Outer yard mowing – a sadness!

June 9, 2018June 9, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Today, I broke out the riding mower to work on the outer yard.

Although I don’t intend to focus on any clean up out there, we do still need to keep parts of it mowed.

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I started by “framing” out the areas I wanted to mow, mostly for access. You can see how tall it is, plus there is last year’s grass under it, too. So I was extra slow and careful while going through the thickest parts, and keeping a very sharp eye out for anything I didn’t want to mow over. I did have to get off a couple of times to move away sticks or old wooden shingles.

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Next, I started working on sections, beginning with the driveway.

The area to the left of the driveway in the photo had lots of horse droppings. Just that side. The other side didn’t. Which is weird.

My parents didn’t have horses.

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The next section I focused on was in front of the shed we’re storing my parents’ stuff in, so we can get in and out of it more easily as we add more to the shed.

I had to go over this section twice.

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I had not originally intended to do this, but decided to mow a pathway to the other gate. We still need to fix the barb wire gate, and this way, we can get to it without having to fight our way though tall, tick infested, grass.

I was REALLY careful doing this section, because I remember there were all sorts of random piles of stuff. Basically, I just followed old tire tracks.

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Next, I started working on a section between my dad’s old car, and the burn barrel.

I had just got around by the car, when this happened.

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Yeah. I broke a belt.

On my new mower.

Sadness.

Woe.

Thankfully, belts are not expensive, but I will have to enlist the help of my older brother to fix it, I think.

I guess I just pushed it too hard. :-(

I wasn’t about to let all that wonderful cut grass go to waste, though. After putting away the mower, I got out the rake and a wheelbarrow, and started hauling grass to the flower garden. Amazingly, I had to actually start scrounging for grass clippings to finish it! I not only raked in front of the storage shed, but also to the barn, then back to the driveway.

Which is when this happened.

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It finally gave out.

And this was the good fan rake!

We do have one other one, though I expect that one to break soon, too. I only needed one more load of grass clippings to finish, though. I had to go to the path I mowed to the back get to get enough!

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But it is finally gone! The entire flower garden is now covered with a thick later of straw, leaves and grass clippings. I’ve even started adding the contents of our compost bucket.

It is now being thoroughly soaked down.

The next step we plan to take (aside from continuing to add any grass clippings, etc. that we can, over the summer) is to pick up a couple of bales of peat moss and add that as another layer. I really want to build it up, to kill off the invasive plants and cover any little remaining stumps from stuff I’d trimmed away completely. Especially at the old fence line at the end of the garden, where things had gotten pretty wild.

Over by the fire pit, my mother’s lilies are now in full bloom.

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They are doing really, really well. I think, once we have the flower garden built up, I’ll transplant these into it.

While I was taking pictures, I felt something rubbing against my leg…

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It was a Butterscotch!

She looks ticked off. :-D

She was seen earlier today, carrying a kitten. My daughter barely saw more than little legs and a tail, and couldn’t even tell what colour it was. It seems she had moved her kitten(s?) to the garden shed. I’d gone into it yesterday, looking for something, and she came out from under stuff in the back and began hissing at me. Even though I didn’t go much past the doorway, I guess it was still too much for her, and she found another place for her kitten(s?).

So we are back to not having a mower, until I can replace that belt. I won’t be able to phone the shop my brother got it from until Monday.

*sigh*

Ah, well. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of other work to be done!

The Re-Farmer

First Wiener Roast of the year!

June 4, 2018June 6, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

Last night, we decided to take advantage of the lovely evening, and have our first wiener roast of the year! :-D

When I was a kid, we used to have these quite often. I would go into the bush with a machete-type knife (we even found it while packing away my parents’ stuff!) and cut dogwood branches for roasting sticks. They were perfect for it, naturally growing long, straight and supple. Sometimes, I could get ones with a perfect Y shape. The bark came off easily, and I would strip off the top several inches, then sharpen them to points.

At the end of the day, we’d get a fire going, roast wieners and stuff our faces with hot dogs, then finish off with marshmallows. When we were done eating, it would be quite dark, and we would start burning our roasting sticks until the tips were glowing, then wave them around in the dark, using the red tips to create shapes of light in the air.

