First stock up shop: this is what $794 looks like

February 26, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 4 Comments

Our first stock up shopping trip for the month is one where we go to three different stores that are all along one street. All three together came to $794.44 in total. This month was different, though, as we got quite a few things we normally would not have, on top of taking advantage of sales.

I did not try to take photos of the receipts this time. With all the extra printing of discounted amounts, they were pretty long. That and I haven’t been able to clear quite as much storage space in my WP account as I want to, yet. I will still take photos for my own personal records. Just not to post here, this time.

Our first stop was actually at my mother’s town. We didn’t need to get gas, as I filled the tank yesterday, but we did stop at the gas station to pick up a couple of much needed energy drinks. I also made sure to phone my mother before we left, to confirm she got her med assist visit from home care this morning. She did, so we were soon on our way.

Once in the city, our first stop was Walmart. Here, we wanted to make sure to not get anything that needed to be refrigerated or would be affected by the cold.

The only really usual thing I got was a couple of bags of kibble, to tide us over until I cat get to the feed store in the town north of us, tomorrow, and Costco, which will be the day after tomorrow. I got the 9.1kg size bags that now cost $29.97. These have actually gone down in price. The other usual thing was a 4 pack of energy drinks. There were also some personal hygiene items for my daughters.

I’m actually having a hard time reading what’s on the receipt, and figuring out what the item it, for some things. The shorthand names are sometimes just a bunch of consonants and numbers. I’ll try to remember what they were!

We got a new laundry basket for my daughters. We need to get two more, but have just one for now. I remembered to get an LED Jesus candle for my mother, so she can stop lighting a real candle when she says her prayers. Safter that way! My daughter remembered that we needed more bandages and found us a box.

We got two different types of mop head replacements, for our two different types of mops, including one that is used only in the basement. We also got a total of 6 boxes of chocolates, in three different flavour combinations, as they were at more than 50% off. We can store the extras in the freezer. I also found the Filipino soy sauce my husband likes; we usually get that at the international grocery store, but I actually found some in Walmart’s international aisle. Then we got a couple of cans of coconut milk for my daughters (I am not a fan of the stuff, myself).

We were running low on cleaners and were out of toilet bowl cleaner, so we got two spray bottles of cleaner and are trying a new “eco” brand of toilet bowl cleaner. We also stocked up on air fresheners. I got two that were specifically designed for pet odours, as some of our cats are particularly foul smelling when they use the litter boxes! We got a couple of others for more general use.

I think that was everything.

The total number of items sold was 26, and all but the kibble fit into the laundry basket. The total was $214.29

It would have been more, but two items we got – a new toilet brush, as our current one just lost is under the rim cleaner piece, and a new toilet roll holder – ended up not having their prices on them. We chose to leave them rather than try and find the prices. My daughter prefers to use self check out and offered to look it up, but I didn’t want to take the time. We figured we would look for them in Canadian Tire.

Which was our next stop.

There was only one thing I had on my list for Canadian Tire, but planned to look at other stuff.

Which I never got around to. We got distracted.

The two bags of litter pellets were what I wanted to get. We aren’t out, I wanted to get enough to last us the rest of the month. Plus, these had bonus Canadian Tire Dollars on them, right now.

My distraction was a portable mini greenhouse. I’d resisted getting it last month, but the sale was just too good; $89.93 instead of $189.99. We spent some time going over the display, debating its merits, then decided to go ahead and get it. It is basically a walk in version of the mini greenhouse we already have – which we can’t really use anymore, as it has become a very handy place for the outside cats, in the sunroom. We actually won’t really be able to use the sun room for transplants. I mean, we could, but having the portable greenhouse would just be better for our transplants and for hardening them off – and protect them from getting walked on and knocked about by the cats. It’s 4′ x 6′ and more then enough for our current needs.

When we decided to get it, I loaded it onto the bottom of the cart while my daughter kept the cart from rolling away. As we were doing it, there was an older gentleman with is cart, watching us. It looked like he wanted to look at the displays our cart was blocking, so as soon as we were done, we moved aside. Which is when he started to ask if we worked there, then realized that no, we obviously didn’t.

It turned out he wanted to get one of these greenhouses, too, and was looking for someone to help him load one into his cart. So we did it for him. He was quite happy, and we had ourselves a lovely chat – and we now have a recommendation for a type of geranium to grow. I am not a flower person, so I can’t remember the name, but my daughter is, and does.

Then, while walking around trying to find where the toilet brushes were, my daughter spotted a display of scoops. They’re meant for pet food, but we got it for our litter pellets, as the handle on the dollar store one we’ve been using broke off, so we’ve been using the remaining cracked scoop. I’ve been trying to find a good sized replacement for a while, so I’m really glad she spotted it.

We did find the toilet brushes, but I didn’t like any of the designs, so we didn’t get one. We never found the toilet roll holders.

We did find some amazing clearance prices for cat towers, but none were in stock. While trying to find them, we found ourselves looking at various scratching posts and scratch pads. I used to get the scratch pads made of corrugated cardboard. The cats love them but, unfortunately, we have a cat, or cats, that pees on them, and then they’re useless! What we did spot was an S shaped scratcher and lounger, that also has a dangling toy under part of it. The price was right, so we got that.

The cats love it!

While looking for the toilet brushes and holders, my daughter found something else that she’s been wanting for a while. One of those dust pans with a tall handle on it, so you don’t have to bend over to hold it in place while sweeping into it. It wasn’t very expensive, either.

Last of all, we remembered to pick up a cover for the truck’s steering wheel. It may be late in the season for it, but that steering wheel gets painfully cold. After looking at our options, we settled for the blingy-est cover we could find! The outer edge of it is all rhinestones. It was either that or fluffy fake fur.

All of this, in total, was $188.91 Less than what that greenhouse would have cost, if it were not on sale. So that wasn’t too bad.

By the time we were done there, it was past lunch time, so before we went to our next store, we stopped for food. After discussing our options, my daughter chose a DQ that was right next to the international grocery store. Our burger meals, upgraded to include a poutine for her, and onion rings for me, cost $36.92 in total.

Sharing the same parking lot is a Dollarama, and I wanted to go there to see if they got their garden stakes in stock, yet. I want to get more of the large ones, as they are really, really handy, a better quality than the ones I’ve found at Canadian Tire or Walmart, and a fraction of the price.

Alas, they did not have them in yet, though their garden supply section does have quite a lot already in. After going through the store to see about other things we were considering getting, I ended up getting myself a new, memory foam neck pillow. I prefer to use these instead of a regular pillow. I find my ears start to feel smashed on a regular pillow, and with the horseshoe shape of a neck pillow, that doesn’t happen. It only cost $5 before taxes.

Then, we finally went to the international grocery store; our last stop. I’d already been looking at the sales and special offers in their app and this was going to be a bigger shop than usual for here.

Again, I’m going to have to decipher some things on the receipt, which is in alphabetical order by brand name, so this list is going to be all over the place!

There is Oyster sauce (for the girls), a couple of Arizona Iced teas, on sale (for my daughter, one for the drive home), a large block of Old Cheddar cheese (excellent sale price!), an assorted Danish pack (for my daughters), some Black Garlic gouda cheese, Bubly sparkling water (for my daughters; I find the stuff disgusting!), a 3lb bag of carrots (on sale), a chicken Yakisoba bento box (my supper), two boxes of Coke Zero for my husband and I (all the canned drinks were on sale), and a small bottle of Coke Zero Orange cream (for the drive home, and a new thing to try – also on sale).

My daughter spotted something we haven’t seen in a very long time; packages of Polish cow fudge; a cream fudge with a cow logo. They were on sale, so I asked her to grab two. She also picked out a couple of packages of frozen dumplings, plus we got a couple of 2L cartons of oat milk for my lactose intolerant daughters.

The sales were good enough that I was able to stock up on frozen seafood for my daughters, too; Basa fillets and a couple of different cuts of salmon. I got a chub of ground beef that was on sale.

Baking chips were also on an excellent sale, so I got one bag each of mint, butterscotch and milk chocolate.

My daughter picked a bottle of coffee creamer. Also for the girls was a box of roasted seaweed and two shakers of Katsuo Furikake, which has Bonito flakes in it.

I got four loaves of rye bread, which were on sale, and a “lumber jack” sandwich (my husband’s supper – it’s big enough for two or three meals!). I found boxes of granola bars at a really good sale price, so I got two of them; one for my daughters to share and one for my husband and I to share.

We got a wedge of Porter Beer cheddar, and two bags of red potatoes. The red potatoes were more than half off. There was a sale on rice cakes, too, so we got four packages. We very rarely get rice cakes.

My daughter picked up some sesame oil and Shirakiku rice (I don’t cook with either), plus a couple of salmon roll sushi for her and her sister to have for supper.

I picked up some of the locally produced slab bacon; one regular smoked and one applewood smoked. All of that company’s products were 20% off. I got a couple of packages of thick cut bacon that were on sale. We also picked up a couple of boxes of frozen tempura pickle chips that were insanely discounted. Perhaps, after we try them, we’ll find out why! 😄

I forgot to get distilled water for my husband at the Walmart, so we got a couple of gallon jugs here.

Last on the receipt is some Bonito soy sauce my daughter chose.

These made for a grant total of $378.82 Our total savings is listed as $87.56 As our total was over $300, I also got 40x the loyalty points, plus they also had a double the points offer that did not have any purchase limit requirements. I am saving my points for around Christmas, when we can usually get free turkeys with points.

While this is a stock up shopping trip, this one was larger than usual, and had a lot of things we get rarely, or will probably never need to get again.

By the time we were done, both of us were in a lot of pain, and we were more than happy to be heading home!

We did have one last stop to make, though. We took our time with the shopping partly so that I wouldn’t be too early to stop at my mother’s for her evening med assist, since there was no one with home care available for her two evening visits. It was still earlier than she would usually have a home care worker arrive, but still within the time frame on the bubble pack for those meds. Still, I was early enough that I took the time to test her blood pressure and get a pulse oximeter reading first. Once that was done, I got her medications that she took right away, then got her later ones ready in the tiny bowl with a tagine cover on it that she likes so much. I made sure to record my visit details on the note that I left for the home care worker to read, tomorrow, and tuck that into the lock box with everything else.

