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Finally home and settled!

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

I swear, it was more hectic as soon as I got home than with the running around I did earlier!

The Cat Lady and I met up after I dropped the cats off at the vet, then had breakfast at McRaunchies at the Walmart. She started handing me things for the back of the truck.

Then more things.

Then more things!!

This is so amazing!

The big reusable bag, the cat bed, the small bags of cat food under it, and the big bag on the other side, are all from the Cat Lady. These are all things she can no longer feed her own cats, because it all has chicken in it, and The Wolfman keeps steeling into it, even though they give him things like freshly baked salmon way too often. There are five small bags under the cat bed. They are some fancy type of cat food – she described it as a prescription cat food, though the bags say senior cat on them – that normally cost $60 each. *gasp* She got them at half price, which is still insane. She warned me that this kibble really stinks. It’s a herring and chicken blend, so it’s likely the fish smell, she says. The cat bed is one her cats have stopped using for some reason, so she passed it on to us.

I am more than happy to take her cast offs!!

The other two bags were donated by a friend of hers for us. She’d never seen the brand before, so she couldn’t tell me anything about it.

After we loaded up the truck box, parted ways. I headed to the Dollarama to get new vinyl to repair the catio covering and things I thought might help hold it in place better – and some spring cat toys.

Then it was off to the Walmart to get some stuff my husband asked for. I also got myself a pair of slipper shoes. I’ve been trying to replace my inside shoes for ages, and can’t find any that are as comfortable as the old ones. So I tried the men’s slippers. I wasn’t able to try them on, but I got some size 9’s – the size I usually get – that were indoor/outdoor with memory foam insoles. I figured, if they didn’t fit, my daughter/s would have some new inside shoes.

I would have looked around for other things, but so many people were blocking the aisles, I gave up, paid for my stuff and left.

I still had time, so I drove across the street to the Canadian Tire to hang out there. Usually, I would have just stayed in the truck and napped, but it was too cold.

I did remember to pick up a carabiner for the isolation shelter latch, and a windshield fluid funnel for the truck. I was able to pay for it with change. I’m glad I had some, because I wouldn’t have wanted to make such a small purchase on my debit card! 😄

I did almost buy myself a new winter “going out” coat. I found a display of nice parkas on clearance that were very affordable. Alas, it was not to be. Being built like a tank has its disadvantages. I found an XXL to try on, and it mostly fit, until I tried to move my arms. My shoulders were too broad for it, and they didn’t have any bigger sizes.

Ah, well.

I still had time and it was coming up on noon, so I headed over to a nearby Timmies for lunch. For my readers outside of Canada, Tim Horton’s, aka: Timmies, is an iconic Canadian coffee and donut shop, though I don’t think they are Canadian owned anymore. Tim Horton was a hockey player. Today, they now do all sorts of sandwiches, soups and so on, as well as coffee and donuts.

Until yesterday, when my daughter and I went to one for breakfast, I hadn’t been to one in ages.

My daughter worked at the local one for awhile. She ended up quitting because of the health and safety violations from one employee. When she made a complaint to the manager, she was the one who got in trouble. After seeing more health violations by this employee that got ignored, she quit. She later got a job at the pharmacy across the street. During her interview, she told them why she’d quit her last job. The manager that was interviewing her just nodded and told her, that manager was gone.

The problem employee, however, wasn’t, yet.

We don’t go to that location at all anymore.

Then the illegal lockdowns and mandates happened and the entire franchise went full gestapo, right down to the physical assault of patrons.

I would rather have gone somewhere else, but it was either Timmie’s or back to McRaunchies. I do like their chili. A nice, thick, robust chili that is low on spice heat, so it’s something I can actually eat, served with a generously sized baguette style bun. I figured I would have chili for lunch.

It was quite the disappointment. It wasn’t chili. It was soup. I ended up literally drinking it out of the cup, because I could barely get anything with the wooden spoon they now provide. The bun was half the size, too. Meanwhile, the price was higher than it used to be, too.

Ah, well. At least the Boston Creme I also got was still tasty! A donut used to be part of the meal deal, but I had to order it separately.

I should have gone back to McRaunchies.

At this point, I still hadn’t heard from the vet clinic, but I figured I would be hearing from them soon, so I decided to go back and stay in their waiting room until the cats were ready to go home.

When I got there and told the receptionist which cats I was waiting for, she went to check their status for me.

They were ready!

It turned out, they had tried to phone me and left messages, but I never got a call. I had given my cell phone number before I left earlier, and asked what number they had.

One digit was wrong.

Someone out there must be getting some very confusing messages on their voice mail! This happened last time, too. I will need to take extra care in enunciation when I gave them my cell phone number in the future.

I’m told the kittens both did really well. They got their spay and neuter, basic vaccinations, tattoos and treatment for ear mites.

Since the rescue was covering the cost of this, they had to call the Cat Lady before they could release the cats, and then I was on my way.

They are both so incredibly adorable!!!

Once they were loaded up, it was straight home. I’d already arranged for my daughter to take care of getting the isolation shelter ready, making sure the food and water was topped up, the litter box was good, moving the entry box and closing the ramp door so that there would not be other cats in it. She had to use the bricks that were under the entry box to keep the ramp door closed, though, until I could get the carabiner on the latch.

When I got home, I backed the truck up to the house, then dashed inside for a quick bathroom break while my daughter headed to the truck to get the carriers out.

When I got back to help her, I discovered she had slipped and falling, landing hard on one knee, on the concrete.

