I really should know better, but gosh, I had so much fun yesterday.
Yes, I really do enjoy shoveling snow that much.
I’m paying for it today.
Yes, I took my painkillers and anti-inflammatories before bed.
Then I forgot to go to bed.
I started making a muff for my mother’s hands and before I knew it, it was 1am. I finished it, though, and I think she will be very happy with it. It’s made with Blanket yarn and double thick, so it’s soft and squishy and cozy. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get it to her – definitely not today! – but it should be soon.
I was a bit late when I headed out to feed the outside cats, but they didn’t mind too much. It’s been warm enough that the oodles of frozen kibble out there has started to thaw, and I’m seeing them eating it more, too.
I did notice a big throw up in the snow, full of worms. We still have no idea which cat has them, but from the size of the what I saw, I can at least be sure that it’s an adult cat.
I did their food and water, refilled the kibble bin, and that was it. I was done. The only reason I didn’t go to bed again right away was that I had to eat something. All I had energy for was instant oats with chia seeds.
Today is laundry day, including the cat blankets and mats, and the girls took that over completely. The washing machine no longer makes sounds, so we have to monitor it regularly to know when it’s done, and make sure the drainage hose out the window doesn’t have a chance to freeze in between loads.
Me, I took a painkiller, went to bed and crashed for several hours.
Potato Beetle very politely let me know it was time to get up. He was even polite enough to NOT step on my bladder. 😄
Thankfully, my phone was nearby and, aside from taking a picture, I was able to message the girls and ask for help getting up. My older daughter removed Potato Beetle (he did NOT want to get off of me!) gave me a hand, then stayed nearby in case I needed help moving around. My balance is totally off for the first while, but it does get better after walking around for a bit.
I was tempted to go back to bed, but it’s too painful getting in and out, so I’m in my office chair, typing this, instead. My daughter was a sweetheart and made a couple of sandwiches for my lunch, and I pain killered up again.
The crazy thing?
It’s so gorgeous out there right now, that I’m fighting the urge to get back outside and continue working on the fire pit and getting things ready to do that pork roast in the cast iron Dutch oven I was planning to do tomorrow.
Instead, I need to use today as a recovery day, or I’ll be just as immobile tomorrow, too.
Ghosty, using her adopted brother, Shadow, as a bed. 😁
Today was a wonderfully mild day. Our high this afternoon was supposed to be -8C/18F, but it sure felt warmer! We had more fog last night, which meant more frost on the trees, on top of the frost from yesterday morning, so it was looking pretty gorgeous, too.
I had two places I needed to get to today; a dump run, and then on to the feed store in the town north of us, to pick up 40 pound bags of kibble for the outside cats. This feed store has a section for work wear, too, ranging from socks and boots to all sorts of outerwear. This is where my younger daughter found the high quality gloves and Tough Duck bib overalls she loves so much, so I asked her if she wanted to come along. Which she did.
I did not realize she had a secret purpose to come along!
The dump run was a bit different, in that we had a bin of stuff we weren’t sure were recyclable, or if they needed to go into the pit. I’d mentioned in an earlier post about a new RM council that was so bad it was disbanded and the province had to take over until another election could be held. Along with messing up when it came to getting the roads plowed and not going with the company that had been doing such a great job for years, they also messed up with the landfill caretaker. They fired the guy that had been going the job for years. For a while, I think it was contracted out to a company, because instead of one caretaker, with occasional help brought in, we were seeing a team of four people or more doing all sorts of stuff. Then, they were gone, and the caretaker was an older woman with mobility issues. She did the best she could, but she physically could not do a lot of things, like operate the front end loader, and the state of things got really bad. Someone would be brought in to clear the area in front of the pit, but whoever it was didn’t do a particularly good job. That was when I found myself with a flat tire after a dump run, and we got into the habit of my daughter walking in front of the truck into the pit area, to clear away any broken glass, nails, or other sharp objects scattered about.
Well, things have changed again. Lately, I’ve been seeing a young guy there, and I do hope he is a permanent employee, because he is really awesome! Aside from being diligent in doing the checks when we come in, he clearly knows how to use that front end loader.
Today, as we came in, we had the usual checks. We have a card with a number on it to prove we live in the RM. Other RMs charge a fee, while ours doesn’t, so people were going to the dump in our RM to avoid having to pay at their own, and these cards were the solution to that. We also get asked what we’re bringing which, in our case, is almost always just household garbage, which goes into the pit, and recycling, which goes into various bins around the caretaker’s shed.
This time around, we had some things we weren’t sure about. Mostly electronics. The woman that had been the caretaker before had told us to toss things like power cords into the pit, but this time we had some odds and ends. So when we stopped at the caretaker, I told him we had stuff we weren’t sure of. Then I pulled up to the nearby recycling bins and I started dumping the recycling while he and my daughter went through the bin we’d brought.
Some things, I knew they had special places for, like batteries and aerosol cans, but those have been moved.
The cordless glass kettles that started leaking or got chipped, we found out, cannot be recycled and had to go into the pit. Their bases, however, went into the electronics area – and he even took some of the stuff over for us, while do took items to other areas, so save us some walking! He was so sweet about it, too.
That done, we went into the pit area. Along the way, we could hear the front end loader was running, warming up to be used to clean things up. It wasn’t even that bad, yet, but he was getting ready to do it again!
I have to remember to find somewhere to pass on how great a job he’s doing.
…
Done.
I didn’t want to take a chance of forgetting by waiting until I finished this post!
Anyhow.
That done, we continued on to the feed store. I paid for 4 bags of kibble, then moved the truck around to have it loaded, while my daughter was inside looking around. I later joined her in the outerwear section and started chatting, asking what she was looking for this time. She was looking at some coats, then brought me over to where she’d found her overalls. I joked that I want a pair, too, but I would make sure that they were a different colour, so we wouldn’t get them mixed up. Not that that would be possible, as I would want a larger size. I did try hers on when she bought them and they fit me, but I like more room for layers.
