Well, I got the shopping done, with extras. Along with the cat food (three 9kg kibble bags and one 32 count case of canned food: $132.92), my daughter sent funds for a few things. I went to the Canadian Tire for litter pellets and found a box fan for the girls to use upstairs, along with 20″x20″ furnace filters. They attach the filter to the back of the fan to keep the dust and cat hair down – or smoke, if there are fires in the area. I also found the trellis netting I need for when the peas and beans are bigger. I needed netting with wide enough openings to reach through to harvest. I even remembered to pick up couplings to repair a couple of hoses. My daughter transferred extra to cover some groceries while I was at the Walmart, too, which was nice.
One thing our truck has that our van didn’t is a temperature display. After I loaded up and was ready to come home, it was reading 26C/79F. Here at home, we’ve reached or expected high of 25C/77F, with the humidex at 26C/79F, but I would not be surprised if we get higher. We now also have a 54% chance of showers tonight.
I’m still going to water the old kitchen garden out of the rain barrel. Between the house and the ornamental crab apple trees, it doesn’t get the rain as much as other areas, so it’s pretty dried out.
(update: it’s just after 3pm, and we’re now at 27C/81F with the humidex at 28C/82F )
After I got home and my younger daughter and I unloaded, she and I moved the mini greenhouse out of the living room, and moved one of the shelves over, so we can hook up the AC. I had to fuss with it for a bit, as the duct from the AC is larger than the vent pipe to outside. As I was McGyvering a secure fit, I was literally dripping with sweat. The thermometer in the living room was at about 22C/72F. The living room almost never gets hot, so this is really unusual!
Now that the AC is running, I’ve also got a fan on the piano, blowing the cooler air into the dining room. This should help quite a bit!
When the truck was unloaded, I gave the outside cats a feeding to make sure none were under the truck, and I could move it to the garage. As I was leaving kibble under the shrine, I saw a little fluff ball!
We knew there was a litter in the junk pile, only because we could hear meowing while working nearby – but that was a while ago! I was wondering if the mama had moved them or something. Now, we know there’s at least one surviving kitten in there.
It’s getting to be that time. However many litters and kittens there are out there, we’re going to start seeing them, and the mamas will start bringing them to the food and water by the house as they get older.
Meanwhile, I’m going to see how much more I can do outside, before the heat and humidity force me indoors again. I suspect I’m not going to be able to finish that bed today. We’ll see.
Okay, so yesterday was a bit of a blowout, and I got very little done on the bed that needed to be shifted to its permanent position, before it can be planted in.
This morning, the goal was to get out there by 6am, and I almost got it! We discovered some cat destruction and cleaning that up delayed things a bit. My older daughter, sweetheart that she is, made me a hearty breakfast. She has fully switched over to sleeping days and working nights, so this time of the morning is when she and her sister usually share a meal before she heads to bed for the day. I’m usually not up this early! At least, not on purpose.
So it was about 6:30 before I finally got started on the bed and, my goodness, what a difference it made! The morning was still wonderfully cool, making the work so much easier. Especially since this part of the main garden area is already in full sun at this time.
The first thing to do was finish breaking new soil inside the area the bed will be shifted to. The only think I could really do at this point was turn the sod over, root side up. I was able to pull out the largest of the tap roots, and some clumps of sod just got tossed towards the trees. If this were just a lawn, that wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but this is all crab grass, dandelions and creeping Charlie. Simply flipping the sod wasn’t going to be enough.
Once the new ground was broken, I have to figure out what to do with the soil in the raised bed. Most of it is in what will be a new path. It still had some mulch left on it for the winter, so I took as much of that off as I could. It won’t be useable as a mulch anymore, though. Too much creeping Charlie mixed in with it. I ended up spreading it near the end of the bed that was most recently planted in, where it will eventually be covered with cardboard or landscaping cloth, if I can get some, and wood chips.
I decided to just clear the soil from marker to marker, moving it aside to make room for the boards that will be laid down where the log frames will eventually go. The sod was just piled on top of the rest of the bed for now. The soil on this side of the bed is clear of creeping Charlie enough that I will actually sift it, later on, and salvage as much as I can. We’ve spent years amending this soil. It’ good stuff!
At this point, I finally had a 4′ x 18′ rectangle of turned soil, full of weed roots.
I had been collecting cardboard intended to be used for the paths, but this bed needed it more. I used every scrap I could, and just managed to cover the area, though not to the edges. The cardboard got a good soaking, tromped on, then soaked some more.
Once that was down, I used boards to mark the boarder of the bed, where the log frame will go.
Then I soaked it all again.
I had a bit of clean straw left from something else available. “Clean” being a relative term. Everything as those elm seeds all over. I scattered it on the carboard, then got some grass clippings to cover the cardboard completely.
Then I soaked it all again.
By this point, about 2, 2 1/2 hours had passed, and it was time for a break.
We are looking at a high of 25C/77F this afternoon. I’ve decided I’m going to let that soil piled on the side bake in the sun for a while, then sift it and start moving as much of get bed’s soil over the grass clippings as I can. Hopefully, I won’t need to get more soil from the pile to top it up.
I’ve decided to take advantage of the time and make a trip to get more cat food, and possibly a few other things. My daughters need to replace their box fan upstairs. It’s unfortunate there was no way to set up the air conditioner my brother gave us up there. It’s needed up there way more than anywhere else in the house! The heat is why my daughter has to work nights; otherwise, her computer and drawing tablet overheat and start randomly shutting down or glitching out. During the day, they set up the box fan in the south window to blow the hot air out. They have other fans, but that one in the window makes the biggest difference.
So that’s the next thing on my to-do list.
Time to get changed and head out.
The Re-Farmer
ps: I almost forgot to mention. The kittens are gone! I saw them in the sun room in the morning, but by the afternoon, they were gone. They are still gone. The mama has moved them somewhere pretty far afield. It’s a shame. The kittens were really liking the run room!
As for Broccoli and her babies, I don’t see them when I bring kibble to the shed, but yesterday evening, I saw Broccoli chilling on one of the old benches, while her kittens played nearby. This morning, the kibble inside the door was gone. They may not be inside the shed anymore, but they might be under it.
