Oh, what a day it’s been! I’ll cover that in another post, though.
When I got home, my daughter was doing a walkabout, checking the yard for fallen branches and whatnot. We are supposed to get rain today but, so far, it’s just been sprinkles. I hope we get more, because I’ve been holding off watering the garden for it.
Instead of rain, we’ve been getting gusts of high winds. The catio Gouda is still in for 1 more night just has the temporary plastic roof over it, and the wind was tearing it loose from the cord that’s tying it down. We ended up putting a large floor mat on top to weigh it down, then added weights to that, to keep it from being blown off. I’m so glad we did, because that plastic would have been blown right off, not long after we did it!
Gouda, however, seems to be doing okay in the catio. He’s not too pleased about being stuck in there – and the other cats are not pleased about not being able to go in and steal his wet cat food! He only has to be in there for one more night. The catio’s walls are all mesh, but he does have his box nest with a blanket in there, and is using it. The catio is also sheltered by the house on one side, and a tree on the other, and branches above.
I’ll still be much happier when the isolation shelter is done, with a fully enclosed top level.
After we took care of that, we went through the garden beds and ended up picking another melon that had fallen of its stem, and a handful of the purple pole beans.
Then we started on the tomatoes in the old kitchen garden.
They haven’t been harvested for the last couple of days.
My daughter ended up bringing over the basin from the old kitchen to hold them all!
In the basin is a few San Marzano tomatoes, a whole lot of Forme de Couer tomatoes, and Black Cherry tomatoes.
In the second photo of the slide show, I was able to zoom in for a picture of a newly blooming female luffa flower. There is one other that I spotted, but there are no male flowers at all, anywhere. The male flowers bloom in clusters, making them easier to spot. I supposed it’s possible there are some way up high and hidden among the lilac branches, but it seems unlikely.
We have a whole bunch of things we will be doing with tomatoes over the next while; one of them is going to be using the slow cooker to make a sauce. It’s big enough that we should be able to use most of the tomatoes we’ve got waiting to be processed, along with a few other vegetables we have that can be included.
I won’t be starting on that for a while, though. I need to just sit and decompress for now. Much progress has been made in getting my mother into supportive living, as she has been wanting for some time now, but my goodness, am I ever mentally exhausted right now!!
I’ll cover that in my next post. Just writing about it, as much as I can on a public blog, will be very therapeutic!
The rescue covered the neuter, a set of vaccinations, ear mite treatment and deworming. We were sent home with medication to give him tonight, then another dose in 2 weeks.
He will be staying in the catio for a couple of days – if we can keep him in there! – so we can keep an eye on him. I found some reinforcing plates for the upper corners of the catio while Gouda was getting his surgery. Once those are on, and the top is painted, I also found neoprene lined washers to use when screwing the roof panels on, to prevent water leakage.
The Cat Lady and I were messaging and talking to each other throughout the morning. As I was waiting for the pick up time, she started asking me questions about his behaviour and how socialized he is.
She might have someone who can adopt him.
This is someone who needs a barn cat that is friendly, but not too friendly. She doesn’t want a cat that will get under the feet of people coming in to the horses. He might get under the feet at feeding time, but when there are other people around, he’s not to be seen anywhere. Which may be exactly what she’s looking for.
This wouldn’t happen for about a month, though, as we are to continue observing Gouda – in particular, his ears – over the next month. As expected, he had ear mites and, as seems to be usual, it was pretty bad. He’s going to need time to heal, and we are to try and see if there is any leaking.
We’ll do the best we can!
As I was picking him up and they were finishing off the invoice, the processed the payment from the rescue. I asked, trepidatiously, how much it cost. With the extra treatment and medications, plus the cost of the neuter, I was expecting it to be over $300.
It turned out to be a bit over $160! Which is an amazing price! The rescue gets a really good deal with this vet! Most vet clinics do offer discounts for rescues, but this one seems to be making the extra effort to make spays and neuters affordable.
If the rescue can also find a new home for Gouda, that would be really something. Especially after the person that was going to adopt Button backed out!
I don’t have any dates yet, but the Cat Lady said she had us booked for 2 more males next month.
Last night, I was able to reinforce the damage wire mesh along the door, after painting the base. The door still opens fully, with no obstructions, which was my goal.
My daughter did a second coat on the base, as the original white paint was showing through. She also painted the water stained underside of the “floating” shelves. Once the paint has cured for a couple of hours, it’ll be flipped upright, the plastic cover removed, and the rest will be painted. Then, the roof panels can be put on.
As for my day with my mother, she insisted on going back to her previous eye clinic, as she decided the one I took her too screwed up. The eye doctor there is an Asian woman, so my mother’s racism is in full play.
It turns out, the problem wasn’t her glasses at all. Since her last eye tests, she developed macular degeneration in one eye. It’s almost completely blind.
