outside cats

More running around, and… another loss!?!

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This morning, while feeding the cats before doing my rounds, I made sure to be on the lookout for the newly snipped boys, and the kitten I found yesterday.

I’m happy to say the kitten is still hanging around the sun room, and I think I even saw one of the creche mothers – Adam – nursing it.

As for the newly snipped boys, I saw Syndol in the sun room a lot yesterday evening, but not this morning. I did see Stinky and Nosey, who were their usual selves. With Nosey, that means a combination of PET ME NOW and I’M GOING TO BITE YOU! Of course, I checked their nibs, and everything looks fine.

There has been no sign of Collin since he ran out of the carrier. It may be a while before we see him again!

I was scheduled to help my mother with her grocery shopping this afternoon, but I remembered that I still hadn’t picked up her bloodwork requisition at the clinic. I was supposed to do it while going to and from the city, since this town is on the way, depending on which highway I take. I completely forgot.

So, after I finished my rounds, I left early enough to pick up a couple of packages at the post office before they closed, then drove the 45 minutes to the clinic, got the requisition printed out, then drove to my mother’s place.

She didn’t quite understand what I was giving her when I handed her the printout. She thought it was test results of some kind, but she hasn’t had any tests done recently. She just remembered that they took 5 vials of blood last time, and thought this was the results. I had to repeat myself a few times, and read out what she is being tested for (she might be getting 6 vials taken, this time) and why. The call from the doctor telling her to stop taking her water pills for a month was based on her last bloodwork, and this is to see if anything has improved.

Once she understood, she said she would go to the local lab and get her bloodwork done, no appointment needed, on Monday. The town she lives in has a handi van available that, for a few dollars, will shuttle people with mobility requirements around town. It would be far easier for her to use that, than for me to drive her in the truck.

After getting that cleared up, we went over her shopping list, for both a pharmacy trip and the grocery store, talked about potential substitutions if things weren’t available or didn’t look good, and then I headed out.

I had a pleasant surprise while at the grocery store part of her shopping. I ran into an old friend/former co-worker and her kids that I haven’t seen in ages. They live on a farm in the area, and I pass their place fairly regularly, but we just don’t cross paths very often. So that was really nice.

After the shopping was done, I went through everything with my mother while I put things away. While talking about her blood tests, I’d asked her about drinking more water, and she remembered to add water bottles to the shopping list. I was happy to hear she found them very handy, though I got the impression she has not been drinking more water like she’s supposed to. Anyhow. The water turned out to be on sale, so I got her a bigger case this time. Water bottles will help her keep track, visually, of how much she is drinking, too.

She didn’t have protein of any kind on her list, as she apparently still had, but there was such a good sale on chicken legs and thighs, I got her a package. That one package could last her a week. She was quite happy with my additions and substitutions (all within her budget, of course), and even complimented me on how I’ve got so much “experience” with this sort of thing. I’m not entirely sure how she means it, but I’ll take the compliment.

In fact, the entire visit with her was good. She definitely was having one of her good days.

She had something going on in her building in the afternoon, so I wasn’t going to stay long. I did remember to ask her about the commode home care got for her. She told me, she doesn’t use it.

??

The problem was in emptying the reservoir. It’s light and easy to remove, but requires two hands to carry it. Since she would have one hand either using a cane, or using the walls and furniture to steady herself, she can’t carry it to the bathroom to empty it. So she has continued to use an ice cream bucket at night, rather than going to the washroom. How using the ice cream bucket is easier than walking to the bathroom in the first place, I can’t understand. I have no idea how she actually uses it, what with her messed up knees, but it has handle and she can carry it with one hand, so…

The solution turned out to be easy.

The ice cream bucket fits inside the commode reservoir, and the seat opening fits over it, almost exactly. She can use the commode, then easily carry the bucket away to empty it during the day.

Problem solved.

There was one other thing I remembered to ask my mother. When arranging for me to come out today, she mentioned having an appointment this morning – but it was a secret and she wouldn’t tell me what it was, and no one else was supposed to know.

Which means, of course, I had to warn my brother about it, because she has a terrible habit of causing problems he ends up having to fix.

So I jokingly asked her how her seeeecret meeting went this morning.

Well, it turned out, our vandal had somehow arranged with her to come over for a visit. Since his phone number is blocked, I don’t know how this was done.

The first thing I wanted to know was, was he alone? He has been behaving properly, when there is someone else there as a witness, but when it’s just him, that’s when he is verbally abusive towards her. It did turn out that he was alone.

I’m not sure what he was after, but whatever it was, I don’t think he got it. Apparently, he’s got cancer and is undergoing chemo, but she can’t even remember if it was his lungs or kidneys or whatever. But he’s taking lots of pills, and is getting surgery soon.

Whether this is true or not, I have no way to know, but I’m guessing he’s going to milk it for all he’s worth on her for… something. Usually, money, but who knows. Whatever it is, though, it’s going right over her head. After only a few hours, she was already forgetting most of what he talked about.

At least he didn’t start yelling at her in the doorway, like he usually does when he’s on his own.

After that, I headed home. Before settling in, inside, I made a point of doing some outside stuff first. Our high of the day was supposed to be 26C/79F, which I’m sure we did reach. As I write this, it’s past 4:30, and we’re at 25C/77F, with the humidex putting us at 30C/86F. It was definitely feeling hot out there, and the humidity isn’t helping. Especially when it comes to mosquitoes. We have SO many mosquitoes right now! They are just loving this weather.

