-Yesterday, for the first time this year, we had a real snowfall. For better or worse, most of the remnants of this snowfall have now melted or otherwise disappeared. I presume that this means that we will now be in for more similar weather over the coming days and months.
-We managed to rather decisively lose our first Ultimate game of the new winter season. Though it wasn't our only problem, our team was not helped by a high absence rate. Hopefully more of us will turn up next week and we will be able to provide our opponents with a better game.
-The aforementioned shift towards more winter-like weather seems to have encouraged a few more mice to invade our apartment. Fortunately, aside from one that we caught a few days ago, most of the evidence that we have that these guys are living in the building comes from hearing them in the walls rather than seeing evidence of them in the apartment. I think our continued efforts to plug holes with steel wool has really helped things, though I guess I shouldn't be so confident yet.
-This afternoon Peter and I attended a talk that presented the findings of a study that examined the ways in which Dal students used the Killam Library. One of the aspects of the talk, which was quite enjoyable, that I found most interesting was that the findings of the study were not effectively integrated into the development of new library website (even though the research was conducted in a way that would provide the designers with feedback).
Showing posts with label mice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mice. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 460
-Much to my surprise today was beautiful. Instead of experiencing the side-effects of Hurricane Igor we had a pretty regular fall day.
-Contrary to what was reported by Reuters earlier today, Canada did not escape Hurricane Igor unscathed. As noted earlier today, Newfoundland has been suffering from Igor's consequences for the better part of the day. According to my family many trees have been knocked down and power is still out in certain parts of St. John's (and presumably the rest of the province).
Not surprisingly, a number of photos of the damage have been posted online already.
-Last night, after several people suggested that we use baited traps, we made the switch. So far it would seem that these baited traps have been a little less effective than the unbaited variety. Last night we didn't catch a single mouse though each of the two previous nights we caught mice with unbaited traps. Apparently you can mess with success.
-I should get back to work.
-Oh man, there are some associated with commenting on Globe and Mail news articles that will be rolled out over the next few days. Just tonight I learned that one of the major changes was something that I suggested. Maybe I will try to provide a few more details at a later date (and once the changes have been fully implemented).
-Contrary to what was reported by Reuters earlier today, Canada did not escape Hurricane Igor unscathed. As noted earlier today, Newfoundland has been suffering from Igor's consequences for the better part of the day. According to my family many trees have been knocked down and power is still out in certain parts of St. John's (and presumably the rest of the province).
Not surprisingly, a number of photos of the damage have been posted online already.
-Last night, after several people suggested that we use baited traps, we made the switch. So far it would seem that these baited traps have been a little less effective than the unbaited variety. Last night we didn't catch a single mouse though each of the two previous nights we caught mice with unbaited traps. Apparently you can mess with success.
-I should get back to work.
-Oh man, there are some associated with commenting on Globe and Mail news articles that will be rolled out over the next few days. Just tonight I learned that one of the major changes was something that I suggested. Maybe I will try to provide a few more details at a later date (and once the changes have been fully implemented).
Monday, September 20, 2010
Another near miss
We managed to catch another mouse last night, this time with our kitchen/living room trap line. And, like our last catch, this mouse just barely managed to be caught. Apparently it was so lightly trapped that it dragged the trap to a hiding space, though wasn't able to bring the trap in with it.
My understanding is that it took Neil about an hour to deal with this.
The only good news, at least from my selfish perspective, is that I managed to sleep through this entire ordeal.
I presume four mice in about two weeks and two in two days indicates a problem?
My understanding is that it took Neil about an hour to deal with this.
The only good news, at least from my selfish perspective, is that I managed to sleep through this entire ordeal.
I presume four mice in about two weeks and two in two days indicates a problem?
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Something approaching success
At about 8:00 AM this morning Neil and I were both roused from sleep by the sound of a mouse trap snapping shut. When we went out to investigate we learned that the trap had been set by a mouse, and that the mouse was still in the vicinity of the trap but was not quite dead.
After a little hemming and hawing as to how we should proceed, a scenario that likely wasn't helped by our respective sleepiness, we continued to hem and and haw. Then, as we were standing around the engaged trap, the mouse moved and engaged at least one more trap, this time catching another part of its body. The resulting situation was anything but pretty.
So this is all to say that while we were eventually able to catch yesterday's intruder it wasn't pretty, nor was it quick. Furthermore, the capturing of a third mouse in about two weeks would seem to suggest something of a real mouse problem. The only good news is that we seem to be slightly more proficient when it comes to trapping that we were even a few weeks ago.
After a little hemming and hawing as to how we should proceed, a scenario that likely wasn't helped by our respective sleepiness, we continued to hem and and haw. Then, as we were standing around the engaged trap, the mouse moved and engaged at least one more trap, this time catching another part of its body. The resulting situation was anything but pretty.
So this is all to say that while we were eventually able to catch yesterday's intruder it wasn't pretty, nor was it quick. Furthermore, the capturing of a third mouse in about two weeks would seem to suggest something of a real mouse problem. The only good news is that we seem to be slightly more proficient when it comes to trapping that we were even a few weeks ago.
False Alarm
Just a minute ago we all heard a snap-like sound come from the living room. Of course we were all hoping that it was a mouse trap with a mouse. Sadly, upon inspection we learned that none of the traps had been sprung and that the source of the noise was not immediately discernible.
