Good time to take a break. Too bad it didn’t happen!

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Well, three hours outside yesterday, stripping bark and moving logs around, left me in quite a bit of pain today. I decided I needed a day of recovery before continuing. I know by now that if I push it too far, I’ll be out of commission for days. So it was going to be a day of painkillers, and non-labour intensive activity.

Which turned out for the best, as we ended up being 26C/79F with a humidex of 30C/86F.

While feeding the cats this morning, and refilling the smaller bins for the inside cats, I could see we were going to run out, or almost out, before I would be able to do our first big shop at the end of the month. There were a few other things we needed to pick up that made it worth a trip to the nearer, smaller city. I really should have done a dump run, but was in too much pain for that. I left late enough that I could pick up some fried chicken and wedges for “breakfast” at the gas station along the way. I did have an energy drink, too, but still felt ready for a nap by the time I was heading home!

While I was out, my husband kept the phone handy, in case the lady from the financing company called. She didn’t, but my mother did, saying she needed to go to a dentist. I’ve been trying to get her to go to a dentist for months. This past winter (making it at least 6 months!), one of her teeth broke. It wasn’t hurting her, but her dentures were no longer sitting right, making it hard for her to chew.

When I got home, I actually tried lying down for a bit on the couch – the cat free zone – an nap a bit. It didn’t work, but then I remembered that my mother had called. So I called her back and she told me she had a tooth ache, but couldn’t find the number for the dental clinic in the phone book. I have no idea how old this phone book must be! So I looked it up for her and passed it on, and we talked about when would work for an appointment. I have a telephone medical appointment tomorrow, but my sister doesn’t work on Wednesdays, so she could possibly drive my mother. Anything other than tomorrow, I could drive her. I told her to call me back as soon as she had an appointment and we could figure things out from there.

She called me back soon after, saying they could take her in today, for 4:00! She wasn’t sure if I was available, though, so she said she would call them back after finding out if I could drive her. Looking at the time, I saw it was 3:50. !!! Then she told me they said they could take her at 4:30. I told her I could leave immediately.

Then she started getting talkative. I told her we were wasting time! I needed to get going!

It worked out. She called them back and I got her there in time. They were ready and waiting for her, and the receptionist even came to hold the door open for her when she saw us!

This was a first time visit for my mother, so I helped fill out the paperwork for her. My mother had the list of her medications from her bubble packs, which was handy. They just took a photo copy for her file. I went over everything again with my mother to make sure I didn’t miss anything before she signed it.

In the end, she ended up having a tooth pulled. Not one her dentures are attached to. She won’t even need new dentures; they can add a tooth to her current ones. When the receptionist heard us talking about it, she went ahead and printed out an estimate of how much it would cost to do the denture.

While there, my mother asked about the other tooth that was crumbling. That one did turn out to be a tooth holding her denture in place, and they said they could take the remaining roots out another time. After everything was healed up, they’d be able to take impressions and have a new tooth put into both dentures. That was good to know.

It took some doing to get my mother’s tooth out. Now I know were I got my bone structure from! I’ve always had problems with dentists because my bones are so strong. Even at 92, my mother’s jaw did not want to let that tooth go! Of course, the dentist was trying to be as careful and gentle as possible. Once it was out, she showed it to my mother – who said she wanted to keep it!

Yeah, I’ve done that, too! 😄

Unfortunately, my mother also started to complain about how it took so much longer than when she’d had teeth pulled before (we’re talking well over 10 years ago!), and there wasn’t any of the cracking sounds the dentist made sure to warn her she might hear.

There were signs of infection, so my mother got a prescription for antibiotics, on top of an anti inflammatory pain killer. Unfortunately, the pharmacy was about to close. There was no way we’d get there in time. So I started talking to my mother about coming back tomorrow. That’s when the receptionist offered to drop it off tomorrow morning, and I could come in later to pick it up once they had a chance to fill it. That was so awesome of her!

