Well, I’m certainly glad that yesterday was a good day, weather wise, because today certainly wasn’t!

Yesterday had warmed up quite a bit, which meant the ice and snow was melting and coming off the trees with a constant rattle of ice pellets hitting the ground.  When I had the chance, I checked around the yard to see if we had lost any other trees or large branches, and am happy to say that we did not.  Just a few little branches.

Heading over towards the apples, I could see that, while we only saw one deer over by the bird feeder, there were certainly others we didn’t see!

I could see where the deer were looking for apples, under all the apple trees.

A couple of the trees, however, just aren’t letting go of their apples!

Some of the branches were laden with ice and snow that I shook off as much as I could, so no branches would break.  Typically, there would be at least some apples falling – from the other trees.  With this one, however, it was hard to get any apples off, even when pulling right on one!  Well, as they fall over the next while, it will mean food for the deer, later in the season.

The deer also seem to be taking advantage of some of the pruning and clearing done.

There are deer tracks all long this new corridor under the spruces.

Among the things on the list in preparation for winter was to get the septic tank emptied.  Even though we’d done it in the spring, we really wanted to get it done before winter.  We were planning to have it done in September.  I had called the guy who did it for us in the spring, leaving a message.  After a while, my husband also called and left a message.  Finally, my husband found another company and called them.  Not only did he get a real person, but we told they would try to make it the next morning.

Well, after the snow we got that day, road conditions weren’t the best, so he didn’t make it until the afternoon.

The important thing is, he actually made it.

One more thing off the list!

Once he got set up and started pumping, I asked him how it was, and apparently it was really full.  When I mentioned we had it cleaned out in the spring, he was quite surprised.  Enough that he wondered if whoever did it hadn’t emptied it completely.  !!!  He asked how many in the household, and when I told him 4, he kinda, sorta, said that maybe 4 people could do it.  I brought up that maybe we should do this every six months.  He said to check it in the spring, but with 4 people, we shouldn’t have to get the tank emptied every 6 months.  Talking about it with my husband later, we both agreed that we’d rather do it twice a year, for a couple hundred dollars in total, rather than take a chance of it backing up into the basement and potentially costing thousands.

This company was more expensive, but it was worth it to have it done in a timely manner.  We will be sticking with this company in the future!

He came at just the right time, too.  Shortly after, the girls girls and I headed out, as they treated me to a movie in the city (since they needed me to drive them, anyhow… ;-) ).  We saw Venom, and just loved it!  This is one that’s worth buying.  It was quite fun and funny.  I’d definitely recommend it.

The beautiful weather held out until this morning, when it started to snow and rain again.

It was also entertaining.

My husband called me over to look out the bathroom window, into the sun room.  On my late father’s favorite chair, there was Doom Guy and The Outsider, snuggling, while watching…

Beep Beep, taking up all of the food!

I see where Corvo gets it from, now. :-D

When my daughters came out later to clear the sidewalk, they got accosted by cats.  Beep Beep has taken to climbing onto people’s backs, Doom Guy insists on being picked up, Butterscotch tries to climb legs, and even Rolando Moon made an appearance and tried to get in on the petting action. :-D

I missed most of this, as I headed out to my sister’s for a sibling chat.  Having group email discussions is handy but, sometimes, you just need to get together face to face, and with my mother’s situation, there was plenty to talk about.  We filled each other in on a whole bunch of stuff, which is necessary when my mother tells different people different things. Between us, we could fill in the gaps and get at least most, if not all, of the story.  I had though my mother was going to be done home care by now, but it looks like that’s going to continue.  Which meant we had to talk about the reality of what to do if her needs become too much for home care, and when she’ll need to go into long term care.  This is the sort of thing that has to get started now, before she needs it, because the waiting lists can be so long, and none of us are in a position to have her move in with us.  It would be best if she were in a place such as where my father-in-law lives, because it has so many things right in-house, from the home care, to a chapel, to a cafeteria with excellent food available, so some really awesome activities and events.  Plus, it would be closer to the specialists she sees, and so on.  I’ve brought this up with my mother before, but she says she doesn’t want to go to the city, because of the noise.  Really, though, it wouldn’t necessarily be any more noisy than where she is now.  There is also where her sister lives now, and where my father spent his last 6 months or so, or the city in between where my sister and brother live.

It’s something we will have to continue to explore, together with my mother.

We covered a lot of ground, and got a good visit in.  We don’t get together like this often.  I’m hoping we can do it on a fairly regular basis.

Since it was close, after leaving my sister’s, my brother and I took a side trip into the nearby city, where he showed me the clinic where my mother’s follow up appointment will be, in a couple of weeks.  I will be driving her there in her car, so I wanted to be extra sure of the route, and see where I can potentially park.  It’s also the same place my husband now has an appointment, with a different doctor, to get some test results, the week after.

That’s one of the down sides of living here.  With my husband on disability, getting the care he needs means going quite far afield.  It’s a trade off.  Living in the sticks has been good for him in so many ways, but then he has to go so far for specialist care or treatment, which is very painful.  There will come a time when we’ll have to decide if the trade off is still worth it.

Hopefully, not for many years, yet.

The Re-Farmer