We have cat food again!

October 23, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Would you look at these happy critters?

This was taken in the late afternoon. This morning, they did get the food I used the slow cooker to make for them overnight. They dug right in!

Unlike the inside cats. They turned their noses up and their cooked food! Even when the girls gave them some of the canned cat food we still had, putting it right on top of the food cooked for them, they ate around the cooked food, but left the canned cat food that was on top of their cooked meal.

So I gave the rest of it to the outside cats, after feeding them with kibble, and they dove right into that, too!

Our inside cats have gotten fussy!

Yes, I was able to get cat food today – and we even have a vehicle now!

Progress so far

October 19, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

My plans to work outside today have been derailed by high winds.

Hopefully, all the leaves in the yard haven’t been blown away, because I was planning to use them as mulch!

Stuff did get done, though.

But first, the cuteness!

The kibble I picked up yesterday is a different brand from what I’d picked up at the beginning of the month. The pieces are quite a bit smaller. When I set them to soak, it was absolute mush by the time I headed out to feed the kitties.

They didn’t seem to care one whit! They are just loving their warm breakfasts!

Once back inside, my first priority was to see if the leftover pieces of wood lath could be used as spacers in the cutaway portion of the wall around the tub. I was afraid they would be too thick, but they turned out to be the same width as the fake tile paneling. They were too thick for some places that already had spacers of a sort in them. We’ll just have to work around that.

My main focus was around the pipes, and the outer edges. There were also a few nails that simply would not come out, nor could they be hammered in, along the back wall, and I wanted to make sure there were spacers in between them. The areas you can see in the photo above with no spacers added are where there are already spacers of various sizes.

After that was done, my daughter grabbed the tube of mold and mildew resistant sealant. Unfortunately, when she started to apply it with the tip of the tube, the back end of the tub popped open! So she ended up squeezing the sealant out the back and using her finger to scoop it and spread it. If you click through to the second image, you can see part of where she used it. She sealed the cut edges of the openings around the pipes, and every corner and edge around the cut out portion.

She used most of the tub, but there was still a bit left. Since the tub was broken, it wouldn’t last and we didn’t want it to go to waste. I was able to use the last of it for what I’d bought it for in the first place; this stuff is both sealant and adhesive, and I used it along the edge of the overlapping roof panels on the cat isolation shelter.

Unfortunately, there is just no way to clamp it down. I put weights on, but some places still just did not want to stay together. We will just pick up another tube – this stuff is very inexpensive – and go over it again later. The catio roof needs to be seals, too.

Working on that roof was somewhat alarming, though. I’m glad the entire structure is as heavy as it is! It’s in a sheltered area, but not from the south winds we have today. The south facing edge of the roof panel was being rattled by the wind quite a lot.

Thankfully, we screwed the roof panels down quite securely. It could still potentially get blown off, but it’s not that bad, yet. We will need to keep an eye on it, though, because the wind could loosen, if not tear off, some of the screws.

Speaking of which, I was curious about what is officially considered “high winds” so I looked it up.

Did you know there is a wind scale, like there is an earthquake scale? It’s call the Beaufort wind scale.

According to the weather app, we’re getting 30kph winds. On the Beautfort scale, that is a “fresh breeze”, when “Small trees with leaves begin to sway.”

Yeah, I’m calling BS on that. Based on what I was seeing when I was outside, we are somewhere between a 6 and a 7 on their chart – a “strong breeze” or “near gale”, with the occasional “gale” gust strong enough to take down branches. I’m finding small branches all over the place, these days.

Anyhow… where was I?

Ah, yes. Sealant.

The sealant needs a full 36 hours to dure. After that, everything will get one last coat of paint.

Once that is dry, we can try and figure out exactly where we need to cut holes into the tub surround to fit over the plumbing.

So we’re looking at a couple more days before we can start installing the tub surround.

Since there is nothing more we can do in the bathroom for now, and it’s too windy to work in the garden outside, my daughter and I really pushed to get as many dishes done as we could. Without hot water, we’ve been mostly just using the kettle for hot water, which doesn’t go very far when it comes to doing dishes. This time, we filled up our stock pots (not the giant one; that would be too heavy for our glass top stove) to heat, then kept refilling and heating more. We were finally able to get those odd items that gets set to one side as we do loads of things we use the most often that somehow never get done.

My older daughter, who was working all night on commissions, sent me some funds for take out, so as the last of the dishes were being done, I headed into town to pick that up. We’ve had more take out in this month than we’ve had in years!

When I opened the garage door for the truck, I saw something curious on the tailgate.

Tiny little hand prints in the dust, from something that was climbing up to the box cover.

Those are not kitty paw prints, that’s for sure. Those are tiny little racoon hand prints!

What I don’t know is, why would racoons be climbing the truck? The box is empty, and there isn’t even food garbage anywhere in the truck or garage.

As long as they don’t damage anything…

Anyhow…

The sealant in the bathroom needs dry conditions as it cures, so no one is going to be heating up stock pots of water and use the tub for washing. Back to sponge bathing in the sink!

With getting as many dishes done as we were able to, though, I was able to set up the slow cooker with just water in it. That can be left without someone continually there to keep an eye on it, and we’ll have a larger amount of hot water handy for general washing and can just top it up as needed. Much better than our poor, over worked kettle! Our kettle is clear glass, and we can see just how quickly the rust and scale builds up! My older daughter gave it a good scrubbing last night.

Well, we might not be able to get more done in the bathroom until the sealant cures, not work done outside, so I guess this is a good day to collect the ripened tomatoes and peppers in the living room and see if there is enough to process for the winter!

