I haven’t posted here for a while, due to a little distraction:
Meet Shawnee
That people who volunteer at cat shelters sometimes end up with new pets isn’t much of a surprise. But I was resisting the lure pretty well, until Jean started to waver—even though he only knew of Shawnee based on my descriptions (and a few cell phone photos).
Shawnee at the shelter
Shawnee had been at the shelter from the first day I volunteered, but I only really noticed her some months later, after she got some extensive dental work done. This left her with no teeth whatsoever, but also, with an altered personality. Whereas previously she’d been at best aloof, at worst cranky, she became very friendly and affectionate. From my perspective, all of a sudden this little tabby cat was coming up to me for pets and face rubs.
By summer (I started volunteering in January), she was added to the shelter adoption list. (Not all the cats under this shelter’s care are considered adoptable.) Shawnee was about six years old, and had been at shelter for about two years. Previous to that, she’d been a colony cat. She was part of a TNR (trap/neuter/release) program, only they decided to not release her (despite clipping her ear). She was at the Humane Society for a while, then brought over to Pet Patrol.
I didn’t particularly need another cat, so I fairly relieved to hear, a couple months later, that she had a prospective adopter. This person took their time deciding, but finally did bring Shawnee home. It was funny to not see her at the shelter, but I was happy for her…
…until my next volunteer shift, when she was back at the shelter. Turns out she’d spent all her time at her new home hiding in a closet. After four days, she was returned.
Jean and I hemmed and hawed about it through the fall, but finally in January, we went out to see her. And brought her back home.
Though the standard advice is to let the new cat be completely on their own in a dedicated room after adoption, given Shawnee’s history of always living with lots of cats, they suggested she could meet ours after a day or two. And indeed, the meetings generally went well. Mac was a little dubious at first, and she had to make some moves to win him over. But she generally did.
Mac and Shawnee in her room
Gus seemed pretty enamored of her. She wasn’t quite as sure about him, but seemed OK as long as he kept a little distance.
Shawnee and Gus, keeping some space
Shawnee was getting comfortable with us (she already knew me, which helped), seemed OK with the cats, and was starting to explore the rest of the house. It seemed as though we’d have this whole adoption thing settled in a couple of weeks.
I’d sometimes feel a little prickly when people would ask what I planned to do when I retired. For one thing, how do I know, really, until I actually have that extra 37.5 hours per week? For another thing, I figured some of the things I expected I’d be doing wouldn’t sound interesting to other people.
Some things I’ve done:
Made a tiny apple pie (just as much work as a full-size pie, fyi)
Tried out Jean’s ebike to see whether I like certain features for myself
Finally switched out my Windows 10 PC for a Windows 11 one
Researched a suitable cat food substitute for a flavor that’s been discontinued
Are you not entertained?
I have a habit of overthinking regardless, but I hadn’t quite realized that so many things could be re-thought. Like, what time should I set the alarm? Does doing groceries once a week still make sense? How long should my workouts be? Do I have French press coffee every day now? (Answers so far: I’ll try adjusting it every three weeks or so to roughly match sunrise; no, every six days works better; slightly longer than before, unless I’m too busy or tired that day; and no, on busier mornings I’ll go with filtered coffee.)
We aren’t planning a big trip yet; just some small trips.
But, I have done a few local things that are more interesting to describe.
Fun with physics
Waterloo is home to the Perimeter Institute (PI) for Theoretical Physics, which Jean likes to take pictures of. They periodically have free public lectures. I hadn’t been in years, but decided to sign up for one called “How the Universe Ends”, by Dr. Katie Mack, both because that sounded interesting, and because I follow Dr. Mack on Bluesky (where she’s astrokatie), and I think she’s cool.
Not a recent shot of the Perimeter Institute; it’s been quite nice and warm here lately!
The talks are now held at the nearby Centre for International Governance rather than at PI, which allows for more attendants. They also livestream them. Nevertheless, the event was still sold out.
It’s always mind-blowing (for me, anyway) to be reminded that our planet is just one of several big rocks rotating around one star among billions of stars in one galaxy among billions of galaxies that comprise an ever-expanding universe—and we’re not sure whether there’s only one of those.
The talk wasn’t about when and how the Earth will end (as that isn’t too much of a mystery), but the universe. There are several theories about that. Dr. Mack outlined four of them, all in a very entertaining fashion. (And for public health fans wondering, yes, she gave her talk while wearing an N95 mask.)
About a week after that, Jean and I went to the Princess Cinema to see a free movie sponsored by PI that Dr. Mack had mentioned in her talk: Particle Fever. This documentary was about the development of the Hadron Collider, which led to the discovery of the Bose Hickson particle. That might sound dry, but in fact, it was so fascinating! Even the woman introducing it (who was from PI, I assume?) commented that she was so surprised how good this movie was.
We knew that two people were going to be available to take questions afterward, but I hadn’t realized that the two people would be the film director and one of the physicists featured in the documentary. (I had thought it would just be generic physicists from PI.) Getting their insights into the making of this film was really cool as well. It took four years and, going in, they had no idea if the Collider would even work and, if it did, what it might uncover. The Hickson particle was discovered three years into filming, requiring a complete re-edit of the whole thing and another year of footage.
Feeding the world
Or, feeding a few beings in my little corner of the world, anyway.
I’m still doing cat shelter volunteering, at slightly increased frequency, though I haven’t picked a regular day per week, preferring to select based on what else is going on that week crossed with when they seem to need people most. Going there more often makes it easier to keep up with the kitty population and any changes in the care routine. I’m also getting to know a few of the other volunteers.
In the foreground is Shawnie, my little buddy. She used to be considered un-adoptable as she was so grouchy. Turns out she just had really sore teeth. Now she’s toothless and an absolute sweetheart.
Hansen, recuperating in his cage, was very sweet, full of purrs and head-butts. But his blankies and towels all seemed to be somewhat damp. Not smelly, though. And his water dish was really low. So perhaps a bit of water bowl spillage.
Following the morning protocol, I removed his food and water dishes, and replaced them with new ones, topped up. But before putting those back in the cage, I gathered up all his damp bedding and replaced each of those. Litter scooped, a few more pets doled out, then I gave him his new food and water dishes, and closed the cage door.
Whereupon he flicked, flicked, flicked almost all the water out of the dish and onto his newly installed bedding.
That was on my first day volunteering for Pet Patrol, the cat rescue organization from whom we acquired Gus and Mac (and previously, Zoë, McSteamy, and Mocha). Some cats in cages, but most were just loose in the sanctuary, and all seemed a bit crazed with energy after a night without people. It was a flurry of litter scooping, cage cleaning, food exchanging, and floor mopping, with just a side of cat petting.
I solved my Hansen dilemma by not immediately restoring the water dish after providing him with yet another set of dry blankets and towels. I snuck the water bowl in later, when Hansen had settled for a nap.
My next shift was in the evening, and the cats were much more mellow then. There was still a certain amount of crazy-ness, as several were heading to surgery the next day, and had to be given canned food to make sure they got a fill of food before their dry food was taken away overnight. Might not sound complicated, but remember that there are tons of cats loose who are not getting canned food—but would like some.
My third shift, also an evening, was the quietest yet. Newcomers included a couple ferals temporarily being sheltered from the extreme cold. There was no point in trying to socialize them, but I was getting to know a few of the others.
So far, it has not been difficult trying to resist the lure of adopting one of these babies myself. It probably helps that there’s been a slow but steady stream of adoptions occurring. But it’s also true that Gus and Mac are enough for us right now.
Gus says hi.
I also heard from Mask Bloc WR recently, asking me if I’d like to join in their latest meeting. Per Mask Bloc. org,
Blocs are formed when individuals or groups unite around a common goal. Blocs can take many forms, ranging from voting and political pressure groups, to advocacy groups and mutual aid organizations.
Mask Blocs are independent mutual aid group providing high quality masks to their community for free. They may also provide other tools and information about COVID-19, clean air, testing, vaccination and accessibility.
I’d been hearing about them in various cities, and it seemed like an interesting thing to try to help out with. At the meeting (which was virtual), I learned that the Waterloo Region group, which is relatively small, has been making high-quality masks available to those who want them but can’t afford them for some time now. They have a number of community locations, but will also deliver for people who can’t easily get to those.
From https://www.instagram.com/p/DD2ZBEEOG1D/. I’m personally excited about this service, as I do have some guilt about all my disposable masks ending up in landfill. Now they won’t!
Recently, they have also expanded to providing rapid tests. The challenge there is that while the masks get donated to them (by the companies who make them), the tests are not. So they need to focus more on fund-raising now. Not really my forte, but they have other initiatives and ideas:
Holding more COVID-safe events (one of which is happening tonight!)
Providing assistance to those suffering from serious Long COVID
Doing more advocacy and research
During the meeting, the subject of the current Ontario election came up, and they noticed that I was able to rattle off various political facts and events rather easily. They asked if I could come up with a list of the Ford government record in this area, for potential use on their Instagram.
I did, though I did not really see how what I provided could be “Instagram-able”. It was stuff like this:
August 2022 Ontario eliminates the mandatory five-day isolation rules for people with COVID-19. (8)
September 2022 The Ontario Science table working group, which advised the government on COVID protections, is disbanded. (9)
November 2022 The Chief Medical Officer of Ontario requests that Ontarians mask in indoor settings to assist overwhelmed children’s hospitals. (10) Most Conservative MPPs refuse to do so in the Legislature. All opposition members wear masks. (11)
December 2022 Statistics Canada reveals that 2022 was Canada’s and Ontario’s deadliest COVID year, and also the year with the highest number of COVID hospitalizations. (12)
March 2023 The Ontario government ends a program that gave workers’ access to three paid sick days.
(Covering not the early pandemic years, but the subsequent ones.)
We miss your cuddles, the head-butting so powerful it could almost knock you over, the purring that you learned to do, the insistent meowing for attention that you also learned to do, those deep kitten sleeps of yours, your determined hunting of toy mice, your favorite spot in the middle of everything, your appreciation of sunlight and a warm fire, and even your habit of batting anything in your way onto the floor. Zoë is not so sure that she misses you stealing her food.
But we’re all glad that you’re not suffering anymore.
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