As I write this, at almost 6:30pm, we are at 25C/77F with the humidex putting us at 28C/82F
I’d watered the garden beds last night, and they were still fine this morning, but by the evening they were definitely in need of more water. I knew we were expecting rain tomorrow, but too many things were getting baked!
It was only on checking the weather app as I wrote the above that I found the rain expected tomorrow, is now expected tonight. Only a 32% chance of rain, though, and for a shorter time. *sigh* A good overnight rainfall would be a wonderful thing right now, but it doesn’t look like it’ll happen!
While checking on the in-progress trellis bed, I was expecting to see more of the barely visible sprouts that were starting to come up yesterday. I was NOT expecting to see the entire row and basically exploded!
So… finishing that trellis is going to be a priority! These are the red noodle beans, and they’re going to need something to climb.
What is odd is that these beans are coming up, but none of the others beans I’ve planted have. I planted a row of them in the same bed as the Spoon tomatoes, and there’s nothing. Right now, only the Chinese elm is sprouting. Those were the Royal Burgundy bush beans, and they really should be up by now. The tomatoes and melons in the same bed area also struggling, so I wonder of there’s a correlation, there?
Oh, and I think, maybe, possibly, there are some sunflowers starting to come up. I’ll need to wait until the seedlings get bigger before I can be sure that’s what I’m seeing, and not some weed.
While watering in the old kitchen garden, I saw flashes of colour hidden by the leaves, and discovered the strawberries we grew from seed a couple of years ago now have berries ripening! These are the small wild? Alpine? strawberries we got in a kit meant for children, and there was nothing on the package to say what kind of strawberries they were. They are absolutely thriving. Too bad the berries aren’t particularly good.
I had a bit of a surprise with our corn, too. In the last image in the slide show above, you can see a row of corn sprouts.
These are the ones I planted with the Arikara squash. There are sprouts coming up all over in that bed!
Those were left over seeds from running out of room while planting in the nearby low raised bed. In that bed, there’s only one corn sprout visible. !! What is it about this little squash bed that has almost all the seeds I planted sprouting already, while the bigger bed has only one, so far?
No sign of any of the yellow bush beans, yet. With those being older seeds, I would not be surprised if none of those came up.
I don’t expect to get much, if anything, done in the garden tomorrow. In the morning, I’ll be heading to my mother’s to get her to a lab for her monthly blood work, then do her grocery shopping. We’re running low on wet cat food, plus we are now down to just one hose nozzle that doesn’t leak, so a trip to Walmart is in order for the afternoon. After that, my week is clear of appointments, so I should be able to get some work in the garden done. I want to get those vertical supports for the trellis bed secured, and whatever horizontal supports we decide on. For this year, we might just use temporary plastic trellis netting we already have, then put something more permanent on, next year.
Our plans are very loosey-goosey, and prone to change! As long as the final goal is achieved – in this case, permanent trellis tunnels joining pairs of low raised bed – I’m rather indifferent as to how it gets done! 😁
Well, I’ve got an early start and a long day ahead of me. Time to start winding down and get to bed early.
Ha!
I told myself that last night, expecting to be in bed shortly after 8pm. By the time I finally got to bed, it was past midnight.
This bed had already been prepped, then covered with plastic, except for one end, where there had been onions gone to seed. They did not survive another winter, though.
The plastic didn’t solarize the weeds to death, but at least it kept most of the elm seeds off! The challenge was to get the plastic off again, without dumping them all onto the soil.
For a bed that had already been weeded before the plastic was laid down, there were a LOT of weeds to clear out. As I worked around the bed, I suddenly realized that I was pulling out baby carrots! Last year, we had a couple of Uzbek Golden Carrots bolt and go to seed, so I left them to it, so I could collect the seeds in the fall. When I went to gather them, though, the seed heads were shriveled and messed up looking, and there were no seeds to collect.
Looks like one of them did have seeds, after all!
There was no way they could be transplanted or anything like that, so away they went.
Once the bed was clear of weeds and roots, I finished off our last bag of manure into it, and worked that into the soil.
Then it was time to figure out where the tomatoes would go.
I used the collars (I found an extra “stash” of the water bottles I make the collars from in the basement, so I had plenty for the tomatoes) to figure out the spacing. There were four Black Beauty, four Chocolate Cherry and nine Sub Arctic Plenty.
We’ve grown the Black Beauty and Chocolate Cherry before, so I know what to expect with those. They both get quite tall, while the Black Beauty became really heavy. They had trellis supports, and I ended up having to add supports to the supports, to keep the whole thing from tipping over in the wind!
With that in mind, I made sure that these were on the north side of the bed, so they wouldn’t shade out other plants. So I set out eight collars on that side, with a space in the middle.
If I remember correctly, the Sub Arctic Plenty are a bush type tomato, so I don’t expect them to get tall. I’m thinking they will be more like the Forme de Couer tomatoes we grew last year. Each tomato plant had a pair of bamboo stakes to support it, and I’d used twine around the plants to secure them. The plants got so heavy with tomatoes, the supports started falling over, and some of the bamboo stakes even broke from the weight.
With that in mind, I planted the Sub Arctic Plenty tomatoes along the south side of the bed, where they would get the most sunlight.
As with everything else, this bed was dry, dry, dry, so it got repeated waterings at every stage. I’d taken the cover off the other bed and every time I watered the tomato bed, I gave the other bed a gentle watering, too.
Once the tomatoes were in, it was time to give them support. For the verticals, I used 6′ plastic coated metal stakes. I’m glad I got more of these! Every collar got one of these tucked against one side. I used up all the stakes from last year, and used a couple of the new ones, to make one for every tomato plant.
Once those were in place, I used bamboo stakes to weave through the verticals. I did three horizontal rows on each side, and more can be added later, if need be. I then added some sticks to connect the two sides. There’s just a couple at the ends of one level, and a couple more further in, at another level. We may not need any more than that. We’ll see how things progress over time.
I did not have any clean grass clippings left for mulch, so I made use of the stove pellets we use for cat litter. I scattered them around, and even inside, the collars before giving the whole thing one final watering, to get the pellets to break up into sawdust.
I think it worked out rather well, and should be able to hold the weight of the tomatoes we can expect from these varieties,
Once this was done and cleaned up, and I took a break for lunch, it was time to work in the old kitchen garden. I decided it was time to remove the cover and netting from the greens bed, so the first thing to do was roll up the two sheets of netting, then take the cover off.
The kittens are going to miss their little mosquito netting hammocks!
The greens bed was really dry, so I spent time time watering it from the rain barrel – the rain we had was almost enough to refill it – and weeding. The spinach is bolting and we’ve decided to let them go to seed. I also found a second tiny bok choi that is staring to bloom.
That done, the herb bed got a watering, too, and then I did the pruning and clearing I mentioned in my earlier post, before I could even start on the wattle weave bed.
I decided that the Sweetie Snack Mix mini bell peppers would go in the short part of the L shaped bed, and the eggplant in the long section, among the strawberries.
The short side of the bed didn’t need a lot of weeding, and I was careful to work around the garlic that got missed and started growing this year. The old mulch got pushed up against the wattle weave sides, and the hard packed soil was broken up and fluffified. It was surprisingly hard packed. So I added some of the remaining rehydrated coconut coir over the area and worked that into the soil.
I laid the transplants out, in their cups, to figure out the bed way to space them. After that, it was the usual routine of wetting everything down, then again and again, in between every stage of transplanting. When the peppers were finally planted, I made sure to press down around each one, to create a shallow “bowl” to collect water and drain it towards the plant. Then each pepper plant got its own wire tomato cage to grow up into.
That done, it was time to work on the other side. It was a bit more challenging, working around the strawberries and onion survivors that are there. There was no sign of any of the chamomile self seeding, and the thyme that almost survived the winter was long dead, so that gave a bit of extra space. The mulch was moved aside, the compacted soil broken up, and the last of the coconut coir worked into the soil.
The transplants in their cups were laid out to figure out the spacing, along with the mystery flower. I decided to plant that at the very end of the bed, where it could stay permanently. If it survives! The flower did get a plastic collar, more to keep the cats from rolling on it.
