It snowed through most of yesterday, and through the night. Big, light, fluffy snow.
Lots of it.
The forecast was for 5-10 cm (about 2-5 inches), and I think we did get close to 10 cm. It was so light and fluffy, though, it made for easy shoveling.
In the paths, at least.
It also made it easier for the cats to move around in it, too.
Along the wall and into the old kitchen garden is what I had to dig out yesterday morning, to free the sump pump hose. That also required breaking the diverter free from the ice that had connected it to the downspout, then breaking up enough of the packed snow at the other end, to finally be able to move it out of the way. We’ll have to make sure it goes back before things start to melt, since it’ll be a while before the rain barrel can be put back there.
After clearing all the paths, which went much faster than usual, it took a bit more to clear the wheel barrow!
We had left it leaning against the tree is one more little shelter for the cats to use. And they did use it – until it got mostly filled with snow.
This is next to where the main paths form a T, so there was a taller than usual pile of snow right at the wheelbarrow. A lot of it was pretty hard packed by now, so it took a bit of breaking it apart with the ice chipper, just to be able to use the snow shovel.
That ice chipper has been getting so much use this year!! Mostly for snow, not ice.
This is why we need the wheelbarrow. We need to remove the snow from around the old basement window – which can’t be seen in the photo. It does have a cover over it, plus a drift in front of it. The shallow storage container visible in the photo was in front of where the sump pump hose comes out of the wall, and is now sitting on the drift, right in front of the basement window.
It hasn’t been a problem in previous winters since we’ve moved here, but we have enough snow this year that it will melt and drain right into the basement window, which is below grade. This is a fairly small corner, and there just isn’t room for the snow, so we’ll have to haul it out of the yard.
In the process, I want to dig that path down more to the ground, so that the hose from the sump pump has a downward grade again. Right now, there is a bit of a “hill” of snow it’s running across.
As soon as things are clear enough, we need to run that hose into the old kitchen garden again. I don’t want it draining this close to the well. Not a problem while the ground is still frozen, but if we have a more average summer, the old basement does get quite wet, and the sump pump will go off regularly.
Anyhow.
Getting most of that snow out of the corner is a job we will do, little by little, as weather permits.
Yesterday, we only knew a luffa had germinated because I happened to take a photo from above, while tending to the pots.
This morning, it was big enough to be able to see!
I am so thrilled to see any gourds at all, sprouting already.
Checking the onions in the small aquarium greenhouse, it looks like we have some yellow onions starting to sprout. There’s just a couple of small, white worm-like bits starting to show in the soil.
So Nosencrantz has adapted pretty much instantly to being inside.
She just could not get enough attention from my daughter!
Butterscotch was a bit harder to get inside. She kept hiding in different places in the old kitchen. We tried luring her with food, catnip, her favourite bed from the sun room… no go. We really needed to get her out of there, though, as this room has no heat source, and who knows if it has any insulation. Back in the day, it was kept warm in winter with the constantly burning wood cookstove.
Eventually, she tucked herself into the corner of a shelf, and my younger daughter was able to reach her. Some pets and ear skritches, and Butterscotch eventually came out. We managed to quickly get her into the cat carrier and brought her in to my room.
Now, we’ve tried to bring Butterscotch in before, which she hated so much. Whether it was in the sun room, when we turned it into a maternity ward, several years ago, or when we turned the new basement into a maternity ward, with the intention of turning both her and Beep Beep into indoor cats, it was a disaster. Tearing through a screen door is one thing. Killing her own kittens was a whole new level.
As an outdoor cat, she had her moods. She did allow attention, and liked to be carried, but she was not a cuddly cat. She was not above suddenly deciding to get mean, either.
So… who is this, then?
Once in my room, she started looking around, and let me pick her up and put her on the bed.
That was several hours ago. She has yet to leave it.
Not only that, but when I sat to pet her, she snuggled her head into my hand, using it as a pillow, while I pet her, purring mightily. She even rolled onto her back, giving me the best view of her surgical scar we’ve had since we got her spayed.
Once we were done petting her, she just curled up and stayed on the red blanket on my bed that is a favourite spot for most of the cats. Not even napping, really. Just lying there, content and purring.
Who is this cat?
Since she’s been inside, we have allowed Fenrir into the room. Fenrir was curious about Nosencrantz, they sniffed each other, and Fenrir growled at her. Which is typical Fenrir.
