Critters

Kitten, currant tomatoes and back in the ER

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What a day.

I kept feeling worse and worse all day. The pain was back, though not as extreme as the last time I ended up in the ER. It was the other stuff that came with it. Fatigue. Dizziness. Breaking out in sweats. Overall weakness. Feeling dehydrated, even though I was being careful to get enough fluids.

After things kept getting worse, I finally broke down and tried to call the health line number. This is a number in our province that we can call to talk to an RN about whatever’s going on and getting advice, including whether or not to go to the ER.

I got a robot voice telling me that “due to technical problems”, they couldn’t response, try again later, and then it went to a busy signal.

*sigh*

Not long after that, I asked my daughter to drive me to the ER. Last time, I was able to do it myself. This time, I could barely walk, never mind drive.

The girls loaded me (wearing a night gown and moccasins, because I didn’t have the energy to change) and the walker up and we headed out. I made sure to bring along the sheet I got from the hospital that listed the three procedures done during the surgery, and my new prescriptions. I was admitted immediately – by the same person that admitted me last time!

The first time a nurse called me into the triage room to take my vitals, I walked in but asked for the use of a wheelchair after that. The only one she could find left was actually meant for children, which was fine by me! As we were talking, I mentioned what happened when I tried to call the health line. She scoffed in frustration, saying they just tell people to go to the ER.

Next, I was wheeled over to the lab to get some blood work done. That went well. I have excellent veins. They always have the hardest time with my husband but, with me, it’s very easy for them! I’m pretty sure I recognized at least one of the staff in the lab as having taken blood from my husband.

I ended up being seen by the same doctor as last time and she remembered me (it wasn’t that long ago!), which made it easier to explain that yes, I’d seen the specialist she was able to get me to see so very quickly, and that yes, I’m post-op. My follow up appointment isn’t until the 15th of next month, though.

As we were talking, she even commented on my obvious discomfort. I’m glad my daughter was there because at one point, when she asked about my symptoms – something I’d already repeated several times to others – I was having difficulty speaking and my brain was too fogged to remember them all, so my daughter was able to list them off for me.

In the end, we had the same “problem” as last time. There was little that they could do for me in the ER. There was concerns that I was still bleeding and we went over how the T3s basically do nothing for the pain. She wanted to wait for the results from the lab, which would tell her if I needed a transfusion or not (I did not expect anything like that), or an IV for fluids, if I were dehydrated.

The main thing that they could focus on was pain control. She suggested hydromorphone, which my husband is on. I told her that, so she knew I was familiar with it. If the T3s aren’t working, she was willing to prescribe some to me, but that falls under the “controlled substance” label. In the end, she said it was okay if I took one from my husband to try and see if it works, or if I would have a reaction to it. I didn’t know what his dose was, and she told me to take 1mg, so if he’s on 2mg, I should break it in half.

For now, though, I’m to take two T3s every six hours, instead of the 1-3 tablets every 8 hours as needed, but not at the same time as the hydromorphone, if I’m going to try that. I got all the other warnings – no alcohol, don’t try to drive, don’t go swimming, etc. I told her, if I’m going to take it, I’ll be taking it and going straight to bed!

She approved of that.

She then told me that, on Monday, I need to call the specialist that did the surgery, tell her that I’d gone to the ER, and to get in to see her as quickly as possible, rather than waiting the 4 weeks.

Until then, I got an injection of tramadol for the pain I was dealing with right then. The nurse that came to me in the waiting with the injection recognized me from the last time I was there immediately! I think it was my sparkly hat. 😄

Not long after, the doctor came by with the lab results, which turned out to be really good. One of them was even better than the result from last time, and she told me to keep doing what I’m doing.

The main thing was, I did not need a transfusion or IV. I had just got the tramadol injection, so she said I could go home.

Then my daughter went and brought the truck over from where she’d parked it once I was admitted and we were soon on the way home. As we were driving, she commented on how quickly they took care of me. I suggested it might have had something to do with how terrible I looked.

She agreed. I was looking very ill!

Once at home, my younger daughter drove right up to the house to unload me and help me to the door, where her sister was waiting to help me once inside.

Have I mentioned how much I love all the arm bars and hand rails this house has? Quite a few times, I’m sure!

My older daughter had just finished making supper and, though it was early, got a plate ready for me, as I’d had only soup and toast all day. By this time, the tramadol was starting to do its job and I was feeling better. I did end up lying down again, as I was completely drained.

I don’t know how long I was down for, but I was awakened by the screeching of skunks fighting outside my window. I ended up going outside to see what was going on. I never saw the fighting skunks, but I did chase off two huge ones. One was coming around the corner of the house. The other was in the isolation shelter! Earlier, my daughter had messaged us to let us know she’d gone outside to feed the cats, but there was a skunk in the sun room that couldn’t leave – cats in the doorway were blocking it. So she went out the other door. While in the yard, she checked the sun room and found the skunk stretched out and taking a nap, right under the door into the old kitchen! So she didn’t go into the sun room at all.

Between that and the skunks, when I went out, I found all the kibble trays were empty. Even on the house house roof, there was only a few dregs.

By this time, my younger daughter had come out to check on me. I was going to top up the food bowls, but she did that for me. While she did that, I went over to the branch pile to see if the kittens were out.

I found one.

I saw no signs of any others.

I was feeling so much better that I kept walking around – slowly – to check on the garden beds. My daughter walked with me (turns out she was supposed to get me to go back inside, and failed!) and, when I spotted some colour hidden deep among the orange currant tomatoes, she picked them for me.

She found another spray with ripe Orange Currant tomatoes after the photo was taken. I think there were about 6 or 8 in total. Those vines are covered with sprays of tomatoes – so many!!! – and they’re all very green! The girls tell me the Orange Currant tomatoes are very delicious.

We did pick the one red Manitoba tomato, but it ended up going into the compost pile. The skin on that one got damaged while it was still green, and it was in pretty bad shape. There are more, but none are turning red yet.

Our single Arikara squash is getting huge.