Sometimes, my parents hosted parties, and their friends from the city would come out with their kids, and there would be dozens of people all over. Most of the time, though, it was just us kids. We had a blast!

Thanks to the burning my daughter and I did earlier, when I cleared the yard to mow the lawn, I had a nice pile of sticks ready to set up for a fire. We brought the hose (of course) and chairs. We were thinking of moving the picnic table over, but it’s in serious need of cleaning, so the girls brought out one of our small folding tables, instead.

We’re going to have to invest in metal roasting forks soon. I picked up a package of wooden roasting sticks along with the S’mores kit, and they are a bit too flammable and bouncy! :-D

I had hoped my husband could join us, even if just to sit on his walker while we roasted wieners for him, but he had to lie down for the night, before we even started. :-(

It got to watch a beautiful sunset while we set up and got the fire going.

I’m going to have to get out there with the weed trimmer. *L*

The outside cats were all over the place, checking out what we were doing! Rolando Moon staked out a spot on the log pile to watch us. The hose sprays water at where two hoses join, and at the nozzle, and the cats played with the spray!

At one point, while I was sitting and eating, Rolando Moon actually jumped up onto my knee! That’s a first. Even the friendliest ones are still quite stand offish, so this is a big step in at least Rolando Moon’s comfort levels with us.

Ah… perfect for toasting those wieners!

We made some S’mores – that’s something we never did when I was a kid. I didn’t even hear of them until after I had my own kids.

I find I really enjoy toasting marshmallows, and getting that perfect state of golden brown on the outside, and all melty on the inside.

Problem with that is, I don’t actually enjoy eating them. Too sweet!

None of us are all that big on sweets, so while the hot dogs disappeared quickly, there’s still lots of S’more making supplies! :-D

Best part was, the entire night, we only saw one mosquito!

There is at least that one benefit to the dry spring we had!

After a while, we just hung out to watch the fire die down.

I hope we will be able to do this often. Even if we don’t have wiener roasts, to at least get a fire going and enjoy the evening. We have a lot of wood we need to use up, and will be adding more as the clean up continues, so why not? :-D

It was a fantastic evening!

The Re-Farmer

Finding things out

May 30, 2018May 30, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I had an adorable surprise, while puttering around the kitchen, making supper.

I had a furry audience!

Trülbus was watching me. :-D

Then he and our mama cat started talking to each other through the window. Too funny!

This evening, I got a phone call from my older brother and had a lovely long talk. He was able to answer some questions for me – and not answer others!

That linoleum under the eaves?

No clue. It wasn’t there before. He’d never seen it before. Best guess; when our late brother was building the sun room, he might have put them there to protect the underside of the eaves from any back splash of rain from the sun room roof. That was the only thing he could think of. :-D

He also told me that he’d been looking through some old photos and happened on one taken inside the shed we’re storing my parents’ stuff in. There in the photo was an A-frame ladder. He knew we hadn’t been able to find one, so he let me know.

As soon as I got off the phone, I grabbed a flashlight and checked.

On the one hand, yay! It’s there!

On the other hand… it’s completely blocked with stuff.

Since I was there anyway, I looked around and noticed something odd about a hand saw hanging on the back wall.

It was two hand saws. One of them was the fine, narrow bladed one I remember using in my youth, that I was wishing I had while doing yard work.

Also, completely blocked off. Plus, way out of reach. My late brother would have hung it up there. He was fairly tall, but not that tall!

That shed is so full of stuff. Somehow, we’re going to have to fit in more!

*sigh*

I also got to talking to my brother about what the lawn mower was doing. Turns out it was doing the same thing for him, though he’d hoped he’d fixed it.

Easiest thing to do to fix it once and for all is to have the carburetor replaced.

Time to go looking for a small engine repair shop. I mean, we *could* do it ourselves, but when it comes to things to put our time and energy to, it would just be simpler that way.

Not everything is worth doing it ourselves.

The Re-Farmer

Morning Cats, and shopping day

May 30, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

I want to start by sharing some photos of the cats this morning. Because it’s a great way to start the day!

