Day39: Did I do that?

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day39: Did I do that?

I have a little magnet calendar on my fridge. Every day it shows a cute cat or kitten, or a quote. 

Yesterday it was this ...

Today it’s this ...

And yesterday it was a quote by Chris Evans:

“Cats are an example of peace and tranquility”

Hm, no offense to Chris Evans but she obviously has never met Halley and Greyson. Oh the both of them are peaceful and tranquil when they’re asleep, but when they’re awake ... hold on to your hat.

Take this morning for instance. The both of them were racing around the place at full tilt. They sprinted from the bedroom through the living room onto the balcony, only to return from the balcony via the kitchen, into the living room and back to the bedroom.

Charlotte and Holly stayed out of their way, as did I, because – not having breaks on their paws – they are an accident waiting for a place to happen.

Charlotte

Holly

Usually, nothing happens, Halley and Greyson eventually get tired and go to sleep. Today was different.

The balcony door had been open all morning. When I went to shower, I closed the door because I don’t like to leave them unsupervised. The balcony is perfectly safe, protected by double netting, but still, you never know what could happen.

Having finished my shower and morning routine, I came into the kitchen, Greyson saw me and got such a fright that he took off like an arrow from a bow and ran straight into the screen door. It’s a good thing I hadn’t closed the glass door, or he could have been hurt.

As it was, when he saw what he did he sped to by bedroom, dived under the bed and stayed there for a good ten minutes. When I went to check on him, the poor thing sat there with eyes as big as tea saucers.

I tried to coax him to come out but ah ah, he was having none of it. Eventually, he left his hiding place, slowly, carefully, placing one dainty paw in front of another. It’s never taken him that long to get from the bedroom to the living room.

When he went to take a look at the balcony screen door, or rather where the balcony screen door used to be, it was with a lot of sniffing and head bobbing. He gave a good impression of Steve Urkel’s ... Did I do that?

Day 110: A Visit to Home Depot

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 110: A Visit to Home Depot

Now that spring has finally sprung in Toronto, Dieter and I took a trip to Home Depot to buy flowers for the balcony. It’s a trip that I love, although it’s also a bit frustrating. There are so many flowers to choose from, but that I can’t have because many them are toxic to cats. Since I put safety before beauty I stick to petunias.

The petunias were on special actually with a sign that said ‘2 for $11’. I couldn’t believe my luck, two whole trays for $11! As it turned out, the sign was a bit misleading. It wasn’t two trays for $11, it was two baskets for $11 and each tray contained three baskets.

In addition, we also bought two hanging baskets with petunias, a basil plant (because I love, love, love basil), two tomato plants and potting soil.

Total cost: $135.

Before leaving Home Depot we also looked at a new chandelier for the dining room. The chandelier we have in the dining room now is beautiful, but a big pain in the you know where. It’s one of those crystal chandeliers with lots and lots of bells and cleaning them takes hours and hours.

First, the chandelier has to be disassembled, then I wash the bells in hot water with detergent, then to give the bells their shine I rub each individual one with lemon juice, and then the chandelier has to be assembled again. Like I said, it’s a pain, so we decided to look for something else.

While Home Depot had a number of nice chandeliers on display, none of them actually stood out. A few of them were very nice but were made up of crystal bells, and I’m not falling for those again.

Next, we wanted to look at ceramic tiles for the kitchen and balcony. Dieter found some very nice tiles for a reasonable price, but before buying, he would have to measure both areas to know how many square meters we need to cover.

While in the tile section, we also looked at backsplash tiles for the kitchen and that’s where I got into a spot of trouble. I saw some beautiful white and blue glass subway style tiles and got all excited because the price was a mere $5,99. I was all ready to put the tiles in the trolley when Dieter took a closer look. The price of the tiles was not $5,99 per box, but $5,99 per tile. Oh, well that changed things a bit.

It got better though, before leaving Home Depot, I went to look at the kitchen displays. With the first one I saw it was love at first sight: beautiful white cabinets, a generous granite sink, drawers that smoothly opened and closed, it was a dream. I looked at the price tag and saw $2,000. Hm, a bit expensive for six cabinets and a sink.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” I turned to Dieter.

“It is,” he nodded, “but way out of our price range.

“$2,000 isn’t that bad,” I said. “It looks like really good quality.”

