KK Chat - 30 March 2008

[DesertRose]

[19:37] * KK has joined #Deryni_Destinations
[19:37] <&DeryniBot>  Sedina gives a highland welcome to KK as they join the chat
[19:37] <jemler> KK!
[19:37] * DeryniBot sets mode: +o KK
[19:37] <@DesertRose> Hi KK!
[19:37] <~RainbowDragon> Greetings, KK!
[19:37] <@TheDeryni> Hello Katherine
[19:38] <@KK> I'm here.  Sorry I missed the last couple of chats.
[19:38] <Temprus> Hi KK
[19:38] <Mak> Hi, KK
[19:38] <@KK> So, what's up, folks?
[19:39] <~RainbowDragon> We were discussing chili
[19:39] <@DesertRose> Not much, what's up with you, KK?
[19:39] <jemler> and pot roast, and woodchucks, and wabbits!
[19:39] <Temprus> I am rearranging my hobby/computer space
[19:39] <Mak> We're rearranging the stereo system
[19:40] <Mak> Well, hubby is- I'm basically playing gopher  (or is that woodchuck?)
[19:40] <jemler> different aminal, MAK
[19:40] <@KK> Hmm, sounds good.  We were thinking--actually, Scott was thinking--of going to Red Lobster for clam chowder tonight--until I pointed out that I needed to visit you guys tonight--and we have to be back by 9 PM for sense and Sensibility, which has gotten a very good review.  Love Jane Austen.
[19:41] <@KK> Ah, but woodchucks are, indeed, the same critter as groundhogs--which is something I've learned since we moved to Virginia.
[19:42] <jemler> but they're not gophers.
[19:42] <Temprus> See
[19:42] <@KK> And our Critter-Getter got a badger last week.  (Badger-badger-badger-badger!)
[19:42] <@TheDeryni> lol
[19:42] <Mak> Badgers are nasty
[19:42] <jemler> badgers are bad, goodgers are good!
[19:42] <~RainbowDragon> mean-tempered rascals
[19:43] <@KK> We have also had amazing fairy rings of mushrooms, and also a snake, a snake, oh, a snake.
[19:43] <+Elim> I had a cobra in my yard two weeks ago.
[19:43] <@TheDeryni> Jut a Gardner snake, I hope.
[19:43] <@KK> Is it clear that I've recently been back to the badger site and gotten reinfected with the beat of the badger song?
[19:43] <jemler> cars don't count!
[19:43] <+Elim> Actually it was a cobra.
[19:43] <@DesertRose> LOL, KK
[19:43] <~RainbowDragon> LOL
[19:44] <Mak> LOL
[19:44] <jemler> where are you, elim?
[19:44] <+Elim> Florida.
[19:44] <@KK> Our snake was a garter snake.  Elim, you didn't really have a cobra, did you?!
[19:44] <jemler> did it escape from a zoo, or what?
[19:44] <@TheDeryni> He did.
[19:45] <+Elim> Beats me.
[19:45] <@KK> Where did a cobra come from in Florida?  I grew up there, and there were no cobras there when I was there!
[19:45] <~RainbowDragon> an escaped pet probably
[19:45] <Mak> Garter snake scared the daylights out of my dog last summer
[19:45] <@TheDeryni> Probably someone's pet.
[19:45] <jemler> i hope it's now a pair of boots!
[19:45] <+Elim> Well in the 27 years since my birth here, I had never seen one before.
[19:46] <@KK> Only idiots make pets of cobras!  But our garter snake had been ferreted out by the great Augustus cat, who thought it was great fun to play with.  I took a picture.  It was about 18 inches long; verry pretty.
[19:47] <+Elim> Another theory I had was that there is a snake handling church literlly a stones throw from my house.
[19:47] <@KK> Yike!  Now, there's a scary thought.
[19:47] <+Elim> At least they used to handle snakes.
[19:47] <~RainbowDragon> Don't they use rattlesnakes?
[19:48] <@KK> I thought it was usually rattlesnakes, though.
[19:48] <jemler> yeah, now they let them roam the neighborhood!