Tomorrow, my daughter plans to harvest beans. She got the one golden zucchini that was ready, this morning and the garlic is ready to have their roots trimmed off and the soil brushed away before they come inside. She had planned to do a few things in the garden for me today, but got side tracked with having to drive me to the ER! I’ve been ordered not to have any more medical emergencies. 😂🤣

Meanwhile, at the moment, I’m feeling much better. The pain is gone, though I’m still feeling really weak. I’ve got timers and alarms set for the different meds I have, though I will be out of one of them rather soon. If things get bad again, I might try the hydromorphone. I have a slight problem with trying one of my husband’s, though. The doctor said to take 1mg, and split the pill if he’s on 2mg.

He’s on 12mg, and they’re not tablets, but gel caps. It’s the highest dose they’re allowed to give out, if I remember correctly, but I didn’t know what the actual number was until talking to my husband about it and he double checked.

I will admit, though, that I have actually tried it before, when the pain got extremely bad some time ago. I took one before bed and it worked incredibly well. No bad reactions, and it actually killed the pain, unlike the T3s. It also helped with my hip and shoulder pain. I was able to actually sleep. This is something to avoid, though, if only because he’s already so limited on when he can get refills.

Hopefully, things will be better tomorrow – and stay better! I still have to call the specialist’s clinic on Monday, though, and get in to see her as soon as possible.

What fun… not.

The Re-Farmer

Resting

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Not a lot to say about today. Still in recovery and today had me dealing with more exhaustion and some pain.

I did head outside in the afternoon to get some fresh air, and take some garden tour video. Before I started, I spotted Slick’s babies.

They seem to like hanging out around the old burn ring, rather than the catio. The catio may be too exposed feeling.

The girls have still taken on my usual outdoor stuff. No watering of the garden today, though, as it rained all night. Just walking around the yard taking video was enough to leave me feeling exhausted.

I’m at war with myself between all that I want to be doing, and knowing that I need to not be doing any of it to I can recover.

I am a terrible patient.

😄

The Re-Farmer

Hard to hold back

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In some ways, I am a really terrible person to myself.

I am doing very well, which means I want to do more than I should, without even thinking about it! I was doing so well, I was able to do a walkabout yesterday evening… with my daughters both joining me to make sure I was okay!

Here we are, past the middle of August, and the sunflowers are just starting to form their heads. In the second photo of the slide show above, the one tomato we have that formed the earliest is finally turning red, but it’s taken so long, the skin looks dried out and damaged. There are, however, a decent number of other Manitoba Tomatoes on the plants, though still very green. The Blueberry tomatoes have quite a few forming fruit, all incredibly hard. There are lots of Orange Currant tomatoes, and they’re the only ones in that bed that have had anything ripen, but only from the same spray of fruit. Everything else is solid green. Same with the Chocolate Stripe tomatoes in the main garden area. We might be able to bring them in to ripen off the vine, but it’s way too early for most of them. Meanwhile, we’ve had some surprisingly cool night temperatures lately. We dropped to 6C/43F last night! Overnight temperatures over the next while as supposed to be warmer. The app on my phone says we’ll get another drop like last night within the week, but that app is also saying it’s raining right now, has been for hours and will continue through the night.

It’s not raining. It’s not even overcast.

Looking at the weather radar, the system is passing to the north and south of us. We might get a bit of rain in about an hour and that’s it.

I was able to sleep last night, and even sleep in, as my younger daughter took over the morning routine. She made sure the catio food bowl had a generous amount of cat soup to lure the babies (I have not seem or heard them at all today), and she watered the garden. We talked about that for a bit and the potatoes will no longer be watered so the soil will dry out and they can be harvested.

Which won’t be by me.

Later in the morning, she and I headed out to town, stopping first to pick up a parcel at the post office that turned out to be three parcels. I’m really amazed by how quickly my husband’s Tei Fu order came in! This time, he got some oil as well as the lotion that my daughter will test out. I was up to driving, but my daughter ran into the post office so I didn’t need to get in and out of the truck.

Our first stop in town was the pharmacy so I could get my post-op prescriptions filled. My husband has a refill scheduled for delivery tomorrow and I was hoping to pick that up, too, but I was not allowed to. Being a “controlled substance” it was too early for a refill. Idiotic and frustrating. Both my daughters had refills to get filled as well, with one of those also being a “controlled substance” that had to wait until it was almost gone before it would be refilled – which means it would have been out completely if she waited for delivery day.

While we wait for the prescriptions to be filled, my daughter got a wrist brace for her sister and I ended up getting a thumb brace for myself. I wore it only for the afternoon, and it has already made a world of difference.

Wandering around the store started to be a bit much, though, and I didn’t want to push myself, so I sat in the waiting area for most of the time. My daughter got the meds for herself and her sister faster, so she paid for the wrist brace (their meds were both covered 100% by our province’s pharmacare insurance) then headed out to another store while I waited.

My meds, being new, got a discussion about instructions with the pharmacist. The antibiotics need to be taken every 6 hours until the bottle is empty. The number of days is a bit off, since I wasn’t able to fill it yesterday so, in theory, I’d already “missed” several doses. The other is to stop bleeding. I can take it every 8 hours, but only as needed, and the fewer I take of that, the better. It’s the same thing my older daughter has a prescription for, and she had asked if I was getting it. The prescription was hand written in a short hand, so I had no idea until the pharmacist named it as she gave it to me. My daughter was very happy to hear I got this prescription, because it works incredibly fast and well. It’s highly unlikely I’ll need to take it for more than a day or two.

Once done at the pharmacy, we decided to go to the grocery store for a few things; bread, eggs and milk, mostly. We ended up getting more, of course. They had several cuts of steak, plus beef roasts, on sale for prices I haven’t seen in a very long time. I ended up getting two packages of steaks for tonight, a small roast plus a seasoned pork roast that is always a good price. Pork is about the only affordable meat right now.

Before we could finish going through the store, though, I had to give my daughter my cards and turn the shopping over to my daughter, so I could head to the truck and sit down. I had only been walking around, using the cart as a walker as I usually do, but I could tell I had started to push myself too far and needed to sit. My daughter did the driving and, once we got home, I took my new meds and lay down pretty much right away, making sure to set a timer and an alarm for the two different lengths of time to the next doses.

