Today was a mixed bag…

May 22, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

There was good stuff and sad stuff.

It was a very early day for me, mostly because once I woke up at around 4am, I wasn’t able to fall back asleep. I finally have up well before my 5:30 alarm.

We expected to need a lot of time to get Furriosa and Bug – we knew we wouldn’t be able to get Marta – into carriers, so my daughter and I were out shortly after 6. Since she has had better luck making contact with them, I held the carrier while she tried to get them.

Bug turned out to be really easy to get. First try, even!

Furriosa took a bit longer, but my daughter was finally able to grab her by the scruff of her neck and quickly sneak her into the carrier.

It was done so quickly, I had plenty of time before I planned to leave for the vet! I still brought the truck over and opened the gate, while my daughter did the outside cat feeding, then we made sure the carriers were secure in the sun room before going inside for a while.

I headed out shortly after 7, shooting for an 8am drop off, though I’d been told 9am. The clinic opens at 8 and it takes a while to process, so I prefer to be early. Once the carriers were in the truck and no longer being moved around, Bug and Furriosa settled right in. I had Furriosa on the passanger seat, with the door facing me, and she watched me for the entire drive!

I wasn’t the only one to get there just before the clinic opened. We didn’t have long to wait.

When it was my turn to get them checked in, the receptionist was able to find both Bug and Furriosa still in their system from when we tried to get them spayed before. I mentioned that they might be pregnant so, even if though they were still small, they really needed to get done. Neither would survive a pregnancy. Being yard cats, we also went on the assumption they have ear mites and worms. She double checked what the rescue would cover and it was basically just ear mites, but they planned to use ivermectin, which can also have a deworming effect.

I made sure to tell them that I had a long drive and would be hanging around town until they called me, and she said they would try to get them done as quickly as possible.

I then spent the next while going to the Dollarama and the Walmart, picking up a few things, then trying to nap in the truck.

That didn’t work.

I had updated the people in the rescue chat group earlier, and they had some questions. Then I started getting messages from my brother and SIL. My brother was able to get the day off, so they could go to my mother at the TCU and help things ready for her transfer to the nursing home. For some reason, the staff thought I was given the list of my mother’s medications, which they hadn’t. As my mother’s PoA, my brother had paperwork to sign and take care of on her behalf. Then they waited until the Handi Van came to pick her up.

After I while, I gave up trying to nap and went across to the Canadian Tire. I needed another quick connect hose repair kit, but I couldn’t remember if I needed the male or female connector. Not that the packages say that any more. They have “tap end” and “accessory end” or some such. I also got a new multi function spray nozzle. I had one I really liked that I used last year, but when I set it up this year, I found it was leaking in between sections of the handle.

In this one, the handle is all one metal piece.

The greenhouse portion of their garden centre was open, so I looked around. There were a few things that interested me, including some berry bushes, but today was not a day to pick them up. I still need to mark out and prepare for the basket willow that are in the process of being shipped. There is also a Manchurian Walnut, which will be planted in a completely different location from the willow. I have a tracking number, as a shipping label has been created, but the won’t actually be in the mail until Monday. I need to prepare for those before I start thinking of getting more trees or bushes!

By the time I was done at Canadian Tire, it was past lunch time, and I ended up going back to Walmart, just to walk around and look at things indoors, out of the heat. Past 1pm, I finally decided to just go to the clinic and see.

When I got there, I asked to find out what the status was and she got the names to look them up. She told me, they were just about to call me, and that the vet wanted to discuss the care routine, first.

That part is typical. What wasn’t typical is when a tech came back and told me to go to one of the examination rooms and the vet would come and talk to me.

Usually, they just give us the print out and, if there is anything extra, talk to me in the waiting area near the reception desk.

I’ve been in this room before. This is where we spent our last moments with our elderly Freya. This room has its own private exit, so people don’t have to go through the waiting room to leave. This is also where the vet talked to us about Bug, Furriosa and Domino when we brought them in for spay, and we were told they were too small. So it was obvious, there was something going on.

When the vet came, she told me that things went well with Bug.

Then she told me she made the decision to euthanize Furriosa.

It turns out she was in very bad condition. Being so fluffy, we couldn’t see that she was basically skin and bones. She had gained no weight since we tried to spay her before. She said Furriosa’s teeth were badly broken (!!!???!!!) and she had skin issues. All things we couldn’t see because we couldn’t handle her. The vet knew that they were colony cats, so she understood we couldn’t have known. She suspected there might have been liver problems. She said, we could have gone through much testing and diagnosis and what would likely be extensive treatment, but she felt that Furriosa’s condition was just too poor to put her through that.

*sigh*

She did ask if anyone had explained about the possibility of euthanasia, and I said yes. It wasn’t done this time, but we’ve brought in so many cats by now, we are well aware of the risks.

As for Bug, the vet she had diarrhea and needed to be cleaned up before they could do the spay. She’s very small for her age and, while she was treated for ear mites, she decided to send home a deworming pill (half pill, actually) into her, tomorrow. We’ll put it with some wet cat food or a squeeze treat and get her to eat it that way.

After the vet filled me in, I was sent back to reception to wait while someone brought Bug and the carrier Furriosa had come in. I hadn’t brought a donation towards this, as was done last time but, when I found out how much the pill cost, I was at least able to cover that. Aside from arrangements with rescues, this clinic also accepts donations specific to spays and neuters – the two receptionists talked about transferring from the donation account to cover today’s spay. They also had a container of what I at first through were lapel pins that were going for a recommended $1 donation each. The backs were odd, so I had to ask what they were.

They were decorations for Crocs.

My daughters both have knock-off Crocs.

I had some toonies, so I got four of them. Every little bit will help someone else in our position to get spays and neuters done.

We are booked to come back next week with Misha and Marta – if we can get them into carriers!!

While that was happening, Bug and the empty carrier were brought out and I got my printouts with care instructions. Once in the truck, I quickly updated the rescue group and the family, then got caught up on messages about my mother’s transfer – she had arrived by then – before heading home.

Bug started at me through the carrier door, completely silent, for the trip.

I pulled up to the house and my daughter came out to help me get Bug into the isolation shelter. Which went very quickly. Once the carrier door was open, she ran right into the shelter, then went straight for the food bowl! There was still some softened kibble from the morning cat soup she could safely eat.

Then we unloaded the truck and my daughter parked it while I put things away, then got on my computer to properly update everyone and catch up on message.

I really dislike using a touch screen for messaging.

I hadn’t eaten lunch and it was well past three by then, so my daughter was a sweetheart and took care of feeding the outside cats while I made myself some food. She said she got to give Bug all sorts of scrubs!

We’re all saddened about Furriosa, but in the end, it’s better that it worked out this way. Otherwise, she would have just stayed sick outside until she disappeared, and we wouldn’t have known what was going on.

This picture was of her watching me in the truck, just before I started driving to the vet.

Poor little thing.

After I finished eating and getting more updates about my mother – and a glowing report on how much better the nursing home is, compared to the TCU, from my SIL – I headed outside. We had a hot day and I wanted to get some watering done, as well as take care of things with what I picked up. We might still get rain tonight, but even with all the rain we already had, the beds were baking.

Before I started the watering, I got out the box of larger safety pins I’d picked up and secured the mosquito netting better to the wire of the raised bed cover.

This is why I wanted to make sure it was very secure.

That cats so lover to use that mosquito netting as a hammock!

That done, I went to the hose that was missing its end (I got the wrong connector for it last year, but didn’t realize it until after I’d cut off the damage end). I set that hose up in the rain barrel bout by the plum, gooseberry, apple and haskap row, and added one more length of hose to the back tap. Now the main part of the hose is long enough to reach up to the rain barrel hose for a quick connect. I watered the main garden beds – I really like the new sprayer! – first, then set up the hose to the rain barrel. While that was filling, I used a watering can to water the sea buckthorn, highbush cranberry and mulberry, before doing the row by the barrel. The barrel is between the gooseberry and the apply tree. Neither the apple nor the plum are showing leaf buds year. Nor is the mulberry.

I think I found out why, with the apple.

Only visible from one side, I found critter damage.

*sigh*

The damage is all on one side, so I’m hopping the rest of it is enough to keep it going.

By the time the watering was done, the barrel was mostly full. This barrel leaks, and I am taking advantage of that. It will slowly drain between the gooseberry and the apple and, with about 30-35 gallons of water in there, will probably benefit the plum and at least one haskap, too.