I guess we will just have to keep waiting.
I guess we will just have to keep waiting.
The invasion continues
After a day or two of mouse-free living, Rebecca and Neil happened to see a small mouse earlier this evening. At one point it seemed to be hiding out beneath the table holding Neil's printer.
Shortly after the mouse was observed in the living room Neil and I set up a few trap lines. We have one such line in the hallway that leads from the living room to the bedroom and another in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. In each case a narrow gauntlet with multiple traps has been created. In addition to these (hopefully) impassable walls, we have scattered a few traps around the living room in areas that we suspect could be potential mouse highways (or where we have seen mice before).
I guess we should soon find out whether or not our most recent trapping efforts will be successful or not. I am hoping that they will be successful.
Oh, aside from this development meaning that we have a mouse, it also means that the hole that we located and filled with steel wool either hasn't been completely blocked or that it wasn't the only point of entry (a somewhat disheartening development).
Shortly after the mouse was observed in the living room Neil and I set up a few trap lines. We have one such line in the hallway that leads from the living room to the bedroom and another in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. In each case a narrow gauntlet with multiple traps has been created. In addition to these (hopefully) impassable walls, we have scattered a few traps around the living room in areas that we suspect could be potential mouse highways (or where we have seen mice before).
I guess we should soon find out whether or not our most recent trapping efforts will be successful or not. I am hoping that they will be successful.
Oh, aside from this development meaning that we have a mouse, it also means that the hole that we located and filled with steel wool either hasn't been completely blocked or that it wasn't the only point of entry (a somewhat disheartening development).
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 458
-Though today was mostly nice, we did have a brief period of heavy rain. Fortunately, this period of rain was brief and to the point.
-We had our first Fall Ultimate game this evening. Somehow we managed to tie the game. For most of the game it felt as though we were being smoked. At least this brings our undefeated streak to eight, a number that is surely a person record for both Neil and I.
-My Eight Treasure Porridge seemed to turn out pretty well. Not surprisingly, given the relatively short cooking time, the beans were quite undercooked and a little crunchy. I think that if I made it again I might try to soak everything overnight and then cook it in my pressure cooker for about an hour.
-At some point today Neil and Rebecca discovered a hole in the wall in our apartment. They suspect that this was one point of entry for mice, and I happen to think that they are likely right. Hopefully the plugging of this hole will lead to a diminishing of the mouse population in our apartment.
-Jeannette, much to my surprise, cancelled her Empire Avenue account cold turkey. I suspect the whole thing will be less fun if I don't have people to engage with in-person on related matters. Maybe I too will have to give things up in the near future as I really can't afford to spend much time engaging in such activities.
-We had our first Fall Ultimate game this evening. Somehow we managed to tie the game. For most of the game it felt as though we were being smoked. At least this brings our undefeated streak to eight, a number that is surely a person record for both Neil and I.
-My Eight Treasure Porridge seemed to turn out pretty well. Not surprisingly, given the relatively short cooking time, the beans were quite undercooked and a little crunchy. I think that if I made it again I might try to soak everything overnight and then cook it in my pressure cooker for about an hour.
-At some point today Neil and Rebecca discovered a hole in the wall in our apartment. They suspect that this was one point of entry for mice, and I happen to think that they are likely right. Hopefully the plugging of this hole will lead to a diminishing of the mouse population in our apartment.
-Jeannette, much to my surprise, cancelled her Empire Avenue account cold turkey. I suspect the whole thing will be less fun if I don't have people to engage with in-person on related matters. Maybe I too will have to give things up in the near future as I really can't afford to spend much time engaging in such activities.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Pest invasion
I think that what I hoped would be aberrant incidents with two mice in our apartment over the past few days may actually be indicative of a wider trend; that mice are now moving indoors for the Winter.
Not only do we seem to have continued mouse activity at our apartment, this evening, when Jeannette and I entered her apartment (having just preemptively purchased some mouse traps) I saw a mouse skitter away from us. I guess the purchase of mouse traps five minutes prior was entirely justified (even if I didn't think so at the time).
Anyway, I guess many of us in Halifax will likely be experiencing similar encounters over the coming days. Hopefully they will peter out shortly, I am not sure if I am interested in having too many more of my night's sleep disrupted by mouse related activities.
On a related note, Neil and Rebecca purchased about 12 new traps tonight for several new trapping schemes. Though Neil and I disagree slightly about the best locations for the traps, I am sure that these newly acquired traps will be put to good use.
Not only do we seem to have continued mouse activity at our apartment, this evening, when Jeannette and I entered her apartment (having just preemptively purchased some mouse traps) I saw a mouse skitter away from us. I guess the purchase of mouse traps five minutes prior was entirely justified (even if I didn't think so at the time).
Anyway, I guess many of us in Halifax will likely be experiencing similar encounters over the coming days. Hopefully they will peter out shortly, I am not sure if I am interested in having too many more of my night's sleep disrupted by mouse related activities.
On a related note, Neil and Rebecca purchased about 12 new traps tonight for several new trapping schemes. Though Neil and I disagree slightly about the best locations for the traps, I am sure that these newly acquired traps will be put to good use.