The next thing I knew, when someone came around to ask if we needed help, she asked if they had the size I wanted, in black.
!!!
The lady had to go check their inventory, as they don’t have enough space to have all the sizes on display, and it turned out they did.
My daughter bought me these (not an affiliate link), though the price at the store was better than the price on the website. What an awesome surprise! Hers are tan, and she had to take 7″ off the legs for them to fit, and she’s thrilled with them.
Once we got home, I tried them on and she adjusted the shoulder straps to where I need them. Then she turned them inside out and got me to put them on again, so she could fold the bottoms and measure how much to remove. As I write this, she’s in the process of removing 6 1/2″ from the legs and hemming them, by hand. After that is done, I’ll try them on again and we’ll see if we need to add elastic anywhere, but I suspect it won’t be necessary. They’re oversize, but not in any inconvenient places.
These are going to be so very handy!
She also got herself a vest. No modifications needed!
My daughter tells me that she has decided to use her very modest disability income to get us all high quality, weather appropriate clothing, starting with me, since I’m the one that’s doing most of the outside work.
She is so sweet!
Aside from that, it’s been pretty uneventful. When it was time to do the outside cat feeding, I decided to clear the clumps of snow I’d knocked off the truck’s mud flaps. Then, since I had the shovel out anyway, I decided to clear the light snow out of the cats paths. It was so warm out, I had my jacket wide open, so I wouldn’t overheat while shoveling.
Before I knew it, an hour had gone by, and I’d cleared fresh snow from the entire turnaround area for the truck, plus the paths to the compost pile and litter compost, then started a new path towards the main garden area. Then I had to stop after only about 15 feet, because it was getting too dark. I haven’t been able to get to the sign cam in over a month. We’ve got some very mild weather expected over the next week, so I figured this would be a good time to dig out a path!
Oh, my goodness. I just checked the weather app on my desktop again. The last I looked, we were expecting things to warm up to a high of 0C/32F on Monday, but now it’s saying to expect a high of 2C/36F TOMORROW!!! Monday is now expected to hit 1C/34F, with highs just below freezing, in between.
This would be a good time to find an excuse to get the fire pit going!
[edit: I just had to add this. I looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow again, a few hours after writing this. It now says tomorrow is expected to reach a high of -6C/21F instead of 2C/36F. Good grief. How are we supposed to trust any of these forecasts when they constantly change, and by so much!]
Not tomorrow, though. Tomorrow, I need to go into town to pick up another prescription refill for my husband. It’s his “controlled substance” painkillers, so we weren’t allowed to get it refilled when I was there yesterday. While I’m in town, I’ll swing by the hospital to visit my mother, too.
After that, I think I’ll get the fire pit uncovered and prepped. We might just enjoy a fire, but I’m thinking we may as well break out the Dutch oven and cook supper, too.
Well, I hope you all had a wonderful time bringing in the New Year! Or, at least, a calm and peaceful one. 😁
I didn’t make it to midnight. 😄
It actually turned out to be a very strange day for me. I’d gone to bed early, so I was up pretty early. I did the outside cats stuff and my short, winter version of my morning rounds, then tried to go back to bed. After numerous interruptions, I did actually get some sleep. So, you’d think I would have been good to stay up until midnight. After all, I rarely get to be before midnight on a normal day. Instead, I could have easily gone back to bed by 5 or 6.
The other odd thing was my body was basically falling apart, all day. Just with normal walking around the house, I’d have a knee start to give out, or a hip start to dislocate. Even just reaching to flush the toilet had my shoulder socket trying to dislocate. Then there were my hands! At one point, I’d made myself a hot drink in one of my giant mugs, which are basically twice the size of a typical coffee mug. When I tried to pick it up by the handle, I found I didn’t have enough grip strength to clasp the handle enough to keep it from sliding through my fingers. I ended up having to ask a daughter to pick it up for me, so that I could grasp it with both hands. It wasn’t until the cup was half empty that I could grip the handle with one hand and not be at risk of dropping it. It was so bizarre!
That was yesterday, but when I woke up today, it was pretty much back to normal. I have no idea why I had such issues yesterday, that would go away overnight like that.
This morning I was feeling good enough that, after doing my rounds, I scraped and cleared the sidewalks and main doorway steps, tidy up the paths that were already dug, and even started to extend more paths. Little by little, I want to dig our way to the fire pit again, but I was going to head back out to open up the turn around space in the inner yard. We will be doing our Costco stock up trip soon, and I want to be able to back up to the house with more room to turn the truck around in the yard.
Well, that’s going to be my focus for tomorrow, instead.
I had called my mother last night to with her a Happy New Year, and she gave me a bit of a list of things she wanted from her place. One of those things was her short wave radio that my brother got for her, so she could listen to her Polish station, with Mass and praying of the rosary.
I passed on to my brother bout the radio, and this morning they told me they were going to her place to get it, and did I want to meet them at the hospital to visit Mom?
I suggested I meet them at her apartment, so I could back some things for her, then they could grab the radio, then we’d go to the hospital together.
So that was the new plan for the day. I was able to leave soon after, which was really early, but I wasn’t sure if I needed to do any shoveling at the end of the driveway. It turned out I didn’t, and there was no need for the plows to go by again. That had me at my mother’s place before they even left home. Which was just fine.
I checked her answering machine, then packed a few things in a bag for my mother, spotting some things I figured she would like to have, even though she hadn’t asked for them directly. I also made sure to water her rosemary plant. That will be coming here to the farm eventually, but I didn’t want to grab it only to have it sitting in a cold truck until I could get home.
