I’m currently sitting the the truck in a parking lot, waiting to meet up with the Cat Lady.
This morning, my daughter and I snagged two kittens for the vet. Kohl was easy to catch, once she joined us in the sun room, but none of the adult females were to be seen.
I’m writing this on my phone, so I don’t know if you’ll be able to see the above image slideshow.
The grey and white tabby turned out to be male. We’ve never been able to handle this one, though I have been able to sneak a pet while he was eating. He was too fluffy to easily spot gender.
They were both very quiet during the drive in. I hope they enjoy their recovery in the isolation shelter. The male doesn’t need 2 weeks in there, but I don’t want Kohl to be in there alone. Plus, we might be able to socialize him while he is in there.
After connecting with the Cat Lady, I will take advantage of being in the area and do some errands and possible shopping. Tomorrow is Costco day, though, so there isn’t much I need to get today. I do want to get more vinyl table protectors, and some sort of fasteners. Yesterday’s wind tore off a section at the catio door. It will be warmer on the weekend, so thar will need a good time to fix it.
Oh! Just got word from the Cat Lady. She will be here soon. I look forward to seeing her. She is awesome!
First up, my daughter and I left quite early for her appointment, and I’m glad we did!
The outside cats seemed quite confused that they were getting fed while it was still dark out.
While we were not supposed to get more snow in our area, today, we were expected to get high winds, and we sure had that! Since we did get some light snow yesterday and overnight, that meant a lot of blowing snow reducing visibility on top of being buffeted on the highway. I had considered stopping at the gas station at my mother’s town along the way, just to grab some sort of road snack since I hadn’t had breakfast yet, but I skipped that. The clinic we were going to has a grocery store right next to it, and I figured I could wait!
We got there maybe 20 minutes early. I headed to the grocery store while my daughter went to the clinic, only to discover the doors were locked. So we both waited in the truck while I ate my sandwich until we saw the doors open 15 minutes before her appointment. Once she got called in, things went rather quickly. She had another round of bloodwork to do after that appointment, so I went to the truck while she got that done.
Which is when the messages started coming in.
My older daughter was letting me know to call my mother back… then to call home care. She couldn’t quite make much out of the message that had been left, but was eventually able to tell me that home care was still with my mother.
So I called my mother and the health care aid answered.
The first thing she told me was that she had just managed to get through to my sister. Which is good. I’m the first person to call, since I’m the closest. Then my sister, then my brother, who still lives the furthest away. My sister had said she would be coming to see my mother.
My mother was complaining of chest pains (again), shortness of breath (again) and clamminess.
The clamminess was a new one.
The health care aid was offering to call an ambulance, but my mother was refusing.
Her chest pains were most likely the usual heartburn, and the shortness of breath has become a regular complaint. From what I can observe, the previous doctors suggestion that it is conditioning is most likely correct. My mother is 93, had busted up knees and is getting out of shape with age, but she doesn’t know how to slow down. I sometimes have a hard time keeping up with her once she gets going with her walker. Then she gets out of breath and can’t understand why.
The clamminess, though… I don’t know what to make of that.
As we were talking, my sister tried to call. I dismissed that call, finished up with the health care aid, then phoned my sister while the health care aid was going to call home care next.
In talking to my sister, I told her where we were and why. She started saying they hadn’t have breakfast yet, but if I were in the area, maybe I could check on Mom instead.
…
I told her again, why we were where we were (which is NOT “in the area”). We were going to be in this town for most of the day. My sister wasn’t happy to hear that, but said she would go to Mom’s after they had breakfast.
I don’t know how long it was going to be before she was on the road, but by the time I was done with the phone calls, the weather had gotten worse. It would not be a fun drive, though I don’t know of the worsened weather reached as far as where she lives. Her route wouldn’t take her through this town, anyhow, so it’s possible she wouldn’t see the bad weather at all. Other than the high winds. Those never died down at all today. Even now, as I write this, I can see the trees swaying out my window.
That call done, I messaged my brother to keep him in the loop. Then my daughter and I went to get an actual breakfast. Not much was open that early in the morning, so we ended up going to a Tim Hortons.
