Musings on a Small Life

Home yesterday, no next door neighbours. Up at 3AM, a peek out the window, no neighbour truck. Woohoo, high-five to Derry, who's sleeping on the bed with me. Up for good at 4:45AM (yes, I lingered), still no neighbour truck. Happy dance! Coffee outside at 5AM, being serenaded by the birds, happy knowing I have the place to myself for the day, if not the entire weekend. (Hence most of the reason today's a good day.) Paycheque in the bank in advance of Monday's payday (standard for my bank, but not others). Yippee! Lots of shopping for cat food, groceries, litter, etc. Sale on a cute new activity centre for the cats (pics below). Except that 15% off does not mean $15 off, Kim. Wake up and do basic math! However, I've already saved half the purchase price with $10 off my groceries (Air Miles) and coming in under budget on the litter for July. I can cover the rest of the cost by skipping two purchased coffees a week for the upcoming month, not a hardship. ...

I don't have anymore pics of "Gloria" the tortie. She's still with my co-worker, though now her hubby is suggesting that they take care of her themselves, as the shelter environment won't be good for her. (They do have the funds to do this, including the vet care.) So I don't know what's happening with that yet. My coworker is on vacation next week, but I've mentioned time and again that a few bloggers would like to donate to the shelter for her care, if that's where Gloria ends up. As soon as I have an update, I'll post it. In the meantime, she's playing with catnip toys, enjoying window whiffies, eating well and doing her business normally now.  :-) Have a lovely weekend, everyone. And to anyone in Canada who is taking Monday June 30th off (I'm not), enjoy your extra-long weekend. And happy Canada Day (July 1st).

If you don't know that my coworker rescued an emaciated tortie this AM, on her morning jog in the campus neighbourhood (maybe 1.5 kms away), scroll down to the earlier post, as details are there. Here are some of the pics I snapped through the day, but be warned, she will break your heart. Starving and eating grilled Fancy Feast. She got fed small bits throughout the day, and she kept it all down, drank lots of water too.     She had been lying on the desk (my coworker on the right, cropped out), but she got up and came to the door when I tried to sneak up and take a pic. The container and litter my old boss brought in. She had peed in it (good girl!), but I used the clone tool to take that out, since no one needs to see a pee clump. No straining or visible blood in it, though.       Through the glass--she was out like a light, finally with a full tummy and obviously exhausted. Anytime someone would pass by (except when she fin...

My coworker rescued an extremely emaciated tortie girl this AM while out jogging. (She comes in early, jogs then showers here.) A kind stranger saw her with the cat in her arms and gave her a lift to the office, with the cat wrapped up in a towel (that the stranger had), as my coworker was some distance away. I've taken pics of the cat but can't download them till I'm home. She'll try to take the cat to the Gananoque shelter (no kill), but if they can't take her, I'm not sure what she'll do, as she can't keep her, for a variety of reasons. (She's fostered before, also rescued a lot of cats in her area, as she lives in a wooded rural area near a campground.) This cat is beautiful, or will be if she makes it. Doesn't seem to have fleas or mites, fur is BADLY matted, sounds like a Siamese (and is very talkative), purrs up a storm, no biting at all, not lactating. Well-socialized with humans, extremely friendly, but has been on the streets for some ...

In a word: Exhausting. The plus being that most of this huge thing we're doing right now (which was supposed to be later this summer, but one of the upper mucky-mucks wants to take vacation) is almost done. One more detail to take care of either on Monday or Tuesday and that will be all for me, at least for some time. There are two more big projects looming, though. I had another annual project I had to wrangle over (more so than usual, it seemed), but I finished that off and sent it to the appropriate sub-division of the Ministry on Thursday, with a note in my email that I was sending it "on a wing and prayer." I'm sure she'll have a multitude of questions for me when she reviews the file, though I added in cell notes all over the place. And the third project that was due from all the departments/teaching units on Friday is mostly done (my part, I mean). I think only two departments didn't submit their data, but after one initial send out of the ...

It's because I'm over-tired, of course, but I jokingly say the real cause is the stress at work right now.  May through October/November typically always has been my busy time of year, but this June has to be the craziest, busiest in the 14 Junes I've been here. If I fall off the cyber grid altogether, you'll know why. I found these via quick Google search:     I like the second one best. Though I'm not on anything right now. Don't need one of those at the moment, but do need about three or four (healthy) consecutive weeks off. Which isn't possible. But if I actually make it through this week and next, maybe I'll ask if I can take an extra day around the Canada Day holiday (July 1st). I just don't want to be home if the neighbour kids are staying here all summer (last year they spent the summer at their grandmother's, I think.) Anyway, my one de-stressor: Snapping pics of flowers on the way to and from work, of course. (T...

