outside cats

Thankful!

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The first thing I’m thankful for is our pharmacy.

My husband had just a few days left of his painkillers. With their new delivery driver, the deliveries are now on Thursdays. My husband would have been out by then, plus, Thursday this week is Boxing Day, so obviously, that wasn’t going to happen.

My husband called the pharmacy yesterday (Sunday) to ask about it. It turned out, for this week, deliveries were going to happen on Monday (today).

The problem?

His pain killers are considered “controlled substances”. Which means that he can’t refill them until he’s almost out. The earliest he could refill them?

Tuesday.

Given how things are, the pharmacist said she would try to call his doctor today to try and get his prescriptions delivered early, but she didn’t know if his doctor would even be working this week, or if she would be on holidays.

Well, I got a call this morning, and got good news! They got through to his doctor, she okayed the early refill, and we would get them delivered this afternoon.

We got the delivery shortly before 12:30!

Meanwhile, I checked the holiday hours for our garage. They were open today, so I called and left a message, though I did not expect them to be able to look at the truck on such short notice.

I left a message, then decided to head out to the general store and post office. It’s just a 5 or to minute drive away. Short enough to not trigger that oil pressure sensor and have it start screaming at me!

Since we aren’t going to be able to do the last minute shopping we originally intended, the girls wanted to do some baking, so I picked up a couple of dozen eggs and a few other things to tide us over, including a cheap (on sale) bottle of wine. We actually had mail today – a letter from the health authority for my husband – but there are still quite a few things we’re expecting, including a donation of cat food.

Ah, well.

After I got home and put things away, I tried to get a nap in – I’ve been really sleepy, lately – but wasn’t very successful. Then the phone rang. I kept it close, because I was expecting a call from the delivery driver, and it was him. I’d left the gate open already, but I headed outside earlier and used the time to do a bit of shoveling. The delivery driver even drove up into the yard, which was nice of him!

After bringing the meds in, I went to close the gate. On the way back, I found myself being watched, attentively.

There was eight at the time, but there had been more earlier.

When I came out this morning, I counted a full dozen cats in the upper level!

I also found the heated water bowl knocked over again, and hanging through the narrow opening under the window. This time, however the managed to knock it over, it was enough to push a corner of the window loose. The screws holding it are shorter, but still! I’ll have to find a longer screw that will fit the pilot hole to replace it with. For now, they have a small gap in the corner of the window.

This time, I took the heated water bowl out completely. After moving the cat bed out, I could grab the insulated box nest and remove it – with a kitten sitting on top, along for the ride, at first!

I had thought to put it in the lower level, but didn’t want to fight with the entry shelter box, so I put it in the catio, with the other box nest.

Then I put the cat bed where the box nest was. It’s slightly wider and overhangs the opening where the hammock and cat scratcher ramp is. Hopefully, it will stay.

I then took the smaller heated water bowl from the sun room and traded it with the one I took out from the isolation shelter. After securing the cord around the cross piece, I set it more into the corner, where the cat bed had been. Hopefully, this will give the cats more space to move around, and they won’t knock it down anymore.

Judging from the photo above, they are happy with the new configuration!

I could also see cats in the catio, sitting on top of the insulated box nest. There is exposed rigid insulation around all sides, secured with pieces of wood lath, so it would be like sitting on a self warming mat.

So that seems to be working out, too.

Meanwhile…

Once inside and settling at my computer, I saw I had a missed call note that I’d missed, earlier. The garage had tried to call me back while I was going to the post office!

So I called back right away.

We talked a bit about what was happening; he says there would be moisture in the sensor, setting it off. He completely understood why I didn’t want to be driving it with that alarm going off.

They are open on Friday, and he could fit me in that afternoon. I told him, we’re down to one vehicle, so when I come in, I’m stuck in town, and he understood. He probable gets that a lot, I’m sure. He confirmed that he would just be looking at the sensor (if he couldn’t get us in until after New Years, I told him in one of my messages that we may as well get the MAF sensor and block heater cord replaced, too), then said it would be no problem. He also assured me it would be okay to drive the truck into town – the alternative would have been to book a tow truck, and there’s no need for that.

So that should be fixed before the end of the year.

Yay! Something else to be thankful for!

Plus, since they’re right across from the grocery store, I’ll be able to get some of the things I wanted for New Years. It’s only Christmas dinner that’s going to be a bit different than planned, but not by much.

All in all, it’s about as good as it can get, under the circumstances!

The Re-Farmer

Blehp-blehp-blehp…

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While doing my morning rounds, I found the heated water bowl in the isolation shelter knocked down again. This time, they somehow managed to jam it into the narrow opening that’s there for them to access the second level. It had been full enough that I could see ice all along the inside of the plastic wrap around the bottom level, and ice in the snow below.

The hammock was also somehow off two of its hooks and hanging down over the entrance.

After cleaning everything up, I continued my rounds, then came back to see this hilarious boy.

There’s a freshly refilled heated water bowl behind him, but nooooo…. He wants to lick the frost off the window!

We’ve already reached our expected high of -7C/19F today, with almost no windchill at all. I expect things will get pretty warm in there, and the frost to melt away soon. Especially with the extra body heat of so many cats in there!

I’m so glad they like their isolation shelter!

The Re-Farmer

Alarming

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Alarming and bad on the blood pressure.

After my husband and I attempted to head out yesterday, only to have an alarm start blaring on the truck, then talking to our mechanic about it, I hoped to avoid it happening again today.

So, as I did my morning rounds, I started the truck part way through and left it running until I was ready to leave. Maybe half an hour. So the engine was warming up nicely, and the cab nice and toasty, when it was time to go.

It wasn’t the only thing roasty toasty.

You can’t see in the first picture above, but there was at least ten cats in the upper level. All the windows, including the sliding doors, were frosted like that!

What you can also see in the first picture is the heated water bowl, tipped over against one of the frame pieces!

The bowl is too wide to fit through there, though, and there was even still water in it. I’m extra glad I made the pallet floor open and covered with a mesh. I was thinking any litter kicked out of the box could fall through. I never thought it would allow water to spill through, rather than freezing on the floor! There must not have been much water in it when it was tipped, though, because I couldn’t see any sign of it in the snow under the shelter.

