A Few Quick Notes 610

-Yesterday evening snow started falling quite heavily.  Fortunately, after a few hours it seemed that the snow had stopped falling.  When we woke up this morning to about 5 cm of sticky snow we realized that we'd been wrong to think that the snow had ever stopped.  Amazingly, after a day of thawing it seems to have started snowing again (though hopefully we won't again wake up to 5 cm of snow).

-Oh man, I'm super tired and it's not even 8:15.

-Much to my surprise, on Saturday I started to install our recently acquired anti-pigeon spikes.

Initially I only installed a two foot section, hoping that I might get some sense if were indeed a functional pigeon deterrent.  Fortunately or unfortunately, by the time we returned from an afternoon there were fresh pigeon droppings on the other side of the porch - indicating that the spikes were working.

By the end of the weekend I'd installed all $100 worth of the stuff (aka 10 feet).  The only bummer is that we'll have to buy another 10 feet or so for next weekend/later this week.

-On Saturday Pierre we being particularly cuddly.  At one point he even took a rather long afternoon nap in my arms.

By that night and several hours of this excessively sedate behaviour we were starting to worry that something was up.

At about 2:00 AM Pierre confirmed that something had been up by puking up part of a rubber glove and some other garbage that he'd recently scarfed down behind our backs.  For a small cat he really managed to save up a fair bit of puke for the event.

Unfortunately for Jeannette, I found the smell so upsetting that I had to leave the room to avoid adding to the mess.  Fortunately, by the next day Pierre seemed to be back to normal (AKA the kind of cat that would sneak around trash cans to hunt for discarded rubber gloves to eat).

The Birds Are Back

It's finally spring and that means that means the annual return of many species of birds to Regina.  Unfortunately, it has also meant the return of two undesirable types of birds to our house and yard.

The first type of undesirable bird to return were those of the dead variety.  So far I've found four dead birds in just the past few days.  Even more unfortunately, I've now also found my first dead robin AKA first dead bird of any real size.  I'm really hoping that these four are it for this trend this year.

The second type of undesirable birds to return this year are the pigeons.

A weekend or two ago we first heard the pleasant and distracting coos of pigeons roosting just outside of our bedroom window.  Since then it has become a relatively regular occurrence.  Maybe the most unfortunate development associated with the return of the pigeons is that they've started hanging out in the roof above our front porch - something we'd really like to discourage.

This morning I finally got around to putting up some of the mesh we used last year to discourage pigeon/miscellaneous bird roosting.  Unfortunately, because prominence (i.e. the front porch) Jeannette was reasonably hesitant to ensconce the works of it in anti-bird mesh.

This reasonable position finally motivated us to look for anti-pigeon spikes that had been recommended to us last year by our neighbours' friend.

At $10 a foot, these spikes are a little more expensive than I'd hoped, but they look as though they'll be a little easier to install and will hopefully be a little less noticeable than wrapping everything in mesh.

Of course, there are still likely to be at least a few locations where mesh will be our only option.

Fortunately for my laziness, it's started raining.  Now I'll be able to put spike installation off until at least tomorrow (though it really should be done as soon as possible so the pigeons don't develop more of a taste for our eaves and porch than they already have).

It's a popular spot

The summer before last I noticed that a few times a day a women would bring her puppy to urinate and defecate on the relatively secluded grassy area just across my bedroom window. Over the course of the summer and following academic year the puppy grew so large that it would rightly be considered a dog instead of a puppy. Fortunately, at least for me, with the increase in size and age of the dog the trips to this grassy toilet have decreased.

Within months of the cessation of the visits of this first dog and owner a second dog owner has started bringing her pets to defecate and urinate outside of my bedroom window. This time, unlike last time, there are two small puppies that are now regularly engaging in various bodily functions across from my bedroom window.

While everyone in our apartment has agreed that these two puppies are quite cute (they frequently engage in a variety of puppy play fighting-like activities), I am somewhat disgusted to think that I have a bedroom window that looks on to the neighbourhood dog toilet.

I guess dog toilet is one step up from the pigeon fornicatorium that I lived across from in Montreal a few years ago.



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A Few Quick Notes 83

-Today has been another cool, grey spring day. Though today has been damp, it fortunately has not been all that rainy. By Wednesday it seems that we might be in for some sun.

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day, much nicer than I had expected.

-For a few hours yesterday afternoon about 10 of my classmates and I curled. Though I have more experience than anyone else that played it would have been hard to tell by my record. I was completely unable to read the ice and also felt as though I was thrown off by the slip-on slider that I was using. The good thing is that everyone seemed to have fun. Maybe for next year I will have my own equipment.