[19:48] <+Elim> It was just a theory.
[19:48] <+Elim> I have no evidence  of this.
[19:48] <@KK> Unless you've got a zoo nearby, it's the best theory I can think of.
[19:48] <+Elim> My bets are are pet and the church.
[19:48] <@KK> Where in Florida do you live?  Near the Everglades?
[19:49] <+Elim> Panhandle.
[19:49] <+Elim> 55 miles SE of Tallahassee.
[19:49] <@KK> Ah.  Not at all familiar with that part of the state.
[19:49] <@KK> I was in Coral Gables/Miami.
[19:49] <+Elim> Ah.
[19:49] <jemler> Ocala
[19:49] <+Elim> I wouldn't live down there.
[19:50] <@KK> My father and stepmother live in Coral Springs/Ft. Lauderdale, and alligators have been seen in their vicinity.  But no cobras, so far as I know.
[19:50] <@DesertRose> I don't speak enough Spanish to live in Miami. 
[19:50] <+Elim> Mmmm Alligator.
[19:50] <Mak> I've been to Miami- didn't like it
[19:50] <Temprus> Stay out ove Las Vegas, New Mexico, Arizone and California then
[19:50] <@KK> In my day, one didn't have to speak Spanish to live in sourthern Fla.
[19:50] <+Elim> I love Alligator.
[19:51] <+Elim> Tastes great.
[19:51] * @TheDeryni loves alligator also..
[19:51] <@KK> I was pretty insulated at the University of Miami.  We did have some Arabs in school there.
[19:51] <Temprus> then again, I apparently can't type English :p
[19:51] <+Elim> Awesome in gumbo.
[19:52] <@KK> Haven't ever eaten alligator.  Or snake.
[19:52] <jemler> must be a hell of a pot!
[19:52] <Mak> Had a couple guys win a cookoff with alligator chili a few years ago
[19:52] <+Elim> I don't have enough of a yankee accent to live in south Florida.
[19:52] <@DesertRose> I've never gotten up the culinary courage to try to eat alligator.
[19:52] <jemler> maybe the alligator would eat you!
[19:52] <@TheDeryni> Rattlesnake is good too.
[19:52] <+Elim> DesertRose, it is good.
[19:52] <@KK> Ah, but it's a Spanish/Cuban accent you need--or a New York/Yiddish accent.  At least that's what it was when I lived there, unpty-ump years ago.
[19:53] <@TheDeryni> Though I prefer gator.
[19:53] <@DesertRose> Thankfully, I'm not too near a swamp, so I don't have to worry about gators in my yard, except for the UF fans.
[19:53] <@KK> I'd think alligator is probably pretty good, actually.
[19:53] <@TheDeryni> Gator fritters! Yum!
[19:53] <jemler> i'll stick with beef
[19:54] <@DesertRose> I don't speak Spanish with a Cuban accent.  I probably speak it with an American accent after so many years outside the southwest.
[19:54] <@KK> Tehre used to be a Wild Boar festival in the Everglades, back when I lived there.  And they'd serve up this awesome roast boar, with heart of palm salad and baked potatoes.  Yum!
[19:54] <+Elim> Ever eat swamp cabbage KK?
[19:54] <@DesertRose> Although my Chilean Spanish teacher said I had a good accent, but maybe that was just compared to my classmates.
[19:55] <@KK> Don't think so, Elim.  What does it look like/taste like?
[19:55] <+Elim> It comes from the heart of the cabbage palm.
[19:55] <Mak> Wild boar is very good
[19:55] <@DesertRose> I've never had wild boar.
[19:55] <@KK> Then, maybe that's the heart of palm salad I mentioned.  It was really good.
[19:56] <Mak> Well, boar anyway.  I don't think the ones we get the meat of are very wild
[19:56] <+Elim> Wild sow maybe, wild boar is a bit gamy for my taste.
[19:56] <jemler> Cole slaw from KFC! TOPS!
[19:56] <@KK> It's a type of pork, after all.  A little gamy is good.
[19:56] <@KK> That's what makes venison so good.
[19:57] <+Elim> Uhhh.