She is now walking with a cane again, because of it!

😢😢

As for getting the cats in, we used one of the sliding doors on the second level. I tossed in a couple of the spring toys for them, first.

Kohl was easy to do; she let me pick her up and cuddle her a moment before I put her on the shelf board with the sheet of insulation on it. She promptly loafed on the insulation and stayed there.

The fluffball – we still haven’t named him – wouldn’t let me take him out of the carrier, though, so my daughter just brought it up to the open window in the second level and opened the carrier door. He dashed right in, then down to the lower level and tried to get out!

My daughter took the carriers in while I unloaded the truck. Kohl stayed calm, but the poor male was having panic attacks, in between stopping to eat a bit. He really wanted out.

With the stuff brought inside, I fed the rest of the outside cats early to occupy them, so that I could safely drive the truck out of the yard and park it in the garage. When I came back, I grabbed a can of wet cat food and added it to the food bowl in the isolation shelter. While they are in isolation, they will get to enjoy wet cat food, since we know it won’t freeze in there. Hopefully, that will help socialize the male.

In between things, I took the new cat bed and set it on my bed next to our elderly Freya, who was asleep on one of my pillows. I came back a few minutes later and found this.

It absolutely envelops her!

The Grand Old Lady deserves to be pampered!

I then used a half dozen of the donated cat food to make cat soup for the inside cats before going through the bags and organizing things.

There are three cases of 24 cans from the Cat Lady – plus the 6 I used to make cat soup. There were also two big containers of treats. Made with Real Chicken! There’s another case of 12 same size cans from her friend, plus I think 9 of the big cans. There are also 3 boxes. They are labelled duck paté, but also as “sensitive” and as grain free. The boxes look like they should have liquid in them, though, not paté. I’m curious to find out what these are!

There were also three more bags of kibble hidden under the cans, the same size as the five small bags of kibble from the Cat Lady.

I’ve looked up the brand for most of these, and it looks like they are the house brand of a specific pet store franchise, which would explain why neither the Cat Lady nor I were familiar with it.

After I got all the cat stuff done, I finally settled down to try on the new slipper shoes I bought.

My daughter now has new indoor shoes.

I couldn’t even get my feet into them! I do usually get size 9 men’s shoes – in triple wide. These were NOT triple wide. *sigh*

Then I remembered that, since I had cats in the truck, I hadn’t stopped to close the driveway gate behind me, so I bundled up and took care of that. On the way back, I got a couple of pictures.

The entry box is just off to the side, and as you can see, it’s also being used as a shelter, even though it’s completely open at the back!

A lot of cats were trying to get into the shelter. Some of them had gotten used to being able to stay in there. Unfortunately, we can’t be letting other cats in and out when we have one that needs to recover. The fluffball male could probably be let out, but then Kohl would be in there by herself, and that would not be good. The male does seem to be calming down and only panics a bit and tries to get out when the house door opens and startles him. If you click through to the next picture, you can see that Kohl is still quite content to just loaf on the insulated shelf!

So the isolation shelter is getting its first test run. So far, it seems to be holding well, though it already looks like cats have tried to claw their way in from the outside! The vinyl on one corner at the back is tattered a bit. Not that they can get through the wire, but they may be trying to reach the window. They know it opens.

As I write this, we are at -16C/3F. The wind chill is -33C/-27F, but with the plastic around the bottom, that should have little effect inside the isolation shelter. The vinyl wrapped around the lower level should keep the wind out. They have the heat lamp, two cat beds to curl up in, one on each level, plus the insulated box “nest” under the shelf. Even the heated water bowl would add some warmth to the upper level. Some wind might get through the spaces between the boards of the ramp door, but this will make sure they get some fresh air coming in. With colder air coming in from the bottom, and warm air escaping through the gaps around the sliding windows and the space in the insulation ceiling the extension cord runs through, there should be decent air circulation in there, while still being warm.

Our temperatures are supposed to go up overnight, and keep going up for our daytime highs. Our forecast for Saturday is now a high of 4C/39F. It’s expected to slowly drop after that until we get a sharp drop on Wednesday, which is supposed to have a high of -20C/-4F, though the overnight low is supposed to be just a few degrees colder.

The long term forecast has changed and, while we are still supposed to reach highs above freezing in the week before Christmas, the overnight lows around Christmas and Boxing Day are expected to dip below -30C/-22F. 🥶 The cats will no longer need to be isolated well before then, so they will be able to join cuddle puddles in various heated areas by then.

Of course, the forecast is different pretty much every time I check it, so we’ll see how things actually go. I just want things to stay mild during their isolation period!

Meanwhile, tomorrow I will finally be able to do my Costco shopping. December is a weird month for my husband’s disability payments, though, and it comes in before Christmas instead of at the end of the month. Usually, that has meant us doing our Christmas/New Year’s shopping and January stock up shopping at the same time. This trip is so much later in the month than usual, I might be able to do most of that tomorrow, but we’ll see.

The less time spent shopping, this time of year, the better. I’d hibernate all winter, if I could! I don’t like shopping and I don’t like crowds at the best of times, never mind with holiday crowds and winter driving! Even just today, by the time I got home, I found the donated canned cat food I used to make the cat soup had started to freeze!

Ah, well. It is what it is. No point complaining about it! 😁

As for me, I didn’t get much sleep last night and had to get up extra early, so I am more than ready to go to bed early tonight!

