I just got back from doing the evening outside cat feeding. When I got to the isolation shelter, Kohl was right at the sliding window. She didn’t want food – she wanted attention!
So I gave it to her for as long as I could. She actually made it hard to close the sliding window, because she kept pushing her head through. I did take her out to cuddle her, which she was good with until she wanted back in, but she still wanted pets!
Eye Baby also wanted attention, but the fluffy male is still a stranger. I was able to pet him this morning, while he was eating wet cat food, but that was all he would tolerate. Eye Baby, once the way was clear, was as demanding of pets through the window as Kohl was.
None of them have shown any interest in trying to “escape” the isolation shelter.
In other things…
Last night, I got a message from my brother. Sadly, seeing me at the church closing service triggered our vandal. I thought thing had gone well, but nope. He left another message with my brother. He had some pretty nasty things to say about me, and my younger daughter in particular, and her beard. Of course, he has no idea about her PCOS – or anything else. He hasn’t seen my daughters in years, and only seen me in passing. How he even knows this, I don’t know, because I have no idea who else we have in common that would have described her to home – or why they would do that in the first place.
In the end, he was telling my brother to kick us out. He wants my brother living here, not us. He’s also demanding to meet face to face with my brother. My brother spent years asking to talk to our vandal, trying to find out what happened between them, and our vandal never responded. Now, he’ll insult my brother in the messages while demanding they meet face to face? Oh, and using his cancer as a weapon to try and manipulate my brother, just like he used my late brother and late father to try and manipulate my mother for so many years.
For someone who says he’s dying, he sure doesn’t look or sound like it. Not that that means anything.
My poor brother was really upset. He transcribed the message for me, which meant he listened to it over and over. I quite understand how traumatic that can be. I’ve had to do similar, years ago.
After we had a chance to talk, I ended up sending a message to my neighbour that had ranted at me in the church parking lot. I was going to not bother, but after the message – and a comment our vandal made that suggested to me that he and our neighbour had talked about what happened, since our vandal was already inside the church when some things were said – I changed my mind.
I didn’t address a lot of issues, but did point out some things our vandal has clearly been lying to him about, included the transcription of the new message and attached the last two, which were much more vile, as well. I also called him out on how he treated me and told him, never again. I told him, I wasn’t angry with him (I don’t waste my energy on anger) and I don’t hold grudges, but if he’s got a problem with me, we can have a conversation, but not that.
This morning, I found a brief response from him saying we could have a conversation, but he was pretty blindsided by things. Which is totally understandable. I hate that he has been dragged into the mess like this. I love him like another brother, though, and I would hate to lose his friendship over what our vandal is doing.
At this point, I’m am thinking it may be time to consult a lawyer to see what sort of legal action we can take. It’s not just about the slander anymore, when he is demanding my brother evict us. The irony is, one of the reasons we are here at all is because of our vandal. My brother and his wife were going to move here and rent their property out, but between our vandal and my mother’s mistreatment of my brother, they (rightfully) changed their minds.
Meanwhile, I just got a call from a hospital about my mother. She has finally been booked for an MRI.
On New Year’s day.
Before 8am.
Good grief.
Still, we had to take it. Otherwise, she would have been put on the bottom of the waiting list and who knows how long it would take for the next appointment they could get her.
Overall, though, today was a quiet home day. Tomorrow morning, I’m booked to pick up our beef share, then the day after, I’m booked to do my mother’s grocery shopping.
In the middle of everything else, I’m going to be starting my garden analysis posts. I’ve already started organizing notes and going through old garden blog posts. Normally, I would have done this in November, but that just didn’t work out.
It’s going to be interesting. So much changed from what our plans were, to what we actually ended up doing in the garden. All of which will help us decide what we will be doing next year, though with the direct winter sowing done in the fall, quite a bit of that is already decided!
So, for the next while, there should be quite a few gardening posts before Christmas!
In fact, I’m about to stary my first one, next.
I hope that others can learn from them as much as I do!
Nice to see them using the insulated box nest. Poor Eye Baby is looking gross, but at least his eyes didn’t glue shut again! Earlier, when I was topping up their food, he actually came over for pets. It was really, really warm in there, too. But then, it was also warm enough outside that I didn’t bother wearing a jacket, even when I stopped to shovel some snow.
I’m certainly glad we had such a mild day. The de-consecration service for our little church had to be done outside, because there was no room for everyone, inside. Not that were were a lot of people. Maybe 20? 25? However, it’s not like anyone could have used the pews or anything.
I got there early, so that I could take photos of videos. The front doors no longer had a board across them, so after I went around the outside, I checked, and the doors were unlocked. I’m not sure they even can be locked anymore.
So I went inside, rather carefully. I didn’t know how much fire damage there was to the floors. With some of the windows boarded up, some areas were just too dark for the camera on my phone, and it doesn’t allow the “flashlight” to be on while taking video.
I was finishing up when I heard the first vehicles showing up.
It was our vandal and his wife, plus our mutual neighbour.
I went to talk to our neighbour while they were turning their car around the back. I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t leave because of me.
Well, I got a surprise from our neighbour. I’d sent him a message after seeing him briefly and let him know what my mother said about the soup drop off, because of the messages she heard our vandal leave on my brother’s voicemail. I didn’t tell him the contents of the messages; only that he’d said some pretty vile things about me and my daughter. It was just an FYI. Mostly, I was telling him I was happy to see him, even briefly.
When I asked to make sure they wouldn’t leave because of me, he just lit into me. Apparently, my message to him was “vile” (if he thought that was vile, the things our vandal said about me and my daughters would give him a heart attack!). He basically just verbally barfed all over me, and wouldn’t let me get a word in edge wise.
Very much like what our vandal does, in fact.
While he was doing that, our vandal and his wife went into the church, but they could hear what he was saying. He didn’t stop until other people started showing up.
I’m saddened that this happened. Clearly, he’s been dragged into the middle of something that he shouldn’t have any part in, but he was also basically repeating our vandal’s favourite victimhood lines – and he is only getting one side of the story. At one point, he was saying he’s seen all this evolve over the years I was living in other provinces and knows how all this started. I said, maybe we could get together and you can tell me, because we have no idea. I don’t think he heard me over himself.
Ah, well.
As more people arrived, I went into the church again. Everyone was looking around and taking pictures. There was a particular wall hanging I asked about, as it was no longer where it used to be, but no one knew where it went. Later, I heard someone call down from the choir loft to tell me it was up there. I hadn’t tried to go up there, as I didn’t know if the very steep, already dangerous stairs were safe. They’re more like climbing a ladder, with the rungs much wider apart.
I remember being up there with the “choir” as a child. The space is insanely tiny, yet somehow people got a pump organ up there. That antique went to someone else, long ago, so it was not there to be damaged by the fire. The church bell used to be in the ceiling up there, too, until people realized it was barely supported. A simple steel frame bell tower was made for it outside, and it’s still there.
When the priest arrived and it was time to start, he suggested we gather around outside, due to the lack of space. I was able to get video of the entire service for my mother, without being obtrusive. The priest shared some interesting historical information about how churches get consecrated, and traditions surrounding the process.
Now that I think about it, I really shouldn’t call this a de-consecration service. It was a sort of closing service. At the end of it, he explained what will happen next.
Everything in the church that can be burned, will be burned, as that is the proper and respectful way to disposed of things that are consecrated. The things that cannot be burned will be buried in the church cemetery, which is maybe half a mile away. A model of the church will be built and set up there, too.
The bell and its tower will also be moved to the cemetery. There is a statue of Mary outside as well. This was installed at a time when it was very popular to mount statues, crosses, etc. on large concrete bases that were decorated by pressing stones into the concrete, sometimes in shapes or words. This one also has a wider base forming a couple of steps, with larger stones embedded into the sides. I asked about it, and was told it was not yet decided what would happen to it. The statue itself is damaged, with missing hands. If it can be repaired and restored, it will also be moved to the cemetery. If not, it will be buried, because it, too, was consecrated.
After the service, everyone gathered for a group photo. Then the bell was rung a few times, including by the priest. Then we all went back into the church and looked around some more. We were allowed to collect mementos, if we wanted. For my mother, I took one of the Stations of the Cross plaques from the wall next to what was our family pew, and one of the votive candle holders from the stand where people could light a candle and say a prayer.
When I was an altar server here as a child, we would get ready and put on our cassocks in a tiny room near the back door of the church. Then, just before service started, we could go across, behind the altar, to join the priest in the tiny room he got prepared in, before coming out in procession. The fire was started by the back door, and that room was the most badly damaged. Completely gutted and destroyed. In the priest’s preparation room, there was some fire damage near the open doorway, but mostly it was smoke damage.
I was looking around in there with someone when I spotted something else from my childhood. Basically, a metal box with legs, and a top that could be raised to different angles, to rest a Bible on while being read from during services. It was a fancy one used for special occasions. (There was a plain wooden one for regular use.) It was still at its lowest setting, with a crochet doily on top. The doily was badly smoke damaged, and when I took it off, it’s pattern was left on the metal surface, where it protected it from smoke.
Smoke damage was pretty much it, for the stand. I ended up taking it as my own memento.
I also took the chance and went up into the choir loft. I saw the framed piece I’d been asking about, and it was quite badly damaged. I didn’t dare go too much further in, and it had been tucked behind the single pew up there.
Someone did take it down, though, and as I was getting ready to leave, I saw it in the entry. My cousin and her husband were there and we talked about it. I told them about how it was a donation from an uncle (not really an uncle, but a relative of my dad’s). They encouraged me to take it, but I told them I knew I wouldn’t be in a position to restore it, so I would rather it went to someone who could.
I think they ended up taking it!
Someone else took a framed print of the Last Supper my mother donated – her name was even on the back of it!
If I stayed too much longer, though, I knew I would have started loading up the truck. There were so many memories in there! Perhaps I’ll go back soon, after everyone else has taken what they want, and see what is left. I don’t think the actual dismantling and burning of the building and items will happen until spring, at the earliest. As I was leaving, though, I did see someone backing their truck up to the front doors. I think they were planning to take some pews.
As for the plot the building is on, there is talk of selling it. It would be a shame, but we just don’t have the population to support a church anymore.
With all of this going on, I even managed to ask some questions of our vandal, as he seems to be pretty involved with the stuff, and he even answered me, if briefly.
We shall see what comes of it.
Meanwhile, I will probably put together a movie and upload it, so that I can show it all to my mother. I had to take the videos off my phone, because they take up too much memory, and my phone doesn’t have the ability to add a micro SD, like my old one did.
I will also clean the items I got for her. She doesn’t have a lot of space, so I only got the two small items. The glass votive holder will be easy enough to clean, but the Station of the Cross plaque is a combination of ceramic on wood, and will need more care. As for the metal book stand, I’m going to have to do some more research on how to clean that. It has some pretty intricate designs on the sides in the metal, plus fake gems embedded in places. It’s going to need some very careful and meticulous cleaning.
I won’t be sharing any images or video here, though. Unfortunately, I still need to keep this blog anonymous, and these things are just too publicly recognizable.
Ah, well.
So while there were a few uncomfortable moments, I’m glad I went. This church was a big part of our community for a long time, and is full of history and personal memories. Such a shame, to lose it like this. But, as the priest said, the church is not really a building. We are the church. And we live on.
It’s almost 1pm as I start this. Outside, we’re at -17C/1F, which is a huge improvement from the last couple of days. Our predicted high for today is -15C/5F
The wind chill right now, however, is -30C/-22F
Tomorrow, however, we’re expected to reach a high of -6C/21F, then -2C/28F over the next couple of days! It’s going to feel downright tropical out there! 😄
My daughter did the outside rounds this morning. The short rounds, since it was -27C/-17F out there, before wind chill, at the time. When I did the evening cat feeding last night, I saw that the wet cat food in the isolation shelter bowl was frozen. It’s right next to the sliding window, so that corner is pretty cold. I reached in to tilt the clamp lamp so the heat bulb faced the back of the shelter, instead of the hammock below.
I was actually able to handle the metal shield around the heat bulb with my bare hands. It was just warm. Normally, I would have burned my fingers if I’d touched it. Another sign of how cold the ambient temperature in there got, even with the heat bulb!
The kitties are okay, though. Kohl had frost on her face fur again, but her fluffy partner did not. My daughter says there was a bit of frost around the top of the heated water bowl.
The kitties have now been in there for a full week. Kohl is handling her surgery just fine. No sign of infection, and neither of them seem interested in licking their surgical sites at all. They’ll be in there for one more week of observation.
They have company, though.
After talking about it with my daughter last night, we decided to add another kitten. There’s one white and grey that has leaky eyes, a stuffy nose, and has been sneezing and snuffling a lot. My daughter thinks it’s Eye Baby, but I’ll have to look closer to be sure. This morning, she was able to snag the kitten and take him into the isolation shelter. She said, he really didn’t like being carried outside in the wind, so he was very quick to jump into the isolation shelter all on his own!
With the temperatures improving over the next week, he will be better off in there than in the sun room, and will get to share the wet cat food as well. A week not having to fight so many adult cats for food, water and warmth will help him recover faster, as well.
At least, that’s the hope.
Today is a bright and sunny day, so they should have some passive solar heat in there, too.
My daughter doesn’t stop to take any pictures when she does the morning routine, though, so I’ll give you this, instead…
It may be warming up out there, but today will be another home day. I think, tomorrow, I’ll make the trip to a feed store. I’m looking to get the 40 pound bags of cat food, but also want to see what they have for heated water bowls. I’d like to get another smaller one. They seem to last longer. When I took the one my SIL gave us outside to chop the ice out, and flipped it upside down to spill out the shards, I found there was a melted spot in the plastic in the middle of the bowl’s bottom! I had intended to go to the town north of us for that, but we are almost out of lysine, and the feed store in the town my mother lives in was able to order some for us. Since I’m also thinking of another smaller shopping trip in preparation for Christmas and New Years, in the nearer city, it would be along the way.
Until then, I’ve got another day to enjoy my hibernation.
Today was a good day to just hunker down and stay out of the cold as much as possible. As I write this, at almost 3:30pm, which is usually the warmest time of the day, we are at -25C/-13F and the wind chill is at -35C/-31F, though we did hit wind chills of -39C/-38F earlier on.
Once I had my glasses on and could see properly, I did find the sun room thermometer really is working. The temperatures in there had dropped to about -10C/14F, though by the time I headed out to do the evening feeding, it was just below freezing. The cats were taking full advantage of the bright sunshine and sitting on the shelves at the south facing windows.
Or on the shelf near the bathroom window. That spot is pretty popular!
Of course, the cat beds on the platform had their cuddle puddles, too!
In the first photo of the slideshow above, we have the isolation babies. It is downright WARM in there! So much so, that I would say that confirms my hopes of getting passive solar heat from the windows is actually working. After putting the wet cat food into their bowl, I opened the window wider so I could reach in and pet the fluffy boy – which he let me do – and they have zero interest in going out!
In the next photo, there’s a couple of kittens at the window shelf. The canopy we got on clearance this year is currently stored there, and it heavy enough they can’t knock it down. Instead, they like to perch on it. The little black and white kitten is not socialized and was getting nervous with me untying the doors to I could get food to the outside bowls, so I dropped a bit of kibble for him, and he stayed!
The last photo is of one of the fluffy babies, on that shelf near the bathroom window, watching me. 😄There’s two fluffy tabby kittens that are mostly grey and I know one is female, but I’m not sure if this one is it. I have no idea what the second one is. Too fluffy.
Considering the temperatures we’ve got right now, I am very pleased with how that isolation shelter is working out. The other cats have their various shelters as well, so if things get cold, they can find the best spots, and just pile together to keep each other warm. Cats that normally don’t get along are now being seen using each other as pillows in their cuddle puddles. The isolation shelter is small and there’s just two kittens – I suppose they’re more catten then kitten at this point – in there, so not a lot of shared body heat, and they can’t go anywhere to find a better spot. Turns out, the isolation shelter IS the better spot, and that makes me happy. It will be good when their 2 weeks are up and we can open the ramp door, put the box entry back, and the other cats can start using it again, too.
The only down side is, that freshly washed cat bed I returned to the bottom level was immediately being used as a litter box again.
*sigh*
On a completely different topic…
Please let me know if you are finding this, too…
We all tend to use YouTube quite a bit. For me, one of the things I like to do is use the YouTube app on my phone to play videos to help me sleep. Usually, just certain styles of music (the music I would normally listen to would keep me awake) or, if I’m having a really hard time sleeping, something with a soothing voice speaking.
Well, last night, I started up one of my playlists and immediately got hit with a very loud ad. I haven’t had ads on my personal YouTube account in years! (oddly, if I log in as Re-Farmer, I always get ads, but if I switch to my personal account, no ads, even though I’m using the same app or browser). It was so bad, I gave up and just stopped trying.
Then I tried to watch videos on my desktop computer this morning, and the ads were there, too. I’ve been using the Opera browser and yes, the ad blocker was on. The ads were absolutely aggressive. There would be 2 or 3 short ads before a video would start, then more interrupting the video, with no “skip” option. When I started to get ads that where three and a half minutes long …
THREE AND A HALF MINUTES LONG!!! with no “skip” option!
… I gave up. Most of the videos I watch aren’t even that long.
I asked my family, and none of them are having this problem. My older daughter told me that every now and then, Google managed to get through the ad blockers, and it takes a while for the blockers to adjust.
The problem is, Google owns YouTube. And Chrome, And Opera. And most of the “independent” browsers. The only one she’s found that isn’t part of the Google monopoly is Firefox with their Ublock extension.
Guess what I’m using right now?
The problem for me is, I have been using Opera because it has sidebar features on it that I use frequently. Specifically the Instagram extension, since I use Instagram for my images and embed them into my posts here, now that I’ve almost run out of storage space on my WP account.
So I can watch videos now without the ads, but I hate switching browsers. There are just too many things that need to be switched over and logged into, settings adjusted and so on. That’s a pain on its own, but to do all that, just so I can watch videos without ads? Is it worth it?
Anyhow.
Has anyone else had this happen to them? I find it strange that I’m the only one in the household it’s happening to. If it were just my phone app or just my desktop, that would kinda make sense, but it’s both, and only with me.
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind the ads, since that is how content creators get paid. I don’t mind sponsored ads done by the creators themselves; at least with those, if I don’t want to watch them, I can skip through. These ads I’m seeing now are just badly made, annoying and loud – and there is no excuse for an ad being THREE AND A HALF MINUTES LONG! Insane!
*grumblegrumble*
All it does it make me stop trying to watch the videos completely.
Well, we’ll see how long it goes on for. It’s likely the next time my Opera browser is updated, the ad blocker will be working again.
Until then, my YouTube watching, at least, will be limited to my Firefox browser.
Ah, well. Small problems. I was just wondering if anyone else was having this happen to them.
As for me, it’s time to check on some winter squash I’ve got roasting in the oven.
This is the sort of weather that calls for comfort food!
The first screencap image is Celsius, the second in Fahrenheit. Instagram wouldn’t let me show the whole image, even though that’s what I set it for. Underneath, it gave the expected overnight windchill of -36C/-32F
I keep telling myself, the isolation babies are okay. They like to curl up together on the cat bed in the upper level. It is under the lounging shelf, so there is a low ceiling, the back wall is insulated, the side wall in that corner is insulated, and the box nest next to the cat bed forms another insulated wall. In front of the cat bed is the heated water bowl. All this, plus the insulation forming a ceiling, plus the heat lamp. They should be just fine.
It took me forever to get this video done, a little at a time.
Which actually worked out, in the end.
This is a video of the isolation shelter build and, because it took so long, I was able to include files of it actually in use for the first time, at the end.
As I write this, with less than an hour to sunset, we are at 3C/37F. I was just outside, getting a few more things done, with no coat on, and it was awesome! The only down side is that, with everything melting, some things were a bit slippery.
I will get to that part in a bit!
My SIL had let me know last night that she and my brother would be coming out this morning to park their truck here for the winter. They expected to be here around 8:30 am, so at 7:30 or so, I headed out to feed the outside cats and do the morning rounds, and open the gate for them.
When I came outside with the cat food, there was a set of headlights at the gate!
By the time I put kibble out in all the food bowls, including the isolation shelter, and added some warm water, they were in the yard and my brother was parking the truck. He got a solar trickle charger for the battery, so he wanted to make sure the windshield would get the most light for as long as possible.
So I went to my SIL, who had followed in their car, and we had a nice visit. A rather longer visit than expected, as my brother kept finding one more thing he wanted to do before they left.
As I was walking to their car, though, I saw that my SIL had started it again, and moved it a few feet. An odd thing, since she wasn’t in the way of anything, and they weren’t leaving yet.