I was even able to get the radio partially ready. I just couldn’t get the special antennae down from where it was taped to the window. I’m too short. So when my brother got there, that was all he had to deal with, so he was done and we were heading out in less than 5 minutes.
They have one of their grandsons with them for a while, and the long drives were great for him to get a solid nap in!
Once there, my brother immediately started trying to set up the radio and antennae. In the end, there was just no way to get a strong enough signal for her FM radio station. He was able to find it, but it was really hard to hear, and there was no place he could set up the antennae and get a better signal.
My mother could not grasp why this was an issue. She was instead convinced my brother had bought her a “junk” radio (it is a very high end shortwave radio), because she never had problems before. Meaning, also back here at the farm. My brother told her that we were getting AM radio, but what she was listening to was FM radio. I well remember how hard it was to get an FM signal here, having had to set up antennae wires from my radio when I was a kid. In the end, my brother was able to find an AM station that she used to listen to. No Polish radio, no Christian station, but one where she could at least listen to the news. All she has to do it push the red button to turn it off and on. We tried to stress for her to not touch any dials. Hopefully, she will remember that!
Meanwhile, I unpacked the items I brought for my mother, making sure where I was putting them for her. She was quite happy when she saw some of the extras I’d bought, as they were things she wanted, but had forgotten to ask for.
We then had ourselves a decently long visit. She did seem really tired, and had almost no patience. For example, when my brother started to set up her radio beside her, the folding hospital walker was in the way. He moved it aside and I was going to get it out of the way, but I first had to move the wheelchair aside. My mother started demanding I move the walker to a certain spot, which was basically where the wheelchair was sitting, but when I didn’t immediately do it – because I was moving the wheelchair – she suddenly became enraged and actually started to kick at the walker from where she was sitting, in such a way that could easily have resulted in a fall. When we managed to get her calmed down and I could finally move the walker, she basically just slumped into her chair and started saying how, she’s used to doing things herself, but now has to depend on us, as an explanation for her behaviour. I told her, even she couldn’t do two things, like moving a walker and a wheelchair, at the same time! Which she did acknowledge. Sort of.
It was a good visit, though at times a distracting one, with a very energetic great grandson around. My brother got some recordings of my mother telling stories and singing. I’m glad he thinks to do that. I hardly ever remember to even take photos when I visit!
Once we were done with the visit, we wanted to go somewhere to chat and catch up on things. Being New Year’s Day, the only place that was open and had seating was a Subway. It wasn’t a busy time of day, so we were able to stay and talk for quite a long time. Again, it was very distracted with their grandson, but none of us minded. Eventually, we were able to cover quite a few things, and I even learned more about things that happened while we were living in other provinces over the years. We’re all quite confused over my sister’s recent actions involving our vandal which, I learned, has been a problem for quite some time. It seems both our vandal and my mother have been able to manipulate her very easily. Which is odd, because she really should know better by now. In all honesty, it seems my sister is showing cognitive issues as well, and is not at all as healthy as she may seem. I see way too many red flags. But, she’s skinny, and we all know that skinny people don’t get sick, right? /sarcasm
In the end, we just have to work with the hand we are dealt with and do the best we can, for each other as well as for our mother.
It was getting pretty late in the afternoon by the time we parted ways. One of the two grocery stores in town was open today, so I made a quick stop to pick up a few things before our Costco stock up trip. I haven’t decided exactly when I’ll be doing that, other than not-tomorrow. We are actually supposed to warm up slowly over the next 7-10 days, with expected highs next week just a few degrees below freezing. A good time to do more snow clearing, very little of which can be done with little Spewie. The parts that can be done with Spewie still need to be broken up with a shovel, first. The snow is deeper than Spewie is tall, and much of it is now hard packed by the wind.
One thing I’ve been able to see through various windows are some pretty large fallen branches, but they will have to wait until spring for clean up.
So what was supposed to be a home day ended up being an out all day, day. The nice thing is that I’ve got the girls able to take over my usual outside routine while I’m gone – plus, I came home to supper waiting for me! 😊
As for my mother, we’re going to have to wait until her attending doctor comes back from holidays before we can have a meeting with him and discuss next steps. Once we have something solid to work on, we’ll be able to make decisions about my mother’s apartment.
*sigh*
I have no idea what we’re going to do with her furniture. It’ll probably have to come here to the farm, but we’ve pretty much run out of storage space for larger stuff. We still have all the stuff we cleared out of the house and packed away, because my mother insisted nothing be thrown out. Fair enough. Most of it is in too good a shape to throw away. She did say we could have a garage sale, but that wouldn’t work out well. Not just because of our relative isolation, but that would be an open invitation for our vandal to cause problems. She’s also adamant that nothing goes to any second hand stores, either. So what are we supposed to do with it all?
Ah, well. We’ll figure it out, in due time.
Until then, here’s some cuteness to share with you.
This is Leyendecker and Susan. Can you believe they are siblings from the same litter – and that Leyendecker started out as the tiniest kitten of the litter? He’s an absolute giant, compared to his sister. He’s not just a fat cat, but a big beast in general. He’s even bigger than Big Rig, who was the largest kitten of the litter. She’s a chonk, too, but not quite as big as he is. Susan is one of our smaller, lighter cats now. Their mom is Beep Beep, who is a pretty normal sized cat. Bigger than Susan, but still dwarfed by two of her last babies, before we were finally able to get her fixed.
Okay, I should have gone back over my old posts, first.
