Kittens Pulling Their Weight

The kittens continue to get more comfortable in the house.  I'm more often able to pet Rho, the skittish, silver kitten, though it still really doesn't like to be picked up.

Toby is definitely the mellow, friendly kitten who eventually follows me to various rooms of the house, and he really loves being petted and tolerates being picked up.  Here is my son bonding a bit with Toby.

However, the second mouse was also making itself at home, driving my wife a bit crazy.  She gave me an ultimatum that the cats would have to spend the entire night in the master bedroom, meaning that I had to move a litter box in and camp out all night, as she went somewhere else to get some undisturbed sleep.  I was worried that they wouldn't be able to perform on command and, indeed, that the mouse would not venture out after getting wind of the cats.

Around 6 in the morning, Rho got very intense, staring at the closet, as it heard the mouse was moving around (finally).  Anyway, in the end the mouse was stuck to a glue trap but Toby's paw was as well.  It certainly possible that the cat drove the mouse onto the trap, which it had been avoiding up until then... Anyway, the mouse was still alive, making the removal process that much harder.  I actually got bit (by the mouse I assume).  I went to get some vegetable oil to try to get Toby free.  By the time I got back, Toby had pulled his paw off the trap.  I tossed the glue trap outside to deal with later and rubbed a bit of vegetable oil into his paw to help loosen any glue still on his fur.  I really hope this is the last of the mice, and the house will just be a no-go zone for future mice.

Where things get a little weird is in the morning, I looked at the glue trap in the front yard -- and the mouse wasn't there.  It's almost like the end of one of those Friday the 13th movies where Jason is supposed to be in a trap or buried in a grave or what have you, but it is empty.  Dun dun duuun!  The most likely outcome is that a squirrel or neighbourhood cat came by and took care of the mouse.  But I suppose it is at least possible the mouse pulled a Houdini and got free from the trap.  I don't really care unless it tries to get back in.  If so, it is the most hard-headed mouse in the world.  I like to think it will be one of those grizzled mice from a Gary Larson cartoon, warning all other mice away from the house.

If for some unfathomable reason, we end up with mice back in the house right away, particularly a mouse missing half its fur, I am going to make absolutely sure it is dead when disposing of it.  No more Mr. Nice Guy!

After this, the kittens played around a bit on the stairs before taking a well-earned nap.  Sadly, I still had to go off to work and put a full day of work in...

So all in all, my wife has come around to the idea that the cats are a necessary evil and have definitely been a net positive pick-up for the household.

 

Sports Interlude

That's odd.  I had started a short post but it didn't get saved as a draft.  Fortunately, I hadn't written very much.

I'm definitely not much of a sports fan, though I usually know the outcomes of major events, though I don't retain that information much longer than a few months, as it just doesn't fundamentally interest me very much.  What I mostly object to is the outsized role sports plays in the media and in urban politics where millions of dollars in public spending goes towards sweetheart stadium deals, which actually have a quite poor return on investment (for the public, not the team franchises!).  And don't get me started on the abominations that FIFA and IOC have become...

That said, I was impressed by the Jays' come-from-behind victory to head to the World Series.  Wow!  They certainly did it the hard way, and they probably should have won the first game with only a bit more run support.  And better managerial decisions about relief pitching would likely have led to a victory in Game 5.  I'm pulling for them in a very low-key way, though the Dodgers are certainly the favoured team.  My wife has split allegiance, since her father was a big Dodgers fan.  I'm not going to be devastated if they don't win, but it would be nice to be here and soak in the celebrations if they do win.  

I've been fortunate enough to be around when the local team pulled it off.  In fact, I was very preoccupied with my courses, but I was in Toronto in 1993 when they won it all the last time around.  I was also here when the Raptors won, and I got a bit swept up in that, following the games a little bit while at the gym for example.  The parade went past Union Station where I was working, and we had a pretty good view from our windows and didn't need to go down to street level where the crowds were massive.