It turned out that our vandal had showed up, driving every so slowly as he passed the open gate at our driveway, trying to see what was going on! They’d been there less than 5 minutes! How did he know they were here? He lives nearby, but not THAT nearby!
As we chatted, with me standing in the open door of the car, we saw him again, coming back the other way. We knew he was coming before we could identify the vehicle, because we could see headlights through the trees, slowing down as they got closer to the driveway. By the time we could fully see his vehicle, he was driving at a crawl. I just stood there and openly watched him. I don’t know that he recognizes either of my brother’s cars, since both had to be replaced in the years since we moved here and he lost his mind. With the trail cams set up, he’s been behaving, but in the last little while, I’ve been seeing him more often. All of the activity that’s been going on in the past couple of months, from stuff being moved here to the excavation and repair of the expeller, must be driving him nuts.
When I had the chance, I called my mother to warn her, he might show up out of the blue again. She’s sick with a cold right now, so after telling him what’s going on here is none of his business, she can also tell him to go away because she’s sick.
Anyhow.
I had a good long visit with my SIL before they were finally ready to leave. I had to switch out the trail cam cards, so I went ahead of them to close and lock the gate behind them. On changing the card, though, I found that the new batteries we’d put in were at 2%!
So, after finishing the rest of my morning rounds, which included giving the isolation babies a can of wet cat food and getting more warm water to top up all the water bowls, I grabbed some fresh batteries and headed back to the camera.
I figured I could change the batteries there, since it wasn’t so cold that I needed to come inside while I was doing it. This camera has a battery case that pops out, but in order to do that, the camera has to be removed from its holder. I did that, took out the case, then set the camera on top of its post so I could have two hands to change the batteries out.
*sigh*
It fell into the snow, opening as it fell, and landed right on its innards. Even the memory card sprang out into the snow when it landed. When I picked it up, there was sticky snow all over the inside – some even got into the space the battery case goes into!
*sigh*
So I took that in and set it up where it could melt and drain. I had to quickly do something else, and my daughter was sweet enough to change out the batteries for me. After trying the whole thing off with paper towel as best I could, I left it while I had my breakfast.
When that was done, I put everything back together and tested it out. With no power for so long, the date and time had reset to default – 2022! – so I hit the menu button to reset it.
Nothing happened.
I tried again. And again. And again.
The menu would simply not come up. It was in set up mode, and I could see it was functioning. The screen was working find, and I could even see the seconds on the time changing. I just couldn’t do anything with it.
So I took the battery case out again and left it to dry longer, then headed back outside to get some things done.
The first was to fix the wind damage on the catio.
The first image in the slideshow above shows how it looked before I started. The vinyl tore at the cord that is wrapped around the whole thing, but that cord is also what kept it from getting blown off even more. In the second photo, you can see where, even in the back, the vinyl was torn loose from the push pins holding it in place.
I picked up some foam mounting tape, with double sided adhesive, to help with the repairs, and also had some clear Gorilla tape, to tape the torn section together. I removed a number of push pins, first, then added the mounting tape to strategic sections of the frame. The mounting tape won’t stick to the wood very well – especially when it gets colder – but the vinyl will stick to it. This way, when the push pins are added back, they vinyl shouldn’t tear away anymore, and it will still be easy to remove in the spring.
In the third picture, you can see where the mounting tape was used in the front and on the door, but I also included it at the back, where the sheet was torn loose from the pins.
Once the vinyl was being held in place by the mounting tape, I got out one of the dollar store dining table protectors I’ve been using for this and set it up right on top, starting at the door, pinning it along the top. It was long enough to just reach around the corner at the back, so that edge got taped to the old sheet. Once that was taped, the push pins were added back, then the excess vinyl on the bottom was tucked under the bottom of the catio. Then the cord was wrapped back around and tied off again.
I had to kick away the snow that was added along the bottom of the shelter, so the last thing to do was get a snow shovel and put that back. The door, one corner and one end now have a double layer of vinyl.
The cats were really, really liking it.
I took some video after I was done, starting from the back of the catio.
Stinky REALLY enjoyed being in there! The vinyl creates a pretty decent greenhouse effect inside, so it’s pretty warm in there, too. At least during the day.
The next thing to do was patch up some tears in the isolation shelter, from the cats trying to get in.
Before I started, I took advantage of the fact that there is now an insulation ceiling and lifted the roof to drain off the melting snow and slush. With how uneven the patio blocks are, the slow slope of the roof is pretty flat, instead, so it doesn’t drain much at all, and I didn’t want to take a chance of any water getting inside. There is quite a bit of overlap in the roof panels, but until we can properly seal the edges in the spring, water can still get in between and potentially cause problems.
Next, I cut away some of the more tattered pieces of vinyl and removed some of the pins. I then cut pieces out of another dollar store table protector to create the patches.
At one corner, I taped the patch in place, but ran out of tape, so I used the last of the foam mounting tape to hold the other patch in place. Then the pins were put back. There is still one tiny corner near the back that is torn, but I no longer had suitable tape to hold a patch in place.
I had to be really careful while doing this job, though. It was warm enough to melt the snow, but the patio blocks were cold enough that the water was trying to freeze again. Water on ice is not a safe combination!
The isolation babies were quite interested in what was going on. Especially Kohl.
Not that Kohl would let him get close to my hand. She really, really wanted attention!
