So, things have been a bit quiet here at The Re-Farmer.
There is a reason for that.
A cold has slowly been working its way through all of us. Even my husband is starting to get it, despite our efforts to keep it away from him.
Sick or not, stuff still needs to get done. Today, that included a trip into town.
Continue readingSo we went from a deep freeze to above freezing, and now the snow is back. We started getting weather alerts yesterday for snowfall. Locally, the snow started in the late afternoon, but to the south and east of us, I’m hearing there was a lot more. We have a bright, sunny day right now, but we’re still getting weather alerts, this time for blowing snow. Interestingly, it’s supposed to start snowing about mid-afternoon – when we’re also supposed to be reaching temperatures of 0C!
Continue readingToday marks the last day of our Christmas season.
For those following the orthodox calendars, it’s Christmas Eve, so a joyful Christmas to you!
When the girls were younger, before bed, they would leave their shoes out by their doors with “hay” in them for the wise men’s camels. In the morning, there would be small gifts waiting for them.
We still give them small gifts, and this year was no exception.
After today, we start taking down the tree and decorations.
That’s going to take a while. :-D
The Re-Farmer
I had a couple of visitors while doing my rounds this morning.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve heard one of these guys, and even longer since I’ve seen one.
What I found interesting is that, when it saw me coming, it just walked away, then stayed to watch me for a while, before finally flying off. Usually, I don’t even know one’s been around until I hear it flying away.
At one point, I was under a tree when some bits of bark and debris began falling on my head.
Why?
Because of this little lady.
Who was not at all happy to see our other visitor.
My brother’s dog came by, and even came over to let me pet him, without doing the “sneaking up from behind” shyness he usually displays. He still played a bit shy, but he seemed more interested in getting pets, instead. :-D
I just adore that dog. He is so sweet!
The Re-Farmer
The temperature outside is not the only thing was was warming up today. This is what I saw when I looked out our bathroom window this morning.
Pretty sure that’s Big Jim in the empty water bowl. :-D
Also, they are absolutely shredding the piece of Styrofoam I’ve got partially holding up their cat cave roof! :-D
We’ve taken advantage of the warming temperatures with a quick trip into the city last night, and a trip to finally do our bigger shopping today. We’re skipping our usual monthly Costco shop this month, because of how things worked out for the holidays, but it was still worth driving into the city to get at least a modestly large shopping trip in.
Among the things we picked up today was 5 large bags of kibble for the outside cats. Going to the city to buy those alone saved us about $50-$75, if we’d bought it locally. The price range is because the stores are often out of stock of the lower priced varieties. The savings in cat food alone more than makes up for the cost of gas to drive to the city.
I had to buy a memory card. A 16 Gig card in the city cost me just under $16. A comparable card locally? Almost $25.
So it was worth the drive in, even as messy as it was out there. We were above freezing today, and everything was melting like crazy on the roads. It’s going to cool down again, starting tomorrow, so I’m glad to get the hours of driving out of the way, before everything freezes up again. Temperatures are expected to drop again, starting tomorrow, though not the deep freeze we recently had.
It should be interesting to see how the deep freeze will affect our electricity bill. Our billing cycle is mid-month, so there is a calendar overlap. Our first bill, just over a year ago, was over $300, going up almost $100 each cycle over the next few months, topping out at just under $600. During this time, the hot water tank had finally died and we were heating water every day for washing. Comparing the costs of our energy usage a year later, the bill only went up about $25 in the same time period. It should be interesting to compare the time period after we got the new hot water tank, and were no longer boiling water for hours, every day!
The Re-Farmer
Welcome to a new year! May 2019 be a wonderful year for you, and I hope everyone stayed nice and warm while celebrating last night.
Or, if you’re old an boring, like me, sleeping. ;-)
It was certainly a bitter one last night, as some cities in Canada had their fireworks several hours early, so people could go home, out of the cold. At the time of this writing, we are at -26C, with a windchill of -37C.
The last few days, when going out in the morning to give the cats fresh food and warm water, I have been finding the water bowl in the sun room empty (except for a cat sitting in it, usually). Last night, the girls went out an extra time to make sure there was water for them.
This is what I found this morning.
Continue readingHad to bundle up pretty good to do my rounds, today!
While doing the cat food outside, I saw slick, creeping out of the bottom of the shelf outside the sun room.
Then he just sat there.
Watching.
Waiting.
Continue readingHappy 6th day of Christmas!
Things have not gone as planned, thanks to some rather unfortunate weather. We were supposed to go into the city for a family gathering yesterday. We drove maybe 5 minutes on the highway, before turning around and coming home. Blowing snow, icy roads, poor visibility… and knowing it would be worse when we were driving home in the dark. Too risky. Maybe if we had a 4 wheel drive and winter tires, but not with our van.
We didn’t have a lot of snow, but it did get to the point that we needed to clear the driveway. Which meant time to break out the snow blower for the first time! :-D
Except, of course, it wouldn’t start…
Continue readingHappy third day of Christmas!
It’s been getting chilly out there lately, so I’ve been glad to be inside, as much as possible!
Today was also “moving day.”
Continue readingA chilly but beautiful morning.
Everything was all frosty!
Butterscotch, as usual, insisted I carry her while doing my rounds. Poor thing was just shivering! She even let me half-cover her with the down-filled coat I was wearing. Any more than half made her nervous. :-D
The Re-Farmer