Like waking up to this…

Actually, I woke up to see her sitting there, staring at me. :-D The cats really appreciate the extra thickness of the window sill, thanks to the log walls in the original part of the house. They’d love to get up onto the other window, too, which is much, much bigger, but it’s the one that didn’t get replaced. Which means it still has sheets of plexiglass covering them on the inside, so there’s nowhere they can sit at. Which drives them bonkers, when the outside cats are in the trees outside the window, looking in. :-D

Speaking of outside cats…

With all the rain we’ve been having, I moved the food bowls under the little roof over the basement window. They actually seem to prefer when the kibble gets a bit wet; likely softer on their teeth. “A bit wet” is not what’s been happening, lately. Which is a good thing!

When I came out this morning, Squishum (not in the picture) was all talkative, squeaking away as if wanting attention, but still won’t let me come near. Nasty Crime Boy, Beep Beep and Butterscotch were content to ignore me to come to the food.

The Hand, on the other hand…

…would not go to the food while I was around! I took this through the screen door of the sun room, after bringing back the container I use to take food to the bowls. She would only peak her head around the corner of the shelf outside, watching to see what I would do. I was able to move my phone enough to get more than just her head, but she was not comfortable with me being there and slunk away to the clothes line platform to wait for me to leave.

I don’t want to prevent her from eating, so I left.

I so want to touch that cat! :-D

Instead, I got to touch the Butterscotch!

I even got a decent picture of her! She makes it very difficult. :-D

I wandered around the East side of the house and did a bit of weeding to free up some irises that are coming up. Looking into the spruce grove, I just had to get another picture.

Remember this?

That photo was taken on May 15. The leaves are barely coming out at this point.

This is what it looks like, today.

That broken piece of tree in the first picture is still there, in the left side of the photo. Completely hidden from where I was standing, and barely visible even at other angles.

That horseradish is coming up nicely, too.

In time, that underbrush will be cleared mostly away, and the dead tree will be cut down. Likely not this year, though. I think we will focus on cleaning up the maple grove, first. At least as much as we can, until we have a working chain saw.

My goal is to have both the maple and spruce groves open under the trees, park-like and mow-able. I would like us to, at the very least, be able to walk through the trees without having to skirt dead branches, dead trees and other detritus. Including my husband, with his walker. Maybe set up a picnic table or something in the shade, so we can enjoy the spaces more.

Little by little, we will get there.

Late this morning, my older daughter and I made the trip into the city for our monthly bulk shopping trip. Our usual routine is to stop at the town we drive though on the way, to fill the tank. The gas station we stop at is a co-op we have a membership with, which will translate into a check at the end of the year, so we make it a habit. When we got there, however, I got the nasty surprise of seeing the gas prices had gone up 10¢ per liter. !!! Our tank was lower than I normally let it go (we drove over 1800km since I filled it and reset the trip counter at the end of last month), so I kind of had to put something in. I ended up putting in $30, which didn’t even bring it to half a tank. While paying for it, I asked when the big jump happened. Turned out to be a mere 2 hours before we got there!

When we finished our Costco shopping, I filled the tank there. The price was 14¢ per litre less! Plus, since it’s Costco, that will also be included in the check we’ll get at the end of the year. Even at the lower price, and having already put in $30 of gas and bringing it to just below the half way mark, it still cost over $60 to fill the tank. That’s almost half our gas budget for the month, right there. Thankfully, our van does have good mileage.

The increases in gas prices are really going to be a problem. The politicians can talk about how we should be using alternative transportation all they want. Even in the city, that’s not always feasible. For anyone living in the country, what choice do we have? It’s not like there’s a bus we can hop on, and we certainly can’t bike to the city to do our monthly grocery shopping. Or even to the next town. Plus, most people have multiple vehicles, because they are work tools, not just transportation. Heaven help those who make the commute to the city! When we last lived out here, my husband had a 70 minute commute, one way. That’s highway driving, for the most part, so it wasn’t affected by traffic until the last 10 minutes or so. I know others who have longer commutes. Back then, it was a big deal when gas prices went higher than 60¢ a litre. Now we’re looking at $1.309 (there are about 4L in a gallon, for those of you in the US. That works out to about $5.24 per gallon), and other areas are even higher.

