winterizing

Winterizing progress, and a sad find

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This afternoon, I was finally able to get back to working on the sun room. I could tell the kittens were really wanting to have their beds back!

I’m not sure if there’s eight of nine jammed in that one shelf!

We have been able to finish deep cleaning the west facing side, and it was ready to have shelves brought back in. The other side was half done, but we still needed to move out the counter shelf and table saw so we could do a deep clean under them.

The counter shelf is something we have under a built in shelf between two smaller windows. The inner panes on both of the windows cracked a few winters ago – likely a combination of temperature differences and the entire room slowly shifting downwards at one corner. The pane on the bottom window broke apart to the point that there were shards, so I removed the broken inner pain as best I could, and then we set insulation against it, to protect both the glass from temperature differences between inside and out, and the cats from any broken bits of glass that couldn’t be removed.

The shelf itself is sitting on bricks to elevate it a few inches. Kittens and skunks like to hid under it, but the – and the raccoons – also get between the shelf and the window. Things that had been stored on top of the counter also got knocked in between the shelf and the window, as well as under the shelf itself.

So… basically, I was expecting quite a mess under there.

Before I started, though, we fed the outside cats. My younger daughter was on cat herding duty, getting any cats and kittens that made a dash while I stepped out with the food bowl. Once she got the doorway clear, she could close the doors for me – usually at least the storm door with the missing window screen that makes it so incredibly handy.

As I was scattering kibble in different trays, my daughter got the storm door closed and was waiting to see if I needed anything else. That’s when we both spotted something strange, sticking half out from under the counter shelf, near a kibble tray we keep under the table saw.

Strange, flat and furry.

It was the remains of a kitten.

My daughter was horrified and had to leave. I can’t say I blame her.

Once I finished putting the food out, I got a shovel to use to get the remains the rest of the way out, after moving the kibble tray and the table saw.

It turned out to be really easy. The sun room has been hot and dry all summer, which basically mummified the remains. My guess is that a skunk had gone under the counter shelf and, while scrambling around, pushed the remains out one side.

It was a larger kitten. A grey tabby. That’s all I could tell. There wasn’t much left of it.

With how often cats and kittens appear and disappear, we just can’t tell if any are missing because they’ve wandered off, or because something happened to them. This is the first time we found one that passed under that shelf, though.

After I buried the remains, I was pretty nervous about moving the shelf, but thankfully, there was just stuff knocked off from the top to clean up, and a whole lot of insulation bits from the cats scratching at it.

So all that got cleaned up, and then the area got soaked and scrubbed and soaked and scrubbed and soaked and scrubbed again!

When it was time to let the floor dry before moving the shelf back, I was able to start moving shelves into the other side of the room. I decided to put the cube shelf right against the west facing window, and then set one of the large plastic storage shelves next to it. The main goal was to fill the corner, so there would be no space for critters to do their business in it. Both shelves were set on bricks, just in case the floor gets wet, as water flows towards that corner.

We won’t be able to set up a platform again, with this set up. I’m going to have to figure out a way to hang one of the heat lamps there. The platform worked well for that, as they could be hung under it.

Something to think about.

Once the shelves were set up, the cat beds that were hosed out and sitting in the sun to dry were brought back in, along with the two cat caves, which now have wire supports inside them to keep them from collapsing and being smushed flat by kittens crawling on top of them.

The first picture is of the counter shelf corner, after clean up but before scrubbing and mopping. The window sill got a scrubbing, too, but I didn’t take the insulation out. The shelf shelter is on the other side of the window. Between the two, it should keep the now single pane glass window protected on both sides from temperature extremes.

The second picture shows the new set up in the west facing side. The cube shelf will be left empty, so that cats can sit and look out the window in their own little shelves. The second shelf from the bottom has the self warming mat, which is tied down so it won’t get knocked off the shelf easily. The blue striped cat cave has a loop at the top. I used that to tie it to the shelf above, so it won’t get knocked out.

The plaid cat cave above is a really weird design. It’s basically a bit drawstring pouch. It could never hold itself up so, for the longest time, I rolled the sides down to make a cat bed. It still got squished out of shape. It now has a wire frame inside to hold it up, while still allowing the drawstring cord to be pulled partially closed. It’s still tippy, though, and it’s now tied to the shelf above, too.

Cats were moving onto the cat beds in the shelf before I was finished setting it all up!

That side is now essentially done. Once the other half is finished, the kibble trays will be rearranged so that it’s not all on one side. Some of the cats get pretty aggressive at feeding time, so it’s good to split up the trays to give them more space from each other.

The cat bed from inside the cat cage is back in its cube, which now has insulation pieces on the bottom and outside walls. The bed itself will keep the wall pieces from falling in. So far, the cats have been ignoring the bed in favour of the cubes above, now that those have insulation pieces as floors.

When that was all done, the floor was dry enough to return the counter shelf and table saw to their spots. Then the rest of the floor in that corner got another sweeping, soaking, scrubbing and mopping.

By then, it was getting dark, so that was in for the day. Tomorrow, I’ll start bringing in the last two storage shelves and figure out how to set them up so that cats won’t use the corner on that side to do their business, either. Drives me nuts when they’ll use the concrete floor, right next to a litter box!

Then I need to go through the storage bins and other stuff that were on the shelves before we took them out. It’s all sorts of tools and supplies that I want to have easy access to, while also keeping the cats out of them, or keep them from knocking things right out of the shelves. There’s no way to stop the cats from going into the shelves, so I want to plan around that.

There’s still the things we used to make the platform, which need to be stored somehow/somewhere.

That’s something we’ll figure out as we go along.

For now, though, the cats have their beds in the sun room again, and they are very happy about it!

The Re-Farmer

Winterizing progress

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It seems weird to be winterizing things when we were hitting 27C/81F! It is, however, the best time to be doing it, this late in the season.

My daughter had intended to work on the sun room more, but for the past few days she’s been in so much pain, she can barely move at times, and is caning it in general.

Side note: she got a letter to say she was approved for our province’s disability assistance. She’s going to be getting a whole $200 a month for six months, when it comes up for review.

Well, it’s $200 a month more than she had before, but it does make me wonder about all the people on disability I know that have government income assistance much, much higher than that. That was in another province, though.

So with my daughter out of commission, and my being able to be home all day today (I completely forgot that my medical appointment in the city is tomorrow, not today!), I set to work in the sun room.

The room is mostly empty already, so it was basically to continue the cleaning in the one half. The wooden molding around the three huge windows is drying out, so I gave it a cleaning with Murphy’s oil. I even remembered to clean the old kitchen window’s frame, too.

