This morning, I did my rounds after feeding the yard cats (I counted 32 this morning), as usual. I even remembered to take pictures of the finished garden bed in the old kitchen garden.
Hopefully, the leaves will at least somewhat keep the cats from digging in it but, when I looked at the section of the wattle weave bed I cleaned up and covered, I noticed evidence that at least one cat had gone through it, leaving flattened patches behind.
And dug through to the soil in one spot. I did not see any “presents”, though, so it’s safe to click through to the next picture.😄
I headed out early to drop the truck off. Along with the keys, I gave them the printout from Canadian Tire that showed what they worked on. As I was heading out, I remembered the recommendation with the wires. It wasn’t in the printout, because I declined the work, so I headed back.
It’s so funny to bring something like that up with three mechanics in the room! I think one was actually a customer, but he clearly knew what he was talking about. When I mentioned that they recommended replacing the spark plug wires, all three of them started talking shop about why that might be. They agreed to check the wires, too.
I also asked them to replace my headlight, letting them know I’d bought a bulb and where it was. They were also going to look for the source of the oil leak while changing the oil. That there was oil on the spark plugs gave them an idea of where to look. My brother said it was likely a gasket, but I didn’t think to mention that at the time.
Then I headed out, first for a quick lunch, then to run errands. I stopped to take care of renewing my driver’s license in person, since the postal strike meant I hadn’t received the letter about it, yet. The vehicle insurances rolls over to monthly payments automatically, so she gave me a printout of what those would be. The cost to renew my driver’s license went up by $10, but my insurance went down by a couple of dollars per month.
Then I walked to the other end of town (about 5-6 blocks) to the dollar store to check out their craft section. I’ve made my decision on what I want to make for my annual hand made Christmas ornaments and wanted to look for Christmassy yarn, a sparkly contrasting yarn and maybe some little decorative embellishments.
There wasn’t anything.
Oh, they had their Christmas section up, but in the crafts area, there were no Christmassy materials. There was a time when, every year, these sections would get a whole bunch of items for Christmas; yarn in Christmas colours with metallic strands in them, baubles and beads, cordage, blank ornaments, etc. I haven’t seen anything like this in craft sections for years. Only Michaels, the only craft store franchise we have left in Canada (and I hear they might be closing down) had them and, being a specialty craft store, they have most of them year round, since it can take months to do some seasonal crafts.
In the end, all I got was a couple of skeins of yarn in green and red. I might have something in my stash that I can use as a contrasting edging, and I should be able to use some other things I can add. I think I still have some things in appropriate colours left I can use for hangers, too. It was pretty disappointing, though. That dollar store is pretty much the only place to get crafting materials of any kind, locally.
Once I was done there and making my way back towards the garage, I stopped at another store where I found some things my husband requested. Then I stopped at a bank machine to take out the cash I’ve budgeted for getting our septic tank emptied for the winter. The last stop on the way back to the garage was a hardware store, where I got copies cut of our new front door key. I still need to test them out.
By the time I got back to the garage, I was starting to have issues with my left hip. The truck was in one of their bays, so I dropped my bag off in the truck before going through to the office. The door was closed, though, as the manager was on the phone, so I stayed by the truck and chatted with the mechanic that was working on another car next to it.
It turned out the truck was done! He told me they did find the source of the oil leak, but that was something they would give me an estimate for before ordering in a part, so it was something to talk about once I was in the office.
First, we went over what they did do. That included replacing the headlight.
The bulb I had, though, was blown out! They couldn’t use it. He asked me where I got it from, and I told him – including that I had gotten it for “free” by using my Canadian Tire dollars. He was happy to hear that I didn’t pay for it. I didn’t take it back. He had gone ahead and used one of their own bulbs in inventory and replaced it, figuring I’d still want it done either way. He was right. Even with that, the final bill was under budget!
I asked about the wires that Cdn Tire had recommended I replace (which would have brought that bill to over $800, and that did not include the $150 or so they charged, just to look at it).
The wires were fine. Nothing wrong with them. They did not need replacing.
He made some guesses as to why they might have recommended replacing them, to which I added, “or it might just be Canadian Tire. We’ve been burned by them before.” I told him, if I had had any choice, I wouldn’t have gone there in the first place. He didn’t say anything overtly, but did agree with me.
After that bill was paid, we talked about the oil leak.
It was a gasket.
The oil cooler line seal, to be specific.
The part itself was only about $20, and they figured only half an hour in labour, so about $100 in total.
I booked the truck for next week to get that done.
When he told me it was a gasket, I mentioned that that was exactly what my brother was expecting.
It turns out the mechanic knows my brother! At least enough to ask a few polite questions about him. He clearly thought well of my brother. That was nice!
As for talking about trading in the truck, I brought that up when I dropped it off. This is a conversation to have with the owner, though, and the mechanics don’t do the car sales part of things. The mechanic/manager I was talking to, though, did understand why I would want to do that, even though the truck is perfect for our needs. In the end, it’s a conversation for another time.
The main thing is, the truck is running well now, and got the all clear. The only issue is the leak. I was told to check the oil every week until it was fixed, but I just booked the fix for next week, instead.
The only down side was when I tried to pay for the work using my Cdn Tire MC, which is what I will be using when we do our Costco trip, too.
It was declined.
It turns out that the payment I’d made against it is still “pending”. Which means I might not be doing the Costco trip tomorrow, after all. That’s where I put our budget (gotta build those Canadian Tire dollars back up).
I was still able to do a small grocery shopping trip after we were done, though. Just a few times to last us, in case the payment takes a while longer to be released.
By that time, my hip was really starting to hurt, not just feel unstable. Before heading home, I messaged to ask if someone could meet me at the garage to help me bring my shopping in, mentioning that my hip was giving out. I didn’t have enough to warrant parking by the house, but too much for me to carry in one trip.
When I got to our driveway, my daughter was waiting by the gate.
Surrounded by cats.
With more cats, all down the driveway!
She had probably 20 cats out, following her, with the more social ones around her feet, demanding attention! I had to actually drive carefully, because there were so many of them – and of course, one of them kept running ahead of my on the driveway, instead of going off to the side, like the others.
I got this picture after we’d brought everything to the house. I so want to snuggle this kitten! I’ve been able to sneak a pet, every once in a while at feeding time, but that’s it.
The first photo is the carrier she insisted in putting her babies into. As you can see, they fit, but she doesn’t really have room to stretch out.
We have a larger carrier that was sitting on the platform supported by the shelf this little carrier is on. When I had a chance this afternoon, with Poirot outside, I made the move. I prepped a puppy pad on the bottom of the big carrier, removed the loose top of the small carrier, then started moving babies.
Hastings (the almost all white one) had one eye stuck shut, so she (pretty sure they’re all female) got an eye wash, first. She wasn’t happy with it, which got Poirot’s attention from outside. I put Hastings into the big carrier, then moved of Miss Lemon (the white and grey), who did not need any eye washing, before picking up Japp (the black with white on her belly). By then, Poirot was jumping up to the small carrier and the platform and looing around, but make no move to stop me when I picked up Japp.
Instead, she went to the bigger carrier on the platform and joined her other babies!
Japp had a sticky eye that got washed before being returned to mama, who was contentedly nursing. You can see them all in the second picture.
This carrier is large enough that, when I set out her personal food bowl, there was room for it inside the carrier. She was quite happy with that!
I took the small carrier out and gave it a wash. Later on, when Poirot was once again outside, I shifted the bitter carrier to where the smaller one was, where there is a sun shield at the window side to keep them from overheating. It was warm enough that I tucked a frozen water bottle under the puppy pad near the front. The kittens were all cuddled at the far end of the carrier and barely noticed being moved.
Another good thing today is that I got the luffa transplanted, but only because I wasn’t up to doing the other stuff I’d intended to work on today. It was something I could do, just so I could get at least something productive done outside! That will get a separate post, though.
The day actually started out pretty good, in that I got sleep! I’d used the Voltaren stuff for the first time, along with my usual prescription painkillers, before going to bed. At first, I thought it wasn’t making any difference. As soon as I lie down, my hips and knees start becoming acutely painful, as did my left shoulder and elbow. My finger joints were hurting, too, as usual.
Yet, I fell asleep before midnight, and didn’t wake up until the cats woke me up at 4am. I distracted them by topping up their kibble and closed most of them out of my bedroom, so Butterscotch could use the litter box without getting bothered, and went back to bed. I fell asleep again almost immediately and slept another two hours, waking only slightly when I heard someone opening my door to let the cats in before they started scratching at it.
