Kitten Update #3

We ended up with more baby mice, but we think they are all gone now (and that the kittens caught the mama mouse).  It's sad, but we just were not willing to share the house with mice.  And ideally the presence of cats is a sufficient deterrent that we don't have to keep going through this.

Anyway, I did get a pretty good scratching post that they have been using, sometimes perching on the very top, even though it doesn't have a proper platform.  I haven't decided if I am going to get one of those large wooden things with lots of places for them to lay on.  I kind of doubt they would use it.

I can report that Rho, the silver one, has gotten much more used to being petted and generally likes it.  Now whether she warms up to anyone else in the house is unclear, but hopefully so.  I'll pause for a short comment from a Star article (on "black cat boyfriends"): "Dogs were bred to be attentive. Bless them, they cannot be any other way. But when a cat loves you, you know you really earned it."

Rho still doesn't like being picked up, and I am dreading the first vet visit, but I need to schedule that soon, maybe if we get a bit of a break in the weather.  The other day I bought a couple of break-away cat collars, so I guess I will need to try to get them used to that, as well as having their nails trimmed, which is also going to be a lot of fun and will probably end in tears (more mine than theirs).

There have been a couple of evenings where one or both will snuggle up to me on the couch, which is nice.  I even saw Toby jump up into my daughter's lap.  So the bonding has largely taken place.

One interesting thing is that I was back from the pool, and I still had some chlorine or other pool chemicals on me, and they went absolutely berserk.  For some cats, this is just about the same as cat nip or something.  They definitely were nipping me more than was comfortable, and it also put them into this drugged out state where they were really fighting each other, so I will need to try to wash off even more thoroughly in the future.  (Not easy when the water pressure at these pools is pretty low...)

So I have been enjoying them, despite the occasional annoyances when they jump up where they aren't supposed to be or knock things over.  This will probably be a recurring problem for the next 2 or 3 months. 

I have noticed that Toby (the orange one) stares wistfully outside, even when there is snow on the deck.  I really don't plan on letting him or Rho be outdoor cats, but it may be a bit beyond my control.  Even more reason to get them used to collars, so I can put a phone number on the collar or something.

Charity Ranking

It's getting towards that time of year when I ramp up my charitable giving, and this year I decided it was time to do more investigation into whether the charities were worth giving money to.  Naturally, there is a site that investigates them and provides grades and some rankings.

Based on other things I have read, I was not terribly surprised that the Canadian Red Cross scored poorly, with a low percentage of funds actually spent in the field, though I was surprised that their impact grade was low as well, perhaps because more of the funding ends up cycled through for admin (and more fund raising!).  In contrast, Médecins Sans Frontières had a terrific score, one of the best across all categories and in the very top for international aid.  For me in practical terms, I think I will just cut out the Red Cross and redirect any donations to MSF.

I often give donations to the Heart and Stoke Foundation.  Their ranking was kind of middle of the road, with some softness around their impact and a slightly lower percentage of donations (65%) spent on programming rather than on overhead than I would like to see.  In practical terms, I will probably continue to donate but only in periods (like now) where there is a 2x or 3x match.

I was most surprised at their quite low ranking for the Toronto Star Charities (the Fresh Air Fund and the Santa Claus Fund).  While the percentage to programming and gifts is extremely high (94%!), they give it a D+ for not actually reporting much on the number of gifts given out and children sent to camp.  I'm not really sure why the reporting is lax, but I feel pretty comfortable in continuing to send money to them, usually twice a year (and indeed it's about that time again...).

Not too surprisingly my very local charity (Eastview) is not in the database, but I think I'll give money to them anyway.

I ran through some of the arts organizations I donate money to.  Not surprisingly, they were a mixed bag.  TSO and Soulpepper had reasonable percentages spent on programming (better than Canadian Stage certainly), though impact was a bit unclear.  Coal Mine and Esprit Orchestra weren't even listed. 

So in the end I probably won't change much of what I have done in the past, aside from stop giving to the Red Cross and give more to MSF instead.

Halloween (Cheat) Week

I think I will wait another week or two before getting on the scales.  I was a bit surprised a few days before Halloween that I had kept the weight off, though of course I hadn't lost as much as I wanted.  But we had pumpkin pie in the office as well as candy corn (a lot of people don't like this, as it is pure sugar, but it is hard for me to resist, so I can't buy it on my own).  We had a reasonable number of trick or treators come by (and I gave most of them two pieces of candy), but there was still a bit too much left over in the house.  (I'm not sure it would have mattered, but the trick or treating stopped completely at 7:45, as all the parents went home to watch the game!)

I don't know what happened of the photos I took of our block, as people usually go all out, but I have a few good photos of the streets just west of us, where there is perhaps even more Halloween spirit.  That's certainly where I would have gone trick or treating had I grown up in Toronto.

On a more positive note, I got in a few extra laps in the pool on Sat., I did a pretty full workout on Sun., even squeezing in 20 minutes of cardio.  I biked to work on Monday, despite it threatening to rain, and I got in 23 or 24 laps on Monday, even though the Jimmie Simpson pool was more crowded than I expected.  That said, I am sure I have gained a few pounds, so I want to get back on track before I see what the damage is.  I actually came across the loose fit jeans I was wondering about (that are one size smaller than what I normally wear).  I couldn't quite get into them (and it wouldn't have looked right even if I could have squeezed in).  I probably need to lose another 10-15 pounds.  So not an impossible task, but one that will be challenging given winter is coming up and I won't be biking nearly as much soon.  I clearly need to get more serious about not snacking at work if I want to keep making any progress.

