I managed to do a bit of shoveling after my morning rounds. I was going to head in and grab breakfast before going back out to use our little snow blower to widen some areas my brother cleared yesterday and clear more paths in the snow.
My glasses fogged up while I was putting away the snow shovel in the sun room. I thought I was good to step around a cat carrier on the floor.
I was wrong.
My foot caught on the open door and tripped me up. I fell hard on the concrete floor. My right knee getting the worst of it.
I’m not injured, thankfully, but I know I need to stay off it. I’ve taken my anti inflammatories (I was able to skip them last night) and pain killers with my breakfast. My daughters are going to have to take over the outside stuff for me.
Meanwhile, my daughter has treated the most affected joints with Voltaren, and made sure I have a cane handy, if necessary.
I did remember to contact the garage about the truck. While doing my morning rounds, I took the charger off (the battery was fully charged) but didn’t have my key, so I didn’t test anything. The garage recommended a trickle charger rather than a battery warmer. Depending on the brand, that costs about $150-200. I’m looking to book an appointment after New Year’s to get a diagnostic and, if the battery checks out okay, see about getting a trickle charger installed.
For now, it’s time to lie down. I’m going to have to find that balance between resting my joints, and moving them around to keep them from stiffening up. I didn’t land on my hands, but more my elbows. I also hit a small bucket on the way down – how I managed that is a feat, considering where it was tucked aside – shattering the plastic, made brittle by the cold.
We had some bitterly cold temperatures last night – dropping to -24C/-11F, when I was awake to check. There was no wind chill, though. In fact, the “real feel” was slightly warmer than the actual temperature.
When heading outside to feed the yard cats, I found a whole crowd of them inside the isolation shelter – all in the top level, too!
Including the isolation babies. Both Kohl and her fluffy partner were in there.
With so many cats and one bowl in a corner, the littles weren’t able to get at the food as well, so I dropped a handful beside the fluffy boi.
With the cold, a lot of the food trays still had a lot of food in them. None of the cats, understandably, want to be outside eating, and even in the sun room, they prefer to huddle together in their various shelves and beds and under the heat lamp. I saw several through the cat house window, near the heat lamp in there, too.
The food bowl in the isolation shelter, however, didn’t have a single crumb left in it, and even the water bowl was mostly empty. At this point, I think the top of the isolation shelter may be the warmest place around!
The insulated box nest, however, seems to be in the way. I am considering taking it out and putting it in the lower level, where the little box is. We had to take the cat bed out from there, since they were using it as a litter box. Since this box nest is insulated, it would probably get used more in the bottom level than it is in the top level. The food bowl can then be put in the middle where the box is now, and more cats can eat out of it at the same time.
Moving the box nest will require moving the entry box shelter away, so I’ll save doing all this for when I have a daughter available to help out.
Meanwhile…
My husband and I had plans today. We were going to head to the nearer city, where he can go in to exchange his cell phone, as the 2 year plan is up. He doesn’t use it much, but if he simply kept it, we’d be charged almost $700 for the balance on the phone. Or, he can return it and get a credit, but would have no phone. Alternatively, he can exchange it, have another phone on a new plan, and still get a credit.
So that’s what we were going to do and, thanks to a generous monetary Christmas gift from my mother, we were planning to have an actual sit-down dinner date, too. It might just have been to Subway or something, in the same shopping commons as the phone place, but it still would be a fun and rare treat for my husband.
With the cold, we waited until things warmed up in the afternoon before we started heading out. It was -19C/-2F and the time we left. I went ahead to take out the shopping bags in the back of the cab to make room for his walker while warming up the engine a bit. Since we haven’t been able to get the block heater cord repaired, I made sure to run the engine a bit while I was doing the morning rounds, too.
Soon we were loaded up and on our way.
We got maybe 5 or 10 minutes out, when it happened.
The console started dinging, and the “oil pressure low, shut of engine” light started flashing. The oil pressure gauge had suddenly dropped right down.
We already had the oil sensor replaced from the last time it happened.
So I popped on the hazards and pulled over.
Of course, the first thing I did was check the oil level. We had an oil change done when the sensor was replaced, so it should have been full.
It was. Looked pretty clean, too.
I still added a small amount. It was a fight to get the oil cap off (thank goodness we keep a stool in the truck, or I couldn’t have reached it!), and one of the first things I noticed was the interior. It looked almost as if the black plastic was blistered.
