weather warnings

How many things can go wrong at once?

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Someone just shoot me know. Put me out of my misery.

No, I’m not serious. Just hyperbole, but really?

So we’ve got our septic issues. The pump never turned on during the night. I did check it, and found that m it wasn’t until late morning that I finally heard it turn on, and I immediately went down to check on it.

There was no flow through the filter. In fact, it was still full and nothing had drained out the bottom.

So I did the usual. Shut off the pump, pop the cap off the filter to fill it…

There was no seal.

I primed it, turned the pump back on…

There was no water flow. Nothing.

At this point, it was looking like we needed a new O ring. I’ve been messaging my brother through all this, and he suggested using Vaseline to get a seal. I found a tiny little jar of Vaseline in the bathroom and gave it a try.

Still no seal, still no flow.

I then spent I don’t know how long, calling hardware stores, looking for a 5″ O ring.

No one had.

Even the one in the town to the north of us, which I knew carried their own version of a septic pump filter, didn’t have one. They had a 6″ one.

They did recommend I call an auto place on the same street as them, as they carried all sorts of O rings.

The first question I was asked was, how thick. I never even thought of that, because all the places I called basically had one thickness. It was never a question. I gave the closest I could and he went looking.

They had one.

Yeah!

I started heading to the truck to head out.

As I was unplugging it, the first thing I notice is the front driver’s side tire is really low. So I fire up the compressor to pump it up.

That poor compressor. It was NOT liking the cold!

I got the tire pumped up, then got the truck started to warm up while I opened the gate. As I’m backing the truck out of the garage, I see something odd.

The oil pressure gauge is at 0, and is not moving. At all.

I stopped most of the way out of the garage, so I had room to set up the foot stool to check the oil.

It was fine.

I started the truck again, and the gauge still wasn’t moving. I left the engine to run while I went inside for a bit. I tried calling the garage, but it went to voice mail, so I tried sending a text, instead. Then I went back to the truck.

Now the check engine light was on.

*sigh*

I did not have time to fuss with this. I parked the truck, plugged it back in, locked the gate and headed inside.

Then I started calling plumbers.

Long story short, after getting through to one place and explaining the situation, they recommended someone in the town where the O ring was. I called there and left a message.

Then I went to the basement to try the pump again.

As before, I turned on the pump, but nothing was flowing through the filter. So I shut it off and opened it up.

It was sealed so well, I had to pry it off. It took a while, but the Vaseline made the difference.

I checked things and even switched out the filter baskets, even though that had been done recently, so the one in there was still pretty clean, closed it up and tried again.

Still no flow.

So the problem was not the filter, after all. And the pump seemed to be running pretty normally. So why wasn’t any water flowing?

I ended up calling the first plumber I got through to again, talked to the receptionist and explained what was going on, which she passed on.

At this point, I had so many calls and return calls to so many different places – including the company that installed our new ejector – that I’m starting to get them mixed up.

Long story short, it was suggested the ejector might be frozen. With suggestions and advice from different places, I headed out with a couple of jugs of hot water to see.

From how the ice and snow was on the diverter, clearly the expeller had been working all right until now. It obviously had quite a bit of pressure to create that ice wall so far from the expeller.

The cap is held in place with two screws, which I removed.

It was frozen solid. I couldn’t even rotate the cap.

I poured hot water over it and was eventually able to rotate the cap, but the venturi pipe would not move. I didn’t want to use too much force on it, or it would crack in the cold, but there was no way I could remove it to thaw it out, or to pour hot water into the pipe.

This is a serious problem. There is no way we can thaw this out, which means no septic for the winter.

I was keeping my brother updated through all this, though he’s currently out of province. When talking about the possibility of the ejector being frozen, he brought up something I completely forgot about.

With the problem we were having before, he’d brought over a massive hose for the diverter.

We could set up the diverter, if necessary. We would bypass the ejector system completely. A diverter pipe would be attached to the pump and run out hole in the wall, which is currently filled with spray foam insulation. The hose he’d brought over is now stored in the barn. We could set that up and the pipe from the basement would get drained into the maple grove for the winter.

With the ejector being frozen solid, that is now our final option.

More phone calls needed to be made.

One of those calls was to our septic guy. We need to get the tank emptied, since the pump can’t drain it. We can’t use our water. We still are, for small things, but no showers or doing dishes, and even flushing the toilet has to be avoided.

Thankfully, they will be able to come out today, so we won’t have to set up the honey pot. They’re a cash only business, though, and I don’t have any, but I can pay them later, which is something I’ve done with them before.

It will take a while for them to warm up the truck and get here, as this cold is causing all sorts of vehicle problems for everyone. As I write this, we are under extreme cold warnings, still. The temperature is at -21C/-6, and the wind chill is -29C/-20F

Once the tank is emptied, we’ll have a bit of a grace period and can use our water while waiting for a plumber to come in.

So far, I’ve had one tell me they’re booked solid for 2 weeks. I’ve left a message with the other, explaining what I needed and asking them to call back. I’ve also gotten through to the company that installed the ejector and asked if they could install the diverter for us. They are the furthest away and would be charging mileage, so he suggested I keep calling others. He then asked me to call him back on Sunday evening to update him. If I can’t find anyone, he’ll have someone come out. Otherwise, he wanted me to let him know if we found someone closer.

Which is where we stand right now. The septic guy hasn’t arrived yet, but I was able to get the insulated tarp over the tank lid freed of ice and snow and pulled back far enough to access the lid. Then covered it again, until he gets here.

As I write this, I realize it’s been at least an hour since the septic guy called me back. I hope he’s okay!

The extreme cold warning extends into the wee hours of tomorrow. We’re supposed to have a high of -19C/-2F tomorrow afternoon, and the days are supposed to keep warming up after that.

Just checking the weather now, and we’ve already dropped to -22C/-8F with the windchill now at -31C/-24F. Which could be worse; some places are getting wind chills of -40C/F

It’s past 3pm as I write this. I’d better go top of the kibble for the outside cats and – more importantly – give them more warm water. A lot of the kibble bowls are still really full when I head out. The ones in the kibble house may be sheltered, but there is no warmth. The bowl in the catio, wrapped in its plastic, gets emptied, but now the bowls under the nearby shrine. I’m rather surprised the plastic is making that much of a difference. The bowl in the isolation shelter gets emptied completely. So I try to leave more food at the bowls that get empties, so they don’t have to go into the cold to eat. I want them to stay warm and cozy as much as possible! Their winter fur is obviously helping, though, as I’ve been seeing them all over while outside.

What a day.

How many things can go wrong?

Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know!

The Re-Farmer

Well, colour me not-surprised…

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Yes, I’m hearing thunder out there.

And what does the weather app now say?

Current weather 2:21 PM
Partly sunny 26°C Feels like ‎32°C
Thunderstorms will move through your area. The high will be 26° on this humid day.

That small system with storms in it that I saw to the North of us on the weather radar grew a lot bigger as it passed over the lakes closer to us.

Meanwhile, most of Western Canada, as well as both the East and West coasts of the US, are under “severe weather” alerts.

It still says only a 49% chance of rain for us, though.

We shall see.

The Re-Farmer

Our 2024 Garden: new sprouts, no sprouts, plus possible cat adoptions!

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While shutting down the lights in the big aquarium greenhouse, I spotted a bit of green. By this morning, there was more!

In one of the two cups they were sown in, all three Purple Beauty bell peppers have started to sprout.

In one of the three cups the Sweet Chocolate bell peppers were sown in, there’s one sprout emerged, and another pushing its way through. There may even be a third, under a piece of perlite, on the right. If it is, we’ll know by the end of the day.

With the thyme sprouted for so long, but nothing else, I had unplugged the heat mat some time ago and just hoped the tank would still be warm enough for the other seeds. There is NO sign of the oregano. We had issues with oregano last year, too. I’ll give it a bit longer, then decide if I want to try sowing them again, or just give up on the oregano from seed this year. It might be better to buy a transplant when the garden centres open in the spring.

In other news…

I was contacted by the Cat Lady a couple of days ago. She has been able to find open adoption spaces at a couple of shelters in the city for us. After much discussion, we’ve decided that both Ginger and Toni will go to one shelter. They have a set up just for special needs cats, and apparently three legged cats are extremely popular. In the city, at least! The other shelter specialized in Siamese or Siamese looking cats. I sent a picture of Ghosty’s face, and she was identified as a Lynx Point Siamese. My daughters figured she was a tabby with albinism! Either way, this shelter tends to have rather high end clientele, so Ghosty will likely find herself in the lap of luxury before long!

