Critters

Look who’s home!

/ Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

The little voidling does not look happy!

I was able to pick him up early. He was completely quiet the entire time, from the clinic to bringing him into the house.

Then, as I went to park the truck, my daughter let him out of the carrier, and he went into overdrive. Not the reaction to expect from a still sedated cat! He was running all over the place!

He also had a whole series of cats following along, trying to sniff his remaining nibby bits as he ran around.

He has finally calmed down and, as I write this, is wandering around the dining room.

While at the clinic, I remembered to go through the list of cats they have on file with us. Some have been adopted, while others have disappeared or passed on. Turns out they had Potato Beetle as two cats – Potato, and Beetle! 😆

While at the counter, one of the staff came by and asked where we found Soot Sprite, and whereabouts we live. I was a bit confused by the question, and just said, in our yard. She was wondering if we were missing a kitten that looks like Soot Sprite. She recently found one!

It turns out, she is a neighbor! She lives off a road a mile north of us, so she takes a paved road, another mile north, to get to her place, rather than the gravel road past our place, So while we live on the same cross road, she has never gone past the intersection near us. I would have driven past where she is, but all the houses along there are hidden by trees, so I only have an idea of her geographical location.

I mentioned we have a lot of black cats this time around, and that the number of cats outside at our place ranges from about 23 to 37, so I couldn’t know if any wandered further her way. Now that I think about it, though, she did say she’d found a kitten like Soot Sprite. Any kittens his size and age have been staying close to the house. My guess is, it would be from another farm out her way.

Though it probably has the same daddy that produced so many mostly black cats at our place!!

Unfortunately, while paying for the neuter and claiming Soot Sprite, I completely forgot to ask her name. That’s not a problem, though. We’ll be back there again, often enough. They take good care of our felines!

The Re-Farmer

Winter fur, and updates

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

Would you look at this gorgeous lady!

She still will not let us near her.

I want to burrow into that fur!!

I just got back in from morning rounds. We are at -27C right now, but the windchill is at -29C. I’d really love for those winds to die down! I had to clear a bunch of paths, not because we got much snow last night, but because the winds filled them in with hard packed drifts.

I got through to my mother about coming over today, and brought up about her saying she would be willing to climb into the truck. She told me she checked and has enough cash, so we can try when it is warmer.

So… spring??

No matter, for now. As long as I get her groceries. Going to the bank is the one thing I can’t do for her!

I want to talk to our mechanic, in person, about my mother’s car, but we won’t have any budget for repairs for a while. I’m considering putting the insurance on hold until we can get it in, which likely won’t be until the spring. The truck and other things have priority in the budget. After having to cancel my husband’s eye appointment at the last minute because we were at -30C with no block heater, my husband really wants to get that done.

Of course, it can’t be a generic cord. GM has their own cord with a built-in thermostat that has to be used. Generic ones won’t work right. Which I would prefer, anyhow. Our van had one of those, and I liked it. These cords shut themselves on and off as needed, so you don’t have it heating constantly. I just got a text this morning with an estimate. Replacing the cord will cost under $100. Replacing the block heater part, however, would cost almost $300. !! As far as we know, it’s just the cord that needs replacing, since finding the plug ripped off the end.

We are supposed to have a high of -16C, give or take a degree, and stay warmer than -20C for the next while before warming up above -10C. I’m quite looking forward to the return of the El Nino effect!

I’m sure the yard cats will be appreciating it, too!

The Re-Farmer

Not quite there, yet

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

One more night, before the cold snap is dupposed to end, in our area.

I headed out to feed the outside cats and do partial evening rounds. We have reached our expected high of -20C, and are not expected to drop much lower overnight. The windchill, however, is -32C right now, and it’s expected to reach -37C overnight! While walking around the inner yard, there is a section that isn’t sheltered from north winds, and wow, what a difference! The winds have certainly increased, and we are supposed to get a light snowfall, too.

The cats are handling it well, and making good use of the shelter and sunroom. I did find they had somehow managed to unplug the heat lamp, though! The power bar is on the wall, on the far side of the platform, so reaching to plug it back in was a bit of a challenge. Even with it unplugged, though, the room was still around -10C. I made sure the lamp was pushing heat properly, before heading in.