We did get one thing done this morning; the Dwarf Korean Lilac is kicking into full bloom, so we finally got our group picture done. By the time we finished that, it was coming up on 9am, and that’s when I finally started on the next garden bed.
As an aside, though, it looks like the kittens in the sun room, and the old garden shed, have been moved. I saw the kittens this morning, at feeding time, but by the time I was coming in from the garden, they were gone. I’m hoping they’re just staying cool under the cat house. Unfortunately, we’ve seen both skunks and racoons going for the kibble today, and that might have been just too much for the mama. As for the garden shed babies, I left food inside the door, but saw and heard nothing from the back.
We shall see if they’re still around somewhere.
The main thing I wanted to work on today was that next garden bed.
I’ve been really dreading this one. In the end, I decided all I can really do is work on the area that was path, first, and just flip the sod. There’s no way it can be properly weeded. It’s not even worth trying to sift it.
I started at the north end of the bed, where it has been extended to 18′, but only got maybe 2 1/2-3 feet of sod turned. Around then, I got a message from my husband, asking when I was planning to go to the post office to pick up some parcels. I had originally thought to do it after I’d turned the bed, but it was already 19C/66F, and I was baking in the sun. My app said the “feels like” was also 19C/66F.
It lies.
So I stopped at that point and picked up the parcels. I now have my tips for my new impact driver! A really good range of shapes and sizes, too.
After I got back, my daughter made us lunch – cold chicken salad sandwiches, because no one wants to cook in this heat! My daughter is still recovering from arm damage, trying to mow the lawn with the push mower. Yesterday, her grip strength was so non existent, she actually had to ask me to finished changing the toilet roll for her, because she couldn’t squeeze the stretch spindle enough to fit it back into the holder. Today, she is much improved.
Which is great, because I needed her help with the riding mower, after lunch.
The last time I used it, last year, it was only the second use after my brother had fixed and upgraded all sorts of things on it and brought it back, when I stopped the mower to move something out of the way, and then it wouldn’t move. The engine was still running. There was just no go, forward or reverse. I didn’t want to bug my brother about it, so we just used the push mower for the rest of the season.
The challenge for us was how to safely look under it to see what was going on. When this happened before, there was a chain that fell off. My brother got that replaced and adjusted a number of things to ensure it would not happen again. I figured, that must have somehow fallen off again.
With the truck, however, we now have a way to get a look under the riding mower. We opened the tail gate and set up the ramps my brother gifted to us. Then we pushed the mower onto the ramps, then blocked the wheels, so we could safely look under it.
Well. Under the front of it.
After not finding the problem from there, we reversed it, so that the engine was up the ramp. That was rather more difficult to manage, because of the weight distribution. Even blocking the front tires didn’t want to work as well, since they wanted to turn and roll off, anyhow!
We got it secured, though, and my daughter ended up crawling under it to see. She found a loose belt that the pedal at the front should have been engaging. After fighting with it for a while, she asked me to fight with the pedal, to see if I could get it to lift up more, rather than push down. Which I was able to do, and that gave her the slack she needed to get the belt on. We tested it out (after charging the battery!) and it worked!
I started some mowing while my daughter put stuff away and went back inside, but not for very long. It was just too hot. So I parked the mower in the shade and took a hydration break. When I came back out to continue, I made sure to have a wet towel to drape over my shoulders to help keep cooler. It really helped a lot.
The poor riding mower was really struggling. The grass is so tall, it’s going to see, but there are some types of grass in the driveway area that is different, and more fibrous. This old mower just doesn’t have the juice to handle them. Sometimes, if I go just a couple of inches forward at a time, I can get through without it getting too overworked, or getting clogged. In a few places, I would have to go over the same patch several times, and even reverse over it, before getting it properly cut. It seems counterintuitive, but it seems to work better when I have the blades set lower, rather than higher. You’d think I could go over it at the highest setting, then lower it for another pass, then lower it again for a final pass, but nope. When it’s higher, the blades just bend the grass, without cutting anything!
Meanwhile, the grass is still pretty wet and not trying out, because it’s so tall, so things clog up, too. After my second mowing session, I parked the mower in the shade to cool down, then used the hose to try and wash off anything stuck around the blades. I’ll head out again to try and mow a bit more. There’s no way I’m getting more done on the garden bed today. We’re at 24C/75F, and the humidex puts it at 28C/82F. It’s not going to start cooling down until about 8pm – three hours from now – and won’t reach reasonable temperatures until maybe midnight. If I’m going to get progress done on the beds, I’m going to have to be out there, digging, at 6am.
Which means I’ll be doing a bit more mowing before putting the riding mower away, then heading to bed early. The problem is, even if I head to bed early, that doesn’t mean I’ll be able to sleep! I tried that last night, and had all sorts of disruptions keeping me up. 😢
Meanwhile, I am totally behind on visiting blogs, so if you’ve got a blog that I follow and you haven’t heard from me lately, I’ve just not been able to spend the time online for it! I’ll have a lot of catching up to do, when I finally get the chance.
I started getting messages from the Cat Lady while I was writing this. There’s a cheap spay day coming up, and she wanted to know if we have cats to do. Of course we do, but the ones we can catch are all male. She will contact the clinic and see if they are good with a group of males. The rescue will cover the costs completely.
Oh, and her youngest daughter has a birthday coming up. The Cat Lady asked her if she wanted cash, or a new bike, for her birthday. She wanted neither.
She wants the Wolfman!
They’ve already got so many of our cats, permanently! We were afraid this would happen!
Anyhow…
When she hears back from the vet about doing males, she’ll get back to me, and let me know how many they can cover.
If we can get Sad Face done, that would make a huge difference. Hopefully, it would reduce his aggressive behaviors! It took 5 years to be able to pet him. Getting him into a carrier right now is something else entirely.
Well, time to get back outside and to a bit more mowing, then call it a night, so I can get that bed done tomorrow. We seriously need to get those last transplants in!
The first thing to do was mark off the centre of the bed, then space out the 7 “Wild Bunch Mix” winter squash transplants I had left. As with the others, I transplanted them by first digging the holes, filling them all with water, then planting the squash slightly below grade, to keep any water from running off.