Then my mother got the bill.

She was expecting it to cost a lot less. More like what she remembered paying so long ago. She hasn’t been to a dentist since before she moved away from the farm, so probably about 15 years or so. I helped her write a check and made sure to have all the paperwork in order, including the receipt for her taxes and the instruction sheet with extra gauze. She was already trying to get rid of the gauze she had.

She wasn’t happy about having prescriptions, either.

They were all really fantastic and bent over backwards for her, though. I was very impressed.

As she needed to eat soft foods only for a couple of days, she asked me to stop at the grocery store and pick up a couple of things for her that she could eat, and then it was home. I stayed with her until it was time for her to change the gauze. The instructions including taking a pain killer before the freezing wore off, and she had her evening prescriptions to take, so it made sense to just do it all at once.

I have a strong suspicion my mother did not take all of her evening pills. She took them out of the bubble packs and first tried hiding some pills under her placemat, with others on top. The top ones turned out to be her morning pills, which she says she likes to keep “handy” and had me get a pill box from her room to put them in.

The pill box already had a bunch of pilled in the other half.

When I asked what she was hiding under the place mat, she pulled them out, then covered them with paper to protect them from the light. ??? I stepped away a moment to put back her Tylenol while she was taking her pills, and when I came back, I saw as she hurried to put the paper back, like she was hiding them again, or maybe just some of them.

I also am thinking she might refuse to take the new prescriptions, too. I hope I’m wrong.

Even as we were leaving the dental clinic, she was telling me she wasn’t going to come back because it wasn’t hurting. She meant getting that top tooth taken care of. I expect she will not bother getting a new tooth put into the bottom denture as well. They want her back in two weeks to take an impression for the bottom denture, but when I told her the price (which she can afford just fine), she wasn’t happy. She really seems to believe prices should be what she remembers them to be, no matter how much time has passed!

We shall see how things go.

Meanwhile, I made sure she got the fresh gauze in, though she had already lost the first one and hadn’t felt it. Nor did she notice it was gone while taking her pills!

I told her how much longer she needed to keep the fresh gauze, but I suspect she took it out shortly after I left.

Well, I’ll follow up with her tomorrow and see if I need to pick up her prescriptions for her. Sometimes, she gets them delivered, instead.

I am getting a big concerned about my mother and her medications. There’s not much we can do about it, though.

After I left her place, I had to get myself some food before heading home. I hadn’t eaten since I’d left in the morning. I was starting to get the shakes before we even got to the dental clinic! I also had to tank up again. It really feels like the mileage on my mother’s car is getting worse. I really ought to start recording the gas and mileage and calculate it out. I got spoiled by our van. It didn’t have much of a dashboard computer, but it did keep track of fuel consumption! My mother’s care is a couple of years newer, but has nothing like that.

I really hope we get the financing straightened out and a new vehicle soon. It won’t be a new one, that’s for sure, but it should at least be newer than what we had!

The Re-Farmer

Trellis bed progress: stripping

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The plan for today had been to get the ends onto the trellis bed. Just before I headed outside, however, the power went out.

All I’ve got is an electric chainsaw, so cutting logs to size was out.

Which was fine. I needed to strip the logs of bark, first. I can see into the house from where I’m working, so I could keep an eye out for any lights back on again, letting me know the power was back.

Three hours later…

I started with the 2 dead spruces intended for the end pieces, one of which you can see on the saw horse. Then I started stripping the poplar that will be the vertical supports.

The poplar was much easier to work with, for the most part. The spruces have been dead for quite a while, so much of the barks is dried stuck to the wood. The poplar is still quite green. The draw knife could slide between the bark and the wood quite nicely, and just glide through.

Except for the branch nubs and damaged bits!