It wasn’t.
It was ice.
So I added a bit of oil, then cleaned out the inside of the cap as thoroughly as I could before putting it back and running the engine for a bit before checking the oil again.
Definitely plenty of oil.
Well, we weren’t going to take a chance. Once everything was put away, we turned around and went home, while my husband messaged our daughters to open the gate for us.
The warning light did not turn on again, and the gauge stayed within the range it was supposed to.
The gate was ready and open for us, so I pulled straight in to the garage, stopping only to get the walker out for my husband before pulling the rest of the way in.
As soon as we were inside and settled, I called the garage and left a message describing what happened. Our mechanic called back within minutes.
He asked a few more questions, and he basically confirmed what I already suspected. Most likely, there was a bit of ice from condensation getting into the sensor and triggering that warning. Basically, the engine needed to warm up longer. He has seen this before, but only with GM vehicles.
Hmmm.
Since we know there is plenty of oil, he basically said, if it happens again, it’s not a panic. That was the main thing. The last time it happened, the truck turned out to be almost completely out of oil, even though there were no visible signs of a leak, nor were we burning blue. There is a separate warning light for low oil, and that never turned on. Replacing the sensor also took care of the leak, and the oil level has been steady, since.
Well, I’ll take this as a sign we weren’t meant to go to the smaller city today.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll be meeting with my brother at our mother’s for a visit. It’ll be earlier than usual, since he has to leave by noon, but this is his Christmas visit to my mother, as they’ll be visiting the grand kids for Christmas and New Year’s.
If the cold we got hit with last night is why this happened with the truck, though, it should be fine, tomorrow. We’re expected to dip below -20C/-4F for a few hours this evening, but start warming up throughout the night. By the time I should be leaving in the morning, we are expected to be warmer than we are right now. Long range forecast no longer says we’re supposed to get as warm as 6C/43F around Christmas, but it does still say we’ll be hovering around the freezing mark on those days. We will be doing our dinner on Christmas Eve. I will be setting aside a couple of meals and plan to go to my mother’s to have lunch with her on Christmas day.
Hopefully, the truck sensors will behave!
For the rest of today, though, it’s another home day, after all! I’ll be working on more garden analysis posts, instead. 😄
On a semi related note, a while back I wrote about how I was suddenly seeing ads on YouTube again. I ended up getting an updated version of Firefox and installing their adblocker, as it was the only one that still worked. I was still getting them on my phone’s app, to the point I could no longer play YouTube videos at all, they were so intrusive. Which meant, no playing background playlists to help me sleep.
Well, that has stopped as suddenly as it started. I no longer see YouTube ads on any browser I use, nor on my phone app. None of them had gotten updates, either.
Very strange, but I’ll take it!
Oh, this is too funny! I just got a message from the Cat Lady.
One of the cats they took from us was a muted calico we called Muffin. She was an outside cat friendly enough that we could get her into a carrier. She went to them to be spayed, get the usual vet checks, then go up for adoption. Instead, she bonded with the Cat Lady’s husband, and they are still inseperable.
Today, she is out with him, delivering Christmas bonuses and drinking Starbucks.
Muffin still hates the Cat Lady, for some reason – she’s never had any other cat behave like this towards here before. Muffin still tries to bite her, every day, even though she doesn’t have teeth anymore. But she adores the Cat Lady’s husband, attended Zoom calls with him, goes out to job sites, and when she has to stay home, sits at the window, crying for him all day. It’s got to the point that all these hardened contractors now look forward to seeing Muffin. Too funny!
Well, time to adjust my plans and see what I can get done, now that it’s turned out to be a home day.
My brother and his wife are still on their way here. My brother had estimated the tractor could average 20km/h. Now that they’ve been on the road for a while, my SIL thinks it’s more like 12km/h
It’s going to be a while for them to get here, still!
Before I got the messages about this, I’d gone outside to open the gate and get things done out there, so I’d be there when they arrived. One of the first things I did was harvest potatoes at the chain link fence.
On the right, in the photo, are the last of the red thumb fingerling potatoes that I could find. There were some surprisingly large ones in there, for the type of potato! Especially considering we planted the little potatoes that were left from last year, out of the bin we’d been going into throughout the winter.
The potatoes on the left are the purple caribe. These are the ones that most of them did not come up at all. Just a few in the middle of the bed, and a couple at one end. I’ve left the couple at one end, and just harvested the ones in the middle.
