kittens

The Costco shop that didn’t happen

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

Oh, wow. What a day.

I don’t mean that in a good way, but I have to say that I am very grateful. Things went wrong in the best way possible, if that makes any sense!

Today was my day to go to Costco for our second stock up shopping trip. Shopping there on a Saturday is definitely better than on Black Friday! Still, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I just don’t like shopping in general. On top of that, while today was warmer than yesterday, the winds were still pretty high. But, it needed to be done, and it really wasn’t all that bad out, as far as winter weather goes in this area.

My mother called last night and we arranged for a grocery shopping and errands day on Monday. However, she mentioned being out of milk, so I told her I would swing by the grocery store in her town on the way out, and get some for her. She asked me to get her something to go with her tea, too. 😊

So that was my first stop of the day. While at the grocery store, I picked up a sandwich and a drink to tide me over until I got to the city.

I am so glad I did.

My plan had been to stop at a shopping mall near the Costco first to grab lunch at the food court, then do the shopping. As I was getting closer to the city, however, I began to notice the sound of tires on the road was getting louder. I had the radio on, and it was loud enough to be heard over the music, which is not usual.

I couldn’t think about it too much, though, once I made my first turn onto the highway bypassing most of the city. At this point, I was no longer driving with the wind at my back, but was getting blasted from the side. The truck was being buffeted quite a lot, until I finally reached my exit.

At this point, I turned off the radio and was listening to the tires. It still sounded like tires on the road. Just louder.

When I got to the mall, I found myself having to drive through the parking lot, trying to find a spot. It was really full, and I couldn’t find any, even far from the building. However, that sound was really bothering me. There is a Canadian Tire between this mall and the Costco, so I headed for the Canadian Tire. Just to make things even more interesting, by this time I was really needing a bathroom.

Thankfully, I found a parking spot near the Canadian Tire auto service area. When I got out of the truck, I quickly checked the tires. They looked find, but there was a lot of ice built up on the mud flaps. Could that be all it was?

I didn’t stop to find out and ran inside to use the bathroom, then messaged my family about the status of things. I messaged my brother, too. I had messaged them earlier about the possibility of meeting for lunch. My SIL had gone out of province and wasn’t back yet, and my brother was running errands. When they bowed out, I responded and said, just as well, and explained why.

After that, I went back to the truck and knocked the ice free from all the mud flaps. From the gouges in the ice, there was no doubt that it had been rubbing against the tires.

That is was pretty thick, too!

By the fourth tire, the scraper on my snow clearing brush broke off. That piece of ice beside it in the photo was probably the biggest of them all.

I then got into the truck and started backing out, thinking I could head back to the mall and get food.

Which is when the other noise started.

As soon as I started moving, there was a sort of screeching, rubbing, grinding noise.

I stopped and moved back into the stop, and the sound continued when I was moving forward.

I was not going to drive anywhere with that noise!

I thought that maybe it was just ice somewhere in there, but it wasn’t worth taking a chance. We only have the one vehicle!

Back into Canadian Tire I went.

After waiting in line for a while – there were a lot of people around – I told a guy what was happening and asked about getting it checked. He told me that they were really busy, and it was unlikely they’d be able to check it for at least 6 or 7 hours.

!!!

So I asked where the next nearest garage was and he told me about a couple of them.

I wasn’t about to drive the truck, though. After looking up on my maps app, I found which one was closest and headed that way.

Walking straight into the wind.

Thankfully, I was dressed for the weather, so I was fine. I made sure to wear my down filled parka today. It may be old and ratty, but it’s very warm.

I just checked, and the distance I walked was a little over half a mile.

I talked to the guy behind the counter, explaining the situation. Unfortunately, they were really busy, too. They closed at four and, even if we got the towed over, he couldn’t guarantee they’d be able to look at it before closing. The truck would be staying there for the weekend.

So I thanked them and decided, 6-7 hours isn’t that bad.

I was going to message my family but found my brother had tried to call me while I was walking, so I called him back. It turned out he was in the area – stuck waiting for a train! – and wanted to meet me. I told him I was going back to the Canadian Tire and why.

Amazingly, I got there before he did.

This time, I had the wind at my back, so it was a much more pleasant walk.

Once there, however, I found I was too late. They were now booking for Monday.

Meanwhile, I was concerned about the budget. There was only so much we could absorb. So I ended up calling my bank to talk about that. I ended up sitting in the truck to have the privacy and quiet to make the call.

I got an automated message saying how long the wait was expected to be and was able to choose a call back option.

I just finished on the phone when my brother called. He was in the auto service area, looking for me! When I told him where I was, he told me to stay there and he’d meet me.

When he got there, he asked me all sorts of questions, then got me to try moving the truck back a few feet, then forward again, while he listened.

He was able to narrow the noise down to the front tires (from the inside, the sound seemed to be all around). He also thought it sounded like metal on metal.

*sigh*

He wanted to try and look under, but didn’t want to lie on the snow. I had a tarp in the back, though so we brought that out. He looked, then had me move the truck back again, while he was looking under it.

After he got up and got me to more forward again, he told me everything that he could see looked in really good shape. The only thing he could think of that could be making the noise was the bearings.

I’ve had to replace a bearing before, and it didn’t sound anything at all like this.

If it is the bearings, he thinks it would likely cost around $1000.

!!!

He also said that when I was going in reverse, the sound seemed to come from the front driver’s side tire – but when I moved forward, it seemed to be coming from the front passenger side.

At that point, the only thing to do was to book the truck in. He said he would lend us a car – or I could possibly spend the night with them.

When we got back in and talked to the guy at the counter, my brother was able to tell him exactly what he saw for the notes.

Just checking the truck is going to cost almost $200 in total.

It’s now booked for 7am on Monday. I’d say that’s their earliest slot that no one else wanted. I won’t be in the city and the truck is staying in their parking lot, so it doesn’t matter to me. He did say that they will try and see it tomorrow, if possible. Otherwise, Monday it is.

While this was going on, my phone vibrated but didn’t ring. I don’t know why my phone doesn’t ring for incoming calls. It is set to both ring and vibrate, but there’s never a ring. Anyhow, it was CIBC trying to call me back. My brother and I were heading for the doors when I felt my pocket vibrating, so I took the call.

Long story short on that one: I spoke to 5 different people for 1 hour and 11 minutes. During this time, I followed my brother to his car, we sat there for a bit until I was on hold again, he drove me to his place, made a pot of tea and got out a lunch to heat up, all while I was either on hold or being transferred and put on hold again.

In the end, though, it was done. If necessary, we will have back up funds to finance the cost.

*sigh*

Meanwhile, my brother still had errands to do – and was going to be meeting my SIL at the airport! She was in the loop with messaging and we even spoke on the phone while having lunch. I am so glad I got that sandwich earlier, or I would have been dizzy and nauseous from hunger by that point! The hungrier I get, the sicker I get, but the more I lose my appetite. It’s really weird. The more I need to eat, the less I want to eat.

Anyhow.

During the drive to their place, the weather got really bad. By this time, it was past 2, so going to Costco was not going to happen. We would be losing light, soon, so I wanted to go straight home.

My brother then moved the car he drove so I could take their other car out of the garage, and we went our separate ways.

I don’t know what I would have done without my brother’s help! I’d still have talked to the bank, but likely would have had to find a hotel or something, and I don’t think there are any in this area.

