Sadly, Pointy Baby took a turn for the worst last night. In the wee hours of the morning, he passed on in my arms.
This is where we found him, yesterday.
You can see where we cut the whole to free him.
Of course, I’m constantly thinking how I should have found him, earlier. I didn’t think to look for him, when he didn’t come out in the morning. That’s not unusual for yard cats, though rate for him.
I had gone out and back to meet my mother and brother for Easter, but heard nothing.
I’d gone out to clear more paths and wasn’t that far, but I saw and heard nothing. It was only by chance that I heard him in the evening, and kept trying to find the source of that strange meow.
While doing the evening cat feeding, I heard a strange meow in the distance. I went to the outer yard to investigate, but could see nothing, and the meowing stopped.
I heard it again when I topped up the water bowls. It was such a strange meow, I went looking again. This time, I slogged through the snow to the pump shack, thinking one of the mamas had her kittens there. There was no mama, though I did hear tiny kitten meows. Oddly, they sounded like they were coming from just outside the wall. The only thing there is an old, collapsing mini she’d with no roof, and some old junk appliances. I stomped through the snow, anyhow, but could no longer hear kitten meows.
I did hear the strange meow again, though. From another direction.
Looking over, I could see one of the white and grey cats in the “basement ” window of the storage house that keeps falling off. When I heard the meow again, it seemed closer. So I headed towards the chain link fence.
That’s when I could finally see him.
There is a spot along that fence where the yard cats (and skunks) squeeze under to get through the fence. Even in winter, they wear the snow down to access the space.
Pointy Baby was there, but something was wrong.
It wasn’t until I slogged through more snow to reach him, that I could see his head was stuck through the chain link fence.
As soon as I saw him, I realized he had to have been stuck there at least all day. When I did the morning feeding, he wasn’t there, which was a first. How much longer he was stuck there, I can’t guess. The poor thing had been struggling for some time. He had worn out an area around him in the snow, and his lower body was all wet with mud.
I lifted him slightly to look, but could see there was no way I could get him out. I ran to the house to call the girls for help, saying we would have to cut the fence. My younger daughter remembered the bolt cutters, so whle she got shoes on, I ran to the garage to get them.
Between the two of us, we were able to cut him free without adding injury. While I cradled him to warm him up, my daughter did a quick check. One eye was dilated, and she could see where skin was rubbed raw under his chin, but no open wounds.
We headed to the house, where my other daughter brought a towel to wrap him in.
Pointy Baby, meanwhile, snuggled into my arms.
We brought him to my room, where we can keep him isolated. The girls started cleaning him up, checking him over and tending to him, while I called the vet.
It’s Easter, so they were closed, but the message included a number for a vet for emergencies. I called it and spoke to the vet, describing what happened, and how he looked.
She advised to to keep him warm, offer him soft food, and monitor him for an hour. If he got worse, to call her back.
During that time, my daughters kept cleaning his lower body with warm water, and looking him over. His mouth looks like he was somehow managing to bite the chain link. The corners are red and swollen.
We was completely placid the hole time. Even when my daughter started trying to brush out mats for fur.
Aside from the redness from the fence wire, there was a spot I saw before that was getting red because of his fur starting to mat so much. We started cutting the mats out, too.
He purred, even as multiple people worked on him at the same time.
He has shown no interest in food and water yet. In fact, he fell asleep while my daughter and I carefully sheered the huge mat that started under one ear and wrapped around the front of his neck.
It’s entirely possible that mat prevented worse damage to his neck.
Other mats we cut out still had burrsstuck in them.
After a while, he seemed to loose patience a bit. We got the worst out and cleaned up.
We have the baby jail set up for him, which means closing it to keep Marlee out.
For now, though, he is sleeping in my arms.
He’s wrapped in a towel, but I wanted to use my own body heat to keep him warm. I am using my phone to make this post, because I can’t use my desktop right now.
He seems to be sleeping peacefully right now. He would be recovering from shock. My only concern at the moment is that his dilated eye won’t close all the way. Every now and then, I have been gently holding the lids closed, so his eye won’t dry out.
Poor, sweet baby boy!
I will feel much better when I see him eating and drinking.
I got a phone call from my brother this morning, letting me know he was going to our mother’s for Easter services. He had double checked that a particular restaurant would be open, so we arranged for me to meet them there.
I left early and was able to grab a table for us. He hadn’t told my mother that I would be there, so she was quite surprised. I’m not sure it was a good surprise – at least at first! 😄 Of course, she did eventually get around to asking why I didn’t go to church. Thankfully, my brother played interference and diverted her with some humour, because my answer would have been along the lines of “you. I don’t go to church because of you!” Which is partly true. I could go to church with her every Sunday, and it wouldn’t be good enough. Still, she was having one of her good days, so it was a pleasant visit overall. She even complimented me on my appearance. Okay, so it was really a backhanded insult, but I don’t think my mother even knows how to make a genuine compliment. 😄
It was good to get together, and especially to see my brother. I don’t see him anywhere near as much as I’d like to, and his wonderful wife even less (after my mother’s unending mistreatment of her, she no longer comes out to visit my mother – and I’m not sure my mother has even clued in to that. 😥)
As we were chatting, I mentioned the water in the path we’re having to walk through to get to the garage, and the that is starting to form. My brother had been wondering if we could simply go around it, but there’s just too much snow. On top of that, as the snow melts… well…
… when I left this morning, there was just the deeper part in the path. While doing my rounds this morning, I was breaking through ice. Still, I was able to walk through it and not get my feet wet. By this afternoon, the “lake” had grown, and it’s now deep enough to reach where the laces start on my boots and seep in. Unfortunately, my rubber boots have a big crack in them, so I have to get a new pair. It’s really hard to find rubber boots that will fit my battered, wide feet or my over-developed calves.
Minor inconveniences. I’m just happy to see the snow going away! Which should happen quickly. The weekly forecast has changed. We were supposed to slowly warm up today and over the next couple of days, still staying below 10C/50F, then jump up to 16 and 17C/61-63F Instead, we now have a high for today expected to reach 7C/45F, and highs of 15C/59F for the next three days! The average high for this time of year is about 8C/46F, though the record highs have reached as much as 20C/68F, while the record lows have reached down to -15C/5F.
I’ll take the 15C!
All in all, it’s working out to be a gorgeous day to celebrate Easter!
May today be a day of great joy and blessings for you and yours!
Our basket this year included a multi-grain bread, figs and port sausage, ham, olives stuffed with blue cheese, a wheel of brie, salt, mustard with horseradish, parsley butter, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and hard boiled eggs, all of which received the traditional blessing.
I didn’t have time to post this before heading into the city. We had an excellent visit, and ended up leaving an hour or so later than we should have. It was dark by the time we left, and with all the reflections on the damp roads, it was extremely difficult to see where the lanes were. We also very quickly realized we needed to stop as soon as possible and clean our headlights! Thankfully, there is a gas station just outside the city on our route – and the prices were 5 cents cheaper than when we filled on the way out. Gas prices were really weird. In the town my mother lives in, where we usually stop for gas, the prices had gone up from 154.9 cents/liter to 160.9. Usually, the prices are cheaper in the city, but we were passing gas stations at 169.9! This one station outside the city is usually a penny or two higher than inside the city, so it was very strange to see it lower than everywhere else. My daughter was a sweetheart and cleaned all the headlights and windows while I got the gas, and my goodness, did it make a difference! It was still very cautious driving, though. Not because of road conditions – those were great. It was being on constant lookout for deer! Thankfully, we only saw one, running away from the road, but there are so many of the around this time of year, I consider that very lucky.
So what did I find that I would have posted about before leaving?
This lovely surprise!
When I turn the lights on in the morning, I would always lift the dome on this tray to check the pots while getting the condensation to drip into the tray a bit. There wasn’t a single sprout this morning. After making our second basket and putting it in the living room for safe keeping, I took the time to look at the tray that had been moved off the neat mat, to see if any more peppers had sprouts. None had, but I realized I was seeing green through the condensation of the dome on the new tray. I couldn’t believe how many tomatoes has sprouted in such a short time! I’m also surprised they sprouted earlier than the herbs. Those seeds are so tiny, they are practically surface sown, so I figured they would be visible first, for sure. Nope. Not a single herb seed has germinated yet.
With the tomatoes sprouting, though, the dome now stays off.
Now, if only more of those peppers – and any of the Classic eggplant – would start sprouting!
The outside cats are quite enjoying the warmer temperatures.
I snagged this picture through our bathroom window. The cats have knocked everything off that shelf, except for an organizer box in the corner that’s too heavy for them to casually push around.
They love this shelf!
They are also loving the paths to the electric meter and burn ring, now clear of snow.
Now that our angel of a neighbour cleared the driveway for us, that’s going to melt clear quickly, too. I just finished going through the trail cam files and took note of the time stamps. He showed up almost exactly an hour after I started clearing the end of the driveway.
This is how far I got in that hour. About 6 feet or so. Maybe 7. Granted, a lot of that time included having to use the ice scraper to break up the plow ridge before I could shovel it away, so it would have gone faster clearing ordinary snow. Still, it would probably have taken almost 2 more hours, just to clear up to the gate, where it was slightly deeper due to drifting. My daughter working at the other end with the little electric snow blower would not have been able to go much faster. It definitely would have taken us all day to get a path just wide enough to drive through, clear.
Which means we both would have been in a world of hurt, today – and we are set to drive to the city this afternoon!
Today is Holy Saturday, After I finish this, we’ll start assembling and blessing our baskets. We’re making a second one as a gift to bring with us this afternoon.
They did a great job on the road, but that plow ridge. Oy! I knew it needed to be cleared before things warmed up, then froze again into a solid mass. This morning, at least, it was still relatively soft. Just really deep!
I came back with the snow shovel and the ice scraper. I used the ice scraper to break up the packed snow and large chunks in the plow ridge, then shoveled it away, little by little. My goal was to make a space wide enough to drive through, but first I did about half that width, just to dig my way to the road. Then I started digging my way back clearing the other half.
Part way through, I realized I was being watched from the road!
Two deer were very perplexed by my activities!
