A run around day, and new products to try

November 12, 2025November 12, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Today was supposed to be an at home day, except for a trip to the post office.

Ha!

After doing my rounds this morning, making sure to open the gate for the septic guy, I was just finishing breakfast when I got a call.

From home care.

Someone had called in sick, and they didn’t have anyone for my mother’s morning assist.

I had just enough time to throw some shoes on, grab a coat and head out. I did phone my mother first. Which is good, because she about to start making herself breakfast. Which the home care worker is supposed to do! I told her, if she’s willing to wait half an hour, I’ll do it for her, then told her about the cancellation.

Then she asked me if I was going to stay to do more stuff for her. I told her, no – I’ve got Friday set aside just for her! I told her I wanted her to take the chicken out of the freezer on Thursday, because I was planning on cooking it for her, and she was very happy to hear that.

Then, I headed out and got there just at her scheduled visit time, which worked out nicely. My mother was starting to do a few things for her breakfast, so I got her to sit down so I could finish it for her.

I did the usual stuff home care would do for her, like empty her commode, but also refilled her water bottles from the tap in the laundry room for drinking/cooking water. I made sure to check her milk supply and she was almost out. For just the one thing, I simply walked to the grocery store to get more for her, since I’ll be doing a full shopping trip on Friday. She’s been working on her list, and it’s going to be a very large one, compared to her usual.

Before I headed out, I got more details about that call she got about canceling her Meals on Wheels.

It wasn’t the Meals on Wheels office or kitchen that called her. It was the Senior’s Centre that oversees the program. She was able to give me the name of the guy that called, and she could hear the worker that delivered my mother’s meal earlier, talking in the background.

They told her that someone had called to cancel her Meals on Wheels and when she asked who, they suggested it was probably me – they actually used my name. So my mother said she would call me. The odd thing was that the woman that delivered my mother’s meal said that she did not deliver a meal that day. My mother told them, yes you did, I’m looking at the tray on my table right now!

With that information, I headed home, with a quick stop at the post office to pick up my parcels.

Before I opened them, I made sure to call the Meals on Wheels office – my husband has messaged me to let me know someone from there had called me while I was gone. There was no answer, so I left a message explaining that I was just at my mothers, what she told me, and that we were very confused by all this – but also very glad that it was confirmed her Meals on Wheels was NOT cancelled.

Today is a Meals on Wheels day.

That done, I finally opened up my parcels. There are two things that I got, that I can give reviews on already.

The first is a cat toy.

I picked it up because it was very inexpensive, and I was curious if it would live up to the promotion.

The first picture shows how it arrives. This is one of those toys that are supposed to change shape as the cats try to get at the captured jingle ball inside.

I had to use double sided tape to get it to hold together. I’m not sure how it was supposed to hold together without it. The two ends did actually stick together at first, but popped apart very easily.

As you can see by the second and third photos in the slide show above, Ghosty was very interested! The pictures are in two of the configurations it can roll into. The third encloses the ball completely inside.

Once it was together, I set it in the dining room for all the cats to check out. For a while, there were four or five of them around it, trying to get at the jingle ball.

The toy did NOT change shape while they played with it, which is supposed to be part of the attraction for cats.

They soon got bored with it, but for the rest of the day, there have been cats in and out of the bigger box. There a cat sleeping in it on my bed, right now. The cats are going to be most displeased when I move it! 😄

The other item I got was a tool to clean our eavestroughs from ground level.

I had considered getting the kind that you attach to a hose, but for this time of year, I’ve got all but one short hose put away for the winter, and that one will be put away very soon. If I’m going to get one of those, which I do still want to, it will be closer to spring.

Instead, I got a brush type.

In the first and second pictures, you can see it came with two brushes and a bungle of pole attachments. The instructions are pretty basic. Screw the pieces together to get the length you want. There is one piece that is for the end and has a cap that can be used to hang from.

It’s a good thing it came with two brushes.

Since the septic guy hadn’t arrived yet, I started off at the eaves above it. This area is particularly difficult and hasn’t been properly cleaned out in a long time. For starters, there is a right angle where the roof over the old kitchen meets the roof over the original log part of the house. That corner is always getting the most debris collected in the eavestrough. The ground below is not level, so using a ladder is dangerous. My younger daughter was (key word, was) the only person able bodied enough to go up there on a ladder, while her sister held it steady. She, however, has problems with heights and even with the ladder being held steady, it feels so precarious, she just couldn’t do it. Now, she physically can’t really do ladders at all, anymore.

Getting into the eavestrough was not easy. The brush had to be bent almost completely down, and it kept straightening while I was working on it. It could only really be used well in one direction, too. If I tried to push in the other direction, it would start unscrewing itself from the pole pieces. In fact, several different ones would start to loosen as well.

It got really hard on the hands, too. I’ve been losing my grip strength for quite some time, and all my finger joints have osteoarthritis, so for me, that’s to be expected. Plus, after a while, that left shoulder of mine – the one I injured when I had my fall in the summer – was starting to really feel the strain.

Still, I was able to get some of the debris out. Once I got as much as I felt I could (no, I could not clear them completely), I moved over to do the long eavestrough on the East facing addition.

Which is when the septic guy arrived, so I paused to keep kittens away from the tank until he was done and the gate was closed.

It was while I was working on this second section that the brush broke, which you can see in the fourth picture.

*sigh*

I got the second one on and continued trying to clear the eavestrough.

Trying.

I did get some out, at least, but definitely not all of it. I’m not even sure if I got most of it out.

Then I got called in to take a phone call.

It was Meals on Wheels.

After hearing the message I left this morning and had contacted the Senior’s Centre to try and figure out what happened.

They called the wrong person.

There is someone else with a very similar name to my mother’s. Similar enough that she sometimes goes by the same name as my mother.

Just first names, of course, but that’s what they went by when they called my mother.

The fact that my name actually came up as the possible person that canceled my mother’s Meals on Wheels means that they did know who they were talking to – and yet, the woman who delivered my mother’s meal just an hour or so earlier was saying she had NOT delivered to my mother.

Whatever confusion there was, the Meals on Wheels lady got it straightened out. It was never my mother that they were supposed to call.

As soon as I found that out, I called my mother to let her know. It turned out she already knew. Her Meals on Wheels had been delivered and the same person had delivered it, so she passed on what happened. So that all got straightened out, thank God!

While talking to the woman from Meals on Wheels, she told me that my mother had called the Senior’s Center earlier and was saying something about my coming over to do bulk cooking for her. She actually thought that my mother had cancelled her home care lunch visits! I told her those had not been canceled, and took the opportunity to mention that my mother was starting to have cognitive issues. If they were to ever get any sort of call about her service, I asked them to please call me to confirm. I explained that, with the limitations on home care meal assists, these Meals on Wheels meals are the only complete meals my mother is getting. She completely understood.

Oh, dear.

Now that I’m writing this, I suddenly find myself wondering.

Could my mother have called home care, too, and cancelled her lunch visits, after I left?

*sigh*

Checking on that will have to wait until tomorrow, and I’m not going to be home for most of tomorrow!

After calling my mother and updating my siblings, it was back to cleaning the eavestroughs. In the last photo of the slide show above, you can see how it reaches the eavestrough. At that angle, it can’t get much of anything, so I keep having to bend it back to a sharper angle.

After that section was done, I moved to the side of the entryway, where this is rather short eavestrough. That one is the hardest to get at. The ground below is sloped more than other areas, which would be good for drainage, except that it slopes towards the well, so we really don’t want water getting under there at all. There is also a couple of rows of the enameled bricks we have all over the place – I remember them from when I was a kid, even – that I really want to remove and replace with gravel, as they are dangerously slippery. Access to the basement window is there as well. Basically, there are a lot of things in that corner that makes getting to the eavestrough very unsafe.

It also has a different design of eavestrough, made of galvanized steel instead of aluminum. The brush could actually get into it a bit better, and I was able to get out some very composted leave mold out of there.

I still couldn’t clean it out completely, though.

Finally, the last section to do was over the sun room. That one was actually pretty clear and didn’t take long.

I did go back and work on the East facing section and got more stuff out, but there was no way I’d be able to get it completely clear with this tool.

Still, what I was able to do was better than nothing!

So… would I recommend this tool?

No. Unless all you’ve got is very light material to clean out, it’s not the right tool for the job. It will get some debris out, but not all. It might be more useful if it were followed up by the type attached to a hose, to blast away the debris the brushes loosened.

The tendency for the joins to loosen is a pain. I could work around it, but I shouldn’t have to.

Having one of the brushes break so quickly wasn’t good, either. It was likely because I kept having to bend it back into a useable angle. At least the second one lasted until the job was done.

[Edit: I went back to the order and looked at the images of the product. In it, they showed the bristle portion being bent at 90° to reach into the cutter, not bending it where it joins the pole. In the box, it was already bent at the pole. I did actually try to bend the bristle portion instead of bending at the pole, and it simply would not bend. At least not with just my hands. Partially because the bristles made grasping it unwieldy. In the end, it just wouldn’t bend for me in the bristle portion.]

Still, I was able to get enough debris out that I think it should be good for the winter. It’s better than nothing, so I am glad I have it. There’s just one eavestrough I couldn’t do, and that’s on the second floor. Someone has to climb onto the roof over the new part of the house to clean it. With how high it is, it doesn’t get as much debris into it, at least.

Meanwhile, my husband needed to go into town soon to do some blood work before a telephone appointment he has with his doctor. Since I’m going to be away for most of tomorrow and the day after, it had to be done today.

So, I was soon on the road again, this time with my husband. The clinic his doctor is in is in the same building as the hospital and lab and Xray, so he could go to the reception desk for his doctor to pick up the requisition, then check in at the registration desk we passed along the way, then then wait until he was called into the lab around the corner. Very convenient!

He was hoping he felt well enough to stop at a restaurant somewhere afterwards, just to have some fries. When I message my daughters to let them know we might be longer, my older daughter offered to send funds for a full burger meal take out for everyone.

Of course, we accepted the generous offer!

Once my husband was done at the lab, we headed over to the DQ. My husband didn’t even try go get out of the truck, and just waited while I ran in to place our order. He has lost so much muscle mass on his legs, he was having difficulty getting in and out of the truck!

Aside from lack of physical activity due to pain, he’s been on Ozempic for years. The side effect of “weight loss” with that stuff isn’t loss of body fat, but loss of muscle mass. For someone who had always been so very athletic when he was able bodied, getting to the point where he has difficulty getting in and out of the truck is really frustrating for him. He actually stopped taking it a while ago, because his private insurance will only cover what they consider a “reasonable” dose, and his current doctor doubled his already high dose. That made it expensive to pick up, until the deductible for our province’s pharmacare insurance is paid. Then it’s covered 100%. He’s been off it so long that he’ll have to work himself up from a low dose again. Frankly, I don’t think he should be on it at all. He’s on it to help control his blood sugars, along with his slow acting insulin, but he’s in so much pain all the time, his blood sugars tend to be high, no matter what. Lots of things cause high blood sugar readings, not just diabetes. Things like chronic pain, sleep apnea, poor quality sleep and stress, and I’m pretty sure the doctor that originally put him on it thought it might help with weight loss, and we all know that losing weight is the magical cure for everything that ails you, right? /sarcasm. He was even told by a diabetic nurse, before his condition deteriorated to the point of permanent disability that, until he got his pain under control, he was not going to get his blood sugars under control.

His pain is not under control. It’s more like “just barely functioning” levels – and that’s with the maximum safe doses of his current pain medication. They’ve tried him on so many powerful painkillers, and most of them just take the edge off. Meanwhile, his blood sugars haven’t really changed, even on such a high doze of Ozempic and, while he’s losing muscle mass, he has had zero change in weight. He’s had some of the other side effects of Ozempic, and they are decidedly unpleasant.