By the time I was heading home, though, the road conditions and weather were excellent, so I made a stop at the small Walmart along the way. I figured I could at least pick up some butter and toilet paper.

I messaged my family and my daughter added a couple more things to the list that we would need soon.

They were out of butter, other than the expensive stuff sold in sticks, but I got a few other things. I even got some more kibble, just in case.

Then I loaded the car and started messaging my family to let them know I was soon to be back on the road, when I realized, I forgot the toilet paper! 😄😄 We aren’t out, but it would have been good to have extra, just in case.

Meanwhile, I also got messages from the Cat Lady while I was driving to the Walmart. I answered her and told her what was going on.

Finally, I was on the road home again. Since I had the cat food, I had arranged for the sun room doors to be untied so I could go in that way with them.

Which is why I found the kitten.

The tiny little grey and white kitten that wasn’t getting any bigger, lying on one of the patio blocks in front of the shelf shelter.

😭

I can’t say it was a surprise, since she was obviously not thriving. With the cold we’ve been having, it was probably just too much for her tiny body. There was nothing obviously wrong with her. She didn’t seem sick, no injuries, just… not thriving. I knew that if we were going to lose any to natural causes, she was the most likely.

It still really sucks. Yes, we have too many yard cats, but it’s always sad when we lose them – and we lost so many this year!

I couldn’t even bury her. I had to put her in the branch pile for cremation.

*sigh*

So, that’s our situation now. I’ve got my brother’s car again – he was telling me that, at this point, I’ve driven their “new” car more than he has! – which is such a Godsend. The fact that I was able to get the truck parked right at the garage is another thing to be grateful for.

Meanwhile, we’re going to have to change things up next week, since we have no way of knowing when we’ll get the truck back. Even if they check it and find the problem, they may not be able to actually repair it right away.

The Cat Lady has already said she will reschedule the spays on Thursday. I may or may not have to reschedule with my mother on Monday, but if we don’t get the truck back on Monday or Tuesday, my daughter and I will have to reschedule her doctor’s appointment and my eye appointment, which are both on Wednesday. Which we might have had to do anyhow. My daughter still has her dizzy spells and might not be able to drive me home from my eye appointment, even if we had the truck, and my brother doesn’t want anyone but me driving their car.

Oof.

What a day!

For all the things that went wrong, I can still say, they went wrong in as good a way as possible. I didn’t break down on the road, or while I was running errands for my mother or.. or… or… There are so many ways things could have been worse.

Meanwhile, I am safe at home and, thanks go my brother, we have transportation.

Life is good, and we have much to be thankful for.

The Re-Farmer

Morning kitties

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First up, a great big Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbours in the US. I hope you have an awesome day with friends and family and lots of delicious food! You have much to be thankful for, this year. 💕🦃

My daughter has not been able to get much sleep for the past couple of days, so she asked me to do the morning rounds today.

I got to indulge in kitties this morning!

Of course, there is always stuff to do, and this morning I did a bit of shoveling of paths and clearing of snow.

The first photo above is the little solar panels for the motion activated lights inside the kibble and food bowl shelters. They were completely covered with snow.

There isn’t a lot of snow on the ground, but enough that I made paths to the shrine and the catio. In the second photo above, you can see how some snow was piled up around the bottom of the catio. We tried to make sure the extra length of vinyl wrapped around the catio was tucked under the frame when we put it on, but of course, it can get loose. I wanted to make sure there was no chance of the wind catching the edges and pulling them loose. Of course, the snow will also act as an insulating layer and keep out any breezes that might get under. The catio is slightly elevated in the front, which did not get snow added, since the cats need space to slip into the door, and the door itself needs room to swing open if we need to untie it to reach inside.

The added insulation ceiling on the isolation shelter seems to have made quite a difference! Quite a few cats like to hand out in the upper level. The corner where the heated water bowl is actually gets condensation of the window and sliding door. The cutout for the extension cord is in that corner, too, and that’s where you can see a single spot where the snow is melted from below.

I’m quite happy with how this shelter is working out.

By the time I was heading back inside through the sun room, the cats had mostly finished eating and were settling in the various beds and cozy spots.

Adding that strip of insulation on the shelf in the isolation shelter is being much appreciated by little toe beans! They make full use of the spaces made for them in the sun room, too, including the cage under the platform – both in it and on top of it! Unfortunately, they do knock off the pieces of insulation in some areas, like one of the upper level cubes inside the cage, and even in the narrow space between the top of the cage and the platform. They knocked off the feed bag bed in the black shelf so often, I just left it on the floor. They seem to really like it on there, too.

What a bunch of cuties!

Surely, there are people out there that would want to adopt them!

Right?

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

Hello, Little One – also, confirmation!

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I headed out to do the morning rounds today. My daughters have been doing it so I can sleep in, but as much as I’m not a morning person, I was really missing the yard cats!

Like this little one, who followed me up the driveway.

This is the one my daughters have named Magda. She is happily socialized, except for on thing.

She does not like to be carried.

I tried picking her up to carry her so she wouldn’t be walking in the cold snow, but she didn’t like that. So I tried again and managed to accomplish this.

As long as I wasn’t holding her in my arms, she was good, and she stayed in my jacket until I poured her out in the sun room when I was done.

I tried to do a head count this morning. I got either 38 or 39.

Last night I repaired a cat collar that we found a while back and brought it out with me. I was happy to see Collin still had his – he’s the fixed cat that is the hardest to tell apart from the other white and greys. I got the collar on Nosy. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Then I found a collar in one of the cat beds on the platform. Looking around, I discovered the Judgement no longer had a collar, so I got that back on him.

Giving the cats warm, softened cat food in the mornings is something they really enjoy, but we’re starting to have a problem. The food outside freezes before they finish it! Last night, I was able to break or knock loose most of it, but there was one tray that it was really stuck to. Once it’s loose, they can eat it, but… well… it’s frozen.

This morning, I found ice in the heated water bowl in the sun room.

*sigh*

That was the one my SIL passed on to us that was left from when they had dogs. It was working fine when I checked on things last night.

We do still have two working heated water bowls; one in the water bowl shelter and one in the isolation shelter.

Anyone out there that has used these for a long time? Is it normal for heated water bowls to stop working for no obvious reason? We’ve had some last only one year. Brand or size doesn’t seem to make a difference.

Anyhow.

Not long ago, I got some messages from the Cat Lady. We are not confirmed. On Dec. 5, we are two bring two females in to get spayed, vaccinated and treated for ear mites.

I know we’ll be able to get Kohl in – among the kittens, she’s the only female we can get that’s at least 2 pounds in weight. We have a couple of adult females that we should be able to get into a carrier. We give the cats their last feeding of the day before it gets dark, which is around 4:30 right now, so fasting will not be an issue. Of course, if they do any hunting during the night, we have no way of knowing that, but there isn’t much to hunt out there this time of year, either.

Hopefully, the rescue will be able to help us get a couple more done each month over the winter, and we can trap more of the adult ladies before they go into heat. Many of the kittens are so small, we have a bit more time for them, but there are some larger ones we don’t know the gender of, so it’s hard to say.

It just occurred to me. I haven’t seen Broccoli for a while. I’ve seen Brussel and Sprout, but not their mom.

Hmmm.