That’s going to make life more difficult for a lot of people. :-(

We got the monthly shopping done, at least. $600 later. :-/ My splurge of the month was new wiper blades for the van, to replace the ones being held together with electric tape. :-D Tomorrow, we go to the regular grocery store to get the things we don’t need to buy in bulk.

It feels good to have well stocked cupboards, fridge and freezer again!

The Re-Farmer

An Awesome Day, and growth explosion

May 27, 2018May 27, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Today, all four of us made it into the city for a family get together. It made for a very long and painful day for my husband, but he hasn’t seen his sister in 4 years. She flies home soon, so he wasn’t about to miss this chance. It was so great to see everyone and spend time with them. It is a rare thing for everyone to be together at the same time, these days.

With all this wonderful rain we’ve been having, it’s just fantastic to see everything so GREEN, everywhere. Even the drive into the city looked completely different.

A short time ago, the trees were just showing green leaves, while everything else looked like the dead growth from last year that you can still see in the ditch. Now, it’s like the trees all just exploded in green.

(Also, I’m amused by the fact that there is a reflection of me driving, hovering in the sky. :-D )

When we got home, we found all sorts of cats had missed our company!

The inside cats were very curious about Nasty Crime boy.

It was a shared curiosity! :-D

I’m loving the long daylight hours, too. Though we didn’t get home until past 8pm, there was still plenty of light, so I did a quick walk around the yard to see how things were.

The crab apple trees north of the spruce grove are finally blooming. My sister and her husband pruned them back quite heavily last summer, but I can see that there are some dead branches that will need to be cut away. These might have died off over the winter.

A few days ago, these linden leaves were just barely new leaf buds!

I had a chance to ask my mother about the linden tree, because it looks so different than I remember it. So much so that, until the leaves unfurled, it looked like two different trees! She told me that she used to cut back the suckers every year, but no one continued that after she went to the senior’s centre she now lives in. That would explain why they look so different. The growth at the base – where these leaves are – is only about 4-5 years old, whereas the trunk in the middle is more like 30-35 years old.

These lilies had been showing in green clusters but after the rain, they shot up several inches and threw out flower stocks and buds virtually overnight!

Rolando Moon approves.

I also did a basement check this evening, and the old part basement is bone dry, though there is some water in the sump pump reservoir. Well below the level of the float.

We still need to get the old hot water tank out of there. It’s much bigger and heavier than modern ones!

I was just thinking, as I wrote this, how I can’t remember the last time the old part basement was still dry this far into spring, and I remembered one year when it flooded. This had to have happened before the new part was built, so I was probably about 6 years old, give or take a year or two. I remember going part way down the stairs to see. The water was a couple of feet deep – deep enough to cover several steps – and perfectly clean and clear.

Then, as I was looking, a frog went swimming past the bottom of the stairs!

I will never forget that frog! :-D

I hadn’t thought of that in years!

Funny how things trigger old memories of growing up in this house. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Status after storms and rain

May 26, 2018May 26, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

This morning, I made a point of walking around the yard to see if there was any damage from the storms. We’re all still very wet – enough that our sump pump has actually turned on! – and everything is so wonderfully green!

First order of business was to clean out the cat food containers, which were full of water logged kibble.

I had several cats come out to see what I was doing.

None of them were co-operative when it came to getting their pictures taken! :-D

I was very pleased at what the flower garden I’ve been working on looked like.

Absolutely none of the uncovered cardboard blew away. I am quite surprised, really. With the winds we had for a while, I’m surprised quite a lot of things didn’t blow away!

No roof damage. No dead branches fallen down – at least not in the yard. Just some small branches and twigs.

We’re getting to where we should be mowing the lawn soon. We’re expecting more rain today, but even without more rain, the grass is far too wet. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get it done on Monday.

Not that there is much grass to mow.

The above photo is of the yard to the east of the house, between the house and a flower garden on that side (though that “flower” garden is now mostly bushes). On the far side of this garden, there is better grass.

The above photo is the west section of the yard, near the fire pit. Mostly moss, some weeds, and very little actual grass.

The north side of the yard has a dead patch that perfectly corresponds with the overhanging maple branches above. Hmm. Do you think there’s a correlation? LOL

The south areas of the yard has more grass, especially on the south east, but under the Chinese Elm by the kitchen, it’s more weeds and dirt than grass.