We had some time between appointments, so I took advantage of it and went to a branch of my bank with some questions I had. The postal strike is causing some issues, and I needed to clear some things up. From there, we went to a Red Apple, where my daughter was able to get some clothing necessities, and I snagged a high density foam mat to keep in the truck. If we need to climb into the truck box with the tailgate open, it’s something we can lay down to protect our knees. Or, if we have a situation like when my brother wanted to lie on the ground to look under the truck, it can be a nicely insulated, clean surface to lie on.
After taking our time there, we then went to a Home Hardware that was kitty corner from the eye clinic. While there, I picked up a new sump pump hose. Not for our sump pump, though, but for our washing machine drain. We’re still running the hose out the front door, and the current one has started to leak.
At some point, we need to use that drain auger on the pipes, but I’m not going to do it until I am sure we can seal it up again without leaking. My brother keeps telling me how easy it is, but I honestly can’t even see how to open the thing. We also don’t have the sealant needed for when it gets closed up again. It’s also in a very awkward space, plus it’s directly above the sump pump reservoir. Just getting the auger close enough to use it is going to be difficult.
I really hate the plumbing in this place. 😄😄
Anyhow.
It was shortly past noon when we finished at the hardware store, so we popped across to the eye clinic and I checked in.
Thankfully, they were not busy.
I first got called in for the eye images, then the puff test. Then the tech checked to see if the field of vision machine was ready. It was, so she was able to take me straight over for that.
The field of vision test takes about five minutes per eye. Once that was done, the data was sent for the eye doctor to look at, and she would call me in when she was done. When I sat down with my daughter in the waiting room, I checked my phone and it had just turned 1pm – a full hour before my appointment!
Then my phone rang. 😄
It was my brother, calling me in between meetings, about Mom. We spoke for a short time, but there really wasn’t anything to say. Our sister had not sent any messages to update us.
It wasn’t too much longer before the eye doctor called me in. After looking at the images and comparing them from the last two, each 6 months apart, there was very little change. She took a direct look as well, and it was decided to not do the eye dilation tests this time. We would do it next time.
I mentioned to her that we were going to try and not book appointments in the winter, due to transportation and road condition concerns. The next appointment would have been in June, but she was okay if we changed it to July or August.
So that’s what I did. For the next appointment, I’m booked in the second half of July. If she wants me to do another “6 month” test, I would book it for March or April, slowly shifting the appointments to spring and fall instead of summer and winter.
Since we didn’t need to do the eye dilation test, I got to drive us home. My daughter’s dizzy spells have improved, but not gone away completely yet, so me driving was better, anyhow.
Since we were in town, we then made a short stop at a grocery store. I won’t be able to do our Costco shop until Friday at the earliest, so there were a few fresh things that we needed to get. We also picked up some road food for the trip home.
By this time, conditions had improved considerably. It was still very windy and the truck was being buffeted, but we also had bright sunshine. There was only one area that got dicey. The windward side in that area was all open fields and so much snow was being blown across, driving into it was like driving into a fog bank! At one point, as I checked my rear view mirror, the car behind me looked like it was driving on a cloud. No sign of the road or ditches at all! Just blowing snow.
Thankfully, the further north we go, the more trees there are to block the blowing snow.
We were both very glad to be home, that’s for sure!
Once everything was brought in, it was getting late enough that I left my daughter to put most of the stuff away while I went to feed the outside cats and top up their warm water before it got dark. I wanted to make sure they all had a chance to finish the food off before night time. It’s the only way we can get the outside cats that are going to be spayed tomorrow to fast.
I need to be on the road by 7am with the cats tomorrow, giving myself extra time for bad road conditions, for the 8am drop off. We’ll still be at our overnight low of -18C/0F at that time, based on the current forecast. It’s supposed to be slightly colder tomorrow, but without the high winds, so that will make a huge difference.
After the cats get dropped off at the vet, I’ll be hanging around the area until they call me to pick them up. So I will be gone all morning, at the very least. Last time, I was able to nap in the truck, but it’ll probably be too cold to do that, this time!
Oh, I just got word from my sister. By the time she got to my mother’s, she was feeling fine. No longer clammy. There’s a cold going through her building that she might be catching, so she got my mother some vitamin D, echinacea and immunity boosting tea.
Hopefully, that will do it.
I still plan to phone my mother, right after I finish posting this!
