As has become usual when I start my morning rounds, I look for Button to make sure he is okay. I’m just that paranoid about the tiny beast. Especially with a busy night chasing raccoons out of the sun room. I had the critter cam feed up, and my goodness, where they busy last night! At least I knew the cats had a chance to eat first. Most of them, at least. Any late comers would have had to contend with the raccoons. There was one big one that came in several times. Then a mama her family of four “little” ones (not so little, this time of year!) and then another mama with three littles that my daughters chased out.
With the cats having eaten, I probably wouldn’t have bothered chasing them out, except that they started going into the cat cage, where a couple of babies were sleeping, and on top of the cat cage, where there is a fairly large cat bed full of kittens.
Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep last night!
This morning, however, Button was, as usual, cute as a button!
It was pretty early in the morning when I went out, to water the garden before things got hot (as I write this, it’s 28C/82F with the humidex putting it at 30C/86F. While I was in the city, it was 30C/86F with the humidex putting it at 38C/100F), I sent a message to the Cat Lady. I told her I was going to be in the city and what area I would be in, and offered to bring Button to her.
Well, that poor woman just can’t catch a break. She was already dealing with painful recovery from surgery on her hand. I was almost finished with the watering when I got a response from her.
She was in the hospital with her son, who suffered a head injury while playing hockey. I got updated through the day, and the potential prognosis is very dangerous, so they’ll be keeping him in the hospital for at least 5 days.
Needless to say, she wasn’t about to leave her son to pick up and deliver a kitten!
Good grief.
Gotta keep this amazing woman and her family in my prayers, that’s for sure.
When I finally headed out, I made sure to grab ice packs from the freezer – leaving the ones my daughter uses around her computer. I even double insulated the packs, putting them in a smaller soft sided insulated bag, then tucking that soft sided bag into an insulated hard sided bag. They actually stayed frozen for the entire trip!
The trip itself took longer than expected. My plan was to go to the town my mother is in to get a bit of gas, then cross over to another highway that would take me straight into the street I was planning to do my shopping at.
The highway going past our place is in the process of being resurfaced with fresh chip seal. Everything was considered a construction zone. Normally, that means the speed limit is 60kph.37mph, but they didn’t have those signs up. They did have signs saying to reduce speed to 40kph/25mph when passing oncoming traffic.
Most of the oncoming traffic I encountered didn’t even slow down from highway speeds, which is 100kph/62mph.
Then the traffic came to a complete standstill, with a highway worker holding a stop sign up. We ended up waiting there for about 5-10 minutes, during which time a couple of dump trucks with more aggregate were allowed through.
After a while, we started to see oncoming traffic behind a pilot vehicle. The pilot vehicle pulled over to let the traffic behind it through, the turned around to pilot us back the other way. The highway was down to one lane only, and we ended up driving on the shoulder at one point, to make room for oncoming traffic behind another pilot vehicle.
Things cleared up just a short distance from my mother’s town, where there is no road construction happening at all. When I got to the gas station, however, I could see construction signs in the distance, south of town. I don’t know how much further south the construction zone continued, and was more than happy to cross over to the other highway.
Needless to say, I took the other highway to get back home when I was done!
The trip itself was productive, at least. It was a small trip, but still expensive. 😢
This is the largest of the melons that I’ve seen (there might be others, hiding in the leaves) from the Summer of Melons mix. This mix of seeds has early, mid and late season melons, and the early ones – whatever varieties they are – are definitely showing up in the trellis bed, where the first transplants went in.
I took one photo yesterday and the other today. What a lot of growth in just one day!
I think I’ll try and make a point of taking photos of the melons and squash more often, with my hand as a size reference. The winter squash and pumpkins has also been getting visibly bigger, from day to day.
Today, we reached our expected high of 29C/84F, but I didn’t notice what the humidex was at at the time. Tomorrow, we’re expected to hit 30C/86F, and the humidex is expected to reach 38C/100F. Our low tonight is supposed to drop to 17C/63F by about 3-5am. I’ll definitely be out early to do the watering again, while it’s still cool.
My husband and I had plans to meet a friend in the city today, but unfortunately, his pain levels were just too high. I am expecting to do our first stock up shop tomorrow, as CPP Disability is supposed to come in on Monday, and when the disability payments are due on a Monday, they’ve instead been deposited on Saturday. However, just in case, I went into town early this evening to pick up a few things to tide us over the weekend. There were some really good sales on, so I got more than planned, and was still in budget, which is always nice.
