having the right tools makes all the difference in the world

Testing the grass whip

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The thread lock on our new grass whip has had its 24 hours to set, and we had a lovely cool morning to test it out in. We actually dropped to 14C/57F by this morning! It was awesome!

I was originally going to test it by starting a path to the barn through the tall grass, but changed my mine. We have a branch pile started that needs to be burned, and there were some large burdocks growing around it. So I decided to make a path to the branch pile and start taking out the burdock before their burrs develop and start causing problems.

I started off just swinging it back and forth, double handed, like a golf club. Which did okay at the edge, but the further in, I had to resort to chopping with it in one direction, then the other.

I discovered a potential problem, but not the one I was warned about.

The warning was that using it was pretty rough on the hands, until you get used to it. Which I would expect, really. It wasn’t my hands that were the problem, though.

It was my messed up left elbow.

When cutting in just one direction, I could use my right hand and chop away at the tall grass – which was incredibly wet at the bottom – well enough, for it being my non-dominant hand. When I switched to my left, however, my elbow did not like it at all. I could only manage a few swings before I had to switch hands again.

Obviously, this is not a problem of the tool, but a warning for anyone else with joint issues of any kind.

The grass I was chopping through was really tall and, between how wet it was and how some of it was already pushed flat to the ground, it took some doing to cut it. I just wanted a path, though, not a clear area, so that wasn’t a problem.

The burdock was the real test. Did the whip have trouble cutting through it?

Absolutely it did. Of course! This is burdock, after all!

What I found worked best was to first use the whip vertically, to cut away the leaf stems at the stalk. It cut through that quite easily. It could also cut through the higher, more tender, portions of the stalks easily, too.

The stalks closer to the ground, though, are very woody and more than an inch thick. Those required a fair bit of hacking! Loppers would have been easier, and in the future, I’ll make sure to have them handy for that point of the clearing, but the whip did do the job eventually.

It also made short work of the other weeds that were growing with the burdock.

The larger burdock pieces got set aside, on top of the branch pile – still barely visible through the tall grass! – to be burned with the branches.

As for now, it’s just past noon and we’re at 23C/73F, with the humidex at 27C/81F. The predicted high for the day is 26C/79F, which we’re supposed to reach at around 4pm, and stay that hot through to about 8pm. It’s still damp out there, but I’m thinking of getting the push mower out, with the bag attached. We were never able to rake up the grass clippings from before, either because of the weather or other things going on. With the grass needing to be cut again, but still a reasonable height, I can use the mower to pick up the old clippings at the same time, and the wagon to haul them to the main garden area. I’ve got the black landscape cloth/tarp/whatever it is that we salvaged from around the old wood pile, years ago, laid out over where we had a squash patch last year. I want to spread the clippings out on that to dry out in the sun a bit, before using it as mulch. We may not be getting rain for a while, but with our high humidity, the ground stays wet for hours.

Another reason to mow the lawn before it gets too tall, even if it’s still wet! The taller it gets, the more it will clog up around the blade.

As for the grass whip, it was just a small test, but so far, I’m happy with it. It’ll do the jobs I got it for, and it seems it will do it well.

The Re-Farmer

The state of things, and unboxing my new toy!

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Well, the predicted thunderstorms did hit us last night! What a light show, too. Once I started seeing the lightning out my window, I went into the sun room to tie off the doors, then drop a bit of kibble around the room to attract the cats indoors. We got quite a deluge.

Some time later, I started hearing someone going through the old kitchen doors, which was rather odd for the time of morning, so I went to see what was going on. It turned out that one of my daughters heard what sounded like a kitten in distress through the bathroom window and went to check.

There were plenty of cats and kittens, but the creature in distress turned out to be a young racoon. It had jammed itself on top of the table and miter saws, which are stored between the counter shelf and the door, under a built in shelf between a pair of windows. There’s not a lot of room, there!

Thinking it might be stuck, a daughter managed to move the table saw away from the wall a bit. They also untied the doors and opened them wide. There were so many cats and kittens milling about in the doorway, the raccoon would have had a hard time getting through the tied off doors. Even when they were open, there was a lot of cat traffic. I watched on the critter cam for a while, then finally got up and put out some kibble, both inside and out, to lure the cats away from the doorway. The raccoon squished itself as small as it could, while watching me and giving the odd warning growl.

