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Running all over the place

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Well, I did a lot more driving today than usual! Even compared to trips to the city.

With the van back, we were finally able to make a trip to the dump. From there, I headed into town to pick up some prescription refills and printouts for our tax returns. That was certainly an interesting part of the drive. It was bright and sunny, until I started getting closer to town, when I drove into a wall of fog! It got very thick for a while, with very low visibility, as we got closer to the lake. However, once we actually got into town, it started to lighten up, though I could see it was thicker all around town. Once I reached “downtown”, it was bright and sunny again – but with a wall of fog still visible in all directions!

I took advantage of being in town to make a few more stops. By the time I was done my errands, the fog was gone, except for on the lake. Sadly, I was unable to get any photos, as it would have been too dangerous to pull over while I was in the middle of it. Ah, well.

From there, I made my way to a town I haven’t been to since my dad took me to a cattle auction when I was a kid. I remember the auction, but not the town! 😄 I knew it was a fair distance from the main highway. Even after looking it up on the map, it still turned out further than I expected.

I was aiming for a feed store that was recommended to me. Thanks, Wolfsong! I looked it up on the map and had that image in my head, but I still drove right past it! I was looking at the building and vehicles as I drove by, thinking, this should be it, but didn’t see any signs. Of course, I saw them after I turned around and came back. They just weren’t where I was expecting them to be.

Once there, I was very happy to pick up two of these.

These were the largest bags they had, and at $36.30 a bag, they were only slightly more expensive then the 11kg bags I’ve been able to find in certain places. I probably should have got more, but two will do for now. The price is worth the drive to this town, which is nearer than the Walmart I’ve been getting 11kg bags at, and certainly closer than Costco.

I hope the cats like it, because that’s what we’ll be getting!

As a bonus, they also carry supplies we’ll need to get once we’ve got a chicken coop and can finally get chickens! Though I think we can find those closer, if I’m going there to get cat food, anyhow, it makes sense to buy the supplies at the same place.

That done, I’d made arrangements for one more trip.

Farm fresh eggs.

Yup! I got a couple more flats of eggs. These were about as fresh as fresh can be, too!

I just love all those colours!

When I got there, I had just missed the egg lady, so her husband grabbed the trays – and a few last eggs from the coop! – for me, while I got to pet their adorable goats.

One of whom wanted to climb right into the van and go for a ride!

Goats have the softest, nibblely lips.

Her husband called her while I was there and, since she was at the feed store in the town my mother lives in, he was able to send her a picture of the cat food I’d gotten, to compare prices. It seems they don’t carry this brand, and it was even recommended as being the best price for cat kibble. That was a nice confirmation to get.

A lot of the driving I did today was along roads I’ve never seen before – unless you count the gap in my childhood memory! 😄 It was interesting to go through sections of road, patched but not yet repaired, from last year’s flooding. !! There’s a lot of marshland in this area, plus another lake. Actually, the lake is almost directly West of us, while this town is past it. One of these days, I need to go check out this lake. Somehow, I’ve just never gone that way. The closest has been to a few farms in that direction, but never as far as the lake itself. The satellite maps don’t tell me much about how accessible things are. The roads basically just end or go around it. If I trusted the van more, I’d love to explore the area, just to see what’s there.

I’m glad I was finally able to make the trip to this feed store. Definitely not a “let’s swing by on the way to the city” sort of place!

It has also been the perfect day for it. We’re at -2C/28F right now. The snow is melting off all the roofs, and the paths are all getting soft. The kitties are running around all over, and thoroughly enjoying themselves!

I am so looking forward to the snow being gone, and to be able to get to get work done outside again! We have so much to do, but much of it has to wait for the ground to thaw, at least somewhat. We’re going to have a very tight window to get some of the new, permanent, garden structures done before we need to start sowing and transplanting!

The Re-Farmer

Sky watching

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I just had to share this photo I got of Jupiter and Venus last night.

This was taken shortly after 7pm with my phone on the “night” setting. Hand held, with no modification other than to resize the photo for upload.

They were absolutely brilliant!