My daughter had mopped the concrete floor already, but kittens immediately went back to doing their business in the corners again. That got a quick clean up, then litter pans were put in the corners. Today, those got moved out and I used our stiff bristled broom to soak and scrub and soak and scrub and soak the affected areas some more. I rehung the large number dial thermometer back up before cleaning all the windows. The old kitchen window was the worst. Cats like to sit on the sill to look inside while their kibble is being readies. The bottom pane was covered in kitty nose prints!

That was enough time for things to soak on the floor, and I was able to finish with a mop. I then had to leave it to dry completely, before I could start moving things over.

All the cat beds, meanwhile, were taken out and hosed down to clean as best I could. We’re not comfortable putting these in the washing machine. Once they got cleaned up and squeeze out, they were set out on the kibble and water bowl shelter roofs to dry in the sun.

I was planning on completely changing the set up in the sun room. With that in mind, one of the things I did was move the power bar from where I’d had it hanging between the two west facing windows, and attached it to the wall between the door and the old kitchen window. This freed up the extension cord I was using for the critter cam, as I could now plug it into the power bar.

I then spent the next while setting the shop lights back up. I had to replace a couple of the hooks I had lines attached to, as the lights are hung from wall to wall, not from ceiling. I was able to set the lights up a bit higher than before. Much easier to do while that side of the room is empty! The lights are designed so that one can be plugged into the end of another in a series, so I had only one cord to plug into the power bar to power both lights. The heated water bowl was cleaned up and set up in reach of the power bar, too, though we won’t need to plug that in for quite a while, yet.

The floor wasn’t dry enough yet, so I started working on the shelf shelter outside. This is an old shelf that used to be in the upstairs of the house. It was meant to go into storage, but we set it aside outside the sun room until it could be moved again – it’s quite awkward to move – and it was so handy there, we kept it! The bottom two shelves, and half the top shelf, have been turned over to the cats. Previously, I’d used pieces of rigid insulation set inside, and longer pieces nailed to the outside, to make it a better shelter.

Well, those didn’t last. A spooked cat dashing through the opening was enough to break them apart, even though I’d nailed on some old salvaged paneling to secure it better. Until today, the only thing left were nails sticking out of the shelf!

Those were the first to take out.

I then went to the garage to dig out what used to be a clear roof panel on the donated catio. There had been three of them, but two blew off during transportation. I took that off and replaced it with a different style of clear roof panels.

I was very happy to see that the salvaged panel was just the right size, with a bit of overlap.

It’s nailed into place along one side, the bottom and the two shelves. There’s nothing to nail it to at the top, but that’s okay, since that’s where I store some garden stuff. I bit of flex will make it easier to reach things.

I think this will work out much better. Not only can we still see any cats inside (since they sometimes give birth in there!), but the clear panel will give a bit of passive solar heat on sunny winter days. I think any cats using it will not get startled as much, if they can see out, too.

Now I just need to figure out what I can put on the top as a waterproof roof. The plastic I’d used originally has long since disintegrated.

By the time that was done, the floor was finally dry enough. I got the cleaned out interlocking foam mats and set them up in the corner against the old kitchen wall. The cats and other critters have been making messes in the corners the most, so I want to block those off as much as possible.

With the mats in place, I moved the cat cage on top, but not into the corner, yet. When we moved it across the room during cleaning, I’d put a broken piece of rigid insulation under it. I used that to cut pieces to fit inside the cage, using the top to measure my cuts. Cats like to use the upper levels inside the cat cage, but keep knocking off any “floor” we’d put on top of the wire frames to keep their feet from falling through. I cut pieces of insulation to fit snugly on there. Hopefully, they won’t get knocked down anymore!

The cat bed had been removed for cleaning, and there were no dry cat beds to put in the sun room for the night, so I cut more pieces for a floor and two walls around where the cat bed goes. That cube, and the one above, will be closest to a single pane window, so extra insulation in at least one cube is a good thing. The cube next to it has the litter box, so I didn’t do anything to that one. The front is open, with no cubes, so I just put some leftover pieces of insulation on the floor and that was it.

Once that was done, the cage got tucked into the corner. I put the old reflective car windshield sun protector on the top again – the cats seem to really like lying on it! – and secured it.

I still wanted to have something to act as cat beds, though, so I brought back the mini greenhouse frame. The shelves on it are open wire. The top already had something secured on it so the cats could use it without their feet falling through. There was a cat blanket available that I used on the bottom self. The other two got pieces of cardboard secured onto them. Then I brought back a small plant stand for the smaller cats to use to get to the top of the cage, and set one of the carriers on top – not realizing a kitten was inside it, napping!

The cats seem to like the new set up!

So this is what they’ve got so far. I’m not sure where we’ll hang the heat lamps from, yet. We’ll decide that when the other shelves are returned.

I ended up adding a second carrier on top of the cat cage, later on. Two more got set up in the opposite corner, to make sure no cats did their business there, and to give more safe places to sleep.

For now, the sun room food trays have been moved over to this side, and we can start working on the other side tomorrow or so. We still need to move the table saw and the counter shelf, and wash under that corner. Once that’s done and the counter shelf and table saw returned to their places, we can start bringing the other shelves back in and figure out how to set them up. I’d still like to set up a platform for the cats, if possible, but that might not be an option with priority being to put things in the corners so the cats (and skunks, and raccoons) will stop making messes in them.

Gah!

I had the critter cam up on my phone while working on this. I saw a couple of skunks going into the sun room and was able to chase them out through the camera.

Then a raccoon came in. I used the camera to “yell” at him and he left, only to come right back in. This time, instead of being scared away by my voice, he went into the cat cage!!!

When I came in, the bugger started to “hide” in the litter box! I ended up having to stick a broom handle through the sides to chase him out. Had to be careful. Raccoons can be a lot more aggressive than skunks – skunks are pretty chill – and this beast was snarling.

Raccoons have a really vicious sounding snarl.

Anyhow…

By the time I got all that done, the afternoon was gone and I was just melting in the heat, so I called it a day. No sense in starting on the other side until I have another several hours in a row available to work on it.

Looking at the weather, we’ve got a few more warm-ish nights ahead of us, and then some overnight cold temps, approaching freezing. I’m hoping to have everything set up again, including the heat lamps, before then to help keep the littles warm.

It’s been a huge job, but that room was way overdue for a deep cleaning like this!

