outside cats

What a day

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We’re at 27C/81F right now, with the humidex at 33C/91F It’s sunny, hot, humid, and there’s virtually no breeze at all.

A perfect day to be fighting with our septic system again, right?

*sigh*

I actually wasn’t feeling very good this morning. The girls took care of the usual outside stuff for me so I could go back to bed. They’d been up all night, of course, taking advantage of the cooler temperatures for my older daughter to work on her commissions, and do things like their laundry. We’re still running the hose out the storm door window, so at not to add more wear and tear to the septic system.

When I finally got up, I thought I was hearing a pump running, but we’ve got so many fans going, I wasn’t sure. I went down to check and, sure enough, the pump was running dry again.

I tried the usual things. Priming the filter and turning the pump’s switch on again, only for it to still start running, draining the filter and continuing to running dry. I even stuck the hose through the floor pipe, but there were no blockages. I checked the tank, and everything looked normal, there. The grey water side was pretty full, but not so full as to trigger the float yet.

So I grabbed a particularly strong hoe that we have. I actually remember using it as a child. At some point, the original handle must have broken, and the head was welded onto some steel pipe. That thing is practically indestructible. I also grabbed a flexible drain cleaner meant to be used in sinks, thinking it could be used on the outflow pipe.

I also made sure to be wearing my rubber boots!

I went through the barn’s back door to go around the outflow pipe from the far side. This gave me a chance to see the state of things on the downhill side.

I look forward to when the renter’s cows are here. The grass is chest high right now!

The outflow pipe has a sheet of metal roofing material under it, to guide the flow of water away and towards a sort of pond; it’s a low area that is dry most of the year, but hold water in the spring.

Before I could even get to it, I was using the hoe to cut away a forest of burdock. None gone to seed yet, thankfully. Just really tall and lush growth!

[sidetrack: after water was used again, I turned the pump back on. I had to prime the filter again, but the pump did finally start to actually draw water from the tank, then ran and shut itself off, as it’s supposed to. Yay!]

I eventually found where the sheet of metal was buried and started clearing that off of mud and crab grass – and even a bullrush! That cleared off the metal fairly easily, but I found that the entire sheet had been shifted at the end, likely from cows walking over it. I also found a spot where the metal had rusted away completely.

Once I got it clear of gunk and could move it, it was obvious it needed to be replaced. In between where the outflow is, and the barn, there is a lot of stuff, including leftover sheets of metal roofing. I started through the tall grass towards where they were and conveniently found a long sheet that the wind had blown closer. Even better, one end of it was curled, while the other was flat.

How perfect can it get?

While I pulled out the old sheet, it basically folded in on itself where it had a corroded chunk missing. I set the folded end to one side of the outflow pipe, partly to keep things from growing back beside it, and partly to make use the curled end of the new sheet didn’t end up flopping in that direction. With the way the water had been flowing, it was draining towards that side, and pooling by the collapsed log building behind it.

Once the new sheet was in place, I dug around in the grass and found some old branches that I lay on it, to weigh it down. I don’t want it to blow away, the next time we get high winds.

That done, I popped the cap open and pulled out the outflow pipe (it’s all one piece). It’s quite long, and the overhanding willow branches got in the way. I’ll have to go back with the loppers and cut them away.

At the bottom of the pipe is what my brother called a Venturi. I had to look it up, and I guess he meant venturi pipe? Anyhow, it has a section at the bottom that comes almost to a point. I went to clear it with the drain cleaning rod I brought – it has bristles at the end, like a bottle brush – but couldn’t get very far. It was clear, anyhow. So back it went, and I made sure I felt it pop into position at the bottom.

So at this end, at least, things should be working better. I’ll have to check it to make sure it’s directing the flow to where it should, properly, or if the metal sheet needs to be shifted or something. I even made sure to walk down the middle of it, to the flat end, to create a bit of a hollow. The roofing metal already has ridges to directed the flow of water, so it shouldn’t be an issue, for the amount of water that flows through at a time, but I’d rather take the extra precautions! The only real issue I can think of is that the renter’s cows will probably walk on it. There used to be a barbed wire fence around it, and the low area the water is supposed to drain into, but that collapsed long ago.

That done, I went back and tested the pump again, and it still kept just draining the filter and running dry. I finally primed the filter and just left the pump off.

Getting back into the house, however, was a challenge.

The sun room was blocked!

Driver was not only nursing her four, just inside the doorway, but Button was in there, too! Driver would have only four active nips, though, but Button was quite aggressive about getting access to one of them!

