Ah, life. The things you throw at us.
While, thankfully, my husband did not injure himself when the kittens tried to kill him, and he ended up falling, it did not leave him entirely unscathed. As time went on, it became clear he did pull some muscles (I guess that should count as an injury?), and now he’s in even more pain than usual. Continue reading
You know, the outside cats make going outside quite entertaining! Check out Beep Beep!
Earlier, when I was walking around the yard, she followed me, insisting on attention, until I finally picked her up and carried her the rest of the way.
Later, as I brought the van into the yard, cats and kits scattered all over the place. Beep Beep went up the tree. When I came near, she started rolling around so much, she almost fell off!
I did my rounds around the yard this evening, and it’s really something to see how everything is settling in for the winter.
While I have been fighting those invasive vines all over the place all summer, there is one area where I am keeping them. They are, after all, quite pretty, when under control! They have gone to seed, now, and are all covered with lovely little puffs.
I spent some time going around the yard, picking up the fallen branches, and going through where I cleaned things up in the maple grove.
When talking to my family about what I was finding, I mentioned the rows of trees that were planted too close together, with many dying because of it, and how I wanted to eventually transplant the three poor little tamarack trees. One family member told me to just cut them down to give the other trees space.
Nope! Not going to do that. I really want to save these trees.
This is one of the reasons why.
They turn a most glorious golden yellow in the fall!
In the future, I would really love to plant more of them!
It’s not unusual, when I make my way through the yard, for me to have a cat follow me. That’s typically when Rolando Moon makes an appearance. Otherwise, it’s Beep Beep or Butterscotch.
Today, I had two cats following me!
Beep Beep and her boy!
Later, my younger daughter helped me move some leaf piles onto the flower garden by the Old Kitchen. The girls have been raking the grass, but with the latest drop of leaves, it’s rather yard to tell in some places! :-D We are starting to use the leaves as mulch in different areas as well as adding more to the garden – and that’s without doing any raking at all in between the trees! Those will be left to decompose where they are. We’ll just stay on top of picking up fallen branches in those areas.
Earlier today, we made a trip into town to get some prescription refills. When they were ready, the pharmacist went through the three bottles with me. There was supposed to be four, however. So she went back to check what happened. It turned out that, for some reason, the insurance wasn’t coming up to cover that one at all. They figured it was a glitch in the system.
They ended up giving me the refill, without charging us for it now. When I come back in about a week, for some other refills, they will charge us for it then.
Which kinda blows me away.
When we had issues with insurance, shortly after moving here, the Costco pharmacy my husband had set up with wanted to charge him full price. We didn’t even know there was a problem until they wanted some $400, when we should only have been paying $40 or so. It was a most frustrating experience, and my husband went without some of his medications for a long time before the mess was fixed – and then even longer, because the fix put him at the wrong rate, which meant we still couldn’t afford it.
I’m rather glad we are with this pharmacy, now!
One of the benefits of going with a small town pharmacy, instead of one in the city!
Something to be thankful for, for sure!
The Re-Farmer
Well, I’m certainly glad that yesterday was a good day, weather wise, because today certainly wasn’t!
Yesterday had warmed up quite a bit, which meant the ice and snow was melting and coming off the trees with a constant rattle of ice pellets hitting the ground. When I had the chance, I checked around the yard to see if we had lost any other trees or large branches, and am happy to say that we did not. Just a few little branches.
Heading over towards the apples, I could see that, while we only saw one deer over by the bird feeder, there were certainly others we didn’t see! Continue reading
How the day was going to go was a bit up in the air, to be decided after we picked up our van. It ended up being a much longer day, but we got the bulk of our monthly shop in, after all.
In order to get the van home, my younger daughter and husband had to come along. Now, my mother’s car isn’t a compact car, by any means, but my husband tops 6 ft. Even with the seat back as far as it could go, he had to fold himself in. He was basically wearing the car!! Continue reading
Ah, what a day!
Before I get into it, however, I will share some adorableness! :-D
I was outside and decided to check the sun room, to see if it was safe to close up the doors for the night.
It wasn’t quite there yet…
Well, today was certainly a productive day outside!
I decided to see how much I could get done on the old kitchen garden today, and ended up finishing the job! So I’m happy. :-)
When I came out of the house, I startled cats in all directions, including that new grey ball of fluff. A few of them even hung around while I moved things around the garden to prepare.
It’s just one, so far; the tuxedo. My daughter tells me he let her pet him yesterday, too.
Progress!!! :-D
I was out for much of the morning, taking my mother to the hospital she will be going for surgery at, tomorrow, for her pre-op blood work. We took her car, since it’s easier to get in and out of for her. When we needed to replace our old van, I very specifically chose a vehicle that would meet my husband’s mobility needs, which are pretty much the opposite of my mothers. :-D The trip went really well, and we got back early enough that we could go to church together, too.
When I got home, I noticed branches in the yard, so after lunch I went out to pick them up.
I got distracted by a Beep Beep, who really wanted attention! So I sat on the side of the concrete landing at the door and started petting her. Her tuxedo kitten was out and, at first, he didn’t want to go near me. Then, much to my surprise, he came over to snuzzle his mom as I pet her – and let me pet him, too!
Then they both went behind my back and rolled around on the concrete. I reached around to pet Beep Beep, and a kitten head pushed itself under my hand! It was so awesome.
