Please let me properly introduce myself

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
On 2005-03-02, Christina Websell penned:


I thought I did. When I heard crashing around only about 8 feet behind
me
was when I decided I didn't! It is very flat in that part of Germany,
lots
of "fields" which are cultivated, but all surrounded by belts of forest.
In
these fields are wooden towers with a hut on the top. This is so that
the
farmers can shoot the wild boar if/ when they are eating too much of
their
crops.

Ah, I remember towers like that, but I never knew exactly why they were
there.
I grew up in the Pfalz region.



I don't know where that is. The only bit I know is between Hamburg and
Hannover.

Tweed

"Debbie Wilson" wrote :

"He looked a fierce and quarrelsome cat, but claw he never would;
He only bit the ones he loved, because they tasted good." S.
Greenfield

What a great sig!

Thank you :-)) Somehow it appealed to me, when thinking lovingly of all
the semi-ferals I've fostered over the years...


I aspire to growing and maturing to the point that I am able to foster.
Right now
I just don't think I could let the cats go.

Mary wrote:

I aspire to growing and maturing to the point that I am able to foster.
Right now
I just don't think I could let the cats go.

It is one of the hardest parts, for sure. What helps is when the cat
goes to a *wonderful* home, and also to tell yourself that if you didn't
give the cat up, then you couldn't take in any more that so desperately
need to come in. I very much regret not being able to foster at the
moment due to lack of space since my husband moved in, but hopefully
soon we will have more room, and the foster cats and kittens will return
:-)) Meanwhile, I have my own 4 cats who are very happy not to share me
with any other felines!

Deb.


--
http://www.scientific-art.com

"He looked a fierce and quarrelsome cat, but claw he never would;
He only bit the ones he loved, because they tasted good." S. Greenfield

On 2005-03-02, Christina Websell penned:

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...

Ah, I remember towers like that, but I never knew exactly why they were
there. I grew up in the Pfalz region.

I don't know where that is. The only bit I know is between Hamburg and
Hannover.

Southwest, if I recall properly. I lived near Kaiserslautern, in a little
town called Sembach. You should be able to find both, but definitely
Kaiserslautern, on a map if you're interested.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
On 2005-03-01, Mary penned:

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote:

Goulash, although I guess that's technically hungarian

Never had it.

Yummy beef dish. The beef should be so thoroughly cooked that it's
falling
apart. A great winter food.

Here's a discussion of the properties of a good goulash:

http://www.gumbopages.com/food/hungarian/gulyas.html

However, I keep seeing mention of potatoes and I've never had a goulash
with
potatoes, not my mom's, not in Germany, not in German restaurants in the
States.

This reminds me of a great soup I had in Germany last year, Soljanka. I
think
of it kind of like hot and sour soup, German style. The only recipes I
can
find are in German.

Jaegerschnitzel!

What is this?

"Hunter Schnitzel." As a kid I liked the plain Wiener Schnitzel, which is
just breaded veal, but the hunter version is smothered in a brown sauce
with
mushrooms.

Here's a picture of the Weiner stuff:

http://www.qedata.se/bilder/galleri/wien-schnitzel.jpg

I hadn't remembered it was veal. Sigh. Guess I'm not eating that
anymore.


Dampfknoedel ... these are these um, um ... hrm. I think it's dough
that is fried in a pan, so that the bottoms are crispy and salty
while the rest of them are soft and almost sweet.

Ooo, comfort food!

Exactly. The only person I know of who makes them is the matriarch of our
"second family" in Germany. When I visited, she had a bunch of my
favorite
foods, including Dampfknoedel.

--

It all sounds great! Not diet food, but great. If only most of us had to
plow the back forty after dinner as in the old days, we would burn it
all off! Or, in the case of women, we would burn it all off scrubbing the
clothes on the washboard etc.! (Kidding ....)

"Debbie Wilson" wrote in message
. ..
Mary wrote:

I aspire to growing and maturing to the point that I am able to foster.
Right now
I just don't think I could let the cats go.

It is one of the hardest parts, for sure. What helps is when the cat
goes to a *wonderful* home, and also to tell yourself that if you didn't
give the cat up, then you couldn't take in any more that so desperately
need to come in.

This sounds like a good approach. I am a fairly rational person, and rarely
feel very vulnerable or seriously distressed, but the one time I went to my
local no-kill shelter, I was felt disturbed and upset for weeks afterward
because I could only take one cat. Looking at all those lovely cats
just looking at me, rubbing up against me, needing and deserving homes
touched me on a level nothing had in a long time. Then I could not make
any of my friends or family members understand--not one of them would
go there and even look, and I offered to pay the fee for my sister's to each
take
a cat. I don't think I have ever felt so helpless and powerless and
ineffectual
in my life. I could not take them and I could not get anyone I know to offer
any of those lovely cats homes. And that was jut ONE local shelter. It was
then I realized that I must be eccentric about cats. And why I like to read
and
post in the cat groups where others also love them.

I very much regret not being able to foster at the
moment due to lack of space since my husband moved in, but hopefully
soon we will have more room, and the foster cats and kittens will return
:-))

I have the space but not the time to adequately care for more than the
two cats I have at the moment. And my husband thinks we have a two-cat
limit. For now. *eg*

Meanwhile, I have my own 4 cats who are very happy not to share me
with any other felines!

Deb.


--
http://www.scientific-art.com

"He looked a fierce and quarrelsome cat, but claw he never would;
He only bit the ones he loved, because they tasted good." S. Greenfield

Sounds like a wonderful family.