While I was inside with my mother, my daughter got that new steering wheel cover on. While the bling is hilariously tacky and fun, it actually feels really good on the hands while driving!

I didn’t bring in the LED candle I got for her, though. It was too far back in the truck box to reach!

Once done at my mother’s, it was finally time to go home and unload. After unloading, my daughter waited until I started feeding the outside cats, and they were all lured away from the truck, before she parked it in the garage. My older daughter had already started to put things away, but she wasn’t feeling well and had to be careful not to move too fast. She was very happy to see those personal hygiene products! We were all happy to not have to cook supper!

The good thing is that, even if something happened and we couldn’t do our Costco shopping on Friday, we are stocked up enough to last us for quite a while. An Alberta Clipper is blowing through; we got a bit of snow today, and will be getting more over the next two days. Most of the system will be passing to the North of us, though, so it should not be an issue for travel.

In other things, I did not get a call from the home care coordinator. I’ll have to remember to call her tomorrow morning, before my daughter and I head out for her PCOS ultrasound.

I also got a message from our mechanic. That new oil sensor will cost $103.99, and he will not be charging us labour, since they cleaned, rather than replaced it, yesterday. To get the other things done that was noticed while they were working on the truck, will be another $648.65 for parts and labour. After much debating with myself, I have decided to go ahead and get it all done. It means using the credit card beyond our budget, but it’s either that or we drag it out over the next several months. Better to bite the bullet now and pay it off through the budget as if we had done it piecemeal, then to allow things to slowly worsen over time and potentially cost more, later. None of this includes replacing those wheel sensors with dead batteries, but all that means is we make sure to keep the tires properly inflated, which we do anyhow.

*sigh*

Having my husband’s disability payments come in once a month makes it easier to budget things. Going to the city to do our stock up shopping in bulk saves us hundreds of dollars per month, and leaves enough budget to buy things that need to be purchased more often, like eggs, milk, bread, fresh fruits, etc., locally. Especially when we happen to also be able to take advantage of sales that we would normally miss out on, because we live too far from the city to catch them. Still, it is awfully painful to see how much is being spent in just a couple of trips!

It is done, though, and for that I am glad.

The Re-Farmer

Finally! Costco! This is what $777 looks like

February 4, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I did NOT want to go out today.

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The temperature of -27C/-17F stayed for most of the morning. Only the wind chill fluctuated. The screen cap above was taken just before I headed outside, so it was still -35C/-31F at the time.

I did short rounds, but I also made sure to get the truck running and check it over. The one tire was still looking low, even though I’d topped it up not all that long ago. The gas station pump I used really sucked, though, so I wasn’t too surprised that it was. I fired up the compressor to top up all the tires. The truck was plugged in and started fine, but the compressor was not enjoying running in these cold temperatures!

Last night I got a call from the gentleman from my mother’s church that had been helping her out the day she went into the ER. He still had her walker. I don’t know where he got my number from, but I’m glad he did. My mother had told me his name, and my brother had tried looking it up in the church director, but couldn’t find him.

It turned out, that wasn’t his name.

My Mom couldn’t pronounce his French name, so she was using an English version!

Yesterday, I’d cleared the end of the driveway from the gate to the road, which is where it tends to drift. The main thing was to clear the old plow ridge that now had more snow drifted over it. Then I cleared in front of the garage. I kept telling myself not to push it, but I do enjoy shoveling a lot, and just kept going!

My daughters took care of all the evening stuff once I got in, because I was really stiffening up! I would have stayed home today to recover, but then we started getting weather warnings. We’re supposed to get snow all day tomorrow, and into the next day. It was either go to the city today, or I probably wouldn’t manage it for at least two days.

I did wait before heading out, as I had a package to pick up at the post office. I called the gentleman with my mother’s walker to let him know I could stop by today, then headed out.

Only to discover that the post office opened a half hour later today.

I was only 15 minutes early, but I wasn’t going to wait around.

So, off I went to get my mother’s walker. The gentleman lives in the building where the Meals on Wheels are prepared, as well as meals for residents.

Wow, did it smell good when I walked in!

I found his apartment and had a nice chat with him and his wife before heading out. There was someone with a hair net in the lobby as I was reaching the door, so I asked if she was one of the Meals on Wheels cooks. She said yes, so I made sure to tell her just how much my mother enjoyed their meals. It turned out she knew my mother, so I updated her a bit on how my mother is doing.

My next stop was my mother’s apartment. I found some mail under her door, and a notification from the public housing department, saying that there would be a fire and safety inspection coming up. I don’t think my mother will be back for that. Hopefully, she won’t be back at all, as she really wants to be in long term care, and I’d hope to at least get her into assisted living, if long term care can’t be managed.

I grabbed a few items for my mother. Her daily devotions book that she has read and re-read so many times, it’s held together with duct tape. I know she likes to have a candle while saying her prayers, and there was an LED candle in an adorable mini bird cage on her table, so I grabbed that. It took me a while, but I found her rosary, too.

Once I was sure everything was good, and her plant was watered, I headed to the town my mother is in. I did stop to get $40 of gas first, though. The price was $1.459 there and the last time I was in the other town, they were still at $1.499. I didn’t fill, though, as I planned to do that at Costco.

When I got to the hospital and my mother’s door with her walker, I found it closed completely, which is unusual. Just in case, I went to the nurse’s desk to make sure my mother hadn’t been moved to another room. She was not, so I headed back.

As I was walking down the hall, I saw a young man walking towards me that was looking very, very familiar. It was my nephew! I haven’t seen him in ages. He does live in this province, but about 2 hours away, and works nights, to it’s rather difficult to connect. We had a nice chat before we had to part ways.

When I got to my mother’s room again and knocked, there was no answer. I went in and found the bathroom door closed, so I set up the stuff I brought for her on her little table. She could hear someone was there, so I let her know it was me. When she came out, she was using the hospital walker, which is too tall for her. She was very happy to see her own walker, and immediately wanted to switch!

Then she saw what I’d brought for her and…

… started lecturing me on how she has too many things. She’s only there temporarily. She only prays the rosary when taking communion, and she’s going home in a few days.

What????

I asked about it, and she told me they were going to be sending her home on Thursday. We have a meeting with the doctor on Thursday, so she said they would probably send her home after that.

Which did not make sense to me at all.

I didn’t ask more about it, though, and we had ourselves a short visit. I explained to her that I had to go into the city next, because we’re expecting more snow tomorrow. It was a good visit, overall. My mother is looking better, but she says she doesn’t have much energy.

For someone that’s 93 years old, though, she is still a dynamo! People far younger than her have a hard time keeping up.

As I was leaving, I did stop at the nurse’s desk again and asked about her being sent home on Thursday. The receptionist looked at her files, and there was nothing about that. Just the meeting with the doctor. We have no idea why she thought otherwise, but she told me she would tell the nurse about it so she could let my mother know she will NOT be going home on Thursday.

From there, it was off to the city, which was about an hour’s drive. Once I got close to the Costco, I stopped at a mall to have lunch at the food court. I’d only had a banana for breakfast, so I was getting pretty hungry! I ended up going to an A&W for a single Mozza burger (it’s been so long since I’ve had one, I forgot I usually ask for a double), onion rings and a medium drink. That cost $17.43! I can’t remember exactly how many years it’s been (4, maybe 5, years), but the last time I ate at A&W and had the double Mozza meal, it was less under $12.

*sigh*

From there, it was off to the Costco, where I first filled the tank. Their prices were $1.379 While I’d already put in $40, which put me at 3/4 of a tank, I’d done enough driving that it cost $56.39 to fill the tank.

Even with the cheaper Costco gas, it cost me a total of $96.39 to fill my tank today!

Then it was time to grab a flat card and to the shopping.

This is what $777.06 looks like.

Some things, like the Monster energy drinks, my older daughter already sent me funds for. A few other things on their shopping list will be paid back later.

This is what I got today.

The top item is granulated garlic powder, which was at least a couple of dollars more expensive than the last time I bought it at Costco! The Goodhost Iced Tea is a better prices that most places, though still higher than it was a couple of years ago.

I got the Kirkland brand mayonnaise, as it’s cheaper than the Hellmans we used to get. The Basmati right is one of the best prices for the size of the bag. Coconut oil (an item from my daughter’s list) is also much cheaper at Costco than elsewhere.

The AA batteries were on sale, at least, though they have a pretty high eco fee on top!

The brown sugar (or, should I say, yellow sugar) is a really good price compared to elsewhere. The Irish Spring soap is a pack of 20 and will last us for months. My daughter buy their own fancier bar soap. My husband are fine with the cheap stuff, and these are the cheapest Costco has that I could see.

The salad kits are each 2 packs. Most places are almost that price for just one.

The tilapia fillets are for the girls. I’m glad I picked up meats when I found good sales earlier, because my budget wasn’t enough for more meats today.

The B100 vitamins are what my new doctor wants me on instead of just B12. The Magnesium, I take for restless legs, and I’d run out of those. I forgot to pick up more Zinc, though. I ran out of that, this morning.

For block cheese, I got mozzarella and old cheddar. I also got 2 panini packs for sandwiches. The 4 pack of Pronamel is the brand my daughters prefer. I got a big box of spaghetti, because it was the cheapest pasta. We normally get a variety pack, but not today. The 4 pack of frozen perogies have been steady in price for a while now, though they used to be under $10 for many years.

The stuff I left on the cart includes a flat of Coke Zero for my husband and I. There is also their bulk package of Ramen noodles. I picked up a 9 pack of canned beans; that price has actually gone down again! The oat milk is a 3 pack of 2L cartons for my lactose intolerant daughters. I forget how many cans are in the flat of Monster drinks, but that’s being split three ways. Then there are the puppy pads and toilet paper. Yes, I did get more cat food! Not as many dry kibble bags as I usually would have gotten; the donations are a huge help! While we do still have lots of donated canned cat food, they’re all the same flavour, so I got two variety pack cases of 48 to give them some variety. Last of all in the flat cart was 5 pounds of butter.

