Today is Christmas Eve, and the fourth Sunday of Advent. The day of Peace.
We begin our celebrating tonight and through tomorrow, so I will take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas.
May you and your loved ones be filled with peace this day. My your homes be filled with hope, joy, and love, today and for always.
From The Re-Farmer household to yours!
I tapped away at a blog post this morning. Tried to publish it, but it wouldn’t work. Turned out we lost power while I was writing it.
So I set it aside for later.
Later was a few minutes ago, when I discovered it hadn’t even been saved as draft.
*sigh*
I’ll try to remember what I meant to write, and try again, later.
Well… I guess if I’d been writing it on my computer, I would have known the power was put because my machine would have died as I was typing, so… I’ll take the W for that, at least. 😄
The Re-Farmer
Update: oh!!! I just realized why it didn’t save to draft! My phone published it on its own!
I feel much better now!
I found myself waking up way too early this morning. That’s what I get for going to bed before midnight!
It has been warming up all night, and is supposed to stay above freezing for most of the day.
I think the yard cats are liking it. Only 25 came around for breakfast! They don’t get as hungry when it’s warmer.
The fog is still here and expected to stay for a while longer. The resulting frost on the trees is quite gorgeous – and I’m happy yo not have to drive in it!
I did get some good news of a sort, this morning. Our oldest cat didn’t show up for breakfast this morning. When my husband came out, I told him about her being missing, and that was why we’d come knocking at his door after we couldn’t find her during the ear cleaning session. I feared we were now looking for a body. He told me that she did turn to be in his room! He thought all the cats were out before closing his door. She may have been under his hospital bed, far enough that we couldn’t see her. Or maybe under the table that holds his little medication fridge.
While I’m glad she was around after I’d gone to bed, the fact that she isn’t coming around for food concerns me. For now, I hope she is in her usual spot, cuddling my daughter in bed!
The Re-Farmer
(This post will be published late: it seems we lost power, while I was writing it!)
Freezing fog rolled in last night, making for a gorgeous morning!
It didn’t go away.
My daughter and I headed into the city pretty much as soon as I was done the morning rounds. The roads were good and the visibility was okay, so long as no one tried to pass anyone. We made a quick stop at a gas station in my mother’s town to pick up drinks, and I sent an update to a road conditions group I’m on. When a was able to check it later on, people driving a highway almost parallel to the one we were on described several times when there were people trying to pass others in the fog and almost causing accidents! That highway is notorious for dangerous drivers.
Once in the city, our first stop was the computer place to drop off my tower. I told them, no hurry, for budgetary reasons. We talked a bit and I got an idea on what things might cost, depending on what he finds. The prices were quite reasonable, though if it’s a worst case scenario, replacing the valves on the truck tires will have to wait a month. In talking budget, I mentioned the various expenses that crop up, especially this time of year, and he totally understood. Turns out his engine blew on his own vehicle, recently! He’s got a loaner that needs to be returned today.
When I mentioned the valves on our tires, he immediately asked if the rims were aluminum. Why, yes. Yes, they are! He suggested getting steel ones, as soon as we can afford it. Which is funny, because the mechanic that checked my tires was saying much the same thing! 😄
With the computer, I’d things turn out to be badly damaged, we might need a new hard drive. He told me the cost for a 1T drive, which was very reasonable. Except, it turns out we have a spare! A recent care package we received included a hard drive, in case we found it useful. When I messaged my husband about the computer and the worst case scenario, he checked, and it’s a 1T hard drive.
Thank you, M! We may not need it, but what a serendipitous gift!
Once that was taken of, we went across the street to the Costco. We topped up on gas, which was 123.9 cents/litter. Higher than last time, but still 10 cents lower than everywhere else. After tanking up, I dashed in to get more eggs and cream. The girls are planning to make eggnog.
After that, we finally went for breakfast, though it was noon by then. We then went to a Sobeys I wanted to check out, which had a liquor store attached. I got stuff for our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals, which will be all finger food this year. My daughter went to the liquor store and picked up what they would need for the eggnog, and for both Christmas and New Year imbibing.
Our last stop was supposed to be the Superstore, where I got the last of what we needed for our celebrating. We will need to pick up other stuff for our New Years fondue, but that will wait until after Christmas.
