My daughter and I had our trip to the city today. Feeling very thankful for air conditioning! The city is even hotter than we are right now. Here at home, we reached 34C/93F, and while the city hit 37C/99F. It’s also incredibly muggy. Like walking through soup. My daughters have a friend in Texas, who is apparently having the same conditions we are right now!
One of the things my daughter had on her list of things to pick up was a new set of wheels. Of all the bikes we have around the farm, including the mountain bike I got at a garage sale for $10, it would cost more to fix them up than to buy a new bike. At least the sort of bike that meets my daughter’s needs. We still plan to fix up the garage sale bike; basically, the only thing good on it is the frame and the seat. !! My husband says it looks like someone had scavenged it for parts. A new bike like it, however, would be very expensive so, for my husband, it would be worth fixing. He’s also the only one tall enough to ride it!
We went to Walmart, and this is the bike my daughter chose.
Image belongs to Walmart.ca
It’s a Huffy “Beach Cruiser”. It’s single speed, with a rear coaster brake. You pedal backwards to stop. Since we have no hills out here, a single speed bike is adequate. It has a very comfortable seat, according to my daughter. The pack on the handle bars is an insulated bag that has a weather proof cell phone holder on the top of the lid. Apparently, the clear plastic is touch screen enabled. Plus it has mesh pockets on the sides. The bike was also on sale, making it under $200, so that made it easy on her budget.
She got herself a helmet, too. There are bike helmets here, but they’ve been sitting in the barn and we have no idea how old they are – or how many spiders have made their home in them!
After we finished the rest of our shopping, we discovered a problem.
Getting it into the car.
The handle bars kept getting in the way. We finally figured we’d have to remove the handle bars, but didn’t have the tools for it. So while my daughter finished bagging up our other shopping, I dashed back into the store to find a tool. They had a single bike multi-tool in stop, so I snagged it. When I got back to the car, though, I discovered my daughter had managed to get it in! It took some twisting and turning, but she was able to work around those handlebars and get it in with room to spare.
It’s amazing what we can fit in the back of my mother’s little car!
My husband had picked up some bike tool kits so that he can work on cobbling together the garage sale bike, so now my daughter has her own bicycle multi-tool she can keep in one of those pockets on the insulated bag.
Once we got home and unloaded, my daughter rode it around the house a few times. It’s been years since any of us have ridden a bike. Testing out the garage sale bike doesn’t count. She and I both tried it out and basically fell over immediately. 😆
For now, we’ve set aside the makeshift table we used for the transplants to make room to store it in the sun room. Eventually, it’ll get stored in the garage. She wants to be able to take the bike into town and explore; something that’s more convenient to do with a bike than a car.
Hmm… According to the weather app, we’re raining right now. Except, we’re not. I’m seeing blue skies and a lot of wind out my window. Interestingly, the updated weather app that came with my computer now has a “Seeing different weather?” link on the mini-map. I was able to actually submit what we’re seeing here, rather than what their weather stations are reading. None of those weather stations are near us.
A large part of our province is currently under a severe thunderstorm watch, though much larger areas to the north and east of us are under extreme thunderstorm watches. It’d be nice if this system went further north of us, first, with rain to help quell the forest fires up there, but it’ll move out of our province well below where most of them are.
Meanwhile, we’ve got fans going all over the place, including in some of the windows, blowing air out of the house, rather than pulling hot, muggy air into the house! Even at night, the girls are really struggling upstairs with the muggy heat. We’ve got to find some way to get an air conditioner set up for them up there! It would have to be a portable one. The problem is, figuring out how to set one up with the types of windows we have. The other problem is, those things are frikkin’ expensive! Especially one powerful enough to cool down the entire upstairs. Maybe, at the end of the summer, we’ll be able to pick one up on clearance or something. Just in time for when the upstairs turns into a freezer for the winter. 😕
Ah, well. We’ll get it worked out, one of these days.
Considering it took me two days to do a relatively small area, I figured it was worth a video!