I monitored the critter cam for a while, but the raccoon was out of frame, so I couldn’t tell what it was doing. It was gone by morning, though, so that’s good.

While today is at least a little bit cooler than yesterday, we’re at 77% humidity, making our 24C/75F feel quite unpleasant, even though the humidex is only at 26C/78F. As I was coming back from the post office this afternoon, and got out of the truck to close the gate, I was surprised by the sudden fog.

Then I realized the fog was on my glasses, which were cold from being in the truck’s AC. 😄😄

As for my trip to the post office, I got a new toy!

Yes, that’s a cat’s tail under the box.

We picked up a grass whip. I’ve seen them in use in one of the YouTube channels I follow, and am quite excited to try it out.

I had plenty of attention as I attached the blade to the bottom of the handle, then used the thread glue before screwing on the top of the handle.

Then I took the blade off and put it back on again, facing the right way… 😄😄

The thread glue needs 24 hours to cure. After that, I can test it out!

This thing is very reasonably priced and has good reviews, and will be able to clear areas that are too much for our weed trimmer or lawn mower – and be much faster than working by hand or using loppers! It should even cut through small trees, like the poplars that keep trying to take over, everywhere. I should be able to clear a path to the barn with this. Just a path will be enough to allow us to mow – assuming it gets dry enough. More importantly, it can be used to clear in the main garden area, when it’s time to continue building more raised beds.

Which, given the heat and humidity and rain we’ve been having, is going to be a slow job!

It will also allow us to clear the underbrush to access the dead spruces we need to cut down, much more easily.

I’m really looking forward to testing it out! Twenty four hours from now, however, we won’t have reached the hottest part of the day, yet; that’s supposed to happen around 6pm. Which means I probably won’t test it out until the next morning. The lowest temperature of the night is actually supposed to be at 6am or so. We’ll have, at best, a 2 hour window of pleasant coolness before it starts getting hot again.

At least with this thing, it shouldn’t matter if everything is wet with dew or rain!

The Re-Farmer

My new toy

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Today, I finally opened the box with our new drain auger. Given the weight of it, I just went ahead and cut the box apart at a couple of corners. The box was made of very heavy duty carboard, yet it was pretty beat up during shipping!

The auger, however, was well padded and protected, and completely unharmed.

Pretty much as soon as I lowered the sides of the box, Ghosty was inside it, checking things out!

In pulling out the various items packed with the auger, included a pair of work gloves, I found the instruction manual and paused to take a look.

The manual was for a different model. One with a different frame supporting the auger, and two large wheels at the back, so it could be pushed around like a hand truck. This one has a frame that’s more compact, and four wheels that need to be attached. Two of them have brakes on them, so those would go onto the back. There are no instructions on how to attach them. I assume that’s what the Allen key is for.

I didn’t have time to fuss with it right then, so it’s been left for now. Once the wheels are on, we need to figure out how to get it safely into the old basement. My husband suggested using a rope, which might actually work out and allow us to take it down the old basement stairs securely, instead of taking it to the new basement stairs and going down that way. The old basement stairs are oddly narrow and steep, to fit in the space, and I don’t have a lot of confidence in how strong they are. The new basement stairs, however, have a door that swings over the stairs, blocking access to the hand rail, instead of into the entry. You wouldn’t believe how unsafe that makes it. When I was a kid, I never saw a problem, but now that I’m old and broken, and have a problem with stairs, it’s really noticeable.

Ah, well. We’ll figure it out, one way or the other!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2024 garden: a new low raised bed – almost!

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Have I mentioned, my husband is the best?

He really knows how to make my heart go pitter patter.

He got me an amazing Mother’s Day gift, and I got to use it for the first time, today!

He got me a cordless drill and driver set! I am so thrilled with it!!

One of my goals for today was to disassemble, reconfigure and reassemble a 4′ x 4′ wooden frame I had. It will be used to create a new little squash bed, just big enough for the Crespo squash.

