The rescue covered the neuter, a set of vaccinations, ear mite treatment and deworming. We were sent home with medication to give him tonight, then another dose in 2 weeks.
He will be staying in the catio for a couple of days – if we can keep him in there! – so we can keep an eye on him. I found some reinforcing plates for the upper corners of the catio while Gouda was getting his surgery. Once those are on, and the top is painted, I also found neoprene lined washers to use when screwing the roof panels on, to prevent water leakage.
The Cat Lady and I were messaging and talking to each other throughout the morning. As I was waiting for the pick up time, she started asking me questions about his behaviour and how socialized he is.
She might have someone who can adopt him.
This is someone who needs a barn cat that is friendly, but not too friendly. She doesn’t want a cat that will get under the feet of people coming in to the horses. He might get under the feet at feeding time, but when there are other people around, he’s not to be seen anywhere. Which may be exactly what she’s looking for.
This wouldn’t happen for about a month, though, as we are to continue observing Gouda – in particular, his ears – over the next month. As expected, he had ear mites and, as seems to be usual, it was pretty bad. He’s going to need time to heal, and we are to try and see if there is any leaking.
We’ll do the best we can!
As I was picking him up and they were finishing off the invoice, the processed the payment from the rescue. I asked, trepidatiously, how much it cost. With the extra treatment and medications, plus the cost of the neuter, I was expecting it to be over $300.
It turned out to be a bit over $160! Which is an amazing price! The rescue gets a really good deal with this vet! Most vet clinics do offer discounts for rescues, but this one seems to be making the extra effort to make spays and neuters affordable.
If the rescue can also find a new home for Gouda, that would be really something. Especially after the person that was going to adopt Button backed out!
I don’t have any dates yet, but the Cat Lady said she had us booked for 2 more males next month.
Today is our average first frost date. Thankfully, there is no sign of frost on the horizon! As I write this, we are at 27C/81F, with the humidex making it feel like 30C/86F, which I think it down from the predicted high of 28C/82F – or perhaps we haven’t reached the high, yet! Today’s overnight low is expected to be 11C/52F Starting tomorrow, and for the next week to 10 days, the overnight lows are expected to be about 15C/59F or higher, while risk of frost might not happen for most of this month at all, though we might be dipping pretty close by the last few days of September.
While doing my morning rounds, I took recordings for a garden tour video, then did a harvest.
It was while I was recording that I spotted the melon that had split overnight, so I made sure to pick that one, even though it was still tightly attached to its vine. The other one, however, turned out to have already dropped from its vine on its own!
There are a few Royal Burgundy bush beans, and a few of the green Seychelle pole beans. No Carminat pole beans today. I picked a couple of Purple Beauty peppers, then some Forme de Couer and Black Cherry tomatoes.
With today expected to be so hot, I also did a deep watering of the garden beds.
While I was watering in the old kitchen garden, I decided to actually taste one of the Black Cherry tomatoes. Just in case this is a type I can eat.
Nope.
Gag city. Ugh!!!
Since I was still watering, I was able to wash my mouth out with the hose. Even then, I went hunting among the tiny strawberries to find some I could eat to get the taste out of my mouth.
So far, the tiny Spoon tomatoes are still the only tomatoes I can eat fresh, without gagging. At least I can eat tomatoes after they’ve been processed into a soup or sauce or something, unlike peppers. Thankfully, it’s not an allergy, so if they’re processed in a sauce, as long as I can’t taste them, I’m fine. If they’re still in chunks or there’s enough that the taste is noticeable, I still can’t eat peppers, no matter how appetizing I find everything else about them!
At least the family likes them!
While I was back inside and having breakfast (at lunch time…) I got a lovely surprise phone call.
The roof panels I ordered for the catio and isolation shelter were in!
Since I’m going to be out for the next couple of days doing other things, today was the day to pick them up. First, we had to get some things ready, and move the catio beside the house.
I had already moved the pots with the summer squash in them to make room. My daughter and I moved the swing bench into the garage, then we cleared and swept the patio blocks.
How to carry the catio was a bit of a conundrum. There’s really no way to grip it well, except by the very bottom, at which point, it’s not very stable.
At some point, I should add pairs of handles to the frame.