Monday, September 13, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 456
-Though today was mostly overcast it really wasn't that bad of a day. The temperatures remained reasonable all day, and, most importantly, the rain stayed away. Hopefully we will be so lucky tomorrow.
-This morning at about 7:00 AM I was abruptly awoken by a loud snap. A mouse trap in my bedroom had been sprung. When I got up to investigate the matter I learned that not only had the trap been sprung, but that it had been engaged by a hapless mouse. The mouse, not surprisingly, was dead.
This makes the second mouse that we have trapped in less than a week. I wonder if this means that we have a 'mouse problem' in our apartment?
Also, it seems that my various trap schemes of last night were completely ineffective. Somehow what I thought was a series of inescapable obstacles was actually easily avoidable. Or maybe the mice are smart and more agile than most normal mice.
-I had my second class this year. While I have taken this class twice before I learned that it has now been somewhat re-imagined. The consequence of this re-imagining is that I will now have more new readings to do than I had last year. On the whole, though it means more work for me, I think that the new version of the course is an improvement and will be better.
-I guess I should get down to work.
-This morning at about 7:00 AM I was abruptly awoken by a loud snap. A mouse trap in my bedroom had been sprung. When I got up to investigate the matter I learned that not only had the trap been sprung, but that it had been engaged by a hapless mouse. The mouse, not surprisingly, was dead.
This makes the second mouse that we have trapped in less than a week. I wonder if this means that we have a 'mouse problem' in our apartment?
Also, it seems that my various trap schemes of last night were completely ineffective. Somehow what I thought was a series of inescapable obstacles was actually easily avoidable. Or maybe the mice are smart and more agile than most normal mice.
-I had my second class this year. While I have taken this class twice before I learned that it has now been somewhat re-imagined. The consequence of this re-imagining is that I will now have more new readings to do than I had last year. On the whole, though it means more work for me, I think that the new version of the course is an improvement and will be better.
-I guess I should get down to work.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 455
-We had the pleasure of having an almost entirely overcast day today. Only for brief flashes was the sun kind enough to shine through somewhat consistent cloud cover. These brief interludes, while they were always brief, did create much more favourable and warm conditions.
-We seem to be in the midst of something of a mouse invasion at the moment. Not only has Neil recently trapped one mouse, another mouse (or mice) has made two appearances in the living room in the past hour or so. Amazingly, in both instances, the mouse avoided a six trap gauntlet to peer into the living room and the avoided the traps again to return to it's hiding place.
Moments ago I decided to rework the gauntlet to try to force the mouse over the traps. I guess the coming hours will offer some evidence as to whether or not my modifications were improvements or just modifications.
On a related note, Rebecca recently purchased, and installed, a number of electronic buzzers that are supposed to deter pests. Our recent experience would seem to suggest that these provide, at best, a limited deterrent (the mouse ran right under one).
-We had a very successful day at our Ultimate playoffs. Much to everyone's surprise we managed to win all three of our games, though, aside from the last one, not by particularly large margins. Though everyone is now quite tired and sore, I think that we all had a good time and were glad to have participated in the event.
-Our Fall Ultimate league will likely be starting on Wednesday. This doesn't provide much down time.
-It seems that my new and improved mouse gauntlet wasn't much of an improvement. Just moments ago, while I was writing this post, I saw the mouse run from behind the gauntlet to under the fridge (where I presume it still is).
I have now added a barrier and traps to the area surrounding the fridge (and modified the original gauntlet). Hopefully these new modifications will do the trick.
-Last night we purchased (at a deep discount) the movie The Marc Pease Experience. Jeannette provided her take on the movie here. Though I won't say that this was the best movie ever, I was definitely pleasantly surprised and found the movie to be quite watchable, maybe even re-watchable. I think that Neil, Rebecca, and Peter also enjoyed it, though I am not sure exactly what they thought about it.
-We seem to be in the midst of something of a mouse invasion at the moment. Not only has Neil recently trapped one mouse, another mouse (or mice) has made two appearances in the living room in the past hour or so. Amazingly, in both instances, the mouse avoided a six trap gauntlet to peer into the living room and the avoided the traps again to return to it's hiding place.
Moments ago I decided to rework the gauntlet to try to force the mouse over the traps. I guess the coming hours will offer some evidence as to whether or not my modifications were improvements or just modifications.
On a related note, Rebecca recently purchased, and installed, a number of electronic buzzers that are supposed to deter pests. Our recent experience would seem to suggest that these provide, at best, a limited deterrent (the mouse ran right under one).
-We had a very successful day at our Ultimate playoffs. Much to everyone's surprise we managed to win all three of our games, though, aside from the last one, not by particularly large margins. Though everyone is now quite tired and sore, I think that we all had a good time and were glad to have participated in the event.
-Our Fall Ultimate league will likely be starting on Wednesday. This doesn't provide much down time.
-It seems that my new and improved mouse gauntlet wasn't much of an improvement. Just moments ago, while I was writing this post, I saw the mouse run from behind the gauntlet to under the fridge (where I presume it still is).
I have now added a barrier and traps to the area surrounding the fridge (and modified the original gauntlet). Hopefully these new modifications will do the trick.
