Of course, I visited the mamas first thing this morning.
They are much more comfortable in their new surroundings, and quite eager for human attention.
Just look at those round, round baby bellies!!
I’d kept the cardboard box from the hot water tank, and it’s now serving as a rug on top of the concrete. :-D I’m also finding Beep Beep on top of the chairs, and she’ll even go up on the table. Butterscotch, likely because she if farther along that Beep Beep, makes no attempt to jump up onto anything! :-D
Going into the sun room, there was little sign of the skunks. They’d been in there, but I don’t think they stayed long. All the kibble was gone, but it was already low in the evening and we didn’t top it up, so there was not much left for them to get into.
It did mean, however, that the outside cats were quite hungry.
I was happy to see Big Jim hanging out in the sun room. The blood I’d seen on his face previously is dried up and disappearing – he is such a filthy boy! – and I was unable to spot where it came from. It may have come from a scratch on an ear, near the head. Wherever the wound is, it’s too small to be seen through his fur.
Also, Rosencrantz! We’ve started to see her a bit more often of late.
The kitties were hungry enough that Junk Pile cat almost came inside while I was there.
Usually, when I add food to the outside bowls, Junk Pile and Pump Shack cats are pretty skittish about eating until I leave.
They were still skittish, but hungry enough to tolerate my nearness more than usual.
The only outside cat I didn’t see this morning was Potato Beetle. Even Nicky the Nose was hanging around.
Waiting for me to leave, before he comes to the house to eat.
In the sun room, I started to take the rigid insulation off the south facing windows. We’re at a point were the passive solar heat would be more beneficial than the insulation We’ll take the rest down when we can finally start emptying the room out to clean it.
I also removed some of the insulation around the base of the house to uncover a couple of windows to the basement. This way, Butterscotch and Beep Beep can have natural light. When we can start hauling stuff we removed from the basement to the barn, we’ll take all the insulation around the base of the house to the barn for storage until next fall.
One of my goals for today is to start some cucamelons indoors. :-) They apparently take a very long time to germinate, compared to other things. I’ve worked out the timing of when to start different seeds, and even those I plan to start 2 weeks from now might actually start germinating sooner than the cucamelons. It should be interesting to see how these all turn out.
One of the first things I made sure to do this morning was check on the mamas in the basement.
Beep Beep seems to be settling in just fine!
I disturbed her nap and caught her in a biiiiig yawn! :-D
Butterscotch is not quite so chill.
She is still hiding under the stairs – though she did at least meow a greeting.
Since that is where she wants to be, I moved out a motor that had been tucked into there, pushed aside the box of stuff we still need to go through, and put in a cat bed for her.
Of course, while I was doing that, she hid in another corner, but I hope she will accept a nice, soft bed to curl up on.
After this, I headed outside to do my rounds. The skunks had been back, going knocking a few things about. We didn’t refill the food bowls last night, so there wasn’t much there for them to steal.
With most of the snow gone, I was able to go further afield and start picking up some of the larger branches that have come down over the winter. It will be a while longer before we can do a proper clean up. The long range forecasts had been for consistently warmer weather, but they were wrong. We’ve been staying below freezing, with the odd snowfall, instead. We’re supposed to start warming up again in a couple of days, then some days with both snow and rain.
I checked the different areas we hope to plant in, and they are still frozen solid, though a few bits of greenery has been trying to poke through. I’m thinking of uncovering the old dog house shelter we made for the critters last fall, and laying the black cloth over where the old wood pile used to be, to help warm the soil up a bit faster. We’ll see how it goes over the next few days.
If all goes well, I’ll be picking up a repaired van today. I’ll be calling the garage in a bit; hopefully, he’s had time to check it out by now. :-)
Beside that, I think I’m going to take a bit of a break today, as much as possible. Pain levels are creeping up, and I don’t want to overdo it. :-/
Before I show you the messy stuff, let me share with you some adorableness!
