Well, that was fun… NOT

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Today has actually been a very beautiful day. It’s past 4pm as I write this, and we’re at a lovely 5C/41F, with a “real feel” of 9C/48F.

After yesterday and a very painful and sleepless night, the girls took care of the morning outdoor routine for me, so I could sleep in.

Which I mostly did.

One of the things the girls didn’t do was turn on the shop light in the basement for the seedlings. The new full spectrum lights are on a timer, but the seedlings on the higher shelf are lit only by the shop light, and that needs to be turned on manually.

Which is when I discovered the mess.

Part of my routine when turning the lights over the seedlings in the “new” basement, is to check things in the “old” basement. That is where the pumps, pipes, furnace and hot water tank is, as well as the old laundry sink where I refill the watering can.

One of the thinks I check is the floor drain. Not every day, but at least every other day. The floor drain is where I can see if there is any water flowing from the weeping tile under the new basement – or if anything is backing up again from the septic tank it drains into. Especially since I’d found the septic starting to back up, not that long ago.

With all the stuff with the cats yesterday morning, I didn’t even go into the basement until I got back, and I hadn’t gone into the old basement at all, so it had been a couple of days since I checked.

This morning, I found the floor was wet around the floor drain and the access pipe next to the septic pump.

I spent the next considerable while working to get it unclogged. We have the commercial drain auger, which I don’t even bother to turn on. I can work the auger but through without having to plug the machine in over a wet floor. I also have a hose hooked up to what used to be the cold water tap for the washing machine, before the laundry got moved upstairs, into the entry, as we were moving out here (my younger daughter helped my brother set it up, before my older daughter and I drove out weeks later).

Today was the hardest fight I’ve had yet, getting that auger bit through the clog. Once I’d punched through, I ran the hose in, but it was still clogged up enough for the water to start backing up instead of draining, so I switched back and forth between the two a few times before I could tell I’d finally cleared it. The clog wasn’t even at the bottle neck that things usually get caught up in but, from how much line I ran through, it was plugged right where it opens into the septic tank. It will need to be emptied soon, but there’s so much snow on the ground, it will probably be another month at least before we can have that done. It’s not just waiting for the snow to clear, but for the ground to not be too saturated, or the truck will just sink into the ground.

Once I did finally break through and I’d cleared from the access pipe to the tank, I had to clear the pipe through the floor drain. It was plugged all the way to the where it connected with the weeping tile!

It took quite a while to get it clear, and then I kept the hose running, as far out as it could reach, until I could see the water running past the drain was clear.

Then I did the drain from the access pipe again.

Then the floor drain again.

Part of our problem is, we don’t use enough water. We’re on borrowed time with the well pump and, while we have a “spare” my brother got a few years ago, no plumber has been willing to risk installing it, because the foot valve seems to be leaking, too. Switching it out could cause it to break up and we would lose water completely. The pipes to the well are not the same size as what is standard today, so getting what is needed to fix it would be difficult to find. We’ve actually been told we should “just” have a new well dug, as that would be easier.

Not to mention many thousands of dollars more expensive!

So we try to use as little water as possible, for less wear and tear on the well pump, which means there isn’t enough water flowing to clear the areas that clog.

Ironically, if we were able to drain the washing machine into the plumbing as normal, instead of out the window in the door, that would probably solve our problem. Unfortunately, the new washing machine drains faster than the water can flow through the first 20 or so feet of pipe, though. After having it back up and overflow onto the entry floor and down the basement steps a few times, we just run the hose out the door instead. My brother is looking at replacing that section of pile with larger pipe to solve that problem, but that is months into the future, if it gets done at all.

The plumbing here is pretty wild. Which isn’t too surprising, when you consider the original part of the house was built before there was any plumbing, or even electricity, at all.

What a fun way to start the day.

In other things, I’ve been getting updates from the intake person about how the cats are doing, and chatting with the group. Some of the cats have already gone to fosters, including Grommet. He is apparently very lonely, though! Sir Robin has discovered toys and is starting to calm down a bit. He has even allowed some mats to be brushed out.

Poor Sweetie remains terrified and has been hiding out in a cat tunnel. Frank is still incredibly angry. Blot, on the other hand, has been an absolute doll. Given her condition, I expect her to need the most vet care and will certainly need to gain more weight before she can be spayed.

They’re still talking about getting Bug and Furriosa, but they both now run away as soon as they see me.

I have already done the evening cat feeding and was able to send them a couple of videos.

In the photo above is Adam, Mochrie, Fancy Pants, Hypotenose and, in the back, a very pregnant Slick.

They’re also talking about taking Flopsy and Curtis. Flopsy was neutered at the same time as Grommet and Sir Robin, but Curtis is still intact – and insanely friendly! If we hadn’t been after the girls, he would have been very easy to get, yesterday. In one of the videos I sent, Curtis was being very, very friendly – and in another, I was able able to pet a very friendly Adam!

Friendly only when the food is there. Otherwise, we can’t approach her.

As I write this, the intake person is at Princess Auto, looking at welding gloves and possibly a helmet, as protection from Frank and Sweetie. !!!

My other goal of the day had been to go to the town north of us with our tax stuff, but that will have to wait until next week. I wasn’t up to going anywhere, and I will need to go to town to get my husband’s insulin tomorrow. I did call the garage today and left a message, but they didn’t return my call. I forgot to try again before they closed.

The problem is with the oil pressure gauge dropping at a rate that would have alarms going off before we get much further than the two nearest towns. A city trip would be out of the question. The truck might be just fine, but I can’t be driving it once those alarms and flashing warnings start going off. However, when we were dealing with the oil leaks and the sensor before, at one point it had simply stopped working. The gauge stayed at zero and didn’t move – and no alarms were going off. In my message, I bought that up and wondered if there was some way to basically turn off the sensor until they could find the replacement they’re looking for. I would just need to check my oil levels more often.

