So many deer!

At the last half mile on the way home, I had to stop on the road to let some deer pass.

There was a group of five deer, though I did see the flash of tail of a 6th one, already on the other side of the fence.  After they had all jumped the fence, I drove forward, only to have to stop for another three!

I uploaded sets of photos on my Instagram, if you’d like to see more.

I might have to start bringing the DSLR with me when I do these trips; zooming in on my phone makes for some pretty terrible quality shots, but it’s better than nothing!

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I saw the first group crossing the road from some distance away, but when I got closer, they kept running along the shoulder of the road.  I’d drive a bit, stop, drive a bit, stop…  it seemed like they were looking for a better place to cross the ditch or something.  Eventually, they picked a spot and off they went.

I doubt I drove more than 100ft before I saw the second group of three.

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These had come out of the bush on the left, just like the earlier group, crossed the road, but that’s as far as they got.  As I crept closer, they stopped, then ran ahead for a while, then crossed back and headed for the trees they had come out of.

So many deers!

I wonder if the group of three were Mama and the twins?

Meanwhile, as I write this, Hungry Girl and Barbecue are outside our window, having a snack. :-)

The Re-Farmer

A Day of Rest

Today was a very quiet day; I’ve learned to really appreciate those!

I posted some photos of the outside cats on my new Instagram account when I went out to feed them this morning.  Butterscotch came out, and I tried to see how the wound on the back of her neck was doing.  The fur was no longer matted and damp looking, but quite clean, so some grooming obviously happened.  Though I could feel where the wound was, she wouldn’t stay still enough for me to see anything.  It’s clearly not bothering her, though, which is good.

I’ve yet to see any deer today.  My older daughter thinks it might be too wet.  I’m hoping they come by later on.  The squirrels and birds will eat only so much, and as damp as things are, the seeds might start germinating – or rotting, depending on the conditions.

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Nasty Crime Boy entertained us for a while.  At first, he seemed to be watching something up the tree, though nothing that we could see from our window.  Mostly, though, he was just starting at the tree trunk.  Perhaps a bug had caught his attention?  I was able to get his attention for a photo, though. :-)

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Trüllbus the Crime Eater took over Rolando Moon’s favourite spot.  He had joined me when I was putting their food out this morning, but he would not let me touch him, or even go too near him.

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The redpolls were out in full force, but they were so active, I didn’t even try for a photo of them.  Instead, I managed to quick shot of this little feathery golf ball of a chickadee!

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Only one blue jay visited today.  Looks like it was a day of rest for the critters, too.

It’ll be an early bed time for me tonight.  I’ve got my first turn taking my mother to a doctor tomorrow morning.  One of her eyes had suddenly turned blood red.  Thankfully, my sister was visiting that day and able to take her to see a doctor.  The local clinic was closed, however, so she had to go to a clinic in the next large enough community.  That’s where I need to bring her back to tomorrow morning.  It’ll be about 40 minutes drive, plus the time it’ll take to pick up my mother.  Who knows how long we’ll be in the waiting room; they only told her to come back in the morning.  No appointment made.

I think I’ll bring along a small crochet project.  And maybe some extra yarn and hooks for my mother. :-D

My daughter has already offered me the energy drink she had been saving for another day.  I’m going to need it! :-D

The Re-Farmer

If you wait long enough…

… the deer come back.

Hungry Girl and Barbecue came back, while there was still light enough to get photos. :-)

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Eunice the Sad and Tired Snowman has lost her head.  Mostly.

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Interesting that Hungry Girl – the one that’s shier and gets bullied by Barbecue so much – is the one that’s brave enough to come closer to the house, while Barbecue stays farther away.

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He keeps tabs on us in the window, too!

My day is complete now. :-)

The Re-Farmer

 

Feeling like Spring!

We’ve hit a whole +3C today!  Gosh, it feels so warm.