I am so glad I finally got this done. There was so much dead thatch in there, I spent more time emptying the bad into the wagon, then hauling it away, than actually mowing.
We dipped to 10C/50F during the night, and as I write this at almost 3:30 pm, we’re at 17C/63F, and I’m absolutely loving it!
I took advantage of the temperatures to work on a job that I was avoiding during the hot days. Mowing in the outer yard, with the push mower.
I had a specific purpose for this. When it was cut before, the riding mower was at its highest setting. I’ve lowered the push mower, while also using the bag to collect the clippings. In this area, that would be a mix of old, dried thatch from last year, and fresh growth. I had the wagon handy, as it holds a lot more clippings that the wheelbarrow, to empty the bag into until the load could be hauled off to the garden.
This is as far as I got before filling the wagon for the first time. About two and a quarter passes. It takes about five bags to fill the wagon. In the drier area with the deepest thatch from last year – including the portions we were able to mow and rake up last time – I was emptying the bag ever few feet. I’d say doing this narrow strip took me at least 15 minutes. Then, when I filled the wagon, I started mulching around the transplanted squash right away, which probably took another 15 minutes before I brought the empty wagon back and took this photo.
This is how far I got before stopping for lunch.
By this point, I was able to mulch all the squash mounds, including the ones that were direct sown with summer squash, all the grow bags with peppers and onions, and even low raised beds, around turnips, beets and carrots. I’ve removed the boards that were placed to protect the tomatoes from the wind, which opened up space that needed to be mulched.
That done, I started dumping loads onto the black tarp that has been so handy. We use to to cover areas to start killing off grass and weeds, to hold sifted garden soil until it can be returned to the beds, and now to hold grass clippings for later mulching.
I’m going to continue to focus on using the push mower in this area. Everything else can be done with the riding mower that my brother and his wife left for us to use.
He’s done a lot on the riding mower they took back with them. The drive chain turned out to be stretched, and that’s why it kept falling off. He replaced that – but even the new chain needed to have a link removed for it to work. He replaced the seat, which I didn’t even think needed replacing. The belt for the mowing blade had fallen off at some point. It may need a new battery, and at least one of the tires will need replacing, as the rubber was showing huge cracks. We’re all amazed it held air long enough for my brother to get the mower onto his trailer!
It turned out to need a whole lot more work than expected! He keeps finding more and more things that need to be fixed.
I so appreciate that they left one of their riding mowers behind for us to use while he works on it. It will save us a lot of time, that’s for sure.
For now, though, I’m going to continue to use the push mower and slowly reclaim the super long grass that we never got to cut, or even scythe, last year. This will give me huge amounts of wonderful clippings to use in the garden!
Meanwhile, one of my daughters have been supervising the cats in my office/bedroom. At about 3am, I was awaked by strange kitten noises and discovered Decimus had already moved two of her babies out of the cat cage. I found her peeking at me from one of the cat cave the Cat Lady gave us, so I quickly moved the last two babies over for her. Marlee has been snarling and growling at her most of the night, too. Every now and then, Decimus will leave her sleeping babies and go around the room, getting into things. I’ve learned that this is her looking for a place to poop or pee. For some reason, after the litter boxes where cleaned (with the litter pellets, we just need to empty the bins completely, every few days), she stopped using it – which got very messy! I managed to distract her away from her searching, and she finally ended up using one of the litter boxes. I get the impression eliminating isn’t very comfortable for her, yet. It’s been less than a week since she gave birth, after all.
She’s not the only one moving her babies. After using a load of grass clippings as mulch and starting to head back, I spotted Brussel, crossing the grass in the main garden area. There was something with her! It turned out to be a black and white kitten. It’s not as big as the first litter of kittens we started seeing in the yard, but pretty close! Based on where I’ve been seeing her, I think she had her kittens at the empty farm across the road, and she is now bringing them closer to the house – and kibble! I have no idea how many she has. I’m just assuming she had more than one.
Well, time to head back out and see how much more progress I can get on that super tall, thick grass!