Then we need to get some carriers ready for the cats tomorrow. We won’t have any problem getting Kohl, as she’s become nice and social. The adult females may be another story. If we can’t get them, we should at least be able to snag Magda, who is also very social, but it would be much better if we could manage to get one of the adults! I’m not even sure Magda is 2 pounds yet, but she should be close.
We shall see.
Once the carriers are prepped, it’s going to be an early bedtime for me!
I’d rather stay home for the rest of the week, too, but if there was a day for it, it’s today.
As I write this, we are at -9C/16F, but the wind chill puts us at -21C/-6F. I’m not sure what it was when I headed out this morning, to do the rounds. My daughter was going to do it, but when I saw her using a cane this morning, I just went ahead and did it!
It was still dark when I started, but the sun was up well before I was done. I also got to see this little puff ball.
Not a good picture, but I had to zoom in in the half light to get it. Little mustache baby will not let us come any closer.
I want to snuggle that face!!!
His fluffiness is very much like Patience, even though he’s still about half the size.
I think he’s a he. I’m not 100% sure, though. Too much fluff.
Another good thing about getting outside as early as I did is that it was in between snowfalls. Not long after I got back inside, it started blowing snow and visibility dropped quite a bit. As I write this, is has been calm for a little while, but the snow is supposed to start up again basically now, according to the weather maps.
The temperature, however, is expected to increase. By 9pm, we’re expected to hit -3C/27F before it starts to drop to a low of -16C/3F by 8am tomorrow morning. We’re expecting another bit of snow at around 6am.
For my daughter’s appointment tomorrow, we need to be on the road by 7:45am at the latest. I want to make sure to give us extra time in case the road conditions are not good.
The day after is also supposed to be older, with temperatures of -18C/0F expected right when we need to be catching a couple of ladies into carriers before feeding time, and taking them in for spays. Hopefully, road conditions will be good for that, too.
From then, it’s supposed to warm up again. We’re now supposed to be getting 3C/37F by Friday.
This month is going to be all over the place, temperature wise!
I’m good with that. Especially the warmer temperatures. We have a lot of small kitties this year, so the milder things are, the easier it will be for those tiny bodies to keep warm.
Yeah. I’m a suck for the cats.
As for today, I’m content with another hibernation day.
Since yesterday – Sunday – ended up being a very long day of driving around and getting our truck in the city, today became my day of rest.
I even got to sleep in, and sleep well. As usually, I got inundated with cats but this time, they actually snuggled pleasantly. No stepping painfully on various body parts. No trying to lie on my face. No fighting amongst each other.
Well. Not much. Just a bit of hissing at times.
In fact, they helped keep me warm and cozy and let me fall into a deep and restful sleep.
I don’t expect this to happen again, so I’ll take it!
My daughter was only up to doing short rounds this morning, which is basically just making sure the outside cats got food and warm water. I did their evening feeding and topped up their warm water, too. With the sun room water bowl no longer working, it was full of ice.
And the critter cam.
Some cats like to hang out on the plant trays on the shelf where the critter cam was set up. I saw it was pushed downwards when I tried to check it. By the time I got out and could fix it, it had been knocked off completely. The camera was held in place with Alien Tape, which works great, normally. It’s frozen now, so once it gets unstuck, it won’t work again until it’s thawed. I ended up having to put the camera one shelf down and tried to wedge in in place. I had to make sure it couldn’t fall into the water bowl again, too. If it does get knocked off, it should just dangle a few inches but that’s it. It it working now, except the view is partially blocked by the shelf itself on one side.
While I was outside, I just had to try and get a good shot of Patience. I wasn’t able to get the shot I wanted, since he moved while I was getting my phone out, but I think I got one that captured what I was after.
His fur has gotten SO long and thick. When he’s loafed on the ground, he’s just a big round mass of fluff with eyes.
If you click through to the next photo, you’ll see his sister, Peanut Butter Cup. She, too, is a mass of fluff!
The Cat Lady and I are both surprised she hasn’t been adopted yet.
Overall, today was pleasant outside, if a bit colder than yesterday. We reached a high of -11C/12F, which is a degree warmer than was in the forecast yesterday. It’s supposed to start snowing tonight, then tomorrow, we’re supposed to reach a high of -4C/25F I was thinking of doing a dump run tomorrow, but the dump is open in the morning, and it’s supposed to still be snowing then. We’ll see what the road conditions are like, since I was planning to also hit a feed store for 40 pound bags of kibble.
