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Not today

/ Re-Farmer / 8 Comments

I had a much interrupted and sleepless night, so my daughter is sweet enough to head put into this for me.

Funny enough 😉, the yard cats aren’t really eating much of the food outside, so it’s mostly the food bowls in the sunroom that need topping up.

The sunroom still manages to stay Warner than -10C, even overnight. The heat lamp helps, of course, but so does the sheer amount of feline body heat!

We don’t have much to complain about, though. These temperatures are more typical for our winters. The areas hit by this year’s polar vortex were reaching temperatures from -40C to -50C last night. Plus, a lot more snow than what we got.

Amazingly, the long range forecast not only has us warming up noticeably after this cold wave, but we were even supposed to get highs bately below freezing!

Yeah, we’ll see about that.

As for me, I need to get some sort of sleep. The first half of my night, I was kept awake by the pain in my left hip. It’s actually worse when I lie on my right side, which is a switch. I finally gave in and took some ibuprofen. I’m out of my arthritis acetaminophen, but it didn’t actually help my arthritis much. Back to the more general version when I restock.

The other interruption was the cats. Nor that they were being rambunctious or anything. They were sleeping pretty soundly. I did have the usual trying to sleep right on me, or jammed up against me, etc. With my various aches and pains, though, I need to shift positions often.

It’s remarkably hard to roll over with the weight of so many cats on top of my blanket. Two of them weigh more than 20 pounds each, and most of them do not move, even as I’m shoving my legs right under them and rolling them around.

Which adds the unexpected problem of pajama pants. With the extra weight on top of the blankets, the pant legs end up twisting around until they are bunched up under my knees. I kept having to get out of bed to stand up and untwist my pajama pants.

What a strange problem to have!

I did get some sleep, at least. Especially when my husband started feeding the cats, and I suddenly had a bed again. Once I was free of cats and could fund a comfortable position, I fell asleep so fast and so hard, I never even heard when my husband came in to do the few food bowls in my room.

So I’m feeling pretty wasted right now.

From the looks of my bed, though, I’m not sure it’s worth trying.

Sleeeeeep. I need sleep!!

The Re-Farmer

Could be worse! Plus, phone troubles, again

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I checked the weather before heading outside this morning.

We are well sheltered from the wind, for the most part, but it doesn’t take much for that “RealFeel” to drop.

We gave up on keeping a thermometer in the cat house, as they kept knocking it down, but I’ve left it outside, in the top of the shelf shelter, so it’s completely sheltered from wind and sun. I remembered to check it this morning.

-21C vs -24C isn’t much difference on a thermometer, but there’s a difference when you’re in it!

The sunroom thermometer was just below zero, still. I noticed there was no food at all left in the sun room, and the heated water bowl was low, even though it was refilled last night, but there was still plenty of food outside. The big heated water bowl was quite full, too. I could see cats in the window of the cat house. Clearly, they are staying indoors as much as possible! I do still see cats coming out from under the storage house. The remains of the basement under there would provide decent shelter, too.

It could be a lot worse, though. We are expecting a high of -17C today. The roads have been plowed, and I hope to get to my mother’s to do some grocery shopping for her. The city we used to live in, however, is expected to hit temperatures of -41C! That’s before windchill, too! That’s just deadly cold.

I tried to go to bed early last night, but of course, things messed that up.

One of those things was the phone.

With the line repaired, I returned the phone base to my bedroom/office. I set it up in a different spot on my craft table, where it would be more visible while I was in bed.

Which is why I saw the blinking red light.

Yup. The “hold” light was blinking again.

I picked up to check the line, and got just a crackling noise.

The bottom of the handset was also wet.

I grabbed some paper towel and found that where the handset rests in the base and charges had a puddle.

There was even a small puddle under the phone, which I could not see until I moved the base.

Now, my first thought is, a cat peed on it. But I’m not sure how. For starters, there was no visible sign of it. How can a cat pee into the phone base, without peeing on the handset? There was also no smell, and the puddle underneath looked like water. Plus, there was no space for a cat to position themselves in such a way as to pee on the phone without knocking things all over.

