The snow has continued, off and on, throughout the evening. The system that, on the animated weather radar, looked like it was going to blow past us this afternoon, now seems to have slowed down. The snow part of the system is swirling around in a giant circle covering 3 provinces and several US states, but the new moisture being pushed up from the southeast and turning from rain to snow over Ontario, looks like it’s going to miss us on its way north. We shall see.
The warnings and alerts have reduced in severity, but we’re still supposed to get blizzard conditions – it’s just been pushed back several more hours, and is now supposed to hit us at around midnight. The amount of snow did get heavier again, and the winds are still high, which means…
… the garage cam is going to be triggered to send an image by email, every minute.
We’ve had many a night of that, this winter!
Oh, wait… it’s spring. :-/
I’m tempted to change the settings, so that I’m not going to find 400-500 emails with images like this, in the morning – I have a separate email address, just for the garage cam! I know myself well enough to realize it would probably be days before I remembered to turn it back on again. :-D
I can still see tracks left by the deer I saw going by, while it was still light out. I watched them come up the driveway, but didn’t see them leave, so I went looking out various windows. I expected to see them by the feeding station, or stealing the cat kibble again. I finally spotted one standing out by the compost pile. Eventually, I saw another, also just standing in the trees.
After a while, I noticed the one by the compost pile was digging around in the snow. I had to think a moment, to remember what was there, buried under the snow.
The grass clippings pile, saved to use as mulch on the garden. It looked like the deer was eating it!
About the only good thing is that it’s at least relatively warm. We’re at -2C/28F right now, with an overnight low of -8C/18F. As long as the critters can stay out of the wind, they should be okay, as far as the cold goes. They’ve certainly have much worse to deal with these past few months.
The system is supposed to keep swirling around, with snow continuing all day tomorrow. The predictions for how much keep changing, so I’m not even paying attention anymore. We’ll get whatever we get.
We’re supposed to continue to have highs just below freezing, for almost another week, before things start thawing out again. Which means we’ll be digging out our paths again, just to move around in the yard. How things are over the next few days will determine what we’re doing for Easter. My nephew was planning to drive out, though I hope they decide against it, but whether they make it or not, my brother and his wife are hoping to still do Easter dinner. I do expect the gravel roads will be plowed by then. Our municipality has been good about that. The plows would be out on the highways already, to keep the snow from accumulating too much. I’m supposed to drive my mother out with her car on Sunday, but plowed roads won’t do much good if we can’t get out of the driveway.
It should be interesting to see the state of things, in the morning!
The area is still on blizzard watch. Everything looks fine right now, and we’re only a couple of degrees below freezing. Looking at the weather radar, the system is crossing the Canada/US border, but it’ll be a while before anything reaches as far as we are now.
According to The Weather Network’s hourly forecast, we’re supposed to start getting snow around 3am, and the blizzard will reach us by 10am. What I’m seeing on the weather radar, however, doesn’t seem to match up with the alarming alerts we are still getting. My phone app’s “looking ahead” still claims we will reach an accumulation of 40-60cm/15-24in of snow in our region, but looking at the hourly forecasts on both apps, it just doesn’t at up. I added up just the hours that were under “blizzard” conditions, since the hours before and after that time slot showed under 1cm/0.4in. Using the highest amount forecast, I only got about 15cm/6in in total.
I don’t think a lot of people are looking at the hourly forecasts and adding it up, though. The alerts are telling people to expect an extreme blizzard and to stock up now. My mother called me today and told me that some of the folks in her building had gone to the grocery store, where they described standing in line outside for 20 minutes, just to get through the door – and there are no occupancy restrictions right now. Even when people were all panic buying in 2020, they didn’t have line ups like that out here. Meanwhile, in the city, my SIL told me they’d gone to Costco yesterday and described it as busier than the week before Christmas.
Well, you can’t go wrong by stocking up, as long as people aren’t panic buying. There’s a difference between prudence and ridiculousness!