I ended up stripping them completely, as I could see critters were already getting under the bark and causing damage. The shorter lengths made them easier to handle, too, though I ended up putting the larger of the spruce logs back on the saw horse, just to stabilize it. With the lighter logs, there wasn’t enough weight to counter using the draw knife, and the darn thing kept rocking back and forth, and threatening to tip over.

Once stripped of bark, I lay them across the log walls to stay dry. Some of the logs I picked up were so damp from the grass, the undersides were covered with slugs!

After I got 9 of them done, my back was telling me it was time to do something else. So I grabbed a rope and dragged over the last 3 posts, then went back for the odd pieces. Those were light enough that I could drag 2 or 3 at a time, so that was done faster. These odd ones may or may not be usable as part of the trellis. If not, they will go into the bases of the trellis beds and buried, to break down over time.

I had just finished dragging over the last pair of odd sized logs when I saw a light on in the house. By then, I was done with this job for the day. I’ll continue tomorrow.

As for the power outage, it was likely due to high winds. Not long after ours was back on, my house sitting daughter let us know the power went out at my brother’s place, too. He’s got multiple back up generators, though, so she is just fine!

The power loss was just for 3 hours this time, but it’s a reminder on how we need to get our back ups done. Like the outdoor kitchen. With the high winds we had today, we could not have done any outdoor cooking, if it came to that. The outdoor kitchen we have planned will allow us to cook outdoors in pretty much any weather conditions.

The other thing is to get that old well checked. If all we need is new leathers for the hand pump, we’re set for water, too. Plus the outhouse will do until we build the more comfortable outdoor bathroom with a composting toilet we have planned.

Little by little, it’ll get done!

The Re-Farmer

Silly kitties!

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Biology matters!

But the kittens aren’t use to adult males, yet.

While we’ve let the kittens out of the isolation ward (my bedroom/office) a time or two, with not the best of results, we haven’t been letting the adults in. Mostly because we’re trying to control their diet more, and the kittens always have food available.

Some of them, like Tissue, are not friendly to the littles. David, however, is one of the adults that sees a kitten and immediately starts grooming them. He is also not one of the adults that will eat until he pukes, then eat some more. So we’ve started letting him in.

He and one of the tabbies (Tweedle Dum, I think) have really hit it off and will snuggled together for naps. Last night, though, some of the older kittens decided they wanted nip. They tried it with Toni, who generally let them, but at least she had been a nursing mother for a while.

David… he just puts up with it.

We’re going to need to shave him. He’s got too many matts hidden in that fluff, including one huge one developing on his chest. He will not let us brush him, and it’s even harder to cut any of the mats out. He just will not tolerate it.

But he’ll tolerate kittens trying to nurse on him!

Silly kitties.

The Re-Farmer

This is why…

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… our monthly stock up shops are getting so expensive.

Yes. We really are being taxed on so many levels, then getting taxed on the taxes.

And our idiot Prime Dictator thinks adding a grocery tax on top of everything else is a solution.

This is why our goal of self sufficiency keeps getting more urgent.

The Re-Farmer

Trellis bed shift

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I’ve been analyzing that side wall of the trellis bed with the bowed log on the bottom, and decided we needed to make a change.

The plan had been to cut joins into the horizontal logs and the vertical posts, then secure them in place. There will be four of posts, about 6′ apart but, the more I looked at it, the more I realized that in order for the posts to be in line with each other, I’d have to cut away far too much wood. It would weaken them too much.

There was one solution, though, that could be done before the end pieces were attached. The pairs of logs are attached to each other, but not to the ground.

So I snagged my daughter and some rope, and we reversed the wall.

I neglected to take photos at the start. To carry the logs, we wrapped some rope around the ends and used them as handles to lift and carry the logs around to face the other way. It was awkward, but it worked.

The rebar that joins the logs goes all the way through. At the end in the foreground, barely an inch goes through. At the far end, there’s almost 3 inches of rebar that could be jammed into the ground as we lined up and set the logs in place again. Since I cut the ends of the walls in line with each other, we had to make sure they still matched, so that the walls at the ends will be straight once they’re added.