Next, we have a 1L carton of whipping cream, which costs more then $7 in other places. The sour cream is a 2 pack of 250ml. They don’t seem to carry the 500ml containers anymore. That and the cream cheese is a very good price compared to elsewhere.

I only got one 2pk of rye bread, a 10 pound bag of potatoes and a double flat of eggs. Normally, I would have gotten more rye bread, plus wraps, but I was pretty much at my budget limit for today, by this time.

So we have $777.06 for the Costco purchases. Add in the gas and my lunch, and my grand total for today was $890.88

Ouch.

And I didn’t even get everything on my list. Aside from not getting wraps at Costco today, other items will require trips to either a Walmart (where I have to go to correct being overcharged, last time) or an international food store.

I’m glad I got this done today, though, even though I really paid for it. On the way home, I stopped at the post office to pick up a parcel. In the hour the drive took, I discovered my entire body had stiffened up, and I was hobbling to get into the building. It got less painful once I limbered up, but it did hit me by surprise when I got out of the truck! I thought I’d been doing pretty good until then.

Once at home, my daughter and I unloaded and got things put away, just in time for a phone call I was expecting from my brother. I’d been keeping them up to date on things with my mother by message. They were on the way to see her, and I was able to give him more details over the phone. They wanted to get a visit in before the snow hit, too!

Looking at the forecast now, the show is supposed to reach us by 10pm tonight, now, and keep snowing until about midnight tomorrow. So the timing of it has sifted earlier by a few hours. Which I’m good with, since the day after tomorrow, I need to get to the hospital for that meeting with the doctor about my mother!

My brother and his wife will be driving home in the dark, but should be home well before the snow hits, and the highways were nice and clear today.

Why does all the medical stuff have to happen in the winter? It never seems to happen in the summer! 😄

In the end, it was a longer day with extra driving, but my mother has her walker, we got a visit in, and we got our Costco stock up shopping finally done.

Which makes it a very good day!

The Re-Farmer

Additional stocking up: this is what $319 looks like

January 30, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

After getting as much as I ended up getting yesterday, today’s stock up shopping was mostly cat food. There wasn’t much else on my non-Costco list that I needed to pick up.

I did the shopping while the cats were at the vet, but that will be for another post.

For now, this is what $319.49 looks like.

Not much actual food in there – at least, not for humans!

From the top of the receipt, I picked up some fish fillets for the girls. Hopefully, I’ll find more that’s affordable at Costco, but just in case, I got these. They like their seafood.

The bananas are a good price at Walmart; 79¢/pound. Cherry season is starting, and they were only $3.99/pound, which is almost half of what they normally are.

I picked up some raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds to grind up for the cats. Usually, I include that with their lysine, but my order of lysine hasn’t come in for some reason. I did still have some at home, but I’ve been eating them myself, so I got more for the cats. 😄 I also got walnuts and sunflowers to add to our pantry ingredients.

There are a couple of large bottles of shampoo and conditioner, some Q-tips, hand lotion, plus a package of ankle socks at my daughter’s request. In the multi-discount, there are some sours for my husband.

I just realize. She charged me for 8. I got six. Crud. I should have double checked! I put one on the belt and told her I had 8, but then double counted and corrected to say six. I don’t know when I’ll be at that Walmart again. I’ll need to keep the receipt in my phone case (it’s a wallet type) until then.

Then there is the cat food. I got four 8kg bags of kibble in different flavours, plus two 32 packs of wet cat food. I chose a pate variety pack for both, as we find the cats seem to prefer the cat soup made with pate rather than shredded or chunks. Last of all was a small donation to the food bank.

Aside from that, I also went to the Canadian Tire to pick up a couple more bags of litter pellets. That totaled $16.78 after taxes.

In between things, I noticed one of my tires was low, so I went to a gas station. The prices had gone down from 155.9/L to 143.9/L, so I did get $20 in gas (I’ll fill at Costco), before topping up my tire. The cost of using the air compressor has gone up from $2 to $2.50 since I last used one. Some places are still only $1, and I know of at least one place where it’s free.

Oh, I just remembered. I was going to pick up distilled water for my husband’s CPAP humidifier. I didn’t even see it!

Ah, well. I’ll do that on another trip.

I will do the Costco shopping either tomorrow or Saturday. Preferably tomorrow, with a visit to my mother at the hospital, first. Since I was driving around with cats in the truck, I couldn’t stop to visit while I was out and about today. There are still ongoing tests with her, and they want to send her to the city for more diagnostic imaging soon, but they may not be able to get an ambulance to transport her. Normally, they would get family to do the transport (like I did for my husband when he was in the hospital), but that’s not really an option for her in her condition.

As for our stocking up and cat supplies, we got much more than what I picked up today, but I will cover that in my next post about the kitties! 😊

The Re-Farmer

A much more effective shop, plus updates

January 24, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

Yesterday, while in a much larger town, I did a bit of grocery stopping. Just a few things to tide us over until we do our first big stock up shop in the city next week. The grocery store I went to has a really good inventory, and I would have loved to get more, but everything was too expensive.

What I forgot to do was bring our water jugs for refilling, so I needed to do that today. Being a much warmer day, I called my mother to see if she needed any errands done, or if she were up to going to the bank.

Thanks go her Meals on Wheels three times a week, her groceries stretch quite a lot further, so all she needed was milk. The only other thing she wanted were some croissants to go with her tea. She discovered croissants only recently and just loves them, and sometimes the grocery store in her town has some excellent prices on them.

So I decided I would get my water refills at her local grocery store, then maybe pick up the sandwich meats they have that are prices better than I’ve seen anywhere else, including the city, on top of my mother’s two items. She was getting her Meals on Wheels today, so I was going to pick up my own lunch of fried chicken at the gas station before going to her place.

Once at the grocery store, I had time to spare before I knew the gas station’s fried chicken would be ready, so I took my time and looked around.

What a difference from yesterday! This grocery store not only had better regular prices, but there were sale prices that were just awesome. Where, yesterday, I didn’t get the extras I would have wanted to, today I got extras I never expected to pick up!

I didn’t get a chance to get a photo before everything was packed up, so here’s just a picture of the reciept.

From the top, the first item is a jar of sliced pickles for sandwiches. The Dawn Ultra is for our basement, to clean the septic pump’s filter basket.

The “bakery reduced” is three bags of croissants for my mother, that cost only $1.75 each. This is even better than Superstore in the city, where they have clamshells of croissants available for $5, which is a great price, but far fewer croissants for the price compared to the tree bags I got. The 2L of milk was hers, too.

The boneless pork was one of the amazing sale prices; you can see on the receipt that the sale price discounted over $17 – more than half price for a very good sized roast! It was the thing with the fresh chicken legs and thighs. I ended up getting two packages of those. If I’d had the budget for it, I would have gotten more!

I got around 500 grams each of the sliced deli meats; the maple ham was a touch under, while the two chicken breasts were a touch over. That is their regular price, which is about $2/100g lower than most places.

The instant pudding was a spur of the moment thing. Four boxes for $5 is a really excellent price, as you can see by the amount discounted. While I just got a flat of 30 eggs yesterday, when I saw that the 18’s of house brand eggs were priced lower than a dozen, I just had to grab one. We can never have too many eggs! The rye breads are regular price; the same brand and price that we get at Walmart.

The water refills were the one thing that is more expensive, both the new caps and the water itself.

So of all this, $9.44 was for my mother. Which means that, of the $106.60 total, after taxes, we paid only $97.16 for our own stuff.

Which was a heck of a lot more than what we paid almost $130 for, yesterday! Particularly since I ended up getting so much meat on this trip!

After I finished the shopping, making sure to bag my mother’s stuff separately, I had time to spare before I would go to the gas station to pick up some fried chicken and wedges for lunch, so I went to a small department store to see what they had. I remembered there were a couple of things my mother wanted from there. One was a candle, for when she says her prayers. The other were slipper socks of some kind. Her feet get cold at night, so she wanted something she could sleep with. I actually found both, though I’m not sure if the slipper socks will work for her. They are supposed to be one size fits all, but my mother has massive bunions, and that might be a problem. We shall see.

I still had extra time, so I parked at the gas station and messaged with my brother for a bit. When I did my morning rounds, I checked the ejector, as he asked, but the pump hadn’t gone off during the night, so there was just fresh snow in front of it. I did feel the heat tape and it was warm, so that’s still working. Before I left home, I made sure to top up the filter on the septic pump and asked my family to keep an ear out for it, as it would probably go off while someone was taking a shower.

After updating my brother on things, I went inside, only to find all the chafing dishes were completely empty. Not even the potato wedges or deep fried perogies and pizza pops that get cooked first were there.

It turns out their frier was on the fritz. The food was being cooked, but it would be a while before anything would be ready.

Thankfully, they had a bank machine, so I took some cash out and went to the Chinese restaurant next to my mother. They are cash only. It’s been a few months since I’ve gotten anything there, so I was far from unhappy with having to change plans.

From there, I finally went to my mother’s. Today was warm enough that I didn’t need to worry about my groceries and the water jugs freezing in the truck cab.

Since I was able to get what my mother needed along with my own stuff, after we had lunch, I did other errands for her. It was her day to do laundry, so I changed her bedding for her, which was enough to make two loads for her. Once those were started, I did some light housework for her, and all those little things that she now finds difficult to do. The one unusual thing was trying to figure out why her TV wasn’t working After trying various things, it just kept reverting to a message saying to check the network connections. I checked everything I could think of before I finally took a picture of the message on the screen and sent it to my brother; he bought her this TV and did all the setting up, so he knows it a lot better than I do. A quick message back from him, and I found the setting that my mother somehow accidentally turned off. She has a habit of button mashing her remote control when things don’t work the way she expects, but when things go wrong, she has no idea what she did that caused it!

