Our winter has been so very mild so far (yes, I know: on the calendar, it’s not officially winter, yet), so it was a surprise to see this, this morning.
-18C, with a wind chill of -22C!!! That is far colder than the forecast for overnight temperatures, last night!
We are expected to warm up to about -7C today. By the weekend, we are even supposed to go above 0C again! Talk about temperature whiplash!
The outside cats seemed all right, thankfully. I think I counted 33. Twenty of them were in the sun room! The smallest kittens were all accounted for.
For the past while, I’ve been getting away with doing my rounds with just a light jacket. A zippered hoodie, really. Today, it was a morning to break out the down filled parka!
Normally, when writing about temperatures, I include the Fahrenheit as well, but it’s not this time. I’m on my phone instead of my desktop. Usually, I have a temperature converter up in another tab on my browser. Can’t really do that on a phone.
I had just settled at my computer to start writing this post, when I started hearing an unfortunate repetitive noise coming out of the tower. So I shut it down.
It didn’t shut down.
I tried again.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
So I did a hard shut down.
Once I’m done this, I want to open up the case and see what I can see.
Crud.
My husband’s computer is toast. Since he tried to increase the RAM, something went wrong. Now, it won’t even boot. He thinks it’s the video card. The cheapest he can find for his machine is $700. If not the video card, it’s the motherboard. Those are cheaper. Neither is affordable. He’s been using his old work laptop. His computer is the newest one in the household, since his previous one did not survive the move. Mine is much older, and has been struggling of late. For how I use it, I knew was already needing to upgrade.
Desktop computers are really expensive these days. Even if all you need is the tower, and already have all the peripherals. Especially for a computer that can handle the graphics and video intensive uses we need. I suppose a laptop would be cheaper, but I hate laptops for general use. I’d just be hooking it up to my ergonomic keyboard and 27″ monitor, anyhow.
I’m really hoping my tower just needs to have the dust cleaned out or something simple like that, but… *sigh*
Today, I took the truck in to find out what the heck is going on with the tires and the old pressure.
Yesterday, I’d moved the truck so I could access it to add oil, only to find the oil pressure was back to normal. We checked the tires and all were evenly lower from when they were topped up, which could be attributed to the temperature changes.
I did not check the tires before I left, but I did notice that, as I was driving, the oil pressure gauge dropped again. The sensor for the left rear tire popped up a warning along the way, too. Previously, it has been front and rear, but just one got a warning this time. The “service tire monitoring system” warning is on all the time, so we do already know we have a sensor problem.
I took advantage of the situation and gave the truck a much needed car wash – I thought they might appreciate the undercarriage cleaning in particular! – then dropped the truck off. They had both bays occupied, so I just dropped off the keys. I did have a chance to talk to the mechanic about what was going on. One of the things he told me was that GMC has a problem with sensors in general; he’s replace many a sensor on GMC vehicles over the years. Of course, they would check anyway.
When I mentioned that the oil I’d bought was in the truck, since I never put any of it in, he asked if it was dexos oil. I could not remember seeing that on the label; I’d bought the oil at our local general store, and they had only one type of SAE 5W30, and it was a high performance oil. Beyond that, I couldn’t remember. He said he would take a look, when I told him where the bottles were.
I just checked and the dexos oil was developed for GM vehicles 2011 and newer. Our is a 2011. After I got home, I asked my daughter about it, as she was the one reading the user’s manual while I was driving, and she said the manual did say dexos, or equivalent.
Anyhow.
After dropping off the key, I headed out and had breakf… er… lunch at the next door Chinese restaurant.
It was excellent.
Then I headed over to a hardware store and got a few things I needed, including a small, folding step stool to keep in the truck. It was even 40% off, so that was good! I also grabbed some new deer screamers. I had an extra set I’d picked up a while back, but when I went to put them on, I found the self adhesive mounting foam was no longer self adhesive! Once I purchased this stuff, I headed back to the garage and grabbed the keys to unlock it so I could put things away, then applied the deer screamers. With so many deer out this winter, I did not want to be without them!
That done, I still had plenty of time, so I ended up walking over to the pharmacy. My husband had some prescription refills that needed to be special ordered in. Normally, those would have been delivered on Wednesday – two days from now – but since I was there, I checked. It turned out one of them had arrived just this morning, and the other was already in, so I was able to pick those up.
I wandered around for a while long, but there really isn’t a lot to do without spending money, so I headed back to the garage and waited in their office. They were just finishing up one of the vehicles in their bays, so it wasn’t long before that was switched out for our truck.
I got quite a chuckle when the mechanic went past me and asked, with a huge smile on his face, “are you a happy fly?”
I told him yes! Yes I was! 😂
Guess what song was playing when he started the truck?
I heard him ask our mechanic (the owner) the same question, but got a more confused response! 🤣 I love how excited he was to hear the song. 😁
The other thing he asked me was if I thought the problem could be the sensors, since the onboard computer also had the “service tire monitoring system” warning. I told him, yes, it could be – that’s what we need to find out!
He got the truck lifted up and started spraying the first tire, and right away I heard, “it’s the valve!” So of course, I went over to look (they let me do that! 😁)
This is the front driver’s side tire.
I came over to talk to him, and said I has been wondering if it might be the valve or the seal, because… well, these are brand new tires! He checked the seals, but there was no sign of a problem there, nor anywhere else on the tire.
After checking all four tires, two valves were like this, one was slightly less, and a fourth was so slight, he wasn’t sure it was leaking at all for a while. Interestingly, that was the tire that I got the warning for as I was driving in!
So they’re going to change all four valves.
But not yet.
I had a decision to make.
In talking about the “service tire monitoring system” warning with our mechanic before, I got a price of $60 for the part alone, but I didn’t realize the part was the valve. I didn’t know the tire sensors are in the valves. We’ve never had a vehicle with sensors in the tires before. He looked up and calculated the cost for me.
To get all four valves replaced, with parts and labour, will be about $420, plus taxes.
Ouch.
Or, we could replace them all with ordinary valves for about $100 now, and do the others later.
Or just do the ordinary valves and not have sensors.
If we did that, we would always have the warning light on, because the onboard computer would think we had zero tire pressure.
If we did the ordinary valves now, then did the sensors at a later date, we’d basically be throwing away a hundred bucks – but we’d have more time to save up the money.
Or we can just do the whole thing in January. It’ll be tight, but we could do it. Particularly since we’ll be done making payments towards that quarter beef we’re picking up in January. We’ve only got about $35 left on the balance for that, which will be paid on pick up day.
