Today has been a busy day on the phone, dealing with my mother’s car.
The mechanic called me (the first time) about the tires and the noise in the back.
Note that I said “tires” – plural.
Continue readingVehicle Update: the saga continues
things we need to get fixed
Matched Set, and hot water woes
When doing my morning rounds, I used to get followed by at least Beep Beep and Butterscotch. Sometimes, other cats would come along, but it was usually those two in particular. That changed after they had their kittens. Butterscotch no longer even likes to be picked up anymore (I think it has become uncomfortable for her) and she’s become a lot more stand-offish. Lately, I’ve been seeing her as infrequently as the male cats.
Beep Beep is a lot more homey and, while she doesn’t like being picked up as much as she used to either, it doesn’t seem to be out of any sort of discomfort. She has started to follow me again in the mornings, and the kittens are beginning to expand their territory.
Even Big Jim came out to see what was going on.
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Unexpected
It hasn’t been long since I last posted, yet already, we have several unexpected things. :-)
My daughter and I did a dump run and, as I was about to drive back into the garage, I saw movement inside.
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Shingle damage
We noticed some damaged shingles yesterday, so I made a point of checking it out and looking for any other damage while doing my rounds this morning.
This is what we saw when we came home yesterday.
You can see the patch job above, where some shingles had flipped up. One of my brothers had fixed it, and now I wonder if these shingles came loose due to unseen damage done by feet while the patch was being worked on. The roof is old enough that it wouldn’t take much.
I also found this.
It looks like a shingle got flipped up.
I could not find any other damage like this elsewhere, though I cannot see parts of the roof from the ground. I’ll need to ask my daughters to check, from the second floor.
The North side of the old kitchen roof, however, is looking pretty black, getting darker closer to the eaves.
We can patch things up as needed, but the reality is, we need a new roof.
Plus new flooring.
Plus all the walls need to be redone.
Plus the wiring needs to be updated in places, and simply increased throughout the house.
What this house really needs is a total renovation.
Which would basically happen if we win the lottery or something.
Until then, patch jobs it is.
The Re-Farmer
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Seasonal things
I’ve been able to spend more time outside in the last few days. Aside from cleaning up the downed branches in the yard and burning them in the fire pit, this has mostly been assessing things and making decisions.
I was checking around the garden area and could clearly see where the deer were coming in at the corner.
Even with the snow gone, the path the deer made through the ditch and over the fence is clearly visible!
I was also noticing some changes. Like this.
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Good thing we have two driveways
We have ourselves another scorcher today. I had hoped to mow the inner yard today, but I don’t want to risk the riding mower’s motor overheating in these temperatures. So it will wait. I was also thinking of doing the last bit of the clean up I had started doing around the storage house yesterday, stopping when it got just too hot to be working outside, but nope. Not gonna happen in this heat!
Despite the heat, both cats are very cuddly. DaBoy spends his nights upstairs, taking over the bottom of one of the girls’ beds. You’d think, with his fur coat, the last thing he’d want to do is be in the hottest part of the house, snuggling up to warm feet, but he does.
At least his mom is doing it in the coolest room in the house; the master bedroom.
She was using my ankle and foot as a pillow.
Being the suck that I am, I was “trapped” for some time by the adorable fur ball.
My husband has been having a very bad pain day today, so he asked me to go into town to pick up something to help.
It’s a good thing he did. Otherwise, we would not have known until we were heading out for his medical appointment tomorrow, that we were locked in.
My younger daughter came along with me, and when the girls are along for the ride, they typically go ahead to the gate to unlock and open it while I get the van and drive through, then they lock it up again. This time, I drive up to the gate, and she’s still struggling with the gate.
The lock is a combination lock; the only thing we had handy at the time my mother asked us to start locking the gate. Of the 4 tumblers, three weren’t turning.
We tried using tools. We tried oiling it. Nothing. Those tumblers would not move.
Thankfully, we have another driveway, and that gate has a key lock on it.
This other driveway is not normally used. I’ve mowed a path to it, because we still need to rebuild the barbed wire gate and just haven’t gotten around to it. Right now, the lock and chain are the only thing keeping it upright and closed. It’s a rough drive to the gate, the the driveway itself is overgrown. I knew the path to the gate was clear, because I’d just mowed it, but we double checked the driveway itself to make sure there was nothing that would blow a tire on us or something. It was good.
So when we got to town, our first stop was at a hardware store. I picked up a new key lock, plus heavier duty bolt cutters. It was funny as we went to pay for them. The cashier joked about using the bolt cutters to cut a lock, then replacing it with a new one. We told her that yes, that’s exactly what we were doing! Then we explained that our lock was a combination lock, and the tumblers weren’t turning. I added in, “Either the weather got to it, or someone tampered with it.”
Her response was, someone probably tampered with it. When I commented that we live in the middle of nowhere, she just nodded and said, yeah; that’s where it’s most likely. Then she told us about her brother, who has a trailer out in the sticks, and someone had broken into his locked gate and stole a quad.
An unfortunately reality of living in the sticks. You’d think it would be safer, but people know that chances of getting caught are much lower, and the police are at least half and hour away.
I couldn’t see any sign of tampering on our lock, but unfortunately, I can’t rule it out. For it to suddenly stop working like this, it actually seems more likely to be the cause than weather.
After getting the new lock and bolt cutters, we finished our errands, then did a bit of quick Pokemon Go. We paused to battle a gym at the beach, sitting outside at a picnic table as we played. Oh, what a lovely breeze off the water!
The temperatures were 28C, with the humidex putting it at 32C, but the lake it still quite cool, and it made for such a pleasant time outside.
We didn’t stay for long, though. Once at home, we cut the broken lock off and put on the new one. I’m going to have to cut copies of the key, so we all have one, plus an extra in the house. I’ve kept the old lock and will see if I can find a way to open it up and see why it stopped working.
We did stop at the post office on the way home, and found a nice little surprise. We got our reimbursement for our vehicle registration in our previous province. It was enough to cover the cost of the bolt cutters, at least. :-)
For now, we keep cool inside. Looking around in the basement, I found an oscillating fan that actually works, though it needs a major cleaning. That’s what I’ll be working on, next.
While having lunch with my brother and his wife on the weekend, I found out about something I had been wondering. In the old part basement, at the window that we used to throw wood through, is a platform. I had no idea why it was there. It turns out my brother built it to hold a fan. There is a screen to replace the window that’s there now, and the fan was used for air circulation to help keep the house cool. The basement doors would be left open to help cool the house down, but we can’t do that until we’ve cleaned up the new part basement so it’s safe if the cats get down there. We talked about getting a cheap screen door in the short term, to keep the cats out until we can do that. The door is a standard size, so we could actually do that. Something to keep in mind!
My brother described the fan he had on the platform, and none of us could remember seeing it, so I went looking around today. Which is why I found the oscillating fan.
No sign of the fan he’d built the platform for. Like so many other things, it has gone missing. Another thing that came up in conversation, since I’d mentioned my search for a pitchfork in the past, is that there had been about 6 or 8 pitchforks stored in the barn. There is no sign of them, now.
It’s a good thing we are living here now. Too many things disappeared while this place was empty. :-(
The Re-Farmer
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Good Moooorning!
So my darling husband (picture me speaking with a rictus grin) cheerfully comes traipsing into the bedroom and wakes me up with a “so, are there supposed to be cows in the yard?”
What a way to be awakened!
No. There are not supposed to be cows in the yard.
He had been hearing the cows mooing and thought to himself, that sounds awfully close.
Then looked out the window.
That’s not good!
By the time I put my glasses on, they were at the opposite end of the yard, by the fire pit. When I got outside, there were no longer any cows in our yard, but there were several just outside the barbed wire gate at the fire pit.
I closed the gate.
I could see from the gate the the electric gate at the cow fence was in place, so before we closed the other gates, I went over by the barn, where the second electric gate is.
Sure enough, the wire was down, looking like something went right through it, dragging it into the tall grass on our side of the fence.
That left us with the task of closing up the vehicle gate, and the people gate.
Problem.
Yeah. The pole was still there.
Moving a 30 ft pole is awkward, to say the least. It wasn’t just getting it clear of the opening, but clearing the swing arc of the gate. So there was a whole lot of rolling and pivoting, but it wasn’t enough. He really shouldn’t have, but my husband was able to pull it a few feet away from the yard (yeah, I helped, but really… I wasn’t doing much) and it got rolled clear.
This is the first time we’ve closed these gates since we’ve moved here.
*sigh*
They’re broken.
On the vehicle gate, one side isn’t too bad, but had to be lifted to close. It shouldn’t need to be lifted. The other was off the top hinge and we weren’t able to put it back at the time (I will need to go back with a tool kit), but we swung it closed.
They are supposed to be able to latch together.
They don’t.
But we could at least sit the parts on top of each other and let gravity to the rest.
*sigh*
Then there’s the people gate. I had been wondering why there was a bungee cord on the chain link fence.
Now I know why.
The latch parts don’t latch anymore. So the bungee is used to keep it from swinging open on its own.
After phoning the renter and leaving a message for him (with apologies for calling so early), I went around the yard, just in case we missed a cow in the bushes or something, then went to see what was going on.
There were 6 altogether; 2 cows and 4 steers. The rest of the cattle were on the other side of the fence near the electric gate.
I decided not to try and get them out. They can graze all they want and, at some point, they may well wander back towards the barn and join the rest of the herd.
Granted, the rest of the herd might end up on the wrong side of the fence, too. But I’m not too worried about it. They can keep our grass down.
Now. I wonder if I can get another hour or two of sleep…
The Re-Farmer
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Repair – Updated
I got the mower in to the shop this morning, to fix the broken belt.
Because I had to drive in from out of town and was going to wait, they worked on my mower first thing after they did their parts run.
It was the drive belt that broke, which controls the cutting blades. The entire section had to be unhooked for the new belt to be installed. They got me a high end Kevlar belt, so it should last many years!
But…
There just has to be a but, doesn’t there?
When I was leaving home, as I braked to take a turn turn, I felt what I thought was the ramps sliding forward to hit my seat. Nope; it was the mower rolling forward, then pushing the cooler into my seat. I commented on it when I got there, and the guy reminded me that there is a parking brake. I didn’t even think of it, partly because I was already driving when it happened.
So when they loaded it into the van after the repair (not an easy job, because once the wheels clear the “lip” of the van, the whole thing drops, then the outside half – the rear, which has the full weight of the engine – needs to be lifted to get it the rest of the way in or out), the guy that guided it from the inside of the van set the parking break for me.
On the way home, however, it still rolled forward.
When my younger daughter and I unloaded it, I did confirm that the parking brake was still on.
After it was unloaded, I took advantage of my daughter being there and showed her everything to check on it and how to work it, then got her to start it and drive it around.
Which is when we discovered, the brake doesn’t work. Not only that, but it will keep rolling even when the drive pedal is NOT engaged. It should come to a stop when the drive pedal is disengaged, even without the brake being used.
I think something broke when it was being loaded back into the van.
I’ve sent them an email, copying my brother who bought it for us, describing what it’s doing. My husband has a medical appointment tomorrow, so the earliest we can take it back is the day after.
Damn.
At least it’s still under labour warranty.
Before I try loading it back into the van, I will have to find something a few inches thick to lay down on the floor of the back, to keep the mower from dropping.
The Re-Farmer
UPDATE: I checked the van and discovered some of the foam insulation that was used around the house during the winter was thick enough to match the height of the “lip” at the back of the van. Not only that, but after checking the space, I discovered that we wouldn’t even have to take the seats out again to fit the mower. I phoned the shop and they were unsure what it might be. I had time enough for my daughter and I to load up the van and drive it over (a 40 minute drive), about an hour and a half before they closed. They unloaded the mower – using their own ramp, this time – then the guy that worked on it before started it up and tested it out. Sure enough, as soon as he put it in gear, it started moving and the brake didn’t work. In fact, he ended up getting hung up on a corner of the ramp, because he couldn’t stop it. He had to shut it off!