All in all, we were able to have a pretty good visit today, which is really unusual for the length of time that I was there. I really appreciate days like today. No personal attacks. No attacks on my family. Only mild attempts to attack my brother that I could easily address. No racist rants or bizarrely conflated topics she likes to rage about, even though she has no idea that she’s talking about completely different things. She still can’t figure out why she’s getting fundraising mail from a political party she is no longer a member of. I’ve told her, she’s on a mailing list and would need to ask to be removed. She things that “the government” (meaning, the federal government) is spending all this money to mail things out using taxpayer dollars. I’ve tried to explain to her that party mail is paid for by party members and party donations. They cannot use federal funds for stuff like this. I can tell she simply does not understand what I’m trying to explain.

One thing she did bring up is that she is noticing her own cognitive decline. She’s still convinced that she is dying, and told me she’s feeling all sort of pains, but it’s different now. How is it different? All she could do was vaguely gesture at her chest and stomach. She just doesn’t have the vocabulary, or understanding of anatomy, to explain what she is feeling and where. Aside from that, though, she’s finding it harder to remember words she uses regularly.

She’s still doing pretty darn good for being 93 years old! She does acknowledge that and is grateful for it. But she does need to be in assisted living of some kind!

At least she does live in town, and has home care coming in three times a day for medical assist with her prescriptions. The help she needs, though, home care out here cannot provide, nor can my siblings and I.

So we do the best we can. In the end, my mother really is doing amazingly well to still be living independently! I would not be at all surprised if she outlives us all. 😄

Anyhow.

Once done at my mothers, I got home while it was still light out (I am SO loving the longer days!). After the truck was unloaded, I made sure to check the ejector. The pump had gone off while my daughter was showering, and I could see by the melted splash area that the ejector still has a decent amount of pressure behind it.

On checking the pump, I saw the water level in the filter was getting low, so I topped it up again. After putting the lid back on, I could see air bubbling in from the intake opening as it started to drain. It has to be the back valve again. I took some video of the bubbling and updated my brother about it. He’s not saying much but, knowing him, he’ll probably find a way to come out this weekend to look at it again.

Tomorrow, though, we have to do a much needed trip to the dump, since we didn’t do it during our recent deep freeze. The dump is open longer hours on Saturdays, and I hope to get that done as early as possible. We’re supposed to be colder tomorrow, but nothing extreme. For the next while, it’s going to feel like spring!

I’m quite looking forward to it.

The Re-Farmer

A quick shop: This is $128???

January 23, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

So, today didn’t quite work out as planned, but close!

With the time for my daughter’s doctor’s appointment being when it was, we decided we would leave very early so that we could run some errands first, then she would have her appointment, and we would be heading back early enough to pick up parcels at the post office before it closed. We planned to leave by noon, or after the prescription delivery came in. The new delivery driver is a bus driver, too, and he does the deliveries in the morning after he parks his bus for the school day. Usually, that means he gets to our place in the late morning.

Usually.

When it was past noon and we hadn’t heard from him yet (he calls in advance, so we can open the gate, or meet him at the gate), I called the pharmacy to make sure the delivery was still happening. It was. He just had a lot of deliveries today.

My husband was having another really bad pain day, so there was no way he could meet the driver outside, and my older daughter was in bed for the day, having finished her work night at about 5:30am. By 1:00, though, we couldn’t wait any longer. My younger daughter and I had to head out, leaving the gate open for the delivery driver.

I later got a message that the driver arrived almost half an hour after my daughter and I started heading out.

Our first stop was at the feed store for a 40 pound bag of kibble. We weren’t out of feed store kibble, but we did run out of regular kibble, so the inside cats got feed store kibble this morning.

They don’t like it!

Spoiled buggers!

Since the feed store is so close to the gas station we usually pick up from fried chicken for lunch at, we could have gone there. The medical clinic, however, happens to be near a Subway, so I asked if my daughter wanted to go there, instead. I knew she hadn’t eaten yet today and would be really hungry, but she was willing to wait longer. It’s been ages since she’s been to a Subway.

So that was our next stop. We had enough time for a comfortable sit down lunch before her appointment. We were going to do the grocery shopping part together, before her appointment, but that changed. The grocery store and the clinic are in the same shopping complex, though, so that was convenient. I just went on my own after my daughter checked in at the clinic for her appointment. I didn’t have much on my list, so I took my time to see if there was anything else I thought we might need.

I was really shocked by how more expensive things were. This is a much larger town – almost a city – and closer to the big city than we are, but the prices were higher than even in my mother’s town! I’m hoping this isn’t a reflection on how much everything has gone up everywhere. Our gas prices increased to $1.569/L since the last time I was in town. I had filled the tank and it was $1.499/L then, already an increase from $1.469/L.

Anyhow. This is what $128.24, after taxes, looks like.

That is a very empty cart.

The thing that was actually the best deal were the energy drinks, which were on sale. My daughters requested them, so these are for three people.

Here is what everything cost.

So the Monsters were only $2.50 each, instead of almost $4. I couple of them were for my daughter and I to have for the ride home. Normally, I would have bought them by the case (4pk), which normally costs about $11 when not on sale, even at Walmart. Elsewhere, they’re even higher, but with this sale, buying them in pairs was a better price than buying a 4pk.

The milk and oat milk were the same price as everywhere, since milk prices are controlled. The 30 pack of eggs were more expensive then locally. The celery stalks were a sale price. The block of cheese at $10.49 used to always be about $6.49 before the prices all went crazy during the illegal lockdowns. The cheese and celery were the only things I got that were not on my list.

The rye bread was the lowest price I could find. It wasn’t on sale, but the on sale ones were sold out. I choked at the price for kibble, but we won’t be going to a Walmart or anything like that until we are doing our big stock up shopping, so I got the cheaper 7.26kg bag. They did have 9kg bags, but it was just too expensive.

We don’t normally buy salad dressing, but I’d bought a whole lot of bagged salads last time, but one bunch of them were a salad mix, not a salad kit, so it they didn’t come with their own toppings and dressing packages.

Last of all where the canned drinks. My husband requested Fresca. Every now and then, he has a craving for it. The Coke Zero is for me. Those were both on sale, but their regular price is pretty much the same as everywhere else.

That’s it. Thirty two individual items, but it’s just cat kibble, bread, milk, cheese, eggs, drinks, celery and salad dressing. There were other things I could have picked up, but just couldn’t justify the expense. Like bananas. They were almost $1.50/lb! Usually, the more expensive ones are 99¢/lb, while most places are 79¢/lb There were all sorts of meats on sale, some of which also had stickers with at-the-till price reductions, but even the sale prices were higher than regular prices I have been seeing elsewhere.

I’m rather concerned that when we do our stock up shopping, I’m going to find major price increases all over.

Anyhow.

After I got the shopping done, I loaded up the truck. My daughter had said she would meet me there, but I my list was so short, I knew I would be finished before her. So I went to the pharmacy adjoining the clinic and cashed in a couple of lotto tickets, and ended up getting myself a pair of slipper shoes. I still haven’t found indoor shoes to replace my usual ones, but they’re really starting to fall apart, so I hoped these would be okay. The price was right and, if they didn’t work out, one of my daughters would have a new pair of slippers!

I’m wearing them now. I’m still not sure if they will work out.

After putting stuff away in the truck, I went into the clinic. I couldn’t see my daughter around, so I asked how long since she had been called in.

It turned out she had just been called into the examination room a couple of minutes before, and the doctor hadn’t seen her yet!

So I waited.

Interestingly, talking to my daughter later, she said she could tell I was in the waiting room because she recognized my cough! I have gotten to the point that I barely even notice my chronic cough anymore. It’s just something I do. Like breathing. Which makes sense, since breathing is what seems to trigger the cough. 🫤

After my daughter was done, she had some stuff for the receptionist to scan for her files, and a follow up appointment was made for the end of next month. She also got another PCOS referral, this time for an ultrasound.

From there, we stopped to fill the gas tank (about an eighth of a tank cost $31 and change), then headed home. By the time, we weren’t sure if we would make it to the post office before it closed. Especially when we found ourselves behind a snow plow! Thankfully, there was just enough of a gap in traffic that we could pass, and we got to the post office, just 2 minutes before closing!

One of the packages we got in the mail was a supplement for the cats that’s supposed to help calm them down. Butterscotch, for example, is still a bundle of stress that not only refuses to leave my office/bedroom, but is so anxious about the other cats, she has limited herself to basically 1/4 of the room (which is still a lot of space, really) and won’t use the litter box unless I chase the other cats out and close the door! I’ve learned to recognize when she needs to go by her behavior. Even once the other cats are out, I still have to pick her up and put her down near the litter box. She will then dash in, use is as fast as possible, before running away and back into her corner.

Once we got everything unloaded and put away, I made sure to make cat soup with the supplement. It’s only a small container, though. The does is by weight which, for cats, is the smallest dose recommended. For the amount of cat soup I made, it was probably less than that per cat, but it really comes down to how much they eat. Which means the bigger cats will be eating more of it than the little cats, so I guess it works out. It’ll take a few days, I’m sure, before we can see any difference. If we do, I’ll give more details about the product.

As I write this, I’ve got about a dozen cats sleeping on my bed. I can’t say they’re sleeping because of the calming supplement, though, since that’s pretty much what I usually have on my bed, every day. The main thing will be if we have less fighting between certain cats, or if Finnegan, aka: Dah Boy, stops spraying all over the place. That is definitely a stress response, since he didn’t start doing that until a few years ago, after our indoor population grew to the point it’s at now. We’re all pretty tired of cleaning up after him! If that’s the only benefit we get, it’ll be worth the cost of the stuff!

Meanwhile, we completely forgot to grab water jugs to refill, so I’ll need to head out tomorrow for that. Which reminds me. I need to call my mother and see if she wants me to do her grocery shopping tomorrow. We’re still expected to reach a high of -3C/27F tomorrow, so that would be a good time for it.

For now, however, it’s supper time. My older daughter made us a big batch of cream of potato and bacon soup while we were gone. I can’t wait to have some – it smells amazing!

The Re-Farmer

An unplanned stock up trip

January 15, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

Normally, I’d be saying “this is what $X looks like, but I don’t have the photos, this time!

Today, my daughter and I were going to make a trip into town and then, if the truck was behaving, a trip to the nearer city to go to Walmart and Canadian Tire.

My daughter needed to go to town first, and take care of some paperwork at the pharmacy. It was coming up on noon by the time she was done, and neither of us had had breakfast, so we had lunch in town, too.

As our shopping lists had grown, my daughter suggested we just go to the larger city, instead. The nearer Walmart is pretty small and the selection isn’t as good. We decided it was worth the extra drive and did that, instead.

Our first stop in the city was the Canadian Tire, where I picked up a couple of bags of litter pellets.

It was a very dangerous trip for me.

The seed displays are up, and the garden supplies are being set up!

Including a portable greenhouse I’ve been eyeballing for a while now, that was at 52% off. I really didn’t have the budget for it yet, though. I did find a replacement snow brush for the one I broke trying to knock ice away from the tires on the truck a while back. It was on clearance, so I was able to get a much better quality one this time.

Total spent at Canadian Tire, after taxes, was $29.09

From there, we went to the Walmart. I wanted to pick up a bit more cat food and some fresh produce, plus my husband had his own shopping list on a different budget. I didn’t get a picture of the cart, as his stuff was in there, plus I shared the cart with my daughter and her own shopping. Here is the receipt, though.

I got a 32 pack of wet cat food, plus a large back of kibble, which was on my list. The inside cats don’t like the feed store kibble, so I got them this, and the feed store kibble will be for the outside cats.

I remembered to grab a package of regular facial tissues, plus a couple of square packages for the truck that fit in the console between the front seats.

Not on the list was a 24 pack of Cream of Mushroom soup that was on sale for 77¢ each. They are usually almost double that price.

We were almost out of Basmati rice, which is what my husband likes. Normally, we get that at Costco, but I picked up an 8lb bag here. Hopefully, it is a good brand.

There are carrots, which were on sales, a 2L of 3% milk, a couple of pounds of salted butter, mushrooms and bananas. I also picked up some bouillon cubes – vegetable, chicken and mushroom – and a cannister of beef bouillon powder.

I grabbed a couple of bags of pasta that was on sale, and a package of frozen fish filets for the girls. I also got a couple of blocks of cheese that are 2/$12, plus a block of lactose free cheese for the girls.

Aside from a donation, that was it. $200.25 after taxes.

I had intended to get more fresh produce and maybe some meat, but most of it just didn’t look all that good. My daughter was also not able to find some of what was on her list, so we decided to hit the international grocery store for the rest.

Which turned out to be much more productive, with a lot of sales, plus loyalty card bonuses.

Thankfully, I was able to take advantage of it.

This is what $203.03 after taxes looks like.

Along with the sale prices, this week had an extra 20% off all produce as a loyalty card bonus.

Oops. I just realized the top item is cropped off. That’s avocados. Also on the produce bonus sale were blueberries – I got 4 clamshells of those – celery, bagged salads (I got 4 bags each of 3 different types), both red and green grapes, a 10 lb bag of Russet potatoes and a couple of yams.

I got chicken legs and thighs, plus two packages of ground turkey, which were all 25% off. I also got some pork chops and locally produced smoked bacon slab. I also remembered to get some onion soup mix that I forgot to get at Walmart.

Among the non-food items, my daughter found some hair oil for me to try, as the oil I usually use it getting way too expensive. We also remembered to grab some wet wipes for the truck, on finding ourselves finishing off the container we had, just today. I like to keep wet wipes in our vehicles. They come in very handy!

As the day was getting long, I decided to pick up food for supper. For the girls, I could a couple of trays of sushi, and a couple of Chinese food dinners for my husband and I. Then I spotted a display of Bento meals, so I got one of those for myself, so that my husband could have the other two meals. Last of all, I got a drink for the drive home, as I was feeling pretty dehydrated.

In the end, I ended up saving $74.41 with the double sale prices, and instead of what would have been 200 points, I got 4,900 points. I like to save these up for around Christmas, as I can usually get a free turkey or two with them.

Aside from that, we got $30 in fuel before we left town for the city. While in the city, I saw the gas prices were quite a bit better, so I got a fill that ended up costing $28 and change.

So, altogether, this stock up trip ended up costing $432.37, plus about $58 in fuel.

The fridge is very full right now!

We definitely got a lot more for our money at the international grocery store than the Walmart, so I’m glad we ended up making the trip into the city. It was pure chance that we got these double sales, and today was the last day for them, too.

My daughter had her own shopping list for herself and her sister. One of the things they picked up was their favourite sushi rice.

Which they now use the Instant Pot to cook, regularly!

I’m so glad they are enjoying their early Christmas present, and actually finding it useful! 😊

Today has definitely been a good day. With all the bad days we’ve been having lately, with things breaking down or freezing or flooding or… I am extra grateful for the good ones we get!

The Re-Farmer

What do you mean, it’s just noon?

January 3, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 11 Comments

It feels like it should be 2 or 3 in the afternoon!

I tried going to be early last night, but it was an interrupted night. Which was a good thing, really. At one point, I heard the toilet flush, and the septic pump turned on soon after. I forced myself to stay awake, listening for it to turn off.

It didn’t.

Downstairs I went and checked the filter. There was no water in it. The pump was running dry. Thankfully, not for very long. I shut it off, primed the filter, then turned it on again. It took a few moments, but I was soon seeing water flowing in and it was running properly.

Running dry like that is not at all good for the pump. If I didn’t happen to be awake to hear it, it would have kept running all night, or until I woke to go to the bathroom or something. No one else in the house can hear it.

After the pump shut itself up, I popped the top on the filter and primed it again, even though it was still mostly full. Air must be getting into the system somewhere, but it’s not the filter cap, as that was sealed tight when I popped it open. Once it is full, it should stay full. There’s no sign of a leak under the filter that I can see, but once it’s primed, the level doesn’t drop. It’s when the pump turns on that it drains, but doesn’t refill completely once the water from the tank starts flowing. It seems that, after it runs properly a couple of times, the filter just doesn’t have enough water in it to create the vacuum needed anymore, and it runs dry. It’s almost as if the pump isn’t pulling water from the tank efficiently enough anymore, or there might be a partial block in the intake pipe, somewhere between the pump filter and the septic tank. The outflow seems to be working fine.

If anyone has ideas as to why that would be, I’d love to hear it!

Either way, that pump needs to be replaced before it burns out completely. For now, we’re going to have to constantly check on it and make sure that filter is full. Thank God we have that, because otherwise, we couldn’t see what is going on.

Working on the septic pump was at about 5-5:30 am, and my alarm was set for 7:30. I did manage a bit more sleep before I had to get up.

When heading out to do the morning rounds, I made sure to grab the truck keys, so I could start warming it up while switching out memory cards on the trail cams, and opening the gate ahead of time.

The new solar powered camera’s solar panel was frosted over, so I cleared that of. Checking the battery indicators, it showed that it was using the regular batteries, not the solar panel’s internal battery.

Then it gave a “low battery warning” and shut itself down.

Both sets of batteries were too frozen to power the camera!

I got it going enough to check it was up and running and recording before I moved on. The morning sun hits it directly, so it was already warming up and charging.

As I was finishing up my rounds, I made sure to double check the isolation shelter.

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The patch, with its clear Gorilla tape over the crack, was doing its job. I still want to tape it on the inside, but it’ll be a while before it’s frost free enough to get it clean and dry. You can’t tell in the photo above, but the top of the isolation shelter was quite full of cats at the time!

The next image is a screen cap of the temperature taken several hours later. It had warmed up to -22C/-8F by then, but that windchill of -33C/-27F is the real killer.

I had been walking in that, just before taking that screenshot.

The isolation shelter is sheltered from most winds, though. The plastic around the bottom half would make a big difference, too. The cats love to just crowd into the top half. I’m glad I took out that insulated box and moved the bed into the middle. More cats can fit in there, now. I’m going to see if I can find a smaller cat bed I can shove into the corner near the heated water bowl, too. The insulation on the lounging shelf is being thoroughly taken advantage of, too.

My morning rounds done, I was soon on the road to drop the truck off at the garage. I had a 9am drop off time, rather than an appointment time, so when I dropped off the keys, I asked if he had an idea of how long it might me, just so I knew what I had time for while waiting. He figured it would be done by about 11.

So I had about 2 1/2 hours to kill.

I headed out to find somewhere for breakfast – and a public washroom (did I mention, these temperature fluctuations are murder on the bladder? 😄). I ended up going to a Subway. It’s been years since I’ve been there, but the only other place shared a bathroom in a pharmacy that wasn’t going to open for a while yet.

I wasn’t even sure the Subway was open, even though the sign was on. The lighting over the counter was very dark. I must have been their first customer of the day. They were still setting up. I ordered my favourite; a meatball sub. It was good, but the meatballs and sauce hadn’t had time to get hot, yet. That was okay. It was still warmer than the burger I had at Boston Pizza yesterday!

That done, I decided to pop into our regular pharmacy to cash in a couple of winning lottery tickets, then headed to the dollar store. There I found a bunch of breakaway cat collars. There was only one red one with reflective strips, but my daughters requested I not get red ones anymore. When they see red through the fur, their first reaction is alarm, because they think it’s a wound. So I got some colourful ones, instead. They are affordable there, and I was able to get six of them for about the price of, at best, two, in other stores. Most of the breakaway collars I see elsewhere actually cost more than what I paid for 6, and there’s really no difference in quality that I can see.

Of course, with that many collars, the woman at the counter was curious. When I told her they were for every yard cat that gets fixed, so we can tell them apart, she just lit up. It turns out she’s been taking care of a feral – and it’s now an indoor cat they’ve adopted! We talked for a while about the problems of stray cats, people dumping cats, and the insane cost of getting cats spayed and neutered. I showed her a picture of some of the yard cats inside the top of the isolation shelter and she told me, no way. I couldn’t do that. I’d have to keep them all! She had considered being a foster but knows herself well enough that she could never let any fosters go if she took them in, and joked about how, before she moved to where she is now, she was the “crazy cat lady.”

