Today I had an appointment to take the truck in to the garage, yet again. Before we headed out, of course, we had our morning routine to take care of, including the outside cats. I just have to share this adorable image.

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Colby has his face turned up like that because he’s directly under the heat lamp. He’s warming his face!

I shared this photo with the rescue. Blot and Colby would be just weeks apart in age, yet the size difference is amazing. Blot is not thriving and has not really grown at all in months. I wanted to make sure the rescue was aware of this.

As it stands now, we might be bringing in 8 cats on Thursday! We were going to bring in 6 originally, but then they wanted me to bring in Sweetie, a female. As we were messaging, Frank came up, and how Frank is probably pregnant. We tried to get her spayed twice before, after fasting overnight in the isolation shelter. Both times, she escaped while we were trying to get her into a carrier. This time, they are going in for vetting and fostering, not straight for a spay. No overnight in the isolation shelter. We might be able to get her into a carrier, if we can give her food or treats inside. I’ve seen her go in and out of them, where they are stored in the sun room.

We’ll have to dig out the soft sided carriers to be able to fit everyone in the truck. One of them is slightly damaged from a cat almost tearing its way out, so we’d have to make sure only the mildest of cats would go into them. That makes for 7 carriers in total. We’ll try to get Frank first. After that, we’ll get the others – and see if we will still need to double up a couple of cats or not.

My appointment for the truck was at 1pm, but my daughter and I left around 11:30am. My daughter was on deer watching duty and saw quite a few I never did, since I was focusing on the road. She even saw a herd of at least 5 deer in the trees along our first mile of gravel road, loafed in the snow!

While driving along, I was keeping an eye on that oil gauge and, sure enough, the needle kept dropping. We found ourselves behind slow moving traffic that we couldn’t pass, so the drive took a bit longer than usual. By the time we parked at the garage, the needle was just touching the mark on the low end of normal. It doesn’t need to drop much further into the low pressure zone before the onboard computer starts dinging and telling me to turn off the engine.

I did remember to grab the replacement third brake light that we ordered a while back. I brought that in and talked to the mechanic for a while, explaining exactly what I was seeing, and that I’d added 3/4 of a liter of oil the day before yesterday, which was the last time the truck was driven. I also explained about the light. It’s easy to replace the light, but it requires climbing into the box of the truck to reach it. Something none of us are able bodied enough to do anymore.

That done, my daughter and I headed out – with both of us remembering to grab canes from the truck before we left. I’m very glad we did.

Our first stop was for lunch at a Subway right next to the pharmacy. Then we went to the pharmacy for my daughter to pick up her prescription refills. From there we made our way to the far end of town (about 3 more blocks) to a particular store my daughter wanted to go to.

Being as early as we were, we took our time with things. It was getting around 1:30 when we left the store, so we started making our way back. We stopped at one more store along the way. Unfortunately, by this time, my daughter was really starting to struggle. She’s got even worse back and joint pain than I do right now, and we kept having to slow down.

When we got to the garage, the truck was still in the parking lot. My daughter waited beside it while I popped in. There was just one mechanic at the time, and he’d just got in from lunch (a very late lunch!), apologizing that they hadn’t gotten to the truck yet, as they’ve been so swamped.

So we had to find somewhere to wait. There is a hotel right next to the garage and I normally would have gone to the Chinese restaurant inside, but today is Tuesday. They close on Tuesdays. My daughter was in so much pain, though, we went into the hotel anyhow, and into the bar. It was mostly empty, with just a few people at the counter or playing on the VLTs, so we found a table and sat down. I’ve never been to this part of the hotel though, for a brief period, long ago, my husband worked there as a bouncer. It gets very, very lively at night!

After a while of sitting and not being sure what the procedure was, I finally went to the counter and asked what pop they had. They just had Pepsi, 7Up and Ginger Ale – on the fountain, as mix. My daughter had asked for a root beer or water, depending on what they had, so I got myself a Pepsi and a water for her. It cost me a whole $2. 😁

Then we just sat and relaxed, nursing our drinks.

Eventually, I headed outside and went around the building enough to look at the garage parking lot. Our truck had still not been moved, so I rejoined my daughter. Our drinks were done, so I asked my daughter if she wanted something different, then went to the counter for a refill for myself, and a ginger ale for my daughter. While chatting, I mentioned we were waiting for our truck in the garage next door, as a way to explain why we weren’t getting booze. 😄 As the glasses were being filled, I confirmed the cost, only to be told that refills were free. I mentioned my daughter had a water before, and wanted to pay for the ginger ale – but she let me have it for free!

That was very sweet of her!

As we got closer to 4pm – the garage closes at 5 – I went out again to check the garage parking lot. The truck was still there, but one of the bay doors was open, so I went in to ask if they could say how much longer it would be. The owner was back by then, so he was the one I was talking to this time.

Which is when he told me he’d meant to call me several times, but kept getting pulled away by other things – then told me I forgot to leave the key with them.

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Thankfully, it wasn’t much of a delay because of the keys, so I quickly left them on the desk then headed back to rejoin my daughter.

The next time I went out to check, the truck was gone and the bay doors were closed, so we finished up our drinks then headed to the garage. Walking past the truck in one of the bays, I could see the shiny new third brake light had been installed. They had just finished with the truck, so the owner was able to join me in the office and talk to me about it while the mechanic backed the truck out of the shop.

There’s nothing wrong with the truck.