This morning, while doing my morning ablutions, I noticed Dave on the bath chair, eyeballing the towels. We have a small shelf with folded towels under some hanging towels. The hanging towels cover the top, and the cats like to go behind them to create a little cat cave as they nap on the towels. They do it so often, I now keep an old towel the top, just for them to use as a bed. I figured Dave wanted to get in there, so I moved a hanging towel to let him behind it.
It was already occupied!
I had no idea she was there, the entire time I was in the bathroom! :-D
Such a cutie. :-)
Now, on to the icky stuff.
During the evening cat routine, my daughter headed to the sun room to top up the food and water for the outside cats.
The sun room was a mess, with stuff scattered all over, part of the cat condo was collapsed and the bin holding the cat kibble was open.
Two skunks where in it, eating.
*sigh*
I had hoped it wasn’t them getting into the bin. They are likely why we are not seeing the cats using the sun room as often. When I do my morning rounds lately, the cats almost always come over from elsewhere.
My daughter splashed them with water to get them out. One left, but the other might have still been in there when she brought the bin into the old kitchen.
Since it was so late, the mess was left to be dealt with this morning.
When emptying the big bags into the kibble bin, I use one as a garbage bag for the others. It had been sitting beside the bin. I would also sometimes put a bit of kibble in the cat condo, to encourage the cats to use it. My guess is, the skunks has finished off all the food in the bowls, then dug through everything they could get at, to find stray bits of kibble, including pulling the crunched up bags out of the bag that was being used to hold them.
Spotting this as I picked things up was concerning.
Yeah. That’s frozen blood spatter.
While cleaning up, I heard a plaintive meow, but there was no sign of any cats. I eventually was able to lean far enough to look under the swing bench, where I saw a big orange lump loafed on an old blanket we’ve got under there.
It was Jim Boy.
When he came out, the poor thing seemed desperate for cuddles – and for food! I haven’t seen him in quite a while. He still looks like he’s in pretty rough shape, but better than the last time I saw him.
The more important thing was, no sign of injury. The blood did not come from him.
As I continued my rounds, I saw Creamsicle and Potato Beetle – both also looked fine. Butterscotch came from somewhere behind the house, looking uninjured and still very pregnant. I even saw Rosencrantz who, thankfully, does not look at all pregnant. Even Junk Pile cat showed up. I never saw Beep Beep, though. I also didn’t see Pump Shack cat, though I did see him later in the live feed for the security camera. None looked like they had any injuries, from what I could see.
Butterscotch even started to sort of follow me when I was doing the rest of my rounds. I heard her meowing in the spruce grove, but she never came close. On my way back to the house, I cut through the trees to see if I could convince her to let me at least pet her, but she wouldn’t let me come anywhere near her.
I did, however, find this.
Another old and rotting bench!
I may have seen the board before and thought it was an old, fallen tree, but once the leaves come in, it’s completely hidden and the area impassible. This is the first time I’ve been able to come close enough to see that it was a bench!
You can tell, by the trees growing around it, that it’s been there and fallen over for quite a long time.
As we clear things up, I do want to eventually put benches and seats among the trees. Seeing the remains of so many makeshift benches all over gives me an idea of what NOT to do. I might just go ahead and buy the heavy duty plastic benches or picnic tables that Costco carries every spring. If we do go with wood, we’ll need to take steps to protect it from the elements and the moisture of the ground.
All in good time.
As for the skunks, we’re going to have to stop topping up the food bowls in the sun room overnight. Once the weather finally turns to spring, all the food and water will be kept outside, so we can close the sun room doors again – especially after we’re able to empty it out and give it a thorough cleaning. I’m not actually too bothered about the skunks coming around, but they are greedy guts – cat kibble is bad for them to begin with – and seem to be driving the yard cats out of the very room we’ve taken great care to turn into a safe and warm sanctuary for them.
Yet another reason to finish cleaning up the basement and turning it into a maternity ward for Beep Beep and Butterscotch. I’d hoped to have had it finished by now, but my goodness, it is such a huge job!
I did not expect Butterscotch to come waddling over to catch up with me. Gosh, she is getting so big! She even let me carry her for a while.