By the time I was done giving them food and fixing/refilling the water, only a few cats were still in the shelter. The more feral ones ran off. It was nice to see Kohl and Rabi together on the warm spot. There are five cats visible in the second photo, but a sixth is at the food bowl, out of frame.

While today was warmer than yesterday, the wind made it pretty nasty. Even as I write this, less than an hour before sunset, we are at -11C/12F – which is practically shorts and t-shirt weather for winter in this part of the world – but the windchill is -24C/-11F. I don’t know what the wind chill was this morning, but we were still around -16C/3F when I left.

Everything seemed fine, at first, but as I got closer to my mother’s town, I could see the oil pressure gauge slowly dropping. Sure enough, before I got there, the warning lights came on, the warning message “oil pressure low, shut of engine” showed up in the onboard computer display, and the alarm started sounding.

I knew the oil was fine. I knew it was just the sensor.

That didn’t help my blood pressure any.

I had left early enough that I intended to stop and possibly pick up a few last things for our own celebrations. Instead, I parked at the gas station.

I checked the oil, of course, and it was just fine, even though there was the warning light for low oil.

I took a picture of the dash before turning off the engine and texted it to our mechanic, but I didn’t even know if he was open today. I also messaged my brother, but he was on the road.

After a few minutes, I started the engine, and the pressure gauge was within normal range again.

I even started looking up local garages. One was closed, the other was closing soon, but the third was open later. I called them, but they couldn’t take a look. There was just one guy working (I had noticed their website had job openings listed before I called), and he was booked solid.

*sigh*

My brother recognized my truck as he was driving past, so he stopped by. We talked for a bit, he asked some questions, and basically said the same thing our mechanic did. It’s just the sensor.

We drove over to our mom’s place. For that short distance, it was fine.

My SIL had made some awesome sandwiches for our lunch. I had to chuckle, as my brother had originally intended to bring Timmies breakfast meals. The last time I was at my mother’s, while we were eating the food I brought, she told me how my brother would phone ahead to one of the restaurants in town, order a couple of meals for them, and pick them up before going to her place.

What I also know is that she would give my brother a hard time about this, mocking him for being “rich” and “fancy” by buying restaurant food all the time. My SIL got tired of it, so she now insists that she will make food for him to bring along herself, so my mother would stop basically calling him a snob (her Polish version of it, at least).

My mother cannot grasp the consequences of her own behaviour.

At least she liked the sandwiches. They were excellent. With her dentures (which she still refuses to fix, after having a tooth removed), we cut hers up for her to make it easier for her to eat. The sandwiches were made with these amazing pumpkin seed buns that only one place in the city makes. Delicious, but harder to bite through with dentures!

My SIL had also done her annual Christmas baking, and my brother brought tins of beautifully decorated cookies for both of us. My mother always complains about “it’s too sweet, it’s too sweet” (she doesn’t understand carbs, either), so he told her this was so she had something to offer people if they stopped by for tea. She actually showed appreciation for those, too, though when she did have one after lunch, she picked it apart and left behind part of the “sweet” middle. I think that had more to do with her dentures, though that’s not what she said.

*sigh*

The conversation was largely her talking about “history”, but of course only the parts that interest her. We just let her talk, as we’ve heard most of it many times before. Even my mother noticed, however, that she was losing track of her line of thought more often. The main thing was that she didn’t go off on any racist rants this time, which made it a lot more pleasant.

Eventually, she asked if anything was new with us, and my brother mentioned what my truck was doing. She wasn’t really interested in us, though, so that conversation didn’t last.

At one point, the phone rang. My brother was looking at the number while my mother was telling him to answer it. It was an unfamiliar number, so I answered with with my Hotel Receptionist greeting. Then laughed and hung up on the robot scam message. We talked about that for a bit – my brother got the same Canada Post “package held back for security reasons” scam call I did, the day the strikers had to go back to work.

Then the phone rang again.

This time, it was within our area code. My brother wasn’t going to answer, but I did, again with my Hotel Receptionist greeting.

I was answered in Polish, and recognized the voice. So I just laughed and responded “just a moment” in Polish and gave the phone to my mother. It was an old friend of hers, and they talk pretty regularly.

By then, my brother was needing to leave, and he knew I was nervous about the truck, so we got our stuff together and gave our goodbye hugs and kisses while she was on the phone, so she could have a good long talk if she wanted.

As for the drive home.

It happened again.

The pressure gauge was within normal range for about half the distance, but slowly dropping. Once it got past a certain point, it started dropping faster. By about 4 or 5 miles from home, the lights went on and the alarm started going off.

I’d messaged the family before I left, so the gate was open already and I was able to drive straight to the garage.

It’s one thing to know that the problem is just the sensor – and a new one, at that! – but quite another to be trying to drive with all those warning lights and an alarm sounding.

My plan was to go to my mother’s with Christmas dinner on Christmas day. I’ve messaged our mechanic, but if he can’t get us in on Monday, that likely won’t happen. I’ll have to call my mother and let her know. Her building is having a dinner in the common room on Christmas Eve, though, so she will not be alone for the holidays. My sister doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but I might ask her to visit.

Which means our own Christmas and New Year’s will likely be with whatever we have right now. I could drive into our little hamlet’s general store and back without setting off the alarm, but I they don’t carry the sort of stuff I was planning to get. I might still make the trip on Monday, though, for some other things I can get there, instead. Unless I end up in town and at the garage. The grocery store we usually go to is literally across the street, so I could get what’s on my list, there.

What a pain.

We’ve had this truck for a year, though, which means we might be able to look into trading it in for another vehicle, and get better financing.

Not a GM, though.

The truck itself is great. I love it. But these sensor issues are things that should not be happening, and having to replace sensors telling me something is wrong, when nothing is actually wrong, is not just a waste of money, but a major stress inducer. After all… I would never know if *this time* the problem might actually be real. We have only one working vehicle now. We can’t take any chances.

*sigh*

Ah, well, it is what it is. We deal with the hand we’re given.

But why does this stuff tend to happen all at once, and at times when it’s hard to get into a garage?

The Re-Farmer

Change in plans… again??