Time to get back to it, then!

The Re-Farmer

A pretty good day

October 18, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I didn’t get as much done today as I’d hoped, but I got the important stuff done, and that’s what matters.

As usual, my day started with feeding the outside cats before doing my morning rounds. Since I was going to be helping my mother with errands today, my rounds included making sure things were set up in the truck for the day. By the time I was done my rounds, the cats had polished off all the warm, softened kibble they now get in the mornings, and were starting to settle into their cuddle puddles!

Like this one, near the heat lamp. Not directly under it – I expect to see more of that when things get really cold! – but close.

There is one adult cat in this pile.

That old feed bag, which is stuffed with packing material, had been on the nearby shelf for them to use as a bed while looking out the window, but it kept getting knocked down, so we’ve just left it. They quite like it there. Underneath is mostly bare concrete.

Since my mother was getting her Meals on Wheels delivery today, I didn’t have to leave as early as I usually do, and had my own lunch early.

I still got there early enough for us to have a bit of a visit before her Meals on Wheels was delivered. As we were talking, she showed me this.

If you click through to the next image, you’ll see the other side.

My mother had been going through her things, trying to figure out what to get rid of and what to keep, when she found it.

She told me that when she was in the hospital, in labour with me, there was a nun who visited and prayed with her. After I was born and my mother was ready to go home, she held me while my mother got into the car, then put me in her arms.

No car seats, or even seat belts, back then! 😄

This nun had also given my mother this… Hmmm… I don’t know what it’s called. Not a medallion, of course, but a laminated paper version of a medallion.

Now, she wanted me to have it!

I gratefully accepted it. What a connection to my own birth! I now have it in my wallet, under one of the plastic windows, so I can see it. I’m amazed she managed to hang on to something so small, all these decades!

Soon after, my mother’s Meals on Wheels arrived. She is so very happy with these meals. Today, it was salmon with mushroom rice, cooked broccoli with other vegetables I couldn’t make out, and cream of potato soup. There was a packet of tartar sauce for the salmon and soy sauce for the rice. For desert, there was a cube of bright green Jello, with what I think was pineapple in it. She quite enthusiastically enjoyed her meal!

After she was done and we were having tea together, I asked about her shopping list and got a bit of a surprise.

She didn’t need a grocery shopping trip anymore.

Yesterday was a nice day, and she decided to go ahead an walk to the grocery store. It’s just a couple of blocks, but she insists on taking the “short cut” through the empty lot – almost a field – between her building and the street the grocery store is on. I just shake my head that she insists on doing this, because it’s “shorter”. For starters, it’s not level and doesn’t get mowed regularly, so it would be rough to go over with her walker. She would also have to go around some fences and a building to get to it. In reality, the “shorter” path probably isn’t saving her anything. My concern is that it increases her chances of falling, but she insists that her “helper” (her walker) will prevent that.

Plus, it’s trespassing, but I don’t think anyone cares. As I understand it, the owner lives in the city and doesn’t even come out to mow it. The town does it every now and then, then bills the owner for it.

When she got to the grocery store, who should she run into?

Our vandal and his wife.

*sigh*

At least his wife was with him!

Long story short, they offered to bring her stuff home for her – it was too late in the day for the grocery store to do a delivery – so she was able to do a larger shopping trip. I don’t know which of their many vehicles they had, but when the time came, they didn’t have room for her walker, so our vandal drove her home with the groceries while his wife walked the walker over.

One thing my mother noted: his wife has never, ever, said anything negative about me or my brother. I told my mom, I don’t think his wife has any idea what our vandal is still doing. He certainly wouldn’t have left a voice mail message like the one he recently left on my brother’s phone, if his wife were around to hear him say those horrible things.

So my mother got her grocery shopping done, and didn’t need me to do it today. I only wish she understand that, while his wife may be genuine, our vandal doesn’t do stuff like this out of the kindness of his heart. It seems, no matter how bad he gets, my mother will always make excuses for him. But my brother, who has never been anything but kind and helpful to her, has pulled her butt out of the fire many times out of the years, and takes such good care of, she treats like crap.

How does that make sense?

Anyhow.

She did still need to go to the bank, plus she needed to get her prescriptions and a couple of things at the pharmacy. While she setting up to leave, I went out to get her walker ready; she keeps it parked outside her door, under a tiny corner shelf that all the apartments have. Like most people living there, she has a little display set up on it. Usually, religious in nature.

That’s when I saw something unfortunate.

Part of her display was a small card with a picture of a famous painting of Jesus on it.

It was torn in half.

My first thought was, our vandal did it as he left. One of the things he constantly has said to her, since my late brother died and more so after my father died, is that she will never go to heaven to be with her husband and her son, because she didn’t leave this property to him, like they would have wanted (which they most certainly did NOT want). Knowing she is deeply religious, he would often invoke God in some way in the many abusive messages he left on her answering machine until my brother finally got his number blocked.

When I brought it in to show my mother, though, she told me it was done by one of her neighbours. ??

My mother is not happy with some of the “homeless people” and “aboriginals” that have recently moved into her building. Apparently, one of them has behavioral issues, and tearing up my mother’s picture of Jesus would be something she would do.

My mother didn’t actually see it done, though, so who knows. My mother used to have a card with her name above the peep hole on her door that disappeared, and she thinks the same person did it. Unfortunately, my mother has a bad habit of accusing people of things, with no actual evidence for it, so there’s no way to know what actually happened.

She then asked me to put the pieces back outside her door, so others could see the sort of things this person (or whoever it was) will do.

