How it went

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In short: better than I feared!

I left early today, so I could run some errands before going to my mother’s to do her grocery shopping for her. I was able to pick up a couple of hot meals at the grocery store for our lunch. They had rib dinners today, and she was really happy with it. I think it’s the first time I’ve brought lunches over where she didn’t find something to complain about! The price is right, too. The grocery store seems to make a limited number of these dinners for the lunch crowd, and that’s it. They don’t make them again. I’ll have to remember that.

As we were eating, she made a comment about “when we leave…”

We??

As far as I knew, she was giving me a list to do her shopping for her.

Nope. She decided she did need to go to the bank after all.

So when we were done lunch, I had to move things around a bit, in the truck – the few groceries I picked up for ourselves were in an insulated bag to keep things from freezing in the cab. For the length of time I would be with my mother, if they were in the box, they would freeze, anyhow.

I also moved the truck to the loading zone by the main doors, where there was more room for her to maneuver with her walker. Usually, we use a side door closer to her apartment, but the sidewalk is narrower, with a ditch on each side. A ditch filled with snow. In the summer, while helping her in or out her car, I’ve had her walker roll away and into the ditch, because it’s so uneven on the sides. With the snow blown even across, chances were greater that one of us would step off the safe section of sidewalk and end up in the ditch, ourselves!

I had the little step stool ready for her at the truck, too. It was awkward for her partly due to space. She needed to hang on to both the door and her walker to be able to use the step stool. From there, she could use the handle in the door frame, and the seat, to climb up the truck’s step under the door, and finally climb into the cab. It was definitely a tough climb, but she did much better than I expected! Thankfully, she seemed to be having a good knees day today. I know there are days when a climb like this would be out of the question.

Our first stop was the bank, and I cheated a bit. I used my husband’s disabled parking permit to park in the disabled parking zone. This put my mother close to the automated doors that she normally won’t use. Access from the parking spot up onto the sidewalk wasn’t shoveled, though. She made it through a spot that was almost clear, with a bit of help lifting her walker through the snow.

Once done at the bank, it was time to climb back into the truck and then off to the grocery store. Once again, I was able to park closest to the doors for her, where there was no chance of another car blocking her side of the truck.

She did a fairly large shopping trip today, which I was glad to see. She did have issues getting meat. She was going to pick up some deli chicken and wanted just a chunk of meat, rather than sliced, as she says the meat keeps longer. The guy behind the counter didn’t understand what she wanted, at first, and thought she meant thicker slices. I explained to him she wanted a piece, not a slice. So he tried asking her how much she wanted. I tried to explain to her what he needed to know, suggesting something about an inch thick, which is what I saw her get before. She got frustrated and said, “give me 2 pounds.” The guy and I looked at each other, and I could see we were thinking the same thing. Two pounds is a LOT for deli meat. We tried to explain again, but she started getting mad and said, “just give me 2 pounds.”

So the guy ended up cutting off about 1 1/2 inches, then putting it on the scale. It was under 2 pounds, but he gave her the weight in kilos, since all weights are in metric, and the amount, with was almost $15.

And that was one of the cheapest cuts they had available!

My mother got angry, said to take it away, and walked off.

The poor guy.

I apologized to him, but he assured me they could still use the cut. It was large enough that their machine could still slice it.

My mother ended up getting a sausage, instead, and that was it for meat.

At least she got eggs.

I found out from my brother, when he spoke to her this evening, that she said the guy at the deli was rude and was using the “wrong” weights. He was very polite and patient with her! Not the slightest bit rude at all. But she had trouble understanding what he was asking her, so to her, that means he was rude.

*sigh*

That shopping done, we had to make one more trip, to the pharmacy. My mother didn’t get put of the truck this time, though. I ran in and picked up a couple things for her.

Then it was time to go home, and she insisted I park by the side entrance, because it’s closer to her door. I ended up parking half in the street, to make sure she had space to move and no chance of either of us ending up in the ditch! Once she was safely out and I helped her through the doors – which are not designed at all for accessibility! – I had to go back and park properly. She waited at the doors for me, so the outside door wouldn’t fall closed and lock me out!

