Winter Prep, and future plans

Well, I’m certainly glad that yesterday was a good day, weather wise, because today certainly wasn’t!

Yesterday had warmed up quite a bit, which meant the ice and snow was melting and coming off the trees with a constant rattle of ice pellets hitting the ground.  When I had the chance, I checked around the yard to see if we had lost any other trees or large branches, and am happy to say that we did not.  Just a few little branches.

Heading over towards the apples, I could see that, while we only saw one deer over by the bird feeder, there were certainly others we didn’t see! Continue reading

Crazy kits and cat strangers

Just before I headed out to my mother’s to help her with some cooking, my husband starts laughing out loud in the living room, calling us over.

If you’ve seen his previous post, you know why!

I managed to get some photos on the DSLR, too.

Too funny!

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What a handsome boy he is!

While he was going around the platform feeder, birds would start flying over, see him and abruptly change directions.  It looked like they were dive bombing him!

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He so wanted to get onto the hanging feeder, but it kept moving! :-D

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I don’t know what he found to nibble on up there.  We saw him chewing on things a few times.

I probably don’t want to know what he was eating.

He also was standing on his back legs, trying to climb even higher, but I wasn’t able to get photos.

While Corvo was busily entertaining us, Doom Guy and The Outsider also came over and hung out at the bottom of the planter.  We couldn’t get pictures at the time, but my older daughter caught this one.

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He’s here all the time, now, and seems to have made himself at home.

My daughter also got a photo, a few days ago, of one of the mystery cats that sometimes shows up.

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This is one of two strange adult cats that have been showing up now and then.

He seems pretty chill. :-D

Beyond getting entertained by cats at home, I spent some time with my mother, doing some cooking that will be used by home care when they come by for meal assist later on.  I noticed that another jar of the chili we made for her finally got used.  She told me I should take it home, because it wasn’t “fresh”, and she needs to only eat “fresh” food, for her health.

Well, she eats plenty of stuff that isn’t “fresh” all the time, so I know that’s just something she came up with to excuse not eating the chili.  I explained again to her that the reason I put them up in jars the way I did, was so that it last longer.  It didn’t matter.  Like the chicken my sister-in-law made for her, that ended up going to the cats, she’s simply decided it has gone bad, and that’s that.

So much of the fresh food that was prepared for her ended up being thrown out, because she wouldn’t eat it for some reason, and it actually did go bad.  Such a waste.

I had a chance to show my mother some photos of the clean up I did along the fence line up to the gate, because of a concern she brought up when she phoned to ask me to come over.  It seems “people” have been telling her that I was not just cutting down dead branches, but taking down living trees.  Now, I’ve been keeping my mother in the loop about what I’m doing, including clearing trees from the fence line, because we will need access to it to repair it.  Then she started talking about her lilacs.  She had planted special lilacs by the gate.  I told her on the phone that they’re still there, I just cleaned out the dead stuff and the poplars that were growing in the middle of them.  She seemed taken aback when I mentioned poplars, but she was really upset that I had apparently cut down her special lilacs.  I assured her I hadn’t, then asked who it was that was gossiping about us that she was listening to.  I found out, and was not at all surprised it was the person that is the reason we have to lock our gates.  *sigh*  Ah, well.

So I showed her a picture of the area by the gate I had cleaned up.  Including this one.

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I don’t know what kind of lilacs those are (I wasn’t sure they were even lilacs; she has the usual purple lilacs on the other side of the gate).

It turns out, this wasn’t the gate she was talking about.  She thought I had cut down her white lilacs.

These ones.

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We cleaned up this area, months ago.

She has seen this area since I’ve cleaned it up, so she knew what I had done with it.  But when she was told I was cutting by the “gate”, she thought of the gate into the yard, not the gate at the driveway.

I’ve made a point of keeping my mother in the loop of what we’ve been doing, showing her photos every chance I get, until she is strong enough to come and see for herself.  Yet, all it takes is one person, who has no clue what we’ve done or what we are doing, to start gossiping, and she starts to panic.

So disappointing.

She saw the pictures, however, and I talked about the repairs to the fences that are needed, and the section with posts that will need to be replaces, and so on.  She was happy with what she saw.  It worked out well in the end. :-)

The Re-Farmer

 

 

Oh, what a day! :-D

How the day was going to go was a bit up in the air, to be decided after we picked up our van.  It ended up being a much longer day, but we got the bulk of our monthly shop in, after all.

