Stolpersteine and other German things

I've been so busy I've not had time to blog or comment much, but I'm taking a week off next week so I should have more time for this. (Gratuitous Arabian photo taken by a friend of mine.)


This morning on the radio they said, "The United States have.." aha, I guess I didn't catch this until now that they refer to the USA in the plural. Scissors, glasses, jeans are all singular though  ("My glasses is lost.")

I wanted to mention that there is no word in German for boarding horses. In English we have a specific word for it but in German they have to say, "I keep my horse at a riding stable." Imagine all the sentences I've been unable to formulate. "I sure don't miss boarding." and "How much is board here?" because whenever I asked what the word is, I never got a good answer. The German language is full of very specific words for things where we use sentences, but sometimes I find the opposite is true.

I forgot to mention when I was at that last Arabian farm, they called the horse 4 years old even though he was 3 and wouldn't be 4 til Spring. Like racehorses, they call them a year older in January.

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In my horse magazine this month there is an article on vaccinations and worming. Good, I've been wondering what is commonly accepted here. It seems to align with what my vet says. There are only 4 vaccines for horses in Germany. Tetanus, Rabies, Rhino (Herpes) and Flu. Tetanus is every 2 years, Rabies yearly, and Herpes/Flu every 6 months.

Notice all the mising vaccines? Interesting huh?

Worming in this magazine is more often than most people subscribe to here, but here goes: Spring--Ivermectin, Moxidectin, or Pyrantel, on rotation. Summer, same. Fall, same. Winter, same with Praziquantal.  When I talk to people about worming they mostly say they worm twice yearly.

I see no Bendazoles on this list but I can get it here and I do. I do not use Moxidectin, and now I wonder how widespread its use is.

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I want to talk about Stolpersteine, which I see every day when I walk around Cologne.

Stolpersteine are little golden plaques installed into sidewalks engraved with the names of the people killed by the Nazis. These are controversial because many people do not want to be reminded of the atrocities every day when they step out of their homes. The plaques are installed in front of where the deported people lived. It's really sad and I always try to read the names and see how old they were and what concentration camp they were sent to.

I took a few pics of a new one that was installed recently directly in front of my office building. Obviously the home they lived in was destroyed in the war, because it's an office building now.

Stolpersteine are not limited to Cologne, but they are sure numerous there. Just about every block has one or two.

They all say "Here lived..." then the name, etc of the victim.

The cool thing is anyone can sponser a Stolperstein, for 120E, if you know any victim of Nazism who doesn't already have one. There are 30,000+ Stolpersteine in Europe. Here is the Stolperstine website.