Thinking back, I was in Chicago for the Bulls second three-peat, and I certainly watched bits and pieces of some of the key games.  I happened to be back in Chicago when they won of the World Series games at Wrigley.  I even was passing through the area (or rather up on the El) on my way to a play in Edgewater, though I don't believe this was the game where they won the series but the penultimate victory.

I'm pretty sure I was in Chicago when the Blackhawks started winning the Stanley Cup.  I remember the Red Wings got close a few times while I was in Ann Arbor, but I had moved away (to Chicago in fact) when Yzerman finally starting getting his name etched on the Cup.  I still was very glad that he had that success.  I suppose I still pull a bit for the Red Wings, but I'm not a massive fan, and indeed I warmed up slightly to their arch-rivals, the Blackhawks, but really only during the Toews years.

I definitely don't have the bandwidth to follow college sports, though I was glad Michigan were national (football) champs a few years back.  I believe they went to the Rose Bowl twice while I was in Ann Arbor, winning once (though I don't have major memories of this, which is odd).  What I clearly remember is the Wolverines winning the basketball national championship in 1989, as we watched most of the final games in the dorm (South Quad), but the TV went out and we all ran over to West Quad for the final minutes!  What is strange is that I had thought that due to Steve Fisher's recruiting violations, they had vacated this championship and his subsequent NCAA successes, but it appears that the 1989 title is safe after all.*  Whew!

The last memorable occurrence (and more or less the last time I paid college sports a lot of attention) was when Northwestern ran the table in the Big 10 and went to the Rose Bowl.  It was the most incredible underdog story, even though they lost the Rose Bowl.  (This was my first year at Northwestern, and no one could believe they pulled it off!)  I believe it was only a few years before this that Penn joined the Big 10.  I wasn't thrilled about this but could live with it.  However, then they added Nebraska, and I felt it was just a slap in the face.  And now, Rutgers and a couple of California teams (UCLA and USC) are in the Big 10, which is just an abomination.  I won't even deign to call it the Big 10 anymore, as it doesn't have any real Midwest roots.  And when they delinked the Rose Bowl from the Big 10 and Pac-12 conference champions, I just completely lost interest.  But I was there when it still made sense, and my college teams had decent success back when the traditions still mattered.

 

* I really didn't follow the sign-stealing controversy over on the football side of things, but it appears that UM and perhaps the coaching staff will pay massive fines, but the team will not have any wins stricken from the record or have the national championship taken away.  I'm not really sure what would have happened had they attempted that, but probably the alumni would have just ignored the NCAA.

Odd Weekend

I have been able to stick to my basic workout routine on the weekend, but not much more (aside from biking to work most days, which is still a fairly significant undertaking).  Friday I had been planning on going to swim at Jimmie Simpson, but I had already gotten rained on and decided it just wasn't worth going out again.  

So I went swimming in Regent Park on Sat.  It was pretty crowded per usual, but I did get in 22 or 23 laps and also soaked in the spa pool area.  When I went back to change, I found out my lock had been cut off, which is obviously extremely upsetting.  However, everything was still there.  I figured that someone had asked the staff to cut off the wrong lock and was going to ball them out.  When I got to the front desk some other family had their lock cut off and their phones and pretty much everything apart from their clothes had been stolen.  I really can't explain why my stuff was left alone, other than I have an extremely ratty backpack that is on its last legs and the thief decided it wasn't worth risking poking around in it.  So this was extremely upsetting, and it means I need to really rethink my plans to go to and from Regent Park and work.  Now it is possible to leave most of your stuff poolside (and a couple of other pools have started recommended this), but I really don't want to have a laptop in a bag on the pool deck.  Clearly, things could have been much, much worse for me, but it's still upsetting, and I needed to go get another lock and memorize a new combination.

I had to bike quickly over to Hot Docs and saw this animated feature called Endless Cookie.  It was basically about two half-brothers, one white, one Native (though in fact half-white) and very random observations about the way of life up north (the white brother actually lives in Toronto but kept flying back north).  It really did feel endless to me, and I probably should have snuck out.  Though in fact it only was 1 hour 40 minutes.