It was the closest thing to a pain free sleep I’ve had in …. I can’t remember.
So this stuff works better than the prescription topical painkiller the doctor tried me on, years ago – and my OA wasn’t as painful as it is now!
Just as an experiment, I applied some to my husband’s lower back, where the worst of his injury is, just a little while ago. If this stuff will help him, too, even a little bit, that would be a huge improvement for his quality of life! Lord knows, the drugs are barely keeping things bearable for him.
Then, there’s the not so good stuff.
While my daughter and I had been coming home from the city, yesterday, I’d got a call from home care letting me know they didn’t have anyone for my mother’s suppertime med assist. So we swung by on the way home and I set her meds out for her – only to have the home care person show up, anyhow!
This morning, after I’d done my morning rounds, I had just enough time to grab breakfast before I needed to go to town for the appointment with the insurance company rep about the truck. I was just sitting down with my food when the phone rang.
It was home care.
They didn’t have anyone for my mother’s morning med assist, though I was assured they had someone for supper and before bed.
My mother is supposed to get her meds between 7 and 9. It was about 8:45 when the call came in.
It takes 25-30 minutes to get to my mother’s place.
So I quickly put my food back in the kitchen and left immediately. I didn’t take the time to call my mother, nor did I try to call her using the hands free unit my brother gave me, because I knew my mother would be angry and start going off on me. I did not need the delay, and I certainly didn’t need that while driving.
It was the right decision.
When I got to my mother’s place, I knocked and went in, calling out “Hi, Mom” a few times. There was no response, but she was in the bathroom – with the door open. In her tiny apartment, that meant I had to close up the bathroom door just to get in far enough to close her entry door!
By then, she had made an acknowledging response, so I started to say that I got a call from home care, telling me there was no one for this morning, while getting her lock box and little bowl for counting out her pills ready.
Then my mother comes out of the bathroom, starting to talk, saw me and stopped in her tracks. Oh! It’s you! I thought it was home care!
…
I don’t think they normally come into her apartment calling out “hi, Mom”, so I guess that meant she didn’t hear properly.
Maybe it’s time to get her hearing tested! I don’t know that it’s ever been done for her.
I moved aside so my mother could sit in her chair at her dining table, before working on the combination lock. My mother was still standing just outside the bathroom, leaning on the other chair at her table, and half blocking my way.
She was angry, and wouldn’t move.
After it was clear she wasn’t going to sit down, I went back to opening up the lock box.
My mother was on a rant.
She is obsessed with those pills from missed days in older bubble packs. She wanted me to give them to her. I had already mentioned I didn’t have much time, because of my appointment in town (a 15-20 minute drive from our place, but a 30+ minute drive from my mother’s., which I’d told her about yesterday.
She started saying that, if it was illegal for them to take pills from different days to give to her, then it’s also illegal for them to not show up to give her her pills at all, and having me come out to do it for them.
All I could say is, Mom, I don’t have time for this.
She eventually sat down, but was now accusing me of “being on their side”. Then she started saying how we (my siblings and I) are not taking care of her and leaving her in the hands of strangers. All I could say at the time was, none of us live here. I certainly didn’t have time to go into it beyond that!
I got her pills from the correct bubble for the day out, which got her angry about the pills again. I was “on their side”. I got the pills in her little bowl and made notes about what was doing in the notebook I now keep in the lock box for the home care workers to see, and got her inhaler out.
She did take her inhaler, though that was weird. She’s supposed to take a few deep breaths first, exhale, inhale the puffer, hold for a count of ten, then rinse out her mouth. She even had a cup of water waiting for that.
She started taking the breaths, but had trouble doing the exhale before using the puffer. After a few times of not taking a puff, she started forcing herself to burp. For some time, she’s been going on about how she burps so much, and it’s such a problem, only to eventually say that she’s making herself burp because it helps her chest pains.
…
Whatever.
This was the first time I’ve seen/heard her doing it like this, though. First, I have no idea how she was doing it. Where was she getting all this abdominal air from? Second, it was really really gross – and it takes a lot to gross me out! She managed to keep it up for almost a minute, too, before finally taking her puffer.