Father’s Day and my younger daughter’s birthday are just days apart. They have mutual interests in some things, so this year, they got a joint gift.
My husband has been trying to do leatherworking as something to keep his mind occupied and his creativity fed. So far, everything has been by hand. He did get a stitching pony, but it broke. Some of the leather he’s working with is pretty thick, so he was interested in getting a sewing machine that can handle heavy leather.
My daughter, meanwhile, has been interested in learning traditional skills. Blacksmithing is one of them, but making shoes is another.
So they got a manual cobbler sewing machine (not an affiliate link). Manual because, not only is it quieter, but it allows for more control.
It didn’t really come with assembly instructions, but I did fine one – just one – video of a similar model being unboxed and assembled. It must have been enough, because in the morning, I found it assembled.
It hasn’t been tested out yet, but it did some with thread and needles. He also has lots of other tools and supplies. The only thing they don’t have is a lot of leather.
Leather is shockingly expensive.
But, they have enough to start, and learn how to use the machine!
… when I dreamed of living on a tropical island somewhere. A place where “winter” didn’t involve air so cold it hurt your face and snow measured in feet instead of inches, or whiplash seasonal temperature extremes.
As I’ve gotten older, however, I’ve changed my mind. Oh, sure, I could do without the extreme cold temperatures in winter. However, my tolerance for heat has dropped considerably. We’ve got a somewhat cooler day today, at 25C/77F right now, compared to the last few days. Still above average, but not breaking any records. Yet I still can barely tolerate it.
Looking at the temperature map of North America right now – and not even looking at the tropics – I’ve come to the realization that this old dream of mind is something I probably don’t want anymore! I mean, even the hottest areas in the screen cap above are just a few degrees hotter than we are right now, in the prairies.
If it weren’t for the even shorter growing season, I’d be more interesting in going further north, rather than south!
It’s coming up on 7pm as I write this. We’re finally down to 24C/75F, from reaching 32C/90F earlier. All the thunderstorms we’re getting warnings about are going around us. We haven’t even been getting a smattering of rain.
The house is getting ridiculously hot and muggy. Even the cats are feeling it.
They moved before I could get a picture of Cheddar and Ginger, sleeping with their foreheads pressed against each other. My room is one of the coolest in the house, but not by much. The upstairs has been getting so hot, my younger daughter woke up this morning feeling sick from the heat. Cold showers and baths help, but only so much.
I called my mother last night and arranged for her to come out to the farm, now that the grass is cut and she can actually get around in her walker. She’s been talking about wanting to see the new roof she paid for. When I actually called to arrange it, though, suddenly she was hemming and hawing, as if trying to find some excuse not to. I guess she would have preferred to have my sister bring her out for an unplanned visit again, instead, like that last couple of times she came out here. Then she can get mad at me for being in my work clothes, or interrupt any work I was doing so I would have to drop it to tend to her, then complain because the work wasn’t getting done…
She did finally agree to come out, so we arranged for me to come to her place after church, and have lunch at a restaurant before coming to the farm. She started insisting I not to bring food from the Chinese restaurant like I did last time, so said we could go to a different restaurant and she was good with that. She has gone from really liking the Chinese restaurant, to not wanting food from there anymore, and I’m at a loss as to what’s going on. I did try asking her, and she made a comment about seeing a lot of cats running around lately…
???
My guess is, one of her neighbours made a disparaging remark or joke about Chinese food and cats, and she now thinks they are serving cat meat. And now she’s suddenly noticing cats running around outside her building which, in her mind, confirms it (though you’d think seeing a lot of cats around would mean the exact opposite, but this is my mother, we’re talking about here! 😄)
I left a bit early so I could pick up some drinks and a snack we could have outside while she was here. While driving out, I passed a farm with a full dugout right near the road. It was full of cows, just standing in the water, trying to cool down!
When I got to her place, she already had the table set and microwaved Costco perogies and kielbasa for us to have for lunch. When I mentioned I thought we were going to a particular restaurant, she just said, “to heck with [restaurant]”.
