"What have you eaten" Parallel Chat

[Antje77]

I am so used to animals in a private house that I have no idea what to do with them in an apartment

Tie a piece of crumpled paper to a piece of string and enjoy yourself and your kitten for hours!
And get some cardboard boxes of course.

 

[Zhnyaka]

Tie a piece of crumpled paper to a piece of string and enjoy yourself and your kitten for hours!
And get some cardboard boxes of course.

she is indifferent to catnip and indifferent to boxes. I bought her a whole house for cats,


but she prefers to sleep under the drawer where I keep the broom or on my couch, and prefers foil on a thread to all cat toys


from my screams about the cat in the apartment, you can't tell that I lived for a long time in a place where there were a lot of cattle and I know how to milk a cow, right ? As a child, it seems cool to go to the city and live in an apartment, and when you grow up, you want to return to the village

 

[Antje77]

and prefers foil on a thread to all cat toys

Foil on a thread is a perfect cat toy!

 

[Zhnyaka]

I just read this
Post in thread 'What have you eaten today? (Low carb forum)' https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today-low-carb-forum.75781/post-2621420
[Ссылка]
What have you eaten today? (Low carb forum)

What have you eaten today? (Low carb forum)

Coffee and cream Coffee and unsweetened almond milk Beef and tomato Smoked salmon Beef and tomato

www.diabetes.co.uk

@Antje77 are you okay? What's up with your government? I read that it resigned because of the migration policy. I hope it didn't affect ordinary citizens too much

 

[Antje77]

@Antje77 are you okay? What's up with your government? I read that it resigned because of the migration policy. I hope it didn't affect ordinary citizens too much

Don't worry, everything will stay the same, more or less.
The fallen government will keep on doing the day to day work as a 'caretaker government', only postponing the biggest decisions.
In the fall we'll have new elections, after which it will take a while for the parties to decide how to form a coalition. This can be a quick as 3 months or it can take much longer. Last time (after the 2021 elections) it took almost a year. In the mean time the caretaker government will do the job.

As a rule, we have elections every 4 years, followed by a period of formation. But many times they don't make it through the whole 4 years. This is the 6th time the government fell during this century, so nothing too shocking.
It's amazing that we're such a stable country with relatively few problems compared to other countries. Apparently, this way of running a country which seems pretty amateurish, does work!

 

[Zhnyaka]

It's amazing that we're such a stable country with relatively few problems compared to other countries. Apparently, this way of running a country which seems pretty amateurish, does work!

We almost had a military coup here recently, so we... since it is impossible to swear here, I will say that we were very scared

 

[Antje77]

We almost had a military coup here recently, so we... since it is impossible to swear here, I will say that we were very scared

The political sitiation in your country is so completely different from mine.
Historically, the government in the Netherlands has never been something to fear for ordinary citizens. They do make mistakes and there are some exceptions (migrants aren't welcomed warmly in any way, during WW2 you couldn't trust the police if you were a jew, further back we have an unsavoury history with slavery etc), but we don't have a history of locking up/sending off/intimidating/making disappear citisens who didn't agree with the government or such.

Trust in the government is at an all time low at the moment, but in a very different way than in your country, where there's a history of having to be afraid of the government as a rule.

 

[Zhnyaka]

Trust in the government is at an all time low at the moment, but in a very different way than in your country, where there's a history of having to be afraid of the government as a rule.

It seems to me that you in the West greatly exaggerate how bad everything is here. Of course, we prefer to stay away from our government and, if possible, have nothing to do with the police, but after all, you don't do something anti-government every day. There is free higher education and medicine, cheap utilities (for example, in winter, I pay about $12 a month for gas), generally very cheap cost of living, no heat + 30C. In fact, no matter what the government is, you are still going to a barbecue with friends or to a bar, go on vacation, etc. You can't tell by my behavior that I have half a family in Ukraine, right? It's just that the horror passes and you live on almost as usual, just with a slight correction (sometimes in the form of "it's not a fact that I'll live to see next year" )

 

[Annb]

