As I am uploading this, they are still outside my window, though it is getting hard to see them in the increasing darkness.
Look closely in the trees, behind the stone cross, and you can see Hungry Girl.
One of the twins is showing antler nubs!
The Re-Farmer
Good news; today was the last day my mother had to go to the hospital for injections!
But first, here are a couple of critter pictures from the DSLR, yesterday. I didn’t upload them until today. There were very few, but a couple I really enjoyed, that I hope you enjoy, too!
Yes, I am an immature child that loves to catch the deer with goofy faces. :-D
I tried to snag a picture of a squirrel posing so perfectly on top of the limestone cross.
I didn’t quite manage it, but I think I like this better…
This morning’s trip with my mom to the hospital took a lot longer, for good reasons, and she was having one of her good days, so it was much more pleasant, too! When I got to her place, she was ready and waiting for me to put the brace on her leg, which was awesome. She did comment on how the bump on the inside (a knob with a dial that applies pressure to her knee, to straighten it) gets in the way of her other leg, so she has to walk with her legs farther apart. My response was good! That’s what it’s supposed to do!
Well. At least until her knee starts to straighten out. The dial will need to be checked and adjusted after a while – if she keeps up wearing it!
We had a pleasant drive to the next town, with beautiful views of frost covered trees glistening in the sunlight. She did comment again about how ridiculous it is to drive so far, every day, just for an injection. While I understand why it’s being done, and I think she kind of does, too, she had a point. So when we got there (this time, I gave in and used my husband’s disability placard so we could park closer to the door; the distance she had to walk yesterday was really hard on her!) and I let them know she was there, I also asked if someone was available to check on her eye and see about getting the prescription to replace the injections. After explaining the situation to the nurse, she was more than willing to see what she could do about it.
Later, the same nurse brought the blood pressure machine to the waiting room for my mother and took her vitals. She looked at my mom’s eye, but this was the first time she’d seen it. Thankfully, I’d taken a picture of it a couple of days ago, which helped. She had us go to an examination room (all of this is being done in the emergency section of the hospital) for a bit more privacy for the injection, then she had us go back to the waiting room while she got the on-call doctor. The one that has seen my mother before was not in, so we had no idea who it would be.
I think we waited less than 15 minutes, in total. The doctor came over and took my mom back to the examination room. He had lots of questions, trying to figure out why my mom was on the first blood thinners at all, and why she was now getting these injections. Had she had heart surgery? Valves replaced? Nope. We explained as best we could. Then he left, and we could hear him consulting someone on the phone nearby. A few minutes later, he was back with a few more questions, then off to consult again.
I must admit, my mother showed tremendous restraint from her usual behaviour. Not only did we once again have a non-white doctor – Middle Eastern, no less! – with a strong accent, but one that was dressed VERY casually (I once got a long story from her that culminated in her concluding that because doctors and nurses don’t wear white uniforms anymore, it means hospitals are dirty, and that’s why we have viruses…). However, it was a male doctor, and he asked her lots of questions, looked at her eye and listened to her heart. The expressions on her face were very conflicted!
One thing I did notice happen a lot today; more so than other days – while talking to my mother, more and more, people would turn and start talking to me, instead. Now, I can help by explaining things that are harder for her to explain, due to her limited English medical vocabulary, but don’t ask me what her symptoms are or how she’s feeling! She’s sitting right there. She may have trouble expressing herself in English sometimes, and takes a while to get to the point, but she’s not senile. She’s not deaf, either.
I’m reminded of a time I accompanied a friend to a medical clinic. She is a wheelchair user and drives an adapted van; she just needed someone with her for a bit of assistance. When we got to the clinic, the person behind the counter looked right past my friend and started asking me the questions. Hullo! Just because she’s in a wheelchair, that doen’t mean she doesn’t understand her own care needs! I’m just along for the ride!