Which is basically what I am right now! 😄

Once I was finished there, I headed back towards the garage, stopping at the hardware store along the way. I picked up a block heater extension cord (we have a couple of older ones, but they’ve become damaged) and more of the Free Flow drain maintenance powder. For the next while, my daughters are using it twice a week, rather than once a week, to help keep that bottleneck in the pipe to the tank clear, as well as try and clear the main drain pipe from the bathroom to where it drops down and runs out of the house to the tank. It’s frustrating that we have a commercial pipe auger, and can’t even use it on this pipe. I did make good use of it in the pipes in the floor, at least. It’s a shame there isn’t another access to that pipe at the opposite end.

The plumbing in this place has been no end of problems since we’ve moved out here.

After getting what I needed at the hardware store, I headed to the garage. The truck was in one of the bays when I got there, so I just settled into one of the chairs in the office to wait. That was when I took the screen cap of what my weather app was showing, so I know the exact time I got there!

It wasn’t even windy out, but at those temperatures, even a light breeze results in quite the wind chill.

Our mechanic was constantly on the go, taking care of a customer ahead of me, taking care of deliveries coming in, and other vehicles to be worked on later in the day. In the middle of all this, my truck was driven out and another car immediately replaced it in the bay. It was just non-stop!

Then it came time to pay my bill.

Ouch.

$391 and change. The parts cost almost $250 and the labour was just under $100. Then there were the taxes, which added over $40 to the bill.

Well, it needed to be done.

We spoke for a while, and he told me everything went well with the fix. The check engine light is off, finally. He did let me know, though, that if moisture gets into that oil pressure sensor again, it will turn on again, first. It’s been fine since he cleaned it out, and the main thing will be for use to make sure the engine stays running long enough to evaporate the moisture. It’s the short trips with lots of stopping and starting, in these temperatures, that can cause the humidity to build up.

That done, I headed to the truck to start heading out. I noticed right away, he had the plug from the new block heater cord out and ready to be used!

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It’s right in front of the deer screamer, but that shouldn’t be an issue while driving.

Then I went back in to get the container of Free Flow that I forgot in the office.

I was about to message my family when I saw a reminder from my husband. He’d wanted me to look into getting a battery warmer for the truck. I wasn’t sure how that would work out, since the battery is completely encased, but back in I went and asked.

Our mechanic looked up the part, and it will cost about $55. Plus labour. He did mention that it would take a bit longer because of the battery case, but he would expect labour to be about $30. Add in taxes, and we’re looking at about $100 to get a battery warmer installed. He’d need to order in the part.

We still need to get a tire sensor replaced, but that won’t be until next month. We could probably get both done then.

Finally, I was heading out. I was at a half tank and have lots of driving to do next week, so I stopped at a gas station to fill up.

The gas prices here were $1.499 It cost almost $70 to fill the tank, and that was after my CAA discount.

Ouch.

From there, I was finally heading home – and really appreciating the lack of a check engine light! – with only a quick stop at the post office. The mail I am expecting still isn’t in, but I did finally get a Christmas card! Thank you, CZ! It’s beautiful!

Then, it was finally home. With where the block heater’s plug came out, though, I found I did not need to use the new block heater cord that I bought. The truck is so long, I have to pull right up to the counter along the back of the garage, where I have a shop power bar set up. I was able to plug it right in there! The idea behind the block heater extension cord is that it controls the power level, so that the block heater isn’t constantly on, but the block heater cord, as you can see in the photo above, has its own controller, so that will be fine. I’ve left the new extension cord in the truck, so if we are ever out somewhere and are able to plug the truck in, we have it handy. Quite a few public parking lots have outlets available for people to plug in. They usually get turned on in the winter, off in the summer. While my husband and I were doing our running around yesterday, the spot I’d parked in that was in between all the places we needed to go had outlets available for people to plug in their block heaters. Now, I could actually make use of that!

With what happened with the septic pump last night, I’d messaged the family on the need to monitor it; especially if someone were taking a shower, as the pump goes off pretty much every time the shower is used. When I got home, my younger daughter was in the shower, so I headed for the basement as soon as I could. Both the well pump and the septic pump were running, and I was happy to see that the septic pump was running properly. I just waited until it was done, then popped the top off the filter and primed it again.

After that, I could finally relax and settle in to start writing this post, and was so surprised that it wasn’t even noon yet!

This has been the most interrupted post ever, though, so it’s been two hours since I started! 😄 It’s going to be time to head out and top up the kibble and water for the outside cats, soon.

One of those interruptions was a call from my mother. I’ll be taking her for her doctor’s appointment on Monday, and she wanted to talk to me about that. She’s been listening to her neighbours in her building again, and has decided she needs a puffer. She doesn’t have asthma, but I guess she could be tested for it.

By the time we got off the phone, we’d changed plans for me to come much earlier in the day to do her laundry. She can’t do it herself, and I haven’t been able to stay at her place long enough to do it for her. My sister has done it for her in the past, but she hasn’t visited lately. If she comes in on the weekend, maybe she can get it done, but otherwise, I’ll take care of it.

It’s going to make for a much longer day, that’s for sure!

Looking ahead in the weather forecast, though, I’m happy to see that all those nights they were predicting lows colder than -30C/-22F are pretty much gone, and on the days of my mother’s appointment, and my daughter’s follow up appointment, it’s supposed to get warmer. There’s even a day expected to reach a high of 0C/32F coming up!

Well, we’ll see what actually happens when the time comes, but I would be most happy for it to NOT drop to those extreme cold temperatures, even if we actually can plug in the truck now!

I really dislike the cold. Especially with so many things breaking down around the house!

If we didn’t have to get the work done on the truck, we could have gotten a new septic pump ordered in.

*sigh*

So many things tugging on the budget.

Ah, well. We do what we can.

The Re-Farmer

Unexpected stock up shop: this is what $307 looks like

December 28, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Now that we have the truck back and it’s no longer screaming at me, I was able to get quite a bit done today!

I’m happy to say that the problem with the sensor did not show up again, which was always on my mind as I drove. The oil pressure gauge stayed where it was supposed to the whole time, which was quite a relief!

Today was going to be another warm one – the predicted high was 0C/32F, but we at least hit 1C/34F again – so when I finished doing my morning rounds, which included setting up the new solar powered trail cam at the gate, I took the time to chip away the ice on the sidewalk and patio blocks around the house. They and the driveway were insanely slipper this morning, with a new layer of ice on top of the snow. Then I brought the truck into the yard and my daughter helped me load up the garbage for the dump. With everything going on lately, we haven’t been to the dump for a while, so there was lots. We left the recycling for another day!

The dump is far enough away that, if that sensor was going to be a problem again, it would start before I got there. Happily, it did not.

The only real good thing about not going to the dump for so long is, the area in front of the pit is packed with snow deep enough to cover any sharp things on the ground. I’m still paranoid about getting another flat tire. Even so, I had to stop backing up so I could get out and clear the area before I could get closer to the pit to unload. It’s like people don’t even try to toss further than the edge. 🫤

That done, I went home and got a few little things done before heading out again. I was hoping to connect with the Cat Lady en route, but the timing of things didn’t line up. She says she has more canned cat food her cats won’t eat to pass on to us. We are quite fortunate that her cats are so fussy! 😄

After a quick stop in town to get more gas, it was off to the nearer city, with me eyeballing that oil pressure gauge the whole time. I was happy to see the roads were nice and clear, if wet, though some parts of my route were shaded by trees, so they were still icy.

I had just one stop I needed to make, and that was the Walmart. I didn’t have much of a list, since we got so much during are trips earlier in the month. I don’t expect we’ll do another Costco trip until the end of January or the beginning of February.

I ended up getting most of the things on my list, plus some extras, taking advantage of sales. Thankfully, the store wasn’t any more insane than usual, too.

This is what $307.24, after taxes, looks like.

Even with the sale prices, that cart isn’t very full for $300

The 32 packs of canned cat food was on sale. They never go on sale! So I got three different variety packs. (Yes, we are actually out of the donated canned cat food!) I also got two 9kg bags of kibble. With so many cats, we can never have too much kibble!

Since I don’t expect to do Costco again today, I picked up a large package of toilet paper. It was on sale.

Probably the most important thing on my list was the distilled water for my husband’s CPAP humidifier. I hadn’t realized he was almost out! Four gallons should last him a while.

The 10 pound bags of Russet potatoes were on sale, costing the same as a 5 pound bag of red potatoes. The bacon was also on sale, so I got two packs of maple flavoured bacon. I also grabbed two variety packs of sliced meats for our New Year’s Eve munchies. I wanted to get more finger food type things for New Year’s, but the only things I saw that interested me, we already had. The pecan pieces are for a baked brie we plan to make, as well.

I got an 18 pack of eggs, because we can never have too many eggs, plus another can of dark roast coffee for the girls. The bag of carrots were the only fresh vegetables that looked appealing to me, that the family will eat.

There was a selection of teas for only 97¢ each, so I got four different flavours. I would have gotten a fifth, but they were completely out of vanilla rooibos. 😢

I got a small jar of artichoke hearts for our New Year’s spread as well – and Lacteeze for my dairy loving but lactose intolerant family! The package of crackers is also for New Year’s. I also got four tubs of sour gummies for my husband. They are a comfort snack for bad pain days. That and he’s been having low blood sugars lately, and these are cheaper than the glucose tablets.

Last of all, I got a drink for the drive home.

I had meant to get more rye bread as well, but decided it wasn’t worth the risk of the loaves getting squished on the way home. I meant to get bar soap, but got distracted while going back for it and completely forgot until I packed everything up. That’s something that can wait, though.

