We’re at 10C/50F as I write this. “Real feel” at 12C/54F – and we still haven’t reached our high of the day! Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.
I am so enjoying this.
First up, I made sure to check on the well pump this morning, and I’m happy to say…
… everything is drying up nicely, and there is no sign of any leaks.
The picture is out of focus because that corner is completely dark, so the camera didn’t know where to focus before the flash lit up.
There is moisture on the floor below showing, but that is normal for this time of year. There’s a low spot where any water seeping through the concrete puddles, and I sweep it into the sump pump reservoir regularly.
Then I headed outside to feed the yard cats, and was even able to do a head count.
Twenty seven. There were 27 cats this morning!
This included Slick, who made a brief appearance.
She is no longer very round.
*sigh*
Then she disappeared.
I checked all the places we set up that I hoped she would use to have her kittens, but they were all empty.
I did find Gouda in the catio, enjoying the fresh straw on the hammock.
There is a beautiful feral tuxedo I saw this morning that I think actually lives across the road from us. He likely calls two colonies “home”.
Once the morning routine was done, I headed to the town north of us to sign the form for our taxes, then take my husband’s home for him to sign, before taking it back. It’s a half hour drive to this town, so doing this meant a total of 2 hours of driving time. Happily, the truck behaved the entire time.
Which is good, because tomorrow I have my eye appointment that my daughter will need to drive me home from.
Meanwhile, I’d messaged the rescue chat group about my count this morning, and we talked about how to at least get some of the friendly males neutered. With that in mind, I did a bit of clean up in the isolation shelter. Later on, when the ground is dry and we can set up a hose, we will move the isolation shelter away from the house and give it a through spring cleaning. For now, though, I wanted to clear out the bottom level. We haven’t been able to change the two litter boxes under there for a long time, because of the box shelter we set in front of the ramp door in the winter. It is warm enough that I moved it out completely and left it set aside, so we’ll be able to access the bottom regularly now. I left the emptied litter boxes out, only one of which will make its way back into the shelter. The other will go into the cat cage in the sun room, where I hope any mamas will bring their kittens.
The straw that was put in the lower level for the winter was thoroughly pooped on. I had to use a garden hoe to reach the far corner and drag it all to the ramp door. That all went to the litter compost behind the outhouse.
It was so warm, I shut off the heat lamp in the isolation shelter as well as both of them in the sun room. With overnight temperatures looking relatively mild from now on, we shouldn’t need to turn them back on again until the fall.
By the time I was done with the isolation shelter, I was starting to hurt again. Definitely something wrong going on in my abdomen. I would not be at all surprised to learn I’ve developed another large cyst. Doctor’s appointment is in the first week of May. We’ll see how it goes from there.
With my eye appointment tomorrow, I won’t be able to work on the garden beds I meant to, but I should be able to gather the materials I’ll need later today. The days are getting so much longer, I’ll have time for that. I think I’ve figured out what I want to use to protect the dwarf peas in the wattle weave bed from the cats, once the straw mulch is removed. Once I’ve got everything I need handy, it won’t take long at all to get the beds cleaned up and protected.
From twenty. Seven. Cats.
*sigh*
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 