Susan is not from the same litter as Leyendecker. She’s one of Beep Beep’s, but older. Beep Beep’s last litter included Leyendecker, Big Rig and two orange babies, Saffron and Turmeric. She also adopted Butterscotch’s last surviving kitten, Nikko, from that year. The orange babies and Butterscotch’s baby all got adopted out. They were pretty much the first kittens the Cat Lady adopted out for us, before she started her own rescue. My daughters just reminded me that Susan is Cheddar’s sibling. So… she is still the tiny sister of a giant cat. Just not the biggest chonky boy of the household! 😄
It gets hard to keep track, at times! It’s a good think I journal this stuff here, or I’d never remember. 😄
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!
Okay, I’m back from getting our parcels at the post office. I meant to actually stay in the store and see if there was anything I wanted to pick up but, instead, I was rushing home.
I’d left the gate open, you see, and was no longer sure that was a good idea.
Our main driveway is just 300 feet or so from an intersection at a main gravel road. Both roads – the main one, and the one past our driveway – have a surprising amount of traffic. Having been looking at trail cam and security files since 2018, thanks to our vandal, I’ve gotten to recognize regular vehicles that go by, even if I don’t know who is driving them.
So as I pulled through our gate, I didn’t think anything of the little black car that I saw go past the intersection. It looked like one of several non-descript little black cars I see going by regularly.
With the inside handle of my truck door broken off, and a post office trip being so short, I decided not to close the gate behind me and just head out.
Then I got to the stop sign at the intersection.
About 200 yards down the main road was the little black car, pulled over on the wrong side of the road – the side closer to our place, and the main garden area.
The passenger side door was open and there was a man standing there, facing my way. Just standing, staring in my direction.
Because of the distance, I can’t say with 100% certainty that it was our vandal, but I would say I have about 95% certainty. Partly because, who else would it be? We don’t have any other stalkers. Plus, from the stance, and general body shape that I could see, it did look very much like him. He has a very… distinctive… frame.
I turned towards the highway and kept checking my rear view mirror. The guy stood there, still staring my way, for quite some time before another glance showed me the passenger side door was closed. By then, there was too much snow kicking up to see whether the car kept going in the same direction, or if it turned around. After a while, I pulled over and messaged the family to keep an eye out.
When I got back, I was checking the snow to see if there were any other tracks besides my own in our driveway. Thankfully, nothing.
But it does tell me that even a quick trip into town means we have to keep the gate closed behind us. I’ve already found that leaving the gate open for deliveries has had our vandal driving past, stopping, backing up, then sitting on the road, rubbernecking down our driveway.
Very frustrating.
I did get our parcels, however, and that was much more cheerful.
First up, my new acquisition for our resource library.
I was so excited to see a 1kg/2.2lb bag of lysine! I’ve got pumpkin seeds to grind into powder, so I’ll be mixing the two together in a jar to add to the kibble as a supplement for the outside cats. For the inside cats, we can add it to their cat soup.
The freeze dried chicken is quite a treat. Something that might help us lure some more feral kittens into discovering that getting pets and attention from humans is a good thing!
There’s a box of ground staples of much better quality than the dollar store version of those. I’ve learned, you just can’t have too many ground staples! There’s a package of irrigation stakes; they’re threaded at the top for a water bottle to slowly water plants. Those will come in handy in areas too closely planted to do my usual 4L water jug version. I love the tiny terracotta pots, but that little bunny pot is just too cute for words! There’s some cotton cordage that will be handy in the garden, too.
The LED lantern is really nice. Something I’ve been eyeballing for a while, but couldn’t justify getting with whatever budget I had at the time. This would be great for the emergency kit in the truck, as it also has flashing red lights and a flashlight at the top. It’s not going into the truck now, though, as the batteries would just freeze.
That travel blanket, however, is another story, and will definitely be added to our truck’s emergency kit.
Under everything are four insulated shopping bags, with the suggestion of putting straw in them as something the cats could use as beds. I would never have thought of that! Worth a try, I’d say.
What a fantastic gift! I appreciate that some of these were passed on from other former neighbours. I will be reminded of them as I use the items.
Of course, going through all these left me with an empty box.
Usually, her eyes are blood red. I think this is the first time I’ve seen them looking black.
Those are her back feet, of course. That box up by the ceiling is a favourite perch.
I can’t say I got a lot accomplished today. Certainly not outside. I at least got a dump run in. They have a different attendant now. A guy in a high viz vest and a clip board, even. I hope the older woman that needed a cane that used to be the attendant is okay.
After showing him the card that we have to prove we actually live in the municipality, and aren’t coming in from some other one where you have to pay to drop off your garbage and recycling, he asked what was being dropped off. When I told him it was just household garbage and recycling, he told me I might not be able to get the recycling in. The bins were really full, so it would have to go into the pit.
The bin for glass was overflowing, so our glass went into the pit, along with one of our bags of recyclables. I could only get two into a bin.
I’d hoped to get some stuff done outside, as we were supposed to hit 2C/36F today. Which we did, but the wind chill was significantly colder. As I write this, we’ve dropped to -1C/30F, and the wind chill is -12C/10F.
I did get some progress inside, at least. I got home so late from my mother’s yesterday that I didn’t start the beef broth I had meant to. I got that done started today. The meaty bones got roasted first, and then into the slow cooker they went, with onions, garlic, carrot, celery, ginger, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. And water, of course. That was left on high for an hour, and now it’s running on low for 8 hours, and there’s still another 4 or 5 hours to go.
While the bones were roasting, I took out the last of our peppers from the garden. The Sweetie Snack Mix peppers that I picked while still green took a while to ripen indoors. Some of them just withered, instead. We ended up with red, yellow, light orange and dark orange peppers. There was just enough to cover a parchment lined baking sheet with strips. After the bones were removed from the oven and into the crock pot, the pepper strips went into the partially cooled oven. They’re now dehydrating on the “warm” setting, at 150F/66C (our oven is the only thing we do at Fahrenheit instead of Celsius). Those will probably just end up as a snack for the girls, still warm from the oven, once they are fully dried.