Wednesday – which is when my daughter and I have our doctor and eye appointments – and Thursday – when we have 2 cats to go in for spays – are supposed to have highs of only -16C/3F and -15C/5F, but it’s Friday and the weekend that is really catching my attention. Friday is supposed to reach a high of 0C/32F, while Sunday is supposed to reach a high of 2C/36F!! It’s supposed to cool down again after that, but I’m really hoping it’ll stay quite mild, since we will have the ladies recovering in the isolation shelter for 2 weeks after their spays. Looking further ahead to the week of Christmas, and we have forecasts for highs up to 6C/43F for a couple of days! Christmas day itself is currently expected to be the coldest day of the week, with a high of -1C/30F.
I’m just excited by the idea of having two mild winters in a row. Having an El Nińo winter last year was great, but NOT having a strong La Nińa winter this year is just bonus. I’m hoping this will also be good for our winter sown garden beds, too.
One thing we haven’t been doing at all yet is start decorating for Christmas. I haven’t bothered setting up the Advent wreath. Normally, we would have had it on the dining table or on the counter dividing the kitchen from the dining room, but some of the cats would have a field day with it. The alternative is the living room – the cat free zone – but the bins of tomatoes I brought in from the old kitchen are still ripening in there, and taking up the space.
Yes. We still have tomatoes ripening!
Hopefully, we’ll be able to get stuff like that cleared out enough that we can at least put our little Christmas trees on top of the piano, like we did last year.
I think it’s going to be a quite Christmas this year. I don’t mind that at all. In fact, the quieter the better, as far as I’m concerned! 😄
Since the truck was booked to be looked at tomorrow morning, I rescheduled my mother’s shopping and errands to today. The plan was to do her errands, making sure to bring along our water jugs that needed refilling, so that I could go to the town nearer to us and fill them while running some errands of our own before going home.
Early this morning, I got a text reminder – at about 7am! – from Canadian Tire for our 7am appointment on Monday, saying to make sure to be there ahead of time and be ready to drop off the keys; standard stuff. I responded by saying the vehicle was already there, and they already had the keys.
It was probably around 9am when I got the first call from them.
They had already looked at the truck!
The problem was, indeed, a wheel bearing. I asked how much it would be, and it was thankfully lower than I feared. Being just the one tire, the total came to less than $500. I was half expecting both tires and a $1000 bill.
I authorized the work, which took a few texts, another call, then an email, because the link they texted me wouldn’t work on my phone. Instead, I got a message saying I needed to complete the process on my computer – but I don’t have text to desktop set up on this computer. In the end, all I needed to do was text back “approved”, but what they were trying to send me was the document showing an itemized list of what was to be done, and the cost of each item.
So that got approved just in time for me to start heading out to my mother’s.
Except…
I didn’t realize it, but my younger daughter was planning to come with me! I misunderstood something she’d said. She was behind on doing the morning cat feeding and the morning rounds, so I switched out one of the trail cam memory cards while she did the other. Everything else got skipped.
The slight delay turned out to be a good thing, because I’d forgotten the water jugs!
It’s a good thing I started heading out early. By the time we finally got everything ready, we were on the road exactly when I knew was the latest we could leave and get there for the time I told my mother I would be there.
When we got to my mother’s, I went in to get and go over her list with her. My daughter stayed in the car. With how my mother behaves towards her, she has no interest in being around her grandmother anymore and, to be honest, I can’t blame her one bit.
Normally, our first stop would have been the pharmacy, but they were still closed, so we went to the grocery store instead. They opened their doors at 11am – pretty much as we were parking! I keep forgetting about Sunday hours.
My daughter stayed in the car for that part, too, as there was nothing she needed there. That done, it was back to the pharmacy. It was still closed, so we went looking for the posted hours and realized they opened at noon, so we still had time. We took advantage of that and went to the gas station to fill my brother’s tank, which was just below half by then – it still feels so strange to be able to fill at tank for $30! That’s a quarter tank, on our truck.
I also picked up some fried chicken and wedges for our lunch, along with some drinks, since we would still have to wait. After parking by the pharmacy again, I called my mother to let her know we were waiting for the pharmacy to open at noon, so we would be longer. Then we had our lunch – very carefully, so as not to drop any crumbs in my brother’s car! – and watched all the people going to the pharmacy doors, realizing they were locked, then leaving again. 😄
As we were waiting, I got a text from the garage.
The truck was ready.
!!!!!
At this point, I’d already made arrangements with my brother and SIL for switching vehicles tomorrow. The garage already knew about this, so that was not an issue.
They were done so early, though. After updating my brother, he wondered if we meant to get it today, instead.
On finding out the garage was open until 6, and it was barely noon, we decided to just finish my mother’s shopping, then head straight to my brother’s, then to the city to get the truck.
After I did my mother’s shopping at the pharmacy and my daughter did part of hers, we went back to my mother’s place. She isn’t up to going to church lately, even though it’s just across the street, so someone comes over with communion for her, after services. She was all set up for this when I got there, so I quickly told her what was going on as I put her things away. I was just packing up my reusable bags when there was a knock at the door. Perfect timing! It was the guy from church.
So, off I went and soon, my daughter and I were on the road to my brother’s new place.
This is the first time I’ve driven to their place myself; I’ve been driven there as a passenger, and I’ve driven FROM their place, and everything looked different. I kept second guessing myself when I knew we were getting close. I had a landmark building I told my daughter about. It’s been there for probably 100 years. I told my daughter, it’s now an antique store.
“But what do they sell?” she asked me.
…
It took me a few moments. I’m not too swift with jokes.
I then laughed for the next 5 minutes!
Finally we got there, and then I had to remember which driveway was the right one. They’re in a row of townhouses now, and they all look identical, and I couldn’t remember their unit number. I recognized a car in another driveway, so I pulled into a driveway that I was pretty sure was theirs. I figured, if it was, their garage door opener would work. I knew which button closed the door, so I tried the other buttons to open it.
No garage doors opened.
I was still pretty sure we were at the right place. I could see some decor items near the door, but couldn’t remember if they were familiar to me or not.
Then, as we got out, I saw the block heater extension cord on the step, recognized that, and knew I was in the right place.
😄😄
Oh, and it turned out the same button on the garage door opener that closes it, opens it. We have no idea what the other two buttons are supposed to do. 😄
When we got there, they were all ready to set up a pot of tea and stuff, but I didn’t want to delay. The garage would be open for a few more hours but, since we were in the city, we could still do our errands at a nearby Walmart, and fill our water jugs at the Canadian Tire. So we were soon out the door again. Both my brother and SIL came along and drove us to the garage, taking advantage of the trip themselves to look for things.
When we got there, we were able to spot the truck fairly easily, so my brother pulled in behind it while we transferred my daughter’s shopping to the truck box – where I found the box with the old wheel bearings they’d left for me – and grabbed the water jugs, then my brother parked.
My brother went in to the auto service area with me while my daughter and SIL took the water jugs into the store to refill them.
I got the keys and paperwork for the truck and then got sent over to the cashier on the store side of the barrier to pay for it. Boom, boom, boom, and it was done!
I was so happy!!!!! What a relief!
We reconnected with my daughter and SIL soon after. They couldn’t find the refill station. I went to where I thought it was, completely forgetting that this is a different store than where I’d refilled at before. After looking around, I finally asked an employee.
This location doesn’t have a refill station. They only did Culligan brand exchanges.
Well… so much for that!
I put the jugs back in the truck, then met back up with everyone else in the store again. Since we didn’t need to get anything else and my brother and his wife were going to do some more looking around, we said our goodbyes and parted ways.
With the Costco pretty much across the street, I figured I would at least go there to fill the tank with cheaper gas.
Then we saw the lineups of cars at all the pumps.
We went straight to the Walmart, instead.
It was really busy, too!
My daughter had her list and I had mine, so we parted ways for a bit, then reconnected in the grocery section. We didn’t bring in the water jugs, though, because I didn’t know if this Walmart had a refill station.
We never did see one, so probably not.
By the time we were done and paid for our stuff – I didn’t take any stocking up photos, like I usually do, as we were just in high gear, the whole time – it was starting to snow quite a bit. So we just took the time to update the family before we started out. Well… updated my husband, as my older daughter would have still been in bed. She just closed the slots for her Christmas quick commissions sale, while also having several regular commissions to complete, last night, so she is going to have some very busy work nights for the next couple of weeks. She then takes time off for Christmas and New Years.
