How to Evict a Cat

It all began one fall day while I was away from home. I usually leave a window open a bit so that my cat can escape if she needs to. However, it also let's others in.

At first there were only subtle signs but as the days went bye those signs began to get more and more. There was no way that my cat could eat as much food as what was disappearing from her dish. I had a strange animal in the house. How do I get this animal out of my house. I crossed my fingers and hoped that it was a stray cat and not any other animal. In time this proved correct.

I have a dilemma, How do I go about getting this animal from the basement. The basement door is also the pantry door and this is situated directly behind the bedroom and beside the living room. I had to figure out how to do this without scaring the cat so it won't come up out of the basement while I was there.

Okay, I put my thinking cap on, there are a few things I could try. The first one was to hide behind the cellar or pantry door. After a few nights of standing as still as I possibly could I crossed that off the list. The cat, by this time I knew for certain it was a cat, would sit at the top of the stairs but come no further and if I moved, down it would go. There were lots of nooks and crannies to hide in. The basement was not the full size of the house so it could slip into the farthest reaches of under the house.

Next I thought of starving it, but then it would stink up the whole house, no that was no good. Maybe a few pellets from the pellet gun would scare it, nope it didn't. Time for the big guns so to speak. I went in search of one of those animal cages that you use to catch animals in. It however, smelled of skunk. In went the food and water and periodically I would set it in different places to try and entice the cat. It was smart, I need to tell you that. Either it knew it was a trap or it didn't like the skunk smell. It may have entered the cage, signs of the food had been eaten. Good grief, it knew enough not to step on the plate to spring the door down encaging it.

I'm not through yet. My cat, called Chrissy, had her food sitting beside the washing machine which was not that far from the pantry door. I moved her food and water to the furthest reach of the house that I could find. I started waiting up at night, but that slippery little devil outwitted me everytime. Finally one night I managed to tiptoe out from the bedroom to catch it at the food dish. That cat litterly flew across the living room into the kitchen and down the steps to the basement before I could even get to the kitchen door. I guess I moved to slow. After a few tries of this I lay in bed and thought and thought to myself that that cat was not going to get the best of me. 

It dawned on me one night that if I drilled a hole in the bedroom wall I could probably put a string through it and tie it to the cellar door. Good try so far. After finding a way to make the hole and get the string through the hole, I discovered that cellar door would not close tight unless I really pushed it. Hmm, now what? Okay that can be fixed, all I had to do was to trim a little off the bottom of door and that is what I did.  Now the door closed quietly and softly.  With all the lights off in the house I couldn't see when the cat came up so I started leaving night lights on and moved the food to an area where I could see it from my bed.

No cat was going to out wit me. After waiting a short time, there it was, sneaking up to the food dish. As quietly and as gently as I could I pulled on the cord to shut the cellar door. It now had no escape route. It naturally tried to get into the basement and with that avenue shut off it then tore through the house to end up under the bed. I opened both the doors to the outside and after a few swats with the broom, out the door it escaped. I guess Chrissy will now have to take her chances being cooped up indoors.

Anyone want to help clean up the mess in the basement?

Join Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that some of you are reading my blogs, but you are not joining in by commenting or asking me questions about what I have written, please do so. I would love to read your comments. This way you could also tell me about what you would like to know.

October

I can't say that I have any favourite halloweens. Mother used to take us into town to gather our treats, but it was never exciting. We didn't have any costumes as such, we dressed with whatever we could find. I usually went into the ragbag as Mother called it and found something to wear. We were never allowed to go with anyone else while growing up, so I found myself not wanting to go with friends as I got older. It seemed like to much energy to move things around from where they were.  I always thought to myself, " Can the person we are doing this to able to put things back to the way they were?". In most cases the answer was "no". It became less and less "fun" as the years went past.

Another Year

The end of June is the end term of positions held by our Lions Club. I have ended up being Secretary for the club. In addition to that I am still Zone 8 Chair as well as the Constitution and Bylaws for the District.  A full schedule ahead of me. I now need to decide on when I am going to have three zone meetings and I need to visit 8 clubs, as that is part of the requirement for being zone chair.

Don't mistake this as me complaining, I am not. It is keeping me busy as I still have depressed periods, although they are less as time goes on. I decided the other day, that I had to find an insurance company to insure the mortgage on the house. By next January when I turn 70, I will have no insurance. Ron could not get insurance to cover the house mortgage as he had too many illness's to get any, so that left me to pay the mortgage. I am researching insurance agencies. The insurance company that covers loans and mortgages cuts insurance off at 70. Technically it's age 65 and I did raise heck over it because it's considered age discrimination. i am sure they know that too, but I didn't have the money to pursue it.

I have over the last how many years been bugging MTS about getting DSL here in Elgin. It's been to no avail. There is only dial up available from MTS. My house is surrounded by trees and other companies that I have approached have told me they could not get a signal because of the trees. Here's my bitch. If Bell can  come in and give me cable then why can the other companies not do so. What I have ended up doing was cancelling my dial up and eventually, will also cancel the other line I have in the house. I was given a laptop for Christmas and wanted access to the Internet with it, so I went to the wireless stick. I was only getting one bar on that. Okay, it sort of worked, but not good enough.  I was told I needed a booster, so I went and got one, to the tune of around $400.00 by the time I paid tax and such. Now the wireless stick works hot damn. The one thing my youngest  son warned me about was that I only had a limited number of megabits available for that.

I have been trying to figure out how long can stay on the Internet and still stay under their limited amount. I phoned MTS up and even they couldn't answer that. We are surrounded here by DSL but none here. When I phoned them up to complain once again, I was told it would cost a lot of money to hook us up. I told them that it was costing me a lot of unnecessary money by not hooking us up.  We can't seem to win. I think they would lose a  cash cow from this area if they did put DSL in. Right now they are losing money because everyone here is switching to other companies to get some better service for the Internet. 'nough said.

It's been a great summer, sort of,in between my depressed spells. Regardless, time and life carries on and so must I. I took a short trip down to De Smet this summer with my sister and her husband. It was enjoyable except for the back seats in Bob's new truck. That is another story.

Take care everyone untill we talk again.

Talk about no time on your hands

Since I was last on here, I have been busy upgrading the house.
I put new flooring in the kitchen and hall and I have the laminate flooring waiting to go on next month. The garage and the house have been painted and I have a few details to finish on it and the two back sheds to paint as of yet. I did it in a grey with white trim and it looks great.

I bought some patio squares and made a cement patio out beside the house for to put the table and chairs on, no more sinking into the ground when you sit on the chairs. I also was in Walmart the other day and bought myself one of those three seat swings. I got it on sale for less than $100.00, great buy, and it folds down into a bed. (Always wanted one of those things).

Just finished mowing the lawn except the back part, seems like it was only last week that I did it. Look at the grass and you can almost see it grow.

I had some dear friends and family come and do it all for me. How much more can I ask for. It leaves me speechless and humble.

I am going to wait until the living and bedroom are done before I really put things back to normal. In the meantime, I can sort through a lot of things and discard what I don't intend to keep. I was hoping to have what I didn't want put in a community auction but I guess that won't happen until next year.

It has been ten months since Ron left us all and to me it is still yesterday. I really find it hard to adjust to the time speeding past. Yet I knew it would happen. I can still see him, giving me heck for buying a swing.
I must run and get ready for bed, even though I haven't been sleeping good these last few days. Tomorrow on Sunday, I am going out with the Lions to help clean up around the landfill site. A chance for the club to make some money. TA TA until next time.
Cecile

Life Sucks

his past while has been really rough. I am not sleeping most nights, at least all night. I might be getting about 3 to 4 hours sleep. The rest of the time, I am really down. It's not above me to cry at any time, all it takes is to just look at his picture. Don't worry everyone, this is normal and part of the grieving process. I do know there will come a time when this won't happen.

I find it hard to do any housework, not only because I look at it and think to heck with it, but I tore my ham string awhile back and it also is bothering me something terrible. I was told it would take time to heal. Meanwhile, my physiotherapist is wondering if I really am doing my exercises. I decided to join curves to see if that will make a difference in how I feel.  Here's hoping.

 It's the pits when you can't get up on a chair to even change a light bulb. To climb up and down stairs, because you have to take the steps once step at a time. It's hard to carry anything up or down stairs, because you need your hands to keep you steady because that dumb leg might give out at any time
because it is hurting so much.

I Thank God for family and friends, they are the foundation that I am leaning on at this time. They are precious to me. Even with the fact that I knew in my heart that Ron was dying three years ago, it's still hard. I cry for myself, because he can't come back to me. He's at peace in a pain free place.

Spring

The rabbits are turning brown, which is a good sign that spring is around the corner. Crows are back, cawing their heads off and I haven't seen any more ravens around.  No gophers yet though that I have seen.
It feels like spring, although the weather hasn't been cooperating. While the sun is getting warmer as the days go past and the daylight hours are increasing, winter still insists on getting it's two cents worth in now and again. The snow is gradually dissapearing and I can now see the cars that were parked in the back yard now.

Time to start thinking about the yard and garden, flower garden, I quit vegetable garding a couple of years ago. The only things I miss with it, is that is where I used to take my frustrations out and the feeds of fresh vegetables. I certainly don't miss the hoeing and weeding and and....

Easter is late this year, not until the end of April.

Until later, take care and God Bless.
Cecile

m Spring

Here it is spring and there's still snow. I am still packing boxes of stuff I don't want or need anymore. There are boxes stacked in the bedrooms upstairs, downstairs, the basement and including the living room. I am beginning to feel like they have been there forever.

Never realized how much stuff there was in the house until I started sorting and packing. I have even gone back to the same spot and resorted some more. I basically am running out of room to put anymore boxes around.  I need to back upstairs and pack some more. There are over a hundred hats up there, that Ron had collected, and I guess, the boys can take what they want and I will sell the rest. He also had a pen and pencil collected, bet there are over a thousand pen and pencils in the container. They go to, can't keep them all.
I seem to be sleeping in bits and pieces, at least it seems that way. I was up at 5 this morning, so I had some breakfast and my coffee, then found myself back sleeping for another hour or two. Sheesh.

I don't seem to be getting much company these days. Not sure why. Does that mean that most of the company came to see Ron and not me? I don't know and I am not going to analyze it either. If they come, they come. I think it's maybe that I am out more than I am in. Right now I have been doing volunteer work for doing up taxes for those certain people. No charge either.  It feels great helping other people by doing their taxes for nothing. I guess that's why I am still in the Lions, a great organization. would recommend it to everyone to join.  Must run, I have a couple of appointments today that can't be missed. Till next time.

The Old Ice House

Why is it that sometimes something that happened in the past is now funny or seems funny. This incident at the time was serious I guess.

It concerned the old ice house with the big earthen pit and the huge bricks of ice that were occassionally put down there to keep everything cool. I wonder now at the extra work my parents had before electricity ever came. I too lived a brief two months without a refridgerator and I can appreciate what it took to keep food cool enough so that it wouldn't spoil. 

Refridgerators may have been invented then, but we didn't have one. Mother and Father used to ship cream and butter to the creamery from time to time and it also was kept in the pit along with the everyday food.

This one day, the lid had been left open, or maybe the door to the ice house was left open, I am not sure now after all these years, it just happened., as things do happen from time to time. Mother was not at all pleased with this senario especially when she found a skunk parked in the bottom of the pit with all of our perishables.

Here is the crunch, how do you get a skunk out of a 10 foot hole? Yes it was that deep, everything was hauled up with a rope. A scream penetrated the air as Mother backed away from the shed where the pit was. Dad came running to see what was the matter when the smell hit him face on. He also let out a bellow calling whomever a few choice words.

A lively and heated discussion took place as to who was to blame, but the fact still stood that the skunk was still down in the pit and we were out of all of the food that was in the pit. Of course it would have to be destroyed. I can't remember if there was any cream cans or a large stock of butter down there or not.

My Dad decided the only way to get the animal out of the pit was to shoot it and my Mother was quite adamant that he not shoot it and ruin the pit while doing so. I couldn't figure out how at the time, but now I can as earth can soak up and contain scent for quite a spell. In the end after a period of waiting to see if the skunk could climb out of that 10 foot hole, Dad did shoot the creature.  It was weeks before his clothing were wearable and the smell disappeared. During those days, you did not throw things away, you cleaned and reused. What with all of the food being destroyed and a pit that was unusable, my mother then canvassed my dad for a refrigerator.

I can't recall what type of fridge it was, but I can recall how my mother's workload was made easier with the fridge. It was also a treat for us children, we had easy access to the rich farm cream that clotted at the top, cool milk to drink whenever we wanted some, and a place to put all the leftovers in the kitchen within easy reach instead of using the pit.

Economic Development Board

Here in the Rural Municipality of Whitewater we do have an Economic Development Board of which I am but one member. We call ourselves the Whitewater community economic development Board or for short WCEDO.

What have we been up to? A lot actually, here is a snap shot of what we have done.

Housing has been a top priority and there are maps and lots for sale in all three communities and all at reasonable prices. If you visit the RM web site, you can get a good idea of what is what. The website is whitewat@mts.net. We have had a great deal of interest in the lots and have had new people move into the area.  Imagine designing how your new lot will look, as it will be like a clean slate and a fresh palette for your own ideas of landscaping, of what you want your yard to look like. Lots are connected to water and sewer, in fact, you can choose where you want to have the lines put.

We were at the Brandon Home Show and it was a great way to let everyone know about what we have and is available to you should you choose to come to live here. It's something that we are planning to do again in the spring.

The group had a Food and Rural initiative and it was very successful and well attended. If you have a business idea you would like to pursue be sure to contact the RM of Whitewater for information and help.
The Farmers market did not have enough interest but please keep it in mind for next year and let one of us know if you are interested in joining.

We are looking for people to join our group and to help us plan for the future of the RM of Whitewater. It isn't out of bounds to see in the future of this RM joining forces with another RM, so let's pull together to prevent it. Investors are needed to help bring people into the area. We are looking into investing into a house to start the process of getting people to move here.

This communiy wants to get high speed internet and MTS is dragging it's feet in getting it to us. Lets all get on the band wagon (so to speak) and let MTS know that we want it in this area. It's all around us, why not here.

I need to go, it's almost time for me to go for my physio treatment for my legs, but I will be putting more on here soon, keep in touch.

Life can be full of crap

Like I said in my title, life can be full of crap. These past couple of months have been just that. It seemed like most of the times I was feeling down. I was told this was normal, well if that is normal, then what the world will I feel like when things righten themselves. 

I miss the old fart terribly, and yes I called Ron that at times when he was living, so I don't feel bad about calling him that now. I find that when I miss him the most is when I am driving the car. He was the worst back seat driver in all of Canada I think. He could take a competent driver and turn that driver into a sniveling sobbing idiot. There are those people out there that knew him and can attest to that fact.

The Elgin Lions had a successful Valentine dance last night, It was super and it was fun. Yup, I won a prize too and believe it or not, it was something I could really use.  We have a real fun club here in our little village and the members work hard and have fun at the same time.

I really am missing someone to chat with on here, I know you read me, but how about leaving a blog yourselves.