making do

Gosh, it felt good…

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… to get some physical labour done!

My broken old body may betray me now and then, or the weather may not be cooperative, but gosh I do love it when I can do physical labour!

I actually ended up going into town again today. I realized we weren’t going to have enough kibble for the outside cats to last us until our first stock up shop next week, and with other things on my calendar, it was either get it now, or run out before then.

I did wait until later in the morning to go, though. While we got a smattering of snow last night, mostly we got freezing rain. The highway conditions group I’m on has been quiet the last while, other than warnings about deer activity or accident sites, as road conditions have been really good. This morning, I was seeing warnings as soon as I opened my FB app about how dangerously slippery various highways were.

Even as I was heading out, when things had warmed up, I almost slipped while opening the gate. There is a pair of large spruces that shade it for most of the day – especially this time of year – so it was still all ice. Today was pretty warm, and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer, so hopefully it will all dry up before tomorrow night, when I have to drive to and from my mother’s, after it gets full dark and the temperatures are below freezing.

Normally, I would have gone to the nearest Walmart for more kibble, but with the cost of gas, I decided to try the other grocery store in town. They have a house brand kibble that the cats will actually eat, even if they don’t like it as much as other brands, that is more affordable. I lucked out. Their 8kg/17.6lbs bags were on sale for $17, which made it cheaper than the one 15kg/33lbs house brand bag that was available. Since I was there anyhow, I was able to take advantage of some sales and got a few more little things, but it was still mostly the cat food.

That done, I headed outside after lunch to see what I could do to take advantage of the lovely weather. One of those things was to set up the little scaffolding we picked up second hand, a couple of years ago, under my bedroom window that leaks. I was going to caulk it, originally, but changed my mind and decided to go with a spray sealant.

I’m glad I did.

While scrubbing off cob webs and debris, I got a good look at the outside of that window for probably the first time in my life. On the side that we used to be able to open, I could see that there was a pane of glass added, with moveable clips holding it in place. The other window has the clips, but not the extra pane of glass. The clips are painted over, so they don’t actually move anymore, but that could be changed, if necessary.

Looking around, though, I could see why the window was having issues with leaking, when the winds drove rain in just the right direction. The house was painted the summer before we moved in, and some of it was starting to peel away. I could see gaps that should have been filled. I don’t think they were there when the window frame was painted.

I hope the spray sealant works, but there might be issues. It’s supposed to be used at temperatures between 10-35C/50-95F. At the time I started working on it, we were at about 4C/39F.

The directions said to wait 10 minutes between coats so, after I applied the first coat, I set a timer, then started working into the spruce grove.

With the leaves down and the foliage dying back, I went through to find the last section of tree trunk from one of three dead spruces my brother cut down for me, several years ago, to use as raised bed frames. I step counted what was left, and figured I could get 18′ out of it, after trimming off the remains of the tree top. My daughter had already trimmed the branches away when we used part of the trunk for the low raised bed frame most recently completed.

There was still the issue of getting to it, and that required cutting away some new growth. I also noticed a lot of nice, straight poplars, as well as cherry suckers. In time, I went to get rid of that entire stand of cherries, as they are not the right type for our climate and don’t produce. They just spread through their roots. For now, though, I started to widen the opening into the spruce grove by cutting away cherry suckers. I was getting enough nice, long and relatively straight pieces that when my timer went off and I stopped to apply another coast of sealant, I messaged my daughter to see if she could come help. I dragged the pile with the straightest stems over to the branch pile (the more crooked ones went straight onto the pile), and she came out to trim away all the little twigs and branches, and setting aside the longest, straightest sections.

I got quite a bit of the cherry cleaned up – and two more coats of sealant on the window – before I stopped with the cherry stand and started working my way to the downed tree trunk. At this point, I was saving the straightest poplar suckers. Like cherry, these spread through roots.

All of this took a couple of hours of before I finally got things clear enough around the downed tree. This part of the trunk was fairly narrow, and I was able to trim the top of it with a pruning saw to get it clear.

Then there was the question of how to drag it out.

We have a rock pile near our power pole that I’d gone through to collect rocks that will form the wall of a flower bed near the gate, where my mother’s angel statue is on display. Lying upside down on the rock pile was an old child’s sled. How many decades it’s been sitting there, I can’t be sure. I decided to grab it and try something, to make dragging the tree trunk out easier. I brought that, some rope with heavy duty latch hook clips at each and, and a metal bar to use as a handle, over to the tree trunk. The sled went under the far end – the top of the tree – so that it would slide through the remaining underbrush, rather than dragging along the nubs of branches that were bound to be on the underside of the trunk.

At the near end, I looped the rope under the trunk, past some branch nubs, so it couldn’t slip, then put the metal bar through the latch hooks to make a handle.

It did actually work.

For a while.

The only problem was that I had no way to secure the tree trunk to the sled. After a while, the sled got hung up enough that the tree finally slid right off. By that time, however, I’d gotten it through the worst of the underbrush and could keep dragging it as it was.

Well… almost.

Without the sled, there were still branch nubs catching and digging into the dirt. When it got to the point that I needed to turn the trunk so that it could be dragged between trees and into the main garden area, I called my daughter over for help. The trunk itself was not that heavy, relatively speaking. The first section of it that we dragged out before was the thickest part of the trunk, and THAT was heavy!

Between the two of us, we maneuvered it through the trees and into the main garden area, near where the next trellis bed will be built. From the looks of it, compared to the nearby 18′ raised bed, I’d say it’s about 18.5′, maybe closer to 19′ long. Which gives me some wiggle room to trim the ends when it’s time to use it for a garden bed wall.

We “just” need three more 18′ lengths, plus four 4′ lengths for the ends, to make a matching trellis bed.

By this time, it was getting too dark to keep going, so we just gathered things to be put away and did some clean up. My daughter had managed to trim quite a lot of the cherry and poplar I’d harvested, and those got added to the pile on the chain link fence garden bed, where they will be used to make new, slightly higher, walls. I doubt I’ll be able to actually build them this year, but we should at least have most of the materials needed to do it in the spring. Since these will be deadwood walls, not wattle weave, I don’t have to worry about keeping the lengths flexible. They can stay where they are all winter, and still be useable.

Since it was so dark by the time we were done, I didn’t get any pictures of our progress, but I did get this…

Would you look at how that little mostly white kitten is splayed out? 💕💕

That tuxedo’s eyes are too big for its head. 😄

Tomorrow, I’m going to look around in the spruce grove some more and see what can be done next. Several dead spruces have fallen on their own already. The based of their trunks, however, are huge. The ones that are too big to use for raised bed walls without being milled, will be cut to 10′ lengths and set aside. I need a total of ten of them for the posts of the outdoor kitchen we want to build and, so far, I have only one!

Unfortunately, the space I’d set it aside in, with plans to add more as I was able to harvest them, now has my brother’s baler parked in it. I’ll have to find somewhere else to store nine more 10′ logs!

There are, however, more dead spruce trees that need to be cut down, that are not so wide at the base. Not only am I looking to harvest them for the pairs of trellis beds that will become trellis tunnels, but there are another 5 or 6 already prepped low raised beds that need walls. The trellis beds will be 2 logs high for starters, but the low raised beds will be one log high for starters. We can add more height to them over time, as we are able, but the main thing is to get them framed. The goal is for most of the beds to be 4 logs high, like the current 9′ long high raised bed. That one is the perfect high for excellent reach without back or joint pain. Some beds will remain lower, to be used for tall climbers or things like corn, but I still want them to be at least two logs high.

I’ve been thinking ahead to the open area closer to the food forest. I’m hoping to have at least two more pairs of trellis tunnel beds beyond what is being worked on now. Give the amount of sun, etc. the open area gets, I am thinking of how to set up polytunnels. Perhaps we can continue to build more pairs or raised beds, but instead of forming trellis tunnels over the paths in between them, we can add supports to the outsides of the beds and cover them with greenhouse poly. I think we’d have room to build two, maybe three, pairs of beds as we get closer to the food forest area. If we can do that, it would allow us to grow perennials that would otherwise not survive our winters, and extend our growing season significantly. With the amount of direct sun that area gets, a polytunnel would be very warm, even in winter. We’d just have to find a way to keep it from getting too cold overnight.

Things to think about!

We will, eventually, run out of dead spruces we can harvest for this and will have to go further afield to find materials. Once we’ve cleared the spruce grove of dead trees and underbrush – and those spirea that I’d pulled out but came back anyhow! – I want to start transplanting spruces from other areas and make the spruce grove a spruce grove again. With how poplar spreads through its roots, it’s taking over. They are a useful material to harvest for various projects, but they are not as good at protecting from winter winds as the spruces are. With all the stumps we are leaving taller, we’ll also be able to use those to create benches and tables, and make ourselves a nice little park in there. When I was a kid, I used to be able to mow in there. Not any more! It would be great to have a space in there that my husband can go into with his walker, and just sit and enjoy the outdoors. Plus, once we’ve cleared out the cherry stand and all the dead spruces, we’ll be able to finally build that outdoor bathroom with a composting toilet I’ve been wanting to build, to replace the outhouse over a pit.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been here for 8 years now. When we first moved here, we’d developed a year by year plan on what we wanted to work on, staring with the inner yard, then moving outwards.

Things certainly have changed. Not the main goals, perhaps, but how and when we plan to reach them. That all four of us are also now broken, one way or another, with three of us officially considered disabled (my older daughter still won’t see a doctor and, really, I can’t blame her), that has changed our focus as well.

Which makes me appreciate days like today, when I can get out there and do things like drag tree trunks around! Even if I do need some help from my daughter. 😄

The Re-Farmer

Paid in full, and winterizing progress

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Well, I seem to have pushed myself a bit too much, yesterday. I actually needed to use painkillers before doing to bed last night. In the morning, I asked my daughters to do the morning routine while I took more pain killers and tried to get a bit more sleep.

Which the cats sabotaged, of course!

My younger daughter needed to hit the grocery store, so she went along with me to the hardware store to pay the balance on the new front door. I even got Air Miles on it – and on the deposit I’d etransferred back when I first accepted the contract.

While there, we looked around for something to use to secure the vinyl I wanted to wrap around the catio. I knew what I needed it to do, but didn’t know what there was that I could use to do it. All the different things we looked at were either not flat enough, not strong enough, too strong, etc.

Finally, we just sort of gave up and starting looking at hand tools.

Because my daughter and I both have a thing for tools!

When someone asked if we needed help, I figured, why not? I brought up some pictures of the winterized isolation shelter and explained that I wanted to something that would do what the wood lath did to secure the vinyl, but narrower, and showed him a picture of the catio.

After talking about it for a bit, he took us over to a display we’d walked right past and showed us their steel strapping. I did already have some at home and would have preferred to not use metal, but in the end, it really was the best we’d be able to come up with. So we got a roll of 25′ galvanized steel strapping to supplement what I had at home, which would not have been enough for the job.

Then, my daughter treated us to lunch.

Well…

Breakfast, really.

Her disability has finally started to come in, so she had a small budget.

After lunch, we did her shopping, then headed home.

As soon as I was settled in and changed, I headed out to work on the catio.

The first thing to do was cover the door, on its own. For that, I repurposed some of the old vinyl that had been taken off earlier. It was a bit frayed so, after measuring the door, I doubled it up and duct taped parts of it to hold it together, and reinforce stress points.

Because of the latch and handle, one corner got folded under when it was time to attach it to the door.

Attaching the steel strapping to the bottom was the most difficult part. I don’t bend well.

I then measured the height of the sides for the next part. It is 50″ tall, and the clear vinyl dining table protectors I got for this are 52″ wide.

I am very glad I moved that folding table under the canopy tent near the catio!

I spent the next while setting strips of duct tape half way under one of the long edges of a vinyl sheet. The duct tape is 2″ wide, so I set it so the vinyl was around the middle – at least as close to the middle as I could manage. Kohl decided she REALLY needed to be on the table and giving me kisses! Even if it meant stepping on the sticky side of duct tape!

Plus, it kept getting windier, and I had to weight things down all over the place.

Once I had tape under the edge of the sheet, I turned the duct tape over, folding the vinyl to create a 1 inch “hem”.

Then I did the same thing on the other side, to bring it down to about 50″. I didn’t care if it wasn’t exact. In fact, a little excess extending past the based would be quite acceptable.

For the short ends, I folded duct tape over the edges to reinforce them, then added more to reinforce the corners.

By then, I’d been outside for quite some time and, while it was supposed to be warmer today, the wind made it feel colder – and the wind was picking up more. So I messaged my daughter and she helped me reinforce the edges of the second sheet. I was getting really chilled, so when that was finished, we weighted things down so I could go inside and warm up. After about half an hour, I headed back out – this time with a jacket!

In the first photo above, you can see the covered door. Instead of cutting off the excess vinyl, I folded it under, instead.

Then I cut away the rope handles at the corners. They were great for making it easier to move the catio, but they would be in the way of the vinyl wrap.

When I started attaching the side panels, I started with the one that needed to be folded under at the corner. In the next picture, you can see both, with the diagonal strips of steel strapping to keep the folded under edges from catching in the wind.

For the side panels, I didn’t expect to finish today, as I knew it would be getting dark soon. I focused on getting the front panels secured at the top and sides, then did the top only on a side panel. You can see in the next picture how far I got with the first sheet. I repeated the process on the other side.

I had forgotten that, when I fixed this thing up, I used metal strapping to secure the mesh on the side near the door hinge, so that had to be worked around. I had also used metal planted to reinforce the corners, so the strapping couldn’t go right to the corners. Which is okay. As long as the corners by the door were secured, the vinyl wrapped around the corners would not be as much of an issue.

Once both sheets were attached at the front and sides, the remaining vinyl was blowing in the wind, so I wrapped them around the back and secured them with short strips of steel strapping at the corners.

Before I even finished that, though, I saw a problem that I suspected would happen.

The two sheets were not long enough to meet at the back.

There was no way I could leave things like that, with the wind. I needed to close up the back.

Back I went to the leftover vinyl from last winter, cutting off a strip a fair bit wider than the gap. The top and bottom got reinforced with duct tape.

In the next picture, you can see the metal plate the top. When we were given this catio, the back was all one open space. I added a vertical support in the middle, then covered it with a couple of pieces of wood lath to secure the wire mesh. I added these metal plates all over the place while repairing and reinforcing the catio!

Working around the metal plate, I secured the gap filler with the steel strapping and a screw on either side of the metal plate, which you can see in the next picture.

Before securing the ends of the larger sheets, I made sure to go all around to pull things snug and straight. The catio is elevated by bricks, and the vinyl is long enough to hang below the bottom edge, and I had to make sure all the bricks were pushed in and flush with the edges, so the vinyl wouldn’t be pulled out of position. Once everything was as flush as I could get it, I could secure the edges at the back, setting them over the gap filler, rather than under. Once the corners were pulled as snug as I could, they got secured with screws, which you can see in the next picture. That done, I could finally screw the ends of the strapping in place.

The bottom did not have a metal plate, but the very middle did have the seam between two pieces of wood lath, so the initial screw needed to be off centre. I tugged and pulled to make sure there would be no gaps – the pieces don’t quite line up at the bottoms, since none of the edges were completely straight – before I secured the gap filled in the middle. Then it was repeat the process, to secure the overlapping pieces.

That was as far as I could do tonight. It was getting too dark and too cold! Securing the bottoms will wait until tomorrow.

Aside from that, though, it’s basically done. Here is a slide show of how it looks now, from all sides.

I had several cats who were just fine, going in and out of the catio, while I worked on it! Some even tried to “catch” me through the wire mesh from the inside.

Last winter, the wind tore at every loose bit of the covering. This winter, with the door having its own separate cover will make a difference, as will removing those rope handles. The steel strapping and reinforced edges should keep things from tearing away – I hope! In theory, I could probably get away with adding trapping to the bottom of the front panels, only. The back is already reinforced, and the sides are quite snug at the bottom. I’ll still had some strapping, though.

Tomorrow.

That done, it was time to put things away. As I went into the garage to tuck things into their places, I noticed I was being watched from the top of the truck!

Adam does not approve of my presence!

Pink seems to have moved into the rafters of the garage again – at least for the night. We do see her around the house, and she goes into the isolation shelter to eat. I even saw her on the rail outside the sun room, and she enthusiastically excepted pets. She even gave me kisses!

However, my working on the catio did get interrupted by a cat fight by the isolation shelter. I went over to break it out and found Pinky cowering behind the bin in full defense mode, while Patience threatened her! Even when she comes around other cats to eat, she will growl and snarl at cats that come close.

If we aren’t able to get her to the rescue to adopt out, I’m thinking of making a shelter for her in the garage. Something better to stay warm in, than the rafters!

Oh, that reminds me.

We heard from the foster that took our six cats and kittens. The one adult with the infected ear – they have been calling her Mila – has not been adjusting. She doesn’t get along with the other cats, and is growling and snarling at the humans. She will be getting spayed soon, and they’ll be checking her ear at the same time and determining treatment. The foster was wondering if we were okay with taking her back after, rather than trying to adopt her out.

She got along fine with the cats here, was a regular in the cuddle puddles, and even let us pet her, so I said yes.

They will keep her for a week after spay for observation. If things don’t improve, she will be coming back to us.

Poor thing. She is a real sweetie. I thought she would have been good for adopting out.

But I digress.

It was getting quite dark by the time everything was put away, and I switched out the trail cam cards. As I returned to the house, I saw this handsome fellow.

There had been two other cats with him but they ran off when I got closer. Midnight has been spending a lot of time in here, now that the heat lamp is going! I also saw a fluffy kitten using the hammock while Pinky was in there, earlier in the day. I think the cats are quite happy to have this shelter back beside the house!

I think the more feral cats will be happy with the winterized catio, too.

Tomorrow, I finish securing the bottoms of the catio, and then it’s back to the garden beds. I have been planning out what I want to winter sow and where. The weekend is supposed to be quite warm, so that will be a perfect time to get caught up. Monday is also supposed to be on the warm side, but we’re also supposed to start getting rain again. I should be able to get the winter sowing done fairly quickly, though, since I don’t need to use all of the cleaned up beds for that.

If all goes well, things should be done and ready for winter fairly soon!

In the garden, at least…

😄😄

There’s always something more to do! I’ve pretty much given up on being able to get a new bed started before winter, though. I was really hoping to be able to harvest more of the dead spruces for raised bed frames.

Ah, well. We shall see how the weather holds! Pretty much everything hinges on the weather. Especially this time of year, when every pleasant day is something to take advantage of. It won’t be long before the snow comes!

I am becoming much less of a fan of winter, every year, since we moved out here, that’s for sure!

The Re-Farmer

A productive day, and our vandal is stalking again

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We had a slightly warmer day today, but I decided to leave working on the garden beds for the next few days, as it gets even warmer. Today, I focused on getting the cat shelters ready for winter.

I did, however, remember to take pictures of the finished garden bed in the old kitchen garden.

It doesn’t look all the different, really. The new stakes were pounded down with a sledge hammer, so they don’t need to be trimmed shorter. There’s enough height left that, should I want to in the future, more deadwood could be added for a taller wall. Towards the middle of the wall in the first picture, you can see some of the fly-away twine ends, where I had to fix where they snapped while I was pounding the stakes down.

I’m quite happy with the result. It’s not as pretty as wattle weaving, but it’ll hold the soil in place, and the taller stakes will be available to use to hold supports, should the bed need to be covered.

That done, it was time to winterize the isolation shelter and catio.

The vinyl (from dollar store table protectors) that had been wrapped around the bottom of the isolation shelter last winter was so torn up, it had to be thrown away. The vinyl around the catio had tears in it, but could still be salvaged. Especially since it ended up getting wrapped a second time part way through the winter. That gave me two layers to work with.

The bottom of the isolation shelter needed only 2′ in height. That meant I could take the vinyl from the catio and fold it in half, length wise. It took two dining table covers to wrap around the catio. With the second layer that was added, that gave me the equivalent of four covers, that were taped where they overlapped. I was able to separate the second layer easily into the original two length. There were larger tears near the bottoms, as well as small tears all along the edges, where they’d torn loose from the tacks that were holding them in place. Once folded in half, though, I was able to get a solid piece.

In the first picture, you can see that I duct taped the short ends to old the halves together, then added more to the corners to strengthen them more.

Thankfully, we didn’t have much wind and, with the folding table not put away for the winter yet, folding and taping the lengths wasn’t as much of a hassle as I’d feared. The only real problem I had was Grommet, constantly getting in front of me while I worked!

Next, I brought out my remaining pieces of wood lath and cut some to fit the shorter sides of the shelter, plus some for the section in the front. I had some short screws left from another project and used those to secure the vinyl at the top and bottom. Leftover lengths of wood lath were added to the ends of the vinyl as well, so the wind wouldn’t catch on them.

I secured one sheet to the ramp door side, first, then wrapped it around the back. The other end just reached around the opposite corner of the back, which I tacked in place with a push pin temporarily. Then I secured the other sheet to the front section of the shelter before securing the side, making sure to catch the edge of the first sheet with the screws.

For the back, I used a full length of wood lath to secure the vinyl at the top – the second sheet reached as far as the middle of the back.

At which point, I was out of the little screws I was using. I don’t want to use longer ones, as this is something that will be removed in the spring. The back will be against a well, though, so I just used a push pin half way down the centre support and let it be.

Next, I added some handles, to make it easier to move the shelter.

For the back, I had larger handles held in place with four screws. I replaced the ones the handles came with, which weren’t long enough to even go through the layer of insulation back there, with 2 1/2″ screws.

They felt good and solid at this point.

In the next picture, you can see the smaller handles I added to the front. Those had to fit in the space between the window and the edge, so there was room for a handle with only one screw to secure it. I didn’t need screws as long as for the back, but I still replaced the package screws with 1″ screws. They also had to be mounted lower down, so as not to be in the way when the roof is open.

At this point, the shelter could finally be moved to its winter home.

I was not able to use the handles.

The problem is the wheels. Even on the folded pieces of cardboard I put under the wheels, they sank into the soil. This thing is HEAVY!! It took a lot of manhandling to get it across the grass. It had to go across the sidewalk to the house, and one of wheels promptly sank so deep in the soil as soon as it was no longer on a concrete block, I had to actually lift the corner and pull the whole thing over.

Then there are the patio blocks.

Which should have been a lot easier, but there’s that tree in front of the old kitchen window. It’s roots have lifted and shifted the concrete blocks. Once again, I had to actually lift corners to get them over the edges of the patio blocks.

I did get it into position, though. Finally!

Once there, I did some cleaning, starting with washing the front windows, inside and out. I had taken out the sliding windows and gave those a wash before putting them back.

I had a couple more boards like I’d used to attach the roof panels that I added and screwed into place. It’s a low slope roof, and the plastic roof panels sagged just enough for water to sometimes collect on it. I gave the roof a washing, then left the roof open for the water to drain off. That was a good time to move the heated water bowl to the other side, and secure the heat lamp, which you can see in the second picture of the slide show above.

I found a piece of scrap wood that I added as a cross piece, which runs through the hanger part of the clamp lamp, for extra security. The clamp is secured with a couple of zip ties. The new cross piece is held in place by friction, but I zip tied it to the permanent cross piece the clamp is attached to, as well.

I did make sure to test the heat lamp before I started all this!

Once everything was set where I wanted to – make sure that I could reach the on/off switch for the heat lamp from the sliding windows – they were plugged into the extension cord, which got set up on its hooks on the outside.

Before that was plugged in, though, I got the ramp door shelter box ready to bring over (it was a handy table for while I was working on the shelter!) and started getting the catio ready to move to its winter location.

Around this time, I got a message from my SIL. They needed to go into storage and were on their way, and letting me know what their rental car looked like, while their car is in the garage for repairs.

They weren’t going to be long, so I went and opened the gate for them, then went back to working on things in the yard.

I heard a vehicle coming and looked through the trees to see if it was them, only to see our vandal driving by.

On seeing the gate was open, he started slowing down.

I couldn’t see him through the trees anymore, but I could hear him stop on the road, then start backing up.

I wasn’t about to give him a chance to drive in, so I walked out towards the driveway, so he could see that I was there.

He stopped at the end of the driveway, and just stayed there, watching me.

So, I got my phone out and started recording him.

I ended up getting more than four minutes of recording him as he got out of his vehicle and started gesturing at me (turns out he was “blowing kisses”). Then he opened his shirt, took off the belly strap and waved his colostomy bag at me. Then he started yelling at me, demanding to know why I was recording him, yelling that I wanted to put him in prison, that he was dying anyway, etc. He was yelling at me for so long, I ended up walking over to one of my brother’s pieces of farm equipment nearby, so I could brace my arms while he yelled. At one point, he started demanding that I go over and talk to him – like I would do that!!! – while gesturing to the road and saying he was legal there, and I should come and talk to him. As if! Oh, and I don’t own the property. I don’t own anything.

So… why has he been yelling at my mother about how she “gave” the farm to me?

Oh, my goodness.

I just got a message from my brother. Somehow, our vandal managed to leave a voice mail with my brother (his number is blocked). He was ranting about how he (my brother) is going against “the code”. The code of “Jesus and God.” Also, my brother and I are why he’s dying of cancer. The stress from us. He mentioned me recording him and said he “asked” me to come talk to him.

Also, I’m fat and my daughters and I never have to work again, and we’re apparently enjoying steak, caviar and champagne. And the pope is going to be reading a magazine about Christianity, and my brother’s not a real Christian.

He also brought up that he helped us, years ago, by living rent free for a year in a house he owned when my husband “lost his job”. Except, it was after my husband left the military, not “lost his job”, and it was only a few months before we got things worked out (we had zero income for 4 months because someone in the DnD forgot about the paperwork). We paid him rent until he put the house up for sale.

Yes, there was a time when we were close, and he did help us out. But now it seems he’s inventing things to make it sound like he helped us more than he did.

There was a lot more in the message, but it was all just insane. He is absolutely obsessed with us!

Ugh.

So… where was I?

Ah, yes.

After yelling at me from the road some more, our vandal got into his vehicle again and just sat there. By this time, my daughters had come out to see what was going on, and make sure I was okay. So I stopped recording and walked over. Once I was past the garage and couldn’t see him anymore, we heard him yelling at me some more before he finally drove off. We could hear his vehicle all the way, even to the sound of him tearing into his own driveway.

No, he doesn’t live THAT close to us!

My daughters stayed out with me for a while. I had move the catio to its winter location, so they helped me set it on pieces of bricks by lifting the ends so I could slide them under. As before, I set the pieces under the front corners on their edges, while the ones under the back were flat, so that water would drain off the flat roof towards the back.

My older daughter is going to be up all night as she works (she’s been trying to be up during more daytime hours lately, to be available to help with things).

This is how the catio was, after they helped set it up on bricks, so the wood won’t have direct contact with what will eventually be very wet ground.

I took out the cat bed that Pinky and her babies had been using. That went into the bottom of the isolation shelter, and the box nests got put in here. They are on top of scrap pieces of insulation.

After this picture was taken, I swept the leaves off the roof. I have an old snow brush/ice scraper where the ice scraper broke. It has been incredibly handy for maintaining the cat shelters!

Then I made sure to add the weights back onto the roof, so it won’t get blown over again.

Tomorrow, I need to go into town and pay the balance for the door replacement at the hardware and lumber store. While I’m there, I hope to pick up more of the tiny screws and anything else I might need. I would need more wood lath, if I’m going to use that to attach the vinyl on the catio, too, but I will get that somewhere else at a better price. The catio frame is 2×2 lumber, and I might want to find something narrower to secure the vinyl.

This winter, I’ll make sure to have the vinyl covering the door as a separate piece. Last winter, I had tried to secure it near the hinge but it kept coming loose and start flapping in the wind.

Meanwhile, my brother and SIL arrived. My brother did his thing while I was able to give my SIL a tour of the things I’ve been doing. She even helped me adjust the isolation shelter, when I realize that one of the wheels was hanging in the air, thanks to the uneven patio blocks.

The light above our main door had started flashing instead of working properly, so my brother wanted to take a look at it. He is the one who got and installed it originally – because while my late father was still living here, our vandal (who was “helping” my dad) would show up at all hours, and the motion sensor light would let my dad at least know he was in the yard. After fussing with a switch at the top that I didn’t even know was there (can’t see it without a ladder), he got it working again, but he doesn’t think it’ll last long.

Then I helped him move the old storm door that was still leaning against the house to the barn for storage. It’s still a good door.

It was really good to see them, as always.

After they were gone, I had a few more things to finish up. Now that the isolation shelter is no longer under the canopy tent, I move the folding table under there. I’ll be leaving that out for a while longer, as there’s still plenty that needs going around the yard before the snow flies.