After asking how urgent it was, he said to just keep an eye on them and don’t drive on a flat tire.
So we’ll get it done in January.
While the mechanic was checking the tires, I mentioned to him that for us, we actually do have a possible vandal, and with both vehicles having tire issues, we can’t avoid thinking that someone is involved. He didn’t think that likely. He said that sometimes get dirt in around the valves which can damage them, and that, over time, aluminum rims like we have are more prone to it than other types of rims. He thinks that’s more likely the cause than vandalism. Which I suppose makes sense. This vehicle was used commercially by the original owner and, while it’s 4 years younger than my mother’s car, it already has more mileage on it. Until we have evidence to show otherwise, that’s the most likely scenario.
Then there was the oil.
Our mechanic looked at the oil I’d bought. It did not have dexos anywhere on the label, and he’d never heard of the brand before. Ultimately, he said to keep it in the truck, just in case, but he wouldn’t do an oil change with it!
The other mechanic, meanwhile did a thorough check for an oil leak while the truck was on the lift, then checked the oil again when it was on the ground, before topping it up.
The oil level was fine.
The dipstick is also different from any other vehicle we’ve had. It has markings on it, but no “maximum” or “minimum” markers, like I’m used to. Plus, my light when I checked it wasn’t very good, so I had a hard time seeing the level, anyhow. It just seemed like the shiniest part was low. It turns out what I thought was “low” on the dipstick is just fine. The truck is not low on oil. There is no leak.
Which means it’s another sensor problem.
Something to address another time.
Meanwhile, the tires got topped up and that was it.
They didn’t charge me for anything! I know they didn’t do any repairs, but they did use materials and equipment, not to mention their time, so I did expect to be paying something! Nope. He said we were good!
Well, that just means a little more from the budget towards getting the work done next month.
Once I got home, I called my mother. She has her telephone appointment with her doctor tomorrow morning, and I want to be there for it. Partly to answer any questions the doctor my have about the ER visits my mother may not remember anymore, and partly to help my mother understand what the doctor is saying. It turns out she thought it was today! Thankfully, she did have it written down on her calendar.
I wanted to know if my mother would need a shopping trip afterwards, since I would rather use the truck instead of her car, due to the icy road conditions in some areas. She’s still pretty well stocked up, she says, so she’ll just give me a list of the few things she needs, and I’ll pick them up without her having to come along. I’ve done enough shopping with her to know what she typically gets.
I’ll be driving the truck!
The next time I need to drive my mother’s car, we’ll have to make sure to check the tires on it, too. We’ll get it into the garage to see what’s going on there, too. Her tires don’t have sensors, though, so if her valves also need replacing, it’ll be a lot cheaper!!
So we got a mix of good and bad news today. We now know both why the tires have been getting low, and that it’s not the tires themselves that are the problem – which would have been a real shock, considering how new they are. The truck is otherwise fine. We mostly just have gremlins in some of the sensors. Nothing is urgent, from a safety point of view.
I do love technology, but the more technical things get, the more there is to break!
I had some excellent responses to my earlier post, trying to figure out what’s going on with the vehicles. For the tire problem to be happening with one vehicle is strange enough, but our truck, as well as my mother’s car? Then there’s the oil thing, in the truck.
First, to address the tires.
Yes, cold most definitely can be a factor when it come to air loss in our area… but not this year! Temperatures have been much warmer than average in our area this year, because of the strong El Niño. We might even have a brown Christmas this year! Yesterday, as I was coming home from a dump run (my last trip of the day), it was even starting to rain. We’ve had winters where both the van and my mother’s car basically froze, saved only by the block heaters, and did not have this sort of air loss.
My mother’s car had all 4 tires replaced not long after we took over keeping and caring for the vehicle from my brother. I had managed to miss hitting some deer, but ended up in the ditch. Much to our shock, I was able to drive straight out without any stop and keep driving, but one tire went flat before we got home. After it was taken to the garage, we discovered other damage and all the tires got replaced. That was about 4 or 5 years ago and, for the amount of driving we do in general, they are still in excellent shape. It’s not like we’re commuting every day on them or anything like that. One tire is newer than the others, after our gravel road conditions caused a blowout about 3 years ago.
The tires on her car becoming unexplainedly flat has mostly been in just the past 6 months or so. I found the right rear tire flat one time, with no cause found. Once pumped up, it held it’s air fine. Then there was the left front tire. When that happened a second time, we got it checked, along with the other front tire by mistake. No signs of any leak. Then, most recently, I checked all 4 tires before going to my mother’s. The left rear tire was almost flat, the left front tire was really low and both right tires were also low, but not as much. The right rear tire was lower than the right front tire.
With my mother’s car, it’s parked in an addition to the garage and, as small as it is, it still barely fits. If I have a passenger, they have to get out of the car before I drive into the garage. In order to get in and out of the driver’s side without the door hitting a counter shelf against the wall and having to squeeze my way out, it is parked closer to the other wall, and diagonally. Which means the driver’s side tires can be reached fairly easily, the rear passenger side tire could be reached if someone really wanted to make the effort, but the front passenger side tire is virtually inaccessible. To check the tires, I have to drive the car out of the garage completely.
Thanks, Silk, for your info about the Schrader valve. I was wondering what it was called! I’ve looked at the tool you linked to. The more I look at it, the more I wonder; have I seen one of these before? With all our digging around what’s left at the farm, trying to find what’s still useful. I may have seen something like that and wondered what it was for. Or, my brain it trying to fill memory gaps. I can definitely see my late bother having a tool like that around. What I don’t know is if our vandal would have one. I tend to find that idea highly unlikely; at least not as something he would have acquired to work on his own vehicles – though he’s taken so many tools from here before we moved in, he may have one among them. Whether he would know what it is, I’m not sure.
Also… I hope that jerk you mentioned got caught and faced the consequences for his actions! Vandalizing people’s tires can cost lives!
To answer some other points brought up:
The truck is a 2011 and, since we’ve bought it, the mileage is over 240,000km/149,130m. I’ve got the vehicle’s history, and a record of the work done on it to get it safetied. It has all new tires and, while they are not the highest end tires, they are certainly not cheap. These are very good tires. We got the vehicle from the mechanic owner of the garage we’ve been going to for years, rather than a dealership. We’ve been burned by dealerships and dealership garages way too many times. I’d rather buy a vehicle from a garage that sells cars on the side, than a dealership that also has a garage, if you get what I mean.