So that’s what I got at the Walmart. Since I was in town, I decided to pop across to the Canadian Tire to look for something. I found it but didn’t buy it, as I couldn’t justify spending the money for it, but I did get something else. The girls and I were talking, just last night, about getting a back up electric kettle. We like the glass ones that have a light when it’s turned on. The one we have now has lasted longer than expected already, to be honest, but our hard water is very rough on things like that. It’s starting to not automatically shut itself off at times.

While cutting through some displays on the way to somewhere else, I spotted a stack of boxes with glass kettles – for $29.99. This particular kettle is normally considerably more. So I snagged it. Plus, I used my Canadian Tire credit card, which has bonus Canadian Tire Money promos right now, basically tripling the amount such a modest purchase normally would have gotten. These little bits add up. I’ve got a goal set to save enough to get a septic pump for free, though it doesn’t look like Canadian Tire actually carries that type of pump. Once I reach my goal, I’ll get a staff member to see if they can find the type of pump I need. If not, I can use it to get things like a back up sump pump or a new table saw. Now that we’ve got credit cards again, I’ve been judicious about where I put our budget amounts specifically for goals like this.

So, between getting gas, having breakfast… er… lunch, the stock up shopping and the kettle, it was a bigger shop than I intended for today, but none of it was extraneous. Were it not the holiday season, I normally would be doing my big stock up shopping around now, anyhow, but with the extra stocking up I was able to do earlier in the month, that isn’t necessary.

Meanwhile, while I was gone, my daughter took advantage of the lovely day and opened up windows all over the house while she did the mopping and cleaning up. It was still just wonderful out there, while we were unloading the truck. We’ve got a few more mild days before the temperatures start dropping in January – just in time for when I need to start driving my mother to medical appointments, and get the truck back into the garage for a couple more fixes.

I will be much happier when we have the block heater cord replaced and can plug it in! We are expecting January temperatures with highs colder than -20C/-4F and lows dipping below -30C/-22F. After the mild temperatures we’ve been having this winter so far, that’s going to feel brutal!

But who knows. If there’s one thing about weather forecasts you can be sure of, it is that they are constantly changing, and almost never match reality!

Still, I’m happy that we are well stocked. If it weren’t for appointments and helping my mother out, we could probably just stay home for most of January and be fine!

Which is why I take advantage of days like today, and get a little extra, when we can.

Not that we’re getting much for our money, even with sales on, these days. 😢

The Re-Farmer

Costco extra stocking up: this is what $899 looks like

December 6, 2024 / Re-Farmer / 4 Comments

I am exhausted.

It was a good trip. The actual shopping wasn’t too bad, considering the time of year. I’m just getting drained, and it’s starting to have an effect on me.

With Christmas and New Year’s coming up, which changes when my husband’s disability payments come in, I decided to go into next month’s budget and get as much as I could on this trip. So this shopping trip included larger packages or extra items to stock us up into January. Plus, I’ve started to get things that we will be having for New Year’s in particular. We have decided to make our Christmas and New Year’s celebratory meals to be as stress free as possible. So there will be a lot of frozen appetizers as finger foods, heat and eats, etc. We will likely do some charcuterie as well, so some items, plus any fresh foods, will be picked up locally, closer to Christmas.

We already have a turkey in the freezer, plus we are getting our 1/8 beef next week. We’d been making monthly payments against that until the ranch told us they thought there was enough. The beef has been butchered and is being cut and frozen now, so they got the final weight, and it turned out we overpaid for our share. We will be getting a credit on that. I would have preferred extra beef, but they don’t butcher for general sales anymore; just pre-ordered beef shares, so there was no extra available. So we didn’t need to get a lot of meat this trip, not did we need to get as much cat food.

On the way out, the truck’s tank was below half, so I did stop at a gas station in my mother’s town along the way. I got $30 of gas, at $1.309.

As had been my plan when I tried to do this trip last week, I stopped at a shopping mall, first. It was past 11 by then, and I hadn’t had breakfast yet. This time, the food court was all open, though, and I ended up getting some Chinese food. That cost about $18 and change.

Once at the Costco, my first stop was to fill the tank. The Costco price for regular gas was $1.119 and it cost me $47 and change to fill the tank. So before I even started shopping, I already spent $77 in gas and $18 on food.

This is what $899.82 at Costco looks like.

I got a shot from each side, because so much was hidden from view.

So what did I get for almost $900

For the cats, I got two 9kg bags of kibble and a box of puppy pads. There is a case of Coke Zero for my husband and I, plus a case of energy drinks, which my daughter paid for. Also among the drinks list was a large box of Earl Grey tea and some iced tea mix. I also got some Eggnog, which was on sale, mostly for the girls, and a case of oat milk, completely for the girls.

Paper produces included toilet paper and paper towels. I probably should have got more facial tissues, but I didn’t want to take up too much space on the flat cart. I needed room for the big bag of sugar and the case of vinegar.

Also among the non-food items is some dish detergent, toothbrushes and a package of pens. I was out of normal coloured pens.

In the pharmacy section, I got both acetaminophen and ibuprofen, plus adult gummie multivitamins for my daughters.

For bread products, I got a couple of 2 pks of rye bread, four packages of tortilla warps and a 3 pack of sunflower and pumpkin seed, multigrain sliced bread.

For protein, I got a package of chicken breasts that was on sale, plus some tilapia fillets for the girls. I also got a panini pack for sandwiches, with canned chicken and pack of Spam for the pantry. There’s also a double flat of eggs (5 dozen).

In dairy, I got 5 pounds of butter, whipping cream, a 3 pack of cream cheese, mozza, Old cheddar, marble cheddar, goat cheese and a wheel of brie.

There’s also a bag of spinach and mini portabellas (aka: cremini mushrooms).

Among the jarred items, there are two big jars of mayo, olives and pickled asparagus, which was on sale. The pickled asparagus will be used, along with tortilla warps and cream cheese, to make appetizer pinwheels for our celebratory dinners.

There is a bag of Basmati rice and some hazelnuts. Oh, and a 3 pack of 4 cheese, rainbow tortellini, which was on sale.

For snacks, I got my husband a big back of Munchies Mix, and two boxes of Sweet and Salty granola bars for the four of us.

Then there are the frozen items. Along with a box of perogies and a box of Pizza Pops for quick heat and heats, we have the appetizers for our celebratory dinners. There are Mac n Cheese bites – something we’ve never tried before – mozza sticks, bacon wrapped scallops and mini quiche.

And that’s everything.

Hopefully, I won’t need to go another Costco trip until February! Or at least not until mid-January.

So it was a very productive trip, though part way through the shopping, I realized I was not doing well. I was over heating, but also getting very dehydrated. I did use their public water fountain about half way through my shopping, which helped a lot, but by the time I was standing in line to pay for the stuff, I was starting to feel dizzy and getting the shakes. I was at least getting a breeze from the giant fan above, while half taking off my coat and removing my hat, which helped.

While my items were being rung through and they were doing the stuff still on the flat cart, I dashed over to a water bottle vending machine and got one to start hydrating once back at the till. It wasn’t a large bottle, so by the time I loaded everything into the truck, I’d finished it off. I also keep water in the truck, and still had half my drink from my lunch, so I was able to continue hydrating for the ride home, and was feeling much better.

My back was also starting to give out, well before I reached the till, but that was also much better by the time I got home. An hour or so of sitting instead of walking around, wrestling the flat cart, helped a lot.

I was able to back the truck up quite close to the house, making it easier to unload. My daughter’s knee was still hurting her from her fall yesterday, but she was no longer using a cane. Once the truck was empty, I had to feed the outside cats to get them away from the truck – by then, it was starting to get dark and time to feed them, anyhow – so I could park it. Once I got back to the house, I also got some warm water to top up their bowls. The big water bowl in the sun room just had sheets of ice left in it, and the working heated water bowl in the shelter was almost dry!

The babies in the isolation shelter still had plenty of water. They got canned cat food with their morning feeding, along with the kibble. There was still kibble left in their bowl, but the wet food was long gone!

Unfortunately, as I was unloading bags to the door, I spotted Kohl digging around on the cat bed on the lower level. The little bugger had just pooped on the cat bed, instead of the littler box, right next to her!

Both of them seem much calmer now, but Kohl would not let me touch her, never mind pet her, or check her incision. I’m not too concerned about her, though. I’m more relieved the male it no longer panicking and trying to bash his way out through the wire mesh walls. They were both watching us closely, as we unloaded the truck, right near them.

When I topped up their kibble, neither tried to escape or anything like that. When I reached in to try to pet Kohl, I could feel it is nice and warm in there. I’ve been keeping the Cat Lady up to date on how they are doing, and she was very relieved to hear they are doing well. For all the effort we’re making to provide them with a safe, warm shelter during their recovery, the isolation shelter is still basically just a small box outside in the winter. She would really like to find homes for them. I told her to go ahead and share the photos I’d been sending her, and to tell people these two will be released to the yard again, after their recovery period. Hopefully, that will encourage someone to want to adopt and rescue them from the outdoors and give them an indoor forever home. It doesn’t hurt that they are both so incredibly adorable!

So, that’s my running around for today. Tomorrow, the dump is oven longer hours, and we are overdue for a trip, so I am hoping to get our garbage and recycling finally out. From there, I should be able to continue on to the feed store with the brand of kibble in 40 pound bags that the cats like better. As of right now, the high for tomorrow is expected to be 3C/37F, which makes it the ideal time to repair the wind torn vinyl around the catio. Plus, there are some tears in the vinyl around the bottom of the isolation shelter, where other cats were trying to get in. We should be able to patch those up with the extra vinyl table protectors I picked up while I was waiting for the vet to finish with the spay and neuter, yesterday.

Which means tomorrow will be another day of running around. Thankfully, I will be able to stay home on Sunday. I’ll be going to my mother’s on Monday. She has a telephone doctor’s appointment, and she wants me with her, since I help her remember things, and can understand what the doctor tells her and can spend the time to explain it to her later.

Meanwhile, I really, really glad to get this stock up shop done, even if it did get pretty expensive. This is meant to last us longer than usual, and will hopefully result in a quieter time over the holidays.