Well, it is what it is. Sometimes, they disappear for weeks or months. Sometimes, they don’t come back at all. We just do the best we can.

Which is all any of us can do, isn’t it?

The Re-Farmer

First snow – sort of – and things went well

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It seems so odd, having my daughter doing the morning rounds so I can sleep in. 😄

I still wake up at first light, just out of habit, but I at least got another hour or so of sleep in after that. I do miss seeing all the kitties first thing in the morning, though!

Today was my mother’s appointment in the city for eye treatment, and I needed to be on the road by 10:30am. Knowing that we’d be on the road at lunch time, and that it would be hours before we could eat, I made sure to have a late breakfast before heading out.

I was a bit surprised to see actual snow on the ground. I suppose this is technically our first snow.

It was still there, sort of, when I got home. We had so much rain, I wasn’t expecting to see any.

Unfortunately, that rain did cause another problem – it froze the lock on the gate! I lost a few minutes, warming it up so I could unlock it and open the gate. Thankfully, when I work out times to get places, I try to factor in extra time, just for stuff like this!

Also for stuff like stopping for gas. Usually, I would do that before picking up my mother, but I told her when to expect me and the delay had me running later than that, so I went to her place first. We left pretty much right away so I could stop for gas, then continued on.

The drive in went really well. The roads were clear (unlike other parts of the province, where highways were still closed due to icy conditions), traffic went smoothly, there was no construction or accidents or any delays. We actually got to the clinic an hour early!

Which worked out. By the time my mother was checked in and we went to the waiting room, it wasn’t long at all before she was called in for the first part of her appointment, at least 40 minutes early!

The first thing was to check her eye with the eye chart – she couldn’t see even a single letter with her right eye, just dark – then dilate the eye so they could get pictures. After a few minutes to dilate, she was taken to another room for the scan.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to try and get video this time, because it was hard enough just to get a clear still shot. The poor guy kept trying to find a way to get her to focus in one spot and stop moving her eye, but she kept trying to look for something to focus on. How do you focus on something you can’t see? Her eye was darting all over the place. Then she started cranking her head to one side, trying to find something she could see, which put her eye outside the machine’s frame. We both tried to find a way to tell her to just try and look straight ahead to where the thought the green X she couldn’t see was supposed to be, and not move.

He did eventually get the shots he needed, though, and then it was off to a different waiting room. After a while, the doctor swung by and told my mother she could go into the next room, but in the time it took use to get her up and moving with her walker, he was gone. We didn’t know which room she was supposed to go into. So she sat on her walker while we looked around to see if he’d come by again which, unfortunately, put my mother in the way in an intersection of hallways.

We were next to a room with an open door that had the computer monitors up and running, though, and the eye images looked familiar. So I went in and looked around on the screens for a name. Sure enough, it was my mother’s file, so that was the room she was supposed to go into.

I told her this, but she wouldn’t move, because the doctor wasn’t there to tell her to go into there.

We waited a few more minutes until a door in the next room opened. The doctor was there with another patient. He was surprised to see us, so I quickly told him, we didn’t see which room he’d indicated and, while I saw her name on the screen in the one room, my mother was refusing to go in. So he came out and assured her that it was the right space before returning to his patient. He was very apologetic when he came back later. He said he had indicated which room and I told him, we simply missed it. I did actually see his arm wave, but couldn’t tell where he was waving us to.

At this point, he went over the images from the past two visits, plus the new ones, for comparison. He asked how my mother felt and she said, she saw no change. Which is actually a good thing, since it means things are not getting worse. The scans show improvement, but she’s not seeing a change because of the scar tissue. There is nothing that can be done about that.

He gave her the option of not getting the treatment at all today. There is still some blood in her eye, but very little. All they can do is keep it from getting worse. At this stage, if she skipped the treatment, he couldn’t say, one way or the other, if the bleeding would come back or not. She would have to come back for monitoring, but not for a couple of months. At the same time, he didn’t want to put her through the treatment, she didn’t want it.

My mother’s response was, we’re here, so we may as well do it!

Once that was decided, he then took care of the freezing and antibiotic drops, then the freezing injection, which needs 7 minutes before the final injections. While we were waiting, we kept talking, and the doctor was trying to explain again that all he could do right now was try to keep things from getting worse.

Then my mother asked if getting new glasses would help.

*sigh*

There’s two problems with her question. One is, she isn’t understanding that the problem is scar tissue. No prescription lens is going to make a difference for her right eye. Her left eye, maybe, but that’s it. I told her, if she wanted to, she could wear her new glasses, which would make a difference for her left eye, but no glasses will help with her right eye, which the doctor confirmed.

Which leads to the other problem with her question. She’s been refusing to wear her new glasses because they didn’t make her headaches go away. Her macular degeneration had not started when she had her eyes tested and got her new glasses, but it must have started very soon after. My mother simply decided that the problems with her vision were being caused by the new glasses, which she decided was because the eye doctor gave her the wrong prescription – and she’d already re-written her memory about how they treated her when I brought her to pick up the new glasses. She had also been angry about how much the glasses cost, thinking they should still cost as much as glasses did decades ago. Add in that the eye doctor was female, which my mother views as even worse that her being Asian, and my mother was quite ready to blame the eye doctor, even though it’s entirely possible my mother had messed up her own prescription. I was in the room while she was being tested, and I could see that it’s possible she started giving answers because she was tired and not able to actually tell one setting from another, or not giving herself the time to see. The doctor that referred her to this clinic, however, was a male, so in her mind, he would get it right, because males are better at such things than females. 🫤 The specialist treating her is Asian, but he’s male, so that sort of makes up for it, in her mind. 🫤

After the seven minutes where up, the doctor moved on to the next steps. Unfortunately, the doctor was having the same problem the tech was. My mother couldn’t stop moving her eye. Or moving in general. When asked to open her eyes wide, she would raise her eyebrows, but that did nothing to open her eyes any wider. At one point, she moved her eye during an injection, resulting in a scratch. That got the disinfectant drops right away. Then with another injection, he had it all ready and was about to do it when he stopped and left the room. He’d spotted that my mother had managed to breathe, possibly spit on, the freshly exposed needle just before he moved it to her eye. He wasn’t going to take any chances, and got a new needle.

This was the first time the treatment hurt for my mother, and that would be because of the movement during an injection. Every time she blinked her eye after that, she felt pain, even with the freezing.

Besides that, everything went smoothly and quickly. The doctor said for her to come back in 2 or 3 months, but there would be no injection. They would just need to check her eye.

After asking my mother about it, we went with an appointment in three months. Of course, if there is any pain that might suggest a possible infection, she is to come back right away, or if the clinic is closed, to go to a specific ER in the city that can deal with eye issues.

Overall, the whole thing went well and smoothly. My mother didn’t try to get out of the appointment. She seemed to be in good spirits and feeling stronger than I’ve seen her in a while. No sudden changes in behaviour or strange rants. Even while driving, there was only one time when she suddenly screamed because she didn’t like how close she thought I was getting to another vehicle, as I was maneuvering into the disabled parking spot. I had plenty of space, but her exclamation was enough to potentially cause an accident, all on its own. Thankfully, it was in a parking lot, not in the middle of traffic. I had to remind her of my number one rule in the vehicle: no distracting the driver!

Not only did she seem in good spirits and was having one of her good days in behaviour, she actually expressed gratitude and complimented me, without any passive aggressive criticisms at the same time. Which is actually quite out of character for her, most of the time.