After what happened this morning, with having to bury 4 newborn kittens, every time I’ve gone outside, I’ve been looking all over, hoping not to find any more. After chasing some raccoons out of the sun room, I gave the cats their evening feeding, then stayed outside to make sure the cats got a chance to eat before the raccoons came back. There was one bugger that was watching me from behind a tree for a while, but I didn’t want to get too close to chase it off, as that would have scared away the more feral cats eating under the shrine. Tricky bugger! It did eventually leave, though.
Since I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, I kept moving around, eventually going into the West yard.
That’s when I saw one of the cats in the lawn near the old kitchen garden. They’ve worn a path in the grass from the lilacs behind where the tulip bed it, and the corner of the old kitchen garden. There was something in front of the cat that was still there when she ran off. Other cats also went to see it, so I had to check it out.
Yup. It was another dead kitten. It looked to be only a couple of weeks old, and had been dead for a while. It seems a mama was bringing it to the house and it didn’t make it, like the one I found in the old kitchen garden not long ago.
That’s 5 kittens I buried, in just one day.
It’s getting to the point that every time we go outside, we’re nervous about what we’ll find. With this heat, the kittens by the house tend to just splatter themselves all over, in the grass, on the sidewalk blocks, in the sun room, all stretched out and sleeping, and we have been checking to see if they’re breathing!
It’s Button that really gets me. He will sleep absolutely anywhere, usually in high traffic areas. Since he is so very tiny, and has a forever home to go to, I’m the most paranoid about him! I chatted with the Cat Lady today and we have a tentative date to connect on Sunday, if she is able to come out this way. Unfortunately, she just had surgery on one of her hands not long ago, and it’s been hurting a lot, so she might not be up to making the trip.
Hmmm… if I do go to the city tomorrow, I wonder if there is somewhere closer to her place where we could meet, and I can bring Button with me? I’ll have to message her and find out.
It’s not even 8:30am as I start this, and I’ve already spent a couple of hours outside. It was already 19C/66F, and I don’t think we got any cooler than that overnight. Right now, we’re at 23C/73F, but at least the wind is making it feel a bit cooler.
We’re still expected to reach 29C/84F as a high today, so I wanted to make sure the garden got a watering before the heat hit. Most of what we’re growing this year is stuff that needs a lot of water to begin with, but they also like heat, so this should work out, I think.
After I was doing the last beds in the south yard and dragging the hose back to the house, I spotted something dark in the grass.
It was stillborn kitten, completely encased in its amniotic sac. I was surprised to find it, since I’d gone past there with the hose earlier. It wasn’t until I collected it to bury it that I realized how wet it still was. This happened while I was out watering!
After I buried it, I started looking around in case there were anymore. I found one just around the corner of the house.
This one was not in its amniotic sac.
Then it moved.
There was no mother in sight, and it had clearly been left there, likely before the first one I found was stillborn.
Sadly, I had to dispatch it, because there was no way it was going to survive.
I’d messaged a daughter about it and she came out to join me. We walked around the house looking, in case there were more, but we found none.
This is one of the more feral cats from last year’s late litter of eight kittens. That would make her just over a year old. While I’ve been able to sneak pets now and then, as soon as she realizes I’m touching her, she runs off in a panic. Otherwise, she does stay close to the house in general.
I tried to see and she did look a bit damp under her tail, but not enough that I could be sure – she could just as easily have gotten wet sitting in the damp grass. And she still looks rather round. Which means either it wasn’t her, or it was and… there’s more in there? Good Lord, I hope not.
While my daughter and I were walking around, she updated me with her own situation. She is absolutely stressed out and exhausted. Her computer has been dying for a while, and she’s picked out a replacement system at Memory Express that meets her needs. Unfortunately, that’s when she discovered her credit card expired last year – and they never sent her a replacement. She used it to buy her current computer, at least 10 years ago. The card was paid off and she wasn’t using it, and never noticed that it was expired until now. So that was going to delay her purchase.
The problem is, in this heat, her computer is not wanting to boot up anymore. She had a couple of completed commissions that need to be sent out, plus she needed to buy more online storage to use as a backup. She has the free storage available, but it’s not enough. She managed to get the computer working long enough to send out the completed commissions, but her computer crashed again while she was in the process of paying for the online storage.
So she’s been spending most of the night with her computer covered in ice packs wrapped in towels, fighting with it. She got the commissions sent out and finally got to the point where she is backing up the one essential folder she needs to protect, to start with. Once that started uploading, she couldn’t use her computer anymore. It’s still backing up as I write this. She has tried going to bed earlier, so as not to be hovering over it, but she keeps getting up to check it. With good reason, considering how often her computer has been crashing lately.
