Well, I went and did it. I potted up the very enthusiastically growing winter squash. I even did the luffa. Of all the seeds I started only 1 luffa hasn’t germinated yet, and it still might.
I’ve decided I will go the Costco shopping tomorrow and, while in the city, try and find a second heat mat to put under the winter squash tray. If they’re out of stock… well… we’ll see how it goes!
The Re-Farmer
We’re looking at a gorgeous day today. Bright and sunny, with an expected high of -5C/23F. Which we are as I write this, shortly past 2pm, with a “feels like” of -1C/30F
My one outing planned for the day was a trip to the dump, which is open long hours on Saturdays. I was up at my usual time, which is when all the cats seem to want to use all the litter boxes at the same time, and start getting antsy for the kibble. I topped up their bowls and closed up my door so Butterscotch could use the litter without being harassed by other cats, then tried to get a bit more sleep before heading outside to feed the yard cats, then load the truck.
Butterscotch, however, decided she really liked having the room to herself (Freya was there, but she just chills on my bed after she’s dong eating) and was racing all over, before finally settling down on the cat shelf by the ceiling.
She may have settled, but quite did not happen. Instead, I got a phone call.
It was home care, letting me know there wasn’t anyone available to do my mother’s med assist this morning.
So I quickly got up, updated the family, then called my mother to let her know there was no one available this morning, and that I would be there within the hour.
My mother is convinced that no one is showing up because they want to “fix her” – meaning, keep her from getting care and med assists, so that she would die. I told her, they are short staffed. They’re always shorted staffed. There could be many reasons no one was available.
She refuses to believe that. 🫤
After reassuring her that I would be there to give her her pills, I took care of the outside cats then headed out.
The outside cats were loving the relatively mild morning! Rolando Moon (in the second photo) was just rolling in the snow.
I noticed something about the kids in the isolation shelter, though.
One was missing!
No Grink!
I eventually found him, eating in the kibble house. It’s the first time I’ve seen him out of the isolation shelter in weeks!
Anyhow…
I had reached my mother’s town and was about to turn down her street when my phone started ringing. I don’t have hands free, so I left it to ring, but I immediately thought that it was home care again. As I got to her building and parked in my usual spot, there was one other vehicle there. Again, I felt sure this was home care, and that they’d found someone to do my mother’s meds.
After I parked, I checked my phone but did not recognize the number. I was about to listen to the voice mail message when a woman with a clip board came out from the car.
Yup. She was from home care, and she had just called me, hoping to catch me before I left, to say my mother’s med assist was done. We have never met in person before, but she said that when she saw my truck turn onto the road, she just knew it was me!
She updated me on how things went with my mother. The person who was scheduled to visit my mother this morning had called in sick. The person I was talking to was the weekend schedule coordinator, and she had tried to find another home care worker to visit my mom. Unfortunately, none of them would have had the combination for the lock box in their sheets, so she did it herself! She said she would be back to see my mother again, for her other med assists.
Since I was there anyhow, I went in to see how my mother was doing.
She was complaining, so she was doing well. 😄
She was making a big deal over my having to drive all that way, and how it was such a bother, etc. etc. I told her, this is my job, and I’m happy to do it! Moving out here was not just about taking care of the property, but to be close enough to help her when she needed it, since my other siblings live so much further, and have jobs. Mostly, though, she was demanding my brother come out at the drop of a hat, even though he lived the furthest. Especially after the title of the property was turned over to him, so that it would no longer be in the will, due to the antics of our vandal. If it were my brother who had driven all this way out, she wouldn’t have had any such feelings. If anything, she would complain that he didn’t do enough. Which is how she behaved before we moved out here, and he did come out more often.
While I was talking to her, I noticed her pulse oximeter was still on her table. I’m actually surprised she hadn’t hidden it away. So I got her to sit back and relax while I set it up.
Her heart rate and O2 levels are better than mine!
Then I asked her if there was anything I could help her with, such as getting dressed for the day or empty her commode. She said no, but that’s when I found out her morning visits have not been going this. They were supposed to be scheduled extra time for this, and it sounds like this hasn’t happened.
I’m going to have to call the case coordinator back and bring that up. I’m also going to have to bring up another issue…
As my mother was griping about home care not making it in (no sympathy at all that someone had called in sick, nor appreciation that someone else went out of her way to get to my mother and give her her med assist) and it’s such a bother for me to drive aaaaalllll that way (which is about half the distance my sister would have had to drive, and a quarter of the distance my brother would have had to drive, though neither of them were available)…
It came down to her meds being in a lock box, but if there is an “emergency” like this, she could just take her pills herself…
…
… as she indicated to the top of her fridge, where there is a pharmacy bag with her unopened bubble packs.
The only bubble pack in the lock box is the one that home care aids are actively using, along with their duotang of forms they initial every time they do her meds, and her inhaler.
I suppose it would be a tight fit, but doctor’s orders are, my mother does not have access to her meds, because she messes with them.
I didn’t do anything about it at the time, as it would have brought about a rage reaction, but I did tell her this was not a good thing – and that her continuing to rail about how her medications shouldn’t be in a box, and to leave them on the fridge, and don’t tell anyone they’re up there – we all examples of why she needs to have her medications in a lock box to begin with!
I’ve already updated my brother on that, but will also be talking to the case coordinator about it. It might be having all 4 weeks of bubble packs in the lock box made things a bit tight, but when my brother and his wife brought the new, bigger lock box, everything fit in there just fine. They should never have been taken out. The home care workers had been putting them on the fridge, out of my mother’s reach, before we got the lock box, but apparently, my mother can reach them. If nothing else, she could use her cane to simply knock the bag down.
So… that was a thing.
I asked my mother if there was anything else I could do, and she remembered a couple of things we forgot to put on her shopping list yesterday. So I went to the grocery store to get those for her, as well as a sandwich and a drink for myself. I hadn’t had breakfast yet and was starting to feel ill and dizzy.
That done, and once I was sure nothing else was needed, I headed to the gas station to top up the tank again. Before heading home, I updated the family, adding that I would back the truck up to the house so we could load it for the dump run.
It’s been a while since we’ve done a dump run – there was no way I was going to do it while we were being hit with the worst of the last polar vortex – so there was quite a bit. She moved the bags into the sun room for me, then I took them to the truck. She can only use one arm for this, since her ganglion is still really painful. Once the regular garbage and recycling was loaded, we had the very careful job of loading the bags from the honeypot. It’s been warm enough, only one of them was partially frozen. Even with using the stove pellets to absorb liquid, some of them definitely got extra care in loading! With four adults, with always at least one person having digestive issues, it seems, we’ve had to change the bags out quite a bit!
Double bagged, of course.
Once loaded, it was a quick run to the dump and then home. Before I left, though, I had a quick talk with my daughter.
Last night, my husband brought up the idea of going to town to a restaurant, just to have somewhere to use a real toilet again, instead of the honeypot. He would have done right then and there, if it hadn’t already been too late in the day for such a trip. I did, however, go through the budget and crunched some numbers, and found that we could manage it.