The alternative is that somehow, my bedside water bottles spilled, but those were still closed and upright.

So it had to be a cat, yet couldn’t have been a cat. !!

I took the whole thing out, cleaned it up as best I could, then set it aside to dry. Then I used a corded phone to test the line using the jack in the living room.

Still crackling.

So a job for today would be to call the phone company again. Before starting this post, I was going to try doing that from my cell phone. My husband went through it, trying to figure out why the wifi calling wasn’t working on my phone. He ended up doing a reset somewhere, and that seems to have done the trick.

Before calling, though, I checked the phone.

We have a dial tone again.

I want to test the other phone and see if it’s still working, but my guess is, it will need replacing.

We need to have a working phone, though. My husband has a phone appointment with his doctor today. He primary pain meds are getting hard to get, so his doctor wants to try him on something else.

Something that actually works better would be nice. Still, even that could be worse. At least it takes the edge off his pain enough to function, somewhat.

We shall see how things go.

The Re-Farmer

Not the worst!

/ Re-Farmer / 8 Comments

The snow continued through the night, so there was shoveling to do, when I did my morning rounds.

I wish I could figure out a practical way to keep the snow out of the kibble house!

With a north wind, you’d think the house itself would do the job, but it just whips around the old kitchen and sunroom, and right into the cat shelter area.

Thankfully, the sunroom and cat house are sheltered and warm. The thermometer in the sunroom was reading about -5C when I was done shoveling, with the doors left wide open. When I checked through the bathroom window during the night, it was just below freezing.

Right now, it’s -19C, with a wind chill of -27C or -30C, depending on which app I look at. Thankfully, we don’t get the brunt of North winds in most of the yard. Which is good, because my daughter is using little Spewie to clear the driveway right now. Best to get it done, while the snow is still light and fluffy. I can see her on the garage cam, but I can’t tell if the road has been plowed. It seems we have another package to pick up at the post office.

As I expected, we got the edges of the system, not the full brunt of it. Things were worse, further south. I don’t know how common this is elsewhere, but, like many prairie cities, there is a ring road around the city, so travelers can pass around, rather than through, the city itself. Last night, the entire ring road was shut down due to the weather.

From the local reports I’m hearing so far, though, the highways in our area are pretty good. The winds blew the highways clear, rather than the snow building up.

After this, we are expecting a mix of more average cold and above average mildness, if the long range forecasts ate anything to trust.

Oh! My daughter just came in. Time to let her know there is hot soup and hot tea waiting for her!

The Re-Farmer

It’s coming

/ Re-Farmer / 10 Comments

Today is supposed to reach a high of -7C or -8C, after which the temperatures are supposed to drop. An Alberta Clipper weather system is blowing its way through the prairies. The snow is supposed to start this afternoon, for a total of up to 15cm over 36 hours.

We already have a light dusting of snow right now. I didn’t get a head count, but the cats definitely prefer to be in the sunroom, or the cat house. Only the super fluffy ones, like Driver, here, are staying out. The sunroom was at just below 0C when I came in this morning, compared to -12C outside.

Today’s jump in temperature makes it a good day for the phone tech to come out! My brother tried to phone me yesterday and, instead of the crackling noise as before, he got a busy signal. Even when I pick up the phone, I now only hear the light crackling of an open line. My brother says we just have a short, somewhere. The question is, where?

I will be taking advantage of the warmer day and heading to town to pick up a few things. I hope the local hardware store has stove pellets for the litter. I don’t want to drive further afield, but we’re running low. We had lots, but have been going through it faster. Using oil in the cat’s ears, and the subsequent grooming, has had unfortunate effects on their digestive systems! Nothing like so many cats having the s***s at the same time!

We’ve taken a break on doing their ears right now. The next time we do them, we need to keep track of which cats still have too much detritus in their ears and keep doing them. Some are nice and clean, so no need to keep doing theirs, anymore.