-Last night we purchased (at a deep discount) the movie The Marc Pease Experience. Jeannette provided her take on the movie here. Though I won't say that this was the best movie ever, I was definitely pleasantly surprised and found the movie to be quite watchable, maybe even re-watchable. I think that Neil, Rebecca, and Peter also enjoyed it, though I am not sure exactly what they thought about it.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 452
-Though today was somewhat overcast, it really wasn't all that bad of a day. Actually, I found today to be quite relaxing and pleasant.
-We have had an unusually large volume of mouse related activity recently. This is rather unfortunate as it is both distracting and time-consuming. Recently, Neil and I had to move and re-arrange most of our bulk foods so that they are now all in large plastic containers.
Hopefully the level of activity that we are experiencing presently isn't a sign of worse to come once things actually start to get cold and autumnal.
-Tonight, while I was sitting at my desk studying, I heard someone yell "Hey, get your hands off that or I'll call the cops right now." Unfortunately, I don't know what they were talking about or how the situation was resolved.
-Today, as a gift, I received a 4 GB flash drive from the Globe and Mail. Unfortunately, the flash drive doesn't seem to fit in my computer's USB ports.
-An uncle of ours will be arriving, via cruise ship, tomorrow for a single-day visit. As of yet I don't exactly know what we will be doing. Unfortunately, it look as though the weather won't likely be cooperating.
-I made good progress reading today, something I am sure that you all wanted to hear.
-We have had a strange burst in traffic at Montifax recently. I suspect that our recent involvement in Empire Avenue and our Hurricane Earl coverage are the main drivers of this sudden surge.
-We have had an unusually large volume of mouse related activity recently. This is rather unfortunate as it is both distracting and time-consuming. Recently, Neil and I had to move and re-arrange most of our bulk foods so that they are now all in large plastic containers.
Hopefully the level of activity that we are experiencing presently isn't a sign of worse to come once things actually start to get cold and autumnal.
-Tonight, while I was sitting at my desk studying, I heard someone yell "Hey, get your hands off that or I'll call the cops right now." Unfortunately, I don't know what they were talking about or how the situation was resolved.
-Today, as a gift, I received a 4 GB flash drive from the Globe and Mail. Unfortunately, the flash drive doesn't seem to fit in my computer's USB ports.
-An uncle of ours will be arriving, via cruise ship, tomorrow for a single-day visit. As of yet I don't exactly know what we will be doing. Unfortunately, it look as though the weather won't likely be cooperating.
-I made good progress reading today, something I am sure that you all wanted to hear.
-We have had a strange burst in traffic at Montifax recently. I suspect that our recent involvement in Empire Avenue and our Hurricane Earl coverage are the main drivers of this sudden surge.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 417
-We have some really beautiful weather recently. While today wasn't as warm as it has been, it was certainly still a very beautiful day.
-I am now 4/20, which might be restated as 1/5, in this year's Roll Up the Rim to Win contest. So it seems that I am actually doing much better than expected. I would have to drop to 4/36 to be where one would expect to be, and then below that to be doing worse than average. So maybe this year hasn't been quite as much of a wash as I was thinking it would be.
-I am not sure quite what it is, but our post Underlining Fail seems to be quite frequently hit with spam comments. Though we have more of these in recent months than we have ever had before, this one post seems to attract the majority of them. I am always somewhat teased when I see that we new comment only to find out that we have once again been spammed.
-For the past two nights I have had my sleep disrupted by what I presume is a mouse in the wall between the two bedrooms in our apartment. The ruckus was so loud last night that both Rebecca and I were basically unable to sleep for more than an hour at around 4:00 AM. The worst part of all of this is that it almost sounded as though the little guys were chewing/tugging on some of the wiring in the wall.
Tonight I reported the problem to the superintendent's husband, who indicated that he would call an exterminator tomorrow (or throw down a few glue traps if he had them). Both Rebecca and I are really hoping that we end up with the exterminator rather than glue traps (which won't be anywhere close to the problem).
-We are down to our final few bottles of Club Soda. Apparently 56 liters of Club Soda doesn't last all that long.
-Today I had my last class for the term. I still have a few things to take care of before my 'summer' starts. Of course, it being summer means that instead of classes to attend each day I will have reading to attend to. Should be fun.
-One of my department's senior professors retired last Summer, though is only now being thrown out of his office. To prepare for the move he is getting rid of many of his books. I was able to pick up a few that should be relevant to my thesis research, as well as a few that relate to personal interests. The most noteworthy of my picks, at least from the standpoint of my place of birth, was Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary by Richard Gwyn (I am presently part way through Gwyn's biography of Macdonald). Oh, I also picked up a copy of Creighton's biography of Macdonald (and to think that just yesterday I had a conversation with a friend in which I claimed to be better at reducing my acquisition tendencies than I had been in the past).
-I am now 4/20, which might be restated as 1/5, in this year's Roll Up the Rim to Win contest. So it seems that I am actually doing much better than expected. I would have to drop to 4/36 to be where one would expect to be, and then below that to be doing worse than average. So maybe this year hasn't been quite as much of a wash as I was thinking it would be.
-I am not sure quite what it is, but our post Underlining Fail seems to be quite frequently hit with spam comments. Though we have more of these in recent months than we have ever had before, this one post seems to attract the majority of them. I am always somewhat teased when I see that we new comment only to find out that we have once again been spammed.