After switching the hose back to the spray nozzle and returning it to the main garden area, I worked on the old kitchen garden, watering it and the east garden beds of kohlrabi and cabbage, from the nice and full rain barrel. Ambient temperature rain water is much preferable to our very cold well water.

With that done, I still had enough energy to put the end walls on the chain link fence raised bed. Being barley 2 feet wide, I wove the skinny, still flexible, maple and poplar I’d gathered last fall, wattle weave style, trimming them with pruning sheers.

They look so much better than the deadwood walls! 😄 I’ll continue working on the front wall once I sharpen points onto the stakes, but at the moment, that might be a few days.

So that has been my day today. It was mostly good stuff. Getting both cats into the carrier and to the vet. Bug getting spayed, thanks to help from the rescue. My mother finally in a nursing home of her choice – the staff remember her sister, and some of them remember my late father, too! – while my brother and SIL could be there to help out and take care of the paperwork. Being able to get a few things I needed while out today, and getting at least a bit of work in the garden.

The only sad thing is not being able to bring Furriosa home. We couldn’t even be with her at the end. I know the vet took good care of her, though. It was the same vet that took care of our Freya.

Tomorrow, I’m hoping to get to my mother’s in the morning with the stuff in the truck that I’d taken from her room at the TCU. None of it is essential stuff, but I need it out of my truck. Tomorrow is Saturday and the dump is open longer hours. I need to finally get my mother’s old mattress and boxspring, which have been hanging out against a wall in the garage since January, to the dump!

I don’t know how much I’ll get done outside, though. We’re supposed to have rain from 2am to 2pm, so we’ll see how it goes.

Now that spring has finally arrive, things should be getting busy outside, but the rain is limiting what I can get done!

I’m not complaining, though. We need the rain.

So that’s where we’re at now.

With only a few hours of sleep last night, I am so very exhausted right now!

The Re-Farmer

Good news!

May 21, 2026 / Re-Farmer / 4 Comments

Today has turned out to be a dreary day with rain on and off all night and continuing on through today.

Translation: I feel like I’m about to fall asleep at my keyboard right now.

The ground is way too saturated for the work I hoped to do outside today, but I can’t complain.

First good news.

I got Bug!

She had come into the sun room to eat kibble and was hungry enough that she didn’t run off when I came near. I grabbed the bowl of cat soup for the isolation cats and saw her still there, so I snuck a pet on her back.

She looked at me, then went back to eating.

I gave her neck scritches.

She kept eating.

So I picked her up.

She wasn’t too happy with that, but I had the bowl of warm cat soup, so I basically stuck it under her face and started walking. Every time she made like she was going to escape, I moved the food closer. She didn’t try to eat it while I held her, but it did seem to calm her down.

Once at the isolation shelter, she allowed me to put her in! I took out the food bowl inside and closed the window before she could make a run for it.

After taking out the leftover cat soup from last night, which the other cats pounce on immediately, I refilled it with fresh cat soup and set it back in.

Curtis was very interested in getting into the shelter and I ended up letting him in, too.

I did a quick check around the yard and, thinking of the raccoon I saw in the garden shed, decided to check and see if it was still there.

Yes, SHE was.

Turn your volume up a bit for this one.

There’s a litter of baby raccoons under that ball of fur. At the start of the video, you can hear the extra chittering from the babies.

Hmm… I just realized that Instagram shortened an 11 second video into something barely a second long – but I’m also getting “we are having trouble playing this video” messages. That’s on my desktop, though. On my phone, I can see the whole thing. Do let me know if you are getting the full 11 seconds, please!

I did move that garden feeder attachment aside after getting the video. I could just see part of her face after moving it, but she stayed all hunched around her babies.

I’m going to have to figure out how to get the stuff in the shed that I’ll need for the garden without scaring the heck out of them all. I don’t expect aggression from the mama, unless she feels threatened, which she might if I start moving out the bundles of garden stakes and plant supports. There’s that rolling seat/cart, but I won’t need it now that I’ve got my walker.

We’ve had cats have their litters in there, but this is a first for raccoons!

I paused to get a picture of the isolation kitties before I headed out this afternoon. Curtis is in the big cuddle puddle. Bug wants out again. 😄

Tonight, they have their overnight fast. In the morning, we have to get two into carriers. On file, we’re supposed to bring in Furriosa and Batman (aka: Marta), but they will take any two we can bring. I can see being able to get Bug. Furriosa… my daughter might be able to get her, but I’ve barely managed to sneak touches on her back. The other two, not even that, but we’ll have another week to work on them.

Once the outside cat stuff was done, it was time to head into town. My husband was finally up to getting his blood work done. That is always a challenge. They always have a hard time to get a vein on him – and they needed to take 8 vials! The tech barely got two done before she had to find another spot and was eventually able to fill the remaining vials.

That done and home again, I was going to grab an early lunch, then head over to visit my mother, since I wouldn’t be able to do it tomorrow.

Which is when I got a call from my brother.

It has finally happened.

He got a call from the nursing home. The one my mother actually wants to be in.

They have a bed for her – tomorrow!!!!

After well over two years – probably closer to three, by now! – of my mother fighting to get into a nursing home, it is finally going to happen! Yay!!!!

They wanted us to do the transport, which we thought the TCU would do. I wasn’t going to be home tomorrow, plus my mother can’t get into the truck. She can barely get into my brother’s car. So that was something that needed to be worked out.

Things were still very much in the air, except for what her room number will be, and “check in” time. She will have a room to herself, too.

I told my brother I was planning to visit after I finished my lunch, and he said he would phone Mom right away, since he was at work and was doing this between other things.

When I got to the TCU, I stopped at the nursing station first. The head nurse was there and they had already been called by the nursing home. I brought up about transportation and she told me they had already arranged a Handi Van. There will be a charge for it, since my mother is being transferred to her “forever home”, not another TCU, but it won’t be a lot. This way, they can use her wheelchair to get her in and out, and can safely secure her for the trip. The nurse suggested I take as much of my mother’s belongings as I can, to make it easier for them to transport her.

Then I went to my mother’s room. My brother had got through to her, and she was very happy with the news. She can’t wait to get out of the TCU!

We talked for a while and worked out what I should take with me for now, and I started taking things to the truck. Then I packed almost all of her remaining things in a couple of hard sided grocery bags, leaving just what she would need for the night and the morning. The head nurse came by and we talked a bit more about the transfer. She even remembered that they need to include Mom’s Pepto supply.

I visited a bit longer and we talked about how things will be done tomorrow, what they will take care of, and how she will be transported in the wheelchair while they bring the walker as well (I was specifically instructed to leave the walker).

My mother then insisted that her wheelchair has been “switched”. That her wheelchair was wider than this one. I told her, it’s the same wheelchair. I scrubbed that thing. I know what it looks like.

Only later did I remember about the cushion. Our vandal had brought her a “wheelchair” cushion, except it was basically just a memory foam cushion for a regular seat. It doesn’t actually fit in her wheelchair. Which is why it would be feeling smaller when she’s in it.

My mother has decided they’ve “switched” the wheelchair and nothing will convince her otherwise. She also claimed they “forgot” one of her meds, and went on about how terrible this place is for taking care of her medications and of her, and how she hoped it will be better in the nursing home.

It will be better, for sure, but not in the ways my mother will understand, and some things won’t change. Even while I was there, with her room mate out, she got mad and demanded I close the door, because someone in the hallway was talking. I closed the door but pointed out that, here she was, alone in the room, and complaining about noises in the hall. She’s going to hear noises in the nursing home, too. Her response was, “I’m not alone, you’re with me.”

…

So I rephrased that her room mate was not there. She will have her own room in the nursing home, but there are other people living there. She will hear noise. There is no escaping that.

I get the impression she believes that in the nursing home, things will be completely silent in her room. Granted, it’s not a transitional care unit in an old hospital, but there are a lot of people living there, and a lot of staff. She also thinks that the staff will all be white and Christian, because this place was built by a local Christian community, I forget how many decades ago. She is familiar with this place, since this is where my father spent his last 6 months, and her sister spent quite a few years before passing. Interestingly, when it came up with the head nurse, my mother talked about her sister living there, which she has brought up before, but she never mentions my father living there. It’s almost as if she’s forgotten my father existed, in many ways – and I don’t mean due to dementia. Which really doesn’t surprise me, to be honest. Ah, well.

