Oh, what a day!
It turned out rather longer than expected – and that was knowing we had multiple trips to make!
This morning, we headed out to pick up a snow blower (yay!) from the place my brother bought our riding mower from, in a fairly large town about 2/3s of the way to the city.
Since we were going to a small engine place, I remembered to bring the chainsaw collection in the garage, to see if any of them are salvageable.
In the process, I found another chain saw!
Played around with a set up for the outside cats, in the sun room. This is what I’ve come up with.
I had another crocheted blanket that we used as a car blanket hanging around. I decided to try draping it from the back of the swing bench to the back of the transfer bench. It’s incredibly heavy, so I knew it would need support.
I have some sheets of foam insulation among my craft supplies that I thought would work. Unfortunately, a sheet is just barely long enough to reach the backs of both benches – which means a stiff sneeze would have knocked it down, never mind rambunctious cats that are sure to jump on top of it.
After going through what was available in the room, I ended up putting one of the unused, home made plant stands on the transfer bench. That would support one end of the sheet of foam insulation.
After draping the blanket over, I folded up one corner for access, and it immediately drooped into where the cats like to sit. So I found another plant stand to hold that up.
As you can see by the photo, Doom Guy and The Outsider were quite ready to check out the new digs! In fact, Doom Guy surprised me by already being in there when I first picked up the corner to open it up. I never even saw him jump under while I was laying it out!
My husband was checking it out through the bathroom window just a little while ago, and he tells me Doom Guy was on top of the whole thing. The foam insulation is rather bendy, but it has enough support that it should hold. I’ll have to check it out, later, to adjust things, if needed. I can just see a cat trying to walk across a part that doesn’t have support and pulling things down. :-D
I don’t think there is going to be much hesitation for the cats to use it. Especially today. Though the temperatures have warmed up, there is a nasty, bitter wind out there. I think everyone, human and animal alike, will be staying indoors as much as possible today!
The Re-Farmer
My first market since moving out here – an outdoor market – and this is what we woke up to.
The forecasts were for rain, not snow!
I am so glad we packed the van up yesterday!
While getting ready this morning, I spotted some movement out the living room window, and saw a deer! It was under the apple tree in the above picture, grazing a bit. As I watched (and tried to take photos with the DSLR and the zoom lens; I haven’t uploaded those yet), I saw that it wasn’t just grazing, but looking for fallen apples.
Which confirms why we have no apples on the ground for long. :-)
Before we headed out, my nephew arrived with a friend and a trailer.
Not a trailer for the tractor. Nope.
A trailer for this.
It was the smallest tank he and his friend had access to. It’s water, for the radiator.
They weren’t going to tow it. He was going to drive it. They would just top up the water every few miles.
He was estimating it’ll take him about 10 hours to drive the 100 km back to his place.
At the time we left, however, they still hadn’t been able to start it. They were going to try pull starting it on the road, after we left. It was gone when we came back, so I figured they got it going. Looking at the time right now, he’s probably still about an hour from home! I later saw a photo he’d sent my brother, taken from inside the cockpit, while driving on the gravel road.
Ah, youth! :-D
Meanwhile, the market went on as planned, in the snow. Which, thankfully, did melt away, but it never got warmer than 6C. Much to my surprise, not only did we get a decent number of people coming to the market, but I ended up making my best sales day, since I first started selling my crochet at markets! I made a nice dent in my old inventory, so I will be working on new stuff over the winter. I had several people asking me about other markets I might be in. When I explained I’d only been back for less than a year and this was my first one – and only of the year – I got lots of encouragement to try others in the area. Apparently, no one else does stuff like I’ve got available. Which is interesting, since I sold mostly hats in various styles, with some moebius wraps and high visibility items, made using reflective yarn, thrown in.
