Chicken coop build, day one

April 27, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Well, we did get a lot done, but it isn’t complete.

I didn’t even head out until the afternoon. I wanted to wait until it got at least a bit warmed. I’m glad I did, because I got a phone calls from my mother and brother. They are back from their pilgrimage and he even visited my mother on Saturday, not longer after I’d left! We must have just missed each other that day!

The first call was from my mother, giving me the name of a doctor at the clinic in the same hospital building the TCU is in. Someone else there gave her the name of his wife’s doctor, and I got all sorts of details that were absolutely irrelevant. I eventually found out that her hearing has gotten worse, especially in her right ear, and so on.

Now, that last time I talked to someone at the nursing station about this, I was told that because the doctor in charge of the ICU does his rounds only once a week and can’t stay with any one person for too long, I would have to make an appointment at the clinic, instead. I had passed this on to my mother, but that was as far as it went.

I managed to get my mother to let me off the phone so I could call the clinic. I looked up the clinic’s website for the phone number, and also looked up the names of the staff.

The name she gave me was not for a doctor, but a Registered Nurse. There is no permanent doctor at this clinic; all the doctors come in from the city on some sort of rotation, so most of the appointments are doing by RNs. I knew my mother wasn’t going to like that.

Still, I called up the clinic and talked to the receptionist, explaining that my mother was right in the building in the TCU and wanted to make an appointment.

They can’t do that. It doesn’t work that way.

???

I told her what I’d been told by the nurse, some time ago, and it was not the correct information. In short, we have to book a family meeting with the doctor, an administrator, my mother and any family members that can be there (which would probably just be me) to talk about my mother’s needs. Which would need to be arranged through the administrator. Who wasn’t in today. She’d be in tomorrow, though.

So I called the nursing station at the TCU and talk to the nurse there. Not the same one I spoke to about this before. I explained the situation about not being able to book and appointment and my instructions, and she was all, yeah, that’s how it’s done.

*sigh*

She got my name and phone number and the administrator should be calling me tomorrow.

That done, I called my mother back to let her know. She was eating her lunch at the time, so I kept it short. She still tried to keep me on the phone longer, as she was eating and talking to me at the same time.

It took me a while to recover from the noises. I don’t think she had her teeth in.

Then, just before I was going to head outside, my brother called. He had just talked to my mother, having to do a three way call, because he needs to do her taxes and there is stuff missing. As her PoA, he could take care of it, but it would have taken 90 days, but if my mother talked to them in person and gave permission, they could do it right away. My brother wanted to make sure I knew about it all in case I got a call from my mother and she was sounding flustered or something.

I’m so glad he did that.

Finally, I could head outside and get started. I had been trying to figure out how to move the two big boxes from the garage to the yard, where we’re thinking to set it up, and never quite came to a conclusion. In the end, once I dragged a box out of the garage, I found I could simply walk it, rocking from one corner to the other, all the way across. It was surprisingly fast that way. The boxes where not the same size and shape, and one of them was more awkward than they other, but I got it done.

The next thing to do was unpack them both and sort everything on the lawn.

Then I brought my tool bag and a chair, then sat down to start going through the instructions.

They are pictographic instructions.

They’re not very clear.

Still, I got a fair bit of progress on the first section before I had to message a daughter for help. It needed to be stood up, but it wasn’t very stable yet and I didn’t want to risk breaking anything. My younger daughter came out to help – then stayed! In fact, she pretty much took over for me.

Which I really appreciated when I realized I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. She kept working on it, trying to decipher the instructions for the next stage. We’d already had to take some things off and reverse them, because the images in the instructions looked the opposite of what it was supposed to be.

As I was eating, the phone rang again.

It was my mother.

She told me my brother had called, and it was about insurance. She doesn’t have insurance.

Did I mention how glad I am my brother filled me in already?

I explained to her that he called about her taxes. One of the things he had to get for her claim is her prescription information. Our province has insurance coverage for that, connected with our provincial health care.

She still doesn’t understand it. She knows she sometimes has to pay for her medications, and sometimes gets them for “free”, but doesn’t understand the concept of a deductible, or that the “free” is when the insurance covers the cost.

Then she started complaining about how my brother never phones or visits.

I pointed out, he’s been back from Spain for maybe 2 days, he just visited her recently, and phoned her today. “Oh, in general”. Then she complained my sister doesn’t phone or visit, and passed on stuff she wanted me to tell them for her. It seems she’s lost track of their phone numbers, and can’t figure out how to use the contacts list on her phone. The number here at the farm hasn’t changed since they had a telephone installed some time in the 60s, it’s the only number she remembers.

I had mentioned to her that I was eating and that I had to get back outside to help build a chicken coop, but still had a hard time getting her to let me off the phone. I messaged my brother right away, before I could forget anything, inhaled the rest of my “lunch” (it was well past 5 by then), then went back to help my daughter.

When I’d done in, we’d done as much as we could on one side of the coop at this stage, and the second side needed to be assembled. She had gotten some good progress on that by the time I got there again, but she was stumped at the next part.

It turned out she had attached the floor in reverse. There was nothing in the pictographs to show there was a difference. On the side that’s supposed to face the end of the nesting boxes go, there were pre-drilled holes for pegs. The walls for the nesting boxes are set in place with the pegs, first, then screwed into place through pre-drilled holes under the floor.

We had to take almost the whole thing apart again to fix it. The side walls also had wooden pegs, and a couple of them broke in the process. They were placeholders, though, so with two of us there, it got reassembled just fine.

We finally got to the point where the two sides are attached to each other at the back, then brackets added for the floor runs from one side to the other.

Before the section of floor was added, though, the roosts were supposed to be attached below.

The pictographs were particularly confusing.

By then, it was starting to get really cold. We were both in t-shirts, since it was nice out early. When I got inside and checked, I discovered we were at 5C/41F, but the windchill was -2C/28F

Definitely not t-shirt weather!

Here is a slide show of today’s progress.

The pile of packing foam sheets in the second picture got put back into a box to get it out of the way before I started assembling things. Even then, the wind was high enough to try and tear it out of my hands and snapped a couple of pieces!

While reading the instructions, I unbagged and sorted out the parts and pieces, which are in the second picture.

The third picture is when I had to get assistance to flip the whole thing upright. The mesh sections just didn’t have anything to support them, yet.

Also, I screwed up. I put two back panels on. My daughter fixed that while I’d gone in to eat. The front panel has a door that opens for air circulation.

I was too late when I got the fourth picture of Judgement. He had been napping on the roof panels for much of the time, but then he started rolling around luxuriously on them. Of course, once I got my phone out to take some video of his adorableness, he stopped. At least he pretty posed for a picture! 😄

The fifth and last photo is where we stopped. My poor daughter’s back was killing her by then, so I took care of stacking the remaining pieces close to what we’ve got assembled so far.

What I should probably figure out before we put the ramp, door and roof on, is where I will be adding roosts on the inside, in front of the nesting boxes. There are two roosting bars, under the floors on each side. Which, to me, seems completely exposed. the bottom is wire mesh on all sides. We get a lot of wind. Unless we make covers for the mesh bottoms, the chickens aren’t going to enjoy roosting there!

This is most definitely a “summer” only coop. We’ll have to prioritize protecting it in the winter. That’s one of the reasons I want to build a polytunnel in the main garden area. We can stick the whole coop inside for the winter. The entire structure is relatively light, so moving it would not be that difficult.

It’s going to be another month before we get chicks, and another 4-6 weeks before they go into the coop, so we will have plenty of time to figure it out!

The next several days will be chillier, and then we’re supposed to warm up again. If all goes well, the coop will be finished tomorrow. I don’t want it to be sitting outside, partially finished, for too long. At this point, if we get high winds, it could be blown over quite easily.

One other thing that has made the built more difficult than it should be is the fact that we have no level ground, anywhere. We’re working on one of the most level places, and it should be okay once it’s completely assembled, but it made two people a necessity to attach some parts – one to pick the corner of the coop being worked on and hold the pieces aligned with each other, while the other drove the screws in.

In other news, I’ve heard from the foster that’s taking care of Frank. Her two babies that she rejected are in another home with experienced kitten bottle feeders. Frank is absolutely traumatized, though for a cat that just had major surgery, she sure is active! She growls and hisses at humans, but is curious about the cats that show up at the special screen door they have. Looking at some video I was sent, I think she actually is liking the amenities of indoor life. As much as a traumatized cat can! Considering all they had to do to get her to the vet for her C section, then get her back again, it’s going to be difficult to calm her down. Still, it will be easier than when she was outside. After she escaped when we tried to get her spayed, it took months to regain her trust, but we didn’t have constant access to her to work on it, either. We just saw her at feeding time, mostly.

Hopefully, it will all work out in the end. Frank really is a sweetie, once her trust is gained!

We shall see.

The Re-Farmer

What a day

April 25, 2026 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

My original plan. It’s colder today, so I was going to wait until we got near our expected high of the day, do some work outside, then visit my mother.

Of course, that didn’t quite happen as planned. I never got any work done outside at all.

After my morning rounds, I had breakfast and spent some time catching up on my computer, which is working very well again right now. Which is when I found posts on FB from the rescue, talking about Frank!

The intake person still has Frank, and Frank has not warmed up to her or anyone at all. At most, she came out of her hiding place and had a nap on the floor in full view, once.

Well, yesterday, she went into labour, but it was clearly not progressing. They had to take her in for an emergency C section, and managed it only because she had hunkered down into a cat cave. They were able to slide the entire thing, with her in it, into a large dog crate. Once at the vet clinic, they apparently had to use a net to get her!

She had three kittens. Two survived, but Frank didn’t want anything to do with them. Volunteer fosters with experience bottle feeding newborn kittens have stepped in, and as far as I know, Frank is still at the clinic, recovering from surgery.

Poor Frank!

So far, her two baby boys are doing well with the fosters.

Once I saw the posts, I messaged the group chat I have with some people from the rescue and we were talking about her, when my mother phoned.

After our hellos, I told her I’d been planning to visit her later today, after I got some work done outside.

I was promptly informed that she was more important than anything else, and I needed to visit her.

No, she didn’t have any emergency, though she did bring up her ears and hearing problems. I tried asking her if they were doing the oil treatment to be able to clear her ears if it was a wax build up, as she has had happen in the past. She made some disparaging comments about the staff and I knew I wasn’t going to get a straight answer from her.

In the end, she asked me to bring her some Ginger Ale – just a small bottle – and a tube of Voltaren that she wanted me to bring to her and hide from the staff.

*sigh*

My mother had been asking for a particular cushion with a crocheted cover she wanted me to bring to her. I had found two almost identical ones and already had one of them in the truck to bring to her. After our call, I quickly changed out of my work clothes and headed out, just before lunch time. I stopped at the pharmacy to get her Voltaren, then went to the grocery store to find the small bottles of Ginger Ale. I’d considered getting her the tiny pop cans, instead, but a 6 pack of those costs almost as much as a 12 pack of full size cans! So I got her a 6 pack of Ginger Ale.

On entering the grocery store, though, I saw a sign saying their had seed potatoes in stock. I ended up getting a 5 pound bag of Yukon Gold and another of Viking Red, which I am not familiar with. I don’t know if we’ll get more potatoes later on, but we will at least have as many as we planted last year. It depend on what space I’m able to get available.

When I got to my mother’s, I stopped to talk to the nursing station first. The nurse there today actually worked at the hospital while my mother was there and remembered her, though I don’t think my mother remembers her back. I asked about my mother’s oil treatment for her ears, mentioning that my mother had specifically brought up that her right ear is worse. She dug out my mother’s file in their note book, where every shift’s nurse writes down things of note for the next shift, and for the doctor when he does his rounds once a week.

My mother’s file has a lot of notes.

She found the notes from the nurse to did my mother’s ears. She got the mineral oil treatment for three days, then he flushed her ears. The notes said her right ear was clear, and only a small amount came from her left year.

Since it is now confirmed it’s not a wax build up causing the problem, we talked about the situation for a while. In the end, we would have to make an appointment with an audiologist in the city ourselves, but once we let them know when the appointment is, they would arrange the transportation, since my mother would have to use her wheelchair. A family member could accompany, of course.

While the nurse was reading the notes on my mother’s file, she spotted something of concern for me. My mother has a new room mate now. A very frail woman. It seems my mother has pushed her walker and something else of hers out into the hallway, angry that they were … in the way? It wasn’t very clear.

That got me to asking about the possibility of my mother getting one of the private rooms, if one opens up. My mother will always complain about her room mates, no matter what, and she did have one that was apparently aggressive towards her, in the other TCU, but this is about my mother’s behaviour towards her room mates, not the other way around. The nurse took notes about that. We also talked about how my mother is on the waiting list for a particular nursing home. There’s no way to know now long that would happen, though.

We also talked about my mother’s medications, as the notes say she keeps asking about them. It turns out the “extra” pills my mother is getting are just multivitamins. This has been explained to her, but she doesn’t seem to get it.

Before going to my mother’s room, I showed the 6 pack of Ginger Ale bottles I was bringing to my mother, but also told her about the Voltaren, and that my mother asked me to keep it a secret from them. I explained, it’s just for her knees, which she can apply herself. That’s it. They already do her back and hip for her. The nurse agreed that it would be fine for my mother to have some to apply to her knees, herself. I just made sure to remind my mother later that I got her the extra strength version, so to use it only once every 12 hours.

When I got to my mother’s room, there was a cleaning staff member there, offering to take my mother’s lunch tray away. There was a note my mother had written on a napkin that she asked about, and it was for the kitchen staff. She wrote that they were giving her too big of a glass of milk and she couldn’t finish it and didn’t want to waste it, so she wanted a smaller glass. The woman tried to explain to my mother that she can’t write a note like that, or tell someone like her about it. My mother needed to go to the nurse so they can write it down in the instructions for her meals. My mother wasn’t understanding why; she felt writing the note should be enough. Since I was there and heard all this, I said I would take care of it and went back to the nursing station.

After explaining the situation, the nurse got out the folder with instructions for each residence and found my mother’s. She already had instructions to have a cup of hot water to go with her milk, so she can mix them together.

I spotted the problem.

They give her a full cup of milk, and a full insulated coffee/tea cup of hot water. Both are so full, she can’t combine them.

There are now instructions to give my mother only a half glass of milk with her meals, and she will have the room to mix her milk and hot water, the way she likes it, now!

As I was walking back, I crossed paths with the cleaning lady, and she started saying how she is surprise she hasn’t run into me before. She’d worked in our little hamlets single hotel/restaurant/bar for years.

Turns out, she’s a neighbour. She’d been to this farm, years ago, probably while I was still living here! When I asked her name, I did recognize it, though I certainly didn’t recognize her. Too many years have passed.

I told her I’ve been living in other provinces for some 30 years, and we’ve only been back for 8, going on 9, years. Plus, we don’t go out much. 😄

It turns out she knows our vandal quite well and mentioned him in passing, since she sees him all the time and knows how close we used to be. Even as she talked about him and started to cringe, commenting on “how he is” now.

*sigh*

As we were talking, my mother popped her head out of the room and we both greeted her. Not long after, she popped her head out again and told me, “I thought you came to visit ME!” I told her, “I was just saying hello to my neighbour!”

We said our goodbyes and I went to my mother’s room. Her room mate was not there, so we stayed there for my entire visit. As I came in, the first thing she did was tell me to close the door. There is someone across the hall that has his TV on and she found it too loud.

For someone who is having hearing issues, it’s surprising how much it bothers her, because it really wasn’t that loud. She had her own TV and radio on in her apartment when I’ve visited her, much much louder!

The visit went… okay. It certainly has been worse.

She complained about her pills, convinced that they are deliberately messing with her medications because they want old people to just die.

She brought out a list she’s been writing, of how many pills they give her and when, and now they’re giving them to her at the wrong times and the wrong amounts. She wouldn’t let me actually see the list, though.

I told her I talked to the nurse about her ears and she told me the flushing was done by a Filipino guy who says he’s a nurse, but who knows what he really is, and how nothing was flushed out of her ears. I told her, that meant there was no wax build up and explained about needing to get her ears tested in the city. That got a derisive comment about how they are just trying to push responsibility for her onto someone else. Why can’t the doctor do it? I had to explain, she needs to go to a specialist with the training and the equipment for it. A regular doctor can’t do it. She disagreed.

Oh, and she thinks her pills are causing her hearing loss. And eating is causing her breathing problems.

She complained that I brought her a 6 pack of Ginger Ale, when she only asked for one bottle.

She complained that the noise from the TV was breaking her sanity and literally killing her.

She complained that there was a chair in the corner of the room, where she stacks some of her stuff, because it’s ugly and big and doesn’t suit the room and she has asked for a shelf, instead. The chair is not big, not ugly, and all the double occupancy rooms are furnished exactly the same. She just doesn’t want it there.