The girls took care of all the stuff I normally would have done at least part of. My older daughter also cooked the steaks for supper, finishing off the last of our store bought potatoes, together with cabbage and beans from our garden, to go with it.

It was deliscious.

Before supper was ready, I felt well enough again to go outside for the evening cat feeding – promising my daughters I wouldn’t do anything else!

Then my older daughter saw me through the kitchen window, dragging the hose across the yard, and sent my younger daughter running. I was just taking it to the catio to refill the water bowl for Slick and her kittens, but they were afraid I was going to start watering the garden or something! 😁

My daughter stayed with me while I finished and brought the hose back, and we got to talking about how Sprout’s little one has gotten so talkative!

It has a squeaky little meow it gives off while waiting for us to distribute the kibble. It is so nervous about eating, and I’d had to use the hose to chase off a big skunk that had scared it way, just by being there. This poor baby is all alone. Mama doesn’t stay close to it anymore, and it’s too scared to come to the house, so it has formed no “friendships” with any of the other cats. If they come by to eat, she runs away, so we try to get them to eat from other bowls, instead.

Once the cats were fed and watered, my daughter chastised me until I went back inside. 😄

Along with the meds, I’m under some pretty strict instructions on what I can and can’t do. No lifting anything over 10 pounds. No “strenuous activity” for a week… I suspect digging up potatoes counts as “strenuous activity”. Apparently, I’m supposed to be eating a “light diet” or things like toast or soup until I can tolerate more. I have had zero issues with what I have been able to eat. The steak dinner my daughter made REALLY hit the spot! Of course, there are also the warnings to look out for that, if they start, I am to get to the nearest ER immediately.

So far, though, I just had that while where I could tell I’d pushed myself, and lying down was sufficient.

The down side of feeling so good after the procedure; I REALLY need to force myself not to just get back into my normal activity levels!!!

Meanwhile, my timer just went off… time to go take the next dose of antibiotics…

The Re-Farmer

I touched a baby!!!

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I was starting to be concerned that Slick had moved her litter. I was feeling better this evening and headed out to walk around and get some fresh air, which is when I spotted her. She was in the grass in front of the catio, her babies around her.

I started getting photos and video while slowly moving closer. I spotted one of the black kittens going into the catio, where I had earlier added some water to the dry kibble to soften it, setting the door to its mostly-closed position for the night.

The closer I got, the other kittens saw me and ran off, but not the one in the catio. When I got to the door, I found it completely in the kibble bowl, eating like it had made a new and amazing discovery in solid food. I snuck a hand in to pet it, and it completely ignored me.

Before long, I had the door open and was actively petting it.

I even got to pick it up, and it didn’t panic or hiss or anything.

I’m under no illusions about this. The only reason I was able to approach the kitten was because it couldn’t see or hear me while it was inside the catio, eating. All the other kittens disappeared into the branch pile while Slick stayed in the grass, but as I came closer to her, she actually hissed and growled at me – but had no issues at all with me petting her baby!

I passed pictures and video on to the chat group I have with the rescue. One of them immediately asked if I could get all of them, and that she could help with an appointment to get Slick spayed.

I said it was too soon, only to be told it’s not too soon; they’re eating, and if we wait too long, they will be harder to socialize and adopt out.

Which I completely understand. It is true. However, as much as these volunteers are doing to get cats rescued and adopted out, I am getting the impression they have little experience with colony cats and ferals. I explained, that shelter has been there for only 24 hours; they’re not used to it yet. If I can spot them and Slick inside, I might be able to just close the door, but getting Slick into a carrier has always been a problem. (I have told them we’ve been trying to get Slick to a vet for years, already.) I mentioned that, in my experience, if we move too quickly, it can backfire and make it even harder to get them. Then I added that I am going for surgery tomorrow.

Then, much to my surprise, one of them asked if my surgery was “major” or not.

…

I told here it was supposed to be a day surgery if all goes well, but until they get a camera in me, they don’t know what’s wrong.

…

I’m still blown away to even have gotten that question.

They really, really want to get Slick and the litter in this week. Something I totally understand and appreciate. I don’t think they quite understand just how unlikely that is.

Plus, they aren’t weaned yet, and I think they still have at least a couple of weeks to go on that. Slick shouldn’t be spayed until the kittens are weaned. Today may very well be the first time any of them have eaten solid food.

No matter. Today was huge progress.

We have the morning cat soup, tetra packs of cat milk and kitten treats. Between the girls and I, we should be able to use various things to lure the kittens closer. The hard part about using treats like that will be keeping other other cats away, because they’ll just push their way in to try and get the treats.

For now, I’m just thrilled to have been able to touch the one kitten, and it let me, without any sign of fear or anxiety. That is just a huge thing!

The Re-Farmer

Morning baby, barely made it and one more day

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One more day.

I am so looking forward to surgery.

Not just for the surgery itself, but so that I can start taking my supplements again.

I got hit with a Charlie horse last night, somewhere around 2 – 3 in the morning. It actually started with the top of my left foot, the tendons yanking my toes and ankle up. As it got worse, I managed to fling off the three cats that were using me as a bed, sit up and grab a tube of Tei Fu lotion. The tube was more empty than I expected, so I had to fight with it, while my foot was painfully cramping. I ended up with way more than I intended on my hand, what actually turned out to be a good thing.

I got some on my other hand and raised my knee onto the bed so I could start rubbing it into the cramp, only for the position to trigger more cramping in my thigh. I ended up with cramping in my entire left leg, from the tip of my toes to my hip, with my right leg starting to threaten. I had enough lotion to apply to both legs, pre-emptively preventing any cramping in my right leg.

That Tei Fu lotion is gold.

The frustrating thing is that the magnesium, potassium and zinc I’d been taking to prevent this in the first place is off limits until after the surgery. I was eventually able to get myself up and hobble to the bathroom to wash my hands before I took some painkillers. My older daughter was awake and working, so I messaged her and she came down. I didn’t need any help by then, but she stayed and we talked for a while, and she made sure to let me know I could message her at any time if problems started again. Thankfully, it did not and I finally got some sleep.