My younger daughter came along to help out, (she’s such a sweetheart!!) and she was even able to take part in a Pokemon Go Community Day event. We were in a park on the side of a highway, yet there were still three Pokemon stops in walking distance. Two of them, churches. :-D
I really didn’t know what to expect with this market. There was everything from honey, jams and jellies, to garage sale type stuff, to a freezer full of roasting chickens, to a riding mower and heavy tools. I was really tempted by the earth drill, but I already have a post hole digger that will do what I need. There was even an antique wooden bed frame. Oh, and a Hutterite family had two trailers of stuff in the parking lot; they couldn’t get into the area the other vendors were set up. It is completely surrounded by trees, too close together to drive a vehicle through. We got at least some shelter. This family was in the full brunt of the wind, though they had their own trailers that provided a bit of shelter. I never did get a chance to see what they had, but the family members I spoke to said they did well. I think everyone did rather well.
All in all, it was a good – if chilly! – day.
The Re-Farmer
Yesterday evening, my younger daughter and I were able to take her friend into town for dinner. When we were told it would be about 20-30 minutes before a table would be open (buffet night is popular, it turns out… :-D ), we put our name on the list, then headed for the beach, which was basically across the street from the restaurant.
We had been getting thunderstorm warnings for a few hours by then. While there were no signs of a storm, yet, the winds were incredibly high. High enough that one of the small trees on the boulevard near where we parked came down while we were in the area!
This late in the day, the tide was very low, and people were taking advantage of it.
I’m not sure if you can tell, but the kids on the left are lying in the shallow water, waiting for the waves to crash over them. :-D
It didn’t show well in any of the photos I took, but the high winds would, at times, pick up and blow away sand hard enough that walking into the wind meant our faces getting sandblasted as we returned to the restaurant.
The dinner was excellent, and we got a couple of pizzas to take home for my husband and older daughter, too. I never imagined a chicken and broccoli pizza with Alfredo sauce would be that incredibly delicious!
Since we were in town, we took advantage of being there to play some Pokemon Go. We ended up joining a group for a legendary raid, at a park near a cove. While waiting for the rest of the group to show up, I got these photos.
I usually come by here in the mornings, and this area is, if not completely under water, very close to it. It looks absolutely dry in the photo, though that would be very misleading.
Such a pretty little cove.
This evening was an example of one of the reasons I enjoy playing Pokemon Go. For those who don’t know the game, it uses GPS and real-world maps to get you to different areas to catch Pokemon. There are “stops” in the game that are at real-world locations (churches, public art, historical buildings, etc.) that can be spun to get things needed in the game. Some of these stops are also gyms, where you can train your Pokemon by battling the Pokemon from people on other teams that control the gym, and take control of the gym for your own team. A fairly new feature added to the game has giant, different coloured eggs suddenly appear at gyms, with a countdown to when they will hatch. Most of the time, it’s a larger version of regular Pokemon, of varying strengths. Some, a player can battle by themselves. Others can be defeated within the time frame only when players battle in groups. The colour of the egg gives players an idea of how powerful the hatchling will be, and how many people will be needed to “raid” the gym and defeat the Pokemon. This is a way people from normally opposing teams can work together for mutual benefit in the game.
Then there are the Legendary Pokemon. These hatch out of a particular type of egg, and typically require quite a large group battling together to defeat. That is what we ended up joining last night, and there ended up 9 players battling together. I’m part of a chat group that people use to organize this, and it’s rare that we are in town and able to take part, so we took advantage of it.
We got to the location early and just hung out at the park and statue in the area, until others started to arrive.
The first group arrives and I watch as they come out of the vehicle, realizing that I know one of them. A woman from my home town that I’ve known for pretty much all my life, in fact, and haven’t seen in more than a decade! It turned out she has been playing the game for less than a week, and she was there with family members who where showing her how to play.
Then, just before we started, a little family group arrives, including a young child. I recognize the mom and daughter. They are the daughter and granddaughter of a friend of mine from high school! It was the dad and daughter that were playing the game. :-D
I also got to attach faces to user names that I have as “friends” in the game.
Since I’ve started playing the game, I’ve found Pokemon Go players to be the friendliest of people, and now the game is bringing me on contact with people I wouldn’t be crossing paths with, otherwise.
It’s really quite awesome!
The Re-Farmer
High winds last night. Lost the internet a few times. A bit of a storm, later on.
Several times, I took a quick walk around the yard to check on things and picked up downed branches (one of the apple trees in the west yard lost a big one).
I paused to take a short video, during which my heart was in my throat.
