SOTK 2019

State of the Kitties Report: Summer 2019
by Tanner

(chief house cat)

Some things have changed since the last time I posted. Camilla, the 20-year-old cat matriarch, died recently and was buried near Dylan and Olivia. The kitties, Otis and Charlotte , are a year old and are all grown up and have their own interests. And I have a new job. 

The kitty Otis has always been scientifically inclined.  For a while, he studied string theory, as you can see in this video that Mommy posted on Facebook. 

You can also see it on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/becky.mushko/videos/10214820297961022/

But Otis has given that up and now studies geology. Here he is with part of his rock collection. He can throw the little white rocks, but he can't move the big rock no matter how hard he bats it.

The kitty Charlotte isn't as experimental as Otis so she likes to think inside the box. Sometimes she thinks  inside several boxes.

But getting back to my new job: For a couple of years I have done night rat patrol in the garage. Well, Alfreda helped, but I did most of the work and I was the boss. I got so good at it that rats stopped coming into the garage and stayed outside. That's when Mommy offered me and Alfreda jobs as perimeter patrol cats, and we accepted. We have to walk around the house several times a day and check under bushes. It is a big job because there are a lot of bushes. Here I am contemplating a spot of sunlight and looking at suspicious leaves. 

We have to work for Jim-Bob, who has been in charge of outdoor cat-work since George died a couple of years ago, and he can be a demanding boss. But he often takes breaks after he's gotten us to do cat-work.

He makes us attend cat-meetings. Here is a picture of one of the meetings. Jim-Bob is showing us where we will work that day, or we are more or less looking in the same direction. Even if we don't share his vision, we pretend we do.

Chloe, who is Jim-Bob's sister, also works for him, but she mainly does her own thing. Sometimes she stays out all night.

  

Anyhow, we mostly stay outside all day. When Alfreda and I come in for the night, we are exhausted.

I gave my rat patrol job to my kitty Arlo who has given up being an artist and decided to do meaningful work, so he stays in the garage at night now. I don't have a picture of him working because it is dark in the garage. Sometimes Alfreda or I will join him, but we are usually too tired after working all day (see above picture) and it's not like rats are over-running the garage.

I still have my part-time job, promoting my mommy's books. If she sells books, she buys cat treats, so it's a win-win situation. If you haven't read her books, you might go to Amazon and take a look. Click on the title and you'll go right to the Amazon page: Patches on the Same Quilt, Them That Go, and Miracle of the Concrete Jesus. These are also available as ebooks.

  

You can learn about my mommy's books on her website, too: beckymushko.com (Remember, books sold = treats for Tanner.) I promise I will share the treats with the other cats.

~

Heinrich Surber, 6th Great-grandfather

During the 18^thcentury, several of my ancestors came from the Palatinate, a dangerous region. 

https://haruppsattningar2015.blogspot.com/2018/03/palatinate-germany-map-1700.html

One of these ancestors was my 6th great-grandfather—Heinrich (Hendryk) Surber, age 50—who arrived in Philadephia on the ship Mercury on May 29, 1735, with his 15-year-old son Heinrich/Henry and 5-year-old daughter Verena. His wife Anna had apparently died on the voyage. Here is an account from a Surber message board on Ancestry that was credited to being on Immigrantship.com:

On 29 May 1735 the ship Mercury, William Wilson, master, last from Rotterdam, Holland arrived at Philadelphia, Penn., with 186 passengers. Most of these passengers were from Zürich and nearby Swiss towns. These people were members of the Reformed Church in Switzerland.... This colony is one of the few whose history can be traced from origin to destination with some detail. On 7 Oct. 1735, The Nachrichten von Zürich(a newspaper), published the account.... The journey of the colonists from Zürich to Basel is told by Ludwig Weber, one of the emigrants who later returned from Holland. His notes were published in Zürich. The following is taken from his notes.

"...The main body consisting of 194 persons, embarked in two ships [on the river to the ocean, in winter weather]. They suffered intensely thru rain and cold and were poorly protected with scanty clothes and provisions.... the nights were wet and cold. Moreover the ships were crowded so badly that there was hardly enough room to sit, much less lie down. There was no opportunity to cook on the ships; and as they were compelled to remain on the ships day and night, the cries of the children were pitiful and heartrending. ...Quarrels between men and women were frequent."

... [They transferred from the two river ships to the single, larger ship Mercuryin late February, so] after leaving Mainz their journey was a little more comfortable as they could at least cook on board the ships.

... When they reached Neuwied, Weaterwald Canton, in Bavaria, four couples were married by a reformed minister. They were as follows:

1. Hans Conrad Wirtz and Anna Goetschy
2. Conrad Naff, of Walliselen and Anna N.---
3. Jacob Rathgeb and Barbara Haller both of Walliselen
4. Conrad Geweiller, a gardener and ---

...186 passengers in all on the ship Mercurythat reached Philadelphia 29 May l735....

In a letter from John Henry, the son of Rev Goetschy, to Zurich dated 21 July 1735 wrote in part the following: "After we had left Holland and surrendered ourselves to the wild and tempestuous ocean, its waves and its changeable winds, we reached through Gods great goodness toward us, England. After a lapse of two days we came to the Island of Wight, and there to a little town named Cowes, where our captain supplied himself with provisions for the great ocean trip. We secured medicines for the trip and then with a good East wind we sailed away from there. After a day and a night with the good wind we were buffeted with a terrible storm and the awful raging waves as we came into the Spanish and Portuguese oceans.

For 12 weeks we were subjected to these miseries and had to suffer all kinds of bad and dangerous storms and terrors of death. With these we were subjected to all kinds of bad diseases. The food was bad for we had to eat what they called "galley bread". We had to drink stinking muddy water, full of worms.

We had an evil tyrant and rascal for a captain and first mate, who regarded the sick as nothing more than dogs. If one said "I have to cook something for a sick man", He replied "get away from here or I'll throw you overboard". "What do I care about your sick devil?". In short, misfortune is everywhere upon the sea, we alone fared better. This has been the experience of all who have come to this land and even if a king were to travel the ocean it would behave no better.

After being in this misery sufficiently long God, The Lord, brought us out and showed us the land, which caused great joy among us. But three days passed, the wind being contrary, before we could enter into the right river. Finally a good south wind came and brought us in one day through the glorious and beautiful Delaware river which is a little larger than the Rhine, but not by far as wild as the Rhine." [They landed at Philadelphia, PA]

~~

This account is probably typical of miseries our Palatinate ancestors endured during their escape. I have blogged about another of my Palatinate ancestors, Matthias Nehs, on my Naces of Lithia blog. He arrived in Philadelphia on September 21, 1731, on the Brittania. Among my other ancestors who escaped from the Palatinate were Nafzgers (Noffsingers) who arrived aboard the Phoenix on September 15, 1749. Several Naces married Noffsingers. Other Palatines among my ancestors were Fringers and Zirkles, but I'm not sure when they arrived. 

I’m glad these ancestors made their arduous and dangerous trip to get to America, and that their descendants migrated from Philadelphia westward to the Great Wagon Road and came south to Botetourt County. 

If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here.

~