A hospital visit, and progress outside

January 7, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

But first, the cuteness!

I got this picture of Colby as I was going back inside for the day. I so want to snuggle this fluffball! We’ve had no progress in socialization. *sigh*

Today, I needed to go into town to pick up a prescription so, of course, I did as many other things as I could think of while I was there.

The first thing to do was visit my mother in the hospital.

It was a short visit. She started to go off on things again, and I called her out on it. Her response, as usual, it to verbally attack me for being such a terrible person, projecting invented motivations for while I don’t agree with her. She did change tactics when I simply got up and started to leave, though, and I did stay a bit longer.

It was a very productive visit, though. I remembered to grab the pendant for her Lifeline. I explained to her that her account is on hold right now, which means she’s being charged at a 60% discount. She was already upset that she was paying anything for the service in the first place, when she “wasn’t using it” (she was, but that’s another issue), so of course, she didn’t like that. I told her that once the account is closed, they will have to come over to get their machine and the pendant – and she had the pendant with her!

Not anymore. I’ll take it to her place as soon as I have a chance to check on her apartment again.

That got us to talking about what she wanted us to do with her stuff, should she be placed… somewhere. I suspect, not a nursing home, but more likely assisted living or supportive living. She wants my sister to take some things, which I think they’ve already talked about. My mother was a bit upset that my sister wanted to keep a print of Mona Lisa that my mother was thinking of donating to a local museum.

I don’t think a museum would want it. It has zero historical value. My mother just really likes it. I got a different story about how we got it, though. Previously, I was told it, and another framed print, were found in the attic of this house when my parents bought it, back in 1964 or so. Recently, though, my mother told me she’d bought the print herself and had someone local frame it. If the first story were true, then the print and frame would very well be almost 100 years old. If the second story is true, it’s about 50-60 years old.

The reason she isn’t sure she wants my sister to take it is, she has no children, and what’s going to happen to it when she gets to be my mother’s age and needs to pass it on?

Yup. My mother wants to control what happens to it for multiple generations.

I asked her, why is she so worried about material things like that? If my sister wants it, let her have it! These are her treasures, she told me. I reminded her that the Bible says our treasures are in heaven. She choked on that a bit, then told me how glad she was that I know the Bible so well, but there’s just one problem. I need to go to church!

*sigh*

The thing is, even when we were going to church regularly, before moving out here, it wasn’t good enough, anyhow. It wasn’t the “right kind” of church. In the end, it isn’t about going to church at all, but about control, and I’m not the marshmallow I used to be. She doesn’t like that.

Still, we did manage to have an okay visit, before I headed to the pharmacy. After that, I decided to go to the dollar store (we have just the one) to look for blanket yarn. My mother is happy with the sleep hat I made for her, then mentioned she sometimes uses it to keep her hands warm, so I will make her a muff for her hands. I couldn’t find the same variegated yarn I used for her hat, but I did find a solid grey that is the same as one of the greys in her hat. I have just a bit of the variegated yarn left that I should be able to use as an accent.

From there, I made a quick stop at the grocery store for something my husband requested. They didn’t have it, so I found a substitute, then got a couple more things, just to add to our supple. We’re still planning to do a cookout soon, and the only thing we’re running low on that I want to use for that is potatoes.

After that, there was one last stop for gas. *sigh* The prices just jumped from $1.109/L to $1.229/L

Once at home, I updated my brother on how things went with my mother, had some lunch, then headed back outside.

The first thing I wanted to work on was the fire pit. I had a cover on it, piled with snow, but more snow managed to get under it, too. I made sure to clean up the paths to the food pile and the branch pile, first, then did as much as I could with the fire pit. We’ve been putting small branches, pieces of bark and such, into it during the summer, expecting to be able to burn them in a cookout, but we never got to use it all summer. Even after the fire bans ended, it was usually too windy to even consider it.

After getting a pork roast out of the freezer, I was thinking of cooking in the fire pit tomorrow, but after talking about it with my daughters, we decided to wait another day. Which turned out to be a good thing. After clearing the snow and bits of wood out of the fire pit, I found it too frozen to clear ashes away from the fire bricks I have on one side. They are there to put the Dutch oven on, so the legs don’t sink into the ground or ashes below. So I cleared as much as I could, then left it uncovered. Tomorrow is supposed to be another mild day, and the dark snow/ashes will melt faster in the sun that way. I should be able to clear the fire bricks by late afternoon.

I did swing the grill back over the fire pit after taking the picture, though. The stacks in the background of the picture are what I cleared out of the pit.

That done, it was late enough to pause and feed the outside cats, but early enough to do more shoveling. You can see the final result in the next two pictures of the above slide snow.

Yes, I was able to clear a path all the way to the sign cam! I really thought it would have to be split between a couple of days, but the snow turned out to be less packed than I expected.

I really do enjoy shoveling snow! I’ll probably pay for it tomorrow, but gosh, it felt good.

Getting the path cleared meant I could finally switch out the trail cam memory card. It should be interesting to see how many files are on the card. The solar panel on the camera was covered in snow when I got to it, but the batteries were at 91%. I do expect there to be gaps over the days when we got that deep freeze, as the batteries would have gotten too cold to power anything. Still, it’s been over a month. I’m almost dreading to see how many files there are! It’s going to take a while to go through them.

Meanwhile, my awesome daughter has been diligently working on hemming the overalls she got for me, and finished soon after I was back inside. Of course, I had to try them on right away, and they are exactly the length I wanted – a touch on the long side, since they’ll be worn over boots. They’re so comfortable, I kept them on. The fabric is pretty stiff, so the more they are worn, the faster it will soften. They will be prefect for when I head back outside tomorrow to finish clearing the fire pit.

Oh, I do wish I had a way to record things easily while I was shoveling. The yard cats are really loving the warmer weather and running around like kittens. They were also loving the paths I was clearing, and the new one I dug out, running and jumping, following me around, chasing each other, and just having a grand old time! We’re still expected to have mild weather for the next week to 10 days, if not the above freezing high they were predicting for this coming Monday. That has been pushed back another week, and then the high of the day is supposed to drop by over 20° and stay frigid for about a week! Considering how much the predictions have been fluctuating, though, who knows what will actually happen. For now, though, the cats are greatly appreciating the warmer temperatures – and so am I!

What I need to figure out, though, is what I will be doing for starting seeds this year. I should be starting bulb onions right now. We still need to move the aquarium greenhouses to be basement, but have no idea how we can get the big one down the stairs and around the corner at the bottom, without breaking anything. Getting the aquariums and the shelf the big one rests on is becoming more important, since we will likely be bringing my mother’s couch in. Actually, we still have the couch. She took the matching love seat to her apartment when she moved off the farm. It’s small enough that it should fit right where the big aquarium is set up right now.

Starting the onion seeds, though, probably shouldn’t wait until we figure all that out. This year, I’m thinking to try doing them in a “snail” roll, to make it easier to separate them when it’s time to transplant in the spring. That should be small enough that they can be set up in the living room to germinate.

We’ll figure it out!

All in good time.

The Re-Farmer

Playing in the snow

January 5, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Things have warmed up quite a bit today. As I write this, we are at -7C/19F, which is warmer than the predicted forecast.

While I was out doing my morning routine, I decided to take advantage of the weather and do a bit of clean up. Mostly, scraping the packed snow off the sidewalk and shoveling that clear. Then I decided to clean up the path to the compost pile that was starting to fill in and, since I was there anyhow, decided to shovel a new path to the back of the garage. I just had to follow a trail conveniently marked out for me by a deer! 😄

While going past the garden beds there, I was able to mound more snow over the winter sown kohlrabi bed.

The other bed with the winter sown cabbage has a cover stored over it, so I wasn’t going to add more to that one. The cover itself has probably created air pockets that would also serve as insulation to protect the bed.

I look forward to seeing how the winter sown beds work out in the spring! I haven’t even tried to get at the ones in the main garden area. There’s enough snow covering the entire area that I’m not going to bother.

That done, I continued towards the garage, but the closer I got, the harder it was to use the shovel to break through the crust of snow near the top. In the first picture below, you can see a line where I hit with the shovel and managed to just leave a mark. There was loose snow under the hard packed snow, but even clearing that away, plus the loose snow on top, the shovel just couldn’t break through. It already has a crack in it, so I wasn’t going to bash too hard.

Now, what I could have done was get the ice scraper and chop it up, but… I just couldn’t resist.

I got my machete out of the garage, instead.