Aside from not wanting to eat her supply of food, my mother’s cooking habits have always been very hit and miss, and today was more miss than hit. There’s a reason we tend to take my mother out or bring food in when we visit her!
Anyhow.
After a bit of a visit, we headed off to the farm.
*sigh*
Just from how conversation went before we left, I knew there would be issues, but then, there pretty much always are. An odd one was when she suddenly started saying, “we can take that road!” indicating in the direction of a road we just passed, and then a driveway that looked like it rarely gets used. I was totally confused when she kept insisting we could take a different road to get to the farm. At this point, we were driving through a set of curves about half way between her town and the farm. It wasn’t until she added, “so we don’t have to drive by [our vandal]” that I figured out which road she meant.
I told her, we’re still driving through the curves. We’re nowhere near the turnoff to the farm. Plus, I don’t take that road. It’s not kept up as well, and is hard on her car. On top of that, I don’t think our vandal even recognizes my mother’s car. When we finally did reach the road she meant, she did recognize it, but it was very confusing for her to suddenly suggest a different route, never mind getting our location so mixed up!
Once at the farm, I made sure to drive right into the yard and park in the shade. I got her walker out and she settled under a tree. She had insisted we bring along two ice cream buckets of vegetable peelings, etc. for the compost pile. For “Mother Earth” she now says. She also brought along a couple of plant pots; one with some flowers that were blooming, and one with a couple of little trees she removed from her own little garden plot, insisting that I need to plant them somewhere here on the farm. One is a maple, the other an elm. I don’t know what kind of elm, which makes me very hesitant about planting it.
After I got things settled, my mother started walking around the house. For someone who wanted to see the new roof, she showed zero interested in going anywhere where she could actually see it.
The next while was… challenging.
Let’s see what she came up with…
Quite a few times, she would ask “what’s that?” or “why is that there?” while being very vague on her directions. When I didn’t understand she was indicating the box beds in the west yard, she then declared that those had nothing planted in them this year. Once I figured out what she was talking about, I told her that they had carrots, corn and spinach in them. She couldn’t see them from the house, therefore there was nothing there.
While sitting in the shade in view of the main garden area, knowing she wouldn’t be up to going any closer, I described to her what was in each of the beds, and what was in the grow bags. I could tell she wasn’t really listening to me when she suddenly asked “Is that garlic?” I told her (again), yes, and that we lost a lot of them over the winter; there was far less than we planted. She then said that I needed to give her some. I told her they’re not ready yet. That’s okay, she told me. She eats the greens.
Some of the soft neck garlic was coming up in clusters instead of single bulbs, so I went ahead and thinned a couple of those and gave them to her.
Over the next while, I was told I should have weeded around the raspberries (the self seeded ones in her old flower bed) and loosened the soil around them, and I should have cut down that dead apple tree, and I should not have cut the suckers away from the (now very healthy looking) chokecherry tree, and I should remember what those still small flowers she planted there more than a decade ago are called, and I was laughed at for growing potatoes in grow bags. Then as we moved to another area, she squeezed her walker in between the pile of bricks that used to be the chimney and a stack of wood, rather than going around where there was more room, and I was told they were in the way and I needed to move them… even though I just told her we were going to move them once we figured out where we wanted to use them. Nope. I must move them out of her way for purely aesthetic reasons. I tried to show her the potatoes that are doing so well in the old kitchen garden, but she was only interested in her invasive Periwinkles. Had zero interest in anything we were actually growing. Moving on, why is that fence there? I’d told her a few times about it being there to protect the tulips and the new apple tree from the deer. What tulips? They were done blooming, so I guess they no longer existed. Then she saw some white flowers that are blooming. What are those? I have no idea, Mom. You planted them!
Then she made her way to the fire pit area, where the trays of transplants now live. We no longer take them indoors. I was then chastised for having so many tomatoes, and they need to be planted right now, and everything should be planted, and what are those big things over there? And I should sell my extra tomatoes because they are very healthy looking, and I could make some money from them. Don’t the girls help you with the garden? Then she got mad when I showed her the tiny strawberries I started from seed, because there’s not fruit there! They don’t have fruit! They’re not going to have fruit! I finally said, “next year!” and suddenly she was mollified.