When I headed outside this evening, while there was still enough light out, you would never know there’s supposed to be a storm coming. Though we only reached a high of -1C/30F today, it was still warm enough for things to keep clearing up outside.
The snow has finally receded enough that I was able to get to, and clean up, this pile of fallen dead branches that conveniently fell near piles of branches waiting for the chipper.
Before I’d gone out, I saw some deer on the garage cam’s live feed, so it was no surprise when I saw our usual three visitors, including the piebald, just past the chain link fence. I’ve no doubt the piebald was heading to the kibble house or shrine for some snacks! All the trays were empty, though, so after I startled away the three deer in the outer yard…
… and the one by the outhouse…
… then the other two at the feeding station by the house!
… I refilled the kibble trays. The cats were quite happy for it!
So was the skunk I had to persuade to leave the tray under the shrine, later on.
I took a closer look at this area in the old hay yard, near the driveway. This low spot is not as deep as it used to be, from what I remember as a kid. It was more like a small pond or dugout. I remember being able to skate on the ice. The darker areas showing where water is accumulating under the snow is larger than it was when I went by this morning, and probably the largest I’ve seen it since we moved out here.
This is where we would eventually like to have someone come in and dig it deeper for us, and have an actual pond again. Not too far away is where we plan to build our permanent fire pit area and outdoor kitchen, as well as comfortable – and sheltered! – seating areas.
I will be very happy when we can finally take out the old fencing.
That’s a few years into the future, though.
I saw deer making their way along the south side of the spruce grove again, so I headed that way to discourage them. The snow has cleared enough that I could finally check the damage to that poor little cedar we found while cleaning up the area. I could only see it from the driveway before, but it looked like the deer had eaten every bit of green on it. Which they had.
Much to my surprise, it’s still alive!
It’s sending out fresh shoots!
We’ll have to put something around it to protect it from the deer.
I even checked what was left of the mulberry tree we planted last spring, only to have that one cold night in May kill it off. I would still water the dead stem, just in case, throughout the summer, but the deer ate that, too. There’s only about 6 inches left of it sticking out of the ground. Oddly, I find myself thinking it might send out new shoots, too. It just doesn’t seem as brittle as I would expect, if it were truly dead. It’s highly unlikely, but… well, that cedar was well chewed up, and it’s surviving!!
What I really appreciated was seeing this.
This area had been almost completely under water, not long ago. Even just this morning, I was walking through a couple of inches of water. It has all been absorbed!
The lowest spot behind the garage has also receded significantly. It no longer reaches even half way up the path to the outhouse.
This is so encouraging. All that wonderful moisture being absorbed into the ground, instead of washing away. This will be much benefit to the water table.
Any snow we get from the oncoming storm would be just as helpful. While I certainly don’t want to see the sort of destructive blizzard that is being predicted, and God knows we’re all pretty tired of the snow, the area has been low in precipitation since before we moved out here, and it takes a lot for the water table to recover.
The weather predictions have been just insane for the past few days.
There is a Colorado low that’s supposed to sweep through in a couple of days, with the worst of the storm happening on Wednesday and Thursday, then petering off on the Friday (it is Monday, as I write this).
When I first started seeing the forecasts, they were saying up to 10cm/4in accumulated snow. That’s over 3 days, so not too bad.
That went up to 20cm/8in.
Then 30cm/12in.
Last night, it went up to a possible 40cm/16in.
This morning, it had changed to up to 50cm/20in in some places!!
Locally, they’re saying up to 45cm/18in over the three days. I took this screencap just before noon today.
Of course, different apps say different things. The above image is from AccuWeather. This one is from The Weather Network.
Which forecasts up to about 35cm/14in over the three days.
Both advisories to the Government of Canada alerts, which current reads as follows.
ALERTS IN EFFECT
Winter Storm Watch
Issued at 04:34 Monday 11 April 2022
Major spring blizzard poised to wallop southern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan mid-week…with widespread snowfall accumulations of 30-50 cm accompanied by northerly winds gusting 70-90 km/h giving zero visibility at times in snow and blowing snow.