That’s no way to live, but when you’re on such powerful painkillers and they’re not really working, doctors start looking at you and thinking you’re making it up, or it’s all in your head, because it can’t possibly be because they’re failing at finding a way to help. My husband, meanwhile, has basically given up. It’s been so long, and he’s seen so many doctors and specialists, in two different provinces, and this province really sucks compared to where we lived before when it comes to healthcare. At least living here is less stressful than when we were living in a housing co-op in the city.

Today, however, was the first time he actually got out of the house for any length of time, since the last time he had to get some blood work done.

Bonus on our daughter treating us to take out. Both of the girls have been having a rough time the past few days, though for different reasons. Especially my younger daughter. She’s been caning it a lot lately.

It still seems to strange that I’m the most able bodied person in the household now.

…

… I say, as I can feel the entire left side of my body starting to stiffen up.

Time to grab some food so I can take my anti-inflammatories and probably a painkiller, too.

Being broken sucks. Still, I was able to get quite a bit done today, and I’m happy with that. Even if the new tool I got doesn’t quite live up to expectations. It really has been a good day, overall! We have much to be thankful for.

The Re-Farmer

So much progress!

November 11, 2025November 11, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I so love it when the weather is good and I don’t have to go anywhere. I got so much done today – and it’s not even 2:30, yet, as I start this!

First was a morning of phone calls.

Priority was to call about my mother’s Meals on Wheels being cancelled. I got through to the kitchen number and talked to a woman there. She told me she had listened to my message, but there is no management in today, so she couldn’t find out more for me. She did check their list, though.

My mother’s name is still on it.

Her service did not get cancelled.

So what was the phone call she got about? That is a question for when a manager comes in, tomorrow!

Needless to say, my mother was both relieved and confused when I called to let her know she would be getting her Meals on Wheels as usual.

I also got through to the septic guy.

Yup.

His truck broke down.

He’ll be here tomorrow to clean out our tank.

We’re good with that – the weather will still be good, too.

That all done, it was time to head outside.

One of the first things I worked on was emptying the rain barrel by the sun room and setting it aside for the winter. It had a solid layer of ice on the top, so I had to use the ice scraper tool to chip a hole through. Thankfully, the barrel was not completely full, and I was able to carefully tip it over to drain. It took some doing, since the hole in the ice was just off centre, but I was eventually able to get it empty enough that I could tip it completely upside down. Then it could be rolled to the spot by the honeysuckle where it stays for the winter, lying on its side. There is still a thick layer of ice in it, so I made sure that end was facing south. There’s a chance it will at least melt enough to break apart or fall flat. The barrel will serve as extra potential critter shelter in the winter, so it would be good to get the ice out.

That done, I went and dragged the insulated tarp over to the septic tank, just in case we don’t get a straw bale soon. I’m not hearing back from the renter, who is the one I usually get it from. They did give me the names of others I might be able to get from, but I’d rather get it from the renters.

Bringing the tarp over meant going past the pile of bricks that used to be the chimney from the old wood furnace that isn’t used any more. When the new roof was done, that chimney was removed and I asked them to leave the bricks, rather than haul it away with the junk. The plan had been to use them as part of a path we plan to make along the back of the house that will eventually be part of a shade garden. They piled it all on an old tarp they could leave behind, and it’s been sitting there, ever since.

I didn’t want to move the pile twice, but I don’t know when we’ll be able to make that path and it’s in the way. So I cleaned that up, next.

That old chimney needed to be replaced back when my parents bought this place, before I was born. The chimney blocks I am now using as a retaining wall and for planters were meant for that, and it just never happened.

Those bricks were in terrible shape! Most were broken. There were a few whole bricks. I stacked those, and the larger broken pieces, against the pile of logs still sitting from when we had trees cut away from the roof, years ago. The tarp was intact enough that I could use it to drag away the collected debris and pieces too small to be worth keeping. That’s now with the junk pile for hauling to the dump.

It means moving the pile twice, but it’s now out of the way, and even sorted, more or less, so they’ll be easier to work with when we finally get around to making that path.

We’ll need more broken bricks, though. 😄

That done, it was time for the big job.

I was going to wait until after the tank was emptied, but decided to take my chances and clean up around the ejector today.

Grabbing gloves and tools, I headed out to the gap in the fence closest to it. This meant going through where some old farm equipment and various outbuildings are.

Plus some really massive burdock.

I started cutting back the burdock when I got distracted. There’s an old Farm Hand tractor that I’d cut clear of self seeded maples a few years back. They were growing back. Since I had the loppers with me and was using them to cut the burdock, I cut the maple suckers away from the tractor. That didn’t take very long, though, so I was back to cutting away the burdock. Several of the burdock stems were thicker than the maple suckers I’d cut away from the tractor! Try as I might, I couldn’t avoid getting burrs stuck to me, so pulling those off was fun. Not.

I didn’t clear it all away, though. Just enough to make a path to the opening in the fence. There’s just the renter’s electric wire across it. There are some huge willow trees there, so the cows don’t seem to try to get through the opening here, unlike the old gate opening, which has a chain across it, as well as the electric wire. They do go under the willows enough to graze the tall grass on that side of the fence down, though.

The cows were moved off some time ago, so the electric fence is not hooked up to a power source right now.

Here are the “before” pictures I took.

In the first picture, I’m standing in the lower area the grey water is supposed to be draining towards. You can just see the small trench I made to help it flow through. The whole area was really rough after the excavator buried the new ejector, so that needed to be worked around.

Those boulders and all the other rocks you can see were from the hole they dug to reach the pipe.

The second picture in the slide show above is where the problem lies. Instead of draining down the slope, things are pooling at the end of the old sheet of metal roofing that’s there as a diverter. The snow fence is something my brother had put around to keep the renter’s cows from accidentally trampling the new ejector. It’s nowhere near as tall as the old one was.

The third picture is of the inside of the fenced area, where the diverter is. Yes, there is a long sheet of metal hiding under that mess!

The last picture in that series is the view from just inside the “gate” of the snow fence.

I had to cut my way through burdock to get to the fence and access the area. To get to the rigged gate of the snow fence, I had to cut my way through Canadian Thistle. Those were as big as the burdock, and getting stuck on those was a lot more painful!

Inside the snow fenced area, it was mostly old nettles I had to get through, plus some young burdock and a LOT of crab grass. Plus a few burrs.

This is what it looks like, after I cleared all that out as best I could.

One of the main concerns with laying that sheet down as a diverter was that it might get blown away, so we put some logs and a big rock on it, to prevent that from happening. In the first picture, you can see the logs at the end.

The second pictures shows the first part of the problem. So much debris had lain over the metal, it actually flattened it on one side that the grey water was, at least partly, draining off of their instead of all the way to the end.

In the third picture, you can sort of make out the other part of the problem. The soil is rough and there’s a bit of a lump on one side. It seems to be just enough to keep the grey water from flowing to the lower area. Instead, it’s draining to a different area, where it is pooling, first.

Worse, it was also flooding back under the diverter.

Last year, we had to use the emergency diverter for the grey water to be pumped into the yard, far from the house, because the new ejector froze. With the ground around it saturated, because the grey water isn’t flowing away as it should, there is a risk of that happening again.

The first thing to do was to get those logs off (the rock didn’t need to be moved) and clear the debris off the diverter. The logs then went under the sides of the sheet to create more of a channel, which you can see the start of, in the first picture below.

There was still the problem of things pooling at the end, instead of flowing away. I’d already opened up the trench more, but there was still that lump of soil that prevented the grey water from draining straight to the trench. There was no way I was going to be able to level that whole area enough with just a spade. Plus, the soil is already partially frozen.

The diverter needed an extension.

I went over to the pile of stuff nearby, where we’d salvaged this sheet of metal from in the first place, and looked around. There are still cast off pieces of metal roofing in there. I found a shorter one that I could use.

It took some fussing to get it under the snow fence, then under the big diverter sheet. The smaller piece was already curving on its own, so I could take advantage of that. I set it at a bit of an angle, then used rocks to flatten it more on one side, while raising it up on the other – then added more rocks on top, to make sure it didn’t blow away.

This left a corner of the metal sticking up, and that was something the renter’s cows could get injured on. I needed to make some sort of barrier.

Well, there are those willows nearby, and willows are known for dropping their branches. I had lots of deadwood around to drag over!

In the third picture, I tried to stand in the same place is when I took the first “before” picture. There’s a willow branch that does off to the left. Out of frame, it’s actually still attached to the tree. I dragged it across, but it wouldn’t break all the way, and I didn’t have the tools to do anything about it. I decided to take advantage of it, instead, and it added to the deadwood barrier I was making.

The fourth picture is the “after” shot from just inside the makeshift gate. Looking so much better!

The fifth picture is after I adjusted a bit more at the end. It looked like there was still a possibility of grey water flowing back under the long sheet, after pouring onto the new extension, so I put more support under one side that will hopefully prevent that from happening. I also stepped on key points, on both sides of the snow fence, to bend the metal and make the channel more defined. You can see that on the outside, in the last photo.

With the tank not emptied yet, this whole time I was working, it was possible that the pump would be triggered and I’d have grey water to deal with while I worked. All it would have taken was someone flushing a toilet or washing some dishes. It seems the pump’s float had been triggered recently enough that it didn’t happen. I did consider asking a daughter to turn it on manually, so I could see how it flowed with the new set up, but in the end, decided against it. If the tank was recently pumped out, there might not have been enough greywater to run through, and I didn’t want the pump running dry. I can check on it later and will be able to see.

Once the septic guy empties the tank, it will be a while before the grey water side is filled enough to trigger the pump. Hopefully, that will give the soil enough time to drain. It shouldn’t need long, since it’s all sand and gravel, but we do have a lot of clay, too, so it’s hard to say. Between the cleaned up diverter, the heat tape that’s still on the above ground portion of the ejector, and the wind shelter my brother built around it, hopefully it won’t freeze again this winter!

So that was the main project I wanted to work on today. I still want to head out again later to see what else I can get done while it’s still light out and warm enough. I don’t be digging up and cleaning any garden beds, but there’s always something that needs to be done! Since I’m taking the truck in on Thursday and going to my mother’s on Friday, I basically have today and tomorrow to get as much done as possible. After Friday, the day time highs are expected to just barely rise above freezing, so it’s hard to say what progress can be done after that.

I can’t believe almost half of November is already gone. Where did it go???

The rest of the month is expected to be relatively mild. With or without progress outside, I am appreciating that. The older I get, the less I enjoy winter. My hands are cracking and splitting from the dry cold already, just for starters. Winter is just rougher on everything, from our bodies to the house to the truck to the yard cats… everything!

So I am enjoying and appreciating every bit of mild weather we can get!

The Re-Farmer

Truck, garden bed and cuteness

November 4, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

This morning, I did my rounds after feeding the yard cats (I counted 32 this morning), as usual. I even remembered to take pictures of the finished garden bed in the old kitchen garden.

Hopefully, the leaves will at least somewhat keep the cats from digging in it but, when I looked at the section of the wattle weave bed I cleaned up and covered, I noticed evidence that at least one cat had gone through it, leaving flattened patches behind.

And dug through to the soil in one spot. I did not see any “presents”, though, so it’s safe to click through to the next picture.😄

I headed out early to drop the truck off. Along with the keys, I gave them the printout from Canadian Tire that showed what they worked on. As I was heading out, I remembered the recommendation with the wires. It wasn’t in the printout, because I declined the work, so I headed back.

It’s so funny to bring something like that up with three mechanics in the room! I think one was actually a customer, but he clearly knew what he was talking about. When I mentioned that they recommended replacing the spark plug wires, all three of them started talking shop about why that might be. They agreed to check the wires, too.