I also biked today, though I probably will not bike tomorrow, as it is likely to rain.  I came very close to going off to see St. Elmo's Fire right after work, but decided it was just a bit too much of a melodrama for my current mood.  Also, I didn't get quite enough work done during the day, and I wanted to help my daughter with some math problems.  Also, I still have 100 pages to go in Mrs. Dalloway, and the TPL event is tomorrow!  So maybe another time, as Carlton seems to cycle through these 80s and early 90s movies with some regularity.  I actually expect to watch quite a few in the second half of Nov., so there's no point in getting too upset over skipping over this one (for now at any rate).

Woolf Interlude

I was able to get through Orlando in time.  (I'm seeing a version of Orlando, dramatized by Sarah Ruhl, next Sat.  I have seen the film, but not in ages.  I might see if I can watch it some time this winter, assuming it doesn't show up at the Paradise.  It was one of the early screenings of the Queer Cinema Club at the Paradise when people were just emerging from the COVID shutdown.  I'm not entirely sure why I didn't go, and there may have been a conflict at the time.)

I am halfway finished with Mrs. Dalloway, and I should be able to read it by the TPL event on the 5th, as it is a fairly quick read, despite the stream-of-consciousness bits.  I hadn't remembered that the point of view skips around so much, over to Peter Walsh, one of Clarissa's former beaus, and even to Septimus Smith, a WWI veteran who was still suffering greatly from a form of shell-shock.  I also hadn't recalled just how morbid parts of it are, with Septimus saying repeatedly that he (and his wife) should kill themselves, particularly knowing that Woolf eventually ended her own life, so the death-drive (as Freud might put it) was strong in her.

Anyway, I will likely reread To the Lighthouse, which for me is her greatest achievement, at some point in 2026 or 2027.  I might eventually get back through all her novels and other major works.  I was looking over the list, and while I thought I had read everything in my 20s, I'm having some doubts now.  I am sure I never read her diaries or her letters, and I am still quite unlikely/unwilling to tackle that.

I guess I will put an x in front for anything I read as part of this cycle of reading Woolf as a middle-aged man, which is a very different thing from reading her in my 20s...

    The Voyage Out (1915)
    Night and Day (1919)
    Monday or Tuesday (1921) - stories
    Jacob's Room (1922)
x   Mrs Dalloway (1925)
    To the Lighthouse (1927)
x   Orlando: A Biography (1928)
    A Room of One's Own (1929) - essay
    On Being Ill (1930) - essay
    The Waves (1931)
    Flush: A Biography (1933) (being the biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog!)
    The Years (1937)
    Three Guineas (1938) - essay
    Between the Acts (1941)
    A Haunted House and Other Short Stories (1944) - stories
    Mrs. Dalloway's Party (1973) - stories

I'm sure I never read Flush, as I am just not a dog person.  I am somewhat inclined to listen to Prunella Scales read a somewhat abridged version when that comes off the hold list.  I don't believe I read On Being Ill, and while I think I read Three Guineas, I am not 100% sure.  Similarly, I'm reasonably but not entirely sure that I read The Waves.  I'm less certain that I read The Years, though I probably did.  I'm actually not nearly as sure that I read Between the Acts, as the plot doesn't sound that familiar (and, intriguingly, sounds a bit like something Barbara Pym would come up with).

My overall reading list is already absurd, but I will probably try to get back through Woolf, alternating with Pym, who I am also rereading (though I am far more sure that I did read all of Pym's novels once upon a time...)

Disappointments

As will be very evident as I move through the day here, the whole city is basically in mourning that the Jays couldn't get it across the line.  The baseball gods were particularly cruel in Game 6 where the ground ball double rule probably prevented them from tying up the game, and they hit into a double play.  Then in Game 7 where the pitching just wasn't good enough (and frankly the manager was an idiot for not bringing the rookie pitcher back in) and the Jays just couldn't convert on some prime scoring opportunities in both inning 9 and 11.  So heart breaking.  I am certainly disappointed, but not being a die-hard fan, I just don't take it to heart the same way  I'm already back, thinking about how to squeeze in even more culture -- and whether I will pay the inflated price of the ticket for Theatre francais de Toronto next week.

Another disappointment that hits closer to home is that the kittens found (and killed) a baby mouse.*  Honestly, it's not at all clear what these mice are eating, as there really isn't any food on the 2nd floor, and we believe the adult mice have been caught.  Anyway, the kittens are doing their part at least, and we probably need to bring the exterminator back around again.

I'm going to head over to the gym now and see how hard people are taking it there.  Either there will be lots of people there working out their frustrations or maybe the gym will be more or less empty.  I'll know soon enough. 

 

* The disappointment being that there were still mice around, not that the kittens were doing their job in catching the things...

Edit: Well, they just caught a second baby mouse, so maybe the hunger is driving them out.  Anyway, we are trying to get the exterminators to come back round today...

Edit 2: I guess I need to apologize (slightly) for calling the manager an idiot.  He did put in the rookie pitcher, but he just wasn't sharp enough and gave up run 3.  Who knows if he would have settled down (and not given up run 4 in the next inning!), but he didn't get the chance.  This definitely was a game of inches, and the Jays just came up short.  Several commentators are saying this was the best World Series ever, but that is cold consolation to Jays' fans.  The gym was pretty light today, very likely because people were having trouble getting motivated...  Frankly, I would have put up big signs at the gym and the bars that this would be a sports news-free zone for the next 24 hours!

What I really hope doesn't happen is this serves as a portent that, despite being plucky and trying to forge new trade partnerships, the Orange One keeps up the pressure and industry in Canada just crumbles, sending the country into a recession.  The signs are not great, frankly.