challenges

Oh, What a Pain!

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Coming from the background that I have has found me making some very interesting observations over the years.

Growing up here on this farm, I essentially grew up as if I were part of another generation.  We were subsistence farmers; we basically grew enough to support ourselves and make a bit of money selling a few cows.  When my father bought the farm from a family member, he upgraded from using horses to using tractors.  There are very few people my age that actually took part in stooking and threshing, outside of Thresherman’s reunions.  I can go into museums that feature pioneer displays and see tools and equipment I actually used.  We grew, raised and processed most of our own food.  It was, as I affectionately call it, a life two sticks ahead of the stone ages. Continue reading →

The Good, The … oh F****

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, now.

First the good stuff.

I have awesome brothers.  I phoned my younger brother today and asked if I could borrow their van for about a week.  Just until it warmed up and I could get our own van to the garage next week.  He said yes, and this allowed me to do the shopping for the month.  We have FINALLY been able to stock up on the basics and necessities.

Unfortunately…

Continue reading →

Well, Crud

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Today was supposed to be a bit warmer – the high was to be a balmy -20C this afternoon. After that, it’s supposed to scream back down again for the next few days, so I thought I would try again for a trip into town.

The van started no problem, but after about half a minute, it started making noises.

Different noises. Continue reading →

Didn’t quite make it

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

My older daughter and I were going to make a run into town today.

We decided against it.

The van started fine and we let the engine warm up before we started, but as I backed out of the garage, I was just not comfortable with how the engine sounded.  So back into the garage it went and I plugged it back in.

We depend on that van too much for me to take any chances.

This is what we’re looking at for the next while. Continue reading →

Done!

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Our plumber is a saint.

He worked until almost 9pm getting the new tank installed.  He started at about 6pm.

It works beautifully.

20171220_214614331200604.jpg

The job took up almost the entire CPP Disability payment that came in today.

Worth. Every. Penny.

Interestingly, he recognized me when he came in, and we later figured out where from.

He is also an excavator, and does grave digging on the side.  It turns out he buried my father, and had been at the internment.  That was almost two years ago.  Good memory! I’m lucky if I can recognize a person’s face the day after I’ve met them. Lol

He also had a grave to dig by tomorrow afternoon.  He was going to do it tonight, but made us a priority, instead.

Like I said. A saint!

Even the outside cats were appreciative.  The old tank was drained into the sump pump reservoir. There was enough to turn it on, to drain into the yard. When I came out with warm water for the cats, I found them gathered around the melted snow at the end of the drainage pipe, trying to drink the water. I was able to give them some nice, fresh clean warm water.

The old tank is still lying on its side at the reservoir.  We will figure out what to do with it in early spring, before things start getting wet down there.

None of us will be taking hot water for granted, that’s for sure!

An awesome Christmas present!

The Re-farmer

I’m so excited!

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

The plumber just swing by to check out what we’ve got and where the tank is, so he has a better idea of what he needs to bring along.  For example, this tank is a bottom feed, while new ones are top feed, so he will have to install a new shut off valve.  Things like that.

He has just left and will be back shortly with a new tank and supplies.

This beast has served us well for many decades.

Barring any unexpected problems, we should have hot water again in a few hours.

Oh, the luxury… 🤣

The Re-farmer

One more day

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

If all goes well, we have only one more day without hot water!

The plumber called me back this evening. Turns out he is out of town. After asking me some questions – including if we had any hot water right now – he said he could come over tomorrow!  He won’t reach The City until mid afternoon, where he will pick up a tank for us and collect what he needs to install it. Then he will give us a call before heading out.  Hopefully, he will be here around 3 or 4 pm.

Thank God CPP payments come in early at Christmas, or we would have to wait another week or two.

Getting the new tank in is going to be a challenge. Thankfully, he remembers this place and has an idea of what to expect.

Also, he takes payment by eTransfer. Which is cool, because we have no checks left.  Actually, I think we do, but I’m not sure what box they are in.

Speaking of boxes…

I am 99% sure we are missing some boxes.  The girls are unable to find some things, just as I have not been able to find my giant stock pot.  While we have not unpacked everything, we have at least opened all boxes and bins.

