We still have the fans going in the new basement, and I wanted to check on them. Since the new blower fans are aimed at the new basement stairs, I went through the old basement, which gave me a chance to check how the floors are, with all the rain we’ve been having.
There were a few damps spots starting to show through the concrete, so I opened up the floor drain. The weeping tile under the new basement flows through there, to the septic tank, but there’s no P trap between the floor drain to the septic tank. That allows gasses to back up into the basement, unless we cover the hole with plastic, then put the drain cover over it.
I lifted that up and found the drain was full to the top! There also wasn’t any movement in the water that I could see. Clearly, it was draining at least somewhat, or it would have backed up into the basement.
Between the floor drain and the wall, there is another access to the pipe to the septic tank. The cap is highly corroded, so opening it requires loosening a pair of strap fasteners, then fighting it loose.
We have an old hose with one end cut off that we leave permanently attached to the cold water tap the washing machine used to be hooked up to, just for clearing the drains. Usually, I can just shove the hose through, all the way to the septic tank, then turn the water on to clear away any debris. This time, however, it wouldn’t go through. The other thing we keep handy for times like this is an old wire chimney sweep. One end has a brush attached, while the other has the tip bent back on itself, forming a rounded end. The wire is strong enough, while still being flexible, to punch through just about anything. I had to resort to that, to get through whatever was clogging the pipe, and then I could get the hose through, but without turning the water on, yet.
The water in the floor drain moved a bit, but did not drain.
Hmmm….
When we first discovered we had issues here, we had a plumber auger the pipes, and he pulled a matt of roots out from between the two openings. This is when we realized the weeping tile under the new basement had sand getting in, and tree roots were growing through, all the way past the floor drain. This is something else we now check regularly. Lately, I could see small roots coming through, but nothing major.
With the water not moving out of the floor drain, I reached in to pull at a few visible roots.
They just broke.
After several other attempts just lead to more breaking of roots, I took a look through the other opening. At the bottom, where the floor drain joins the main pipe, I could see a few roots. Nothing much. Still, I reached in and pulled.
And pulled.
And pulled again!
I pulled out a mat of roots, with sand stuck in them, just as big as the one the plumber pulled out, some three years ago!
It still didn’t drain much, though.
So, it was back to using the wire from the old chimney sweep some more, then trying to push the hose through.
I knew I finally succeeded when, not only did the floor drain start to empty, the septic pump turned on moments later!
Once the floor drain was done, I turned the water on and started hosing out the drain from both openings.
Hmm… I didn’t think of it until now. I should have run the hose through the other way, towards the new basement, too. That section is probably full of sand and roots. There’s nothing I can do about the roots, but I could wash away the sand, at least.
But not now.
Once everything seemed to be flowing well again, I closed up the overflow access pipe again, then covered the floor drain. After cleaning up and putting things away, though, I was left with a very wet floor!
So I went and checked on the other basement.
I think the carpet on the steps is finally dry, but I left one blower on it, just in case. I took the other one and set it up in the old basement, to dry the floor there.
I so love these new blower fans! Not only are they safer than the old blower, they are much lighter and easier to set up! Plus, they have power cords long enough that I could plug it right into the outlet, and didn’t have to use an extension cord.
We’ve made a point of clearing those drains fairly regularly, but I guess we had a recent growth spurt of roots coming through! There must be some sort of change in in the pipe between the floor drain and the overflow access, for the sand and roots to build up there, even when it seems like there are almost no roots at all when looking through the openings.
I wonder if this was the ultimate cause of our other drainage issues!
I’m glad I found the mess and cleaned things up. There is some sort of bottleneck in the pipe between the basement and the septic tank, roughly 3 or 4 feet from the overflow access, judging by how much hose it takes to hit it. Whatever it causing it feels very hard and doesn’t get any bigger, even after clearing and hosing the pipe repeatedly. The only way to know for sure what the problem is would be to send a camera though the pipe. That section of pipe is cast iron, so I can think of a few things that could be causing it.
Another reason we need to win a lottery jackpot! If, for example, that pipe needs to be replaced, we’d have to break through the concrete floor to access it. With the state of the walls in that basement, there’s a good chance it would compromise them; they are already crumbling. The weeping tile in the other basement needs to be dealt with, but that is so beyond our means to get done, I don’t want to even think about it. Then there’s all the other stuff, much of which is just getting old and worn house after decades of use.
Well, there’s only so much we can do, and there’s no point in worrying about something outside our control.
I’ll just keep telling myself that.
Meanwhile… I think it’s time for a shower, and more laundry!
I had a very rough time getting going this morning, and I’m not sure why. Bad pain day, joints and muscles, and so very sleepy. I got the girls to do my morning routine for me so I could sleep in as much as the cats would allow. Still, I had to do something outside, on this gorgeous day! This afternoon, I picked a smaller job and worked on the garden bed my daughter weeded and prepped for me yesterday. Like the others, it was bowing out where the boards were jointed at a support.
Since posting a lot of photos isn’t an option for me right now, I took the pictures I would otherwise have included here and made them into a short video.
After I was done with the raised bed, I puttered around the yard and enjoyed the day. One thing I decided to do was raise the old market tent higher and secure the corners. Particularly the corners on either side of where it’s broken. At some point during the winter, the canopy supports collapsed, but I couldn’t see why.
I got three legs extended, but the fourth one just would not happen. I even lubricated it and took a hammer to the base plate, but it just would not extend! Meanwhile, even after attaching cords to the other three corners and securing them, the canopy supports kept folding down for some reason.
Which is when I realized the pins at the corners had snapped free of where they were hinged at the corners, and were literally floating free above the legs!
Well, that tent is toast.
We’ll dismantle it and keep the parts and pieces, like the one that had a piece of tree fall on it. We’re still finding uses for those pieces in the garden, so I’m sure we’ll find plenty of uses for these pieces, too. At some point, we’ll pick up another Walmart cheapie. These tents are very handy.