My daughter had the solution, though. She went inside the catio, where she could lift the whole thing herself by gripping the frame on each side with her hands, and using her head on the roof mesh to lift from the middle! The only thing that made it difficult was the plastic that’s covering the top for a temporary roof. There was just enough of a wind to catch on it and try and blow it away. My job was just to stabilize it while she carried it over to the house.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t set the back against the house, as we wanted. Thanks to the elm tree planted in front of the house, some of the patio blocks are lifted out of place by the roots. The catio is just wide enough that the front rested over the highest point, making the whole thing wobble. We ended up rotating it so that the back now faces the concrete steps and landing by the main doors.
My daughter put food and water bowls inside while I ran into the house, because the phone was ringing.
As for the phone, I’ve been playing telephone tag with the guy that heads the local home care department. I had called and left a message this morning, and sure enough, this was him, calling me back. I wasn’t fast enough, and he’d left a message. So I called back right away… and left a message! I was expecting to leave for the hardware store soon, so I told him how long I expected to be. Then I remembered that I will have cell phone signal while away, so I called back and left my cell phone number.
Thankfully, he was able to call back before I left!
I told him about what was going on with my mother, including her actions that may lead her to being evicted. We tried to make an appointment to get together, but the day he suggested this week is when I’ll be taking a cat to the vet to get its nibs nipped. The week after that, he’s away, while the following week, I had only one day available for sure – that’s the week we can expect the exterminators to be coming out to my mother’s again, and I want to make sure I’m there, so make sure things actually happen, and she doesn’t get evicted. After that, I’ll be doing our stock up shopping.
Given the situation with my mother’s possible eviction if she doesn’t let the exterminator in to confirm the bed bugs are gone, he asked if I were available this Friday morning.
I said yes. I didn’t even care what time. We need to get this process started!
I’m not going to be getting much sleep this month.
So on Friday morning, I will go to his office, and we’ll do as much of the paperwork as we can. My mother will likely need to make another doctor’s appointment, but she’s now refusing to see her doctor, because her doctor is black and female. My mother did have the chest X-rays they need within the past few months, though, so we might be able to skip that. She is still supposed to get a brain scan, and that’s on the waiting list, so that would just need a confirmation.
After I see him, we’ll go to my mother’s place to go over the paperwork, explain things to her, and get her to sign the necessary authorizations. Which should include at least having home care meal preparation done. I’m hoping to convince her to add medication assist, too, to make sure she takes her meds when she is supposed to.
So that is all arranged for Friday.
Once that call was done, I headed out to my mother’s town and went to the hardware store. Before picking up the items, I got a quart of black outdoor paint for the catio, as well as galvanized steel strapping to secure the last section of mesh, next to the door hinges. I was thinking of nailing through the steel strapping, but it’s too thick, so I picked up a box of the smallest wood screws they had that will still be secure in the holes of the strapping. Finally, I picked up some screw hooks, which will secure a cat hammock in the cat isolation house. While I was paying for those, I gave my receipt for the stuff to pick up to the cashier, so she could complete the invoicing part of it (it was already paid for), then call the folks in back to let them know what was about to be picked up.
The roofing material turned out to be in an 8ft long roll, which is longer than my truck box. I rolled back the cover so that it could sit on top of the tail gate, then secured it against the tailgate with a Bungee cord.
I’m so glad I picked up that set of cords, the day we got the catio!
I also got my two bundles of wood lathe, which I hope will be the last I need for the current projects.
Once all was secure, I headed home, remembering to stop at the mail along the way, in case an Amazon order came in early, which they sometimes do. There were a couple of parcels waiting that seemed oddly shaped. They turned out to be stuff my husband had ordered elsewhere, so we’ve still got Amazon packages to come in. The store the post office is in closes at noon tomorrow, though, so I won’t be able to pick anything up until Thursday. We’ll see what time I come back from the vet with a groggy cat!
The catio will need to be painted before the roof is put on, though – or at least the top of the catio needs to be painted before the roof is put on. However, I want to paint the bottom of it, which means flipping it, so that needs to be done first.
If I get out there fast enough, I cat get that done tonight. The paint should then be cured before it gets dewy during the night. I’ll talk to the girls about painting the rest while I’m gone, tomorrow. My younger daughter is the only one that can go in, to paint the inside.
Which means, I need to finish this off, get out there and get painting!
He looks so utterly content on that cat hammock in the catio! I could certainly relate to wanting a nap, that’s for sure!