A Colorado low will move towards Minnesota Tuesday night bringing a heavy swath of snow from southeastern Saskatchewan through most of southern Manitoba. The snow will start early Tuesday evening near the International border then push northward throughout the night. By Wednesday morning heavy snow will be falling in much of the area as the storm continues to push northward, and snow accompanied by strong northerly winds is expected to continue right through to early Friday morning as the low slowly pivots through Minnesota on it’s way into northwestern Ontario. By Friday morning widespread snowfall accumulations of 30 to 50 cm are expected…with possible accumulations approaching 80 cm in the higher terrain of western Manitoba and the western Red River Valley.
Travel will become increasingly difficult as the day progresses Wednesday, with widespread highway closures a near-certainty. By Wednesday evening even travel within communities may become impossible as the heavy snow and strong winds continue… and more of the same is expected on Thursday.
Do not plan to travel – this storm has the potential to be the worst blizzard in decades. Stock up on needed supplies and medications now. Power outages are likely, rural areas in particular should be prepared for extended outages.
Conditions should begin to improve on Friday as the winds taper off and the heaviest snow moves into northern Ontario…although the clean-up after this storm will likely last well into next week.
I bolded some of the text myself, not the site. Yes, they are predicting up to 80cm/32in in some places!!!!
Typically, these weather warnings may suggest that roads might be closed, etc. They don’t usually use terms like “near certainly” for road closures, and they don’t usually say “stock up now” nor include warnings for extended power outages.
Right now, there’s basically nothing at all on the weather radar, over almost all of Canada. Looking at the animated radar forecast, there’s a system making its way quickly, through Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. It should hit Montana by this evening. That’s the system that’s heading our way. Sort of.
Here’s the thing.
We aren’t that far South. In fact, we’re far enough North that the storm might miss us entirely.
Or, we’ll get those 45cm/18in.
This?
This is why we work to maintain our supplies for at least a month at a time, while shooting for even longer. This is why we’re working towards having a well with a hand pump. This is why we’re working towards being able to make do without electricity (though we do need at least a way to power my husband’s CPAP so he can sleep! Something we don’t have, yet). If the storm hits as predicted, we likely won’t be able to go anywhere for days.
About all we can do right now is pray that the storm will dissipate and not be as severe as predicted. We can certainly still use more moisture, so some rain or even snow is desirable. Just not a blizzard of this magnitude!
But just in case it doesn’t, we’ll be okay. There are many others we are far more concerned about.
Hmm. My sister just took my mother for her grocery shopping a few days ago. I think maybe I should arrange for another trip for her tomorrow, even though the grocery store is just a couple of blocks away for her.
While doing my evening rounds today, after we reached a high of at least 10C/50F (warmer than predicted), I noticed the “lake” behind the garage had noticeably grown.
This morning, it had just reached the metal sheet that was laid on a layer of gravel. Now, I could see it surrounding the outhouse.
From the back, you can just barely see that there is water under the metal grate that’s holding the folded wire mesh in place.
I’d checked inside, and the pit under the outhouse is full of water, right up to the floorboards.
I see no sign that the groundhog that had dug a den under the floorboards had dug its way out from under the outhouse. From what I’ve read, their mating season is in March. Perhaps its den had a “back door” somewhere.
There has been an outhouse in this spot for as long as I can remember, but it’s really not a good spot for on, because of how low it is.
I did note that the spot we intend to build an outdoor bathroom, where the compost pile currently is, has no standing water. It’s wet, to be sure, but not muddy. The path to the house also has no standing water, though there are low spots nearby that do have snowmelt collecting in them.
If we were building a pit style outhouse, I wouldn’t have it that close to the house, but since we’ll essentially be building a shed with a composting toilet in it, that can be taken out at any time, we won’t have the issues one would have with a pit.
We’ll still be making sure to have a layer of gravel and sand under the base that will raise it above grade.