Also, I just had to pause and chase the frikkin’ raccoon out of the sun room again!! At least the cats had a chance to eat first. There isn’t much kibble left.

That’ll be another good thing, if we are able to have rescues come and trap cats. Less cats, less cat food, less raccoons and skunk thieves!

We might even be able to use the sun room to just sit in and enjoy again! Wouldn’t that be something!

The Re-Farmer

Morning kitties

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First up, a great big Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbours in the US. I hope you have an awesome day with friends and family and lots of delicious food! You have much to be thankful for, this year. 💕🦃

My daughter has not been able to get much sleep for the past couple of days, so she asked me to do the morning rounds today.

I got to indulge in kitties this morning!

Of course, there is always stuff to do, and this morning I did a bit of shoveling of paths and clearing of snow.

The first photo above is the little solar panels for the motion activated lights inside the kibble and food bowl shelters. They were completely covered with snow.

There isn’t a lot of snow on the ground, but enough that I made paths to the shrine and the catio. In the second photo above, you can see how some snow was piled up around the bottom of the catio. We tried to make sure the extra length of vinyl wrapped around the catio was tucked under the frame when we put it on, but of course, it can get loose. I wanted to make sure there was no chance of the wind catching the edges and pulling them loose. Of course, the snow will also act as an insulating layer and keep out any breezes that might get under. The catio is slightly elevated in the front, which did not get snow added, since the cats need space to slip into the door, and the door itself needs room to swing open if we need to untie it to reach inside.

The added insulation ceiling on the isolation shelter seems to have made quite a difference! Quite a few cats like to hand out in the upper level. The corner where the heated water bowl is actually gets condensation of the window and sliding door. The cutout for the extension cord is in that corner, too, and that’s where you can see a single spot where the snow is melted from below.

I’m quite happy with how this shelter is working out.

By the time I was heading back inside through the sun room, the cats had mostly finished eating and were settling in the various beds and cozy spots.

Adding that strip of insulation on the shelf in the isolation shelter is being much appreciated by little toe beans! They make full use of the spaces made for them in the sun room, too, including the cage under the platform – both in it and on top of it! Unfortunately, they do knock off the pieces of insulation in some areas, like one of the upper level cubes inside the cage, and even in the narrow space between the top of the cage and the platform. They knocked off the feed bag bed in the black shelf so often, I just left it on the floor. They seem to really like it on there, too.

What a bunch of cuties!

Surely, there are people out there that would want to adopt them!

Right?

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

Temporary insulation

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Well, that didn’t take long at all!

The cat isolation shelter now has a “ceiling” of rigid insulation – and extra butt warming insulation on the cat shelf in the upper level!

A few years back, my daughter bought a package of half inch rigid insulation, and we still have a few sheets that have been untouched. These sheets are 2′ x 8′. The isolation shelter is 4′ long, so the first thing was to simply cut a sheet in half.

One piece went on whole, except for a notch cut out where the power cord comes out, near the hinge.

For the remaining space, my original thought was to have the piece long enough extend under the overhang of the roof, almost to the house all. I cut a strip off and set it in place, but found that the balance was off and there was a chance it could fall in between the house and the shelter. So I cut another strip off so that it would be flush with the frame, instead.

The insulation at the front is flush against the roof’s hinge board, which creates a 3/4 inch space. The rear is now raised a half inch, so the roof is almost completely level instead of sloping to drain to the rear of the shelter. Which is not a problem for the winter. We can allow snow to collect on the roof as more insulation over the season but, when it melts, I don’t necessarily want it to drain against the wall of the house.

With the new “ceiling” resting on the frame of the shelter, there is no longer a large space between the frame and the roof, but it will still have air circulation. The sliding doors would allow for slight air exchange, plus they get opened and closed whenever we do the food and water. The gap around the power cord will also allow air circulation. The bottom is now wrapped in plastic, but that’s hardly air tight, plus the floor is a pallet, so fresh air can come in from below, even if the ramp door is closed – and the ramp door has spaces between the boards and around the sides, so that will let fresh air in, too.

I was left with two 4′ lengths of insulation. One was a bit wider than the other, so I trimmed on end to fit and set it on the cat shelf. This will basically create a self-warming surface for them to sit on.

Of course, it would get knocked off easily, so I simply tied it in place with some paracord. One end is easy enough to do , since the sliding door is right next to it. The other end has the door in the front half, creating an insulated corner for the cat bed. I can reach inside easily with one arm, and could wrap the cord around the shelf, but tying it needs two hands.

It was a rather messy knot, but I think it will hold!

The excess cord was left because I know the cats will enjoy playing with it. In fact, Stinky tried to do exactly that, while I was still trying to tie a knot!

Hopefully, this will do well for the winter. We still need to figure out the best way to shelter the entrance from snow and wind, with the materials we have on hand.

All of this is temporary and will need to be removed in the spring, so that also has to be taken into consideration.

For now, I think the cats will be happy with that extra bit of insulation keeping the heat from the lamp, and their own bodies, from escaping out the top.

Plus the butt warming insulation on the shelf!

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

Makin hay, while the sun shines!

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Or, in my case today, raking leaves and planting wildflowers!

This afternoon, we reached our expected a high of 8C/46F, with some lovely sunshine and NO high winds!

What a difference that makes.

We did get some rain this morning, but by the time I headed out after lunch, you couldn’t tell we’d had any.

My first job of the day was to rake up some leaves to mulch the wattle weave bed.

Not all of it. Just where the wild strawberries and herbs are growing.

This was the first time I used the pair of hand rakes my brother and his wife gave me. Now that they’ve sold their property, they are living in a townhouse, and have no need for gardening tools anymore. I don’t think these were ever used before!

They work really, really well! The only complaint I could have about them is the straps for the hands are on the small side. At least for broad simian hands like mine! 😄

Oh, gosh. I just realized what I caught a kitten doing in the other mulched bed in that first photo.

*sigh*

The next photo is the packaging for the hand rakes, though Instagram cut part of it off, even though I have it set to “original size” on the slideshow. The website says uncleweiner.com (not an affiliate link). A rather unfortunate name, but a good product!

Oh… gosh. They are located in Prince Albert. That’s… double unfortunate! 😂😂😂

In the last photo, you can see I had a helper when it came to mulching the Albion Everbearing strawberries in the main garden area. I put the chicken wire back over it to keep the leaves from being blown away but, as you can see, it doesn’t lie flat on the strawberry bed. Little Magda quite enjoyed going under there!