They are open for shorter hours tomorrow, so if I time it right, I can swing by and talk to someone directly before I go to the pharmacy.

Meanwhile, we are expected to continue to have lovely weather – with tomorrow night being the first night in the forecast with overnight lows that will stay above freezing!! Things are going to get very wet and messy over the next while.

The moat around the garage is already starting to form. 😄

Old Man Winter looks to have finally let go.

Finally!

The Re-Farmer

Six… with help

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The goal for this morning was to get at least 7, hopefully 8, cats into carriers to be taken to the rescue in the city.

Of course, things didn’t work out as planned.

My daughter and I prepped the carriers and started with the morning feeding, so they were all around the house. Frank was the one we weren’t sure we’d be able to get, given her past escapes, so she was the first one we tried for.

My daughter got her into a carrier way faster than expected!

Frank was NOT happy, once that door was closed!

Sir Robin and Grommet went into the largest carrier together. They were pretty easy to get.

We knew Domino and Blot would be fairly easy, so we tried to focus on Bug, Furriosa and Sweetie.

They were in the isolation shelter, and did not want to get got. Domino and Blot ended up in their own carriers; we’d planned to put Bug and Blot together.

When it became clear they were getting way to stressed, we paused for a while. After making sure the occupied carriers were set near the warmth of the heat lamps, I went to check the oil level on the truck. It was fine. Then I opened the gate and realized I would need to clear the end of the driveway again. The plow went by last night but it didn’t leave a plow ridge. It went by fast enough that the snow was sent flying about half way to the gate!

Still deep enough that it needed to be clear.

By the time that was done, we tried again to get the cats. In the end, my daughter was able to snag Sweetie, but that was the limit. Bug and Furriosa would no longer allow us anywhere near them! I actually got Bug into a carrier twice, but she managed to squeeze through the door before I could close it. That little one is FAST!!

It was a lot earlier than we’d talked about, so I grabbed some breakfast and got on the group chat with the rescue. I let them know the status of things, and that we would not be able to get Bug and Furriosa this time – but that we did get Frank – and we worked out some details.

When it came time to leave, I got the truck out of the garage and my daughter started bringing carriers over.

Frank’s nose is looking bloody in that first photo! I think she was trying to shove her face through the door. She was very angry!

Frank’s carrier rode in the front of the cab, while the other four carriers fit in the back. Sweetie and Frank were both pretty upset. The others seemed quite calm. All of them quieted down during the ride in.

I didn’t make it, though.

I am so tired of this truck.

The route I took would take me through the town my mother is in again. Though the road was plowed, parts of it were pretty icy and it was slow going at times.

I kept an eye on that oil pressure gauge. As I drew near my mother’s town, I knew I wouldn’t make it to the city. Not because the truck was breaking down, but because the gauge just kept dropping and dropping. By the time I got to town, it was reaching the line between “normal” and “low”. At the rate it was dropping, I would have had alarms sounding and warnings flashing well before I reached the city. I’ve had to drive with those going off before, for only short distances, and they are pretty extreme. There’s no way I could keep driving with them going off, but it would also freak out the cats!

As soon as I could, I pulled into the parking lot at a gas station and messaged the rescue group. After explaining the problem, there were some back and forthing, and they worked out who could come and meet me.

They are so incredibly awesome!

Then it was just a matter of waiting.

When they reached me, they had a surprise for me. They had to empty the back of their vehicle to make room for the carriers.

Everything but the teal bag in the middle was donations for the kitties! When I got home and unpacked it all, I found 11 smaller bags of kibble, plus the bigger bag you can see on the left of the photo, four more cases of wet cat food like was donated to use last time, a box with cat treats in it, an unopened case of cat milk and… strangely, but still much appreciated… a partial box of large garbage bags. After the cats were picked up, I was going to go to the feed store, just a short drive away, to pick up three 40 pound bags of kibble. I only needed to pick up one more, instead!

With 6 cats gone, we won’t need as much kibble for the outside cats, too.

This was so, so awesome of them! It’s such a huge help.

We talked for a while, as they were asking about the truck problems, while moving the carriers. It’s so very frustrating, because the truck checked out just fine. When I mentioned that the sensor had already been replaced twice, but they weren’t GM brand, they both reacted in a very knowing way. Apparently, they were both quite familiar with this sort of brand v off brand issue!

Once the cats were safely tucked away and they left, I got a bit of gas ($1.799/L right now), then went to the feed store and got the one bag of kibble. Then, since I was in town and it’s becoming an issue, I went to visit my mother. The hospital the TCU is in was just a few blocks away, too.

After her phone call last night, I was not sure how the visit would go. When I got to her room, though, I had to wait a while, as a new resident was being brought in to the second bed. Once things were clear, I went to my mother, who was napping, and gently woke her up. She was very surprised to see me – and seemed very appreciative, too.

We ended up going to the common room to talk while her new neighbour was settled in. My mother made some eye rolling gestures about her getting a new room mate.

There was another resident in the room when we got there and he joined our conversation for a bit before leaving. After he left, my mother told me about her previous room mate.

It turns out she’d had a fall, and her nose was all bloody. She got herself up but didn’t use the call bell. My mother said she didn’t do anything, because she didn’t want to get involved. ??? In the morning, when the staff found her room mate (who is also 94 years old) was injured, there was a lot of fussing and commotion. The doctor even came over and tended to her.

Then he left.

My mother started to complain that he didn’t talk to her or check on her at all. I said, of course not. He had an injured patient he was tending to! Oh, but he should have talked to her after. I said he would have had to go back to his schedule as soon as possible.

Oh, you’re taking their side…

Uhm… No. I’m just explaining.

My mother says she’s been asking to see the doctor over and over, because of her breathing. I tried to explain that when the doctor comes by to do his rounds, that’s all he’s doing. If she wants to see him for something specific, she would need to make an appointment.

As we were talking, the subject of her hearing loss also came up, because she was struggling to hear me. In the end, I told her I would go to the nursing station and ask about making an appointment with the doctor, and to see what is available for getting her hearing tested.

In the end, they can’t make an “appointment” with the doctor at the TCU. He does his rounds on Tuesdays, and this place is not the only one he has to check on. They basically have a meeting and go over all the files. It turned out that last week was the first time my mother had specifically told them that she was having troubles breathing at night, so that was the first time it was discussed. The decision was made to change one of her medications from a morning dose to an afternoon dose.

The other issue, however, is simply my mother’s weight. She has her hospital bed set to recline, but she squishes herself down low on the bed, so her upper body isn’t as elevated as it should be. I brought up that what would probably help her a lot would be breast reduction surgery, but there’s no way that’ll be done on a 94 year old. The nurse I was talking to agreed.

As for an appointment with the doctor, we might be able to make one for her at the clinic, which is in the same building, but with her file being reviewed weekly, it didn’t seem like something to do.

I could tell there was definitely some exasperation about my mother from the staff that they were trying not to show. I suspect my mother has not been particularly kind to them.

When I asked about hearing tests, they didn’t think there was anyone in the area that did them. It would likely be something that would be done in the city. The nurse did have a suggestion to try first. It could simply be that my mother’s ears are plugged with wax. They could apply oil for a few days then try to clean her ears.

Returning to my mother, I explained about the doctor, and she basically just rolled her eyes. She does not accept that the doctor is responsible for all the other people in TCU with her, plus he has is own clinic patients. She just wants him to be there to see her, when she wants him to be there. She is pretty open about not caring about anyone else (like her injured former room mate!).

Next, I explained to her about them not knowing if there’s anyone that does hearing tests out here, and it would likely be a city thing. Then I mentioned the suggestion for using oil in her ears to start unblocking them. My mother got quite excited about that. She said, she’d had that done before and it helped her so much, so she thinks it will probably help again.

May it be that simple!

We talked a while longer, and then I headed home. As with the drive in, by the time I reached home, that oil pressure needle just kept on slowly dropping the whole way. It seems that the length of time to drive to town – either our usual town or my mother’s town – is about the limit of how far we can drive and be sure not to set off any warnings and alarms.

*sigh*

With the very generous donation we were given, I backed up to the house to unload. The truck handled the deeper snow I hadn’t cleared away quite well – the new differential is doing its job! Though it was early, I did have to feed the outside cats, just to get them away from the truck so I could park it.

I saw both Bug and Furriosa.

They both now run away as soon as I seem to be going in their direction.

They both look very, very unhappy with me!

I’ve since been in contact with the rescue. They’d like me to try and catch them over the next couple of days, still, and would meet me for pick up. We have only the two soft sided carriers right now, but they will work on returning the 5 hard sided ones soon. As much as I’d love to catch them, I don’t see them trusting us enough to do it that quickly!

As for the cats they picked up…

Much to my shock, I was told Sir Robin was all hissy and growling. He was the last one I expected that from! Frank is very angry. That’s not a surprise. Sweetie is very scared and angry, too. Blot was described as a micro kitty! She got a bath, as did Domino. They and Grommet are all rather angry, too, but more scared angry than angry, angry, if that makes sense.

They will all stay together with the rescue’s intake person for the first while, as they get bathed, vaccinated, treated for ear mites and worms (the rescue workers do these on their own), and eventually vetted and the ladies will be spayed. The boys are already neutered. Some will then go to fosters, while others will stay with the intake person a while longer, as more fosters are searched for. They are working on finding someone to take Frank in particular. We’ve already agreed that she can come back here after she’s spayed, if no foster is found, but of course we would prefer it if she got adopted.

As for me, tomorrow I’m going to have to take a chance and go to the town to the north of us, to drop off our tax stuff. That town is just a bit further away, but not enough that that pressure gauge will start setting off alarms.

I messaged the garage while waiting for the rescue folks to reach me, but I’ll be phoning them tomorrow morning as well.

If this doesn’t get resolved soon, I’m going to have to cancel an eye test I’ve got coming up. The town it’s in is about 2/3s of the way to the city, putting it well into the “alarms are going to go off” zone.

I am so tired of this truck – and yet, I really like this truck! It’s the exact vehicle we need.

What we really need is a second vehicle.

I have so many errands I need to drive to, and I at least know I can get to town, but not being able to go as far as the city is a problem.

One of the previous times we had issues with the sensor, the oil pressure gauge stayed at zero, with no alarms going off. It was just dead. I’m at the point where that is actually preferable to what’s happening now!

*sigh*

It’ll work out in the end.

I’ll just hold on to that thought.

The Re-Farmer

Digging out – and I love technology!

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Well, Old Man Winter just doesn’t want to let go!

Not the blizzard – at least not where we live – that we sometimes get this time of year, but we got a solid dump of snow, overnight. All the school buses were canceled for today, and the highway conditions group I’m on had lots of people warning about how bad the driving conditions where. Some highways in the south of our province were closed, and we are still under a “moderate” ongoing snowfall warning.

It was still snowing when I did the morning cat feeding outside.

I wasn’t going to try to do any shoveling at the time, though, and waited until late morning to start. By then, the snow had stopped falling in our area.

I started off at the concrete steps at the main entry, using our new snow shovel.

The first thing I discovered is that this was no light and fluffy snow, like last time. It was dense, heavy and sticky, coming together in even heavier clumps.

As for the new snow shovel, what a horrible design! Not the ergonomic handle part. That was good. The blade is more of a scoop shape that is too heavy, unbalancing the whole thing.

I thought that the metal on the blade edge would make it easier to clear the concrete, but not at all. The design caused the shovel to basically float up to the top of the snow, instead of digging down. I tried using it as a push shovel, but the snow was so sticky, that didn’t work very well. Then, it was very awkward to toss the snow up and over the hills we’ve accumulated over the winter.

I switched back to the old shovel with the crack in the blade. It did a much better job! I got more cleared in a single pass than I was able to do in three passes with the new one, and they are of equal width.

With the snow so dense and heavy, I ended up working in stages. I got the sidewalk clear from the house to the fence, as well as cat shelter access paths, then headed back inside for a break and an energy drink. I was going to need that!

When I headed back out, I made a path to the garage, then started clearing away the drift that had formed in front of the door, that was too deep for the truck to get through.

I was working on that when the garage suddenly started to talk to me!

Or, more accurately, my brother’s security camera. He had been logged into the app and got motion detection alerts. When he saw me shoveling, he started talking to me through the camera.

From overseas!

I love technology!!

There’s a 6 hour time zone difference, so they were at their hotel for the night. He was wondering about little Spewie, since I was manually clearing the snow. I told him, the auger won’t turn and I have to take it apart to find out why, but with how sticky this snow was, I couldn’t use it anyway. It would just get all jammed up!

We talked for a little while longer, then I got back to work.

The biggest issue with the driveway was snow drifted on the south side. I was able to work a path to the gate on the north side, where the drifting wasn’t as deep, then cleared enough drifted snow on the north side of the gate, so I could at least swing open one side. Once I could get through, I made my way to the road. The plow had not gone by (hopefully, it will go through tonight), so I wanted to clear the end a bit extra, so when it did go by, it wouldn’t leave much of a plow ridge.

I got the end of the driveway completely clear, on either side of the gate. It took quite a while to clear the south side inside the gate before I could finally open the second half. The two sides of the gate can swing in both directions, but with the snow piled up on the outside, they can only be opened inwards right now.

I cleared enough to dig out a path to the trail cam, and then stopped for a sustenance break. When I headed out later, it was past 3pm, so I fed the outside cats, first.

I also remembered to dig out a camp chair and set it up at the garage door.

When we set up the flower garden and a small people gate in the barb wire fence, I want to make sure we set up a bench, too. We really need somewhere to sit down out there!

For now, a camp chair would do. I made sure to take frequent rest breaks, even if for only half a minute. It was during one of those breaks when it started to drizzle!

For the rest of the driveway, I focused on getting that south side cleared. I was less concerned about the middle, between the tire tracks, as it was not that deep. We’re supposed to warm up quite a bit over the next few days, so it’ll be melting soon, anyhow.

Along with the drifts on the south of the driveway, I needed to clear our turn around area. The middle was shallow enough that I could just focus on the drifts. We now have room for me to back the truck out of the garage to leave, as well as taking a wide turn to drive back into the garage when coming home.

By the time I was done, it was past 6pm, and I’d started at about 11:30-12.

Yes, I did make sure to take painkillers!

I am still going to pay for this, tomorrow, but at least we can now get out and deliver cats to someone from the rescue in the city, tomorrow! In spite of the pain, I actually feel really good. The fact that I enjoy shoveling snow so much makes a big difference!

I was finally inside and resting before going for a shower (while my daughters set up the bath chair and made sure I was fed and hydrated!) when the phone rang.

It was my mother.

After saying hello, I asked how she was doing. Her answer?

I’m lonely.

Which, in my mother’s way of speaking, meant, she wants me to drop everything and go visit her.

I told her that we had been snowed in, and I just finished digging us out.

Why was I doing that?

You know we had a storm, right?

Oh, yes, I saw some snow…

Well, we were snowed in. I had to get the driveway clear.

She then began to lecture me, telling me I shouldn’t be doing that. I have two daughters. They can do it.

I didn’t even try to tell her that both of them were quite unwell today, though for very different reasons. I told her, it doesn’t matter who does the job; it just needs to be done.

Then she complained that my sister hadn’t phoned her, and no one visits…

I said, my sister is probably snowed in, too, though at least they have a tractor.

Then she suddenly told me, I need to get in contact with my cousin. She is also my godmother, after all, and I should remind her of that. We need to communicate more.

I asked my mother, what was it she wanted.

My cousin is somehow involved with the nursing home my mother wants to be in. A volunteer or something like that. She told me, I should talk to my cousin and see if I can get her to get my mother into the nursing home, because she knows things…

I didn’t even try to bring up that my cousin is very close to our vandal, and that he has basically poisoned her against me, even to the point of her saying I shouldn’t come to her mother’s funeral, because our vandal was a pallbearer. Our restraining order was still active at the time, so if I were there, he would have had to leave.

Not something to get into just then. Instead, I told my mother that my cousin can’t do anything. There is a system. A government run system. As individuals, we can’t do anything more than we’ve already done. It’s up to the government.

She accused me of passing the responsibility on to others. I told her, that’s exactly what she does.

She then started lecturing me on how she depends on us, it’s our responsibility to get her where she wants to be, etc. She is utterly convinced that we can somehow by pass the entire system and get her into where she wants to be, just because… she wants it.

Her ranting got so bad, had to cut her off. I told her, I was too tired to handle any of this just then, told her I would talk to her another time, and wished her a good night.

Then I hung up.

My older daughter came over right after, asking if I was okay. Because my mother can’t hear me on the phone very well, I had to basically shout while talking to her, so everyone in the house could hear my side of the conversation.

I was just tired.

I’m doing somewhat better now. Pain killered up again, showered and fed, and my daughter slathered my back and arms with Tei Fu lotion. I did my legs as well, and made sure to take my magnesium complex with my evening meds/supplements, because a day like today typically results in my getting massive Charlie Horses during the night.

As a side note, it does seem that my side effect theory might be right, after all. It’s been a while since I stopped taking the anti-inflammatories and, at one point, things seemed to get worse again with my reversal of menopause. Particularly if I did any extensive physical labour. Yet I’ve had two days of higher than normal activity, from all the walking we did yesterday, and now all the shoveling today, and I’ve had no increase in symptoms. In fact, the symptoms have almost completely gone away. My doctor’s appointment is next month, so I’ve got a few more weeks to see if anything changes, in either direction.

For now, I’m hoping to get to bed early and actually fall asleep. I’m going to have a long day tomorrow.

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: seedling progress

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One last update, and I am done for the day!

I am so tired.

This morning, I checked on the seedlings in the basement, as always, and had a bit of a surprise.

The first picture in the slideshow are the tomatoes, hollyhock and fennel. They are doing quite well! I’m very happy with what I’m seeing there.

The next picture is the leggy herbs, the sad little luffa, the celery that should probably be “potted up” and split into two rolls! – the marigold and cosmos.

The last picture has my surprise.

I’d rotated the trays just a couple of nights ago, so with the peppers and eggplant, the eggplant row is now in the foreground, and the California Bell Peppers are in the back.

There are three new seedlings in California Bell Pepper row, that weren’t there yesterday. There’s even at least one new seedling in the Sweet Chocolate pepper row in the middle!

Those poor eggplants are struggling, though. At least two have just withered away.

It’ll still be at least a week before I start the next back of seeds, but I might just re”pot” the eggplant and peppers into snail rolls before then. I’ll just need to sift more potting soil again, first!

We definitely have some things struggling, but over all, they seedlings are doing remarkably well for being in a rather poor environment for them!

The Re-Farmer

What a long day – and the mystery continues

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Today I had an appointment to take the truck in to the garage, yet again. Before we headed out, of course, we had our morning routine to take care of, including the outside cats. I just have to share this adorable image.

Colby has his face turned up like that because he’s directly under the heat lamp. He’s warming his face!

I shared this photo with the rescue. Blot and Colby would be just weeks apart in age, yet the size difference is amazing. Blot is not thriving and has not really grown at all in months. I wanted to make sure the rescue was aware of this.

As it stands now, we might be bringing in 8 cats on Thursday! We were going to bring in 6 originally, but then they wanted me to bring in Sweetie, a female. As we were messaging, Frank came up, and how Frank is probably pregnant. We tried to get her spayed twice before, after fasting overnight in the isolation shelter. Both times, she escaped while we were trying to get her into a carrier. This time, they are going in for vetting and fostering, not straight for a spay. No overnight in the isolation shelter. We might be able to get her into a carrier, if we can give her food or treats inside. I’ve seen her go in and out of them, where they are stored in the sun room.

We’ll have to dig out the soft sided carriers to be able to fit everyone in the truck. One of them is slightly damaged from a cat almost tearing its way out, so we’d have to make sure only the mildest of cats would go into them. That makes for 7 carriers in total. We’ll try to get Frank first. After that, we’ll get the others – and see if we will still need to double up a couple of cats or not.

My appointment for the truck was at 1pm, but my daughter and I left around 11:30am. My daughter was on deer watching duty and saw quite a few I never did, since I was focusing on the road. She even saw a herd of at least 5 deer in the trees along our first mile of gravel road, loafed in the snow!

While driving along, I was keeping an eye on that oil gauge and, sure enough, the needle kept dropping. We found ourselves behind slow moving traffic that we couldn’t pass, so the drive took a bit longer than usual. By the time we parked at the garage, the needle was just touching the mark on the low end of normal. It doesn’t need to drop much further into the low pressure zone before the onboard computer starts dinging and telling me to turn off the engine.

I did remember to grab the replacement third brake light that we ordered a while back. I brought that in and talked to the mechanic for a while, explaining exactly what I was seeing, and that I’d added 3/4 of a liter of oil the day before yesterday, which was the last time the truck was driven. I also explained about the light. It’s easy to replace the light, but it requires climbing into the box of the truck to reach it. Something none of us are able bodied enough to do anymore.

That done, my daughter and I headed out – with both of us remembering to grab canes from the truck before we left. I’m very glad we did.

Our first stop was for lunch at a Subway right next to the pharmacy. Then we went to the pharmacy for my daughter to pick up her prescription refills. From there we made our way to the far end of town (about 3 more blocks) to a particular store my daughter wanted to go to.

Being as early as we were, we took our time with things. It was getting around 1:30 when we left the store, so we started making our way back. We stopped at one more store along the way. Unfortunately, by this time, my daughter was really starting to struggle. She’s got even worse back and joint pain than I do right now, and we kept having to slow down.

When we got to the garage, the truck was still in the parking lot. My daughter waited beside it while I popped in. There was just one mechanic at the time, and he’d just got in from lunch (a very late lunch!), apologizing that they hadn’t gotten to the truck yet, as they’ve been so swamped.

So we had to find somewhere to wait. There is a hotel right next to the garage and I normally would have gone to the Chinese restaurant inside, but today is Tuesday. They close on Tuesdays. My daughter was in so much pain, though, we went into the hotel anyhow, and into the bar. It was mostly empty, with just a few people at the counter or playing on the VLTs, so we found a table and sat down. I’ve never been to this part of the hotel though, for a brief period, long ago, my husband worked there as a bouncer. It gets very, very lively at night!

After a while of sitting and not being sure what the procedure was, I finally went to the counter and asked what pop they had. They just had Pepsi, 7Up and Ginger Ale – on the fountain, as mix. My daughter had asked for a root beer or water, depending on what they had, so I got myself a Pepsi and a water for her. It cost me a whole $2. 😁

Then we just sat and relaxed, nursing our drinks.

