My daughter and I headed outside for what was supposed to be one last check around the yard. That one raised bed cover needed more fussing with to keep the plastic from ballooning.
As we were finishing up, I asked her to go into the basement while I went to the ejector, so we could test it out. The septic pump had gone off not long ago, so I asked her to run the pump manually for just 30 seconds. My brother told me he’d left the cap off, in hopes it would warm up better in today’s heat.
The stand pipe promptly got filled, because there is still ice on the bottom, but the venture pipe is finally clear! Every now and then, the water coming out would go completely black as it cleared settled gunk out.
My brother was so thrilled to hear the news!
Now, we just have to hope the warmer water flowing through will keep it from freezing up again, and actually help melt the ice in the stand pipe and the frozen ground, faster.
After messaging with my brother for a bit, I went to get a screwdriver to put the cap back on, forgetting that the screw on the elbow portion is a different size. So it was back to the house to get a smaller screwdriver and get it all put back together. My daughter, meanwhile, left the valve to the diverter closed. We’ll leave the diverter set up for a bit longer and, once we are sure it’s not going to freeze up again, we’ll store the pipes and hose used to direct the flow away from the house, then put a cap on the end of the pipe from the basement. With the valve installed, the diverter pipes in the basement can stay permanently, so if we ever had another emergency like this, all we would need to do is set things back up outside, then open the valve. Which, hopefully, we will never have to do again, but you never know, with this place!
While going back and forth to the house through the sun room, I made a sudden discovery.
With our water bowl shelter set up, we’d put a blanket in the back for cats to lie on. Then we added a couple of cardboard boxes, over time, just because cats love cardboard boxes. Plus, it would give them a bit more shelter from the elements, particularly in the winter.
This spring, while moving some of the cat beds around, I added one of them into the shelter, turning one of the boxes sideways and shoving half the cat bed into it, to create a sort of private cave. Something a mama might feel safe enough to have babies in, even. Not likely, considering the water bowls are in there, getting refilled a couple of times a day, and plenty of cat traffic, but you never know, right?
This afternoon, while topping up the water bowls, I spotted black fur on the cat bed, with the rest of the cat hidden by the box. My topping up the water bowl didn’t seem to disturb it, though, so I figured it was sleeping.
Well, apparently it wasn’t sleeping.
It was giving birth.
When going by this evening, I startled Poirot, and her new grublings!
It appears she has three. A white and black, a black with some white on the belly, and one that looks almost all white, but possibly with some cream patches, like Ghosty was when she was tiny.
After I was done putting the cap back on the ejector, I saw that Poirot was comfortably nursing, so I got a can of wet cat food for her. She is one of the more feral cats and doesn’t let us go near her, so I put it into a wider container, so I wouldn’t have to get too close for her comfort. She did start to get up, babies suddenly disturbed from nursing, and looked ready to either run away or go on the defense, but that gave me space to put the container into the cat bed with her.
I then stood guard to make sure no other cats went after her food while she was eating.
She must have been very hungry, because she ate the entire can and was licking the bowl clean before I could finally reach in and move it away.
We’re supposed to have some very cold nights coming up, so I’m hoping to perhaps move her and her babies into the cat cage.
While standing guard, I was hearing some maternal noises behind me. It was the white and grey mama.
She was trying to lure Eyelet away. Probably to wherever she has her third kitten hidden. I tried to discourage this and kept putting Eyelet back in the sun room. If she gets them away from the sun room, they won’t be getting their wet cat food anymore, and we won’t be able to socialize them. Well, Eyelet is quite happy with human attention. He brother is not!
Oh! I just thought of a good name for feisty brother!
Grommet!
Anyhow, I definitely would like to get them socialized, so they can be adopted out.
I’ve talked to the Cat Lady. This will be her last summer working with rescue. It has been taking a toll on her health, and she needs to back off. It’s a real struggle for her, as she’s been doing this since her teens, and she feels like she hasn’t made a difference. She says she will get three spays and a neuter for us over the summer, before she stops entirely. She also gave me the name of a no-kill rescue in the city she trusts that might be able to help out. This would get us on a wait list, but if we work on socializing the kittens, they might be able to have room to take them in for adoption by the time they are old enough to wean. So that’s a call I need to make, tomorrow.
Anyhow, finding Poirot just after she gave birth was a surprise. I suspected she was pregnant; the only reason we realized she was female was because I saw one of the other cats having his way with her. She didn’t look pregnant, though! She’s a fluffy cat, but not THAT fluffy, that we couldn’t see. I’ve even been looking at her, any time I’ve spotted her in the last while, trying to see if she was looking rounder or not, and deciding, not. Now she’s got three babies!
Meanwhile, I’ve moved the trap closer to the kibble house. I’ve even seen cats lounging in it – usually Syndol, who is already done! Now that it’s closer, and the overnight temps are warmer, I want to actually set the trap and see who we catch that isn’t already fixed. Tomorrow is Monday, so if we do one, Wednesday is the earliest we could get a cat to the clinic – if they can take us in on such short notice – because my daughter and I have medical appointments on Tuesday.
My brother and his wife are amazing. Incredible. Awesome. Especially my brother, who took on a very physical, long and dangerous job that took about 6 hours.
Wow.
As for me, I wasn’t much help this time, even if I had been physically up to doing more. It really was a mostly one person job, but I was still recovering from a very rough night. I over did it yesterday, so my plans to start digging holes to plant the walnuts went out the window. I always take painkillers before bed, just to be able to sleep, but I also made sure to treat my legs and hips with Tei Fu lotion, and got a daughter to do my left arm, shoulder neck and back.
It wasn’t enough.
Aside from the usual stiffening of joints that happens whenever I am sitting or lying down for any length of time, I got hit with a Charlie Horse. I had just gotten up to go to the washroom when it hit. My left thigh went completely out of control. Very painfully so. I had no choice, though; I had to walk on it. I did manage to grab the tube of Tei Fu lotion, though. Thankfully, the way the house it laid out, I had a lot of things I could use to support myself as I made my way to the bathroom. The girls must have heard me struggling, because I soon heard a knock at the as my older daughter asked if I was okay. At that point, I was very carefully massaging the while sitting on the toilet – there are body parts you really don’t want this stuff to come in contact with! I told her what was happening, and she waited at the door for me.
As I was struggling to walk out of the bathroom, my thigh muscles suddenly released. Like some sort of spring giving out. It only lasted a few moments, but those few moments of relief were amazing. Then it was right back to struggling my way back to bed, this time with my daughter helping me along, then helping me get more painkillers – I couldn’t take any more of my prescription ones, so it was just extra strength Tylenol – before helping me get back into bed. She even made sure I have my phone close to hand so that I could message her for help, if I needed to. Thankfully, by then, the cramping had pretty much stopped. My left leg is still feeling weak from it, though, and it’s been almost 20 hours. Short but vicious! The rest of the night was heavily disrupted, but at least no more cramping.