Along with the tires, I know it got an oil change, so basically both the oil and the tires have been driven only by us since we bought it.
A few things did get missed when the vehicle was being prepped for sale. They (both our mechanic and the garage that did the safety inspection) did not see a problem with the battery; that showed up after we started driving it. The tire sensor module’s battery is not something they would have checked, either. No one bothered checking the cord for the block heater, the end of which was neatly tucked away, so no one noticed the plug had been torn off at some point. With this winter being so mild, there is no rush to get that fixed. Of course, being an older vehicle with so many miles on it, I would expect to find things that will only show up by actually driving it regularly – like the driver’s side seat belt being difficult to get latched in place.
The truck is parked in the original part of the garage (where my mother’s car is now, and where the lawn mowers, etc. are stored, were added to each side, much later on). The tires can be easily reached from all sides. However, it’s a longer vehicle, and just barely fits. In order for us to be able to close the garage door (which is broken right now, so it’s open all the time), the truck has to be pulled so far forward, it’s almost kissing the counter against the back wall. The space under the counter is open, so the front bumper can actually go under the counter, just a tiny bit. If we pop the hood from inside, we can’t access the lever under the hood to open it all the way, because it’s right at counter level. If we need to access the engine while in the garage, the truck has to be backed up. However, if someone could manage to get the hood up, they would be able to access the engine compartment from the sides. Even with the truck not pulled all the way in, from the side was the only way I could reach the dipstick.
Speaking of which…
While I was poking around in there, with a utility light hanging from under the hood so I could see, I cleaned off the top of the oil cap, then reached with my phone to take a picture. That was the only way I could see and read what was written on it!
I can just reach that dip stick from the side, enough to pull it out. If I really stretch, I can touch the cap, but not enough to open it, or add oil, without basically climbing the truck. Hence the need for a foot stool!
It never occurred to me that someone might remove the oil through the dipstick. In theory, if they could get the hood up, it could be done but, if nothing else, I would have seen some sign of that in all the gravel dust all over the engine compartment. The top of the cap was covered with gravel dust and clearly hadn’t been touched since the engine was worked on before we bought it. It was thick enough that I could barely see there was writing under the oil symbol.
While there is no sign of a leak under the truck, in the photo above, you can see there is a small section that does look oily. Again, this is something that was visible when I took the picture. Even with the work light above, it didn’t look damp like that while I was checking the oil level.
The gauge layout is completely different from any other vehicle we’ve had, and the oil gauge itself is different from any other vehicle we’ve had. My daughter actually looked it up while I was driving, shortly after we brought the truck home, so we could figure out what it was telling us, and what range for the needle to be in was good or not. That very difference, as well as the different location of the gauge, has had me checking it frequently. It’s where I’m used to the fuel gauge being, in other vehicles we’ve had, so my eyes still automatically go there first. Which is why I can be so sure the oil loss was sudden. There was also no change in driveability.
Well, I still need to head out and pick up oil for the truck – and pick up another parcel at the post office, which is closed right now, so I have to wait another 1 1/2 hours. Unless I take my mother’s car and go to town and talk to our mechanic directly, then hit the post office on the way home. I think I’ll do that.
Assuming, of course, the tires on my mother’s car aren’t low again!
The Re-Farmer
Update:
I didn’t make it into town to talk to our mechanic. Since I was going to use my mother’s car, I made a point of checking the tires, first. Sure enough, the tires on the driver’s side had lost about 10-15psi, with the front tire having lost more. It was raining/snowing at the time, so I fired up the compressor to pump the tires, rather than using the hand pump. The hose is long, but not long enough to reach both sides of the vehicle, though it turned out the passenger side tires didn’t need it.
As I was just getting onto the main gravel road, I realized going to town was not a good idea. That area that’s shaded by the trees and covered in ice had plenty of water on top of the ice. In the time it would take me to drive to town, talk to our mechanic, then drive back, it would probably be starting to freeze, and I use as heck didn’t want to be driving on that with my mother’s car!
So I stopped at the post office, which is inside a general store. They did have the type of oil I needed in stock, so I picked up a couple of litres – and a package that had been delivered yesterday, but not though the mail, so I never saw it! My husband got a delivery notification for it and was wondering. He thought it had been sent by post. 😁
Anyhow.
Once I got home, I just left the oil with the truck and headed inside. We’ve got nicer weather coming up. One of us will grab a stool, move the truck, and get some oil in there when it’s not so unpleasant out.
I was able to send the photo I took yesterday, along with a message asking our mechanic to call me when he had some, saying I had a tires and oil mystery. He didn’t see me until he was closed up for the day, but called me anyhow.
I told him about the tires on my mother’s car, first, since I’d already taken it in for him to check it earlier, and it’s an ongoing thing. Then I told him about the tires on the truck also being low, which surprised him. We’d had the warnings due to the faulty sensor before, so they’d topped the tires up for me, just in case, before, plus I’d checked the pressure before, because of the warnings I was getting.
Then I told him about the oil suddenly being low.
With that, we talked for a bit about how GM is somewhat different from other vehicles (we’ve never owned a GM before), and while it may appear really low on the dipstick, it’s probably just down one liter, not almost dry. The oily moisture visible in the photo I sent it normal.
As for the tires, while it’s possible that our fluctuating temperatures and humidity levels could be affecting the tires, it is still really strange. At one point I told him, if it weren’t for the lack of physical evidence, I’d think someone were coming in and letting the air out of the tires! His response was, knowing where I live, he wouldn’t be surprised if it was. The thing is, if someone had – even some random vandal – there would have been some sort of evidence visible. With my mother’s car, just getting the doors open to access it would have made it obvious. The doors are sagging slightly and don’t latch properly anymore, so I’ve got an old tire, with a rim still on it, in front of one door, and a metal object of some kind I found in the garage in front of the other, to keep the wind from blowing it open. In theory, they could go through the main part of the garage, as there is a doorway into where my mother’s car is, but I’ve got 6 years of collected aluminum stored in that corner, and there isn’t a lot of room to get around the front of the car. The light switch is by the double doors, too, so if someone went that way – even someone who knows the layout of the garage – they’d be knocking over bags of aluminum in the dark. Plus, there’s that dirt flour that would have shown scuff marks and tracks.
He’s asked me to bring the vehicles in, starting with the truck. He’ll take all the tires off and check them. I’ll bring my mother’s car in, another time. I don’t even need to make an appointment. He just asked me to text him, first. Today is Friday, so I’ll do that on Monday.
