More digging out, and a visit to the hospital

December 20, 2025December 20, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

The blowing snow we had yesterday wasn’t as much as the blizzard that preceded it, but this time the winds drifted over the driveway.

Last night was bad enough that my brother and SIL had friends staying the night, because it was too dangerous to drive home. All morning, we were keeping watch on the road conditions to see if we could actually meet up and visit my mother in the hospital today or not. When doing my morning rounds, I checked the driveway. The blown in snow was light enough that I could drive through it, right up to the gate. As frustrating as it was that all my clearing of the driveway as almost completely filled in, it would have been a lot worse if it hadn’t been done first.

The first problem I had, though, started before I even went outside in the first place. The old down filled coat I’ve been wearing and patching together is finally done and unwearable. I ended up layering, the borrowing my daughter’s coat, so I could clear the end of the driveway.

By the time that was done, my brother and SIL had also dug themselves out – the winds blasted right into the front of their townhouse, and encased their car in snow. We worked out some details, and I was going to go to my mother’s place, first, to get her some fresh clothes, etc. Then I was going to meet them at the hospital.

The first picture was taken after I cleared the end of the driveway. The road was not plowed again, but it was passable.

Before heading out, I called my mother to let her know we’d be visiting her and about when we’d arrive. I told her I was going to her place first, and she added some instructions.

She also still wanted one of her bubble packs. Which they can’t use. Turns out, she believes they are just giving her random pills. I pointed out (again) they have her med list; they just have a different source for their medications. They might look different, but they are the same medications. They know what she’s supposed to be taking.

To which she responded, “do you really think they’re that smart?”

…

*sigh*

How do you answer something like that? Other than, “yes!”

Anyhow.

As I was about to leave, I realized I had no room to back out of the garage. The wind had created such a smooth drift, I couldn’t really notice how far it extended past where I’d cleared, yesterday. I went back and got the shovel, clearing just enough that I could back out of the garage. Thankfully, it was still light and fluffy snow, and didn’t’ take long.

What you can’t tell in the second photo is that there’s at least another 6 feet of drifted snow over what had been cleared, yesterday.

While messaging with my brother, we worked that that, while my daughter and I are headed to the city tomorrow for our first January stock up shop, and the last shop before Christmas, he will be coming out here and getting one of his snow blowers going. It will be MUCH easier to clear the show with a gas powered snow blower than my little Spewie which, technically, is called an electric shovel, not a snow blower.

When heading out to my mother’s, I layered up with a couple of hooded jackets, so my daughter had her own winter coat to wear. She was planning on breaking Spewie out and getting the driveway done while I was gone. In the end, she wasn’t able to get very much cleared before she had to go back inside. Thankfully, with my brother coming out tomorrow, he should be able to get the rest cleared out.

The drive to my mother’s was touch and go. Visibility was good, for the most past (unlike other highways in the area), but there was a lot of packed snow and ice, making for some slow driving at times. I got to my mother’s place, checked on things, packed a bag for her, and was soon on my way again. I normally would have cut across from her town to a different highway to get to the hospital she’s at, but all the reports I was seeing what that route was far worse.

I still got there faster than my brother and SIL!

My mother was in bed when I got there, but sat up while we talked about what I brought. She was in need of a Voltaren rub on her back, which took some doing to accomplish. She then moved to a chair. The whole time, she was clearly in a lot of pain from her hip and back.

By the time my brother and SIL arrived, though, she had perked up quite a bit and was clearly happy for the company. After a while, I went to the nursing station to see what we could find out about how things were going, and the nurse caring for my mother that shift came to her room to update us.

They are restarting her on the IV Lasik to get the swelling down. That will be continued for another week. She talked about draining the fluids away from my mother’s heart. When I asked, she said the edema was due to congestive heart failure.

There’s a problem with that.

My mother doesn’t have congestive heart failure. It turns out they just assumed she did. Confirming it would require transporting her to the same hospital she recently had her MRI done, for a CT scan. We told the nurse, my mother’s heart has been checked out quite a few times (because she kept thinking she was having hear attacks that turned out to be acid reflux and heartburn), and her heart is incredibly healthy. Healthier than most people a quarter her age.

Meanwhile, all her vitals are right where they should be.

I had mentioned to the nurse yesterday that my mother can be her own worst enemy. She complains about the minor stuff, while making like of the major stuff. Even the minor stuff, she makes things worse for herself. She – once again – brought up the dry mouth issue. When the spray was suggested, she immediately said, oh, I just drink some water and it’s fine. So… why is she complaining? When the dry mouth spray was suggested, she tried turning it down. She’s on so many medications, you know. Once we figure what she was thinking, we told her, it’s not a medication. It’s just for her mouth to fee less dry. Once the nurse realized what the mix up was, she did offer to bring her a bottle of the dry mouth spray. Which is what she has at home, brought back from the last time she was in the hospital but refuses to use. She keeps bringing up the dry mouth, wants the doctor to somehow stop it from happening, but won’t actually do the things that will make it better.

Meanwhile, she tried to make light of the reason she was in the hospital. Like it was not an actual problem, compared to her dry mouth.

With days as short as they are, and the road conditions an issue, we didn’t stay too long. After saying our goodbyes to my mother, I was able to go to the pharmacy and drop off that signed paper they needed from my husband, then meet my brother and SIL at a nearby restaurant to catch up. We’re all quite concerned that when they reassess my mother a week from now, they’ll try discharging her to her home. That is simply not acceptable. She cannot live independently anymore. She could barely get out of bed and walk 4 steps today! According to my mother, she hasn’t even been seen by a doctor yet. Just an assistant.

It’s all so frustrating.

Still, we had a good time together and soon parted ways. I did make a point of stopping to pick up some take out for the whole family, then filling the gas tank, before heading home. By then, it was past sunset and the light was failing fast. I’d messaged ahead that I was on the way home, and my daughter met me to close the gate and help me bring things in – including a care package from my brother and SIL. They are so sweet!

So that’s where we stand now. Still up in the air about my mother.

With the road conditions as they are, I’ve been keeping an eye on the forecasts. I thought that maybe we could delay the city trip until Monday.

We’re getting more snow on Monday.

*sigh*

So, tomorrow it is.

I’m dreading going, but my daughter is coming along, and she is quite the sanity saver for me! I hate shopping at the best of times. Shopping this close to Christmas, in the city, is something I really try to avoid. We’ll be stocking up as much as we can, so that we can delay our second January stock up shop until after New Year’s, if possible!

If all goes well, I’ll find a new winter coat, too.

Oh, and we’ll be looking at bariatric office chairs. My husband’s chair suddenly – and loudly – reclined backwards and couldn’t straighten up again. After moving it around, we spotted the snapped bolt on the floor. It’s an old chair and was getting in pretty bad shape. We’d even replaced all the wheels on it – which will be salvaged, as they are really good wheels! Hopefully, there are some sales we can take advantage of. We shall see.