Which meant any plans involving physical exertion today went out the window.
I still found myself getting up early, because the inside cats were getting rambunctious. So they got kicked out of my room so I could feed them, then feed Butterscotch and Freya separately in my room.
I wasn’t the only one who had a rough night. We have discovered another food that makes my daughter sick, but we can’t figure out why, since none of the ingredients are problematic. It’s just stuff chicken breasts. We’ve tried different fillings, and every one of them make her sick. So she was up all night in pain and wasn’t able to finally fall asleep until about the same time I was getting up – and she usually gets up earlier than I do!
Anyhow, I very slowly did my morning routine, which included lots of attention from these guys.
My morning rounds now includes splitting a can of wet cat food between the extra little food and water bowls I got for the traps and setting them where the kittens can reach them. Even the bitty baby has started to eat, though I think she would much rather be nursing! Brussel has been leaving them more often, even if it’s just to hide on top of the cat cage, under the platform. The white and grey mama still hangs around, but won’t go in if I’m around – and we still have no idea where her third kitten is. Or if it’s even still alive, to be honest. I’m just assuming it is hidden away somewhere, and mama’s dividing her time between her secret next and the sun room.
While putting the transplants into the portable greenhouse – and leaving the door tied open, as it was already getting quite hot in there – I figured I could use the black garbage can heat sink to refill the watering cans.
Well, I now know why the heat sink wasn’t been working much.
There was just a couple of inches of water left in the can.
I don’t know where the leak it, but it’s obviously a very slow leak. I refilled the garbage can, along with the watering cans, then checked it later in the day, and it was still looking full.
Once my rounds outside were done, I managed a breakfast, and that was it. I knew my brother and his wife were planning to come out, but I just couldn’t stay awake. I figured I could lie down for an hour and be good.
Two hours later – just past noon – I finally woke up. I found a message from my SIL, letting me know they were here. I still needed to do a dump run, but made sure to go over to their trailer to say hello. My brother was already bringing tools and supplies to the tree on the outhouse.
I had one bit of a surprise, though. Before heading outside, I decided to test the septic ejector again. (I noticed we have water seeping into the old basement, and the sump pump reservoir is getting full. Time to set the fans and blowers up again, soon!) I turned the pump on manually and it seemed as if the fluid was swirling actively in the filter, as if it was actually draining. I couldn’t be absolutely sure, though, so I shut it off (making sure to set the valve back to the diverter) and went to check the ejector. I figured if it did start draining, it would be wet on the sheet of metal we have to divert the flow towards the low area.
What I found was the cap completely off of the ejector! Did it somehow get blown right off? I was sure my brother had screwed it back on after he’d added the thawing fluid.
Then I found them sitting on the old oil drum he’d set up nearby, so use as a table.
As I was heading back to the house, I saw my brother carrying a ladder from the barn and he came over. He told me he’d poured more of the thawing fluid in – after confirming the stand pipe and venturi pipe were still full of ice – and had left the cap off so the sun could warm it more. The fluid level had dropped from when he’d poured it in, though, which was a surprise. He topped it up again.
After that, he returned to setting up by the tree on the outhouse, while I brought the truck to the yard and loaded it up for a trip to the dump. I also grabbed our empty water jugs, so after going to the dump, I then went to town to refill them and pick up a few groceries, including the ingredients I needed to make a chili.
By the time I got back, they were both at the outhouse, setting up straps and trying things off around the tree. My brother wanted to cut the top of the tree free high enough above the roof that it wouldn’t hit the roof as it feel. It was secured at the top, so it wouldn’t hit the ground, either. He still had lots of set up to do, though.
After unloading the truck, I headed back out in time to see my brother was in the process of using a chainsaw to cut loose the top of the tree. This required cutting wedge shaped chunks out. There were ratchet straps and ropes all over to ensure the tree couldn’t fall onto the house, couldn’t roll to the side, and securing his ladder. Once he reached a certain point, the job was finished by pulling on some ropes to get it to crack the rest of the way, before it was finally free.
We did pause in between things for something else entirely, though. While I was in town, my brother got a carrier message notification. There’s only one person that this message could be from; someone who’s phone number is blocked on my brother’s phone.
Our vandal.
We took a break so my brother could play the message back for me.
Wow. Just… wow.
He had some new ones in this message. Apparently, my brother has broken some sort of dude code by letting us live here and not allowing our vandal to come onto the property. The code! He broke the code!!
He just wants to walk on the property, he said. Because he spilled his blood taking care of the place… Then he went on a rant about me and my daughters. He won’t use our names, even, but just calls us the “fatties”.
He hasn’t seen my daughters in years.
He had plenty more vile things to say about us. Nothing new in that part.
What caught all our attention, though, is his comment about my brother having sold their property. According to our vandal, that makes my brother a millionaire now. ???
The question is, how did our vandal find out about the property sale? The only person that could have told him is my mother – and we know he’s been dropping by her place unannounced a lot more frequently. It now seems like he goes there after every chemo session in the city? Which would explain some of the horrible things my mother said about my brother, the last time I was with her. Our vandal is poisoning her mind, and she’s letting him do it.
He brought up that he was dying of cancer, of course – then said that he was going to beat the cancer, and there would be retribution.
*sigh*
My SIL thought he sounded drunk again. Which wouldn’t surprise me. His mental state seems to be getting worse in general, though.
After that listening to the message, it was back to work. For me, that meant going inside and getting a chili going in the Instant Pot. It’s the first time I’ve used it that way; usually my daughters use the rice cooker function. Once it was set up, I was able to go out and give what little help I could. My brother had cleared away a number of branches, so I dragged those over to the burn pile – which we can’t burn, because of the seasonal fire ban. In the process, I found he’d cut away some of the poplar saplings that had sprung up since I’d last clear the area.
Some nice, straight and flexible lengths. I’d actually been eyeballing them before, and had intended to harvest them to use in wattle weaving.
I set those aside. After I’d cleaned up the rest, and there was nothing I could help my brother with, I pruned off all the twigs, trimmed them, then sat down with a knife to debark them. I noticed some of the poplar we used in the wattle weave bed actually started to grow, so I wanted to make sure that couldn’t happen again!
I didn’t finish stripping the bark on off of them, though.
By this time, my brother and his wife had gotten the top of the tree free, and it was hanging from the straps holding it near the top, where it was stuck on another tree that kept it from crushing the outhouse entirely. He had been trimming things and working to lower it down to fall in a certain directly, only for it to slip a bit – and catch the chain saw. It’s just a little battery operated chainsaw, so it stopped running on its own right away.
Getting it free, however, took at least another hour, a stack of old tires with their rims, and a jack-all to lift the weight.
Eventually, though, he got it free.
During this time, they did stop for a meal and hydration, at least, after they had gotten the bottom of the tree down to the ground.
A frustrating thing while doing on this is, we’ve spent the last year + dumping the stove pellet litter behind the outhouse to compost. I chose that location because it was out of the way and mostly out of view behind the outhouse. The tree that the fallen spruce was caught on is basically coming out of the middle of the pile. An older part of the pile, at least, so it was more compacted and starting to decompose, but it still meant my brother had to walk over, set ladders over, and work over, a big pile of sawdust full of cat mess.
*sigh*
Anyhow, after much effort, many trips up and down ladders, and much trying to figure out how to safely get things done – and this really was quite a dangerous job – it finally got done.
The first photo above is the part of the tree that was handing and took so very long to get safely down. It’s actually the middle of the tree – last weekend, my brother was able to cut the very top off, and it’s still standing on its end, leaning against another dead tree. Basically, it was brought down in roughly thirds.
In the second picture, you can see the bottom of the tree. That section alone probably weighs about 300-350 pounds.
The last picture is what the inside of the trunk looks like. This tree has been dead for many years, so there was time for this rot to start hollowing out the trunk from the base. It took two very wet springs, which standing water flooding the area behind the garage and all around the outhouse, for it to weaken enough to get blown over in the wind.
Of course, now I’m thinking, what can I do with it? There must be something useful that can be done!
The trunk does have a crack running the length of it, though, so that limits things.
My original plan had been to have this tree taken down, leaving a stump tall enough to use to support a table and seats, like some of the stump benches I’ve already made. As we were cleaning up, my SIL and I took a break and found ourselves sitting on the trunk and I realized, having a bend there really would be very handy. I could use the wood to make a rustic bench. I’ve seen some photos of benches made from logs that might actually work. It depends on how bad that crack is, really.
All in good time, though.
I’m just to happy the tree is finally down – and we didn’t have to sacrifice the outhouse! We had intended to repair the roof before this happened, anyhow. Considering I was basically going to remove the moss covered and rotting shingles, then laying plywood down directly over the original roof surface to make a larger roof with more overhang, not a whole lot of my plan needs to be changed.
By the time they were done, it was coming up on 8pm, and they still had lots of packing up to do before heading home.
There are so many things they could have been doing on their weekend, but instead, they spent the last two weekends working on getting that tree down, without destroying the outhouse.
First, the cuteness – and something to keep an eye on.
The kitties are definitely enjoying being outside of the cat cage, though only the tiny adopted kitty wasn’t getting out of it very easily. They are often found piled up on or near the self warming mat – and all over each other!
Brussel is often found with grublings sleeping all over her!
In the second photo, you can see she is quite the creche mother, nursing any or all of the babies that want. She does have a permanently angry expression, though!
She is not, however, the only creche more anymore!
The next photo shows the mystery mother. I was able to get the picture through the bathroom window, as she avoids going into the sun room if we are around. Later on, as I was going through the sun room, I spotted her actively nursing several kittens, not just her own! I made a point of getting through the sun room as quickly as possible, so as not to scare her off, so no picture possible.
Not long ago, I noticed that the calico had developed a sore on her leg. It looked a lot like the one Ooofus The Brave had on a back leg, that is now all healed and the fur growing back. Today, however, I had my daughter check a clump of fur on her back leg. As she tried to wash it out, she discovered it was another wound. We weren’t able to do much at the time, but we’ll have to make sure to put some cat-safe antibiotic cream on both wounds, in the morning. If you watched her running around, you wouldn’t know the wounds where there at all. She is not favouring the injured legs at all. When Oofus had his on his back leg, it seemed to me it was the result of over grooming, likely because I’d accidentally dripped some squeeze treat onto him while feeding it to Brussel while he was nursing. It’s possible that same thing has happened to the calico, but it’s hard to know for sure. Hopefully, she will heal up as thoroughly as Oofus has.
On a completely different note, I have a WordPress mystery. It has to be some kind of glitch. I got a “you’re being noticed” increased traffic notification, but when I finally actually checked my stats… honestly, it has to be some kind of error. This is a small blog, with a small but steady flow of traffic – both views and visitors. As of right now, my stats are telling me I’ve had a whole 49 visitors today – and almost 5,300 views! That many views is a good month for this blog, not one day! Over 1,500 of these views are to the Home page/archives link. The next highest is a food related post that is typically at the top, with 40 views.
According to the stats, virtually all of these 5000+ views are from the US, with almost 2000 from Michigan and over 1000 from California. The Michigan views are almost all from Lansing – and almost all these views are from a desktop, not hand held device or laptop, which is also unusual these days. Even then, the devices information is odd. The browser is listed as “other”, and so is the OS.
How on earth did I get such a huge jump in views? It has to be some kind of glitch. It doesn’t even seem like it’s from a traffic inducing bot; I got hit with one of those a couple of days ago, when several dozen “like” notifications came through at a rate of almost 2 per second.
I would not be at all surprised if, a few days from now, my stats get “corrected” to something more usual!
Before I get into today’s stock up shopping post, I wanted to share an update on the grublings. Here are some video clips I took just a little while ago.
In the first video, we have the three kittens that don’t really leave the cat cage. The calico has, and has even figured out how to get out at the bottom, rather than climb out the “doorway”.
In the second video, we have Brussel’s black and white, who insists on climbing up the inside of the cat cage to clamber out the second level height doorway. This, even though he knows there is a kitten sized opening under it. He’s even used it. He just prefers to climb! He not clambers out as soon as we go into the sun room and wanders about. We really need to watch our step!
Oh, and he has a name, now. Oofus The Brave. 😄
The next video is of another brave baby that is constantly leaving the cat cage and wandering around. These two are also very much into eating solid food, which I’m sure is giving Brussel a break!
We haven’t seen the third foundling in a while. I have to assume the mama found a “nest” somewhere, and her baby has stayed with her. The other two seem content to stay with Brussel.
Last of all are Caramels other two little grublings. They seem so small compared to the others!!! I do wish we had a small door into the cat house in that back wall. That way, we could check on the babies, but also reach in to give them wet cat food. Right now, the only way into the cat house is by lifting the roof, and it’s definitely showing its age when we do that!
On another note, we had a near disaster with our transplants yesterday. Our first time using the portable greenhouse, and we almost lost and entire bin of tomato seedlings!
It’s possible the bin was knocked over by a cat – the door was tied open to keep it from getting too hot inside. It was also really windy, and that bin had been tucked into a corner on a top shelf. It’s possible the wind pushed the plastic enough to knock the bin right off.
