A couple of the volunteers from the rescue dropped Sweetie off today. The isolation shelter was ready for her. She will be there for a few more days – she’s 10 days post spay, but mostly to get used to being back in a familiar place and get special food while she’s there. She was with the foster for a couple of months and was terrified the entire time. Even bit the foster again! The same foster has Frank and Sir Robin. Frank had a really hard time, too, but is now completely socialized and ready for adoption. They’re even giving discounted adoption fees for anyone taking them both. Sweetie, unfortunately, never settled at all.
When I checked on her later, she had moved to the bottom of the shelter. The next image in the slide show above was when I came out to do the evening feeding.
The rescue also brough over nine cases – NINE!! – of donated cat milk. With so much, we can give both the inside and outside cats some as a supplemental treat. When I mixed up some of the freeze dried cat food for Sweetie, plus extra for the rest of the cats, I used a cat milk as well as hot water to rehydrate the food.
It went over very well.
With the evening feeding, I did allow other cats into the shelter. Cats Sweetie would have been familiar with. I did let them out again later, as she didn’t seem ready for more just yet. We’ll have to keep checking on her, but will also keep allowing these other cats that she used to cuddle with in to visit every now and then. After a few days, I hope to be able to open up the shelter so she can come and go as she pleases. It’s been a couple of months, but she should still remember this place.
Poor thing. I so hoped she would be able to get adopted and get to enjoy the indoor life. That’s two, now, that have had to come back. I’ve heard that Blot is also having trouble adapting, too, though not to the point of attacking people.
As soon as I opened the window to get a clear shot, she dashed onto the ramp, out of reach! (you can see her in the second picture) We’ve gone from being able to pick her up and cuddle her, to “don’t come near me!!”
*sigh*
As I was finishing my rounds and starting to head inside, I tried for a head count. I saw 18, with 8 in the isolation shelter, though I know I saw at least a couple more earlier, as I was setting the food out.
It is so very strange. There were only 5 in the sun room. When I check the critter cam in the sun room, it’s basically empty (though I did have to chase four massive raccoons out last night!). Last night, I checked the camera at the isolation shelter, and saw only one cat in there!
The raccoons definitely got in during the night, though. The food bowl was knocked down to the lower level, were it can’t be reached without moving the wind break box over the ramp.
I’ve been chatting with the rescue group and they are wanting to know how many friendlies we still have that we could get without trapping. There are quite a few – mostly male, with several already neutered. They’re asking for more photos. I’ll have to see if I can get more when I do the second feeding, later today.
Meanwhile…
While checking the forecast this morning, I saw our predicted high is now 10C/50F. There are currently flood warnings for one of the reserves to the north of us, potentially to 2022 levels. That’s the year we had roads washed out in all directions and were unable to get out for weeks, with the vehicle we had at the time. The reserve is in a low lying area along the lake and they have to do evacuations fairly often in the spring. Mostly specific buildings, like a long term care center that is not in danger itself, but the road to it gets flooded over and becomes impassable. Things like that.
We have a lot of snow right now, and we desperately need the moisture – we’re still recovering from droughts. A slow melt would be perfect! We shall see how it goes.
I needed to go into town today to pick up my husband’s insulin, and my younger daughter came along to keep me company – and, it turned out, to make sure I got fed! My first stop was at the garage. Online, it says they have short hours on Saturdays, but the doors were locked. From there, we went and parked near the pharmacy, which shares a parking lot with a Subway, so that’s where my daughter took me for brunch. Then we headed to the pharmacy. While I was in line to pay for it (first time at 75% coverage, instead of 90% coverage) I ended up giving my daughter the meds and my card so I could quickly dash to a nearby grocery store. Not one we normally go to, but my husband asked for a couple of things, so I got them there, and my daughter met up with me. From there we headed to our usual grocery store and she went in while I walked across to the garage again, just in case the last time I was there, it was closed because there was just one person who had to dash out for something.
The door was still locked.
So I did not get to talk to anyone about what the truck is doing. Yes, that pressure gauge is still dropping. I had checked the oil level before we left, and it was fine. When we first headed out, the pressure was right where it should have been. By the time we got to the garage, it was just above the line between “low” and “normal”. When we drove to the pharmacy, it wasn’t much higher. With the truck parked a bit longer before we drove to the grocery store, the needle had gone up just a little bit more. We took our time with the shopping, so it was longer before we started it to head home, and it was higher again, but never reached that zone it should be at, at those speeds.
The shopping done, including taking advantage of some sales to add to the freezer and pantry, we headed home. We stopped at the general store so my daughter could run in to get our mail. The needle was on the line by the time I parked. I shut the engine off while waiting for my daughter, and it did rise again slightly when I started it again, but not by much. By the time we got home, it was on the line again.
*sigh*
We’re less than 2000km before we need to get another oil change. Which would be about a month of normal driving, except we haven’t even broken 1000km in a month for the last two months, with the truck being in the garage so often. I find myself wondering if I got that done a bit early, would that help? I don’t know, but if we can’t figure something out, I’m going to have to cancel a couple of medical appointments, including an eye appointment. Both clinics are in a town 3/4s of the way to the city; far enough that the needle would very likely drop to the point of setting off alarms before we even turned off the highway.
While writing this post, I’ve also been chatting with the rescue group again. Sir Robin has been spending much of his time at the top of a cat tree, looking out the window and chirping. He wants out! The cat that wanted to be indoors the most, now wants out. 😄 It’s a very different world out that window; he’s in a older residential neighbourhood in the city, and he’s seeing lots of other houses around. During the night, the ladies were also at the window with him, watching everything.
The intake person still can’t approach Frank or Sweetie. 😞
With how the truck has been, plus they have all our hard sided carriers, we can’t really get any more cats for them. They would like me to get groups of photos of individual friendly cats that they can post on the online adoption list, even while the cats are still here.
Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, I’ll be meeting up with one of them to get our hard sided carriers back. We’ll work things out from there.
I am so thankful for this rescue, and all the help they’ve been able to give us. I know they have plenty of others in situations similar to ours that they are trying to help, too. The need is great, and very overwhelming at times.
We so need a Furball Farm type cat sanctuary in our region, for the strays and ferals that are too wild to go to fosters. There are just too many cats that are not “adoptable” that deserve to be kept safe and warm and fed, and to get the vet care they need.
Today has actually been a very beautiful day. It’s past 4pm as I write this, and we’re at a lovely 5C/41F, with a “real feel” of 9C/48F.
After yesterday and a very painful and sleepless night, the girls took care of the morning outdoor routine for me, so I could sleep in.
Which I mostly did.
One of the things the girls didn’t do was turn on the shop light in the basement for the seedlings. The new full spectrum lights are on a timer, but the seedlings on the higher shelf are lit only by the shop light, and that needs to be turned on manually.
Which is when I discovered the mess.
Part of my routine when turning the lights over the seedlings in the “new” basement, is to check things in the “old” basement. That is where the pumps, pipes, furnace and hot water tank is, as well as the old laundry sink where I refill the watering can.
One of the thinks I check is the floor drain. Not every day, but at least every other day. The floor drain is where I can see if there is any water flowing from the weeping tile under the new basement – or if anything is backing up again from the septic tank it drains into. Especially since I’d found the septic starting to back up, not that long ago.
With all the stuff with the cats yesterday morning, I didn’t even go into the basement until I got back, and I hadn’t gone into the old basement at all, so it had been a couple of days since I checked.
This morning, I found the floor was wet around the floor drain and the access pipe next to the septic pump.
I spent the next considerable while working to get it unclogged. We have the commercial drain auger, which I don’t even bother to turn on. I can work the auger but through without having to plug the machine in over a wet floor. I also have a hose hooked up to what used to be the cold water tap for the washing machine, before the laundry got moved upstairs, into the entry, as we were moving out here (my younger daughter helped my brother set it up, before my older daughter and I drove out weeks later).
Today was the hardest fight I’ve had yet, getting that auger bit through the clog. Once I’d punched through, I ran the hose in, but it was still clogged up enough for the water to start backing up instead of draining, so I switched back and forth between the two a few times before I could tell I’d finally cleared it. The clog wasn’t even at the bottle neck that things usually get caught up in but, from how much line I ran through, it was plugged right where it opens into the septic tank. It will need to be emptied soon, but there’s so much snow on the ground, it will probably be another month at least before we can have that done. It’s not just waiting for the snow to clear, but for the ground to not be too saturated, or the truck will just sink into the ground.
Once I did finally break through and I’d cleared from the access pipe to the tank, I had to clear the pipe through the floor drain. It was plugged all the way to the where it connected with the weeping tile!
It took quite a while to get it clear, and then I kept the hose running, as far out as it could reach, until I could see the water running past the drain was clear.
Then I did the drain from the access pipe again.
Then the floor drain again.
Part of our problem is, we don’t use enough water. We’re on borrowed time with the well pump and, while we have a “spare” my brother got a few years ago, no plumber has been willing to risk installing it, because the foot valve seems to be leaking, too. Switching it out could cause it to break up and we would lose water completely. The pipes to the well are not the same size as what is standard today, so getting what is needed to fix it would be difficult to find. We’ve actually been told we should “just” have a new well dug, as that would be easier.
Not to mention many thousands of dollars more expensive!
So we try to use as little water as possible, for less wear and tear on the well pump, which means there isn’t enough water flowing to clear the areas that clog.
Ironically, if we were able to drain the washing machine into the plumbing as normal, instead of out the window in the door, that would probably solve our problem. Unfortunately, the new washing machine drains faster than the water can flow through the first 20 or so feet of pipe, though. After having it back up and overflow onto the entry floor and down the basement steps a few times, we just run the hose out the door instead. My brother is looking at replacing that section of pile with larger pipe to solve that problem, but that is months into the future, if it gets done at all.
The plumbing here is pretty wild. Which isn’t too surprising, when you consider the original part of the house was built before there was any plumbing, or even electricity, at all.
What a fun way to start the day.
In other things, I’ve been getting updates from the intake person about how the cats are doing, and chatting with the group. Some of the cats have already gone to fosters, including Grommet. He is apparently very lonely, though! Sir Robin has discovered toys and is starting to calm down a bit. He has even allowed some mats to be brushed out.
Poor Sweetie remains terrified and has been hiding out in a cat tunnel. Frank is still incredibly angry. Blot, on the other hand, has been an absolute doll. Given her condition, I expect her to need the most vet care and will certainly need to gain more weight before she can be spayed.
They’re still talking about getting Bug and Furriosa, but they both now run away as soon as they see me.
I have already done the evening cat feeding and was able to send them a couple of videos.
In the photo above is Adam, Mochrie, Fancy Pants, Hypotenose and, in the back, a very pregnant Slick.
They’re also talking about taking Flopsy and Curtis. Flopsy was neutered at the same time as Grommet and Sir Robin, but Curtis is still intact – and insanely friendly! If we hadn’t been after the girls, he would have been very easy to get, yesterday. In one of the videos I sent, Curtis was being very, very friendly – and in another, I was able able to pet a very friendly Adam!
Friendly only when the food is there. Otherwise, we can’t approach her.
As I write this, the intake person is at Princess Auto, looking at welding gloves and possibly a helmet, as protection from Frank and Sweetie. !!!
My other goal of the day had been to go to the town north of us with our tax stuff, but that will have to wait until next week. I wasn’t up to going anywhere, and I will need to go to town to get my husband’s insulin tomorrow. I did call the garage today and left a message, but they didn’t return my call. I forgot to try again before they closed.
The problem is with the oil pressure gauge dropping at a rate that would have alarms going off before we get much further than the two nearest towns. A city trip would be out of the question. The truck might be just fine, but I can’t be driving it once those alarms and flashing warnings start going off. However, when we were dealing with the oil leaks and the sensor before, at one point it had simply stopped working. The gauge stayed at zero and didn’t move – and no alarms were going off. In my message, I bought that up and wondered if there was some way to basically turn off the sensor until they could find the replacement they’re looking for. I would just need to check my oil levels more often.
They are open for shorter hours tomorrow, so if I time it right, I can swing by and talk to someone directly before I go to the pharmacy.
Meanwhile, we are expected to continue to have lovely weather – with tomorrow night being the first night in the forecast with overnight lows that will stay above freezing!! Things are going to get very wet and messy over the next while.
The moat around the garage is already starting to form. 😄
The goal for this morning was to get at least 7, hopefully 8, cats into carriers to be taken to the rescue in the city.
Of course, things didn’t work out as planned.
My daughter and I prepped the carriers and started with the morning feeding, so they were all around the house. Frank was the one we weren’t sure we’d be able to get, given her past escapes, so she was the first one we tried for.
My daughter got her into a carrier way faster than expected!
Frank was NOT happy, once that door was closed!
Sir Robin and Grommet went into the largest carrier together. They were pretty easy to get.
We knew Domino and Blot would be fairly easy, so we tried to focus on Bug, Furriosa and Sweetie.
They were in the isolation shelter, and did not want to get got. Domino and Blot ended up in their own carriers; we’d planned to put Bug and Blot together.
When it became clear they were getting way to stressed, we paused for a while. After making sure the occupied carriers were set near the warmth of the heat lamps, I went to check the oil level on the truck. It was fine. Then I opened the gate and realized I would need to clear the end of the driveway again. The plow went by last night but it didn’t leave a plow ridge. It went by fast enough that the snow was sent flying about half way to the gate!
Still deep enough that it needed to be clear.
By the time that was done, we tried again to get the cats. In the end, my daughter was able to snag Sweetie, but that was the limit. Bug and Furriosa would no longer allow us anywhere near them! I actually got Bug into a carrier twice, but she managed to squeeze through the door before I could close it. That little one is FAST!!
It was a lot earlier than we’d talked about, so I grabbed some breakfast and got on the group chat with the rescue. I let them know the status of things, and that we would not be able to get Bug and Furriosa this time – but that we did get Frank – and we worked out some details.
When it came time to leave, I got the truck out of the garage and my daughter started bringing carriers over.
Frank’s nose is looking bloody in that first photo! I think she was trying to shove her face through the door. She was very angry!
Frank’s carrier rode in the front of the cab, while the other four carriers fit in the back. Sweetie and Frank were both pretty upset. The others seemed quite calm. All of them quieted down during the ride in.
I didn’t make it, though.
I am so tired of this truck.
The route I took would take me through the town my mother is in again. Though the road was plowed, parts of it were pretty icy and it was slow going at times.
I kept an eye on that oil pressure gauge. As I drew near my mother’s town, I knew I wouldn’t make it to the city. Not because the truck was breaking down, but because the gauge just kept dropping and dropping. By the time I got to town, it was reaching the line between “normal” and “low”. At the rate it was dropping, I would have had alarms sounding and warnings flashing well before I reached the city. I’ve had to drive with those going off before, for only short distances, and they are pretty extreme. There’s no way I could keep driving with them going off, but it would also freak out the cats!
As soon as I could, I pulled into the parking lot at a gas station and messaged the rescue group. After explaining the problem, there were some back and forthing, and they worked out who could come and meet me.
They are so incredibly awesome!
Then it was just a matter of waiting.
When they reached me, they had a surprise for me. They had to empty the back of their vehicle to make room for the carriers.
Everything but the teal bag in the middle was donations for the kitties! When I got home and unpacked it all, I found 11 smaller bags of kibble, plus the bigger bag you can see on the left of the photo, four more cases of wet cat food like was donated to use last time, a box with cat treats in it, an unopened case of cat milk and… strangely, but still much appreciated… a partial box of large garbage bags. After the cats were picked up, I was going to go to the feed store, just a short drive away, to pick up three 40 pound bags of kibble. I only needed to pick up one more, instead!
With 6 cats gone, we won’t need as much kibble for the outside cats, too.
This was so, so awesome of them! It’s such a huge help.
We talked for a while, as they were asking about the truck problems, while moving the carriers. It’s so very frustrating, because the truck checked out just fine. When I mentioned that the sensor had already been replaced twice, but they weren’t GM brand, they both reacted in a very knowing way. Apparently, they were both quite familiar with this sort of brand v off brand issue!
Once the cats were safely tucked away and they left, I got a bit of gas ($1.799/L right now), then went to the feed store and got the one bag of kibble. Then, since I was in town and it’s becoming an issue, I went to visit my mother. The hospital the TCU is in was just a few blocks away, too.
After her phone call last night, I was not sure how the visit would go. When I got to her room, though, I had to wait a while, as a new resident was being brought in to the second bed. Once things were clear, I went to my mother, who was napping, and gently woke her up. She was very surprised to see me – and seemed very appreciative, too.
We ended up going to the common room to talk while her new neighbour was settled in. My mother made some eye rolling gestures about her getting a new room mate.
There was another resident in the room when we got there and he joined our conversation for a bit before leaving. After he left, my mother told me about her previous room mate.
It turns out she’d had a fall, and her nose was all bloody. She got herself up but didn’t use the call bell. My mother said she didn’t do anything, because she didn’t want to get involved. ??? In the morning, when the staff found her room mate (who is also 94 years old) was injured, there was a lot of fussing and commotion. The doctor even came over and tended to her.
Then he left.
My mother started to complain that he didn’t talk to her or check on her at all. I said, of course not. He had an injured patient he was tending to! Oh, but he should have talked to her after. I said he would have had to go back to his schedule as soon as possible.
Oh, you’re taking their side…
Uhm… No. I’m just explaining.
My mother says she’s been asking to see the doctor over and over, because of her breathing. I tried to explain that when the doctor comes by to do his rounds, that’s all he’s doing. If she wants to see him for something specific, she would need to make an appointment.
As we were talking, the subject of her hearing loss also came up, because she was struggling to hear me. In the end, I told her I would go to the nursing station and ask about making an appointment with the doctor, and to see what is available for getting her hearing tested.
In the end, they can’t make an “appointment” with the doctor at the TCU. He does his rounds on Tuesdays, and this place is not the only one he has to check on. They basically have a meeting and go over all the files. It turned out that last week was the first time my mother had specifically told them that she was having troubles breathing at night, so that was the first time it was discussed. The decision was made to change one of her medications from a morning dose to an afternoon dose.
The other issue, however, is simply my mother’s weight. She has her hospital bed set to recline, but she squishes herself down low on the bed, so her upper body isn’t as elevated as it should be. I brought up that what would probably help her a lot would be breast reduction surgery, but there’s no way that’ll be done on a 94 year old. The nurse I was talking to agreed.
As for an appointment with the doctor, we might be able to make one for her at the clinic, which is in the same building, but with her file being reviewed weekly, it didn’t seem like something to do.
I could tell there was definitely some exasperation about my mother from the staff that they were trying not to show. I suspect my mother has not been particularly kind to them.
When I asked about hearing tests, they didn’t think there was anyone in the area that did them. It would likely be something that would be done in the city. The nurse did have a suggestion to try first. It could simply be that my mother’s ears are plugged with wax. They could apply oil for a few days then try to clean her ears.