So he pushed it into the shop and checked it out. The brake mechanism was working fine. He thought a belt might be loose, but that was also fine. So he went even further under the mower. It turns out there are two bolts that were too far forward, as if they were too tight. It’s possible, he tightened them too much when he reassembled it earlier, or it’s possible that when it did the drop as it was being loaded into the van and the front tires passed the point of no return, and the deck bed hit the ramp/edge of the van opening, it got jammed forward. No way to know for sure. He adjusted them, though, then tested it out. Forward and reverse, driving it out of the shop, and doing a loop before driving to the back of our van. It was working fine!
Unloading, testing, fixing, testing again, then reloading: about 15 minutes.
I just got back from mowing the lawn. :-D
I did as much as I intend to in the outer yard; the grass it just too thick to do all of what I’d wanted to do. It’s not just the new growing grass, but the thatch from last year’s grass underneath, that it making it so hard on the mower. I’ll just have to make sure to keep up with maintaining the parts I have done, so they don’t get overgrown again. As long as we can access, the barn, storage shed and burn barrel.
Then I mowed the south yards by the house. Because I could! :-D
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Ready to Go, and a nice surprise
Today, my older daughter and I confirmed that the mower would fit in the back of our van, took out the seats, emptied it of my crates of supplies (we kept the emergency kit and cooler of van water, though), and loaded it up.
I won’t be taking it to the shop until they open on Tuesday. I had thought of dropping it off tomorrow, but my brother tells me they don’t have a secure drop off point.
Which means the mower, with an almost full tank of gas, will be in the van for two nights and a day, in the heat we are having again.
I made sure to open the windows a fair bit. Plus, we still haven’t replaced the handle on the garage door (I finally got some replacement cable for it), so it’s wide open. No chance of accumulated fumes.
Earlier in the day, I went into town with my younger daughter so she could drop off some resumes, and we could pick up a few things at the grocery store. There’s a hardware store next to it, so I popped over for a bit. Turns out they don’t have fan rakes, but they did have metal roasting sticks. So I picked up a few for our next cook out. :-)
My mom called while we were out, so I called her back as soon as we got home. She was wondering how we were doing in this heat (we were hovering around 30C today), and telling us that if we open the basement doors, we would get cool air. I remember doing that, when I was growing up here. It works very well. Unfortunately, we can’t do that until we’ve cleaned up the basements. The old part basement is pretty good, but the new part basement is filled with all sorts of breakable things (years of accumulated jars and booze bottles, spare florescent light tubes, etc.), and way too many hidey holes that the cats would get into.
While we were talking, I told her about the different areas I’ve been working on. I found out that she did, indeed, deliberately plant those little spruce trees at the fence line. Why there, I ask her. Where else? she answers. :-D So I bring up that, when the trees are full grown, they will destroy the fence. Oh, by the time they’re that big, she says, it won’t matter. I think she was implying the fence would be old, or would be replaced before then? I’m not sure. I told her I will be transplanting them, once I find a good place of them. Much to my surprise, she just said not to worry about them for now. Considering that, earlier in the conversation, when I told her I cleaned up around her white lilacs, she thought that meant I had cut them down, this is a good thing. :-D
Then I mentioned wanting to clean up the bushes growing around the other house.
In the past, these false spirea had covered the old stairs on both sides, as the wood rotted away. I remember this because, when we made a road trip to visit family after getting our first van, I had tried to go to the door and a step gave out under me! Now there are nice strong steps, and I want to keep them well maintained.
Which means cutting back the spirea. Plus, I’ll be thinning away the dead branches, etc.
As I tell my mother this, she asks me how her vines are doing.
Vines?
All I could think of were the vines I’ve been finding all over the place, choking out trees and bushes.