They can’t do anything for her out here, other than get her to take special vitamins to protect her other eye. She will need to go to the city once a month for eye injections. As the person that will be driving her, the specialist clinic will call me, probably within the next 2 weeks, to start that.
She is now glad she went to a “real doctor”. The thing is, I was in the room with her last appointment. I was there when they took images of her eyes. I saw the images when the doctor showed them to her. She did not have it then. This is something that can happen quickly, which is obviously how it is with her. But this doctor is a white man – and she knows his parents! – so that means he’s a good doctor, nor the other doctor.
*sigh*
After that, we had lunch, and ran into a friend of mine from high school! I spent time explaining things the eye doctor told us as we ate.
Then again as I drove her home.
Then again, after I picked up her meds, Tylenol and the eye vitamins she needs to take, and her groceries.
Then again, because she couldn’t figure out why she had 3 bottles of pills instead of two. She suddenly decided the vitamins were her prescription medication, and the prescription medication were the vitamins.
They have completely different instructions.
I ended up writing it all down, complete with illustrations, to help her remember.
At least she can still read with her left eye!
The monthly treatment she will be getting should fix her eye, though maybe not 100%. We don’t know how long it will take.
Today is our average first frost date. Thankfully, there is no sign of frost on the horizon! As I write this, we are at 27C/81F, with the humidex making it feel like 30C/86F, which I think it down from the predicted high of 28C/82F – or perhaps we haven’t reached the high, yet! Today’s overnight low is expected to be 11C/52F Starting tomorrow, and for the next week to 10 days, the overnight lows are expected to be about 15C/59F or higher, while risk of frost might not happen for most of this month at all, though we might be dipping pretty close by the last few days of September.
While doing my morning rounds, I took recordings for a garden tour video, then did a harvest.
It was while I was recording that I spotted the melon that had split overnight, so I made sure to pick that one, even though it was still tightly attached to its vine. The other one, however, turned out to have already dropped from its vine on its own!
There are a few Royal Burgundy bush beans, and a few of the green Seychelle pole beans. No Carminat pole beans today. I picked a couple of Purple Beauty peppers, then some Forme de Couer and Black Cherry tomatoes.
With today expected to be so hot, I also did a deep watering of the garden beds.
While I was watering in the old kitchen garden, I decided to actually taste one of the Black Cherry tomatoes. Just in case this is a type I can eat.
Nope.
Gag city. Ugh!!!
Since I was still watering, I was able to wash my mouth out with the hose. Even then, I went hunting among the tiny strawberries to find some I could eat to get the taste out of my mouth.
So far, the tiny Spoon tomatoes are still the only tomatoes I can eat fresh, without gagging. At least I can eat tomatoes after they’ve been processed into a soup or sauce or something, unlike peppers. Thankfully, it’s not an allergy, so if they’re processed in a sauce, as long as I can’t taste them, I’m fine. If they’re still in chunks or there’s enough that the taste is noticeable, I still can’t eat peppers, no matter how appetizing I find everything else about them!
At least the family likes them!
While I was back inside and having breakfast (at lunch time…) I got a lovely surprise phone call.
The roof panels I ordered for the catio and isolation shelter were in!
Since I’m going to be out for the next couple of days doing other things, today was the day to pick them up. First, we had to get some things ready, and move the catio beside the house.
I had already moved the pots with the summer squash in them to make room. My daughter and I moved the swing bench into the garage, then we cleared and swept the patio blocks.
How to carry the catio was a bit of a conundrum. There’s really no way to grip it well, except by the very bottom, at which point, it’s not very stable.
At some point, I should add pairs of handles to the frame.
My daughter had the solution, though. She went inside the catio, where she could lift the whole thing herself by gripping the frame on each side with her hands, and using her head on the roof mesh to lift from the middle! The only thing that made it difficult was the plastic that’s covering the top for a temporary roof. There was just enough of a wind to catch on it and try and blow it away. My job was just to stabilize it while she carried it over to the house.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t set the back against the house, as we wanted. Thanks to the elm tree planted in front of the house, some of the patio blocks are lifted out of place by the roots. The catio is just wide enough that the front rested over the highest point, making the whole thing wobble. We ended up rotating it so that the back now faces the concrete steps and landing by the main doors.
My daughter put food and water bowls inside while I ran into the house, because the phone was ringing.
As for the phone, I’ve been playing telephone tag with the guy that heads the local home care department. I had called and left a message this morning, and sure enough, this was him, calling me back. I wasn’t fast enough, and he’d left a message. So I called back right away… and left a message! I was expecting to leave for the hardware store soon, so I told him how long I expected to be. Then I remembered that I will have cell phone signal while away, so I called back and left my cell phone number.
Thankfully, he was able to call back before I left!