One of the things I want to do is move the home-made folding table that had been sheltered under the tent all winter, closer to the house. It will be used when it’s time to harden off the transplants.
I won’t be able to get much done outside tomorrow, though. I don’t want to start anything then have to leave it when it’s time to go to my mother’s and start bagging things and moving furniture for when the exterminator comes the next day.
Oh! My brother ended up calling me when he had a few minutes at work. He’d actually made it to that funeral my mother had tried to guilt me into going to, even though I really don’t remember these relatives. My brother does, and he hadn’t known about the funeral until we talked about my mother. He went to work super early to get things done, then even booked the time for a meeting he couldn’t miss for when he knew he’d be in the town it was held in – a town north of us! – so he could attend the meeting by phone, from the parking lot. He wasn’t even sure he’d have a cell phone single, but it worked out. He was glad to have been able to go and catch up with a distant cousin. The only down side was, our vandal was there, too. Our vandal has been treating my brother cruelly for many years longer than we’ve been back. My brother is much more tender hearted than I am, so being around our vandal actually made my brother feel ill, even though they had no contact. He wasn’t even sure if our vandal saw my brother among the crowd. Ah, well.
Then we got to talk about my mother, and I found out something disturbing, if not surprising. Not long ago, my mother had proudly told me that she’d skipped all but one of her medications, instead taking the echinacea my sister had brought for her, for her cold. I had quite the talk with her about how potentially dangerous that can be, partly because she’s been on them for so long. I’m also concerned that she isn’t remembering which pill is for what, getting what they are mixed up, and so on. Well, it turns out she’s still doing it, and told my brother about it.
This is on top of her putting her own tenancy at risk by refusing to allow the exterminators in, and accusing them of theft.
We’ve talked to her already about moving away from where she is now, partly because of some of her neighbours messing with her head, partly because our vandal randomly shows up. Mostly, though, she’s going to start needing more help, and there is an assisted living apartment not far from her. However, we’ve also talked to her about going to the nursing home her sister and my father both spent their last years. My mother isn’t at that point, and it would require a doctor’s assessment, first. She’s in favour of living there, when the time comes. The question is, with the things she is doing, is the time coming faster? The added benefit for her living there would be the extra security. If she moves there and our vandal finds out, we can make sure he’s on the list as not being allowed to see her. She would also have access to physiotherapy for those knees of hers, and there’s even a chapel, right in the building. They’d make sure she was taking her medications, having proper meals, and hydrating. If I remember correctly, they even have doctors coming in to see the patients there, instead of the patients having to go to a clinic. I know my father was very happy there. When I made my weekly phone calls to him, he would go on and on about how well they were treating him and taking care of him. But then, my father was someone who told the staff what a great job they were doing, while my mother is the sort that would only complain and find fault.
Still, as she’s messing around with her prescriptions, this is something we need to consider more seriously.
*sigh*
Well, I’ll be seeing her tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, things will go well though, to be honest, just thinking about it makes me feel overwhelmed. She lives in such a tiny little apartment, but she has so. Much. Stuff. I’m the last person to have any credibility when it comes to that sort of judgement, but I’m not living by myself, with no pets, in an apartment that’s about the size of the room that was her bedroom, here at the farm. The room that is now my bedroom, office and craft room, altogether.
Hhmm… Now that I think about it, this room might actually be a bit bigger than her apartment.
The hot water tap on our kitchen faucet has been dripping for quite a while.
When we replaced the entire tap and faucet set, choosing a design that allowed us to fit out large stock pot under it, the cold water connector hose needed replacing. There is a lack of shut-off valves in our plumbing, so when I got a new connector hose, I made sure to get the type with a built-in shut-off valve, and hot one for the hot water, too.
The hot water hose, however, was fine and did not need replacing. So the second new hose, with the shut-off valve, was set aside.
You probably see where this is going.
In order to fix the leaking tap, we would have to close the main shut-off valve from the pressure tank. Which means no water for the house.
Which is why the drip didn’t get fixed.
We even took advantage of it and would put containers that needed to soak before washing, under the drip, where the container would soon be filled.
The drip, however, has been getting worse and eventually became more of a trickle than a drip.
So the first thing that needed to be done was to replace the connector hose with the new one with the built-in shut-off valve. That way, the hot water to the dripping tap could be closed, but the rest of the house could still have water.
Of course, this was not an easy job. It should have been, but it wasn’t.
You see, someone – most likely my mother, in her younger days – painted the inside of the cupboard under the sink.
Including the copper water pipes.
And the connectors.
My daughter had to cut through what turned out to be layers of paint to cut the copper pipe. The connector hose may still be good, but it’s painted into place. This was old, oil based paint, too, which gives an idea of how long it’s been there!
Once the connector hose was cut off, she then spent at least half an hour trying to scrub the paint off the end of the pipe, as well as smooth the inside edges of the pipe, which were too jagged from being freshly cut, to install the new connector hose.
My daughter is the only person in the household physically able to crawl under there, but she’s pretty broken, too, so it was quite painful. All I could do was hand her things and keep the kittens away.
It did get done, though. I turned the main water back on so it could be tested, and everything worked.
She could finally shut off just the hot water, and start taking the tap apart.
This is the cartridge she pulled out, AFTER I scrubbed it in the bathroom sink.
The part between the two black O rings was completely black, like what is still in the crevices of the white plastic. The metal inside the hole is supposed to be silver.
When we shock the hot water tank with hydrogen peroxide, which requires shutting the water off to the hot water tank and partially draining it, the water runs black when we next use it. Not only was this cartridge all black, but the space it sat in was all black, too. My daughter cleaned out as much of that as she could, while I cleaned the cartridge.
There was the possibility that it would stop leaking after getting all cleaned up, so after I took a picture of the cartridge, plus the numbers on the bottom, she put it all back together, and turned the water on.
There was nothing.
She turned on the cold.