This reminds me. I have been trying to think of ways to set up something similar in the cat isolation shelter. I expect to have a cat bed or two in there, anyhow, but I’m sure any cats in there would enjoy something like this!
We need to see if we have suitable fabric. Either that, or we can crochet something. I think I have enough strong, cotton yarn for something like this.
Speaking of the isolation shelter, I finally got some work on it today, which I’ll talk about in my next post. Since my brother was coming over with a couple more loads of equipment, I stayed outside so I could help as much as possible. With the first trip, they came and went very quickly. The triple axle trailer was just big enough for my brothers 1947 Chevrolet Loadmaster dump truck. !!! They had both trailers unloaded and were gone almost before I could get outside.
When they came back later, they unloaded the triple axle trailer first, so the guy could leave earlier – he charges by the house. It looks like this was the last load that needed the triple axle trailer. Anything else can be brought using my brothers own flatbed trailer. I helped him out as much as I could. It wasn’t a lot, but enough that he could get things done and could leave while it was still light out.
After doing all his own stuff, he also did a couple of things for me. When he came back the second time, he drove past me standing at the electricity meter, using my phone’s camera to try and get a picture of the reading. It was supposed to be sent in by yesterday, but I completely forgot. Being rather short in stature, I’d set up an old tire, still on the rim, under the meter so I could get a better angle on the camera. I still have to take several shots, and hope to get at least one where I can actually read the number.
One of the things my brother brought out last time was a step. Just a single step, about 4 feet long, that can be set up temporarily wherever needed. We brought it out, move the tire out of the way, and set it up. The ground is hilled around the post, and the middle of the step was on that mound, so it couldn’t sit flat. I was able to make use of some of the long pieces of wood salvaged from a pallet I’d cut apart. I cut 6 lengths that were about the same as the width of the step, though I ended up needing only four. I stabilized it with 5 pieces at first, but when I got on the step to test it out, I realized it was way too close to the post. I had to lean back, so as not to hit my head on the meter. After adjusting it a few times, I even found relatively level ground to set it on. The lengths of wood I put under it were not needed to stabilize it anymore.
They were added because I’m short. Now, I can actually look right at the meter and read the numbers! Yay!
The other thing my brother wanted to do was check under my mother’s car. It still had one completely flat tire in the front, too. It leaked air faster than I could pump it manually. After my brother tried to see under the back end, where the banging I’d heard was coming from, he asked about the compressor. I told him, the hose doesn’t reach, which surprised him.
It turns out there are several hose extensions hanging on the wall near the compressor, but none of them had ends that fit what is being used.
We ended up running the hose through the hole in the wall my brother had cut for the power cord. He threaded it through the wall by the compressor, while I pulled it over towards my mother’s car.
It was juuuuust long enough to reach the tire, once the nozzle was put back on.
It worked, too. The compressor got the tire pumped up faster than air could leak at the rim. Once there was enough pressure, it resealed itself, and now it no longer leaks.
Well. Somewhat. The tires went flat for a reason. The rear one that I’d pumped by hand (the compressor hose cannot reach the back tires) is still holding air, but it wasn’t as completely flat as the front tire was.
With that done, we left the compressor hose set up in the middle part of the garage, which is currently my workshop. It’s long enough that, once the truck is parked in the garage again, it should be able to reach all the tires.
As for checking under my mother’s car, there was nothing my brother could see that could have made that banging noise. Whatever made it is not out in the open. He thinks it’s probably something small, and not a major fix. The problem is, something small is something big, when we can’t afford to get it fixed. Unlike my brother, we can’t do this stuff ourselves! Even if I knew how, we don’t have the tools.
Ah, well. At least we got that tire pumped up! I’m much happier now. It’s not good for a tire to be flat like that for so long.
After that, we said our good byes, and he rushed off to drive home. I got a message from my SIL while I was working on this blog post, letting me know he arrived, safe and sound. It was full dark by the time he got home!
I don’t know if they’re going to try another trip this weekend. I hope my brother is able to take a day of rest, instead, but knowing him, he won’t! 😄
My brother is just amazing. He seems to be able to keep going, not stop, all the time. He’s always been like this, but he’s in his 60’s now, and still hasn’t slowed down! I don’t know how he does it. Even the guy with the triple axle trailer they hired had a hard time keeping up with my brother, and the guy with the trailer is only 17 years old!