I’ll take the good when it happens, and be thankful for it!

After the appointment, it was straight back to her town with only a stop at the gas station to pick up fried chicken and wedges for a very, very late lunch. Plus milk, the only thing she was out of at home! With Meals on Wheels coming by three times a week, her groceries are lasting a lot longer.

While we were having our very late lunch, it was still too early for her to take her supper time medications. She’d gotten a call this morning from the home care scheduler, saying they didn’t have anyone who could come by this morning. They are supposed to come in between 7 and 9 am – and my mom got the call at 9! She’d already gotten up and had them with her breakfast, at 6am. When she had her medication assist before bed last night, she mentioned that she was going into the city today and wasn’t sure if she’d be back in time for the supper medication assist, which the scheduler did have in her notes. In the end, my mother told them not to come in for both remaining visits today. She knew she would be tired, and the timing of their visits have sometimes been disruptive for her. After telling me this, I made sure to get her supper medications ready in the miniature tagine pinch pot I brought for her for her medications. She can see how many pills are in there, and it has an adorable little cover.

As we were talking, however, she noticed something on her table and picked it up – and it turned out to be a half pill from her morning medications! She hadn’t used the little pinch pot first, after taking them out of the blister pack, and put them straight into her mouth. She had dropped one without noticing!

Oops.

At least she did find it again.

I didn’t stay too much longer after that, as I was feeling pretty tired, too. I also left early enough to stop at the post office on the way home. Canada Post is on strike right now, but that doesn’t stop the junk mail from being delivered. 🫤🫤 There did turn out to be a Purolator package waiting for us, though.

When I got home, I had a whole crowd of yard cats waiting for me! It was time for their evening feeding, so I took care of that, while one of my daughters took care of the inside cat feeding.

I tried to do a head count, and I might have counted 36, but they were moving around so much, I may have counted some, twice.

I also found a collar on the sun room floor. Nosy keeps managing to get his off. This time, I spotted a cat I thought might be Collin. After checking his ear for a tattoo, I put the collar on him, instead. He’s the one fixed cat that is the hardest to tell apart from the other white and greys! Nosy and Stinky at least have distinctive markings.

The Cat Lady had ordered some kibble for us from Amazon, but it got delivered to her place instead, for some reason. We missed being able to meet up during my trip to pick up kibble after my daughter’s doctor visit yesterday, so I messaged her about possibly meeting tomorrow. She’ll see what her schedule is like and message me back in the morning.

All in all, everything went really well today. We’ll just need to monitor my mother in regards to how her eye is feeling.

I like it when things are nice and smooth and boring. I’m at a stage in my life where the less excitement there is, the better! 😄😄

I’m also really appreciating our lack of snow right now. I’ve got a lot of driving around to do in the last week of November and the first week of December, between medical appointments and stock up shopping trips. I don’t mind the colder temperatures we’re going to be getting. I just want the roads to stay clear! Looking at the long range forecasts, into December, it’s almost looking as if we’ll be getting a green Christmas! When we lived in the city, we had quite a few of those, even though we lived further north than we do now. Granted, we also would get snow in June or July, so it’s a trade off I’m okay with! 😄 Still, this old body could do without snow for the rest of my life, if I could manage it! 😄

Ah, well. It is what it is! I’m just going to be thankful for what we have now. 😊😊

The Re-Farmer

What an awesome day!

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My plans for today were mostly thrown out the window. I completely forgot that today was Saturday.

We had a date this afternoon!

Which worked out, since it turned out to be a damp, then rainy day. So much for two days without rain that I could have used to get work done outside!

We did still have time to get a few things done in the morning, which is when we had another surprise.

My brother called to let us know he was on his way! The last time they were out here, he was not able to finish unloading a trailer. He needed to get that done before snow arrived, and snow was already hitting some cities to the south west of us.

My daughter and I headed outside to get the truck ready and I went to open the gate for him. I was in the process of opening it when he drove up. Talk about perfect timing!

While my daughter fired up the compressor, topped up the tires on the truck, then pumped up the flat on my mother’s car, my brother and I went to check out the new expeller. He was so thrilled and relieved that they came out before winter. He was afraid we might get ghosted, like the other company we’d originally thought to go with, partly because they were closer. That may have been the problem, as our vandal does visit the town they are in, and we’re pretty sure he would have known at least someone who worked there. As with other businesses to the North of us that we’ve tried to hire, they just stopped responding to our calls. The company that did the job is South of us, and our vandal just doesn’t hang out in that area.

We can’t prove this, of course, and it’s entirely possible the other company ghosted us for some other reason, but it is still the most likely reason. It has simply happened too often, and always with companies in towns our vandal spends a lot of time in, and knows a lot of people in.

As my brother and I looked over the work done, I learned a few things that I did not remember from when the system was originally installed. For example, the trench that was dug was done by my father, using a claw excavator. I have no memory of that! I only remember the trench, already dug, from where it was by the house and the new well.

Part way through the job, the transmission on the claw excavator gave out. They ended up having to drag it into position, my dad would dig out a section, then they’d drag it into the next position so he could dig out the next section, until it was finally done!

That must have been insane – but, you do what you can with the tools you have!

That sounds like a rather familiar situation… 😄

I also learned that the cattle fountain behind the barn was installed later, not at the same time as everything else.

After we checked it all out, my brother got to work, while I joined my daughter. She was done with the truck, so I moved that into the yard, so it would be closer for my husband. Our date this afternoon was to meet his father in town – and be introduced to his girlfriend! My older daughter was not going to be able to come with us, so we only needed to get one back seat ready in the cab. Then we moved things out so that we could put my husband’s walker on the other side, rather than into the truck box.

At one point, my brother came over with some stuff they wanted to pass on to us, including a case of spice bottles! They’d bought them for their own use and ended up not needing them all, so there was an entire unopened case, plus one, they passed on to us. They thought we might be able to use them to store seeds in, and they are absolutely right. There are so many, we’ll be able to use them for our herbs and spices, too, and have lots left over!

He also got to check out how we have the isolation shelter set up for the winter. The last time he saw it, it was still sitting out near the well cap. He also thought that the new location was a much better spot.

So do the kitties!

The first photo above is the first time I’ve been able to get both Kohl and Rabi in the same shot in months! 😂

Once the truck was ready, I did a few things around the yard, like putting away the last garden hose and covering the septic tank with the insulated tarp. I was never able to hose down the other side of it, but that was really just to remove damp leaves that were stuck to it, rather than having to actually clean it. The big hose that my brother lent us, in case we needed to divert the septic while the new expeller was being installed, got tucked away into the barn. The garden tools, wagon and wheel barrow got put away, too. I don’t expect we’ll be able to do much more in the garden beds. It would be good if we can – anything done now is one less job that needs to be done in the spring – but there is nothing essential. If we do get another nice, dry day, it’ll be chain saw time to get that dead spruce and the crab apple tree it fell on, cleared. That could be left until spring, if we have to, but I’d rather get it done before the snow flies. Weather willing!

My brother was still here when it was time for us to head out. He was really taking advantage of being able to come out, to do as much as he could. I don’t expect he’ll be able to move the farm equipment to where he intends to store them more permanently before the snow hits, but we’ll see.