Butterscotch watched from her spot on the bed, and that was it. I suppose it’s possible they might remember each other, since Fenrir showed up as a kitten and got adopted by Beep Beep and Butterscotch, letting her nurse with their own kittens, but it was more Beep Beep that took care of her than Butterscotch. It’s been a few years since they’ve seen each other.
As I sit and write this, I can hear Nosencrantz checking out the door. She wants to go out and explore.
Butterscotch is now asleep on the red blanket.
It should be interesting to see how they do, during their first night inside. I suspect Nosencrantz will try and get into all sorts of things.
The way things are going, I might wake up to Butterscotch cuddles!
With the Emergency Measures (formerly War Measures) Act being invoked by our Prime Dictator, it can be expected that the rhetoric, accusations and false information is going to kick into high gear, to try and convince people that these measures are somehow justified.
Early during the protests, trucks were seen dropping off loads of rocks, and piles of bricks were also found. This is something that happened during previous protests that turned violent, so truckers and their supporters would immediately call the police and stand guard until they arrived, to make sure no instigators would start trouble. It would be no surprise if the same would be done with guns. Our media and Prime Dictator have been working very hard to portray the protesters as violent, and failed time after time, as on the ground, independent video showed how much of a lie that was. They are getting desperate.
The backlash over what T2 has done by invoking the Emergency Measures Act is rippling around the world.
In the “breaking news” category, Ottawa’s Chief of Police, Sloly, has resigned.
Something I wanted to clarify about our Prime Dictator invoking the Emergency Measures Act (EMA).
It is not in effect, even though many are acting as if it is, including banks that are freezing people’s accounts.
Once the EMA is invoked, there is a process that needs to be followed. First, T2 has 7 sitting days to table a motion in Parliament. There are specific conditions that must be met that demonstrate the extreme conditions that justify invoking the EMA. It should be noted that, among the extended definitions of what is exempt from the EMA is protests. It’s not in the Act itself, but is linked with a CSIS definition (that’s Canada’s version of the CIA). None of the conditions required are met, so there is zero justification for invoking the act. In tabling the motion, T2 has to try and prove in Parliament that those conditions are somehow being met.
It then has to be voted on by both the House of Commons and the Senate.
Only after both vote in favour of it, can the invocation of the Act be enforced.
There are two problems with this.
The first is that, by simply invoking the Act, it is being treated as if it is in force. Not just by ordinary citizens on the street, who may not have even known the Act existed until now, but by the media, politicians and even law enforcement. Basically, just like all the other illegal measures, the powers that be simply keep on going as if they have the power and authority to do what they are doing, and people complied. As long as people complied, it became harder for anyone to stand up to the illegal measures.
The other problem is, while T2 does not have a strong Liberal majority in government that will vote his way, the NDP have already stated they will support enforcing the Act. Which means, between the two of them, they would have enough votes to push it through, even if the conditions are not met. The Senate isn’t exactly balancds, either, and it’s possible they would vote to enforce it, too. All the fail safes designed to prevent the Act being abused could … well… fail.
Many provinces, meanwhile, have spoken out against it, but that hasn’t made much difference in the past couple of years. After all, some of those provinces spoke out against the lockdowns and other restrictions, too, saying they would never implement them, only to turn around and do exactly that, after the federal government offered “aid” funding to the provinces – on the condition that they locked down. So they already have a history of untrustworthiness.
One of our mainstream media websites has a daily poll. Today’s question is asking of people agree with T2’s invocation of the EMA. I’ve looked at it a few times this morning and, even as the total of votes rises, the percentages have stayed the same. 19% agree with it. Which is really quite disturbing.
Which is why it’s encouraging to see things like this.
Oh, one more note about the “blockades”. I’ve mentioned this before. They have never been complete blockades. Traffic was delayed, but not completely stopped. For example, lanes were always kept open for emergency vehicles and trucks hauling live animals were allowed through at border crossings with as little delay as possible (they still had to get through customs and the police blockades, too). In cities, people could still get to and from their work and homes. Hospitals were very specifically kept clear.
Hhhmm… back to the “breaking news” thing, just minutes ago, it seems our Prime Dictator walked out of Parliament again, refusing to answer questions about the justification for his invoking the EMA.
What a mess.
