A couple of the volunteers from the rescue dropped Sweetie off today. The isolation shelter was ready for her. She will be there for a few more days – she’s 10 days post spay, but mostly to get used to being back in a familiar place and get special food while she’s there. She was with the foster for a couple of months and was terrified the entire time. Even bit the foster again! The same foster has Frank and Sir Robin. Frank had a really hard time, too, but is now completely socialized and ready for adoption. They’re even giving discounted adoption fees for anyone taking them both. Sweetie, unfortunately, never settled at all.
When I checked on her later, she had moved to the bottom of the shelter. The next image in the slide show above was when I came out to do the evening feeding.
The rescue also brough over nine cases – NINE!! – of donated cat milk. With so much, we can give both the inside and outside cats some as a supplemental treat. When I mixed up some of the freeze dried cat food for Sweetie, plus extra for the rest of the cats, I used a cat milk as well as hot water to rehydrate the food.
It went over very well.
With the evening feeding, I did allow other cats into the shelter. Cats Sweetie would have been familiar with. I did let them out again later, as she didn’t seem ready for more just yet. We’ll have to keep checking on her, but will also keep allowing these other cats that she used to cuddle with in to visit every now and then. After a few days, I hope to be able to open up the shelter so she can come and go as she pleases. It’s been a couple of months, but she should still remember this place.
Poor thing. I so hoped she would be able to get adopted and get to enjoy the indoor life. That’s two, now, that have had to come back. I’ve heard that Blot is also having trouble adapting, too, though not to the point of attacking people.
You can click through for a short video I managed to take while doing the evening feeding. Being in the isolation shelter means cat soup treat. Curtis had spent the night in the shelter, came out after the morning feeding, then right back in again later. Then Havarti scrambled his way up to the window. Domino is back with her cuddle buddies, and that helps. She definitely still wants to go out the windows when I do the food and water, but when she can’t get through, she is willing to accept the pets. I know that, once she is out of isolation, I’ll probably never be able to touch her again, but in all the time she was with the foster, she hid and never accepted pets like this.
I sent the video to the rescue chat group we have and they were so happy to see her accepting pets.
They also told me, it looks like Sweetie might be coming back, too. She has not settled in at all. They can pet her, but she is constantly anxious. They sent some photos and video. In the video, she is being petted but not responding at all, other than moving her head, watching with giant, terrified eyes. Poor thing! They are going to try and give her more time, but if she can’t accept the indoor life, she will be coming back here.
After feeding the outside cats, I did my evening rounds, and finally had a chance to go into the fenced off area where the tulip patch is, and the saffron crocuses. For all the mulch I added, the weeds have taken over, and I couldn’t even see the saffron crocuses anymore. I pulled handfuls of weeds until I got close to where I knew they were, then had to be extremely careful. After pulling up the tallest stuff, I had the creeping bellflower leaves covering everything. With those, I basically had to grab a single leaf, carefully follow it down to the ground, then pull it out. Pulling from higher on the stem usually resulted in it breaking.
I couldn’t get everything, but the crocuses are no longer buried. Those are the thin, grass-like leaves in the above photo.
I also cleared enough to access the crocuses and a couple of nearby tulips, but that was all I was able to do, today. I’ll have to go in again and clear around the tulips. That is going to take a while!
My older daughter came out while I was putting the “gate” back and showed her some of the progress in the garden. Then we gathered some fresh herbs for the fish she was about to cook for her sister and herself ( my husband and I don’t like most fish) for supper before I continued with my rounds – pausing to check out the pink rose bush.
The white rose bushes are almost done blooming, and the mock orange is looking like it’s about to explode into flowers any day now. Some buds at the bottom are already starting to show white petals.
I was heading towards the barn to take a peek inside, walking past a couple of my brother’s trucks, when I heard a noise coming from one of them. As I went to check one of them, I heard the noise again, coming from behind me. This truck has a home made plywood cap on it that extends over the cab of the truck. For a moment, I feared a cat had somehow got locked inside, though I didn’t think my brother had opened the doors while they were here least weekend.
I opened the door and found this, looking back at me.
I would say this is one of the four that had been in the garden shed until my taking things out finally scared them off. The other three and the mama are probably under or in a shed somewhere. I looked around to try and see how it got in and realized the entire wall of the cap by the rear windshield wasn’t there. 😄 There are just small panels on either side, but there is more than enough space for critters to get in.
So no trapped critters. Just curious ones! I was actually happy to see it. I miss them being in the garden shed!
Now to how this morning went.
My daughter and I headed out 2 hours before her appointment, which should have gotten us there almost half and hour early. We did stop briefly at a gas station in the one town along the highway to pick up some drinks for the road and to get the maps app up. If we get it going from home, the app links to our wifi, then basically doesn’t like to switch to data once we’re on the highway, and the app doesn’t work right. I didn’t actually need it until we were well into the city, but it was ready for my daughter to be my Nav O once we got closer.
Along the way, there was a section that we needed to slow down at – the section of highway that got washed out during the storms not long ago. With all the rain we had yesterday, the gravel patch job was a real mess. I noted that they did install double culverts where the highway washed out, so this shouldn’t happen again, once they finished fixing and paving it.
We had to make one more stop at another gas station shortly after reaching the city, but neither stop took particularly long. It was the traffic and road conditions that set us back. Then, once we found the place (the streets being every bit as broken up as I expected) we found the parking lot I’d seen on the satellite map.
The entrance was through a back lane and partially blocked by a truck unloading cargo.
With all the one way streets, it too a bit for me to be able to drive around and back track. I did manage to get past the truck. From the signs, we saw they did have visitor parking for the clinic – a whole three spots. One of them was occupied. Another was “small car only”, and meant it. The third required me driving to the other end of the lot to turn around and drive back the other way so I could pull in, because there wasn’t room enough for me to drive right in, then straighten out, without hitting a parked car – and my truck isn’t particularly big!
As we walked around the building to the doors, the first red flags appeared. This is NOT a safe neighbourhood. We were maybe 10 minutes to my daughters appointment time at 10am, and there were already several people listing about. This is the sort of area that I wouldn’t want to be walking around in broad daylight without something I could use to defend myself.
No surprise, the entry doors were locked. No signs. I finally saw what looked like a possible intercom with a keypad and pushed a button I hoped was to someone inside.
No one answered, but a Purolator guy came through and let us in the first doors, and a staff member saw us and opened up the second set of doors.
They had a sign in sheet for the visitor parking that I filled out so we wouldn’t get towed, then my daughter checked in. Being a first visit, she was given a clip board with a form to fill out, and we sat in the first waiting room. When she handed that in, we moved to a second waiting room. My daughter was called in soon after.
Given what happened the last time she saw a specialist in the city, I offered to go in with her, as a sort of body guard. She said she would be okay. I will say now, from the start, that she was very happy with this appointment. It was an intake appointment, and she came out with a date for a follow up appointment near the end of next month.
Her appointment went quite long, so I had a lot of time to sit there and look around.
This place is a “community health centre”. Being downtown and in a sketchy area, there are some things I would expect that is different from other clinics. Still… there were significant difference that I could see.
All clinics have a few larger posters on the walls, giving health information about specific things. Or with information for people in abuse situations, telling where they can reach or for help. These are clean looking and informative as much as the space allows for.
This place was splattered with small posters all over the place, and they sent out more red flags. A poster about fentanyl, for example, wasn’t giving information on the dangers of fentanyl, but was about the “myths”, suggesting that using it was not all that dangerous. Another poster, instead of, say, giving information on how to get help for sexual exploitation, or cautioning about the dangers of promiscuous sex (plenty of other signs showed they have out free STD treatment kits) instead directed the reader to an app on… how to engage in promiscuous sex “safely”. Other posters basically pandered to all the current identities and ideologies currently trending, written like they were aimed at people with the cognitive development of kids in elementary school. None of them were about how to get healthy or avoid health problems. They were all basically enabling self destructive behaviour. The focus on race in some of them was both creepy and paternalistic.
Aside from all that, the longer I sat there…. Well. Let me put it this way. In my years, I have been stalked, threatened, harassed and physically attacked by a drunk person who wanted to kill me. I’ve walked through downtown city streets in the wee hours of the morning, when the bars were closing down and the drunks were staggering about. I lived in high crime areas. Then there was the situation with our vandal. Not once, in all these years, did I fell as unsafe as I did in the waiting room of this clinic. Everything around me triggered red flags. Even the times I got smiles from the staff felt… wrong.
