Month: October 2018

There’s a reason we lock our gate

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You would think, living in the middle of nowhere, we wouldn’t have to worry about things like vandalism and security as much as when we lived in the downtown area of a major city.  In many ways, that is true.  However, we are certainly not immune, and in some ways, folks in the country have more to worry about.

I won’t get into the reasons here, but having to put locks on our gates has been quite disheartening.  It is what it is, however, and we just deal.

Like today.

My younger daughter and I loaded up the van to go to the dump, then she walked ahead to unlock the gate while I drove over.

She couldn’t unlock it.  The key wouldn’t even go into the lock.

This would be why.

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What you’re seeing is after my daughter used a knife to try and clear it, to no avail.  Not that it would have made a difference.  Even if she had been able to get the key in, the glue would have prevented it from turning.

(The black, by the way, is from a graphite lubricant I used when the weather was making the lock a bit stiff, about a month ago.)

While we were at the gate, a candidate for some local elections came by to drop something off, so she saw what we were dealing with, too – and later saw my daughter getting into the van with the bolt cutters, after we got through.

So our trip to the dump was followed by a trip into town to get a new lock.

This is the second lock we’ve had to replace.  I don’t expect it to be the last, unfortunately.

Frustrating.

The Re-Farmer

Settling in, little by little

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I did my rounds around the yard this evening, and it’s really something to see how everything is settling in for the winter.

While I have been fighting those invasive vines all over the place all summer, there is one area where I am keeping them.  They are, after all, quite pretty, when under control!  They have gone to seed, now, and are all covered with lovely little puffs.

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I spent some time going around the yard, picking up the fallen branches, and going through where I cleaned things up in the maple grove.

When talking to my family about what I was finding, I mentioned the rows of trees that were planted too close together, with many dying because of it, and how I wanted to eventually transplant the three poor little tamarack trees.  One family member told me to just cut them down to give the other trees space.

Nope!  Not going to do that.  I really want to save these trees.

This is one of the reasons why.

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They turn a most glorious golden yellow in the fall!

In the future, I would really love to plant more of them!

It’s not unusual, when I make my way through the yard, for me to have a cat follow me.  That’s typically when Rolando Moon makes an appearance.  Otherwise, it’s Beep Beep or Butterscotch.

Today, I had two cats following me!

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Beep Beep and her boy!

Later, my younger daughter helped me move some leaf piles onto the flower garden by the Old Kitchen.  The girls have been raking the grass, but with the latest drop of leaves, it’s rather yard to tell in some places! :-D  We are starting to use the leaves as mulch in different areas as well as adding more to the garden – and that’s without doing any raking at all in between the trees!  Those will be left to decompose where they are.  We’ll just stay on top of picking up fallen branches in those areas.

Earlier today, we made a trip into town to get some prescription refills.  When they were ready, the pharmacist went through the three bottles with me.  There was supposed to be four, however.  So she went back to check what happened.  It turned out that, for some reason, the insurance wasn’t coming up to cover that one at all.  They figured it was a glitch in the system.

They ended up giving me the refill, without charging us for it now.  When I come back in about a week, for some other refills, they will charge us for it then.

Which kinda blows me away.

When we had issues with insurance, shortly after moving here, the Costco pharmacy my husband had set up with wanted to charge him full price. We didn’t even know there was a problem until they wanted some $400, when we should only have been paying $40 or so.  It was a most frustrating experience, and my husband went without some of his medications for a long time before the mess was fixed – and then even longer, because the fix put him at the wrong rate, which meant we still couldn’t afford it.

I’m rather glad we are with this pharmacy, now!

One of the benefits of going with a small town pharmacy, instead of one in the city!

Something to be thankful for, for sure!

The Re-Farmer

A quiet day

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One thing about the chillier weather; it has made for much quieter days!  It’s too cold to do much outside, and what little we have left to do can wait for the few days it’s supposed to warm up again.  Otherwise, it was a good day to stay warm inside, drink lots of tea, and catch up on various things.  In my case, crochet. :-D

I did want to share this cute little thing that happened, though…

Heading into the Old Kitchen, to close up the sun room’s outer doors, I turned on the sun room light and immediately saw through the window, all these pairs of ears turn towards the window!  A pile of kittens, in their favorite spot.

So I go back to get my phone to see if I can get a good photo.  It was a pile of the shiest kittens, so I wasn’t expecting to get them all, but who knows, right?

I open the inner door and check them out through the window of the second door.  There they all are, looking at me.  As I unlatch the door, they jump around a bit, startled by the noise.

They weren’t the only ones.

Our stinky friend ambled out from under the swing seat and headed outside!

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I just managed to snag a photo through the screen before he was gone.