She tried to make me take a pocket book on the life of Princess Diana that someone gave her but she has trouble reading because her eyesight is going. I tried to politely decline, so she tried to tell me to give it to my daughters. They need to read, too. I told her, we all read. What do we read? All sorts of things. We just don’t have any interest in the personal life of a dead princess. She took issue with the fact that we don’t read the things she thinks we should be reading.

At one point, she actually asked me what was new. I told her, she already knew about the well pump. That was pretty much it. She told me, she didn’t want to know about that, it’s our business. I told her, then don’t ask what’s new if you don’t want to know! She then explained she meant if we watched anything new on TV. I reminded her, we don’t watch TV.

I tried to tell her about uncovering the garlic bed and how they’re already sprouting, and got a lecture about how it’s too early to uncover them because it’s still too cold. Then went on about how, after we first moved here, she had offered to hire someone to plow the old garden area for us to garden in, but I said no. I told her, right… I said no. Because that would not have been a good thing. I tried to remind her, we don’t have a herd of cows with manure we can add to the soil, like she did, and the soil is very poor now. That’s why we are doing things differently.

That got the same response as mentioning the well pump did.

When the door opened and someone assisted my mother’s room mate in, my mother immediately began to complain about the TV. I told her, maybe they are hard of hearing, too? Oh, but then everyone has to suffer. I pointed out that not all people are bothered by it, and just tune it out (which I had already done during). I reminded her that some people always have a TV on, like my in laws did, just for background noise. Oh, that must be why she (my late mother in law) died.

…

I told her flat out that this was a very terrible thing to say.

My mother was completely indifferent and unapologetic.

Needless to say, I didn’t stay too much longer.

By the time I got home, it was late in the afternoon. I finally had my lunch, then headed out to feed the outside cats. I never did get any work done in the garden. I’ll have to make up for it, tomorrow.

I did get more messages from the rescue while I was with my mother, and they are talking about trapping cats. After what happened with Frank, the intake person really wants to get the females done, so no other cat has to go through what Frank is going through. It turns out Princes Auto has an 80% off sale on traps right now, and two people have already picked some up.

When I headed outside to do the second feeding of the day, I managed to get a good picture of one of our most feral females.

We have not named her. I am open to suggestions!

I have not seen Adam or Slick today at all, but this one, and Sprout, who is just as feral, have both shown up. I strongly suspect this white and grey is not nursing, because of how often I am seeing her in the inner yard. I find it hard to believe she didn’t get pregnant, when she and others went into heat in January, which is really, really early for that. Which suggests to me she may have lost a litter. I had no way of knowing, though, and we don’t see enough of her body to be able to tell if she’s nursing.

The second picture in the slideshow above is of the two big traps we have, which I sent to the rescue chat group. We have two others that my brother gave me, but they are more appropriate to catch squirrels, not adult cats. The thing is, if we were to manage to trap a cat, we’d have to get them in somewhere immediately – and we still have to find a way to monitor the traps. The intake person agreed, yes, immediately, but I asked, immediately to where? I have not had a response yet. As far as I know, I can’t just show up with a cat in a trap at a vet clinic and request a spay or neuter. Especially since the only clinic that we’re dealing with (with special rates and arrangements with the rescue) is a 45-50 minute drive away. So where would I go with them once they are trapped?

Other folks in the chat group were talking about coming here, as a group, with traps to get as many as possible for spay or neuter and release. Which would be the best plan, since they would be able to work something out before they even arrived here. The intake person wants me to focus on females only, but there’s no way to pick and choose who gets trapped.

We shall see what actually ends up happening.

So that is where I am at now. A very different day than expected!

I do hope Frank heals up well, and they are able to find a way to get her adopted out. While we are more than willing to take her back, I’d hate for her to become an outside cat again, and it would be too much for her to join the crowd of inside cats we already have.

Ah, well.

What will be, will be.

The Re-Farmer

Feeling thankful

April 24, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Today has been pretty chilly, compared to yesterday, but it was still warm enough to get stuff done in the garden. I’ll actually put together another video on how that went. Probably not today, though.

Before I headed outside, I had a rather alarming start to the day, when I tried to log into my computer.

I got this.

Yes, that’s cat hair all over my monitor’s screen.

I have never seen this particular warning before. I also couldn’t really fuss with it, either, as I needed to have my breakfast, then head outside to get the winter sown beds uncovered. So I got my husband up and told him what was going on and he said he would look at it while I was outside.

He had to go into my bios to reset it.

It turns out part of the problem is all the photos and video I’ve got.

This is a new computer, which I got after my previous desktop died an ignominious death. When looking for another desktop, I was surprised to find that pretty much everything only had 500 Gigs of storage space. When I got my previous one, they all had at least 1T. I’ve been transferring files to an external hard drive as I am able, but it was already mostly full with data rescued from my old computer. Still, I needed to free up space on my computer; it’s slow going to transfer over USB, so I’d do things like one month’s worth of photos and video at a time.

In spite of that, after I uploaded the photos and video I took for my last gardening video, the files took up enough space that the computer just couldn’t process my log in.

As we were talking about it when I came in for lunch, my husband mentioned that he had a 2T hard drive on his old computer; we’ve kept both our old computers for salvage purposes. He wasn’t sure if my new computer had the ports for it, though. He got it out of his old computer to give it a try after I finished my lunch, and headed back outside.

It worked.

As soon as I was able to, I started transferring files. I was able to transfer all of our 2025 trail cam files at once, instead of one month at a time, in a very short time. Had I tried to transfer the 2025 fold to the external hard drive, it would have taken more than an hour. That one folder turned out to be what was taking up the most space.

I really need to delete more trail cam files, but I enjoy keeping files with, say, herds of deer going by, or cats – some we no longer have – running around. Of course, I also keep the files that show our vandal creeping around, too.

Moving that one folder almost doubled the available space I had.

From now on, all my photos and videos will be going straight to the 2T hard drive; something I used to do regularly, with my previous computer. I was able to transfer it all in mere moments.

My desktop is doing much better now!

Meanwhile, I was able to get a decent amount of work done in the main garden area. I focused on the garlic bed first, and found lots of garlic already emerged – and a surprising number of chard and spinach seedlings! They were trying to grow through two layers of mulch (first a leaf mulch, then the straw mulch I added later), though, so they were all very leggy. I don’t know if they’ll make it. That bed is now clear and protected by netting, though, so they at least have a chance.

The next bed I worked on has the radishes and turnips in it. This one has the two rows closer to the sides of the bed, with the middle open for what will probably be pole beans later on. There was a surprising number sprouts on one side – the radishes, if I remember correctly. This bed got covered with the 6mm poly I had order a couple of months ago.

By the time that was done, it was getting late, and my daughter was treating us to pizza at a place that opens at 4pm. We all got different 18″ jumbo size pizzas, which is enough to feed us for several days!

After the order was phoned in, I headed out to the truck but just had to stop to get this picture.

These three in particular just love the isolation shelter! With the cooler temperatures, I turned the heat lamp back on, too. That’s Furriosa, curled up in the hammock under the lamp.

On the way to town, I stopped at the general store and post office. I was able to pick up a 40 pound bag of kibble, along with getting the mail.

There was a surprise parcel waiting for me!

From there, I continued on to town, first stopping at the grocery store; my daughter had sent funds for a few things from there, to go with the pizzas, as well. Last of all, I got the pizzas, then headed home.

The truck smelled amazing.

Once everything was unloaded and put away, I opened up the package. It was from a dear friend that was a neighbour before we moved out here. Along with some things for the garden, and treats as “bait” for the outside cats, I found this, well wrapped in a tiny box.

How utterly precious! The teeniest most adorable bunny, ever!

And yes, I did scrub my hands after I was done in the garden. Honest. 😄

In between the stops I made while going to and from town, I got some messages from my husband. Out of curiosity, he looked up the price for the exact same SSD, 2T hard drive he scavenged from his old computer to install into mine.

It now costs $925.

Before taxes.

Out of curiosity, my husband looked up the invoice from when he bought it a few years ago.

Less than $250 AFTER taxes.

For the EXACT same hard drive. That’s on Amazon. No idea what the local prices would be, or if anyone even carries it anymore.

In the end, there was much to be thankful for today.

Thankful that my husband could get into my computer in the first place. Thankful he had a spare 2T hard drive, and my computer is now breathing easy again.

Thankful we didn’t need to spend almost a thousand dollars for a new one!

Thankful for the work I was able to get done in the garden today.

Thankful for my daughter treating us to pizza. Gosh, it’s been ages since we’ve ordered in pizza.

Thankful that I was able to get a 40 pound bag of kibble, right at our own hamlet’s general store and didn’t have to drive to towns to the north and south of us for one.

Thankful for a wonderful and thoughtful friend who sent us a delightful care package.

All in all, life it really good!

The Re-Farmer

A leaky surprise, and blinding

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

It’s a good thing I know how to touch type! 😄 I’m home from my eye appointment, and my eyes are still massively dilated.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I had quite a surprise when I did my evening checks in the basement. In the morning, everything around the well pump was almost completely dry, after pipes and fittings were replaced.

In the evening, there was a significant amount of water.

I took some pictures, emailed them to the plumber, then phoned him. It was later in the day, but this is a 24/7 plumber, and he actually answered the phone.

We talked for a while as he looked up the photos I sent him and was really surprised by how much water there was. He said he wasn’t able to come out tomorrow (meaning, today), but I told him that was fine, because I had my medical appointment. He did have a suggestion for me, though, after I described where the leak seemed to be coming from. He suggested I try tightening the screw clamps. The plumber that did the work had used an impact driver to tighten them, so I never even thought that they might be loose, but I was certainly willing to try!

He even told me what size socket I needed, which meant I didn’t need to bring the whole tool box down. 😄

I was quite surprised by how much I was able to tighten them – and I tightened all of them, on both pipes, just in case. When I’d tried it before, after the new pump was installed but it still had the old pipes, I had tried to tighten the clamps with a screwdriver after spotting one of the leaks, but couldn’t even budge them.

Once done, I swept away the water into the sump pump reservoir, then left it for the night.

Happily, this morning, everything seemed to be drying. I sent a picture to the plumber and let him know. I checked again just a little while ago, and it still looks fine.

The first picture in the slideshow above is what I found last night. The second is the one I took a little while ago, so maybe 20 hours later.

Hopefully, it will hold this time!

As for today, my daughter and I headed out after having a late breakfast. My daughter is coming down with something and her lymph nodes are all swollen, so she could barely talk, but she could still drive me home. We left early enough to stop at a grocery store right near the eye clinic to pick up a few things my husband asked for, then I popped into another store briefly, just to see if they had anything we needed. Even with all that, then taking the time to eat lunches in the truck, I was at the eye clinic early.

They were good with that, and even got me started early!

I got the pre-tests done, first, then only had a short wait before the doctor called me in. With my regular vision test, there was very little change. I could get a new prescription, but it really wouldn’t make much difference.

Then she did the drops to dilate my eyes.

Ouch.

I joined my daughter in the waiting room for the 15 minutes it took for my eyes to dilate, then I got a series of photos taken. I have the tiniest of hemorrhages in my eyes that they are monitoring with these.

After the photos were taken, I had a few more minutes to wait before the doctor called me in and we went over the images. Minor changes. Some of the hemorrhages were gone, some faded, and some tiny new ones in other places. Nothing of concern.

Then she did the direct examination, under a bright light.

Ouch.

Everything is checking out okay, though.

That done, I went to book my next appointment in 6 months – that one will include a field of vision test – and settle the bill. I wasn’t sure how it would work with the change in our insurance, and there was only so much information she could access in the system. In the end, I just paid the bill in full ($60) and got the receipt for my husband to submit to the insurance company later.

I thought I was doing fine until I stepped outside in the the bright sunshine! I was almost completely blinded, and had to get my daughter to lead me to the truck. The first thing she did when we got there was get my sunglasses that fit over my regular glasses on me.

What a sweetheart.

(My husband submitted the claim, then we talked about his insurance changes. It turns out that we have the same policy numbers as before. Which means, even though they don’t send out a physical card anymore and want us to use an app, I still had all the information needed on the old physical card that I could have shown the receptionist!)

I’d considered things like getting gas on the way out, or stopping at my mother’s to drop of the cushion I think she was asking me about, but nope. Not today. We went straight home!

Things are a lot better, but my eyes are still burning. I did manage to feed the outside cats while my daughter put away the groceries we got, and gave my husband the receipt for the insurance company, but I think that’s about my limit for the day.

I’m happy to say that both Slick and Adam showed up at feeding time, and I was able to pet Slick a little bit. I was able to pet Adam a lot! She even let me fuss in her fur to try and get a burr out of her side a little bit.

The rest of my day is going to be really quiet, and I’ll be trying to keep my eyes closes as much as possible. Even now, in just the time it took me to write this, the burning is increasing.

So I will say good bye for now!

Until next time…

😊

The Re-Farmer

A beautiful day!

April 21, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

We’re at 10C/50F as I write this. “Real feel” at 12C/54F – and we still haven’t reached our high of the day! Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.

I am so enjoying this.

First up, I made sure to check on the well pump this morning, and I’m happy to say…

… everything is drying up nicely, and there is no sign of any leaks.

The picture is out of focus because that corner is completely dark, so the camera didn’t know where to focus before the flash lit up.

There is moisture on the floor below showing, but that is normal for this time of year. There’s a low spot where any water seeping through the concrete puddles, and I sweep it into the sump pump reservoir regularly.

Then I headed outside to feed the yard cats, and was even able to do a head count.

Twenty seven. There were 27 cats this morning!

This included Slick, who made a brief appearance.

She is no longer very round.

*sigh*

Then she disappeared.

I checked all the places we set up that I hoped she would use to have her kittens, but they were all empty.

I did find Gouda in the catio, enjoying the fresh straw on the hammock.

There is a beautiful feral tuxedo I saw this morning that I think actually lives across the road from us. He likely calls two colonies “home”.

Once the morning routine was done, I headed to the town north of us to sign the form for our taxes, then take my husband’s home for him to sign, before taking it back. It’s a half hour drive to this town, so doing this meant a total of 2 hours of driving time. Happily, the truck behaved the entire time.

Which is good, because tomorrow I have my eye appointment that my daughter will need to drive me home from.

Meanwhile, I’d messaged the rescue chat group about my count this morning, and we talked about how to at least get some of the friendly males neutered. With that in mind, I did a bit of clean up in the isolation shelter. Later on, when the ground is dry and we can set up a hose, we will move the isolation shelter away from the house and give it a through spring cleaning. For now, though, I wanted to clear out the bottom level. We haven’t been able to change the two litter boxes under there for a long time, because of the box shelter we set in front of the ramp door in the winter. It is warm enough that I moved it out completely and left it set aside, so we’ll be able to access the bottom regularly now. I left the emptied litter boxes out, only one of which will make its way back into the shelter. The other will go into the cat cage in the sun room, where I hope any mamas will bring their kittens.

The straw that was put in the lower level for the winter was thoroughly pooped on. I had to use a garden hoe to reach the far corner and drag it all to the ramp door. That all went to the litter compost behind the outhouse.

It was so warm, I shut off the heat lamp in the isolation shelter as well as both of them in the sun room. With overnight temperatures looking relatively mild from now on, we shouldn’t need to turn them back on again until the fall.

By the time I was done with the isolation shelter, I was starting to hurt again. Definitely something wrong going on in my abdomen. I would not be at all surprised to learn I’ve developed another large cyst. Doctor’s appointment is in the first week of May. We’ll see how it goes from there.

With my eye appointment tomorrow, I won’t be able to work on the garden beds I meant to, but I should be able to gather the materials I’ll need later today. The days are getting so much longer, I’ll have time for that. I think I’ve figured out what I want to use to protect the dwarf peas in the wattle weave bed from the cats, once the straw mulch is removed. Once I’ve got everything I need handy, it won’t take long at all to get the beds cleaned up and protected.

From twenty. Seven. Cats.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

Here’s hoping!

April 17, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

It feels like it’s been such a long day!

But first, the…

… cute sneak thieves!

The cheeky buggers! Both raccoons and skunks are now regularly seen in the sun room. While the camera didn’t catch them last night, I know they go into the isolation shelter, too.

*sigh*

The storm system that hit yesterday hasn’t been too bad, over us. Our weird climate bubble has rescued us again. We got a bit more snow, and it was still snowing this morning, but that’s it. The town my mother is in got pouring rain during the night! So did the city. The highways group I’m on had many reports of poor driving conditions on the highways.

My younger daughter came along for our errands of the day, with our first stop being the post office to pick up a parcel. The paved roads near our little hamlet were already starting to melt, even as more snow was falling. As we got closer to town, however, the road conditions slowly got worse. I found myself doing about 80-85kph/50-53mph all the way, instead of the 100kph/62mph speed limit. It was very messy and hard to see where the lanes were, the closer we got to the lake, which is pretty typical. I’d heard of one road, just before town, being washed out and we could actually see the damage as we drove by! Still, I’ve driven through much worse.

