A sad good by, a happy visit

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As expected, we lost little Batman last night. I kept an eye on him on the critter cam and knew he was gone when I used the camera to chase out the raccoons in a kibble tray nearby, and there was no movement.

He is now buried under where I plan to plant another tree in the outer yard.

We were never able to socialize him, but I’m still going to miss that little guy.

Today, the plan was to go into town and pick up some fruit for my mother, then visit her for a bit, in the afternoon. I figured, with the festival winding down, it wouldn’t be too bad. It did mean I would be out at a time when my pain levels tend to get bad, so I was pro-active about it. I was up by about 5am and outside by about six, first to feed the outside cats, then bury little Batman.

I spotted Sprout and her baby!

Then I did my usual rounds and checks, gathering a harvest from the garden. After I got back inside and had breakfast, I made a point of lying down for a couple of hours, at least. Not necessarily to nap, though I did doze a bit, but just to make sure my body rested before I headed out. It worked. I did not get hit with the pain later on, even when I was doing quite a bit of walking around.

As I was eating my breakfast, I got a call on my cell phone. That it even came through was the first surprise. The second was who we calling. A friend from high school. She was in town for a short while and was hoping we could get together. I told her I was going to be in town later, so we worked out that I would contact her before I went in to see my mother, and we would get together when the visit was done.

While getting ready to head out, I was surprised to see my brother out front with his truck and trailer, already partially loaded. He was getting the appliances and other metals on, to take to the scrap yard once he could get the time off work to take it in while they are open. As I headed to the truck, though, I spotted something loaded among the old freezers, furnaces, washers and driers I did not expect to be there.

The antique enameled sink that was leaning against the pump shack.

I was surprised as said, that doesn’t go! He said, yes, it goes. The junk goes. I told him I had planned to use it. We went back and forth about if for a while, as I told him where I’d planned to use it. He mentioned the stainless steel sinks in the sheds and garage (yes, we have a collection of those, too), but I said I don’t want a stainless steel sink. I want that one! In the end, though, it’s his sink. He can do whatever he wants with it, and I wasn’t going to argue. I was on my way to town, anyhow.

When I got to town, I was happy to see there was not a lot of traffic on the main road, though the temporary traffic lights were still set up. I headed to the grocery store and picked up apples, grapes and a few bananas, and decided to pick up some crackers, tiny cans of Ginger Ale and a container with a lid that she could use as a fruit bowl.

I also remembered to bring her old fan that she had asked for.

Thankfully, the nursing home has its own parking, and there was one open spot when I got there. The festival was winding down, but not finished yet, so public parking nearby was out of the question.

As I got to her floor and walked past the nursing station, I greeted the nurse, then turned around and came back to ask how my mother has been.

Not good, it turns out. She’s been yelling at them. Things like, when she didn’t get her tea fast enough, yelling “I want my tea”. Sadly, none of this is unusual or unexpected. She has always been one to be abusive towards those who are trying to help her. The nurse actually wished me luck when I continued on to my mother!

Thankfully, I had my friend as reason to leave earlier.

The visit actually turned out rather well.

She did try to do her usual digs and insults, but they didn’t get very far and I was able to distract her. She was happy with what I brought her. I washed the grapes right away and put them in the container I’d brought, and she started eating right away. Oddly, she was spitting out the skins. I asked her why, and she told me that she has to be careful with her digestion. Turns out, she has decided grape skins are hard on her stomach. ??? She decides all sorts of things are “bad” for her, but grape skins are a new one to me.

She tried to grill me on where my brother was and what he was doing. She had treated him so badly the last time he visited, and has zero understanding that this is a problem she is causing. Oddly, when I told her he was very busy, and only has a short length of time to get things done outside of work, she told me not to speak for my brother. I told her, then don’t ask about him. At which point, she started crossing herself. 😕

She complained about how they staff don’t “want” her to see a doctor, or a dietician. Which I know isn’t what’s going on, but she apparently told them that if they don’t want her to see the doctor, she’ll get us to take her to another doctor. Who that would be, I have no idea, but I told her, we can’t just take her to see another doctor. It doesn’t work that way. She’s under the care of a doctor already. She just doesn’t have the health problems other people living here have. I explained the nurses go through her file with the doctor regularly, along with all the other stuff (turns out she convinced them to put her on an inhaler again; only a doctor can write that prescription), but she refuses to accept that.

Then she got around to why she wants my brother to see her. She wants to talk to him about her health. Then she started repeating a story of how, back when she was about 25 years old (so… 70+ years ago) she had the same pain in her chest she has now (very unlikely) and the doctor gave her a prescription and she felt better. She wants us to find this medication and get it for her. All she remembers of it is that it had cherry and orange in it.

I tried to explain to her (again) that whatever she took 70 years ago probably doesn’t exist in that form anymore and, based on what she has described, it sounds like an early version of the “pink medicine” (Pepto) she takes now. The cherry and orange would be flavours, not the medicine.

She still wants to get my brother to find this mystery medication, because she’s convinced it is the only thing that will magically make her all better again.

She still complains about her breathing at night. I tried to suggest she try and take advantage of the hospital bed to sleep sitting upright, with her knees supported, but she stopped listening to me and started talking over me about something else entirely.

*sigh*

I had told her about my friend from high school being in town and asked if she remembered her. She didn’t, but when I gave her name, my mom just wanted to know her ethnicity. When she heard her married name, she wanted to know that ethnicity. When I told her I didn’t know she asked, what kind of friend can this be? I told her, a friend that doesn’t care about such things! Then she mocked her married name because it means “without clothes” in Polish.

I looked it up when I got home. The word in Polish is vaguely similar, but it is not her name at all. But “similar” is enough for my mother.

Much to my surprise, she didn’t give me a hard time about leaving fairly quickly to meet with my friend. Possibly because I mentions I see her only once every year or two. It was only as I was leaving that my mother thought to ask about my own health, since I’d told her I had been to the ER when she’d called me, wanting me to visit her that day. I told her I was going for surgery, party to find out what is actually going on, because so many tests are coming back normal. Something she would understand very well.

She did.

As I was heading out, I called up my friend and found out she was at a particular shop she visits every time she comes out here, trying on dresses! So I headed that way, though I had to park several blocks away. If the nursing home parking hadn’t been private parking that I could stay in, the walk would have been shorter! Which is fine, though I was glad I did that lie down this morning.

I caught up to her and, this time, I got to finally meet her husband! The building this shop is in used to be a butcher shop and grocery store. The owner had a secret recipe for steak spice that is the best ever. When they bought the building, they bought the recipe and regularly have it available, tucked into a corner of the store among completely unrelated items. So while my friend was in the fitting room, I popped over to see if they had any in stock. A customer was in front of the display so I started waiting, but as he and his son were talking about things, I could see they would be a while and just excused myself to grab a bag – then asked if he’d every tried it. It turned out he was local enough to remember the butcher shop and grocery store that was there before, and I told him the story behind the steak spice mix, and that it was the best we’ve ever had.

Then I grabbed a second bag, because I didn’t know when I’d be back.

I saw him walking out of the store later, carrying a bag of steak spice. I know he’s going to love it!

After my friend was done, we paid for our stuff, then worked out where we were going next. She wanted to go to the park where the main festival activities were still happening. We walked while her husband went to their car to try and find a closer parking spot. This gave us a chance to catch up on all sorts of things. She was having difficulty with an injured knee, so I just had to extoll the virtues of having a walker. She told me, she was trying to stay away from that. I told her that my husband had done that for a long time. When he finally got one, he wondered why he waited so long. It is such a huge improvement in quality of life. I don’t know that I convinced her, but I think she’s more open to it.

We took our time walking to the park, resting whenever we found a bench.

The park had the carnival rides still going, as well as a vendor village. All the little tents with the usual stuff you find at carnivals, but a few that were a little more unusual. One that caught my attention had a display of drinking horns and wooden steins that caught my attention. They had the style of drinking horn like we got for one of our daughters for her birthday a few years ago. The also had DnD items, “Viking” jewelry, and other interesting things. I saw grab bags for “hair weapons” that I just had to ask about. I was directed to a display of hair pins in the shape of medieval style weapons – swords, war aces, and the like. The grab bags were cheaper than the display ones, of course, so I grabbed one for each of the girls. We caught up with my friend’s husband and wandered around a bit more. After a while I spotted a donair food truck. We haven’t had real donairs since we left the city. The local restaurant has gyros, which are not quite the same thing. So I got four of them to take home.

Which did mean I had to leave right away, while the food was still hot. They ended up giving me a ride to where I parked my truck.

I found “graffiti” on my truck.

That is so adorable!

My daughter had actually done it a while ago, but this was the first time I saw this part of the truck in full daylight like this, instead of in the shadows of the garage.

My husband had messaged me for something, so I made a quick stop at the grocery store again before heading home. By then, my brother and SIL had left for home. My brother loaded so many washers and driers on that thing. Why were there so many washers and driers? I thought it was funny that we found 6 old toilets around (my brother found the 6th one, buried in the junk pile). There was the one washing machine we brought out to the junk pile when we replaced it. The rest were in the warehouse and storage sheds all over the place. Along with a couple of old furnaces, the remains of a wringer washer, and a couple of huge old chest freezers.

I also got a message that my brother had taken out the enameled cast iron sink and left it for me. That was so sweet of him! It’s a gorgeous sink; the kind with a built in drain area. Antique collectors and interior decorators would pay a pretty price for it. Especially in such good condition. Not that I’d ever sell it. That design is just too useful.

So today turned out to start off sad, but ended well. Even the visit with my mother was okay. I also didn’t get hit with pain after all that walking around, either.

Tomorrow, though, I’ll be walking around at Costco. Hopefully, my younger daughter will be able to come with me.

I’m not looking forward to it, but at least it’ll be on a Tuesday, not a holiday weekend!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: morning harvest

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Today was much cooler, with possible rain, so I didn’t need to water the garden today. I did get a harvest, though. This time, from the opposite end of the row.

These are the Viking potatoes. Not as many as when I harvested from the south end of the bed, but there was a definite reason for that. SO many elm roots under just the two plants at the end of the bed I dug under! Very frustrating.

In the next image is the complete harvest. More tri-colour bush beans, a few little carrots (they don’t seem to be getting any bigger; the soil is probably too compact again) and a couple of stalks from the walking onions. I broke off most of the bulbils and laid them down where I want to keep the walking onions growing, otherwise, they’d take over in the grass beyond the garden. The “stalks” are so big, I only grabbed two of them, which was more than enough for the day’s use.

I checked out one of the corn cobs that had dried out silks. It was on the outer edge, and I found it was very poorly pollinated. Very few developing kernels. I did try to shake the pollen down and make sure the stalks along the outside were dusted, to sort of imitate the wind, but I guess it didn’t work very well. I really should have had that second block I’d intended to plant but was never able to, right next to it. That would have improved things. Ah, well. We should still have something!

I then headed out for most of the day, which I’ll cover in another post, and the girls will be doing something with what I picked. I look forward to seeing what they come up with!

The Re-Farmer

Another too-hot day, she’s at it again, and saying good bye?

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As expected, today broke 30C/86F. I don’t know what the humidex was. I was outside by 7am, watering the garden and it was starting to get too hot before I finished. It’s past 7:30pm now, and it’s just barely starting to dip below 30C/86F now.

I do have to chuckle a bit about when I do the outside cat feeding these days, both morning and evening now. There are at lest 4 little skunks that come out almost right away. I found myself with an extra tray that I ended up setting under the rail I hang the end of the hose from as an extra kibble and cat soup tray. After feeding the cats and getting ready to water the garden, there was a little skunk under the hose. I used it to rinse off the soup bucket, and it didn’t turn away. It got all foot stompy and chittering, but didn’t run. It was famished and kept eating, clearly struggling between wanting to run away and eating.

Which is the only reason I don’t chase them away. These little ones are famished – and I’m not seeing a mama with them. I suspect something got the mama and, right now, we might be their only reliable source of food. I am not setting out any extra for them, but I can’t begrudge a hungry baby its sustenance. They get along with the cats and, other than leaving poop in the sun room, they don’t make a mess or cause damage. So I let them eat. I only chase them off if the big one comes out and starts bullying the littles. Pretty sure that one is a big male.

Meanwhile…

I got a couple of calls from my mother this afternoon.

*sigh*

I had to hang up on her, the first time.

I saw the call display, so I knew it was her when I answered, but when I said hello, there was nothing. I said hello again. Still nothing. I checked to make sure the line was still open, and it was. I said hello again, and she finally answered.

???

We had barely said our hellos when she started. I’d asked how she was doing, and she started talking about all the commotion outside her window from the “big celebration”. This would be the annual festival that has been happening in this town for more than 100 years, and has been getting bigger and bigger over the past two or three decades. An entire “village” with historical re-enactments gets set up in the park next to the nursing home, and the parking normally used for fishing boats or people parking at the marine across the road gets set up with at least a dozen food trucks – and this isn’t even the main event area! All the carnival rides, stage performances and indoor exhibitions are at another park, across town.

“Across town” being about 4 blocks.

When she mentioned it, I told her I knew it was on – and that it was why I was not going anywhere near town today or tomorrow.

She then started saying she thought the parade was happening tomorrow (it is), and that I should “bring the children”. I needed to “bring the children” and get them around people. Get “the children” doing things.

I finally cut her off and said, “they’re not children. They’re adults.”

She just doubled down. I needed to take “the children” to see the parade.

Never mind that we’ve never really liked parades. Never mind that both daughters have health problems and one of them almost died not that long ago. We’ve only told my mother they have health problems, because we know she doesn’t care, and couldn’t understand it anyhow. So she doesn’t know the details, but she does know that none of us are well. The last time she called was when she wanted me to come visit and I had to tell her I’d just come back from the ER. She didn’t ask anything about it. She just kept hammering at me that I needed to take “the children” to the parade.

As she kept going, I told her to stop.

She didn’t.

I told her to stop again.

She ignored me.

I said good bye and hung up.

The entire call was less than 1 minute.

I had started to update my brother and SIL when the phone rang again. It was my mother, so I answered.

I got a dial tone. She hung up before I had a chance to pick up.

So I finished updating my family on the group chat we have specifically for discussions about our mother, when the phone rang again. It was my mother. I answered and said hello.

Nothing.

Hello?

Nothing.

Hello?

She finally said hello.

She then spoke as if the last call never happens. This time, she launched into how she wanted me to come over so she could give me money. “Lots” of money, so I could buy her some fruit. For some reason, she really felt she needed fruit.

I told her again, I was not going into town today. At the earliest, I could go tomorrow afternoon.

Not today?

No. Not today. Tomorrow afternoon at the earliest – partly because the streets in front of the grocery store will be closed off for the parade.

Oh, as long as the grocery store is open.

…

Then she started listing off the other things she wanted me to bring. One, her oscillating fan, I can do. The other two items would require digging past other stores items blocking the way, and digging through boxes. One of them was an old radio that she is convinced will be magically able to get the radio station she wants, even though it’s not any better than the radio she already has. When I told her no, it was in storage, and I can’t get at it, she wanted to know why. Was it locked? I couldn’t exactly explain to her that I have so many things from her apartment here, we can barely used our own living room. I just said, there are other things in the way and I can’t get at it.

She did, eventually, accept that.

Then she told me she didn’t know how to turn the light off on her phone. The light by the neck strap. As near as I can figure out, it’s the built in flashlight. She somehow turned it on, and now doesn’t know how to turn it off. She keeps pushing buttons, she says, but it won’t turn off.

I told her, don’t button mash!

Then she told me she had tried to phone my sister, then my brother, and tried to phone me, but was only able to reach me.

Which explains the earlier non-call.

She doesn’t know how to use the phone. She needs a “real” phone. I told her, my brother got her the simplest, easiest phone he could. He and I had looked at all kinds of phones, and he picked the easiest one for her. Oh, she leaves the technology to my brother.

*sigh*

Oh, and it’s been a long time since my brother visited, and did I know where he was?

I told her, he’s been busy trying to fix their car – which is true, but he’d come out here to fix his tractor, too. I wasn’t going to tell her that. Especially since the part he got turned out to not work so they went back to the city this morning – I saw them drive by while I was watering the garden. They didn’t get back until this evening.

I told her I would pass on to my brother and my sister about her wanting fruit, so whoever got to her first could bring something. Amazingly, she actually let me go shortly after that.

After messaging my brother and texting my sister, I finished eating my supper then headed outside.

As I was finishing setting out the kibble and the cat soup, I saw Batman, loafed in front of the sun room door. I stepped outside and pet him and he didn’t move so, right away, I knew something was wrong. He normally runs away.

When I came back, he was still there. I picked him up and put him near a tray with cat soup in it. When I came back moments later, he was loafed again, and using the edge of the tray as a pillow, barely breathing. I don’t think he ate.

At this point, I just tried to make him as comfortable as possible, and gave him pets. He’s never allowed pets before, but he seemed to appreciate them. Every now and then, I’d come back and find he’d moved a bit. When I found him next to the water bowl, I found a shallow water bowl and set it beside him with fresh water. I don’t think he drank.

After a while, I set up a soft bed for him, instead of the hard concrete, but later found he’d gotten off, then lay on the concrete.

I don’t think he’ll last until morning.

The only external evidence of illness that I can see is on his back end, where he’d clearly had done some messy business, but just as clearly, it was not recent.

I kept checking on him as I got things done. We had high winds today, so I walked around the yard with the wagon to pick up fallen branches, mostly from the willows. It was too hot for some of the jobs I meant to do, and too windy for others, but I did get the folding table out of the garage and set up behind the kibble house. I brought the canopy tent over, too, but it was too windy to set it up. Over the next while, I hope to be able to empty the sun room and give it a proper cleaning, and some things need to stay out of the weather. I also expect to be harvesting the garlic soon, and I’ll be hanging them to cure across the inside of the tent.

With the heat, the garden needed another watering, but it was still too hot. I went inside, planning to rest and hydrate before going out again, but by then, the pain was kicking in and I knew I wouldn’t be able to. My older daughter, sweetheart that she is, went out to do it for me.

As for myself, I’ve taken my tramadol, and it doesn’t seem to be doing a thing. In fact, the pain has been getting worse as I have been writing this.

My daughter just came by to update me. She has seen Batman moving around but, being covered in bug spray, she didn’t want to touch him. I’ve been warned he is now directly under the door between the old kitchen and the sun room, so to watch my step. Also, she had to chase both a skunk and a racoon out of the sun room! She also had a chance to talk to my brother while she was watering the garden, which is nice. Since she works nights, she doesn’t get a chance to see them much.

As soon as I’m done writing this, I’m going to have to take my evening supplements and lie down. Just sitting up at my computer is getting too painful.

I am so looking forward to surgery.

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: first tomato, peppers, some cuteness and the status of things

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Well, I’m glad I didn’t head to the city today for our second stock up shop. That will definitely wait until after the long weekend. Not only will I not have to deal with holiday crowds, but Tuesday is supposed to finally be cooler again.

I had an early start to the day, not by choice. It wasn’t pain that woke me up – it was cats going nuts! – though I did immediately get a headache. I don’t normally get headaches, and I don’t know what triggered it.

I topped up the inside cat kibble bowls which calmed them down a little bit, but they’ve been really bonkers lately. Since I was up anyhow, I went out to do the morning feeding and watering of the yard cats.

Look who I spotted!

Sprout’s baby has starting coming to the food bowls in its own, without mom around!

(As an aside, Gouda did show up again. I had a scare with Batman, but he showed up, too. Still no Havarti, no Domino, no Adam and no Flopsy. At this point, it is highly unlikely we will see them again. Others seems to have disappeared, too, among the tabbies we never got to name. All have gone missing in an unusually short time. 😢😢😢)

It was wonderfully cool, heading outside that early in the morning. It helped my headache a bit, at least. I was planning to go straight back to bed, but I found myself not only with the headache, but suddenly famished. As in, feeling nauseous and dizzy and ready to pass out, hungry. Also odd, because I had gone to bed early last night, but got up at around midnight because of the pain my left hip. The painkillers helped with the abdominal pain but did nothing for the wrecked hip. My older daughter was up and working on commissions while it was cooler, and she was kind enough to rub some of the topical painkiller on my hip joint for me. Then she was kind enough to make me some grilled cheese sandwiches. Since I was up anyhow, I turned on the computer and paid the bills. By the time she brought me the food, my hip was no longer hurting, and I could finally sleep. I went back to bed at around two, so it was only about 3-4 hours later that I found myself awake and suddenly famished.

My body is completely out of whack!

My attempt to get more sleep was only half successful. It was disorienting to get up, feeling like it should be coming up on noon, but it was early enough that my alarm to do a wellness check on my husband hadn’t gone off yet.

With having to move the hoses because I knew my SIL was planning to mow the lawn, the garden hadn’t been watered at all for two days. Being slightly cooler today, and the mowing done, I went out to do it early this afternoon. Everything got an extra deep watering today, and I set up the hose into the leaky barrel to do the food forest trees, too. They also got extra water, and the leaking barrel will continue to water the apple, gooseberry and probably the plum, too, slowly as it empties.

When I moved to the south side of the hose to water the garden beds there, I started a little creature and saw a streak of white bolting out from under the water bowl shelter and across the yard.

It was Sprout’s baby! It is starting to come closer to the house for food!!! Progress!!!!

While watering the tomato bed, I spotted a splash of colour.

Orange colour.

Our very first ripe tomato! 😂🤣 This is an Orange Currant tomato which is pretty much an orange version of the Spoon tomatoes we’ve grown before – the one kind of tomato I can eat raw. I didn’t eat this one, though. My daughter had gone to the truck to sew up a split seam on the driver’s seat for me, so I gave it to her.

She said it was very good!

I was getting close to finishing the watering when my brother and SIL arrived. They have their own planned out stuff to do, so I don’t expect to actually see them much while there are here. Especially since I have not been outside anywhere near as much as I normally would be.

Still, by the time I was done watering (which took almost 3 hours), I was feeling pretty good. Good enough that I brought the truck around and my younger daughter helped me load up the garbage and recycling.

Thankfully, she came with me to the dump.

By the time the truck was loaded, I could tell the pain was starting to return. By the time we drove the two miles to the highway, it was getting hard to sit up straight. I was still good to drive, though. When we got to the dump, we stopped at the recycling bins first, and I got out to help my daughter take care of those. By then, I knew I was done. I could get in and out of the truck, but I was not going to be able to throw anything into the pit. So when we drove to the pit, my daughter took care of throwing the garbage bags in while I stayed in the truck.

On the way home, we made a side trip to the general store. The only thing I didn’t get while doing the earlier stock up trip was butter, and I discovered we were almost out. I ended up giving my daughter my debit card so she could run in and get the butter, plus a couple other things, while I stayed in the truck.

When we got home, she asked me to drive into the yard so she could hose down the box of the truck, as one of the kitchen garbage bags had leaked. I was happy to do that, as it meant a shorter walk to the house. While she took care of things, I took some painkillers and hydrated for a while.

My older daughter had started supper and it was ready before we got back, which was much appreciated.

Thankfully, the painkillers actually kicked in, so I was up to heading outside again. I’d forgotten to change out the memory cards on the trail cams yesterday. I no longer switch them out every day, but every week or so, now that we have fewer security concerns. Sad to think that it took our vandal passing away for that to happen, but it really has been a weight lifted off of all of us.

Of course, I just had to check out the garden beds before going back inside. Which is when I spotted something that I’m amazed I hadn’t seen before, while I was watering.

We have peppers. Surprisingly large ones!

These are the California Wonder bell peppers. The biggest plant has these two big peppers on it – one of them is stuck upside down, between stems. I had need tiny peppers forming on other plants, but somehow missed these ones!

Tomorrow is supposed to get quite hot again, so I plan to go to bed extra early to do an early morning watering, and will likely do an evening watering, too. Tomorrows heat is supposed to last from about noon to 8pm, before it starts cooling down. The overnight temperatures, at least, are much more bearable!

Hopefully, that will help with sleep, too.

We shall see!

The Re-Farmer

Morning harvest, didn’t make it, and I think I’m addicted

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So, today didn’t happen as planned, but it sort of happened as expected.

For all that I felt so well yesterday, I had a mostly sleepless night. I finally just got up, fed the outside cats, and did my morning routine. I made sure to bring a container along, as the bush beans had not been harvested yesterday, so I knew there would be plenty to pick, today.

I pretty much filled the colander I was using. It was mostly yellow beans, as we have more plants of those, and they seem to be more prolific, but there were plenty of purple and green pods to pick, too.

Once back inside, I stayed long enough that knew the lab would be open, then headed out. The plan was still to go to Costco after I got my blood work and EKG done, so I made sure to grab ice packs. By the time I got to the hospital, though, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere else. I was just too tired and sleepy, on top of all my joints aching from tossing and turning all night.

At the lab, I was called in very quickly after dropping off my requisition papers. Blood was drawn first, and then it was straight to gown up for the EKG. The test itself took less time than it took to wire me up!

From there, I just stopped to get a bit more gas before heading home, had a light lunch, took some pain killers and tried to lie down.

It didn’t really work. Neither the painkillers, nor the attempt at a nap.

When I finally gave up, I was soon back outside again. It was a bit early, but I went ahead and did the evening cat feeding, as well as refreshing their water bowls and putting in new frozen water bottles. My brother and SIL had their own plans change a few times, but they will be coming out today; while my brother works on his tractor, my SIL planned to start mowing the lawn. It goes a lot faster with their big zero turn mower, that’s for sure! They’ll be going back to the city for the night, though, and coming back tomorrow.

I decided to do a bit of weed trimming.

One area I wanted to get trimmed is what will be a stone framed flower garden near the gate, around my mother’s angel statue. I had already started to place rocks down but wasn’t happy with it. I moved them all aside, then weed trimmed the area before laying them back out in what I think is a better set up. Eventually, soil will be added to make a slightly raised bed, as that area is low and becomes a pond at times. The plan is to sow varieties of flower seeds in there that do better being planted in the fall and going through a winter’s deep freeze.

After that, I did some trimming around the garage and the baler my brother parked beside it. I’ve got my first two logs meant for the outdoor kitchen in there, too, and it’s hard to get in there with a mower, so it was starting to get pretty overgrown.

By the time I was done that area, plus trimming around some rocks in the yard so no one would accidentally go over them with a mower, I was also just plain done. Even this small amount of physical activity has trigged a return of my abdominal pain. Something I’d hoped wouldn’t happen, after not having any of this pain at all yesterday. Even so, I hoped I could rest and go back outside, but as I sit here typing, I’m realizing that this is not going to happen after all.

*sigh*

I did, however, do something else today, for next year’s garden.

I’m starting to think I’m addicted to seeds. 😂🤣

I’d been going through the MI Gardener site last night and even went so far as to start a shopping cart going, but then headed to bed. I don’t actually need more seeds, but I wanted to try some new varieties, fill some gaps, and there was a modest sale on.

Well, today a 40% off seed sale started, so I went back and added a few more things and placed the order.

I am such a sucker for seeds!

This is what I ordered today.

Yes, I got more tomatoes. These mature in only 42 days, hence the name, 42 Day Tomato, which means they can actually be direct sown in the spring rather than started indoors.

I tried another variety of spinach, Verdil. I still have others, but we like spinach, but have not been able to actually get good results for a while. This variety is less prone to bolting.

I also got yet another variety of pepper, Diamond Bell. We’re still working out what varieties the family enjoys most.

The Honey Rock Melon is a short season variety that could also be potentially direct sowed, rather than starting indoors.

The Tendergreen Cucumber can be harvested small for pickling or long for fresh eating, and the girls have expressed a desire for a slicing variety.

I got yet another variety of corn – Double Red Sweet. Not a lot of seeds in the packages, so I got two. I just like the look of them, and like to try something other than your basic yellow corn.

I got even more carrot seeds. I’m coming to the conclusion that we can’t plant too many carrots. I chose an orange variety called Tendersweet, and…

… I got a yellow variety, just for something different.

Yes, I still have Atomic Red carrots, too. Variety is good.

I have had no luck with the tiny bok choi, as they always seem to bolt, so I’ve decided to try a Pak Choi cabbage that is less prone to bolting.

I was looking at the beets and decided to just get another Assorted Beet Mix – and then got another Sugar Beet packet. I still have some, but I want to try growing enough both to try making my own sugar, and to use as chicken feed, when we finally get our birds.

The Black Sesame seed is something I am curious to try, though it might not be next year.

I already got the plain garbanzo beans, and I figured I may as well try the black version, too.

I also wanted to try a new zucchini variety; Bianco Di Trieste. Because we never manage to have “too much” summer squash!

I have so many different types of melon sees, but I couldn’t resist getting some Tendersweet Orange watermelon – another shorter season variety.

I also have quite a few varieties of peas, but decided to try the Wando pea as well. We have yet to grow grow enough peas to do much more than snack on them, so I hope this variety does better. There aren’t a lot of seeds in the packages, so I got two.

I’ve been interesting in growing leeks for some time, and today I finally picked up Carentan Leek; a variety that has a shorter growing season.

And finally, I picked up some Copenhagen cabbage which, if I remember correctly, is the variety of cabbage I bought transplants for when I didn’t think the Purple Savoy cabbage would grow at all. So we will have both varieties again, next year.

Once of the things I’ll be doing closer to fall is going through my entire seed inventory and organizing it into things I can plant in the fall for winter sowing, things that need to be started indoors, and things for direct sowing.

Hopefully, after I’ve had my surgery, I’ll be better able, physically, to build and prepare beds. This forced inactivity is driving me nuts.

If I’m not careful, I might end up buying more seeds again…

I’m not addicted. I can quit at any time! 😂

The Re-Farmer

First stock up shop: This is what $253 looks like

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$253.11, to be exact, but the total stock up shop was more. I just didn’t get a picture of the rest.

After my doctor’s appointment was done, I needed to have lunch somewhere. I decided to go to a Subway near the Walmart, which decided the order of the rest of the shopping.

I got a 12″ teriyaki chicken sub and a bottled flavoured water to drink, which came to $20.81

The next place I remembered I wanted to go was the Dollarama. I was looking for some sort of cheap garden fencing to use around the bed with the Arikara squash and bush beans. There wasn’t much left in gardening supplies, though, so the only thing I got in that section was some soft ties for my tomatoes. I remembered to grab a new spatula to replace a broken one, and I also grabbed a small memory foam bath mat, as the ones we have just don’t work out for the space. I also grabbed four of their larger storage bins (which are large for a dollar store, but small for other stores). I need to get more of these, little by little. I’ve decided I need to pack away most of what I have in my room. It is a large room that serves as my bedroom, office and craft room combined, but with the cats taking things over, and particularly with Butterscotch still refusing to leave the room, I haven’t been able to use my craft table as a craft table in ages – and no matter what barricades I set up, some of the cats still keep trying to get to the top of the wall shelf. I’ve got stuff stored up there specifically to keep it safe from cats, but a couple of them still manage to get up there, usually causing quite a mess in the process. When I came home from the shopping today, I found all sorts of things knocked out of shelves and scattered about.

Plus, I need to get rid of the carpet in this room. It’s a sort of felted carpet, and I’ve never seen anything like it, anywhere else. It is a dirt and fur magnet. I’ve talked to my brother and he remembers that the original floor under it is just painted wood – and it was painted about 70 years ago.

So, I need to pack everything away and eventually empty my room. Since the things I’m packing are things I actually want to use, I want to pack them in clear plastic storage bins. I only got four today, but it’s a start. Around Christmas time, places like Walmart get huge inventories of storage bins, and I can wait until the go on clearance after Christmas. The most difficult thing about getting rid of the carpet will be moving my king size bed frame, and the wall shelf.

In total, what I got at Dollarama cost $41.72

My next stop was Walmart, and I got things on two separate bills for two different budgets.

The first one was personal items, which included a new pair of work shoes. My boots finally gave up the ghost and are toast, and I wanted to get steel toed shoes to replace them. This store is still under renovation, so it took me a while to find the men’s work boots, which weren’t moved to the new shoes section yet. I found two styles available in size 9s. The first ones I tried had several boxes on a mostly empty shelf, and there were two price stickers right next to each other, below them. One for $74 and change, the other for $3.

That detail turns out to be important.

Whatever the $3 item was, I figured it was completely out of stock, or moved to the new shoe section. The other pair I tried on were about $10 cheaper. After trying both, I found the more expensive pair to fit better and were more comfortable, so those are the ones I grabbed.

Along with those, I got myself another night down and some personal hygiene items, to go together with the shoe budget, then I got the rest of the stuff.

Since I had other places to go, I was not going to get anything that require refrigeration here. I got two big bags of cat kibble and a 9 pack of facial tissues. My husband requested nacho fixings, so I got round tortilla chips and a giant jar of green olives for that. I remembered to grab some peanut butter as well. Then I got a total of 9 cans of Monster for myself and my daughters.

Total cost, $76.76

Oh, my gosh.

I just realized something.

I didn’t get charged for the two bags of kibble!!!! She forgot to scan them!

I’m going to have to go back and take care of that. I just took pictures of the bar codes. They should be able to scan the photos, or manually input the code, and I can pay for them.

I do remember thinking the total was a bit low, but I had already paid for my personal items, and that threw my count off and distracted both of us.

This is why.

Check out my $3 shoes.

Yes. $3.

When she opened the box to scan the bar code on the shoes, she paused, looked at me and said “Three dollars?”

I had no context for what she was saying and must have looked confused when I asked her to repeat herself. She told me, they scanned as $3.

???

I was rather shocked. I told her, I’d seen a tag on the shelf saying $3, but I assumed that was for something else.

She called the cash supervisor over. They compared the number under the bar code with what was on the screen.

They matched.

They compared the number under the bar code on the box with what was on the shoes.

They matched.

Eventually, the cashier was told, if that’s what it scans as, that’s the price!

So I got what I thought was a $75 pair of shoes for $3. My total on that receipt, which I was expecting to be about $120 in total, came out to $45.77

!!!

That cashier asked me if there were more, and I told her there were two more on the shelf. A size 9 and a size 11. Oh, she says… I need a size 11!

I hope she was able to go and take advantage of this. I’m guessing someone made a mistake at head office somewhere and input the wrong price. These weren’t marked as being on any sort of sale.

Once these items were packed into the truck, I drove across the street to the Canadian Tire. The main thing I wanted to get there were litter pellets, but I had a few other things I wanted to look for as well.

I did find the sort of garden fencing I hoped to find at the Dollarama, but wasn’t filling to pay their price for them.

I did grab some more bug spray, plus a couple of Quick Connect hose attachments, one for each end of the hose. The one at had on the metal construction grade hose burst in a heat wave not long ago, and I wanted to replace that, plus I have an extra for the other end. I also got a replacement end for the soaker hose that is the right size; I had managed to fit a larger one on, but the soaker hose has started to leak badly at the connection, so I will try again. I then went looking for a small fan to replace one we’ve got set up in the bathroom window. The ceiling fan in the bathroom stopped working some time ago, then started again, then stopped again… We can’t find a reason why it’s doing that, so we’ve set up a fan to blow the heat and moisture out the window, instead. The fan we’re using was already here when we moved in, and it’s starting to sound like it’s wearing out, so I wanted to replace it. Fans the same size, though, are now USB or battery operated. I found a nice little 7″ fan – slightly larger, but it will still fit in the window quite nicely. Last of all, I got myself a cold drink to have while heading to my next stop.

Total bill at Canadian Tire was $88.59

From there, I went to the Safeway. Not somewhere we normally go; particularly since this location is in the downtown area of this city, though the city is so small, “downtown” is nowhere near as crowded or difficult to drive around as the larger city. The main reason I went to shop there instead of just shopping at Walmart is that they give out gas coupons.

This is what $253.11 looks like – and what got me a 10¢ off per liter coupon to use.

There really wasn’t a lot to get here, since I plan to do Costco tomorrow – or Saturday, if I find I’m not up to it after getting my blook work and EKG done.

Under “grocery”, I got some ketchup, bouillon cubes in three different flavours, a jug of distilled water (I forgot to get that at Walmart, where I usually buy packages of 4), and house brand Mac & Cheese, four boxes each in two flavours. I got mozzarella and smoked cheddar cheese for my husband’s nacho request. There was a deal on little tubs of ice cream, with both a sale price and a points bonus, so I got one for each of us, in different flavours, including a lactose free one for my husband. Last of all in that category was a large watermelon and a bag of 5 avocados.

Under the “meat” category, I got slab of pork belly that was on sale, plus had a point bonus, as did the ground chuck. I also got ribs and two packages of bacon, all on sale.

Under “deli”, I got a cheese for us to experiment with – Amber Mist, which is made with aged whiskey. For my husband and I to share for supper, I got a massive Dagwood sandwich, while for the girls, I got a fresh sushi tray and, finally, some garlic hummus to go with the nacho fixings.

Lastly, under the “bakery” category, I got a large package of croissants as a treat, two packs of Texas Toast, two packages of bagels and two loaves of Irish bread.

Total at Safeway: $253.11

With the total being over $200, that got me the maximum discount available for a gas coupon at Shell, and there’s a Shell station right next to the grocery store, so that was my next stop. They have pre-pay only, which needs to be done to use the coupon anyhow. I also have my CAA card, which gave me another 3¢ off per liter, so I got $60 of gas at $1.689 instead of $1.819

I was down to a quarter tank at the time, so that still only got me to 3/4 full. I’ll do a complete fill and reset my trip counter at Costco tomorrow.

So… today’s total, including lunch and a few extra items, came to $586.76 A total that is missing the two bags of kibble which, after taxes, should have added another $70 or so.

Oh, I almost forgot. On the way home, I stopped at the general store and picked up a 40 pound bag of kibble. After taxes, that came to $50.40 That came out of a different budget, but brings the total for the day to $637.16

Ouch.

And that’s after some major unexpected savings, like the $3 shoes, along with the missed bags of kibble, too.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

A Garden Friend, and an update

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I have been out for much of the day, between my medical appointment and the stock up shopping. The stock up shopping will get its own post, later.

This morning, I did the outside cat feeding and my morning rounds, as usual.

Gouda was missing this morning. I do hope I see him when I go out later to water the garden!

I didn’t water this morning, but I did check everything out. While adjusting the melon vines, something moved.

A long, skinny something.

An adorable garden friend!

I just saw the tail at first, and I thought it was going under the mulch but, when I went around the other side to check on the other melon vines, I spotted the head. I was very happy to see the garter snake.

Eat up those slugs and bugs, my slithery friend! Just leave the frogs alone, please!

My appointment with the doctor was at 11:30, and it takes about an hour to get there. I left almost 2 hours early, knowing there was construction along the way. It also gave me enough time to stop at a gas station to pick up an energy drink for the road.

Not gas, though. The price has gone up to $1.819

Ouch.

In the end, I got to the clinic barely 10 minutes early. Once I got there, I realized I’d been there before. Several years ago, my brother and I had taken my mother to see a specialist in this clinic. Not the same doctor, though. I don’t think this one was even there at that time.

Once there, I had three pages of forms to fill out, on top of the medical history form they had emailed me that I’d submitted. Some of the info I’d sent them was already inputted into these forms. It’s always strange filling these out. Too many questions have answers of … no, not in my medical history, but yes, and that’s why I’m here!

I barely finished those when I got called in, first to get my vitals. My height and weight, anyhow. The BP machine failed, so they just skipped it.

When the doctor came in, things went very quickly and efficiently. She had some odd information on the file, just as a date for when all this started – which was my birthday. So I explained how the first symptoms were there quite a while ago, but not something that stood out enough for me to remember exactly when they started, the progression until I found myself with a reversal of menopause, then catching on to this being a rare side effect of the anti-inflammatories I was taking, and how it all subsided as soon as I stopped taking them, but haven’t gone away completely. She was wondering why I hadn’t gone to a doctor earlier, and I had to explain that we live in the boonies, it was winter, we got snowed in, and I had to cancel a couple of appointments because our truck broke down.

Then we went through what tests I’ve already had done, the referral to a specialist in the city and a biopsy that I no longer need, since I’m seeing her now, instead.

She confirmed that all the tests except that one ultrasound, have come back normal.

She then said she wanted go get me into the OR as soon as possible, because I’m coming up on 60, and this should not be happening. Normal test results notwithstanding.

She knew of an opening in mid August – another doctor got a cancellation or something – and she wanted to book me for that. Otherwise, the earliest would be the end of October.

I took the August date.

She walked through the procedure with me – basically, she needs to get a camera in there to actually see what’s going on – what procedures she will be doing, and what she might be doing, depending on what she sees at the time. I got some instructions, signed the consent form, and will get more details when the hospital calls me. I’ll find out then if I’ll be overnight, or if it’ll be a day surgery. I’ve got strict instructions on an 8 hour water only fast, with the water being cut off 3 hours before surgery.

I also got requisitions for blood work and EKG, to be done today or tomorrow. Since I was doing the stock up shop after my appointment, it wasn’t going to be today, so I’ll do it tomorrow. I’m expecting to do the Costco shop tomorrow, and the town I drive through on my way to the city to get to the new Costco has a hospital and lab. I can stop there in the morning, then keep going to the city when it’s all done.

As for today’s stock up shop, it was rather different doing it in this area rather than in the city, but it worked out. It’s starting to cool down, though, so I’m going to head out and water the garden while it’s still light out.

The irony of all this?

I’ve had zero pains today. Not even mild pains.

So very weird.

But then, all of this has been very weird from the start!

The story of my life, really!

😄😄

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: July garden tour video

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So… I ended up not going anywhere today, which would normally have been our first trip to the city for stock up shopping.

I took the above screen cap well before we were to reach the hottest part of the day, which was around 3 -5pm. As I write this, we’ve finally started to cool down. While the high was around 32C/90F, the humidex reached heights of 38C/100F

I decided to stay home. Today’s city trip would have been the Canadian Tire, Walmart and international grocery store run. I have my doctor’s appointment tomorrow in the smaller, nearer city. I can do the Canadian Tire and Walmart stuff after my appointment, and anything we wanted to get at the international grocery store can wait.

I ended up spending most of the day lying down. I did manage to get outside to feed the cats (I counted 18, including the kitten that showed up for cat soup), and a morning walkabout, but not much beyond that. The new painkillers are doing nothing. I eventually tried the T3s again, and they did nothing. It wasn’t the worst pain day I’ve had, but it was enough to make doing anything very uncomfortable – and “doing anything” included sitting, standing or lying down.

I really hope the doctor can figure out what’s going on when I see her tomorrow.

In the end, I did finally put together the clips I took and made the July garden tour video.

I hope you enjoy it!

The Re-Farmer

Harvest, Hodge Podge and Health

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Today had definitely turned out to be a hot one. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. It should also be our first stock up shopping trip to the city, so I’ll want to head out quite early, before things get too hot.

Knowing the heat was coming, I made sure to water the garden this morning, though I’ll have to ask the girls to do it tonight.

I was able to get a nice harvest this morning!

I decided to gather some potatoes this time, expecting to dig up a few smaller potatoes, since it’ll be a while before the potatoes mature and the plants start dying back.

I was wrong!

In the first image, you can see what I uncovered when pulling the mulch aside. Some nice, big potatoes growing, right at the surface! Thanks to the mulch, there was no exposure to the sun, so this just made it easier to get them.

In the second image, you can see the potatoes I got from under two plants. The single carrot is the Uzbek Golden Carrot that seeded itself in the purple cabbage bed.

Then there were the bush beans. There were so many pods! Especially with the yellow beans, but I got quite a few green and purple ones, too. I also grabbed a few more little carrots from the Rainbow Carrots Mix row.

While I was outside, my sister called my cell phone. She had gotten the text I’d sent her about my mother and had called to ask what the heck was going on between us. I explained a bit about what happened during my last visit. I had mentioned in my text the conversation I’d had with my mother, telling her about going to the hospital, so she asked about that, too. After making sure to tell her to NOT say anything to my mother, I gave her the Cole’s Notes of it. She asked for more detail about my mother saying she was sick, and I told her I had none. She went straight from saying “I’m sick. Very sick” to “come visit me.” My sister also thinks my mother is just wanting more visits so she’s pulling the sick card. Which doesn’t work very well, since she is in exactly the right place to be if she really were sick. From the strength of my mother’s voice, I don’t think she’s actually sick.

So my sister is somewhat caught up on things. She knew that we had health issues, but she had no idea things were as bad as they are (I mentioned both my daughters need very different surgeries, too) and, if my mother asks, that’s all she plans to say. My mother already knows this, but doesn’t care.

I did get the watering done while we talked. I told her about watering the garden twice a day when it gets hot like this. She told me, they haven’t had to water their garden at all this year! They live near a creek and their soil, as my sister describes it, is gumbo. Wildly different from what we have! After a while, I had to end the call because I needed two hands to be able to harvest the beans. 😁

Once inside, I covered the colander with the harvest in it and left it, as I needed to sit for a while and have breakfast. My daughters were sweet and brought something for me, as they were going to be using the kitchen for a while. After eating, I sorted through the harvest, plus got what we left in the fridge from before, and organized the vegetables into several bowls, based on what would take the longest to cook, then scrubbed all the potatoes. They are too fresh to bother with trying to peel them.

By the time I was done scrubbing the potatoes, though, I was needing to at least sit down for a while. My younger daughter had come down and I told her what I meant to do next. She was a sweetheart and did the rest of the cleaning, peeling, trimming and prepping for me. I tried sitting at my computer, but the pain kept getting worse. I was preparing to take the new painkillers and lie down when the phone rang.

It was a follow up from my ER visit and CT scan. The gyno wanted me to come in, and she was wondering if Thursday was okay.

As in, the day after tomorrow.

!!!!!

Obviously, I said yes. If I’d had anything booked that day, it would have been cancelled. As it is, it will be in between our regular city stock up trips, so that worked out perfectly.

Then I was able to lie down for a while. I wasn’t laying down to try and sleep. I just needed to not be upright. My SIL started messaging me and we chatted for a while about things. She was very happy to hear I got an appointment so quickly! So am I. I’m getting hit with this pain daily. It’s oddly predictable, too. Very strange.

My husband offered me a muscle relaxant after seeing my face when I walked past to the washroom. It’s one of his “take as needed” meds – and it was bad enough that I actually said yes, since the tramadol was doing nothing. In the end, the muscle relaxant didn’t make a difference, either. The pain just got worse, then started to subside again on its own.

So frustrating.

Once I was able to get up, though, I started on the Hodge Podge after getting the remaining marinated pork belly into the oven.

It’s been a long time since I’ve made Hodge Podge! It’s a great way to use up a lot of different vegetables at one. Of course, I had to modify the basic recipe to match my ingredients, but that’s what Hodge Podge is all about.

So for mine, I had the:

fresh new potatoes
bush beans
Spring Blush peas I’d picked before the plants started producing
the remaining garlic scapes we had that didn’t fit on the pan for dehydrating
the little carrots
the few turnips I’d picked previously (most of which my daughter had to toss because they were worm damaged)
a bunch of Golden Boy celery
couple of onions from the grocery store we had left.
salt, pepper and a bit of powdered beef soup stock mix.
chive blossom oil and butter
butter
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream

I started it off by cutting the onions into big chunks and started to cook them down in a half and half mix of butter and chive blossom oil. Then I added the carrots, turnip, celery and garlic scapes to the pot. Once they had about 5 minutes to soften, I added the potatoes, chopped large, then added just barely enough water to cover the potatoes.. Once the potatoes were almost done, I added the peas then, after a minute or so for them to cook, added the bush beans.

The bush beans are easy to know when they are done. I have the tri-colour mix, and the purple pods turn green when they are cooked through.

Once that was all cooked, I drained some of the water away before going to the next step. I added in a big chunk of butter – about 1/3-1/2 cups. After stirring that in, I added the 250ml container of sour cream.

I’m quite happy with how it turned out!

That done, I had to sit down, as the pain had gotten worse again. I am currently fighting myself. I want to go straight back to bed and pass out, but it’s way too early. I’ll been to take my evening meds. I haven’t even eaten the supper I’d made, yet!

I am so looking forward to the appointment coming up. Hopefully, I’ll actually get something useful out of it!

The Re-Farmer

Frustrating, but that’s good? Maybe?

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Today was a rather long day. Thankfully, my daughter was with me to do most of the driving and help me get around.

I had started my fast last night, and we were planning to leave early for my CT scan appointment. We ended up leaving even earlier than originally planned, which turned out to be a good thing. The drive to the hospital itself is just under an hour, normally, because it’s right at the edge of the smaller, closer city.

There was construction on the highway, which delayed our arrival a bit. We still got there early. I had forgotten to bring a 1L bottle of water from home, but we had some 500ml water bottles in the truck, which was good. I borrowed my husband’s disabled parking placard when we parked at the hospital, and my daughter manhandled my walker out of the truck for me. I had been fine this morning, but during the drive in, the pain started to kick in again. By the time we got to the hospital, I was really appreciating that walker!

We made our way to the CT waiting area, where I had a form I needed to fill out first, which gave me time to chug a bottle and a half of water. Someone came by and asked me if I was the one from the ER in the town nearest us, and I confirmed. She thought I was supposed to come in with an IV port, and I said I had been told that would be done here.

I was called in soon after and they set me up in the scanner and the IV. I was forewarned about what I would be feeling with the dye that was normal – and what I should let them know about immediately if I felt them, as they were NOT normal!

The scan itself went very quickly. They ran me through a few times, with the robot voice telling me when to take a breath, hold it, then “BREATHE” again. My daughter could actually hear that last “BREATHE” from the waiting room!

Then they warned me that the dye was being released and… yeah, I was glad they warned me about the sensations in advance! I’ve had a CT scan before, but it was so long ago, things were a bit different, and I hadn’t needed a dye, so this was quite new. Once the dye had time to do its thing, they ran me through the scanner a few more times.

When it was done and they returned to help me get up and leave, the guy that inserted the IV port asked if I wanted it left in.

???

Which is when I was told that I would have to go back to the ER in town to get the results of the scan, and if I were to be getting surgery, they’d be needing to put an IV in, so did I want to leave the port?

After asking a few questions and him leaving to check something, I decided to leave it in. We had expected that I’d see the gyno for a curettage, presumably after the results were viewed, but if the results were being sent to the ER from yesterday, that obviously wasn’t going to happen there. As far as I know, the hospital I went to last night does no surgeries at all, might possibly do biopsies, but that’s it. I told him we were planning to go to the Walmart nearby after this scan, and that I’d intended to break my fast. If I were going for surgery, though, I needed to keep fasting. For the length of time it would take for the results to get to the ER in town, we did have time to hit the Walmart, first.

While my daughter was putting the walker back into the truck, I updated the family and noticed the time. It had just turned to the time of my appointment! Talking about it to my daughter, we were extra glad of that. While she was in the waiting room, she started chatting with woman that had joined us just as I was called in. She asked what time her appointment was, and she told her she was there for me, and what time my appointment was at… which was the same time as her appointment! So it seems the ER managed to squeeze me in. We were extra glad to have left so early!

I would have been okay to drive to the Walmart, but the pain was getting worse, and I now had an IV port in my elbow, protected by a “sock”. So my daughter did the driving from then on.

Usually, when shopping, I use the cart as a walker. This time, I relied on the walker and my daughter did all the lifting and loading. We had just ran out of kibble for the outside cats this morning, so we got a couple of their largest bags – we only need to last a couple of days before our first city shop – and some more canned cat food for the inside cats. Given that we now had to go back to the ER in town, we made sure to pick up some quick and easy ingredients for supper, just in case. We made sure not to get anything that was frozen; I remembered to grab some freezer bags, but there’s only so much they can do – especially in the heat of the truck box! We figured, if necessary, we could stop by a local grocery story, if we wanted.

That didn’t happen.

From there, it was back to town and the ER. I wasn’t expecting to go back, so I’d already cut off my wrist band. I got a new one while explaining why I was there, and then sent to the waiting room. Someone came by not long after to take my vitals, and then it was back to the waiting room.

By then, I was really starting to hurt, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. As time went on, it was the fasting that became more of an issue. I finally went back to the admissions person and talked to her, explaining that we didn’t know if I’d be going for surgery and still needing to fast or not, but I was starting to feel dizzy and faint from not eating. After asking a few more questions, she got on the phone and I went back to the waiting room.

Then the doctor came by, calling my name. When he saw me, he did a double take and I just had to laugh.

He recognized me. I’ve seen him several times in the past, about my mother!

By the time, my daughter had gone to the truck and brought back a bag of beef jerky from our stash. She’d gone back to get another water bottle when I was called in, so I asked for the door to be left open, so she saw us and joined us part way through.

The first frustrating thing was finding out that I was supposed to see the gyno after getting the CT scan. The staff there obviously didn’t know this when they sent me back to this ER.

The other frustrating thing was that my CT scan showed nothing. No problem at all. There is just that one ultrasound that showed a problem.

Meanwhile, I was in enough pain that I was having difficulty sitting up straight.

So, nothing was going to happen today. I could eat. I could get rid of the IV port. I could go home. I will get a phone call with an appointment, soon, for a consultation regarding our next steps.

As he left, he told me to go back to the waiting room and someone would come by to remove the IV port. Then I could leave.

I was already tearing open the package of beef jerky. It wasn’t a large package, but it was enough to keep me from feeling sick and ready to pass out!

Then we waited.

And waited.

Finally, my daughter went to the admissions person. I just needed the port removed, and we could leave – and I was ready to take the thing out myself, except I had no gause and medical tape, and the port needed to have proper disposal.

The admissions person sent my daughter to the nursing station. She soon came back to tell me someone would be coming over soon. About a minute later, someone did.

Half a minute, and it was done. I was freeeeeeeee!!!!!

From there, my daughter wanted to make sure I ate, but I also had the new prescription for tramadol to pick up. A Subway shares a parking lot with our pharmacy, so that’s where we went. Once parked, my daughter went in to drop off my prescription while I made my way to a picnic table in the shade by the Subway, skipping the walker this time. When she got back, she told me they needed half an hour to fill the prescription, which was plenty of time to eat.

One of the things I expressed my frustration over as we talked was how – once again – I’m having issues, but tests are coming back “normal”. According to most tests I have done, I’m really healthy overall. At least my osteoarthritis shows up on X rays. This has been a “problem” for years, to the point that I’ve stopped going to doctors for some things completely, like my chronic cough that I’ve had for about 25+ years now. That, thankfully, has gotten better on its own, though it’s still there. I just ignore it now.

When it came to the pain itself, what the one ultrasound shows doesn’t really explain the pain. My daughter suggested that, if the gyno starts talking curettage with me, I might want to request just having everything removed. Which is exactly what I’d been thinging myself. I don’t need those lady parts anymore. I’m done with them, and they’re trying to kill me.

That’s a conversation to have when I get a call from the gyno.

Speaking of calls…

While in the waiting room at the ER, my daughter got a call from the clinic in the city she had an appointment at this morning. She’d left a message last night, and they were following up. She explained about me going to the ER yesterday, and that she was driving me around for tests today. Usually, when people don’t show up for appointments without letting them know at least 24 hours in advance, they’ve started to charge for the time. Too many people just don’t show up for appointments, and that really messes with their scheduling (and often results in other people stuck in waiting rooms longer). When there is a legitimate reason like this, though, those charges get waived! The earliest they could reschedule her for, though, is in October!

Once my daughter and I were done eating – and I was feeling SO much better, even though I was still in pain – we went in to get my prescription. There was someone at the pick up counter, so I quickly went through the supplements as I was out of zinc. Which resulted in someone else getting served ahead of me, and she ended up taking a really long time, talking about her insurance loud enough for all to hear. I couldn’t stay standing anymore. Thankfully, they have chairs right by the pick up counter. While I was there, the pharmacist that owns the place, who knows all of us quite well by now! – saw me and told me my meds were ready. So she took care of me before the other person was even done.

I only have a week’s worth of the tramadol, if I take them 3 times a day, though they are “as needed”. Which means I should be hearing from the gyno within that time.

Here’s hoping.

Once we got what we needed, I took one as soon as we were back in the truck!

Then we could finally go home, with my daughter driving. When we got to the gate, I was banned from getting out to open it. She backed the truck up to the house so I wouldn’t have far to walk, then she and her sister took care of unloading. By this time, it was time to feed the outside cats, so they stayed out to do that, too – now that we had more kibble for them!

I stayed up long enough to get on my computer and update my brother and SIL, planning to lie down and let the tramadol kick in.

Then the phone rang.

It was my mother.

Actually, it was a very frustrated sounding nurse who had made the call for her, let me know my mother wanted to talk to me, and handed the phone over.

The last time I talked to my mother was when I visited her and walked out because she was being so nasty to me again.

After exchanging greetings, I asked how she was doing. I was pretty sure I knew what she was about to tell me.

I was write.

She immediately launched into how she was sick. She was feeling soooooo sick.

She wanted me to come visit her.

*sigh*

I had not intended to tell my mother about any of what’s been going on, because she is always really terrible about it when we mention any health issues we have, but when she told me to come visit her (told, not asked), my response was “I just got back from the hospital.”

She said she didn’t understand.

So I said again, I just got back from the hospital. Less than half an hour ago.

What was I telling her? she wanted to know.

I told her, I went to the ER yesterday. Today I went to the city for tests, then back to the ER for the results. They’re trying to figure out what’s wrong, and I’ve been home for less than an hour.

Oh, I didn’t understand at first, she tells me.

She then told me to tell my brother and sister to visit her.

She would have kept me on the phone, but I told her I would pass on her message, right now, and was able to get her to let me off the phone.

*sigh*

Shortly after I hung up, my daughter came by saying “that sounded like a Babcia call.”

Yes. Yes it was.

I’d just finished messaging my brother and SIL about getting home and updating things easier on a keyboard rather than tapping on a phone, so I updated them about my mother’s call, too. Then texted my sister, who doesn’t use Messenger anymore. I hadn’t planned to tell her about what was going on, either, as she tends to tell things to my mother without our consent, sometimes. Not out of malice or gossip. It just doesn’t occur to her not to do it. Since I’d had to tell my mother about it anyhow, it didn’t matter anymore. She tends to turn off her phone when she’s at home, though, so who know when she’ll get the message.

Once that was all done, I finally was able to lie down for a while.

Thankfully, the tramadol did kick in after a while, and I felt well enough to go outside for a walkabout, using my walker.

I ended up watering the garden for the evening, even though I’d asked my daughters to do it later, when things cooled down a bit more.

I just couldn’t help myself.

Things are going to get hotter over the next few days, so the garden is going to need watering in the morning and evening to help cope with the heat. It won’t get as extreme as it got not long about, but still hot enough to be an issue.

My problem is, I keep thinking of all the things that I should be doing, while there is no rain in the forecast. Work to do in the yard and garden. Physical labour I probably shouldn’t be doing at all.

Which is driving me bonkers.

Ah, well. It is what it is, and I do what I can, and my daughters try to help as much as they are able.

We are such a gimpy family right now. All four of us!

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer