health issues

Wind storm, and an update

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

We are getting one heck of a windstorm right now.

Thankfully, though, we are far enough north that we are not getting the brunt of it. We’re “only” getting winds of around 35-45kph. The bulk of the system is passing to the south of us, crossing across the prairies from the north west. The weather group I’m on posted a satellite image, where you can actually see a mass of brown – dust – moving across Saskatchewan in into North Dakota.

Saskatchewan is looking a lot of top soil right now.

Even here, everything is looking like there is a brownish grey fog. We did get a slight amount of rain early in the day, but not enough to make any difference.

We drove in this.

I must have been quite wasted last night, because I slept hard all night. Well. The remains of the night after I went to bed.

Both my younger daughter and husband were up all night, so they were awake to get the messages my older daughter sent, over the span of about 6 hours. She was transferred from the ER of the main hospital, to the ER of the Women’s Hospital, which is just across the street. There is a pedestrian overpass joining the two buildings.

My daughter described the trip through the halls of the old hospital as “creepy”. It’s the sort of place that you would find being used as the set in a horror movie.

Then they crossed the overpass and suddenly everything was open and bright, quiet and modern!

Once there, they admitted her and she got a room.

I was planning to go into the city to visit her but checked to make sure she was up to it.

She was.

There were a few things that she didn’t have with her – like her glasses, and her phone charger – that we brought along, plus a proper travel bag to put the stuff we’d quickly packed when I first took her to the local hospital into. I knew my younger daughter had been up all night, but I also knew she would want to visit her sister, so I asked if she was up to coming along as my Nav O.

She happily agreed.

As expected the drive in and the city route to the hospital was very straightforward. The problem was what to do once we got there. I’d already been forewarned against using the parkades. It may have kept the truck out of the weather, but they are so tight, we would have had trouble getting in and out.

Once we reached the Women’s Hospital, we went looking for outdoor parking, but all the lots we saw were private parking for other buildings. We drove up and down some streets, which were just as broken up as I was expecting, navigating the poorly marked one way streets, looking for street parking. All we saw where signs saying “permit required”. Block after block, it was all “permit required”.

Finally, I saw a spot that I could pull into, near one of those signs, got out and took a closer look.

They didn’t say “permit” required. They said “payment” required.

The city has taken out all the parking meters.

There were three options. One was to use an app, which I didn’t have and was not going to get. The other was to pay through a website. The third was to phone and 888 number.

That was the one I wanted to use.

I couldn’t connect. Several times, I’d try the number and it would just say “calling…” but never called. After a while, the call would get dropped.

Finally, I tried the website, which required registering, which I did not want to do, but had not choice.

It was so frustrating. Basically, the city has made it so you can’t park on the street unless you have a Smart phone (which I have been very tempted to get rid of, in favour of a dumb phone), and no cash payment allowed.

By the time we managed to connect and pay for parking, it was starting to rain a bit harder, but not too bad. The wind was still the main issue.

I had brought my walker along, just in case, and I’m really glad I did. I know I could get away without using it, and using a cane if I had to, but once I started walking along with the walker, it just hit me how much easier it was on my body to use it.

Plus, my daughter would finally get to see it.

Once in the building, we had to go through the reception/security desk, first. Did I mention this hospital is downtown? They had signs saying things “like no knives or guns allowed”.

We were directed to go to the top floor, but were not given a room number. For that, we had to find which doors to go to, and finally just decided “that looks like a reception desk through those locked glass doors” and went for it. There was a collage of signs on the wall, with one of them having an arrow pointing to a button to push to get someone to let us in. It was one of those portable door bell buttons, taped to the wall. My daughter pressed it, and we got a voice on a nearby speaker asking what we were there for. When I told them we were there to visit my daughter, she asked the age. ?? I told her, and she was “oh, and adult” Then let us know we buzzed the children’s ward. Turns out there was another button somewhere. I think on the panel next to the speaker, but I’m not actually sure.

She let us in, anynow.

We then went to the reception where we got wrist bands confirming we were processed, got the room number, and directions.

Of course, she was at the far end of the ward. 😄

We were all very impressed with the room she was in. It was a single room, plenty of space, with an arm chair and a couch with storage under it available. There was also a little round chair with a small round built in tray that my daughter was using. After unpacking and setting up the stuff we brought for her, I repacked her clothes into the travel bag; in our rush to get her to the hospital, we had just grabbed a soft sided grocery bag. I went looking through some doors to see if there was somewhere to put the bag besides a little counter and found all sorts of spare pills, a fridge and even a drawer with a combination lock on it.

We then had a good visit and bit a bit more details on what was going on. There was a possibility she might come home tomorrow, if she improved to a certain point. Happily, she did look a lot better than yesterday.

Overall, we had a very good visit until we had to leave before our parking ran out.

While walking back to the truck, the wind almost blew my walker away!

Since it was along the way home, we stopped at a Domo to get some gas; today is Thursday, so it was their second 4¢ off per liter day of the week, so we paid $1.809 instead of $1.849

Neither of us had had lunch and we were starting to get very hungry, so we stopped at our usual Walmart along the way and had some McRaunchies, before doing a bit of shopping before heading home.

We took a different route as we left the city, crossing over to the highway that goes straight to our little hamlet, so we could stop at a gas station just outside the city and use their washroom before the hour long drive remaining. When we parked, we found messages from my daughter. She’s not where they want her to be and was getting some more treatment, so she is definitely not coming home tomorrow.

Which I’m actually okay with. I really don’t want her coming home too soon and relapsing.

For the last leg of the trip, the sky cleared it was looking quite nice and sunny out – but the winds had not died down.

I drove to the house to unload, which didn’t take long. It was well past when the outside cats are usually fed for the end of the day, so I took care of that while my daughter took care of the rest. I made sure to mix up some cat soup for the isolation cats. They seem to be doing okay in there, though they all run out of reach if I try to pet any of them.

Once the cats were all fed, I could safely drive the truck out of the yard and park it. Then I went around to take care of various things that were blown away. The heavy crochet blanket on top of the kibble house roof had been blown off, along with the fan rake that had come apart and I’d set on top of it until I can fix it. The giant black tarp I’d pegged to the ground until I could fold it up was blown loose and into the West yard, near where the chick coop still sits.

I made sure to look for and remove the metal tent pegs that failed to hold it down, first.

Thankfully, I was able to spread out and fold up the tarp where it was.

Then I watered the pre-sown garden beds and perennials. Which was interesting, with the wind! I don’t know how much rain we got here, but with the wind, everything was already dried up.

As I sit, writing this, there is still enough light out that I can see the big maple branches swaying. Earlier, I’d walked around the spruce grove and actually heard cracking sound. I suspect we might lose one of the dead trees tonight. Thankfully, with the wind direction, any trees that fall will fall away from the house, not towards it. The only real worry is the tree in front of the kitchen window, since part of it overhangs the roof.

We are still under dust storm and high wind alerts over our area, which is expected to continue through to tomorrow morning. While I was working on this post, I went into the kitchen for something and heard a noise I didn’t like. Looking out the window, I found the wind was trying to tear off the roof panels on the isolation shelter! I went and found several bricks and pieces of bricks to weigh down the edges that were catching in the wind. !!!!

Tomorrow, I plan to visit my mother. The last couple of times, I’ve been going on Saturdays, but I want to keep that day open for working around the yard and possibly a dump visit – or possibly bringing my daughter home from the hospital over the weekend?

I will NOT be telling my mother that my daughter is in the hospital. That would just get nasty, and my daughter made it very clear she does not want her grandmother to know. From past experience, we know how my mother would be, and that is the last thing any of us need to deal with on top of everything else.

While I’m in my mother’s town, I’ll have to remember to stop at the feed store and ask about the chick order status. I know they’ve got me down as sharing a minimum order of 24 chicks with two other people. For me, I only have room for 10 chickens in our coop, so 10 or fewer chicks is good. I don’t know how many the other two people are after. We might just split it evenly with 8 chicks each. We’ll see. Meanwhile, I need to pick up supplies for their brooding period. I want to have everything ready well before we pick up the chicks at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, there is lots of garden related stuff that needs to be done, besides finishing that garden bed. As long as I get that done before the elm trees start dropping seeds, it can wait. Other things are starting to become priority.

We’re having a couple of hot days and warm overnight temperatures, but we will soon be dropping, with freezing overnight temperatures for a couple of nights, before slowly warming up again. This weekend is a long weekend and a lot of people finish putting their gardens in on this weekend.

Not us. But there are some things that prefer colder soil that can be direct sown, and I’d like to re-sow some of the winter sown items that look like they didn’t take, or very little seems to have survived. Plus there are the remaining seeds to start indoors.

For now, I think it’s about time for me to crash into bed. It’s just past 9 as I write this, and both my husband and younger daughter passed out, hours ago.

My turn.

The Re-Farmer

Medical update and Our 2026 Garden: more seeds are in

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Two things were supposed to happen today, and one was a “hopefully will happen”, and one shopping request, taking advantage of my being in the city..

The “hopefully will happen” thing was for my walker to come in. I kept checking the tracking and it just said it had arrived in the city on Friday. No “in delivery” or anything like that. I hoped to go to the mail before they closed over the lunch hours to pick it up, but started to think it might not happen.

The other thing I was waiting for was for the septic guy to arrive. He had said he would be here around 10, but couldn’t say for sure. We were prepared in case I had to leave before he got here, with one of my daughters set to do the cat watch while the tank was open, to make sure none came to close. Having a cat fall in would be disastrous.

The main thing that was scheduled for today was my appointment at the sports injury clinic in the city, in the afternoon.

The last minute request was for a stop at Walmart. I had forgotten a couple of things the last time I was there, so my older daughter requested I pick up a few things for her. She has not been well at all lately, and needed some health related items. When my husband found out I was hitting the Walmart, he let me know he was on his last bottle of distilled water for his CPAP humidifier. So I had a short list to take advantage of the trip.

I made one last check on the tracking and found, lo and behold, the walker was in and ready to pick up! Yay! So I left shortly after 11 to get it, before heading to the city. The septic guy had not arrived yet, but everything was ready for him.

When I got to the post office, I had two parcels to pick up. One was the walker, and the other was my seed order from MI Gardener! More on that, later.

Once everything was loaded in the truck, it was off to the city.

The first thing I noticed when I drove in was a gas station on the outskirts with a price of $1.489/L Local prices rare $1.889/L Driving through the city, I saw $1.889, $1.629 and $1.559, so the prices were just all over the place! I was definitely going to get gas before coming home.

Then I drove right past the clinic.

I did that last time!

I found a place I could turn off and park to double check the address, then headed back again. I was too busy looking at gas prices and completely missed it, even though it is right net to a gas station!

One of the higher prices ones, though.

I’m glad I left early, because that gave me plenty of time for doing things like this. 😁

I was still almost an hour early when I checked in, but that was okay. They had one comfortable armchair in the waiting room. One that was far less painful to sit on than a regular chair! I didn’t get much sleep last night, partly because of the pain in my hips, so I took advantage of the situation and drifted off for a bit.

When the doctor called me in, we talked a bit about the last time I was there, when I got the cortisol injection to my left hip. This time, I mentioned that my right hip was also starting to bother me, so it was decided to do both.

As for the rest…

My Xrays were not in yet. There was nothing we could talk about or do, without them. He marked the file so that they will call me when they come in, and we discussed whether I should go ahead and make an appointment for next week. In the end, I suggested they call me, and perhaps even have just a telephone appointment, depending on what the Xrays show.