Though I do have to give the people at the hospital some slack, after seeing some of the inpatients they are caring for, several of whom are younger than my mother. It may just be what they are most used to.
The end result was, my mother got her new prescription! No more trips for injections.
I’m looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!
We took advantage of the situation and I helped her do some grocery shopping, and she took me out for tea at a lovely little café. Then it was off to her home town to get her new prescription, though they could only give her a few days’ worth. She’ll have to come back next week to get the rest. She can do that herself, using her walker, if she has to.
I have been talking to her about getting home care to help put her brace on in the mornings. I hope she’ll be able to get that arranged quickly.
Meanwhile, my older brother will be visiting her tomorrow morning, so he’ll be able to help her put the brace on.
We’ll still have to keep tabs on her and that eye; it’s better, but after I took another picture and showed it to her, she even commented that it still looks pretty bad! The good thing is that there is no pain, nor is her vision affected.
Phew.
By the time it was all done, it was almost 5 hours before I got home – scaring a deer away from the house in the process! It came back, though…
At least I’m guessing it was Hungry Girl that had run off. She’s been coming over by herself more often.
Excuse me while I giggle happily at her silly tongue face. I got several of them, but that one is the best!
This one looks like she’s having a conversation.
I also got a good shot of a male redpoll today…
Pretty little thing!
Meanwhile, I got other good news.
First off, I got the mail before coming home and WE HAVE OUR NEW HEALTH CARE CARDS!!!! WHOOT!!! Finally!
Or, to be more precise, my husband has two health care cards, and my name happens to be on the second half of both, along with his.
Apparently, husbands and wives still don’t rate individual cards in this province, but wives are added to the list on the second half, like dependent minors. So he and I have identical cards, with his name and address on the first half, and both our names and individual numbers on the second half.
They still needed me to send them a copy of my marriage certificate to use my married name, though.
Arglebargle.
Whatever. At least we have them now!
Then I got a phone call from our insurance company, letting me know that the problem with my coverage has finally been fixed! It took them a while to track it down, since everywhere else in their system, it showed me as being covered. It was now done, she told me, and I should have no problem!
Conveniently, my husband had phoned in some prescription refills of his own, so I headed into town to pick those up, and had the pharmacy get my insurance checked out, too. Sure enough, it was all fixed! So I got my own prescription refilled, too. Just one, though. After seeing my new doctor and going over the results of my blood work, it was decided to go with just one right now, and see how it goes. My goal is to be off that one, too, though the doctor seems dead set on me being on it for the rest of my life, along with statins.
Not if I can help it!
*sigh*
I feel a wonderful sense of relief today.
I look forward to being home tomorrow. :-D
The Re-Farmer
Driving through town, we spotted an unusual pedestrian.
Well. Okay. Not that unusual for around here.
The Re-Farmer
I am just so excited!
My family saw Hungry Girl and Barbecue this morning, while I was out (then in, then out, then in again – one of these days I WILL remember that the store the post office is in closes at noon on Wednesdays), so I was happy just to see any other action outside.
Like Nasty Crime Boy, all settled in under the dead spruce tree.
Then Hungry Girl came back. She kept looking at the house, below the window; that turned out to be more cats! :-D She stuck around for only a little while.
Long enough that I did get my obligatory tongue shot! :-D
Hungry Girl wandered off nonchalantly enough, though later on a flash caught my eye and I looked up just in time to see a deer go bounding through the space between the spruce grove and the row of apple trees.
Then, some time later, I saw three deer coming over and initially thought it was Mama and the twins, but then I saw this guy…
This deer is much bigger and bulkier than any other I’ve seen visiting! And check out those distinctive markings on the snout.
A new deer! Cool! Then I saw there were still 3 deer coming, so it must be Mama and the twins, right?
Nope!
These two started to make their way closer, and were pretty nervous about the whole thing.
I had to tilt my tripod over to get a shot of the fourth deer…
She stayed farther out the whole time. The others were more daring.
