Look what I found under a chair this morning!
After emptying a flat of Coke, I put the box under the chair to get it out of the way and forgot it there.
Cheddar and Leyendecker decided they both fit in it.
They kinda do…
The Re-Farmer
I can’t say it was totally unexpected, but… well… not today!
Earlier today, I got this adorable photo.
Question has squeezed herself in between her adopted siblings and promptly had a nap.
She’s been napping a lot lately.
I then went and got to work on a bunch of things before returning to my room, expecting to get some work done on the computer.
I’ll be honest; when I saw Question lying on the bed, I thought she was already gone! But then she moved in a silent meow.
Clearly, she wasn’t going to be with us long, so I wrapped her up in a towel, sat on the side of my bed and held her. I managed to tap out a message to the family on my phone to let them know. My younger daughter came and joined me.
We pet her and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. Her eyes wouldn’t close all the way, so we kept them moist with eye drops. When she seemed dehydrated, my daughter dipped water into her mouth, one drop at a time. For a while, she actually seemed to be more mobile, so I put her in my daughters arms so I could go find something to give her fluids more easily but when I came back, she was gone.
My daughter was crying, but I think she was glad to have been able to give Question comfort, right to the end.
Her sister and I buried Question in the little flower garden, next to the bird bath. From now on, she will be surrounded by lush growth and flowers.
I had messaged with the Cat Lady last night about Question and Ghosty. They were supposed to take both when they got back from the US, only to return to a very sick cat of their own. She wanted to give him another week of monitoring before introducing two new kittens to the household (there are no available fosters, and all the rescues have zero intakes for cats right now). Especially with one of them being pretty sick.
After a while, I messaged her again to let her know about Question. The Cat Lady turned out to be at the vet clinic we normally go to – which is not at all close to their place! Another of her cats was blocked and undergoing surgery at the time! Which likely meant she called a number of vets before finding one that could take her cat in right away. She just had a blocked cat that got surgery, and now his sibling is going through the same thing!
She just can’t seem to catch a break!
In a way, I’m glad they didn’t take the kittens. If they had, she would have pulled all stops to keep the kitten alive, and there are times when I just don’t think that’s actually a good thing. Sometimes, I think letting them go is the kinder thing. Which is what I think was the case with Question.
I’m going to miss waking up to that little fur ball tucked up against my neck.
The Re-Farmer
The first unexpected thing of the morning was being awakened by my husband, asking what the current status was for feeding the indoor cats.
With Leyendecker getting his meds morning and evening for 10 days (the next 10 days will be evening only), and having to control what he eats, the girls have been putting food out for all the cats at the same time.
It wasn’t done at the usual time this morning.
Which means Leyendecker’s meds weren’t done, either. I slept right through it.
Why did I sleep right though it? I have reminders set to go off on my phone.
The next unexpected thing was not being able to move. I had a Question asleep on my neck, and several other kittens sleeping on various parts of my body.
I was eventually able to reach my phone, unplug it and check it.
It was off.
I did not turn it off. I have my phone playing soothing music or whatever, to help me fall asleep. It was active when I fell asleep.
I turned the power on, the start up routine began and…
Nothing.
My phone was a brick.
After prying off the rest of the kittens, I was eventually able to find that the charger itself had been unplugged at the power bar. Because of the cats, I actually have the power bar hanging from under my craft table. Somehow, the kittens rough and tumbled enough to yank it right out.
So I did my morning rounds with no phone, which means no pictures!
I’ll just share this picture from last night with you, instead.
Retired Grandma has finally accepted the kittens. I now regularly find her asleep on my bed, with at least Question or Ghosty snuggled up. This is the first time I saw her with 5 out of 6 kittens!
After extricating myself from the kittens again, I was able to give Leyendecker his meds and feed the indoor cats. We’re still not seeing Leyendecker eating. I don’t know what to make of it. He’s certainly drinking plenty, and we are still catching him trying to spray around the house, so he’s not blocked. When he’s getting meds once a day instead of twice, we’ll see if his appetite picks up.
I have yet to see the girls this morning. They both pulled all-nighters, I think. My older daughter was working, of course, but in between working on commissions, she came down to help her sister. My younger daughter was doing some baking during the night, because it’s too hot to bake during the day. One of the things they’ve been working on is the living room. Being a cat free zone now, we’ve been putting way too many things in there to get them away from the cats. We need to organize it and move things around because… !!!
My brother is coming out tomorrow morning with an air conditioner for us!!!
We have not seen it yet, but it’s one of those portable ones that would normally be set up in a window. We have no windows it can be set up in. It also needs a 3 prong outlet, and we don’t have a lot of those in the house.
