• Hei, skogkatter • 13jun26

    michael raven

    Well these two lads are apparently already ready for the Minnesota winter.

    So. Much. Floof.

    Grendel is in the fore and Grímnir in the rear.

    Apparently, they come looking for cuddles whenever someone is in the room and are curious about the world around them.

    When I reached out to the breeder, I had asked several times about food they feed the kittens to avoid that stomach/digestive upset that goes along with switching them over to another food. I have one in mind that ranks high on ingredient quality, but wanted to load up on what they were feeding the boys so I could transition them over a week or so.

    Learning point: It turns out that the conventional wisdom has changed with feline diets. Instead of “keep cats and kittens on a small diet rotation”, it turns out that this is no longer the recommendation. They’ve discovered that it can cause food sensitivities and pickiness compared to kittens who are fed a variety of foods; not just brands, but textures and types as well. It teaches the cats, rather than encouraging “finickiness”, to enjoy what they have and they have fewer digestive issues as an added bonus.

    Seven years ago, the conventional wisdom was the exact opposite. Minimize variety and texture so they always eat what you give them because there is no benefit with variety. In other words, meatloaf M-Sat and Sunday, too. If you only know meatloaf, you won’t hanker for something else.

    So, I’ll take her word (as well as a little research on my part that confirms it) that they should be ready to go with whatever we feed them.

    Seems almost sacrilege to think that way after all these years being told otherwise. But I will accept it, seeing as there is science backing it up.

    And they are slightly delaying the vaccinations and checkup to 9 weeks instead of 8 weeks, which also makes some sense. A week difference is not a huge difference and it gives their bodies more time to develop to get a better baseline on.

    The breeder has invited the family down there for a meet and to meet the boys, but there is just too much going on in the coming two months to break away. Plus, it is a longish drive (2.5 hours each way). I might zip down myself, while the kiddos are on a roadtrip elsewhere, but I haven’t decided for certain if that will happen.

    I still have so much to do to prep this place for kittens. I can’t hardly imagine how I will get it all done and still keep on top of the other chores I have ready at my feet.

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  • Half-penny thoughts — 13jun26

    michael raven

    I was joking around with my twin daughters last night about music and starting up a band (one more than a passable singer, the other plays flute and piano). They are toying around with starting up a cover band that does 80s songs in their own style and with their own instrumentation and in the middle of the discussion I smacked my forehead and cussed.

    “Total missed opportunity,” I said. “I wish I would have thought about it when I was playing with various bands when I was younger.”

    “What?” they asked, in unison.

    (more…)

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  • Half-penny thoughts — 12jun26

    michael raven

    You know how it is when you are looking for something and you cannot seem to find it no matter how hard you try and then you stop looking for it and it suddenly appears?

    Maybe it is an object you lost.

    Maybe it is a social thing, like a new beau.

    Maybe it is a word on the tip of your tongue.

    Or a song you are trying to recall.

    You turn around and see it, whatever it is. You are in the shower and suddenly the fragment becomes whole. You sit in a cafe and a stranger asks if you have a piece of paper to spare.

    When we are no longer looking, it seems we find what we are looking for.

    Or maybe it is just me.

    Oh! Butterflies!

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  • Hei, skogkatter • 11jun26

    michael raven

    While we are still just a day over six weeks away before we bring two new household members into the fold (checks countdown meter for third time today), I still see no reason to not write about these two handsome young devils coming through the mists to join us.

    They are not your average kitten: These kittens are skogkatter.

    Skogkatt. Forest cat. The plural used in the title and throughout posts like this is skogkatter. If you say it aloud (SKOOG-kaht-er), it sounds much like what they are — something Scandinavian and old, a creature that belongs at the edge of the weald rather than a set-piece in the center of a room.

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  • Anniversary

    michael raven

    One of the few personal milestones I mark on this site is the anniversary of my sobriety.

    In ways it is much like a birthday. If so, I am seventeen years old today. Happy birthday to me?!

    I am lucky that there is rarely any temptation, even around others when they are drinking with me in the room. I would say that I am only tempted a handful of times throughout the year, if that many. And, when those moments occur, I find plenty of reasons not to indulge. When I made the decision to go sober, I was pretty close to bottom. The elevator didn’t go down much further.