That tractor tire is an interesting bit of decor. ;-D

At some point, though not likely this year, we will work to improve the lawn. Even if it’s to move to a ground cover rather than grass. Some areas are sparse because vehicles get driven in to the door fairly regularly, so I wouldn’t expect anything to do well in those areas.

One thing I was seeing a lot of were black ant hills, like these. The one in the middle was the biggest I saw. Most were like the tiny bundle of soil to the left of it. They’re not good to have in the yard, since they destroy root systems with their digging, but I’m not too worried about them at this point.

Our plans for the day will depend a lot on the weather, but I do hope we’ll still get some outside work done. I had been thinking of building a new barb wire gate for the other driveway, and we still might start preparations for it (like seeing if we can salvage the wood fence posts in the flower garden to replace the rotting posts in the existing barb wire gate) today. We shall see how it works out.

Little by little, it’s getting done. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Sun Room Cats

May 20, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

This evening, I decided to spend a bit of time in the sun room, leaving the door open to see if any cats came to join me.

They did, of course.

Including this strange cat…

My first thought was that it was The Hand, whom I rarely see and stays away, but quickly realized the patterning was all wrong. Yet, I still felt I should know this cat.

Then a (suddenly skinny) Butterscotch came by, and clearly they were familiar with each other.

As the cat slunk into the doorway, I realized…

The strange patterning was dirt. It was Squishum!

The cats LOVE rolling in the dirt, but this is the first time one got dirty enough that I no longer recognized it. :-D

Squishum and Butterscotch hardly came into the door, but Butterscotch was more adventurous, coming all the way in and exploring behind the stuff that still needs to be taken to the storage shed.

Nasty Crime Boy also explored the room, including spending time in one of his favourite places; my dad’s old walker.

When my mom came out yesterday, she borrowed the walker to get around the yard. At one point, I looked over to see the walker sitting outside the sun room, while my mom was inside, and it was covered in cats. Two on the seat, and one in the basket! :-D

Trüllbus the Crime Eater is looking like he’s shouting “Ah! Something under the door has got me!”

Though it was evening, the sun room was very hot. Once we get it cleared out and set up the way we want, I can picture spending some late evenings in there, enjoying the residual warmth, long after the sun goes down.

I can also foresee using the room as a greenhouse to start seeds in late winter, for transplanting in the spring.

We won’t work on it until the yard is cleaned up enough that it can be mowed. The grass is starting to get to that point!

While in the sun room, I plugged in the weed whacker I found in there and tested it out. It doesn’t work. :-( There’s another one in the garage, but my older brother pointed out to me where it was broken, so it’s not usable, either.

I guess we’re going to buy our own, after all. :-/

The Re-Farmer

There be Deer here

May 14, 2018 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

It seems that putting the feed out in the evening, instead of the morning, has been a good idea. Three deer came by, about half an hour after I put the feed out, when none at all showed up during the day. Which means they had plenty to eat, since the birds didn’t get a chance to eat it all, first! :-D

I think it’s the same trio that showed up last time, but I’d have to compare photos to be sure.

Just look at those little baby antlers! :-D

This one has such a loooong smooth face.

The fur on all of them was looking pretty rough.

This one had gone over to the edge of the trees and started nibbling on the new leaves on the wild roses, but it kept getting distracted. Then its fur got all puffed out as it kept staring in different areas.

The other two starting checking out the distraction, too.

Eventually, the source of their agitation emerged…

It was funny to see Nasty Crime Boy start crouching down in stalking position while staring down the deer!

When the deer showed up, I just started taking as many shots as quickly as I could, hoping I’d get at least a few good ones. I ended up taking over 100 pictures in the short time they were here. I got several of this deer making funny faces like this, with this one being the clearest. The deer was chewing on something that seemed to be giving it a hard time, resulting in photos that look like it’s having a good laugh!

There was the one deer with the long, smooth face. Then there is this one, with the lumpy, bumpy face.

Too cute!

The Re-Farmer

That was quick. Also, deer!