Friday afternoon my "old" boss met with me and another coworker re: a top-level project that has to be done by tomorrow. Originally we were going to have till August to get this done, but "someone" (I can guess who, even though he wouldn't say) wants to go on summer vacation. So it has to be done now . My boss has been working on it for a couple of weeks; we have to finish up. It was on my mind Friday evening and of course Saturday AM when I got up, so I decided it would be better just to go into the office and spend an hour or two working on it, rather than mentally wring my hands and stress over it all weekend. As it turned out, I was able to get my part together and email it to my boss in an hour and a half, for his final edits. (He'll send it back to me and I'll finish it up, along with the other parts to this that have to be done tomorrow.) In my first email exchange with him, at 7:30AM on Saturday, he said that it was "commitment ...

"Code blue in the main lobby." Pause. "Code blue in the main lobby." Pause. "Code blue in the main lobby." Pause. "Code blue in the main lobby." That's what I heard a week ago, while I was waiting for my mammogram in the X-RAY department at one of our local hospitals. Not something I've ever heard before while in any hospital, and it was kind of freaky. I said a "prayer" for the person's Highest Good and thought that no matter what kind of day I was having, it was far better than theirs. (And don't panic, Mom, it was just routine, one of the tests the 50+ crowd gets to do. My third in my lifetime so far. I haven't heard a word from my doctor's office in the past week, so I have to assume that there's nothing dire. Knock on wood for good luck.) As for this week, I see I posted on Monday, but haven't since. Apparently the week flew by. I don't understand it -- I have this perception that I ...

Cats. I got to see Oscar on Friday morning, walking to the shopping centre to catch a bus. He looks like he's giving me the "what for," with his tongue sticking out, but he's a sweetheart, very friendly. I've posted pics of him here before, though not in quite a while. I seldom see him!   His fur is super-soft too. Oh, and I know his name is Oscar because he wears a collar with tags. A note regarding Finn, whom I've mentioned recently here. He was walking with his human and their dog early on Friday morning, and when I stopped to chat with the man (well dressed, seemingly intelligent), Finn came right over to me and proceeded to roll around on the ground showing off his tummy. I didn't attempt to touch him, not knowing how he'd react, but he was far friendlier in the presence of his human than he is when he's out and about on his own (as he was this morning...ignoring me and staying well clear). Cats for adoption: This fellow wa...

A few weeks ago my former cubicle-mate gave me a leftover roll of vapour barrier she and her hubby had on hand for one of their construction projects. I wanted to put it up so Nicki couldn't get into the Roxul Safe and Sound insulation that I had stuffed in between some of the basement joists, to cut down on the noise from the adjoining unit. It took me till this afternoon to attempt to put it up. And with no experience and only one pair of hands, mine, it ended up being the Frankenstein of all vapour barrier installations. You can see it's all piecemeal, because (a) I didn't cut it straight and (b) I'm just not capable of taping--or in this case stapling--anything in a straight line. Ever.  It's the monster of all vapour barriers.   However, as my goal wasn't "pretty" but was to keep the fibres away from Nicki's lungs, I consider the goal met. Of course it remains to be seen how long it takes Nicki to claw/rip it all up -- w...

Remember this guy from a post last week? Turns out his name is "Finn," short for Finneus (or maybe it's Phineas), he has a home, and he is neutered. (This is the older/bigger fellow I see hanging around with Carla and on Carla's doorstep.) I found this out yesterday afternoon, after work, when I saw the woman who lives with Carla's "dad" sitting outside on their step, with Finn beside her. I stopped to ask if they had adopted another cat and she filled me in. And no, Finn isn't theirs, he just hangs out on their step a lot, probably for the extra food. However, she's not seen the younger, unneutered one at all, and I asked that she keep an eye out, told her that if I could get him into a carrier I'd have him snipped. I've not seen him since I posted about him--probably he understood me when I told him that he needed to be fixed.  :-p So at least this guy has a home of sorts, and at least his humans were educated enough to...

So around 8:30PM last night I herded the cats inside and was covering up the litter box I keep out on the back step when I heard a sound.... ....The sound of the wooden bar to secure the patio doors falling into place in the track. (Leftover from the old doors, I've not used it since the new doors were put in, in November 2012). This is how I've left the bar by default, snapped as a "reenactment". Well, it slid down and into place last night, trapping me outside. You can see how narrow the open space is. Too narrow for an average-sized adult human to get through, though I did try, repeatedly, twisting myself this way and that. Then I thought that I could use something from the garden to reach around (picture me standing outside on the step, facing toward the camera) to jiggle the bar enough to lift/flip it out of the track. Good idea, but I have short arms! I tried a long stick, but it wasn't sturdy enough. Then I tried the ladybug ...