snow

Here we go again; septic woes

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Well, it looks like I won’t be getting new glasses anymore, because that budget is about to disappear.

The girls and I started on the horrible job of cleaning up behind the washer and drier.

The primary goal was to access the drain pipe and pour down some drain cleaner, but we had to get to it, first, and that job fell to my younger daughter; the most able bodied and agile of us going into a space barely big enough for one person.

Also, it’s amazing how many things the cats get at that end up under appliances.

First, the dryer needed to be pulled out, unplugged, then pulled out some more.

Then my poor, saintly daughter took care of the mess that cats made back there. Not only did they knock all kinds of things off shelves back there, but they then peed all over it. We ended up throwing out an unopened box of drier sheets, a caulking gun, with a tube of caulk still loaded in it, my other daughters missing wrist brace, and even a strainer basket that I used to use to pick, then wash, vegetables from the garden, among other things. I’m amazed by all the stuff that ended up there.

Then the washing machine got pulled out, and we found the rest of the little things the cats chased under there. Some of them were even cat toys.

After drain cleaner was poured down the pipe, my daughter continued to clean and mop the floor, while her sister and I assisted where we could. I decided it would be a good idea to use the plumbing snake as well, so I went into the old basement to get it.

The basement was flooded.

But only on one side, and not the side where water seeps through during spring melt. No, this was all over near the septic pump.

But not FROM the septic pump. Nor any of the pipes beside it.

What the heck?

The drain in the floor does not have what it should to prevent gases from getting into the room, so there is a sheet of plastic under the drain cover. I moved it aside to allow the water on the floor do drain, only to find the drain was full.

There was also was looked like toilet paper.

What the heck?

I went back up to assist my daughter, we quickly determined the plumbing snake was not going to work out, and kept on going. We had to wait 15-20 minutes before we could pour hot water down the pipe after the drain cleaner. Once we were at the stage of putting everything back again, I went back to check on the basement.

After a while fussing with the drain, it became clear that it was the source of the flooding.

Water was backing up from the septic tank, though the drain, and into the basement.

*sigh*

At that point, I got my husband to call the septic guy and see if he could come out – as well as finding out how much it would cost, and if he could take an etransfer. While he did that, I headed outside to start shoveling a path to the septic tank. With our melt-thaw cycle lately, the snow had a very hard crust on the top, so it needed a lot of tackling with the ice chipper first, then shoveling. Chip out about a foot, then shovel. Chip about a foot, then shovel.

I didn’t get very far when I realized a major problem.

It’s one thing to shovel a path to the tank, but how was the truck going to get in? We haven’t been able to clear the yard for a vehicle at all this winter, and the snow was just too deep, even for a big truck.

I quickly messaged the family to let them know (I love technology!) and my husband cancelled the septic guy.

Shortly after, my other daughter came out and took over the shoveling.

I headed inside and made a call to the renters who have so kindly been clearing our driveway.

I just got interrupted in writing this.

The septic guy was on the road and never got the call about canceling. He just showed up. We talked for a while, and now he’s left, because there was no way he could get through that snow.

Which brings me back to my call to the renters, and spoke to the Mrs.

I explained the situation and asked if I could hire someone to come with their front end loader and clear a path for the septic truck. Unfortunately, her husband and the farm hands had just left and would not be back for several hours. She promised to text her husband (which would eventually get to him; they’re in the same cell phone dead zone we are in) about it. I told her that if it could be done today, we could call the septic guy in for tomorrow, and to please let me know how much to pay them for it. They’ve been refusing payment all this time, but it’s different when I’m going to them for a job! She said she would let me know.

Which is what I just explained to the septic guy; that hopefully, we’ll have someone with a front end loader to clear the snow, and then we’d call him back. He told me that, if the front end loader starts sinking into the ground, not to bother, because he would get stuck. It seems that the snow fell before the ground was frozen, which means in some areas, the snow insulated the ground and kept it from freezing.

I don’t think we’ve got that problem, but we’ll see.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My husband had found out how much the septic guy would cost – $160 (six months ago, it was $135), and that they did not take etransfers. Which meant, I needed to get cash.

So I updated my daughter that was shoveling, then headed to the town my mother lives in, where there is a branch of my bank, to get enough cash for the septic guy and for clearing the snow. I have no idea how much that will be, so I took out what I hope is extra.

The remains of my tax return for my glasses budget just went *poof*.

I don’t actually mind. I’m thankful that we had the funds at all.

Once I got back home, I didn’t even bother going back inside. I went back to shoveling.

My daughter had shoveled all the way to where the tank is, before she had to go in. She had to fight her way through a drift, so the snow was even deeper than usual for much of it. Just to make things even more unfortunate, the snow under the crust was sticky – and would stick to the shovel! So it was chip, scoop, fling, shakeshakeshake, over and over!

Now we have this area.

Normally, we use straw to cover the tank. A couple of years back, we had to get the tank done in January. I had to dig a path, then got the straw off the lid, and that was it.

It won’t be so easy, this time. We used an insulated tarp this time. It was big enough to fold in half, so it’s double insulated.

The first thing was to find the edge of the insulated tarp. It’s pegged to the ground all along this edge, and the end. I needed to be careful using the chipper, at this point, because I didn’t want to damage the tarp.

I dug my way down to the corner and discovered a problem.

The downspout from the roof was draining near here. All that melted snow from the roof has formed a layer of ice, a couple of inches thick, right over the end of the tarp.

Which means we would need to lift the tarp from the other end.

This end.

When putting insulation along the bottom of the house, we made sure the tarp was right up to, and partway up, the wall, then everything was weighted into place.

*sigh*

Well, there was nothing to do but keep on digging.

Hopefully, enough has been cleared that we’ll be able to pull it back to the lid of the tank enough to open it.

After all this was done, I made sure to check the basement again. I’m happy to say that the majority of the water did drain away. Also, the septic pump is still doing its job. So we should still at least be able to use the toilet.

We got the outhouse fixed up just in case something like this happened, yet we can’t even use it. The path to the outhouse is full of water. We don’t even have the honey pot anymore; that got loaned to my mother, and I haven’t seen it since.

*sigh*

This shouldn’t be happening. When I was growing up here, there was 7 of us, and that tank got emptied only once a year. We’ve been getting it emptied twice a year. It’s been just under 6 months since we had it last done. It should not be this full.

On the plus side, it is backing up through the drain in the floor, and not doing what it did last time, which was backing up into the laundry sink, then splashing out the P trap, all over the septic pump. The floor drain was full of roots and silt. Now that it’s clear, the tank is backing up through there, instead, making much less of a mess than the last couple of times we’ve found with it.

Still. It shouldn’t be happening at all.

I don’t get it.

Anyhow.

Hopefully, the renters will be able to clear the snow for us, and we’ll have the septic guy back in tomorrow.

What a pain. :-/

The Re-Farmer

Winter’s last gasp?

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

Counting today, we’re expected to have three cold days before the spring-like temperatures return.

Not that it’s particularly cold – until you step out into the wind!

The outside cats barely made an appearance this morning. They were far more interested in staying out of that wind!

The wind was mostly coming from the north, which meant stepping around the house to put seed out, was like walking into a wall.

A cold wall.

The path to the sign cam was pretty much blown in.

I paused this morning to check out the deer damage to the Chokecherry and Saskatoon bushes we uncovered while clearing out the invasive spirea at the edge of the spruce grove. Cleaning things up meant they got more sunlight and actually produced fruit during their first uncrowded summer, but now the deer can get at them. All the lower twigs are nibbled away, and there are many broken branches. And by “lower twigs”, I mean basically anything under about 7 feet. The deer can reach pretty high when they stand on their hind legs!

I wonder if these deer were among those causing damage?

I didn’t see any deer when I came out this morning. They’d already left. :-D

The winds are still high and it’s quite unpleasant out there.

Rolando Moon the Wise has staked out her spot in the sun room, where it’s much warmer and cozier! Not to mention, she has her own private food and water bowls. :-D

As for today, we’ve got a big project to work on. While doing the laundry last night, I came to the entry and found water all over the floor.

It wasn’t from the washing machine. At least not directly. It’s from the drain. I’ve long had concerns about it. When the water starts to drain, you can hear it flowing, but the tone changes until the sound stops. Basically, the water is draining out of the washing machine faster than the water is flowing through the pipes, and what I’ve been hearing is the water backing up until it reaches the end of the drain hose from the washing machine, and then you can no longer heard the water flowing. I’ve been keeping an eye on it, to see if it’s at risk of overflowing, but until now it’s been fine.

I did a larger “heavy duty” load last night, and it may have been just too much water this time.

So what I want to do is see if we can clear the drain a bit. Which means we have to move the washing machine.

The washer and dryer just fit between the built-in closet and the wall the taps are in. There are two steps from the entryway into the dining room, and the bottom step is several inches in front of the washing machine. Which is handy for short little me to stand on and reach the bottom of the washing machine, but it also means we can’t simply pull the washing machine straight out. In order to move the washing machine, we have to move out the dryer.

Since we have to move the machines out, anyhow, we’re going to clean up the mess we know is back there. The cats have been knocking things down off the shelves and, from the smell of it, they’ve been peeing back there, too. It’s just so difficult to get back there, we haven’t done it, yet. I would love to find some way to keep the cats from going back there, but no practical solution has come up yet.

I am not looking forward to this particular job. I’d almost rather be working outside, in the wind!

The Re-Farmer

We’ll have to plan for this

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Spring is still trying to show us it has arrived, though in a couple of days, winter is expected to come back for a while.

Which might make it a bit easier to deal with this.

This is the food path we dug to the vehicle gate. The meltwater fills this path, and continues down the paths to the back of the garage, and the outhouse.

In previous winters, we’d been able to keep this vehicle gate, and part of the yard, clear of snow so that we could still drive right up to the house. We had quite a bit less snow than this year, yet we still had “lakes” forming in this gate, and in that low area in front of the outhouse. Without being able to clear all that snow, plus the larger amounts of snow we got this winter, we’re going to be dealing with a lot more meltwater in those low areas.

That “river” of melt water is in the path we dug that was wide enough for my husband’s walker, to get to the front of the garage.

Here’s the rest of that path, all the way to the small gate. You can see where puddles are starting to form in the tire tracks in the snow. In previous years, this entire area would get filled with water. Which meant we could not get to the garage, either from the front or the back, without having to go through a large puddle of water and/or mud.

With the amount of snow we got this year, we can reasonably expect those areas to have quite a bit more water. If that happens, we may have to start parking the van near the small gate, so we can reach it without having to walk through too much water or mud. Another area that tends to collect water is right in the middle of the driveway at the gate. Which means we have to stand in water to open and close the gate.

Another reason why I’d love to get a couple of loads of gravel onto the driveway!

I’m okay with the cold coming back for a bit. As long as we don’t warm up too quickly, the ground will have a better chance of warming up and absorbing the moisture. Looking at the 14 day forecast, it looks like that’s exactly what we’ll be getting.

And for that, I am grateful!

The Re-Farmer

Let’s play “count the kitties!”

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

How many can you see in this photo?

(I’ll show where they all are, below.)

Once again, the kibble was all gone from the food trays, and I don’t think we can blame that piebald deer this time.

We did get some rain and a light snow last night, so we could see tracks all over the place.

These are kitty paw prints.

With their pretty little toe beans, well defined in the snow.

These are NOT kitty paw prints.

Check out those claws!!! Aside from the claws the paw prints are about the same size as most of the kitty prints.

These are from a skunk, and I found some tracks around the kibble house, too. I know for sure it was a skunk, because I saw it running around our driveway last night, on the garage cam’s live feed.

Skunks don’t go into total hibernation. It’s more of a “lethargic sleep” than full hibernation, and they do come out now and again, throughout the winter. February and March are their mating season, so not only would they be out in full, we’d have pregnant females by now, looking for food.

Speaking of food…

Did you find all twelve hungry kitties in the kibble house?

Tuxedo Mask is almost completely hidden by Creamsicle Jr, in the far right corner of the kibble house. I love that you can juuuust see the tips of his ears above Creamsicle’s back.

Then there’s one of the ‘iccuses peaking from behind the kibble house, at the tray on the ground.

Along with these twelve, there were three more in the sun room. Not quite all of the yard cats, but close!

The Re-Farmer

We have a fire pit again!

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

Today is turning out a bit cooler than yesterday.

The outside cats don’t mind at all, and have been widening their horizons. This morning, I only saw 10 of them, even though there was no kibble left in the kibble house at all. The warmer temperatures has them needing fewer calories to keep themselves going.