And on it went.
Finally, we settled in the shade of the south yard, and I set up a bench to use as a table, and we had our drinks and a snack.
Judgement joined us, staying nearby and rolling in the cool grass!
I was chastised for the cranberry juice (I chose it because it’s what she buys for herself), but when I went to add Ginger Ale to make a punch, she was suddenly happy. Juice bad. Ginger Ale, good. She then refused to eat the blueberry mini strudels I brought, because she really avoids sugar now.
…
As we sat and chatted, she then got quiet before saying, “I guess the girls don’t want to see me.” I’d already told her that my older daughter was in bed after working last night, my husband was in bed because the heat makes his pain so much worse, and my younger daughter was doing laundry (she was also sick from the heat and trying to cool down with cold baths and showers, but I wasn’t going to get into that). Ah, but they don’t know! If they came to see me, I would give them money!
…
I reminded her of what I said before, but she dismissed it, of course.
Shortly after, I got a message from my younger daughter, letting me know she was almost done and about to come out, soon.
I told my mother this.
Suddenly, she was ready to leave.
We had been hearing thunder for a while, and the wind had picked up, and my mother kept saying the rain was coming closer. It wasn’t, but weather does what it does. I started to put some things away, then turned around to find her putting herslef into the car. She wasn’t going to wait for my daughter!
I kept putting things away, though, taking enough time that my daughter could make it out. She then suggested she come along with us for the drive, which I happily accepted. The back seats on my mother’s car are laid down so we can put her walker in without having to fold it, so while my daughter went to open the gate, I quickly moved things around and got a seat up for her.
The conversation during the drive was only slightly uncomfortable, with my mother asking my daughter odd questions, then switching to Polish to tell me I need to have the girls help me put transplants in the garden, so they know how to do it.
They, of course, know full well how to put in a garden.
Once at my mother’s place, we stayed for a brief visit, until my mother suddenly veered into a racist rant, and my daughter suggested it was time to leave!
Which we did.
We stopped to get gas first, and I picked up some fried chicken for my daughter, as she had been too sick to have breakfast. We then parked the car with the AC going to eat. That gave me a chance to decompress by filling her in on how the visit went.
The whole thing left me feeling more tired than the 8 or so hours working outside in the heat, yesterday, did!
My husband and daughters all question why my brother and I haven’t just cut my mother off completely by now. Which we won’t do, because that would be wrong. Plus, my being here helps my brother out. He’d be the target of all her venom and bizarre behaviour, otherwise. She doesn’t really do it with our sister anymore, for some reason. But my goodness, it does get hard to “Honour thy father and thy mother” at times!
Well, it is what it is, and there’s not much we can do about it. Chances are, it’s going to get worse as she gets older, too. Or, I should say, keep getting worse.
We will handle it. That’s all we can do!
I am sure glad to get this over with, though, and I hope she won’t find another reason to want to come out here. Quite a difference from when we first moved here, and she still owned the property, when she told me that now that we were taking care of the farm for her, she never wanted to go back here again! Now when she doesn’t own it anymore, she still wants to use it to try and control me and my brother.
Ah, well. Such is life in our corner of the world.