May 8, 2018May 8, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Early this morning, I saw a pair of deer coming into the feeding area. Unfortunately, because we haven’t had them coming by in the last while, I hadn’t put any feed out the night before, so there wasn’t much there for them. Still, I got a few pictures, even through the reflections in the window. :-)

They are both looking pretty rough around the edges! I do think they’ve been here before.

Notice the little antler buds on the deer in the foreground? :-)

The female has some nicks out of an ear, and it looks like some scarring on her snout, too.

Aside from the missing patches of fur on the male that can be seen in the first photo, he’s looking pretty thin, too!

Just before I went to put more feed out tonight, I spotted a single deer through our bedroom window, making its way through the maple grove to the feeding area. The noise of me going outside would have scared it off, though. I hope it comes back later. :-)

This morning, my husband’s hospital bed was supposed to be delivered between 10 and 11 pm. So this morning, we dismantled our king size bed, which has been resting on a pair of queen box springs until we could get a proper bed frame again. The mattress just got leaned on the wall at first, and the box springs went into the dining room at first. Then I went out to feed the cats.

Beep Beep stood up to say hello! :-D

Then, with the help of one of the girls, the box springs got moved outside, just to lean on a tree until they could be taken to the shed.

The outside cats were very curious about this!

Well, hello, again, Beep Beep!

I had to head out at 11:30. My mother registered her vehicle, effective this morning, so I drove her car out to meet my brother at her place, as a surprise. I was going to accompany them for a medical appointment in the city, which was also a surprise.

It turns out my mother doesn’t like surprises.

Ah, well.

It was a long and draining day for all, but we got the information we needed, then took the time to explain it again to my mother on the way back. My brother, sweetheart that he is, drove me home before driving the 1 1/2 hours back to his place. It was a VERY long day for him!

While I was gone, much to my surprise, someone from the electric company came out to check the power lines! I was told they’d have someone out within 2 weeks. I wasn’t expecting someone the very next day! :-D I will have to phone them again to find out what their assessment was, since not a lot of information was shared while the guy was here and my daughters were buy hauling box springs to the shed and cleaning up the yard.

As for the hospital bed, it did finally get delivered and set up, several hours later than expected. Once that was done, my daughters got the king size mattress out – I have no idea where we’re going to store that thing! – then set up the spare twin bed up for me. I had had other plans for it – plans that can’t be done with the king size bed – but… oh, well. Thankfully, the master bedroom is quite big, and there’s more than enough room. I hope it works out better for my husband. At least he won’t be losing his balance trying to get in and out of bed anymore, since he can adjust the height to exactly where he needs it.

All in all, I’m really happy about how quick things got followed through on, both for the bed, and with the electric company.

The Re-Farmer

One more thing, off the list

April 26, 2018April 26, 2018 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

This morning, I took my younger daughter for her knowledge test to transfer her driver’s license to this province.

Butterscotch, in command of the deer feeding station.

To recap: she did not have a full license; just the learner’s license. She never had a chance to take her road test. When she tried to transfer her license, once they saw it was a learners, she was told she had to take the written test to get a new license for this province. Then, because we are past the 90 day grace period, they kept her license, because she cannot legally drive in this province with it.

After doing the online practice tests, my daughter was quite worried about this. So many of the questions were unrelated to the rules of the road, or phrased so badly and without context, it was difficult to understand what was actually being asked.

We ended up leaving more than an hour early – and she was still worried about being late! Ah, a daughter after my own heart. :-D On the way, we stopped in the town my mother lives in to fill the gas tank. This is the gas station we’d stopped at when we were bleeding coolant, and one of our regular gas jockeys had crawled under and found the broken pipe. Well, he was there this morning. When he saw us, he came over and asked how things went, so I entertained him with the story. Turns out he was all worried about us, and was so happy to find out everything turned out okay!

One, lone dark eyed junco, just chillin’

I really like this gas station. They have such great people working there. Plus, they have this section of home baked goodies that no one else has, because they’re baked by one of the gas jockeys! :-D It’s become a bit of a ritual, that when we stop there for gas, I pick up some cookies (they are sold in twos) or a piece of Nanaimo bar as a special treat.

