• Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
HEN HOUSE PUBLISHING
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact

Hens Lay Eggs

food for thought

Groups of things - #MFRWAuthor 52-week blog challenge

3/8/2019

 
This week's blog challenge prompt focuses on the differences between collecting and hoarding. It's my guess that the difference between collecting and hoarding is rather like the difference between erotica and pornography: hard to explain, but you know it when you see it.

The difference may be in the type of thing collected. Like cats. I apparently collect cats. Six live in my house and one in the barn. The barn cat is a "working" cat; she controls the vermin population. Unlike those who hoard cats, I am able to care for those under my roof. No one steps into my house to find feces and dead animals scattered throughout. (Okay, sometimes a cat overshoots the litter box. That gets cleaned up quickly, though.)

I do, of course, wonder why so many people view having cats as aberrant behavior. In the romances I read, especially the "new adult" romances, the young  heroines bemoan their loneliness and bitterly complain about becoming one of those crazy cat ladies. Why is having a cat or two so much worse than having a dog or two?

After all, dogs are needy creatures. I know, I've seldom gone for so much as a year without a dog. Currently, I have a big, yellow-bellied coward of a Great Dane. Talk about needy ... zeesh.

The nice thing about cats is that they take you on their terms. They like your or they don't. If they do, then they make delightful companions. Cats provide us with a lot of entertainment. Don't believe me? When's the last time you saw a cat video on social media? 

So, collecting means one acquires multiples of the same type of thing: stamps, coins, cats, etc. That naturally sends my mind winging toward the correct names for groups of things. (Yeah, I'm weird that way.) So, we all know from Agatha Christie that a group of crows is called a murder.  Collective nouns give rise to some interesting word and image associations.  Think of it: a group of hogs is called a drift. There's nothing "drift-like" about swine. They're solid, heavy creatures. One might think of a more suitable term, such as a "bog" or a "squeal" of pigs. Soldiers and peacocks come in musters. There's some justification for that, when one thinks of old fashioned uniforms in their bright, bold colors, fancy braid, and shiny buttons and medals.

But hoarding: that bears a connotation of too much. Too many cats to take care of, too many knickknacks to display properly, too many books for the shelves. I hoard books. Yes, I admit to the vice and I'm not ashamed. Anyone intrepid enough to take a look at my too-be-read pile downloaded to my Kindle will realize that I truly enjoy frivolous reading and that I have enough books to last more a couple of years, even if I read one a day. E-books enable discreet hoarding.
Sadira Stone link
3/8/2019 11:15:49 am

Good point about ebooks. It's so easy to buy one with every intention of reading it next, then lose it in the electronic TBR pile. As for multiple pets--for me, the crucial element is smell. At one point, I had three dogs, two of which were Westies, a breed that tends to get smelly if not washed regularly. I took pains to keep the pups and the house clean so that a visitor wouldn't be hit with a wall of doggy funk. I've visited cat-blessed homes where you'd never know they were there if they didn't make an appearance. Others--damn! The smell announced their presence the moment you walked in.

Holly Bargo
3/8/2019 12:49:40 pm

The animal odor can be off-putting for someone who's not accustomed to being around the beasties. I've had people walk into the barn and wrinkle their noses at that "fresh country air." Hey, kids, animals poop. It stinks. Get used to it.

Cathy Brockman link
3/8/2019 02:01:25 pm

I love cats. I have 4 inside 2 outside plus the gangs that come for suppertime lol. have little trouble with mice or snakes where the neighbors seem to be overrun. I keep my house clean as well. no feces or dead animals ( perhaps cat toys or toilet-paper tubes or yarn or other craft paraphernalia the two youngest get into LOL)

Holly Bargo
3/12/2019 02:27:18 pm

Our youngest cat has a weird obsession with washcloths. He steals them off the sink or kitchen counter and drags them off. Another cat likes to "kill" stuff animals and drag them around the house boasting of his prowess.

Kate Hill link
3/8/2019 08:16:52 pm

I'm with you. I love cats. The most I've ever had at once is three, and I also have two dogs. As long as the animals are healthy and well cared for, I don't see a problem, either. To join in the animal smell conversation above, I admit I like how my dogs smell. As long as the litter boxes are regularly emptied, I've never noticed the smell of cats (even before I had my own and visited friends and relatives who had them). I live in a rural area and my neighbors have farm animals. I've never found the smell to be a problem.


Comments are closed.

    Share!

    Picture

    Author

    Hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, and sunny side up: eggs are the musings of Holly Bargo, the pseudonym for the author.

    Follow
    Karen (Holly)

    Blog Swaps
    View Guest Author Posts
    Looking for a place to swap blogs? Holly Bargo at Hen House Publishing is happy to reciprocate Blog Swaps in 2019.
    For more information: 
    Email Us

    Get Your Copy of
    Hen House Publishing Blog via Email:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Categories

    All
    Books By Holly Bargo
    Egg Reviews
    Events
    Guest Author
    Interviews
    Mfrw
    Mfrwauthor
    #MFRWHooks
    Reviews
    #SpringfieldOHBookFair
    Status
    #WinterBookFair

    Share

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

HOME | ABOUT US | SERVICES | PORTFOLIO | TESTIMONIALS | BOOK CATALOG | FREE READS | BLOG | EVENTS | CONTACT
Copyright © 2015 - 2023
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact