Until this morning, I’ve only managed to sneak pet her once or twice. Today, I took advantage of her being “trapped” in the corner of the shelf shelter, in what seems to be a favorite spot for her, and was able to pet her. She didn’t have anywhere to run away, really, so I was able to give her neck and shoulders some scritches, and even pat her back a bit.
She fur is so matted and full of burrs!!!
Not only was I able to pet her as I set the food out, she stayed in the shelf shelter, rather than running away as she normally would have done, and I was able to pet her again a couple more times as I passed by. So that’s pretty huge progress with her.
Note that I am saying “her” with confidence. With that long fur and her not letting us near her, we’ve never been able to see, one way or the other. I sort of assumed she was female simply because the most feral cats all seem to be female, while the males have mostly been easier to socialize. My confirmation was seeing her yesterday, quite obviously in heat, with a crowd of males around her.
She is no longer in heat.
*sigh*
Right now, we have I think 5 or 6 confirmed adult females that need to be spayed, all of them mostly feral. The only one that isn’t as feral is Old (young, actually) Blue Eyes, Frank, and she’s managed to escape her appointment with the vet twice now. Among the “kittens” (who are coming up on a year old, but are very very small still), there is another 7, I think, confirmed female. Bug and Blot are now both friendlies, but are both still way too small to be spayed. A couple others are just friendly enough that we might be able to get them, but also probably too small. There’s a tabby that is sometimes friendly, sometimes not, plus two more that we can’t get close to, that are probably big enough, though not by much.
We now have two larger traps, including one with a “back door”, that we can use to try and get the ferals. It will still have to wait until things warm up a bit, because we have no way to monitor a trap constantly, and we don’t want to risk a critter getting caught and then getting too cold before we can check the trap. I’ve considered the possibility of setting one of them up in the catio shelter. It has been warm enough in there that the unheated water bowl hasn’t been freezing during the day, and even on some nights, it’s only partially frozen. Once overnight temperatures become milder, I could remove the box nests and crushed self warming shelter that’s in there to make room for a trap. Even then, we couldn’t do that until the rescue can make arrangements with a vet for us, because once we’ve caught a feral, we wouldn’t be able to let them out, even into the isolation shelter, until after they’ve been taken to the vet.
We’ll figure it out.
Meanwhile, I was able to talk to our mechanic about the truck. His brother, who towed the truck, had passed on what I had described to him. I went over it again with him, in more detail. I mentioned that, while I couldn’t see anything, it felt like it was the front driver’s side tire. He told me that while the truck was being winched onto the tow truck, his brother had noted that the passenger side tire seemed to be “sticking”. All I can say is that, from where I was sitting at the wheel, it felt like the driver’s side tire, but I really don’t know. There was just nothing to see to tell me, either way.
So they will check it out, and will use a hoist to get it into the garage. No one is going to try driving it until it’s been checked. We didn’t even talk time lines, though, as this is something they’ll have to find time for, in between actual appointments. Chances are, once it’s been hoisted into one of the bays, they wouldn’t want to move it again until it’s been fixed, if that’s an option. I haven’t heard anything since, which is what I expected.
In other things, I got a message from my sister. My mother had asked me to pass on that she wanted a visit from my sister, which normally would have happened tomorrow, on her day off. There’s a storm coming in tomorrow, though, and my sister’s farm is further south enough that they would be affected by it more than we are. So she visited today, before heading to work.
My mother, it seems, has been craving pickle juice. !! 😄
Looking at the forecast, it’s supposed to start snowing in our area tomorrow at about 7am, and it now says we’ll be getting snow pretty constantly through to Thursday night, with a total of about 10cm/5 or 6 in, of snow in total. The temperatures are still supposed to be relatively mild and we’re not expected to get particularly high winds, so it should just be snow accumulation we’ll need to deal with.
Thankfully, we are well stocked because, even if we still had transportation, we probably wouldn’t be going anywhere for the next couple of days, anyhow.
So that’s where we are at for now. Hopefully, we will have news on the truck tomorrow, and it won’t be anything too major!
Not much to talk about for today. Yesterday seems to have caught up with me. I’m feeling exhausted. Mentally exhausted, not physically. I’m just so tired of so many things going wrong.
So I’m giving myself a rest day. Just doing the basics and not trying to go beyond.
It’s a gorgeous day out, though, and the yard cats have been absolutely loving it. The critter cam facing the isolation shelter has been going off so often, I had to adjust it so that it was at least no longer triggered by cats jumping around in front of the main doorway.
Down side: the feral ladies have all been going into heat. Today, I saw the cat I named Fluffer, because it looks like Fluffy, except for the white chest. With the long fur, we couldn’t confirm male or female. Today, with all the males chasing after her, I suppose that’s confirmed female. *sigh* At least Fluffy is spayed, but we’ve never been able to get any more adult females in to the vet.
Yesterday morning, I found something odd in one of the paths to the catio shelter.
Odd because everything is buried under snow, so where did this mess come from?
Then I identified part of it as an old bird’s nest. Which meant the cats had to have been climbing pretty high up and far out on the closest willow tree. This tree has been trimmed a few times, to keep the branches away from the power line to the house. That means any branches above are all pretty small and thin. Given the noises we’ve been hearing, I’d guess a cat got chased pretty far out and disturbed things enough to knock down the nest.
It’s been warming enough that this morning, I gave the cats a treat and started pre-soaking their kibble with a blow full of cat soup dosed with lysine. Usually, I toss the dry kibble in lysine, but only so much sticks, and the food trays have lysine power all over the bottom. It’s not something we’ll be doing every day, yet, and only in the morning, so they have a chance to eat it before it freezes. The sun room thermometer was at about 11C/52F, even though our high for today was -2C/28F. As I write this, we are at -3C/27F, but the “real feel” is 1C/34F
And yet, we are under a weather advisory right now! A low pressure system is moving in, and the south end of our province is looking at possibly 15-25cm/6-19in of snow by tomorrow evening. Our area is on the outer edge of the system, so we wouldn’t be expecting that much. We are expected to get as much as 9cm/4in of snow on Wednesday, with another possible 2.4cm/1in through Thursday morning. The temperatures are still expected to be mild, though the highs are supposed to drop below -10C/14F by the weekend.
Hopefully, tomorrow, the garage will be able to take a look at the truck and see what on earth happened to it. Messaging with my brother, he suggested the differential, but that got a leak repaired on it just a few days go, so that’s unlikely. His other thought was the CV joint. At which point we’re looking at possibly over $300 for the part, and another $200-$300 in labour, from what I can find online.
Well, we’ll find out soon enough, I guess.
*sigh*
Yeah, definitely feeling mentally – and emotionally – exhausted at this point.
Well, it’s done. The truck has been towed to the garage.
My BIL, sweetheart that he is, skipped the lunch my sister, who was going to work later, was making so he could come out and find me before the tow truck reached me.
Thankfully, I was able to pull over next to a very large and open company driveway, making me both easy to find, and easy to get to, while on the side of a busy highway.
The tow truck actually arrived later than expected. He had a call ahead of me that only needed a winch, but ended up pulling two people out of the ditch before getting to me.
My BIL, meanwhile, had already arrived and we were sitting in the company driveway, talking, when the tow truck arrived. The tow truck was not only from our regular garage, but the driver was the owner/our mechanic’s brother! That gave me the opportunity to describe exactly what happened, knowing our mechanic would actually get the information.
The truck had been running so well. Since I’d gone to church in town first, which is right on the highway that goes to the city my mother is in, I took that route through all the little towns along the lake again. I had the radio on when I started hearing/feeling like something was rubbing on a tire. This continued for maybe a couple of minutes before it felt like something dropped. Suddenly, the tire was shuddering, like something was caught up in it.
Of course, I pulled over right away, got out and checked.
I could see nothing. I even popped the hood and tried to look from above. Nothing.
I got back in the truck and started to move, but the shuddering was immediate. I stopped after less than 5 feet, I’m sure.
From there I contacted my family and even sent a quick message to my brother (he’s out of the country still) before contacting CAA. I phoned directly rather than using the app, because I’ve never quite managed to get the app set up and working, and I don’t know what’s wrong. The last time I tried, I was at home and ended up using my desktop, instead. Not an option this time!
So I phoned and started going through the automated system, which uses voice responses to questions. That worked fine as long as it was yes/no questions, or when I said I needed a tow, but then it asked what was wrong. I didn’t know what was wrong, so I said, I don’t know, something is wrong with my tire.
It decided I had a flat tire and asked if that was correct. I said no. It tried again and I tried to answer a different way. It still thought I had a flat tire. Finally, I pressed 0, hoping that it would get me to a human. It recognized that I wanted to talk to a person but then said the automated system would likely be faster and started over again in asking what was wrong with my vehicle.
*sigh*
After a while it gave up and sent me to a real human being.
… and put me on hold.
Thankfully, I was the “next caller” and didn’t have to wait too long.
It was a bit confusing in trying to say where I was. Thankfully, I was next to a company driveway that had all sorts of signs and their physical address number right next to me. What I wasn’t sure of was whether the highway had a different name while in town. I also wasn’t sure if I’d crossed the border from one town to the next, as these two towns are butted right up against each other. Still, we got it figured out.
The tow was arranged to take the truck to our regular garage, and I soon had a call from the towing company. I had to laugh when I saw the name of our garage on the call display. I had seen new signs at the garage showing that they did towing now, but I didn’t realize they did CAA calls, too. On confirming the company driveway I was next to, the drive knew exactly where I was.
After that, I just had to wait. When my BIL arrived, he pulled into the company driveway, and I didn’t even recognize his truck – he’s gone through at least two since I last saw what truck they had. I think the last one I saw was an F250. This one’s an F150.
He has a very nice truck – very new looking truck, even though it’s a 2008.
Since I was on the side of the highway, we sat in his truck to talk. I told him about what happened, and he was aware that we’ve had other issues, too. He started telling me about his truck and work he had done on it – including getting a new engine, because apparently it was easier and cheaper than the fix needed. So the engine has 30,000 km less on it than the rest of the truck does. I’m amazed he found a 2008 truck with only 30K on it! It’s got 170K on it now, which is about 100K less than our truck had when we bought it.
Oh, and he was planning to sell it in the summer.
!!!
I asked what he was looking to sell it for, and he said about $5000
…
We might actually be able to come up with that before the summer.
When the tow truck showed up, I went out to talk to the driver and explained what happened, as far as I could tell. He said it was good that I didn’t try to keep driving it, just in case. I told him, there was no way I was going to keep driving with what it was doing!
He also told me it was a good thing I had CAA. The tow would have cost $200, without it!
Today is Sunday, so the garage is closed, but tomorrow is a holiday. That means Tuesday will be the earliest anyone can look at it. I mentioned I was just there on Thursday! They didn’t see anything wrong while working on the differential. I’m at a complete loss. My BIL thinks it might be the transmission. If it’s something big like that, it might not be worth fixing. *sigh*
After that, the tow truck driver didn’t need anything more from me, so my BIL and I headed out. The tow truck was blocking my BIL’s truck, but that nice big commercial driveway had plenty of room for my BIL to move around and back out.
It was a very lovely ride, I must say. As we were talking, he told me about some other things he was planning to sell before selling the truck. I told him, if we can come up with the money, I’ll buy it!
We just need to keep this truck running for a few more months. Assuming whatever broke isn’t too expensive to repair in the first place.
After I got home, I mentioned to my brother that our BIL was planning to sell his truck in the summer, and my brother suggested that if we can buy that, we could possibly sell this truck on consignment. We still have lmoast 3 years to pay it off, but might be able to get a decent return on it to take care of that. At least partially.
I don’t think I’ll be getting that large greenhouse with my tax return, after all. 😄 That’s okay. I should still be able to something. Just not a hard sided one.
…
Had a break from writing this to talk to my daughters. My younger daughter was asking me about the chicken coop we got and I mentioned that’s one of the reasons I wanted to get a greenhouse or polytunnel – something to overwinter the chickens in, coop and all. We were looking at some of the designs I was finding on Amazon – risky to purchase from there, and a lot of them have very mixed reviews. They are far more affordable, though. Especially the polytunnels. It’s cheaper to buy a full kit than the materials we’d need to build one, if we could even find some of the materials needed in the first place. On seeing the prices, my daughter thought they were something that, between us, we could manage to afford.
In the end, though, a lot depends on what happens with the truck. I pray whatever broke on it will be a relatively cheap fix!
Normally, he runs away, even if I come closer while he is easing, but today I managed to skritch his shoulders and neck. Not only did he not run away, but he even leaned into my hand!
Once he was away from the food bowls, though, that was it. I couldn’t get near him anymore.
You may notice his fur is decorated in the above picture. He has hoar frost raining down on him from the rose bush above him. We had thick fog roll in last night, and it was still very much there this morning.
The first item on the outings list today was to drop the truck off at the garage to get that differential leak fixed. My daughter and I headed out early, which was good, because we had to take it pretty slow in places. The closer we got to town – and the lake beyond it – the thicker the fog got. Still, we arrived over half an hour early for the drop off time. Which was okay, since I only needed to leave the key. While doing that, I let him know that, after moving the truck, I did see signs of fluid under it – it was definitely a very small leak, but still needs fixing! I also let him know that the check engine light had turned off on its own, and that the oil pressure gauge is where it should be, thanks to the last fix done.
From there, my daughter and I walked to the hospital. My sister had visited my mother in the transitional care unit (TCU), which is very close to where she lives, yesterday and let me know that some clothing items that had gone into the laundry were forgotten. While I asked about that, I also asked about the photo of our vandal. They had to contact someone that could pull my mother’s file to find out. While waiting for that, the person that checked housekeeping came back and there was no sign of anything that was my mother’s. Housekeeping may not have been done with it. We went to where we could meet the guy about the files. Sure enough, the photos were still in the file, in the large envelope my brother brought them in.
After explaining about the photos, and mentioning that we were going to be seeing my mother today, he gave me the envelope to take with us and deliver to the nursing station at the TCU. Then we went back to the nursing station about the clothing items. They would look into it some more, and got my contact information to call me later.
Since I had the photos, my daughter and I first walked back to the garage so we could leave it in the truck. It was still parked outside, so I put it in the basket of my mother’s walker, which was in the back of the truck cab. The wheelchair had to go into the box.
That dropped off, my daughter and I headed out to find somewhere we could have breakfast, and take our time about it.
Using the button to cross the highway wasn’t going to be an option! It’s only for an audible notification that the walk light was on, though.
There aren’t a lot of restaurants open that early in the day in this town, so our options were limited. The place we went to was at the other end of town (okay, that’s just 6 blocks or so. 😄). We were both quite famished by then! We both ended up ordering the largest breakfast platters they had. I’m glad we did, because that ended up having to last us until supper!
We took our time about it, but we were still waiting on a 2 hour job, so it wasn’t that long before we headed out.
[Edit: I forgot to mention. While we were having breakfast, the hospital called me about my mother’s missing clothing. They couldn’t find them, nor did they expect to find them. Most of the laundry goes to the city for washing. My mother’s items were not labelled with her name. The folks sorting through in the city wouldn’t know where they would have to go, and they would probably not even made it back to town!]
Since we were so close to the lake, we popped over to see how it looked.
The fog was still pretty heavy. What you can just barely see in the photo is an ice fishing village, and an ice road leading to it.