Me, I’m lucky if I can manage to do half of what he gets done, and even then, I end up like Syndol, there, snoozing! Just not as cute. 😄
In the first photo, a support is being added to the back of the catio. The catio is sitting on one end, and I was able to reach inside through the open space in the back that was soon to be covered with wire mesh. I found a scrap piece of wood I cut to fit snuggly between the the middle of top and bottom frame pieces – snug enough that it stayed in place, even while the catio was on its side. Once it was centred, it was attached with screws. This will prevent any potential sagging in the middle – because I know that cats will be jumping on top! – as well as giving something extra to secure the wire mesh to.
,The catio is 5′ 3″ long. The roll of quarter inch wire mesh I got is 5′ long. Taking into account the width of the frame pieces, that meant I could cover the back of the catio, with half an inch on each side with which to secure it to the frame. In the second picture, you can see that I stapled the wire mesh in place.
You can also see, there is no way those staples were going to hold. However, stapling the new piece to the frame kept it where I needed it until I could secure it properly. I was also able to staple both old and new wire mesh to the new support in the middle, which kept things from wobbling around too much.
I then went nuts with pieces of wood lath, which you can see in the third image.
With the metal corner braces screwed onto the bottom of the catio, it now had metal bits that were not flush with the wood. I didn’t want to be dragging screw heads on the ground, or getting grass caught in the metal, if we had to move it. For now, I’ve added pieces of wood lath – which are exactly the same width as the frame pieces – to the bottom, flush against the metal braces. Eventually, we want to add something to the corners, over the metal braces, so that there is no gap for a cat to potentially reach under and dig its way out. We haven’t figured out what do use for that, yet. All in good time.
Once the bottom pieces were nailed in place, the catio got flipped onto its front. The wood lath comes in 4′ lengths, and the catio is 4′ high, so that worked out perfectly. The new vertical support inside the back of the catio is wider, though, so I centred two pieces to go over that.
It wasn’t until I’d already attached the pair of them to the frame at one end, that I realized one of them was shorter than the other by almost 2 1/2 inches! That was okay, though. When I added the horizontal pieces at the top and bottom, they were each marked and cut to individual lengths, so the gap was filled that way. Last of all, the vertical pieces attached to the frame.
Framing the mesh on the back had to be done rather carefully. There’s only that half inch of mesh attached to the frame, and I wanted to make sure there were plenty of nails that were inside the mesh squares, so that if something pulled or pushed onto the mesh, the nails would keep it from getting pulled out from between the wood. At the same time, the nails couldn’t go too close to the edge, or the wood lath would start splitting. Plus, the nails I was using were finishing nails I’d collected from what the cats had knocked onto the floor over the winter. I’d sorted out all the finishing nails from the rest, but only by type, not by size. A lot of them were thicker nails that would also split the wood, so I had to pick through the lid I was using as a tray to hold them, selecting those that weren’t too thick or too long or too short… there don’t seem to be a lot that were juuuuust right.
The main thing, though, is that the mesh is now securely attached to the frame. There is enough overlap between old and new wire mesh that I don’t think it also needs to be “sewn” together, but if it does, the wire that was used to keep the roll of mesh together was set aside for this, just in case.
That done, there were still a couple more areas to patch up. On each side, the bottom corner near the back was rusted out. You can see the larger rusted out area in the next photo of the slide show.
I didn’t have to break open the second roll of quarter inch wire mesh, though. I had a small amount left over from when I made the soil sifter, a couple of years ago. The rusted out areas of mesh were cut out. After determining how large the mesh needed to be to cover the holes, I made sure to cut them so that the two sides that would not be attached to the frame had the lengths of wire ends sticking out. When the new mesh was lined up with the old mesh, those ends were twisted around the old mesh to secure the patch in place. Then pieces of wood lath were cut to extend beyond the patches and nailed into place to secure them.
You can see the finished larger patch in the next photo – with Syndol on top! He was very curious about what I was doing, to the point I had to be careful not to hammer a paw!
So the wire mesh is now all patched up were needed!
That was where I stopped for the day, but there is still some repair needed. Along the hinge side of the door, some of the staples have popped off, and some of the wire mesh at the edges have become detached from each other. The easy way to fix it is with more wood lath, but the hinges have to be kept clear. The door also swings all the way open, and any wood lath added would prevent that. I need to come up with an alternative that is super thin. I do have some metal strips that I used on the raised bed covers, but the holes in that are larger, for screws, not nails. I don’t want to use screws for this, as I’d have to put in quite a few to secure the mesh, and I don’t want to be making that many large holes in the frame. The metal is soft enough, I might be able to nail through it, though. I’ll have to test that out, when I next get a chance.