So what my brother will be doing is making a hole in the wall under the big picture window in the living room to install a vent for the AC hose. To make space for the AC set up, the girls plan to rearrange the living room. It’s as good an excuse as any to finally get to reorganizing the room, and taking out stuff that shouldn’t be in there in the first place!
As I will likely be in the city for our Costco shop, my brother plans to come out quite early in the morning, so we can get it done before I leave.
My brother is a morning person.
I am not.
Anyhow. That’s now arranged, and having that AC is going to make live much more comfortable in the house!
So that will be done tomorrow.
After taking care of Leyencker’s meds, I headed outside to do my morning rounds. My husband had already put food out for the yard cats, which was much appreciated. There are a couple of kittens that allow me to clean their eyes, so I check for them right away. One white and grey one was looking much better this morning, which was a relief. I’d done its eyes last night, because one was stuck completely shut. as soon as I cleaned it to the point that the lids become unstuck, goo absolutely poured out, completely covering the damp paper towel I was using to clean it. It took me three sheets of towel to get its eyes and face cleaned up. Its nose is also really sticky and last night it was so bad, there was even kibble stuck to its face! Thankfully, it did not need any eye washing or nose clearing at all, this morning.
In checking the garden beds, I took extra care to check the Black Beauty tomatoes. Last night, I found several branches bent over from the weight of the tomatoes, in spite of their supports. I was finding and tying supports to those, even adding another bamboo stake at the end of the bed, when the girls came out for an evening walk. They helped me add more support lines to the melon bed trellis, as those are getting long enough to need training up the trellis.
This morning, the bent tomato branches I tied off are looking good – no wilting to show they were badly damaged. The melon vines were holding out on the trellis, too.
In checking the bush beans, I was able to actually harvest a handful of both green and yellow beans! They are recovering quite nicely from being eaten. I expect to have plenty more to harvest, soon.
Oh, speaking of unexpected things; I was looking over the squash growing in our compost ring, and a couple of new female flowers were blooming, so I hand pollinated them, just in case. On one vine, the developing squash look pretty usual; just round, green balls, as I would expect from a pumpkin. Another vine, however, is clearly some sort of hybrid. The developing squash are more elongated, but had flat parts on the surface. Completely unlike anything we’ve grown before.
It should be interesting to see what we get out of those!
There is also a developing Caveman’s Club gourd on the chain link fence trellis that’s looking pretty good!
In the main garden, the G-Star patty pan squash have exploded in huge flowers – but only one female! Previously, it was female flowers blooming, but no males. Checking the other squash, I have been finding developing fruit that point to successful pollination. There is still just the one Honeyboat Delicata that I hand pollinated, though that variety has the most transplants of them all. I was checking the label on another and saw we have some Red Kuri/Little Gem squash developing. It’s a good thing I label these, because I forgot we had any of those germinate at all. I’m also seeing some Candy Roasters and Winter Sweets developing. There are even some summer squash starting to show up. We have no surviving Madga squash at all, but there is one each of the yellow pattypan, yellow zucchini and green zucchini, and all of them are showing both male and female flowers.
The African Drum gourds seem to be doing well. I was able to hand pollinate another female flower this morning. Still no female Zucca melon flowers, though.
I spotted a hidden female flower among the Crespo squash, too, but I’m really wondering about those. The plants look completely different from the first years we grew those.
We’ll find out, eventually! Praying for a long mild fall, so give all these time to fully mature on the vine!
While it was still cool, I started working on that water pipe to the garden tap. I moved off the rocks around the tap base, then started digging a trench. I’ll have to go back later with the loppers, as there are so many roots to cut away from over and around the pipe.
What I found so far is even more of a mystery. I will be sure to take photos to show what I mean, now that my phone is no longer a dead brick. I wish I knew what was going on when this pipe was laid, because I’m just even more confused than ever. Perhaps when my brother comes out tomorrow, he’ll be able to look at it and remember something.
Now, the easy thing would be for us to simply run a hose from the house tap to the garden tap on the surface, then put the hose away for the winter. But I really like the original, more permanent set up. Once we get this old hose cleared out, I want to have another buried line, but I want to learn from what we’ve got going right now. I plant to lay down pipe large enough to accommodate a garden hose. The pipe comes in sections, so if for some reason there is damage, only a section would need to be dug up and replaced, not the whole thing. I also plan to drill drainage holes, in case the hose somehow gets damaged, or in case water gets in some other way. We can buy pipe with drainage holes, but the extra cost for something I can do myself isn’t worth it. They won’t even need that many drainage holes. At each end of the pipe, I want to have 45° fittings. At the garden end, I plan for the end to go into the support pillar the tap and pipe will be fitted into. At the house end, the opening will be closed/filled around the hose end to prevent dirt, water or critters from getting in, but something easily removed.
