Ginger Squid and general update

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Last night, I introduced Ginger to a new toy.

I’d crocheted an amigurumi squid, years ago, trying out a new pattern. When I realized we’d closed the other cats out for the night and Ginger had no toys in the room, I decided to see if he would like it.

He did.

Squidly is now Ginger’s favourite toy! The other cats like it, too. :-D

Speaking of other cats…

His sister, Cabbages, and Keith were pretty adorable, cuddling together! :-)

This morning, as I put kibble out for the outside cats, most of them eventually made their way over.

I did not see Butterscotch.

I have my suspicions that she’s tucked away with somewhere, with new babies.

If my suspicions are correct, I hope her nest is nice and cozy, because they’re now predicting another 7 inches (almost 18cm!!) of snow on Sunday! We’ll have more snow in April than we’ve had the entire winter.

The slow melt we’re having now is perfect, except with the overnight temperatures going below zero, the freeze-thaw cycle is destroying the roads! I had to run some errands today, picking up our newly sharpened and tested electric chain saw while dropping off a lawn mower for servicing, then going to another town to drop some stuff off, and the gravel roads in particular are just awful. The paved roads and highways are going to be crumbling even worse than usual in the next while.

I don’t mind the snow while we’ve got these milder temperatures. I think most people on the farms out here will happily put up with rough roads, if it means they will have enough moisture when planting their crops.

I must admit, though, it’s rather disjointing to read other people’s blogs where they talk about all the stuff growing in their gardens, or their latest transplants. :-D

Speaking of which, we did decide to start one of the squashes we’ve got now, rather than later. The Crespo squash is the only one of them that grows large fruit. In trying to find the “days to maturity”, all I can find is “harvest the the skin is very hard”. Which doesn’t tell me much at all! I’ll just assume large fruit means longer time needed to grow them, and will give them a bigger head start. I set the seeds to soak last night, and will plant them later today.

I’m not finding a lot of information about this specific variety at all, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens with these.

And now I have to de-cat myself (hello, Susan) and get some work done! :-D

The Re-Farmer

What a crowd!

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This morning, I walked into the living room and found seven deer outside our window!

That is the most we’ve seen, all at once, since our first spring here. :-)

Then I spotted them on the trail cams!

I never saw all seven on the trail cams at once. They kept streaming across the road from my brother’s place. :-)

I love the action shots! :-D

The Re-Farmer

It’s crowded out there!

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I found quite a surprise at our gate when I checked the trail cam files!

Four deer, hanging out on the driveway and road! They stayed there long enough that I found about a dozen files (stills and video) of them!

Looking at the time stamps, they came to the driveway after visiting the house.

They weren’t very nice to each other!

One of them stayed in the trees and never came to the feeding station. What I found interesting as I watched it, is that it completely avoided the area closer to the feeding station and went around to the side.

The area I cleaned up recently.

They definitely prefer to go through the cleaned up areas in or under the trees, rather than out in the open.

This next image from the trail cam isn’t very good, but it is dramatic!

I almost didn’t see it at first!

In the next few files, I could see that there were actually two deer out there, just on the edge of the infrared flash.

Very cool!

Also very cool was having Rolando Moon show up yesterday, and still being here this morning when I went out to feed the outside kitties. It almost gives me hope that Nostrildamus and Potato Beetle might still show up again, though I realize the chances of that are very low.

Their food bowls were completely empty again – even the heated water bowl was completely dry – which suggests the skunks came to visit, too.

It gets pretty busy with critters out there! :-)

The Re-Farmer

The Adventures of Ginger

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Yesterday, Ginger discovered the joys of bedding being changed!

The cats tend to react two ways when the sheets get changed. About half the cats see what’s happening, and are all “YAY!!! IT’s party time!” and promptly make it very, very difficult to make the bed.

The others go into a panic and run away like the world is coming to an end.

Ginger, it turns out, is the party type.

