outside cats

Hello, Colin, and one step closer

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Well, the cold snap we were predicted to get has been dipping to temperatures colder than predicted! This morning, when I did my morning rounds, we were at about -28C/-18F, with a wind chill of -32C/-26F We were mostly sheltered from the wind, though, and it was bright and sunny, so at least in our little microclimate, it felt a bit warmer. Still, the yard cats were thoroughly mashed together on the swing bench in the sun room for the night, keeping each other warm!

This picture was not from this morning, though. This is from when I got back from town this afternoon.

This is the little one the girls have named Colin (Mochrie), because of his “hairline”. There’s another little white and grey one that is not friendly, but loves to jump up on the shelf under the bathroom window and peek in. My daughter says he looks just like Tissue, but haunted, so they’ve named him Dryer Sheet.

So… among the calicos we had Cabbages, and now have Broccoli, mother of Brussel and Sprout, and we have grey and whites with the tom, Shop Towel (aka: Sad Face), father of Tissue and now Dryer Sheet (along with 8 other white and greys, including Colin).

Coming up with names for the cats has been a lot of fun! 😁

Anyhow…

Before I headed out this morning, knowing I’d be away in the afternoon, I contacted the hospital about my mother’s appointment. We have a date, but not a time. I ended up emailing them, but they did call back fairly quickly. Once I got those details straightened out, I phoned my mother and let her know. She was not happy to hear she had to be there for 9:15 in the morning, and was wondering why it was so early. *sigh* When we spoke yesterday evening about it, she was going on about how it’s winter, and it’s so cold and it’s so far away… We’re actually supposed to be back up to just below freezing by then, and it’s not that far away at all. She’s just gotten used to not getting up until 10am, and is really not looking forward to the procedure!

But, that’s all been worked out.

Then I got a message from the garage, about our financing application. The financing company wanted proof of income, including my husband’s most recent pay stubs, and confirmation of disability income from both Sun Life and CPP Disability.

My husband hasn’t have pay stubs in almost 10 years. He did get his annual letter from Sun Life, confirming his payments for the year, last month, so I was able to take a photo of that and email it in. As for the CPP Disability payments, we have no letter for that, so I sent in a copy of our automatic payments and deposits from our bank. If that wasn’t enough, I’m not sure what else I could have sent them. He did get his T4A from CPP Disability (still waiting for the one from Sun Life before we can do our taxes), so maybe I could have sent them that.

I got to the garage quite early, so I dropped off the key, talked to them for a bit, letting them know about the problem with the van not wanting to start, and that I’d sent in the required information for the financing application. Then I was going to go to the restaurant next door for lunch. It turned out they had been open during the holiday yesterday, so they were closed today – normally, they’re open 7 days a week. The next closest restaurant was quite a few blocks away (one thing about this being a tourist town: there are lots of restaurants, but they’re almost all closer to the beach). It was a nippy walk, that’s for sure!

I was back at the garage about an hour later, and the van was almost done. The owner was constantly on the phone, or answering text messages, or looking up parts, etc. the entire time I was waiting! After his mechanic finished with the van, he did a final scan using their shop tablet (that thing is so solid, they could probably throw it across the room, and it won’t break!), but that got delayed because they had to update the software! Of course, when the scan finally got done, there were a whole lot of codes that came up, which he cleared. The main thing is that, with the new sensor for the temperature gauge in, that’s one code that was fixed! At least I’ll know if the engine suddenly starts overheating or something.

As he was getting my invoice ready, we talked about the financing again. I really hope it comes through. As I told him, as much as I don’t like the idea of having car payments again, I much prefer that and having a vehicle that I at least know will start! It turns out one of the calls he had earlier was from the financing company. Since I was there, he’d told them that if they needed anything else, he could ask me right away. He was told everything looked good, and the application has been sent to a bank.

Now, we just wait.