My daughter helped me gather up the soil and repot the seedlings that had fallen out entirely. Some cups had very little damage. One seedling was completely buried in soil and it took some careful searching by my daughter to spot it. We lost a fair bit of the soil, as there was no way to scoop it all up out of the grass without getting too much debris, but I’ve got that bucket of reconstituted coconut fibre in there, and we were able to use that to top up the cups.
Once these were repotted, everything went back into the old kitchen for the night. Before I headed out this morning, the greenhouse has warmed up enough to move them back in. I even left the doorway partially unzipped so it wouldn’t get too hot. Happily, everything was fine when I got back! It was also warm enough that I opened the door all the way and tied it off. It’s nice enough today that we don’t need to move them back into the old kitchen for quite a while. I still don’t dare leave them in there overnight.
It’s too early to tell with the potted up seedlings, but the squash transplants show significant improvement after just a couple of days in the greenhouse. In the basement, when the true leaves started coming in, they were pale and almost on the yellow side. They needed better light. Looking at them today, there is no sign of yellowing in the leaves, and the plants are even looking more robust and slightly bigger! The luffa were really struggling, and we lost one of the three seedlings. A second one was just not growing, and still had only its seed leaves. Now that they are in the greenhouse, the one that had its first true leaves is showing definite signs of growth, and I think I’m even seeing the beginnings of true leaves showing up in the other one! The melons are going to do a lot better in there, too. Even the chitting potatoes hadn’t been showing any real growth while in the basement, and a few pieces simply shriveled up. Now, they’re starting to show some signs of growth, too. It would have been so much better if we could have put them into the greenhouse earlier! Ah, well. It’s our first time using it, and I’m happy with it so far!
Looking forward to calling an early night tonight, after the transplants are brought back inside. Doing the stock up shopping always wipes me right out. I’m glad I got it done, though. I’ll post about that, soon – after I have the supper my daughter has made for me!
Last night, my older daughter started hearing kittens outside, meowing loud enough for her to hear them over her headphones. So she went to see what was going on.
She found three mostly white kittens wandering around in the yard, crying. No mother in sight.
So she scooped them up and put them into the cat cage with Brussel.
They were still there this morning, and my daughters kept an eye on them while I was away.
I admit, when I did my morning rounds, I was on the lookout for bodies. If there were more to the litter and they were outside during last night’s cold, they would not have made it. When I checked the thermometers, it was about -10C/14F inside the greenhouse and the covered bed in the old kitchen garden. Happily, I found nothing.
Brussel’s black and white kitten has been really working at climbing out of the cat cage and, this afternoon, he finally succeeded. One of the new babies discovered the opening under the door. So when I got back, there were two kittens I had to be really careful about not stepping on when I got home!
In the above slideshow, you can see the two most active kittens outside the cat cage. The last image in the series is the possible mother.
As of this evening’s feeding, there are now only two of the white kittens in the cat cage. It looks like Mamma has come for them.
Usually, the mamas bring their babies to the house when they are old enough to be weaned. They bring them here and basically leave them where the food is. This doesn’t typically start until late June, at the earliest, July or August. These babies are definitely NOT old enough to wean, so it’s strange that they should show up like this. The Cat Lady and her rescue have been updated. After last night, things should warm up enough for it to be safe to start trapping and hopefully getting more ladies spayed before we have more kittens!!!
As for me, I am totally exhausted. I went to my mother early, to be there for her doctor’s appointment. The confusion about her puffer was cleared up. She showed me the bottle she was talking about.
It was the spray for dry mouth.
She thought it was an inhaler.
I’m not going to get into all the stuff about her visit; it would just be too much. Suffice to say, this was note on of her good days, and she went off about my brother and how terrible he is, and even admitted that our vandal “was right”; she believes all the lies and slander he has said about my brother. It blows me away that she trusts the person that is the most abusive towards me, while treating the person who has given and sacrificed so much for her like crap.
On the plus side, the home care aid showed up while I was there. She was new to the schedule; it turns out the regular person was away today, so she was the substitute.
My mother recognized her. She provided home care for my late father. She even remembered him and the farm, and had the nicest things to say about him. I told her that, at the time, I was living in another province, but when I phoned my dad, he would go on and on about how great they were treating him and what excellent care he was getting. He was definitely a favourite of all the home care workers.
My mother is very, very different.
After the telephone medical appointment was done, I stayed long enough to get laundry going, then did some grocery shopping for her. She also had stuff to pick up at the pharmacy, which gave me a chance to talk to them about things discussed with the doctor this morning. After I got home, I called home care and left a message about relevant things they needed to know.
Speaking of medical appointments, my husband FINALLY has an appointment at the new pain clinic.
In June.
He doesn’t expect them to be able to do anything at all for him, though. After all these years, he’s gone though all the options and has given up on anyone being able to help him just control the pain, never mind improve.
On a less pleasant note… I hate being right sometimes.
Last night, as I predicted, Marx Carnage was installed as our new Prime Dictator. The media has been priming us for that result from the start. Yes, there were plenty of shenanigans. The election was called before ballots were even counted.
The ballots from the advance polls get counted after the regular polls. There were 7 million votes cast at the advance polls, but the election was called before they were counted. Video has surfaced of people taking the sealed ballot boxes out of their secure locations – one person was even seen rifling inside a ballot box – and taken to someone’s private home. Vote counting is not supposed to stop until it’s done, but they stopped at 9:30pm, after ballot boxes had been unsealed, then starting up again in the morning. Etc.
Then there was this.
This is a ballot from CPC Leader, Pierre Poilievre’s riding. Over 20 years of him serving that riding, there was never a ballot like this before, nor was there another like it anywhere in Canada. That’s 90 names running against him. He lost in his own riding because of it. Most of the people on there are listed as Independents. Most of them apparently didn’t even know their names were on the ballot. To be listed as an independent in this riding, it costs $1000, and only 50 signatures needed, per potential candidate. Now picture that process, 100 times, with 90 making it to the ballot. Somehow, Elections Canada didn’t question this. As the party leader, Poilievre can run in a bi-election elsewhere, but this seriously needs to be investigated. It won’t be, of course.
Dozens of ridings have results with less than 1% between the top two candidates. Normally, that would trigger an automatic recount. I doubt it will.
About the only good news is that the NDP lost so many seats, they lost official party status. Sellout Singh lost his riding and resigned.
The Liberals got a minority, but the Bloc, which is in Quebec only, got enough seats that they can form a de facto coalition with the Libs, just like the NDP did, and they will essentially get the majority government they were after. Another dictatorship.