It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow.

The Re-Farmer

We can get out now… for now

December 19, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Knowing we had a pharmacy delivery coming – and more snow – as soon as I finished giving the outside cats their food and water, I headed to the garage to break out little Spewie.

I then spent the next 2 hours clearing enough space in front of the garage to be able to back the truck out and turn. Then I had to go in to warm up and have breakfast. My down filled coat was completely wet, so I ended up borrowing my daughter’s leather coat. It has no lining, but it cuts the wind completely, so the layers I had underneath were more than enough to keep me warm.

The first picture in the slide show above is what I got done in the morning. For a lot of it, I had to first break up the crust of snow at the top with a shovel before I could get through with little Spewie. With the wind, I was working only in one direction, so the wind could blow the snow away from me. I still got covered in snow, but at least it wasn’t as bad.

When I came about out to work on the driveway to the gate, I broke out a second 100′ extension cord. That was just enough to reach the gate. Thankfully, beyond the gate was blown clear. There was just the plow ridge at the end that needed dealing with.

Which I never got to. As I write this, my younger daughter is actually out there, working on it.

It took another 2-2 1/2 hours to get the driveway cleared to the gate. Dragging that much cord around sure didn’t make things easier! By the time I was done, the snow was starting to come down pretty hard. The wind was worse than the snow, though. I’d gone back to the gate with the shovel to work on the plow ridge but once at the gate, there are no longer any trees to block the wind, and it was just too brutal to keep going.

I discovered something while working on this. I have a step counter app on my phone. When I got in after the first 2 hours of walking back and worth, the app had me at a ridiculously low step count. I had my phone in my chest pocket, so there was no chance of snow getting in and getting it wet. It was so snug in there, it wasn’t counting most of my steps. When I headed out later, I had them in a pants pocket, but I had so many layers, it was still missing most of my steps. We’re talking off by thousands, not just a few steps here and there!

Once inside, I found someone had hung up on our answering machine. Caller ID told me it was the pharmacy, so I gave them a call. It was about the timing of our delivery. Even with the weather getting worse, the driver was already out! So I basically just stayed in my boots and my layers until I got the call from the driver that he was just a few minutes a day (something we have requested the driver does, since we keep the gate closed). I made sure to tell him I hadn’t been able to clear the plow ridge, so he might not be able to pull into our driveway. Then I bundled back up again to meet him at the gate. The plow ridge wasn’t too bad, but a bit much for a sedan, so he just pulled over on the road. As I asked him about road conditions, I noticed something extra on my husband’s bag of prescriptions.

Something that needed to be signed. With his meds including controlled substances, he has a form he (or I, on his behalf) needs to sign for them, once a year.

Neither of us had a pen.

So I brought it in and my husband signed it, then called the pharmacy about it. We hoped he could just take a picture and email that in, but they need the physical paper. He’s getting his bubble packs delivered next week, so we can give it then, or I can bring it over the next time I’m in town.

Which might be tomorrow.

My sister had called the hospital this morning and sent an update. My mother was finally no longer in ER, but in a room, where she has a TV and a phone. She was much happier! She’s going to be on IV for another day, and then… ???

Once I had the chance in the afternoon, I called the hospital again. The nurse I talked to had just checked on my mother, and she was napping.

I had a chance to talk to her about our concerns that she might be discharged to home, and that we felt she could not live independently anymore. We were hoping that, with her in the hospital, perhaps the doctor could make the decision, since home care wasn’t.

Now, when I say “home care” for this stuff, it’s not the local office that takes care of her visits, but a higher up office. Anything we do with the local office when it comes to paneling my mother for long term care gets sent to this higher department. That department is where everything has been stalled. My mother got paneled a second time, less than 2 months ago, and the local home care coordinator had heard nothing since she gave them the updated paperwork.

That department has a liaison in the hospital.

If the doctor thinks my mother needs to go into long term care, but the liaison disagrees, guess who has the final say?

Not the doctor.

The nurse completely understood when I expressed my frustration.

I did have a chance to tell her that my mother can be her own worst enemy. She will complain loudly about minor things, like her “dry mouth”, but it took us (including the home care workers) about a week or more to get her to finally use the Lifeline and get to a hospital.

Guess what my mother has been complaining about to the nurses?

Yup. Her dry mouth.

She can’t accept that she’s simply sleeping with her mouth open. She won’t use the spray. She won’t keep herself hydrated.

The problem with her complaining about the dry mouth is, she’s not talking about why she’s sleeping with her mouth open in the first place. She’s having trouble breathing when she lies down. This isn’t even a sleep apnea thing, because she struggled to breathe when the paramedics had her lying on her back for a few seconds before raising her up to a more seated position.

The nurse assured me that the doctor was aware of the situation. I knew I was forgetting something, and now that I’ve written this, I remember. I never mentioned her macular degeneration is getting worse, and we can’t even transport her to the specialty eye clinic in the city for treatment. She’s losing her vision. More reason for her to not be going home, but to go into long term care from the hospital.

Even the nurse was commenting that, when someone is approaching 100 years of age, like my mother is, they really should be able to just go into long term care if they want!

So I got that update from the nurse and passed info along to my family. My brother and I had already made plans to visit my mother tomorrow but, now that she’s in the hospital, we’re looking at going to her place to pick up some more clothes and whatnot for her, then going to visit her in the hospital.

Assuming the roads are open and cleared.

Then I got a surprise.

A phone call from my mother!

We had a chance to talk for quite a while. She actually sounded better than she has in quite a while. I told her that – then told her to try sounding sick! 😄

My mother being my mother, she had all her usual complaints. She used to work in a hospital 70-75 years ago, so she knows how they are supposed to be run, and always brings up the same thing. There’s always noise, day and night (I told her, she was in the ER. There’s no difference between day and night in the ER! But it should be better, now that she’s in a room). She can here the staff – and instead of using the word “laughing”, she starts to “laugh” in a very mocking and nasty way. She makes this complaint so often, it seems that hearing other people laugh is the thing about being in the hospital she hates the most. She doesn’t like the sound of other people being happy. As for being in a room now, she complained that she could hear another patient, calling for help.

She didn’t care that a patient needed help. She only cared that it was noise she didn’t want to hear.

Then she complained that she can’t tell the difference between a nurse and a janitor, because they all dress the same (she thinks they should be in those old style starched white uniforms, still).

Of course, she was also complaining about how they are giving her her medications. They look different (different pharmacy, different supplier), so she doesn’t think they are the right medications. There was one that she takes at bed time that they didn’t give her until the morning, so that’s another thing that made her believe they are giving her the wrong medications, different medications, they don’t know what they are doing…

If there’s any sign that my mother is feeling better, it’s that she’s hating on everyone around her again.