From the looks of it, things are just going to get messier.
All of which could have been ended long ago, if our Prime Dictator had wanted it to.
This morning, I opened up the large aquarium greenhouse to refill the water tray over the heat mat, and give everything a spritz. This involves moving mini fan off, setting one light fixture on top of the other and pushing them back, then removing the wire mesh covers to access inside.
Once the covers were off, I took the opportunity to take a picture of the sprouts.
Here, you can see that the Sophie’s Choice tomatoes are now sprouting in all three pots, and the Cup of Moldova growing bigger every day. The eggplant is still slower, but the ones that have sprouted are definitely looking bigger.
But wait… What’s that?
Over on the right, near the back corner.
Is that…???
Yes!!! Yes it is!
A luffa has sprouted!
I went back to look again, and I still could not see it from standing next to the tank. I could only see it in the photo taken from above.
I am so thrilled!!!
Last year, it took ages for the various types of squash and gourds to germinate. The luffa did germinate earlier than others – and some never germinated at all – but I absolutely did NOT expect any gourds to germinated this early.
I am crediting the heat mat for most of this. For the luffa, the scarification and pre-soaking probably helped, too.
So, before we discovered issues where happening with the sump pump, our morning was pretty routine! :-D
The piebald deer was back again. Later on, I saw our usual pair coming by, and I think a singleton that’s starting to come by more often.
While puttering around the kitchen and heating up water for the outside cats, I spotted this camouflaged at, watching me through the window!
Inside cats, watching outside cat! :-D
I count fourteen in this photo.
I’m seeing Potato Beetle regularly again, and that wound on his head is looking like it really doesn’t like the cold! He won’t let me look to closely, though. :-(
With Butterscotch and Nosencrantz transitioning indoors, I’ll be able to leave the sun room doors open behind me while doing the morning rounds, again. Agnoos and Tuxedo Mask miss going into there! :-D
In the 4 summers we have been here, I think our sump pump turned on only a couple of times, in the first two years. Conditions had bee so dry the next two years, the reservoir was pretty much empty. The only times it turned on was when we had to empty the hot water tank completely, to replace it. We partially drain it to shock it hydrogen peroxide every now and then, but not enough drains out to trigger the float.
So when I heard a pump running while in the bathroom during the night – we could hear it nowhere else – I didn’t even recognize it for what it was. When the noise was still going the next time I was in the bathroom, I was flummoxed. At first I thought the sound was actually coming from the space heaters our daughters use upstairs. Sound carries strangely in the house. I thought nothing of it, and went out to do the morning rounds.
Later, I tried to use the hot water in the kitchen, and had issues. I didn’t know my daughter had shocked the tank last night, after I’d gone to bed, so I went to check in the basement.
Which is when I found this.
This is our sump pump set up, which is directly under the bathroom. The pump was running, but there was enough seepage to create that puddle on the floor. The water was not draining out of the reservoir. Thankfully, it wasn’t getting any higher, either, but the pump just kept running.
So back outside I went. The first thing I had to do was dig out the end of the drain hose, which runs into the old kitchen garden.
It was under a drift, of course.
There was no sign water had drained out the end, and it was completely unclogged.
Then I dug out the area in front of where the drain pipe comes through the basement wall. Once that was free, I could pull the hose from where it ran along the side of the house and the sun room, all the way out, then run it down the access path to to the wall.
From the flexibility of the house, I could determine that the first couple of feet from the wall had ice in it. The rest seemed pretty clear. Yes, I could hear the crunching of ice in places, but no blockages. I didn’t want to bend it too much, though, so as not to crack the frozen plastic.
The next thing to do was set up an extension cord and a hair drier.
Since I was going to have a cord running through the doors, this meant Butterscotch and Nosencrantz couldn’t stay in the sun room. I was able to get Nosencrantz into the old kitchen, but one of my daughters had to catch Butterscotch and get her into the old kitchen.
Well, we were talking about bringing them in earlier. My daughter had through Saffron and Turmeric would be going to the vet yesterday, not next week. So we talked about bringing them in tonight.
Nosencrantz is currently isolated with me in my bedroom/office right now. Butterscotch is still hiding somewhere in the old kitchen.
I had to unplug the power bar for the heated water bowl and ceramic heater bulb in the sun room, then run the cord across the outside wall.