We talked about finding a way to set her up in the living room, where the air conditioner is, but she doesn’t think she needs to. Part of the problem with her computer (besides its age) is the physical case. It just can’t cool itself down enough. Newer desktops, like the one I had to get, have much better cooling systems, and the boxes allow for more air circulation.
She noticed a selling feature on the desktops she’s been looking at often includes their improved cooling systems!
Meanwhile, she’s been transferring funds from her PayPal, which can take several business days to process. If worse comes to worse, she’ll pay us to get it for her. Chances are she won’t be able to purchase her replacement computer until the middle of next week. Worst case scenario, it will have to wait until next month. Most of her clients are repeat customers, so it’s unlikely she will lose any commissions in progress, but it will certainly delay things.
Meanwhile, she’s stressed to the max.
It’ll work out. It’s just that in between stage that is making things difficult!
This will make the third desktop in our household that’s being replaced, and we’re still paying off my husband’s.
Ouch.
At least she can claim hers as a business expense!
So that was what I got updated on while we were walking around the house. Thankfully, we did not find more remains. When I head out later in the day, I’ll have to look again, just in case.
What a year this has been.
And it’s not even the end of July, yet!
The Re-Farmer
[Update: *sigh* we just found 2 more, scattered about. Confirmed the mom. She completely ignored her kittens.
This picture of domestic bliss was interrupted when suddenly she, and two other mamas, drove off Rolando Moon! Rolando doesn’t like the babies, nor any of the other cats, really, and I guess they see her as a threat.
Just a little bit longer, and Button will be off to his forever home!
I have to admit, going outside in the mornings has gotten a bit nerve racking. My daughters fed the outside cats early this morning, and it’s much the same for them, now, too. We keep looking around, wondering what we fill find.
Happily, this morning, all we found were active, playful – or napping! – kitties.
Finding Rolando Moon chilling in the wheelbarrow was quite funny!
While I was watering the garden this morning, ahead of the upcoming heat, I was watching the cats and noticed that only one kitten was with Brussel. Which sort of confirms to me that three of the recent losses were from her litter. The one remaining kitten, at least, looked very strong and healthy.
As for the new litter that was brought to the junk pile, I am thinking there is two kittens in the litter, but that I’m sometimes seeing other white and greys playing with them. I saw the two of them lying in the open together, with Mama nearby, and they seem a bit older than I originally thought, too. I was entertaining the possibility that Button was part of this litter and had been brought over ahead of the others or something, but I still think that’s unlikely. Possible, but unlikely.
One of the things we are talking about doing is building a larger, outdoor cat cage. Something like a catio, but self contained and moveable. When we get to the point of trapping females to get them spayed, we will need somewhere to isolate them for 2 weeks. We can’t use the sun room for that anymore; I don’t think we can fully close the doors, due to shifting. Mostly the outer door. I think the inside door can still close.
I was talking to the Cat Lady about it and asking if her husband had any construction sites in the area, and the possibility of scavenging building materials that would otherwise be doing to the landfill. He’s an engineer and doesn’t typically deal with that side of his contracts, but there aren’t any builds in our area, anyhow right now. She promised to bring it up with him, and maybe he can throw some castoffs into his truck when visiting a work site. Most of the building projects we have in mind are pretty small, so we could manage with castoffs. It would be a win-win, since it would mean at least a little bit less going to the dump.
They are in the process of having a catio being custom built at their new house – something to make it easier to keep the cats up for adoption separate from their house cats. They have a catio from their previous house that doesn’t work where they are now. They will try to get it to us. That would make things a lot easier, I think. Depending on what it’s like, we might just need to do some modifications. If that doesn’t work out, we can use the parts and pieces for something that suits our space.
We are such sucks for the cats.
Anything we can do to make it easier to catch and fix the outside cats will be a huge help, too.
Yesterday, as I was heading back inside through the sun room, I spotted Button and his blue, blue eyes. I’ve been trying to capture just how blue they are and, this time, the light was hitting them just right. The camera was even able to capture the colour very well, too!
I was able to get a few pictures and even a short video. When I had the chance, I shared them with the Cat Lady (and others! 😁), just so she could see the colour.
Soon after, she was asking me questions about Button, and telling me she was going to share the photos around. She knew some people that had lost their elderly cats and was hoping they’d be willing to adopt a kitten.