Which won’t be tomorrow.
Meanwhile, with things as secure as they are now, I set the catio upright again and opened the door wide.
Syndol immediately found the door and started exploring. I lifted him onto one of the shelfs, and he promptly settled in the cloth hammock that is still secure. It took a bit longer for several kittens to find the door and explore as well.
I got rained on a few times while working on this, and we’re supposed to get more rain tonight, so I found a sheet of plastic and set up a temporary roof. This way, the cats can go inside and hang out on the shelves or the one secure hammock, and take shelter from the rain. In the last picture, you can see Syndol inside the covered catio.
There are a couple of fixes I’m going to have to get my younger daughter to do. I’m too broken to be able to go inside the catio to do them.
One is to add more corner brackets to reinforce the top corners of the frame, as has already been done in the bottom corners. We won’t be adding the flat plates on top of the corners, like the underside of the frame has, since the top will be covered with roof panels, and that will add its own layer of stability to the frame.
The other fix is to replace the torn cloth hammock. Those are stapled in place, but we’ll figure out some other way to attach the new cloth.
This won’t be done any time soon, but the very last thing we want to do is pain the whole thing – especially the new wood that was added – black. The wire mesh will be painted black as well, so that it’s easier to see through. We could probably get away with just a quart of paint for this job, too, which should be in budget.
For now, I’m happy with the progress made. With the last little fixes, we can use it as an isolation shelter right now, until the real one is finished. We don’t have to rush that job, now.
I’m so very thankful that the rescue was able to pass the catio on to us!
After helping my brother unloading equipment yesterday, I was still in a lot of pain this morning. My daughters were sweet enough to do the morning feeding of the outside cats, so I didn’t see them until much later. That is when I spotted this surprise.
I had to slowly, carefully walk around to be able to confirm what I was seeing.
That kitten is actively nursing.
That cat is not a mama.
This is the cat that dropped her litter around the yard and abandoned them. She never nursed any newborns. Which means she shouldn’t have a milk supply.
Yet there she was, with one of the older kittens attached to a nip, and actively nursing.
Which can happen, of course, but for her to have any milk now, she would have had to be allowing at least one kitten to nurse, right after she lost her litter, and we saw zero evidence of that until today.
Very strange!
I did end up having to give the outside cats a small feed – mostly making lots of noise to lure them away from the truck, so I could leave!
I wanted to go back to the feed store to pick up more kibble, including one bag that I’d already paid for, and the lysine they ordered for me. I didn’t know when their delivery truck was supposed to arrive today. Just that it was supposed to arrive, today.
I called my mother shortly before lunch time and asked if she wanted me to do her grocery shopping for her, since I would be in town, and could do it before running my own errands. So that was my first stop.
We had started a list, but as we went over it, she remembered more. I ended up rewriting the list, partly due to her increasingly creative spelling. Even her little doodles are getting harder to identify.
She is now all stocked up, though. I’m glad I called her ahead to do this, because she has a terrible habit of waiting until she is out of lots of things before calling me to shop for her.
On this day of the week, there are social activities in her building, and those had already started when I got back with her groceries. We visited for a bit after I put it all away, but she still wanted to join the group for coffee, at least, so that worked out.
I went to the feed store but, unfortunately, their delivery hadn’t arrived yet. I spoke to the guy that ordered the lysine for me, and he couldn’t be sure when they would come in. We confirmed that they had my number, and he said he would call me.
My next stop was at the hardware store. I wasn’t expecting the clear roofing sheets to be in yet, but I asked, anyhow. When I ordered it, I knew it was past their order cut off time, but sometimes the supplier has them in stock. If so, it would arrive this week.
I guess they didn’t have it in stock, because when the cashier went to ask for me, she was told it will be 2 weeks.
Which is fine.
What they DID have in stock was hardware cloth/welded wire mesh!
I had gone through the store and never saw any, but when I was asked if I needed help and told what I was looking for, the cashier took me into a part of the store I didn’t think customers were even allowed in! I always thought it was one of their inventory storage areas.
They had quite a bit of wire mesh, and the quarter inch mesh I was looking for came in 3′ x 25′ rolls!