*sigh*

Anyhow.

We were soon on our way out and on our way. My mother really struggled to get up in the truck but, my goodness, she manages! When we got this truck, I thought for sure she would never be able to get into it, yet there she is!

Even so, she was only up to going into the bank. Once at the pharmacy, she stayed in the truck while I went in to get her prescription and other items. Once I knew, more or less, how much it would be, I went to the truck for her loyalty card and cash, then went back in to pay for her items.

The staff at the pharmacy are quite familiar with my shopping for my mother by now. 😄

That done, I took my mother home. She told me she would have wanted to go somewhere else, like to a restaurant, just for a change of scenery, but didn’t want to be getting in and out of the truck any more than she had to.

She was pretty tired by then, anyhow, so I didn’t stay too much longer.

I remembered to grab the extra plumbing parts and pieces my daughter didn’t need to use when working on the bathroom taps, so after a quick stop at the feed store to get a 40 pound bag of kibble, I headed to the two store we got the parts from to return them. The one in the town nearest us is also near our usual grocery store, so I made a quick stop there. From there, it was a quick stop at the post office, then finally, home.

Where I found this to greet me as I headed to the house.

They were more than eager for their evening feeding, and prowling like ravenous lions! 😄

I took care of that as soon as I could. 😊

One of the things in the mail was something from the hospital my husband is supposed to get a sleep test done in. He is looking to switch from a CPAP to a BiPAP. His CPAP is due to be replaced. It is 90% covered by insurance, but that is done by paying for it first, then submitting the receipt. For the price of a CPAP, we could have hired a plumber to fix the taps and replace the hot water tank with a new one, and still had money left over. Plus, he’s having a hard time getting replacement hoses. Our province covers the cost of a BiPAP, though. To get one, he has to be reassessed, and that’s why he’s been referred to this hospital.

What he got in the mail was their questionnaire about his health history. Which was fine until he got to the end when, as he put it, he almost cried.

They wanted a list of his medications, and doses.

He cheated.

He cut off the list that’s on his bubble packs to put in with the form, and wrote “see attached”. Then he just had to add the “take as needed” medications, and his injections, to the list.

Tomorrow is Saturday and our post office is closed, but I’ll still make sure to get it in the mail box right away.

The next thing he’ll get is a telephone appointment. We’ll see if they need him to actually come in to do a sleep test or not. When he was first diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea, we were living in this province, and there was an actual sleep research lab at the same hospital that now has the provinces cardiac clinic. I don’t think there is a sleep research lab anymore, and it looks like they no longer have people actually spending the night in the lab, hooked up to various monitors, while two technicians observed all night. When my mother was tested for sleep apnea, my SIL picked up the test machine in the city and I met her part way to get it. When my mother was ready to go to bed, I brought it over and helped her put on the hoses and heart monitors. I then came back in the morning to get the machine and delivered it to a Medigas office in the city for data analysis.

Which is more or less what I expect will happen with my husband, this time around.

Hopefully, this will all get processed fairly quickly. I think a BiPAP would be better for my husband. They weren’t available when my husband was first diagnosed.

So I didn’t end up getting anything done outside, like I’d hoped, but that’s okay. The important things got done, so that makes it a good day!

The Re-Farmer

Testing, testing…

October 17, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Yes! We have major progress!

But first, the cuteness.

I did my evening rounds after giving the outside cats their evening feeding. As I was coming back to the hose, I saw this adorable face watching me.

We can most definitely consider Kohl well socialized now – and boy, does she ever want to get into the house! It’s a good thing we have the old kitchen as a buffer zone. She and several others often manage to dash inside while I’m struggling with the doors and a bowl full of warm kibble for them.

The Cat Lady was asking me if we could be able to catch any females for spaying this fall. Among the kittens, we should be able to easily catch at least two – Kohl and Magda – and possibly a third. There’s also one adult female we should be able to catch, but the clinic that we’ve been going to has special pricing for spaying cats under 6 months old now. Kohl may be too old for that now, though. She is from the very first litter of the year.

Meanwhile…

I’m happy to say, the parts and pieces of plumbing for the tup that needed to be replaced, have been replaced. We were able to attach the fixtures, turn on the water and test it out.

While my daughter was working on the other side of the wall, I stayed on the tub side to turn things on and off whenever she told me to. I took advantage of the wait in between to scrub and clean as much as I could, then scrape off any remaining old caulk that I could find. In the process I discovered that I could scrape off much of the rust and scale that had accumulated under the hot water tap when it leaked during use. CLR wasn’t getting it all for a reason!

After the first test, we found that the cold water was leaking at the tub, while the hot water was leaking at a Pex to copper join in the basement. My daughter spent the next while tightening and taping everything, while getting me to turn the taps and shower on, as needed.

It looks like we finally have everything tight and leak free!

My daughter is just amazing. She was working in some really tight spaces. Especially in the basement, which had the added issue of cobwebs to deal with, even though she did sweep away most of them, first.

My daughter does not do well with spiders, so her doing that is really, really something.

Once the testing was done, the water was shut off again, and the fixtures removed again.

The next step will be to add mold and mildew resistant sealant around the tub edge, in the corners, and anywhere else that looks like it needs it. I will be bringing some wood lath over from the garage to place in strategic areas where the paneling was cut out, so the tub surround will have something to adhere to in that area. Only if it’s thin enough, though. It might be too thick. We shall see.

If we do add the wood, the cut out area will get another coat of the mold and mildew resistant primer.

Then, once everything has had a chance to dry and cure, we will finally be able to install the tub surround.

Last of all, we put back the arm bars.