He’s as perplexed about the tires as I am. Particularly since it’s now happening on both vehicles!
My regular readers might remember a strange situation we had with my mother’s car.
The first was discovering the left from tire almost completely flat. It was pumped up and seemed fine, until it was suddenly flat again. I took it to the garage to have it checked. They accidentally checked the right front tire, which was fine, but they found nothing wrong with the left front tire, either.
Then, not very long ago, before going to my mother’s, I checked the tires and found all four of them low. This time, it was the rear left tire that was almost flat. I pumped them all up and they were still fine when I checked them again before taking my mother to the hospital for her follow up, just a few days ago.
Now that we’ve got the truck, we’ve got a vehicle with brand new tires. The onboard computer, however, started giving us low tire warnings, right from the start – even though a pressure check showed they were fine. We’re also getting a “service tire monitoring system” warning. After talking to the mechanic, he thinks it’s just a low battery in the monitor. That’s a repair by replacement. The part is not expensive, but replacing the battery was the priority for our budget this month.
The problem with having these warning lights on all the time, though, is not knowing if they’re actually legitimate or not. So when my daughter and I headed to the city today, we paused at a gas station to check the tires.
Three out of four tires were low. One, very low!
???
Then, on the trip home, I saw the oil pressure gauge was low. I am not sure if it was low as we were driving out, but I know for sure it was where it was supposed to be, the last time I drove it. I do normally keep an eye on all the gauges when I drive.
Once we were done driving around and the truck was in the garage, I popped the hood and checked the oil. Which was rather amusing, since I can barely reach the dip stick.
The oil was very low, too!
Yet, there was no evidence of a leak anywhere.
Also, I know the oil had been changed as the truck was prepped for sale, so we are the only ones to have been driving it since then. Same with the tires.
I was going to add oil to the truck, but it uses 5W30, and what we have on hand is 5W40, so I’ll use my mother’s car, tomorrow, and pick up some 5W30 and top up the truck.
And maybe find a stool of some kind that we can keep with the truck, so I can reach further into the engine compartment. I might be able to just reach the dip stick, but I can’t reach the cap to add more oil!
If it weren’t for the fact that there is zero evidence for it, I would think that “someone” has been letting the air out of our tires, but… the oil, too? No. If that was what happened, there have been tracks in the snow (for when it happened with my mother’s car), or scuffs in the dirt floor of the garage around the truck. Plus, the only person I can think of that would do something like this is our vandal, and he’s got too many mobility issues for him to have been able to reach all the tires on my mother’s car (it barely fits into the side of the garage it’s parked in, and can only be accessed from one side). Or slither under the truck to drain the oil into a pan, which is what would have had to have been done for there to be no oil on the ground under the truck.
I am perplexed!!
Aside from that, the day went well.
My daughter and I went to several places. One was a liquidation place I wanted to check out, as I’d heard they got a huge shipment of name brand pet food. It turned out to be mostly dog food, but what cat food we found… well, it may have been a deal from the regular prices for these brands, but they cost more, for less kibble, than what we have been getting at Walmart and Costco. We didn’t get any kibble, but we did get a few other things that were a good price, including a little Christmas tree. Since we will be limiting our Christmas decorating and celebrating to the cat free zone in the living room, I’d been wondering how we would find space for any of our trees. Certainly not the 6′ one, but even the one we’ve been using against the door in the dining room, well above the floor, would have been too big. My daughters have a smaller one they would set up, upstairs, but not with the kittens this year. I think it’s a 4′ tree, which would still be a bit large for what we want to do with the space.
What I got was a red sparkly cone shaped tree with baubles already on it that’s only about 2′ tall. It’ll fit on top of the piano. I later found some plain white string lights for it at Dollarama, and we already have small tree toppers that would work.
An almost instant Christmas tree!
Before we went to the Dollarama, we swung by the international grocery store for some dim sum for “breakfast” – neither of us had eaten yet! Along with the string lights we found at Dollarama, we remembered to get a small garbage can for the truck – my daughter chose one with flowers all over it. 😊 They also had more of the little puppy beds in stock, so we got another one of those, since the cats love the first one I got so much. They are thrilled with the new one, too!
One of the places I wanted to try for our shopping was Fresh Co. I keep hearing how they have such good prices. My daughter had their shopping list, so I just needed some basics. I didn’t find their prices to be all that much better, except for a couple of sales. They had bags of 4 avocados selling for under $2 a bag! These days, you can’t even get a single avocado for under $2! So I got two bags. They also had a brand of butter for under $5 a pound. They had a limit of 4 pounds, but I only got 2, since we still have plenty from the last Costco shopping trip in the freezer. Costco’s price is over $5, but in most places, a pound of butter costs almost $7 a pound – and that’s the cheap house brand or no-name ones. The other brand name butters are much more expensive.
My daughter had a longer list than me, and she wasn’t able to find everything at the Fresh Co, so we went back to the international grocery store, after I filled the gas tank. Today is Thursday, and Domo has 5¢ off per litre on Mondays and Thursdays. The gas prices had also dropped and were 138.9¢/L, so we were paying 133.9¢/L. While my daughter was at the international grocery store, I popped over to a Dollar Tree I hadn’t been to in years, just to check it out.
That done, we were going to head home, when I remembered I needed memory cards for the older trail cam, so we swung by a Staples. I only needed 8gig cards, and two of them, so I can switch cards when I do my morning rounds. The lowest they had in stock was 16gig – and they were almost $20 each! The 32gig cards were cheaper than the 16gig cards, and the sales person that tried to help me said 8gig cards would be even more expensive. I guess nobody buys such low memory cards anymore. I could have gotten even better prices if I were getting micro disks, instead, but those don’t work on the camera. If they did, I could have used the ones I already have on hand.
So now I have a pair of 32gig cards to replace the old 8gig cards for the older trail cam. Here’s hoping they’ll work! I know the cameras generally can’t handle the large memory cards, but that usually starts at 128gigs, if I remember correctly.
Once we have the spare funds, I’ve got my eyes on some solar powered trail cams. They don’t make the model we have now, but I’ve been able to find others where the solar panel powers the camera directly, rather than charging rechargeable batteries, and has regular batteries for when it’s too dark for the solar panel to do the job. There are other features I want, too, but I think that one is the deal breaker for me, when looking at the different models out there. That will mean needing more memory cards. I think I’ll buy them online, along with the camera, when the time comes!