The Re-Farmer

This and that…

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Yesterday, I double checked with the garage to make sure they were ready to have our van towed over. Then I pumped the flat tire enough to be able to back it out of the garage without driving on the rim. We have a compressor, but the hose couldn’t possibly reach that far (I am considering making an opening in the wall so that the hose end could be passed through, in case we find ourselves in this situation again in the future), but I have a hand pump with a built in pressure gauge. I was able to get to about 20psi when I started hearing the hissing. I ended up slapping a couple of pieces of duct tape over the hole so I could get a bit more air into the tire without it leaking faster than I could pump!

We have a compressor, but the hose couldn’t possibly reach that far (I am considering making an opening in the wall so that the hose end could be passed through, in case we find ourselves in this situation again in the future), but I have a hand pump with a built in pressure gauge. I was able to get to about 20psi when I started hearing the hissing. I ended up slapping a couple of pieces of duct tape over the hole so I could get a bit more air into the tire without it leaking faster than I could pump! All I needed to do was back it out and leave it lined up with the driveway, so the tow truck could easily access it.

Then I called CAA and arranged the tow. The dispatcher couldn’t find our address, of course, since the maps have us on an “un-named road”. She got the directions in the notes, and then I got a call from the towing company soon after. Turns out, they were the same company that towed our van that last time we had to call, more than a year ago. It was the owner that called me, and he remembered taking directions from me before!

Then it was a matter of waiting until a driver was free. I was originally given a wait time of about an hour and a half. About an hour later, I got a robo call saying it would be another 45 minutes. I just hung up from that call when the phone rang again, and it was a real human, calling to make sure I knew about the delay, and apologizing for it.

I’ve always had excellent service with CAA!

I hadn’t get much sleep while at my mother’s, so I set a timer for half an hour so I could close my eyes for a bit. Of course, the cats made sure I still didn’t get much sleep! 😄 At one point, I had Fenrir on my hip, Ginger using one hand as a pillow, Butterscotch head butting my other hand, demanding pets – and then Potato Beetle decided it was a good time to walk across me and settle on my shoulder! All four of them, purring like mad.

Eventually, I de-catted myself, got up and went into the kitchen, before going back to monitoring the live feed on the driveway security camera.

I did a double take after glancing out the kitchen window.

The van was gone! We never heard or saw a thing! I thought they’d at least need me to sign something, but nope. The keys were in the van, so the driver had all he needed.

When I checked the trail cam files this morning, I could watch as he backed up our driveway, then left with the van loaded on the flatbed. From the time stamp, he left about 5 or 10 minutes before I got up, and about half an hour earlier than expected!

Today, they were able to check it out and, unfortunately – though not surprisingly, to be honest – it can’t be repaired. I’m going to need a new tire. I ended up going for the less expensive option. If things go as hoped, we won’t be driving the van for long, anyhow. So a new tire has been ordered. When it’s time to pick up the van, I’ll have a chat with him about how things went at the car auction. The fact that he didn’t call me about it tells me he didn’t find anything to meet our needs.

While waiting for the tow truck, I called the clinic to make a follow up appointment for my mother with the specialist. While doing that, I brought up my mother’s confusion about the procedure not being finished somehow, because she was still on her blood thinners. It turns out that the letter they give out is a standard letter that needs to be updated. They don’t ask people to stop taking blood thinners for a scope anymore. Only if they see something of concern and want to take samples for a biopsy will they then book another appointment, and this time the patient would stop taking any blood thinners. If they had seen anything of concern and wanted her to come back, the letter even explained that a doctor would have discussed that with the patient while they were still in the recovery room.

The clinic already had the report, though, and she was able to read it to me. They looked at both her esophagus and her trachea, and everything was “unremarkable”. They saw nothing to warrant taking any samples.

So when I got through to my mother later on, I explained it all to her, including what was in the report.

My mother was immediately suspicous.

It took some questioning, but it turns out that, because my mother doesn’t actually remember the procedure – she doesn’t even remember being taken from and returned to the recovery room – and she has had zero discomfort from it, she doesn’t think it happened. As far as she’s concerned, they had her in the room, sprayed her throat, then came back to tell her they couldn’t finish the procedure because she was on blood thinners and sent her home.

I explained to her again what the doctor had said about light sedation, and that she might not remember anything.