That done, I started putting things away into the lock box, and she started railing again – but not taking her pills. She said that she was thinking of taking a hammer to the lock box. I told her, that (her attitude) is why you have a lock box! Then I told her (again) that I had to go to my appointment and was in a hurry. Oh, you’re always in a hurry.
…
So, yeah. She was nasty right from the moment she saw it was me and not the home care worker, right to the moment I left.
I did make it to the appointment location in time (it was just in a parking lot!). There was someone else being finished up, so I had time to send messages to my family about how things went with my mother. I wasn’t quite done when the other vehicle got their paperwork and left, and the insurance rep came to me.
We talked about what happened, and he took pictures.
With the box cover, he started talking about how this was the second one he had this week, and that these Velcro types have a habit of getting caught in the wind. Over time, the Velcro just doesn’t hold as well, getting full of dust or whatever. Basically, making it sound like it was more likely a product fault, which the insurance wouldn’t cover.
I showed him the bent part of the frame and the broken tail light. Under the tail light, there’s a dent from before we had the truck, and the crack in the tail light ends just above it. He tried to say that the impact from whatever caused this dent broke the tail light. I told him, the tail like was not broken before. I did mention that we’ve only had the vehicle for just over a year. While it’s certainly likely that, whatever caused that dent had broken the tail light, it had been fixed before we bought it.
One of the things that was noted and the took pictures of was a crack in the fender. The truck had rusted spots when we bought it. I don’t really care about what are essentially cosmetic issues. Along the edge of the fender, framing the wheel well, there’s a section with more rust. The crack is in that section. It actually is a new crack, but I never bothered mentioning it, since it was clearly cracked because of the older rust damage that was already there. I didn’t bother telling him that the crack was new. I just confirmed that the rust and other little dents and dings were old damage.
After he did his inspection, he went to his own vehicle to process the claim to get an estimate. That gave me time to finish updating the family.
End result with the claim.
He couldn’t even find the replacement value of the box cover, since there was nothing like it in his system. The estimated repair cost he came up with was just over $1000, and we could pay our $500 deductible. A replacement cover would be a new, improved version, so we would also have to pay 30% of the difference for “betterment”.
Once I got the estimate, I went straight to the company we’d be taking it to, which was just a block or two away. I had talked to them on the phone, previously, and our mechanic recommended them to me, as they are authorized to handle insurance claims like this.
Of course, since I literally just got the estimate, it was too early to be in the system for them to download the claim file. She did go out to look at the truck with me.
As she couldn’t look into the claim file to see the details, she couldn’t give me any hard information. She did explain to me that, with when they fix the bend in the frame, so new cover can be installed, they will have to paint the frame. That area of rust, where it was thin enough to crack, would be a problem when it comes to painting. I told her, I really don’t care about the paint, but it’s something they are required to do.
So… we might have to pay extra for rust repair, as that is not at all covered by the insurance, nor would I expect it to be.
As we were talking about the 30% betterment and so on, I told her, we might not be able to cover much. We can do the $500 deductible, but anything beyond that, well… we’re on a fixed income. She understood.
Tomorrow, she will download the file, then talk to the insurance company. When she has some hard numbers and confirmed data, she will give me a call.
I completely forgot, though. Tomorrow, I’m going to be at my mother’s. I’ve got her grocery shopping to do, plus I expect to be doing her laundry (Fridays are her scheduled turn for the shared laundry room) and whatever else she needs doing. She’ll have her Meals on Wheels for lunch, but I would want to make sure she has things she can easily put together for her meals during the weekend.
I’ll just have to make sure someone in the house has the phone with them while I’m gone!
So we may or may not be able to get the truck fixed and get a new box cover. We’ll figure that out, some time tomorrow.
By the time I got home, I was wasted. I’d spent probably less than 5 minutes at my mother’s, and she sucked all the energy out of me in that short time. When I got home, I ended up crashing for a couple of hours. While I certainly needed the rest, I woke up feeling like I’d wasted precious time in my day, plus I didn’t have the physical energy left to do most of the things on my to-do list. I won’t be able to them tomorrow, either, because I won’t be home. I’ll be at home mother’s, and I know that by the time I get home from helping her out, I’ll have zero energy to get anything done outside. Thank God I’ve got the girls taking care of things inside, so I don’t have to worry about that, too!