Well, I don’t know about the ones that lost elderly cats, but she did find someone that was very interested!
Best of all, this person is a vet!
For all his tiny size and blue eyes, we know Button is likely at least five weeks old, based on things like how much he’s eating solid food, compared to how often he nurses on the creche mothers. The vet knows that he is a foundling, and that we know little else about him. We also just assume he has ear mites.
The Cat Lady will pick him up, most likely on the weekend when they are in the area again. He’ll be with her for about a week before going to the vet. The vet is even taking on the expenses that the rescue would normally take on before a cat is adopted out.
Now, we’ve had way too many of these things fall through in the past couple of years, so I’m not holding my breath on this, but as it stands now, Button’s gorgeous blue eyes seems to have found him a forever home!
Now for the sad news.
The girls had fed the cats outside quite early in the morning, so when I went out to do my rounds, I topped up the kibble a bit, then did my usual routine.
There is one black and white kitten – one of the Squashes (kittens that like to sit in the pots with my summer squash) – that we’ve been keeping our eye on. He (she?) did not seem overtly sick, but was definitely not thriving. Yesterday, I honestly thought he was dying, like the other black and white Squash kitten I’d found a few days ago. However, when I picked him up, he perked up, got active, wanted down, and started behaving normally.
I was keeping an eye out for him while I was outside and, by the time I was ready to head in, I had not seen him anywhere. This kitten was one that always stayed close to the house, with several favourite places to hang out, and he was in none of them.
*sigh*
So I started looking for him, knowing I was likely looking for a body. But where could he be? If anything, this is one kitten I would have expected to find out in the open, like some of the other kittens we’d found passed on.
Once all the obvious places where checked, I started looking for the less obvious places he might have gone into.
Which is when I saw the tail, peaking out from under the back of the kibble house.
An orange tail.
This year, we’ve had one orange fluffy kitten, and one orange and white kitten. The orange and white kitten was in the sun room, enjoying himself in the cat cage.
Which is when I realized, I hadn’t seen the orange fluffy one in a while.
I will not go into detail but, let’s just say, the orange kitten had been under there for quite some time. It took some creative effort to get him out and bury the remains under a rose bush.
I made sure to hose down under the kibble house after. There is a sheet of rigid insulation on the ground that fits perfectly under the floor of the kibble house, and a lot of the cats and kittens will hang out under there, or hide under there if they feel threatened. The back wall of the kibble house is just a few inches above ground; too low for an adult cat to squeeze under. The front is more open, with just the 2×4 supporting the floor of the kibble house for them to squeeze under. It’s hard to see anything under the kibble house without basically getting down on the ground. When I retrieved the remains of the orange kitten, I did make sure there were no other remains.
Which means I still had the black and white kitten to find.
With the condition of the one kitten, I really wanted to make sure the black and white wasn’t in the sun room for us to find by the smell or something. After looking all over, I found myself eyeballing the counter shelf. The kittens like to hide under it, and go between it and the window.
Then one of the other cats moved out from under the table saw, and I could see a little black.. something.
It turned out to be a barely visible tail tip.
*sigh*
This one got buried under the honeysuckle.
So that’s two more gone, and we don’t know why. The Cat Lady says it’s most likely lung issues. I suspect she’s seen a lot more of this than we have!
But still, this is 5 kittens I’ve buried in less than a week, and only one of them looked like it was having issues. I can’t say for sure about the orange one, since it ran from us all the time, but the other two had seemed hale and hardy, until they weren’t.
It just occurred to me; this black and white and the orange kitten were both Brussel’s babies. That’s at least two out of her litter of four she has lost. Possibly three, as the other black and white might have been hers, too.
I just went looking through my photos. There is one of her kittens that has a distinctive black splotch over its nose, and I’ve been seeing that one around the house. Looking at the others in the photo, I am now more convinced that the other three from her litter are now gone.
Wow.
So…
What a start to the day.
At least we have the good news of Button soon to be going to his forever home with a vet!
Today was my day to take my mother to her medical appointment. It got hot fast this morning, even as I was just going my rounds. As I write this, coming up on 7pm, we are still at 29C/84F, and the humidex is at 34C/93F. This heat is supposed to continue for the next couple of days, and no rain or even thunderstorms expected, so tomorrow morning, I’ll have to make sure to give the garden beds a deep watering, before it gets really hot again.
I am really appreciating the AC in the truck!
I was thinking of going to my mother’s a bit early, so we could get a bit of a visit in before her appointment, since I had to go to pick up eggs after. I was going to call her to see if she was good with my arriving early when she called me, instead.