Once the eggplant were in, each with their shallow “bowl” around them, they got their wire tomato cages set in place, and they were done!
Almost.
The mulch I’d moved aside was mostly old wood chips. I didn’t want to push that back. I did, however, have some leaf mulch that had been pulled off and set along the inside of the L shape, by the double lilac. It was old and dry, so I was able to crush handfuls of it, and shake it out over the transplants, to give the soil a light protection. More mulch can be added as the plants get bigger.
I forgot to take an “after” picture when I was done, so I went back out later, and got a picture of the entire finished bed, which is the last image in the above slide show.
That done, I went on to water the new trees in the fruit forest area, and the walnuts in the outer year. Still no sign of anything emerging where the seeds are planted, but the year old sapling is starting to get some bigger leaves on it.
I headed outside shortly after 7am to go my morning rounds and start on the garden. By the time I was done and heading back inside, it was past 8am. Taking into account stopping for breakfast and lunch, I got about 10 hours in the garden today!
Which is great, because all the transplants are IN!!!
Tomorrow, my main goal of the day is to get the third low raised bed near the compost rind cleaned up and planted with short season corn and yellow beans. After that, I want to work on the permanent trellis bed where I want to plant red noodle beans. That will make sure the trellis gets finished off, because they’re going to need something to climb!
Last of all, I will be clearing the bed at the chain like fence, salvage what I can find, replant with what I can manage, then cover it up again. Somehow. I like the netting that’s over it, but it really need something better than the wire to support it. I’m not even sure I can salvage the ones that cats have bent up!
I’ll figure it out.
Just another day or two, and the garden will be officially in!
Almost there!
On a completely different note, while I was working outside, my daughter let me know that the shop I took our push mower to had called and left a message. As expected they can’t find the part that’s needed. It’s simply not available, anywhere.
I was expecting this and had been thinking about it. I’d told them not to worry if they couldn’t find it; I’d just come pick it up. However, it would just end up as more junk here. So when I called them back and talked about it, I suggested they could keep the mower and use it for parts. If I ever buy a push mower again, it won’t be that brand, so it would be of no use to me. They, however, might be able to scavenge it if some other poor soul has the same brand of mower and needs a part that’s hard to find. They happily accepted the offer. Win, win!
Thankfully, my brother has provided us with mowers we can use! I was going to take my mother’s old mower in, but my brother thinks he can fix it himself, so we don’t even need to bring that in.
Oh, my goodness. It’s past midnight as I finish this! I need to get my butt into bed!
My goal for the day was to get all the transplants in.
Ha!
No, I didn’t achieve that goal.
I did, however, get a LOT done, until the 34C/93F heat finally did me in. Enough that I’ll be breaking it up into several posts.
The start of the day was the same as it has been for the past while; after my morning rounds, everything got a watering in preparation for the coming heat. I was quite appreciating the new watering can, which holds twice as much as the breaking apart bucket I’ve been using! So that part of the watering went a lot faster.
Before I started watering the new asparagus bed, though, I did some modification. The landscape fabric or whatever it is had just been folded back to uncover the space I planted in, and the rocks I pulled out was just tossed on top. I lifted the folded side to shift all the rocks towards the opposite side, then laid the edge out close to the little wire fence protecting the strawberries. After weighing that down, I pulled the other end to cover a new section of what had been our squash patch in previous years.
There was still some grass clippings on the fabric, and that got used to lightly mulch the asparagus area, and heavily mulch along the wire fence. Once that was done, it all got a thorough watering.
The light mulch should be enough to protect the soil, while still making it easy for the baby asparagus to poke through. The heavy mulch should, hopefully, keep any weeds from coming back by the strawberries.
I’d left a couple of buckets filled with water to keep them from blowing them away. I noticed the cats have been drinking from them, often, so now I keep them full for the kitties. 😊
Next to the new asparagus bed is our garlic bed, then the potatoes.
The garlic is looking so good! We should start getting scapes soon. We are all looking forward to cooking with those!
The potatoes are coming up a lot faster now. When watering that bed, I noticed there are SO many frogs! They get startled when I water the potatoes, and jump into the netting. They seem to be able to get in and out just fine, though – at least when they’re not being scared by something!
Once all the watering was done, it was finally time to start transplanting things.
I’ve definitely been running around too much, over the past while.
With the trips to the city, I haven’t been doing as much physical labour, but I’m still in a lot of pain. Mostly the OA joint pain, but it’s definitely more of a mental fatigue than a physical one.
I headed out early today to do the morning watering. I didn’t need my older daughter to help out this time, nor was my younger daughter heading out with me, so they got to do some catching up on stuff in the house, instead.
My younger daughter was going to get the lawn mowing done as much as she could, in the heat. So, just riding mower stuff! We will just need to do the areas that can only be reached with either the push mower or the weed trimmer, later on.
I picked up some of my mother’s favourite fried chicken and potato wedges for our lunch today, so we had a relaxed visit over food, first. She was having one of her better days, behaviour wise, which made it much more pleasant! After that, we went over her shopping list. I spotted some gaps and asked a few questions, and did end up adding a couple of things to her list, too.
Before I headed out, I changed her bedding for her, so she could lie down while I was gone. She is really having a much harder time moving around her apartment of late. For all the heat, she’s also been finding herself getting cold!
I hit a couple of stores to get her shopping list done. It wasn’t a large list, but still came out to over $90. That’s just for one person for a week, and she has Meals on Wheels three times a week!
After her groceries were put away, I did some light housekeeping for her, then headed out. I made a brief stop at the hardware store, hoping to find some buckets in smaller sizes than 5 gallons, or watering cans. There weren’t any in the store, but I did remember to get handles to attach to the isolation shelter, to make it easier to move around, and caps for the end of the emergency septic pump bypass, so we can close that off and finally set aside the last of the outside parts of the emergency bypass.
The hardware store did have their garden centre section open, so I checked it out. I did find watering cans there, but only got one, as the price was pretty steep. I also spotted some lovely looking sage transplants and picked up two. There’s just enough room in the tiny raised bed, with the other herbs, for them.
All of this took long enough that, when I got home, it was already time to do the outside cat feeding, so I took care of that right away. A couple of kittens needed eye washing, and I changed out the ice packs in the sun room cat cage, for Poirot and her babies.
It’s barely past 5pm as I write this, and I am so drained, I’ll be heading to bed pretty much as soon as I’m done supper. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter, and then we’re going to cool down a touch for the next while. I’m hoping to get the rest of the transplants in, and maybe even get the direct sowing done. I noticed this morning that some of the Spoon tomatoes have started to show flower buds!
This is what WP’s AI image generator thinks I look like. 😄
At some point, I need to edit my May garden tour video, too. I decided to keep the video files I took, back on the 21st, and here we are, last day of May, and it still hasn’t been put together!
Little by little, it’ll get done.
I just wish there weren’t so many distractions pulling me away, at times!
It was a perfect day to work outside! We reached our expected high of 15C/59F, there was a bit of a breeze, and a lovely mix of sun and clouds. Not too hot, not too cold… It was juuuuust right!
Most of it involved clean up.
I headed out to open the gate for my brother, only to find he was at the gate and opening it for himself. 😄 We said our hellos, then he set out to get their push mower out of storage (there was a lot of other stuff in front of it) and get it going. My first task was to get the wagon out and start going through the yard, picking up all the fallen branches and sticks I could find. We hauled away any large branches that fell right away, but there’s always tonnes of smaller ones that we leave until a day like today.
I worked my way around most of the yard before stopping near the septic tank to switch jobs. The tank was still covered with an insulated tarp, folded in half, and the pipes and hose for the emergency bypass was still set up over it. A few things needed to be moved so I could get the tarp off. That got dragged to the south yard and stretched out to full size, so I could hose it down, then flip it over and hose it down again. Then I went ahead and got the sun room broom and used that to scrub the entire surface before hosing it down again, then leaving it out in the sun. Then it was back to the septic tank area.
It’s remarkable how much survived being under that insulated tarp. In fact, some things had even started growing into the fibres!
The rigid pipe is being left where it is for now. I don’t have any way to store it properly right now (I’m wanting to find a way to store all the parts and pieces right near the tank), and the pipe that sticked out through the wall still needs a cap. I don’t want any dirt – or small critters! – getting into there.
