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!
That’s -28C/-18F with a windchill of -38C/-37F, in case the image isn’t showing up.
Brutal!
The wind is coming from the northwest, though, and we are pretty well sheltered from those.
Our high for today isn’t supposed to be much warmer, either. We’ve got one more day like this, then things are supposed to warm up dramatically for a while.
Checking the critter cam, the cats in the sun room are active and prowling around, waiting for food and warm water. There must be something wrong with the wall thermometer, though. The needle is just below freezing. I didn’t have my glasses while looking out the bathroom window, but it looks like it’s reading around -5C/-23F and there’s no way it’s that warm in there.
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.
I swear, it was more hectic as soon as I got home than with the running around I did earlier!
The Cat Lady and I met up after I dropped the cats off at the vet, then had breakfast at McRaunchies at the Walmart. She started handing me things for the back of the truck.
The big reusable bag, the cat bed, the small bags of cat food under it, and the big bag on the other side, are all from the Cat Lady. These are all things she can no longer feed her own cats, because it all has chicken in it, and The Wolfman keeps steeling into it, even though they give him things like freshly baked salmon way too often. There are five small bags under the cat bed. They are some fancy type of cat food – she described it as a prescription cat food, though the bags say senior cat on them – that normally cost $60 each. *gasp* She got them at half price, which is still insane. She warned me that this kibble really stinks. It’s a herring and chicken blend, so it’s likely the fish smell, she says. The cat bed is one her cats have stopped using for some reason, so she passed it on to us.
I am more than happy to take her cast offs!!
The other two bags were donated by a friend of hers for us. She’d never seen the brand before, so she couldn’t tell me anything about it.
After we loaded up the truck box, parted ways. I headed to the Dollarama to get new vinyl to repair the catio covering and things I thought might help hold it in place better – and some spring cat toys.
Then it was off to the Walmart to get some stuff my husband asked for. I also got myself a pair of slipper shoes. I’ve been trying to replace my inside shoes for ages, and can’t find any that are as comfortable as the old ones. So I tried the men’s slippers. I wasn’t able to try them on, but I got some size 9’s – the size I usually get – that were indoor/outdoor with memory foam insoles. I figured, if they didn’t fit, my daughter/s would have some new inside shoes.
I would have looked around for other things, but so many people were blocking the aisles, I gave up, paid for my stuff and left.
I still had time, so I drove across the street to the Canadian Tire to hang out there. Usually, I would have just stayed in the truck and napped, but it was too cold.
I did remember to pick up a carabiner for the isolation shelter latch, and a windshield fluid funnel for the truck. I was able to pay for it with change. I’m glad I had some, because I wouldn’t have wanted to make such a small purchase on my debit card! 😄
I did almost buy myself a new winter “going out” coat. I found a display of nice parkas on clearance that were very affordable. Alas, it was not to be. Being built like a tank has its disadvantages. I found an XXL to try on, and it mostly fit, until I tried to move my arms. My shoulders were too broad for it, and they didn’t have any bigger sizes.
Ah, well.
I still had time and it was coming up on noon, so I headed over to a nearby Timmies for lunch. For my readers outside of Canada, Tim Horton’s, aka: Timmies, is an iconic Canadian coffee and donut shop, though I don’t think they are Canadian owned anymore. Tim Horton was a hockey player. Today, they now do all sorts of sandwiches, soups and so on, as well as coffee and donuts.
Until yesterday, when my daughter and I went to one for breakfast, I hadn’t been to one in ages.
My daughter worked at the local one for awhile. She ended up quitting because of the health and safety violations from one employee. When she made a complaint to the manager, she was the one who got in trouble. After seeing more health violations by this employee that got ignored, she quit. She later got a job at the pharmacy across the street. During her interview, she told them why she’d quit her last job. The manager that was interviewing her just nodded and told her, that manager was gone.
The problem employee, however, wasn’t, yet.
We don’t go to that location at all anymore.
Then the illegal lockdowns and mandates happened and the entire franchise went full gestapo, right down to the physical assault of patrons.