Can you see those power lines?
Can you see those branches, whipping about at the power lines?
When we can finally get those cleared, it’s going to be so much better for my blood pressure.
The Re-Farmer
We started to get air quality warnings for smoke, yesterday.
This time, however, the smoke isn’t coming from the fires in the west, but from fires in the east!
Driving my daughter in to work this morning, the smoke was even heavier than when it started blowing in yesterday afternoon.
I went to the lake to check it out. The fires, from what I’ve heard, are on the far side of it. There were pretty high winds, and even in the length of time I was there, it got noticeably smokier.
These guys were a bit of a surprise…
I’d seen some brownish lumps on the rocks in the distance, and could not tell what they were. As I was taking photos, I wasn’t paying too much attention to them until I got close, and realized they were ducks! Normally, I would never have been able to get as close as I did to them. They were far more interested in tucking their heads out of the wind, than in me!
This is looking to the north while stopped at an intersection.
The air was actually smokier than it appears in the photos.
The air quality warnings say it should blow over by tomorrow morning.
I would think that would depend on the state of the fires!
Normally, I would be taking advantage of the cooler weather to work outside, but my lungs are already irritated by the smoke, so it will wait. Things are going to be a bit hectic for the next few days, as I will be driving my mother to meet a family member from Poland at the airport tonight – arrival is after midnight! – and we prepare for our own house guest that will be arriving on Monday.
These, at least, are pleasant things to deal with. In today’s mail, I found an unpleasant thing to deal with. A letter from legal firm of the co-op we used to live in. They’re still trying to stiff us for the shares return the owe us, and are basically threatening us with a bill of over $20K for “damages” we supposedly did – meaning the needed renovations that were done – if we decide to sue them for the shares.
We’re talking a few hundred bucks here. It probably cost them more to pay for the lawyer to mail us the letter, than what they’re demanding we pay them. I wonder what the membership would think, if they knew their board was blowing money on lawyers like this?
Ugh.
Time to move on to more pleasant things.
The Re-Farmer
Butterscotch’s kittens came out to play again this morning. Which, unfortunately, happened to also be at prime reflections-on-the-window time, so getting any decent photos as all was a challenge!
But, I did get a few. :-D
No sign of any cats at all right now, in the early evening. I suspect they have all found ways to hide away to beat the heat!
37C = 98.6F
39C = 102.2F
Much to my surprise, we are no longer getting thunderstorm warnings. Though, from what I hear, the city we moved away from got hit with a massive one this morning. The weather system was moving in from that direction, so perhaps that’s why we are no longer predicted to get any.
After picking my younger daughter up from work, the girls and I swung by the grocery store and they picked up birthday cake and ice cream for me. The ice cream is going to help beat the heat, too!
I will now go finish my bowl of ice cream before it turns into a bowl of creamy soup. :-D
The Re-Farmer
Like so many others right now, we are experiencing a bit of a heat wave.
It’s the “feels like 41” part that’s the killer.
For those of you in the US, 31C is 87.8F and 41C is 105.8F
Thankfully, my daughter has air conditioning where she works. Whether or not it will make a difference behind the counter is questionable, though! I will find out when I pick her up tonight.
So we’re doing very little of anything physical during the hottest parts of the day, right now!
Meanwhile, inspired by a video someone shared on Facebook, I am going to try an experiment.
After dropping my daughter off at work, I picked up a bag of mixed size balloons. I used the big enameled container I found in the old kitchen – the one my mother used to mix bread dough in – and gave it a wash (a challenge, since it’s bigger than our sink), then used it to hold the balloons I filled with water. The package had some teeny tiny balloons, too. Those, I put in the fridge freezer. Two batches of these bigger ones are now in the chest freezer. I’ve got them sitting in reusable grocery bags, so they will be easier to access, later.
When they are frozen, I will put some out for the cats. The tiny ones will fit in the bowls we have for the indoor cats. I will start with one big one in one of the water containers for the outside cats and see how it goes over. I plan to put a smaller one near where the kittens are. As it melts, it will also water the bush that’s near the entrance to their hiding place.