But I digress!
We had ourselves a productive day in the city; my daughter found everything they had on their shopping list, and I got a few extra things as well.
The cats just love this busted up bin with the garden netting in it.
When we first put the netting in it, we had a hard time stuffing it in enough to close the lid. The cats kept knocking it off the shelf, with both lid and bin, then used the netting as a bed. Now the netting is packed down so much, you’d never know it once filled the bin!
Also, I counted 37 cats outside this morning. Three times.
Which means that not only did the “missing” cats come back, but we seem to have gained another one. !!!
After the morning rounds were done, I was off to the city to do our second stock up shopping trip. This trip had three stops, all in the same general area, which is part of why we don’t do it at the same time as our Costco stock up trip. Another reason is because the Costco is in a different part of the city, and I just don’t want to drive around that much. I dislike shopping, and find it very draining, and one Costco trip on its own is as draining as the three stops I made today. Four, if you count getting gas.
My first stop was at Canadian Tire to get more hardwood pellets for the litters. That was just under $16, after taxes. We now have enough pellets to last us at least a couple of months.
My next stop was the international grocery store, where I finally had breakfast, at lunch time. I quite enjoy their dim sum. That, plus a drink, cost pennies over $20.
I completely forgot to get a picture of what I got there. I also can’t find the receipt; I think it’s still in the truck. 😄
It was a small trip. I hoped to get more fresh produce, but ended up just getting some bananas that will need to be eaten quickly, and mandarins. I did get an applewood maple smoked slab of bacon, which is one of the things we go to this store for. They also had a good sale on pork loin, but that was all I got for meat. Their sugar shelves in the baking aisle were empty, as they carry the Rogers brand of granulated sugar. There was cane sugar available in the international section, but it’s not granulated, and I’m not sure how it will do for baking. As I was still planning to hit the Walmart, I didn’t get any sugar here. I found some drinks, including the Beaver Buzz energy drinks we can no longer get locally – and they only had one flavour in stock. I got two boxes of Earl Grey Bergamot tea that was on sale, plus a spray bottle of cleaning vinegar of a type my daughters prefer. I even found a large block of Old Cheddar cheese for almost $25.
I can’t remember what else I got there right now, other than grabbing one of their food bank bags for the hamper. One bag includes pasta and pasta sauce, canned fruit, and a few other shelf stable items to make a complete meal for at least 2 people, with extras. The bag was only $9, which brought my total bill up to $108 and change.
My next stop was Walmart, and I did remember to put that receipt into my pocket.
I made a donation to the Children’s Hospital as well, so minus that, the final bill after taxes was $181.21
Yeah. This cost almost $200.
The food items: It’s cheap turkey season, so I got a medium turkey for $24 The creamers were on sale at 2 for $9 The crackers were on sale at 3 for $7 Large jar of olives: $8.97 pecan halves: $7.00 walnut pieces: $5.00 Dark sugar: $1.97 They were, of course, out of the Rogers brand of sugar. With that shortage, they were also sold out of the Redpath white granulated sugar, but there was still some Redpath brown sugar left. We still have enough granulated sugar at home to last us, as long as we don’t do any serious baking, but we were almost out of brown sugar. house brand popcorn, 2 bags at $2.47 each. I normally buy popcorn at Costco, but I never found it. Also, the popcorn we grew won’t pop, and I don’t know what we’ve done wrong! vegetable bouillon cubes, 4 packs at $1.47 each sour cream: $5.98 coffee: $9.97
The non-food items: I got toilet paper for the pantry, as we currently don’t have extra. That was on sale for $13,97 Paper towel: $16.97 Facial tissues: $8.97 All purpose cleaner: $9.97 One “extra” item I got was a new cutting board, to replace one of our plastic ones that needs to be tossed. Because of how our counter is, I got one with a grippy bottom. It cost $11.47 Another “extra” item I got was examination gloves. We’ve finally worked our way through the boxes we brought with us in the move, plus the ones that were here that the homecare aids used before my dad went into the nursing home. My daughters like to use them when doing deep cleaning. Especially in the basement. One box of 100 gloves: $15.97
Then, for the road, I got an energy drink for $3.27, plus a water bottle for $1.47
Before heading for home, I remembered to fill the tank again. On the way out, I normally stop in the town my mother lives in for gas, but I skipped it this time. The price for regular was 150.9¢/L When I got to the city, I saw 143.9¢/L all over the place. Domo, however, has 5¢ off per L on Mondays and Thursdays. Today is Thursday, so I filled up at 138.9¢/L About a quarter tank still cost me $43.45.
With all three stops together, including donations, I spent almost $300 today. I had intended to check out the Fresh Co that’s along the same strip, but just didn’t have the spoons for it. I was okay for most of it, but after driving for over an hour, my feet, knees and hips stiffen up, so I’m limping for the first while until my joints are “greased”. By the end of it, it’s my lower back and hips that’s starting to go. Then it’s another hour + drive, leaving me with stiffened joints again when it’s time to unload the truck. At least then, I’ve got the girls to help me!
That’s basically it for our stock up shopping. We will do one more city shopping trip for my daughters, probably next week. They have their own list and budget. That can be a time for me to check out the Fresh Co, finally. Other than that, anything else we need, mostly fresh produce, will be purchased locally.
With December having so many stat holidays around weekends at the end of the month, my husband’s disability payments are always on different dates. Normally, he gets his main payment on the last business day of the month, and the CPP Disability on the third last business day of the month. In December, the CPP Disability comes in several days before Christmas, so that will likely be when I will do our first January stock up shopping trip, as well as anything we want to get special for Christmas dinner. The last few years, we relied on our stocking up supplies for January, as we often didn’t manage to get to the city at all until February or even March, either because of the weather and being snowed in, or both vehicles being too frozen. This year, between the mild winter we’re expecting and having the truck instead of the van, we should actually be able to do another stock up trip in January. I sure as heck don’t plan to go to the city to shop between Christmas and New Year’s, if I can avoid it!!
I would like to crawl into my cave and hibernate, now.
I’m pretty sure we exceeded our predicted high for the day, though we were in the city at the time, which is typically a couple of degrees warmer, just from the Urban Heat Island effect.
When I fed the outside cats this morning, I was able to do a head count and got 33, several times. Then I saw two more come running, while I was setting up for our departure. When we got back, we pulled up to the house to make it easier for my husband. I fed the outside cats early so that I could safely get the truck out of the yard and into the garage. I did another head count, and got 37! Repeatedly!