That left fairly decent sized gaps between each plant, but was it enough for the corn I had? Or did I have enough corn seeds for the space? I had only one package of Yukon Chief corn. From the Heritage Harvest website…
Introduced in 1958 by Arvo Kallio of the University of Alaska, Agricultural Experiment Station. Yukon Chief is one of the earliest Sweet Corn varieties available maturing at just 55 days! The yellow cobs average 5” in length and the plants grow about 4’ tall. Highly recommended for cool, short season areas! (55 days to maturity) (50 seeds)
(image belongs to Heritage Harvest Seed)
Fifty five days to maturity is amazing!
But 50 seeds to a package?
I took them out and counted them. I counted about 80 seeds!
I say “about” 80, because some of them were really small and probably shouldn’t be planted, but they would be, anyhow. 😄
I decided to pre-soak them for a little while, and misted the other beds while I waited. The other beds didn’t really need a watering, but a misting would be good in this heat. I’m happy to say the melons that looks so wimpy, yesterday, have already perked up. They might all actually survive! The mosquito netting over part of the row was drooping a bit, so I adjusted the hoops in the middle, then used the weights on the sides to pull the netting tighter. The netting is there to protect the transplants from heavy rain, and won’t be there for long.
I decided to mark out three small trenches between each winter squash, then used the jet setting on the hose to drive water deeply into each trench. As with the squash, I wanted to plant the corn seeds below grade. To start, I set out four of the largest corn seeds in each trench then, at the end, divided the smallest seeds wherever there seemed to be a bit more space. Yes, this is closer than is recommended for corn to be planted, but I don’t expect a 100% germination rate, and some will likely be thinned out, later. The main thing is, they are clustered together so the wind should pollinate them more easily.
Once that was figured out, I just pushed the seeds down to planting depth, then watered the entire bed, to settle the soil around the seeds and the squash roots.
Last of all, I grabbed the wheelbarrow and brought over some grass clippings to mulch the sides of the soil mound, and closer in around each squash plant. Aside from the usual benefits of a mulch, this will help keep the sides of the soil mound from eroding down.
This bed is now finished! The boards can now be removed and used to mark out the next bed I’ll be working on.
Which is going to be a huge shift. The bed is not only far to one side of where it needs to be, but it’s at an angle. The north end of the bed is completely in where the new path will be, while the south end is about 3/4 in where the path will be. Shifting this bed is pretty much building a whole new bed from the ground up.
*sigh*
It will be worth it, in the end, but my goodness, getting these beds into their permanent positions is a huge job. The rain and the heat certainly aren’t helping any!
But, we have one more bed done and planted. Progress has been made! Once everything is planted, then we can shift over to harvesting more dead trees to frame the beds.
Looking at the forecast, we aren’t expecting rain until maybe Saturday night (it’s Thursday, as I write this), which means we might even be able to get more lawn mowed!
Ugh. Our temperature is now 21C/70F, with the humidex at 26F/79F.
In other things, before heading into the house, I checked the garden shed. This time, without knocking, first. I startled Broccoli and her kittens. She and the black and white ran off to the back of the shed, but the calico didn’t. I was able to pick her up and cuddle her. They haven’t been using the cat bed, so I checked it out and found a mess in it. I was able to clean it up and set it back, though, as well as straightening out the self heating matt and the felt grow bags they are using as a nest. The calico wasn’t happy with me but, after a while, she did seem to be okay with the cuddles! I was just happy to see her. I’d seen Broccoli and the black and white kitten outside, earlier, but didn’t see the calico. With yard cats, that could mean a lot of things!
Now, if we could just convince her to bring them to the sun room, too!
So with the sudden appearance of kittens in the sun room (I think we have identified the mama, and they now have their own food, water and cat soup bowls in the cage🩷) I got to work rather later than intended! When I came inside for sustenance, hydration and rest, my app said it was 17C/63F, feels like 17C/63F. Meanwhile, I’m thinking, no, it feels like 25C/77F out there!
The main job for today was to get the remaining shifted bed properly lined up and prepared for planting. We don’t have logs to frame it ready right now, but I needed to get the bed set up as if we did. Plus, the weeds were already starting to take over!
I started off on the new side of the bed, which had so many weeds taking it over, I could barely tell where the edge was! With some pieces of sod, they were so full of Creeping Charlie, I just tossed the entire sod rather than try and sift out the soil. Any tiny root left behind will start growing again.
Once it was clear, I went over it with the thatching rake, filling in some low spots. The north end of the bed is where it’s been extended from about 15 or 16 feet to 18 feet, so that end is a bit on the low side.
After tamping the soil down with the rake, I went and got the old boards I found in the barn that have become so handy in the garden. They are 6″ wide, so they will make a good guide for where the logs will be. They will also give me a surface to stand on, while planting.
After doing the new side edge, I walked on them to tamp them into the soil a bit. One of the boards is so old and rotting, every spot I stepped on, cracked! The long side took four boards, with a bit of overlap.
After adding boards over the ends, it was time to work on the side that is where what had been almost the middle of the bed, previously! The north end of the bed needed quite a lot of soil pulled over to fill it in, which was good, because quite a lot of soil needed to be moved from the middle, before I could mark the remaining side of the bed. Once I got that end filled and a board laid down, I went to the south end and did the same, before working my way towards the middle.
Of course, with all the digging and shifting, along with the weeds to get rid of, there were more tree roots, and plenty of larger rocks to take out. This is one of the beds that was wider. Now that it’s measured to 4′ wide, with the width of the future log walls taken into account, that means there was quite a lot of soil to mound in the middle!
Once the sides were levelled off, the boards in place, and the soil spread more evenly from end to end, I sort of flattened the top of the mound for planting.
By this time, however, it was getting way too hot. It was time to go inside for lunch and hydration, anyhow. The whole thing took about 2 1/2 hours. About twice as long as I thought it might take!
But, it’s now ready. When I head out next, it will be to plant the last of the winter squash, and intercop them with a super early sweet corn. Then, because the sides of the mound are as steep as they are, I’ll used some of those grass clippings my daughter so kindly collected for me, to mulch the sides and keep them from sliding onto the boards.
The next bed that has to be done hasn’t been shifted at all, yet, so it needs some serious weeding and digging. I expect an entire section will need to be removed entirely because it’s so full of Creeping Charlie. What a waste of good soil!