That’s pretty much it for my accomplishments today. Tomorrow, at least, the winds are supposed to die down, so I might get to the things I hoped to get done today.
Good grief. It’s pitch black out and feels like it should be nearing midnight. Instead, it’s not even 6:30, yet!
I think I’m still in recovery mode from spending so much time with my mother, yesterday. I still feel totally drained!
Ghosty loves that cat bed so much, she’ll curl up with any other cat that’s in it! This time, it’s Beep Beep, one of the originals cared for by my late father. She is very likely Ghosty’s great-great-great-grandmother or aunt.
Ghosty is probably the most intelligent cat we’ve ever had – and the reason why I feel like crap today, due to lack of sleep. Once we’re all in bed, she starts getting into all the things she knows she’s not allowed to while we’re up, and I’m the only one that can hear when she does. Particularly when she starts digging into things at my desk in the wee hours. She does it when she wants the kibble bowls topped up, because she knows it will wake me up, and she doesn’t stop until it’s been done. This morning, she dug into my organizer tray, pulling out all sorts of stuff and knocking one of my speakers half off the desk, which I discovered hours later.
I actually got the girls to do the outside stuff this morning, so I could get back to sleep, but it just wouldn’t happen, mostly because of the cats! Then I had the disorienting feeling that it was about 4pm, only to look at the time and see that it was noon. My daughters are feeling the same way, today!
Today was going to be a warmer, less windy day. My plan had been to get out the chain saw and start breaking down some of the fallen trees. It’s an electric chain saw and in the end, I decided I didn’t want to be dragging an extension cord – two 100ft extension cords, most likely – across the yard to do the job, when getting more garden beds cleaned up would be more productive.
I didn’t head out until after lunch, though, waiting for things to warm up a bit. This morning, though, I got a call from my mother. It was about a minute or two after 9am. When I answered, the first thing she did was ask me if I’d just phoned. Someone had called her but hung up before she could get to the phone to pick it up, and they didn’t wait for the answering machine. My mother’s phone does have caller ID, but she doesn’t know how to use it.
I had not called, of course. If I did, I would have left a message. I’ve told her that a few times, but she still does this.
Which turned out to be a good thing because she then told me that home care didn’t show up (at 9am), so she took her pills herself.
Now, I know she has the correct time on her clocks because my brother had changed all her battery operated clocks for daylight savings while he was there. She also has a “dementia clock” he got for her, which shows the date, day, time, and has images to show if it’s day time or night time. That one changes itself for daylight savings.
I really like that clock and am considering picking one up for myself!
My mother had mentioned hiding a bubble pack away, just in case, a few weeks back. I had been going through her lock box to see if she was in need of refills, and it has several weeks worth of bubble packs, so I wasn’t sure how she could have a spare to set aside. I told her I was checking to see if it was time to pick up her refills soon, and she got mad at me because she had lots, so why was I wanting to pick up refills? This is a regular thing. She refuses to consider getting refills before she runs out, but leaves it until she’s on her last day or two.
Anyhow, when I said, don’t do that, give them time to get there, she immediately said, ok, I won’t do that anymore. Which, knowing her, meant she’ll do it but just not tell me anymore. Again, she has done this before.
Meanwhile, I looked up to confirm her schedule that I got emailed to me from home care. I had called and talked to her about her new schedule and times yesterday. Her first visit of the day was scheduled for 9:15, and they had 20 minutes scheduled to help her out. I had repeated the times to her several times and explained that she would be getting a lunch visit now, too.
So she had taken her secret pills before calling me which, considering what time she called me, after just missing another call, meant she had actually taken them at least 5 minutes before 9, when she claimed she was expecting them to come AT 9am. So even if they had been scheduled for 9, she had already decided they weren’t going to show up and took her meds from her secret stash.
My mom didn’t talk for long, which is out of character for her, but as soon as the call was done, I updated my siblings, sent an email to the home care coordinator about it, since the first scheduled visit on the day was still to come, then called my mother’s pharmacy.
I confirmed that they had delivered her refills to her on the 17th, which explains why there were so many bubble packs in her lock box when I checked. I was supposed to pick them up for her, specifically so I could put them in the lock box right away. Since they were delivered, that meant she had access to them until the next home care worker arrived and could put them in the lock box.
I explained what happened and they now have instructions to not deliver refills to my mother anymore. Instead, when the refills are ready, they will call me, and I will pick them up and get them into her lock box right away.
By the time that call was done and I updated my siblings about it, I had a response from the coordinator about it. She was worried that this might have been older pills that my mother had stashed away, so I was able to confirm that these were part of her most recent refills. The home care workers can’t look for her hidden stash, but the last time this happened, she showed the worker the stash herself and the worker was able to put them into the lock box. If they are in the open, or my mother brings them out herself, only then can they take them and put them in the lock box. My siblings and I can, of course, actually search for them, if necessary.
My mother’s first visit of the day was done by the time the home care coordinator got back to me – as soon as she got my email, she would have called the scheduled aide to let her know my mother had already taken the pills for the morning – and was able to update me. My mother had allowed the worker to make her breakfast, but was not willing to let her help her with washing herself. We’re trying to be delicate with this; we can understand my mother not being willing to allow someone to assist with such intimate care. The problem is, she needs the help. She sponge bathes herself, because she’s afraid of falling in the shower, even though her shower is an adapted one and has a built in seat. Sponge bathing only accomplishes so much, since it’s hard to reach in areas, and extra hard for someone of my mother’s size and with mobility issues. So we’re all going to have to encourage her to accept that help. We haven’t been saying anything to her directly but, the truth is, sometimes we can tell that my mother hasn’t been able to clean herself properly – and I have a terrible sense of smell.