Unfortunately, it was well out of budget.
There was, however, 3/4″ mesh, also in 3′ x 25′ rolls – and it was almost half the price!
This size would still be small enough to keep cats or kittens from getting through. I decided to get a roll.
Thinking about it as I was driving home, I decided that the 3/4 inch mesh will be used on the cat isolation shelter I’m building. The donated catio is already enclosed in 1/2 inch mesh. I have two 5′ rolls of 1/2 inch mesh that are 3 feet wide. I had intended to have one longer piece, covering the space where I’d removed the old mesh with openings in it, plus wrapping around one side to cover a corner of damaged mesh.
The length of the opening that needs to be covered is over 5′ long, but the width is only 20 inches.
So my plan now is to cut lengths of about 24 inches, to overlap the remaining mesh on the catio. I’ll need to “sew” the pieces together with wire to make sure there are no gaps a cat, or other critter, could get through.
If I can find a piece the right size, I’m thinking of adding a center support on the back of the catio. That will give me something else to attach the mesh to, making it even stronger.
We shall see.
As for the 3/4 inch mesh, I will use that on the isolation shelter.
I have time to get these done, though. The Cat Lady confirmed with me a date for a neuter, not a spay, this month. This means we will not have to isolate a cat for a 2 week recovery period. The males just need time to recover from being under anesthetic, and they can do that in a carrier.
So that’s the plan.
For now!
By the time I was heading home, the post office had reopened for the afternoon, so I made sure to stop and get the mail – just in case my Amazon order of lysine came in early.
It did.
So we at least have lysine again! We have a bit left, but where saving it to use in eye baby’s cat soup feeding. Now I can start dosing the outside cat’s kibble again.
Once at home, I didn’t stay long. Today was our day to order in my husband’s birthday dinner from the Chinese food place. Everyone had already marked off what they wanted on the take out menu, so I just confirmed those, called the order in, then headed out.
We got enough to last us for two or three days! This is a real treat for us, so we save up and don’t go half way on it!
I must say, the drive home from picking up the food was pure torture. I was getting really hungry by then, and the food smelled soooo good! We’ve already had our celebratory dinner.
I’m just going to do my evening rounds now – and then go for seconds!
Some time ago, he showed up with his cheek badly injured, a flap of skin torn off and hanging. While he would sometimes allow me to pet him while he was eating, he wouldn’t let me get a good look at him, and certainly not anywhere near the injury. For weeks, he’s had a piece of dead skin dangling off his face, but that finally fell off a few days ago.
This picture is one of the best looks I’ve been able to get of it for quite a long time. There’s no doubt that he’s going to have a massive scar there, but it seems to be closing up and healing well.
That cat is indestructible!
After I got this picture, while he and the other cats had gathered around for breakfast, I tried for a head count.
Oh.
My.
Goodness.
My first count was 44.
That’s right. Forty Four!
My second count was 37, and then 40, but I’m pretty sure that first count was accurate, and that some cats hid on me when I tried counting again.
One of these mornings, I should try to count just kittens and just adult cats. Not an easy task, but it would give me a better idea of how many of the adult cats have disappeared over the summer.
That is totally insane and unsustainable.
The rescue is helping us as much as they can, but with so few people adopting or donating for spays and neuters, there’s only so much they can help with.
Meanwhile, the girls just updated me on how treating and feeding eye baby went. I was just too exhausted and in too much pain to help out tonight. His eye still looks really horrible, but is definitely getting better. We have some plain eye drops – the same that’s used on humans for dry eyes – that we can at least use on the messed up eye. It doesn’t seem to be bothering him or slowing him down in any way, and he is just as active and playful as any of the other kittens. A real trooper!
Given that he is a descendent, direct or otherwise, of Shop Towel, I suppose that’s not a surprise!
I also got some updated on Button from the Cat Lady. Not only have they had to put a bell on him, but now have post it notes all over the place, including the bottom freezer drawer on their fridge, reminding people to check for Button before closing things. He’s just way too tiny!
There is a possible cause for this, though I am just guessing. He has been dewormed and massive amounts of them are being cleared out of his system and into his litter box. She’s never seen anything like it before!
Just a little bit longer and, as long as there isn’t any sudden backing out on the arrangement, he’ll be ready to go to his forever home.
Since I was heading to the city today, I didn’t try to see if anything needed to be harvested, while doing my morning rounds. I did it while doing my evening rounds, instead.