It seems to me that you in the West greatly exaggerate how bad everything is here. Of course, we prefer to stay away from our government and, if possible, have nothing to do with the police, but after all, you don't do something anti-government every day. There is free higher education and medicine, cheap utilities (for example, in winter, I pay about $12 a month for gas), generally very cheap cost of living, no heat + 30C. In fact, no matter what the government is, you are still going to a barbecue with friends or to a bar, go on vacation, etc. You can't tell by my behavior that I have half a family in Ukraine, right? It's just that the horror passes and you live on almost as usual, just with a slight correction (sometimes in the form of "it's not a fact that I'll live to see next year" )

Trust in many governments is at a low ebb right now. Certainly there is a great deal of criticism in the press of the British government at present. I daresay there is plenty of criticism of the Dutch government as well. We all have our own systems of democracy and government, and who is to say which is right or wrong? If we are comfortable with what we have, that's fine.

An elderly aunt of my husband's was not able to attend our wedding in 1964 because she had gone off on an exploration of the world (all her possessions in a carrier bag) and she sent us a postcard to wish us well from Moscow. She absolutely loved the Soviet Union and the way things were done there. She was in her 70's at the time and truly believed in an egalitarian society. She had learned her principles from her Danish mother as well as her mental and moral strength.

 

[Antje77]

It seems to me that you in the West greatly exaggerate how bad everything is here.

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea how things are on an everyday base for 'regular' people in your part of the world!
So I wouldn't say it's bad, or good, and very likely it would be something with a mix of good and bad, like in most countries.
But I'm very glad that my country never had anything like the Gulag and forced labour camps.

In fact, no matter what the government is, you are still going to a barbecue with friends or to a bar, go on vacation, etc.

Very true!
The biggest part of life consists of what happens directly around you, no matter what is going on on a greater scale.
And I very much hope the current situation will end with as little grief as possible to both Russian and Ukrainian people alike. War sucks.

 

[Zhnyaka]

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea how things are on an everyday base for 'regular' people in your part of the world!

as you can see, despite what is happening, I even got a cat. And I discussed with my sister, who is in Kiev, whether it is worth cutting the cat's claws, and she talked about plans to get a cat for herself. A strange realization, but life is life everywhere. You lie in horror for a few hours or days, and then you go to do the usual things.

 

[MrsA2]

@Antje77 , and the others who've been so understanding about my cat today.
Thank you.
I did enjoy my quiet time with her this morning. We'd booked the appointment the day before as she had lost sensation and movement in her back legs. She's had tumours for the past three years and had survived much longer than any one expected. She and her brother really tucked in to the tuna and didn't hit each other at all!
Luckily we still have her brother so the house isn't empty and the humans have been looking after each other. In a strange way its been a nice day.

 

[Antje77]

@Antje77 , and the others who've been so understanding about my cat today.
Thank you.
I did enjoy my quiet time with her this morning. We'd booked the appointment the day before as she had lost sensation and movement in her back legs. She's had tumours for the past three years and had survived much longer than any one expected. She and her brother really tucked in to the tuna and didn't hit each other at all!
Luckily we still have her brother so the house isn't empty and the humans have been looking after each other. In a strange way its been a nice day.

This sounds like the very best farewell imaginable for a cat ready to leave this world.
A day of dying can definitely be a good day and a sad day at the same time, no matter if it's a pet or a human.

It reminds me of sending my dog off a couple of years ago, with lots of liverwurst and some emergency hummus to distract him of the ouch of the injection.
I'm agnostic, but I find it very easy to envision an afterlife where my dad is ready to welcome all cats and dogs with liverwurst, tennis balls and cans of tuna. Be sure I sent a little prayer to my dad to welcome your cat.

 

[Annb]

@Antje77 , and the others who've been so understanding about my cat today.
Thank you.
I did enjoy my quiet time with her this morning. We'd booked the appointment the day before as she had lost sensation and movement in her back legs. She's had tumours for the past three years and had survived much longer than any one expected. She and her brother really tucked in to the tuna and didn't hit each other at all!
Luckily we still have her brother so the house isn't empty and the humans have been looking after each other. In a strange way its been a nice day.