I went to top up the cat kibble outside but, in this heat, they aren’t actually eating all that much. I still made sure to leave some spread out in spots around the house, where I know kittens are starting to come closer.

Then I was going to continue my evening rounds, when I saw a cat lying in the grass, in the shade of the storage house, looking like it was asleep.

Except, cats don’t sleep there. It’s too open and exposed.

It turned out to be Driver (Adam’s sibling), and he was dead.

There was no sign of injury of any kind on him. Since the snow melted, we had only been seeing him every once in a while. The few times I’ve seen him recently, he was very skittish and nervous around the other males; particularly Shop Towel. There was no evidence he’d been in a fight of any kind, though. He was just lying there, like he was taking a nap in the shade.

So bizarre!

I then had the problem of finding a place to bury him. We’re running out of places to bury cats and kittens. Too many big tree roots and rocks. In the end, I buried him where we were supposed to have a poppy bed this year, but it never got cleared out in time for sowing. We can build up the bed and plant flowers over him, next year.

*sigh*

This has been a pretty rough week or so for that. The litter of newborns, the baby raccoon, and now Driver…

Yeah, I know; this is to be expected when you live in the boonies, and we do have way too many cats, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

Ah, well. It is what it is.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

Home now, and what a day!

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Well, it took a couple of hours, but I’m finally settled in and able to take a break.

Which, for me, means doing other things. Like blogging. 😁

And fixing the typos in my last post, which are always pretty bad when I write using my phone!

My time waiting for the vet clinic to call me took a very pleasant turn. I got a message from my SIL and, as we chatted, I mentioned were I was. Which is about half way to their place. She was free, so she drove out to meet me, and we had a great time together.

My SIL is so awesome. I just love her to pieces.

I also got a few calls while we were together.

The first was from the vet clinic. They actually tried to call me earlier, but I never got the call. They contacted the Cat Lady and she messaged me, so I went back to the clinic. It turned out they weren’t sure who three of the cats were, so I cleared that up. Then, after not getting anything to say I had a missed call or a voice mail message, I checked the number they had. It turned out there was one digit wrong. So they had called someone else completely! Oops.

When they did get through to me, it was about Collin. They’d done Syndol first, and I’d mentioned he had a limp, but we couldn’t see what was wrong with his foot. They found nothing wrong, but Collin had a wound on one leg. I hadn’t realized, when we snagged him, that he was the one with the injured leg. We didn’t see it at the time, and with so many white and grey cats, we lose track. I’ve just made the executive decision that he is now Collin (because of the receding hairline marking on his head).

It turned out the wound was quite infected. They wanted to know if they could give him a slow release antibiotic (they know these are all yard cats and semi feral) and a couple of stitches. The rescue was paying for this visit, but when they told me how much it could be, I gave the go-ahead. We would make it work, and it wasn’t all that much. More than the neuter, mind you (the rescue got a really good deal!), but we could manage it.

Then I got another call from them. The cats all had really bad ear mites. When the Cat Lady and I were signing them in, they asked about ear mite treatment, if any were found (I told them I just assume they have ear mites, since they are outdoor cats). This would have been a gel treatment we’d have to do at home, and there was no way we’d be able to do that, so it was declined. Their ears were really bad, though, to the point of ear canals in danger of rupturing. They wanted to know if they could give the cats Ivermectin.

I didn’t have room in the a budget for that, after giving the okay on the stitches and antibiotics.

I explained that, and said that the rescue was paying the bill for stuff, but I had no idea what the rescue’s budget was. I also mentioned the Cat Lady had come home to their dog having had a medical event, and she was at a vet clinic with it at the time. Which is bad enough on its own, but to have to ask her about this, too? They did call her, though, and she did agree to the treatment.

She is so amazing.

I’m surrounded by so many awesome people.

After my SIL had our visit, it was past 3pm, so I decided to head to the clinic and see about paying for our part of the bill. I got there just as they were working on the invoice and billing the rescue. Which is also when the Cat Lady called!

They had talked to her about the ear mites and the obvious problem that, as outside cats, they will just get infected again.

She paid for 15 doses, including the four in the clinic.

Which means we now have a vail of Ivermectin and a syringe applicator. We need to put a single drop into each ear.

Which I suppose is going to be easier than doing the gel thing, but not by much! If nothing else, the syringe gives us better control and reach.

So we’re going to have to work on catching and dosing the ears of as many cats as possible – and keep track of which ones we do, so as not to double treat any!

Once the bills were paid – ours ended up being only $109, which was less than the estimate I was given (I think the Cat Lady covered part of it!) – I loaded up four very unhappy cats, sent a message to the family to let them know the status of things, and headed home. They had the gate waiting open for me, so I could drive straight to the yard, but I saw our vandal walking his dog down the road, so I made sure to stop and lock it, first. Thankfully, the stop did not startle the cats too much.

They did NOT like being unloaded, though!

We set them up in the sun room and left them in the carriers at first. My daughter brought over some wet cat food that she divided up into 4 bowls while I fed the rest of the cats to distract them away, and gave Collin his first doze of painkillers mixed in. We have three more dosed for them, to be given every 24 hours, but I really doubt we’ll be able to give him those. I was able to slip the bowls into the carriers for Collin and two others, but Stinky slipped out and disappeared.

So other cats got to eat his wet cat food.

I gave them time to eat their food as we unloaded the rest of the stuff from the truck. Then I parked the truck in the garage. I then had the unhappy job of disposing of the body of that poor baby raccoon I found this morning.

So you can probably imagine that, when I started to hear distressed crying, I had to go looking.

I found the source at the junk pile. A little, blue eyed, cream coloured ball of fluff, alone and clearly afraid.