One of the younger pair crept closer in to check out Eunice, the Barely Upright Snowman.
These are some weird looking deer. Especially the big one.
The one deer in the back never came closer and she and the younger ones ran off, but one of the younger ones came back.
The big guy was a lot more laid back about the whole thing, even while being obviously cautious.
We immediately started calling this younger one Nubbins, because of the antler nubbins starting to show.
I had been wondering when we would start seeing signs of antlers!
I can’t get over the very distinct face on this one. I have no way of knowing right now, but I get a sense that this is quite an old deer.
I hope they come back!
We’re just tickled pink to have FOUR new deer visiting us!
The Re-Farmer
Oh, what a long day it’s been!
Wait… what do you mean it’s not even 6pm yet?
:-D
Actually, it wasn’t that bad. Just longer than expected.
Before heading out to drive my mom to the doctor, I was able to get a few quick pictures – though the camera wanted to focus on everything but the cat…
This is the tree Butterscotch got stuck in a while back. It’s almost like she’s going “I can do it… just watch me…” :-D
I left earlier so I could help my mom to put on her knee brace. I got there and even pulled up to the exit nearest her apartment – only to have her calling me from the main doors. Yup. She was out early, ready and waiting. I mentioned the brace, but no, it’s okay, she says, as she climbs into my van.
My mom is tiny. My van is not. It’s a bit of an effort for her!
The drive in was… illuminating… as my mother expressed her discomfort about being taken off the blood thinners for her heart. I had to explain that the injections were another kind of blood thinner, but something that wouldn’t make her bleed. But she was still uncomfortable with the change. Ultimately, though, she did say it out loud; her discomfort was a matter of racism on her part – though phrased to show she believed the change in her medication was due to racism on the doctor’s part.
That didn’t go over well with me.
While certainly not the worst of conversations with my mother, it definitely had some moments.
At least this time, she didn’t basically accuse me of worshiping frogs. I have decorations on my dash, including scrapbooking adhesive beads, sea turtles, tortoises, a rock fish – in my previous vehicle, I had a much more elaborate display, but the surface is different in this vehicle, and they don’t stick as well. I also have 1 frog on the dash (I had more, but they fell off) and 1 toad, in my dash, next to the gauges. I did this because I was spending so much time driving around and waiting in the van, I made it into my happy place. At Christmas, I even had a tiny Christmas tree with battery operated lights.
My mom just saw the frog, and I guess to her, what I was doing was like when people put little religious statues on their dashes; so it meant that if I had it on the dash, it was because I worshiped it.
But not the turtles. Just the frog.
She doesn’t like frogs.
After we got to the hospital, we found out where they told us to go was not where we needed to go. It was all within feet of each other, at least, and the right people were informed that my mom was there for her injection. We didn’t actually wait for long before a nurse came and took her into a consultation room, along with the blood pressure machine, took her vitals then prepped for the injection. After some questioning of the nurse about the doctor and so on (my mother is pretty good at hiding her racist motives behind these questions), she had to be told again that the injection was another kind of blood thinner, so her heart was still being treated. She asked about having the treatments transferred to the hospital closer to her, and the nurse said she would look into it, and directed us back to the waiting room.
If it hadn’t been for that, we would have been able to leave right away. As it was, because the doctor was in clinic, seeing other people, it took a while.
My mother was remarkably patient, though, even when the not-quite-there lady came back wanting to watch her show, which wasn’t going to start for another 20 minutes, and kept asking us if we watched it, did we know what channel it was on, and where were we from?
When the show did start, she fell asleep.
Altogether, we waited for probably 1 1/2 hours. Eventually, the noise of the TV was too much for my mother, so we moved to a table outside the waiting room that’s reserved for inpatients. Which turned out to be a good thing, because the doctor happened by, recognized us, and came to check on my mom, right then and there.
Which also gave us the opportunity to clarify about the medications and the requested transfer. The doctor wants my mom to keep coming back, rather than transfer to the closer hospital, so that the same people will keep monitoring her eye.
I’m good with driving her.
My mom was pretty tired by then, though, and glad to finally leave. She’s not happy with the situation – especially after I told her that it’s likely she’ll need to come back until the end of the week, before her eye clears. I don’t think she’s getting that this is just her first day of getting the injection instead of her pill, and it’s going to take a while.
I am so glad I have been able to come with her for these. Before going home, she needed to get some prescription refills, and she completely misunderstood the doctor, thinking that ALL her prescriptions were being changed, not just the blood thinners, and so on. Though I explained various things to her, she kept having to get them explained again by others.
It got very exhausting. For both of us!
But I was able to help her get some grocery shopping, too, and carry them in for her. By the time she got home, she looked more than ready for a nap! I do hope she got one.
Tomorrow should, hopefully, just be a quick trip in for her injection, then home again.
And this time, I hope to get that brace on her leg!
It was good to get home. My daughters were in the process of baking more bread, and taking care of the critters. Even got some photos for me.
Mama and the twins had come by, and were very active about it!
While Nasty Crime Boy was very interested in something going on above Eunice, the Barely Upright Snowman.
As for me, it’s all I can do not to go for a nap right now. :-D
The Re-Farmer
At the last half mile on the way home, I had to stop on the road to let some deer pass.
There was a group of five deer, though I did see the flash of tail of a 6th one, already on the other side of the fence. After they had all jumped the fence, I drove forward, only to have to stop for another three!
I uploaded sets of photos on my Instagram, if you’d like to see more.
I might have to start bringing the DSLR with me when I do these trips; zooming in on my phone makes for some pretty terrible quality shots, but it’s better than nothing!
I saw the first group crossing the road from some distance away, but when I got closer, they kept running along the shoulder of the road. I’d drive a bit, stop, drive a bit, stop… it seemed like they were looking for a better place to cross the ditch or something. Eventually, they picked a spot and off they went.
I doubt I drove more than 100ft before I saw the second group of three.
These had come out of the bush on the left, just like the earlier group, crossed the road, but that’s as far as they got. As I crept closer, they stopped, then ran ahead for a while, then crossed back and headed for the trees they had come out of.
So many deers!
I wonder if the group of three were Mama and the twins?
Meanwhile, as I write this, Hungry Girl and Barbecue are outside our window, having a snack. :-)
The Re-Farmer
… the deer come back.
Hungry Girl and Barbecue came back, while there was still light enough to get photos. :-)
Eunice the Sad and Tired Snowman has lost her head. Mostly.
Interesting that Hungry Girl – the one that’s shier and gets bullied by Barbecue so much – is the one that’s brave enough to come closer to the house, while Barbecue stays farther away.
He keeps tabs on us in the window, too!
My day is complete now. :-)
The Re-Farmer
We had a lot of deer activity out our window this morning! All five of them, at one point. They were all energetic and dashing all over the place, which made getting photos a bit of a challenge!
My younger daughter was watching them and commented that the twins are starting to get less fuzzy and starting to look more sleek, like their mother. I’ve noticed their faces are starting to get less round and also starting to get that more “adult” look.
Except when they’re making silly faces! :-D
Despite our repeated vacuuming, the Asian lady beetles are still out in high numbers.
In the morning, they really like our living room window. They are upstairs in the highest numbers, but they also really like my office.
Yesterday, I made myself a giant cup of tea, then went into my office to work on the computer. After a while, I took my empty cup and started to refill it, only to find a lady beetle had landed in my cup and was now swirling around in the tea.
Ew.
So now I’m paranoid about my tea.
This morning, one of my priorities was to look at the public insurance website about was needed to get a driver’s license updated after a move, because all this about needing my proof of address to include my physical address was getting beyond ridiculous. The website very clearly states,
Rural customers must provide at least one document containing their physical address. If rural customers do not have two supporting documents containing their physical address, the second document can contain their mailing address.