But first, we’ll take out a whole bunch of dead spruce trees that will be felled into that direction. Once those are all cleared out, we can build in that spot.
Knowing where the snowmelt collects this time of year plays a big part in a lot of our decision making!
We are still getting weather alerts for next week. How much of it will hit us, it’s hard to say, but the predictions for how much snow the Southern areas of the province will get have been changing. When I first saw the alerts, they were saying up to 20cm/8in. Then they started saying as much as 30cm/12in. Now they’re saying some areas may get as much as 40cm/16in! Which blows away any record snowfalls for that weekend.
Of course, I get a different story, if I look at other apps. One of them predicts far more milder weather, while another predicts the storm will be passed a day earlier than others.
Pray that the storm, whenever it arrives, is much less severe than predicted. I’ve got a nephew that’s supposed to be driving in from another province, with his wife and children, including their new baby, the day the system is supposed to hit.
While doing my morning rounds, I found myself contemplating this area.
This is a lower area along one side of our driveway. As you can see in the distance, the melted snow collects along some of the fence posts.
Which would be why almost all of them are rotted out and falling pretty much being held up only by the barbed wire.
When we first started mowing in this area, I found in insanely rough along the fence line, as if it had been tilled, then left. I think someone may have had the idea of making a drainage ditch.
At the far end, there is a dug out area that veers around that fence line, then runs under the fence on the property line, and to the ditch.
Not that it can drain very far right now, considering the ditch is full of piles of snow from when our driveway was cleared.
I don’t know what it was like when it was first dug out, but it’s very rough and pretty shallow. But then, so is the ditch itself. I’m thinking someone just ran a tiller along the fence line, and that’s it.
I was thinking that this side of the driveway would be a good place to eventually plant some low growing fruit trees or berry bushes. The area gets full sun and is fairly sheltered. The water that collects when the snow melts, however, would be a problem. We might want to finish the job someone else started, and dig out a drainage ditch, before planting anything along here.
The melting snow and receding water has allowed me to get into more areas, including the back of the storage house. There is a window that the cats (and skunks) use to get in and out from that side. It had only one out of three panes of glass left, and a board with a hole in it, replacing one pane. I set up a small piece of plywood over the window so that the cats could still get in and out, but it would also reduce how much weather got in. It often gets knocked out of place, but I hadn’t been able to get to the area to put it back until this morning.
Which is when I saw the last pane of glass was missing.
Remarkably, it had fallen inwards, but didn’t break! (The shard of glass under it is probably from the missing window pane.)
For now, I’m leaving it where it is, but we’ll collect the glass later and see if we can put it back into the frame.
Also, the appears the space under the storage house has been used as a massive litter box.
For now, I just put the old piece of plywood back to shelter the openings a bit.
I think, when we finally get around to fixing up this window a bit, I might attach strips of carpet to the top of one of the openings without glass, like what my brother put over the door of the dog house he made, that is now our cat house. He put in a double layer of carpet cut into strips that’s easy enough for dogs ore cats to get through, and think enough to keep the weather out.
While going through the area behind the storage house, I found quite a few fallen branches. I dislodged the largest one that was hung up on some trees. It was really dry, so I brought it over to the fire pit area. There are other hung up on branches, or on the ground, but that’s a clean up job for after the snow is going.
After all the running around yesterday, I wasn’t expecting to do more of it today!
However, my husband got a notification that a package of his was at the post office. At the same time, he got a call that his Purolator package was at their drop off in the town my mother’s in, because apparently they don’t drop off in the town closer to us.
He knew what the one at the post office was supposed to be, but had no idea what was being shipped by Purolator. We thought it might be the cast iron Dutch oven he ordered for me as an early Mother’s Day gift, but when I double checked, I confirmed it was coming by mail – and was supposed to arrive tomorrow. His expected package was going to be much, much smaller and lighter, too!
When the post office reopened for the afternoon, I headed there first. There turned out to be another package waiting for one of my daughters, plus a large, heavy box!