No. Vines. She had planted them by the steps. How are they doing?
Well, I did notice what appeared to be dead vines in the spirea, which I thought were the same vines I’ve been getting rid of all over. That was not what she was talking about.
Then she mentioned she’d actually picked from them.
Picked what? Berries? I had no idea what she was talking about. The only vines I’ve seen don’t have berries.
Finally, she remembered the English word for them; grapes.
We have grapes?!?
That’s on my list of food plants, too, but at the bottom of the list, since they need a lot more tending than most plants.
I told her I didn’t remember seeing any, and perhaps the spirea had choked them out? I told her I would check.
Which I did.
Lo and behold, there are, indeed, vines growing that aren’t the ones we’ve been fighting for the past while.
Not only that…
… there are even little baby grapes started!
I will have to ask my mom if she remembers what kind they are, so I can look up how to properly care for them. There are not a lot of varieties of grapes that are hardy enough for our growing zone, so even if she doesn’t, I should be able to figure it out.
I do know that they shouldn’t be the way they are now! If possible, I would want to transplant them to the fence, which can be used as a trellis, and they will have full sun. With judicious care, we should be able to get good harvests of grapes from them.
Oh, I am suddenly quite excited! I had no idea my mother had ever planted grapes! She’d simply never mentioned them before.
I filled in my mother about all sorts of things, from what the electric company told me about clearing the trees, and my wanting to get a quote for the job, so we know what to budget for, to progress on the flower gardens. She had a hard time understanding some of what I was telling her, sometimes. She has what she’s always done so firm in her mind, it’s hard for her to picture something different, just from a description. But it was a good conversation, overall, even if she doesn’t seem quite sure about what I am doing. When it gets to a certain point, though, she starts talking about how this is all men’s work, so she will talk to my older brother about it, so he can take care of it. We got to that point in the conversation, but I didn’t mind too much at all, since she started talking about how good my dad was about taking care of things, and how he understood electricity and plumbing and so on. Then she started talking about how women’s work was housekeeping and so on, and I just kept saying, no. Nope. No. Until she started to say, well, that’s how she and my dad did things, and that worked for them, but others might do it differently.
Yay, Mom! That right there was a HUGE step for her, and I am so proud of her. :-)
It was a good conversation.
Later on, while talking to my older brother, he told me he’d just talked to our mom as well. At one point during their conversation, he told me that my mom expressed her satisfaction with how we are taking care of the place.
She would never tell me that to my face, of course, but I don’t expect her to. For her to say it to my brother, however, is another HUGE step, and I am so proud of her. :-)
I am happy that we are able to take care of this place for her. It takes a big burden off of her shoulders, and it’s been pretty good for us, too (as much as possible, under the circumstances! :-D ). She was having a hard time with letting go, which is understandable. If she is reaching the point where she is able to start trusting that we know what we’re doing, even if it’s different than how she did things, that will also reduce stress for her.
Win, win! :-)
The Re-Farmer
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Update on the mower
So I let my brother know about the broken belt on the mower. He told me there is a 30 day warranty on it, and gave me the invoice number, suggesting I send the place they bought it from this picture.
I went to the company’s website, and there was only a contact form, not an email address, so I couldn’t send the picture. I also found that they are closed on Sundays and Mondays, so I figured I’d hear back on Tuesday.
I just checked my email before getting of the computer for the night, and there was already a response!
They would be more than happy to fix it. The warranty is for labour only, so it would just cost me the belt. I was also told to contact them on Tuesday, or just drop it off and they’ll fix it when they come in.
!!!
The good thing is, we should be able to fit it into the van. There is no back bench seat; we got rid of that before the move, since it was just in the way, anyhow. If necessary, we can take out the middle seats, but I doubt we’ll have to.
Tomorrow, the girls and I will empty the van of stuff that’s ready to go into storage, then measure the mower to confirm if it will fit.
I guess it’s a good thing I found those metal things that were used as ramps when I cleaned up behind the garage! :-D
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 