As for the hose itself, having it run through the pipe will make it easy to remove for repair or replacement. The support pillar box I plan to build for the garden tap end will have an access door that opens on one side (unless I go with a different design; it’s still flexible). There will be room enough to store things, including a length of cord that can be tied to the hose end. If the hose needs to be repaired or replaced, the hose, with the cord attached, can be pulled out at the house end, get taken care of, then the cord can be used to pull the repaired or replaced hose back through the pipe to the garden tap. If we wanted to, we could even remove the hose for the winter, though it shouldn’t be required.
Done right, this should last at least another 50 or more years, and allow for easy access for repair or maintenance, and not have a hose or pipe on the surface to have to work around.
Well, I sure got distracted! Here, I was supposed to be just writing about my morning. LOL
Aside from digging up more trench this morning, I also harvested the garlic. They are currently outside in the sun to dry a bit, then I will tie them off to hang in the old market tent to cure. Maybe. The humidity levels may be too high for that. I might have to find somewhere else to hang them to cure. We’ll see how the weather turns out.
We have quite a few soft neck garlic, but they are not very large. I probably should have left them longer, but so many have been broken flat by cats lying on them, I just went ahead and pulled them all. The hard neck garlic from saved cloves – the Porcelain Music – are the biggest we’ve ever grown! One is just huge. I can’t remember the other variety that we bought along with the soft neck garlic, but they are also quite large.
Once the bed is clear, I will do the fall planting I intended to do where the peas are. The peas have started blooming again! So I will just leave them. After talking with my daughters, we will do a fall planting of spinach, a few radish (turns out my younger daughter likes radish!) and some beets. All of these should grow fast enough that we’ll have something to harvest before first frost.
But first, I need to organize my garden supplies in the living room, move things out and make some space, so my daughters can rearrange the furniture.
I’d better hit publish and stop procrastinating!
The Re-Farmer
We’ve reached our predicted high of 26C/79F today, with 54% humidity. Tomorrow, we are supposed to hit 30C/86F.
The first thing I want to share with you is this adorableness.
I even got a bit of video.
This was the first time she nursed the babies in the comfort of my bed. She is so tiny!
And filthy. Especially her belly. Those kittens get her very dirty! She has gotten to the point where she actually enjoys being held and cuddled, so chances are pretty good we should at least be able to take a damp washcloth to her.
These next photos are from yesterday evening.
I spotted the two kittens in the junk pile, without mom around, playing. When it saw me, the black one went and hid, but the other one stayed and watched me while I took photos. The black one has a single small patch of white on its chest that I could see.
The third photo is of a kitten I’ve never seen before. I saw it again this morning, with two other kittens of similar size that I didn’t recognize. I have no idea which mother they came with. There are several of the more feral mamas that had kittens quite early in the spring, and I was wondering when their babies would start showing up.
Beside the main garden, there is an area we’ve allowed to grow wild that is now tall with what I thought was a type of alfalfa but, when I tried to look it up, I couldn’t find any images with white flowers like them.
Whatever it is, it was just buzzing with bees last night, and I managed to get a decent picture.
I also got a picture of our first fresh garlic – after cleaning it off with the hose!
The squash is our first Honeyboat Delicata. The one I hand pollinated from a different type of squash, as there were no Delicata male flowers blooming. There still aren’t. So far, it looks like the cross pollination took. Hopefully, we’ll have at least one Delicata to try and see if we like them, and if the Honeyboat variety really does store well. If so, we will plant them again – with purchased seeds, though, since the seeds from any we grow this year will likely all be cross pollinated.
And finally, a handful of Royalty raspberries I picked this morning! Most of those were from one plant, with a few from a second. The third is the smallest, and its berries are still unripe.
I’m still amazed we got any at all in their transplant year!
I forgot to get a picture, but one of the African Drum gourd female flowers was blooming this morning, so I made sure to pollinate it with one of the male flowers from another African Drum gourd. If it works out, it should be interesting to see just how fast the gourds develop, and if we have a mild enough fall for them to reach full maturity.
In other things, we’re concerned about Leyendecker. He’s getting his medications, but he’s still refusing to eat. We even mixed the new food with the food he’s used to, and he won’t eat either! He also spends most of his days just lying around, but that could be from the medications. This morning, while staying with him in the bathroom, trying to convince him to eat, he just sprawled tragically at the closed door. I took the opportunity to palpate his abdomen. He not only tolerated it, but shifted so I could reach better as I was pushing around where his bladder is. He had just gotten his medications, so it would have been too soon for the pain killers to kick in. If he were having blocking issues, my poking around would have been very uncomfortable for him, and I would have been able to feel an over full bladder. Neither was an issue. So we’re not sure what’s going on with him right now. 😟 We will continue to monitor him.
