Holidays

Fluffy babies, new acquisition, and a loooong day

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First, the cuteness!

The grey fluff ball in the first picture seems to be in the catio shelter a lot. Like it’s claimed the space, though the more feral adult cats also use it. Those ones run off when I come close. This one makes sure to be out of reach, but has figured out that it doesn’t need to leave the catio. I just reach in through the door to fill the food and water bowls.

The second picture is of Colby. This morning, I was actually able to give him pets and scritches that he happily accepted without trying to run away. It was while he was going for the food trays, but he stopped for the pets. When I did the evening feeding, he wouldn’t come close enough for me to touch him, but being able to give him such thorough pets this morning is a huge leap.

While refilling the water bowls, I suddenly started to smell something strange. Like … smoke? Not the wood smoke I sometimes smell, wafting in from neighbours that heat with wood. More acrid.

Of course, I was looking all over for a possible source, but could find nothing.

After I was done and ready to head inside, I paused to pet cats that were under one of the heat lamps. Havarti was one of them and, as I started to pet him, he arched his back into my hand, tail straight up and stiff…

Right up into the heat lamp’s shield.

Suddenly, there was smoke billowing out. I pushed his tail out and saw the singed fur. Just the fur. He never felt a thing. Some of that fur must have stuck to the ceramic heat bulb, because that kept smoking for a while!

Worse, he kept coming back for more pets, going right under the heat lamp with his tail up high like a flag.

So I’m guessing that’s what I was smelling. One of the cats must have stretched or something while under the heat lamp, and a tail brushed the bulb. This lamp doesn’t have a guard, like the bigger one does, but even the guard can’t stop something as skinny as a tail!

Today was my day to go to my mother’s, but I first made a stop at the post office. I’m happy to say that I did get my new credit card. The one they sent me in the middle of September – three months ago – to replace my expiring one still has not shown up, thanks to the postal strike. The strike is over but, at this point, I doubt it ever will come in. I’m glad I went with the option to have the original cancelled as “lost”, so they could expedite a new one.

I also picked up my new, 4th edition, of Back to Basics.

The second picture is of the table of contents. Sorry about the flash reflection, but it was the only way to get rid of the shadow of my arms holding my phone.

Tonight, I plan to get my old edition out to check out the differences between them.

After getting the mail, it was off to my mother’s. I timed it so I could pick up some fried chicken at the gas station. My mother’s building has group meals every now and then, that everyone contributes a few dollars towards, every month. The most recent one had meals brought in from one of the restaurants that specializes in fried chicken, but it’s very different from the franchise in this gas station. My mother was not impressed and commented on how much better the gas station’s chicken is. They also have potato wedges with the same coating as the chicken that she really likes. So I got some chicken and wedges for myself, then a second box of chicken and wedges for my mother. She had her Meals on Wheels today, so I figured she could have it for supper, or for lunch tomorrow, as a treat.

I got to my mother’s shortly after 11am. Her Meals on Wheels gets delivered at noon, so I used the time to get a few things done or at least started, including the one load of laundry she had left. One of the machines is broken, so my sister was able to do only one load while she was out, a few days ago, making sure to wash the things my mother needed right away. I even had time to change her bedding before her lunch arrived.

One request she had for me that was rather different.

She wanted me to mail her Christmas cards – but not in her town. She wanted me to take them to our post office, because she doesn’t trust the one in her town.

*sigh*

One of them was a card for our vandal. Which, she told me, had money in it. *sigh* She couldn’t remember his box number, but it’s at our post office, so the postmaster knows what it is. She wanted them to just stamp it with a postmark and stick it in his mail box. Another of the cards was to a relative that live in the town nearest us, and she wanted it to not go to the city first, but to go straight to that town.

My mother has no understanding of how the postal system works.

My mother’s Meals on Wheels is delivered by a volunteer from the senior’s centre, who also does all sorts of activities in her building, so my mother has gotten to know her pretty well. This woman also knows our vandal. When she delivered the meal, she paused to let my mother know that she’d run into him recently, and he’s looking really bad right now. She almost didn’t recognize him. She said they spoke, and he asked her to pass on his Christmas well wishes to my mother.

*sigh*

This did remind my mother to ask about the letter from our vandal that she’d delivered. She’s brought it along with the Meals on Wheels tray. This was almost 2 weeks ago, and she could not remember. It must have been left on my mother’s walker. He’d given her letters to give to my mother before, and she would have remembered that, but he hasn’t done that in a very long time.

We ended up telling her briefly some of the things he’s been doing. My mother said that, the last time he came to see her, he behaved so badly, she told him not to come back. I had pictures of the letter, with a date, so I was able to confirm exactly what day she had brought it, and she simply could not remember. I told her, very briefly, about what was in the letter, and how our vandal has been behaving towards us, including blaming me and my brother for causing his cancer. When I mentioned, I really don’t want to get another restraining order, she actually said, I might have to do that. She gets along with him, but is quite aware that there’s something wrong with him.

