, like all the time!! He came when he was called, he followed me around whenever I was home. I had 2 shelties and a cat within arms reach for over a decade. And was a great mouse-er. He was the last one to survive of the Terrible Trio, and lived a very full 17 and a half years. I miss him still and it's been 5 years now.
And Yes, unfortunately, animal dumping is a rural thing that citidiots do frequently. Farmers take a very dim view of dumping, and typically the critter doesn't last very long. So good on you for opening arms and giving critters a home, who lost theirs through no fault of their own. Instead of space in the pet cemetery.
Family recipes: I confess, one time when I was watching the house for the folks when they were on vacation, I fired up the copy machine, and took Mom's recipe box and made all kinds of copies of her recipe cards. Still have them. Told her after a few years, she laughed at me. Mom gave the recipe box to my sister when she and Dad moved into Senior Living Apts, and she wasn't doing anymore cooking. I have noticed that the recipe box always seems to make it to the beach when we all go on vacation together...or it has up til this year anyway.
Food is where the family gathers. Or at least in our family. Good smells, great tastes, and a warm home...these are the best memories.
Suz
Suz,
DeleteI think you may have given me a great idea. I may copy Mom's recipe cards. Saves me having to retype them and preserves the "Her" in them. Thanks.
I'm not sure, but my Great Grandmother on Mom's Mom's side I think was an Italian Immigrant. As such dinners at my Maternal Grandparent's house was always a "Really Big Deal", why us young'uns even got a small (very small) taste of wine. I also remember the dining table was huge. Both my Aunt and Uncle were there as were a few of my Great Aunts and Uncles and families. I don't remember a lot of the details, but I do remember the food and watching the Ladies cook it all day. Most probably the cause of both my love of cooking and my waistline.
You're right, those memories are fabulous.
My Father found our Norwegian Forest Cat frozen to the Interstate. Judging by the burns that covered him, Doc Westerfelt, our vet, thought that he had probably been asleep on top of a car engine, and when the engine hot hot enough, he jumped. Unfortunately, when this happens, the cat jumps into the fan, or under the wheels, but he seemed to have jumped in just the right direction, and rolled to the side of the freeway, and as he sat there, the engine heat in his fur, melted the ice, underneath him, freezing him to the shoulder.
ReplyDeleteDad took him to Doc, who put him back together for us. but his left ear was folded back the wrong way, from burn damage, and what was left of his right eye made Doc think he had lost a fight with a bird at some point in his life. So he was an amazingly ugly cat, but he was full of love.
Of course, a cat like him could only have one name, so Lazarus lived with us for the next twenty years.
StB,
DeleteLazarus? Perfect Name! Glad you found him, seems like he was a "Never Give Up! Never Surrender!" believer. Good on him!
Had a cat at Vandenberg AFB do that. We called him Stupid because, well, he was. Would sit on the hifi speakers and watch the fish in the fish tank until he fell asleep, and would then fall off the speakers and hit the ground, asleep and stay that way.
DeleteBeans, every cat I've ever met was smarter than I. (I know, set's low bars and fails to clear them!) Dogs, on the other hand....YMMV
DeleteMost of my cats have been smarter than I. But Stupid really was... stupid. One of those cats passed from one person to another on base as people moved. Dumb as a box of rocks. Seriously dumb. Like one day he spent hours trying to catch a lizard and once he actually did, he then didn't know what the heck to do with it.
Deleteactually, scanning recipes, stains and all, and creating a searchable PDF file is a great idea. Easy to share on thumb drives.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, vendors at Etsy can reproduce special recipes, in the original handwriting, onto aprons, cutting boards, the base of casserole dishes or pie plates. They make very nice gifts.
Anon (Suz?)
DeleteI agree, and I think that will be my plan of attack.
As to the second, well...I should have plenty of time while scanning to peruse the cards and see which ones fit that bill. Christmas is coming sooner than we think! ;-)
Wasn't me this time...although scanning is a great idea...just not one of my generation that I would usually think of. My sisters take pictures of everything with their cell phones...I am like Beans, and don't think about it until too late...it's a phone in my head, not a camera...I am getting better about keeping a to-do list, grocery list, etc on my cell phone tho'...plus I have my Kindle on it. So it's my phone and my book...I'm good to go then.
