Friday, July 15, 2016

Friday Mishmash

I've been playing an online game called PackRat for years - you collect cards and make recipes and basically it's something I do while I'm writing my blog posts - play a little PackRat, write a few paragraphs.  They release different collections, and a recent one was Dutch-themed, so naturally I though of Fran as I played this one.  I was so happy when I collected all of the cards that I took a screenshot:

My favorite Dutch words were "klompen" for the wooden clogs, "omafiet" for the bicycle, and "gezelligheid" which loosely translates into the essence of Dutch culture.  And while I think I can do a decent job of pronouncing klompen and omafiet, gezelligheid is beyond me at the moment, which makes me think I really need to plan a trip to the Netherlands so I can get that one down...and of course, meet my favorite Dutch blogger!

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I've mentioned a time or two that our cats, who we adopted from the same cage as tiny kittens from the animal shelter, don't get along.  Well, it's Kip - he doesn't like Henry.  So imagine my shock when I walked into the family room one morning to see this:
Sharing the same couch?  No hissing??
Still no hissing...very odd.

Kip woke up and he still didn't act all offended that Henry deigned to be in his space!  I called Jeff in to see this phenomenon, and he said what I was thinking - "someone is gonna die" - because our oldest cat, Mabel?  Who was never nice, except to our dachshund?  She started being all sweet and cuddly about three weeks before she died of kidney failure.  So if I post that one of these cats has passed on soon, here's proof.  I know it's a little morbid, but seriously, this is really odd behavior!

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After reading about the cats, you might be thinking that I'm hard-hearted.  No, it's just that, well...Bloom County summed it up perfectly for me in a recent comic:
So happy this comic is back - Berkeley Breathed brings sanity to my life.

Yes, I could be worrying about Kip.  Or the state of our country.  Or any number of things, big and small.  And it's not that I don't care - I'm just declining to freterize about them.  Because honestly, worrying isn't going to change anything.  So I'll be off in the meadow of my mind, doing strange yoga with butterflies and an awesome penguin, while life continues to happen all around me. 

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Tomorrow starts our official Renegade Run Club training program - as opposed to every other Saturday where we just run...this time, it counts!  And it counts more for some people than others - several are training for a half marathon in October, while others are not, so mileage run will vary, but we'll all be out there, and more importantly, we'll all be together.  I predict a lot of fun times ahead with my RRC peeps.

Have a great weekend!

18 comments:

  1. I didn't know the comic strip with Opus was back thanks for telling us. I hope both your cats will be OK.

    Good luck on your run tomorrow! Hard to believe your "officially" starting your training program tomorrow but October really isn't that far away any more. In some ways it feels like this year has gone by way to fast and on others it drags.

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    1. Look for "Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County" on Facebook. :)

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  2. Heck, I didn't even know you had more than one cat. Kip seems to be the king on the blog...lol.

    Have fun at run club!

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  3. How cool! But they made a mistake because it's omafiets with an s. And "gezelligheid" can't be translated to other languages, president Obama mentioned it was "gezellig" during his last visit to his country. But one thing is for sure: if you ever visit me and my country it will be "gezellig".

    Are you going to train for something or just train with the others?

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    1. Well, it was a fun way to learn some Dutch words, anyway. :)

      I'll be training for Houston but that race isn't until January, so no need to push it now.

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  4. Maybe Kip is just mellowing out as he gets older.

    I loved Bloom County when I was younger and love it as much now. Maybe more so because I am older and wiser ;)

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    1. Bloom County is so, so good. And I love that it's on FB now because he can be current with anything newsworthy.

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  5. How did I miss Packrats all these years? Maybe I would write more blogs if I had Packrats to play in between?

    So do the cats ever escalate to actual fights, or is it just a lot of threatening noise?

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    1. Just noise - they only fight when an interloper cat comes into the backyard...then they have a common enemy and are allies, LOL.

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  6. OOO, have a fun run tomorrow!!!

    And you are right that something is up with the cats! BEWARE!!!

    Good call on taking some mind time. I feel like I need that too.

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  7. Bloom County defined my middle schoo/high school years along with Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side. I blame my sense of humor on all 3 of them. :)

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  8. What a cute game. I agree that worrying about every little thing is bad for your health and sanity. Have a great weekend, Shelley!

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  9. It took Hannah and Jacob's dogs about three weeks to be close - now we can't keep them apart if we tried - they always lay next to each other, even under my feet when I sit at my desk. It's super cute!

    Good luck on your run tomorrow - hope it's not too hot!

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  10. I really hope the kitties are mellowing, not well, you know. Have a great run tomorrow. (this is Roz BTW...I know, logged in as Dennis)

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  11. I really miss Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side too!

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  12. Hopefully the cars have just discovered peace! Hahaha

    Yay to all your running peeps being together!!!

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