It wasn’t enough. She has convinced herself that the procedure never happened, because she feels no difference after it and doesn’t remember it. She even started saying that the spray didn’t do anything, though she was still feeling the effects of it when I got her home, and had explained why they instructed not to eat or drink anything for at least 2 hours.

*sigh*

Her follow up appointment isn’t until near the end of March. Hopefully, she’ll understand that her lack of memory is due to the light sedation, and that roughly 2 hours of her morning didn’t just disappear.

Anyhow.

With the van waiting for a new tire, and not having to go anywhere until we get it back, I think today is going to be a nice quiet day, after all!

The Re-Farmer

Going well

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I am now at my mother’s home. She did fabulous during her procedure. On the way out, they were going to have her in a wheelchair, but instead, we used her walker like a wheelchair. Once I got her home, she chose to walk instead of ride and dud very well.

My mother is indestructible. I even got comments from the nurse about how spry my mother is – and that’s with two bum knees!

Still, she was understandably tired. I insisted she lie down as soon as she was settled, and she fell asleep almost immediately.

The only strange thing was discovering her thermostat was maxed put at 30C for some reason. I was just melting! Last time I was here, she had all but turned it off, because it was so hot. Strange!

The Re-Farmer

Costco haul: this is $692

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Oh, my goodness, what a day! Costco was so very busy.

I got just about everything on my list (I could not find dryer sheets anywhere!), plus a few additions I’d forgotten to include on my list.

This is what $692.38, after taxes, looks like.

What’s funny is what happened after I took this picture and started the van – which did NOT want to start when I left for the city, so I wanted to make sure it was running. While taking the picture, I saw a notification for a message from my SIL, who has been out of province for some time. I was going to load up the van, then read and answer the message after I was done.

As I was opening up the back and getting my bags handy, I heard my name.

It was my SIL!

I had no idea she was back! She had messaged me earlier to say she was also going to the Costco – which means we were shopping at the same time and missed each other – then again to let me know she was leaving. Pure chance that she drove past where I was parked! So she pulled into the parking spot nose to nose with my van, helped me load the groceries, then we sat and chatted for a good while.

It was so fantastic to see her! She’d actually been back for a little while, but she and my brother have been terribly sick with colds for the past week, which is why I hadn’t been hearing much from either of them.

I love her so much, and I’m so happy she’s back!

Anyhow.

Today’s Costco haul, as usual, included wet and dry cat food. I’ve got a bead on a farm supply store that I’m told I should be able to get large bags of kibble at a really good price, but I’m going to have to make a special trip to check it out. It’s just not working out to find the place while also doing other errands. Until then, I got four 9kg bags of the Kirkland kibble. They did have the brand name 11kg bags but, at $28.99 each, the Kirkland was a better price per kg. I also got their big case of canned cat food (42 cans, I think?) for $38.99

Also among the non-food items was the Kirkland toilet paper – their double roll TP is noticeably bigger than other brands – for $22.99.

One of the “treat” items I got was something new for us to try; a 24 pack of Bubly sparkling water in three flavours. I wanted something not-Coke Zero for a change. They are zero sugar, so I can drink them during my Lenten fast from sugar and high sugar/starchy foods. We haven’t found a sparkling water we actually like yet, but we’ll see how these are.

I did get two flats of eggs for $17.95 (yes, I’m still going to be buying flats of eggs from our egg lady! – we eat a LOT of eggs). While I was walking through Costco with them on my flat cart, a Native guy walking past me saw them and stopped to ask where he could find them. I told him, and he said that the same pack of 60 eggs costs $30 where he lives!! Prices at the northern reserves have always been insane, but yikes!

One of the things I got for the girls was a case of Kraft Dinner; Costco has larger cases than at the grocery store, while their $14.99 price would be a sale price for the usual 12 packs I find!

I got two packs of flour tortilla wraps at $9.99 each, as well as a two loaf package of rye bread at $5.99 – I’d be lucky to get one loaf at that price, locally.