Her boys will be a year old at the start of next month, if I remember correctly.
After dropping my daughter off at work and, if all goes well, dropping off a little Easter care package for my mother, I hope to find more dry cat kibble. We’re starting to run low faster than we should. Several mornings now, I’ve not only found all the cats’ food bowls, inside and out, completely empty, but the lid on the kibble bin has been opened. Something – not necessarily a cat – has figured out how to get the lid off and been eating kibble right out of the bin! From the lingering smell, we know that Stinky has been visiting during the night, but do skunks have that sort of paw control? It could also be raccoons, but we’ve never seen any here, since we moved in.
There isn’t a shortage of cat kibble, exactly. It’s just that the only big bags left are brands that the cats really don’t like. When even the outside cats won’t eat something, you know it’s pretty awful stuff. Outside cats are not normally picky eaters! We had talked about making another trip into the city this month for stuff like this, but the way things have been going, I am just not seeing that happening. Which sucks, because stuff like cat kibble is so much more expensive out here. If the only thing I can find are the smaller bags, though, the cost difference at that point, to get the amount we need, would make it much more economical to make the trip to the city. That wouldn’t be until after Easter, though, and we’re going to run out by tomorrow morning.
The snow was gone in a lot of places before the storm hit a couple of days ago. I could even see green grass through last year’s thatch. So it was no surprise that we’ve seen virtually no deer. Even in the trail cam facing where they cross the road to our place went from streams of dozens of deer to … nothing. In just a couple of days.
With snow falling pretty much continually for the past two days, all the yards and gardens were covered with a pristine white blanket.
Yesterday evening, we saw three skittish deer making their way to the feeding station. They didn’t really get much to eat, as something spooked them and they ran off. They were the first deer to visit us since before the snow fell.
This is what I found this morning.
Tracks, everywhere!
The area around the feeding station was torn up as they dug through the snow to get at the seeds below (which a couple of cats took advantage of. :-D ). From the heavy trails through the garden and trees on the west side, more came and went from that direction than from along the spruce grove to the east. The east yard was full of tracks as they headed towards the barn as well. Tracks went through the spruce grove as well, and my rounds had be going past where a couple of them jumped the south fence to cross the driveway to the old hay yard.
It should be interesting when I check the trail cam files. That will wait until I come back from town after dropping my daughter off at work.
For now, I have to grab a shovel and clear the plow ridge. The snow was soft enough, we didn’t bother clearing the driveway, but the wall of snow at the road is something else entirely!
While doing my rounds this morning, I was able to take a closer look at the bird bath.
Throughout the winter, when chipping ice out to add water, I’ve been very careful not to touch the bird bath itself. It already had cracks showing on it, and now that the ice is melting away again, I can see that at least one has gotten worse. I’m sure my ice chopping didn’t help. :-D
Yeeeaaahhh…. I’d say the bird bath is toast.
The kitties still like it! :-D
Since completing my rounds outside, it has started to snow. A gentle snowfall, just enough to start coating the trees again. It won’t last long. Looking at the long range forecast, we’ll be staying above freezing every day. By Sunday, we’re even supposed to hit 10C (50F)! It’s going to get muddy out there, but I’m looking forward to the warmth, and the snow melting away enough to be able to extend my rounds again.
The girls and I have decided it’ll be worth heading to the city to try and do our monthly shop, though I expect we’ll split it again, make a smaller trip and go back again later in April.
I should try and find some rubber boots again. Last year, I couldn’t find anything that would fit over my burly calves. :-D
Things are warming up again. We’re actually above freezing right now.
Unfortunately, that means that any hibernating flies that have survived the cold are starting to come out and sluggishly make their way to windows.
Guess how I know that?
Go on! Guess!
Yeah. The cats have found them.
I first discovered this when I was awakened by cats trashing the top of my desk and work table, trying to get to the north window.
This is the one window that didn’t get replaced before we moved in. The new window has a nice ledge on it, due to the thickness of the log wall. This window still has sheets of plastic covering the inside to keep the weather out, resulting in almost no ledge at all.
The cats still go for it.
They don’t succeed.
I didn’t actually see a fly when the crashing and bashing first started. I just tossed the cats out, closed the door and tried to get back to sleep.
I didn’t succeed.
Finally, I got up and left the room for a bit, leaving the door open.
In the couple of minutes I was gone, Cheddar had managed to get to the window, catch the fly, and bring it to my bed. I came in to find him sitting there, looking confused by the little black dot walking around on my covers. It was funny, so I went to grab my phone to take a picture.
Which is when Dave jumped up and joined him.
He ate the fly.
They then spent the next several minutes, looking for it.
Silly kitties!
The temperature might be going up, but the winds have really picked up, too. It’s coming from the south, south-east, a direction from which we have very little shelter, it turns out. Lots of stuff being blown around.
In doing my rounds, I noticed this in one of the trees.
No, that’s not a soft filter on the image. I checked my phone after uploading the pictures and saw it. A feather from my down filled coat was stuck in my phone case, partly covering the lens! :-D
You can see the broken top of this tree, hanging town. This top broke many years ago, but usually it’s pretty hard to see among the branches it’s hung up on. It has noticeably made its way down further. There are still lots of strong branches under it, so it might take years before it finally falls to the ground. Or it could come down today. Who knows? Either way, I’ll be keeping an eye on it. If it falls, there’s a good chance it’ll land on the fence, so if there’s a point when we can pull it down and away from the fence ourselves, that would be a good thing.
While walking around, I had Beep Beep in my arms, but was also hearing the distinctive high pitched meowing of Two Face, over the wind. But where was she? I couldn’t see her anywhere.
Oh. There she is!
Silly kitty! :-D
One of the things I was able to clean up since coming here was what turned out to be a post pounder my late brother had built. After clearing away the garbage piled on, around and even under it, I wrapped it in a tarp to protect it from the elements.
The elements, however, are relentless.
This is the worst, but not the only, tear in the tarp.
With the wind coming from the direction it was, the whole thing gets blown out like a sail.
What I’d really like to do is drag this thing indoors (which wouldn’t be easy, with 2 flat tires and a bent up trailer hitch). The only place large enough is the barn, and it’s still full of so much junk, we’d have to clear some of that out, first.
Which we might be able to do, at least a bit, this summer, as we salvage items for things like building climbing trellises for the squash we’re looking to plant this summer, or things we can use for the cordwood outdoor bathroom we’re planning to build. We might at least be able to empty one of the old cattle stalls, which it would fit in. That would be after we clean up and put a platform on the trailer frame we found and put wheels on.
Once done my rounds, I checked the trail cam files, as is my usual routine. I’m happy to say that moving the new trail cam to a different tree worked out. Our vandal was out for a walk on the road (with his wife, so he was behaving), and both cameras picked them up quite clearly. Plus, there is no longer a fence post in the middle of the frame. The low hanging tree branches don’t seem to be triggering the motion sensor much, which had been a concern.
I’m thinking of getting another camera like the new one, to replace the old one. It’s has much better quality images, plus the new cameras have a wide angle lens, which would be very useful facing the driveway gate. The old camera would do very well attached to the house, facing the feeding station. Wide angle would be of no benefit, there, making the old camera perfect for there.
Well, I guess it’s time to stop procrastinating and get back to work!
And maybe try that recipe for Foccacia bread my daughter found. :-)
We continue to have frequent visits from deer in our yard. I got this photo out my window yesterday evening.
Of the 5 deer in the photo, 4 of them are a family group. One of them was part of a group of 3, two of which I could see through the trees near the old garden area, but they never came any closer to the house.
I don’t imagine there was much left at the feeding station, this late in the day, but they’re still coming by to snack on what they can find!
They are so pretty.
Speaking of pretty, check out this beautiful Potato.
Potato Beetle has gotten into the habit of dashing in front of our feet as we walk, slowing down, forcing us to step around him, dashing in front again, slowing down… then flinging himself onto the ground and rolling.