Eventually, I headed outside and went around the building enough to look at the garage parking lot. Our truck had still not been moved, so I rejoined my daughter. Our drinks were done, so I asked my daughter if she wanted something different, then went to the counter for a refill for myself, and a ginger ale for my daughter. While chatting, I mentioned we were waiting for our truck in the garage next door, as a way to explain why we weren’t getting booze. 😄 As the glasses were being filled, I confirmed the cost, only to be told that refills were free. I mentioned my daughter had a water before, and wanted to pay for the ginger ale – but she let me have it for free!

That was very sweet of her!

As we got closer to 4pm – the garage closes at 5 – I went out again to check the garage parking lot. The truck was still there, but one of the bay doors was open, so I went in to ask if they could say how much longer it would be. The owner was back by then, so he was the one I was talking to this time.

Which is when he told me he’d meant to call me several times, but kept getting pulled away by other things – then told me I forgot to leave the key with them.

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Thankfully, it wasn’t much of a delay because of the keys, so I quickly left them on the desk then headed back to rejoin my daughter.

The next time I went out to check, the truck was gone and the bay doors were closed, so we finished up our drinks then headed to the garage. Walking past the truck in one of the bays, I could see the shiny new third brake light had been installed. They had just finished with the truck, so the owner was able to join me in the office and talk to me about it while the mechanic backed the truck out of the shop.

There’s nothing wrong with the truck.

There is no leak. The oil levels were fine. I told him about adding more oil just the day before yesterday, and it had been down – otherwise, it would have been over filled when they checked it. We went over what I was seeing on the pressure gauge again, and he is completely perplexed. They could find nothing wrong. He told me, however, that I am not the only one with this mystery. Another customer, with a completely different make and model truck, has the exact same issue.

The only thing he can think of is that it’s the oil sensor. It’s been replaced twice – the second time on warranty – but it is not a GM brand sensor. It was the same situation with the other customer, except that truck is a Dodge. They were going to try replacing the sensor with the name brand part instead, and he thought that might make a difference if we did similar with our truck, too. There’s really nothing else that it might be. He’s going to look up the sensor and see what he can find for me.

We did talk a bit about bringing my mother’s car in to be checked over in preparation for selling it. He wanted to know if I was still wanting to do that, and I said yes, but right now, we can’t get it out of the garage because the doors are blocked with snow. So that will wait for a bit. Then we talked about refinancing to replace the truck. I told him, if there was any way we could keep the truck and make a down payment instead, I’d prefer that. We do need two vehicles, and the truck is the perfect vehicle for us here. The problem is, we’ve only had the truck for 2 years. We still owe quite a lot on it, so refinancing might not be easy. Something that needs to be looked into, though the financing company did offer my husband a pre-approved loan a couple of months back!

In the end, all I had to pay for was half an hour of labour, because all they did was install the light I brought, and try to do some diagnostics.

By this time, a weather system we’d been keeping an eye on for much of the day had reached us, and snow was starting to come down pretty hard. My daughter and I popped across the street to the grocery store, next. I had a list of my own, plus my husband gave me his card and a list, and my daughter had a shopping list from her sister. The snow was coming down harder when we were done, but we still had a pair of stops to make. My daughter’s second list from her sister was for the liquor store, while I went to the hardware store across the street. I wanted to get a couple of litres of oil to keep in the truck, since I finished off the last of my stash. I meant to buy some from the garage, but they it only in bulk.

When we were both done and heading home, we drove out of the worst of the snow fairly quickly, and had a nice break from it, though the roads were pretty slick in places.

Meanwhile, my daughter passed on messages she was getting from her sister.

My mother had called.

No one could get to the phone in time, but she didn’t leave a message.

She called again.

Then again.

By the fourth time, my older daughter was waiting at the phone to pick up right away. She could hear noises, including button pushing noises. She was shouting “hello”, but there was nothing. Then my mother hung up.

This time, my daughter kept a handset with her, so she was ready to answer the 5th call. She had to shout hello again before my mother finally answered, asking for me. She told my mother I wasn’t home and would call her back. Then my mother asked who was on the phone, so my daughter said her name.

Who??

Your granddaughter!

My daughter explained again that I was out, and that I would call her as soon as I got home. My mother told her, “I’m waiting!”

???

Then my daughter messaged her sister a detailed transcript of what happened, which was read to me during the drive home. 😄

As near as I can figure, for at least one of the attempted phone calls, my mother didn’t bring the phone to her ear again; she tends to stare at the screen after making the call, instead. What we couldn’t figure out is what was going on that was so important that she’d call 5 times!

So as soon as everything was unloaded and put away, including the truck (I had to feed the cats so I could safely move it out of the yard!), I called my mother.

She had her phone on her and was able to answer rather quickly.

I told her, I was finally home and asked her what was going on.

Oh, nothing.

She mentioned figuring out her phone, and that she just wanted to keep communication going.

She just wanted to talk.

…

Before I’d called, I went through the CID list. The first three calls my mother made were barely a minute apart. The last two, where my daughter had actually answered, though my mother never heard her the first time, were just a couple of minutes apart.

She has never done anything like this before. Usually, if she does make several calls while I’m away, it’s because something had happened. She would sometimes leave angry messages on the machine, about how she knows we’re there, pick up the phone. Even then, the calls were never one right after the other like she did, today.

On the plus side, she’s obviously getting used to her phone and, more importantly, she’s remembering to keep it with her.

Of course, she was wondering when I’ll be visiting next! I mentioned we’ve got rain and snow happening tonight and tomorrow, plus I’ve got a lot of things to catch up on now that we’ve got the truck back. I didn’t tell her I’d taken the truck to the garage again today, as that would have just caused issues. I mentioned possibly Thursday, though it would be while coming back from the city. I did not tell her I was going to be delivering cats! She told me, whenever you can, and just sort of brushed it off. Which is REALLY unusual for her!

Then she cut the call short because there was nothing to talk about.

That had to be one of the strangest calls I’ve had with my mother. So very unlike her! Still, she seemed in a much better mood than she has been of late, so I’ll take it.

Meanwhile…

I’m hoping to finally head in to the tax preparer tomorrow and drop off our files. Normally, we would have done it as soon as my husband’s second T4A came in, but we didn’t have the transportation. Tomorrow is supposed to be steady snow, possibly mixed with rain, for most of the day. At least it’s supposed to clear up when it’s time to take the cats in to the rescue!

While we were bringing stuff into the house, Sir Robin managed to slip through the door three times! I caught him before he could get far, but that boy SO wants to be indoors!

Soon, he will be!

Just a little bit longer.

I am so glad the rescue has been able to find fosters for so many cats!

The only problem is, how will the truck behave? Knowing there is nothing wrong – no leaks, etc. – doesn’t help if that pressure gauge drops far enough to set off alarms and warning lights.

Hopefully, changing out that sensor one more time will stop it from happening.

Not sure when that will happen, though. He’s got to do some searching for one, first, much like he had to do to find a differential for our truck’s year.

The mystery is so incredibly frustrating and perplexing.

The Re-Farmer

Funny anniversary

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Today, my husband and I celebrate our 38th anniversary … sort of. As best we can, anyhow.

A bit of back ground is needed for today’s amusement.

My husband is disabled with a back injury. Anyone who has had a back injury – especially the lower back – understands how impossible the pain can make things. You can’t sit, can’t lie down, can’t stand, in any position for long. Which means my husband is often up most of the nigh, unable to lie down to sleep, until the wee hours. I often don’t see him at all until the afternoon.

As for myself, I was up earlier. Before 6:30am, I gave up and got up to do the morning routine. Fed the inside cats, got dressed to go outside, did the outside cat feeding and the morning cleaning and refilling of water bowls (I can tell when the raccoons have visited during the night; they make such a mess of the heated water bowls!!), switched out the memory card on the trail cam, got the meter reading for the month, and basically just took care of the usual winter outdoor morning routine.

I even got some pictures.

The cat in the first picture above is one of the most feral females. We have had zero success at getting anywhere near her (we haven’t come up with a name for her yet) or Sprout (a calico). The ferals have “nests” somewhere in the outer yard and come close to the house only for food and water.

The other two pictures are of the crowd I found in the isolation shelter, as I was finishing up. I didn’t open the windows to get clearer shots, because they would have split up and some would have run away. I counted thirteen cats, all smashed together in the upper level!!!

The outside stuff done, I had intended to go back to bed. I’m feeling better, but still am dealing with pain. I needed to eat something first, so I made a breakfast, ate it at my computer while going through trail cam files (so many deer!!!), then went for a nap.

During this entire time, I did not see my husband. His bedroom door was closed to keep the cats out. I knew he’d been up for much of the night, so I assumed he had finally been able to fall asleep.

I was outside sometime around 7am. By the time I finished the outside stuff, made and ate breakfast, gone through the trail came files, then tried to lie down, it was about 9:30am. Thankfully, I was able to get some much needed sleep and woke up a couple of hours later.

Yes, the timeline is important.

In the afternoon, I was at my computer when I could hear my husband talking to his father on the phone. I sent a quick “happy anniversary” message so as not to interrupt his call. When he was done, he came over to talk to me, and I said happy anniversary again.

My husband started laughing, because we’d already exchanged anniversary greetings. I thought he meant my message, but no. He meant as I went by his bedroom door this morning.

???

I told him, I hadn’t done that.

He laughed again and “reminded” me that when he said happy anniversary to me as I went by, I started singing the “Happy Anniversary” song to him – a joke of a song and dance we picked up from a classic cartoon, many years ago.

???

I told him, I’d done no such thing.

He insisted I had. At about 7:30 this morning.

I explained that I was still outside at that time.

Maybe it was 9:30?

I told him I’d gone back to bed by then, telling him the other things I’d done before then.

My husband is absolutely convinced that we had this conversation this morning, that we’d wished each other a happy anniversary, and I did the silly song and dance that we’ve done for so many years. It is absolutely clear in his memory.

All at times when I was either outside, in the kitchen making breakfast, or in my own bedroom/office. Times when I never heard or saw him at all.

Which means one of us has had some very, very vivid dreams!

Except… well… I’ve got time stamps on photos.

Too funny!

The Re-Farmer

Happy Easter – complete with “hate mail”

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He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

A happy and blessed Easter to you all!

We got to enjoy our basket contents as our traditional Easter brunch, and it was quite lovely.

Not everyone is in a joyful mood, though. I found this in my pending comments today.

No, I am not “approving” it.

Bogna
11h ago

Your pictures say “view on Instagram” so there is nothing to view. This blog is crap

For those who have been following my image heavy blog for a while, you already know this, but for those newer to this blog, I have a bit of an issue.

I have an old WordPress plan that is no longer available. It gives me my domain name and 15G of storage space. I am currently at 98.9% full.

I could upgrade my account to a business plan, which would give me 50G of storage space and a whole lot of bells and whistles I don’t want or need, costing more than twice what I’m paying per year now. Or I could buy – well, rent would be the more accurate term – 50G of storage space and be paying even more than the cost of a business plan, on top off how much my current grandfathered plan costs per year. None of which is in budget.

I’ve looked at a lot of places where I could store image files with the intention of embedding them here, but none of them have worked out for one reason or another. The only one that has worked out consistently is to post things to Instagram, then embed them into my posts, the same way I can embed videos. The problem with that is, sometimes the images/video don’t load and people have to click on the space to go to Instagram to view them. From what I understand, though, if you don’t have an Instagram account, you can’t actually see them. I could be wrong on that. Of course, if someone has blocked me on Instagram or something like that, they won’t be able to see it. Nor would I be able to see anything of theirs.

The thing is, this is a function of Instagram. Something I have no control over. This is something that happens on the viewer’s end. Everything is working just fine at my end, and I have no way of knowing when or if it will work for any particular viewer at any given time. Most people know how these things work well enough to get it.

My angry visitor here doesn’t seem to understand that and has declared my blog “crap”, simply because they apparently can’t click to view on Instagram. I have no idea why they can’t view the images on my blog through whatever device or OS they are using. Apparently, they aren’t capable of clicking or tapping on the “view on Instagram” link that shows, instead.

So they chose to diss my blog, instead.

They have only succeeded in giving me a good laugh.

Happy Easter, Bogna! I hope you have a better rest of your day.

The Re-Farmer

Ready for tomorrow

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My daughters took care of getting our not-quite-traditional Polish Easter basket ready for blessing, to be enjoyed tomorrow morning.

This year’s eggs are straight pickled eggs; soy sauce, turmeric and beet juice brines. The olives stuffed with feta are in a dish of my mother’s from when we packed up her apartment that now lives here. The Royal Albert Lavender Rose patterned China plate under the herb and garlic Boursin cheese is part of a set we inherited from my late MIL. In the pinch pots is butter, salt, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard and horseradish paste. The loaf is artisan flax seed baked at the grocery store in town, and the garlic sausage is from the general store in our little hamlet, made locally.

I’m honestly stunned by how bright yellow the turmeric eggs are. They looked so pale while still in the jar!

We do have some small chocolate eggs to include, but they are “naked” and my daughter didn’t want them picking up moisture and food smells, so they will wait.

This is the first year I was not able to assemble any part of the basket myself, due to not feeling well.

I think the girls put together a very lovely basket! They’ve been a great help to me today.

The Re-Farmer

A gorgeous day

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It’s coming up on evening as I write this, and we still haven’t reached our high of the day – anywhere from 5-7C/41-45F depending on which app I look at.

When I headed out to do the morning cat feeding, I didn’t even bother wearing a coat.

One of things we find in the winter is tunnels dug into the piled up snow. Today, I found two new ones – and evidence to show what has been making them!

The first photo is of the biggest tunnel. It’s hard to see, but to the left of the opening there is the distinctive paw print of a raccoon. Both raccoons and skunks are out now, and I’m seeing them in the sun room, stealing kibble!

The next three photos are of one tunnel with two openings.

I wonder if they nap in them or something?

After doing my morning routine, I was basically knackered. I am feeling both better and worse today. Better in some ways, but worse in a new pain way. I can’t stand for very long. It’s better while I’m moving, for a little while, at least.

So the girls have been taking over for me for the most part. I did go out again to do the evening cat feeding, and even tried to clear more snow away from around the well cap, were the bigger of those snow tunnels was.

The cats are really enjoying the warmer weather!

This gorgeous tuxedo is a very feral male. He’ll go into the sun room sometimes to eat, or to assert dominance over other males, but will not allow a human to come anywhere near him. Which is the only reason he didn’t run away as soon as I walked back into the sun room. He and Hypotenose where having words.

It was so nice out, I found excuses to stay outside longer. Did a bit more clearing of snow from around the well cap, though I probably shouldn’t have. I hate not being able to do work while the conditions are good.

The cats are just loving the warm.

The fluffy tabby glaring at me on the right is Furriosa. She has been making strange a lot more often of late. Which is unfortunate, as we want her to get used to being handled as much as possible before we take her in to the city for vetting and fostering and eventual adoption. When the time comes, I think we’ll have to close up the isolation shelter with the littles inside for the night, to make it easier to get them into carriers the next day. Sir Robin and Grommet will be easy to get, as will Domino and Blot. Bug has even been more ansty lately, and when I try to pet Furriosa in the isolation shelter, she runs out now. I think the warmer weather has something to do with it. They have more energy to run around!

Tomorrow is Easter, and it’s going to be a quiet one at home. I’m not up to driving to my mother’s to visit her and deliver a basket, as I’d planned, but I will be phoning her instead. All the remaining Easter preparations will be on the girls. Monday is our 38th anniversary, but we won’t be doing anything special this year. Tuesday, I bring the truck in to get checked out to find out why I’m losing oil again. Hopefully, the truck will not have anything major going on, and I will be feeling well enough to make the trip to my mothers – and the city trip to deliver cats! – later in the week.

Right now, I’m torn between wanting to go back outside and enjoying the day, or crawling into bed and curling up into a ball until tomorrow.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

Not happening

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My day started out all right.

It was a pleasant morning so, after the outside routine was done, I took the time to clear the path and set to the electric meter, so I can do a reading later in the week. I knew it would be a warmer day – as I write this, we’ve reached 3C/37F, with a “real feel” of 6C/43F – and I was planning to head out this afternoon to see if I could get more snow hauled away from around the well cap.

Not going to happen.

What I’d really like to do it this.

Curl up in a ball of warm fuzziness and sleep.

It seems my “side effect” theory is not correct. I have not been feeling well today, and have had to ask the girls to take care of things for me, simply because I can’t stand for any useful length of time.

*sigh*

Doctor’s appointment is a month from now. I expect to be sent for tests and referrals, and who knows how long it will take for those to happen.

Hopefully, I’ll be feeling good enough tomorrow to visit my mother. Forecast for Easter is a mix of rain and snow, so there’s another reason to go on Saturday, instead.

I’d rather not go anywhere at all until Tuesday, when the truck is booked to find out why I’m losing oil again.

What I’d really like to be doing is heading outside and getting some work done.

Very irritating.

The Re-Farmer