When I do my rounds, I usually have a cat or two, following me around. Sometimes, it’s Rolando Moon, wanting me to give her pets, then trying to scratch or bite me after I do. More often, of late, it’s been Syndol, who likes to be carried around, if he can convince me to pick him up. Other times, it’s this year’s Not-Junk Pile, (the previous Not-Junk Pile is now Toni the Tripod, and indoors. 😄) will follow me around.
I believe this is the kitten that pushes its way into the old kitchen – I really have to watch my feet when I open that door! – to explore. It even lets me pick it up and cuddle it for a while. This is the first time I’ve had one of this year’s kittens actively following me around the yards and garden beds, though. It’s hard to tell some of the white and black kittens apart, though. A few have distinctive markings, but the others… they just run around too much for us to get a good enough look at them to identify which is which!
I quite enjoyed having kitten company while harvesting these.
We’ve got all three types of beans in there, plus some Black Cherry tomatoes, and some Forme de Couer tomatoes. It’s getting that we have more tomatoes for fresh eating than my family can consume! Not enough to warrant going any canning or freezing, though. It’s been the same with the beans; more than we can eat right away, but not enough to make it worth processing. I think we might have enough to do a jar, maybe two, of quick pickled beans, but that’s about it.
It’s such a strange year. We plant with the goal to have enough to process for the winter months, but the spaces where we would have been planting stuff we’d harvest throughout the summer ended up being mostly winter squash and melons. Even the corn we planted as a trail of one variety, so not a lot there. We didn’t plant anywhere near as many beans, carrots, peas and summer squash we normally would have, and what we did plant, most didn’t even germinate. Even with three varieties of potatoes (only two that were planned), there isn’t a lot. We did plant four varieties of tomatoes, but cut back on how many plants we put in the ground – we still have tomatoes in the freezer from last year!
I am happy that we have so many winter squash and melons, but it’s going to be touch and go as to weather they’ll reach full maturity before the frost hit. The long range forecast still says we’re going to have a very hot two weeks in the middle of September, but the weather will do what it does, and the forecasts will probably change a few times between now and then! As it stands right now, we might not get a first frost until October. Which has happened before, since we’ve moved here. I seem to recall a fall where we didn’t get first frost until November, though I could be wrong on that.
Still, we’re expecting a few overnight lows that are on the chilly side, so I want to have that plastic around the eggplant and hot pepper bed soon. While not all the eggplants are fruiting, with the ones that are, I’m quite happy with what I’m seeing.
As an aside, while I was writing this, I got some updates on Button. He is doing fantastic, and getting spoiled rotten! In one photo sent, you can tell he’s getting bigger… but then there was a photo with him behind The Wolfman, and suddenly, he looks miniscule again! 😄😄 He’s got vaccinations and ear mite treatment this week, and then he’s ready to go. The woman that wanted to adopt him is still interested in him, and we’re hoping that doesn’t change, but sadly, too many people do change their minds at the last minute. The Cat Lady and her family have a whole bunch of cats living with them now, because of this.
We also just treated the eye baby kitten for the night, and gave her a feeding of cat soup, with my daughter holding her wrapped in a towel like a purrito. She seems to be getting quite used to the routine and accepting the ministrations, even if she doesn’t like parts of it. The swelling around that one eye does seem to be going down, but I’m still sure the eye itself is lost. Not even the rescue has a budget for her and, while it was suggested we could try turning her over to the humane society, chances are high they’d just euthanize her.
Which I shouldn’t be having a problem with, since we really do need to reduce the population, but I’d like to give them at least a chance to get adopted out.
Well, it’s time to call it a day and see if I can get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow, I need to follow up with the septic companies that haven’t called back yet. If I can’t get through to them, we need to contact the one company I did reach, and start making arrangements. This cannot be put off, now that we know about the problem!
Hopefully, the next time I write about it, I’ll have good news to pass on!
I was in a world of hurt this morning, after all the stuff done yesterday. The girls took care of feeding the outside cats. We gave eye baby her medication and a modified bottle feed last night, but then she went back outside. She’s getting too active to keep her in a cat carrier all night. Since we can’t wash her eye anymore – it’s not leaking, but is still insanely swollen – and no longer have eye drops, we didn’t take her in this morning. She seems to prefer kibble, anyhow. We’ll bring her in for her antibiotics in the evening, then let her back out again.