I brought the back hose over and used that to spray down the inside of the flexible hose. It’s quite long, to it took a while to get enough water flowing through it. A number of bricks, rocks, boards and pieces of Styrofoam insulation were used to create a slope for the fluid to drain away, though some low spots were still inevitable. I gathers all those up to store against the house for now, the rinsed the inside of the flexible hose some more before finally dragging it all in, making sure water continued to drain away. Then that got curled up into a pile near where the boards were sticks. Then, since my next job was going to be weed trimming around the house, I pulled in the garden hose, too.
By this time, I could hear my brother’s lawnmower, so I went over to see how things were going. He showed me the particulars of how to start and run the mower (it has a choke that shuts itself off!) and his own modifications to it. He was mowing a lane to the barn, and around his stored equipment beside it. He had other stuff he needed to do, so I took over with the push mower and ended up finishing off most of the area in front of the barn. It was all being cut at the highest level, so I’ll be going over it again, likely with the riding mower, soon, to get it cut lower, little by little. The area is so dense with dried thatch mixed in with the tall grass, it would easily be too much if the mower were at the height I would want to cut it to.
I’m going to have a lot of grass to use as mulch, soon!
Once that section was done, it was time to get back to the inner yard.
No, those are not leaves. At least, mostly not leaves. Click through to the next picture, and you can see that these are seeds. The Chinese Elm are absolutely thick with seeds right now, and they’re blowing everywhere. Pretty soon, they’ll dry up and drop like a storm.
I’m not looking forward to that. We’ve got so many of these trees in the south yards alone!
I then spent the next hour or more with the weed trimmer. Aside from doing the edges and areas too small or awkward to use a mower in, I went hunting for the rocks and roots in the lawn that stick up high enough that, if I’m cutting to the height I want to, would get hit by the mower blade. I’ve run over these by accident in the past. Bad enough when using our own equipment, but I do NOT want to damage my brother’s equipment!
In the end, I was able to get the south east yards done before I had to head inside, pausing only to find my brother and touch base with him. He was up on the roof of their trailer! 😄
While I was outside, my daughters were busy inside, and I came in just as one of them was making dinner. I actually needed help getting my boots off, before I could change out of my grass covered clothes, take some pain killers, and rest for a bit.
I also had Butterscotch all over me. She has started to become aggressively affectionate when I sit or lie on my bed.
After having a lovely supper my daughter made, I realized I was hearing a mower running outside. By then it was time to feed the outside cats, so I started doing that. My brother, I discovered, had taken out the riding mower and was mowing around their trailers and RV, and in front of the storage shed. Something to be very careful off, as that area has some really rough spots! Leveling things off around there is something they have plans to do, once they can get some of their equipment going.
Unfortunately, he was done and gone before I was finished feeding the cats!
I wasn’t going to be doing more weed trimming today, but I did get a chance to weed the retaining wall blocks.
Unfortunately, it has worn out holes in it, so water gets inside the tarp. I’m not sure how to address that, Ideally, I’d hang or drape it somewhere, but it’s quite large and surprisingly heavy. Especially with any water inside it! For now, it’s just going to say on the grass for the night. Hopefully, we don’t get any high winds to blow it away!
Tomorrow, the tarp will need to be moved away, and then it’s back to weed trimming. Particularly around the cat shelters and the portable greenhouse.
The kittens are not going to be happy with all that noise!
Once that’s done, though, I’ll be able to use the riding mower. With the amount of mowing I did today with the push mower, plus all the trimming, I’m in quite a lot of pain, even with taking painkillers. There’s no way I’d be able to do push mowing two days in a row.
While the overnight temperatures are still too low to set out the transplants, there are some things that can be direct sown. I’ve decided to take advantage of the boards protecting the sugar snap pea bed, and plant more carrots. I do see carrots coming up in the winter sown beds, but I’d like to have more! There are a few other things that can be sown now, too, once I get the beds prepared for them. We’ll see how it goes. The rest of this week will have some good daytime temperatures for that sort of work. Next weekend, things will start getting hot again.
The forecast for freezing overnight temperatures, with rain and snow, that I was seeing for the end of May, beginning of June, this morning is gone. Now the forecast is calling for overnight lows of almost 10C/50F! What a difference!
Of course, by tomorrow morning, it’ll probably be completely different again.
As for me, I’m heading to bed as soon as I’m done posting this. Well… after I take more painkillers, that is. Today is a day to max out the prescription dose, that’s for sure!
Today turned out to be pretty unpleasant, overall. Our high of the day was supposed to be 9C/48F which, according to the hourly forecast, was supposed to happen around 9am, with temperatures slowly dropping since yesterday afternoon. When I headed outside at around 8am, it was 5C/41F and still slowly dropping. As I write this, at past 5:30pm, we are currently at 3C/37F, the wind chill is -10C/14F, and it’s still supposed to drop more.
When doing my rounds this morning, I plugged in and turned on heat lamps in various shelters. The kittens will certainly need them! The bigger, mobile kittens have all been hanging out in the cat house together, instead of the sun room. The heat bulb in there is on a light sensor, so it’ll turn on as it gets darker, when they’ll need it the most.
The forecast for the overnight low has wobbled from -2C/28F to the current 0C/32F, but the coldest temperatures are not supposed to hit until 7am tomorrow. Meanwhile, high winds and rain continue. Yesterday, I’d uncovered some of the garden beds so they could get rained on. I goofed with the high raised bed, by lifting the sides. The plastic was all bunched up on top, so it wouldn’t get hit too hard with driving rain. This morning, I found the weight of water collected in the plastic was enough to bend the hoops all out of shape. I was able to re-cover the beds, but that one took some extra fiddling with. I never did take the plastic off the bed in the old kitchen garden, which turned out to be a good thing in the end. The sump pump is going off pretty regularly now, so that bed is getting watered from below, at least.
As I went out to do the morning rounds, there was only minimal wind damage found so far. The chunk of maple in the West yard, in the first image, was the worst of it.
The second image, which is focused in totally the wrong place, is of the Liberty apple leaves! It has survived its first winter with the coldest of Zone 3 temperatures (last winter was pretty mild). Not too shabby for a Zone 4 tree! This suggests that the micro climate in the location we chose for it is actually helping.
In the next photo, also focused in all the wrong places, you can see the leaves on the new apple tree we planted this spring. Good to see that it has taken.
After that are some leaves on one of the mulberry bushes – they both now have tiny leaf buds unfurling! I had been starting to wonder about those. They both definitely have some cold damage to the tips of some branches, but they have survived their first winter. While these are supposed to be hardy to our zone, they are also tucked in gaps of the lilac hedge, which should act as a protective microclimate, too, until the mulberry get bigger. They were planted where they are, partly to fill the gaps the deer were getting through.
The very last image is of something completely different. That is a sugar snap pea shoot! I found several of them coming up already.
We’re going to have to put something around/over that bed soon, to keep the deer from eating them.
Which confirms to me that any peas that were winter sown in the bed against the chain link fence are toast. The one sprout I did see is simply gone. I thought I saw some bean sprouts, but now I can’t find them. Just some weeds and onions, really. No sign of any of the corn or sunflowers planted in there.
So I will replant that bed, but not quite yet. The Chinese elm seeds are starting to fall and, while the netting is helping keep them off, the seeds are collecting along the edges, which will need to be scooped away. Also, between the cats and the wind, the netting is getting slid up the hoops, allowing the seeds to get under. What I will probably have to do is pull the netting off completely, straighten out the hoops as best I can, then use ground staples along both edges of the netting when they are being replaced. I’ll do that when I resow into the bed. We have quite a few ground staples, but this bed will need a lot, so I’ll be getting more as soon as I can. I still have a packet of Hopi Black Dye sunflower seeds I can sow, and I’ll probably plant pole beans along with them. If they survive and start getting too tall for the netting, we’ll have to find some other way to protect them, because the deer really love both beans and sunflowers.
The kitties, meanwhile, are doing okay in the cold and the wet. I’m not seeing anywhere near as many adult cats these days. I haven’t tried to do a head count lately, but I’m thinking under 20 in total, for the adult cats, for sure. Even Brussel isn’t around as much, leaving her babies to the other creche mothers!