Returning to my mother, I explained about the doctor, and she basically just rolled her eyes. She does not accept that the doctor is responsible for all the other people in TCU with her, plus he has is own clinic patients. She just wants him to be there to see her, when she wants him to be there. She is pretty open about not caring about anyone else (like her injured former room mate!).
Next, I explained to her about them not knowing if there’s anyone that does hearing tests out here, and it would likely be a city thing. Then I mentioned the suggestion for using oil in her ears to start unblocking them. My mother got quite excited about that. She said, she’d had that done before and it helped her so much, so she thinks it will probably help again.
May it be that simple!
We talked a while longer, and then I headed home. As with the drive in, by the time I reached home, that oil pressure needle just kept on slowly dropping the whole way. It seems that the length of time to drive to town – either our usual town or my mother’s town – is about the limit of how far we can drive and be sure not to set off any warnings and alarms.
*sigh*
With the very generous donation we were given, I backed up to the house to unload. The truck handled the deeper snow I hadn’t cleared away quite well – the new differential is doing its job! Though it was early, I did have to feed the outside cats, just to get them away from the truck so I could park it.
I saw both Bug and Furriosa.
They both now run away as soon as I seem to be going in their direction.
I’ve since been in contact with the rescue. They’d like me to try and catch them over the next couple of days, still, and would meet me for pick up. We have only the two soft sided carriers right now, but they will work on returning the 5 hard sided ones soon. As much as I’d love to catch them, I don’t see them trusting us enough to do it that quickly!
As for the cats they picked up…
Much to my shock, I was told Sir Robin was all hissy and growling. He was the last one I expected that from! Frank is very angry. That’s not a surprise. Sweetie is very scared and angry, too. Blot was described as a micro kitty! She got a bath, as did Domino. They and Grommet are all rather angry, too, but more scared angry than angry, angry, if that makes sense.
They will all stay together with the rescue’s intake person for the first while, as they get bathed, vaccinated, treated for ear mites and worms (the rescue workers do these on their own), and eventually vetted and the ladies will be spayed. The boys are already neutered. Some will then go to fosters, while others will stay with the intake person a while longer, as more fosters are searched for. They are working on finding someone to take Frank in particular. We’ve already agreed that she can come back here after she’s spayed, if no foster is found, but of course we would prefer it if she got adopted.
As for me, tomorrow I’m going to have to take a chance and go to the town to the north of us, to drop off our tax stuff. That town is just a bit further away, but not enough that that pressure gauge will start setting off alarms.
I messaged the garage while waiting for the rescue folks to reach me, but I’ll be phoning them tomorrow morning as well.
If this doesn’t get resolved soon, I’m going to have to cancel an eye test I’ve got coming up. The town it’s in is about 2/3s of the way to the city, putting it well into the “alarms are going to go off” zone.
I am so tired of this truck – and yet, I really like this truck! It’s the exact vehicle we need.
What we really need is a second vehicle.
I have so many errands I need to drive to, and I at least know I can get to town, but not being able to go as far as the city is a problem.
One of the previous times we had issues with the sensor, the oil pressure gauge stayed at zero, with no alarms going off. It was just dead. I’m at the point where that is actually preferable to what’s happening now!
First up, some good news in progress that made it worth being up way too late again.
At around midnight, I was contacted by someone from the new rescue. Some spaces are opening up, and she was wondering what friendly yard cats might be available to take in for fostering and adoption?
She had a few in mind from pictures I’d sent before, but requested more up to date photos and videos that she could show to potential fosters. My daughter and I did that while doing the morning cat feeding. Unfortunately, a couple of times when I thought I was taking video, it turned out it wasn’t recording. Instead, I had a second or two of video of our feet or whatever, taken at either end of what was supposed to be a video for the rescue! We have a whole bunch of adult males in particular that are so friendly, it’s almost impossible to get still shots of them, as they are all over each other, trying to get pets.
So I will have to try again later today. If all goes well, we might be able to have our tiny girls that are friendly, but still too small to spay (even though they are almost a year old) be taken in. Or Sir Robin. Sir Robin desperately wants to be an indoor cat! I haven’t even seen some of the adult feral females in a few days which, unfortunately, means they may well have just had kittens somewhere in their hidden places.
Tis the season.
Speaking of the season, here is how our seedlings are looking.
Two snail rolls have graduated to the upper level and are now under the shop light, giving them a few more inches of space that I couldn’t give them with the gooseneck light fixture they were under.
The Golden Boy celery is thriving since being “potted up” to the snail roll! That poor little luffa is getting its true leaves, but is looking pretty sickly. The summer savoury is looking very leggy and weak, but the tarragon – the very few there are – are looking stronger.
The second picture is of the eggplant and peppers tray. Those seedlings are looking very sad and weak, and there are so few surviving. I’ve already resown them, but I won’t try again. They are short season enough that I might try direct sowing, instead.
With how few there are, I’m seriously considering “potting them up” into a snail roll. I could easily fit them all into a single roll, with room to spare. I’m just not sure how well they’d handle being transplanted. It can’t be much worse than they are doing now.
In the first picture, you can see quite a few more of the hollyhocks now. There are still two or three seedlings disguised as vermiculite in there.
In the next picture, you can see a second Orange Currant tomato is up – plus there’s another elbowing its way up that I didn’t even see until I looked at the photo, later.
It’s the same in the next picture. I could see one Manitoba tomato had emerged, but looking closely in the photo, I can see the stem of another, pushing it’s way up.
Still no sign of anything in the Chocolate Stripes or Blueberry tomatoes, and still no Florence Fennel visible.
All in good time.
Tomorrow is the last business day of the month – payday – so we are expecting to do our Costco stock up trip in the city. I’ll see what they have for seed starting mix. I only got one bag and it’s pretty small. I might only get four seed snails out of it. I won’t be starting more seeds for a couple more weeks, but I will probably be starting more. Costco carries the big Pro Mix bags, which would last me for the rest of the seed starting season. I might have to sift it before using it. I haven’t heard people talking about needing to do that with their seed starting mixed this year at all, though, so it might not be an issue. I might need to get more potting soil, too. I still have some but, with so much material getting sifted out, I don’t have as much potting soil as it appears in the bag! Any time I pot something up, I would be using potting soil rather than seed starting mix.
We really need a better set up for starting seeds indoors.
I ended up awake for most of the night. Just couldn’t sleep for some reason.
Which turned out to be a good thing!
I spotted a message waiting for me, from the woman we passed Kohl on to, yesterday. (Kohl, I’ve just been informed, is now with her foster, and I will get more updates once they connect again, later today.)