So I asked her to bring up with my husband and her sister (who was in bed after her night’s work) about this being an option.
When I got back, we were talking about my taking my husband and younger daughter out for a lunch, then taking my older daughter out for supper, after she’d had her full day’s sleep. My husband, however, had a really bad pain night and was simply not up to it an outing, and asked us to bring something home for him, instead.
So my daughter and I headed out and chose to go to a newer restaurant in town, that is associated with a brewing company. The city we lived in before we moved out here had a HUGE craft brewing community, and my daughters enjoy good beer, so we used to go to these whenever we could. I don’t like beer, myself, but I was willing to taste test theirs. 😄 This is the first time we’ve got to a restaurant/craft brewer since moving out here, so… more than 7 years.
We ended up both getting bison burgers (both skipping the jalapeno and I skipped the tomato). My daughter upgraded to a poutine with hers, while I got the coleslaw instead of regular fried. The burger was really good – and very messy! My daughter really liked her poutine, too. My coleslaw was surprisingly bland, though. It wasn’t bad, by any means. Just not what I expected. Both our meals also came with a couple of spears of pickles, with the cucumbers pickled in their own signature beer brine. My daughter also got a pint of one of their signature brews, which she quite enjoyed.
Once we were done there, we stopped at the DQ to pick up a meal for my husband, then headed home.
For now, I’ve got a bit of a break. I’ll be heading outside again to do the evening kibble and warm water soon. It’s so night out, I might not even bother putting on a jacket! I certainly didn’t wear my down filled parka today.
Then, I intend to wrangle my older daughter out of the house for supper. Knowing her, she will try to refuse. She has barely left the house – even to just go outside in the yard – in years. A down side to living in the boonies. Her work is all digital, so she doesn’t have to go anywhere, and since she works nights and sleeps days, she’s not around to go on trips into town or whatever.
What I really want to do right now, though, is go to bed! I got very little sleep last night, my attempt at sleeping in failed, and instead of just one outing today, I have had three, with one more in the works.
I guess it’s a perk that, with all this extra running around, I get to use public washrooms and eat food other people cooked but, to be honest, I would be just fine staying home. I do want the rest of the family to be able to get out, though. I really wanted to get my husband out. It’s been a rare thing for him to have an outing that doesn’t involve medical appointments!
I really, really hope my brother can get that pump working again, tomorrow. This is the longest we’ve had to use the honeypot, do sponge bathing, etc. yet, and we’ve had all sorts of plumbing problems since moving out here. At least we do have access to hot and cold running water. We just can’t let it go down the drain to the septic tank in any usual amounts.
Ah, well. It is what it is!
The Re-Farmer
I’m looking to have a quiet-ish day today.
Relatively speaking!
By the time I headed outside this morning, we had already passed our predicted high of the day, and it will keep getting colder.
The first thing to do, of course, is feed the fur babies. Especially in the isolation shelter.
Fluffy, as you can see, is staying well away from me. No chance of checking her surgical site. Even when I came back later with wet cat food, she would not go anywhere near the food bowl (there’s just one again, as the other was knocked down to the lower level) while I was around. The Grink is more comfortable being nearby, but wouldn’t let me touch him, either.
At least one of them has yet to figure out the litter box in the lower level. 😬
With the ramp door closed, there is no need for the wind shelter box around it, but I did find another use for it. There are some cats that are too shy to come to the food bowls in the kibble house, shelf shelter or sun room, but will eat kibble left on the concrete well cap. Others just prefer to eat kibble there. I used to keep a scrap piece of rigid insulation on the cap, to keep little toe beans protected from the cold concrete, but no large enough pieces seem to have survived to this winter. So I generally just try to keep it clear of snow.
The wind shelter box makes that easier. It keeps the snow off the kibble, the scaredy cats get to have some shelter while they eat, and if they get startled, they have a “back door” to run through.
After the critters got their food and warm water, I went to switch out the memory cards in the trail cams. I found the gate cam like this.
It was completely encased in ice!
On checking the files, later, I found the motion sensor still worked, as there were several files where all I could see was the ice on the camera lens cover! It was surprisingly thick, too, and took some doing to clear. Mostly, it was using my hands to melt the ice off, because it could not be scraped off without a tool, and I didn’t want to do that and risk scratching anything.
The plan for today was to break out little Spewie later on, to clear the driveway. The snow system should be past us completely by now, but we’re also expecting high winds, later on. The main thing would be to clear the plow ridge at the end of the driveway, and we’ll need to use a shovel for that. Little Spewie was not made for jobs like that, and there’s bound to be gravel and rocks mixed in, anyhow.
This morning, though, I took the time to shovel out all the paths before heading back inside, including enough in front of the garage that the side doors can be opened to access Spewie and the extension cord collection. While clearing the paths from the shelters by the house, to the shrine and the catio, I made sure to put more snow around three sides of the catio for extra insulation. I don’t plan to go any higher than where the floating shelves and hammocks are. This way, the cats can sit and look through the plastic wrapped walls, and the sunlight can get in.
I am not taking the snow off the roof. The clear roof would let more light in and add to the passive solar heat, but the snow acts as an insulator that will help keep the heat in when it gets dark. I’m thinking the passive solar heat from the plastic wrapped walls should be enough. It will never get particularly warm in there, but at least it will be better than outside! I’d put snow around the front, too, but the propped open door needs to be kept clear, in case we need to get inside. Like when the cats (or other critters?) push the food bowl too far away from the door. Normally, I can just reach in with the scoop of kibble, and not disturb any cats too much (the more feral ones usually run off before I even reach the catio). Sometimes, though, it’s way too far, or even knocked over. I’ve had to go all the way into the catio at times, to get the food bowl and put it back in reach.
I may be short, but I’m not that short!
I was reminded today, just how much I enjoy shoveling snow! I kept telling myself to not push it, but it was just too much fun. At least the snow was still light and fluffy, and not packed down by the wind. Still, when I finally went back inside, I made sure to take some pain killers, right away! Not my prescription ones, as I want to save those for before bed. I need to talk to my new doctor about that. Painkillers that can be taken only once a day is great for helping me get some sleep, which is when I need them most, but not of much use during the day.
Aside from working on the driveway, we’re going to have to set up the laundry hose out the front door again today. From the gurgles I hear when we’re using the kitchen sink, I don’t think that section of pipe is clear enough to handle the the amount of water that would drain from the washing machine yet. It drains very quickly, and I don’t want to take the chance of it back flooding. I’m more than content to keep running the hose through the storm door until spring or so.
We’re still using the bacteria and enzyme pipe maintenance products every week, plus flushing with straight hot water and detergent every few days, as the plumber recommended, but there still seems to be a bottleneck in there. When the ice in the roof vent was cleared, we might have gotten things like leaves and other debris. Leaves would have a tendency to stick to the inside of the pipes and be harder to flush away with the water.