Part of safety issue was how the staff had to use security key cards to go in and out several doors. Clearly, it wasn’t just the people outside the clinic that was a security threat. From one of these doors I saw two women come out, talking loud enough for everyone in the waiting room to hear. The older (white) staff member was quite angry as she demanded to know how the younger one knew that there was a laptop. The younger (not white) woman said she’d seen the older woman use it for a presentation. As they walked down the hall, I could see the anger in the older woman as she was first silent about being seen using it, then declared that there were two laptops, but only certain people were allowed to use them. This younger woman was clearly not one of them. The conversation, such as it was, continued as they went down the hall.
Shortly after, the older woman came back down the hall alone. I made eye contact with her and she gave me a friendly smile, totally at odds with how she behaved towards the other woman.
I had found news articles about an investigation and report about this place, released last summer. Among the things they looked into were problems of racism and a “toxic work environment”.
I just saw an example of that. Clearly, firing three board members didn’t fix anything.
By the time my daughter was done – looking quite happy – I was feeling my skin starting to crawl from the skeevy creepiness of the place.
We didn’t talk about it right away. Just getting out of the parking lot and avoiding people staggering in front of the truck, was an issue and I had to focus on driving. It was around 11 by then, and neither of us had had breakfast, other than sharing a bag of beef jerky from the truck snack stash during the drive in. My daughter wanted to buy us breakfast and I remembered that our route took us past a mall that was convenient to get into. So that’s where we ended up going. We found the food court and the first thing I spotted was a bento place I knew was good, even though I’d never been to this location specifically, before. On seeing the menu, we both ended up ordering the exact same thing. A salmon bento – normally, I would have gotten chicken, but it was tempura salmon – and a taro bubble tea.
It was amazingly good. That is one thing I do miss about living in the city. Having access to such a variety of fast meal choices from all over the world.
While there, I mentioned to my daughter about how I felt while at this clinic, that it wasn’t safe, and that I never wanted to go back there again. She was really surprised, because she’d had such a good appointment. I tried to describe what I was seeing with the posters, which she hadn’t had time to look at herself, and she just sort of … made justifications for them. She didn’t see what I saw and, chances are, she’s not going to get what the problem with them was.
This is going to be an issue.
Her next appointment is going to be more on the medical side rather than the intake side, and seeing what surgeons she needs to be referred to. Hopefully, she’ll be referred to actual good ones.
As for the drive, I was very happy to be getting out of the city – and that Damocles didn’t drop the sword again. The truck behaved. I needed to get gas, but the prices in the city were $1.649/L instead of the $1.599 we saw when we’d stopped at a station in the town along the highway. I had decided we would be getting gas along the way, but there was one last gas station, just outside the city, that was at $1.579, so we stopped there. I am planning to do a Costco run on Friday and will be filling the tank there, so I just needed to top up a bit. I’m glad I did, because when we drove through the town again, the gas prices there had gone up to $1.649 while we were gone!
Once at home, I was curious and looked up reviews for this clinic.
I wish we’d done this before.
Yes, there were some glowing 5 star reviews with comments like “best place ever!” But there were just as many 1 star reviews – and virtually nothing in between. These gave more information. At least one other person commented on how unsafe it felt in the clinic – especially for women – while others commented on the unsafe neighbourhood. People who had been going there for years commented that things had gone down hill so badly, they would not be going back. Some would say the doctors were great, but the nurses were horrible. Others would say the complete opposite. A lot of people talked about not getting the care they need, including being turned away from the walk in clinic, being denied mental health help (counseling and therapy are among the services provided), being pushed to go “trans” instead of getting help with their mental health, and some talking about wanting to take their own lives after going there. Plenty finished their comments with “don’t go. Just, don’t.”
Yes, I tried to bring it up with my daughter.
It just got her back up.
This is going to be a problem. I truly do not think she is going to get the care she needs there. I’m reminded of when my husband tried to be the “good patient” for so long, while his real problems not being addressed, and by the time that was looked at, it was too late and he was permanently disabled.
So… I don’t quite know how to deal with this right now. I just know, down to my bones, that this place is not good.
*sigh*
Anyhow. That’s where we’re at right now.
Tomorrow, I’ve got a day at home, and then we’ll be doing the usual end of month running around, plus my daughter has her blacksmithing workshop. When I have the chance to work around the yard, I have a new thing to focus on. My brother and SIL will be having a large bin delivered about half way through July, and it will be picked up again after 10 days. This will be for hauling away the non-scrap metal junk. My brother will take the metal to a scrap yard himself – he has the trailer and equipment needed to do it – for cash.
They’ll have it dropped off near our current junk pile, which actually has quite a bit of metal stuff in it, so anything we want to have hauled away can be brought over to that spot.
I’ll finally be able to clear stuff away from around the garden shed. I hadn’t wanted to do it yet, because there is so much in the junk pile already. Anything we add to the pile now will be hauled away by the end of July. Judging from the size of the bin they’re having dropped off, my brother has identified a lot of stuff in the outer yard that needs to go!
What a difference it’s going to be, with my brother and SIL able to come out so often now, and with the resources, tools and equipment they have. Night and day, really!! There was only so much we could do on our own and, with all the health issues showing up, it’s getting harder just to maintain what we managed to get done in our early years here. I’ve been feeling like we haven’t been able to hold up our end of the bargain for living here anymore.
Well, it’s certainly going to be a very different summer, this year!
This morning, I got a message from one of the rescue people, asking if today was a good day to bring back Domino.
We were ready to set her up in the isolation shelter. She was spayed just 4 days ago, and should be in there for 10 days.
While the rescue people where on the way, I broke out the weed trimmer and cleared around the isolation shelter and catio, then kept on going until I drained all three batteries. Then I switched to sweeping up all the grass clipping and elm seed covered steps, sidewalk and patio blocks. I was part way through that when the rescue people arrived with Domino. Two months, and she made zero adaption to the indoor life!
Once the carrier was brought to an isolation shelter window, though, she dove right in! For the next while, she went from settling in the bed she spent so much time in before, and prowling around, trying to fund a way out!
They also had some cat food donations for us, including something I’ve never seed before. Freeze dried meals that get warm water added to them. Should be interesting to see how that goes over!
When I did the evening cat feeding, I allowed Curtis into the isolation shelter. They used ti snuggle together regularly.
After I got that second picture of them eating together, Domino swatted at him! She is so stressed out. Hopefully, she will calm down over the next while. We will allow other cats she used to snuggle with, in and out, so she’s not always alone in there.
Domino was back and I finished the clean up by lunch time. I headed in for lunch and was considering heading back outside when the phone rang.
It was the garage. He’d just listened to my voice mails!
Turns out they are no longer open on Saturdays in the new location.
I told him what happened, and he was very surprised. He’d never had this happen before. He asked if I could come by today so he could look at it. Of course, I said yes!
I got there soon enough, and he took the truck into a bay immediately. He jacked it up a bit so he could slide under and take a look.
The linkage was just a hair away from falling off again!
I told him about what my brother did, as the video I sent did not get to him. He checked his company phone again, and they showed up (my text app doesn’t like sending images or video over wifi, but they got sent once I had a strong enough data signal in town) so he watched both videos my brother had made.
What my brother had noticed and done would not have had any effect, he told ne. The linkage simply should have held. He said he’d installed about 500 of this specific part, and not once has this happened before.
He went back under the truck and worked on it some more.
The only thing he could think of for this to happen is that the mechanic that installed it pushed it in, heard a click, then stopped. When it is in properly, there are two clicks. He can’t say for sure, as he wasn’t there to see it, but he can’t think of anything else. Which likely means my brother had done the same thing though, again, there is no way to know.
He added another zip tie to further secure it, just in case. If it happens again, they will replace the whole thing.
If it happens again???
He told me, it should hold. But he understood my concern. He gave me some instructions in case it does, and even gave me the after hours phone number for their tow truck.
I went straight home after that.
Tomorrow, I will be going back into town. My husband had to get his doctor to start the paperwork so he could re-apply for his disability tax benefit. He finally got through to the CRA, and they wouldn’t let him renew it without doing the paperwork all over again
Which will cost us $70. My husband had a phone appointment with his doctor about it today, and the form is now ready for pick up. Once he fills in his part of it, we can mail it out.
My doctor’s clinic charged $50 to fill mine out.
This will be a test run for the truck. The day after, my younger daughter has a medical appointment in the city. After that, we’ve got our stock up shopping, her blacksmithing workshop, and we are even going to be able to go to my husband’s brother’s cottage for Canada Day.