I would rather have gone somewhere else, but it was either Timmie’s or back to McRaunchies. I do like their chili. A nice, thick, robust chili that is low on spice heat, so it’s something I can actually eat, served with a generously sized baguette style bun. I figured I would have chili for lunch.
It was quite the disappointment. It wasn’t chili. It was soup. I ended up literally drinking it out of the cup, because I could barely get anything with the wooden spoon they now provide. The bun was half the size, too. Meanwhile, the price was higher than it used to be, too.
Ah, well. At least the Boston Creme I also got was still tasty! A donut used to be part of the meal deal, but I had to order it separately.
I should have gone back to McRaunchies.
At this point, I still hadn’t heard from the vet clinic, but I figured I would be hearing from them soon, so I decided to go back and stay in their waiting room until the cats were ready to go home.
When I got there and told the receptionist which cats I was waiting for, she went to check their status for me.
They were ready!
It turned out, they had tried to phone me and left messages, but I never got a call. I had given my cell phone number before I left earlier, and asked what number they had.
One digit was wrong.
Someone out there must be getting some very confusing messages on their voice mail! This happened last time, too. I will need to take extra care in enunciation when I gave them my cell phone number in the future.
I’m told the kittens both did really well. They got their spay and neuter, basic vaccinations, tattoos and treatment for ear mites.
Since the rescue was covering the cost of this, they had to call the Cat Lady before they could release the cats, and then I was on my way.
Once they were loaded up, it was straight home. I’d already arranged for my daughter to take care of getting the isolation shelter ready, making sure the food and water was topped up, the litter box was good, moving the entry box and closing the ramp door so that there would not be other cats in it. She had to use the bricks that were under the entry box to keep the ramp door closed, though, until I could get the carabiner on the latch.
When I got home, I backed the truck up to the house, then dashed inside for a quick bathroom break while my daughter headed to the truck to get the carriers out.
When I got back to help her, I discovered she had slipped and falling, landing hard on one knee, on the concrete.
She is now walking with a cane again, because of it!
😢😢
As for getting the cats in, we used one of the sliding doors on the second level. I tossed in a couple of the spring toys for them, first.
Kohl was easy to do; she let me pick her up and cuddle her a moment before I put her on the shelf board with the sheet of insulation on it. She promptly loafed on the insulation and stayed there.
The fluffball – we still haven’t named him – wouldn’t let me take him out of the carrier, though, so my daughter just brought it up to the open window in the second level and opened the carrier door. He dashed right in, then down to the lower level and tried to get out!
My daughter took the carriers in while I unloaded the truck. Kohl stayed calm, but the poor male was having panic attacks, in between stopping to eat a bit. He really wanted out.
With the stuff brought inside, I fed the rest of the outside cats early to occupy them, so that I could safely drive the truck out of the yard and park it in the garage. When I came back, I grabbed a can of wet cat food and added it to the food bowl in the isolation shelter. While they are in isolation, they will get to enjoy wet cat food, since we know it won’t freeze in there. Hopefully, that will help socialize the male.
In between things, I took the new cat bed and set it on my bed next to our elderly Freya, who was asleep on one of my pillows. I came back a few minutes later and found this.
There are three cases of 24 cans from the Cat Lady – plus the 6 I used to make cat soup. There were also two big containers of treats. Made with Real Chicken! There’s another case of 12 same size cans from her friend, plus I think 9 of the big cans. There are also 3 boxes. They are labelled duck paté, but also as “sensitive” and as grain free. The boxes look like they should have liquid in them, though, not paté. I’m curious to find out what these are!
There were also three more bags of kibble hidden under the cans, the same size as the five small bags of kibble from the Cat Lady.
I’ve looked up the brand for most of these, and it looks like they are the house brand of a specific pet store franchise, which would explain why neither the Cat Lady nor I were familiar with it.
After I got all the cat stuff done, I finally settled down to try on the new slipper shoes I bought.
My daughter now has new indoor shoes.