Who am I kidding. I’ll probably be lucky to get to bed before midnight, anyhow! 😄😄

The Re-Farmer

A good day to stay home

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I’d rather stay home for the rest of the week, too, but if there was a day for it, it’s today.

As I write this, we are at -9C/16F, but the wind chill puts us at -21C/-6F. I’m not sure what it was when I headed out this morning, to do the rounds. My daughter was going to do it, but when I saw her using a cane this morning, I just went ahead and did it!

It was still dark when I started, but the sun was up well before I was done. I also got to see this little puff ball.

Not a good picture, but I had to zoom in in the half light to get it. Little mustache baby will not let us come any closer.

I want to snuggle that face!!!

His fluffiness is very much like Patience, even though he’s still about half the size.

I think he’s a he. I’m not 100% sure, though. Too much fluff.

Another good thing about getting outside as early as I did is that it was in between snowfalls. Not long after I got back inside, it started blowing snow and visibility dropped quite a bit. As I write this, is has been calm for a little while, but the snow is supposed to start up again basically now, according to the weather maps.

The temperature, however, is expected to increase. By 9pm, we’re expected to hit -3C/27F before it starts to drop to a low of -16C/3F by 8am tomorrow morning. We’re expecting another bit of snow at around 6am.

For my daughter’s appointment tomorrow, we need to be on the road by 7:45am at the latest. I want to make sure to give us extra time in case the road conditions are not good.

The day after is also supposed to be older, with temperatures of -18C/0F expected right when we need to be catching a couple of ladies into carriers before feeding time, and taking them in for spays. Hopefully, road conditions will be good for that, too.

From then, it’s supposed to warm up again. We’re now supposed to be getting 3C/37F by Friday.

This month is going to be all over the place, temperature wise!

I’m good with that. Especially the warmer temperatures. We have a lot of small kitties this year, so the milder things are, the easier it will be for those tiny bodies to keep warm.

Yeah. I’m a suck for the cats.

As for today, I’m content with another hibernation day.

The Re-Farmer

A real snowfall, this time!

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This morning, I was expecting to meet up with the Cat Lady to pick up some donated kibble.

That’s going to happen tomorrow.

In our area, it wasn’t too bad. We had quite a bit of snow coming down in the morning, while my daughter was doing the morning rounds and feeding the outside cats.

This picture is their afternoon feeding. That’s all the snow we got.

You can tell where the heat lamp is, on the inside!

Yesterday’s forecast had gone from just an hour or so of light snow today, to snow continuing until noon, this morning. That forecast was for the whole province, though, and it was mostly the southern end of the province that got it. Our snow stopped by about 8 or 9am.

The Cat Lady, however, had gone into the big city already and, on her way home, the roads were very icy and drivers were being stupid, so she postponed. Which I’m fine with!

So I got to stay home, indoors, nice and warm.

Not as cozy as this dude, though.

It’s a Boy in a (pasta)Box!

David is not happy with us. We’re treating the cats’ ears for ear mites again, and he does not approve of the daily cleaning and treatment! Four more days to go, Buddy. 😄😄

The outside cats are being cozy, too.

So far, so good, with the new shelter! We do still need to find something to put around the entrance to protect from the south winds, which would blow straight into the main opening. When I look out the kitchen window, I can see a melted spot in the snow above where the heat lamp is hanging, so we know that is working, too.

With three sheltered heat lamps going, the cats aren’t all crowding into the sun room anymore. Even in the sun room, they prefer the platform the heat lamp is hanging off of, rather than under the lamp itself, though there’s always a few curled up under it. We get maybe a dozen in the sun room at a time, at night – it’s hard to tell, when they’re all piled on top of each other, when we used to see far more, before. They are using both the cat house and the isolation shelter, though some of the more feral ones have their hidden places in the outer yard and only come to the house to eat. When I did their afternoon light feeding, I tried to do a head count. I think I got 40, but I’m not sure. If so, we haven’t had a count that high in a while.

Tomorrow is supposed to just be cloudy, then we’re supposed to get some snow over the next two days, so rescheduling with the Cat Lady to tomorrow works out better.

It isn’t a lot of snow so far, but it does seem like it’s going to stay, though the long range forecast actually has us going above freezing in the week before Christmas, for a few days! If that turns out to be accurate, we might still end up with a mostly green Christmas!

I’ll take it, thankyou very much! 😄

The Re-Farmer

What an awesome day!

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My plans for today were mostly thrown out the window. I completely forgot that today was Saturday.

We had a date this afternoon!

Which worked out, since it turned out to be a damp, then rainy day. So much for two days without rain that I could have used to get work done outside!

We did still have time to get a few things done in the morning, which is when we had another surprise.

My brother called to let us know he was on his way! The last time they were out here, he was not able to finish unloading a trailer. He needed to get that done before snow arrived, and snow was already hitting some cities to the south west of us.

My daughter and I headed outside to get the truck ready and I went to open the gate for him. I was in the process of opening it when he drove up. Talk about perfect timing!

While my daughter fired up the compressor, topped up the tires on the truck, then pumped up the flat on my mother’s car, my brother and I went to check out the new expeller. He was so thrilled and relieved that they came out before winter. He was afraid we might get ghosted, like the other company we’d originally thought to go with, partly because they were closer. That may have been the problem, as our vandal does visit the town they are in, and we’re pretty sure he would have known at least someone who worked there. As with other businesses to the North of us that we’ve tried to hire, they just stopped responding to our calls. The company that did the job is South of us, and our vandal just doesn’t hang out in that area.