That done, I got another wagon load of leaves and started on the patch that’s been covered by the insulated tarp all summer.

After removing the old T posts and a board I’d put around the edges, to keep it from blowing away, I peeled off the tarp. That was unexpectedly difficult. All along the edges, Creeping Charlie had started growing on top of it. It turns out that some of them set their roots into, or even through, the tarp!

So the first thing I did was drag the tarp out to the front yard, where I have one hose still set up. The tarp was spread out to its full size. After hosing it down for a while, I went over it with a stiff bristle broom to get rid of the bigger debris, then used the hose to pressure wash it as best I could. It then got another scrubbing with the broom and a rinse.

For now, I’ve left it out where it is, to dry off as much as possible. Unfortunately, there are some holes in it. Some are tears from winds that happened a couple of years ago. Others were caused by weed roots pushing their way through and into the insulation layer! So parts of it now have water on the inside of the tarp. Not much I can do about that. I don’t have tarp tape, but I do have clear Gorilla tape, so I hope to at least patch up the bigger holes – if they are dry enough! Eventually, the other side will need to be cleaned, too.

That done as much as could be for now, it was back to the patch of soil it covered. In the second picture, you can see how it looked after the tarp was removed. Most of it does look dead but, along the edges, you can see white lines of roots extending into the what will be the growing area.

The soil needed to be loosened for the seeds, so I used the landscaping rake for that – and promptly found a roll of wire, buried in the soil! When we first moved here, this is where most of the chimney blocks and all the ceramic flues had been stacked, along with bricks and other odd things, and even garbage. We cleaned it up, but clearly missed this piece of wire!

The entire area got raked from the inside out, so as to pull the living roots out of the growing area, while also loosening the soil for the seeds.

As you can see in the next photo in the slideshow, the cats were very interested in what I was doing!

After the soil was loosened, I took the container of seeds shaken up in some seed starting mix, and scattered it evenly – I hope – over the area. Then I drew the back of the rake back and forth over the area to cover the seeds a bit.

While chasing away cats that figured this was a big new litter box, just for them!

Last of all, I scattered a wagon load of leaves over the entire area. This layer of leaf mulch is not as thick as on the garden beds. I was trying to more or less emulate how it would be, if leaves had fallen naturally on the ground. They will not be removed in the spring.


These seeds are a Western wildflower mix, so they should be able to handle the winter temperatures just fine. Any that succeed in germinating should have little problem growing through the light mulch.

The seed mix description doesn’t tell everything that’s in this mix. It just says “This mix includes Lupins, Poppy, Coreopsis, Flax, Blanket flowers and much more.” It should be interesting to see what comes up next year!

Image belongs to Veseys

One packet of seeds is supposed to be enough for 1000 sq ft. I used two packets. Technically, this means this area should be very densely sown. I’m not going to assume they’ll all germinate. We’ve tried to plant these plus an alternative lawn mix in areas nearby, and only some of them took – a year after they were sown! – and in only one area.

Still, if all goes well, enough of them will germinate that they will choke out any weeds that might otherwise spread into the area, and the wildflowers will spread their own seed further into the maple grove.

By the time that was done, it was starting to get close to sunset, to I moved on to things to go in the front yard. One of those was to clean up the flower bed the haskap bushes are planted in.

The first two photos in the above slide show are before and after shots. The dead flower stalks were clipped with loppers for a chop and drop. The old mulch I’d pulled off the garden bed at the fence was then raked on top along one side, and leaves along the other edges were raked up and added to the other sides. I don’t mind if the mulch reduces the number of flowers here. They get so tall, they cover the haskaps! Now, they are a mulch for the haskaps, and the lilac at one end.

I also snagged a couple of bricks and broken pieces of sidewalk blocks from the pile in the foreground. I keep thinking the catio is going to blow away, now that it’s wrapped in plastic for the winter. A corner of the plastic did tear off in yesterday’s winds, so that got tacked back into place, and there is now a weight on each corner of the roof.

I finally got around to laying out the hoses, to get the kinks and twists out. Once they moved, I was able to get to the old basement window to clean it up, then switch the summer window for the winter one. There was more to clean up than usual this year. The kittens have been using the area in front of it as a little box. 🫤 The window is now clear, though, and has a cover leaning over it. Eventually, we will pick up a window well and cover for around this window. The window wells are pretty affordable. The covers can sure get expensive, though!

That cleaned up and done, it was time to roll up and tie off the hoses. I ended up using a garbage can, laying it on its side over a hose, then rolling it with the hose around it. Doing it that way prevents the hose from twisting and kinking, though in these cooler temperatures, any kinks that were in the hoses when I laid them out were still pretty bent up when they were rolled up. Those are now ready to set aside for the winter.

Aside from finishing cleaning the insulated tarp, this is it for winterizing on the south side of the house. Tomorrow, I’ve got some things I want to get done in the main garden area. Our high is expected to be only 4C/39F tomorrow, but the day after is now expected to hit 9C/48F. I might wait for the warmer day before breaking out the chain saw to clean up the dead spruce tree that fell on the crab apple tree.

How much I get done tomorrow, though, may be up for debate. I felt really good while working outside, but once inside and sitting for a while, all my joints are stiffening up. Including my hands. I’m having a heck of a time typing right now. I forgot to take painkillers before I started this post.

Hopefully, I will finally get a good night’s sleep, and that will help. What I’d really love is have a hot soak in the tub, but it’s not worth the risk of injury, trying to get in and out. Sitting on the bath chair in the shower just isn’t the same, though!

Ah, well. It is what it is!

Whatever happens tomorrow, it felt great to be working outside, and I’m quite happy with the progress I was able to do while I had the chance!

The Re-Farmer

A day of driving

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Today was supposed to be a bit warmer and, technically, it was.

We also had high winds.

That ruled working on the cat house out completely. With the direction of the winds, they would have torn the roof off – or at least damaged it significantly – if we opened it up.

I had to do some modifications to the catio because of the wind.

As I thought might happen, the plastic overlapping the back, which couldn’t quite reach the centre support of the frame, was getting damaged in the wind. I found it torn free from its tacks at the top, and the only reason the bottom wasn’t also torn free was because the excess was tucked under the bottom of the frame.

I ended up taping it to the first layer of plastic. I used packing tape, which should come off more easily when we take it off on the spring. There is a chance it won’t last the winter, but we’ll see.

Wind was still getting into the catio through the open door, causing the plastic to billow. I was already planning to prop the door so it was open just wide enough for the cats to get in and out. I decided an extra bit of security would not go amiss, and added paracord around the whole thing, while also making sure the door wouldn’t blow open, either.