The batteries were already charged, so all I needed to do was get the impact driver set up with the right size bit, to take the screws out of the frame. The boards are held together with 3″ deck screws, and I really didn’t want to do that manually. Especially with my left elbow the way it is. Yes, I can use my right hand, but I would be switching back and forth a lot for a job like this, and it would have taken quite a long time just to remove the screws, never mind put the frame back together again in the new configuration.

Which is when I discovered two things.

First, almost all my Robertson screwdriver tips are missing (and I just realized I’ve been calling them the wrong name for years; I’ve been calling them Robinsons). I prefer Robbies, because I find they don’t slip or strip as much.

When I finally found a tip the right size, I found it was too short for the driver’s chuck to clutch. I needed something longer, but while I found some that were standard and Phillip’s tip, I had no Robbies.

While I was going through the basement, the sun room and various tool kits, my SIL started messaging me. As we were chatting, I mentioned my frustration. After going back and forth about it, and I was finally resigning myself to having to take the screws out manually (while my husband looked up and ordered a set of impact driver bits for me!) I got a video call from my SIL. My brother was with her and trying to understand why I was having issues. So I was able to show him the chuck and the bits I had. He was the one that remembered the very first tool kit they gifted us with, which is currently our garage tool kit. He thought that kit might have an extender in it. After we were done our video call, I went to look.

He was right! Not only did it have the extension, but other sizes of tips that I knew I would need.

Which meant I was able to use the impact driver after all!

Also the extension and tips are now stored in the case, with the drill and driver. 😄

I am so incredibly happy. It took almost no time at all to remove the screws, sent the boards in their new configuration, drill pilot holes, and screw the frame back together again. Even if I were using our corded drill for this, it uses a chuck key that’s stripped (the original chuck key was lost, years ago), so it’s hard to tighten it properly. I could use it as a drill, or as a driver, but switching tips to do both is incredibly frustrating. The new drill is chuckless, and the driver has a completely different style of chuck.

By the time the new box frame was assembled, I’d been hearing thunder for a while, but still in the distance. So I headed over to where I wanted to set up the frame to try and get that part done before the storm hit. That area had mulch on it from the last time we tried to grow things there, but weeds were growing through it. Still, with the ground so wet, it wasn’t difficult to pull them by hand, and it looked a lot worse than it really was. There was also a piece of sheet metal on the ground next to it that I moved, so there were no weeds from under there to pull at all.

Later in the season, all the paths around this bed, and the three 9’x3′ beds, will be covered in wood chips.

Once I did a bit of weed clearing, I set the frame down and set it so that there was still a path between it and the compost ring, then went and got some cardboard to put under it. As I was putting that down, I could hear thunder almost constantly, and the wind was picking up, so I stopped there. A good downpour on the cardboard would be a good thing, anyhow!

Tomorrow, I will get a couple of wheelbarrow loads of garden soil from what’s left of the pile, to fill the frame. I plan to hill it a bit in the middle, rather than make it level.

Four feet square for a low raised bed is actually too wide for me to reach into very well, but once the Crespo squash is transplanted, it shouldn’t be an issue; aside from some weeding, it won’t need to have much done in it until harvest time.

The one thing I do want to make sure to do is set up a barrier of some kind around it, right from the start. We know, from the first year we tried growing it, that deer and groundhogs find the Crespo squash plant delicious, and deer do still come into the yard, and especially come to check out the compost ring! I have some chicken wire I can put around it, but that would make weeding difficult. I do still have some cardboard left, though, so if I use that around the transplants as a mulch, that should solve the weeding problem. Or I could try putting netting around it. I’ll see what works out best, tomorrow.

If the weather apps are at all correct, we should have two days without rain, to get things done. Depending on what app I look at. None of them agree! I’ve got one that says we’ll have rain all day Monday, which is when I’ll be at my mother’s again, anyhow, then likely more rain during the day on Tuesday – then thunderstorms all day Wednesday!

Which means we need to get as much done over the next two days as possible.

The rain is a good thing – our water table still hasn’t recovered from years of drought – but a break long enough to get the garden work done would be appreciated!