I was able to pick it up before it had a chance to run away. I got a bit of hissing and spitting, but not all that much. I took it straight to the sun room. I figured the mama would find it there, and if she didn’t, the creche mothers would, plus there was food and water already there.

When I put it down next to a food bowl, it didn’t bother being scared anymore and immediately started sniffing at the bowl.

That was one very hungry baby!

It reminds me so much of Ghosty when we first saw her, except this one has fewer markings visible. Pretty much just the darker patches on its head. There are some very faint markings on the body, but barely visible.

I’ve since checked on it, and the last I saw, it was loafed in the middle of the sun room, sleeping.

I feel much better having been able to help out at least one baby, today, even if it was just to carry it across the yard and to food and water. Particularly since we were hearing so much thunder at the time. In the end, the storm we were hearing went past us, and we got no rain, so that worked out, too.

Meanwhile…

Once inside, we set up the new cat trees, and can finally throw away the remains of the old ones. One is shaped like a cactus and it top heavy, so the cats keep knocking it down. The girls are considering duct taping it to the linoleum floor. 😄 The cats clearly love it!

There was a super soft, super fluffy cat cave with some hand knit blankets inside – and when I pulled those out, I found packages of cat treats and cat nip hidden in the blankets!

Then, before I finally settled in, I made some cat soup for the inside cats, using a new feeding tray I found at the dollar store today, to replace the one in my bedroom/office. It looks like it will work out better than the last one I found, so the next time I have the chance, I’ll pick up another one.

My daughters are now making supper and cleaning up in the kitchen, etc, while I finally get a chance to sit down. I’ve got the critter cam live feed on. The new kitten was nowhere to be seen at first, but I just saw it come into the sun room from outside, and it’s now watching one of the adult cats eating.

Oh!!! I think that might be Collin. I hope so. I had to let him out of his carrier before he at all his medicated food, because I was afraid he would hurt himself trying to get out. If he’s comfortable enough to come back into the sun room and eat from bowls right next to the cat carriers, that’s a good sign. I still can’t be 100% sure it’s him, though.

Ah, supper has just arrived. My daughter just brought me a plated supper, and some boozy hot chocolate.

I could really use that boozy hot chocolate, after a day like today.

The Re-Farmer

First harvests, first sighting and first use

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It’s been a day of firsts!

Some, better than others.

This morning, I harvested our first garlic scapes! Not a lot, but enough to enjoy today.

The strawberries in the wattle weave bed had one ripe berry to harvest.

It was quite tasty. 😄

I also saw our first female winter squash blossom! That was quite a surprise, since they don’t usually show up until later. The flower was oddly closed, though. It wasn’t until later that I saw why. One of the vine’s tendrils had wrapped itself around the petals before they opened! So when the outer edges of the petals did open, they were “strangled” and there was no access to the inside for pollinating. I did take off the tendril which, unfortunately, broke off most of the petals. We’ll see if the remaining parts of the petals will finish opening up to allow pollination.

When coming back inside after doing my morning rounds, I saw an adorable sight.

I’m so glad the kittens like that cat cage!

Later on, I needed to make a run to the post office, and saw another adorable sight.

Barely.

Brussel and her sprouts were snuggled in the tall grass! This is the first official, confirmed sighting of her with her babies.

I am not sure if any of them have shown up in the sun room or not. I couldn’t even see how many there were. Two, for sure, but if there was more, I couldn’t tell.

The final “first” of the day was…

… using our new drain auger.

I’d gone to check on the septic pump, when I realized it was running, but no one had used any water recently. I hadn’t heard it earlier, because I have the fan going in my room, and my room is pretty much the only place where it can be heard.

— major interruption as I fought with the septic pump and tank, again —

Oh, man.

Where was I…

Right… I checked the pump’s filter, and it was running dry. No liquid flowing through. I shut off the pump manually, primed the filter with fresh water then turned it on again. Sometimes, that’s enough. The pump, when it first turns on, shakes a bit, so before turning it on, I like to grab the outflow pipe to hold it steady.

The pipe was hot.

The pump was running dry for so long, and got so hot, the pipe itself was hot!!

That is NOT a good thing!

For the last while, when this happens, I would run a hose through the access pipe in the floor. I can tell where there are some bottlenecks and, by the length of hose pushed through, can generally tell when it’s all the way into the solids side of the tank. With the water turned on, I can usually push through any blockages and eventually get it so that, when the pump it turned back on, it no longer runs dry. Which means the float has dropped far enough.

I know. This shouldn’t work. The hose is in the solids side. The float is in the liquid side. But it works.

This time, it didn’t. Instead, I basically hit a wall, and the hose would go no further.

Worse, fluid was backing up the access pipe enough to start overflowing the floor drain.

Well, there’s a reason we got that drain auger. Now we just had to get it down the stairs.

The problem is the stairs. These are steeper than usual, with narrower steps. Just going down them, I basically turn myself sideways, using both the hand rail and the wall, and go down one step at a time.

With the help of my husband, though, I was able to get it part way down, and then I could carefully maneuver it the rest of the way on my own.

Then I spent some time reading over the manual again.

Unfortunately, the schematics in the manual did not show how the belt was supposed to be attached. The photos looked like colour photos that had been photocopied as black and white, so I couldn’t even see where a belt might be. As far as I could tell, there was only one way for it to go, and that was around the drum that the cable is rolled up in. I finally just went on my computer, looked up the order and the colour photos. There, I could actually see the belt around the drum.

The tips are secured with a screw and tightened with an Allen key that came with the auger.