-For the past two nights I have had my sleep disrupted by what I presume is a mouse in the wall between the two bedrooms in our apartment. The ruckus was so loud last night that both Rebecca and I were basically unable to sleep for more than an hour at around 4:00 AM. The worst part of all of this is that it almost sounded as though the little guys were chewing/tugging on some of the wiring in the wall.
Tonight I reported the problem to the superintendent's husband, who indicated that he would call an exterminator tomorrow (or throw down a few glue traps if he had them). Both Rebecca and I are really hoping that we end up with the exterminator rather than glue traps (which won't be anywhere close to the problem).
-We are down to our final few bottles of Club Soda. Apparently 56 liters of Club Soda doesn't last all that long.
-Today I had my last class for the term. I still have a few things to take care of before my 'summer' starts. Of course, it being summer means that instead of classes to attend each day I will have reading to attend to. Should be fun.
-One of my department's senior professors retired last Summer, though is only now being thrown out of his office. To prepare for the move he is getting rid of many of his books. I was able to pick up a few that should be relevant to my thesis research, as well as a few that relate to personal interests. The most noteworthy of my picks, at least from the standpoint of my place of birth, was Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary by Richard Gwyn (I am presently part way through Gwyn's biography of Macdonald). Oh, I also picked up a copy of Creighton's biography of Macdonald (and to think that just yesterday I had a conversation with a friend in which I claimed to be better at reducing my acquisition tendencies than I had been in the past).
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Trapline update
As I mentioned yesterday, we seem to have been invaded by mice, or at least one mouse.
For the first several hours after the invasion had been observed the mouse could be heard gnawing at something in the wall behind the kitchen sink.
Neil first obtained a few glue traps from building management and then purchased several more traditional traps himself. The two types of traps arranged in with each created quite a visual. We were really trying to use the trapline approach to catching the mouse, it didn't have to be tricked into setting off the trap, it just had to try to leave to cupboard to set off the traps.
By the late evening the noise had ceased though none of the traps showed signs of mouse traffic. I hope that this means that the mouse has passed on (though the implication would be that it died in the wall). My theory was bolstered by some information that I received from the superintendent this evening. It seems that when they remodeled the building a few years ago they, as a precautionary measure, put poison between all of the walls. I suspect that the mouse may have consumed some of this poison and passed away.
The concern now is that if the mouse did die in the wall what are the chances that its decomposing corpse will stink up the joint? I don't think this is all that likely, though the superintendent was of the opinion that it was relatively likely.
For the first several hours after the invasion had been observed the mouse could be heard gnawing at something in the wall behind the kitchen sink.
Neil first obtained a few glue traps from building management and then purchased several more traditional traps himself. The two types of traps arranged in with each created quite a visual. We were really trying to use the trapline approach to catching the mouse, it didn't have to be tricked into setting off the trap, it just had to try to leave to cupboard to set off the traps.
By the late evening the noise had ceased though none of the traps showed signs of mouse traffic. I hope that this means that the mouse has passed on (though the implication would be that it died in the wall). My theory was bolstered by some information that I received from the superintendent this evening. It seems that when they remodeled the building a few years ago they, as a precautionary measure, put poison between all of the walls. I suspect that the mouse may have consumed some of this poison and passed away.
The concern now is that if the mouse did die in the wall what are the chances that its decomposing corpse will stink up the joint? I don't think this is all that likely, though the superintendent was of the opinion that it was relatively likely.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A mouse in the house
Several minutes ago I returned from a brief shopping excursion to find that Neil had discovered a mouse in our apartment. By the time I had returned from the store Rebecca had sequestered herself in one of the bedrooms and Neil and the superintendent's husband had laid several traps.
In the minutes after my return Neil and I were able to listen to the mouse gnawing away at something. We both suspect that the mouse somehow made it into the wall behind the kitchen cabinets and now doesn't know how to get out.
As I write this Neil is buying several more mouse traps. The plan is to surround the possible escape paths so that the mouse isn't able to make from the cabinet area alive. Hopefully the mouse decides to try and head out the way he went in so that our plan will work. If the mouse is successful with his gnawing mission we may have a reduced sense of possible escape paths.
Some of you may be wondering how we happened to get a mouse in our apartment. While we don't know exactly what happened, there is a suspicion that it came in through the front door when some new tenants were moving in on the weekend. I am quite please that the superintendent hasn't accused me of bringing it with me in my boxes, a accusation that was leveled at Nithum and I last year.
Hopefully the situation will be resolved quickly, particularly as this gnawing is quite loud and distracting.
In the minutes after my return Neil and I were able to listen to the mouse gnawing away at something. We both suspect that the mouse somehow made it into the wall behind the kitchen cabinets and now doesn't know how to get out.
As I write this Neil is buying several more mouse traps. The plan is to surround the possible escape paths so that the mouse isn't able to make from the cabinet area alive. Hopefully the mouse decides to try and head out the way he went in so that our plan will work. If the mouse is successful with his gnawing mission we may have a reduced sense of possible escape paths.