For someone who is self aware enough to actually WANT to be in a nursing home and is upset that, after all this time (we started this more than a year ago), she still can’t get in, you’d think she would actually be willing to accept the sort of help she would be getting while living in a nursing home, while still in the comfort of her own home.
The home care coordinator has already submitted her panel report, after her most recent interview with my mother. Hopefully, between that and my mother actually accepting the help she is scheduled for, she will finally be accepted for a bed in a nursing home.
Now, if my mother would just stop self sabotaging herself!
Anyhow.
After a frustrating morning, I did have a productive afternoon.
The first area I decided to work on was the newly re-finished bed in the old kitchen garden.
Along with the weeding, there were plenty of “presents” from the cats to get rid of. I thought it would need more soil added but, once it was weeded and no longer compacted, the soil level was even with the top of the retaining wall blocks!
Once it was all cleaned up, I raked up leaves to mulch it for the winter, mostly to keep the cats from using it as a litter box.
I know I stopped to take a picture of the bed after it was finished, but I must have failed to do it somehow, because there was no “after” picture on my phone!
The bed itself did have tree roots in it as well – mostly from the crab apple trees, but I’m pretty sure some of them were from the pink rose bush and the double lilac bush, too. It wasn’t all that bed, though.
That done, I turned my attention to the short side of the L shaped wattle weave bed. It had already been cleaned up, but the cats had been digging in it. I got that all cleaned up, then gave it a leaf mulch, too.
Collecting the leaves was actually more difficult than cleaning up either bed. It was still pretty windy today, and every time I tried to rake leaves into piles, then get them into the wheelbarrow, the wind would blow a substantial portion away!
The beds old kitchen garden are now finished for the winter.
That done, there was still enough light in the day to get one more bed done. This time, I went to the main garden area.
I decided to work on the bed that had the garlic and summer squash in it.
The part that had garlic in it has been empty for some time, so a fair number of weeds had taken over. Mostly, it was tree roots I was expecting to have issues with, and I did, right from the end furthest from the elm trees. So I loosened the soil around the entire before before I settled into actually digging in to weed and remove rocks. That way, any roots I did find would be easier to pull out.
In the end, most of the roots I found were running across the bed instead of running the length of it, which also made them easier to remove. I did find one large root running through, but it was large enough and deep enough that I decided not to fight with it and just left it.
I hope I don’t regret that.
In the second picture, you can see the bed after it was all cleaned up. You can also see the pile of roots and weeds I pulled out at one end, plus some of the rocks I’d been pulling out, tossed onto the fabric covering the ground nearby. While it was in reach, I was tossing them into the kiddie poll, so what is visible in the picture is nowhere near all of what I pulled out.
In the last picture, you can see the bed, covered with plastic for the winter. Again, this is more to keep the cats out than anything else!
In this area, there is one more 18′ bed that needs to be cleaned up, plus the 4′ square bed, off to the side, that I transplanted the surviving Albion Everbearing strawberries out of. If I do get to that small bed before the hard frosts hit, it will be winter sown with bread seed poppies.
Outside of this area, there is one more 9’x3′ raised bed, plus the 4′ square bed, in the East yard to clear up. Those should not take long at all.
Depending on the weather, and if I have time to gather and process materials, the only bed that will be left to work on is the one along the chain link fence. Considering how long it took me to do the bed in the old kitchen garden, I might get this one started this year, but will probably be finishing it next year! Maybe. With the one in the old kitchen garden, I was experimenting more before finally figuring out things weren’t working as I wanted and coming up with an alternative. That alternative is what I plant to do in the chain link fence bed, so there is no “figuring out” time to factor in. Just a “gathering materials” time. Looking at the long range forecast, there is a possibility we’ll have decent weather for such work, after the other beds are cleared up. Those beds have priority. If the weather doesn’t hold, that’s okay. These can be done in the spring.
By the time I was done, things were getting dark and chilly, and it was definitely time to get inside!
Ghosty had been sleeping across Cheddar when I stopped to take the picture, and disturbed her nap in the process.
She does not look impressed by the interruption!
I just looked over to see is they were still there and yes, they are – but have traded places! Ghosty is now curled up in the cat bed, and Cheddar has been squeezed off to the side, half on top of Ghosty, busily grooming Ghosty’s face.
That’s Tin Whistle on the bottom, mid yawn. Nuzzled into her is Toni. I think that’s Shadow using Toni as a pillow. Or it might be Clarence. Clarence is there as I write this, but without seeing distinctive face features, I can’t tell Shadow, Clarence and Mitsy apart.
Toni is not a cat that seeks out attention from humans, in general, so I’m glad to see that she gets along with the other cats as well as she does.
Anyhow, that’s been my day for today.
Tomorrow, I take the truck in for an oil change and for them to check out the work done in the city to make sure everything it all right. I have to remember to ask them to take care of a burnt out headlight for me, too. I already got the bulb, but it’s a pain in the butt to access the light to switch the bulb.
I got an email from the company we did our insurance and registration with, letting me know that it’s time to renew. The vehicle registration and insurance doesn’t need me to do anything, since they’ll just continue taking monthly payments, as usual, but it’s also time to renew my driver’s license. Normally, I would get something in the mail with all the information, including any changes in how much things will cost, and I could take care of it online. However, with the Canada Post strike disruptions, I haven’t gotten the letter. So after I drop off the truck, I’ll walk over and take care of it in person. I also need to take cash out so we can get the septic tank emptied for the winter. After that tank is emptied, we will winterize it as usual, but I also want to set up the emergency diverter, just in case. This way, if the ejector freezes again, all we would need to do is open the shut off valve to the emergency diverter, and not have to be digging around in the snow to set up the pipe and hose outside.