Hopefully, the phone tech will come in the next hour or so, before I plan to head out. Otherwise, I’ll be leaving the gate open for him. He’s supposed to try and call my husband’s cell phone, first, but who knows if he’ll have enough signal.

Meanwhile, it was nice enough out that I shoveled the outer yard paths, to the garage, burn barrel, and electricity meter. Depending on how much snow accumulates over the next few days, we might need to break little Spewie out and do the driveway. For now, though, the truck can easily clear the snow we have so far.

I’m so happy we have that truck!

The Re-Farmer

A bit off…

/ Re-Farmer / 8 Comments

The low for last night was forecast to be -25C, before starting to warm up.

We are supposed to be well into the “starting to warm up” part by now.

Almost 8am, and we are at -30C?? We are supposed to be closer to -23C by now.

That’s off by quite a bit!

I just checked the critter cam. There are surprisingly few cats in the sun room. I’m glad that heat lamp came in yesterday, though!

Hopefully, things will warm up a fair bit over the next few hours, since plugging the truck in, is not an option. At least it’s closed up in the garage!

I do wish we didn’t have to go out in this, for my husband’s eye appointment, but it wasn’t supposed to get this cold.

Well, time to bundle up and feed the outside cats!

The Re-Farmer

It’s in! Plus, computer news

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Just in time!

I just got back from the post office and brought this home. The heat lamp for the sun room. It’s assembled and ready to hang up. I’m going to let it all come to room temperature before I try to hang it up and turn it on.

This is much better than what we used before, which was never intended to be used for anything other than keeping the pipes under the kitchen sink from freezing. This is a brooder lamp, so it’s meant to keep critters warm, safely. The bulb guard being particularly appreciated. Sure, a cat could still stick it’s head in, though I’ll be sure to hang it where that is not likely to happen. More likely is an accidental brushing. Between the bulb guard and the depth of the reflective shade, that is no longer a concern.

There is the option to hang it from a hook, or using a clamp. I expect to be using the clamp, but it’s good to have choices.

We are not expected to have daytime highs below -20C for a while yet, but overnight lows have already dropped to that point. The city we lived in last is expecting to drop colder than -30C, so we don’t have much to complain about.

In other news, I got a voice mail on my cell phone. It never rang, but at least it took a message.

It was the computer repair place, letting me know my machine is ready to pick up.

!!!

I had thought it was a lost cause, but no. He got it going. It takes about 5 minutes to boot up (it was taking that long for a while, now), but it’s working again. The total bill, including saving and backing up my data, is almost $300. Much cheaper than a new computer!

I do still need a new computer. The hardware is giving out and it’s not worth replacing it all, but it does give us time to figure out getting the funds for a new machine. Or even a refurbished one.

I don’t know when we’ll be going into the city next, to pick it up. That gives us time to scrape the money together to pay for it.

Then there is the cost of replacing the valve stems on the truck.

Then there is getting my mother’s car in to see what the damage is, and how much it will cost to fix.

My husband has an eye appointment coming up and will need new glasses. The last time he got glasses, it cost over $1500, most of it for his special lenses, some 15 or so years ago. His insurance currently covers only about $400.

Then there is…

Then there is…

Then there is…

It just doesn’t end, does it?

However, the kitties will be nice and warm. I think the lamp is ready to hang up, now!

The Re-Farmer

A pleasant visit

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

First, the cuteness!

By the time I finish my morning rounds, the outside cats are done eating and settling into their cuddle piles. The three smallest kittens are in this one.

I want to snuggle the fluffy tabby so much! S/he will not allow it. The white and grey is friendly. Once in a while, I manage to sneak a pet on the grey tabby with white, on the left, but rarely do. The other two littles do allow me to pet them, and sometimes pick them up. The tortie does not like it, but tolerates it a bit more.

I ended up heading to my mother’s, today. My brother was planning to visit her and set up a call blocker, to stop the scam calls my mother gets, as well as the abusive calls she gets from our vandal. He was going to start while she was in church, as her place is so tiny, it’s easier that way. I came over to help him out.

He has a much longer drive than I do, and we ended up meeting elsewhere, then going to her place together. I’m glad I was there to help out, even if it was just passing him things. Before we started, though, we checked my mother’s answering machine for her. She can listen to messages, but can’t figure out how to delete them.

There were two messages from our vandal.

He was quite upset that I answered her phone while I was there. Had all sorts of nasty things to say about me, of course. Apparently, he’s poor because of “what [I] did”, and his $7000 in legal fees. Of course, no taking responsibility over the fact that he was caught vandalizing the gate and that’s why I pressed charges. Or his stalking behavior, etc. No mention of his trying to sue me for $13,000, for stuff I never claimed to own. He’s lucky my mother and brother aren’t up to doing him for all the stuff he took from here, over the years. That total would be over $40,000, and that’s just for the stuff my brother could remember, and that we know is at our vandal’s place.

Oh, and apparently, I have lots of money, and cameras all over the place. Well, if he thinks we have more cameras than we do, I’m good with that. Those cameras are probably the only thing keeping him away. Also, apparently God says he should be allowed on the property.

My mother has been getting these abusive calls for at least 10 years. My brother has copies of hundreds of them. It will be so good for my mother to not have this anymore. The only thing is, she will probably still call him, eventually. She does not understand why she should not do that.

Setting up the call blocker took more time then it should have, of course. The device itself was easy to do, and our vandal’s numbers were already programmed in. To block the over 5000 known scam numbers, however, required going through a process to link and turn on through the phone system.

It didn’t work, of course. Even though my brother made the arrangements and paid for the service already. The numbers should still be blocked, but that’s something he has to work out with the phone company. They should be able to set it up remotely – he used to work IT for them, years ago, so he knows they can. But they insist he has to do this from my mother’s phone.

Still, we got as much done as we could.

My SIL had packed a lunch for my brother to bring, so by the time my mother came back from church, we had tea made and lunch out and ready for her. She did not know I was going to be there, do that was a surprise, too.

It was a very good visit. Plus, there were a few little fixes she got my brother to do. I dud have to laugh when she started telling us how, when our sister had been there, she fixed the glass shade thar came off her bedroom lamp, but she had no idea when she did it.

It was funny, because I was the one that fixed it, the last time I was there. She’d stepped out of her apartment and, while waiting for her, I saw the shade and reassembled it. Then I went to help her with things and forgot about it. She did not notice it was fixed until after my sister left her place, the next day. 😄

I’m glad I was able to be there. Not only to help my brother, but with both of us there, she was on much better behavior. She tried to go off on a racist tangent only once, and was easily deflected.

The only downside is, both my brother and I forgot to pick up some milk for her, before heading home. So maybe I will be heading back, tomorrow.

We shall see.

The Re-Farmer

Well, it was worth a try

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We had a light snow last night. Just enough that it was worth shoveling paths clear while I did my morning rounds.

I made sure to include a path to the storage house, where I was sure there was at least one phone.

There turned out to be two.

Yes, they both work.

Yes, I tested the line with both of them.

Our landline remains “open”. Just a constant crackling.

Which means the problem is not our phone. We’ve also pretty much established that it’s not the jacks, or anything internal, so far as we can see.

Which means it’s somewhere outside. Possibly not even near the house.

Time to call 611.

The Re-Farmer

Timing?

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Things are supposed to start getting colder tomorrow. My husband has just let me know we have a parcel to pick up. It is most likely the heat lamp we ordered to use in the sun room. If so, that will be perfect timing! I’ll have to wait until tul the post office reopens for the afternoon to go get it, though.

Meanwhile, I just have to share this photo.

This is Toni, grooming our greasy grandma. Extra greasy, since we are still doing daily ear cleaning with coconut oil. For the past while, grandma has been basically hiding out and not interacting with the other cats much. Usually, she was especially attentive to the kittens, so this was a change. We now think the change in behavior, and possibly even some of her weight loss, was because her ears were nothing her so much. We just couldn’t see how bad it was, until we started the daily cleaning. There turned out to be several cats that were especially bad. Most were not too bad at all, but grandma is among those where we are still finding chunky bits. The mites are most likely dead; we’ve gone well beyond their life cycle. However, as long as there are any cats that still have a build-up, we will be doing all of them.