Before leaving, my daughter made sure to feed the outside cats and get them away from the truck, so I could safely drive it out of the yard. 😁

It had been arranged that we would meet at the new Dairy Queen in town. That last time my FIL was in the area, that lot had a garage on it, and that burned down years ago!

We got there early and got some snacks and drinks while we waited.

Then it started to rain.

They ended up arriving late, but got there safe and sound. Not so much because of the rain, it turned out, but because my FIL wanted to take the “scenic” route – a shorter and more direct route, but one that goes through a number of small towns, so it’s slower. He hadn’t seen the area in years, either, so his “adopted” daughter (my SIL’s closest childhood friend) was happy to oblige.

We then had introductions and an absolutely grand visit. My FIL’s new girlfriend is awesome, and they are both so happy! They’re like a couple of teenagers in love. 😊 Like my FIL, she is widowed, and neither ever expected to find love again, this late in their lives. My late MIL would definitely approve.

We ended up visiting for almost two hours! Thankfully, it was between the lunch and supper rushes, so we were never taking up needed table space. Plus, we would get more food every now and then, too.

The down side is, because we were there early and they got there late, we were there for almost three hours in total.

Which was really too much for my husband. Not that he was going to show any sort of discomfort in front of his father. He hasn’t seen his dad in so long, and this was a rare opportunity. Neither of them are able bodied, though my FIL has improved his own mobility. Largely due to the extra exercise he gets, using his walker to get to his girlfriend’s apartment (they live in the same assisted living complex). He’s under orders from his physical therapist: she doesn’t go to his place, he goes to hers! Even the health care aid that helps him put his socks on in the morning has commented that his legs are getting noticeably more muscular!

My husband, on the other hand, is in a very different situation, and by the time we were heading out, he was having trouble standing up straight. Once we got home, he immediately got out the TENS machine, and he is currently wired up and getting zapped. He’s going to really pay for this outing, tomorrow, but he says it was worth it to be able to see his father.

Which made our day quadruple awesome. We got to see my brother, my FIL, my husband’s “sister”, and finally meet the woman that has made my FIL so happy, all in one day.

We are truly blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

The Re-Farmer

Adorable balls of fluff!

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There must be someone out there willing to adopt these beauties!

The long haired gene showed up a few years ago, and now we have so many handsome babies!

These ones will likely need to be trapped for spays and neuters, though. One of the fluffballs does allow pets, sometimes, but the other two are not quite there yet.

At times like this, we could just close up the ramp door of the isolation shelter to keep them in place for an overnight fast before getting fixed. Getting them out and into carriers, though, would not be so easy!

The tabby on the shelf on top is Rabi, Kohl’s brother, from the oldest litter. He’s getting so big, yet he’s only about 6-7 months old!

We have way, way too many cats.

I love every one of them!

The Re-Farmer

Not today

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Well, I’m glad I got as much done yesterday as I did, but today I’m paying for it!

My plans for outside, today?

Not going to happen.

Oh, I did my morning rounds, as usual, and got to make some kitties very happy.

The full belly kittens especially enjoy the isolation shelter, with its new, donated beds.

There is one thing I need to figure out about the isolation shelter, for times like this, when no cats are being isolated. I specifically made the door to also be a ramp, so they can go in and out freely. Where it’s sitting now, though, that big, wide opening is facing directly south. Which is great for passive solar heat through the windows, and even the plastic wrapped around the bottom.

Not so great for wind and snow.

That’s going to blow right into the opening.

I’ve considered getting some scrap carpet or something and attaching it above the opening on the inside, where it still allow for the ramp door to be closed, with the carpet cut into strips so they can easily push through. That’s what’s over the opening into the cat house and it works very well, though it does need replacing. The cat house, however, has an added entryway to it. After my brother built it for his dogs, he found he had this same problem with wind and snow getting into the original entrance. So he made an addition. The addition created a somewhat sheltered corner next to one of the windows, which is where the new entry is, while the original entry is at the far end of the addition. Between the new angle and the shelter of the corner, the carpet strips at the opening (a double layer of carpet with the strips cut so that the slits overlap the strips) and the distance to the main entry, very little wind can get in, and virtually no snow at all.

That’s not really an option for the isolation shelter, since it needs to be mobile. If the patio blocks were not so uneven, we could simply rotate it 45 degrees, and that alone would mostly solve the problem. Uneven patio blocks aside, that would also eliminate a lot of the passive solar heat, plus we’d have to change up how the cords for the heated water bowl and heat lamp are, so we could still plug it in.

Basically, we need a wind break and a roof over the opening. It’s just a matter of figuring out the best way to do that, using the materials we have on hand. It may be something as simple as leaning something against the shelter that’s long enough and wide enough, and securing it enough that it won’t blow away.

We’ll figure it out.

After completing my rounds, I prepared a shaker container with the native wildflower seeds mix and some potting soil, giving it a thorough shake to get the seeds well mixed in with the potting soil. Once the insulated tarp that’s been laying on the ground all summer is moved aside, I planned to loosen the soil beneath with the landscaping rake, then scattering the seed mix over it.

Well, not today, it turns out.

Before doing that, I went in for breakfast and to let things warm up at least a little more – our high for today is only supposed to be 5C/41F, and we’re supposed to be rainy. Oh, they’re now saying, light rain and snow. As I write this, it’s before noon, a fog has rolled in, but no rain, so far. The tail end of a system that is passing north of us isn’t expect to hit until about 3pm.

So I sat at my computer to watch some videos while having breakfast, then worked a bit on the second of six Singlade balls I’m making for this year’s Christmas decorations.

Then I got up to go to the bathroom and discovered my entire body had basically seized up.

Every joint in my body seemed to have stiffened up. My husband had been in the room with me at the time, and I was hobbling so badly he offered to bring me a cane.

I used the walls, instead.

I’m having a harder time moving around than he is right now, and he’s the one that’s officially broken!

Well… it is Sunday. I guess this is God’s way of making sure I get my day of rest! 😄😁

This time of year is so hard on my osteoarthritis. It’s frustrating, because I can do so well on some days, and then WHAM, I can barely move.

I guess this will be a good day for pain killers, hot tea, watching videos and making Singlade.

Lord knows, I’m not going to be able to do much else today.

Now… about those pain killers…

The Re-Farmer

Getting things done!

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Today was a really lovely fall day! We reached a high of 12C/54F this afternoon, making it perfect to get things done in the garden.

But first, the cuteness.

I managed to get a picture of Eye Baby this morning. Not a very good picture, but the best I could get! He just will not stay still long enough for a photo.

His one eye is still looking weird, but it is SO much better than it was! I honestly expected him to loose the eye.

I have no idea how much, if any, sight he has in that eye. There is no difference in how he manages, compared to the other kittens.

He needs a face wash, but now that we’re not grabbing him every evening to give him antibiotics anymore, he has no patience for that sort of thing!

My first goal of the day was to finish clearing the raised bed I’d taken the netting and supports off of, yesterday. I got the T posts out, then worked on weeding it.

It needed a LOT of weeding.

When I got to the seed onions, I pulled them out and set them aside until the bed was cleared.

Once the bed was cleared, the seed onions got transplanted again. There was four of them, including two bulbs together that I split.