From there, we stopped at a general store that my daughter wanted to go to. They are the only place that carries a particular brand of imported wool yarn. She’s bought some before and used them to knit herself a pair of socks. They turned out to be the best pair of socks she’s ever had, and actually keep her feet dry. She got herself enough yarn to knit herself two more pairs!
When we were done there, we crossed the street to check out the dollar store. There wasn’t anything we actually needed there, but I like to keep an eye out for some things.
We never finished going through the store before I got a text from the garage. The truck was done! Somewhat faster than I expected, but they must have been able to get it in almost right after we dropped off the envelope from the hospital. So we quickly picked up a couple of energy drinks for the road and made the walk back.
Unfortunately, by this time, my daughter and I were both limping pretty badly! My daughter hurt her leg getting her old computer chair down the stairs not long ago, and had been caning it for the past few days. She was feeling better today, but after the walking we’d already done, to and from the hospital, then across town, she was actually having a harder time than I was with my left hip giving out. What a sight we must have been!
Once we got to the garage and saw the truck parked in the lot, my daughter went straight to it to sit down while I went in to take care of the bill. $280 and change. *sigh* Still, better to get the leak fixed than push our luck with it!
From there, we were going to the nearer city, to see my mother. Normally, I would have popped over to another highway, rather than go straight from town, so as to avoid driving through several small lakeside towns. In the end, I decided the extra miles weren’t worth it, and we headed straight out.
I’m glad we did.
We made our way through the row of towns and had just reached an area of open highway when my daughter started feeling sick. Eating does that do her. Just, general eating. She’s never been able to pin down exactly what is making her ill. It did mean we had to find a gas station urgently! If we had been on the other highway, there would have been nothing available. On this route, there actually is a single gas station along the way. Thankfully, we made it.
We didn’t need to get any gas, but I did want to “pay” for our use of the bathroom, so I went looking for some snacks. The convenience store with this particular gas station is more like a smallish grocery store, and very well stocked! They even had a large display of baked goods from a bakery in the town north of us that is really well known. People from the city go out of their way to get their bread. I ended up getting a couple of Whoopie Pies for us (not that my daughter would be up to eating anything again for some time!). I had mine while waiting for my daughter to join me in the truck again. I’ve had Whoopie Pies before, and they’re usually rather dry and fairly hard. The cake portions were so incredibly soft and fresh, I had a hard time unwrapping it without crushing or tearing it! It was absolutely awesome.
From there, we continued on to visit my mother. I knew the TCU was in the “old hospital”, and I’ve driven past it many times.
I was wrong.
When we got to the area, the first problem was finding a way to get in. There were a number of buildings but, as we read the signage, going from one area to another, we couldn’t find anything. We did find that one of the buildings is a mental health hospital. My mother actually spent some time there, years before I was born. She still speaks highly of how pleasant her stay was, and how well they took care of her.
In the end, I found a plowed out space I could pull over and tried looking up the address for this unit. I found their web page – but there was no address! My brother did send me a phone number, though – not the same one that was on the web page! – so I tried that.
It took a bit to try and describe where we were to the person who answered before she could give us directions.
We had driven right past the place. I had no idea that that complex was the old hospital, not where I had always thought it was at!
Then we had to try and find the right door to go in.
I drove around in circled and back tracked before we finally decided to park near the entrance to what turned out to be an urgent care clinic. Only then did we pass the sign for the TCU.
It had been blocked by a truck. An 18 wheeler, unloading a semi size trailer box. Completely blocking the lane to where the TCU entrance was.
We got the wheelchair and walker out (with my daughter making sure to grab a cane for herself, too), but when we got to the urgent care clinic, I left my daughter with them to ask someone inside. She was able to give me directions on how to get to the unit through the building, rather than having to go outside and find away around the truck blocking the lane. So I got my daughter, the wheelchair and walker, and we made our way through what turned out to be “authorized personnel only” areas before finally reaching the elevator she told us to look for. It was one of those elevators with doors on each side, and we were going through the staff door to use it!
Finally, we got to the second floor and found signs leading us to the TCU.
The doors, however, are locked. Visitors are to push a button for someone to come and let us in.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, we could hear the voice of an elderly man yelling for someone to let him out. Before a staff member opened a different door next to the entry doors, we could hear him pushing and bashing at the door, trying to get out! When the staff member came (there were more people waiting with us to get in by then), and I told her who we were coming to see, she let us in through the staff door! As we made our way around, another staff member opened up a mobile barrier for us to go through. As we came around, we saw the guy we had heard through the door. He was still at the main doors, pushing a walker, and looking very furious about not being able to get out.
There’s a reason these places have lock codes to get in and out!
Once at the nursing station, I brought out the envelope with the photos. I explained to them that my mother doesn’t know that we’re giving these photos, because that would cause issues. Notes were taken as I explained about our vandal’s past abusive behavior towards my mother. They asked if there was a protection order, and I explained that the courts required my mother do that herself, and there’s no way she can physically do that, but her cognitive decline isn’t so far that my brother can do it on her behalf, as her PoA. They completely understood that frustration! I did mention that I’d had to get one against him myself. Then I had to explain why my sister’s picture was in there. They recognized her as having visited yesterday. I explained that, in general, she’s fine, but our vandal has been able to manipulate her into doing things in the past, that she is not understanding my mother’s cognitive issues and resulting self sabotage, and just goes along with things when she shouldn’t. My mother has been able to manipulate her as well.
I so hate having to include my sister as someone that needs to be kept an eye on while visiting my mother!
The likelihood of our vandal showing up is low, but they do have cancer care in the new hospital near by and, from the signs, they have cancer care in this building, too, so it’s possible he might be coming out for treatment and go visit my mother. We’re just assuming my sister is going to tell him where my mother is, and there’s no point in asking her not to tell him that. Not after she went ahead and did it anyhow, before, because my mother convinced her to. She simply doesn’t understand – or doesn’t want to believe – how potentially harmful to my mother that was.
*sigh*
That done, we found out which room my mother was in and headed over with the wheelchair and walker, while they printed out labels to put on them to show that these belonged to my mother.
It’s definitely a step down from where my mother was, in the hospital!
She went from a large, single person room, so a smaller room she shares with someone else. My mother’s bed is by the door, though, so we didn’t have to disturb the other person. She was quite happy to see us – and her own walker and wheelchair! The wheelchair she refused to even sit in, when I brought it over to her place, months ago. 😄
All in all, we had a good visit with her. She’s not really liking the TCU. Lots of noise, she says. Her room mate apparently was walking around all night, then sleeps through the day. Hopefully, my mother won’t be there for long, but every other person in this unit is waiting to be moved somewhere more permanent!
The staff there seem really nice, though, and were already telling me how sweet they found my mother to be. Nice to know she’s on good behaviour! She’ll have her moments, of course, but in a unit like this, that’s something they deal with – and worse – pretty regularly.
I did remind my mother that we are now the ones living the furthest from her, and we don’t go to this city very often, comparatively speaking, so we won’t be visiting as often. She mentioned that my sister lives nearby. I don’t know if that means she’ll visit more often, but we’ll see. Still, if the staff need anything from us, my brother is the first they would call, as PoA, I would be the second, as the one that’s been my mother’s advocate at her medical appointments for the past 7 years. If they can’t reach either of us, then they would call my sister. She asked about when my brother might visit, but he’s out of the country right now. He still manages to keep on top of everything, though!
[Edit: Something else I forgot to mention. I started to tell my mother about her missing clothing, and the hospital not being able to find them. She told me that someone actually delivered them to her, yesterday! It had to have happened after my sister was no longer there. When I was at the hospital this morning, they knew nothing about this!]
After our visit with her was done, we headed out – this time being able to go out the proper entrance and seeing where we can drive in to the right parking lot! The truck that was blocking the lane was gone, too, so that helped.
From there, we stopped at the Canadian Tire, then the Walmart, to do the shopping we would normally have done at the end of January, in the larger city. That will get its own separate post.