It should be interesting to see how it works. For starters, I foresee potential problems with the balloons freezing to each other, due to the condensation on the outside. As long as I can transport them, that shouldn’t be a problem, since the balloons will be broken and removed before the ice is put out.
I hope the cats like it.
On the topic of animals…
While driving my daughter to work, about half way to town, we saw a small black bear crossing the road! While I have always known we sometimes have bears around, this is the first time in my life I have actually seen one out here. Pretty cool!
I imagine the poor thing was really suffering from the heat, though. :-(
The Re-Farmer
Update: Wow, that didn’t take long! After finishing this post, I looked at the weather app again, before closing it down. It’s already gotten hotter.
First up, here are a couple of bird photos for you to enjoy. :-)
My husband got this purple finch at the feeder not long ago.
And I finally got a blue jay picture!
The blue jays have a habit of taking off before I can get to the camera, so these days, it’s a challenge to get any pictures of them at all.
This was another indoor day, for the most part. There were plenty of storm warnings for the southern province which, for us, translated to rain early in the morning, and now high winds. I had to go into town to pick up some prescription refills, and made a point of checking the yard out before I left. There were a few downs branches that were of little concern. In the areas of the maple grove I haven’t cleaned yet, I found myself looking at some branches and wondering, is that new? Or what that already there?
About the only good thing right now is the wind direction. If one of the trees by the house does come down, it’ll be fall away from the roof, instead of on it. Though, looking out my window at the trees behind the storage house, it’s the opposite. At least that building is empty and has no power.
Speaking of which…
The second tree care company came by on Monday, and I got the estimate emailed to me last night. It’s basically the same as the first company; $1500. Looking over our budget (barring any unexpected expenses), we should be able to get it done in November. Choosing the company is going to be a bit more difficult; they’re pretty equal in every tangible sense. One also does yard work and landscaping, which I would want to keep in mind for the future. The other does trees and nothing else.
So we have some talking to do and a decision to make. I’m just glad it’s something we can get done before winter, instead of waiting until spring. Though if we get some sort of cash infusion (like the shares the housing co-op we moved away from still owes us!), it would be good to get it done earlier.
The Re-Farmer
We got hit by a short, but intense storm today. Severe enough to warrant shutting down the computers.
I got a couple of videos, so when the storm passed, I turned on my desktop, and began uploading the videos.
Then the power went out.
It was just for a few seconds. Then it came back on. Then off. Then on again. Then flickered a bit.
So much for my uploads!
I didn’t try again until after picking up my younger daughter from work. Thankfully, my older daughter and I had put on the new windshield wipers, first! Turns out that we have to open the hood to be able to access the wiper arms, which meant I could barely reach, and couldn’t see. The wipers the van came with were broken and kept together with electric tape, which had come off some time ago, so the ends on the driver’s side blade were just sort of flopping.
Changing wiper blades should be easy. Just pop off the old ones, pop on the new ones. But no… that would be too easy! I got the old wiper blade off, but there was a piece attached to that arm that should have come off, too. It wouldn’t. After a while, I figured I’d put the old blade on and try again later. That didn’t work; a piece broke off, instead. So later on, I backed the van out of the garage so we could see, then popped the hood.
Of course, that’s when it started to rain. *sigh*
After righting with it for a bit, and another piece breaking off, I drove it back into the garage while my daughter got our tool kit (with all the stuff in the garage, do you think there are any actual usable tools in there? Nope!). While waiting, I got the passenger side blade changed. That one came off easily, and the new blade popped right on, the way it’s supposed to.
It took a pair of pliers and elbow grease to get the driver’s side arm bar clear of the broken bit. Once that was done, the new blade went on quite easily. Yay!
It made all the difference while driving in the rain!
As for the videos, I’ve had some trouble uploading them; I think the power outage happening while I was trying to upload them the first time messed things up. As I type this, the second video is still uploading, after the file got rejected three times! But it seems to be fine now.
After the storm, I did a walk around to see if there was any damage. A few branches had come down, but nothing serious. I did another walk around after picking up my daughter, and there were even more branches down. No roof damage, though, which is the main concern. :-)
The sky is clear, now, and it’s looking lovely out there. The rain is much appreciated!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 