I didn’t get much meat; we still have quite a bit in the freezer, plus I’ll soon be ordering a freezer BBQ pack of beef that includes two types of sausages, from where we get our annual quarter beef. I got a small pork blade at $19.83, some pickerel filets for the girls at $23.69 (only 3 filets, and they were the cheapest fish I could find!), a couple of hot rotisserie chickens at $7.99 each, a 3 pack of bacon for $21.99 and 6 pack of canned chicken for $18.49.

In dairy, I got 5 pounds of butter at $5.49 each AND!!!! they had ghee in stock! I got the big bucket for $39.99. They didn’t have the giant blocks of cheese, so I got smaller blocks of marble cheese, which was on sale for $11.99, and mozza at $14.99. There’s also a larger tub of sour cream at $5.49 and a 4 pk of Kirkland cream cheese at $9.49, plus a 2 pk of goat cheese at $10.69

I also got a 2kg size jar of peanut butter at $8.80, and two big jars of Hellman’s mayonnaise, which was on sale for $8.49 each. There’s avocado oil at $17.49 – a much better price, and a much bigger bottle, then anywhere else! – a 2 pk of butter chicken sauce at $9.99, a 2 pk of lemon juice at $4.99, and a jar of Saskatoon jam for my husband, at $7.39.

I don’t usually get much, if any, fresh produce at Costco, but this time I did get a container of mini portabella mushrooms for $4.99 – they where the same price as the buttons, when usually the buttons are at least a dollar cheaper for the same size container – and a bag of avocados at $7.99

I braved the pharmacy section this time and finally restocked myself on B12 ($21.99), Vitamin D3 (on sale for $8.99) and Zinc ($12.99).

Among the more “treat” things was a big bag of Kirkland chocolate chips at $16.99 – those have certainly gone up in price, but the bag usually lasts us several months – and 1 container of popcorn in the big plastic jugs that we always keep because they are so very useful. Those are now $10.89. There’s also a container of iced tea mix at $9.99. Usually that’s for my husband and I but, since I’m off sugar for 40 days, it’s just for my husband. The girls don’t care for it. For the girls I got a giant bag of Munchies Mix at $9.49 (it will easily last them the month) and for my husband and I, a couple of containers of pork rinds at $10.89. For me, they will be a sort of bread/cracker substitute during my fast. These are also containers that we keep, as they are a great size to turn into cloche covers over larger transplants, like squash, in the garden.

And there we have it. Almost $700 at Costco.

After I’ve spent the necessary 24 hours monitoring my mother after her scope is done, we’ll have to make probably two more trips to the city. We’ll need a Walmart trip, for sure, and the girls want to hit the International grocery store with their own shopping list. We will also need to finally do that Home Depot trip to get what we need to build the cat barrier to the living room, which we won’t be able to do with my mother’s car. We will need the van. Since I came home to a tire going flat, it will have to wait until we get that fixed or, pleasepleaseplease, our mechanic finds us an affordable replacement vehicle that the financing company will accept!

I think the most difficult part of all this fussing with the van and trying to get a replacement so much earlier than we’d thought we would, is being up in the air all the time, never quite sure what we can do next.

Ah, well. It’ll work out in the end.

I’m just glad we got this trip in, and I won’t have to do another one for a while, yet!

The Re-Farmer

Replacement vehicle status, and just made it

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I made it to the city for a Costco trip, which will be covered in another post, but I before I left, I wanted to confirm things with the replacement vehicle financing.

Yesterday, I’d messaged our mechanic, asking if he’d heard back after I’d sent in our 90 day income confirmation information. He told me that yes, it had been approved. They just needed something from him, which he’d sent in, and he was waiting for final word.

Approved???

Yay?

That was in the morning, and there was still no word by the time he closed. Since I was planning a trip to the city for a Costco stock up trip today, I messaged him this morning telling him this and asking if I should hold off on it. He said he would contact them and find out for me.

After about an hour or two, I got a phone call.

There was good news, and bad news.

The good news was, we were approved for financing.

The bad news was, not for that vehicle.

???

Apparently, it was hard to get financing for us (not surprised there, considering we’ve had no debt payments to improve our credit rating), but that did eventually come through. However, they would only finance us for a vehicle that was 2014 and older, with a maximum of 180,000 km on it.

The Caravan we were applying for was a 2016 (not the 2015 I thought he’d told me at first), and has 181,000 km.