Tomorrow our high is supposed to be -15 or -16C. I have some errands to run, and hope to head over to help my mother as well. I haven’t gotten through to her on the phone, yet. My brother spoke to her yesterday, and she had told him she is willing to try doing her errands in our truck! I do have the step stool, the truck has a step under the door, and the passenger side has a handle she can use to pull herself in. I’m willing to try it if she is, but my goodness, it concerns me! However, her car is out of commission, my sister isn’t able to come out, and my brother would have to plan ahead to arrange a day off work to help out with his car. So there isn’t much choice.

I hope it works out, because then I can get her to a doctor’s appointment, so she can get referred to a specialist. Errands, tomorrow, will be the test!

The Re-Farmer

Booked

/ Re-Farmer / 6 Comments

Well, it’s another step forward with the cats.

We have 3 kittens that did not go for the spay day last time, as they were too small. Two male and one female, all siblings.

This was Pom Pom. We now call him the Wolfman. He looks like he’s going to be a big, shaggy boy! He’s already the same size as the older kittens and Toni.

I don’t know where Soot Sprite is right now, but he is still tiny, like their sister.

We call her The Beast, now.

The problem is, the boys are starting to… practice, shall we say… on The Beast. She hasn’t had her first heat, so there are no concerns in that regard… yet. But we need to act soon.

I got an estimate from the local vet, and ti get both males done, including extras like nail trimming, etc, will be just under $340. Which is what one female would cost. Without the extras, it’ll save us a few bucks.

Meanwhile, I asked the Cat Lady about the next cheap spay day. I got a response today.

They have one for this month, but they are booked solid. The next is Feb. 10. They will do males, but want at least one female in a group, since population control is the goal. These are only $75 per cat, with just the surgery and, if needed, treatment fir ear mites. No wellness check, tattoo or anything else. They just do as many cats as they can. This is on a day the clinic is closed, and the staff all volunteer their time to allow it to be so inexpensive.

I called the local clinic to book our indoor males, but to do both would be more than a month from now. I could book one next week. So I did that. We will bring Soot Sprite in. He may be the smaller one, but he’s been the more… active… one. So he is the priority.

I’ve since asked the Cat Lady to book us fir at least three cats in February. We’ll do The Wolfman and The Beast, plus Tissue. Doing Tissue is a risk, considering what happened before, but with us bringing her in, she might not panic so much. If possible, we will also snag the fluffy tortie from outside.

This clinic tries to have these spay days once a month, though, so if we can start trapping female yard cats, we might be able to start getting them in, too.

I don’t know how much of this the rescue can cover, though. Donations are lean, with so many people struggling just to pay the bills and feed themselves. I have to assume we will be covering it, ourselves. Or, should I say, my daughter probably will be. Hopefully, she will have plenty of commissions!

The Re-Farmer

It’s coming

/ Re-Farmer / 10 Comments

Today is supposed to reach a high of -7C or -8C, after which the temperatures are supposed to drop. An Alberta Clipper weather system is blowing its way through the prairies. The snow is supposed to start this afternoon, for a total of up to 15cm over 36 hours.

We already have a light dusting of snow right now. I didn’t get a head count, but the cats definitely prefer to be in the sunroom, or the cat house. Only the super fluffy ones, like Driver, here, are staying out. The sunroom was at just below 0C when I came in this morning, compared to -12C outside.

Today’s jump in temperature makes it a good day for the phone tech to come out! My brother tried to phone me yesterday and, instead of the crackling noise as before, he got a busy signal. Even when I pick up the phone, I now only hear the light crackling of an open line. My brother says we just have a short, somewhere. The question is, where?

I will be taking advantage of the warmer day and heading to town to pick up a few things. I hope the local hardware store has stove pellets for the litter. I don’t want to drive further afield, but we’re running low. We had lots, but have been going through it faster. Using oil in the cat’s ears, and the subsequent grooming, has had unfortunate effects on their digestive systems! Nothing like so many cats having the s***s at the same time!