A lot of the fixed cats have lost their collars, so today, several of them got brand new necklaces.
Even Kohl got her first necklace! We’ll have to keep an eye on her, as I don’t think she has reach adult size yet, and I had to make it pretty short to fit her. The Grink and Magda are still way too small.
Poirot, meanwhile, as been spending a lot more time with her babies, now that it’s gotten cooler!
We have chosen names for her babies.
The mostly white one is Miss Lemon. The white and grey is Captain Hastings. The black with white spots on the belly is Inspector Japp.
In other things…
My husband had a medical appointment this morning. This was the appointment we had to reschedule last time, because my husband was in too much pain and walked out before ever seeing the doctor (and where the appointment times were messed up). There must have been some notes added to his file, because they got him into the examination room 5 minutes early, and someone came in to take his BP right away. The doctor came in a bit on the late side, but only by a few minutes. We went over his most recent lab results, and another medication is being applied for (it needs approval for coverage with our province’s pharmacare system) and will be added to all the others he’s already taking. He’s got his first appointment at the new pain clinic next month, so we’ll see if they change up any of his other meds. At some point, they might actually find a pain killer for him that does more than just take the edge off.
My husband felt well enough that we even stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few small things. The next time we go to a city shop, we’ll need to pick up more flour, but that’s not something to buy locally. It costs almost twice as much. I might actually make a trip to the nearest Walmart tomorrow. Tomorrow is Saturday, and I didn’t get to do a dump run last weekend, so I’m hoping to get that done. We’ll just have to get a tarp or something to secure the load, now that we no longer have a box cover, so we don’t end up losing bags of garbage on the highway. I still need to gather the required info together to file a claim with our insurance and see if they’ll cover a replacement. I did notice damage to the truck I hadn’t seen before. Where the remaining piece of the box cover was twisted out of shape, I realized that a section of the box frame itself was twisted, too. It was just partially hidden by the remaining piece of the cover. The amount of force needed twist that is amazing!
One thing about today’s overcast dreariness is that I have been feeling incredibly sleepy. Once we got home, I went straight for a nap. The house has been cold enough that we actually turned the furnace back up. I’m noticing that, while my phone and desktop weather apps are both saying we’re at 3C/37F still, the old tablet I have set up as my clock and weather monitor, is telling me we are at -1C/30F right now, and that our expected low will be -2C/28F! It really makes me wonder where the weather station that app is connected to is! It almost always reads colder than the other apps.
A dreary day for a dreary mood, continuing from yesterday, and our trip to the vet.
Our elderly Freya had been declining for some time. Even before her more obvious physical decline and something going very wrong inside her mouth that we were never able to see, she was at that stage where we would see her peacefully sleeping, thinking, awww… how cute. Then checking to see if she was breathing.
We knew it was time but, lately, between trips to my mother, stuff with the truck, other running around, etc., I just hadn’t gotten around to calling a clinic. The Cat Lady recommended the clinic we’ve been doing the spays and neuters at, as having lower prices.
I actually called them up twice, yesterday. The first time, I was put on hold and, as I was waiting, I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen Freya all morning. Nor all night. The last time I’d seen her, she’d gone to the dining room to eat cat soup, and I found blood in the tray after she was done. She had been spending more of her time sleeping in my room and, at feeding time, I would take a bowl of soft food, just for her, go to where she was curled up (usually in her favourite box bed) and hold it until her chin until she either started eating, or moved away and didn’t eat at all. She hadn’t eaten when I brought her some cat soup, so I was glad to see her leaving the room to eat later, but she never came back to my room after that. She wasn’t around when I did the morning feeding. So when the receptionist got back on the line, I briefly told her why I was calling, but said I would have to call back later… maybe. It was entirely possible Freya had found a quite corner somewhere and passed away. The receptionist was very understanding.
I searched ever spot in my room that she normally went to, and there was no sign of her. I searched various possible hidden corners in the dining room. Nothing. The other areas she might have gone into were closed off. I let the family know to look for her, then went into the basement to check on things there (we’ve got both blower fans going in the old basement, to try and keep the seepage down; today, I added another fan), while my daughter looked for her.
My older daughter finally found Freya, asleep on her sister’s bed. My younger daughter was in the shower and missed all this.
Freya hadn’t gone up those stairs in months, so no one expected to find her up there!
My older daughter then brought Freya down, and she immediately curled up in her favourite box on my bed, while I called the clinic back.
After explaining the situation, they asked how soon we wanted to do this, and I said sooner was probably better, given the pain she was having.
Knowing we were in another town, she asked how long it would take us to get there. They could take us in pretty much right away.
It takes a little under and hour to get there, so we booked the appointment for during the noon hour. I also got the cost (just over $200, after taxes). On informing the family, my younger daughter said she would come along. My husband and older daughter had time to give Freya goodbye cuddles, and then we were off.
Freya was comfortable in her box bed, so we just put her, box and all, into a cat carrier with a side opening door. My daughter was able to open it and pet her as we drove. She never quite settled during the drive, though. It’s amazing how much you notice the bumps on a road, when you know they are causing pain.
We left early enough that I stopped and ran into a store to get some squeeze treats for her. My daughter gave her 2 of them (there were only 4 in a box) as we drove the remaining distance to the clinic, and Freya was quite enthusiastic about the treats!
Once inside, all the paperwork and paying was done at the start. The clinic has a separate room, with its own exit door, used for times like this. It’s larger than the other examination rooms, and has comfortable seating available. Once all the paperwork was done, we were set up in the room, and given a few more minutes alone with Freya. We opened up the carrier, and she quite eagerly went exploring. She did stop to enjoy the last two squeeze treats, though!
The vet came in after a while, along with a second vet that was just starting at the clinic and along as part of her orientation. While I wasn’t in their system until today, we’ve been here many times through the rescue, and the vet recognized us.
It’s been a long time since we’ve had to do this, so she explained the entire process to us. Things have certainly changed over the years. They were to give two injections; the first was the same used to put animals to sleep before surgeries. Then, after about 10 minutes, she would get a final injection, and not feel a thing.
My daughter got to hold Freya while she got the first injection, then the vets left. Freya was soon asleep with her chin tucked onto her paws on my daughter’s shoulder. We both got to cuddle with as she slept, before the vets came back, gave the final injection, and listened with a stethoscope until she could tell us it was over.
From there, they left us, saying we could spend as much time as we needed. They started to assure us that, as we left through the other door, a chime would go off, and someone would come get Freya right away, so she wouldn’t be left alone, but that was if we were going to do a cremation. We were taking Freya home with us, so that was not an issue.
I have to say, I really appreciate how well the clinic handled all this. The last time we tried to have a cat put down, we were still living in the city. We tried calling the Humane Society. The first issue was how long it would take to get an appointment. Almost a week. The next was that they were going to charge extra if we wanted to stay with our cat while it was done. !!! The cat passed away before we could get her to the vet. We tried to make her as comfortable as possible, but it was pretty hard to watch. My older daughter was pretty traumatized by the whole thing, really. So how things went yesterday was really about as good as things could be, under the circumstances.
Once we got home, my daughter and I went to the space I’d prepared for our incoming plum tree (which, according to the tracking, just got processed in the city today, so it should arrive locally on Monday). We dug the planting space out again, then kept going so we could bury Freya in her favourite box bed, and have room above her to plant the plum tree.
We have ridiculously rocky soil, but I think the physical labour was helpful for my daughter.
When we were done, my daughter picked a bouquet of dandelions to place on top.
The whole thing was a lot more comforting. We’ve lost a few cats since moving out here, both indoor and outdoor, and those circumstances were considerably more difficult. My daughter and I have both comforted cats and kittens as they passed in our arms. I’m glad we were able to give Freya a peaceful end, and she is no longer in pain.
The cold and dreary skies, however do suit our mood right now.
Not that I’ve got much choice. If it isn’t the morning light, it’s the cats suddenly going bonkers at 5am, expecting me to top of their kibble. Even if there is still plenty of food!
Of course, today, I had to get my morning rounds done earlier, since I needed to be at my mother’s before 8am.