While we were at the Walmart, I started getting notifications from the garage security camera, and got to watch as Fed Ex delivered our chicken coop kit!
The shopping was really rough on both my daughter and I, as far as our pain levels went. The store is being renovated, and things we needed were moved to completely different areas we had to hunt for. When it came time to pay, we normally would have gone to the self check out, but they are now a 20 item limit, and we had well over 20 items. There were only two cash desks open.
Of course, we found ourselves at the one where a customer had some sort of issue, and the line just stopped while they waited for someone to come fix it. I ended up having to go over to the McDonalds across from the checkout, just so I could sit down!
The shopping done, we loaded the truck in bright sunshine and melting snow before heading home. We took the same route as before, because we wanted to stop to get gas at the same station we’d stopped at on the way out.
Driving right into a wall of fog!!!
It was heavy fog for most of the drive out, but by the time we reached town and our turn off to home, it was sunny again. Looking at the weather right now, we are still under a heavy fog advisory, with near zero visibility.
Once at home, we backed up to the house to unload the truck. Before moving it to the garage, though, I went to move the chicken coop boxes to the far end of the garage, well away from the door. We won’t be able to park the truck all the way in with them there, but it’s staying warm enough that that’s okay.
All the parts and pieces fit into two large boxes. You can see the design on the packages. The coop has nesting boxes, three at each end, with external doors that drop down for access. Above those doors are smaller doors that can be opened for ventilation, with more doors for ventilation in the front as well. The ramp to the nesting boxes is in the middle, and it has a full size door to access the interior.
I see on potential problem with the coop, though.
It has roosts under the nesting boxes, on either side of the ramp and door (not visible in the diagram). This means no clean up, since they’ll be pooping onto the ground below.
There are no roosts on the second level inside. Which means roosting chickens would be completely exposed to outside temperatures and wind, even though they are sheltered from above.
This is definitely not a coop made for Canadian weather!
One of the things we’re looking to build in the main garden area, though, is some sort of polytunnel type greenhouse. We could fit the entire coup inside for the winter, if necessary.
Until then, we might need to find ways to cover the wire mesh in the chicken run for the night or something like that. We’ll figure that out over the summer. We wouldn’t even be getting chicks until May.
After the boxes were moved, I went to park the truck, but there were cats, all over, under it. I went put kibble out, just to distract them away, but several kept going back under the truck. They were going on the tired, up into the undercarriage, and as soon as I got one out, another would replace it! I’ve never had so many cats so determined to get under the truck like that before!
The truck is still parked in the yard. Hopefully, when I do the morning feeding, they’ll be distracted enough that I can move it!
All in all, it made for quite a long day. Aside from my hips giving me grief, though, I’m feeling a lot better than I expected to. My poor daughter is toast, though. I won’t be surprised as all if she’s back to caning it all day, tomorrow. I’m thankful she was able to come along and help, though.
Next up, the stock up shopping post that should have been done two weeks ago!
These issues with the truck have totally wrecked our grocery budget. Mostly with cat supplies.
Speaking of cats, here’s some cuteness for you!
I got a call from the medical devices people this morning, about picking up the commode from my mother’s. After giving directions to find us, I mentioned that I needed to go into town, so they suggested I leave the commode outside. I warned them that they might have to remove some cats!
Meanwhile, I headed into town to drop off the truck early. After leaving the keys, I had lunch at the nearby Chinese restaurant, then walked over to the hospital to visit my mother. Talking to the owner of the garage before leaving, he told me they would just replace the oil sensor and do the oil change this time. Fixing the leak on the differential is a 2 hour job, and they didn’t have time for that today. The part, at least, is cheap. It just takes a long time to replace it.
When I came got to my mother’s, she was in the wheelchair with her back to the door. I could immediately see she had something in her ears.
Cotton balls.
Because of all the noise.
*sigh*
She says the noise seems to be coming from all over. At one point, she asked me about “the thing with holes” in the wall next to where the call button cord goes into the wall. She said she asked the nurses, but they didn’t know what it was. Meanwhile, I was saying, “you mean the speaker?”
So she thought the speaker was piping in noise from other parts of the hospital, into her room. I explained to her that when she pushes the call button, they hear it at the nursing station, and they can talk to her through it from there, that’s it. It’s not connected to anywhere else.
Clearly, they don’t actually use it, if the nurses didn’t know it was a speaker!
She was also asking about magnets. Are there magnets in there? I said yes. Oh, so that’s what’s magnifying the noise!
I had to explain that magnets have nothing to do with magnifying things.
Then she asked if I knew when she would be out of there, and talked about how her “service” was so much poorer. I told her (again, but she doesn’t remember) that she is not a patient anymore. She is a long term care resident. She would be getting the same level of care now, as she would be getting in a nursing home. She was actually surprised to hear this. I think it just finally clicked.
She then started telling me about how she was feeling so poorly and had called for help. They hooked her up to “all the wires” (an EKG), but that was it. No one has said anything to her. I asked her if this happened yesterday, but she couldn’t remember. Finally, she just said yes, yesterday. I told her that someone would need to look at the results, but if there is nothing wrong, they won’t have anything to tell her.
By the time I left, I completely forgot to stop at the nursing station to ask.
It was a pretty quiet visit, overall. My mother was having one of her good days, as far as her mood and attitude goes. Of course, she complained that my brother never calls or visits, but she always does that. I told her, he has been very busy taking care of her affairs. At the very least, he’s going to have to stop by to pick up the keys my sister dropped off.
After a while, it was time to head out again. It was getting so warm (we hit 4C/39F today!), I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible, too.
On the way back to the garage, I pass a couple of gas stations. Prices went up 5¢/L since I walked past them earlier!
The truck was still in one of the bays when I came in, but I knew it wouldn’t be much longer, so I just went into the office to wait. The owner was working on our truck himself, though he was frequently interrupted by phone calls and messages! They are a very busy garage. People know a good thing when it’s there!
It was maybe 5 or 10 minutes later when he backed the truck out, then we had a chance to talk.
He had done some research, trying to figure out why our sensor, which was replaced maybe a year ago, was having issues again. Based on what he found, he told me he removed a screen from inside the sensor. It’s there to prevent blockages. However, in our make and model, it actually causes blockages. With our winter conditions, moisture eventually gets into the system. The sensor is located off to the side, instead of next to the air filter, so it ends up with ice on the screen, causing a blockage, and faulty readings.
In the end, it cost me $230.86 in total, for the sensor, the oil change and a new oil filter. The sensor cost only a dollar less than the oil change!
He did not charge me for labour.
Meanwhile, I am now booked for next week, this time with an early morning drop off. He’s got a 2 hour slot to get that differential leak fixed. That’s going to cost another $300 or so, after taxes. Only $50 of that is for the part itself.
*sigh*
I had been thinking of doing the Walmart run after getting the truck back, but I just didn’t have the energy left for it. Instead, I went across the street to the grocery store again. I had a couple of requests from my husband, and asked the family if where was anything else we needed. Of course, when I did saw some good sales, I took advantage of it.
I didn’t take a picture of the cart again, but here is the receipt for $179.20
Once again, the most painful price was the dry kibble. This time, I got a bag for the outside cats, since I haven’t been able to get to a feed store to get any 40 pound bags. We aren’t out, but getting low, and I didn’t want to take a chance of running out completely, in case I don’t make it to the feed store soon enough.
The canned cat food was on sale, so I got enough to last us for a few more days of cat soup.
My husband requested nacho fixings, without the cheese. 😄 The chips were on sale, so I got four bags for him – but forgot to get olives. Oops. I did grab some more of the sour candies for him, though. I also got a giant bag of potato chips for the girls.
