Until this morning, I’ve only managed to sneak pet her once or twice. Today, I took advantage of her being “trapped” in the corner of the shelf shelter, in what seems to be a favorite spot for her, and was able to pet her. She didn’t have anywhere to run away, really, so I was able to give her neck and shoulders some scritches, and even pat her back a bit.
She fur is so matted and full of burrs!!!
Not only was I able to pet her as I set the food out, she stayed in the shelf shelter, rather than running away as she normally would have done, and I was able to pet her again a couple more times as I passed by. So that’s pretty huge progress with her.
Note that I am saying “her” with confidence. With that long fur and her not letting us near her, we’ve never been able to see, one way or the other. I sort of assumed she was female simply because the most feral cats all seem to be female, while the males have mostly been easier to socialize. My confirmation was seeing her yesterday, quite obviously in heat, with a crowd of males around her.
She is no longer in heat.
*sigh*
Right now, we have I think 5 or 6 confirmed adult females that need to be spayed, all of them mostly feral. The only one that isn’t as feral is Old (young, actually) Blue Eyes, Frank, and she’s managed to escape her appointment with the vet twice now. Among the “kittens” (who are coming up on a year old, but are very very small still), there is another 7, I think, confirmed female. Bug and Blot are now both friendlies, but are both still way too small to be spayed. A couple others are just friendly enough that we might be able to get them, but also probably too small. There’s a tabby that is sometimes friendly, sometimes not, plus two more that we can’t get close to, that are probably big enough, though not by much.
We now have two larger traps, including one with a “back door”, that we can use to try and get the ferals. It will still have to wait until things warm up a bit, because we have no way to monitor a trap constantly, and we don’t want to risk a critter getting caught and then getting too cold before we can check the trap. I’ve considered the possibility of setting one of them up in the catio shelter. It has been warm enough in there that the unheated water bowl hasn’t been freezing during the day, and even on some nights, it’s only partially frozen. Once overnight temperatures become milder, I could remove the box nests and crushed self warming shelter that’s in there to make room for a trap. Even then, we couldn’t do that until the rescue can make arrangements with a vet for us, because once we’ve caught a feral, we wouldn’t be able to let them out, even into the isolation shelter, until after they’ve been taken to the vet.
We’ll figure it out.
Meanwhile, I was able to talk to our mechanic about the truck. His brother, who towed the truck, had passed on what I had described to him. I went over it again with him, in more detail. I mentioned that, while I couldn’t see anything, it felt like it was the front driver’s side tire. He told me that while the truck was being winched onto the tow truck, his brother had noted that the passenger side tire seemed to be “sticking”. All I can say is that, from where I was sitting at the wheel, it felt like the driver’s side tire, but I really don’t know. There was just nothing to see to tell me, either way.
So they will check it out, and will use a hoist to get it into the garage. No one is going to try driving it until it’s been checked. We didn’t even talk time lines, though, as this is something they’ll have to find time for, in between actual appointments. Chances are, once it’s been hoisted into one of the bays, they wouldn’t want to move it again until it’s been fixed, if that’s an option. I haven’t heard anything since, which is what I expected.
In other things, I got a message from my sister. My mother had asked me to pass on that she wanted a visit from my sister, which normally would have happened tomorrow, on her day off. There’s a storm coming in tomorrow, though, and my sister’s farm is further south enough that they would be affected by it more than we are. So she visited today, before heading to work.
My mother, it seems, has been craving pickle juice. !! 😄
Looking at the forecast, it’s supposed to start snowing in our area tomorrow at about 7am, and it now says we’ll be getting snow pretty constantly through to Thursday night, with a total of about 10cm/5 or 6 in, of snow in total. The temperatures are still supposed to be relatively mild and we’re not expected to get particularly high winds, so it should just be snow accumulation we’ll need to deal with.
Thankfully, we are well stocked because, even if we still had transportation, we probably wouldn’t be going anywhere for the next couple of days, anyhow.
So that’s where we are at for now. Hopefully, we will have news on the truck tomorrow, and it won’t be anything too major!
Not much to talk about for today. Yesterday seems to have caught up with me. I’m feeling exhausted. Mentally exhausted, not physically. I’m just so tired of so many things going wrong.
So I’m giving myself a rest day. Just doing the basics and not trying to go beyond.
It’s a gorgeous day out, though, and the yard cats have been absolutely loving it. The critter cam facing the isolation shelter has been going off so often, I had to adjust it so that it was at least no longer triggered by cats jumping around in front of the main doorway.
Down side: the feral ladies have all been going into heat. Today, I saw the cat I named Fluffer, because it looks like Fluffy, except for the white chest. With the long fur, we couldn’t confirm male or female. Today, with all the males chasing after her, I suppose that’s confirmed female. *sigh* At least Fluffy is spayed, but we’ve never been able to get any more adult females in to the vet.
Yesterday morning, I found something odd in one of the paths to the catio shelter.
Odd because everything is buried under snow, so where did this mess come from?
Then I identified part of it as an old bird’s nest. Which meant the cats had to have been climbing pretty high up and far out on the closest willow tree. This tree has been trimmed a few times, to keep the branches away from the power line to the house. That means any branches above are all pretty small and thin. Given the noises we’ve been hearing, I’d guess a cat got chased pretty far out and disturbed things enough to knock down the nest.
