can anything else go wrong?

What next???

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

*sigh*

So… we still don’t have a truck.

The work was done by noon. Once I was informed, I messaged my SIL to let her know. Then I suggested we got for (a rather late) lunch after picking up the truck. It took her about an hour to get to our place. Today has been technically warmer, but the wind from the south was brutal, so I asked her to let me know when she was close so I could meet her at the gate.

When we got there, I went in to pay. I talked to the owner a bit, particularly since they had just replaced a seal to stop the leak on a Thursday, and the truck broke down on the following Sunday. The problem is, where the damage was done is all internal. The replaced the seals and put in new fluid, but there was no way to actually see. Again, it’s best guess, but those oil leaks I had were leaking all over the differential, so that’s why they figure engine oil got in, and it just wasn’t caught in time. It was totally tried.

I paid the bill…

… and commented on the credit card smoking, but then added that it really was a good price, and I appreciated that they were able to keep it down for me. He said new ones can run around $2000. I told him I’d looked it up, because I didn’t even know what a differential looked like, and the lowest price I saw was in the $1200 range. So… yeah. This really was a good deal.

I also brought up that if we could just keep it running for a few more months, then told him about my BILs F150 that he was looking to sell in the summer. The owner just shook his head and said, he would never buy a Ford product. Of all the vehicles they work on, they work on Ford vehicles the most. Interestingly, my brother – who owns an old F150 – had also warned against it.

I told the owner, I have a hard time seeing it as being worse than what we are dealing with now! I made a point of saying, there was no way to predict the sorts of problems we’ve been having , but we just can’t keep this up. He absolutely agreed. I think he feels bad, since he sold it to us. It was absolutely a life saver, and I do love the truck, but good grief.

Anyhow.

With the bill paid, it was time to head out for lunch. My SIL and I were at first going to hit the Chinese restaurant in the hotel right next to the garage.

One thing I noticed right away when we parked at the hotel is that the broken plastic under the bumper was fixed! The mechanic and bolted it directly to the frame. It’s more solid there now than the rest of the piece. 😁

We went in and it turned out the restaurant was closed. They won’t open again until late March. I forgot that they do this every year. So we drove through town to go to a Subway.

Now, I was fully expecting the truck to feel different after the work done, but… what was I feeling? It was just a few blocks before I parked, so I really couldn’t tell what I was feeling. Anyhow. We had a wonderful lunch and got caught up in all sorts of things.

I really enjoy spending time with my SIL. She’s just awesome.

That done, we parted ways. I was going to go to the grocery store, then home.

The grocery store I was going to is across the street from the garage. As I was driving along, with stop sign after stop sign, everything felt wrong. There was a strange hesitation/jarring, and there was an odd noise.

Instead of going to the grocery store, I went back to the garage. I quickly messaged my family and my SIL, then went in.

My SIL told me she was still in town and to let her to keep her up to date. The owner was talking to a customer when I came in, so I just kept out of the way until he was done.

Needless to say, he was surprised to see me.

I asked him if he could drive the truck, and told him what I was feeling and hearing. He was very perplexed, partly because it was really hard to describe. He contacted the mechanic that worked on the truck. He wasn’t in the shop at the time, so there was a few minutes wait. When he got there, I gave him the keys and told him to do the driving, and tried to describe what I was feeling. He was very perplexed.

Once in the truck, I remembered to thank him for fixing the broken plastic piece under the bumper that was hanging down. He said it was no problem at all!

We headed out and he turned onto the highway that runs through town, so there would be no stop signs. The half block to the intersection, there was a noise, and he asked if that was it. I said yes, then added that I did consider that the noise might be from the ice and snow, but ruled it out.

Once on the highway and starting to accelerate, it started up again. There was no mistaking it. It was even stronger than when I’d been driving it from the Subway. He immediately took the next driveway into a large parking lot – barely a block later. Once there, he tried something. The truck can be set to 2 wheel drive, 4 wheel drive front, 4 wheel drive back, or auto. I keep it on auto in the winter. He set it to 2 wheel drive, then started driving again.

Everything was gone. It was driving fine.

He’d started driving through a residential area and tried something else, pulling over and switching it to 4 wheel drive.

It was back, and even worse.

He told me he wanted to take a look at the transfer case. I told him, my ride is still in town and suggested they keep the truck overnight. He asked if I could hang around for a couple of hours. He wanted to spend the time to really look into what was happening. Then we both looked at the clock. It was well past 3, and they close at 5. No point in hanging around town. He asked if I was comfortable driving home on 2 wheel drive only. I told him, I wasn’t comfortable driving it at all!

So he parked the truck at the garage and went in with the keys to talk to the owner. I messaged my SIL, asking if she could meet me at the grocery store, then grabbed a couple of bags from the truck and walked across the street.

I am so glad I decided to wear those bib overalls my daughter got me. They do such a great job with blocking the wind. My legs were fine, by my hands and face were getting blasted with icy wind, and I only had to walk maybe 200 feet!

Once there, I went ahead and got more than was on my short list. I couldn’t be sure we’d have the truck back by Wednesday, when I would normally doing my first stock up shop for next month. My SIL and I soon connected again. As it was getting so late, she was picking things up for their own supper, since she wouldn’t have time to make supper when she got home.

Once we were done and heading for the checkouts, I was very happy to see they had gone back to the single line system! When they got rid of it, I commented on it to the cashier, and she quietly asked me to call management and let them know. The cashiers preferred the single line system, too. I ended up emailing the company, but I have also been answering the surveys on the receipts, where you can be entered for a $500 gift card for answering it. At the end of the survey, they have a space where you can make your own comments, and every time I did, I asked for the single line system to be returned. It’s just more efficient. I’m guessing I was far from the only one to ask for it!