It didn’t take long for the cats to discover the improvement! In the photo above, there are three cats in there. Not only is it now more sheltered from the wind, but would be a warm little greenhouse as well.

It would have been better to secure the paracord through the plastic at the hinge side of the door, but I don’t want to put larger holes, in the plastic, since I intend to use it in the garden next year. I think, for next winter, the door will get it’s own covering, separate from the catio walls.

This will be our first winter with it, though, so we’ll analyze how it worked out, in the spring.

With high winds kiboshing my outdoor plans, I decided a trip to Walmart was needed. We never did get to the feed store and were running low on kibble already, so I contacted the Cat Lady. Yes, she was able to meet me today. After working out the time, I left right away, since it takes me a lot longer to get to our usual meeting spot that it takes for her.

It took a bit longer than usual. During parts of the route, the winds were doing their best to blow the truck right off the road! I was driving against the wind for much of the trip, which visibly affected the mileage, too!

When we finally connected, we had a chance to chat while we transferred over a nice big cat tree, a couple of large bags of kibble, some smaller bags of kibble, and a big garbage bag stuffed with cat beds. She even gave us a 24 pack of wet cat food; turkey chunks in gravy. She got it for her own cats, but they don’t seem to like it – and The Wolfman turns out to be allergic to poultry, so he can’t eat it at all. The problem is, he loved chicken so much, he kept stealing the roasted chickens she fed them, while they were cooling down. It turns out he’s a real greedy guts, and constantly stealing food!

She no longer goes to what used to be her favourite vet clinic. The owner – the man that saved Cabbages’ life, and even Tissue, after her attempt to destroy their car – sold the clinic. She’s been there a couple of times. Once was to get Button neutered. That was when the new vet insisted Button had to be only 8 weeks old, and would not believe otherwise, no matter what. She had also talked to the new vet about The Wolfman and allergies – and was immediately offered euthanasia!

She is not going back.

She did take Button to another vet, though, and got some more information about his condition. It was determined that the reason he is so tiny, and why he is now deaf, was due to a particular virus. The vet figured that the reason we found him was because the mother had died of it, because it usually does kill off the adults. We never did figure out who the mother was, so that may well be true. That’s the thing with yard cats. When they disappear, we almost never know why. Very rarely do we find an adult cat that has died. Last year, there was one.

It’s entirely possible we’ve recently lost more. We haven’t seen Sad Face in weeks, now. There was that one day when I counted 50 cats and kittens. This morning, I counted maybe 33. Yesterday, 26. Aside from Sad Face, who is rather distinctive, I have no idea which cats – or kittens – are missing.

Meanwhile, the Cat Lady is trying to arrange spays for us. The clinic she’s been booking us with is very busy. At this point, they should be able to book two in December, and maybe one in November, plus she is on the cancelation list. The vet would really like to get the long haired tabby adult in, as she is more likely to go into heat before the kittens do, in the spring. I’ve actually been able to pet Adam a few times, so there’s a possibility we could get her in, without having to trap her, too.

The Cat Lady is going to need descriptions of what cats and kittens we can bring in. While I could do that, it doesn’t mean those are the kittens we’d be able to bring in. There is one very friendly little tabby with white that we’d have no problem catching. She’s really small, though. Button is probably bigger than she is, now. The vet prefers them to be at least 2kg (almost 4 1/2 pounds).

There is no way that kitten is 4 pounds, and she is definitely close to 5 months old.

We shall see.

Meanwhile, she’s had to deal with 4 cats that showed up at their cottage. They’ve closed it up for the winter, but they have a neighbour that lives there full time and called them about it. They were all males, about 8 months old. I guess someone knew the property was owned by a family that ran a rescue, and dumped them. You’d think they would consider that, like most of the cottages in that area, no one would be there in the winter. Thankfully, the neighbour that does live there full time keeps an eye on their place for them. So she had to go get the cats, was able to get them neutered and has already adopted one of them out.

One of the things that came up was comments people make about country cats like ours and, “why don’t they just get them fixed?”

That came up when I mentioned that we have gone from a high of 50 cats to now being down to a little over 30. We just don’t know what cats will show up, or if they will stay. There are some distinctive cats that do stay, even if they are more feral, but others… we just can’t tell. Especially with all the white and greys. They get so hard to tell apart! In previous years, we had lots of grey tabbies. They are all gone. The grey tabbies we have now are from more recent litters. At least the ones we did get fixed have been staying, but males like Judgement are still prone to disappearing for the summer and coming back for the winter – if they come back at all.

Then, of course, there is the cost. Especially for females. We’re both very frustrated by people who made disparaging remarks about how people should spay and neuter the strays, barn cats, yard cats, etc. Yes, that needs to be done, but some get very angry and accusatory when it doesn’t get done. To which I say, are you volunteering to pay for it? Are you donating to a shelter specifically for spays and neuters? No? Then zip it. People do the best they can. Those who aren’t willing to help – and it’s a huge problem in our province right now – aren’t entitled to cast judgement on others.

The Cat Lady and her family spend ridiculous amounts of money out of pocket to help their rescues; donations don’t come near to covering it all. She is constantly on the hunt for things people need. Recently, she found a particular cat item that is in demand, but hard to find, and she bought the store’s entire stock. Nine of them. As she was paying for it, another customer started ranting at her for being so greedy and taking them all. It was one of the staff who knows the Cat Lady well by now, that called out the customer, saying that they were all for donations. She wasn’t buying them for herself.

All of this was shared rather quickly, as we loaded stuff from her cat to our truck. The wind was brutal and cold, so we parted ways soon after.

I then went to the Walmart and, yes, got more kibble on top of the donated kibble!

That done, I headed home, with a brief side trip to get some gas. This time, I had the wind at my back, and I could really tell the difference by the gas gauge!

By the time I got home, it was well past 1pm. After the truck was unloaded, we loaded it up again – with garbage!

Two of the cat beds that were donated went straight into the isolation shelter; one on each level.

I then waited until 2, when both the dump and the post office opened, grabbed the water jugs we needed to refill and headed out again.

My first stop was the dump and, I swear, it is looking worse every time I go there! There’s barely room to drive in and turn to back up to the pit, for all the garbage that’s been allowed to spread over the driveway. I’ve never seen it allowed to get this bad.

At least the driveway area wasn’t covered in nails or glass.

Not that I could see, anyhow.