Hopefully, things will work out. When my father was there, he always spoke about how well they were taking care of them and he would tell them how much he appreciated them.

That’s not something my mother is capable of, unfortunately, and I strongly suspect that, probably within days, she will find things to be angry about, and she will likely be lashing out at people before long. It is just the way she is.

Overall, though, it was a better than usual visit, even though she got mad at me for things like putting some of her items in the box of the truck, covered and hidden from view, because it doesn’t lock. She thinks people will steal her odds and ends. In fact, as I was leaving, the last thing she said to me was to keep her stuff safe. She’s more worried about her possessions than anything else!

Some things just don’t change.

Meanwhile, I have also been in touch with the rescue. They are happy that Bug is back in the isolation shelter. I’m really hoping all goes well, and we can get cats into the carriers in the morning!

It’s time for me to go out and feed them now. I want to make sure the isolation kitties get their fill of cat soup before we have to remove the bowl this evening. We’re going to have to be up quite early and, once we get two cats into carriers, the other cats will get their morning feeding.

Wish us luck! We’re going to need it!

The Re-Farmer

New critter cam is up (a semi product review)

November 25, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Today was a pretty quiet day, overall. We did have a surprise at our gate around midnight. I started getting motion detection alerts and discovered a horse.

It was our vandal’s horse. Before my father passed away, our vandal used to bring his horses here at times, so when it got out, it probably remembered the way and being able to go through our driveway. I ended up sending an email to our vandal’s wife to let them know. She didn’t see it until morning, and it turned out the horse was back home, safe and sound, by then. I’m glad to hear it. A dark horse on the road at night is pretty risky!

We had plenty of cuteness this morning, of course.

If you click through the slide show, you’ll see a crowded cat cave – there are at least four kittens jammed into there! My daughter had been able to pet the Colby, the fluffy orange and white kitten, yesterday but no such luck today. The big tom visited us today, and discovered roof top dining on the cat house roof. With the heat lamp inside, it would be slightly warmer overall.

The isolation kitties are doing very well. That insulation is getting torn to shreds. I actually caught Pinky tearing at it as I was doing my evening rounds. She’ll be let out soon enough. Thursday night, I hope we can get a couple of cats in there for fasting and a trip to the vet on Friday. I’m really, hoping to get Frank. She sometimes lets us pet her and purrs when we do, but she is a bundle of nerves and still doesn’t really trust us. It’s going to be hard to get her into a carrier.

I’ve been in contact with the rescue and they asked if I decided who we’d be bringing in. I told them about Frank, but said it’ll be whoever we can catch! I let them know that we’ve had to do this before, where they knew the cats were from a colony. This clinic is good with doing whatever cats we bring in, even if we don’t know in advance which ones they’ll be. Getting strays and colony cats fixed is a big thing for them, so they are willing to accommodate.

With that in mind, when it was relatively warmer in the afternoon, my daughter and I set up the new critter cam. This is what I unboxed, yesterday.

I set it up with the app and got it charging overnight. It was set aside on my desk and, in the morning, I found it had caught one of the cats, being where it wasn’t supposed to be! Impressive, considering the camera was pointing at the ceiling all night!

The first thing to do was decide where the base plate needed to go on the little house I made for the camera, then screw that in place. The camera itself has a latch and can be easily removed, as needed.

Once my daughter and I figured out where we want to attach it to the elm tree in front of the kitchen window, we used the draw knife to shave away at the bark, and even using a chisel in one area, to make it level enough to attack to. We need to get rid of this tree entirely, so we’re not worried about damaging it.

After we got the camera arrangement attached, we had to figure out where to put the solar panel. The cord it came with is nice and long, so it can be placed quite a distance, if necessary. Our main concern was putting it somewhere the critters wouldn’t be getting at it, while still being able to face south, unobstructed. It ended up going under one of the main branch, where my daughter was able to create a flat spot to attach it to – the screws it came with aren’t long enough to go through such thick bark to the wood below. Then, between the two of us, we got the holder on and screwed the solar panel in place, which you can see in the second picture of the above slide show.

In attaching the base plate for the camera to the tree, we started hitting something that was too hard for a couple of the screws to go through. These are 3 inch screws, though, so it’s still very secure – and one of the screws that was sticking out quite a bit came in handy, to hang the excess solar panel wire off of. You can see the final set up in the second last picture of the slide show.

The last picture is of one of the stills it took while being set up. It saves stills into a cloud, but it also takes video, which gets saved to the micro SD card.

By the time we were done, there were at LOT of files to delete!

That done, and while my daughter got the evening cat feeding ready, I grabbed a litter box from the cat cage in the sun room. When there were tiny kittens in there, it was being used, but not that they’re all bigger, they ignore it. I was going to just replace the dirty litter box in the isolation shelter with the clean one. As I took the old litter box out, though, I also grabbed the cat bed that was down there. The cats were no longer using it as a bed.

They were using it as a litter box.

Ew.

I scrapped it off as best I could. Normally, I’d have set it in a bucket with some water and detergent to soak for a while, but it’s too cold for that, and I wasn’t about to bring it inside! What I ended up doing is cleaning out the old litter box, refilling it and setting it back in the isolation shelter, so they now have two litter boxes on the bottom, and no extra cat bed.

I’m glad I designed the bottom with clean up in mind. The mesh will make it a lot easier. It’s a real mess down there! Come spring, we can brush it out as much as possible, then hose it down. For now, the cats will just have to put up with the scattered sawdust mess they made on the floor, but at least they’ll have two litter boxes now.

With the camera in place and the litters done, I moved the doorway box shelter back in front of the isolation shelter, with one side wall against the front panel, to keep critters from trying to claw their way through the vinyl covering the wire mesh. Last year, that happened pretty quickly when we had cats in isolation, and cats outside were wanting in. This year, they don’t seem to have tried, but I still want to keep things as covered as possible.

One of my concerns about having the camera is that I might get too many alerts due to cat activity. I wasn’t sure how busy things would get. I know cats like to jump onto the doorway box shelter, onto the bin on one side, the chair on the other, and onto the roof. Plus, I know raccoons have been all over it, trying to get in – they are the main reason I wanted the camera, really. I have been getting motion detection notifications, but nowhere near as much as I thought I might get. Things are pretty quite in there. The only add thing is checking the notification and finding that the camera’s position has been altered slightly. Which means something moved it, somehow. I’m not sure how that would happen.

What I have discovered is that I can use the camera to check a lot more than just the isolation shelter! I can check the main door, of course, as it’s close by, but I can also check the cat shelters by the sun room, and even the catio and shrine feeding station. In the other direction, I can see quite a bit of the East yard before the tree itself blocks the view.

So far, I’m quite happy with how this camera is doing. I don’t even have the motion sensor sensitivity changed from the default (from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most sensitive, it was on 6), and it’s picking things up fine. The one issue I have with other security cameras is that they don’t pick up vehicles. Just people (or people sized critters). Which is fine if you’re using it in the city or something, but where we are, it’s vehicles that I need to monitor more than anything else. We don’t have pedestrian traffic. With this camera, we have no way to test that right now, since it’s not being used for that, so I can’t say whether it works better or not.

Depending on how things work out, what we might do is make a stand similar to what I have right now for the gate trail cam, which would allow us to set the camera up in locations where we don’t have handy trees to attach it to.

Now I’m thinking ahead to how and where we can set up the big trap and try to get some of the more feral mamas, with the camera to monitor the trap, during the winter. We would want to get the feral ladies done before they go into heat in the last winter. If we have the mild winter it looks like we will be getting, they might go into heat really early, like happened this year with several cats.

We’re supposed to get 2 cats done on Friday and, since Frank got away from us last time, we still have donated funds for one more to do, if the rescue can arrange another date for us. It’s through someone else that is able to get these super low rates for spays, and they have only a certain number of slots available, so we’ll see how that works out. After that, the cost will probably go back up. It’s still a lot cheaper than anywhere else. When I’m there on Friday, I should ask them about the possibility of last minute appointments for trapped spays of more feral cats. We have plenty of friendly males we could bring in for neuters at any time. We just really need to get those ladies done!

Well, we’ll see how it works out as time goes by. Until then, we just do the best we can for the critters.

The Re-Farmer

More company

November 19, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Today turned out to be a very dreary day outside, so it was a quiet one for the family. I did, of course, keep an eye on Pinky, and she seemed to be doing very well.

Also, no damage to the isolation shelter from the raccoons trying to break in, that I could see. I did end up ordering a solar powered security camera that was on sale. It likely won’t arrive until after the cats are out of isolation, but it will still be good to have it set up to keep an eye on things in there.

When doing the evening cat feeding, I did grab a tiny tuxedo and put him (her?) in the isolation shelter. As with the mostly white one, it’s so small, it was being pushed away from the food trays and I would often find it off to the side, looking forlorn.

When I tucked it in s/he immediately started eating.

I’m glad Pinky is okay with the company of littles. She never really got along with the other cats and was a loner. When her own kittens were still around, she was such a good mama – but would bat at any other kittens that came close! Now, the mostly white one likes to snuggle up against her, and she’s fine with it.

That tuxedo settled in real fast. Once the belly was full, it curled up in the cat bed and promptly went to sleep!

I did make a point of stopping by and petting Pinky as often as I could while doing my evening rounds. The mostly white one was also enjoying pets. I was able to pet the fluffy grey tabby while it was eating, but that’s it. While not at the food bowl, I can’t touch it.

I did get a look at Pinky’s belly, and could barely tell there was an incision at all. No sign of infection or any sort of irritation. All is looking very well!

While doing my rounds and switching out the trail cam memory cards, I had a whole crowd following me. I ended up getting lots of pictures.

Above, the first picture is of a very gorgeous, Rabi (I’ve concluded that yes, he is Kohl’s brother), AKA: Fancypants. Then there’s an adorable black and white kitten that I think might be female. Next is Hypotenose, aggressively demanding pets. I came back later and paused to try and get a picture of the fluffy orange kitten, Colby, though the cat house window, which attracted a whole crowd on the roof! The seven biggest ones all wanted attention. The fluffy kitten in the back won’t let me close.

And that’s about the most exciting thing of my day today.

I like quiet, boring days. I need more of them. 😄

The Re-Farmer

Only one

November 18, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, having Frank and Pinky in the isolation shelter overnight (with a fluffy feral kitten) almost worked.

We were able to get Pinky into a carrier, but Frank escaped while we tried to get her into the second one. My younger daughter had been helping me while my older daughter distracted the other cats by feeding them. When the three of us failed to catch Frank, we couldn’t grab a substitute, since they had all eaten, and they need to be on an overnight fast.

*sigh*

So, my younger daughter and I headed out with just one cat instead of two for spay.

I made sure to open the gate before we headed out, so that we wouldn’t have an extra stop once Pinky was in the vehicle. The sky was just starting to get light in the East, when I spotted something interesting. Forgive the poor quality of the image. The best picture I could get was quite zoomed in.

That is a sliver of a moon, in the sunrise!

I absolutely hate driving at sunrise, and sunset. That half light makes it so hard to see. Especially with oncoming headlights. My daughter was on deer watching duty (she did see some, thankfully out in a field, not about to run across the road!). The visibility was so poor while we were traveling east, I never did make it to the posted speed limit. Once we were driving south, it was better, but when I ended up behind a slower moving truck, driving with its hazards blinking, I really didn’t mind slowing down. Not that passing would have been safe for quite some time. I was not the only one okay with driving slower, either!

It was full light by the time we got to the clinic parking lot, just before the clinic opened. Which is when my daughter saw that I had dried blood all over the side of my hand! Frank got me good, when I tried to pick her up!

Thankfully, we keep wet wipes in the truck.

Pinky was very quiet for the entire drive in, which was almost scary after a while. She had been scrambling to get out of the carrier before we put her into the truck and then nothing for the entire ride!

After we checked her in, they took her carrier to where they could keep her in a larger kennel until her surgery. My daughter and I then headed out, first to get some gas, then grab breakfast. We went to the McDonalds in the Walmart, because there really wasn’t anything else for that time of the morning.

Then we did some shopping. I had to pick up more kibble for both inside and outside cats, plus I got extra wet cat food, as kitties recovering in the isolation shelter get treated extra special while they are stuck in there, and that includes their own wet cat food. By the time I got the cat supplies, plus some household supplies, my budget was pretty much done. One thing I needed to get, but didn’t have much budget for anymore, was new work boots suitable for the winter. Both my regular work boots and my steel toed shoes are falling apart and are just not wearable anymore. My daughter, however, went looking for different boots for me to try on. When I saw the price, though, they were out of budget. Not by a lot, but enough that I wasn’t going to get them – but my daughter insisted that she would buy them for me! That was really sweet of her. She’s getting a disability income now, but it’s a paltry sum.

Aside from that, I had a few smaller items for my husband, such as more distilled water for his CPAP humidifier, while my daughter had her own shopping list. We took our time about it, since we knew it would be a while before the vet clinic called.

After the shopping was done and in the truck, we sat in the truck for a while and talked. Which is when I realized I’d forgotten a few things. Things we could get at the nearby Dollarama. So we went there next. Along with my forgotten items, I found some things for my mother. The one thing I knew she wanted, we couldn’t find in either store; a sink plunger. Her kitchen sink drains very slowly. She’s called about it before and they sent someone to pour drain cleaner down the pipes, and that was it. The problem never went away. So she’s been asking for a sink plunger for some time, and this time I actually remembered while I was out and about.

We didn’t find one at the Dollarama, but I did find an affordable cat cave; one with wire supports on the outside, that would keep cats from crushing it!

That done, we headed across the street to the Canadian Tire. We actually found several tyles of sink plungers there! I picked one that I thought would be easier for my mother’s mobility.

Another thing I remembered I wanted to pick up were more furnace filters, as we are on our last 3 pack. Canadian Tire is the only place I’ve been able to find the 20″x20″x1″ size our furnace needs. I just about lost it when I found them – and saw the price! A 2 pack for $42.99! Singles were $31.99!

I remember getting 3 packs for under $10.

After looking around, I found some off brand filters that were exactly like what we’ve been using. A three pack for only $7.99 What a difference!

By the time we were done there, it wasn’t even noon yet. It could still be a couple of hours before they called us. So my daughter and I went for lunch.

At McDonalds. Because that was what I had a budget for.

Twice in one day is a bit much!

After lunch, we decided to just go back to the clinic and sit in the parking lot to wait. We both ended up leaning our seats back and napping! My phone kept going off, though, so I didn’t get much of a nap. When it was getting closer to 2pm and we hadn’t gotten a call yet, I figured I would go in and ask.

Pinky hadn’t gone in for surgery yet!

That just blew me away. They’d never been this late before! In fact, knowing that I’m hanging around town because we live so far away, they’ve always made a point of getting our cats done as quickly as they could. Usually, I would have been on my way home by 2, or even earlier. Poor Pinky would have been so very hungry by then! I was assured they would call me when she was done.

So we waited some more – and fretted. They must have gotten her in shortly after I asked about her, because I got a call just before 2:30, saying she was done and recovering, and that I could pick her up after 3.

We ended up going in early, as we needed to use their facilities before our drive home, and they were able to get Pinky out right away. All I had to do was give them the marked envelop for the donated, and they gave me an after care printout.

Poor Pinkly was pretty upset when my daughter tried to put the carrier into the back of the cab. In the end, she held the carrier on her lap for the drive home. Pinky was quiet, but she would try to claw and bite at the door to get out. Most alarming was that she frequently stopped to just pant.

I did manage a picture before we got her into the truck. Not a very good one!

In the first picture, you can actually see that she’s panting.

The next picture, my daughter had taken for me earlier, of the damage Frank did to my hand – after I’d cleaned the dried blood away! That one didn’t hurt at all. Oddly, it was a less deep scratch under my thumb that actually stung more.

In the last picture, Pinky is all tucked into the isolation shelter, with the fluffy feral. They quite enjoyed their wet cat food that my daughter gave them, while I distracted the other cats with their softened kibble feeding.

After they were fed and everything was put away, I set up the new cat cave. It was immediately explored!

Havarti is almost too big for it! The little ones could certainly fit in there. They currently like to crowd into the blue striped one. That one is taller, but has a smaller base than this one.

Of course, we’ve been checking on Pinky and her companion often through the evening. Usually, all looked well. However, as I was writing this post, I paused to go into the kitchen. I heard a commotion out the window and feared Pinky was trying to escape.

Nope.

I found three or four big raccoons, trying to break into the shelter! There wasn’t even any food left inside, but they still were trying to get int! Two or three were on the roof, and one was at the ramp door below, when they all scattered as I stepped outside.