At this point, either we get approved, and I’ll just need to send them a voided check, which I can do by taking a photo of one and emailing it in, or we get turned down and that’s it.

We are SO close. My biggest concern is that we do get approved, but the monthly payments are higher than we can afford. Yes, my older daughter has said she will help with the payments, but I’m calculating as if that’s not going to happen, just to be on the safe side. Her income is all commissions based, after all, so how much she makes a month is variable.

In all honestly, right now, I just want to get an answer, one way or the other. It’s this hanging in the air, waiting, that is most frustrating. Especially after what happened last time, with the other financing company. In the end, though, not getting that vehicle doesn’t bother me much. The Caravan is much more suited to our needs.

We’re one step closer. It would be awesome if we got an answer tomorrow!!

The Re-Farmer

Thief! And what a loooong day

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This morning, while standing and talking to my husband, I suddenly saw a deer walking past his window! So I quietly went into the sun room, and was able to get some photos of our thieving piebald deer!

Also, that’s Sad Face on top of the cat house, having breakfast. 😁

As for the deer, she was actually able to get her head under the water bowl shelter, to reach one of the three kibble trays under there.

Yup. She was eating cat kibble!

I have been seeing hoof prints in the snow around this group of shelters, but this is the first time we’ve seen the deer in there, this winter.

I got a few more shots, including some when she was slightly spooked and had moved away, so I could see that her tail is still matted with… something. The phone camera just can’t pick up enough detail, but I’m going to go with it being lots and lots of burrs.

Today, I was due to visit with my mother, run some errands for her, then pick up a couple more flats of farm fresh eggs from our homesteading friend we were able to get so much cardboard from last year. I got to my mother’s town a bit too early for the first errand I was going to do for her at the pharmacy. It’s a holiday weekend here in Canada (in most provinces, Monday is Family Day, but also Islander Day, Heritage Day and Louis Riel Day), so some places weren’t open at all, and the pharmacy didn’t open until noon. So I did a couple of my own errands first, got the pharmacy run done, then picked up Chinese food for lunch. By the time I was at my mother’s place, she wasn’t home from church yet. I have a key to her place, though, so I was able sneak a couple of 2 pound bags of ground beef from our quarte beef order into her freezer, get the kettle going, set up lunch and heard her at the door just in time to pour the tea! She was pleasantly surprised. Which was nice because, some days, surprises make her very angry. The Chinese food place is really generous in their quantities, so by the time we were done eating, there was enough left over for her to have at least two more meals!

While we were talking, she let me know that the smoke/heat detector on her ceiling had finally been fixed. It had been beeping for a month or more, and she didn’t want to call anyone about it, because they have to call the city. She feels she should just tell people in the building about it, and it’ll magically get taken care of. She has the number to call for maintenance issues, and then there is a process they have to follow to get someone out to take care of it but, for some reason, that makes her very angry. Still, she must have finally called, because someone came out and replaced the detector completely.

Then, she told me, he “fixed” the other thing that was beeping.

That would be the CO monitor my brother set up for her, years ago.

!!!!

She’s never mentioned to us that it was beeping, too!

The guy took the batteries out (they would have been the original batteries) and told her she didn’t need it, because the detector in her ceiling does the same thing.

Well, maybe the new one that got installed does, I don’t know, but he should not have handled something that didn’t belong to the building (though I can understand why he did), and he should not have told her she didn’t need it.

I tried to explain to her what it was, because now she was thinking that what’s in her ceiling isn’t a smoke/heat detector, but she doesn’t understand what a CO monitor is, either. Or maybe she thought the CO monitor was a smoke detector. I didn’t quite get the straight of it. I tried to explain to her what CO poisoning is, and that if she ever hears that thing go off, she needed to get out right away. I also said that, even if this new detector was a CO monitor, it’s good to have a back up. If one goes off, but the other doesn’t, then maybe it’s a dead battery, but if they both go off, it’s really important for her to get out of her apartment right away. Well, that got her angry, and she started going on about how no one had these for so many years and it was never a problem. I told her that people died from CO poisoning, and that’s why these monitors are now being made.