I told him about what was going on with my mother, including her actions that may lead her to being evicted. We tried to make an appointment to get together, but the day he suggested this week is when I’ll be taking a cat to the vet to get its nibs nipped. The week after that, he’s away, while the following week, I had only one day available for sure – that’s the week we can expect the exterminators to be coming out to my mother’s again, and I want to make sure I’m there, so make sure things actually happen, and she doesn’t get evicted. After that, I’ll be doing our stock up shopping.
Given the situation with my mother’s possible eviction if she doesn’t let the exterminator in to confirm the bed bugs are gone, he asked if I were available this Friday morning.
I said yes. I didn’t even care what time. We need to get this process started!
I’m not going to be getting much sleep this month.
So on Friday morning, I will go to his office, and we’ll do as much of the paperwork as we can. My mother will likely need to make another doctor’s appointment, but she’s now refusing to see her doctor, because her doctor is black and female. My mother did have the chest X-rays they need within the past few months, though, so we might be able to skip that. She is still supposed to get a brain scan, and that’s on the waiting list, so that would just need a confirmation.
After I see him, we’ll go to my mother’s place to go over the paperwork, explain things to her, and get her to sign the necessary authorizations. Which should include at least having home care meal preparation done. I’m hoping to convince her to add medication assist, too, to make sure she takes her meds when she is supposed to.
So that is all arranged for Friday.
Once that call was done, I headed out to my mother’s town and went to the hardware store. Before picking up the items, I got a quart of black outdoor paint for the catio, as well as galvanized steel strapping to secure the last section of mesh, next to the door hinges. I was thinking of nailing through the steel strapping, but it’s too thick, so I picked up a box of the smallest wood screws they had that will still be secure in the holes of the strapping. Finally, I picked up some screw hooks, which will secure a cat hammock in the cat isolation house. While I was paying for those, I gave my receipt for the stuff to pick up to the cashier, so she could complete the invoicing part of it (it was already paid for), then call the folks in back to let them know what was about to be picked up.
The roofing material turned out to be in an 8ft long roll, which is longer than my truck box. I rolled back the cover so that it could sit on top of the tail gate, then secured it against the tailgate with a Bungee cord.
I’m so glad I picked up that set of cords, the day we got the catio!
I also got my two bundles of wood lathe, which I hope will be the last I need for the current projects.
Once all was secure, I headed home, remembering to stop at the mail along the way, in case an Amazon order came in early, which they sometimes do. There were a couple of parcels waiting that seemed oddly shaped. They turned out to be stuff my husband had ordered elsewhere, so we’ve still got Amazon packages to come in. The store the post office is in closes at noon tomorrow, though, so I won’t be able to pick anything up until Thursday. We’ll see what time I come back from the vet with a groggy cat!
The catio will need to be painted before the roof is put on, though – or at least the top of the catio needs to be painted before the roof is put on. However, I want to paint the bottom of it, which means flipping it, so that needs to be done first.
If I get out there fast enough, I cat get that done tonight. The paint should then be cured before it gets dewy during the night. I’ll talk to the girls about painting the rest while I’m gone, tomorrow. My younger daughter is the only one that can go in, to paint the inside.
Which means, I need to finish this off, get out there and get painting!
It was a sort of double harvest. I wasn’t expecting to gather anything, but that first and oldest melon finally dropped off its vine. That thing is about 9 inches across! There were also a few San Marzano tomatoes, but I didn’t have a container, and the melon made it harder to carry things. So I put them in the old kitchen, then went back to the old kitchen garden to gather was it in the second photo. I found myself picking a good handful of those tiny strawberries. Then I checked the Black Cherry tomatoes and found quite a few I could pick, hidden among the leaves. Way more that I expected!
My brother and his wife were expecting to come early to drop off another load, but I left before they arrived, so I never saw them. I went to my mother’s town, got a few things done, then got to her place nice and early. I’m really glad I did, so I could go over the letter she got from the hospital. I knew the location, but when I looked it up on Google Maps street view, across a specific parking lot from the main entrance, but I couldn’t see where the clinic entrance was.
Turns out, that’s because it was recently built in the parking lot, and street view hasn’t been updated yet.
When we got there, I had to park illegally because there were not parking spots available anywhere. Not even disabled parking. I then helped my mother up the ramps from hell to the door.
They were excellent ramps. There was just 3 levels of them, switch-backed up to the door, and that was a LOT of walking for a 93 yr old woman with busted up knees, using a walker!
I then had to leave her to register herself so I could find somewhere to park – several blocks away!
Long story short, she had some very uncomfortable tests, but she now has a diagnosis, a new prescription to try, and a plan of action.
