Musings on a Small Life

Dear Lady and Lord, Please grant me the magical power to render the boy next door...nay, the entire family, mute. Thank you and Amen.

I popped into one of our PetValu stores this morning, just as they opened, for one of the brands of food for the boys. But every "maternal" instinct went on alert when I heard tiny, baby, precious, irresistible mews: I dropped all my shopping bags in front of the cash desk and made a bee-line for the back of the store. Did they have food? Were they sick? In distress for some reason? Desperate for love? I got to the cage....Purr, purr, purr, little paws begging me to love them. I just about melted into a gooey puddle on the floor. And discovered, from one of the staff members, that these sweet babies had just been put back in the cage and were desperate all right-- desperate to get out again .  :-p I'm sure these two little ones will sucker someone pretty quickly--they got me in two seconds, flat. I only hope they both find great forever homes.

Yes, I made it to Friday; hallelujah! And it's our monthly payday too, which is a bonus. But guess what I discovered yesterday, at a meeting with some ITS folks re: the new campus-wide survey tool being implemented next week? MY name is plastered all over the ITS "survey tool" page as the contact person for questions, problems, account setup, etc.  Yippee! Oh, I knew account requests would come to me via on-line form , but somehow I didn't connect the dots and realize my actual name would be listed everywhere.  (We recently switched to a new survey company that will provide on-line, cloud-based, very slick survey design, implementation, and analyses for faculty/staff/grad students.) Three of us from this office, and a few from ITS, have all-day training on the new survey tool on Monday. Training for everyone else is being offered on Tuesday and later in the month. And gee, I also had no idea there would be general training, campus-wide, until yes...

I was fine, being back at work, Monday and Tuesday. Today? Not so much. Too much piled up, a massive headache on the way, sharp and bruising pain on the sole of my foot from the brand new orthotics I picked up yesterday, the ongoing head cold, general back aches and pains and PMS week. Meetings tomorrow, all-day training on Monday. I'm not a happy camper today, can you tell? LOL. Oh, and I'd like this stupid air conditioner above my desk to stop blowing cold air on me. How's that for a rant? It's only 10:30AM too. Well, at least I get to leave early, to go back down to physio re: the orthotics. Discomfort is expected, but the "padding" for the Morton's Neuroma shouldn't be bruising the sole of my foot, below the ball, and causing me to limp along and roll onto the outside of my foot to try to escape the pain. I've had orthotics before, years ago, and didn't have pain like this. Good thing I have my old sneaker insoles with me. ...

The form for eligibility for jury duty. I hope my little stickers put a smile on the mail clerk's face, but s/he probably has so many to open every day that the stickers won't even be noticed. I ought to have bought the little skull and crossbones stickers, though. The flag could mean I'm eager. The cats...I was tempted to plaster the entire back of the envelope with cat stickers, but refrained. Who knew Canada had a "Sheriff's Office?" And who knew it was in Oshawa? (At least the one for Ontario.) When they get around to calling me for jury selection, I'm taking my chair cushion and electric heating pad. A box of facial tissue, cough drops and anything else I can think of to make myself seem unappealing/distracting as a juror. (Apologies to those of you who actually would be interested in serving on a jury. Feel free to take my place, citizenship notwithstanding.)   I saw cuter cats yesterday, on the way home from work, in my neigh...

Lucky me! I got the jury eligibility questionnaire in the mail today. It asks questions like whether I'm a Canadian citizen, if I'm over 18, if I have any physical or mental health conditions that would prevent me from serving, if my work prevents me from serving (certain professions) and whether I've been convicted of a criminal offense. No room to state that if I'm ever chosen and have to be sequestered, the lawyers better be paying for a cat sitter to the tune of $50 per day. Oh, and paying what would no doubt be another vet bill for Derry too. No room to express the many obnoxious opinions I have. Gosh, I'm so excited. Rebel that I am, I ignored the instructions to mark an "X" and put check marks instead. No doubt that will hasten my being called for selection--creative, free-thinker and all that. Woohoo. Something to look forward to.

Derry has usurped my heating pad, and trust me, my back needs it more than he does! (Don't worry, it's on the lowest possible setting, is only barely warm.) But like a foolish cat "mom," of course I'll let him snooze on it...at least till I'm done doing a few things and want it back. ****** So my final day off has been busy: I went to the office early to re-pot most of my plants, which were all desperately root-bound. The only ones I left were the African violets, which I know prefer to be in small pots. By the end of the week they might all be dead, as I don't exactly have a green thumb. BTW, I have two spider plants, one pepperomia (can't kill those), one ivy of some sort, a pothos, and the two African violets. Good thing I took a "drop sheet" with me (a used shower curtain liner). Then I bused out to Value Village to look for something to read. Failed there, but I did find a good pair of heavy cotton sweat pants for...

The last of the pics, then back to the same old, boring stuff. Thursday morning, with Peter and Dad. Dad wanted to take Peter to the Cataraqui (pronounced Cat-a-rak-wee) Cemetery to show him Sir John A. MacDonald's grave (Canada's first Prime Minister), and also the grave of their headmaster from their time at Lower Canada College in Montreal. Dad and Peter at Sir John A.'s family plot.  Beside their headmaster's grave. Remember little angel Melinda? Every time I go to the cemetery I snap a pic of her grave. This time the angels and the cement edging have been added. Then Peter wanted to go down to the water, anywhere along the waterfront. So we ended up back down at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour (the third time for Dad and me). It was the perfect day for it, actually, because it windy ! The parked cars were getting drenched. Actually, a couple of people were just sitting there in their vehicles, presumably enjoying the wild spray. Ju...

I guess I ought to post some of the Gananoque pics from our little jaunt on Monday, before too much time passes.  One of the cute gift shops (closed) down by the water. Another gift shop and art gallery, part of the waterfront tourist complex. One of the tour boats, getting set to head out. They do 3-hour and 1-hour cruise. The 3-hour cruises stop at Boldt Castle , though because it's in the US, you need a passport to disembark and tour the grounds. A few more shots of the waterfront. This part is new, opened in June, so a sign told us. Walking into town, the view from the little bridge.  Dad and I ate here years ago, but not this time. Lunch at the Panache Bakery on the main street. Fabulous, fabulous bakery. If anyone ever is in Gananoque, stop in. Dad bought an apple crumble pie to take with us and we ate it in two days. One of the most delicious desserts I've ever had. Sign in front of City Hall In the park-someone was fishing...