There’s only so much that the drain auger can clear stuff like that away. Ideally, we’d use something equivalent to a bottle brush that could be pushed through the length of the pipe that could scour the insides. We do actually have something like that, which is great for clearing smaller pipes, but isn’t quite large enough, or long enough, for this one.
It’s not a big deal. We just have to make sure to keep the wash loads going, with no breaks to wait for the dryer in between, and regularly pop outside to make sure the hose is drained, so it doesn’t freeze closed. We’ve even stopped doing cold water washes only, so that there is at least warm water running through to keep it ice free.
So that will get set up next. I don’t know if I’ll be up to doing the driveway with little Spewie as well. We’ll see. Normally, my daughter would do it, but she’s been quite sick for the past few days, and in even more pain than I am.
In other things, I’ll be sure to talk to my mother again today – assuming the hospital staff have left the phone in her room from yesterday. My sister has been contacting more distant family members about my mother, as she’s got their contact information (to be honest, I hadn’t even thought of it; I only thought of my siblings!). While we were chatting last night, she let me know that our vandal is back in a different hospital with an infection related to his recent surgery. I’d like to wish him well; it would be good to reconcile with him, but he’s so far gone, my sister can’t even mention my name around him, because he just loses it. I honestly can’t be angry with him about it; he’s clearly dealing with psychiatric issues. I do have a problem with the people around him that are enabling him and not getting him the help he needs. That, however, is not my problem. I have my mother to be concerned about.
I do wonder if I should be calling the eye clinic in the city. Her appointment is for near the end of February, and they don’t plan to do the injections this time. The will just check to make sure nothing has gotten worse. We won’t know for several more days, whether my mother will be released from hospital and sent home, or if they will be able to get her into assisted living or long term care – which is what she would prefer – instead. She is quite enjoying her time in the hospital, and things like having her meals and meds brought to her, and having all these doctors and nurses tending to her. She says the food is very good, too. She’s not on any dietary restrictions; just fluid restrictions, so she’d be getting “normal” meals. It would be so much better for her to NOT go home from the hospital! We shall see what happens over the next few days. I think, once we have a better idea of where she will be, then I’ll call the clinic and update them.
Well, I’m procrastinating now. Time to get that hose set up and start some laundry!
The Re-Farmer
I’ve just got home from errands and just realized, it’s not even 1pm as I start this! It feels like it should be later.
I needed to go to the town north of us to pick up our beef share this morning, so I asked my daughter to do the morning rounds while I checked on the truck and stuff. The front tires were just low enough to be worth firing up the compressor and topping them up. It was -24C/-11F with a wind chill of -32C/-26F at the time, so I ran the engine for a while, too. I did have to shut it off while pumping one of the tires, though. The breeze was blowing the exhaust right into that corner of the garage!
I did help my daughter as she was feeding the outside cats, giving the isolation babies, their wet cat food treat. Eye Baby really wanted out this morning! Well, it’ll just be one more day. Tomorrow, we will be opening up the door and setting the entry box over the opening again, so cats can freely go in and out again.
I left quite early so that I could get other stuff done before meeting up in our usual spot to get our beef share. The general store out post office is in closes at noon today, so I figured I’d try the post office, first.
Zero mail, still. Not even junk mail. The back-to-work order came into effect yesterday, though. I expect rural communities are going to be pretty low on the priority list for getting deliveries.
So I picked up a sandwich (freshly made at our one restaurant, kitty corner across the street) and a drink for my breakfast, then headed north.
My first stop was the feed store, and to look for heated water bowls.
They did have small heated water bowls, which is what I was after, since the big ones stop working so quickly. The price was insane, though. The volume it holds is less than our small heated water bowls, but it cost as much as a large one. The quality, however, was noticeably better. With everywhere else being out of stock, I went ahead and got one, along with a couple more 40 pound bags of kibble.
For the beef share delivery, we always meet in a grocery store parking lot – the only grocery store in town – and I still had time, so I went in to do a bit of shopping. I didn’t need much, and the prices for most things are quite a bit higher, but they have a remarkable selection for such a rural store, so I took my time looking around to see if there was something else I wanted to get besides a carton of milk. 😄 I did end up getting some buttermilk, which I rarely do. I think it will be great for the next time we make cornbread.
That done, I didn’t have very long to wait in the truck before the lady arrived with my beef share. We could only do a 1/8th share this time, so it was just two boxes. The shares were smaller this year, as they butchered heifers this year instead of steers, so with our monthly payments, we actually ended up with a refund. I would like to do a quarter beef again, so I asked about the possibility of sending them payments starting in January.
She asked me to hold off on that. They need to figure out what they will be doing this year. They already had to switch to beef shares only, moving away from the individual cuts and freezer packs. The market price they would get for their beef is pretty good right now, so it doesn’t make sense for them to hold onto cattle through to the fall right now. Plus, with everything becoming more expensive in general, they are going to have to increase their price. Right now, with the beef shares, they are charging $6.50/pound hanging weight, and they’ll be losing money if they don’t adjust that. She won’t know until March or so, what direction they will be going. Once that’s worked out, she has a list of regular customers – including us – that they will contact directly. If we don’t find out until March, though, we’ll probably end up doing a 1/8th beef again, which she understands.
As we were talking, we shared some frustrations. For her, as someone who sells beef shares, she has a real problem with other ranchers that sell their shares at a fixed price, rather than by weight. You never know until you get the hanging weight, how much each share will actually work out to be. Which is how we ended up with a refund. You can’t just decide a whole beef will be X amount ahead of time, and then divide it by whatever share someone is getting. At least, not ethically! It makes things harder for ranchers like her, too, because people catch on that they’re not being charged fairly. I didn’t even know there were people selling beef shares with fixed prices. I’ve only see it done by weight.
So we shall see how things work out for them. Meanwhile, I’ll just set the payments I would be making to them aside. I would rather send it to them, to help feed the animal we will be eating, but that’s okay. And if they end up not doing beef shares next year, well, that’s just more in the savings account.
With my other errands done, it was straight home after picking up the beef. I pulled into the yard to unload, then gave the outside cats a small feeding to get them away from the truck so I could park it.
Once that was done, I empties the boxes into the freezer. With the extra shopping we’ve done for Christmas and New Years, there isn’t a lot of room! We couldn’t have fit a quarter beef in there, that’s for sure.
We got quite a few 2 pound packages of ground beef, a whole lot of steaks and several roasts, plus beef bones. Now that we have the Instant Pot, I’m thinking we could try using it to make bone broth – something with onions and garlic in it, so it’s for our own use only, not for the cats! I actually found some packages of bones, both beef and pork, while making space in the freezer. They’re starting to get freezer burned, so we should make some broth with them for the cats – and free up some freezer space!
Once that was put away, I took down the old extension cord that the fried out heated water bowl had been plugged into, and replaced it with the new one I picked up not long ago, then set up the new water bowl. There was still some liquid water in the fried out bowl, so I poured that into the new bowl. Remarkably, the water started getting slushy on top, rather quickly! I got the critter cam plugged in, too, and at first it didn’t work. The app told me the camera was offline. ?? I plugged things in and out a few times and it started working, so I don’t know quite what went wrong.
The new bowl has been accepted, though!
The old one, with nothing but ice in it, got set aside not far from there the heat lamp is. It might actually get warm enough to melt under there. As long as it doesn’t get in the way of the cats using the heat lamp, it can stay there.
I had lots of curious kitties while I was setting up the new extension cord!
I was done and tying off the outside doors again when I noticed there were three amigos at the window, watching me, so I decided to take their picture.
I ended up catching a bit of action!
So much for being amigos! 😄
Anyhow.
Everything is now brought in, put away and set up.
It’s been a productive day, and that makes me happy.
The Re-Farmer
This afternoon, I glanced out my window and saw a stranger.
I think.
This Big Boi was loafed in a sun spot against the old garden shed. To get the photo, I had to zoom in through three layers of glass and Lexan in my window. I’m actually surprised I got as good a photo as I did! 😄😄
I don’t know that I recognize this cat. We have a lot of similar tabbies, which always makes is harder to tell, but this particular beast seems unusually chonk for an outside cat!
There is that distinctive slash of white fur through the black line running along the side of his nose. That’s the only thing that seems at all familiar to me. This may be a cat that has returned for the winter. Chances are, if I go through my old photos, looking specifically for that distinctive marking, I might find him there.
I just got back from doing the last outside feeding of the day, and did not see him among the other cats, though. Perhaps he is a visitor from one of the neighboring farms.
In other things, I’ve had a pretty non-productive day. I had a very interrupted night, so very little sleep, and was in a lot of pain in the morning. I got the outside cats fed with their warm, softened kibble, then took some pain killers and tried to go back to bed.
That didn’t work any better than last night.
I did eventually get some inside stuff done, at least. We have another batch of mostly San Marzano tomatoes that are ripened, so I went through those to pick out any of the damaged ones that started to go bad, then set the rest to soak in some vinegar water. I’ll set up the slow cooker for the night to make another sauce. We have plenty in the fridge right now, so this will be for the freezer. There are still green tomatoes in the old kitchen, and I’m still regularly picking out the ones that are starting to show a blush and setting them in one container. Once it’s full, I’ll bring them to the living room to finish ripening.
Mostly, though, today has been another enforced day of rest. Which, I suppose, is not a bad thing. Today was a bit cooler, and there was a smattering of snow on the ground in the morning. The next two days will be warmer, so that will be a good time to get outside and get some more stuff done before winter really sets in.
All in all, we’re having a very lovely and mild November. Last year was a mild fall, too, but around this time last year, well…
… we were missed by a storm, but did get quite a snowfall!
So I am really appreciating the temperatures we’re having right now – and the lack of snow!
Even if these temperature fluctuations are brutal on my arthritis!
The Re-Farmer
Since one of my tasks for the day was to help my mother with errands, I didn’t have anything in particular that I had on my list to do at home. That was more of a “squeeze in what you can, when you can” thing.
The day, of course, started with feeding the outside cats and doing my morning rounds. One thing I noticed, when checking the critter cam in the sun room during the night, was that there were fewer cats piled on top of each other on the platform, or on the makeshift cat bed under the heat lamp. I hope that means cats have discovered that the upper level of the isolation shelter is nice and warm!
By the time I come out with their food, though, they’re all crowded in the sun room, or just outside! This morning, I counted 33. Maybe. I might have counted a couple, twice. Which seems odd to me. We had as many as 50, not that long ago – a sudden jump from a high of 40, so 10 cats just sort of showed up. Now, we’re down by more than that. I’m even noticing the difference in the kibble. For a while, I’d go around the various areas I put kibble out, with some further from the house for the shiest of the ferals, and find all the kibble in and near the sun room absolutely gone by the time I got back. There were even times when I could see they were still hungry and added more. Now, not only do they not finish off the kibble immediately, but when I come out later, there is still some left!
Which is great for the kibble supply lasting longer, but it also tells me that these “extra” cats are simply gone, rather than possibly showing up later on.
I’m not sure what to make of that.
When arranging to go to my mother’s today, she reminded me that she was getting her Meals on Wheels this morning, and suggested I bring some take out for myself. She even offered to pay me for it! It took a while, but I eventually found out why. The last time, I made a point of eating my lunch before coming over, and just had a cup of tea while she had her lunch. Turns out, she didn’t want me to be sitting there watching, while she ate, and not eating as well! 😄
So I headed out early enough to stop at the Chinese restaurant next to her place and got myself some kung pao chicken. It was a “chef’s suggestion” that I decided to try.
I won’t be having it again.
Don’t get me wrong; it was quite delicious!
Unfortunately, though, when it said it was “mild”… well, I can’t tolerate even “mild” spiciness. It was just past the edge of “too much”. I ate it anyway, because it was so good, but it’s now on the list of things I know I won’t be ordering in the future.
Alas.
When my mother’s Meals in Wheels was delivered, we chatted a bit with the social worker that is the volunteer delivery person. As we were talking, my mother noticed the beautiful Remembrance Day pin she was wearing, and asked where she got it from. The social worker responded by taking it off and giving it to her! My mother tried to refuse, but she wouldn’t hear of it. We did find out she got it from the local pharmacy. My mother was still trying to say she wanted to pay for it, so I told her that I would be going to the pharmacy anyhow, with her list, so I could make a donation.
We had already gone over her list before lunch, so as soon as we were done, I headed out. First stop was the pharmacy. When I got to the cash desk, I found the manager was manning the tills. This new manager is really nice. During the illegal lock downs and mandates, this manager was the reason that particular pharmacy was on the black list for abusive behaviour towards people with medical exemptions.
I remembered to ask about the pin, telling him about the social worker giving my mother hers. He told me these pins – there turned out to be three designs – sold out very quickly. These are from the Legion, and he told the person that provided them that next year, they should make more of them! He had one buy 14 of them! When he asked her, are you sure? she told him she had many family members she would be gifting them to. That was awesome.
I asked how much they were, and he said he was telling them for $6 – and all the proceeds went to the Legion. So I made that my donation (not out of my mother’s envelope of funds for her purchases, of course).
The next stop was the grocery store. Thanks to her Meals on Wheels, she doesn’t need a lot, plus there were some good sales on. The pharmacy had some really good sales, too, so the total was a lot less than she was expecting, this time, even when I got her a couple of extras things that I knew she would enjoy.
After the shopping was brought in and put away, my mother asked me to do some light housework for her, as well, so I stayed a bit longer. I could see that she was really struggling to move around, today, though there were times when I wondered how much of it she was doing to herself. She has an unfortunate habit of latching on to things that somehow “make her feel better” that are… questionable, shall we say. One of those things is burping. On the one hand, she’ll tell me that she’s burping a lot, making it sound like she’s having digestion problems – then tells me that burping helps with her breathing. So as she’s moving around the apartment and getting out of breath, she start actually forcing herself to burp.
The problem is, as a couple of different doctors have tried to explain to her, is more one of conditioning. She’s out of breath because she’s out of shape.
Which no one is expecting her to do anything about. She’s 93 years old with busted up knees. While she does take part in the group exercises the social workers run in her building a couple of times a week, that’s not going to make a difference. She also says she “does exercises” every morning, but these are some strange exercises done in bed she was taught to do when she was a child in school – in Poland, before WWII. I’ve asked her to describe them to me, and I honestly am not quite sure what they are meant to improve. Not that it matters. She really doesn’t understand how absolutely amazing she’s doing, overall. Instead, she complains about her breathing and chest pains (her lungs are in great shape. So is her heart). As near as anyone can figure out, she’s dealing with 93 years of childhood subsistence living, surviving a war, starting over in a new country, having 5 kids and decades of living here on the farm, two sticks ahead of the stone ages, catching up to her.
She really is doing amazing!
Anyhow…
By the time I was done at my mother’s and heading home, it was mid afternoon. Once home, I popped back out to give the outside cats a light feeding, then checked things around the yard. Three of the boys have now lost their collars, and I was hoping to find them somewhere. One of them lost his three or four times, but each time, I found it in one of the cat beds on their platform in the sunroom and got it back on him, but this time, he managed to loose it somewhere I can’t find.
Ah, well. I’ll try and pick up more of them, when the store restocks. I specifically want the breakaway collars that have reflective stitches on them, and I’m only finding them in one place. At least it’s a dollar store, so they are quite affordable!
As I was coming back in again, I found this adorable sight.
The white and grey adult cat is Stinky, and he’s one that lost his collar almost immediately. He is a very friendly boy, which is why we were able to get him in and fixed, along with three other friendly males, not long ago.
The ball of fluff cuddling him is one of the more feral kittens. I had to zoom in to get this shot because, as soon as I came closer, it took off! The kitten making strange has me thinking it’s probably female. They are almost always the hardest ones to socialize!
Later on, I made sure to come back out to get as much done outside as I could, before the light faded and the temperature dropped too much. I finally got around to taking the netting and supports off the bed that had the sugar snap peas and Uzbek Golden carrots.
The netting was the worst. Absolutely everything wants to get caught in it – including cats!
As I was going back and forth to where I’m setting all the netting and supports before sorting through and packing them up for the winter, I spotted this grand old lady.
Rolando Moon was enjoying a sun spot on the roof! The cats like to visit the upstairs windows, and watch my daughters while they are on their computers. 😁
By the time I got everything but the T posts untied, untangled, cleared up and put away, it was getting dark fast, so I will continue tomorrow.
The forecast for tomorrow is now down to 11C/52F, and it’s supposed to be the last double digit (Celsius) day of the month. After that, we don’t have may more days left where the highs are expected to be above freezing. So tomorrow, I want to make one last push to get certain jobs done. Others will just have to wait until spring.
I’ve been hearing that “they” are now predicting a mild winter. It seems we won’t be getting a strong La Nińa year, after all. I certainly hope that turns out to be true. I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I now dread winter. Even though the cold doesn’t bother me like it used to, it’s what the cold does that concerns me. With winter, we always need to consider that there may be days, or weeks, where we won’t be able to get out anywhere due to weather, or that the power might fail, or… well… you know how it can be. Things happen, and we need to be prepared for them, just in case! We may not be totally isolated, but there have been times since we’ve moved out here where we may as well have been!
Everything is a trade off. For us, though, it’s still better than living in the city! 😄😄
The Re-Farmer
Today was supposed to be a bit warmer and, technically, it was.
We also had high winds.
That ruled working on the cat house out completely. With the direction of the winds, they would have torn the roof off – or at least damaged it significantly – if we opened it up.
I had to do some modifications to the catio because of the wind.
As I thought might happen, the plastic overlapping the back, which couldn’t quite reach the centre support of the frame, was getting damaged in the wind. I found it torn free from its tacks at the top, and the only reason the bottom wasn’t also torn free was because the excess was tucked under the bottom of the frame.
I ended up taping it to the first layer of plastic. I used packing tape, which should come off more easily when we take it off on the spring. There is a chance it won’t last the winter, but we’ll see.
Wind was still getting into the catio through the open door, causing the plastic to billow. I was already planning to prop the door so it was open just wide enough for the cats to get in and out. I decided an extra bit of security would not go amiss, and added paracord around the whole thing, while also making sure the door wouldn’t blow open, either.
It didn’t take long for the cats to discover the improvement! In the photo above, there are three cats in there. Not only is it now more sheltered from the wind, but would be a warm little greenhouse as well.
It would have been better to secure the paracord through the plastic at the hinge side of the door, but I don’t want to put larger holes, in the plastic, since I intend to use it in the garden next year. I think, for next winter, the door will get it’s own covering, separate from the catio walls.
This will be our first winter with it, though, so we’ll analyze how it worked out, in the spring.
With high winds kiboshing my outdoor plans, I decided a trip to Walmart was needed. We never did get to the feed store and were running low on kibble already, so I contacted the Cat Lady. Yes, she was able to meet me today. After working out the time, I left right away, since it takes me a lot longer to get to our usual meeting spot that it takes for her.
It took a bit longer than usual. During parts of the route, the winds were doing their best to blow the truck right off the road! I was driving against the wind for much of the trip, which visibly affected the mileage, too!
When we finally connected, we had a chance to chat while we transferred over a nice big cat tree, a couple of large bags of kibble, some smaller bags of kibble, and a big garbage bag stuffed with cat beds. She even gave us a 24 pack of wet cat food; turkey chunks in gravy. She got it for her own cats, but they don’t seem to like it – and The Wolfman turns out to be allergic to poultry, so he can’t eat it at all. The problem is, he loved chicken so much, he kept stealing the roasted chickens she fed them, while they were cooling down. It turns out he’s a real greedy guts, and constantly stealing food!
She no longer goes to what used to be her favourite vet clinic. The owner – the man that saved Cabbages’ life, and even Tissue, after her attempt to destroy their car – sold the clinic. She’s been there a couple of times. Once was to get Button neutered. That was when the new vet insisted Button had to be only 8 weeks old, and would not believe otherwise, no matter what. She had also talked to the new vet about The Wolfman and allergies – and was immediately offered euthanasia!
She is not going back.
She did take Button to another vet, though, and got some more information about his condition. It was determined that the reason he is so tiny, and why he is now deaf, was due to a particular virus. The vet figured that the reason we found him was because the mother had died of it, because it usually does kill off the adults. We never did figure out who the mother was, so that may well be true. That’s the thing with yard cats. When they disappear, we almost never know why. Very rarely do we find an adult cat that has died. Last year, there was one.
It’s entirely possible we’ve recently lost more. We haven’t seen Sad Face in weeks, now. There was that one day when I counted 50 cats and kittens. This morning, I counted maybe 33. Yesterday, 26. Aside from Sad Face, who is rather distinctive, I have no idea which cats – or kittens – are missing.
Meanwhile, the Cat Lady is trying to arrange spays for us. The clinic she’s been booking us with is very busy. At this point, they should be able to book two in December, and maybe one in November, plus she is on the cancelation list. The vet would really like to get the long haired tabby adult in, as she is more likely to go into heat before the kittens do, in the spring. I’ve actually been able to pet Adam a few times, so there’s a possibility we could get her in, without having to trap her, too.
The Cat Lady is going to need descriptions of what cats and kittens we can bring in. While I could do that, it doesn’t mean those are the kittens we’d be able to bring in. There is one very friendly little tabby with white that we’d have no problem catching. She’s really small, though. Button is probably bigger than she is, now. The vet prefers them to be at least 2kg (almost 4 1/2 pounds).
There is no way that kitten is 4 pounds, and she is definitely close to 5 months old.
We shall see.
Meanwhile, she’s had to deal with 4 cats that showed up at their cottage. They’ve closed it up for the winter, but they have a neighbour that lives there full time and called them about it. They were all males, about 8 months old. I guess someone knew the property was owned by a family that ran a rescue, and dumped them. You’d think they would consider that, like most of the cottages in that area, no one would be there in the winter. Thankfully, the neighbour that does live there full time keeps an eye on their place for them. So she had to go get the cats, was able to get them neutered and has already adopted one of them out.
One of the things that came up was comments people make about country cats like ours and, “why don’t they just get them fixed?”
That came up when I mentioned that we have gone from a high of 50 cats to now being down to a little over 30. We just don’t know what cats will show up, or if they will stay. There are some distinctive cats that do stay, even if they are more feral, but others… we just can’t tell. Especially with all the white and greys. They get so hard to tell apart! In previous years, we had lots of grey tabbies. They are all gone. The grey tabbies we have now are from more recent litters. At least the ones we did get fixed have been staying, but males like Judgement are still prone to disappearing for the summer and coming back for the winter – if they come back at all.
Then, of course, there is the cost. Especially for females. We’re both very frustrated by people who made disparaging remarks about how people should spay and neuter the strays, barn cats, yard cats, etc. Yes, that needs to be done, but some get very angry and accusatory when it doesn’t get done. To which I say, are you volunteering to pay for it? Are you donating to a shelter specifically for spays and neuters? No? Then zip it. People do the best they can. Those who aren’t willing to help – and it’s a huge problem in our province right now – aren’t entitled to cast judgement on others.
The Cat Lady and her family spend ridiculous amounts of money out of pocket to help their rescues; donations don’t come near to covering it all. She is constantly on the hunt for things people need. Recently, she found a particular cat item that is in demand, but hard to find, and she bought the store’s entire stock. Nine of them. As she was paying for it, another customer started ranting at her for being so greedy and taking them all. It was one of the staff who knows the Cat Lady well by now, that called out the customer, saying that they were all for donations. She wasn’t buying them for herself.
All of this was shared rather quickly, as we loaded stuff from her cat to our truck. The wind was brutal and cold, so we parted ways soon after.
I then went to the Walmart and, yes, got more kibble on top of the donated kibble!
That done, I headed home, with a brief side trip to get some gas. This time, I had the wind at my back, and I could really tell the difference by the gas gauge!
By the time I got home, it was well past 1pm. After the truck was unloaded, we loaded it up again – with garbage!
Two of the cat beds that were donated went straight into the isolation shelter; one on each level.
I then waited until 2, when both the dump and the post office opened, grabbed the water jugs we needed to refill and headed out again.
My first stop was the dump and, I swear, it is looking worse every time I go there! There’s barely room to drive in and turn to back up to the pit, for all the garbage that’s been allowed to spread over the driveway. I’ve never seen it allowed to get this bad.
At least the driveway area wasn’t covered in nails or glass.
Not that I could see, anyhow.
Once that was done, the next stop was the post office to pick up what turned out to be two parcels. I also got the first 2025 seed catalog of the season! I’m going to have fun going through that!
Then it was off to town and to the pharmacy for a prescription refill. Normally, I would have had my one prescription included with my husband’s deliveries, but we forgot to order it last week, and this week, my husband didn’t need any refills.
That done, the next stop was the grocery store to refill our water jugs, then finally, home again.
While the dump and town trip were planned on, I wasn’t expecting to be on the road more than that. Which is just as well, since the wind wasn’t going to let me do what I hoped to do in the garden.
Tomorrow, I’ll also be gone for much of the day, as I will be going to my mother’s place and helping her with her errands.
Meanwhile, I have also started working on this year’s Christmas decorations. Every year, I try to make new decorations for our tree, and maybe enough to give away to family and friends. This year, I’ve been inspired by Singlade balls. The Youtube channel in the link has some really amazing examples of them.
This video is a beginner tutorial.
I’m cheating a bit. I happen to have a number of Styrofoam balls, so I am using those as a core. At the moment, I’ve got six of them wrapped in white yarn, with the contrasting yard dividing them into eight sections, like the one you can see in the video thumbnail.
I’m working on the second half of my first ball, which is being made using bulkier yarn than wat’s in the video. As these will be Christmas decorations and meant to hand on a tree surrounded by lights, I went hunting for sparkly or reflective yarn. This first one has two colours per triangle and is mostly a red yarn with a silver metallic thread running through it. I also have some bits of reflective yard left. I had enough of a forest green to do half the ball. The other half is using a peacock blue reflective yarn. I have some neon colours of the reflective yarn that would be gloriously tacky. I also have some mini skeins of yarn that is almost a lace weight yarn, some of which have metallic strands in them. Those would make much finer stitches, but would also take longer to work up. I’ll see how far I get with the reflective yarn remains I have now before I start working on a finer weight yarn.
I’m happy with the progress, so far.
The only thing is, we will probably just have a small Christmas tree set up on top of the piano in the cat free zone again, this year. We have a couple of very small Christmas trees, and these balls would look gigantic on either of them! 😄
But that’s okay. I enjoy learning a new craft and, when it comes to yarn, my options are pretty limited. My hands are so rough, bit of fibre in the yarn sticks to my fingers!
That’s pretty much it for today. It may not have been the day I planned out, but at least it was productive!
The Re-Farmer
The cats seem to be quite enjoying their newly winterized digs!
They are especially enjoying the cat isolation shelter. Which makes me happy! It will made it much easier, when it comes time to actually isolate cats in there during their recovery periods.
The last image in the above slide show is of the completed catio wrap. I had to get my daughter to crawl inside to pull the excess plastic under the frame. Especially where the second sheet overlapped the first. That one didn’t quite reach the middle of the back, where it could have been tacked to the centre support I added when we repaired it, so it’s only tacked top and bottom. I might end up taping it or something, or the wind will get under there and rip it right off.