Some of you may be wondering how we happened to get a mouse in our apartment. While we don't know exactly what happened, there is a suspicion that it came in through the front door when some new tenants were moving in on the weekend. I am quite please that the superintendent hasn't accused me of bringing it with me in my boxes, a accusation that was leveled at Nithum and I last year.
Hopefully the situation will be resolved quickly, particularly as this gnawing is quite loud and distracting.
Friday, October 05, 2007
A Few Quick Notes 119
-The weather continues to be incredible in Montreal. We are experiencing what must be unseasonably high temperatures with clear skies and little wind. For the most part, if I could request a particular type of weather it would be like this.
-Yesterday marked the beginning of another two-day stretch of work. Fortunately, because of an Oktoberfest themed night, I was able to wear shorts to work (though it also meant that I got to wear knee-high wool socks). Actually, for the following two Thursdays I will also be able to wear shorts to work.
-No serious mouse action in recent days, though all of the traps seem to have been sprung (presumably because of furniture re-arrangement). Hopefully we haven’t missed any of the vermin because of this weakening of defenses.
-Last weekend I attended an antiquarian book fair in Montreal. Amazingly, there wasn’t really anything that I was all that interested in buying. I guess I feel that my 2003 edition of Sherlock Holmes will satisfy my needs just as much or more than the $3500 first edition.
-In the past few days I have finally started to ride my bike again, and it has been great. I am not sure why I continually forget how much I enjoy riding my bike.
-Yesterday I sent a package to a friend in St. John’s. Unfortunately, the shipping cost was about twice as much as what I had originally paid for the item that was being shipped. Now that I know how much it costs to ship parcels I will have to be more careful about such things in the future.
-Yesterday marked the beginning of another two-day stretch of work. Fortunately, because of an Oktoberfest themed night, I was able to wear shorts to work (though it also meant that I got to wear knee-high wool socks). Actually, for the following two Thursdays I will also be able to wear shorts to work.
-No serious mouse action in recent days, though all of the traps seem to have been sprung (presumably because of furniture re-arrangement). Hopefully we haven’t missed any of the vermin because of this weakening of defenses.
-Last weekend I attended an antiquarian book fair in Montreal. Amazingly, there wasn’t really anything that I was all that interested in buying. I guess I feel that my 2003 edition of Sherlock Holmes will satisfy my needs just as much or more than the $3500 first edition.
-In the past few days I have finally started to ride my bike again, and it has been great. I am not sure why I continually forget how much I enjoy riding my bike.
-Yesterday I sent a package to a friend in St. John’s. Unfortunately, the shipping cost was about twice as much as what I had originally paid for the item that was being shipped. Now that I know how much it costs to ship parcels I will have to be more careful about such things in the future.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
A Few Quick Notes 118
-Today was a remarkably warm day. At one point I heard that the temperature was being reported as 29, though I find that hard to believe. Also remarkable was that the sun quickly gave way to showers which then gave way to gray skies. I guess that having only one or two rainfalls in a month is not actually all that good. Presumably there will be more rain in the coming days
-With the addition of traditional spring loaded traps to the arsenal we have managed to catch our third mouse. This mouse, caught after only one night with the new equipment, was a fair bit larger than the second mouse. Though this may be the last mouse, we have replaced the used trap and will continue to keep monitoring the trap lines until we go some number of weeks without a confirmed sighting or other evidence of mouse related activity.
-After a several week absence I am back at work on a controlled vocabulary side-project that I have been working on for the past several months. The original goal was to create a vocabulary of 2000 terms, something that seemed easy at the time. It still seemed easy after an early flurry of activity. Unfortunately, after about 1300 terms it no longer seems as easy. To be fair, with a little bit of effort and organization it shouldn't be all that hard to flesh things out and add a few thousand more terms without really stretching myself too much. Adding fewer than 20 new terms a day is just laziness on my part (something which I have plenty of).
-On Wednesday I have to hand in a project, most of which was done some number of days ago. The part of the project that was holding me up was the one page write up. For hours I stared at a computer screen, edited and re-edited, and wrote and re-wrote. Finally I have something that covers most of what I want to say, but still manages to be less than perfect. I guess I am out of practice when it comes to writing papers.
-After almost a month I finally unpacked my final two boxes this evening. Sadly, the motivation was create a space for my hand-truck, which I was tired of seeing in the front entrance. At the moment, my new 10 kg bag of flour is resting on the 'bed' of truck, ready for a quick evacuation.c
-With the addition of traditional spring loaded traps to the arsenal we have managed to catch our third mouse. This mouse, caught after only one night with the new equipment, was a fair bit larger than the second mouse. Though this may be the last mouse, we have replaced the used trap and will continue to keep monitoring the trap lines until we go some number of weeks without a confirmed sighting or other evidence of mouse related activity.
-After a several week absence I am back at work on a controlled vocabulary side-project that I have been working on for the past several months. The original goal was to create a vocabulary of 2000 terms, something that seemed easy at the time. It still seemed easy after an early flurry of activity. Unfortunately, after about 1300 terms it no longer seems as easy. To be fair, with a little bit of effort and organization it shouldn't be all that hard to flesh things out and add a few thousand more terms without really stretching myself too much. Adding fewer than 20 new terms a day is just laziness on my part (something which I have plenty of).