There was a good sale on BBQ sauces, so I got a couple of bottles. Flats of 30 eggs were also on sale, so I got one of those instead of the 18’s I got last time, which were no longer on sale. The girls requested some oat milk.
They had bagged avocados on sale, so I got two of them. We really enjoy avocados, but they have gotten so insanely expensive. There are 5 to a bag, which worked out to 60¢ each. These days, they are usually more than $2.50 each.
They also had hoagies on sale, so I got a couple of packages, along with another locally produced sausage ring. As a treat, I also picked up some smoked Gouda.
Last of all, I could a couple of loaves of rye bread that was also on sale, plus a package of “imperfect” chocolate pieces as a treat for myself.
All of that, except for the bag of dry kibble and the flat of eggs, easily fit into only two hard sided bags. Twenty nine items in total.
I could have had $30 taken off with my loyalty points, but I’m saving that for another time.
As I was loading things into the back of the truck, it started to rain! I’m glad I didn’t try for a Walmart trip. The roads would have been icing over by the time I was driving home.
After we unloaded the truck, I emptied the bag of kibble into the bin for the outside cats, then fed them before trying to move the truck out of the yard. They went absolutely nuts over the kibble! I think they were getting pretty tired of the feed store kibble.
We almost got an extra indoor cat again. While bringing things to the door for my daughter to grab, I stopped to tell her something and left the door open for a split second too long. Sir Robin made a run for it! We got him out quickly, but that cat wants to be an indoor cat, so badly!
Once all unloaded and the cats fed and watered, I could safely move the truck out of the yard. The cats were far more interested in the new food than going under the truck!
At this point, I will need to decide what sort of trip to the city I’ll be making at all. We still need to do a proper stock up trip of bulk items. So at least a Costco trip.
I don’t know if I’ll be doing that tomorrow, or on the weekend. It depend on whether my husband is physically up to getting to the lab tomorrow morning, for his blood work. Tomorrow is Friday. If I go on Saturday, it will be after we do a much needed dump run. We can’t even get rid of my mother’s mattress and box spring yet; there’s no room for those, plus our regular garbage and recycling, in the back of the truck. Plus, the mattress and box spring are longer than the truck box, so they’ll need to be strapped down with the tail gate open. That will need to be done on another day.
The main thing is, I no longer have to worry about the truck starting to scream at me because of a faulty oil sensor!
We have another milder day today, but it’s also supposed to snow later this afternoon.
We’ve already been out and back, but we didn’t make it.
The goal was to go to the nearest Walmart, mostly to restock on cat supplies. The prices aren’t quite as good as Costco, but certainly better than local.
Before we headed out, I backed the truck up enough that I could check for any new drips, and check the oil levels. I’d already texted the garage about a time when I could bring it in for a diagnostic, at least, since that check engine like it still on. It might turn itself off again when things get warmer, though. Plus, the driver’s side front tire has a slow leak still. That used to be the tire that leaked the fastest, so we got that sensor/valve assembly replaced. It no longer loses are like it used to, but it did still leak very slowly, somewhere. Both front tires got replaced, and the leak it still there, so that means it’s got to be the seal on the rim. It’s not an urgent thing, but it would be nice to not have any leak at all!
After I moved the truck, I saw fresh drips on the floor.
*sigh*
The oil level was actually low this time. I got my daughter to check it for me, because she can see the line better than I can. We ended up adding another 3/4 of a liter.
I messaged the garage about what I was finding. He is still perplexed, but we now have an appointment for Thursday afternoon, which is two days from when I’m writing this.
I asked if I needed to worry about going to the nearer city and he said it shouldn’t be a problem, but to check the oil again when we got there, and before we left. If it was a problem, they have their second location not that far from the Walmart that I could take it to.
We didn’t make it.
When my daughter and I headed out, I chose a route that took us towards town, where the garage is, first, instead of an alternate route through where my mother’s apartment was. There isn’t any difference in distance, really, but things were niggling at me and I decided to take the route that took us towards town.
We were maybe 2 miles from the highway turnoff when the truck started dinging. That oil pressure gauge just kept dropping, and was fast approaching zero, while the onboard computer was flashing a red message, “oil pressure low, stop engine.”
Well, we knew there was plenty of oil, so we just kept on going and tried to ignore the truck screaming at us. My daughter messaged the garage to say what was happening and that we were going straight there.
I’m so glad 1) I didn’t take the other route (though there is a garage I trust in the other town, too) and 2) it happened when it did, and not half way to the city on an empty highway.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too much further to the garage. Once we parked, I headed in while my daughter started messaging to update the family.
The owner had just got our message and was expecting me. I told him what was happening, and he was very perplexed. There was a lift open, though, so he sent one of his guys with the keys to bring the truck right in.
Which was quite a surprise for my daughter, when someone else got into the truck! I was going to message her first, but he would have gotten there before I could finish, so I didn’t bother.
They drove into the bay and my daughter joined me in the office, still laughing because she had to tell the guy how to get out of the truck. He was looking for a door handle that isn’t there!
The first thing they did was check the oil level, which was fine. Then they got it up, and I watched as the both of them were looking around with flashlights, trying to figure out what was going on.
I don’t have an oil leak.
It was the differential. Just a minor leak. Which explains the location of the “oil” drops I was seeing!
This leak would have been indistinguishable from any oil leaks we saw before that seal got replaced. It is also new, and likely another consequence of that last cold snap we had.
I already had the appointment set, so they’re going to replace the oil sensor, do an oil change and repair the differential leak.
I then asked about the possibility of getting pre-financing to see what we can afford to get to replace the truck. I just can’t be dealing with all these sensor issues! He’s going to send me a link, and I can start that process online.
There was no way we were going to continue on to the Walmart now. Instead, we went across the street to the regular grocery store. We wouldn’t be stocking up on cat supplies, but we could at least get enough to last us until the truck is worked on.
I didn’t get a picture of cart to show was $184.56 looked like, but I did get a shot of the receipt. Sorry for the poor quality image.
Top of the list is a 9.1kg bag of kibble. $43.99 The Kirkland brand kibble we get at Costco is also 9.1kg, but costs just under $30. Even the 11kg Whiskas brand bags they carry costs only a few dollars more.
*ouch*
They didn’t have cases of the larger size canned cat food we normally get at Walmart, so we got a dozen cans at 94¢ each.
After that, the only things we really needed to get that we would likely run out of over the next couple of days was milk, butter, bread and bananas. So I got a couple of pounds of butter, a 2L of milk and a couple of loaves of Texas Toast. Along with the bananas, I also got my husband more of the frozen curly fries. I remembered to get some plain cooking oil.
We also picked up a couple of packages of wieners on sale, so we got a couple of bags of house brand hot dog buns on sale, too. We just aren’t going to be up to doing proper cooking today, so those will likely be part of our supper tonight!
My husband requested some sour candies, plus Fresca that he splits with the girls. I got some more Coke Zero that he and I split. There’s some beef jerky, but that’s to keep in the truck.
Then, because we could really use some treats right now, we splurged. We got bags of chips for my daughters and I, plus there was a sale on baked goods, so we got chocolate croissants and chocolate brioche rolls.
My daughter and I were both quite hungry by then, so we got a couple of sandwiches and drinks for the drive home.
That’s it. That’s $184.56 Aside from the kibble and canned drinks, it all fit into three hard sided grocery bags, with room to spare. That cat food was what really kicked up the cost.
*sigh*
That done, we headed home. Thankfully, the oil gauge “behaved” and the needle was just low, but not low enough for the onboard computer to start screaming at us. We did make one stop at the post office. My daughter had ordered something could only be delivered by UPS, but they don’t go where we are, so it was delivered to the store the post office is in. It got there about half an hour before we did!
So now we will be staying home until after the truck is worked on. Then we can finally do a proper stock up trip, though with having to buy so much locally, it hasn’t been good on the budget! Plus, we’re going to have the truck repair bill to deal with soon.
*sigh*
Ah, well. It is what it is. As my father used to say, we can laugh, or we can dry, and I’d rather laugh.
Before heading to the garage, I backed the truck up to check the oil levels. They were fine, but there was fresh oil drops in the dirt floor under where it was parked for the night. During the drive in, it was the same as yesterday. The pressure gauge started off in the normal range, then slowly dropped during the drive in.
I dropped the truck off at the garage, then walked over to the hospital to visit with my mother. She was doing better today, thankfully. She was able to move around without the screaming and yelling in pain.
The irony of this is that she complained about the noise the other patients and staff were making. Hospitals should be quiet, because sick people need quiet.
I talked to her about making sure to accept painkillers regularly, BEFORE the pain gets bad. She can ask for more and, if it’s an issue, they might schedule her for painkillers more often or something.
I think she would prefer to yell and scream, to be honest. I don’t want to make light of her pain. Lord knows, I can empathize with it a great deal. It’s more about her behaviour over it, and refusal to actually do what she should be doing for it, while expecting some doctor (not a black one) to fix what can’t be fixed.
I got there just as her lunch tray was about to be delivered. My mother was in her favourite corner chair, with the bedside table already in front of her, ready and waiting. As the woman dropped off the tray, she asked conversationally, your daughter is visiting? My mother, however, was just staring up at her, and didn’t seem to hear. I acknowledged that I was her daughter, but said I didn’t think my mother heard her. She went on to put a tea bag in the hot water for my mother, then asked if she needed help with the sugar packet. My mother was still just staring at her. Glaring, really.
The woman looked to be Vietnamese, which would be why my mother was staring and not answering.
I told her I would help if my mother needed it, and made sure to thank her as she left.
Once she was gone, my mother started behaving normally.
*sigh*
The lunch looked delicious. She had a slice of mushroom and pepperoni pizza, Caesar salad, vegetable soup with a packet of crackers and a bowl of canned fruit salad for desert, along with her tea. My mom said it was the first time she got pizza. It smelled awesome, and my mother polished it all off. The quality of the food is one thing my mother does not quite complain about, though she did say something about how they never give her bread (pizza crust doesn’t count). To my mother, bread should be part of every meal! 😁 She is happy with the food, though.
We had a pretty good talk. No really weird stuff. I got some messages from my sister, who was still at my mother’s place, it turned out. Then I got a message from my brother saying that my sister should keep the keys she has and lock up the apartment, rather than leaving them there, so I passed that message on.
That turned out to be a really good thing.
One of the things I’d left in case my sister wanted them was a set of dishes she had bought for my mother, but she said I could take them, as she won’t use them. We have so many dishes of our own, but they can join the other items we now have stored in a shelf in the root cellar, until we can figure out what to do with them.
I told my mother I planned to go to her apartment after I got the truck back, and she asked, to finish taking everything? I just had to laugh. I told her, you have no idea how much you have! I certainly can’t move her furniture by myself.
Some of the conversation was typically odd with my mother. She was wondering why I was back to visit, two days in a row, and I explained about the truck, and how our mechanic was going to get it done in between other appointments. Somehow, that got around to her talking about how garages take advantage of women (because, apparently, only women take their vehicles to a garage, and men all fix their vehicles themselves. She truly believes men are born knowing how to fix cares. She literally has said that to me!), and how it’s all moneymoneymoney.
I told her, people do need to be paid for their work! She seems to think everyone should be doing things for free – except her, of course. She wants to be paid back $10 for the extra keys she had copied, before turning them over to public housing when her rental agreement is done.
When I told her I wasn’t going to be charged for the work being done today, because it’s under warranty, she changed the subject.
I refilled the thermos travel cup I’d brought for her, and she said she was very happy to have that hot water. She isn’t even doing her half water, half milk thing. She just prefers to drink warm water, and adds it to the water from the pitcher they leave with her. As I was setting up the cup, plus a few other things for her, like refilling her crackers bowl, she started saying how I couldn’t understand the troubles she’s having, with her mobility. When I’m 90, I’ll understand!
I told her, I do understand. I have many of the same problems. She said this as I was reaching to set her bowl of crackers back on the window sill within her reach, and could barely do it because my elbow was giving out. I ended up telling her about falling and hurting myself, twice, last year, and how I still can’t put weight on my right knee, because that’s the one that landed on concrete. She asked what happened, and I told her about coming in from shoveling and my glasses frosting over while I hung the snow shovel up in the sun room, so I couldn’t see and tripped over something.
Her immediate response?
Why was I the one shoveling snow?
…
So… It’s my fault I got hurt, because the girls should have been shoveling snow, not me.
Got it.
I told her, I LIKE shoveling snow, but the girls do it, too, if I can’t. I just happened to be the one doing it that day.
The other odd thing was something I later called the nursing station back to warn them about.
My mother needed to go to the washroom, and was able to get herself there on her own, using the walker – I offered to help her with the hospital’s wheelchair, and she said no. Then she asked me to get a second garbage can set up with a bag. I was setting it under the bathroom sink, when I found out what she wanted to for.
To pee in.
There’s a commode, but it’s being stored in the washroom right now. She said, they want her to get up and walk around to use the toilet (I explained about the necessity of movement to help with her OA, which got a glare), but she didn’t want to use the commode. It had been beside her bed, but she claimed they forget about it and didn’t change it after it gets used. So instead, if she needs to go during the night, she planned to use the garbage can.
Well… at least it isn’t an ice cream pail, like she had been doing at home, until we got a commode for her!
I told her, don’t do that! Her response was, do you want me to pee on the floor?
*sigh*
Even with the odd stuff, it was a good and fairly quiet visit. When someone came for her food tray – a white person, so my mother was willing to talk to her – my mother started complaining about the noise. The nurse was good at deflecting!
My mother was soon ready to lie down for a nap – rejecting my offer to help her get into bed – and I headed out. After the wonderful smells of my mother’s lunch, I was really hungry! My husband had messaged me that he needed more needles at the pharmacy, so I headed in that direction and ended up stopping at the Dairy Queen for lunch this time. I had a store to stop in as well, but that was directly across the street from the pharmacy, which was handy. Once done at the pharmacy, I headed back to the garage, figuring they might be done by then.
When I got to the parking lot, I saw the truck in the lot, with the engine running. They had just finished it, and was running it to check on things. Outdoors, rather than the closed garage!
When the mechanic was free, he told me it was looking good. The leak was fixed with the highest quality seal available – he still doesn’t understand why it started leaking again. I got instructions to keep an eye on the gauge, check for fresh leaks under the truck, and check the oil levels. The oil level right now is fine, and everything seems to be running smoothly.
When I got in the truck, though, the needle on the gauge was even lower than before.
It obviously wasn’t something he felt was a concern, but I don’t like it!
My next stop was my mother’s apartment, but I needed to get gas, first. So I drove to a gas station that was on my usual route towards home. I figured, if I shut the engine off for a while, the gauge might reset itself.
It didn’t.
On the plus side, it wasn’t dropping, either. It was really steady. The only time the needle almost reached that first line above zero was when I decided to test things and gunned it to 110kph. As soon as I returned to the speed limit, down it dropped to the same level and stayed there.
With the route I was taking, I could drive to the highway closer to us, then decide if I’d be turning towards my mother’s apartment, or heading home.
Thanks to knowing my mother’s apartment would be safely locked up, I headed home.
As soon as I was stopped, I got the picture to send to our mechanic. I then went into the garage to brush aside the oil stains in the dirt floor, so we could tell if there were any new drips, before parking. Once inside, I sent the picture to our mechanic, describing what I was seeing (and what was different), though I don’t expect to hear from him necessarily today. He was so swamped, even with two other mechanics in today.
I also updated my siblings.