When I mentioned to her that we were planning to go to her place to get her some clothes, she wanted me to bring her medications. She doesn’t trust them. I told her, I could bring them, but they would have to lock them away (they had to do that with her T3’s that she brought with her) and would not be allowed to use them. They have to use their own supply, not hers. What was obvious was that, if she had access to her own bubble packs, she would be taking her own medications on top of what they were giving her.

She really is her own worse enemy at times!

She also told me the doctor said that she would be there for another week, and that a nurse told her that she had water around her heart. I knew she didn’t have any in her lungs, but the only thing mentioned to us is that they were trying to get the swelling down on her legs. No one has said anything about her heart, and no one has said anything about how long she will be there. When she was in the hospital before, she had told me the doctor said she would be there for another three weeks, but when we brought it up with the doctor, he had no clue what we were talking about.

So that whole situation is just a mess. It will be good when we can go to the hospital in person and talk to the doctor directly!

Whether or not we can get out tomorrow, we shall see. The snow is supposed to continue, off and on, for another 5 hours or so. It’s not a lot of snow, but the blowing snow advisory is on until 7 or 8am. Checking my weather and highway conditions groups, highways are being closed again all over the place.

I expect our roads to be plowed. It’s our own driveway that will be the issue. All the clearing I did will help, but my daughter told me that drift I’d cleared from under our gate was already back, and there was no sign that I’d cleared it earlier.

Also, she is so happy with her Tough Duck overalls. They cut wind like nobody’s business! They aren’t lined, but she didn’t feel the cold at all.

I need to get me a pair, too!

So that’s where we are at. It’s all one day at a time right now.

The Re-Farmer

Digging out, and an update

December 18, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, the worst of our first blizzard of the winter hit us last night. The snow has stopped, but we are still under Orange Alert (severe, rather than red for extreme – that’s to the south of us, and into the US) blizzard warning. Today is supposed to be high winds, with snow starting again tomorrow. We’ve already passed our high of -21C/9F (wind chill, -43C/-45F) and are expected to slowly drop in temperature to -31C/24F in the wee hours of tomorrow morning.

The wind direction was the worst for our set up. It drifted snow all across the front of the house, and snow blew into the food and water bowl shelters. I had the snow shovel close to the sun room, so I only had to push through a small snow drift to be able to reach it.

There were LOTS of cats in the sun room. The nice, warm sun room.

I’ll start with some before and after slideshows.

You can see the handle of the snow shovel in the door’s window. Easy to reach, thankfully.

There was no sign of the path through here before. There was a bit of drifting into the entry of the covered greenhouse, but the thermometer in there was reading 0C/32F!

First priority was to dig out in front of the sun room and get to the isolation shelter, clearing the greenhouse entry along the way. I’ll have to go back later and clear the well cap. It’s completely buried and at least partially now covered by the snow I dug out to clear the path. I wanted to make sure to move the snow away from the house, so there are fewer issues with snowmelt at that corner by the basement window in the spring.

The bottom of the shelf shelter was almost completely blocked by drifted snow. That cover is sure doing its job, though!

I had to dig around the isolation shelter – that entry was almost completely blocked – to reach the windows on each side, and top up their food and water. There were six cats in there, all warm and cozy, watching me dig.

Clearing the kibble and water bowl shelters took a bit more doing. Once I cleared the snow in the middle, I dug out the kibble trays and dumped them out, then tried to clear out as much snow as possible, without taking all the straw out. The heated water bowl was completely full. No cats were going there to drink! I got as much snow as I could out of there, taking the bed and cat cave out and clearing them of snow, too. There was even snow piling up in front of the cat house entry, which I cleared. There were no tracks in the snow, so no cats had used it all night, but after I cleared it, I spotted the white with grey tabby spots inside, looking at me through the window. When I saw her earlier, she had come out from under the storage house, so I was glad to see her in a cozy bed in the cat house.

I neglected to take a “before” picture to the catio. Almost all the area to the left of the first photo had been cleared to make room for the truck. Now, you can’t even tell. It was all blown over, flat with snow.

I only dug one path to the catio door. I didn’t bother clearing the shrine feeding station yet. The food dish had been shoved off to the side, so clearly some critter had been digging around in there, looking for kibble. A small amount of snow did blow in through the opening, but just a dusting.

The rest will have to wait. It’s getting colder and it’s just too windy. I didn’t even try to clear the steps in front of the main doorway, nor the sidewalk. Once this all blows over, we might be able to get little Spewie out, but it’s not going to be easy for that little thing to get through the drifts, so we’ll be doing a lot of shoveling.

The important thing is, the yard cats have food and water and shelter.

Gotta have priorities!

Speaking of priorities, I have an update on my mother. My brother called the hospital this morning, but the new shift were in their morning meeting still, so he was asked to call back later. The nurse he spoke to was able to tell him that my mother did well overnight, though she struggled to go to the washroom, so they brought her a commode. The alarming thing, though, was that they were talking about sending my mother home!

Aside from the fact that my mother should not be going home at all right now, my brother pointed out it wasn’t even possible. All the highways are closed. The nurse was quite aware of that. When her shift ended last night, she couldn’t leave. Not even to go to a hotel. She spent the night in the hospital and just started her shift in the morning.

!!!

When my brother called back, he was told they were still monitoring her. They were putting her on an IV with a diuretic to try and get the swelling in her legs down. No doctor had arrived yet. Which isn’t much of a surprise, considering the road conditions. At the very least, we know they won’t try to discharge her from the ER until a doctor sees her today. However, they also can’t admit her to the hospital until a doctor sees her, either. So she’s stuck in the ER.

I’m just flabbergasted that there was even a possibility of her being sent home, even if the roads were open. I strongly suspect my mother is in her “I don’t want to bother anyone” mode and downplaying her issues again. Which she only does when there really are issues! When it comes to minor complaints, she has no problem “bothering people” at all, and expects us all to drop everything and cater to her. But when she’s have real struggles, suddenly it’s the opposite.

My mother’s biggest problem is that she’s too flipping strong and resilient! So she can “pass” as being better than she actually is.

I’ll be calling the hospital myself to check on her soon. I forgot to mention my mother’s kidney function concerns. I have no idea how much of her file they can access.

So it’s still a waiting game. None of us can do anything right now, regardless. I checked the provincial highway status map earlier. The closed highways are marked in red. The bypass highway around the city is shut down – all of it – so it’s completely encircled in red. Pretty much every highway leading to the city is also shut down, including four major highways heading north, in our direction. Right now, the map looks like a giant red spider with its body over the city, and red legs sprawling out over half the province in all directions.