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We had some bitterly cold temperatures last night – dropping to -24C/-11F, when I was awake to check. There was no wind chill, though. In fact, the “real feel” was slightly warmer than the actual temperature.

When heading outside to feed the yard cats, I found a whole crowd of them inside the isolation shelter – all in the top level, too!

Including the isolation babies. Both Kohl and her fluffy partner were in there.

With so many cats and one bowl in a corner, the littles weren’t able to get at the food as well, so I dropped a handful beside the fluffy boi.

In return, he even let me pet him.

Sort of. 😄

With the cold, a lot of the food trays still had a lot of food in them. None of the cats, understandably, want to be outside eating, and even in the sun room, they prefer to huddle together in their various shelves and beds and under the heat lamp. I saw several through the cat house window, near the heat lamp in there, too.

The food bowl in the isolation shelter, however, didn’t have a single crumb left in it, and even the water bowl was mostly empty. At this point, I think the top of the isolation shelter may be the warmest place around!

The insulated box nest, however, seems to be in the way. I am considering taking it out and putting it in the lower level, where the little box is. We had to take the cat bed out from there, since they were using it as a litter box. Since this box nest is insulated, it would probably get used more in the bottom level than it is in the top level. The food bowl can then be put in the middle where the box is now, and more cats can eat out of it at the same time.

Moving the box nest will require moving the entry box shelter away, so I’ll save doing all this for when I have a daughter available to help out.

Meanwhile…

My husband and I had plans today. We were going to head to the nearer city, where he can go in to exchange his cell phone, as the 2 year plan is up. He doesn’t use it much, but if he simply kept it, we’d be charged almost $700 for the balance on the phone. Or, he can return it and get a credit, but would have no phone. Alternatively, he can exchange it, have another phone on a new plan, and still get a credit.

So that’s what we were going to do and, thanks to a generous monetary Christmas gift from my mother, we were planning to have an actual sit-down dinner date, too. It might just have been to Subway or something, in the same shopping commons as the phone place, but it still would be a fun and rare treat for my husband.

With the cold, we waited until things warmed up in the afternoon before we started heading out. It was -19C/-2F and the time we left. I went ahead to take out the shopping bags in the back of the cab to make room for his walker while warming up the engine a bit. Since we haven’t been able to get the block heater cord repaired, I made sure to run the engine a bit while I was doing the morning rounds, too.

Soon we were loaded up and on our way.

We got maybe 5 or 10 minutes out, when it happened.

The console started dinging, and the “oil pressure low, shut of engine” light started flashing. The oil pressure gauge had suddenly dropped right down.

We already had the oil sensor replaced from the last time it happened.

So I popped on the hazards and pulled over.

Of course, the first thing I did was check the oil level. We had an oil change done when the sensor was replaced, so it should have been full.

It was. Looked pretty clean, too.

I still added a small amount. It was a fight to get the oil cap off (thank goodness we keep a stool in the truck, or I couldn’t have reached it!), and one of the first things I noticed was the interior. It looked almost as if the black plastic was blistered.

It wasn’t.

It was ice.

So I added a bit of oil, then cleaned out the inside of the cap as thoroughly as I could before putting it back and running the engine for a bit before checking the oil again.

Definitely plenty of oil.

Well, we weren’t going to take a chance. Once everything was put away, we turned around and went home, while my husband messaged our daughters to open the gate for us.

The warning light did not turn on again, and the gauge stayed within the range it was supposed to.

The gate was ready and open for us, so I pulled straight in to the garage, stopping only to get the walker out for my husband before pulling the rest of the way in.

As soon as we were inside and settled, I called the garage and left a message describing what happened. Our mechanic called back within minutes.

He asked a few more questions, and he basically confirmed what I already suspected. Most likely, there was a bit of ice from condensation getting into the sensor and triggering that warning. Basically, the engine needed to warm up longer. He has seen this before, but only with GM vehicles.

Hmmm.

Since we know there is plenty of oil, he basically said, if it happens again, it’s not a panic. That was the main thing. The last time it happened, the truck turned out to be almost completely out of oil, even though there were no visible signs of a leak, nor were we burning blue. There is a separate warning light for low oil, and that never turned on. Replacing the sensor also took care of the leak, and the oil level has been steady, since.

Well, I’ll take this as a sign we weren’t meant to go to the smaller city today.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll be meeting with my brother at our mother’s for a visit. It’ll be earlier than usual, since he has to leave by noon, but this is his Christmas visit to my mother, as they’ll be visiting the grand kids for Christmas and New Year’s.

If the cold we got hit with last night is why this happened with the truck, though, it should be fine, tomorrow. We’re expected to dip below -20C/-4F for a few hours this evening, but start warming up throughout the night. By the time I should be leaving in the morning, we are expected to be warmer than we are right now. Long range forecast no longer says we’re supposed to get as warm as 6C/43F around Christmas, but it does still say we’ll be hovering around the freezing mark on those days. We will be doing our dinner on Christmas Eve. I will be setting aside a couple of meals and plan to go to my mother’s to have lunch with her on Christmas day.

Hopefully, the truck sensors will behave!

For the rest of today, though, it’s another home day, after all! I’ll be working on more garden analysis posts, instead. 😄

On a semi related note, a while back I wrote about how I was suddenly seeing ads on YouTube again. I ended up getting an updated version of Firefox and installing their adblocker, as it was the only one that still worked. I was still getting them on my phone’s app, to the point I could no longer play YouTube videos at all, they were so intrusive. Which meant, no playing background playlists to help me sleep.

Well, that has stopped as suddenly as it started. I no longer see YouTube ads on any browser I use, nor on my phone app. None of them had gotten updates, either.

Very strange, but I’ll take it!

Oh, this is too funny! I just got a message from the Cat Lady.

One of the cats they took from us was a muted calico we called Muffin. She was an outside cat friendly enough that we could get her into a carrier. She went to them to be spayed, get the usual vet checks, then go up for adoption. Instead, she bonded with the Cat Lady’s husband, and they are still inseperable.

Today, she is out with him, delivering Christmas bonuses and drinking Starbucks.