Nothing.
She had mentioned that the pressure was low when she first tested it, but now, nothing was getting through at all. In fact, she had thought I’d turned the main shut-off valve, off again.
On a hunch, I started taking off the end of the faucet, where the aerator is.
Though the taps were off, water started to spray out as I unscrewed it! Once I got it off, we could see the problem. The screen inside was completely full of black gunk!!
Without the aerator, suddenly water could flow again!
I went and scrubbed the aerator in the bathroom sink while my daughter fiddled with the kitchen sink.
Once the aerator was returned, we ran the hot water for a bit, then shut it off.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
*sigh*
Well, it was worth a shot. At least it wasn’t a trickle anymore.
After all that, my daughter went to shower while I headed into town.
There are 2 hardware stores in town. One, I won’t go to anymore, after they kicked me out for being medically exempt from wearing a mask during the illegal lockdowns and mask mandates. (Yes, they actually were illegal, and there are many court cases going through the system now. I don’t think the governments have won one, yet.) I didn’t even want to go into the store to shop, but had gone to the cash desk by the doors to pay for a car wash. The location got blacklisted as unsafe to go to by many others who could not wear masks. After how badly they treated their loyal customers, none of us are going back there anymore.
The other hardware store, however, was fantastic, so I go there all the time now, even though they are a smaller store and have a much smaller inventory.
When I got there, I had someone offering to help me right away, and I showed her the picture of what I needed. She found the part for me on the shelf. The package number was different from the number on the cartridge itself, but they were in clamshell packages, making them easy to open and confirm the numbers there. To my shock, one cartridge cost almost $25!!
Then she realized it was a Moen product.
Moen has a lifetime guarantee on their products.
Which means I should be getting a replacement cartridge for free.
She ended up getting the manager over to talk to me about it. It turns out they have a stock of replacement parts that are sent to them for free, to be used for these sorts of times. What was on the shelf is stuff they have to pay for, so they couldn’t give those out.
He looked in their supply, but they did not have the cartridge I needed.
He then recommended I try the other hardware store, or another place I’d never been to before. As far as I knew, they were mostly a lumber and landscaping place.
When I said I wouldn’t go to the first place, he didn’t even blink, and said to try the other place. I’ve had this manager help me a number of times, and I get the impression he hears that a lot.
Well, I’ve been wanting to check this place out for a while, and if they had plumbing supplies, this was as good a time as any.
Oh.
My.
Goodness.
This is going to be a dangerous place for me to go to, with money!
Yes, their focus is definitely on their huge yard, filled with lumber and landscaping supplies. The store itself is relatively small, but covers all the bases for basic hardware supplies. I had no idea there was a third hardware store in town! And I’ve known about this place for years. I’ve even gone to their website, which turned out basically be a single splash page.
I didn’t see the cartridges I needed in their plumbing section, so I went to the counter. I explained what I needed, and that the other hardware store thought they might have inventory of the free replacement part I needed.
It took him a while, but he did find the part. He’d never had to check the number on the cartridge itself before, and they are darn hard to see when you can’t open the packaging!
Then he asked me how many I needed. I’d hoped to buy a spare, until I’d seen the $25 price tag, so I told him I needed one, but if I could have a spare, that would be great!
So he gave me two! Since I didn’t have the packaging product number, he said to try it out, and if it didn’t fit, bring it back and he’d help find the right one.
He was really nice about it, too.
That done, I ran a couple more errands, then headed home. As soon as everything was put away, my daughter started on the tap.
Which was easy to do, now that it has its own shut off valve!
It took some fussing, but she got it in and put back together. Then there was the test!
She ran the water for a bit, then shut off the tap.
Drip.
…
…
…
Nothing! It’s fixed!!
It was a big, messy, painful and frustrating job for my daughter, but she got it done. I’m so grateful for her being able to do it. Otherwise, we would have had to call in a plumber to replace that connector hose, or keep having to shut off the main water valve and leaving it off until it was fixed.
She did a great job!
As for me, I want to get a look at that aerator and see if I can take it apart to clean it, like we have to do with the one in the bathroom. That one builds up with scale and rust. This one would have that, too, but now we know the black stuff that’s in the pipes after we shock the hot water tank is more of a problem in the kitchen.
We ended up getting two trucks come over, and two guys checking the lines.
This time, the problem was definitely inside.
They checked the hub in the basement, which was working, but they noted the condition of the wires.
The problem turned out to be the jack in my room. Badly corroded.
Likely from the kittens going behind the bins and making a mess. However, they debated replacing the entire line, because the whole thing is pretty old. It’s not really accessible from the basement at that end anymore, though, so they left it.
The jack was replaced, and the line is working now.
As we were chatting, we, of course, started talking cats. I mentioned they were mostly rescues, and how hard its been to adopt them out.
One of the guys said he and his girlfriend were talking about getting a cat. I ended up giving him my contact info and telling him to feel free to pass it on, if he knew others who were looking.
The other guy was saying he’d love to have a cat, but had to adopt his Bengal (!!!) out when he moved. He’s looking to move to a new apartment that allows pets, and is eager to have a cat again. While he was outside, Syndol had came over and tried to climb him! He was so stoked about that.
So not only do we have a working phone again, but potential leads on cat adoptions.
After confirming the line at both jacks, one guy made sure all the phones were hooked up, including the corded phones. “Hang on to those!” he advised me. The rotary dial phone, in particular, is a great backup phone. We certainly were glad to have it!
I’m so glad they were able to come over so soon. It’s a slow time of year, and they had basically been sitting in their vans, waiting for a call.
Now we just have to keep the main phone base in the cat free zone.