Then I wandered over to Dollarama and bought a new lock and some snacks.  I then hit up BMV.  I ended up getting a few poetry books, including a Galway Kinnell anthology and Lynn Crosbie's Queen Rat.  I thought the Kinnell book was only $4.99, but there was another price of $14.99!  But then I showed the clerk the other page, and she gave me $10 back.  I do kind of regret not grabbing Howl's Moving Castle on Blu-ray when I had the chance.  It's pretty unlikely that will ever turn up again.

I biked down to work, though I tried to stop by this Indian place I where I used to get samosas at the tail end of the pandemic.  I was worried that because it is in the middle of the street on Adelaide, some jerk would be going too fast in the bike lane and run into me, so I stopped a bit suddenly and hopped onto the sidewalk.  My momentum was just too much, and I couldn't keep my balance, and I ended up falling on my ass on the sidewalk.  So dignified.  I just have to be more careful, as I could have really hurt myself.  Indeed, I was incredibly sore all the rest of the day and night with some lower back spasms, though they gradually went away throughout the day on Sunday and I should be more or less back to normal by Monday.  It turns out they changed their menu a bit, and also their debit charger wasn't working (and they wanted cash only), so I gave up, even though I likely had enough cash on me.  I don't think I'll go back, as I had another bad experience there the week before.

I stopped by work to drop something off, and then I biked home.  I actually needed to turn back around after only an hour to go see GoGo Penguin at Koerner Hall.  I had basically assumed I would bike over there, but I was still sore and ended up taking the TTC.  It was ok, though every time I've tried to take it over the past week, I've had to wait extra long for the 72 bus, which is so annoying.  The concert was good, though I think I would have preferred it if they had some kind of horn in the group.  And honestly, my back was still giving me a lot of issues.  I was extremely hungry by this point.  After the concert, I actually took the train west to Spadina.  I thought there was another Thai place right around BMV, but I didn't see anything and kept going until I hit BKK Thai.  I had a particularly bad experience there on New Year's last year, but I was pretty desperate.  I got pad thai, which is hard to mess up, though the noodles were a bit "gluey."  I think I probably should not go back their either, and just stick to the one on Queen, which is quite good.  Perhaps I should have taken the train all the way to Ossington where at least the restaurants are reliably good.

I stayed up pretty late trying to take care of a few things and then had some trouble actually leaving for the gym on time.  Still, I was out the door by about 10:00, which is way better than I usually manage these days.  I was able to do some stretches, even back stretches, and put together a decent workout, which was a little surprising.  I grabbed a few groceries, though I didn't have the space to pick up another box of cat litter.  I left the house for Walter Hall at 12:15.  I made it in 30 minutes and got my name on the wait list to see Jeff Wall giving a lecture.  I was actually 3rd on the list and was pretty sure I would get in.  In fact, I think pretty much everyone on the wait list was eventually able to get in.  I flipped through the new catalogue for the Wall show at MOCA.  (I'm going to go soon, though I will likely wait until the next Free Friday.  I also will take my son on his next visit over winter break.)  They wanted $70 for the catalog, and it looks like the best photos are from 2007 or before (and one of his better new photos isn't even in the show!).  I may end up buying it, but I think I would rather hold off until TPL orders a copy or two and put it on hold.

While I was waiting I managed to get through Matthew Walsh's Terrarium.  He was one of the poets I met at Word on the Street.  I am making decent progress through Orlando, limited progress through Russo's Empire Falls and no progress at all on Auto-da-Fe (though I expect I will bring this along with me next Sat. when I bus it over to Stratford to see Goblins Oedipus).

I did make it into Walter Hall.  The lecture was pretty good.  I learned a fair bit about what Wall thinks about photography.  One interesting comment was that when possible he likes photos that are scaled to life, though of course mostly that is impossible with his detailed tableau.  He said that the pictures needed to be big enough so that people could see the important details, such as facial expressions, but no bigger.  What he didn't discuss, and maybe it would have been worth asking, is how he feels about reproductions in catalogues where this detail is almost always lost.

This is one of my favourite photos of his.



He said in this case, he had started from the man selling roses, and that the point of this photo was to keep adding detail until the man was more or less lost in the crowd.  That was certainly an interesting way to think about coming up with this image and its composition.

