outside cats

Warming up a bit, and a cancellation

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Today was a good day to not go anywhere.

Yes, it was warmer than yesterday. As I write this, we’re still at -9C/16F. Wind chill is -22C/-8, though.

It was a good day to break out the crochet. I haven’t been doing that a lot, as yard tends to catch on the rough spots on my skin and get yanked right off the hook. My daughter, however, got me a skein of blanket yarn, yesterday.

Turned out, blanket yarn doesn’t catch on my fingers!

So I whipped up a hat, here modelled by Ferdinand, my beat up display head.

The ear flaps can be folded up for extra thickness. Which is something I need, because wind in my ears causes ear aches very quickly.

I even got to test it out while doing my evening rounds.

It was snowing again, by then – it’s been snowing lightly, off and on, all day, even though the weather apps were saying we had no snow, but to expect some tonight. Uh huh.

Adam came out for food today, on her favorite perch to eat, on the cat house roof. It took several attempts, but she did allow me to finally skritch her neck and ears. She’s more friendly when she has kittens around. Once they were weaned, she got standoffish again. *sigh*

On of the things I had on my to-do list today was to call Visa. My first credit card that I got to re-establish my credit rating, so we could finance the truck, is expiring at the end of this month. Weeks ago, when using my phone’s bank app, I started seeing a notice saying that, if I have my new card, I could activate it right there.

Except, I didn’t have my new card.

What we did have was a postal strike.

I still don’t have my new card, so I called up Visa. He looked it up and the new card had been sent out in the middle of September. Three months ago.

The post office isn’t on strike anymore, but I have no reason to believe my replacement card will come in before the current one expires.

I had two options. One was to simply wait until the end of the month and, if it hadn’t come in by then, call them back. The other was to list my card as lost, and he could send me a new card, with a new number, immediately, and expedite it. It would arrive within 3 or 4 business days.

In the end, that was the option I chose. He got me a new card set up and it’ll be sent out tomorrow. He even waived the fee for expediting it. It was all done so quickly, I probably spent more time going through the automated options and waiting before I got to talk to a human.

It does mean my current card is cancelled and no longer useable, since it’s now considered “lost”, but that’s okay. The new one should arrive before I need to use it for anything. Oh, I just remembered… that’s what the pharmacy charges our prescriptions to, when we have refills delivered. I don’t know if my husband has anything coming in that isn’t fully covered by insurance right now. I have to call them anyhow. I’m hoping to be able to get more than 30 days of our prescriptions before Christmas, so that we won’t need to get refills, pick ups or deliveries through the harshest winter months. They may need to contact our doctors to get updated prescriptions to fill 3 months worth. There might be some issues with one of my husband’s meds, and one of my daughter’s, as these are “controlled substances” and we’re not allowed to refill them until within 3 days of running out completely.

If all goes well, I won’t have to drive anywhere until Friday, when I’m potentially heading to my mother’s to do her laundry and Christmas housekeeping.

On a completely different now, looking ahead to the spring, I’ve already asked my brother if we could work out a day that I could borrow him, one of his tractors and some chain. We have so many fallen dead spruce trees in the spruce grove, with many of them stuck on other trees. They are a fire hazard, of course, but I would also like to clear them out so that we can eventually transplant more spruces into the spruce grove. We’re also talking about cutting down the big spruce closer to the house that finally died a couple of years after we moved out here. The risk with that one is that it’ll fall on the house. I did make sure to debark it at the base, so no ants will get at it. A lot of the fallen spruces fell because their bases were weakened by carpenter ants. Then there’s the tree in front of the kitchen, with that one branch stretching over the roof that we can’t get down on our own that we talked about.

So that’s something that will hopefully get done next year. My brother needs to work on one of his tractors to get it going first, though; they are all rather vintage and need some TLC to be useable.

Life is going to be so different with my brother and SIL being able to come out here more often, and with all his equipment here. They’re looking to set up an office in the trailer home they moved out here, so he could work “from home”, then work on stuff around the property in the evenings during the week, rather than trying to rush to get things done on a weekend. I look forward to helping him out and learning from him! No living person knows and understands this place more than he does.

That will all come in time.

For now, it’s hibernation and planning time.

The Re-Farmer

A much longer day than expected

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First up, the cuteness. I actually got this photo, yesterday. I wanted to get a good photo of Kohl for the rescue, as they will be taking her in and getting her ready for adoption, later this month.

What a gorgeous lady!

Also, in giving her a cuddle, I found that the fur on her chest is so matted, it’s like an armored breastplate! That’s on top of the mats I have also been finding when petting her back.

Whoever adopts the beautiful Kohl is going to have to help her take care of the glorious coat! Hopefully, she will discover she likes being brushed. Unlike David. It’s been years, his fur mats like crazy, and he HATES being brushed. Currently, he has a bald spot because the only way I could get a big mat out was to take the clippers to it!

Since I was going to my mother’s today to do her errands, we went over what we missed picking up during our stock up trips, so see whether I’d be going to town, or to the nearest Walmart. The list had a few things on it that made going to Walmart worth the gas. My younger daughter ended up coming along, with a shopping list from her sister. My older daughter has had her annual pre-Christmas special for quick commissions and has been plowing her way through them for the past while.