We got through the line very quickly. When I got to the cashier, I made sure to tell him how happy I was to see the single line system back. He said they were really happy with it, too, as it makes things easier for the cashiers as well.

That done, it was off to my SILs car and she drove me home.

As I got my phone out to let the family know we were on the way, I found a message from my husband.

My mother had tried phoning me. She left a message, but it was quite garbled, and it sounded like they (the care unit people) were going to move her.

To the town she lived in before going to the hospital.

???

This was quite a surprise to us, mostly because we would have expected them to call my brother, as her PoA, right away. So my SIL phoned my brother – her car has the computer and she can do that all hands free. He was stuck in traffic on his way home from work. I read the message from my husband to him. I said I would call my mother back as soon as I got home, and talk to the nursing station first. My brother was going to call the nursing station as soon as he could, too.

My SIL got me home and then had to leave right away, she needed to get home. She couldn’t say if she could give me a ride again, as she has her own medical appointments, but I don’t even know when the truck will be ready or anything like that.

I got through to the nursing station before my brother did. I told her I had a rather garbled message about my mother being moved to another town. She told me, no, not today.

!!!

She put me on hold to get more details, then explained it to me. The care unit coordinator had offered my mother a bed. There is temporary long term care in the hospital of the town my mother lived in. They wanted to be sure my mother (and the rest of us) were good with this. I told her, this is where she used to live. She knows people there, she knows the town. (She has even visited friends that were in the temporary long term care unit she’ll be moved to.) This would be good for her, even though it’s still not where she wants to be. So there is a process that needs to be gone through, and they will likely call us about it tomorrow. I told her, she will probably be getting a call from my brother, who is PoA, soon, then asked to be transferred to my mother.

My mother was very happy to hear from me. When I asked about the move, she asked if I thought she should take the offered bed (I found out later, she had already accepted it). I told her yes!! It’s not where she wants to be, but it’s got to be better than where she is now. My mother agreed and started telling me she had lots to say about what’s been happening when I visit.

I had to tell her that I don’t have the truck because something else happened, and they need to try and find the cause, so it’s still in the shop. I have no idea when I can visit next – then went back to saying, the move would be a good thing.

I got the impression that something has happened (she just got moved away from the problem room mate!) that she didn’t feel she could talk openly about.

I was at my computer as we were talking as saw a message come in from my brother. He had talked to the nursing station and tried to call me, but the line was busy. 😂 I let him know I was talking to our mother, then told her that my brother was messaging me about having talked to the nursing station. She was all happy that we’ve all been making these calls and trying to figure things out.

We spoke for a short while longer. As we got off the phone, she was sounding very excited about this move. I let my brother know I was off the phone and he called me.

We basically had the same details – he also told them he approved of the move – and that our mother had already accepted it – then called the coordinator about it. Her office was closed by then, so he left a message which included him saying that he also approved of the move.

Hopefully, by the time I get the truck back, my mother will no longer be in that TCU and in a better situation!!

One thing my SIL mentioned during the drive home is how glad they were for me, that my mother was no longer living on her own and getting unreliable home care. With the problems we’ve been having with the truck, plus the weather we’ve been having, it would have been a real problem if they wanted me to cover for not having home care workers available for my mother. I told her, I simply could not have done it. As much as my mother is chafing about it, it’s been the best thing for her to be in the hospital, and now in the TCU, all this time.

So, there was are. I’m home, but still don’t have a truck. The mechanic did comment, as we were driving back to the garage, that it was a good thing I came right back. I’m so glad my SIL and I went out for lunch, first! If we hadn’t done that, I would have just gone across the street to the grocery store, then headed home. It would have started having issues while I was out on the open road, where turning around to go back would have been more difficult, and my SIL would likely have well on her own way home. All the pieces fell into place in the best way possible.

And now my mother should soon be transferred to better living conditions.

Plus, I got groceries. 😂

I still dread that question, though.

What next???

The Re-Farmer

What. A. Day.

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… and it’s only 6pm.

What I was planning to do, after finishing my post this morning, was get a couple of hours a sleep in before my younger daughter and I headed out for errands.

Then my husband asked me if we had an extra box fan somewhere, because his just stopped working.

I remembered that we had one in the new basement that would normally be set up in the old basement window. We haven’t had to do that yet, this summer, so I was going to go get it. I was next to the door to the old basement, so I was going to go through that way to get it.

I didn’t make it all the way down the stairs, when I had to go back up and get my rubber boots.

Our septic was backing up the floor drain.

Now, on the plus side, it was just toilet paper, really. There was enough of it, however, to actually lift the floor drain cover up.

Once booted and gloved up, I opened the access pipe. It, thankfully, was not full of TP. So some water was still getting through, somewhere.

Thanks to the commercial drain auger we have, I was able to punch through the clog – right at the bottleneck, of course, – and get things draining. I didn’t even have to turn on the motor, and just used the drain snake. It’s rigid enough that I could push it through manually – and I could tell immediately when I got through, as what standing water there was, flowed away. I took the hose and ran water through the length of the pipe and into the tank, and nothing backed up. The septic pump did turn on, though, which was a good sign.

Nothing from the floor drain, though.

For that, I had to manually remove as much as I could into a garbage can. It wasn’t actually a lot, once I saw it together in one spot, but enough to be an issue for the size of pipe.

Once I got the bulk of it out, things started to flow and I could use the hose in the access pipe, flushing it back to the weeping tile under the new basement as well.

Then it was time to clean up the floor.

So that was a big, messy job though, thankfully, not as gross as it could have been!

While the water was flowing freely again, we did need to empty the tank. We normally would have done it in early spring, but too many other things messed up our budget. I was really hoping we could last until fall. When pushing the drain auger and the hose all the way through into the tank, I could feel how full it was. So, once I was done and cleaned up, I called the septic company and left a message.

He called back almost immediately.

He will be coming out tomorrow morning.