For now, I’m just happy the isolation shelter is winterized.

I’m just looking at the temperature right now. I think I’ll go turn the heat lamp on for the night!

I can do that now. 😁😁

Little by little, things are getting done!

The Re-Farmer

Finally! Several times over!

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Thankfully, there was no rain today. The installers were able to get our new door in!

I headed out quite early to feed the outside cats, then make sure the gate was open for the installers. We have had the folding table I made out of folding legs and a piece of plywood I found in the basement set up under the kitchen window for some time. The hand rail to the door runs past it, and the isolation shelter needs to be set up there for the winter, so I moved the table out and cleared the patio space under it. Then, since it was clear anyhow, I set up the pieces of insulation that go against the basement wall for the winter. The table itself, I set up next to the elm tree outside the kitchen window, keeping it handy for the installers, if they needed an extra surface. It will be folded up and put away for the winter, later.

They did end up using it, along with one they’d brough themselves that was almost identical in dimensions!

Once inside, the makeshift barricade to keep the cats out of the entry while they worked was set up. Then I made myself some breakfast.

I was settling down to eat when I heard their truck and trailer backing up to the house. I headed out to greet them and touch base, then went back in. After I finished eating, I found I had a decent amount of time before I needed to go to my mother’s, since we worked out that I would do her grocery shopping after the meeting with the home care coordinator in the afternoon.

I took advantage of it and started working on what was originally supposed to be a wattle weave wall in the old kitchen garden.

The first photo was before I started working on the bed and had brought the stakes over.

Hard to believe that those black looking stakes are also maple, and were as bright as the new stakes, originally! They turned black after the first major rainfall.

You can see my initial attempt at wattle weaving in that first picture, too. Removing those was my first order of business. Once they were clear, I raked away any leaf litter that had blown into the area I would be working on, and clear out a few weeds.

Once that was cleared, you can see in the second picture that I wrapped twine along all the uprights. In the third picture, I’d laid out the first stakes that would be pounded in. These would be placed in the middle of each of the ones already in place, using the twine to keep them in line with the other stakes.

In the first photo above, the next set of stakes were laid out, with my spare on the side. These would go between each of the stakes already pounded in, in a slightly offset row, which you can see in the next two photos.

You can also see the hammer and board I used to pound them into the soil. The board was set at the top of each stake, and I used the flat side of the hammer on the board to pound them in. That pretty much assured I’d never miss, and wouldn’t be damaging the tops if I did.

With all the stakes in place, I started putting the pieces I’d tried to wattle weave, back, running them in between the offset rows. Some of them were rather bent from being woven around the stakes for so long but, for the most part, they went in fairly well. Some pieces were pretty wonky, though, leaving gaps. Once they were all in place, I went to my pile of smaller willow switches and use them to fill in gabs, making for a thicker and more solid wall. You can see how that looked in the first two photos.

Then I grabbed the loppers and headed into the spruce grove. In our first years here, I’d cleared up and cleared out the poplar growing in a few spaces along the edge of the grove. Poplar being poplar, they’ve been growing back. I found the straightest ones in the size range I needed, cut them down and trimmed away their branches. I also gathered some much smaller, narrower pieces to weave into the ends of the garden bed.

In the last picture of the slide show above, you can see the wall with the new lengths added. The pieces woven into the sides helped lock in the larger pieces in the deadwood fence at the ends.

Then, I forgot to take pictures of the rest. I’ll do that in daylight, tomorrow!

As the deadwood was laid between the rows and pushed down to the bottom, the stakes started to get pushed outwards slightly. I decided to secure them with twine, basically joining the stakes together in a zig zag pattern, making sure they were snug against the tops of the deadwood as I packed them down as much as I could.

I should have waited on the twine.

My original thought was to cut the stakes to just above the height of the deadwood, so they weren’t sticking up too high above it. I decided to see if I could get them pounded deeper into the soil, and more secure. For that, I headed to the garage for a sledge hammer.

Which did a mighty fine job of getting the stakes deep enough that I didn’t have to trim any of them! I was even able to pound in some of the original stakes a bit, too. Those ones I am keeping taller, though. They have matching height stakes on the opposite side of the bed, and will be used to hold hoops or whatever gets used to add protective covering to things growing in it, if needed.

Unfortunately, in the process of using the sledge hammer to drive the stakes deeper, I ended up snapping the twine in two places, and I had to take care of that before I could call it done.

Building the walls on this bed is now FINALLY finished! Now all it needs is another weeding, and it’s ready for next year’s garden.

By the time I was done and putting things away, I had time to change and get ready to head to my mother’s.

The installers were also finishing up! By then, they were putting the hand rail against the wall back. I couldn’t believe how well it worked out (there was minimal water staining visible when they took the old frame out, and everything else was still sound), and how quickly they got it done.

We finally have a proper front door again!

What they were NOT able to do was put the storm door back. It’s too tall for the new frame. It was handy for when we run the drainage hose from the washing machine out the window, but is no longer actually needed. The new steel door itself is built for Canadian winters. We won’t be getting any more frost at the bottom, or at the hinges!

The door now swings from the opposite side of the original door, by my request. That meant the arm bar had to be moved to the other side, too, since it needs to be opposite the hinges. It had to be mounted slightly higher because of where the handle and deadbolt are located, compared to the original door. The screen on the door can be removed, so we can still run the hose out the window when we do laundry, and the cats can’t get at the opening anymore.

I am very happy.

Then, it was off to my mother’s.

*sigh*

Short form. Honest.

I showed her a picture of the new door, thinking she would be happy. Instead, she was at first confused about which door it was (even though we’ve talked about it several times), then she didn’t seem to like the look of it (??), then she got really angry when I told her they couldn’t put the storm door back on because it wouldn’t fit. I got a lecture about how, if they’re not willing to do it, I should go find real professionals who would do it for me.

My mother makes a big deal about planting garlic, so I tried showing her pictures of the finished garlic bed with planting of spinach and Swiss Chard between the rows of garlic before covering the bed for the winter.

She became thoroughly disgusted when I mentioned buying seeds. I should be saving seeds (and planting spaghetti squash; that’s essential, suddenly). Which I have been, but apparently, seeds for things I’ve never grown before should magically appear or something, and spending money on seeds is stupid. Also, I need to plant spaghetti squash. Basically, she was really happy about insulting me for not gardening like she would. Practically chortling with glee in the process.

I tried showing her other pictures of the garden beds I’ve been preparing for winter, but gave up. She started ragging on me about how I keep talking about all the work I do in the garden, but never the benefits. I told her, the work is the benefit! I enjoy the work.

Turns out, that wasn’t what she meant.

Apparently, I get nothing from the garden. Ever. Not any of the stuff I’ve brought for her, even though we had so little produce this year. Things like drought and heat waves and a summer of endless smoke from wildfires means nothing. I should magically have a successful garden, every year, and it should be just like she used to have (or, at least, how she now imagines she used to have).

…

We tried talking about the upcoming meeting about her home care need and, in the process, I found out our vandal had visited again. He had shown up at the same time as her supper med assist, so he went into the common room. Even from her apartment down the hall, with the door closed, she could hear him loudly talking to people there, though not what he was saying. Knowing him, he was slandering me and my mother about this property. After the home care worker left, he came to her apartment and started ranting at her about the usual; that she “gave” the property to me (which she hasn’t), and so on. He wouldn’t let her respond to anything, of course, and didn’t leave until she started crossing herself repeatedly.

I asked when this happened, and she really struggled to remember. She did remember that it was after their exercises (which is why there were people in the common room), which meant Tuesday. Which was yesterday. But she couldn’t remember that it was yesterday.

We talked more about my mother accepting more med assists, like meal preparation, dress assists, bathing assists – basically, all that they’re allowed to do for her. She really does need the help, but her refusal to accept it is part of what’s keeping her from being approved for a nursing home, like she wants. She started getting angry at me, saying “I’m not used to having servants”. I told her, they’re not servants. They are helpers. Let them help!

That sent her off on a racist rant about the male home care workers, all of whom are apparently from India. I cut that off and told her, she can’t be saying stuff like that to the workers.

We also got her shopping list worked out in between all that.

Then the home care coordinator arrived, right on time.

The poor woman. She’s trying so hard to help my mother.

In the end, we were able to get her to accept allowing them to do meal assists on those days when she’s not feeling well, and we talked about the sorts of things they can do – quick cooking, reheats, etc. She said she would accept a shower assist once a week (she sponge bathes only), and she actually requested help with getting things set up so she can soak her feet once a week. She would accept dress assists, if needed, too. She might not need all of this every day, but we stressed, the more help she accepts, the better. We don’t want her to fall and hurt herself.

The coordinator also had to explain to her that she can say things like “I don’t want a man touching me”, in refusing their assistance with certain types of care, but she should NOT be going on about their race or country of origin. My mother tried to say, “I’m not going to lie.” I told her, you don’t have to lie. Just don’t say anything! The coordinator concurred.

It was a long and difficult meeting, but we did get progress.

There were a couple of forms that need to be signed every year, so when the coordinator was done, I followed her to the home care office, where I signed on my mother’s behalf. One of the forms was a list of what the clients needed to do for the home care workers, ranging from making sure driveways and sidewalks were clear, to ensuring the clients had no access to guns or knives. No using illicit drugs, no smoking within an hour before they are scheduled to arrive, no verbal or physical abuse…

Much of it didn’t apply to my mother, but a few lines where highlighted in regards to how the workers are to be treated!

She also gave me an emergency responders kit to replace the one on my mother’s fridge. My mother’s was incomplete for some reason. So when I got back to my mother’s, I went through her copy of one form, then filled in the information for the first responders sit. If she needed to be taken to the hospital by ambulance, they would grab this package and have all the info they need, from her meds list to my contact information, and signed permission for me to be her advocate, doing all the things I’m already doing on her behalf now.