I have no idea where these extra cats are coming from, or which ones they are!
Anyhow…
My older daughter was not feeling well, so she stayed home. Having someone at home was probably for the best, anyhow, with our vandal’s freak out over the scrap cars being hauled away. I got a call from my brother this morning, to check on us – no, my mother did not call to apologize, nor did I get a response from my email to my sister. He, however, checked his home answering machine and found a couple of messages from our vandal, with his usual ranting and raving. I’ll be getting copies of those, when he gets the chance to send them to me, for our records.
The drive into the city went well. Highway conditions were great. Road conditions in the city were not as good, but not because of the weather. I was told that apparently the city has fixed all the streets over the past while, but you sure can’t tell from how badly the residential roads in particular are falling apart. My husband, unfortunately, feels every crack and pothole. I try to drive gently, but there’s only so much you can avoid!
The visit itself was really excellent. My BIL, his wife and adult children have been to our place, but this was the first time in about 5 years since we’ve seen my FIL, and the first time we’ve seen my SIL since she moved back out here a couple of years ago. My FIL is having a lot more mobility issues, which but he’s looking great.
There was only one unfortunate thing that happened, and it was me. *sigh*
Their dining room is a step lower. A step my FIL has difficulty with, so they have a sort of platform that’s half a step high, making it easier for him to get down into the dining room.
I was going to help clear the table, grabbed a dish of mashed potatoes and the gravy, turned to take it to the kitchen and…
Caught my toe on the edge of the platform.
I went flying.
Mashed potatoes went flying.
Gravy went flying.
I landed hard on my left knee.
In the mashed potatoes.
Of course, everyone was concerned that I wasn’t hurt. I was more upset over the waste of food and making such a mess!
Oddly, while there is some minor swelling and I’ll likely get a bruise, it doesn’t hurt much at all. It seems I’ve landed on that knee so many times over the years – I actually don’t fall often, but when I do, it’s always been onto my left knee! – it seems to have just stopped hurting. Mind you, with the OA and bone spurs, I might just have such a high pain tolerance by now, something like this just doesn’t phase me anymore.
So that was unfortunate. 😕
That was the only down side of the visit.
My husband, meanwhile, held out as long as he could, but could only push himself so far. He hides it well, though. My daughter and I could see the signs that he was struggling to remain upright, so we called it before dessert. Which also meant we got home while it was still light out, which is always a good thing.
As soon as we got home, my husband hooked himself up to his TENS, took his evening meds and his “take as needed” painkillers, and went to right to bed. He’s going to pay for this trip for a while, but to see his father again was, for him, worth it.
Another reason to be so glad we got this truck. He could not have managed this trip at all, even if we still had the van. The seats on this truck are so much better for his back, he can handle the drive much better.
With my daughter coming along, we had to put one of the back seats down, so the walker had to go into the back of the truck. We were able to secure it so it wouldn’t slight around. Before we left, I grabbed a crate and started returning some of the stuff we used to keep regularly in the van. Booster cables. Tire iron. Stuff like that. We’ll need to look for some sort of storage box to install on the back for this stuff. The typical truck box I see that is mounted behind the cab is too tall; we’d have to remove the cover, and we like the cover! There are storage boxes that fit over the wheel wells that would be more ideal, and easier for short people like me to access! 😁 We were also talking about getting things like straps and tie downs and other things that we would find useful with a truck that weren’t needed with a van. Little by little, we’ll get the tools and supplies we will need!
Another thing we talked about was our next fix. My brother has told me to keep the money from the sale of the cars, so that’s going to go back into the property. For the amount we have, there are a few things we could do, but there’s what feels “urgent” vs what needs to be prioritized first.
Among the things we need to do is get the well pump replaced. My brother has already bought a pump and all the fittings he could think of that would be needed to install it. The problem is, shortly after we moved here, we noticed issues that might mean the foot valve is starting to be a problem. One plumber came out and actually went into the area above our well – the concrete well cap is about 12 feet down – to look at the pipes to pump in the basement. This well was dug in the mid 70’s. Since then, the standard size for well pipes has changed. If there were any issues, we couldn’t simply replace the pipes. We’d have to find and special order that size, or have a new well dug. At that point, we’re looking at many thousands of dollars.
So no plumber dares replace the pump. The risk is low, but if that foot valve goes, we have no water until we can afford to get that fixed.
Water is our one weak spot. If we lose power for an extended period, we are okay with everything else. We can cook, stay warm, use the outhouse… the only thing we have no back up for is water.
But we do have that original well with the hand pump.
So that will be our priority fix.
I just talked to my brother about it, and he’s quite on board with the idea.
Over the next while, I will look for a company that can service a hand pump. I’ve been able to pump water, but it took a long time for it to start flowing, and if I slowed down pumping, the water would stop. So it does seem to just be a matter of replacing the leathers and getting a proper seal again. I’ve watched videos on how to do this but none of them involve a pump like what we have. I’ve looked up suppliers for the leather gaskets, and they’re pretty cheap, but I have no idea what size or type we need. Once we get someone to do it, we will probably be able to do it ourselves after that, though new leathers should last for years.
Once that is done and we have back up water, we can look at getting that new well pump installed. It should be just fine but, if things go wrong and we lose water, we will have that back up. We might end up hauling water for an awfully long time, but that’s preferable to not having any water at all!
It will probably be a while before I find someone, but that will be what the funds will be set aside for.
*sigh*
I suppose I should phone my mother and see how things are with her. She and I talked about the old well, and she was quite thrilled when I said I wanted to get it going again. So she should be happy to hear that this is what we’ve decided to do next, but she also wanted me to get rid of those old cars, only to become furious when I actually did get rid of a couple, thanks to our vandal.
*sigh*
We’ll see how that goes. Hopefully, she’ll have calmed down, and the day will end as well as it began.
Six years ago today, the four of us were finally altogether, here at the farm. After over 24 hours on the road, and a near-deer experience (I’d forgotten about that!) my older daughter and I arrived in the wee hours of the morning.
After our first sleep, all under the same roof, it quickly became clear that the state of things here at the farm were quite a bit worse than I expected – and I already knew things were not anywhere near “perfect”, like my mother claimed it was!
And that was before we found out how bad things would get with the movers!