Still, I’m glad I was able to get as far along as I did, with getting this bed done, before the storm hit. It was just a quick downpour, which will have done a good job in getting that cardboard wet for me. 😁 I might still need to soak it more, before adding the soil. Those Crespo squash really need to be in the ground. They are the largest and fastest growing of all the winter squash we started! I’ve already pinched off buds ones, and more have grown back! There are three surviving seedlings, and that 4’x4′ bed should be a good size for them.

Good grief. It’s already well past 9pm as I write this. I should get to bed, so I can get up and get started, before the heat of the day hits!

The Re-Farmer

Three kitties gone, three still missing, and we have scaffolding!

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Well, it’s done.

Decimus, The Phantom and the kitten have been dropped off at the vet. They had to contact the Cat Lady for details, as I only knew about the spay, but not if they were getting anything else done, too. We did talk a bit about how the kitten might be too small to spay, but I had no idea what her actual weight was.

I didn’t get a chance to take photos. I put the wrong cat in the hard sided carrier. I thought The Phantom would have more issues, but nope. It was Decimus. Once in a soft sided carrier, she really tried to claw her way out, so it was a quick load into the car and off I went. I didn’t even stop to close the gate, and my daughter followed after me to take care of that for me.

It was a good thing I left early, because I drove right past the place. I knew I’d missed it, so I found a place to pull over and found it on the map. Turns out we’ve seen the place right from the road, but had no idea it was a vet clinic. We even somehow managed to miss seeing the great big sign in the yard in front of it! 😄

Once I was gone, my daughter brought the food bowls out again and took care of feeding the other cats, since the only way to maintain a fast for the three of them was to not have any food out at all for any of the cats.

Anyhow, the drop off went smoothly; even Decimus had calmed down by the time I got there. The Cat Lady has already picked up our carriers and will return them to us later. She’ll pick up the cats when they are done last this afternoon, though I’m not sure if they’re going straight to their new home for recovery, or if she’s taking them to her own home, first. I do know there is already a recovery and isolation area ready for them to stay at their new home for a couple of weeks, before they are allowed outside.

Speaking of outside, Phantom was really putting the cat proof screen to the test last night! She wanted outside so badly! But she also wanted love and cuddles. I think she’s going to be very happy in her new home, where she’ll be able to go in and out as she pleases, after her recovery period.

As for the cats that escaped out my window, there is still no sign of them. I’ll be heading outside fairly soon and hopefully I’ll see them at some point, but they weren’t around when my daughter fed them this morning. I even went out with a flash light last night before going to bed. Nothing.

So for now, I just have TTT and five kittens in my room with me. At this point, I don’t mind letting TTT go out and explore – she did that yesterday, and there were no issues. This morning, I caught her starting to dig around my pillow and got her off my bed before she could pee on it. Before I left, I scattered bins and packages and all sorts of things all over my bed to dissuade her from peeing on it.

It worked, but…

Yeah. There was a puddle on the puppy pad under my desk. Right next to the litter box with the new clay litter in it. She even dug around the puppy pad enough to pull it part way out from under the litter box. So now I’ve got two of the new larger size pads under there. One under the litter box and right against the wall. The other, partly under the litter box, but more in the area she seems to prefer to go on.

Of course, while I’m at my computer, she won’t go anywhere near it, but she won’t use any of the other litter boxes, either. I just don’t know what else I can do. After I caught her about to pee on my bed, I put her in a litter box, but she just wanted to get out of it. With other cats, I’ve caught them about to make a mess, picked them up and put them in a litter box, and they went right to using it. She holds it and waits for me to leave, instead.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

After dropping the cats off at the vet in the smaller, closer city, I headed to the larger city to meet a guy about some scaffolding. We’d arranged a location to meet, but just had to finalize a time. He wife was having a medical procedure done this morning, so it depended on how long it took for her to recover enough to be released That worked out, since we were meeting at an A&W parking lot, and I got there early enough to finally have breakfast!

When we finally met up, he brought the scaffolding out and set it up, right there. I even climbed up on it, and was quite happy with how well it held my weight (it’s rated for far heavier than I am, but still…) and how stable it was. It also folds up nice and compact, fitting easily into the back of my mother’s car.

As he was putting it in the car for me, he asked me about the hamlet I’m from, and how long I’d lived there. I explained I grew up there, but have been back for only a few years.