I wanted to get to my mother’s early enough that we could get her list and be doing her shopping when her Meals on Wheels arrives, and she can have a peaceful lunch. Even with extra trips to the post office and pharmacy before doing her groceries, it was a really fast trip.

While at the grocery store, though, I spotted some sales and ended up asking my daughter to grab another cart for our own shopping, even though we were going to Walmart. Every now and then, this grocery store has prices better than any of the city stores on some things.

That done, we were back and my mother’s, just as she was finishing her Meals on Wheels. My daughter and I put her things away and did a few other things she needed. I was trying to be efficient about things, which came across as being in a hurry, which my mother wasn’t happy about. I’d told her we were doing to do our own errands after, so that we couldn’t have to make another trip, just to avoid driving as much as possible. She wasn’t happy about that, even though she did get it, as I explained it to her, but she started to grill me about if I had an appointment that we were rushing off to, and what was it we needed to do?

If I were asking her those same questions, she’d be telling me it was none of my business. 😄

I told her, we just needed to go to Walmart, but wanted to get it done earlier, so it wouldn’t be dark when we were driving home – and it gets dark really early right now! (Sunset today was 4:23pm).

Then she started asking if I could do her laundry (Friday is her laundry day, and I did just tell her we needed to do our own errands…). I told her I didn’t have time for it today, but my sister is supposed to be coming out this week, so maybe she could do it? My mother just sort of scoffed, so now I wonder what terrible laundry crime my sister committed. My mother had been very happy to tell me that my sister had done her laundry for her, in the past! My brother had come out this weekend and done stuff for her, including the sweeping, so there wasn’t much left for us to take care of, but she mentioned that she’d like someone to mop her floors some time before Christmas. So I ended up making a calendar date to come back on Friday to do her laundry and her floors, unless my sister manages to do them when she comes out before then. Unfortunately, while we’re supposed to be slightly milder over the next few days, we’re supposed to have a hard temperature drop, starting on Friday.

Yet, Tuesday, a week from now, we’re supposed to hit a high of 1C/34F!! That’s in the 10 day forecast. In the monthly forecast, it says to expect a high of 3C/37F. Christmas day is now expected to be -2C/28F, then the next two days are supposed to be 0C/32F!

That’s in between expected highs down to -22C/-8F and expected overnight lows down to -32C/-27F.

Those sorts of temperature swings will absolutely destroy our roads.

We’ll see what actually happens.

Overall, the visit with my mother went well, and she seemed actually happy to see my daughter. No snarky comments about her PCOS beard, but instead complimented her on her beautiful and very curly hair. She definitely takes after her dad when it comes to hair!

From there, we made a quick stop for gas – prices have dropped to $1.149 right now – then headed to the nearer city and their little Walmart. At first, the reduced visibility in the distance was fog, but it wasn’t long before it turned into snow. I’m really glad we headed out when we did. By the time we finished our errands and had loaded up the truck, I caught an update on the weather group I follow. Parts of the TransCanada highway had just been shut down. As we were driving home, the visibility from blowing snow got really bad at times. Thankfully, we seemed to have driven through the system before the final stretch home. Taking advantage of going to my mother’s today means we don’t need to make any other trips for some time, other than my newly scheduled trip to my mother’s on Friday.

Looking at the weather radar after I got home, I could see the huge system that is sweeping across Canada and the US. The US seems to be getting the brunt of the system, though as I check again, things seem to have already improved – most of the swaths that were listed as “extreme conditions” are now mostly “severe” and “moderate” for snow. The bulk of the system looks like it’s missing us entirely, so what we’re getting now, and through tomorrow, is just the blustery edges of it.

With the extra errands for ourselves after doing my mother’s errands, we were gone several hours longer than typical. Which means that I haven’t even started my next garden analysis post. This morning’s post took hours of going back over old blog posts, photos and videos, and remembering how things did. I’m pretty tired and will probably head to bed early, and save working on the next one for tomorrow instead of tonight. I had a very interrupted night night, and am just too foggy to try and analyze anything right now. It’s just past 6pm as I write this, and I’m already fighting the urge to go to bed right now!

So, there will be a break in my garden analysis series.

Until then, I hope you all have a good and restful night!

The Re-Farmer

From a distance

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Well, I’m happy to say that the winds died down yesterday, by the time I headed out to do my evening rounds. It felt warm enough that I actually did some shoveling, including paths to the fire pit and wood piles. We haven’t been able to use the fire pit in the summer, due to drought conditions, but I’m hoping we can use it in the winter!

This morning was technically colder, but without that wind, it wasn’t too bad at all. It’s still snowing lightly and is expected to continue, off and on, throughout the day.

When feeding the outside cats and getting to the catio shelter, I spotted a grey tabby inside the self warming cat shelter under one of the floating shelves. I’m so glad it’s being used! Unfortunately, it was one of the more feral cats – Slick, I think – so my approach scared it out. It was starting to panic inside the shelter, so I made sure the door was wide open, with plenty of room for it to run out.

Later on, I saw the feral white cat with grey tabby spots in the catio shelter, and even Sprout.