Once that was done, the next stop was the post office to pick up what turned out to be two parcels. I also got the first 2025 seed catalog of the season! I’m going to have fun going through that!

Then it was off to town and to the pharmacy for a prescription refill. Normally, I would have had my one prescription included with my husband’s deliveries, but we forgot to order it last week, and this week, my husband didn’t need any refills.

That done, the next stop was the grocery store to refill our water jugs, then finally, home again.

While the dump and town trip were planned on, I wasn’t expecting to be on the road more than that. Which is just as well, since the wind wasn’t going to let me do what I hoped to do in the garden.

Tomorrow, I’ll also be gone for much of the day, as I will be going to my mother’s place and helping her with her errands.

Meanwhile, I have also started working on this year’s Christmas decorations. Every year, I try to make new decorations for our tree, and maybe enough to give away to family and friends. This year, I’ve been inspired by Singlade balls. The Youtube channel in the link has some really amazing examples of them.

This video is a beginner tutorial.

I’m cheating a bit. I happen to have a number of Styrofoam balls, so I am using those as a core. At the moment, I’ve got six of them wrapped in white yarn, with the contrasting yard dividing them into eight sections, like the one you can see in the video thumbnail.

I’m working on the second half of my first ball, which is being made using bulkier yarn than wat’s in the video. As these will be Christmas decorations and meant to hand on a tree surrounded by lights, I went hunting for sparkly or reflective yarn. This first one has two colours per triangle and is mostly a red yarn with a silver metallic thread running through it. I also have some bits of reflective yard left. I had enough of a forest green to do half the ball. The other half is using a peacock blue reflective yarn. I have some neon colours of the reflective yarn that would be gloriously tacky. I also have some mini skeins of yarn that is almost a lace weight yarn, some of which have metallic strands in them. Those would make much finer stitches, but would also take longer to work up. I’ll see how far I get with the reflective yarn remains I have now before I start working on a finer weight yarn.

I’m happy with the progress, so far.

The only thing is, we will probably just have a small Christmas tree set up on top of the piano in the cat free zone again, this year. We have a couple of very small Christmas trees, and these balls would look gigantic on either of them! 😄

But that’s okay. I enjoy learning a new craft and, when it comes to yarn, my options are pretty limited. My hands are so rough, bit of fibre in the yarn sticks to my fingers!

That’s pretty much it for today. It may not have been the day I planned out, but at least it was productive!

The Re-Farmer

I think they like them!

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The cats seem to be quite enjoying their newly winterized digs!

They are especially enjoying the cat isolation shelter. Which makes me happy! It will made it much easier, when it comes time to actually isolate cats in there during their recovery periods.

The last image in the above slide show is of the completed catio wrap. I had to get my daughter to crawl inside to pull the excess plastic under the frame. Especially where the second sheet overlapped the first. That one didn’t quite reach the middle of the back, where it could have been tacked to the centre support I added when we repaired it, so it’s only tacked top and bottom. I might end up taping it or something, or the wind will get under there and rip it right off.

I did add a board under the front of the frame, lifting it about 1 1/2 inches. This will give a slight slope for water to drain off the roof.

Today has turned out to be a cool and damp day, so I didn’t get a lot done outside. Aside from finishing winterizing the catio, I made sure the rest of the insulation got set up around the house.

We really need to find a better option for this. The insulation pieces are scrap pieces from who knows where, to begin with, so they’re all different sizes and thicknesses. Setting them up is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with pieces from different puzzles that don’t quite fit. They’re getting old and some of them are starting to break apart. It would be good to have a permanent solution, that we can make look like it’s part of the house and not just tacked on.

All in good time, I guess. Short term, we’re going to need to pick up some thicker sheets of rigid insulation to replace the busted up pieces. As it is, there is no longer enough to go completely around the wall there the back water tap is.

That took quite a while to get done, mostly spent trying to get the pieces to fit together, then finding ways to support them so they don’t get blown away. It’s been a dark and dreary day today, so even though it was still only mid afternoon or so when I was done, it was still dark enough that the light over the main door would turn on as I walked by. Mind you, sunset today was at 4:52pm, so I guess it wasn’t just the overcast skies.

At least the snow and rain that hit other parts of the province missed us. We’re wet enough right now, thank you! Interestingly, I noticed the signs up showing that we are under a fire ban in our municipality right now. We didn’t have a fire ban all summer, this year, so it’s quite unusual to have one start in the fall like this.

And here I was thinking it was finally wet enough and calm enough to burn that pile of diseased branches, as well as our burnable garbage.

Tomorrow, we’re supposed to hit 11C/52F, and even reach as high as 12C/54F on Sunday. The next few days will be a good time to get more done outside. The one cooler day is Friday, and I will be helping my mother with her errands that day.

For now, the important winterizing things have been done, and I can get back to cleaning up and and putting things away from the garden. It may even dry up enough to get our electric chainsaw out and finish clearing away that spruce that fell on the crab apple tree!

Little by little, it’s getting done.

The Re-Farmer

Cat shelter winterization

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Today started off chilly and damp, but by the afternoon, things were quite pleasant out there. A good day to work outside.

Not a good day to get to the dump. It opens in the morning on Tuesdays, and we didn’t make it. It opens in the evening on Thursdays, so we’ll do our dump run, then.

My priority for the day was to get the cat shelters set up for the winter. Since the isolation shelter was going to go under the kitchen window, the first thing that needed to be done was to move the catio out of that spot.

The problem is, now that the roof is on, the overhang makes it difficult to grab the sides to move it, without face planting into the edge of the roof.

The solution: make handles for it, using paracord.

The first image in the slideshow above shows how I was able to get the paracord around the corner frame pieces. The end was threaded through the mesh on one side, into the loop of a garden twist tie, until it could be pulled through to the other side.

In the next image, you can see how the rope was tied to itself first, then the knot moved inside the catio before a another knot was made as close to the frame as I could, on the outside.

I admit, part of the reason I chose an overhand knot with some excess cord and put it on the inside, is because it’s right above the platforms. I expect the cats will play with the ends.

The next image shows how long of a loop was left for the handle. There is one of these on each corner.

This worked out quite well and allowed me to drag it easily across the yard. In retrospect, I should have put them lower down. Due to my own height, I can use them to drag across the yard, but I can’t lift it off the ground. If I had a second person using the other two handles, we could carry the catio that way, but my daughters aren’t any taller than I am, so it’ll still be mostly dragged on the ground. If it really is an issue, I can just undo the knots and lower the handles by a few inches.