Our first stop in town was to drop off the truck at the garage. We’d left early, knowing it would be slow going, and ended up only about 15 minutes early instead of the half hour early it normally would have been, in good driving conditions. I just had to drop off the keys, and then my daughter and I – remembering to grab canes – started walking.

First thing we did was get a breakfast, since neither of us had eaten before we left. We took our time about it. My appointment was a drop off time, not a scheduled work time, and it looked like it was just the owner in today, so I knew it would likely be quite a while. We did have other errands to do, but not until after we got the truck back.

We decided to walk over to the second hand store, just to see what we could find.

Treasures. We found treasures.

Specifically, there were a couple of hand crank meat grinders. One looking very much like the one I found in the old kitchen that I remember using when I was a kid, which has missing parts now. The second hand one we were looking at even had a spare mincing plate, though both were coarse grind plates. There was a second one, much smaller, that had two spare mincing plates, and was the same price.

After hemming and hawing, I finally decided to go ahead and get the bigger one.

Then we started looking around and I got a few more things, the most expensive costing $2. My daughter admired a couple of items that I ended up getting for her, including a matcha bowl and saucer set, and a fabulously retro pitcher. For myself, I got a serving bowl, an old Mennonite cookbook, and a couple of books with plans for making things like furniture and garden structures. My daughter got herself a DVD and a couple of novels.

One thing we both spend quite a bit of time looking over was an old China cabinet, selling at only $80. The set up we have for our dishes, serving bowls, etc. was great when we first moved out here, but we now have a lot more cats. The shelves are open in the front, and that’s become a problem. That cabinet would actually solve a lot of storage space problems we have right now. What we couldn’t figure out, however, is how we would get it home. Yes, it would fit in the box of the truck, but none of us are able bodied enough to load and unload it.

We didn’t get it.

Once we paid for our stuff, we were then stuck with carrying them around! The meat grinder alone is cast iron, and weighs about 15 pounds. It got its own bag. The rest all together weighed more. Not normally a big deal, but we were both caning it and, with my right elbow still messed up, I could only carry the grinder with my left arm.

We’d already done a fair bit of walking by then and needed to sit down, so we headed over to a donut shop for drinks and a donut each. It was a place we could hang out for a while and not be taking up needed table space.

By the time we were done there, enough time had passed – about 4 hours altogether – that I figured we could head back to the garage, even though we hadn’t been texted yet. The walk was slow going. My poor daughter was in so much pain, I could see she was fighting not to cry. 😢

When we got to the garage, the truck was still up on a hoist and almost done, so we went into the office to sit down. I made sure my daughter sat in the normal sized chair by their desk. They have other chairs, but they are much lower. Hard to get in and out of when your knees or back are shot, but I was having an easier time of it than my daughter was.

It was past 2pm by the time we got to the garage, though. The original plan once the truck was done was to do a quick stop at the grocery store, then a gas station, then drive to the town north of us to the tax preparer. I had my form to sign, but we’d then have to take my husband’s form home for him to sign, then I would drive it back. Then we were going to go back to town again, as my older daughter wanted to treat us to take out and sent funds for it. Altogether, it would have been an extra 3 1/2 hours of driving, at least, and the tax preparer’s office closed at 5.

We were both already in too much pain, so I called them up instead and said we weren’t going to make it today. I was assured that was all right. We’ve got until April 30 to sign the forms!

I’ll do it on Monday.

It wasn’t too much longer before the truck was done and it was backed out of the garage. My daughter took our stuff to the truck while I settled the bill – just pennies over $388, in the end. Hopefully, that will solve the problem and we won’t be back again for some time!

I know where my tax return is going.

*sigh*

As we were talking about it, he told me that, if I don’t come back for anything until after June, they won’t be there anymore. They are moving locations! They are going from about 2,400 sq ft to about 35,000 sq ft, in an industrial park – and he bought the building, so no more renting! That is so awesome! They opened a second location last year, and are doing well enough to expand locally, too. I congratulated him, of course. I’m so happy that they are doing so well. There are a surprising number of garages in this town, so for him to have enough business that he can expand like this tells a lot.

That done, I went to the truck – then had to get my daughter to go behind me to guide me as I backed out, as there were a couple of vehicles making for a tight space. While we were doing that, the owner came out to get one of them, to drive it into one of the bays. He was chuckling a bit when he saw what we were doing, but it did give me a chance to quickly talk to him. The check engine light was still on. I figured it should turn off on its own in short order, now that the new sensor is installed, which he confirmed for me.

Once parked at the grocery store, my daughter stayed in the truck, as she was in too much pain for more walking. We only needed a few things, but I went through the whole store to see if there was anything I was forgetting. Of course, there was, so I’m glad I did.

From there, it was to the gas station. I put $50 in the tank, which gave me a quarter tank at $1.799 *sigh*

Next, we headed to the Dairy Queen for take out – and the check engine light was of by then. My daughter came in with me, so she could choose for her sister and herself. For treats like this, we order a combo meal each, plus an extra burger each, so it took a little while longer for it to be done! I even remembered to bring in a hard sided grocery bag to make it easier to carry the hot food. My daughter ended up with the tray of drinks on her lap for the drive home.

Unfortunately, while the road was in better condition by then, and almost completely clear of ice and snow, it’s a rough ride. The road needs resurfacing. She didn’t get splashed too badly, though! It got smoother once we were on the gravel road again.

Once at home and unloaded, it was late enough that I went straight to feeding the outside cats, making it safer for my daughter to drive out of the yard and park the truck in the garage.

During the drive home, I’m happy to say that oil pressure gauge was right were is was supposed to be, the whole way. Here’s hoping that new sensor will keep working properly! It’ll take a bit more driving before we know for sure.

Tomorrow, I should go visit my mother, at the very least.

Now that we’ve got this last bit of work done on the truck, we have quite a few things to catch up on, little by little. Plus, I’ve got my eye appointment next week, which my daughter will have to drive me home from, and FINALLY, my third attempt at a doctor’s appointment in the beginning of May. If all goes well, I won’t have to cancel any of that!

Here’s hoping!!!

The Re-Farmer

The snow is back

April 16, 2026 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

This morning was chilly. Just chilly; the incoming weather system hadn’t reached us yet. I was actually able to do extended rounds, with so much snow finally melted away after yesterday’s warmth. All of which froze overnight.

The amount of water had actually gone done quite a bit before it froze, though! This is behind our garage, this morning.

Yesterday, I needed to dump a litter bucket into the litter compost pile behind the outhouse. I neglected to wear my rubber boots, and the path we usually use was completely flooded, as was the path all the way to the outhouse. I ended up making my way through the other side to dump the bucket, skirting branch piles and snow drifts!

I had another bucket to dump this morning – and yes, I remembered to put on my rubber boots this time – and stopped to take the above photo. The path to the litter compost was almost completely clear. There was just one lower area with ice over it, but the water below was almost completely gone, so it was just a floating sheet of ice. This area in the photo is the lowest, so it takes quite a while for it to fully drain.

I was finally able to make my way around to the sign cam, only by skirting along the edge of the spruce grove, where much of the snow was gone. I just had one drift to break through at the far end. Literally. The snow was so soft in the warmth, yesterday, but this morning that was frozen to a hard crust at the top that I had to stamp and break through in order to cross. I didn’t even try to go through the garden area, where the snow it still over a foot deep. Going around did give me a chance to check out and confirm we have had two more dead trees fall.

The big spruce landed on top of another spruce that fell years ago. The other two pictures in the slideshow above are of a dead poplar that is now hung up on other trees.

I’ve already talked to my brother about clearing the deadwood out in the spring or summer. If he can get his tractor going, we can pull them out. Then we can start taking down the other dead spruces as well. We really, really want to get the ones that are closer to the house!

At this point, I would just like to have the trees all dragged into one general space in the old garden area where it’s still all wide open. Once they are there, I can process them to use. Some – the thickest trunks – will become support posts for the outdoor kitchen we are planning to build, while others will be used to build raised beds.

While walking towards the sign cam, I passed a huge poplar, and saw this lovely sign of spring.

Soft clusters of catkins, all over the branches! This tree is the only one I see them on right now.

All of this is now covered in snow.