That took quite a while to finish off! But it’s done. Finally!

Hopefully, my mother will behave.

I’m not holding my breath.

The paperwork done, I went to do her shopping. After I got back and put everything away, I had the idea of making a list of what she typically eats for her meals. This way, if she asks them to make her toast, they will know if she wants butter or jam or whatever on it.

Unfortunately, my mother just started to get angrier and angrier. She doesn’t trust people to make her food. She can do it herself. She doesn’t want to be a bother (ha!). Etc. I don’t know what she thinks they’d do to her food, but she even started saying that if this is what she has to do to get into a nursing home, maybe we can set aside getting her into a nursing home for now.

I was not impressed.

She is determined to sabotage herself. It’s so hard to help her, when she does this. Then, of course, she blames everyone else and has no understanding that her own actions are the problem. She simply can’t grasp it, and it’s getting worse as she gets older.

She and our vandal are very much alike is many things.

I finally set the list aside for later. By then, I’d been there for over 4 1/2 hours. The meeting was finally done, and I could finally go home!

Well… after a stop at the grocery store for a few fresh items we were out of.

At least coming home to our nice new door cheered me up a bit! I am so happy with it!

We need to find someplace to store the storm door, though. It’s still leaning against the house.

Things are supposed to warm up over the next few days; especially on the weekend. We are no longer getting rain in the forecast. Which means I’ll have almost a week of good weather to get more garden beds ready and do more winter sowing. We also need to winterize the bottom of the cat isolation shelter before moving it by the house, where we can plug in the heat lamp and heated water bowl. The catio needs to be moved, too. Pinky no longer uses it. I think she’s returned to the rafters in the garage, where she used to hang out last winter.

I plan to take advantage of every pleasant day we’ve got, before the end of the month stock up trips need to be done!

For now, however, I am mentally and psychologically exhausted. It doesn’t help that my eyes are still achy from the dilation drops and vision tests I had done, yesterday.

I think today is a good day to get to bed early!

The Re-Farmer

Wattle weave bed experiment

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Okay, so this project has been incredibly slow going!

I first started preparing the area at the beginning of July. That was just to prepare the bed in advance. It wasn’t until the middle of the month that I could finally get started on the wattle weaving.

For the vertical support posts on the long sides, I used the openings of the chimney block retaining wall to space them out. They’re not quite 2 1/2 feet apart. The bed itself is roughly 12 feet long. For the bottom wattles, I was using maple, which is not very flexible, even when freshly cut, green and newly stripped of its bark. So in that respect, the wider distance was better.

The problem is, I had I think only one straightish piece that was 12′ long. I had a few that were long enough that I could use two, but anything less than that, and there was just too much space between the verticals to do any weaving.

So that got set aside while I figured out where I could find long enough materials.

For the retaining wall side, I decided to experiment, and to completely the other direction. Each of the chimney blocks has three openings in the sides on the front and back. I spaced the verticals with four opening between them. In retrospect, I should have done it with three, but it’s too late to change that now!

I decided to add vertical supports in every opening, and try weaving with much shorter, thinner wattles.

I used the remaining pieces of maple and cut them slightly shorter than the verticals that are already in place.

Then I made a point at one end.

That mostly white cat on the left is Frank, aka: Old Blue Eyes.

Yes. He turned out to be a she, and she is pregnant. *sigh*

I used a scrap piece of board to hammer in each of the new verticals. I ran out of the maple, though, and use some willow for the last four. You can see those set in place in the second image of the slide show above. The willow I used is from what I harvested a couple of weeks ago, yet when I peeled them, they were still pretty green! Which is why I had to peel them. If I just stuck them into the ground, they would root themselves and start growing, and I don’t want to grow willow in my retaining wall blocks!

Once those were in place, it was time to harvest as many willow switches and maple suckers as I could find.

In the last picture, you can see the two piles I gathered. One is of willow switched, the other of maple suckers. I took advantage of needing these to clear out some growth that needed to be cut back completely, so I knew that some of them would not be useable for this. For the weaving, I need long, flexible, straight pieces. Unfortunately, even with the shorter, younger pieces I was harvesting, they tend to grow just a few feet before suddenly ending and splitting off into two.

Once the material was gathered, I grabbed my first piece of willow to start trimming the twigs and branches off when…

My pocket started to ring.

There’s only one place that calls my cell phone.

Yup. It was home care.

They didn’t have someone for my mother’s supper time med assist. They did for her bedtime assist. Just not supper. Normally, they are both done by the same person, so it looks like they found someone to cover for her for the end of day assist, but not the supper time one.

My mother was scheduled to get her med assist at 4:45pm.

I had just enough time to clean up, change and head out.

*sigh*

I did phone my mother in advance and left a message on her answering machine before I left. When I got to her place, however, she was sitting outside, enjoying the day, and was very surprised to see me!

I was early enough that we could sit outside together and chat for a while before heading in. Since I was there anyhow, once I got her meds set out, I helped her get her supper together, did some dishes, etc. I’m going to be back tomorrow morning to take her to the lab for blood work, so I didn’t stay for very long. I reminded her not to have breakfast tomorrow, as one of the tests requires fasting.

This makes three days in a row I have had to do med assists for my mother because there was no home care aid to do it.

While I way away, my daughter made supper and was feeding the outside cats for me again. I was very happy to grab some food, and then head back out again. I wanted to at least get those maple suckers woven in, as they will dry out and get brittle much faster than the willow.

Yes, Sir Robin is chewing on the tip of a maple!

I got about a dozen out of the maple I’d harvested and got started with the weaving.

At those length, I needed three to go the length of the bed.

I made it to two.

Even as thin and green as they were, with how close together the vertical pieces are, they just weren’t flexible enough. While trying to weave through, I broke a vertical. I managed to scrounge a long enough piece of older maple to replace it, but when I broke a second one, that was it. I found another piece of maple to replace that one – at this point, the remaining pieces were among those that were rejected for being too bent or whatever – and gave up using the maple suckers.

The willow was much faster to prepare. I didn’t even need to use pruning sheers.

For the first three passes, I wove the willow switches – it took three to complete one run – up higher. They didn’t want to bend around the verticals until I got to the skinniest tips, and would instead push them to one side or the other, if it was just one run of the willow switches. Once the first three runs were done, I used a scrap piece of board to hammer them down, little by little, to the base.

I kept that pattern up, but still had problems with the willow switches basically being stronger than the vertical supports. I ended up snapping one of the verticals after several passes. It didn’t break off completely, though. I was able to find a strong and straight piece of willow harvested last time and drive it into the space, alongside the vertical that snapped.

Some time later, another vertical snapped right off. This time, the piece of willow I found to add into the space had to be trimmed flat on one side to be able to fit alongside the remains of the broken vertical.

It took some doing, but I eventually figured out how to force the wattles to bend around the verticals as I went along. Unfortunately, that’s when the wattles started snapping, too!

In the end, I was able to get about a dozen runs woven through the verticals, sometimes having to get creative with shorter pieces to make up for not quite being able to reach the ends.

If you scroll through the slide show above, you’ll be able to see a picture I took from above the wattle weave, where some switches bent to the point of breaking, while others were just running straight through!

I don’t need to make the wattle weave on this side any taller. I had to stop at this point and head in, and will continue tomorrow, which is basically to tidy things up. At each end, the wattles will be trimmed evenly, and the shorter verticals will be trimmed to just above the wattles. The original, taller verticals will be left long. As they match the verticals on the other side, they will be left tall so that, should this bed ever need to be covered with netting or something, the taller verticals will be available to attach support hoops to.

Aside from the tidying up, this side of the new wattle weave bed is done. For all the pain in the butt it was, it looks much nicer than the other side. I’m not sure how those pieces that snapped during weaving will hold out, but on this side, it’s not going to be holding soil.

The ends, of course, can be woven in with any short pieces we’ve got; there are only three supports to weave around.

It’s the other long side that is going to be more of a challenge. I need to find more materials long enough to weave around those widely spaced vertical posts.

So, my conclusions on how this is going.

Obviously, on the inside, the posts are two far apart. On the retaining wall side, they’re too close together for the base thickness of wattles I was weaving, even though they are MUCH thinner than what I had for the other side. This is where it would be handy to have basket willow instead of the varieties we’ve got. Side note: if you noticed that some of the willow looked green, while others looked more yellow, that’s because they came from different trees that seem to be different varieties of willow.

With the closer spacing, the biggest advantage is that there are fewer gaps between the wattles. Which means they’ll hold soil in place better. What I have now on the other side has gaps large enough that I will have to line the inside with something to keep the soil in. With the L shaped bed, I had cardboard at the bottom of the bed that was wide enough to go partially up the sides. The rest of the height was lined with grass clippings. The soil in this bed has already been amended, so there’s no lining the bottom with cardboard again. I will probably just use cardboard along the inside.

I’m seriously considering removing the weaving I’ve done so far on the inside of the bed, and adding another vertical between each of the ones currently in place. I don’t know that I’d be able to reuse the maple wattles, though. If I had something long enough for them that could hold water, I would soak them for a day or two, to make them more flexible, but I’ve got nothing like that. It might be worth sacrificing the maple wattles to get a better and tighter weave. If I did do that, some of them would be used to make the additional vertical posts.

I’ve been eyeballing the trees in the spruce grove, and I might be able to harvest some poplar to use for weaving.

It’s a good thing I have time to figure it out. It won’t be used until it’s needed for next year’s garden, which might include getting winter sown this fall. As long as it gets done before the ground starts to freeze, that will be fine.

I really like the wattle weave beds, but gosh it’s hard to get enough materials for them. They use so much more than you’d think, and it’s surprisingly hard to find material that is the right combination of long, straight and flexible.