I also found out that she has NOT been making any effort to drink more water, and the most the nurse questioned her in preparation for the tests, the more obvious it became that a lot of her problems would improve if she simply drank more water. She’s only drinking the equivalent of 1 500ml water bottle a day! She’s digging in her heals on this one, though, as she is completely convinced it has to be food that’s causing her problems. Of course, it’s the food she needs the most that she’s decided are bad for her. *sigh*
That done, the clinic was able to fax her new prescription in, and make a follow up telephone appointment in 3 months for the doctor so ask her how it’s working and adjust the dose, if needed. There are other drugs that can be tried, but this one has basically no side effects, so that’s the one he’s starting with.
On the way to her home, we stopped at a restaurant in her town, as neither of us had eaten since about 9 or 10am, and we got to the restaurant at 6pm. She needed to take her evening pills, and had brought her bubble pack for the list of medications they needed, so she went to take those – without water – before we went in.
Which is when I saw that she’s been messing with her meds again. She’s taking her morning pills, but for the past few days, skipping her evening pills. When she got this evening’s pills, she took the one that is supposed to be taken before bed at the same time. Something she promised she would stop doing.
When we finally got to her place and opened the door, we found her mail on the floor. She started to try and distract me with one envelope that she said was an invitation, but it was the other one that got my attention. It was from the government public housing department that owns her building. When I mentioned that, she tried to dismiss is as probably being about her rent.
I opened it.
It was her final notice.
She refused to allow the exterminators in her suite again, which goes against her rental agreement. This is the second warning letter they’ve sent her. If she does it again, she will be evicted.
As I was reading this to her, she basically started to laugh about it. When I tried to stress the seriousness of this, she started ranting about the “drunkard” in another unit, and how they’re not kicking him out. Then she started saying “this isn’t Russia”.
She refuses to accept how serious the consequences of her actions are.
It is so incredibly frustrating. She is her own worse enemy!
*sigh*
After reading the letter, we moved on to the information booklet she was given and I briefly showed her the sections that gave her concrete actions to do – and one of them is, drink more water! That was as much as she was up to, and I left soon after.
I’ll be back in a couple of days to drive her to another appointment. I’ve updated the family about all this, and I hope my siblings can get through to her on just how much of a problem she is causing herself. Both about the eviction warning, and messing with her medications.
There’s not much we can do about it, either. Unless a doctor declares her cognitively unfit, and she isn’t there yet, she is going to have to face the consequences of her actions.
Ugh.
Enough about that.
Throughout the day, I was also getting messages from the Cat Lady. She was taking Button to the vet. When her mother was cat sitting for them, she noticed that Button was having trouble seeing at night. His hearing isn’t back, either, so both his eyes and ears were going to be checked.
He has also had quite the growth spurt – after being dewormed three times, he’s finally putting on weight! Even the clinic commented on how big he’s getting.
They have decided that his issue is basically being developmentally delayed. His eyes are healthy, but just not where they should be for his age. He was treated for eat mites, and they believe his hearing will also recover.
That’s the good news.
The frustrating news is, the person who was going to adopt him has instead adopted another cat and is no longer interested in him. Given his vision and hearing issues, the Cat Lady wants to make sure he goes with someone who can take care of these issues until he grows past them.
Assuming he gets adopted out at all.
It was recently confirmed that a cat of theirs that was startled by a noise and disappeared, was the victim of a coyote. The Cat Lady says that Button is helping to heal her heart. She absolutely adores him.
I really hope she finds someone for Button. They already have way too many cats from us! She’s still trying to get The Wolfman adopted out, but any time someone comes over to see him, he hisses and even swipes, and runs away!
I’m just sad that the potential adopter backed out. A vet – even a large animal vet – would have been the perfect placing for Button.
So that is where we are now, and I am ready to crawl into bed and pass out.
I just know that the moment my head hits the pillow, I’m going to suddenly be wide awake! That was me last night, so I can really, really use some real sleep tonight!
I honestly didn’t think I was going to get more progress on the isolation shelter today. After helping my brother and SIL unload their trailer, I went back to watering the garden, then stayed to do as much weeding around the winter squash as I could. I was feeling the heat and probably should have called it a day. I didn’t want to push myself too much, which I apparently did yesterday.
I was finishing up on my computer when I tucked my foot under my chair, only to get hit with a Charlie horse in the back of my thigh! Thankfully, I was able to stretch it out before it got bad, and managed to hobble over to take some ibuprofen. I was eventually able to sit down again.
Then I moved to tuck my right leg under my chair, and got another one!
I was able to stretch that one out, too, but I spent most of the night having to sleep with my legs stretched straight. Any time I tried to bend my knees, I could feel the muscles starting to cramp again. I even ended up sleeping on my back, which I never do, because it hurts.
Not as much as a Charlie horse, though!
In the end, though, as I was putting something away in the garage, I figured I could at least do the painting.