We’ve taken a break on doing their ears right now. The next time we do them, we need to keep track of which cats still have too much detritus in their ears and keep doing them. Some are nice and clean, so no need to keep doing theirs, anymore.

Hopefully, the phone tech will come in the next hour or so, before I plan to head out. Otherwise, I’ll be leaving the gate open for him. He’s supposed to try and call my husband’s cell phone, first, but who knows if he’ll have enough signal.

Meanwhile, it was nice enough out that I shoveled the outer yard paths, to the garage, burn barrel, and electricity meter. Depending on how much snow accumulates over the next few days, we might need to break little Spewie out and do the driveway. For now, though, the truck can easily clear the snow we have so far.

I’m so happy we have that truck!

The Re-Farmer

Set up

/ Re-Farmer / 6 Comments

Well, it wasn’t how I hoped to set it up, but it’s pretty much the only option.

I took the platform out completely to work out how to hang the heat lamp, as well as to reach where the power bar is hanging. This gave me the opportunity to remove one of the shop lights, as it will be needed in the living room, when we start our seeds.

All the possible places to attach the lamp were too far to the sides, and too close to stuff being stored. I tried to set up the metal saw horse in the middle of the space, but that put the lamp way too low. So the platform got put back, and the lamp was hung directly to the side of the frame. No need to make holes in the insulation.

It was first secured with garden twist ties, both on the hanger, and the clamp, so it can’t swing around. Then zip ties were added, for extra security.

The platform bounces a lot when the cats jump on it, so that needs extra support. I think we have long enough boards, salvaged from a shed, in the basement. A pair of those under the platform should be sufficient.

I think this location is best, too. If I’d put it on the other side, it would be right over the cat beds, which might actually get too warm. We don’t want to mess with their ability to acclimate to the outside temperatures. Plus, that would put it close to the windows. The temperature differences, inside and out, could lead to glass cracking. That’s already a concern.

The insulation under the platform mesh will help keep the warmth under the platform, even with the lamp to the edge like that. It is over where some of the food bowls are, which I’m sure they will appreciate at feeding time! This room does not need – and should not have – a lot of heat in the winter. I think this set up will be just enough for the coming cold.

I just checked the critter cam my SIL gave us, and I can see a pair of cats almost directly under the lamp, while others are on the cat beds, as usual.

So far, so good!

The Re-Farmer

It’s in! Plus, computer news

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Just in time!

I just got back from the post office and brought this home. The heat lamp for the sun room. It’s assembled and ready to hang up. I’m going to let it all come to room temperature before I try to hang it up and turn it on.

This is much better than what we used before, which was never intended to be used for anything other than keeping the pipes under the kitchen sink from freezing. This is a brooder lamp, so it’s meant to keep critters warm, safely. The bulb guard being particularly appreciated. Sure, a cat could still stick it’s head in, though I’ll be sure to hang it where that is not likely to happen. More likely is an accidental brushing. Between the bulb guard and the depth of the reflective shade, that is no longer a concern.

There is the option to hang it from a hook, or using a clamp. I expect to be using the clamp, but it’s good to have choices.

We are not expected to have daytime highs below -20C for a while yet, but overnight lows have already dropped to that point. The city we lived in last is expecting to drop colder than -30C, so we don’t have much to complain about.

In other news, I got a voice mail on my cell phone. It never rang, but at least it took a message.

It was the computer repair place, letting me know my machine is ready to pick up.

!!!

I had thought it was a lost cause, but no. He got it going. It takes about 5 minutes to boot up (it was taking that long for a while, now), but it’s working again. The total bill, including saving and backing up my data, is almost $300. Much cheaper than a new computer!

I do still need a new computer. The hardware is giving out and it’s not worth replacing it all, but it does give us time to figure out getting the funds for a new machine. Or even a refurbished one.

I don’t know when we’ll be going into the city next, to pick it up. That gives us time to scrape the money together to pay for it.

Then there is the cost of replacing the valve stems on the truck.

Then there is getting my mother’s car in to see what the damage is, and how much it will cost to fix.

My husband has an eye appointment coming up and will need new glasses. The last time he got glasses, it cost over $1500, most of it for his special lenses, some 15 or so years ago. His insurance currently covers only about $400.