After the frost did in the lone ground cherry that showed up in this bed, I found there had been a whole bunch of berries hiding under the foliage. They had been completely hidden until then! I’d gathered those up and set them aside, earlier. Today, I decided to go ahead and plant them in the area next to the onions. I just took the berries, still in their casing, and shoved them in like they were garlic bulbs. If there are any viable seeds and they survive the winter, they should do all right. This end of the bed gets more sun than the other one, so they’ll have a better chance at having a full growing season.

Or, none of them will make it, and I’ll plant something else there.

In the next photo of the slide show above, you can see the entire bed was mulched, with grass clippings. I have the end with the seed onions and ground cherries a thicker mulch, while the rest of the bed was just lightly covered, to protect the soil, more than anything else.

The next bed to work on was the eggplant and hot pepper bed. That bed was mulched with cardboard around the transplants, then grass clippings, so not a lot of weeds got through. With this bed, I just did a chop and drop with the dead remains of the eggplants and pepper plants.

Hmmm… the photos are not lined up the way I set them when I uploaded them to Instagram!

Anyhow…

In the second photo, you can see the yellow Mason’s line I used across the middle of the cover. It had been bowing out. The box frame is the same size, so I used that as my guide as I pulled in the side of the cover frame. I didn’t bother doing anything to the wire mesh, as I plan to replace it with something stronger at some point. This wire mesh is just too bendy.

With this done, my next job was to go through all the stakes and supports I’d gathered together. It took quite some time to organize them. We have metal stakes in two sizes that got bundled up, making use of the garden twist ties that had also been set aside for next year. The bamboo stakes were sorted by height and, for some of them, thickness before being bundled up. The smaller, broken pieces were tucked into a bucket in the garden shed, as they are still useful as supports.

Then there were the hoops and wire fences and other odds and sots that got organized and bundled. The remaining ties and clips were organized as well. We have one of those rolling seats – we found it when we were cleaning the new part basement of the house – that got lubricant added to various places before that got put into the shed for the winter, too.

That old garden shed may be dilapidated and falling apart, but it’s still managing to be useful! It would be good if we could finally gets started on building a replacement next spring.

With everything finally sorted and put away, it was time to work on the cat house. The first thing was to set up an extension cord through the window of the old kitchen. I’d put hooks up last year so we could run the cord above our heads, rather than across the floor, with another outside, keeping the cord snug into the corner of the door frame, so both the inner and outer doors could still open and close without damaging it.

There is a fair bit of excess cord that we usually kept tucked to one side on the ground. This time, I got a utility hook I’d picked up for something else, only to find something better, later on, and used that. So now the excess length is neatly wrapped up on the side of the kibble house, instead of laying on the ground.

As for the cat house itself, my younger daughter did the bulk of the cleaning. After getting the roof open, my job was mostly to make sure it didn’t drop (highly unlikely, but possible) while my daughter clambered inside. There was a large crocheted blanket on the floor, on top of some high density foam mats I found in the barn. It’s too heavy to wash in the washing machine, so we set that aside. The last time we were able to wash it, we used the kiddie pool, but that now has drainage holes in the bottom so it can be used as a garden bed.

I plan to get more. They are very handy.

For now, it’s set aside.

The two cat beds in there were pretty torn up. I don’t know if they’re worth washing, or should be just thrown away. They ended up in the shelf shelter for now.

We decided not to return the litter box. The cats just kicked the litter pellets all over and made a mess, but didn’t seem to have actually used it much.

After sweeping up the inside, we added the two new cat beds that were donated, one at each of the larger windows. The insides of the windows all got washed, too.

The heat bulb was plugged in and tested, as was the smoke detector. We also added a small cat blanket we had in the sun room.

The cats were very, very interested in what we were doing, this whole time. When it came time to close up the roof, we had to be very careful, in case a cat decided to jump up at the last moment!

Once that was down and the crates returned to their place under the counterweight, my daughter and I worked on the rain barrel. It was full of water, so we used the watering cans to empty it until it was empty enough to tip over and drain completely. It’s now set on its side in the old kitchen garden for the winter.

By the time that was done, we were starting to lose the light and time to call it a day. The outside cats got their evening feeding (even though it was really just late afternoon) and we were done with outside stuff for the day.

The next while is supposed to be cooler, though were are still expected to get a few days as warm as 7C/45F or 8C/46F. We might actually get some rain tomorrow afternoon/evening, but otherwise, it should be clear. While the main things that needed to get done are now done, there is always more to do. Right now, my goal for tomorrow is to move the insulated tarp aside and sow the wildflower seeds over the area beneath.

Anything else we manage to get done around the yard and garden at this point is just bonus.

I’m really glad to have been able to take advantage of what will probably be our last actual warm day of the year!

Little by little, it’s getting done.

The Re-Farmer

Today’s progress

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Since one of my tasks for the day was to help my mother with errands, I didn’t have anything in particular that I had on my list to do at home. That was more of a “squeeze in what you can, when you can” thing.

The day, of course, started with feeding the outside cats and doing my morning rounds. One thing I noticed, when checking the critter cam in the sun room during the night, was that there were fewer cats piled on top of each other on the platform, or on the makeshift cat bed under the heat lamp. I hope that means cats have discovered that the upper level of the isolation shelter is nice and warm!

By the time I come out with their food, though, they’re all crowded in the sun room, or just outside! This morning, I counted 33. Maybe. I might have counted a couple, twice. Which seems odd to me. We had as many as 50, not that long ago – a sudden jump from a high of 40, so 10 cats just sort of showed up. Now, we’re down by more than that. I’m even noticing the difference in the kibble. For a while, I’d go around the various areas I put kibble out, with some further from the house for the shiest of the ferals, and find all the kibble in and near the sun room absolutely gone by the time I got back. There were even times when I could see they were still hungry and added more. Now, not only do they not finish off the kibble immediately, but when I come out later, there is still some left!

Which is great for the kibble supply lasting longer, but it also tells me that these “extra” cats are simply gone, rather than possibly showing up later on.

I’m not sure what to make of that.

When arranging to go to my mother’s today, she reminded me that she was getting her Meals on Wheels this morning, and suggested I bring some take out for myself. She even offered to pay me for it! It took a while, but I eventually found out why. The last time, I made a point of eating my lunch before coming over, and just had a cup of tea while she had her lunch. Turns out, she didn’t want me to be sitting there watching, while she ate, and not eating as well! 😄

So I headed out early enough to stop at the Chinese restaurant next to her place and got myself some kung pao chicken. It was a “chef’s suggestion” that I decided to try.

I won’t be having it again.

Don’t get me wrong; it was quite delicious!

Unfortunately, though, when it said it was “mild”… well, I can’t tolerate even “mild” spiciness. It was just past the edge of “too much”. I ate it anyway, because it was so good, but it’s now on the list of things I know I won’t be ordering in the future.

Alas.

When my mother’s Meals in Wheels was delivered, we chatted a bit with the social worker that is the volunteer delivery person. As we were talking, my mother noticed the beautiful Remembrance Day pin she was wearing, and asked where she got it from. The social worker responded by taking it off and giving it to her! My mother tried to refuse, but she wouldn’t hear of it. We did find out she got it from the local pharmacy. My mother was still trying to say she wanted to pay for it, so I told her that I would be going to the pharmacy anyhow, with her list, so I could make a donation.