Which is what I gave them. In fact, both documents had the physical address, because the proof of identification form specifically has “no p.o. box” on it, as we’d considered adding it in, too.
So instead of driving to my bank branch in the town my mom lives in, I printed out copies of last month’s electricity and phone bills (this month’s aren’t up yet, which means they are likely not going to be available online until next week), as well as the puclic insurance company’s webpage.
When we got there, someone else was being served at the counter, so I waited. Then a woman came out from the back – the one I’d been dealing with the last 3 times I’ve been there and has been trying to help me so much – and went right to helping me. She knew why I was there!
We talked for a bit and I told her about my calls with the phone and electric companies, and how the electric company simply can’t include the physical address, because their system doesn’t allow for it. She was able to tell me why the personal identification form was rejected.
It turns out the problem on the form wasn’t with me or my address.
It was the postmaster.
It seems that the identity unit (we have one???) couldn’t confirm her as a postmaster, based on some sort of criteria they had.
Which is weird, since she has a framed certificate up on the wall, identifying her as the postmaster, issued by Canada Post.
Totally bizarre.
In the end, she took my phone bill as proof of address, because the electric bill had a slightly different postal address – it included the term “station main” on there (which is what they normally do). I mentioned that they had a copy of my marriage certificate, which has my address on it, but Vital Statistics isn’t among their list of acceptable sources.
Well, what I’ve given now had better be good enough. If this isn’t, I don’t know what’s left!
After that, my daughter and I picked up some prescription refills for my husband. Unfortunately, it was for painkillers that can’t be filled until the last refill is almost done. My husband had phoned it in yesterday, but they wouldn’t be ready for pick up until today – and he ran out of the painkillers last night.
It was a rough day for him today. It’s not like he can take them any time, either, but on a schedule.
After picking up the refills and doing some other errands (one nice thing about it; almost all the stuff we needed to do was within a block of each other), my daughter and I went to play some Pokemon Go. Which turned out to be really excellent hunting; we both caught new Pokemon for the Pokedex, and we actually caught a Blissy! She hasn’t even seen a Chancy, yet (I’ve had much more opportunity to play that she has), so that was pretty exciting.
On the way home, we stopped at the post office. The postmaster wasn’t there, but I talked to the person that was working the post office to pass on what happened with the form. I figured she might like to know that the identity unit couldn’t verify her as the postmaster. Mind you, it could be because this is such a tiny post office, inside a retail outlet, and not a stand-alone office, like in the next town.
After we got home, my daughter was a sweetheart and did some bread baking.
I ended up crashing with the cats for 3 hours.
I’m getting too old for this. :-D
The Re-Farmer
We only had one thing scheduled for today. Doctor’s appointments for my husband and myself, booked one right after the other.
Ah, the best laid plans.
First up, though… the morning critters! Continue reading
We are still on the lookout for a church in the next town, so this morning I headed out to visit a new one I’d never been to before. I almost didn’t make it, having been up until 3 am this morning (actually 2am, but then daylight savings time happened), but it worked out.
This time I went to an evangelical “free” church. In all my years growing up here, I had no idea it even existed, as it’s in a residential part of town I’d never gone to before. The only reason I knew where it was was because my daughter and I had found it while playing Pokemon Go a month or so ago, and all churches are Pokestops.
I honestly don’t know what to think of it. The church itself has no online presence, but I was able to look up what an evangelical church is, and it’s a solidly grounded non-denominational church. Like most churches in the area, there was a small core of regular congregants. This being a resort town, the population basically doubles in the summer, and all the churches get fuller. People were friendly in welcoming. They have a pastoral couple, rather than just a pastor, which was not something I’ve encountered before, though I was aware of such things. The sermon was good, though there were a few things about the service that I found a bit strange; little throwaway comments that were intended to be humorous, but were inadvertently sexist.
The Re-Farmer 