The city we went to is roughly an hour’s drive, and we’d left so early that, even with the stop for gas, we were an hour early. Which worked out, because neither of us had had breakfast, plus it gave us the chance to find the place, first. Which turned out to be incredibly easy to find. We were told to arrive about 15 minutes early, so that’s what we did.

When my daughter got called up, she had all her paperwork from the broker that started her file for her, ready to go. The lady helping her just had to look up the file and continue the process. She was really great about explaining the exam process, and how my daughter needed to get a minimum of 24 out of 30 questions correct, and so on. Then she took my daughter to the testing computer. The questions turned out to be MUCH more realistic than in the online practice tests. They actually made sense, and were about the rules of the road.

She did 24 questions, then the test shut down, because she’d got them all correct. So she got 100% on her knowledge test. Awesome!

Then she had to do the eye test, were we discovered that she does NOT need her glasses to drive. She will use them, because she prefers to (she gets headaches from eye strain if she doesn’t), but there will be no restriction on her license. Cool!

The Mothman makes an appearance!

When the final processing for her license was started, we hit a problem.

The system was asking for her to turn over her current license.

Which had already been taken.

It turns out, they shouldn’t have done that. While my daughter could not legally drive here with it, it was still a valid license. She could still use it in our previous province, plus it was her valid photo ID, until 2022.

Not only that, but when her license was scanned, they only scanned one side. So even though the person helping us could find the scanned image on file, she had only the front information, not the back.

Now, the only reason this was an issue was a matter of credit for time driving. If they could use her current license, she could go for her road test at any time, because she’s been driving on her learner’s license for more than 5 years. If, however, they couldn’t use it, she would not be able to take her road test for at least 9 months.

The woman helping us called the broker where we’d started the process, to find out if they still had the license, but the person who started the file wasn’t available. After some discussion, they figured it got sent away already to the department all returned licenses go to. So she phoned there.

The license had arrived there, just yesterday!

Which meant they could scan both sides of the old license for the file. The woman helping us, meanwhile, used a copy of the scanned front of the license already on file, just to be extra sure – and my daughter got a copy for her own files, too, just as I did with mine.

Because of when her birthday is, though, when she gets her plastic copy, it’ll only be valid until the end of August. Which meant it cost less to process her license, since they only charged for the shorter time.

Cool.

As we were doing this, I told the woman helping us that I had some ID related questions for after it was all done. I had shared some of the issues I’d had with getting my license during conversation. When my daughter got her temporary license, I told the woman helping us about my husband’s attempt to get his license.

As soon as I said that his ID didn’t match his birth certificate, she knew exactly what was coming; he was told to get a legal name change.

Yup.

I brought up how this didn’t make any sense. He’s already using his legal name. It’s on his birth certificate. Everything he’s got – save his old license in this province, for some reason – has the name he uses. Even the Department of National Defense and the Government of Canada is good with the name he uses.

As we were talking, a guy came over and asked if he could join in, and he was able to give us more information. What it comes down to is, it’s up to the Identity Unit. Whatever they say, everyone else’s hands are tied, and they are basically the overseers of identity in this province. We talked about the issues of identity theft and security, which I totally get, but it still doesn’t make sense to demand that my husband change his legal name to… his legal name.

At one point, he asked why my husband wasn’t interesting in doing the legal name change, and my response was basically, why should he have to go through all that process, when he’s already using his legal name. In the conversation, I used as an example how it’s not like my sister, whose legal name is one thing, but the name she uses is completely different. It’s not entirely even an English version of her birth name, since there really isn’t any English equivalent. This is his legal name that is on his birth certificate. Every other place has been fine with using his second name. He has always used this name. Sure, they can understandably change things now, but why should he essentially be retroactively held to these requirements? It’s still his legal name.

Well, it turns out this guy completely understood not wanting to go the legal name change route. He’s newly married, and his wife is in the process of legally changing to her married name. The whole thing costs about $200, there are many hoops to jump, and one of those hoops is to go to the RCMP and get fingerprinted.

With the amount of pain my husband is in, that kind of running around is asking way too much.

In the end, he suggested we try calling the Ombudsman, explaining the situation, and asking for an exemption. We even got the name and phone number.