There aren’t a lot but, under the circumstances, it’s actually better than I thought it would be. There are some decent sized potatoes in there! Unfortunately, I damaged some with the garden fork. The soil had become quite compacted, so I had to use it quite a bit. All that means is, we have to use the potatoes right away.
No hardship there!
After harvesting the potatoes, I set the bin in the sun for now. I was going to start weed trimming around the house, in preparation for lawn mowing soon. Next to the house is a row of lilacs with the cherry trees in the middle. The cherry trees keep trying to spread through their roots, so I decided to cut those away, first.
There turned out to be a lot more than I expected!
When I got the messages about the delay, a paused for a while and had some supper.
Which is a good thing, because I was inside to hear that the septic pump was running and not shutting off again.
This happened earlier today. The filter was empty and the pump was running dry, so I shut off the power switch, primed the filter, then went outside to check the tank. I used the hose to spray the float free, and when I turned the power back on to the pump, it did not turn on.
I was expecting the same thing this time, but when I opened the tank, I could see that it was full enough to trigger the float. The pump was running, because it needed to.
I went back to the pump and turned the power on. The pump started running, but nothing was happening in the filter. It didn’t even drain through the outflow at the base. The pump was running, but nothing was happening.
I opened up the access pipe in the floor and ran the hose through – it was pretty clogged in places – but I didn’t want to run too much water through there with the tank already so full and not being emptied. It made no difference, anyhow.
I’ve left it off and sent a message to my brother and SIL, letting them know about it. I hate to even bring it up, considering how hot and exhausted my brother is going to be by the time they get here. No AC in the tractor! I heard back from them while I was writing this post. They’ve arrived at a gas station in the town my mother lives in and have stopped for a break.
After the update, I went to check on the pump again, and found the filter reservoir had drained. It shouldn’t do that. I topped it up, and started seeing … gurgling? … from the outflow at the bottom.
It shouldn’t do that, either.
Turning the power on, the pump ran, but again, no flow. The tank is not draining.
This is not good.
Once I’ve posted this, I’m going to head out to the outflow pipe near the barn to see if anything has happened there. I think the renter’s cows have been rotated away again. I haven’t seen them in a while. Which means the electric fence should be off.
We have had so many problems with this septic system! Especially this year.
Okay, so last night, we had issues with the septic pump again. It wasn’t turning off, even though there was no water flowing through the pump. So I shut it off manually and left it for later.
This morning, while doing my rounds, I popped opened the tank and took a look. The grey water side was pretty full, and I could see the new float/pill switch at the top. Nothing seemed to be hung up or anything.
I’d primed the filter last night, so all I had to do was turn the pump back on and see. The filter promptly empties – but no grey water from the tank was being pulled in.
Crud.
Also, I really, really appreciate having that filter with its clear lid on there. Without it, we’d have no way of seeing what was going on!
So I shut it off, primed the filter again, and thought… what the heck. That tank is pretty full. I’ll try again.
At first, the filter just emptied, and I was going to shut if off again, but then grey water started to flow through the top. Perfect! I set the time on my phone for 4 minutes, and let it go. With the rain we’ve had lately, the old basement is starting to have water seeping through again, and the sump pump is starting to actually get trigged, so I moved some fans around. I’d already replaced the winter window in the old basement with the screen summer window, yesterday, for increased air flow.
Then, after about 3 minutes, the septic pump shut itself off.
???
It’s working properly again!
I have no idea what happened last night to keep it from shutting off, but whatever it was seems to have worked itself out.
At least for now.
There’s a reason I’m so paranoid about the pumps in this place!
I tried going to bed early, so I could get an early start on work outside, before things got hot again. Of course, everything seemed to conspire to keep me awake.
Which, I suppose, turned out to be a good thing.
It eventually soaking into my sleep deprived, frustrated brain, that I was hearing the septic pump running.
And it wasn’t turning off.
I almost dozed off, but was awakened again, and it was still running.
So down to the basement it went to check. The filter had no liquid in it. It was running dry.
I did the usual routine; shut off the pump manually, prime the filter, turn it on again… then off again, when the filter just emptied, but the pump kept running.
*sigh*
Why would a new pill switch conk out so quickly?
Tomorrow… er… later today… I will call the septic guy again, and let him know.