Not as heavy as I was expecting a cast iron pot to be, though. Plus, it came with a lid lifter that should have made for a longer box.
After loading the boxes up, I then drove to the town to pick up the Purolator package. The drop off was at an auto mechanic’s shop I’d never been to before. After telling the lady at the desk why I was there and showing my ID, she left to get the package.
When is when the most gorgeous, long haired calico came out to follow her until the door closed.
A friendly calico that came over and let me pet it!
I’m a sucker for cats.
The parcel turned out to be a large, flat envelop that weight basically nothing.
It turned out to be the package my husband was expecting at the post office.
So what was in the big box?
Well, it turned out to be my new Dutch oven after all!
So the skinny, virtually weightless package was sent by Purolator, while the big heavy item went by post!
The cats wouldn’t move to let me take pictures. :-D
Of course, everything was immediately covered in cat hair.
While the whole thing turned out to be lighter than I was expecting, my other surprise was how short the lid lifter is. Somehow, even with the photos, I thought it would be much longer. It’ll still make move the lid around much easier, than trying to manage with something else.
You can see the base of the carry bag, which is quite solid, plus it has the extra support from the straps that make the handles, wrapped all the way around.
I do like that lid design.
Do does Cheddar!
Well, one thing about the lid lifter being shorter than expected, is that it fits on the carrier, along with the pot itself.
The set also came with a thank you card, as well as care instructions in several languages.
The other side of the thank you card included the QR code to download the free recipe e-book for the Dutch oven.
Unfortunately, all I got was a message on my phone saying that it couldn’t open that type of link.
So I went to the website to see if I could find it there. While looking around, I did find a link to download a free recipe book, however it was for tortilla recipes. This place makes quite a lot of products, including quite a few for Mexican cooking. It took some searching before I found the Dutch oven we got. I did find their recipes section, and was eventually able to find their recipes for Dutch oven cooking. They also sell enamelled Dutch ovens, too, so the recipes were for both, but at least I found some.
I ended up using their contact form, told them what the issue I was having was, and asked if they could just email the e-book to me. We’ll see how that works out. Of course, it’s easy enough to find recipes for this type of Dutch oven. I recently took advantage of a sale on whole chickens, and I think that would be a great thing to try first. We have time to decide, though. It’s way too windy and muddy to get the fire pit going, for the next few days, at least. Plenty of time to prepare!
Since I was in town anyway, I swung by the grocery store and got a few things for a cookout, including the ingredients for S’mores. We tried making those for the first time, during one of the rare times it was safe to light a fire, a couple of summers ago, and they were quite fun.
This Dutch oven is pre-seasoned, and ready to use immediately. I’ll likely give it at least a hot water rinse, though, before it’s used.
So we did get a bit of snow sticking around after last night’s storm. Not as much as was predicted, and not at all like what people got to the south of us. Certainly nothing to complain about, considering some places in the US got tornados. !!
The outside cats were quite excited for the kibble! From the hoof tracks in the mud and slush, it looks like the deer ate up all their kibble again. :-(
My daughter had set up the rain barrel, and it’s already about 3/4 full! I put the diverter back on, just in case. I look forward to when we have a barrel set up with an overflow, and not have to be concerned about that.
You can tell where the trees are. The slush froze into spatters from all the extra ice and snow falling from the branches.
Lots of kitty paw prints and deer tracks, too.
The “lake” formed near the garage is still as big as ever.
The new snow hides it a bit in the shallower spots, but it extends across the driveway and gets deeper again, along the snow ridge.
The path from the driveway to the back of the garage is almost completely filled with snow melt, but it gets quite a bit deeper here. The water isn’t quite reaching the outhouse, though. It now stops where we now have that metal sheet, on top of gravel, where the hole under the outhouse had been filled. Between that and the paths we dug, I think it’s actually helped keep the water collecting further from the outhouse.