Muffin still hates the Cat Lady, for some reason – she’s never had any other cat behave like this towards here before. Muffin still tries to bite her, every day, even though she doesn’t have teeth anymore. But she adores the Cat Lady’s husband, attended Zoom calls with him, goes out to job sites, and when she has to stay home, sits at the window, crying for him all day. It’s got to the point that all these hardened contractors now look forward to seeing Muffin. Too funny!

Well, time to adjust my plans and see what I can get done, now that it’s turned out to be a home day.

The Re-Farmer

Well, d*** What a thing to come home to

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Today is now 2 weeks since Kohl and the fluffy boy were spayed and neutered, so it was time to open up the isolation shelter.

I did today’s morning rounds, starting with feeding the outside cats, as usual. When I got to the isolation shelter, I saw Eye Baby’s messed up eye was stuck shut and his nose all crusty. When I opened the sliding window to put food in, he was much more interested in escaping! So I grabbed him and took him inside, where I held him while my daughter washed his face.

Once his face was cleaned up, I put him in the sun room, under the heat lamp. Then I opened up the isolation shelter and put the entry box over the ramp.

Then I went back for the jug of warm water to top up the various bowls. I found Eye Baby on one of the plant stands we have for them to use to get up onto the platform and other shelves. I scatter kibble on it, as some of the cats prefer to eat there, rather than at the trays on the floor. He was eating quite enthusiastically.

When I returned to the isolation shelter, an adult white and grey was already inside and going for the food bowl. The fluffy male was just outside the entry box, saw me and dashed back into the isolation shelter!

There was no sign of Kohl, anywhere.

I kept an eye out for her as I continued my rounds. I didn’t see her until I was back in the sun room. I found Eye Baby in a cuddle puddle in one of the cat beds. As I tried to get a picture, Kohl emerged from somewhere and photobombed me! So I picked her up and cuddled her for a while. She seemed quite happy to be out of the isolation shelter.

Not long after, I started heading out to the garage to go to my mother’s. I found a whole bunch of adult cats in the isolation shelter – plus the fluffy boy! I did try to pet him through the sliding window, but the best I could get was some finger sniffing.

Everything seemed to be going well, though. The cats were really liking having access into the isolation shelter again.

From there, it was off to my mother’s town. I left early so I could make a quick stop at a small department store before going to the gas station. I’d seen that gas prices had dropped to $1.229 a few days ago, but it was back up to $1.309 So I just got $30 in gas to top it up a bit.

By then it was past 11am, which is when their fried chicken is ready, so I got chicken and wedges, plus a couple of smoothies, for my mother and I to have for lunch, as she doesn’t get Meals on Wheels on Thursdays.

When I got to her place, I saw her water jugs already set out on her walker; there is a tap on the laundry room with softened water that she uses for drinking and cooking water. She was talking to someone on the phone when I knocked and went in, so I just left the bag of food on the table, then went to refill her water jugs. She was done on the phone by the time I got back, and told me her niece (who is also my godmother) was wanting to pop by some time today.

So we had our lunch, then went over her shopping list. A few things got added to it, and then I headed out. She didn’t need much, so I wasn’t gone for long, even though I went to a couple of different places to get it all. I did get a couple of extra things for her that weren’t on her list, but I that knew she would be good with, and were within her budget. She was quite happy with the changes.

I didn’t stay too much longer, as there was going to be social activities in the common room this afternoon, and my cousin was going to visit some time after that. My mother was going to have a very full day!

While I was in town, my husband asked me to pick something up, but I hadn’t seen it in the stores, so on the way home I made a side trip to the town closer to us. I found what he needed, but on the way back, I realized I really needed to go to the bathroom, so I stopped at a full serve gas station.

The gas prices here were $1.229!

When I told the gas jockey to put in $20 (which came very close to filling my tank!), I told him what the price was in my mother’s town. He was very surprised, and told me they were expecting their prices to go down again, soon!

That done, I could finally head home. After bringing stuff in and catching up with my younger daughter, she mentioned going the litter in my bedroom/office. She hadn’t had a chance to empty the bucket yet, though. With using stove pellets for litter, we’ve been tossing it behind the outhouse to compost. Since I still had my boots on, and didn’t want the bucket to freeze in the old kitchen, I went through to dump it out.

When I opened the old kitchen door into the sun room, the first thing I saw was a white and grey kitten, lying on the floor next to the door to outside.

It was Eye Baby!

He had been there long enough that rigor was starting to set in.

Damn, damn, damn. He seemed to be doing so much better this morning! What happened in the few hours I was away?

Since we can’t bury him right now, he went into the branch pile for cremation. There are now two kittens in there.

I’ve since updated the Cat Lady about this, as she helped us so much with him, providing him with medication for his eye and antibiotics for longer treatment. Yes, he was still sickly – that’s why we put him into the isolation shelter – but still. It was a real surprise, after how he seemed just this morning.

Damn.

After taking care of Eye Baby’s remains and finishing my errand, I gave the outside cats their evening feeding early, and topped up their water as well.

There were SO many cats inside the isolation shelter! The food bowl was completely empty, so I put a generous amount in there.

Fluffy boy was still in there, and was very interested in the food bowl, but there were adult cats in the way. Fluffy was on the shelf above, so I gave him a handful there. He was shy about my reaching out to him, but was willing to eat.

I even got to pet him! After a couple of times petting him, he even stopped acting like he was about to run away, and fell under the magic of ear skritches.

Kohl, meanwhile, prefers the sun room, and comes right over for cuddles.

I’d hoped we’d find homes for the two of them before we opened the isolation shelter, but the only people that expressed an interest when the Cat Lady put the word out about them were people who lived too far away to make it practical. I’m not sure about the legalities of cross border pet adoptions, either!

The Cat Lady is feeling really bad that they didn’t have space for Eye Baby, even though she knows they probably would have ended up keeping him permanently, and being another very expensive cat.

Speaking of which, she updated me on Button.

Not only is he deaf, but he’s now almost completely blind! He’s had so many tests since they took him in, they’re just done with it. He can no longer find his food bowl, and they constantly keep an eye out for him. Even their dog has been helping! He’ll actually pick up Button and carry him to the food bowls, or to his cat bed, or out of harms way. The Cat Lady has fallen completely in love with Button, as has one of her daughters. He’s such a unique looking cat, with his eyebrows and deep blue eyes, he’s actually had a few people express interest in adopting him, but nope: they are keeping him. I expect he will not be long lived, with all the health problems he’s turned out to have, but he’s wildly loved and is having the best life he could possibly have.

