I really don’t need this now

Are you kidding me?

/ Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

There is a reason I’m paranoid about vehicles, but really???

When I was driving to town, then my mother’s, then home again, the van was doing just fine. I drove into the yard to unload, then left the van there until it was time to pick up my daughter from work. The giant puddles of water are smaller than they were, but it’s still really muddy.

In fact, I could feel the van sinking in the mud as I drove through the yard gate on the way out. There are going to be some serious ruts to try and fix when things are finally dried out.

The van seemed to have trouble in the mud, and I still felt a sort of … sluggishness… as I drove to the gate. As I went through, I found myself thinking, did I hear a noise? What was that? Hmm… not hearing anything anymore.

I left early so I could play a bit of Pokemon Go and top up the gas tank. With gas prices so low, I’ve been keeping full every chance I can.

Playing Pokemon Go means driving to different spots where I can park safely for a bit, spin some stops and catch some Pokemon. For the most part, the van seemed to be fine, but every now and then, I’d hear… something. Or the van would feel… odd. Particularly when I made a left turn into the gas station, but it didn’t seem to be there when I made a right turn to leave.

By this time, my paranoia meter was in high gear!!

It wasn’t until I was driving into the pharmacy that it really kicked in. I was making a left turn at an intersection, with an immediate left turn to get into the parking lot, so basically I was making a giant U-turn. As I was turning, there was a most definite and unequivocal knocking, and a matching vibration. Once parked, I walked around the van, trying to see what might be making the noise, but could see nothing.

When my daughter joined me and we started to leave the parking lot, the knocking noise was there, and I was starting to feel a shudder. By this time, I was able to pin it down to the front driver’s side tire area.

As we drove the next few blocks, without any turns, we could still hear the knocking, though not as much as while turning. Instead of making our usual turn to go home, I drove straight to the garage. It was closed, of course, but where else was I to go?

My daughter and I got out and tried to see what might be making the noise. No luck. So I phoned the mechanic, knowing that the business number was his cell phone. Thankfully, he answered, even though he was at home. I told him what was going on (and he remembered our vehicle). Unfortunately, he was going to be closed until Tuesday, since it’s Easter weekend. That’s the earliest he could order parts. Would I be able to leave the van? Could someone come and pick us up in my mom’s car? Yes, he remembered her car, too!

I haven’t driven my mom’s car since I drove it home from the garage, last time. The differential is still making a noise, and while he recommended driving it for about 100-150km. He’d done a flush and the noise should have stopped, but perhaps the fresh lubricant needed to work its way into the nooks and crannies. I didn’t want to drive if when I had someplace specific to go, so it just didn’t happen. In fact, with my daughter’s reduction in shifts and reduced need to run errands, and not even using it to drive my mother around lately, I was seriously considering suspending the insurance. The only reason it hasn’t been done is because I wasn’t sure how the insurance office is doing things right now, and if I could do it over the phone.

Now, I’m glad I never got around to it.

While figuring out whether it was worth my trying to drive it home, he suggested I drive it around the block and see how the van behaved, then call him back.

I made it to the grocery store parking lot, across the street.

The knocking noise kicked in as soon as I took a turn, and the van started to shudder. I pulled into a parking spot and called him back, telling him it was now even worse. We spoke for a bit, and he told me that once I worked out how to get home, call him to let him know where I was hiding the key.

I called my husband to drive my mother’s car and come get us. He can barely get in and out of the vehicle and it’s incredibly painful for him, but we didn’t have much choice.

Then I drove the van back to the garage. By this point, the knocking was even louder, and I could feel the entire van shuddering. It was definitely coming from around that front driver’s side tire.

So now that van sits at the garage, waiting for Tuesday. My hope is that it’s just some mud that got into something it shouldn’t have, and that it’ll be an easy fix.

Thankfully, we don’t have to drive anywhere for another week, though my daughter’s work is going to be doing some changes with schedules. If she does end up getting new shifts, I can only hope it won’t be until after the van is fixed!

Then, maybe I’ll leave my Mom’s car there again, so he can check that noise from the differential again. :-/

*sigh*

I really don’t need this!!

The Re-Farmer

Morning progress

/ Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

We’ve had a bit of progress regarding our septic pump problems so far.

This morning, bathing involved using basins, then tossing the water outside. Meanwhile, I did my rounds, as usual.

Check this out.

See that dark spot in the middle of the bird bath?

That’s water that isn’t frozen! :-D

Some of the water that got into the basement drained into the sump pump reservoir enough to trigger it. Which means that, outside, there’s a melted patch in the snow.

The cats like it.

Beep Beep tucked herself right in there, and Two-Face came over to investigate. Beep Beep didn’t like that!

Who won?

Two-Face won! :-D

I also called the septic company again. While talking to the guy, he asked where we were, including our driveway marker number.

I drew a complete blank. I couldn’t remember our own driveway marker number! I could sort of remember it, but not really…

Only later, when driving past it and looking, did I realize I had the numbers reversed. The cross road number is at the beginning, not the end.