With the washing machine hose through the main entry, the storm door is locked from the inside, so the cats don’t accidentally open it and get out. The inner door at the the dining room has a security latch. We installed it because of our vandal, but we’ve since discovered that, as the house shifts, the inner and outer doors sometimes pop open on their own. The storm door, I can see, but the inner door, too? So those doors are locked and latched from the inside, all the time.

Well, I needed to hose off the hoe and drain cleaner wire, anyhow. By the time that was done, Driver had moved.

By this time, it was past noon and I hadn’t eaten yet, so after checking the pump and it still running, I just left it off. I knew it would soon need to actually empty the tank and, even if we didn’t use much water ourselves, the weeping tile under the new basement is constantly draining into there, so it wouldn’t be long before I’d need to turn it on again.

It was almost another hour before I finally settled down with some food! Since I’d slept in, I hadn’t had breakfast, and was so hungry, I was feeling sick. Especially out in that heat!

Since then, the pump has been turned back on and is working again. I’m glad we can see into the filter like that. I knew the tank should have been full enough to be emptied, so I was watching closely. After the pump drained the filter and started running dry again, I primed it and tried again. This time, I could just see water starting to flow into the filter, so I left it running. It was slow going, but it finally started to pull more water, and was at least not running dry. A little longer, and the flow of water increased, and I could see it splashing against the clear lid. I puttered around in the basement as it ran, and was happy to hear it turn itself off on its own, just like it should!

The basements, meanwhile, are still pretty wet. The old basement is pretty much wet all summer, but it’s the new basement that is the concern. It has weeping tile. It shouldn’t be so wet. I ended up moving one of the blower fans into the new basement, and set it up on a block near the middle of the basement, pointing downwards. The oscillating pedestal fan got moved closer into the wettest corner. Between the two of them, things should start drying off. It’s a shame I can only open one of the basement windows for air circulation. The other two are missing their screens.

So that’s what I’ve been fighting with all day – but I’ll leave you with more cuteness! I got this photo through the bathroom window. I didn’t want to disturb them!

Yes, they are both asleep. Button draped over that sponge (they love to play with that sponge, so I gave up trying to put it back on the shelf! 😄) is just the cutest thing, ever!

I’ve sent pictures of Button to the Cat Lady to share in her groups. We can’t bring him inside. Aside from already having too many cats indoors, as long as he stays close to the house, he’s got at least two, maybe three, mamas that are willing to nurse him, and he’s way too little to be weaned. Better a mama, outside, than a bottle, inside! But there might be someone out there willing to rescue an abandoned kitten, and willing to bottle feed him until he’s old enough to be fully weaned.

I was able to give the kittens some leftover turkey as a treat today, and made sure to give Button his own piece, away from the other cats and kittens. He does love his solid food, that’s for sure! Hopefully, he will grow big and strong and healthy.

Speaking of which, my daughter got a look at Shop Towel’s cheek while feeding the cats this morning. She says it looks like a hole! My guess is the original wound got infected and maybe abscessed? He is, however, eating normally and doesn’t seem to be bothered by it. It’s not bleeding or anything like that, and since it’s not being bothered by insects, it’s not leaking any fluids, either. It’s just… there.

What’s interesting is that he’s been really good with the kittens. Where other adult cats, both males and some of the more feral mothers, will bat at the kittens, or growl and hiss at them, he is just fine with them. I’ve seen him curled up and sleeping on the log pile by the old garden shed, with Broccoli and her two kittens curled up and sleeping on another log next to him. At night, the sun room kittens like to pile up together in different “rooms” of the cat cage, while a mama or two like to sleep on top of it. This morning, my daughter found Shop Towel curled up in one of the cat beds on the cage – with several kittens! So he’ll attack an adult cat, unprovoked, but is a cuddle bug with the babies. While I can appreciate it, it does seem quite strange!

Hmm. I was wondering if it would be worth it to try and get some stuff down outside. The temperature had dropped while I was working on this, but it’s gone right back up to what it was when I started! It’s not supposed to start cooling down until about 8pm, and it’s just past 3pm as I write this.

*sigh*

Well, it is what it is. We’ll just have to get used to it.

The Re-Farmer

Hello, babies!

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I am starting to see Brussel’s babies a lot more often. They’re getting bigger and running around and playing a lot, by the side of the garage I think they live in, and the tarp covered post pounded machine next to it.