While I was having my lunch, I was watching the critter cam. I caught the orange tabby batting at one of the kittens, so I went to deal with that. He wasn’t trying to actually hurt it… yet.
This particular kitten is the most exploratory, and is already quite content to be picked up and snuggled!
Later, I saw the cat we’ve identified as the mama come in. She was eating the kibble I left on the floor in front of the cat cage… and the little brave one was eating, too! Then mama left, and the bitty kept on eating.
They now have their own bowls of kibble, water and cat soup, inside the cat cage.
I’ve also pulled the blanket I had blocking the opening they could get in and out of, since they were obviously still getting in and out. I used a small plant stand and some cardboard to turn the “door” into a ramp, so it’s no longer partly covering the opening under it. I’ve been able to pick up three of them for cuddles, so far. The black and white one I picked up last night, thinking it was one of Broccoli’s kittens, objected the most to being picked up again!
Other cats have been curious about them, including several I know are mamas, which made me doubt which one was the real mama of this batch. Eventually, though, I saw the mama come in on the critter cam, and the kittens went running to her, and even tried to nurse her while she was still walking!
I brought a smaller cat carrier into the sun room and set it next to the big one, so they have a couple of carriers to explore and, if necessary, hide out in. I also tied off the sun room door, with the inside door partially closed. This not only discourages other cats from coming in (now that all the food and water bowls are outside again, they come in only when they start getting hungry, waiting at the old kitchen door for the kibble to appear!), but the inner door blocks more light, so the room won’t get quite so hot. With the doors open and the sun shining through, the temperature in there starts creeping up to 30C/86F.
I’ll need to adjust the critter cam a bit, to see more of the floor area. It’s so adorable, being able to watch the kittens running around and playing in the sun room!
It’s just past 2pm as I write this, and we’d reached 19C/66F, with the humidex at 24C/75F – and we’re supposed to reach a high of 21C/70F, still! It’s not supposed to start cooling down until after 8pm.
I still need to get out there and get things transplanted, but working on the next bed will have to wait. I’m not going to do that kind of manual labour, in full sun, at these temperatures.
I keep trying to go to bed early, so I can get an early start out there, but things keep interrupting!
It’s almost the middle of June, already, and the garden is barely half in.
*sigh*
I have to keep reminding myself: little by little, it’ll get done!
Okay, I was definitely wrong about that kitten I found in the sun room last night.
This morning, I heard the beginnings of a cat fight in the sun room, so decided to quickly feed the outside cats right away, instead of waiting until I headed out to to my morning rounds. By spreading kibble all over, it would get the cats out of the sun room, and away from that baby. I messaged a daughter to join me, to check on kittens, and went on ahead with the kibble.
The first thing I saw was two kittens on a cat bed INSIDE the cat cage! Then I spotted two others outside the cage. It was like they were still trying to be close to each other.
I left some food for the mama – whoever that is! – in front of the cat cage, then went outside to feed the rest of the cats. Meanwhile, my daughter tried to figure out how to get at the two outside the cat cage, and put them with their siblings.
I saw Broccoli at the kibble on the cat house roof, so I went around to the old garden shed to leave some food for her there. No sign of her two, but unless they pop out to look at me from their hiding place in the back, I have no way of knowing for sure.
Now that I see the kittens in the sun room, I realize they are younger and smaller than Broccoli’s would be by now.
When I got back to the sun room, my daughter had just managed to reach one of the kittens, and was able to pass it to me. I gave it a cuddle, then put it with the two inside the cage.
It was more difficult to get the other one! It ended up going behind the cage, where there is a window sill the cats like to sit on.
I took the plants outside, then we had to mess around with the plant table to make space. The “table” is an old folding closet door over sawhorses, above the cat cage. An extra board was added for the cats to sit on, instead of the plant trays. That got removed, which gave a bit of wiggle room, but the kitten made its way to the other side of the cage. My daughter had to get down on her hands and knees and squirm under the sawhorse, but she managed to reach it and pass it to me. I got a quick cuddle and put it with the others.
Yes, the kittens hissed and spit at me while being cuddled, as expected.
My daughter was able to pet them a bit through the doorway of the cage, which is at the second level, before going back in to wash up.
Now, we set this cage up for Toni, in hopes that we could keep her in there to recover from her leg amputation. She had kittens somewhere, and we cut a small opening in the cage side, under the “door” for her kittens to fit through.
We didn’t expect Toni to be able to squeeze through the openings of the cage, though! So she ended up inside and, as far as we know, her kittens got adopted by the creche mothers. We never got the straight of which ones were hers, so we can’t be sure.
We’ve left the cage in the sun room and several cats quite enjoy going in there for naps.
After the kittens were all in the cat cage, I finished putting the last plant tray out, came back and…
There was a kitten, outside the cat cage, looking at me. It had found the opening!
I was able to grab it and pick it up – and it didn’t really resist this time! After I put it back in, I set other things back in place, including putting that board back over the sawhorses, but I also grabbed a cat blanket to put over the opening. I stuffed part of it in the opening, from the inside of the cage, and already had to move away the kitten that was going for it again!
After the opening was blocked and the kitten dug around in the blanket a bit, looking for the opening, it just sat there, looking at me.
So I reached in and pet it.
It let me!
I went inside and got a few cat toys, and put them in the cage with the kittens. It didn’t take them long to start investigating!
Over time, we’ll take the spare little litter box that was donated to us, and set it up in the cat cage. It’s small enough for the kittens to crawl into.
I’m going to have to check the critter cam more often, and hopefully spot which of the cats is the mama. I just checked now and the only cat I can see in the sun room right now is Stinky – a male – napping on the board above the cage.
The interesting thing is, the mama would have put the kittens inside the cat cage herself! The kittens can get out but, once out, they can’t seem to figure out how to get back in. Aside from the opening under the door, the bottom of the cage is lined with cardboard on the inside, since we were trying to stop Toni from squeezing through the 2″ square wall pieces (the are 1″ square).
I would love to get Broccoli’s kittens in here, too!
Well, time to get my butt in gear and get outside. We didn’t get actual thunderstorms in our area last night, but I need to see what wind or rain damage there might be. Especially on those melons that were transplanted yesterday. They are the most fragile transplants compared to all the others we’ve got. Then it’s back to work to prep more beds, so the last of the transplants can go out!