She didn’t believe me.

She also had a clock that needed a new battery, but she had only one AA battery, so I changed the battery on her clock and offered to buy her more batteries when I went to the grocery store for her. She told me not to. She didn’t need them, and she didn’t want new batteries for the CO monitor, because the guy told her she didn’t need it. She was even angry that my brother had bought it in the first place, and told me she’d paid him X amount for it – which means she now thinks that my brother somehow cheated her by buying this and expecting her to pay for it (which I know full well is not how things would have happened).

I’m sure the guy meant well when he “helped” her, but this is an example of why there’s usually a restriction on contractors/maintenance staff when it comes to doing anything beyond what they are there to do.

After it became clear she was going to completely reject anything I told her, I said I would talk to my brother and maybe she’ll believe him if she won’t believe me. Then I went to the grocery store and, before going inside, sent him a message about it. He ended up phoning me while I was still in the grocery store, so I called him back once I was back in the car (also: my phone rings so rarely, when I heard it, I thought it was someone else’s phone near me! 😄) and explained it some more. He was equally frustrated, and said he would call Mom. I started heading back then decided to turn around and buy the batteries for her, anyhow.

By the time I got to her place, she had started to watch TV and didn’t say a thing about the call from my brother, until I pulled out the batteries and started putting them in. She was clearly unhappy that I had told him about it. Unfortunately, once the batteries were in, the monitor gave a loud, piercing noise, which was just to show that it was now working. My mother got angry again, saying that she didn’t need it and I shouldn’t put batteries in. The noise stopped, though, so I just put it back down on her shelf and left it.

The rest of the visit was more peaceful, and she was actually on much better behaviour than usual. I was just waiting to hear from my friend about the eggs, which was going to be a while. I even suggested my mother go ahead and take a nap, as I know she usually does in the afternoons, but we ended up talking some more. My friend was in the city for longer than she expected. By the time I got a message that they were on their way home, I think my mother was so tired, she was ready to kick me out! 😄 I had ordered extra eggs as a surprise for her, and had been telling my mother about the different coloured eggs, so before I left, I said I might swing by on the way home to show her the colourful eggs. When I did swing by with the eggs, I brought in the dozen I got for her and said they were for her. She started to tell me no, she didn’t need them, she has lots, but I said that these are farm fresh eggs and I’m sure she’ll love them.

So she took them without any other fight, which tells me that she was very happy with the surprise, even if she wouldn’t say so! 😄

Before I left, she told me she had something she wanted to ask me about, and headed for her bedroom. I took advantage of the moment and quickly grabbed the CO monitor and put it back on the wall where it belonged. I was afraid she might throw it away if I didn’t, and if she didn’t see me put it up, chances are she’d forget about it completely, whereas if she saw me put it up, she was more likely to take it off and throw it away.

Here’s hoping my reasoning is correct!

She then began opening up a suitcase she’d taken down from the top of her closet. There was stuff in it that she said she’d put there to protect it from when her apartment was being sprayed for bed bugs (her building is now officially declared bed bug free). She pulled a few things out, then showed me some fabric with what looked like pre-printed cushion designs, and asked me if she’d given me fabric like it (I think she meant fabric for the backs of the cushions?). I told her no – but it did give me the opportunity to ask me about a strange bundle of lacy ovals of fabric she did give me. She vaguely told me it was given to her from my nephew’s wedding. I think she was telling me they were place mats, though they don’t look like any place mats I’ve ever seen! I also couldn’t get the straight of why she gave them to me. Ah, well.

Once I told her she had not given me any other fabric, she seemed strangely satisfied, then declared that now she knows…

It was stolen by the beg bug exterminator.

She’s also convinced he stole a jar of coins.