I meant to get up earlier to get things watered before it got too warm, but it was feeling too warm, right from the start. We’re getting heat warnings now, as we’re supposed to get even hotter on the weekend, with predicted highs of 30C/86F+, and a humidex of 38C/100F
My daughter and I got the transplants out, and I was on the road soon after. I went to the nearest Canadian Tire, where I could get the air filter I need for their brand of lawn mower that we have, as well as a spare roll of weed trimmer line. I couldn’t believe how much more expensive those are now! The air filter wasn’t cheap, either. I will not be getting more fire bricks this month. I can’t justify it in the budget. I’d brought a couple of our water jugs along to refill in town on the way home, but realized I could fill them at Canadian Tire for half the price, so I did that, too. Which meant I didn’t have room in the cart for the stove pellets that I also had on my list, so when I was asked if I needed help with getting to the car (they are stored in the exit vestibule, so they need to be paid for first, then picked up), I said yes. When a strapping young man arrived to help out and I told him I paid for 2 bags, but they wouldn’t fit in the cart with the jugs of water, he grabbed one 40 pound bag first and followed me to the car. With heavy stuff like that, I try to make sure the weight is evenly distributed above the axle, so I took the bag from him and tossed it where I wanted it to go myself.
He gave me a rather strange, surprised look when I did that!
While he went back for the second bag, I made sure the water jugs were in the middle before I took the second bag from him and fit it on the other side of the jugs.
I got another strange look.
Yes. Short, fat, middle aged women can have muscle, too! 😂
Once everything was put away, I drove across the street to the Walmart and picked up a couple of things I hadn’t been able to get during my Costco run. By that time, our pharmacy was open, so I messaged my husband, asking him to phone in my refills for pick up. The drive to town was more than long enough for them to be able to get that ready.
My husband had let me know that there were several packages read for pick up at the post office, but they were closed for lunch by the time I got to town, so a gassed up and headed home. The driving today burned about half a tank of gas! My mother’s car is not very good on gas, but with a heavy load and the A/C going, it sure does burn through more!
Once at home and unloaded, I left the car in the yard, and my daughter later loaded it with garbage and recycling. I didn’t think to check until we were already heading out, and my daughter was closing the gate behind us. It was just 2pm. We have a card to show the attendant that includes the summer and winter hours for the three dumps in our municipality.
The dump opens at 2pm in the winter. We’re in summer hours now. It wasn’t going to open for another 2 hours!
Neither of us liked the idea of leaving the car to bake in the sun while full of garbage, so we headed out, anyhow. We picked up the parcels, then kept going back to town, with plans to check out the lake. My daughter mentioned she hadn’t eaten yet today, because of the heat, so I got her fed, first. The drive and the meal used up an hour for us! Then we went walking on the beach.
The town had just recently raked the beach, so it was all smooth and clean.
I much prefer the rocky parts of the beach, though.
It’s far more interesting!
Looking at the weather app, town was 5° cooler than home! What a difference the lake makes. As hot as things are right now, no one was in the water. It would still be too cold for swimming.
It sure was nice to walk the beach with that cool breeze coming off of it! It’s been ages since we’ve gone to the beach.
After that, we headed back and got to the dump pretty much just as it opened, then back home.
I need to get outside and water some of the garden beds, but it’s still too warm. It’s 25C/77F right now, and I don’t want to risk burning plants with the hot water from the hose being in the sun all day, only to then shock them with cold well water. We’ve had smatterings of rain, but not enough to increase the water level in the rain barrel. I could fill it with a hose and let it warm up, but you can bet that once I did that, we’d finally get one of those thunderstorms they keep predicting, and I’d have to set up the diverter! 😄
For now, I’m just enjoying being home. I still need to help my mother with errands tomorrow. I keep forgetting to call the garage to arrange to bring the van in to be checked out, but we’ll need to do that soon.
I look forward to when all the running around is done for a good long while! I want to crawl into my hermit cave now. 😄
It’s 5:30pm as I start writing this, and I’ve just got back in from outside.
I’ve got one app telling me it’s 26C/79F out there, another saying it’s 23C/73F. The thermometer in the sun room is reading 30C/86F
The thermometer outside my husband’s south facing window is reading just under 50C/122F.
My feeling is that it’s more like 30C in the shade right now, but I’ve no doubt that anyone sitting in the sun right now would be feeling like it’s closer to that 50C/
We’ve got inconsistent predictions of thunderstorms. I really hope we get on, if only to reduce the humidity!
Anyhow.