On updating the family – and assuring them that yes, we can use the toilet! – and telling them I’d have to take cash out from another budget, my older daughter came to the rescue, and transferred over enough to cover the bill. Including tip!

She was still on for getting Chinese food for my birthday, too.

What I think we need is to replace our entire toilet. We’ve already replaced the riser, but it just doesn’t hold a lot of water. The tank is lined, so there isn’t as much there, but there’s also very little in the bowl, even though I’ve set the dial on the riser to max. Meanwhile, there is some sort of leak in the overflow pipe, and we would have phantom flush, unless I allowed the refill hose to fill the tank directly, instead of through the overflow pipe. As a bonus, the tank would actually refill quickly, instead of taking forever.

There are other issues with the toilet, like no shut off valve, but I really like it. The bowl is 18 inches high, instead of the standard 16.5, so it is much better on the knees and back. My daughter and I did some searching and we found a 17″ one that has smooth sides under the bowl, so it’s easier to clean. That’s what we would replace it with, if we could. Price after taxes, though, would be heading towards $400. So that’s not going to happen any time soon!

Speaking of the price of things…

I got the estimate for replacing the door and frame in the entryway.

*sigh*

Over $4100, after labour and taxes.

The problem isn’t the pre-hung door. Even taking into account we are getting a more expensive one, with a window that can be opened. It’s the stucco. To remove the old frame, they’ll have to cut through the stucco to get it out. Then, once they’ve measured with the new frame, cut more stucco to size before installation can be done. Then they’ll hopefully be able to install the old storm door. This is not going to be a quick and easy job.

The estimate even says that, while they’ll try to be as careful as possible, there may be issues with the stucco breaking up, so if they have to repair that, it would be an additional cost.

That’s more than double what I though the cost might be. With how much it’s going to cost when the truck gets worked on through our insurance claim, plus so many other things sucking away at any emergency funds we had, we simply don’t have it. We might have to have another talk with the bank and try to come up with something.

When I told my mother that the door and frame needed replacing and why, she had asked me to let her know how much it cost. She would help.

There’s no way she’ll be doing that with the bill this high. Talking to my younger daughter about it and mentioning what my mom had said, she just laughed out loud. As she put it, that kind of money is “vandal” money, not “us” money. Our vandal would go to her for money, constantly, and she almost always gave in, and often more than the amount of this estimate. But to help us or my brother? Nope.

I don’t know what we’re doing to do, but we have 30 days to accept the estimate. After that, they have to do another estimate. Also, 1/3rd needs to be paid up front, before they start.

So that was another downer.

Things got better after that, though, as my daughter and I headed out…

Not without interruption.

Our phones started going off with emergency alerts. Due to wild wires, our province has again declared a province wide state of emergency. Evacuation orders are in effect in some of the reserves up north. Nothing in our area, though, so we are all right where we are. After pausing to check the fire maps, we continued on.

Our first stop was the post office, to get her birthday present: a new cane. My husband had ordered one, months ago, and it never arrived because the delivery company messed up. After giving on on that order, my husband and daughter went looking, and found this for her.

It is a Kommando Tactical Survival Hammer.

It’s also not a pretend novelty item. This thing is solid and functional.

Most importantly, it is a very comfortable cane for my daughter.

She thinks it’s absolutely hilarious, and she loves it! She started using it right away, and hasn’t stopped.

Cane acquired, it was off to town. First stop was the Chinese restaurant. My daughter went in to place the order, and then we were going to the grocery store while it was being made.

My daughter forgot her wallet.

We decided we could drive back to get it, giving the restaurant an estimated time it would take us, and then off we went.

Into rain with drops so big, I thought they were hail!

Sadly, no rain reached our place.

We got home, my daughter dashed in, and we were off again. Just in time for the food to be ready for pick up!

As I was catching up to my daughter in the parking lot, my phone began to ring.

It was home care.

*sigh*

Thankfully, they weren’t calling about tonight, but for tomorrow morning. Which worked out, actually, as I knew my mother would be needing a grocery shopping trip and probably laundry, etc. By the time I was off the phone, I was having to hold the doors open for my daughter, with the food!

That done, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things on their list – including a cake for me!

Thankfully, I remembered to go to a bank machine before we left town, so we would have cash for the septic guy tomorrow. I’ll be at my mother’s before he gets here, so I’ll be leaving the gate open, and have the cash ready for whoever is available at home to pay him, then make sure the gate is closed, afterwards. With how or vandal has been behaving, none of us feel we can leave the gate open for long.

That done, we could finally head home! Once everything was unloaded at the house, I started feeding kitties to get them away from the truck, so my daughter could park the truck.

She is fine with driving, which means I don’t have to reschedule my eye test next week.

There was still a lot of dry kibble out – the cats have not been eating as much, in this heat! – but I got the kitten soup out. As I was going to set the bowls out for the feral kittens, I spotted a pair of ears in the front window of the isolation shelter. Someone was in the hammock, but was so small, only the ear tips were visible!

It turned out to be Grommet.

Which means Grommet got the biggest bowl of kitten soup, all to himself!

That done, I left the girls to get things organized and called my mother about tomorrow. When I said I got a call from home care and that I would be coming in tomorrow morning, she started to get angry, but I distracted her by saying I could do her grocery shopping and laundry. It turns out she was already starting a grocery list, because her fridge is getting empty.

😄

We ended up talking for a while, and I did tell her about what our vandal has been doing. When repeating some of the things he said, even my mother was saying, how is that his business? Why does he care?

At one point, she brought up going to the police about it, and I told her I probably should, but we’ve had so much going on, it’s just really difficult. Out of curiosity, I brought up the septic backing up into the basement, which she didn’t even acknowledge years, and that we got an estimate about the door, reminding her about the front door and frame needing to be replaced. She just vaguely said that this was stuff to talk to my brother about.