Her meal delivered, my mother and I had lunch together. We’d already worked on her shopping list and got that ready, so once we were done and I saw that it would be a while before her laundry could be switched to the dryer, I headed out to do her errands. After going to the pharmacy and grocery store – for someone who yelled at me a couple of days ago that she didn’t need groceries, today was actually a larger grocery list than usual! – it was back to my mother’s to finish things up. The big job was saved for last – mopping her floors. Which is when I discovered she doesn’t have any cleaners. She uses laundry detergent for her floors! When I asked her about it and she told me she used laundry detergent, she asked what I used. I told her, floor cleaner! Well. All purpose cleaner, but they make cleaners special for floors. Which I find weird because, growing up, I know full well she used other kinds of cleaners, but she acted as if she’d never heard of floor cleaner before!

Finishing the mopping was perfect timing. I went to check the laundry, just in time to hear the dryer give its finishing buzz. That was the last thing left to do. I got her laundry folded and was putting it all away, as well as putting away other things that were done with and generally just finishing up.

My mother took that as me getting ready to leave, because she started accusing me, “You said you had all day for me today. You said you’d give me all day.”

Which had me looking at the clock and saying, It’s almost 2:30. I’ve been here a long time. Oh, but you said all day…

…

After several hours of constant activity, I was certainly ready to sit down for a bit, but I did remind her that she wanted me to mail things are our post office, so I had to leave before they closed. She at least acknowledged that!

Once I sat down, though, she suddenly starting getting in on what a bad parent I am because I “hide the girls” and “do everything for them.” You see, earlier, she wanted me to take home a magazine the social workers give her. A magazine we don’t read. She was basically wanting to give us her garbage. I told her, we don’t read that kind of magazine. She suggested the girls might like it. I just laughed and said no, they don’t read that kind of magazine, either (it was one of those check out display women’s magazines). She started telling me not to speak for them, to which I asked, are they here? No? I know them. I know what they like.

Anyhow, because she doesn’t see them (she doesn’t understand that she has driven them away by her own actions, and they dread being around her), she just makes up reasons for it, and all those reasons involve me being a terrible person. Oh, and if I got the girls to do more of the cooking and cleaning at home (which is what they do the most of, already), that would give me more time to be with her.

…

I told her, they do most of the inside stuff, I do most of the outside stuff.

You don’t have cows. What do you have to do? Shovel snow?

…

On it went.

I had barely sat down when she started on this. I’d hoped to get a bit of a rest before leaving, but that was it. I got up and started getting my coat on.

She did change her tune, sort of, and we did part on a more positive note, at least, but it blew me away how quickly she went from being okay, to attack mode. She really does seem to hate me. Or at least hold me in contempt. Until she needs me for something, of course. *sigh* Ah, well. Nothing we can do about that.

On another note, my mother is not doing well. It took some questioning (and it turned out she was telling the home care coordinator different things than she was telling me, which I found out when checking my email while doing her shopping), but eventually my mother said that she felt like she did before she went to the hospital. Which was for pulmonary edema. Given her shortness of breath and swollen legs, that makes sense.

Now, since we’ve moved out here, my mother has gotten us (including my brother) to take her to the ER for all sorts of things, several times, for far less problems, She would end up in the ER, with one of us with her, for over 10 hours, each time, would get sent home and then be angry that they didn’t find anything wrong with her. The one time she actually ended up in the hospital, it was after one of her church neighbours had taken her to the local clinic to see a Nurse Practitioner – an actual appointment – and they ended up sending her to the ER in the town closest to us by ambulance. Now that it looks like she actually should go to the hospital, and we’re encouraging her to use her Life Line, so they can get an ambulance for her (the most efficient and safest way to transport her), she suddenly doesn’t want to. She did acknowledge that she probably should go to the hospital, but she says she doesn’t want to leave her home.

…

This from the person who’s been fighting to get into a nursing home for about 2 years now.

We can’t force her to do it, though. She has to make that decision herself. Part of the problem is, she thinks if she’s gone for any length of time, people will steal her stuff. The other part of the problem is, my mother doesn’t like to make decisions for herself. She wants other people to make decisions for her, so she can then blame them if things don’t go the way she wants. This is a life long pattern.

So that was the state of things when I left. As promised, on the way home, I stopped at our post office to mail her cards.

When I got there, I saw someone at the post office, picking up packages. This is someone I grew up with, like one of my own brothers. Actually, at one point, I decided I was going to marry him. I think I was about 8 years old at the time. 😄 He’s one of the few people still managing to be friends with our vandal, and the last time I saw him in person was at the de-consecration service for our hamlet’s church that someone tried to burn down and cannot be salvaged. When he drove in and parked, just behind our vandal and his wife, I’d gone over to talk to him. I’d recently sent him a message about something our vandal had said/done, but hadn’t gotten a response. When I got to him, he actually started yelling at me, and was really angry about what I’d said about our vandal, and that I should “just stop”. Stop what, I had no idea. During the service, our vandal can actually been okay around me and we even spoke briefly. I had some hope, until he sent another really vile voice mail message to my brother, that same evening. I ended up sending a copy of that message, plus another one, to this friend, with a message that included saying I had no idea what I was doing that he thought I should stop; I hadn’t had contact with our vandal in ages. After getting that message, I got a brief response. He was clearly shocked by the messages, and said he needed to do some thinking.

That’s the last time I had any real contact with him, other than waving at each other as we pass each other on the gravel roads.

Seeing him at the post office, collecting his packages, I went to hold the door open for him. When he came around and saw me, I joked that I figured he would have his hands full!

He absolutely lit up when he saw me. As he came over, still holding his packages, he managed to give me a great big, warm hug. We exchanged Christmas and New Year’s wishes before he left. It felt so good! With our vandal seeming to have turned so many of our neighbours against us, this really just made my day. We will probably never be able to repair the relationship I had with our vandal again, but at least this dear friend is still a dear friend!

From there, I went to take care of my mother’s mail. I explained about the one for our vandal, and that my mother didn’t remember his box number. It was a new postal employee, though, and she said she didn’t know any of that stuff yet, but she promised to set the cards aside for the postmaster (who grew up here and knows pretty much everyone) to take care of. That one card might actually go straight to the postal box there, but the other two will have to go through the usual routine!

Then, since I was there anyhow, I picked up a few things. While waiting my turn for the post office, I was standing next to one of the booze displays (that corner is the “liquor store” part of this old fashioned general store). I spotted a chocolate whiskey that looked very interesting – and it was a very reasonable price – so I picked up a bottle. My daughters and I will have to taste test it, later!

By the time I got home, it was time to do my evening routine, including tending the outside cats, before it got dark. Then I made sure to update my family in our group chat about my mother, then update and respond to the home care coordinator’s email. That no show on my mother’s bed time meds on Friday, after I’d given the okay for the male home care worker to do the med assist, even though he couldn’t to any personal assist, got a strange answer. According to her, there was no med assist scheduled for that night, with a note that this was confirmed with me by phone. Which is the opposite of what happened!

Something went very wrong, there!

Thankfully, my daughters had a supper ready and waiting for me when I got home (which, according to my mother, they never do!), so I could take care of all this stuff right away.

Tomorrow, I’m going to be out most of the day again. The current forecast says we’re going to get a high of 2C/36F, so it’s going to be laundry day (since we’re still running the washer’s drainage hose out the window in our new front door). While that is being take care of, I’ll be doing a dump run, possibly with one of my daughters, then going to town for errands of our own. While I was gone today, we got a call from the pharmacy confirming we have stuff ready for pick up – that would be my request to have 3 months worth or refills done, instead of just 1 month, for myself and my daughter. My husband had something scheduled to be delivered, but since I’ll be in town anyhow, I’ll be able to pick it up – and I can give the pharmacy my new credit card number for their files, to use to pay for any future prescription deliveries.

Warm as tomorrow is supposed to be, the winds are supposed to pick up even more – and keep picking up more over the next few days.

Thankfully, the gas prices went down again and I was able to fill my tank before leaving my mother’s town, at $1.109/L.

Just a bit more running around between now and Christmas. I really try to avoid shopping this time of year, but there will be one more city trip between now and then.

Hard to believe Christmas is just 10 days away!

The Re-Farmer

What a drop! Here’s some Christmas cheer

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Good grief!

Yesterday, we had a high of -9C/16F. I am so glad I got my mother’s grocery shopping done then, because, wow, did temperatures drop!

This is what it was like before I headed out to give the outside cats food and warm water.

As I write this, it’s just turned 9:30, so it’s been 2 hours. We’re at -20C/-4F, and the wind chill is now at -36C/-33F, so it actually feels colder now than it did earlier! Our expected high is supposed to reach -17C/1F, then we’re supposed to get warmer over the next couple of days.

Today is a good day to stay home.

And for the yard cats to stay in the shelters!

Kohl’s long fur may be getting matted, but it sure it good insulation. In the next couple of pictures, you can see the cats and kittens congregating around the heat lamps. The wall thermometer in the sun room was reading about -10C/14F, which would be a bit colder than the ambient temperature, due to where it’s located. The cats have their warm spots to hang out. In the last picture, you can see the isolation shelter crowd. The thermometer in there was covered, though, so I couldn’t see what it was reading.

With all the stuff going on, I completely forgot to do my usual posts for the start of Advent. We haven’t even dug out any Christmas decorations yet. I started crocheting this year’s hand made decorations but I might have to start doing that in the living room. The cats have stolen some of the pieces. I found one, this morning, but there’s another that’s still missing.

So, to try and get into the Christmas spirit, here’s a bluesy version of We Three Kings for you to enjoy!