Of course, we ended up talking cats. I was asked about any adult friendlies that were already spayed or neutered that could go into foster for adoption.
The problem is, it seems the fosters they have (and they urgently need more) are not equipped to socialize more feral cats. Yes, we have friendlies, and yes, they have access to things like litter boxes that they use, but they are still outside cats. They need to learn how to transition to the indoor life. We’ve been fortunate in having several that just came indoors and adapted immediately. However, even Tiny, who came in as a kitten before she was old enough to go into her first heat, has still not completely adapted. There are just too many cats, and she is a shy one. I hardly ever even get a chance to pet her, and it’s been about 2 – 2 1/2 years. She has, however, bonded with David. He doesn’t care all that much, but she adores him.
In the end, I suggested that it would be easier if we put some of the inside cats out for adoption (while still focusing on getting outside cats spayed and neutered), but not necessarily going to fosters. If we can make enough space indoors, that would free us up to take in an outside cat or two at a time, to socialize them to the indoor life before they get put up for adoption. Right now, we just don’t have the space for it. We’re used to working with outside cats to get them indoors. Something most fosters aren’t.
I was asked how many we had inside, which is currently 21. Of those, all but four, possibly five, should be adopted. Which would be great, though I suspect at least three of them would be considered “unadoptable”. It’s hard enough to adopt out healthy kittens. People just don’t want adult cats much, and they certainly don’t want ones that aren’t “perfect” for some reason. Tiny and David would need to go as a bonded pair. It’s not going to be easy. I’ve seen some of the cats and kittens they’ve been posting about that still haven’t been adopted out. If no one is interested in those gorgeous, healthy cats, it’s going to be much harder for some of ours.
We shall see. Hopefully, some of them have traits that appeal to people who want a “different” cat.
I did mention Sir Robin in the conversation, though, as he has not been well. He needs vet care, but we don’t have the funds for it. I was asked for pictures and possibly video of friendly outside cats, so when I did the morning feeding, I took as many as I could, with a focus on Sir Robin.
Stinky needs a new name. He doesn’t fart on people anymore. 😄 He’s one of the neutered and socialized adult cats that would make a great indoor cat.
I spent much of the morning, sending pictures of specific cats and passing on as much information as I had. That meant looking up old photos. Which always leads to mixed emotions. It’s awesome to see some of them as kittens and growing up, but then there’s all the pictures of cats and kittens that didn’t make it. There has been quite a lot. Even just this past year, quite a few adults disappeared. Brussel, Caramel, Lady Hypotenose, Ink, Syndol, Patience, Magda and a similar looking cat with no name. Only Poirot was one where we knew what happened, and it was pure chance we spotted her remains on the road at all. Then there are the kittens we lost, plus the adults we don’t see enough to be sure if they are gone, or just away for a while – or they look so similar, we just can’t tell when any are missing. The white and greys can be really hard to tell apart, along with the grey or brown tabbies.
So we are going to work on getting glamour shots of the inside cats. We’re thinking of putting together “set” in the living room, so we can bring one cat in at a time to get some photos and video. One person would play with the cat to get its attention, while the other tries to get good photos and/or video.
What we can’t do is have people come to our place to look at the cats in person. Aside from being out of the way, whenever we have people here, our vandal starts stalking again, and they’d be driving past his place to get to us. Which means we’d have to arrange to meet in town, instead. That wouldn’t happen until after potential adoptees have started the application process with the rescue.
Meanwhile, they’re going to see if they can arrange for appointments for more spays or neuters. I still have the donated funds for the three that didn’t get done, because they were too small, so we’re looking to probably start with three at once. I’d be grabbing whoever is easiest to get, which are all males, though I would really want to get Frank in. Seeing how bloody she was after she had her kittens has me thinking she might not survive another pregnancy.
I so appreciate this new rescue trying to help us, even with our rather unusual issues. They were overwhelmed with cats before they even officially opened, and things haven’t really changed.
What we need in our area is our own version of the Furball Farm Cat Sanctuary, specializing in strays and ferals. Our colony is just one of many in our region. From what I hear, it’s even worse at the town to the north of us, and that’s saying a lot!
You know, when we moved out here, the last thing I expected was to find ourselves in this situation! We’ve found ourselves as an unexpected rescue in the past, but nothing like what we’re dealing with now! That was more along the lines of “we discovered black mold in our house and need to move immediately, but can’t take our cats with us, please help!” and “I’m going overseas for a job for the next year or two, can you take my cats?” sort of thing. Not a colony situation, with bringing female cats in as population control, or others because they had to have surgery and couldn’t go back outside.
Still, I can certainly understand why my late father loved his cats! My mother didn’t like having pets indoors, but there was always barn cats, even after they retired from farming, and they made my father so happy.
They do have a way of worming their way into our hearts, that’s for sure!
Today was our day to do our Costco stock up shop, but first, we had a cat to get into the carrier for the rescue!
They had asked for her tattoo, so we tried to get that for them first. My daughter and I both tried to see it, but it was completely illegible. Kohl was very patient with us – and very easy to get into the carrier! She wasn’t too happy with it, and completely ignored the squeeze treat I’d put into a bowl for her, but she was very well behaved, for the most part.
The only time she had real issues was while my daughter was loading the carrier into the truck. After that, she settled in and, aside from a few meows now and then, she was quiet and calm the whole time.
We ended up leaving early, because she was so cooperative, and we didn’t want to stuck in the carrier for longer than necessary. We used our largest one, so she had plenty of room, but it’s still an enclosed space. We store the carriers in the sun room, so they can go in and out as will, which helped.
I’m glad we left as early as we did. We got snow last night. Not enough that we had to dig out or anything, thankfully, but enough to make the roads a bit more treacherous. We ended up doing 90kph instead of the limit (100kph) until we reached my mother’s town.
I don’t know how much longer we can call it that!
We stopped at a gas station briefly, so I could send some updates while my daughter ran in to get some drinks and some beef jerky to tide us over, since neither of us had breakfast yet. We left almost an hour earlier than originally planned, but arrived at where we were supposed to meet only about half an hour early!
The lady from the rescue that came for Kohl had a wonderful surprise for us. Two big bags of donated items! She mentioned treats, but it looked like there was some canned cat food, too. I didn’t look too closely, as we were focused on moving Kohl. She wasn’t transferred to another carrier, so we’ll have to meet up some other time to get that back. We didn’t want to risk stressing her out more, or have her potentially escape! The second picture in the slide show above is after the carrier was moved to her car. I caught Kohl mid-meow, so she looks like she was hissing, but she was not.
