MAOW!

Sophie et Vincent

Hello everyone !

We're two, we're French, we're crazy.

You don't believe me ?

I know we're all there to discuss fish and plants, and that's perfect to me coz we need to learn just that. But the reason we are here now is : We breed cats. Swimming cats, that is. I am not even sure any of you ever heard of them, so here's the link to see something really organic and really wild that CAN jump into your pond, so beware...
http://web.mac.com/coeurdevan
And as they are an endangered spiecie, we WANT to re-introduce them in their natural place, namely mountain lakes, one day. Takes working on their gene pool, a lot, with lots of other breeders in the world so that these magnificent fur balls can afterwards cope with wild life again... (But last time we checked they could tear off a small chicken at age 15 days growling and purring all the way, and I must say our smallest male cat is just less than 9kg, so I'm not overworried about their abilities to cope with wild life).
So, we fight for them, love them, become crazy with them, etc... And of course, being former wild animals, they need to eat just raw meat or fish. So this is why we are here now : Looking for a cheaper organic way to feed our three kids and our ten cats in France despite of our expensive passion, I stumbled upon Aquaponics and started dreaming... It is gonna be tough because we have a 4th floor apartment with a loggia, where fortunately nearly everything looooves to grow because it is full of sun... and that is all. (But I warned that we are crazy, right ?)

We are working on our first intallation these days, trying to gather the material and drawing plans... I say we are here just on time so as to build it just perfectly, with as few mistakes as possible so thank you for being as crazy as we are, thank you for all the experiences and pictures and tons of ideas I already saw here... From what we've seen on this forum you people are very patient and very clever, and maybe we will not have much to teach here, due to our extreme ignorance on the matter, but we aim to learn, so be ready for tons of questions in due time !

With that, we take our leave for the night because it is midnight here, in Paris, France...

Wishing you a crazy and fructifying monday,

Bye,

Sophie and Vincent, and the pack of fish gnawers :shark:

BatonRouge Bill

That don't look much like a Jaguar :lol:

Sorry I may be part french and live in Louisiana but I don't speak or read the language.

Sophie et Vincent

I know, I need to work on the English version of the website... But really the pics are all there is to say : It's about cats, and we love them !
:flower:

We'll go and purr next to god's potatoes, now. Smells good. And you, wise humans, go on talking about our future dinners.
:geek:

Sophie (checking on Elias, who's seven years, and who neeeeeds to say goodnight to his seed named "plantou", a red bean that grew in water and white coton two days ago. It's true that they love water, hey ? Just like my cats.)

TCLynx

I feed baby tilapia to my chickens so I'm sure fish make a good addition to the diet of swimming cats.

Welcome, we love pictures.

Sophie et Vincent

Ah, and we were also wondering about having a lady duck, because maybe she would give us eggs... ?
:cheers:

We will send photos of our (great?) installation when it is done. With the cats in it, possibly...
:oops:

Sophie et Vincent

BatonRouge Bill wrote:

That don't look much like a Jaguar :lol:

Sorry I may be part french and live in Louisiana but I don't speak or read the language.

Where in France do your French ancestors come, Bill ? (And how DARE you not speak French with that!)
:compress:

My younger sister married a radar specialist in Florida. She studies medicine in Miami, and is American now. But she hates it and says she waaaaants to go back to Europe. I say she never knows where it really hurts her, all right !
:geek:

BatonRouge Bill

My maternal grandfather came from Alise-Sainte-Reine, France. My mother didn't speak english as a young girl. She only knew a few phrases by the time us kids came along. There are lots of french speaking/singing in this area. The local radio stations play cajun french music on Saturdays. I really should have picked it up as a 2nd language. My daughters are learning spanish as that is becoming more dominant as a 2nd language around here.

BatonRouge Bill

Sophie et Vincent wrote:

My younger sister married a radar specialist in Florida. She studies medicine in Miami, and is American now. But she hates it and says she waaaaants to go back to Europe. I say she never knows where it really hurts her, all right !
:geek:

I have friends from different parts of the globe and some would even complain that america makes them feel like being in prison and American friends after working foregn assignments would come back and say that America is really a great place to live.
So I guess it's what you grow up with and are accustom to.
There's just no place like home!

Sophie et Vincent

... Exactement !

