dealing with vehicles

Back online

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, it got figured out. Sort of. After trying all the usual rebooting and turning things off and on, my husband physically unplugged and re-plugged in all the physical connections. When he was done, we had internet again. How the power being shut off briefly would have caused that, I have no idea.

Speaking of having no idea, at some point yesterday, a cat walked on my keyboard. I have no idea what combinations of buttons got stepped on, but I now have every letter, space and punctuation I type showing up in boxes as the bottom of my screen, along with and “backspace” and “break”. This has happened before, and I figured out how to shut it off, but this time, I just can’t find how again. I’ll have to figure it out later. For now, I’ve got stuff to do!

First up, though, is some cuteness. I puttered around after feeding the outside cats for the evening and discovered two of them on top of the raised bed cover in the old kitchen garden!

One of them is more feral and ran off when I stopped to get my phone out, but Kohl is looking like she’s settling right down for a nap!

It’s a good thing this cover can support their weight, and the netting is secured snug enough that they don’t end up pushing it through the larger openings in the fence wire.

The ornamental apple trees are in full bloom right now, and just buzzing with polinators!

It’s such a gorgeous evening right now, I’m probably going to head out again, after I’m done writing this, even though it’s already past 8:30pm.

This morning was fairly routine, before I headed out to my mother’s. My daughter offered to do weed trimming and mowing for me while I was gone, so we walked about that for a while. She was happy when I suggested using the riding more first, as I knew for sure it had more gas in it. She wasn’t sure we had permission to use it.

I headed out early enough to get a bit of gas before heading to my mother’s, though it turned out to be too early to grab some fried chicken for my lunch, since my mother was getting her Meals on Wheels today. When I got to her place, she had been lying down in bed again, and was really struggling to get up and move around. She says her mobility is getting worse, which I can clearly see. Before she was settled, I offered to apply some of the Voltaren topical painkiller, and she quite happily agreed. Her morning med assist visit is supposed to offer to do that for her, but she doesn’t like the idea of the home care workers touching her like that. Fair enough!

That done, we were starting to settle down to go over her shopping list, when she commented that I was “hiding my beautiful hair”, because I didn’t take my hat off, like I usually do. I told her, yes, I’m hiding my “beautiful hair” because every time she sees my hair, she had something nasty to say about it (even when she compliments my hair, she does it in such a way that it’s actually an insult). Her response was to tell me that it’s because I braid my hair and only little girls wear braids. I reminded her that her mother always kept her very long hair in a braid. Oh, but she wore it rolled up on the back of her head all the time! I said no, not all the time. I remember her braid was so long, it reached her bum.

In the end, she basically said that having short hair is easier (for her), therefore older women should all have short hair like she does. I told her, I find it easier to have a braid. Oh, when you’re in your 90’s like me, you’ll feel different.

*facepalm*

At least she was not being actively nasty about it.

We went over her shopping list and added a few things she hadn’t thought of. She also had a list for things to pick up at the pharmacy, including more Voltaren. Now that she’s using it on her back as well as her knees, she’s going through it a faster, and she doesn’t want to run out. Which is a real switch for her. She usually waits until the last moment before replacing things or getting refills.

Since I was going to the pharmacy anyhow, I decided to go into her lock box and take out those bubble packs that have been driving her nuts. One of them had just a single bubble for her evening meds in it, while another had one bubble of morning meds and one of suppertime meds in it. The equivalent of 1 day’s worth of pills, but each bubble was in a different day of the week. The home care workers refusing to give them to her on the “wrong” day is what’s driving her absolutely bonkers. It’s like she goes into an instant rage. I told her I would take them to the pharmacy. She has about 1 1/2 weeks left in her current bubble packs, so she’ll be getting refills done next week. I told her I would give them to the pharmacist. She started telling me to make sure they knew she had already paid for these (which… of course they do. She wouldn’t have them, otherwise), so they don’t throw them away. I told her, I would explain it to them, and they will take care of things.

One thing I noticed and remembered to ask before I headed out; her Tuesday morning meds are still in their bubble. Today is Friday, and all the other bubbles in between are properly used. What happened on Tuesday?

Apparently, no one showed up to do her med assist on Tuesday morning. I did not get a call, and my mother didn’t call to tell me there was a problem, either.

*sigh*

Today is her day in the common laundry room, so we got that ready, too. My mother, of course, giving me detailed instructions on how to do the laundry, even though I’ve already done her laundry before and know how she likes it done. Then, when her Meals on Wheels arrived, I got her laundry started, then headed out to do her shopping while she enjoyed her lunch. It looked and smelled delicious!

I did remember to grab the bubble packs for the pharmacist and explained the situation. They can’t repackage them, but she did understand why I had to get them out! My mother was getting downright abusive about it.

My mother had only 4 things on her shopping list at the pharmacy, yet it still came out to just over $60. Ouch.

I did her grocery shopping next, and that came out to just under $60! She didn’t need a lot, but it was still quite a few items. On both lists there was an ‘if it’s in the budget’ item that I didn’t get. As it turned out, since I paid the small change myself so she get round numbers back, she had only a dollar left of the cash she gave me for her shopping – and even then, it was because I suggested she might not have enough, after looking at her pharmacy shopping list, so she added a bit more to her envelope of cash she gives me for her shopping.

When I got back, my mother as busily picking up rugs and bashing them with her cane to get the dust off, in preparation for me to sweep her floors. Not something she should have been doing, but she just couldn’t just sit there, waiting for me to come back and do it.

I know that feel.

I did get her to sit down on her comfy chair while I put her groceries away. Then I grabbed her water bottles that needed refilling (there’s a tap in the laundry room that has a water softener on it, that she uses for drinking and cooking water) and switched her laundry to the dryers. She had actually forgotten about her laundry! One machine was still going through its final spin, though, so the timing worked out.

That done, I got the sweeping done for her, then made sure everything was put back properly. I do wish she would get rid of her little rugs. They are such tripping hazards! But, the floor makes her feet cold, so she wants the rugs. 😔

Once everything was settled, I remembered to get out my mother’s blood pressure machine and get a reading. I try to remember to do that every time I’m at her place for any length of time. I got her pulse oximeter set up, too, but it has the hardest time getting a reading. Her fingers are so twisted from arthritis, it doesn’t have proper contact. I had to try three different fingers before we could get a reading!

Then we had a chance to just sit and visit for a bit. She even asked me how things went with my appointment for the truck yesterday. I told her how it went, and now the adjusted was trying to blame things on previous damage, and that I was expecting a call from the autobody shop some time today to get full information. I mentioned the potential issue with painting after they fix the bent box frame, because of the rust.

Mentioning rust turned out to be a distraction. I barely finished talking when she suddenly declared, “now let me tell you something about me!”

She then vaguely indicated towards her stove and was talking about this terrible problem of rust she has. She didn’t have the word for what she was talking about, but seemed to think I could read her mind and know what she meant! Her gestures were so vague that, even though she was verbally saying “stove”, she seemed to be indicating the counter… or the sink? I finally had to ask. That made her instantly furious as she got up and started trying to tear off an element to show me. I was able to get her to stop and before she broke something!

It turned out she was talking about the drip pan under the element.

I had to look up the name of it, just now! 😄

It was completely rusted out, to the point of having holes in it. Which is bizarre, because I know this stove was replaced after she moved here, so it’s less than 10 years old.

My talking about rust on the truck reminded her about her drip pan, and how she had asked the cleaning staff if she was responsible for replacing it, or the public housing department that owns the building. They didn’t know but said they would ask. My mother later got a two page letter explaining the things they did and didn’t cover… but nothing specifically about the drip pan, so she still doesn’t know!

I told her, I’d just replace it myself. I took a picture and passed it on to my siblings so that one of us could pick up a replacement for her, when we have the chance.

After a while, my mother sent me to check on the driers, and told me to take them out if they were dry, even if the machines weren’t done. They were on their cool down cycle, so that’s what I ended up doing.

Once I started folding and putting them away, my mother let me know she was done by sitting in her armchair and turning on her TV, really loud. 😄 When I was done, she barely acknowledged when I gave her a hug and a kiss goodbye. 😄

While all this as going on, I got messages from the family. While my daughter was out using the weed trimmer, which is electric, someone from the electric company came by to say they were going to be shutting off the power for about half an hour. My husband, sweetheart that he is, made sure my computer was shut down, first!

They still had just enough data signal to send text messages, so they could keep me up to date. My daughter saw them working on the main power pole, so she went out to ask about what they were doing. There was just a small part at the top that was getting replaced. She was told they will be increasing the voltage to the power grid, and had to replace parts so they could handle the increase. Which means they are going to every single farm and rural household to do this! That’s going to take a while!

Once the power was back up, the internet was still out. When I got home, I tried contacting the electric company, but they aren’t listed in the phone books we have (yes, we still have phone books!). I even tried calling 411, but only got a busy signal. Eventually, I went outside with my phone and logged into the electric company’s app, dug until I found a number I could call, and got through. After explaining things, he checked, and all was clear at his end. Which meant we had to contact our internet provider. Which is Starlink.

Which would require logging into their app. Which I couldn’t do, because my upgraded phone doesn’t have my husband’s computer generated, unhackable password stored in it – and after fighting with it while I was gone, my husband ended up having to medicate and go to bed for a couple of hours.

Meanwhile, the woman from the autobody shop had called, so I had time to call her back.

*sigh*

First, the insurance company will not cover the cost of the tail light. The damage is not consistent with the claim.

They will cover part of the cost of the painting that will be required, but we’ll be responsible for $140 of it.

We will have to pay 30% of the cover, on top of the $500 deductible. A cover could cost up to $2000, so we could be paying up to another $600 on top of everything else.

Part of the problem is, there’s not enough left of the cover for them to know what a similar replacement would be.

She asked me questions about it and said she would look for photos to send me, so I can see which one is most like what we already had. As for the tail light, I would have to talk directly to the adjuster about that.

Once I had the time, I started going back into my old photos to find pictures of the cover (turned out, there are none that show enough of the cover to be useful) and for proof of what I was saying about the tail light.

I might have to eat some crow.

I found the pictures I took of the truck when it was still in the lot. No crack in the tail light.

No dent under the tail light.

I thought that dent was already there, because I’ve never backed into anything that would cause that damage. The only time I’ve accidentally backed into something, it was the kibble house because I had the tailgate down and couldn’t see how close it was. The damage was to the kibble house, not the truck, and the paint is yellow, not white like what’s in the dent.

The only more recent picture I could find was taken the day I met the Cat Lady for the catio they donated to use. In there, you can see a bit of white paint above the tail light, no cracks in the tail light – but I was taking a picture of the load, not the truck, so the very bottom of the tail light is not in the frame. No proof that the dent was there, with an intact tail light.

Meanwhile, I’m now wondering how that dent got there and when. As for the crack itself, it’s large enough that I would have noticed it earlier. At least, I think I would have! Now I’m second guessing myself.

*sigh*

In the end, though, I have no way to prove that the tail light was intact before the cover was blown off, and nothing to show when that dent showed up.

Well, we’re not going to get any further ahead on this until after the weekend.

As much of a pain that it is, the main thing is to get that frame repaired and a new box cover, and my older daughter has said she will help us with paying for the cost above the deductible.

We’ll find out how much that is, once we figure out what type of cover is closest to what was lost.

Who know getting this taken care of would be such a pain???

The Re-Farmer

Morning in the garden, and then off the rails!

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It’s just past 5:30pm as I write this, and it’s all I can do to keep my eyes open. I am SO tired! Please forgive any odd sentence structure or typos, because I’m sure I’m going to miss many when I got over things before hitting publish!

The cats had me up at about 5am this morning. I got up and fed them – the morning feeding includes kicking all the cats out of my bedroom except Butterscotch and Freya. After the dry kibble is dispensed, I pour some cat milk into a small bowl for our elederly Freya (Butterscotch gets the rest of the little carton), and then I sit beside her on my bed, holding the bowl for her while she eats until she is done. This saves her from having to jump down from the bed to eat, and she can stay all curled up in whatever cat bed she’s in.

Yeah. I’m a suck for the cats.

After a while, I let the other cats back in, then tried going to bed for a couple more hours. I swear, the cats know exactly when I fall asleep for real, and that’s when they start getting into things they shouldn’t, and start making loud noises. Or just going crazy. Tissue got the zoomies this morning. So what sleep I did manage to get was highly interrupted. I can’t even keep the door closed, because then they start scratching at it and that keeps waking me up.

The temperature had dropped to 2C/36F at 5am. By about 8am, it had warmed up to a whole 8C/46F. Which was about when I started heading out. First, the kitties got fed, and I got a daughter to help out. Not with the feeding, though. With kitten catching! Kale and Sir Robin the Brave are incredibly fast about getting into the old kitchen, and haven’t learned to stay away from moving feet, or closing doors! After luring the adult cats away with kibble, I closed the inner door into the sun room and my daughter started handing me bowls of wet cat food to set out for the littles, plus one with both wet and dry cat food for Poirot at her cat carrier nest. Another bowl with part kibble and part wet cat food went into the cat house for Caramel and her babies.

Then I continued my rounds, leaving the sun room closed up, even though all three mamas were out. The white and grey mama has been seen nursing the creche babies more often, now that her third baby is in the sun room again.

Poirot’s grublings are getting more mobile, so I set up a a bit of a shield for them.

I’ve been saving cardboard for the garden in the old kitchen, and there just happened to be a couple of pieces of cardboard that was used as spacers inside a box that were just perfect for this. In the second picture, you can see how they’re set up to cover the gap between the shelf and the wall, and cat carrier and the wall. This should be enough of they accidentally squirm out of the carrier. As they get more mobile, we might just move the carrier to the floor, so they can go in and out as they wish.

Once done with tending the colony, the first thing I do it switch out the memory cards. As I go out to the sign cam, past where the food forest is being built up. That corner gets very sun baked and dry in the summer, but these guys don’t seem to mind at all!

They are absolutely everywhere. It’s impossible to not walk on them, but they don’t seem the least bit bothered by that. I don’t know what they are, but if I had to guess, I’d say they are some type of pansy? Whatever they are, they are pretty indestructible!

The next thing was to check on the garden beds. Especially the one where I just planted peas, yesterday. I thought they were fine until I got to the northernmost end, where I saw the cats had been digging. *sigh* Hopefully, they didn’t actually dig up any seeds, but I really couldn’t tell. I was trying to figure out some way to cover things when I remembered I still have grass clippings saved to use as mulch. There isn’t a lot left, but enough to do the job!

The soil got a gentle watering, first. After the grass was laid down, that got watered down, too. Partly so it wouldn’t blow away too easily.

The plastic covered beds all got watered, too. With the sprouting seedlings, it’s hard to tell which are what I planted and which are weeks. Some that I suspected to be weeds were starting to show their true leaves, and I was correct: they are maple seedlings. So I pulled as many of those as I could, along with identifiable stuff like dandelions – so long as pulling them wouldn’t disturb any other sprouts.

The low raised bed that no longer has plastic on it got watered. I’d tried blocking off one end of the cover and hoped that would be enough protection until I could do the other end. This morning, I discovered, I was wrong.

*sigh*

After repairing the digging damage as best I could, I got creative. This is all temporary.

In the first picture, you can see I just stuck some boards across the opening. The stick holding them in place is secured at the top through the mesh, so those could only go so high, so I used what I could find to add verticals on the inside. Hopefully, the cats won’t try to jump through the gaps.

In the next picture, you can see the twine I wove through the mesh to close up the end. Again, temporary, but this should hold for a while.

After the watering and weeding was done, I headed inside for breakfast, before going back out and continuing what I hoped to get finished today.

It was almost exactly 10am and I just sat down with my food when the phone rang.

It was my mother.

No one showed up to do her med assist this morning.

I should have gotten a call, but I got nothing. My mother had tried calling the case coordinator, but it’s Saturday; her office is closed.

So I told her, I would quickly finish eating, then head out to give her her medications. She wanted me to dispense her other two meds for the day, too, in case her med assist didn’t show up for those times, either, but I refused. Got quite a mocking for following the rules. So what will you do? she asked me. Come out two more times?

I said, yes! I will!

I told her, there’s a reason your medications are in your lock box. You were messing with your medications, forgetting if you took them, etc. Oh, I wasn’t that bad, she said. Yes, you were, Mom. That’s why you have a lock box! She actually seemed to stop and think about that!

One of the things I did was write up a note and leave it in their notebook, stating that I had dispensed that morning’s medications and at what time.

I also told her that, since I was out anyhow, I would make a trip to the nearest Walmart to do a bit of shopping. I had planned to do it later in the weeks, but I could do it now. The Walmart carries 2L plastic milk jugs, which she finds easier to handle, so I told her I was thinking of getting a plastic jug for her. I did just get her a carton, but…

She does still have milk, but it turns out she had dropped the carton while trying to open it and spilled some. So more milk, in a better container, was a big yes from her!

I ended up leaving with a small shopping list and some cash. One of the things she was running low of was the topical pain killer she’s been using on her knees. She’s now using it on her back, too, so she’s going through it faster. I had already been thinking of checking that out, too, as I figured it would be a better price.

Since it was well past 11am by the time I was going to head out, I offered to make a lunch for her, but she said she had leftovers from yesterday’s Meals on Wheels, so she was fine. Once I knew she was settled, I headed out.

My first stop was actually a Dollarama that shares a parking lot with the Walmart. There were a few small things that I wanted to pick up and, of course, I went through the garden supply section. I ended up picking up four 4′ metal posts. Not T posts, but the same idea. They have hooks in the metal to hold trellis netting. They would have been perfect for what I was doing yesterday – and easier to set into the soil! We will be trellising pole beans and more peas, though, so new posts will not go amiss. I probably should have gotten more, but I should be able to get some more next month, if I need to.

After I was done at the Dollarama, it was across the parking lot to Walmart.

I got a few things that were not on my list. 😄

One thing that was on my list was more wet cat food. Since we are giving wet cat food to the kittens, we’re going through it faster. Normally, at Walmart, I pick up cases of 32. Looking at the new prices for the individual cans, though, I realized it would actually be cheaper to buy them loose, than by case lot! I ended up using some of their cardboard flats and got 48 cans of paté for the inside cats (paté works better when making cat soup) and 24 cans of chunks in gravy for the kittens.

They had sales on canned food for humans, too, and I got a flat of 24 cans of tomato soup for the pantry, too.

I also went through the garden centre. I picked up some replacement Yukon potatoes, since I’m sure the ones I’ve been chitting are no longer viable. Their herbs and vegetables were out, so I went hunting and found a few herbs. I got English Thyme, Golden thyme, two containers of oregano, lemon balm and basil. These will go into the tiny raised bed in the old kitchen garden, which has a cat proof cover already.

As for my mother’s list, the topical painkiller she uses was there – and cost $11 less than at her local pharmacy! That’s a huge difference!

The store was very busy, so it took a while for me to get everything I was looking for (and then some), and I was really tired and hungry by the end of it. I had some frozen stuff in my cart, so I stopped to get some take out that I could eat while driving, then headed out, making sure to update my family and let them know I was on my way to my mother’s, then home.

Which is when things went sideways.

Literally.

The last part of my route to my mother’s is a provincial trunk road, from one highway to another, that leads to my mother’s town. This is an east/west route.

The wind was coming from the south.

As I was driving towards an area of wide open fields, I saw the entire horizon was covered with what looked like black smoke. Once clear of some trees, I could see it swirling over the fields – but no flames.

It was dust.

Basically, the topsoil from the south side of the road was being blown to the north side of the road.

As I was being buffeted by the wind, driving through it.

Which is when I heard and felt something behind me and looked in my mirror just in time to see the cover over the box of our truck blow off, into the ditch and keep on going!

I pulled over, but by the time I did, there was no sign of the cover. I’m sure it was still being blown across that field for some time!

I had stuff in the box of the truck, and it was already getting scattered across the box. I gathered it all together and crammed it mostly into the back of the cab, making sure nothing went to the front that could get mixed up with my mother’s stuff.

I made sure that there was no way those metal posts would be able to slide and hit a window!

Once everything was put away, I continued to my mother’s place. Wow, what a difference in how the truck felt while driving! The wind swirling into the box of the truck was very noticeable.

When I was done at my mother’s, I was able to get for damage, which you can see in the second image in the slideshow above. There was enough flex on the box when the cover was torn off that it cracked the tail light cover.

But I didn’t get a chance to see that until later.

As soon as I entered her apartment, my mother, who was lying in bed, started saying, Oh, I’m so glad you’re here! I’m so glad to see you! while getting up to sit on the side of her bed.

I’m doing poorly, she tells me. Maybe I should go to the hospital. What do you think?

I certainly did not voice what I was actually thinking. My mother has cried wolf so many times, and uses having us take her to the hospital as a way of getting attention.

I asked her questions about what was going on. She was pretty vague about it; as if she expected me to already know. She told me she took one of the new pills (the T3s), but it didn’t seem to make a difference.

I told her, these pills aren’t magic. They are just stronger painkillers. As she kept on basically about what her expectations were (take pill: pain ends utterly and completely), I told her that her prescription for these is just a couple a day, morning and evening, as needed. I’m on the same pills, same dosage per tablet, and I can take up to 9 of them in total, per day. So it really depends on the individual.

She was pretty shocked that I could take so many per day, when she had a limit of two per day.

As I was putting things away, she lay back down in bed and suggested that maybe using the topical painkiller would help (confirming, finally, exactly what it was that was causing her problems this time). So that’s what we tried. She asked me to do, not only her hips (the pain is mostly just on one side), but her entire back as well. As I was doing that for her, she said to add lots, so I did it second time. As I was putting away the tube, she started saying she could feel a difference, already!

Hopefully, that will be enough.

My brother and I are planning to be there tomorrow for Mother’s Day, so we’ll be able to check on her more thoroughly, then.

Meanwhile, whenever I had a few moments, I kept my family and my siblings updated on things. I told my mother that I had frozen things in my vehicle and had to get them home, so I was soon back on the road. A daughter was sweet enough to have the gate open for me when I got in.

After everything was unloaded, and the new transplants and bags of seed potatoes secure in the portable greenhouse, it was time to feed the outside cats. I had another daughter on kitten duty, too! Other than doing a quick check to make sure none of the raised bed covers were blown away, I was more than happy to finally settle in at home.

So much for my garden and planting plans for the day! As I write this, we have continued to get warmer. It’s past 7pm now, and the temperature has risen to 24C/75F, though with the wind, it does feel a bit cooler. Not much, though! One of the local weather groups I follow on Facebook has been posting information and the coming heat way, with significant heat warnings to come.

We’re supposedly getting rain right now, though the current systems are skirting right past us. Later this evening, we’re supposed to be getting real rain. One of the things that the weather nerds that run the group noted is what appears to be pyrocumulous clouds forming in some areas! These are thunderstorm clouds that are created by heat; you might typically see them form over volcanoes, but can also form over forest fires, if the conditions are right. Scary stuff!

Tonight, the coolest temperatures are supposed to be at around 5 and 6am, at 14C/57F, and then start heating right up. The heat wave is supposed to hit us the hardest on Monday and Tuesday, but still be very hot on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Friday, the temperature is supposed to drop right down, with overnight lows of 0C/32F, and a mix of rain and snow. Saturday is supposed to be only slightly warmer.

Spring weather is so chaotic.

Well, if we can work around the hottest parts of the day, I should still be able to get at least some of those walnut seeds planted, get more areas prepped in the garden and, if all goes well, even do more direct sowing done. Chances are, though, that very little will get done until after the heat wave passes, and we’re back into cooler temperatures. At which point, we’ll be needing to protect some things from frost! For now, we’ve been able to leave our transplants in the portable greenhouse day and night, but we’ll have to bring them inside on those coldest nights.

As for me, it’s time to pain killer up and get to bed. If the cats are going to be waking me up at 5am anyhow, I may as well take advantage of it and get work done outside, before it gets too hot! I just have to work out what time I’ll be meeting up with my brother at my mother’s place tomorrow.

What a day today has turned out to be!

The Re-Farmer

Seriously???

/ Re-Farmer / 4 Comments

Good grief… and it’s not even noon, yet.

Today is looking like it’s going to be a gorgeous day. It’s bright and sunny, with some cloud expected later, and we’re supposed to get a high of 0C/32F, which means things are going to be melting all over.

It’s also already been a WTF day.

First up, was finding this when I went outside to do the cat stuff.

The cat cave had been tucked into that cube, but it was pulled out like this, today.

Brussel and her babies are just fine inside, but I have no idea what happened.

Brussel did not leave her babies at any time while I did the outside stuff, even when I tried lifting the cave and discovered they were still inside. It made giving her her wet cat food more awkward. She seems fine with how it is now (I did move that loose piece of carboard aside). I was also able to reach inside and give her head scritches. She growled at me the entire time, but she did not pull away, nor did she try to attack me in any way. I got some squeeze treats to use to try and socialize her more, and I might actually be able to do that, now that the opening to the cat cave is easier to reach.

When doing the morning stuff, I go through the old kitchen (our buffer zone) and the sun room. We tie off the doors – sometimes just the outside door, if the weather is nice – so that cats can get in and out, but the sunroom has shifted. We can still close the inside door, I think, but I don’t think we can close the outside door anymore. The problem is, the rain barrel at the corner was allowed to overflow to the point that the sidewalk block it’s on was undermined and has sunk at the end. It looks like it has also affected the concrete pad the sun room is built on, which means the room continues to shift downwards at that corner. The door frame is no longer plumb, and it seems to be ever so slowly getting worse.

That’s the sun room, though, so not really that big of a deal.

Our main entry doors, however, are another issue.

We already had a problem with the door not latching properly; the door itself is splitting at the latch bolt, and the face place is loose. Sometimes, the door would just pop open on its own.

Lately, though, it’s become harder to open and close. It’s really stiff at the hinges and, when closing it from the inside, you really need to put your shoulder into it. When I was heading out today, I tried leaving through that door, but couldn’t close it from the outside. The bottom half of the door seems to be hitting the door frame. I had to go back in, shoulder it closed from the inside, then leave through the old kitchen door (we do have another door to outside in the dining room, but it is not mobility accessible for my husband, so we don’t really use it). We already know the entire frame and door need to be replaced, but that ain’t cheap!

I had just a quick run to the post office to make today, and was soon back home. After parking in the garage, I went to open the door…

It wouldn’t open.

I pulled on the door handle again…

It still wouldn’t open.

I tried one more time…

Yeah. It broke right off.

That left me in a pickle. With the console in the middle, it’s not like I can shuffle over to the other door. I ended up messaging the family, asking if anyone could come out. My older daughter answered, and I told her what happened, but I think she was already booting up and heading out and didn’t see the messages. She though I was injured or something!

Meanwhile, it occurred to me, I could just open the window and open the door from the outside. So I gave that a try.

It wouldn’t open.

I tried again.

Nothing.

When I opened the window, I noticed the door was locked; normally, it automatically unlocks when the engine is shut off. I’d unlocked it, but when I reached to the door handle outside, my arm pushed the lock down again. Once I realized what happened, I was able to open the door – just in time for my daughter to reach the garage.

So what I think happened is that I accidentally locked the door after parking the truck, so of course, it wouldn’t open when I pulled on the handle.

Instead, it broke off.

Looking into the opening with my phone’s camera light, I could see the edge of where it broke off, and that was about it.

I have since sent the photos to the garage, asking if this is the sort of work they do or not. They’re not an autobody place, so I might have to go somewhere else. I haven’t received a response, yet.

Until we can get it fixed, I’m going to have to get used to opening the door from the outside for a while.

What a bloody PITA.

The Re-Farmer

Done! And a funny

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Whoot! The truck is done!

As usual, I dropped it off early. I confirmed it would be done around 2:30, and the mechanic said he would message me if they were done early, then headed out.

I made my way to a restaurant where I knew I could hang out for a while. Once done there, I didn’t want to go back to all the same places I went to yesterday, partly because the truck wasn’t going to take as long to be done. Then I remembered that there was a second hand store I’ve been meaning to go to for years, and just never got around to it.

It was a nice store. They’ve got lots of place available for their inventory at the moment, so it was easy to see everything. I did get a laugh when I found this display, though.

There isn’t a single crochet hook in there. It was right next to a bucket stuffed full of knitting needles. These were all short enough that they would have disappeared completely in there, so I can see why they’re in another display, but you’d think they’d change the label or something! 😄

Considering how many times I’ve been crocheting in public and had people ask me “what are you knitting”, though, it could simply be they didn’t know there’s a difference. 😁

Eventually, I meandered my way back to the garage. I got there early, and saw my truck was in the parking lot. The owner had stepped out, though, so I got to hang out in the office until he came back and could process the payment.

The total was pretty much where I expected it to be. After taxes, it was $245.88 The “oil cooler line gasket” was under $10, labour was only $50. The alignment was $159.99.

*sigh*

It’s all done, though. We shouldn’t have to go back to the garage again until our next oil change. Unless we want to replace those sensors with the dead batteries, and there is no urgency on that.

Now, hopefully, I won’t need to do more driving for quite some time! We’ve burned through a lot of gas, just since I reset our trip meter after filling the tank at Costco.

Oh. I forgot. I have to go to town tomorrow for a pharmacy trip. After that, however, I have no scheduled trips for almost 2 weeks!

Won’t that be nice!

Of course, there will be unscheduled trips. If nothing else, I’m hoping we can manage some birthday take out for my older daughter. She hates it when we spend money on her, though, even though I budget for it. We shall see.

For now, I’m just going to enjoy being home for the evening.

I love me a dull, boring life!

The Re-Farmer

Almost there!

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Today was my day to get the truck to the garage, but not until 10am, so I had plenty of time to do my morning rounds.

Where I found these…

I just had to include my hand for perspective, though the kitty prints help, too. That is one big raccoon was had visiting us!

It’s doing a good job of cleaning up the old kibble that cats won’t eat anymore, so I can’t complain. I haven’t checked today’s trail cam files yet, so I don’t know it it was caught, but a few days ago I saw him going in and out through our gate, and he is a big’un!

While putting kibble into the isolation shelter, I got tackled.

That little tabby has been after attention pretty much every morning, now.

Colin wanted attention so much, he forced himself into my hand while I was trying to get pictures! Lately, I’ve typically had about 5 or 6 friendly males, pushing for attention, in the mornings. Plus Magda. I have to be careful trying to pet her. She’s so small, the big boys push her around without even noticing!

As usual, I left for my appointment early, remembering to leave the gate open for today’s prescription delivery. My husband would get his meds faster that way, than if I went to the pharmacy to get them myself.

While dropping off the keys, I asked for a general idea of how long it would take. The best he could tell me was “a few hours”. Thankfully, it’s warmer now (we are still at our high of -6C/21F), so it was a fine day to walk around town.

The first thing to do was find somewhere to get breakfast. I was still early enough that not a lot of places were open yet, but also, I needed to find somewhere were I could adjust my order to fit my Lenten fast from sugars and starches. I ended up walking across town, almost to the lake, to a hotel cafe where I knew they would be open for breakfast. I don’t often go there, partly because they are not accessible, and I don’t do well with stairs. But, it’s got reliably good home cooking type meals, and they open early in the day. I also knew that I would be able to take my time while there, and not feel like I’m taking up a table they needed for any sort of rush.

All their breakfast meals include home cut hash browns and toast in your bread of choice – both things I wanted to skip. I told the waitress what I was needing to cut out, and asked if they could just add an extra egg or something, instead. She said she would talk to the kitchen staff, and that’s what they ended up doing. I got their “Farmer’s Breakfast) of eggs, bacon, ham and sausage. The hash browns and toast would have made it a really huge meal! It was very good.

My tea without sugar, however, was … tea without sugar. 😄

When I was done there, I went to several nearby shops to look around. One of them was a dollar type store, and I did find a few things, including a long pipe cleaner style brush for our bathroom sink. When we had to take stuff out of the bathroom while replacing the taps, faucet, some pipes, and the old tub surround, we had to take pretty much everything out of the bathroom. That included one of these pipe cleaner type brushes. It’s the only thing that can clean out the bathroom sink properly.

Unfortunately, it disappeared at some point. We figure a cat had to have dragged it off, but to where? It’s been months, and we still haven’t found it!

I was happy to see they had some in stock and made sure to grab one!

I spent enough time looking at things and checking out other stores that when I got closer to another restaurant, a fried chicken place, it was actually a good time to stop for lunch.

They had a new sign out front. They are now open for breakfast, too! Until recently, they didn’t open until 11am. Something to remember, should I need to in the future.

It took a while, but I finally settled on one of their “snack” meals, that came with only one side and no bun. Instead of the usual fries, I chose their coleslaw. I like their coleslaw better than their fries, anyhow! So that worked out.

Again, I was able to take my time about it, as much to make it easier on my hips and knees as anything else! I knew I would have a lot more walking ahead of me.

Once I was done there, I made my way to another shop where I found a few more small things to pick up. The pharmacy was across the street, and I remembered to go there to get the printouts for our taxes.

We paid over $1400 in co-pay for my husband’s meds last year. His private insurance covers 90% and, once the $3000+ deductible is covered, some of his medications switch to the provincial prescription insurance, which then covers 100%. Most of his meds aren’t covered by the provincial insurance at all.

Thank God for private insurance!

My prescription co-pay amount is miniscule compared to his.

From there, it was more walking – and finding a clean bench to sit on for a while. Last of all, I stopped at a hardware store, where I finally found a metal dish rack to replace the plastic coated one we’ve been using since moving here. It was here before us, and pieces of the plastic coating was already starting to break off. After 7 more years, it was definitely time to replace it! It was surprisingly hard to find a non-plastic dish rack in the size we needed.

I mightily resisted picking up grow light kits today. One would have done will for our plants in the living room. The other would be great for starting seeds. I have decided I do want to use the new part basement for seed starting, but we have to do some re-arranging, first. I do have a nice, bright shop light down there now, but it’s not the kind where a timer could be set. I can still use one of the big aquarium lights, though, and it does have a timer, so that could work. We shall see.

At that point, I was just a couple of blocks from the garage. I hadn’t heard from them yet, but I was done with walking, so I headed over. I knew I could stay in their office waiting area, at least for a while.

When I got there, the truck was up on the lift.

There were 3 mechanics under it, the owner/mechanic had something in his hand, and they were all looking slightly perplexed.

Hmmm.

Once I was in the office, one of the first things I noticed was a bag of take out food on the desk, still all closed up.

The owner soon came in and told me they would have to change the oil plate gasket another day. He had the wrong one! He ordered a new one immediately.

He went out and was back again. The only thing left to do was the wheel alignment, and he suggested doing it at the same time as the gasket, rather than today. The bay with the equipment to do the wheel alignment had another vehicle on it still. They’d have to finish that vehicle first, then move the truck, which would make it another 2 1/2 hours! They were so busy, they had all three bays full, plus smaller vehicles/equipment tucked in spaces in between that, even with three mechanics, they hadn’t been able to stop for lunch, yet! It was well past 1pm by the time I got there.

By stopping at this point, though, it would only be a few more minutes.

So I paid for the work they did today. When he mentioned that the gasket he’d ordered would be in tomorrow, I asked if I could come back tomorrow, and he fit me in for the afternoon.

Just one more day, and the list of small(ish) fixes will be done!

It was just a bit longer as they lowered the truck and tested it out before it was ready.

Today’s work was replacing a front left axle seal, the new oil pressure sensor, a new cv boot and new front links. The parts totaled $216.35. Shop supplies cost $36.99. Three hours of labour cost $299.97 After taxes, the final bill was $619.71

I’m expecting tomorrow’s work to be in the $200-$250 range, after taxes.

That done, I still had a couple more stops to make, now that I could use the truck to do them. First, a quick trip to the grocery store across the street to refill two of our big water jugs. We didn’t need anything else, but I looked around anyhow, and did get a few things that were on sale – specifically, cheese and lactose free cheese, plus some salad kits that I can eat. The ones I got at Costco have dressings that are just over my tolerance level for spicy heat.