So I will be out for most of tomorrow and, if all goes well, I’ll be finally doing our Costco stop up trip the day after. These are pretty much our last two “warm” days before temperatures drop a fair bit. If the long range forecast is at all accurate, we’ll then get about a week of relatively warmer weather to potentially get more done outside. We shall see what actually happens! This time of year, it’s always touch and go.
I’m just glad I got more beds done. It means less that needs to be done next year, and there is no hurry on getting those fallen trees broken down and cleaned up.
Today was a day when I could appreciate that the high winds and colder temperatures meant I couldn’t work outside. I certainly wasn’t up to it.
It’s strange how a day basically spent waiting for the truck to be worked on could wipe me out like it did. I think part of it had to do with all the walking I did being on concrete or tile floors, instead of grass and gravel. It really did my left hip in, that’s for sure. Plus, I grabbed the wrong cane from the truck. I should have gone around and got one of the adjustable sized ones. Instead, I grabbed a wooden one that was a bit too tall for me. Which didn’t seem to be an issue while I was walking around, but once I was in bed, my left shoulder started feeling like my hip – ready to pop out of a socket!
The girls took care of the morning routine for me. I had a rough night, but did try getting up a bit later than usual. My younger daughter basically banished me back to bed. I can’t say it actually helped any and I finally gave up. It was hours before I started feeling human again. A day of recovery was certainly needed.
Needless to say, I was extra appreciative that my brother volunteered to do my mother’s grocery shopping today. He also brought her the new pillows my SIL found for her. One of the things that came up while I was talking to my siblings is that my mother is using an old, home made feather pillow that used to belong to her aunt, that actually looks in better shape than the store bought ones. My mother is always complaining that her breathing is worse at night. Is it possible she is reacting to the feather pillow?
She did end up giving my brother a hard time about the pillows, because he couldn’t find fresh pillow cases, and he refused to reuse the ones on her bed, just in case she really was reacting to something in her pillows. He never found any. I know the ones I changed out for her were still in her laundry, so it may be that I had used up her last pillow cases when I changed her bedding. My mother uses four pillows, with two for under her legs, so she may simply not have more than 8 pillow cases.
After my brother stopped at her place, long enough to make a lunch to share with her, he came here to the farm. He had a number of things planned, so I quickly went over to say hello before he got busy. He already had an envelope in his hand as he was getting out of his vehicle, and quickly got something out for me when I got there.
It was a check from my mother.
Somehow, he convinced her to cover the cost of replacing the door. She had been teasing that she would “help” with the door. I didn’t rise to the bait and figured she would soon forget about it. At best, I expected she might pass on a bit of cash, or cover what she thought it should have cost, rather than what it really was. Nope. She actually paid for the entire amount!
I am extremely grateful, but also extremely suspicious. Either way, it’s going to pay down some of the credit we had to use to pay for the door. It also means we’ll have the cash needed to get the septic tank emptied for the winter.
I made sure to phone her to say thank you. I got her answering machine twice and, when I finally got through to her, she was more interested in getting off the phone and back to her supper…after complaining that my brother, who used her debit card (something she can’t use herself; it’s beyond her) to buy her own groceries, rather than have her pay him back in cash afterwards. She thinks he’ll steal from her if he uses her card.
I suspect this is confession through projection. Back in the day, she used to do stuff like that to my dad.
My brother, as always, went above and beyond while here. He replaced the motion sensor light over our door. The old one was still working since he fiddled with it last time, but he said it wouldn’t have lasted much longer. He was actually surprised it was still working at all.
Then he got busy with the other stuff he needed to do, among their belongings stored here now, for a while longer. I made a point to message him after he left to say thank you for replacing the light, taking care of my mother for the shopping, and somehow convincing her to write that check.
On his way home, he gave me a call (hand free, of course) to let me know that apparently, my mother wants to buy us a car, because we are having so much trouble with the truck. She asked him advice on what kind of car he would recommend. What we think she wants is for him to actually find a car, and then she would pay for it.
While I would be quite grateful for such a generous gift, we are both suspicious. Her generosity, when it happens, often comes with a price. In this case, it may simply be that she recognizes she can’t get into our truck anymore, so if I need to drive her for a doctor’s appointment or something, we would need a small car she can get into. Her car is still here. My brother checked it out and it’s running. The flat tire is still holding air. It did start showing a check engine light, the last time he got it going, so there’s something else going on . My mother has long had troubles with it – my brother had been the one to get it fixed until we moved out here, then we were the ones getting it done – and we know that it would be needing continuous repairs. It’s older than our truck with about as much mileage, so that’s to be expected. I brought up the possibility of using it as a down payment, but he doesn’t think we’d get much of anything for it.
Well, we shall see.
As for me, I am feeling very thankful for the unexpected help, even though I’m sure my mother will try and use it to control me somehow.
I wasn’t planning to use the truck until my appointment next week, but without the Costco trip, we’ll have to make a small trip to town tomorrow for a few groceries we’re running out of. After our mechanic gives the truck the all clear, I’ll do the Costco shopping and get us stocked up.
I’m certainly glad I got as much as I did for our first stock up trip! Especially getting those 40 pound bags of kibble at the feed store.
Tomorrow is supposed to be even more windy than today – we’re expecting gusts of up to 67km/h (42mph) – so I will likely not be getting anything done outside, anyhow. At this point, it looks like the weather will allow for some progress outside on Monday. By the end of next week, our expected highs will all be below freezing for a while. The long range forecast, though, says to expect some warmer days in the middle of November, with daytime highs above freezing for the rest of the month.
At least I was able to get the winter sowing done before it got too cold. That was the main thing. Anything else that gets done out there will be gravy!
The predicted rain actually reached us for a change. Our weird climate bubble didn’t push it away. It’s been raining all night and, at past 2pm as I write this, is still sort of raining.
We really could have used rain like this, over the summer!