We are such sucks for the cats.

The Re-Farmer

Productive

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I’ve just got home from errands and just realized, it’s not even 1pm as I start this! It feels like it should be later.

I needed to go to the town north of us to pick up our beef share this morning, so I asked my daughter to do the morning rounds while I checked on the truck and stuff. The front tires were just low enough to be worth firing up the compressor and topping them up. It was -24C/-11F with a wind chill of -32C/-26F at the time, so I ran the engine for a while, too. I did have to shut it off while pumping one of the tires, though. The breeze was blowing the exhaust right into that corner of the garage!

I did help my daughter as she was feeding the outside cats, giving the isolation babies, their wet cat food treat. Eye Baby really wanted out this morning! Well, it’ll just be one more day. Tomorrow, we will be opening up the door and setting the entry box over the opening again, so cats can freely go in and out again.

I left quite early so that I could get other stuff done before meeting up in our usual spot to get our beef share. The general store out post office is in closes at noon today, so I figured I’d try the post office, first.

Zero mail, still. Not even junk mail. The back-to-work order came into effect yesterday, though. I expect rural communities are going to be pretty low on the priority list for getting deliveries.

So I picked up a sandwich (freshly made at our one restaurant, kitty corner across the street) and a drink for my breakfast, then headed north.

My first stop was the feed store, and to look for heated water bowls.

They did have small heated water bowls, which is what I was after, since the big ones stop working so quickly. The price was insane, though. The volume it holds is less than our small heated water bowls, but it cost as much as a large one. The quality, however, was noticeably better. With everywhere else being out of stock, I went ahead and got one, along with a couple more 40 pound bags of kibble.

For the beef share delivery, we always meet in a grocery store parking lot – the only grocery store in town – and I still had time, so I went in to do a bit of shopping. I didn’t need much, and the prices for most things are quite a bit higher, but they have a remarkable selection for such a rural store, so I took my time looking around to see if there was something else I wanted to get besides a carton of milk. 😄 I did end up getting some buttermilk, which I rarely do. I think it will be great for the next time we make cornbread.

That done, I didn’t have very long to wait in the truck before the lady arrived with my beef share. We could only do a 1/8th share this time, so it was just two boxes. The shares were smaller this year, as they butchered heifers this year instead of steers, so with our monthly payments, we actually ended up with a refund. I would like to do a quarter beef again, so I asked about the possibility of sending them payments starting in January.

She asked me to hold off on that. They need to figure out what they will be doing this year. They already had to switch to beef shares only, moving away from the individual cuts and freezer packs. The market price they would get for their beef is pretty good right now, so it doesn’t make sense for them to hold onto cattle through to the fall right now. Plus, with everything becoming more expensive in general, they are going to have to increase their price. Right now, with the beef shares, they are charging $6.50/pound hanging weight, and they’ll be losing money if they don’t adjust that. She won’t know until March or so, what direction they will be going. Once that’s worked out, she has a list of regular customers – including us – that they will contact directly. If we don’t find out until March, though, we’ll probably end up doing a 1/8th beef again, which she understands.

As we were talking, we shared some frustrations. For her, as someone who sells beef shares, she has a real problem with other ranchers that sell their shares at a fixed price, rather than by weight. You never know until you get the hanging weight, how much each share will actually work out to be. Which is how we ended up with a refund. You can’t just decide a whole beef will be X amount ahead of time, and then divide it by whatever share someone is getting. At least, not ethically! It makes things harder for ranchers like her, too, because people catch on that they’re not being charged fairly. I didn’t even know there were people selling beef shares with fixed prices. I’ve only see it done by weight.

So we shall see how things work out for them. Meanwhile, I’ll just set the payments I would be making to them aside. I would rather send it to them, to help feed the animal we will be eating, but that’s okay. And if they end up not doing beef shares next year, well, that’s just more in the savings account.

With my other errands done, it was straight home after picking up the beef. I pulled into the yard to unload, then gave the outside cats a small feeding to get them away from the truck so I could park it.

Once that was done, I empties the boxes into the freezer. With the extra shopping we’ve done for Christmas and New Years, there isn’t a lot of room! We couldn’t have fit a quarter beef in there, that’s for sure.

We got quite a few 2 pound packages of ground beef, a whole lot of steaks and several roasts, plus beef bones. Now that we have the Instant Pot, I’m thinking we could try using it to make bone broth – something with onions and garlic in it, so it’s for our own use only, not for the cats! I actually found some packages of bones, both beef and pork, while making space in the freezer. They’re starting to get freezer burned, so we should make some broth with them for the cats – and free up some freezer space!

Once that was put away, I took down the old extension cord that the fried out heated water bowl had been plugged into, and replaced it with the new one I picked up not long ago, then set up the new water bowl. There was still some liquid water in the fried out bowl, so I poured that into the new bowl. Remarkably, the water started getting slushy on top, rather quickly! I got the critter cam plugged in, too, and at first it didn’t work. The app told me the camera was offline. ?? I plugged things in and out a few times and it started working, so I don’t know quite what went wrong.

The new bowl has been accepted, though!

The old one, with nothing but ice in it, got set aside not far from there the heat lamp is. It might actually get warm enough to melt under there. As long as it doesn’t get in the way of the cats using the heat lamp, it can stay there.

I had lots of curious kitties while I was setting up the new extension cord!

I was done and tying off the outside doors again when I noticed there were three amigos at the window, watching me, so I decided to take their picture.

I ended up catching a bit of action!

So much for being amigos! 😄

Anyhow.

Everything is now brought in, put away and set up.

It’s been a productive day, and that makes me happy.

The Re-Farmer

Catching up and planning ahead

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First, the cuteness!

I just got back from doing the evening outside cat feeding. When I got to the isolation shelter, Kohl was right at the sliding window. She didn’t want food – she wanted attention!

So I gave it to her for as long as I could. She actually made it hard to close the sliding window, because she kept pushing her head through. I did take her out to cuddle her, which she was good with until she wanted back in, but she still wanted pets!