In the next image, the catio is set up where I decided it will be for the winter. I wanted to make sure it was where it needed to be, because once it was wrapped in plastic for the winter, the handles would be covered and it would be more difficult to move again.

The roll of plastic I used is one of the sheets that was wrapped around the hot pepper and eggplant bed. It’s two vinyl table protectors from the dollar store, taped end to end.

I started at the door, making sure that it could still be latched and opened and closed without interference, then kept going. The vinyl is slightly wider than the height of the catio, but the excess can be tucked under the bottom.

It wasn’t long enough, though. I do have another roll, but it’s the same length, and I don’t want to double up so much. I do have one more table protector from the dollar store in the house, though, so I’ll use that.

Tomorrow.

The next thing to do was move the cat isolation shelter to a more open space.

Which is when I discovered a bit of a problem.

The whole thing is so heavy, and the ground is so soft right now, after all that rain, the wheels kept sinking into the soil! I had to wrestle with it, pausing to lift wheels out of the soil every now and then, to get it over the sidewalk, where I could work on it.

Where it had been sitting was not level, so the sloped roof ended up level. That meant rain didn’t drain off very well. I left the roof open and cleaned the seam out as best I could. I have an adhesive sealant to use on the seam later on, but the seam will need more cleaning, and be completely dry, because it can be used.

I then went digging through the scrap lumber my brother gave me to see if there was something I could use to put across the middle, to attach the clamp lamp to.

I found the perfect piece.

It was just long enough to fit across the top, lengthwise.

I could see it had been cut from a larger piece, but that’s just fine. I needed something narrow for the clamp lamp.

While getting ready to attach it to the underside of the frame, Stinky came to help. 😄

So did my daughter. She held it in place for me while I drilled pilot holes to screw it in place.

I am so glad I was able to make those sliding doors! It would have been much more difficult to access the underside of the frame to attach this. Even so, my daughter ended up taking over and finished the last two screws for me.

The cross piece was installed slightly towards the front, over the cat hammock. The clamp was also mounted sideways, with the lamp angled down, making it even closer to the front, and higher up than if it were just hanging straight now. I did not want to take any chance that a cat might burn themselves on it.

Once the lamp was in place, it was time to wrap the bottom of the shelter in plastic. I had a sheet of dollar store dining table protector, cut it in half, lengthwise. It took both halves to wrap all the way around, with maybe a foot and a half of excess that got folded under.

For both the catio and the isolation shelter, the vinyl was tacked in place with push pins. I decided on push pins because they can be removed easily. I want to use the vinyl again in the garden next year, so I wanted to avoid making larger holes. Pin pricks along the edges should be fine.

After the bottom was wrapped up, I set up a heated water bowl on one side of the upper level, and a food bowl on the other. A litter box, with litter in it this time, was put back into the bottom level.

Once that was done, I finished clearing the patio blocks under the kitchen window and set up the insulation we put over the basement walls and windows for the winter. In the past, we used an old bench and a bin against the insulation to hold it in place. This winter, the isolation shelter will serve that purpose for most of it.

Once the insulation was in, the shelter had to be wrestled over to the patio blocks. It didn’t have for to go, but there was always at least one wheel that would end up sunk into the ground!

The patio blocks are not at all level, either, with some of them heaved out of place by the roots of the elm tree in front of the kitchen window. That, at least, was easier to maneuver around, once all the wheels were on the blocks.

The next while was spent working out the safest way to set up the extension cord to power the heated water bowl and heater. The new cross piece came in quite handy, to wrap excess cord around.

In the last image of the slideshow, you can see the final result. It was getting pretty dark by then, so I did the evening feeding. Before I left, I could see some kittens checking out the bottom of the shelter, where there used to be a food bowl. It shouldn’t take long for them to figure out where it is now – and discover that there is heat up there!

My only concern is if the racoons discover it. We haven’t been seeing them as much, lately, as the temperatures drop. The sun room, at least, has the critter cam, and we can check it every now and then. We have no such option now. Even if we look out the kitchen window, it’s hard to see things directly below.

In time, we will get a smoke detector to put in there, like we have in the cat house. I’d like to put a thermometer in there, too, though one that’s mounted directly to the frame. The one we set up on a holder inside the cat house kept getting pulled down as the cats would play with it!

Right now, there are only two things left that need to be done. One is to get a carabiner for the latch; I think I have one available, but I’m not sure where it is right now. The other is to get some colour matched paint for the exposed wood. With the bottom wrapped in plastic for the winter, though, that will wait until spring!

I’m quite happy with how this has turned out. The Cat Lady has contacted the vet clinic about getting spays done and should hear back soon. Once she has it confirmed, she’ll let me know the date – and for how many! The isolation shelter is now ready for them to be in for their two week recovery period. Since we will likely be doing mostly, if not all, kittens, it could easily shelter three or four at once. With adult cats, I wouldn’t want to have more than two in there at once.

There is the insulated box nest in there right now, plus the hammock, but we will add more cat blankets or beds as well, once we know how many will be in there.

Next, we need to open up the cat house, clean it out and get it plugged in and ready for the winter. That will be a two person, job, as the roof is quite heavy, and the wood is starting to crack. It has to be opened very carefully, so it doesn’t twist.

I haven’t been seeing the cats use lately. The insides of the windows are so dirty, I can’t see inside very well. I’m a bit afraid of what we’ll find in there, after having to bury so many kittens this year. It could simply be because the sun room is warm, and the cat house isn’t, but they seemed to stop using it before things started getting chilly.

Well, we’ll find what we find. Hopefully, just a lot of cat poop or something benign like that! 😄😄

The Re-Farmer

Winterizing the sunroom, and cheeky kitties!

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Today has been gorgeous and sunny, with almost no wind. The weather apps say we’re at 13C/55F, but feeling like 10C/50F.

The thermometer in the shelf shelter, which was getting hit with full sun, was reading almost 30C/86! 😄

My daughter took on the very messy job of starting to scrub the walls around the tub, as we let the rotten parts we found under the tub surround, dry a bit. There is very little room to assist, so I took advantage of the pleasant day to start winterizing the sun room, as well as making some changes in the old kitchen.

Last winter, we set things up for the cats on one side, while the other side was used to store our tools and supplies.

Unfortunately, the cats knocked so many things off the shelves and all over the floor. Then, because it’s darn cold out there in the winter, they used all sorts of corners to do their business in.

The girls started cleaning it up in the spring, but it never quite got finished.

So I got it mostly done today, which included moving some things out of the old kitchen.