That done, I decided to take out the cat bed in the lower level, since I’d seen Kohl had used it as a litter box, yesterday.
It looked like they used it as a litter box for the rest of the night, too!
I got it out and cleaned it off in the snow as best I could and set it aside. Then I changed the litter box by grabbing another one, getting it ready with pellets, then simply switching them out. The lest time the ramp door was open, the less chance the isolations babies could escape!
The litter box was well used, too, so they probably didn’t start using the lower level cat bed until it got unpleasant to use the litter box.
With today being to warm, we’re taking advantage of it to do laundry. My daughter and I replaced the leaking hose extension on the washing machine, then set it out the storm door window. With the washer already set up for laundry, I grabbed the cat beds from the shelf shelter, too. These were the ones we took out of the cat house and weren’t sure if we were going to bother washing them. The cats are using them in the shelf shelter, though, so I figured I may as well do a load of just outside cat beds, once our own laundry was done. The shelf shelter beds are getting pretty tattered, but they’ll be nice and clean and fluffy again, soon.
As I was finishing up inside and getting ready to head it, I spotted this adorable one, on the isolation shelter roof.
Someone is happy the snow was cleared from the roof!
I thought this was Magda, but it wouldn’t let me come close, got scared and ran off. Magda is a mostly socialized cat that lets us pick her up and cuddle her. So now I’m not sure.
I did get another chance to pet Kohl, though, and this time she let me pick her up and check her incision. It is healing very nicely!
As I was finishing gathering the supplies to take them inside, I started hearing something that sounded off.
Like someone driving really, really slowly at our driveway. So I tossed everything into the house, then went to check.
This time, our vandal was driving his tractor. Once again, very slowly driving past our driveway, staring down our driveway the entire time. So I just stood there, in the open, watching him as he finally turned his tractor around and drove off. He had the snow blower attachment on his tractor which is rather odd, since we don’t have enough snow to use something like that right now.
I checked the trail cam again after that, and its still not working right, so I switched up trail cams to make sure the driveway is covered.
I also went looking through my Amazon shopping list, where I have several solar powered cameras with battery back ups saved. After looking through them again, I ended up ordering two of a cheaper one that had a higher rating, and lots of very positive reviews by Canadians. Including some mentioning how well the solar panel was able to keep it powered, even in winter.
No idea when we’ll get them, though, since the postal strike it still going.
By the time everything was done and I got the cat beds in the laundry, I really, really didn’t want to go anywhere. I was supposed to go to the dump, then the feed store, but when I checked their hours I discovered the feed store had already closed for the day. They close really early on Saturdays!
So… no feed store. We’re still good with kibble for the outside cats, so a few days wait should be fine.
Tomorrow looks like it will be a quiet, indoor day for us. We’ve got snowfall warnings for 10-20cm/4-8in of snow, starting around noon and continuing through to Monday. It’s not a lot of snow, but I’d rather not drive in it if I don’t have to.
We’ve got a few milder days ahead of us, then a couple of colder one, before it starts getting mild again. We are no longer getting temperatures above freezing in the forecast for the week before Christmas, though, so who knows how things will change over the next few days.
For now, I’m just glad to have been able to take advantage of today’s lovely weather and get those outside jobs done!
Meanwhile… we have a fluffy kitten in the isolation shelter that needs a name.
Yesterday, we had my husband’s prescription delivery and I headed out too early. It was cold, so I went into the garage to get out of the wind and started poking through the lumber and other left over building material my brother gave us while they were moving things out.
I struck gold.
I found a few pieces of plywood that looked liked they were the size I needed and brought them to the house, after the prescription delivery.
Today, I could have gone into the city to do our Costco shop. It is, however, Black Friday. I don’t know why we have Black Friday in Canada, since our Thanksgiving is in October. Truthfully, I was really confused about when the US Thanksgiving was, since these sales have been going on for about two weeks. Even so, this is the “big day” for sales which, for me, means, staying away from stores as much as possible! It’s not like we’d be buying anything different that we usually do, and that stuff tends to not go on sale.
I’ll be doing that tomorrow. Even shopping on a Saturday at Costco would be better than shopping on Black Friday!
So, today was a home day.
As I write this, we’re currently at -16C/3F, with a wind chill of -29C/-20F Our high of the day was supposed to be -13C/9F, but I don’t think we reached it.
With that in mind, I decided it was a good day to see what I could do with those pieces of plywood, and whatever else I could find.
What we have been wanting to do is build some sort of shelter over the isolation shelter opening. It’s a large opening and the winds can blow right in – and would blow in snow, as well. We needed something to keep the weather out. It needed to be easily moveable, but also heavy enough that it wouldn’t get blown away. The plywood I found looked like it would fit the bill for making a box that would fit over the ramp door.
All three pieces were exactly 2′ long, but one was slightly narrower. The narrower piece became the top. I made the 2′ the height of the box, since the bottom level of the isolation shelter is 2′ high. That does not count the pallet floor or wheels, though, so I knew I would need to keep that in mind, too.
The slideshow below is a couple of photos of the basic box shape.
That bit of a gap from the narrower piece would go against the isolation shelter. I didn’t take any measurements, so this was just in case it lined up with the top of the latch on the frame.
I had some lumber left over from making the garden bed cover frames, so I cut 2′ of that to join the bottom of the box and stabilize it. That is meant to go under the ramp door. I might end up removing that, though. The wood split on one side as I nailed it in place. I found a skinnier but longer nail for the other side, and ended up splitting the plywood.
As you’ve probably guessed, this entire projected was made with scavenged materials.
Speaking of scavenged materials…
I had found another piece of plywood with a perfect circle cut into it that would have made a great “door”, but it was too small to fit the front of the box.
I did, however, still have a panel of the old tub surround in the house.
So, I laid that down and used the box itself to mark out a piece large enough to cover the front completely. I decided I would use that to cover the front and make a cat flap door. You can see progress photos in the slideshow below.
One the front panel was cut out, I found the center, the marked off four inches on either side, then … I forget if I went 10 or 11 inches from the bottom. That got cut out to make the door flap.
I then cut about half an inch off the bottom, and less than 1/8th of an inch off one side. I didn’t measure. Basically, I had a piece of wood I was using as a straight edge to cut against, and it was whatever amount looked right. The main thing is that the flap had to be able to move freely in the space. With a gap on the bottom, I figured it would be easier for the cats to figure out how to use the flap, as they would instinctively snuffle at the gap to try and get in or out.
All I had to create a “hinge” for the flap was duct tape, though. So I secured that as best I could, while still allowing for the flap to freely swing in both directions.
The next thing was to attach it to the front of the box, and secure it. Slideshow below…
I had some smaller nails that were white that I bought for something else quite a while ago, and those were perfect for attaching the panel.
I used a lot of nails, since I figured cats might end up dashing out and bashing into the sides when startled.
Which is also why I added a cross piece above the cat flap on the inside. I was able to nail that into place at each end, but I also wanted to attach the panel to the cross piece, and for that I needed smaller nails.
After scrounging around through various buckets we found while cleaning the old basement, I found three short little nails.
They would do!
I’ve kept a chimney block in the basement because it’s been such a handy work surface for various projects, and it came in handy again. I set it up inside the box, under the cross piece. It was shorter than the height needed, but a piece of scrap 2×4 was enough to make the difference. The panel is now secured to the cross piece above the cat flap, where I figured it would need the most support.
I then spotted a potential problem. All of this exposed wood that’s going to be in the snow all winter. Even if we had paint, I wouldn’t have wanted to use it, as it would need time to dry, and I wanted to get this out as quickly as possible.
That could only be nailed down on the sides, as the nails I had are 1″ and the plywood is 3/4″, so I used quite a few to secure it. In the first photo of the slideshow above, you can see that I also used more duct tape around the edges of the panel at the cat flap, plus added another strip above the flap, just in case.
The next image shows how it looks on the inside, with the cross piece, and the last image from the back. I’d laid the top of the box to mark out how large it was, on the back of the tub surround piece. This piece has holes in it from the arm bars, which didn’t matter for the front panel, but for the roof, I made sure there were no screw holes. This time, when using the piece of scrap lumber as my cutting guide (I just used a utility knife to cut it), I lined it up with my marks, then cut on the other side of the wood, to create an overhang on three sides.
It was now done!
Next year, when we get more paint for the isolation shelter, we’ll paint the exposed wood on this, too, but there is no urgency on that, now that there is a roof in place.
At this point, I needed to get this up the basement stairs and outside. Between the unfortunate way the door is hung (it swings over the stairs instead of into the entry) and the cats, I commandeered my daughter for assistance. She helped me get it outside and set up over the ramp door, lifting it so I could slide that back cross piece under it.
I foresaw a few potential problems, once the box was in place. I’d hoped to avoid them, but nope.
In the first photo, you can see the first problem. The patio blocks are not level, and one in particular has been heaved by the roots of the elm tree in front of the house, quite a bit. It actually cracked the front panel at the corner. In the next photo, you can see that not only is it lower than the frame between floors, but not at all level.
What you can’t see is that the cat flap could only swing outwards. Inwards, it was hitting the ramp. The extra height the pallet floor and wheels added were causing this problem.
All I needed was a raised the box higher by a couple of inches. Leveling it was not going to happen, but it at least needed to be raised up and supported enough to not wobble or anything like that.
Bricks from the old wood burning furnace chimney to the rescue! I found four that had the least amount of mortar stuck to them.
It was enough. The flap can now freely swing in or out. The bricks provided a stable enough lift that there is no wobble at all, even though it’s still not level.
In the future, we need to rip out this patio and redo it so it’s level again, but there’s no point in doing that until we get rid of the tree in front of the house. Not only is it lifting the patio blocks, but there are cracks in the basement wall.
While setting up the box over the ramp, there were several cats inside the shelter, very interested in the goings on. Others had already dashed out as soon as we started fussing around the shelter.
For the cats inside, it would be an easy thing for them to figure out the cat flap. What we need to watch for is if they can figure out they can push against it to get in. If it seems that this is an issue, we can prop the flap open, or even remove it entirely. That would allow some of the weather in, but it’s far enough away from the entrance that it should not affect much more than the ramp itself.
When we have cats isolated in the shelter, we’ll need to move the box away completely and close the ramp door. Once that is closed, the box won’t be needed to keep the weather out. There is enough space beside the shelter to store the box until it’s needed again – where it can double as another shelter for the cats. We already have a small food bowl beside the shelter for cats that aren’t willing to go inside it, but it’s completely exposed. Even if it’s for just a couple of weeks while there are cats recovering from spays inside, that would be useful, as long as it doesn’t block access to the sliding door we use to refill the kibble bowl in the second level.
What I’ll probably do in the spring is add legs to the box to raise it up a few inches, so we don’t need to use bricks. The bricks we are using now will be just fine for this winter, though.
When we first moved out here and started cleaning up around the yard, it amazed me just how many bricks I was finding, all over the place.
Now that we’ve been here a few years, we’ve found those bricks incredibly handy, and I even find myself thinking, we need more bricks! 😂
So that’s one more job done for the isolation shelter. Hopefully, the cats will be fine with it, because it will make a big difference in the conditions inside during the winter. Especially when we get hit with winds from the south.
I’m rather pleased with out it turned out, and really grateful for all that scrap wood my brother gave us. The pieces may have been too small for projects my brother needed to work on, but they are perfect for small projects like this!
First up, a great big Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbours in the US. I hope you have an awesome day with friends and family and lots of delicious food! You have much to be thankful for, this year. 💕🦃
My daughter has not been able to get much sleep for the past couple of days, so she asked me to do the morning rounds today.
I got to indulge in kitties this morning!
Of course, there is always stuff to do, and this morning I did a bit of shoveling of paths and clearing of snow.
The first photo above is the little solar panels for the motion activated lights inside the kibble and food bowl shelters. They were completely covered with snow.
There isn’t a lot of snow on the ground, but enough that I made paths to the shrine and the catio. In the second photo above, you can see how some snow was piled up around the bottom of the catio. We tried to make sure the extra length of vinyl wrapped around the catio was tucked under the frame when we put it on, but of course, it can get loose. I wanted to make sure there was no chance of the wind catching the edges and pulling them loose. Of course, the snow will also act as an insulating layer and keep out any breezes that might get under. The catio is slightly elevated in the front, which did not get snow added, since the cats need space to slip into the door, and the door itself needs room to swing open if we need to untie it to reach inside.
The added insulation ceiling on the isolation shelter seems to have made quite a difference! Quite a few cats like to hand out in the upper level. The corner where the heated water bowl is actually gets condensation of the window and sliding door. The cutout for the extension cord is in that corner, too, and that’s where you can see a single spot where the snow is melted from below.
I’m quite happy with how this shelter is working out.
By the time I was heading back inside through the sun room, the cats had mostly finished eating and were settling in the various beds and cozy spots.
Adding that strip of insulation on the shelf in the isolation shelter is being much appreciated by little toe beans! They make full use of the spaces made for them in the sun room, too, including the cage under the platform – both in it and on top of it! Unfortunately, they do knock off the pieces of insulation in some areas, like one of the upper level cubes inside the cage, and even in the narrow space between the top of the cage and the platform. They knocked off the feed bag bed in the black shelf so often, I just left it on the floor. They seem to really like it on there, too.
What a bunch of cuties!
Surely, there are people out there that would want to adopt them!
A few years back, my daughter bought a package of half inch rigid insulation, and we still have a few sheets that have been untouched. These sheets are 2′ x 8′. The isolation shelter is 4′ long, so the first thing was to simply cut a sheet in half.
One piece went on whole, except for a notch cut out where the power cord comes out, near the hinge.
For the remaining space, my original thought was to have the piece long enough extend under the overhang of the roof, almost to the house all. I cut a strip off and set it in place, but found that the balance was off and there was a chance it could fall in between the house and the shelter. So I cut another strip off so that it would be flush with the frame, instead.
The insulation at the front is flush against the roof’s hinge board, which creates a 3/4 inch space. The rear is now raised a half inch, so the roof is almost completely level instead of sloping to drain to the rear of the shelter. Which is not a problem for the winter. We can allow snow to collect on the roof as more insulation over the season but, when it melts, I don’t necessarily want it to drain against the wall of the house.
With the new “ceiling” resting on the frame of the shelter, there is no longer a large space between the frame and the roof, but it will still have air circulation. The sliding doors would allow for slight air exchange, plus they get opened and closed whenever we do the food and water. The gap around the power cord will also allow air circulation. The bottom is now wrapped in plastic, but that’s hardly air tight, plus the floor is a pallet, so fresh air can come in from below, even if the ramp door is closed – and the ramp door has spaces between the boards and around the sides, so that will let fresh air in, too.
I was left with two 4′ lengths of insulation. One was a bit wider than the other, so I trimmed on end to fit and set it on the cat shelf. This will basically create a self-warming surface for them to sit on.
Of course, it would get knocked off easily, so I simply tied it in place with some paracord. One end is easy enough to do , since the sliding door is right next to it. The other end has the door in the front half, creating an insulated corner for the cat bed. I can reach inside easily with one arm, and could wrap the cord around the shelf, but tying it needs two hands.
It was a rather messy knot, but I think it will hold!
The excess cord was left because I know the cats will enjoy playing with it. In fact, Stinky tried to do exactly that, while I was still trying to tie a knot!
Hopefully, this will do well for the winter. We still need to figure out the best way to shelter the entrance from snow and wind, with the materials we have on hand.
All of this is temporary and will need to be removed in the spring, so that also has to be taken into consideration.
For now, I think the cats will be happy with that extra bit of insulation keeping the heat from the lamp, and their own bodies, from escaping out the top.
The Re-Farmer 