Until then, I hope to get at least a few hours of sleep!
We knew it was coming. It was just a matter of time. In fact, it took a lot longer to happen than I thought it would! There were hints, though, that the limit had been reached, and today, it finally happened.
Our hot water tank died.
While my daughter was showering, of course.
The original tank (I found the original 1963 warranty while cleaning up in the basement and my parents got it second hand in the 1970’s!) died shortly after we moved here. My brother tried valiantly to keep it going, but a few months later, in 2018, we got it replaced with a new tank.
The replacement tank only lasted a year? Two? before it started leaking out the bottom.
It’s a good thing I take pictures of all this stuff, and document it here on the blog!
The first replacement tank started having problems in August of 2019, so about a year and a half before problems started. Water was leaking somewhere and filling the bottom of the tank.
The plumber tried different things, but in the end, it got replaced under warranty in January of 2020.
This is what started happening just over a year later.
Once again, water was leaking and filling the bottom of the tank.
I called the company and got it replaced under warranty again – but this was the last time I could do that. There’s only so many times you can replace a tank under warranty before they start assuming there’s something dishonest going on. Which is understandable.
So in January of 2021, I got a second warranty replacement tank. However, once we got it into the basement, I noticed the leaving the panel off had provided enough air circulation that the bottom of the tank was dry again.
So, we left it. We still had hot water, and we knew by now that our hard well water would likely just kill the new tank in a year. We decided to see how long we could last on what we had.
Amazingly, it lasted until now!
My first hint that something was wrong came when I was checking the old basement and found the concrete under the hot water tank was wet. I took the blower fan that we use to help dry out the basement when it gets wet in the spring, set it to blow directly at the hot water tank, then left it. A couple of days later, it was completely dry.
Then, last night, while doing dishes before bed, I found the hot water was getting way too hot. Warning sign number two!
This morning, I switched out the blower fan for a pedestal fan that uses less power. The concrete under the tank was starting to look damp again. Warning sign number three!. This fan could be set up closer, and I thought it might be enough.
I don’t know if it was. I haven’t gone down to check since then (the stairs are difficult for me to navigate). Later today, though, we simply lost hot water.
We called a plumber and left a message. Since we have the warranty replacement tank, still in the box, it just needs to be swapped out. That shouldn’t cost very much at all. Which is good, because every spare penny we have is being set aside to try and build up a larger down payment for a replacement vehicle.
Meanwhile, I’m bringing my mother’s car back to the garage tomorrow morning to get the spark plugs replaced. Then I will be going into the city for our second Costco shop.
Oh, and the septic guy was able to come by today – the ground was solid enough, even after yesterday’s downpours.
*sigh*
It’s like everything is popping up to make it impossible for us to set funds aside for a vehicle!
Oh, I also got word from the ranch we’re buying a quarter beef from. We’ve been paying $100 a month towards that since March, with the expectation that it would be ready in December. Well, it turns out it’ll be ready in 2 weeks, and what cuts did we want this time? !!!
Also, the weight for a quarter beef is higher this year, too. All together, we were going to be over $400 short!
I explained our situation, and they are going to hold our order off until January, which will make it even easier on the budget. So awesome of them! Once that’s paid for, that’s $100 a month that will be diverted to car payments.
The plumber hasn’t called back yet, but hopefully we will hear back tomorrow. If he hasn’t called by the time I’m back from the city, I’ll try again.
Aside from all that, it was a nice enough day that, once the septic guy was gone and I was no longer on kitten watch, to make sure none went anywhere near the open tank, I was able to get some work done outside. We don’t have high winds today, so my daughter was able to get a burn going, doing our paper garbage and some of the branches that we were starting to accumulate again that can’t fit into our wood chipper.
She’s still out there as I write this!
As for me, I need to try and get to bed early, because I’ve got a long day of running around tomorrow.
Yesterday, being Sunday, my daughter had a short shift and I was planning to stay in town again. I ended up meeting with my older brother and his wife, and we were able to spend a couple of wonderful hours together.
They are such great people!
At one point, we got to talking about how useful it would be for us to have a trailer, and how expensive new ones are. Apparently, there had been a small trailer by the garage, but it disappeared before we moved here.
Then they remembered.
We do still have a trailer.
Sort of.
They told me where it was, so when I did my evening rounds before it got dark, I went looking for it.
The Re-Farmer 