    I can’t say I recommend following my path to sobriety, if you or someone you know is looking to dry out. My path could have killed me (cold turkey without supervision or a support network). My body rebelled, heartily and I was physically ill for the better part of six or more weeks while my body adjusted to a new reality. Pangs of illness for another six months as the cravings kicked in. I didn’t use AA or other support networks. I went solo.

    It was pretty stupid all around.

    Anyway. I post to remind myself of how far I’ve come since those days, not to get all preachy on folks. You do you. As they say it, I won’t “yuck your yum” if you drink, nor do I judge people on that metric.

    I hope all of you are doing well on this Wednesday.

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  • Zhuangzi quote

    michael raven

    “The fish trap exists because of the fish; once you’ve gotten the fish, you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit; once you’ve gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning; once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.

    Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?”

    — Zhuangzi, chapter 26
    translation: Burton Watson

    To consider:

    Which of us is still carrying the trap around after the fish is already in the boat?

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  • Burnout

    michael raven

    I will be taking a wee break from creative writing — primarily fiction, but I may step away from poetry for a spell as well.

    As Mr. Gumby said, “My brain hurts.“

    In all fairness, my brain hurts most of the time, especially when I examine most current events.

    That doesn’t mean I am done writing other things (sorry!) or abandoning my longer tale, but I think the creative end of my cranium needs a small rest. Rather than power through or deny it, I think it is better to just accept that I am “not feeling it” for the past few weeks, which is a strong signal to step back.

    It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Work and housework have exponentially increased the load on my mental capacity; the extreme levels of cat care (hours trying to get her to eat something, anything) followed by death of a beloved cat; the excitement of adding a new cat to our family, followed by the decision to add two new cats; the end of school chaos (choir concert, band concert, honor roll celebrations, school farewell because of a school board wanting to eliminate STEM and Fine Arts programs and the subsequent tears from the kids); planning weekly D&D sessions for the tweens so they can stay connected to their classmates during the diaspora following the school closure… Is it any wonder my brain is tapped?

    Besides. Aside from a day or two about this time last year, I haven’t taken a day off from writing something (occasionally multiple somethings) every day for about five or six years. Ahh, if only practice translated to perfection — although the perfection I strive for quite likely has got an audience of one. Lord knows I’ve scared most folks away with my efforts. I might as well give their eyeballs a rest from the Clockwork Orange levels of torture.

    And let me droogs enjoy a glass or six of their Moloko Plus without my interferences for a spell.

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  • Widget huckster sideshows

    michael raven

    There’s on thing that you quickly discover whenever you decide to do “research” online for “a widget”. The intended use for the widget in question is largely irrelevant. There is a truism that holds, especially in the age of the internet: “Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.”

    And that’s largely an okay thing, I suppose, if it is a casual interest that drives the research. But most of those opinions are bought and paid for by the people who want to you buy their widget instead of someone else’s widget. Free widgets abound in exchange for opinions — usually “positive” is the unsaid, and occasionally explicitly stated, requirement — which makes me look at most of these widget opinions with more than a hint of narrowed side-eye.

    Negative reviews often have nothing to do with the widget itself. The box coming crushed in shipping is hardly the widget maker’s fault. Or buyer’s inattention to detail and buying the wrong widget for the intended purpose.

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  • under moon

    michael raven 

    making simple hard
    until it is hardly simple
    elder oak sitting, up high

    stretch broken wings to fly
    with throat graveled calling
    tumble on turns to fall

    see beyond seeing
    hear beyond hearing
    feel beyond feeling
    scent beyond scenting
    a taste of song stuck
    in craw

    a slip between mistletoe
    come at gloaming
    under our sickle moon

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  • Campfire Sessions — 07jun26

    michael raven

    Campfire
    Photo by Ville Palmu on Unsplash

    There is a temptation to go, dig a deep hole, lay under autumn skies, and let red and gold cover me before comes the fresh snow. Listen to crowing of crowns and screaming of the foxes. To listen to worms heading to slumber below.

    ymmi on spun webs watches.

    “What means this to you?” they ask.

    I shrug. Surprised, in a way, of ymmi watching. “I am becoming Wode,” I say.

    “You’re becoming silly, if you don’t mind us saying,” says ymmi. “You are already elder Wode. Wode as hell, as they said. What you need is Stone.”

    “I am becoming Stone, too.” It seemed a fair thing to say. I was not going anywhere.

    (more…)

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