The first thing was to get the broken pieces of tub surround and get that onto the junk pile for later hauling to the dump. Once those were out of the way, I could get at a rocking chair that was here when we moved in. We can’t use it in the main part of the house – too many creatures with tails! – and it’s just taking up space in the old kitchen, so I ended up putting it in the storage house. That gave me access to the small shelf I wanted to move to the sun room. It was meant to be used to hold things like extra packages of toilet paper or paper towel, cases of canning jars and the like. It ended up getting blocked off, and not just by the rocking chair! There were cases of canning jars on it that we never opened. Last year, we didn’t have enough produce to make it worthwhile to can, and this year will be much the same. I just moved those over to a plastic couch for now.

The old kitchen had been cleaned out and set up to be someplace we could sit and relax in, but that didn’t work out, either. We had to move the kibble into the old kitchen because the racoons kept knocking the bin over and spilling it onto the floor. Then we found ourselves having to use it to store our garbage until we could make a dump run. That basically took up most of the space.

I’d like to get that couch moved out, too, but there really isn’t any room for it in the storage house, either.

Still, once I cleared out the rocking chair and the shelf, I could move my late father’s walker in the space where the shelf was. Now we have all sorts of room in the old kitchen again!

I’m keeping the walker handy, because I see the day coming when I will need to be using it myself.

As for the sun room, I didn’t have to empty it entirely, which was nice. I started off cleaning and clearing around the cat cage until I could move the cage, and the interlocking floor mat it sits on, towards the middle of the west facing windows, then clean up the corner where it had been. The collection of cat carriers we keep in there got taken outside and dismantled to varying degrees, depending on the design, before getting scrubbed down and left to dry in the sun. Basically it was clear a spot, clean up under it, clear a spot, clean up under it…

The cats may use the great outdoors to do their business in the summer, but the skunks and racoons will drop their messes anywhere and any time!

Ew.

Then I had to take out a whole lot of stuff on the storage and tools side of the sunroom, and empty the matching shelf that needed to be moved into the other corner.

Quite a bit of stuff ended up getting thrown away due to cat damage.

Other stuff got moved to the garage for storage, including all the paint supplies I could find. Others got tucked into the counter shelf, where the cats can’t get at them.

Finally, the shelf itself got taken outside, where I could hose it down.

Once the shelf was out, I had to mop the floor several times to get the messes that were uncovered in the process.

Ew, again!

Finally, I was able to shift over the wooden shelf that was under the bathroom window, and move it into the corner. That cleared enough space to be able to open one of the doors under the counter shelf all the way. The floor isn’t level, so I had to put scrap pieces of rigid insulation under it, so it can’t fall forward. Then the small shelf from the old kitchen was set in place, and I could finally start putting things away again. This shelf got mostly gardening supplies, plus the critter cam was set up on to top of it, too. I ended up getting a piece of scrap 2×4 to raise the camera up a bit higher, with pieces of Alien Tape to hold them in place.

Eventually, I was able to bring the big shelf back in and set it up in the corner across from the one in the window. I had to get creative to work around the shop lights we’ve got hanging across there. These are set to turn on with motion activation after dusk.

Once the lights were adjusted for the new shelf, I was able to set up a folding closet door we found while cleaning up after moving here, and have found so many uses for! It is long enough to create a platform between the shelves, with enough space above the cat cage for the cats to still use the top as a bed.

With the cooler temperatures, we no longer have the wire mesh door we made to keep the cats out of the old basement, allowing us to keep the door open and let cool air circulate. Last year, we set that up between the shelf in the window and the top of the cat cage, with a box on top to level it. We then had to use some scrap 2x4s to support the wire mesh door, since it was bending under the weight of cats, plus we put a sheet of rigid insulation under it, partly to keep things warmer below, where the heat lamp was, partly so the cats could walk over the wire mesh without their paws falling through. We still put cat beds and another piece of scrap insulation on top.

The folding closet door I set up between the shelves is narrow enough to fit inside the wire mesh door frame, so that can now be stored and used for the cats at the same time again – and the closet door is far more solid! The wire mesh door is longer, too, making the entire platform more secure.

Then I could start putting some things back on the shelf for storage, including the cat carriers.

This is how the cat side of the sunroom looks now.

There are two small cat carriers on the bottom, and larger ones in the next two shelves above. Hopefully, the cats will just use them and not knock them about!

The platform now has a couple of cat beds, plus the self warming mat, on it. Two of the shelves against the window have the canopy and walls from the broken market tents on them for the cats to use as beds.

We have a number of other cat blankets that need to be washed, and then they’ll be set up inside the cat carriers or draped over the shelves of the mini greenhouse frame, though those will need cardboard or something laid on the wire shelves, first.

The sun room kibble trays were then returned to the sun room and, last of all, I got the critter cam positioned were I wanted it.

I have the live feed running as I write this. I can see cats in the cat beds and self warming mat on the platform, and more on the shelves in front of the window. I can’t see into the cat carriers to know of they are being used or now right now.

Later on, we will set up the heat lamp, clamped to the platform, and the heated water bowl near the small shelf that’s now in there, where it can be plugged into the same cord that powers the critter cam.

Aside from little things like that, the sunroom is ready for the winter, and moving things to the garage has given us a lot more open floor space, too.

One thing I’ve been considering it setting up the canopy tent I got on clearance, somewhere close to the house, as an extra shelter in the winter. Perhaps in the corner, where it could be over the window to the old basement, if I could find a way to secure it. For now, though, the tent is in its package, on the shelf between two windows.

It has been claimed by these cheeky little buggers!

Quite a few cats have decided it is an excellent bed. Especially the kitten in the foreground of the photo above!

At least they’re not trying to knock it off the shelf!

This was not the job I planned on working on today, but it was one that needed pleasant weather to do, so the other stuff will just have to wait a bit longer. This was a big and messy job, and I’m glad it’s over with!

Meanwhile, my daughter scrubbed at the bathroom walls until her arms gave out – it was so bad under that tub surround, she only got half of it done. My other daughter made supper for all of us, then cleaned detritus out the tub as best as can be done right now.

All in all, it was a productive day.

I’ll have to leave productiveness to the girls for the next couple of days, though. I will need to help my mother with groceries tomorrow because, the day after, my husband has to be at the hospital in the nearer city for an 8:30am CT scan. Which means we need to leave here by 7:30am at the latest.

Time to go call my mother and work out what time I’m coming over!

Until then, thanks for reading all my blathering, and I hope you have an awesome night!

The Re-Farmer