In the second picture, you can see where I started to clear from the garage side. I didn’t have that much distance left to clear. After shoveling aside the loose snow on top, I started cutting out blocks. Some of them were angled cuts, as I had to make a turn in the path. The snow on the garage side was packed all the way to the ground, and I had to cut blocks in half horizontally so that I could free the top block, then cut again to get the bottom loose. After a while, though, I started reaching where the bottom layer of snow was loose, and it got much easier.

In the third picture, you can see the last bit before I reached the cleared path. The cats really liked the new path! At one point, I even found one tucked into the gap under the hard packed snow in the first picture.

As for the blocks, I ended up setting them along the north wall of the path to the outhouse. A little extra to block the wind and keep it from drifting in, which you can see in the fourth picture of the above slide show.

Last of all, I tidied the new path up with the shovel. Once I was done and putting things away, the cats immediately started running up and down the new path! I’m sure the deer whose trail to the compost pile I cleared will like the new path, too. 😁

I have to admit, I was really, really tempted to keep cutting more blocks and building up more walls. Which I might actually do more of, tomorrow.

Today, however, I needed to go into town, so I headed in for breakfast, instead.

Once in town, my first stop was at the hospital to visit my mother. She seems to be doing pretty good, though she complains that they aren’t “doing” anything for her. I’m not sure what they can do, other than what they are already doing. She seems to be looking for some sort of magical fix for everything. She gets out of breath very easily. There’s nothing they can do about that. She has pain, and they’re already giving her painkillers and using the Voltaren. They’re still giving her water pills more often, to keep the swelling down. She wants the doctor that’s covering for the one on holiday to see her, but for what, exactly? She never quite tells me.

After a while, I told her to just enjoy being there and being taken care of. She doesn’t have to worry about her meals, and if she has trouble at night, she just has to push a button, and help will come. Which is exactly what she has been wanting, for a very long time – to have someone around and available, especially at night. At one point, she told me she had to call for help while in the washroom. She was in too much pain in her hip and back to get up. She asked them to rub on more Voltaren, which is one of the only things that really seems to help her, and she was eventually able to get up. The nurse wanted her to get up and walk right away, but she had to tell her, she needs at least a bit of time for the stuff to start working, first!

I don’t know when the regular doctor will be back from holidays, but once he is, my brother wants to book a meeting with him to discuss my mother’s situation. The only thing we know right now is, there is nothing about her going home. Still, until we get official word that she will be going into some sort of care facility, we can’t really do anything more about her apartment, utilities, etc. I suppose we could start packing things. I’m really not looking forward to going through all my mother’s stuff, but wherever she goes, very little of it will be able to go with her. Basically, her clothes and that’s about it. She might be able to hang some of the family pictures on the wall of wherever she ends up, but if she ends up in the hospital for an extended period, while waiting to a bed to open somewhere, we’ll have to store things ourselves until we know what her set up will be.

In the end, it wasn’t a long visit. There wasn’t anything much new with either of us, and I’ll be back again soon, I’m sure. Now that she’s in the town closest to us, I’ll have more opportunity to visit her.

From there, it was off to the pharmacy, and then to run what errands I could think of, while I was in town.

When I headed out this morning, everything was covered in frost. Normally, that would have gone away during the day, but we’ve been overcast all day, so everything was still looking like something out of a post card while I was heading home.

One nice thing about living in the boonies. I could stop in the middle of the road to take pictures, and didn’t have to worry about traffic. 😄

This is one of them.

The local company the RM contracts with to do the plowing did a fantastic job! There was a brief period few years ago, when a new council decided to lease a snow plow instead, then hire a driver as needed. It was a disaster, and the winter road conditions were the worst anyone could remember. That council was so bad, the province ended up disbanding it after too many people quit in disgust, then taking over until a new council could be elected. The new members went back to contracting with the same company that had been doing such a great job for so many years, and what a difference that has made!

Anyhow, that’s it for today, really. We’re supposed to have some pretty mild weather of the next while – a week from today, they’re now saying we might reach 0C/32F! Hopefully, I’ll be able to take advantage of it. If nothing else, we need to do a dump run when it’s open tomorrow, and then I can keep going to the feed store to the north of us, and get 40 pound bags of kibble for the outside cats for the month.

Other than that, I might just end up cutting more snow blocks. I haven’t built a snow fort since I was a kid. 😄

The Re-Farmer

First day of the new year – and of course, things got changed up! 😂

January 1, 2026January 1, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful time bringing in the New Year! Or, at least, a calm and peaceful one. 😁

I didn’t make it to midnight. 😄

It actually turned out to be a very strange day for me. I’d gone to bed early, so I was up pretty early. I did the outside cats stuff and my short, winter version of my morning rounds, then tried to go back to bed. After numerous interruptions, I did actually get some sleep. So, you’d think I would have been good to stay up until midnight. After all, I rarely get to be before midnight on a normal day. Instead, I could have easily gone back to bed by 5 or 6.

The other odd thing was my body was basically falling apart, all day. Just with normal walking around the house, I’d have a knee start to give out, or a hip start to dislocate. Even just reaching to flush the toilet had my shoulder socket trying to dislocate. Then there were my hands! At one point, I’d made myself a hot drink in one of my giant mugs, which are basically twice the size of a typical coffee mug. When I tried to pick it up by the handle, I found I didn’t have enough grip strength to clasp the handle enough to keep it from sliding through my fingers. I ended up having to ask a daughter to pick it up for me, so that I could grasp it with both hands. It wasn’t until the cup was half empty that I could grip the handle with one hand and not be at risk of dropping it. It was so bizarre!

That was yesterday, but when I woke up today, it was pretty much back to normal. I have no idea why I had such issues yesterday, that would go away overnight like that.

This morning I was feeling good enough that, after doing my rounds, I scraped and cleared the sidewalks and main doorway steps, tidy up the paths that were already dug, and even started to extend more paths. Little by little, I want to dig our way to the fire pit again, but I was going to head back out to open up the turn around space in the inner yard. We will be doing our Costco stock up trip soon, and I want to be able to back up to the house with more room to turn the truck around in the yard.

Well, that’s going to be my focus for tomorrow, instead.

I had called my mother last night to with her a Happy New Year, and she gave me a bit of a list of things she wanted from her place. One of those things was her short wave radio that my brother got for her, so she could listen to her Polish station, with Mass and praying of the rosary.

I passed on to my brother bout the radio, and this morning they told me they were going to her place to get it, and did I want to meet them at the hospital to visit Mom?

I suggested I meet them at her apartment, so I could back some things for her, then they could grab the radio, then we’d go to the hospital together.

So that was the new plan for the day. I was able to leave soon after, which was really early, but I wasn’t sure if I needed to do any shoveling at the end of the driveway. It turned out I didn’t, and there was no need for the plows to go by again. That had me at my mother’s place before they even left home. Which was just fine.

I checked her answering machine, then packed a few things in a bag for my mother, spotting some things I figured she would like to have, even though she hadn’t asked for them directly. I also made sure to water her rosemary plant. That will be coming here to the farm eventually, but I didn’t want to grab it only to have it sitting in a cold truck until I could get home.

I was even able to get the radio partially ready. I just couldn’t get the special antennae down from where it was taped to the window. I’m too short. So when my brother got there, that was all he had to deal with, so he was done and we were heading out in less than 5 minutes.

They have one of their grandsons with them for a while, and the long drives were great for him to get a solid nap in!

Once there, my brother immediately started trying to set up the radio and antennae. In the end, there was just no way to get a strong enough signal for her FM radio station. He was able to find it, but it was really hard to hear, and there was no place he could set up the antennae and get a better signal.

My mother could not grasp why this was an issue. She was instead convinced my brother had bought her a “junk” radio (it is a very high end shortwave radio), because she never had problems before. Meaning, also back here at the farm. My brother told her that we were getting AM radio, but what she was listening to was FM radio. I well remember how hard it was to get an FM signal here, having had to set up antennae wires from my radio when I was a kid. In the end, my brother was able to find an AM station that she used to listen to. No Polish radio, no Christian station, but one where she could at least listen to the news. All she has to do it push the red button to turn it off and on. We tried to stress for her to not touch any dials. Hopefully, she will remember that!

Meanwhile, I unpacked the items I brought for my mother, making sure where I was putting them for her. She was quite happy when she saw some of the extras I’d bought, as they were things she wanted, but had forgotten to ask for.