When I set out kibble for the outside cats this morning, I saw Broccoli come over to eat. I made sure to go to the old garden shed to check on her kittens and leave some food for her.
I did not see or hear any kittens.
Later, as my daughter was mowing the lawn, she saw the kittens outside, running around and playing with their mom. That was encouraging!
This evening, after my trip into town, my daughter and I unloaded the truck in the yard. After parking the truck, I saw a lot of cats prowling around, so I checked their kibble bowls, even though I’d fed them earlier.
There was nothing left at all, and the cats were circling like sharks!
So I gave them a top up, and even ended up scattering a bit of kibble in the sun room, along with all the other little places I leave food, to ensure less confrontations between cats.
As we were already getting some rain, after I tied off the outer door to the sun room, so the cats can still come in, I partially closed the inner door.
I found a fluff ball hiding behind it!
It was the black and white kitten from the garden shed!
So I picked it up and cuddled it for a while. He did not like that very much, and kept spitting at me ! I put him into the cat carrier, making sure the door was propped open so it couldn’t get stuck in there, and let it be.
I just went looking at pictures I took of the black and white and the calico together, and suddenly, I’m not sure it’s the same kitten. This may be an entirely new kitten! They look very similar, but … well… you tell me…
The garden shed kitten seems to have more white fur around the eyes, and the dark parts of his fur seems not as dark as the kitten in the sun room.
I may have picked up a completely strange kitten!
I’ve looked through the bathroom window a few times, and it’s still there, exploring and playing in the sun room, or just sitting at a window, watching the other cats going through the old kitchen garden.
I didn’t get all the stuff on my list done, but my goal was to get most of it, and I managed that!
I had intended to start earlier in the day, but ended up unable to sleep for some reason, until about 5 or 6, when I got an hour or so of actual sleep. Not very good sleep, though, as I had several cats draped over me, and I really, really needed to pee! 😄😄
By the time I got out, it was coming up on 9am and starting to get warm already. The first job I did was work on the trellis bed, which needed a serious weeding before anything more could be done in it.
We are starting these beds out at two logs high, and they will most definitely be made higher, over time. It didn’t take me long to realize I needed to use the scooter, to make the weeding less painful. This is the first time it’s been used since last year, to all the tires needed to be pumped up.
This bed has the onions transplanted out of the bed that now has winter squash in it, as well as a few I found in the other bed that was shifted over, but has not been planted in yet. These onions are doing very well! As these had over wintered, they should go to seed this year, which would be awesome.
All along one side, where a permanent trellis will be built in, I wanted to fit as many of the Summer of Melons Blend transplants as possible. This bed is a little messed up as, on what will be the trellis side, the bottom log is bowed inwards. This works out to ensure the vertical trellis supports will be even with each other, but it means that we loose several inches of planting area. With that in mind, I used a couple of stakes to mark the ends of where the row of melons would be, then used another stake to mark a line from one to the other, far enough in for the melon roots to have space.
We had some packages delivered yesterday, so I had some packing paper and cardboard that I could lay down between the markers.
The next part was the most difficult. Getting the transplants out of the large celled trays and so I could space them out between the markers.
With other things I grew in the large celled trays, I didn’t have too much trouble getting them out. Their roots held things together enough that, usually, I could loosen them by squeezing the cells a bit, then pull the whole thing out by the plant stem.
Not with these melons!
Their stems and roots are way too fragile. Plus, as I tried to push the soil and root cluster out, the soil (seed starting mix, actually) would start to break apart. With some, I had to use a narrow trowel to scoop it out. When it got to that point, there was no way that the roots could not be disturbed quite a bit!
Interruption! I ended up going into town. My husband needed something, but I also ended up getting Dairy Queen to bring home. I was too tired and sore to cook, my younger daughter is caning it and can’t stand long enough to cook, and my older daughter became ill during the night and still feels unwell! I headed out just in time; the rain hit while I was on my way home. I was just getting in the driveway when the radio started blaring an emergency alert. Parts of our province was under a tornado watch, and the weather office was tracking some. Not anywhere near us, though. We’ve got a bit of a break in the rain as I write this, then start up again at around midnight, and keep raining for about 6 hours!
Now… where was I? Ah, yes…
So getting those melons out of the tray was not a good thing for those roots! I would not be surprised if we loose some of them.
Because we will be training the melons up a trellis, I was able to space them closer to each other, getting 17 transplants laid out. That leaves another 4 transplants in this Summer of Melons Blend that still need to be transplanted.
Once I figured out where they were going, I cut through the packing paper and cardboard and found the line I’d marked out earlier, to dig the planting holes. Once the holes were all watered and the melons transplanted, I made use of the bark I’d taken off the logs for the bed the winter squash is in, to weigh down the paper and cardboard mulch, so it won’t blow away. Then everything got another thorough watering.
That left a section on the other side of the bed to plant in. I decided to put bush beans there, and planted the Royal Burgundy seeds. It’s not a large space, so there were seeds left over that we might plant somewhere else. Grass clippings were added on either side of the row for mulch.
That bed is now done!
The next thing on my list that I decided to do was to work on the bed with the winter squash. I used a stake to mark out a little trench to plant in, on either side of the winter squash and their grass mulches. Since the bed’s frame is not going to be complete for a little while, yet, I needed to make sure they weren’t too close to the edge of the soil mound. On one side, closer to the high raised bed, I planted the Dalvay shelling peas. We have quite a lot of seeds. I spaced them 4-5 inches apart, and had lots left over. After pushing the seeds into the soil, I made sure to cover them in such a way that there is a soil “wall” on the outside, and there is still a bit of a trench for the water to collect in before being absorbed.
I did the same on the other side, with the Carminat purple pole beans. I didn’t have as many of those left, so they were planted more like 6-7 inches apart. When I finished the row and still had a few seeds left, I went looking for spaces that looked a bit wider and added them there. We no longer have any Carminate pole bean seeds left!
The seeds planted and watered, I grabbed a bundle of bamboo poles and set up 5 to each side. After the beans and peas have germinated, we will add netting to the bamboo poles for the peas and beans to climb.
This bed is now done. At least, when it comes to planting!