I also checked the local highways group I follow on FB, as they tend to be much faster with information than the provincial website. It was filled with posts from people talking about zero visibility. The most recent one was someone who had tried to use the highway that goes past our place. They made it as far as the large town our doctor is in before turning around and going home. It was simply too dangerous. Everyone was saying, stay home if you can.

Not that we can do anything else, until we can clear the driveway. Which may not happen until Saturday, since we’re expecting more snow tomorrow (Friday).

A good day to drink lots of hot tea, and listen to Christmas music. Like this remarkable cover of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.

What an amazing instrument!

The Re-Farmer

She beat the storm… mostly

December 17, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

As I write this, our first blizzard of the year is building up. Inside, however, all is warm and cozy.

This morning, my sister updated us on our group chat. My mother had just phoned her. A bit odd that she didn’t call me, but it’s likely she thought my sister might drop everything and drive her to the hospital.

Did I mention we’re getting our first blizzard of the year?

My sister encouraged her to use the Lifeline and get an ambulance. The home care worker was encouraging her to use the Lifeline. My mother was worried. About her Meals on Wheels coming today. About her cash stash. About her stuff. She said she would get the lunch assist home care worker to help her get dressed. But would she actually push that button? My sister even let her know, there was a blizzard coming. She needed to decide right away.

It was about 1pm when I got a phone call from Lifeline, telling me an ambulance was on the way, and could I be there to tend to my mother until they arrived? I said yes, but that it would take me half an hour to get there.

It was just starting to snow here when I left. By the time I reached my mother’s town, visibility was dropping fast, with more snow and more wind. The ambulance was already there, and they had my mother hooked up to a machine that monitored her vitals.

Now, to them, my mother was looking pretty good. She actually looked and sounded better than she has for the past week. Her vitals were all really good. I mentioned that when she was in the hospital before, it was for pulmonary edema, and they told us that if she started getting swelling, to come back. I said that my mother has said she’s feeling like she did before she went to the hospital, last time. They asked about the swelling, and while it didn’t seem too bad at the time (that we could see through her layered pant legs and woolly leggings underneath) but we confirmed that it’s been pretty constant for a while now. One of the paramedics listened to her lungs and said she sounded clear.

I asked where they would be taking her. When my mother heard that they were taking her to the town nearest us, she was “what? No! Take me to [nearer small city]!” Why, I don’t know, but we told her, they have to take her to this other town’s ER. One of the paramedics told her, if she went to the smaller city, she’d be waiting a LOT longer before being seen.

As they were getting her into the stretcher, my mother was more worried about having her coat, having the bag she packed to take with her, and she would start talking to me in Polish to tell me things like not to let anyone know (meaning her neighbours) that she was going to the hospital, because there’s “some” people living there. Basically, she believes that if they know she’s at the hospital, they’ll go into her apartment and steal her stuff. I assured her that I would take care of things and (given the weather) that I could even stay the night, if it came down to that.

As they set her in the stretcher, mostly lying flat, my mother jerked as if in pain, started gasping and I could see she was struggling to try and roll over. They were alarmed and asked her what was happening, and she told them “I’m dying.”

*sigh*

I explained to them that it’s worse when she’s lying down, and she usually lies on her side. Which they don’t really do on the stretcher, so they got her sitting up as much as possible and put her on oxygen.

Then they tried to wheel her to the ambulance.

This “accessible” apartment building is not very accessible. The stretcher barely fit through the doors, and got caught on the push bar handled of the outer door. They had to back up the stretcher then fight to angle it – with the inside door blocking the way – to get it through.

Once they had her loaded up, I went back to my mother’s apartment. There were a few things to put in the fridge and dishes to wash, and otherwise make things secure. I also called the home care office to let them know my mother was on the way to the hospital, so her visits needed to be suspended. I then locked things up and started heading home as quickly as I could. The weather had deteriorated a lot in what was really a short time. Not as bad as our drive into town yesterday, but getting there fast.

I do wish my mother hadn’t delayed using her Lifeline for so long, but at least she would get to the hospital before things went from “storm conditions” to “orange alert blizzard” conditions.

For now, it’s a waiting game. Will she be admitted to the hospital from ER? Will they try to send her home? Will she finally be allowed to go straight to a nursing home, like she’s been asking for the past couple of years? That would be her most desired “Christmas present”. The nursing home she wants to go to is just a few blocks from the hospital she’s been taken to. It’s also the same hospital she was at for three weeks, before. I am at a loss as to why she wanted the other hospital, as she’s done nothing but complain about her past ER trips to that hospital.

The main thing is, she’s finally in. Once the storm is passed and the roads are cleared, I expect to be going into town fairly regularly. Depending on how long she’s expected to be there, I’ll likely be tending her apartment, too.

I’d be really ticked off if they try to send her home!

Hopefully, we’ll get word fairly soon.

The Re-Farmer

Not going anywhere!

December 12, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

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

There’s a down side…

November 27, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

… to living in the boonies.

A technological one. Specifically, communications technology!

First up, the cuteness.

I’m happy to say that, so far at least, the motion detection alerts have only been triggered by cats. Not other critters!

The isolation shelter will be open for today then, if we can manage it, will have two or three cats closed up to fast overnight to get spayed/neutered tomorrow.

I got this picture the second time I was outside. The first time was to feed that outside cats and my shorter “winter” rounds.

The second time was after I was wandering around the yard, trying to get enough signal to listen to a voicemail on my cell phone.

I got a text alert that there was a message. Which means my WiFi calling has been dropped again, and a call went straight to voicemail. I don’t have enough signal to link it up again, either. At least, not indoors. Texts need far less signal, but it can still be hours before I get one, so I had to check right away. Very few people have my cell phone number, and it was most likely a call from Home Care.

It was a call from Home Care.

For the next three nights, they have only a male worker available for the bedtime visits over the weekend. For all her issues with people who are not white (and all the male workers she’s seen are apparently from India), she gets personal care on these visits, so she wouldn’t want a male worker tending to her physical needs either way.

So we’re going to have to cover for her visits on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. All are 9pm visits.

That’s a lot of driving, at night, in deer season.

It’s going to be much harder – and more dangerous – to cover for her visits in the winter. Daytime visits are one thing, if the weather is good, but night time visits are an issue for many additional reasons. One night? Sure. Three nights in a row? That’s going to be a problem, even if my siblings are able to cover some of them. I’m the closest. It’s even more dangerous for them to make the drive than for me.

Which wouldn’t be a problem if they would just approve her for a nursing home, like she wants!

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

All went really well… almost

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

I had considered taking advantage of what will likely be our last decently warm day of the year, but in the end, decided against it.