He also talked about this relatively new photo (not in the show unfortunately) where it started off as a bit of a documentary but then he moved it to a new location that functioned better and was more photogenic.  He had done that with other photos as well, and indeed he has certainly admitted that most of his work is "staged."  He also said that since he wanted the same energy levels from all the men (looking to be hired for work), he thought black and while would work much better than colour where some clothing, particularly red shirts/jackets, would make some men stand out from the others.

Anyway, it was a pretty good talk overall.  The questions from the audience were generally pretty good as well.  He wasn't signing anything, which I thought was a missed opportunity, as I would have gotten the new catalogue if it was signed. 

I was not too happy to realize it had started raining while I was at the talk.  I had just enough time to bike down to Carlton Cinema.  I watched Clue, which I haven't seen since it first hit the theatres in 1985!  I asked, and they said that this version did show all three endings, which was good.  It certainly isn't a great movie, but it has lots of amusing moments.  I don't think she ever really became a break-out star, but Leslie Ann Warren, who played Miss Scarlett, sort of seems like a cross between Sigourney Weaver and Susan Sarandon.  I honestly cannot remember which ending I saw back in 1985, though I'm pretty sure it wasn't the one where almost everyone in the cast killed off someone!  One good thing about dropping in at Carlton is I was able to ask about Annie Hall, which was on their website but has vanished.  They said they were having trouble getting a print in, but that they should have one in hand by Monday or Tues. and then it would go back up on the website.  I hope so, as I am planning on taking my son to see Annie Hall on Wed.!

I didn't get a whole lot done the rest of Sunday, though I did manage to do a load of laundry.  Mostly I keep finding that this computer is in an endless loop of trying to reinstall Windows 11, getting stuck and then asking me to free up more memory and yet nothing gets fixed.  Maybe I shouldn't get too worked up over it, as I can still use the computer, but it is a total drag that I keep getting nagged over this.

So overall, it was an ok weekend with a few things that went well, but then some unpleasantness that could have been a lot worse.

 

Kittens Redux

I promise this won't just be a blog about kittens, though I assume that traffic would likely increase if I did that...

Anyway, they have gradually started getting more comfortable in the house.  They occasionally go up to the 2nd floor on their own, though more often I have to bring the orange one (Toby) up and leave him there.  However, they both came up and camped under the bed for a while.  As the mouse seems to be there some of the time, this is promising.

They often nap a lot in the kitchen, though they are starting to spend more time with me (again primarily Toby) in the living room.  I bought a scratching pad, but they are ignoring that in favour of the couch(!) so I have ordered a scratching post, which hopefully will help with that.

While the silver cat is still not particularly approachable, once in a while when it is in a mellow mood, it will let me pet it.  This gives me some hope that with time, it will grow to have some attachment to us (or to me at least).

I'm still getting used to the new types of litter and how often it needs to be cleaned up, esp. with 2 kittens.  But generally things are going pretty well with them.

Last night was particularly amusing as they kept looking at what was on the tv, trying to decide whether to try to catch the moving hands.  While I don't really want to spray them that close to the tv, I also have to train them to just ignore it.  Fortunately, I don't actually watch tv that much downstairs, though there are a lot of movies I still plan on watching.  Last night I was watching Edward Yang's Mahjong, which was entertaining, though I liked A Confucian Confusion more.

The breaking news is that only 4 days in, they caught the mouse!  I let Toby play with it for a while, though then he tried to eat it, so I had to take it away.  (It was already dead, but still not easy.)  Unfortunately, within a night we realized there is still one more mouse.  Between the kittens and some glue traps and poison traps, we will eventually get it, but it is still frustrating.  Really hoping it is the last one for now, and we don't have a family of mice!  The overarching hope is that the presence of cats (and their smells, etc.) will keep other mice from setting up shop in the house.  

Fingers crossed!

Breaking News -- Kittens!