After that, I took a hydration and sustenance break. While I was doing that, my younger daughter headed outside to try and get some lawn mowed. Even after waiting until noon, that grass was still so wet! That’s not even taking into account the low areas where standing water collects. There were whole sections she had to just go around and leave alone.
It may be making things hard to mow, but the gardens sure love it! All the stuff we planted previously is doing really well.
When I got back outside to continue working in the garden, though, the poor melons were looking pretty limp! Aside from the obvious transplant shock, we were reading our high of the day. I ended up misting them a bit to help relieve them from some of that heat!
I decided the next thing that needed to be done was to get the drum gourds and pumpkins planted. They are the largest transplants, and needed to get into the ground faster.
In the space in line with the high raised bed, we’d made a pile of grass clipping mulch. Most of it was used throughout the garden last year, but there was still some grass clippings and shredded paper mulch left. I raked what was left aside, clearing a rectangle about the same length and the high raised bed. Eventually, the high raised bed will either had a matching bed near it, with a space between them, or we’ll just add a new bed attached to the current high raised bed. I haven’t decided, yet.
With a garden bed planned for the area already, I figured it would be a good place to build squash mounds, which can be incorporated into whatever bed we end up building there.
I just had to sift some more soil from the pile in the outer yard.
I made three mounds of soil. Each of them got a gallon water bottle with its bottom cut and no caps, placed upside down in the middle. They got filled with water to slowly drain.
I had two pots with the pumpkins from the free seeds we got at the grocery store by my mother’s place. They have grown so much!
I also had two pots of drum gourds, but each pot had two very strong and healthy plants in it. What a difference from last year, when I ended up replanting them, several times, and ended up with none!
As expected, when I took them out of the pots, there was no separating them. Their roots were just too entwined. So I kept them together, but after planting them, I gently teased the stems away from each other. As they grow, I want to train them to run in opposite directions.
Once they were all in, the grass clipping mulch that had been raked aside was drawn up and around each mound.
And I was done for the day!
Well. Almost.
My daughter had done as much mowing as she could and gone inside. I sent a message asking for a hand with my next task, only to see her come hobbling along with her cane! She was in a world of hurt. 😢
With the possibility of thunderstorms tonight, I’d set up the support hoops for the row “greenhouse” I’d picked up at a dollar store to try. The set came with a plastic cover, but I wanted rain to get through. I just didn’t want the little transplants to be battered with rain!
So I brought out a roll of mosquito netting to put over the hoops. Unfortunately, the netting wasn’t long enough to cover the entire row of melons. We ended up moving the hoops a bit closer together, and set it up over the end where the transplants seemed to be needing the most protection. Once the netting was over the hoops, we used bricks, boards, branches – anything we could find, to weigh the edges down.
By the time that was done, it was just too hot to keep going. Still on my list was to plant onions or shallots in the high raised bed, around the peppers. There’s also that second shifted bed that needs to be prepped for planting.
We still have 4 Summer of Melons Blend transplants, but we also have another 15 pots with melons we actually know the names of Plus, there is still 7 winter squash to transplant, and a few tomatoes. Anything else would be direct sown.
If all goes well, tomorrow my priority is to get the shifted bed prepped for planting. I have decided to get the last winter squash transplanted. There will be more space between them compared to the other bed, which I plan to take advantage of. I have a variety of sweet corn that is only 55 days to maturity, so I will plan small groups of them in between each winter squash.
Once those are in, the next three beds need to be weeded and shifted over. We’ve got plenty of melons that will need to be transplanted, including a couple of Zucca melon. I will find a way to give them their own hills to grow on, since their fruit can reach 60 pounds in size. The rest of the melons will be need trellises to grow on – and I’m starting to run out of takes!
We also have the last, sad little San Marzano tomatoes to plant, and last of all, all the onions and shallots will get tucked away, in between other things.
Once all the transplants are in, I went to direct sow more summer squash. I also want to plant more carrots – it’s probably late for those, but I’ll try , anyhow. I’ve got yellow and green bush bean seeds, too, if there’s room for them.
I’m actually starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel!
I just have to make sure not to push myself too much, though, so I don’t have to take more days “off” to recover!
The rain started last night and, while never particularly heavy, it continued through this morning, and we’re still getting the odd showers. It’s only 17C/63F out there and windy, making it feel like 12C/52F, according to my apps.
Overcast, damp and chilly…
… not a surprise that I woke up in pain and have been feeling ready to fall asleep all day.
Definitely not the sort of weather to take the transplants outside, never mind actually planting anything.
So it’s been an inside sort of day, and not a very productive one.
I think I counted 25 this morning! I did not see Broccoli or her kittens, nor did I hear anything when I left food in the old garden shed for them. Hopefully, they were just being very quiet, and have not been moved.
I’m rather concerned about Patience, Peanut Butter Cup’s brother outside. While their fur colours are very different, they look very much alike. PBC had problems with a leaky butt that has improved substantially. Patience, however, has suddenly gotten worse. His poor behind is looking quite unfortunately and messy. Whatever the problem is, it’s only affecting him and (previously) his sister. So we can rule out quite a few possible contagious causes. We’re already dosing their kibble with lysine. We’re not in a position to start dosing them with something like the Healthy Poops stuff that we’re giving the inside cats through their daily Cat Soup mixture. It’s not like we can isolate the one cat and treat him, right now, either.
Well, such is life with semi-feral cats, unfortunately. Hopefully, he will improve as time goes by.
In other things, my mother had her home care panel yesterday, and it went “well”.
Too “well.”
He went through one of the panel lists with us – about a dozen pages – and a few times, he simply handed it to me to read over and mark things off. This dealt with her physical challenges. He explained, before we started, how the “marking” system worked, and what was used to determined the level of care a person might need.
Before he arrived, my mother had made a list of concerns, as I suggested, that we went over together. I’m glad I showed up early to do that. My mother’s writing is a mix of Polish and English, usually with English words spelled phonetically Polish. Others… I’m honestly not sure how she’s deciding to spell things! Some of the things she wrote down, though, I just couldn’t figure out.
There are a few things she keeps trying to bring up with anyone she things is a medical professional of some sort, even when it’s not something they can answer – like asking the lab tech taking her blood about her urinary issues. This time, she was adding things like her burping. She complains about burping a lot, but as she talks more about it, she eventually says that she is having pains and making herself burp actually makes her feel better. After much questioning about the pain she’s feeling, she seemed to be talking about just below her solar plexus, but also about general chest pain. It is incredibly difficult to narrow things down because, no matter how many times we’ve tried to explain things to her, she cannot grasp basic anatomy.
While going over the list, there were things that, on their own, were not topics he could deal with, so we talked about what he was there for again, and the concerns she had, both physical and mental, that he could take into account.
Of course, once he was there, she found ways to talk about all sorts of things that were completely outside of his scope.
I’d also told her that this was the time to talk about her worst and most difficult days; the reasons why she doesn’t feel safe living where she is now.
When the time came, though, she – as always! – made light of the major things, and made a big deal out of the minor things!
I tried my best to keep her more honest, but he can only go by what she says and agrees to. So if she says she can cope with her knees, even though they are what puts her most at risk, he has to go with that. Meanwhile, she’ll start talking about waking up with a dry mouth at night as if it’s such a big deal, even though we’d already talked about how she’s probably just falling asleep with her mouth open. I tried to explain to her the difference between that, and having a medical condition that causes dry mouth, as they are VERY different, but she completely dismissed it.
In the end, he had a few things he could offer her from Home Care.
She rejected almost every one of them.
The only area she was willing to give in was for a commode to keep by her bedside, and you could see, it really was a “giving in”, not something she wanted. Frankly, I don’t know that she’ll even use it, but will keep using a bucket, instead. We’d already tried to loan her a commode, and she would not use it. Granted, one they provide would be a lot more comfortable and have hand rails. So we’ll see.
Among her concerns was how much harder it is for her to cook her meals or do her dishes, etc. because of her knees. She has to hang on to the counters, or use her cane, to get around her apartment. Meal prep was offered. One option was to have someone come to her home a couple of times a day to basically do a heat and eat, or prepare a soup and sandwich type thing. They only have 15 minutes, so they can’t cook a meal from scratch. Not something that would be very useful for her. The other was to have someone come every couple of weeks for 2 hours, and do a whole meal prep from scratch, with the complete meals left in her fridge and freezer to heat up as needed. That would have been very useful for her.
She turned it down, because she prefers to cook her own food – or use Meals on Wheels.
She actually had home care a few years back, as she was recovering from surgery. She hated it and was nasty to the home care worker. Back when I was a kid, she actually did home care for extra money every now and then, and she doesn’t understand that what she did, 40 years ago, is completely different from how it’s done now. Even the qualifications have changed. If today’s requirements existed back then, she could never have done any home care at all.
Basically, she wants help, but hates getting help, because it’s never “right” or good enough.
One of the things she brought up was moaning about how she’s probably going to need a wheelchair soon (she’s been saying that for a few years now). I reminded her, we have one waiting, if she needs it. It’s my late father’s wheelchair that was brought to her, but then she decided she didn’t need it, so I took it to store here until she decides otherwise. I mentioned that my brother tried to give her mobility scooters and even a powered chair (much smaller), and she started going on about how they are so jerky to drive, and they have batteries. I had to explain that she’s a bit paranoid about batteries, but was unable to elaborate.
When talking about the wheelchair, though, I remembered to point out that she might not be able to use a manual chair. She might not have the arm strength for it, anymore. Operating a manual wheelchair is hard work!
By the end of it, it was obvious she didn’t “need” the long term care situation she wants to move to. The guy even expressed frustration early on, as many doctors have no idea what the approval process for LTC is, and just assume if they say a patient needs it, they’ll get it. There are so many people on the waiting lists for LTC, only the most severe cases actually get in.
There are, however, other options.
We’d been talking about Assisted Living for my mother, which is a step below LTC, however there is another step that’s basically between places like where my mother is now, and Assisted Living, called Supportive Housing. (In other provinces I’ve lived in, Assisted Living and Supportive Housing was pretty much different names for the same thing.)
There are very few such places, though. He named a few towns and the city, none of which are places my mother wants to live in.
There is, however, one in the town my brother lives in.
He suggested we look into it as somewhere my mother can go. I looked it up later, and the place is just a few years old. The building is split between Supportive Housing and 55+ Independent Living, which is sort of like what my mother is in now, but with better amenities. My brother and his wife will check it out, when they have the chance, because their website really kinda sucks. 😄
There were quite a few things, however, I needed to tell him that couldn’t be talked about in front of my mother, so when we were done, I walked him out to his vehicle. As we were passing through the lobby, there was a folded up wheelchair available for residents, and I told him that’s much like the one we have that my mother would be using. He told me he was glad I caught on that she might not have the arm strength to operate a manual wheelchair anymore. That’s not something they typically have to consider, since anyone at that stage would be using a motorized wheelchair – which my mother doesn’t want.
Once at the relative privacy by his vehicle, we chatted for a while. I clarified a few things for him, but there was so much, I missed a few others I wanted to bring up, but forgot about until later.
With some of them, he asked if the geriatric care nurse that had done the cognitive assessments was told about. With some, I couldn’t remember but, with others, I know I did discuss them with her. This was also where I mentioned the situation with our vandal, which is also relevant, but from the cognitive function area, not physical mobility and self care, which is his area. With things like her physical condition being worse than she made it out to be, there was really nothing he could do. If she says she’s good, he has to accept it. Her cognitive impairment isn’t severe enough to override that for her own safety.
So… my mother sabotaged herself again.
He is going to follow up with the person who did the cognitive assessments, though.
The other thing he’s going to arrange is for an Occupational Therapist to come in. If there are any changes that should be made to her apartment, they can make recommendations. This sort of assessment, done for my late father, is why this house has arm bars and hand rails, everywhere, and why we still have his bath transfer chair, should my husband’s bath chair no longer be enough.
I think my mother should really be using a hospital bed – especially with her concerns about breathing. Maybe if the OT suggests it, she’ll finally accept? She really ought to be sleeping more upright, for her breathing issues, and have a bed that is lower to the floor to make it easier for her to get in and out of. When I bring it up, though, she says she “doesn’t want to bother anybody”.
Which reminds me… I did bring up that a lot of the health complains she makes – the minor ones, not the serious ones she makes light of – are clearly more about her wanting attention. A better way to describe it, though, would have been that it’s about control, too, but I didn’t think of that until just now.