After a daughter and I fed the cats (Poirot stayed in the carrier with her kittens all night, and did not leave while we were putting food out!), I did my usual garden bed checks while on my way to the trail cams.
The Chinese elms are starting to drop their seeds.
This is while they’re still green, too.
Over the next while, there were be more and, when they get to their dry stage, they’ll be falling by the millions.
The netting on this bed will protect it, to a certain extent. Unfortunately, the cats keep managing to slide the netting on the wire hoops, bending them flat, getting inside and so on. So seeds are still getting inside. It won’t be so bad as to smother everything planted in there, at least.
No, that cats are busy doing that, instead.
I had spotted one pea sprouting a while back, and it’s gone. There are some possible beans sprouting, and I’ve spotted some onions sprouting. Plus weeds, of course. While the netting has stopped the cats from using the bed as a litter box, or just digging around because they like to dig, they still either lie on top of the netting, get under the netting, and generally just crush everything in that bed. They really, really like this garden bed, and I don’t know why!
That tabby has all sorts of attention – including from a cat that ran off when I paused to see what was going on. The tabby had caught a bird, and the others were looking quite eager to steal its breakfast!
I’m seeing a lot fewer cats these days. This morning, I counted “only” 16 or 17 adult cats, and I may have double counted a couple
Once everything was taken care of outside, I headed to my mother’s early enough to stop for gas first. She was up and about, making herself breakfast when I got there. This included some of the instant oatmeal I’d bought for her a while back. I ended up sitting in an armchair, basically behind where she sits at her dining table in her very tiny apartment (my bedroom is probably bigger than her entire apartment), with just a half-wall between us. Mostly because I needed to close my eyes for a while, but I was also in pain, and needed the more comfortable chair. I didn’t take my T3s this morning, which can cause drowsiness and dizziness, since I was going to be driving, and just took some extra strength Tylenol. I was already tired, so taking a pain killer that could cause drowsiness didn’t seem like a good idea.
I was quickly reminded of something. My mother isn’t very good at following instructions.
I’ve shown her how to make the instant oatmeal, but she skipped over an important part. Letting it sit for about 5 minutes to absorb the liquid. She basically just started eating it right away, like it was some kind of soup.
My mother has never been a quiet eater. Now that she has had a tooth pulled, but refuses to have her dentures adjusted to fill the space, it’s gotten even worse. Thankfully, she was behind me and I couldn’t see what she was doing, because the sounds alone were making feel absolutely ill. I’m not normally bothered too much by stuff like that, but it was really bad today!
Thankfully, she was done rather quickly, and had a chance to chat about the upcoming call from her doctor. I knew it would be about the results of her blood tests, and she could ask related questions, but anything else would require a separate appointment. She started saying that she wanted the doctor to get her into a nursing home. I tried to explain to her that the doctor has already done as much as she could; she got the ball rolling, my mother got the Xrays and EKG readings they required, and then it goes to home care. I told her again about how the case coordinator and I went through all the panel questions again, to update information on how much more difficult things are getting for her. My mother thinks that a doctor can basically just order her into a nursing home, but it’s the home care department that makes the decisions but, even if she’s approved, if there’s no space, she basically has to wait until enough people die to free up beds, and even then, the spaces go to those are are considered in the worst condition. We’ve all explained this to her, many times by now. The problem isn’t that she doesn’t understand it. She simply refuses to accept it. I ended up telling her that this is because she’s doing it through the health care system. There are privately run nursing homes that she could go through, but she’d be paying a lot more (even through the system, nursing home residents are charged “rent”, based on their income, just like where she lives now). Then she started complaining that the home care worker wasn’t there yet, even though it was barely past 8am. I commented that she’d told me they come closer to 9am. Oh, sometimes they come at 8… they come at all times.
At which point I realized that the time the “usually come” is the time she notices it is, and that they should be there is when she wants them to be there. Nothing to do with schedules or having to go to other homes.
Which got her talking again about how there should only be the same two people coming to do her med assist, not so many. I told her again, this is how the system works. It’s how they have to do it. Otherwise, she would have to hire a private home care company and pay for it out of pocket.
Which actually caught her attention.
We didn’t get far into the conversation, though, as the phone rang.
It was the clinic, but the doctor’s assistant, not the doctor. We’ve spoken with him before.
I put it on speaker phone so my mother could hear, but the volume was a bit low, and the guy had a strong accent. My mother’s response was basically to start yelling at him to speak louder. I manage to get her to stop, tried to turn the volume up, and explain to the guy that she couldn’t hear him, all at the same time.
There wasn’t a lot for him to tell use. Her test results hover around the same ranges, with minimal fluctuation. My mother really seems to want to be diagnosed diabetic, though. She keeps asking about her blood sugars, which were on the high side of normal this time – barely. He basically just said, eat less carbs. It’s not an issue. Her kidney function was also fine, which is the monthly test she’s been doing since leaving the hospital, back in March.
Before the call ended, I asked if my mother had any questions, and the launched into saying, she wanted the doctor to put her into a nursing home.
*sigh*
We both responded with basically the same thing; the doctor can’t do anything about that. She’s done as much as she can.
After the call ended, I went over my notes with her and explained things. She’s understandably frustrated in that she couldn’t make out much of what he said, but that’s why I’m there for these calls. Then she said, “so… the doctor didn’t even want to talk to me…”
*sigh*
When it came to explaining about reducing carbs – and what carbs are – it got more difficult. My mother makes a big deal about how she avoids sugar, which she doesn’t really. As she understands it, it’s all about avoiding white table sugar, and “sweet things”. I tried to explain to her that bread is “sugar”. Pasta is “sugar”. etc. He’d said something about eating more vegetables that I brought up, and she perked up saying “and fruit!” I had to tell her, no, fruit is basically just sugar.
I finally started looking up lists of low carb vegetables for her, then wrote out the ones that she knows and likes, dropping off the ones she wouldn’t eat (partly because they were unfamiliar to her, or aren’t available locally, but also because she doesn’t know what a lot of them are) and those she shouldn’t eat, because of her acid reflux.
What the doctor doesn’t know when it comes to my mother’s diet is that she has stopped eating meat almost entirely, because she has decided it’s bad for her (the TV told her so…) and the bulk of her diet is bread and milk. So I looked up and made another list of low carb foods aside from the vegetables list.
She wanted me to write out a list of things she should NOT be eating, and I told her it would be too long. Instead, I looked up a list of high carb foods and read it out to her.
Not that is will make much difference. And really, at her age, there are far bigger things to be concerned about!
While talking about meats, though, she suddenly told me to take the whole chicken I’d bought with her groceries, take it home and cook it for ourselves. That chicken was pretty much the only meat she had.
After a few questions, it came down to, she couldn’t cook it. She doesn’t know how to use the oven on her stove, so she can’t just roast the whole thing, and she can’t physically stand to process and cook it on the stove top.
I offered to butcher it for her, which she agreed to.
I started off by clearing and preparing the space to work in, including doing a few dishes, then cleaning the sink itself to wash the chicken in. Of course, my mother started giving me step by step instructions on what I should be doing. She suggested using a stainless steal bowl I didn’t know she had, for washing the chicken. So that worked out – except I was apparently supposed to wash the bird after it was cut up, not before.
Then I discovered my mother does not have a proper knife.
She directed me to her one larger knife to use, and it was some sort of bread knife with different sizes of serration. I did try to use it, but it was just tearing the bird apart, so I looked around some more. She told me she had this really good knife that she got at the second hand store, and that turned out to be a cheap steak knife.
I ended up using a paring knife.
Apparently, I still wasn’t going it right, so my mother came over to the sink, got the water running – hot water! – and started tearing the chicken still in the bowl apart with her bare hands, splashing chicken juices everywhere. After tossing a chunk of tail and spine into a frying pan, she started saying that the wings are small, so they could be quickly cooked right away, and she then tried to tear the chicken apart more. I tried to tell her to sit down – the whole point of me doing this was because she couldn’t stand at the counter for fear of falling! – but she ignored me.
Thankfully, the home care worker for her morning med assist arrived just then!
