… the deer come back.
Hungry Girl and Barbecue came back, while there was still light enough to get photos. :-)
Eunice the Sad and Tired Snowman has lost her head. Mostly.
Interesting that Hungry Girl – the one that’s shier and gets bullied by Barbecue so much – is the one that’s brave enough to come closer to the house, while Barbecue stays farther away.
He keeps tabs on us in the window, too!
My day is complete now. :-)
The Re-Farmer
We’ve hit a whole +3C today! Gosh, it feels so warm.
Of course, in a couple of months, the same temperature is going to feel cold, but hey, I’ll appreciate it while I can!
It was a great day to meet with family in town for a birthday brunch for my older daughter. Unfortunately, my husband was in too much pain to join us. :-( We got to see my older brother and his wife, plus my nephew and his wife, whom I haven’t seen since I came out for my father’s funeral, almost 2 years ago. My older daughter hadn’t seen them since my youngest brother’s funeral, about 8 years ago. Yeah; the only time we’ve been seeing family has been for funeral related events. We weren’t even making it to weddings. We had lots to talk about! Thankfully, the restaurant wasn’t busy, because we sat there for over an hour, lingering over coffees and talk.
In the end, it was probably a good thing my husband didn’t make it. He would never had been able to stay so long. No amount of medication can keep away that level of pain.
After, we spent some more time chatting in the parking lot about the car my nephew was driving; he’d salvaged it out of one of the car graveyards here at the farm and got it going again – he even left the moss growing in the Bondo cracks. It seems one of the front tires was separating. Did he have a spare? Of course. He had two full size spares. That’s my nephew! :-D
So they were maybe going to go to where the boats were parked, where there was more room to change the tire, which I thought was great; that’s where we go to play Pokemon Go, so we’d meet them there if they did. My daughters, meanwhile, walked to a Timmies to get more coffee, and they would meet me there, too.
When my nephew didn’t come to the parking lot, I thought they decided not to change the tire, but then a lure showed up on the Pokestop. Looking around, I finally saw this familiar knit jacket that I had been admiring at the restaurant; my nephew’s wife had walked over to play Pokemon Go. Which was perfect, because once my daughters joined us, we had enough people to do a raid. :-D
It turned out they had gone to another parking lot with boats in it.
Yeah, there’s more than one boat parking lot in town.
I completely forgot about the one by the marina. It has a much more “private property” feel to it than the yacht club parking area we were at, which is next to a public park. I don’t know that I’d call any of the boats there “yachts”, but there IS a sign… :-D
When we got home, my husband was lying down, so it was strange to find a business card tucked into the door. Someone from a scrap metal company had come by while we were gone and left it. Probably going to all the farms in the area.
We’re hanging on to that card! Unlike my nephew, we are not in a position to start salvaging the many vehicles lying about. We have neither the skills, nor the resources. Nor the desire! :-D Then there are the old fridges and freezers all sort of ancient metal things lying about…
Once things are clear of snow, I plan to do a walkabout with my brother so he can tell me the status of various things, including all the … stuff … lying around, so I know what I can get rid of.
Being away as long as we were, it meant we missed seeing the deer. I’d put the cat food and deer feed out earlier than usual, and I did get a couple of cats come by. Butterscotch even let me touch her.
Which is how I discovered a strange patch on the back of her neck.
Eventually, as she went from going to a food or water bowl, to winding herself between my legs, I was able to make out that it was a wound. It looks like a bunch of fur has been torn out. It looks raw, but it’s not bleeding, and when I had inadvertently skritched the area, she did not react in pain. My older daughter had noticed something odd about the fur yesterday, so it’s been like that for at least that long.
Cat fight?
Most likely. No way to know, though.
No deer pictures, but we did get some cat pictures…
Eunice the Scary Snowman is starting to look like Eunice, the Sad, Tired Snowman!
Not that Beep Beep minds, while sitting on a warm spot.
We weren’t able to get a photo of Beep Beep and The Hand, batting at each other while they were sitting like this.
They love that stone cross! So do the squirrels.
I am so looking forward to the snow being gone.
The Re-Farmer
We had a lot of deer activity out our window this morning! All five of them, at one point. They were all energetic and dashing all over the place, which made getting photos a bit of a challenge!