In the end, though, I think it’s worth it.

It is another reason for us to get basket willow, though! 😄

The Re-Farmer

Trellis build progress

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I wasn’t sure how much we could get done on the trellis build today, and it turns out to be just two vertical supports. Which is actually pretty good, all things considering!

Here’s the start.

I selected and de-barked logs for the verticals something like a year ago, and that was about as far as things got for quite some time. Having been sitting out over the bed like that all winter, I went over them and took one out completely, as it cracked too badly to be used. After going through the others, I debated whether I wanted to do four or five verticals, and decided to go ahead and with five. The two largest would go on each corner.

We had debated various ways of setting these up, including digging holes and sinking them, but decided to just attach them directly to the frame of the raised bed. The one last minute decision we made was to set them on scrap bricks, so that the bases wouldn’t be in contact with the soil. We went through the pile of bricks from the old chimney that was removed when the new roof was done and found several chunks that seemed suitable.

The first thing to do was to trim all the bottoms so that they’d be straight. Then, we needed to create flattish, straight-ish surfaces on the sides where they would come in contact with the frame.

With the first corner, the bottom log of the end cap got trimmed a fair bit. With the brick in place, we worked out where we needed to trim the vertical. We still ended up needing to cut extra out near the bottom to fit over that bottom end cap log. Once it was snug enough, we used 3 inch screws to secure it. For now, there’s just two of them. We’ll secure it more, later in the build.

The opposite corner needed a lot more work. We had to cut away more from the frame itself, to create more of a surface to attach to. Then there was cutting away the excess on the vertical. In the end, though, the vertical log was still too thick for our 3″ screws, and we didn’t have anything longer, so we used metal strapping to hold it in place. After using shorter screws to secure the strapping in place, we used a few 3″ screws to tighten it up even more at the gaps.

We weren’t after perfection, by any means. Which is good, because cutting away the excess wood was quite a pain. We mostly used the mini-chainsaw (a Stihl pruning saw) until we drained both batteries, as well as using whatever other tools we had on hand, including a hatchet, a chisel and even the draw knife.

We had “help” while we were working!

Syndol was especially eager to “help” any time I bent over, wanting to jump onto my back! Then, while using the drill or driver, he kept trying to get in on things. My daughter and I had our hands full either of tools or holding the vertical post, and he took full advantage of the fact that we couldn’t really stop him from getting in the way!

In the end, it took us about 2 hours to get just those two verticals up. This is how it looks now.

We reached our high of 16C/61F today, and we were working in full sun, so it got really hot out there.

After this, we’ll measure out where to put the remaining three verticals, with each on top of a piece of brick. They are not as thick, so it shouldn’t take as long. They can only be attached to the top log, though, as the bottom one bows inward quite a bit.

Once those are in place, we will measure and mark the tops and trim them to all the same height. One those are leveled, horizontals will be put across the top. I’m still not decided on whether I want to put the horizontals directly on top, or on what will be the inside of the trellis tunnel, when the matching bed is built. Probably directly on top. Once that’s in place, support pieces at 45° angles will be added.

With the end posts, I am thinking to add angled posts reaching from the opposite corners of the raised bed to the top of the verticals to secure them more.

Eventually, more horizontals will be added – much thinner horizontals – from vertical to vertical, near the bottom. For now, we will probably use plastic trellis netting, but these will eventually be used to create squash tunnels. They will eventually need to hold quite a bit of weight, so more durable material will be used over time. At this point, I just want something up and useable! It will probably be used to support pole beans or peas this year.

We still have a pile of posts meant for verticals as we build more of these beds and, eventually, join them in pairs to create trellis tunnels. Many are completely hidden in the tall grass! We’ll have to dig them out and see how many are still usable. There was more cracking and splitting in these ones than I expected.

I’d gone walking out to the gravel pit and pond beyond the outer yard the other day and one thing I noticed was that there are a lot of nice, straight poplars that we can potentially harvest for projects like this. It’s the “straight” part that’s harder to find. It was good to see that, if some of the logs I’d already cut for posts are too weather damaged, I can replace them fairly easily.

For now, I’m happy with what we got done today. I’m not sure when we’ll be able to work on it next. Tomorrow there is a homesteader’s show near the city that my daughter and I want to go to, and we might be able to do our first stock up shopping trip at the same time. CPP disability is due to come in on a Monday this month, which means it might show up in our account tomorrow, instead, so if I can save a trip by doing both tomorrow, I will! I doubt either my daughter and I would be physically up to working on the trellis for 2 days in a row, anyhow. I’ve already started to stiffen up quite painfully, and I’m sure she is, too. I don’t plan to work on it on Sunday, since I try to keep that my regular day of rest, but Monday is supposed to be much colder and very windy, so Sunday might be my only chance for quite a while.

Working around our physical limitations, plus the weather, can get complicated at times!

I’m going to go take some pain killers now, while I can still move.

The Re-Farmer

Testing out a heat sink

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For a while now, I’ve been talking about our issues with the new portable greenhouse. It gets nice and warm during the day, which would be ideal for our seedling trays, but the temperatures drop right down during the night. Yesterday, for example, the outside temperature reached 17C/63F, and the thermometer in the greenhouse, which “only” goes to 50C/155F, was off the scale. Likely warmer than 60C/140F (my thermometer that is marked up to 60C is currently being used to monitor the covered bed in the old kitchen garden).

Last night, we dropped to 0C/32F. While I was doing my morning rounds, it was about 1C/34F. By the time I got to tending the greenhouse, that’s what thermometer was reading in there. The basement may be cold, but it doesn’t drop below 10C/50F during the night. It doesn’t go above 12C/54F unless we have the heater going, but at least things are not at risk of freezing.

Today, I rummaged around and dug out a black garbage can that was being used to store some odds and sots. I set it up in the greenhouse, got a garden hose hooked up and one of my daughters was kind enough to turn on the shut off valve in the basement for me, so I could fill the garbage can.

Thankfully, the garbage can doesn’t seem to have any cracks or leaks anywhere. It’s been outdoors for many years, even before we moved out here.

There is no lid, so I had to figure out what to use to cover it, just in case a critter got into the greenhouse. At first, I was going to make do with an indoor/outdoor floor mat, but then I spotted a piece of rigid insulation that looked large enough. That worked out much better.

While there is no wind in there to blow it off, I still put a weight on it, just in case. Granted, if a critter does get in and jumps up there, it would probably still knock it off, but it is more likely to be scared away, than fall in.

The water in the black plastic bin will heat up during the day, creating a heat sink that will slowly release that heat during the night. Once we do finally have trays in there, it will serve a dual purpose. There will be warm water that can be used to water the plants.

Going in and out of the greenhouse and standing there while monitoring the water level was enough to increase the temperature by almost 2 degrees before I was done. If that’s all it takes to start warming things up, the heat sink should work quite well.

It should be interesting to see what the thermometer says in the morning. Our overnight low is supposed to be 0C/32F again, but we’re supposed to get a mix of rain and snow in the wee hours. Tomorrow night we’re supposed to drop to -2C/28F, then have lows above freezing until Friday, when we’re supposed to drop to -4C/25F overnight.

Today’s high is supposed to be only 6C/43F with overcast skies. We definitely won’t be hitting 50C/122F or higher in there, today! However, we should still get temperatures of at least 20C/68, which should start getting that water warmed up nicely.

We shall see how the experiment goes!

The Re-Farmer

Morning kitties, and diverting the diverter

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We’re a bit cooler this morning, though we were above freezing for most of the night. As I write this, we’ve continued to cool down to -9C/16F, though our high of the day is expected to be -4C/25F. We’re expected to get a bit of snow in the afternoon. Tomorrow is supposed to have a high of -11C/12F, and then we’re supposed to start warming up again.

All in all, some excellent February temperatures, making my morning rounds much more pleasant!

Pleasant for the yard cats, too.

After topping up the heated water bowl, Kohl came over, wanting pets. Once I started petting her, the tabby pushed his way through, then Stinky jumped through the window and pushed them both away!

It’s not easy to pet three cats with one hand, at the same time. 😄

Sadly, I could not get close to this one, for pets.

This little… dude? … was tucked under a chair we keep by the door. I like to leave some food for the shier cats on the landing under our door, where they can be on the mat to eat, rather than the cold concrete.

I want to snuggle that baby.

I didn’t get snuggles, but I did get to pet this lady!

Adam allowed pets!!

Only because she was eating on the cat house roof. I still can’t walk up to her, though once in a rare while, if she’s loafed in one of the platform beds in the sun room, she does let me come close enough to pet her. Very rarely.

As things have warmed up, the excess kibble that was in all the trays is finally being eaten. On the cat house roof, an insane amount of kibble was uncovered as the snow melted. The kibble was softened by the melting snow, then froze solid, so they can’t eat it. It seems strange to be dumping fresh, not-frozen kibble on the cat house roof when there are literally piles of kibble on either side!

Today, I continued something I started yesterday. Before we headed to the city, I started getting the large, flexible hose my brother brought for the emergency diverter. When he’s used the emergency diverter before, this was the hose he used to divert the greywater into the trees. That was in the summer, though.

This winter, he had found a couple of length of 4″ PVC pipe that was set up instead. It works great, but the effluent isn’t being drained very far from the house. The slope of the land has it draining towards a corner of the old kitchen garden’s retaining wall. With the frozen ground, it spreads pretty far, so there’s quite a lot of ice building up under the snow.

The 6″ flexible pipe was already brought out and half buried in the snow. With the sunny warm days we’ve been having the black plastic didn’t take long to get exposed.