There turned out to be three cats in this picture. :-D

Time to cover the freshly washed blanket in fur again!

Time to defend territory!

No worries about Beep Beep. Every now and then, she gets in a bad mood and goes after whatever cat happens to be nearby. Ginger handles himself just fine!

I should put the freshly washed blanket into the shelf, but I’ve discovered the cats love a folded up blanket on the corner of the bed, as a bed of their own. Ginger is no exception!

We’ve been closing the other cats out of this room at night, just so Ginger can get a break from the crowd and get some sleep on the good spots. ;-) The other cats are not happy with this. As I write this, there are currently 7 cats sprawled all over my bed! :-D As soon as I open the door in the morning, they all rush right in. Next thing I know, my bed is covered, they’re circling Ginger’s food and water bowls as if they didn’t have oodles of them elsewhere in the house, and take their turns using his litter box – also as if there weren’t several others on different floors available for them! LOL

As promised, here is a picture of David for Leenda. :-)

David is just as hefty as is brother, Keith, but looks like he should be all light and fluffy.

Well. He is fluffy… ;-)

Also, he has pants. Thick, fluffy pants. When he walks by, his tail is like a huge banner with wiggling pants below.

Which is a much better view than what all the short haired cats insist on giving us, every chance they get! :-D

Well now! I was hearing the sounds of a cat playing behind me as I wrote this, so I took a look. It’s Ginger, running around and batting a cat toy around! Yes, he’s found a way to run and bat at a toy with his one front leg, at the same time!

He has adapted so well, so quickly. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Ginger and his big sister!

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Ginger finally got cooperative enough for me to get some photos of him. :-)

He was very squirmy.

He’s like a weird, twisty rubber band!!! How the heck did he get his front leg like that?? :-D

Nicco wasn’t too sure what to make of him. :-D

Can you believe she’s about 2 months older than he is? She looks so tiny in comparison!

:-D

The Re-Farmer

Now for the slow warm up

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The weather system has finally weakened and moved on. Over the next while, we’ll be slowing warming up, with a bit more snow predicted on the weekend (depending on which app I look at! LOL). With temperatures hovering only a few degrees above freezing during the day for the next while, we should have a nice, slow melt. We’re not expected to get into the double digits (in Celsius) until May. Which means no flooding, and no washing away of soil, and the still frozen deeper soil will thaw out slightly faster.

If things actually turn out as forecast, it will be pretty much perfect.

The outside cats are doing just fine in all this! When I came out this morning, I saw Butterscotch coming out of the bottom of the shelf by the sun room that we put rigid insulation in, adding more to the front to create a shelter for them. Creamsicle Jr. was in the middle shelf, sitting like a loaf in the opening, watching me as I changed out there water. I’m really glad that little shelter is working out for them.

The weather at least seems to have kept away the skunks, as there was still some kibble left in their food bowls.

Rosencrantz (in the foreground) has the densest, fluffiest fur! All the cats have their dense winter fur, but hers is so incredibly fluffy! :-D She would not let me pet her this morning, though.

Butterscotch, on the other hand, is looking rounder and rounder.

*sigh*

We’ll just have to assume that Rosencrantz and Junk Pile cat are also pregnant, but they don’t look any bigger than their winter fur would normally make them.

:-/

Anyhow.

In total, I would say we got about 6-8 inches (15-20cm) of accumulated snow in our area. The snow is so heavy and wet, it actually made shoveling the sidewalk a challenge, because the snow kept sticking to the shovel!

Meanwhile, we don’t need to actually go anywhere until tomorrow, so we’ve got another quiet day at home to catch up on things indoors. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Presto, Change-o!

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A while back, I had written about my unsuccessful hunt for a pressure canner. There were none to be had; the only place I found that had one in stock, it was way beyond our budget.

Then we were generously gifted with a pressure canner! There were even spare parts, including two pressure gauges. It had been tested before being sent; all we needed to do was get the gauges tested, and we were good to go!

