Wensday Wonders

TBT:  After comments about Binq's claws yesterday, I have decided Taz and Binq need fuller names.  Well, Lori is really "Lorelei Lee" (from a sci-fi book).  Marley is "Bob Marley" (for his calmness).  But Binq came with just a single Shelter name (and I decided to keep it since it was unusual and I liked it).  

Taz originally came with a single Shelter name too.  It was "Pumpkin" (which didn't seem to suit him).  So I looked up names and chose "Loki" (which I decided later I didn't like).  So I changed it to "Tasmanian Devil" (and apologies to Tasmania, but I keep pronouncing that Tazmania, so he is "Taz").

So in honor of Binq-and-Taz's first Gotcha day Monday, I will give them full names.  Binq's new full name is "Binq Scissorpaws" and Taz's is "Taz Food Thief".

Binq's is inspired by Ellen's comment about "Binq's name should be Edward Scissorhands".  Thank you, Ellen, and here is a closeup of her claws...

The closeup lost some resolution.  Her claws are sharper than they look here.  My hands can attest to that!  She grabs my hands to pull them down for scritichies.

Taz deserves the "Food Thief" addition.  I have a habit of cooking chicken and pork (but not beef steaks) when I buy them, but all are frozen in zip-lock bags so they have to be thawed for dinner.  I do that in the bags in a saucepan in hot water.  Since water still leaks into the bags when submerged, I have to clip the seal above the water level.  

Taz has perfected the art of pulling the bag out of any container (even a lidded saucepan)!  I don't know how he can detect meat in a zip-lock bag, under water and pull it out from a lidded saucepan.  But I suppose every cat has some secret personal superpower.

He did it last night too.  I was only out of the kitchen for a few minutes, and there the pork loin slice was there on the floor.  Fortunately, it was still frozen, and he isn't sure what to do with frozen food.  But he really is a dedicated food thief.  I feed him all he will eat, but he can't resist the smell of more.

I'm always too annoyed to find the camera and take a pic of the bag-on-the-floor..

I'll have to add a sidebar widget of "full names" for The Mews.  Otherwise, I will keep changing them.  Consistency of names is good.

[edited to say that has been done]

Taz's New Name

TBT:   A couple weeks ago, I mentioned changing"Loki" to "Taz" and there were a few questions about that which I meant to answer sooner.  

When I got him from the shelter last November, they had named him "Pumpkin", which I couldn't live with.  But imagination failed me, so I found a list of cat-names online.  I didn't want a color or seasonal oriented name.  Human-type names have never appealed to me.  Personality-type names were a possibility, but I didn't see any I especially liked.  

There was a group of mythological names and I like mythology.  But most seemed more like dog names or very powerful names or female goddess names.  And he was not particularly strong or brilliant.  So, not "Thor' or "Hercules" or "Apollo".  And nothing long like "Prometheus".  But I saw "Loki" and that appealed to me.  So I settled on that.  And I mean "settled" (as in not what I really wanted but was "OK").

While "Loki" fit his personality (destructive, food-thief, trouble-maker), the name never seemed quite right.  I found the name uncomfortable to say both in the house and while calling him in from outside.

So I decided to change it.  First, I tried non-names that would make a connection to Binq (since they arrived together.  None felt right (Dinq, Pinq, Zinq, Winq?).  And I was often accidentally calling him "Laz", which brought up sad memories.  

So one afternoon, I was sitting around watching him run around like crazy.  And I thought "Taz".

And here is where 2 comments afterwards come in.  .  Yes "Taz" is partly for "Laz" in honor of a cat I loved but who couldn't manage life successfully any more.  And yes, it is partly for "Tazmanian Devil" (from the Warner Brothers cartoons).  And partly because it is short and also has no meaning to neighbors when I call him in from outside.

I still say "Loki" sometimes, but am getting better with remembering "Taz" most of the time.  Not that he seems to care what I call him.  "Name" seems to be a concept beyond his understanding anyway, LOL!

Caturday Saturday

Oops, we posted this thinking it was Saturday.  But we will let it stand...  It saves us a Saturday post MOL!

After yesserday's post, we got to wondering how all of YOU got your names.

Skeeter got his name because after he stopped hiding and learned the pleasures of scritchies and attention, he buzzed around TBT like a mosquito. So it was "Skeeter".  LC got hers because she looked like a cow.  Actually, it was "Little Cow" at first, but the letters worked better. And there was that "Elsie"  (LC) Borden's brand cow,  So it was LC after that.