If we ever wanted to dig a pond in the inner yard, this would be the natural place to do it. :-D
The door to the back of the garage is several inches above grade, plus it has gravel built up to it, with an old paver right at the door itself, so while the water collects here in front of the door, it stays away from the garage itself. There is some moisture getting in, though. In the side my mother’s car is parked, I can see areas that are wet. There’s a lot of snow on the side of the garage that’s slowly melting, and it’s seeping under the wall. The main issue with that is, there are repurposed wooden shelves on the inside, against that wall, and it doesn’t look like anyone thought to put the lower counter shelves on something, to protect them from moisture. As far as I can tell, it’s sitting directly on the dirt floor.
At some point, we’ll be able to start cleaning and organizing the garage. I’d like to move those shelves out, so we can actually open my mother’s car door wider, without having to park it so close to the other wall.
But that’s a big job, and far from a priority right now!
Though there was about an inch of frozen slush everywhere when I first came out, it’s already melting fast.
When I started my rounds, the sidewalk and patio blocks were covered with snow, but after about half an hour, the blocks were almost completely clear. Only the end of the sidewalk, which had deeper coverage and is partly shaded by trees, was not yet clear.
In fact, even with the new snow, things have melted enough that – with the additional help of all those deer making a path – I could finally get to the front of the shed that lost its roof, not long ago.
You can’t tell in the photo, but it looks like the antique plow in the back corner on the right, is okay. The roof seems to have fallen over it, but not on it.
That board in the foreground, with the nails sticking through, is actually hanging from the side of the opening. It used to be one of the supports, keeping the cross beam from sagging. The other one is still in place.
It’s going to be quite a job to clean this up. It should be interesting to see how much lumber we’ll be able to salvage out of this.
It will be a while before we can access it, though, and for there to be enough dried ground to put anything we pull out of here. Since I plan to salvage the materials to build a chicken coop, so we can have chickens next spring, this clean up is nearer the top of the priority list.
I just made a quick trip into town to pick up a few things. Of course, I ended up getting more than planned! There were some good sales on stuff that will be for the Easter basket, and others to add to our pantry and freezer. A two for one whole chicken sale is not something to pass up! ;-)
We also had a package to pick up at the post office – where I made sure to warn the the postal worker that there would be a rather heavy package expected on Friday. Not that I think she’ll have a problem with it. She’s a farm girl, too! Still, lifting something that turns out to be unexpectedly heavy can lead to injuries, so I wanted to make sure she was aware.
Today’s package was an upgraded OBDII reader.
The one we have is basic and does the job, but this one should provide us with more information. It also has a proprietary app, and 24 hour customer service. I’ve downloaded the app and will have to test it out, the next time I’m in the van. With this new reader, we can keep the old one in my mother’s car.
While folding up and putting away the wagon in the sun room, I noticed something that I’m sure wasn’t there, this morning.
A puddle of glue under the reflector we made yesterday!
I used watered down all-purpose glue on the sheet of insulation to adhere the aluminum foil, applying a very thin coat with a paintbrush. I knew the glue wasn’t going to stick very well to the insulation, but I figured it would at least dry and adhere enough to hold the foil in place.
I did not expect it to leak like this, instead! That’s quite a lot of glue, too, for the amount that was used in the first place.
Ah, well. It’s still sticky and holding the foil in place, plus the foil is held by tape on the back. It’ll stay, and that’s all the matters, really.
Remarkably, my quick fix using cord held, while the metal crimp at the other end gave out.
We have no way to keep it from the deer right now, so we’re giving up for now. Once the snow is gone and there is food available elsewhere, the deer stop coming to the feeding station, so we will wait before putting the feeder back up.
Which is too bad, because the birds were really happy to have it back!
We certainly expect to have issues with squirrels and raccoons getting at the hanging feeder. I never expected to have issues with deer going after it! We’ve had hanging feeders there since we brought the stand from where we found it in the maple grove to this area, and the deer had never gone for it until this year. Mind you, with the wind constantly knocking the stand down, they didn’t have to. Now the main post is buried in the ground, so that might be making the difference. That and it’s March, and there’s still lots of snow on the ground, so they’re probably getting pretty hungry.