-It seems that the annual Roll Up the Rim contest is just about over. It looks that I might finish the year with a 3/31 record. My longest winning streak was 2, which occurred on Saturday and Sunday.

-Today is election day in Quebec. Only yesterday I received my first election literature. Throughout the entire campaign no one has come by our building to drop off materials. While many of us are non-Quebecers, I think that this is unacceptable.

For the first time in Quebec history election day means no classes. I don’t exactly know why this policy has been implemented as people all over the world are able to vote and teach or go to school. Strangely, while McGill classes have been cancelled today all other services are being offered as normal.

-My friendly neighbourhood pigeons have been back almost every day for the past few days. The construction project on their favourite part of the neighbouring roof doesn’t seem to be bothering them all that much.

-I finally made it to Fairmont Bagels yesterday. It was as good as I had been lead to believe. I managed to eat four of the six that I purchased by the time I returned home.

A Few Quick Notes 81

-Today has been a pretty nice spring day here in Montreal. While there is still plenty of snow on the ground things are generally pretty pleasant. The only problem seems to be that there is some run-off accumulation at some corners. I am hoping that it will stay like this so that either tomorrow or Sunday I will be able to take my unicycle out for a quick ride.

-I am now 1/27 on Roll Up the Rim. It seems that I might want to try changing the location of my purchases, especially on the weekend as I don’t really enjoy the Saturday and Sunday staff as much as the weekday staff.

-On Sunday afternoon about 12 of us will be curling for a few hours. It seems that I will be one of the most experienced curlers there. It seems that I will be responsible for giving people a bit of an introduction before we start (it seems this way because I volunteered to do this). The kink in the game is that we will be playing with three teams, kin-ball style. I am looking forward to skipping my foursome to victory, though I am not sure that I can afford to buy drinks for two losing teams.

-Tonight is the night, the mustache and cleavage party. For the past month or so I have had my mustache in anticipation of this event. The only problem is that during this month I have grown attached to my mustache. I might have to keep it for beyond tomorrow.

-Back to work tonight, another chance to keep people in clean glassware.

-Today I made a pretty big lettuce and leaf free salad. My salad contained chopped carrots, chopped celery, and chopped red onion. As I don’t eat vinegar, my salad dressing was comprised of lemon juice and olive oil with a few herbs and spices. With two corned beef sandwiches this turned into a very satisfying lunch.

-The pigeons keep coming back to the roof across from me. This really impresses me as there is a pretty intensive construction project ongoing. We will have to see what happens in the future though as their favoured brick structure is no longer available.

The pigeons were back again

Shortly after I awoke this morning, while I was sitting at my computer checking my email, I noticed my favourite neighbourhood pigeons on the roof across from me. As my camera was handy I decided to once again film them to show that their behaviour is really quite regular.

Promised clip

I was finally able to post the pigeon clip, though it certainly took a while. Unfortunately, I did not realize that I had an easy means of taking away the sound until after I gone too far. So you may want to turn down the volume as it really adds nothing to the clip. Additionally, I apologize for the shaky camera work, my arm started to get tired as I was leaning across my desk to be next to the window.

A Few Quick Notes 39

-Another warm day for the time of year. I was able to take my bike out for a few errands that I had to run. Unfortunately, it is now a touch overcast. Hopefully the rain will hold off until I make it into the air. It seems that by early next week we are scheduled to have colder temperatures.

-I will be leaving for St. John’s this evening. On January 3, 2007 I will return to Montreal. Maybe when I get back it will feel like winter.

-While there were a few functions at work last night the main bar area where I worked was pretty quiet by 10:00 PM. I punched out just before 11:00 PM because I wasn’t really needed and I wanted to be able to head home to take care of some things before my departure. After I clocked out I decided to stick around for a bit to have a beer with my co-workers, something I don’t normally get to do because I work until close.

Anyway, I was sitting at the table when I suddenly noticed my father approaching. This was somewhat of a surprise as I had not expected to see him. It turns out that his flight from Ottawa to Halifax was turned around over the destination and then re-routed to beautiful Montreal.

My dad joined me and my co-workers for a few drinks. The result was that I did not leave as early as I had originally intended. All in all it was a pleasant evening, even if it did not go as expected.

-The pigeon couple was back on the building across from me today. I was able to get some footage to demonstrate the behaviour patterns I have observed with these two. If I get a chance in the next few days I will try to put it on YouTube with a link here.