In between all that, we need to pick up a couple of heat elements for the hot water tank. Hopefully, that will be enough to get us hot water again. I would hate to have to buy another tank, considering how much the price has increased since we got the last warranty replacement in 2020.

I’m not sure when we’d be able to do this, though. I got a call from my mother tomorrow, telling me “her fridge is empty “my fridge is empty!”

She isn’t actually out of food; that’s just her way of telling me she needs a shopping trip.

Still, she was wanting me to come over today! I told her I was going to be helping with the plumbing today, so it’s arranged for tomorrow. She has her Meals on Wheels coming in tomorrow, so I don’t need to leave as early to pick up a lunch for us. She still needs to get to the bank; she wasn’t up to it last time. I was hoping my sister would have been able to come over with her smaller car to help her, but she and her husband are out of province right now. So my mother will have to clamber into our truck again!

I’m not sure how long I will be gone tomorrow, but I still hope to get at least a little bit more garden clean up done. Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit cooler than today was, but it’s then supposed to warm up for a few days – there’s even a high of 21C/70F in the forecast! – so I hope to get more done on those days and, if all goes to plan, start direct sowing seed for next year’s garden.

We shall see!

Meanwhile, I’m going to start heating up water so I can actually bathe. The tub now is clean enough to use instead of the sink!

Man, we have had to heat water to bathe way to many times since moving out there! 😄😄

The Re-Farmer

Morning adorableness

October 16, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Before I post about the day’s activities, I just want to share some of the adorableness I got to enjoy this morning.

Starting with these two fluffballs, both of whom like to follow me around while I do my morning rounds.

I just love unexpected and serendipitous shots! In this case, Syndol getting the spruce tip, and Magda getting Syndol. 😄

By the time I finish my rounds, the cats have generally finished eating, and are settling in. They had a treat this morning, too. I’d put the turkey stock I’d made in the slow cooker into freezer bags to cool down before going into the freezer. This morning, we found one of the bags had sprung a leak. So I added it to the bowl of kibble that had been soaking in hot water. The stock was just turkey bones, the extra bits that were tucked in the cavity, and water. Nothing else, making it cat safe.

It did mean the bowl had a lot more liquid in it than the kibble could absorb, but it all goes into bowls and trays that can hold liquid. They finished off the liquid before starting to eat the softened kibble!

Tummies full, I came back to find this cuddle pile.

There might be six kittens in there, but I’m not 100% sure! 😄

No adults in the pile, for a change.

Speaking of adults, when doing an afternoon top up, I spotted a bit grey tabby I didn’t recognize. This one has a nose patch similar to Nosy, in the photo above. There are quite a few cats with that distinctive nose patch. I suspect they are descendants from the visiting tom, Nicky the Nose, whom we haven’t seen in years now.

Oh, that reminds me. I sent some photos of Eye Baby to the Cat Lady, thinking his eye is looking so much better. She messaged me back, asking if we still had antibiotics, which we do. She spotted swelling of the inner eyelid on the uninjured eye, along with the gooby nose. She recommended putting him on antibiotics for a week. The girls will start that tonight. She mentioned that Button is back on antibiotics, too, with similar symptoms. I’m so glad she was able to give us so much of the antibiotics. We have more than enough left over, even after having Eye Baby on them for 3 weeks, to help with his eye. We didn’t even need to use any on the little tabby that was acting kinda sick and not eating. I’d fed that one Cat Soup with a syringe just a couple of times, and he bounced back soon after.

Aside from the cat shenanigans, I’m happy to say that I finally got some work done, cleaning up in the garden, but that will be in my next post. 😊

The Re-Farmer

I think they like it!

October 13, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Just look at these two cuties!

The kittens in particular seem to really like the isolation shelter.

When I did my rounds this morning, all the clear plastic was fogged up and there were no cats inside at the time. It would be interesting to put a thermometer inside the shelter, and another on the outside, to see what a difference the passive solar makes, with the sliding panels closed, as they are now. Once the heat lamp is set up and running, we’d be able to see what a different that’s making, too. I’ll have to remember to pick up a couple of cheap dollar store dial thermometers.

I’m quite with how this shelter turned out! The biggest expense was the roof panels, and that was enough to cover two shelters, so we got twice the mileage for the price.

Not bad for something made almost entirely out of whatever I could salvage around the property!

The Re-Farmer

From good to not so good!

October 12, 2024 / Re-Farmer / 16 Comments

Yesterday was such a good day! I’m just so happy to have finally got the cat isolation shelter to the point that we can use it (though it still doesn’t have a latch on the ramp-door).

I didn’t over exert myself.

Honest. I didn’t.

Working on the shelter was mostly a lot of back and forth to get things cut and nailed or screwed into place. I wasn’t doing anything heavy or strenuous.

Yet, apparently, I overdid it.

I was in bed, just finishing my devotions, when I tried to roll over.

Thankfully, I still had my phone in my hand when the leg cramps hit. I was just able to get so I could sit on the side of the bed, but couldn’t go more than that. I was able tap “help” to my older daughter, and that was it.

She didn’t need more information to know what was going on. Which is good, yet not good, since it shows now often I’ve been getting these, lately.

I’ve had some bad Charlie horses before but, this time, it hit me in both thighs, on all sides and severe enough for pain to shoot down into my calves and up into my hips.

I couldn’t bend, I couldn’t straighten, I could barely use my arms to shift. Even taking the ibuprofen and magnesium my daughter brought me was difficult.