I (Ayla) got my name form 'Clan of the Cave Bear' books.  She was the heroine and main character,  and he had been saving that name for a kitty just like me.

I (Iza) also got my name from those books.  Iza was The Medicine Woman of the Clan who actually  adopted Ayla.  Yeah the timing is wrong, but Ayla's younger stepsister in the book was "Uba" and TBT couldn't quite imagine standing on the deck and calling for "UBA, UBA, UBA".  MOL!

I (Marley) came with my name,  TBT said it seemed right.  It was after Bob Marley and I was laid back like him.  And my job was creating peace.  And I did.

So how did all of you get your names?  Tell all...

Nicknames

TBT:  All kitties get nicknames from time to time, and they change.  I should keep a list.  But I like the ones I am using at the moment.

Marley has a neat little black fur spot under his ear.

Iza is a bit of a widebody.  On the rare occasions she backs up, I say "beep - beep - beep".

Ayla likes to headbutt me for attention (sorry, no good picture of that).

So, lately I've been calling them "Smudge, Pudge, and Nudge"!

I crack me up sometimes...

Names

Calle, Halle, and Sukki asked where we got our great names.  There is a long story behind it, so we will let The Big Thing answer.  He is the Giver of Names and unnerstands it better than we do...

The Big Thing:  I grew up around family and neighbors who came up with great names for pets.  My mother named our first Siamese cat "Kenani" which means "pretty little girl" in Hawaiian.  Our second was "Hai U Phin" which means the same in Thai.  At least that is what I was told.  We always called her "Hey You".  Our neighbor named a puppy who was having rug accidents "Faux Pas".

I got started with "interesting" names with "Ralph" and "Sport-Sport".  Both were girlcats.  I love Firesign Theater and one skit mentions a business called "Ralph Spoilsport Chevrolet.  Since a roommate worked at a real place called Sport Chevrolet, I altered it to "Sport Sport";it seemed a natural.  Neither cat seemed to mind the odd names, though I always had to remind the vet that both were girlcats.

When the orange/white cat came along, I thought of orangish names (he was almost named "Sherbet").  But because he kept staying close to me like a mosquito, I named him "Skeeter".  I was proud of that name.  The next was LC.  That one took a week.  With her black/white splotches, she looked like a little cow.  With help from a co-worker, I thought of Elsie the Borden brand cow.  Then I realized that Elsie was also the letter L and C, and those were also the initials of "Little Cow".  So it went full circle and her name was LC.  The vet called her "Lucky Cat", but that's another story.

In the 80s, I read a book called 'Clan of the Cave Bear' by Jean Auel.  It is about a young blonde Cro-Magnon girl orphaned in an earthquake, adopted by a Neanderthal clan.  The Neanderthals are fine people, but different mentally and physically from Cro-Magnons.  Lots of problems ensue.  But the book (and sequels) are full of detailed scientific information of the flora, fauna, and geography of the times, plus a great storyline.

The Cro-Magnon girl was named Ayla.  I always knew I wanted a Siamese cat of my own one day, so I saved the name.  In 2007, I bought a Siamese girlcat named Isabel.  I promptly renamed her "Ayla".  It was a perfect match.  Ayla was comparatively slight, lithe, daring and curious; just like Ayla in the books.  Also, Ayla had not been good breeding material for the breeder because of small size.  That fit with the Ayla in the books too.

When Skeeter went over the Bridge and LC was slowing down from thyroid problems, Ayla was left without cat interaction.  I got another Siamese kitty in 2008.  Her original name was "Twiggy", but she was immediately nicknamed "Pudge" when I first saw her.  She was no "Twiggy"!  Does anyone remember who Twiggy was?

But she was large and muscular and certainly didn't think like Ayla did, so I thought back to the Clan of the Cave Bear books.  The natural character from the books was Ayla's adoptive Neanderthal younger sister Uba.  But I pronounced that "Ooba" (like tuba) and I just couldn't imagine standing out on the deck at night calling out "Ooba, Ooba, Ooba".  The neighbors would have thought I was crazy.  So I searched for other characters.  Ayla's adoptive Neanderthal mother was "Iza" (Eeza not Eye-za).  That sounded good, though logically wrong.  But I settled for it.

It works out.  Iza is supposed to be Ayla's adoptive mother, and Iza IS larger.  The chronology is backwards, but you can't have everything.


AYLA and IZA:  So THATs where our names came from!  We nefer really knew.  Cool!  We mean, he esplained it once or twice ta us afore, but not in such detail!  We are glad ta know too...  An we'll probly ferget.