We can’t prove this, of course, and it’s entirely possible the other company ghosted us for some other reason, but it is still the most likely reason. It has simply happened too often, and always with companies in towns our vandal spends a lot of time in, and knows a lot of people in.

As my brother and I looked over the work done, I learned a few things that I did not remember from when the system was originally installed. For example, the trench that was dug was done by my father, using a claw excavator. I have no memory of that! I only remember the trench, already dug, from where it was by the house and the new well.

Part way through the job, the transmission on the claw excavator gave out. They ended up having to drag it into position, my dad would dig out a section, then they’d drag it into the next position so he could dig out the next section, until it was finally done!

That must have been insane – but, you do what you can with the tools you have!

That sounds like a rather familiar situation… 😄

I also learned that the cattle fountain behind the barn was installed later, not at the same time as everything else.

After we checked it all out, my brother got to work, while I joined my daughter. She was done with the truck, so I moved that into the yard, so it would be closer for my husband. Our date this afternoon was to meet his father in town – and be introduced to his girlfriend! My older daughter was not going to be able to come with us, so we only needed to get one back seat ready in the cab. Then we moved things out so that we could put my husband’s walker on the other side, rather than into the truck box.

At one point, my brother came over with some stuff they wanted to pass on to us, including a case of spice bottles! They’d bought them for their own use and ended up not needing them all, so there was an entire unopened case, plus one, they passed on to us. They thought we might be able to use them to store seeds in, and they are absolutely right. There are so many, we’ll be able to use them for our herbs and spices, too, and have lots left over!

He also got to check out how we have the isolation shelter set up for the winter. The last time he saw it, it was still sitting out near the well cap. He also thought that the new location was a much better spot.

So do the kitties!

The first photo above is the first time I’ve been able to get both Kohl and Rabi in the same shot in months! 😂

Once the truck was ready, I did a few things around the yard, like putting away the last garden hose and covering the septic tank with the insulated tarp. I was never able to hose down the other side of it, but that was really just to remove damp leaves that were stuck to it, rather than having to actually clean it. The big hose that my brother lent us, in case we needed to divert the septic while the new expeller was being installed, got tucked away into the barn. The garden tools, wagon and wheel barrow got put away, too. I don’t expect we’ll be able to do much more in the garden beds. It would be good if we can – anything done now is one less job that needs to be done in the spring – but there is nothing essential. If we do get another nice, dry day, it’ll be chain saw time to get that dead spruce and the crab apple tree it fell on, cleared. That could be left until spring, if we have to, but I’d rather get it done before the snow flies. Weather willing!

My brother was still here when it was time for us to head out. He was really taking advantage of being able to come out, to do as much as he could. I don’t expect he’ll be able to move the farm equipment to where he intends to store them more permanently before the snow hits, but we’ll see.

Before leaving, my daughter made sure to feed the outside cats and get them away from the truck, so I could safely drive it out of the yard. 😁

It had been arranged that we would meet at the new Dairy Queen in town. That last time my FIL was in the area, that lot had a garage on it, and that burned down years ago!

We got there early and got some snacks and drinks while we waited.

Then it started to rain.

They ended up arriving late, but got there safe and sound. Not so much because of the rain, it turned out, but because my FIL wanted to take the “scenic” route – a shorter and more direct route, but one that goes through a number of small towns, so it’s slower. He hadn’t seen the area in years, either, so his “adopted” daughter (my SIL’s closest childhood friend) was happy to oblige.

We then had introductions and an absolutely grand visit. My FIL’s new girlfriend is awesome, and they are both so happy! They’re like a couple of teenagers in love. 😊 Like my FIL, she is widowed, and neither ever expected to find love again, this late in their lives. My late MIL would definitely approve.

We ended up visiting for almost two hours! Thankfully, it was between the lunch and supper rushes, so we were never taking up needed table space. Plus, we would get more food every now and then, too.

The down side is, because we were there early and they got there late, we were there for almost three hours in total.

Which was really too much for my husband. Not that he was going to show any sort of discomfort in front of his father. He hasn’t seen his dad in so long, and this was a rare opportunity. Neither of them are able bodied, though my FIL has improved his own mobility. Largely due to the extra exercise he gets, using his walker to get to his girlfriend’s apartment (they live in the same assisted living complex). He’s under orders from his physical therapist: she doesn’t go to his place, he goes to hers! Even the health care aid that helps him put his socks on in the morning has commented that his legs are getting noticeably more muscular!

My husband, on the other hand, is in a very different situation, and by the time we were heading out, he was having trouble standing up straight. Once we got home, he immediately got out the TENS machine, and he is currently wired up and getting zapped. He’s going to really pay for this outing, tomorrow, but he says it was worth it to be able to see his father.

Which made our day quadruple awesome. We got to see my brother, my FIL, my husband’s “sister”, and finally meet the woman that has made my FIL so happy, all in one day.

We are truly blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

The Re-Farmer

Another indoor day

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Well, yes, technically it’s warmer today. We are apparently at 7C/45F right now – the predicted high of the day.

The windchill is at -5C/23F

I just got back from giving the outside cats a light afternoon feeding and, to be honest, I’m surprised by the windchill. Yes, it was cold, but I didn’t even bother putting on a jacket or hat.

The winds are high enough that it has started to tear off the plastic wrapped around the bottom of the isolation shelter. I made the doorway larger for a purpose, but with the ramp down, it’s just too open.