With how much I was able to get done last night, I made a point of taking a second dose of anti-inflammatories before bed. I can take them up to three times a day, but I’ve been typically taking them only once a day, and sometimes skipping that. Which means I’d be taking them with the stomach protecting medication, which is to be taken only once a day.

Well, I think taking more anti-inflammatories, even with a full meal, turned out to be a mistake. That stomach protector is supposed to be enough for a full day, but that didn’t seem to work out. Or perhaps I should be glad they worked as well as they did, or I’d have had a much rougher night!

Thankfully, my mother’s appointment for her MRI was in the evening. I was able to get the girls to do the morning routine so I could try and get more sleep. In between more trips to the bathroom.

At least it settled by the time I was starting to get ready to go to my mother’s. I was just winding things down, when I started hearing a rather terrible cat noise coming from my bed.

*sigh*

Butterscotch had herself a massive throw up that managed to get all my bedding except one pillow – and my pajamas! I recruited my daughter to help me change my bedding, and she was kind enough to start laundry after I left.

Before I headed out, though, we made sure to give the cats their evening feeding, so I could escape. 😁

I forgot something and had to pop back into the house, when my daughter and I spotted this…

What I was trying to do was get a picture of the mostly white kitten that was almost completely under Pinky’s belly! Then the little tuxedo photo bombed me.

I caught a tongue blehp.

Two of them, actually. Furriosa is also licking her (I’m pretty sure she’s a she) chops, but that bug eyed little tuxedo was just too adorable.

Earlier in the day, my brother and I had a chance to talk and plan things out in advance. We were both planning to get to my mother’s early, though my brother turned out to arrive before I even left home! By the time I arrived, my mother had had her supper and my brother had gotten her her meds. He also got her bed time meds into a container to take with us, in case things went really long.

I’d brought the things I’d picked up for my mother a little while ago. I’d found a sink plunger that she’d been asking for for quite some time. She had asked me to make her some knee warmers, but I picked up some leg warmers at the dollar store that I thought might work for her. When she saw them, she was quite happy and looked forward to trying them out tonight. Her knees get very cold at night!

I also picked up a note pad for her and her lists. She keeps writing on a tiny notebook, various envelopes or scraps of paper, so I found an in between size note pad that I hope she’ll actually use!

Which got her to talking about how we should pick up milk along the way, as she brought out her scrap of paper that she was using to make her shopping lists.

So I re-wrote her list, clarifying somethings, on the new note pad. Just to get her started!

Unfortunately, my mother’s place is very small and there was really know way for the three of us to sit together and talk, so we decided to leave early.

About an hour and a half early!

We got my mother into my brother’s car – she struggled even with that! – and then I took her walker back to her apartment. We were going to borrow a hospital wheelchair, instead.

So glad we did that!

When we got there, I quickly ran in to where they keep their loaner wheelchairs by the door then brought her in while my brother went to park his car. I was pretty sure I knew where to go, but we paused at the main desk to ask, anyhow. The MRI was just around the corner from where the CT scan is, and I’ve taken both my mother and my husband there a few times over the year. It was a bit of a walk, though, and my mother really would have struggled with the distance, using her walker.

The final doors to the MRI area had to be opened from the inside to let us in. As we got there, a woman saw us through the windows and came over, looking rather confused, asking if we were there for an MRI, because they were all about to go on break! I told her yes, but we were very early. We fully expected to wait. She asked if we had any paperwork, and I got out the form that came with my mother’s appointment letter, with all the questions they ask about past history, and whether there were any metal objects to worry about. She left with that and I started getting my mother settled in the waiting room.

The woman came back very quickly and said they would take her in right away, rather than make her wait until after their break!

My brother hadn’t even caught up with us yet, as we started getting my mother ready to head in. She ended up bringing my mother a different wheelchair to transfer her into, which is when she spotted my brother at the doors and let him on. Between us, was got my mother all settled – after bagging up her dentures and collecting her life line pendant and glasses. Soon, my mother was wheeled off and my brother and I settled into the waiting room.

The MRI scan took all of 12 minutes, and they were wheeling her back!

Her doctor should get the results in about a week, so we’ll need to follow up on that. The results need to be sent from the doctor to Home Care, as it’s needed for their panel to get my mother into a nursing home.

It was just past 6 as we were getting my mother ready to leave. We were supposed to arrive for 6:30, with the scan being booked for 7.

As we were getting her ready to go, my mother started asking about what the MRI was for. More specifically, of what benefit was it to her to get it. Of course, the staff didn’t know that it was part of getting my mother into a nursing home, but the woman helping us tactfully said it was because the doctor wanted to see about memory loss. When I reminded my mother that it was about getting her into the nursing home, the worker corroborated that. Then she asked, why was the appointment so late. The lady explained that they have a year long waiting list, so they keep doing these scans all the way to midnight, every day, to try and get them done. To which my brother pointed out, my mother is very lucky to have gotten this appointment!

From there, we headed off. This time, my mother had an even harder time getting into the car, even crying out in pain. It’s her knees that are really giving her grief. If she were 20 or 30 years younger, they’d probably recommend she get replacement knee surgery, but at her age, the risks are too great.

The drive back was uneventful, which is always good this time of year. Not a deer in sight! My brother was very happy that we got back to my mother’s so early, as he still had almost an hour to drive home. He would get home at a decent hour to get some sleep before going to work tomorrow!

I stayed a bit longer. My mother had only had oatmeal for her supper and she was getting hungry, so I helped her out with making some tea and a snack. It was still way too early for her to take her evening meds, but they were set out for her in her tiny bowl for them.

My mother did started to suggest that I could just leave her morning meds out, so that I wouldn’t have to come back in the morning, but I told her I needed to come out again, anyhow. I could do her med assist, and all the other stuff she needs help with in the mornings, from putting a breakfast together for her, to emptying her commode, etc. Then I would be doing her shopping. So there was no need to set her morning meds out in advance.

Through all this, my mother was on some of her better behaviour, with only a few nasty digs aimed at my brother, and only some relatively minor side tracks into ranting about things. Often two or three different things all mashed together. To her, they’re connected, but they’re not.

My mother really does view people in the worst possible light. All people, but mostly people who aren’t white.

Today, though, it barely registered. Since we used the wheelchair instead of her walker, she wasn’t tired out, either.

Hopefully, this will get her more likely to start using my late father’s wheelchair that I brought for her over a month ago. It’s still sitting in her living room and, as far as I know, she still refuses to sit on it. She wanted us to buy her a new wheelchair, but won’t try this one out to see if she can even handle one, without someone to push her.

I didn’t stay too much longer, as I was going to be back in the morning, so I headed home. I’m happy to say I did NOT hit that suicidal deer that ran alongside me before deciding to run right in front of the truck! By this point, I was on the last couple of miles of gravel road, and already driving quite a bit slower than typical, so there was very little risk of an actual collision, unless the deer decided to run right into me. Which happens. Quite a few years back, while my husband was driving home from the city after work, he got hit by a deer. It actually ran into him. He managed to get home, but that was it for that car. It was totaled!