It’s been warming enough that this morning, I gave the cats a treat and started pre-soaking their kibble with a blow full of cat soup dosed with lysine. Usually, I toss the dry kibble in lysine, but only so much sticks, and the food trays have lysine power all over the bottom. It’s not something we’ll be doing every day, yet, and only in the morning, so they have a chance to eat it before it freezes. The sun room thermometer was at about 11C/52F, even though our high for today was -2C/28F. As I write this, we are at -3C/27F, but the “real feel” is 1C/34F
And yet, we are under a weather advisory right now! A low pressure system is moving in, and the south end of our province is looking at possibly 15-25cm/6-19in of snow by tomorrow evening. Our area is on the outer edge of the system, so we wouldn’t be expecting that much. We are expected to get as much as 9cm/4in of snow on Wednesday, with another possible 2.4cm/1in through Thursday morning. The temperatures are still expected to be mild, though the highs are supposed to drop below -10C/14F by the weekend.
Hopefully, tomorrow, the garage will be able to take a look at the truck and see what on earth happened to it. Messaging with my brother, he suggested the differential, but that got a leak repaired on it just a few days go, so that’s unlikely. His other thought was the CV joint. At which point we’re looking at possibly over $300 for the part, and another $200-$300 in labour, from what I can find online.
Well, we’ll find out soon enough, I guess.
*sigh*
Yeah, definitely feeling mentally – and emotionally – exhausted at this point.
The first couple of pictures were taken after I topped up the food and water in the isolation shelter. The last two were taken as I went by on my way back into the house, and spotted a crowd watching me. At that point, I counted 10 cats and kittens watching me – then spotted Midnight in the lower level! It’s amazing how many are willing to hang out together in the isolation shelter at the same time. I’m so glad it has worked out!
I’m definitely chafing. Winter is dragging on, but the weather is really mild right now. I want to be outside, working!
I’ve been looking at greenhouse kits on Amazon. Not just smaller ones to replace the portable one with the destroyed cover, but hard sided ones that would fit right in among the 18′ x 4′ raised beds we’re building up in the main garden area. Ones with walls the cats and wind can’t destroy, to garden in in the summer and keep chickens in over the winter.
Maybe if we combine our tax returns, we could get one! 😄
I had been thinking to start more seeds tomorrow, but I expect to be out and about and decided to just go ahead and do some today.
There are flowers and herbs that can be started in February in our climate, but I had only four in mind. After reading more on what the flowers – cosmos and hollyhock – needed to be started indoors, I decided to hold off on them. Instead, I went through two of my herb seeds that needed the longest start up time before our last frost date. Russian Tarragon and Summer Savory.
The seeds for both are very tiny and would have been ideal for the seed starting kits I got a couple of years ago. The cells are quite small and there is a USB powered full spectrum light disc for each dome.
I couldn’t find it.
It had all been stored in the original box in the sun room, but the sun room got completely emptied and cleaned out in the fall. I thought I’d put it in one of the storage shelves or one of the storage bins, but I couldn’t see it anywhere. I didn’t pull the bins out completely to look, as that would require far too many cat-blocking things to be moved out of the way, but they are semi-transparent, and I couldn’t see anything through the sides. It’s possible the box was buried in one but, for the size of it, it is highly unlikely it was in one of the bins and I wouldn’t see it.
I also didn’t want to use my new 72 cell tray for just two items. In the end, I grabbed a biodegradable seed starting strip I had left from previous years. It had two rows of five cells that I separated.
The drain tray with the cardboard buffer between it and the heat mat had space available, so I removed the buffer. The strips got filled with seed starting mix pre-moistened with hot water – which cooled down fast, but was still warm by the time the seeds were sown. With their tiny size, I scattered tiny pinches of seeds over the surface, then topped them with vermiculate. I keep a smaller amount of vermiculate handy in a covered container I refill as needed. Over time, a vermiculite dust has started to accumulate, and I tried to use more of that, rather than all larger chunks.
I also made sure the drain tray had water in it for the peat cells to absorb. One of the issues with the biodegradable pots and seed strips is that, as they dry, they tend to suck the moisture out of the growing medium inside. I try to keep them moist through bottom watering to prevent that. It does mean they become pretty fragile and difficult to move around, but that’s something I can work around.
Without the cardboard buffer over the heat mat, I wanted to have some sort of buffer for the things that are already germinated – the celery and the one luffa, in this tray. Something that wouldn’t disintegrate in the drain tray’s water. You can see in the photo that I put a piece of rigid insulation under the celery, but I was not happy with that, as it prevents bottom watering. I ended up rearranging things so the celery was on the far side, with the one sprouted luffa beside it, and then put a carboard buffer under the heat mat only on that side. That helped to push the water in the drain tray more towards the biodegradable strips, which will help them retain moisture longer.
Over the next few weeks, there will be more herbs started, plus there are some that I intend to buy as transplants rather than try to start them from seed, myself. We’ll see if the thyme, sage and oregano from last year were mulched well enough to survive the winter. Little by little, the old kitchen garden will be mostly herbs with a few vegetables, rather than mostly vegetables with a few herbs. 😁
The hard part for me will be not starting too many of any one variety! It’s always good to sow extra and then thin the seedlings, but I have this terrible habit of repotting the “spares”, because they’re usually all really strong and healthy looking! 😄
My biggest concern is having to use the basement for all this. It’s just too cold down there! Granted, the temperature is very steady, but the ambient temperature should be about 20-24C/68-75F, not 13-15C/55-59F. Even if we were using the living room, like we’ve done in the past, it’s only a couple of degrees warmer, but at least we could use the aquariums as greenhouses to keep a controlled area at a better temperature until things got large enough to handle being moved out.