Then there is…

Then there is…

Then there is…

It just doesn’t end, does it?

However, the kitties will be nice and warm. I think the lamp is ready to hang up, now!

The Re-Farmer

A pleasant visit

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

First, the cuteness!

By the time I finish my morning rounds, the outside cats are done eating and settling into their cuddle piles. The three smallest kittens are in this one.

I want to snuggle the fluffy tabby so much! S/he will not allow it. The white and grey is friendly. Once in a while, I manage to sneak a pet on the grey tabby with white, on the left, but rarely do. The other two littles do allow me to pet them, and sometimes pick them up. The tortie does not like it, but tolerates it a bit more.

I ended up heading to my mother’s, today. My brother was planning to visit her and set up a call blocker, to stop the scam calls my mother gets, as well as the abusive calls she gets from our vandal. He was going to start while she was in church, as her place is so tiny, it’s easier that way. I came over to help him out.

He has a much longer drive than I do, and we ended up meeting elsewhere, then going to her place together. I’m glad I was there to help out, even if it was just passing him things. Before we started, though, we checked my mother’s answering machine for her. She can listen to messages, but can’t figure out how to delete them.

There were two messages from our vandal.

He was quite upset that I answered her phone while I was there. Had all sorts of nasty things to say about me, of course. Apparently, he’s poor because of “what [I] did”, and his $7000 in legal fees. Of course, no taking responsibility over the fact that he was caught vandalizing the gate and that’s why I pressed charges. Or his stalking behavior, etc. No mention of his trying to sue me for $13,000, for stuff I never claimed to own. He’s lucky my mother and brother aren’t up to doing him for all the stuff he took from here, over the years. That total would be over $40,000, and that’s just for the stuff my brother could remember, and that we know is at our vandal’s place.

Oh, and apparently, I have lots of money, and cameras all over the place. Well, if he thinks we have more cameras than we do, I’m good with that. Those cameras are probably the only thing keeping him away. Also, apparently God says he should be allowed on the property.

My mother has been getting these abusive calls for at least 10 years. My brother has copies of hundreds of them. It will be so good for my mother to not have this anymore. The only thing is, she will probably still call him, eventually. She does not understand why she should not do that.

Setting up the call blocker took more time then it should have, of course. The device itself was easy to do, and our vandal’s numbers were already programmed in. To block the over 5000 known scam numbers, however, required going through a process to link and turn on through the phone system.

It didn’t work, of course. Even though my brother made the arrangements and paid for the service already. The numbers should still be blocked, but that’s something he has to work out with the phone company. They should be able to set it up remotely – he used to work IT for them, years ago, so he knows they can. But they insist he has to do this from my mother’s phone.

Still, we got as much done as we could.

My SIL had packed a lunch for my brother to bring, so by the time my mother came back from church, we had tea made and lunch out and ready for her. She did not know I was going to be there, do that was a surprise, too.

It was a very good visit. Plus, there were a few little fixes she got my brother to do. I dud have to laugh when she started telling us how, when our sister had been there, she fixed the glass shade thar came off her bedroom lamp, but she had no idea when she did it.

It was funny, because I was the one that fixed it, the last time I was there. She’d stepped out of her apartment and, while waiting for her, I saw the shade and reassembled it. Then I went to help her with things and forgot about it. She did not notice it was fixed until after my sister left her place, the next day. 😄

I’m glad I was able to be there. Not only to help my brother, but with both of us there, she was on much better behavior. She tried to go off on a racist tangent only once, and was easily deflected.

The only downside is, both my brother and I forgot to pick up some milk for her, before heading home. So maybe I will be heading back, tomorrow.

We shall see.

The Re-Farmer

Timing?

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Things are supposed to start getting colder tomorrow. My husband has just let me know we have a parcel to pick up. It is most likely the heat lamp we ordered to use in the sun room. If so, that will be perfect timing! I’ll have to wait until tul the post office reopens for the afternoon to go get it, though.

Meanwhile, I just have to share this photo.