I also asked them to replace my headlight, letting them know I’d bought a bulb and where it was. They were also going to look for the source of the oil leak while changing the oil. That there was oil on the spark plugs gave them an idea of where to look. My brother said it was likely a gasket, but I didn’t think to mention that at the time.

Then I headed out, first for a quick lunch, then to run errands. I stopped to take care of renewing my driver’s license in person, since the postal strike meant I hadn’t received the letter about it, yet. The vehicle insurances rolls over to monthly payments automatically, so she gave me a printout of what those would be. The cost to renew my driver’s license went up by $10, but my insurance went down by a couple of dollars per month.

Then I walked to the other end of town (about 5-6 blocks) to the dollar store to check out their craft section. I’ve made my decision on what I want to make for my annual hand made Christmas ornaments and wanted to look for Christmassy yarn, a sparkly contrasting yarn and maybe some little decorative embellishments.

There wasn’t anything.

Oh, they had their Christmas section up, but in the crafts area, there were no Christmassy materials. There was a time when, every year, these sections would get a whole bunch of items for Christmas; yarn in Christmas colours with metallic strands in them, baubles and beads, cordage, blank ornaments, etc. I haven’t seen anything like this in craft sections for years. Only Michaels, the only craft store franchise we have left in Canada (and I hear they might be closing down) had them and, being a specialty craft store, they have most of them year round, since it can take months to do some seasonal crafts.

In the end, all I got was a couple of skeins of yarn in green and red. I might have something in my stash that I can use as a contrasting edging, and I should be able to use some other things I can add. I think I still have some things in appropriate colours left I can use for hangers, too. It was pretty disappointing, though. That dollar store is pretty much the only place to get crafting materials of any kind, locally.

Once I was done there and making my way back towards the garage, I stopped at another store where I found some things my husband requested. Then I stopped at a bank machine to take out the cash I’ve budgeted for getting our septic tank emptied for the winter. The last stop on the way back to the garage was a hardware store, where I got copies cut of our new front door key. I still need to test them out.

By the time I got back to the garage, I was starting to have issues with my left hip. The truck was in one of their bays, so I dropped my bag off in the truck before going through to the office. The door was closed, though, as the manager was on the phone, so I stayed by the truck and chatted with the mechanic that was working on another car next to it.

It turned out the truck was done! He told me they did find the source of the oil leak, but that was something they would give me an estimate for before ordering in a part, so it was something to talk about once I was in the office.

First, we went over what they did do. That included replacing the headlight.

The bulb I had, though, was blown out! They couldn’t use it. He asked me where I got it from, and I told him – including that I had gotten it for “free” by using my Canadian Tire dollars. He was happy to hear that I didn’t pay for it. I didn’t take it back. He had gone ahead and used one of their own bulbs in inventory and replaced it, figuring I’d still want it done either way. He was right. Even with that, the final bill was under budget!

I asked about the wires that Cdn Tire had recommended I replace (which would have brought that bill to over $800, and that did not include the $150 or so they charged, just to look at it).

The wires were fine. Nothing wrong with them. They did not need replacing.

He made some guesses as to why they might have recommended replacing them, to which I added, “or it might just be Canadian Tire. We’ve been burned by them before.” I told him, if I had had any choice, I wouldn’t have gone there in the first place. He didn’t say anything overtly, but did agree with me.

After that bill was paid, we talked about the oil leak.

It was a gasket.

The oil cooler line seal, to be specific.

The part itself was only about $20, and they figured only half an hour in labour, so about $100 in total.

I booked the truck for next week to get that done.

When he told me it was a gasket, I mentioned that that was exactly what my brother was expecting.

It turns out the mechanic knows my brother! At least enough to ask a few polite questions about him. He clearly thought well of my brother. That was nice!

As for talking about trading in the truck, I brought that up when I dropped it off. This is a conversation to have with the owner, though, and the mechanics don’t do the car sales part of things. The mechanic/manager I was talking to, though, did understand why I would want to do that, even though the truck is perfect for our needs. In the end, it’s a conversation for another time.

The main thing is, the truck is running well now, and got the all clear. The only issue is the leak. I was told to check the oil every week until it was fixed, but I just booked the fix for next week, instead.

The only down side was when I tried to pay for the work using my Cdn Tire MC, which is what I will be using when we do our Costco trip, too.

It was declined.

It turns out that the payment I’d made against it is still “pending”. Which means I might not be doing the Costco trip tomorrow, after all. That’s where I put our budget (gotta build those Canadian Tire dollars back up).

I was still able to do a small grocery shopping trip after we were done, though. Just a few times to last us, in case the payment takes a while longer to be released.

By that time, my hip was really starting to hurt, not just feel unstable. Before heading home, I messaged to ask if someone could meet me at the garage to help me bring my shopping in, mentioning that my hip was giving out. I didn’t have enough to warrant parking by the house, but too much for me to carry in one trip.

When I got to our driveway, my daughter was waiting by the gate.

Surrounded by cats.

With more cats, all down the driveway!

She had probably 20 cats out, following her, with the more social ones around her feet, demanding attention! I had to actually drive carefully, because there were so many of them – and of course, one of them kept running ahead of my on the driveway, instead of going off to the side, like the others.

This was one of them.

I got this picture after we’d brought everything to the house. I so want to snuggle this kitten! I’ve been able to sneak a pet, every once in a while at feeding time, but that’s it.

So that is how things went today.

Catio done, crazy wind damage and an interesting find

October 25, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Today was supposed to be a much warmer day. Technically, it was, but we also had high winds, so it sure didn’t feel much warmer!

The winds showed exactly why I needed to get the catio finished. The bottoms or the front panels I had to leave unsecured because it got too dark and too cold to continue were flapping in the wind.

I had some very curious helpers!

If you click through above, there’s a short video of the kitten being adorable.

Working on the bottom of the catio had its challenges, but the biggest one turned out to be Kohl. She absolutely HAD to be right in there, trying to lick my fingers and giving me little nips if I didn’t pet her often enough.

Once it was done, I figured it would be easier to make a video to share.

The only problem was that the door was loose. Previously, I was able to tie it in the mostly closed position, so it wouldn’t get blown around in the wind. There is a brick to keep it from closing all the way, but it sometimes gets knocked over and I’ve found the door closed a couple of times, just since it got moved to this location. Since it’s not latched, a cat inside could push their way out, though it might take them a while to figure it out, and it would be harder for the smaller kittens. No cats would be able to get in to the food, water and shelter, though.

What I ended up finding was a small Bungee cord with hooks small enough to fit onto the wire mesh. I’ve got it looped around the handle. It’s stretchy enough that larger cats can push their way through the gap, but strong enough to keep the door from being blown around – plus securing the door like this helps keep the brick in place, too.

All in all, I’m very happy with how it has turned out. There are a few finishing touches I’d like to do, but they aren’t essential.

After I finished with the catio, I had intended to work in the garden, but it was just too windy. Instead, I worked on putting things away for the winter. The canopy tent was really being blown around, so that is not down and tucked into the garage for the winter. Then it was puttering round, doing things like getting the insulation set up around the based of the house, putting the hoses at the back away, etc.

While I was working, I heard some load noises from somewhere in the outer yard, so when I had the chance, I went looking around to see what had been blown over.

Yikes!

It turned out to be a wall!

This old log building has been slowly collapsing more and more for many years. It’s a shame it was allowed to happen. I remember playing in there when I was a kid, and it was in front of where the chain link fence is now.

With the wall down, I went closer to take a look at things. We’re definitely going to have to get that cleaned up as soon as possible. There are a lot of nails and sharp things sticking out.

There is also an oil drum that is now visible, though not in the angle of the shot above. Something sitting on top caught my attention.

What that a fire brick?

There turned out to be two of them.

Yup. They are fire bricks. I had to remove moss growing on one of them.

After taking the picture, I looked up the name on the bricks.

It turns out they are vintage fire bricks! Claybank Brick Plant in Saskatchewan is designated as a national historic site! It operated from 1914 to 1989, with a brief closure in 1916, partly due to WWI.

The bricks are now in the garage.

There is so much stuff in there, including what appears to be salvageable small lumber and possibly a stack of plywood? I can just see the edges of them, with no indication of size, other than there being some smaller ones in the stack.

After inspecting the wind damage on the old log building, I went around the yard to see what other wind damage there might be. No new fallen trees, thankfully, but I did find some larger fallen branches. My mother’s angel by the gate is still upright, though! I’ve no doubt that, were it not secured to the concrete base under it, it would have fallen over with today’s winds.

While I was still outside, I got a call on my cell phone.

It was home care.

*sigh*

They don’t have anyone to cover my mother’s morning med assists, tomorrow. This was a time slot that actually had someone scheduled, not one of the “unfilled” slots. I went in to call my mother and left a message, then headed back outside to finish a few last things. When I got back in, I thought I saw a new message on the machine and listened to it. It was my mother talking about not getting her meds regularly, and that’s why her health is failing. I called her back but she was confused when I mentioned I’d heard her message. She hadn’t called me today! (She hadn’t seen my message to her, either.) It turned out I had listened to an old message.

Ah, well. I needed to talk to her, anyhow. She’s still upset about having the male home care workers from India. This time, she saw something on the news about a “new” gang from India that the police found. Nothing about where, but now she assumes that if the home care workers are from India, they must be gang members.

*sigh*

Anyhow.

I encouraged my mother to ask the home care workers for help more often, and she didn’t get angry with me about it, so that’s an improvement. Since I’ll be there tomorrow morning, I’ll be taking care of a few other things as well. Her current schedule was done before we had the meeting with the home care coordinator, so it doesn’t reflect extra time for this, but I noticed that she’s got 15 minutes for the morning, 5 minutes at supper, and 10 minutes for the bed time meds. If they’re going to be available to do things like make her a small meal, they’ll need to increase at least the scheduled time at supper.

With that in mind, I’d better get to bed before midnight for a change. :-/

Tomorrow is supposed to be just as warm as today. I hope the winds won’t be back. If I’m going to get any winter sowing done, I need to rake up lots of leaves to mulch the beds right away. I wasn’t even going to try, today. It would just get blown away!

Well, crud. I just checked the forecast. Apparently, it’s going to be even windier, tomorrow!

At this rate, there might not be any leaves left in the yard to rake up for mulch!

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

Paid in full, and winterizing progress

October 24, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, I seem to have pushed myself a bit too much, yesterday. I actually needed to use painkillers before doing to bed last night. In the morning, I asked my daughters to do the morning routine while I took more pain killers and tried to get a bit more sleep.

Which the cats sabotaged, of course!

My younger daughter needed to hit the grocery store, so she went along with me to the hardware store to pay the balance on the new front door. I even got Air Miles on it – and on the deposit I’d etransferred back when I first accepted the contract.

While there, we looked around for something to use to secure the vinyl I wanted to wrap around the catio. I knew what I needed it to do, but didn’t know what there was that I could use to do it. All the different things we looked at were either not flat enough, not strong enough, too strong, etc.

Finally, we just sort of gave up and starting looking at hand tools.

Because my daughter and I both have a thing for tools!

When someone asked if we needed help, I figured, why not? I brought up some pictures of the winterized isolation shelter and explained that I wanted to something that would do what the wood lath did to secure the vinyl, but narrower, and showed him a picture of the catio.

After talking about it for a bit, he took us over to a display we’d walked right past and showed us their steel strapping. I did already have some at home and would have preferred to not use metal, but in the end, it really was the best we’d be able to come up with. So we got a roll of 25′ galvanized steel strapping to supplement what I had at home, which would not have been enough for the job.

Then, my daughter treated us to lunch.

Well…

Breakfast, really.