This is not good. I really don’t think the shelter is raccoon proof! Those buggers have hands. They might be able to open, or pull out, the sliding windows, or tear apart the roof panels.

While I was finishing things up outside, before it got dark, I did see Frank.

It’s going to take a while to regain her trust. She won’t let me near her anymore! We really need to work on that. We have two cats booked on the 28th. We really want to get her spayed. She is so small, and I remember how bloody she was the day she had her kittens.

Meanwhile…

Before we got home, my husband sent a note saying that my mother had called and left a message. When I checked the answering machine, though, I found a message that had been left earlier.

Much earlier. While we were still on the road.

It was home care, saying they had a list minute cancellation for my mother’s morning med assist. The scheduler did at that they had someone that could eventually do her med assist, but it would be so late that it would be about the same time my mother was getting her lunch meal assist. The scheduler even left a number for me to call.

Neither my husband nor daughter had heard the call come in, and the scheduler never tried to call my cell phone.

I thought that maybe my mother still got her med assist later, but when I called her back after hearing her message, she told me that no one showed up for her morning med assist. I told her about the message I got; that they did try to call me, but I was not home, and they never called my cell phone.

What my mother had wanted to talk about was a call she got from the hospital about her upcoming MRI. They asked all sorts of questions to make sure that my mother had nothing metal on or in her body. She had forgotten to mention her dentures. The form they sent for her to fill out did include dentures, which we checked off, but my mother doesn’t remember that and is now all worried about it.

Aside from that, though, her main reason for calling me was because neither I nor my siblings have called her in a few days. I’d spent most of Friday with her, so it hasn’t actually been that long – and I did mention to her that I had an appointment today, but she forgot. When I updated my siblings about the missed home care visit, my brother mentioned he’d just done a 13 hour day, and still didn’t finish what he needed to do, but had to call it a day. I’ve told my mother as often as I can, that my brother works very long hours at his job – sometimes odd hours, due to time zones – but she still expects him to be able to drop everything to tend to her. Even today, when I told her about the call I got from home care, she was asking “why are they calling you?” I don’t know how many times we’ve explained to her that I’m at the top of their list of people to call. Next on the list would be my brother, and there’s no way he’d be able to leave his job and drive out from the city to do something like a med assist. My sister is technically retired and works only part time, but she has a late shift, so she tends not to get up until much later in the morning. Plus, to be honest, I don’t know that my sister’s health is all that good, either. She isn’t saying anything, but even my mother is seeing signs that something is off. My sister is approaching 70 though, like my mother, she doesn’t look anywhere near her age. Anyhow, there are many reasons why I’m the one they call. If not me, I’m not sure who else my mother thinks they would be calling!

After talking to my mother, I sent an email to the home care coordinator. I did a reminder about my mother’s MRI on Sunday, adding that I plan to be there earlier, then my brother will be driving us to her appointment in his car, so we’ll be able to take care of both my mother’s evening med assists. I also mentioned the message I got this morning, and that I never actually heard the message until evening, so my mother missed her meds. I asked if they call me on my land line and it goes to the answering machine, to please try my cell phone after leaving a message. They know we live in a cell phone dead zone, but if I’m not there to answer a call to the land line, chances are good I’m out and about and can get a signal. Even if I’m just outside in the yard, I’m more likely to have a call get through than if I’m in the house.

We’ll see how that works out.

For the next while, I actually get to stay home until it’s time for my mother’s MRI. I asked about doing another grocery shopping trip for her on Friday, but she said no. The daytime temperatures are expected to be fairly warm, which I plan to take full advantage off, as much as possible. It will also be good for Pinky and her fluffy companion in the isolation shelter. Though, after what happened with the raccoons, I’m thinking we should look into getting an outdoor security camera that will allow us to keep an eye on the isolation shelter more easily. Considering how much use it will get in the winter, it might be worth the investment. Something solar powered. I’ll have to do some research on that.

Anyhow, that’s how things worked out today. It’s unfortunate Frank managed to escape this morning, but at least Pinky is done and seems to be doing quite well, so far.

As long as we can keep the raccoons out of the isolation shelter!!

The Re-Farmer

We have lost that battle! Plus garden stuff

April 21, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, yesterday, we finally admitted it. The battle has been lost. We’ve thrown in the towel and admitted defeat – for safety reasons, really.

Despite my best efforts, Magda kept getting out of the isolation shelter. Once, I found a sliding window open, but most of the time, I could see nothing disturbed. The only way I could see how she could be getting out was through the roof, even though it was weighted down with bricks, and there is a ceiling of rigid insulation. I couldn’t see how she could be getting out the back, where it lefts, but how could she be getting out through the front, where it’s hinged?

Now, the insulation has been slowly scratched and chewed up through the winter, so there is a big gap where the two pieces meet. The gap between the insulation and the roof panels is very narrow, but Magda is so tiny. Was it possible?

Just in case, I found some boards and more pieces of scrap insulation that I slide in between the roof panels and the insulation ceiling. There were still spaces, but they were very small.

Once inside and in the kitchen, went to open the window, which is directly above the isolation shelter. I spotted Magda at one of the gaps in the insulation, scratching at the roof panel. When she heard me tell her to stop, she disappeared below.

Off and on, I would check out the window. Nothing was happening.

Then I looked out and found a very flat Magda, squeezed between the boards, the insulation and the roof panel, like a pancake. !!!

I dashed outside but, as I came closer, she slithered her way back into the shelter, flung herself into the cat bed and stretched out, looking at me as if nothing had just happened. !!!

I found some more scrap pieces of insulation and shifted the boards I’d added around, then kept checking out the window. I didn’t see anything.

Eventually, though, something about the insulation seemed… different.

I went out to check, and there was Magda, sitting on the lawn, looking at me. She had somehow managed to pull the insulation downwards enough for her to squirm through.

At that point, I gave up. She’s supposed to be recovering from surgery, and the last thing she should be doing is squeezing through tight spaces and dropping down from a height. Since we’ve finished the ear medication, and The Grink was looking fine, too, I opened the ramp door to the isolation shelter and let them out, putting the wind breaker box over the opening again.

Even so, when I came out this morning, I found that window open again!

While I was doing my rounds this morning, I had a whole lot of cats following me, including Magda! The second photo above was taken while I was checking the garlic bed. After I got the picture, she walked under Stinky to get to the other side of him.

She is so small, she didn’t have to duck at all to go under him.

Gosh, those two look alike. Given when he was neutered and how old she is, I suppose it’s possible he’s her daddy.

The garlic, meanwhile, is looking much better now!

Their finally turned nice and green and, with the netting in place, nothing it digging them up anymore.

Yesterday was such a gorgeous evening, I was able to do a few things in the garden, though I neglected to take photos. One of them was to uncover the winter sown bed in the old kitchen garden to give it a good watering. With the plastic cover, it didn’t get even what little rain we’ve had, and the sump pump that drains at the high end of the bed has yet to go off this year, so it’s not being watered from below, either. There was enough water in the rain barrel that I could give this bed a thorough watering. Once the cover was off, I could also see that there are quite a few seedlings in there, and what appears to be a couple of onions that I missed from last year!

Once the cover was back on and the plastic secured, I started watering the bed at the chain link fence that is now covered with mesh. I came back to the rain barrel to refill, and found two cats lounging on top of the raised bed cover!

I am not impressed.

The pre-sown bed at the chain link fence, plus the one among the east yard garden beds got watered, and I was still able to refill the watering cans to leave in the portable greenhouse to warm up during the day and add to the heat sink effect during the night.

Which doesn’t actually seem to be accomplishing anything. Whenever I check the thermometer in the morning, it’s reading the same temperature as outside the greenhouse. Still way to cold to be able to move our seedling trays into there!

In checking the other areas, I did some clearing around the walking onions. There are quite a few of them coming up right now. Unfortunately, so is the crab grass, only some of which could be pulled out for now. I check on the fenced off area where the tulips are and there are a lot more leaves showing now. Even the saffron crocuses look like there are more of them. While they never reached the point of blooming before they got choked out by weeds, clearly the corms have expanded.