Such a shame about your cat but at 18 she'd had a good, long life. You had obviously cared for her very well. Ending her life must have been a very difficult decision for you, but when you care so much for a pet, you only want to save them suffering and do what is best for them. Well done on a brave decision and condolences on the sadness it must have borught you.

 

[Antje77]

I saved the cutest little mouse last night!

I'm all for my cats catching mice to keep the population in check, but I also really really like mice a lot.
So if the cat is stupid enough to jump on my bed with a beautiful little baby mouse right when I'm about to turn off the light, the mouse is mine if I'm quicker than the cat.

Last night I was quicker!
This feisty little mouse didn't agree with being held firmly by the tail at all. It clearly had no idea how lucky it was to be caught by someone happy to get out of bed in the middle of the night to bring it to the mouse colony living safely in the guinea pig pen in the garden.

 

[MommaE]

I saved the cutest little mouse last night!

I'm all for my cats catching mice to keep the population in check, but I also really really like mice a lot.
So if the cat is stupid enough to jump on my bed with a beautiful little baby mouse right when I'm about to turn off the light, the mouse is mine if I'm quicker than the cat.

Last night I was quicker!
This feisty little mouse didn't agree with being held firmly by the tail at all. It clearly had no idea how lucky it was to be caught by someone happy to get out of bed in the middle of the night to bring it to the mouse colony living safely in the guinea pig pen in the garden.

View attachment 62429

Bet you weren‘t the cats favourite person yesterday. We finally found out what was making the mess on two of the rocks in our garden wine hole. One cheeky little chipmunk stealing the low hanging raspberries! I don’t mind him sharing the berries but somehow need him to learn not to spit seeds on rocks that we sit on.

 

[MrsA2]

We had 2 twin totally black cats, a boy and a girl.
Sadly we had the girl put to sleep a few weeks ago so now only have the boy.

He's 18, totally black and quite sleek, the vet described him as a magnificent specimen ( very proud parent moment!)

About a week after we lost the girl, we alll started noticing another black cat passing though our garden, nothing unusual at first but over the past couple of weeks this new kid on the block is getting closer and closer and seemingly getting quite friendly with our boy.

Now our boy has never tolerated strange cats on his patch before but he's seem to accepting the incomer. We have been wondering if he thinks its his sister come back, but he mainly used to ignore her. Curiouser and curiouser.

Recently we've seen the incomer rolling around and looking quite at home, and our boy just a few feet away not being too perturbed.

The incomer has the same body shape as our boy and its difficult to differentiate between them so we have assumed the incomer is male. Our girl was rounder and softer.

Fascinating to us, just wondering what will happen if incomer either
A) comes inside through the cat flap
B) starts sleeping in our boys favourite place on the cushioned garden bench
2 situations we cannot imagine our boy allowing, but strange things are happening

So what do we think dear readers? Is our boy just too old to defend his territory Does the incomer spot his vulnerability? Is the incomer perhaps female? The behaviour the other day was quite coquettish. Is it our girls spirit come back in another cat? Does our boy think it's his sister? Etc etc

 

[Zhnyaka]

May I show a photo of my cat? God, kids grow up so fast!

 

[Annb]

Alistair tells me that he thinks Banksie, the newfie cross, doesn't like water. Or doesn't like being in the water very much. He can swim absolutely fine, as he should having webbed paws, but all he wants to do is get out of the water.

A few days ago the family took their canoes to the beach and set off in a little area of fairly calm water between the beach and an islet some little distance offshore. They persuaded Banksie into one of the canoes and paddled out, but he didn't like it and jumped into the water and tried to tow the canoe back to shore. Failing Alistair's one, he tried to drag Em and her brother back to shore. Obviously, they weren't having it either, so he swam back to the beach himself and sat there howling until they came ashore themselves. Maybe he was hoping to call for help, or maybe just to make so much noise that they would give up and join him on the beach.

Maybe that's how they get to be rescue dogs. They just want to get everything out of the water - people, canoes, bits of wood, whatever and so they can be trained to rescue people in trouble in the water. He won't be going with them next time they go canoeing.

 

[Antje77]

May I show a photo of my cat? God, kids grow up so fast!

View attachment 62562

Such a handsome little cat!