He came out here to take a look at the vent and plumbing stack to see if he could find why we have had a leak in the bathroom ceiling. When my SIL told me he’d stopped at the hardware store first, I couldn’t think why, but then thought… oh, no! He’s buying us a new fluorescent light fixture for the kitchen! That fixture had a “temporary light” label on it when we moved here. (It didn’t even have the cover anymore; that fell off while the roofers were here, and dropping heavy packages of shingles on the roof.) I’d asked my brother about it when we first moved in, and he told me about not being able to find the right fixture for there, anywhere. He was very frustrated about it, too. I got the impression that it had something to do with the electrical, which is pretty janky in this house, so when the light blew two bulbs, which had been replaced not that long ago, for fluorescent bulbs, it was our first warning something was going wrong. Then, when we replaced the bulbs from the extras in the basement, they started going strange things. They were darker at the ends, and we started to see waves of gases flowing inside… Not good! So we stopped using it. I told my brother about it and asked him again, why it had not been replaced. We were not going to take any chances with replacing it until I knew for sure we actually could!
It turned out, the local hardware stores simply didn’t have the right size in stock. 😄😄 If I’d known that, we would have probably replaced it, long ago!
So we were going to just replace the fixture when we had the funds for it. Getting the truck, then getting cats fixed, were a priority. The only inconvenience, really, was how dark it was to do dishes. They sent me some photos of lights at a hardware store they were visiting one time, and asked me what my plan was. At that time, I told them we had no plans, yet. We just needed to know if there was an electrical issue.
What I did NOT want them to do was spend several hundred dollars on a replacement fixture.
So when I heard he was at the hardware store, that’s what I thought he might be doing.
When he arrived, though, and opened up the back, what I saw was a package of pink fiberglass insulation and some rolls of heavy duty plastic. Still more than I wanted him to spend, but at least that made sense!
He then climbed up to check the stacks and they looked okay, overall. There was no obvious area a leak could have been happening. I’d sent him a photo from the ground before I roof raked as best I could around there, and you could see an island of clear roof in that corner. Clearly, we were losing a lot of heat in that area, which might also have been a contributing factor.
It was VERY slippery up there, though, so he had to be so, so careful as he came down to get his bucket of tar. He went back and forth a few times, which was quite nerve wracking! However, he basically slathered that vent, not just around the new shingles, but up the sides as well. Then he put more around the opening for the plumbing stack, next to the vent. If there was water coming in through there, it sure as heck wasn’t going to be getting through anymore! He had to work fast, too, because it was cold, and he had to get it done while the tar was still warm and pliable. He was glad to have been able to get here and get it done while it was still light, too. It gets dark awfully fast, this time of year!
As he was putting away his ladder and stuff, we were chatting and I mentioned how our roof rake, when full extended, can reach all the way to the peak of the roof over the main entry. Since we were looking at it anyway, I mentioned the eavestrough there is something we needed to repair or replace in the spring.
My bad.
The eavestrough was coming loose in one spot, causing a bend at a join, so water would drip through a crack before reaching the downspout.
Next thing I knew, he was setting his ladder up in the pile of snow I raked off the roof and climbed up to take a look. Seeing what he was doing, I got hammer handy – apparently, not a “real” hammer, but it’s what we’ve got! – and he was able to secure it in one spot, but in another, the nail is completely missing. Still, for now at least, there is no longer a sagging area. We can deal with the rest in the spring.
Then he went inside and upstairs to look into the area that’s above the bathroom.
To explain, the upstairs is what might otherwise have been an attic. When it was converted to bedrooms, my dad raised the roof on one side for head room, and that’s where windows were added. My daughters use one of those windows to get onto the roof over the new part of the house to shovel it. The other wall, however, is right under the roof and at an angle. In the room that is above where the bathroom and my husband’s room is now (which used to be a combined living room and dining room, when I was little), there is a small section under the angled portion that is now walled off. When we got an indoor bathroom, it was built to cover the vent and plumbing stack.
This is what it looked like, when we first peeked in there back in February, 2018, just 4 months after we were all moved in.
How or why that stuff was in there, I have no idea.
You can see, however, that there are very old water stains in the wood, however, it is dry in there.
We were able to get the stuff closer to the front, but none of us is able bodied enough to actually crawl in.
My brother, however, could.
He was able to get all the way past that vent, with a little broom and dust pan, sweeping away decades of dust and pieces of wood. I tried to help as much as I could, but that was little more than passing him things and holding a flashlight, in addition to the one he had in the tunnel with him.
I’m just comparing the photos now, and can see that the water stains have grown, however the floor is dry. Wherever the water was coming from, it has been pooling under those floor boards somewhere, before dripping into the bathroom, without getting anything wet in this tunnel.
After sweeping the worst off the floor, he started pulling out the stuff he was finding. Some odd pieces of linoleum with a bold floral pattern I’ve never seen around the farm, and yet somehow feel like I should recognise. My brother also felt he recognised the pattern. He dragged out a folded up… vinyl table cloth? We aren’t sure. There was a box with leftover tiles that cover the floor upstairs! What good are spare tiles, if they’re hidden in a tunnel behind a wall, where no one can see or reach them? Then, most curious of all, he tossed out an object for me to see. Before I could even shine a flashlight on it, something about the shape looked oh so familiar to me.
It was a plastic toy kangaroo, with a joey in it’s pouch.
I remember playing with that toy! What it was doing way back in there, I have no idea!
It is also now sticky and disgusting. It’s old enough the plastic is degrading in that slimy way only “vintage” plastic can do!
Once things were clear, my brother began working in stages. He cut plastic to lay down as a vapour barrier, then began stuffing in the fiberglass insulation.
He literally filled the tunnel with insulation, using a garden hoe to push it into place at the back.
When he got to the vent and plumbing stack, he used spray foam, top and bottom, to seal around them, laid down more plastic, cut to fit around the vent, then kept added more insulation.
Every time he went in, he had to inch his way in like a worm, then inch his way back out again. He did that dozens of times! Oh, he was so exhausted by the time he finished the bag of insulation. It didn’t quite fill the space right to the entry but, by that point, there is the attic over the old kitchen on the other side.
We don’t go in there.