I also updated the Cat Lady whenever I could, throughout the day, and confirmed that we will NOT be rescheduling those spays she booked for us on Thursday!
She had good news for me, too. A friend of hers had donated 50 cans of wet cat food to us! That’s on top of the 100 or so, she is going to pass on to us because her own cats won’t eat that flavour, plus some kibble a grocery store donated. When we meet up with her at the vet, she’s going to have all sorts of donated cat food to pass on to us! In fact, we might find ourselves with enough wet cat food that we might be able to treat the outside cats to some cat soup! The Cat Lady is so awesome in being able to do this for us!
If we can keep it from freezing.
We’ll figure it out.
She said she even ordered more kibble for us from Amazon, though with the postal strike, it’s hard to say when it’ll get here. It’s a rotating strike; mail gets delivered in some places, while others are picketing, then it changes every week. So mail can potentially get through, at some point. We just have no idea when or where.
This strike is killing a lot of small businesses that depend on shipping out orders. Especially this time of year, when most businesses have their highest sales, putting them in the black before the end of the year. Some things just can’t be shipped by courier.
Anyhow.
For most of the drive out of the city, we took things easy. Nearer the city, roads were icy, but they cleared up the further north we drove. Which was good, because visibility decreased at the same time!
We got to the town nearest us and made our first stop for my daughter to run in and get what she needed while I updated the family again. Then it was to the grocery store. This time, I ran in with the water jugs to refill them – and picked up some food for my daughter, since she was too stressed out to choose something to eat on the road. She’s even worse for crowds and shopping than I am!
By the time we were done there, it was full dark. We made one more stop for gas, since we didn’t get any at Costco, then finally we headed home.
The snow was coming down harder by then, and I was very glad my daughter was with me. I had to focus on the road directly in front of us, just to stay in my lane. I couldn’t see the centre line, but I could make out the shoulder, at least. Thankfully, there wasn’t much traffic. Still, at times we were doing only 60 kph in a 100 zone.
My daughter, meanwhile, was on deer watch, scanning the ditches for me. You’d think deer would be hunkering down in shelter somewhere in weather like this, but nooo. These are Canadian deer. They’ll stand in the middle of the road and wait for the vodka to freeze.
Credit to my daughter for that one… 😄
So this day ended up being much, much longer than expected. The outside cats hadn’t been fed before it got dark, like we usually try to do. My older daughter wasn’t up yet, and my husband can’t manage getting kibble to all the spread out food bowls anymore, now that there’s ice and snow on the ground making it more dangerous for him to hobble about, even with a cane.
Which worked out, really, since we had to feed them to get them away from the truck before I could park it.
We had some very hungry babies. By the time I finished doing the outside trays and bowls and came back into the sunroom, the sunroom trays were almost empty!
As for me, I was very happy to be parking our own truck in the garage, instead of a borrowed car.
I’m so incredibly thankful they were able to get it done today, and that we could work out the transportation and vehicle switching with my brother and SIL on such short notice.
Best of all…
All the time that we were driving, all I was hearing was normal road noises. 😄
When I get a chance, I want to bring in the old part from the truck and take a look at the damage. I’m curious to see what kind of damage would make the noise I was hearing, since it was so different from the last vehicle we had to replace wheel bearings on.
To top it off, we now no longer have anyplace we will potentially need to go to, tomorrow. My mother’s errands are done, and now the truck is home, too.
We can actually *gasp* stay home for a day!
Which is good, because it’s supposed to be colder, tomorrow. The next day – Tuesday – is supposed to be warmer, so that will be a good time to make a much needed trip to the dump and, since I’d be going in that direction anyhow, go to the town north of us and get a couple of 40 pound bags of kibble. Yes, we have cat food donations coming, but you just can’t have too much kibble! Especially in winter. It’s looking like we will have a mild winter, but if things ever change and we end up not being able to get out for some reason, we need to have the pantry stocked up with enough for all of us – humans and feline alike. In the winter, I want to have at least one, preferably two, months worth of supplies on hand. We’ve already have a few times when we’ve relied on our stocked up items. It’s getting harder to keep it up, with the cost of everything going up, but I view this as an essential.
An essential, like our truck is!!
Have I mentioned, how glad I am that our truck is back?
The Re-Farmer 