Once inside, we had a surprise waiting. Some stuff on the floor at her door. An insulated bag, and what I at first thought was her mail. There is a neighbor in her building that regularly brings her mail for her, but he usually slips it under her door.

My mother figured our vandal had swung by.

I think she was right.

There was no note, but the insulated bag had a jar labeled pickled herring, but I think it held some kind of home made borscht. There was a hummus dip container, but I could not tell through the labels, what was in it. Plus, two chocolate cupcakes.

What I had thought was mail turned out to be a magazine, plus a weekly paper that my mother doesn’t get in her town, which also confirmed it was from our vandal.

There were social activities happening in the lobby, so when I left, I asked if anyone saw who left things at my mother’s door. No one saw anyone go by. They would have recognized our vandal.

After I put my mother’s groceries away and we sat to talk for a bit, she told me she didn’t like how our vandal would show up unannounced at her place. She has her own things to do, appointments, etc. He has never called her in advance before. I didn’t think to mention, he couldn’t call her in advance, anyhow. My brother arranged for call blocking of several numbers our vandal uses. No more abusive phone calls or answering machine messages!

By the time all the running around was done, the weather was starting to turn. It didn’t get colder, but the winds picked up again, and even in town, visibility was starting to drop. The highway was still good for my drive home, though.

So my mother did manage all right with the truck, though it was a struggle. Having to get in and out so many times was definitely taking its toll on her. Still, she did really well. I think I found it scarier than she did!

She even had nice things to say about the inside of the truck!

This is not something she should do often, but at least I know I can use the truck to get her to a doctor’s appointment or anything like that.

I’m not sure what it says, that she would rather do all that climbing so I can drive her around, rather than have my sister drive her around in her much nicer, newer, car that’s easier to get into!

Well, I’m just happy to be able to do it, and thankful we are in a position to be available for her. It takes quite a load off my brother! There are still some things only he can do, since he has power of attorney, but he doesn’t have to take time off work and drive the hour plus to do them!

So things worked out rather well. When my brother called her later, he said she was in very good spirits – and cut the call short because her show was starting! 😆

Now, if only we could find a way to keep our vandal from showing up at her place! I think he still somehow believes she can give him the property, even though she already transferred ownership of this place to my brother.

Very strange.

The Re-Farmer

Winter fur, and updates

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Would you look at this gorgeous lady!

She still will not let us near her.

I want to burrow into that fur!!

I just got back in from morning rounds. We are at -27C right now, but the windchill is at -29C. I’d really love for those winds to die down! I had to clear a bunch of paths, not because we got much snow last night, but because the winds filled them in with hard packed drifts.

I got through to my mother about coming over today, and brought up about her saying she would be willing to climb into the truck. She told me she checked and has enough cash, so we can try when it is warmer.

So… spring??

No matter, for now. As long as I get her groceries. Going to the bank is the one thing I can’t do for her!

I want to talk to our mechanic, in person, about my mother’s car, but we won’t have any budget for repairs for a while. I’m considering putting the insurance on hold until we can get it in, which likely won’t be until the spring. The truck and other things have priority in the budget. After having to cancel my husband’s eye appointment at the last minute because we were at -30C with no block heater, my husband really wants to get that done.

Of course, it can’t be a generic cord. GM has their own cord with a built-in thermostat that has to be used. Generic ones won’t work right. Which I would prefer, anyhow. Our van had one of those, and I liked it. These cords shut themselves on and off as needed, so you don’t have it heating constantly. I just got a text this morning with an estimate. Replacing the cord will cost under $100. Replacing the block heater part, however, would cost almost $300. !! As far as we know, it’s just the cord that needs replacing, since finding the plug ripped off the end.

We are supposed to have a high of -16C, give or take a degree, and stay warmer than -20C for the next while before warming up above -10C. I’m quite looking forward to the return of the El Nino effect!

I’m sure the yard cats will be appreciating it, too!

The Re-Farmer

Not quite there, yet

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One more night, before the cold snap is dupposed to end, in our area.

I headed out to feed the outside cats and do partial evening rounds. We have reached our expected high of -20C, and are not expected to drop much lower overnight. The windchill, however, is -32C right now, and it’s expected to reach -37C overnight! While walking around the inner yard, there is a section that isn’t sheltered from north winds, and wow, what a difference! The winds have certainly increased, and we are supposed to get a light snowfall, too.

The cats are handling it well, and making good use of the shelter and sunroom. I did find they had somehow managed to unplug the heat lamp, though! The power bar is on the wall, on the far side of the platform, so reaching to plug it back in was a bit of a challenge. Even with it unplugged, though, the room was still around -10C. I made sure the lamp was pushing heat properly, before heading in.

Tomorrow our high is supposed to be -15 or -16C. I have some errands to run, and hope to head over to help my mother as well. I haven’t gotten through to her on the phone, yet. My brother spoke to her yesterday, and she had told him she is willing to try doing her errands in our truck! I do have the step stool, the truck has a step under the door, and the passenger side has a handle she can use to pull herself in. I’m willing to try it if she is, but my goodness, it concerns me! However, her car is out of commission, my sister isn’t able to come out, and my brother would have to plan ahead to arrange a day off work to help out with his car. So there isn’t much choice.

I hope it works out, because then I can get her to a doctor’s appointment, so she can get referred to a specialist. Errands, tomorrow, will be the test!

The Re-Farmer

Tracking?

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Today should be the last day of our cold snap, locally. These are the current conditions.

It has warmed up slightly. My morning rounds were still on the short side, but I did get a few extras done. There was barely a breeze but, my goodness, it doesn’t take much to really drive it down! At the time I was outside, the windchill was at -35C.

The sunroom has been consistently at least 10 degrees warmer than outside. Often more like 15 degrees warmer. The yard cats are loving it!

It looks like I won’t be able to pick up my computer until I go in for our Costco shopping at the end of the month, so I’m still using my phone as my computer. Last night, while going through some settings, I found I had a blocker for app tracking. So I turned it on. I can now quickly check and see how many trackers are being blocked, and where the trackers were coming from.

Some make sense. My weather app, for example. You would expect it to be tracking things since I use it so much, on top of it regularly refreshing itself. But only one of my two weather apps has Bern trying to send tracking information.

Other things make no sense at all. Like this one.

I don’t have a Twitter/X account and never have. I don’t have the app on my phone. I have, however, gone to blog posts that have tweets embedding in them, and have followed links to individual posts on X.

That’s not where it’s coming from, though.

It’s coming through the Jetpack app, which is what I’ve been using to blog since my computer broke down. According to the blocker, three companies are trying to track my information through the Jetpack app. Google, Twitter (it hasn’t been upgraded to X yet) and something called Functional Software.

Interestingly, since turning it on, there have been almost 700 tracking attempts blocked, and they are all from only 6 apps. Google used 4 of them.

Oh… Make that over 700 attempts, already…

Interesting.

The Re-Farmer

It’s a bit nippy out there

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We have a clear, sunny sky that looks so lovely right now!

It’s a lie.

It’s warmed up a degree from before I started my rounds this morning.

Short rounds, today!

I went to dump the cat litter sawdust buckets this morning, which had been waiting overnight in the old kitchen. Half the contents were frozen to the sides.

The sunroom, however, never dipped below -15C on the wall thermometer. I should use the temperature gun one of these nights, and see what it’s like under the platform, where the cats pile up.

This is the entryway door right now. All three windows are like this. This would happen every winter for as long as I can remember, since this part of the house was added on. There is frost built up on the bottom, too. We had tried attaching a sheet of insulation to the outside of the door in the past, but the air pressure change between the doors when it was opened would tear it off.

Replacing these doors with modern, insulated exterior doors is on the list, along with the matching door in the dining room.

Right about when we win the lottery. *sigh*

Our temperatures are not much to complain about. Certainly not like in parts of Alberta, which I’ve read was the coldest place in the world, yesterday. Temperatures dropped below -40C in places, with windchills below -50C.

At those temperatures, propane is a solid, so those with propane heat were in trouble. EV vehicles, of course, died quickly and took forever to charge. People waiting for their vehicles to charge had to bundle up, rather than use their heaters, or it would take even longer. The province’s wind and solar weren’t producing power, and the government put out a grid warning, asking people to avoid using electricity as much as possible, including the use of space heaters. Saskatchewan started providing electricity to Alberta, to help out.

At these temperatures, the only things that work for home heating is electricity sourced from coal, nuclear or hydro, natural gas, or burning wood. All but hydro is actively discouraged – systemically punished, even – and Alberta doesn’t have the water systems needed to produce hydro electricity.

It’s a potentially deadly situation.

So… yeah. It’s a bit nippy out, but we have nothing to complain about!

The Re-Farmer

Booked

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Well, it’s another step forward with the cats.

We have 3 kittens that did not go for the spay day last time, as they were too small. Two male and one female, all siblings.

This was Pom Pom. We now call him the Wolfman. He looks like he’s going to be a big, shaggy boy! He’s already the same size as the older kittens and Toni.

I don’t know where Soot Sprite is right now, but he is still tiny, like their sister.

We call her The Beast, now.

The problem is, the boys are starting to… practice, shall we say… on The Beast. She hasn’t had her first heat, so there are no concerns in that regard… yet. But we need to act soon.

I got an estimate from the local vet, and ti get both males done, including extras like nail trimming, etc, will be just under $340. Which is what one female would cost. Without the extras, it’ll save us a few bucks.

Meanwhile, I asked the Cat Lady about the next cheap spay day. I got a response today.

They have one for this month, but they are booked solid. The next is Feb. 10. They will do males, but want at least one female in a group, since population control is the goal. These are only $75 per cat, with just the surgery and, if needed, treatment fir ear mites. No wellness check, tattoo or anything else. They just do as many cats as they can. This is on a day the clinic is closed, and the staff all volunteer their time to allow it to be so inexpensive.

I called the local clinic to book our indoor males, but to do both would be more than a month from now. I could book one next week. So I did that. We will bring Soot Sprite in. He may be the smaller one, but he’s been the more… active… one. So he is the priority.

I’ve since asked the Cat Lady to book us fir at least three cats in February. We’ll do The Wolfman and The Beast, plus Tissue. Doing Tissue is a risk, considering what happened before, but with us bringing her in, she might not panic so much. If possible, we will also snag the fluffy tortie from outside.

This clinic tries to have these spay days once a month, though, so if we can start trapping female yard cats, we might be able to start getting them in, too.

I don’t know how much of this the rescue can cover, though. Donations are lean, with so many people struggling just to pay the bills and feed themselves. I have to assume we will be covering it, ourselves. Or, should I say, my daughter probably will be. Hopefully, she will have plenty of commissions!

The Re-Farmer

We’ll see

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I am so thankful we are not getting the severe cold that is hitting other parts of the country. As I write this, we are at “only” -25C, though the windchill is at -38C.

The sunroom is at about -5C, and overflowing with cats!

Today is supposed to be the coldest day, and the cold wave is expected to break on Monday.

After that, things are supposed to be much more pleasant!

What raises my eyebrows is the long-range forecast.

That’s right! Towards the end of the month, we are expected to reach -4C! That’s going to feel like spring!

Of course, it’s supposed to dip down again, but not by a whole lot.

We shall see how accurate that turns out to be. Especially around when we have to start making out trips to the city!

The Re-Farmer

Not today

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I had a much interrupted and sleepless night, so my daughter is sweet enough to head put into this for me.

Funny enough 😉, the yard cats aren’t really eating much of the food outside, so it’s mostly the food bowls in the sunroom that need topping up.

The sunroom still manages to stay Warner than -10C, even overnight. The heat lamp helps, of course, but so does the sheer amount of feline body heat!

We don’t have much to complain about, though. These temperatures are more typical for our winters. The areas hit by this year’s polar vortex were reaching temperatures from -40C to -50C last night. Plus, a lot more snow than what we got.

Amazingly, the long range forecast not only has us warming up noticeably after this cold wave, but we were even supposed to get highs bately below freezing!

Yeah, we’ll see about that.

As for me, I need to get some sort of sleep. The first half of my night, I was kept awake by the pain in my left hip. It’s actually worse when I lie on my right side, which is a switch. I finally gave in and took some ibuprofen. I’m out of my arthritis acetaminophen, but it didn’t actually help my arthritis much. Back to the more general version when I restock.

The other interruption was the cats. Nor that they were being rambunctious or anything. They were sleeping pretty soundly. I did have the usual trying to sleep right on me, or jammed up against me, etc. With my various aches and pains, though, I need to shift positions often.

It’s remarkably hard to roll over with the weight of so many cats on top of my blanket. Two of them weigh more than 20 pounds each, and most of them do not move, even as I’m shoving my legs right under them and rolling them around.

Which adds the unexpected problem of pajama pants. With the extra weight on top of the blankets, the pant legs end up twisting around until they are bunched up under my knees. I kept having to get out of bed to stand up and untwist my pajama pants.

What a strange problem to have!

I did get some sleep, at least. Especially when my husband started feeding the cats, and I suddenly had a bed again. Once I was free of cats and could fund a comfortable position, I fell asleep so fast and so hard, I never even heard when my husband came in to do the few food bowls in my room.

So I’m feeling pretty wasted right now.

From the looks of my bed, though, I’m not sure it’s worth trying.

Sleeeeeep. I need sleep!!

The Re-Farmer

It’s done!

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We ended up getting two trucks come over, and two guys checking the lines.

This time, the problem was definitely inside.

They checked the hub in the basement, which was working, but they noted the condition of the wires.

The problem turned out to be the jack in my room. Badly corroded.

Likely from the kittens going behind the bins and making a mess. However, they debated replacing the entire line, because the whole thing is pretty old. It’s not really accessible from the basement at that end anymore, though, so they left it.

The jack was replaced, and the line is working now.

As we were chatting, we, of course, started talking cats. I mentioned they were mostly rescues, and how hard its been to adopt them out.

One of the guys said he and his girlfriend were talking about getting a cat. I ended up giving him my contact info and telling him to feel free to pass it on, if he knew others who were looking.

The other guy was saying he’d love to have a cat, but had to adopt his Bengal (!!!) out when he moved. He’s looking to move to a new apartment that allows pets, and is eager to have a cat again. While he was outside, Syndol had came over and tried to climb him! He was so stoked about that.

So not only do we have a working phone again, but potential leads on cat adoptions.

After confirming the line at both jacks, one guy made sure all the phones were hooked up, including the corded phones. “Hang on to those!” he advised me. The rotary dial phone, in particular, is a great backup phone. We certainly were glad to have it!

I’m so glad they were able to come over so soon. It’s a slow time of year, and they had basically been sitting in their vans, waiting for a call.

Now we just have to keep the main phone base in the cat free zone.

The Re-Farmer

Good news, goods news, not so good news, and good news

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The first good news.

My husband was able to have his phone appointment with the doctor. The line sucked while he was on it, but he got it done! The doctor will now consult with the pharmacist to figure out what med change is workable, with what is available. The pharmacy simply can’t reliably get one form of his pain meds. They can still get the other form, though, so they may simply adjust that prescription. These are an opioid, so going off them completely is not preferred. He’s done that before, and it has terrible effects on his intestinal tract.

The second good news.

We have some contact cleaner and I fussed with the cordless phone and base charger for a while. It’s now plugged in and the handset is charging. Everything seems to be working fine.

The not so good news.

As soon as my husband finished his call with the doctor, the phone died again. Basically, it’s acting as if he never hung up. The line is open and crackling.

The good news.

I was able to use my cell phone and wifi calling to make another service call. Not only did the call work, but there was a tech available for this afternoon! He or she will be here some time before 4pm.

So I went to open the gate and, since I was out anyhow, shoveled some more paths. Especially the path to the box on the side of the house. They will have to check that one, first, but the problem may be somewhere else entirely.

It’s not even 1pm yet, as I write this. It feels like it should be 3 or later, already!

I guess I’m not making it to my mother’s. I can’t even call her, since the tech is going to call me on my cell phone, so I need to keep the line clear. Maybe I can try using my husband’s phone. Hopefully, my sister will be able to help her out. We shall see.

I’ll be happy once all this repair stuff is over with!

The Re-Farmer