We were the last drop off, so the truck was empty when they unloaded our stuff.  It might be possible that a couple boxes went with one of the other two drop offs before us, but items have colour coded tags, so that’s unlikely.  They were not left behind in our old place.  So if they got lost somewhere, it is most likely to have been when our stuff was put in or out of storage.

Two provinces away.

But until we unpack more, there is still that 1% chance we just haven’t found them yet.

And it will likely be weeks before we reach the point where I can say I’m 100% sure.

Frustrating.

The Re-farmer

The Hot Water Saga continues…

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, that sucks.

It looks like we’re back to having hot water in the morning, but not for the rest of the day.

We got two showers in before it was gone.

It didn’t come back.

So the top band is working, but the bottom band isn’t.  It seems.  If that’s how it is, we’ll have hot water again in the morning.

Which we can put up with until we can come up with the money to have a new tank installed.

The list of things we’ll need to pay for, on top of catching up on things because of how much the move cost us, is getting very long.

The Re-Farmer

 

We Have a Door – and Hot Water!

/ Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

My brother has pulled off another miracle for us.

Two of them.

We had plans to go into the city around noon to finally take care of the Costco/pharmacy mess, then a Christmas dinner with my husband’s family.

It was also the day my brother booked to come fix our van door and the hot water tank. Because of our plans, he came much earlier.  Amazingly, he started the day at 5:30 am, took three hours to prepare for everything he could think of (because, once here, there is no alternative if something is missing), then drove the hour and a half or more in freezing rain to our place.

Then he lugged a 150-200 pound door down the stairs into the new part basement to work on.

Our door had a broken latch and couldn’t stay closed.  It happened because of a loose hinge that caused the door to drop.  When closing it, the latch would hit the bar it was supposed to catch on to stay closed.  Eventually, it simply broke. I’ve been driving with a bungee cord hooked onto the window frame to keep the door closed, ever since.  Our garage had tried to find a used or salvaged part for me, because a new one would have cost an insane amount of money, but they were unable to find a salvageable part.

My brother managed it, salvaging the hinge pieces as well as the entire door.

Long story short, he ended up McGyvering the two together.  The frame of the replacement door now has the inside shell of our original door, plus the outside handle of the original door – with the key lock in it – got transferred from the original door, to the replacement door.

This is the original door, with the broken hinge, as well as the broken latch.

It took him something like 5 or 6 hours!!!

Then, as soon as he was done, we headed to the city, while he switched to working on the hot water tank.  It turns out he got the last two of those bands left, not just in North America, but the world!  They haven’t been made in decades, and they were still in the original box.  He wasn’t sure if replacing them would fix the problem, but he was going to try.

We got home less than half an hour ago, and found we have hot water!

Which means, in the morning, instead of sending hours heating water for several people to have baths, we can take 10 minute showers, and get on with out day.

I love my brother.

Update: I just got off the phone with my brother. Turns out only the bottom band needed to be replaced, but the new one was several inches too short. He had to gerry-rig it.  He also found the schematics for the replacement thermostat was wrong, which likely explains the breaker going.

We shall see how the hot water is, tomorrow.  In the end, it’s still a temporary fix until we can get a new tank.

The Re-farmer

Getting Creative 

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I got the desk and computer set up in my “new” office. This is where the satellite cable comes through the wall.

Before moving the desk, the router was set up on top of a couple of boxes to get a stronger signal.  We still had to set up our signal booster in the master bedroom.  After moving the desk, I put a folding table that will eventually be a work/photography space, in the corner. The router was moved to the table, propped up on the boxes again.  Before going to bed, I popped an unpacked box on the table.  This morning, my husband found that box was enough to disrupt the signal.  It seemed just having it more in the corner was causing signal strength issues, too.

So we got creative and did this.

It looks awful, but it works, so who cares?

The girls have been joking about the squid on the wall since they saw it.  Especially since neither of them had their glasses.

Update: our router now has a name. Benevolent Internet Bot.

The Re-farmer