There are a few things that can happen from here. The Libs already put out a report promising… er… predicting that people are going to be so desperate in a few years, they will be forced to resort to hunting, fishing and foraging on public land (people are already doing that), among other things. They plan to do things like tax the equity on people’s homes, along with their capital gains tax and layers of carbon taxes. They want to ban vehicles with combustion engines, and phase out the energy industry, phase out meat, etc. Basically, Canadians are about to see some very hard times.
I see a few possible options. Some have predicted that things will fall apart so fast, we’ll have another election within the year. I don’t think so. Another possibility is, Alberta will finally separate. Thanks to Quebec threatening to do this for decades, the process is actually easy. A referendum is held with a clear question, and a simple majority wins. So if AB holds a referendum and 50.1% votes in favour of separating, the results must legally be accepted. If they go, SK will soon follow. MB and BC won’t be far behind, though both have NDP premiers right now, so that will stall things.
If AB goes, Canada’s biggest cash cow is gone. Quebec will go bankrupt in no time at all, since they depend almost entirely on equalization payments to pay for their socialist paradise. The Western provinces and probably the territories will combine to form a new republic (this has been in the works for years, and there is already a draft constitution, among other groundwork). Without having the federal government and the Eastern provinces sabotaging everything, this would easily become one of the most prosperous countries in the world. Just as Canada could have been already.
Or, the provinces could separate and join the US. Which I think is jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, but it would still be loads better than continuing under a corrupt Liberal government, and a system designed to favour one part of the country at the expense of another.
Well, we’ll see how it pans out.
For us, it’s doing more of the same; trying to be as self sufficient as possible, grow and produce our own food as much as possible. It’s something we’ve been working towards anyhow. It has just become more urgent to get there.
In the first image, you can see the seedlings that need potting up. They all should be much bigger than this, but it’s just not warm enough, even with using the heater and the heating pad, in the basement.
With concerns about the outside cats potentially knocking the transplants over when we moved them out, I decided to use some storage bins to hold the Red Solo cups I was going to re-use to pot up into. They’ve been stored in the sun room all winter, so they had to get a cleaning of cob webs and whatever other debris managed to get on them. Thankfully, the old basement is where the laundry used to be, so we still have the old laundry sink that I could soak them all in, then scrub the ones with drainage holes in the bottom to transplant into. I also pre-soaked the seed starting mix with hot water, so it still be at least not cold, by the time the cups were filled and the seedlings transplanted.
These bins hold only 9 cups in them, so that basically became my default for the maximum number of transplants to pot up into. Which worked out really well. With the Black Beauty tomatoes, there were only 4 large and strong enough to pot up. With the Chocolate Cherry, there was only 5 to pot up, so they got to share a bin. The Spoon tomatoes and the Sub Arctic Plenty both filled one bin each. The Sweetie Snack Mix peppers and the Turkish Orange eggplant both got one bin each, too, with almost zero “extras” that didn’t get transplanted.
In the second photo, you can see them after they were all potted up, before I topped them with vermiculite. The potted up seedlings are small enough that I could use the lids on the bins, but I had only 2 of them handy at the time. The next photo is after the vermiculite was added. Then I got more lids for the bins from the sun room and my daughter helped me get them out of the basement. Which was actually quite dangerous. We started with me taking them through the old basement and up the stairs to where my daughter was waiting at the door, one bin at a time. She would grab the bin at the door (keeping the cats from dashing downstairs) and take it to the old kitchen, while I went to get the next bin.
The old basement stairs are narrow; each step is about half the width of a typical step. It is also steep than most stairs are, and there is very little space at the door. Which means I could only go to the third step from the top before I ran out of space. Even going sideways and carrying the bin on one arm, I couldn’t reach the door knob, so having my daughter open the door was an essential. Once she had the bin, I could go higher and close the door, but just going up and down these stairs is simply not good. I go down them backwards, like on board ship or using a ladder.
After a few bins, my daughter kicked me out of the basement and we traded places. Apparently, I sounded like I was in a lot of pain. Which I was, but I wasn’t going to say anything, since I know it’s not any better for her!
In the last picture, you can see all the bins and trays now set up on the freezer in the old kitchen. I was so tempted to put them into the portable greenhouse. The thermostat in there was reading more than 40C/104F! Pretty impressive, considering we never got above 4 or 5C today (39 or 41F). And that wind!! Yikes! The problem is that we’d just have to take them back inside after a couple of hours, and I didn’t want to do that today. We’re still forecast to have -6C/21F tonight, though we’re not expected to reach those temperatures until 6am tomorrow, and I know it will drop below freezing inside the greenhouse, even with the heat sink. They will go into the greenhouse tomorrow, after I get back from running around.
Once that was done, I grabbed a late lunch, then headed to the post office to pick up a parcel. On the way back, my cell phone started ringing. I don’t have hands free, so I couldn’t answer it. When I got home, I found a message from the home care coordinator asking about something strange my mother had told the morning home care aid about her puffer, and having already taken it in the hospital.
???
I called back and left a message telling her as much as I knew, then called my mother. I hadn’t gotten through to her this morning about her telephone doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning, so I told her about that, first. She wasn’t impressed that it was in the morning, but it’s at about the time she gets her morning meds, so she’ll be up, anyhow – and I intend to be there, too. I then asked her about the puffer. She told me a completely different thing from what the apparently told the home care aid. She also seems confused about the type of puffer they used with her while she was in the hospital, and the original type she was using before then – which she has started using now. She had an unopened refill from before she went to the hospital, and the other type was done, so she started taking it on her own. I have no idea where she had it stashed away. Then I found out she’d already taken it three times today. I told her, she’s only supposed to take it once in the morning, then again before bed. Not several times throughout the day. Plus, we already talked to her doctor about it. This was an experiment to see if it would help with her breathing at night. It didn’t, and she turned out to be developing pulmonary edema, which she no longer has after being in the hospital for a couple of weeks.
Things were still confused, but we agreed we would talk about it when I’m there tomorrow, and she could show me what she had. I then called the home care coordinator back and got her right away. We talked for a while and confirmed my mother told different things to them than what she told me. I then found out they were giving her two puffs in the morning, but not in the evening (with the disc type of puffer, a dose is one puff, while the other puffer, a dose is two puffs, which is why the pharmacist and I decided to fill the prescription for the disc type). So there’s a mix up right there, too. Not that the puffer has been helping her in any way, but a neighbour of hers has asthma, so she decided she needed a puffer, too, and the doctor was willing to test it out with her rather than go through the years it would take to refer her to a specialist and get all the respiratory testing done.
Hopefully, we will get that straightened out tomorrow.
After I was done on the phone, it was time to get out and see what I could do to protect the winter sown raised bed.