This shows better, why I decided to switch it around. You can see where I used the chainsaw to flatten the top of the base log, for the other log to rest on! 😄 That worked out on the ends, at least! This is where the bow sticks out the furthest, pretty much in the middle. The vertical posts would have been on either side of this section. The top log is pretty straight, so I’ll probably just flatten the logs where they will come in contact, rather than actually cut joins.

But that will be done after the end pieces are added. Technically, once those are in place, we could still move the entire bed if we had to, but that would not be a very good idea!

The Re-Farmer

Morning kitties, and a kitty surprise!

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I was a bit later going outside this morning, so there were lots of hungry kitties, waiting for breakfast. I managed to do a headcount.

Twenty eight, plus Sad Face, who I discouraged from coming around. I do wish he weren’t so aggressive, even with the female cats. Otherwise, I’d have no problem with him. But then, I guess a big ol’ tom like him doesn’t last this long without being a scrapper.

This was a rare combination.

You can just barely see Brussel on the far right, under the grapes. At the bowl is her sister, Sprout, and two older kittens that I’ve started to see more often. The one looking over the heads of the other two is a muted calico. I think the both of them are Sprout’s babies, but I don’t know for sure.

Then there’s this little fur ball; one of the litter of eight.

I totally understand, little one. I’m not a morning person, either!

Just a little while ago, my daughter and I headed outside for a bit (more on that in a separate post) and had to go into the old garden shed. My daughter spotted a kitten on the log pile that I completely missed!

We have never seen this kitten before!

What a face!

What a pancake cat! 😄😄

No idea which of the older litters this kitten is from. I’ve been expecting more kittens from the shyer moms to slowly come around and discover where the food is, even if their mothers aren’t quite willing to bring them over. With those litters, there’s no way of knowing how many have survived long enough to start coming here on their own.

I hope this one gets comfortable enough to start coming around for food in the mornings, and maybe even enjoy the shelter and safety of the cat house and sun room!

The Re-Farmer

Pruning day

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Well, I managed to get at least something done outside today!

The before and after pictures. I was losing light by the time I was done, so the second shot turned out pretty bad. Sorry.

My goal was to take care of the one at the end of the row of crabapples; far left in the photos. I’ve been tasting apples from different suckers, and there were two that have good apples on them. Everything else got cut away. Quite a bit of it was already dead. In the second photo, you can see the remains of the original tree that, from how rotten that stump is, died a very long time ago.

As I was clearing that one, I found quite a few branches from the tree next to it were entangled, so I started pruning that one, too. It has lots of little apples on it, but they are inedible. I was pretty ruthless in pruning it. The trees are too close together, and I don’t mind if we lose that one. The critters can eat the apples, though, so as I cleared away the branches, I made sure to shake off all the apples onto the ground. I’m sure the deer will enjoy them.

Since I still had some light, I did some work on the next tree. This is the one that has the really tasty little apples – a wonderful combination of tart and sweet. Unfortunately, this tree is dying. There were several large dead branches that I cut away, and wow did that ever open the whole thing up! One of the branches was so entwined with others, I had to cut it into three pieces, just to get it out.

All of the trees could use more pruning, but I did as far as I could reach. I could bring the little scaffolding over to work on them, but I think they’ve had enough pruning for this season. I don’t want to over do it. I’m not going to bother with the other crab apple trees, since they really should be cut down. One of them, diseased as it is, still has lots of tiny apples on it that the grosbeaks love to eat in the winter. I don’t want to remove a food source if I can wait. It will be a while before the silver buffalo berry start producing berries but, once they do, they are supposed to be quite prolific and should make up for the loss of crab apples as a critter food source.