My younger daughter was watching them and commented that the twins are starting to get less fuzzy and starting to look more sleek, like their mother. I’ve noticed their faces are starting to get less round and also starting to get that more “adult” look.
Except when they’re making silly faces! :-D
Despite our repeated vacuuming, the Asian lady beetles are still out in high numbers.
In the morning, they really like our living room window. They are upstairs in the highest numbers, but they also really like my office.
Yesterday, I made myself a giant cup of tea, then went into my office to work on the computer. After a while, I took my empty cup and started to refill it, only to find a lady beetle had landed in my cup and was now swirling around in the tea.
Ew.
So now I’m paranoid about my tea.
This morning, one of my priorities was to look at the public insurance website about was needed to get a driver’s license updated after a move, because all this about needing my proof of address to include my physical address was getting beyond ridiculous. The website very clearly states,
Rural customers must provide at least one document containing their physical address. If rural customers do not have two supporting documents containing their physical address, the second document can contain their mailing address.
Which is what I gave them. In fact, both documents had the physical address, because the proof of identification form specifically has “no p.o. box” on it, as we’d considered adding it in, too.
So instead of driving to my bank branch in the town my mom lives in, I printed out copies of last month’s electricity and phone bills (this month’s aren’t up yet, which means they are likely not going to be available online until next week), as well as the puclic insurance company’s webpage.
When we got there, someone else was being served at the counter, so I waited. Then a woman came out from the back – the one I’d been dealing with the last 3 times I’ve been there and has been trying to help me so much – and went right to helping me. She knew why I was there!
We talked for a bit and I told her about my calls with the phone and electric companies, and how the electric company simply can’t include the physical address, because their system doesn’t allow for it. She was able to tell me why the personal identification form was rejected.
It turns out the problem on the form wasn’t with me or my address.
It was the postmaster.
It seems that the identity unit (we have one???) couldn’t confirm her as a postmaster, based on some sort of criteria they had.
Which is weird, since she has a framed certificate up on the wall, identifying her as the postmaster, issued by Canada Post.
Totally bizarre.
In the end, she took my phone bill as proof of address, because the electric bill had a slightly different postal address – it included the term “station main” on there (which is what they normally do). I mentioned that they had a copy of my marriage certificate, which has my address on it, but Vital Statistics isn’t among their list of acceptable sources.
Well, what I’ve given now had better be good enough. If this isn’t, I don’t know what’s left!
After that, my daughter and I picked up some prescription refills for my husband. Unfortunately, it was for painkillers that can’t be filled until the last refill is almost done. My husband had phoned it in yesterday, but they wouldn’t be ready for pick up until today – and he ran out of the painkillers last night.
It was a rough day for him today. It’s not like he can take them any time, either, but on a schedule.
After picking up the refills and doing some other errands (one nice thing about it; almost all the stuff we needed to do was within a block of each other), my daughter and I went to play some Pokemon Go. Which turned out to be really excellent hunting; we both caught new Pokemon for the Pokedex, and we actually caught a Blissy! She hasn’t even seen a Chancy, yet (I’ve had much more opportunity to play that she has), so that was pretty exciting.
On the way home, we stopped at the post office. The postmaster wasn’t there, but I talked to the person that was working the post office to pass on what happened with the form. I figured she might like to know that the identity unit couldn’t verify her as the postmaster. Mind you, it could be because this is such a tiny post office, inside a retail outlet, and not a stand-alone office, like in the next town.
After we got home, my daughter was a sweetheart and did some bread baking.
I ended up crashing with the cats for 3 hours.
I’m getting too old for this. :-D
The Re-Farmer
We only had one thing scheduled for today. Doctor’s appointments for my husband and myself, booked one right after the other.
Ah, the best laid plans.
First up, though… the morning critters! Continue reading
I can’t believe it.
I thought for sure, after I finally got the paperwork I needed to transfer my driver’s license, and actually GOT my temporary license, I was done. It was over.
But noooo…. That would make life too easy, wouldn’t it? Continue reading
Well, we finally did it. My older daughter and I visited my mother.
I think I’ll need a few days to recover. :-D Continue reading
We found this guy in the yard when we got home from visiting my mother.
The Re-Farmer
Okay, so let’s end the day with things that don’t involve messy mystery clean up jobs!
Nothing like our critters to make me smile again. :-)
All of them seemed unusually active today. Maybe spring is in the air?