At least by the time I’m heading to my mother’s, tomorrow morning, it’ll be light out.

While all that was going on, I made sure to keep the family updated, which is when I saw a message from my daughter. She was washing my bedding and the first load went fine, until the very end, when it didn’t sing the victory music the washing machine sounds out when a load is done. She started the next load and everything seems to be working fine, but there’s no sound. All the beeps and tones it normally gives off as we adjust the settings are just gone.

When I got home, the laundry was still going, but I ended up with a third load. Yeah, I came home to another cat mess in the middle of the fresh blanket! At least this time, it was just the blanket that needed changing.

It is downright weird to set up a new load and the washing machine is completely silent! The only way I could tell it was set was from the sound of the lid being automatically locked.

I don’t know if it’s even worth getting it fixed. It’s working fine, otherwise.

Well, we’ll see.

For now, I need to get myself to bed, because it’s going to be a long day tomorrow. Hopefully, my mother will be still be on good behaviour!

The Re-Farmer

Only one

November 18, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, having Frank and Pinky in the isolation shelter overnight (with a fluffy feral kitten) almost worked.

We were able to get Pinky into a carrier, but Frank escaped while we tried to get her into the second one. My younger daughter had been helping me while my older daughter distracted the other cats by feeding them. When the three of us failed to catch Frank, we couldn’t grab a substitute, since they had all eaten, and they need to be on an overnight fast.

*sigh*

So, my younger daughter and I headed out with just one cat instead of two for spay.

I made sure to open the gate before we headed out, so that we wouldn’t have an extra stop once Pinky was in the vehicle. The sky was just starting to get light in the East, when I spotted something interesting. Forgive the poor quality of the image. The best picture I could get was quite zoomed in.

That is a sliver of a moon, in the sunrise!

I absolutely hate driving at sunrise, and sunset. That half light makes it so hard to see. Especially with oncoming headlights. My daughter was on deer watching duty (she did see some, thankfully out in a field, not about to run across the road!). The visibility was so poor while we were traveling east, I never did make it to the posted speed limit. Once we were driving south, it was better, but when I ended up behind a slower moving truck, driving with its hazards blinking, I really didn’t mind slowing down. Not that passing would have been safe for quite some time. I was not the only one okay with driving slower, either!

It was full light by the time we got to the clinic parking lot, just before the clinic opened. Which is when my daughter saw that I had dried blood all over the side of my hand! Frank got me good, when I tried to pick her up!

Thankfully, we keep wet wipes in the truck.

Pinky was very quiet for the entire drive in, which was almost scary after a while. She had been scrambling to get out of the carrier before we put her into the truck and then nothing for the entire ride!

After we checked her in, they took her carrier to where they could keep her in a larger kennel until her surgery. My daughter and I then headed out, first to get some gas, then grab breakfast. We went to the McDonalds in the Walmart, because there really wasn’t anything else for that time of the morning.

Then we did some shopping. I had to pick up more kibble for both inside and outside cats, plus I got extra wet cat food, as kitties recovering in the isolation shelter get treated extra special while they are stuck in there, and that includes their own wet cat food. By the time I got the cat supplies, plus some household supplies, my budget was pretty much done. One thing I needed to get, but didn’t have much budget for anymore, was new work boots suitable for the winter. Both my regular work boots and my steel toed shoes are falling apart and are just not wearable anymore. My daughter, however, went looking for different boots for me to try on. When I saw the price, though, they were out of budget. Not by a lot, but enough that I wasn’t going to get them – but my daughter insisted that she would buy them for me! That was really sweet of her. She’s getting a disability income now, but it’s a paltry sum.

Aside from that, I had a few smaller items for my husband, such as more distilled water for his CPAP humidifier, while my daughter had her own shopping list. We took our time about it, since we knew it would be a while before the vet clinic called.

After the shopping was done and in the truck, we sat in the truck for a while and talked. Which is when I realized I’d forgotten a few things. Things we could get at the nearby Dollarama. So we went there next. Along with my forgotten items, I found some things for my mother. The one thing I knew she wanted, we couldn’t find in either store; a sink plunger. Her kitchen sink drains very slowly. She’s called about it before and they sent someone to pour drain cleaner down the pipes, and that was it. The problem never went away. So she’s been asking for a sink plunger for some time, and this time I actually remembered while I was out and about.

We didn’t find one at the Dollarama, but I did find an affordable cat cave; one with wire supports on the outside, that would keep cats from crushing it!

That done, we headed across the street to the Canadian Tire. We actually found several tyles of sink plungers there! I picked one that I thought would be easier for my mother’s mobility.

Another thing I remembered I wanted to pick up were more furnace filters, as we are on our last 3 pack. Canadian Tire is the only place I’ve been able to find the 20″x20″x1″ size our furnace needs. I just about lost it when I found them – and saw the price! A 2 pack for $42.99! Singles were $31.99!

I remember getting 3 packs for under $10.

After looking around, I found some off brand filters that were exactly like what we’ve been using. A three pack for only $7.99 What a difference!

By the time we were done there, it wasn’t even noon yet. It could still be a couple of hours before they called us. So my daughter and I went for lunch.

At McDonalds. Because that was what I had a budget for.

Twice in one day is a bit much!

After lunch, we decided to just go back to the clinic and sit in the parking lot to wait. We both ended up leaning our seats back and napping! My phone kept going off, though, so I didn’t get much of a nap. When it was getting closer to 2pm and we hadn’t gotten a call yet, I figured I would go in and ask.

Pinky hadn’t gone in for surgery yet!

That just blew me away. They’d never been this late before! In fact, knowing that I’m hanging around town because we live so far away, they’ve always made a point of getting our cats done as quickly as they could. Usually, I would have been on my way home by 2, or even earlier. Poor Pinky would have been so very hungry by then! I was assured they would call me when she was done.

So we waited some more – and fretted. They must have gotten her in shortly after I asked about her, because I got a call just before 2:30, saying she was done and recovering, and that I could pick her up after 3.

We ended up going in early, as we needed to use their facilities before our drive home, and they were able to get Pinky out right away. All I had to do was give them the marked envelop for the donated, and they gave me an after care printout.

Poor Pinkly was pretty upset when my daughter tried to put the carrier into the back of the cab. In the end, she held the carrier on her lap for the drive home. Pinky was quiet, but she would try to claw and bite at the door to get out. Most alarming was that she frequently stopped to just pant.

I did manage a picture before we got her into the truck. Not a very good one!

In the first picture, you can actually see that she’s panting.