Her disability has finally started to come in, so she had a small budget.

After lunch, we did her shopping, then headed home.

As soon as I was settled in and changed, I headed out to work on the catio.

The first thing to do was cover the door, on its own. For that, I repurposed some of the old vinyl that had been taken off earlier. It was a bit frayed so, after measuring the door, I doubled it up and duct taped parts of it to hold it together, and reinforce stress points.

Because of the latch and handle, one corner got folded under when it was time to attach it to the door.

Attaching the steel strapping to the bottom was the most difficult part. I don’t bend well.

I then measured the height of the sides for the next part. It is 50″ tall, and the clear vinyl dining table protectors I got for this are 52″ wide.

I am very glad I moved that folding table under the canopy tent near the catio!

I spent the next while setting strips of duct tape half way under one of the long edges of a vinyl sheet. The duct tape is 2″ wide, so I set it so the vinyl was around the middle – at least as close to the middle as I could manage. Kohl decided she REALLY needed to be on the table and giving me kisses! Even if it meant stepping on the sticky side of duct tape!

Plus, it kept getting windier, and I had to weight things down all over the place.

Once I had tape under the edge of the sheet, I turned the duct tape over, folding the vinyl to create a 1 inch “hem”.

Then I did the same thing on the other side, to bring it down to about 50″. I didn’t care if it wasn’t exact. In fact, a little excess extending past the based would be quite acceptable.

For the short ends, I folded duct tape over the edges to reinforce them, then added more to reinforce the corners.

By then, I’d been outside for quite some time and, while it was supposed to be warmer today, the wind made it feel colder – and the wind was picking up more. So I messaged my daughter and she helped me reinforce the edges of the second sheet. I was getting really chilled, so when that was finished, we weighted things down so I could go inside and warm up. After about half an hour, I headed back out – this time with a jacket!

In the first photo above, you can see the covered door. Instead of cutting off the excess vinyl, I folded it under, instead.

Then I cut away the rope handles at the corners. They were great for making it easier to move the catio, but they would be in the way of the vinyl wrap.

When I started attaching the side panels, I started with the one that needed to be folded under at the corner. In the next picture, you can see both, with the diagonal strips of steel strapping to keep the folded under edges from catching in the wind.

For the side panels, I didn’t expect to finish today, as I knew it would be getting dark soon. I focused on getting the front panels secured at the top and sides, then did the top only on a side panel. You can see in the next picture how far I got with the first sheet. I repeated the process on the other side.

I had forgotten that, when I fixed this thing up, I used metal strapping to secure the mesh on the side near the door hinge, so that had to be worked around. I had also used metal planted to reinforce the corners, so the strapping couldn’t go right to the corners. Which is okay. As long as the corners by the door were secured, the vinyl wrapped around the corners would not be as much of an issue.

Once both sheets were attached at the front and sides, the remaining vinyl was blowing in the wind, so I wrapped them around the back and secured them with short strips of steel strapping at the corners.

Before I even finished that, though, I saw a problem that I suspected would happen.

The two sheets were not long enough to meet at the back.

There was no way I could leave things like that, with the wind. I needed to close up the back.

Back I went to the leftover vinyl from last winter, cutting off a strip a fair bit wider than the gap. The top and bottom got reinforced with duct tape.

In the next picture, you can see the metal plate the top. When we were given this catio, the back was all one open space. I added a vertical support in the middle, then covered it with a couple of pieces of wood lath to secure the wire mesh. I added these metal plates all over the place while repairing and reinforcing the catio!

Working around the metal plate, I secured the gap filler with the steel strapping and a screw on either side of the metal plate, which you can see in the next picture.

Before securing the ends of the larger sheets, I made sure to go all around to pull things snug and straight. The catio is elevated by bricks, and the vinyl is long enough to hang below the bottom edge, and I had to make sure all the bricks were pushed in and flush with the edges, so the vinyl wouldn’t be pulled out of position. Once everything was as flush as I could get it, I could secure the edges at the back, setting them over the gap filler, rather than under. Once the corners were pulled as snug as I could, they got secured with screws, which you can see in the next picture. That done, I could finally screw the ends of the strapping in place.

The bottom did not have a metal plate, but the very middle did have the seam between two pieces of wood lath, so the initial screw needed to be off centre. I tugged and pulled to make sure there would be no gaps – the pieces don’t quite line up at the bottoms, since none of the edges were completely straight – before I secured the gap filled in the middle. Then it was repeat the process, to secure the overlapping pieces.

That was as far as I could do tonight. It was getting too dark and too cold! Securing the bottoms will wait until tomorrow.

Aside from that, though, it’s basically done. Here is a slide show of how it looks now, from all sides.

I had several cats who were just fine, going in and out of the catio, while I worked on it! Some even tried to “catch” me through the wire mesh from the inside.

Last winter, the wind tore at every loose bit of the covering. This winter, with the door having its own separate cover will make a difference, as will removing those rope handles. The steel strapping and reinforced edges should keep things from tearing away – I hope! In theory, I could probably get away with adding trapping to the bottom of the front panels, only. The back is already reinforced, and the sides are quite snug at the bottom. I’ll still had some strapping, though.

Tomorrow.

That done, it was time to put things away. As I went into the garage to tuck things into their places, I noticed I was being watched from the top of the truck!

Adam does not approve of my presence!

Pink seems to have moved into the rafters of the garage again – at least for the night. We do see her around the house, and she goes into the isolation shelter to eat. I even saw her on the rail outside the sun room, and she enthusiastically excepted pets. She even gave me kisses!

However, my working on the catio did get interrupted by a cat fight by the isolation shelter. I went over to break it out and found Pinky cowering behind the bin in full defense mode, while Patience threatened her! Even when she comes around other cats to eat, she will growl and snarl at cats that come close.

If we aren’t able to get her to the rescue to adopt out, I’m thinking of making a shelter for her in the garage. Something better to stay warm in, than the rafters!

Oh, that reminds me.

We heard from the foster that took our six cats and kittens. The one adult with the infected ear – they have been calling her Mila – has not been adjusting. She doesn’t get along with the other cats, and is growling and snarling at the humans. She will be getting spayed soon, and they’ll be checking her ear at the same time and determining treatment. The foster was wondering if we were okay with taking her back after, rather than trying to adopt her out.

She got along fine with the cats here, was a regular in the cuddle puddles, and even let us pet her, so I said yes.

They will keep her for a week after spay for observation. If things don’t improve, she will be coming back to us.

Poor thing. She is a real sweetie. I thought she would have been good for adopting out.

But I digress.

It was getting quite dark by the time everything was put away, and I switched out the trail cam cards. As I returned to the house, I saw this handsome fellow.

There had been two other cats with him but they ran off when I got closer. Midnight has been spending a lot of time in here, now that the heat lamp is going! I also saw a fluffy kitten using the hammock while Pinky was in there, earlier in the day. I think the cats are quite happy to have this shelter back beside the house!

I think the more feral cats will be happy with the winterized catio, too.

Tomorrow, I finish securing the bottoms of the catio, and then it’s back to the garden beds. I have been planning out what I want to winter sow and where. The weekend is supposed to be quite warm, so that will be a perfect time to get caught up. Monday is also supposed to be on the warm side, but we’re also supposed to start getting rain again. I should be able to get the winter sowing done fairly quickly, though, since I don’t need to use all of the cleaned up beds for that.

If all goes well, things should be done and ready for winter fairly soon!

In the garden, at least…

😄😄

There’s always something more to do! I’ve pretty much given up on being able to get a new bed started before winter, though. I was really hoping to be able to harvest more of the dead spruces for raised bed frames.

Ah, well. We shall see how the weather holds! Pretty much everything hinges on the weather. Especially this time of year, when every pleasant day is something to take advantage of. It won’t be long before the snow comes!

I am becoming much less of a fan of winter, every year, since we moved out here, that’s for sure!

The Re-Farmer

Finally! Several times over!

October 22, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Thankfully, there was no rain today. The installers were able to get our new door in!

I headed out quite early to feed the outside cats, then make sure the gate was open for the installers. We have had the folding table I made out of folding legs and a piece of plywood I found in the basement set up under the kitchen window for some time. The hand rail to the door runs past it, and the isolation shelter needs to be set up there for the winter, so I moved the table out and cleared the patio space under it. Then, since it was clear anyhow, I set up the pieces of insulation that go against the basement wall for the winter. The table itself, I set up next to the elm tree outside the kitchen window, keeping it handy for the installers, if they needed an extra surface. It will be folded up and put away for the winter, later.

They did end up using it, along with one they’d brough themselves that was almost identical in dimensions!

Once inside, the makeshift barricade to keep the cats out of the entry while they worked was set up. Then I made myself some breakfast.

I was settling down to eat when I heard their truck and trailer backing up to the house. I headed out to greet them and touch base, then went back in. After I finished eating, I found I had a decent amount of time before I needed to go to my mother’s, since we worked out that I would do her grocery shopping after the meeting with the home care coordinator in the afternoon.

I took advantage of it and started working on what was originally supposed to be a wattle weave wall in the old kitchen garden.

The first photo was before I started working on the bed and had brought the stakes over.

Hard to believe that those black looking stakes are also maple, and were as bright as the new stakes, originally! They turned black after the first major rainfall.

You can see my initial attempt at wattle weaving in that first picture, too. Removing those was my first order of business. Once they were clear, I raked away any leaf litter that had blown into the area I would be working on, and clear out a few weeds.

Once that was cleared, you can see in the second picture that I wrapped twine along all the uprights. In the third picture, I’d laid out the first stakes that would be pounded in. These would be placed in the middle of each of the ones already in place, using the twine to keep them in line with the other stakes.

In the first photo above, the next set of stakes were laid out, with my spare on the side. These would go between each of the stakes already pounded in, in a slightly offset row, which you can see in the next two photos.

You can also see the hammer and board I used to pound them into the soil. The board was set at the top of each stake, and I used the flat side of the hammer on the board to pound them in. That pretty much assured I’d never miss, and wouldn’t be damaging the tops if I did.

With all the stakes in place, I started putting the pieces I’d tried to wattle weave, back, running them in between the offset rows. Some of them were rather bent from being woven around the stakes for so long but, for the most part, they went in fairly well. Some pieces were pretty wonky, though, leaving gaps. Once they were all in place, I went to my pile of smaller willow switches and use them to fill in gabs, making for a thicker and more solid wall. You can see how that looked in the first two photos.

Then I grabbed the loppers and headed into the spruce grove. In our first years here, I’d cleared up and cleared out the poplar growing in a few spaces along the edge of the grove. Poplar being poplar, they’ve been growing back. I found the straightest ones in the size range I needed, cut them down and trimmed away their branches. I also gathered some much smaller, narrower pieces to weave into the ends of the garden bed.

In the last picture of the slide show above, you can see the wall with the new lengths added. The pieces woven into the sides helped lock in the larger pieces in the deadwood fence at the ends.

Then, I forgot to take pictures of the rest. I’ll do that in daylight, tomorrow!

As the deadwood was laid between the rows and pushed down to the bottom, the stakes started to get pushed outwards slightly. I decided to secure them with twine, basically joining the stakes together in a zig zag pattern, making sure they were snug against the tops of the deadwood as I packed them down as much as I could.

I should have waited on the twine.

My original thought was to cut the stakes to just above the height of the deadwood, so they weren’t sticking up too high above it. I decided to see if I could get them pounded deeper into the soil, and more secure. For that, I headed to the garage for a sledge hammer.

Which did a mighty fine job of getting the stakes deep enough that I didn’t have to trim any of them! I was even able to pound in some of the original stakes a bit, too. Those ones I am keeping taller, though. They have matching height stakes on the opposite side of the bed, and will be used to hold hoops or whatever gets used to add protective covering to things growing in it, if needed.