Aside from not being able to safely move the tanks to the basement, we have got to figure out what to do with all the “stuff” that’s being stored in the “cat free zone”. We can barely move around in the living room anymore. Some things will be moved into the storage house, but they still have to be gone through, first, and the storage house is where my mother’s furniture went, so it’s got barely any room left – and I have very strict instructions, not to throw anything out!
*sigh*
One thing about gardening, starting seeds and planning it all out. It is a healthy distraction from the other stuff and keeps me from feeling overwhelmed!
Normally, he runs away, even if I come closer while he is easing, but today I managed to skritch his shoulders and neck. Not only did he not run away, but he even leaned into my hand!
Once he was away from the food bowls, though, that was it. I couldn’t get near him anymore.
You may notice his fur is decorated in the above picture. He has hoar frost raining down on him from the rose bush above him. We had thick fog roll in last night, and it was still very much there this morning.
The first item on the outings list today was to drop the truck off at the garage to get that differential leak fixed. My daughter and I headed out early, which was good, because we had to take it pretty slow in places. The closer we got to town – and the lake beyond it – the thicker the fog got. Still, we arrived over half an hour early for the drop off time. Which was okay, since I only needed to leave the key. While doing that, I let him know that, after moving the truck, I did see signs of fluid under it – it was definitely a very small leak, but still needs fixing! I also let him know that the check engine light had turned off on its own, and that the oil pressure gauge is where it should be, thanks to the last fix done.
From there, my daughter and I walked to the hospital. My sister had visited my mother in the transitional care unit (TCU), which is very close to where she lives, yesterday and let me know that some clothing items that had gone into the laundry were forgotten. While I asked about that, I also asked about the photo of our vandal. They had to contact someone that could pull my mother’s file to find out. While waiting for that, the person that checked housekeeping came back and there was no sign of anything that was my mother’s. Housekeeping may not have been done with it. We went to where we could meet the guy about the files. Sure enough, the photos were still in the file, in the large envelope my brother brought them in.
After explaining about the photos, and mentioning that we were going to be seeing my mother today, he gave me the envelope to take with us and deliver to the nursing station at the TCU. Then we went back to the nursing station about the clothing items. They would look into it some more, and got my contact information to call me later.
Since I had the photos, my daughter and I first walked back to the garage so we could leave it in the truck. It was still parked outside, so I put it in the basket of my mother’s walker, which was in the back of the truck cab. The wheelchair had to go into the box.
That dropped off, my daughter and I headed out to find somewhere we could have breakfast, and take our time about it.
Using the button to cross the highway wasn’t going to be an option! It’s only for an audible notification that the walk light was on, though.
There aren’t a lot of restaurants open that early in the day in this town, so our options were limited. The place we went to was at the other end of town (okay, that’s just 6 blocks or so. 😄). We were both quite famished by then! We both ended up ordering the largest breakfast platters they had. I’m glad we did, because that ended up having to last us until supper!
We took our time about it, but we were still waiting on a 2 hour job, so it wasn’t that long before we headed out.
[Edit: I forgot to mention. While we were having breakfast, the hospital called me about my mother’s missing clothing. They couldn’t find them, nor did they expect to find them. Most of the laundry goes to the city for washing. My mother’s items were not labelled with her name. The folks sorting through in the city wouldn’t know where they would have to go, and they would probably not even made it back to town!]
Since we were so close to the lake, we popped over to see how it looked.
The fog was still pretty heavy. What you can just barely see in the photo is an ice fishing village, and an ice road leading to it.
From there, we stopped at a general store that my daughter wanted to go to. They are the only place that carries a particular brand of imported wool yarn. She’s bought some before and used them to knit herself a pair of socks. They turned out to be the best pair of socks she’s ever had, and actually keep her feet dry. She got herself enough yarn to knit herself two more pairs!
When we were done there, we crossed the street to check out the dollar store. There wasn’t anything we actually needed there, but I like to keep an eye out for some things.
We never finished going through the store before I got a text from the garage. The truck was done! Somewhat faster than I expected, but they must have been able to get it in almost right after we dropped off the envelope from the hospital. So we quickly picked up a couple of energy drinks for the road and made the walk back.
Unfortunately, by this time, my daughter and I were both limping pretty badly! My daughter hurt her leg getting her old computer chair down the stairs not long ago, and had been caning it for the past few days. She was feeling better today, but after the walking we’d already done, to and from the hospital, then across town, she was actually having a harder time than I was with my left hip giving out. What a sight we must have been!
Once we got to the garage and saw the truck parked in the lot, my daughter went straight to it to sit down while I went in to take care of the bill. $280 and change. *sigh* Still, better to get the leak fixed than push our luck with it!
From there, we were going to the nearer city, to see my mother. Normally, I would have popped over to another highway, rather than go straight from town, so as to avoid driving through several small lakeside towns. In the end, I decided the extra miles weren’t worth it, and we headed straight out.
I’m glad we did.
We made our way through the row of towns and had just reached an area of open highway when my daughter started feeling sick. Eating does that do her. Just, general eating. She’s never been able to pin down exactly what is making her ill. It did mean we had to find a gas station urgently! If we had been on the other highway, there would have been nothing available. On this route, there actually is a single gas station along the way. Thankfully, we made it.