While I was in the washroom, of course.
The message she left was almost a wail, asking where I was, and did I forget about the appointment today?
I had told her I would arrive at about noon. She was calling shortly after 11.
So I called her back and told her I could leave right away. In the end, it was only about half an hour earlier than I intended to be there originally.
I tried to have a conversation with her. I really did!
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out well. A couple of times, I was trying to share some information with her related to the topic at hand, and she would cut me off and start going off on a rant. It was as if she’d assumed the conclusion of what I was saying and responding to that – even though it was not at all what I was trying to say. She had no interest in what I was actually saying, but in what she thought I was saying.
When she cut me off again by making a racist comment, I gave up and suggested it was time to leave.
So we were a bit early for the appointment.
While in the waiting room, we got to talking about the purpose of the appointment, which was to get her medications reviewed, including the changes done by the ER doctor, and for the pharmacy to get the updated information before they have to do her next bubble packs.
That’s when I found out my mother wasn’t taking the one pill the ER doctor told her to start taking again, every day. She was taking it every other day. She had already been saying to me, how she was feeling better after being back on the pill, but then she was saying that she was feeling worse after being back on that pill.
I told her she needs to stop messing with her prescriptions, and that we needed to make sure to tell the doctor about this. She was to stop taking the pill for 30 days, and the blood work she had done would tell the doctor if anything about it needed to be changed.
When the doctor came in, we explained about my mother going to the ER. She tried to look it up on my mother’s file.
The hospital never sent the information to her!
She was able to go online and link into their files, though, and see test results, at least. There were no notes of any kind attached, which was very frustrating. The ER doctor had not only told my mother to start taking this one prescription again, but doubled another one, so she’s now taking it morning and evening – but no information as to why the doctor made these decisions!
The other information was there, though. My mother had Xrays done, and everything looked clear. The hospital’s blood work was done a week after my mother did her scheduled blood work after stopping the pill for 30 days, so the doctor was able to compare three different test results; the first one that identified a problem, then the other two showing any changes.
My mother’s results showed significant improvement in that 30 day period, and even more improvement in just the week before the ER tested her again. Everything is now right back where it should be!
The doctor has taken this pill off my mother’s prescriptions. If my mother starts to have any particular symptoms start, she’ll add it back, but only as a “take as needed” prescription, not part of her bubble packs.
My mother’s turning 93 this year and, for all her complaints about her health, she is remarkably resilient and has an amazing recovery time. It’s just amazing!
After her appointment was done, my mother had wanted to go to a particular grocery store that was on our way out of town, but she changed her mind as we were leaving. It turned out she’d only eaten a piece of toast for breakfast, and had deliberately not eaten lunch before this appointment. I’m not sure why! Needless to say, she was famished, so we stopped for lunch and shared a pizza. After that, she didn’t have the energy to get out of the truck again.
As we were leaving her town, I’d pointed out to her where I’d be going to get eggs later; part of their property borders the highway. My mother suggested I stop to pick up the eggs on the way, rather than driving back later. She even said she might want to get some eggs, too.
Of course, what she really wanted as to see was the egg lady’s place and make judgements. Because that’s what my mother does!
I ended up sending a message to the egg lady, because I wasn’t sure if she was even home.
She wasn’t, but she was on the way.
I told her about my mother being interested in getting a dozen eggs, too, and we worked things out. I was going to stop at a gas station and take my time about it, to give her more time to get home ahead of me.
Which worked out well. We got there and, as we were driving in, my mother got to see the guinea hens, and a couple of free range goats, without having to leave the truck.
She changed her mind about the eggs, though. Which I expected, since I knew that was just her way to get me to take her to the egg lady’s place.
I don’t think my mother was impressed. It didn’t look like a picture postcard, but an active homestead and home based business that also involved animals.
I’m probably going to hear about it later. At the time, she was just too tired to say much.
I got her home and settled in, but couldn’t stay long with the eggs in the truck; they didn’t fit in any of my insulated bags. Hopefully, my mother went for a nap soon after I left!
As we were driving into her town, though, I realized the farmer’s market was started. It’s every Friday, but I’m almost never in this town on Fridays. I saw my cousin’s truck there, too, so I wanted to make a quick stop.
But first, I wanted to stop at a nearby feed store. We haven’t been able to connect with the Cat Lady to pick up the kibble donation, and we were running low. I knew the grocery store prices would be insane, but maybe the feed store would be better.