We then had ourselves a decently long visit. She did seem really tired, and had almost no patience. For example, when my brother started to set up her radio beside her, the folding hospital walker was in the way. He moved it aside and I was going to get it out of the way, but I first had to move the wheelchair aside. My mother started demanding I move the walker to a certain spot, which was basically where the wheelchair was sitting, but when I didn’t immediately do it – because I was moving the wheelchair – she suddenly became enraged and actually started to kick at the walker from where she was sitting, in such a way that could easily have resulted in a fall. When we managed to get her calmed down and I could finally move the walker, she basically just slumped into her chair and started saying how, she’s used to doing things herself, but now has to depend on us, as an explanation for her behaviour. I told her, even she couldn’t do two things, like moving a walker and a wheelchair, at the same time! Which she did acknowledge. Sort of.

It was a good visit, though at times a distracting one, with a very energetic great grandson around. My brother got some recordings of my mother telling stories and singing. I’m glad he thinks to do that. I hardly ever remember to even take photos when I visit!

Once we were done with the visit, we wanted to go somewhere to chat and catch up on things. Being New Year’s Day, the only place that was open and had seating was a Subway. It wasn’t a busy time of day, so we were able to stay and talk for quite a long time. Again, it was very distracted with their grandson, but none of us minded. Eventually, we were able to cover quite a few things, and I even learned more about things that happened while we were living in other provinces over the years. We’re all quite confused over my sister’s recent actions involving our vandal which, I learned, has been a problem for quite some time. It seems both our vandal and my mother have been able to manipulate her very easily. Which is odd, because she really should know better by now. In all honesty, it seems my sister is showing cognitive issues as well, and is not at all as healthy as she may seem. I see way too many red flags. But, she’s skinny, and we all know that skinny people don’t get sick, right? /sarcasm

In the end, we just have to work with the hand we are dealt with and do the best we can, for each other as well as for our mother.

It was getting pretty late in the afternoon by the time we parted ways. One of the two grocery stores in town was open today, so I made a quick stop to pick up a few things before our Costco stock up trip. I haven’t decided exactly when I’ll be doing that, other than not-tomorrow. We are actually supposed to warm up slowly over the next 7-10 days, with expected highs next week just a few degrees below freezing. A good time to do more snow clearing, very little of which can be done with little Spewie. The parts that can be done with Spewie still need to be broken up with a shovel, first. The snow is deeper than Spewie is tall, and much of it is now hard packed by the wind.

One thing I’ve been able to see through various windows are some pretty large fallen branches, but they will have to wait until spring for clean up.

So what was supposed to be a home day ended up being an out all day, day. The nice thing is that I’ve got the girls able to take over my usual outside routine while I’m gone – plus, I came home to supper waiting for me! 😊

As for my mother, we’re going to have to wait until her attending doctor comes back from holidays before we can have a meeting with him and discuss next steps. Once we have something solid to work on, we’ll be able to make decisions about my mother’s apartment.

*sigh*

I have no idea what we’re going to do with her furniture. It’ll probably have to come here to the farm, but we’ve pretty much run out of storage space for larger stuff. We still have all the stuff we cleared out of the house and packed away, because my mother insisted nothing be thrown out. Fair enough. Most of it is in too good a shape to throw away. She did say we could have a garage sale, but that wouldn’t work out well. Not just because of our relative isolation, but that would be an open invitation for our vandal to cause problems. She’s also adamant that nothing goes to any second hand stores, either. So what are we supposed to do with it all?

Ah, well. We’ll figure it out, in due time.

Until then, here’s some cuteness to share with you.

This is Leyendecker and Susan. Can you believe they are siblings from the same litter – and that Leyendecker started out as the tiniest kitten of the litter? He’s an absolute giant, compared to his sister. He’s not just a fat cat, but a big beast in general. He’s even bigger than Big Rig, who was the largest kitten of the litter. She’s a chonk, too, but not quite as big as he is. Susan is one of our smaller, lighter cats now. Their mom is Beep Beep, who is a pretty normal sized cat. Bigger than Susan, but still dwarfed by two of her last babies, before we were finally able to get her fixed.

Okay, I should have gone back over my old posts, first.

Susan is not from the same litter as Leyendecker. She’s one of Beep Beep’s, but older. Beep Beep’s last litter included Leyendecker, Big Rig and two orange babies, Saffron and Turmeric. She also adopted Butterscotch’s last surviving kitten, Nikko, from that year. The orange babies and Butterscotch’s baby all got adopted out. They were pretty much the first kittens the Cat Lady adopted out for us, before she started her own rescue. My daughters just reminded me that Susan is Cheddar’s sibling. So… she is still the tiny sister of a giant cat. Just not the biggest chonky boy of the household! 😄

It gets hard to keep track, at times! It’s a good think I journal this stuff here, or I’d never remember. 😄

The Re-Farmer

Not impressed

December 30, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Though I am impressed by Sir Robin’s balance.

His expression looks unimpressed, though!

This is what I find pretty much every time I open the inner door from the old kitchen. Sir Robin, perched on the edge of the screenless window. He stays balanced, even as I open and close the door! Sometimes, there are two or three cats on there when I open the door.

Today has been a pretty uneventful day, with just normal daily routine, except for two things.

The first was a call I got from my brother. He’d received a call from the hospital, and the first thing he said to me was, our mother is okay!

She had a fall today. She somehow managed to slide off the toilet. She was able to reach the call button, but when they arrived, she refused help. !!! She managed to get up on her own, which amazes me, considering the state of her knees. No injuries. No bruises. She’s fine.

She did, however, tell them she can’t go home. She can’t take care of herself anymore. I’ve been saying this from the start, and I know my brother has as well, but she is finally voicing it more directly, too.

My brother did try to talk to someone at the nursing home my mother wants to go to. He got the run around on who he should be talking to, only to be told he should be talking to someone else, instead, etc.

What I found interesting is that the staff there remember my late father, with fondness. My father passed away almost 10 years ago. He was in the nursing home for only about 6 months. Yet, they still remember him! That it is with fondness is no surprise. Every time I called my dad, he would always comment on how well they took care of him. My father was always showing his gratitude and appreciation.

God, I miss him.

The other thing was my sister. No details, of course, but she finally responded to my calling her out on her telling our vandal that my mother was in the hospital. I was careful to challenge what she did, without attacking her personally. Basic rule of debate and argumentation: attack the idea, not the person.

Well, she never addressed a single point I made, but instead attacked me personally while making herself out to be a victim again.

Long store short, I ended up blocking her on FB, and removing her from the family group chat.

There is background to this, which I will not go into, here, but I’m still disappointed. Not surprised, but I had hoped it would not end up this way.

The frustrating part is, my mother makes a big deal about how we wants us all to get along, but she’s the one that keeps playing us against each other, wanting us to keep secrets from each other, and it was her manipulation of my sister that lead to this.

I feel very tired right now, and not in a physical sense.

The Re-Farmer

So frustrating

December 29, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Before I get into the frustrating stuff, I will start with the cuteness.

All of them, fluffy.

That first picture, we actually named her Fluffy. We got her to the vet and they wanted a name. It was all I could come up with, quickly! We got her in only because she willingly walked into a carrier. Once in a while, she lets us pet her.

The second picture is of another fluffer, but with more white on the chest. With how much they move around, that extra white is the primary way we can tell them apart. That one has taken to hanging out on the window shelf while I put the food out, and has been willing to let me do that, and even not running away while I pet other cats beside it. It has even sniffed my fingers a bit. I’ve managed to touch him (I’m going to guess “him”, only because – as far as I can tell – he didn’t get pregnant last year), but he takes off when I do.

Then there are these two.

These are both among the oldest kittens of this past year. A matched set of adorable fluffiness.

Now that I look at the picture, I can see why the one tends to have its eye looking half closed all the time. There seems to be an issue with the inner eyelid.

Now, on to the frustrating part.

My daughter and I went into town today. I brought a couple of things for my mother, so we were going to go there first, then go to the grocery store for our last shop of the year.

My mother had requested some of her Pepto, because what the hospital was giving her apparently wasn’t working. She wanted me to sneak it in to her and not tell them. Which I had no intention of doing, but I did bring a bottle from the stash I brought to our place, because my brother buying her to many made her angry instead of thankful. I also grabbed another of my mini tagine sauce bowls for my mother to use to count her pills. I’m glad I had a set of four of those, because two are already at my mother’s apartment!