They wouldn’t budge on that 1000 km.

But, we do have financing approved!

Now, he knows how badly we need to replace our van, and he was determined to find something for us that met our needs and was affordable to our budget. He asked me a number of questions about what we were looking for, and it basically comes down to accessibility for my husband. A vehicle like the Caravan and our current Uplander has been ideal. Yes, we’d be willing to go with an SUV type vehicle, as long as we can fit the walker (yes, it folds, but it’s a bariatric walker, so it’s larger than typical), and with his injury and pain levels, we need something my husband can climb up into, rather than scrunch down into.

There’s a major car auction this weekend. He’s going to try and find something for us! He said he will try to get back to me on Monday about how that went, though I forgot completely that I won’t be home on Monday. I’ll be driving my mother to her scope at the day surgery, then spending the night at her place to keep an eye on her.

With that settled as much as can be right now, I headed into the city with the van, did my Costco shopping, ran into my SIL as I was loading the van!, then headed home.

My younger daughter was waiting for me at the garage with the wagon when I pulled in, and was kind enough to plug the van in for me before I forgot again.

Which is when she heard the hissing.

From the driver’s side tire.

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but this tire is half flat. When I got out of the van and she told me about the noise, I took a look and actually found a split or crack of some kind, near the bottom of the tire.

I made it home just in time!

Or maybe I drove over something sharp when I drove into the garage?

Well, whatever it is, we’re going to wait before getting it fixed. We’ll just have to use my mother’s car for the next while. What bothers me about the timing of this is that, while I’m at my mother’s, it means there will be no vehicle available here at the farm. It would be just for emergency use, really, but that’s kinda the whole point.

*sigh*

The important thing is, this happened *after* the Costco trip, so we’re pretty well stocked up again. Our next trips shouldn’t have that much weight or bulk in them, so we can get away with using my mother’s car. That won’t be until after I’ve spend the night with my mother. Who knows. Our mechanic might actually find us a replacement vehicle this weekend! I’d still want to get it fixed, but I don’t even want to think about it until after all this other stuff is done.

What a day!

The Re-Farmer

One last blast, and choosing something difficult

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We’re still under an extreme cold weather advisory right now. Today is supposed to be the coldest day of our current cold snap, and then things are supposed to start warming up again.

I’m pretty sure I’ve said that a few times this winter, though… 😕

I took this screen cap a little while ago, with us at -27C/-17F and a wind chill of -35C/-31F, and it’s already warmed up a degree since. What I find interesting is that the hourly forecast says we’re supposed to be -31C/-24F right now. Now, that’s the kind if “wrong forecast” I prefer. Unfortunately, I forgot to pick something up while I was in town yesterday, so I likely will have to go out today.

Of course, if we get a call saying we can pick up our new Caravan because the financing is approved, that would be bonus!

We shall see!

Today is also Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. For the past few years, I have chosen to “fast” by giving up social media. Which has gotten to be too easy. So I decided to give up something that I’ve been considering for a while, but is going to be hard, and it’s actually going to be a dietary fast this time.

I’m going to be giving up sugar and starchy foods.

Traditionally, meat is given up but, again, that’s too easy. To be honest, giving up sugar isn’t that hard, either; we don’t eat a lot of sweets, so it’s basically no more sugar in my tea, and no more home-made hot chocolate. But starches? Bread, potatoes, pasta… that’s going to be more of a challenge. I’ve been slowly already cutting back on them, and what struck me is how much these get used as “filler”. These are things that bulk up a meal, extend meat, or hold other foods. I have an egg salad sandwich instead of plain egg salad, because the bread allows me to eat the egg salad with my hands. I mix bread crumbs into ground beef to make a meat loaf mostly because it bulks things up, stretching the amount of meat used. Things like that. It’s also such a habit to include starches. It’s just been ingrained that a “proper” meal has a protein, vegetable and starch, and what meal is complete without bread of some kind? I think the habit part is going to be the most difficult to catch myself on.

So that is going to be my Lenten fast this year. No sugars or starches for 40 days.

Well… I haven’t had breakfast yet. Time to go make myself a food.

The Re-Farmer

Seriously?