I headed out late this morning and ran some errands before heading to the city. This included dropping off some extra tomato transplants – one of the Spoon tomatoes was starting to bloom! – and pick up a flat of eggs. The egg lady went to pick the last few to fill the flat but was still short 2, and promised to add extra the next time we get eggs! I will have to go back to pick up the baking tray I used to carry the pots of transplants, anyhow.
Before going to Costco, I met up with my SIL for lunch, and we had a fabulous time. Gosh, I love her so much! My brother really picked a good one. 😉 We talked about how things are going here on the farm, of course. They know we’ve been having a hard time keeping up with some things. Especially the lawn. They are thinking of loading their lawnmowers up on their trailer and coming to help out on the weekend. What day will depend on the weather. It would be fabulous if they could make it, just because we enjoy their company so much.
After that, it was off to Costco to get gas – prices there are 149.9 cents/litre for regular right now – then we parted ways.
I had a short list for Costco, but it still came out to $259.66 after taxes.
For that amount, I got four 9kg bags of kibble, at $28.99 each, 4 packages of wraps that I forgot last time, at $9.99 each (they got one bag to themselves), a bag of flour for $9.99, and the baking powder I forgot last time; a 2pk for $8.99. I had spaghetti on my list, but couldn’t find it, so I got a variety pack of pasta for $12.99. Things that weren’t on the list but that we get regularly included the 2pk of lemon juice, for $4.99 and a 2pk of butter chicken sauce for $9.99
There were a couple of things on my list that I did not expect to find at Costco, but find them I did. I picked up a 3pk of WD-40 for $19.99, plus a 30 cent eco fee. I was going to just get one can elsewhere, but decided to spring for this one. The larger cans have different spray options, and the tiny can will be handy to keep in the garage.
I also did not expect to find a new spray nozzle for the hose at Costco. I got a 2 pk set for $19.99 Much like the 2pc set I got last time (which started to break fairly quickly), on has a nozzle with multiple settings, while the other has a nozzle where the spray is kinda like the control on a spry bottle; turn the tip to go from jet to a wide cone, and everything in between.
Of course, once I got home, I had to test it out. At least the multi-setting one.
My first confusion was, how to turn it on. It doesn’t have a squeeze trigger. I could see that there was something to do with the thumb rest, but there was nothing on the packaging about it. At least not in writing. If I’d paid more attention, I’m sure I would have figure it out from the picture. The thumb rest pushes forward and back, which I discovered almost by accident. The feature I like best, though, is that it can turn 360º, without having to turn or twist the hose itself. I have high hopes for this set. It cost less than the Walmart set I got last time, but seems to be much stronger in construction.
So this top up is done. I’ll still need to make a Canadian Tire, possibly Walmart, trip but that will be to pick up just a few things, like the litter pellets, an air filter for the lawn mower, and more line for the weed trimmer. I might end up doing that tomorrow, since I’m going to help my mother with errands the day after.
And then, hopefully, I won’t have to go anywhere again for awhile!
It’s feeling a bit surreal today – I’ve gone to the city and back, and as I start this, it’s not even 1pm yet. I headed out early this morning to do the watering and switch out the trail cam memory cards, and was on the road not long past 7:30am. Usually, I don’t leave for the city until around 10:30 or 11.
I wasn’t sure if I’d be making the trip at all, today. My husband’s CPP Disability was due on Monday, but these days, both his CPP and private insurance payments show up in our account on Saturday instead of Monday.
I have no complaints there.
Because I left so early, I asked the girls to take the transplants out to the picnic table for me. We’re not supposed to get the high winds we got yesterday, but we were still supposed to get pretty hot, with a high of 25 or 27C/77 or 81F, depending on which app I looked at. The thunderstorm we were supposed to get last night is now pushed back to Monday. In the end, I figured it was just safer to have the transplants under the old market tent, even though it’s further from the house. Even there, with the high winds we had yesterday, one of our tomato plants snapped clean off, right at soil level. I replanted the stem. It might still survive. Not that we can’t afford to lose any. I just can’t help trying to save any that need it!