It was missing.

I know it was there when I unpacked it, but it was not where I put it.

Someone will probably find it with their feet at some point, wherever the cats left it.

*sigh*

I do have a tool kit with Allen keys in both metric and imperial, so I was able to use that.

The next hour or so was spent using the different tips to clear the pipe. The water didn’t drain, though – until I remembered the pump was still off! That got turned on, and things cleared. Yay! All done!

Right?

Wrong.

The pump ran for a while, then started running dry again. So that got shut off.

I tried pushing the hose through and there was still that bottleneck a couple of feet past the wall. I ran the auger through again, then the hose. Eventually, I could determine that the pipe itself was clear; the problem was in the tank. With the pump running properly again, though, and so much well water being used to clear things up, the pump and the outflow pipe were so cold, there was condensation on them.

However, things were working again, so everything got cleaned up and put away… and there was much cleaning up to do. I had expected to find tree roots blocking things, but nope. No sign of roots. Just… solids, shall we say.

I just can’t seem to wash up well enough to feel clean again.

After I started writing about all this, I realized I had the fan going, and was I hearing the septic pump running or not? I shut off the fan, and yes, it was running.

I went to check, and discovered it had been running dry, long enough for the outflow pipe to be starting to get warm again.

This time, in pushing the hose through, I hit that barrier again, far enough from the basement wall that it had to be in the tank itself.

WTF?

This time, I got my husband to be in the basement while I went to check the tank.

After putting on a latex gripper thing I don’t know the name of, that attached to the ear pieces of my glasses and goes around the back of the head, to ensure they don’t fall off. I am forever paranoid that when I look down from a height, my glasses will fall off, and that last thing I want is for them to fall off into the septic tank!

Now, with the pump running dry, I expected to find it drained and the float visible at the liquid side of the tank. From above, you can see a larger opening over the liquid side and and a smaller opening over the solids side. A few feet above is the pipe that the float’s cord runs through from the basement, directing it over the solids side and above the liquid side.

When I opened the tank, it was over full, and just a foot below the pipe the float’s cord runs though.

This is not a good thing. Not at all!

I got my husband to the pump on.

No change. I could see some sort of bubbling on the solids side, but that’s it.

That would have been from water running through the hose at the time.

When there was no sign of the contents being pumped out, I covered the tank again, then headed back to the basement. The pump was still running, but it was running dry! At that point, I was able to relieve my husband from duty. 😉

Not only did the pump not drain the tank (we shut it off manually again), but water was backing up to the basement again.

It turned out the hose was still on.

With the hose off, I kept pushing it back and forth. It was definitely moving easier. After a few minutes, I turned the pump back on and…

It started training the tank!!!

So I hung around like a mother hen as it ran, until the filter suddenly emptied and it started running dry again. I still had the hose handy, so I primed the filter again, then ran it through and turned it the water on. After pushing it through a few times, I turned the pump back on. It started running for about half a second, then shut itself off.

Once that was done, I went back out to look into the tank. I could once again see the top of the tank, with the two openings. I could see the float on the one side…

It seems to be sitting on something.

I really don’t know what it was I was looking it. It just seemed to me like there was something in the tank.

We’re going to have to get it emptied. Especially since it overfilled the way it did.

So I called the septic guy. As I was explaining what was going on, he was quite perplexed. My using the hose like I do should not make a difference, because it’s in a different part of the tank.

After more descriptions and questions from the septic guy, he does have one theory. Because the pump does shake when it first turns on, he thinks we have an air leak. Most likely, the shaking has caused a crack, probably on the underside of where the pipe from the tank is attached to the filter. He won’t know until he sees it, though.

He’ll be coming out late tomorrow morning. A basic pump out will be $160. He won’t know if it’ll cost more than that until he sees what’s going on, and if he is able to do any repairs.

My older daughter, bless her, will be able to cover the cost. It’ll just take a few days for the PayPal funds to be transferred. (While I was doing all this, she was a sweetheart and did the cooking, etc., too)

Which means tonight, I should probably head to my bank and take out some cash to at least pay for the pump put. If it costs more, I can pay him the rest later.

Or maybe tomorrow morning. I really don’t want to go anywhere right now.

I think I’ll go wash again, then call it a night!

The Re-Farmer

Happy Canada Day – and a kitten sighting!

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First up, a Happy Canada Day to my Canadian visitors.

I think we’ve got a wet, rainy and windy day in most places!

We have a little thing to celebrate this morning.

Broccoli has finally brought her two babies around the house! I spotted them in the old kitchen garden while in the sun room, after I’d finished up outside, and they were looking very nervous. I made a point of not hanging around so as not to scare them away from the kibble.

Today has been a quiet day, overall. We’re not getting rain as heavily as the weather radar seems to think we are. It has come and gone, all day, and will continue through to tomorrow morning. Plus high winds, of course. Areas to the south of us, however, are getting hit with more severe weather, including thunderstorms. We have nothing to complain about. I’m taking advantage of the time inside to finally work on the video I’m editing. It’s slow going, with many interruptions – I just got back from chasing a skunk out of the sun room, and it wasn’t leaving because of the racoon blocking the doorway!

I’ve been able to pick up and cuddle one of Adam’s little fluff balls. One that looks like it’ll grow up to look a lot like mama! I think the only reason I’ve been able to get it is because it’s the time to freeze rather than run away immediately, not because it’s any more socialized than the other kittens!

I really hope we can get more of them socialized this year, so we can get them fixed more easily. It would be a lot easier if the mamas could be socialized!