I tried to get more sleep, but got messages from my brother and couldn’t fall asleep after that. I’ll get to that part, later.
It was late morning before I got outside to check on the garden and see what could be harvested. We were supposed to get storms last night, but only got a brief rain. We were now being told to expect thunderstorms in the late morning, but very briefly. While I was in the garden, I could hear thunder in the distance.
That big G Star patty pan squash grew so much, just overnight! Yesterday, it wasn’t much bigger than the other one!
I finally picked our first yellow zucchini.
Those are all Forme de Couer tomatoes; no others were ready to pick. The beans are mostly the Royal Burgundy bush beans, which I did not pick at all, yesterday, with maybe a half dozen Carminat pole beans.
I do have to share about the enameled tub the harvest is in. It has been hanging on the wall behind the warming shelf of the wood cookstove for I don’t know now many decades. I brought it out and washed it, thinking we might need to use it for sponge baths, if we couldn’t get the septic going again.
I actually remember my mother bathing me in that, when I was a wee one. She had it on the table in the kitchen, close to the stove, with its reservoir of warm water handy. It was probably used for my late brother, too. Which would make it older than I am!
I hadn’t brought a container with me while going through the garden, and just used the bottom of my shirt to carry the produce. As I was transferring them to the tub, I could hear the thunder and figured I would top of the cat kibble outside, but just in the kibble house and sun room, so the cats would be sheltered next to food. I was in the process of putting the kibble out when the storm hit.
Hard.
We went from basically hot and muggy with no wind, to driving rain and winds strong enough for things started to get blown around, and I was half expecting branches to start breaking off! I got completely soaked in seconds!
Once back in the sun room, I made sure to tie off the outer door and partially close the inner door – normally, during the day, both are kept wide open. Cats where running all over the place, trying to find shelter. A number of kittens that normally run away from me ran into the sun room, saw me there, and panicked – but didn’t run back outside into that driving rain!
The storm has already passed, though. The system is continuing to the north east, and it looks like we got it pretty mild, compared to other places.
I’ll still be waiting a while before going back outside!
I need to go check out the expeller for the septic, out by the barn. I remembered that the septic guy had suggested that, if we still had problems, to take the cap and inner pipe of the expeller out completely, and leave it off for about a month. The grey water would build up in the outer pipe and overflow it, eventually, clearing out any collected gunk from inside the pipes that might be clogging the pipe. I was thinking of taking it out and seeing if there was any outflow.
My brother had had the same thought, and messaged me this morning about it. I’d told him about the septic guy suggesting leaving it out for a month, but my brother wasn’t too keen on that idea; that cap is there for a reason. But it might we worthwhile to do it for a few days, at least.
I was going to do that after topping up the cat kibble, thinking I had time before the storm hit.
I was wrong.
😂😂
So I will have to go out there later today, and see what there is to see!
As usual, our weather forecast has changed. We’re still expecting the heat, but now the storm warnings are back, too. Today, we’re expected to have a high of 30C/86F with a humidex of 38C/100F, and tomorrow is supposed to be much the same, temperature wise. At around 3am tonight, storms are supposed to reach us, continue all through tomorrow, and into Monday night.
Which means I was out in the garden early to give it a watering before things get too hot. Yes, we’re supposed to get rain tonight, but that won’t help the garden any during the day. With the soil we have, it’s almost impossible to over water – it drains very quickly through all that sand and gravel.
I have company when I do the watering.
Usually, it’s Syndol, following me around everywhere, wanting attention in between trying to catch frogs.
Today, I got to see this bit of cuteness overload.
Rolando Moon, the grand old lady, loves the grass clipping mulch. Apparently it makes an excellent bed!
Meanwhile, I got a message from my SIL. With the upcoming storms, they will be bringing more equipment to store here at the farm. My SIL will be driving the truck with the loaded trailer, but my brother will be driving the tractor with the rotary mower. They need to clear the overgrown areas they will be storing things on.
It’s going to take four hours to drive out here with the tractor.
My SIL will stick close to my brother on the tractor, just in case. Problems are unlikely, but you never know.
It’s past 10am as I write this, and they haven’t even left yet. They would still be loading the truck and trailer, most likely. My brother knows we have next to nothing out there, so he always makes sure to bring any tool he thinks he might possibly need.
The Re-Farmer 