-On Wednesday I have to hand in a project, most of which was done some number of days ago. The part of the project that was holding me up was the one page write up. For hours I stared at a computer screen, edited and re-edited, and wrote and re-wrote. Finally I have something that covers most of what I want to say, but still manages to be less than perfect. I guess I am out of practice when it comes to writing papers.
-After almost a month I finally unpacked my final two boxes this evening. Sadly, the motivation was create a space for my hand-truck, which I was tired of seeing in the front entrance. At the moment, my new 10 kg bag of flour is resting on the 'bed' of truck, ready for a quick evacuation.c
Saturday, September 22, 2007
A Few Quick Notes 116
-Aside from a brief period of showers today was a pretty nice day. One possible flaw might be that even though the sun has set the temperature has not really dropped all that much. This trend is somewhat problematic when it comes to sleeping, or attempting to sleep.
-For the past two nights I have worked until close. While neither of the nights was problematic it certainly was tiresome. These long shifts were not made any easier by the fact that I have been suffering from a cold for the past number of days. Hopefully my Sunday afternoon shift will involve fewer keg changes than the last two.
Actually, that is the other thing that has been impressive my last two shifts. I am not sure if I have ever changed as many kegs. At one point on Thursday four went almost simultaneously. On top of that two sets of lines were not working properly and required continued attention.
-The mouse problem seems to be expanding, or at the very least continuing. While in bed after work on Thursday movement caught my eye. It turned out that one of the mice was on my bedroom floor near my closet. Shortly after its movement caught my eye it ran back into the closet.
Though I didn’t really want to do much about the mouse at 3:30 AM it seemed a pretty opportune moment, mainly as I knew exactly where the mouse was. Within a few moments I had re-arranged the contents of the closet to form a barrier, inside of which I hoped to trap the mouse. Though once the barrier was constructed I could not find the mouse. I quickly realized that the only place it could be hiding was the poison box in the closet.
With a curtain rod I tapped the box to limited effect. Confident that the mouse had to be inside I tapped again, this time more vigorously. After the second round of tapping I managed to get the mouse to leave the box and enter the open space of the enclosure. The mouse went from the box to the bedroom door, which it then managed to scurry under, meaning that to continue my hunt I would have to rummage around Nithum’s bedroom with him asleep at 3:30 in the morning. At that point I decided that the hunt was up for the night, I had failed.
Since then all that has happened on the mouse front is that I have been unable to get the motivation to go to the store and buy some wire traps for the creation of my trap line. Maybe I will get around to this on Monday (as the store where I was planning on making my purchase is closed on Sundays).
-While at Lobos yesterday I bought a few hard peaches as well as a pair of hard plums. As far as I am aware, these, aside from lemons, are my first fruit purchases of the academic year.
Actually, that is not the case. I just realized that I have purchased (during a sale) several bags of frozen raspberries.
-While listening to Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap tonight I was again reminded of a question that has been bothering me for some time. The question is whether or not Canadian Content rules apply to Mr. Bachman, and if not why? It seems that other shows could not play almost exclusively foreign music, particularly American music, and get away with it. Does his playlist mean that the rest of CBC Radio One’s content has to balance his high level of foreign content?
-For the first time today I saw an entire football game in person. The infamous McGill Redmen played the Acadia Axemen. In the final minute of play McGill managed to score to take the lead and then allow Acadia to score a field goal for the win.
The final score of 45-44 is somewhat indicative of the quality of defense. It seemed that both teams were more interested in offense.
Something else that was striking was the size of the players. Some of them were tiny and none of them were huge. I feel that if I stood next to the McGill football team I wouldn’t look particularly less athletic than most of the members of the team (though this may be a slight exaggeration).
-For the past two nights I have worked until close. While neither of the nights was problematic it certainly was tiresome. These long shifts were not made any easier by the fact that I have been suffering from a cold for the past number of days. Hopefully my Sunday afternoon shift will involve fewer keg changes than the last two.
Actually, that is the other thing that has been impressive my last two shifts. I am not sure if I have ever changed as many kegs. At one point on Thursday four went almost simultaneously. On top of that two sets of lines were not working properly and required continued attention.
-The mouse problem seems to be expanding, or at the very least continuing. While in bed after work on Thursday movement caught my eye. It turned out that one of the mice was on my bedroom floor near my closet. Shortly after its movement caught my eye it ran back into the closet.
Though I didn’t really want to do much about the mouse at 3:30 AM it seemed a pretty opportune moment, mainly as I knew exactly where the mouse was. Within a few moments I had re-arranged the contents of the closet to form a barrier, inside of which I hoped to trap the mouse. Though once the barrier was constructed I could not find the mouse. I quickly realized that the only place it could be hiding was the poison box in the closet.
With a curtain rod I tapped the box to limited effect. Confident that the mouse had to be inside I tapped again, this time more vigorously. After the second round of tapping I managed to get the mouse to leave the box and enter the open space of the enclosure. The mouse went from the box to the bedroom door, which it then managed to scurry under, meaning that to continue my hunt I would have to rummage around Nithum’s bedroom with him asleep at 3:30 in the morning. At that point I decided that the hunt was up for the night, I had failed.
Since then all that has happened on the mouse front is that I have been unable to get the motivation to go to the store and buy some wire traps for the creation of my trap line. Maybe I will get around to this on Monday (as the store where I was planning on making my purchase is closed on Sundays).