This is something she’s done before. She was once so convinced someone had gone into her apartment while she was in the lobby and stole some cash, she was talking to everyone in the building about it – loud enough for the person she suspected to hear – and even taped a note to her door about how it was a sin to steal XXX amount of money.

Then she found the cash hidden in a different spot. After weeks of not-so-subtly accusing this person of stealing it.

She is now convinced that the exterminator went into a suitcase at the top of her closet, carefully moved some stuff off the top, stole some fabric, and put everything else back again.

Plus a jar of change, but on another occasion.

The sad thing is that this accusation merely reflects something she would do; go into other people’s stuff. It’s like when she’s been here, goes to the washroom, and we can hear her rifling through the cupboards. We can’t let her go into any rooms unsupervised, because she’ll start digging into closets and dresser drawers. In the past, she’s actually hidden things and thrown away things of ours, because she didn’t approve of them. Of course, she feels perfectly entitled to do this, because we’re family, but it also means she assumes everyone does the same thing.

*sigh*

After that, she got me to put the suitcase back in her closet, because she can get it down on her own, but can’t get it back up!

There was other weird stuff to deal with during the visit, too. Needless to say, by the time I finally was heading home, I was feeling incredibly drained.

And this was a good visit!

She’s got her medical appointment in a week. I’m going to be driving her in, driving her home, then staying with her for the required 24 hours to monitor her after the scope procedure.

Today had been the longest time I’ve spent with my mother in years. It’s going to be a real challenge to be spending the night with her! Especially since Lent is starting in a few days. I’ve decided to give up sugar – including simple carbs – for Lent this year. I’m going to have to make sure to bring my own food, and be prepared for many lectures about it.

*sigh*

Ah, well. It’ll be what it will be. I’ve been through worse.

The Re-Farmer

A gorgeous day!

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What a beautiful day today! Bright and sunny, with only a light wind, with an expected high of -4C/25F. A perfect day to finally get outside and do a burn! We’ve needed to do it for a while, as the cat litter sawdust was filling the burn ring to the top, but it’s just been either too chilly, too windy, or both.

I had company while I was getting set up to start.

Rolando Moon was enjoying the sun on a nice, snow free spot!

When we do a burn, along with the burnable household garbage, I have been slowly burning the old rotten pallets from the junk pile. This leaves a good body of coals that allows me to cover the burn ring, leaving the coals and litter sawdust to slowly smolder away for several days.

A lot of the old pallet pieces are so rotten, I can break them up with my hands, but there are still some longer pieces to fuss with. It takes a while to burn them through in the middle enough to break them pus the ends into the ring, so I made sure to bring a camp chair to use in between tending the fire.

Any time I sat down, Gooby came over and was all over me! He’s always had a thing for noses, but lately, he’s not just trying to lick my nose, but trying to bite it!

Then Pointy Baby came over. He’s still full of burrs. I tried to at least break them up, so he could groom some of them out himself, but he just would not stop spinning around. I think they were hurting him. After awhile, though, I think he figured out that what I was trying to do actually make him feel better. He still spun around a lot, and would lick/bite at my fingers, but he did stay mostly still enough that I got some progress. Some of the biggest bunches have been broken apart, and I even got a few out completely. There are some small, hard ones, completely encases in fur, that I haven’t been able to do much about. Still, he’s a much happier boy now!

When the fire was burned down enough to cover the ring, I was going to grab the camp chair and found this!

These two know a good thing then they see it! I didn’t have the heart to kick them off into the snow, so I picked the chair up by the arms and carried them. Pointy Baby did eventually jump off, but Gooby got a ride all the way to the sun room. So I just set the chair up where the frame to the mini greenhouse used to be, and the last I saw, he was still enjoying his comfy spot!

Tomorrow, we’re supposed to start getting a cold spell again. Nothing another bitter polar vortex like last time. As long as it’s not windy, it should still be fine.