Our first stop was at the nurse’s station. I showed them the Pepto and explained why my mother wanted it. They had to keep it so that a doctor could authorize it, and she made sure to label it with my mother’s name as we talked. I also showed her the tiny tagine and explained about my mother using it to count pills, because home care would sometimes drop a pill while getting them out of her bubble packs. Now that she’s putting them in her palm to count them, she doesn’t seem to be seeing them as well, and has miscounted. I just wanted them to know what it was there for.

My daughter and I then went on to visit my mother.

The first surprise was that her door was not quite shut. There’s a sign on her door to keep it closed at all times.

The second surprise was when we walked in and found she had a visitor.

Our vandal.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When he saw us walk in, he immediately began to say his good byes and left, not making eye contact with us at all. I did say Happy New Year as he went by, but he ignored it.

After he was gone and I gave my mother a hug hello, I asked if she knew how he found out she was in the hospital. She just threw her hands up and said, maybe my sister. I wasn’t sure about this, since my siblings and I had been talking about making sure not to tell anyone about my mother being in the hospital, so that word would not get to him.

Thankfully, he was on good behaviour, even though his wife was not there, but she had specifically told him not to come around anymore, after his last yelling session at her place, not that long ago. It didn’t stop him from leaving a really nasty letter more recently. We really hoped that she would be safe from him in the hospital. She tried to say he was being okay, but I pointed out to her that’s because she’s in a hospital, not at her apartment – but that this could change at any time.

Then I told brought out her little pill counting bowl, which she was happy with. I told her about bringing the Pepto and leaving it at the desk, which she got angry with. She had told me not to do that, because she intended to basically sneak taking it without the hospital staff knowing. I told her, she can’t do that. They need to know what she is taking, when and how. She complained that they took away her painkillers and I said, it’s the same thing. They can’t leave medications because patients might make mistakes. Oh, but she doesn’t have that problem, so they should let her keep her extra meds. I had to tell her, they can’t pick and choose who they can do this with and pointed out that she does forget things.

Then she got mad at me for another reason. I was wearing my work sweats, and I’ve got a tear in one pantleg. She spotted the hole and got angry. I shouldn’t wear clothes with holes in them because we live in the best country in the world.

…

???

Needless to say, we didn’t stay long. Her lunch was about to be delivered, anyhow.

As we left, I stopped at the nurse’s station again. I’d called about our vandal before, and I wanted to confirm with them who he was. I made sure they knew I understood there isn’t much they can do, but at least there was an awareness of a potential problem.

I had suggested that my daughter go on ahead to the truck while I talked to the, but she stayed with me. She was concerned that our vandal might be hanging out in the parking lot. I later found out that he’s getting his chemo at this hospital, so he’s going to be there regularly.

*sigh*

Also, for someone who is dying, he looked really good and pretty spry.

Thankfully, he wasn’t stalking us in the parking lot, but we also had to keep in mind that he might also be at the grocery store we were going to. Once we parked there, I sent a quick update to my siblings in our chat group about him being there before going in (we never saw him in the grocery store, either, thankfully).

While shopping, I got a response from my sister, saying that people from church had recognized my mother, so that’s probably how word got out. I made a short response saying that my mother thought my sister had told him, but was just guessing. My brother tried to phone me on my cell, but it was just too loud for us to talk. My daughter and I had our own shopping lists, so we took care of that, loaded up the truck, then headed home.

My phone started dinging while we were driving so, when we stopped along the way for my daughter to check the mail, I took a look.

This is where I’m going to be fighting a battle between being honest about things on this blog, while being careful not to say things I shouldn’t, even though this blog is anonymous.

Long story short, my sister did tell our vandal about my mother being in the hospital – at my mother’s request. They both tried to hide that from me and my brother.

The whole point of our group chat has been to communicate with each other because my mother likes to play us against each other, telling each of us different things about the same topics and the like. We also need to protect my mother, not just from people like our vandal, but from herself, if necessary. Yet, my sister still let my mother manipulate her, and … let’s just say, she didn’t see the problem with this. Even after I pointed out that she put my mother’s health and safety at risk, by going along with my mother’s self sabotaging demands.

My brother and SIL, meanwhile, were on their way to visit my mother as well. Once we had the chance, we talked on the phone while they made a stop along the way. As you can imagine, they were pretty alarmed by what my sister did, too, and that our vandal showed up. My sister added something else that is of concern, too. Our vandal’s wife works for the health care system, in some administrative capacity, and apparently said something about the waiting list for the nursing home my mother wants to get into. There have been other things that have come up that suggest that she’s been looking up private medical files and passing things on to our vandal, and that seems to have happened again in relation to my mother. This, of course, would be a PIPA violation.

Anyhow, once at home and settled in, I responded to my sister about what happened. I tried to be very careful in addressing the issue without making personal attacks. She responded with a personal attack.

*sigh*

Unfortunately, all this shows is that my sister cannot be trusted when it comes to caring for our mother, because she allows herself to be manipulated. That is involved our vandal took it from being a minor frustration to alarming, because it has literally put my mother’s safety at risk – and both she and my mother tried to keep it a secret from my brother and I, because they both knew we were against our vandal having access to my mother!

*arrrrggggghhhh*

When they were done their visit, my brother called to update me while they were driving home. They had an all right visit. My mother wouldn’t have said anything except the noticed and commented on a box of chocolates (my mother keeps saying, she doesn’t want sweets) and a Christmas card signed by our vandal and his wife. She then acted like she just remembered that, oh, right, our vandal had come to see her – but he behaved well!

*sigh*

They explained to her, why this is a problem and told her that, if he shows up again, to use the call button so someone will come over, and see that he’s there. That will make things a bit safer for her, at least.

My brother had tried to get some idea of what’s going to be happening with Mom. Everyone is saying we need to talk to someone else, and no one knows anything. One thing we do know now is, if my mother gets paneled to go straight to a nursing home from the hospital, rather than being discharged to home, they will start billing her for her time in the hospital. She would no longer be their patient, so the province won’t cover her costs anymore, so she’ll basically be charged for room and board.

Which means we’re going to have to do something about her apartment, so she’s not paying both at the same time. Yet, we can’t really start doing that until we officially know that she won’t be coming back to her apartment.

My mother has so. Much. Stuff. In that tiny apartment. This is not going to be easy. Most of it is papers she refuses to throw away, but there’s important stuff mixed in with stuff that she should have thrown away long ago. She has a habit of reusing envelopes from junk mail or solicitations for donations and sticking important things in them, all mixed up.

Well, it will need to be done, and that will mostly fall on me, since I’m the closest and my schedule is the most flexible. At least I’ll have a daughter or two, to help me!

I really wish we didn’t have to deal with this whole soap opera going on, and could just focus on taking care of my mother!

Ah, well. Such is life. As my dad used to say, you can laugh, or you can cry, and I’d rather laugh.

So that’s what I’m going to do!

The Re-Farmer

A quiet day, with some updates

December 28, 2025December 28, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

Today, I actually did take a day of rest.

No shoveling. No errands. I went outside to feed the yard cats and that’s it. In fact, I stayed in my PJs all day.

I really needed this.

But first, the cuteness!

Ha! Colby looks so angry in that first picture. The second picture is a feral we can’t touch. S/he always seems to have one eye half closed, and it’s not always the same eye. We might have to call him/her Wink! 😁

The third picture is Hypotenose. He was really wanting attention today!

Last of all, we had Stinky, glowing in the sunlight, and the fluffy feral that looks like Fluffy, but has more white on the chest. This one is finally accepting the offer of food, up on that window shelf, and sometimes, I can sneak a touch.

In other things…

I’m happy to say, my left knee that I bashed last night is doing pretty good. There’s swelling and I can still see a mark, but it doesn’t hurt to the touch, like my right knee still does. That one is getting very colourful as it recovers.

I still can’t figure out how I managed to bash that left knee so hard into the door.

Meanwhile…

Last night, I got an automated notification from my mother’s Lifeline system. When their system reads there might be a technical issue with connectivity, it sends these with instructions to test it. My mother has the Lifeline pendant with her in the hospital. I’ll have to remember to grab that and return it to her apartment.

The notification came so late in the day that, when I called the 800# in the message, it went straight to an answering service that said to call back during office hours. So I called them up today. The call went straight to voice mail, so I let them know my mother was in the hospital and we don’t know when – or if – she is coming home, so to suspend her service for now.