Oh, I also remembered to talk to him about mental health. At some point, she did have a diagnosis, but we don’t know what it was. My brother had tried to track down her old health records, with no success. When we first moved here and I was packing up the stuff in my mother’s dresser, I found a full box of pills prescribed to her. The doctor that prescribed them passed away quite a few years ago. When I looked up the medication, one of the things it’s usually prescribed for is manic depression (now called bi-polar disorder, I believe), but that may not have been her diagnosis at the time. She has a very long history of simply stopping medications she’d been given, or not taking them at all. I told him I believe she may be paranoid schizophrenic; she’s a textbook example of that, and I told him about some of the things I remembered her doing when I was a kid. This is not a new thing. It’s just getting worse as she gets older.
As we were talking, he gave me a copy of another assessment he had – this one is “only ” six pages long – that we didn’t cover. It’s a Behavioral Assessment. When I was able to go over it, I realized we really needed to have done this one – but there was no way we could have done it with her! She is not aware that these behaviours of hers are a problem, and feels entitled and justified to act that way. As I went over some of the questions, my first thought might be “no, she doesn’t really do that”. Then I’d read the examples and realize, yes, she does this. A lot! But these are things she doesn’t usually do when she’s alone at home. She does them when she’s with us.
I was able to talk to my brother about the home care assessment, yesterday evening. With some of the stuff, my brother has more information than I do. I sent him images of the Behavioral Assessment, and he was going to try calling the home care guy some time today, in between meetings. Hopefully, they’ll be able to connect.
So that’s were we’re at now.
In limbo, really.
My mother’s just on the edge of qualifying for the level of care she’s asking for, but not quite there yet. At least when it comes to the stuff we talked about at the time. If we’d been able to do the other assessment, it probably would have made the difference.
Still, even if we can just get her into Supportive Housing, it’s a foot in the door, and there would be trained people seeing her every day that could make determinations, as to whether she needs more help than they can give her. Once she’s on that path, it’ll be easier to get her the next step up, compared to where she is living now.
One thing about the place he recommended. If she moves there, I will become the one living furthest away from her. There would mean no more errands, or driving her to medical appointments, from me.
It would be back on my brother, as he would be the closest to her – and she has been so horrible towards him! If she’s living in the same town as him (they don’t actually live in the town, but on an acreage), she would expect him to be waiting on her, hand and foot.
I headed out nice and early this morning, while things were still nice and cool, to do some transplanting. I actually have some time to write this before I need to go to my mother’s, too!
The first priority was to get as many of the winter squash as I could fit into the bed that was prepared last night.
I brought all the transplants over, so I could pick and choose among them. The largest plants, and the ones in pots that were starting to fall apart, were the priority. I set a couple of markers to help me keep track while making the centre line.
The lower the bed, the further the reach, though. I had to use another plant stake to reach the middle and mark a line in the centre. Then I took the two biggest plants and set them at the ends, about a foot or more away from the short logs, then another bigger one in the middle. Once those were in place, it was easy to eyeball how far apart to set the others. I was able to set out 9 pots, roughly 1 1/2 feet apart.
Once I knew where they were going to go, I dug holes large enough for the pots, then filled each one with water. The one thing I did NOT do was amend the soil with sulfur granules. If I’d remembered, a good time to do it would have been last night, when I was using the garden fork and the rake. I was working by hand this morning, and just didn’t have the reach to work anything into the top 6 inches in the middle.
These winter squash are all in the biodegradable pots, which don’t really degrade very well unless they get – and stay – really wet. So when I planted the squash, I broke off the bottom of the pots, then worked a split up a side, before putting them into the ground. Once in the ground, I set them a bit lower, then made a sort of dam around them. This way, when they are being watered, the water will pool in the lower area and get absorbed into the ground there, rather than run off to the side somewhere.
Later, a mulch will be added around each transplant. I’m still planning to put beans and peas on the sides, and more mulch will be added after that. All while still making sure to stay clear of the sides, since the logs will be adjusted as they are permanently set in place and attached to each other.
That done, it was time to move to the high raised bed.
It had a light grass clipping mulch on it, and some weeds that needed to be cleared away. I am SO loving that cheap little hand cultivator I got at Walmart. It really makes loosening the soil and getting those weeds out much easier. I can even use it with my wonky left arm. Not for long, mind you, but enough to give my right arm a bit of a break.
What a difference with a high raised bed, though! I worked around both sides but, if I wanted to, I could actually reach all the way across the bed, without too much difficulty!
Once the soil was loosened and weeded, I used the back of the thatching rake (which I think is actually called a landscape rake, these days), to level and move the soil. For this bed, I built some of the soil up against the edges and packed it down a bit. Again, this is to control the flow of water. I want the water to flow towards the middle of the bed, not down the side walls. That done, I loosened the soil in the middle some more. This time, I did work sulfur granules into the soil.
Then I rigged the hose up to spray over the bed and give it a super deep watering while I put the remaining winter squash transplants back with the others (there’s 7 left, plus one that doesn’t look like it’ll make it) and go through the peppers.
I brought over a tray with the three early varieties of peppers that we have. There turned out to be three of two varieties, and four of another. I set them out in groups apart from each other, but there was so much room in between them, I decided to get the other bin of peppers. There were only pots with Purple Beauty in them. One had two seedlings, and I pulled the weaker one. The other three pots had Sweet Chocolate peppers in them. Two had pairs of seedlings and, again, I pulled the weaker ones.
So the high raised bed now has all peppers in them. Later on, I plan to plant onion transplanted around them. For now, however, they are protected by one of the raised bed covers. It won’t stop the cats from getting in, but it will deter the deer!
Then, because I can’t just toss away seedlings, even if they were thinned out, I found space in the wattle weave garden to transplant the two Sweet Chocolate and one Purple Beauty seedlings.
So that is done for now!
Hopefully, we’ll get more in this evening, when I’m back from my mother’s, and after things cool down again. It’s 17C/63F as I write this, with the humidex putting it at 21C/70F. Our high of the day is supposed to be 21C/70F
At the very least, I want to get mulch around the new transplants. We’re supposed to get rain starting around 10-11pm until 7am, so I’d like to protect them as much as possible, since we don’t have the protective plastic rings around these ones.
The Re-Farmer 