She stayed with me until the painkillers kicked in. Even that was weird. First my right leg, then my left, just suddenly relaxed, with a jolt. Even so, my daughter had to lift me legs for me so I could get back into bed, because the muscles were quivering so much.

As I slowly recovered, and I was able to talk, my daughter mentioned looking up the cause of these. She thought at first it might be lack of hydration, but she knows I stay on top of that. Her next thought was perhaps a lack of salt.

My initial reaction was no, but then I realized that yesterday, I’d eaten almost no salt all day.

It’s the only thing either of us could think of that might apply.

She ended up bringing me a few rock crystals of Himalayan pink salt for me to chew on.

I did eventually fall asleep, but it was many hours before my thigh muscles felt anywhere close to normal. It’s almost 8pm as I write this, and they still feel trembly at times.

My older daughter took care of doing the softened kibble feeding of the outside cats this morning for me, so I could try to sleep in – or at least stay in bed longer.

In the end, if was cats going bonkers, chasing the lady beetles that have gotten inside, that had me giving up on trying to get more sleep.

With the various plumbing issues we have right now, we’ve all been slowly chipping away at dishes and cooking as little as possible. The kettle has been kept going pretty much all the time. Between washing ourselves, using boiled water to soak the outside cats’ kibble, and just general clean up, we’ve taken to simply filling it and setting it to boil so there’s at least warm water available for the next person who needs it.

I did eventually make it outside. It started to rain, so I moved the shallots that were hanging on the high raised bed frame to cure, into the garage. Another couple of days, and they will be braided and brought into the root cellar.

I also got a heat lamp set up in the sun room, as the nights are going to be going below freezing soon. I was going to put the second one in the isolation shelter, ready to be plugged in as needed, but I will have to find a way to secure it better. I want it to be hanging from the centre of the roof, but I will need a little step ladder to reach. 😄 So that will wait for now. I did make sure both sliding panels were closed, though, to keep the weather out of the upper level. There is just the ramp door to get in and out.

The cats quite like going in there!

It had been my plan to clean up and put things away in the garage, now that the isolation shelter no longer needs to be in there, so we can finally park the truck in the garage again.

That didn’t happen!

Maybe tomorrow.

This is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, and we do have a turkey thawing out. It’ll be ready to be cooked tomorrow, so that’s when we’ll do what we can for a thanksgiving dinner, even if we don’t end up eating it until much later.

My daughters emptied out the wardrobe of my husband’s things – mostly his old office clothes, which he has little occasion to wear these days. They all went into the laundry, and my daughters got the wardrobe upstairs.

Which means my husband now has access to the closet in his room.

We can also bring back his tiny medication fridge, and the table it sits on, back into his room, though that will be done tomorrow.

He’s going to need some sort of small shelf, though.

While I was outside, my mother called. After a bit of telephone tag, we finally connected.

I’m glad to say that she has been really happy with her Meals on Wheels deliveries. She is really enjoying the food, and not having to cook it herself! This is going to work out much better for her than the bulk meal prep that home care offers.

“One of the ladies” told her that the hospital in town has a new doctor, and she told me we should make an appointment with her.

My mother is STILL talking about changing doctors, while she’s in the middle of being assessed for placement in a nursing home or supportive living. If I thought it would actually help any, sure – if nothing else, it would mean her current doctor won’t have a racist AF patient. The problem is, my mother is never happy with any doctor she has. This is a female doctor, and my mother doesn’t think women can be good doctors, just nurses, so we already know she won’t be happy with any female doctor. Even with male doctors, if they don’t tell her what she wants to hear, she’ll find something about them that disqualifies them in her mind. And if there isn’t something there, she’ll invent something. Even doctors she starts out liking, she’ll turn on them in a heartbeat.

She has a very long history of doing this sort of thing.

Eventually, I was able to update my mother on the septic repairs. When I first told her about discovering there was a leak at the expeller, she offered to pay for repairs. I ran the estimates by her and that we were going with the company that was closer.

Today, I told her how this company had stopped returning my calls, so I contacted the other company and ended up talking to the owner.

As I was trying to tell her this, she kept interrupting. I should just get my brother to do fix it, she tells me.

I had to explain, an excavator is needed. It has to be dug up.

We should just have it moved.

???

Moved? That would be an even bigger job to do!

She is not at all understanding our system here. My dad took care of all this stuff, and it’s as if she’s never seen the expeller before, even though she remembers the other things in the area, like the water fountain for the cows that was set up, along with a tap in the barn and another water fountain on the other side of the barn, all piped at the same time.

Then she started telling me my brother should be doing this, not me, because this is a man’s thing to do (talking to companies to arrange repairs, etc.), and my brother is somehow dumping this on me. I told her, this is my “job”. It’s part of the deal I had with her, and that I now have with my brother.

As all this was going on, she also started saying how, oh, someone told her that the farm is not hers anymore, it’s not her responsibility…

Yup.

She started backing out of her offer to pay for the repairs.

After she made a few passive aggressive threats about that, I finally told her, stop playing games with me. Are you going to pay for it, or not? Because if you’re not, I have to call the company to cancel the job.

Thankfully, there is now at least some water running through the expeller, so it would probably last us through the winter, but still… that would not be good.

Well, my mother, being my mother, bounced from saying, yes, she would pay for it (making it sound like I asked her to, rather than being something she offered to do) and why should she pay for it? At one point, she asked me, if I were in her place, would I do it? I said yes, if I could, I would.

I don’t think she expected that.

Anyhow.

This is another old thing with her. She will offer something, then when the time comes, start to back off, and use the offer to manipulate people. I have no patience for what is basically psychological abuse. Especially at a time like this, when we have so many things breaking down at once. I did manage to mention the hot water tank issues, but she just blew right past that. I doubt she even heard me. She even tried to drag my brother into the whole thing, and why doesn’t he call her?