“$2,000? Mom put your glasses on,” he said. “This kitchen isn’t $2,000, it’s $20,000!”

Since I couldn’t believe that this kitchen could cost that much I dug into my bag for my glasses and had another look … Dieter was right, these six cabinets and sink were indeed $20,000. OMG!

A cab took us home, we lugged the flowers and soil upstairs and placed everything on the balcony. The soil on the ground, the trays with petunias on the ledge and the baskets on hooks in the ceiling.

And would you believe it, Halley was scared of the baskets. More than just scared, she was petrified. She was fine with the soil and immediately rolled around on the bag. She didn’t mind the trays with petunias, whom she sniffed. But the baskets … oh no, she wanted nothing to do with those.

Dieter picked her up to let her get acquainted with the flowers and … oh no, she struggled to get out of his grip. 

Fortunately, her fear didn’t last long. After only a few days she realized that those flowers meant her no harm and now she quite okay again to go out on the balcony and enjoy the sun. She loves to roll around on the floor and would you believe it, her white coat stays spotless. You try doing that in a white outfit …

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Someone's nose is out of joint

Hi there. The other day Holly had her say and today it’s my turn. My name is Mickey and as you can see, I’m a tuxedo cat.

Holly’s nose is still a little out of joint because she wasn’t allowed out on the balcony to (possibly) catch one of the baby finches. In the meantime, the situation hasn’t improved. All five finches are gone and she didn’t get any of them.

For a while she had high hopes. Around 6:00 p.m. the parent finches were twittering up a storm. They didn’t just chirp, they sang and made one hell of a noise. It got so loud they actually woke me up, so I went to take a look.

Mama and papa finch were sitting on the balcony netting, but instead of flying in to feed the remaining two babies, they stayed there. I didn’t understand a word they were saying, but it sounded like they were encouraging the babies to come out of the nest.

Sure enough, one of them popped its head out, hopped on the rim of the nest, spread its wings and … flew right smack into the netting. He fell into the petunias and sat there, dazed, no doubt wondering what the hell happened.

So Dieter went out and talked to the little one. 

At this point Holly joined me by the netting of the balcony door and I knew what she was thinking … he’s gonna catch that bird for me. Yes, yes, yes, oh thank you, thank you, thank you!

Dieter indeed caught the little one, but instead of presenting it to Holly to eat, he set it free. Holly watched the scene with growing alarm … what is he doing? He wouldn’t! He couldn’t! No, no, no, no, no!!! Oh no, there goes my dinner.

Calm down, I told her, it’s after six, in a little while we’ll get our food and from what I’ve seen we’re getting chicken in gravy. Why do you want a bird anyway? You have to catch it, kill it, and before you get to the meat you have to get through the feathers and it’s hell to get those out of your teeth.

How would you know, Holly snapped, you’ve never caught a bird in your life. She had me there. It’s true, I’ve never caught a bird, or anything else for that matter, not even a fly. I’ve been told that I talk too much. You know, that chattering sound cats make when they see something. That’s me, mister chatterbox.

Anyway, after Dieter had released the first baby bird, the second one was gonna give it a go. That one didn’t do much better. He too flew from the nest and landed in the petunias. As Dieter tried to catch him, he fluttered away, only to land in the basil plant. Dieter eventually did catch him and in cupped hands showed the bird to Conny.

That’s where things went wrong. She wanted to take a picture (she wants to take a picture of everything). Not that there was much to see, just a little feathered head poking out of two hands. As she was getting ready to snap the shot, the bird wriggled his way out of Dieter’s hands and escaped. Now the catching could start all over again.

To cut a long story short, Dieter caught the little bugger and set that one free too. Now all the finches were gone. Holly was none too pleased but I’m sure she’ll get over it.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

They've hatched - finches update

On April 4^th I reported that a couple of finches had chosen my 11th-floor balcony to build a nest. Since then I have posted regular updates on the building of the nest and the number of eggs. First, there was one, then two, and eventually six.

Yesterday we heard a distinct squeaking. It wasn’t the familiar twittering of Mr. or Mrs. Bird, it was none melodic and much softer.

We suspected that the young ones had hatched, but going out on the balcony to take a look was out of the question. Mama was sitting on her nest and we didn’t want to frighten her.