While walking away from the door to feed the cats, several of the usual friendlier ones already in the area, I caught sight of the Mothman out by the other house, running away hard, in great leaps and bounds though the snow! I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Mothman move at anything faster than a barely quick walk before!
At best, a few of these guys let me pet their backs while they ate, and they didn’t seem to like it that much. Squishum wouldn’t even allow that. Even Rolando Moon, who came in later and will usually come right up to me, stayed away. Only Butterscotch let me touch her, though she was moving around too much to properly pet her. As I walked out of the yard to go read the electricity meter, she kept running ahead of me a few steps, stopping, running ahead a few more steps, then stopping again. There was something odd about how she was moving, as if she didn’t like her paws touching the ground. Then she would stop and chew on the bottom of a paw. I think she might have had ice and/or snow stuck to her paws or something. The only other time I’ve seen a cat walk like that was when it accidentally stepped on a piece of tape, and it got stuck. :-D
Even the blue jays were so active, I could hardly get a photo of them.
Then the deer showed up.
All 5 of them.
Barbecue came first, then Mama and one of the twins, which was very unusual. The other twin made its way through the spruce grove, instead. Then they chased Barbecue away from where he was eating. Hungry Girl made her way in through the trees, too. Then, for the next while, they kept chasing each other off. Mama and the twins took over the feeding station for a while, as Hungry Girl and Barbecue hung out in the spruce grove. Eventually, they would make their way over, and more chasing would happen. Not the usual short little chases, either, but big leaping chases, out into the garden.
It’s always something else to see a deer at full speed. They can really move!!
With all that, I did get quite a few pictures. This one has got to be my favourite!
What a sassy Mama!
Who know deer could wink? :-D
I also love this one of Hungry Girl.
Meanwhile, the squirrel is just sitting there, watching all the crazy stuff going on.
In between all this, I made my trip to the post office and got my marriage certificate (yay!) so after lunch, my younger daughter and I went into town to FINALLY get my driver’s license transferred over, as well as mail off the forms to finally get our health care cards for this province.
I think it still ended up taking an hour to process the driver’s license transfer! Thankfully, between all the paperwork I had, she was able to get it done. Because I was able to get my old file number from the last time I had a driver’s license in this province, she was able to look it up – and my old photo came up for her! She commented on how different I looked. Especially the glasses. :-D
She did a whole bunch of form filling, taking extra care to make sure all the names and dates were right, I got my photo taken, then she got on the phone to get an override of my old license done.
They put her on hold.
Twice.
That done, she started to input the new information, but had to start over part of it, which meant I had to get my picture taken again.
I commented on how much more difficult all this was from how it used to be. She got a slightly wild look in her eyes as she nodded in agreement. I added that seemed to get more difficult only recently. The wild look came back to her eyes as she nodded and said that yes, yes it has!
I feel for the staff that needs to do all this.
Finally, everything was filled out. My old driver’s license was photocopied, then she blacked out the bar codes. I got the photocopies along with my original paperwork, after those got copied, too. I paid for it, which turned out to be $50 ($20 for the license, $30 for a fee!). After that I had to sign something like 5 different forms. Then, miracle of miracles, I got to sign my new temporary driver’s license! My permanent one should arrive in the mail within a few weeks.
It’s done! Finally done!
Then next time I’m back there, it will be after our van is saftied, and I can transfer the insurance and registration. Which hopefully will be ready to do before the end of this month, so I don’t have to pay cancellation fees.
I’m just to glad it’s all finished now! The rest of the family still needs to do their IDs, but I’m the primary driver, so it was more of a priority.
What an ordeal! So glad it’s over!
The Re-Farmer
I thought, after the horror tunnel, desiccated mouse carcasses, and other strange things we’ve found while packing up and cleaning away 4 decades of my parents’ stuff in our new home, I would have been beyond getting surprised by things we find.
I was wrong.
I must admit, it’s not so much the contents, but the circumstances of it.
Though we really don’t have the room for it in the growing pile in the dining room intended for the shed, I am just really not happy with having the litter box in the dining room, even if it is in an out of the way corner. Having cleared everything else away, I decided to move the dresser and the stuff on the wall out of the little nook they’re in, so the litter box can be moved away from where we eat.