I did add a board under the front of the frame, lifting it about 1 1/2 inches. This will give a slight slope for water to drain off the roof.
Today has turned out to be a cool and damp day, so I didn’t get a lot done outside. Aside from finishing winterizing the catio, I made sure the rest of the insulation got set up around the house.
We really need to find a better option for this. The insulation pieces are scrap pieces from who knows where, to begin with, so they’re all different sizes and thicknesses. Setting them up is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with pieces from different puzzles that don’t quite fit. They’re getting old and some of them are starting to break apart. It would be good to have a permanent solution, that we can make look like it’s part of the house and not just tacked on.
All in good time, I guess. Short term, we’re going to need to pick up some thicker sheets of rigid insulation to replace the busted up pieces. As it is, there is no longer enough to go completely around the wall there the back water tap is.
That took quite a while to get done, mostly spent trying to get the pieces to fit together, then finding ways to support them so they don’t get blown away. It’s been a dark and dreary day today, so even though it was still only mid afternoon or so when I was done, it was still dark enough that the light over the main door would turn on as I walked by. Mind you, sunset today was at 4:52pm, so I guess it wasn’t just the overcast skies.
At least the snow and rain that hit other parts of the province missed us. We’re wet enough right now, thank you! Interestingly, I noticed the signs up showing that we are under a fire ban in our municipality right now. We didn’t have a fire ban all summer, this year, so it’s quite unusual to have one start in the fall like this.
And here I was thinking it was finally wet enough and calm enough to burn that pile of diseased branches, as well as our burnable garbage.
Tomorrow, we’re supposed to hit 11C/52F, and even reach as high as 12C/54F on Sunday. The next few days will be a good time to get more done outside. The one cooler day is Friday, and I will be helping my mother with her errands that day.
For now, the important winterizing things have been done, and I can get back to cleaning up and and putting things away from the garden. It may even dry up enough to get our electric chainsaw out and finish clearing away that spruce that fell on the crab apple tree!
Little by little, it’s getting done.
The Re-Farmer
I did get some things accomplished today, but ended up cutting back on some of what I planned to do. I was just too stiff and sore, and I’ll be heading to the city for our Costco shop tomorrow, so I didn’t want to push my luck.
I wasn’t happy with the garden tour video I took yesterday evening, so I tried again this morning. I think they will do, though I did catch some mistakes I made. Ah, well. I can edit in some notes when I put the tour video together.
The truck was booked for the garage today. When changing the oil, he forgot to reset the computer, so I was still getting the “change oil soon” warning. He also forgot to put on a new sticker. The check engine line turned back on again, so he was going to diagnose that for me, plus get some pricing for other work we already knew would need doing.
My appointment was for 1pm, but I left early so I could put in a bit of gas and a car wash. I still dropped the truck off early. They were having lunch! After talking for a bit about what needed to be checked out, I told them there was no hurry, as I had some errands to run.
Without the truck, doing them meant a lot of walking!
My first stop was the furthest. I headed to the dollar store. There were some things I was looking for, for the bathroom, but I wasn’t sure if they would have them. I did, however, find some embroidery thread that I plan to use for this year’s Christmas decorations (I try to do a different craft every year). They had also restocked on breakaway collars. I got their last five that had reflective strands in them. The last time I got some, I got four of them to put on the four males that had just been neutered, but three of them were gone the next day. I think I put them on too loosely. I’d hoped to find them around the yard or something, but there was no sign of them. Only Syndol still has his collar.
After taking the bells off, I put the collars on after doing their evening feeding.
I had to double check for tattoos on a couple of them, to be sure! I had enough collars to include Judgement (who was done on a cheap spay/neuter day, and has no tattoo) and Gouda. Right now, the only fixed cat that does not have a collar is Rolando Moon. The grand old lady has no need for a collar, and I doubt I could get one on her, anyhow.
I made them a bit snugger this time, testing them out on inside cats, first. Hopefully, that will do the trick, and they won’t get lost. So far, the cats didn’t seem to notice them, once I got them on.
After the dollar store, I stopped at a Red Apple. Once again, what I was actually looking for wasn’t there, but I did find a blackout curtain for my husband. He has a south facing window, and the sun hits him right in the face while he’s on his computer. We had curtains there before, but they were too long, and the cats destroyed their bottoms. This curtain also turned out to be really long, but we just folded up the bottom out of cat range and clipped it in place for now.
My husband is very happy with it! Plus, it’s wide enough that a second one isn’t needed.
By the time I made my way back to the garage, it was past 1pm, but the truck hadn’t moved from where I parked it yet. I was able to leave my bag of shopping in it, then headed to the hotel next door that has a Chinese restaurant in it, and had lunch.
When I got back to the garage, they were just finishing up with the truck and just had to look up the codes that came up while he scanned it.
So the thing that’s turning on the check engine like turns out to be the Mass Air Flow sensor. Nothing urgent.
The part, however, costs almost $180 (plus labour and taxes).
The other thing we need to get fix, but got away with not needing last winter, is the cord for the block heater. I discovered the plug had been torn off. This being a GM vehicle, they have proprietary cords. You can’t just splice a new plug in. It won’t work. Apparently, GM is the only manufacturer that is like this. A new one is just pennies over $80. Last of all, I requested an updated price for the one of the wheel sensors. That will be just under $105, which is pretty much the same as when I asked about it, a year ago.
Thankfully, none of this is urgent stuff, because we won’t have the budget to get any of it done until next month. I asked which he would consider a priority, if we could only do one at a time. He suggested the MAF sensor. Next would be the block heater cord. Last winter was mild a mild El Nińo winter, so we were fine without it. This year will depend on just how strong the La Nińa current turns out to be.
That done, I made a quick stop at the grocery store across the street, then headed home, with a quick stop at the post office along the way. I had a letter from the government waiting for me. At tax time, I get the caregiver tax rebate, while my husband gets a disability tax credit. These are the only reason why we get anything back at tax time. The caregiver tax rebate is provincial, and has to be renewed every three years. It was time for me to renew it to get it on my 2024 tax return.
It turned out to be easily done online, so that got taken care of quickly.
My intention had been to try and get some more work done outside, while the temperatures were good and there was still daylight.
Instead, I decided to make it a day of rest. Even working on the garden tour video turns out to be something I’m just too tired to do. It doesn’t help that the arthritic in my hands is really kicking in. The crackling noises my finger joints make is truly unfortunate! It makes typing rather difficult at times. At least my wounded finger tips on each hand are healing up nicely. Just the one I dropped the trailer tailgate on is still hurting.
I think today will be a day for an early bed time. I’d like to get a relatively early start for the city. I say “relatively” because sunrise is past 8:20am this time of year, though it is usually pretty light by about 7:30. I do my morning rounds once it’s light out, so I’ll head out shortly after.
I’m glad we got the truck checked today, but I’m not looking forward to doing Costco on a Saturday. Hopefully, making it an early trip will mean fewer crowds.
We shall see.