I may have mentioned that we have a minor infestation of mice, displaced by Ontario Line construction nearby.  We did bring in an exterminator, but it hasn't solved the issue so far.  My wife somewhat reluctantly said we could get a kitten.  Then she had several sleepless nights.  (While the mice were briefly in the kitchen, they seem to have moved into her room on the 2nd floor!  So odd because there are definitely other and better places for them to go.)  Anyway, she then turned to me and asked how quickly could I get a cat!  I had only just started looking, assuming this was going to be a several week process, but I accelerated the search.  (I also pressed my luck and said two kittens would be better than one, and she gave in on that.)

There were a few likely postings on Kajiji, and I reached out to a few, not sure of what to expect as it was Thanksgiving weekend.  Anyway, one guy got back to me, and we agreed I would drop by on Sunday afternoon.  This meant that Sat. and Sun. morning were spent running around, picking up pet supplies.  (We haven't had any pets for 20 years.  Since we moved to England in fact -- when we had to give up two cats.)  He had three very attractive kittens, and though they were males (and I have a slight preference for females as they generally are calmer and suffer from fewer urinary infections), I decided that males might be better mousers.  He said the orange and the silver one were available, and I said that sounds terrific.

I took the bus over to Dufferin and Dupont, near where the guy lived.  I was bummed that Bau-Xi was closed.  Normally they are open on Sundays, but I guess they decided the holiday was worth celebrating.  I may or may not get back later in the month.  When I got to the house, the guy said that someone else had put a hold on the orange kitten.  I was more than a little put out by this, since he had said the orange one was available.  Now it turns out that the black one was available (I thought it had already been taken).  I fussed a little bit and said that I was picking up two of them.  He agreed that adopting two from the same litter was better, and he gave me the orange and silver kittens after all.  Apparently, the other guy did take the black kitten, so I guess it worked out ok.

They are still adjusting to the new place, and I am not sure quite how social the silver cat will be, but the orange one is quite a sweetheart, and already likes being brushed and petted and tolerates being held.  They mostly camp out underneath my desk, but they have started exploring a bit.  I have been able to get the orange one upstairs into the master bedroom.  (And the silver one had considerably less separation anxiety last night, which is promising.)  They haven't caught any mice yet, but it's early days.  The ultimate goal is to try to get any mice in the house and then just generally having the presence of cats around should keep other mice from getting in.  Fingers crossed. 

So that's what I got up to this Thanksgiving.

Autumn is Here

I've heard that the leaves have really started to change up around Barrie.  We see some leaves changing and certainly a few trees that "shed" earlier have lost their leaves, but mostly leaves are still green and clinging onto the trees.  Once in a while we have a chilly morning where I need to wear the fleece and the windbreaker, but generally it hasn't been too bad.  Of course, then just as I am getting used to that, we have a really warm day or two in a row!

Quebec City was as charming as ever, though I didn't have a lot of time to do touristy stuff.  I did break away from the conference to go the art museum.  I was kind of excited that my hotel had a deal where I could register for a free two-day transit pass, and I managed to use that to get over to the art museum.  I nearly missed my stop!  

I am particularly glad that this museum is also a member of ROAM, so I got in free.  (I also practiced my French, which is so incredibly rusty, in the museum and to a lesser extent on the bus.)  The museum is in preparation for a new expansion, with a pavilion dedicated to Riopelle, but that means that everything has been contracted down into a single building with one floor for a special exhibit and the other two floors with just a few highlights from the collection.  And the main reason to go, to see Riopelle's enormous panels dedicated to Rosa Luxembourg, was completely off-view!  I would have been pretty outraged to pay $25 to see that.  Fortunately, I did see the Riopelle on a previous visit, though I'll need to dig out those photos.  (Hopefully they aren't just completely missing like the AGO O'Keeffe photos!)

I was not pleased that I waited and waited and waited for the bus, only to take a couple of photos of a nearby church and then having the bus blow by me, not even slowing down to see if the couple on the bench at the bus stop wanted to get on the bus!  Incredible.  I was so angry.  It was quite a wait for the next one, so I walked about halfway back to downtown and finally the next bus pulled up, though this one didn't stop in the right place, and I then had to retrace my steps to get to the conference centre.  So generally I was not impressed with the transit in Quebec City, and I was completely horrified at how the pedestrian scrambles were implemented.  I didn't think anything could be worse than Toronto, but I was wrong...