Well, time to get back to editing. Hopefully, I’ll have it ready to upload to YouTube tonight – and not have the weird situation where the video ends up a ridiculously huge file for some reason, like the last one!

The Re-Farmer

Stock up shopping: Canadian Tire, Walmart and Superstore total of $378

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Well, I’m really, really glad I pushed to get so much of the mowing done yesterday. All the usual areas are under water again! We’ve got a bit of a break in the rain right now, but in a few hours, it’s supposed to start up again.

We didn’t even get the worst of it. The further south I drove, the heavier the rain. I’m most definitely not complaining!

For today’s trip, I went to our usual Canadian Tire and Walmart locations, but instead of the international grocery store I like to go to, I ended up hitting a Superstore in the same area. There really wasn’t anything on my list for the international store I couldn’t get elsewhere – or so I figured at the time. Turns out I was wrong about one thing.

My first stop was Canadian Tire, which had a few extras I normally wouldn’t get.

The litter pellets were my usual purchase.

This trip, I also picked up a new headlight and license plate light bulb for the truck. I also got a new tire gauge. On the way out, I got a low tire warning, so I stopped at a gas station to pump up. (One of the gas jockeys was a sweetheart and pumped the tires for me. Less time in the rain!) I checked all the tires while I was at it. At one point, I had to turn the truck around, as the hose wouldn’t reach. I put the tire gauge down on the console between the front seats. As I turned, it rolled off and in between the console and the driver’s seat.

And disappeared.

Thankfully, I did have another in our emergency kit, but it’s a cheap one. After the tires were pumped, I went into the convenience store to get another gauge, but the only one they had was for the big rigs. I liked the idea of having a dial, but the cost was not worth it. I did find similar at Canadian Tire that were not dual valve and cheaper, but in the end, I got just another plain one of a higher quality than was in the emergency kit. I do hope we find and dig out the other one, though. We got it as a freebie from somewhere, years ago, and it’s one of the best tire gauges we’ve ever had!

Last of all, I got a can of bug spray, since we were running low and the mosquitoes are insane, with all the rain we’ve been having. I’m glad I remembered to get it while at the Canadian Tire, because when I looked at the display in the Walmart, they didn’t have the powerful stuff, and the cans they did have, which were smaller, cost just as much!

One thing on my list that I did not find: a new filter for our push mower. None in stock.

Total damage at Canadian Tire, after taxes, was $72.74

The main thing on my list for Walmart where those XXL puppy pads, as we were running out of that size.

I got more raw pumpkin seeds that will be ground into a powder for adding to the cat soup. The canned cat food was not on my list, but they’ve actually gone down in price! We were going to need more, eventually, so I picked them up now.

The personal products were on my list, but the air freshener was not. I got lavender scent, which is supposed to be calming, and some of the cats could really use some calm! The coffee was on sale, so I grabbed one for the pantry.

I also added a donation to the children’s hospital.

Grand total and Walmart, after taxes and including the donation: $119.57

The next stop was Superstore. For this one, I had some specific things on my list, but mostly, it was “see what’s good”, or “see what’s on sale”.

While at the Walmart, I completely forgot to look for toilet safe drain cleaner, so I looked for that at the Superstore. The only ones they had specified not for use on toilets. I was also going to get Beaver Buzz energy drinks – the one thing I would have gotten at the international grocery store. Since I found some at the Superstore I went to after my Costco shopping, while stopping for road food, I figured I’d just get it here.

Well, it seems this location doesn’t carry Beaver Buzz.

They did have cases of Monster with a regular price that was a cheaper than the sale price, locally, so I got that, instead.

One thing that was on my list was canola oil, requested by my daughters. I also got paper towels, a flat of Coke Zero, and a case of tomato soup, among the larger items.

I got some frozen fish for the girls, as well as frozen perogies and frozen pot stickers. For fresh meat, I got ground beef and ground pork, plus a bag of cheese hoagies that were on sale.

I decided, as I was shopping, that I will be making a chili, so I got some canned mixed beans and some crushed tomatoes. Which is silly, considering how many tomatoes we have in the freezer, but they are whole and we really need to process them! They got buried, though, so I keep forgetting about them!

For fruit, I got bananas and cherries. The cherries were really cheap; $2.99 a pound. Usually, they’re $8.99 a pound locally, or $4.99 a pound elsewhere in the city.

Let’s see… what else did I get. There’s a large jar of olives for the pantry – those are going up in price! I remembered to grab a small jug of apple cider vinegar, as we are out completely right now. There was a good sale on whole wheat bread. I got torpedo buns, plus a round sourdough loaf.

Last of all, I got myself some fresh sushi and a cold Monster to have for lunch in the truck, before heading home.

The grand total at Superstore, after taxes, was $185.87. I accidentally cut the total off in the above image!

For what I got at Superstore, I probably could have just done the grocery shopping at the Walmart. Walmart doesn’t have those torpedo buns, though. 😄

By the time I was done, the rain had almost completely stopped, but the wind picked up. While sitting in the truck in the parking lot, eating my lunch, the truck was actually being buffeted, hard!

On the way out, I filled the gas tank, which cost another $56.

So the shopping was a grand total of $378.18. Add in the gas, and I spent $434.18 today.

Considering we got extras like the headlight, I suppose that’s not too bad.

On the way home, I stopped at the post office to pick up a parcel that was supposed to arrive today. It wasn’t there. The website says “arriving by 10pm tonight”. Which means we’ll get it on Tuesday, since Monday is Canada Day.

I pulled the truck up to unload, as usual. Before driving it to the garage, I made sure to feed the outside cats to get them away from the vehicle.