I had to zoom in from across the yard to take this picture. I didn’t want to scare her away from her warm nest in the straw. I’m happy to say that both of the most feral mamas seem to be hanging out more in the catio shelter. These two have hiding places somewhere in the outer yard – or beyond, for all I can tell – so this greatly improves our changes of socializing them, or at least trapping them for spays.

I counted 35 or 37 cats and kittens this morning. I’m not sure exactly how many kittens were mashed into their favourite cat cave, but I figured at least four. I’m not sure if I double counted any. I spotted the big tom that’s started to visit us as I was going back into the sun room. I may have already counted him as a “grey tabby in the distance”, but I’m not sure.

With today’s slightly improved weather, if there is any errand running to do, I want to get it done today. I think the only trip I need to make is to the post office. There’s a couple of packages ready to pick up now.

While checking the status on the Back to Basics book I’d ordered on Cyber Monday, I saw it hadn’t shipped yet – but I also saw that the kindle edition was on a 1 day sale. $1.99 for the digital version, instead of $24.99. So I got that last night and was able to start going through it. Much of it is exactly like the older edition I have, but there are some obvious differences, too. For example, in the section on how to build various houses, it no longer has a cordwood house, but an adobe house instead. It should be interesting when I get the physical copy (I just checked this morning, and it has finally shipped) to go through both editions at the same time, and see the changes.

I’m expecting today to be another quiet day, mostly indoors. It’s hibernation season. 😄

The Re-Farmer

Brutal!

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Today was supposed to be warmer. Technically, it was. When I headed out to feed the yard cats this morning, it had warmed up to -13C/10F, which was already warmer than yesterday’s high.

The wind, however, had other ideas.

Today, we’re supposed to have winds of 30kph/19mph, with gusts up to 50kph/31mph This morning, it was coming from the south, which means it was hitting us almost dead on. Yes, we have trees to the south, but the wind funnels between the barn and the trees, and the rest is pretty open.

It. Was. Brutal.

When I got inside and checked, the windchill was at -33C/-27F. As I write this, we’ve warmed up to -11C/12F with a wind chill of -29C/-20F

When I got into the sun room, I found that all the kibble trays on one side – where the heat lamps are – were empty, but the kibble trays on the other side still had lots of kibble. We have both the inner and outer door to outside tied off so that there’s just enough room for a cat to squeeze in and out, but when the winds blow in from the south, it still gets through the doors – and right over the kibble trays. Plus, those trays are on concrete. So are the other ones, but we have pieces of rigid insulation scattered around, and the heat lamps, in the area.

Outside, I found there was still kibble on the cat house roof and all the kibble trays in the kibble shelter. From this direction, the wind actually swirls around between the three shelters forming a U shape, and snow was dusted over all the kibble. The water bowl house didn’t have snow in it, but the heated water bowl had a thick later of frost around the rim.

The food bowls at the shrine feeding station had snow in them, of course; there’s not much shelter there, so I knocked them empty and added more kibble. Not much. I want to encourage the cats to use the catio, which is quite sheltered in comparison. There was still kibble in that bowl, too. The water bowl is frozen, but it’s a metal bowl now, so I could easily knock the ice out for refilling. The cats are definitely using the catio. I just with the more feral cats would use it more, and not run away when I come close. I didn’t see Sprout this morning, but the white with grey tabby spots had gone into the catio for food, only to run away when I came back with hot water. Except it wasn’t hot anymore, by the time I was filling the bowl!

The covered greenhouse is doing much better. The thermometer in there showed about -10C/14F, and there was almost no wind getting in at all. The water bowl in there is a large, double walled plastic bowl that used to be a heated water bowl. When it died, I just cut off the cord and kept using it. With that one, I took the bowl outside and used a hatchet to chip out a “bowl” in the ice before putting it back in the covered greenhouse. When I came back with the jug of hot water, I found a fluffy kitty at it, trying to “drink” the broken bits of ice that were still in it.

I’m happy to say, I saw that kitten coming into the sun room later. It almost ran off again when it saw me, but I backed off and gave it a chance to go into the warm zone, where it stayed.

Before going inside, I did a head count. I counted 25 cats and kittens – then two more came in! So 27 cats in the sun room alone, all crowded around the three food trays and heated water bowl, with kittens jamming themselves into a pile in one of the cat caves they like so much better, and in various beds and perches. There would also have been 3-5 cats in the isolation shelter, plus 2-4 ferals that disappear into their hideouts in the outer yard. With that cold wind, they were spending as little time outside as possible!

When we have a chance, we need to open up the roof on the cat house. I think the heat bulb in there has stopped working. It could have been unplugged or something; I can’t see well enough through the windows to tell. What I can tell is that the snow on the roof above where the heat bulb is, has not been melting away. The cats take full advantage of the warm spot, but there doesn’t seem to be one right now. Not that we can open it up today. The wind would be blowing right against the inside of the roof if we open it now.

When adding straw under the shelf I added to the water bowl shelter, I took out a cardboard box the cats loved to hang out in. I’d set it on a shelf outside the bathroom window, and they quite liked going in there, but it kept getting knocked down. Today, I flattened it and put the cardboard under the big kibble tray on that side of the sun room, as insulation from the concrete floor.