Then, to top things off, while I was at my computer, getting some stuff done while listening to a YouTube video, my sound suddenly disappeared.
After much checking of the system, everything was fine.
I checked the connections on the speakers, which required moving way too many things to access the back of the tower, that all checked out fine, too.
I tested it using my Bluetooth sleep headphones.
They worked fine.
I eventually gave up in frustration, then headed outside to feed the outside cats and get at least one things accomplished in potting up the luffa.
My husband, sweetheart that he is, unhooked and brought over set of speakers for me. They can be plugged into the tower, or be used with Bluetooth, so when I got back inside, I got my speakers out and hooked his up on Bluetooth.
They didn’t work.
We checked the power bar. It seemed fine. I flicked the switch back and forth, but there was no change.
Eventually, my husband was able to look and see where I’m too short to see, and discovered the power bar’s plug to the wall was half out. I keep that blocked off so that cats can’t mess with the cords, so it took some doing for him to be able to reach and plug it back in.
Still nothing.
I tried the switch on the power bar again.
It turned on.
*sigh*
My husband, meanwhile, took my speakers to test them out on his computer. It turned out that there was a loose connection, even though I’d checked them, and they seemed fine!
*sigh*
I didn’t have the energy to switch them back again, so I now have my husband’s Bluetooth speakers, and he’s got my old ones. These were speakers he kept on his headboard to play basically white noise to help him sleep.
Well, we’ll see how it works out.
My daughter just swung by a little while ago and showed me something else that I can add to the “good” list for the day. She just spent the past couple of hours in the basement, with baking soda, water and a toothbrush, cleaning the smoke damage off the book stand I salvaged form our tiny, historical burned out church after the closing services. I’m still debating going back for the benches or a pew, if someone else hasn’t already taken them. I know I’ll regret it if I don’t, but we just don’t have anywhere to store them until they can be used in the future.
I remember admiring this book stand when I was an altar server. The one that was used regularly was on the altar, and was a rather plain wooden stand. This one was sparkly “gold” with glittering “gems” in the front, and was kept in a tiny room on one side, where the priest got ready for services. Us altar servers would get ready in a tiny room on the opposite side then, just before mass started, cross over to join the priest for the procession. The room where we would get ready is where the back door was located, and that was where the person who broke in, started the fire. That room was completely burnt out, but the other room was surprisingly undamaged, other than smoke. This book stand was completely blackened with smoke, except for where there had been a crochet doily on the adjustable book rest. That left a clearer pattern in the smoke.
My daughter wasn’t able to get the black completely off; she didn’t want to damage the surface by scrubbing more. She did get it looking gold again, and while not as clear and shiny as they used to be, the glass “gems” look like gems again. She did an amazing job! I’ll have to try and get a picture of it in nice, bright light.
My mother was very happy when I told her I’d taken it home, and asked if she could see it again. I should bring it with me, tomorrow, to show it to her.
After showing me her handiwork, my daughter asked me what there was that she could do for me outside, tomorrow, while I’m gone. She’s going to try and finish the lawn mowing for me. I still have to refill the jerry can of fuel for the mowers, but haven’t been able to get done, yet, so she’ll do as much as she can before running out of gas. 😄
As for me, I should probably call my mother about tomorrow. Her evening med assist should be happening around now, so I know she’ll be up and about, at least!
Then I’ll share about how the transplanting went in my next post. 😊😊
Today is looking like it’s going to be a gorgeous day. It’s bright and sunny, with some cloud expected later, and we’re supposed to get a high of 0C/32F, which means things are going to be melting all over.
It’s also already been a WTF day.
First up, was finding this when I went outside to do the cat stuff.
The cat cave had been tucked into that cube, but it was pulled out like this, today.
Brussel and her babies are just fine inside, but I have no idea what happened.
Brussel did not leave her babies at any time while I did the outside stuff, even when I tried lifting the cave and discovered they were still inside. It made giving her her wet cat food more awkward. She seems fine with how it is now (I did move that loose piece of carboard aside). I was also able to reach inside and give her head scritches. She growled at me the entire time, but she did not pull away, nor did she try to attack me in any way. I got some squeeze treats to use to try and socialize her more, and I might actually be able to do that, now that the opening to the cat cave is easier to reach.
When doing the morning stuff, I go through the old kitchen (our buffer zone) and the sun room. We tie off the doors – sometimes just the outside door, if the weather is nice – so that cats can get in and out, but the sunroom has shifted. We can still close the inside door, I think, but I don’t think we can close the outside door anymore. The problem is, the rain barrel at the corner was allowed to overflow to the point that the sidewalk block it’s on was undermined and has sunk at the end. It looks like it has also affected the concrete pad the sun room is built on, which means the room continues to shift downwards at that corner. The door frame is no longer plumb, and it seems to be ever so slowly getting worse.
That’s the sun room, though, so not really that big of a deal.
Our main entry doors, however, are another issue.
We already had a problem with the door not latching properly; the door itself is splitting at the latch bolt, and the face place is loose. Sometimes, the door would just pop open on its own.
Lately, though, it’s become harder to open and close. It’s really stiff at the hinges and, when closing it from the inside, you really need to put your shoulder into it. When I was heading out today, I tried leaving through that door, but couldn’t close it from the outside. The bottom half of the door seems to be hitting the door frame. I had to go back in, shoulder it closed from the inside, then leave through the old kitchen door (we do have another door to outside in the dining room, but it is not mobility accessible for my husband, so we don’t really use it). We already know the entire frame and door need to be replaced, but that ain’t cheap!
I had just a quick run to the post office to make today, and was soon back home. After parking in the garage, I went to open the door…
That left me in a pickle. With the console in the middle, it’s not like I can shuffle over to the other door. I ended up messaging the family, asking if anyone could come out. My older daughter answered, and I told her what happened, but I think she was already booting up and heading out and didn’t see the messages. She though I was injured or something!
Meanwhile, it occurred to me, I could just open the window and open the door from the outside. So I gave that a try.
It wouldn’t open.
I tried again.
Nothing.
When I opened the window, I noticed the door was locked; normally, it automatically unlocks when the engine is shut off. I’d unlocked it, but when I reached to the door handle outside, my arm pushed the lock down again. Once I realized what happened, I was able to open the door – just in time for my daughter to reach the garage.
So what I think happened is that I accidentally locked the door after parking the truck, so of course, it wouldn’t open when I pulled on the handle.
Instead, it broke off.
Looking into the opening with my phone’s camera light, I could see the edge of where it broke off, and that was about it.
I have since sent the photos to the garage, asking if this is the sort of work they do or not. They’re not an autobody place, so I might have to go somewhere else. I haven’t received a response, yet.
Until we can get it fixed, I’m going to have to get used to opening the door from the outside for a while.
My goal for today was to finish sorting enough aluminum to fill the truck bed, go to the salvage yard to drop it off, then go to the nearest Walmart to meet with the Cat Lady and pick up more cat food. We also need a few more things for the bathtub tap repair.
It was raining all morning, so I backed the truck out of the garage so I could work on the cans in the garage. Once I had ten bags, I turned the truck around to make it easier to load. It took longer than expected, and I was no longer sure I’d be able to connect with the Cat Lady.
I was able to get 10 large bags in the truck. All strapped down an ready to go.
I got about half a mile before the onboard computer started dinging, and I got a red flashing “oil pressure low, shut of engine” warning.
So I pulled over and shut it off. After waiting a bit, I tried again, but it went off again almost immediately.
We were due for an oil change, but I’ve never had this happen before!
I ended up walking home to get some oil, and my younger daughter walked back with me. As we were going along, we saw a vehicle stop beside the truck for a while. The driver stopped again when he reached us. It turns out he was a neighbour from up the road. He was hauling a flatbed trailer, so he went home to drop that off, then came back to help us.
Long story short, we manage to get the truck home, and I was able to park it in such a way that it can be easily accessed by a tow truck.
Yup. We are down to no vehicle right now.
And we’re going to run out of kibble, tomorrow.
F***
I updated the Cat Lady and she said she would get cat food to us, but I have no idea how. Someone would have to deliver it to our place, since we can’t go anywhere.
A tow has been arranged for tomorrow morning, and the garage is already expecting it. We’ll get a diagnostic and an estimate, but we won’t have a budget for any repairs until my husband’s disability comes in at the end of the month.