Just out of curiosity, I just the app that has historical weather data. The 30 year average high for today is -8C/18F, and the average low is -19C/-2F. The 30 year record high for today is 7C/45F, set in 2017, while the record low was -30C/-22F, set in 2015!

I think I’m good with what we’re getting now. 😄😄😄

The Re-Farmer

Bedraggled!

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Oh, there’s such a down side to having a long haired gene show up in the yard cats!

This is the “in between” long haired black and white cat. He’s just a bit bitter than Pointy Baby.

I’m so happy I caught the tiniest of tongue blehps.

The girls have named this one… Thesamus? Something like that. Anyhow, he still won’t let us near him. When he moved away after I got this picture, I could see what looked like a huge matt of fur on one hip. Or maybe it was burrs stuck in his fur. I couldn’t quite see well enough.

Then Pointy Baby showed up. Pointy Baby loves attention, so I had no problem finding the half dozen or so burrs stuck on his fur! They were not there last night. He wouldn’t let me touch them. I plan to head out today, so I’m hoping one of the girls will have a chance to settle into the sun room with him and get them out.

The biggest of the long haired black and whites, and his long haired tuxedo brother, were also around and, so far, their fur looks clear of matts or burrs. I didn’t see the long haired calico this morning, but so far, she hasn’t been getting any visible matts in her fur. Hopefully, things will stay that way.

The Re-Farmer

After a tease, winter is trying to come back!

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As I type this, we are currently at -20C/-4F, with the wind chill at either -32C/-26F or -29C/020F, depending on which app I look at. Our high of the day is still supposed to reach -14C/7F, with a wind chill around -25C/-13F

Yesterday, we were supposed to reach a high of -1C/30F. I have no idea if we ever did, but what we did get was incredible winds. Whiteout conditions on many highways, with some of them closed due to the blowing snow. Today is a significant improvement!

The long range forecast has changed, of course. We went from expecting much milder temperatures for the rest of February, with the coldest days having highs just a little colder than -10C/14F, to now getting forecasts with highs colder than -20C/-4F, all with significant wind chills.

Winter just doesn’t want to let go quite yet!

Thankfully, with the current wind direction, our front yard is quite sheltered, and the cats and cattens are making good use of the cat house and the sun room to keep warm.

This morning, this little guy was absolutely determined to get stepped on.

When I first go out in the morning, there’s usually several cats right under the threshold of the old kitchen door. I have to carefully push the outer door open (while holding the kibble container) with one hand, pull the inner door closed behind me, while trying not to step on any cattens trying to get into the old kitchen at the same time. They make if VERY hard not to step on them, as they keep dashing right under my boot every time I try to move around them.

There are now three white and greys, all male, that come for attention, but this one here was making life quite difficult for me in the process! Absolutely suicidal around my feet! I do wish we didn’t have to keep the kibble bin in the old kitchen. At least there, they don’t start milling about my feet until I’ve got it open and am scooping out the kibble, and I can get in and out of the old kitchen doors with less risk of stepping on a cat!

I was able to count 24 cats this morning, but then I saw Sprout by herself next to the cat house, and I wouldn’t be sure if she was among the others I’d counted or now. So there might have been 25. No Distinguished Guest this morning. I haven’t seen Sad Face (aka: Shop Towel) for a while, either. The toms are probably visiting other farms in their range. Hopefully, The Distinguished Guest is doing better. That cat needs a vet visit. 😥

We have some progress among the inside cats.

Marlee and Ginger, sharing prime nap space! These two are hilarious. They hiss and snarl at each other, all the time. Then Marlee will flop down next to Ginger, often dropping right on top of him, and they settle down for naps together.

Nosencrantz is figuring out that the new shelf at the window is available for her, and I woke this morning to find her sitting on it. Unfortunately, what woke me was the sound of her batting something off the window ledge.

No, I don’t have anything on the window ledge the shelf is against. She went after stuff on the other half of the window!