The system is hitting other areas harder than us, but we will be getting snow, off and on, through to tomorrow. Some areas will be getting a mix of rain and snow, while other higher elevations might get as much as 15cm/6in, where most areas are looking at 4-8cm/1.5-3in

It started here in the late morning. When I headed out to meet the pharmacy delivery guy, we had about an inch of new snow. It was light enough that I could just use a broom to clear the steps and sidewalk. It has started snowing again, so I’ll probably need to do it again when it’s time to feed the outside cats for the end of the day. The delivery driver, meanwhile, said that his place is flooding! His house is not in danger, thankfully, but he’s had to contact the highways department. That tells me there would be an ice dam in a ditch between his place and the lake that needs to be cleared. This system is pushing north, and I was chatting with one of the rescue’s contacts this morning. She lives on the reserve that might have to do some evacuations because of this storm. For her, that means working out how to help animals, should that happen.

This morning, I was able to pet a very pregnant Slick while she was eating, and was able to send the group chat I have with the rescue some video. Slick is one of the few that allows contact, but only when she’s on the cat house roof and eating. Even then, it’s touch and go. They would like us to trap her and bring her in before she pops. We can try, but it would be very difficult to trap just one specific cat! Especially one that is more feral than not. We will do the best we can.

In other things, while doing my checks in the basement this morning, I found that the cold water tap in the laundry sink is dripping even faster. I contacted the plumber and talked to him about it. Both taps need to be replaced and I already have new taps. The problem is that the current ones were affixed permanently. My brother said a torch would be needed to get them off. !!! I explained this to the plumber – then mentioned we have other leaks down there to check, too. He started to look at his calendar saying he couldn’t come today, and I told him it wasn’t urgent. Next week would be better. So he will come either Monday or Tuesday, depending on his schedule, and will call us before he comes.

As for me, I am taking the truck in to the garage tomorrow morning. I got a text yesterday aftenroon, letting me know the part had arrived. So we will get the new OEM sensor, the engine flush and oil change all done as the same time. Hopefully, that will bring and end to those weird low pressure readings!

I also got a call from the tax preparers last night, just before 7pm!! They close at 5.

Our taxes are done. I will need to go in to sign my form, then bring my husband’s home for him to sign and bring back again. I will do that after getting the truck back, tomorrow. The tax preparer told me how much we’re getting back. For me, it will be zero. I thought I would get my disability tax credit the same as I had been getting the caregiver tax credit, directly to me. However, because I have 0 income and don’t “need” it, they were able to transfer it to my husband’s return – and got a larger tax return for both of us in the process, than if it had been done separately. That’s going to come in handy, that’s for sure! Especially with the extra plumber’s bills.

So tomorrow is going to be a busy day of driving around. Hopefully, the roads will not be too bad after this storm passes!

The Re-Farmer

We have water again!

April 13, 2026 / Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

What a relief!

After the well pump stopped working, we had to make do with a few things. Thankfully, we already buy drinking water in 5 gallon jugs, though we soon switched to our last one. We didn’t have any water to wash with, but we did have wet wipes to help keep clean. Using the toilet was out of the question, but with so many problems with our septic, we’ve used a honey pot more than a few times. What we found here when we moved in was a toilet seat that fits over a 5 gallon bucket, which is really uncomfortable and not particularly stable. We’d bought a camping toilet – a foldable base a bag could be fit into, then a cover with a toilet seat set on top. The design is slightly elongated in the front, and the seat is padded.

This was the first time we’ve had to use it, and wow, was it so much more comfortable!!!

Still, not fun to have to use.

Using stove pellets as litter has come in handy again. Whenever the honey pot was used, we’d pour a small scoop of pellets in, which would absorb moisture and keep the smell down at the same time.

All in all, we were pretty well prepared for something like this. In the sort term, at least.

Last night, of the three places I called, one plumber called back. After explaining the situation, he said he could be here around 11:30-12:00 today.

I was already planning to go into town to refill more water jugs, stop at the garage, pick up a few necessities, then meet with someone from the rescue to return our cat carriers, so I wasn’t going to be home in that time frame. I went through the basements with my younger daughter, who would meet the plumber for me, to show her what she needed to pass on to the plumber. The new well pump my brother bought a couple of years ago was still in the box, and he also had a bag of all the fittings and fixtures he thought might possibly needed. He even had Teflon tape in there.

There is a bit of an issue with the light that’s over where the pump is. The light is turned on with a pull chain, but one day the chain got stuck after being turned on, and it took a lot of fighting to be able to turn the light off again. Which is when I discovered the fixture itself is starting to come loose. So we simply don’t use it. My brother has suggested we just put in an LED light bulb, turn it on and leave it on, but I’d prefer not to do that with a fixture that is starting to fall apart!

We figured the plumber would have is own lighting, though, such as one of those head lamps.

Oh, and we’ve discovered the door to the old basement steps won’t open anymore. For a while, it would only open when the knob was turned in one direction, but not the other. Now, it just won’t. My daughter fiddled with it and says the latch isn’t moving anymore. Ah, well. We need to slowly replace all the door knobs with lever type handles, anyhow.

Meanwhile, we were all being careful about using as little water as possible, and avoiding dirtying any dishes. Which meant we were eating a lot of chicken salad sandwiches and using paper towels as plates. Thankfully, my daughter had done the dishes before we lost water, so there were no dirty dishes already in the sink to worry about.

We all tried to go to bed early but, of course, I couldn’t sleep! I finally fell asleep somewhere around 3 or 4 am. I still woke up at the usual time, which is basically once the sky starts to get light. This time of year, that’s around 6am. My older daughter was up working all night, so she came to talk for a while before going to bed for the day, then her sister came by later. She ended up doing the outside cat feeding for me, so I could try and get more sleep. She couldn’t refill the water bowls, but they didn’t need to be. With so much snow melting, the cats prefer to drink out of puddles right now, instead!

I did call the garage shortly after 8am and left a follow up message about the oil sensor issue. I mentioned I’d be in town in the late morning, so if they didn’t call back before then, I’d swing by to talk.

It was getting to around 10:30am when I gave the truck a once over, then started heading out, making sure to leave the gate open for the plumber. I was in the last mile before the highway when I saw a commercial van coming in the opposite direction. I knew right away, it had to be the plumber and, sure enough, it was. As I pulled to the side to let the van pass and realized who it was, I came to a stop and waved him down. He’s been to our place before, but I don’t think he’s ever seen the truck we have now. He did recognize me once he saw me.

This gave me a chance to tell him a few things about the situation, the new pump we already had, and past concerns we had about the foot valve, but that I’d since discovered we have fantom flush, not a leaky foot valve. The toilet was why the pump would go off, even when no one was using any water. Something that stopped when I simply moved the refill tube out of where it normally runs into, so that it just fills the tank directly. He understood what I meant. He did ask if we had water to prime the pump with and I told him, we only had one big jug of drinking water right now, and that I was on my way to town to refill our empties. He said he thought he had enough water in his van that he could use. After we parted ways, I paused to message my family to let them know he was going to arrive early, and continued to town.

Along the way, I found myself stuck behind a slow moving vehicle that I couldn’t pass for a while, so it took a bit longer to get to town. That little bit of a delay was enough for that oil pressure gauge needle to drop to the line between “low” and “normal” before I even reached town.

*sigh*

So the garage was my first stop.

When I got there, I saw the owner go outside while talking on his cell phone, so I knew it might be a while before I saw him. I went into the office and the other mechanic – one of our neighbours – came over to see what was going on. I told him about the oil pressure sensor, and he did mention that this is pretty common this time of year, with the temperature changes and moisture getting into the system. Minor fluctuations, I would expect, but I told him that the needle was dropping to the point that it would set off alarms before I could drive much further than the nearest towns. I brought up that the owner had mentioned getting a different sensor, but he wasn’t part of that conversation, so he said he would let the owner know I was waiting to talk to him, then got back to working on vehicles already in the shop. I made sure to tell him to let the owner know I wasn’t in any hurry.

When the owner came in, he was apologetic for not getting back to me. He’d gotten my message, but just didn’t have a chance to call me. We talked about what is still going on with the sensor – he mentioned he’s now got several people with the same problem! – and confirmed the truck is running fine, oil levels are fine, but I just can’t be doing normal driving if I let it drop to the point of alarms going off. He understood.

I brought up about the GM sensor he’d mentioned – an OEM sensor, he clarified – and he started looking it up. Then I heard him saying, oh, that’s why we didn’t go with it from the start! Turns out it costs $160, compared to the $80 for the off market version.

With part of the problem being seasonal, and moisture getting into the system over the winter, I mentioned that I’m less than 2000km to the next oil change. Would getting an oil change help? Yes, he said, it probably would. What he suggested is that I just keep driving it until it’s time to do the oil change, then he would do an engine flush to remove the moisture, replace the sensor and do the oil change all at the same time.

Which I agreed to. Until then, though…

He then offered to disconnect the sensor until then. I told him, yes!! I had even suggested something like that in one of my messages. The gauge would be at 0, but no alarms would go off.

So he got my keys and asked the mechanic to quickly do that for me. He was done with the truck before I was done in the office!

In the middle of all this, I got a message from my daughter, saying that the plumber was almost done, and we had water again. I mentioned to the mechanic that our well pump stopped working last night, and his reaction told me he knew exactly how big of a deal that was! I’d say, he lives with a well system himself. 😄

As I was leaving, I told him, I feel almost like I’m being a pain in the butt about this sensor, but for something like this, if it’s going off for a legitimate reason… which is when he started knodding his head enthusiastically. We’ve already gone through this, and it could have been really bad on our engine! He completely understood. How can we know for sure if it’s just the sensor, or if something is going really, really wrong?

I love my technology, but sometimes, it makes things more difficult, rather than less!

That done, I was already hearing from the cat rescue lady. She was on her way. That gave me time to head across the street with the truck, to the grocery store parking lot where we were going to meet, with time to head inside. I got my water bottles refilled, plus a couple of little things, then waited for her in the truck.

When she arrived, we commiserated. She’s having troubles with her vehicle, too – and they are a lot more expensive than mine will be! Like, 10 times more expensive! In the end, she’s going to get a new engine, because it’ll cost about the same as doing the repairs.

As we were transferring the carriers over, I was greatly appreciative over the fact that they had been cleaned! We keep them in the sun room so that cats can be used to them and use them as shelters. They had been pretty much covered in muddy paw prints. She told me they were cleaned and disinfected, since all the cats we brought in were sick with something or other. Much appreciated!!

Then she brought out another carrier – a donation for us!

I’ve never seen anything like it before!!!

It’s really big, and reminds me of a space capsule or something. 😄 So we are now back up to 6 useable hard sided carriers.

Then she gave me a couple of bags of kibble, too!

They are just amazing.

The bags were both taped up on the bottom. A lot of the bags they gave us before had some sort of taped up damage, too. I think they are getting them as donations from pet stores, with bags too damaged to be sold, but still filled with perfectly good kibble.

I am just fine with taped up bags!

That done, I was soon on my way home. My daughter had let me know that the plumber had gone. The water was very cloudy and smelled of minerals, but not something she was worried about.

Once I was home and everything was unloaded, I went into the basement to check it out, and to run water in the laundry sink. There was all sorts of crud coming out of the taps!

Running the taps set off the well pump, so I went over to check it out.

It is SO much quieter!!!!

It also finished much faster. I noticed the pressure gauge was a lot more visible, and that when the tank stopped the pressure was at 50psi. With the old pump, I never saw it higher than 40. My daughter later told me that the plumber said it was supposed to be at 50, and that the pump is supposed to be triggered at 30.

My daughter told me that he had also checked the pressure tank, as that could also have been the source of trouble, and the pressure tank is fine.

As for the old pump, it turned out to be the switch. He had told her, he could just replace the switch and we could keep using it.

Then he got it running again, and they both heard just how grinding and loud it was.

My daughter told him to go ahead and replace the whole thing!

That pressure gauge on the pump, it turns out, was one he provided. The one that came with the pump faced a different direction and we would have had to twist around to be able to read it. Now, we just have to look down. The only other thing he had to provide that wasn’t in my brother’s bag of fitting was a brass fitting.

Then he’d used some bottled water he had in his van to prime the pump and get it going.

The first picture above was taking while the pump was still running.

I got some pictures and video that I sent to my brother. I got messages from him while I was in town, too. They’re in Spain now, after walking over 190km, with another 90km to go on their pilgrimage. They are averaging 15-20km/day, depending on weather conditions and access to accommodations for the night. There have been a few times when they were walking through some poor weather conditions, and even had to jump a creek at one point.

I told him about the pump and he was very happy to hear that the one he had bought earlier was used. He paid about $400 for it at the time. Just finding this sort of pipe these days is hard enough – most have the pump down in the well itself, not in a basement, like ours – but like everything else, the prices will have gone up since then.

After running water in the laundry sink in the basement, I went to do the same in the kitchen, as that sink is the furthest from the pump.

The second pictures shows what our water looked like for quite some time!

I had to remove the aerator on the faucet, as it just kept getting clogged up. We’ll need to soak it in CLR.

I kept running the water, both hot and cold, until it seemed to be clear. It’ll probably be a while longer before it’s totally clear again. Then I ran water in the bathroom sink and tub, and flushed the toilet a few extra times. I took the aerator off the bathroom sink’s faucet before running the water, and I’m glad I did. There were some pretty big pieces of grit that came through!

All this trigged the pump a few times, of course, and I’m still amazed by how quiet it is!

The last thing we need to do is run a tub clean cycle on the washing machine.

My daughter, meanwhile, had done all the clean up and putting away of things before I got home, including the honey pot.

The dump is open for short hours tomorrow morning. Now that I know I won’t be triggering any alarms on the truck, I plan to do a much needed dump run!

I am so glad this has finally been done, after all these years of stressing every time we used water, and three different plumbers worried about causing damage to the foot valve if they changed it. The foot valve seems to have handled it just fine! I’m especially relieved because we’ll probably have to use the hoses a lot to water the garden throughout the summer. I was stingy on watering things last year because I knew how much wear and tear it was causing to the pump, but with the drought and heat, it still meant quite a bit of watering.

As much of a pain it was to lose water entirely, it wasn’t for all that long, and we were well set up for it. We had drinking water, were able to keep ourselves clean, and could still use the bathroom. The outhouse wasn’t really an option. The melting snow has created a bit of a pond in front of it, as part of the moat that forms around the garage, and the pit is probably quite full of water, too.

Another reason I want to build an outdoor bathroom, without a pit, closer to the house!

In the end, things have been working about pretty much as well as they could have, and for that, I am grateful!

The Re-Farmer

Got a few things done…

April 11, 2026 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

The day, of course, started with doing my outside stuff which, until the snow melts, isn’t much more than feeding the yard cats.

Bug is still mad at me.

As soon as I opened the window to get a clear shot, she dashed onto the ramp, out of reach! (you can see her in the second picture) We’ve gone from being able to pick her up and cuddle her, to “don’t come near me!!”

*sigh*

As I was finishing my rounds and starting to head inside, I tried for a head count. I saw 18, with 8 in the isolation shelter, though I know I saw at least a couple more earlier, as I was setting the food out.

It is so very strange. There were only 5 in the sun room. When I check the critter cam in the sun room, it’s basically empty (though I did have to chase four massive raccoons out last night!). Last night, I checked the camera at the isolation shelter, and saw only one cat in there!

The raccoons definitely got in during the night, though. The food bowl was knocked down to the lower level, were it can’t be reached without moving the wind break box over the ramp.

I’ve been chatting with the rescue group and they are wanting to know how many friendlies we still have that we could get without trapping. There are quite a few – mostly male, with several already neutered. They’re asking for more photos. I’ll have to see if I can get more when I do the second feeding, later today.

Meanwhile…

While checking the forecast this morning, I saw our predicted high is now 10C/50F. There are currently flood warnings for one of the reserves to the north of us, potentially to 2022 levels. That’s the year we had roads washed out in all directions and were unable to get out for weeks, with the vehicle we had at the time. The reserve is in a low lying area along the lake and they have to do evacuations fairly often in the spring. Mostly specific buildings, like a long term care center that is not in danger itself, but the road to it gets flooded over and becomes impassable. Things like that.

We have a lot of snow right now, and we desperately need the moisture – we’re still recovering from droughts. A slow melt would be perfect! We shall see how it goes.

I needed to go into town today to pick up my husband’s insulin, and my younger daughter came along to keep me company – and, it turned out, to make sure I got fed! My first stop was at the garage. Online, it says they have short hours on Saturdays, but the doors were locked. From there, we went and parked near the pharmacy, which shares a parking lot with a Subway, so that’s where my daughter took me for brunch. Then we headed to the pharmacy. While I was in line to pay for it (first time at 75% coverage, instead of 90% coverage) I ended up giving my daughter the meds and my card so I could quickly dash to a nearby grocery store. Not one we normally go to, but my husband asked for a couple of things, so I got them there, and my daughter met up with me. From there we headed to our usual grocery store and she went in while I walked across to the garage again, just in case the last time I was there, it was closed because there was just one person who had to dash out for something.

The door was still locked.