As I was telling him about my fall before Christmas, explaining my injuries, I brought up the walker and asked if I could get a note or something, to submit to the insurance company. When my husband got his walker, it was in another province and done through home care, which also covered the cost of the walker, the bath chair and arm bars in the tub/shower of where we were living at the time. It turns out that here, they write a prescription. Which he did for me, after asking questions about the style and type of walker (4 wheels with a seat), and included in the notes why it was needed. Which is pretty much just for when I’m working around the yard, for the most part.

When we were done, I didn’t need to make another appointment, so I just headed out, saying good bye to the receptionists as I went by. Once in the truck, I paused to message the family, when there was suddenly someone at the window.

It turns out there’s a fee for the cortisol injections – and they only take cash. It was only $20. I asked her where the nearest bank machines were, and she mentioned one that was near the Domo gas station I was planning to go to, next. So I told her I would go to the gas station, then the ATM and be back.

When I got to the Domo, the line was quite backed up. Today is Monday. Monday and Thursdays is when they have a 4¢ off/L deal, and a lot of people were taking advantage of it! So I filled that tank at $1.449 It still cost almost $85 to fill, as I dropped below half a tank by the time I reached the city.

That done, I parked and got the cash, then headed back to the clinic. I asked, just in case, and they don’t do direct billing with any insurance companies, but they always give out receipts. So I got that to include with the prescription for my husband to send out, after getting the invoice for the walker from online.

Every little bit helps.

Finally, I headed to the Walmart, where I had to stop to eat. It was about 2pm by then. I hadn’t had lunch and was starting to get dizzy. It was a quick McRaunchies meal, and then I did the shopping. One of the things I’d forgotten before we nowhere to be found, but I got everything else on my three short lists lists.

That done, it was time to head home. By then, it was starting to rain a bit, but not much – until I got closer to home. At which point, we were getting real, solid rain! An absolute downpour of much needed rain! I was so happy to see it!

By the time I got home, it was around 5pm, and the downpour had stopped, though it was still raining a bit. I drove up to the house to unload, then fed the cats so I cold safely drive the truck out of the yard to park in the garage.

We have a bit of a conundrum with the yard cats right now.

Furriosa and Bug have gone into heat.

Both are ridiculously tiny, and they didn’t want the attention, but the boys have been after them. The boys are twice their size and many times heavier! I contacted the rescue about it, and we’ve sort of worked out a plan. Bug, Furriosa and a little black and white female like to hang out in the isolation shelter. We can’t approach them, but we can close the ramp door and keep them there. That would also keep the boys away! From there, we can make arrangements for spays. We’ve been trying to focus on getting Slick who we barely see these days, but the larger adult ferals are not the same sort of concern. If the littles get pregnant, they are so small, they won’t survive.

So the goal right now is to catch them when all three are in the isolation shelter and close it up, even if they are with other cats. Unless those other cats are intact males, of course, but we can remove them once the ramp door is closed.

Anyhow. I digress.

Once the purchases were put away, I assembled the walker. I love it! I didn’t get a picture, though, as I had to hide it in the old kitchen right away. Otherwise, the indoor cats will crawl all over it and piss on it, or use it as a scratching post. I expect to be able to work outside tomorrow, and will be able to get a picture then.

Finally, I got to open up my envelope of seeds.

Starting from the top left, yes, I got more coffee seeds. These are for my daughters, and any successful tree would be a house plant, with some time outside in the heat of summer.

Below the coffee seeds is another packet of Blue Berries. The packet we got before had only 8 instead of 10 seeds. It looks like they all germinated, but I wanted to have extra of this variety, just in case.

The Marsh Mallow is something I’ve been interested in trying pretty much since I discovered I could get seeds for it. It’s a plant I’ve read about in my herbals, long ago, but didn’t know could be grown here. All of the plant is edible, except the seeds/pods, as a vegetable. Sap from the root was used to make the first mashmallow confections. The leaves and flowers can be used as an herbal tea, and has medicinal uses both when ingested internally, or used externally. They do require more marshy and damp conditions to grow, so that part will be a challenge. It’s worth a try!

Below that is a fresh Purple Savoy cabbage packet. I probably still have some left, considering there’s 150 seeds in the packet, but I’m pretty sure the ones I winter sowed did not make it. I might try starting some indoors, just in case. Either way, I now have extra seeds.

The Tom Thumb Dwarf peas are because I haven’t seen any sign of them germinating in the old kitchen garden’s wattle weave bed. There are only 25 seeds in a packet, so I don’t mind planted extra, even if the winter sown ones do end up germinating.

I got more Spring Blush peas because I was sure the winter sown ones had been killed off by those cold nights we got after I removed the mulch. Now that it looks like most of them have survived and are sprouting, I will happily use these for a second sowing.

Then there are the sunflowers! Both varieties, Black Russian and Mammoth are supposed to be good for eating. When we grew sunflowers before, it was partially to create a privacy screen, what with our vandal going around and doing things like shouting at us or giving us the finger from the road as he drove by. We didn’t get a lot of fully mature seed heads. I want to try them again, this time in hopes of being able to have seed to feed the chickens we’re getting, as they should be adult size by the time the sunflowers are mature.

Weather willing, and if the deer don’t get them!

The Re-Farmer

My husband is the best

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So, it was a rough night last night.

Where I’d slept well the night before, last night I simply could not fall sleep. I finally fell asleep sometime around 6am, which is closer to when I wake up in the morning.

No, it was not because of pain. It was only partly because of cats. At least not until I finally did fall asleep and that’s when Ghosty decided to dig into and absolutely destroy things all over, waking me repeatedly until I gave up. I was finding and putting away bibs and bobs she managed to scatter for hours after I finally got up. I will probably still fine more, later on.

Lack of sleep was totally my fault, though it took me a while to figure it out.