The next while was spent warming up the hose, pausing to try and break things up inside very now and then (using the snow shovel to keep the hair dryer off the snow!). Meanwhile, a daughter was in the basement with one of the space heaters, trying to warm up the hose where it came through the wall, as it seemed to be blocked straight through.
Things did start to drip. Which should have melted ice from the inside, so that the water could finally get pumped through, but it never got more than a drip.
After doing as much as I could outside, I joined my daughter in the basement and simply used a bucket to drain the reservoir. It’s not all that deep, but deep enough that I ended up having to attach wire to the handle of the bucket, then used the handle of a broom to push it down and fill it with water until I could pull it up with the wire. Then I could drain it into the old laundry sink. My daughter, meanwhile, was stuck standing there, holding a space heater and aiming it at the pipe.
Once we could be sure the pump wouldn’t turn back on again, we stopped. That the water didn’t drain at all in this time has be concerned that the blockage might not be ice, but some sort of crud. Which shouldn’t happen. The foot of the sump pump has a filter to keep stuff out.
I think the only way to know for sure would be to take the hose off the pipe on the outside and actually look. There should not have ever been water in there to freeze. Not only because the pump hasn’t turned on in ages, but even if it had, water should have drained away from that section of pipe, not sat there to freeze.
It’s not something we can do now. I don’t want to risk cracking hoses or pipes or fittings in this cold. We’ll just have to keep an eye on the reservoir and make sure this doesn’t happen again. The hose end, meanwhile, now runs into the main path, and we can see it from the kitchen window.
Meanwhile, we are now working on Nosencrantz and Butterscotch. Butterscotch could not be lured out even with cat nip, though I have at least seen her skulking around under shelves and whatnot in there.
Nosencrantz, on the other hand, is quite happy in her new surroundings. The girls came in while I was writing this to give her some attention, and she was just luxuriating on the bed, reveling in skritches. We will slowly let other cats in, one or two at a time, to introduce them. Right now, Cheddar is in here, as one of the more laid back cats. Nosencrantz did hiss at him a bit, even though he was just sitting there, looking at her.
I was really hoping to not be making another post on the topic. At least not unless it was a positive one.
Yet, here it is.
Something I predicted years ago, given our Prime Dictator’s openly displayed love of… well… dictatorships… that he would do whatever he could to keep power, including doing what his daddy did, when PET was in the big chair: invoke the War Measures Act.
Well, he just did it. He has declared war on all Canadians.
Happy Valentine’s Day, from our federal government. :-/
The Act now has a different name – the Emergency Measures Act – but it’s basically the same Act, and it is be invoked only under the most extreme circumstances.
Let us be very clear, here.
There is no emergency.
The protests are legal. They are peaceful. The media and our Prime Dictator like to describe the protests as an “occupation”, filled with hatred and violence and certain objectionable flags. They’ve been described as a cult, and accused of desecrating war memorials, blocking hospitals, harassing people, and so on.
None of it is true.
The most recent ones have been stories of truckers ramming police cars, which there is zero evidence to show has happened, and that a cache of weapons had been found among the truckers; an incident had had nothing to do with the protesters.
What violence there has been, has typically been done by counter protesters, or even the police. Specifically, the RCMP.
Yeah. First they requested the excavators, parked on private land with the owner’s permission, get moved out of sight of the highway, and then the RCMP “disable” them. The damage done to these machines is incredibly excessive, and will cost a great deal to repair.
I’ve said a few times that, unlike the protests, the restrictions and mandates are illegal, because they are unconstitutional. You don’t have to take my word for it. Canada has had its own constitution for a very short time, and one of the people who helped write the thing is still alive.
And suing the government.
Now, his suit is specifically about travel, however a lot of people invoke paragraph one (pdf link) to justify the restrictions. It doesn’t, and Peckford has made it very clear that, when it was written, the conditions that needed to be met could only be met by extreme circumstances, such as war. None of our mandates and restrictions met those three conditions specifies.
Neither does T2’s invoking the Emergency/War Measures Act today. Even when T1 invoked the Act, there was an actual terrorist organization that kidnapped and murdered a politician.
Nothing like that is happening right now.
Peckford has already addressed this in a press conference.
Gotta love that last throw in, antagonistic question – one that had already been answered by the RCMP, before this press conference.
Okay. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me back up a bit, and provide some links.