I was also looking for a gift for my mother. She always says, she has too much stuff, so I wanted to get her food gifts as treats. I had no luck, so I left my daughter to pack away the purchases (I even got $50 off with loyalty points!) while I walked over to a Walmart.
I took me so long to settle on something. What did you get for the person who hates everything?
I ended up getting a little gift set with tea, crackers and tiny jam jars, which is the sort of thing she eats when she takes her medications. I got a pretty cup for the tea. I also found a Hickory Farm set with beef sausage, cheese, crackers, and a little cleaver. Again, stuff much like what she likes to have. Just a bit fancier.
I got a gift bag for it all, with plans to drop it off at her place on the way home.
I was settling into the truck and about to call my mother to let her know I’d be dropping her gift off, but not staying, because of the fog, which was still just as dense, when I saw a message from my husband suggesting we bring home McDonald’s. The budget was getting slim by then (McRaunchies is not a cheap deal anymore!), plus burgers from the city would be cold and wet by the time we got home. I’m not sure why he didn’t suggest the new Dairy Queen that’s closer to home!
I called my mother, and my daughter started messaging her sister. Before I knew it, she’d sent me the funds to stop at the Greek restaurant in town.
Before all that was settled, though, we’d reached my mother’s place and I ran in to drop off her gift.
She had already forgotten I was coming.
When I gave her the bag, she asked what it was, and I told her it was her Christmas present. She promptly started telling my she didn’t need it, and we needed it more (even though she had no idea what “it” was).
Then she wanted me to sit and visit. I reminded her, I was just dropping the gift off, because its foggy out there, and it was going to get dark, soon. I made the mistake of mentioning my daughter was with me, to help look out for deer. She started going on about how she didn’t even come in to say hi…
I left, with her glaring daggers as me.
*sigh*
With supper arrangements made, we crossed to the next highway to go to town and order four meals to go. This place is so generous in their portion sizes, it’ll be enough to feed us for 2 days!
Unfortunately, by the time it was ready, it wS fully dark. Thankfully, the fog was not as dense, so I could use my brights at times. We only saw one deer along the way!
Though it felt far later, it was only past 5 when we got home and unloaded. My daughter parked the truck while I distracted the outside cats by feeding them, while my other daughter put the shopping away.
It was a couple of hours late, so we went straight to cleaning that cats’ ears with mineral oil. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find one cat. Grandma. Even when we started putting out wet cat food, she didn’t come out. I still haven’t seen her.
Unfortunately, with a senior cat, I can’t help but think she found a quiet place for her final nap. But where? My daughter even checked the basement. We can’t find her.
I’ll try looking in the basement myself, later on. I hope I’m wrong in my concern.
It’s been a while, and we’ve had our supper (the girls and I all ordered pickerel dinners, and I got a burger meal for my husband), but as I tap away, writing this post, I have eleven greasy cats on the bed behind me, most of whom are still grooming either their own ears, or the ears of a cat next to them! They all look so bedraggled. 😁
I really hope this treatment does the trick. Some of them still have such dirty ears, which means they still have active mites. At least some of them are noticeably better! Some were never bad at all. We’ve got at least 4 more days of this, though if we feel they still need more, we might switch to using aloe vera gel, which should also help with healing. We shall see.
Beyond that, I’m just glad we got this trip in and, hopefully, we won’t need to go anywhere until after Christmas!
The Re-Farmer
Today was a day of running around, starting in the afternoon. We had a dump run to do, and I had to wait until they opened. From there, it was a stop at the post office, then off to my mother’s to drop some Christmas stuff off, before I headed to the pharmacy to get more mineral oil. The girls cleaned the cats’ ears while I was out, using the last of our mineral oil to do it, and we have another 4 or 5 days of daily cleaning. Hopefully, that will take care of the ear mites!
I made sure to let my mother know I could pick stuff up for her since I was there anyhow, so she had a short list for me. I took care of that after I went to the pharmacy. Before leaving town, I messaged the family to see if we needed anything and ended up going back to the grocery store. By then, I was pretty famished, and there’s this excellent Chinese restaurant, right next door! So we had Chinese take out as a treat for supper.