We had already gone over her list before lunch, so as soon as we were done, I headed out. First stop was the pharmacy. When I got to the cash desk, I found the manager was manning the tills. This new manager is really nice. During the illegal lock downs and mandates, this manager was the reason that particular pharmacy was on the black list for abusive behaviour towards people with medical exemptions.

I remembered to ask about the pin, telling him about the social worker giving my mother hers. He told me these pins – there turned out to be three designs – sold out very quickly. These are from the Legion, and he told the person that provided them that next year, they should make more of them! He had one buy 14 of them! When he asked her, are you sure? she told him she had many family members she would be gifting them to. That was awesome.

I asked how much they were, and he said he was telling them for $6 – and all the proceeds went to the Legion. So I made that my donation (not out of my mother’s envelope of funds for her purchases, of course).

The next stop was the grocery store. Thanks to her Meals on Wheels, she doesn’t need a lot, plus there were some good sales on. The pharmacy had some really good sales, too, so the total was a lot less than she was expecting, this time, even when I got her a couple of extras things that I knew she would enjoy.

After the shopping was brought in and put away, my mother asked me to do some light housework for her, as well, so I stayed a bit longer. I could see that she was really struggling to move around, today, though there were times when I wondered how much of it she was doing to herself. She has an unfortunate habit of latching on to things that somehow “make her feel better” that are… questionable, shall we say. One of those things is burping. On the one hand, she’ll tell me that she’s burping a lot, making it sound like she’s having digestion problems – then tells me that burping helps with her breathing. So as she’s moving around the apartment and getting out of breath, she start actually forcing herself to burp.

The problem is, as a couple of different doctors have tried to explain to her, is more one of conditioning. She’s out of breath because she’s out of shape.

Which no one is expecting her to do anything about. She’s 93 years old with busted up knees. While she does take part in the group exercises the social workers run in her building a couple of times a week, that’s not going to make a difference. She also says she “does exercises” every morning, but these are some strange exercises done in bed she was taught to do when she was a child in school – in Poland, before WWII. I’ve asked her to describe them to me, and I honestly am not quite sure what they are meant to improve. Not that it matters. She really doesn’t understand how absolutely amazing she’s doing, overall. Instead, she complains about her breathing and chest pains (her lungs are in great shape. So is her heart). As near as anyone can figure out, she’s dealing with 93 years of childhood subsistence living, surviving a war, starting over in a new country, having 5 kids and decades of living here on the farm, two sticks ahead of the stone ages, catching up to her.

She really is doing amazing!

Anyhow…

By the time I was done at my mother’s and heading home, it was mid afternoon. Once home, I popped back out to give the outside cats a light feeding, then checked things around the yard. Three of the boys have now lost their collars, and I was hoping to find them somewhere. One of them lost his three or four times, but each time, I found it in one of the cat beds on their platform in the sunroom and got it back on him, but this time, he managed to loose it somewhere I can’t find.

Ah, well. I’ll try and pick up more of them, when the store restocks. I specifically want the breakaway collars that have reflective stitches on them, and I’m only finding them in one place. At least it’s a dollar store, so they are quite affordable!

As I was coming back in again, I found this adorable sight.

The white and grey adult cat is Stinky, and he’s one that lost his collar almost immediately. He is a very friendly boy, which is why we were able to get him in and fixed, along with three other friendly males, not long ago.

The ball of fluff cuddling him is one of the more feral kittens. I had to zoom in to get this shot because, as soon as I came closer, it took off! The kitten making strange has me thinking it’s probably female. They are almost always the hardest ones to socialize!

Later on, I made sure to come back out to get as much done outside as I could, before the light faded and the temperature dropped too much. I finally got around to taking the netting and supports off the bed that had the sugar snap peas and Uzbek Golden carrots.

The netting was the worst. Absolutely everything wants to get caught in it – including cats!

As I was going back and forth to where I’m setting all the netting and supports before sorting through and packing them up for the winter, I spotted this grand old lady.

Rolando Moon was enjoying a sun spot on the roof! The cats like to visit the upstairs windows, and watch my daughters while they are on their computers. 😁

By the time I got everything but the T posts untied, untangled, cleared up and put away, it was getting dark fast, so I will continue tomorrow.

The forecast for tomorrow is now down to 11C/52F, and it’s supposed to be the last double digit (Celsius) day of the month. After that, we don’t have may more days left where the highs are expected to be above freezing. So tomorrow, I want to make one last push to get certain jobs done. Others will just have to wait until spring.

I’ve been hearing that “they” are now predicting a mild winter. It seems we won’t be getting a strong La Nińa year, after all. I certainly hope that turns out to be true. I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I now dread winter. Even though the cold doesn’t bother me like it used to, it’s what the cold does that concerns me. With winter, we always need to consider that there may be days, or weeks, where we won’t be able to get out anywhere due to weather, or that the power might fail, or… well… you know how it can be. Things happen, and we need to be prepared for them, just in case! We may not be totally isolated, but there have been times since we’ve moved out here where we may as well have been!

Everything is a trade off. For us, though, it’s still better than living in the city! 😄😄

The Re-Farmer

A day of driving

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Today was supposed to be a bit warmer and, technically, it was.

We also had high winds.

That ruled working on the cat house out completely. With the direction of the winds, they would have torn the roof off – or at least damaged it significantly – if we opened it up.

I had to do some modifications to the catio because of the wind.

As I thought might happen, the plastic overlapping the back, which couldn’t quite reach the centre support of the frame, was getting damaged in the wind. I found it torn free from its tacks at the top, and the only reason the bottom wasn’t also torn free was because the excess was tucked under the bottom of the frame.

I ended up taping it to the first layer of plastic. I used packing tape, which should come off more easily when we take it off on the spring. There is a chance it won’t last the winter, but we’ll see.

Wind was still getting into the catio through the open door, causing the plastic to billow. I was already planning to prop the door so it was open just wide enough for the cats to get in and out. I decided an extra bit of security would not go amiss, and added paracord around the whole thing, while also making sure the door wouldn’t blow open, either.

It didn’t take long for the cats to discover the improvement! In the photo above, there are three cats in there. Not only is it now more sheltered from the wind, but would be a warm little greenhouse as well.

It would have been better to secure the paracord through the plastic at the hinge side of the door, but I don’t want to put larger holes, in the plastic, since I intend to use it in the garden next year. I think, for next winter, the door will get it’s own covering, separate from the catio walls.

This will be our first winter with it, though, so we’ll analyze how it worked out, in the spring.

With high winds kiboshing my outdoor plans, I decided a trip to Walmart was needed. We never did get to the feed store and were running low on kibble already, so I contacted the Cat Lady. Yes, she was able to meet me today. After working out the time, I left right away, since it takes me a lot longer to get to our usual meeting spot that it takes for her.

It took a bit longer than usual. During parts of the route, the winds were doing their best to blow the truck right off the road! I was driving against the wind for much of the trip, which visibly affected the mileage, too!

When we finally connected, we had a chance to chat while we transferred over a nice big cat tree, a couple of large bags of kibble, some smaller bags of kibble, and a big garbage bag stuffed with cat beds. She even gave us a 24 pack of wet cat food; turkey chunks in gravy. She got it for her own cats, but they don’t seem to like it – and The Wolfman turns out to be allergic to poultry, so he can’t eat it at all. The problem is, he loved chicken so much, he kept stealing the roasted chickens she fed them, while they were cooling down. It turns out he’s a real greedy guts, and constantly stealing food!