There is no leak. The oil levels were fine. I told him about adding more oil just the day before yesterday, and it had been down – otherwise, it would have been over filled when they checked it. We went over what I was seeing on the pressure gauge again, and he is completely perplexed. They could find nothing wrong. He told me, however, that I am not the only one with this mystery. Another customer, with a completely different make and model truck, has the exact same issue.

The only thing he can think of is that it’s the oil sensor. It’s been replaced twice – the second time on warranty – but it is not a GM brand sensor. It was the same situation with the other customer, except that truck is a Dodge. They were going to try replacing the sensor with the name brand part instead, and he thought that might make a difference if we did similar with our truck, too. There’s really nothing else that it might be. He’s going to look up the sensor and see what he can find for me.

We did talk a bit about bringing my mother’s car in to be checked over in preparation for selling it. He wanted to know if I was still wanting to do that, and I said yes, but right now, we can’t get it out of the garage because the doors are blocked with snow. So that will wait for a bit. Then we talked about refinancing to replace the truck. I told him, if there was any way we could keep the truck and make a down payment instead, I’d prefer that. We do need two vehicles, and the truck is the perfect vehicle for us here. The problem is, we’ve only had the truck for 2 years. We still owe quite a lot on it, so refinancing might not be easy. Something that needs to be looked into, though the financing company did offer my husband a pre-approved loan a couple of months back!

In the end, all I had to pay for was half an hour of labour, because all they did was install the light I brought, and try to do some diagnostics.

By this time, a weather system we’d been keeping an eye on for much of the day had reached us, and snow was starting to come down pretty hard. My daughter and I popped across the street to the grocery store, next. I had a list of my own, plus my husband gave me his card and a list, and my daughter had a shopping list from her sister. The snow was coming down harder when we were done, but we still had a pair of stops to make. My daughter’s second list from her sister was for the liquor store, while I went to the hardware store across the street. I wanted to get a couple of litres of oil to keep in the truck, since I finished off the last of my stash. I meant to buy some from the garage, but they it only in bulk.

When we were both done and heading home, we drove out of the worst of the snow fairly quickly, and had a nice break from it, though the roads were pretty slick in places.

Meanwhile, my daughter passed on messages she was getting from her sister.

My mother had called.

No one could get to the phone in time, but she didn’t leave a message.

She called again.

Then again.

By the fourth time, my older daughter was waiting at the phone to pick up right away. She could hear noises, including button pushing noises. She was shouting “hello”, but there was nothing. Then my mother hung up.

This time, my daughter kept a handset with her, so she was ready to answer the 5th call. She had to shout hello again before my mother finally answered, asking for me. She told my mother I wasn’t home and would call her back. Then my mother asked who was on the phone, so my daughter said her name.

Who??

Your granddaughter!

My daughter explained again that I was out, and that I would call her as soon as I got home. My mother told her, “I’m waiting!”

???

Then my daughter messaged her sister a detailed transcript of what happened, which was read to me during the drive home. 😄

As near as I can figure, for at least one of the attempted phone calls, my mother didn’t bring the phone to her ear again; she tends to stare at the screen after making the call, instead. What we couldn’t figure out is what was going on that was so important that she’d call 5 times!

So as soon as everything was unloaded and put away, including the truck (I had to feed the cats so I could safely move it out of the yard!), I called my mother.

She had her phone on her and was able to answer rather quickly.

I told her, I was finally home and asked her what was going on.

Oh, nothing.

She mentioned figuring out her phone, and that she just wanted to keep communication going.

She just wanted to talk.

…

Before I’d called, I went through the CID list. The first three calls my mother made were barely a minute apart. The last two, where my daughter had actually answered, though my mother never heard her the first time, were just a couple of minutes apart.

She has never done anything like this before. Usually, if she does make several calls while I’m away, it’s because something had happened. She would sometimes leave angry messages on the machine, about how she knows we’re there, pick up the phone. Even then, the calls were never one right after the other like she did, today.

On the plus side, she’s obviously getting used to her phone and, more importantly, she’s remembering to keep it with her.

Of course, she was wondering when I’ll be visiting next! I mentioned we’ve got rain and snow happening tonight and tomorrow, plus I’ve got a lot of things to catch up on now that we’ve got the truck back. I didn’t tell her I’d taken the truck to the garage again today, as that would have just caused issues. I mentioned possibly Thursday, though it would be while coming back from the city. I did not tell her I was going to be delivering cats! She told me, whenever you can, and just sort of brushed it off. Which is REALLY unusual for her!

Then she cut the call short because there was nothing to talk about.

That had to be one of the strangest calls I’ve had with my mother. So very unlike her! Still, she seemed in a much better mood than she has been of late, so I’ll take it.

Meanwhile…

I’m hoping to finally head in to the tax preparer tomorrow and drop off our files. Normally, we would have done it as soon as my husband’s second T4A came in, but we didn’t have the transportation. Tomorrow is supposed to be steady snow, possibly mixed with rain, for most of the day. At least it’s supposed to clear up when it’s time to take the cats in to the rescue!

While we were bringing stuff into the house, Sir Robin managed to slip through the door three times! I caught him before he could get far, but that boy SO wants to be indoors!

Soon, he will be!

Just a little bit longer.

I am so glad the rescue has been able to find fosters for so many cats!

The only problem is, how will the truck behave? Knowing there is nothing wrong – no leaks, etc. – doesn’t help if that pressure gauge drops far enough to set off alarms and warning lights.

Hopefully, changing out that sensor one more time will stop it from happening.

Not sure when that will happen, though. He’s got to do some searching for one, first, much like he had to do to find a differential for our truck’s year.

The mystery is so incredibly frustrating and perplexing.

The Re-Farmer