Unfortunately, in the process of using the sledge hammer to drive the stakes deeper, I ended up snapping the twine in two places, and I had to take care of that before I could call it done.

Building the walls on this bed is now FINALLY finished! Now all it needs is another weeding, and it’s ready for next year’s garden.

By the time I was done and putting things away, I had time to change and get ready to head to my mother’s.

The installers were also finishing up! By then, they were putting the hand rail against the wall back. I couldn’t believe how well it worked out (there was minimal water staining visible when they took the old frame out, and everything else was still sound), and how quickly they got it done.

We finally have a proper front door again!

What they were NOT able to do was put the storm door back. It’s too tall for the new frame. It was handy for when we run the drainage hose from the washing machine out the window, but is no longer actually needed. The new steel door itself is built for Canadian winters. We won’t be getting any more frost at the bottom, or at the hinges!

The door now swings from the opposite side of the original door, by my request. That meant the arm bar had to be moved to the other side, too, since it needs to be opposite the hinges. It had to be mounted slightly higher because of where the handle and deadbolt are located, compared to the original door. The screen on the door can be removed, so we can still run the hose out the window when we do laundry, and the cats can’t get at the opening anymore.

I am very happy.

Then, it was off to my mother’s.

*sigh*

Short form. Honest.

I showed her a picture of the new door, thinking she would be happy. Instead, she was at first confused about which door it was (even though we’ve talked about it several times), then she didn’t seem to like the look of it (??), then she got really angry when I told her they couldn’t put the storm door back on because it wouldn’t fit. I got a lecture about how, if they’re not willing to do it, I should go find real professionals who would do it for me.

My mother makes a big deal about planting garlic, so I tried showing her pictures of the finished garlic bed with planting of spinach and Swiss Chard between the rows of garlic before covering the bed for the winter.

She became thoroughly disgusted when I mentioned buying seeds. I should be saving seeds (and planting spaghetti squash; that’s essential, suddenly). Which I have been, but apparently, seeds for things I’ve never grown before should magically appear or something, and spending money on seeds is stupid. Also, I need to plant spaghetti squash. Basically, she was really happy about insulting me for not gardening like she would. Practically chortling with glee in the process.

I tried showing her other pictures of the garden beds I’ve been preparing for winter, but gave up. She started ragging on me about how I keep talking about all the work I do in the garden, but never the benefits. I told her, the work is the benefit! I enjoy the work.

Turns out, that wasn’t what she meant.

Apparently, I get nothing from the garden. Ever. Not any of the stuff I’ve brought for her, even though we had so little produce this year. Things like drought and heat waves and a summer of endless smoke from wildfires means nothing. I should magically have a successful garden, every year, and it should be just like she used to have (or, at least, how she now imagines she used to have).

…

We tried talking about the upcoming meeting about her home care need and, in the process, I found out our vandal had visited again. He had shown up at the same time as her supper med assist, so he went into the common room. Even from her apartment down the hall, with the door closed, she could hear him loudly talking to people there, though not what he was saying. Knowing him, he was slandering me and my mother about this property. After the home care worker left, he came to her apartment and started ranting at her about the usual; that she “gave” the property to me (which she hasn’t), and so on. He wouldn’t let her respond to anything, of course, and didn’t leave until she started crossing herself repeatedly.

I asked when this happened, and she really struggled to remember. She did remember that it was after their exercises (which is why there were people in the common room), which meant Tuesday. Which was yesterday. But she couldn’t remember that it was yesterday.

We talked more about my mother accepting more med assists, like meal preparation, dress assists, bathing assists – basically, all that they’re allowed to do for her. She really does need the help, but her refusal to accept it is part of what’s keeping her from being approved for a nursing home, like she wants. She started getting angry at me, saying “I’m not used to having servants”. I told her, they’re not servants. They are helpers. Let them help!

That sent her off on a racist rant about the male home care workers, all of whom are apparently from India. I cut that off and told her, she can’t be saying stuff like that to the workers.

We also got her shopping list worked out in between all that.

Then the home care coordinator arrived, right on time.

The poor woman. She’s trying so hard to help my mother.

In the end, we were able to get her to accept allowing them to do meal assists on those days when she’s not feeling well, and we talked about the sorts of things they can do – quick cooking, reheats, etc. She said she would accept a shower assist once a week (she sponge bathes only), and she actually requested help with getting things set up so she can soak her feet once a week. She would accept dress assists, if needed, too. She might not need all of this every day, but we stressed, the more help she accepts, the better. We don’t want her to fall and hurt herself.

The coordinator also had to explain to her that she can say things like “I don’t want a man touching me”, in refusing their assistance with certain types of care, but she should NOT be going on about their race or country of origin. My mother tried to say, “I’m not going to lie.” I told her, you don’t have to lie. Just don’t say anything! The coordinator concurred.

It was a long and difficult meeting, but we did get progress.

There were a couple of forms that need to be signed every year, so when the coordinator was done, I followed her to the home care office, where I signed on my mother’s behalf. One of the forms was a list of what the clients needed to do for the home care workers, ranging from making sure driveways and sidewalks were clear, to ensuring the clients had no access to guns or knives. No using illicit drugs, no smoking within an hour before they are scheduled to arrive, no verbal or physical abuse…

Much of it didn’t apply to my mother, but a few lines where highlighted in regards to how the workers are to be treated!

She also gave me an emergency responders kit to replace the one on my mother’s fridge. My mother’s was incomplete for some reason. So when I got back to my mother’s, I went through her copy of one form, then filled in the information for the first responders sit. If she needed to be taken to the hospital by ambulance, they would grab this package and have all the info they need, from her meds list to my contact information, and signed permission for me to be her advocate, doing all the things I’m already doing on her behalf now.

That took quite a while to finish off! But it’s done. Finally!

Hopefully, my mother will behave.

I’m not holding my breath.

The paperwork done, I went to do her shopping. After I got back and put everything away, I had the idea of making a list of what she typically eats for her meals. This way, if she asks them to make her toast, they will know if she wants butter or jam or whatever on it.

Unfortunately, my mother just started to get angrier and angrier. She doesn’t trust people to make her food. She can do it herself. She doesn’t want to be a bother (ha!). Etc. I don’t know what she thinks they’d do to her food, but she even started saying that if this is what she has to do to get into a nursing home, maybe we can set aside getting her into a nursing home for now.

I was not impressed.

She is determined to sabotage herself. It’s so hard to help her, when she does this. Then, of course, she blames everyone else and has no understanding that her own actions are the problem. She simply can’t grasp it, and it’s getting worse as she gets older.

She and our vandal are very much alike is many things.

I finally set the list aside for later. By then, I’d been there for over 4 1/2 hours. The meeting was finally done, and I could finally go home!

Well… after a stop at the grocery store for a few fresh items we were out of.

At least coming home to our nice new door cheered me up a bit! I am so happy with it!

We need to find someplace to store the storm door, though. It’s still leaning against the house.

Things are supposed to warm up over the next few days; especially on the weekend. We are no longer getting rain in the forecast. Which means I’ll have almost a week of good weather to get more garden beds ready and do more winter sowing. We also need to winterize the bottom of the cat isolation shelter before moving it by the house, where we can plug in the heat lamp and heated water bowl. The catio needs to be moved, too. Pinky no longer uses it. I think she’s returned to the rafters in the garage, where she used to hang out last winter.

I plan to take advantage of every pleasant day we’ve got, before the end of the month stock up trips need to be done!

For now, however, I am mentally and psychologically exhausted. It doesn’t help that my eyes are still achy from the dilation drops and vision tests I had done, yesterday.

I think today is a good day to get to bed early!

The Re-Farmer

Victory, fixing an angel, wind damage, and finally done!

October 15, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I’d say I did have a productive day today, though not quite how I originally planned.

Being a warmer day, I was going to head outside to work in the garden earlier, but with my telephone appointment from the sports injury clinic in the afternoon, I decided I didn’t want to be working in the dirt before handling the phone.

So I worked with epoxy, instead.

My mother had an angel statue in her apartment for many years. It’s meant to be outdoors in a yard or garden, but she kept it in her living room. It’s about three and a half feet tall and, I’ve determined today, made of fiberglass.

My mother has been trying to get us to take things or claim things of hers for when she “goes up up”, and she decided the angel should go here to the farm. My brother and I decided that it will be set up by the gate, for our vandal to see the next time he gets all creepy for the cameras again. My mother loved that idea!

As we were taking it from her place, though, my brother discovered one of the wings was cracked. We didn’t want water to get in, so we wanted to use some epoxy on it to seal it up, first.

I decided I would do this today, so that we could get it outside by the weekend. We already have a spot for it, with a chunk of old side walk block for it to stand on. I just have to figure out how to secure it, or the angel will go flying in the wind!

I had picked up some clear epoxy for it. When my brother came out this past weekend, he brought me some clear epoxy for it, too – the exact same stuff that I’d picked up! So we have extra now. 😁

The type I got has a plunger that squeezes out both the resin and hardener in equal amounts at the same time, which made things easy. I mixed a bit up and applied it to the crack. There’s no way to clamp such an odd shape, though, so I had to try and press the edges of the crack together with my hands while the epoxy set.

Which is when the entire wing broke off.

!!!

So now I had to figure out how to set the angel so I could use gravity to help me hold the wing in place, so I could epoxy the whole thing together. At least we could see that no water would get into the body of the angel.

As I tried setting the angel flat on the floor, I heard another cracking noise.

The angel is holding a bird in its hands. I just broke a wing tip off.

*sigh*

I was able to lean the angel against a shelf, applied the epoxy to the wing and had to stand there and hold it in place for at least 5 minutes, which is what the packaging says is the set time. It was probably closer to 10 minutes before I felt I could let it be and could go do something else for awhile.

While I was standing there, holding the wing in place, I could see on the other wing why it broke off so easily. The wings were added onto the angel separately, and I could see a seam where the wing joined the body.

You can see on the second picture, how it looked before I finally dared straighten the angel back up again. Then I mixed up a bit more epoxy, and attached the broken wing tip onto the bird. I had to sit there and hold it in place, too. This time, I remembered to use the timer on my phone. After 5 minutes, I moved away to start putting away the epoxy syringe into its packaging when I heard a clunk. The wing tip fell off! So I held it for another 10 minutes. It seems to be holding fine, now.

When it gets set out, I’ll probably just find a way to tie it down to the concrete base to keep it from blowing away, for now. Eventually, I will make a little flower garden around it. Since that area is lower and tends to flood in the spring, I am thinking to dig out some of the sod in the lower area, where I can see someone started to make a ditch at some point, and use that as the base to build up soil around the agnel. I am thinking of bringing rocks to frame the flower bed. Digging up sod from nearby will create a deeper, mini-pond like area for the spring run off to collect in, and maybe I won’t be slogging through water when switching out the trail came for a change!

That is for the future, though. The important thing is so make sure the wind won’t carry the angel away!

Like it tried to do with this tree I noticed while doing my evening rounds today.

We never heard it go down, but it clearly came down during the recent high winds. You can see the difference in the wood from the freshly fallen tree and one that fell many years ago.

This tree is one of the ones I wanted to harvest for raised bed walls. It’s hung up on other trees, but pretty low to the ground, so I should be able to harvest it to use in the garden, still.

Anyhow…

After I got the angel done, I basically just stayed indoors until I got my call. The doctor was right on time, too! It was a very quick call. When the doctor asked how I was doing, I was able to give him a glowing report on what a huge difference the injection made for my hip. From the sound of his voice, I don’t think he gets such an enthusiastic response very often! 😄 In the end, all he had to do was tell me to get back to them should I have issues again in the future, and we were done.