No more Earl Grey tea – or any other caffeinated tea – before bed. 🫖🍵 Especially not an entire pot. 😂🤣

The funny thing is, I could have had an energy drink instead, then slept light a rock. I’ve been trying to ration those, because a case doesn’t last long when split three ways!

My older daughter, sweetheart that she is, took care of the morning routine for me.

Currently, I am indeed in pain, but not in my joints, as usual. That diclofenac gel is doing the job. Instead, I’m in pain because I ended up sleeping on my back, pinned flat under my blanket by the weight of I don’t know how many cats in total. There’s a reason I never sleep on my back, normally! I think they were cold last night, because they were snuggling hard against me!

Ah, well.

My husband had a surprise for me last night that I thought was funny at first, but considering how I feel right now, I think it’s more apropos than not.

He ordered a Mother’s Day gift for me, from one of my wish lists on his Amazon Prime account. Something I’d put there months ago, along with many, many other things we have both added to lists and will probably never order. It won’t arrive until after Mother’s Day, but he let me know it was ordered right away. As of this morning, it has been shipped and is expected to arrive on the 13th; a week from now. I would not be surprised if it came earlier.

This is what he ordered for me.

Yup. I’m getting a walker of my very own.

Now, I could borrow my husband’s bariatric walker. I’ve certainly had to, in the past, such as when I had my fall last June. His is designed for someone that’s burley and over 6′ tall, though.

We also have my late father’s walker, which is more suited for my height, that I have seriously considered taking with me during some of my outings. Those are usually shopping trips, though, and I tend to use a shopping cart as a walker.

Where I would be using it most, though, would be around the yard, and that’s that I had in mind when I found this one and added it to a wish list.

This walker is an off-roader.

The frame is reinforced, and it has larger all-terrain, anti-slip, shock absorbing wheels. It also has a step-on curb climber; something I wish my mother’s walker had! It comes with a cane holder; something we had to add to my husband’s walker, ourselves. There’s even a drink holder. 😁 With my late father’s walker, as well as my mother’s, storage is under the seat. This one is more like my husband’s walker, with the storage in front of the seat (or in back, for the person sitting on it).

My parent’s walkers also folded up by lifting the seat, then pulling a bar or handle in the middle that brings the front and back together. In my mother’s walker, the storage under the seat is a wire basket that needs to be removed in order to fold it. This walker folds together like my husband’s does, pulling the sides together, which I find much more efficient. It also allows it to be free standing while folded, as my husband’s walker is, whereas my parents’ walkers cannot stand on their own once folded up. The storage basket is soft sided, so it just folds in on itself as well though, if I needed to, it could be easily taken off.

When my husband asked me why I had a walker in one of the wish lists, I told him, adding that this was obviously something I don’t need yet.

Today, I’m not so sure!

I don’t expect I’ll need to take it with me during outings, but I most definitely will have it nearby when I’m working in the garden. Many is the time that I simply needed to sit down for a while. Over time, we will have benches and seats built all over the place, but we’re not there yet.

I’ll be modifying it, of course. We added LED lights to my husband’s walker, so that while he’s walking, he can have a white light on the back rest as a headlight, plus red and green lights facing behind him. Red on the left, green on the right, of course. Sailors will understand why. 😁 I want to find a similar set of lights I can add to this walker. Especially one as a headlight, if I’m going to be using it while working around the yard in the summer.

I will probably bling the heck out of it, too. To match my sparkly hat collection. 🤣😂

Hey, if you need mobility aids, may as well have fun with them.

Oh, wow! That was fast!

I just got a phone call from the sports injury clinic, regarding the referral from my doctor, sent the day before yesterday. I could have gotten an appointment today, if it didn’t take an hour just to reach the city.

I now have an appointment on Monday afternoon.

I am so looking forward to getting another injection in my left hip. Not sure what treatment will be recommended for my shoulders and knee.

Being broken sucks. It is what it is, though, and we do the best we can!

The Re-Farmer

Snow, and medical stuff

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We got snow.

Beginning of May, and it’s been snowing all day.

Granted, it’s really light snow and melts as soon as it touches anything. We are still at our high of the day, 2C/36F, but the wind chill has us at -9C/16F

A good day to have my doctor’s appointment, since I wasn’t going to be able to get anything done outside!

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

In the end, it looks like having to cancel the previous two appointments because of the truck being in the garage so much turned out to be a good thing. Once I made the connection and decided to stop taking the anti-inflammatories to see if they were the cause of my bleeding, my symptoms quickly reduces and, as of today, are almost completely gone.

After explaining everything to the doctor, she agreed. Another possibility might have been PCOS related, but I’ve been post menopausal for so long, that could be ruled out.

Before the physical exam, though, we talked about my second reason for being there. I told her about needing to go back to the sports injury clinic regarding my left hip, then told her about my fall before Christmas and how, after all this time, I still have pain in my right knee, plus my right shoulder feels like it’s about to dislocate so often, and my elbow pain. She wrote it all up in a referral to the sports injury clinic, and a requisition for Xrays. Not for my elbow, but I didn’t push for that. That is most definitely nerve damage, and not something that will show up in Xrays.

Then I got the physical exam, PAP smear and swab taken, followed by abdominal palpitations, because of the pain I have in my lower abdomen that I don’t think is related to the bleeding.

Gosh, I hate those tests.

I did mention again that I’m prone to cysts and what I was feeling reminded me of when I ended up in the ER, years ago, except not at bad.

On the plus side, absolutely everything seemed normal except for one minor thing. She could actually see where the bleeding is coming from, which in turn confirmed to her that it was the anti-inflammatory that was the cause.

Since it’s been so long, she also wrote me up for extensive blood work, including checking my iron levels – understandable, considering how much continuous blood loss I’ve had over the past few months. I’ve also got a referral for an abdominal ultrasound.