The next picture, my daughter had taken for me earlier, of the damage Frank did to my hand – after I’d cleaned the dried blood away! That one didn’t hurt at all. Oddly, it was a less deep scratch under my thumb that actually stung more.

In the last picture, Pinky is all tucked into the isolation shelter, with the fluffy feral. They quite enjoyed their wet cat food that my daughter gave them, while I distracted the other cats with their softened kibble feeding.

After they were fed and everything was put away, I set up the new cat cave. It was immediately explored!

Havarti is almost too big for it! The little ones could certainly fit in there. They currently like to crowd into the blue striped one. That one is taller, but has a smaller base than this one.

Of course, we’ve been checking on Pinky and her companion often through the evening. Usually, all looked well. However, as I was writing this post, I paused to go into the kitchen. I heard a commotion out the window and feared Pinky was trying to escape.

Nope.

I found three or four big raccoons, trying to break into the shelter! There wasn’t even any food left inside, but they still were trying to get int! Two or three were on the roof, and one was at the ramp door below, when they all scattered as I stepped outside.

This is not good. I really don’t think the shelter is raccoon proof! Those buggers have hands. They might be able to open, or pull out, the sliding windows, or tear apart the roof panels.

While I was finishing things up outside, before it got dark, I did see Frank.

It’s going to take a while to regain her trust. She won’t let me near her anymore! We really need to work on that. We have two cats booked on the 28th. We really want to get her spayed. She is so small, and I remember how bloody she was the day she had her kittens.

Meanwhile…

Before we got home, my husband sent a note saying that my mother had called and left a message. When I checked the answering machine, though, I found a message that had been left earlier.

Much earlier. While we were still on the road.

It was home care, saying they had a list minute cancellation for my mother’s morning med assist. The scheduler did at that they had someone that could eventually do her med assist, but it would be so late that it would be about the same time my mother was getting her lunch meal assist. The scheduler even left a number for me to call.

Neither my husband nor daughter had heard the call come in, and the scheduler never tried to call my cell phone.

I thought that maybe my mother still got her med assist later, but when I called her back after hearing her message, she told me that no one showed up for her morning med assist. I told her about the message I got; that they did try to call me, but I was not home, and they never called my cell phone.

What my mother had wanted to talk about was a call she got from the hospital about her upcoming MRI. They asked all sorts of questions to make sure that my mother had nothing metal on or in her body. She had forgotten to mention her dentures. The form they sent for her to fill out did include dentures, which we checked off, but my mother doesn’t remember that and is now all worried about it.

Aside from that, though, her main reason for calling me was because neither I nor my siblings have called her in a few days. I’d spent most of Friday with her, so it hasn’t actually been that long – and I did mention to her that I had an appointment today, but she forgot. When I updated my siblings about the missed home care visit, my brother mentioned he’d just done a 13 hour day, and still didn’t finish what he needed to do, but had to call it a day. I’ve told my mother as often as I can, that my brother works very long hours at his job – sometimes odd hours, due to time zones – but she still expects him to be able to drop everything to tend to her. Even today, when I told her about the call I got from home care, she was asking “why are they calling you?” I don’t know how many times we’ve explained to her that I’m at the top of their list of people to call. Next on the list would be my brother, and there’s no way he’d be able to leave his job and drive out from the city to do something like a med assist. My sister is technically retired and works only part time, but she has a late shift, so she tends not to get up until much later in the morning. Plus, to be honest, I don’t know that my sister’s health is all that good, either. She isn’t saying anything, but even my mother is seeing signs that something is off. My sister is approaching 70 though, like my mother, she doesn’t look anywhere near her age. Anyhow, there are many reasons why I’m the one they call. If not me, I’m not sure who else my mother thinks they would be calling!

After talking to my mother, I sent an email to the home care coordinator. I did a reminder about my mother’s MRI on Sunday, adding that I plan to be there earlier, then my brother will be driving us to her appointment in his car, so we’ll be able to take care of both my mother’s evening med assists. I also mentioned the message I got this morning, and that I never actually heard the message until evening, so my mother missed her meds. I asked if they call me on my land line and it goes to the answering machine, to please try my cell phone after leaving a message. They know we live in a cell phone dead zone, but if I’m not there to answer a call to the land line, chances are good I’m out and about and can get a signal. Even if I’m just outside in the yard, I’m more likely to have a call get through than if I’m in the house.

We’ll see how that works out.

For the next while, I actually get to stay home until it’s time for my mother’s MRI. I asked about doing another grocery shopping trip for her on Friday, but she said no. The daytime temperatures are expected to be fairly warm, which I plan to take full advantage off, as much as possible. It will also be good for Pinky and her fluffy companion in the isolation shelter. Though, after what happened with the raccoons, I’m thinking we should look into getting an outdoor security camera that will allow us to keep an eye on the isolation shelter more easily. Considering how much use it will get in the winter, it might be worth the investment. Something solar powered. I’ll have to do some research on that.

Anyhow, that’s how things worked out today. It’s unfortunate Frank managed to escape this morning, but at least Pinky is done and seems to be doing quite well, so far.

As long as we can keep the raccoons out of the isolation shelter!!

The Re-Farmer

A run around day, and new products to try

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

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

Ha!

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

From home care.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today is a Meals on Wheels day.

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

The first is a cat toy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Instead, I got a brush type.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*sigh*

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

Trying.

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

Then I got called in to take a phone call.

It was Meals on Wheels.

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

They called the wrong person.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh, dear.

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

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

*sigh*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So… would I recommend this tool?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Of course, we accepted the generous offer!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…

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

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

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

The Re-Farmer

Too much wind! Also, a mystery

November 10, 2025 / Re-Farmer / 4 Comments

Good grief! As I write this, we are supposedly at only -1C/30F, but the wind chill has us at -18C/0F.

It feels colder than that!

I head out earlier this morning to do the cat feeding and my morning rounds, while it was still dark, so that I could open the gate. The wind was already really bitter by then, though it had to have been calm during the night, as everything was covered in hoarfrost. The septic guy said he would be here in the morning and, sometimes, that has meant right at 8am, so I figured I’d better get it open early.

When he didn’t show up before my younger daughter and I had to leave, I called and left a message saying I would be gone (he would see the empty garage as he came in), but that there would be someone home, so just knock at the door as his payment was ready.

In the end, he never made it. I’ll have to call him tomorrow and see about a reschedule. The last time that happened, their truck broke down!

I headed to the truck early to warm it up and noticed that front tire with the leaky valve was pretty low, so I fired up the compressor to pump it up. Then I headed back inside, out of the wind, to text the garage. The leak seems to be getting worse, so I asked if they could order the new sensor and replace it when I come in to get the oil seal replaced later in the week.

After that’s done, there’s still two more sensors to replace.