I got a picture of them, yesterday evening.

There are four kittens in this picture!

I got another picture this morning, but not of all of them.

I’ve tried to come closer, but then the post pounder starts growling at me. Brussel turned out to be hidden under it, each time, and was warning me away.

Fair enough!

The kittens living around the back of the garage are smaller, but their mother is bringing them to the house, and I sometimes see them coming over on their own. When they see me, though, the fly back to the garage. They run so fast through the grass, they do literally look like they are flying!

I saw Broccoli’s two at the old garden shed this morning. They sneak to the front of the house for food, but run back to the shed very quickly.

We need to get out there with cat treats or something, to lure them closer and try and socialize them! The problem with doing stuff like that is, you need to stay out there, moving as little as possible, for a long time, and there are just too many mosquitoes for that! Yes, we can use bug spray, but the smell of the bug spray keeps the kittens away, too – and if they did come closer, I wouldn’t want to handle such tiny bodies while covered in the stuff, and handling them is an important part of getting them socialized.

Sometimes, you just can’t win for losing!

One little guy is more than happy with being handled, though.

This morning, I saw him following Adam around, trying to latch on. Adam would just get up and walk away. So Button, here, went for the softened kibble in the sun room, instead, and is very thankful for food!

Still no sign of a cat that might be his mother.

Gosh, he’s so tiny and cute. Cute as a button, in fact! 😄😄

The Re-Farmer

Netting up, and socialization progress

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The shelling peas planted in one of the winter squash beds are starting to get tall, so it was time to put up the trellis netting. My older daughter and I headed out early in the morning to avoid the heat.

It didn’t really work. 7am, and it was already feeling too hot!

The first thing we had to do was steal some of the lighter posts marking the 4′ distances for the low raised beds and attaching them to the tops of the bamboo stakes already in place, to support the netting at the top.

The netting wasn’t long enough, but we were reusing wire twist ties, and some of them were long enough to cross the distances at the ends. Later on, I’ll use jute twine or something to lace through the ends, so they don’t pull and sag too much once the weight of the peas are on it. We also made sure to leave a gap at the bottom for the winter squash vines to pass through. We don’t want any of those climbing! They would be way too heavy for this set up.

Later, we’ll at another trellis net on the other side, for the pole beans. The Seychelle beans planted in the gaps between the few carminate haven’t germinated yet, so it’s entirely possible we won’t end up needing it.

After that, it was just the usual morning rounds which, these days, includes cuddling as many kittens as we can convince to let us.

Right now, there is one white and grey that doesn’t run away and allows us to pick it up at any time. It even purrs. The tiny foundling – I think we’ll call it Button – needed no time at all to be okay with human contact. In fact, I have to watch my feet when it’s around! It is SO much smaller than the other kittens! It starts purring pretty much as soon as we picked it up, will crawl around on our shoulders, and when we put it down near out feet, it starts to rub on them.

I make sure to put it down near a food or water bowl as a distraction. 😄

I’ve made a point of adding water to one or two of the sun room kibble bowls to soften the kibble. I’m also seeing Junk Pile nursing the new baby. It appears to be in good hands!

I just came back from topping up the kibble outside, and Syndol was back and very hungry. I hadn’t seen him since yesterday evening.

When I paused to take a picture of Button, he wanted me to take his picture, too!

Oh, and today, I finally found a spot to transplant the Orange Butterfly flowers (milkweed) that have still been languishing in their Jiffy Pellets. Only three had germinated, and I had intended to direct sow more, but we just didn’t have a good place for it.

Well, since we didn’t end up planting poppies in where I’d intended, and yesterday, I buried Driver there, I figured it would be appropriate to transplant the butterfly flowers onto his grave. This bed can be a milkweed bed.

There are a lot of things that need to be done outside, of course – the list is never ending – but it’s going to have to wait. There are dozens of little thunderstorms blowing across the prairies right now, in both the US and Canada. I was hearing thunder while I was out, just a little while ago. Plus, as I write this, we are 26C/79F, with the humidex putting us at 30C/86F. I think the garden, in general, is going to like the heat we’re supposed to have over the next while. Much of what we planted this year prefers hotter temperatures. We’re supposed to keep getting hotter over the next few days and, a week from now, we’re supposed to have highs of 30C/86F. We’re supposed to have the storms blowing through today, plus a bit of rain tomorrow afternoon, but after that, we’re not expected to get more rain withing the 10 day forecast.

We shall see.

The Re-Farmer

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