When it was time to head outside, my daughter came out with me to help put away the things I organized last night. I fed the cats first, and she took advantage of that to try and pet as many kittens as possible. There are a few that are starting to allow touches, if not outright pets.

There was, however, a major victory.

She was able to pick up and cuddle Smokey!

Smokey was purring and snuggling and enjoying every minute of it!

Oh, she is going to make someone very happy when she gets adopted out!

Just a few more days, and she’ll be off to the rescue with her brother, along with four others, for fostering as they get prepped for adoption. She and her brother, plus one other cat, are large enough for spays and neuters. The three littles we’ll be snagging will need to grow bigger before they are ready.

Once my daughter sadly put Smokey down, she went ahead of me to the old garden shed to make some space in it, and get the rolling seat in, first. From there, I started bring stuff over for her to put away in an organized fashion. She’s very good and Tetrising things!

Once everything was put away, I wanted to finally finish off the garden bed I’ve been working on for way too long now! Between being pulled away to other things, and the weather, it’s been very slow going even without the issues with roots.

It is, however, now finished!

I had so little left to do, but there were so many tree roots in there! I can’t believe how bad it was! No wonder the peas and carrots didn’t do as well as they could have. It wasn’t just drought conditions! I’m amazed they survived at all, with so many roots choking them out.

Once the bed was leveled out some more – the back of a fan rack is great for that – I brought out the plastic that was used to cover the winter squash, folded in half, so the big hole was not an issue, and set that over the bed, to protect it from cats until I can winter sow into it. Even while I was working on it, not only was I finding “presents” the cats had left, but when I stepped away to do things, like get the loppers to cut the larger roots, I came back to find fresh presents in the soil! Grommet (you can see him in the second photo) was particularly interested in what I was doing and, at one point, was about to use the spot I was working on, like I’d dug it out just for him to use as a litter box, while I was right there, picking out roots, weeds and rocks!

What a cheeky bugger!

That done, it was time to head inside for sustenance and hydration that my daughter prepared for me. I didn’t head out again as, by the time I was done, it was getting too dark.

Meanwhile, I’ve heard back from the company about our main entry door replacement. The door was delayed during the pre-painting process, but it will arrive tomorrow afternoon (Thursday). The guy was working on booking the installers, but it’s expected to rain on Friday, so he’s hoping they can come in on Saturday.

*sigh*

I’m looking at the forecast now. It has changed, of course. We are now expecting to get rain starting tomorrow afternoon, continuing off and on through Friday.

Which means that if I’m going to get more beds cleaned up and ready for winter sowing, I’d better be getting out there much earlier tomorrow!

Hopefully, the remaining beds won’t be as ridiculously full of roots like this one was, and they will go faster! There are four beds left to do in the main garden area – these are the 18′ long ones, so I want to get them done, first. There is a 9’x3′ bed, plus a 4′ square bed to do in the east garden area, and then the old kitchen garden needs to be done. Once the main garden beds are done, the others should go a lot faster. Aside from being smaller beds, they shouldn’t have as many tree roots growing up into them!

Looking at the long range forecast, it does look like we’ll have the weather to get this done. Amazingly, it has changed from the possibility of snow in the last week of October (I can’t believe the month is half gone already!), to warmer temperatures, and even a day that’s forecast to hit a high of 20C/68F! Then it’s supposed to rain during the last 5 days of October. That’s when we’ll be doing our city stock up trips, so that actually works out for me.

Of course, the forecast will change when I look at it again, tomorrow. I’ll take what I can get for pleasant weather, though. It’s not as pleasant as the one fall where we got our first frost in November, but still better than getting snow storms, like some have gotten up north already, but I’ll take what I can get!

Little by little, it’s getting done.

The Re-Farmer

Today’s progress – running around and work accomplished… sorta

October 11, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I am so glad my brother said he would take care of my mother’s morning meds today, after we got the call from home care saying they didn’t have anyone to do it!

After feeding the outside cats and doing my morning rounds, I grabbed breakfast, then backed the truck closer to the inner yard. I didn’t want to go too close to the house while loading the back, because of all the very curious cats and kittens!

Speaking of which, I did a head count of all the cats and kittens I could see this morning. I counted several times and got a different number each time, but the highest count was 42. Mostly kittens. I’ve been messaging with the rescue group and mentioned this, commenting on how I can now see why we’re going through kibble so fast. I told them I got four 40 pound bags when disability came in at the end of Septembers. Sixteen days, and we’ve gone through three of them. I had to start the fourth one, today. They asked if I could last a week. I think we might be able to. They also asked about the prices for 40 pounds bags, and I was later able to send them pictures of a couple of receipts from the two different feed stores I go to, and the two different brands I get from them. A rescue would certainly be on the look out for better prices on kibble!

Anyhow…

I am so happy we have that new cover installed on the truck!

We were finally able to take the garbage from cleaning out the sun room to the dump. After I loaded those much bigger bags from the sun room clean up, with my older daughter distracting kittens away from me and the truck as best she could, she helped me get the household garbage out of the old kitchen, where the bags go until we can do a dump run. With all the kittens running around, it’s easier to have one person pass these smaller bags through the screenless window in the storm door to a second person. That way, only one person has to dodge kittens! 😄

This is the first dump run we’ve been able to make since we took the truck in for repair and getting the new cover installed. With the extra garbage from the sun room clean up, it filled the entire space under the cover – and no worries that something would blow away on the highway!

Once the truck was loaded, I was off to the dump. I got there right at 10. There was already a truck parked on the road, waiting for the gate to be unlocked. It turned out that the car in front of me was the attendant! I had it in my head that they opened at nine, forgetting that winter hours starts at the end of October, not the beginning. Glad I didn’t leave for a 9am opening!

By the time I unloaded the truck, there was a whole crowd of vehicles that had come in behind me, including a dump truck with two huge crushed cubes of garbage. !!! I’m happy to say that the area in front of the pit was relatively clear of huge piles of garbage. I’m still nervous about getting a flat tire every time I got in there, though.

That done, it was off to the pharmacy in town. I wanted to get refills before I ran out. I’m glad I didn’t wait. I have my anti-inflammatories, and my stomach meds to protect from the anti-inflammatories. I take the stomach meds only once a day, but can take up one or two anti-inflammatories, up to three times a day. If I were to take the max dose of the anti-inflammatories, I would finish both at the same time. I only need to take a couple of anti-inflammatories once a day, though, so those last a lot longer. I’d actually picked up a refill a while back, but it has disappeared, and I never used any of it. I’m still finishing my first bottle. I suspect a cat knocked the second bottle of the shelf, but I haven’t been able to find it, anywhere! So I had to get another refill.

The stomach meds, though, have already been refilled twice before, and my prescription was done for refills. The pharmacy would have to fax my doctor to get an extension. Unfortunately, today is a Saturday on Thanksgiving weekend, which means the earliest the doctor will get the fax is on Tuesday.

Once again, glad I started this now, and not later! I’ll have enough to last until the updated prescription is in. If I’d waited, I would have run out, and I really don’t want to do that. These have saved me from so much pain and stiffness, it still amazes me.

Meanwhile, I was able to get the other refills. While the pharmacy was taking care of that, I headed over to the grocery store to pick up a few things before Thanksgiving.

I didn’t have much on my list, but I did spend time going through the store, looking for something I might want to add to our Thanksgiving dinner. I should have picked something up while in my mother’s town, yesterday! They had much better sales on pies. This store had sales, too, but they were not only more expensive even with the sale price, you had to buy two of them to get the sale price, Otherwise, they were regular price – and there was no way I was paying that much for a small pie!

Taking my time at the grocery store gave the pharmacy the time then needed to fill my prescriptions. They were just bagging it up when I got there. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get the missing one on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, my brother had surprised my mother by showing up to do her morning med assist instead of the home care worker. He also had a couple of Thanksgiving dinners my SIL had packed for her. She was very happy about that and said they would be her lunch and supper! 😊 He stayed long enough to take care of her portable air conditioner and the window set up for the winter. He was done and already here at the farm before I got back from my own errands, so I went over to see how things went. She can be particularly cruel to him.

She turned out to be having a good day today, and was actually mostly kind to him. As we were catching up, he remembered to tell me my mother brought up about me and the farm. I immediately became suspicious, but he told me it was good. She had brought up about how we are paying for the utilities here, and he said yes, plus things like the internet, and fixing things, and so on. She started to say how she wanted to help. I told him, she has teased about helping with the door replacement a couple of times, but I don’t expect her to. He assured me, she’ll help with the door replacement. As her PoA, he could even make it easier for her and do an etransfer, or she can write me a check, if she prefers, but he says she intends to help with the door. She wants this place to be in good shape.

I don’t trust her. She’s burned all of us, at one time or another, by making promised and then backing out at the last minute. She has cost my brother many thousands of dollars by doing that. Even the times she has helped, like with the new roof and replacing the septic ejector, it was because my brother made sure she followed through. She actually tried to back out of paying for the roof like she promised, after the work was done, because she refused to believe it should cost more than a thousand dollars (it was around $15,000, I think), even though we got estimates and showed them to her.

I trust my brother, but there’s only so much he can do, and I don’t trust her.

We shall see. Lord knows, we could use the help after this past very rough couple of years, and my brother knows it.

Meanwhile, as I got caught up with my brother, I came into the house to find my purchases had all magically put themselves away. 😄 That allowed me to go back outside and try and get some work done.

Painting the isolation shelter and a few other things, were priority. It was supposed to be a much warmer day today, but it has been insanely windy.

I did get the painting done, though. The new paint is very noticeably lighter! I don’t care, though. I made no effort to try and keep the new colour off the painted parts. When I find something better to bring in for colour matching, we’ll get another can of paint in the right shade, and give what I got painted today a second coat, after winter.

The sliding windows had to be removed, of course. I was careful when painting the tracks, as I didn’t want them to get filled with pools of paint by accident.

In the first picture, you can see the box to shelter the ramp opening. Later on, I want to flip it upside down to paint the inside, but that’s not a priority. I got the old plant stand painted, and it’s sitting on a couple of broken sidewalk block pieces to keep it above ground.

The second picture is the side where the sliding window can only side towards the front, not over the insulated side wall. There was a bit to do in the front, and a single piece on the back that needed to be done, but most of the painting needed was on the sides.

I did not do the wire mesh door. It was so windy, I was starting to get an ear ache and had to head inside for a while.

After a break, I headed out again. By then, the paint was no longer wet to the touch, so I put the sliding windows back, which you can see in the third picture. Everything was sliding just the way they should!

That cats could now use it, too. Without those windows, the wind was blowing through so much, it actually blew a corner of the hammock loose!

My next project was to continue that garden bed I’d done half of.

Just in time for it to start raining!

I stayed out as a light rain came and went, while thunder rumbled in the distance, until it finally started coming down too hard to stay outside.

The first picture is the “before” shot. The second is how far I got before it started raining too hard.

So. Many. Tree roots. I think I got about half way down that side. Maybe a bit less. The rock bucket is a little over half full.

Once the roots and rocks were cleared, the soil was wonderfully light and fluffy. Perfect to grow in – if we didn’t have to worry about those roots coming back!

I’m glad I got as much done as I did. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get back at it. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, but rainy. We’ll be having our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, anyhow. I plan to pack up a care package for my mother and visit her on Thanksgiving day. She will be getting her Meals on Wheels, though, so it will be for later in the day. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be quite chilly, with overnight lows reaching below freezing, but then it’s supposed to warm up again. That will be my time to get the beds finished, then start some winter sowing! I’ll have to go through my seed packs and work out where I want to plant things. Some things will be more appropriate for the old kitchen garden, right against the house. Others can be planted well away from the house, as they would get harvested in the fall. Some beds will get the winter sowing marked clearly, so that I can sow other things among them in the spring.