Easy peasy, right?

Of course not. :-D

For you folks in the US, you can take your gauges in to the extension office for their annual testing.

Canada doesn’t have extension offices. That didn’t concern me, since I figured we had some sort of equivalent. I promptly started searching for where the gauges could be taking in for testing.

The only results I got were from the US, saying to go to your extension office. Or, send them to the manufacturer for testing.

Hmmm.

After a while, I turned to a local Facebook group specifically about what to do with your garden produce. Cooking, canning, freezing, dehydrating… all of it. I saw lots of people posting about canning, so I was sure someone would have an answer for me.

Well… not quite.

When I couldn’t find a pressure canner anywhere, locally, I had figured it was for the same reason lots of people were having a hard time finding canning jars or water bath canning supplies; the supply was far less than the sudden demand and everything was selling out very quickly.

Now I think it’s for a different reason.

Apparently, pressure canning isn’t much of a thing here in Canada.

Of the hundreds of people in this very active group, I got two people who even had pressure canners respond. One of them hadn’t used her canner in years, and the other mentioned a place she used to take them to, but they don’t test gauges anymore, so they both wanted to know, too!

I did have a couple of suggestions. One person gave me the info for a company that calibrated precision tools that she thought might be willing to do it. Another suggested I try one of the university science departments.

Given the response, I began thinking that skipping the dial gauge completely might be a better idea. So I started looking and found the weighted regulators on the Presto website. There is no dial, but they never need to be tested.

The model number for this pressure canner was not on the list of those it would work with.

Hmmm.

After another post on the group was made about getting weighted regulators and where to find them (please: don’t buy them from Amazon!!!), I went back to the Presto website last night and sent an email explaining what I needed, asking about testing the gauges, or if they had a weighted regulator appropriate for our model.

This afternoon, I got a response. It turns out they have a kit available; this model needs to have the steam vent replaced in order for the weighted gauge to work, so the kit includes the vent, 3 part regulator and an instruction booklet, all for only US$15, plus shipping.

There was also a toll free number included, with the offer to help place the order.

Of course, I called them as soon as I could!

The woman I spoke to found the email response I got, which had all the information she needed. As she was going through the process of placing an order for me, she suddenly said, oh! These are free for Canadians, because no one tests gauges in Canada.

!!!

She put me on hold to confirm, then we placed the order. I’m basically just paying for the new vent; the weighted regulator on its own cost US$12. Newer pressure canners don’t need the vent replaced for the weighted regulator to work.

It might take a while to get here, but as long as it gets here before fall, I’m happy!

Of course, I went to the group and passed on the info, so others with pressure canners would know they wouldn’t be able to find a place to test their dial gauges in Canada.

Which just blows me away! I know canning, in general, was seeing an increase in popularity for at least a decade, as more and more people were turning to self sufficiency and being “green”. I’ve never known anyone who used a pressure canner, but that doesn’t mean much. If pressure canning, with precision parts that require annual testing, is so uncommon in Canada that no one does the testing, it would explain why I found so few Canadian resources in all my searches. Finding Canadian resources online tends to be rarer in general, so I didn’t think too much of it at the time.

So very strange!

No matter. The parts are on the way. Presto, Change-O, and we’ll be able to safely can our low-acid produce this fall!

The Re-Farmer

Yup. Still snowing

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The weather system has stalled over Ontario which, for us, means that the winds have actually reversed; Instead of coming in from the west and slowly cycling to the north, it’s swooping in from the east and swinging to the south. The entire system is covering the south end of three provinces (well, four, really, but it’s just barely touching one) and at least three states with snow, switching to rain to the east.

We’re just on the norther edge of the system, and seem to be getting more gaps between snowfalls, but there is still heavier snow expected.

The winds have increased, but we’re still at a very mild -4C/25F with a wind chill of -14C/7F.