I tried reaching my phone over my shoulder to get some pictures of them behind my back and actually got a good one of the tuxedo. :-D
I’m hoping, as the other kittens see him enjoying human attention, they’ll relax and start letting us pet them, too.
The grey tabby, however, still won’t go near me. I moved to a chair we have by the sun room, and he wouldn’t even go past to get to the food bowls.
The teeny tabby used to come close and even let me touch, sometimes, but these days, he is acting more skittish for some reason. He will, at least, go past me to get to the food.
His big brother, on the other hand, almost did, but when he heard me shift on the chair, he ran off again.
He has such a lion-like appearance doesn’t he? :-D
I even caught a glimpse of one of the calicos, dashing away.
I’m so happy. I got some kitten therapy! :-D
The Re-Farmer
While tending the fire pit, burning away the rhizomes I’d pulled up earlier, I got to watch a lovely sunset.
The photo does not do it justice. It was as if the sky on the horizon was on fire!
I went over to the outer fence line (the cow fence. ;-) ) to get this shot, so there would be fewer trees blocking the sunset.
We had another hot and muggy day today, so I didn’t plan on doing any manual labour in the trees today. Which worked to be a good thing, since my husband was able to reschedule a medical appointment from next week to today, so he could get updated prescriptions, and then fill them. He was able to get an updated prescription for a CPAP as well. He’s been without for almost a week, now. Interestingly, after that first night without, he’s actually been breathing quite a bit in his sleep. Granted, the incline of the hospital bed helps, but it’s no where near as bad as it was before he finally got the sleep apnea diagnosis. Back then, he spent more time not breathing, than breathing, and had 0 REM sleep. His case was so extreme, the sleep researcher that had his file, who was also a university professor, asked permission to use the test results and video for his classes, and his data for future text books. In all his years as a sleep researcher, he’d never encountered a case as severe before! So any improvement is a good thing.
This province does things differently when it comes to CPAPs, which is covered by the medicare system with a deductible. We had to explain to the doctor that we were intending to just get a new one from cpap.com In the end, it’s cheaper that way. Even with the dollar difference and before insurance coverage (we have to pay in full ourselves, first, then submit the receipt). It’s amazing how incredibly more expensive the machines and supplies are, when purchasing them from Canadian suppliers! It makes no sense! So by doing it this way, we are not only saving money for ourselves, but for our insurance company, too. Also, since the machine we plan to get is an adjustable type, he doesn’t have to go through new testing to work out the settings, so it’ll probably be faster, too. In the long term, though, it would be good to get him tested again, and see if he would be eligible for a VPAP (variable pressure, rather than continuous pressure) instead. That is still covered by the system 100% here, too. That will be discussed with the doctor another time. The most important thing is getting a new machine quickly. Sleep apnea is not something to take lightly!
The Re-Farmer
Yesterday, after picking my daughter up from work, the girls and I went straight to visit my awesome, amazing older brother and his wife for the evening.
The storm warnings had returned, but the skies were clear at the time, if incredibly windy all day. The winds died down enough that we were able to eat outside, then have a fire going to toast marshmallows. It was so wonderful to just sit outside together, talking and enjoying each others’ company. I just wish my husband had been able to come out, too, but if he had, he would never have been able to handle the length of the visit.
Chronic pain really sucks.
While we were outside, we did see some pretty dramatic skies!
The clouds were moving fast, so we saw all sorts of interesting shapes passing by. When it first started to rain, though, the sky above us was clear! :-D After a while, though, it started to come down a bit harder, so we packed up and went in. By then it was late enough to start heading home, which was about an hour and a half’s drive.
While we were away, my husband sent us some updates to let us know it was coming down pretty hard at home. It was all done by the time we made the drive, but as soon as we turned off the highway onto the gravel road, we drove through a bit patch where the road was covered with twigs and branches from someone’s willow. Some smaller trees along the road were downed. (Interestingly, I later found out the my husband’s dead CPAP machine, which he has left plugged in, actually flickered to life during the storm. Just a flicker. Odd.)
When we got home, we decided to park in the yard by the house, instead of the garage. As I drove in, the first thing I saw in my headlights was a branch on the ground. So while the girls brought things into the house, I grabbed a flashlight and did a circuit around the house. Nothing major, but it was clear it was going to be another day needing a wheelbarrow to clear up everything that came down.
Then this morning, as I glance out the north facing bedroom window, I see this.
One of the apple trees had come down, too.
I don’t think this one was doing very well this year. It never really bloomed, and I couldn’t see any apples on it when I checked it out. Most of it had already been pruned away, before we moved out here. I’m not surprised that this one came down. I’m more surprised it was the only one.
Thanks to my brother, though, I have chain oil for my birthday gift – summer and winter oil, even, and enough to last a very long time! – so later today I will break it down and haul away the pieces. When making plans to visit, I’d asked about what stores were near their place, after entertaining them about why I needed more oil so quickly (see link above), and my brother was sweet enough to pick some up before we got out there. :-) That meant we didn’t have to rush to any stores before they closed, and could go straight to visiting.
I have awesome family!
Since it’s an apple tree, I will keep the pieces separate, so I can use the wood for crafting purposes. :-)
I will be sticking to just the necessary clean up for today, though, since I do try to keep Sunday as a day of rest, even if we haven’t found a church yet out here. There will be more than enough to catch up on, later! Things are supposed to cool down for the next week, so I’m hoping to be able to continue clearing out the rest of the maple grove and not risk heat stroke! :-D
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 