In other words, he’s trying to kill us by tripping over him. :-D
I was very late in doing my rounds this morning, and Potato Beetle was the only one around at first. That meant I got to pick him up and carry him – it was either that or constantly trying not to trip over him! – and he was very content to stay in my arms. Unlike Butterscotch, Beep Beep or Two-Face, who are in constant motion while being carried.
He so wants to come inside!!
There has been zero interest in our attempts to adopt the rest of the babies out, which is really frustrating. Two-Face is booked to be spayed later in April, which means we’re going to have to bring her inside, if only to make sure she doesn’t get pregnant, first.
But we already have 7 cats inside. It’s getting to be a problem. Part of the reason I did my rounds so late this morning is because of being kept up most of the night by cats.
Which reminds me. When topping up the outside cats’ food and water last night, we had an extra visitor in the sun room. Stinky is back! He stayed around, hidden behind the makeshift cat cave, while I was in there. Later, I could see him through the bathroom window, eating the cat kibble. When I looked again at about 2 am, he was still there and eating again! This might explain while, some mornings, all the food bowls have been completely empty, with barely a crumb left behind.
I was talking with one of my daughters this morning about the outside cats, and how we’re slowly getting them fixed as my other daughter has been able to afford it. We were talking about how the outside cats want in, but we just can’t do it.
Unless…
There is a possibility.
If we can clear and clean up the new part basement, then find a way to make a door over the entry to the old part basement, we could do it. We could move the litter boxes downstairs, and they would have a huge amount of extra space if we keep that basement door open. The old part basement has the pumps, including the sump pump reservoir, so we don’t want to let them in there.
I guess that’s incentive to get the basements done faster!
We shall see.
Meanwhile…
Today, being Sunday, is our day of rest. Normally, I’d be in town right now, while my younger daughter is at work for her short shift. The pharmacy she works at is closed on Sunday now, due to the Wuhan Flu, so we are all home today. For a moment I thought that, hey! I could go to church! But the churches are all closed to services right now, too.
Which leads me to another topic entirely. Normally, I try to stay away from stuff like this, but this blog is about our new life here at my old family farm, and this is one of those things that is affecting us. Even as relatively isolated as we are.
I am just so frustrated about all the panic over the Wuhan Flu. People are being so stupid about it. This morning, my husband caught an article about a couple in BC that walked into a grocery store and bought their entire inventory of meat.
I have two immediate thoughts about that. The first is, who has the money to buy that much meat? The second is, why did the store allow it? Retailers have the discretion to limit purchases. Why didn’t they?
Meanwhile, I just read the updated protocols for the hospital my husband has appointments with in the city at the end of the month. His appointments have not been cancelled, but the hospital is now allowing access at only 2 entrances. The main entrance and one to the cardiac clinic, which is also the emergency entrance and the one we will be using. Everyone who comes in will be checked for symptoms and asked about their travel history.
The thing that bothers me so much about all this is the panic – largely induced by the media. I’m certainly not against precautions, but so much bad information is out there right now and, as mentioned earlier, people are being stupid about it, and their behavior is affecting everyone else, in a negative way.
Another part of my frustration is this.
We’re nearing the tail end of the annual flu season right now. While there is non-stop hyperventilating about the Wu Flu around the world, in the US alone, between October 1, 2019 and March 14, 2020, there have been an estimated 38 – 54 MILLION flu illnesses. There have been an estimated 17 – 25 MILLION flu medical visits. There have been an estimated 390,000 – 710,000 flu hospitalizations, and between 23,000 – 59,000 deaths.
I’ve found the Canadian numbers. The Government of Canada website has weekly reports. The latest report, as of this writing, is March 8 – 14, or Week 11. From that last link:
Severe Outcomes Influenza Surveillance
Provincial/Territorial Influenza Hospitalizations and Deaths
To date this season, 2,232 influenza-associated hospitalizations were reported by participating provinces and territories Footnote 1.
68% of the cases were associated with influenza A.
Of the 978 cases for which subtype was reported, 55% were associated with influenza A(H3N2).