After I finished my rounds this morning, I grabbed the turkey dinners I put together for my mother and headed out. I left early enough to swing past the grocery store to see if it was open today. It was, so I popped in to pick up a few things I knew my mother was running low on. I also picked up some instant oatmeal for her to try, since she’s having a harder time standing long enough to cook herself breakfast. I figured instant oatmeal would be better than boxed cereal. I got a package with three different flavours for her to try out. When I got to her place and was putting things away, I opened the box to read the instructions – she would have great difficulty reading them herself. Each flavour called for a different amount of water. Oops. Ah, well. I explained the instructions to her as best I could.

While today was just a day to visit, I of course did a little jobs for her, including bagging up her recycling. I noticed bean cans in there, which was something I’d got for her to try before, so I asked how she liked them. She was very enthusiastic in her response, so canned baked beans are now on the list of heat and eat things for her! 😁 Until now, she’d just been getting canned soups.

With the few things I picked up for her today, plus the dinners, plus her three days a week of Meals on Wheels, it turns out my mother isn’t going to need an actual grocery shopping trip for a while. It was, for the most part, a good visit. It wasn’t until the very end, when it was getting time for me to leave anyhow, that she started going off on a tangent. One was about how surprised she was that my brother didn’t phone her for Easter. I pointed out, he came over to visit her because they were going to be out of province this weekend, to spend time with the grandbabies. “Oh, two weeks ago”, she scoffed. Except it wasn’t; it was last weekend, and he spent a long time with her going over her financial stuff, as he regularly does, along with bringing her stuff for her basket and an Easter card.

Then she started going on about my daughters, and how terrible I am for keeping them “tied” to me (she doesn’t get that they actually chose to move out here to help maintain this place) and even back to ranting about how they “know nothing” because we homeschooled. She doesn’t know the girls at all, has made no effort to get to know them (she has only ever wanted to control them and get them to perform for her), but assumes she knows everything about them and about our life in general. Basically, making scenarios up in her mind and assuming they are true, then blaming all the bad stuff on my making parenting choices she didn’t approve of. It’s been decades, and she still does it! I swear, in her mind, the girls are still 10 yrs old or something.

It was definitely time to leave.

By the time I got home, it was getting close to when I would normally go out for my evening rounds, so I was soon back outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather we’ve been having. According to my weather app, we’ve been raining all day, but it was bright sunshine and warm temperatures. After feeding the cats – and playing with the kittens a bit – I ended up taking some April garden tour video. It’s been a month since the last ones I took, so I figured it was about time. I’ll be checking those soon and seeing if I need to do it again or not! 😄

Tomorrow is supposed to be quite a bit colder, with a mix of rain and snow starting in the afternoon. On a day when I have no outings planned and want to get work done outside, of course. 😁 We’ll see how things actually turn out. Some jobs I want to start require power tools and extension cords, so if we’ve got rain or snow, those will wait a bit longer. There is always something that can be worked on, though. I actually have a whole week ahead of me, with no scheduled outings until our first city stock up trip! What a remarkable thing! I might actually get some real work done outside! Gosh, that would be nice!

We shall see!

The Re-Farmer

Kitty updates

April 17, 2025April 17, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, Magda got out of the isolation shelter again. Poor Grink was all alone in there. I decided to catch Kohl and put her in with The Grink for company.

They seem okay with the arrangement!

It wasn’t until after I got back from running errands, late enough to do the evening feeding, that we were able to grab Magda and medicate her ears. We put her back into the isolation shelter after that, then dosed The Grink’s ears.

Kohl, seemed to want out, but not too desperately. Since she might be in there, with the heat lamp, for a couple of weeks, we figured this would be a good time to bring out the clippers and give her a hair cut. She is almost solid with mats, and it must be quite uncomfortable. I know there’s at least one patch on her tail that is burrs stuck in her fur.

Unfortunately, by the time we got the clippers out for what would be their first use, she made her way into the bottom of the isolation shelter, settled on the box nest, and completely ignored us as we tried to convincer to come come to us!

We finally have up.

We went inside and did David, instead.

David wasn’t as bad as Kohl, but we’ve been using a mat cutting comb on him, whenever we could. He really hates being combed or brushed, though, so he still had mats in various areas we haven’t been able to get at.

David did NOT like getting his hair cut. My daughter and I would work at one of us holding him while the other trimmed, then trading off when he got too squirmy. We had to stop a couple of times to just let him have a break and destress a bit – and to clean up the piles of hair.

That is one very fluffy cat!

We got most of him shaved now. Almost, but not quite, a lion’s mane style. It’s a bit of a mess in places, but the mats are gone, and that’s the important part.

He is most displeased with us.

He did finally allow much husband to cuddled him and keep him warm for a bit, though.

I’m hoping to get a picture at some point, but that might take a while. 😄

Meanwhile, the littles in the sun room are getting so very active!!!

The black and white one has climbed out of the cat cave, several times. The calico has been climbing the opening, and there have been a few times I’ve seen her basically dangling from the top. Even their adopted sibling is squirming and worming around.

At one point, my daughter walked past and heard a squeaking noise. She looked over and found the black and white with its front legs outside the cat cave, looking at her and “yelling”. It didn’t stop until she reached in and started petting him! Brussel has been leaving the sun room more often, and for longer times, so we’ve had more opportunity to pick up and cuddle the babies while she’s gone. After taking the last picture, with the black and white one outside the cat cave, I reached in to pick him up, cuddled him a moment, then put him back into the cat cave. Brussel was in there that time, and she was most displeased with me!

In other things…

It looks like we lost our window of opportunity. Slick no longer looks pregnant. I saw Sprout today, which I haven’t for a day or two, and she is looking less round, too. There wasn’t a chance we would have gotten her this time, though. I do wish we’d gotten Slick, though. Well, we just have to concentrate on catching some of the others. At this point, it’s probably a matter of bringing in any cat we can trap, male or female, though if we trap one of the mamas that just gave birth, we’ll have to let them go. The vet won’t spay them while they are lactating. The problem is, with the more feral ones, chances are we won’t be able to tell until the vet actually sees it.

Well, it is what it is. We do the best we can.

Hopefully, Magda will stay in the isolation shelter this time, and get some rest and recovery – and wet cat food! She did get at some of it before The Grink and Kohl ate it all, so maybe she’ll make the association between staying in the isolation shelter and getting extra tasty food, and not having to fight off a dozen other cats for it! 😁

The Re-Farmer

Feline escape artist, and eyes are opening

April 16, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

An update on the spayed ladies, and the littles.

I definitely over did it yesterday, and was in major pain this morning, so we just took care of the cats, and then I went back to bed. Taking care of Magda’s and The Grink’s ears went much better than expected.

Then we discovered Magda is an escape artist.

The first image above was taken right after treating their ears. Since they are in the isolation shelter, they get treated with wet cat food, which The Grink has been enjoying, but Magda seems to be ingnoring.

Then I went out through the sun room to go to the post office, and spotted a very scrabbly looking cat on a cat bed.

It was Magda!

Since getting spayed, she has developed the runs and is looking very messy.

On checking the isolation shelter, I found a corner of the sliding window by the foot bowl was pushed out of its track at the top. I popped it back in place, then got Magda and put her back. After closing the window up again, I noticed it was bowed outwards slightly, so I took it out completely, flipped it so it was bowing the other way, then put it back. I thought that would do the trick.

Then I went inside to change my shirt. Magda left a mess on me while I was carrying her.

By the time I changed and came back out, I checked on the isolation shelter and found the window partly open! Magda figured out how to slide it open from the inside!

The Grink was just sitting there, looking at me. She had no interest in leaving, but she did really want attention!

I don’t like that The Grink is in there alone. We’ll have to find a way to secure the window before we put Magda back, though. When I came home from the post office, I found her snuggling with Syndol. Later on, while my daughter and I were going through the garden areas, she kept following us, when she needs to be resting and recovering!

We also checked on the kittens, of course.

In the first photo, Caramel, in the bed she moved her kittens to, had them completely hidden. I did manage to get a picture of her babies while she was out, though. They are getting very active! With the sides of this bed being so much higher, I could just see their heads bobbing around.

Brussel’s babies are getting downright rambunctious, but they still aren’t quite climbing completely out of the cat cave. They’ll dangle a leg out, or stick their heads through the opening, but so far, that’s it.

When we noticed that Brussel was out, my daughter and I took advantage to take the babies out and snuggle them. I got some pictures, though it was really hard to get good ones. Caramel’s baby’s eyes are opening now, and it seems more active than its siblings in the cat house.