I called the hospital to see how things were with her, and was able to talk to her nurse for today. He had just checked on her. We talked about her concerns with the pills she’s getting. He confirmed that she has been getting her eye vitamin for the past while, though it was a tablet version, not the almost black gel cap type pill she was used to. He told me she empties the pill cup into her palm and counts the pills every time, but sometimes miscounts. This morning, she counted 7 when there were 8, and he suggested she count again. She got the right number the second time. I explained about how, with home care, they would sometimes drop pills, so we had a special little bowl with a lid to put the pills into, that made it easy to count them. Her failing vision may be a contributing factor, too.

Still no information from any doctors on her condition, nor what the next stage will be.

I then got transferred to her room to talk to her, and she was very happy for the call. I told her some of what the nurse told me, and she requested her little bowl to put the pills into for counting. I don’t know when I’ll be at her place next, though, but she said there is no hurry.

She mentioned they took away her painkillers. These would have been her T3s from home. I suspect she may have been taking them, then forgetting she took them and took them again. She brought up again how, she’s taking all these pills, but she still feels this or that – things that are unrelated to what she is being medicated for. Then she asked me to bring her Pepto. It took some questioning, but it seems the hospital did have her some sort of substitute. White instead of pink, and more liquidy. Apparently, it isn’t helping, so she wants her Pepto – but don’t tell them about it! I told her, I can bring the Pepto (I have her spare bottles here at home), but she can’t be hiding things from the hospital staff. They need to know if she’s taking something.

We have plans to go into town tomorrow and pick up a few extras for New Year’s, so I can swing by to visit her as well.

Then she mentioned that her niece had visited her a few times.

This surprised me, because we’ve been making a point of not telling anyone my mother is in the hospital, so our vandal doesn’t find out. My cousin is still pretty close with him, as far as we know, so we weren’t going to tell her. I asked my mother who told her, and she thinks it was my sister, but didn’t know for sure.

After I finished talking to my mother, then updating my siblings, I called the nursing station back and explained the situation. There isn’t much they can do if our vandal shows up, but they are now at least aware of a potential problem. Hopefully, he’s too sick to visit my mother and try to guilt her into giving him money or something, and it’ll be a non-issue.

It really sucks that we have to even think about that sort of thing while my mother is in the hospital!

Well, it is what it is, and we’ll deal. The main thing is, there will now be a notice on her file and they are aware of a potential issue. If all goes well, he still knows nothing about my mother and everything will stay quiet.

Quiet is good.

The Re-Farmer

Cleared out, just in time

December 26, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

Today’s main goal was to get to my mother’s place and clear out her refrigerator of perishable items, then get her bubble packs to the hospital, before the snow arrived.

My daughter came with me to help out, so she was able to get started on the fridge while I packed a bag of stuff for my mother. There were a few things she asked specifically for, and others I grabbed that I knew she would want, such as her daily devotions book (which is held together with duct tape, she’s read and re-read it so often), the LED candle I got for her for when she said her prayers and when someone from church brought her communion, and a couple of rosaries. A neighbor has been bringing her mail for years and sliding it under her door, and there were a few envelopes we brought for her, too. Of course, I also brought her knee warmers that I washed and added elastic cord to, which will hopefully keep them from sliding off, and the warm sleeping cap I made for her yesterday.

I had done a grocery shopping trip for my mother shortly before she went into the hospital, so there was quite a bit for us to bring home! Some things had to be thrown away, so we took out her garbage, too. I even remembered to give her rosemary plant a deep watering. There are still a few things in her fridge that aren’t perishable that we are leaving until we come back to shut it off and clean it all out. Not sure when that will happen.

Once everything was packed up, checked out, put away and tended to, my daughter and we had 5 of our hard sided grocery bags to bring home (!!!) plus the items to bring to the hospital. That included her bubble packs that they asked for, plus I found and grabbed the prescription anti-fungal medication for her infected toe that she never used, as she can’t apply it herself. My daughter remembered to grab the baggie of foot care stuff I brought for her, which can now only be used by her, unless sterilized.

It didn’t take very long with two of us working on it, and we were soon loaded and heading to the hospital.

When we got there, my first stop was at the nursing station to drop of my mother’s bubble packs. I pointed out the eye vitamins, and the woman I spoke to said they just don’t have those at all. I also brought out the anti-fungal medication and explained that my mother couldn’t apply it herself. I don’t know that they do that sort of foot care. You’d think they would, considering it’s a hospital, but as I told her what it was, she seemed very… confused? Not sure what other word to use, but it left me thinking, it’s not going to get used.

My mother was sleeping when came in, so we tried to be quiet, but she heard us and got up. We showed her what we brought for her, some of which needed repeating, but she eventually got it and was able to instruct us on where to put things. Then we stayed for a bit of a visit and a chat. That went over well, for the most part – she was happy to see my daughter this time. There were a couple of head shakers, though.

She started telling us that things are quieter at night, now, because she was saying something (I shudder to think how she phrased things). There’s even a hand written sign on her door, to keep closed at all times. She started getting into her favourite thing to complain about: people laughing. As she went on about it, we tried to say, laughing is good. It’s healthy. It’s one thing to have an issue with how loud things are, but there’s nothing wrong with laughing.

Turns out, she really does think there’s something wrong with laughing. People shouldn’t be laughing in the hospital, because there are sick people who are feeling bad, and that will make them feel worse. Of course, she is projecting herself, here, and assumes other patients are as bothered by it as she is. This attitude towards laughing is not new at all. Even when we would be in a restaurant or something and people at another table would laugh loudly, she would get angry. As if she thought they were laughing at her (in some instances, she really did think people were laughing at her, even though they were talking about something else entirely). There were a few times when she would suddenly, loudly, do her sarcastic imitation of a laugh. Got some strange looks out of it, as you can imagine. My daughter even tried to point out that sometimes, people laugh to make other people feel better, and my mother’s response was that they could smile or say nice things, but laughing was for … I think she said for the bar or something like that, but I can’t quite remember. Basically, in her mind, no laughing should happen in hospitals. Because she doesn’t like it. She even tried to misuse the Bible to justify it, bringing up the verse about being happy with those who are happy, crying with those who cry, completely out of context. (ESV Romans 12: 15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”)

As you can imagine, both my daughter and I were rather stunned that my mother was so upset about other people being happy around her.

She also brought up her other favourite complaint: how the staff dresses. She said she’s been telling the nurses and doctors that they should “dress nicely” so people can tell them apart from the janitor – and, according to her, they agree with her. ??? I don’t think that’s quite it. What got us is when she started on how the doctors and nurses deserve more respect than the janitors, because a janitor doesn’t even need 12th grade, and that’s why they should dress different so people should be able to tell them apart.

She said it in such a way that I had to interject and tell her, she needs to treat janitor’s nicely, too, because they also deserve respect. She started mocking about, oh, yes, they call it “equality” and so on, but basically doubled down on how the housekeeping staff are somehow “less”. I told her, they need to be treated with respect because they are children of God, too. She actually found a way to dismiss that while pretending to agree with it at the same time. Then she mentioned some other things about the staff, making it clear she’s been grilling them about their historical and ethnic backgrounds. She was all smiles when she brought up that one nurse’s background was from Denmark. Then one of the other nurses – an Asian male – same up and her entire body language changed, and she was “oh… him.” !!! I’ve met this guy twice, and he also phoned me to follow up about my mother’s meds, asking me to brig her bubble packs over so they could give her her eye vitamins. Between my mother’s attitude and his own body language while talking about my mother, I strongly suspect she said or did something inappropriate towards him.

After updating my family, my sister brought up something that happened during her visit. A couple of guys came in, delivering water bottles. My mother said to them, “Men? You should be in construction!”

*sigh*

We talked a bit about her medications. She told me, one morning they gave her 12 pills. Another, they gave her 9. Her morning meds are usually 6 meds, including a half pill. Whatever they’re doing, they’re either not explaining it to her, or she’s forgetting if they have.

While we were there, a nurse came in to give her 2:00 water pill. So they are clearly giving her more of those than she used to take with her bubble packs. From the looks of her legs, they may want to increase the dose more!

My siblings and I are frustrated by the lack of information and communication. My mother would be difficult to communicate with, but if that’s an issue, they should be calling me. I’m top of the list of my siblings, not just because I live the closest, but because I’ve been her advocate at medical appointments for about 8 years now. If they can’t reach me, they should be calling my brother, who is her PoA. There just doesn’t seem to be anything to go on. Even when I ask the staff at the nursing station and talk to her nurse of the day, they don’t seem to know anything about what’s going on.