-While at Lobos yesterday I bought a few hard peaches as well as a pair of hard plums. As far as I am aware, these, aside from lemons, are my first fruit purchases of the academic year.
Actually, that is not the case. I just realized that I have purchased (during a sale) several bags of frozen raspberries.
-While listening to Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap tonight I was again reminded of a question that has been bothering me for some time. The question is whether or not Canadian Content rules apply to Mr. Bachman, and if not why? It seems that other shows could not play almost exclusively foreign music, particularly American music, and get away with it. Does his playlist mean that the rest of CBC Radio One’s content has to balance his high level of foreign content?
-For the first time today I saw an entire football game in person. The infamous McGill Redmen played the Acadia Axemen. In the final minute of play McGill managed to score to take the lead and then allow Acadia to score a field goal for the win.
The final score of 45-44 is somewhat indicative of the quality of defense. It seemed that both teams were more interested in offense.
Something else that was striking was the size of the players. Some of them were tiny and none of them were huge. I feel that if I stood next to the McGill football team I wouldn’t look particularly less athletic than most of the members of the team (though this may be a slight exaggeration).
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
A Few Quick Notes 114
-Today appears to be another beautiful day in Montreal. The only downside seems to be that the expected high will be approaching 26, which is a little warmer than I am interested in experiencing at this time of year.
-It seems that the Canadian dollar is now within 1 cent of the U.S. dollar. What seems striking about this is that none of my increased purchasing power has become apparent. In particular, I still seem to be paying more for books. A book I purchased a few days ago is $5.00 more in Canada than in the U.S. One would think that these differences would be a thing of the past. I guess vendors are taking advantage of our historical willingness to pay more than people in the U.S.
-Our mouse saga seems to be ongoing. While we have caught two, I have seen at least one more. I also worry that I have heard a fourth.
-Today is another day of back-to-back three hour classes. From 1:30-4:30 I have cataloging and then from 5:30-8:30 I have archives. Hopefully I won’t forget to pack a meal to consume between classes.
-It seems that the Canadian dollar is now within 1 cent of the U.S. dollar. What seems striking about this is that none of my increased purchasing power has become apparent. In particular, I still seem to be paying more for books. A book I purchased a few days ago is $5.00 more in Canada than in the U.S. One would think that these differences would be a thing of the past. I guess vendors are taking advantage of our historical willingness to pay more than people in the U.S.
-Our mouse saga seems to be ongoing. While we have caught two, I have seen at least one more. I also worry that I have heard a fourth.
-Today is another day of back-to-back three hour classes. From 1:30-4:30 I have cataloging and then from 5:30-8:30 I have archives. Hopefully I won’t forget to pack a meal to consume between classes.
Friday, September 14, 2007
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.
-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.
A Few Quick Notes 112
-Today is another pretty nice day in Montreal. Fortunately, things have started to cool down and feel a little more autumnal. For a while I was worried that I would be suffering through several weeks of summer-like conditions. Hopefully the newly overcast sky won’t lead to rain or any other form of precipitation in the near future.
-Several days ago I received my special ballot for the upcoming Newfoundland and Labrador general election. This is striking because the writ has not yet been dropped and candidacies made official. If I had been on the ball it would have been possible for me to vote in late August, many weeks before the campaign officially started.
-The mouse or mice that Nithum and I discovered several days ago does not seem to have gone away as we had hoped. Nor do any of the traps set by the exterminator seem to have worked yet. I know this because at about 5:40 AM I was woken by the sound of something being chewed or nibbled on, seemingly about 12 inches from my head. Upon figuring out exactly what it was that woke me I moved my sleeping pad to the centre of the floor and tried to get back to sleep. Unfortunately, the discovery had startled me enough that returning to sleep was more problematic than I had hoped.
-Tonight will mark the beginning of my second week back at work. Though it is likely that tonight and tomorrow night will be a little quieter than the equivalent days last week, I do hope that things are still pretty busy.
-Though my first class was on Tuesday I am already done for the week. So far they seem pretty good. Most importantly, the assignments seem to be worthwhile, something that, unfortunately, has not always been my experience in library school.
-Several days ago I received my special ballot for the upcoming Newfoundland and Labrador general election. This is striking because the writ has not yet been dropped and candidacies made official. If I had been on the ball it would have been possible for me to vote in late August, many weeks before the campaign officially started.
-The mouse or mice that Nithum and I discovered several days ago does not seem to have gone away as we had hoped. Nor do any of the traps set by the exterminator seem to have worked yet. I know this because at about 5:40 AM I was woken by the sound of something being chewed or nibbled on, seemingly about 12 inches from my head. Upon figuring out exactly what it was that woke me I moved my sleeping pad to the centre of the floor and tried to get back to sleep. Unfortunately, the discovery had startled me enough that returning to sleep was more problematic than I had hoped.
-Tonight will mark the beginning of my second week back at work. Though it is likely that tonight and tomorrow night will be a little quieter than the equivalent days last week, I do hope that things are still pretty busy.
-Though my first class was on Tuesday I am already done for the week. So far they seem pretty good. Most importantly, the assignments seem to be worthwhile, something that, unfortunately, has not always been my experience in library school.
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