We got a “baby”

And it’s so tiny and cute.

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Just look at that little thing! I absolutely HAD to put it next to the big one before using it, to get a picture.

It’s a good thing I called ahead to see if any were in stock, and have it set aside, because there were only two left, and by the time we got to the store, in a small city about 45 minutes drive away, we got the only one left. I’d hoped to find one at a local (ish) hardware store but, not only were they out of stock, so was every other store the guy looked up for me! Thankfully, I was able to find one in another franchise, even if it meant an unplanned, longer drive.

But more on that later…

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Well, most of my plans panned out

Today was going to be a day of out and about-ing, so I made sure to do the rounds a bit earlier this morning.

A quick glance out the bathroom window showed me that Slick was already waiting for breakfast. :-D

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As I came out with their food and warm water, I found Nicky the Nose making his way out the door, while Slick slunk under the blankets and benches.

Part of my usual routine these days is to turn the electric heating pad back on for another 2 hours, while doing the cats’ food and water, then doing the deer and bird feed.

I came back to this.

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When -18C is now warm! Also, a re-evaluation

Going out to do my rounds was down right pleasant, today!

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I see you in there… should I run?

I didn’t even bother to wear gloves, for a change. Even Butterscotch came to me after I finished putting deer and bird feed out, wanting me to carry her for the rest of my rounds! :-D

Ferdinand was in the sun room this morning, for a change, checking me out while I scooped up some kibble in the Old Kitchen. Usually, it’s been Slick in the sun room of late. With the warmer temperatures, all the outside cats are more active. Even the water in the sun room had barely any ice on it. There is a down side, though; as things warm up, the sun room is starting to smell very strongly of cat urine. We’re going to have to do a very thorough spring cleaning in there!

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Meet Slick and the Post Cats

First off, a great big thank you to 53old for identifying our little squeaker.  It is neither vole nor mole, but a pygmy shrew!  No wonder I didn’t find it in my searches.  I was looking up moles, voles and rodents.  It’s not a rodent, either, so nothing like it came up.  In fact, seeing what it eats, this is a critter we want to keep around!  Which means, if we ever had the chance to rescue others, we certainly will.

While feeding the cats this morning, one of the dad cats was around.  He seems to be getting more comfortable with us – and the other cats with him (though, to be honest, for all I know, he’s really a she).  As I was going in and out of the sun room to get deer and bird feed, I found him eating with our own cats, and he didn’t try to run away.  Which is more than even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern will do.

Meet Slick. Continue reading

Changed plans

pain.scaleAh, 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

Vehicular Milestone

You know, the outside cats make going outside quite entertaining!  Check out Beep Beep!

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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!

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Settling in, little by little

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.

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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.

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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!

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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

Winter Prep, and future plans

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

Oh, what a day! :-D

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

Ouch

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…

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