Okay, I’m back from getting our parcels at the post office. I meant to actually stay in the store and see if there was anything I wanted to pick up but, instead, I was rushing home.

I’d left the gate open, you see, and was no longer sure that was a good idea.

Our main driveway is just 300 feet or so from an intersection at a main gravel road. Both roads – the main one, and the one past our driveway – have a surprising amount of traffic. Having been looking at trail cam and security files since 2018, thanks to our vandal, I’ve gotten to recognize regular vehicles that go by, even if I don’t know who is driving them.

So as I pulled through our gate, I didn’t think anything of the little black car that I saw go past the intersection. It looked like one of several non-descript little black cars I see going by regularly.

With the inside handle of my truck door broken off, and a post office trip being so short, I decided not to close the gate behind me and just head out.

Then I got to the stop sign at the intersection.

About 200 yards down the main road was the little black car, pulled over on the wrong side of the road – the side closer to our place, and the main garden area.

The passenger side door was open and there was a man standing there, facing my way. Just standing, staring in my direction.

Because of the distance, I can’t say with 100% certainty that it was our vandal, but I would say I have about 95% certainty. Partly because, who else would it be? We don’t have any other stalkers. Plus, from the stance, and general body shape that I could see, it did look very much like him. He has a very… distinctive… frame.

I turned towards the highway and kept checking my rear view mirror. The guy stood there, still staring my way, for quite some time before another glance showed me the passenger side door was closed. By then, there was too much snow kicking up to see whether the car kept going in the same direction, or if it turned around. After a while, I pulled over and messaged the family to keep an eye out.

When I got back, I was checking the snow to see if there were any other tracks besides my own in our driveway. Thankfully, nothing.

But it does tell me that even a quick trip into town means we have to keep the gate closed behind us. I’ve already found that leaving the gate open for deliveries has had our vandal driving past, stopping, backing up, then sitting on the road, rubbernecking down our driveway.

Very frustrating.

I did get our parcels, however, and that was much more cheerful.

First up, my new acquisition for our resource library.

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I’ve only just started to look through it but, as you can see by the next two pictures in the slideshow above, this is going to be a very useful book!

The next package was full of wonderful items from a dear and thoughtful friend and former neighbour from before our move.

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With a Ghosty photo bomb.

I was so excited to see a 1kg/2.2lb bag of lysine! I’ve got pumpkin seeds to grind into powder, so I’ll be mixing the two together in a jar to add to the kibble as a supplement for the outside cats. For the inside cats, we can add it to their cat soup.

The freeze dried chicken is quite a treat. Something that might help us lure some more feral kittens into discovering that getting pets and attention from humans is a good thing!

There’s a box of ground staples of much better quality than the dollar store version of those. I’ve learned, you just can’t have too many ground staples! There’s a package of irrigation stakes; they’re threaded at the top for a water bottle to slowly water plants. Those will come in handy in areas too closely planted to do my usual 4L water jug version. I love the tiny terracotta pots, but that little bunny pot is just too cute for words! There’s some cotton cordage that will be handy in the garden, too.

The LED lantern is really nice. Something I’ve been eyeballing for a while, but couldn’t justify getting with whatever budget I had at the time. This would be great for the emergency kit in the truck, as it also has flashing red lights and a flashlight at the top. It’s not going into the truck now, though, as the batteries would just freeze.

That travel blanket, however, is another story, and will definitely be added to our truck’s emergency kit.

Under everything are four insulated shopping bags, with the suggestion of putting straw in them as something the cats could use as beds. I would never have thought of that! Worth a try, I’d say.

What a fantastic gift! I appreciate that some of these were passed on from other former neighbours. I will be reminded of them as I use the items.

Of course, going through all these left me with an empty box.

Which did not stay empty for long.

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Hello, Tin Whistle.

So that was my haul from the post office today, which did a lot to make me feel better after the weirdness I saw as I was heading out.

Moving out here was supposed to get us away from stuff like this.

Ah, well. It’s still better than what we had to deal with while living in the city.

The Re-Farmer