I still had to chase one off the hood!

I made sure to put food out for the kittens by the back of the garage, the tarp covered wood pile, and the old garden shed, along with the usual places. Last of all, I put food in the sun room for the kittens in there – then had to chase out the crowd of adult cats that left the food outside, to come in and eat the kitten’s food! Adam’s kittens dive under the counter shelf as soon as I come in (I’m so glad we put that up on bricks!) so I make sure to scatter some on the floor under there a bit. That way, they don’t have to fight off the adults for food!

As I was walking back to the house from the garage, I spotted a little ball of fluff under the shrine, and was able to grab a picture.

The one kitten in the junk pile was enjoying some kibble under the shrine, with its mother.

So, from what we are seeing now, we have 8 kittens (2 litters) in the sun room, 4 behind the garage, 2 under the tarp covered pile and 2 in the old garden shed. The 4 white and greys that were the first to show up in the sun room are still gone, and I’m starting to think they were victims of the racoons, along with the newborns. There wasn’t enough… evidence… left behind for me to be able to say one way or the other. How many others there are, beyond the inner yard, we have no way of knowing until they start showing up at the kibble bowls. As for the adults, I haven’t even tried counting them lately. They come and go so much. I did see Sad Face this afternoon, though, and he’s got a wound of some kind under one cheek. He won’t stay still long enough for me to see it. Considering he’s been actively stalking and attacking other cats lately, it doesn’t surprise me. He’s getting on in years and looking more and more beat up. He tends to win those fights, though!

Which reminds me. Syndol’s limp is getting much better. Driver showed up yesterday, and he was limping, too, though not as bad. I haven’t seen the white and grey with the puncture wound on his front leg, so I can’t say how he’s doing.

A few more days, and we’re bring 4 males to the vet, courtesy of cheap spay/neuter day and the rescue. By next month, the kittens should all be weaned, so grabbing some females to be spayed is the goal. We should have a trap loaned to us by then.

Anyhow.

We are now stocked up for the month, except for the usual local purchases.

The Re-Farmer

New babies!

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I did my Costco shop today, and pretty much as soon as everything was put away, I headed outside to do as much mowing as I could. We were expecting a prescription delivery today, so I had the gate open. I took advantage of that to mow the driveway. Not just the sides of the driveway, but the driveway itself! It’s got so much grass and weeds coming through the gravel.

One of the areas I tried to mow through was behind the garage. This is where we have had water more than ankle deep for so long. There isn’t open water right now, but it’s still very wet. I really should have waited before trying to mow, but I just can’t trust the forecasts about when the next rain will hit us again.

The mowers – both the push mower and the riding mower – are having the hardest time cutting the grass. it’s so wet and slippery, it just bends rather than cuts. I end up having to set the mower blades as low as possible, and with the riding mower, I still even up having to reverse repeatedly.

Which means I was spending quite a bit of time behind the garage.

Which also means, I finally got to see the garage kittens, for the first time!

I just assumed that Adam or Brussel (or both) had a litter in there, because that’s sort of where I see them hang out the most. The kittens were out and about behind the garage, and I saw them dash behind some metal sheets we have leaning against the back, when I came by with the big noisy machine. I never got photos of those ones – but I did see one of the sun room kittens playing with them!

The white and grey mama that I think is mother to the white and grey kittens that have disappeared from the sun room (we have so many white and grey cats, it gets hard to tell them apart at times) has seriously attached herself to Adam. Every time I see Adam walking around, this white and grey is right beside her, pushing against her, rubbing her face against her, and generally being exceedingly affectionate. Adam, on the other hand, seems to just tolerate her. 😄

At one point these two were crossing the yard when I had to shut the riding mower off briefly – followed by a puffy white and black kitten! I had to get the mower started again and continue. The mamas ran for the back of the garage, but the kitten went for the chain link fence and ended up running around the garage.

I didn’t finish the mowing I hoped to do; the riding mower just couldn’t handle it anymore, and I was getting too tired to continue with the push mower. Plus, I’ll been going to town to get more gas, tomorrow. As I was putting things away, I saw Adam again, heading towards the house – being followed by one of the sun room greys! This one has a distinctive dark grey coloring, with white around “eyeliner”, so there was no mistaking it.

When everything was put away, I was going to go into the house through the sun room.

The door was blocked!

One of the greys was loafed in front of the door, while Adam nursed her babies, just inside.

It looks like she has four babies.

Meanwhile, I’d seen at least three more when I checked behind the garage before heading to the house!

I have no idea how many different kittens I actually saw today, but I’m glad that Adam was willing to bring hers to the sun room. Hopefully, the others will be brought over, too. Especially Broccoli’s two, from the old garden hedge, and Caramel’s two, from under the tarp covered pile of boards beside the house.

It will probably be a few more weeks before we have an idea of just how many kittens there are.

It would be awesome if we could actually socialize them, and adopt them out!

The Re-Farmer

First sighting, and a bit of stuff done

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I headed outside this afternoon to check things out. Before I get to that, though, I just have to share!

We have a first sighting of Caramel’s babies! I thought they might be in the wood pile (which we thought was a junk pile, until we took the junk off the top), since I would sometimes see her disappear under it, but cats in general like to shelter under there.

As I was heading back to the house, I spotted a grey tabby by the opening under the tarp. When it saw me, it ducked under. For the briefest of moments, I saw an orange face peek out, then Caramel stuck her head out and stared at me. She seemed to be okay with my watching from where I was and came out. Her little grey one came out soon after, and then the orange one – which turned out to be orange and white – came out and stayed behind Caramel. I stayed long enough to see if any others would come out, but it looks like there are just the two of them.