I have a cover for the bed, but it needed some maintenance work first, so I brought it closer to the garage, where my tools where. One of the things that needed to be done was secure two sections of the mesh. The jute twine it had been tied together with before had degraded and broken apart. I’d already had to replace the twin in the other join and used paracord for that, so I did the same thing again.
The hoops supporting the mesh are sections of pipe that turned out to be rather too strong. They are held in place with strips of metal strapping, but would get pushed downwards – usually because of a cat jumping on it! So I wanted to get those nice and snug, then screw them into place.
Syndol and Judgement decided the mesh was a night place to sit!
After the hoops were secured, I brought the cover over to the raised bed, but had to get a daughter to help with the rest, because of the wind. We got the cover on the bed, then opened one of the 8’x12′ plastic I’d picked up to cover it.
It was a lot thinner than I expected. Definitely not 7mm, which is what the guy looking up the information for me said it was. I suspect he didn’t quite understand what I was asking for.
Still, it will work for now.
We made sure to water the bed before putting the cover on (and I had to fix yet another hole dug into it). I noticed there are more sprouts coming up, so getting it covered to protect it from tonight’s cold will be a good thing!
After unfolding the plastic, we rolled and tucked the excess under the frame as best we could, but that wind was still threatening to blow it off. After looking around, I found a couple of sticked I’d joined with twine threaded through sections of a hula hoop to create a support for ground cherries flattened by the wind, a couple of years ago. That did well to drape across the top of the cover. We also found some lighter old boards to set on top as well; you can see the end result in the last photo above. Hopefully, it will be enough, but with how strong the winds are, I’m not entirely sure!
If it does hold out, it will protect the sprouts from tonight’s cold – and I plan to leave it on to also protect the bed from the cats! When it’s less windy, I’ll see if I can find a better way to secure the plastic, too. It’s meant to be temporary, though, so we’ll see. When the plastic is no longer needed, I have to find a way to close up the ends of the cover, so it can still be used to keep the cats out.
Since the coldest time of the night will be around the time I’ll be feeding the outside cats before heading to my mother’s, and then I’ll have to hit our own pharmacy in a different town when I’m done there, I’ll have to get my daughters to keep an eye on things and, when it starts warming up, move the transplants into the portable greenhouse. We’ll probably need to leave the door tied at least partly open so it doesn’t get too hot in there. Tomorrow’s high is supposed to be only 9C/48F, but if it could get as hot as it did in there at our current temperatures, it’ll get even warmer tomorrow. By the weekend, we’re expected to get highs above 20C/68F. Hopefully, before then, we’ll be able to get more progress on the trellis build. We’ll also have our Costco stock up trip in a couple of days.
The last thing I do before doing back into the house after doing my rounds, is give Brussel a squeeze treat. For all that Brussel still hisses and scratches, she has picked up on the routine. While I feed the other cats their dry kibble, she goes into the cat cage and starts nursing her babies, waiting for her wet cat food. I go that after all the other cats are fed and watered, so that the sun room tends to be empty and she doesn’t get disturbed by cats wanting her treat. I do my rounds, giving her time to eat – and her black and white kitten! – then give her a squeeze treat. This usually involves me having to reach into the cat cage while she’s nursing or standing guard over her babies. Lots of growling involved, and she typically finishes her treat by attacking my hand!
Brussel has been out of the cat cage and away from her babies a lot more often as they get bigger. Today, as I was finishing up, she didn’t go back into the cat cage like she usually does. She just hung out in front of the door to outside.
So I went ahead and tried to give her her squeeze treat, anyhow.
She let me, and that right there was a huge step up.
Then I tried to pet her.
She wasn’t too keen on it, but the lure of the squeeze treat was greater than her desire to run away. I was able to keep petting her while she licked at the squeeze treat tube.
Then Stinky started pushing his way in to get some, too. She kept looking at me as if to say, “why aren’t you getting him away from me???” Which I tried to do a bit.
When the treat was done, she didn’t attach my hand, probably because Stinky was in the way. She also let me keep petting her. Not only that, but she allowed me to give her thorough, two handed neck skritches.
She even started to purr!
I was able to pet enough of her to identify where she has mats in her fur. I feared she would be as bad as Kohl was, but thankfully, no. Just a few lumps and bumps in her fur.
After a while, she did finally try to attack my hand again, but by then, I was already moving away. I did try again later, as she was heading towards the cat cage again, but she wasn’t happy with that and ended up sitting out of my reach at the window (third photo of the slide show above).
Her babies need names.
Any suggestions?
I also got to pet the tuxedo hanging out on one of the cat beds on the platform. Today, he was quite cooperative, and even rolled onto his back so I could pet his belly.
I’m about 95% sure he’s one of ours, but he’s so friendly, and he’s not a cat that hung out in the sun room during the winter. We have a whole group of males that have been super friendly, and he hasn’t been part of that crowd. Even now, when I put kibble on the cat house roof, where I usually get a mass of friendly males pushing and shoving for attention, he’s not among them. So I wonder if he’s from somewhere else? One of the neighbouring colonies? A drop off? Either way, he is much more like a pet than a semi-feral cat.
On a side note, watching his behaviour, I find myself wondering if he has vision problems. Something just seems a bit… off, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
I’ve sent all the above photos and video to the Cat Lady. Hopefully, she can put the word out about them and we’ll get some adoptions happening! That would be awesome.
Today was a lovely day out, though we will dropping to freezing temperatures tonight. We’re supposed to get more rain in a couple of hours, but I’ll believe that when I see it.
When I headed out this afternoon, a number of cats came over to say hi, including Kohl. While petting her, I decided we really needed to take a chance and break out the clippers. Not only was the matting on her back really bad, but it was looking like sections were starting to get torn up from scratching.
So we got the clippers out and I held her, while my daughter very carefully denuded Kohl’s back. I think Kohl was noticing a difference and put up with it a lot longer than I expected, and even licked our fingers at times. As soon as we got the big mat off, though, we let her go.
You can see the patterns of her fur colour in her skin, but some of the white lines that you see are the result of her skin being pulled into folds by the mat. You can see the mat itself in the next two photos. That thing is SOLID!!
Hopefully, we’ll be able to get her again to trim off more mats. There is one on her right front leg that was under my hand as I held her. I could feel the burrs that are caught in her fur there.
Then, since the clippers were out anyhow, we got Ginger. Ginger is a short haired cat, but he’s basically all undercoat. We just can’t seem to brush him enough! He does love to be brushed, at least. Part of the reason I got the mat cutting combs we got before was to get mats out of his and David’s fur. As we trimmed him – he was very cooperative! – we actually did find mats we hadn’t felt while petting or combing him.