Eye Baby also wanted attention, but the fluffy male is still a stranger. I was able to pet him this morning, while he was eating wet cat food, but that was all he would tolerate. Eye Baby, once the way was clear, was as demanding of pets through the window as Kohl was.

None of them have shown any interest in trying to “escape” the isolation shelter.

In other things…

Last night, I got a message from my brother. Sadly, seeing me at the church closing service triggered our vandal. I thought thing had gone well, but nope. He left another message with my brother. He had some pretty nasty things to say about me, and my younger daughter in particular, and her beard. Of course, he has no idea about her PCOS – or anything else. He hasn’t seen my daughters in years, and only seen me in passing. How he even knows this, I don’t know, because I have no idea who else we have in common that would have described her to home – or why they would do that in the first place.

In the end, he was telling my brother to kick us out. He wants my brother living here, not us. He’s also demanding to meet face to face with my brother. My brother spent years asking to talk to our vandal, trying to find out what happened between them, and our vandal never responded. Now, he’ll insult my brother in the messages while demanding they meet face to face? Oh, and using his cancer as a weapon to try and manipulate my brother, just like he used my late brother and late father to try and manipulate my mother for so many years.

For someone who says he’s dying, he sure doesn’t look or sound like it. Not that that means anything.

My poor brother was really upset. He transcribed the message for me, which meant he listened to it over and over. I quite understand how traumatic that can be. I’ve had to do similar, years ago.

After we had a chance to talk, I ended up sending a message to my neighbour that had ranted at me in the church parking lot. I was going to not bother, but after the message – and a comment our vandal made that suggested to me that he and our neighbour had talked about what happened, since our vandal was already inside the church when some things were said – I changed my mind.

I didn’t address a lot of issues, but did point out some things our vandal has clearly been lying to him about, included the transcription of the new message and attached the last two, which were much more vile, as well. I also called him out on how he treated me and told him, never again. I told him, I wasn’t angry with him (I don’t waste my energy on anger) and I don’t hold grudges, but if he’s got a problem with me, we can have a conversation, but not that.

This morning, I found a brief response from him saying we could have a conversation, but he was pretty blindsided by things. Which is totally understandable. I hate that he has been dragged into the mess like this. I love him like another brother, though, and I would hate to lose his friendship over what our vandal is doing.

At this point, I’m am thinking it may be time to consult a lawyer to see what sort of legal action we can take. It’s not just about the slander anymore, when he is demanding my brother evict us. The irony is, one of the reasons we are here at all is because of our vandal. My brother and his wife were going to move here and rent their property out, but between our vandal and my mother’s mistreatment of my brother, they (rightfully) changed their minds.

Meanwhile, I just got a call from a hospital about my mother. She has finally been booked for an MRI.

On New Year’s day.

Before 8am.

Good grief.

Still, we had to take it. Otherwise, she would have been put on the bottom of the waiting list and who knows how long it would take for the next appointment they could get her.

Overall, though, today was a quiet home day. Tomorrow morning, I’m booked to pick up our beef share, then the day after, I’m booked to do my mother’s grocery shopping.

In the middle of everything else, I’m going to be starting my garden analysis posts. I’ve already started organizing notes and going through old garden blog posts. Normally, I would have done this in November, but that just didn’t work out.

It’s going to be interesting. So much changed from what our plans were, to what we actually ended up doing in the garden. All of which will help us decide what we will be doing next year, though with the direct winter sowing done in the fall, quite a bit of that is already decided!

So, for the next while, there should be quite a few gardening posts before Christmas!

In fact, I’m about to stary my first one, next.

I hope that others can learn from them as much as I do!

The Re-Farmer

Walking in a winter wonderland…

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Well, okay. Maybe more shoveling, than walking!

It sure does look beautiful out there, though.

We’ve had a gentle snowfall all night. It has stopped for a while, but we’ll be getting a little big more, this evening.

We were actually already at our high of the day (-1C/30F) when I headed out to do the morning rounds, and it will be slowly cooling down for the next couple of days.

As relatively warm as it was, that didn’t stop this kitty from taking advantage of the empty heated water bowl!

Alas, this is one of the more feral cats and it ran off very quickly. I had to zoom in and crop to get the image above, because I couldn’t get any closer without scaring it.

The isolation shelter was very warm in the food corner, where the heat bulb is facing.

You can also tell where the two pieces of insulation under the roof touch. Enough heat is escaping in between to cause the snow on the back of the roof to melt more!

I’m a little concerned about Kohl, though. She has one eye that’s leaking a bit. When I took a closer look, I could see some redness and swelling in the corner. She’s also snuffling a bit. Something to monitor.

Eye Baby, on the other had, is looking a bit better. His eyes and nose are still leaky, but his eyes were not stuck shut this morning, like they were yesterday. He was also quick to jump down and start eating the wet cat food I gave them. Kohl was more interested in human attention.

The fluffy male meanwhile, is looking clear eyed, hale and hearty! I couldn’t touch him, though. Kohl and Eye Baby kept getting in the way!

After doing the food and water for the outside cats, I got a decent amount of shoveling done around the house. In the process, I piled up more snow around three sides of the catio. The cats quite enjoy using it! The only issue is when the more feral cats are in there when I come closer to put food in the bowl in there. They start panicking and bouncing off the wire mesh of the walls a few times before going for the open door.

I got a path cleared to the garage, wide enough for a walker, and cleared in front of the garage so the doors where Spewie is stored could be opened. My daughter will use Spewie for the driveway later on.

I will most likely be heading out before then, though. Just a quick run to the post office. I checked online and discovered that a gift I’d ordered for my daughters arrived on Friday. The last time I looked, tracking said it would arrive on January 7, because of the postal strike. This was to be delivered with Purolator, but they are (90%?) owned by Canada Post, so they weren’t delivering either. With that delivered, it means regular mail might have been delivered, too. There has been a back to work order made (since Canada Post is a Crown Corporation, it’s federally controlled), but I think that kicks in this week.

Whatever the reason, I’m just happy the gift made it in, and hopefully, so will other important mail that should have arrived, weeks ago. We don’t get a lot of mail, as most stuff is now done electronically, but the mail we do get tends to be things like letters from clinics for my husband, or other similarly important stuff.