Now, I’ve driven with that oil gauge at zero for quite some time. When we were having MAF issues, the oil sensor also got replaced. So this is still a new sensor. It shouldn’t be misreading. Yet, he could find no other problem that might cause the sensor to be reading low oil pressure. For all I know, the sensor is reading “normal”, but the needle is simply stuck at the wrong spot.
My brother will be out here tomorrow to dig out his own truck, so I will follow them with my truck to my mother’s place, and help bring things here. The truck should be fine. My brain knows that – but I am so bloody paranoid about it, I don’t want to make the drive on my own in case something happens along the way. We depend on it so much!
This is where I remember my mother was promising to buy us a car back in the summer, but apparently my sister talked her out of it. Granted, my mother thought she had enough money to buy a new car, with zero understanding of how expensive new cars are right now. With my mother’s habit of promising things, then backing out at the last minute, none of us expected her to actually do it. Still, it does… frustrate.
Hopefully, all will work out with the truck tomorrow. I’ll be a lot more comfortable driving it with my brother nearby.
The thing is, with all this stuff going on, we still need to go our stock up shopping trips to the city, a trip to the dump, a trip to the feed store, etc. Thankfully, we have enough kibble to last another week, for both indoor and outdoor cats, but we’re almost out of wet cat food for the indoor cats. Even without having to get my mother’s apartment emptied, this is the time of the month when we do most of our driving.
This truck is certainly not the first vehicle we’ve own that’s been like this, but for having it for only 2 years, there has been a lot!
When I first checked, before 8am, it was still -32/-26F, with no wind chill. Almost an hour later, the temperature hadn’t changed, but the wind chill dropped to -37C/-35F
I waited until later than usual to head outside, partly so the yard cats wouldn’t be disturbed and start running around in this cold. I worry about the littles! I also wanted to text the garage. I mentioned how cold it was, and that I was okay with coming in, in the afternoon, and that I would see if the truck would start.
Then I headed out. After topping up the kibble bowls in the sun room, I stepped outside and immediately saw something wrong.
Across the yard, where I’d shoveled the turn around area for the truck, there was something dark that wasn’t there before.
Yes, it turned out to be a frozen cat. A large adult tabby. I could tell it was male, but there was too much frost to identify it. I think it might be Larence, though. Either that, or that big tom that’s been visiting.
For the rest of the time I took care of the food and water, I was watching all the cats to see who was missing. That doesn’t actually tell me much, since they don’t all show up at the same time when the food it put out.
Once the cats were fed and watered, I grabbed the snow shovel to move the remains. Normally, with the ground frozen, I would put the remains in the branch pile for later cremation, but we can’t access it right now. I had to leave it in the spruce grove, as far as I could get into it.
Damn.
All that bitter cold we had, without finding any losses until today. Last night should be last night with lows of -30C/-22F or below for this winter. One last night, and he didn’t make it.
We have so many shelters, I don’t know why he was out there, in the yard yet far from the house. I can make guesses, though. One is, it looked like he’d just taken a dump, though we have litter boxes in the sun room and isolation shelter available. The other is, we’ve been hearing more cat fights lately, and other cats may have driven him out. Still, we have so many shelters, plus the ferals have other hidden shelters somewhere in the outer yard. They can get into the pump shack, the barn, etc. So many places he could have stayed warm.
*sigh*
Once that sad duty was taken care of, I went and started the truck. It didn’t like it, but it did start and seemed to be running okay. I can’t tell if any oil has leaked under it until I move it out far enough to access the hood and check the oil levels. As I came in, I found Fluffy, pretty posing for me.
The long haired cats, at least, have lots of insulation!
When I got inside, I found a response from the garage. He laughed about my wanting to wait until things warmed up before coming in. He said he was swamped this morning, anyhow and to touch base in the afternoon.
By this time, it was already warming up. As I write this, it’s coming up on 11, and we’re at -26C/-15F.
Last night, I was messaging with my sister about how to get my mother’s keys. In the end, she suggested she go to my mother’s apartment this morning – she might have already come and gone by now – and take more things, then leave the keys there. That means leaving it unlocked, so I HAVE to go to my mother’s apartment today to get the keys and lock up, as well as take more things here to the farm.
So I messaged the garage back suggesting I drop the truck off around noon or shortly after, then go visit my mother at the hospital, adding that I needed to go to her apartment in Teulon. It can be later, but I have to get there today. I don’t know if he’s seen the message, yet, if he’s so busy, but I need to get the truck fixed. I’ve got too much driving to do over the next few days.
Which means that, in a little while, I’ll be heading back outside to move the truck, check the oil levels, top it up if I have to, then head into town.
Hopefully, he’ll be able to squeeze me in fairly quickly. We shall see. At least the day is warming up fairly quickly!
I look forward to the time of year when we no longer consider anything higher than -20C/-4F as “warm”.
Today was my day to bring the truck in to the garage to see what was going on with my oil pressure. I was sure there was a new leak somewhere.
I’m so glad I did.
While unplugging the block heater, I made sure to look under the truck, but could see no soil of oil leaking. That doesn’t mean much, though. When we had major issues before that turned out to be a leaking oil line seal, we never saw any sign of a leak under the truck. I got that fixed and our pre-winter oil change at the same time, so this was just a few months ago. It had been fine since then.
While driving back from my mother’s apartment a couple of days ago, I noted the check engine light had turned off. This morning, it turned back on again, less than a mile from home. The code for that is not something essential, and related to the cold. The more relevant thing was that, in the 20 or so minutes it takes to drive to town, I was watching that oil pressure gauge slowly dropping.
I dropped the truck off a bit early. The owner was there on his own today, and the bays were all full, so I figured it might be a while. I updated him on what I was seeing on the way here, then dropped off the keys.
I’ve been messaging with my sister regarding my mother. Yesterday, after visiting at the hospital, she was able to go to the apartment and take the things she was supposed to grab for her place. We were trying to figure out how to get my mother’s keys back, though. While we were chatting, she mentioned my mother was out of crackers. Since it was warm enough (-21C/-6F), and the grocery store was along the way, I picked a box up for her, then walked to the hospital to visit.
My mother was happy to see me, for the most part. Glad that I brought her crackers. She was in bed and, when I asked how she was doing, she said she was in a lot of pain. Then started saying, since my brother and I are so smart, maybe we could find her a good doctor that knows what to do about it.
*sigh*
I had to explain to her, she has osteoarthritis. There really isn’t anything that can be done, other than taking pain killers. Apparently, a nurse told her that her mother gets injections every three months for her hip pain. I said yes, that works for some people, but that requires a referral to a specialist (like the sports injury clinic I was referred to) in the city, because nowhere else does those injections. That would then require getting her transported for the appointment in the city. I explained about my own OA, and my husband’s back injury and his pain levels. He’s on the strongest painkillers available, and highest doses, and his pain levels are barely affected. In her case, all she can really do is take those painkillers, because there’s no fix to her condition.
Not long after, a nurse came by to check on my mother, asking if she needed help with pain. She told him no, she was okay. I asked if she was sure, since she was just telling me about how much pain she was in, and she said yes. After he was gone (she made sure to wait until her door was closed), she told me she’d just taken 12 pills that morning, and she didn’t want to take more. Her painkillers were scheduled for 2:00, so she would wait.
It was 10:20. I asked again, was she sure? It would be almost 4 hours of a wait. She insisted. She wanted to give all those other pills time to work.
She gets her meds at 9am.
Okay. If she didn’t want to take them, we can’t force her.