The plastic is also just being held in place with push pins, because it is temporary, but this plastic is just dollar store dining table protector. It’s not particularly thick or strong. We will probably have to reinforce the edges somehow – not so easy, with it already attached to the shelter.

After re-tacking the plastic with the push pins already there, I came about out with more and spent some time adding more, including some more strategic places. Hopefully, it will hold until we can find some way to shelter that entrance.

It took a while for me to do that, which is part of why I’m surprised by what the wind chill was. I was directly in the wind the whole time and yet, it was chilly, but -5C/23F? I knew my tolerance for cold has increased as I got older, but still…

Except my ears. I should have dug out the ear muffs. Getting wind in my ears causes headaches, and I can feel one coming on now.

Well, tomorrow is supposed to be a bit warmer, and Friday is now projected to reach a high of 10C/50F, with no high winds predicted, so I might be able to get some stuff done out there, after all.

Until then, it’s another inside day.

Last night, I got another tomato sauce started in the slow cooker. I had more ripe tomatoes this time and had to really pack them in there to get anything else in. Along with the tomatoes I included the last of our eggplant, some onions, a shallot, some garlic and a couple of carrots – we had to actually buy carrots this time – whatever seasonings struck my fancy, some olive oil and apple cider vinegar. That was set on low for 10 hours, and then is stayed on warm until we could get to it again.

This morning, I blitzed it with the immersion blender until smooth, set it on high for about an hour, then back on low for a few more hours. At this point, the lid was propped slightly to let moisture out, and it was stirred frequently, as the sauce thickened.

Earlier today, I cooked up a big batch of pasta, then used some of it as the base for a pasta sauce, adding it to some cooked pork bits and melting in some cream cheese, then tossing the pasta in it. I made just enough of the sauce for my husband and I, as the girls have very different tastes.

The sauce is now being left to cool, and whatever is left from what we use today will be put into freezer bags and frozen.

The sun will be setting pretty soon – it’s setting at 4:44pm today – so I’ll be heading out to do one more light feeding for the outside cats before it gets fully dark. This gives them a better chance to eat it all before the skunks start coming out. Maybe racoons, too. I haven’t seen any in a while, but that doesn’t mean they’re not showing up!

This morning, my younger daughter joined me for my morning rounds, so I could show her my full routine, for the next time I have a morning where I’m in just too much pain to do it myself. She knows I’m not a morning person. She also tends to go to bed a lot earlier, and wakes a lot earlier, so she offered to take over the morning routine for me!

I might actually take her up on that.

We shall see!

Oh! A skunk just showed up on the critter cam… gotta go!

The Re-Farmer

Not today

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Well, I’m glad I got as much done yesterday as I did, but today I’m paying for it!

My plans for outside, today?

Not going to happen.

Oh, I did my morning rounds, as usual, and got to make some kitties very happy.

The full belly kittens especially enjoy the isolation shelter, with its new, donated beds.

There is one thing I need to figure out about the isolation shelter, for times like this, when no cats are being isolated. I specifically made the door to also be a ramp, so they can go in and out freely. Where it’s sitting now, though, that big, wide opening is facing directly south. Which is great for passive solar heat through the windows, and even the plastic wrapped around the bottom.

Not so great for wind and snow.

That’s going to blow right into the opening.

I’ve considered getting some scrap carpet or something and attaching it above the opening on the inside, where it still allow for the ramp door to be closed, with the carpet cut into strips so they can easily push through. That’s what’s over the opening into the cat house and it works very well, though it does need replacing. The cat house, however, has an added entryway to it. After my brother built it for his dogs, he found he had this same problem with wind and snow getting into the original entrance. So he made an addition. The addition created a somewhat sheltered corner next to one of the windows, which is where the new entry is, while the original entry is at the far end of the addition. Between the new angle and the shelter of the corner, the carpet strips at the opening (a double layer of carpet with the strips cut so that the slits overlap the strips) and the distance to the main entry, very little wind can get in, and virtually no snow at all.

That’s not really an option for the isolation shelter, since it needs to be mobile. If the patio blocks were not so uneven, we could simply rotate it 45 degrees, and that alone would mostly solve the problem. Uneven patio blocks aside, that would also eliminate a lot of the passive solar heat, plus we’d have to change up how the cords for the heated water bowl and heat lamp are, so we could still plug it in.

Basically, we need a wind break and a roof over the opening. It’s just a matter of figuring out the best way to do that, using the materials we have on hand. It may be something as simple as leaning something against the shelter that’s long enough and wide enough, and securing it enough that it won’t blow away.

We’ll figure it out.

After completing my rounds, I prepared a shaker container with the native wildflower seeds mix and some potting soil, giving it a thorough shake to get the seeds well mixed in with the potting soil. Once the insulated tarp that’s been laying on the ground all summer is moved aside, I planned to loosen the soil beneath with the landscaping rake, then scattering the seed mix over it.

Well, not today, it turns out.

Before doing that, I went in for breakfast and to let things warm up at least a little more – our high for today is only supposed to be 5C/41F, and we’re supposed to be rainy. Oh, they’re now saying, light rain and snow. As I write this, it’s before noon, a fog has rolled in, but no rain, so far. The tail end of a system that is passing north of us isn’t expect to hit until about 3pm.

So I sat at my computer to watch some videos while having breakfast, then worked a bit on the second of six Singlade balls I’m making for this year’s Christmas decorations.

Then I got up to go to the bathroom and discovered my entire body had basically seized up.