Since I’m heading to the post office, anyhow, I think I’ll stop by the old church again and see what is left inside, after yesterday’s closing service. I expect people took as many mementos as they could, and the only things left will be too damaged, but you never know.

Oh, I almost forgot to share one more adorable photo! As I was coming back inside after doing my rounds, I spotted these boys.

We’ve got Midnight, Gouda and I believe the tabby is the one the girls call The Toe Biter.

What a face I caught on Gouda!

They are all more friendly than feral. They have their moments. Some days, they eagerly come over for attention. Others, they act almost completely feral and won’t let us near them.

Gouda is the only one we’ve been able to get fixed, in this group.

Meanwhile…

Last night, I had a chance to talk to my brother on the phone. I told him about what happened with our neighbour, before the church service yesterday. We are both perplexed by some of the things he was saying. Clearly, our vandal has been telling him things, but any time I tried to ask for more information, he just kept ranting. After talking to me, my brother said he would call our mom, then let me know when he was done so I could call her and tell her about the service, since she couldn’t be there.

In almost no time at all, he called me back to say he was done; he had brought up about the church service, telling her that I was going to be calling her to tell her all about it. She kept asking him questions, but he wasn’t there and couldn’t answer, so he just told her I would be calling to tell her all about it. She kept asking, so he told her he would get off the phone so I could call her.

Which I did.

When she answered, my mother started telling me she was watching a show and “a problem like Maria” – which I promptly started singing, then told her it was from The Sound of Music. She was watching it, but didn’t know the name, even though she watches it when this channel plays it this time of year, every year, apparently.

I told her why I was calling, but in the end, she was more interested in her movie and said we’d talk about it later.

??? 😄😄

She did call me back today, while I was working on this post, so I got to tell her all about it. I told her I recorded the entire service for her, and just have to figure out how to get it so she can see it, since I couldn’t have such large video files taking up space on my phone. I did tell her about what happened with our neighbour, and she was perplexed by it, too. I told her what I had picked up for her, and about the Bible stand I took for myself. She was really happy that I had taken that stand. She remembers it well, too. There were a few other things we talked about as well. My mother used to regularly go to clean the church, even after it was no longer being used. Over the decades, she picked up things like shelves and other items for it. I’m sure the artificial flowers all over were from my mother, but I didn’t know she had bought several shelves, as well, including one that was in the tiny room the fire was started in.

I told her about the print that was donated by my “uncle”, how damaged it was, and who I thought had taken it. I told her I planned to go back, too, and she was happy to hear that. I also explained to her what was going to happen to various things, as much as anyone was able to confirm for me. She was particularly interested in the statue of Mary outside. It turns out, that was donated and installed by a (distant) relative of ours!

Then Meals on Wheels showed up with her lunch, so I let her go.

Things are still looking good outside. As I write this, the post office is closed for another hour, so I think I will head out and go to the church first and see how things are now, and take my time until the post office opens again. I don’t have to wait to pick up the one package I know about, since it was delivered to the store, not the post office, but we might have others.

Then I have to figure out how to get the gift for my daughters wrapped without them seeing it. For the space I need, I might have to use the basement! 😄

We shall see!

The Re-Farmer

I’m glad I went

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Before I get into it, I wanted to share this photo I took, after doing the evening outside cat feeding.

Nice to see them using the insulated box nest. Poor Eye Baby is looking gross, but at least his eyes didn’t glue shut again! Earlier, when I was topping up their food, he actually came over for pets. It was really, really warm in there, too. But then, it was also warm enough outside that I didn’t bother wearing a jacket, even when I stopped to shovel some snow.

I’m certainly glad we had such a mild day. The de-consecration service for our little church had to be done outside, because there was no room for everyone, inside. Not that were were a lot of people. Maybe 20? 25? However, it’s not like anyone could have used the pews or anything.

I got there early, so that I could take photos of videos. The front doors no longer had a board across them, so after I went around the outside, I checked, and the doors were unlocked. I’m not sure they even can be locked anymore.

So I went inside, rather carefully. I didn’t know how much fire damage there was to the floors. With some of the windows boarded up, some areas were just too dark for the camera on my phone, and it doesn’t allow the “flashlight” to be on while taking video.

I was finishing up when I heard the first vehicles showing up.

It was our vandal and his wife, plus our mutual neighbour.

I went to talk to our neighbour while they were turning their car around the back. I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t leave because of me.

Well, I got a surprise from our neighbour. I’d sent him a message after seeing him briefly and let him know what my mother said about the soup drop off, because of the messages she heard our vandal leave on my brother’s voicemail. I didn’t tell him the contents of the messages; only that he’d said some pretty vile things about me and my daughter. It was just an FYI. Mostly, I was telling him I was happy to see him, even briefly.

When I asked to make sure they wouldn’t leave because of me, he just lit into me. Apparently, my message to him was “vile” (if he thought that was vile, the things our vandal said about me and my daughters would give him a heart attack!). He basically just verbally barfed all over me, and wouldn’t let me get a word in edge wise.

Very much like what our vandal does, in fact.

While he was doing that, our vandal and his wife went into the church, but they could hear what he was saying. He didn’t stop until other people started showing up.

I’m saddened that this happened. Clearly, he’s been dragged into the middle of something that he shouldn’t have any part in, but he was also basically repeating our vandal’s favourite victimhood lines – and he is only getting one side of the story. At one point, he was saying he’s seen all this evolve over the years I was living in other provinces and knows how all this started. I said, maybe we could get together and you can tell me, because we have no idea. I don’t think he heard me over himself.

Ah, well.

As more people arrived, I went into the church again. Everyone was looking around and taking pictures. There was a particular wall hanging I asked about, as it was no longer where it used to be, but no one knew where it went. Later, I heard someone call down from the choir loft to tell me it was up there. I hadn’t tried to go up there, as I didn’t know if the very steep, already dangerous stairs were safe. They’re more like climbing a ladder, with the rungs much wider apart.

I remember being up there with the “choir” as a child. The space is insanely tiny, yet somehow people got a pump organ up there. That antique went to someone else, long ago, so it was not there to be damaged by the fire. The church bell used to be in the ceiling up there, too, until people realized it was barely supported. A simple steel frame bell tower was made for it outside, and it’s still there.