As I write this, I can see the live feed from the garage cam. There are 6 cats milling about. It’s that time of year again. There’s been a lot of baby making going on, and the males are starting to fight over the females. I’m so frustrated that we haven’t been able to snag any of the females to get fixed! They simply will NOT let us near them! I think the super fluffy little tabby that is sibling to Patience outside, and Peanut Butter Cup, the Beast, and Soot Sprite, inside, is female. It’s hard to tell with all the fur, and I can’t get close enough to check, anyhow, but the way I see her behaving around the males right now…. *sigh* Why are all the females so skittish, but the males so friendly?

Anyhow.

If all goes to plan, we might be down three indoor cats on Friday! I’ll be driving them out half way to meet the Cat Lady, and she’ll take them the rest of the way.

This morning, after giving the outside cats their food and warm water, I did a bit of shoveling. I’m much less stiff and sore than I expected to be, after yesterday! I made sure to have some Golden Milk before bed, which I think helped a lot. Lord knows, the painkillers aren’t doing much. We now have paths to the compost pile, the back of the garage, the outhouse, and the litter pellet compost behind the outhouse.

What I am NOT going to bother doing is clear a path to drive into the inner yard. I don’t see the point.

We are getting snowfall warnings for this evening, though – another 10-15cm/4-6 inches – so we might need to clear the driveway again tomorrow, so we can meet with the Cat Lady on Friday. Hopefully, the gravel roads will be plowed, too. I thought it was done already, but when I cleared our driveway, I found that what I though was a plow ridge visible on the garage cam was just tire tracks from the one vehicle that managed to make its way down our road. !! I don’t expect to have troubles with the truck on the road, but our driveway tends to drift a fair bit. Mostly right in front of the garage.

We have several packages to pick up at the post office, which closes at noon today, so I will be heading out soon to get those, then keep going into town with a couple of water jugs to refill, and pick up a few groceries. I’ll have to snag a daughter to help me bring things to the house from the garage, since I won’t be able to pull up to the house. Either that, or reclaim the wagon from the storage side of the garage. It’s got our chainsaw and other tools I was using to clear trees and work on the first trellis bed stored in it. With the paths in the snow, though, it might be easier to just carry things in. We’ll see.

As I write this, we’ve already warmed up to -13C/8F, and we are expected to reach a high of -5/23F after the snow starts to fall. We’re expected to stay below freezing for a few more days, but the forecast is now saying we should reach of high of 2C/36F on Sunday, and be staying with highs at or above freezing from then on.

We’ll see what actually happens! I just want that snow to melt away slowly, so we don’t get any flooding aside from our usual moat around the garage. 😁

Well, time to get ready to head out, and see what the roads are like!

The Re-Farmer

Blowing

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The predictions for today have been off in many ways, but the storm being pushed in from the US is hitting us now – and is it ever blowing!

I took this while doing my morning rounds, when it was just starting to pick up. We were supposed to get a break in the snow right now (it’s just after 11am as I write this), with more snow hitting us this afternoon, but of course, nature does what it does. Now they’re saying the snowfall will continue until 7am tomorrow, without any breaks

The temperatures, at least, are still mild, though with the wind, our -4C/25F is feeling like -20C/-4F right now. The wind direction is ENE, but with the gap in our sheltering trees, what’s hitting us is ESE and blowing right into the yard. Checking on the gate and switching out the gate cam memory card, it was blowing straight down the driveway from the East and feeling pretty vicious! We’re supposed to get about 10cm/4in of snow today, but it looks like most of it is being blown away!

The weather map shows “extreme” weather stretching from Alberta through into Ontario, as well as parts of the North Dakota and Montana, where they are getting a mix of rain. I heard from my SIL this morning, and they got hit with sleet this morning. Dangerous conditions, indeed!

What’s interesting is looking at the prevailing winds map. There is a massive spin in wind direction happening over the northern US states that’s pushing the system up from the south. I sure wouldn’t want to be in North Dakota right now!

Oh, look! The weather app changed again. Now they’re saying we’re having a break in the snow (looking out my window, I can actually confirm that), and it’s supposed to start snowing again from 4pm – 7pm. I bet if I check again in 5 minutes, the forecast will be different again. 😄

While the temperatures may be mild, the yard cats are quite happy to get out of the wind and hunker down in the sun room. The thermometer on the wall in there was reading 0C/32F this morning. The cats, of course, are snuggled in great piles under the heat lamp, over the heat lamp, and on the various beds, blankets and sheets of insulation we have for them.

These temperatures are pretty average for our area. In fact, we’re a bit warmer than average right now. The record high for today was 9C/48F, set in 2000, while the record low was -34C/-29F, set in 2014! I’ll take what we’ve got now, thanks!