Yesterday, I cleaned out the litter boxes in the sun room and today, I’m seeing they’re actually being used. At least when there’s digging involved. I’m still finding hidden messes frozen to the concrete floor in places, but they are figuring out how to use the litter. That’s a pretty big deal, with so many of the cats being more feral than not.

There’s a benefit to this!

I sent some pictures from this morning to the rescue chat group, including this one.

I soon got a response asking if the fluffy orange one – Colby – is friendly, because he would be easy to place. I explained their status as ones we’ve been able to sneak pet at times, but no. Not socialized. We have, however, made more progress with them than three years of trying with their mother!

They’d previously mentioned that long haired calicos like Kohl are quick to place, so I mentioned that she is very friendly – and that she needs someone who can take care of that glorious coat! I can feel the matts forming when I pet her. If they felt she could place her, we could grab her any time.

In the end, it was worked out that as soon as she (the same person who took other cats from us already) has her isolation room freed up after an upcoming spay, she can take Kohl, some time before Christmas. Kohl is already spayed, so that makes things easier, too.

It’s taken me quite a long time, with many interruptions, writing this post. It’s now almost 1pm. We’re up to -10F/14F right now, with a wind chill of -26F/-15F. It’s supposed to keep snowing for most of the day, too. A light snow, but we should have a few centimeters accumulated before it stops.

One of the books I ordered on cyber Monday has reached our post office. The “40 Projects for Building Your Backyard Homestead” one.

I’m not going anywhere today. Tomorrow is supposed to be a more pleasant day to head out.

I’m going to have to remember to untuck the block heater plug and start plugging the truck in!

For now, I’m going to hibernate as much as I can, and work on some crafty projects. I have my Christmas decorations to work on but with the state of my hands right now, I’ve started to make a hat on a circular knitting loom, instead. It’s been a long time since I’ve done loom knitting, so it’s going to be a practice hat. 😁

I’m getting too old for the cold.

The Re-Farmer

What a drop! Here’s some Christmas cheer

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Good grief!

Yesterday, we had a high of -9C/16F. I am so glad I got my mother’s grocery shopping done then, because, wow, did temperatures drop!

This is what it was like before I headed out to give the outside cats food and warm water.

As I write this, it’s just turned 9:30, so it’s been 2 hours. We’re at -20C/-4F, and the wind chill is now at -36C/-33F, so it actually feels colder now than it did earlier! Our expected high is supposed to reach -17C/1F, then we’re supposed to get warmer over the next couple of days.

Today is a good day to stay home.

And for the yard cats to stay in the shelters!

Kohl’s long fur may be getting matted, but it sure it good insulation. In the next couple of pictures, you can see the cats and kittens congregating around the heat lamps. The wall thermometer in the sun room was reading about -10C/14F, which would be a bit colder than the ambient temperature, due to where it’s located. The cats have their warm spots to hang out. In the last picture, you can see the isolation shelter crowd. The thermometer in there was covered, though, so I couldn’t see what it was reading.

With all the stuff going on, I completely forgot to do my usual posts for the start of Advent. We haven’t even dug out any Christmas decorations yet. I started crocheting this year’s hand made decorations but I might have to start doing that in the living room. The cats have stolen some of the pieces. I found one, this morning, but there’s another that’s still missing.

So, to try and get into the Christmas spirit, here’s a bluesy version of We Three Kings for you to enjoy!

The Re-Farmer

Yard cats and how much does that cost???

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Today was my day to go to my mother’s to do her grocery shopping, but first, I headed out for my morning rounds and yard cat feeding.

I counted 26 or 27 this morning. In this picture, a well fed group is under the higher wattage heat bulb. When I did the evening feeding, I noticed none where hanging out under the lower wattage heat bulb, which is closer to the floor. I checked it and there was no heat coming off of it. It was plugged in, the switch was on but, nothing.

No. It wasn’t burned out.

Somehow, it was unscrewed, just enough to cut power to the bulb! The heat cover was also loose from its threads. I’m not sure how the cats manage to do this!

I headed to my mother’s earlier than usual, as I wanted to get her grocery shopping done before the home care aid arrived for her lunch assist. When I got there, she had actually started some vegetables cooking on her own. She does things in stages, so she can sit down frequently.

After double checking and modifying her list that we put together when I was there on Saturday, I headed out. There wasn’t much on it, so I was done quickly. Fast enough that I took the time to stop at a little department store along the way. I know my mother won’t be able to do a Christmas tree, and very little decorating, if any, so I wanted to get her something festive. I ended up finding a little tree set, complete with a string of lights, small enough to sit on her dining table. Then, spur of the moment, I got her a Hickory Farms set with a sausage, crackers, cheese and mustard.

When I got them out and showed them to her, making sure she knew that these were gifts from me, not something I got with her grocery money (because that would have been her first thought), she got all angry with me for getting her gifts. Especially the Hickory Farms pack. With that one, I opened the box and showed her what was in it, and saying it was something to go with her tea, if she wants, or to bring out if she has company. She was still angry with me.