Mary wrote:

This sounds like a good approach. I am a fairly rational person, and rarely
feel very vulnerable or seriously distressed, but the one time I went to my
local no-kill shelter, I was felt disturbed and upset for weeks afterward
because I could only take one cat. Looking at all those lovely cats
just looking at me, rubbing up against me, needing and deserving homes
touched me on a level nothing had in a long time. Then I could not make
any of my friends or family members understand--not one of them would
go there and even look, and I offered to pay the fee for my sister's to each
take
a cat. I don't think I have ever felt so helpless and powerless and
ineffectual
in my life. I could not take them and I could not get anyone I know to offer
any of those lovely cats homes. And that was jut ONE local shelter. It was
then I realized that I must be eccentric about cats. And why I like to read
and
post in the cat groups where others also love them.

I really know what you mean. What you are saying sounds a lot like what
a lot of us in our group feel. Each has different ways of dealing with
it though. Some will work till they drop trying to help each and every
cat we are told about - an impossible task, of course - and people get
physically and emotionally burned out trying to achieve the impossible.
Ending up out trapping from 5 am until dusk, or with cat pens in every
spare room in the house, or manning the helpline every day. For every
cat we take in there are 10 more we cannot take at the same time -
people will use every excuse under the sun to get the cat taken in, and
you have to judge which are really in most urgent need of help. It's
hard to keep positive sometimes, but you just have to say, for every cat
helped that is one more cat not left outside, uncared for or worse. You
gave one cat a chance that it would not have had otherwise - it is
upsetting to think of all the others, so loving, you had to leave, but
for the one cat it meant everything in the world. I wish we could give
the world to every cat needing help, but it's just not possible :-\
So very frustrating and heartbreaking for you that others were so
resistant to something that affected you so much, though. At least it
was a no-kill shelter.... I think if kill shelters were more prevalent
over here I would have dozens of cats by now :-)
Some people just don't understand, and will ridicule or humour you, but
fortunately a good many do, and like you that's why I hang around here
:-)

I have the space but not the time to adequately care for more than the
two cats I have at the moment. And my husband thinks we have a two-cat
limit. For now. *eg*

Hold that thought :-)))

Sounds like a wonderful family.

I think so - it also includes a large tiger salamander and 3 baby
tortoises!!

Deb.
--
http://www.scientific-art.com

"He looked a fierce and quarrelsome cat, but claw he never would;
He only bit the ones he loved, because they tasted good." S. Greenfield

On 2005-03-02, Mary penned:

It all sounds great! Not diet food, but great. If only most of us had to
plow the back forty after dinner as in the old days, we would burn it all
off! Or, in the case of women, we would burn it all off scrubbing the
clothes on the washboard etc.! (Kidding ....)

Yes, if only ... *snort*

There are plenty of fat farmers. I knew lots of them as a kid =P

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
On 2005-03-02, Mary penned:

It all sounds great! Not diet food, but great. If only most of us had to
plow the back forty after dinner as in the old days, we would burn it
all
off! Or, in the case of women, we would burn it all off scrubbing the
clothes on the washboard etc.! (Kidding ....)

Yes, if only ... *snort*

There are plenty of fat farmers. I knew lots of them as a kid =P

That is true. We have a few here in NC too!

"Debbie Wilson" wrote in message
...
Mary wrote:


I really know what you mean. What you are saying sounds a lot like what
a lot of us in our group feel. Each has different ways of dealing with
it though. Some will work till they drop trying to help each and every
cat we are told about - an impossible task, of course - and people get
physically and emotionally burned out trying to achieve the impossible.
Ending up out trapping from 5 am until dusk, or with cat pens in every
spare room in the house, or manning the helpline every day. For every
cat we take in there are 10 more we cannot take at the same time -
people will use every excuse under the sun to get the cat taken in, and
you have to judge which are really in most urgent need of help. It's
hard to keep positive sometimes, but you just have to say, for every cat
helped that is one more cat not left outside, uncared for or worse. You
gave one cat a chance that it would not have had otherwise - it is
upsetting to think of all the others, so loving, you had to leave, but
for the one cat it meant everything in the world. I wish we could give
the world to every cat needing help, but it's just not possible :-\

You really do understand. I need to get over these kinds of feelings
eventually so that I can do more than just send money to the shelter.
When I have more time I want to volunteer or maybe foster, too.
The most excruciating thing to me was that cats are so easy and so
much fun--my mother-in-law lives all alone, and even she knows
from the studies that have been done that she would be healthier
with a pet--and yet people deprive themselves of this delight and
don't help the cats. My MIL says "they are too messy." She is just
a miserable person, I guess. My sisters love animals so I don't know
why they would not even think about it.

So very frustrating and heartbreaking for you that others were so
resistant to something that affected you so much, though. At least it
was a no-kill shelter.... I think if kill shelters were more prevalent
over here I would have dozens of cats by now :-)
Some people just don't understand, and will ridicule or humour you, but
fortunately a good many do, and like you that's why I hang around here
:-)

I can honestly say that I have never felt more alien and alone. It was
truly strange. It actually changed the way I feel about some of the people
in my life. Here is the irrational part: I just cannot imagine how anyone
could not be utterly delighted by cats, even though I know that it is
a matter of personal taste. :-) I am a case, I am afraid!

I think so - it also includes a large tiger salamander and 3 baby
tortoises!!

Deb.
--

I always had frogs, turtles, terrapins, etc as a child. Where are you, Deb?