I finally just said, it’s because you do stuff like this, and I just can’t handle this right now.

I then said we would talk later, said goodbye and hung up.

After that, I sent a message to my brother, updating him about the call, telling him it looks like my mother is backing away from her offer of paying for the repairs, so I’ll probably have to call and cancel the job.

While I was writing that message, my older daughter walked in and asked me if I knew what was going on with the bathroom fan.

Yup.

Guess what else is no longer working!

We had that fan’s motor replaced just a few years ago. The previous motor was the original, installed in the mid 70’s.

On top of all this, there were just lots of other little things going wrong, all day.

I did get one good phone call, though.

My brother called.

My mother had called him not long after talking to me.

She never mentioned her call with me at all, but she did bring up that she’d “heard” he was here at the farm yesterday. Yes. Yes, he was, he told her. He’d dropped some stuff off, then checked on the hot water tank and the bathroom for us.

He had to distract her from jumping to all sorts of conclusions about that.

She brought up wanting him to come to put away her air conditioner for the winter, which he’d already said he was planning to do. He won’t be able do it until after Nov. 1, though. When he goes there, he has to plan to be there for several hours, and it’s really hard for him to carve out that much time in his schedule.

As they were talking, the topic of the roof came up and he was saying how great it was that it was done, and that it has a 25 yr warranty, and they’ll both be gone before when.

What do you mean, she wanted to know. Is he sick?

…

No… 25 years is a long time. The average life span for a male is 80 years, and lots can happen in 25 years.

That led to them talking about the message our vandal somehow managed to leave on my brother’s cell phone, and the terrible things he was saying about my brother and I. My brother even managed to even address how our vandal does and says all these terrible things, and she treats him so well, but my brother and I love her so much, and take care of her, but she treats us to cruelly. He even brought up how we are dealing with so many problems right now, and her response is to mess with us. Why is that?

She started to go into her usual justifications, on how she loves everyone equally, but he cut that off, because no. She doesn’t.

He’s not sure if he managed to get through to her, how illogical her behaviour in that respect it. Particularly when it came to her saying she would pay for the repairs, then backing off. My mother, however, is acting as though I’d asked her to pay for it, which I would never do. “Donations gratefully accepted”, as my late brother used to say, but help from my mother tends to come with a high price tag, and if there were any way we could get the repairs done without her help, we’d do it.

In the end, though, my brother assured me that my mother will keep her word about paying for the repairs. The amount isn’t all that much – for her, at least – and she’s thrown twice as much at our vandal, just because, before. More than once.

Mostly, though, he wanted to make sure I didn’t cancel the repair job!

I told him I wouldn’t.

So that, at least was a positive end to the day.

Well. Not that the day is over yet, but close enough!

Tonight, I think I’ll make sure to take some ibuprofen instead of my usual acetaminophen, and maybe make sure I’ve eaten enough salt with my meals, before going to bed!

I think an early bed time is a very good idea, today.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

The Re-Farmer

What a great day, with some excellent updates

October 11, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I am really happy with how things have turned out today!

First, we have the cat isolation shelter.

It took all day, but it is now useable! It has been moved close to the house, and the cats love it. Here is a short video I took to post on Instagram.

I was able to make the sliding doors, but one of them turned out to be a real pain. The wood lath covering the insulation on the other side, were not all the same widths, with some sticking out further than others. There was no way the panel could slide over it. So I made a stopper, instead, and it can only slide the other way. We’ll just have to be careful not to slide it out so far that it’ll fall out.

The other side was downright easy, after that!

Once those were in, I got my daughter to hold the front window in place while I drilled some pilot holes and put screws into the corners. Once that was done, she could let it go, and we added more screws to secure it.

Then, finally, we could put the roof pieces on.

Which turned out to not be as long as the boards they were being attached to. We have excess wood sticking out, front and back The back is the “handle” to lift the roof, anyhow, so I’m not too concerned about that, though at some point we’ll want to replace the strip of wood lath across the back with something sturdier. As for the pieces sticking out the front, I ended up using them to help steer as we moved it. We might cut them flush with the roof later, though.

I had to abandon my daughter part way through moving it, as my brother arrived with another load to drop off. After greeting him and he went to unload, I had a chance to take a short video of the isolation shelter. My daughter had left it in an open spot for me to do that. Eventually, I will put together a video of the entire process, which dragged on for so much longer than expected. After that, I moved the shelter closer to the house.

The door/ramp doesn’t have a latch, though – the ones I had were not large enough – so it kept dropping open, even though we’d taped it shut. The down side of using salvaged materials. One of the boards of the ramp cracked after hitting the ground. I had to add a couple more screws to fix it. Which was fine, but it required closing the door to do it.

The kitten that was inside the shelter was not happy about that! 😄

The last thing that really needs to be done is to find a latch for the door/ramp. We also need to get more paint, but that’s mostly cosmetic.

Once we work out exactly where it will stay for the winter, we’ll hang the clamp lamp with the heat bulb under the roof and get that ready for plugging in for the winter, preferably with a timer. I’d also like to attach handles to make it easier to move. The handles I had that I thought we could use are not strong enough.

After moving the isolation shelter closer to the other cat shelters, I grabbed a couple of winter squash as a gift for my brother, and went to join him while he worked. While we were there, we started hearing a noise.

A noise he identified as splashing water on metal.

From the septic expeller.