Which is what I expected, really. My mother has never known how to accept gifts graciously, that I can remember. I know that she will eventually enjoy them, but will likely never admit it. At least not to me!

As I was putting her groceries away, the home care lunch assist worker arrived. Since I was there anyhow, she didn’t stay and I took care of making my mother’s lunch for her, and finishing off what she had started cooking, doing all her dishes, etc. At one point, she asked me to look for something in her cupboards (we never found it), but she has a bunch of stuff that she would like to take. These are things she brought from here at the farm – glasses, bowls, etc. – but had never used. They are, however, vintage things that we would actually keep and use. Especially my younger daughter, who really appreciates such things. They are fragile and just out of my reach, though, and we decided today was not a day to drag out the stool and start taking them down. Mostly, she’s just happy to know that they are claimed and won’t end up disposed of in some way.

I wasn’t in any hurry to leave today, as my husband messaged me to let me know there was a parcel to pick up. The post office was almost closed for 2 1/2 hours over the lunch period. Which meant I had time to do all my mother’s dishes, make room in her fridge, and prep containers of food to cool down before they would go into the fridge.

I did remember to go through my mother’s lock box. I knew there would be one bubble pack with her Sunday bedtime meds still in it. Those turned out to be the only ones in the pack. Another pack had only a Monday morning bubble with meds in it. I took both out and set them into a pill organizer she has, so the packs could be thrown away, and left a note in the lock box for the next med assist person. My mother will be getting her refills soon (which the pharmacy will no longer deliver to her, at my request; I will pick them up), so the lock box was going to need the space.

For some reason, the home care aids keep locking more and more of my mother’s pens into the lock box. They have a form to fill out, with each med assist. There should be one pen with their folder. Instead, it seems they use a pen from her table, then lock it up into the box. I’m guessing the pens fall to the bottom while the next care aid moves it to unlock it, so they don’t see it and grab another one… which gets locked into the lock box. There was one time I wanted to make my mother’s shopping list, but couldn’t find any of my mother’s pens in the container she has for them on her table. On a hunch, I went into the lock box. I found six pens in there!

While doing my mother’s shopping, I noticed some very good sales at the grocery store, so after I was finished at my mother’s, I went back to do a bit of shopping of my own. I actually bought beef today! They had a sale on tri tip that was at $6.99 a pound. That’s lower than ground beef is right now. I got a few other things, as well.

I did NOT get chocolate chips, though.

*gasp*

Good grief!!!

I was at Costco, yesterday, and their Kirkland brand chocolate chips were over $30 for a 2kg/4.4lbs bag. What gets me is not only how much more expensive the Kirkland branch chocolate chips are here, but that they are more expensive than the name brand chocolate chips – both are semi-sweet – in a 2.4kg/5.3lb bag.

I recall, two or three years ago, that there were predictions of the price of chocolate going up, due to things like weather damage, pests and disease. Add in everything else involved in production and processing going up and adding to the price, it’s really gotten insane. It takes a few years for the increase in prices of cocoa beans (they tripled) to affect retail prices, but now I’m seeing that there is a recovery and supply is increasing. Prices might start to ease a few months from now, though probably not by much. The beans may not be as expensive, but all the other costs are still going up.

That done, I still had time before the post office reopened, even with how long the drive it, so I ended up going to the local Chinese restaurant for a late lunch.

The store the post office is in is an old style general store that includes a liquor section, right next to the post office window. As I was waiting for my parcel, I started looking at the nearest display and spotted a new wine, with the label stating it was from our province. The postal clerk saw me looking and told me that the wine is actually produced locally. As in, just off the highway that runs through our little hamlet! There was a semi-sweet and a ginger and lemon, both sparkling white wines.

I ended up getting a bottle of ginger and lemon. It only cost $20. Technically, my mother bought it, since she gave me $20 in cash for gas. 😂😂 (It costs almost $30 a trip to go to her place, with the current local prices.)

I’m now debating: do we taste test it now, or save it for Christmas? 😁

With the extra stuff, I sent a message home and my younger daughter was sweet enough to come out and open the gate for me, then help bring the bags to the house. It was a bit early but, once everything was in and I still had my boots on, I took care of feeding and watering the outside cats, and doing my evening rounds, while my daughter put stuff away.

Then, opened up our parcel and go it set up, but I will write a review on that in my next post!

See you there…

The Re-Farmer

I get to stay home

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Last night’s trip to my mother’s for her bed time med and personal assist went well. I got there earlier, which she was happy with. She also was less tired looking and less confused than the night before, which was a relief. While getting various things done, I noted that she was almost out of milk, so we started a shopping list for her. I won’t be able to do her shopping until Tuesday, though, so the plan was for me to pick up some milk for her on the way over tonight. It was the only thing she was completely running out of.

The girls, sweethearts that they are, took over the outside routine this morning, so that I could sleep in.

Well.

Try to sleep in.

Once activity starts, even if it’s just going to the bathroom at 2 a.m. or whatever, the cats decide it’s time to go nuts, so I didn’t actually get much sleep at all. *sigh*

I did do the evening routine, as usual, though, which is when I found myself being observed from on high.