Then we had a small world moment. The neighbors that lived across the road from us when I was growing up here turned out to be his godparents! They passed on during the years we were away, and the property sold, and he only remembered that they lived down a gravel road from the highway. It was nice to connect through mutual contacts, though.

So I now have a small scaffolding set up.

That would have made cleaning the eaves on the garage much more secure! The cross pieces can also fit side by side for a wider platform, and it cost me less than half what it would have cost for a new one. I even have a couple of boards that are long enough to go under the legs at each end, should we want to use it on softer ground, though these are intended for indoor use. The girls want to paint the basement ceiling this winter, and this will make that job much easier, too.

Now that I’m looking at the picture as I write this, I can see that the frame doesn’t really have an upside down or right side up. It could be used either way. It would change the height of the steps slightly, which might be desirable, depending on the job.

I’m happy with it.

Oh, I almost forgot. It was really nice and cool this morning, and we had the most amazing ground fog! No chance of taking photos, though, as I had a panicking cat in the back of the car. As I was driving the cats in, I’d go through a few clear, sunny patches, then drive into a wall of fog. It was so gorgeous, though at one point I had to slow down. I could no longer see my usual landmarks, and I wanted to make sure I saw the stop sign at the highway before I drove right through the intersection! I haven’t seen fog like that since we lived on the West coast!

Now, it’s time to head outside and see what I can get done before it gets too hot, and hopefully spot the missing ladies. We’re looking at a high of 24C/75F, and it’s just supposed to get hotter. The forecast for the weekend is insane. Either Saturday or Sunday (currently, it’s saying Saturday) is supposed to hit at least 30C/86F. Last night, the girls saw forecasted highs for Saturday of 37C/99F!!! That has since dropped to 31C/88F or 33C/91F. The weather forecasters can’t make up their mind. Either way, I want to get as much done outside as I can, before things get hotter over the next few days!

The Re-Farmer.

My new “toy”

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My awesome, wonderful, lovely husband bought me a new toy that arrived in today’s mail!

Isn’t it beautiful?

I know, shortly after we moved here, I saw a draw knife in one of the sheds. I remember using it when I was a kid, stripping bark off of spruce logs. It was old and rusty when I found it, but I’m pretty sure it was still solid.

Now, I can find no trace of it. It’s just gone. I’m still positive I saw it, though. I just can’t remember where!

So my husband bought me a new one!

It’s really solid and wonderfully sharp. My husband made a quick and dirty leather sheath for the blade. Just a strip of heavy leather wrapped around it with snaps to hold it in place. He says he’ll make me a prettier one, later.

I can’t wait to test it out!

The Re-Farmer

Morning kitties, and a new toy!

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I haven’t been able to get photos of the outside cats lately. I have been going out earlier, to avoid the heat (ha! Yeah; I know. “Heat” is relative), and few are around. Today, I allowed myself to sleep in a bit, so there was a whole crowd waiting for me at the door.

I spotted 10 in total this morning, including Potato Beetle who had his private breakfast in the sun room, and Sad Face, sneaking in to the tray under the shrine, being very careful around Rosencrantz.

It’s entirely possible all the cats in the above photo are female, which means they might all have kittens somewhere. For sure, there’s 5 that are female, now that we realize that Bradiccus is a dude.

I didn’t do all my rounds this morning, wanting to go into town to run some errands. I even switched out the trail cam memory cards on the way out, since the sign cam can be reached from the road side of the fence.

The grader went through again yesterday. The road looked pretty ugly, but was much better to drive on, including the bad patch near our place. The road is still really soft there, but at least it doesn’t have massive ruts and mud anymore.

I was just coming up on the highway when I noticed a bunch of cars parked on the road, near someone’s driveway. I figured there was a garage sale happening, and my mother had given me cash to pay for gas, so I decided to stop.

I’m glad I did.

One of the first things I spotted was a hybrid mountain bike. I asked about it, and the guy told me a gear skipped and the brakes weren’t very good. Both things my husband knows how to fix. He was asking $10 for it, so I bought it. There are several bikes in the garage, but they aren’t in good shape, and not as high end as the bike I just got, and we don’t have the time to dig them out and see what work needs to be done on them, so getting this one for $10 for now is fine. It’s a tall bike; something that might be good for my 6′ tall husband, but that’s not a problem.

After paying for the bike, I wandered around to look at other stuff before going back to the bike to load it up. I was walking around a display on the ground when I suddenly noticed just what it was I was walking around.

A miter saw.

!!!

So I moved the bike over to the saw and went back to ask about it. There wasn’t much to tell, really. It works. He said I could plug it in and test it if I wanted, but I took his word for it. It’s an older saw, and pretty basic. He was asking $30 for it.

I bought it.

There used to be a miter saw here, in the shed that used to be my late brother’s workshop, but is now a storage warehouse. I’ve seen pictures of it, and it was higher end than this one, but since that one grew legs and walked away, I don’t care. An older miter saw is better than none at all!

Between this and the table saw we dragged out of a shed, it will make things much easier when we can start building our chicken coop, or any other projects we are talking about.

Now we just have to learn how to use it. :-D We’ve never had one before.

Little by little, we’re replacing some of the tools that disappeared while this place was empty. I’m very glad I decided to stop. I don’t normally do garage sales – they were all over the place! – but not only did I find a couple of good deals, but I finally got to meet our neighbour. It was funny when I asked if he could bring the miter saw to the van while I loaded the bike while he got my change. He recognised it from our driving by so regularly. :-D He joked about how having the garage sale was the only time he got to meet his neighbours! I know what he means, that’s for sure. :-)

So I’m all excited for when we are able to start working on some larger projects.

Which won’t be until after we’re done getting the garden in!

Now to figure out where to keep it. There’s no more room in the sun room. Maybe we can find a space in the garage.

That’s a good problem to have!

The Re-Farmer

That was fast!

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Wow, did my order from Lee Valley come in fast! After picking up my mother’s car from the garage, I swung by the post office to pick up the mail, and found this.

Only three days to get here – including the weekend!

Now we just have to wait for enough snow to melt before we can get into the old garden shed, bring out the scythe and get a good look at it.

I was doing a bit of research, and it seems the curvy handle design is called an American scythe. These are apparently known for being very heavy, but the one we have has an aluminum handle, and is very light. I remember having no issues with the weight when I was a kid and my dad was showing me how to use it. Being much older and more broken now, I expect to fully appreciate the light weight and more ergonomic design! :-D

As for my mother’s car, my daughter drove it home, and she reports it running just fine. Nothing out of the ordinary, and the check engine light stayed off. We also didn’t get charged for the check up. He did the check, cleared the codes and ran it for an hour, and found no issues. So it does look like it was simply triggered by the changing of the battery. That was best case scenario, too.

I am feeling much relieved!

The Re-Farmer

Remembered to order: from Lee Valley

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One of the things we found after moving here, was my father’s scythe, hanging in the old garden shed. I remember my father showing me how to use it, long ago, when our rag tag collection of lawn mowers happened to all be broken down at the same time. The lawn got so tall, my father used the scythe to cut the grass.

I wasn’t very good at it, but my dad made that thing sing!

I was very happy to see the scythe still here, and would love to be able to use it, but we have not found a sharpening stone for it. I can’t even remember what my father used to sharpen it. I’ve been looking for a scythe sharpening stone, but they aren’t available locally. No one carries scythes, either, so that’s not surprising. I did finally find one at Lee Valley, and after much forgetfulness, finally remembered to order one, last night.

Images belong to Lee Valley.

This is a “Water Stone for Traditional Austrian Scythe”. The Austrian scythe is what Lee Valley carries. It is not what we have. I think I prefer what we have, as the handle has a curved, ergonomic design.

Since this is a wet stone that gets used frequently while cutting, I needed one more thing.

A “Watertight Holster for Scythe Stone”. This holster can be clipped onto a waistband, pocket or belt, and water kept in it. The water not only keeps the stone appropriately wet, but any grit on the stone will get washed off as well.

In some areas of the outer yard, a scythe is going to be the only way we can cut the grass and weeds. We haven’t done it since moving here, and it drives me nuts, because it’s such a fire hazard.

Which means we’re going to have to get into the swing of scything!