When I got up a couple of hours later, I saw my husband’s light was on, which means he was driven awake by his own pain. I popped in to talk to him about what happened, mentioning that I was going to be starting my last tube of Tei Fu. The last time he ordered some, he got 4 tubes, and I’d given one to my younger daughter. She recently mentioned to me that she had been out for a while. My husband immediately went online to order more. He was thinking to get in on a monthly subscription, but I don’t use it that often. My daughter, however, might do well with that, until she has her own surgery, which may be months from now.

I was able to get another hour or so of sleep before I finally got up for the day and headed out to do the morning routine. I got to feed the feral baby.

The kitten now comes out and meows when I start putting the kibble out. It still won’t let me near, but seems to be catching on to the routine and understanding that I’m there to leave food, not try to hurt it.

No sign of Slick’s branch pile babies this morning, though she came to the house for breakfast, as usual. I do hope she hasn’t moved them!

I did my morning rounds and should have picked some bush beans, but didn’t have a container, so I left it for later.

I might have to get my daughters to do it. They’ve been taking over most things for me today. My younger daughter was kind enough to make breakfast for me when she found out I had started to do it, but had to stop before anything was ready to actually eat.

I didn’t push myself at all this morning, but as the time wore on, I started having issues with my left arm. All the joints from my rotator cuff to the fingers. Then the abdominal pain started to kick in.

*sigh*

One. More. Day.

My younger daughter was able to come down and do my arm with diplofenac at joints, then I did my lower abdomen myself, along with my left hip, which now hurts pretty constantly. The abdominal pain kept getting worse instead of better. I still wanted to go to the general store and post office to pick up a parcel and another 40 pound bag of kibble, so we wouldn’t have to worry about it while I was recovering. When the post office re-opened at 2pm, I got my daughter to drive me. When we got there, however, I was no longer up to getting in and out of the truck, so I gave her the mail box key and my card for the kibble.

She got the mail first, and came out with two larger packages. I was only expecting one. The larger box was quite beat up, and part of the contents was broken through.

It turned out to be the blower I’d ordered for her forge! The one my husband had received a message offering a refund or a replacement blower, and tracking said was still at customs!

I checked before starting this post and, according to the tracking, it’s still at customs.

After dropping the boxes off in the truck, my daughter went back in to buy the kibbled. When she was done loading it into the box of the truck, she gave me my debit card back and told me it hadn’t worked, so she paid for it herself.

I had done some banking earlier and there were no issues. It wasn’t until I went to put the card back in my wallet that I realized, I had given her my Visa instead of my debit card. The cards look identical, except one has my name on the front, and the other on the back. The general store is not set up to take credit cards.

Oops!

Once we got home, I was able to take the mail in, as they were quite light, but I could barely walk from the pain. I was still able to open up the bashed up package, though, which had a piece of metal sticking out one side!!

Thankfully, the blower is not something easily broken. Even the foam around the opening was broken, but there aren’t any dents. Of course, my daughter got the handle on and we tested it right away.

Now, all she needs is fuel for her forge and some steel to practice with – and we have scrap steel all over the place – and she can start doing some blacksmithing here at home!

Once we were back, though, the pain was still getting worse, so I took more painkillers and lay down.

My older daughter, meanwhile, took over another project for me. She first went out to give that old bathtub a thorough scrubbing. Then, once it was fully dry, she used the enamel paint I picked up on it. She has since been able to put on a second coat.

With the condition of the tub, we know it’s going to have lumps and bumps, and the paint might have trouble adhering. I’m not too worried about it, though. It’s going to be used to soak and wash filth cat beds and blankets. I just need it to not be rusted out and flaking, and to hold water.

My daughter will be adding more layers over the next few days, giving it plenty of time to cure in between, pretty much until the can is empty.

All this, in between making a supper of ribs and roasted cabbage from our garden. She wanted to make sure I ate very well, before I have to start fasting at midnight. The house smells amazing right now.

As for me, the pain did finally start to subside while I was lying down, but then the bleeding suddenly increased. A lot.

We’re doing laundry now.

One. More. Day.

That prescription I was given – the “safer” version of what my older daughter is on – has done nothing for me. I may as well have not been taking it. It should have at least reduced the pain, and there shouldn’t be any bleeding at all.

Hard to imagine that all of this got trigged by taking an anti-inflammatory that had been so helpful for my arthritis!

One.

More.

Day.

The Re-Farmer

The luring begins! Also, a pre-op top up shop

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This morning, after feeding the outside cats, I went to check on the wood pile, and spotted a bunch of squirmy wormies moving about.

One of them paused and posed for a photo.

They are so frigging cute.

I was doing well this morning, while doing my morning rounds and harvesting the cabbage, etc. I had a brief visit with my brother and SIL and their friends just before they headed out for breakfast. I was invited to come along, but had stuff to get done and declined.

It’s a good thing I did.

Once inside, before I even started making my breakfast, the pain started to hit. I ended up having to lie down for several hours.

Two more days, and this should no longer be happening!

So it was later in the afternoon that my younger daughter and I set up our “trap” to lure the babies.

I took stuff out from inside the catio, removed the weights on the roof (to keep it from being blown over) and cleaned off accumulated debris. The weights, food and water bowls and scrap pieces of insulation that were under the self warming shelter that kept getting smushed flat, went into the wheel barrow. Then my daughter went inside the catio, picked it up by the wire “ceiling” under the roof panels and walked it over to the branch pile for me. Awkward, but much easier than us trying to carry it from the outside. I had to take off the rope handles I’d set into the corners when it was winterized with clear vinyl (which never came off in the summer), so there is nothing to grab on to.

The big donated cat carrier – so big, I have to turn it sideways and squeeze it through the door – was set up inside with the pieces of insulation under it, and the cleaned out cat bed was set up inside again. The food and water bowls were set up, and I grabbed a couple of cat toys from out of the isolation shelter. My daughter got some kibble for the food bowl while I dragged out the hose to fill the water bowl, then added some to the kibble to soften it for little baby teeth. The kittens are probably just getting old enough to eat solid food now, but dry kibble would be a bit much for them.