The other side of the ramp/door pieces were done, as where the last sides of the box “nests”.
In the second photo of the slideshow, you can see that I also decided to secure the scratching post/ramp to the second level.
At which point I figured, may as well keep going!
I moved the shelter to the doorway, so I could work in the sunshine. The light was much better, but by the time I was done, I was really feeling the heat!
The first image in the slideshow, I just tacked on the sheet of insulation I’d cut to size previously. You can see a patch I made near the top left corner. A piece was broken off there, so just cut it more or less square, than cut a piece from some of the excess insulation to fit. One edge of the sheet needed to have a bit of excess trimmed off to make it straight.
The insulation has a crack in it, and a few holes but, for the purpose, it should work fine.
In the next image, you can see how I’ve attached the first piece of 4′ wood lath. Once I made sure it was straight, lined up with the width of the shelter and secured with nails, I trimmed the rough edges of the insulation to be flush with the top of wood lath.
After that, each piece of lath was lined up with the one above and nailed in place, first in the centre, then on each end. I just found it easier to start in the middle.
In the next picture, you can see how it looks with the back completely covered.
The next thing to do was to secure the wire mesh in the lower level. For that, I had some painted wood lath that were a quarter inch shorter than they should have been. I cut one of them in half for the sides, then checked the length I needed. I wanted them to be flush with the pallet at the bottom, and the top edges extended a bit under the lath above, where there was a gap where the insulation ended. They were then lined up with the inside edge of the shelter frame and nailed in place. I positioned the nails as best as I could estimate where the mesh was, so that if the mesh gets pulled or pushed on by critters, the nails will prevent the wire from getting pulled out from between the wood.
Once those were secured, I measured and cut my last two painted pieces of wood lath to fit in between the side pieces. Those were also lined up with the inside edge of the frame, and nails were placed to ensure the wire mesh can’t be pulled loose.
You can see the finished frame in the next photo.
I then spent a bit of time considering what to do about the middle. There were only a couple of staples holding it in place. With the frame in place to secure it, there really wasn’t much concern that the wire mesh could be pulled off. However, if the middle were pushed loose from the inside, a cat could potentially get stuck between the vertical support and the mesh.
I could have added more staples, but I don’t trust those.
I decided to add one more piece of wood lath. The next image shows the entire back of the shelter, including the extra piece. The next time I will be painting things, I’ll paint that piece, too.
There is so very little paint left, though! I would be amazed if there was enough to finish painting the upper level, when it’s enclosed. Unless I manage to acquire the clear plastic I’m looking for to use instead of wood, to use as windows.
That brick on top isn’t supposed to be sitting on the frame. I had to move it while I was rolling the shelter out of the garage, because it was bouncing. I have the painted piece of wood that was originally going to be part of the floor up there. It will be used to raised the roof slightly in the front, to create a low slope – and will be what I attach hinges to, so we can lift the roof from the back. What I noticed is that the piece of wood is slightly bowed in the middle. If it had been used in the floor, as originally intended, that would not have mattered. It would have been screwed to the floor joist in the middle, which would have pulled it flat. As the hinged part of the roof, it might make a difference. So I’ve got it sitting across the top of the shelter, with the brick weighing down the bend, to slowly straighten it.
The next photo is of the upper level. The insulated box “nest” can fit under the resting shelf, or can be moved wherever is needed. Food and water bowls can go under the shelf as well, accessible through one of the access panels/door – whatever I ended up making.
When the doors/access panels are added, I plan to have one in the opening near the back and the other in the opening near the front. I’m still hoping to be able to make sliding doors as access panels, rather than hinged doors, but it will depend on what materials I find.
The bottom level is shown in the last photo. The sides will be enclosed with mesh, as well as the non-door half of the front.
I’m debating adding a mesh to cover the floor. It occurred to me that, if we ever have a mama with kittens in there, really small kittens could squeeze through those gaps between the pallet boards. I have some plastic mesh a friend sent to me that would be perfect for this. The mesh is fine enough that it won’t be a problem for little toe beans, but will also allow debris to fall through, such as anything kicked out of the litter box that would be on this level.
The non-insulated box nest will fit in this level. Eventually, both levels will get cat blankets or beds.
I’m still thinking of where to add a cat hammock of some sort. As I look at the photo of the shelter from the front, I’m thinking across the larger opening, maybe covering half of it, would work. This would help keep the upper level warm in the winter, and if I can cover the entire front with clear whatever I find, a cat could lay on it and enjoy looking outside.
Winter is something else to think about, when it comes to keeping things warm. The mesh on the bottom can be wrapped with plastic sheets to keep the weather out, and at least some of the cold, in the winter. As long as the top has a heat lamp or something similarly safe, it will be a welcome shelter for the cats, in addition to what we already have. If no cats need to be kept isolated, we plan to just leave the door/ramp on the bottom open, so they can go in and out any time they please. That way, when we do have to isolate a cat, it will already be familiar with the shelter, and not afraid.