It shouldn’t take too long to hear back from the sports injury clinic, since it’s been less than a year from my last visit. The ultrasound might take a few months or a year before I hear from them.

As she was writing all this time, I mentioned that there was a problem with not being able to take the anti-inflammatories anymore.

“The pain”, she immediately responded.

Exactly.

The prescription painkillers stopped working after a very short time. I’d requested trying anti-inflammatories instead, and they helped out incredibly well. I never even had to take the max three a day I was prescribed for. Usually, it was just once a day. Twice if I had to do a lot of shoveling or something like that. Now that I’m no longer taking them, I’m taking the Tylenol Extra Strength again. It works just as well as the remaining prescription painkillers I’ve still got. That and Voltaren.

Well, I now have a prescription for a topical painkiller. Basically, it’s Voltaren, but at 5 times the strength. I’ll just need to get some help applying it to some areas.

That prescription was faxed in to our pharmacy in town. After the appointment was done, I went straight to the lab next to the clinic for the blood tests and urine sample. After that, it was off to the hospital to get the Xrays done.

I had messaged the family about the new prescription, asking if anyone needed refills to be delivered on Thursday, so we could combine them. By the time I was done with the Xrays, though, there was a message from my husband. The pharmacy had called. They got the prescription, and did I want it filled right away?

My husband told them, yes.

So, instead of heading straight home, I headed to our pharmacy to pick it up, instead. I’ve already talked to one of my daughters about getting help to apply it to the areas I can’t reach, or reach well enough. At the very least, I will use it before bed, as the pain makes it very difficult to get any sleep at times.

I was out long enough that my daughter took care of feeding the outside cats. Slick showed up this morning and allowed pets. She was back again when my daughter was there. She got to pet Slick, Fancypants (he’s getting so much better at allowing pets!), Adam and lots and lots of Flopsy pets!

The boys seem to be leaving Slick alone now. Which means that 1) it should be easier to catch her now that she’s no longer being chased around by 5 males and 2) she’s probably pregnant again, by about a day or two.

We really need to get Slick to the vet!!!!

If we could get Adam, too, that would be bonus. She has been more friendly, too, but as with Slick, only while being fed. We can’t approach them, otherwise.

We’re looking at a few more chilly days and nights ahead; enough that I’ve turned the heat lamps back on for the cats. Looking at the long range forecasts, we won’t be getting past the chill for almost 2 weeks.

I’ve been reading that we are looking to get a very strong “super El Nińo” this year. Typically, that means a very hot summer. I won’t be holding my breath on that, either way.

Just as I was writing this, a weather group I follow sent out a message. Due to the dryness and high winds, several municipalities have have implemented bans on open fires. Ours is not included. We still have full ditches and standing water in places, yet the soil surface is so very dry. We got snow and rain today, but very little. We could really use more! I haven’t seen anyone doing controlled burns, even though they are needed. Too much wind.

I’m getting very tired of being cold.

Anyhow.

I’m glad I finally got my medical appointment. In a month I will have a follow up telephone appointment to go over the results of my bloodwork and swabs. Aside from that, everything is checking out as fine as can be, under the circumstances.

Hopefully, that will continue!

Now, if only that snow would go away and get replaced with just rain…

The Re-Farmer

Here’s hoping!

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It feels like it’s been such a long day!

But first, the…

… cute sneak thieves!

The cheeky buggers! Both raccoons and skunks are now regularly seen in the sun room. While the camera didn’t catch them last night, I know they go into the isolation shelter, too.

*sigh*

The storm system that hit yesterday hasn’t been too bad, over us. Our weird climate bubble has rescued us again. We got a bit more snow, and it was still snowing this morning, but that’s it. The town my mother is in got pouring rain during the night! So did the city. The highways group I’m on had many reports of poor driving conditions on the highways.

My younger daughter came along for our errands of the day, with our first stop being the post office to pick up a parcel. The paved roads near our little hamlet were already starting to melt, even as more snow was falling. As we got closer to town, however, the road conditions slowly got worse. I found myself doing about 80-85kph/50-53mph all the way, instead of the 100kph/62mph speed limit. It was very messy and hard to see where the lanes were, the closer we got to the lake, which is pretty typical. I’d heard of one road, just before town, being washed out and we could actually see the damage as we drove by! Still, I’ve driven through much worse.

Our first stop in town was to drop off the truck at the garage. We’d left early, knowing it would be slow going, and ended up only about 15 minutes early instead of the half hour early it normally would have been, in good driving conditions. I just had to drop off the keys, and then my daughter and I – remembering to grab canes – started walking.

First thing we did was get a breakfast, since neither of us had eaten before we left. We took our time about it. My appointment was a drop off time, not a scheduled work time, and it looked like it was just the owner in today, so I knew it would likely be quite a while. We did have other errands to do, but not until after we got the truck back.

We decided to walk over to the second hand store, just to see what we could find.

Treasures. We found treasures.

Specifically, there were a couple of hand crank meat grinders. One looking very much like the one I found in the old kitchen that I remember using when I was a kid, which has missing parts now. The second hand one we were looking at even had a spare mincing plate, though both were coarse grind plates. There was a second one, much smaller, that had two spare mincing plates, and was the same price.

After hemming and hawing, I finally decided to go ahead and get the bigger one.

Then we started looking around and I got a few more things, the most expensive costing $2. My daughter admired a couple of items that I ended up getting for her, including a matcha bowl and saucer set, and a fabulously retro pitcher. For myself, I got a serving bowl, an old Mennonite cookbook, and a couple of books with plans for making things like furniture and garden structures. My daughter got herself a DVD and a couple of novels.