Slick was in there in no time at all, so I expect the kittens will have already explored it by now, and maybe tried some softened kibble.

Tomorrow morning, they will get to try cat soup.

We set the catio up based on how the door swings open, and the prevailing wind direction, so it sticks out a bit far. There is enough room to drive around it, though, so it’ll just be a slight inconvenience.

Not long after that was done, my daughter and I got ready to head out for the shopping I meant to do yesterday. I knew my brother, SIL and their friends would be gone before we came back, so we headed over to say hello and goodbye before we left. I’m glad we did, because they were packing up to leave soon after we were gone.

As my daughter and I headed for the garage, we walked past the catio and saw the squirmy wormies with Mom, not far from the catio. Hopefully, this will work out and we’ll be able to get these babies to the rescue for adoption, and Slick for spay!

Once my daughter and I reached our destination, our first stop was the Canadian Tire. Thankfully, they had replacement handles in stock, so I was able to get that. We also looked at the spray paint and found an enamel paint that can be sprayed over rusted metal; I forget which brand we ended up getting, but it wasn’t Rustoleum this time. We will scrub out the inside of the old bathtub I dug out of the junk pile and paint the inside. The outside well eventually get done, too, but not with an enamel paint. I also found a flat sink stopped that should cover the drain hole, which does not have a drain assembly anymore. I did look for a drain assembly but couldn’t find one for a bathtub, so I hope this will be enough. I want to be able to soak the cat beds and blankets for a while before washing them, as they are pretty messy right now!

Then, oddly, we saw and grabbed a case of KD. Why Canadian Tire would have mac n cheese at all, I have no idea, but the sale price was good, so we got one for the pantry.

From there, we headed across the street to the Walmart. The first thing I did was feed my daughter, who hadn’t eaten at all yet (!!!). Then we took our time with the actual shopping.

I don’t know that I quite found what I was after. I was thinking of things that are quick and easy, in case I end up with a longer recover time after my surgery. I’ve had laparoscopic abdominal surgery in the past and, while it was as non invasive as possible, I found myself feeling shockingly week for a whole month. I am not expected to have anything as major done this time, but it depends on what they find once they get the camera in me.

I got some cat supplies and paper products first, then went very slowly through the grocery aisles, seeing what was available. I did get some basics, like butter and eggs. I ended up getting some hoagies and breakfast sausages, which should be good for quick eating. I found a few other things that I would normally expect to pick up later in the month to right away instead. I even got some bananas – it’s been ages since I’ve seen bananas that weren’t all bright green!

My daughter, meanwhile, has slipped off to the restroom, but took quite a while before rejoining me. As she was heading to the section I was in, she ran into my sister, who works in this store. I never saw her at all – she works in the back, not on the floor.

She didn’t recognize my daughter. 😄 It’s been a while since she’s seen either of them! They had a chance to catch up a bit before she had to get back to work.

My daughter had her own shopping list as well, so she did some running around and returning to drop things off in the cart. As always, before we left, we stopped to think if there was anything we missed, since we have no idea when we’ll be back next. We happened to stop near the Corelle display. My daughters had asked about getting more, as they are much lighter than our other dishes. What we have now is what my late father had been using, and there are quite a few pieces missing from the set. We won’t be able to find the same design anymore, as it’s discontinued (and I’m not willing to hunt online for it). There was a design sold as individual pieces that I’ve been eyeballing for a while, and today I finally saw it available as a boxed set.

They were on the self in two different places, with two different prices.

My daughter was able to see the bar code numbers well enough to figure out which was the correct price. It was the lower price, though not a sale price. I wasn’t going to get it, but my daughter put a box in the cart, and bought it herself!

So sweet of her.

After that, we headed to the checkouts. When we left home, I was still dealing with residual pain from earlier, but that went away completely while we were out.

Instead, my back and hips started giving out.

*sigh*

I was more than eager to head out. We paid for our stuff, then my daughter took the cart to the truck while I went to the customer service. I remembered that, last time we were hear, two bags of cat food hadn’t been scanned and paid for my mistake. I had taken pictures of the bar codes so I dug those up, then went to customer service to explain what happened, so I could pay for them.

She was shocked and kept asking me “are you sure?” I said I was, and she was able to scan the bar codes from my photos, and I paid for them.

I think I made her day. She had the biggest smile! I just feel better taking care of that, and I’m glad I didn’t forget. It might be a while before we’re back again. We shall see.

After loading the truck (my daughter got stung by a wasp!), we headed out. We stopped in town on the way home to get gas and I was tired enough and in enough pain that I got my daughter to drive the rest of the way home for me.

We were got quite a while, so my older daughter took care of the outside cat feeding today, and made sure to add more kibble to the catio lure. After we unloaded the truck and put everything away, I did my last walkabout for the evening. I saw Slick going towards the house, but didn’t see any kittens anywhere this time.

I do hope they learn to trust going in there, and enjoy a soft cat bed enough to move into that cat carrier, at least during the day.

I really, really want to get those kittens, and Slick!!!

… and maybe Sprout’s lonely white and grey kitten. That one has taken to meowing, and when I come to put food in the bowls under the shrine, it now watches me, meows at me and runs back and forth, but doesn’t quite run away.

Of course, we need to get Sprout and Sprig (the white and grey’s older sister), too! That is going to be more difficult.

I’m happy with any progress at all at this point, no matter how tiny.

So that is now done.

Tomorrow, I want to head to the general store in our little hamlet in the afternoon. We’ve got a couple of packages that are expected Wednesday, but tracking says they’re already in the city, which means they should be here by tomorrow morning, though the local postmaster might not be able to finish processing all the packages until the afternoon.

Which reminds me. The manual blower I got for my daughter’s forge is hung up. I knew it had passed customs, but then my husband got an email. The email itself was just the invoice information for the blower, but the subject offered either a refund or a replacement. ??? I went online to check and it says “held for pickup at carrier locations” – but it’s still at customs. It may not even ben in Canada. I suggested to my husband to respond by requesting a replacement. Maybe with our physical address, instead of our box number. I talked to my daughter about it later and she suggested that if this happened again, to take the refund. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get it. As far as I can tell, there is no one locally (meaning, all of our province) that carries them, so online ordering is all we can do.