Every joint in my body seemed to have stiffened up. My husband had been in the room with me at the time, and I was hobbling so badly he offered to bring me a cane.

I used the walls, instead.

I’m having a harder time moving around than he is right now, and he’s the one that’s officially broken!

Well… it is Sunday. I guess this is God’s way of making sure I get my day of rest! 😄😁

This time of year is so hard on my osteoarthritis. It’s frustrating, because I can do so well on some days, and then WHAM, I can barely move.

I guess this will be a good day for pain killers, hot tea, watching videos and making Singlade.

Lord knows, I’m not going to be able to do much else today.

Now… about those pain killers…

The Re-Farmer

Foggy morning, and another one!?!

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Last night was one of those nights where, as soon as I went to bed, I just kept getting more and more awake! I finally got up and spent time with my younger daughter, who was busy making pies. Of course, being up at 2 or 3 in the morning, I was peckish, so I made a snack in between batches of pies, then she and I watched an episode of Columbo while they were baking.

We cheated on the pies. We had some canned pumpkin pie mix. Yesterday, I made a quick trip to the local grocery store and grabbed some frozen pie shells and other missing ingredient. There was no way we were going to be making pie dough in this heat and humidity!

By the time I got back to bed, it was 4am, and even then, I was still up at 4:30!

I did get a bit of sleep, though, but was just after a nap at that point. We were looking at reaching a high of 29C/84F today, but the coolest part of the day was going to be a brief period at about 5 or 6am. My goal was to water the garden while it was still cool.

So when I woke up at 6, I got up and headed out.

The first thing was, of course, to feed the outside cats. As I was going into the sun room with the kibble, I saw several kittens asleep together in a small cat bed on the floor. One got out, another start looking around, and the third…

*sigh*

One of the tabby kittens was lying stretched out, looking like it was asleep. With this heat, I see a lot of the cats sleeping all stretched out like that, but with all the commotion, this one wasn’t moving.

Yup. We lost another kitten.

That’s three kittens in four days.

After putting the food out, I quickly buried it near the unknown kitten I found yesterday morning.

I wonder if it’s the heat and humidity getting to them? There was no sign of anything obvious. It was about 17C/63F at the time. The sun room would not have been much warmer – these days, we leave the doors to outside wide open and the ceiling fan on all the time, for maximum air circulation. If anything, down at the concrete floor, it would have been a bit cooler.

I don’t know what to make of it. About the only solace I can take is, fewer cats in the colony.

Once the sad deed was done, I started my morning rounds. It was very foggy this morning!

It was so dense that I could see the fog covering the tops of the spruce trees in the inner yard. My phone’s camera automatically clears up the image, so in reality, it looked foggier than in the photo.

It wasn’t just fog, though. It was also smoke.

That sun is red because of smoke. Again, the camera doesn’t capture it well. It was much redder than it appears in the photo!

I just checked the live fire map. There are no fires near us; they are all quite a bit further up north. However, there are currently 6 fires listed as out of control, another 5 listed as being held, 29 (!!!) listed as being monitored and another 9 listed as under control. Some of these, however, are grouped closely on the map, almost on top of each other. All of them are listed as natural causes. None are near populated areas.

So this morning, it was both smoke and fog!

Checking the weather forecast last night, it was saying thunderstorms during by around midnight tonight, but when I checked again this morning, it was saying thunderstorms starting at about 3pm this afternoon.

I’m writing this at quarter to 3 right now, and on checking the weather radar, there are no storms on the horizon. My phone’s app is now saying to expect a thunderstorm around 8 or 9pm.

We shall see.

Either way, with the upcoming heat, once I did my rounds, I did a thorough watering of the garden beds. Which was rather torturous, because I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Not so bad that I was willing to go back to the house and get the bug spray, though. Having had only a little more than an hour of sleep, I was planning to go back to bed as soon as I got inside and didn’t want to have to wash all

As I write this, we are at 27C/81F, with the humidex at 32C/90F The expected high had changed to 28C/82F, and I’m not sure if we actually reached it.

Oh! I just got a message from the Cat Lady. She just dropped stuff off at the gate for us. She didn’t message ahead, or I’d have opened the gate. She had The Wolfman with her, and she says he started going nuts as soon as they got on the gravel road. When they opened the windows at the gate, he started clawing to get INTO his carrier. He didn’t calm down until they were back on the highway.

This cat has gotten completely attached to them! More than any of the others they ended up keeping permanently!

Excuse me while I head out and collect the donated kibble from the gate.

Wow! Four 9.1kg bags of kibble were waiting for me! I’m glad I dug the wagon out of the garage to bring them over. That will be such a huge help!

Also, I am absolutely dripping with sweat. I just checked and yes, we reached the predicted high of 28C/82F in the last twenty minutes. The humidex is at 33C/72F Apparently, our humidity levels are just 56%, but I question that. Stepping outside was like walking into a sauna!

I did top up the cat food outside with some of the new kibble, and they definitely prefer it over the feed store kibble I got. They’ll eat the feed store brand, but not as enthusiastically. Not that they are eating much in this heat, anyhow!

We should have a brief respite over the next few days – meaning will be in the mid 20’s rather than approaching 30C/86F – but then we’re supposed to get right back up there again.

This is the sort of weather that breed thunderstorms, but so far, those only seem to be forming up north. If only they would get just rain to help put out those fires, instead, that would be good!

Well, the tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, melons and squash will sure enjoy the heat! We just need to keep up on the watering.