Here’s a video I found that shows both how to sharpen the blade, and how to use the scythe.

You can definitely see why keeping the blade really sharp is going to make a huge difference! Can you imagine trying to do that with a dull blade? :-D

We’ll have to be super careful using it in the outer yard, though. The ground is uneven, and there may be rocks or sticks hidden in the grass. I would hate to finally be able to use the scythe, only to break it on a hidden rock somewhere!

So the order is in and still being processed. There’s no real hurry, since we can’t even get into the garden shed, yet. The main thing is, it’s ordered and will be here when we need it.

The Re-Farmer

Awesome!

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Happy Christmas to those who follow the orthodox calendar. :-) Happy Three Kings day. Today is our last day of of the Christmas season, and what a lovely day it turned out to be.

It was another cold one, but there was almost no wind chill, so it was quite bearable.

This morning, we had one deer at the feeding station, while this one just hung out at the gate for a while. I was able to get this picture through the kitchen window.

The deer and the cats are quite used to each other.

I even caught a flash of deer tail going past while I was setting out kibble and warm water for the cats. The deer didn’t run off until I came around with more feed.

Potato Beetle was quite content to enjoy the sunshine in his insulated corner, while the other cats ate. :-D

I found this interesting! One of the selling features of the Starlink system for more northern areas like ours, is that the dish keeps itself warm. You can see the icicles that show it’s working!

I hope the dish won’t need to adjust itself, because it’s quite attached to the roof at the moment. :-D

The roads were plowed yesterday evening, so before taking my mom’s little car out to help her with errands, I opened the gate and began to shovel away the plow ridge at the end of the driveway. While I was shovelling, a familiar looking front end loader came around the corner and headed my way. The driver stopped on the road and motioned to me, but my glasses were frosted over and I couldn’t see more than an arm waving around, so I came over as he opened the door – and offered to clear the driveway for me!

Of course, I said yes!!

This shot was taken after he was done and was backing out to the road again.

Now, I’m pretty sure that’s the renter’s front end loader. I don’t know of any others like it around. However, I did not recognize the driver. It could be they have a new hired hand? I don’t know. Whoever he was, I made sure to thank him enthusiastically, and I was soon off to my mother’s.

My mother had a few errands to run this morning, including a stop at the credit union. With all the restrictions still going on, and so many places that don’t recognize medical mask exemptions, even when I wear the Mingle Mask, I would just open the door for her and wait outside. Today, I used the wait to pop over to the mail box – I finally was able to print out the photo I needed, and have sent off my forms to get my PAL (Possession and Acquisition License), after passing my Firearms Safety course at the end of November. My mother was faster than I expected, and came out while I was about to top up her washer fluid. One of the staff came out with her, to help with the doors. As I helped her back into her car, she told me that the lady helping her saw me outside, and asked my mother to tell me that I was welcome to come in with her. I used to come in with her all the time, but as the restrictions got more draconian, and more warning signs popped up on doorways, I stopped. It’s good to know that they are reasonable.

Unlike our next stop at the pharmacy, which doesn’t recognise medical exemptions, so I can’t go to help my mother at all. You’d think, of all places, a pharmacy would get that some people just can’t wear masks; especially since the (illegal) mandates specifically mention exemptions, but some places really seem to enjoy our medical apartheid. At least they don’t harass my mother about covering her nose. She shouldn’t be wearing a mask at all, and can’t breathe if both her nose and mouth are covered.

The grocery store was our last stop and they are always good, there. My mother was able to stock up quite a bit, and will be set for a while. Between the beef I gave her, and the venison my sister gave her, she didn’t need to buy any meat at all. Which is good, because food prices are getting insane.

Aside from that, I was able to visit with my mother, and we had lunch before heading out for errands. Which is when I was able to show her pictures of her new great-grandson, who was born this morning! My SIL also sent birth pictures of his big brother from a couple years ago, and my goodness, they look so much alike! So far, their mother seems to be doing okay. She has some medical issues that they are keeping an eye on, but she should be home after 48 hours. Meanwhile, my brother and his wife are still there, helping out.

A new baby in the family was definitely the highlight of a very good day!

The Re-Farmer