We’ll figure it out. I really want my daughter to be able to get her forge going. After the blower, the next thing to get her is some coal or charcoal and she can finally try doing blacksmithing at home.

Little by little, it’s getting done.

The Re-Farmer

First sighting!

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Yes! She has finally brought them out!

This evening, we had our first sighting of Slick’s babies.

All six of them.

I counted three tuxedos and three tabbies, and it turns out they live in the branch pile.

I am so glad she’s bringing them out while they’re still so small. Our chances of getting them are much, much higher now.

I’ve already been in contact with the rescue. They aren’t open to intakes, but to get a litter this young is something they will make an exception for. The chances of them getting socialized and adopted out is much higher. Plus, Slick can finally get spayed as soon as they are weaned.

Tomorrow, the girls and I will be moving the catio close to the branch pile, along with the donated cat carrier with the cat bed inside it, food and water bowls. We will do like we did with Pinky’s babies, moving it every little while to get them closer to the house and get them socialized enough to bring them in to the rescue.

Who knows. We might even get that white and grey kitten in the junk pile, too.

The Re-Farmer

A bit of this, a bit of that

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Well, the stump grinding didn’t happen today. It started raining around the time they were expected to arrive.

So… next week some time.

This morning, while feeding the yard cats, I got a head count of about 17. The highest in quite some time.

Not counting the skunks, one of which came bounding across the yard like one of the cats, while I was still putting the kibble out! There’s one little skunk that absolutely loves the cat soup. Even as I come closer, and I can see it is preparing to run away, it just keeps licking up the soup as fast and as desperately as it can.

I don’t mind chasing away the bigger ones, but the littles that I think have been orphaned… I just can’t do it!

One thing I noticed was the kitten. It is very nervous around the other cats, and completely ignored by mama. It kept trying to go for different food bowls and I saw it keep trying to get up into the isolation shelter.

Unfortunately, Pinky was up there and she batted the little one away. She did get a chance to eat, though it was by moving from bowl to bowl.

I so hope we can socialize it!

While checking on the garden, I took the time to secure some of the summer squash higher up their vertical support stakes. The yellow zucchini doesn’t really need it. They aren’t developing a long stem to accommodate vertical growing. I did finally pick the only two zucchini available.

The larger, half green, half yellow one is actually the younger one. The bright yellow one hasn’t been growing as fast. The plants are all nice and big, but not really producing much.

In the early afternoon, I was back outside, wanting to be around while the stump grinding was done. I used the wagon to move some of the pieces of elm over to the fire pit area. The thinner pieces will be left to cure and will make good fire wood next year. Some of the logs are large enough that I’m thinking to trim them and set them up as seats around the fire pit. One disk cut from the main trunk will be cut in half to make a pair of round “cutting boards” for when we do our cookouts. There’s one piece I want to bring over to use as a splitting stump, but it’s quite heavy and awkward. I might need to get one of the girls to help me load it into the wagon, to make sure it doesn’t flip or roll in the process.

There are still many more pieces to move, but I wanted to work on the fire pit. It’s quite full of ashes. I’d already removed the fire bricks for the Dutch Oven, and cleared out the old cinder blocks that were used to support grilling racks, but split and cracked in the heat. I ended up removing the round grill that can be swung aside, along with the half cinder block that had been protecting the base from the fire. Several small loads of ashes got cleared out into the wheelbarrow. I was at a loss as to where to dump it, since finding out we shouldn’t use ashes in the garden (in increases alkalinity, and we need to increase acidity). I ended up taking it to the cat litter compost and scattering it over that. It should help reduce any smell, and help it break down a bit faster.

After clearing out the ashes, I spent the next while digging around the inside edge to loosen it. I haven’t gone anywhere that I can pick up a new handle on my garden fork, which would have made things easier, and had to use my spade. Eventually, I could level the inside using my old thatching/landscape rake, or whatever they call that style now. Once it was level, I set the rotating grill back, setting the fire bricks back in place last of all.

You can see a pair of smaller bricks on top of the concrete brick around the grill’s support post. The concrete brick has one side cracked right off. Made it easier to put back, but I didn’t one that one side to fall over. So the other two bricks were set on top to support it. I first set them on the sides, but they’ll just get in the way of any fires we make, so we’ll see how it works, this way.

I quite like the size of this fire pit. There is enough room to have a fire going a bit off centre, under the grill, with room to move coals over to the fire bricks and set up the Dutch Oven. The ring is a salvaged piece of pipe from an old coal electricity plant my late brother’s demolition team took apart, with pieces sent to a buyer in the US, and the rest dismantled and demolished. When I was a kid, the fire pit’s walls were dry stacked bricks. I used to enjoy taking it apart to clean up, then rebuilding the fire pit wall in either a circle or a square, depending on what I felt like at the time.

Those two bricks on top of the concrete brick may very well be left from those original fire pit walls!

Off in the top right corner you can see part of a pile of rocks from the garden. You can also see the disturbed ground around the outside of the fire ring. That is where the enameled bricks had been. The soil there needs to be loosened, cleaned up a bit, then leveled before the rocks will be spread around it.

Not today, though. Partly because it started raining while I was doing this and I was quite wet by the time this was done. Partly because I want to use my garden fork for this job, and I need to get a new handle, first.

With my surgery coming up (four more days!), I am planning to head out tomorrow to do a top up shop that I would normally do later in the month. I’ll have a chance to swing by a hardware store and hopefully there will be replacement handles in stock this time.

Meanwhile, we can still use the fire pit for cookouts. There are no fire bans at all. I had pretty much just finished when my SIL arrived, so I went over to their caravan to say hello. They have friends coming out with their camper (they arrived before I started this post) for the weekend, so I let her know that the fire pit was cleaned out and available, if they want to use it. They probably won’t, but at least they’ll know they can, if they wish.

So, no stump grinding today, but I did get progress on one of my projects!