I couldn’t believe that’s what we were hearing, so we went to take a look. Sure enough, there was water coming out of the pipe!

It was not coming out as well as it should have been; it was almost dribbling down the outer pipe, and the sheet of metal that’s there to prevent erosion at the base was being partially missed. The pipe itself is leaning a bit back and to one side, instead of being straight up, which I’m sure isn’t helping, either.

I’m amazed that it was working at all. I was just there earlier today, taking photos, and saw no sign that water was being ejected from that pipe.

Oh! I completely forgot to mention!

With the one septic company ghosting us, I called the other and left a message this morning. The owner called me back less than half an hour later. They will be able to do the job for us. They are really busy and he couldn’t tell me when they can come out to fix the leak – it might be 3 or 4 weeks – but he told me that they could do the work even if the ground were frozen.

So that was definitely good news!

He asked me for photos of the expeller. While I was there, I made a point of looking to see if there was any sign that greywater has been flowing over the sheet of metal. That fact that there is some water flowing out the pipe, and not all just seeping into the ground, is actually a bit of a weight off my shoulders, making the timing of getting the repair done is not quite as urgent.

So that was more good news.

My brother had been able to come out sooner than he expected. It was still light out when he was done unloading, so he and I did a walkabout, including out to the car graveyard and the old farm equipment. I now know which things he wants to keep, and what can go to the scrap dealer – and it’s added a lot more to what the salvage company can come out for!

Oh, it’s going to be good to clear out this stuff.

My brother then came in to take a look at the bathroom, and the rot on the walls.

In the end, he said it’s not actually that bad. He said he wouldn’t bother taking it out at all, which would require taking the tub out. He suggested we just fix the taps from the other side, then cover it all with the new tub surround we already have.

Then we went around to the other side of the wall to talk about cutting an access panel. He’s pretty sure there is more aspenite under the paneling. We could take off the entire panel, but that would require removing the molding that’s over it, too. He suggested drilling through from the bathroom side to mark where to cut. Which is what I had been thinking, but only after cutting away the rotted aspenite around the taps. We have to figure out where the joists are; they should be 16″ apart, but the bathroom was installed while he was away in college, so he never saw how things were done.

So that is more good news. We don’t have to remove the tub and cut more of the walls away. He recommended we treat the aspenite with bleach, but we have some anti-mold product specifically for bathrooms we can use.

We can now put together a plan of action to get things fixed so we can use our tub and shower again!

Then my brother got his meter and we went to check the hot water tank – after shutting off the breaker! He tested the elements, and it turns out that it is the top element that is burnt out. The bottom one is working fine.

So we’ll be looking into getting a replacement for the top element.

I told him about the powered anode rod we are getting. Looking at the outlet near the hot water tank, I mentioned my thought of unplugging the extension cord that goes into my husband’s closet, then moving the plug for the well pump up, so we have room to plug in the new rod.

He advised against it.

As he put it, we’re already on borrowed time with that well pump, and he wouldn’t touch anything if it can be avoided.

We looked at the other outlet, where the sump pump is plugged in. He suggested running an extension cord from there, instead.

I will trust his advice and do that.

So we’re still without use of the tub and shower, and have only tepid water, but we now have a better idea of what to do next.

Which will be to get at the plumbing for the faucet set from the bedroom side and get that working, first. Then, even if it takes longer to get to the point we can install the tub surround, we can temporarily put plastic over where it’s cut open, so we can use the tub and not have to keep sponge bathing!

So… I rate that as more good news.

There was only one hiccup in the day that is more strange than anything else.

While my brother was unloading his truck, he got a voice mail notification on his cell phone – but his phone never rang. He joked that it was our vandal, because that’s who it was the last time this happened.

Well, after he left our place, my brother checked the voice mail, and it really was from our vandal!

I’ll get a copy of the message later, but it was much the same as last time. He’s wondering why my brother is “catering” to me – and we have no idea what he’s talking about. He also said that his doctor told him that the reason he got cancer is because of us, and that we are evil, evil, evil! He’s dying of cancer, and it’s our fault.

???

I’d say, he was drinking behind his wife’s back again.

At least he didn’t threaten us with “retribution” so extreme, even the Pope would be reading about it in a magazine, this time.

We are perplexed as to what triggered the call. Particularly since my brother was here when the voice mail was left. My brother thinks our vandal has been watching us, and saw that my brother had arrived, but I don’t see how.

Whatever the reason, my brother has our vandal’s number blocked, so he shouldn’t have been able to leave any voice mail message at all. The phone company is going to be getting a call about it, that’s for sure!

One thing else is for sure. When the scrap metal company comes to clean things up, we will have to watch out for our vandal, because he is going to go ballistic. He believes all this stuff rightfully belongs to him – but then, he thinks the entire property rightfully belongs to him.

Well, we’ll deal with that when the time comes. I’ll just be glad to get all this stuff cleaned out – and I’m sure the renter will be glad to see it gone, too, since his cows graze around almost all of it!

Oh, and I told my brother about the guy that wants to buy a couple of cars for parts, and how he will need to bring in special equipment to be able to get them out. I also told my brother that I’d arranged for him to use part of the money for the cars to pay back the guy that put a down payment on the old Farm Hand tractor, since I could see my brother wasn’t happy with the sale. My brother was happy to hear this.

So good news for him, too!

It’s just been a good day, overall, I’d say!

The Re-Farmer

Progress with the kitties!

October 10, 2024 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Some good news with the outside cats, this morning!

When I headed out this morning to feed the outside cats their warm, softened food, I kept an eye out for the kitten that was acting kinda sick.