Of course, in a couple of months, the same temperature is going to feel cold, but hey, I’ll appreciate it while I can!

It was a great day to meet with family in town for a birthday brunch for my older daughter.  Unfortunately, my husband was in too much pain to join us. :-( We got to see my older brother and his wife, plus my nephew and his wife, whom I haven’t seen since I came out for my father’s funeral, almost 2 years ago.  My older daughter hadn’t seen them since my youngest brother’s funeral, about 8 years ago.  Yeah; the only time we’ve been seeing family has been for funeral related events.  We weren’t even making it to weddings.  We had lots to talk about!  Thankfully, the restaurant wasn’t busy, because we sat there for over an hour, lingering over coffees and talk.

In the end, it was probably a good thing my husband didn’t make it.  He would never had been able to stay so long.  No amount of medication can keep away that level of pain.

After, we spent some more time chatting in the parking lot about the car my nephew was driving; he’d salvaged it out of one of the car graveyards here at the farm and got it going again – he even left the moss growing in the Bondo cracks.  It seems one of the front tires was separating.  Did he have a spare?  Of course.  He had two full size spares. That’s my nephew!  :-D

So they were maybe going to go to where the boats were parked, where there was more room to change the tire, which I thought was great; that’s where we go to play Pokemon Go, so we’d meet them there if they did.  My daughters, meanwhile, walked to a Timmies to get more coffee, and they would meet me there, too.

When my nephew didn’t come to the parking lot, I thought they decided not to change the tire, but then a lure showed up on the Pokestop.  Looking around, I finally saw this familiar knit jacket that I had been admiring at the restaurant; my nephew’s wife had walked over to play Pokemon Go.  Which was perfect, because once my daughters joined us, we had enough people to do a raid. :-D

It turned out they had gone to another parking lot with boats in it.

Yeah, there’s more than one boat parking lot in town.

I completely forgot about the one by the marina.  It has a much more “private property” feel to it than the yacht club parking area we were at, which is next to a public park.  I don’t know that I’d call any of the boats there “yachts”, but there IS a sign… :-D

When we got home, my husband was lying down, so it was strange to find a business card tucked into the door.  Someone from a scrap metal company had come by while we were gone and left it.  Probably going to all the farms in the area.

We’re hanging on to that card!  Unlike my nephew, we are not in a position to start salvaging the many vehicles lying about.  We have neither the skills, nor the resources.  Nor the desire! :-D  Then there are the old fridges and freezers all sort of ancient metal things lying about…

Once things are clear of snow, I plan to do a walkabout with my brother so he can tell me the status of various things, including all the … stuff … lying around, so I know what I can get rid of.

Being away as long as we were, it meant we missed seeing the deer.  I’d put the cat food and deer feed out earlier than usual, and I did get a couple of cats come by.  Butterscotch even let me touch her.

Which is how I discovered a strange patch on the back of her neck.

Eventually, as she went from going to a food or water bowl, to winding herself between my legs, I was able to make out that it was a wound.  It looks like a bunch of fur has been torn out.  It looks raw, but it’s not bleeding, and when I had inadvertently skritched the area, she did not react in pain.  My older daughter had noticed something odd about the fur yesterday, so it’s been like that for at least that long.

Cat fight?

Most likely.  No way to know, though.

No deer pictures, but we did get some cat pictures…

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Eunice the Scary Snowman is starting to look like Eunice, the Sad, Tired Snowman!

Not that Beep Beep minds, while sitting on a warm spot.

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We weren’t able to get a photo of Beep Beep and The Hand, batting at each other while they were sitting like this.

They love that stone cross!  So do the squirrels.

I am so looking forward to the snow being gone.

The Re-Farmer

 

 

 

Critters – and ID progress

We had a lot of deer activity out our window this morning!  All five of them, at one point. They were all energetic and dashing all over the place, which made getting photos a bit of a challenge!

My younger daughter was watching them and commented that the twins are starting to get less fuzzy and starting to look more sleek, like their mother.  I’ve noticed their faces are starting to get less round and also starting to get that more “adult” look.

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Except when they’re making silly faces! :-D

Despite our repeated vacuuming, the Asian lady beetles are still out in high numbers.

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In the morning, they really like our living room window.  They are upstairs in the highest numbers, but they also really like my office.

Yesterday, I made myself a giant cup of tea, then went into my office to work on the computer.  After a while, I took my empty cup and started to refill it, only to find a lady beetle had landed in my cup and was now swirling around in the tea.

Ew.

So now I’m paranoid about my tea.

This morning, one of my priorities was to look at the public insurance website about was needed to get a driver’s license updated after a move, because all this about needing my proof of address to include my physical address was getting beyond ridiculous.  The website very clearly states,

Rural customers must provide at least one document containing their physical address. If rural customers do not have two supporting documents containing their physical address, the second document can contain their mailing address.

Which is what I gave them.  In fact, both documents had the physical address, because the proof of identification form specifically has “no p.o. box” on it, as we’d considered adding it in, too.

So instead of driving to my bank branch in the town my mom lives in, I printed out copies of last month’s electricity and phone bills (this month’s aren’t up yet, which means they are likely not going to be available online until next week), as well as the puclic insurance company’s webpage.

When we got there, someone else was being served at the counter, so I waited.  Then a woman came out from the back – the one I’d been dealing with the last 3 times I’ve been there and has been trying to help me so much – and went right to helping me.  She knew why I was there!

We talked for a bit and I told her about my calls with the phone and electric companies, and how the electric company simply can’t include the physical address, because their system doesn’t allow for it.  She was able to tell me why the personal identification form was rejected.

It turns out the problem on the form wasn’t with me or my address.

It was the postmaster.

It seems that the identity unit (we have one???) couldn’t confirm her as a postmaster, based on some sort of criteria they had.

Which is weird, since she has a framed certificate up on the wall, identifying her as the postmaster, issued by Canada Post.

Totally bizarre.

In the end, she took my phone bill as proof of address, because the electric bill had a slightly different postal address – it included the term “station main” on there (which is what they normally do).  I mentioned that they had a copy of my marriage certificate, which has my address on it, but Vital Statistics isn’t among their list of acceptable sources.

Well, what I’ve given now had better be good enough.  If this isn’t, I don’t know what’s left!

After that, my daughter and I picked up some prescription refills for my husband.  Unfortunately, it was for painkillers that can’t be filled until the last refill is almost done.  My husband had phoned it in yesterday, but they wouldn’t be ready for pick up until today – and he ran out of the painkillers last night.

It was a rough day for him today.  It’s not like he can take them any time, either, but on a schedule.

After picking up the refills and doing  some other errands (one nice thing about it; almost all the stuff we needed to do was within a block of each other), my daughter and I went to play some Pokemon Go.  Which turned out to be really excellent hunting; we both caught new Pokemon for the Pokedex, and we actually caught a Blissy!  She hasn’t even seen a Chancy, yet (I’ve had much more opportunity to play that she has), so that was pretty exciting.

On the way home, we stopped at the post office.  The postmaster wasn’t there, but I talked to the person that was working the post office to pass on what happened with the form.  I figured she might like to know that the identity unit couldn’t verify her as the postmaster.  Mind you, it could be because this is such a tiny post office, inside a retail outlet, and not a stand-alone office, like in the next town.

After we got home, my daughter was a sweetheart and did some bread baking.

I ended up crashing with the cats for 3 hours.

I’m getting too old for this. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Critters, and ID Update. Yay!

Okay, so let’s end the day with things that don’t involve messy mystery clean up jobs!

Nothing like our critters to make me smile again. :-)

All of them seemed unusually active today.  Maybe spring is in the air?