I’m really looking forward to having a better gardening year than this one was!

The Re-Farmer

Got some progress in, and cat news

October 10, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

As I was finishing my rounds this morning, I got quite a few cat pictures that I could send to the rescue. Including this one of Rolando Moon.

Rolando, being one of the cats my late father cared for, is not up for adoption, but I wanted to share that face with the folks at the new rescue!

I shared quite a few other pictures as well. There was a fair bit of messaging throughout the day, and some things were finalized. One person is going to take in 6 cats herself, not this weekend, but next. There is another cat she is fostering right now that is going to a forever home this week, and the extra days will give her time to clean out the room she has for fosters before she can take more.

That’s something we can’t do. Have an entire room in the house dedicated to cats to be isolated for a week or two!

We have confirmed I will be delivering Smokey and her brother, the cat with the severe ear mite infection, plus three friendly kittens. None of the more feral ones, on this trip.

I had sad news to share with the rescue people, too.

Last night, around 1am, I was still up and tending to the inside cats, when I decided to give the outside cats a top up in the sun room. I figured the skunks and raccoons would have cleaned their kibble out by then, and I didn’t want them to be too hungry before the morning feeding.

As I was adding their kibble treat to various trays in the sun room, cats came running – except one, in one of the cat beds.

It was one of Frank’s remaining two kittens, passed away.

*sigh*

I was kind of expecting it, as her kittens were pretty sick, but still…

At least I can say it passed away while being in a cuddle puddle, and not cold and alone.

I let my older daughter know, as she was available at the time, and she came out with a flash light so I could bury the kitten. His brother actually came running and was so curious about what was going on, it was hard to get the job done! I finally was able to grab him and take him with me as I went to put the spade away, while my daughter found larger rocks to put over the new grave, so nothing could dig it up.

When feeding the cats this morning, Frank’s remaining little got to have his own bowl of special food in the old kitchen, supervised by my daughter, before getting an eye wash. He was pretty active and eager for attention, which was encouraging.

After the morning routine and planting of garlic, I was off to my mother’s, set to arrive after she’d had a chance to enjoy her Meals on Wheels lunch. I had quite a few things to get done, including helping her with her feet, so I brought along my micro-pedi thing and a proper set of toenail clippers, with plans to leave them with her. She has a fungal infection on a couple of her toenails and refuses to use the prescription treatment for them, because it was so expensive, so I don’t want to be bringing the stuff I use on her toes back home with me!

When I got there, though, she was lying down and her Meals on Wheels tray was on her table, untouched. My mother had forgotten that I was coming. She said she wasn’t feeling well, but since I was there, she got up to join me, and eat her lunch.

She had not made a shopping list, so we did that together. It was a really short shopping list this time. She still had much of what I’d picked up for her, last week.

When I called her last night about coming over today, I asked her to take a package of chicken out of the freezer that I could cook for her. I had been thinking of the meaty legs and thighs, but she took out the split wings, instead. After I got back from the grocery store, she even had them out and in a bowl, where she’d started to rinse them off.

Before I left for the grocery store, though, we got her laundry started. The wash would be done by the time I got back. Which is exactly how it worked out, so I got her stuff in the drier, and her third load started, before I got to work on the chicken.

I asked her how she wanted me to prepare them and she seemed surprised by the question. It turns out she just boils her chicken. (She never uses her oven for cooking; instead, she uses it to start pots and pans!) She’d even brought out a small pot and a large frying pan do use to cook them, as she doesn’t have a single pot large enough for the package. She asked me how I would have prepared them for myself and I mentioned a few things. She almost went with pan frying them, but she decided she really wanted that chicken stock.

So… boiled split wings it would be!

Then I asked her what she usually put in with them. Once again, she seemed surprised by the question. Water? was her response. Then she asked me again, how would I do it. Knowing what she had in the fridge, I said I’d be adding some carrots, celery and onion to it, some salt and pepper…

Then she remembered she was almost out of salt, but forgot to include it in her shopping list.

She had enough for the day, though, and told me to go ahead and add the vegetables to the chicken, too.

I’m glad she went with that because it turned out she was intending to have the chicken as a soup for her supper. Now, she would have chicken and vegetable soup!

That reminded her of something else she wanted us to pick up for her. “Tiny macaroni”, she said. I didn’t know what she meant and tried to get more details, but she got really frustrated that I didn’t know what she was talking about. I told her, there are a lot of different kinds of pasta out there! Did she mean orzo? Couscous?

I don’t think she’d heard of either before.

When she still couldn’t find the words to tell me what she wanted, I got my phone and and started searching for small types of pasta so I could show her pictures. I found one to show her, and it wasn’t small enough.

When she started talking about it being quick cooking, so she wouldn’t have to stand at the counter for long, I had a light bulb moment. I did some more searching and found a picture to show her.

She was talking about ramen noodles. She was very excited when I found the pictures for her!

Talking about her having food that cooks quickly, it got me to bringing up her home care again. She needs to have them come out to help her more often. Not just med assists, but help with dressing, making small meals – even if it’s just to make her some toast, or heat up a can of something for her, which is about the extent of what she’s up to on her own – even bathing.

My mom just got more and more frustrated at the idea. Her comments against it came down to “I’m not used to having servants. I’m used to doing things myself.”

So… that’s how my mother sees the home care workers. Not as people helping her with her medical needs, but as servants.

I told her, she’s causing her own problems by not accepting help she needs, because this care would get her into a nursing home faster. It’s either that, or have a fall!

I’m hoping she’ll come around.

This did give us a chance to talk about something else. I got a notification for a voice mail this morning, which meant there was no signal and the call went straight to voice mail. It took a few tries before I had enough signal to listen to the message, as the wifi calling isn’t working for some reason. It was this morning’s home care aid. She told me that she had emptied my mother’s commode and fount it very full, cloudy and smelling strongly. She’d asked my mother if she felt burning or any pain while urinating, and was told no. She brought up that she didn’t now if maybe it hadn’t been emptied for a while.

So when my mother and I talked about it, I asked her if she had any symptoms of a UTI, and she had none. Then I asked her how long it had been since the commode was emptied (it’s supposed to be done every morning).

I didn’t get a straight answer, but she started talking about one particular home care worker that is always in a hurry and leaves as soon as she gets my mother’s meds out. I told her, they are supposed to empty it every morning – there is extra time scheduled for my mother’s morning assist for stuff like this. She told me she can empty it herself, and I said no – that’s their job for a reason! I told her, just imagine trying to go to the washroom and having a fall, while carrying that bucket!

Hopefully, she will insist on it in the mornings. Otherwise, this will happen again. She shouldn’t have to, though. It’s part of their morning assist, not just the meds.

When I got home, I checked the schedule. My mother had someone yesterday with a name I didn’t recognize. The three previous mornings where this person my mother has issues with, that just comes in and leaves, without even making sure my mother takes her meds.

Which means that, potentially, that thing wasn’t empties for 4 mornings.

!!!!

Anyhow…

I stayed around until her chicken soup was cooked and her laundry was done and put away. I got some sweeping done, but I never got to do her feet. She wasn’t up to it. By the time I headed out, I had been there for almost 3 hours. I made a quick stop at the grocery store for ourselves before heading home – just some bread and eggs for now. Tomorrow, after I do the dump run, I will be going into town to pick up prescription refills, then going to the grocery store there, where prices are a bit better than in my mother’s town.

Overall, my mother was on one of her good days, though I had to redirect her to other topics a few times. There were also a few times when she was moving around, leaning on walls or furniture as she did, where she made sudden outcries of pain.

She really needs to be in some kind of supportive living, or a nursing home. It’s so frustrating that the home care office that decides this hasn’t approved her for it!

By the time I was heading home, it was late enough that I asked my daughter to feed the outside cats. When I got home, there was a message waiting for me, saying that she got it done, that she had a chance to pet all sorts of cats she’d never been able to touch before…

… and she couldn’t find Frank’s last little grubling.

*sigh*

Once I was home and settled in, I updated my siblings on how things went with my mom, including about what she remembered she wanted from the grocery store, after I’d made the trip. Then I got changed and headed outside to try and get some stuff done while there was still enough light.

That included checking the sun room for a missing kitten.

I found him in the same place I’d found that little white and grey tabby, a few days ago. Under a shelf, looking like he was all curled up for a nap.

*sigh*

I headed out to bury him beside his brother then my cell phone rang.

It was home care. They didn’t have anyone to do my mother’s morning visit tomorrow.

*sigh*

While I had the person on the phone, I mentioned finding a voice mail earlier in the day. I said that if a call goes straight to voice mail, that means I’m not getting a signal, so to call the land line instead. For some reason, while outside the house, I had enough signal to get that call, but would not have gotten it, if I were inside the house.

After pausing to let my family and siblings know about the call from home care, I continued the sad job of burying Frank’s last kitten. I updated the rescue about that as well. Two kittens in one day! 😢

I was starting to lose light, so I started working on the box for around the front of the isolation shelter ramp door, to keep the winter weather out. Parts of the roof were cracked, as was the front panel. I started out trimming the smaller opening in the front panel first, when I got a message from my brother.

He was planning to visit my brother tomorrow, and said he could do the morning med assist!

That was so, so appreciated!

He wanted to call me to talk about it, so I quickly popped inside so I could use the land line. We went over what gets included in my mother’s morning med assist. He confirmed about the grocery items she remembered later on, so he will be picking that up for her. My SIL, meanwhile, was making a chicken dinner to pack up for my brother to bring and have an early Thanksgiving lunch with her. It’s also that time of year for him to put away her portable AC for the winter, and set in the Styrofoam insulation in the window opening for the night. The glass in the window was removed so my mother could have the AC, and is set aside to be put back after my mother finally gets to move out and into a nursing home.

That done, I headed back outside again. Once the duct tape patching was done, I got out what I was planning to use as handles on the sides, so it can be carried more easily, and without damaging the plastic parts more.

The white piece of wood on the side, with a matching one on the other side, is the new handle. It’s the same thing I used for the legs, except they are half the length.

I’d picked up 1″ wood screws to attach these, as I’d run out, only to discover I really should have picked up 1 1/4″ screws. In the end, I attached them with two screws on the outside to hold them in place, then with three more screws through the thinner plywood on the inside.

Thankfully, my drill and driver both have lights on them, because it was pretty dark by the time I was finished, and the inside of the box, of course, was even darker!

It is now ready for painting.

Since I’ll be running around so much tomorrow, even without a trip to my mother’s early on, I’ve asked my daughters to do the painting, as soon as the morning chill is gone. Which will probably be around 10am. I want the paint to have as much time to cure as possible before the chill of the night. The exposed wood on the isolation shelter needs to be painted, the entry box needs to be painted, there’s a plant stand I scrubbed clean that can be painted, and plus there’s the wire mesh “door” for the old basement that we didn’t use this summer, as it was part of the platform in the sun room before we did the deep cleaning. There was plenty of grime from messy cat feet that needed to be scrubbed off of it, so I figure a paint job would help protect the wood, even if we don’t end up using is as part of a cat platform again.

Once the painting is done, there’s some rigid foam insulation inside one of the side walls that has been thoroughly scratched up by cats, so I want to cut a new piece for that. Then I want to wrap the bottom half with vinyl for the winter again, plus add handles to make it easier to move around.

All of which can be done after the paint dries!

Getting this done has been pushed back by other things coming up, so often. I’m just glad to have gotten it all to the point that all the painting can be done at once, rather than piecemeal – and that my daughters will be able to get it done for me while I’m running around, again!

That will give me more time to focus on getting more garden beds clear of weeds and tree roots, and finishing the inside wall of the garden bed in the old kitchen garden.

Little by little, it’s getting done!