I had to remind my mother to wash her hands of raw chicken, with soap, before getting her meds, and once she was with the home care worker and getting her medications, I was able to finish butchering the chicken.
That left me with a carcass I didn’t want to waste, so I found a small pot in her oven (she stores her pots and pans in the oven, since she never uses it) and got a stock going, using up some older vegetables I found in her fridge to clear out. I was a bit perplexed when I asked where her salt was, and found a small lidded bowl with salt that had dark flecks in it. It turns out that any take out packets of salt and pepper she found herself with, she would empty them into her salt bowl. So it was a mix of salt and pepper! I found some dry herbs and she directed me to her very last garlic clove, which was stored in a drawer with her larger knives, and spare envelopes.
…
My mother seemed surprised by what I was doing. I don’t think she’s ever made a chicken stock on its own before.
Once that was going, implements washed and the splashed raw chicken mess all cleaned up, I started frying up the pieces of chicken in batches. When those were done, I set them aside in a container to cool, then deglazed the pan and added that to the stock, which was getting close to done by then. I had enough time to clean up again, then take out her garbage, then clean up again…
When the stock was ready and I fished out the large pieces to remove any of the meat that was left on the bones (there was next to none), my mother gave me a hard time for throwing it out instead of taking it home to the cats. I reminded her that onions are bad for cats, but she said they’d be fine.
…
The stock got drained to a smaller pot and set aside with the cooked chicken to cool and everything got cleaned up again before I could finally sit down for a few minutes. My mother actually seemed eager to use the stock – even just to drink straight!
Which was the closest I got to seeing any sort of appreciation, really, but that’s fine. I don’t expect that from her. I could tell she was happy with it because she wasn’t giving me a hard time for doing everything wrong. 😄😂
Once everything was done, I finally got to sit and rest for a bit (my painkillers had worn off for some time by then!) and we got to chat. I mentioned that the store our post office is in closes at noon, so I’d have to leave in a bit, but I did still have some time to visit.
When it was time for me to do, she was looking at the clock and saying “it’s not noon yet!”
I actually had to explain to her that them closing at noon meant I had to be there BEFORE noon – and I had driving time to consider, too!
😄
It’s a good thing I did, too, as my daughter had a parcel to pick up. I also picked up a few packets of flower seeds, since it looks like none of the flowers we planted in the fall have survived the spring.
I still got home before noon!
It was all I could do not to go straight to bed!
Today has been a much more pleasant day outside – feeling almost cold, after the heat of the past two days. We’re apparently having rain and thunderstorms right now, too.
~ looks out the window at the clear sky ~
I don’t think I’ll be able to get anything done in the garden beds today, though. We’ll see what the evening brings. I’m just glad to be home.
With an even hotter day expected for today, I was outside early to take care if things while it was still relatively cool.
If 20C/68F at 6am could be considered cool.
After the cats were tended to – and they were a lot happier and more active in the relative cool, that’s for sure! – I started preparing things for the upcoming heat.
The transplants were moved outside so they wouldn’t cook in the portable greenhouse later on. If you click through the above slideshow, you’ll see we have tulips blooming, and the wild plums are in full bloom.
I watered some of the winter sown garden beds, lifted plastic covers up for air flow, and was watering some of the food trees when I got a message from my daughter.
My mother had phoned. My daughter didn’t get to the phone in time, but her my mother leaving a message about not feeling well and going to the doctor.
???
So I shut off the hose, headed inside and listened to the message. Which wasn’t particularly clear in what exactly she was having trouble with, or what she was intending to do, but it was because she’s not getting her medications on time.
I called her back.
She started talking about how she was poorly she was feeling and she has to go to a doctor (she sounded good; voice strong, few issues with finding her works, no breathing issues…), and it was because she wasn’t getting her medications regularly.
Her morning med assist wasn’t expected to arrive for another hour.
After asking a number of questions, and basically, she thinks that the home care workers should arrive at her place at exactly the same time, ever day, no matter what. And there should only be two people visiting, not so many people, and that’s why she’s not getting her medications “properly”.
She’s getting her medications. They have a 2 hour window when she’s supposed to get them.
Then she started going on about the no-show on Saturday. She had asked someone about that and apparently this person had made arrangements with a friend to take over for her (which can’t be accurate; she would have arranged with another home care worker, but that’s not how my mother understood it) because – insert extremely mocking and condescending tone – it was Mother’s Day and she has a little daughter she wanted to spend time with.
Now, I have no idea what was actually said, since this was on Saturday, not Mother’s Day, but she was made at this woman for arranging to spend time with her daughter, rather than the woman who didn’t show up.
Which reminds me of another home care worker she complained about. While my mother was taking her pills the worker was texting her own mother on her phone. My mother was extremely mocking in describing this. While that does seem unprofessional, I suspected there was something else going on. After several different days of my mother complaining about the woman texting her mother while at my mom’s place, she finally mentioned…
Her mother had just had to put her dog down, and was having a hard time about it.
My mother was using her mocking tone again as she told me this, too.
I tried to explain to her that they need to have a lot of people, not just two, because they have a lot of people besides her that they have to visit, and they need to have enough people to cover for each other is someone gets sick or whatever. My mother began to complain about how they only cared about themselves, only themselves, not about her… They should only care about her.
Meanwhile, it’s my own mother who doesn’t care about anyone else, only herself. The home care workers should all not care about their own families. Just her.
The hypocrisy was completely lost on her.
Then she started talking about needing to talk to the doctor and to make an appointment.
One of the things on my to-do list was to call to arrange a phone appointment, because my mother’s doctor had left a message with her to do that. The clinic wasn’t going to open for another hour, though, and I told my mother that.
I kept asking questions, trying to understand what was going on, and telling her that if she really felt she needed help (she mentioned waiting up in so much pain, she can’t move and can only scream, but she doesn’t want to disturb her neighbours…), she had a life line. Push the button. That’s what it’s for.
She didn’t really respond openly, but clearly wasn’t interested in that. She wanted me or my siblings to drop everything and do it for her. Instead, she started talking about how, because she’s not taking her pills regularly (I think we might be having an issue of her rewriting her own memory again), that’s why she’s feeling so poorly. Her pain is getting worse, her vision…
Her vision?
She’s mentioned her vision before, but hadn’t said it was getting worse. That fact that it was NOT getting worse is why we got away with cancelling her last appointment.
I told her, she hasn’t said it was getting worse. None of her pills will help with that. This is where she would need to go to the eye clinic in the city. (The treatment is injections into her eyeball. Which she handled we better than I ever would have!!!) Did she want me to make an appointment at the clinic for her?
…
We’ll talk about that later, she says…
Then she started saying how she needs to be “around people” (meaning, have someone available to help, 24/7, as in assisted living/supportive living/long term care). Which I totally agree on. She asked and I told her again that I’d gone through her entire panel with the home care coordinator again, making changes where things have gotten worse for her, and basically taking her worst days and writing that down, to try and get her in somewhere; preferably long term care. I reminded her that most people go to long term care from the hospital; they fall and break a hip or something, and never go home. Just straight to long term care. Most people don’t actually want to go into long term care, like she does, so hers is a different situation. But we would still have to wait for a bed to come available, and for that, we’re basically waiting for someone to die, because that’s pretty much the only way space becomes available in long term care.
(I didn’t mention it this time, but I had told her about one of her neighbours that I’d run into, while my mother was in the hospital. She told me it had taken 8 months and two hospital transfers for her late father to get into long term care. He wasn’t well enough to go home, but there were no open beds in long term care, so he had to stay in the hospital.)
I remined her that I was already supposed to call the clinic to make a phone appointment for her this morning, but the clinic wasn’t open yet, so I’d have to call her back.
Which meant I lost about the cooler weather to get stuff done outside.
I had time for breakfast before calling the clinic. I made an appointment for tomorrow morning, which means I’ll have to be at my mother’s before 8am. I called my mother to let her know, but it went to her answering machine, so I left a message. Then I headed outside to at least finish what I was half way through before I headed inside.
Once I was back inside, I spent more time on the phone. One was to return a call from the small engine shop I’d left our push mower at, for servicing.