[19:57] <@DesertRose> I haven't had venison since I was a kid.
[19:57] <Mak> Not fond of venison, tho my s-i-l makes good venison sausage
[19:57] <+Elim> Wild boar stinks to high heaven when you cook it.
[19:57] <Temprus> 12 years for me
[19:58] <+Elim> Temprus, Since you were a kid.
[19:58] <+Elim> ?
[19:58] <Temprus> I do love Buffalo meat though
[19:58] <@KK> What I haven't tasted is squirrel, though I understand it's pretty good.  We had about 6-8 squirrels running around in the front today--fat, sassy grey ones.
[19:58] <Temprus> 21/22 is not a kid
[19:58] <@DesertRose> My dad used to hunt deer, so I had it when I was little.   I don't hang around any deer hunters any more, so I have no source for venison.
[19:58] <Mak> We had a fat, sassy squirrel in our attic a month or so ago
[19:58] <@KK> Oh, dear.
[19:58] <+Elim> Mak, that's called food storage.
[19:58] <@DesertRose> My oldest brother used to hunt squirrels.
[19:58] <Mak> lol
[19:59] <jemler> a neighbor of mine hunts. he gave some meat to my sister and she gave some to me.
[19:59] <Mak> Scared him (her?) out and redid the screening.  Squirrel gone
[19:59] <jemler> i've had squirrel, rabbit, pheasant, and deer.
[19:59] <@KK> Oh, good.  You didn't have to trap him/her.
[20:00] <@KK> Pheasant is good.  Rabbit is a bit mushy texture-wise for my taste.
[20:00] <Mak> No, left on his own.  And then we locked the door!
[20:00] <+Elim> I have had Deer, hog, gator, rabbit, quail,  squirrel, and mullet.
[20:00] <+Elim> Mullet is a religion here.
[20:00] <@DesertRose> I've never been able to bring myself to eat rabbit.  I think bunnies are cute.
[20:00] <Mak> Hausenpfeffer!  (or however you spell it)
[20:00] <@DesertRose> Although I know they can be an annoyance if you've got a garden.
[20:00] <@TheDeryni> I've had Rabbit often.
[20:00] <@KK> You've eaten mullet?  My dad and I used to shoot them with a bow and arrow, but would always throw them back, because my dad said they weren't any good to eat.  But I guess it you're hungry enough....
[20:00] <jemler> you don't eat 'em while they're looking at you!
[20:01] <+Elim> DesertRose, for you http://i25.tinypic.com/23lbgk8.jpg
[20:01] <@DesertRose> I know, but I have a vivid imagination.  When I read "A Modest Proposal" after my daughter was born, I kept picturing her on somebody's table for dinner.
[20:02] <@DesertRose> Aw.  Pet bunny getting a bath.
[20:02] <Mak> I like chocolate rabbits
[20:02] <jemler> now read Watership Down.
[20:02] <@DesertRose> I had to call animal control a while back because somebody abandoned a pet rabbit on my back doorstep.
[20:02] <Mak> Aw, poor bunny
[20:02] <@KK> I took Oswald for a bath last week, and there was a ginormous white bunny waiting to get a bath.
[20:03] <@DesertRose> Yeah, it was a pretty little rabbit.  My neighbor and I took care of it until animal control came to pick it up.
[20:03] <@DesertRose> I have no place to put a rabbit, and I have cats and a dog that would probably try to eat it.
[20:03] <Mak> Rabbit is one pet we have never had here
[20:04] <+Elim> Rabbits is food.
[20:04] <@KK> A friend of mine in the DC area is part of a rabbit rescue group that fosters abandoned bunnies until new homes cna be found for them.  And she and her husband have 2 or 3 of their own. 
[20:04] <@DesertRose> I have a neighbor who keeps pet rabbits but they couldn't take that one in because they didn't have any more space in their hutch.
[20:04] <+Elim> Or in the case of angora rabbits.. Rabbits is wool.
[20:04] <@KK> That may be why the rabbit was abaondoned on your back porch.  Someone knew there was a rabbit-lover in the area.