He seems to be quite happy with his hair cut! There were some areas we couldn’t get at. With his missing leg, he doesn’t like to be held in certain ways, so there are patches of untrimmed fur that we’re just going to leave. They aren’t in problem areas.
I still haven’t been able to get a good pictures of David with his hair cut. He still hasn’t forgiven me. 😄
Once we were done, I headed back outside and, of course, had to check on the kitties. That little black and white one is so eager for attention! Brussel is leaving them more often, and they’re exploring all over the cat cage. I’m so glad they are safely in there right now! I kinda dread them getting big enough to climb to the second level. Some of the walls here have 2″ square openings instead of 1″ square openings, and they could fit through. If they get to being able to climb to the second levels, they’d be able to climb out the entry, too.
For now, though, they are happy to play in the cat catch, or catch a few Zzzz’s in the sun spot.
Aside from tending to kitties, I went around to find and gather some of the supplies I’ll need to work on the garden beds and raised bed covers, then did my usual checks. I was happy to see more snow crocuses blooming.
There still aren’t a lot of them, and they start blooming at the East end of the area they are planted in, then more slowly emerge and bloom Westward. With how the trees and pathways are, the East end gets sunlight and warmth earlier in the season than the West end of the bed.
One of the things I worked on for a bit was gathering and breaking away branches from the fallen willow, in preparation for when we get in there with a chain saw to cut up the trunk and clean things up.
Willows are truly remarkable. This tree is probably a hundred years old or more, and has been slowly dying since before we moved out here. Yet even a broken off section like this is somehow still able to have fresh growth!
The top of this broken section landed next to another smaller broken and dying willow nearby. At the base of that willow are a whole lot of larger canes that will do quite nicely in wattle weaving!
Thankfully, the bed I want to add wattle weaving to only needs maybe half a foot added to it. While I’m finding all sorts of potential material to use for that, it takes a whole lot to make a decent weaving. I discovered that when making the L shaped bed in the old kitchen garden. I gather long branches to weave in, thinking I had plenty, but kept running out!
That project will wait a little longer, though. I’ve been talking with my daughter about working on the trellis bed, tomorrow. That’s something I’ll need a second person for. Well… I suppose I could get it done on my own, but a second person will definitely make it easier!
Hard to believe we’re coming up on the end of April. Just a few more weeks, and we’ll be planting outside!
The last two days were awesome. Today, we’re looking at 6C/43F. As I write this, coming up on 11am, we’re at 3C/37F – but the “feels like” is -6C/21F We are finally getting some of the predicted rain, at least. Later on, it’s supposed to be a mix of rain and snow. A system is pushing in from the south and affecting the southern prairies, with the potential for quite a bit of snow. Our climate bubble is in effect, still. Looking at the weather radar, I could even see the horseshoe shape in the weather system as is splits up and goes around our area. The lake effect is really something!
It hadn’t started raining yet, while I was doing my rounds.
I had lots of company this morning, too. Magda (scratching at the log in the background) follows me but still hasn’t forgiven me for closing her up in the isolation shelter, over and over. 😄 She isn’t coming close enough for me to pick her up and tuck her into my jacket anymore! She still accepts pets, though.
Speaking of pets, I managed to sneak some pets onto Brussel as she tried jumping back into the cat cage to join her babies, and her expected wet cat food and morning squeeze treat. Her babies are SO eager for attention, and climbing all over the place. I’m glad I lined the bottom of the cage with cardboard so long ago. They haven’t quite discovered the opening we’d cut into the bottom under the entry. We had done that when Toni was in recovery from her amputation, hoping her somewhat older babies would find her and nurse. Instead, Toni squeezed through! We had to bring her indoors for recovery. We were never sure which babies where hers, but the creche mothers – including Adam and Brussel – likely took them in with their own, just as Brussel has with Caramel’s first baby.
I had to go into town today to pick up a prescription refill for my husband; his “controlled substance” painkillers that he’s not allowed to refill until he’s almost out, so getting it delivered on Thursday was not an option. After getting his meds, I popped across the street to the Red Apple and went looking for smaller food and water dishes. The smallest one we have right now doesn’t quite fit into the back of the trap. It can only fit at and angle, which puts it over the trigger. They were inexpensive, so I got four of them. One will go into the cat cage, now that the littles are getting more mobile and interested in solid food. We don’t want to put much food in there, as that would encourage other cats, or even the skunks and racoons to get in there. The alternative it to close up the cage in between feedings, and I don’t want to do that to Brussel. She heads out more often, and for longer, now. I’ve even seen her on the trail came, crossing to the neighbouring property. In fact, I see a LOT of cats going back and forth in there. Which may explain some of the new faces we sometimes see. They would be from the next closest colony. Which is preferable to them being dumped cats!
We won’t live set the trap quite yet; the overnight temperatures are just too low, for the next few days, and we aren’t in a position to constantly monitor it. What we can do is move it closer to the house. I am also thinking to make a shelter over it to make it cozier and more cave-like, so that when we do activate the trap, any critter caught in there will be sheltered and warm until we can see who it is and either get them to a vet or release it. I don’t want to get any of the lactating mamas and, of course, we don’t want to get any skunks or racoons, and this trap is big enough for a racoon.
We do have two smaller traps as well, and these new food and water bowls might fit in them, too. They are more squirrel traps, though, and might be too small for an adult cat. We shall see. I haven’t taken too close of a look at them since my brother gave them to us.
Along with the food and water dishes, I also picked up some jingling toys for Brussel’s babies. They are getting so active, they need something to play with! When I got home, I put one of them into the cat bed in the cube next to where their cat cave is, and another right into the cave. Who knows. Maybe even Brussel will play with it!
As I was walking back to the house, I caught the attention of these cuties.
Magda and her doppelgangers, keeping cozy under the heat lamp! It actually gets too hot in there on the sunny days, so I’ve been unplugging the extension cord for both the heat lamp and the heated water bowl, then plugging it back in for the night. With today being so wet and chilly, they appreciate that heat lamp!
The wind and rain also means I won’t be able to work on the outside projects quite yet. If the forecast is at all accurate, tomorrow afternoon might work out. We’ll need to dig the longer extension cords out of winter storage, if it’s dry enough to use the electric chainsaw. Otherwise, there are some repair and maintenance jobs that can be worked on.
For now, though, I’ll take advantage of the unpleasant weather and start editing the recordings I made yesterday, into our April garden tour video. It won’t be a very long one, yet! 😄
Well, yesterday, we finally admitted it. The battle has been lost. We’ve thrown in the towel and admitted defeat – for safety reasons, really.
Despite my best efforts, Magda kept getting out of the isolation shelter. Once, I found a sliding window open, but most of the time, I could see nothing disturbed. The only way I could see how she could be getting out was through the roof, even though it was weighted down with bricks, and there is a ceiling of rigid insulation. I couldn’t see how she could be getting out the back, where it lefts, but how could she be getting out through the front, where it’s hinged?