That tunnel above the bathroom is now the most insulated space in the house.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the roof in that area. There should be no more escaping heat melting the snow off there, anymore, that’s for sure!!
By this time, it was completely dark out, and I helped my brother pack things back into his truck. Then I went to feed the outside cats to get them away from the truck, so he could safely leave.
He didn’t leave.
The next thing I know, he’s at the counter between the kitchen and the dining room, clearing it off and setting up to reach the light fixture.
Yup. He bought us a new light fixture.
I suspect they actually bought it that day they sent me the pictures, and asked if I had a plan.
After turning on the light to see what it was doing, he started taking it apart to look at the wiring. He couldn’t see anything obviously wrong. He then went to find the right breaker to shut off the power (there are some gaps in the labelling), and got to work. The breaker also turned off the dining room light, so I set up our large flashlight to light it from below, plus he had his headlamp. He had to fuss with it a bit, and drill a hole in the base plate for the wiring in the ceiling to fit through, but otherwise it was a pretty basic fixture switch.
Here is our shiny new light fixture!
It feels so weird for there to be so much light over that counter again! The light itself it completely different, and far more yellow than the previous bulbs. The fixture is slightly narrower than the old one, so you can just seen an outline on either side, but who cares? We have a working light again.
That done, he packed his truck up again, and finally got to leave! He was here so much longer than he expected to be, but was not about to leave until he’d done what he came to do. And extra, of course, because he’s like that!
My brother is so awesome.
What would be do without him? 💙💚💙💚💙💚💙
My husband had his medical appointment this morning, so we got to give the truck its first real test.
I did end up having to fold up both bench seats in the back to fit his walker. With just the seat behind the passenger seat folded up, the walker fits at a angle, which makes one wheel just an inch or two too far for the door to close. The part of the bench seat behind the driver’s seat that folds is 2/3rds of the seat, so it would fit just fine, there, but that’s not where my husband is, when it comes time to load and unload it. If we are ever driving with all 4 of us, the walker would just have to be laid down in the box and secured. With the cover on the box, that would work out just fine, too.
As for getting in and out, he has an easier time of it than I do, being considerably taller than I am! Not having to fold himself down into a tiny seat in a tiny car, all on its own, makes a world of difference!
The appointment went as well as such things go with him. He’s going to be tried on a new medication to try and get his blood sugars down and, hopefully, allow him to reduce his insulin. Part of the problem with insulin is that it causes weight gain, and that’s sure as heck not helping his injured back any. He hasn’t had his Ozempic for a while, now. Because of how high his dose is, he gets it in special ordered pens with a lot more in them; with the “regular” dose versions, he’d be going through a pen a day, and it’s a lot more expensive, even with coverage. The pens he needs, though, are not available. He opted to skip it for now, rather than go for the more expensive smaller dose pens he’d have to buy twice as much of.
So he’ll be taking this new medication for 3 months, then get some bloodwork done to see if it helped any, or if the dose needs to be changed, etc. This medication is supposed to also be good for his heart, though he hasn’t had his heart tested in a very long time, what with the heart clinic in the city being unwilling to accommodate his disability.
Armed with a new prescription, our next stop was at the pharmacy. The new medication needs special “permission” for coverage, though, and that involves some paperwork between the doctor and the insurance company. It was expensive enough that I couldn’t just get it without coverage, unfortunately. Since he’s going to have to really keep on on monitoring his sugars while on this medication, I got more test strips and lancets and, since it’s been more than a year, he qualified for a free glucometer with the purchase of test strips. I don’t think we’ve every had to pay for an actual glucometer with that particular deal.
After his stuff was done, I had my own prescription to refill, which is extremely simple compared to my husband’s convoluted medications. While I was waiting, I remember to ask about the Ozempic. Still nothing, and no estimate as to when they will be able to provide more. The problem, of course, is that Ozempic is being used by people who are not diabetic as a weight loss gimmick. Which is disturbing enough on its own, but that enough people are getting this super high dose for it to run out completely is quite alarming. This stuff has some pretty terrible side effects, and you can’t just take it, loose weight, then stop taking it. It’s basically Ozempic for life. She said she expected the fad to fade away in about 5 years, like previous weight loss drug fads. I sure hope it takes less than 5 years! I just can’t imagine deliberately taking something that can cause such incredible problems with the digestive system, including losing control of the bowels, just to lose a few pounds. For some diabetics, it can work very well. It doesn’t seem to be doing much for my husband, other then add to the long list of side effects he’s already dealing with. It certainly isn’t resulting in weight loss, but he’s also been on at least two medications that cause weight gain for much longer than he’s been on the Ozempic.
As you can see, everyone has pretty much given up on any treatment for his back injury. There really isn’t a fix for that, and pain control has never been very successful on any of the different medications they’ve maxed him out on. With his current medication (two versions of the same drug; one fast acting and one slow release), it seems he’s actually been a sort of test case on just how high they can safely increase the dosages to. And he’s already been told, right from the first diabetic nurse he saw after he became officially disabled from it, he won’t be able to control the blood sugars until he can control the pain.
Not much quality of life in his situation.
Having said that, while we were driving around and talking about the truck, he actually brought up wanting to make a trip into the city to visit family. !!! Which is really amazing because, even with the van, he always balked at taking longer trips.
By the time we were done with everything, it was past lunch time, and neither of us had had breakfast, so we decided to go to the new DQ for a sit down lunch. That sure hit the spot! He also got more to bring home as a surprise for our daughters.
It was late enough when we were finally heading home that the post office was open after its mid day break, so we stopped by. I was hoping our lysine for the cats had come in, but apparently it’s backordered right now. There were, however, other packages waiting, including two surprises!
M, you are amazing!
That hose will be for the garden tap we will be installing. As we are able, we will get pipes that hose can be run through and buried, and a few other fittings. The plan is to have everything ready for next spring, when we can dig up the rest of the existing pipe and set up a nice tap and vegetable washing station at the garden. I had been looking at heavy duty hoses at Walmart and Canadian Tire. It never occurred to me to look for metal contractor grade hoses online.
As for the other box…
Just look at those beautiful clear eyes!
… Tiny: The Beast, got to be the first to test it out! This is for the outside cats, in the winter. It works by “reflecting” body heat back. No electricity required. I’m sure the outside cats will love it!
In other things, this was a highly interrupted post. I got a call from the roofing company that did our roof last year. My brother had gone up this year and noticed some shingles lifting, which will be fixed under warranty. However, we had that one driving rain that resulted in rain dripping around the chimney to the old cook stove in the kitchen, which has never leaked before. My brother talked to the roofing guy about it, and he said that chimney doesn’t have a proper collar on it. Which apparently it never has, but it also has never leaked before. Either way, my brother made arrangements, and the guy went searching for a collar that would work. the problem is, the roof over the old kitchen is a lot steeper than anywhere else on the house, which, I’m told, is why there was never a collar on the chimney. The angle is wrong.
Well, it seems the guy found something that will work, and he’s now on his way over to fix it, and fix the loose shingles my brother spotted. It’s awfully late in the day for this – it gets dark so fast, this time of year! – but we’re glad that he’s going to get it done.
Aside from all this, there is also more delays in regards to the financing for the truck, if you can believe it!
Oh… time to pause. The roofing guy is almost here.
Well, that’s done.
The collar he found was clearly too small for the chimney, but he went up and did the other warranty covered work, which included sealing around the chimney. He found a gap where he could see water would have gotten in, in a driving rain. He even sealed around the top of the chimney, under the cap, and around a join near the bottom, which had been sealed long ago and was starting to crumble. He even added sealant under some shingles that were over lapping the sort of collar at the base, and the base itself. It will not leak again! He even went around the roof and tacked down anything that looked loose, and sealed around openings above the bathroom, just in case.
In the end, he figures it will not leak anymore, and a collar would not be necessary. It will be up to my brother if he still wants it done, as it is not covered by warranty. Having watched him thorough he was, I don’t see a need!
One more think off the list…
So… where was I?
Oh, yes.
The financing thing.
Before we left this morning, I got an email from the finance lady. The lender had a whole bunch of stuff they needed, now that the vehicle has been insured and sold. Most of that, our mechanic already had copies of that he could sent. In fact, the list was really meant for him, since it included how he wanted to be paid!
Yeah. He still hasn’t been paid, other than our down payment!
One thing they wanted was a copy of the registration in the borrower’s name.
That would be my husband. Who no longer drives and no longer has a driver’s license. I clarified that part but let her know I could get some of the rest for her, if our mechanic couldn’t provide it, since we now have the truck, but it would have to wait until after we got back from the doctor’s.
I took the truck out of the garage so it would be easier for my husband to access and started taking the photos the lender wanted, but couldn’t get a photo of the dash with the mileage. The littler computer display screen it would be on had a warning for a low tire in the rear. Which isn’t low. I saw them top all the tires up, and double checked. It’s fine. I hooked up our OBDII scanner and cleared the codes, but that one kept coming back.
I texted our mechanic about it. When we got to the clinic, the display changed to “service tire monitoring system”. He figures the module needs a new battery, because he knows it’s all fine. I have no doubt; now that I have all the paperwork for the safety, I have a list of all the things he took care of before putting it up for sale! Yeah. I’m even more sure he took a loss on this one.
After we got home, I was going to email the financing lady to see if there were still things she needed that our mechanic couldn’t provide – only to have her phone me before I started! One of the things was a photo of the VIN sticker on the door, which I already got a photo of. The other was more involving my husband’s ID confirmation. They wanted something mailed to him within the last 30 days that has his name and address on it.
His birth certificate name, not the name he uses, which is his second name, as traditional among his Acadian family.
We already sent all sorts of things to them, but they were either with the “wrong” name, or they didn’t have his address. Even his proof of income had his given name, not his first name. Most of the things she suggested either don’t get mailed to us, as we have gone completely electronic, or are under my name. Then she mentioned a cell phone bill.
That was one of the things he updated to include his full name, so that he would have something to show when he finally was able to come in to get a photo ID.
I logged in and checked, and sure enough, it had his full name, just like on his birth certificate, plus both our postal and our physical addresses. Yay!!! Finally!!! I was able to download the pdf and sent that along with the VIN sticker photo.
I just can’t get an odometer reading photo, because we can’t find any way to cycle through the computer display readings. The user manual shows us where the controls should be, but our model doesn’t have it.
There has to be something, somewhere, but we just can’t find it!
Anyhow…
Hopefully, this is the last thing they need, and our mechanic can finally get paid! We’re all getting pretty frustrated, because they keep coming up with all these little things that are delaying it. Everything else is done. We have the truck. He needs to be paid!
Talking to my daughter about all this, later on, she suggested we bake him a cake or something as a thank you! I agree!
On a different note, I had planned to top up the gas tank before going home, but we were out so long, I skipped it, so my husband could get home and recover from the outing. The nice thing?
The needle barely moved, the entire time.
With my mother’s car, we would have seen a substantial drop. Even taking into account the different sizes of gas tanks, the difference is notable. Now, given the specs on this truck, it’s not going to be fantastic on gas, so this is more a reflection on how bad on gas my mother’s car has gotten – and we can’t find the reason why! At least it doesn’t seem to be getting worse anymore.
So that’s were we’re at now.
Tomorrow, I have no errands to run, so hopefully, I’ll be able to get back to work outside. We’ve had some absolutely gorgeous weather, lately, and it’s supposed to stick around for a while.
Yesterday evening, I was able to work on one of the three raised beds in the south east yard, where we grew popcorn this year. Aside from weeding and preparing the soil for next year, I wanted to see if I could do something about the bowed out sides.