Kohl is such a beauty! Someone needs to adopt that cat! Someone who can take care of that glorious fur. She’s starting to get matted again, and we can’t do anything about it until things warm up in the spring, and we can shave them off.

As for tonight, it looks like I’m getting a break. I got a call from my mother, before her supper assist arrived, telling me I didn’t need to come out. She had a “spare” set of her bed time pills in one of her old pill organizers. I’d put them there myself, some time ago. One of her night visits got missed, so they ended up the only bubble left in a week’s bubble pack. These lone bubbles drive my mother bonkers, because she thinks the home care workers should just use them, when they are not allowed to touch anything outside the days marked. What ends up happening is that there’s an extra bubble pack floating around in the lock box that no one seems to get around to finishing off when the correct day comes along. Setting these aside calmed my mother down and cleared space in the lock box. I have a little notebook I keep in the lock box where I leave notes for the home care workers, and I made sure to mention that I was the one who took them out.

When my mother suggested I not come out tonight, I brought up the other things I was going to be doing, like bringing her some milk, helping with her personal care, and basically anything else she needed that home care might not be able to do. My mother insisted she would be fine. She sounded so happy to be able to tell me I didn’t need to drive out at night again, too.

So… I get to stay home tonight! I might even be able to go to bed early and get actual sleep, too.

Tomorrow is our Costco shop. I’m planning to check out a newly opened location. It’s been open for a few weeks now, so that initial rush should be done. In confirming the location, I found an article that talked about how, on opening day, there were people who had lined up all night to get in first. Which I just don’t understand. It’s not like they had any different sales or prices.

Still, it should be interesting. It’s been a long time since we’ve been to that end of the city. Now that I think about it, I don’t think we’ve gone through that area since my older daughter and I drove through it during our move, 8 years ago!

The Re-Farmer

Got it done

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With needing to go to my mother’s for her bed time med/personal care assists for three nights in a row, I’ve asked the girls to take over doing the morning routine, so I could sleep in.

Too bad the inside cats didn’t get the memo. I had a really rough night last night, mostly due to cast deciding it was play time.

I had some concerns about my mother after seeing her, and have passed those on to the home care coordinator. There was some definite increased confusion. It might have been because she was really tired. She was actually surprised to see me because she said the guy that did her supper assist (no personal care on that visit, so she’s okay with a guy doing it) was supposed to come back for her bed time assist. She told me some conflicting things, so I had to include those in my email with the home care coordinator, because they just didn’t make sense. I need to confirm what’s actually happening.

As for today, we warmed up to a whole -6C/21F this afternoon, so I headed out to do a last few things before the temperatures start dropping.

One of those was to use the straw I’d collected in the wheelbarrow last night, before things started to get too dark.

The water bowl shelter now has straw on the floor in the back, on top of the rigid insulation that was already there. The giant crocheted blanket that was under there is now covering the roof of the kibble house as an extra layer of insulation.

After setting up the back of the water bowl house with straw, I had plenty left over, so I added some to the floor of the kibble house, too, which you can see in the second picture of the slide show above. There is a sheet of insulation under the floor boards, plus another sheet on the ground below, so any cats small enough to go under there are pretty well sheltered, too.

That done, it was time to put the straw bale away for the winter, so to speak. I dragged over the insulated tarp to cover it with. Unfortunately, that tarp got some holes worn into it in places, and water got inside the layers. I tried to set it up so it could dry, but then we started getting more rain. Which mean a section of it was frozen flat an inflexible.

Still, it’ll do the job.

I raked up loose straw around the bale first, then covered it with the tarp and tied it in place. Hopefully, the wind won’t catch on it too much. The wrapped bale is in the last photo of the slide show above

We are now officially done with winterizing things now.

Once the bale was covered, I stayed out to do a bunch of little things around the yard before it was time to do the evening food and water for the outside cats.

In the first picture above, you can see the cats are quite happy with the straw in their kibble shelter! In the next picture, you can see the usual crowd in the top of the isolation shelter. The last picture, however, made me happy to see. That’s Pinky, enjoying the straw bed in the bottom of the shelter. She used to enjoy the cat bed that had been under there until they started using it as a litter box. Now there’s no bed down there, but two litter boxes, and now straw.

It’s getting cold enough now that we will probably have to stop softening their kibble. It’s not an issue in the sun room or isolation shelter, but in all the other shelter kibble bowls, it’s getting to the point that it will freeze before they can finish eating it.

I am not looking forward to winter. I’m getting too old for the cold!

The Re-Farmer

Much progress made – and now she does it?

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I’m happy to say that I pretty much finished all the stuff I needed to get done before the hard freeze hit, but I just had to share this first.

One of the adult females we’ve been trying to get is Adam. She sometimes allows us to pet her, but we just haven’t been able to get her into a carrier.

As I was going through the sun room this evening, I spotted her.

That’s her, peeking at me from one of the carriers, back in its spot on the shelf.

Well, at least she associates carriers as a cozy spot to hang out. If only she would do this when we can get her to a vet for a spay!