The Re-Farmer

Puttering about, and so many cats!

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Well, the wind never really slowed down today until is was basically dark out. I was really feeling it when I headed out to visit my mother for Thanksgiving, fighting the wind for the entire drive. It wasn’t as bad on the way home, as I no longer driving against the wind, but it was still threatening to blow me off the road!

My mother was quite happy with my surprise visit. I made sure to time it for after she got her Meals on Wheels, which she said was extra special for Thanksgiving. She was back in bed when I got there, so I went to her to show her what I’d brought. She told my that my brother had visited the other day, also bringing food for her, and how we feed her so well! I told her, it’s Thanksgiving! It’s all about the food! She was also quite happy when I told her the girls had done all the cooking, so I could get some rest.

I stayed for a fairly short visit, letting her know what the weather was like, and that I wanted to get back home again sooner rather than later, because of it. It was even a good visit, with only one side track when she started going off on a racist tangent and I started saying it was time for me to leave. She stopped and asked me to stay, and that she would stop. Which was a first! Usually, she doubles down!

Since I was there anyhow, I did a few little things about the apartment for her and made her some tea, then we just sat and talked for a while before I headed home.

I didn’t mention it to her, but my brother and SIL were at the farm when I left. My brother wasn’t up to visiting with her along the way, as he had things he needed to do while there was light to do it, and she would have demanded he stay longer than he was able to. When I got back, they were settling in for a late lunch and messaged me when they saw me get back, inviting me to join them. Which I was happy to do, and we got all caught up, until my brother had to get back at things, so I left to get out of their way. 😄

I was soon back outside to try and get things done. It was too windy for some things, but I was at least able to putter around and get quite a few little things done.

I had lots of cat company, like Fluffy, watching me from the top of the shelf in front of the bathroom window.

What a stunning cat! We can even pet her, sometimes.

Most of what I needed to go outside was putting things away for the winter, though some things were kept handy so I could use them when we have a calmer day. The 100′ extension cords were all wrapped and put away, the space around the old basement window was cleaned up again, and the winter window put in. The folding camp chairs that had been in the sun room got brushed clear before getting stored in the old kitchen. I’d given the “roof” of the broken market tent a good scrubbing with the stiff bristled sun room broom, then hung it on the chain link fence to dry. The wind was starting to blow it away, so I made sure to fold it up and stored in in the old kitchen for the winter. The frame may be broken, but the canopy and four wall panels are just find. I’m sure we can find some way to make use of them.

I didn’t work in the main garden area, but I got to put things away from the old kitchen garden and the portable greenhouse. That is also slowly being set up so that the cats can use it for shelter in the winter, with a couple of food bowls in it. One of them had been kept on the well cap with the isolation shelter’s entry protecting box over it. That’s at the isolation shelter now, and I didn’t want to leave the food bowl out without some kind of shelter over it. I did end up setting it over the isolations shelter door to try and block at least some of the winds that’s blowing things around inside.

Stinky is quite happy that it’s there! I’ve seen a few cats sitting on the ramp, now that the box is there, taking advantage of the shelter. I’ll need to figure out a better way to secure the vinyl that will be wrapped around the bottom, to protect it from the winter weather. Last winter, I just used tacks, which mostly did the job, but they weren’t enough for the severely windy days.

While cleaning things up and putting things away outside, I had a pile of scrap pieces of rigid insulation in odd sizes I needed to deal with. One of the walls in the upper level of the isolation shelter has a piece of insulation cut to fit that the cats have been using as a scratching post. to the point that one corner is basically gone. I didn’t have any pieces large enough to cut a new piece, but I did have a piece larger enough to cover the area that was scratched out. It fits snug enough that it’ll take quite a bit for it to be pulled out of position by cats.

Then I decided to use some of the pieces in the cube shelf in the sun room. A few cats are using it, but it’s a harder surface and could potentially get cold on the toa beans over the winter. So I found a piece large enough to cut to size and fit on the bottom of a cube. Once I had the size worked out, I used it as a template to cut as many more as I could, out of the scrap bits of insulation I had to work with.

I was able to cut enough to set into 7 cubes. They are really snug, so they won’t get knocked out of the cubes easily. It wasn’t long before I saw cats and kittens checking the cubes out. If I happen to find more scrap pieces of this rigid insulation that are large enough, I want to cut and add more to fit into the cub shelves. This way, in the winter, the cats can use the shelf to watch things out the window, and their to beans won’t get too cold.

I also found a place to secure the second heat lamp. This one has a 150 watt heat bulb. The other one is 250 watts.

That side of the sun room should be fairly warm in the winter, with those lamps. For now, though, the kittens like a different way of staying warm!

There are 11 kittens in that bottom shelf, plus Grommet under the heat lamp. That tuxedo in the front is, I think, the one that I expect we’ll be able to snag for the rescue, next weekend.