Plus, it was half a block away from the farmer’s market.
So I went there first and looked around. Sure enough, they did have cat food – in 40 pound bags! (18.1kg). The price was a little over $60, though, which would have used up most of my cash on hand. They did have 20 pound bags (9.1kg) for just over $30, though. It looked like they had only one 20lb bag left, too! So I bought it and paid cash. Then I picked up the bag and set it on my shoulder to carry it out.
Which is when I heard and felt something very strange.
I pulled the bag down and discovered the sewn strip across the top had come loose. I’d just spilled kibble all over the floor!
Of course, I was very apologetic. What mess!
The guy behind the counter came out with a broom and dustpan to clean it up while telling the other guy (the owner?), who was in the office, what happened. They talked back and forth for a bit when the other guy said, “give her a 40 pound bag.”
??? !!!
In the end, the other guy came out and went to their storage building out back and got me a 40 pound bag himself, while the guy behind the counter finished sweeping up the kibble.
So I got to take home a 40 pound bag for the price of a 20 pound bag!
That was so awesome of them!
As soon as possible, I want to go back and pay the difference.
The one guy (the one I think is the owner) was also complaining to the guy behind the counter that almost ever third bag they’ve been getting, the stitching is loose at one corner, so this is not the first time it’s been a problem! As he was loading the bag into the back of my truck, he made a point of telling me this, and to watch out for those corners.
With such great customer service, I definitely plan to go back there!
Plus…
While the price per kg is slightly higher than what I’m paying at Walmart for the 9kg bags, and Costco has even better prices for that size, the price is SO much better than at the grocery stores. Factoring in the cost of gas to drive to the city, and it comes out cheaper.
So while we will still pick up kibble when we are already in the city to do our stock up shopping, when it comes time to get more, later in the month, it would be more cost effective to buy from the feed store than to drive to the nearest Walmart.
Best of all, I’ve already given some to the cats outside, and they like it. The last time I got kibble at a feed store, it was in another town, and they had 16kg bags (35 pounds) for an even better price. The problem was, the cats didn’t like it, at all. Even the outside cats didn’t want to eat it. They did anyhow, since there was nothing else, but this stuff is clearly a better quality cat food.
After getting the cat food, I popped over to the farmer’s market. I talked to my cousin for a while, and picked up some of his creamed honey. He doesn’t have a lot of honey right now; he lost all his bees when a neighbour sprayed their field for grasshoppers, and had to buy more. He doesn’t have much of an inventory yet. No 3kg buckets for quite a while!
Then, I made a quick stop at a booth selling baked goods and picked up a bumbleberry pie. It had better be good – it cost more than the honey I just bought, and more than twice the grocery store price!
While I was doing that, I got a message from my husband asking if I could swing by the post office. I had just enough time to get there before they closed.
All this made for a very long day, but a more productive one than I expected. I’m really glad I remembered this feed store and decided to check it out.
Ugh. I need to go outside and do my evening rounds. It’s now coming up on 8pm, and we’re still 27C/81F with the humidex at 30C/86F.
It’s going to be sticky out there!
Even our overnight temperatures are supposed to only drop to 19C/66F. I think I’ll be leaving my window fan to keep blowing hot air out, for the night.
There should be quite a few raspberries to pick, though, so I’d better remember to bring a bucket of some kind, and get out there!
It was another sleepless night last night. Pain and stiffness, I expected, but the worst of it was the pain in my damaged elbow. Talking to one of my daughters about it – at about 3am – we tried an experiment. One thing that helps it is warmth. Which is weird, considering how warm it was during the night. My daughter had some scrap sleeves in a stretchy material that she brought down. We found a section that fit fairly well and cut it into a shorter tube to cover just my elbow. My pjs already had long sleeves, which helped hold the tube in place.
It seemed to help, because I did finally get a couple of hours of sleep.
After that, it was the cats going crazy that kept me up!
My daughters took care of the morning routine for me, though, as well as the cats, and I did finally get another hour or two of sleep. Which I needed, since I was going to be doing some driving this afternoon.
Once I was finally up and about, I did my usual rounds. I was just finishing up and coming around past the cat house to go in through the sun room when I spotted Squash lying in the grass.
I’ve been able to pick Squash up fairly regularly, so I went to pet him (her? we never did find out. I’ll just say “he”) and realized something was very wrong.
Squash was clearly dying.