This is Toni, grooming our greasy grandma. Extra greasy, since we are still doing daily ear cleaning with coconut oil. For the past while, grandma has been basically hiding out and not interacting with the other cats much. Usually, she was especially attentive to the kittens, so this was a change. We now think the change in behavior, and possibly even some of her weight loss, was because her ears were nothing her so much. We just couldn’t see how bad it was, until we started the daily cleaning. There turned out to be several cats that were especially bad. Most were not too bad at all, but grandma is among those where we are still finding chunky bits. The mites are most likely dead; we’ve gone well beyond their life cycle. However, as long as there are any cats that still have a build-up, we will be doing all of them.

A bonus in doing this is that grandma is no longer hiding out. Instead, she’s been camping out on my bed, where it’s much softer and warmer. Plus, the cats are grooming each other’s ears more – and none are allergic to coconut oil – though not as enthusiastically as when we were using the mineral oil. It was crazy how much Shadow, in particular, kept trying to eat it. I had so much trouble keeping him out of the garbage can, as he’d drag out the paper towel cleaning strips and try to eat them! The coconut oil seems tasty enough that they all groom each other more often, which is improving relationships. They are more likely to sleep in huge cuddle piles, including cats that previously didn’t get along very well.

I’ll happily take that bonus result!

The Re-Farmer

Got it done

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

My husband and I needed to head out today, so I made sure to get his walker through the sunroom doors for him before bringing the truck over. Going through the sunroom eliminates stairs, but there are still thresholds and different levels of sidewalk blocks that make it harder for him.

The cats love his walker!

Our trip today was to the bank. It’s amazing how much difference having a car payment has already made to our credit scores. While I was able to get a low limit credot card (though I was approved for more), it was for naught, since this financing company would only use my husband’s income, rather than a generic “household income”. While we were going through all the financing battle, my husband tried applying for a credit card online, to rebuild his credit rating, as I was doing.

He was instantly turned down.

After only 2 months of car payments, when he tried again, not only was he approved, but approved for a limit twice what I was approved for!

One thing was different from my getting my card, though. He couldn’t have it mailed directly to him. It was sent to the nearest bank branch (we never switched our home branch after the move, as there was no need). He needed to show two pieces of ID to claim it.

He still does not have photo ID for this province. They would not accept the name he has always used as his given name, since it did not match his birth certificate. Never mind that they still had his old driver’s license data on file with the name he uses. Or that all his other ID has the name he uses. While we lived in another province, the rules changed here because of identity theft. It took me months to get my ID done. For my husband, they told him he would need to do a legal name change.

In the end, we found he didn’t, and what he needed to get his ID, but he simply could not handle the pain while being made to wait, etc. So he never went back.

Which means he was expecting to have issues today.

He was right.

The funny thing, though, is they accepted his expired driver’s license from the other province with no problem. It was still on file! Finding a second ID their system would accept took a bit longer, but they did eventually figure oit their system could accept birth certificates.

That done, he could activate the card, but still needed to use the card, using the chip rather than tap, first.

After deciding he was up to the trip, we went to the nearer city and Walmart, to pick up more cat food. The 8 bags I picked up at Costco, just a couple weeks ago, were pretty much gone. There was still some for the inside cats, but the bin for the outside cats had enough for today, and that’s it.

I counted 37 yard cats this morning, do… yeah. We go through a lot of cat food. Especially since it’s winter. The inside cats need far less.

We got another six bags. There was only one 11kg bag on stock, so the rest were 9kg bags.

The 11kg bag actually cost a couple dollars less than the 9kg bags.

So the whole thing cost over $200 – before taxes!

Thankfully, we got a donation, plus my daughter will be transferring funds as soon as PayPal does its thing for her.

At least we have a break at the gas pump. Our province is temporarily stopping tax collection on fuel right now. Regular gas prices are now around 115.9 or 116.9 cents per litter. Someone local on FB posted the Costco price right now. 99.9! It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a gas price under a dollar per liter, even if it is just 0.1 cents.

By the time we got home, though, my husband’s pain levels were getting really bad.

Not as bad as they could have been, thanks to the truck! He’s able to tolerate noticeably more travel in it!

I’m so happy we were able to get that truck!

The Re-Farmer