As for things outside.

The water has been absorbed in some places, though everything is still very wet. I lifted the mosquito netting cover off the potatoes, since the elms are no longer dropping seeds, and over the chain link fence. I will leave it there for now, as the blowing of the netting should startle the deer away. Not that they’ll eat potato plants, but it might keep them from going into the yard and eating other things. I considered lifting the netting off the chocolate cherry tomatoes, too, but they don’t seem to be hampered by it at all, so I’m leaving it for now.

I took the cover off the bed with the German Butterball potatoes. They’re getting so big, they are starting to crowd against the netting. I set the cover on top of the old dog houses by the outhouse, for now. It’s pretty much the only place with enough for it, while also keeping it off the wet ground.

It looks like I will need to try planting the Seychelle beans again. Only a few have come up in one row, and none at all in the other. The seeds are a few years old and, between that and the weather we’ve been having, it’s no surprise if they don’t come up.

I did plant more of the Royal Burgundy bush beans. In fact, I had enough seeds to plant a row on either side of the original row, which has only one successfully sprouted bean plant coming up. I still have seeds left over, too. For some reason, I remember having only enough seeds to plant one short row, but these are the same brand’s seeds as before. I’ll have to check my seeds bin and see if I still have some left, after all. With only one bean successfully germinating (plus one more that broke ground and that’s about it), I figured planting two more rows on either side of the original row would hopefully ensure we have at least a few bush beans survive!

The water around the bed I was going to work on next has been mostly absorbed into the ground, and I considered working on it – but only for a moment. It’s 22C/72F out there, with a humidex of 28C/83F. I was not about to do that kind of work in full sun with this level of heat and humidity. I did do a bit of weeding, through. With the ground so wet, I could pull some of the weeds out, tap root and all. A bit of that was more than enough to convince me, turning new sod and shifting the remains of that bed over is just not something I should be doing right now! If I get out early enough tomorrow morning, though, I should be able to get it done and, if all goes well, transplant the last of the onions. Since I have so many, and this bed won’t have anything else in it, I should be able to get away with planting them a bit denser, too. It would be great if I could get all the onions, plus the last few shallots, in. It’s getting really late for onions. They really should have been planted in late May, as they prefer the cooler temperatures, but we shall see how they do.

Once that’s done, I can breathe a sigh of relief for a little while. Then I can look into seeing what I can do in the gaps where things that were direct sown didn’t come up, and replant where the spinach was sown. What little spinach came up and actually grew is now bolting in the heat! We never got anything to harvest, even out of those.

Maybe I’ll just plant more of the Uzbek carrots. I intended to plant a lot more carrots, but the beds are all full of winter squash and melons, which grow too big to interplant carrots under. I could have planted them under the tomatoes, but the onions needed to be transplanted – plus, the onions should help deter deer and other pests from the tomatoes.

Well, writing this just got interrupted quite a bit. A racoon was back in the sun room and had to be chased off repeatedly. We’re prepared to deal with it, once the opportunity arises. There is, however, a second one, and I haven’t seen both at the same time since last night.

For now, I’m going to enjoy watching kittens on the critter cam.

Oh!!! Did I just see a white kitten running by past a window??? It would be so great if the white babies came back, too! We were making such good progress in socializing those ones.

Ah, well. What will be, will be.

Oh… that’s a skunk I just saw walking by this time…

The Re-Farmer

Aaaannddd… we got more rain

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This morning, I was planning to work on shifting that last bed in the main garden area. I knew it would be wet, but figured it wouldn’t be too bad by then, since the rain had stopped so much earlier than forecast.

I didn’t real we got more rain overnight.

There is even more open water around the inner yard than every before. The ground is so saturated, it’s just got nowhere to go.

We’re supposed to get quite warm today, and tomorrow they’re now saying to expect a high of 28C/82F. The forecast now also says no rain until Friday. Which would mean, counting the rest of today, 5 days with no rain, and most of Friday, too.

I really hope this forecast is accurate!

I didn’t get to work on the low raised bed, but I did get to check out other things.

The first of our Purple Caribe potatoes have flower buds!

There’s only about 5 plants that have grown, with most of the row empty, but one plant is much, much bigger than all the others.

I also found a little frog friend. 💚

I managed to get a decent picture of Junk Pile. She normally doesn’t sit still long enough. I also saw all four of her babies, though I only got pictures of three. They are spending most of their time in the sun room. Understandably, they are more nervous than before, and are quick to run under the shelf counter to hide.

As for Junk Pile, I was keeping tabs with the critter cam last night. I saw her nursing her babies in the sun room and being generally maternal.

Then I heard her start growling and attacking something in the opening of the tied off outside door.

She didn’t succeed in driving the racoon away, but she tried!

I went and chased it out. It had gone straight for the cat cage, where I like to keep some food for the kittens.

We have got to do something about the racoons!

There is still no sign of the white and grey babies, though I do see the mama every time I go out to feed them. I startled Broccoli’s two in the garden shed when I opened it to leave food inside for them. I probably shouldn’t do that, since I want them to come to the front of the house, but Broccoli stands guard over them and being very protect and, after what happened to the newborns, they are probably safter in there. Mind you, they aren’t quite so helpless, but still…

So I’ll be monitoring how things are outside today, and see how much things get absorbed. While doing my rounds this morning, I went to check the barn to make sure the top half of the back door didn’t get blown open again. The tall grass has been flattened by the wind in places, and my pantlegs were still soaked to above my knees. I was splashing through water the whole way. All around the house in the inner yard, I’m seeing water where I’ve never seen it before, even growing up here as a child. My brother, who would remember things much clearer than me, says the same thing. I still hope to get work done on that bed, since tomorrow – Monday – is supposed to get so hot, but it might have to wait until Tuesday. Wednesday, I’ll be making my first city shopping trip, then the second one on Friday, so I’ll be trying to get things done in between. If things dry up enough, my daughter might be able to do some mowing while I’m gone, too. At least in the parts we’ve managed to mow so far.