DeleteSuz
Would suggest scanning and saving as jpegs rather than pdfs. They are easier to manipulate and insert into documents (unless having a full Adobe pdf package). When transcribing, enhancing the contrast helps greatly in reading faded writing. And before going very far, work out a systematic recipe naming system for pictures, transcriptions and files. An index in a spreadsheet is also helpful.
DeleteDon,
DeleteGot my eye on a small scanner on Amazon that will with a single pass copy both sides and save them via USB cable to a computer. So...The beginning of the project may be nigh.
juvat
I hope there was no sugar in the cornbread and that there was some form of salted and/or smoked pork in the beans.
ReplyDeleteI also find cooking to be relaxing and my creative outlet. I spent a few hours yesterday putting together some pork tamales. Not many, maybe 3 dozen. I'm still working on learning the dough making.
I usually cook by smell and feel, unless there is something specific SWMBO wants and sends me the receipt for. Every now and then some poor soul will ask me for the receipt for something I made. That often means I have to make it again and then scurry to my desktop and write it down. Often in the old style of "Take good beef and chop it small, do thereto onions enough minced fine and also some garlic. Strew with handsful of fine crumbs, strong powder, and salt as you will. To each pound of the meat, one egg and mix well. Form into fair loaves and bake in a medium oven until done"
Joe,
DeleteRe: Sugar. BS Level the following morning was within acceptable parameters, so probably little to no sugar. Which would make sense since the majority of the guests were in the vulnerable range and the Winemaker is also Diabetic, so...
Your cooking techniques and mine are very similar. A little of this, a little of that, maybe a little more of this. Edging ever forward to "perfection". Or at least my version thereof.
Well, sugared cornbread just doesn't taste right with a good pot of beans. Pinto beans with a good meaty ham-hock, cooked for forever and a day, mmmmm.... I've been know to just eat a beans sandwich, pouring the beans on bread and munching away. And using bread to clean the bean pot.
DeleteSigh, there's a reason I'm... portly. Good word, portly. Sounds so much more gentlemanly than 'fat' or 'porker.'
Not "portly" but "a man of substance."
DeleteDoes "portly" imply that there is also a "starboardly?"
"BS Level the following morning was within acceptable parameters," that had me stuck for a few minutes..."BS? What did I say that was BS?"
DeleteThen I read the rest of the sentence.
I just looked up the word "portly," and I like the second meaning: ARCHAIC
Deleteof a stately or dignified appearance and manner.
"he was a man of portly presence"
Origin
late 15th century: from port5 in the sense ‘bearing’ + -ly1.
Quite wide ranging today... LOL and lemme know when you publish the recipe book! :-)
ReplyDeleteMany blessings to you for your rescue of animals (says the guy that volunteers at a rabbit shelter). This is a big problem and I fear is only going to get bigger as the economy continues its wild gyrations - just the amount of "returns" we had post The Plague when "suddenly" people discovered that having a pet cramped their ability to do things was shocking to me (I should not have been, but I was).
ReplyDeleteYay and congratulations on the house purchase (although I fear, like most of us in the troubled times, the management will continue to expect the same amount of labor. Reduced belt tightening and all...).
We have a number of recipes written in my mother or my mother in law's hand. Even more precious in a day where virtually every recipe is word processed.
My mom forbade the raising or keeping of rabbits. She had enough of that and vegetable gardening during WWII. Once meat (and vegetables) became available, her response was "Never again. That's what I work for."
DeleteCats and dogs, I understand. But meat animals as pets? Don't want to have to differentiate between 'meat raised' and pets.
Beans, that makes sense. Certainly my paternal grandparents did the same and they would never had thought of them as pets (and perhaps am shocked in some eternal way that I do.
DeleteThat said, they actually are pretty good pets. They cannot be left unsupervised to their own devices as they will chew the heck out of anything, but they are thought to be as intelligent as cats. They are also pretty clean animals as they can be trained to use a litter box.