So I did not get to talk to anyone about what the truck is doing. Yes, that pressure gauge is still dropping. I had checked the oil level before we left, and it was fine. When we first headed out, the pressure was right where it should have been. By the time we got to the garage, it was just above the line between “low” and “normal”. When we drove to the pharmacy, it wasn’t much higher. With the truck parked a bit longer before we drove to the grocery store, the needle had gone up just a little bit more. We took our time with the shopping, so it was longer before we started it to head home, and it was higher again, but never reached that zone it should be at, at those speeds.

The shopping done, including taking advantage of some sales to add to the freezer and pantry, we headed home. We stopped at the general store so my daughter could run in to get our mail. The needle was on the line by the time I parked. I shut the engine off while waiting for my daughter, and it did rise again slightly when I started it again, but not by much. By the time we got home, it was on the line again.

*sigh*

We’re less than 2000km before we need to get another oil change. Which would be about a month of normal driving, except we haven’t even broken 1000km in a month for the last two months, with the truck being in the garage so often. I find myself wondering if I got that done a bit early, would that help? I don’t know, but if we can’t figure something out, I’m going to have to cancel a couple of medical appointments, including an eye appointment. Both clinics are in a town 3/4s of the way to the city; far enough that the needle would very likely drop to the point of setting off alarms before we even turned off the highway.

While writing this post, I’ve also been chatting with the rescue group again. Sir Robin has been spending much of his time at the top of a cat tree, looking out the window and chirping. He wants out! The cat that wanted to be indoors the most, now wants out. 😄 It’s a very different world out that window; he’s in a older residential neighbourhood in the city, and he’s seeing lots of other houses around. During the night, the ladies were also at the window with him, watching everything.

The intake person still can’t approach Frank or Sweetie. 😞

With how the truck has been, plus they have all our hard sided carriers, we can’t really get any more cats for them. They would like me to get groups of photos of individual friendly cats that they can post on the online adoption list, even while the cats are still here.

Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, I’ll be meeting up with one of them to get our hard sided carriers back. We’ll work things out from there.

I am so thankful for this rescue, and all the help they’ve been able to give us. I know they have plenty of others in situations similar to ours that they are trying to help, too. The need is great, and very overwhelming at times.

We so need a Furball Farm type cat sanctuary in our region, for the strays and ferals that are too wild to go to fosters. There are just too many cats that are not “adoptable” that deserve to be kept safe and warm and fed, and to get the vet care they need.

For now, we just do the best we can.

The Re-Farmer

Well, that was fun… NOT

April 10, 2026 / Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

Today has actually been a very beautiful day. It’s past 4pm as I write this, and we’re at a lovely 5C/41F, with a “real feel” of 9C/48F.

After yesterday and a very painful and sleepless night, the girls took care of the morning outdoor routine for me, so I could sleep in.

Which I mostly did.

One of the things the girls didn’t do was turn on the shop light in the basement for the seedlings. The new full spectrum lights are on a timer, but the seedlings on the higher shelf are lit only by the shop light, and that needs to be turned on manually.

Which is when I discovered the mess.

Part of my routine when turning the lights over the seedlings in the “new” basement, is to check things in the “old” basement. That is where the pumps, pipes, furnace and hot water tank is, as well as the old laundry sink where I refill the watering can.

One of the thinks I check is the floor drain. Not every day, but at least every other day. The floor drain is where I can see if there is any water flowing from the weeping tile under the new basement – or if anything is backing up again from the septic tank it drains into. Especially since I’d found the septic starting to back up, not that long ago.

With all the stuff with the cats yesterday morning, I didn’t even go into the basement until I got back, and I hadn’t gone into the old basement at all, so it had been a couple of days since I checked.

This morning, I found the floor was wet around the floor drain and the access pipe next to the septic pump.

I spent the next considerable while working to get it unclogged. We have the commercial drain auger, which I don’t even bother to turn on. I can work the auger but through without having to plug the machine in over a wet floor. I also have a hose hooked up to what used to be the cold water tap for the washing machine, before the laundry got moved upstairs, into the entry, as we were moving out here (my younger daughter helped my brother set it up, before my older daughter and I drove out weeks later).

Today was the hardest fight I’ve had yet, getting that auger bit through the clog. Once I’d punched through, I ran the hose in, but it was still clogged up enough for the water to start backing up instead of draining, so I switched back and forth between the two a few times before I could tell I’d finally cleared it. The clog wasn’t even at the bottle neck that things usually get caught up in but, from how much line I ran through, it was plugged right where it opens into the septic tank. It will need to be emptied soon, but there’s so much snow on the ground, it will probably be another month at least before we can have that done. It’s not just waiting for the snow to clear, but for the ground to not be too saturated, or the truck will just sink into the ground.

Once I did finally break through and I’d cleared from the access pipe to the tank, I had to clear the pipe through the floor drain. It was plugged all the way to the where it connected with the weeping tile!

It took quite a while to get it clear, and then I kept the hose running, as far out as it could reach, until I could see the water running past the drain was clear.

Then I did the drain from the access pipe again.

Then the floor drain again.

Part of our problem is, we don’t use enough water. We’re on borrowed time with the well pump and, while we have a “spare” my brother got a few years ago, no plumber has been willing to risk installing it, because the foot valve seems to be leaking, too. Switching it out could cause it to break up and we would lose water completely. The pipes to the well are not the same size as what is standard today, so getting what is needed to fix it would be difficult to find. We’ve actually been told we should “just” have a new well dug, as that would be easier.

Not to mention many thousands of dollars more expensive!

So we try to use as little water as possible, for less wear and tear on the well pump, which means there isn’t enough water flowing to clear the areas that clog.

Ironically, if we were able to drain the washing machine into the plumbing as normal, instead of out the window in the door, that would probably solve our problem. Unfortunately, the new washing machine drains faster than the water can flow through the first 20 or so feet of pipe, though. After having it back up and overflow onto the entry floor and down the basement steps a few times, we just run the hose out the door instead. My brother is looking at replacing that section of pile with larger pipe to solve that problem, but that is months into the future, if it gets done at all.

The plumbing here is pretty wild. Which isn’t too surprising, when you consider the original part of the house was built before there was any plumbing, or even electricity, at all.

What a fun way to start the day.

In other things, I’ve been getting updates from the intake person about how the cats are doing, and chatting with the group. Some of the cats have already gone to fosters, including Grommet. He is apparently very lonely, though! Sir Robin has discovered toys and is starting to calm down a bit. He has even allowed some mats to be brushed out.

Poor Sweetie remains terrified and has been hiding out in a cat tunnel. Frank is still incredibly angry. Blot, on the other hand, has been an absolute doll. Given her condition, I expect her to need the most vet care and will certainly need to gain more weight before she can be spayed.

They’re still talking about getting Bug and Furriosa, but they both now run away as soon as they see me.

I have already done the evening cat feeding and was able to send them a couple of videos.

In the photo above is Adam, Mochrie, Fancy Pants, Hypotenose and, in the back, a very pregnant Slick.

They’re also talking about taking Flopsy and Curtis. Flopsy was neutered at the same time as Grommet and Sir Robin, but Curtis is still intact – and insanely friendly! If we hadn’t been after the girls, he would have been very easy to get, yesterday. In one of the videos I sent, Curtis was being very, very friendly – and in another, I was able able to pet a very friendly Adam!

Friendly only when the food is there. Otherwise, we can’t approach her.

As I write this, the intake person is at Princess Auto, looking at welding gloves and possibly a helmet, as protection from Frank and Sweetie. !!!

My other goal of the day had been to go to the town north of us with our tax stuff, but that will have to wait until next week. I wasn’t up to going anywhere, and I will need to go to town to get my husband’s insulin tomorrow. I did call the garage today and left a message, but they didn’t return my call. I forgot to try again before they closed.

The problem is with the oil pressure gauge dropping at a rate that would have alarms going off before we get much further than the two nearest towns. A city trip would be out of the question. The truck might be just fine, but I can’t be driving it once those alarms and flashing warnings start going off. However, when we were dealing with the oil leaks and the sensor before, at one point it had simply stopped working. The gauge stayed at zero and didn’t move – and no alarms were going off. In my message, I bought that up and wondered if there was some way to basically turn off the sensor until they could find the replacement they’re looking for. I would just need to check my oil levels more often.

They are open for shorter hours tomorrow, so if I time it right, I can swing by and talk to someone directly before I go to the pharmacy.

Meanwhile, we are expected to continue to have lovely weather – with tomorrow night being the first night in the forecast with overnight lows that will stay above freezing!! Things are going to get very wet and messy over the next while.

The moat around the garage is already starting to form. 😄

Old Man Winter looks to have finally let go.

Finally!

The Re-Farmer

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