When I put seed out for the birds and deer, our three usual visitors took off. They seem to have formed an actual little herd together. The piebald has always been a loner until now, but the mother and her yearling seem to have accepted her as part of their group.

Even if they do still bicker over the seeds.

Since digging the path to the sign cam, I now head over to switch the memory card right after putting the seed down. The deer usually come back to the feeding station right away, so my going in that direction seemed to confuse them! They went onto the road, milled around the intersection, then ran off down a different road.

While I was switching out the memory card, I heard noises.

They were running back again! Then they stopped and watched me while I finished with the trail cam. As I walked back to the house, they came running along the road again. There’s one spot along the north fence they have been able to use to use to get into our yard, and that’s what they were heading for.

They’ve been in front of our living room window, on and off, ever since.

While things were still below freezing, I decided to keep working on the path to the fire pit.

This is as far as I got, yesterday. You can see the shape of the BBQ under the remains of the tent – and the piece of tree that fell on it!

The tent, not the BBQ. The tent protected both the picnic table and the BBQ from damage.

To the right, there’s a bar with a handle on it sticking out of the snow. That’s where the fire pit is. That handle is for the cooking grill.

This is why I didn’t want to wait until it was warmer. I’m standing on the cat path to the storage house to take this photo. There’s a low spot that fills with water, and it’s still too chilly for my rubber boots. ;-)

Here, I’m standing where the path curves, so the rest of it can be seen. I’d dug out most of the fire pit by this point. Yesterday, I had dug to just past the big maple tree.

We have a fire pit again! Yay!

Now that it’s uncovered, the sun should melt away the remaining snow in it rather quickly. There are two concrete blocks on the sides, and a the support for the cooking grill is in a half-block. Those will warm up quite a bit, once the sun hits them.

I don’t know where my parents got those glazed bricks around the fire pit. They are everywhere, and I don’t remember a time when we didn’t have them. I like them but, my goodness, they are dangerous! So incredibly slippery! I accidentally stepped on them more than a few times while shovelling, and almost lost my footing, every time.

The space around the fire pit still needs to be widened, so there’s room to set up chairs or even just stand around a fire and not be too close to it. From here, I’ll dig to the collapsed tent to access the BBQ and finally put the new over on it. The snow on the fire pit side of the tent isn’t as deep as around the other side.

There are a couple of large, hollowed out spaces under a nearby spruce tree. I think they are where deer had lain down in the snow.

Then a path needs to be dug to the wood pile.

Critters have already made their own path to the pile!

There’s a cover over most of the wood, so if we did want to do a cookout, we have dry wood available.

Here is the entire path, looking back towards the house.

There is something absolutely delightful about walking down these paths, through hip and waist deep snow. They’re like some sort of secret passageway!

I fully expect to see hoof and paw prints down here, soon. :-D

Now we just need an excuse to have a cook out! For the past few years, we’ve hardly been able to use the fire pit at all, due to dry conditions. Winter has been the only safe time to light a fire.

Hhhmmm… Now I’m thinking of what we’ve got that would do well, cooked over a fire… LOL

The Re-Farmer

Beautifully warm – and a new path

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Wow, what a gorgeous day, today!

The forecast was for a high of 0C/32F today. As I write this, just past 5pm, we are at 4C/39F!

It was a perfect day to work outside.

This morning, after feeding the critters, I tried to keep the burn barrel going while hauling away more snow from near the house. It was so warm, I had to take off my parka, and I was still overheating in my sweatshirt!

I actually meant to post these photos yesterday, when the melt was just starting to kick in. Today, that trickle was pouring. There is nothing slowing it down, either, so while the end of the diverter is still buried, the water has obviously cleared itself an opening, somewhere inside the pile of snow.

The ceiling in the sun room is dripping like crazy. The drips are right over a shelf, and I had some boxes stored on top. My efforts to cover those and divert the water away were clearly not working anymore, and the boxes were getting soaked in places. They only have packing material in them, so I ended up putting those into an old feed bag, and the boxes went into the burn barrel. The top shelf got covered with an old feed bag, then I made use of the under-bed storage box that we used to start seeds in last year. Between the container and the lid, I was able to get under most of the drips, and for those that still missed, I had buckets on the floor.

You can see how much water has already accumulated, after about… 6 hours? Maybe 7.

We need a new roof so badly. *sigh* I shudder to think about how much water damage is in that ceiling!

On the plus side, by the end of today, most, if not all, of the snow should be gone from the roof, and the leaking should soon stop.

After a run to the post office this afternoon (more on that in another post), I went back out to do more digging. This time, to the trail cams. With all the cold and snow, I was no longer switching out the memory cards every morning. Today, I decided it was time to see how they fare.

The driveway cam was easy enough to deal with. I just had to re-dig a short path to it’s stand, and I could change the batteries and the memory card.

The sign cam, on the other hand, was a whole different ball game!

I took this photo when I was a little more than half way to the corner. In previous years, this area was crisscrossed with deer paths and the tracks of other wildlife. Between the deep snow over the garden area, and the piles of snow left by the plows along the road, the animals stayed away from this area completely. The roads, driveways and cleared paths in people’s yards were much more accommodating!

Even under the trees, sheltered by branches, I had to shovel a path right to the corner.

This picture was taken just clear of the trees at the corner, where the snow was nowhere near as deep.

Here, I was actually standing on the hard packed snow of the deer path to the fence.

There was just no way I could have gotten to the corner, without digging this path. I don’t have snow shoes!

There’s something we might need to invest in at some point!

It will be about where this path is now, or a bit to the left (west) of it that we will be planting silver buffalo berry bushes, this spring. :-) We still want to keep an avenue between the berry bushes and the trees at the fence line open for access.

At the time I was digging out this path, it was 3C/37F. I had on a light coat and a t-shirt this time, so at least I wasn’t overheating, by my goodness, it’s amazing how hot 3C feels, after the temperatures we were having not that long ago! With the snow melting, it was very wet and heavy, too. Even if we could get a snow blower this far out, we couldn’t use it; it would just clog up.

Thankfully, I really enjoy shoveling. :-D What an excellent workout!

With these paths cleared, I’ll be able to add switching memory cards back into my morning routine. I finished uploading the files from the trail cams while I was writing this. The gate cam, which is set to take short video files only, recorded 160 files before the batteries died. The sign cam, which is set to take 3 stills, then a short video, recorded only 58 files before the batteries died. With the high piles of snow along the side of the road, and no wildlife going through the deep snow between the sign and the road, there wasn’t a lot that could trigger the motion sensor on that one!

It’s going to take me a while to go through all those files!

I think I’ll save that job for later. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Warming up

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

Here’s a switch. Instead of being colder than predicted, today we were warmer! Only a degree warmer than forecast, but that was enough to make quite a difference outside!

Inside, I had Turmeric making it difficult for me to make my bed.

She won.

Rolando Moon claimed the favourite sun room bed for herself. Since we’ve been leaving the doors propped slightly open, so the cats can get to the inside heated water bowl, I’ve noticed she’s in there quite a lot! She may not have the temperament to be an inside cat, but she does claim some of the luxuries when they are available. ;-)

The outside cats were very active this morning. Since I shoveled most of the snow off the cat room, we now regularly see several of them up there at the same time, when we first pop outside.

I counted about 14 of them this morning. While setting out the kibble, The Distinguished Guest came by, so I took advantage of the opportunity and copped a quick feel. Alas, I did find a tiny pair of nibs under that long fur.

Well, I guess we’ll have “long haired black cat” added to the genetic diversity of our yard cats!

I stayed out to get the burn barrel going again – it really did not want to stay lit!

With today’s warmth, it was getting a bit more dangerous, moving around. Formerly hard packed snow would collapse under my feet, or I’d find a layer of ice – the hard way – and came close to losing my footing.

Which meant that we had issues when we headed out to pick up the pizza’s my daughter ordered. The van just sank into the softened snow. We didn’t get stuck, at least!

The highways were nice and clear, though the visibility was down.

Where we live is a transition area between prairie and Boreal forest. We don’t have far to go before we leave the trees behind, and see this.

This is with the camera on my phone cleaning up the shot! It looked like there was fog, though it was actually snow. The white expanse and reflective light was actually a distraction in my peripheral vision. I kept thinking my daughter’s window was getting frosted over, but it was just … whiteness. She took some pictures to try and capture that for me. You can just see some trees dotting the horizon. These are most likely shelter belts around distant farmhouses.

Once in town, it was warmer, of course. That urban heat island effect had all sorts of things melting, and some of the streets were starting to flood. I was more concerned about dodging the fresh potholes. ’tis the season! We’re supposed to reach temperatures just above freezing, every day for more than a week. The streets and highways are going to get torn apart during the overnight freezes!

After we got home, I found this little bundle on my bed.

Nozencrantz was all curled up like a shrimp, snoozing right in the middle of my bed – with several other cats nearby! She may not be settled in enough to join the cuddle piles, but she’s at least allowing other cats near her more often. Even cats she normally hisses at. Progress!

Over the next few days, we’re going to have to keep a close eye on some things. Though I shoveled as much as I could from the sun room roof, I expect we’ll have water leaking in there. My daughters are having to deal with a leak that comes through one of their windows, even though they’ve cleared the snow off the low slope roof. We’ll have to watch in the old basement in particular, and if the sump pump goes off, make sure it is able to pump through that section of hose outside that was previously blocked. If water starts showing up on the concrete, we’ll have to make sure the big blower fan and the dehumidifier are up and running, to try and keep things dry. We’ll need to keep an eye on the new part basement, too, now that we know the weeping tile is likely full of silt and roots. :-( This will the the first winter since we’ve moved here, where any of this will be an issue.

We had to deal with some of this, during our first spring here in particular, but this winter, we’ve got a lot more snow. Without being able to clear snow from the yard so we could drive up to the door, we can also expect a lot more water in front of the outhouse. I remember having difficulty getting to the door at the back of the garage, because of a large pool of water that had formed. I recall seeing through the hole under the outhouse, that the pit was flooded out. That hole has been blocked off, now, but this year, a groundhog made a den under there. I hope it has a back door, because after clearing away the gravel it filled the pit with, the back of the outhouse is now blocked with wire mesh. It’s set up to keep things from digging in from the outside, though. I think a groundhog would be able to dig its way out from the inside. Assuming it comes out of hibernation before its den floods out. :-(

After about a week, the temperatures are supposed to drop to just below freezing again, through into April. If things go well, we will continue to have this slow, gentle melt, giving the ground time to thaw out and absorb the water, increasing our water table, rather than surface flooding and draining away to towards the lake. We need every drop of moisture to make up for last summer’s drought and heat waves. The local farms could certainly use a good year, after the last two disastrous ones. Me, I’ll be happy to not have to water all those far flung garden beds every day, twice a day! Though we will be shifting the garden beds in the north east corner close to the house, we’ll still need to be able to water the berry bushes that will be planted where we had the sweet corn and sunflower beds, last year.

So much work to do, once the snow it gone. :-) I’m really looking forward to it!

The Re-Farmer

Good morning, kitties!

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I just had to laugh when I came into the sun room this morning, and found Potato Beetle, curled up in the window.

My attempt to take a photo disturbed him.

Gosh, he looks like such a grizzled old man!

He’s only three.

Since we’ve been keeping the sun room doors propped slightly open to allow access to the working heated water bowl, he seems to be spending most of his time in there – if he can claim their favourite bed before one of the other cats gets into it!

In total, I spotted 15 cats this morning. Even Ghost Baby flashed momentarily into view before disappearing again.

I had a bit of a surprise this morning. After finishing with food and water for the cats, I popped into the sun room to get seeds for the feeding station. When I stepped outside again, I was startled by a loud HUFFFFFF!!

The piebald deer had just wanted into the people gate in the chain link fence. I think we startled each other, and she was warning me off! :-D

This is the first time I’ve actually heard a deer make a noise.

It was funny to watch her as she ran down the shovelled paths to towards the back of the garage, then across to the compost pile, huffing away at me every now and then, before running into the spruce grove. There, she and another deer that was already there, stopped to watch while I put the feed out.

I later saw three of them at the feeding station, watching me as I moved around in the outer yard.

I got the burn barrel going again and, as usual, had company.

I don’t know why, but Agnoos just LOVES it when we are at the burn barrel. He rolls around in the snow, usually at our feet, asking for attention. Of all the outside cats, Agnoos seems to be the one that wants human attention the most, but never so much as while we’re tending the burn barrel!

I wasn’t able to stay out too long, though, as it started to snow. We were already at -5C/23F this morning, and are holding there for most of the day, but we are now under a “blowing snow advisory”.