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Y’know, if the weather forecasts are going to be wrong and constantly changing, it’d be really nice if things would go in the other direction.

Instead, we’re getting this for tonight.

Wind chills of -40 to -45C (-40 to 49F) to overnight???

Granted, this is a province wide warning that applies only to the south, and we’re central. Looking at the local forecasts, I’m seeing predictions of a continual drop until it reaches -29C/-20F by 8am tomorrow morning, with wind chills of -39C/-38F.

It’s not much better than the weather warning, but I’ll take what I can get!

I’m glad my daughter reminded me to plug the van in. I just wish we were able to get that ceramic terrarium heat bulb set up in the sun room, but the fixture we were using with the old bulb isn’t working anymore. We don’t have any other fixture we can safely set up in there.

The high of the day is supposed to be -26C/-15F starting around 2pm. From then on, even the overnight lows are expected to be a bit warmer than that. By Sunday, we’re supposed to reach -4C/25F, and Monday, when I’m supposed to be driving my mother to her medical appointment, it’s supposed to be -7C/19F.

Assuming the forecasts don’t change again.

The Re-Farmer

Am I jumping the gun?

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Okay, yeah. I probably am, but I can’t help it!

I just got off the phone with a financing company, regarding our application to finance another vehicle yesterday.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Here’s the story.

Yesterday, I had to make a trip to the smaller, closer city, making my usual stop for gas at the town my mother lives in. I used our van because it was a bit chillier, and the van handles the cold better than my mother’s car. That and getting my mother’s car out of the lean to on the garage is a pain. The doors need to be replaced, and I have to park the car at an angle, just so I can open the door without hitting anything.

By the time I got to the gas station, the temperature gauge on the van was almost in the middle, which is typical for the trip in these temperatures. It took just a few minutes to run in, get what I needed, pay for stuff and head out. No long enough for the engine to completely cool down.

The first thing was, the van did NOT want to start. It tends to stall easily when first starting anyhow, but when I first started it at home, it was just the usual “it’s cold!” sort or start. This time, it took a couple of tries, but I got it going.

I immediately noticed the temperature gauge didn’t move.

I pulled ahead to an out of the way parking area I normally pause in to send updates to the family or get my drink ready, etc., shut the engine off and started it again. It started fine, but the gauge’s needle didn’t move.

I made the rest of the drive, and it stayed on cold, the whole time. Once parked, I shut the engine off and started it again. It started fine, but no change on the gauge.

I messaged my family to update them, then phoned our usual garage. After explaining what was happening, I asked if I could swing by on my way home so they could quickly check it. Once that was worked out, I quickly did my errands, then headed to town.

Once again, the van did NOT want to start. Once it did, however, it ran fine.

I even made sure to take the shorter, but longer, route. I could have taken a different highway that was longer in distance, with a higher speed limit the whole way. The shorter route goes through several small towns and villages, so the speed limit is all over the place, but it also has houses and farms all along the way. I figured that, if I did break down, at least I’d be close to a door I could knock on. The other route has almost nothing along the way. Even the farmhouses aren’t near the highway. The drive went fine, though. Aside from the temperature gauge staying on cold, everything else seemed to be running smoothly, and the van was heating up nicely.

Once at the garage, I talked to the owner for awhile, explaining what was going on in more detail, including the issues with starting as the only other thing that seemed to have changed. He had one of his guys quickly go out and do a scan while we talked some more.

One of the things we talked about was the confusion from when we’d applied for financing a vehicle from him earlier, so I found out more about that. It turns out he’d sent info for two vehicles because he remembered that we needed something that would fit a bariatric walker for my husband. The one that we were applying for, a newer vehicle with higher mileage and a lower price, would not have had room for it. The other one was a few years older, had lower mileage and was more expensive, but it would have been more accessible for my husband and his walker. Then there was the whole thing about the company wanting a huge down payment for one, while approving only a 1 year term for the other (which would have had monthly payments of almost a thousand dollars, once their interested was included).

Well, it turns out he’s with a different financing company now, and I got the very strong impression that what happened to us was motivation for him to do that, because he’d been very happy with them when I applied! This one will do long term financing, with no down payments.