I’ve reached that stage in life where quite and boring is all I want! 😄😄

The Re-Farmer

First stock up shop: this is what $453 looks like

November 27, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

$453.51, to be exact, plus $50 in gas and $18 for lunch.

Today turned out to be a good day to do our first stock up shopping trip to the city. The roads were clear, though some areas were wet with melting snow. The truck’s thermometer told me it was a mild -6C/21F while in the city, though our local high was supposed to be -4C/25F

I’ve discovered that our truck’s onboard computer not only flashes a text warning of “possible icy conditions, drive with care” warning, but it has a slippery conditions dash warning light that turns on. I’ve never seen it before, and this is our second winter with the truck.

It’s very distracting!

Even on the drive home, the road conditions were good, as I left the city early enough that the areas with melted snow weren’t freezing yet, even though my truck thought it was!

My first stop of the day (aside from getting $50 gas enroute) was Canadian Tire. The only thing on my list for there was the litter pellets.

During the drive in, however, I discovered I also needed washer fluid!

I got four bags of pellets at $7.99 each, and some super-duper, rated to -45C/-49F water fluid at $5.79.

The store’s layout has changed since I was last at this location, with one corner now a rather large Party City section. The pellets used to be in that corner, so it took a bit to find them again. When I did find them, I noticed I was near the outdoor supply stuff. On a hunch, I went looking for their lawn mower filter section. I’d been trying to find a new filter for our mower all summer – even after our push mower stopped working. It’s a Canadian Tire brand mower, so only they have the filter I needed, and every location I went to was out of stock.

They had some in stock today, so I grabbed one. If I had the budget for it, I would have grabbed two! They’ve increased in price since we got the mower, though, and now cost $22.99 Almost double what I remember them costing when I first bought the mower. 🫤

The grand total after taxes here was $65.79

My next stop was Walmart.

There were a few things not on my list that I ended up getting, because I was able to take advantage of sales. Here is what I got.

I got three loaves of rye bread. Rye bread is pretty much always on our list, since it’s a type we don’t make ourselves. I got a different brand this time, as the price was actually lower than the house brand I usually get.

I got some Q tips for now; later on, I’ll get the multi pack we usually get at Costco. My husband requested nacho fixings, and mentioned we were out of lactase, so I got the house brand version for my lactose intolerant family.

The 4L jugs of 5% vinegar was on sale, so I grabbed one. That’s something else we also usually get by the case at Costco. Next time, I’ll be looking for 10% cleaning vinegar.

I picked up four different types of cheese. I thought I was grabbing all four from the 2 for $12 selection, but apparently the Old Cheddar and Gouda were not. The Mozza and Havarti were, though.

I would have picked up a large jar of green olives, but the shelves were bare. So I got three small jars, instead.

I got two bags of the cheaper 7kg kibble for the outside cats and one 9kg bag for the inside cats to tide us over until we get more at Costco and the feed store. I did not get wet cat food because, thanks to the donation from the Cat Lady, we still have two unopened cases. I will get the bigger cases at Costco, later.

I notice cat food is never on sale at Walmart.

The nacho chips were 2 for $6, so I got four bags. I also picked up some deodorant for the girls that was on sale. Deo is really expensive these days!!! Canned beans were on sale at 3 for $5, so I got a case of them; three cans each in four different flavours. The coffee creamer is cheaper at Walmart, at 2 for $9, so I got some more of that for the girls. I was going to get them more coffee, but the shelves were empty of the dark coffee they like.

Cases of pop were also on sale at 2 for $14, so I got some Coke Zero for my husband and I, and root beer for the girls.

I ended up going through the self check out because the regular checkouts were going soooooo slow. There were plenty of them, but the lines just weren’t moving. Having worked as a cashier a few times over the years, I feel sorry for the staff. It looked like a lot of “I don’t work here, so I won’t use self checkout” Karens in all the lines. That and some “can I use this expired coupon from another store’s flier?” types. For a load like this, I would have preferred to go through a cashier, but after finding line after motionless line of customers giving the cashiers a hard time, taking forever to load their carts or slowly digging through their purses while ignoring everyone around them, blocking others from being able to unload their carts, I gave up, did it myself, and was out in no time at all.

There’s a reason the cashier position is a revolving door, and not just because it’s a ground floor position people move up from. I say this as someone who actually enjoyed the job!

Anyhow…

While finishing up at the till, I ended up adding a $5 donation to the Children’s Hospital, so the grand total, after taxes, was $219.91

By the time I got out of Walmart, it had started to snow, so I didn’t want to take too much longer. My next stop was the international grocery store, which is where I was also going to have lunch, first.

Normally, I would have had the dim sum, but the last time I was there, they had been over the steamer for too long, to the point some of it was falling apart. So I went to the Chinese buffet instead. It was very tasty! The only down side is that they no longer have plastic cutlery. Instead, it’s the “environmentally friendly” bamboo cutlery. I ended up eating half my meal with my fingers, because the tines on the fork couldn’t stab into the food, but if I tried to just scoop it up, it would fall off. Even the shanghai noodles were hard to get with it.

Anyhow; my large meal – which was both breakfast and lunch for me – plus a drink cost pennies over $18.

Then it was time to do some shopping.

There were a few things not on my list, too.

Since nachos were on the menu soon, I picked up some artichoke and asiago dip for my daughters and I – my husband requested the 7 layer dip. I got some frozen fish for my daughters, and the baby spinach was something they had asked for, too. For fruit, I just grabbed some bananas.

I picked up a pork line because the price was very good. We don’t need to get a lot of meat during our stock up shopping trips, as we will be getting our 1/8 beef pack soon, but extra for the freezer is always good.

The flavourings were on sale, so I got maple, caramel and rum. Teas were also on sale, so I got chamomile and Early Grey. There’s a 2L of 3% milk. With the rest of the family all being lactose intolerant, we don’t use regular milk enough to make it worth buying a 4L jug anymore, as my girls have been drinking oat milk lately. The soy milk we used to get has been going off really quickly, so we no longer get that.

The energy drinks were on sale, so I got 6 cans in 6 different flavours; two each for me and the girls.

I did get a new cheese to try: a smoked Irish cheddar. I also got a Redwood smoked cheddar, which we have had before. These are the only things that are more for our Christmas or New Year’s meals. I remembered to grab more powdered milk, as we were running low.

Oh! I forgot to grab cocoa. We’ve been making our own hot chocolate mix, so we’re running low on both the powdered milk and the cocoa. I should be able to get some at Costco, though.

I also remembered to grab some rolled oats, as we’re almost out of that, too.

Grand total after taxes was $167.81

Our grand total for the day, including gas and lunch, is about $521.51

Which is in budget, but … ouch.

By the time I was done, it was no longer snowing, so that was nice. The drive home was uneventful, other than my truck telling me to watch out for slippery roads the whole way.

Once home, I backed up to the house to unload. The sunroom doors were both tied off, so I couldn’t open them from the outside. I got my daughter to take care of that while I unloaded everything else at the main doors for her to bring in and put away, then started hauling the litter pellet bags to the old kitchen. The cats were all over the place, getting under my feet, waiting for their evening feeding! Once everything was in the old kitchen, including the new bags of kibble, I gave them a feeding so I could safely drive the truck out of the yard and park it in the garage. I think I counted 43 as I headed to the truck. When I came back, I counted 36 or so.

After wading my way through the cats in the sun room, I emptied the two new bags of kibble into the bin, then topped up the trays in the sun room again. The kibble in there disappeared fast!

We won’t be able to give them the warm and softened kibble in the mornings anymore. There was so much frozen kibble in their outside bowls! No wonder they were so hungry. It would be great if we could have heated water bowls for the warm, softened kibble, but we just don’t have anywhere to plug in more bowls anymore. At least they still have warm water. It looks like the heated water bowl in the sun room is working again, too!

Oh! I almost forgot.

While at the Walmart, I turned into an aisle and stopped to look at a display when a customer looking at soup cans on the other side said hello and asked how I was doing – then asked for help! He was trying to figure out the different displays (it turned out someone had stuck what he was looking for in the wrong spot, which he didn’t realize) and the prices. Of course, we started talking about how expensive everything is getting (condensed soup that used to be under a dollar a can not long ago is now almost $2 – and that’s the cheaper Walmart prices!) and he mentioned he’d read that a lot of house brands are the same as the name brands, made by the same companies, but just a different logo. You’re paying extra for a label. Which is true for some things, but not everything. As an example, I pointed to the kibble I was getting. I told him we are caring for a colony of cats, but even the outside cats won’t eat the no-name kibble from Superstore, if they could avoid it.

Well, that got us to talking about cats!

It turns out, his kids are asking for a cat, so he’s looking into adopting one. I told him about the Cat Lady’s rescue, what her adoption fee is (which is ludicrously low), and that includes the spay/neuter, vet check, vaccinations, treatment for ear mites, etc. I know the Cat Lady has had to actually stop putting her number out because she was getting too many calls from people that were basically looking for designer cats, so I gave him the URL to the rescue’s website. It has an address and phone number on there, but the website hasn’t been updated in a long time, and I don’t think the address (it’s just a box number, not a street address), is their current one. The email should still work, though, and probably the phone number, too.

Who knows. If he follows through with it, he may even end up adopting one of “our” cats! 😄

All in all, it was a productive day. Our Costco shop may not happen until next week; we shall see how things work out.

Tomorrow evening, I’m taking my husband to the hospital for his rescheduled CT scan. Hopefully, the weather will be good, because we’re going to be leaving pretty much at sunset, which is now earlier than 4:30 these days.

The Re-Farmer

Sometimes, you need to go back, to go forward.

cost of living increases

First stock up shop: this is what $794 looks like

Finally! Costco! This is what $777 looks like

Additional stocking up: this is what $319 looks like

A much more effective shop, plus updates

A quick shop: This is $128???

An unplanned stock up trip

What do you mean, it’s just noon?

Unexpected stock up shop: this is what $307 looks like

Costco extra stocking up: this is what $899 looks like

First stock up shop: this is what $453 looks like

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