For now, I’m going to go help my daughter with juicing those cherries we picked. By request, we will be making jelly with them!
The Re-Farmer
I am so
so
tired.
This whole, “go to bed early to wake up early” thing seems to be backfiring. I didn’t finally fall asleep until past 6am, which was when I was intending to be outside and working! Then my daughter came in for Leyendecker’s 8am medicine and all round cat feeding. After he got his meds, she stayed with him in the bathroom to make sure he ate his new UTI food. I fed the rest of the cats inside, then went to feed the other cats, but skipped my morning rounds, going back to bed to try for another hour or two of sleep. So here is a picture from yesterday!
The mystery squash in our compost pile are doing amazing! There are at least two varieties in there; one can be distinguished by the whitish patterning on the leaves.
I did manage to get about an hour of sleep when my daughter came in at the time I asked her to, because we needed to go to the dump. Thankfully, today the dump is open long hours, so I got another hour or so of sleep, if sleep it could be called, before finally giving up and getting up.
Mind you, only part of it can be blamed on simply not being able to fall asleep. I can’t actually say how much of it is because of that. Last night in particular, it had more to do with being turned into a jungle gym! A couple of times during the night, the kittens got very playful, and decided my legs were the perfect place to play. It was a hot night, so I wasn’t under the covers, which made my toes fair game for nibbling and nuzzling. I had at least three kittens wrestling on my left leg and my ankle ended up completely covered with the tiniest of scratches from the tiniest of feet. Just enough to start itching!
The kittens did sleep most of the night, though, so they can’t be entirely to blame, either.
Then there was Decimus, who wanted in and out a couple of times. She’ll come in long enough to nurse the babies, then leaves. At least she is very polite when she asks to be let out. Especially at night. She knows that when the motion sensor light turns on, I will check to see why it turned on and let her out. Only if I’m asleep does she actually scratch at the door.
Then, once the kittens quiet down, Nosencrantz creeps over to try and have her nightly snuggles and face rubs.
Marlee is quite unhappy with the kittens, so I often hear her snarling and growling, night and day, even if she just sees them and they’re ignoring her. Kittens being kittens, however, they are starting to want to go over and play with her, and she’s not having that! Her solace has been to go to the door and scratch at it as if she wants out. But she doesn’t want out. She wants attention. So when I sit up to see who is scratching at the door, she jumps up on the bed for attention. Given her abandonment by previous owners, and 2 years surviving harsh conditions, I’m not about to turn her away. She’s gotten comfortable enough with me that she will actually curl up on the backs of my top leg, using my bottom leg as a bed and go to sleep!
The only one that’s not keeping me up at night is Butterscotch. Retired Grandma has no interest in such things. She has, however, gotten to the point that if a kitten comes near her, she not longer hisses in alarm, but will actually give them kisses, and let them share a food bowl with her.
Almost the entire time I’ve been trying to write the above, I’ve also been fighting off Question, who would climb up my leg, then try to climb onto the keyboard!
Or do this.
Believe it or not, we do wash her face often!
I am finally get a break from her, as she tries to nurse on Decimus while she is at the food bowls. Oh! She managed to twist around and get nip! 😄
When my older daughter finished her work for the night, she came down and we chatted for a while. She suggested I try sleeping in the cat-free living room. That couch is quite comfortable to sleep on. I might just try that.
Anyhow.
After a few disjointed hours of sleep, my younger daughter and I loaded up the car and did a dump run, then continued on to town. We picked up some cranberry juice to try Leyendecker with. I’m still not sure how to give it to him. There were no supplements that we could mix into his food, instead. We also swung by the vet clinic to see if they had puppy pads. I need to put some under my desk, because at least a couple of kittens have decided right up against the wall is THE place to make a mess. They actually seem to wait until I’m out of the room to do it. I’ve caught them going for the spot and repeatedly put them in the litter box, and they still managed to sneak in and make a mess. Cleaning it up requires lying down on the floor and reaching, which is incredibly painful. My daughters both have damaged knees and joints, so it’s not like it’ll be any easier for them to clean it up. I want to lay puppy pads down. The clinic turns out to not sell them. Which means a trip to the nearest Walmart, I guess. Not something I’m up to, today. I did have some disposable diapers, though. We got them to have on hand for a friend with a baby and a less than ideal home situation, who would sometimes need them. Her children are much older now, but we just left them, and even brought them along when we moved. I had intended to open them up to collect the liquid absorbent crystals they contain, to try mixing them into potting soil, but never got around to it. So, I just cut off the elastic parts so the absorbent part could lay flat, and spread them out under my desk where the kittens go. It did make clean up MUCH easier, but I didn’t have that many to begin with. They will do for now, I hope (as I look under my desk and dread using a flashlight to check if there’s a mess on one of them or not).