We also had a chance to look at what seemed to be a wound on the black and white kitten’s back leg. With my daughter holding him, I could get a closer look, and it does just look like missing fur. My theory remains; some wet cat food dripped onto him and mama was too aggressive in cleaning it off!

So far, all seems to be well, though I was not seeing any cats going to the food bowl inside the trap today. It may simply have been too windy, even though it’s mostly sheltered by the catio. If we’re after Slick of Adam, though, we’re unlikely to catch either of them in that location. Any female we manage to get will be good, though. We’ll have to figure something out.

At least we got two more down.

The Re-Farmer

Kitty update

April 15, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, we didn’t manage it.

The goal was to bring in 3 pregnant females to the clinic. I honestly thought we’d reached a point with Adam, Slick and Pinky that we could do it.

I was wrong.

This morning, they basically all went feral on us. In the end, I started running out of time and we just had to grab the ones we could grab.

Magda and The Grink. The two littlest ones.

The first two images in the slideshow above were taken before they went into the clinic.

Then there were some of the wounds I got from trying to get the others. I couldn’t find the scratch and bite proof gloves last night. *sigh*

The next two images were taken right after I loaded them into the truck to bring them home. We were told to leave them in the carriers for another 2 hours. The driving time was almost half of that. In the end, we put them into the prepared isolation shelters, as we knew they would be much more comfortable and relaxed in there. They both practically live in there already. They also got some wet cat food, which they were very enthusiastic about. Just a small can between them (we got some donated wet cat food that were in cans about half the size of what we use for the indoor cats), since they were still recovering from surgery. The last image if of them enjoying the wet cat food. Later, they were just as enthusiastic about the kibble.

I was pretty unhappy about not getting the pregnant cats we were shooting for. The Cat Lady met me at the clinic, and we talked about the possibility of bringing one of the mamas in on short notice, if we can trap one. We now have a protocol. If we do manage to catch one, we can give the clinic a call to see if they’ve had a cancellation or an open space the next day. If so, we would leave her in the trap overnight (good time for a fast), then bring her in the next day. The trap is pretty big, so we could potentially keep a feral cat in there for a couple of days but, if it would take longer, we’d have to let them out and try again.

The littles did have ear mites, as expected. Magda had one ear that was quite bad and likely infected. They sent us home with some medication to give to both of them. Into their ears, once a day, until we run out.

It’s a good thing they’ll be in the isolation shelter for two weeks, but it’s not going to be easy to do their ears every day! I’ve made arrangements with my daughters for one or the other to join me when I do my rounds in the morning, to help dose their ears.

I’m sure they’ll enjoy not having ear mites for a while, but these are yard cats. They’re going to get ear mites again, eventually. There’s nothing we can do about that, as long as they are outside.

After I left, my younger daughter finished feeding the outside cats, including giving Brussel her wet cat food inside her cat cave, and a squeeze treat later on. Brussel did growl and her and swipe when my daughter pulled her hand away with the empty tube, but the swipe had no claws.

I got some photos of Brussel and her babies later on.

You can just barely see Caramel’s baby’s head in her fur!

In the next photo, you can see that Caramel has moved her babies – to one of the new cat beds! A much cozier cat bed. You can just barely see kitten fur on and around her back leg.

While waiting for the cats to be done, I basically hung out around the nearby Walmart. My older daughter sent me some funds and a shopping list. I also found a pair of jeans to replace the ones I tore while at my mother’s, yesterday. I didn’t try them one, so I hope they fit! I was looking for the same style as the ones I was replacing, but apparently, Walmart no longer carries that style. I bought the closest I could find. They are currently being used as a bed by Peanut Butter Cup. Before her, David was using them as a bed. They are certainly getting broken in. Just not by me! 😄

I also went to a nearby Dollarama and ended up getting some things for the garden that I’ll write about in a separate post. Then I realized I’d forgotten something on my daughter’s list, so it was back to the Walmart. Once that was done, I settled into the truck and had a nap. I slept remarkably well, too! Even with some very strange dreams that woke me up feeling very confused. 😄 Eventually, I drove across the street to the Canadian Tire, where I found a few other things I’ll include in my next post. While I was there, I got a call from the vet clinic, telling me when the ladies would be ready for pick up. I had time to finish at the Canadian Tire and got there a bit early. They brought the ladies out anyhow, along with the medication and giving me more detailed instructions on measuring the dose with the syringe that’ll be used to apply it into their ears.

The ladies were pretty active at the time, and not happy about being in the carriers. Otherwise, they apparently behaved really well and didn’t give them a hard time when it came to being handled. During the drive, they quieted down, though, and rested the entire way.

They will now be in the isolation shelter for 2 weeks, so we can let them out on the 29th. They’ll be quite content together in there. Other cats, however, are already trying to get into the shelter to join them! Quite a few use the isolation shelter regularly, and stay there all night. They’re going to have to make do with the sun room for a while, instead!

Meanwhile, we’ve set the trap up next to the catio, open but not set. We want the cats to get used to it being there. I’ve got a food and water bowl in there, but it’s a bit too big. It sits on top of the tripper mechanism. I’ve already seen several cats going in to eat. We’ll have to find smaller containers to use in there for bait before we set it. We’ll probably catch all sorts of different cats we don’t need to take to the vet. I just hope they don’t start avoiding it once they realize the door can close them in. There isn’t a lot of choice in the matter, though!

So that’s how it went with the cats. Once I got home, it was such a gorgeous day, I was able to get lots of garden stuff done!

Which I will talk about in my next post. 😊

The Re-Farmer

Two more down, and much gratitude

January 30, 2025 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

It’s done! Another spay and neuter of yard cats.

I prepped the cat carriers last night, including adding a couple of reflective cat collars around one of the handles for later. I have the collars linked together in a chain, so I just grabbed the two at one end. Which just happened to be a pink and a black.

While I got the truck warming up and opened the gate, my daughter brought the carriers to the sun room to see which cats we could catch. When I got to the sun room, she had the fluffy tabby in with her, and she was one we really wanted to get, so we closed up the door. It took a while – the poor thing was panicking – but I was eventually able to get her while she was on the window shelf and start scritching her neck and shoulders. She actually stopped trying to run away. She was still very nervous, but she accepted the pets until I could finally pick her up and get her into the carrier my daughter brought close.

While we were trying to get her, I spotted a collar loose on one of the cat beds. Oops.

Once she was secure we opened the door again, and several for the regular males immediately came in, expecting feeding time. One of them was a grey and white, with no collar. I was able to check his ear and confirm that this was Colin, so after the fluffy girl was in the carrier, I got the collar we found onto him.

It was not the colour of collar he had before, though! Which means there was another fixed cat missing his collar out there.

One of the other males that came in was Midnight, our one almost completely black outside cat. He has a small white blaze on his chest and that’s it. He is social enough that my daughter was able to pick him up and put him in the other carrier while I quickly shut it.

He was NOT happy about that!

From there, we loaded them into the truck, and I headed out right away, even though it was quite early. I didn’t even stop to close the gate, leaving that for my daughter to take care of, after she gave the outside cats their kibble and warm water.

I am so glad I left as early as I did!

The first part of my drive, the road wasn’t too bad, but I still drove under the speed limit. The sudden appearance of at least 5 deer on the side of the road was one reason why!

Then I found myself behind some slow driving vehicle with lots of flashing amber lights on it that kept blinding me. I wasn’t able to pass until it pulled over near the exit I needed, which is when I could finally see it was a snow plow.

The next section of the drive was one I was concerned about, as it was very slippery, and where there was a major accident, yesterday. The conditions were much better, though with oncoming traffic, I could see the reflections of black ice on the highway that I couldn’t see, otherwise.

There was a cross road I needed to take and it, as always, was pretty bad. Lots of icy patches.

By the time I reached the final section of the route, the sun was starting to rise, so I could see that there was quite a bit of fog around. The highway was wet, but not slippery, at least.

Then I got to within a couple of kilometers of the city when I drove into a wall of fog. Visibility dropped to just a few feet. Which wasn’t too much of a problem, except that I couldn’t slow down safely because someone was tailgating me! Thankfully, they did eventually back off a bit.

With all that, I got to the vet clinic only 10 minutes early. Normally, with the time that I left home, I would have been at least half an hour early.

While waiting for the clinic to open, I messaged the family to let them know I arrived safely. I’d also kept the Cat Lady up to date when I left, so I let her know I’d arrived safely, too. Then I made sure to post a road conditions report on the highways group I’m on, so others could know how things were for driving.