The rest of the visit was a mix of good and strange and, is it time for me to leave now? I was able to distract her away from her usual rants, for the most part, at least. She asked about what was being done with her apartment (and why doesn’t my brother phone her? never mind they visited, not that long ago), and I filled her in. Then she started giving instructions on what to do for things, even though she had no idea about the process, like how to get the commode returned. She also insisted that we not give public housing the extra keys she had cut for my brother and I, unless they are willing to pay her “back” her $10. I pointed out that we would have no use for keys for an apartment she doesn’t live in. Oh, we can label them and hang them somewhere. Why? Well, maybe if someone moves into her apartment. How would we even know about that? She had no answer, but she really didn’t want us to turn over those keys unless she got paid back for them.
She also went on a rant about how the hospital staff just doesn’t care. The doctor never comes to see her (she is officially no longer a patient, but a long term care resident, now that she’s been approved for a personal care home), etc. Also, people are in the hallways, talking and laughing, and they shouldn’t be doing that.
*sigh*
After visiting for quite a while, as I was getting ready to leave, about to put my coat on, she finally mentioned she got another visit from our vandal. So I went back and sat down, asking her questions about how that went. She said he was behaving, at least, but when I asked when he visited, she couldn’t remember. I asked if it was the same day as my sister’s visit (yesterday) and she looked confused and said she couldn’t remember. So I don’t know if this was actually a new visit, or if she was referring to the same visit from our vandal she told me about, the last time I visited her. At least now the hospital has a picture of him on file, so they can recognize him as someone to watch out for. They can’t stop him from visiting, but they can make sure he doesn’t have a chance to start verbally abusing her again.
By this time in the visit, my mother had moved from lying in bed to sitting at the side of her bed. She then wanted to get up and move to her favourite chair. As soon as she started trying to stand up, though, she started yelling and screaming in pain! I tried to help her and she was able to stand up to the walker the hospital provided. She said she needed to go to the washroom, but only managed to transfer herself to the chair I’d just vacated. I kept asking her if she wanted me to get a nurse to help, but she wouldn’t answer. Finally, once she was seated, but couldn’t stand up again, I told her I was getting help.
I found the nurse that had come by earlier, just finishing up with a patient in another room nearby, so I asked him for help, telling him about my mother’s pain and that she was wanting to get to the bathroom. I added that, while my mother had just refused painkillers not long ago, she will probably need some, and he agreed. He started following me, as I rushed ahead to let my mother know help was coming.
As I got to her, she started telling me, she thinks the hospital is giving her medications to cause this pain.
Which is when the nurse came in behind me. He started bringing the wheelchair over so he could help her get to the washroom, when she started taking to him that she thinks they are giving her the wrong medications, and that’s why she is in so much pain. From the resigned body language, I get the impression he’s had issues with my mother. Being both a male nurse (to my mother, nurses should be female, doctors should be male) and Asian, it’s likely she has been less than kind to him! He told her, they can’t give her the wrong medications because, if they did, they would lose their license.
I don’t know if she really heard that, though I know it would have made no difference if she did, but she went back to screaming and yelling in pain, trying to transfer to the wheelchair. They’re going to have to get the chair she was in, cleaned. 😢
He wheeled her to the washroom, so I got myself out of the way, grabbing my things and heading out- making sure to thank the nurse for helping my mother as I left! She was already making things hard for him.
*sigh*
Before I left, I took the time to update my family about how things went, then headed out. It was getting close to lunch time by then, and there’s a Chinese restaurant in the motel next to the garage, so I headed for there. I took a quick look at the garage parking lot and couldn’t see the truck anywhere, so it was at least in the garage by then.
After I had my lunch and headed back to the garage, I still couldn’t see the truck, so I was surprised when I didn’t see it in the garage, either.
The owner was on the phone in the office when I got there, so he was soon able to update me.
He found the leak, in exactly the same place as before – except worse! He was really surprised by how much oil had leaked. It even leaked onto the floor of the vehicle bay, which it didn’t do the last time it was worked on.
We talked about it for a bit, and he has no idea why this new seal is leaking. Perhaps a defective part? He ordered me a new one, this time going with a higher end brand, just in case.
It will be covered by warranty, too, so that helps!
When he mentioned that it was leaking enough to drip onto his floor, I told him, I saw no signs of leaked oil under our truck. Which means it got worse, just during the drive in, today! I asked him if it was possible that it got damaged when I tried to start it while it was frozen (thinking of those noises I heard when I did). He was very doubtful. Still, we had had no signs of a problem until after that deep freeze. Granted, with having to pull the truck all the way into the garage so we could close the door, I couldn’t access the front to open the hood and check the oil levels. So I can’t say with 100% certainty that it hadn’t started leaking earlier. The only evidence of there being a problem was that oil pressure gauge suddenly dropping, two days ago, while I was driving to my mother’s apartment.
We are both perplexed.
The part he ordered will arrive tomorrow morning. He told me to text him in the morning about coming in. He is fully booked tomorrow, but he’ll have a couple of other guys in, and he will squeeze my truck somewhere in there. I asked him if he topped up the oil level, and he told me he didn’t have to. It seems that I over filled it with my last addition when I got home from my mother’s apartment! He did instruct me to check the oil level again, before coming back tomorrow, in case I needed to add more. That’s how bad the leak was!
When it was time to go, I had to ask him where the truck was.
He checked his cameras…
… then went out to move the ambulance waiting to be worked on out of the way, so I could back out and leave. 😄 No wonder I couldn’t see it!
Once I was clear, I stopped just long enough to let my family know I was on the way home.
Then watched the oil gauge slowly dropping again during the entire drive.
I am so glad I got that checked before doing any major driving around. Especially before doing our first city stock up shop!!!
Before pulling into the garage, I stopped to double check, confirming that there was zero sign of any oil leak visible on the dirt floor.
Once I was home, I updated the family in more detail, then updated my siblings. In talking keys with my sister, and my hopes of getting to my mother’s apartment tomorrow, she told me she could meet me there in the morning, but only for a short time. Now that I know I’ll be back at the garage tomorrow, I suggested she leave them with my mother tomorrow morning. That is likely the best way to get them to my brother, who is dealing with public housing in regards to my mother’s rental agreement.
At that point, it was only just past 1pm, and the weather was so nice (-18C/0F), I wanted to take advantage of it and headed back outside to do some shoveling. I needed to clear the drifts blocking part of our turnaround space in the yard, as well as a couple of paths that were blocked in places with drifts. I was out there for a couple of hours.
Gosh, did it feel good!
I’ll have to be extra diligent with the meds tonight, though, or I’ll be barely able to walk, tomorrow!
By the time I was finished, it was time to feed the outside cats.
They were enjoying the lovely weather, too! Especially this bunch.
I am so glad we had that old catio roof panel to scavenge as a wall for the shelf shelter! It makes for a lovely greenhouse effect, and they can see out at the same time. There are at least 9 cats in that photo! Plus I think one ran out when I went by to put away the shovel in the sun room.
That done, I finally headed inside for the day – and a lovely supper featuring bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, my daughters made.
Today was quite pleasant, but we are supposed to drop to -30C/-22F tonight. If the long range forecasts are at all accurate, we won’t get that cold again for the rest of the winter. Tomorrow’s high, however, is supposed to be sunny and almost as warm as today, so I expect I will do the walk to the hospital after dropping off the truck and be able to visit my mother again.
I can’t believe we’re at the end of January already.
Hopefully, she will have accepted the offered painkillers and will be doing better. For someone who complains so much about her pain levels, she is so unwilling to actually accept the only thing that can really make a difference. Yet very willing to expect some magical doctor somewhere (a white male, of course) to magically fix something that has no fix, while at the same time convincing herself that the people taking care of her are deliberately causing her pain.
If all goes well, my truck will be worked on and finished early enough that I can still get to my mother’s apartment and bring some things back with me. I especially want to get that wheelchair, as the hospital asked me to bring it in a while ago. Then on Saturday, I plan to be back with my brother and SIL as we take the last of everything out, and try to find somewhere to store them here at the farm.
After all that, I should FINALLY be able to do our stock up shopping in the city!
The Re-Farmer 