*sigh*

The first thing I needed to do when I headed outside this afternoon was set up the emergency diverter for the septic, now that the tank area is covered in straw. In the basement, I grabbed a length of foam pipe insulation to put around the pipe first, then pushed it as far as it could go against the wall. When the ejector froze last winter, every time the pump turned on and greywater was pumped out the emergency bypass, I would hear vibrating noises of pipe against concrete that always got me nervous. I’ve become rather paranoid about our septic system! The pipe insulation I used is one of several lengths I found in the old basement that is meant to go over water pipes, not the larger pipe from the septic, but it’s split lengthwise, so I could get it around the half that was against the wall. That’s all I need.

Once outside, I had to remove the insert plug my brother had put on the outside end, which was secured with a steel ring hose clamp. The plug he got has the ridges that help keep it from being pushed out by pressure, plus the tightened the ring enough to squeeze the end of the pipe tightly. Basically, it would have been a great permanent plug. Unfortunately, it’s not meant to be permanent. It’s meant to be taken out as needed. An ordinary, temporary, end cap would have sufficed, but my brother is very thorough! It took considerable effort, and an adjustable wrench, to finally get it out. Plus a flat head screwdriver to create space between the pipe and the plug, just to be able to move it at all!

Once the end was open, I could set it into the PVC pipe I had ready. Then I used the collection of boards, bricks and scrap pieces of Styrofoam insulation to create a gradual slope from the rigid pipe and along the flexible hose so that grey water could be diverted far from the house, into the maple grove.

Hopefully, we will never need to use this again, but it’s good to have it set up and ready, just in case!

The down side of having that set up is that it blocks access around that corner of the house from where the bale is. Once the emergency diverter was set up, I got the wagon and the wheelbarrow to get straw to the various areas I wanted to mulch. When it came time to do the old kitchen garden, I had to go the long way around with the wagon and wheelbarrow loads of straw. Not a problem. Just a bit inconvenient.

The first area I worked on was in the main garden. The above picture is a little preview. By the time I was done, light was starting to fade fast. I decided to do a quick, impromptu garden tour video. I’ll be working on editing that tonight, and will likely have it ready to post tomorrow. I have a few hours to kill before I have to go to my mother’s for her bed time med and personal care assist.

Before I finished for the night, I grabbed one more wheelbarrow load of straw and set it by the covered greenhouse. Tomorrow, I plan to clear out the water bowl house and set straw on the floor, removing the huge crocheted blanket entirely. We’ll set that over the kibble house roof as extra insulation. I expect to have leftover straw, and will find other places to leave it for the cats. The cats really, really like the straw! The last thing to do will be to rake up around the bale to clean things up, then cover it with a tarp for the winter.

I am so glad we were able to get another straw bale this year – and that the renters had one to spare! Next year, when it’s time to use straw as mulch on the garden beds, I plan to run it through the shredder chute on the wood chipper, first. In the past, I tried using the push mower to shred the straw, but it clogged up the air filter so quickly. We only have my brother’s push mower now, so I’m not going to be doing that with his equipment!

Getting this last bit of progress done before things got too cold feels so good! 😊

The Re-Farmer

Getting things done!

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Aside from a morning occupied with wandering around the yard, trying to get a signal on my cell phone, so I could listen to the voicemails from home care, with all the phone calls, emails and messages that get done because of it, it was a decently productive day!

The main goal was accomplished, and that was breaking open that straw bale and covering the septic tank.

I love how round bales just peel away in layers.

The outside was so densely packed, and partially frozen, that it formed a shell. I took advantage of that. After removing the insulated tarp and spreading out loose straw, I’d drop chunks of the outer shell on top, strategically, to keep the straw from blowing away before it could settle in place. There were still some chunks left over when I finished covering the septic tank area, and I put those on top of the bale to form a sort of roof. Once we’re done covering things with straw, I plan to “store” the insulated tarp by setting it over the bale. That way, moisture won’t get into the open end and cause rot.

Once the area was covered, I got the emergency bypass for the septic partially set up. The pipe in the basement needs to be pushed through, and the end can be set into the PVC pipe – after taking the cap off, of course! I’ve got the flexible hose running into the maple grove this time – something we couldn’t do last winter, because of the snow. Once it’s set up properly at the house, we’ll set various supports under everything, to create a gradual decline and try to make up for uneven ground. Last year, there was one time when the flexible hose froze closed because there was a slight dip in the ground.

Hopefully, we will not need to use it at all. However, should the ejector freeze again, all will be ready, and we’ll just need to open the ball valve. The heat tape is still set up around the parts of the ejector that is above ground, but that won’t help anything at the venturi valve on the bottom.

We were planning a dump run today, so I didn’t have time to start covering the winter sown garden beds with straw on top of the leaf mulch, but I did have time to winterize things more for the yard cats.

I especially wanted to the get catio strawed up. I took everything out and put a decent layer on the ground, focusing on filling the gaps under the elevated frame. Then I added some onto the hammocks, just because. I put the pieces of rigid insulation back under the self heating cat shelter again, but the other pieces were no longer needed under the box nests. Since the self heating cat shelter had been collapsed a couple of times, it was a bit floppy in one area, so I trimmed one of the scrap pieces of insulation to fit tightly between the floor and the roof, against the wall next to the entry. Hopefully, it will stay in place, but if it falls in, that’s fine. The cats love that insulation!

