Since switching up rooms, I have come to appreciate the view in my new office space. I’ve got my desk against the north wall, which means I can see out the window with my peripheral vision.

Turns out, it’s pretty active out there!

Every now and then, some motion catches my eye, and I look up to see a cat – or several of them – making their way through the trees, to and from the roof, or just… sitting there.

My daughter was able to determine that this is Rolando Moon. It was either her, or Big Jim. :-)

Just this morning, I’ve also seen Beep Beep, Doom Guy and The Outsider in the branches. Plus, plenty of birds.

After the wicked cold snap we had, the last few days have been warmer. The cats seem to be enjoying the warmer temperatures. Beep Beep has been decidedly more affectionate, too!

She likes to stand on her hind legs, to let me know she wants me to pet her. :-D When doing my rounds, Butterscotch is the one that catches up to me and demands that I pick her up and cuddle her, but when it’s been warmer, Beep Beep has also been joining me for pets.

Which is interesting, when they both want up at the same time, but they don’t like each other very much.

Beep Beep likes to perch on my shoulder, though, while Butterscotch likes to be in my arms, so she can lick my fingers.

A couple of days back – the first really warm day we had – we went into town for a medical appointment; one of two that had to be rescheduled, as my husband was not well enough to go. This one was just to get an updated prescription. As the medication is classified as a narcotic, my husband has to go in in person to get the hand written prescription. Unlike the other prescriptions, the pharmacy cannot just fax the doctor for an updated prescription. Also, unlike our previous province, the doctor cannot fax the prescription to the pharmacy. It must be delivered to the pharmacy, in person, within 3 days.

The hoops he has to jump through, because other people misuse their medications. :-(

On the plus side, the doctor was able to change the prescription up, now that we’ve been here long enough. Instead of a 3 month prescription, with only 1 month being dispensed at a time, we now have a 6 month prescription, with 3 months dispensed at a time. So instead of having to refill every month (which can only be done just days before running out), with an updated prescription needed every 3 months, we only need to refill it every 3 months, and get an updated prescription in 6 months.

On the down side, this means it costs 3 times as much to get a refill.

Thank God for insurance, but still… ouch.

My husband was pretty much out of the medication, since he had to get the updated prescription first, so it was straight to the pharmacy after his appointment. They were only able to give him a month’s supply, though – they don’t keep much of it in stock. So that meant another trip into town for me, yesterday. At least this time, my husband didn’t need to drag himself out.

Which means that today – the last warm day we’re supposed to have, before another cold snap hits tomorrow – was the first time I was FINALLY able to get the snow blower out. I did that fairly early, after doing my rounds. The first section I did was by the road, clearing and widening an opening in the ridge left behind from the plows. That went well. Then I moved to a section I’d gotten stuck in, earlier, while making a wide turn to get into the garage, after driving into the yard.

Things did not go as well.

For some reason, the snow blower began to stall.

Repeatedly.

The first time, it was fairly close to the side of the garage, where we store it. I tried using the pull cord, at first, but the bar to adjust which direction the snow is blown is in the way, making it difficult to get the right angle to pull the cord. So I had to drag the snow blower close enough the garage for the cord to reach and use the electric starter. It gave me grief, but I got it doing again.

It stalled again.

And again.

Finally, I went into the main part of the garage and dragged out the 100ft cord. I had been using it to plug in my mother’s car – all our shorter outdoor extension cords were being used for other things. What seems a pain at the time turned out to be a blessing today, since it allowed me to use it at any point along where I was needing to clear the snow.

At first I thought it was stalling because the snow was packed too densely, but in sections, the snow was so loosely packed, the snow blower’s tires started sinking. Then it would stall as soon as I started moving, before even reaching any of the snow that needed to be cleared at all.

While having to restart it several times, somewhere along the way, something happened to the kill switch. This was the new switch the shop installed when they replaced the electronic ignition. The switch now just wiggles back and forth; it’s not turning anything on or off. Now, the blower has a run/stop lever already, so I can shut it off there, but now I wonder if the problem has something to do with the new switch. It seems to have broken in the “on” position, but could it be that the vibration of the blower is making it trigger to the off position?

Well, I’ve got to go back to the shop to pick up our repaired chain saws. I should be able to bring the snow blower back and get them to look at it.

I’m just not looking forward to lifting that thing into the back of the van, since the ramps disappeared.

Meanwhile, I’m going to need to make another trip into town. My husband got a call from the hospital today, with an appointment for a test he needs to take. He needs to… ahem… purge his system for a week, first, and that requires buying a purgative. Which doesn’t seem to be covered by insurance, since it’s not a medication or prescription. :-/ I was going to go tomorrow, but it has already started snowing – glad I got that snow blowing done early! – so I might want to go in today, before the weather gets bad.

sigh

Ah, well. It is what it is!

The Re-Farmer