The Re-Farmer

Rescued! Also, I feel like an idiot.

August 30, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

What. A. Day.

I had a pretty sleepless night, with concerns about our foundling kittens. I kept checking the critter cam and had to chase out the raccoon family and a couple of skunks. The foundlings were set up in the carrier that has a lid in the roof, in hopes the mother, or one of the creche mothers, would go in to them, but none did. One of my daughters and I fed them kitten soup with a syringe again. They were very hungry, but it was a very messy way to feed the kittens! A couple of them preferred to either lick the food off my hands, or “nurse” on my hand while my daughter carefully squirted the food next to their mouths. Before returning a kitten to the sun room, I made sure to wipe down their bellies and tried to stimulate their neither regions, like a mother grooming them, with a cloth to get them able to eliminate.

The first picture is the kittens, after we found them yesterday, and the second is where we found them. Not the clearly visible mower on the right. We had to move that one out completely to reach the second one, barely visible on the left. That’s the one they were under!

With a couple of kittens preferring to lick at the food, we also place a small shallow plate in the carrier with them, in case they wanted to eat again during the night. It was empty by morning, but that could have been some other cat jumping in with them and eating it. When we fed them this morning, we left the plate with some food in it with them, again.

Meanwhile, I reached out to a stray cat group chat I normally just lurk on. After talking to the Cat Lady, I am a bit leery of being active on there.

I explained about the kittens, and that we had come to the conclusion that the mother is no more. I was hoping someone knew of anyone able to foster the kittens, as there’s no way we could keep up with the care they needed. Even just feeding them every 2 hours was not something we could manage, and we aren’t even in a position to bring them into the house. I estimated them to be about 3 weeks old but, after looking at some photos, came to the conclusion that they are less than 3 weeks old. Not by much, but definitely not more than 3 weeks.

After some discussion, my morning plans changed. I needed to go into town to pick up some refills for one of my husband’s injections. It was suggested I try the local branch of the humane society, so I looked up their hours. They had some very strange hours, but they were open today, for two hours starting at 8am, then again for two hours starting at 5pm. I left in time to get there just a few minutes past 8am…

… only to find a hand written sign saying they were closed for the “rest of” the day. “Rest of?” They hadn’t even opened at all!

So much for that.

My next stop was at the vet clinic to see if they had any kitten formula. They did, so I picked up a tin. Talking to the staff as I bought it, I got the names of two other rescues to try.

That done, I had half an hour before the pharmacy opened, so I made a stop at the grocery store to pick up a breakfast I could eat in the truck while waiting for the pharmacy to open their doors. My husband’s refill was already prepared, so that didn’t take long at all, and I was soon on my way home.

Throughout all this, I was updating various people, including the Cat Lady, keeping them up to day. One of the people on the stray rescue group started messaging me privately. She was in the city and ran a small cat rescue, and she told me that, if I couldn’t get through to any of the other places recommended to me, to let her know, as she would take them. As we were talking, I explained why we were in no position to give the kittens the level of care they needed. In the end, she told me to please bring them to her! All she asked was for me to include the formula for them, which I was more than happy to do.

I had not been home for long when that decision was made. I mixed up a small amount of formula and was going to feed them, before we worked out when I’d be heading out. The kittens were sleeping peacefully, though, so we skipped it for the time being. The kittens, however, were a real mess! They looked like they had taken a bath in the now empty plate of kitten soup!

When the time came to leave, I quickly grabbed a puppy pad to put between the kittens and the now messy cat bed that I’d put on the bottom of the carrier for them, then headed out.

I had my phone set up on the dash board holder with Google Maps giving me directions to where I needed to go in the city. I was almost at my mother’s town when my cell phone started to ring. I recognized the name as the woman from the group that had given us huge amounts of donated cat food last year. I should have been able to answer the call hands free, but it just wouldn’t work. I finally had to pull over and tried to talk more directly into the phone, but it still wouldn’t work. I could sometimes hear here talking, but couldn’t even turn on the speaker phone to hear her properly. All I could tell is that she was starting to get angry because I was … using up her minutes? Her battery? Something like that.

It was the Google Maps app that was messing up the call. I finally figured out how to stop it from trying to give me directions, even after I’d closed the app, and could finally talk to her on the phone.

She had called to tell me, don’t give the kittens to this women.

???

I asked why, of course.

She is overwhelmed. She takes on too many cats. She keeps asking for food donations. She was asking for ear mite medication. She had some cats with really bad ear mites… Her heart is in the right place, but…

Funny. When I was going to meet up with her about the donated cat food, I’d gotten a warning about her, too, saying “her heart is in the right place, but…”. In her case, though, her actions have gotten the province involved and resulted in colony cats being killed rather than rescued. To have her now “warn” me about this other woman with a rescue that said she would take the kittens was… intersting.

She again basically ordered me to not give the cats to this woman. I finally told her, I’m pulled over on the highway, on the way to the city, right now. Do you have somewhere else I can take them, or what? Because we are not in any position to care for such small kittens.

Oh, you’re doing a good job already…

She was making assumptions based on what I had been telling the group about what we were doing with the kittens. I did not, of course, tell them about other stuff, like the various disabilities and other health issues we are dealing with in this household.

When it became clear that I was going to this woman’s place anyhow, she seemed to get pretty angry at me again. She then told me to scope her very small house myself when I got there, and to only believe a quarter of anything she told me.

I thanked her for the warning, and continued on my way.

Thankfully, getting to her place was pretty straightforward. After parking as close to the house as I could, I messaged to let her know I was there, and what I was driving.

Which is when I saw the messages in the group chat, where the woman that called me was telling the woman I was about to meet that she should not take the kittens because she already had too many cats and had an ear mite issue. Both claims that she responded by saying it was already dealt with.

Before I could even get out of the truck, she was coming over with a box to transfer the kittens into.

She told me that she had already been to a dollar store and back to get puppy pads and other such supplies in preparation for the kittens – and she mentioned the woman that had told me not to bring the kittens! I told her that I had just read the conversation about it, and that I’d gotten a phone call, too. It turned out that the ear mite situation had already been addressed, and she was just looking for more meds to have on hang, in case she got more cats with ear mites again. The other issues had already been dealt with.

From all I could see, everything was looking fine. I had zero issues over turning the kittens over to her.

That done, I was soon back on the road and headed home.

By the time I parked the truck, I had received messages and photos. The kittens have been bathed, toileted, fed and set on a warming pad.

Here are the before and after pictures; the second one was sent by the women who took them in.

I took the first picture through the door of the carrier, after they were loaded into the truck. What a mess! that cat bed turned out to be just covered in spilled kitten soup.

The second picture is after they got bathed and fed, and there is a warming pad under the blanket they are on. She got all that taken care of so quickly!

Meanwhile, I’d kept the Cat Lady up to date. Once home, I let her know about the kerfuffle on the group chat and being ordered not to give the kittens to this person. The Cat Lady knew both of them and was honest in saying she didn’t trust either of them! It seems the cat rescue community if filled with all sorts of such antagonism.

No wonder she’s getting out of rescue.

The kittens, however, are now rescued and will be well cared for!

I am now more convinced that their mother was Brussel, though I’ve gone from about 10% certainty to maybe 25% certainty.

Note I say “was”. Once again, Brussel did not show up at feeding time today. By now, I don’t expect to see her again.

I was talking to my brother this evening and mentioned to him that, if I didn’t go outside, looking for a data signal during the power outage yesterday, I would not have heard the kitten crying. With no mother around, they probably would not have lasted long at all, and we would never had known there were even kittens in that old shed.

Serendipity, to be sure!

Speaking of my brother…

Not long after I got home, I got a message from my SIL, letting me know they were on their way out! I was not expecting to see them this weekend, but I guess their grandson was already returned home, and now they’re here.

My brother had a bunch of things he wanted to check out, including their riding mower that I told him I feared I’d broken, because it wouldn’t move anymore, though everything seemed to be fine about it.

Before I even realized they were here, my brother had already taken it out and checked it.

Then he wanted to check on my mother’s car, but it’s been sitting so long, the battery was almost completely dead, so he had to charge it, first. We parked it after I tried using it, and it started making a very alarming banging noise when I tried to drive it. I turned around and came right home, and it hasn’t moved since.

It also had a flat. I’d found it with two flat tires during at the end of the first winter it was parked. I used the compressor to pump them up and the rear tire has been fine, since, but the front tire was flat by morning, every time I pumped it up. So I eventually stopped.

Then there was the compressor itself, which had started to trip the breaker every time we used it. When that happened, I would have to get a daughter to come over with a small step latter to climb onto the counter against the back wall of the garage, to reach the breaker panel and switch it back on.

Today was a scorcher and I’d intended to water the garden this morning, but with all the kitten stuff, that never got done. I went out to water it last this afternoon, while my brother was checking and fixing things, and my SIL was already mowing the rest of the outer yard with their zero turn mower (which I won’t touch!).

When to got to where I was taking the hose to water the East garden beds, I suddenly realized my mother’s car was in the yard, as my brother hosed off the accumulated gravel dust it was covered with. I went over to talk to him and learned:

… the riding mower that wouldn’t go? Worked fine for him. He got it up on a ramp and checked under it and he found zero damage.

… the compressor was working fine. He’d even used it last weekend, with no issues.

… the banging noise I heard from my mother’s car? He found zero damage. There was nothing to make the noise. After charging the battery enough to start the engine, and pumping up the tire, the car was running fine. He was driving it around the inner and outer yard, leaving the engine running to keep charging the battery. No banging noises. Not troubles at all. We just have to make sure it’s plugged in, for the trickle charger.

… I told him why I’d stopped pumping the front tire and said it would be flat in the morning. He said that yes, it will be!

So there’s all these things that went wrong for us, but as soon as my brother checked on them, it was all working fine.

I told him afterwards, I feel like an idiot now.

He told me, that’s just how it is with him. Even at his work, it’s the same thing, People have troubles with something, he comes over to try and fix it, and there’s nothing to fix. Things just start working again for him, all the time!

So it’s not just me… 😄

I still feel like an idiot. All this time, and we could have had access to my mother’s car.

Well.

Not really.

Now that we have the truck payments, we don’t have a budget to pay for the insurance on two vehicles anymore, not to mention the extra gas. The insurance for my mother’s car, however, is just suspended, not cancelled. If we need to, we could get it active again, even if for just a short time.

Not until that tire is replaced, though.

Which means that we will still be needing the courtesy vehicle while our truck’s box frame is being repaired and the new cover installed, at the end of September.

So we almost have a back up vehicle…

Meanwhile, not only did today turn out to be another 30C/86F day, but tomorrow is expected to be even hotter. Tomorrow, I will do what I intended to do today; water the garden early in the morning, then again in the evening. Today, I used the rain barrel to water the old kitchen garden. The poor eggplants were seriously drooping in the heat! That garden got ambient temperature water, and I drained the barrel as much as I could, watering, watering and watering again! I got the other garden areas done with the hose. I even did the fruit trees and berry bushes. Everything was just so, so dry.

We’ve got just a few more hot days, and then it’s supposed to drop right down, and I’ll likely have to cover the more sensitive plants in the garden at night, in less than a week!

As for right now, I am so very tired. Hopefully, I will get a good night’s sleep tonight, now that I’m not concerned about the foundling kittens!

The Re-Farmer

The Re-Farmer

Sometimes, you need to go back, to go forward.

getting things done

A run around day, and new products to try

So much progress!

Truck, garden bed and cuteness

Catio done, crazy wind damage and an interesting find

Paid in full, and winterizing progress

Finally! Several times over!

Victory, fixing an angel, wind damage, and finally done!

Today’s progress – running around and work accomplished… sorta

Got some progress in, and cat news

Rescued! Also, I feel like an idiot.

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