Then the guy came in with the results, and it turned out to just be a sensor that needs to be replaced. Since I’d have no way of knowing if the engine started to overheat, we rather have to get that done. Unfortunately, it’ll mean going into the funds we’ve set aside to save up for getting a replacement vehicle before next winter.

While making the appointment for next week, I once again asked if he could keep an eye out for something to meet our needs that was cheap.

“Well,” he says to me, “there’s the 2015 Caravan.”

???

I hadn’t even looked at the vehicles for sale when I drove in, since I was already looking ahead to try and find a parking spot, so I never noticed it.

We had a Grand Caravan before we got our current van, and were very happy with it. It’s amazing what you can fit in the back of one of those, with the Stow n Go seats folded down.

Yup. I ended up starting an application for financing. I filled out just enough to give him something to send in, and he said I’d get a phone call for the rest of the information.

Which I just got.

I much prefer that, since our situation requires explanation. First, there’s my husband’s employment status (technically, he’s considered employed for as long as he’s on the company’s disability insurance), and why I can’t have an income of my own. Which normally means he would be the one applying, not me, but I would be the owner and driver of the vehicle, so it has to be me, not him. Also, he’s on both private insurance and CPP Disability, so he’s actually got 2 sources of income, while I have none. Then there’s explaining how we neither own nor rent, but also have zero rent or mortgage, thanks to our custodial arrangement to live here.

Once that was cleared up and the call was done, I needed to email in pictures of my photo ID. The next step – if it gets that far – would be to email in pictures of a voided check.

If all goes well, that will happen pretty soon. It’s entirely possible we’ll have an answer before the end of the day. Last time, however, it took something like a week or more, so… who knows.

Still. I’m just thinking how nice it would be if I could cancel that appointment for the van, because we’ll be picking up our new van, instead.

Oh, my goodness! That last sentence was interrupted by a phone call. I didn’t recognize the number, but answered it anyway, since it might be a different department of the financing company.

Nope.

It was a cradle dial, then someone started telling me that they were calling about our computer, and could he talk to the main user of our computer?

Which is laughable, considering just how many computers we have in this household.

Yeah. I just laughed and hung up on him.

Gah! Now I’m on pins and needles, waiting for a call.

It’s a really sweet van, and would meet our needs much better than the SUV we originally applied for. It would also be the newest vehicle we’ve ever owned! 😄

Oh, and one more reason to really hope this works out. When it was time to leave the garage, the van didn’t want to start again. I don’t know how a malfunctioning sensor on the temperature gauge could affect that, so I’m not sure replacing the sensor would solve that problem.

I don’t want to get my hopes up, but… Gosh, that would be so nice if it works out!

The Re-Farmer

Scrap wood cat shelf

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I have been having major issues with Nosencrantz in particular, trying to get at the north window in my room. My craft table is under half of the window, and that end of the table has my tea station and phone base/answering machine, among other things. They keep trying to get to the top of a set of shelves I have to hold supplies. The selves are repurposed wire shoe racks, so they can’t handle having cats jumping on and climbing them.

In trying to keep the cats out of my craft stuff, I’ve basically rendered my craft table useless, filling it with stuff to discourage them from jumping on it. Most cats have learned to stay off, but Nosencrantz won’t. She keeps digging into things, clambering over the stuff I’ve put on the table to block her, and basically driving me rather bonkers.

The thing is, I have no problem with them having access to the window. There just isn’t any way for them to get to it, without knocking things about or even collapsing my shelves of craft supplies.

Today, after repeatedly having to chase Nosencrantz off my craft table, I just got tired of it, went into the basement and scrounged together supplies to make her a shelf at the window, that will also protect my stuff on the table.

This is the result!

At some point, I’ll probably sand it some more, maybe paint it, and make a more padded cushion for the top, but for now, it does the job! The other cats are oblivious to it, but Nosencrantz has tentatively gone onto the table, which I’ve cleared enough for her to get to it. She has yet to jump onto it herself. Instead, she’s tried to get into a container behind my phone! I’ve figure out what she was after and have tucked them into a tin, so hopefully, she’ll stop doing that and just use the shelf to sit and watch things outside the window!

The Re-Farmer