The down side of all this running around is that it was already dark by the time I headed home. I hate driving at night. Yes, I have the deer screamers on the truck, but with the lights from oncoming traffic, it’s impossible to see if there are any deer on or near the road.
Once home. I was happy to go through the mail, as our Heritage Harvest seed order was in. It included a lovely surprise
I didn’t expect to get free seeds for such a small order! Of course, I had to look them up. This image is from the Heritage Harvest website.
From the website description.
This wonderful heirloom originates from Quebec. Forme de Coeur really impressed me this summer and it is now one of my new favorites! The red heart shape fruit are medium size and produced in abundance. The fruit have great taste and are quite meaty. A great all purpose tomato that is early as well. Determinate, regular leaf foliage. (65 days from transplant)
25 seeds per packet.
We were planning to plant only 2 varieties of tomatoes next year, but we might just have to try these! Especially since they have such a short growing season.
The main thing, though, is that the Red Wethersfield onion seeds are in. We now have all our onion and shallot seeds, which will be started indoors next month. 😊
I can’t wait to get growing!
The Re-Farmer
With all the running around I did, I was happy to get the Costco shopping over and done with!
We’ll still need to make another trip, though.
When I got to the city, I noticed gas prices were 132.9 cents per litter, so I figured Costco would be the usual 5-10 cents lower. They turned out to be 119.9 cents per litter! It’s been ages since I’ve seen a price like that.
As you can imagine, the lineups were insane. They went by fast, though.
Once tanked up, it was time to get all this.
Not my biggest shop, by any means, but it still totalled $719.81
I got the pet supplies on a separate bill. Eight bags of Kirkland 9kg dry kibble ($215.92), 1 case wet cat food ($24.99) and one case of puppy pads ($38.99). After taxes, it totalled $313.49
While we no longer have the problem of Toni peeing on my bed, or kittens not using the litter boxes, we still use the puppy pads. There are spots where other cats have been making a mess, regularly, so we use them to help with clean up. For example, I keep one under the litter box under my desk, with another in front, were my feet and chair got. I would leave the room and come back to find a pee spot next to the litter box. Always in the same spot. Only this morning did I catch Leyendecker doing it! Which is frustrating, because he will go from litter box to litter box and use them. I was afraid he might be getting blocked again, but given the size of the puddle on the puppy pad, I know think he’s marking territory!
The puppy pads may be an expense, but they do save out carpets and make cleaning the lino easier.
So that’s the cats stuff.
Then there was the shopping for us.
I won’t list the prices this time because it’s such a pain to tap out on the phone, but this is what I got today.
Two 1L of whipping cream, a pack of 60 eggs, hazelnuts, walnuts, stewing beef, 2 packages of wraps, three 2pks of rye bread, 1 brick Old Cheddar, 1 brick mozzarella, a wheel of brie, 5 pounds of butter, 6 pk of canned chicken, peanut butter, truffle parmasan seasoning mix, mayonnaise, a case of mixed fruit packs (with cherry!), kitchen garbage bags, and toilet paper. Oh, and a 20kg bag of sugar!
We are doing a finger food Christmas dinner, so for that, I found mini quiches – we like those a lot, so I got 2 boxes – bacon wrapped scallops, fried pickle chips (!!), and garlic stuffed olives. I also got raw frozen shrimp, but that will likely be for our New Years fondue.
All of this, after taxes, totaled $406.32
Meat is getting insanely expensive. Especially beef. Thankfully, we still have meat in the freezer, and we are getting our quarter beef next month.
We still have other things we need to get for both Christmas and New Years, but that will be for other stores. I’m sure I have the gel fuel for our oil fondue burner, but I can’t remember where it was hidden, so I will get more. I also need to get peanut oil or some other high smoke point cooking oil. The final things for the dinners will be picked up fresh, closer to when we need them.
I rather look forward to a Christmas dinner that will involve so little cooking, and so few dirty dishes! 😆😄
The Re-Farmer
It was a day of running around, today!
On the way to the city, I took a side trip to the clinic to get some scheduled bloodwork done. It was awesome to go to the reception desk and find the plastic wall gone. I just had to comment on it, saying, I can hear!! One of the receptionists, who knows me by now, was absolutely giddy about it!
She found my requisition on file and printed it out for me, and didn’t have to push it through a slot. 😁 The staff is so happy.