In the first picture of the slide show above, you can see I had a line across, already. That was enough to keep it from bowing out more, but not to pull it in. For that, I needed to move the soil more than I had, when I put the line in, in the spring.
The first thing to do was dig through the entire bed, removing all the weed roots I could. Once that was done, I shovelled soil away from the side walls, then redid the line. The original line actually broke while I was working with it, so I brought the roll of mason’s line and did it again. This time, instead of just doubling the line, I took used enough to fold it three times, making for 8 strands. After opening up the metal thing I can’t remember the name of, I put the lines on and pulled the sides in. One side was worse than the other (on the left, in the photos), so I focused on that one more.
Slight problem, though.
This is built out of scrap wood I found in the barn. One of the corners was already deteriorating more and, when I pulled the side in, I think I snapped the screws in the top board!
The corner is still holding, though. I’ll add more screws later.
Once the line was secured, I also tightened the metal thing (why can’t I remember what it’s called?? 😂), using a nail for leverage. That pulled the sides in a little more, too. I didn’t want to pull it in too much, though, because things would start breaking.
The next step was to level the soil again. By that time, I was losing light, too. To get a good idea of how well the sides had been straightened, I took the cover off the carrot bed, which isn’t needed there, and popped it over the prepared bed.
I had to come back today to get a picture, though, because the one I took last night did not turn out in the low light!
All these beds, and all the covers, are 9′ x 3′ (technically, 9′ 1″, counting the width of the end pieces). Which means the covers should fit exactly over the bed frames.
Well… it almost does!
The side walls now match the sides of the cover, but the corners, not so much! The corners on the bed have shifted. The one that broke is actually lower than the others, too! No surprise, considering there was so much flooding in the paths last year. However, it’s all close enough that it doesn’t matter much.
So this bed is now ready for next year’s garden!
Now, if we can just get to the others, and finish the trellis beds, before things start to freeze. Today is supposed to be the last rainy day for a while, so I should be able to break out the power tools and extension cords again. Current forecast also calls for lows of 1C/34F, 2C/36F, 1C/34F, then -1C/30F, over the next few days. Which means that, tomorrow, we need to either bring in the last of the stuff outside that isn’t frost hardy, or cover them for the night. Tonight, at least, is only supposed to go down to 6C/43F. We’re also supposed to get more heavy rains. Right now, it’s a damp and chill 12C/54F.
I’m glad we got the septic tank done yesterday, that’s for sure!
Lots of work to do out there, and time is running out. It all comes down to the weather.
I did a lot of highway driving today, and my last stop was to pick up the replacement tub surround. It just barely fit into the back of my mother’s car! I actually couldn’t close the hatch after taking this photo, and had to lift the other end to rest on the back of the front seats, first.
The surround I’d found online wasn’t in stock, so I ended up one that was a bit more expensive. I think it’s identical to the one we have right now. I also got the adhesive and caulking.
One handy thing with getting the same type of surround: after we take off the old pieces, we can use them to mark out exactly where to cut holes for the taps and faucet – and the screw holes for the arm bars. I would rather not make new holes into the walls if I can avoid it, plus they are currently in just the right positions, too.
Until we take off the old pieces and see what’s under it, we won’t know if what sort of damage there may be underneath. Only then will we know what else we may need to get to finish the job.
That won’t happen until the plumber makes it out. I left a message with him and he hasn’t called back yet, which is very unusual. I think I’ll call again.
Meanwhile, I also got the replacement fixtures, though again, not what I was originally looking for.
I did find the set that was just like what we have now, but for an extra $5, I got this one, instead. Levers instead of round knobs will be much better on arthritic hands.
We don’t need the shower head, since we have the hand held, but there were no sets without the shower head. Just sets without the faucet and diverter. Which is fine. An extra shower head is not a bad thing to have.
Now we just have to see how much the plumber will end up costing! Who knows. If all goes well, I might still be able to get my new glasses, after all!
On another note, my media storage on WordPress is well into the red zone. I’ve tried resizing old photos from blog posts made in our early days, before we realized just how limited our storage was, started resizing our photos to smaller file sizes and upgraded. My current plan with WordPress doesn’t exist anymore and is grandfathered in, and the next one up is way too expensive, when all I need is media storage space, nothing else.
So I have decided to go back and remove some older posts. For a long time, I had a Critter of the Day series, with photos of birds, deer, cats and other wildlife. I haven’t made those posts in a long time, and they don’t get hits anymore, so there’s no reason to keep them, even though they were fun.
Hopefully, that will free up a decent amount of storage space. I posted quite a lot of those!
It always amazes me how many of the cats have a preference for eating under the water bowl shelter. At one point, I counted 5 under there.
They also really appreciate that sheet of insulation under the kibble house in the winter. Every now and then, I’ll walk past the back of it and see a whole bunch of noses peaking out from under the back wall, where there is a much smaller gap.
I’ve been seeing Rosencrantz again and, unfortunately, she is looking pregnant, too. She had a really early litter last year, though not as early as Junk Pile did this year, and lost it. She went on to have a late second litter with 3 white and greys, Pinky, with his unique patches of mixed orange and grey fur, and a tortie.
For the third day in a row, Junk Pile followed me around while I was doing my rounds, all the way to the sign cam, and let me pick her up and carry her back to the house. She rode calmly in my arms, the back of her head nuzzled against my face. What a massive change in personality! I’ll take it, though. Hopefully, it means we’ll be able to catch her and get her spayed this year.
On a completely different note…
I made it to the Walmart with my mother’s car yesterday. I’m happy to say it ran well, and the roads that were so treacherous just a few days ago are now clear.
One of the things I was able to pick up was a universal fill valve and flapper kit for the toilet. We’ve been having issues for a while now, because … well… see for yourself.