Looking at my posts from a year ago, we’re not that far behind. It was a year ago tomorrow that I got our last transplants in – however, I also had our direct sowing done by now, and this year we have barely any direct sowing to do.

We went a little nuts on the winter squash and melons this year. They need a lot of space.

If I can’t work on the bed, I should at least remember to plant the new purple bush beans seeds I picked up, to replace the ones where only one germinated.

Mostly, though, I want to get that last bed done so I can finish transplanting the onions! Once those are in, time will be less of an issue. It shouldn’t even take all that long, either, since it’s not full of creeping Charlie and the soil doesn’t need to be sifted.

Well, if not today, we should be able to get it done tomorrow.

Unless it rains again.

The Re-Farmer

Mama confirmed!

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I’ve been monitoring the sun room with the critter cam. Chased out a racoon, a couple of times.

Then I spotted an amazing thing.

The grey kittens in the sun room – nursing on Junk Pile! We have finally confirmed the mama, and confirmed that all 4 kittens are safe and sound. As I write this, I can see them running around adn playing in the run room, even as mama leaves.

I am so happy they are safe!

Now, if we could just see the white and greys again…

The Re-Farmer

Afternoon critters, and yes – more rain!

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I was able to make my trip to the nearest Walmart (a 45 minute or so drive) to pick up some kibble to last us until we have our first stock up shopping trip in a few days. As I was driving home, I was seeing people all over, with their riding mowers, trying to get as much lawn cut as they could before the rains hit. Something our own grass/lawns are too tall and too wet to do.

Once I got home and unloaded, I stayed around outside to give the yard cats a feeding and pay them some attention.

I’m glad I stayed out longer, because I saw Syndol coming in much later, limping! His right leg is injured, though he is putting weight on it, and it does not appear to be broken.

I recently had to break up a fight between him and Shop Towel. It was the first time I’d seen Shop Towel go after Syndol! I guess Syndol is now adult enough for Shop Towel to consider him a rival. Unfortunately, I’ve seen seeing Shop Towel actually stalking other males while they’re gathered around and eating. When he does go after them, he is absolutely vicious. I am pretty sure he is the reason a number of our males, plus other visiting toms, have disappeared over the years. If we can’t get him neutered, we’re going to have to figure out something to do about him. He’s injuring and possibly killing too many other cats. Judgement is missing again; hopefully, out exploring for the summer, but Shop Towel has been after him, too, even though Judgement is now neutered and wouldn’t be giving off that testosterone scent anymore. While Shop Towel has allowed us to pet him at times, since we’ve had to break up so many fights of late, that’s no longer happening – and right when we have neuters booked, early next month! Unfortunately, even if we do get him neutered, that doesn’t mean he’ll actually stop picking fights. We have indoor cats – male and female – that have been fixed since they were quite young, and they still go after Ginger and Butterscotch.

As for Syndol, he came about half way to the kibble house and then settled in the grass, looking nervous, so I ended up picking him up and carrying him to one of the food bowls in the kibble house. Shop Towel was eating in the shelf shelter. When he came and, I could see him going into stalking mode, targeting some of the cats in the grass, and I ended up having to persuade him to leave. Then he came back, and I had to do it again!

Meanwhile, I spotted what I thought was the grey ball of fluff in the junk pile, eating under the shrine.

I was wrong! It was one of the kittens from the grey litter. I still haven’t seen any of the others, nor have I seen the white and grey litter, but at least we have one coming back for food!

I knew for sure it wasn’t the junk pile kitten as I came closer and saw it run away from its favourite perch next to the chain link fence. I wasn’t able to get a good picture of it, but I dig get a picture of another friend!

A bright green tree frog!

I just love those tree frogs. They are so adorable!

When I came closer to the grey kitten under the shrine, it hid around the back of the pedestal. I noticed the kibble I’d left there was almost all gone already, eaten by a group of adult cats, so I got another scoop for it and, hopefully, the little one in the junk pile.

By then, it was starting to rain, more than an hour earlier than was forecast before I left for the city. We are now under a storm watch, and the rain is supposed to continue until 7am tomorrow! From the weather radar, the worse of the storm system will pass to the south of us, but I’m hearing plenty of thunder out there, right now. With the ground still so saturated, I can see from the garage came that our driveway is covered with water again. The driveway is getting to be more grass than gravel!

I really hope we get enough of a break from the rain that we can do something about our lawn!

Oh, and while I was at the Walmart, I picked up another package of the purple bush beans that don’t seem to be coming up, except for on, right now. I’m hoping if I plant more now, and we really do get the break in the rain until Wednesday that is forecast, they new ones will come up. I will probably sow more of the summer squash in their pots, since nothing has come up there at all. Hmm… I should probably set some seeds to soak and maybe even pre-germinate. Then at least I’ll know if it’s the seed that’s the problem, or the weather.

Hmmm. According to the weather radar, we should be under moderate to heavy rain right now. The rain has actually stopped. Looks like our climate bubble is still in action!

The Re-Farmer