I really, really hope this works out, because this whole thing is completely ridiculous.

They were both extremely helpful and awesome, and I’m so glad I asked them about it.

Before we left, we paused to use the bathroom before I left. When I came out and my daughter took her turn, the woman that had been helping us asked, was my sister in law’s last name XXX? Why yes, it is, except she’s my sister, not my sister in law.

When I had used my sister’s names as an example, and she started talking about the names issue with a co-worker, it occurred to her that she knew someone by that name – and it’s a very uncommon name. So she figured she’s ask me when I came out of the washroom. It turns out that, not only does she know my sister, but they are cousins, by marriage!

That was so funny! I ended up staying and chatting with her for a while, with my daughter joining us as I told her about our move back to the farm and all the “fun” it’s been, dealing with my parents’ things, the state of the house, and all the interesting things we’ve been discovering. That led us to talking about how, especially in our parents’ generation, there was such an insistence of doing everything themselves, instead of paying someone else to do it, even when in the long term, it would be cheaper to pay someone else to do it! Or to buy new instead of second hand, etc. She knew first hand what it was like! :-D

It wasn’t until we were walking to the van and my daughter asked about it that I realized she’s missed the part about how this woman was related to her aunt. Ah, what a small world it is!

Trüllbus the Crime Eater, coming through!

After we finished there, my daughter and I headed to the nearby Walmart. Our monthly shopping plans have had to change, with my husband’s newest medical appointment, so we did most of our non-Costco monthly shopping today. Normally, we’d wait until the last business day of the month, when his disability payment comes in, but today is when the much smaller CPP Disability comes in. It’s enough to do the monthly grocery shopping, at least. Plus, I really wanted to finally pick up some new underwear for him, what with either not being able to find his size in the style he wanted, or only being able to find them at $15 for a single pair, with only one lower end brand available.

Amazingly, not even the Walmart had his style in his size. There were 4 or 5 different brands, and NONE of them had it. In fact, they only seemed to have them in two sizes; small and medium. What the heck? Is there some sort of embargo on briefs going on I don’t know about? I finally got a package of 4 in the closest to the style he wanted I could find (at least the price was good!), but I can’t believe I still couldn’t even find what he wanted at a WALMART, in a city! Yeah, it’s a small city, but still… Sheesh!

Since we were there anyways, we paused to look at some of the summer stuff that’s out now. It occurred to me that I have yet to see a garden hose anywhere around here. I still want to check the garden shed, but there is no way my dad didn’t have garden hoses! If they’re not in the garden shed, then they found some legs and walked away. Along with too many other things around here. :-(

We’re also interested in getting a weed whacker – preferably an electric one – so we priced those out, too. Pretty reasonable. We are also looking to get a battery operated chain saw, though not at Walmart. We’ve got at least 4 chain saws in the garage and, as far as I know, none of them work. One could probably be considered an antique! I have no interest in hauling around jerry cans of fuel anymore, and the modern electric tools are just as powerful as the ones that run on fuel.

So we got the small grocery shopping done, including stocking up on distilled water for my husband’s CPAP. That done, we had one more stop to make; back to the town closest to home to pick up some prescription refills. As my older daughter has caught my cold (I’m still coughing myself, but at least I’m feeling better) and was feeling really awful today, we also made sure to pick up some “medication” for her. At the liquor store, in the form of a nice, spiced whiskey. :-D We rarely drink, so when we do, it’s at least a decent quality! :-D

Hopefully, we’ll all be healthy again soon, and can start manhandling the last of my parents’ stuff we need to move to the shed. The snow is gone and the ground it dry. It’s just that 2 out of 3 of us are too sick to do the physical labour. :-(

While in town, we took the time to play a bit of Pokemon Go, and at one point we were parked next to an arts and crafts store, which is also part of a used book store. I haven’t been there since we last lived in this province, so we decided to take a look.

I don’t know why they advertise as an arts and crafts store. They had basically nothing.

But we did come out with a whole pile of Brother Cadfael books. :-D

After all the running around, we were so glad to finally get home. Now that my daughter has her license, that’s one more thing to strike off the list! Next up is for my older daughter to get her ID transferred.

Little by little, it’s getting done.

The Re-Farmer

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