One thing we both spend quite a bit of time looking over was an old China cabinet, selling at only $80. The set up we have for our dishes, serving bowls, etc. was great when we first moved out here, but we now have a lot more cats. The shelves are open in the front, and that’s become a problem. That cabinet would actually solve a lot of storage space problems we have right now. What we couldn’t figure out, however, is how we would get it home. Yes, it would fit in the box of the truck, but none of us are able bodied enough to load and unload it.

We didn’t get it.

Once we paid for our stuff, we were then stuck with carrying them around! The meat grinder alone is cast iron, and weighs about 15 pounds. It got its own bag. The rest all together weighed more. Not normally a big deal, but we were both caning it and, with my right elbow still messed up, I could only carry the grinder with my left arm.

We’d already done a fair bit of walking by then and needed to sit down, so we headed over to a donut shop for drinks and a donut each. It was a place we could hang out for a while and not be taking up needed table space.

By the time we were done there, enough time had passed – about 4 hours altogether – that I figured we could head back to the garage, even though we hadn’t been texted yet. The walk was slow going. My poor daughter was in so much pain, I could see she was fighting not to cry. 😢

When we got to the garage, the truck was still up on a hoist and almost done, so we went into the office to sit down. I made sure my daughter sat in the normal sized chair by their desk. They have other chairs, but they are much lower. Hard to get in and out of when your knees or back are shot, but I was having an easier time of it than my daughter was.

It was past 2pm by the time we got to the garage, though. The original plan once the truck was done was to do a quick stop at the grocery store, then a gas station, then drive to the town north of us to the tax preparer. I had my form to sign, but we’d then have to take my husband’s form home for him to sign, then I would drive it back. Then we were going to go back to town again, as my older daughter wanted to treat us to take out and sent funds for it. Altogether, it would have been an extra 3 1/2 hours of driving, at least, and the tax preparer’s office closed at 5.

We were both already in too much pain, so I called them up instead and said we weren’t going to make it today. I was assured that was all right. We’ve got until April 30 to sign the forms!

I’ll do it on Monday.

It wasn’t too much longer before the truck was done and it was backed out of the garage. My daughter took our stuff to the truck while I settled the bill – just pennies over $388, in the end. Hopefully, that will solve the problem and we won’t be back again for some time!

I know where my tax return is going.

*sigh*

As we were talking about it, he told me that, if I don’t come back for anything until after June, they won’t be there anymore. They are moving locations! They are going from about 2,400 sq ft to about 35,000 sq ft, in an industrial park – and he bought the building, so no more renting! That is so awesome! They opened a second location last year, and are doing well enough to expand locally, too. I congratulated him, of course. I’m so happy that they are doing so well. There are a surprising number of garages in this town, so for him to have enough business that he can expand like this tells a lot.

That done, I went to the truck – then had to get my daughter to go behind me to guide me as I backed out, as there were a couple of vehicles making for a tight space. While we were doing that, the owner came out to get one of them, to drive it into one of the bays. He was chuckling a bit when he saw what we were doing, but it did give me a chance to quickly talk to him. The check engine light was still on. I figured it should turn off on its own in short order, now that the new sensor is installed, which he confirmed for me.

Once parked at the grocery store, my daughter stayed in the truck, as she was in too much pain for more walking. We only needed a few things, but I went through the whole store to see if there was anything I was forgetting. Of course, there was, so I’m glad I did.

From there, it was to the gas station. I put $50 in the tank, which gave me a quarter tank at $1.799 *sigh*

Next, we headed to the Dairy Queen for take out – and the check engine light was of by then. My daughter came in with me, so she could choose for her sister and herself. For treats like this, we order a combo meal each, plus an extra burger each, so it took a little while longer for it to be done! I even remembered to bring in a hard sided grocery bag to make it easier to carry the hot food. My daughter ended up with the tray of drinks on her lap for the drive home.

Unfortunately, while the road was in better condition by then, and almost completely clear of ice and snow, it’s a rough ride. The road needs resurfacing. She didn’t get splashed too badly, though! It got smoother once we were on the gravel road again.

Once at home and unloaded, it was late enough that I went straight to feeding the outside cats, making it safer for my daughter to drive out of the yard and park the truck in the garage.

During the drive home, I’m happy to say that oil pressure gauge was right were is was supposed to be, the whole way. Here’s hoping that new sensor will keep working properly! It’ll take a bit more driving before we know for sure.

Tomorrow, I should go visit my mother, at the very least.

Now that we’ve got this last bit of work done on the truck, we have quite a few things to catch up on, little by little. Plus, I’ve got my eye appointment next week, which my daughter will have to drive me home from, and FINALLY, my third attempt at a doctor’s appointment in the beginning of May. If all goes well, I won’t have to cancel any of that!

Here’s hoping!!!

The Re-Farmer

A gorgeous day

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It’s coming up on evening as I write this, and we still haven’t reached our high of the day – anywhere from 5-7C/41-45F depending on which app I look at.

When I headed out to do the morning cat feeding, I didn’t even bother wearing a coat.

One of things we find in the winter is tunnels dug into the piled up snow. Today, I found two new ones – and evidence to show what has been making them!

The first photo is of the biggest tunnel. It’s hard to see, but to the left of the opening there is the distinctive paw print of a raccoon. Both raccoons and skunks are out now, and I’m seeing them in the sun room, stealing kibble!

The next three photos are of one tunnel with two openings.

I wonder if they nap in them or something?

After doing my morning routine, I was basically knackered. I am feeling both better and worse today. Better in some ways, but worse in a new pain way. I can’t stand for very long. It’s better while I’m moving, for a little while, at least.

So the girls have been taking over for me for the most part. I did go out again to do the evening cat feeding, and even tried to clear more snow away from around the well cap, were the bigger of those snow tunnels was.

The cats are really enjoying the warmer weather!

This gorgeous tuxedo is a very feral male. He’ll go into the sun room sometimes to eat, or to assert dominance over other males, but will not allow a human to come anywhere near him. Which is the only reason he didn’t run away as soon as I walked back into the sun room. He and Hypotenose where having words.