He came out here to take a look at the vent and plumbing stack to see if he could find why we have had a leak in the bathroom ceiling. When my SIL told me he’d stopped at the hardware store first, I couldn’t think why, but then thought… oh, no! He’s buying us a new fluorescent light fixture for the kitchen! That fixture had a “temporary light” label on it when we moved here. (It didn’t even have the cover anymore; that fell off while the roofers were here, and dropping heavy packages of shingles on the roof.) I’d asked my brother about it when we first moved in, and he told me about not being able to find the right fixture for there, anywhere. He was very frustrated about it, too. I got the impression that it had something to do with the electrical, which is pretty janky in this house, so when the light blew two bulbs, which had been replaced not that long ago, for fluorescent bulbs, it was our first warning something was going wrong. Then, when we replaced the bulbs from the extras in the basement, they started going strange things. They were darker at the ends, and we started to see waves of gases flowing inside… Not good! So we stopped using it. I told my brother about it and asked him again, why it had not been replaced. We were not going to take any chances with replacing it until I knew for sure we actually could!
It turned out, the local hardware stores simply didn’t have the right size in stock. 😄😄 If I’d known that, we would have probably replaced it, long ago!
So we were going to just replace the fixture when we had the funds for it. Getting the truck, then getting cats fixed, were a priority. The only inconvenience, really, was how dark it was to do dishes. They sent me some photos of lights at a hardware store they were visiting one time, and asked me what my plan was. At that time, I told them we had no plans, yet. We just needed to know if there was an electrical issue.
What I did NOT want them to do was spend several hundred dollars on a replacement fixture.
So when I heard he was at the hardware store, that’s what I thought he might be doing.
When he arrived, though, and opened up the back, what I saw was a package of pink fiberglass insulation and some rolls of heavy duty plastic. Still more than I wanted him to spend, but at least that made sense!
He then climbed up to check the stacks and they looked okay, overall. There was no obvious area a leak could have been happening. I’d sent him a photo from the ground before I roof raked as best I could around there, and you could see an island of clear roof in that corner. Clearly, we were losing a lot of heat in that area, which might also have been a contributing factor.
It was VERY slippery up there, though, so he had to be so, so careful as he came down to get his bucket of tar. He went back and forth a few times, which was quite nerve wracking! However, he basically slathered that vent, not just around the new shingles, but up the sides as well. Then he put more around the opening for the plumbing stack, next to the vent. If there was water coming in through there, it sure as heck wasn’t going to be getting through anymore! He had to work fast, too, because it was cold, and he had to get it done while the tar was still warm and pliable. He was glad to have been able to get here and get it done while it was still light, too. It gets dark awfully fast, this time of year!
As he was putting away his ladder and stuff, we were chatting and I mentioned how our roof rake, when full extended, can reach all the way to the peak of the roof over the main entry. Since we were looking at it anyway, I mentioned the eavestrough there is something we needed to repair or replace in the spring.
My bad.
The eavestrough was coming loose in one spot, causing a bend at a join, so water would drip through a crack before reaching the downspout.
Next thing I knew, he was setting his ladder up in the pile of snow I raked off the roof and climbed up to take a look. Seeing what he was doing, I got hammer handy – apparently, not a “real” hammer, but it’s what we’ve got! – and he was able to secure it in one spot, but in another, the nail is completely missing. Still, for now at least, there is no longer a sagging area. We can deal with the rest in the spring.
Then he went inside and upstairs to look into the area that’s above the bathroom.
To explain, the upstairs is what might otherwise have been an attic. When it was converted to bedrooms, my dad raised the roof on one side for head room, and that’s where windows were added. My daughters use one of those windows to get onto the roof over the new part of the house to shovel it. The other wall, however, is right under the roof and at an angle. In the room that is above where the bathroom and my husband’s room is now (which used to be a combined living room and dining room, when I was little), there is a small section under the angled portion that is now walled off. When we got an indoor bathroom, it was built to cover the vent and plumbing stack.
This is what it looked like, when we first peeked in there back in February, 2018, just 4 months after we were all moved in.
How or why that stuff was in there, I have no idea.
You can see, however, that there are very old water stains in the wood, however, it is dry in there.
We were able to get the stuff closer to the front, but none of us is able bodied enough to actually crawl in.
My brother, however, could.
He was able to get all the way past that vent, with a little broom and dust pan, sweeping away decades of dust and pieces of wood. I tried to help as much as I could, but that was little more than passing him things and holding a flashlight, in addition to the one he had in the tunnel with him.
I’m just comparing the photos now, and can see that the water stains have grown, however the floor is dry. Wherever the water was coming from, it has been pooling under those floor boards somewhere, before dripping into the bathroom, without getting anything wet in this tunnel.
After sweeping the worst off the floor, he started pulling out the stuff he was finding. Some odd pieces of linoleum with a bold floral pattern I’ve never seen around the farm, and yet somehow feel like I should recognise. My brother also felt he recognised the pattern. He dragged out a folded up… vinyl table cloth? We aren’t sure. There was a box with leftover tiles that cover the floor upstairs! What good are spare tiles, if they’re hidden in a tunnel behind a wall, where no one can see or reach them? Then, most curious of all, he tossed out an object for me to see. Before I could even shine a flashlight on it, something about the shape looked oh so familiar to me.
It was a plastic toy kangaroo, with a joey in it’s pouch.
I remember playing with that toy! What it was doing way back in there, I have no idea!
It is also now sticky and disgusting. It’s old enough the plastic is degrading in that slimy way only “vintage” plastic can do!
Once things were clear, my brother began working in stages. He cut plastic to lay down as a vapour barrier, then began stuffing in the fiberglass insulation.
He literally filled the tunnel with insulation, using a garden hoe to push it into place at the back.
When he got to the vent and plumbing stack, he used spray foam, top and bottom, to seal around them, laid down more plastic, cut to fit around the vent, then kept added more insulation.
Every time he went in, he had to inch his way in like a worm, then inch his way back out again. He did that dozens of times! Oh, he was so exhausted by the time he finished the bag of insulation. It didn’t quite fill the space right to the entry but, by that point, there is the attic over the old kitchen on the other side.
We don’t go in there.
That tunnel above the bathroom is now the most insulated space in the house.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the roof in that area. There should be no more escaping heat melting the snow off there, anymore, that’s for sure!!
By this time, it was completely dark out, and I helped my brother pack things back into his truck. Then I went to feed the outside cats to get them away from the truck, so he could safely leave.
He didn’t leave.
The next thing I know, he’s at the counter between the kitchen and the dining room, clearing it off and setting up to reach the light fixture.
Yup. He bought us a new light fixture.
I suspect they actually bought it that day they sent me the pictures, and asked if I had a plan.