Unfortunately, I’m finding my window leaks.
It’s the only original window left in the house. Before we moved out here, my brother convinced my mother to have the windows replaced, since sheets of Lexan on the inside just wasn’t cutting it. New windows probably reduced the winter heat bill in this place by a couple hundred dollars a month! She balked, however, at doing the north facing window in what used to be her own bedroom. Too expensive, she said, and refused to pay for it (the living room window, meanwhile, probably cost at least twice as much, just on its own!).
This is actually a pair of windows, side by side, creating a long, wide rectangle together. One half has a screen and we used to be able to open it. At some point, Lexan sheets were installed on this inside. While the turning handle to open the window is still clear, the window itself can no longer be opened – and there’s no point to opening it, since there’s a sheet of Lexan on the inside.
During a driving rain some time ago, I discovered there was a drip between the Lexan and the window on the side that didn’t open. I was supposed to seal it on the outside, but completely forgot. It seems it leaks only if there’s a driving rain in just the right direction, and it didn’t leak again after that one rainfall.
Until today.
The first thing I noticed is that the window on that side is fogged up on the inside. Eventually, I could see the drip.
Some hours later, I sat at my computer, when I realized I was seeing wet all over the top of my printer and the various other things on there. The printer is directly under the window that we used to be able to open.
My first thought is that a cat had gone into the cat bed on top of my drinks fridge, then sprayed over the printer. Because we have cats that are dicks and would do that. Then I saw the drip! I don’t know exactly where the water is getting in, but it seems to be flooding on top of the molding framing the window (this window is in a log wall, so it’s quite deep) enough to travel across and drip on the inside side of the Lexan panel, rather than in between the glass window and the Lexan panel.
*sigh*
Unless we can fine some way to remove the Lexan panels, it’s going to take days for things to dry out once the rain stops. Then I have to get out and put sealant around the window on the outside.
I’m not sure how the Lexan was installed. A frame for the Lexan is screwed directly to the wood framing the two windows. The Lexan sheets, however, are on the inside, against the window frames themselves. Basically, it’s a spacer between the Lexan and the window frames, which means the panels were add after that inner frame was screwed in place. The only alternative would have been removing the windows and putting them back again which, of course, didn’t happen. The panels themselves have their own plastic frames around the edges, and I can’t tell what’s holding them in place against the screwed in spacer frame.
If these can actually just be popped out somehow, that would be helpful. We could then set a fan facing the window to dry things out, and we wouldn’t have to wait for days before sealing up the outside.
We’ll figure it out.
For now, I’ve had to set a towel up on the edge of the window that’s dripping on the inside. It does seem to have finally stopped raining, more or less. It’s supposed to continue until past 4pm, but still potentially have sporadic rain off and on until midnight or so.
We’re actually under two weather advisories right now. One for heavy rain, the other for high winds.
Which is what we definitely had while I was doing my morning rounds!
The cats really appreciated having shelters to go into to eat. The ones that normally like to eat on the cat house roof were willing to use the kibble house, for a change! 😄
Once the bellies were full, the tiniest kittens were back in their new favourite cat bed.
Except for the one that came over to me and was snuggling against my boot!
The tinies might be more than eager for human attention. Blot is now a constant presence in the sun room and the tinies love to cuddle him (her?), but so far I’ve only managed to sneak the odd pet.
The white and grey adult cat on the right of the photo is one of the trio we used to have; Magda, Frank and this one that never got named. Madga, who got spayed, and this one both disappeared, while Frank stayed to have her babies. Then this one came back, looking more grown up and burly, but still quite small. At first, we thought he had an injury beside one ear but, over time, I’m starting to think he’s got really severe ear mites in that ear.
This morning I dug out an umbrella to do my rounds, but I probably should have just worn a hoodie. The winds were so high, they almost yanked it out of my hands. It’s a good thing it’s one of those big golfer’s umbrellas. Anything smaller or of lesser quality would have been flipped inside out.
The weather meant an indoor day, which I suppose worked out. Today is Sunday and is supposed to be my day of rest. If it weren’t for the rain, I would have been back out, digging in the garden, or under the canopy tent, sorting through bins that need to go back into the sun room, or stored somewhere else.
I’m glad I set that taller shelf in front of the bathroom window. The cats are using it to look in, including some of the smaller kittens. It’s just a joy to see my husband coming out of the bathroom, all excited to tell me about which face he saw peeking in the window while he was in there! He’s in so much pain all the time, seeing him happy because of what was really such a little thing to do, is pure gold. If that means converting the entire sunroom over to the cats and storing my tools and supplies elsewhere, it’s more than worth it.
Rainy, cloudy weather like this always makes me sleepy, so once the morning rounds were done, I did end up crashing for a couple of hours.
As I write this, there are twelve cats scattered all over my bed.
This afternoon, I did get one “extra” thing done. I brought out the little bins of green tomatoes we harvested before a frost in early September. Almost all the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes ripened beautifully.
In the second picture, you can see the ones that are still green or under ripe. I’m really impressed with how these turned out! Chocolate Cherry tomatoes seem to do quite well in our area, even if they get harvested really early and really green.
The other bin had the Black Beauty and Sub Arctic Plenty tomatoes in it. The larger Black Beauties had ripened, but the smaller ones just sort of started to dry out, instead. The Sub Arctic Plenty tomatoes did ripen… sort of. The larger ones ripened but started going bad at the same time. Some of the smaller ones got to orange before they started drying out. Others didn’t change at all. They just got wizened. So there weren’t many of those to set aside for eating or cooking, and the rest went into the compost bucket.
Well, it does look like the rain has actually stopped for now. I should take advantage of that and head outside for my evening rounds, feed the ferals and see if we lost any more trees or branches.
The Re-Farmer 