Yesterday, I shoveled out a trench in the snow along the pipe, so that I could pull the whole thing closer to the rigid pipe the diverter is draining through. The flexible pipe would later be laid out in the trench, after it was attached to the end of the rigid pipe, but not quite yet.

The closer I got to the house, the more I had to use the ice chipper to break up the ice that had built up under the snow as best I could. With the melting and thawing we’ve had lately, the snow has a thick, hard crust on top. I used that to build a sort of wall to one side, so that the next time the pump started running, more grey water would go towards the trench and thaw out the ice a bit, before it melted through the wall of snow and drained towards the corner of the garden again. With the snow dug out to ground level for most of the trench, it would also thaw out faster once we got any sunshine.

That is how I left it, so nature could do its thing for me, until this morning.

The main thing about the flexible hose is that water might puddle in parts of it and freeze it closed. It needed to have support where it joined with the rigid pipe, in particular. So this morning, I dragged out a board from the garage. It had been uncovered among the stuff in the barn, while my brother was bringing his own stuff in, and I snagged it to use somehow in the summer.

Well, I have a use for it now.

After using the ice chipper a bit more – yes, the effluent did actually soften and thaw things about a bit, before melting through the snow all, so that actually worked – I set up the board.

Originally, I was going to set it up in front of the end of the rigid pipe and support it with a brick at that end, to form a sort of ramp for the flexible pipe. To put the flexible pipe on, though, I had to push back the insulation I’d wrapped around the end, where it rested atop another brick to keep it off the ground. In the end, I was able to put the board under the brick that was already there, and maintain the slope of the rigid pipe.

In the first picture, you can see how the board is set up now. The flexible pipe fits nicely over the 4″ pipe, and I’ve got a foot or so of the rigid pipe in there. I pushed the flexible pipe up to where I’d pushed back the wrapped insulation, which will cover what little gap there is. I ended up setting the brick i no longer needed against one side, to hold it in place, as the direction changes slightly.

You can see Syndol was quite interested in what I was doing! Out of frame, on the other side, Judgement was also watching… and judging!

The second image shows the pipe running down the trench in the snow.

I will leave it like this for now, to allow the relatively warm water to flow through it a few times, and for any sun we get (no sun likely, today!) to warm up the black plastic. In a day or two, I will work my way along the flexible pipe to straighten it out more, if necessary, and move snow against it to hold it in place. The very end is a bit of a potential problem, as it has a bit of a curl to it that I can’t do anything about. Of course, it curls upwards. There’s no way to shift the pipe around to have it curl down, instead. The pipe is just too stiff with cold and won’t straighten out, and I don’t want to crack it, trying. We’ll just have to keep a close eye on it. With temperatures now warming up as we head towards spring, there is very little concern that it would freeze closed completely. Any ice that does form would likely be melted away by the next flow was water.

The pump hasn’t been triggered since before the flexible hose has been added, so I likely won’t be able to see how it’s working for some time. The handy thing is that I will be able to see the end of the flexible pipe easily from my window.

I don’t foresee any problems and, now that I’ve diverted the diverter, it will be good to have the effluent get drained so much further from the house.

The Re-Farmer

Well, it’s all we can do right now!

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Have I mentioned how awesome my brother is?

Insanely awesome. Fantastic. Amazing. What would we do without him?

After a long drive home (I think it’s 6 hours, possibly 8), he stopped only to pick up a few things, then took their second car to our place. Once here, he went into the basement to look at things there (there wasn’t much to see, really) and change into his ski pants before grabbing his supplies and heading to the barn. Right about then, my SIL showed up. Unfortunately, she’s allergic to cats, so she can’t come into the house, and just stayed in the car the whole time, though we did get a chance to talk for a bit.

My brother looked around in the barn for a while, trying to find some copper pipe. The one corner I thought I’d seen some had a different type of pipe, but there was a length of pipe were I remembered, up in the rafters. My brother was able to reach it. It was only about 6′ long, though. We talked about finding a way to add a safety line, just in case, but its surface was too smooth.

He grabbed one of their super long extension cords that they now have stored in the barn and we headed out to the ejector with the copper pipe. Then, while I secured the end of the extension cord to a fence post, he ran the rest of the cord to the pump shack, which is a bit closer than the barn.

When he finished that, he headed to the car to get the heat gun, while I popped into the house. I’d found a piece of copper pipe in the basement that had a slightly wider part at the end, so it would hold a safety line. That way, if we accidentally dropped it, we could pull it up again.

Not that we ever needed it.

By the time I got there, my brother had opened up the ejector, taken a look, then put it all back again. When I got there, he popped the elbow off and removed the cap to show me what he found.

The first obvious problem was, the venture pipe was frozen right to the top. It should have been empty. When the pump turns off, any liquid in the venturi pipe drains to the bottom, which is about 10 or 12 feet down.

The 4″ pipe around it was also full, though not quite to the top. I stuck the copper pipe I had into the opening until I hit ice to see how far down it went, and it was about 8″ from the surface.

This absolutely should not have happened.

My brother put the pieces back and we headed to the house so install the diverter.

Before we did, we went to the corner of the house on the outside to find the opening. It was higher than I expected, for some reason. I still had the copper pipe I’d brought over with me (it made for a handy walking stick in the snow!), and my brother used it to punch a hole through the spray foam insulation.

From there, it was to the basement, to install the diverter.

Installing the diverter itself was an easy thing. First, he pushed the length of pipe to the outside through the hole.

He had drilled that hole himself, years ago, when they had to do some major work on the septic system, so my parents could still use their plumbing. This is the log part of the house, which is sitting on top of those joists – which turned out to be twice as thick as he expected! It took a lot to drill out that hole.

Once that end was through the wall, it was just a matter of removing the outflow pipe at the top of the pump and replacing it with the diverter.

A simple thing – yet I could not have done it.

I don’t have a heat gun.

After loosening the clamps on the outflow pipe, my brother had to use the heat gun to soften the plastic enough to pull it off. He still had to get pretty physical with it – I was rather alarmed to see the pump being moved around so much. I’d thought it was bolted down to the concrete! Turns out, it’s bolted down to some plywood. Which makes sense, as it would be easier to change pumps that way.

Once the pipe was free, however, black fluid started spilling out. All my brother could do was try to get as little as possible on the pump itself – and not get splashed himself! Me, I immediately went for the broom we keep nearby, to sweep water into the floor drain when there’s seepage in the spring. Once I got as much as I could swept away, my brother attached the diverter – making sure to remember to put the clamps on pipe, first! After softening the plastic with his heat gun a few times, he was able to get the pipe all the way on, then clamp it down.

The next thing to do was set something up to the pipe outside, to get any outflow well away from the house. The big flexible hose (it’s about 6″ in diameter) he’d brought for us before was stored in the barn, so it would have been quite frozen. He was concerned about using it, as it might crack from the cold. There were some old downspouts in the barn, though, so he went to look and see what he could find that could be used right away.

While he went to do that, I got the hose that I use to clear the floor drain and access pipe to give the floor where the fluid had spilled a bit of a wash, and swept that into the floor drain (the floor doesn’t slope towards the drain properly). While I was doing that, I heard some gurgling from the filter as it drained. This was to be expected, though, with the pipes being switched. I left it for the moment, though, then headed outside again to join my brother.

I got there just in time to see him carrying to lengths of pipe, and dragging the flexible hose behind him! He had it by one end, so that it would straighten a bit while being dragged.

I was impressed that he found two lengths of interlocking 4″ PVC pipe in the barn. I have no idea where he dug those out!

I grabbed the flexible hose from him so he could carry the pipes more easily.

The next while was spent setting up the PVC pipe over the diverter hose sticking out of the house. It was very important that the PVC pipe be right up against the house, and as high as possible, so nothing would flow backwards towards the house. The two pieces were interlocked, and we added whatever we could find to support its weight, so that it would be completely straight. The ground slopes downwards there, so that part was fine. The very end had to be raised off the ground, so that there would be no chance of fluid freezing and blocking the end.

As for the flexible hose, that got pulled out further, so that the black plastic could be warmed by the sun, tomorrow. Eventually, it will be added to the end of the PVC pipe, and the outflow will be sent well into the trees.

For now, he made sure to shovel a trench of sorts into the snow, to direct any outflow that might happen before then. Unfortunately, he dug it straight towards our little Liberty Apple tree! I mentioned that it was there, and he was saying “fertilizer!” I said that if it freezes, it’ll kill it.

I have to add, though; this is a Zone 4 tree, and we are Zone 3. With this cold snap we’re getting right now, it may well have been killed off. We won’t know until spring!

Anyhow. Once my brother saw where it was, he just dug the trench more to one side.

Once we were sure of how everything was set up, it was back to the basement. The filter was primed, and the pump turned back on.

From there, my brother headed out to shut off lights and close up doors. He also moved the car they are leaving for us over to where I had set up the extension cord for the block heater. I helped out, then went over to the gate to close it behind them.

Now, we wait.

We can use our plumbing as normal for now. It will take at least a few days before both sides of the septic tank fill and the pill switch triggers the pump. My brother was already fretting that it might not turn on at all, but I don’t see why it won’t. We’ll just have to keep an eye on things and listen for the pump.

We are all, understandably, paranoid about using our water right now. Is it safe to flush? Can we take a shower? Wash dishes in the sink?

The answer is yes…

… but… are we sure?

At least we know the diverter pipe is right here. The pipes outside are wide enough that they shouldn’t ice up, but it would be much, much easier to take care of that, should it happen.

As for the ejector…

Well, I’ll be heading to my mother’s in the late morning, so I should be able to call the company that installed the ejector and tell them what we found. Everyone was saying how I could pull the venturi pipe out and bring it inside so the venturi valve on the bottom can thaw, so obviously no one thought the whole thing could be frozen solid the way it is. Something is wrong, somewhere.

What will come of that, I have no idea.

It will help knowing that the pump is far newer than I thought it was, and that it was the highest end pump my brother could get.

For now, though, it looks like we’ll have our emergency diverter set up for the rest of the winter.

It is what it is. We’ll just have to deal with what we’ve got! I’m just incredibly thankful that we had that diverter, and that my brother was willing to come out here tonight, after such a long drive, to do what he could for us.

Have I mentioned, just how awesome my brother is?

I don’t think I could say it often enough. My brother is the best!

The Re-Farmer

We have cat food again!

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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!

More on that later.

But I am getting way ahead of myself!

Last night, I got a call from my mother. She started talking about her appointment on Thursday – tomorrow.

I had completely forgotten about it! I was supposed to drive her to the city for to get her wet macular degeneration treatment.

We no longer had transportation.

My sister is next closest, but they are out of province right now and won’t be back until Friday.

Which leaves my brother, but he would be working.

Meanwhile, my mother started to say, oh, I don’t know if I should go… with my health like it is…

Yes. She was seriously considering stopping treatment that will save the vision in her eye and possibly improve it.

She even mentioned, she noticed a slight improvement. Which is amazing, after only one treatment!

I told her, we’ll find a way to get her there. Even as we were talking, I was sending a message to my brother and SIL, but while I could see that neither of them were seeing it yet.

So I told her I would call her back as soon as I knew anything. I had no idea when that would be.

With everything going on, though, I was burning out, so I tried to go to bed early.

Of course, that didn’t work.

Which was for the better, I guess, because after a few hours, I got responses.

Long story short…

They are lending us a car!

My SIL would drive out in time to get here for when the tow truck was scheduled to arrive. I would drive her back to their place, then take the car home.

That’s a LOT of driving, but there really wasn’t any other way to do it.

Have I mentioned my brother and his wife are amazing?

After that assurance, I could finally fall asleep!

This morning, my routine of softening kibble for the outside cats with hot water got switched up to transferring their food out of the slow cooker and giving it time to cool down before heading out. It was still a bit on the hot side, but they seemed to be just fine with that!

After feeding the outside cats this morning and doing my rounds, I made sure to open the gate – we were now expecting the tow truck, the prescription delivery, and my SIL to arrive – my younger daughter and I unloaded the aluminum off the back of the truck, then covered the sorted bags with the tarp.

It’s already blowing off, even though we tied it down!

After the back was clear, I took the time to put all the straps and bungee cords – the ones we used, and the extras in the truck – into the back-of-the-seat organizers we got. That set up is going to work out quite well!

Then, while I was at it, I moved our roadside emergency kit out to put in the car later, did some general clean up and even remembered to take out the disabled parking placard and the card we need to show the attendant when we go to the dump.

Not that we’ll be making a dump run in a loaned car! Not if I can help it. But we won’t have the truck for probably a week, so I figured it would be good to have, just in case.

The truck was booked to be picked up at 11am, so my SIL was shooting to arrive at our place at about that time.

It was past 11 when I got a call from the CAA Dispatcher, asking about our location, since our physical address don’t exist on any maps.

After giving country directions for the driver’s notes, we knew it might still be a while, but the truck was ready and there was no need for any of us to be around when the tow truck arrived.

My SIL hadn’t arrived yet, either, so I sent them a quick message, then popped into the sun room to tie off the outside door and keep the wind out – when I noticed there was a car parked near the truck! My sister had already arrived!

I quickly finished, grabbed what I needed and headed out – just in time to hear my phone ding, with her response to my earlier message! 😄

We were soon on the road back to their place when I realized, I hadn’t called my mother yet. My SIL offered to stop at my mother’s so I could tell her in person, which I gratefully accepted.

When we got there, I dashed in – only to find her walker was not by her door. I still knocked, even as I was looking around to see if she was in the hall. Then I went around the building, in case she was sitting outside.

Nothing.

So we went driving to the various places she might have walked to. Even the pharmacy, which is the furthest away. No sign of her, and none of the staff that know her had seen her.

We finally went back to my mother’s place, in case she came back while we were gone.

Still not walker outside her door.

I do have a spare key, though, so I figured I could let myself in and leave a note. I get my keys out and am ready to unlock it but, out of habit, I knocked first…

… and hear my mother’s voice responding from inside!

Her door was unlocked, so I let myself in.

She was at her dining table, her finished Meals on Wheels meal in front of her…

… and her walker sitting beside her.

!!

It was such a relief to find her!

I quickly told her about getting loaned a car (and messages my SIL that my mother had been home this whole time!), and that I’d be driving her to her appointment tomorrow. I even told her, my SIL was in the car waiting for me, so I couldn’t stay long. We worked out what time I could be coming over tomorrow and what time we needed to be on the road. Then she started asking me, why was I in a hurry?

I reminded her, my SIL was waiting for me in the car.

Well, why doesn’t she come in to say hi?

Because we can’t stay long. We have to drive to their place, then I have to drive the car home…

I wasn’t going to even bother saying more than that. The reality is, after decades of verbal abuse from my mother, my SIL finally said, no more. My mother has outside said that, just because she is married to my brother, she isn’t family. My SIL has never been anything but kind to my mother – probably more than any of us, to be honest – and even now, still says many positive things about my mother, but she will no longer allow herself to be abused. If my mother says she is not part of the family, then she will stay away.

My mother has zero understanding that her behaviour hurts people so much, and drives them away from her. The kinder people are to her, the more abusive she is towards them.

Except that’s changing with me. I have been putting my food down, hard, on her behaviour without reciprocating and – amazingly – she has stopped a lot of what she had been doing since we moved out here. At her request.

Tomorrow’s timing arranged, my SIL and I were back on the road.

At this point, I may as well say it. This blog is anonymous in real life, too; my family and neighbours know nothing about it.

My brother has been moving things over to here in preparation for retirement. Part of that was looking at selling their acreage. They hadn’t put it up for sale, but serendipity stepped in, and they found a buyer. The possession date is Nov. 1, so they have to get everything they’re not selling or otherwise getting rid of, here to the farm. Meanwhile, they are moving into a townhouse near the city, and today, I got to see it for the first time!

I think they are going to be really happy there – and happy not having the property to be concerned with. Especially since they are stuck with this farm that they can’t sell. Something else my mother doesn’t understand. This property has been a burden they took from her, but in her mind, she “gave” my brother “everything”. So now they will no longer have two acreages to pay takes, insurance and upkeep for!

After a tour of their new home and a brief visit, I got to drive their car home.

I have never in my life, driven anything so luxurious! What a dream it is to drive! It’s not even a new car (just newer than our truck) or high end. It’s just a basic vehicle, but – oh, my goodness, it is gorgeous!

They are also slightly closer now, and the Walmart I was planning to go to was on my way home.

I was able to get four bags of kibble and a 32 pack of canned cat food. The Cat Lady also ordered us a donation of kibble on Amazon, which is supposed to arrive on the 29th, and we will actually be able to pick it up now.

Of course, I also got a bit of groceries for us – almost all of this, courtesy of my older daughter. She says she will help pay for repairs on the truck, too, though it will take some time to transfer from PayPal, which is how her clients pay for their commissions from her.

I hope we never again get to a point where we run out of kibble like we did today! We will especially need to stock up over the winter. With no back up vehicle anymore, if things go wrong again, or we get snowed in again, etc., we are hooped.

Which would be a good time to bring up… if anyone is in a position to help, we do have a donation button! 100% of donations go towards care of the cats, whether it’s food, spays and neuters or other vet car. Today, we spent more on food for the cats than for ourselves again, and we’ll have to watch to make sure it lasts until CPP Disability comes in – we will hopefully be picking up our repaired truck by then.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Oh! I just got a message from my daughter. She has caulked up the tub surround. Twelve hours before it can be exposed to water. Twenty-four before it can be touched.

Yeah, we still can’t use our tub and shower. Aside from assisting now and then, I have left this job entirely to my daughters!

But I digress, once again…

After doing the shopping, I headed to the town nearest us to get gas. My SIL had stared off with a full tank, but with all the driving, it was down to half already. When I got to the station, I asked the attendant to put in $30, hoping that would make a dent in it, and went inside.

After I was done and heading home, I realized that $30 had filled the tank!

I’m so used to the truck. At current prices – $1.299 right now – that would have been barely a quarter tank. I forget how much bigger the truck’s tank is than a car’s!

It felt really good to be driving with a full tank!

Once at home, I drove up to the house to unload, then made sure to feed the outside cats so I could safely move the car.

Oh, the happy, happy kitties! They were quite hungry!

After parking the car in the garage, I just had to giggle over how much room there is! With the truck, I have to squeeze as close as I can to the counter at the far wall, just to be able to close the door.

That done, I headed inside and started getting ready to feed the inside cats. That included taking their trays of the food they got this morning that they wouldn’t eat – it even still had remains of canned cat food on it! – and giving it to the outside cats.

The outside cats had already polished off all the food I’d given them earlier, and eagerly dove into the food the inside cats turned their nosed up at!

The inside cats, meanwhile, were happy to get their kibble.

The snobs. 😄

So things are looking up again, thanks to my awesome, awesome brother and his wife. With them being in the middle of moving, being down a vehicle will be an inconvenience for them, so I appreciate this beyond words. They are just the best!!

Tomorrow is going to be another long day of driving – and another day of not being able to get anything done in the garden. The goal had been to have several beds cleaned up and prepared for winter sowing by now. We’ve got just one warm day between now and November – and the long range forecast now shows snow within the first 10 days of the month! Granted, when these seeds are planted, we do NOT want them to germinate, but we don’t want them to freeze, either.

Well, what happens, happens. We’ll work with what we get.

What else can we do?

The Re-Farmer