Then she offered to call the police for me, herself. After all, this was happening at “her” place.

…

I told her, no. You aren’t directly involved. This is for me to do. So she left it at that.

Yeah. She’s already backed out of her offer to help with the door and frame replacement. I doubt she even remembers making it.

We ended up talking for quite a while before I could finally say goodbye and have supper. The rest of the family was already done by then! I hadn’t realized just how long the call turned out to be.

The food was delicious, as always. We got enough to feed us for a couple of days, at least! The less cooking we have to do in this heat, the better.

It’s now coming up on 8pm as I write this, and I’ll be doing my evening rounds, soon. Looking at the weather radar, we are still under severe thunderstorm alerts. There even seems to be a system heading our way that will actually pass over us, in a couple of hours. Which means rain, for a couple of hours! Maybe. 35% chance of rain.

So… do I water the garden again tonight, or leave it for the morning? We’re still at 25C/77F, humidex at 27C/81F, and we won’t be reaching comfortable temperatures until about 3am. The humidity is at 81%.

I’ll see how things look while I’m doing my checks. To be honest, I’m ready to crawl into bed right now. The heat has sucked all the energy out of me. Which is insane, because we’ve got AC now, and it’s so much better in the house than in previous years! My heat tolerance is dropping so much, as I get older.

This day has turned out to be all over the place. Tomorrow doesn’t look like it’ll be any better. While I’m at my mother’s, I’m going to miss my brother and SIL as they come out to take their trailer to somewhere else for the next while.

I need sleep.

The Re-Farmer

How many more things are going to break down??

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Good grief.

Okay.

My goal for today was to finish sorting enough aluminum to fill the truck bed, go to the salvage yard to drop it off, then go to the nearest Walmart to meet with the Cat Lady and pick up more cat food. We also need a few more things for the bathtub tap repair.

It was raining all morning, so I backed the truck out of the garage so I could work on the cans in the garage. Once I had ten bags, I turned the truck around to make it easier to load. It took longer than expected, and I was no longer sure I’d be able to connect with the Cat Lady.

I was able to get 10 large bags in the truck. All strapped down an ready to go.

I got about half a mile before the onboard computer started dinging, and I got a red flashing “oil pressure low, shut of engine” warning.

So I pulled over and shut it off. After waiting a bit, I tried again, but it went off again almost immediately.

We were due for an oil change, but I’ve never had this happen before!

I ended up walking home to get some oil, and my younger daughter walked back with me. As we were going along, we saw a vehicle stop beside the truck for a while. The driver stopped again when he reached us. It turns out he was a neighbour from up the road. He was hauling a flatbed trailer, so he went home to drop that off, then came back to help us.

Long story short, we manage to get the truck home, and I was able to park it in such a way that it can be easily accessed by a tow truck.

Yup. We are down to no vehicle right now.

And we’re going to run out of kibble, tomorrow.

F***

I updated the Cat Lady and she said she would get cat food to us, but I have no idea how. Someone would have to deliver it to our place, since we can’t go anywhere.

A tow has been arranged for tomorrow morning, and the garage is already expecting it. We’ll get a diagnostic and an estimate, but we won’t have a budget for any repairs until my husband’s disability comes in at the end of the month.

Today is the 22nd. CPP Disability comes in on the 29th.

That’s a week with no transportation. Heck, I don’t even know how I will get to the garage to pick up the truck once it’s repaired – assuming it’s a repair we can afford. It’s entirely possible the problem is gunk in a sensor. Or it could be something major. The engine itself sounds just fine.

Meanwhile, we’ll need to take off the load of aluminum before the truck is taken in, but that will wait until tomorrow morning. I just don’t have the spoons to do it tonight.

I’m going to have to go through our pantry and freezer and see what we can use for cat food.

The past 12 months has seen so many things breaking down this year. It’s been insane. It seems like every time we take a step forward, we get yanked back five.

One of those things that broke down has been my mother’s car – our back up vehicle – which started to make a banging noise. Since then, it now has a tire that keeps going flat, even though we’ve been using the compressor to pump it back up every couple of days. Even if it were running, though, we no longer have the budget for insurance and fuel for two vehicles anymore. Partly because we now have the truck payments, but also because the cost of everything has gone up so much.

I am just so tired, right now. Not physically tired. Not even emotionally tired. More psychologically tired.

It was around this time, 7 years ago, that my husband and younger daughter flew out here earlier than planned, as my FIL was in the hospital and things were not looking good for a while. I started this blog on the 29th of October, 2017, and we weren’t all united again here until the middle of November. Those first few months saw some rough times, and we’ve certainly had our challenges, every year since. Even so, we’ve have had so many things break down, one after the other, like we have in the past 12 months.

Ah, well. We’ll deal.

What other choice to we have?

The Re-Farmer

How much more can go wrong?

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

Please don’t try to answer that rhetorical question.

Guess what?

Now we don’t have hot water.

There is tepid water, but no hot water.

We’ve already had our tank replaced on warranty twice – normally, it would never be done more than once, and we know we won’t be able to get another warranty tank.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

There’s good news, and bad news

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My brother and his wife have come and gone. It took them more than 7 1/2 hours to make what is normally a 1 1/2 drive! I didn’t realize it, but the tractor my brother was driving had no cab, so he was driving in full sun and 30C/86F temperatures, the whole way! They did make at one stop along the way, at a gas station for a break – and to use the facilities!

When they got here, it was past 8, and the light was starting to fade. My brother immediately started using the rotary mower in front of the barn, then went around to another area where they will be storing large equipment. Then they could back the trailer up to the barn for unloading.

Before that, though, my brother and I went over to where the septic expeller is. One quick look and his response was, call so-and-so and get it excavated.

I don’t think this person even does plumbing related stuff anymore, and the only excavating he does that I know of is in cemeteries!

Plus, we have no way to pay for anything like this.