The Re-Farmer

Another quiet day

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… after a much interrupted night.

Ghosty knows that if she digs into things, it wakes me up. I’d sit up in bed and see her looking at me from wherever she was that she wasn’t supposed to be! Usually, I can figure out that she’s letting me know the food bowls need topping up, but that was already done. I never did figure out what she was wanting, other than to wake me up! By the time I was ready to get up for the day, I was ready to throttle her. 😄

The morning routine was normal and uneventful. I got to see the feral kitten. Sprout doesn’t seem to have anything to do with her baby, and I didn’t even see her at all today. I got a head count of only 10 yard cats this morning, including the kitten. Clearly, the little one has been weaned as essentially abandoned, and seems to be staying mostly in what’s left of the junk pile.

Unfortunately, once again, I got hit with the pain again. This time, it started later in the morning. I took some T3s but it kept getting worse, and I finally had to lie down. Not because lying down is any less painful. I’m just not fighting gravity to stay upright anymore. I even tried the topical painkiller and that made no difference, either. It took about 4 hours before finally fading away. I wish I could say I got some rest, but that didn’t happen, either.

When the pain finally faded, it was as if it had never been there. Which is good, but the unpredictability of it is very frustrating.

Five more days and, if all goes well, this should never happen again!

I felt well enough to head outside in the early evening to do my usual routine, feeding the yard cats and watering the garden, including the food forest trees. That leaking barrel I have set up to leak next to the apple tree has almost completely stopped leaking! So strange.

I am really perplexed by my red noodle beans.

They are so yellow. Only two of them are climbing the trellis (you can see one in the second image above). They have certainly grown more than last year but, once again, seem to have reached a point and stagnated. The trellis should be a wall of darker green leaves, flowers and bean pods.

All of the Daikon radish has bolted. The heat we got earlier in the season really messed with them! I’ve tried pulling some and there’s just spindly radishes – and the largest one had grub damage. I grew these for my younger daughter, who really likes Daikon radish, but it’s not something we buy often. She suggested we just leave them be and collect the seeds.

That’s going to be a LOT of seeds! 😄

While doing my evening walkabout, I had my usual furry followers. Including this guy.

Stinky is adorable, but I’m not happy with him. He has been attacking Sweetie! Other cats, too, but Sweetie is so tiny compared to him. It’s hard enough to try and get her to trust us, but harder when he goes after her and I break them up. She has no way to know that I’m only after him, and trying to protect her.

*sigh* Poor little thing!

Oh! I got a call I was very happy to get today. The tree company called to let me know they were be out here tomorrow afternoon with the stump grinder. Once that is finally removed, we’ll be able to work on the patio area, leveling it off with a slope away from the house, instead of towards it. It’ll be nice to have that area level again! The cat isolation shelter will be set up there again for the winter, and the wheels kept getting stuck on the heaved edges of the blocks.

That’s pretty much it for the highlights of today. Pretty boring, really.

I like boring.

The Re-Farmer

Morning in the garden, cute critters and finally got it done!

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Today has, somewhat surprisingly, been a day of progress.

Surprisingly because I was dealing with the pains on and off today. I was fine when I went to bed, then got awakened by the pain in the wee hours of the night. I managed to finally fall asleep and it was gone by the time I got up, but was back again after I did my morning routine and was having breakfast. Then it went away.

There just doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason behind it. I really, really hope the surgery next week puts a stop to this!

This morning, I did a head count and there were 12 cats showing up for breakfast. When I counted again at the second feeding of the day, there were 14, plus the kitten showed up later.

I did contact the rescue about needing to adopt the cats. They recommended I contact other rescues as their resources are stretched really thin right now. I wasn’t asking for fostering. Just if we could post them on their website, but it doesn’t look like they can even do that right now. The problem is, I’ve tried contacting other rescues before and they don’t cover our area. The only one that did turned out to have… issues. The only good thing that came out of that is we connected with The Cat Lady, who helped us so much while she ran her own little rescue.

I already know none of the rescues are doing intakes right now. Everyone is full. So… we need to figure things out.

Anyhow…

As usual, after feeding the cats, I went through the garden. I am just so happy with how the Arikara squash is doing!

I’ve got my hand in the second picture as a size reference. We’ve got one squash that’s growing. A couple others have withered away, and there’s one that I’m not sure is going to make it. It’s bigger that the size of the others that withered, but it doesn’t seem to be growing. There are some female flower buds visible, too.

The winter squash at the chain link fence are looking good, with lots of male flowers blooming. There was one that had a single female flower that dropped before it ever opened. Currently, I see a different winter squash with a female flower that will hopefully blossom and at least have a chance to get pollinated.

The Super Sugar Snap peas that were planted later at the chain link fence bed are blooming and forming pods now.

I picked a small harvest this morning.

The yellow bush beans had matured faster but are winding down now, yet are still just as prolific as the green and purple beans that are pretty much at their peak right now. There are fewer green and purple bean plants, too.

Next year, I hope to remember to try using the wire tomato cages on the bush beans, like I do now for peppers and eggplant. They seem to need that extra support.

Bush beans do great in the high raised bed, but it isn’t big enough. We have enough beans for eating fresh, but not enough to freeze or can. We definitely need to grow more beans. Normally, I’d be starting to harvest pole beans as the bush beans are winding down, but the Red Noodle beans seems to be struggling. Not as much as last year, where they only reached 6-8 inches high then stagnated. The first year we tried growing them was a drought year and they barely grew at all. It wasn’t until I was cleaning up at the end of the season that I found a single, skinny bean pod that was about the size of a worm. This year, they are bigger but, again, they seem to have stalled. There’s next to nothing climbing the trellis, and the leaves are a yellowish green, like last year, instead of the darker green I see in pictures of mature plants. I don’t know if we’re going to get any pole beans at all this year. We do have the bush beans planted later, with the Arikara squash, and I’m seeing pods starting to form there, so we’ll have at least a bit more beans to harvest from there, soon.

I harvested a couple of green scallop squash, deciding to leave the golden zucchini to get a big bigger before picking them. There are still a couple of varieties of summer squash that barely have flower beds, even.