When the priest arrived and it was time to start, he suggested we gather around outside, due to the lack of space. I was able to get video of the entire service for my mother, without being obtrusive. The priest shared some interesting historical information about how churches get consecrated, and traditions surrounding the process.

Now that I think about it, I really shouldn’t call this a de-consecration service. It was a sort of closing service. At the end of it, he explained what will happen next.

Everything in the church that can be burned, will be burned, as that is the proper and respectful way to disposed of things that are consecrated. The things that cannot be burned will be buried in the church cemetery, which is maybe half a mile away. A model of the church will be built and set up there, too.

The bell and its tower will also be moved to the cemetery. There is a statue of Mary outside as well. This was installed at a time when it was very popular to mount statues, crosses, etc. on large concrete bases that were decorated by pressing stones into the concrete, sometimes in shapes or words. This one also has a wider base forming a couple of steps, with larger stones embedded into the sides. I asked about it, and was told it was not yet decided what would happen to it. The statue itself is damaged, with missing hands. If it can be repaired and restored, it will also be moved to the cemetery. If not, it will be buried, because it, too, was consecrated.

After the service, everyone gathered for a group photo. Then the bell was rung a few times, including by the priest. Then we all went back into the church and looked around some more. We were allowed to collect mementos, if we wanted. For my mother, I took one of the Stations of the Cross plaques from the wall next to what was our family pew, and one of the votive candle holders from the stand where people could light a candle and say a prayer.

When I was an altar server here as a child, we would get ready and put on our cassocks in a tiny room near the back door of the church. Then, just before service started, we could go across, behind the altar, to join the priest in the tiny room he got prepared in, before coming out in procession. The fire was started by the back door, and that room was the most badly damaged. Completely gutted and destroyed. In the priest’s preparation room, there was some fire damage near the open doorway, but mostly it was smoke damage.

I was looking around in there with someone when I spotted something else from my childhood. Basically, a metal box with legs, and a top that could be raised to different angles, to rest a Bible on while being read from during services. It was a fancy one used for special occasions. (There was a plain wooden one for regular use.) It was still at its lowest setting, with a crochet doily on top. The doily was badly smoke damaged, and when I took it off, it’s pattern was left on the metal surface, where it protected it from smoke.

Smoke damage was pretty much it, for the stand. I ended up taking it as my own memento.

I also took the chance and went up into the choir loft. I saw the framed piece I’d been asking about, and it was quite badly damaged. I didn’t dare go too much further in, and it had been tucked behind the single pew up there.

Someone did take it down, though, and as I was getting ready to leave, I saw it in the entry. My cousin and her husband were there and we talked about it. I told them about how it was a donation from an uncle (not really an uncle, but a relative of my dad’s). They encouraged me to take it, but I told them I knew I wouldn’t be in a position to restore it, so I would rather it went to someone who could.

I think they ended up taking it!

Someone else took a framed print of the Last Supper my mother donated – her name was even on the back of it!

If I stayed too much longer, though, I knew I would have started loading up the truck. There were so many memories in there! Perhaps I’ll go back soon, after everyone else has taken what they want, and see what is left. I don’t think the actual dismantling and burning of the building and items will happen until spring, at the earliest. As I was leaving, though, I did see someone backing their truck up to the front doors. I think they were planning to take some pews.

As for the plot the building is on, there is talk of selling it. It would be a shame, but we just don’t have the population to support a church anymore.

With all of this going on, I even managed to ask some questions of our vandal, as he seems to be pretty involved with the stuff, and he even answered me, if briefly.

We shall see what comes of it.

Meanwhile, I will probably put together a movie and upload it, so that I can show it all to my mother. I had to take the videos off my phone, because they take up too much memory, and my phone doesn’t have the ability to add a micro SD, like my old one did.

I will also clean the items I got for her. She doesn’t have a lot of space, so I only got the two small items. The glass votive holder will be easy enough to clean, but the Station of the Cross plaque is a combination of ceramic on wood, and will need more care. As for the metal book stand, I’m going to have to do some more research on how to clean that. It has some pretty intricate designs on the sides in the metal, plus fake gems embedded in places. It’s going to need some very careful and meticulous cleaning.

I won’t be sharing any images or video here, though. Unfortunately, I still need to keep this blog anonymous, and these things are just too publicly recognizable.

Ah, well.

So while there were a few uncomfortable moments, I’m glad I went. This church was a big part of our community for a long time, and is full of history and personal memories. Such a shame, to lose it like this. But, as the priest said, the church is not really a building. We are the church. And we live on.

The Re-Farmer

It’s say they’re a hit!

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I’ve been keeping an eye on the sun room, since switch to the hotter heat bulbs. This morning, I made sure to change the angle on the critter cam, because the light was blowing out the image like a glowing sun! 😄

They are definitely making use of the warmth! Every time I look out the bathroom window, I can see groups hanging out under the bulb. The last time I checked the critter cam, I could see three of them bunched together, with two of them grooming the one in the middle.

It’s definitely made a difference in the isolation shelter, too. Reaching in to take care of their food bowl, next to the window, I could feel warmth. The kittens have been hanging out on the lounging shelf in front of the lamp, enjoying the warmth.

As soon as I opened the sliding window, Kohl was right at me, wanting attention. The fluffy male just went off to the side and watched. Eye Baby stayed on the shelf and I could see his eyes were stuck shut. I made sure to leave some food beside him, including wet cat food, before messaging my daughters about it, then continuing my rounds. The girls came out and cleaned his face, but had a hard time getting him, because Kohl kept getting in the way, demanding attention!

Today is going to be a much warmer day, though the snow that was supposed to start tomorrow is now expect to hit us this evening. I’m glad it’s holding off, since I’ll be heading out soon. The tiny church in our tiny hamlet that I was baptized in is being deconsecrated today. Both churches in our hamlet have been closed for years. Someone broke into this one, stole some stuff and started a fire. The damage was bad enough that it’s not worth fixing, and it will be torn down. A piece of history, destroyed. 😢 There are some things in there that were donated by family members. I’d like to know if they were damaged, too, or what will happen to them if they weren’t.

Time to go!

The Re-Farmer