Looking at the monthly forecast, we’re expect to get a few chilly days next week, but after that we’re expected to warm up and, in the second half of March, we’re supposed to have highs consistently above freezing. In the last week or so of April, our lows are supposed to remain consistently above freezing, too.

Spring is going to get here, eventually!

For now, I’m going to enjoy being indoors, and not having to go anywhere in these winds!

The Re-Farmer

Well now!

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I’m sure glad I finished our stock up shopping yesterday, because winter is not done with us, yet!

Check out this forecast.

Yup… they’re predicting up to 25cm/9-10inches of snow! It’s supposed to start snowing tonight, but the storm that’s coming up from the US is supposed to hit our area by the end of Sunday. We’re under a storm watch, but from everything I’m hearing, it’s the south end of our province that is going to be hit the hardest. How much makes it up to our area is questionable.

We’ve been so spoiled with our mild and mostly snow free winter this year. There’s almost always a blizzard or two in March and/or April. These storms are important in helping get enough moisture in the spring. Even with the flooding we had in April and May a couple of years ago, it wasn’t enough to bring our water table back up after years of dry conditions.

Well, whether the storm hits us or not, we’re well stocked and don’t need to go anywhere. We could hunker down for weeks, if we had to.

All is well.

The Re-Farmer

Wasted

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Okay, the running around I did with my mother yesterday drained me a lot more than I thought it did. I feel totally wasted today. And she wasn’t even having one of her bad days, either.

I’m also not quite sure what is worth getting started on outside right now. We’re under thunderstorm warnings. The south end of the province is supposed to get the brunt of the storms, but looking at the weather radar, is does look like the system will go right over us, too, for a change. However, with the weird climate bubble we have over us, due to our location between lakes both small and huge, there have been times when the radar shows a system right on top of us, but when I look out the window, there’s nothing. So do I go out and start a job that would normally take a lot of time, or requires electricity, and risk a storm blowing over? Or just putter around with small jobs and leave myself feeling like the entire day is waste?

At least I got this cheerful sight, first thing.

Best of all, I GOT TO TOUCH THE BABY!!!! While he was eating under there, I was able to come close, reach under and start petting his back. He sort of looked around at me, then kept eating. If another cat hadn’t made some sudden crashing noises, he would have stayed longer, too.

I was able to see that the big wood tick visible in his fur previously is now gone, and I could feel no other lumps and bumps as I pet him. I think it was in a location fairly easy to get groomed out. Unlike when I found that cluster of wood ticks by Pinky’s ear a few days ago.

While doing my rounds, I checked out all the garden beds and did some weeding, but I’m hoping we’ll at least get some rain, so I didn’t hook up the sprinkler and soaker hoses, or do any other watering. The girls hadn’t had a chance to move the branch pile I’d made yesterday, so I dragged that off. I was rather pleased to find the branches were stacked in such a way that I could just grab the bottom branches and pull it across the lawn, all at once!

I haven’t completely put away the seedling trays with the Jiffy pellets that didn’t germinate. It looks like two little Birds Egg gourds have shown up! While weeding in the old kitchen garden, near my daughter’s daffodils, I found cleared a space that could actually have something planted in it. I’m considering sticking the new seedlings in there. If they survive, they would get big enough to shade out a lot of the weeds, but might also get big enough to shade out the flowers my daughter planted in there. Another option is the space we had ground cherries in last year. This was partly an experiment to see if they would seed themselves, and it looks like they did not. Which means there’s a spot with really good soil potentially available. If I pull more dandelion roots out of there, I think it would be worth trying.

I’m still disappointed over how many things had zero germination rates. Some winter squash, and both types of cucumbers, in particular that I was looking forward to.

Now… it is worthwhile for me to get the extension cords out and use the weed trimmer, so I can access those trees my brother cut down for me? According to the weather app, it should stop raining within half an hour. In fact, on the animated radar, I can watch the rain system moving right over us.

It’s not raining right now. There isn’t even any wind.

*sigh*

Well, we’ll see what I manage to get done, so the day isn’t entirely wasted.

The Re-Farmer

First!

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Well, the heat is really kicking in. Last night, in the wee hours of the morning, I checked the temperature, and we were at 20C/68F

That was somewhere around 3 – 3:30am

As I write this, it’s past1:30pm, and we’re already at 31C/88F. We are now above the 30 year record high for today, set back in 2015. I’ll still take that over the record low of -3C/27F! We’re getting heat warnings all over the place. Winds are high and we’re looking at possible thunderstorms this evening.