I ended up spending almost two hours with Squash, trying to comfort him. He did not seem to be in any pain, but was barely breathing. He did seem to perk up a bit when I started giving him water, one drop at a time, with my finger.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay with him any longer. I left him in a shady spot, then headed to town for, among other things, a pharmacy run to pick up my husband’s injections. When I got back, Squash was gone, and I buried him near Driver.
With so many kittens, there are bound to be losses. and we’ve had quite a few over the years. Among this year’s kittens that we’ve seen so far, if there was any I would have expected to suddenly pass, it would have been Button. He’s so incredibly tiny, we’re sure he was the runt of his litter. Yesterday, however, I did pick up Squash and found him very… lethargic. When I put him down in the sun room, he went back outside, though, and that was pretty normal for him.
The one symptom he did have was a severely leaky butt, which he did not have yesterday. We had something similar happen with a kitten we’d brought inside, last year.
Unfortunately, with this heat, we’ve had kittens and cats splashed all over the place, all stretched out and trying to keep cool. Every time I see one – especially when it’s Button or one of the other smaller kittens – I find myself wondering if they are okay! So in a way, it wasn’t really a surprise to find Squash in his condition. The only surprise was that it was Squash.
After the sad job of burying him, I loaded the truck with our garbage and made a run to the dump. Later on this evening, I plan to go out again and rake up some of yesterday’s grass clippings for mulch. It’s past 6pm right now, and still 25C/77F with the humidex at 28C/82F, and we’re not supposed to start cooling down more for a couple more hours. It’s a good thing the days are so long! Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter and, depending on what app I look at, we’ll either have no rain at all, passing showers, or possible thunderstorms.
Tomorrow afternoon, I’m taking my mother to her doctor’s appointment, right when it will be getting the hottest. Thankfully, the truck’s AC works all right!
Meanwhile, I need to start editing my July garden tour video. One of my daughter’s previewed the recordings made on the 16th and the 17th, and said both days were fine. The only think she noted is that I sounded tired – which I was!
I still am, to be honest. I might just skip collecting the grass clippings tonight, and do it in the morning, before I have to leave for my mother’s. I seem to be waking up at 5:30am, no matter what, so I may as well be productive when it’s a bit cooler.
I just hope I don’t find any more kitten losses. 😢
I took advantage of today’s relatively cooler 20C/68F, give or take a degree or two, to mow the lawns. Last night, we actually dropped to 8C/46F! At least, that’s what it was at about 5:30am I actually felt cold last night! Not cold enough to close the window, though. I was enjoying it too much!
I’d already done most of the edges around the yard with the weed trimmer yesterday. Today, I went to start the riding mower, but the battery was dead. So I put the charger on it, then used the push mower to mow the edges wider, so it would be easier to make the turns with the larger riding mower.
After doing all the edges along the inner yard, I got the riding mower going and started doing the rest.
I doubt I got as much as 50 feet of mowing before I gave up and parked the riding mower. I don’t know what’s wrong with that thing, but it just won’t cut! It’ll cut for the first foot or two, then nothing. The grass wasn’t that tall, so I can’t blame it on that, this time. If I reverse, then go back and forth a couple of times, I can finally clear an area – but only if the deck is as low as it can go, and I use the slowest speed.
At which point, it’s faster to use the push mower.
So that’s what I did.
By the time I finished the south and east yards – the largest sections with the thickest grass – I’d been out there for several hours. I went in for supper and was considering finishing the rest tomorrow. The north and west yards are a lot smaller, and the grass is thinner, so it wouldn’t take long.
Then I saw that we’re supposed to hit 27C/81F tomorrow.
There is no way I want to be mowing in that heat!
So I went out and finished the last two sections, and even mowed the one path through the maple grove I’ve managed to clear this year.
Then I filled the tank one last time and started working on the outer yard. Usually, I work in a circle, but this time I started at the chain link fence and just went back and forth until I ran out of gas. I managed to cut around the junk pile – most of that was grass that hadn’t been cut this year – and a path to the electricity meter. By the time I ran out of gas, I had almost finished clearing as far as the last time I was able to mow, except the driveway. I didn’t even try for the driveway this time. Next time, I’ll grab the gate key and mow all the way to the road.
But not today.
It was past 7pm by the time I finished, and I am totally beat!
I’m really happy with how the yards look, though, Plus, the grass clippings get to dry in the sun tomorrow, and at the end of the day, I should be able to collect quite a lot of it to use as mulch. Especially around the junk pile, where the grass was the tallest.
Also, I think there is a new litter of kittens in the junk pile. I’m seeing some white and greys running around in there. Previously, there’s only been the one fluffy tabby, until I found Button. I’m not sure if I saw two or three or four kittens!