Before starting on this, I went through all the tomatoes outside, boxed up the ripe ones and brought them inside. Tomorrow will be a day of preparing and freezing most of them, and maybe setting more up to dehydrate in the oven. We’re also supposed to be warm and dry over the next few days, so I hope to be able to get back to work on that trellis bed. Plus, our garlic should be arriving next week, so I want to make sure to have a bed prepared for them, too.

Lots of work to get done, before winter comes!

Oh, that reminds me. No word from the financing lady today, so I don’t expect to hear from her until Monday. It’s probably quite a challenge for her to find a deal that fits our budget for monthly payments!

Ah, well. What will be, will be.

The Re-Farmer

So many kittens – inside and out!

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Some of those kittens are definitely cattens now – my term for the teenagers!

I’m happy to see that Brussel’s two super shy kittens are now not only regularly coming to the house, but getting more used to our presence. I was actually able to stand right by the cat house while taking the above photos, and only the orange and white one moved away. Since it then posed for me so nicely, I couldn’t complain!

I just love that face.

I also love that triangle marking over the nose of his sibling!

I’ve been trying to do head counts, and have generally seen anywhere from a dozen to two dozen cats and kittens at a time. Some have simply disappeared. The small orange and white kitten, for example. I haven’t seen it in quite some time, though his ginger brother still hangs out in the sun room a lot. I can’t tell if I’ve seen One Eyed Jack of late, since we have so many tuxedos this year and I don’t usually get a good look at their faces when they’re around.

The inside babies are doing quite well, in general.

The older kittens are great bundles of energy, and the littles sometimes almost manage to keep up. Except the tiniest one. That one is not as healthy. She has gotten used to being handled, though, so this morning I took her to the bathroom and finally gave her eyes a proper wash with warm water. She also had some waste matter stuck at her nether regions. I was able to clean it enough to be sure orifices were not plugged, but couldn’t get it off. It took a fair bit of soaking her nethers in warm water while I washed her eyes, but I was finally able to get it off – and finally confirm that she is a she!

She handled the whole thing rather well, though she did finally tire of the whole thing and try to get away. Ideally, we’d be taking her to the vet to be checked and likely be put on antibiotics, but our vet budget all went to Toni’s amputation, and it’ll be a while before it gets built up again.

As I write this, she and Pom Pom are now curled up with Tweedle Dee on my bed, snoozing.

Speaking of snoozing!

I actually got sleep last night.

That cat nip mix, with the valarian and honeysuckle, seems to have worked!

Yes, they did wake during the night, and they did run around and play for a while before going back to sleep, but they didn’t get the insane and destructive zoomies. Which meant more sleep for me, instead of constantly being awakened by their crashing and banging, or having them stampede over me, etc.

I don’t know if it made a difference with the adult cats or not, since I slept through most of the night (yay!) and my door is still kept closed. They don’t even try to get into my room anymore, which is nice. No more scratchy scratchy! Even Toni has zero interest in coming into the room. She’s more interested in wanting to get outside.

The next vet trip will likely be to get her spayed!

Meanwhile…

Still no sign of the missing ladies that broke out of the house – or that lost dog that’s in our area. Until they find that dog, I think it’s unlikely the ladies will come back here. Too much traffic and commotion. There’s also still no response in regards to adopting the kittens. I will avoid anything to do with that with the Cat Lady for the next while. They’re expecting to be moving soon, with 5 kids, 27 cats and a dog. They’ve got enough on their plates right now!

Hopefully, today, I’ll hear back from the financing company with good news about pre-approval for a vehicle with monthly payments we can actually afford. Pre-approval is no use if we can’t make the payments, even if the banks are crazy enough to think we can pay $800 a month. I mean really. Who can afford payments like that? Especially anyone on a fixed, disability income?

The main thing is for us to get a new-to-us vehicle that is accessible for my husband, before winter. I don’t care about make, model, colour, whatever. We need something that runs reliably, that my husband can get in and out of without hurting himself, and that has room for his walker, as well as our monthly shopping. Especially for the larger, heavier stuff, like the litter pellets and bags of kibble. That alone will save us so much on fuel, since we currently have to make extra trips using my mother’s little car. Still, beggars can’t be choosers. We’ll take whatever our mechanic finds for us. He knows what we need, and will find the best he can for us.