Which reminds me.
Since we had to dig out the septic tank, we now have access to that corner of the house. The roof faces north, and is the only place we still have snow. It builds up in a corner where the old kitchen roof joins the main part of the house, where a huge ice dam forms. Most snow remains on the north facing roof of the old kitchen.
This morning, I brought over the extended pole roof shovel to see if I could break through the crust that has formed on top of all the snow, and get some of it down. It actually worked, more or less. I got a lot more down than I thought I would, though even with the pole extended as long as it could, I still couldn’t reach parts of the snow. In some places, it was because the septic tank lid itself was in the way.
Still, I got quite a lot of it down. The ice dam in the corner now has several feet of built up snow cleared away from it, so it should actually start melting faster, as it’s no longer in the shadow of the snow pile. I must say, though, walking around on that insulated tarp was its own challenge. That thing is so slippery! However, the snow I got down mostly landed on it, so when it melts, it will flow away from the house. I guess that makes one benefit for the insulated tarp that straw doesn’t have. I still think we’ll go back to covering the tank with straw, though. Much easier to access the tank with a lot of snow on the ground!
Ugh. I really should be heading into town right now, but I just don’t want to go.
You know, for someone who is a hermit by nature, I’ve been out and about an awful lot lately!
Today I was out again, after an unexpected change in plans. With the roads clearing up and the days warming up, my mother was wanting to finally visit her sister in the nursing home, to see for herself how she is doing. Every time I suggested a day, though, she would defer on making a decision, and then say that she’d go any time I had the time to take her. She just wanted me to give her at least a day’s advance notice. So a few days ago, after looking at the forecast and seeing that Friday (today) was supposed to be warmer, I called to suggest Friday.
Oh, I was thinking Sunday, she tells me.
Hmm. Apparently, I was supposed to know this somehow? :-D
So we arranged for a trip on Sunday.
Then last night, while I was on my way home from visiting my friend in town, she called. It was pretty late when I got home, but I got through to her before she’d gone to bed.
She had been talking to someone in her building. They told her Friday was supposed to be a nice warm day, so she thought that might be a better day to visit her sister, instead of Sunday, and was I okay with that?
Oh, Mom.
I still had the day open, since that was the day I’d suggested to begin with, so of course, I was okay with the switch, but my goodness, that was funny.
We timed it so that she could visit in between when they would be doing lunch and supper. I used her car, of course, and left early enough to put some gas in the tank.
*sigh*
I filled the tank in our van last night. Gas was at 174.9/L It cost me almost $50 for a quarter tank. This morning, gas was up to 177.9/L My mother’s car was closer to 1/2 than 3/4 full, and she has a smaller tank than I do. It still cost almost almost $40 to fill her tank, and I didn’t even fill it all the way. The nozzle kept shutting itself off, so I kept restarting it until the pump got to what I knew would be close, and it turned out to be just a hair under full when I stopped.
Of course, with gas prices going up, the price of everything else is going to keep going up, too. :-(
We made the trip to where my aunt is, and since they still require masks and I can’t wear one (my mother shouldn’t be wearing any, either), I dropped her off with her walker and helper her in to the doors, where they had someone set up at a table. While my mom was being tended to before being allowed in, I found a place to park. We’d talked about where we were going to eat after the visit, and I’d suggested a fish and chips place instead of her usual fried chicken restaurant. She’s not doing meat on Fridays, so she agreed. I’m pretty sure the chicken place has fish and chips, too, but she would have just ordered fries if we’d gone there. It’s a tiny place and has only street parking, so after I parked my mom’s car, I quickly walked over to see how busy they were and what the parking situation was like, before heading back to the nursing home and waiting for my mom outside.