The first place I checked was in the shelf bed it normally hangs out in. It was empty.

After I finished putting the food out, I finally spotted it.

It was eating on its own! This is the first time I have seen it eating since we first noticed there was something wrong with it. Even when we brought it into the old kitchen to give wet cat food, it was more interested in cuddles, and yesterday morning I was feeding it with a syringe.

This is a huge step forward! I even saw it moving to the other tray to eat, then some of the adult cats got a bit too pushy.

Not this one, though.

This is the cat that we aren’t sure where it came from. I asked the girls about it, and they’ve seen it hanging around for a little while, but don’t really recognize it, either.

When I saw that it was in the sun room, eating at one of the trays, rather than hiding in a corner of the shelf shelter, I took a chance.

It was facing away from me while eating, so I was able to reach down and start petting its back.

That startled it, and it stretched its head way up to look around, but didn’t run away. When I started to scritch it’s neck, it finally turned to look at me, but did not run away.

Shortly after, it actually came up to me, wanting more pets!

This actually confirms to me that it not likely one of our cats from last year, returned, which was one possibility. If it was, it would have been one of the more feral ones that we’d never been able to get close to. I also would have expected it to be an older cat. This one seems barely more than a “teenager”.

That it actually took to pets so quickly suggests to me that this is probably a cat that got dumped in the area. There’s no way to know for sure. It may even be a yard cat from one of the neighboring farms, though if it were, I would actually expect it to be more feral, not less.

If we can get to where we can handle it, we can look for things like an ear tattoo.

It’s nice to have some good progress with the kitties!

The Re-Farmer

Morning babies

October 9, 2024 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

I had an unusually hard time getting out to do my morning rounds, today! 😁

As is now the routine, I started off by setting the outside cats’ kibble to soak in hot water before heading out. The cats were very hungry and eager for food!

There was even a skunk already there, coming in to eat along with the cats! I was going to chase it away, but I noticed it has some sort of injury around one eye and…

What can I say. I’m a suck for the skunks, as well as the cats!

At least the soaked kibble won’t cause problems for the skunk. They shouldn’t eat kibble, because of how their jaws are hinged. It can cause problems. Soft kibble, however, won’t do that.

It was very hungry.

Of course, I was keeping an eye out for the kitten that seems to be having issues. When I started putting food out, I saw it laying on the cat bed on the bottom of the shelf in front of the window.

It wasn’t moving, as I put the food out.

I was honestly prepared to have to dig a hole this morning, but when I came back with the empty food bowl, I saw the kitten. It was in the middle of a food tray, food right in front of it. Other cats were head butting it to get at the food, but it wasn’t eating.

So I picked it up and moved it to another tray, to see if it would start eating there.

It didn’t.

We’d tried to give it wet cat food last night. It wouldn’t eat that, either. The bowl was covered and still in the old kitchen, so I took it in to see if it would eat the wet cat food.

It didn’t.

I even tried to scoop it up with my fingers and put it right to its mouth.

It still wouldn’t eat.

It did, however, like and bite at my fingers. Eventually.

What it really wanted was snuggles.

Oh, my goodness, did it ever want snuggles!

I ended up sitting in my late father’s walker for a while, just holding it.

It still needed to eat something, though, so I ended up taking it, and the bowl of food, into the bathroom. I added warm water to the food, then used a larger syringe we now have to try and feed the kitten.

It did actually eat eagerly for a while, actively licking at the syringe.

But only a short while. I did force feed it a bit more, but it was far more interested in checking out the bathroom, and its own reflection in the mirror.

I do still get the impression there is something going on with its vision, yet it can clearly see at least somewhat.

It also seems wobbly on its legs.

I gave its eyes a wash, and cleared its crusty nose. There are definite lung issues going on, but that seems like the standard herpes related issues all the yard cats have.

Finally, I took it back to the sun room and managed to escape before it started finding my feet and laying its head on my boots again!

I had some followers as I did my morning rounds, though, including Eye Baby!

It was really hard to get a picture of him. He wouldn’t stop moving!

That eye looks so, so much better. I don’t know that it will ever improve beyond how it is now, but he seems to be completely adjusted to his condition. It certainly doesn’t slow him down in any way!

As I finished my rounds and started heading back in, through the sun room, I found this pile of cuties, watching me!

That’s one adult cat and four kittens, all mashed into that tiny cat bed! There is a larger cat bed right next to them, with a single kitten sleeping in it, but nope. They all needed to crowd together in the little one. 😄

I also spotted the little sick tabby.

His legs may be wobbly at times, but he still managed to get into the cat cage and settle onto one of the beds in there.

We will keep monitoring him and keep feeding him with the syringe. That will give him both food and hydration. Hopefully, he will start eating and drinking again on his own soon.

Or she. I haven’t tried to look, yet. 😄

In other things…

While I was working on this, I got a call from the supportive living coordinator about my mother. I updated them on some of the more recent changes, such as her macular degeneration, and starting Meals on Wheels. My mother is on that line, where she doesn’t quite fit for the services available in one level of care, but needs more care that would be a good fit for the other. The long term care coordinator also has my mother’s file, and the two of them will connect to talk about my mother, including the updated information I was able to give them just now, see where my mother needs to be, and how best to get her there!

My mother, meanwhile, just wants to be in one specific long term care home in the town nearest us. We’re trying to encourage her to take whatever they have available, because there’s just no way of knowing when a space will open. Once she’s in the system, she can be transferred later. She just needs to get in, first!

Progress is progress, though, and we’re slowing getting her there!

Little by little, it’s getting done.

The Re-Farmer

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: