A Few Quick Notes 113

-While today has been generally overcast it is still quite pleasant. There is a slight breeze and the temperature is warm enough that one does not need a shirt, but not hot enough that breaking into a sweat is not an immediate problem. As long as the grey skies don't turn into rain I will be satisfied.

-While leaving the library today a friend and I saw several stacks of chairs near the free book box. As I have associated this location with free goods my immediate thought was free chairs. As we approached the stacks a sign was located that suggested that the chairs were in fact free and that people were encouraged to take as many as they wanted. Because of weight restrictions I was only able to take three, one less than I would have liked.

The chairs are not the most stylish chairs but their wooden frames seem sturdy, if old, and the red vinyl covering undamaged.

-With one of the new chairs in the living room it seemed the right time to assemble a $10 shelving unit that I purchased last Friday at Canadian Tire. Hopefully we will be able to place such things as plants and games on this shelf in the living room. While we have a few games we will have to get cracking on the plants front.

-Shortly after we moved in to our new apartment I noticed a mouse. That same night of the first sighting there were two other sightings. While we were not able to determine whether it was one mouse in three places or three mice we did go to the building manager to inform them of the problem. After several days an exterminator visited and laid a few traps.

After several days with no activity I was beginning to believe that the mouse or mice may have moved on to greener pastures (namely, the other apartments on our floor). This, it turned out, was not the case. Several nights ago I was awoken by the what I presume was at least one of the mice.

The next day I decided to place near the sight of the disturbance one of the inhumane glue traps left behind by the exterminator. As I did not want to have my pillow fall into the trap I pulled my pad into the centre of the floor. After several hours there was no change in the situation and I presumed that it would be quite similar when I returned from work.

Amazingly, one of the first things that I noticed upon my return from work was that the trap was no longer where I left it. My first thought was that it had been dragged somewhere, maybe my bed, by the mouse. After a relatively thorough examination of the area I determined that this was not the case and that the trap had been removed.

Shortly after waking up this morning Nithum was able to confirm that the trap had been removed. Apparently at about 10:00 or 11:00 last night he heard some noises coming from my room. Upon closer inspection they found the mouse in the trap. He and a friend then released the mouse in a neighbouring parking lot (apparently cooking oil does the trick).

Unfortunately I think that this may not be the end of our problems. While looking at some of the other traps I noticed that some of the poison in the living room was disturbed. Hopefully over the next several days we will learn that that was the only mouse and that we are living in a vermin free environment.

-Last night was another busy night at Thomson House. Hopefully tonight will be the same way. The only problem that I have noticed with working both Thursday and Friday is that I am quite physically exhausted by Saturday. Hopefully within a few weeks I will have managed to build up a level of tolerance that I don't yet have.