After removing the drawers, the first thing I discovered was a scale under the dresser.
Why is there a scale under the dresser? It’s not like it was accidentally pushed under it. It was way in the back corner.
Okay. Fine.
I start moving the now drawerless dresser.
*clatterclatter*
A broken broom handle, with masking tape on the broken end, falls to the floor.
It had been between the dresser and the bit of wall on the bathroom side. I had noticed that something was there, but forgot about it before moving the dresser.
Okay. Fine.
I carefully pull the dresser out, hearing all sorts of crunching, grinding noises from the floor. Oh, dear. I called for a daughter to help carry it, since it sounded like pulling it along the floor would cause damage. However, as I maneuvered it out a bit more so a daughter could grab it from the other end, I found it was really, really light, and not making the noise anymore. So I just moved it myself, down the hall, up the two stairs to the new part of the house, and into the space I’d prepared for it in the dining room. Then I put the drawers back and went to continue cleaning.
This is what I found.
What on earth?
This is a flash picture; there is no light in this corner, so I really couldn’t see very well, but that plastic container on the floor? My first guess was that the dregs on the bottom was mouse poison. And what was all that on the floor?
I moved the scale and that plaque beside it to the pile of stuff for storage. The plaque?
It was a prayer.
Okay. Fine. I can see something like that falling between the dresser and the wall and being forgotten about. That black piece of plastic? Probably put there to get it out of the way and forgotten about as well.
I very carefully moved the mirror next. It was just leaning on the wall, on top of that piece of wood. The far side of it is a broken edge.
Then I come back to clean up the rest.
That plastic bowl? Is a glass bowl. The crud on the floor is ancient cat litter, complete with several desiccated turds.
And a piece of bread.
So, it looks like this area was used for both a cat litter box, and for… cat food? before. I threw the bowl out, but I’m guessing it’s the remains of some sort of cat food on the bottom.
All of this means that someone took out the litter box, but left the mess behind. Left the bowl and the bread and added a bathroom scale.
Then put the dresser on top of it all.
Then used the dresser to store extra towels on the bottom drawers. Above the cat poop and drying food.
Oh, and as I was going back and forth to move things, I found a pile of something that had fallen out from under the dresser as I’d moved it up the two steps. As I swept it up, I took a closer look.
I’m pretty sure it was a very old mouse nest.
Once clear, I mopped the area with disinfectant cleaner, including the walls, then used a scrub brush in the area (including on the other side, where I got the girls to take the stuff leaning there upstairs), then mopped it again. The only thing in that corner that still needs to be moved is one last large mirror, which will require a screwdriver to remove.
I don’t have the energy for that anymore.
I also found a shoe tray that I scrubbed; it will go under our litter box when it gets moved. For now, the entire area is being left to dry. We will move our litter box in tomorrow.
This just blows me away. It’s one thing to be in the practice of keeping things that might be useful, and just shoving them somewhere for storage, as is likely the case for most of the things we’ve found. It’s quite another to deliberately put a dresser on top of cat litter, cat turds and cat food.
And a scale.
I just don’t understand. Who did this? I don’t know how long that dresser has been there, but I don’t think either of my parents were strong enough to move it. Well; maybe my mother, depending no how long ago it was done, but she usually got other people to do that sort of manual labour for her. So I have no idea. And why? Why was it done like this? I can’t imagine any of my siblings doing this.
I’m at a complete loss.
I think I’m going to take a shower now.
The Re-Farmer
Yes, I finally have it!
It had better finally be enough for me to switch my ID around! Because the “certificate” part itself doesn’t have my married name on it.
That’s on my address at the top of the letter.
Which has only my box number, not my physical address, so that had better be okay, too!
The certificate itself is just a larger version of the wallet size I had seen an image of on their website. Otherwise, it’s exactly the same. It even says “certificate of marriage” not “certificate of registration”, which is what was part of the concern when the woman at Vital Statistics called me back to make sure I was getting the right version. I’m guessing that because this size is part of an 8.5×11 letter with my married name and address on the top third, it will satisfy the powers that be when it comes to changing my driver’s license.
I’ve also made a copy to include with the paperwork we need to return, along with a clean image of my husband’s half-destroyed birth certificate.
Just waiting on my daughter to have lunch, then we’re on our way!
I really, really hope this will be the last of this ID mess!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 