The Re-Farmer
Mission accomplished!
I really wanted to push to get the rest of the seeds in for our 2025 garden. I still had to wait until the afternoon to start, so the ground had time to thaw from overnight frost. From there, it was a race against time to finish before I lost light. I even managed to get some quick footage for an October garden tour video. I haven’t checked the files yet, though, to see if they are worth using.
This is what I was able to get done today:
The first area I worked on was along the chain link fence. The long bed in the first image above was mostly done already, since I’d harvested potatoes out of it. I even found a couple of little potatoes that I’d missed when harvesting.
It still took a remarkably long time to prepare it, though. The section that had the purple caribe potatoes that never grew was compacted like crazy, even though I’d loosened at least part of it, to plant the kohlrabi.
Those actually had some leaves trying to grow! If they hadn’t been eaten by flea beetles, they’d still be growing now.
There was also the lone Jabousek lettuce that had seeded itself and survived being munched by deer. I got a bucket to use to collect the seeds. There was a lot for just one plant! I ended up putting a healthy scoop of them with the remaining root vegetable seeds, giving it a shake to mix them in with the other seeds, potting soil and vermiculite.
I also cleaned up the chimney block planters along the other section of chain link fence a bit. I just took down the tomato supports and cut the tomato plants at their bases, leaving the roots. I will be leaving those as is until spring.
As for the narrow bed, once the soil was loosened, weeded and leveled, I scattered the seed mix. This mix has Dalvay shelling peas, a few King Tut purple peas we saved, Royal Burgundy bush beans, Hopi Black Dye and Mongolian Giant sunflowers and a few black Montano Morado corn seeds I’d saved, plus onion seeds.
The onion seeds are so much smaller, though, I scattered the larger seeds first, which probably included a few onion seeds as well, then went back over the bed to scatter the remaining onion seeds. There wasn’t enough to do the entire bed, though, but I made a modification, later.
First, though, I went over the bed several times, looking for the larger seeds and pushing them into the soil, spreading them further apart, if necessary. When I found the bush beans, I pushed them into the soil closer to the brick edging. If I had to move peas, I pushed them into the soil closer to the chain link fence. The Mongolian Giant seeds were easy enough to see, but the corn and black dye seeds are so dark, they were much more difficult to spot. I’m sure I missed quite a few. I also replanted the two little potatoes that I’d found.
If all goes to plan, the peas will be able to climb either the fence, the corn or the sunflowers, the beans will have room to get bushy along the outside edge of the bed while doubling as ground cover, and the onions will dissuade hungry deer.
Once I’d pushed in as many of the larger seeds as I could find, I got some of the shallots and onions I’d set aside earlier for replanting. I transplanted them around the outer edge of the end that did not get the scattered onion seeds. These shallots and onions are there to go to seed – and to dissuade any hungry deer, I hope! Everything in this bed, except maybe the corn, is stuff deer love to eat!
After planting the shallots and onions, the soil was gently raked to make sure everything was covered before getting mulched with leaves topped with grass clippings.
That left the root vegetable – and now Jabousek lettuce – seeds to sow. Those went into the low raised bed that the German Butterball potatoes had been in, which is in the second photo of the slideshow above.
When the potatoes were harvested, the bed was weeded, and hadn’t been touched since. All it needed was to break up soil clumps, pull out any weed roots that got missed, soil clumps broken up and leveled.
With this higher bed, I did things a bit different. Anything along the walls of the bed would freeze, since the mulch can only protect from the top. So I focused on making sure the middle of the bed was readied for seeds, leaving about 6 inches from the walls unplanted.
This seed mix has Uzbek Golden carrots, Napoli carrots (an orange variety), Merlin, Bresko, Cylindria and Albino beets, French Breakfast, Champion, Cherry Bell and Zlata radishes, Purple Prince turnips and our saved onion and lettuce seeds in it.
It sounds like a lot, but this was finishing off packets of older seeds, so there wasn’t much of each variety, plus I don’t expect a high germination rate for any of them.
Once the seeds were scattered and gently raked over, they got mulched with leaves topped with grass clippings.
That is the last of the winter sowing vegetables to do! The only thing that could still be sown before winter is the wildflower mix, and that could even wait until spring, if I wanted. The space I’ll be planting them is still covered with an insulated tarp, and that won’t need to be moved to cover the septic tank for a while, yet.
While I was working on this, my younger daughter was taking care of things in the house, including re-installing the arm based over the new tub surround. She was able to find a way to fit the big L shaped bar in, as well, though it does make one of the corner shelves in the surround of limited use, now. Which is fine. The arm bar is needed more.
Now that the arm bars are in, my husband can finally use the shower! Even with the bath chair, he can’t get in and out without the arm bars.
My older daughter is not well today, and we’re all pretty broken and hurting, so my daughter offered to get us take out, if I were up to it.
Yes. Yes, I was!
Meanwhile, my brother and his wife were coming over for one last trip – to drop off the trailer they’ve been using to bring everything from their property to wherever it needed to go. They arrived after I left for town, but I was able to see them before they left. Tomorrow is the possession date for the new owners, so they not only pushed hard to get their own stuff out, but to make sure the new owners had things like flax bales to cover their septic field, and a few other things that got set up for them.
One thing they did was take off their “road sign” at their driveway. When the road past our driveway was named for our family, the municipality made five signs, but only needed four, so my brother was allowed to take the extra. They’ve had it at their driveway ever since. It has now been removed.
That sure made things feel a lot more final!
It would be good if we could use it at our intersection. There was one when we moved in, but then the stop sign it was attached to was knocked down and the road sign stolen. We’re pretty sure our vandal did that, but have no way to prove it, but like we can’t prove he stole the sign with my father’s name on it off the corner fence post, or that he stole the trail cam we had mounted on that post.
The municipality never replaced the road sign. I suspect that if we put this one up on the stop sign that got repaired, it would just get stolen, too.
Well, we’ve got our own painted sign at the corner, with a camera on it in case there are more vandalism attempts. That is working out just fine.
There is, of course, still lots more work to get done in the garden, but getting this winter sowing done was the thing that had to get done first. Now, we just do as much as we can while the weather holds. At the same time, my brother will be coming out as often as he is able, as he wants to sort things to their more permanent locations. Particularly the farm equipment, now that the storage trailer is in place. A lot of small things just shoved into the barn that will need to be sorted into the storage trailer or bread truck (which will be a workshop). He also has a dismantled shelter he needs to rebuild over the tractor that got its radiator damaged while lifting the discer off the trailer. It will need to be replaced, and he’s planning ahead to be able to do it during the winter, so having a roof over the tractor will be very important.
Anyhow…
They got here after I left to pick up the food, but I got home fast enough to at least give my brother a hug – my SIL was so exhausted, she fell asleep in their truck! – before they had to go.
We’re going to be seeing a lot more of my brother and, hopefully, his wife from now on!
That makes us very happy.
Getting the last of the winter sowing done today also makes me very happy.
😊😊
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 