I couldn’t even get my feet into them! I do usually get size 9 men’s shoes – in triple wide. These were NOT triple wide. *sigh*
Then I remembered that, since I had cats in the truck, I hadn’t stopped to close the driveway gate behind me, so I bundled up and took care of that. On the way back, I got a couple of pictures.
The entry box is just off to the side, and as you can see, it’s also being used as a shelter, even though it’s completely open at the back!
A lot of cats were trying to get into the shelter. Some of them had gotten used to being able to stay in there. Unfortunately, we can’t be letting other cats in and out when we have one that needs to recover. The fluffball male could probably be let out, but then Kohl would be in there by herself, and that would not be good. The male does seem to be calming down and only panics a bit and tries to get out when the house door opens and startles him. If you click through to the next picture, you can see that Kohl is still quite content to just loaf on the insulated shelf!
So the isolation shelter is getting its first test run. So far, it seems to be holding well, though it already looks like cats have tried to claw their way in from the outside! The vinyl on one corner at the back is tattered a bit. Not that they can get through the wire, but they may be trying to reach the window. They know it opens.
As I write this, we are at -16C/3F. The wind chill is -33C/-27F, but with the plastic around the bottom, that should have little effect inside the isolation shelter. The vinyl wrapped around the lower level should keep the wind out. They have the heat lamp, two cat beds to curl up in, one on each level, plus the insulated box “nest” under the shelf. Even the heated water bowl would add some warmth to the upper level. Some wind might get through the spaces between the boards of the ramp door, but this will make sure they get some fresh air coming in. With colder air coming in from the bottom, and warm air escaping through the gaps around the sliding windows and the space in the insulation ceiling the extension cord runs through, there should be decent air circulation in there, while still being warm.
Our temperatures are supposed to go up overnight, and keep going up for our daytime highs. Our forecast for Saturday is now a high of 4C/39F. It’s expected to slowly drop after that until we get a sharp drop on Wednesday, which is supposed to have a high of -20C/-4F, though the overnight low is supposed to be just a few degrees colder.
The long term forecast has changed and, while we are still supposed to reach highs above freezing in the week before Christmas, the overnight lows around Christmas and Boxing Day are expected to dip below -30C/-22F. 🥶 The cats will no longer need to be isolated well before then, so they will be able to join cuddle puddles in various heated areas by then.
Of course, the forecast is different pretty much every time I check it, so we’ll see how things actually go. I just want things to stay mild during their isolation period!
Meanwhile, tomorrow I will finally be able to do my Costco shopping. December is a weird month for my husband’s disability payments, though, and it comes in before Christmas instead of at the end of the month. Usually, that has meant us doing our Christmas/New Year’s shopping and January stock up shopping at the same time. This trip is so much later in the month than usual, I might be able to do most of that tomorrow, but we’ll see.
The less time spent shopping, this time of year, the better. I’d hibernate all winter, if I could! I don’t like shopping and I don’t like crowds at the best of times, never mind with holiday crowds and winter driving! Even just today, by the time I got home, I found the donated canned cat food I used to make the cat soup had started to freeze!
Ah, well. It is what it is. No point complaining about it! 😁
As for me, I didn’t get much sleep last night and had to get up extra early, so I am more than ready to go to bed early tonight!
Who am I kidding. I’ll probably be lucky to get to bed before midnight, anyhow! 😄😄
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!
Okay, it wasn’t too back, but I really hate driving at night at the best of times. Add in things like blowing snow and being buffeted by winds, even if it’s just a smaller amount, is something I’d rather avoid. That wind was really bitter. As I write this, we are at -13C/9F with a windchill of -26C/-15F. I actually broke out my ratty old down filled parka for the trip!
I need a “going out” coat. 😄
My husband’s appointment for his CT scan was at 5:30, and we needed to be on the road by 4:30 at the latest. We decided to leave at about 3, giving us time to get some gas and *gasp* make a date of it!
A cheap date.
We ended up going to the nearer Walmart I usually go to in between stock up shopping trips, as it’s very close to the hospital my husband’s appointment was at, and had some McRaunchies. 😁
It doesn’t take much to make us happy.
Best of all, it was still daylight for the drive in.
A downside was not being able to park close to the doors. My husband does have a disabled parking permit, but all the parking spots were full. I was driving around and there was one open spot, but another vehicle pulled into it – parking diagonally, and not even trying to straighten out – before I got close. So we had to park quite a bit further out and my husband had to push his walker through the snow.
As far as we could see, the car that got the spot ahead of us did not have a disabled parking permit.
It was still there when we left, too.
Even when we got to the hospital parking lot, most of the disabled parking spots were taken – at least the ones that were closest to the entry. I thought there was one really great spot, but it turned out to be permit parking only.
I dropped my husband off at the entrance, but had to block the access lane to do it. The area in front of the doors was blocked by a handy van, and all the spaces in front and back of it, which are all 10 minute drop off zones, had cars parked in them.
By the time I found a parking spot and came in, my husband was already checked in and in the waiting room at diagnostic imaging. We were only about 15 minutes early at that point.
They got him in about 15 minutes late.
The downside of leaving so early is, he was in quite a lot of pain by then.
As for the scan itself, he was in and out in less than 10 minutes! That included the time needed for them to help him get off the table. He could get on all right, but his back wouldn’t let him get up without assistance.
When we stopped in the lobby so my husband could put his coat on, I checked the time and it was exactly 6pm. It was straight home from there, but the drive took quite a bit longer than usual. With the poor visibility and blowing snow, I was driving about 80-90kmh (50-55 mph) in 100kmh zones (62mph).
I got passed only once, and there was quite a bit of traffic!
What is usually around a 45-50 minute drive ended up taking just over an hour.
But, it’s over and done with. His new doctor will have up to date scans to look at and see how much more his spine has deteriorated since the last scan, a few years ago. Which isn’t even the injury that disabled him, but there’s nothing they have been able to do about the soft tissue damage. Hopefully, when she wants to talk to him about the results, his doctor will be okay with a telephone appointment. Even though the clinic is in the town nearest us, it’s still really painful for him to get to it.
Once at home and heading into the house, I was very happy to see that there were several cats hanging out inside the isolation shelter. Since we can’t see into it unless we are outside, I’m never quite confident that it’s being used. Especially when I look out the bathroom window and see piles of cats smashed together on the cats beds in there. 😄
My brain is still not used to these early sunsets. Even during the drive home, when it just past 7pm, it felt like it should be midnight! Now, I look at my clock and it’s not even 8:30pm yet.
It just feels wrong. 😄
Then, just when I’ll finally be used to it, it’ll be the solstice and the days will start getting longer again. 😄
When I saw all those long range forecasts saying we’d be getting consistent highs above freezing, I knew things would likely be different, but… really?
This is what it was like when I did my morning rounds; -18C/~0F, with a wind chill of -26C/-15F! That’s January temperatures!
This time of year, we all tend to be tired of the cold and snow – even after as mild a winter as we had this year – but to have such warm weather melting everything all through February, and a forecast saying it would continue, to the complete opposite is downright depressing!
The yard cats don’t seem to mind it, though!
I actually got to pet Broccoli this morning! I snuck a pet as she walked in front of me, after taking this picture, and she actually stopped eating to enjoy shoulder scritches for a little while. So far, that’s still as much as she will allow. Junk Pile, who’s licking her chops enthusiastically here, had been eating with her back to me, and I was able to rest my hand on her back. Just for about half a second, before she realized what was happening and got all startled, then moved to where she is in the photo. Altogether, I think I counted maybe 23 cats, but they were running around so much, I’m just not sure!
Yesterday, I made a quick garden tour video for the first day of spring. While I was recording inside the big aquarium greenhouse, I didn’t see that we had new tomato sprouts until I uploaded the video to my desktop. This morning there are more, and the ones that the video picked up are already much larger. So far, it’s just the middle row, plus one in another row, that are germinating.