I saw Junk Pile watching me through the window when I came out, but had to take a photo when I saw through the other window, that Nutmeg and Creamsicle Jr. were snuggled up under the heater bulb, I just had to take a picture! By the time I got my phone out, though, Nutmeg was at the window, checking me out. :-D

Smart kitties know where the warmth is!

I saw Butterscotch, too. I don’t know where her hiding spot it, but it’s not usually in the inner yard.

While switching out the trail cam memory cards, I remembered to get this picture.

We had started out with rain, but these icicles formed on the bumpers only on one side of the gate. There’s even icicles inside the gate post, at the ends of the hinge bolts!

The temperatures are expected to stay pretty constant, dipping only a degree or two overnight. By the end of today, they’re saying we may have a total of 20-35cm of snow. (8-14 inches) We have about 8 inches now.

The sun room, meanwhile, is staying steady at around 10C/14F. The onion seedlings, with their heater bulb below, are doing just fine in there. Of the various seeds that needed to be started this early, they’re easily the hardiest.

As I write this, the snow has stopped, but from the looks of the weather radar, we’ve got a patches of heavy snow about to hit us. Mind you, according to the radar, we should be snowing right now, so… we’ll see what happened.

Either way, I’m glad we don’t have to go anywhere, we’re warm inside, well stocked, and hunkered down. This is a good time for me to catch up on some crochet! :-)

The Re-Farmer

Some morning Ginger spice. :-)

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Oh, we had a snuggly boy this morning!

The snuggles were after he aggressively attacked both my feet through the covers! :-D

But how could anyone be upset about potentially bleeding toes, when THIS face is looking at you?

Aaawwww….

*melt*

The Re-Farmer

Well, that was a first

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We’re still getting a mild snowfall, off and on. My younger daughter and I made a quick trip to the post office, and the roads were pretty slushy. My husband had prescriptions refills ordered on Friday that were to be delivered today, so when we got the call that they were on the way, I made sure to unlock the gate and shovel the sidewalk. It’s a very damp, heavy snow we’re getting right now, because it’s just a few degrees below freezing.

The delivery driver had just come by and I’d quickly run out to lock the gate – sans coat, because it was that warm out there – was back inside, boots half off, when the phone rang. No one was near a phone to answer it, so it went to machine. I rushed over to pick up for whomever it was, only to discover it was a robot call.

From Environment Canada, with a snowfall warning!

So I stayed and listened to it. Since moving out here, we have never had a call from Environment Canada with a weather warning!

The expected snowfalls are now expected to be 15-20cm (6-8 inches) in most places, but some might get as much as 30cm! (12 inches) There were plenty of warnings about road conditions, visibility, and a number to call for those people who would not be able to make their retrovaccine appointments. It even included an email and twitter hashtag to report severe weather conditions. It was the exact same thing that is under my phone’s weather app alert.

We’ve had some pretty wicked storms since moving out here, and it really makes me wonder what triggered them to have the automated calls to start going out! I think this part of the alert is why. “There is still some uncertainty with the exact amounts as several waves of accumulating snow are expected through the end of Tuesday.” So… they really don’t know what this weather system is going to do – they hardly even refer to it as a “storm”. The winds are not particularly severe, and the temperatures aren’t going to be dropping much, even overnight.

Well, my husband has his medications – even his bubble packs, which he didn’t think he’d be able to get for a couple more days, the larder is full, and any of the places we need to go can wait.

Including the pharmacy. They forgot his insulin, but he’s got enough for a few more days. When he called them about the missing insulin, he made sure to add that, with the road conditions, we’re not expecting them to deliver it! It’ll be ready for pick up on Thursday. By then, the roads should be cleared, and the snow starting to melt away.

I’m still just surprised by the call! And appreciative. They would only be calling land lines, which means my mother would have gotten the call, too. Not everyone has cell phones or internet!

The Re-Farmer