Then the kittens all scattered, so I wasn’t able to get a picture of them.  Ah, well.

A few things were knocked over and pushed around that needed to be cleaned up.  No turd bombs that I could see, but it does look like the skunk left some puddles. :-(

At least this time, it was easier to get everybody out of the sun room to close it up for the night.

After the last few years, I can really enjoy things like this being the most exciting action in my life. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Not quite what I expected

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After I finished my last post (just before midnight! :-D ), I tried once again to see if I could close up the sun room for the night.  The last I saw, all the kittens were outside eating, and the skunk was settling into the corner of the sun room.

I came in to find this.

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Do not let the little furry heads fool you.  This is not a pile of six kittens.

It is a pile of seven kittens!

As I went in and the pile broke up, the seventh kitten emerged, having been completely buried by the others!

Bob is really filling out and looking so much healthier, now!  Glad to see that.  Also, the markings on one of the calico/torties is looking more and more like a grey tabby!  Much less orange than her sibling.

As I was persuading them to go outside, I saw the skunk was already out and eating, so I was finally able to close up the outside doors, then start heading in through the Old Kitchen.

Then I went back to let out Jim, who had been hiding and accidentally got closed in.  !!

So that worked out in the end, and no turd bombs that I could find.

Today, I was slated to go to my mother’s to help her with some errands.  I used her car, so that it would be easier for her to get in and out, but it doesn’t really fit her walker in the back, so she used a cane.  I must say, she is recovering really well, has grown noticeably stronger since I last saw her, and quite mobile.  She still tired quickly, of course, but did fantastic.  Not bad for someone who’s 87 and just had major abdominal surgery!

We had an excellent visit as well, and while we were talking, I mentioned that we were letting the kittens into the sun room.  I wasn’t sure how she would take that, since she vacillates from telling me we shouldn’t have cats because of the litter box, to happy about the outside cats, because they keep the rodent population under control, and loving how cute the kittens are.

I showed her the above photo, and she was loving it.  She questioned about them being all from one mom, but I reminded her that there were two from one mom, four from another – and that another kitten showed up from somewhere and has moved right in.  She loved that!

Then she commented that we might have a problem with them pooping in the sun room.  I wasn’t sure how she would take it, but I told her that it’s not the cats we have problems with pooping in the sun room, but…

Then I showed her a picture of the skunk I’d taken last night.

It took her a moment to realize what she was seeing and where, but when she did, she was so excited!  I showed her some more photos and the short video I took of the skunk sharing cat food with one of the kittens, and she loved it!  She thought he was so cute, and how great it was that it comes regularly.

I had thought she might be upset about the skunk coming inside the sun room, to be honest, so this was awesome!

She also suggested that we might end up with more of them showing up.  I figure it might depend of whether we have a he or a she.  Who knows; by next spring, the skunk might show up with a row of little ones, following along!

Meanwhile, my darling husband did a bit of research.  Apparently, cat kibble is not good for skunks.  Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables is recommended.  Well, this skunk seems to be doing just fine with the kibble, along with whatever else it finds on its own.  It’s not like the cat kibble is the only source of food it has.  I think it’ll be just fine.

I’m just happy my mom is happy about our stinky kitty, too!

Also, I think I will make a point of shutting up the sun room now, before our smelly friend returns!

The Re-Farmer

This could be a problem

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Today, the plan was to open the outer doors to the sun room during the day to let the kittens use it, then close it up for the night.

At one point, I was outside and decided to sit on the swing seat they like to cuddle on and play with Doom Guy, and get other kittens used to me.

One of the things I did when cleaning up the turd bombs and transferring the cat kibble from its chewed up bag into a 5 gallon bucket, was to put the bucket itself into a box on its side.  It just fits into a size medium moving box, with barely enough space above to be able to use the bowl we use to measure out the kibble without taking the bucket out.  The box and bucket are sitting on the plastic couch that is also in the sun room, to further make it hard to get at.

Well, that didn’t stop them completely, of course.  While I was there, Doom Guy jumped into the box, squeezed in behind the bucket, then stood up to look in.  He was able to reach into the bucket and just reach a piece of kibble, take it out, and proceed to crunch away, out of view, behind the bucket.  He only did it a few times before coming back for cuddles.  It was cute, but I’m thinking we need to find a lid for the bucket!

Just a little while ago, I went through the Old Kitchen to close up the sun room’s outer doors.  There was a whole pile of kittens, some scattering out the door, some behind the swing bench they were on, and Doom Guy made a dash for the old kitchen.

One of the other things I’d put on the plastic couch was the bag of deer feed.  It normally sits somewhere else, but I moved it there while the floor was being mopped, and hadn’t put it back.  It had been knocked onto the floor, with most of the feed spilling out.