It was so nice out, I found excuses to stay outside longer. Did a bit more clearing of snow from around the well cap, though I probably shouldn’t have. I hate not being able to do work while the conditions are good.

The cats are just loving the warm.

The fluffy tabby glaring at me on the right is Furriosa. She has been making strange a lot more often of late. Which is unfortunate, as we want her to get used to being handled as much as possible before we take her in to the city for vetting and fostering and eventual adoption. When the time comes, I think we’ll have to close up the isolation shelter with the littles inside for the night, to make it easier to get them into carriers the next day. Sir Robin and Grommet will be easy to get, as will Domino and Blot. Bug has even been more ansty lately, and when I try to pet Furriosa in the isolation shelter, she runs out now. I think the warmer weather has something to do with it. They have more energy to run around!

Tomorrow is Easter, and it’s going to be a quiet one at home. I’m not up to driving to my mother’s to visit her and deliver a basket, as I’d planned, but I will be phoning her instead. All the remaining Easter preparations will be on the girls. Monday is our 38th anniversary, but we won’t be doing anything special this year. Tuesday, I bring the truck in to get checked out to find out why I’m losing oil again. Hopefully, the truck will not have anything major going on, and I will be feeling well enough to make the trip to my mothers – and the city trip to deliver cats! – later in the week.

Right now, I’m torn between wanting to go back outside and enjoying the day, or crawling into bed and curling up into a ball until tomorrow.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

Not happening

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My day started out all right.

It was a pleasant morning so, after the outside routine was done, I took the time to clear the path and set to the electric meter, so I can do a reading later in the week. I knew it would be a warmer day – as I write this, we’ve reached 3C/37F, with a “real feel” of 6C/43F – and I was planning to head out this afternoon to see if I could get more snow hauled away from around the well cap.

Not going to happen.

What I’d really like to do it this.

Curl up in a ball of warm fuzziness and sleep.

It seems my “side effect” theory is not correct. I have not been feeling well today, and have had to ask the girls to take care of things for me, simply because I can’t stand for any useful length of time.

*sigh*

Doctor’s appointment is a month from now. I expect to be sent for tests and referrals, and who knows how long it will take for those to happen.

Hopefully, I’ll be feeling good enough tomorrow to visit my mother. Forecast for Easter is a mix of rain and snow, so there’s another reason to go on Saturday, instead.

I’d rather not go anywhere at all until Tuesday, when the truck is booked to find out why I’m losing oil again.

What I’d really like to be doing is heading outside and getting some work done.

Very irritating.

The Re-Farmer

It begins

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Well, sort of. More like a tease.

Today’s expected high is -1C/30F, which we’re supposed to hit later this afternoon. It’s bright and sunny, though, and feels a lot warmer.

It was -12C/10F when my daughter did the morning cat feeding.

While doing the second feeding of the day and a few other things around the yard, I found myself needing to skirt around this.

There it is. The tease.

As the snow melts, this area becomes a bit of a pond. Some years, it’s part of a moat that encircles the garage and floods the pit under the outhouse.

For now, though, it’s a tease. Tomorrow we’re supposed to have a high above freezing, and then the highs are going to be dipping again. We won’t get highs above freezing again for about a week. Everything that’s melting now is going to be ice.

Ah, March. You’re just nasty.

Not a lot to say about today. It has been a bad pain day, of the sort that keeps me from standing in one place for very long. I can walk around, sit, lie down, but I can’t stand for more than a few minutes.

Even so, I’m still the most able bodied person in the household.

That’s rather scary to think of.

My brother had messaged me, saying he was planning to visit our mother and asked if I wanted to meet him there. I told him I wasn’t feeling well today. Which worked out, in a way, as he spent time helping my mother figure out her phone. She hasn’t been able to make outgoing calls. She keeps trying to use the programmed numbers and just not getting that she only needs to see the name on the screen, then hit the green button. In the end, he told her to just direct dial, like she always has before. They tested it out by calling here, so I was answering the phone quite a few times.

I later found out that my brother crossed paths with our vandal and his wife. They were going to visit my mother and happened to get to the doors to the TCU (which require a code to get in) at the same time my brother did. My brother, trying to be polite, asked how our vandal was doing, all things considered. His answer? “I’m dying.” … okay. He then said he wanted to talk to our mother alone. !!! There was an uncomfortable moment before his wife said they would come back later.

As my brother was leaving, about an hour later, he found them still hanging out not far from the TCU doors.

I really wish there were some way we could keep them away from my mother; he obviously is after something. The staff have been warned, but there’s really little they can do, since we don’t have any sort of court order.

What we do know is that he’s been telling my mother about things like his funeral already being planned out and paid for. It makes us wonder if he applied for and was accepted for MAiD, which is currently the 5th highest cause of death in Canada. My mother would not approve, of course, since it goes against our religious beliefs. It’s one thing to allow death to happen as peacefully and painlessly as possible, and deliberately killing someone. It’s not our business, except we worry about what he is say to Mom. She should not be burdened with his health problems. Lord knows, if my current issues turn out to be cervical cancer or something, I would NOT be telling my mother anything other than “I’m not feeling well”, unless I absolutely have to – and even then, I’d be telling her as little as possible. She does not need that burden, and she can’t handle that sort of thing at the best of times. Which leads me back to wondering, what is it he’s trying to guilt her into doing for/giving him, and why is his wife helping him do it? With all the threats of some sort of retribution he’s made against me and my brother, and claiming we caused his cancer, it frustrates me that he’s working his way into my mother’s good graces again so easily.

That’s one of the frustrating things about him. We’ve learned that when things are quiet from him, it has generally meant that he’s been doing things in the background that he springs on us, later on. I would have hoped that, when facing his own mortality like this, he would have tried to give up all that toxic stuff, but he has instead doubled down and gotten worse.