Sophie et Vincent

BatonRouge Bill wrote:

My maternal grandfather came from Alise-Sainte-Reine, France. My mother didn't speak english as a young girl. She only knew a few phrases by the time us kids came along. There are lots of french speaking/singing in this area. The local radio stations play cajun french music on Saturdays. I really should have picked it up as a 2nd language. My daughters are learning spanish as that is becoming more dominant as a 2nd language around here.

I will search for Alise-Sainte-Reine... It has a funny name even for a French, though. Is it a small town ? South, north, east, west ? Do you remember the name of the area by chance ? I could find information about it and send it translated into English.

And about speakin French well... I guess as long as we can all learn English and communicate, it is for the best : English is easy, simple, clear and full of images. It is a great communication tool. And Spanish is spoken by soooo many people in the world, so many more than French really.

I did not want to make you feel bad : I know what it feels like to have a part of your family living... In a galaxy far, far away !

But it's just like aquaponics : Humans need to make new experiences, to keep growing. Otherwise we tend to doze off on our destinies, no ?
:flower:

Funny people, that's what we are.

Steve S

Swimming, fishing loving cats

Glad they are so rare, wouldn’t be very welcomed in my fish tank. :wink:

We do have a similar rarity in here The Aquatic Drop Bear, scroll to the bottom of the page.
Not many left after the last year's heatwave.
Another ref. to Drop Bears

WELLCOME to the forum :cheers:

Didn’t take long to find Alise-Sainte-Reine

Used to work a bit to the east, all over La Nievre, for Public Works Co. based in Cosne sur Loire.
Three years, then worked in Pepinieres CROUX, Chatenay Malabry, Paris Sur. Till 1973, was long time ago.

Are you interested in Aquaponics to feed you cats :roll:

RupertofOZ

Was another thread somewhere about using cat feed for fish... :mrgreen:

Sophie et Vincent

Hello all !

One by one, now :

"Didn’t take long to find Alise-Sainte-Reine"

Sure, and did you know (I sent BatonrougeBill a private mail about it when I found out this morning) that... "Alise" really was, two millenias ago "Allisii" which is Alesia, the utmost famous place where the great Celt and Franc Chief warrior Vercingetorix fought Julius Cesar and the Roman armies, and was defeated ?

An anciant siege by the Romans, the remains of a Gaulish fortress and many more little archeological proofs were found there in the begginning of the last century... And again more recently.

This means that BatonrougeBill is even more French than me perhaps, and carries the blood of the fierce Gaulish Warriors in his/her veins.
:cheers:

Also was a thrilling search for me cuz Alesia is a long lost place and subject to a controversy due to Cesar's writings and the rare testimonies we still have from the "Guerre des Gaules". But there is only one other town in France claming it really was Alesia in old times... And Alise-Sainte-Reine is the closest to Gergovie, in the Arverne area, where all this happenned. Gergovie being the town where Vercingetorix and my Gaulish ancestors WON the battle against Cesar's legions... Every French knows where it is. Only Alesia was such a shame for us, that it "tended" to have disappeared accross the centuries... :oops:

For those who have some interest in history, here you can go and look :
http://www.bibracte.com/mon_histoire_de_la_gaule/alesia_plaidoyer_pour_alise-ste-reine.html

Furthermore, Alise-Sainte-Reine... Is in Bourgogne !!! Just like my Godfather !!! That is where they produce the best of the best of the best French Wine ladies and Gentlemen...

So, Bill : Next time we go to New Orleans, it will be with a full bottle of Bourgogne to share with the family !
:geek:

And for those who have the "know how", I have a little question : Do I stand a chance to grow a grape vine of the best French origin (trying to obtain some seedlings right now) with aquaponics ?
:shock:

If my Godfather hears about that, sure as Hxxx he kills me.
:cyclopsani:

Sophie et Vincent

sed to work a bit to the east, all over La Nievre, for Public Works Co. based in Cosne sur Loire.
Three years, then worked in Pepinieres CROUX, Chatenay Malabry, Paris Sur. Till 1973, was long time ago.

But maybe we crossed path in the streets, you know ? Because I was BORN in Chatenay Malabry, Hauts de Seine, Steve !

