We’ve got a foggy, moody day today!

I took this several hours ago and, while it’s not as dense now, it’s still foggy out there.

We’re just barely above freezing right now, but even earlier things were starting to melt again.

I got to test out the new rubber boots!

This is part of the path crosses the moat that surrounds our garage every spring. I was more than happy to break up the ice and walk in water, because it was incredibly slippery in all the paths! The boots don’t have much grip.

They did allow me to check the lake that’s forming in front of the outhouse, and finally get to the sign cam to switch memory cards. I cut through the spruce grove to avoid the deepest snow, then went around the edges of the tree and fence lines. The snow in the open isn’t excessively deep, but why fight through it, if I can avoid it?

I did remember to change the clocks on the trail cams, though – just a little bit late! I actually forgot about daylight savings time almost entirely. We have only two clocks that need to be manually changed, and one of those is on the oven. I suppose we could do the microwave, too, but after getting a series of power outages a while back, we just didn’t bother setting the time on it again, at all. I find myself at least a day late in switching the trail cams, every daylight savings.

As for today, I’m looking forward to a quiet day of indoor tasks, and no driving around with errands. Especially with so much melting on top of ice out there! We’re only supposed to hit a high of 2C/36F today. Right now, we’re at 0C/32F, with a “feels like” of 3C/37F. So we’ll see what we really get. Oh! I just checked one of my weather apps, and the forecast has changed again. Now they’re saying we’re supposed to reach 4C/39F today.

One thing we do have with this weather is far fewer cats running around! I think I counted about a dozen or so this morning and, every now and then, I’ll see one come running from somewhere in the outer yard. They are most definitely exploring further afield, possibly to neighboring farms.

They also haven’t been eating as much kibble as things get warmer, which is going to be nicer on the budget, but all the containers were empty this morning. I think we got visited by racoons again. I’m pretty sure I heard some screeching outside my window last night, but I didn’t see any in the sun room when I checked the critter cam. I imagine we’re going to start seeing the skunks again in the near future.

The inside cats, meanwhile, are being driven insane by the occasional lady bug or fly that has come out of dormancy and started bouncing off the ceiling or windows.

Ladybugs are remarkably loud when they do that!

So is the crashing and banging when the cats launch themselves after them, sending anything in their paths flying! *sigh*

Speaking of cats, I’ve been keeping in touch with the Cat Lady. The “problem cat” she took in at the request of a shelter is not doing well. Hissing and spitting and terrifying the other cats in the room. It’s only been a couple of days, though. About the only positive thing she could tell me is that the shelter didn’t have to remove all the cat’s teeth. She’s still a gummy cat, but there are a few teeth left. The poor thing must be so traumatized – and that’s on top of having been removed from an abusive home in the first place.

Needless to say, I’m not going to be pushing about the Cat Lady taking our three. Especially since I think they would be staying with her for a short while, first. Thankfully, she does have an entire separate, heated building on their new property for some of the rescues, but others have to be in the house for special care.

She and her family are so amazing. They put up with so much – and she puts up with the two calicos from our place that are still nasty to her, even though they are great with everyone else! In all her years working with rescues, she’s never encountered anything quite like that before!

Hopefully, the new addition will learn to feel safe and trust again, but it’s likely going to be a hard road after having gone through so much.

I just can’t understand people who abuse animals.

The Re-Farmer