Oh, my goodness. Everything has been quiet behind me, so I turned around to look. Decimus is lying on the floor with all 6 kittens contentedly nursing. What a good little mama she is!
Well, it’s time to do the afternoon feeding of the cats, with Leyendecker being fed separately in the bathroom. At least this time, we don’t have to try and shove meds down his throat! It’s too early for them to be making a difference, yet, which means we’re still finding and cleaning up big puddles.
*sigh*
It’s a good thing we’re such sucks for the cats!
I still need to go outside and check the garden beds. I was intending to set up the sprinklers and soaker hoses, but when I fed the cats outside, it did seem like we got rain at some point. I don’t think it was enough, though. Still, after yesterday’s heat, and today being just as hot, the garden could use a good watering! At least we’re only slightly above average temperature for this time of year. The 30 year record high was 32C/88F in 2007, while the record low was 10C/50F in 2004. I’m okay with what we have now! I just can’t tolerate the heat as much, as I get older.
Okay, Re-Farmer. Time to stop procrastinating and get something useful done!
What I really want to do is go for a nap, though!
The Re-Farmer
My daughter and I loaded Leyendecker up and took him to the vet, today. I wasn’t able to get a picture, so here’s one from last year.
This is from when we were taking him to the vet and found out he was blocked.
He is too big for that carrier! The carrier can be opened from the top, where the handle it. Seeing my daughter carry him to the car, I could see the top door bending from his weight! Once we got to the clinic, I carried the box with both arms, rather than the handle.
Once he was in the carrier, he started howling and yelling and wailing! I heard sounds coming from that cat I’ve never heard before! We even popped up the back seats (I’ve had them flat, so I can put my mother’s walker in the back without having to fold it) so that the carrier could be in one seat, and my daughter in the other, trying to comfort him. He yelled the entire way. Even as I was carrying him into the clinic, he was wailing.
That’s one way to get right into an examination room, even though we were half an hour early!
So it’s not good news, but not really bad news.
Also, that boy did NOT want to give a urine sample, and he’s so big – just under 22 pounds! – they couldn’t take a sample from him via a needle directly into his bladder. We could see in the ultrasound that things were cloudy. He even conveniently tried to pee while lying in the V shaped pillow on his back, and we could see the muscled contract, cloudiness going through his urethra – then going back into his bladder!
They were able to collect barely enough urine from him to get it tested. There were the expected high readings due to stress – and he was massively stressed out! – and some bacteria. Not that it was a clean sample, since she literally collected it as he leaked. When he was blocked before, one thing they did NOT find were crystals. This time, he did have crystals in his urine.
Crap.
But, he is still able to urinate, if uncomfortably and all over the house, so we caught it in time.
He’s now on the same medical regime he came home with last time, after he’d had his hospital stay. Onsior for cats, an anti-inflammatory, Clavaseptin, an antibiotic, and Prazosin, a smooth muscle relaxant. He’ll be taking half pills twice a day for 10 days, then once a day for another 10 days, with just one of the medications. We got extra of the Prazosin, just in case he needs it for longer.
We also picked up some anti UTI cat food. A 2.72kg (about 6 pounds) bag cost over $50. It actually cost more than 20 doses of Prazosin. We’d had some before, but he didn’t like it, and the cost was prohibitive. We tried a different brand that we hope he’ll like better.
The problem is going to be the food. We normally just have food available for the cats to eat at their leisure. For most of the cats, this is not a problem. Leyendecker, however, is going to have to be fed separately, which means we can’t have other cat food around all the time.
So from now one, we’re going to be feeding the cats – and giving Leyendecker his meds – at 8am and 8pm, with a third feeding (no meds for Leyendecker this time) at 2pm. With his special dry cat food, he’s supposed to get 1 1/2 cups a day, so half a cup each feeding. We’ll give him some of the wet cat food, which we do every evening, as well, but it’s never a large amount.
It was also recommended to try giving him cranberry juice, to increase the acidity of his urine. How, we’re not sure. The vet only knew of one person who gave it to their dog to successfully treat a UTI. It won’t harm the cats, so we could try adding it to their water fountain, but more likely we will get some cranberry supplements and add the powder to his food.
We’ll figure it out.
Meanwhile, we are now $345 and change poorer. It meant going into the money we were setting aside for a downpayment on a new van.