[20:04] <Mak> One of my middle daughter's roommates has a rabbit.  Not a cute one, tho
[20:04] <@DesertRose> But they did spare us some rabbit food until animal control came.
[20:05] <@DesertRose> Yeah, maybe.
[20:05] <Mak> People abandond animals here because they see the "sucker" sign on the front of the house!  lol
[20:06] <@DesertRose> Yeah, I've got a soft spot for furry things myself, but I couldn't take in that rabbit.
[20:06] <Mak> My husband swears if someone left an elephant in the yard I would keep it!
[20:06] <@DesertRose> LOL
[20:06] <@KK> We had one of those at Holybrooke.  Acquired several of our cats that way, though none of the current ones.
[20:07] <jemler> you had an elephant at Holybrooke?!
[20:07] <Mak> Most of my cats have been adoptees, as is the dog.  Just showed up on the porch one day
[20:07] <@DesertRose> My younger cat adopted us.  She showed up on the back porch and refused to leave.
[20:07] <@DesertRose> I made the mistake of petting her and talking gently to her and she attached herself to me.
[20:08] <jemler> you could do that to me too
[20:08] <@KK> Awwwww.
[20:08] <@DesertRose> LOL
[20:08] <@DesertRose> She was this teensy little kitten at the time, about three or four months old and she climbed up on my shoulder and purred while I petted her.  Who can turn that away?
[20:08] <@DesertRose> Not me.
[20:09] <Mak> Sounds like the dog here- did not want to leave us.  But we figured since he is a Lab someone was missing him.  But no, so he lives here now
[20:09] <@DesertRose> Well, she belonged to somebody before us, because when she came to us she had on a flea collar and was already litter-box-trained.
[20:10] <@DesertRose> So I put up fliers asking if anyone had lost a kitten, but no takers, so she became our little Sweetie Pie.
[20:10] <Mak> Murphy had a collar, no tags and basic obedience training when he found us. 
[20:10] <@TheDeryni> It doesn't count when you only put the fliers on your own trees.
[20:11] <~RainbowDragon> lol
[20:11] <@DesertRose> LOL, I put them up all around the neighborhood, but apparently my printer ink is water-soluble because the first time it rained it washed the posters clean.
[20:11] <Mak> Of course it does.  Fliers is fliers.
[20:12] <@DesertRose> No more pets though.  We have quite enough fur in the house with two cats and a dog, plus the hair that the humans shed.
[20:12] <+Elim> If Atlas doesn't stop bugging my bedroom door he's getting a bath tommrow.
[20:12] <~RainbowDragon> You need a parrot.
[20:12] <@DesertRose> There's this little Siamese-looking kitty that hangs out by my house and digs in my trash but s/he's very skittish and won't come near people.
[20:12] <jemler> well folks, i gotta go. see you all next week! maybe i can say goddbye to Dov before he leaves!
[20:13] <@DesertRose> G'night jemler.
[20:13] <Mak> Night, jemler
[20:13] <@KK> Night, Jemler.
[20:13] <jemler> g'night all
[20:13] * jemler Quit (Quit: )
[20:13] <Mak> It's amazing how much hair cats can shed!
[20:14] <@TheDeryni> Hey KK. Did you visit/see any dolmens or portal stones when you were in Ireland?
[20:14] <@DesertRose> Yeah, Tessa sheds worse than Sweetie Pie for whatever reason.
[20:15] <@KK> Night, Jemler.
[20:15] <@KK> There aren't too many in Ireland, other than the ones associated with Newgrange, but I saw lots in Scotland.
[20:16] <Mak> After I vacuum, I think I could knit up a couple more cats from the hair I've gathered
[20:16] <@DesertRose> Yeah, I know that feeling, Mak.
[20:16] <Mak> Except I can't knit
[20:16] <@DesertRose> Crochet a cat or two?
[20:16] <Mak> Can't do that either
[20:17] <@DesertRose> Well phooey.
[20:18] <Mak> Useless, I am.  LOL
[20:18] <@DesertRose> LOL
[20:18] <@DesertRose> Not if you can cook prize-winning chili, you're not.
