Costco stock up shop: this is what $900

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$900.72 to be exact.

Ouch.

I had a much interrupted night last night, so I was quite thankful that my younger daughter is still insisting on doing the morning routine so I can sleep in. When I got up, I was feeling quite good, overall.

Which made me very suspicious.

As we were getting ready to head out, I checked on the catio and found this adorableness looking back at me.

They still run off when we come by, but not as far, and they tend to stop and watch. When this one started looking like it was going to run out of the catio, I backed off and continued on my way, rather than give it a reason to feel more nervous.

I felt well enough to be doing the driving on the way out. We stopped at a gas station in the town along the way to get some road drinks and a snack to tide us over. My daughter had eaten breakfast, though, while I hadn’t, so the fresh potato wedges I got for both of us ended up just for me. Which meant we didn’t need to stop for lunch while at Costco.

When we got there, our first stop was filling the tank. Regular gas was at $1.489 and it cost me $68.99 to fill the tank from a little over half.

I did make sure we brought my walker while my daughter pushed the flat cart and loaded it for me.

I am so glad I had that walker.

By the time we reached Costco, the pain was starting to return. The more time went by, the more often I had to stop and just sit for a while, keeping an eye on the cart as my daughter ran around getting things. When we got to the line to pay, I gave her my cards and settled at the other end of the cash desk until things were being loaded onto the belt and the cashiers were scanning things on the cart. With a long drive ahead of us, I let my daughter know before dashing to the washroom. By the time I came out, she was done and heading in the direction of the exit. Once I caught up with her, we squished ourselves to the side and paused. My alarm was about to go off, so I took my pain meds then my daughter dashed off to refill my water bottle from the fountain. Which gave me time to get my usual photos.

Does this look like $900 to you?

Yes, we have a birthday coming up! This time, my husband’s. It’s early to get a cake, but we have never been ones to celebrate on the actual day, and a cake that size will last us several days!

So, what did we get for our $900 and change?

Let’s start with the cat stuff.

We got two 9kg bags and two 11kg bags of dry kibble, a case of wet cat food and a box of XL puppy pads.

For non-food items, we got our usual toilet paper, plus a case of facial tissues, all purpose cleaner, and a 2 pack of the Head and Shoulders that we use as an anti-fungal body wash.

In beverages, we got a case of Monster, a case of Vanilla Coke Zero, a 3 pk of oat milk and two 2L of kefir. We also got a large box of Earl Grey tea.

For dairy, we got 5 pounds of butter, a block of Old Cheddar and of Mozzarella cheese, plus a shaker of Parmesan that was on sale.

We did not get a lot of meats. Two panini packs of sandwich meats, a 6 pack of canned chicken, and two packages of loose mild Italian sausage meat.

In breads, we got two 2 packs of rye and two packages of tortilla wraps.

In case lot foods, we got an instant oats variety pack, a case of tomato soup, spaghetti, Ramen noodles. In fresh/frozen stuff we got a case of Pizza Pops, rainbow tortellini and our usual double flat of 5 dozen eggs.

Then there was a large jar of mayonnaise, another of peanut butter, a box of Sweet and Salty mix granola bars that was on sale, a bag of Basmati rice, and a jar of strawberry jam that comes in a jar my daughters like to reuse for their tea.

For my husband, there’s the birthday cake, plus a giant bag of nachos and a large Caesar Salad kit. My daughter chose two nigiri platters for herself and her sister (which I have been reimbursed for), plus I chose a sushi platter for myself.

That’s everything. That all came out to $900.72 While there were a few things on there that we don’t get every month, the only thing that was completely not usual was the birthday cake.

*sigh*

My daughter took care of bagging our stuff (we did remember to bring ice packs) and load up the truck, and she drove home. We made a rest stop at a gas station just outside the city where we got a couple of drinks and small snacks to pay for our toilet paper 😉 and then it was straight home.

Once at home, I left everything to my daughters to unload and put away so I could lie down for a while. I actually did feel better by the time we got home (the drive is about an hour and 15 minutes, give or take), but I definitely could not have made this trip on my own without leaving myself in really bad shape.

I think this worked out. We should be able to do our second stop up shop in the weekend like this, before I see the doctor on Monday afternoon.

I am so tired.

The Re-Farmer

A careful day, and my new toy

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I woke this morning feeling really good.

So good, it made me suspicious. 😄

My husband asked if we could hit the post office before the store its in closed at noon today, so my daughter and I headed out in the late morning. I felt well enough to drive, but she went in to get the mail while I waited in the truck because I wasn’t going to push my luck. Several packages came in, including my husband’s new CPAP mask style that he is trying out, because his old style is discontinued and he can no longer get replacements he’s supposed to be getting regularly for it.

I also got a new toy, but I’ll show that later…

My daughter had bought a wrist brace for her sister that turned out to no be the right type, so she wanted to head back to the pharmacy today and exchange it. Neither of us had eaten yet, so she bought us lunch, too. I ended up going back to the pharmacy as I realized I needed something to carry my T3s in while I’m out and about, since I’m supposed to be taking them every 6 hours. If all goes well, we’ll be in Costco shopping when my afternoon alarm goes off. I ended up getting a waterproof metal pill holder keychain, large enough to hold a dozen tablets, which is 6 doses for me. I think it will work out.

We stopped to get some gas on the way out – I’ll do a fill at Costco. I had a 5¢ off coupon to use, which required pre-paying, so we both went into the store and got some energy drinks to last the three of us a few days, with my daughter picking flavours for her sister. We will pick up a case of Monster while as Costco, but those have only three flavours in them. The gas station not only has lots more flavours to choose from but, between their regular sales and my CAA discount, they are significantly discounted compared to most places.

I did get my daughter to drive home, though. I’m still feeling “good” but find myself moving very slowly, without actually thinking about it. Like I’m walking through water. Hopefully, I will still be up to the Costco trip tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have a new “toy”, but an physically barred from doing anything that would allow me to use it for the next while.

I got a portable sawmill for our chainsaw. We can cut our own lumber, or even just trim the logs that will be used to make raised beds, so they lay flat on top of each other.

I have no idea when I’ll personally be able to use it. One of my goals for this summer was to get more dead spruces out of the spruce grove, with the help of my brother and his tractor. He only recently got his tractor working again, and I’m unable to do the physical labour necessary to do the work while the doctors figure out why I’m still dealing with pain and bleeding that the surgery should have stopped.

However, it does mean we could potentially process the logs more in situ, rather than dragging whole tree trunks out of the bush.

I’ll be making sure my brother knows where I’m storing it and that he is welcome to use it himself, should he ever need to.

In other things, I did feel well enough to do the evening cat feeding. I spotted 4 kittens in the branch pile, looking to get into the catio for food. Just four. Still no Slick.

We have got to catch those kittens, before whatever got the other two and their mom gets them, too.

The Re-Farmer

Kittens, grinding and tiny tomatoes

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This morning I got a call from the tree removal company. Someone would soon be here to finally do the stump grinding!

Which was a bit of a surprise. We had a downpour this morning, though it was past by the time he got here and, according to what he saw on the way over, hitting the town east of us. Normally, he would not have come out in the wet like this, but he had checked the weather radar before calling me and it showed clear skies over us!

I must admit, I was geeking out completely. I’ve never seen a stump grinder before, never mind one in action, in person. It was a beautious thing!

Since I was out anyhow, I took the time to check on the branch pile, were I spotted some kittens. I saw them again, after he started grinding, nervous but watching.

I only saw the four at one time. It’s possible I saw the other two on their own later, but from a distance and with tall grass and branches in the way, most of the time all I could tell was “black kitten” or “tabby kitten”.

We have not seen Slick for several days. I am beginning to think she may be gone. It’s also possible two kittens have disappeared as well.

For now, we are making sure they have plenty of food in the catio. Other cats, skunks and probably raccoons as well are going into the catio – there’s no way to stop them – go in and eat their food, but if we time things right, they get a chance to eat well. My daughter is still doing the morning cat routine for me, and we still have a bit of the freeze dried cat food mix left, so they are still getting cat soup in the mornings. Once we’re out of the mix, we might start using some of the donated canned cat food we still have left to make cat soup.

He set up a barrier around the stump to keep flying chips from hitting the house or flying all over the place, to make for easier clean up. While I was checking on things in the yard, I noticed him pause with the grinding to remove parts of the tractor tire that were still stuck under the root ball. He had bins around the stump to haul away the chips, but seeing him move the tire pieces, I brought the wheelbarrow closer. The next time he paused in grinding, I suggested it might be easier to use the wheelbarrow. Which worked out because he ended up using a bin to scoop up chips into the wheelbarrow, then dumping it with the rest of the wood chips behind the house.

More wood chips! Yay!

The first image above, he was about half way through the stump. Maybe a bit more.

While I was checking the tomato bed, pruning off yellowing branches, my younger daughter came out. She talked to the guy for a while as he paused with the grinding again. When he started up again, she and I walked around the yard a bit more, looking for kittens and checking the nearest garden beds.

That’s all I did. I swear.

That was all it took, and I could feel the pain returning. I headed inside to sit down, but it kept getting worse, and I had to ask my daughter to take over being available for the tree guy.

Then I remembered that, with stuff going on (including calling the clinic and leaving another message), I had forgotten to take my morning pain killers, meds and supplements. I took care of that right away. I’m finished with the antibiotics and the stuff that’s supposed to stop the bleeding (I’m still bleeding), so I’m back to almost all supplements.

The second image, was after he was done and had cleaned up. You can see the little pile of broken tire bits on one of the patio blocks. He’d had to move one of them to get a root out. We’ll later need to move all the blocks and re-set them. I don’t know what my brother has planned for that, but I expect we’ll need to get more sand or gravel to lay under it. That would be a good time to move a couple of other blocks in front of the steps that have sunk and build things back up underneath them.

Nothing I can do at all right now. Today is exactly 1 week from the procedure. I may not be restricted to lifting a maximum of 10 pounds anymore, but each of those blocks weighs about 50 pounds. Since I can barely walk around the yard without triggering the pain, it’s probably not a good idea for me to start rebuilding a patio!

While on that subject…

I got a call back from the clinic. The receptionist told me they hadn’t received anything from the hospital about my ER visit on Saturday, so she had already contacted them to fax my file to the clinic. The doctor that did the surgery won’t be back until Monday, and she was able to give me several times to choose from to come in. So I now have an appointment scheduled.

The pain kept getting worse, but I was still mobile when the guy finished the job. He was with my daughter, writing up a bill, when I came around. Once I had the invoice, I took a picture of it and sent it to my brother. The total for the tree removal (3.5hours), and the stump grinding and clean up – after taxes – came to a little over $1800. My brother was prepared for that, so he was able to send them an e-transfer soon after.

I ended up having to lie down and tried lying down in my own bed at first. I barely settled when I had three cats lying on me – Susan was on my ribs almost instantly – then Butterscotch on one side of my head, Cheddar on the other, plus two more on either side of my legs. Which would have been okay, if they would only stay still! The final straw was then a tabby – I don’t know if it was Mitsy or Shadow – suddenly parkoured off my stomach after vaulting over Ghosty nearby.

I ended up on the couch in the cat free zone, aka: the living room.

Which got interrupted by a phone call from my mother.

*sigh*

It turned out to be an okay call. Partly because, when she asked how I was doing, I flat out told her that I’d been at the ER again and was still dealing with pain. She had been prepared to regale me with her usual comments about her own health complaints, which have changed little in the years we’ve been living here. The main difference is that she is now blaming it all on her digestion, rather than her heart. It is very hard to pick out enough detail to determine what is going on. For example, she started off saying how she was feeling back “all over” and, at first, it seemed she was talking about pain. It took some questioning before I was able to figure out that she meant full body fatigue. Lord knows, I can understand where she’s coming from on both, but we’re still never sure how bad it is. She told me they are “neglecting her” because they “won’t let” her see a doctor or a dietician. I’ve tried to explain, several times, that the nurses have notebooks for each person living here, they write down about issues, then have regular meetings with the doctor to talk about them. My mother complains about the same things she has been for years but others – like her legs swelling – she brushes off completely. Oh, they’ve never told me they talk to the doctor, was her response. Except we’ve all told her this, several times. It’s not that she doesn’t remember. It’s that she doesn’t believe it. For other things, she makes things sound completely different than what’s really happening. When talking about her digestion, she starts talking about how she’s burping all the time, which is a very specific piece of information – until it comes out that she is forcing herself to burp because she says it makes her chest pains feel better afterwards. ???

I’ve been in the room with her while she is forcing those burps, and it’s really… unpleasant to watch and hear. One of her reasons for claiming the staff is “neglecting” her is because, if one of them is in the room with her when she starts (forced) burping, they leave. I have no idea what she expects them to do about it. She also keeps bringing up how her pills were two hours late and the nurse had said she forgot to give them to her, as if that happened just this morning. It didn’t. It happened during a festival, on a day when they were taking residents outside to watch a parade go by. The nurse had apologized, but she “forgot” because she was physically helping people outside to see an event my mother chose not to watch herself. This was weeks ago, and it only happened the one time.

In the end, the reason she had called me was because she wanted a few things brought to her. Things that I passed on to my siblings. My sister will probably be the first to visit my mother in the next while. My brother has his grandchildren for the week, and they might be able to come out on the weekend. I have no idea when I’ll be up to visiting my mother next. Even if I do make it into town, having the energy to do whatever brought me there, and visit her as well, is more than I can handle right now.

*sigh*

Thankfully, today’s pain did mostly pass by the time my mother called, though I had to take more painkillers for it at my usual 6 hour mark. My daughters had made supper and, after eating, I felt well enough to head back outside. I checked on the kittens (three of them were in the cat bed in the catio, but ran into the branch pile when they saw me coming), then went back to pruning tomatoes. In the process, I found some ripe Orange Current tomatoes.

One of them was red, like a Spoon tomato!

I gave them to my daughters. They quite like them!

Thankfully, the pain didn’t come back as I was outside, but I didn’t push myself, either. Not that I’d pushed myself this morning…

So that’s where I’m at now. Still frustratingly dealing with pain that the surgery should have stopped from happening. I had felt so good right after, I was quite hopeful about that. *sigh* It’s probably going to be too early for results from the biopsy when I see the doctor on Monday, but I definitely need to talk to her about what’s still going on. She already knows I’m more than willing to go for the next likely surgical option.

My daughter and I have talked about our upcoming stock up shopping trips. We have decided we will do the Costco shopping on Thursday, when CPP Disability come in, first. With the last business day of the month being on Monday, my husband’s main disability payment with his private insurance should come in on Saturday instead, so we’ll do the other stock up shopping on the weekend.

My daughter is going to have to do pretty much everything. We’ll be sure to bring my walker, so I can sit as needed, rather than using the cart as a walker.

So frustrating!

But, it is what it is. We deal with the hand we’ve been dealt.

What else can we do?

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: August tour video

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Where on earth did August disappear to? I suddenly realized, just today, that we’re due to be doing our first city stock up trip THIS week!

It’s gone by so fast, it’s disorienting.

I have finally put together a garden tour video. Which is the extent of my ability to garden right now. My younger daughter took care of things in the garden for me today, again. No watering needed, as we got rain. We still have a “severe thunderstorm watch” in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow, though I expect we’ll just have more rain where we are. It’s quite windy out there right now, though. I haven’t made it outside at all today, yet. I’ve tried to call the clinic, as instructed by the ER physician, but have not been able to get through. I left a message shortly after they opened. I tried calling in the afternoon, got put on hold, then that was ended by an automated message saying they were unable to answer, either because they were closed (they were not) or too busy. It also recommended calling the health line – the one that was down when I tried calling before going to the ER – or leaving a message. I had already left one, so I did not do it again.

Being stuck inside and relatively pain free, I was able to finish editing the garden tour video, at least.

So, here it is for you to enjoy.

The Re-Farmer

Kitten progress!

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Whoot!

Before I get to that, though, this is what I found as I first headed out to see how my daughter was doing in the garden…

Curtis, just lounging on his back, like he’s at the spa or something! 😄

After talking to my daughter I checked to see if there was any kitten activity. I almost missed seeing this little one.

It was just sitting there, frozen, until I got a bit too close, and then it slithered away into the branch pile. I saw no others at that time, though.

When I came out again later on, I noticed kittens were exploring the catio. I decided to bring them more things to encourage this. Some cat milk added to the remaining kibble, several cat toys we had inside, still left over in the Christmas stocking of toys we got late last year (the inside cats got a few of those, too), and some kitten treats donated to us from the rescue.

As I got closer to the catio, I saw a little tabby slipping away and into the branch pile, but I also saw there was at least one kitten in the cat bed inside the carrier.

Progress!!!

There turned out to be two of them. Possibly three.

They disappeared between the bed and the carrier wall. I took a photo, not sure what I was going to get, since my screen was blinded by the sun. Then I went back to get some fresh water and a couple of ice bottles. The catio gets quite warm, so I got one ice bottle in the water bowl and one for inside the edge of the cat bed. As I was returning, I saw a little black kitten slink out of the catio and disappear into the branch pile.

This is very encouraging. I hope that they will spontaneously move into the catio, just for the comfort of the cat bed sheltered by the carrier. I would like to find something I can set up as ramps to the shelves above, as the kittens are too small to jump up there. I’m sure they would love the one hammock that’s there. We still need to find a piece of strong fabric to replace the plastic mesh hammock that was on the other shelf that broke; the plastic mesh got brittle from the cold and broke apart under the weight of whatever critter jumped onto it. Which could have been a cat or a raccoon. Anyhow, it will be good to have something they can climb up to the shelves.

The white and grey singleton kitten also seems to be progressing. It is still very shy, nervous and runs away, but it also will meow at us from a distance, as if asking for cat soup! When we get closer, it stays longer before moving away, and it comes back a lot more quickly to get food once we are gone.

This evening, I was up to doing the outside cat feeding. The cat milk with the remaining kibble I’d left in the catio before was completely gone, the bowl licked clean. So I made sure to bring more cat milk to add the their kibble. Later on, as the day gets cooler, one of us will go out and set the door mostly closed for the night. We dropped to 8C/46F last night. As I write this, we are at 23C/73F, with the humidex putting us at 26C/78F. Tonight is not supposed to get as cool and tomorrow’s high is supposed to be a bit warmer than today. I want to make sure the door to the catio is open wide during the day, but closed up so there’s just enough space for a cat to squeeze through, during the night. I had intended to remove the vinyl around the walls, or at least fold up the bottom half, for the summer but decided against it. I was a bit too diligent when securing it for the winter! Which was fine when the catio was in the yard and shaded for much of the day. Where it is now has no shade at all. Plus, we have too much wind, which would make being in there quite unpleasant. We might still drop one of the very large crocheted cat blankets over it for shade, but I’m not sure if that will make things better or worse! They are quite heavy, so we would have to make sure the edges of the catio roof are supported, or the weight of the blanket would cause it to bend enough to pop out the shorter screws holding it in place. I’d have to get my daughter to do that, as they are heavier than I’m allowed to pick up right now.

I wasn’t out a lot and the only “work” I did was feed the cats and carry a garden fork to my daughter. I am now feeling like I’m ready to fall asleep on my keyboard. Still, I’m glad I did get outside a little bit, just for the fresh air and sunshine!

Plus, I got to see kittens.

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: potatoes are in, garlic is trimmed and I did none of this

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After yesterday’s trip to the ER, my daughters have been absolutely brutal about me not doing anything.

Which was probably a good idea. I have been feeling really good today, which means I probably would have overdone it, if they hadn’t!

My younger daughter has been focusing on the outside stuff and taking over in the garden. She’s been doing the morning cat feeding and this morning she did a deep watering of the garden beds – something that probably won’t be needed tomorrow, as there are thunderstorms in the forecast. Then she went out again to dig up all of the potatoes. Which turned out to be a harder job than it should have been. She couldn’t find where I’d left the garden fork, which still needed to have its broken handle replaced, so she was using a spade. When I came out to see how she was, she’d stopped for a break in the shade, having brought my walker out to use.

She found that thing so handy, she’s now considering buying one for herself!

When I found out about the lack of garden fork, I got the new handle I bought, a screwdriver and the garden fork over. Unfortunately, the Canadian Tire handle turns out to be smaller than the handle on the fork, so she wasn’t able to get it all the way on. We’ll need to reduce the circumference of the handle by a small amount – small enough that just some sand paper would do the job – to get it all the way on. So she had to finish using the spade.

Most of the Yukon Gold got rinsed off with a hose then brought inside. The first photo above is after her sister used some of it for supper. The second image is the last of the Yukon Gold with all of the Viking potatoes, curing on the screen.

I’m not too concerned about curing them fully. There aren’t a lot of them and they will likely be finished off rather quickly, much like the cabbage harvested earlier are being used up now.

In the future, we would need to plant a LOT more to have enough to last us the winter and, hopefully, have seed potatoes for the next year.

My daughter removed the garlic from the screen to make room for the potatoes, and then she trimmed the roots and dirt off the garlic, getting them ready to bring indoors.

We’ll be sure to selected the ones with the largest cloves to plant in October. We will have plenty to choose from. We’ve got the largest garlic we’ve grown yet, this year!

I joined my daughter again shortly before she finished with the garlic, so we were able to walk around a bit. I did harvest some bush beans planted around the Arikara squash, while she looked for any ripe Orange Currant tomatoes. Later on, I also harvested the one Prolific Long Neck squash that was large enough to make it worth picking.

While walking around, I couldn’t help but notice this.

The tree removal company has not been able to come out with their stump grinder, with the rain we had last week. From the looks of it, we’ll be getting thunderstorms and severe weather through Monday and Tuesday.

Which means the elm has had time to start trying to grow back already.

Elm is very difficult to get rid of, which is one of the reasons why my brother is willing to pay for stump grinding.

So the girls have been wonderful about getting things done that I would normally be working on, which is appreciated. Even feeling as good as I did, and as lovely it was to walk around the yard to get some fresh air and sunshine. it wasn’t all that long before I started feeling warning signs that I needed to get back inside to sit down. I still managed to get a few easy things done, though I had to sneak that in after my daughter went inside with the garlic. 😄

But that will be in my next post…

See you there!

The Re-Farmer

Kitten, currant tomatoes and back in the ER

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What a day.

I kept feeling worse and worse all day. The pain was back, though not as extreme as the last time I ended up in the ER. It was the other stuff that came with it. Fatigue. Dizziness. Breaking out in sweats. Overall weakness. Feeling dehydrated, even though I was being careful to get enough fluids.

After things kept getting worse, I finally broke down and tried to call the health line number. This is a number in our province that we can call to talk to an RN about whatever’s going on and getting advice, including whether or not to go to the ER.

I got a robot voice telling me that “due to technical problems”, they couldn’t response, try again later, and then it went to a busy signal.

*sigh*

Not long after that, I asked my daughter to drive me to the ER. Last time, I was able to do it myself. This time, I could barely walk, never mind drive.

The girls loaded me (wearing a night gown and moccasins, because I didn’t have the energy to change) and the walker up and we headed out. I made sure to bring along the sheet I got from the hospital that listed the three procedures done during the surgery, and my new prescriptions. I was admitted immediately – by the same person that admitted me last time!

The first time a nurse called me into the triage room to take my vitals, I walked in but asked for the use of a wheelchair after that. The only one she could find left was actually meant for children, which was fine by me! As we were talking, I mentioned what happened when I tried to call the health line. She scoffed in frustration, saying they just tell people to go to the ER.

Next, I was wheeled over to the lab to get some blood work done. That went well. I have excellent veins. They always have the hardest time with my husband but, with me, it’s very easy for them! I’m pretty sure I recognized at least one of the staff in the lab as having taken blood from my husband.

I ended up being seen by the same doctor as last time and she remembered me (it wasn’t that long ago!), which made it easier to explain that yes, I’d seen the specialist she was able to get me to see so very quickly, and that yes, I’m post-op. My follow up appointment isn’t until the 15th of next month, though.

As we were talking, she even commented on my obvious discomfort. I’m glad my daughter was there because at one point, when she asked about my symptoms – something I’d already repeated several times to others – I was having difficulty speaking and my brain was too fogged to remember them all, so my daughter was able to list them off for me.

In the end, we had the same “problem” as last time. There was little that they could do for me in the ER. There was concerns that I was still bleeding and we went over how the T3s basically do nothing for the pain. She wanted to wait for the results from the lab, which would tell her if I needed a transfusion or not (I did not expect anything like that), or an IV for fluids, if I were dehydrated.

The main thing that they could focus on was pain control. She suggested hydromorphone, which my husband is on. I told her that, so she knew I was familiar with it. If the T3s aren’t working, she was willing to prescribe some to me, but that falls under the “controlled substance” label. In the end, she said it was okay if I took one from my husband to try and see if it works, or if I would have a reaction to it. I didn’t know what his dose was, and she told me to take 1mg, so if he’s on 2mg, I should break it in half.

For now, though, I’m to take two T3s every six hours, instead of the 1-3 tablets every 8 hours as needed, but not at the same time as the hydromorphone, if I’m going to try that. I got all the other warnings – no alcohol, don’t try to drive, don’t go swimming, etc. I told her, if I’m going to take it, I’ll be taking it and going straight to bed!

She approved of that.

She then told me that, on Monday, I need to call the specialist that did the surgery, tell her that I’d gone to the ER, and to get in to see her as quickly as possible, rather than waiting the 4 weeks.

Until then, I got an injection of tramadol for the pain I was dealing with right then. The nurse that came to me in the waiting with the injection recognized me from the last time I was there immediately! I think it was my sparkly hat. 😄

Not long after, the doctor came by with the lab results, which turned out to be really good. One of them was even better than the result from last time, and she told me to keep doing what I’m doing.

The main thing was, I did not need a transfusion or IV. I had just got the tramadol injection, so she said I could go home.

Then my daughter went and brought the truck over from where she’d parked it once I was admitted and we were soon on the way home. As we were driving, she commented on how quickly they took care of me. I suggested it might have had something to do with how terrible I looked.

She agreed. I was looking very ill!

Once at home, my younger daughter drove right up to the house to unload me and help me to the door, where her sister was waiting to help me once inside.

Have I mentioned how much I love all the arm bars and hand rails this house has? Quite a few times, I’m sure!

My older daughter had just finished making supper and, though it was early, got a plate ready for me, as I’d had only soup and toast all day. By this time, the tramadol was starting to do its job and I was feeling better. I did end up lying down again, as I was completely drained.

I don’t know how long I was down for, but I was awakened by the screeching of skunks fighting outside my window. I ended up going outside to see what was going on. I never saw the fighting skunks, but I did chase off two huge ones. One was coming around the corner of the house. The other was in the isolation shelter! Earlier, my daughter had messaged us to let us know she’d gone outside to feed the cats, but there was a skunk in the sun room that couldn’t leave – cats in the doorway were blocking it. So she went out the other door. While in the yard, she checked the sun room and found the skunk stretched out and taking a nap, right under the door into the old kitchen! So she didn’t go into the sun room at all.

Between that and the skunks, when I went out, I found all the kibble trays were empty. Even on the house house roof, there was only a few dregs.

By this time, my younger daughter had come out to check on me. I was going to top up the food bowls, but she did that for me. While she did that, I went over to the branch pile to see if the kittens were out.

I found one.

I saw no signs of any others.

I was feeling so much better that I kept walking around – slowly – to check on the garden beds. My daughter walked with me (turns out she was supposed to get me to go back inside, and failed!) and, when I spotted some colour hidden deep among the orange currant tomatoes, she picked them for me.

She found another spray with ripe Orange Currant tomatoes after the photo was taken. I think there were about 6 or 8 in total. Those vines are covered with sprays of tomatoes – so many!!! – and they’re all very green! The girls tell me the Orange Currant tomatoes are very delicious.

We did pick the one red Manitoba tomato, but it ended up going into the compost pile. The skin on that one got damaged while it was still green, and it was in pretty bad shape. There are more, but none are turning red yet.

Our single Arikara squash is getting huge.

Tomorrow, my daughter plans to harvest beans. She got the one golden zucchini that was ready, this morning and the garlic is ready to have their roots trimmed off and the soil brushed away before they come inside. She had planned to do a few things in the garden for me today, but got side tracked with having to drive me to the ER! I’ve been ordered not to have any more medical emergencies. 😂🤣

Meanwhile, at the moment, I’m feeling much better. The pain is gone, though I’m still feeling really weak. I’ve got timers and alarms set for the different meds I have, though I will be out of one of them rather soon. If things get bad again, I might try the hydromorphone. I have a slight problem with trying one of my husband’s, though. The doctor said to take 1mg, and split the pill if he’s on 2mg.

He’s on 12mg, and they’re not tablets, but gel caps. It’s the highest dose they’re allowed to give out, if I remember correctly, but I didn’t know what the actual number was until talking to my husband about it and he double checked.

I will admit, though, that I have actually tried it before, when the pain got extremely bad some time ago. I took one before bed and it worked incredibly well. No bad reactions, and it actually killed the pain, unlike the T3s. It also helped with my hip and shoulder pain. I was able to actually sleep. This is something to avoid, though, if only because he’s already so limited on when he can get refills.

Hopefully, things will be better tomorrow – and stay better! I still have to call the specialist’s clinic on Monday, though, and get in to see her as soon as possible.

What fun… not.

The Re-Farmer

Our 2027 + Garden: seeds in – and it’s back

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Today has been a difficult day.

I felt so good after the surgery, but the more time goes by, the worse I’ve been feeling.

Now, it’s back.

The pain that the doctor said the procedure should end.

Still not bad enough to go to the ER, but that is a possibility.

My daughter drove us to the post office to pick up a parcel. I ended up giving her my debit card along with the mail key and staying in the truck, in case she saw something in the general store worth picking up.

There ended up being two parcels. My latest MI Gardener seed order was in, too. Follow the link to see what made me choose these specific varieties.

There was also a surprise complementary packet of seeds; a “Salad bowl” mix. Who knows. We might even try growing some of those under lights in the winter.

The new seeds should be added to my seed bin that’s in the cool of the basement, but I can’t do the stairs right now.

In fact, I think I’m going to lie down again in a bit.

The Re-Farmer

Resting

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Not a lot to say about today. Still in recovery and today had me dealing with more exhaustion and some pain.

I did head outside in the afternoon to get some fresh air, and take some garden tour video. Before I started, I spotted Slick’s babies.

They seem to like hanging out around the old burn ring, rather than the catio. The catio may be too exposed feeling.

The girls have still taken on my usual outdoor stuff. No watering of the garden today, though, as it rained all night. Just walking around the yard taking video was enough to leave me feeling exhausted.

I’m at war with myself between all that I want to be doing, and knowing that I need to not be doing any of it to I can recover.

I am a terrible patient.

😄

The Re-Farmer

Hard to hold back

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In some ways, I am a really terrible person to myself.

I am doing very well, which means I want to do more than I should, without even thinking about it! I was doing so well, I was able to do a walkabout yesterday evening… with my daughters both joining me to make sure I was okay!

Here we are, past the middle of August, and the sunflowers are just starting to form their heads. In the second photo of the slide show above, the one tomato we have that formed the earliest is finally turning red, but it’s taken so long, the skin looks dried out and damaged. There are, however, a decent number of other Manitoba Tomatoes on the plants, though still very green. The Blueberry tomatoes have quite a few forming fruit, all incredibly hard. There are lots of Orange Currant tomatoes, and they’re the only ones in that bed that have had anything ripen, but only from the same spray of fruit. Everything else is solid green. Same with the Chocolate Stripe tomatoes in the main garden area. We might be able to bring them in to ripen off the vine, but it’s way too early for most of them. Meanwhile, we’ve had some surprisingly cool night temperatures lately. We dropped to 6C/43F last night! Overnight temperatures over the next while as supposed to be warmer. The app on my phone says we’ll get another drop like last night within the week, but that app is also saying it’s raining right now, has been for hours and will continue through the night.

It’s not raining. It’s not even overcast.

Looking at the weather radar, the system is passing to the north and south of us. We might get a bit of rain in about an hour and that’s it.

I was able to sleep last night, and even sleep in, as my younger daughter took over the morning routine. She made sure the catio food bowl had a generous amount of cat soup to lure the babies (I have not seem or heard them at all today), and she watered the garden. We talked about that for a bit and the potatoes will no longer be watered so the soil will dry out and they can be harvested.

Which won’t be by me.

Later in the morning, she and I headed out to town, stopping first to pick up a parcel at the post office that turned out to be three parcels. I’m really amazed by how quickly my husband’s Tei Fu order came in! This time, he got some oil as well as the lotion that my daughter will test out. I was up to driving, but my daughter ran into the post office so I didn’t need to get in and out of the truck.

Our first stop in town was the pharmacy so I could get my post-op prescriptions filled. My husband has a refill scheduled for delivery tomorrow and I was hoping to pick that up, too, but I was not allowed to. Being a “controlled substance” it was too early for a refill. Idiotic and frustrating. Both my daughters had refills to get filled as well, with one of those also being a “controlled substance” that had to wait until it was almost gone before it would be refilled – which means it would have been out completely if she waited for delivery day.

While we wait for the prescriptions to be filled, my daughter got a wrist brace for her sister and I ended up getting a thumb brace for myself. I wore it only for the afternoon, and it has already made a world of difference.

Wandering around the store started to be a bit much, though, and I didn’t want to push myself, so I sat in the waiting area for most of the time. My daughter got the meds for herself and her sister faster, so she paid for the wrist brace (their meds were both covered 100% by our province’s pharmacare insurance) then headed out to another store while I waited.

My meds, being new, got a discussion about instructions with the pharmacist. The antibiotics need to be taken every 6 hours until the bottle is empty. The number of days is a bit off, since I wasn’t able to fill it yesterday so, in theory, I’d already “missed” several doses. The other is to stop bleeding. I can take it every 8 hours, but only as needed, and the fewer I take of that, the better. It’s the same thing my older daughter has a prescription for, and she had asked if I was getting it. The prescription was hand written in a short hand, so I had no idea until the pharmacist named it as she gave it to me. My daughter was very happy to hear I got this prescription, because it works incredibly fast and well. It’s highly unlikely I’ll need to take it for more than a day or two.

Once done at the pharmacy, we decided to go to the grocery store for a few things; bread, eggs and milk, mostly. We ended up getting more, of course. They had several cuts of steak, plus beef roasts, on sale for prices I haven’t seen in a very long time. I ended up getting two packages of steaks for tonight, a small roast plus a seasoned pork roast that is always a good price. Pork is about the only affordable meat right now.

Before we could finish going through the store, though, I had to give my daughter my cards and turn the shopping over to my daughter, so I could head to the truck and sit down. I had only been walking around, using the cart as a walker as I usually do, but I could tell I had started to push myself too far and needed to sit. My daughter did the driving and, once we got home, I took my new meds and lay down pretty much right away, making sure to set a timer and an alarm for the two different lengths of time to the next doses.

The girls took care of all the stuff I normally would have done at least part of. My older daughter also cooked the steaks for supper, finishing off the last of our store bought potatoes, together with cabbage and beans from our garden, to go with it.

It was deliscious.

Before supper was ready, I felt well enough again to go outside for the evening cat feeding – promising my daughters I wouldn’t do anything else!

Then my older daughter saw me through the kitchen window, dragging the hose across the yard, and sent my younger daughter running. I was just taking it to the catio to refill the water bowl for Slick and her kittens, but they were afraid I was going to start watering the garden or something! 😁

My daughter stayed with me while I finished and brought the hose back, and we got to talking about how Sprout’s little one has gotten so talkative!

It has a squeaky little meow it gives off while waiting for us to distribute the kibble. It is so nervous about eating, and I’d had to use the hose to chase off a big skunk that had scared it way, just by being there. This poor baby is all alone. Mama doesn’t stay close to it anymore, and it’s too scared to come to the house, so it has formed no “friendships” with any of the other cats. If they come by to eat, she runs away, so we try to get them to eat from other bowls, instead.

Once the cats were fed and watered, my daughter chastised me until I went back inside. 😄

Along with the meds, I’m under some pretty strict instructions on what I can and can’t do. No lifting anything over 10 pounds. No “strenuous activity” for a week… I suspect digging up potatoes counts as “strenuous activity”. Apparently, I’m supposed to be eating a “light diet” or things like toast or soup until I can tolerate more. I have had zero issues with what I have been able to eat. The steak dinner my daughter made REALLY hit the spot! Of course, there are also the warnings to look out for that, if they start, I am to get to the nearest ER immediately.

So far, though, I just had that while where I could tell I’d pushed myself, and lying down was sufficient.

The down side of feeling so good after the procedure; I REALLY need to force myself not to just get back into my normal activity levels!!!

Meanwhile, my timer just went off… time to go take the next dose of antibiotics…

The Re-Farmer