*sigh*
It could have been worse.
Ah, I hear the girls coming down the stairs. Time for the evening medications and feeding!
The Re-Farmer
Wow. Things have lurched from great to not-great pretty severely, today!
But first, kitten updates!
All six of the inside kittens have figure out how to get out of baby jail. When I was up and about this morning, they got all excited and started wailing, so I put them on my bed with a bunch of toys, and they were happy!
The new kitten, Question (who, it turns out, is female) is definitely more lethargic than the other kittens. I had to wash her eyes out this morning, and throughout the day, we were more likely to find her sleeping somewhere by herself, rather than running around and playing with the other kittens.
They can get out of baby jail, but then they want to get back in and seem to have more difficulty, so I moved the little scratching post over. They can now climb up it and access the top of the “door” to get back in.
We have to keep the door closed and severely watch our feet, now!
When I went to feed the outside cats, I found several kittens curled up together and sleeping on the cat bed we brought in with the trio of kittens I found yesterday. I did not see the trio and hoped the mama had come by and got them, but as I was finishing my rounds, I spotted the two orange ones. Looks like they were just hiding under the counter shelf. The problem is, there’s still been no sign of Caramel. At least Gooby did show up last night. I was concerned about him. When I told the girls about not seeing him, they told me he’s been up on the roof, looking plaintively into their window, and batting at the screen to get in!
One important thing is that I was finally able to catch the kitten with one eye that’s been stuck shut for days. It took the longest time to gently moisten the gunk. It was completely dry and rock hard. The entire eye area was quite swollen. When it got to the point that I could finally, ever so gently, pull apart the lids a bit, all I could see was red tissue. I feared the eye may have been lost, but when I saw the kitten later, the eye was still open, and I could actually see the eyeball. So maybe I got to it in time. I sure hope so.
It’s been hot today, so all the cats and kittens outside are mostly lying around in the shade, sleeping! We were getting severe thunderstorm warnings today, too, but all we’ve got outside here is high winds. I’ll be dong my evening rounds pretty soon, so I’ll be sure to check on the eyes as best I can.
I have a birthday this month, and one of the books my husband ordered for me as gifts arrived today.
Click on the contents image to see the whole thing. The other two books are being shipped together, and are on the same general topic.
My husband knows what I like! 💖💖💖
Oh, I just checked the tracking, and apparently the other two books came in today! I may have gone to the post office before they had a chance to finish processing the parcels. I’ll have to go back tomorrow to pick them up. 😊
The girls, meanwhile, treated us to take out. Normally, the birthday person gets to choose what restaurant we get food from, but this time I told the girls to use the money to get their driver’s licenses for my birthday – or at least get appointments made. The last time my younger daughter was able to book a road test to get her full licence, the nearest appointment was 3 months ahead. She has to book 2 hours with a driving instructor before she can book a road test, though. That got delayed by the lockdowns, and just hasn’t happened, since. Who knows how backed up things might still be. Her sister needs to do the written test to get her learners licence.
The girls still wanted to treat the family, though, so my younger daughter drove me into town. We got a bucket of fried chicken, then hit the grocery store for a few other things, including the cheesecake I chose for a birthday cake. It was very delicious! Last month, the girls picked up the entire Columbo series on DVD, so we enjoyed the food while watching Columbo.
Anyone else remember when TV shows were actually good? It’s been so long…
There was one major downside of the day, though.
I got word on the van.
That noise I was hearing from the back?
It was the brakes. They all need replacing.
Which… considering how long it’s been since we had the brakes done, is pretty fair. However, it’ll cost almost $730 to do them. The power steering pressure hose that needs replacing will be almost $270. So we’re looking at just under a thousand dollars in repairs.
We don’t have that, even if we dip into savings, which is supposed to be going towards a down payment for a replacement vehicle.
The van isn’t even worth that much.
I saw the message letting me know the cost just before the garage closed, so I don’t expect to hear from him again until tomorrow, but I was honest and said as much regarding the repairs. He knows our situation, so I’m sure he was expecting something like that. Then I asked if he thought it was too soon to apply for financing on that Caravan his still has for sale! For all I know, the price on that has dropped again. I haven’t looked at it since I brought my mother’s car in to get it looked at because the check engine light had turned on. There wasn’t anything serious and he cleared the codes but, yesterday, it turned back on again. *sigh*
Talking about it with my husband, he brought up the possibility of asking if we could pay as much as we can for the brakes now – they would be the higher priority – and pay the rest off next month, then do the power steering pressure hose another month. As he pointed out, the van may not be worth much when it comes to dollar value, but it’s a vehicle that runs, and a vehicle that runs is worth a lot more than one that doesn’t! That’s something I can talk about with our mechanic tomorrow. The thing is, we plan to try and replace the van before winter. If we spread out the cost of repairs over several months, we’d be done at about the same time I’d be applying for a replacement vehicle anyhow – but we’d have nothing for a down payment except the “trade in” value of the van. Which would be going for scrap. So all that money we’d be paying would basically be throw away. When we did apply for financing before, it was with no trade in and no down payment, so maybe we can do that again, too. Either way, I’ll talk to the garage about it tomorrow.