At least, that’s the theory!
I’m glad I was able to get at least this much done on the shelter, since it will be a while before I can work on it again. I’ll be away most of tomorrow, I’ve got one day at home, then two days of driving around. In that one day I’ve got, I need to find a way to secure the broken mesh on the catio. The girls and I will be moving the swing bench away from the house and into a spot I prepared for it in the garage, in front of my mother’s car. It will finally be out of the weather, and kittens can still enjoy sleeping on it in there.
Once the area the swing bench is currently on is cleared and cleaned up the catio will be moved there. Any last work that needs to be done on it can be done on site. Plus, we should be able to see into it from the kitchen window.
Knowing the yard cats, they’ll be climbing onto the top and looking back at us!
I’d hoped to have the isolation shelter done by now, but it will be some time before we have all the materials to finish it. If we need to isolate a cat, the catio is what we have to use. All it needs is to get that torn mesh secured. It’s unlikely a cat would go through there, but it is possible.
We’re booked to get one male’s nibs nipped in a few days. If we can get one of the males in there for the overnight fast, with one of the carriers in there as a bed, that might make things easier for us!
I hope.
Next month, the rescue has us booked for two males. If all goes well, they’ll be able to lend us a trap (I think the last person they lent it two is still ghosting them) and we can start getting the females before they go into heat in the spring!
It’s slow going, but we’re finally getting some progress on getting more yard cats fixed!
This clinic also has a new program they’ve started. Any females up to 5 months old will be spayed for only $150, including shots and tattoos. Cats can go into heat as early as 6 months, so they’re trying to encourage people to get them done young. Getting a spay typically costs about $350 – $375 – some places almost $400! Which makes it really difficult to get strays, ferals and semi-ferals done. Especially at a time when people can barely afford to buy food for themselves. Neuters are typically half what a spay is, so this deal is pretty much getting a spay for less than the cost of a neuter.
Some of our kittens may already be too old for this program; the ones born in late April/early May, like Kohl and Rabi. Some were born in June and would qualify for another month or so.
Which would be a good time to remind readers that there is a donation button at the top of the page! The rescue has been very helpful in covering costs, but they are struggling, too. If we can take advantage of low cost spays, that would be amazing.
The irony is not lost on me that, if we weren’t spending so much money on cat food, we would be able to do at least one spay a month, if we had to, and we wouldn’t have this over population problem!
What can I say. We’re sucks for the cats! We’re certainly not going to stop feeding them. Given the condition of some of the cats we see when they come back for the winter, they wouldn’t last long if they had to live on their own hunting, and starvation is a horrible way to go. Nope. Not gonna happen here.
There was barely a handful of all three types of beans. At this time of year, having any at all is a treat.
There is one melon that came off its stem, but I’m not sure if that was because it was ripe. This melon was starting to soften in a spot next to the stem.
I grabbed a couple of the largest Dragonfly peppers, and the single Goldy zucchini and G star patty pan. The zucchini does have a couple more on the plant that can be harvested in a few days. The G Star patty pans are still blooming, but I’m not seeing any developing squash. The white patty pans are blooming lots, but still only male flowers.
The red tomatoes are all Forme De Couer – including the one green one. I was trying to get a red tomato, and the green one broke off, instead! The small tomatoes are the Black Cherry tomatoes.
I was in the process of watering the old kitchen garden from the rain barrel when my brother and his wife showed up with another load. While my brother was clearing the space they wanted to unload into, I was able to give my SIL some tomatoes. She chose the red tomatoes, but tried a Black Cherry, too. As we were leaving the yard, I spotted a single Chocolate cherry and gave it to her to try, and asked her if she could taste any difference. The Black Cherry tomatoes aren’t getting any darker, and look just like the Chocolate cherries, so I was curious. She didn’t find a lot of difference in the taste, except that the Black Cherry seems a touch sweeter, while the Chocolate cherry seemed a bit more acidic. She really liked both.
After that, I helped them unload, and they are on their way home. After a hydration break, I’m heading back out to finish watering the garden. We’re expected to reach a high of 24C/75F today, which isn’t too bad. Over the next couple of days, we’re supposed to hit highs of 28C/82F, and later in the week, we’re even supposed to reach 30C/86F. On the 10th, our average first frost date, we’re expected to have a high of 28C/82F, and a low of 13C/55F. Which would mean no danger of frost at all!
Looking at the long range forecast, it will be another 10 days before we start getting overnight lows below 10C/50F again. We’ve dropped down to 6C/43F a few times over the past week. If the long range forecasts are at all accurate, we won’t get those lows again until the last week or so of September, and won’t get risk of frost temperatures until October.
I wouldn’t be surprised if all those forecasts changed by the end of the day, but if it does, I hope it changes to warmer, not cooler, temperatures! The garden needs every frost free day it can get!
Still, I’m happy with what we have. It is more than I was expecting for this year!
I’m glad I was able to get work done on the cat isolation shelter today! I’m hoping to get more done tomorrow, too, but we shall see.
Next week, I won’t be able to get much of anything done.
On Monday, I’ll be taking my mother to a hospital in the city. Thankfully, she found the letter they’d sent her about the appointment. We now know that this test was something her previous doctor had written her up for, before he moved to another clinic. I believe that makes it more than a year, waiting.
I will have to go to her place quite a bit earlier, so I can go over the letter and figure out where we need to go. She’s supposed to arrive half an hour early, for time to register. This hospital is where the heart clinic is, but that part of the hospital can’t be accessed from the inside of the building. My husband and I had to go through the emergency entrance. Where my mother’s test is going to be will be in the main part of the hospital, but it can be so confusing to find places, they sometimes have volunteers available to act as guides and take you straight to the right place. Other times, we follow colour coded lines painted on the walls.
On top of that, this place is right in the middle of the city, across the river from downtown. I’m going to have to drop my mother off at the main entrance, find somewhere to park, then come back for her. With my husband, I often found myself parking blocks away, as the parkades were all full, as well all the nearest streets. I’ll need to factor in the time that will take, too.
It’s going to be an all day thing.
Then, a couple of days later, I’m taking my mother to an eye clinic, then the day after that, we’re bringing a male cat – whichever one we can catch – to the vet clinic to get snipped.
All that driving around isn’t going to leave much time to get things done at home, including working on the cat shelters.
It had been my intention to see if I could reinforce the mesh that is popping loose on the catio with the steel strapping I have, but I couldn’t find it. So no progress on the catio.
I got quite a lot of progress on the isolation shelter, though!
Here is a slideshow of things at the end of the day.
In between other things, I opened up the roll of 3/4 inch welder wire and cut off a piece to cover the back of the bottom level. At this stage, the mesh is held in place with a few staples. I’ll be covering the edges with wood lath to secure them, later.
I started cutting pieces for the lower level door/ramp to size, and prepared to cover the back of the upper level. I’ve decided I will cover the back first with some rigid insulation. It will probably get scratched up by cats, but that won’t matter too much. The sheet I was using today already has cat damage on it. I cut a section of insulation to size, and will then cover the whole thing with 4′ pieces of wood lath to secure it.
Once I measured and cut and prepared what I needed, I started painting, which you can see in the second photo. The first thing was to cover the edges of floor pieces that weren’t pre-painted, as they were not supposed to be exposed before I had to make changes to the floor plan. The scratching post/ramp to the second level got its ends painted.
In the next photo, you can see the pieces of wood lathe that got painted. Only one side of those need to be painted.
The pieces for the door/ramp need to be painted on both sides. I didn’t have room on the saw horse for all the pieces, though, so I found things on my work table that could support the door/ramp pieces as they dried.
The other thing I did was build the insulated cat “nest”. This is the box that is made to fit under the shelf on the second level. Once it was assembled, and the insulation secured, I framed the entrances for both the insulated and uninsulated boxes with pieces of wood lath. This is not just to them look more finished and pretty. We will probably be adding some sort of cover over the openings that will keep the weather out, and give a potentially frightened cat someplace cave-like for them to hide in. My husband has some leather that he will cut to size to cover the front. Part will be kept solid to be attached to the top of the opening, while the rest will be cut into strips that a cat can push through to get in and out.
I hadn’t intended to paint the cat boxes, but since I was painting things anyhow, I painted them, too.
Tomorrow, I will flip the things that need to be painted on all sides, including the boxes, and finish painting them, then continue working on the back of the shelter. I should be able to start adding wire mesh to the sides and front of the shelter, but not until after I’ve secured the scratching post/ramp in place, and then added anything else I can think of. Once the wire mesh is in place, Nothing more can be build into the bottom half, so I need to make sure I’ve done everything I want, first.
I still haven’t decided how to make the access panels into the top half, nor how to finish enclosing it. I really hoped to be find some clear plastic panels for parts of it, at least. Not just so we can see inside, but so any cats inside can sit in the sun and look out if they want. Plus, depending on how we position the shelter, it can add passive solar heat.
That is something else I want to make sure we can do – heat the upper half of this! I’d like to be able to hang a heat lamp off the frame somewhere, or even the centre support for the roof, and run the cord out the top somewhere. If we are going to have mostly feral cats isolated in there for a couple of weeks in the winter, we most definitely want to have a heat source of some kind in there.
