I did get some things accomplished today, but ended up cutting back on some of what I planned to do. I was just too stiff and sore, and I’ll be heading to the city for our Costco shop tomorrow, so I didn’t want to push my luck.

I wasn’t happy with the garden tour video I took yesterday evening, so I tried again this morning. I think they will do, though I did catch some mistakes I made. Ah, well. I can edit in some notes when I put the tour video together.

The truck was booked for the garage today. When changing the oil, he forgot to reset the computer, so I was still getting the “change oil soon” warning. He also forgot to put on a new sticker. The check engine line turned back on again, so he was going to diagnose that for me, plus get some pricing for other work we already knew would need doing.

My appointment was for 1pm, but I left early so I could put in a bit of gas and a car wash. I still dropped the truck off early. They were having lunch! After talking for a bit about what needed to be checked out, I told them there was no hurry, as I had some errands to run.

Without the truck, doing them meant a lot of walking!

My first stop was the furthest. I headed to the dollar store. There were some things I was looking for, for the bathroom, but I wasn’t sure if they would have them. I did, however, find some embroidery thread that I plan to use for this year’s Christmas decorations (I try to do a different craft every year). They had also restocked on breakaway collars. I got their last five that had reflective strands in them. The last time I got some, I got four of them to put on the four males that had just been neutered, but three of them were gone the next day. I think I put them on too loosely. I’d hoped to find them around the yard or something, but there was no sign of them. Only Syndol still has his collar.

After taking the bells off, I put the collars on after doing their evening feeding.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Re-Farmer (@the.refarmer)

I had to double check for tattoos on a couple of them, to be sure! I had enough collars to include Judgement (who was done on a cheap spay/neuter day, and has no tattoo) and Gouda. Right now, the only fixed cat that does not have a collar is Rolando Moon. The grand old lady has no need for a collar, and I doubt I could get one on her, anyhow.

I made them a bit snugger this time, testing them out on inside cats, first. Hopefully, that will do the trick, and they won’t get lost. So far, the cats didn’t seem to notice them, once I got them on.

After the dollar store, I stopped at a Red Apple. Once again, what I was actually looking for wasn’t there, but I did find a blackout curtain for my husband. He has a south facing window, and the sun hits him right in the face while he’s on his computer. We had curtains there before, but they were too long, and the cats destroyed their bottoms. This curtain also turned out to be really long, but we just folded up the bottom out of cat range and clipped it in place for now.

My husband is very happy with it! Plus, it’s wide enough that a second one isn’t needed.

By the time I made my way back to the garage, it was past 1pm, but the truck hadn’t moved from where I parked it yet. I was able to leave my bag of shopping in it, then headed to the hotel next door that has a Chinese restaurant in it, and had lunch.

When I got back to the garage, they were just finishing up with the truck and just had to look up the codes that came up while he scanned it.

So the thing that’s turning on the check engine like turns out to be the Mass Air Flow sensor. Nothing urgent.

The part, however, costs almost $180 (plus labour and taxes).

The other thing we need to get fix, but got away with not needing last winter, is the cord for the block heater. I discovered the plug had been torn off. This being a GM vehicle, they have proprietary cords. You can’t just splice a new plug in. It won’t work. Apparently, GM is the only manufacturer that is like this. A new one is just pennies over $80. Last of all, I requested an updated price for the one of the wheel sensors. That will be just under $105, which is pretty much the same as when I asked about it, a year ago.

Thankfully, none of this is urgent stuff, because we won’t have the budget to get any of it done until next month. I asked which he would consider a priority, if we could only do one at a time. He suggested the MAF sensor. Next would be the block heater cord. Last winter was mild a mild El Nińo winter, so we were fine without it. This year will depend on just how strong the La Nińa current turns out to be.

That done, I made a quick stop at the grocery store across the street, then headed home, with a quick stop at the post office along the way. I had a letter from the government waiting for me. At tax time, I get the caregiver tax rebate, while my husband gets a disability tax credit. These are the only reason why we get anything back at tax time. The caregiver tax rebate is provincial, and has to be renewed every three years. It was time for me to renew it to get it on my 2024 tax return.

It turned out to be easily done online, so that got taken care of quickly.

My intention had been to try and get some more work done outside, while the temperatures were good and there was still daylight.

Instead, I decided to make it a day of rest. Even working on the garden tour video turns out to be something I’m just too tired to do. It doesn’t help that the arthritic in my hands is really kicking in. The crackling noises my finger joints make is truly unfortunate! It makes typing rather difficult at times. At least my wounded finger tips on each hand are healing up nicely. Just the one I dropped the trailer tailgate on is still hurting.

I think today will be a day for an early bed time. I’d like to get a relatively early start for the city. I say “relatively” because sunrise is past 8:20am this time of year, though it is usually pretty light by about 7:30. I do my morning rounds once it’s light out, so I’ll head out shortly after.

I’m glad we got the truck checked today, but I’m not looking forward to doing Costco on a Saturday. Hopefully, making it an early trip will mean fewer crowds.

We shall see.

The Re-Farmer