Oh, I just thought of something. If we don’t fix the van and sell it for scrap, we’d be cancelling the insurance on it – and that will free up some budget that can go towards a replacement vehicle… Hmmm…
Well, what will be will be.
Time for me to head outside and check on the kitties!
The Re-Farmer
The inside kittens are starting to get very mobile!
This morning, I took them out to run around on the bed for a while.
David came over to investigate.
Then to groom!
David likes the babies. Also, in just a few minutes, he groomed them more than I’ve ever seen Decimus grooming them!
While doing my morning rounds, I remembered to go into the storage house *shudder* to see if I could find something to use as a litter pan for the kittens. I found a stack of broiler pan drip trays that I considered, but ended up choosing a very old, rectangular roasting pan. It has straight sides that are about 2 inches high. Low enough for the kittens to climb over, but high enough to keep the litter in. I hope!
I heard from the Cat Lady last night. They got back from their trip, but came home to a kitty that got hand, foot and mouth disease while they were gone, so they’ve already had to go to the vet. He might lose an eye to it, and he’s got sores all over inside his mouth. Poor thing!
Once they deal with stuff at home, they’ll need to go to their cottage to assess storm damage that happened while they were gone, too. That’s a lot closer to us, so she plans to come by to pick up Ghosty and her sibling (who got some eye washing this morning), and drop off stuff for the cats. She did a lot of couponing while in the US and found a metal pet cage for us. It’s a smaller one, she says, but big enough for cats, so we won’t have to use baby jail anymore.
Which would be very useful. The kittens are starting to climb a lot more, and reaching the second level. The metal wire squares that make up some of the walls, plus the door, have larger openings that the kittens can easily fit through. A new cage where they can’t climb through the walls will be much appreciated!
The outside kittens were also out and about. As I was finishing up and preparing to go back inside, I spotted this.
One of the mamas had brought the babies a present!
So I went in through the main doors instead of the sun room!
I’ve been seeing the mamas bringing mice for the babies more often. Last night, while I was checking on some banging noises outside (fire crackers, not gun shots), I came into the sun room for a moment. I heard a kitten making a very strange, deep sounding growling noise from behind the inner door. I tried to see what was going on and found two kittens. One, the younger tuxedo, ran off, but he was the source of the strange growl. After a bit of effort, I could finally see the front of him and why he was making such a strange noise. He was trying to growl while clutching a mouse in his teeth!
The yard cats are most definitely earning their keep!
Oh! I hear thunder coming closer. Time to shut down the computer!
The Re-Farmer
First, though, I want to wish all my visitors from the US a Happy Independence Day!
When heading out into the sun room this afternoon, I disturbed Adam from out of a corner. Why is it that they insist on lying in the junkiest corner? 😄 When she ran off, I saw this.
She had been nursing all of the kittens, including Ghosty’s sibling.
When I came out with the kibble this morning, I found him at the food bowl we moved into the sun room, with his mom; the white and grey I can never keep track of. She ran off, but he just stayed at the bowl. Turned out his eyes were completely stuck shut. So I took him inside and got my husband to hold him while I washed his eyes. It didn’t take much at all, which is good, and he was soon returned to mama.
Later in the evening, I spotted his mama nursing all of the babies, too. So the two mamas have basically combined their litters into a single creche. I’m happy about that! I keep thinking it might be 3 litters, but today, at least, it appeared to be two litters; Adam’s 4 older kittens, plus the white and grey’s remaining kitten.
Ghosty, meanwhile, is doing quite well.
Decimus has accepted her, and allows her to nurse. They both enjoy the wet cat food and kitten kibble, too. I pre-dosed the kitten kibble with lysine when I transferred it into a resealable container. We have not needed to wash her eyes lately, which is excellent progress. She’s still a bit sticky, but nowhere near as bad as when we brought her in!
Too many babies!
The Re-Farmer
I’m quite late starting this, because I am so very tired. One of the main reasons why is, almost no sleep last night!
We had a storm blow over us. A few of them. While we had driving rains and high winds, thunger and lightning, we did not actually get the brunt of any of the storms. From photos I saw people sharing in local groups online, the town to the north of us got hit much harder than we did!