In order to get the van home, my younger daughter and husband had to come along.  Now, my mother’s car isn’t a compact car, by any means, but my husband tops 6 ft.  Even with the seat back as far as it could go, he had to fold himself in.  He was basically wearing the car!!  Continue reading

Ouch

Ah, what a day!

Before I get into it, however, I will share some adorableness! :-D

I was outside and decided to check the sun room, to see if it was safe to close up the doors for the night.

It wasn’t quite there yet…

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Continue reading

Pizza night

After all our running around in town today, we decided a pizza night was in order.

This one’s mine.

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Alfredo Pizza.  One of the best I’ve ever had, with broccoli, chicken and alfredo sauce.

Sooooo good!

Normally, today would have been our day to go into the city for our monthly shop, but that will likely happen the day after tomorrow.  I will be out much of tomorrow, as  I’ve booked an oil change, and I’m asking them to check the wheel bearings and take it for a spin, to see if the mystery noise will start.  We’ll see what they say after their inspection, before we make any trips to the city!

I should be able to visit my mother, as well, since she lives just a couple of blocks from the garage I’m going to.  I will have to try to explain to her – again – that when the home care workers come in for a meal assist, they can only heat up prepared food.  They don’t have the time to cook food from scratch, which it turns out she’s still expecting them to do.  Plus, apparently, she was being very rude to them about it, too.  My older brother, who is their contact person, got a phone call about her not having prepared food for them to heat up.  Which we all had made sure there was lots of.  He was able to get through to our mom (he’s not even in this province right now!) and was able to establish that yes, there is still lots of food in the fridge, and even more in the freezer.  It basically just needs to be assembled into meals and heated – and my jars of chili are still there, too, which need nothing extra done.  She was just being a pain, demanding of them more than they are supposed to do.  :-(

Years ago, my mother worked as a home care worker, but things have changed a great deal since then.  She refuses to accept that.  Still, you’d think she would at least treat them better! :-(

Well, she is slated for a total of 14 days of home care.  She should be recovered enough to be able to do a lot more herself, by the time the two weeks are up.   Which should be early next week.  She surgical area is healing well, and her mobility is quite good (especially for someone who is 87 and is in need of a knee replacement!).  She gets tired easily, which I would expect to continue for some weeks, yet, but she’s getting her 4 daily walks in, as the doctor ordered.  It’s basically just down the hall to the lobby area and back, but that’s enough for now.  She’s really doing very well, even if she complains about what a difficult time she’s had!  :-)  She just has nothing in her personal experience to compare it to.  She was totally convinced she was going to die, though that was partly due to her racism.  She had the best hernia surgeon in the province, but he’s from Nigeria, so…  Sadly, it turns out he’s had problems with his own mother, back in Nigeria, who thinks him being a doctor in Canada is wasting his life!  Poor guy!  At least my brother has made a point of telling him how much he is appreciated, for taking such good care of our mother.

Ah, well.  We shall see how it goes, tomorrow!

The Re-Farmer

I missed you!

I had to make a quick trip into town this morning, and came home to DahBoy, waiting for me.

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Okay, so maybe he was just watching the action outside, and not really waiting for me, but it’s cute, either way. :-D

Plans have been changed for the day.  I’ve learned my mother is going to be released from hospital this afternoon.  They were actually going to kick her out this morning, against doctor’s orders and before confirmation for home care, but my brother talked them into making it this afternoon, as was originally being discussed.  I am waiting on my brother to let me know when they are leaving, so I can meet them at my mother’s and help out.

Which meant a planned trip into town this afternoon, to drop some stuff off at the lab for my husband, got done this morning, instead.

Home care for my mother won’t start until tomorrow, but thankfully, my older brother will be able to stay overnight with my mother and be available for her until then.  If he hadn’t already worked that out, chances are I’d be doing it.  Hopefully, if my mother does need help with stuff beyond home care, she’ll call me, at a 20 minute drive away, instead of my brother, who is about an hour and a half away!

I think she is going to be glad to be home, and away from the noise and bustle of the hospital.

The Re-Farmer

 

Kitten Heaven!

The kittens have been tearing around all over the place!

Last night, I spent some time outside with them, tossing out cat treats in various directions.  The tuxedo was once again the only kitten that would come near me, and even allowed me to pet him.