My daughter and I had to go into town for the pharmacy, first, as she had to pick up a prescription she needed for her medical appointment. I had called in one of my own for refills, too, but their delivery from the city wasn’t going to be in until the afternoon, so I told them to include it with my husband’s delivery. I’ll be in town that day, but it’ll be to drop the truck off for my appointment, and I don’t want to be carrying meds around while it’s being worked on.

I’d received a response from the garage, confirming that they could get the sensor ordered in and done at the same time. I asked if they needed any info off the tire but when they didn’t answer before we were done at the pharmacy, we just swung by and I ran in to ask. They didn’t, so we were soon back on the road.

Headlong into the wind.

We had left early enough that my daughter and I could stop for lunch at a Subway right near the clinic. We timed it perfectly, as there was a huge rush starting, just as we were paying for our food. We were able to take our time to finish before heading into the clinic.

One of the things my daughter wanted to bring up is that she will NOT be going back to that endocrinologist again. I still think she needs to make a formal complaint over how she was treated and manhandled.

Her appointment wasn’t very long, so we were soon heading out again, this time to the nearest Walmart in the smaller, nearer city.

I was no longer driving headlong into the wind, but the route was mostly open fields at this point, so I was instead fighting to not be blown off the road!

My daughter and I had out own shopping lists, and I had one from my husband, but we even altogether, we didn’t need a lot. It was just stuff we either couldn’t get locally, or was so much more expensive locally, it was worth the gas and the side trip to get them there.

Before we left, I got a message from my husband. My mother had called. She had gotten a call from the Meals on Wheels office saying that her deliveries were cancelled, and she was wondering if I had cancelled them.

?!?!?!?!!!!!

Obviously, I didn’t. Once we were home, I called her up as soon as I could, to get as much information as I could, before calling Meals on Wheels. It was past 4 by then, and I had no idea if they would even still be open. The meals are cooked and assembled in the kitchen of an apartment building similar to my mother’s, except they offer meal service and a few other things. My mother has actually been on the waiting list for that place for a few years now.

I called my mother and she immediately started talking about what happened today, and it was a bit confusing. Basically, her Meals on Wheels delivery came at the same time as her lunch assist person. there was some sort of confusion. Why, I have no idea. This is not the first time she’s had both since her increased service. Home care is aware that she gets Meals on Wheels and were good with it. I think maybe it was the first time they arrived at the same time.

After they left, she got a phone call from the Meals on Wheels office (they don’t actually have an office) saying that someone had cancelled her service, and that there would be no more dinners from them. My mother was wondering if I had cancelled it. Of course, I hadn’t. So she wondered if my brother hand, and of course, he hadn’t either. I didn’t even have to ask him about that!

Part of what was confusing is that as she was trying to describe what happened and the confusing of her lunch assist and Meals on Wheels coming at the same time, she started talking about how she doesn’t need both. If she had people coming every day to do her meals, why have Meals on Wheels?

I told her, these meals are more complete than she would make for herself, and require more preparation than home care is able to do for her during daily meal assists, so it would be better if she kept it up. I didn’t really get to say more, but these are also the most nutritionally complete meals she has all weak.

Then she started taking that she didn’t need… and here I lose it on the words she used, because they were more implying than saying outright, but basically, she’s trying to suggest that these meals are so big, they are making her fatter, so she should probably stop. She’s been getting to the point of saying she should practically stop eating entirely, so I needed to cut that off, quickly. I told her, she’s 94 years old. She doesn’t need to be worried about her weight at this point. Who cares?

I told her I needed to call Meals on Wheels right away, because I didn’t know when they closed, but then she launched into how she takes the “pink stuff” (Pepto) and Tylenol and started going on about how she thinks her problems are her digestion (this after years of blaming her insanely healthy heart) – so basically, she was working herself up to blaming everything on the Meals on Wheels meals. I had to cut her off and say I would call her back after calling Meals on Wheels.

I was too late. They were closed.

The number I called was directly to the kitchen, but I noticed another number in my online search, so I tried that, too. That was the building’s management office. Their answering machine gave office hours, and they are open only 3 days a week, and the message added that if it was about Meals on Wheels, to call the kitchen number.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day and I normally wouldn’t expect a call back until the day after, but they do cook daily meals for the residents, so it’s possible I’ll get a call back tomorrow.

I called my mother back and told her as much as I could. Thankfully, she didn’t try to blame her various issues on the Meals on Wheels meals again. It frustrates me to hear her trying to blame all her problems on her food, but she knows nothing about nutrition. Half the time, she’s basing things on something she saw on TV 30 years ago, or some women’s magazine that the ladies from the Senior’s Centre drop off sometimes, or something her neighbours have said, to just leaping at associations with no real connection. All the more reason for her to have those Meals on Wheels! If it were up to her, she would be seriously malnourished while convinced she is eating “healthy”.

Anyhow, I told my mother I would get back to her as soon as I knew something. I have, of course, updated my siblings about it as best I could.

I’ll be at my mother’s on Friday to get her bubble packs and do her shopping. I’ll stay to do other stuff for her, too. I should remember to ask her to take the chicken I got for her a while back, out of the freezer so I can make up another stock for her. That will give her cooked meat that the lunch assist people can use for her meals, too. This time, I want to bring one of my stock pots from home. Last time, I had to split things up between a small pot and a frying pan! I should bring a proper knife, too. She has been using what look like cheap “as seen on TV” steak knives, and is happy with them, but they really are terrible. At least for full food prep. I had to use one to butcher a whole chicken for her a while back and it was so bad, I ended up using the only other thing she had – a bread knife!

Hopefully, the Meals on Wheels thing will be straightened out by then. I’m really at a loss as to who would have cancelled her service. Unless my mother gave specific instructions, they would not have had any authority to do so. It doesn’t sound like my mother did anything like that, but she talks in circles so much, someone may have misunderstood her? I just don’t know.

I am just noticing one of my weather apps that I have on display at all times. According to that, we’re now at 0C/32F. We should keep warming up all night, to a high of 6C/43F tomorrow. It’s not supposed to be as windy as it still is right now, but still pretty windy. On Friday, we’re supposed to reach a high of 8C/46F! That would be a great day to get a few more things done outside, but I’ll be at my mother’s. Ah, well. I’ve at least got the next two days at home to work on things. Once the septic tank is emptied, I want to head over to the ejector to cut away all the weeds grown up around it, then dig more of a trench to drain the greywater towards the low area, rather than forming a pool just 10 or so feet away.

Hopefully, the septic guy will be able to come in soon! This is not a job I want to work on when it gets colder again.

Gotta take advantage of every warm day we get. It won’t be long before anything left will just have to wait until spring.

I would really love it if I could just hibernate all winter!

The Re-Farmer

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