Only you will have to forgive me if I do not remember you completely (although there is something familiar about you, dunno what...) because I was born in 1969, which means you probably saw much more of my Mom and Dad and even my Grandparents who lived 9, Rue du Professeur Flemming in Chatenay... Than of me, sitting in my baby carrier.
:drunken:

Still I am surprised you do not mention the Dahus, in Chatenay ? You know, these little animals that have a very soft coat, and jump like little goats from bush to bush at dawn : They are just a terrible pest to the cultures in the fields, and many a child in the corn fields, trying to "borrow" some corn to roast later at home, were hunted down like crazy by an angry farmer who believed it were "These dXXXn Dahus again, Colette passe moi la carabine nom d'une pipe !!!!"
:blackeye:

Thank you so much for the warm welcome, all of you.

Ah, a link to discover the Dahu, rare French spiecie... I could only find the picture of the ones that live in the French mountains, and have a pair of shorter legs to run faster there. Sorry.
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/locations.vallerian/images/cliparts/chasse-dahu.jpg

Sophie et Vincent

are you interested in aquaponics, to feed your cats ?

Yes Sir ! :lol:

But also to feed the kids, here, if possible. Of course, no need to warn the Animal Welfare Center: As clever as my Vans may be, we will NOT let them fish by themselves in the pond... Even if that's exactly what they will try to do !!! Same for the kids, that are much more inventive and dangerous than cats, for little fishes.
:roll:

I promise i will send pictures when we start building the system, and updates afterwards.

VANS : That's what our cats are called. Because they come from the Turkish lake of Van, an inside salted huge lake in the mountains. There, it can be _30°Celsius in the winters, and +40°Celsius in the summer.
To survive, the Van cats had to learn how to fish in the little rivers surrounding this huge lake. They are famous also for being able to dig "burrows" in the snow so as to shelter their small groups from the harsh winters.
They seldom make more than 2-4 kittens at the same time, as if they were careful not to have too many to feed.
They are huge cats, females between 6-8 kg at five years, and males between 9-12kg.
They eat like crazy, and are made for crude meat, which they welcome with little "barkings" of pleasure even as small baby cats in their nests.
They can virtually resist any disease, due to their very strong genetics (takes what it takes) and they are little clever demons really :
Ethologists say that, having a very long childhood (five years to grow fully and to stop playing like crazy with your vases) it makes them able to achieve a certain degree of symbolical intelligence. For example, they are able to recognize a drawing of a tree, of a cat, of a fish, of a person. They would then, sometimes, mistake it (like 10 months kids do) for the real thing. They would... try to scratch at the drawing of a palm tree on the fridge, and then look at you in surprise :" Hey ? It slides under my paws ?"

They also play games with your kids : Ours play hide and seek, for hours, and try never to run too fast for the kids to be able to "catch" them. If the cat gets "caught" (a tap-tap on the back) then it starts running after the kids to catch them... Paws them on the back of the leg... etc... Hours of joy, with happy yelling kids. It is like having a magical animal, for them.

It is how they will capture your heart, being always so clever and funny to be with : Ours teach their kittens to start the vaccum cleaner or the coffee maker, and then stop it, and then start it... They know it makes us come to see, and it seems to make them sooooo happy !
:twisted:

They also grow very strong feelings for the humans, and cannot stand it when their beloved ones are sad : Here, there is always a female Van to discretly come from behind and scratch your leg if you shout too much at your kids...
:mrgreen:

I know you don't want to believe me, but then, learn French, go and see our videos, and you'll see ! The females even give birth in our arms, we filmed it ! They give birth using our hands to put their feet in and "push" the babies out !!! And they never even bite or scratch you... Ever heard of ANY cat able to do that ???

No, Turkish Van cats are not conventional, they are not normal cats. But they are not a myth either, or a joke. They are very very intelligent, and known for this all around the world. You never forget a cat like that when you've met one.

The Turkish Army killed them all in 2001.
Because, due to their extreme intelligence and natural resistance, Turkish Van cats have become over the millenias the symbol of the resistance of the Kurdish and Armenian people to the Turkish invaders.
Now, the Turkish Van cats survive only at breeders around the world. I know there are a few breeders in Australia. Not many, but maybe two or three ? The gene pool for the Vans is a bit short, but working hard and with a strong spirited mind, I aim at reintroducing them in -Say- 15 years in mountain lakes areas all over Europe.

I think they are much worth trying aquaponics in my appartment, to give them what is BEST for them. Or just to share it with them...

I LOVE MY VANS !!!!!!

Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

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Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics