Here’s hoping!

April 17, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

It feels like it’s been such a long day!

But first, the…

… cute sneak thieves!

The cheeky buggers! Both raccoons and skunks are now regularly seen in the sun room. While the camera didn’t catch them last night, I know they go into the isolation shelter, too.

*sigh*

The storm system that hit yesterday hasn’t been too bad, over us. Our weird climate bubble has rescued us again. We got a bit more snow, and it was still snowing this morning, but that’s it. The town my mother is in got pouring rain during the night! So did the city. The highways group I’m on had many reports of poor driving conditions on the highways.

My younger daughter came along for our errands of the day, with our first stop being the post office to pick up a parcel. The paved roads near our little hamlet were already starting to melt, even as more snow was falling. As we got closer to town, however, the road conditions slowly got worse. I found myself doing about 80-85kph/50-53mph all the way, instead of the 100kph/62mph speed limit. It was very messy and hard to see where the lanes were, the closer we got to the lake, which is pretty typical. I’d heard of one road, just before town, being washed out and we could actually see the damage as we drove by! Still, I’ve driven through much worse.

Our first stop in town was to drop off the truck at the garage. We’d left early, knowing it would be slow going, and ended up only about 15 minutes early instead of the half hour early it normally would have been, in good driving conditions. I just had to drop off the keys, and then my daughter and I – remembering to grab canes – started walking.

First thing we did was get a breakfast, since neither of us had eaten before we left. We took our time about it. My appointment was a drop off time, not a scheduled work time, and it looked like it was just the owner in today, so I knew it would likely be quite a while. We did have other errands to do, but not until after we got the truck back.

We decided to walk over to the second hand store, just to see what we could find.

Treasures. We found treasures.

Specifically, there were a couple of hand crank meat grinders. One looking very much like the one I found in the old kitchen that I remember using when I was a kid, which has missing parts now. The second hand one we were looking at even had a spare mincing plate, though both were coarse grind plates. There was a second one, much smaller, that had two spare mincing plates, and was the same price.

After hemming and hawing, I finally decided to go ahead and get the bigger one.

Then we started looking around and I got a few more things, the most expensive costing $2. My daughter admired a couple of items that I ended up getting for her, including a matcha bowl and saucer set, and a fabulously retro pitcher. For myself, I got a serving bowl, an old Mennonite cookbook, and a couple of books with plans for making things like furniture and garden structures. My daughter got herself a DVD and a couple of novels.

One thing we both spend quite a bit of time looking over was an old China cabinet, selling at only $80. The set up we have for our dishes, serving bowls, etc. was great when we first moved out here, but we now have a lot more cats. The shelves are open in the front, and that’s become a problem. That cabinet would actually solve a lot of storage space problems we have right now. What we couldn’t figure out, however, is how we would get it home. Yes, it would fit in the box of the truck, but none of us are able bodied enough to load and unload it.

We didn’t get it.

Once we paid for our stuff, we were then stuck with carrying them around! The meat grinder alone is cast iron, and weighs about 15 pounds. It got its own bag. The rest all together weighed more. Not normally a big deal, but we were both caning it and, with my right elbow still messed up, I could only carry the grinder with my left arm.

We’d already done a fair bit of walking by then and needed to sit down, so we headed over to a donut shop for drinks and a donut each. It was a place we could hang out for a while and not be taking up needed table space.

By the time we were done there, enough time had passed – about 4 hours altogether – that I figured we could head back to the garage, even though we hadn’t been texted yet. The walk was slow going. My poor daughter was in so much pain, I could see she was fighting not to cry. 😢

When we got to the garage, the truck was still up on a hoist and almost done, so we went into the office to sit down. I made sure my daughter sat in the normal sized chair by their desk. They have other chairs, but they are much lower. Hard to get in and out of when your knees or back are shot, but I was having an easier time of it than my daughter was.

It was past 2pm by the time we got to the garage, though. The original plan once the truck was done was to do a quick stop at the grocery store, then a gas station, then drive to the town north of us to the tax preparer. I had my form to sign, but we’d then have to take my husband’s form home for him to sign, then I would drive it back. Then we were going to go back to town again, as my older daughter wanted to treat us to take out and sent funds for it. Altogether, it would have been an extra 3 1/2 hours of driving, at least, and the tax preparer’s office closed at 5.

We were both already in too much pain, so I called them up instead and said we weren’t going to make it today. I was assured that was all right. We’ve got until April 30 to sign the forms!

I’ll do it on Monday.

It wasn’t too much longer before the truck was done and it was backed out of the garage. My daughter took our stuff to the truck while I settled the bill – just pennies over $388, in the end. Hopefully, that will solve the problem and we won’t be back again for some time!

I know where my tax return is going.

*sigh*

As we were talking about it, he told me that, if I don’t come back for anything until after June, they won’t be there anymore. They are moving locations! They are going from about 2,400 sq ft to about 35,000 sq ft, in an industrial park – and he bought the building, so no more renting! That is so awesome! They opened a second location last year, and are doing well enough to expand locally, too. I congratulated him, of course. I’m so happy that they are doing so well. There are a surprising number of garages in this town, so for him to have enough business that he can expand like this tells a lot.

That done, I went to the truck – then had to get my daughter to go behind me to guide me as I backed out, as there were a couple of vehicles making for a tight space. While we were doing that, the owner came out to get one of them, to drive it into one of the bays. He was chuckling a bit when he saw what we were doing, but it did give me a chance to quickly talk to him. The check engine light was still on. I figured it should turn off on its own in short order, now that the new sensor is installed, which he confirmed for me.

Once parked at the grocery store, my daughter stayed in the truck, as she was in too much pain for more walking. We only needed a few things, but I went through the whole store to see if there was anything I was forgetting. Of course, there was, so I’m glad I did.

From there, it was to the gas station. I put $50 in the tank, which gave me a quarter tank at $1.799 *sigh*

Next, we headed to the Dairy Queen for take out – and the check engine light was of by then. My daughter came in with me, so she could choose for her sister and herself. For treats like this, we order a combo meal each, plus an extra burger each, so it took a little while longer for it to be done! I even remembered to bring in a hard sided grocery bag to make it easier to carry the hot food. My daughter ended up with the tray of drinks on her lap for the drive home.

Unfortunately, while the road was in better condition by then, and almost completely clear of ice and snow, it’s a rough ride. The road needs resurfacing. She didn’t get splashed too badly, though! It got smoother once we were on the gravel road again.

Once at home and unloaded, it was late enough that I went straight to feeding the outside cats, making it safer for my daughter to drive out of the yard and park the truck in the garage.

During the drive home, I’m happy to say that oil pressure gauge was right were is was supposed to be, the whole way. Here’s hoping that new sensor will keep working properly! It’ll take a bit more driving before we know for sure.

Tomorrow, I should go visit my mother, at the very least.

Now that we’ve got this last bit of work done on the truck, we have quite a few things to catch up on, little by little. Plus, I’ve got my eye appointment next week, which my daughter will have to drive me home from, and FINALLY, my third attempt at a doctor’s appointment in the beginning of May. If all goes well, I won’t have to cancel any of that!

Here’s hoping!!!

The Re-Farmer

The snow is back

April 16, 2026 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

This morning was chilly. Just chilly; the incoming weather system hadn’t reached us yet. I was actually able to do extended rounds, with so much snow finally melted away after yesterday’s warmth. All of which froze overnight.

The amount of water had actually gone done quite a bit before it froze, though! This is behind our garage, this morning.

Yesterday, I needed to dump a litter bucket into the litter compost pile behind the outhouse. I neglected to wear my rubber boots, and the path we usually use was completely flooded, as was the path all the way to the outhouse. I ended up making my way through the other side to dump the bucket, skirting branch piles and snow drifts!

I had another bucket to dump this morning – and yes, I remembered to put on my rubber boots this time – and stopped to take the above photo. The path to the litter compost was almost completely clear. There was just one lower area with ice over it, but the water below was almost completely gone, so it was just a floating sheet of ice. This area in the photo is the lowest, so it takes quite a while for it to fully drain.

I was finally able to make my way around to the sign cam, only by skirting along the edge of the spruce grove, where much of the snow was gone. I just had one drift to break through at the far end. Literally. The snow was so soft in the warmth, yesterday, but this morning that was frozen to a hard crust at the top that I had to stamp and break through in order to cross. I didn’t even try to go through the garden area, where the snow it still over a foot deep. Going around did give me a chance to check out and confirm we have had two more dead trees fall.

The big spruce landed on top of another spruce that fell years ago. The other two pictures in the slideshow above are of a dead poplar that is now hung up on other trees.

I’ve already talked to my brother about clearing the deadwood out in the spring or summer. If he can get his tractor going, we can pull them out. Then we can start taking down the other dead spruces as well. We really, really want to get the ones that are closer to the house!

At this point, I would just like to have the trees all dragged into one general space in the old garden area where it’s still all wide open. Once they are there, I can process them to use. Some – the thickest trunks – will become support posts for the outdoor kitchen we are planning to build, while others will be used to build raised beds.

While walking towards the sign cam, I passed a huge poplar, and saw this lovely sign of spring.

Soft clusters of catkins, all over the branches! This tree is the only one I see them on right now.

All of this is now covered in snow.

The system is hitting other areas harder than us, but we will be getting snow, off and on, through to tomorrow. Some areas will be getting a mix of rain and snow, while other higher elevations might get as much as 15cm/6in, where most areas are looking at 4-8cm/1.5-3in

It started here in the late morning. When I headed out to meet the pharmacy delivery guy, we had about an inch of new snow. It was light enough that I could just use a broom to clear the steps and sidewalk. It has started snowing again, so I’ll probably need to do it again when it’s time to feed the outside cats for the end of the day. The delivery driver, meanwhile, said that his place is flooding! His house is not in danger, thankfully, but he’s had to contact the highways department. That tells me there would be an ice dam in a ditch between his place and the lake that needs to be cleared. This system is pushing north, and I was chatting with one of the rescue’s contacts this morning. She lives on the reserve that might have to do some evacuations because of this storm. For her, that means working out how to help animals, should that happen.

This morning, I was able to pet a very pregnant Slick while she was eating, and was able to send the group chat I have with the rescue some video. Slick is one of the few that allows contact, but only when she’s on the cat house roof and eating. Even then, it’s touch and go. They would like us to trap her and bring her in before she pops. We can try, but it would be very difficult to trap just one specific cat! Especially one that is more feral than not. We will do the best we can.

In other things, while doing my checks in the basement this morning, I found that the cold water tap in the laundry sink is dripping even faster. I contacted the plumber and talked to him about it. Both taps need to be replaced and I already have new taps. The problem is that the current ones were affixed permanently. My brother said a torch would be needed to get them off. !!! I explained this to the plumber – then mentioned we have other leaks down there to check, too. He started to look at his calendar saying he couldn’t come today, and I told him it wasn’t urgent. Next week would be better. So he will come either Monday or Tuesday, depending on his schedule, and will call us before he comes.

As for me, I am taking the truck in to the garage tomorrow morning. I got a text yesterday aftenroon, letting me know the part had arrived. So we will get the new OEM sensor, the engine flush and oil change all done as the same time. Hopefully, that will bring and end to those weird low pressure readings!

I also got a call from the tax preparers last night, just before 7pm!! They close at 5.

Our taxes are done. I will need to go in to sign my form, then bring my husband’s home for him to sign and bring back again. I will do that after getting the truck back, tomorrow. The tax preparer told me how much we’re getting back. For me, it will be zero. I thought I would get my disability tax credit the same as I had been getting the caregiver tax credit, directly to me. However, because I have 0 income and don’t “need” it, they were able to transfer it to my husband’s return – and got a larger tax return for both of us in the process, than if it had been done separately. That’s going to come in handy, that’s for sure! Especially with the extra plumber’s bills.

So tomorrow is going to be a busy day of driving around. Hopefully, the roads will not be too bad after this storm passes!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: “potting” up, and weather whiplash

April 15, 2026 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

I have been seriously procrastinating with the seedlings in our basement set up. Today, however, my daughter was available to assist, and we got it done!

My daughter took on the job of sifting the rest of the bag of potting soil. She had to start a second bucket for all the sticks she sifted out, as the one I’d been using before was already 3/4 full. While she did that, I worked on making a whole bunch of strips for snail rolls, with a few extra strips, just in case.

Once the soil was sifted, my daughter thoroughly moistened the potting soil with hot water while I cleared all the trays of seedlings, the heat mats and the full spectrum lights. Everything was going to go on the shelf under the shop light. A shelf that sags in the middle. I did try to elevate the trays in the middle, but when I watered the bottoms, it would still all pool towards the middle, so anything on the outsides of the trays would end up with less water available. After some poking around in the old basement, I found a board to set across the top. It’s too short to be able to use heat mats under it, but I decided not to set those up again. Hopefully, they will be okay without them in our basement, where the ambient temperature is at least 5C colder than it should be for seedlings.

Once everything was cleared out and set up, the first things I wanted to “pot up” were the peppers and eggplant. They have been really struggling. Some new seedlings from a second sowing did start to germinate, but even some of those have already withered away.

I bottom watered the tray and had vermiculate on top, but there still ended up some algae growing on the surface. That’s not harmful to the plants, but it does suggest a moisture imbalance.

When it came time to transfer them, my daughter used a large spoon to scoop the seedlings out of the cells while I set them onto one of the strips, flattening out the seed starting mix they were in, then adding the moistened, warm potting soil to fill in gaps.

I had already transferred all the tomatoes, fennel and flower rolls into one metal tray – 8 snail rolls – and had room for two more rolls on there. In the end, there were only 5 surviving Caspar eggplant, and only three Sweet Chocolate peppers. I did have a full row of California Wonder bell peppers, though, and one of the cells had a two seedlings, so that gave us a very large and full snail roll to put into the second metal tray set up under the shop light.

One thing about these thicker snail rolls is that it’s a lot harder to keep the soil in them, while they are being rolled up.

Next was the Golden Boy celery, which has already been “potted up” once. They now needed to be split up into two rolls. We were really surprised by how dry their soil was! For all the regular bottom watering I did, they were large enough that they’d needed more.

The leaves were all tangled up, so it was very careful work to unroll the celery. The soil was very full of roots. Between use, we carefully broke out half the celery and spread them out on a new strip before adding the moistened potting soil to fill the strip. It took both of us to very carefully roll them up without losing too much soil from the bottom. Once that was done, we had the space to finish unrolling the original roll, space out the seedlings and add more soil.

So we now have two snail rolls of celery, to go with four types of tomato, three types of flowers and the Florence fennel.

I considered putting the sad little herbs into a snail roll, too, but decided against it. As for the last surviving luffa, I’m not sure it’s surviving any more! It got pretty buried under the celery leaves. Well, we did get seeds for a different variety with a much, much shorter growing season – short enough we could potentially direct sow them – so if this last one doesn’t make it, we can try the new variety, instead.

Once everything was set up under the shop light, I supported the light while my daughter shortened the chain it’s hanging from, so it wouldn’t be too close to the plants. Especially the celery. The chain on that side was hung even shorter, to give them the space they need.

Which means we now no longer have anything under the grow lights. With the snail rolls, everything fit in the two trays. They got a thorough bottom watering, then a second one when we saw how quickly the water was absorbed. With how dry the celery was, I’ll probably give that tray another watering, later today.

The next batch of seeds are the 4-6 weeks before last frost ones. I don’t have a lot of those, comparatively speaking. There are a LOT that can be started in the 2-4 weeks before last frost category, but a lot of those can actually be direct sown, so I plan to be more selective about it.

Looking at the forecast, we’ve got some more weather whiplash expected. Winter still does not want to let go! Today, we are now expected to reach a high of 15C/59F (it’s 8C/46F as I write this), shortly before noon), but the overnight low is supposed to drop to -7C/19F. At midnight, we’re supposed to start getting snow. Tomorrow we’re supposed to get a mix of snow and rain all day, through to the next morning.

The weather system that’s hitting us is mostly going to pass to the north. They are looking at potentially several inches of new snow. This is actually really good. Everything is still so dry u[ there. Every bit of moisture is needed, so this year’s fire season isn’t as bad as last year. There will be fires. There always are. Between any moisture we get, and the fact that last year’s insane number of fires probably cleared out a lot of deadwood, hopeful this means very fewer fires, and only little ones, this year.

The highs for the next two days are supposed to be -3C/27F. After that, we’re supposed to get back above freezing, and soon reach double digit Celsius highs. Before the end of April, we’re even expecting to reach 20C/68F, and once we’re into May, the long range forecast has us getting as high as 24C/75F It’s the overnight lows that are the thing, though. Last year, May had all sorts of hot days, but the nights remained cold, so the soil never got warm enough for transplants until the middle of June. Even then, it might still have been too cold. Our transplants really struggled last year.

Hopefully, our winter sown beds will do well. After the next couple of days of cold, and any snow we get on the beds melts away, I should be able to remove the mulches on at least some of the beds, so the soil can thaw out faster. I can set the vinyl over the cover in the old kitchen garden to create a little greenhouse. That bed has the beets and tiny bok choy in it, along with the little onions I’d found while preparing the bed for sowing. I have more vinyl I can potentially use on one of the other covers on a 9’x3′ raised bed to create another little greenhouse. Plus, once I can access the main garden area, I have the hoops and 6mm poly I’d ordered and can use to set over one of the other pre-sown beds to speed things up a bit. Or just to warm up one of the other, empty beds, faster. We shall see how things look, once the snow has melted enough to get to them.

Little by little, it’s getting done.

The Re-Farmer

Finally getting things done

April 14, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

First thing I just have to say is…

Oh, wow, that new well pump is so QUIET!!!!

For 8 years, I’ve been hearing that old pump going off, never knowing what “normal” sounded like. Just that this one was sounding worse and worse as time went on. Now that it has finally been replaced, it actually feels weird to just barely hear it when it goes off.

The other thing I’m appreciating, in a still stressful way, though, is not having to worry about the truck’s oil pressure sensor triggering alarms. The alternative, until the OEM sensor comes in, is no sensor at all, but I’ve had to drive it with the gauge at 0 before. The check engine light is on now, of course. I’ve driven with that on for quite a while this past winter, until it warmed up enough and it shut off on its own. That was the O2 sensor and likely caused by the polar vortexes that his us freezing something in it.

Still, I’m going to be nervous driving the truck no matter what. We’ve had so many crazy things break down, that’s really to be expected.

Today, however, the dump is open from 9am to1pm, and we were seriously overdue for a dump run. The last time I managed a dump, I ended up needing a tow.

My younger daughter, sweetheart that she is, offered to come with me to keep me company. 😄

We loaded the back of the truck after the morning cat feeding was done. We had so many garbage bags, including from the sun room and the garage, to load, there was room for only one bag of recycling. The recycling can wait. The temperatures are warming up, and the garbage bags no longer freeze in the old kitchen, so they needed to be gone!

When we got to the dump and started making our way to the pit, my daughter got out to walk ahead, looking for anything that might puncture a tire. There was a pick up truck parked on the side, and we hadn’t realized someone was in it! It was one of the staff having his lunch, I think. He could tell what she was doing and I could see he was assuring her it wasn’t necessary. We got a chuckle out of that after she guided me in backing up to the pit and she told me what he’d been saying. He had even asked if we needed a hand unloading!

After we were done and driving out, I stopped at the truck to thank him. I mentioned to him about being paranoid, having gotten a flat after doing a dump run once. He told me that he’s been hearing stories like that from many, many people, so he has been making sure to keep an eye out and to clear in front of the pit if he sees anything that could cause damage. I made sure to tell him how great of a job they’re doing; the place hasn’t looked this good for a long time! I wanted him to know how much it is appreciated.

From there, it was a quick stop at the recycling bins, then then we made our way to the town north of us. I’d brought our files to drop off at the tax preparer. Our taxes are about as simple as can be; the only change this year is that I no longer am going to get the Caregiver Tax Credit, but now qualify for the Disability Tax Credit. We gave up trying to do taxes ourselves; the last time I picked up the software, it had changed so much, I could barely navigate it. I even got another company’s software, and it turned out to be just as useless. My husband has T4A slips – the slips for persons on long term disability. One brandy’s software didn’t even recognize the A, nor could I find where we could claim the Disability Tax Credit and the Caregiver Tax Credits. When it came to claiming my husband’s medical expenses – just his prescriptions, usually – it became impossible. There simply wasn’t any way to input his data accurately. I gave up, took it to a pro, and we’ve been doing that ever since.

After dropping the files off, I asked my daughter if we needed to get anything while in town, and she informed me we were out of milk, so we went to the grocery store.

Good grief.

I got a 4L of 3% milk instead of our usual 2L. A 4L of 3% is usually just over $5. In this town, one brand was over $8, and one was just under. That happened to be the brand we usually get, so we got it again.

We went through the store to see if there was anything else we needed. Most of the prices were just insane. The exception was beef prices. I saw a couple of big beef tenderlions that were just over and just under the $100 range. Those same beef tenderlions cost almost $300 at Costco! Still, it wasn’t something we were ready to get today, and ended up just getting snacks for the ride home. My daughter picked up a package of donuts to share with her sister. I don’t like cake type donuts much, but she said she’s been craving a good donut.

Then she grabbed everything and snuck ahead to pay for it for me! 😄

Later on, she came to me, very disappointed. The donuts turned out to be terrible. The same thing happened the last time we picked up some mini donuts about a month ago. They looked so good, but tasted horrible!

After we got home, I remembered to phone my mother. I usually remember too late in the day to actually make the call.

*sigh*

I asked how she was doing, and she started to complain about being in pain, but when I asked what kind of pain, she just started going on about how she’s been there for three months, and the doctor has never seen her. She told me that when she tells the staff that she wants to see the doctor, they just tell her “he’ll be here tomorrow” or “he’s on holidays”. She’s conflating responses. He was on holidays over Easter, but he’s been back for awhile now. She still claims they’re saying he’s on holidays. I tried to explain again that yes, he has (briefly, to be sure) seen her, but that he’s only there 1 day a week, and it’s to go over the staff reports, not necessarily to see individual people. She cut me off and told me she didn’t care

She did ask me if I’d heard from my sister and my brother. I told her, it’s been a few days since I’ve heard from my sister and got a lecture about how we need to stay in communication. I told her, if we have nothing to say, there’s nothing to say! Then I told her I’d heard from my brother yesterday, and how they’re now in Spain, after walking 190km, with another 90km to go. She told me, she didn’t care about kilometers, and how all she knows is that my brother has basically run away from his responsibilities and is hiding overseas. I told her, they are on a pilgrimage. Following the paths of saints. She brushed that off.

She’s asked what was new with us, so I told her about the well pump. I knew she wouldn’t care, but I figured it would stave off any lectures on why I hadn’t visited her. I told her the pump had stopped working on Sunday, so we had no water, which seemed to confuse her. Then I said we called plumbers, and she started demanding I call a guy she remembers my father hiring in the past that lives not far from us. I said no. I’m going to call a real plumber! Plus, he’s tight with our vandal. The guy actually is a plumber by training, but hasn’t worked as a plumber in years. He’s been on disability for years. I had to cut my mother off from demanding I call him to say, it’s already fixed. We got a plumber in and, thanks to my brother, we already had a pump, so it’s done. We have water again.

Oh, that’s your problem.

…

At that point I told her, don’t ask me what’s new with us, if you don’t care to hear about what’s new. I had to repeat it a few times before she got what I was saying, then tried to blame it on how bad she’s feeling.

She never did tell me exactly how she’s feeling bad, other than generic stuff. She started off talking about pain, but finished by saying she thinks it’s her digestion that’s causing problems.

The real problem is, my mother is someone that is 94 years old, has lived a life of great physical hardship, including surviving starvation and a war, but somehow thinks she would be feeling perfectly healthy – and any doctor that can’t just fix her (without pills, though, because she’s already taking so many and she’s still in pain…) is not a good doctor. I have tried to get her to explain her expectations to me, and she never quite answers.

It was a frustrating call.

She had been about to go for a nap, though, so I didn’t keep her on the phone for too long.

Meanwhile…

It’s been a lovely day, but one where I’ve been fighting sleep all day. I’m just drained. Still, I made sure to do the evening cat feeding, just to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and warmth. We hit 10C/50F today, and it’s been so lovely!

This morning, my daughter had helped me return all the carriers for storage in the sun room, with the doors open so cats can go in and out. After doing the feeding, I got some puppy pads to set inside the carriers in such a way that they would also keep the doors from closing all the way.

This promptly happened.

That’s little Flopsy on the left. The one on the right is an unsocialized cat we haven’t named. Can’t get close to it, but it is quite content to go into a carrier and use it as a nest!

It was so nice out, I took the time to grab the snow shovel and do some clearing. I shoveled in front of the old kitchen garden retaining wall, clearing more than enough space for the assembled chicken coop. Now that there’s no longer over a foot of snow on the area, the layer of ice left on the grass can melt away and the area will have a chance to dry out faster. We won’t get chicks until the end of May, and they won’t be big enough to go into a coop for weeks later, but the earlier we set up the coop, the better. It will give us time to determine if that area will actually work, or if we need to try somewhere else. We don’t have a lot of level areas, anywhere.

I’m really, really enjoying the warmer weather! At this rate, it won’t be long before I can remove the mulch on the sown garden beds, so the soil can thaw out faster. Not in the main garden area, yet. That’s still completely covered in snow and will take longer, but the slightly higher raised beds in the old kitchen garden and in the east yard are already mostly free of snow.

Looking ahead, we are going to have a few days where the highs will dip below freezing again, but after that we’re supposed to start getting highs above 10C/50F, and overnight lows staying above freezing, regularly.

I can hardly believe April is almost half gone already.

Time is just flying by!

The Re-Farmer

We have water again!

April 13, 2026 / Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

What a relief!

After the well pump stopped working, we had to make do with a few things. Thankfully, we already buy drinking water in 5 gallon jugs, though we soon switched to our last one. We didn’t have any water to wash with, but we did have wet wipes to help keep clean. Using the toilet was out of the question, but with so many problems with our septic, we’ve used a honey pot more than a few times. What we found here when we moved in was a toilet seat that fits over a 5 gallon bucket, which is really uncomfortable and not particularly stable. We’d bought a camping toilet – a foldable base a bag could be fit into, then a cover with a toilet seat set on top. The design is slightly elongated in the front, and the seat is padded.

This was the first time we’ve had to use it, and wow, was it so much more comfortable!!!

Still, not fun to have to use.

Using stove pellets as litter has come in handy again. Whenever the honey pot was used, we’d pour a small scoop of pellets in, which would absorb moisture and keep the smell down at the same time.

All in all, we were pretty well prepared for something like this. In the sort term, at least.

Last night, of the three places I called, one plumber called back. After explaining the situation, he said he could be here around 11:30-12:00 today.

I was already planning to go into town to refill more water jugs, stop at the garage, pick up a few necessities, then meet with someone from the rescue to return our cat carriers, so I wasn’t going to be home in that time frame. I went through the basements with my younger daughter, who would meet the plumber for me, to show her what she needed to pass on to the plumber. The new well pump my brother bought a couple of years ago was still in the box, and he also had a bag of all the fittings and fixtures he thought might possibly needed. He even had Teflon tape in there.

There is a bit of an issue with the light that’s over where the pump is. The light is turned on with a pull chain, but one day the chain got stuck after being turned on, and it took a lot of fighting to be able to turn the light off again. Which is when I discovered the fixture itself is starting to come loose. So we simply don’t use it. My brother has suggested we just put in an LED light bulb, turn it on and leave it on, but I’d prefer not to do that with a fixture that is starting to fall apart!

We figured the plumber would have is own lighting, though, such as one of those head lamps.

Oh, and we’ve discovered the door to the old basement steps won’t open anymore. For a while, it would only open when the knob was turned in one direction, but not the other. Now, it just won’t. My daughter fiddled with it and says the latch isn’t moving anymore. Ah, well. We need to slowly replace all the door knobs with lever type handles, anyhow.

Meanwhile, we were all being careful about using as little water as possible, and avoiding dirtying any dishes. Which meant we were eating a lot of chicken salad sandwiches and using paper towels as plates. Thankfully, my daughter had done the dishes before we lost water, so there were no dirty dishes already in the sink to worry about.

We all tried to go to bed early but, of course, I couldn’t sleep! I finally fell asleep somewhere around 3 or 4 am. I still woke up at the usual time, which is basically once the sky starts to get light. This time of year, that’s around 6am. My older daughter was up working all night, so she came to talk for a while before going to bed for the day, then her sister came by later. She ended up doing the outside cat feeding for me, so I could try and get more sleep. She couldn’t refill the water bowls, but they didn’t need to be. With so much snow melting, the cats prefer to drink out of puddles right now, instead!

I did call the garage shortly after 8am and left a follow up message about the oil sensor issue. I mentioned I’d be in town in the late morning, so if they didn’t call back before then, I’d swing by to talk.

It was getting to around 10:30am when I gave the truck a once over, then started heading out, making sure to leave the gate open for the plumber. I was in the last mile before the highway when I saw a commercial van coming in the opposite direction. I knew right away, it had to be the plumber and, sure enough, it was. As I pulled to the side to let the van pass and realized who it was, I came to a stop and waved him down. He’s been to our place before, but I don’t think he’s ever seen the truck we have now. He did recognize me once he saw me.

This gave me a chance to tell him a few things about the situation, the new pump we already had, and past concerns we had about the foot valve, but that I’d since discovered we have fantom flush, not a leaky foot valve. The toilet was why the pump would go off, even when no one was using any water. Something that stopped when I simply moved the refill tube out of where it normally runs into, so that it just fills the tank directly. He understood what I meant. He did ask if we had water to prime the pump with and I told him, we only had one big jug of drinking water right now, and that I was on my way to town to refill our empties. He said he thought he had enough water in his van that he could use. After we parted ways, I paused to message my family to let them know he was going to arrive early, and continued to town.

Along the way, I found myself stuck behind a slow moving vehicle that I couldn’t pass for a while, so it took a bit longer to get to town. That little bit of a delay was enough for that oil pressure gauge needle to drop to the line between “low” and “normal” before I even reached town.

*sigh*

So the garage was my first stop.

When I got there, I saw the owner go outside while talking on his cell phone, so I knew it might be a while before I saw him. I went into the office and the other mechanic – one of our neighbours – came over to see what was going on. I told him about the oil pressure sensor, and he did mention that this is pretty common this time of year, with the temperature changes and moisture getting into the system. Minor fluctuations, I would expect, but I told him that the needle was dropping to the point that it would set off alarms before I could drive much further than the nearest towns. I brought up that the owner had mentioned getting a different sensor, but he wasn’t part of that conversation, so he said he would let the owner know I was waiting to talk to him, then got back to working on vehicles already in the shop. I made sure to tell him to let the owner know I wasn’t in any hurry.

When the owner came in, he was apologetic for not getting back to me. He’d gotten my message, but just didn’t have a chance to call me. We talked about what is still going on with the sensor – he mentioned he’s now got several people with the same problem! – and confirmed the truck is running fine, oil levels are fine, but I just can’t be doing normal driving if I let it drop to the point of alarms going off. He understood.

I brought up about the GM sensor he’d mentioned – an OEM sensor, he clarified – and he started looking it up. Then I heard him saying, oh, that’s why we didn’t go with it from the start! Turns out it costs $160, compared to the $80 for the off market version.

With part of the problem being seasonal, and moisture getting into the system over the winter, I mentioned that I’m less than 2000km to the next oil change. Would getting an oil change help? Yes, he said, it probably would. What he suggested is that I just keep driving it until it’s time to do the oil change, then he would do an engine flush to remove the moisture, replace the sensor and do the oil change all at the same time.

Which I agreed to. Until then, though…

He then offered to disconnect the sensor until then. I told him, yes!! I had even suggested something like that in one of my messages. The gauge would be at 0, but no alarms would go off.

So he got my keys and asked the mechanic to quickly do that for me. He was done with the truck before I was done in the office!

In the middle of all this, I got a message from my daughter, saying that the plumber was almost done, and we had water again. I mentioned to the mechanic that our well pump stopped working last night, and his reaction told me he knew exactly how big of a deal that was! I’d say, he lives with a well system himself. 😄

As I was leaving, I told him, I feel almost like I’m being a pain in the butt about this sensor, but for something like this, if it’s going off for a legitimate reason… which is when he started knodding his head enthusiastically. We’ve already gone through this, and it could have been really bad on our engine! He completely understood. How can we know for sure if it’s just the sensor, or if something is going really, really wrong?

I love my technology, but sometimes, it makes things more difficult, rather than less!

That done, I was already hearing from the cat rescue lady. She was on her way. That gave me time to head across the street with the truck, to the grocery store parking lot where we were going to meet, with time to head inside. I got my water bottles refilled, plus a couple of little things, then waited for her in the truck.

When she arrived, we commiserated. She’s having troubles with her vehicle, too – and they are a lot more expensive than mine will be! Like, 10 times more expensive! In the end, she’s going to get a new engine, because it’ll cost about the same as doing the repairs.

As we were transferring the carriers over, I was greatly appreciative over the fact that they had been cleaned! We keep them in the sun room so that cats can be used to them and use them as shelters. They had been pretty much covered in muddy paw prints. She told me they were cleaned and disinfected, since all the cats we brought in were sick with something or other. Much appreciated!!