It’s been years since my husband has gone anywhere other than doctor’s appointments.
Hopefully, Damocles is done dropping the sword on us.
I have had no word back about the truck yet, which means they haven’t had a chance to look at it or do a diagnostic. I should try phoning directly, tomorrow.
Before I share about today, I wanted to share what I found last night. I am so glad I decided to enjoy the long daylight and walk around the yard before bed! This, of course, included checking the garden beds. In of them, I saw unexpected movement.
It was a garter snake.
Stuck in the excess black netting over the Daikon radish, turnip and red noodle bean bed.
I tried to get it loose with just my hands at first, but quickly realized that was not possible, to I ran… well.. hobbled…. to the house to get a utility knife. I then very carefully cut at the netting where it was tight against the snake’s body – and even its mouth! This netting is something even frogs can get through, but there is something about the garter snake bodies that get caught. The more they struggle to get loose, the worse they get caught. Last year, my daughter was helping me remove some of this netting from around the trellis bed and found a snake had been caught up in it, in a spot where it couldn’t be seen until we pulled the netting out. That one was already dead when we found it. This one was still alive, thankfully. Once I got its mouth and head free, it tried to curl up on itself as they are wont to do, but it had obviously been struggling for a while and didn’t have a lot of energy left.
Once I got it free, I set it aside in the greenery under where I stack the logs and boards we use in the garden. This morning, it was gone!
I am so glad I found it in time.
We really need to find different critter netting. This stuff is to keep the larger critters out while still letting the pollinators in, but I’m quite unhappy about how it catches on everything – including our much desired garter snakes!
So that was a happy start to the day.
We were expecting the insurance company assessor to come today at around 12:30. I did my morning rounds as usual, then had my breakfast before heading back out again at about 11 and do some work in the garden until she arrived. I started out by using the very full rain barrel to water the garden beds by the house and in the south and east yards.
I have been checking out the cabbage and kohlrabi beds, and they appear to be a total loss. The cabbage bed is full of self seeded radishes, which would be a good thing, except they are all bolting. The only thing doing well in that bed are the shallots and onions I transplanted while redoing the bed by the chain link fence. As for the kohlrabi, I can see a few seedlings here and there,, and they are quite eaten up. No sign of what did the eating. Normally, I’d say flea beetles, but there’s no sign of any. Those tend to show up later in the season, anyhow, after the canola fields are harvested.
After watering in front of the house, I moved to the main garden area to water there. That done, I was getting ready to set up the hose to fill the old rain barrel to water the food forest trees and bushes.
While I was watering everything else, I could hear a utility vehicle, and it was definitely coming closer, so I went to take a look. It was the wife of the couple that rents the rest of the property, checking the fence line. So I headed over to say hi. While she kept following the fence line, it gave me a chance to check on the walnuts.
*sigh*
The Manchurian Walnut, that had been doing so well, has been eaten by dear. So has at least one of the Black walnut, and it looks like the ash tree my mother gave us was also eaten.
I hadn’t gotten to making cages for them fast enough.
I still plan to do that; they should regrow their leaves again. It’ll set them back probably a year, though.
Around then, our renter was closer so we stopped to chat at the fence for a while. I told her where I had planted the basket willow, and how I’d set up the T posts and used a partially collapsed fence line to hopefully ensure their cows won’t trample them. She said they will be rotating the cows to this section very soon.
After a lovely conversation with her, I checked my phone because I’d heard some notifications while we were talking.
It was well past 12:30 when my brother messaged me, asking if the assessor had arrived. I told him no, and updated him about the renter and their cows. It was a little past 1 when my brother messaged me again. He just received a text from the assessor, saying she would be here shortly after 2.
Hmmm.
I went back to watering the food forest trees. When that was done, I moved on to the old kitchen garden.
The bed with the tiny bok choi, mixed beets, onions and parsnips needed weeding, and I decided I would remove the old mosquito netting, which is two lengths cobbled together, and replace it with the second sheet of new insect netting I picked up, one of which is currently protecting the cabbage transplants.
In the first image, I had removed the netting and done nothing else yet. While I was putting the mosquito netting pieces away, I heard some noise out by the barn and went to check it out. It was the renter; some stuff had blown around and she was moving them back onto their pile, so the cows wouldn’t step on it. We talked for a while again. The grass in this area is incredibly tall – tall enough to short out the electric fence, so she was going to have to come back with the weed trimmer. The fence posts in that section are getting really rotted. Part of the rental deal is that they are responsible for the fences, and she told me of what she would be telling her husband about the fences and what she sees that they need to do.
That big green thing in the top right of the image?
That’s an invading rose stem! Likely from the pink rose bush at the end of the bed. In the wattle weave bed, it’s the white roses that invade.
While weeding the bed, I found the remains of some of the tiny bok choi, which you can see in the second image of the slideshow above. That little strip was almost the only ones I found at all.
There are beets and parsnips coming up, though. There was some self seeded spinach, but it was all bolting, so I weeded those out. The onions that got transplanted in the fall along the south side of the bed are looking nice and strong. You can see how the bed looked after clean up in the third image above.
Then I recovered the bed with the new insect netting. This stuff is much lighter and flexible, but it is still quite strong. It’ll hold the weight of cats using it as a hammock! I didn’t want to cut the netting to size, though, as it will be used differently in the future, so the excess length got rolled up at the end near the rose bush, and the excess width got pulled up over the top, then fastened in place with safety pins. There is a gab between the cover and the frame along the north side of the bed, so I used a board to hold the netting down and below the based of the cover.
By this time, it was past when the assessor was supposed to arrive, and I hadn’t had lunch yet. I went inside and the girls were cooking, so I went to sit and take a break.
Before I knew it, there was a knock at the door!
The assessor had arrived, but parked her car in front of the garage, out of view.
Now, as far as I knew, she was going to look at all the outbuildings.
Turns out, she needed to come into the house, too.
I warned her, the house is a disaster, and that we had 21 cats.
We did that part last.
We started out going to the garage, though she asked about the storage house along the way. She never took measurements of that, but did take pictures. Once at the garage, I told her about the ages of the different parts. She took her pictures and measurements. Then we moved on to the barn, though she did take pictures of one of the sheds beside it that is still used for storage. She checked out, photographed and measured the barn, then we headed to the pump shack. I explained to her the fence line marking where its rented out and where we are responsible for taking care of. While checking out the pump shack, she asked about the log building that used to be the chicken coop, and I told her that’s the last log building we have that is still salvageable; it needs a new roof, but the walls are still solid. So she took pictures of that, too. My brother’s caravan and trailers are not permanent, so she ignore those, but did check the warehouse, stuffed with my parent’s belongings.
Finally, we made our way back to the house, and I showed her where the septic tank is, where the well is, which part of the house was original log, and about what year it was built, and the additions.
Then she had to come inside.
*sigh*
We haven’t been able to do the spring cleaning of the sun room yet, because of the weather. Then there’s the old kitchen – I made sure to tell her that the old wood cook stove was broken and cannot be used. I’d already told her about the new roof, and that the chimney to the old wood burning furnace had been removed, so there’s just the chimney to the old kitchen.
Then she had to go through all the rooms in the house, which was downright embarrassing. Our house really is a disaster. Then we went into the basement, starting with the “new” part basement. Once in the old part, I made sure to tell her that we had a new well pump, and she checked out the other pumps, too. The blower fans are going continuously now, and I explained the the old basement was built before weeping tile was a thing, so it does get wet, but doesn’t flood.
I apologized for the disaster, and she basically said, between the cats and being on a farm, she knows how it can get.
Oh, and it turned out she’s allergic to cats!
After she was done, I followed her car out to close the gate behind her. By this time, I was getting pretty famished, so I headed in to finally have my lunch (it was well past 3 by then). We were running low on kibble for the inside cats which, for the price, would normally be a trip to Walmart. Chatting with the family, my older daughter ended up sending me funds and a list, so I ended up doing a bit of a grocery shopping trip. I checked out the garden centre after the shopping to see if they had any transplants worth picking up.
They did not.
So I headed home. If I hadn’t had frozen stuff in the car, and forgotten to bring insulated bags, I would have gone across the road to see the garden centre at the Canadian Tire, but everything would have just melted in the car while I did.
By then, it was late enough that my daughter took care of the outside cat feeding while I was gone. I will be heading out again after I finish this post to do my evening rounds and checks. It’s still nice and light out.
Hopefully, I won’t find another trapped garter snake, but I’ll bring my utility knife with me, just in case!
Tomorrow, I think I will re-work those failed beds and see what I can plant in there, that has a short enough season for it.
As soon as I opened the window to get a clear shot, she dashed onto the ramp, out of reach! (you can see her in the second picture) We’ve gone from being able to pick her up and cuddle her, to “don’t come near me!!”
*sigh*
As I was finishing my rounds and starting to head inside, I tried for a head count. I saw 18, with 8 in the isolation shelter, though I know I saw at least a couple more earlier, as I was setting the food out.
It is so very strange. There were only 5 in the sun room. When I check the critter cam in the sun room, it’s basically empty (though I did have to chase four massive raccoons out last night!). Last night, I checked the camera at the isolation shelter, and saw only one cat in there!
The raccoons definitely got in during the night, though. The food bowl was knocked down to the lower level, were it can’t be reached without moving the wind break box over the ramp.
I’ve been chatting with the rescue group and they are wanting to know how many friendlies we still have that we could get without trapping. There are quite a few – mostly male, with several already neutered. They’re asking for more photos. I’ll have to see if I can get more when I do the second feeding, later today.
Meanwhile…
While checking the forecast this morning, I saw our predicted high is now 10C/50F. There are currently flood warnings for one of the reserves to the north of us, potentially to 2022 levels. That’s the year we had roads washed out in all directions and were unable to get out for weeks, with the vehicle we had at the time. The reserve is in a low lying area along the lake and they have to do evacuations fairly often in the spring. Mostly specific buildings, like a long term care center that is not in danger itself, but the road to it gets flooded over and becomes impassable. Things like that.
We have a lot of snow right now, and we desperately need the moisture – we’re still recovering from droughts. A slow melt would be perfect! We shall see how it goes.
I needed to go into town today to pick up my husband’s insulin, and my younger daughter came along to keep me company – and, it turned out, to make sure I got fed! My first stop was at the garage. Online, it says they have short hours on Saturdays, but the doors were locked. From there, we went and parked near the pharmacy, which shares a parking lot with a Subway, so that’s where my daughter took me for brunch. Then we headed to the pharmacy. While I was in line to pay for it (first time at 75% coverage, instead of 90% coverage) I ended up giving my daughter the meds and my card so I could quickly dash to a nearby grocery store. Not one we normally go to, but my husband asked for a couple of things, so I got them there, and my daughter met up with me. From there we headed to our usual grocery store and she went in while I walked across to the garage again, just in case the last time I was there, it was closed because there was just one person who had to dash out for something.
The door was still locked.
So I did not get to talk to anyone about what the truck is doing. Yes, that pressure gauge is still dropping. I had checked the oil level before we left, and it was fine. When we first headed out, the pressure was right where it should have been. By the time we got to the garage, it was just above the line between “low” and “normal”. When we drove to the pharmacy, it wasn’t much higher. With the truck parked a bit longer before we drove to the grocery store, the needle had gone up just a little bit more. We took our time with the shopping, so it was longer before we started it to head home, and it was higher again, but never reached that zone it should be at, at those speeds.
The shopping done, including taking advantage of some sales to add to the freezer and pantry, we headed home. We stopped at the general store so my daughter could run in to get our mail. The needle was on the line by the time I parked. I shut the engine off while waiting for my daughter, and it did rise again slightly when I started it again, but not by much. By the time we got home, it was on the line again.
*sigh*
We’re less than 2000km before we need to get another oil change. Which would be about a month of normal driving, except we haven’t even broken 1000km in a month for the last two months, with the truck being in the garage so often. I find myself wondering if I got that done a bit early, would that help? I don’t know, but if we can’t figure something out, I’m going to have to cancel a couple of medical appointments, including an eye appointment. Both clinics are in a town 3/4s of the way to the city; far enough that the needle would very likely drop to the point of setting off alarms before we even turned off the highway.
While writing this post, I’ve also been chatting with the rescue group again. Sir Robin has been spending much of his time at the top of a cat tree, looking out the window and chirping. He wants out! The cat that wanted to be indoors the most, now wants out. 😄 It’s a very different world out that window; he’s in a older residential neighbourhood in the city, and he’s seeing lots of other houses around. During the night, the ladies were also at the window with him, watching everything.
The intake person still can’t approach Frank or Sweetie. 😞
With how the truck has been, plus they have all our hard sided carriers, we can’t really get any more cats for them. They would like me to get groups of photos of individual friendly cats that they can post on the online adoption list, even while the cats are still here.
Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, I’ll be meeting up with one of them to get our hard sided carriers back. We’ll work things out from there.
I am so thankful for this rescue, and all the help they’ve been able to give us. I know they have plenty of others in situations similar to ours that they are trying to help, too. The need is great, and very overwhelming at times.
We so need a Furball Farm type cat sanctuary in our region, for the strays and ferals that are too wild to go to fosters. There are just too many cats that are not “adoptable” that deserve to be kept safe and warm and fed, and to get the vet care they need.
Today has actually been a very beautiful day. It’s past 4pm as I write this, and we’re at a lovely 5C/41F, with a “real feel” of 9C/48F.
After yesterday and a very painful and sleepless night, the girls took care of the morning outdoor routine for me, so I could sleep in.
Which I mostly did.
One of the things the girls didn’t do was turn on the shop light in the basement for the seedlings. The new full spectrum lights are on a timer, but the seedlings on the higher shelf are lit only by the shop light, and that needs to be turned on manually.
Which is when I discovered the mess.
Part of my routine when turning the lights over the seedlings in the “new” basement, is to check things in the “old” basement. That is where the pumps, pipes, furnace and hot water tank is, as well as the old laundry sink where I refill the watering can.
One of the thinks I check is the floor drain. Not every day, but at least every other day. The floor drain is where I can see if there is any water flowing from the weeping tile under the new basement – or if anything is backing up again from the septic tank it drains into. Especially since I’d found the septic starting to back up, not that long ago.
With all the stuff with the cats yesterday morning, I didn’t even go into the basement until I got back, and I hadn’t gone into the old basement at all, so it had been a couple of days since I checked.
This morning, I found the floor was wet around the floor drain and the access pipe next to the septic pump.
I spent the next considerable while working to get it unclogged. We have the commercial drain auger, which I don’t even bother to turn on. I can work the auger but through without having to plug the machine in over a wet floor. I also have a hose hooked up to what used to be the cold water tap for the washing machine, before the laundry got moved upstairs, into the entry, as we were moving out here (my younger daughter helped my brother set it up, before my older daughter and I drove out weeks later).
Today was the hardest fight I’ve had yet, getting that auger bit through the clog. Once I’d punched through, I ran the hose in, but it was still clogged up enough for the water to start backing up instead of draining, so I switched back and forth between the two a few times before I could tell I’d finally cleared it. The clog wasn’t even at the bottle neck that things usually get caught up in but, from how much line I ran through, it was plugged right where it opens into the septic tank. It will need to be emptied soon, but there’s so much snow on the ground, it will probably be another month at least before we can have that done. It’s not just waiting for the snow to clear, but for the ground to not be too saturated, or the truck will just sink into the ground.
Once I did finally break through and I’d cleared from the access pipe to the tank, I had to clear the pipe through the floor drain. It was plugged all the way to the where it connected with the weeping tile!
It took quite a while to get it clear, and then I kept the hose running, as far out as it could reach, until I could see the water running past the drain was clear.
Then I did the drain from the access pipe again.
Then the floor drain again.
Part of our problem is, we don’t use enough water. We’re on borrowed time with the well pump and, while we have a “spare” my brother got a few years ago, no plumber has been willing to risk installing it, because the foot valve seems to be leaking, too. Switching it out could cause it to break up and we would lose water completely. The pipes to the well are not the same size as what is standard today, so getting what is needed to fix it would be difficult to find. We’ve actually been told we should “just” have a new well dug, as that would be easier.
Not to mention many thousands of dollars more expensive!
So we try to use as little water as possible, for less wear and tear on the well pump, which means there isn’t enough water flowing to clear the areas that clog.
Ironically, if we were able to drain the washing machine into the plumbing as normal, instead of out the window in the door, that would probably solve our problem. Unfortunately, the new washing machine drains faster than the water can flow through the first 20 or so feet of pipe, though. After having it back up and overflow onto the entry floor and down the basement steps a few times, we just run the hose out the door instead. My brother is looking at replacing that section of pile with larger pipe to solve that problem, but that is months into the future, if it gets done at all.
The plumbing here is pretty wild. Which isn’t too surprising, when you consider the original part of the house was built before there was any plumbing, or even electricity, at all.
What a fun way to start the day.
In other things, I’ve been getting updates from the intake person about how the cats are doing, and chatting with the group. Some of the cats have already gone to fosters, including Grommet. He is apparently very lonely, though! Sir Robin has discovered toys and is starting to calm down a bit. He has even allowed some mats to be brushed out.
Poor Sweetie remains terrified and has been hiding out in a cat tunnel. Frank is still incredibly angry. Blot, on the other hand, has been an absolute doll. Given her condition, I expect her to need the most vet care and will certainly need to gain more weight before she can be spayed.
They’re still talking about getting Bug and Furriosa, but they both now run away as soon as they see me.
I have already done the evening cat feeding and was able to send them a couple of videos.
In the photo above is Adam, Mochrie, Fancy Pants, Hypotenose and, in the back, a very pregnant Slick.
They’re also talking about taking Flopsy and Curtis. Flopsy was neutered at the same time as Grommet and Sir Robin, but Curtis is still intact – and insanely friendly! If we hadn’t been after the girls, he would have been very easy to get, yesterday. In one of the videos I sent, Curtis was being very, very friendly – and in another, I was able able to pet a very friendly Adam!
Friendly only when the food is there. Otherwise, we can’t approach her.
As I write this, the intake person is at Princess Auto, looking at welding gloves and possibly a helmet, as protection from Frank and Sweetie. !!!
My other goal of the day had been to go to the town north of us with our tax stuff, but that will have to wait until next week. I wasn’t up to going anywhere, and I will need to go to town to get my husband’s insulin tomorrow. I did call the garage today and left a message, but they didn’t return my call. I forgot to try again before they closed.
The problem is with the oil pressure gauge dropping at a rate that would have alarms going off before we get much further than the two nearest towns. A city trip would be out of the question. The truck might be just fine, but I can’t be driving it once those alarms and flashing warnings start going off. However, when we were dealing with the oil leaks and the sensor before, at one point it had simply stopped working. The gauge stayed at zero and didn’t move – and no alarms were going off. In my message, I bought that up and wondered if there was some way to basically turn off the sensor until they could find the replacement they’re looking for. I would just need to check my oil levels more often.
They are open for shorter hours tomorrow, so if I time it right, I can swing by and talk to someone directly before I go to the pharmacy.
Meanwhile, we are expected to continue to have lovely weather – with tomorrow night being the first night in the forecast with overnight lows that will stay above freezing!! Things are going to get very wet and messy over the next while.
The moat around the garage is already starting to form. 😄
The goal for this morning was to get at least 7, hopefully 8, cats into carriers to be taken to the rescue in the city.
Of course, things didn’t work out as planned.
My daughter and I prepped the carriers and started with the morning feeding, so they were all around the house. Frank was the one we weren’t sure we’d be able to get, given her past escapes, so she was the first one we tried for.
My daughter got her into a carrier way faster than expected!
Frank was NOT happy, once that door was closed!
Sir Robin and Grommet went into the largest carrier together. They were pretty easy to get.
We knew Domino and Blot would be fairly easy, so we tried to focus on Bug, Furriosa and Sweetie.
They were in the isolation shelter, and did not want to get got. Domino and Blot ended up in their own carriers; we’d planned to put Bug and Blot together.
When it became clear they were getting way to stressed, we paused for a while. After making sure the occupied carriers were set near the warmth of the heat lamps, I went to check the oil level on the truck. It was fine. Then I opened the gate and realized I would need to clear the end of the driveway again. The plow went by last night but it didn’t leave a plow ridge. It went by fast enough that the snow was sent flying about half way to the gate!
Still deep enough that it needed to be clear.
By the time that was done, we tried again to get the cats. In the end, my daughter was able to snag Sweetie, but that was the limit. Bug and Furriosa would no longer allow us anywhere near them! I actually got Bug into a carrier twice, but she managed to squeeze through the door before I could close it. That little one is FAST!!
It was a lot earlier than we’d talked about, so I grabbed some breakfast and got on the group chat with the rescue. I let them know the status of things, and that we would not be able to get Bug and Furriosa this time – but that we did get Frank – and we worked out some details.
When it came time to leave, I got the truck out of the garage and my daughter started bringing carriers over.
Frank’s nose is looking bloody in that first photo! I think she was trying to shove her face through the door. She was very angry!
Frank’s carrier rode in the front of the cab, while the other four carriers fit in the back. Sweetie and Frank were both pretty upset. The others seemed quite calm. All of them quieted down during the ride in.
I didn’t make it, though.
I am so tired of this truck.
The route I took would take me through the town my mother is in again. Though the road was plowed, parts of it were pretty icy and it was slow going at times.
I kept an eye on that oil pressure gauge. As I drew near my mother’s town, I knew I wouldn’t make it to the city. Not because the truck was breaking down, but because the gauge just kept dropping and dropping. By the time I got to town, it was reaching the line between “normal” and “low”. At the rate it was dropping, I would have had alarms sounding and warnings flashing well before I reached the city. I’ve had to drive with those going off before, for only short distances, and they are pretty extreme. There’s no way I could keep driving with them going off, but it would also freak out the cats!
As soon as I could, I pulled into the parking lot at a gas station and messaged the rescue group. After explaining the problem, there were some back and forthing, and they worked out who could come and meet me.
They are so incredibly awesome!
Then it was just a matter of waiting.
When they reached me, they had a surprise for me. They had to empty the back of their vehicle to make room for the carriers.
Everything but the teal bag in the middle was donations for the kitties! When I got home and unpacked it all, I found 11 smaller bags of kibble, plus the bigger bag you can see on the left of the photo, four more cases of wet cat food like was donated to use last time, a box with cat treats in it, an unopened case of cat milk and… strangely, but still much appreciated… a partial box of large garbage bags. After the cats were picked up, I was going to go to the feed store, just a short drive away, to pick up three 40 pound bags of kibble. I only needed to pick up one more, instead!
With 6 cats gone, we won’t need as much kibble for the outside cats, too.
This was so, so awesome of them! It’s such a huge help.
We talked for a while, as they were asking about the truck problems, while moving the carriers. It’s so very frustrating, because the truck checked out just fine. When I mentioned that the sensor had already been replaced twice, but they weren’t GM brand, they both reacted in a very knowing way. Apparently, they were both quite familiar with this sort of brand v off brand issue!
Once the cats were safely tucked away and they left, I got a bit of gas ($1.799/L right now), then went to the feed store and got the one bag of kibble. Then, since I was in town and it’s becoming an issue, I went to visit my mother. The hospital the TCU is in was just a few blocks away, too.
After her phone call last night, I was not sure how the visit would go. When I got to her room, though, I had to wait a while, as a new resident was being brought in to the second bed. Once things were clear, I went to my mother, who was napping, and gently woke her up. She was very surprised to see me – and seemed very appreciative, too.
We ended up going to the common room to talk while her new neighbour was settled in. My mother made some eye rolling gestures about her getting a new room mate.
There was another resident in the room when we got there and he joined our conversation for a bit before leaving. After he left, my mother told me about her previous room mate.
It turns out she’d had a fall, and her nose was all bloody. She got herself up but didn’t use the call bell. My mother said she didn’t do anything, because she didn’t want to get involved. ??? In the morning, when the staff found her room mate (who is also 94 years old) was injured, there was a lot of fussing and commotion. The doctor even came over and tended to her.
Then he left.
My mother started to complain that he didn’t talk to her or check on her at all. I said, of course not. He had an injured patient he was tending to! Oh, but he should have talked to her after. I said he would have had to go back to his schedule as soon as possible.
Oh, you’re taking their side…
Uhm… No. I’m just explaining.
My mother says she’s been asking to see the doctor over and over, because of her breathing. I tried to explain that when the doctor comes by to do his rounds, that’s all he’s doing. If she wants to see him for something specific, she would need to make an appointment.
As we were talking, the subject of her hearing loss also came up, because she was struggling to hear me. In the end, I told her I would go to the nursing station and ask about making an appointment with the doctor, and to see what is available for getting her hearing tested.
In the end, they can’t make an “appointment” with the doctor at the TCU. He does his rounds on Tuesdays, and this place is not the only one he has to check on. They basically have a meeting and go over all the files. It turned out that last week was the first time my mother had specifically told them that she was having troubles breathing at night, so that was the first time it was discussed. The decision was made to change one of her medications from a morning dose to an afternoon dose.
The other issue, however, is simply my mother’s weight. She has her hospital bed set to recline, but she squishes herself down low on the bed, so her upper body isn’t as elevated as it should be. I brought up that what would probably help her a lot would be breast reduction surgery, but there’s no way that’ll be done on a 94 year old. The nurse I was talking to agreed.
As for an appointment with the doctor, we might be able to make one for her at the clinic, which is in the same building, but with her file being reviewed weekly, it didn’t seem like something to do.
I could tell there was definitely some exasperation about my mother from the staff that they were trying not to show. I suspect my mother has not been particularly kind to them.
When I asked about hearing tests, they didn’t think there was anyone in the area that did them. It would likely be something that would be done in the city. The nurse did have a suggestion to try first. It could simply be that my mother’s ears are plugged with wax. They could apply oil for a few days then try to clean her ears.
Returning to my mother, I explained about the doctor, and she basically just rolled her eyes. She does not accept that the doctor is responsible for all the other people in TCU with her, plus he has is own clinic patients. She just wants him to be there to see her, when she wants him to be there. She is pretty open about not caring about anyone else (like her injured former room mate!).
Next, I explained to her about them not knowing if there’s anyone that does hearing tests out here, and it would likely be a city thing. Then I mentioned the suggestion for using oil in her ears to start unblocking them. My mother got quite excited about that. She said, she’d had that done before and it helped her so much, so she thinks it will probably help again.
May it be that simple!
We talked a while longer, and then I headed home. As with the drive in, by the time I reached home, that oil pressure needle just kept on slowly dropping the whole way. It seems that the length of time to drive to town – either our usual town or my mother’s town – is about the limit of how far we can drive and be sure not to set off any warnings and alarms.
*sigh*
With the very generous donation we were given, I backed up to the house to unload. The truck handled the deeper snow I hadn’t cleared away quite well – the new differential is doing its job! Though it was early, I did have to feed the outside cats, just to get them away from the truck so I could park it.
I saw both Bug and Furriosa.
They both now run away as soon as I seem to be going in their direction.
I’ve since been in contact with the rescue. They’d like me to try and catch them over the next couple of days, still, and would meet me for pick up. We have only the two soft sided carriers right now, but they will work on returning the 5 hard sided ones soon. As much as I’d love to catch them, I don’t see them trusting us enough to do it that quickly!
As for the cats they picked up…
Much to my shock, I was told Sir Robin was all hissy and growling. He was the last one I expected that from! Frank is very angry. That’s not a surprise. Sweetie is very scared and angry, too. Blot was described as a micro kitty! She got a bath, as did Domino. They and Grommet are all rather angry, too, but more scared angry than angry, angry, if that makes sense.
They will all stay together with the rescue’s intake person for the first while, as they get bathed, vaccinated, treated for ear mites and worms (the rescue workers do these on their own), and eventually vetted and the ladies will be spayed. The boys are already neutered. Some will then go to fosters, while others will stay with the intake person a while longer, as more fosters are searched for. They are working on finding someone to take Frank in particular. We’ve already agreed that she can come back here after she’s spayed, if no foster is found, but of course we would prefer it if she got adopted.
As for me, tomorrow I’m going to have to take a chance and go to the town to the north of us, to drop off our tax stuff. That town is just a bit further away, but not enough that that pressure gauge will start setting off alarms.
I messaged the garage while waiting for the rescue folks to reach me, but I’ll be phoning them tomorrow morning as well.
If this doesn’t get resolved soon, I’m going to have to cancel an eye test I’ve got coming up. The town it’s in is about 2/3s of the way to the city, putting it well into the “alarms are going to go off” zone.
I am so tired of this truck – and yet, I really like this truck! It’s the exact vehicle we need.
What we really need is a second vehicle.
I have so many errands I need to drive to, and I at least know I can get to town, but not being able to go as far as the city is a problem.
One of the previous times we had issues with the sensor, the oil pressure gauge stayed at zero, with no alarms going off. It was just dead. I’m at the point where that is actually preferable to what’s happening now!
Today I had an appointment to take the truck in to the garage, yet again. Before we headed out, of course, we had our morning routine to take care of, including the outside cats. I just have to share this adorable image.
Colby has his face turned up like that because he’s directly under the heat lamp. He’s warming his face!
I shared this photo with the rescue. Blot and Colby would be just weeks apart in age, yet the size difference is amazing. Blot is not thriving and has not really grown at all in months. I wanted to make sure the rescue was aware of this.
As it stands now, we might be bringing in 8 cats on Thursday! We were going to bring in 6 originally, but then they wanted me to bring in Sweetie, a female. As we were messaging, Frank came up, and how Frank is probably pregnant. We tried to get her spayed twice before, after fasting overnight in the isolation shelter. Both times, she escaped while we were trying to get her into a carrier. This time, they are going in for vetting and fostering, not straight for a spay. No overnight in the isolation shelter. We might be able to get her into a carrier, if we can give her food or treats inside. I’ve seen her go in and out of them, where they are stored in the sun room.
We’ll have to dig out the soft sided carriers to be able to fit everyone in the truck. One of them is slightly damaged from a cat almost tearing its way out, so we’d have to make sure only the mildest of cats would go into them. That makes for 7 carriers in total. We’ll try to get Frank first. After that, we’ll get the others – and see if we will still need to double up a couple of cats or not.
My appointment for the truck was at 1pm, but my daughter and I left around 11:30am. My daughter was on deer watching duty and saw quite a few I never did, since I was focusing on the road. She even saw a herd of at least 5 deer in the trees along our first mile of gravel road, loafed in the snow!
While driving along, I was keeping an eye on that oil gauge and, sure enough, the needle kept dropping. We found ourselves behind slow moving traffic that we couldn’t pass, so the drive took a bit longer than usual. By the time we parked at the garage, the needle was just touching the mark on the low end of normal. It doesn’t need to drop much further into the low pressure zone before the onboard computer starts dinging and telling me to turn off the engine.
I did remember to grab the replacement third brake light that we ordered a while back. I brought that in and talked to the mechanic for a while, explaining exactly what I was seeing, and that I’d added 3/4 of a liter of oil the day before yesterday, which was the last time the truck was driven. I also explained about the light. It’s easy to replace the light, but it requires climbing into the box of the truck to reach it. Something none of us are able bodied enough to do anymore.
That done, my daughter and I headed out – with both of us remembering to grab canes from the truck before we left. I’m very glad we did.
Our first stop was for lunch at a Subway right next to the pharmacy. Then we went to the pharmacy for my daughter to pick up her prescription refills. From there we made our way to the far end of town (about 3 more blocks) to a particular store my daughter wanted to go to.
Being as early as we were, we took our time with things. It was getting around 1:30 when we left the store, so we started making our way back. We stopped at one more store along the way. Unfortunately, by this time, my daughter was really starting to struggle. She’s got even worse back and joint pain than I do right now, and we kept having to slow down.
When we got to the garage, the truck was still in the parking lot. My daughter waited beside it while I popped in. There was just one mechanic at the time, and he’d just got in from lunch (a very late lunch!), apologizing that they hadn’t gotten to the truck yet, as they’ve been so swamped.
So we had to find somewhere to wait. There is a hotel right next to the garage and I normally would have gone to the Chinese restaurant inside, but today is Tuesday. They close on Tuesdays. My daughter was in so much pain, though, we went into the hotel anyhow, and into the bar. It was mostly empty, with just a few people at the counter or playing on the VLTs, so we found a table and sat down. I’ve never been to this part of the hotel though, for a brief period, long ago, my husband worked there as a bouncer. It gets very, very lively at night!
After a while of sitting and not being sure what the procedure was, I finally went to the counter and asked what pop they had. They just had Pepsi, 7Up and Ginger Ale – on the fountain, as mix. My daughter had asked for a root beer or water, depending on what they had, so I got myself a Pepsi and a water for her. It cost me a whole $2. 😁
Then we just sat and relaxed, nursing our drinks.
Eventually, I headed outside and went around the building enough to look at the garage parking lot. Our truck had still not been moved, so I rejoined my daughter. Our drinks were done, so I asked my daughter if she wanted something different, then went to the counter for a refill for myself, and a ginger ale for my daughter. While chatting, I mentioned we were waiting for our truck in the garage next door, as a way to explain why we weren’t getting booze. 😄 As the glasses were being filled, I confirmed the cost, only to be told that refills were free. I mentioned my daughter had a water before, and wanted to pay for the ginger ale – but she let me have it for free!
That was very sweet of her!
As we got closer to 4pm – the garage closes at 5 – I went out again to check the garage parking lot. The truck was still there, but one of the bay doors was open, so I went in to ask if they could say how much longer it would be. The owner was back by then, so he was the one I was talking to this time.
Which is when he told me he’d meant to call me several times, but kept getting pulled away by other things – then told me I forgot to leave the key with them.
🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Thankfully, it wasn’t much of a delay because of the keys, so I quickly left them on the desk then headed back to rejoin my daughter.
The next time I went out to check, the truck was gone and the bay doors were closed, so we finished up our drinks then headed to the garage. Walking past the truck in one of the bays, I could see the shiny new third brake light had been installed. They had just finished with the truck, so the owner was able to join me in the office and talk to me about it while the mechanic backed the truck out of the shop.
There’s nothing wrong with the truck.
There is no leak. The oil levels were fine. I told him about adding more oil just the day before yesterday, and it had been down – otherwise, it would have been over filled when they checked it. We went over what I was seeing on the pressure gauge again, and he is completely perplexed. They could find nothing wrong. He told me, however, that I am not the only one with this mystery. Another customer, with a completely different make and model truck, has the exact same issue.
The only thing he can think of is that it’s the oil sensor. It’s been replaced twice – the second time on warranty – but it is not a GM brand sensor. It was the same situation with the other customer, except that truck is a Dodge. They were going to try replacing the sensor with the name brand part instead, and he thought that might make a difference if we did similar with our truck, too. There’s really nothing else that it might be. He’s going to look up the sensor and see what he can find for me.
We did talk a bit about bringing my mother’s car in to be checked over in preparation for selling it. He wanted to know if I was still wanting to do that, and I said yes, but right now, we can’t get it out of the garage because the doors are blocked with snow. So that will wait for a bit. Then we talked about refinancing to replace the truck. I told him, if there was any way we could keep the truck and make a down payment instead, I’d prefer that. We do need two vehicles, and the truck is the perfect vehicle for us here. The problem is, we’ve only had the truck for 2 years. We still owe quite a lot on it, so refinancing might not be easy. Something that needs to be looked into, though the financing company did offer my husband a pre-approved loan a couple of months back!
In the end, all I had to pay for was half an hour of labour, because all they did was install the light I brought, and try to do some diagnostics.
By this time, a weather system we’d been keeping an eye on for much of the day had reached us, and snow was starting to come down pretty hard. My daughter and I popped across the street to the grocery store, next. I had a list of my own, plus my husband gave me his card and a list, and my daughter had a shopping list from her sister. The snow was coming down harder when we were done, but we still had a pair of stops to make. My daughter’s second list from her sister was for the liquor store, while I went to the hardware store across the street. I wanted to get a couple of litres of oil to keep in the truck, since I finished off the last of my stash. I meant to buy some from the garage, but they it only in bulk.
When we were both done and heading home, we drove out of the worst of the snow fairly quickly, and had a nice break from it, though the roads were pretty slick in places.
Meanwhile, my daughter passed on messages she was getting from her sister.
My mother had called.
No one could get to the phone in time, but she didn’t leave a message.
She called again.
Then again.
By the fourth time, my older daughter was waiting at the phone to pick up right away. She could hear noises, including button pushing noises. She was shouting “hello”, but there was nothing. Then my mother hung up.
This time, my daughter kept a handset with her, so she was ready to answer the 5th call. She had to shout hello again before my mother finally answered, asking for me. She told my mother I wasn’t home and would call her back. Then my mother asked who was on the phone, so my daughter said her name.
Who??
Your granddaughter!
My daughter explained again that I was out, and that I would call her as soon as I got home. My mother told her, “I’m waiting!”
???
Then my daughter messaged her sister a detailed transcript of what happened, which was read to me during the drive home. 😄
As near as I can figure, for at least one of the attempted phone calls, my mother didn’t bring the phone to her ear again; she tends to stare at the screen after making the call, instead. What we couldn’t figure out is what was going on that was so important that she’d call 5 times!
So as soon as everything was unloaded and put away, including the truck (I had to feed the cats so I could safely move it out of the yard!), I called my mother.
She had her phone on her and was able to answer rather quickly.
I told her, I was finally home and asked her what was going on.
Oh, nothing.
She mentioned figuring out her phone, and that she just wanted to keep communication going.
She just wanted to talk.
…
Before I’d called, I went through the CID list. The first three calls my mother made were barely a minute apart. The last two, where my daughter had actually answered, though my mother never heard her the first time, were just a couple of minutes apart.
She has never done anything like this before. Usually, if she does make several calls while I’m away, it’s because something had happened. She would sometimes leave angry messages on the machine, about how she knows we’re there, pick up the phone. Even then, the calls were never one right after the other like she did, today.
On the plus side, she’s obviously getting used to her phone and, more importantly, she’s remembering to keep it with her.
Of course, she was wondering when I’ll be visiting next! I mentioned we’ve got rain and snow happening tonight and tomorrow, plus I’ve got a lot of things to catch up on now that we’ve got the truck back. I didn’t tell her I’d taken the truck to the garage again today, as that would have just caused issues. I mentioned possibly Thursday, though it would be while coming back from the city. I did not tell her I was going to be delivering cats! She told me, whenever you can, and just sort of brushed it off. Which is REALLY unusual for her!
Then she cut the call short because there was nothing to talk about.
That had to be one of the strangest calls I’ve had with my mother. So very unlike her! Still, she seemed in a much better mood than she has been of late, so I’ll take it.
Meanwhile…
I’m hoping to finally head in to the tax preparer tomorrow and drop off our files. Normally, we would have done it as soon as my husband’s second T4A came in, but we didn’t have the transportation. Tomorrow is supposed to be steady snow, possibly mixed with rain, for most of the day. At least it’s supposed to clear up when it’s time to take the cats in to the rescue!
While we were bringing stuff into the house, Sir Robin managed to slip through the door three times! I caught him before he could get far, but that boy SO wants to be indoors!
Soon, he will be!
Just a little bit longer.
I am so glad the rescue has been able to find fosters for so many cats!
The only problem is, how will the truck behave? Knowing there is nothing wrong – no leaks, etc. – doesn’t help if that pressure gauge drops far enough to set off alarms and warning lights.
Hopefully, changing out that sensor one more time will stop it from happening.
Not sure when that will happen, though. He’s got to do some searching for one, first, much like he had to do to find a differential for our truck’s year.
The mystery is so incredibly frustrating and perplexing.
I had gone to bed early last night. Exhausted as I was, I didn’t get as much sleep as I should have. Partly because I decatted myself to roll over, only to get hit with a Charlie horse.
Yeah, I over did it with the shoveling and snow clearing to get the truck out.
Still, I woke up before sunrise – early enough that I expected to be able to do the outside cat feeding, only to find the girls had already done it.
Yeah. That’s -31C/-24F with a wind chill of -41C/-42F It stayed like that for hours longer, too.
I got to stay in bed, covered in cats. Even Big Rig came over and crawled under the covers with me. Big Rig never does that with me. She is usually buried under the covers in my husband’s hospital bed! That, or loafed on a heat vent in the hallway. 😄
Still, it did eventually start to warm up. I was just settling down with breakfast before I planned to head out again when I got a message that a couple from the rescue group were on their way from the city with a kibble donate. It would be another hour before they got here, so I had time to finish eating before heading out.
The first thing I had to do was shovel away the blocks of packed ice and snow I’d cleared from the truck tires to get it un-stuck. Once I got anything that looked like it might break little Spewie, I dragged it out, along with the extension cords, so start snow blowing away the rest of the path.
I’d barely made three passes when I heard a little honk behind me. I’d already opened the gate, and a gentleman came over to confirm they were in the right place. I’d cleared enough that they could get through with their car as far as the garage, so I just stuck Spewie on a snow bank and moved the extension cords aside so they could drive in.
Then the started unloading the back of their car…
… and the back on the passenger side…
… then the back on the driver’s side, too!!!
I opened the tailgate on the truck to load things on, out of the snow.
It turns out someone had given the rescue a massive donation, and this was just some of what they got that they could pass on to us! Not just try kibble, either! There were three big bags of kibble, six smaller bags of fancy kibble, eight cases of fancy canned cat food, and a case of cat milk they thought we might be able to use.
What a treasure trove!
Yes, a lot of them are near their “best before” dates, but they are all well sealed, so they will be fine.
After the stuff was unloaded, I invited them to check out our shelters. As we were walking around, the lady noticed the collapsing log building by the fire pit and got all excited. Barn wood!
They want to come back in the spring or summer, so she can buy some. 😄😄 I’m quite happy with that offer, since we really need to clean out and clean up the collapsed buildings. If someone can make use of the antique wood, all the better!
After they left, I let my daughter know about the cat food in the truck, and she took it inside while I finished clearing the driveway.
You can see where the truck got stuck by the piles of shoveled snow and ice on either side. 😄
It wasn’t a large area that was left to do, but it was really rough. I had to be careful not to twist an ankle or fall because of the mix of hard packed snow and much softer snow. I was able to also clear the second side of the path to the trail cam. I started off with the snow blower, but the hard packed foot path was quite narrow. In the end, I got the shovel and cleared the non-packed side to make a safer path to the trail cam. The snow there was so much lighter, I was able to clear right to the grass!
I was also able to clear space to back into when leaving the garage, and widen the path towards the small gate on the chain link fence. That also cleared a decent chunk of the driving lane leading to the large gate into the yard.
Then I stopped for the day. I did not want to push myself too far. This would be the third day in a row of shoveling, second day with snow blowing as well. I have to remind myself not to do too much, or my body is just going to give out.
So I will work on the inner yard, tomorrow. That will be mostly the snow blower, at least. I didn’t even bother putting little Spewie and the extension cords completely away. They’re just set in beside the truck for the night. Tomorrow, I’ll run the extension cords through the back door of the garage to better reach the inner yard.
After that, it’s supposed to warm right up, even to above freezing, over the next couple of weeks. Not that I’m holding much stock on those predictions. Long term forecasts had predicted a mild February, until we started getting hit with Alberta Clippers and Colorado Lows. It certainly wouldn’t be unusual for us to get a couple of blizzards between now and the end of April.
As I was putting everything away, I was entertained by finding adorableness all over the place.
The smaller cats are really liking that collapsed cat cave! It’s right near the bigger heat bulb, so even though they’ve managed to flatten it, they’d still be getting some warmth from the lamp. Blot using Colby as a bed is just adorable. I’m glad Colby’s sister, Sprig, didn’t run away when I stopped to take a picture. That’s actually progress. I’m not sure if that tabby is Flopsy, the one we recently got neutered, or if it’s the female tabby that looks just like him that we weren’t able to snag.
By the time I got in, it was well past noon, and I’d been out there for at least two hours. Thankfully, we did warm up to a relatively balmy -21C/-6F, with almost no windchill. We’re under an extreme cold warning for tonight, though, when we are expected to hit -31C/-24F again. Wind chills are expected to hit anywhere from -40C/F to -45C/-49F
I was already stiffening up and made sure to take some pain killers, but my daughter had to make a lunch for me. I’m going to have to be really pro-active on the pain killers and anti-inflammatories tonight, so that I’m still mobile tomorrow.
In other things, I still haven’t heard back from the garage about the console display on the truck no longer working. I would really like to get that fixed before I go into the city for our stock up shopping, just in case it’s not just a fuse. There are just so many weird things happening with the truck, it has made me paranoid.
Ah, well.
For now, I’m going to make sure I get enough rest so that I’m good to go for finishing up tomorrow. If I haven’t heard from the garage by Monday morning, I think I’ll just go into town after picking up our packages at the post office and talking to them in person.
Toni and Ginger, our two tripods, snuggling while they nap.
On my very cat fur covered bed.
So the first thing I got today was a message from my brother, updating on the situation with our mother. He had called the main office and it was confirmed my mother would be transferred to the temporary long term care centre in the town her apartment was in. They still had to get things ready for her at the other end, and then arrange transportation. They couldn’t say when it would happen, but they wanted to get it done as soon as possible.
Almost immediately after, I got a text from my sister (who doesn’t really do Messenger anymore).
My mother had just phoned her, convinced that if we just talk to the right people, they would get her out of where she is. My sister talked to the nurse and they said they had told my mother, repeatedly, that they don’t know when she would be transferred.
I’m not sure what my mother is thinking is going on. Perhaps she’s interpreting it as not happening soon. Or not happening at all. It’s hard to say, as she tends to twist things around pretty severely, once she gets a conclusion in her mind.
In the middled of that flurry of messages, I got a message from the cat rescue, asking when I was expecting to go to the city next. I responded saying I didn’t know, since I currently have no transportation and don’t know when I’d be getting it back. Otherwise, it would have been tomorrow and Friday.
It turns out they have dry kibble for us! I was incredibly grateful to hear that. Especially with how much we’ve been having to spend on the truck for the past while, and now with an unknown hanging over us. I spent some time on that group cat, too. If we don’t get the truck back soon, one of them volunteered to drive the kibble out to us. !!! They are so awesome!
Then later one – while I was cooking and couldn’t stop what I was doing, of course – I got a phone call. It was from the TCU, so I called them back as soon as my hands were free and clean.
The TCU nurse started off by telling my my mother accepted the bed in the other location.
…
I’m not sure why that was still an issue, after all the calls between us all that were done yesterday. They only needed to arrange transportation. She had already called my brother and left a message.
Would I be able to transport her.
????
I said no, I have no transportation. My brother is at work and my sister would be on the way to work. We thought they would arrange the transportation.
Oh, we always ask the family first, as there would be no charge. If they do it, there would be a charge for it.
???
I told her that if there is, my brother, as PoA would be the one to pass that information on to, and told her I would message him and update him.
This perplexed me because, when my brother talked to him, I was sure he told me they’d said they would take care of the transportation, because they were the ones doing the transfer. Much like when my mother first went to the hospital by ambulance, she got a bill for it, but when they used an ambulance to transfer her to the TCU, she did not get a bill for it, because it was their responsibility.
I messaged my brother and it wasn’t much longer before I got word back. He had called them back and was told our mother would be transferred later this afternoon (she might be on the road now, as I write this) and they are arranging a taxi van, so they could fit everything. This would include not only her personal affects, but her walker and wheelchair, so that makes sense.
He also confirmed that he had been told previously that there would be no charge for the transfer, but when he called back today, it never came up. He said he would deal with that later. For now, we just need to have her moved!
So the first, and only, time any of us heard about being charged for transportation was when the TCU contacted me earlier today.
Between all of this, I found myself spending most of the day on the computer, messaging back and forth with two very different groups of people – plus texting with my sister and on the phone with TCU.
As the afternoon progressed, without hearing from the garage, I sent them a text asking about the truck. I mentioned that I’d looked up the part, just to see what it looked like, and saw the prices. I let them know that if it needed to be replaced, we simply can’t afford it. Hopefully, it will be something more minor!
A response came in while I was outside, doing the evening outside cat feeding. It was very apologetic. They weren’t even able to drag the truck into the garage at all today. They will look at it tomorrow.
I can’t say that wasn’t unexpected. I knew they could only look at it, in between appointments, and once a lift would be free for at least a couple of hours. They have three lifts, but each one is different and used for different purposes, depending on what they need to be able to access. One of them can only fit small cars.
So, one more day with the Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads.
On a completely different note, when I finished putting food and warm water out for the outside cats, I went into the old kitchen and discovered Bug on top of chest freezer! She snuck in while I was going out and I never saw her.
Unfortunately, she was nervous and spooked. Usually, I can at least pet her and sometimes pick her up, but this time, she ran off and hid.
She’s still there.
I’ve set out food, water and a squeeze treat, squeezed out onto a container, to lure her out. It’s way too cold in there for such a tiny cat (the old kitchen is unheated and seems to have no insulation at all – it wasn’t needed when it was an active kitchen and the wood cookstove was always in use!) so I set up a carrier that needs some work done on it, wrapped in a blanket, on top of the freezer with another smaller blanket inside. I’ve checked a few times and saw her snuffling around the middle of the floor, but she ran off as soon as she heard me turn the door knob. I found the container that has squeeze treat on it stuck against the door, licked clean, so I know she’d gone onto the freezer again and knocked it off while eating the treat. Hopefully, she will come back out again, soon!
Really hoping I can snag her and set her back in the sun room, where she has access to the heat lamps and warm bodies to snuggle with.
I’m also hoping my mother will soon me in her new temporary long term care unit. She’s familiar with this place, as she has visited friends there before, and I think it will be a much better situation for her.
Now, if we could just have some good news on the truck and have that back soon. I’ll finally be able to visit her, as well as do a whole lot of driving around that’s needed! Which included picking up what is likely a build up of parcels at the post office. My West Coast Seeds order has been in for almost a week, now!
Ah, well. It’ll all work out.
Oh! My husband just informed me that Bug is in the cave I created for her! Now, if I can just get into there without her running and hiding again…
The Re-Farmer 