‘The blockades are harming our economy and endangering public safety,’ Trudeau told a news conference. ‘We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue.’
What was that quote? About repeating lies? Oh, right…
Under the Emergencies Act, Freeland said that the government is ordering financial institutions to cease providing financial services to anyone supporting the blockades, ‘where the institution suspects an account is being used to further the illegal blockades and occupations.’
They’re equating the fundraising efforts with money laundering and funding terrorism. For real.
Previously known as the War Measures Act, the Emergencies Act grants the head of Canada unprecedented powers that should be reserved for a genuine crisis — whether civil war or a food crisis. Put simply, the Act exists as Canada’s last resort to deal with an existential threat to the wellbeing of Canadians, not as a last resort to deal with a threat to an incumbent officials’ power.
As Canada’s state-run media puts it, “The law empowers Ottawa to do just about anything it thinks is necessary to cope with a crisis.”
The twisting and turning the media has been doing of late has been quite the thing to see. Now they’re trying to convince us that the word “freedom” is a bad thing.
As for the protesters, they’ve already had a vote on how to respond.
There is only one way to respond to tyranny, and that is to stand up to it.
Our Prime Dictator could have ended this, long ago. The illegal mandates and restrictions (which cross both federal and provincial lines) need to end. He could have done that right from the start. Instead, he chose to exacerbate things, while refusing to even have any sort of communication with them. Which is completely the opposite of how he has responded to protests in the past, including ones that actually were illegal and violent.
Even non-Canadians are pointing out the obvious.
Here it is, from the horse’s mouth.
An interesting point is made in this next one.
There is so much more out there, and things are popping up constantly, so I’ll leave you with just one more.
This whole thing is so much bigger than the little dictator in Ottawa.
There needs to be a vote of non-confidence in Parliament. This is just insane.
But I am not actually surprised. In fact, I’m only surprised he hadn’t found a reason to do this years ago.
Checking our seed starts this morning brought as a cheerful surprise!
The Cup of Moldova tomatoes are enthusiastically sprouting in all three pots. My daughter had tried to plant only 4 or 5 seeds in each pot, but some of them were stuck together. Now that they’re sprouting, a lot more are coming up than she expected!
I didn’t try to take off the cover to get photos, so this is my trying to get pictures through the narrow gap between the cat proof covers, and the top of the tank. :-D
Now, we even have Sophie’s Choice tomatoes coming up! Considering they weren’t there last night, they grew with incredible speed in less than 12 hours!
With one type of tomato already starting, I was kind of expecting the second type to sprout soon, but we had one more surprise waiting for us.
There are now Little Finger eggplants starting to show!
I notice that all the first sprouts are coming up in the middle row of pots in this tray. I have no doubt that the warming mat under the tray is making a big difference in helping seeds to germinate. I suspect that the inner cups are also slightly warmer than the cups that are closer to the glass. Even with the insulation against the back, there is going to be a temperature difference. It may only be a degree or two, but that would be enough to affect which seeds germinate fastest.
From the looks of things so far, we also have a very excellent germination rate.
I am curious to see what the germination rate will be for the luffa and canteen gourds. The luffa are seeds from last year, and each pot got only 2 seeds. They were scarified and pre-soaked, so that should help, but they are much slower and more temperature dependant than the tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.
This is the usual pair of deer that come by every day, sometimes several times a day. Yesterday, they were coming close, even as they could see me shoveling snow. This morning, the little one was comfortable enough to actually lie down!
Unfortunately, I ran out of feed. Hopefully, my mom’s car handled the cold snap all right, and I can use it to run some errands today.
Hopefully, we’ll also get word on the status of our van!
I just had to try and get a picture of Beep Beep, who jammed herself in between her babies, Layendecker and Big Rig. She moved while I was talking the picture, so it’s not as clear, but Layendecker is at least double her size!! He’s more than double her weight. Hard to believe she grew this boy. :-D
The outside cats were out in full force this morning!
I count 15 in the picture. There was one more that ran out of camera view. With the two in the sun room, that’s 18. Rozencrantz and Ghost Baby are not in sight, which means all are accounted for. Even The Distinguished Guest, whom I was able to pet, while putting the food out. :-)
Tomorrow is supposed to get even warmer than today’s high, but we’re also supposed to get another 5-10cm of snow, so if we’re going to get any errands done, today is the day!