Still, he had no problem finding us. He’s been here a few times before. I had time to drive my daughter to work, get some cash to pay him, and even start shoveling a bit before he arrived. Thankfully, that big, heavy truck can go through pretty deep snow without getting stuck, though I did shovel a couple of paths while I was there.

While he was pumping out the tank, I talked to him about what was happening. He could see no problems off hand. I even remembered to ask about the float, since one possibility is that the float was stuck, but it was working fine.

So that is all done.

I later went into the basement, which is drying quite nicely right now. One of the things I noticed last night was that the old laundry sink was full of water, so I made a point of checking it.

Sure enough, it was slowly draining.

Gosh, that’s disgusting.

Now, with the tank empty, we actually need to get water in there for the weight. While I was downstairs, my husband flushed the toilet – and I saw water burbling up into the sink!

Nothing came out of that pipe, though.

So what it looks like is that water first started backing up into this sink, while the laundry was being done. Then, when it filled to a certain point, it started backing up out of the pipe, instead.

If there is a clog causing this, it’s somewhere near the pump.

But why would a clog in the pipe cause the pump to stop working? It gets triggered by the float outside.

I don’t know, but when my brother gets here to replace the well pump, we’ll be able to look more closely.

Fingers crossed, it’s just a relatively minor fix that we can take care of ourselves!

The Re-Farmer

Seriously???

/ Re-Farmer / 7 Comments

This evening, I got a call from my brother, saying he would be coming over tomorrow to install the new well pump he found for us. Yay! He would need to pick something up along the way, though, and could I get measurements of the pipes for him?

So I went into the basement to see if I could get that for him and…

There was water, all over half the basement.

WTF?

The side of the basement where the laundry used to be has a drain in the floor, but it was covered over with plastic, so I took that out and water started to slowly drain into there. Unfortunately, there was also mostly dissolved toilet paper in the water (no solids, thankfully), and I didn’t want that getting in there. So we had to be careful.

Where, however, did the water come from?

Here.

Continue reading →

Feelin’ hip

/ Re-Farmer / 4 Comments

My hip joint, that is.

Hip ball socket joint Clipart Picture, Hip ball socket joint Gif

I have been feeling pain in my left hip for some time. I got X-rays and they found the beginnings of osteo-arthritis, which is not surprising, but also bone spurs, which explained the pain I was feeling. That pain is pretty much always there, but not very severe. About the only time it’s a problem is when I sleep, as it means I can’t lie on my left side for very long. Otherwise, it doesn’t really slow me down. At least not more than anything else does. :-D
(image source)

I’d hurt my right hip some months before and had it X-rayed, too. It also showed mild osteo-arthritis beginning, but that’s about it. That hip had stopped bothering me.

Until a few weeks back. While walking across the dining room, I suddenly couldn’t put weight on my right leg. There was something wrong with my hip joint. I was close enough to the dining table that I could grab a chair and sit down. After a while, I was able to get up and “walk it off”.

Then the pain went away as suddenly as it started.

I then basically forgot about it.

It happened again, yesterday evening. All I was doing was sweeping the floor. Without warning, I suddenly couldn’t put weight on my right leg, due to pain in my hip joint. My daughter had to come over and pull a chair out for me to sit down. Later, I was able to use one of my dad’s canes that we simply left where he kept them, hanging on arm bars (there’s a reason I left them there!) and made my way to my office chair.

Now, I’ve dealt with a lot of different kinds of pain. I’ve broken bones. I developed post traumatic osteo-arthritis in my feet and knees long ago, along with bone spurs in my heels and knees. I have bones that dislocate pretty regularly. Joint pain, muscle plain, pain from what turned out to be a large cyst that took my innards for a waltz. Typically, they limit me to a certain extent, but I can still maintain a level of activity that gets the job done.

Just don’t expect me to be able to kneel down, then get back up again, without help! :-D

This pain, however, is different.

This time, it didn’t go away.

I was, eventually, able to put weight on the leg and walk without the cane, but the pain stayed. I still have most of my range of motion, but for some things – like shifting my leg in my chair as I type this – it goes from not hurting while I’m motionless, to pain that prevents me from moving the joint.

It doesn’t feel like OA. It doesn’t feel like bone spurs. Still, I was able to go about and do my rounds outside, without a cane, and basically walk around like normal. I just had this pain, right in the joint, that wouldn’t go away.

I was trying to describe to my husband what had happened yesterday evening, since he had already gone to bed by then and missed it. He said it sounded like maybe something got in the joint.

Which brought back a flash of memory.

When I had my right hip X-rayeds, months ago, mild OA was not the only thing they saw.

They also saw loose bone fragments. I believe fragments were visible when I got my left hip X-rayed. Not unusual with OA, really.

But that might be my problem. Loose fragments may be getting into my joint, causing pain, then migrating out and my joint feels normal again. Except this time, it’s not clearing, so it still hurt when I make certain motions.