That evening, I did walk around the old town a bit, though the sidewalks were damp, and I was in uncomfortable shoes, so I didn't go down a few particularly steep hills and stairways.

Definitely the trees were in their autumnal glory.

Overall it was a nice trip, and of course the conference was interesting as well.  I will have to pull something together to see if I get approval to go next year when the conference is in Winnipeg (perhaps a bit less competition to get in for that....).

Off to Quebec

I'm heading out to Quebec City in just a couple of hours.  I have to say some of the idiotic things Legault has been saying lately (that we have no choice but for continued and further economic integration with the USA -- and that dairy supply management and French language labeling are untouchable in any renegotiation of CUSMA) are really grinding my gears.  But overall, the trip should be fine.  I don't have all that much to do on Monday and Tues., though I should take a quick look at the program to see what is going on, and if I can slip away Tues. to get over to the museum.

Anyway, I had thought I might bring along a couple of mid-pile books, but I decided instead to see if I can wrap up or mostly wrap up Canetti's Auto-de-Fé, as it is kind of slow going.  I was able to bring it along and read a few pages during the intermission at a TSO concert and before Waiting for Godot, but it just isn't really grabbing me.  In addition, I have decided to see how much Virginia Woolf I can read in Oct., in advance of a couple of November events.  One is a production of Sarah Ruhl's script for Orlando (probably broadly similar to the movie, but not sure) that George Brown is putting on in early Nov.  The other is an event at TPL where they are unveiling a new edition of Mrs. Dalloway put out by NYRB.  I understand that this is supposed to have a lot of Woolf's notes on the novel, but I don't think it is supposed to be a scholarly edition, so I don't really know how they are treating textual variants, and if I even want to read the ur-text.  I think I will probably be fine just rereading Mrs. Dalloway and Mrs. Dalloway's Party and call it a day...  But I am curious to hear more about it, so I will go to the event.  Anyway, that means that Mrs. Dalloway is also on the list.

I'm making pretty good headway on Russo's Empire Falls, and I should be able to get through it a few days after I am back from this conference.  It's quite good, reminding me a bit of Updike but generally funnier.  The book club at work is sort of limping along at the moment, though the Nov. selection (China Miéville's The City & the City) seems to be generating some interest.  Anyway, the Oct. selection is Kundera's last novel (or perhaps novella): The Festival of Insignificance.  I did borrow it, as it is super short, but I don't care for it, and I don't think I would bother dropping in to talk about it.

As I was searching deep in the basement for Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss (because I am going to her talk at TIFA and wanted to get her to sign my copy), I managed to find Murdoch's Under the Net.  I liked this a lot, though I don't plan on trying to reread it before late 2026 (at the soonest).  I also brought up Midnight by Julien Green.  I thought it had some parallels to Orlando, but I think that is not the case after all.  Still, it looks like a book I can read quickly and get out of the house, which is a pretty big plus these days.

One slightly surprising addition to the reading list is Mitchell's relatively recent translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh.  I'm not entirely sure where I picked this up, though perhaps at a library book sale.  Anyway, I decided sort of at the last minute to go to the Sunday matinee of King Gilgamesh at Soulpepper.  While this was the last performance and was mostly sold out, I did get a rush ticket in the end.  Score!  It was mostly the same as from the 2023 run, though they may have tweaked a few minor things.  It's an energetic and engaging show, and I feel that I should try to read this new translation while the story is fresh in my head.  I don't think Gilgamesh is actually that long, though the intro and the copious notes definitely add up!

The one other book that I mentioned is Austen's Persuasion, which I will try to get through in Nov., in advance of her 250th bday party in early Dec. at the TPL.  After this, I will probably return to some of the books in the stacks that were calling out, like The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Last Song of Manuel Sendero and The End of Mr. Y, and then, after that, back to the general list. William Maxwell has been waiting patiently for quite a while now...