I think I’ll go to the living room and stand in front of the air conditioner for a while!

The Re-Farmer

Muggy day

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Today, being Sunday, is my day of rest, and I’m going to take full advantage of it!

Not that it means I don’t do my usual rounds and checks, of course. My daughters, however, were sweethearts and took care of feeding the outside cats before going to bed for the day, so I could sleep in.

That was quite early in the morning, so when I did head out, I topped up their kibble. As I was doing it, I heard a bit of a cat fight in the space between the cat shelters.

I saw a cat get run off by Adam, who then settled in among a few kittens. I do believe she was protecting them!

I have no idea which of the kittens in the photo are hers anymore! There are just a few that I know for sure are not.

She is such a good mama!

While checking the garden beds, I’m now always on the lookout for developing female flowers and squash. There is one pumpkin vine that has a couple of baby pumpkins that are pretty darn big, for the stage they are at!

I’m hoping they got pollinated and will keep growing, but it’ll be a while before we know for sure. The pumpkin flowers, both male and female, are larger than most of the winter squash that are blooming. There are a few winter squash, though, that have had some equally large male flowers blooming. It should be interesting to see what kind of squash they turn out to be!

After I was done outside, I grabbed our empty water jugs and headed to town. I had considered taking them with me to the city yesterday for refills, but I’m glad I didn’t. We don’t usually allow our drinking water get down to just one jug, though, and the last one was set up last night, so I wanted to make sure to get the empties refilled right away.

I was rather surprised by how busy things were in town, though. Even for a summer Sunday in a tourist town. My first hint at what was going on was as I left the grocery store and had to wait for an absolutely gorgeous old low rider, painted black with red and yellow flams all over, drive by. Then, as I was leaving the parking lot, I could see the street ahead was closed and filled with people.

There was a classic car event going on.

No wonder it was so busy! For the population of the area, it’s amazing just how many classic cars there are! The show is very popular and with good reason.

Still, I was glad to leave the crowd behind. It’s been more than 6 years since we moved out of the city, and I’m still peopled out. 😄

In other things, we are supposed to get more rain, off and on, late this afternoon and evening. We still have a lot of standing water all over, and I wasn’t able to pull into the yard to unload the truck. Tomorrow we’re supposed to get more rain from 4am – 6am and then continue to be cooler and drier for the next few days. Hopefully, that means I’ll finally be able to get out with the electric weed trimmer and clear the spaces around the garden beds I need to work on. I really don’t want to be dragging an extension cord through wet grass!

Last night, it actually got cool enough that I had to turn off my fan! Last year, I had a box fan set up in the window, but I hadn’t done that yet, this summer. Part of the problem is the power bars (we have surge protection power bars at almost every outlet – and this house does not have enough outlets!). I’ve got different things plugged into the one I needed this year, and some of them are the larger plugs that take up two spaces. I was able to move things around between power bars and free up a plug in the power bar that can be reached from the window, and I could finally set the box fan back up. What a difference that made!

The cats are not happy. 😄 They like to sit on the wide ledge to look outside, or use it to get to the top of the shelf, where there are beds set up for them.

During the day, I have the fan facing the screen and blowing hot air out. At night, I flip it around to blow cool air in. We dropped to 13C/55F last night! It was glorious!

As for right now, even though it’s 23C/73F, with the humidex at 28C/83F right now, I’m having a hard time not going back outside to try and get some things done before it rains again. Even if I weren’t taking a day of rest, things are still just too wet for the work I want to do! None of it is urgent anymore, like it was to get those beds shifted so we could finish getting the transplants in. It can wait. It would be nice to get some more progress done before I do my next garden tour video, though.

We shall see. It all pretty much comes down to what the weather allows!

The Re-Farmer

Aaaannddd… we got more rain

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This morning, I was planning to work on shifting that last bed in the main garden area. I knew it would be wet, but figured it wouldn’t be too bad by then, since the rain had stopped so much earlier than forecast.

I didn’t real we got more rain overnight.

There is even more open water around the inner yard than every before. The ground is so saturated, it’s just got nowhere to go.

We’re supposed to get quite warm today, and tomorrow they’re now saying to expect a high of 28C/82F. The forecast now also says no rain until Friday. Which would mean, counting the rest of today, 5 days with no rain, and most of Friday, too.

I really hope this forecast is accurate!

I didn’t get to work on the low raised bed, but I did get to check out other things.

The first of our Purple Caribe potatoes have flower buds!

There’s only about 5 plants that have grown, with most of the row empty, but one plant is much, much bigger than all the others.

I also found a little frog friend. 💚

I managed to get a decent picture of Junk Pile. She normally doesn’t sit still long enough. I also saw all four of her babies, though I only got pictures of three. They are spending most of their time in the sun room. Understandably, they are more nervous than before, and are quick to run under the shelf counter to hide.

As for Junk Pile, I was keeping tabs with the critter cam last night. I saw her nursing her babies in the sun room and being generally maternal.

Then I heard her start growling and attacking something in the opening of the tied off outside door.

She didn’t succeed in driving the racoon away, but she tried!

I went and chased it out. It had gone straight for the cat cage, where I like to keep some food for the kittens.

We have got to do something about the racoons!