Her visit with my aunt was much shorter than expected, so I wasn’t waiting for long. We headed over to the restaurant so she could fill me in on how it went. Unfortunately my aunt, who’s 98, did not recognize my mother. She doesn’t talk anymore, and she fell asleep while my mother was there. At least my mother got to talk to the nursing staff about her sister, and left small gifts for her for later.
These visits are very hard on my mother. Still, she was glad to have finally seen her, and talk to the staff directly about how she’s doing. My mother can’t navigate their automated phone system, so I’ve been the one calling the nursing home to get updates for her which, thankfully, they are allowing. I’m not on the list of contacts for my aunt, but my mother is, and I’m someone they recognize as speaking on behalf of my mother, so they can give me information. Still, it’s not the same as my mother being able to actually see and try to talk to her sister, in person.
I told my mother that, now that the roads are clearing up and the temperatures are getting nice, she can visit her sister more often, and that I would be happy to drive her. She started saying, what’s the point? Her sister doesn’t even recognize her. I reminded her it’s been a long time since my aunt has seen her. If she visits more often, she might start recognizing my mother. Plus, at least she’s be able to see for herself how her sister was doing. My mother said she would think about it, but later on the the drive home, she brought it up again as if it was something she’s just thought of herself, and said it would be good to visit more often, now that the roads and weather are better… :-D
The place we ate at is very generous with their portions, and neither of us could finish even half of the fries, so we boxed those up. My mother didn’t want the fries, so she suggested I could give it to the cats. She’d covered hers with salt and vinegar, and I didn’t think that would work, but I took them anyway. My mother took advantage of having access to a car and we went to a couple of places before I took her home. While we were doing errands, I got a message from one of my daughters with a photo.
They’d got a fire going in the fire pit and were having a wiener roast for supper! We’ve used the fire pit so rarely since we’ve moved here, due to fire bans and drought conditions, so I was really happy that they did that.
By the time I was driving my mother home, I was so very tired. Being around people too much just sucks the energy out of me, and with all the other errands we’ve been running in just the past week, I was pretty wiped out. I think I was even more tired than my 90 yr old mother! :-D So I didn’t stay long after putting her groceries away. It’s a good thing I left when I did, because it was starting to rain! It was mostly done by the time I got home, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be driving on those roads any later in the day.
My daughters were still doing their cookout when I got home! They had the hardest time keeping the fire going, even with having access to dry wood.
The rain starting certainly didn’t help, but it didn’t rain enough to have to end their cookout, and it stopped shortly after I got back. I joined them for a while. It felt so good to be sitting at a fire like that, even with the mud all around the fire pit.
Then, since I had all those fries, the girls brought out cast iron pan to reheat them on the fire grill. I’m told they were quite delicious done that way! :-D
I didn’t stay out for too long, though, and left them to their cookout. I did pause to check out one of the little “lakes” that are forming in our yard!
Getting to the compost pile is going to be a bit of a challange!
We’ve got snowmelt forming a “lakes” forming all over the yard and in the paths we’ve dug right now! All that water, in between all that still-deep snow, is quite the sight!
We’re still supposed to get a bit more rain, then temperatures are supposed to dip below freezing overnight. I was going to say, I’m glad I won’t have to go anywhere for a few days, but I just remembered that we will at least need to go into town again to refill our empty water jugs. I really should have done it today, but it’s not something I could do while running errands with my mother. After that, we should have a few days “off”. I hope! At least until the middle of next week, when we’ll be dropping Turmeric off for her appointment at the vet that the Cat Lady arranged. Then, that same evening, we are now scheduled to pick up the freezer pack of beef I ordered last night. I chose their large “rancher” variety pack. The only item in the pack I know for sure will be in it is ground beef. I’m quite content with “surprise” packs, because we sometimes end up with cuts we normally wouldn’t think to get, usually due to the price/pound. Because it’s in a bulk pack, the price is by the pound for the whole thing, not for individual cuts, so we end up with a better price – and higher end cuts!
It’ll definitely be worth the extra running around.
Still, it all leaves me feeling so very tired. At least it’s a good tired, though!
The Re-Farmer 