Because of the wind and rain, we ended up propping the sun room doors like we do in the winter, making sure there was something blocking the outer door to make sure it didn’t get slammed shut. This way, the kittens and cats would have a more secure shelter in there. With the doors open, as we’ve been leaving them lately, the wind was blowing the rain straight through, and half the floor was soaked in no time. After propping the doors, we left the shop lights on, so we could check the room from the bathroom window, too.
At about 2 in the morning, one of my daughters went into the sun room to check on things. When she untied and opened the inner door, she discovered the ghost kitten huddled on the threshold between the doors, completely alone. Both its eyes were completely stuck shut.
So she brought it in. They washed its eyes, and brought it to my room to baby jail, to see if Decimus would accept her. This kitten is older than hers but at least a few weeks, but more helpless.
At first, Decimus seemed to be okay with this. The kitten immediately tried to find nip, and she did not seem to object. I was still awake, so I stayed up and watched over them for a while. When Decimus started hissing and batting at the ghost baby, I let the girls know. They came with the cat carrier and took the baby upstairs with them. They also gave it wet cat food, with a dose of lysine. It took a while to figure out the dish of food, but when she did, she basically sprawled on top of it and devoured it. Then she curled up in my daughters arms (they took turns holding her) and went to sleep.
In the morning, they tried bringing her back to Decimus. Again, Decimus seemed okay with her at first, but she was so aggressive with trying to find nip and failing, pushing the other kittens aside, we finally took her out. I’d make a quick trip into town to get some cat milk and kitten kibble, and my daughter bottle fed it for a while. Ghosty didn’t seem to figure out the bottle, either, but my daughter just squeezed the bottle so she at least got drips of the milk. Then, she was put back with Decimus.
With a full belly, she didn’t try to nurse, and just snuggled, instead. Decimus seemed quite okay with that!
So, we now have another kitten in the house. At least this one is slated to be taken by the cat lady when she gets back. She’s out of the country right now, but I’ve been sending her pictures and keeping her updates. She will take both gooby babies. While she has had no luck adopting out bonded pairs, singletons get adopted quickly. She took in a pair of older kittens from a shelter that were slated for euthanasia before she left the country, and they were adopted out within 24 hours!
Since then, I’ve also been able to catch and bring Ghosty’s litter mate inside to get its eyes and nostrils washed. It isn’t anywhere near as bad as Ghosty, but still bad enough to be a problem. It looks like these two are the only ones of this litter. I still haven’t managed to count how many are in Adam’s litter, because they run and hide so quickly. Plus, I think there is a third litter visiting the sun room. The tuxedo that was here earlier seems to like having other kittens to play with, but he still tends to stay away, claiming the cat house as his own.
While we were up and about with kitten happenings, my daughter were in the dining room when they heard a whole lot of cracking and crunching noises. Either a tree fell down, or the one that was stuck fell further down.
When heading out for my morning rounds, I found more downed branches in the yard than usual. The biggest drop was a chunk of one of three big maples near the fire pit. The middle one has died, and one of the main branches finally broke. Thankfully, it fell into a part of the yard that is wide open.
I ended up finding quite a few downed branches, this time. We haven’t had a lot before now, since we’ve been cutting down as many dead branches as we can reach. Those winds last night, though, were really something. We had power flicker out for a few moments. Enough to shut down our computers (we weren’t fast enough in shutting them down first!), and wake my husband. His CPAP is quite high pressure, so he’s got a chin strap to keep his mouth closed while he sleeps. Rather than a face mask, he has nozzles that fit into his nostrils. If the CPAP shuts off, he suddenly has no air at all. As you can imagine, it’s a very stressful way to be awakened!
Still, I have no complaints. The garden is enjoying the rain, and while one potato bed had all its greenery blown to one side, there was no damage. In fact, the closest thing to damage I found was a hoof print, right next to a summer squash seedling! A deer had made its way through, and almost squished one of the squash we re-sowed.
Today was a slightly cooler day, with a high if “only” 25C/77F, so I took advantage of it to do work outside. Tomorrow is supposed to be even better, with a high of only 19C/66F. Alas, we will be going above 20C/68F again after that, but not quite like the heat we’ve been having for the past while.
I look forward to the work, but am now concerned I might not be able to do it. As I was writing this, I got up to go to the washroom, and my left knee tried to give out. Not with pain. It just decided it wanted to dislocate. Then when I got back and tried to sit down, I started getting a Charlie horse in my left leg! Thankfully, it didn’t get bad, and I was able to stretch it and relax it before it could do that.
I’ll share just what I did to cause all this, in my next post!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 