We had to work quickly to unload the trailer as we were losing light. Then the trailer was moved out while my brother stayed in the barn to move things and make room to back in the tractor and rotary mower.

By the time that was done, it was fully dark. They packed up the truck to get ready to go, then my brother and I went into the basement to see what was going on with the pump. I turned the power back on and the pump started running, but nothing was happening (thank God we have the filter and can actually see this!). The filter reservoir had partially drained, though, so I popped it open and primed it again. We turned the pump back on again, and we could see some gurgles, but then those stopped, and nothing flowed.

We kept watching as we talked, when suddenly we could see more gurgles. Then the filter drained. At first, it ran dry, but we kept watching, because there was just a dribble of water coming through the intake, near the top of the filter.

You couldn’t believe how exciting it was to see greywater from our septic tank suddenly start flowing through that filter.

It was working again!

For now.

The main problem remains, at the expeller out by the barn. I’ll go check in the morning, but as long as the grey water isn’t flowing out the expelled, but instead seeping into the ground, we’ve got a major problem on our hands.

While it was running, my brother showed me the emergency back up.

They’ve had to use it before.

Tucked into the rafters was some pipe, with a right angle at one end, and another short length of pipe.

The long end gets attached to the septic pump, in place of the outflow pipe that runs out the basement and to the expeller. He then showed me, hidden between floor joists for my bedroom above, a hole in the wall that’s filled with spray foam insulation. The short section of pipe goes through that hole, to the outside. Once outside, an extension can be added, and the greywater can be sent off somewhere towards the maple grove or the old garden area, depending on how long of an extension we can find.

This would at least give us something we can use if it stops working again, or while the expeller is being serviced. Especially if we can’t get it done right away. They don’t have the funds for this, either.

So, I have some phone calls to make on Monday.

The first will be to find a company that specializes in septic systems – including old ones like ours – to come out and take a look. There is still the possibility that there’s just a block at the bottom of the expeller pipe, and no excavating is needed. I have no idea, but we can get a confirmation and an estimate for the work needed.

Then I think we’ll be calling the scrap company again and see about getting rid of some of those old vehicles appliances, along with the aluminum and batteries we’re already expecting them to pick up. Hopefully, we’ll get enough to pay for the work.

*sigh*

We have had so many things break down or need to be replaced in the past year, but this? This is one of our worst nightmares when it comes to living here. The other is losing our water.

On top of that, this is something we would have to get fixed before winter, because once the deep freeze hits, we’d really be in trouble!

For now, at least, it’s started working again!

The Re-Farmer

Oh, no.

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Oh, this could be bad.

Very bad.

I just got back from checking the septic outflow pipe, out by the barn.

I had gone out there to clean and fix things up, back in July, which you can read about here.

I laid down a piece of scrap metal roofing to divert the outflow away from the pipe, replacing the badly rusted out one that was there before. All I did after the photo was taken was add some dead branches I found to weigh it down, so the wind wouldn’t blow it away.

It looks almost exactly the same, now.

There is no sign that any septic outflow has ever run down it.

There is, however, a saturated area of ground beside it, where those bullrushes are in the photo.

Which might mean that, for the past 6 weeks, our septic has been draining into the ground, not out the pipe.

If that is true, that means the underground pipe will have to be excavated for repair/replacement.

At this point, it’s all on my brother, because this is way beyond any for of work we can pay to have done.

Which means we can’t use our water. At least not allow water to drain. I guess we can set the honey pot up again, but we’ll probably have to start doing things like sponge bath in the tub, using a bucket or bin, so we can toss the used water outside. We’ll have to start doing dishes in a bin, too.

This is not good.

Good grief, this place is a money pit.

The Re-Farmer

Could I please win the lotto now?

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Okay, I suppose I should buy a ticket, first.

What a day this turned out to be – and it’s still the afternoon, as I write this!

Here’s a bitty, so start things out on a positive note!

I eventually saw both bitties, then I saw the tuxedo eating in the sun room. As I finished my rounds, I spotted him in the cuddle pile on the swing bench!

At least the morning started off well.

My mother had called yesterday, and we arranged for me to come over to help her run errands. With that in mind, while doing my rounds, I started her car and let it run for a while. Everything seemed fine, so I shut it off and plugged it back in before going inside.

The woman I’ve been getting our cardboard for the garden from has been selling eggs. I decided to get 2 flats of eggs from her, instead of Costco, and we made arrangements for me to get them while on my way to the city, tomorrow. She’ll be away, though, so her mother has the eggs, in the town nearest to us – but not the town I normally go through on the way to the city. I got her contact information, and was going to just make a side trip to get them on the way out, but since I was going to be running around today, and picking up cash for the eggs in the process, I figured why not make the side trip to get the eggs today, on my way home, instead of tomorrow, on the way to the city?

So that was arranged before I headed out to my mother’s. I was planning on going to the bank then pick up lunch, first, so I headed out very early. I even remembered to grab the empty water jugs to refill.

It’s a good thing I headed out as early as I did!

First, my mother’s car wouldn’t start.

I turned the ignition, and there was nothing. No sound. The fan and the radio turned on, but that was it.

After trying several times without success, I plugged it back in, then headed inside to switch keys. I asked my husband to call my mom and let her know I’d be coming with the van and why, then headed to the garage again.

The van started fine, and I backed out. My daughter had cleared in front of the garage, but had not been able to get back out again since then. I ended up backing into the ridge of snow, so I went back and forth a bit to be in the clear, before pausing to send a message to my brother about my mother’s car, since he likes to keep on top of that. I had to get the van out of the garage to send the message, because there’s no wifi signal in the garage.

I had just finished that and started to move the van, when an alarm sounded and a warning light turned on. The onboard computer displayed the message “check brake system”.

WTH???

I decided to try plugging in the OBDII reader to see if it could tell me something useful.