She no longer goes to what used to be her favourite vet clinic. The owner – the man that saved Cabbages’ life, and even Tissue, after her attempt to destroy their car – sold the clinic. She’s been there a couple of times. Once was to get Button neutered. That was when the new vet insisted Button had to be only 8 weeks old, and would not believe otherwise, no matter what. She had also talked to the new vet about The Wolfman and allergies – and was immediately offered euthanasia!

She is not going back.

She did take Button to another vet, though, and got some more information about his condition. It was determined that the reason he is so tiny, and why he is now deaf, was due to a particular virus. The vet figured that the reason we found him was because the mother had died of it, because it usually does kill off the adults. We never did figure out who the mother was, so that may well be true. That’s the thing with yard cats. When they disappear, we almost never know why. Very rarely do we find an adult cat that has died. Last year, there was one.

It’s entirely possible we’ve recently lost more. We haven’t seen Sad Face in weeks, now. There was that one day when I counted 50 cats and kittens. This morning, I counted maybe 33. Yesterday, 26. Aside from Sad Face, who is rather distinctive, I have no idea which cats – or kittens – are missing.

Meanwhile, the Cat Lady is trying to arrange spays for us. The clinic she’s been booking us with is very busy. At this point, they should be able to book two in December, and maybe one in November, plus she is on the cancelation list. The vet would really like to get the long haired tabby adult in, as she is more likely to go into heat before the kittens do, in the spring. I’ve actually been able to pet Adam a few times, so there’s a possibility we could get her in, without having to trap her, too.

The Cat Lady is going to need descriptions of what cats and kittens we can bring in. While I could do that, it doesn’t mean those are the kittens we’d be able to bring in. There is one very friendly little tabby with white that we’d have no problem catching. She’s really small, though. Button is probably bigger than she is, now. The vet prefers them to be at least 2kg (almost 4 1/2 pounds).

There is no way that kitten is 4 pounds, and she is definitely close to 5 months old.

We shall see.

Meanwhile, she’s had to deal with 4 cats that showed up at their cottage. They’ve closed it up for the winter, but they have a neighbour that lives there full time and called them about it. They were all males, about 8 months old. I guess someone knew the property was owned by a family that ran a rescue, and dumped them. You’d think they would consider that, like most of the cottages in that area, no one would be there in the winter. Thankfully, the neighbour that does live there full time keeps an eye on their place for them. So she had to go get the cats, was able to get them neutered and has already adopted one of them out.

One of the things that came up was comments people make about country cats like ours and, “why don’t they just get them fixed?”

That came up when I mentioned that we have gone from a high of 50 cats to now being down to a little over 30. We just don’t know what cats will show up, or if they will stay. There are some distinctive cats that do stay, even if they are more feral, but others… we just can’t tell. Especially with all the white and greys. They get so hard to tell apart! In previous years, we had lots of grey tabbies. They are all gone. The grey tabbies we have now are from more recent litters. At least the ones we did get fixed have been staying, but males like Judgement are still prone to disappearing for the summer and coming back for the winter – if they come back at all.

Then, of course, there is the cost. Especially for females. We’re both very frustrated by people who made disparaging remarks about how people should spay and neuter the strays, barn cats, yard cats, etc. Yes, that needs to be done, but some get very angry and accusatory when it doesn’t get done. To which I say, are you volunteering to pay for it? Are you donating to a shelter specifically for spays and neuters? No? Then zip it. People do the best they can. Those who aren’t willing to help – and it’s a huge problem in our province right now – aren’t entitled to cast judgement on others.

The Cat Lady and her family spend ridiculous amounts of money out of pocket to help their rescues; donations don’t come near to covering it all. She is constantly on the hunt for things people need. Recently, she found a particular cat item that is in demand, but hard to find, and she bought the store’s entire stock. Nine of them. As she was paying for it, another customer started ranting at her for being so greedy and taking them all. It was one of the staff who knows the Cat Lady well by now, that called out the customer, saying that they were all for donations. She wasn’t buying them for herself.

All of this was shared rather quickly, as we loaded stuff from her cat to our truck. The wind was brutal and cold, so we parted ways soon after.

I then went to the Walmart and, yes, got more kibble on top of the donated kibble!

That done, I headed home, with a brief side trip to get some gas. This time, I had the wind at my back, and I could really tell the difference by the gas gauge!

By the time I got home, it was well past 1pm. After the truck was unloaded, we loaded it up again – with garbage!

Two of the cat beds that were donated went straight into the isolation shelter; one on each level.

I then waited until 2, when both the dump and the post office opened, grabbed the water jugs we needed to refill and headed out again.

My first stop was the dump and, I swear, it is looking worse every time I go there! There’s barely room to drive in and turn to back up to the pit, for all the garbage that’s been allowed to spread over the driveway. I’ve never seen it allowed to get this bad.

At least the driveway area wasn’t covered in nails or glass.

Not that I could see, anyhow.

Once that was done, the next stop was the post office to pick up what turned out to be two parcels. I also got the first 2025 seed catalog of the season! I’m going to have fun going through that!

Then it was off to town and to the pharmacy for a prescription refill. Normally, I would have had my one prescription included with my husband’s deliveries, but we forgot to order it last week, and this week, my husband didn’t need any refills.

That done, the next stop was the grocery store to refill our water jugs, then finally, home again.

While the dump and town trip were planned on, I wasn’t expecting to be on the road more than that. Which is just as well, since the wind wasn’t going to let me do what I hoped to do in the garden.

Tomorrow, I’ll also be gone for much of the day, as I will be going to my mother’s place and helping her with her errands.

Meanwhile, I have also started working on this year’s Christmas decorations. Every year, I try to make new decorations for our tree, and maybe enough to give away to family and friends. This year, I’ve been inspired by Singlade balls. The Youtube channel in the link has some really amazing examples of them.

This video is a beginner tutorial.

I’m cheating a bit. I happen to have a number of Styrofoam balls, so I am using those as a core. At the moment, I’ve got six of them wrapped in white yarn, with the contrasting yard dividing them into eight sections, like the one you can see in the video thumbnail.

I’m working on the second half of my first ball, which is being made using bulkier yarn than wat’s in the video. As these will be Christmas decorations and meant to hand on a tree surrounded by lights, I went hunting for sparkly or reflective yarn. This first one has two colours per triangle and is mostly a red yarn with a silver metallic thread running through it. I also have some bits of reflective yard left. I had enough of a forest green to do half the ball. The other half is using a peacock blue reflective yarn. I have some neon colours of the reflective yarn that would be gloriously tacky. I also have some mini skeins of yarn that is almost a lace weight yarn, some of which have metallic strands in them. Those would make much finer stitches, but would also take longer to work up. I’ll see how far I get with the reflective yarn remains I have now before I start working on a finer weight yarn.

I’m happy with the progress, so far.

The only thing is, we will probably just have a small Christmas tree set up on top of the piano in the cat free zone again, this year. We have a couple of very small Christmas trees, and these balls would look gigantic on either of them! 😄

But that’s okay. I enjoy learning a new craft and, when it comes to yarn, my options are pretty limited. My hands are so rough, bit of fibre in the yarn sticks to my fingers!

That’s pretty much it for today. It may not have been the day I planned out, but at least it was productive!

The Re-Farmer