We didn’t need to get any gas, but I did want to “pay” for our use of the bathroom, so I went looking for some snacks. The convenience store with this particular gas station is more like a smallish grocery store, and very well stocked! They even had a large display of baked goods from a bakery in the town north of us that is really well known. People from the city go out of their way to get their bread. I ended up getting a couple of Whoopie Pies for us (not that my daughter would be up to eating anything again for some time!). I had mine while waiting for my daughter to join me in the truck again. I’ve had Whoopie Pies before, and they’re usually rather dry and fairly hard. The cake portions were so incredibly soft and fresh, I had a hard time unwrapping it without crushing or tearing it! It was absolutely awesome.
From there, we continued on to visit my mother. I knew the TCU was in the “old hospital”, and I’ve driven past it many times.
I was wrong.
When we got to the area, the first problem was finding a way to get in. There were a number of buildings but, as we read the signage, going from one area to another, we couldn’t find anything. We did find that one of the buildings is a mental health hospital. My mother actually spent some time there, years before I was born. She still speaks highly of how pleasant her stay was, and how well they took care of her.
In the end, I found a plowed out space I could pull over and tried looking up the address for this unit. I found their web page – but there was no address! My brother did send me a phone number, though – not the same one that was on the web page! – so I tried that.
It took a bit to try and describe where we were to the person who answered before she could give us directions.
We had driven right past the place. I had no idea that that complex was the old hospital, not where I had always thought it was at!
Then we had to try and find the right door to go in.
I drove around in circled and back tracked before we finally decided to park near the entrance to what turned out to be an urgent care clinic. Only then did we pass the sign for the TCU.
It had been blocked by a truck. An 18 wheeler, unloading a semi size trailer box. Completely blocking the lane to where the TCU entrance was.
We got the wheelchair and walker out (with my daughter making sure to grab a cane for herself, too), but when we got to the urgent care clinic, I left my daughter with them to ask someone inside. She was able to give me directions on how to get to the unit through the building, rather than having to go outside and find away around the truck blocking the lane. So I got my daughter, the wheelchair and walker, and we made our way through what turned out to be “authorized personnel only” areas before finally reaching the elevator she told us to look for. It was one of those elevators with doors on each side, and we were going through the staff door to use it!
Finally, we got to the second floor and found signs leading us to the TCU.
The doors, however, are locked. Visitors are to push a button for someone to come and let us in.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, we could hear the voice of an elderly man yelling for someone to let him out. Before a staff member opened a different door next to the entry doors, we could hear him pushing and bashing at the door, trying to get out! When the staff member came (there were more people waiting with us to get in by then), and I told her who we were coming to see, she let us in through the staff door! As we made our way around, another staff member opened up a mobile barrier for us to go through. As we came around, we saw the guy we had heard through the door. He was still at the main doors, pushing a walker, and looking very furious about not being able to get out.
There’s a reason these places have lock codes to get in and out!
Once at the nursing station, I brought out the envelope with the photos. I explained to them that my mother doesn’t know that we’re giving these photos, because that would cause issues. Notes were taken as I explained about our vandal’s past abusive behavior towards my mother. They asked if there was a protection order, and I explained that the courts required my mother do that herself, and there’s no way she can physically do that, but her cognitive decline isn’t so far that my brother can do it on her behalf, as her PoA. They completely understood that frustration! I did mention that I’d had to get one against him myself. Then I had to explain why my sister’s picture was in there. They recognized her as having visited yesterday. I explained that, in general, she’s fine, but our vandal has been able to manipulate her into doing things in the past, that she is not understanding my mother’s cognitive issues and resulting self sabotage, and just goes along with things when she shouldn’t. My mother has been able to manipulate her as well.
I so hate having to include my sister as someone that needs to be kept an eye on while visiting my mother!
The likelihood of our vandal showing up is low, but they do have cancer care in the new hospital near by and, from the signs, they have cancer care in this building, too, so it’s possible he might be coming out for treatment and go visit my mother. We’re just assuming my sister is going to tell him where my mother is, and there’s no point in asking her not to tell him that. Not after she went ahead and did it anyhow, before, because my mother convinced her to. She simply doesn’t understand – or doesn’t want to believe – how potentially harmful to my mother that was.
*sigh*
That done, we found out which room my mother was in and headed over with the wheelchair and walker, while they printed out labels to put on them to show that these belonged to my mother.
It’s definitely a step down from where my mother was, in the hospital!
She went from a large, single person room, so a smaller room she shares with someone else. My mother’s bed is by the door, though, so we didn’t have to disturb the other person. She was quite happy to see us – and her own walker and wheelchair! The wheelchair she refused to even sit in, when I brought it over to her place, months ago. 😄
All in all, we had a good visit with her. She’s not really liking the TCU. Lots of noise, she says. Her room mate apparently was walking around all night, then sleeps through the day. Hopefully, my mother won’t be there for long, but every other person in this unit is waiting to be moved somewhere more permanent!
The staff there seem really nice, though, and were already telling me how sweet they found my mother to be. Nice to know she’s on good behaviour! She’ll have her moments, of course, but in a unit like this, that’s something they deal with – and worse – pretty regularly.
I did remind my mother that we are now the ones living the furthest from her, and we don’t go to this city very often, comparatively speaking, so we won’t be visiting as often. She mentioned that my sister lives nearby. I don’t know if that means she’ll visit more often, but we’ll see. Still, if the staff need anything from us, my brother is the first they would call, as PoA, I would be the second, as the one that’s been my mother’s advocate at her medical appointments for the past 7 years. If they can’t reach either of us, then they would call my sister. She asked about when my brother might visit, but he’s out of the country right now. He still manages to keep on top of everything, though!