As you can see in the picture, the cats are indeed using the new shelter!

The straw will also help insulate the water bowl, at least a bit, so it won’t freeze quite so quickly. I still had to take a hatchet to the ice to be able to drain the water inside, and replace it with hot water. The hot water would melt at some of the remaining ice and soon be cool enough for the cats to drink.

When it was feeding time, I noticed the straw on the hammocks were compacted in circles. Cats are definitely appreciating the straw up there, too!

The catio winterized a bit more, I switched to the isolation shelter – which has seen a whole lot of activity of cats enjoying it being open again!

I removed the litter pans from the bottom level and swept things out as best I could. I’ve got an old telescoping snow brush with a broken scraper that’s perfect for the job. Once that was cleaned up, a fairly thin layer of straw was added – I didn’t want to add to much, since there is a heat bulb and power cords in the upper level – and then the refreshed litter pans were returned.

Which, as you can see in the second picture of the slide show above, Pinky promptly jumped into, before joining the crowd above, which you can see in the last picture of the slide show!

I had a bit of straw left in the wheelbarrow when the catio and isolation shelter we done, so I added it in the covered greenhouse, on the ground under the food tray and water bowl. Even with that, I had a bit I could set on the concrete patio block between the isolation shelter and the steps, just to give another insulated place for the cats to sit on.

While I was doing that, my daughter brought the truck into the yard and loaded up the garbage and recycling. Once the dump was open for the afternoon, we headed out. After unloading at the dump, we continued on to the town north of us – right into blowing snow. Not a significant amount, but definitely the most we’ve seen this year. The system passed our place entirely, but went right over the town to the north of us.

Our destination there wasn’t actually in town, but the feed store. I picked up four 40 pound bags of kibble for the outside cats while my daughter went shopping in there clothing and boots section. For that many bags, I paid for them, then backed the truck up to their shipping/receiving door to get the kibble, then parked again and rejoined my daughter.

She had been looking for something specific, which she found, but she got distracted by their display of bib overalls. She told me later that she’s been pining for bib overalls since she outgrew some she grew out of when she was 7! She’d looked at them at places like Mark’s Warehouse before, but wasn’t happy with what they had.

This place carried a brand called Tough Duck, which were exactly what she wanted. They had another, more expensive, brand as well, but she didn’t like them as much. She had a budget for only one thing, though, and the overalls won! She got these. (not an affiliate link) Given her rather generous feminine assets, plus these are meant to be worn over clothing, she went with a 3X. She didn’t try them on until we got home and she is very happy with them. These are men’s overalls and ludicrously long on her, but they can be hemmed. The website does have a women’s version but there are no hourglass figured in this household! My daughters and I take after my Eastern European side of the family. If it weren’t for boobs, we’d be straight, rectangular brick houses. 😄 So when it comes to pants, men’s clothing tends to fit better.

When I had a chance later on, I tried them on, too. I might actually want to go a size bigger, only because they tend to pull when I bend over to touch my feet. The fabric has no real stretch to it, though it would soften and loosen up a bit after a few washings. I do a LOT of bending from the waist when I work, since my knees aren’t stable enough to bend at the knees, so it’s something to keep in mind. Not that I’d be getting myself a set anytime soon, but they would be really handy to have come spring time!

After getting the legs hemmed. 😄

Once home and unloaded, the first thing I did was start feeding the outside cats, so my daughter could park the truck, then do my evening rounds. When I was done, I spotted this bit of adorableness.

That would be Sprig, who is only slightly less feral than her mother, Sprout!

I haven’t seen Sprout for a few days. I hope she’s okay.

Sprig has been coming into the sun room more often, and joining the cuddle puddles. So far, I’ve only managed to sneak a touch as she runs past. I’m happy to see her using the new cat cave. I zoomed in to get the picture, as I knew she would run away if I came to close, and I didn’t want to chase her out of a warm spot.

It would be really awesome if we could get her to the vet tomorrow! In a couple of hours, my daughter and I will head out to see who we can set up overnight in the isolation shelter for an overnight fast. Not that they’ll be fed again until after we leave in the morning, so any of the cats could be brought in – if we can get them into carriers. I really want to get Frank. She’s a bundle of nerves, but is still the most approachable of the intact females. Adam and Slick have been coming around, but Slick hasn’t been allowing contact, and Adam only allows it while she’s eating. The white one with grey tabby spots is even more feral. Trapping will likely be the only option. I just don’t see us being able to socialize them over the winter, and I really want to get them spayed before they go into heat in the late winter/spring.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day, that’s for sure. The goal is to be on the road with the 3 cats by 7:30, as the drop off time is 8:50am this time. We’ll be staying in the city until the clinic calls us to pick up the cats – trying to avoid the Black Friday crowds. (Weird that Canada does Black Friday, when our Thanksgiving was last month.) Then, I’ll be doing my mother’s bed time med/personal care assist at around 9pm. If it were summer, I’d be napping in the truck while waiting for a call from the clinic, but it’s getting too cold to do that now.

Ah, well. It is what it is!

Happy Thanksgiving to my US visitors!

The Re-Farmer