This morning though mama took a break, or went in search for food, as she left the nest and took off. We took the opportunity to snap a picture. Aren’t they cute? Six little fuzzballs. 

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Wondering about the intelligence of birds

I’ve come to wonder about the intelligence of finches. A pair of them is making a nest on my balcony.

If my balcony were like any other balcony, I would say okay, it’s a perfectly nice spot for them, but it isn’t. I live on the 11^th floor of a condo building with 192 units, which means 192 balconies. 20 of those balconies are fitted with netting, to keep pets and children safe.

This means that this pair of birds had 172 balconies to choose from to make their nest, but no, they apparently like a challenge because they choose my netting fitted balcony. They have found a way to get in and out and have been flying to and from a place where they get materials for their nest.

For a couple of days Mr. Finch came to check the place out first, then he brought Mrs. Finch and apparently she approved. They were twittering up a storm, pecking their way through the netting to take a closer look and since that day have been flying in and out to prepare a home for their expected little finches.

Why do I doubt their intelligence … because I have four cats! Two of them, Charlotte and Gabriel couldn’t care less about these tiny birds, but with the other two, Mickey and Holly, the birds have their full attention. They sit on the ledge of the balcony, waiting for the couple to visit, licking their lips in anticipation.

Do the birds care? Not at all. They land on the netting, move their heads sideways to look at the cats, and proceed to come inside anyway to land on this wrath, the place they’ve chosen to make a nest.

Why couldn’t they have gone someplace else? A place more easily accessible and without the threat of cats?

When I looked online there are several ways to attract finches, two of them, placing feeders in easily accessible places and providing them with a water bowl. I didn’t do either of these things, yet to me, the finches come.

------------

Meanwhile, don't forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue. Shelter cats need your help. Any amount is appreciated but donations of $20 or more receive a tax receipt.

Donations can be made to my PayPal address at:
conny.manero@gmail.com
or at
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/toronto-cat-rescue/bowlathon/team/thebirds/mem

A side order of pigeon?

I’m doing cat aerobics this morning. Have you ever tried cat aerobics, it’s quite demanding. Let me explain.

Yesterday afternoon a pigeon landed on our balcony. This might not seem like a momentous occasion to you, but have a look at the picture above … do you see that? The entire balcony is enclosed with mesh. First a fine nylon mesh, and for extra strength a thick green plastic mesh.

So how did a pigeon manage to penetrate this fortress of security … it sat on top of the nylon mesh, near the Christmas lights, and as the mesh sagged under its weight, it discovered a way to slip in.

Fortunately for the bird, the cats were not on the balcony at the time. Just imagine what would have happened if they were! They would have chased it, it would have panicked, and ultimately it might have been killed.

As it was, the bird flew to the top of the canopy of the swing and sat there for a while, then fancied a walk on the floor, followed by an inspection of the windows and various places of the mesh. He was clearly looking for a way out.

Just when I thought I would have to go outside and give the bird directions, it flew to the top of the mesh, and used the opening created under its weight to escape.

I heaved a sigh relief.

This morning though the bird was back, and this is where the cat aerobics came in. This time Holly and Mickey were outside, so every time the bird landed on the mesh, I had to get up to shoo the pigeon away.

As the bird kept coming back and back, I had to get up and down, and up and down, and up and down. It was exhausting.

How could this bird, who was smart enough to find a way in and out of a mesh enclosed balcony be stupid enough to keep coming back to a place where two cats were just waiting to catch and kill it?

It had seen the cats, I know that because I saw the bird looking down and cocking its head from left to right as if wondering what those big hairy things were. Had it never seen a cat before? Was it not familiar with the fact that cats chase and eat birds?

Was it hoping that the cats had been fed and wouldn’t be hungry enough for a side order of pigeon? In that case, I had news for the bird … they had been fed, but after the main course comes dessert.

If the bird though Holly and Mickey wouldn’t be fast enough to catch it, I had news for Mr. or Ms. pigeon. Just the other day I saw Holly in action after she had spotted a fly on the balcony.

She chased it from one end to the other, keeping her eye firmly on the insect. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, she whacked the fly with her paw and the fly flew no more.

I have no doubt that she would have pursued the pigeon just as diligently and in that case it would have been bye bye birdie.

As it is, the pigeon finally got the message and flew away. Holly and Mickey witnessed his departure with obvious disappointment and me, I could finally stay seated and have a little peace and quiet.

Doorman wanted

With the rise of temperatures, I decided to let the cats out. The poor things have been cooped up since November and were in desperate need of some fresh air.

As soon as Holly heard the balcony door opening, she came charging through the living room and went nose first into the screen door. Apparently she’d forgotten that in addition to a glass door, the balcony has a screen door with netting.

Holly was followed by Mickey, Gabriel, Chanel and Charlotte. That Charlotte went out came as a bit of a surprise to me, because in general Charlotte is not a fan of the great outdoors.

Having the balcony door open felt a little chilly for me though, so I closed it. No sooner was the door closed or the door games started.

Mickey wanted to come in.

Gabriel wanted to come in.

Mickey wanted to go out.

Chanel wanted to come in.

Mickey wanted to come in.

Charlotte wanted to come in.

Mickey wanted to go out.

While the cats went in and out, and in and out, it was up and down and up and down for me. Every time I sat down, someone wanted to come in or go out. These cats needed a doorman.

After a while I decided to ignore Chanel, who would sit by the door, waiting to go out yet again. When I remained seated, she turned with bedroom eyes and a look that said … “Pleeeeeeeease.” Oh alright them, and I was up again.

Ignoring Mickey, who wanted to come in wasn’t possible either. If I took too long getting up, he would meow as if to say … “Hurry up already!”

All things considered, Gabriel was the least trouble. He was happy to sit by the door and sniff the fresh air. 

April fools day

Did you make an April fool of someone yesterday?  I did.

I programmed my cellphone’s alarm for 3:00, 3:15 and 3:30 a.m. and hid it in my son’s room.  Now don’t imagine this to be easy.

For starters, I didn’t know how to program the alarm on my phone, he had to show me.  At the time, he had no idea of course that I was planning to use this device to wake him up three times in a row.

Once the alarm was set I had to get the phone into his room, which was no picnic either.  Dieter was on his computer and stayed there.  He made a short trip to the kitchen to get something to eat and drink, but that didn’t take long enough for me to sneak into his room.  Didn’t he ever have to go to the bathroom?

Eventually I heard the bathroom door close and I sprang into action.  I grabbed the phone, sprinted to his room and briefly considered where to plant the phone.  I didn’t have much time, so I had to act quickly.

Hearing the toilet flush I shoved the phone under the cat blanked on the floor and then quick as lightning disappeared back into the living room.  Pfffh, that was close.

The trick worked like a charm (sort of) (or so I heard this morning).  The alarm went off at 3:00 and at 3:15 a.m. but didn’t get the chance to go off again at 3:30.  After being woken up a second time Dieter switched the alarm off.  Party pooper.

So I cooked up another trick.  I opened a gmail account under the name of Barbara and sent Dieter an email.  Just to clarify, Barbara is the president of the condo building where we live.  The email read:

Hi Dieter,

Your neighbors have seen a lot of pigeon activity on your balcony.

Did you know that YCC is offering FREE balcony fencing?

Contact Vajita at management office to choose your type of fencing any time before 3:00 p.m.

Barbara

Free?  Did someone say free?  Dieter put on his shoes and off he went to “choose” the free netting.

I guess everyone loves a bargain.

Love Thy Neighbor ...

Love thy neighbor the good book says. Yeah well, right now I don’t feel much love for my neighbor, in fact, if I could get my hands on him I could lovingly throw him a good beating. This guy is a major pain in the you know where.

A few weeks ago soapy water was flooding our balcony. No the water did not come from the heavens above, it came from the balcony of my upstairs neighbor.
We called the superintendent of our building, he came to have a look and agreed that this had to be stopped. He went to have a word with the upstairs neighbor.

A week later it was the same thing, only now it wasn’t soapy water, it was water heavily laced with bleach. Again we called the superintendent and he again went upstairs.

The result of this soapy and bleach episode was that all my balcony flowers died. Are you surprised? Being ‘watered’ with soap and bleach wasn’t exactly good for their health.

Tonight the watering started again, the water stinking of bleach I might add. When I called the super he refused to do anything about it, said to call the office in the morning as this was not an emergency.

Okay, an emergency it is not, but is he allowed to dump his waste water on our balcony? Maybe I should do the same and see how my downstairs neighbor feel about it.

Talking to the guy doesn’t help. I went up there once and he told me to !@#$ off. Kind a hard to love a neighbor like that, isn’t it?

Condo Viewing

They say that what’s on the inside is far more important than what’s on the outside. Does that just apply to people or to condos as well?

Yesterday we started actively looking for a new place to live and as luck would have it, the first condo we saw was perfect. Well, no, not really perfect, it had a few flaws.

For one, the building is nothing to look at. Once upon a long time ago it may have been a nice building, but its glory days are long gone. It still presents well though ... a rustic lobby; quiet, clean, well maintained corridors, new carpets, even the doors to the condos were beautiful.

The condo we viewed used to belong to a single lady who recently passed away. The moment the door opened I could tell that this was a lady’s residence ... super clean and well maintained with feminine touches everywhere. The furniture, the lamps, paintings, decorations, chandeliers and curtains ... she had created more than just a place to live, she had created a home. It was sort of love at first sight.

If this condo had been on the inside of a new high rise downtown Toronto, buyers would fall over themselves to get their hands on it. Unfortunately it isn’t, the building is old and in Scarborough. What’s worse, with bladdering paint on the balconies it's showing signs of age.

There are other down points too: no air-conditioning (we would have to buy our own units for the living room and bedrooms) and no private washer and dryer (we would have to use the shared machines on the ground floor). In addition the condo hasn’t got much of a view.

You might think that a view is not very important, but if you’re used to being able to see for miles and miles, including the skyline of Toronto, a condo overlooking a parking lot is something to get used to.

Still, it is a beautiful condo, for a very good price.

Is our search over before it even began, or does it continue?

Can real estate agents read?

We had some excitement this morning.

While having breakfast I suddenly heard the sound of dripping water on the balcony. Was it raining? No, it was our upstairs neighbor’s balcony leaking water for some reason.

This has happened before, but not as severe as this morning. On previous occasions there was just a bit of dripping of water. At the time I thought our neighbor was watering his plants and our balcony was the recipient of a little excess.

This morning it was quite different. The dripping changed into pouring and what pooled on the balcony floor wasn’t clear, but soapy water. To the best of my knowledge nobody tends to their flowers with soap and water. Within no time my balcony flowers were ‘knee deep’ in the soapy stuff and it was time to do something.

I considered going upstairs and asking my neighbor what was going on, when I remembered going up there to ask him to stop banging on the walls at all hours of the day.
His reply at the time was ‘Shut up’, followed by slamming the door in my face.

So, this time I played it smart ... I called the superintendent of our building and he could take care of the soapy problem.

The super took one look at the flooded balcony and went straight upstairs. Minutes later the downpour stopped.
Problem solved. No idea what caused it though.


As for an update on the real estate problem ... I'm wondering about estate agents' intelligence.

Now that we are in the market for a new place to live, I went on the Remax and Centure 21 websites and completed their little questionnaire regarding what kind of new property we are looking for.

I selected condos, townhouses, lofts and houses as possibilities, with the must have of: A/C, close to public transportation and pets allowed. Within 24 hours a representative of Century 21 sent me a message with two possible condos he found.
Both of them had no A/C, were miles away from public transportation and had a no pets allowed policy.

Makes you kind of wonder, doesn’t it.

On the balcony

Aah this is the life. For a change this is not written under the Toronto sun, but under the Toronto moon and stars.

Although it has cooled off tonight and we have three fans going, it is still stifling warm inside.

While watering the flowers on the balcony, I felt how nice and cool it was outside, so I decided to move to the balcony with my laptop. It is so much better here.
Nice view too.

On my left are two neighboring buildings where it seems most of the occupants have gone to sleep as windows are dark. Here and there, there still are some lit up windows though.

In front of me is the building’s park, now completely deserted. Beyond the park is a pond, also deserted. There used to be ducks and geese, but I haven’t seen or heard them in a long long time. Beyond the pond is a residential area, now covered in darkness but dotted here and there with white and orange lights. Street lights I presume.

On my right is a railway, a townhouse complex, a bingo hall and a soccer field. And beyond that, some 25 miles away, the skyline of Toronto with the CN tower as the most noticeable light beacon.

Aah it’s so peaceful and quiet here, this balcony would be the perfect place to sleep.