Then I walked across to the lab and their reception. Where I had to pass things around a barrier, and stick my ear around it to hear and confirm I was fasting. One guy was wearing a mask, still.
I got sent straight to a room, though, and he very quickly took some blood, and I was on my way!
I’d made plans to meet my SIL to break my fast, so I messaged her to let her know I was done already. I even got to the restaurant before her, for a change! We had a fantastic time together. Gosh, I love her so much! My brother found himself an amazing woman to marry! I managed to treat her for the meal for a change, too. 😊
She had some things for me to take home with me, so we transferred those to the truck, which she finally got to see for the first time. She understood why I parked so much further out, rather than the closer spot she ended up parking in. The truck would barely have fit! 😄
My next stop was to try and find a recovery USB for my computer. There was a Best Buy not far off, so I went there, first. They hadn’t even heard of one before. She thought I meant a basic thumb drive. The saleswoman tried to look it up, but only found it on Amazon. They don’t carry them at all.
I’d noticed a Visions Electronics while driving over, so I tried them next. The guy I approached wasn’t sure what I meant at first, either, but understood when I explained what it was for. After confirming with other staff, he said they did not carry them, but told me about a computer place, just up the block. So I went there.
The first guy I spoke too immediately sent me to one of their tech guys. He asked various questions, and I showed him the pictures I’d taken. Including this one.
This is what I got after trying the F1 option on the previous screen. I later tried the F8 option that was next, which took me yo a more extensive menu. I wasn’t going to start fussing with it at the time, though, and went to bed, instead.
Turns out that was probably a good idea.
After asking me more questions, and what options there might be, he said it sounded like a hardware problem – then asked if there was data I wanted to save on there.
Yes. Lots!
He asked if I considered bringing it in. I told him, we weren’t at that point, yet, and I was there to determine exactly that!
He talked about different things we could try, but recommended bringing it in, since every time we tried something, if the hard drive were the issue, we’d be risking damage to it. Which is something I was already aware of and concerned about.
So that is what we will do. It’s just a matter of when. There’s no way of knowing how much it would cost until they look at it, but given how much a new tower would cost, it would be the cheaper option.
Unless it can’t be fixed at all. Something else I need to be prepared for.
This place happens to be across the street from the Costco we go to, which is handy. It’s also next to some other shops I’ve been interested in checking out. Convenient!
Until we can get that done, though, I’m stuck using my phone as my computer, and I don’t like it! 😄 I’m so spoiled by my big monitor, ergonomic keyboard and elbow room! That, and there are so many things I just can’t do on my phone.
Ah, well. It might be a good break for me.
The Re-Farmer
I decided to try starting my desktop again, after wibbling the wires in back to make sure everything was all the way in. It’s been a while since the kittens have gone back there, but you never know what’s been knocked loose.
Much to my shock, I got this, right away.
Well, that’s something, at least!
My husband is the tech guy, so I went to get him before I tried anything. Unfortunately, it shut itself off, just as he walked into the room.
I restarted it, but it just went to the black screen with the HP logo, and started spinning.
When it became clear that was as far as it would get, I did a hard shut down. After waiting a few minutes, then wobbling the connections snug in the back again, I turned it on.
I got the blue screen message again.
This time, I hit enter.
It’s still spinning.
It’s been about 10-15 minutes, now. Time to shut it off and try again.
Next time, I’ll try the F1 key. If that doesn’t work, I’ll make my way down the list.
Who knows. We might just revive the old girl.
The Re-Farmer
Not having my desktop is getting frustrating in unusual ways.
But first, the cuteness!
In the parcel we received yesterday (thank you!!), a blanket was used as packing material, with instructions that it be used for the outside cats.
They love it!
Especially Sad Face, who now seems to prefer it over the self warming mat.
My usual task of switching out the trail cam memory cards, after feeding the outside cats, is pointless right now. I don’t have a computer to upload the files to.
The solar camera, however, is supposed to be wifi accessible. My husband looked up which app it needed, which I downloaded and started to set up. Then, I continued the set up at the camera.
Once the camera wifi was turned on and readied in the settings, I tried to link it to my phone.
As far as the app is concerned, the camera doesn’t exist.
Same with my wifi settings.