After we were done, my daughter and I went into the mall for our brunch, then stayed a bit longer for my daughter to find something she needed, before going to Costco. That will be in another post, but after we got home and everything was put away, I finally got to unpack the bags of donations. Wow!
There were two cardboard boxes full of canned cat food, plus some loose tins. In a small grocery bag was more loose tins plus a baggie of smaller tins and individual portion containers, along with a slide lock bag with more kibble. There was a hole in the bag, though, so I didn’t try to take it out until I could dump it into a container for the outside cats.
Then there was the case of treats. It was unopened. I haven’t looked inside the individual boxes yet, but I think these are similar to the squeeze treats we’ve been able to sometimes get. These will go a long way towards helping socialize the more feral cats – though the more socialized ones might push their way in, instead. That’s the big challenge. How do we give treats to the more feral cats when there are socialized cats that aggressively barge in for attention, or to get at the treats?
We’ll figure it out. We’re just so incredibly grateful for the donation. We did pick up our usual case of wet cat food at Costco but, with these tins, we won’t need to get more at Walmart, later in the month.
Meanwhile, I’ve already heard from the lady from the rescue. She had opened up the carrier, including the top, but Kohl wouldn’t leave. By the time we got home, she had sent a short video of her reaching through the top to pet Kohl’s belly, and Kohl was being all kittenish in response. Still not leaving the carrier, but enjoying the pets! She just needs time.
Meanwhile, they’ve already found a groomer and she’ll have those mats taken care of within the next couple of weeks. They were still thinking that maybe they could be brushed out, but I don’t think that’s possible. She’s going to need to be shaved. Once she’s nekkid and free of those mats, she’s going to be a whole new cat! I believe it’s after she’s been to the groomer and, I think, vetted, that she will be going to a novice foster, before being officially added to the adoption list.
Assuming she ever makes it to the adoption list. There was someone interested in her already, but now there are now two people with the rescue that are already in love with her!
That seems to be a trend with cats from our colony. The Cat Lady has something like 6 cats from us, that they’ve adopted themselves!
We’re going to miss Kohl, but she is going to be so much happier once she’s adopted out to her forever home!
I’ve been talking with the rescue about her, because she is so incredible matted. They just got a new foster, so Kohl will be their first rescue! This should work out, as Kohl is already socialized and spayed, so she should be an easy one. They’ve already posted pictures of her on social media, requesting a volunteer groomer, or someone who could sponsor a groomer. She is so badly matted, she will likely need need a total shave. I picked her up and snuggled her this morning, and it was hard to find a place on her body that did NOT have any mats!
Tomorrow, I’ll be heading into the city to do our Costco stock up shopping. Instead of going to the new one, like we did last time, we’ll be going to our usual location. There’s a mall nearby where we’ll meet up with someone from the rescue and hand over Kohl. (I’m pretty sure my younger daughter will be coming with me, though I haven’t confirmed that yet.) After Kohl it picked up, we’ll hit the mall for breakfast/lunch before hitting the Costco.
There has already been interest shown in adopting Kohl, though one of the people in the rescue is very tempted to adopt her, herself. However, like us, she already has too many indoor cats!
With the stock up shopping about to happen, my goal for today was the clear more of the inner yard so there would be more room for the truck to turn around and back up to the house.
This is how it looked when my daughter first cleared a turn around space towards the outhouse, as well as a path to the litter compost pile behind it.
While she used little Spewie, I would break up the edges of with the snow shovel so that it would be easier for Spewie to get through, as the snow was too deep and areas were getting packed pretty hard by high winds. It took quite a while for my daughter to clear the space, and it left her having to use a cane for the next two or three days!
When I tried to actually use the turn around space, it turned out that “point” in the middle was still a problem. One corner of the truck hit it as I turned. That normally wouldn’t have been a problem except 1) the snow was even more hard packed by then and 2) the plastic shield under the bumper was already loose on that corner and held in place with clear duct tape. That got torn loose, and now it’s hanging again. Even if I had more of the duct tape, I couldn’t use it because it’s too cold for adhesive to stick.
So my main focus was to widen the whole area but to especially clear out that “point”.
In the first picture, you can see I was also able to clear a path to the outhouse (our emergency second bathroom). I used a shovel to clear space at the door so it had room to swing open, because there’s a high density foam mat under the snow that somehow has raised edges. The last time I tried to clear in front of the door with Spewie, it caught on the mat and actually tore it up a bit!
The path to the litter compost pile was already done by my daughter before, so I just used a shovel to clear it again a bit more, then tidied it up a bit with Spewie, later.
In the next picture, you can see where I’d widened the area by the tree a bit, and turned that “point” into a diagonal. The first 50 feet or so weren’t to bad, but past that, the snow was so hard packed, I couldn’t use the shovel to break it up anymore. I had to use the ice scraper to basically chop the snow up into pieces small enough for Spewie to be able to go over them without breaking.
I honestly felt tempted to stop and get a machete to try cutting snow blocks and build an igloo! 😄 Or even just snow walls strategically placed to block the wind. That area’s snow would have been ideal for that.
In the last picture, you can see I cleared space on the other side of the sidewalk, too. There had been a small triangle of snow between paths that I got rid of completely. That gives us more room to back up, plus move around the back of the truck with the tail gate open.
Once that was done, I decided to see how much more I could do. After adding a third extension cord from the garage, I had enough length to not only clean up and widen some cat paths, but I was able to clear a path to the fire pit and BBQ, clear enough space around the fire pit for chairs, paths to the wood pile and branch pile, and finally a path around the old kitchen garden so we can access the septic tank, if needed.
I’m so glad I set up the emergency septic bypass before the snow fell. There’s so much snow on top of it right now, you can barely see where the pipes and hose are at all! I don’t expect we’ll need to use it. If the ejector was going to freeze again like last winter, it would have happened by now. Still, it’s good that it’s set up now, just in case. If we did end up needing to use it, the only thing we’d need to do is clear the snow away from the end of the hose in the maple grove, so the grey water wouldn’t end up freezing into a block at the end.
Then, I did some clearing in the outer yard. I widened some turning space to get into the garage – that required more breaking up of snow with the ice scraper, too. Last of all, I cleared some paths to a couple of my brother’s trucks. He has solar panel trickle chargers set up in their windows. He was able to use his gas powered snow blower to clear a path to one truck, but it was too big to clear paths to the other two. I’d checked on them to clear snow away from the windows in front of the solar panels, and found the snow was quite deep. For me, that’s something that could easily result in my having another fall. I could have shoveled the paths, I suppose, but Spewie is small enough to get in there.