Then she brought out another carrier – a donation for us!

I’ve never seen anything like it before!!!

It’s really big, and reminds me of a space capsule or something. 😄 So we are now back up to 6 useable hard sided carriers.

Then she gave me a couple of bags of kibble, too!

They are just amazing.

The bags were both taped up on the bottom. A lot of the bags they gave us before had some sort of taped up damage, too. I think they are getting them as donations from pet stores, with bags too damaged to be sold, but still filled with perfectly good kibble.

I am just fine with taped up bags!

That done, I was soon on my way home. My daughter had let me know that the plumber had gone. The water was very cloudy and smelled of minerals, but not something she was worried about.

Once I was home and everything was unloaded, I went into the basement to check it out, and to run water in the laundry sink. There was all sorts of crud coming out of the taps!

Running the taps set off the well pump, so I went over to check it out.

It is SO much quieter!!!!

It also finished much faster. I noticed the pressure gauge was a lot more visible, and that when the tank stopped the pressure was at 50psi. With the old pump, I never saw it higher than 40. My daughter later told me that the plumber said it was supposed to be at 50, and that the pump is supposed to be triggered at 30.

My daughter told me that he had also checked the pressure tank, as that could also have been the source of trouble, and the pressure tank is fine.

As for the old pump, it turned out to be the switch. He had told her, he could just replace the switch and we could keep using it.

Then he got it running again, and they both heard just how grinding and loud it was.

My daughter told him to go ahead and replace the whole thing!

That pressure gauge on the pump, it turns out, was one he provided. The one that came with the pump faced a different direction and we would have had to twist around to be able to read it. Now, we just have to look down. The only other thing he had to provide that wasn’t in my brother’s bag of fitting was a brass fitting.

Then he’d used some bottled water he had in his van to prime the pump and get it going.

The first picture above was taking while the pump was still running.

I got some pictures and video that I sent to my brother. I got messages from him while I was in town, too. They’re in Spain now, after walking over 190km, with another 90km to go on their pilgrimage. They are averaging 15-20km/day, depending on weather conditions and access to accommodations for the night. There have been a few times when they were walking through some poor weather conditions, and even had to jump a creek at one point.

I told him about the pump and he was very happy to hear that the one he had bought earlier was used. He paid about $400 for it at the time. Just finding this sort of pipe these days is hard enough – most have the pump down in the well itself, not in a basement, like ours – but like everything else, the prices will have gone up since then.

After running water in the laundry sink in the basement, I went to do the same in the kitchen, as that sink is the furthest from the pump.

The second pictures shows what our water looked like for quite some time!

I had to remove the aerator on the faucet, as it just kept getting clogged up. We’ll need to soak it in CLR.

I kept running the water, both hot and cold, until it seemed to be clear. It’ll probably be a while longer before it’s totally clear again. Then I ran water in the bathroom sink and tub, and flushed the toilet a few extra times. I took the aerator off the bathroom sink’s faucet before running the water, and I’m glad I did. There were some pretty big pieces of grit that came through!

All this trigged the pump a few times, of course, and I’m still amazed by how quiet it is!

The last thing we need to do is run a tub clean cycle on the washing machine.

My daughter, meanwhile, had done all the clean up and putting away of things before I got home, including the honey pot.

The dump is open for short hours tomorrow morning. Now that I know I won’t be triggering any alarms on the truck, I plan to do a much needed dump run!

I am so glad this has finally been done, after all these years of stressing every time we used water, and three different plumbers worried about causing damage to the foot valve if they changed it. The foot valve seems to have handled it just fine! I’m especially relieved because we’ll probably have to use the hoses a lot to water the garden throughout the summer. I was stingy on watering things last year because I knew how much wear and tear it was causing to the pump, but with the drought and heat, it still meant quite a bit of watering.

As much of a pain it was to lose water entirely, it wasn’t for all that long, and we were well set up for it. We had drinking water, were able to keep ourselves clean, and could still use the bathroom. The outhouse wasn’t really an option. The melting snow has created a bit of a pond in front of it, as part of the moat that forms around the garage, and the pit is probably quite full of water, too.

Another reason I want to build an outdoor bathroom, without a pit, closer to the house!

In the end, things have been working about pretty much as well as they could have, and for that, I am grateful!

The Re-Farmer

No water

April 12, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well.

We’re in a pickle.

My daughter was a sweetheart and focused on doing a lot of dishes and clean up today. Just a little while ago, I tried to use the sink in the kitchen, and started losing pressure from the tap. Not unusual; the pump kicks in about then, refills the pressure tank and the pressure returns.

This time, it didn’t.

The pump isn’t turning on.

We have no water.

This is not good.

We do have that “spare” well pump… Can we find someone who can install it for us?

On a Sunday?

The Re-Farmer

Got a few things done…

April 11, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

The day, of course, started with doing my outside stuff which, until the snow melts, isn’t much more than feeding the yard cats.

Bug is still mad at me.

As soon as I opened the window to get a clear shot, she dashed onto the ramp, out of reach! (you can see her in the second picture) We’ve gone from being able to pick her up and cuddle her, to “don’t come near me!!”

*sigh*

As I was finishing my rounds and starting to head inside, I tried for a head count. I saw 18, with 8 in the isolation shelter, though I know I saw at least a couple more earlier, as I was setting the food out.

It is so very strange. There were only 5 in the sun room. When I check the critter cam in the sun room, it’s basically empty (though I did have to chase four massive raccoons out last night!). Last night, I checked the camera at the isolation shelter, and saw only one cat in there!

The raccoons definitely got in during the night, though. The food bowl was knocked down to the lower level, were it can’t be reached without moving the wind break box over the ramp.

I’ve been chatting with the rescue group and they are wanting to know how many friendlies we still have that we could get without trapping. There are quite a few – mostly male, with several already neutered. They’re asking for more photos. I’ll have to see if I can get more when I do the second feeding, later today.

Meanwhile…

While checking the forecast this morning, I saw our predicted high is now 10C/50F. There are currently flood warnings for one of the reserves to the north of us, potentially to 2022 levels. That’s the year we had roads washed out in all directions and were unable to get out for weeks, with the vehicle we had at the time. The reserve is in a low lying area along the lake and they have to do evacuations fairly often in the spring. Mostly specific buildings, like a long term care center that is not in danger itself, but the road to it gets flooded over and becomes impassable. Things like that.

We have a lot of snow right now, and we desperately need the moisture – we’re still recovering from droughts. A slow melt would be perfect! We shall see how it goes.

I needed to go into town today to pick up my husband’s insulin, and my younger daughter came along to keep me company – and, it turned out, to make sure I got fed! My first stop was at the garage. Online, it says they have short hours on Saturdays, but the doors were locked. From there, we went and parked near the pharmacy, which shares a parking lot with a Subway, so that’s where my daughter took me for brunch. Then we headed to the pharmacy. While I was in line to pay for it (first time at 75% coverage, instead of 90% coverage) I ended up giving my daughter the meds and my card so I could quickly dash to a nearby grocery store. Not one we normally go to, but my husband asked for a couple of things, so I got them there, and my daughter met up with me. From there we headed to our usual grocery store and she went in while I walked across to the garage again, just in case the last time I was there, it was closed because there was just one person who had to dash out for something.

The door was still locked.

So I did not get to talk to anyone about what the truck is doing. Yes, that pressure gauge is still dropping. I had checked the oil level before we left, and it was fine. When we first headed out, the pressure was right where it should have been. By the time we got to the garage, it was just above the line between “low” and “normal”. When we drove to the pharmacy, it wasn’t much higher. With the truck parked a bit longer before we drove to the grocery store, the needle had gone up just a little bit more. We took our time with the shopping, so it was longer before we started it to head home, and it was higher again, but never reached that zone it should be at, at those speeds.

The shopping done, including taking advantage of some sales to add to the freezer and pantry, we headed home. We stopped at the general store so my daughter could run in to get our mail. The needle was on the line by the time I parked. I shut the engine off while waiting for my daughter, and it did rise again slightly when I started it again, but not by much. By the time we got home, it was on the line again.

*sigh*

We’re less than 2000km before we need to get another oil change. Which would be about a month of normal driving, except we haven’t even broken 1000km in a month for the last two months, with the truck being in the garage so often. I find myself wondering if I got that done a bit early, would that help? I don’t know, but if we can’t figure something out, I’m going to have to cancel a couple of medical appointments, including an eye appointment. Both clinics are in a town 3/4s of the way to the city; far enough that the needle would very likely drop to the point of setting off alarms before we even turned off the highway.

While writing this post, I’ve also been chatting with the rescue group again. Sir Robin has been spending much of his time at the top of a cat tree, looking out the window and chirping. He wants out! The cat that wanted to be indoors the most, now wants out. 😄 It’s a very different world out that window; he’s in a older residential neighbourhood in the city, and he’s seeing lots of other houses around. During the night, the ladies were also at the window with him, watching everything.

The intake person still can’t approach Frank or Sweetie. 😞

With how the truck has been, plus they have all our hard sided carriers, we can’t really get any more cats for them. They would like me to get groups of photos of individual friendly cats that they can post on the online adoption list, even while the cats are still here.

Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, I’ll be meeting up with one of them to get our hard sided carriers back. We’ll work things out from there.

I am so thankful for this rescue, and all the help they’ve been able to give us. I know they have plenty of others in situations similar to ours that they are trying to help, too. The need is great, and very overwhelming at times.

We so need a Furball Farm type cat sanctuary in our region, for the strays and ferals that are too wild to go to fosters. There are just too many cats that are not “adoptable” that deserve to be kept safe and warm and fed, and to get the vet care they need.

For now, we just do the best we can.

The Re-Farmer

Well, that was fun… NOT

April 10, 2026 / Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

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

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

Which I mostly did.

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

Which is when I discovered the mess.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then I did the drain from the access pipe again.

Then the floor drain again.

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

Not to mention many thousands of dollars more expensive!

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

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

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

What a fun way to start the day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Old Man Winter looks to have finally let go.

Finally!

The Re-Farmer

Six… with help

April 9, 2026April 9, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

Frank was NOT happy, once that door was closed!

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

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

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

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

Still deep enough that it needed to be clear.

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

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

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

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

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

I didn’t make it, though.

I am so tired of this truck.

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

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

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

They are so incredibly awesome!

Then it was just a matter of waiting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then he left.

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

Oh, you’re taking their side…

Uhm… No. I’m just explaining.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May it be that simple!

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

*sigh*

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

I saw both Bug and Furriosa.

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

They both look very, very unhappy with me!

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

As for the cats they picked up…

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

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

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

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

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

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

What we really need is a second vehicle.

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

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

*sigh*

It’ll work out in the end.

I’ll just hold on to that thought.

The Re-Farmer

Digging out – and I love technology!

April 8, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From overseas!

I love technology!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, I did make sure to take painkillers!

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

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

It was my mother.

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

I’m lonely.

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

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

Why was I doing that?

You know we had a storm, right?

Oh, yes, I saw some snow…

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

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

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

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

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

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

I asked my mother, what was it she wanted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then I hung up.

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

I was just tired.

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

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

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

The Re-Farmer

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