Just a little while ago, while sitting on my office chair, I tried to get up to reach for something.

And I couldn’t put weight on my right leg again.

I can still get about, using my left leg and a whole lot of things to lean on. My husband – the one with excruciatingly painful back injury – was sweet enough to bring me a cane so I could at least walk to the bathroom.

*sigh*

After I’m done writing this post, I’m going to have to see if I can walk on it again.

I guess this means I have to get another X-ray to confirm, and see if there is something that can be done about it. At the very least, I’ll have to call my new doctor’s office and see if I can make an appointment or something.

What a pain. Literally and figuratively.

Well, I certainly am not going anywhere in these temperatures. I’ll see how things go over the next few days. Until then, I’ll just have to keep a cane hand and, if worse comes to worse, use my dad’s walker to get around.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

In the Storm, and … really??

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Last night, we did indeed get an all out thunderstorm with pouring rain!

It was fantastic!

At one point, I was hearing things hit the window that sounded like hail.  Our van was in the yard, to make it more accessible for my husband to get to his appointment, but he ended up rescheduling the appointment, so there it stayed.  I figured, if there was going to be hail, I’d better get it to the garage.

It was less than 20 feet to the driver’s door, and I was SOAKED!  As I started it, I saw a shadow at the passenger window (closer to the house) and it was one of my daughters warning me that they’d seen a cat sheltering under the van.  She was out for mere seconds, and that was all it took for her to get drenched.  I couldn’t see out the windshield, other than shadows, even with the wipers going full blast.  Thankfully, I know our yard well enough that it was all I needed, so after revving the engine a few times to scare off any possible sheltering cats, I got the van into the garage.

Then I got some pictures from the main door.

20180524.storm.garage

The camera picked up more than I could actually see.

The ground inside the garage (it’s just a dirt floor) was dry when I drove in, but by the time I parked and walked to the door to take a few pictures, then open the side door on the van to get an umbrella, there was water spilling in under my feet.  My dash to the house involved leaping puddles.

Nice to know I can still do that sort of jumping around, when needed. LOL

My grandpa slippers were full of water, regardless of any leaping of puddles. :-D

It wasn’t long before we were also shutting down computers and closing up windows.  Then we lost our internet for a while, so even our cell phones became useless (and I was in the middle of a Skype conversation. :-D ).

The storm quickly passed, though a much smaller one swept through later, and we continued to see lightning to the northeast of us for some time.

Best of all, the rain continued for quite a while.

This morning, everything looks so much greener, already!

My plans for the day, however, have changed.  Because something rather ridiculous happened last night.

20180524.filling

See this?

That fell out of one of my teeth, last night.

Yup.  It’s a filling.

All I could think was, really???  I do NOT need this right now!

I now have a big, gaping hole in the back of my mouth.  The remains of an old root canal, done at least 15 years ago.

Which means that I have to be very, very careful what I can eat or drink for the next while.

Thankfully, because the tooth is already dead, there is no pain.  The remaining pieces of tooth, however, would be rather fragile, I’m sure.

I phoned a dental clinic in town this morning and, thank God!, they do direct billing AND have an opening they can put me in this afternoon.

It means juggling the budget again, but at least I won’t have to wait until next week, when pay comes in.

And maybe, just maybe, when we go into the city on Sunday for a sort of a family reunion dinner with my husband’s family in the city, I’ll even be able to eat with everyone else!

Speaking of eating, I’ve not had breakfast yet, and I can’t think of anything we’ve got right now that would be safe for me to eat.  I might have to whip up a quick soup or something.

Time to get creative!

The Re-Farmer

Un. Be. Lievable. Part 3

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I can’t believe it.

I thought for sure, after I finally got the paperwork I needed to transfer my driver’s license, and actually GOT my temporary license, I was done.  It was over.

But noooo….  That would make life too easy, wouldn’t it? Continue reading →

Sunday Adventures in Vehicles and Bugs

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We are still on the lookout for a church in the next town, so this morning I headed out to visit a new one I’d never been to before.  I almost didn’t make it, having been up until 3 am this morning (actually 2am, but then daylight savings time happened), but it worked out.

This time I went to an evangelical “free” church.  In all my years growing up here, I had no idea it even existed, as it’s in a residential part of town I’d never gone to before.  The only reason I knew where it was was because my daughter and I had found it while playing Pokemon Go a month or so ago, and all churches are Pokestops.

I honestly don’t know what to think of it.  The church itself has no online presence, but I was able to look up what an evangelical church is, and it’s a solidly grounded non-denominational church.  Like most churches in the area, there was a small core of regular congregants.  This being a resort town, the population basically doubles in the summer, and all the churches get fuller.  People were friendly in welcoming.  They have a pastoral couple, rather than just a pastor, which was not something I’ve encountered before, though I was aware of such things.  The sermon was good, though there were a few things about the service that I found a bit strange; little throwaway comments that were intended to be humorous, but were inadvertently sexist.

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