There are a couple of parts I can’t remember the names of, one connected to the choke, that were done. That’s why I couldn’t start it anymore. They simply were no longer there. My guess is, they broke and fell off. Our lawn is very rough on lawnmowers!
The problem is, this is a Canadian Tire, Certified brand. The parts are hard to get at the best of times. With these parts, there aren’t any parts numbers. Which means, they don’t service them. “Fixing” it would mean replacing the entire engine and, at that point, may as well just buy a new mower!
He’s going to try and find the parts for me but I told him, if you can’t, you can’t. Just let me know and I’ll pick it up.
I then told him that I do have another push mower. The prime pump needs replacing, and it’s jerry rigged for starting and stopping. It’s about 20+ years old. He told me that it would probably be easier to find parts for that, and those older machines last a lot longer!
So what I might end up doing is bringing the newer push mower home as basically trash, and bringing my mother’s old push mower in for servicing and repair instead. We shall see.
I also made a number of calls about the truck, trying to find out if the insurance will cover the lost box cover, and it it would be worth making a claim.
Long story short, I would start an insurance claim. They would make an appointment for me to bring it in for inspection. Someone from the insurance company comes to town every other week to do these inspections. If it’s determined that the damage isn’t because of some fault (rust, previous damage, etc), and that they will cover it, it would be worth paying the $500 deductible. A new cover ranges from $1200 to $2800. !!!! The tail light would also be replaced. They don’t just replace the cover, but the whole unit, and that costs about $250-$300. Not worth making a claim for just that, if the inspector decides they won’t cover the loss of the cover, at which point I could cancel the claim entirely.
Eventually, I made my way back outside.
This was the temperature before I headed out, then when I got back in.
Much of what I did was things like watering down the hot concrete, misting the transplants and garden beds, and wetting down the mats in the sun room to help cool through evaporation.
The first picture above was taken when I started my rounds at about 5:30-6am. Poirot stayed with her kittens for quite a long time. The wall thermometer was already reading about 20C/68F, while outside was still around 13C/55F. The frozen water bottles would be thawed by then, but must still have been helping keep things cool. Little by little, as I could reach, I replaced the water bottle in front with a new frozen one, and replaced the ice pack on top of the carrier with another ice pack. Eventually, I was even able to add a small ice pack along the side of the carrier.
Poirot let me do this.
She did growl at me as I did things around her, but I was able to give her a squeeze treat and she was quite happy with that, and with licking the last of it off my fingers, too. When I added the ice pack on the side, she shifted, but let me. Later, I put my hand in to pet one of her kittens and…
… she licked my fingers!!!!
When I later saw that she was gone, I switched out the water bottle in the back of the carrier for a frozen one. The second picture with the babies is after I’d done that.
So while it was still pretty hot in the sun room, things were much better in their nest, with the help of the car windshield heat screen blocking the sun from the windows and judiciously placed ice packs!
The bigger kittens had their own ways to keep cool.
Little Kale, in the first photo, was on the very bottom of a shelf, where temperatures would be cooler. The next photo shows some of the other kittens, chilling with the moms – one ran off before I could take the picture. Last image is of Sir Robin the Brave. When we pick him up, he almost immediately flips over onto his back, so we can pet his neck and chest! This kitten is so socialized, it’s amazing!
Meanwhile, every time I had the chance, I would try and call my mom to confirm about tomorrow.
No answer. Every time.
Then my older daughter offer to buy supper, so we wouldn’t have to heat the house with cooking (the upstairs is insanely hot!), so my younger daughter and I headed out, but not before I tried calling my mother again. Still no answer, so I ended up calling the home care coordinator, because that’s the only home care number I have. I explained that I talked to my mother this morning, but had been trying to get back to her for hours, and there was no answer. She was quite surprised to here this. My mother’s supper med assist was going to be happening soon. She told me she would let the home care worker know and that they’d get back to me.
We were on our way to town when my cell phone rang. It was the home care worker, calling to let me know she’d just left my mother. She had been asleep this whole time!
She was also very groggy.
Otherwise, she seemed all right.
I was very, very thankful for the news.
Our trip to town did not take long. After we got back home, I called my mother, and she answered the phone. She told me she had been sleeping and had a hot water bottle for her back (I can’t even imagine using a hot water bottle in this heat!), and her pain was why she was in bed. She never heard the phone ring.
I confirmed she got my message about tomorrow, so we’re on for that.
As we were talking, there was a knock at the door.
It was her suppertime med assist.
???
Which means the person that called me before had swung by my mother’s place, just to do a wellness check! She was not the evening med assist person!
That was so awesome of them!!!
So that’s all done for today.
For now, I just need to do my evening rounds and do the evening cat feeding. Normally, I would have done it earlier, but it was so hot, the cats don’t have much appetite!
*sigh*
The temperature had dropped to 27C/81F, but has just jumped back up to 31C/88F.
Well, things need to be put away for the night. The low is supposed to be 9C/48F, though not until about 6am. We’re supposed to have some rain for a couple of hours in the morning, and the high is supposed to be “only” 20C/68F Then things drop right down for the next few days!
That’s some wild weather whiplash we’ll be getting!
Anyhow.
Time to get out there, then try and get to bed at a decent hour. I had intended to do a few hours work outside really early, then nap for a couple of hours, but… well… that just didn’t happen!
We got a nice little down pour in the wee hours of the morning. Not enough to refill the rain barrel, but enough to water things nicely.
Knowing it was going to get hot today, I made a point of having breakfast before I did my morning rounds, as I planned to stay out longer to do some planting, before it got too hot.
While checking on the covered garden beds, I tried to open them up a bit so they wouldn’t get too hot inside during the heat wave (we haven’t reached the hottest part of the day yet, and we’re already at 31C/88F) today and tomorrow, while still giving them protection.
I was hearing thunder the whole time I was outside. As I was gathering my supplies together into the wheelbarrow, the rain started coming down again. It didn’t take long for me to get quite wet before I could dash inside! I ended up waiting until about 8:30 before heading out again, though I’d really hoped to have been done by then.
I went through the bag of walnut seeds and found three that were showing roots and needed to get into the ground right away. That worked out perfectly, as there were three spots marked out along the wet side of the lane I want to keep clear to the second gate. It the second picture of the slideshow above, you can just barely see a dot of orange in the distance, marking the northernmost spot.
The first thing to do was rake around the markers, clearing them of dead grass and debris – and any little poplars coming up that I’d missed, before!
Next, at each marker, I removed a circle of sod, which I quartered and set aside to put back, later. Once the sod was removed, I dug around a bit more to loosen the soil and remove any rocks I found in the process.
Once the holes were dug, I added some of the indoor-outdoor potting soil my brother gave me, mostly filling the holes. Then a plastic collar was set into the soil. The loose soil and and sod (placed upside down), along with any rocks I’d dug up, was set around the collar and the hole in such a way as to create a sort of moat, so wany water would drain towards the middle. Then, all of them got a thorough watering. I actually have a couple of photos reversed. The one with the arrow shows where a walnut seed is. Each got pushed into the moist soil, root side down, and the marker was inserted into the soil near it. Each collar got topped up with more of the bagged soil and pressed down gently, before getting a final, thorough watering.
Once the seeds were planted and watered, I raked up more dried grass to set around as mulch.
Here was have the three planted areas, with the grass mulch set around the collars for mulch. The very last photo shows the “combed” area I’d raked the dead grass out of. I just thought it looked rather funny. 😁
Three seeds planted; five more to go! All of those will be planted on the east side of the lane, and closer to the inner yard fence.
While it hadn’t gotten really hot yet, things were pretty muggy, so I was more than happy to get inside!
I had some plans to head into town today, which turned out to work out for everyone. Because of her work schedule, my older daughter basically didn’t see me on Mother’s day until some time past midnight. She wanted to treat me with a Mother’s day dinner today. After the four of us discussed options and ideas, my younger daughter and I left for town in the late morning.
My first stop was at the place our truck is insured at. I talked to someone about the wind damage to the truck, asking if it was something the insurance covered. She didn’t know for sure, but gave me the number I needed to call and find out. Since the cover isn’t actually part of the truck, she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be covered, but it’s worth asking.
The next stop was at our usual Chinese food place to place an order, only to discover they were closed. We keep forgetting. They are always closed on Mondays. After talking about it with my daughter, we decided to try the other Chinese restaurant. We keep forgetting about that one, but I’ve been there for sit down meals a few times while waiting for my truck to be worked on, since it’s in a hotel right next to our garage. This restaurant, it turned out, closes on Tuesdays, so we were good! 😄
After going over the menu and deciding on things for my husband and myself, I left my daughter to take care of the rest while I went to the pharmacy. My husband had ordered refills of his injections for delivery, but getting them faster was preferrable. While there, I also picked up some liquid, spray on bandage. The little calico kitten has a strange wound on her back leg, and lost some skin. We can’t bandage it and, while we’ve been applying antibiotic ointment, it really needs more protection.
That done, I got back to the restaurant early enough that my daughter and I popped across the street to the grocery store, where she picked up drinks to go with our Chinese food. We got back just in time for the food to be ready.
That was a very nice treat from my daughter – and no need to heat up the house more with cooking, today! The air conditioner in the living room has been turned on. We need to start bringing the fans up out of storage in the basement.
In the end, it has turned out to be a more productive day than I expected it to be, with this heat.
One more hot day, and then it’s going to get downright cold again! I’m certainly happy to have gotten those walnuts in!
Today started out early, as it has been of late. Between how early it gets bright out, and the inside cats deciding it’s feeding time, “sleeping in” is a bit of a pipe dream! 😁
With a daughter on kitten catching duty, feeding the outside cats went rather smoothly. I did notice that Caramel’s three were still together.
That orange kitten is so much bigger than the other two!
While doing the rest of my morning rounds, I made sure to water the covered beds thoroughly, so the moisture would help moderate the temperatures under the plastic somewhat, as the day got hotter.
The “Mr” haskap (the label actually says “Mr. Honeyberry”) is blooming quite nicely.
I looked up the Berry Blue variety that this is, and most pollinator charts don’t include it. However, I found sellers that gave useful information in their descriptions. This variety is apparently a good cross pollinator for all other varieties, and is also self pollinating. It blooms in April-May.
Since the other two look like they won’t even start getting buds until June, this is a really bad combination!
At least we’ll get berries from the one, later in the season!
Once the outside stuff was done, I headed in for a light breakfast, with plans to visit my mother with my brother for Mother’s Day.
After some back and forthing, I ended up leaving later, as the restaurant he planned to pick dinners up from didn’t open until 11. He had to drive past my mother’s place first – and spotted my sister’s car! So that was a surprise. She works late shifts at Walmart and doesn’t typically get home and to bed until about 2am, so we weren’t expecting to see her in the morning.
So plans changed a bit and I met up with both of them at my mother’s, and we had a chance to visit before my brother quickly left to pick up the food he’d ordered. Someone at the restaurant answered the phone before they opened, so it was going to be ready for pick up right when the doors unlocked!
My mother was feeling up to going to church, and services started at 11:30. I had time to quickly go to a bank machine and get some cash, so I had something for the donation basket. My sister belongs to another church, so she left when it was time to walk across the street to my mother’s church. It was slow going for my mother, and she had to stop and rest along the way. With my brother staying close to her, I had a chance to show my sister the damage visible on the truck – I hadn’t realized this was the first time she’s seen our truck! We’ve had it for about 1 1/2 years now.
It was a special Mother’s Day service, so there were some extra prayers for mothers added, and the priest went around and sprinkled holy water on us.
I had to clean my glasses after that! Got “blessed”, right in the face. 😂
My mother was… being my mother. I won’t go into that! She did have a hard time with the new priest, though. He’s from India, has a very strong accent, and speaks faster than she can keep up. Not faster than typical; just too fast for her. Which is unfortunate, because he had a really excellent sermon, talking about his own childhood, and what a hard time he gave his mother! She passed away when he was very young, and that was a struggle for him. With his rather rambunctious youth, he never imagined he would become a priest, but credited where he is today to his mother. He calls her his angel. It was interesting to hear him mention his brother, later in the service, who is also a priest!
After a while, my mother started getting antsy, and even leaned over with her watch, telling me he was really dragging the service on. Which seemed strange to me, because I’m used to services being an hour and, according to her watch, it was only 45 minutes at the time. When the service was winding down, my mother stood up like she was about to leave, then took off as soon as he make the closing blessing, before the final hymn even started. Which meant my brother and I had to rush after her to help with the doors and get her home.
Not being able to hear much of what he was saying didn’t help, I’m sure, but to be completely honest, given some of the things she’d already said to me about this new priest, and some of her other behaviour, it really came down to my mother’s own racism. It’s getting worse as she gets older, unfortunately, as her mental health and cognitive thinking declines. At her age, we really can’t expect any positive changes.
Once we got her home and settled into her favourite chair, my brother went into the kitchen to get the take-out dinners ready. My mother started ordering me to get plates and stuff, but my brother told her, no. There’s simply no room in her 2-step kitchen! He could pass things to me, but anything more then that would just slow things down.
She seemed to get it, but then started ordering us around again, as if the conversation never happened! 😄
We did have a nice lunch together, though, and some time to chat about a few things. My brother had brought brought batteries from home and ended up changing the batteries in her remotes, just in case, so none of the ones I picked up for her yesterday were needed yet.
After everything was cleaned up and we had a good visit, my brother had to head out. I stayed a bit longer, to rub the topical pain reliever on my mother’s back and hips – this time with her sitting in her chair and leaning against the table, rather than lying on her side in bed, making it much easier to get the areas that bother her the most. She told me that, after I’d applied it to her back yesterday, it helped her so much and she slept really well. She also has her hot water bottle, which she finds helps a lot, too. So she was more than happy with getting another “treatment”! Her home care aids do have applying this on her care sheet now, but my mother has been doing it herself before she gets dressed, so it’s done before they get there. She can’t do her whole lower back, though. She doesn’t like the idea of the home care workers touching, though. Hopefully, she’ll have at least some home care workers she trusts enough to do it, because it really does help her a lot!
By the time I got home, it was getting close to feeding time for the outside cats. I started doing for the cat house to get the container from inside the entry, when I disturbed a domestic scene!
This mama was nursing both Eyelet and Grommet, but Grommet ran off (you can see him in the next image above). I tried to not come too close, but it was still too much for him. I had to go where he was to get the food container, though, so he went hiding under the cat house, instead.
Poirot, meanwhile, had left the sun room, so I could see her babies while setting her own food dish in front of the carrier.
Seeing the adult cats splayed all over the yard in the heat is funny enough. Seeing Poirot’s babies splayed out is just adorable!
Once the food was out, I wanted to top up the water bowls, and cool down the portable greenhouse – the thermometer needle was as far as it could go, even with the doorway tied wide open. If the numbers on the dial went that far, it would have read above 60C/140F!
The water in the hose was scalding hot, so I used that to refill the garbage can heat sink until it was cold again. Then I misted all the plant containers, and even the roof and walls. By the time I was done, the thermometer was down to 50C/122F
As I went to refill the bowl in the water bowl shelter, I spotted two little faces peeking at me through the cat house entry.
This little tabby stayed and watched me, and I was even able to pick it up and snuggle it!
Grommet, meanwhile, was in the gap under the entry watching me, and started hissing and spitting before ducking further under.
Caramel’s babies need names. There’s the tortie, the tabby and the ginger. Since we already have Butterscotch inside (and is probably a great-great-grandma to them!), and Caramel is their mom, maybe these ones will stay on the sweets theme?
Something to think about.
Tonight’s low is supposed to be 13C/55F, so I’m going to be leaving the door to the portable greenhouse tied open for the night. Meanwhile, Friday’s low has changed again, and is now expected to drop to -1C/30F – this after a heat wave over the next few days with highs reaching above 30C/86F! So no chance of transplanting anything quite yet. Any transplants would just get baked, then frozen, within a week! Tomorrow morning, though, I’m hoping to get some beds ready and planted with things that can handle both the heat and the cold. The summer squash bed looks like a total loss and, since it already has netting over it, I figure that’s a good place to plant potatoes.
For the rest of today, though, I’m taking a Sunday – and Mother’s Day – break.
The Re-Farmer 