It wouldn’t connect.

The app just kept scanning for a device to connect with, and never found anything.

After following the instructions to connect, several times over, I gave up. To use the scanner, the vehicle ignition is supposed to be in the “on” position, but without the engine running. I was going to drive it back into the garage and cancel with my mother, but when I started it, there was no more warning.

Did I dare go to my mother’s?

I decided to give it a go.

And promptly got stuck.

The snow on the driveway was deeper than I thought.

Thankfully, I was able to easily back into the cleared area again, reposition the van, and go for it.

I barely made it to the road, but I did get through.

My mother’s car would not have made it, so… silver lining!

I drove until I reached the highway, when I could finally pull over to message my family, asking if the driveway could be done while I was gone. Then I continued to my mother’s town.

It wasn’t until I was pulling into the parking space at the bank that the warning light turned on again. I went to get some cash, started the engine, and it was still there. I drove to the Chinese take out place and parked, but when I started it again to go to my mother’s, the warning was gone.

In the middle of all this, I was contacted by the egg lady’s mother, with an address to pick up the eggs, and had to cancel that, though I offered to pay for delivery, if that were possible.

My mother and I had lunch and visited for a while. I updated the family, and my brother, about the situation, and my husband was able to book the van into the garage to get checked – and for an oil change – the day after tomorrow. I was just starting to message the egg lady’s mother, when she responded to my question about delivery, saying she didn’t drive. Thankfully, I was able to tell her I’d be in town on Thursday with the van, and should be able to get the eggs, then.

Needless to say, I was rather on edge while doing errands with my mother! The warning light did turn on again, in between errands, but then it turned off.

We did groceries last, and I stayed long enough to put away the refrigerator stuff before my mother kicked me out to go home. Usually, I stop to get gas (and buy a lotto ticket!) before going home, but I didn’t even do that. It was straight home – and the warning light stayed off the for the entire drive.

My younger daughter, meanwhile, had spent most of that time doing a marvelous job with little Spewie. It was a real struggle, but she’d managed to clear a lane just wide enough to drive through. I had to stop to let her know I’d arrived, and move the extension cord, because she couldn’t hear me over the snow blower. Still startled the heck out of her!

Did I mention she’d cleared a path just wide enough to drive through? 😄 Getting in and out of the van was a bit of a challenge!

With how hard of a time the little snow blower was having, clearing such densely packed snow, once I was parked and we could see she didn’t need to clear much more by the garage, she went and cleared a path to the gate cam, and enough space to be able to close the gates. I’ll have to open them again tomorrow, for the pharmacy delivery driver, but at least it’s an option, now!

As for us, we are going nowhere tomorrow.

We’re supposed to stay pretty cold over the next four days or so, before things start becoming relatively mild. We’re getting extreme cold warnings, but that’s a relative thing. Some friends in the city we were living in before moving here have been posting screenshots of their weather apps. They’re getting -33C/-27F with wind chills of -45C/-49F today. We’re not supposed to get anywhere near that cold. I’ll be just find with highs of -22C/-8F we’re expected to get a few times in the next week. Even right now, we’re at -21C/-6F, with a wind chill of -30C/-22F, and nowhere near as cold as they are!

Still, this cold is doing a number on both our van and my mother’s car. We’ll be taking the van in, but there is nothing we can do about her car until probably February.

Unless it just starts working again. I’ll try starting it again tomorrow morning, while doing my rounds.

Both vehicles really need to be replaced, but the priority is on replacing our van right now. It’s the most needed vehicle.

Something to talk about while at the garage. Our mechanic now sells used cars, too, and I’ve already talked to him about what we need. Our van is so far gone, if we use it as a trade in, he’d just be sending it to the scrap yard for a few hundred bucks. He suggested we try selling it privately. Someone who can do the work themselves could do well by it, even as just a parts vehicle. But we can’t sell it without having something to replace it, immediately.

*sigh*

So, yeah… a lotto win would sure come in handy right now! I just gotta remember to buy a ticket! 😄

The Re-Farmer

My laundry is cursed

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Okay, I’m done. Just done.

Can anything else go wrong?

Don’t answer that…

I’ve just spent the last several hours fighting with a single load of laundry. The laundry I tried to do last night that ended up flooding the entryway.

Today, the first thing I did was remove the clothing that was still in the water, wringing it out as best I could, and putting it back in the laundry basket. While I was doing that, I realized…

I was seeing… daylight?

Check out how low that is. The top of the basin is usually just under the top of the washer. It was about 3 inches lower. There is a window in the wall behind the washer, with sunlight shining through some openings in the back of the machine, and I was seeing it only because it was so low.

Once the clothes were out, I used the new syphon pump to drain the water into a bucket. The breaking main door was opened and left open, to put as little stress on the hinges as possible.

I had to fight off cats, every time I came in and out. They were so excited to be able to see through the storm door, and sniff at the slightly open window!

Once as much water was removed from the basin as the pump could get, I left it be, hoping that without the weight of the water and clothes, it would lift itself up again.

While giving it time to do that, I dumped the basket of laundry into the tub. It had already been washed and needed to be rinsed, so I added water and stomped on it with my feet, like I was stomping grapes, to rinse it out. When the old washing machine broke, that was how we did our laundry until we could replace it.

The down side of doing laundry that way is, it’s hard to squeeze out the water. Which makes it much more work for the dryer. I did use one of the arm bars to twist as much water out as I could, but decided to take advantage of the sunny and warmer day, and hang them on the clothes line.

Before I did, though, I checked on the washing machine.

That was encouraging. The basin was almost at the top again.

I left it be to head outside and wipe down the clothes line – it hasn’t been used in a long time – while a daughter lugged the laundry basket out for me. While hanging the clothes, I made extra sure to pin them on well because, if they fell off, they’d fall right into mud, snow, water or even deer droppings, depending on where they were.