There is still no sign of the white and grey babies, though I do see the mama every time I go out to feed them. I startled Broccoli’s two in the garden shed when I opened it to leave food inside for them. I probably shouldn’t do that, since I want them to come to the front of the house, but Broccoli stands guard over them and being very protect and, after what happened to the newborns, they are probably safter in there. Mind you, they aren’t quite so helpless, but still…

So I’ll be monitoring how things are outside today, and see how much things get absorbed. While doing my rounds this morning, I went to check the barn to make sure the top half of the back door didn’t get blown open again. The tall grass has been flattened by the wind in places, and my pantlegs were still soaked to above my knees. I was splashing through water the whole way. All around the house in the inner yard, I’m seeing water where I’ve never seen it before, even growing up here as a child. My brother, who would remember things much clearer than me, says the same thing. I still hope to get work done on that bed, since tomorrow – Monday – is supposed to get so hot, but it might have to wait until Tuesday. Wednesday, I’ll be making my first city shopping trip, then the second one on Friday, so I’ll be trying to get things done in between. If things dry up enough, my daughter might be able to do some mowing while I’m gone, too. At least in the parts we’ve managed to mow so far.

Looking at my posts from a year ago, we’re not that far behind. It was a year ago tomorrow that I got our last transplants in – however, I also had our direct sowing done by now, and this year we have barely any direct sowing to do.

We went a little nuts on the winter squash and melons this year. They need a lot of space.

If I can’t work on the bed, I should at least remember to plant the new purple bush beans seeds I picked up, to replace the ones where only one germinated.

Mostly, though, I want to get that last bed done so I can finish transplanting the onions! Once those are in, time will be less of an issue. It shouldn’t even take all that long, either, since it’s not full of creeping Charlie and the soil doesn’t need to be sifted.

Well, if not today, we should be able to get it done tomorrow.

Unless it rains again.

The Re-Farmer

Afternoon critters, and yes – more rain!

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I was able to make my trip to the nearest Walmart (a 45 minute or so drive) to pick up some kibble to last us until we have our first stock up shopping trip in a few days. As I was driving home, I was seeing people all over, with their riding mowers, trying to get as much lawn cut as they could before the rains hit. Something our own grass/lawns are too tall and too wet to do.

Once I got home and unloaded, I stayed around outside to give the yard cats a feeding and pay them some attention.

I’m glad I stayed out longer, because I saw Syndol coming in much later, limping! His right leg is injured, though he is putting weight on it, and it does not appear to be broken.

I recently had to break up a fight between him and Shop Towel. It was the first time I’d seen Shop Towel go after Syndol! I guess Syndol is now adult enough for Shop Towel to consider him a rival. Unfortunately, I’ve seen seeing Shop Towel actually stalking other males while they’re gathered around and eating. When he does go after them, he is absolutely vicious. I am pretty sure he is the reason a number of our males, plus other visiting toms, have disappeared over the years. If we can’t get him neutered, we’re going to have to figure out something to do about him. He’s injuring and possibly killing too many other cats. Judgement is missing again; hopefully, out exploring for the summer, but Shop Towel has been after him, too, even though Judgement is now neutered and wouldn’t be giving off that testosterone scent anymore. While Shop Towel has allowed us to pet him at times, since we’ve had to break up so many fights of late, that’s no longer happening – and right when we have neuters booked, early next month! Unfortunately, even if we do get him neutered, that doesn’t mean he’ll actually stop picking fights. We have indoor cats – male and female – that have been fixed since they were quite young, and they still go after Ginger and Butterscotch.

As for Syndol, he came about half way to the kibble house and then settled in the grass, looking nervous, so I ended up picking him up and carrying him to one of the food bowls in the kibble house. Shop Towel was eating in the shelf shelter. When he came and, I could see him going into stalking mode, targeting some of the cats in the grass, and I ended up having to persuade him to leave. Then he came back, and I had to do it again!

Meanwhile, I spotted what I thought was the grey ball of fluff in the junk pile, eating under the shrine.

I was wrong! It was one of the kittens from the grey litter. I still haven’t seen any of the others, nor have I seen the white and grey litter, but at least we have one coming back for food!

I knew for sure it wasn’t the junk pile kitten as I came closer and saw it run away from its favourite perch next to the chain link fence. I wasn’t able to get a good picture of it, but I dig get a picture of another friend!

A bright green tree frog!

I just love those tree frogs. They are so adorable!

When I came closer to the grey kitten under the shrine, it hid around the back of the pedestal. I noticed the kibble I’d left there was almost all gone already, eaten by a group of adult cats, so I got another scoop for it and, hopefully, the little one in the junk pile.

By then, it was starting to rain, more than an hour earlier than was forecast before I left for the city. We are now under a storm watch, and the rain is supposed to continue until 7am tomorrow! From the weather radar, the worse of the storm system will pass to the south of us, but I’m hearing plenty of thunder out there, right now. With the ground still so saturated, I can see from the garage came that our driveway is covered with water again. The driveway is getting to be more grass than gravel!

I really hope we get enough of a break from the rain that we can do something about our lawn!

Oh, and while I was at the Walmart, I picked up another package of the purple bush beans that don’t seem to be coming up, except for on, right now. I’m hoping if I plant more now, and we really do get the break in the rain until Wednesday that is forecast, they new ones will come up. I will probably sow more of the summer squash in their pots, since nothing has come up there at all. Hmm… I should probably set some seeds to soak and maybe even pre-germinate. Then at least I’ll know if it’s the seed that’s the problem, or the weather.

Hmmm. According to the weather radar, we should be under moderate to heavy rain right now. The rain has actually stopped. Looks like our climate bubble is still in action!

The Re-Farmer