Well, if he is, I guess we’ll find out eventually.

It does make me glad I wasn’t up to going over there today. He’s been trying to wheedle himself into my brother’s … trust? … to turn him against me. If I were there at the same time, who knows how he would have reacted, or how he would end up treating my mother, after we left.

What a thing to have to even think about.

The Re-Farmer

Can’t be soon enough

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But first, the cuteness!

I have no idea what’s going on with Grommet’s face! I think I caught him with his mouth open.

I actually got this picture yesterday, while going in and out during the cookout. I’m really glad we did that yesterday, as I don’t think I would have been up to it, today!

I did get the morning cat feeding done outside – and discovered the cats had somehow unplugged the larger heat lamp again. We hit around -25C/-13F during the night, and the thermometer in the sun room was at -15C/5F this morning. The heated water bowl had ice forming at the top!

That done, it wasn’t long before I ended up going back to bed.

Getting the truck back from the garage can’t happen soon enough. I know, my brother got his truck ready for us to use, and I would be okay driving it for short distances, but that’s about it. I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable driving it to, say… our doctor’s clinic.

TMI warning.

As soon as we get our truck back, I need to re-book my doctor’s appointment. As someone that’s been post-menopausal for almost 20 years, I should not be having another period. Having one last month is why I booked an appointment in the first place.

I don’t feel sick. Aside from very normal feeling mild cramps, I’m not in any other pain. I have no other symptoms typical for this sort of thing to happen. It’s just… there.

Ideally, the truck will be ready tomorrow, or it might be the day after. Hopefully, replacing the differential again (under warranty) is the solution, because they can’t find anything else wrong with the truck. It should not be doing the things it’s doing! Kinda like my body right now. Once it’s back, I’ll call the clinic and book a new appointment – for the third time!

The clinic is booking appointments 4 weeks out right now, but perhaps they’ll have a cancellation or something that could get me in sooner.

Once we have our own transportation again.

The Re-Farmer

Not going anywhere!

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That Alberta Clipper moving across the prairies hit us early.

That -22C/8F is cold, sure (it’s actually gotten colder; while I was doing my morning rounds, it was -20C/-4F).

That wind chill of -40C/-40F, though. Yikes!

When I first headed outside, I thought I might do some shoveling after I finished feeding the yard cats and giving them warm water – which had started out as hot water, but was a drinkable temperature by the time I refilled their bowls. By the time I finished with the cat stuff, which only takes about 5 or 10 minutes, I knew I wasn’t going to do any shoveling.

Nor would I be going to my mother’s. As soon as I opened my FB app, the first thing I was seeing in my news feed was posts from the highways group I’m on, talking about nasty road conditions. There is a provincial site with road conditions, but it doesn’t get updated much, so this group is far more accurate when it comes to current conditions.

Once I got back inside, one of the first things I did was call my mother. By then, it was about 8:45, so I knew her home care would be arriving soon and I figured she might be up and about. It went to her (new) answering machine, though, so I left a message about not coming out and that I would call back soon, because I knew home care would be there soon.

About five minutes later, my mother called. I thought she had heard my message. Instead, she asked if I had just called her. I said yes, I left a message.

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

What followed was several minutes of my mother ranting and raging.

There was no message. There’s just numbers. Tell [my brother] to bring back her old phone. She doesn’t need his technology (he got the least technical phone he could find for her!!), she needs a doctor.

????

This went on in circles for quite some time. She kept saying, she doesn’t need technology, she needs a doctor, and she wants me to take her to a doctor.

She can’t even get into my truck anymore, and where would I magically find a doctor available on short notice, like this? It’s not like anyone takes walk ins anymore.

I did manage to say that the reason I’d called was because I wanted to reschedule today, because of the weather, and had been thinking of Monday, since I could do her grocery shopping as well by then.

She lost it again, and I couldn’t continue for several more minutes. She doesn’t need groceries. She has groceries. She needs a doctor. She needs to see a doctor.

Not once did she say why.

As for my not coming out to her today, her response was a nasty dig of how “of course” I can’t come out. Like it was a personal rejection.

I finally managed to tell her, if she feels that bed, use the Lifeline, get an ambulance and go to the hospital.

Dead silence.

I repeated the instructions.

Dead silence.

I tried again, adding that if she wasn’t feeling that bad, home care would be there soon. She could talk to them.

Dead silence.

You’re not talking to me now?

Dead silence.

I told her I would call back after she’s had a chance to calm down and said goodbye.

I tried again when I was pretty sure home care would be there. She actually answered the phone fairly quickly, and was much calmer. We talked for a while about her situation, and how I wasn’t going to be coming out today. I asked when home care was supposed to arrive, and she said they show up whenever they feel like it. I’d mentioned the weather and road conditions, and she actually considered that this might be why they weren’t there yet (she never told me the actual time they were scheduled for, she just has a time in her mind they should be there, regardless of what the schedule says). With a day like today, it would not be a surprise if people were falling behind, even if they only need to drive in town. She started to talk about how, if she just had a “slip”, she could take her pills herself, and I shut that down, saying flat out that what she needs is to be in a nursing home (which she has been fighting for, for over a year now), and I’m really upset that it hasn’t happened yet. That seemed to actually mollify her a bit.

Then the home care worker showed up, so I asked to talk to her.

I briefly explained the situation, and how my mother wasn’t saying WHY she needed a doctor. I asked if she could make the best assessment she could (they have their limitations) and that, if necessary, get my mother to use the Lifeline and get her to a hospital.

I haven’t had a call back, so that probably didn’t happen.

So my morning has been spent on the phone and on my computer, updating my siblings and so on. I’ll be calling my mother again later to check on her. Otherwise, it’s a day to stay home and stay warm!

Good grief. What a way to start the day!

The Re-Farmer