Another late monthly journal + Kaffre talks Candy #41

Well, it's been an interesting month full of many ups and downs. My dental work went off without a hitch and I was able to encounter many cute wild or semi-wild animals: a skunk, a pheasant, a turkey, several bunnies and lots of seagulls, pigeons, ducks, and geese. At the same time, however, out pump broke depriving us of water and while visiting family is always nice, my brother's lack of internet at the moment did prove problematic and a cute baby cat of our acquaintance passed away (he looked a lot like Blaze and, by extension, Kaffre) which left me a bit depressed I'm afraid. Living with my brother also meant that I wound up eating out more than I'm used to which left me both poor and not feeling very well, but hopefully I can rectify both of those once August rolls around.

There are also some financial matters that I need to deal with before the end of the month, but I feel confident that they can still be resolved with a minimum of fuss and, even if I can't, I should be able to afford food and rent if not much else so while I am under a bit of stress at the moment please don't worry too much - I'll feel better soon once the matter has been dealt with one way or another!

For this month's topic of conversation, I have selected: Human Holdovers - Relics of Domestication in Furry World.

This topic falls somewhere between the grooming and clothing-based journals that appeared previously. While it's not really applicable to Kaffre or any of his closest friends there do exist certain procedures that people perform on animals that are occasionally represented in furry artwork. This month we'll take a look at some of these and how they might fit into a anthropomorphic milieu.

The first instance I'd like to look at is grooming conventions. Poodle characters, for example, are frequently depicted bearing that breed's iconic fur-style even if they aren't a involved in aquatic sports it was developed for. While this could certainly represent a popular fashionable fur-style among certain canines and whose origin, if known at all, is considered irrelevant to those who wear it. Similarly, anthropomorphic sheep are frequently depicted as being sheared - a procedure that while necessary for the health of domesticated sheep is a bit weird for anthros unless for some reason they selectively breed themselves for peak wool production a preposition that somehow strikes me as eve stranger than the existence of human-made animal breeds in and of themselves which can theoretically make sense if furries evolved from (or were created from) animal stock or are actually simple analogues for real-breeds. Maine Coons, for example, mightn't exist, but large long-haired tabbies with a similar temperament certainly would and would be indistinguishable to casual observation.

A step beyond this we find medical procedures performed on animals. Some of these such as ear or tail cropping in dogs or the removal of wolf teeth in horses might possibly be practiced by furries as they could be argued to offer benefits to the animal even as they are increasingly considered barbaric since the furs might be able to perform them in ways that inflict less suffering than is the case with animals in real life. Other practices like declawing or debarking, however, are entirely for human convenience and don't really make sense for a furry under normal circumstances. Branding horses or fitting rings through a bull's nose might be practiced for purposes of self-expression or as a rite-of-passage while descenting or dehorning could, conceivably be performed to make the furry's life easier in a modern urban environment, but how popular such practices would probably vary by time and place. Depending upon how reproduction is handled, spaying and neutering could be very common or unheard of depending upon its effect on the patient's quality of life - a ferret, for example, with the reproductive cycle of her animal ancestors would probably sign up.

As previously noted, none of these are particularly relevant to Kaffre as none of the above are generally performed on cats except for neutering - which, as discussed in a previous journal, doesn't apply as, while furries in Kaffre's universe do have an estrus-cycle, it's very low-key and only real affects when the female is able to be impregnated - and declawing which is both increasingly rare in the real world and doesn't really make sense to do with a furry since Kaffre can be told what not to scratch and, if necessary, put in his trusty KittenMittens until the lesson sinks in. Do any practices of this type affect your own fursonae?

Well, I guess that's it for this month. Thanks for taking time to read my journal - I know I promised to get it out earlier this month so I should probably apologize for that *sorry hugs* I promised to do my very best to ensure that my August journal comes out more than a few days before the end of the month!

---

Kaffre talks Candy #41

Name: Coca-Cola, Raspberry
Manufacturer: Coca-Cola
Size: 500mL bottle
Where Purchased: No-Frills
Description: Consists of a dark coloured carbonated beverage flavoured to taste kola and raspberry.
Opinion: A product I'd never seen before and scooped up. As expected, this product was basically Coca-Cola with a hit of raspberry flavouring and while two go together much better than I would have expected, but unfortunately I'm still not a big fan of raspberry and would still prefer the regular variety.

Name: Green Apple Drink
Manufacturer: Grace
Size: 355mL bottle
Where Purchased: Food Basics
Description: Consists of a dark green carbonated beverage flavoured to taste like apples.
Opinion: A product I'd often seen, but never tried. While I actually found this pop to be reasonably tasty, but I found the apple flavour to fairly mild which would seem to undermine the main reason for choosing this beverage over other, more commonly available, varieties of pop. Overall, I thought this was OK, but can't really say whether I'd buy it again.

Name: M&Ms Crunchy Mint
Manufacturer: Mars
Size: 95 gram bag
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: Crunchy Mint M&Ms vaguely resumble standard M&Ms, but are slight and the colours are differly larger and more irregular in shape. They appear in brown and two different shades of green. As advertised they have a cookie-like texture due to crisped rice centres.
Opinion: A limited edition item I decided to snap up for review purposes. The M&M pieces are pleasantly crunchy and offer a respectable amount of mint flavour and unlike the Crunchy Expresso variety reviewed last month, a noticeable chocolate flavour as well. Overall, I enjoyed this product and would probably buy it again if it were available, but there are so many other mint-flavoured chocolate items that I voted for Expresso for the sake of variety since there's pretty much just Coffee Crisp in terms of coffee-flavoured chocolate products.

Name: Scotch Drops (Licorice)
Manufacturer: Kerr's
Size: 200 gram bag
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Scotch Drops consist of white candies shaped like flattened sphere and filled with a chewy licorice-flavoured substance.
Opinion: A product I'd seen often enough, but never tried. The candies are hard, but once their thin shell is weakened, become somewhat chewy. The flavour is a mild, but somewhat metallic licorice or anise flavour that I personally enjoy despite it not being somewhat one-note. Overall, I found this product quite enjoyable and am looking forward to sampling the regular Scotch Mints soon.

Name: Tic Tac (Donut)
Manufacturer: Ferrero
Size: 98 gram container (200 pieces)
Where Purchased: Walmart
Description: Tic Tacs consist of small cyclindrical candies with rounded ends. These particular ones are yellow and have the face of cartoon character Homer Simpson printed in them.
Opinion: A new product I decided to sample for review. The tic tacs are just as hard as I remember and not particarly substantial even when eating several at a time, but do deliver a pleasant flavour. In this case, 'doughnut' is very interesting as it manages to capture not just the taste of vanilla frosting (a common enough trick), but somehow manages to imbue the candies with a subtle cake-like flavour as well. Overall, this was a fun product and one I'm very glad to have tried, but I'm not really sure whether I'd buy it again or just grab some doughnuts instead.