I’m really trying not to get my hopes up on this.

The Re-Farmer

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Our 2023 garden: still alive!

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It’s always interesting to go through the garden after the first frost of the season, and see what survived and what didn’t. I’m rather used to finding things that end up dead after a few days, but it’s a real boost to my day when I find things that not only survived, but continue to grow!

The first photo is of the Ozark Nest Egg gourd, near the compost pile. All the volunteer squash in the compost pile were frost killed, and it looks like this little thing was, too, yet here it is, blooming!

The second photo is the yellow patty pan squash. There were some developing squash that were killed by the frost, but now I see that lower down the stem, there are both male and female flowers growing! I am not cutting back any of the frost killed leaves, since clearly they provided enough protection to keep the plant alive. In fact, I’m not pulling or cutting back any of the squash plants. Not even the winter squash. There’s no rush to do it, but who knows how many others are like this.

The last photo was a real surprise to see. The second light frost did damage the luffa leaves more, but they are still alive. What I did not expect, however, was to see fresh vines climbing the lilac, and new female flowers! I don’t see any male flower buds anywhere, but they might just be hidden among the lilac leaves.

The last couple of days has seen rain, off and on, especially overnight. Just enough that I’m not getting out there to do work that involves things like the electric chainsaw. We’re supposed to warm up again over the next few days, then get cool again.

We’ll see what actually happens.

The Re-Farmer

Some good stuff, and some nope! 😄

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My husband was expecting a parcel at the post office so, before the post office reopened for the afternoon, I called the Chinese food place in town to see if they were open. They were, so I was able to place the order (thanks to my daughter, again!) we’d wanted to place, yesterday.

Also, it turns out they just changed their name. Everything else is the same, but it seems there are two restaurants with the same name in the city, and they were getting calls meant for the city locations, instead. Enough calls to warrant the name change!

My post office trip was an unexpected surprise. My husband’s package wasn’t there, but there was a surprise package for me!

More on that later.

Since I was going to town after the post office, anyway, I took advantage of the trip and refilled a couple of our 5 gallon drinking water jugs – and some energy drinks for my daughter and I.

I should learn to drink coffee. It’s much cheaper than energy drinks. I just don’t like coffee as a beverage, unless it’s so adulterated, it’s more coffee flavour than coffee, and the amount of caffeine in tea just doesn’t cut it for me.

But I digress!

Because ordering take out is such a big deal, when living in the boonies, we tend to order enough to last us for several days, and this was no exception. Plus, when the orders at this place are more than a certain amount, they start adding things like free rice or deep fried won ton chips, so there was even more than we ordered. They were kind enough to provide boxes to make it easier to carry, and I had help carrying them out to the car, too.

Once at home and unloaded, we had ourselves some excellent food – with lots left over! I think it’s been about a year since we last ordered from then, and boy did it hit the spot! What a treat.

After that, I got the parcel that came in the mail – after removing the cat that decided it was her bed – and opened it up. So many amazing things! Thank you, M! You’re a sweetheart!

There were a few things for the garden, including packages of catnip seeds, and seed “eggs” with pollinator seeds in them. There were some toy mice for the kitties, treats and two different bags of catnip, including this herbal mix.

I have not seen this brand since we moved out here, but then, I haven’t been seeing catnip of any kind, except for one small, insanely expensive, bag just a few weeks ago at the local grocery store. I have no idea why there would be an apparent shortage of cat nip in this province. Granted, I haven’t been hunting it down at pet stores, but the pet sections of the stores I do go to used to always have cat nip, and now they just don’t.

The other bag in the care package was the usual catnip and nothing else. This one has valerian, honeysuckle and catmint, too.