Unfortunately, for all the shoveling on the roof my daughters did, the warmer weather has resulted in leaking at one of the windows upstairs. *sigh* We need a new roof so badly! We have the leak upstairs, and right now the ceiling in the sun room has icicles hanging from it. :-(

We’re supposed to cool down to between -10C/14F and -15C/5F over the next few days, so that should stop the leaking for a while, at least.

The Re-Farmer

Got part way done

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

With all the vehicle troubles we’ve been having, we still haven’t done our monthly Costco trip and, frankly, I didn’t even want to think about it. Aside from that fact that I dislike shopping in general, the unexpected work on the van and my mother’s car has me just plain not wanting to drive, if I can avoid it. I keep expecting something else to break down!

In the end, I decided to make the shorter trip to a nearer Walmart, since some of the stuff we need isn’t available at Costco, anyhow. I’ll save the Costco trip for after my tax return comes in, which should be in less than a week.

After I got back and the girls took care of hauling things in and putting it all away, I took advantage of the -4C/25F temperatures and chipped away at the snow over the well cap.

We can at least access it now, though as you can see by the height of the snow the shovel is leaning against, we have a lot more to haul away to prevent spring flooding in this corner.

Most of the outside cats were very unhappy with the commotion I was making and ran off, but Tuxedo Mask stayed to watch me from the warmth and comfort of their shelter. :-)

Oh, my goodness! As I am writing this, a deer has just shown up on the live feed for the driveway cam. Usually, it goes down the driveway and to the road, but this time he went up the cat path to the old shed we shovelled out. It isn’t shovelled all the way, because of the things buried in the snow at the far end, but it looks like she went the rest of the way through, and disappeared into the shed!

Too funny!

Now I’m trying to remember if there’s anything in there a deer might damage. ;-)

Where was I?

Oh, right…

Tuxedo Mask had front row seating in their shelter, but I found that Potato Beetle had claimed prime real estate inside the sun room.

He was more than happy to get some attention, too! What a sweetie!

While at the store today, I did pick up something extra. We’ve still got those beef bones in the freezer, and I want to make and can bone broth. That would require using the pressure canner, which we still haven’t even tested out. It turns out we can’t use a pressure canner on our new glass top stove. I kept finding contradictory information about that, but eventually concluded it’s not something we can do.

The stove we have is the type cycles the heat on and off, rather than reaching a temperature and then maintaining it. Which means the pressure doesn’t remain constant, either. I have used the smaller pressure cooker on it, as a sort of a test, and it did have some issues. I noticed that when we did water bath canning, it was difficult to keep the water to temperature as well, because of the cycling.

We can make it work with the little pressure cooker and with water bath canning, but the potential problems with a pressure canner ranges from not being able to maintain the correct pressure, to shattering the glass cooktop. !!

So, when I spotted this, I decided it was worth the splurge. It was only about $25, anyhow.

We actually do have a two burner countertop cooker we found while cleaning the new part basement, but I have not yet dared to test it out. It looks like sometime from the 70’s. It might be useable, but not for something as large and heavy as a canner.

This new one should be safer to use, and with a more controllable temperature. We’ll test it out the next time I use the little pressure cooker, first. I might even find something to use our big stock pot as a water bath canner again. If it can handle the size and weight of that stock pot, it won’t have any problem with the size and weight of the pressure canner!

When my daughter bought the new stove, none of us expected to have any sorts of problems like this! We thought the glass top would make things easier, not more complicated! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Digging

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I just spent the past several hours, clearing snow out of the corner by the basement window, and hauling it away.

I am now stiff, sore and in heaven.

Gosh, I love manual labour. :-D

This is how the area looked after I last worked on the area.

Hidden in the snow in the back of the first photo is the basement window, and my first goal was to get that clear.

After many loads of snow was hauled away, I could finally remove the cover over the window.

*sigh*

We really need to replace the hinged roof that used to be over this window, supported by that post.

Also, I had a very enthusiastic assistant.

Agnoos was very excited to sit in the wheelbarrow, every chance he got!

During one of my many trips with a load of snow, I was amused to find this, in front of the main entry.

That is a Rolando Moon butt spot. She had been sitting there, enjoying some sun, in the one warm spot that was melting in the warmth.

And it was remarkably warm! I don’t know what the temperature was, but it was warm enough I had to change into a lighter jacket and hat, instead of my down filled part and toque. There was snow melting off the roof, too – and into the sun room, unfortunately. We never did find where the leak was before the snow hit.

Digging out the window was more difficult than I expected. The post is in the way, of course, but that high density plastic protecting the ground in front of the window was SLIPPERY!! Along with the ice chipper, I broke out a small, telescoping snow shovel that really ought to be in our van for the winter. It was small enough for the space, plus aluminum, so it could cut through the hard packed snow and ice, except for the very worst, which needed the ice chipper.

Once the recessed area was clear, the cover went back into place.

Then the ice chipped got a major work out.

I was able to clear right to the ground, breaking off chunks of hard packed snow where the path had been, and clearing along with wall. The downspout off the entry is now clear – and it was dripping!

I wasn’t done yet, though!

With water leaking into the sun room, and seeing quite a bit of melt happening on the roof, I broke out the telescoping roof snow shovel.

That thing can reach remarkably far!

You can now see an ice dam on the eave of the main roof, which drains onto the sunroom roof. Remarkably, the telescoping shovel could even reach onto there.

I seem to recall finding some sidewalk de-icer in the basement, I think. We’ll have to look for it. What I’d like to do (or, more likely, will ask a daughter to do) is make a long, narrow fabric tube and fill it with de-icer, then toss it over the ice dam to create a channel to the eaves trough.

Of course, that meant more snow to haul away. The openings into the shelf that are shelters for the cats were completely covered, and the shelves partially filled.

Once that was cleared, more chipping was done in front of the door, and along the sun room to the old kitchen garden.

That was some seriously hard packed snow.

Once it was clear, I pushed the sump pump hose through between the shelf and the window.

Now, it is back where it’s supposed to be, draining into the old kitchen garden, and nowhere near the well!

The diverter then got put back under the downspout. We’ll have to keep an eye on it, since it’s sitting on top of snow, so it’ll shift as things melt. Eventually, the rain barrel will go back into this spot.

Which is really a bad spot for a rain barrel. It blocks access to the garden. Ideally, it should be around the corner. At some point, we’ll work out a way to do that. Unfortunately, the last concrete block is tipping, likely undermined from the rain barrel being allowed to overflow. When we made a path along the west facing wall, it looked like the entire corner has been undermined. If it’s slowly sinking, that would explain the door frame being so off kilter, and cracking windows. We have spare windows in both sizes in the barn, but I wouldn’t want to replace them without making sure they aren’t just going to crack again! Both smaller windows, and one big window, need to be replaced. At least it’s just the inner panes on these double paned windows that’s cracked. The big window is just a single pain window, and has been since before we moved here. You can really tell the difference. It gets completely covered with frost, while the other windows remain clear.

So that’s the first are that needed to be cleared. Next, we have to clear the well cap.

That’s under the pile of snow you can see on the right of the photo with the door, and on the left of the photo with the newly cleared area.

It’s going to take a lot of trips to clear that pile, and it’s starting to get hard to find space to dump the snow without blocking areas we need to keep open!

We should be able to work on it over the next few days, though maybe not tomorrow. I think some pain killers and a break is in order! Plus, I got a message letting me know my mother’s car is ready, so we’ll be going into town to pick that up, and get the new alternator belt and tensioner looked at. And talk to him about the windshield wipers. And the EGR valve codes triggering the check engine light…

We really need a new van. Or maybe a truck, instead. As long as my husband can get in and out without too much pain, and there’s room for his walker.

If I’m going to dream about it, I want an extended cab F150 or Ram 1500 (both highest rated for winter trucks, last I looked), with a tow hitch and a plow attachment. With, of course, a plow and a small trailer to go with it. Plus a cap on the box, to protect our monthly groceries and supplies. ;-)

In blue.

Because I like blue.

Oh, that reminds me. I wasn’t able to stop to take a photo, but while driving home from the city, the odometer on our van hit 456,789 km. :-D

Definitely time for something newer, and in better shape! Since we got this vehicle, the cost of major repairs could have bought a newer, less worn out, vehicle! It’s done well by us, though, all things considered.

Even if I did have to drive across three provinces while holding the door with one hand, to keep it from popping open, in spite of the Bungee cord rigged to hold it closed, when we moved out here!

Still, not bad for a vehicle I could pay for using my debit card.

The Re-Farmer