[20:19] <@KK> Ours are in prime shed mode right now.  And Tillie has practically overnight developed a stringy tail--though I don't see her grooming excessively.  It's really thin at the base, though.
[20:19] <Mak> Well, I can do that- sometimes
[20:19] <Mak> Salsa and verde are my best tho.  Still figuring out the red
[20:19] <+Elim> Our german shepherd has so much undercoat we can brush a 55 gallon bag worth of undercoat off of her every day.
[20:19] <@DesertRose> Tessa is in prime shed mode all year.  There's always ginger cat hair all over my house, it doesn't matter how often we run the vacuum.
[20:20] <@KK> I took her to the vet to make sure it isn't contagious to other cats or to people.  No explanation, thoug he did say it wasn't contagious
[20:20] <Mak> Mine are like that too- hair everywhere all year long
[20:20] <@DesertRose> The dog sheds pretty badly too.  Sweetie Pie doesn't shed much for whatever reason.
[20:20] <@DesertRose> My mother says an outfit isn't complete without cat hair.
[20:20] <@KK> Oswald is just starting.  I need to take him out to the pack porch and brush like mad.  At times like that, I can definitely knit/crochet a new puppy.
[20:20] <Mak> I tell people in our house, cat hair is a condiment!
[20:21] <@DesertRose> She has two cats too, and she used to try to keep the cat hair off her clothes until she realized she was fighting a losing battle.
[20:21] <Mak> Try it with 5!  LOL  And the dog is no slouch on shedding either
[20:21] <@DesertRose> I bet!
[20:22] <+Elim> Try it with 14
[20:22] <@DesertRose> I don't think I have space in my house for 12 more critters.
[20:22] <Mak> I had to get rid of a nice pair of black wool pants because they were a cat hair magnet
[20:22] <@DesertRose> Yeah, I have to be careful with my good navy wool slacks because they do get kitty hair on them very quickly.
[20:23] <Mak> Fish, maybe?  Some of them don't take up alot of space
[20:23] <+Elim> Though I have to say that I generally manage to keep cat hair off my clothes.
[20:23] <@DesertRose> I don't wear them that much because they're a bit warm for the climate here most of the time anyway.
[20:23] <Mak> Unless you're me- then that small little fish tank isn't nearly enough!
[20:23] <@DesertRose> Sweetie Pie would eat the fish.  She's our hunter kitty.
[20:24] <@DesertRose> Tessa would probably just watch the fish, but Sweetie Pie would find a way to get at them and eat them.
[20:24] <Mak> My big tank was the best kitten TV when Jasmine's babies were little
[20:24] <Mak> Now they just ignore them or drink the water
[20:24] <@KK> Speaking of cats, two of mine have just come up and started walking all over the desk, narrowly avoiding the keyboard, so I guess I'd better go feed the menagerie.
[20:24] <@KK> See you guys next week.
[20:24] <@DesertRose> Which two, KK?
[20:25] <Mak> Yes, they get upset when dinner is delayed
[20:25] <@DesertRose> Okay, KK, have a good week!
[20:25] <@TheDeryni> Good night, Katherine! Thanks for stopping by!
[20:25] <@KK> Gus and tillie.  They both have baskets on shelves ehre in the office, so they spend a lot of time here, when I'm at the computer.
[20:25] <Mak> Enjoy your week, KK
[20:25] <@KK> Ta.  Thanks
[20:25] <@DesertRose> Ah, okay.  Pet the menagerie from me, please!
[20:25] <~RainbowDragon> Bye, Katherine. Thank you for stopping by.
[20:25] <@KK> ?me steps onto her Portal, waves good night, and disappears in a shower of green sparkles.
[20:25] <+Elim> Couch Critter who stays in my room got cold the other night so she unpluged my box fan.
[20:26] <+Elim> Night KK
[20:26] <Temprus> bye kk
[20:26] * @KK also types properly sometimes.
[20:26] <@DesertRose> LOL
[20:26] <@KK> Nighters.
[20:26] <Mak> lol
[20:26] * @KK Quit (Quit: )