By the time I was done and put everything away, I’d been out there for more than three hours.
I really enjoy work like this, so it didn’t feel like it was very long at all, but once I was done and putting things away, my body was starting to tell me it wasn’t too happy!
On the plus side, my new coat was more than enough to keep me warm out there. I had tried to use the collar to keep my lower face warm, but all that really did was cause my glasses to frost up. I ended up going inside and my husband took them and set them aside from me, so most of this was done without my glasses. I could see a lot better without them than with!
Once I was inside and settling in with some food, things really started to stiffen up. I sat at my bedside to take my meds before eating, and had to get my daughter to help me stand up again, even though I now keep a cane with feet near my nightstand as an aid to standing up. It wasn’t enough today!
It does mean that I’ll probably have issues tomorrow, which is why I’m pretty sure one of my daughters will be coming with me, as my mobility assistant.
I figure today is a good day to go to bed early – after taking more painkillers!
I gotta say, though, it feels so good to get all that done, I really don’t mind the pain!
First up, the cuteness. I actually got this photo, yesterday. I wanted to get a good photo of Kohl for the rescue, as they will be taking her in and getting her ready for adoption, later this month.
Also, in giving her a cuddle, I found that the fur on her chest is so matted, it’s like an armored breastplate! That’s on top of the mats I have also been finding when petting her back.
Whoever adopts the beautiful Kohl is going to have to help her take care of the glorious coat! Hopefully, she will discover she likes being brushed. Unlike David. It’s been years, his fur mats like crazy, and he HATES being brushed. Currently, he has a bald spot because the only way I could get a big mat out was to take the clippers to it!
Since I was going to my mother’s today to do her errands, we went over what we missed picking up during our stock up trips, so see whether I’d be going to town, or to the nearest Walmart. The list had a few things on it that made going to Walmart worth the gas. My younger daughter ended up coming along, with a shopping list from her sister. My older daughter has had her annual pre-Christmas special for quick commissions and has been plowing her way through them for the past while.
I wanted to get to my mother’s early enough that we could get her list and be doing her shopping when her Meals on Wheels arrives, and she can have a peaceful lunch. Even with extra trips to the post office and pharmacy before doing her groceries, it was a really fast trip.
While at the grocery store, though, I spotted some sales and ended up asking my daughter to grab another cart for our own shopping, even though we were going to Walmart. Every now and then, this grocery store has prices better than any of the city stores on some things.
That done, we were back and my mother’s, just as she was finishing her Meals on Wheels. My daughter and I put her things away and did a few other things she needed. I was trying to be efficient about things, which came across as being in a hurry, which my mother wasn’t happy about. I’d told her we were doing to do our own errands after, so that we couldn’t have to make another trip, just to avoid driving as much as possible. She wasn’t happy about that, even though she did get it, as I explained it to her, but she started to grill me about if I had an appointment that we were rushing off to, and what was it we needed to do?
If I were asking her those same questions, she’d be telling me it was none of my business. 😄
I told her, we just needed to go to Walmart, but wanted to get it done earlier, so it wouldn’t be dark when we were driving home – and it gets dark really early right now! (Sunset today was 4:23pm).
Then she started asking if I could do her laundry (Friday is her laundry day, and I did just tell her we needed to do our own errands…). I told her I didn’t have time for it today, but my sister is supposed to be coming out this week, so maybe she could do it? My mother just sort of scoffed, so now I wonder what terrible laundry crime my sister committed. My mother had been very happy to tell me that my sister had done her laundry for her, in the past! My brother had come out this weekend and done stuff for her, including the sweeping, so there wasn’t much left for us to take care of, but she mentioned that she’d like someone to mop her floors some time before Christmas. So I ended up making a calendar date to come back on Friday to do her laundry and her floors, unless my sister manages to do them when she comes out before then. Unfortunately, while we’re supposed to be slightly milder over the next few days, we’re supposed to have a hard temperature drop, starting on Friday.
Yet, Tuesday, a week from now, we’re supposed to hit a high of 1C/34F!! That’s in the 10 day forecast. In the monthly forecast, it says to expect a high of 3C/37F. Christmas day is now expected to be -2C/28F, then the next two days are supposed to be 0C/32F!
That’s in between expected highs down to -22C/-8F and expected overnight lows down to -32C/-27F.
Those sorts of temperature swings will absolutely destroy our roads.
We’ll see what actually happens.
Overall, the visit with my mother went well, and she seemed actually happy to see my daughter. No snarky comments about her PCOS beard, but instead complimented her on her beautiful and very curly hair. She definitely takes after her dad when it comes to hair!
From there, we made a quick stop for gas – prices have dropped to $1.149 right now – then headed to the nearer city and their little Walmart. At first, the reduced visibility in the distance was fog, but it wasn’t long before it turned into snow. I’m really glad we headed out when we did. By the time we finished our errands and had loaded up the truck, I caught an update on the weather group I follow. Parts of the TransCanada highway had just been shut down. As we were driving home, the visibility from blowing snow got really bad at times. Thankfully, we seemed to have driven through the system before the final stretch home. Taking advantage of going to my mother’s today means we don’t need to make any other trips for some time, other than my newly scheduled trip to my mother’s on Friday.
Looking at the weather radar after I got home, I could see the huge system that is sweeping across Canada and the US. The US seems to be getting the brunt of the system, though as I check again, things seem to have already improved – most of the swaths that were listed as “extreme conditions” are now mostly “severe” and “moderate” for snow. The bulk of the system looks like it’s missing us entirely, so what we’re getting now, and through tomorrow, is just the blustery edges of it.
With the extra errands for ourselves after doing my mother’s errands, we were gone several hours longer than typical. Which means that I haven’t even started my next garden analysis post. This morning’s post took hours of going back over old blog posts, photos and videos, and remembering how things did. I’m pretty tired and will probably head to bed early, and save working on the next one for tomorrow instead of tonight. I had a very interrupted night night, and am just too foggy to try and analyze anything right now. It’s just past 6pm as I write this, and I’m already fighting the urge to go to bed right now!
So, there will be a break in my garden analysis series.
Until then, I hope you all have a good and restful night!
Good grief, I can’t wait until the days start getting longer again. I keep thinking it’s closer to midnight, but it’s barely past 5:30 as I start this!
This morning was the first morning where I could actually say it was cold. We even had some snow on the ground, though not enough to cover much. For the past while, I’ve been giving the yard cats their morning feeding after softening it with some really thin, warm “cat soup”, but it’s been freezing faster than they can eat it, so I did just dry kibble this morning. They very clearly were expecting different and weren’t too happy not to get it!
I was heading out soon after to do my mother’s morning med assist, after being called yesterday about a cancellation. She now has 20 minutes scheduled, so they have time to do a meal assist and, if she’s willing, to help her get washed up or dressed on top of her regular assist.
When I got there, she was still in bed and really struggled to get up. I encouraged her to stay in bed while I made her breakfast, but she made her way out and did her morning washing up routine. Once she was settled with her meds and food, I took care of her commode, etc.
Since she has a lunch assist now, I asked her what she wanted, in case there was something I could leave out or set up for the worker that came for her lunch assist. In the end, I just brought out a can of chicken noodle soup, because the rest of what she wanted had to stay in the fridge.
Overall, things went well, though my mother seemed quite down and a bit depressed about how she was feeling. She said she thought she was going to the hospital today, but did acknowledge that she tends to feel better after getting up and moving about, and is usually feeling pretty good by the end of the day. What did catch my attention and showed me how much worse she was feeling than usual is that she did NOT do her usual complaining, with the whole “I’m dying!” thing, then launching into what she wants us to do for her before she dies. She was quiet about it, and that’s way more of a red flag.
Yes, I did send an email to the home care office when I got home, as this is something they need to know. The care aides also pass on things like that, as they observe them.
The only time things started to go south was near time for me to leave. She remembered something she wanted to tell me, then started going on about how she didn’t want us using her pension to pay for things here at the farm.
…
Yes, she paid for the door, and I told her again (when I had the chance) that I appreciated it, but I had never asked her to. It was my brother that talked to her about it because, for the past while, she’s been talking about how she wants to help me and my family out more. She’s also been hinting about helping with the door before, too. So something has changed.
Before I could figure out, she started talking about how, she doesn’t live here any more, it’s not her responsibility, then started complaining about how much doing the roof cost. She is convinced we were cheated, because it shouldn’t have cost $14,000. I told her, that was just how much things cost at the time. If it had been done three years earlier, it would have cost $9000. I didn’t get a chance to remind her that I’d gotten estimates from three different companies then, and they were all pretty much the same cost. She had said no.
She started telling me, I should have gone to other companies to find a better price, and I told her, I went to 5 different companies (3 responded, but I didn’t even try to bring that up). Then she started complaining that they charged for clean up. We shouldn’t have paid for that. We should have done it ourselves. I said to her, do you know just how much there is to clean up from a roof?
She was talking about the door.
It seems that when my brother talked to her about it, he’d brought printouts, including the original estimate with details on what was included in the cost. Clean up was part of it. My mother said that we could have “saved some pennies” by doing it ourselves.
*facepalm*
I just did not want to go there. Instead, I started getting ready to leave, because I still had to go to our own pharmacy to pick up some refills. I double checked his message about how they’d be ready for pick up today, to see if there was a time I had to wait for, as it was still early in the day for that sort of thing. As we were talking, I read out “pick up injections”, and my mom was all “injections!” then going on about my poooor husband that he has to take injections, and oh, we have it so hard, we suffer so much…
…
I told her, he’s been on two injections for years. (She knows that; she reacts the same way, every time) Doing injections is not a big deal these days. She still tried to play the pity game, and how she feels so sorry for us. I told her, yeah, we have problems, but so does everyone, and a lot of people have things a lot worse than we do. We have a lot to be thankful for.
Even with this stuff, I’d say it was a good visit when it comes to my mother.
From there, it was off to our pharmacy, where I was also able to get my vitamins that I didn’t get at Costco. Different budget. Then it was just getting some gas and going home. I wrote off my planned trip to the dump today. I want to avoid extra driving as much as possible until we can get that leaking seal fixed, next week, and we’ve got a trip for a doctor’s appointment in between.
By the time I got home, it wasn’t too much longer before I was heading outside to take care of the outside cats and switch out the trail cam cards, before it got dark.
The cats were very happy to have the softened kibble again!
After I put the food out, I was topping up water bowls with warm water when I spotted one of the older grey tabbies eating at the feeding station under the shrine.
Then I realized that cat I thought it was, was by the house – and this one was much bigger!
Also, shier. I didn’t try to get any closer, as he was clearly ready to take off if I did, but he also watched me from behind the shrine’s pedestal base, rather than running away.
Just in case, I did a head count and got 35. Which means we have several more than my last highest count.
So it looks like we have a newcomer. This was the only one that seemed a stranger. I think the other “extras” were cats that didn’t usually show up at the same time as others at feeding time. With the colder temperatures, more are coming closer to the house instead of waiting until later.
Later on, I headed outside to check on some noises the girls were hearing through their windows (they can hear a lot more than I can!). I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but I did spot this crowd.
There are four cats in that cat bed! You can barely see the little tabby.
Frank is the one looking right at me, and the little white and grey draped over her back end is the one that has been sick for the last while. It has discovered the heat lamp and spends most of its time in the isolation shelter lately, and it looking much stronger.
They’re going to have to get used to it being closed up, soon.
Thanks to a generous donation, the rescue we’re now connected to is going to book us for for spays and/or neuters. The goal is for four cats, two at a time. With keeping the isolation closed up while females recover from surgery for two weeks, two adult cats is the limit. Though if we are able to get Frank and Pinky in there, I’d probably keep that little white and grey in with them, too.
I’ll have the dates sent to me later, but they will be booked some time after the 16th. I would hope we can get other females after that, but they’ll do neuters are well, if that’s what we can catch. I would love to get Adam, Slick, Sprout, Sprig or that white one with the grey tabby patches, but that would involve trapping.
I should maybe talk to them about the possibility of taking the friendliest outside cats for adoption, some of whom are already fixed. More than a few times, I’ve almost been able to touch one of the more feral cats, only to have a super socialized cat or three, push their way in, demanding attention and scaring off the more feral ones.
We’ll work it out.
So, that’s how things have been today. Tomorrow is Sunday, and it looks like it will actually be a day of rest for a change. We’re expected to have some snow in the wee hours of the night, but tomorrow’s high is supposed to be just below freezing. After that, we’re supposed to warm up again, with highs above freezing for almost two weeks. More time to get as much done outside as I can, while the weather is good.
The Re-Farmer 