That’s one thing about the clear plastic roof we plan to put on there. It will be thin, so it will have almost no insulation of any kind – but it can also be a source of passive solar heat on sunny winter days.
This whole thing is a complete experiment, and a learning experience, that’s for sure!
He looks so utterly content on that cat hammock in the catio! I could certainly relate to wanting a nap, that’s for sure!
This reminds me. I have been trying to think of ways to set up something similar in the cat isolation shelter. I expect to have a cat bed or two in there, anyhow, but I’m sure any cats in there would enjoy something like this!
We need to see if we have suitable fabric. Either that, or we can crochet something. I think I have enough strong, cotton yarn for something like this.
Speaking of the isolation shelter, I finally got some work on it today, which I’ll talk about in my next post. Since my brother was coming over with a couple more loads of equipment, I stayed outside so I could help as much as possible. With the first trip, they came and went very quickly. The triple axle trailer was just big enough for my brothers 1947 Chevrolet Loadmaster dump truck. !!! They had both trailers unloaded and were gone almost before I could get outside.
When they came back later, they unloaded the triple axle trailer first, so the guy could leave earlier – he charges by the house. It looks like this was the last load that needed the triple axle trailer. Anything else can be brought using my brothers own flatbed trailer. I helped him out as much as I could. It wasn’t a lot, but enough that he could get things done and could leave while it was still light out.
After doing all his own stuff, he also did a couple of things for me. When he came back the second time, he drove past me standing at the electricity meter, using my phone’s camera to try and get a picture of the reading. It was supposed to be sent in by yesterday, but I completely forgot. Being rather short in stature, I’d set up an old tire, still on the rim, under the meter so I could get a better angle on the camera. I still have to take several shots, and hope to get at least one where I can actually read the number.
One of the things my brother brought out last time was a step. Just a single step, about 4 feet long, that can be set up temporarily wherever needed. We brought it out, move the tire out of the way, and set it up. The ground is hilled around the post, and the middle of the step was on that mound, so it couldn’t sit flat. I was able to make use of some of the long pieces of wood salvaged from a pallet I’d cut apart. I cut 6 lengths that were about the same as the width of the step, though I ended up needing only four. I stabilized it with 5 pieces at first, but when I got on the step to test it out, I realized it was way too close to the post. I had to lean back, so as not to hit my head on the meter. After adjusting it a few times, I even found relatively level ground to set it on. The lengths of wood I put under it were not needed to stabilize it anymore.
They were added because I’m short. Now, I can actually look right at the meter and read the numbers! Yay!
The other thing my brother wanted to do was check under my mother’s car. It still had one completely flat tire in the front, too. It leaked air faster than I could pump it manually. After my brother tried to see under the back end, where the banging I’d heard was coming from, he asked about the compressor. I told him, the hose doesn’t reach, which surprised him.
It turns out there are several hose extensions hanging on the wall near the compressor, but none of them had ends that fit what is being used.
We ended up running the hose through the hole in the wall my brother had cut for the power cord. He threaded it through the wall by the compressor, while I pulled it over towards my mother’s car.
It was juuuuust long enough to reach the tire, once the nozzle was put back on.
It worked, too. The compressor got the tire pumped up faster than air could leak at the rim. Once there was enough pressure, it resealed itself, and now it no longer leaks.
Well. Somewhat. The tires went flat for a reason. The rear one that I’d pumped by hand (the compressor hose cannot reach the back tires) is still holding air, but it wasn’t as completely flat as the front tire was.
With that done, we left the compressor hose set up in the middle part of the garage, which is currently my workshop. It’s long enough that, once the truck is parked in the garage again, it should be able to reach all the tires.
As for checking under my mother’s car, there was nothing my brother could see that could have made that banging noise. Whatever made it is not out in the open. He thinks it’s probably something small, and not a major fix. The problem is, something small is something big, when we can’t afford to get it fixed. Unlike my brother, we can’t do this stuff ourselves! Even if I knew how, we don’t have the tools.
Ah, well. At least we got that tire pumped up! I’m much happier now. It’s not good for a tire to be flat like that for so long.
After that, we said our good byes, and he rushed off to drive home. I got a message from my SIL while I was working on this blog post, letting me know he arrived, safe and sound. It was full dark by the time he got home!
I don’t know if they’re going to try another trip this weekend. I hope my brother is able to take a day of rest, instead, but knowing him, he won’t! 😄
My brother is just amazing. He seems to be able to keep going, not stop, all the time. He’s always been like this, but he’s in his 60’s now, and still hasn’t slowed down! I don’t know how he does it. Even the guy with the triple axle trailer they hired had a hard time keeping up with my brother, and the guy with the trailer is only 17 years old!
Me, I’m lucky if I can manage to do half of what he gets done, and even then, I end up like Syndol, there, snoozing! Just not as cute. 😄
The Re-Farmer 