Aside from the mowing, I tried to record some video for the July garden tour. I did some recordings yesterday evening, but I wasn’t sure I was happy with them. So I did more this morning. I don’t think I’m happy with them, either. However, I was really tired while going through the files, both times, so I think I’ll get one or both of my daughters to review them and tell me what they think.
Meanwhile…
After making some recordings this morning, I got a bit of a harvest.
I also startled a deer this morning! It was on the far side of the row of problem trees on the north side of the main garden.
Deer make the most interesting huffing noises.
While doing my rounds and mowing the lawn, I also saw lots and lots of frogs. All that rain may mean we’ve got lots of mosquitoes, but we also have lots of frogs to eat them, too!
I found this beauty on the upside down garbage can we use to support a rain diverter I needed to move so I could mow in the north yard. It’s held in place by a brick on each side. When I moved the diverter, the frog scooted under one of the bricks. I just had to move it long enough to get a picture! What a beauty!
I was still trying to use the riding mower when I spotted it climbing up the tent canopy that’s draped over the chain link fence right now. If it weren’t for the running motor, I would have taken video. It looked so adorable, climbing up the canvas! It’s body was, at most, an inch long. Probably less.
Even when using the push mower, there were a few times I had to pause to let some frogs jump out of the way. One little thing got stuck in the grass and I ended up catching it and moving it. That was was only about half an inch long!
I like frogs, and am so happy we’ve got so many this year!
Now, if they would just eat up all those slugs in the garden!
Well, I think I’m rested enough. Time for a shower. I’ve already got one of my daughters to put the bath chair in the tub for me. I’m so tired and unsteady right now, I don’t want to take a chance, no matter how many arm bars we’ve got in there!
It’s a “good” tired, though. Everything looks so much better out there, and I really do enjoy mowing!
Tomorrow, however, will be a different story. I am definitely going to be paying for that last push to do the outer yard! Just the weed wacking I did yesterday had my damaged left elbow hurting so much, it kept waking me up during the night. The pain killers I have don’t really do much for this type of injury, though. *sigh* It had been pretty good for so many years. Why is it coming back so badly, now?
I ended up going into town this morning. One of my stops was not far from the marina.
I forgot it’s fish fly season right now.
Buildings and sidewalks are covered with them. Piles of them were under street lights. I walked past a poor guy using a leaf blower, trying to clear the sidewalk in front of retail outlets. Before going inside, I had to shake my shirt to knock the still living ones off of me. Ew.
While in line at one of my stops I – with permission, of course – removed a number of them from the back of the woman in front of me, and she was kind enough to check if I had any on my back, too! 😄
The good thing is, they emerge, mate, hatch their eggs and die, all within 24 hours, so this won’t last long!
After I got home, I was able to make the medical appointment for my mother to go over her prescription changes. They were actually able to fit her in this coming Friday, which is nice and fast.
Then, with the temperatures a much more bearable 20-22C/68-72F outside, and no rain expected, I finally got outside and got some progress in the garden. That will be for another post. For now, I share the cuteness!
Two of Brussel’s kittens are now regularly at the sun room. If the other two are around, I’m not seeing them.
Broccoli’s calico looks like a grizzles old man!
Then I found one of Brussel’s kittens in one of my summer squash pots! Thankfully, not on the one seedling that has managed to germinate. I was able to harvest the fuzzy little squashling and move it to the sun room.
It did not appreciate this.
This is a kitten that hunches down rather than runs away, and it did hiss at me. I think it did clue in that I mean it no harm, because I was able to handle it later, without getting hissed at. I just got a death glare, instead!
Button’s habit of sleeping right in the doorway is a bit of a pain, but with all our losses this year so far, every time I see him sleeping like that, I find myself checking to see if he’s still breathing!
Yes, he was fine. 😁
Seeing Brussel with only two of her kittens does make me wonder about the other two.
Then there is a pair of white and grey/black kittens that have decided the hand rail is the place to hang out.
They are not socialized, but I was able to pet them. Once actually stopped and let me, but the other disappeared under the branches of the rose bush that covered half the hand rail. I did manage to pet its back as it duck into the foliage, though.
Gotta keep working on the socialization thing, if we’re going to be able to get them adopted out! The Cat Lady even contacted me today, as she has someone looking for a kitten, and we do have some that we can handle regularly now, that are also old enough to be weaned.
Getting any adoptions done at all right now would be amazing!
The Re-Farmer 