I was greeted by a pleasant site when I opened the gate to head out this morning.
Most of our lilacs were badly damaged by last year’s flooding, and not showing a lot of flower sprays. This one, however, has the most we’ve ever seen on it! Usually, it has none at all. This area is usually baked dry. For the first time in the past 5 years, at least, the water table is high enough for it thrive and bloom!
When I got to the Costco, their doors had just opened, and I found myself winding through two long lines of people that had been waiting to get in. The parking lot was already almost full! Things moved smoothly and quickly, though.
I did have quite the heart attack when going through the meat section. Especially the beef!
The strip loin grilling steaks were $39.99 (US$29.37)/kg. The ribeye grilling steaks were $45.99 (US$33.78)/kg. The whole beef tenderlions were $53.99 (US$39.66)/kg One kg equals 2.2 pounds.
No. I didn’t buy any.
Time for another order from our beef supplier!
I still ended up spending $800.06 after taxes.
That looks really meager for $800.
This is what I got:
Two large jars of mayo, at $10.99 each (yes, we can make it ourselves, but with the cost of ingredients, that’s no longer worth the effort, really) One jug of Kirkland EVOO – the smaller one – at $23.99 Iced tea mix, $9.99 That’s almost $5 cheaper than what I’m seeing for regular prices elsewhere right now. Triple berry jam, $7.99 Peanut butter in the 2kg size jar, $10.49 garlic granules, $8.99 Truffle, parmesan, black garlic mix, $9.99 This one was a splurge. I was looking for the garlic granules when I heard a couple other customers looking for ordinary table salt. She spotted this and read the label out loud, wondering what it was for. It sounded fantastic to me, so I grabbed some, and we ended up talking about different ways to use it. 😄 popcorn, $10.89 Bacon, 4pk, $19.99 Whipping cream, two 1L cartons, at $4.79 each – much cheaper than anywhere else Kirkland sour cream, $5.49 4pk Kirkland cream cheese, $9.49 Old cheddar, Marble and Mozza cheese at $14.99 each Double cream brie, $10.99 Butter, five at $5.49 each Two rotisserie chicken, $7.99 each Eggs, 60 pack, $17.89 lean ground beef, $46.29 – this is the huge plastic chub of meat that will be broken down into smaller packages ground pork, $19.99 – another chub that will be broken down into smaller packages pork loin, $29.47, minus $5 for a sale Tilapia filets, $32.89 – a treat for my fish loving daughters flour, $9.99 – a much better price than elsewhere. I’d have gotten two, if I wasn’t concerned about the space and weight in my mother’s car Vit. B12, $13.99 Mr. Freeze, $14.99 – this huge box of freezies cost about as much as boxes half the size in other stores AA batteries, $25.99 plus $1.60 eco fee AAA batteries, $25.99 plus 80 cents eco fee laundry detergent, $21.49, minus $4.50 for a sale Kirkland toilet paper, $22.99 Dry cat food, six 9kg bags, $28.99 each canned cat food, $38.99
The sub total came to $757.79, plus $42.27 in taxes.
Ouch.
It wasn’t that long ago when a load like this would have cost between $600 and $700, depending on how many things like batteries or household supplies were on the list. Back then, I would buy 10 pounds of butter at a time, too. As for today, I completely forgot to pick up any bread and wraps, which is okay, because I was running out of room.
Given the price of kibble, we might end up doing another Costco run. We did find a source for larger bags at an even better price, but none of the cats liked it. Not even the outside cats. There’s a reason the cheap stuff is cheap.
Along with the groceries, I got gas, which was at 151.9 cents per litre for regular gas.
So the first stock up shop for the month is done. It took a huge chunk out of the budget for the month. This month will have some extra expenses, too. One is to get the septic tank emptied. The other is to get the van checked and find out what’s causing that noise near the alternator. Hopefully, it will be a minor fix. As much as I appreciate being able to use my mother’s car – especially with working air conditions! – there are some things I would rather use the van for, like big shopping trips, or runs to the dump.
The Re-Farmer 