Now, the insulation has been slowly scratched and chewed up through the winter, so there is a big gap where the two pieces meet. The gap between the insulation and the roof panels is very narrow, but Magda is so tiny. Was it possible?
Just in case, I found some boards and more pieces of scrap insulation that I slide in between the roof panels and the insulation ceiling. There were still spaces, but they were very small.
Once inside and in the kitchen, went to open the window, which is directly above the isolation shelter. I spotted Magda at one of the gaps in the insulation, scratching at the roof panel. When she heard me tell her to stop, she disappeared below.
Off and on, I would check out the window. Nothing was happening.
Then I looked out and found a very flat Magda, squeezed between the boards, the insulation and the roof panel, like a pancake. !!!
I dashed outside but, as I came closer, she slithered her way back into the shelter, flung herself into the cat bed and stretched out, looking at me as if nothing had just happened. !!!
I found some more scrap pieces of insulation and shifted the boards I’d added around, then kept checking out the window. I didn’t see anything.
Eventually, though, something about the insulation seemed… different.
I went out to check, and there was Magda, sitting on the lawn, looking at me. She had somehow managed to pull the insulation downwards enough for her to squirm through.
At that point, I gave up. She’s supposed to be recovering from surgery, and the last thing she should be doing is squeezing through tight spaces and dropping down from a height. Since we’ve finished the ear medication, and The Grink was looking fine, too, I opened the ramp door to the isolation shelter and let them out, putting the wind breaker box over the opening again.
Even so, when I came out this morning, I found that window open again!
While I was doing my rounds this morning, I had a whole lot of cats following me, including Magda! The second photo above was taken while I was checking the garlic bed. After I got the picture, she walked under Stinky to get to the other side of him.
She is so small, she didn’t have to duck at all to go under him.
Gosh, those two look alike. Given when he was neutered and how old she is, I suppose it’s possible he’s her daddy.
The garlic, meanwhile, is looking much better now!
Their finally turned nice and green and, with the netting in place, nothing it digging them up anymore.
Yesterday was such a gorgeous evening, I was able to do a few things in the garden, though I neglected to take photos. One of them was to uncover the winter sown bed in the old kitchen garden to give it a good watering. With the plastic cover, it didn’t get even what little rain we’ve had, and the sump pump that drains at the high end of the bed has yet to go off this year, so it’s not being watered from below, either. There was enough water in the rain barrel that I could give this bed a thorough watering. Once the cover was off, I could also see that there are quite a few seedlings in there, and what appears to be a couple of onions that I missed from last year!
Once the cover was back on and the plastic secured, I started watering the bed at the chain link fence that is now covered with mesh. I came back to the rain barrel to refill, and found two cats lounging on top of the raised bed cover!
I am not impressed.
The pre-sown bed at the chain link fence, plus the one among the east yard garden beds got watered, and I was still able to refill the watering cans to leave in the portable greenhouse to warm up during the day and add to the heat sink effect during the night.
Which doesn’t actually seem to be accomplishing anything. Whenever I check the thermometer in the morning, it’s reading the same temperature as outside the greenhouse. Still way to cold to be able to move our seedling trays into there!
In checking the other areas, I did some clearing around the walking onions. There are quite a few of them coming up right now. Unfortunately, so is the crab grass, only some of which could be pulled out for now. I check on the fenced off area where the tulips are and there are a lot more leaves showing now. Even the saffron crocuses look like there are more of them. While they never reached the point of blooming before they got choked out by weeds, clearly the corms have expanded.
After I finished my rounds this morning, I grabbed the turkey dinners I put together for my mother and headed out. I left early enough to swing past the grocery store to see if it was open today. It was, so I popped in to pick up a few things I knew my mother was running low on. I also picked up some instant oatmeal for her to try, since she’s having a harder time standing long enough to cook herself breakfast. I figured instant oatmeal would be better than boxed cereal. I got a package with three different flavours for her to try out. When I got to her place and was putting things away, I opened the box to read the instructions – she would have great difficulty reading them herself. Each flavour called for a different amount of water. Oops. Ah, well. I explained the instructions to her as best I could.
While today was just a day to visit, I of course did a little jobs for her, including bagging up her recycling. I noticed bean cans in there, which was something I’d got for her to try before, so I asked how she liked them. She was very enthusiastic in her response, so canned baked beans are now on the list of heat and eat things for her! 😁 Until now, she’d just been getting canned soups.
With the few things I picked up for her today, plus the dinners, plus her three days a week of Meals on Wheels, it turns out my mother isn’t going to need an actual grocery shopping trip for a while. It was, for the most part, a good visit. It wasn’t until the very end, when it was getting time for me to leave anyhow, that she started going off on a tangent. One was about how surprised she was that my brother didn’t phone her for Easter. I pointed out, he came over to visit her because they were going to be out of province this weekend, to spend time with the grandbabies. “Oh, two weeks ago”, she scoffed. Except it wasn’t; it was last weekend, and he spent a long time with her going over her financial stuff, as he regularly does, along with bringing her stuff for her basket and an Easter card.
Then she started going on about my daughters, and how terrible I am for keeping them “tied” to me (she doesn’t get that they actually chose to move out here to help maintain this place) and even back to ranting about how they “know nothing” because we homeschooled. She doesn’t know the girls at all, has made no effort to get to know them (she has only ever wanted to control them and get them to perform for her), but assumes she knows everything about them and about our life in general. Basically, making scenarios up in her mind and assuming they are true, then blaming all the bad stuff on my making parenting choices she didn’t approve of. It’s been decades, and she still does it! I swear, in her mind, the girls are still 10 yrs old or something.
It was definitely time to leave.
By the time I got home, it was getting close to when I would normally go out for my evening rounds, so I was soon back outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather we’ve been having. According to my weather app, we’ve been raining all day, but it was bright sunshine and warm temperatures. After feeding the cats – and playing with the kittens a bit – I ended up taking some April garden tour video. It’s been a month since the last ones I took, so I figured it was about time. I’ll be checking those soon and seeing if I need to do it again or not! 😄
Tomorrow is supposed to be quite a bit colder, with a mix of rain and snow starting in the afternoon. On a day when I have no outings planned and want to get work done outside, of course. 😁 We’ll see how things actually turn out. Some jobs I want to start require power tools and extension cords, so if we’ve got rain or snow, those will wait a bit longer. There is always something that can be worked on, though. I actually have a whole week ahead of me, with no scheduled outings until our first city stock up trip! What a remarkable thing! I might actually get some real work done outside! Gosh, that would be nice!