Speaking of which…

As I was heading inside, I spotted Smokey on the hand rail outside the sun room. It took a little while, but I was able to start petting her, and she started purring! Then Collin came by and pushed his way under my hand, and Smokey jumped down onto a bin that’s stored under the rail. I was still able to pet her there, and then…

*drum roll please!*

… she let me PICK HER UP!!!! Not only that, but she let me cuddle her for about 5 minutes, purring the whole time!!! That is massive socialization progress! By the time we bring her in to the rescue, I’m hoping she will be fully socialized.

Now, that is something to be thankful for, this Thanksgiving day!

All in all, I was able to actually get some decent work done outside before It was starting to get dark. Stuff that I would normally defer until later, while I prepped beds for winter sowing. Since it was too windy to prep garden beds for the winter, I’m quite happy to have been able to get the work done on a day like today.

As I write this, we are at 3C/37F, or 1C/34F, depending on which app I use. The wind chill right now, has it feeling like -3C/27F right now. Among the things I did was bring the rechargeable battery tools for winter storage indoors.

Meanwhile, good progress on getting things ready for the winter, though it does ten to be… questionably, that is! There’s still lots to do. We shall see how it works out.

Little by little, it’ll get done!

The Re-Farmer

So much wind!

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Happy Columbus Day to my American friends!

Well, Canadian Thanksgiving has blown in like a tempest. Northern parts of the province have had snow and conditions severe enough to shut down a highway.

I can’t complain. I think it was our first Thanksgiving here, when we got hit by a blizzard.

The high winds, at least, as supposed to go away this afternoon. We’re supposed to warm up a bit over the next while but, depending on which weather app I look at, on the warmest days we’re expecting rain. I’m just hoping the weather holds so I can get more beds ready for winter sowing. Aside from a pharmacy trip tomorrow, and a telephone appointment to follow up on my hip injection, I should be able to stay home enough to get things done. Weather willing!

When I headed out to feed the cats outside this morning, they were absolutely bonkers. I used our turkey carcass to make a stock for them in the slow cooker last night, and that’s what I used to soften their kibble this morning.

They inhaled it so quickly, I mixed up a bit more so the less dominant cats could get a chance to eat!

I also had to pick up the catio, which had been knocked over by the wind (I left the vinyl wrapped around it for last winter, specifically to cut the wind and provide passive solar warmth in there. We will need to re-wrap it!). I had removed the weights on the roof to use them while painting. A couple to left the plant stand above the grass, and a couple more to weight down corners of the isolation shelter roof, where I’d used some wood glue under a support. I hadn’t put the weights back. Last night was windy, and the catio seemed fine, but the wind picked up so much since I did my evening walkabout!

Once the cats were fed and the catio secured as best I could, I moved the isolation shelter’s ramp door box in front, to reduce at least some of the wind. The upper level is enclosed, but the lower level is all wire mesh walls. We’ll be wrapping it in vinyl for the winter again, but not quite yet. The wind from below has been enough to actually blow one of the corners of the hammock loose from its hook.

I then did a thorough walk about, looking for wind damage. In the outer yard, I only found this.

The door on that rotting old … storage shed? … finally fell.

It’ll be good when we can clean up that garbage in there and get that away. It’s a shame it was allowed to fall apart like that. It’s got several shelves in there and looks like it used to be pretty sturdy. Once the roof was allowed to fall apart, that was it. I have no idea when this was built, but I expect it was built by my late brother, probably about 20-30 years ago.

For now, all I could do was lean the door back and find an old tire still on its rim as a weight to hold it in place.

While going through the inner yard, I found quite a few fallen branches. Not enough to need a wheel barrow or anything. This was the largest one I found.

I’m pretty happy with how little came down in the wind.

When it was time to come back inside, I found this in the sun room.

There were 11 kittens on that shelf, but Sir Robin jumped out while I was taking the picture.

Seeing Smokey in there is encouraging. She’s starting to enjoy being around other cats. The only concern is, she’s getting old enough to go into heat. I don’t expect her to, as they tend not to when the weather starts getting cold. Thankfully, she will be going to the rescue, next weekend.

Meanwhile, I’ll be heading to my mother’s this afternoon, with a couple of turkey dinners for her. My brother and SIL are actually coming here to the farm today, to do some more winterizing around their stuff. I’ll have a chance to see them before I head out to my mothers, but they’ll probably be gone before I get back.

It already looks like the wind is dying down, and the sun is shining! Our expected high for the day is still only 6C/43F, and we’re at only 4C/39F. We’re supposed to go below freezing overnight, too.

I did plug in the cat house, so they should be getting heat in there when the light sensor turns on the bulb as it gets dark enough. The heated water bowls are plugged in now, too, except the one in the isolation shelter. That one is nowhere near an outlet, yet.

We’re fortunate, really, so have temperatures as nice as they are right now. More time to get things done before the snow flies!

The Re-Farmer

Happy (early) Canadian Thanksgiving!

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For me, it was a break. A necessary one. By the end of yesterday, I realized I’d be having issues today, so I asked the girls to take over making Thanksgiving dinner completely. I got up to feed the outside cats, and that was it. No morning rounds.

I did get quite a chuckle with a stinky visitor this morning, though! Before mixing up some cat soup to use to soften their morning kibble, with a cacophony of cats in the sun room, I quickly opened the inner door and carefully tossed a small scoop of kibble onto the floor near the trays. Something to tide them over, so it would be easier to get out with their softened food, later.

After giving the kibble time to soak, I grabbed the bowl and quickly went through the doors into the sun room – with Sir Robin getting a ride in the screenless window of the outer door! – managing to shut the inner door behind me before any cats or kittens managed to get through.

Only then did I notice that there was a small skunk, surrounded by cats and kittens, munching away at the kibble I’d tossed in earlier! It was acting like just another cat. It did leave as I was adding softened kibble to the trays in the sun room, but then, so did some of the more feral cats.

It turned out to be windy and rainy, so it wasn’t a day to get much done outside, anyhow! I did the feeding and watering, then went back to bed while the girls started prepping the turkey and getting it into the oven.

I passed out for about 4 hours.

I did end up going out briefly to give the outside cats a light feeding (I’m trying to feed less kibble, more often, so the cats can finish it off before the skunks and raccoons come over). The girls were in between things, so I did a whole lot of dishes for them before they continued. The turkey was done by then, and they just needed to do the side dishes.

I wanted to make sure to get a couple of containers of turkey dinner to bring to my mother, tomorrow. My daughters used the last of our potatoes, cooked and mashed together with a whole much of carrots from the garden, and entire bulb of garlic. With the potatoes and carrots mixed together like that, the containers for my mother looked a little sparse. At the last minute, I made a small pot of rice, because my husband likes rice more than potatoes. Then I grabbed some rhubarb from the freezer and cooked it up with some crab apples we still have, adding some brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice (it seems we are all out of ground cloves!), and just a bit of water, for a dessert. The frozen rhubarb cooked down to a mush very quickly, but there were still visible chunks of cooked apple. Then I got my mother’s containers, one with potatoes, one with rice, plus dessert, ready and set aside to cool down.

We’ve rather lost use of the dining table because, cats, so we each grabbed out own plates individually.

My husband mistook the apple and rhubarb as a gravy. 😂😂

Apparently, it was still quite good!

After we’d eaten, I headed back outside again to do another light feeding of the outside cats, switch out the trail cam memory cards and then, because it was no longer raining, decided to walk up and down the driveway to get my steps in.

I quickly found myself with followers.

Lots of them.

Here are just a few.

At first, I counted a dozen, but more showed up and I counted about 20 cats and kittens. Mostly kittens.

Including one tiny white and grey tabby that is so friendly. This one is very much like the one Frank adopted than ended up passing. Thankfully, while way too smol, s/he seems to be healthier. (I’m pretty sure this one’s a she, but haven’t been able to confirm 100%.) She actually comes running when she sees me, and was doing that while I was out there. This tiny little ball of fluff, trying to keep up with me while I walked!

I picked her up and tried carrying her for a bit, but she didn’t like it much and wanted down. When I came back for another lap, though, she came running again. This time, I made a pouch in my t-shirt and tucker her in.

She snuggled her chin over my wrist and stayed.

She comfortably snuggled into my shirt, warm and cozy, for about 2000+ steps. 😄 Eventually, though, she wanted down.

I didn’t get very far when I saw Smokey’s brother loafed in the grass.

So I picked him up.

He settled in with his chin in my elbow, and stayed. At point point, I put him down so I could look at my phone and see how many steps I had left. He sat there, looking up at me, until I picked him up again and carried him some more! It wasn’t until was heading back to the house that I finally put him down. I’ve never carried him around like this before! He would have stayed longer, but I needed both hands to bring the painted plant table back into the sun room.

Those two are going to be amazing inside cats.

The little white and grey tabby I carried in my shirt will be going to the rescue next weekend, for sure. There’s a friendly little mostly white and grey, plus one of the tuxedos, that we can not only pet, but pick up and hold. They are very adoptable!

This weekend, I am giving thanks for the new rescue, which has more people and more resources, and one person willing and able to take 6 cats at once!

The Re-Farmer

Morning cuties. Also, I forgot!

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Completely forgot.

Today is a holiday. It’s Victoria Day. I completely forgot it was a long weekend.

On the one hand, that means I will NOT be picking up our plum and haskap in the mail. The package is still in the city and should arrive and be processed locally by tomorrow afternoon.

It also means that no one will be looking at my insurance claim for the truck until tomorrow, either.

On the plus side, however, my brother is planning to come over today and dig their push mower out of storage so that we can use it. So my plans for the day now involve going around the yards with the wagon, picking up all the smaller twigs and branches, then start using the weed trimmer around the edges and expose the rocks and roots I want to NOT hit while mowing!

It’s still pretty cool out there, so the manual labour should actually be pleasant.

Meanwhile, I got to enjoy the company of kitties this morning.

Kale and Sir Robin are the only kittens that still regularly come to the sun room at feeding time now. The others stay in or around the cat house. A lot of the adult cats have clued in that the babies are getting extra special tasty stuff, and they want in on it. This morning, I ended up catching Kale and Sir Robin and feeding them on the chest freezer in the old kitchen, just so they could fill their bellies rather than getting driven off by the adult cats. I even had a tray of leftover cat soup I could add to the bowls for the kittens and their mama. I left enough on the tray itself to set outside and distract the adult cats away, but some were not so easily tricked! After a while, I had to message a daughter to come supervise, so I could get some other stuff done. Once the babies had eaten their fill, they were returned to the sun room, and their food bowl set out for other cats to finish off. Usually, it’s The Grink. which we don’t mind too much. She’s remarkably tiny and skinny for an adult cat, and easily mistaken as a bigger kitten!

While my daughter was still handy, to checked on Poirot’s kittens. I had noticed Japp had a sticky eye, so I held him (her?) while my daughter washed it gently until it could be opened.

As I set him back, I noticed the mostly white kitten has an eye stuck closed, too, so we washed that one, too.

Which is when I discovered I have made an error with the names. I’d thought this one was Miss Lemon, but my daughter informed me that no, the mostly white one is Captain Hastings – because of Hasting’s habit of wearing light coloured summer suits. Miss Lemon, however, was very fashionable and sometimes wore spots, so the white and grey is Miss Lemon.

That makes the only confirmed female, Miss Lemon. The other two need to grow and develop a bit more before we can be completely sure of what we’re seeing.

Hastings is completely white, except for the ears and the tail.

I’ve just been messaged that my brother is on his way, so I’ll be heading outside soon. May long weekend is when a lot of people traditionally put their gardens in. Looking at our overnight temperatures for the next while, I won’t be doing that! Just a few more cold hardy things, maybe, and only with protection. According to what I’m finding online, our average last frost date is now about May 28 instead of June 2, but the long range forecasts are showing lows below freezing at the end of May and into the beginning of June, along with both rain and snow. Based on what I’m seeing, the earliest I’d be able to finish putting the garden in, is around June 7.

So, I’m going to focus a bit more on cleaning up the yard so it can be mowed today, then getting more beds prepared and ready for planting. The winter squash are getting to the point where they really need to be set out!

It’s going to be pretty busy out there, for the next while.

Here’s hoping my body is up to it. I suspect I’m going to be maxing out on my prescription pain killers for the next while!

🫤🫤

The Re-Farmer

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Today started out early, as it has been of late. Between how early it gets bright out, and the inside cats deciding it’s feeding time, “sleeping in” is a bit of a pipe dream! 😁

With a daughter on kitten catching duty, feeding the outside cats went rather smoothly. I did notice that Caramel’s three were still together.

That orange kitten is so much bigger than the other two!

While doing the rest of my morning rounds, I made sure to water the covered beds thoroughly, so the moisture would help moderate the temperatures under the plastic somewhat, as the day got hotter.

The “Mr” haskap (the label actually says “Mr. Honeyberry”) is blooming quite nicely.

I even saw a big bumble bee enjoying the flowers!

I looked up the Berry Blue variety that this is, and most pollinator charts don’t include it. However, I found sellers that gave useful information in their descriptions. This variety is apparently a good cross pollinator for all other varieties, and is also self pollinating. It blooms in April-May.

Since the other two look like they won’t even start getting buds until June, this is a really bad combination!

At least we’ll get berries from the one, later in the season!

Once the outside stuff was done, I headed in for a light breakfast, with plans to visit my mother with my brother for Mother’s Day.

After some back and forthing, I ended up leaving later, as the restaurant he planned to pick dinners up from didn’t open until 11. He had to drive past my mother’s place first – and spotted my sister’s car! So that was a surprise. She works late shifts at Walmart and doesn’t typically get home and to bed until about 2am, so we weren’t expecting to see her in the morning.

So plans changed a bit and I met up with both of them at my mother’s, and we had a chance to visit before my brother quickly left to pick up the food he’d ordered. Someone at the restaurant answered the phone before they opened, so it was going to be ready for pick up right when the doors unlocked!

My mother was feeling up to going to church, and services started at 11:30. I had time to quickly go to a bank machine and get some cash, so I had something for the donation basket. My sister belongs to another church, so she left when it was time to walk across the street to my mother’s church. It was slow going for my mother, and she had to stop and rest along the way. With my brother staying close to her, I had a chance to show my sister the damage visible on the truck – I hadn’t realized this was the first time she’s seen our truck! We’ve had it for about 1 1/2 years now.

It was a special Mother’s Day service, so there were some extra prayers for mothers added, and the priest went around and sprinkled holy water on us.