So I gave the mix to the cats to try, first! Valerian is supposed to have a calming affect, and we could really use some of that! Especially for the night. 😄

The adult cats sure got excited when I started strewing out some of the cat herbs. Even TTT, who has never had any before, was real interested in it!

The kittens even got some but, while they were all over the packaging when I got it out, they weren’t as interested in it once the herbs were actually available. I even put some right next to Soot Sprite, curled up on their favourite blanket bed, and he just curled back up and went to sleep, surrounded by herbs!

They did eventually discover it and have some, and that calming thing really does seem to be working right now! All but one of the kittens are asleep, which is not unusual for this time of day, but one of them is away, and very laid back while playing with a strip of carboard from off the parcel package.

There were some other lovely things, including treats like Truffle salt – something else I haven’t seen since we moved – and useful things like medical glass droppers. Considering how easily the plastic ones that come with the cat medication break, these will be very handy! There was even a old Canadian cookbook I look forward to going through, and an old book on preserving food that is going to be so handy. Some of the canning recipes may not be considered safe to use anymore, but it also includes other methods of preservation, and I even saw a section on sheds and attics for storing preserved foods!

Oh, that last kitten is now asleep, too. It’s so nice and quiet right now!! Even the adult cats seem to have all quieted down, even though not all of them eat catnip. It might be a good idea to give them some after their evening feeding, instead of the late afternoon, as I did today. We might just get some proper sleep, for a change!

While I was out, the lady from the financing company had tried to call and left some messages, so I called her back.

Ha. That was an amusing call!

First of all, yes, we have been preapproved for financing a car, up to a maximum amount of $22,000 (that’s roughlyUS$16,200 at the current exchange rates). Way higher than anything we’d actually be getting.

This was the funny part.

We were also approved for a maximum of $800 a month in payments.

Nope!!!

That is NOT going to happen!

Yeah, I laughed out loud with that. I told her, if we could make payments like that, we wouldn’t need a loan! She understood.

Here’s the other thing.

This would be for just 1 year, as we rebuild our credit. After a year, they would expect us to either trade in the vehicle, or refinance it.

That’s another nope. I don’t want a temporary vehcile!

Now, I already talked to our mechanic about what we can afford for monthly payments. Whatever upper limit we might be approved for, he would be looking for something for us that we can actually afford the payments on.

I told the lady what we could afford for monthly payments on our budget. We’re on a fixed income, but the cost of living is increasing at insane rates, so we have to take that into account, too. Plus, of course, we’d have the monthly insurance and registration payments, so that adds another $100 a month, give or take, depending on the vehicle. She confirmed that our mechanic knew this, and I told her I’ve been very open with him about what we can manage.

Getting payments that low will not be easy; she was up front about that. However, there is still one more bank she’s waiting to hear from, and she said they would start going at it from a different angle to get us a vehicle on payments we can afford. She assured me, however, that they would get us a vehicle.

Oh, that reminds me. Any vehicle we get can have a maximum 250,000 km on it. The first time we went through this, we were applying for a Caravan, and that company’s limit was 180,000 km. The van we wanted was 1000 km over, so they wouldn’t finance it.

One of the things she asked about was the possibility of a down payment. I told her how much we could potentially put down, but said we would prefer not to, because it’s basically our emergency fund. Which mostly goes to vet bills. I mentioned having a recent cat leg amputation. Yes, my daughters did cover it between them but it still needed to be paid for first, then get replaced later.

She completely understood and told me she found herself with an $1100 vet bill after her dog ate a sock! Sadly, after 6 months, the dog passed away due to complications from the surgery, but she at least got those last 6 months with the dog.

So, yeah; she completely understood the need for a contingency fund!

Anyhow.

She once again promised me that they would find us a vehicle we could afford, and we will likely get another call about it tomorrow.

We shall see how it works out!

Until then, I’m just thankful we at least have my mother’s car to use.

The Re-Farmer