Before leaving town, I got some gas at the one gas station where the prices have started to go down. $1.519/L instead of $1.569/L

My husband had let me know a parcel had come in, so I stopped at the post office on the way home. The 250 watt ceramic bulbs I ordered were in. However, the pair of clamp lamps I ordered that can handle 250 watt bulbs are not in yet. Once that package reached the Canadian side of the border, it switched to CanPar for delivery. I think we might actually get delivery to our physical address with them! Tracking information says March 14 for delivery, but I do know it’s in our province now, so it shouldn’t take that long.

Once it’s in, I want to replace the fixture in the isolation shelter. The new fixture has a wire guard around the bulb, so no cats can burn themselves. The current fixture has no such protection. Granted, it would take a lot for a cat to end up that close to the heat bult, but still, I’d rather not take the chance! Plus, the current heat bulb is incandescent, so there is light in there, day and night, which can disrupt sleep patterns. Considering they cluster together right in front of the bulb to stay warm, that can potentially be an issue.

The clamp lamp in the sun room has a 150 watt ceramic bulb in it right now, and I’m thinking of still using that, but setting up a second 250 watt heat bulb nearby, somewhere.

I’ll figure that out, once the lamps come in.

Meanwhile…

Look! No check engine light! And the oil pressure gauge is working again!

The tire light is for the three remaining tire sensors with dead 14 yr old batteries that need to be replaced. Those can be done, little by little. We’ve had that light on for over a year, now. I think we can last a few more months! We need to focus on paying off the credit card for the work we’re getting done right now, first.

The trip meter shows how many kilometers I’ve driven since filling the tank at Costco. Which is about twice what it normally would be, this early in the month!

Oh, I just realized. I need to go read the meter for our electricity, while it’s still light out enough to see it!

My last task on today’s “to do list”.

It’s been a pretty darn productive day.

I’m going to feel much, much better once the final work is done, tomorrow!

The Re-Farmer

Well, almost…

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We’ve got another gorgeous day today. Our high ended up being 3C/37F, and things were melting all over the place. Even when I went out to do my morning rounds, when it was just below freezing still, it was just grand! I’m even finding a lot of extra trail cam files when I check them, triggered by cats going back and forth through the gate during the night. That camera is set to take 1 still shot, then a 10 second video, and the activity makes for some entertaining clips!

Also, those reflective collars work really well, glowing just like their eyes do in the infrared light. What I found interesting is that I can identify the feral tuxedo that had the injured eye so long ago. Only half of that eye reflects in the infrared light.

Yesterday, my bank app notified me of a pharmacy purchase, which I expected would have been a standard refill for my husband, to be delivered on Thursday. Since I was going to be in town anyhow, I decided to leave early enough to go to the pharmacy when it opened and pick up the meds before dropping off the truck. My husband asked me to pick up something else from a store across the street from the pharmacy, so I left a bit earlier to do that, too.

I left too early. 😄

The pharmacy turned out to be a very quick stop. There was no medication to pick up. They had forgotten to charge for my husband’s last refills. Since his medications are covered by both his private insurance and our provinces public insurance, sometimes he gets covered 90%, sometimes 100%, depending on the medication.

So that was a very quick stop, and picking things up across the street was also very quick. I ended up dropping the truck off at the garage more than 30 minutes early. Which is fine. I was expecting to just leave the keys with them and do other things. My appointment was at 10, but I viewed that more as a drop off time, depending on how busy they get.

They turned out to have an open bay already!

The owner/mechanic I usually talk to wasn’t there, though. He was sick, and there was another mechanic covering for him that I’d never met before.

So I went over with him, what was to be done besides just an oil change, and why. We got to talking about that check engine light being on and not being able to tell if it was the same sensor problem, or a new problem, without having to do an OBDII scan every time. He told me that he was constantly having to deal with sensor problems like that with GM vehicle. He’s got two, himself, and he has a hard time keeping up with them, lighting up his dash like a Christmas tree!

I hope the newer modals have fixed this issue!

After talking to him about the moisture in the system that has been causing issues, and that our mechanic is quite familiar with it, he said he would call our mechanic at home, just in case, to get any details he might need. I asked how long before I should come back, since I would be walking around town and might not hear a call or text. He said to come back around 11. I did make sure to mention that the needle on the oil gauge was at 0. He said that would be because of the sensor.

As I was leaving, I messaged the family and realized it was still only 9:30! Too early to go to the nearest places for breakfast.

In the end, I decided to stop at a grocery store I don’t usually go to. 1) because it’s in the middle of town, with tighter parking and 2) their prices tend to be a lot higher.

They did have a few things on good sale prices, though. I couldn’t get anything that needed to be refrigerated, though, so no taking advantage of the meat sales this time. Then, because all my bags where in the truck, I went ahead and bought another hard sided bag to carry it in. We can never have too many of those! They only had insulated ones with lids in the hard sided bags. More expensive, but worth it.

I used up enough time that I figured I could go to the DQ for “breakfast”, but…

They weren’t open?

The windows are tinted, so it’s hard to see if the lights are on inside, but the “open” sign wasn’t lit up. Eventually, I could make out someone inside wearing a high viz vest, but I couldn’t see anyone behind the counter.

Hmmm.

So I headed back to the garage, thinking I could stop at the hotel next to the garage and see if the Chinese food restaurant was open. The hotel’s doors are locked until 10am. I knew the restaurant was closed for their own holidays, but I couldn’t remember if they had reopened yet.

They reopen on March 21.

Okay.

I didn’t want to be carrying the bag around with me, since I can only carry heavier bags with my right arm, due to nerve damage in my left elbow, and that gets old fast. I thought I might be able to put it in the truck, but when I got there, it was up on the lift. They were okay with me leaving it in the office, though.

As I was leaving the office, the owner came in – and headed straight for my truck! He was sick and couldn’t work, but he still came in.

From there, I decided to try the DQ again. This time, I could see more people inside, including staff behind the counter. Their sign was still off, though. I went in and, sure enough, they were open. After placing my order, I told them about the sign. They had forgotten to flick the switch! 😄

With all the walking around, it was coming up to 10:30 by then, so I didn’t have to linger too long with my food before walking back to the garage. It was early, but I knew I could stay in their office waiting area if they weren’t done yet.

They were done.

When I sat at the desk to pay, I saw my keys with a note paper under it.

Hmmm…

As for the work done, they did not replace the sensor, but instead gave it another cleaning. That started off working, last time, and took almost $200 (including taxes and labour) off the final bill. Which was nice!

Then I asked about the list on the note paper.

The guy that worked on the truck noticed a few things that will need to be addressed. Things like the tires wearing more on the inside, so we’ll need a wheel alignment, a small tear in something I can’t remember the name of that might let grit in where it shouldn’t (we had that happen with our old van, too). Most importantly, it seems he found the source of an oil leak. The last time I was at the garage, he topped up the oil with half a litre. There is a plate on our vehicle where other, newer vehicles have a warmer, and the seal on that plate is leaking every so slowly. Which would explain why we never see any sign of a leak under the truck! There were a couple of other things he noticed, too. Nothing to stop us from using the vehicle normally, though. Our mechanic promised to message me a detailed estimate, including which things would be more of a priority. Fixing that oil leak would be really cheap, as it just needs a new gasket.

The final bill was $257.72 after taxes. I was expecting closer to $400. Most of the bill was the oil change and labour. The oil system cleaner was only $20, and the new filter was less than $7.

That done, I was ready to head home, started the truck and…

The check engine light was back on, and the oil gauge was at zero.

???

So I went back in and told the owner/mechanic.

He was very surprised when I told him this, and went to see for himself, and I gave him the keys to start it up (he walks faster than me! 😄). He was very apologetic and said he’s hope the cleaning would have been enough, but obviously, the sensor will need to be replaced completely. They will have to order it in.

So, I will be back for that. We’ll figure out when, once he orders the part and gives me the estimates for the other work.

*sigh*

The truck is purring like a kitten, though.

Since I did my errands earlier, I didn’t have to make any other stops and was able to head straight home. Which was good, because I had time to try and nap, having had a very sleepless night.

Now I’m extra glad I got that nap.

As I was writing the above, I got a phone call from my mother. While we were talking, my cell phone started ringing.

I saw an unfamiliar number and had a feeling I needed to answer it.

I was right. It was home care.

The scheduler was letting me know they did not have anyone to do my mothers supper and evening med assist for tonight AND tomorrow.

I had my cell on speakerphone, so my mother could her this, and said that no one showed up this morning.

!!!!!

I relayed that and she checked. Sure enough, her sheet said my mother’s morning visit was unfulfilled – but there was no reason given.

I asked her to see if she could find out and let me know, while confirming I would go my mother’s med assists for tonight and tomorrow.

My mother is really ticked off, because she feels she can, and should, be going her meds herself. She doesn’t want me to have to drive all that way to do her meds. I told her, I get to visit her this way. So she changed track and said, who is going to pay for the gas (she gives me gas money and has been very generous with that, so it’s not an issue right now). I told her, there is a program available where they cover the cost of fuel; I just have to find out how to apply for it. That seemed to satisfy her a bit. She was still staying, she can take her own medications, and she should be doing it herself. I told her, DON’T (the extra bubble packs are stored on her fridge for some reason). This is doctor’s orders, for her safety.

I then told her I wanted to call the case coordinator about this, because this is a real problem. Not that they’re calling me to do a med assist, but because this is not the first time since my mother has had the lock box – which is just a couple of weeks – that someone simply didn’t show up, and I never got a call about it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get off the phone fast enough; the office had just closed. So I left a message.

Then called back and left another message with my cell phone number, letting her know to call that number, because I’m going to be in the city tomorrow.

My daughter will be coming with me to assist, as needed.

As for me, I am going to be heading to my mother’s soon. I want to get there before she starts trying to get those bubble packs off her fridge and decides to take them early. I got the times her visits were scheduled, so I can work about that.

Time to boot up and heat out!

So glad the truck is done and checked over.

So glad I got that nap!

The Re-Farmer

Here we go again! Also, an excellent camera

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While my husband decided to skip going to town for his bloodwork today, I did still head out to the post office, to pick up a couple of parcels. We had warmed up to our expected high of -20C/-4F by then, though when I checked not long ago, we had actually reached -18C/0F!

With a wind chill of -28C/-18F

I’m extra glad that I did go out today, though. When I opened up the garage, the first thing I could see was a low tire.

The one we just got fixed.

My daughter had parked the truck after it was last unloaded by the house, after we’d had the leaking valve and dead sensor replaced, and we haven’t needed to use it during the worst of the cold snap. With an upcoming medical appointment (I’m also now extra glad my mother’s appointment in the city that would have been tomorrow, was rescheduled!), plus our usual end of the month runs to the city, and other errands, this really needs to be dealt with. I’m really hoping there wasn’t something on the garage floor that punctured the tire! With the cats knocking things about, it’s hard to know, though I’m sure I swept away all the broken glass from when the bin of lightbulbs got knocked off the shelf.

Once I was home from my outing, I texted the garage, explained what I found, and asked if I could swing by tomorrow afternoon to have it checked. Our mechanic said yes, so that’s now on the schedule for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I started the truck warming up – after discovering it had not been plugged in! It didn’t enjoy starting, but after a few minutes to warm up, it was running smooth again.

I also plugged in the compressor to pump up the tire, then went around to the emergency kit in the truck to get the pressure gauge.

When it when I heard a strange clicking noise and realized I was no longer hearing the compressor, over the sound of the engine.

Going back around, I turned on the light switch, and nothing happened.

The breaker was tripped.

This happened the last time I used the compressor, but not until after I’d been able to top up the tire. This was before it was taken to the garage. Because of where the breaker box is, we had to use the household step ladder and my daughter was able to climb onto the counter in front of the truck and reach the box.

I messaged my daughters and one of them came out with the little step ladder and took care of the breaker for me. The compressor, of course, was already unplugged.

By this time, I had gotten the hand pump out of the truck and set it up, so I could pump the tire after my daughter left with the ladder. This is a taller bicycle pump, with a built in pressure gauge, that I really like.

It was so cold, the pump had a hard time maintaining an air seal in its cylinder. Every now and then, I’d push down on the pump and it would just drop straight down, without any air to push against!

I got the tire pumped, though. By then, the engine had had time to warm up nicely, too.

I’d already gone ahead to open the gate, and I didn’t bother stopping to close it behind me, since I wasn’t going far. I’m pretty sure our vandal wouldn’t be out and about in this cold, anyhow. Particularly if he really is as sick as he claims to be.

When I got to the post office, the post master had stepped out briefly, so I did a big of shopping in the store. Along with some basics, like a couple of loaves of rye bread, my daughter requested some smorkchops (smoked porkchops) that she sent me funds for. After taking my purchases to the truck (which I left running), I still had to wait for the post master, so I started looking around the booze corner.

Which is where I found a pleasant surprise. Bottles of maple “sipping cream” whiskey! They even came in maple leaf shaped bottles. We bought one for Christmas a couple of years ago, and my daughters and I really enjoyed it, but we haven’t seen it since then. (My husband can’t drink alcohol, due to all the medications he’s on.) So I grabbed a bottle. My daughter had sent enough funds to cover the cost, too, so it didn’t even come out of budget, which was nice.

After that, I got my packages and headed for home. Once the truck was parked – and plugged in – I left my purchases on the driveway and walked back to lock the gate again. I had almost reached the garage again when I hear a noise in the willow next to the old shed with the collapses roof. It took a while for me to find the source.

Which is when I discovered just how much better the camera on my husband’s old phone is, compared to mine.

He had the Galaxy S22, while I had the Galaxy S21. The S22 has an extra lens, and it makes a huge difference when it comes to zooming in! My S21 really sucked for zoomed in images.

The camera could also “see” better than I could. What I’d heard was a prairie chicken fluttering up into the willow tree. At the distance I was at, it was basically just a shape in shadow. That shape was the only thing that set it apart from the trunk. Since I didn’t try to come any closer, it just sat there and watched me.

Once back inside and my trip to the garage tomorrow confirmed, I got to open one of my packages. My husband got me a new phone case. He had several, but they were all too big and too bulky for my uses. The “wallet” type one, with a cover over the screen, is the one I’ve been using because that cover is really necessary for me. Unfortunately, it had a zippered change purse in the cover, with made it too thick for my pocket and ungainly to handle. A strip of leather from the back with a magnetic closure on the front kept catching on things. It was also in two parts. The case that actually went around the phone, and the wallet portion. The case was held in place magnetically, and was constantly sliding around whenever I tried to press the buttons on the side.

All things that might not be a problem for other people, but were a real pain, for me – and this was the best of my options!

My new case is almost identical to the one I had on my S21, even though it’s a different brand. It’s about as simple as can be; the phone fits into a built in holder, and it has a cover the flips over. The cover has a couple of credit card slots, but that’s it – nothing that makes it any thicker. The back of it is also designed to bend in the middle, so that the case also acts as a stand while in landscape position. It cost only about $10. The plainest, simplest case with a cover we could find, and it’s perfect for my needs.

It is also a dark rose pink. Normally, I’d never choose pink, but it was the only colour available that fit an S22. The online photo looked like it was a really PINK pink, but in reality, it’s a much more pleasant shade.

I’m still not quite used to the features on this model, but it has a better camera (which is what I use my phone for the most), LOTS more internal memory, and now has the ideal protective case for my needs.

I need to remember that it also comes with a stylus. It’s tucked into the phone, and it’s easy to forget it’s there. Considering the troubles I have with touch screens, due to cuts and callouses on my fingers, this will come in quite handy.

I’m really, really happy with the new phone case.

It doesn’t take much to make me happy!

Hopefully, tomorrow, I will be happy again and find out there’s only something minor that left me with a low tire on the truck!

The Re-Farmer

Home again

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Well, I’m certainly glad I got the truck in, even with the bitter cold!

As I write this, we are at -23C/-9F but it’s sunny enough that, instead of a wind chill, our “feels like” is -21C/-6F Which actually feels balmy, compared to this morning!

When I got home, I found this fluffball enjoying the sun.

I was actually able to pet this one, this morning. He (she?) was in a cat bed in the sun room, back towards me, so I snuck up and started giving shoulder rubs. S/he turned to look at me, but I think was just too cold to run away. There was frost on its face fur!

I can see why the vets would think our current crop of fluffy cats are Norwegian Forest Cats! We just thought of them as long haired tabbies.

Anyhow.

I headed out later than I normally would have – making sure to give the truck time to warm up! – as I wanted to go to the post office. The store it’s in closes at noon today, so if I didn’t pick it up this morning, it would have to wait until tomorrow, and we’re going to have a cat in the truck, tomorrow.

The store opens at 9 and drop off time at the garage was at 9:30. It typically takes half an hour to get to town, so I sent a quick message saying I might be late. Much to my surprise, I was actually 10 minutes early! No slow vehicles to get stuck behind, no road conditions to slow me down, it was a perfect drive in! I hadn’t realized how rare that is, considering what I’ve become used to, lately.

While dropping off the keys, we went over what was being done. He had me for fixing a slow leak, and I said the valve would need replacing. It’s been a long time since they checked the valves for leaks, plus my tires have been rotated since then, so he was going to check the whole tire, anyhow. I remembered to ask if he could check the oil level, too. It’s been so cold, I haven’t done it in a while. I was also down to have the passenger side windshield piper replaced. I forgot to tear off the loose bit, so the entire drive to town, I was hearing the flappityflappity sound of the loose piece hitting the truck in the wind. 😄

My plan had been to go to the motel next door, where there is a Chinese restaurant, to have breakfast and wait – it was only expected to be an hour – then pick up a few things at the grocery store after getting the truck back. Walking to the main doors of the hotel, however, I found the doors locked. It was still too early!

While the walk was only about a minute, maybe two, I was already feeling the cold, so I went across the street to the grocery store. There was no way I was going to walk into the downtown area to try and find someplace open I could stay at. I knew the closest one didn’t open until 10, anyhow.

I didn’t have much to pick up, but I took my time about it. The deli had hot breakfast sandwiches available, so I picked up a couple of those for breakfast. They were wrapped and the stickers had a price, but nothing about what kind they were. I thought they might be breakfast bagels, but they turned out to be sausage and egg on an English muffin. They were quite good, too. Just on the small side. 😁 A heartier breakfast would have been preferred, in this cold! I ended up eating in the grocery store vestibule, because there was nowhere else indoors available. I also ended up getting a couple of soft sided grocery bags, one insulated, one not, since all of mine where in the truck. I’d picked up another whole chicken for the freezer – they are still on sale, with even the heaviest chickens in the $10 range. According to my receipt, I saved $7.85 by weight. They still had the 5 count bags of avocados available and on sale. They were already down to $4.99, when they are usually around $7.99, but my loyalty card brought it down to $2.99. We still have some at home, so I only got one bag.

After taking my time to get everything, then taking my time to eat my breakfast sandwiches, I finally headed back to the garage across the street. It was already noticeably warmer by then, too. It was only a couple of degrees warmer, but enough to really feel the difference.

The truck hadn’t been taken in, yet. A delivery truck had come in, and the trailer was long enough to block both bay doors. They were done unloading, though. I went in to get my key, so I could put the groceries in the truck, but the mechanic already had it. He just to move a couple of small vehicles (including the most adorable import trucks; I believe they are common in Europe, but they are rare, here) out of the bay once the trailer was moved, then he could bring my truck in. That gave me time to put my bags in the truck. He’d asked me to start the engine for him if I could, but he was done before I was!

With the truck going in about half an hour late, that meant I still had an hour or so to kill. Not that I was in any hurry, but there just aren’t a lot of options for places to go and just hang out, in the winter. It was late enough that I knew the DQ would be open, and they were pretty close, so that’s where I went. I was their first order of the day, and still the only customer, by the time I left! Which was good for me; I got to miss the lunch crowd.

When I meandered my way back to the garage, I saw the company truck was gone, so it was just the mechanic. The truck’s tire was still off and waiting.

He confirmed that it was the valve that was leaking, however they found that the sensor’s battery was simply dead. Considering it would be 14 years old, that’s not too unexpected!

So I waited in their office for the owner to come back. I had two options for the fix. I could get the valve replaced with a valve and no sensor. That would be cheaper, but I would have the warning light on my console display all the time. Or I could get the valve and sensor replaced. Which is what I was budgeted for, anyhow.

He told me he’d checked all the tires, and got zero readings. None of the sensors are working anymore! I know at least one was working, last summer, as we got a low tire warning. That was what got us looking for the problem in the first place, and where we found that three out of four valves had slow leaks. Two were barely noticeable, while one – the one getting fixed today – was leaking more. He suggested we get the others replaced, as we can afford it, which is what I was already planning to do.

So the sensor got replaced and programmed. If you click through to the next image in the Instagram slide show, above, you’ll see our bill.

Oh! Instagram cut it off! I had set it to full size. Crud.

For all but the oil, the .99 was cut off the prices. I’m glad I got the wiper done here. It turns out he can get them at discounted prices. If I’d gone to Canadian Tire, which I might have been able to do tomorrow, the same blade would have cost closer to $50. He also topped up my oil with half a liter, which was nice. The synthetic oil for our truck is quite expensive, so paying for just half a liter is fine by me! The truck will be back next month for an oil change, after getting the engine cleaned and the oil sensor replaced. Hopefully, that will get all residual moisture out of the system, and we will no longer have issues with it.

Anyhow, the grand total came out to $149 and change. Lower than I had budgeted for, which is nice.

What was also nice was seeing that he didn’t charge me for labour!

That done, I just made a stop to fill the tank (I was just under 3/4 tank, and it cost almost $62 to fill, at $1.569/L), then headed home.

Along with the adorable fluffy baby in the first photo, I saw many other cats going in and out of the garage! That always makes me nervous, as I drive in.

I also spotted these two.

It looks like I caught The Grink while he was winking!

The sunshine through those windows would be making it extra cozy in there. For all that there is a 250w heat lamp aimed towards the back, I’ve been finding frozen remains of wet cat food in their bowl! The bowl isn’t directly in front of the heat lamp, but it is right next to the bed they are in. Even the spoonful I put on the shelf above had been mostly frozen.

Gosh, I wish Fluffy would let us handle her! She needs pets. And hugs. And cuddles. So does The Grink! We haven’t even been able to touch her (or him), never mind check her incision.

Midnight was hanging around when I came by, but not close enough that I could see his shaved spot. 😄 It’s too bad he got out of the isolation shelter, but at least it was him, and not her. Neuters are far less of a concern. I was happy to see he still has his collar, too.

So the tire is now done, and the oil is topped up. We are good to go for tomorrow’s trip to the vet! The isolation shelter will be opened up again, and the other cats will be able to snuggle up in there again. Considering I regularly counted as many as 15 cats in the upper level at once, I’d say that might explain why I’m seeing so many cats in the rafters of the garage lately!

In other things, after I got home, I made sure to call the eye clinic in the city. My mother’s appointment was for next week, but she really balked at going. Which I totally understand. She is still recovering from her edema, so the more time she has on her water pills, before a long drive like this, the better. That got rescheduled to a month from now.

The weird thing was getting a call from home care. They wanted to confirm the lock box code, which surprised me. Did my mother not get her morning meds? Apparently she did, so… why confirm the code? The other concern was that my mother’s inhaler wasn’t in the box. My mother had brought the one from the hospital home in her purse, so it wasn’t with the bubble packs. The new inhaler, still in its box, probably was. We’re not as concerned about the inhaler as with my mother messing with her medications – the new lock box came in yesterday, so last night, my brother and his wife drove out to set it up for her. My mother tried to insist, she can manage her medications herself, but my brother just told her, doctor’s orders. In fact, if they had known she would be without a lock box when she got home, because the first one was too small for her bubble packs, they would not have discharged her.

The weird part was when the home care lady tried to confirm a code for a lock box I knew nothing about. When I expressed my confusion, she asked, isn’t there a lock box for the building?

Now, I know they have a lock box for the fire department/first responders, right at the main entrance, but a medical lock box for the building? I’ve never heard of one!

I did have to ask if my mother actually got her medications this morning, if there was doubt about the code on the new lock box. Now that I think about it, the lock box was set up before my mother’s last med assist of the day, so if there was an issue, it would have first happened last night, and I would have gotten a call then. As far as she could see from the files, my mother did get her medications. It was just the inhaler that was of concern, because it was not in the lock box. In the end, it was decided the inhaler would be kept in the lock box, too, just for consistency.

At least that is taken care of!

Meanwhile, I’m glad to be home and no longer having to drive anywhere until tomorrow. I was hearing weather reports on the radio while I was driving. The entire province is still under an ongoing extreme cold warning, with some places expecting wind chills of -43C/-45F – all well to the south of us, though. According to my weather app, our region’s cold warning is expected to end at 8:18pm this evening.

How strangely specific.

Our overnight lows are still expected to reach below -30C/-22F, so I’m guessing that means the wind chills in our area are no longer expected to reach the -40C/F range.

I probably sound like a broken record by now, but I am so done with winter right now.

We are still at our high of the day (-21C/-6F). At least the sun room thermometer was reading 0C/32F when I checked a little while ago. It may not be the most effective sun room, but it’s enough to have some decent passive solar heat, even on days like today!

*sigh*

Time to go feed and water the outside cats, before the temperature starts dropping again.

The Re-Farmer

What do you mean, it’s just noon?

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

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

It didn’t.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which is basically what I am right now! 😄

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

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

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

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

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

Then it came time to pay my bill.

Ouch.

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

Well, it needed to be done.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ouch.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*sigh*

So many things tugging on the budget.

Ah, well. We do what we can.

The Re-Farmer

Truck update and an unboxing

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Today has turned out to be a lovely, warm day! The forecast ranged from 1C/34F to 3C/37F, depending on what app I looked at. It seems the temperature we actually hit was in between, at 2C/36F.

Even when I headed out to do my morning rounds, we were at a balmy -1C/30F. The outside cats were quite enjoying it, and were running around all over the place!

I even had several following me up the driveway when I went to check on the gate!

It’s been a while since I’ve had that many cats following me around.

With the temperatures expected to go above freezing, I made sure to break out the ice chipper to scrape the sidewalk, and the concrete in front of the sun room, clear of ice and snow, so that it would melt clear faster. Tomorrow we’re supposed to reach a high of 0C/32F, so hopefully that will be enough for the sidewalks to dry clear, rather than just ice over!

The truck was booked at the garage for this afternoon, but I headed out earlier, so I could stop at the post office before it closed for a few hours around lunch time, since I wasn’t sure how long I’d be gone. I even remembered to grab the empty water jugs for refilling, too. While opening the garage door to put them in the truck, though… well…

The middle of the garage door frame is slowly sagging. There is a metal piece attached to the top that is there to sort of guide the handle inwards, but as it slowly sags lower, I try to remember to push the door in a bit so the handle will clear the frame.