On coming back to the house through the sun room, I could hear noises through the door. As I came closer, a little raccoon ran out, but I could still hear noises.

I found two more raccoons, “hiding”.

Of the two you see in the first image above, the top one eventually ran by me and out the door. The one below it, however, ran to another corner, and just sat there. I even tried to persuade it to leave with an old broom handle I’ve got in the sun room for times like this. I was going to just sort of push it from its back, to convince it to move.

It didn’t move.

I ended up “petting” it with the broom handle while it just sat there, frozen, staring at me, which is what you see in the second picture.

I tried leaving for a bit and tapping on the other side of the window. Nothing. So I puttered around outside some more before coming back. It was still there. I moved in closer do to something else and all it did was turn around and stare at me some more, which you can see in the last picture.

The little thing looks so sad and adorable. The most tragic of expressions! 😄

It did eventually leave, some time after I was back in the house.

Once my morning routine was done and I was making breakfast, I used some of the fresh beans I picked this morning. I ended up making the fanciest breakfast I’ve ever made for myself, ever. 😄

My daughter had roasted the marinated pork belly last night, so I used some of that. I cooked up a couple of packages of ramen noodle soup, boiling the cut up beans in the stock for a few minutes before adding the noodles. Then, once the noodles were softened, I added a couple of eggs to poach for the last couple of minutes. We have some very ripe avocados that need to be eaten quickly, so I sliced one up.

The noodles and soup liquid didn’t all fit in the bowl, though, so the last of it went into a mug to be added to my bowl once there was room.

Since the meat was already cooked, the whole thing took hardly any time at all. I think waiting for the water to come to a boil was the longest part.

It was quite delicious, too!

Unfortunately, by the time I finished cooking, the pain was coming back. When I finished eating, it was bad enough that I had to take some pain killers and try lying down for a couple of hours. By the time the pain eased, it was long enough that I’m pretty sure it went away on its own, and the painkillers didn’t actually do anything.

Still, I was feeling well enough that I headed for the basement, sneaking past my daughter as she was mopping the floor before she got to that part. 😄 My brother is wanting to haul away the hot water tank collection, and I wanted to at least move them from the old basement to the bottom of the stairs in the new basement, as there is more room around them and they are stronger.

The modern tanks were pretty easy to move, though one of them turned out to still have a fair bit of water in it. I had it tilted over the little trench in the concrete floor that drains to the sump pump reservoir for a while. The water coming out was thick and deeply orange from rust!

With the tanks being round, it was quite easy to “walk” them across the old basement, though the space at the bottom of the old basement steps is so narrow, I had to drag them through there. Once in the new basement, I could mostly just roll them along a bottom edge.

Then there was the original tank. The one I thought I could make lighter by removing the outside of it. That inner tank is way heavier.

I tried rolling it back and forth at first, testing the weight, and could hear all sorts of things rattling around inside. There must be so much scale in there! I stood it up, and almost immediately, noticed some water leaking from the outflow valve. I started rocking it a bit and more water started spurting out. I ended up walking to over to the drainage trench in the concrete and held it there, at an angle, for a while.

The light isn’t good there, so I was using my phone’s flashlight to check the outflow pipe and could see it was threaded at the tank. There was an old pipe wrench handy in a nearby shelf so I used that, at the “tap” end of the outflow, to try and unscrew it. It was coming loose quite nicely when I realized it wasn’t coming loose from the tank. The “tap” was coming off – I couldn’t even see that it was threaded, earlier! After a while, a white pipe was visible and I was able to pull the whole thing out by hand. By then, most of the water had already drained and it was just a slow trickle. I ended up dragging something over to lean the tank against, so I didn’t have to sit there holding it at an angle the whole time.

Once it was down to a drip, I continued moving it to the other basement steps. Which was way easier than I expected. With the outer shell removed, it was narrower than the modern tanks, making it easier to get past the bottom of the old basement steps. Once it was on the smooth concrete of the new basement, I was able to just push and slide it most of the way!

So we now have three hot water tanks at the base of the new basement steps, waiting to be hauled out.

Then I went and got the old door from our last vehicle. It’s been leaning against a wall off to the side for years now. That turned out to be an easy move. The concrete floor in the new basement is nice and smooth, and it slide across quite nicely.

So that’s all ready to drag up the stairs and outside to the junk pile, which the girls and I were thinking of doing today.

It won’t be done today.

Once everything was moved, I cleaned up where the tanks had been, then grabbed the very handy old garden hose we keep for clearing the pipes to the septic tank to clear the drainage trench to the sump pump of all the thick, rusty sludge still sitting in it. Ew.

That done, it was about time to feed the outside cats, so I headed back outside. After feeding the cats, I broke out the push mower to FINALLY get a job done that I’ve been meaning to get to for weeks.

I cleared the two overgrown spaces in the main garden area, and around the fallen tree by the old squash tunnel we still haven’t taken down. These areas both needed to be mowed twice. The first time with the mower as high as it can go. The second time, a few notches lower. The old garden area is still so insanely rough from the botched plow job done before we moved here, I can’t really mow it as short as I’d like. I was able to mow in between the silver buffalo berry, though. Those need more wood chips mulched around them, eventually, too.

It looks so much better now!

After I put the mower away and headed back to take the above photos, I spotted little Bug in the north yard, behaving strangely. Like something in the grass had her full attention…

Our little Buglette is a might huntress!

That mouse is about half the size of her skull. Such a good little Bug, earning her keep! 😁

I had intended to water the garden after I finished with the mowing, but I was at my limit for the day. My older daughter was able to do it for me, while I was working on this blog post.

As I write, I can start to feel that I may have pushed myself a bit too far with moving those tanks, though. My shoulder and neck muscles are starting to stiffen up.

Time to be pro-active with the painkillers, I think. Maybe some Tei Fu lotion on my legs before bed, too, since I can’t take my magnesium supplements until after my surgery.

An early bed time is definitely in order, tonight.

For all that I ended up having to lie down due to pain for several hours, I glad I was able to get things done.

Hopefully, I won’t be paying for it, tomorrow!

The Re-Farmer