Pain levels were high for me this morning, so the girls took care of feeding the outside cats and setting the transplants out on the picnic table, under the old market tent and sheltered from most of the wind. Then my younger daughter did a fantastic job of cleaning up the branches from when I harvested trees for the permanent trellises we will be building. I just asked for the branches I tossed over the fence to the driveway side to be picked up, but she cleared away the big branch pile in the trees, too! Even sorted out longer pieces that we can potentially use, others suitable for the fire pit, and the rest went into the big branch pile we still have just outside the gate by the fire pit.

She was still working on it, when I finally made my way outside.

I started watering things, before it got too hot, and was able to mostly empty the rain barrel. If we do get some rain this evening, it won’t be enough to need to add the diverter to prevent it from overflowing.

While watering in the old kitchen garden, look what I found!

Our very first potato has broken ground!

This is one of the Irish Cobbler potatoes, which were the first ones planted.

I am very happy!

While watering further afield, I found the Crespo squash was very wimpy and made sure they got a super deep watering. These plants grow very big and, if they survive long enough, are supposed to produce very larger pumpkins, so they are going to need a lot of water. The nearby leaking rain barrel that I filled with a hose still had some water in it, so I was able to use that, while refilling it with the hose, at the same time, to water the raspberries, cranberries and sea buckthorn, too. I filled the barrel to almost half way, and hope to be able to see where the leak is. It may be more than one spot.

Things are looking quite lovely out there! The crab apple trees near the house are in full bloom, and the ones along the north side of spruce grove are almost there. The common lilacs and the double lilacs have sprays of buds that are starting to open. Of course, we have a sea of dandelions blooming and starting to go to seed, but the mowing will have to wait.

There are a few outside jobs that I want to work on, but will have to work around the weather conditions. Thankfully, the days are getting long enough that, if I time it right, I can get some good productive hours in the early morning and the evening. I’m not good with mornings, though! So far, at least, the house is not over heating, but we’re going to have to set up the screen “door” at the top of the old basement stairs, so we can leave the real door open to help cool the house down.

Here’s hoping all this heat and, if the long term forecast for June is at all accurate, rain will mean a healthy garden and a good harvest!

The Re-Farmer

Snow or no snow?

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My daughters were sweethearts and took care of the outside cats for me again this morning. Which was nice, because I was trapped in my bed by about half a dozen of them at the time!

When I headed out to switch the trail cam memory cards, only Rolando Moon was willing to follow me around!

She would not let me remove the burr she has stuck in her tail, though.

The driveway cam really takes a beating in this location! I need to find something to weigh down the base of the stand.

The camera was fine. Only the solar panel was touching the water. It and the camera are waterproof.

We had some heavy snowfall at times, but we’re also staying mostly above freezing temperatures. Even overnight, we’re just a degree or two below freezing. We’re getting snowfall warnings of up to 20cm/8in by the end of tomorrow, but from the looks of the weather radar, our strange little climate bubble is very much there. The snow is moving through our region but, directly above our area, the clouds part and go around! The southern part of our province is getting hit harder, and a neighbouring province has gotten 30cm/12 in places already. We’re doing just fine where we are. With how warm it is, the paved roads are staying clear. Not that I have any desire to go anywhere! 😄

We have about 3 or 4 more days of temperatures hovering above freezing, and then we start warming up again. About a week from now, the overnight temperatures are supposed to stay consistently above freezing, too. We’ll see how it actually works out!

Meanwhile, I’ve got some herbs to get started in the Jiffy pellets I started hydrating yesterday. 😊

The Re-Farmer

Change in plans

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With all the snowfall warnings we got, my mother called me up last night to talk about helping her with errands today. In the end, we decided I would check conditions on the morning, and we’d go from there.

Well, I’m not going to my mother’s today.

Not even the deer wanted to take my path to the sign cam. 😄

We didn’t get a lot of snow. I was keeping an eye on the highway conditions group I’m in, on Facebook, and people were talking about the icy road conditions. Which makes sense, considering how warm it was while the snow was falling. Nothing but ice on the road, under that snow! Still, the people posting had driven the highways several hours before I would need to, so it wouldn’t necessarily apply anymore.

There was some drifting at the end of the driveway, but the gravel road looked okay. No plowing needed. I shoveled out the sidewalks and a path to the garage, but that was about it. I was going to combine trips and head to town to our regular pharmacy first for a prescription refill, so I called them up just minutes after they opened, thinking to leave soon after.