I forgot to do that this morning, and slammed the handle right into the frame. This is a replacement handle, too. I can now see how the old one got so broken!

So, we’re going to have to pick up another handle. No hurry on that. We don’t close the door all the way, anyhow, as one of the latches on the sides doesn’t retract far enough when the handle is turned. When the door gets closed all the way down, it can only be opened again from the inside, by manually pulling the cable to that latch. When we get a new handle, we should be able to just tighten the cable on that side to fix it, though I don’t know why it became a problem in the first place. The cable is as tight as the day I installed it, still.

Anyhow…

I’m more concerned about figuring out how to straighten out the frame, then support it to keep it from sagging again. Given the larger size of the opening, it would likely have to be supported from above

We’ll figure it out.

I made sure to give the truck’s engine time to run before I headed out. Everything was fine during the short drive to the post office, just like last time. I had a couple of packages to pick up, including some kibble the Cat Lady was able to get with coupons from Amazon for us.

From there to town, I kept an eye on the oil pressure gauge. It actually last longer than I expected, and I almost got to the garage before the needle dropped and the alarm started sounding – just as I had to stop behind several cars to wait for a tiny train to go by! It was basically about a block of driving with the alarm and warning lights going.

I was quite early to drop off the keys, but I also made a point of booking the truck for next week. That’s when the MAF sensor and block heater cable will be replaced. He has to order the parts in, first.

After that, I popped into the motel next door and had lunch at the Chinese restaurant there, before running a couple of errands. My appointment was at 1pm, and I got back about 20 after. He was on his own, though, and hadn’t had a chance to look at it yet, but I just wanted to grab the keys so I could put away my shopping bag.

Before I headed out, I mentioned doing errands, and he suggested I check out a nearby store. A customer had told him the entire store was 50% off today. I pretty much never go there – I can’t afford their prices, normally. About the only things they have that would interest me is clothing, and it would be a rare thing for them to have my size. Still, I figured it was worth taking a look.

Ha!

I got in the door, and that was pretty much it. There was a line at least 20 people deep, cutting through the area I would have wanted to look in. This is not a large store, so it doesn’t take much for it to get overcrowded! The other side of the store was mostly empty, but that was where the shoe and jewelry sections were – nothing I would be looking at.

So I left. I was happy to see how busy they were, though. For a lot of retail companies, these last few weeks of the year are what puts them in the black for the year, and it’s even harder for a small town like this.

After putting my bag in the truck and giving the keys back, I had a bit of time to kill, so I swung by the hardware store across from the store that was having the big sale. A hardware store is much more my style! I ended up getting a couple of small items, but mostly wanted to look at some of their equipment. They actually had some utility pumps in stock – and on sale! Not the sort of pump we need to replace our septic pump, though. One of the staff came over to help me and I showed him a picture of the pump we have, and he agreed that the one I was looking at was not what I needed. He admitted, he wasn’t the one who knew septic pumps (not a surprise, since the system we have isn’t really done anymore), but that was okay. For now, I was just looking at prices. I think I should probably consult with my brother about getting a new one. My SIL was sure they actually have a spare, somewhere among the things now stored in our barn, but I think I would prefer a new one, if I can swing it.

I was just leaving the store when I checked my phone and discovered a message from the garage had just come in. The truck was ready.

When I got there, we talked about the problem for a bit. All he did was take the sensor apart and clean it out, so he just charged me for labour.

It is going to happen again. Even if he replaced the sensor again, it wouldn’t make a difference.

The problem is, with the temperature fluctuations this time of year, moisture gets into the system, but doesn’t get a chance to evaporate completely. He suggested doing things like letting the truck run for about 15 minutes before going anywhere and, if I’m just running inside a store briefly, to leave the engine running. This would give it a chance to heat up enough for the moisture to evaporate. Meanwhile, keep checking the oil levels. As long as they’re good, we know that it’s the sensor again, not an actual problem with the oil pressure.

As he was telling me this, I could tell he was really frustrated. He’s mentioned to me before, that this is very much a GM thing. He doesn’t see this problem in other brands. Some sort of design flaw, is his thought on that. When I mention having it go off like this, it leaves you not knowing if it’s just moisture in the sensor again, or an actual problem, and he completely agreed.

Then there’s just the problem of driving around with an alarm dinging, warning lights and the onboard computer telling me to SHUT OFF ENGINE. It is really quite stressful.

Hopefully, cleaning out the sensor will do the trick for at least a while. I have to take my mother for a scan on the 1st, then a medical appointment on the 6th, and I sure as heck don’t want that alarm going off while driving with my mother!

As an aside, I spoke with my mother last night, and she asked about the truck. She is still talking about buying “herself” a brand new car. She doesn’t drive, of course, and anything she gets would have to be half in my name, as that’s the only way I’d be able to get it insured. I don’t expect her to be paying for the insurance (nor any other vehicle expenses), and it would be parked here at the farm, anyhow. I did try to warn her that a brand new car would be very expensive, but she’s okay with that. In fact, she’s almost excited about the idea. I really, really hope my brother has a chance to talk to her about that. She doesn’t have *that* much money squirreled away! As great as it would be to have access to a back up vehicle again – and a new one, too! – we would have to do something with her current car, just to have someplace to park it (which means it would have to be quite a small car!). Having to pay the expenses for two vehicles again, while having payments on the truck at the same time, would be very painful on our budget. *sigh*

Anyhow…

After reclaiming the truck (he’d even left it running, since I responded to his text so quickly), I popped across to the grocery store, picked up a few things and refilled a couple of water jugs. From there, it was a quick stop at the gas station, then home.

I’m happy to say, the needle on the oil pressure gauge stayed right were it was supposed to. It did seem to start dropping when I was driving slower on the icy gravel road, but still inside the acceptable range on the gauge.

Once everything was unloaded and put away, I got to do an unboxing.

Our new solar charged trail cameras were in!

The cats really, really wanted to see what was going on, too!

I was specifically looking for a camera where the solar panel directly powered the camera, with regular batteries as a back up. I settled on this brand, which came in a 2 pack. We only need one right now, so the other is still in its box.

I had to retake the photo of the outside of the boxes. When I laid them out on my bed, Layendecker leaned over and used one of them as a pillow!

Silly boy.

The camera comes with a tree strap for mounting, plus a USB cable for the first charging of the solar panel’s internal rechargeable batteries.

The USB cable is mostly hidden under a curious Mitsy in the photo.

After opening it up, it took me a while to find where the battery cover was. The clip is partially hidden by the cover, as it’s right near the bottom cover hinge.

One substantial difference between this camera and any others we’ve had is that it uses only four AA batteries. Most take eight. We did have one camera (that got stolen) that held eight batteries, but could operate on only four, if necessary. This one has room only for four batteries. They will only be used if the solar panel doesn’t have enough charge to power the camera.

The solar panel adjusts slightly, and it does not come off. The one we have now, the solar charger is a separate unit that can be removed, so the camera can be used on batteries only. I like having that option, if necessary, but the camera we have now is no longer available. The current camera’s solar panel angle cannot be adjusted, so there are trade offs both ways.

While the camera does have a tree strap, it also has the screw in port for a plate mount, which is what our current camera is on, now. This camera did not come with a mounting plate, while the old one did.

I find it really bizarre, however, that the screw in port is in the battery cover. I would have to either remove it from the mounting plate (which I have to do now, for a different design reason) or, in theory, open the mounting plate and swing the camera down. I wouldn’t want to do that, though, as it would put too much stress on the hinge of the battery cover.

I plan to use both the mounting plate already on the stand, and the tree strap to hold it in place. With the current camera, the top heavy weight of the solar panel is a bit too much for the mount, so I’ve got a small bungee cord supporting it. Over time, though, the bungee is starting to stretch out and not support as well. The solar panel on the new camera is not as heavy, though, so it might not be an issue. We shall see.

One thing about this camera is that it does NOT have a wide angle lens. The solar camera we have now is wide angle, which I really like. Without a wide angle lens, we will probably have to move the stand it’s mounted to. The base, with its weight to keep it from blowing over in the wind, is buried in snow right now, so that likely won’t happen until spring!

The USB cable is for pre-charging the solar panel’s internal batteries, which is recommended to do before first use. After going through the menu and setting up the date, time, etc. and putting in a memory card, I hooked that up, so it will be fully charged and ready for tomorrow. When I do my morning rounds, I’ll switch cameras instead of memory chards!

The other solar camera has been working again, which is good, but when it fell open into the snow, one of the cover clips broke. So there is just one clip holding it closed. That would make it slightly less waterproof, as condensation could get past the seal by the broken clip.

The non-solar sign cam is still working, but it’s quite a bit older and sometimes glitches out. Depending on how this new camera is, I might use the spare to switch out the other one. It’s under a tree, but it does get enough sunlight to support a small solar panel. Especially at sunrise.

Either way, we’ll still have a couple of back up cameras, if we ever have troubles again.

I look forward to seeing the first files on the new camera, and what the quality is like.

Which is rather fun and all, but it sucks that we need to have to set up trail cams as security cameras in the first place.

Ah, well. It is what it is!

The Re-Farmer