I did notice that we need to replace the clothes line. It’s a plastic coated wire line, and it’s so old, the plastic was cracking all over. I don’t want to get rust on the clothes.

One of the handy things we got were a couple of S clips. Our clothes line is on pulleys, so we can just stand on the laundry platform and move the clothes on the line, rather than having to drag a basket across the yard. With the weight of the clothes, it starts to sag, but S clips placed strategically between the clothes, holds the top and bottom together and reduces the sag. I had just put on the second S clip and was getting hear the bottom of the basket when…

… the clothesline snapped.

Almost all my laundry, now lying in the mud.

*sigh*

Well, we had to test the washing machine out at some point.

After a daughter and I picked up the laundry and brought it in, I decided to do a test run with half a load. I made sure the sump pump hose was set up out the window before even plugging the machine back in.

The cats were wild with curiosity.

Finally, it was time to plug it in and…

Nothing happened.

So far, so good.

I put in the half load of clothing, added the detergent, and finally hit the power button.

It turned on, and did nothing else.

Still, so far so good!

I started setting the machine for a normal load. All the buttons worked, and the timer showed 63 minutes, just as it should. I started the load, and it was soon filling with water.

I wasn’t sure it was so far so good, though. Didn’t it usually take longer before it started filling? The machine does a bit of a jig with the basin as part of its automated load size system. We don’t normally do small loads of laundry, so I’m not sure. Plus, there had still been some water at the bottom. Maybe that threw it off.

Being paranoid, I set up the household step ladder across from the machine and sat there on my phone, supervising it.

As the machine filled, the timer counted down.

It kept filling.

And filling.

And filling.

That was a small load. It should have stopped earlier.

Then I realized the countdown on the timer was at 55 minutes – and it wasn’t changing.

I do appreciate that the washing machine has a window in its lid. I kept watching the water level slowly rising. The basin did start to agitate a bit, but kept stopping, while the water kept going.

Finally I paused it, checked the load and restarted it.

It kept filling.

The timer stayed at 55 minutes.

About this time, my other daughter came down to see how my cursed load of laundry was doing, and I told her what was happening. When the machine still wouldn’t stop filling, and the level was just way too high, I finally shut it off. Clearly, there was something wrong with the machine.

I got my daughter to bring me the syphon pump while I removed the machine’s drain hose from the sump pump hose that was running out the window. The hose from the syphon pump fit into the sump pump hose, nice and snug – I could pump straight outside, instead of hauling buckets!

The cats REALLY wanted to check things out!

I started to pump, but there wasn’t enough of a seal and water started to leak from the join, so I went to get some electric tape to seal it.

I had just gotten the tape from another room, when I started to hear splashing sounds.

I came running to find water shooting out of the washing machine’s drainage hose. The machine had turned itself on and was draining!

This time, I had the presence of mind to shove the end into the washing machine. The little step ladder was still there, so I was able to climb up and reach the plug while staying dry.

Now that I think about it, the machine turning itself on to drain the basin may be a failsafe system, to make sure the basin wasn’t left with heavy water in it for too long. Which would be a good thing, if we actually had somewhere for it to drain, but with the pipe clogged, we don’t, and the only way to stop it is to unplug it!

My younger daughter, sweetheart that she is, went running for the mop and bucket as soon as she heard the splashing. We got the water cleaned up as best we could, then she dried off the hose connections so they could be taped together. Meanwhile, I started taking the clothes out – again! – squeezing as much water out them as I could, and putting them back in the basket, while my daughter started pumping water out.

We got that done, and then I took the laundry into the bath tub again, then headed outside, while my daughter used the syphon hose to empty out most of the mop bucket, so it would be easier to dump outside.

That pump and hose system through the door works really well.

While outside, I gathered up the broken clothes line. That took a while. It’s a long line! My daughter came to join me, and when we went into the sun room to put the line away until we had time to grab some tools and remove the line tightener, which is still good, we talked about how I want to set things up in the sun room to make a surface for plants above the swing bench.

Not something we’re going to do today.

Then we headed in, and I was talking about having to still do my laundry with my feet when my daughter started taking off her shoes by the tub.

She said I was having a bad enough day, so she would do it for me.

What a sweetheart!

So that’s done and, since no amount of manual squeezing matched the spin cycle of a machine, the load is being dried in two batches, so as not the overwork the dryer.

We went from not being able to do laundry because of a clogged drain, to now having a broken washing machine.

I hope it’s still under warranty. I’m not sure something like this would be covered, though.

As for the drain…

When I had the chance, I got my daughter to stand near the laundry and listen, while I ran both taps in the kitchen on full. She heard no gurgling and no sounds of water backing up the pipe.

Could we have finally cleared the clog?

I sure hope so. I’d really like something to go right!

Actually, something did go right. Wanting to cheer myself up, my daughter and I went to check on the seedlings in the big aquarium greenhouse. There are more sprooots! More Lady Godive and Kakai hulless pumpkins have sprouted, and I spotted a Styrian seedling just breaking ground. We also have more of the cantaloupe type melons! We have an almost 100% germination rate on those! There is only one out of 8 pots of Halona melons that hasn’t germinated – and those are seeds from last year’s garden, so they’re more than a year old. One of the grocery store melons, which has 4 pots, had only one seed germinated, but now the rest of them are up, too.

That did a great job in cheering us both up. :-)

Tomorrow, I want to call the plumber and, now that the washing machine is doing crazy things, call the appliance guy that came out to do warranty work on it before. I want to describe to him what happened, before trying to find the info for the company about possible warranty work.

What a day.

My other daughter commented on how all this was somehow to “make up” for our not being flooded outside, like so many others are!

It could most definitely be worse.

The Re-Farmer

I’m getting really tired of this van

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*sigh*

What a day.

Things started off well enough.