This afternoon, while heading out to go pick up some prescription refills, they heard as and all came out – even the ones that wouldn’t come near us.  My husband has been putting food out for them in the mornings, but they didn’t all come out until later.

So of course, my daughter and I paused to say hello.

Beep Beep’s kittens now have names.  Meet Doom Guy, the tuxedo.

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Who loves my daughter’s new purse!

While we were out, we started to hear some plaintive meowing from… somewhere.

It turned out to be one of the inside cats, at the kitchen window.

Beep Beep’s tabby went to take a look.  Meet Corvo (why yes, my daughters are gamers… why do you ask? LOL)

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He had even stretched up, with his paws on the wall, trying to get closer to the window, but I wasn’t able to get a picture.  Too cute!

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Butterscotch, three of her babies, and Beep Beep, at the food bowls.  The larger orange tabby made a showing, but I wasn’t able to get a picture of him.

Then, something amazing happened.

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Doom Guy allowed my daughter to pick him up.  He not only stayed (though he wasn’t quite sure how to handle being held) and let us pet him, but even started to purr!!

So awesome!

Just before we left, my daughter had to rescue her bag again. :-D

Well, okay. He’s not quite comfortable around us, yet. :-D

In other things; it had been my plan to work along the fence line today, but it was much chillier than I expected.  So it was a morning to do some crochet.  Later on, I’ll be making a big batch of chili in the crock pot, and setting some aside in jars for my mother, for when she comes home from the hospital.  Between my siblings and I, she will hopefully not have to cook for quite some time, and can focus on recovery.  Though there has been come discomfort for her, everything has been going very well with her.  At the moment, she’s expected to come home on Saturday, and my older brother plans to stay with her for a few days, to help her out.  We should know by then if she will need home care or not, too.  I hope she does get it, just to make sure she doesn’t over do things too early.  My family is notorious for ignoring pain or injury and pushing ourselves through it, even when we shouldn’t! :-D

The Re-Farmer

A kitten let me pet it!!

It’s just one, so far; the tuxedo.  My daughter tells me he let her pet him yesterday, too.

Progress!!! :-D

I was out for much of the morning, taking my mother to the hospital she will be going for surgery at, tomorrow, for her pre-op blood work.  We took her car, since it’s easier to get in and out of for her.  When we needed to replace our old van, I very specifically chose a vehicle that would meet my husband’s mobility needs, which are pretty much the opposite of my mothers. :-D  The trip went really well, and we got back early enough that we could go to church together, too.

When I got home, I noticed branches in the yard, so after lunch I went out to pick them up.

I got distracted by a Beep Beep, who really wanted attention!  So I sat on the side of the concrete landing at the door and started petting her. Her tuxedo kitten was out and, at first, he didn’t want to go near me.  Then, much to my surprise, he came over to snuzzle his mom as I pet her – and let me pet him, too!

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Then they both went behind my back and rolled around on the concrete.  I reached around to pet Beep Beep, and a kitten head pushed itself under my hand!  It was so awesome.

I tried reaching my phone over my shoulder to get some pictures of them behind my back and actually got a good one of the tuxedo. :-D

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I’m hoping, as the other kittens see him enjoying human attention, they’ll relax and start letting us pet them, too.

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The grey tabby, however, still won’t go near me.  I moved to a chair we have by the sun room, and he wouldn’t even go past to get to the food bowls.

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The teeny tabby used to come close and even let me touch, sometimes, but these days, he is acting more skittish for some reason.  He will, at least, go past me to get to the food.

His big brother, on the other hand, almost did, but when he heard me shift on the chair, he ran off again.

He has such a lion-like appearance doesn’t he? :-D

I even caught a glimpse of one of the calicos, dashing away.

I’m so happy.  I got some kitten therapy! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Sky on fire

While tending the fire pit, burning away the rhizomes I’d pulled up earlier, I got to watch a lovely sunset.

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The photo does not do it justice.  It was as if the sky on the horizon was on fire!

I went over to the outer fence line (the cow fence. ;-) ) to get this shot, so there would be fewer trees blocking the sunset.

We had another hot and muggy day today, so I didn’t plan on doing any manual labour in the trees today.  Which worked to be a good thing, since my husband was able to reschedule a medical appointment from next week to today, so he could get updated prescriptions, and then fill them.  He was able to get an updated prescription for a CPAP as well.  He’s been without for almost a week, now.  Interestingly, after that first night without, he’s actually been breathing quite a bit in his sleep.  Granted, the incline of the hospital bed helps, but it’s no where near as bad as it was before he finally got the sleep apnea diagnosis.  Back then, he spent more time not breathing, than breathing, and had 0 REM sleep.  His case was so extreme, the sleep researcher that had his file, who was also a university professor, asked permission to use the test results and video for his classes, and his data for future text books.  In all his years as a sleep researcher, he’d never encountered a case as severe before!  So any improvement is a good thing.

This province does things differently when it comes to CPAPs, which is covered by the medicare system with a deductible.  We had to explain to the doctor that we were intending to just get a new one from cpap.com  In the end, it’s cheaper that way.  Even with the dollar difference and before insurance coverage (we have to pay in full ourselves, first, then submit the receipt).  It’s amazing how incredibly more expensive the machines and supplies are, when purchasing them from Canadian suppliers!  It makes no sense!  So by doing it this way, we are not only saving money for ourselves, but for our insurance company, too.  Also, since the machine we plan to get is an adjustable type, he doesn’t have to go through new testing to work out the settings, so it’ll probably be faster, too.  In the long term, though, it would be good to get him tested again, and see if he would be eligible for a VPAP (variable pressure, rather than continuous pressure) instead.  That is still covered by the system 100% here, too.  That will be discussed with the doctor another time.  The most important thing is getting a new machine quickly.  Sleep apnea is not something to take lightly!

The Re-Farmer

Dramatic skies, and apple tree down

Yesterday, after picking my daughter up from work, the girls and I went straight to visit my awesome, amazing older brother and his wife for the evening.

The storm warnings had returned, but the skies were clear at the time, if incredibly windy all day.  The winds died down enough that we were able to eat outside, then have a fire going to toast marshmallows.  It was so wonderful to just sit outside together, talking and enjoying each others’ company.  I just wish my husband had been able to come out, too, but if he had, he would never have been able to handle the length of the visit.

Chronic pain really sucks.

While we were outside, we did see some pretty dramatic skies!

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The clouds were moving fast, so we saw all sorts of interesting shapes passing by.  When it first started to rain, though, the sky above us was clear! :-D  After a while, though, it started to come down a bit harder, so we packed up and went in.  By then it was late enough to start heading home, which was about an hour and a half’s drive.

While we were away, my husband sent us some updates to let us know it was coming down pretty hard at home.  It was all done by the time we made the drive, but as soon as we turned off the highway onto the gravel road, we drove through a bit patch where the road was covered with twigs and branches from someone’s willow.  Some smaller trees along the road were downed.  (Interestingly, I later found out the my husband’s dead CPAP machine, which he has left plugged in, actually flickered to life during the storm.  Just a flicker.  Odd.)

When we got home, we decided to park in the yard by the house, instead of the garage.  As I drove in, the first thing I saw in my headlights was a branch on the ground.  So while the girls brought things into the house, I grabbed a flashlight and did a circuit around the house.  Nothing major, but it was clear it was going to be another day needing a wheelbarrow to clear up everything that came down.

Then this morning, as I glance out the north facing bedroom window, I see this.

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One of the apple trees had come down, too.

I don’t think this one was doing very well this year.   It never really bloomed, and I couldn’t see any apples on it when I checked it out.  Most of it had already been pruned away, before we moved out here.  I’m not surprised that this one came down.  I’m more surprised it was the only one.

Thanks to my brother, though, I have chain oil for my birthday gift – summer and winter oil, even, and enough to last a very long time! – so later today I will break it down and haul away the pieces.  When making plans to visit, I’d asked about what stores were near their place, after entertaining them about why I needed more oil so quickly (see link above), and my brother was sweet enough to pick some up before we got out there. :-)  That meant we didn’t have to rush to any stores before they closed, and could go straight to visiting.

I have awesome family!

Since it’s an apple tree, I will keep the pieces separate, so I can use the wood for crafting purposes. :-)

I will be sticking to just the necessary clean up for today, though, since I do try to keep Sunday as a day of rest, even if we haven’t found a church yet out here.  There will be more than enough to catch up on, later!  Things are supposed to cool down for the next week, so I’m hoping to be able to continue clearing out the rest of the maple grove and not risk heat stroke! :-D

The Re-Farmer