The highest cumulative hospitalization rates up to week 11 were among adults 65 years of age and older (71/100,000 population) and children under 5 years of age (69/100,000 population).
273 ICU admissions and 97 deaths have been reported.
68% of the ICU admissions and 71% of the deaths were associated with influenza A.
With so many people coming in to be checked for the Wuhan flu, more cases are being diagnosed for the annual flu. Many cases don’t get recorded, because people just don’t go to the doctor or hospital and get diagnosed. (Side note, the annual flu strains are listed as Influenza A and Influenza B, with A having several sub categories.)
Now, please understand that I’m not trying to say that the annual flu is somehow worse than the Wuhan Flu, or anything like that. There are significant differences. The fact that the Wuhan Flu is spreading at the same time as when the annual flu was in full swing is taxing health care systems to the max. Proper care should be taken.
Wash your hands with soap and water frequently.
Stay home if your sick, if you can. My husband used to work in IT, with government contracts, so he spent much of that stage of his career in various provincial government offices. Government employees are paid by salary, not by the hour, and tend to have generous sick leave and insurance policies. Yet so many people would show up at work, sick, hacking and coughing all over the place, acting like they were some sort of hero for being soooo dedicated to their jobs, that they came in even while sick. The next thing you knew, dozens of people are having to call in sick because of that one plague person spreading their colds. If you can stay home, do it! Not just from work, but going out in general.
Also, wash your hands with soap and water, frequently.
If you can’t stay home, take precautions. That’s where those masks come in handy. Masks aren’t there to prevent you from catching a virus. They’re there to keep you from spreading it to others if you’ve got it yourself.
Wash your hands with soap and water. Frequently.
Keep your distance from other people – stay out of each other’s “personal bubble”.
Wash your hands with soap and water. Frequently.
Sneeze into tissues. Cough into a tissue or your elbow.
Wash your hands with soap and water. Frequently.
Don’t lick your fingers before handling money, paper, etc. That is a MAJOR problem in retail. An astonishing number of customers slobber all over their fingers to better grip their cash or cards, then hand their germ riddled item to some poor part time cashier, who doesn’t have sick leave or insurance, and can’t afford to lose any hours due to illness. Keep your spit to yourself.
Oh, and…
Wash your hands with soap and water. Frequently.
Seriously. It doesn’t take much care to reduce the spread of germs. It’s not like they can get around on their own.
The frustrating thing is not that people are taking the Wuhan Flu seriously (panic behaviour being another issue entirely). It’s that we DON’T take the annual flu just as seriously.
Every year, before flu season, people are given the exact same information for precautions to prevent the spread of the flu.
Every public washroom in places like grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants and department stores have posts with instruction on hour to wash your hands properly. Seriously. People need to be told how to wash their hands.
And people don’t do it.
So many just use the bathroom and leave, without going near a sink.
It’s disgusting.
It gets people sick.
How many people would be protected, every year, if we kept up these basic hygiene practices, all the time? Especially at risk people, such as those with preexisting health conditions or the elderly.
How many productive hours would not be lost?
How many lives would be saved, every year?
Right now, we’ve got people panicking over the Wuhan Flu, with the media whipping it up to a frenzy. Emergencies are being declared. Economies are being shut down. Yet, we have the equivalent of the Wuhan Flu, if not worse, every year, around the world.
Again, this is not to make light of what’s going on right now. It’s just so frustrating that it took something like this for people do engage in simple behaviors we should be using all the time.
Of course you just know that, once this is over, many of the same people who went into a frenzy of toilet paper and hand sanitizer panic buying (all those survivalist and prepper sites are certainly being vindicated right now!), or doing things like buying up the entire inventory of meat in a grocery store, leaving nothing for those who actually need the food, will probably go back to business as usual; going to work sick, coughing all over their co-workers, and not washing their hands with soap and water throughout the day.
As usual, I had furry company while I did my rounds this morning. Including Two-Face.
She found a patch of ground some critter had been digging in, against a tree root, leaving a softer pile of dirt. She hunkered down on the warmer patch it created and wouldn’t move! :-D
The Re-Farmer 