Messages from Tom Cat

[agate]

Sent this morning from Tom Cat:

Still in the deep freeze. Most mornings have started out around -13°F & just breaking 1 or 2°F by the end of the day. Have to watch the machinery close. Let the ATV with plow sit out a couple of days ago, & couldn't get it started even though the engine was turning over well. Had to take the spray ether, starter fluid, & spray the air intake to get it going. Didn't the ATV off for a full hour, when I parked it in the work shed garage. Got Marty & my drives cleared, but still working on paths & the like. Can't stay out in this cold for much over an hour at a time.

Taking Marty & myself to the hospital in an hour. I have my routine blood test & hemoglobin shot, & he has to have liquid drawn off his one lung. He had chemo started on his lung last week.

Deer in the front yard, about 50 ft. from the windows every day now. Need to pick up 300 of corn today, at the feed mill, if we have time. Take care.[/COLOR]


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Deer in the back yard a couple days ago. Up to six at a time.

[Lazarus]

I know what it is like when the machinery does not start! When we were younger I remember standing in the cold and spraying ether into the carburetor as John kept trying to start the jeep to plow. Almost...engine almost catches...almost....and then splat like a goose sliding into the pond, the engine slides into a stop. Dead stop. Now we have to jump the battery before we try again to get the engine to catch. Gosh we are a tough lot!

Those days are over for us but no matter what improvements we have made to our ability to plow it is never enough to make it easy.

[Virginia]

I enjoy hearing from Ralph. I have had him on my mind lately. I am always concerned about both him and Marty. With treatments for the cancer beginning I am afraid Marty is going to have a hard time. I hope Ralph doesn't remain out in that cold too long.

[agate]

From Tom Cat today:

Like your response, Lazarus. A few days ago, using the ATV to plow, I ran it straight for an hour or so to remove most everything. I wasn't trusting it to kill.Much of it is the ten plus below zero. If you don't have a heated garage for them getting them started, it's a bear. The bare hands don't do well for long spraying ether, as they freeze up. I got one garage which I can heat up with the wood stove. It's about 30 X25 ft inside, with 6 in insulation. At 10 below it takes several hours to bring it up to 60 or more.

I play musical vehicles-- warm each piece of equipment up, while other is outside. When the snow & ice is melted off, half the equipment goes to an unheated garage, & the half I need the next day goes into the heated garage. If I get the temperature up to 80 or 90, it will stay up to 60 the next day.After 24 years here I'm still working on it.

Got 300 lbs of corn today at one of the feed mills. At a coffee can or two a day, it should keep some of the deer happy for a while. With the cold weather breaking, hopefully most of them will make it through the winter. If not, that's what we have coyotes for. It's called the food pyramid, yes? Take care.

[agate]

From Tom Cat today:

Ah! Still -10°F this morning, but expecting it to hit 20 or so by early afternoon. I'm looking forward to the warm weather, but need to plow or shovel out several drain patterns, otherwise in spring the run-off down the drive can cause deep ruts for over 100 ft.

Now I'm back to Marty. I'll be taking him in to see his oncologist this morning. He doesn't think the neighbor he scheduled is up to driving in this cold weather. Nothing unexpected, since his driveway, even after plowing, is difficult to maneuver. It's 600 feet up hill, with 3 curves & no flat spots. I have 1200 foot, with a 100 foot rise, but over half of it is level. Up curved hills in snow doesn't help, especially as we get freezes & thaws, with icing up each night. Welcome to wonderful wood lands in the North country, aye?

Trying to get a picture of Smudge cat doing a balancing act on top of the water fountain bowl while eating out of a food dish. If the dish isn't close enough, she pushes it next to the fountain, stands on top of it to eat. Occasionally, she accidentally takes a bath in it. Trying to get a picture of it.

Take care, need to get on the way.

This came along later:

Marty's treatment today went fine. He's been breathing better since they took liquid off the lung yesterday. Nothing more this week.

Maybe a little snow this week yet. It's up at 20°F right now. Looking forward to our 2nd Modena shot next Thursday.

Had a take-out Chinese lunch today, which we do most days out. Makes a balanced diet, & me to keep up with my chopstick skills. Like picking up the roasted peanuts. Take care.

[agate]

Time has passed when I wasn't looking. Tom Cat posted this on Thursday. I had congratulated him on mastering the art of chopsticks:

Still clearing snow, but taking it easy. If I overdo it, the sore joints bite me back. Shoveling, blowing & plowing work different joints.

As for the chopsticks, it goes back to my college days. I was a foreman on a few archeology digs in Wisconsin & New Hampshire in the late '70s. We'd take the students to some Chinese restaurant, & order dishes with peanuts & give them chopsticks. It was nasty but fun to watch peanuts flying across the table. Ever since I like to keep in practice. Ann used them too, until her MS messed up her finger dexterity.

More later. I got 3 weeks laundry & 3 days dishes to do. Take care.

[agate]

This is from Tom Cat (yesterday). He seems to live among quite a few deer.

Deer on the back yard this morning, looking for yesterday's corn. Need to put more out at night. They've been coming in regularly.

After a week or so of subzero weather, & some few inches of snow, most everything has been pushed back. Meltdown in this last week, with day temperatures reaching 40, have left most of the driveway clear to the gravel. Still about 12 inches or more of snow on the open ground.

Having coffee with Marty this morning, & looking forward to our 2nd shot of Moderna vaccine this afternoon. Take care.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Ralph)))))) ~

You never let any grass grow under your feet! Even though the grass is covered with snow right now, you keep plodding on forward. I don't know how you do it ~ where you find the energy and strength for all of these arduous and strenuous things you do.

I am praying that you and Marty will not have any adverse reactions to the second dose of the vaccine. Most people feel something 10 hours after the inoculation. I hope that you have phone contact with each other so you can communicate if you have any problems.

Sending you both healing, positive energy ~

Thank you, agate, as always for keeping us connected to Ralph.

Love & Light,



Rose

*Virtual Hugs Are Germ-Free!

[Virginia]

Beautiful winter scene with the deer.

[agate]

From Tom Cat on Sunday:

Well, the Moderna shots on Thursday went well, with mainly sore arms. Marty was doing fine on Friday morning, but then came Friday night for me, & all hell broke loose. I had one heck of a cluster headache, an esophagus upset, dizziness, the chills, etc. I more or less slept in until 10AM. Took something for the esophagus upset but nothing for the headache since that would have made nausea worse. By noon I was doing better. As my friend Joe had said a strong reaction shows the body is reacting to the vaccine. The reaction was not so unusual.... With 2 to 3 blood disorders I was not surprised.

I went ahead & went shopping yesterday, about 40 miles out. Got some terrific sub sandwich, & sunflower bird seed. I knew I was still fatigued when I had to roll the 50-lb. bags of seed into the shopping cart, & then roll them into the car. I couldn't pick them up with my hands.

Got back, had a sandwich, petted the cats, threw out corn for the deer, had a coffee & called it a day.

Got up today feeling as good as usual. Had coffee & some decadent sour cream donuts with Marty this morning. Got the sunflower bags out of the car, carried them to the metal garbage cans, & poured them in. Doing about as good as usual. So that's the way it goes. As long as I make it a habit to get the routine stuff done, I figure I'm doing okay. Still struggling with paper work & keeping a neat house. Getting up every day & doing something helps. Need to get onto a better diet, with the veggies & fruit, & not worry about taking the time out to cut all that stuff up. I do like my fruit & veggies, but don't seem to get cutting them up.

The deer are out a couple times a day if I put out corn twice. I think I got a picture of a few in the front yard a day or so ago. Weather here is about as good as it gets this time of the year. Around 20's at night & up to 40's by day. The snow is melting away, but slow enough not to be causing any runoff with flooding.

Cats are hiding out, sleeping somewhere right now, but have been crawling in to the foot of the bed at night. They're making good foot warmers, as long as I don't move my feet. And virtual hugs to all of you.



Just a black squirrel having a late breakfast.

This is from this morning, after I had replied that I didn't know there are black squirrels:

Getting ready to have coffee with Marty & some decadent sour cream donuts when I did some Saturday shopping. And, yes, there are black squirrels, which are a colour phase of grey squirrels. It is dominant in Vancouver, B.C., Quebec City, and Coloma, WI, 20 miles west of here. We have around 2 black/gray squirrels on the property here, along with many, many light to dark grey gray squirrels.

Cool, 20°F, this morning, but high around 40. No rain or snow in our area for the week. Upper half of the state will have some snow, as well as the UP (upper Peninsula of Michigan).

Take care.

[Virginia]

Ralph, sounds like your shot went like many people do. About two days of feeling kind of lousy and then back to normal. I hope Marty's was no worse. I got Pfizer and had about 24 hours of bad fatigue and then I was completely normal, at least my normal. Not bad at all. I feel much safer. I was out yesterday for a lengthy period of time and I did feel better about it than I would have previously. Hope you continue to do as well as you are now.

So interesting, you complaining about not being able to pick up 50lbs of sunflower seeds. That is a lot for a healthy strong young man to do. I hope you are able to continue on doing what you do now. I know it is hard, but if you keep doing, as you said a little at the time, you will be doing good. I am also happy that so far Marty appears to be doing pretty well. I am sure it helps to have coffee and donuts with you in the morning.

I am a little jealous of your black squirrel. I have lots of squirrels, but they are just the garden variety grey. Some do have nice busy tails. They use to eat my bird seed, and still would if I keep putting it out. I want the birds to have it, but the squirrels are quicker finding it.

I enjoyed the picture of the deer in the yard. We have quite a few deer in this area, however they can be dangerous. If one runs out in front of your car and you hit it, it can be a very bad accident.

We enjoy hearing from you and Agate is very good to transfer your post to us. Take care of yourself and I hope you stay safe and healthy.

Virginia

[Lazarus]

From Tom Cat today:

Last night about 2am my dog and I bolted out of sleep as the coyotes were yipping. Always sounds like there are dozens but usually there are just a few. When they are yipping like that is it the babies?

[agate]

Tom Cat replying to Linda:

I like the saying, Oh crap, she's up! Something Ann would have said, in the past.

We have coyotes in the area, though I've heard them, but never seen them

[Lazarus]

Tom,
Something Ann would have said, in the past. .....thanks for this thought.. makes me happy

[agate]

I like the way the photos show up much larger here on this board than they do in the original Facebook PMs.

From Tom Cat today:

Now I have five deer in the front yard. All the wild neighbors are coming in.

I had a chipmunk out in front this morning, with multiple squirrels, & a dozen or so mourning doves. The wildlife are out today for sure.

Coffee with Marty. He's doing okay, considering every thing. Resting in a chair, figuring what to tackle first today.

Take care.