[Edit: Something else I forgot to mention. I started to tell my mother about her missing clothing, and the hospital not being able to find them. She told me that someone actually delivered them to her, yesterday! It had to have happened after my sister was no longer there. When I was at the hospital this morning, they knew nothing about this!]
After our visit with her was done, we headed out – this time being able to go out the proper entrance and seeing where we can drive in to the right parking lot! The truck that was blocking the lane was gone, too, so that helped.
From there, we stopped at the Canadian Tire, then the Walmart, to do the shopping we would normally have done at the end of January, in the larger city. That will get its own separate post.
While we were at the Walmart, I started getting notifications from the garage security camera, and got to watch as Fed Ex delivered our chicken coop kit!
The shopping was really rough on both my daughter and I, as far as our pain levels went. The store is being renovated, and things we needed were moved to completely different areas we had to hunt for. When it came time to pay, we normally would have gone to the self check out, but they are now a 20 item limit, and we had well over 20 items. There were only two cash desks open.
Of course, we found ourselves at the one where a customer had some sort of issue, and the line just stopped while they waited for someone to come fix it. I ended up having to go over to the McDonalds across from the checkout, just so I could sit down!
The shopping done, we loaded the truck in bright sunshine and melting snow before heading home. We took the same route as before, because we wanted to stop to get gas at the same station we’d stopped at on the way out.
Driving right into a wall of fog!!!
It was heavy fog for most of the drive out, but by the time we reached town and our turn off to home, it was sunny again. Looking at the weather right now, we are still under a heavy fog advisory, with near zero visibility.
Once at home, we backed up to the house to unload the truck. Before moving it to the garage, though, I went to move the chicken coop boxes to the far end of the garage, well away from the door. We won’t be able to park the truck all the way in with them there, but it’s staying warm enough that that’s okay.
All the parts and pieces fit into two large boxes. You can see the design on the packages. The coop has nesting boxes, three at each end, with external doors that drop down for access. Above those doors are smaller doors that can be opened for ventilation, with more doors for ventilation in the front as well. The ramp to the nesting boxes is in the middle, and it has a full size door to access the interior.
I see on potential problem with the coop, though.
It has roosts under the nesting boxes, on either side of the ramp and door (not visible in the diagram). This means no clean up, since they’ll be pooping onto the ground below.
There are no roosts on the second level inside. Which means roosting chickens would be completely exposed to outside temperatures and wind, even though they are sheltered from above.
This is definitely not a coop made for Canadian weather!
One of the things we’re looking to build in the main garden area, though, is some sort of polytunnel type greenhouse. We could fit the entire coup inside for the winter, if necessary.
Until then, we might need to find ways to cover the wire mesh in the chicken run for the night or something like that. We’ll figure that out over the summer. We wouldn’t even be getting chicks until May.
After the boxes were moved, I went to park the truck, but there were cats, all over, under it. I went put kibble out, just to distract them away, but several kept going back under the truck. They were going on the tired, up into the undercarriage, and as soon as I got one out, another would replace it! I’ve never had so many cats so determined to get under the truck like that before!
The truck is still parked in the yard. Hopefully, when I do the morning feeding, they’ll be distracted enough that I can move it!
All in all, it made for quite a long day. Aside from my hips giving me grief, though, I’m feeling a lot better than I expected to. My poor daughter is toast, though. I won’t be surprised as all if she’s back to caning it all day, tomorrow. I’m thankful she was able to come along and help, though.
Next up, the stock up shopping post that should have been done two weeks ago!
First up, this is my first order from West Coast Seeds, a Canadian seed source that comes highly recommended. I used the Gardening in Canada affiliate link, so Ashley gets a cut. I gain so much from her videos, it’s my little bit to support her.
The other reason I wanted to order from here is because of my current seed starts. When I turned the light on over the trays in the basement, I decided to check on my luffa. Of the four pre-germinated seed, only one has emerged and it still just as seed leaved.
Yes, I dug around to check the others.
With the first one, I started off gently moving the seed starting mix aside, but there was nothing. In the end, I was digging around aggressively, and there was no sign of a seed. Which means it rotted away. The remaining two seeds, I did find when I initially, very gently, most the seed starting mix aside, stopping as soon as I touched a seed. There is no side of growth, though.
It may be that, even on the heat mat, the basement – and, therefore, the seed starting mix – it just too cold.
These seeds were ones I got from MI Gardener and have a days to maturity of 120. Thanks to Gardening in Canada, I learned that West Coast Seeds has a variety of luffa that needs only 55 days to maturity! I could actually direct sow those and get luffa!
Of course, I can’t just order a single pack of seeds, so I went looking.
This is what I ended up getting.
From the top (all links will open in a new tab):
Giganthemum: This is something that Ashley from Gardening in Canada had in her recent seed haul video. Yes, I already have bread seed poppies. This variety, however, is supposed to get seed heads as large as a baseball! It has edible seeds, which is the main reason for ordering them. I have a space selected to grow bread seed poppies as a perennial, where I will allow them to re-seed themselves. What I will probably do is find another such location, in another part of the yard, and grow both varieties.
Showy Milkweed: this is the main variety of milkweed for Monarch butterfly conservation efforts. I’ve got an orange variety of milkweed that I have not been successful with. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get this variety established as part of our efforts to attract more pollinators.