After turning on the light to see what it was doing, he started taking it apart to look at the wiring. He couldn’t see anything obviously wrong. He then went to find the right breaker to shut off the power (there are some gaps in the labelling), and got to work. The breaker also turned off the dining room light, so I set up our large flashlight to light it from below, plus he had his headlamp. He had to fuss with it a bit, and drill a hole in the base plate for the wiring in the ceiling to fit through, but otherwise it was a pretty basic fixture switch.
Here is our shiny new light fixture!
It feels so weird for there to be so much light over that counter again! The light itself it completely different, and far more yellow than the previous bulbs. The fixture is slightly narrower than the old one, so you can just seen an outline on either side, but who cares? We have a working light again.
That done, he packed his truck up again, and finally got to leave! He was here so much longer than he expected to be, but was not about to leave until he’d done what he came to do. And extra, of course, because he’s like that!
Here we were, happy to have one last “warm” day to do the winter mulching, because it was likely to be the last day above freezing this year.
The forecast has changed.
They’re now saying we’re supposed to hit 6C/43F … in the middle of November!
While I was out, helping my mother run errands, it was just below freezing, and that was enough to set things melting in some areas. Over the next few days, we’re supposed to get snow, or a mix of snow and rain, because we’re expected to go just above freezing again. To have basically a week of temperatures between 4-6C/39-43F, that is enough to melt away all the snow we currently have.
I’m not complaining.
The mulch we put on the garden works both ways; it’ll keep the ground from freezing too much, but will also keep it from warming up too much. Otherwise, the garlic might start sprouting, only to get killed off when the deep freeze hits.
Also, we’re supposed to hit 4C/39F on the day I’m taking 6 cats in to be spayed and neutered!
I was messaging with the Cat Lady about that. She’s really stressing that we need to make sure and use all those slots she’s booking, and stay on the good side of this vet. It seems the last time the vet had one of these steeply discounted spay days, half the people who booked never showed up. Which I find absolutely astonishing. After that happened, the vet basically banned the no-shows from rebooking. Understandable! As for the Cat Lady, she’s been trying to help someone else slightly north of us that has a yard cat colony even larger than ours. That person was one of the no shows. Apparently, the drop off time of 8am was too early for her. Which blows me away. Yeah, it’s early, when you have to drive quite a ways to get there, but the vet has even said that if someone is in that situation and has to stay in town until it’s time to pick up their cats, let them know and they’ll try to do those cats first. For me, I’ll leave earlier than necessary, just in case I get stuck behind slow traffic, or have a breakdown or… who knows. Things happen. I just can’t imagine giving up such a deal on getting spays and neuters, and I especially can’t imagine just not showing up after booking an appointment! It’s happened so often, however, that the Cat Lady says we’re basically the only ones she’s still willing to help out with spays and neuters through her rescue.
We actually show up.
The only stickler right now is, each cat has to be in its own carrier. We’ve got 4 carriers, and need to bring in 6 cats. She’s put the word out to people who have borrowed carriers from her to bring them back, trying to come up with two more we can use.
I got curious and went looking online. If we really need to, there are soft sided carriers available through our nearest Walmart that are on clearance – but only if we order online, it seems. But we’re talking about only $10 or so for a carrier. Heck, I might just order a couple for pick up, since I have to go there soon, anyhow. I’d rather have hard sided carriers, but any carrier is better than no carrier! We’d just have to be careful what cats go in them, because some would tear their way right out of a soft sided carrier!
Well, if I’m going to be doing some running around, at least I’ll have good weather for it!
Just not tomorrow, because that’s when we’re supposed to get both snow and rain.
I took the truck in to get things checked out; along with the “service tire monitoring system” warning on the computer display, I started to get a “left rr tire low, add air” warning. Plus, the check engine light was still on. The battery needed to be looked at, too.
I dropped the truck off, then headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things and wait until I got a text to come back for the truck. This was just a look-see appointment, not an appointment to get any work done.
When I got back, he explained about the sensor issues. And it is sensors that are the problem, not actual mechanical problems. The tire module probably has a low battery, so that will need to be replaced. The part is a somewhat over $60, from what he could remember. As for the battery, he checked, and no, HE did not replace it. The previous owner had replaced it. He looked it up and it’s a 2019 battery, so past warranty. He recently changed suppliers, so he couldn’t give me an idea of the cost.
Overall, though, we should have no problem waiting until December to get this done, if we have to. The priority would be getting a new battery. The sensors are just turning on lights.
That was when I commented about the computer display, and how the manual said there was a control panel for it in a location that is not included in this model, and there’s no button.
Yes, there is!
Of course, I had to get him to show me exactly where it is, because we’ve looked and looked. There HAD to be something, but we just couldn’t find it.
He showed it to me, and I STILL had to stick my head right in to see it.
I took this picture of the dash after I parked at home. Can you see it?
If you spotted it in that V between the top gauge on the right, and the speedometer, you’ve got good eyes! We LOOKED in that area! We looked all over the console. We missed it completley.
He got a laugh about that.
Once I had the truck back and the groceries loaded, I parked long enough to message my family, then cycled through the computer display. I’ll have to spend some time going through the different displays to see what some of them are for, and how to use the trip function, but the main thing is, I was no longer seeing that “service tire monitoring system” thing anymore. I was finally seeing the odometer reading!
Also, the temperature in Celcius.
It took me a moment to figure out why there was a W above the temperature when I realised I was driving West. It has a compass display, too! Woo Hoo!!!
Yeah, it doesn’t take much for me to get all excited. 😄
He asked me to text him tomorrow and remind him to look up the prices of things and send me an estimate. He’s been very busy lately, mostly with tires! Even as I dropped the truck off, he was taking delivery of a cargo van load. People are getting their winter tires, so it’s a good busy!
I will probably not be home for much of tomorrow, though. Thankfully, it was warm enough today, and the ice is all melted off the roads. I will be calling my mother later to confirm, and am expecting to help her with some errands tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow is also supposed to be our last “warm” day. I’ll have to get the girls to take care of the winter mulching for me. I’d rather be working outside and taking advantage of the last warm day. My mother seems to have developed a strange gift for disrupting our ability to get things done that are weather dependant!! It’s not like she pays attention to the weather forecasts and plans this, either. Ah, well. It is what it is!
First, though, I need to have myself a late supper. I was in town for far longer than I expected, and didn’t think I’d need to get food while I was out!
The Re-Farmer 