Today is the 22nd. CPP Disability comes in on the 29th.
That’s a week with no transportation. Heck, I don’t even know how I will get to the garage to pick up the truck once it’s repaired – assuming it’s a repair we can afford. It’s entirely possible the problem is gunk in a sensor. Or it could be something major. The engine itself sounds just fine.
Meanwhile, we’ll need to take off the load of aluminum before the truck is taken in, but that will wait until tomorrow morning. I just don’t have the spoons to do it tonight.
I’m going to have to go through our pantry and freezer and see what we can use for cat food.
The past 12 months has seen so many things breaking down this year. It’s been insane. It seems like every time we take a step forward, we get yanked back five.
One of those things that broke down has been my mother’s car – our back up vehicle – which started to make a banging noise. Since then, it now has a tire that keeps going flat, even though we’ve been using the compressor to pump it back up every couple of days. Even if it were running, though, we no longer have the budget for insurance and fuel for two vehicles anymore. Partly because we now have the truck payments, but also because the cost of everything has gone up so much.
I am just so tired, right now. Not physically tired. Not even emotionally tired. More psychologically tired.
It was around this time, 7 years ago, that my husband and younger daughter flew out here earlier than planned, as my FIL was in the hospital and things were not looking good for a while. I started this blog on the 29th of October, 2017, and we weren’t all united again here until the middle of November. Those first few months saw some rough times, and we’ve certainly had our challenges, every year since. Even so, we’ve have had so many things break down, one after the other, like we have in the past 12 months.
Today is relatively mild, as far as the temperature goes. It’s only -8C/-18F as I write this. The windchill, however is at -24C/-11F and honestly, I think around our house, it’s actually feeling colder than that!
The historical records for today are pretty wild! Our record high was 23C/73F set in 2012, but the record low for today is -26C/-15F, set in 1974.
I well remember my childhood winters here in the 70’s. There’s a reason the “experts” were saying we were heading into a new ice age back then! It was brutal! Of course, as a child, I didn’t know any different and thought it was normal. It wasn’t.
Our earlier long range forecasts that said we were going to have highs above freezing through the rest of March and into April have been completely reversed. Now they say we’re going to have highs below freezing for at least another 10 days. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for that bloody wind!!!
One thing about the cold and wind; we’ve got more yard cats!
I got a different number, every time I tried to do a head count, but the range was still between 31 and 33 cats! And at least one – Sad Face – was “missing”. I haven’t seen more than 30 cats here in weeks.
I was happy to note that the matt of burrs in Adam’s fur seems to be almost all gone. At least the ones on her hip and side. The burrs on the tip of her tail are still there. I’m also still keeping an eye out of a printer baby with an injured back leg, but have seen no sign of a limping cat, so that’s good.
Which reminds me; I reached out to the Cat Lady about the Wolfman and his eye, sending her a picture. It was a long shot, but I was hoping donations to her rescue might be available, as we have zero vet budget right now. I wasn’t surprised when she said there was none left; she’s taking care of the rescues out of pocket again. However, she was able to give me advice, as she’s dealt with this before. She agrees with my husband, that it’s most likely a scratch from another cat. She asked if we still had some Metacam left, which we do, so we’ll be dosing him for three days. It’ll get the swelling down and reduce pain, and help it heal faster. We had to weigh him, first, to calculate the dosage.
He did not like that. 😄
Along with the Metacam, we’ll continue using eyedrops and carefully dabbing around the eye. She described the treatment regimen they did with their cat that had an eye like this. With their cat, it took about a month to heal completely – but it also turned out to have a piece of claw stuck under a lid that finally came out on its own! I don’t think we’ve got anything like that, but it’s hard to see. They ended up self treating because, when she called the vet about it, treatment would have cost at least $600. As it is right now, she’s making weekly payments to cover their bill with her usual clinic, because they still owe them thousands! They have a good working relationship with this clinic. This is the one that wouldn’t give up on Cabbages (which is now saving the lives of other cats), and a couple of other sick kittens from our place the Cat Lady took. I’ve actually lost track of how many cats they now have permanently that came from us! There’s at least four or five.
Which reminds me; they have an area prepared for Ginger. He’ll stay with them and get the standard vet care before being officially put up for adoption. He’s going to be sharing space with a very chill cat with no eyes (also up for adoption), so bullying will not be a problem! Right now, it’s just a matter of scheduling a day to connect.