I had to clean my glasses after that! Got “blessed”, right in the face. 😂

My mother was… being my mother. I won’t go into that! She did have a hard time with the new priest, though. He’s from India, has a very strong accent, and speaks faster than she can keep up. Not faster than typical; just too fast for her. Which is unfortunate, because he had a really excellent sermon, talking about his own childhood, and what a hard time he gave his mother! She passed away when he was very young, and that was a struggle for him. With his rather rambunctious youth, he never imagined he would become a priest, but credited where he is today to his mother. He calls her his angel. It was interesting to hear him mention his brother, later in the service, who is also a priest!

After a while, my mother started getting antsy, and even leaned over with her watch, telling me he was really dragging the service on. Which seemed strange to me, because I’m used to services being an hour and, according to her watch, it was only 45 minutes at the time. When the service was winding down, my mother stood up like she was about to leave, then took off as soon as he make the closing blessing, before the final hymn even started. Which meant my brother and I had to rush after her to help with the doors and get her home.

Not being able to hear much of what he was saying didn’t help, I’m sure, but to be completely honest, given some of the things she’d already said to me about this new priest, and some of her other behaviour, it really came down to my mother’s own racism. It’s getting worse as she gets older, unfortunately, as her mental health and cognitive thinking declines. At her age, we really can’t expect any positive changes.

Once we got her home and settled into her favourite chair, my brother went into the kitchen to get the take-out dinners ready. My mother started ordering me to get plates and stuff, but my brother told her, no. There’s simply no room in her 2-step kitchen! He could pass things to me, but anything more then that would just slow things down.

She seemed to get it, but then started ordering us around again, as if the conversation never happened! 😄

We did have a nice lunch together, though, and some time to chat about a few things. My brother had brought brought batteries from home and ended up changing the batteries in her remotes, just in case, so none of the ones I picked up for her yesterday were needed yet.

After everything was cleaned up and we had a good visit, my brother had to head out. I stayed a bit longer, to rub the topical pain reliever on my mother’s back and hips – this time with her sitting in her chair and leaning against the table, rather than lying on her side in bed, making it much easier to get the areas that bother her the most. She told me that, after I’d applied it to her back yesterday, it helped her so much and she slept really well. She also has her hot water bottle, which she finds helps a lot, too. So she was more than happy with getting another “treatment”! Her home care aids do have applying this on her care sheet now, but my mother has been doing it herself before she gets dressed, so it’s done before they get there. She can’t do her whole lower back, though. She doesn’t like the idea of the home care workers touching, though. Hopefully, she’ll have at least some home care workers she trusts enough to do it, because it really does help her a lot!

By the time I got home, it was getting close to feeding time for the outside cats. I started doing for the cat house to get the container from inside the entry, when I disturbed a domestic scene!

This mama was nursing both Eyelet and Grommet, but Grommet ran off (you can see him in the next image above). I tried to not come too close, but it was still too much for him. I had to go where he was to get the food container, though, so he went hiding under the cat house, instead.

Poirot, meanwhile, had left the sun room, so I could see her babies while setting her own food dish in front of the carrier.

Seeing the adult cats splayed all over the yard in the heat is funny enough. Seeing Poirot’s babies splayed out is just adorable!

Once the food was out, I wanted to top up the water bowls, and cool down the portable greenhouse – the thermometer needle was as far as it could go, even with the doorway tied wide open. If the numbers on the dial went that far, it would have read above 60C/140F!

The water in the hose was scalding hot, so I used that to refill the garbage can heat sink until it was cold again. Then I misted all the plant containers, and even the roof and walls. By the time I was done, the thermometer was down to 50C/122F

As I went to refill the bowl in the water bowl shelter, I spotted two little faces peeking at me through the cat house entry.

I wasn’t fast enough to get the orange tabby.

This little tabby stayed and watched me, and I was even able to pick it up and snuggle it!

Grommet, meanwhile, was in the gap under the entry watching me, and started hissing and spitting before ducking further under.

Caramel’s babies need names. There’s the tortie, the tabby and the ginger. Since we already have Butterscotch inside (and is probably a great-great-grandma to them!), and Caramel is their mom, maybe these ones will stay on the sweets theme?

Something to think about.

Tonight’s low is supposed to be 13C/55F, so I’m going to be leaving the door to the portable greenhouse tied open for the night. Meanwhile, Friday’s low has changed again, and is now expected to drop to -1C/30F – this after a heat wave over the next few days with highs reaching above 30C/86F! So no chance of transplanting anything quite yet. Any transplants would just get baked, then frozen, within a week! Tomorrow morning, though, I’m hoping to get some beds ready and planted with things that can handle both the heat and the cold. The summer squash bed looks like a total loss and, since it already has netting over it, I figure that’s a good place to plant potatoes.

For the rest of today, though, I’m taking a Sunday – and Mother’s Day – break.

For the moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

The Re-Farmer