*sigh*

I was able to sweep the majority of it back into the bag.  As I did that, kittens were dashing around me in all directions, and it sounded like one was stuck behind the dresser I use as a tool chest.  I swept up the last dregs of the seed into a dustpan to throw out into the garbage can just outside the doors.  I took the opportunity to see which kitten was stuck back there.

Whoops.

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So I guess, when I went into the sun room, the skunk was under the plastic couch where I couldn’t see it and, when I disturbed it, it hid in the corner.

I’d seen it earlier in the day, coming through the front gate and up the sidewalk to the house, like any other visitor, before coming around to the cat food under my office window.  There was a fair bit of ruckus under there, as not only is the skunk pretty loud under there, but the blue jays were having a field day, going after the kibble.

So I went to check the bowls and, sure enough, they were empty.  The skunk had gone in to look for more food, most likely.

I refilled the bowls, hoping to tempt it out.

I waited a while to see if the skunk would come out, then came out of the house through the main doors with a flashlight.  No sign of the skunk, but I certainly tempted the kittens out!

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All seven of them were very happy to have the bowls refilled!

At first, I couldn’t see the skunk and hoped it had at least come out of the corner and would be making its way out to the food bowls.

I was wrong.

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It wasn’t hiding in the corner, after all.  It was settled in, quite comfortably!  Not the least bit disturbed by my flashlight, nor the flash, when I’d taken photos, earlier.

As I started writing this post, my daughter came by to let me know that all 7 kittens are in a pile on the swing bench.  I don’t hear any crunching under my window, which means the skunk hasn’t come out to eat.

This could be a problem.

Hmm.  I hear skunks make good pets…

:-D

The Re-Farmer

A lovely day

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Today is officially Thanksgiving, so I will happily say again, Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope my Canadian visitors had a wonderful holiday weekend, with lots of food and family – or a lovely, quiet, non-party weekend, like we did!

Since we did our celebrating yesterday, and today was a fairly pleasant day, we were able to get some work done outside.  The girls were able to rake up lots more leaves to layer on the flower garden by the Old Kitchen, which I’m pretty excited about.  Lots of lovely organic matter! :-D

We are going to have to stop keeping the sun room doors propped open overnight.  More turd bombs were discovered this morning, plus something chewed a hole in the bottom of the open back of cat kibble.  Most likely the skunk, we think.  We did end up still leaving the door open during the day.  Which makes looking out the bathroom window something to look forward to!

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I was called over to see this adorable pile of fluff, and while I was taking photos through the bathroom window screen, I started getting called to look out the living room window, to see a deer!

It was under the crab apple trees, looking for apples, and we did get some photos with the DSLR.  I will upload those tomorrow to see how they turned out.  Unfortunately, I did not manage to get a photo of the deer standing up on its hind legs, trying to reach the apples on the tree!

After a while, it slowly wandered away down the garden, and we couldn’t see it anymore.  However, when I went into the master bedroom, I found I was able to see it through the maple grove.  As I stood watching it, I suddenly saw a second one, going through the trees and heading towards the house!

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I was able to get a few photos through the screen of the west facing window.  This one was also going under the crab apple and plum trees, looking for fallen fruit.

So beautiful!

After the deer left, I went to work on the sun room.  Most of the kittens took off when I came in through the Old Kitchen.  Doom Guy, however, managed to dash in before I could close the door!

Good thing the inside door to the rest of the house was closed!

I started taking things out of the sun room so I could clean the floor.  In the process, I have come to the conclusion that the turd bombs are not from the cats, but from the skunk.

After I got the mess cleaned up, washed the floor and transferred the cat kibble from the bag with a hole into a bucket, I sat outside to clean my late father’s wheelchair with a disinfectant cleaner while the floor dried.

When I was able to start putting things back inside, I found the sun room occupied already.

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Doom Guy is such a cutie!  He even let me pick him up and sit for a while with him cuddled in my arms.

Later on, I found him back again – this time with company!

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Corvo is letting me come closer, but still won’t let me pet him.

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Adorable brothers!!!

After all was finished and we were settling in for the evening, I found out about a legendary raid – Mewtwo – in Pokemon Go that was happening in town.  My daughter and I have not been able to do one yet, so we decided to head into town and join the raid.

When I came out the door, I was immediately set upon by Doom Guy.  As I picked him up to cuddle, I saw we had company…

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He’s back!

(In fact, he’s back right now.  I can hear him under my office window, knocking the metal food bowls around, as I write this!)

Before we left he dashed into the sun room.

*sigh*

Well, it’s now closed up for the night, so hopefully, no more turd bombs!

The Re-Farmer