I did get out today, and I am so very happy about it! I was able to get the truck into the yard, so we could load it up and make a dump run. There was just one drifted area I wasn’t sure about, but the snow is hard packed enough that the truck just climbed right over! We could never have done that with the van. It would have broken something! The truck made it through, easily.
Once the truck was by the house, the girls took care of loading it while I opened the gate, penguin walking the whole way. I had just asked them to bring the bags out, expecting to load the box myself, but by the time I shuffled my way back to non-ice covered paths, the girls were just closing up the tailgate!
I did have to laugh when I opened it up to unload it at the dump. Getting back out of the yard had sent almost all the bags flying to the cab end of the box.
There’s a reason we keep a long handled garden cultivator tool in the cab all the time! Very handy, to pull things closer.
I had considered continuing on to the town North of us after going to the dump, after my husband had confirmed they have the bio drain maintenance stuff that finally got our toilet going again, in stock. After unloading the garbage, though, I decided against the trip. The winds were even worse than at home! At least it was blowing in the right direction, so the bags I was tossing into the pit were being blown further in, rather than back at me! On the way home, I did make a stop at the post office, though, and picked up a few grocery items while I was there. There are a few other things we need to get, along with refilling the big water jugs, but that will wait until I meet with the Cat Lady in the smaller city. Next week, we’ll be doing our stock up shopping for April, so I don’t want to be making any special trips if I can avoid it.
I’m just glad we were finally able to made that dump run. We were way overdue! I am SO appreciating this truck!!! It’s such a good beast.
We should name it. Our previous van was named Sleipner. This truck needs a good, muscular name. 😂
The Re-Farmer
ps: Oh, my goodness! I just noticed the date and realized – today is the first day of spring! Winter is officially over!
Well, we had a couple of first real tests of the winter today.
With how mild the winter has been so far, we didn’t really get a sense of how much difference the new roof has made.
The answer now is…
A lot.
The upstairs is not well insulated. It never has been. My mother never quite understood when I told her about how bad it is for the girls up there. She no longer remembers, and she never spent the night up there. My sister certainly remembers!
Even after putting sheets of insulation against the walls by their beds, and using space heaters, winters are bitterly cold up there. There is just one heat vent, going into the bedroom, but the air has lost all its heat before getting to the second floor. The room with the heat vent is colder than the one the stairs come up into! Sitting or lying near a wall was painfully cold, and they could see their breath. Not this year, though!
One thing they did was hang a blanket in the doorway between the rooms. That stopped the breeze that would hit my younger daughter’s back while she was sitting at her computer desk, and makes it easier for the space heater to warm the bedroom. The walls themselves, half of which are angled directly under the roof, no longer have waves of bone shattering cold coming off of them.
As for the crawl tunnel my brother stuffed with insulation, when we started to have water dripping from the bathroom ceiling…
The corner of the roof around the stack vent would melt away from all the heat loss above the bathroom. So far, there is no sign of that heat loss, and no water dripping from the bathroom ceiling.
The next test was my quick jaunt to the post office.
The roads were not plowed.
The short stretch from our driveway to the stop sign wasn’t too bad. The wind blew it completely flat, with most of the snow being blown down the road, rather than accumulating.
The main road, however, had the wind blowing across it, with a lot more accumulated snow. Especially for that first mile from our place, with trees on both sides. The second mile was clearer, as the wind could blow the snow into the fields. There were tracks I could follow down the middle of the road, at least. On the way back, as I was reaching the crossroad, there was an oncoming car about a quarter mile away. I simply pulled over at the intersection and waited for them to pass by, rather than have us both having to pull into the snow on either side to pass each other. I could see the other driver appreciated not having to break new tracks in deep snow! Snow has this terrible way of grabbing onto tires and drawing them downhill, towards the ditches – and the last thing anyone needs is to end up in these steep, narrow ditches! Four wheel drive or not, the likelihood of getting out without a tow is low!
If I had been driving the van, I would have turned around and gone home as soon as I reached the stop sign by our place and saw the condition of the main road. The truck’s extra height cleared the snow completely. It handled drive quite well, though I certainly would not have wanted to do any highway driving.
The Re-Farmer 