The pharmacist that answered the phone happens to live half way between us and town. When I said that I was hoping to pick up today, but would require delivery if I didn’t make it, she told me the roads were still very icy. If I were using our van, with its good winter tires, I probably would have gone for it. However, we’re not using the van right now, nor would I use it to run errands with my mother. While my mother’s car has good all-weather tires, they’re still not winter tires, and can’t handle the ice as well.

So I decided to reschedule with my mother to tomorrow. We’re supposed to get more snow later in the week – hopefully not too much, because we’ve just accepted an Easter dinner invitation in the city on Saturday that a daughter and I will be going to! – but not early tomorrow.

I called my mother to reschedule, and she was all “but it’s so nice and sunny outside!” as if that somehow meant there shouldn’t be ice on the roads. If she can’t see it, it’s not real! 😄 Then I headed outside again to shovel the drifts out of the end of the driveway. It didn’t take long. The snow was still light and the drifts weren’t very hard packed. Yet. Which is why I wanted to get them cleared now. I didn’t want them to be there if we do get more snow later on.

Then, since I was out anyway, I cleared the snow in front of the garage so the side doors can be opened easily. Then I widened the path to to the garage. Then the paths to the electricity meter and the burn ring. Finally, I cleared the paths around the cat shelters and to the shrine, where we still keep a food bowl for the shiest of the cats. The snow was blown around enough that the food bowls inside the kibble house had snow in them, and even the trays under the water bowl shelter were full of snow! The cats were definitely happy to have access to food in the sun room. There were 16 of them, just in the sun room, when I put food out this morning. I counted 23 altogether.

Then I came in to a lovely breakfast my daughter prepared. What a sweetheart!

So today is going to be a quieter day than planned. I’m good with that. By rescheduling with my mother to tomorrow, and getting our prescription refills delivered the day after (I am so thankful for that service!!), it’ll mean much less driving around, too.

Meanwhile, the storm warnings are still happening. A Colorado Low is coming in, and the south end of our province is now expected to get another 15-25cm (6-10 inches) of snow, starting tomorrow afternoon and over the next couple of days. How much of that will reach us, or even as far as the city, is hard to say. After that, our highs are supposed to go above freezing, then keep getting warmer. It’s a good thing the municipalities have been clearing the ditches and culverts. That will go a long way to prevent flooding. Not that we’d have anything close to the flooding we had last spring!

I am really looking forward to the snow being gone, and things being dry enough to start working outside!

The Re-Farmer

One last blast, and choosing something difficult

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We’re still under an extreme cold weather advisory right now. Today is supposed to be the coldest day of our current cold snap, and then things are supposed to start warming up again.

I’m pretty sure I’ve said that a few times this winter, though… 😕

I took this screen cap a little while ago, with us at -27C/-17F and a wind chill of -35C/-31F, and it’s already warmed up a degree since. What I find interesting is that the hourly forecast says we’re supposed to be -31C/-24F right now. Now, that’s the kind if “wrong forecast” I prefer. Unfortunately, I forgot to pick something up while I was in town yesterday, so I likely will have to go out today.

Of course, if we get a call saying we can pick up our new Caravan because the financing is approved, that would be bonus!

We shall see!

Today is also Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. For the past few years, I have chosen to “fast” by giving up social media. Which has gotten to be too easy. So I decided to give up something that I’ve been considering for a while, but is going to be hard, and it’s actually going to be a dietary fast this time.

I’m going to be giving up sugar and starchy foods.

Traditionally, meat is given up but, again, that’s too easy. To be honest, giving up sugar isn’t that hard, either; we don’t eat a lot of sweets, so it’s basically no more sugar in my tea, and no more home-made hot chocolate. But starches? Bread, potatoes, pasta… that’s going to be more of a challenge. I’ve been slowly already cutting back on them, and what struck me is how much these get used as “filler”. These are things that bulk up a meal, extend meat, or hold other foods. I have an egg salad sandwich instead of plain egg salad, because the bread allows me to eat the egg salad with my hands. I mix bread crumbs into ground beef to make a meat loaf mostly because it bulks things up, stretching the amount of meat used. Things like that. It’s also such a habit to include starches. It’s just been ingrained that a “proper” meal has a protein, vegetable and starch, and what meal is complete without bread of some kind? I think the habit part is going to be the most difficult to catch myself on.

So that is going to be my Lenten fast this year. No sugars or starches for 40 days.

Well… I haven’t had breakfast yet. Time to go make myself a food.

The Re-Farmer