It’s much warmer today, with almost no wind, but it was still below freezing, so I wasn’t going to hang around. I might have to bring the camera indoors to figure it out.
The other frustration is a blogging one. Normally, in the days leading up to Christmas, I do things like embed daily Christmas carol videos. Then, in the days before New Years, I do some “10 most popular posts of the year, type stuff.
Things I am not going to do on my phone.
When writing these posts, I work in several tabs at the same time, with related posts I intend to link to, open in still more tabs. I also spend quite a bit of time, finding and selecting videos to embed.
Can’t do that on a phone. At least, not the way I prefer to do it.
I also have issues with tapping a screen. I end up with many more typos, autocorrect messes the strangest things up, and it’s just a lot more painful on the hands – though not as painful as using the little Bluetooth keyboard. Overall, it’s just not conductive to writing like I usually do.
Tomorrow, I go into the city. My husband suggested I stop somewhere to pick up a rescue USB. So I will try that before I start calling computer repair places.
Speaking of tomorrow.
My mother called. She’s not doing well. The exterminator is coming tomorrow, you see, and the letter she got has so much she needs to do…
She would have gotten that letter maybe a week ago. She never told me about it. I knew she got it because she told my brother, and he updated me, but we didn’t get a date from her.
I reminded her of how little she had to do, the last times the guy came to spray for bed bugs. He’s used to having to go into homes with people who have mobility issues.
Then I asked if my sister had her day off tomorrow, and could help her, because I’m going to be in the city, with a stop at the clinic along the way to do some regular bloodwork. She said yes about the day off, so I suggested she call my sister.
The thing is, the exterminator can come in anytime between 9am and 4pm. Because he’s doing other provincially run buildings in the area, too, there is no way to know when he will make it to her town. He has shown up right at 9am, and at just before 4pm. My mother should be staying out of her apartment for 12 hours, instead of the 6 hours recommended for people who don’t have respiratory issues. Which means one of us needs to get to my mom’s for 9am, then stay there until the guy arrives, then find somewhere for her to hang out for hours. She’d rented a motel room before, but she doesn’t want to do that anymore. I can’t blame her for that! Still, I’m not able to do it this time, so hopefully, my sister will be able to step up. Otherwise, my mother will basically be hanging out in the common room.
She wondered where the bed bugs came from. I told her, since she doesn’t get out much, it’s likely from within the building. She told me her apartment is going to be the only one sprayed. I told her, my thought is that others have them, but they just aren’t reporting it.
Which means the common room is most likely where they are being spread.
Another frustration! If that’s true, then her apartment being sprayed won’t do much, since she will just get infested again. Ideally, the entire building would be done, including the common areas. It’s not a big place, so it is pretty feasible.
Standard practice is, he will leave traps to check, and spray again in a month. I think my mother would rather live with the bed bugs. It was already a fight for my brother to keep her from canceling tomorrow’s appointment.
We shall see how it works out.
So frustrating!
The Re-Farmer
Well, crud.
I got the computer going, did a test blog post, uploaded and went through the trail cam files, then started some browsing.
Things seemed okay, in general. Images were slow to load. Video would not load.
I decided to head out to get more cat food, but decided to empty the recycling bin, first. It was emptied last night, so it should have only had the deleted trail cam files in it.
It froze. Not Responding. Do you wish to end task?
Yes.
Not Responding.
End Task.
Not Responding.
Cancel.
Not Responding.
Basically, my screen was frozen, while the computer tried to do whatever with the recycling bin.
I left it and headed out, asking my husband to check on it.
The local general store only had tiny bags of cat food, so I had to head to town. I did check the mail and there was a parcel waiting for me, but the post office was closed for lunch. I headed to town, got what I needed, then picked up the parcel on the way home.
Altogether, I was gone for about a hour. Maybe a bit more.
In that time, my computer was still frozen, so my husband did a hard shut down, then tried again.
It was still trying to boot up when I got back. It had been spinning for about half an hour, by then.
I did another hard shut down and tried again.
It’s still spinning.
It looks like my desktop is toast.
Crud.
Unlike my husband, I’m willing to take it in to get checked and possibly repaired, but we won’t have the funds in the budget for at least a month or two.
I might be stuck using my phone as a computer until then.
Crud.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 