Today was supposed to be a much warmer day. Technically, it was, but we also had high winds, so it sure didn’t feel much warmer!
The winds showed exactly why I needed to get the catio finished. The bottoms or the front panels I had to leave unsecured because it got too dark and too cold to continue were flapping in the wind.
I had some very curious helpers!
If you click through above, there’s a short video of the kitten being adorable.
Working on the bottom of the catio had its challenges, but the biggest one turned out to be Kohl. She absolutely HAD to be right in there, trying to lick my fingers and giving me little nips if I didn’t pet her often enough.
Once it was done, I figured it would be easier to make a video to share.
The only problem was that the door was loose. Previously, I was able to tie it in the mostly closed position, so it wouldn’t get blown around in the wind. There is a brick to keep it from closing all the way, but it sometimes gets knocked over and I’ve found the door closed a couple of times, just since it got moved to this location. Since it’s not latched, a cat inside could push their way out, though it might take them a while to figure it out, and it would be harder for the smaller kittens. No cats would be able to get in to the food, water and shelter, though.
What I ended up finding was a small Bungee cord with hooks small enough to fit onto the wire mesh. I’ve got it looped around the handle. It’s stretchy enough that larger cats can push their way through the gap, but strong enough to keep the door from being blown around – plus securing the door like this helps keep the brick in place, too.
All in all, I’m very happy with how it has turned out. There are a few finishing touches I’d like to do, but they aren’t essential.
After I finished with the catio, I had intended to work in the garden, but it was just too windy. Instead, I worked on putting things away for the winter. The canopy tent was really being blown around, so that is not down and tucked into the garage for the winter. Then it was puttering round, doing things like getting the insulation set up around the based of the house, putting the hoses at the back away, etc.
While I was working, I heard some load noises from somewhere in the outer yard, so when I had the chance, I went looking around to see what had been blown over.
Yikes!
It turned out to be a wall!
This old log building has been slowly collapsing more and more for many years. It’s a shame it was allowed to happen. I remember playing in there when I was a kid, and it was in front of where the chain link fence is now.
With the wall down, I went closer to take a look at things. We’re definitely going to have to get that cleaned up as soon as possible. There are a lot of nails and sharp things sticking out.
There is also an oil drum that is now visible, though not in the angle of the shot above. Something sitting on top caught my attention.
What that a fire brick?
There turned out to be two of them.
Yup. They are fire bricks. I had to remove moss growing on one of them.
After taking the picture, I looked up the name on the bricks.
It turns out they are vintage fire bricks! Claybank Brick Plant in Saskatchewan is designated as a national historic site! It operated from 1914 to 1989, with a brief closure in 1916, partly due to WWI.
The bricks are now in the garage.
There is so much stuff in there, including what appears to be salvageable small lumber and possibly a stack of plywood? I can just see the edges of them, with no indication of size, other than there being some smaller ones in the stack.
After inspecting the wind damage on the old log building, I went around the yard to see what other wind damage there might be. No new fallen trees, thankfully, but I did find some larger fallen branches. My mother’s angel by the gate is still upright, though! I’ve no doubt that, were it not secured to the concrete base under it, it would have fallen over with today’s winds.
While I was still outside, I got a call on my cell phone.
It was home care.
*sigh*
They don’t have anyone to cover my mother’s morning med assists, tomorrow. This was a time slot that actually had someone scheduled, not one of the “unfilled” slots. I went in to call my mother and left a message, then headed back outside to finish a few last things. When I got back in, I thought I saw a new message on the machine and listened to it. It was my mother talking about not getting her meds regularly, and that’s why her health is failing. I called her back but she was confused when I mentioned I’d heard her message. She hadn’t called me today! (She hadn’t seen my message to her, either.) It turned out I had listened to an old message.
Ah, well. I needed to talk to her, anyhow. She’s still upset about having the male home care workers from India. This time, she saw something on the news about a “new” gang from India that the police found. Nothing about where, but now she assumes that if the home care workers are from India, they must be gang members.
*sigh*
Anyhow.
I encouraged my mother to ask the home care workers for help more often, and she didn’t get angry with me about it, so that’s an improvement. Since I’ll be there tomorrow morning, I’ll be taking care of a few other things as well. Her current schedule was done before we had the meeting with the home care coordinator, so it doesn’t reflect extra time for this, but I noticed that she’s got 15 minutes for the morning, 5 minutes at supper, and 10 minutes for the bed time meds. If they’re going to be available to do things like make her a small meal, they’ll need to increase at least the scheduled time at supper.
With that in mind, I’d better get to bed before midnight for a change. :-/
Tomorrow is supposed to be just as warm as today. I hope the winds won’t be back. If I’m going to get any winter sowing done, I need to rake up lots of leaves to mulch the beds right away. I wasn’t even going to try, today. It would just get blown away!
Well, crud. I just checked the forecast. Apparently, it’s going to be even windier, tomorrow!
At this rate, there might not be any leaves left in the yard to rake up for mulch!
*sigh*
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 