While I was out there, my daughter also came out and got little Spewie going. She started clearing the space in front of the garage. The snow is no longer sticky, but a lot harder than it was yesterday, so it was tough going on that poor little snow blower. I saw her having to go back into the garage quite a few time to flick the switch on the power bar back on.
Then, and angel swooped in.
While I was still shoveling away, our neighbour with the plow attachment on his truck drove up. Once I realized he was dropping his plow and turning into our driveway, I grabbed the shovel and ice scraper and moved out of the way.
In just a few minutes, he did what would have taken us all day, just to get a path wide enough to drive through!
He even drove out and reversed all the way back down the driveway, so he could clear the area in front of where we store the lawn mowers and snow blower, which he couldn’t access from the other direction. Then, last of all, he widened the space at the end of the driveway!
He didn’t even stop to let me thank him. I shouted my thanks, anyway, and he just waved and kept going.
What an absolute sweetheart!
Also… I want a truck with a plow attachment like his! What a beast, and he could make that thing dance. 🤍🤍
After doing some shoveling this morning, I headed in and took a break with breakfast and a pot of tea before heading out again in the afternoon.
I waited too long.
I started by doing the upstairs litters, then getting the burn going, getting rid of our burnable garbage along with the sawdust litter. While tending that, I cleared the paths to the electric meter. With how warm it was getting and how the snow was changing, even in that time, I put a cover on the burn ring sooner than I normally would have, then went to get little Spewie out and clear the driveway.
It was too late.
It’s -4C/25F right now, bright and sunny. All the paths I dug earlier, where it’s darker, have melted away, but the snow is just getting wetter, stickier and heavier. Too sticky for the snow blower. I had to give up after only a couple of passes across the front of the garage.
While it’s not much of a problem for shoveling paths, with the snow just getting wetter and heavier, there’s no way we can shovel the entire driveway.
Which means we’re stuck. Our vehicles can’t get through that, either.
On top of that, the roads aren’t plowed, and I suspect they won’t be.
Hopefully, the warmer temperatures will take care of it for us by the weekend, when we are supposed to reach above freezing temperatures for highs from then on. I know the highways will be clear by then, but it’s rather different on gravel roads.
Well, the storm has passed, and everyone is starting to dig their way out.
This is me, on my way to switch out the memory card in the gate cam.
No, I’m not standing in a drift. The snow reaches almost to me knees. Taking into account what was already on the ground, we definitely got at least 10 inches/25 cm in total.
I didn’t walk all the way to the road, as the end of the driveway is drifted over, so not only is it deeper, but harder packed. The road has not been plowed yet. I’d already seen people posting in local Facebook groups asking about the plows. Apparently, our new council members have not sent them out yet. Whether that’s for budgetary reasons or because they decided to simply let it melt was the question.
Of course, we couldn’t get out of our driveway right now, anyways, even with the van.
I found a whole train of cats waiting for me when I got back to the inner yard!
This path is now shovelled clear again. I also cleared the path to the garage, wide enough for walker or wagon, and enough space in front of the garage to open the side doors.
We can now open the doors on the storage side, and there’s room enough to maneuver little Spewie out. That little snow blower is going to get a work out, today!
I cleared the path to the burn ring, too. We need to do another burn. I’d like to get more paths dug out, so that they will melt clear faster as things warm up. I’m not going to bother digging a path to the sign cam, though. There’s lots of space on the memory card, and the batteries were still good the last I checked, so it should be fine until I can get to it again. At least I can be confident our vandal isn’t going to fight his way through the snow to wreck the sign or something.
For now, I’m going to have myself another cup of tea before heading back out again.
It’s feeling a bit surreal right now. The snow is still falling and it’s bright, if overcast, outside, so I keep thinking we’re in the middle of the afternoon in winter. But it’s spring right now, the days are longer, and it’s actually past 7:30 in the evening as I write this.
I headed outside to top up the kibble for the cats and had to push the sun room door open, because of the snow drifted against it. I ended up shoveling it clear, along with the space between the cat shelters, and just kept on going.
I didn’t do all that much. I cleared the path from the sun room door to the main entry, which was also partially blocked with snow. I cleared the steps, but only part of the patio blocks. There is a pile of snow at the “corner” beside the elm tree and I kept having to push the top of it further into the yard, because the snow I was shoveling was falling back onto the path I was clearing.
From there, I just cleared the path to the gate. The rest can wait until tomorrow.
The cats clearly liked what I was doing . Every time I cleared a new spot, I’d turn around and find a cat in it!
Except Gooby.
Gooby actually climbed my back while I was shoveling, then clung to my shoulder like a monkey! When I stopped to take the other picture, he crawled around between my phone and my face. That boy does love humans!!
The snow on that path to the house is not drifted. Plus, with how much the older snow had melted away from the path, it is also not accumulated snow. That’s all fresh along the edges of the blocks. It looks like we got more snow than was predicted for our area – that’s looking like 8 or 10 inches (20-25cm). I’ve heard that one area got as much as 35cm (almost 14 inches) today!
Thankfully, we are well stocked and don’t have to go anywhere for a few days!
The Re-Farmer 