It’s still better than for her to be at home, of course, but we’re all pushing for her to be discharged to a nursing home, and there’s just nothing. No feedback. No communication. Meanwhile, my mother is getting all these meds that look different from what she’s used to, and she has no idea what they are giving her. Not that she understood quite all of what she was taking before, anyhow.

She told us she said to the doctor? someone, that she’s taking all these pills, so why is she still feeling so bad? I had to tell her – again – that none of the medications she is taking is for what she is feeling. They are for other, specific, things. She doesn’t get that. Apparently, taking blood pressure medication should also stop her hip from hurting. 🫤

By then, we were more than ready to leave. I could see my daughter was getting extremely uncomfortable with the things my mother was saying. We needed to get home before the weather turned, anyhow.

We did have time to make a couple of quick stops along the way, including a fill at the gas station. Still, we cut it close. As we got closer to home, we drove right into heavy snow. Thankfully, it didn’t last long and the system moved on. Tomorrow is supposed to warm up a bit, again, with no snow, so hopefully we’ll be able to get some stuff done outside.

Speaking of outside…

After we got home, my daughter finished unloading the truck after we brought the first bags of my mother’s fridge stuff in, while I moved on to giving the outside cats their evening food and warm water.

Check this lady out…

What a beauty!

She is getting SO much more matted!

She was supposed to go to the rescue after the 20th, when a space was opened up, but the weather had other ideas. At this point, I’m hoping to have that happen maybe after New Year’s. I don’t want to push them too much on it. They are so desperate for fosters, and they have quite a few cats – mostly kittens, actually – that just aren’t being adopted. They’re really working on getting the word out, both through local organizations and social media, too, posting adoption pictures every chance they can. Some cats and kittens get adopted quickly. Others… crickets.

I was hoping that tomorrow I could stay home and get things done, but I’m looking at our cat food supply, and the weather, and thinking a trip to Walmart might be necessary (the local feed stores would not be open).

I really don’t want to do more driving. We were supposed to be able to hibernate until after New Year’s!

The Re-Farmer

Merry Christmas (plus an update)

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

Wishing you all a joyous Christmas.

*Image generated by WP’s AI – which really messed up the hands, as usual!!! Not sure what’s going on with that donkey and sheep on the left, either.* 😂

Blessings to you and your loved ones, this glorious day!

Today, I headed over to visit my mother in the hospital earlier than planned, as we have predictions for “snow showers” this evening. I stayed until she was served her lunch – she got her turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy that she likes so much. When I was a kid, we never did turkey, unless we happened to raised some ourselves that year, so this is a preference she picked up (or finally got to indulge) some time after all us kids were grown and gone.

My mother is looking so much better. Yes, she is still struggling with pain and mobility, but her overall appearance and even mood are great. She honestly looks happier now that she’s in the hospital than I think I’ve seen her in years!

She has commented more than a few times on how good the hospital food is. She doesn’t have any dietary restrictions, and the meals I’ve seen look awesome. What I’m also appreciating is that she is no longer saying things like she needs to stop eating, she eats too much, because she’s too fat (I don’t remember my mother ever being thin). She has also stopped blaming her food, especially meat, for any problems she has had, like the mystery pain in her sternum (not related to her heartburn), or not being able to breathe at night, or headaches or [insert malady of the day here]/ In fact, now that she’s sleeping in a hospital bed that is set at an incline, I haven’t heard her complaining about her breathing, either. From what I’m seeing, she is getting an excellent ratio of protein in her meals; far more than she ate on her own, and the meals themselves are larger than what Meals on Wheels had, which she would say were soooo much food.

They are weighing her regularly, as a way to monitor how much fluids they’ve drained from her edema. She told me what she weighted today, and comments on how it was too much. I told her, this is how they keep track of how much fluids they’ve drained from her with her treatment, so she has probably lost quite a bit of weight, just in the time she’s been in the hospital. Plus, she’s 94 years old. Who cares? Seriously. If all the scare mongers were right when it comes to being fat, she should have died decades ago. Instead, she’s ridiculously healthy, as far as her vitals show. So much so, it’s almost a problem, because then the doctors just want to send her home, when she has mobility and the beginnings of cognitive issues that really should prevent that.

Thankfully, that does not seem to be the plan now. We have yet to see or talk to a doctor, and my mother says she’s seen a doctor only twice since she’s been admitted, and none of the nursing staff we talk to know anything. All they can tell us is, she’s staying for now. There are no discharge plans that they can see. I know I’ve stressed, every time I call and ask about it, that she cannot live independently anymore. I’ve even added that none of us can take her in; I have a disabled husband, and my siblings do not live in accessible housing. Plus, my sister (the oldest of us) is almost 70, so we’re not exactly spring chickens ourselves! Ha! When talking to one of the nurses one time and I mentioned that my sister (who has the closest thing to accessible housing, for at least part of her home) is almost 70, the nurse admitted she was shocked. She said she thought my mother was in her 70’s, so how could she have a daughter that was almost 70?

I told her I have plans to go to her place soon (probably tomorrow, if the roads are good) to empty our her fridge. There are a few things she asked me to bring to her as well. She told me they haven’t been giving her the special vitamin for her wet macular degeneration, so on the way out I talked to today’s nurse about it. I couldn’t remember the name of it – it’s not normally a prescription, but something you can buy off the shelf. My mother got a prescription for it specifically so they could be included in her bubble packs. He said he would look into it.

He phoned me at home some time later and asked more questions about it. Since I was at my computer, we were able to confirm the name of it. He asked me to bring her bubble packs so they could use what she has while they got authorization from their pharmacy to include it with her other meds. They should have had it on their med list for her, but I think the fact that it’s a supplement, not a prescription medication, it fell through the cracks.

My mother also admired the hat I crocheted for myself using the blanket yarn my daughter got me. She asked if I could make one for her, too! Something she can wear at night, because she gets so cold. My brother and SIL had brought her an extra blanket and slipper socks, but her head still gets cold.

So that is a project for me tonight. A simple hat worked up quickly, and I have enough of the blanket yarn left to make one.

Meanwhile, as I write this, my daughters are taking care of roasting the turkey and making our Christmas supper. Since I headed out when I did, everything got shifted around.

All in all, it’s been a very quiet Christmas, which we are quite happy with. When we lived in this province before, and my MIL was still with us, we would do Réveillon on Christmas Eve at my in-laws, Christmas day at my parents, then another big feast on Boxing day with my BIL’s family. As great as it was, we’re more than content to have our quiet Christmases at home. Or course, my husband can’t handle the trip to the city to see his family for any celebrations, anymore, either. Perhaps, one of these year’s, we’ll be up to hosting such a celebration, but my FIL isn’t very mobile, either, and probably wouldn’t be able to make it out here anymore.

The good thing is, with modern technology, we can still be “with” our family members on this happy day.

A quiet day

December 23, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I decided to not be an idiot today. 😄😄

My plan had been to see if I could do a bit more shoveling this afternoon. It was supposed to be relatively warm, and there was enough snow last night that the paths and sidewalk really should have been redone, on top of widening areas to make it easier to drive around.

Stinky was unimpressed by the snow.

After doing my morning rounds, I was still thinking of heading back out after breakfast, but in the end, decided against it. I’m feeling remarkably good, after yesterday’s fall. My right knee is certainly getting colourful. I’d hoped to escape it, but today, my entire body was starting to feel stiff and sort. Particularly that left shoulder.

Now, I could have just pain killered up and headed out anyway, but that would likely have set me back for days. In the end, I’m mostly happy I can get out of bed and walk. I’ve certainly had worse pain than this, but I also know what happens if I push myself too far.

Because I can be an idiot that way.

So rather than repeating past mistakes and potentially rendering myself immobile over Christmas, I decided to stay indoors. Mostly. We did get a delivery from the pharmacy today. I had no idea we were getting one. My husband’s bubble packs were ready, and their usual delivery day happens to fall on Christmas day this week, so we got them early. Since I was out anyhow, I did the outside cat stuff early, so I wouldn’t have to fight with my boots again, later on.

It was so hard not to grab the shovel. Just for a little bit…

😄

Instead of heading out and shoveling, I pain killered up and worked on some crochet. I found a ball of cotton and have been making dishcloths. My younger daughter, meanwhile, is in worse shape than I am, after wrestling with little Spewie for so long!

I’m extra glad we decided to just do lots of finger foods and heat and eats for our Christmas Eve celebrations. I’m still planning to do a turkey on Christmas day, but tomorrow, the girls will be taking care of things.

Now is a good time for quiet days.

On another note, I called the hospital to get an update on my mother. She is doing really well and responding well to treatment. The nurse said that my mother was one of her easiest patients, and has been very sweet. Which is a surprise, because she usually isn’t. I think she’s just really happy to be in the hospital right now. It’s not the nursing home she wants to be in, but she was very concerned about being alone if something went wrong.

I asked if she knew anything about the next stage of things for my mother, because she cannot go home to live independently anymore. She had not heard anything about that, but she did tell me, there are no plans to discharge her to go anywhere right now. So that was good news.

I had the call transferred to my mother’s room and we had a bit of a chat. My mother sounded really strong and cheerful. She even told me that she’s been using the hospital wheelchair to get to and from the bathroom! I brought her my late father’s wheelchair a while ago, since she was asking for one, just so she could try it out and we could see how the design worked for her. She refused to use it, insisting she wanted us to get her a new one that was smaller. 🫤

The one in the hospital is pretty much exactly the same size as the one she has at home.

I’m just glad that she is using it, instead of the hospital walker. It’s the kind that has wheels at the back, skids at the front and no seat.

She did have one complaint, and that was being cold. She’d asked for a blanket and they gave her one, but apparently won’t give her another? She thought they had the air conditioning on. Last night, she said she slept under her parka! So when I told her my brother and SIL would be visiting her tonight and were wondering if she needed anything, she asked for a blanket and more socks. So they will be taking care of that. I told her my sister was planning to visit her tomorrow, and I was going to visit on Christmas day. She was happy to hear that, but also said that we didn’t need to come out and visit if the roads are bad or the weather gets worse again. She’s happy with just a phone call. Now that she’s in the hospital, we don’t have to worry about her safety as much anymore!

So that was some good news, there.

Looking at the forecast. Christmas Day is now supposed to reach a high of -8C/18F with snow all day. Previously, we were seeing forecasts as warm as above freezing, but it changes constantly. We’ll see when the day comes, I guess! I’m just glad to be seeing milder temperatures again.

I’m getting too old for the cold.

The Re-Farmer

First stock up shop: this is what $588 total looks like (plus an update)

December 21, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Almost.

Today, my daughter and I headed into the city to do our combination last shop before Christmas and first stock up shop for January. After this, we don’t plan to do our Costco stock up shop until after New Year’s.

Our original plans changed a bit, though.

We waited until a bit later to start heading out, since it was still -30C/-22F at the time we normally would have headed out. As we were part way to my mother’s town, the check engine light turned on.

*sigh*

When we reached town, we pulled over in a gas station parking lot, so I could hook up the OBDII scanner. The scan is done with the key in that half way position, when things are on, but the engine is not running.

Which is when my onboard computer suddenly popped up a message, saying the batter was low and to turn on the engine!

Which I did.

The scan, however, came up with a code for an air-fuel ratio imbalance. Checking the details, this turns out to be a common code for our vehicle. The top reported fix is to replace the O2 sensor.

Did that mean we could still head into the city??

I knew my brother was on his way to the farm and would have his hands free set up, so I ended up calling him. I told him what we were finding. For the sensor, he suggested it could even just be that snow got in, but we should be fine with driving it. As for the battery, the gauge showed it was charging, so we should be okay with driving to the city.

Our first stop was Canadian Tire anyway, and their garage would be open (being Sunday, no local garages would be open), so I could see if they could check it/work on it, depending on how busy they were.

Of course, that made me absolutely paranoid for the rest of the driving!

Once there, I headed in ahead of my daughter, who was a sweetheart and paused to get some ice off from around the wiper blades. It kept rattling during the drive, which made me even more paranoid, because where the sound was coming from made us think it was the engine until we spotted the moving ice.

After explaining to the guy at the counter what was going on, and showing him screen caps of my scan reading, he assured me the truck was safe to drive. They didn’t have a tech in that could work on it. Since I already scanned it and had the code, there was no need for them to scan it again, which would have cost me $125. But he could check the battery for me, if I could pull the truck up to the main bay door.

So I did that and he hooked up to the battery to test it. We did have to pause to I could move the truck out of the way of someone needing to get a vehicle into a bay, but it was still very quick. The battery was low, even after driving for about an hour, so he recommended I put it on a charger when I got home and to leave it overnight. Our charger has an auto shut off once the battery is fully charged, so that was a viable option. He assured me that the truck was okay to drive. As for the sensor, he told me he knew of people driving around for a year before replacing it, so we would be fine.

When he was done, I confirmed how I was to exit the bay area, then said I would go around to park, then come in to pay.

He don’t me, no charge!

That was so awesome of him! Granted, it was less than 5 minutes to check my battery, but he still could have charged me for it and I would have been okay with it!

My daughter, meanwhile, was in the store and had found the coat section. One of my goals for today was to get a replacement parka, now that my 30+ year old down filled parka is finally unwearable.

For a while there, I didn’t think I’d find one.

Their inventory only goes up to XXL, for starters. Even with men’s coats, I like extra room, so I would have preferred a larger size. Sizes, however are not standard, so that is another issue. Also, I’m a tank. A refrigerator. A block. Plus, I’m fat.

The first XXL parka she found, I couldn’t even finish getting my arms in, the shoulders were so tight. We went through the entire section and there were hardly any XXL at all, and none fit.

We were starting to head out, thinking I would try at the Walmart (I doubt I would have found anything there), when we spotted another coat section.

We had even less luck there.

Then we found a couple of display racks at the far end of the store.

I found all of one XL in there. The rest were smaller.

Then my daughter spotted coats in the hunting section.

Amazingly, we found several XXL!

The first one I tried did fit, though it was tight on the arms. Especially the biceps. I may be rotund, but I’ve also got guns, and this parka, warm as it was, barely fit over them.

So we kept looking. My daughter found one that was basically two jackets together, and you could separate them if you wanted a lighter jacket. That one was the worst designed coat I’ve ever tried! I had to get my daughter to help me take off one of the arms because the outside was trying to come off, while the inside layer was wanting to stick to my arm.

Finally, after much digging, we found one that fit. I bit more snug under the arms than I would have preferred, but that was just a matter of cut, not size.

Everything was mixed up, and there was no price on the tag, so I didn’t know if it was in budget. My daughter found someone that could scan the bar code, and it was only $100!

I was so happy!

We then headed to the checkout, where we also paid for the litter pellets we were there for. Those are stored in the vestibule on the way out, so my daughter went to start loading the cart, while I put on my new parka.

We got 4 bags of litter pellets, so the total was $145.55, but I only got a picture of my new parka, so this is what my $99.99 hunting jacket looks like.

My daughter was making all sorts of “where’s Mom? She’s hidden!” jokes.

Also, she requested I stick my arms out like a penguin for the picture. 😄

I had some concerns about how thin the coat was but, WOW, did that thing get warm, fast! I really appreciated how warm the hood was, even though it was really quite loose.

We did find it funny, though not really surprising, that the only coat I could find that fit was a hunting jacket.

Our original plan after Canadian Tire was to go to Walmart for kibble, then to a Superstore for the groceries, but with the truck concerns, I wanted to do as little starting and stopping at possible.

So, we did just the Walmart, instead.

We were originally going to go into the mall the Canadian Tire is part of for lunch, but completely forgot, so we did McRaunchies at Walmart for sustenance, instead.

That was $36 (with a donation to round it up to the nearest dollar). McRaunchies isn’t particularly cheap anymore! We didn’t get any sorts of extras, either. Just burgers, fries and drinks. *sigh*

Then, we finally got to shopping. Which was not fun at all. Granted, it wasn’t as crowed as I was afraid it would be, but it was busy enough and annoying enough that I completely forgot I was supposed to see if they had office/desk chairs in stock to replace my husband’s broken one. At least most people seemed pretty cheerful, and there were a lot of smiles to be shared.

My daughter had her own list and did her own shopping, so that’s not included. She finished and headed for the truck before I even got into line, where I found myself having a lovely chat with the elderly gentleman I let in front of me. He had just a few things in a hand basket, so I sure wasn’t going to make him get behind me in line!

This is what $442.24 looks like.

Most of that cart space is taken up with bags of kibble.

For our Christmas plans, we had decided on doing a lot of appetizers and finger foods, rather than our usual huge Christmas Eve wigilia (vigil) meal. I might still do a turkey for Christmas day, though, but we always do our main activities starting after sunset on Christmas Eve.

My daughter picked up some things for this on her budget, but this is what I got, along with regular stock up stuff.

Of course, there were the basics. They had toilet paper on sale, so I picked some up. We still have plenty, but since we’re not going to Costco until later than usual, better to have extra on hand! I also got a large package of paper towels and a package of facial tissues.

For the cat supplies, I got XXL puppy pads (I was out of that size), odor eliminating pet stain powder for carpets (for when the cats manage to get past the puppy pads!) and four 9.1kg bags of kibble. We have enough wet cat food to last until Costco, so I skipped that on this trip.

That made up the bulk or things.

For food, I got a bag of potatoes, some carrots, grapes and that was it for produce. For dairy, I got marble, Havarti and Old Cheddar cheeses. The “white cheddar” on the receipt is popcorn seasoning.

I picked up three loaves of rye bread for regular eating, and four baguettes for New Year’s Eve – those are now in the freezer.

For heat and eats and finger foods, most of which are for Christmas Eve, I got chicken nuggets, fish sticks, cream cheese wontons, a variety pack of Asian appetizers, and meatballs.

There’s also a jar of “Itty Bitty” pickles and a strawberry rhubarb pie. I even remembered to get my B100 vitamins that I was out of. There’s a pack of frozen, extra crispy, curly fries, mostly for my husband, and they had cross rib roasts on sale, so I actually got some beef! I also got a package of frozen salmon filets for my daughters. I’d forgotten about those and it took me the longest time to figure out what HL SIG WPS was. 😄 High Liner Signature Cuts Wild Pacific Salmon.

As we’re still pretty much in the middle of the month, we are still pretty well stocked from last month’s shopping, so a lot of things are “missing” from our usual first stock up trip. The kibble needs to last either until our Costco trip, or until I can get to a feed store. I got four 40 pound bags of kibble last month, and we were almost completely out, after this morning’s yard cat feeding! Three of the bags I got today should last for the outside cats until I can properly stock up, and one bag is more than enough for us to last with the inside cats, as we still have a fair bit.

So, there was have it. A grand total of $588.78. $624.78, if you count lunch.

After that, it was time to head home. Once out of the city, we stopped at a gas station to fill the tank, pick up some drinks and snacks for the ride home. As we were returning to the truck, my daughter ran back in to use the washroom for the long drive home, so I moved the truck away from the pumps to a parking spot to wait for her.

Which is when I noticed.

The check engine light was gone.

Yay!!! Maybe it was just snow in the sensor, after all!

Even the gauge for the battery was where it normally is.

Everything stayed as normal for the drive home, which was a relief for both of us.

After we got home, we pulled up to the house to unload (my brother got a LOT of snow blowing done, including enough in the inner yard that we could drive up to the house). Then I fed the outside cats before moving the truck into the garage. While my brother cleared a path to the door, he didn’t clear enough to turn around, so I’ll work on that tomorrow. Backing up through down path was a test of my reverse driving skills, that’s for sure!

Once in the garage, I got out the battery charger and hooked it up, plugging it into the shop power bar that I use to plug the truck’s block heater into. The charger showed full charge so, while I fussed with the power bar so I could plug in the block heater, I wasn’t surprised when the charger shut off. I was in the process of putting it away when I realized that, while moving the power bar around, with all the cords so stiff in the cold, it accidentally got unplugged. So I plugged it back in, then got the charger set up again.

In that very short length of time, the battery already lost charge.

The battery is only 2 years old, but we don’t have a battery warmer. The cold may have damaged it.

I now have the charger set up for the night. It’ll shut itself off when the battery is charged, but will turn itself back on again, if the charge drops.

Tomorrow is Monday, so our local garage will be open. I plan to give them a call to talk about bringing the truck in for a diagnostic. I’m not too worried about that code that triggered the check engine light to turn on, but I am concerned about the battery.

At this point, the only driving I plan to do between now and after New Year’s, is to visit my mother at the hospital on Christmas day. My sister will be visiting on Christmas Eve, and my brother saw her today, on his way home from our place. I just found out that he broke a sheer pin on the snow blower. Thankfully, he was able to scavenge one from their other snow blower that isn’t running. When he was done, he tried to find a replacement in town. There was none to be had, but it did give him a chance to see my mother.

Once I was settled in, I called the hospital to see how my mother was doing. She was responding to the IV Lasix to reduce the swelling so well, they are no longer going to continue that for a week. She will be back to taking it in pill form.

I spoke to the guy for a while and remembered to tell them about my mother’s macular degeneration, and that it was getting worse, but we couldn’t transport her to the clinic in the city for treatment anymore. He thought we had an appointment and said they could arrange transportation, but I told him, the last appointment she had, we had to cancel it, so we haven’t made another appointment since then. It was good to know that they could have transporter her, though.

As we were talking, and he was telling me how great my mother was doing, I brought up her pain and mobility issues, saying that after this, she couldn’t go home anymore. He said, “yes”. Like, it was a given that she couldn’t live independently anymore.

This is the first time anyone actually said that.

He brought up having her paneled for long term care, and I told him, she’s been paneled. Twice. Once, just a couple of months ago. He sounded shocked to hear that. I told him, we aren’t understanding why she hasn’t been accepted.

I didn’t mention it, due to how much time it’s been, but it’s not due to lack of beds. During her last panel interview, the home care coordinator said there were beds available. It’s just that she wasn’t “needing” that much home care. That was part of why we added meal assists, bathing and dress assists, to her care plan. My mom did actually need them, but had been refusing them. Just like she has refused things like having a hospital bed, which she really needed.

He told me that, now that she’s in the hospital, she will stay there until they can find a space for her. The people in charge of those decisions will be in, tomorrow, so that would be the time to call and ask about it.

Hearing that was such a relief!

After talking to him, I asked to be transferred to my mother’s room so I could talk to her.

I tried to tell her about what the nurse told me, but she made that very, very hard! I would say a bit, and she would cut me off with a tangential rant. I’d manage a bit more, and she would cut me off again and go off in another directions. I kept saying, let me finish, and she just ignored me. I had to actually raise my voice and talk over her, several times, saying “let me finish” before she finally stopped.

I finally was able to tell her that she will be in the hospital until they can find a place for her in a nursing home.

Her immediate reaction?

Where?

Over the next while, I had to deal with her doing what she always does: be her own worst enemy. She even started to say how, with home care taking such good care of her, with her medications and her meals, and my doing her grocery shopping for her, she can manage just fine. Her vision loss isn’t a problem, because it doesn’t hurt.

She doesn’t want to be a bother…

…

I had to stop her and tell her – again -that she needs to stop making light of things. She can NOT go home after this. It’s just not safe for her.

I’m just so frustrated. She’s the one who started the push to be placed into a nursing home. This is what she wants, and what she needs. We’ve been fighting for this for two years and, and now that she is SO close to actually getting into long term care, suddenly she’s talking about how she’s fine in her own apartment.

I told her (again), that this is the time to say MORE about her physical issues, not less, or make light of them, or not tell the hospital staff about them at all.

I don’t know that I got through to her. She finally stopped cutting me off, but when she goes silent like that, it often means she completely disagrees and is planning to do the opposite of what she should be doing.

Hopefully, she won’t this time but, gosh, she makes it hard for us to help her at times!

Anyhow.

Tomorrow, I’ll be giving my new winter coat a real test. I plan to expand some of the areas my brother has cleared out with his snow blower, and clear out more paths in the yard. Little Spewie is going to get another work out! Some of the areas will need to be shoveled, though, so I’ll be getting a workout, too! We are expecting more snow tomorrow, but now they’re saying it won’t start until 6pm, and it’s full dark before 5pm these days, so that’s not going to be an issue.

While catching up with my brother and SIL after visiting my mother yesterday, my brother gave me strict instructions to NOT have a heart attack, with all the shoveling I’m doing! 😄 I’ll be sure to follow his instructions.

The main thing is, we can get in and out easily, and we are stocked up. Anything beyond that is gravy!

The Re-Farmer

The Re-Farmer

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

healthcare

A hospital visit, and progress outside

Playing in the snow

First day of the new year – and of course, things got changed up! 😂

Not impressed

So frustrating

A quiet day, with some updates

Cleared out, just in time

Merry Christmas (plus an update)

A quiet day

First stock up shop: this is what $588 total looks like (plus an update)

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