Several other vehicles arrived while I was waiting, too, before the Cat Lady arrived. We talked for a while and she transferred some donations she had for us. In a bag, there was a water fountain with filters, plus she had more wet cat food with poultry in it that she couldn’t use anymore, plus bags of dry cat food – including two bags of cat food for senior cats. We had several elderly ladies that this will be good for!

She was also getting phone calls and having other stuff to deal with, so when the clinic opened, I left her to it and brought the cats inside. While waiting my turn, I made sure to put the pink collar on the carrier with Midnight. A black collar on a black cat won’t help us easily identify him as a fixed, when the other mostly black cats are around.

As I was checking the cats in, they needed names, so I decided the fluffy tabby was now Fluffy. When someone came to get the carriers, I brought up the collars, explaining what we were using them for, and made sure to say the pink one was for the black cat, not the black one. That got an understanding laugh!

After a while, though, they needed the Cat Lady’s signature, so I went back to the parking lot. By then, she was with someone else that brought a cat she was covering the spay for, too. So we all went in, finished processing our two, then did the third. That done, she parted ways with the other person, then talked to me a bit more about my expected connection with the woman from the feral and stray group. It turns out this person’s habit of posting pictures without permission is one of the reasons the Cat Lady no longer uses her Facebook; she just used Messenger and that’s it. Yet, this person does help a lot of people and manages to get a lot of donations, so any help is welcome, as long as we’re careful not to give out personal information.

From there, we parted ways and I headed to the Walmart to do my shopping. Normally, I would have stayed in the area, until I noticed my tire looked low and checked it. That was when I started getting messages from the other lady, which I had to answer in between driving around, getting gas, then having to go to another gas station across the street to pump my tire, since the compressor at the first station was out of service. I still had to go back to hit the Canadian Tire for litter pellets, so we arranged to meet at a nearby Tim Hortons.

I got there early enough to have “lunch”, but they still had only their breakfast menu, which was fine by me.

In the middle of all this, I got a call from the Cat Lady. The clinic knew to call me for pick up, but to call her for anything financial.

They’d called her about Fluffy.

Now, these are yard cats, and Fluffy is the more feral one. While Midnight was more social, neither of them have really been handled much at all. We also just assume they all have ear mites.

It turned out that Fluffy has really, really bad ear mites in one ear. Bad enough that there was a risk of them getting past the ear drum and to her brain, and to cause a severe infection.

The vet that called her is new to this clinic, and the Cat Lady could tell she wasn’t used to dealing with yard cats. When asked, how did it get this bad without anyone noticing, she had to explain that this cat had probably never been handled until today (she was correct). These are yard cats, so we just assume they will have ear mites, but that’s about it. No, we wouldn’t be able to give her ear drops three times a day. This is a yard cat. Especially not drops that have to be put in at a specific angle that is hard to do with a house pet!

As for treatment, this is a yard cat. It makes no sense to go all out financially on an outdoor cat that will probably just get ear mites again.

In the end, the Cat Lady authorized a couple of injections, for both the ear mites and the infection, but that was it. It still added more than $200 to her bill! They want to have the cat brought back to follow up in two weeks. We will be keeping her and Midnight in the isolation shelter for two weeks, so that is at least possible, but we certainly couldn’t keep trapping her to bring her back regularly after that! Bringing her indoors is not an option, either.

They talked about things like quality of life, and how she might end up going deaf in one ear, and we’re both… well, then we have a cat that’s deaf in one ear. As for if she gets sick because of the infection, or if the ear mites get bad enough to cross over to the brain, then it would actually be kinder to put her down. When it comes to the yard cats, sick cats disappear and don’t come back. Whether they just die somewhere, or if the coyotes or foxes get them, we never know for sure.

The Cat Lady doesn’t think it would come to that. Fluffy hasn’t actually shown any signs of being sick. She’s been eating fine, she’s active, she hangs out in the sun room regularly. With the treatment she’s getting, she’ll probably recover and be just fine.

In the end, she agreed to talk to them about her on the phone in a week, and make a decision from there.

Then, while I was waiting to meet with the feral and stray cat group lady, I got a call from the clinic. Both cats were done and recovering, and would be ready to pick up in about an hour. Meanwhile, my husband remembered something, and I needed to go back to the Walmart.

Which is about when the cat group lady arrived!

So we ended up not sitting and talking as we originally expected to, and went to transfer stuff from her vehicle to mine. Which was easy to do, as she just happened to park next to my truck!

I couldn’t believe how much she was able to donate!

There were a number of kibble bags of various sizes. I think the largest were about 5kg. I actually lost track of how many smaller ones there were!

Then there were the cases of canned can food. All Tuna. I’m not sure how many are in each case, as they’re all cardboard boxes sealed in plastic, but there ended up being 10 cases! She said those ones were from the humane society.

After the truck was loaded, she asked to take a picture with me and the open truck box. That’ll get posted on FB, but there isn’t anything identifiable on there. Not even my face, since my FB profile picture is cats. I don’t mind that. I was so happy with the very generous donation!

She did ask questions about where we lived and how many cats we’re caring for, but “in the boonies” was a good enough answer (she does know we’re near our little hamlet), and I honestly don’t know how many cats we’re caring for outside. I’ve mostly given up trying to do a head count, as they run around so much, but it’s different every day. Sometimes by a very wide range!

That done, I made a quick run back into the Walmart, then headed to the clinic, just in time for pick up.

While going through how things went, they basically wouldn’t let me leave with the cats without making an appointment, two weeks from now. The estimate was emailed to the Cat Lady, along with the bill for the three cats she covered today, but I asked what it was. I know that Cat Lady has already extended her budget as much as she could for the extra treatment for Fluffy today. I’ll have to go through our own budget to see if we can over the amount. I think we can, but not if it ends up costing more.

I’ve actually been chatting with the Cat Lady while I’ve been writing this.

Once we had all the details done, it was time to bring the kitties home!

They were not happy.

Fluffy was actually the calmer of the two. You can’t see it in the photo, but they did manage to get the black reflective collar on her (when the clinic called me, we talked about the breakaway collars, too). I think. It wasn’t attached to the carrier’s handle anymore, but I honestly haven’t seen it through her fur.

If you click through to the next photo, I managed to get Midnight to almost face me, so his bright pink collar is hidden, too.

For the first part of the drive, Midnight was really fighting to get out of that carrier! Fluffy was, too, but not as violently. Eventually, though, they both settled down and were quiet for the rest of the ride home.

Meanwhile, my daughter made sure the isolation shelter was ready, with the ramp door closed. When I got home, she helped me get them into the shelter through one of the upper level sliding windows.

They both immediately went to the lower level to get out, only to find the door closed.

They were not happy.

My daughter and I then unloaded the van – with a special gift for her for all her help that my husband reminded me to pick up waiting as a surprise. Her PCOS has really been giving her a hard time lately, so we know she’s been really struggling to do as much as she has been.

After unloading the truck, she parked it while I opened up one of the donated bags of kibble with pumpkin in it and gave the outside cats an early feeding to distract them.

They really, really liked it!

As we unpacked the back from the Cat Lady with the water fountain and filters in it, we kept finding more and more stuff buried underneath! Including a package of special wipes to clean cats. Those will come in quite handy for our messy butt cats! There were even some food bowls, and more bags of cat food on the bottom.

The Cat Lady is so awesome!

Once everything was put away, I grabbed one of the loose cat food cans for Midnight and Fluffy. That will be one of the benefits of being in the isolation shelter. They will regularly get wet cat food while they are in there, and the food bowls are positioned so the heat bulb will keep the wet cat food from freezing.

We got so much wet and dry cat food donated today, we could probably do without buying more for the rest of month! I probably will, anyhow, because it’s always good to have extra stocked up, but this makes it so much easier on the budget. What a huge help! I know so many people are really struggling these days, so it’s amazing that people are able to make donations at all.

I am so incredibly grateful to both the Cat Lady and the stray and feral group lady for it all. We were just blown away! So much more than I expected.

We are going to have some very happy kitties for the next while!

Well… maybe not the ones in the isolation shelter right now. 😄 They’ll get used to it, though, and I’m sure they’ll get used to the warmth, food and water, all to themselves!

The kitties that usually use the isolation shelter are going to have to get used to using the sun room and the cat house again! 😄

They’ll manage. 😉

All in all, it’s been a very good day!

The Re-Farmer

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