Susan got to watch the piebald deer chasing the other two regulars away.

I discovered a strange, furry fruit in the Korean Lilac!

Once outside with the kibble, I was greeted by a very dishevelled Potato Beetle. He headed into the sun room to eat, as usual, so I closed the door to keep him in!

The Distinguished Guest was looking ever more dishevelled than Potato Beetle, making it clear who else was involved.

From the many tufts of long, black, with the occasional white, fur around the kibble house, I’d say Potato Beetle had the upper hand in this battle!

Yeah, that’s blood in the snow, too.

By the time I got back from shopping, several hours later, Potato Beetle was looking a lot better, though with some new scratches on his nose. So when he wanted out while we were loading things into the house, we let him be.

My trip to the city didn’t quite go as planned.

Our big city shopping routine now usually includes a stop at Canadian Tire, first, where we pick up the wood pellets we use for litter. While there, I got more seed starting mix and more trays to fit the mini-greenhouse shelves, and a few other things.

It was snowing lightly in the city, so when I loaded up the van, there was melted snow on the windshield, and the streets were wet and messy, so while going to the nearby international grocery store, I had to use my wipers.

They didn’t work.

All I heard was the sound of them moving lower down into their recess under the hood, and that was it.

When I parked, I tried again, and I could hear that they were trying to move, but they could do nothing more than wiggle a bit. I popped the hood, which is the only way to access them, and they were slightly overlapping each other, but I could see nothing obvious that would be a problem.

Thankfully, I have a long handled windshield cleaner. It’s meant for the inside of the windshield, but i had paper towel in the van, too, so I was able to give the outside of the windshield a good cleaning before heading into the store.

Costco, in another part of the city, would have been my last stop. Since I didn’t want to be driving on messy streets with no wipers, I decided to instead to go a nearby Superstore. It meant getting a lot less than I wanted to, since at Costco I have access to a flat cart and can really load up, but half a shop is better than no shop!

When I finished loading up the van and was getting ready to go, I noticed something.

The check engine light was back on.

That light has been on since we had the EGR valve replaced. It got looked at, the code reset, only to turn on again almost immediately. Our mechanic tried to clean the lines as best he could after replacing the valve, but there are still bits of crud he couldn’t get at, and those are likely tripping the sensor. Since we hardly used the van last year, we didn’t take it back in. Our mechanic reset the code when he replaced the alternator.

I hooked up my OBDII reader, got the codes, screen captured them, and texted them to our mechanic. It’s Sunday, so he’s closed, but he’ll at least be able to see them tomorrow.

Before continuing on, I went through the displays from our onboard computer, which I do fairly regularly.

There was something odd.

When I picked up the van, I went through the displays and the battery read at 15 volts. I don’t remember ever seeing it at higher than 14.4 volts, so that stuck in my mind.

It was now reading 13 volts.

I had the heat, lights and a CD playing. With a brand new alternator, it should still have been at full charge.

I decided to monitor it while driving.

It kept dropping.

By the time I reached the highway to home, it was down to 12.4 volts.

On a hunch, I turned off the CD.

It immediately began to increase, eventually topping up at 14.6 volts and holding.

On the trip home, I drive through the town my mother lives in, which is the only place the speed limit is reduced. Once I was clear and back at highway speeds, I turned the music back on.

It held at 14.6 volts.

Great! Just some weird glitch or something.

When I got home, I had to back the van up to the small gate for unloading. I pulled partially into the garage so I would have space to turn the van around and maneuver to the gate.

In the minute or so that took, the battery was down to 12.2 volts.

!!!

I shut the music off, then the engine, and we unloaded. Leaving the girls to put the groceries away, I parked the van in the garage, which did not require any manoeuvring. Just one wide turn, taking maybe 30 seconds.

With the music off, the battery was back up to 14.2 by the time I parked it in the garage.

What the heck???

So I need to pass that on to our mechanic, too. This should not be happening! Not with a brand new alternator.

We have actually had something similar happen to us in the past, long, long ago. We bought an old car that had been sitting for many years, and one of the first things it needed was a new battery. We even got a high end one. Then we had some other work done to fix it up from being parked for so long, including a new alternator. The battery immediately started to die. If we had the radio, lights and wipers on at the same time, it would stall and we’d need a boost to get it going again.

Not fun while driving in downtown Victoria, BC, in a downpour, at night!

We took it to a different garage, the mechanic took one look and said, “that’s the wrong size alternator” and got us the right one. There was nothing wrong with the first alternator; it just couldn’t handle the power needs of the vehicle.

When we went back to the first place (a Canadian Tire), they said they would reimburse us if we could provide the computer printout to prove it was the wrong alternator, but the garage that fixed it was old school. They never hooked it up to a computer, because they could just see at a glance, that it was the wrong one for that car. So we never got our money back for the first mix up.

This is not the kind of mistake our mechanic would make. At least, I don’t think so! However, I have noticed odd electrical… gremlins… in the van, for some time. Things would start working, then stop, then start again. Loose wires, perhaps? The radio is particularly weird. It doesn’t always turn on or off until after several tries, and if we’re on a bumpy road, the volume will start adjusting itself up or down, and the knob for the volume doesn’t work right away. Which sometimes has us frantically spinning the knob, trying to turn down the volume, only to have it keep getting louder before it finally kicks in.

Whatever the problem is, it’s not showing up on the sensors.

We just got the van back, for crying out loud!!!

Can we win that lottery now? Please? ;-) ;-)

The Re-Farmer

What. A. Day.

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So… things did not turn out as planned, today.

Not by a long shot!!

The plan for the day was, go into town and drop the cats off to get snipped when the vet opened at 9am, then head to the town our garage is in to start the process of getting winter tires through the insurance company’s loan program, then head home until it was time to pick the cats up at 4.

The first hitch in our plans happened before we even left.

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