A bonus in doing this is that grandma is no longer hiding out. Instead, she’s been camping out on my bed, where it’s much softer and warmer. Plus, the cats are grooming each other’s ears more – and none are allergic to coconut oil – though not as enthusiastically as when we were using the mineral oil. It was crazy how much Shadow, in particular, kept trying to eat it. I had so much trouble keeping him out of the garbage can, as he’d drag out the paper towel cleaning strips and try to eat them! The coconut oil seems tasty enough that they all groom each other more often, which is improving relationships. They are more likely to sleep in huge cuddle piles, including cats that previously didn’t get along very well.

I’ll happily take that bonus result!

The Re-Farmer

A home day

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I’m happy to say that I have no errands to run, no unexpected outings, nothing. Just a day to stay home, inside and out of the wind!

We’ve had a very mild winter so far, but as we head towards the end of January and into February, we are expected to get more average temperatures. Not so much that we need to worry about the vehicles freezing, or even plug them in. Which is good, since I discovered the truck’s block heater plug end was ripped off and never repaired. Clearly, it wasn’t an issue for whomever owned it before. This thing can handle the cold much better than the van could.

We do need to try and get the garage door closed, though. One corner wheel came off the track. I’m hoping that, if one person is able to push up the opposite corner, it will move the loose corner close enough to the track to be able to get it back on. This is something to do on a warmer day and will require taking the truck out, setting up a little ladder at one corner, and the folding scaffolding set at the other. It will take three of us to manhandle the thing. One to push up the opposite corner, one to move the loose corner towards the track, and one to try and get the wheel back on the track. It’s an unusually large door for its type.

The outside cats are appreciating being out of the wind. This morning, I counted 33 of them. Last winter, we had a ceramic heat bulb set up for them, but the old fixture we were using stopped working. We currently have a replacement on the way. What we had before was something my brother had put together to set up under the kitchen sink, so the heat from an incandescent light bulb would help prevent pipes from freezing, while the house was empty. The kitchen has no heat vent, so it was the one area of concern in the house.

What we are getting is a clip-on lamp designed for chickens. It has a heat reflector shade and comes with a ceramic bulb. I plan to set it up facing under the platform, which will have the added benefit of the sheet of insulation above, to help keep the heat in their favorite sleeping spot. If it gets too warm, they can go on top of the platform. The only thing I’m not sure of is how I will attach it securely. I’ll figure that out, once it arrives, and I can see exactly how the clamp is designed.

Meanwhile, we are still figuring out our phone problems. I spoke to my brother, through Messenger, and told him we thought the problem was the jack in my husband’s room. My brother suggested we simply detach that jack and see. I never even thought of that! So I went into the basement and traced the wire to the hub, and removed it.

Nothing changed.

My brother said it sounded like moisture got into a jack, which is what we think, too. Likely due to our two fixed males that still spray! There are two other jacks on the ground floor, but there is no way cats or moisture could get to either of those. That leaves the one jack upstairs, which we’ve never used, which could have had damage to it. So, one of my goals for today is to find and trace that wire and remove it.

If that doesn’t do it, then the problem is something else, and we’ll have to call someone in.

The main problem is, either how we have things set up, it’s hard to access all but one of the jacks. We will have to clear things for a tech to reach them, if he needs do.

Speaking of clearing things, once Christmas is over on Jan 6, and we store away our decorations, we need to rearrange parts of the living room again, so I can access the big aquarium greenhouse. We need to get our onion seeds started!

Then we will need to bring other things in from the sun room, including one of the shop lights, to set up our growing zone again. We won’t be able to do the same setup as we did last year, but I think we might not be starting quite so many seeds indoors this year. We shall see.

Lots to figure out how to do, that’s for sure!

The Re-Farmer