While walking away from the door to feed the cats, several of the usual friendlier ones already in the area, I caught sight of the Mothman out by the other house, running away hard, in great leaps and bounds though the snow!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Mothman move at anything faster than a barely quick walk before!

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At best, a few of these guys let me pet their backs while they ate, and they didn’t seem to like it that much.  Squishum wouldn’t even allow that.  Even Rolando Moon, who came in later and will usually come right up to me, stayed away.  Only Butterscotch let me touch her, though she was moving around too much to properly pet her.  As I walked out of the yard to go read the electricity meter, she kept running ahead of me a few steps, stopping, running ahead a few more steps, then stopping again.  There was something odd about how she was moving, as if she didn’t like her paws touching the ground.  Then she would stop and chew on the bottom of a paw.  I think she might have had ice and/or snow stuck to her paws or something.  The only other time I’ve seen a cat walk like that was when it accidentally stepped on a piece of tape, and it got stuck. :-D

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Even the blue jays were so active, I could hardly get a photo of them.

Then the deer showed up.

All 5 of them.

Barbecue came first, then Mama and one of the twins, which was very unusual.  The other twin made its way through the spruce grove, instead.  Then they chased Barbecue away from where he was eating.  Hungry Girl made her way in through the trees, too.  Then, for the next while, they kept chasing each other off.  Mama and the twins took over the feeding station for a while, as Hungry Girl and Barbecue hung out in the spruce grove.  Eventually, they would make their way over, and more chasing would happen.  Not the usual short little chases, either, but big leaping chases, out into the garden.

It’s always something else to see a deer at full speed.  They can really move!!

With all that, I did get quite a few pictures.  This one has got to be my favourite!

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What a sassy Mama!

Who know deer could wink? :-D

I also love this one of Hungry Girl.

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Meanwhile, the squirrel is just sitting there, watching all the crazy stuff going on.

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In between all this, I made my trip to the post office and got my marriage certificate (yay!) so after lunch, my younger daughter and I went into town to FINALLY get my driver’s license transferred over, as well as mail off the forms to finally get our health care cards for this province.

I think it still ended up taking an hour to process the driver’s license transfer!  Thankfully, between all the paperwork I had, she was able to get it done.  Because I was able to get my old file number from the last time I had a driver’s license in this province, she was able to look it up – and my old photo came up for her!  She commented on how different I looked.  Especially the glasses. :-D

She did a whole bunch of form filling, taking extra care to make sure all the names and dates were right, I got my photo taken, then she got on the phone to get an override of my old license done.

They put her on hold.

Twice.

That done, she started to input the new information, but had to start over part of it, which meant I had to get my picture taken again.

I commented on how much more difficult all this was from how it used to be. She got a slightly wild look in her eyes as she nodded in agreement.  I added that seemed to get more difficult only recently.  The wild look came back to her eyes as she nodded and said that yes, yes it has!

I feel for the staff that needs to do all this.

Finally, everything was filled out.  My old driver’s license was photocopied, then she blacked out the bar codes.  I got the photocopies along with my original paperwork, after those got copied, too.  I paid for it, which turned out to be $50 ($20 for the license, $30 for a fee!). After that I had to sign something like 5 different forms.  Then, miracle of miracles, I got to sign my new temporary driver’s license!  My permanent one should arrive in the mail within a few weeks.

It’s done!  Finally done!

Then next time I’m back there, it will be after our van is saftied, and I can transfer the insurance and registration.  Which hopefully will be ready to do before the end of this month, so I don’t have to pay cancellation fees.

I’m just to glad it’s all finished now!  The rest of the family still needs to do their IDs, but I’m the primary driver, so it was more of a priority.

What an ordeal!  So glad it’s over!

The Re-Farmer

Daily Deer

Very few photos today; we saw Hungry Girl and Barbecue this morning, but I didn’t see any later.  Even the birds seemed to be fewer today.

However, I did get a good shot of Barbecue to share with you today.

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Gotta love that goofy face!

The Re-Farmer