That bit of white hose is almost completely blocked. It was taking forever for the tank to refill after flushing. The flapper would also get stuck slightly open, which meant the water was draining almost faster than it could be refilled. We would have to hold the lever down until the bowl was completely emptied, or the flapper wouldn’t close properly. The flow of water was so slow, it often wouldn’t finish flushing, so we’d have to wait 5 or 10 minutes to flush again.
The flapper couldn’t be replaced; there is something very different about it, and my daughter couldn’t even see how it was attached, but her sister scrubbed out as much of the gunk as she could, and it is working much better. The tank refills so much faster now! The only thing we have to tweak is how much water is in the bowl. For some reason, it has always been very low, and this old valve doesn’t seem to have any way to adjust water levels for the bowl; just the tank. Getting that adjusted will help a lot with reducing the clogs and slow drains we’ve had the entire time we’ve lived here! My daughters are also planning to scrub the inside of the tank as best they can, but it’s lines with Styrofoam insulation, which we have to be careful not to damage. I’ll have to look for the septic safe anti-iron tank tablets again. The last few times I’ve looked, they were out of stock. I’m hoping to avoid having to order online.
Oh, that reminds me. I made a quick stop at the post office on my way out, yesterday, and my new, low limit credit card was in. Once I was home again, I had to call the toll free number to activate it. Of course, the guy I spoke to had a whole spiel he had to give after activating it, to try and sell me insurance, so if I loose my job or something, the balance will be paid. Of course, I was laughing at that, since I cannot get a job. When I mentioned that I want to keep the limit low and just use the card to rebuild my credit rating, he finished off the call with some advice. He gave me the date for my billing cycle, which is the 7th. My intention was to use the card at the end of the month, for gas and groceries, when we do our city shopping, then pay it off right away. He suggested I wait until about 2 days before the due date, which would still be within the 21 day interest free grace period. Waiting to pay until just before the next billing cycle improves the credit rating faster. It would also be helpful to include regular automated payments taken from the card. This shows that the card is actually being used regularly. With the card I have, gas, groceries and automatic payments have a 1% cash back, while everything else has a .5% cash back. I don’t have anything I want to put on automatic payment, though. With our utilities, I like to pay manually, because I always over pay a bit, to build up a credit. That way, if we are ever in a pickle or things just get really tight for some reason, we could have a month or two of reduced payments, or even no payments at all, to free funds up in the budget.
So I emailed the plumber earlier, not expecting to actually hear from him until Monday.
He called less than 2 hours later. After he got our location, he said he’d be here in about 20 minutes.
I don’t think it took him that long!
After checking the pipe out in both basements, they got to work and brought out the auger. (His assistant was a guy that spoke Ukrainian, and seemed to have almost no English. Likely a war refugee.) They sent that thing well past where the block was – he could tell when they hit it. Given the age of the pipes, he said the block was likely really, really old, hardened kitchen grease, and all the things that go along with it.
After they augered the pipe, he went to the laundry drain and used the super industrial drain cleaner we’d finally tried. When I saw it, I mentioned that to him and said that, when that didn’t work, we knew we had to call in a plumber! He was nodding his head before I even finished. If that stuff doesn’t work, no amount of drain cleaner will do it.
Once that was in, we had to test it out. We ran water, and it seemed fine but, from the kitchen sink, it was a problem only when we had to pour out large amounts of water at once, not just from the tap running. The kitchen is far enough away from the tanks and pumps that there just isn’t that much water or pressure coming out of the tap. I ended up filling one sink a couple of inches, while also having water in a container, then draining the one sink while dumping water down the other at the same time, while he poured water into the laundry drain.
When I came around, there was water puddling under the washing machine.
It was also smoking.
The water, I mean. The puddle of water under the drain was smoking.
Remember that industrial strength drain cleaner I mentioned?
Yeah, there was still some in the pipe, and it leaked out with the water, and was smoking.
He had to pull the washer and drier out, so he could see what was going on. After pouring water into the laundry drain again, he discovered the P trap was leaking.
And smoking.
After fiddling with it a bit to see if he could stop the leak, he ended up just cutting it out and replacing it.
While he was doing that, I brought over some old towels that he used – while wearing gloves – to wipe up the puddle. By the end of it, two towels went straight into a garbage can that I brought over, so there was no chance of coming in contact with this stuff.
After that, a new P trap was installed, we waited a bit, then tested it again. This time, he took one of the hoses off the washing machine and ran water straight into the drain.
No leaking!
Then I did the double sink thing again, while he ran water into the laundry drain.
No leaking, and no backing up.
The real test, of course, will be doing a test run of the washing machine, which we will do later. He also recommended using drain cleaner regularly, especially over the next few weeks, to keep the pipes clear of built of grime. Time to get more of that septic friendly drain maintenance stuff we had been using for exactly that purpose!
After doing some more mopping up, the washer and drier were put back, and they were off.
The final bill was higher than when he cleared our septic drain, as I was afraid it would be. The drain clearing plus 1 hour was a set rate, plus the cost of part, and it came to just under $400. With everything being so much more expensive now, though, I’m not actually surprised. However, we had enough squirreled away that I could pay the bill, and not have to go into the money for the tree guys. We actually did have 30 days to pay the bill, but I wanted to get that done and over with. I hate owing money!
Oh, my goodness!!!!
I am texting with the cat lady as I write this. She just gave me the most amazing news!
The two bitty babies she rescued for us are soon to be adopted! They’re getting their vaccines next week, and they’ll be in their new home at the end of November! Someone who recently lost her two 18 year old cats is adopting them both.
I am just so incredibly excited to hear that! Plus, after she has adopted out another cat she’s fostering, she’ll have room for 2 more of ours for placement.
Plus, the 2 spays and a neuter she still has planned for us.
All this, while waiting for her upcoming organ transplant…
The cat lady is just so amazing!
Also, she just informed me that Cabbages actually allows their dog to pick her up and carry her upstairs to her bed. I would love to see pictures of that!!!
Okay, this day is ending on a really fabulous note – even with a hit to the budget!
The Re-Farmer 