My craft shelf next to her spot is where I store envelopes in a variety of larger sizes. She decided those were something to chew on, so I had to find a way to protect those but, otherwise, it’s been working out as hoped. I may not even have to shorten the legs, after all. No other cat has shown any interest in the shelf at all.

With how well this is working out, I should actually be able to clear and reorganize the rest of my craft table and even *gasp* use it to do crafting again!

What a novel concept.

With the temperatures dropping again over the next while, it’s a good time to catch up.

The Re-Farmer

Backordered seeds in, fuzzy butt, and trying to keep up

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You’d think a city shopping trip would be more tiring than running errands with my mother, but nooooo…

We are having another beautiful sunny day, though the wind has certainly picked up. I counted 23 yard cats while doing their kibble and warm water this morning.

I was just coming back to the house would I saw these two, finishing off the kibble on the cat house roof. I tried to get a good picture of Brussel, but she moved around and sat with her back to me.

I swear, that fuzzy butt of hers is bigger than the little guy beside her!

She won’t let me anywhere near her – I had to zoom in quite a bit to get this shot – but she’s less shy than her sister, Sprout, who runs off as soon as she sees me and doesn’t come back to eat until I’m back inside.

Sadness.

When planning today’s outing with my mother, I brought up getting Chinese food for lunch again. She said no, made a big deal of the cost, and that she could make lunch for us, etc. Well, I didn’t listen to her. I left early enough to pick up some parcels at the post office before they closed for 2 hours over the lunch period, so when I got to her town, I picked up lunch anyhow and showed up early. She laughed and nattered a bit about my not listening to her, so I told her that I wanted a treat. Only later, while we were eating, did she say that I must have heard her thoughts. She had been poking around her fridge for something to make for lunch, didn’t find anything she wanted, and wasn’t up to cooking, anyhow. She’d been regretting telling me not to bring food! The next thing she knew, there I was with lunch for both of us! So that worked out.

After lunch and a bit of a visit, we headed out to do her errands, getting groceries last of all. I stayed long enough to put everything away, then started getting ready to head home. My mother was all ready to make tea, but I told her I had to go. As usual, she started going on about how, if we visit her, we should plan on staying for a long time. I told her I do – that’s why I come over so early! So we can get a visit in, first. I must say, I was pretty tired by then, anyhow. My mother is 91 yrs old, has a bum knee and uses a walker, but that hardly slows her down at all! It takes quite a bit to keep up with her, that’s for sure. She didn’t push for me to stay, though. I know she was tired, too, and would probably go for a nap as soon as I was gone!

Once at home, I found one of our backordered seeds from Veseys was in the mail.

I’m looking forward to these. I keep hearing about how great Delicata squash is, but it’s not a good storage variety. This new Honeyboat variety is described as good for storage, so I figured it was worth trying. At 100 days to maturity, it’s going to be one of the earlier ones to start indoors.

This leaves one more packet of seeds on back order to come in from Veseys.

While at the grocery store with my mother, I noticed they had a couple of seed displays up. I was so tempted to get more, but we already have so much, and in varieties better suited to our needs.

Still…

… you can’t really have too many seeds, can you?

I resisted.

For now!

The Re-Farmer

Pretty Poser, and this is $171

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We had another lovely day today! Nice and sunny, with a high of -9C/16F, and almost no wind chill at all. The cats are quite loving it, romping around in the sun and the snow.

I had the hardest time getting this picture of Pointy Baby! He kept trying to reach out to me, or my phone. I managed to catch a shot during one split second he gave me a pretty pose! I counted 24 cats outside this morning.

With my last trip to the city, where were very few things on my list that I didn’t get, and I wasn’t intending to make another trip so soon. However, I’m going to be helping my mother with errands tomorrow, and I don’t want to shop on the weekend, so I figured I’d better head out today, before some things start running too low. I went to the closer Walmart, with the possible extra trip to Canadian Tire to get more stove pellet litter. I ended up not needing the extra trip.

This is $171.11

They had hardwood pellets in stock this time, and the price has actually gone down! They were $5 each. At Canadian Tire, the hardwood pellets have gone up in price from $6.99 to almost $8, while their softwood pellets stayed the same price. The Walmart price had been comparable to the Canadian Tire price, but I’d only ever seen softwood pellets. These hardwood pellets are the same brand that Canadian Tire carries. So I got two, and I would have gotten two more, if I weren’t also getting kibble.

Their inventory of large kibble bags was low again, except for the super cheap no-name brand, which come in 7kg/15lb bags. There were no 11kg/24lb bags, so I picked up a couple of 9kg/20lb bags, plus their largest size case of canned cat food. They all cost just under $30 each.

I wasn’t able to find the usual shampoo and conditioner we use, in the big bottles with pumps. I haven’t seen those in quite a while, so I got smaller bottles of the same brand – two types with different oils in them – to try. They were on sale, at under $5 each.

The only thing on my list that was groceries was the icing sugar, but I also grabbed some red rooibos tea. My husband requested nacho fixings, so I got the giant jar of olives (which was cheaper than at the wholesale place!) and no-name brand tortilla chips. I got a couple of loaves of rye bread. I saw some bakery cookies for sale and got some salted caramel chip cookies as a treat, plus a variety pack of gum to keep in the van. One last extra was a couple of packages of biodegradable pots. All of these were between $3 and $5.

They didn’t have the larger size pots that I would prefer to use for certain seeds, but these ones will do for others. Eventually, when we’re planting seeds that aren’t as much of an issue for size or potting up, we’ll just use the red solo cups we have so much of. I expect we’ll need at least a couple more bags of seed starting mix, but not for quite a while.

Everything except the big bags and the canned cat food fit into just one of my hard sided grocery bags.

With this done, anything else we need for the month can be picked up locally, as needed. We will be making one more trip to the city, though, to get the materials we need to build a cat barrier to the living room. This is a project the girls are planning out and paying for, so they get to tell me when that’s going to happen! 😄

After the shopping was unloaded, we loaded the van up again for a trip to the dump and I headed out again. That’s a quick trip, at least.

Then, more running around tomorrow, this time with my mother’s car. After that, I should be able to play hermit again for a little while! 😄

The Re-Farmer

Rough

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Gooby really wanted attention this morning!

Of the 25 cats I counted this morning, that did not include any visiting toms. I usually see Sad Face wandering around later, or in the sun room, eating.

I just got back from doing the evening feeding of the outside cats. With how warm it’s been, I’m actually seeing the sun room completely empty when I check it through the bathroom window. Just before I headed out, I did see two cats on the swing bench. One of them turned out to be The Distinguished Guest. I’ve not seen him much at all lately, and even then, it’s been in passing.

The poor thing was looking in rough shape before, but he’s looking even worse now. When I came into the sun room, he jumped down and squeezed out the doors, so it was the best look I’ve been able to get of him in ages. He’s a long haired cat, but his tail has been looking very thin, and now I’m thinking there’s either fur missing, or grey muck is stuck to it. I tried not to spook him as I went out, but he still moved away towards the storage house. Slowly. His movements are stiff, and he’s got a limp. His fur is looking quite scraggly.

I don’t know where he spent the cold snap we had; I did see glimpses of him, but I don’t think he was using any of the other shelters around the yard. I’m afraid Sad Face has been attacking him and chasing him off. I suspect right now he’s dealing with both the effects of the recent cold we’ve had, and getting beat up by Sad Face.

I did see both of them in the sun room not that long ago, though. It took me a while to be sure it was The Distinguished Guest on the swing bench, as we now have a long haired tuxedo that I’m sure is his son, and they’re about the same size now. Sad Face was ignoring him in favour of food. If that was how the two would behave all the time, I would be much happier!

As for tonight, after I topped up the food bowls, TDG sat and waited by the storage house, then started to limp his way back. Hopefully, he’ll make his way back into the sun room and settle in for the night, without trouble, and spend time time resting and recovering, with food and water nearby.

When TDG first showed up here, he actually allowed us to pet him. I’m still sure he was dumped. Unfortunately, over time, he has become more feral, not less, and there is very little we can do to help him, beyond what we are already doing. Poor thing. 😥

The Re-Farmer

A little extra warmth

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First, I have to share this bit of adorableness.

This is one of the grey and whites – though the lighting makes it look more brown than grey! – that lets us pet him. He is so tiny!!

And yes, I know. He’s got leaky eyes. There’s nothing we’re able to do about it at this time. They all get it, off and on, especially in the winter.

Today, the ceramic heat bulbs we ordered came in.

The brand we ordered before is no longer available, but these are the same thing. The dimensions seem a little different – a bit broader and narrower at the top – but that might be just me. The old one is still in the garbage can in the sun room. If I remember, I’ll compare when I set a bulb up tonight. It’s so much warmer these days, it almost seemed unnecessary, but I don’t think the babies will mind a bit of extra warmth!

Today has been a very quiet day. I’m currently working on a reflective crochet pony tail hat while watching videos on building outdoor kitchens. My poor younger daughter is not doing well today (my older daughter has gone back to working at night and sleeping during the day, as she finds herself more productive that way). She did so much in the basement yesterday, she’s hobbling around with a cane, today. It’s a huge job, and not quite done yet. The mess the cats have been making is bad enough, but she’s getting into the corner of the basement that was most affected by the failed weeping tile during the spring flooding, and that will involve moving around an old gutted radio, a gutted phonograph, and my mother’s old sewing machine (which should still work), all of which are pretty large pieces of furniture. She’s been working section by section, and once she’s cleaned up each section of mess, she’s been bleaching the heck out it, so we won’t end up with mold and mildew problems. It’s unlikely we’ll get the level of moisture we did last year, as it’s quite unlikely we’ll see that level of flooding again, but it’ll help for when we’re able to finally paint things down there. The down side is, there’s really no one in a position to help her much at all, so she’s doing this almost completely on her own. 😔 She’s paying for it today, so she’s pain killered up and using today to recover.

We’re one heck of a gimpy family!

Ah, well. We do what we can and, little by little, we’re getting it done.

The Re-Farmer

That’s life with cats, I guess!

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As I was heading out to do my morning rounds, I was greeted by this adorableness.

I took this photo through the screen window of the old kitchen door, so it looks out of focus. This is the tortie the girls have named Phantom, because she has half her face covered with a black “mask”. Alas, I was unable to sneak a pet before she woke up, saw me setting out the kibble, and ran outside.

As I write this, we are at a wonderful -5C/23F, and are expected to go above freezing. Too warm for my down filled parka, so I was going to wear my hoodie.

Or not.

I’d left it hanging on the back of a spare dining room chair.

A chair the cats use as a bed.

I even made sure the hood wasn’t on the seat, so they couldn’t lie on it. This is just from them leaning against it!

Life with cats. Cat hair, everywhere!

I did have another light jacket I could use. I just don’t like it as much. I still had to take the lint brush to it, since I’ll be wearing it when I head to the city today. Hopefully, I won’t be trigging too many cat allergies when I’m around people, because there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.

As lovely as the temperature is, though, walking out the sun room door was like hitting a wall. We’ve got 30 kmh/19mph winds right now, coming in from the south. It did make doing the rounds much less pleasant than it would have been, but the wind chill was still only -13C/9F, so it’s still not much to complain about! The only down side it that I’m going to be driving head on into it, the whole way to the city with the van, which is going to do a number on my mileage. At least it should make the trip home better!

I’m just loving what I’m seeing in the forecast over the next few days. We’re actually supposed to go above freezing for several days!

We’ll see what we actually get, of course.

The Re-Farmer