The other seed trays, however, show no activity. These are the ones in the new seed starting trays with their grow lights, and are set above the heat vent. I think it might still be too cold for them, though. I think what I’ll do, is shift the San Marzano tomatoes off the heat mat, to the other side of the tank. The new trays, with the peppers and other tomatoes, can go on the heat mat, along with the Butterfly Flower tray. I’ll remove the domes on the new trays, since they won’t be needed in the aquarium greenhouse. That will free up the LED grow lights to put over the bin with bell peppers and thyme, to give them a bit of a boost.
I’d refilled it last night, which is the only reason there’s any water in it at all this morning. The outside heated water bowl stopped working, so this is their only liquid water right now. As it gets colder, the “steam” from evaporation freezes on the sides as the water level goes down.
All the kibble bowls outside were still full this morning. The cats stayed inside the sun room, rather than going into the cold to eat. Not even the racoons came out to eat their kibble! Checking the critter cam at one point, I actually saw Sprout in there. Sprout almost never comes near the house and prefers to eat at the bowls under the shrine. I didn’t even put kibble at the shrine bowls last night. I want the cats to come to the shelters by the house!
Our inner main entry door also had frost built up at the bottom and all along the hinge side, and the three decorative windows have a rather thick layer of ice on them. I know we were supposed to hit a wind chill of -35C/-31F last night, but I think that actual temperature wasn’t too far from that.
This morning, when I headed outside, it was -28C/-18F with a wind chill of -31C/-24F. I didn’t bother to switch out the trail cam cards, but I did clear the snow off the front steps, and the concrete sidewalk blocks that make up our little patio under the kitchen window, and the path to the chain link fence gate. Yes, I was wearing my down filled coat, but that small amount of shoveling was all I was up to doing this morning! The winds last night were high enough that the path to the compost heap and most of the path to the outhouse and back door of the garage were completely filled in. You can’t even tell where the paths were, it’s been blown so smooth!
As I write this, we’ve warmed up to -21C/-6F, with a wind chill of -28C/-18F. By all reports, the roads are clear and free of ice. I even saw the plow go past our driveway while I was outside, feeding the yard cats for the evening. Our expected high today is supposed to be -16C/3F, though not until well into the afternoon.
So there’s no real reason for me to NOT go into the city today and do our first stock up shop at Costco, except…
Tomorrow, we’re supposed to have a high of -9C/16F, and Friday, we’re supposed to actually reach 1C/34F! At which point, I’m thinking, why do all that driving around in the cold, when it’s going to be so warm, tomorrow? If the conditions were expected to stay cold for the next few days, or if we were actually running out of stuff, rather than just running low, I’d make the trip, but there’s really no need, if it can be delayed another day.
After talking about it with my daughters, my older daughter asked if a short trip were an option, which I don’t mind doing in the afternoon. I’m not too concerned about the truck not having a plug for the block heater, since it’s in the garage, but I’d still prefer not to drive at temperatures below -20C/-4F, if I can avoid it.
So she’s springing for a Dairy Queen trip for supper tonight. 😄
I had a much interrupted night, so I asked the girls to feed the outside cats. I’m supposed to be trying to get sleep right now, but the interruptions continue!
While a daughter was outside, feeding cats, I checked the weather. Good grief!
Twenty below zero, with a windchill of -27C!!!
And my daughter hadn’t bothered to put on a coat!
She informed me that she was able to pet the super fluffy little tabby.
Today, our high is supposed to be -10C. Tomorrow, we’re supposed to reach 5C!
The critters outside must be so confused.
Speaking of critters, the raccoons are showing up in the sun room at night, more often. I chased at least 4 out last night!
Anyhow.
I don’t think I’ll be getting that sleep I need. The interruptions just aren’t slowing down! I’m going to be a useless wreck, today. 🙁
Interestingly, as I check the weather app this evening, we have actually warmed up a bit from this afternoon. We are at -14C right now. We are at -16C when I headed out shortly after noon to run errands.
But then, there is the windchill.
It feels like -27C out there!
To be honest, when I went out to feed the cats outside somewhere between 4 and 5 pm, it felt colder. The wind is from the south, which means we are getting the full force of it.
We really need a windbreak on our south side!
I’m so glad that heat lamp for the outside cats came in when it did!
The Re-Farmer 