Silky Sweet turnip: I already have some white turnips winter sown. I chose this variety because it just sounded like it would be really tasty. It matures in only 35 days and is a cool weather crop, so this can be succession sown throughout the spring, and again in the late summer/fall, if we want.
Emerald F1: This is the luffa gourd that matures in only 55 days! It’s listed as a dual purpose gourd, as the immature gourds can be eaten, but I think that’s true of all luffa varieties. We might try eating some, but that I want are those sponges!
Patterson F1 onion: Okay, yes, I have my own saved onion seed, plus red bunching onions and red bulb onions started. My saved seed is a mix of red and yellow bulb onions. I chose these because I wanted to be sure of yellow onions, and they are described as being exceptional storage onions. Unless I start them as soon as they arrive, though, these will be for next year.
Red Noodle bean: I couldn’t help it. I just really, really want to successfully grow the red noodle bean at least once! When I tried to grow them last year, I had an amazing germination rate, the seedlings exploded into growth, got to about 6-8 inches tall, and then stopped. They never got any bigger, and I don’t know why. I can make guesses, considering the horrible growing conditions we had last year, but they are still just guesses. I have quite a variety of bean seeds, both bush beans and pole beans, as well as varieties for drying, so we will have lots of choices, once the soil warms up enough for direct sowing.
There we have it. My first West Coast Seeds order.
Oh, my goodness! I just checked my Amazon tracking. My chicken coop and my lights and seed mats have arrived!
If I leave right now, I can get there before the post office closes for 2 1/2 hours over lunch.
The outside cats are certainly running around a lot more, now that things are warming up! It’s going to get quiet pleasant for the rest of February, according to the long range forecast, though the local weather group I follow is monitoring a weather system that might push a Colorado Low into our area.
I never got a call from the hospital yesterday, so I called them before going to bed. I’m glad I did, because my mother called me this morning!
She is still in the hospital, all packed and ready for her transfer. She told me she asked the staff about when she was leaving, and that they told her they didn’t know how she would be transported. Which is strange, since they told me from the start that they are arranging her transport.
The doctor at the hospital was never able to connect with the doctor and the temporary care unit, and that’s why she didn’t get transported yesterday. I explained that to her, and assured her that the hospital would be arranging the transportation. Likely with a HandiVan, rather than an ambulance. My mother didn’t even know where she was going, other than it would be in the smaller, nearer city. I told her, she would be in the old hospital, now converted to temporary long term care, but that we still didn’t know where in the building she would be. She was satisfied with that. She sounded like she was really looking forward to the transfer!
Late this morning, I headed out to the feed store in the town my mother no longer has an apartment in. 😄 We’re heading into the middle of February already (how did that happen so quickly???), and we still had kibble, so I only got three 40 pound bags. I also ordered some lysine, which should be in on Monday. Or Tuesday. Monday is a statutory holiday (it has different names in different provinces) and I think they will be closed.
Since I ordered that chicken coop – which got shipped yesterday already! – I stopped to ask some questions about chickens. The two people that were there at the time got quite enthused in answering them! I’ll need to set up a brooder (I already have the heat lamp, currently being used in the sun room for the cats). They gave me a booklet from the hatchery they get their chicks from that has all the information needed. I know we still have feeders and whatnot in the old log building my parents used as a chicken coop when I was a kid, but I’m not about to go digging those out. They’ve been there for probably 30 or more years by now. I honestly can’t remember when my parents stopped keeping chickens.
I asked them which breed they would recommend for someone just starting out and looking for layers. They both very enthusiastically recommended Browns. They were really impressed with the number and size of the eggs this breed lays, plus they are known to be quiet, friendly and clean.
The chicken coop that’s on its way is big enough for only 10 chickens, which is a bit of a problem. The hatchery’s minimum order is 24 chicks. There is, however, someone else that’s looking for only a few chicks, so they took my name down alongside theirs. If they can find one more person, they can split a shipment, and the shipping costs, after the chicks arrive. It costs a bit more for sexed chicks, but with only 10, I don’t want to have any roosters in there. By the time everything is added together, it should cost me about $75 for 10 chicks. Meanwhile, I can slowly start picking up the other supplies I will need, like feeders and waterers. I can get pine shavings locally.
Over time, as we build bigger coops, we’ll look at getting meat birds, too. If we’re looking to fill the freezer for a year, we’d be looking at at least 100 meat hens, so that would require a much bigger coop! Or multiple smaller ones. It’s a shame the building my parents used can’t be used. We might still be able to fix it up at some point – it’s still in good enough shape for that, at least – but that is very much a long term project.
Once I was done there, I topped up the gas tank ($1.279/L *sigh*), then went to the grocery store. I was mostly looking to get more rye bread, but found a few more things, of course – including some tri-tip beef that was on sale. Beef has become something where local prices tend to be better than Costco prices. At least when the sales are on. Still high, but at least affordable enough to grab the odd package now and then.
I also got sucked in, as soon as I walked in the door.
There was a seed display. The first I’ve seen this year!
Of course, I had to look, and yes, I did get seeds.
The first are some double marigolds. These are something I want to scatter plant all over the various garden beds, wherever there is space. They can be started indoors 4-6 weeks before last frost, so around the middle of April or beginning of May. Marigolds are easy to collect seed from, so I should hopefully be able to collect some for next year.
I also got some yellow zucchini, because I just can’t have too many summer squash! These can be started 3-4 weeks before last frost, so in the beginning of May.
Both can actually be direct sown, too, so I might try a bit of both. It depends on how much room I find myself with.
I seriously had to resist buying more!
So we are set for the next while. I don’t need to head out anywhere again until it’s time to take the truck in to get the differential leak fixed – a 2 hour job. I had intended to visit my mother while the work was being done, but she shouldn’t be there anymore. Depending on when they can start working on the truck, once it’s done, I will likely to head to the city my mother will be in, to hit a Walmart and a Canadian Tire, both of which are quite close to the old hospital building she is being transferred to.
I’m actually surprised I haven’t gotten a call from the hospital yet. That means she hasn’t been transferred yet. I would have hoped the doctors had connected by now!
Ah, well. We shall see. The main thing is, she is safe and care for, either way.
Now… time to start pouring through that hatchery booklet I picked up today!
The Re-Farmer
Addendum: Oh! I just hit publish when a message from my brother came in. The hospital just called him. My mother is transferred, safe and sound!
I was originally planning to head out to the feed store today, but I completely forgot about that, because of something that happened last night.
I was having a late snack of brie and pimiento stuffed olives. My first thought, when I felt something hard and immediately stopped biting down, was that I’d found a broken piece of olive pit. I’d already found one earlier.
I immediately discarded that idea, because it felt wrong. In fact, it felt more like a piece of tooth.
Yeah, I’ve had that happen before, too.
After very carefully clearing my mouth, I spit out the hard thing. Sure enough, it was a chunk of tooth. The far side of a molar at the very back of my mouth. One that already had a root canal, done probably close to 35 years ago, so there was no pain.
The weird thing?
I’d been to the dentist a few months ago because I was having pain and thought I had a cavity. There was no cavity there and nothing on the Xrays. Mostly, though, I have been having trouble chewing on that side. I’d bite on something – even something soft – and there would be a sharp pain. The problem was, the tooth that seemed to be where the pain was, had a root canal and should not have been having any pain at all. Which meant it could have been one of the teeth on either side of it. All the tests the dentist did to try and recreate that pain, failed, and he could not work out which tooth was hurting me. So, nothing was done.
That was in the lower jaw. The tooth that broke is in the upper jaw on the same side.
Yet, I no longer have pain in that area of my lower jaw.
So there is no pain in that area at all, upper or lower jaw, but I do have a sharp bit my tongue is catching on where the piece of tooth is missing. There’s now a risk the filling might break off, or more of the tooth will break.
This morning, I called the dentist to see how quickly they could get me in.
After explaining what happened and confirming that I am not in any pain right now, they booked me in as early as possible.
March 27. More than a month from now!
I am, however, on their cancellation list, and they will try to fit me in as quickly as possible. If I do start having problems with the tooth, I’m to call them back and they’ll get me in on an emergency basis.
That particular call for an appointment was unplanned. I did have another planned call. This time to my doctor to book an appointment. Got some womanly stuff at issue. I’ve been happily post-menopausal for more than 20 years. I hit menopause very early, and had zero issues of any kind. Well, now I seem to have started my cycles again. Nothing big, mostly just spotting, but still, it shouldn’t be happening. I’m not overly worried. I’m at the age women typically go into menopause, so who knows. Something to check out, anyhow.
I’m not looking forward to it.
That’s the not so good news.
Now for the good news.
With the calls and appointments made, I settled in to work on my crochet for a while, when I got a call from the hospital.
They have found a temporary care unit bed for my mother! She’s being moved today.
It’s not in her top choice location, but we stressed with her to take anything that comes available. Once she’s in the system, it’ll be much easier to get her transferred to the nursing home she actually wants to be in.
The temporary care unit is in the nearer city. When they built the new hospital we’ve been going to so often, as that’s where they have the diagnostic equipment needed, the old hospital was converted to temporary long term care. Which means they’ll have more activities and such available.
They still had to go through the process of doctors talking to doctors, nurses to nurses, transferring of files, and then they will transport her over. I’m supposed to get a call once they actually move her and give me as much information as they can. Right now, we just know the building she’s going to be in. Nothing about what floor or room or anything like that. I should know that by the end of today, if all goes smoothly.
Once that is done, we will officially be the furthest away from my mother. My sister will be just 15 minutes away, and even my brother will be closer than we are! Casual visits from our end will be far less often. That will change back again when she is eventually transferred to where she wants to be, since that’s only blocks away from the hospital she’s in right now.
That self warming cat shelter is just crushed. 😄 When it’s time to clean out the catio, I’ll have to find a way to add supports inside it. Even under a shelf, that cats still jump on it.
One of the things I’ve been doing in the last few days, as things have been warming up, is removing the snow from the roof of the catio and the isolation shelter. They did their job as insulating in the winter, but now I actually want more light to get inside them.
The isolation shelter is a bit easier. There was a fair bit of ice under the snow that needed to be broken loose; heat from inside was enough to melt the snow, which then froze in sheets. Once that was clear, I just needed to lift the roof and allow the last bits of snow and ice fall off, and anything melted to drain.
The catio, however, is different. Not only does the roof not lift off, but the top under the roof is just wire mesh. There are no supports other than the frame itself. That meant things started to sag in the middle, where I found a sheet of ice almost 2 inches thick in places! I could also only work at clearing it from the front of the catio, since the other three sides are deep with snow. I did have to access the end facing the house to do some repairs. I think, when my brother used the snow blower to clear enough space in front of the storage house to back up his truck, snow was hitting the end of the catio and tore the plastic. Some snow had even gotten inside and onto the cat shelf at that end. I have clear repair tape (looks a lot like packing tape, but is much stronger, with better adhesive) and had to stand in snow above my knees to get at it!
Now that the tears are fixed and the roof is as clear as I could get it, the inside of the catio is brighter, and quite warm. I spotted Fancypants and Larence in there this morning. This afternoon, there was a fluffy kitten in there. It seems to really like the catio and hangs out where quite a bit, but is feral enough to be quite alarmed when I go to add food and water. I didn’t need to add water this afternoon, though. It was warm enough in there that the water I added this morning was still liquid!
Aside for the usual outside stuff, I’ve kept things quiet today. I’ve started working on a crochet project, using some new self-striping yarn I picked up last month. I’m a little ticked, though. I re-wrapped them from skeins into center pull balls. About 3/4 through the first one, I found a knot, with a dark colour tied off to a light colour. Then I found three more knots, within a few feet! So much for graduated colour changes. The other skein didn’t have any knots in it, so I started my project with that one. I’m planning to make a hooded cowl.
I did do something else that was more frustrating than it should have been. I’ve been trying to buy a chicken coop kit. There’s nothing local available that is affordable. My first attempts failed because the designs I found don’t ship to our location. Then I found ones that did and tried to use the “Affirm” payment plan to order one that can hold up to 10 chickens. (The best I could find locally could only house 4 chickens at most, and cost twice as much.) The problem with that is, they couldn’t verify our address. They couldn’t even verify the address for the store the post office is in! Which makes no sense.
After several attempts, I finally just ordered it without the payment plan. A larger chunk on my credit card than I wanted all at once. Well, I know where my tax return will be going… *sigh* Remarkably, it will actually ship to our post office box, and could potentially arrive before the end of the week! If so, I might be able to pick it up on the way home from taking the truck to the garage on Thursday.
Assembly required, of course, and we’ll have to figure out where to store the boxes until spring. This is something that can be placed fairly close to the house, for better shelter from the elements, and will hopefully last us until we can finally build the mobile chicken coop I’ve been wanting to build for years. Until then, little by little, we can pick up the supplies needed to feed and water them, etc., and order chicks in the spring. Or buy adult chickens. The homesteader I used to buy eggs from has been selling off her birds in batches – she went way overboard in chickens! – and she might still have some available in the spring. I’ve already been thinking ahead for growing food for the chickens in the garden, too, so we’re not using only purchased chicken feed. (Which we can buy at the store the post office is in.)
Hopefully, it will be a better growing year this year than last!
It’ll be nice to finally have our own eggs. Plus, I want to make mobile runs for them that will fit over our garden beds, so they can clean up the weeds and seeds and fertilize them, at the end of the season. Chickens are good for the garden!
In other things, I got a strange call from my mother last night. She started out by lamenting about how it’s been soooooo long since I visited her (I had visited her two days before) and no one was calling her, etc. I told her, I was just there! Oh, well, when will you visit next? I told her, the only day I know for sure I’ll be in town is Thursday, when I’m dropping the truck off at the garage for some more work. Oh, but that’s so far away (meaning in time, not distance)!
*sigh*
Then she started on the reason for her call.
She apparently asked the nursing staff and they said that yes, she can do this. She wants to start getting her prescriptions herself, instead of through the hospital.
She is still convinced they are giving her the wrong medications. On purpose.
I told her that I would have to call her doctor to get her prescriptions sent to a pharmacy where she is. I had to explain to her again, they still won’t be the same. They have different suppliers than her pharmacy in the town she lived in had. It would be the same medications, but they would look a bit different. Probably exactly the same as the ones she’s getting in the hospital.
Then it got to the main point.
Her vision is getting “dimmer”. She thinks it’s because they are not giving her the vitamin she was getting in her bubble packs.
After a few more questions to figure out what happening, I had to walk her through her wet and dry macular degeneration again. The vitamins she was taking were for her dry macular degeneration – where she was seeing straight lines as wavy. The “dimming” that she is seeing is from her wet macular degeneration, and that is what she was going to the special clinic in the city to get injections into her eyeball for. A trip she can no longer handle, without proper transportation assistance. There is no where else she can go for that treatment, because no one else does it.
She still wanted to get her meds switched away from the hospital providing them (which would be covered by our province’s pharmacare insurance, either way). She is simply convinced they’re giving her the wrong medications, and nothing will dissuade her.
In the end, we talked about how she’s there temporarily, so maybe we should deal with that after she’s in a permanent location.
After our call, I called the hospital back to talk to someone at the nursing station. I told her about my mother saying her vision is getting worse, but that this would require a trip to the city for testing/treatment, etc.
What we could do is make an appointment, and the hospital would arrange a HandiVan to transport her to it. Even then, we know it would be very hard on my mother to make that trip. She suggested we try getting her an appointment at the one local eye clinic in town. It would be much easier for them to arrange transportation, and the eye doctors there could give us more information on what our next steps could be.
I also explained about my mother wanting to get her own prescriptions and what I explained to her, which was confirmed, and that she agreed to wait until she was placed somewhere more permanently. Any news on that?
Nope. Nothing. In fact, they’ve got others in the hospital that have been waiting for months to get into a personal care home.
*sigh*
Frustrating, to be sure, but my mother doesn’t understand how fortunate she is to be in the hospital right now, rather than back in her apartment. Especially with how unreliable home care has been. She has exactly what she was wanting: to be living where there is someone available, particularly at night, should she need help with things. Unfortunately, now that she’s there, she expects them to “fix” her somehow.
The Re-Farmer 