Month: October 2009

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Mail Management Update

Just before leaving Dawson, I made some changes to how my mail will be handled seeing as nothing should be going to a UPS store in Quebec anymore. 🙂

The first thing I did was file a change of address through Canada Post to redirect my mail from Gatineau to Dawson City for six months. This will give me time to catch the few things for which I forgot to change my address.

The second thing I did was request a redirect of my mail from Dawson to Croft’s home in Campbell River starting September 21st until May 1st. This means that mail will be coming directly during the most crucial time of the year (ie. tax season) and that I won’t have to rely on anyone to check my mail box and forward things to me. Croft has informed me that the redirects have worked as he has received some mail for me. Hopefully, he won’t be inundated. 🙂 When I return to Dawson in the spring, a few weeks’ worth of mail will be waiting for me.

Initially, the cost for the services made me faint. The change of address was $50.79 and the redirect was $117.60. So, I went over my mail related costs for the past year and found them to be close to $400, more than twice what I’m paying this year! I paid about $120 for the UPS store box and then I had to pay each time they sent me mail. When I was in Oliver, I had to use UPS seeing as the post office wasn’t reliable, to the tune of $30 a pop. This will be much more efficient and I can do as I’ve always done, giving my local address for one time deliveries.

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Rain and Sleet, Oh My!

This morning was the first time that the sound of rain was music to my ears upon awakening at Nugget City!

I was at the house by nine and spent about an hour and a half doing the plaster work. I returned to Nugget City after to get some cleaning products so I could wash down the walls before painting. Once that was done, there was nothing to do but wait for the plaster to dry so I could sand it, so I headed home for a leisurely hour-long lunch.

Since I’d cranked up the heat in the room, the plaster was dry enough for a second coat when I returned. I sanded a bit and applied the second coat. That done, I painted the two walls that hadn’t needed any plastering. What a difference a fresh coat of paint makes! The colour is a bit of an apple green and very lovely, if a tad retro, against the orange curtains. I think it looks great!

Tomorrow, I will go sand the plaster on the two other walls, wipe them down, and finish painting the room. I have at least enough green to do one coat, but I hope to squeeze a second coat out of that gallon. I’m also going to bring some glossy white to do the trim and a few touch ups in the bathroom. Time is of the essence, so the owner decided to have me paint right away instead of priming first, especially since this paint job is just a stop gap measure until the room is properly renovated.

Painting with that lovely green shade is making me eager to apply a brush to Miranda’s walls. Soon, soon… 🙂

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A Change of Pace

Today, I finished the posts in the front and then started some weeding in the RV park. Tomorrow morning and all of Tuesday I will be indoors!!! The owners have a house a few minutes away from Nugget City which they rent out. One of the rooms in that house is awful, with filthy carpeting and poorly patched walls. New tenants are about to move in, so my job is to make that room a bit prettier than it is by patching the walls properly and then painting. Once that’s done, new carpet will be installed.

So, tomorrow morning I will head over there and patch, then I will come back here to finish the staff stairs (forgot to take a picture of those!). Once that’s all done, the patching compound should be dry and I’ll be able to go sand. Tuesday, it’s painting time. I think it will be nice to paint with a pretty green after so many projects involving yellowish or semi-transparent stains, boring white, and the really hideous mushroom coloured stuff that looks surprisingly decent on the staff stairs.

I am irked, however, that this project has come up when the weather is finally clearing! Why couldn’t that room have needed to be painted when it was snowing on Monday?! Ah, timing sure can suck sometimes. 🙂

One thing that will be nice about being indoors is that I can bring my iPod and speaker dock and have music. I don’t like to work with my iPod and headphones because I’m worried I will get paint on it. Using the dock outdoors is not an option seeing as I doubt anyone here will like what I consider to be perfect painting music. So, it will be a real treat to not paint in silence!

Thank goodness I’m so busy because the Itch has come upon me and I can’t wait to get on the road. But I’m making decent money here, so another week or so won’t kill me. 🙂

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Nugget City Projects

Here, for your viewing pleasure, are pictures of some of the work I’ve done at Nugget City. The owner has enough projects left to last me until doomsday and I know he’d love to have a certain painter on staff full-time. Oh well. 🙂

This was one of the biggest jobs I did. The whole front of the restaurant in May was covered in mounds of dirt. Using a shovel, rake, and wheelbarrow, I leveled and cleaned up the space of rocks and twigs.

This was one of the biggest jobs I did. The whole front of the restaurant in May was covered in mounds of dirt. Using a shovel, rake, and wheelbarrow, I leveled and cleaned up the space of rocks and twigs.

The deck that ate up a week in May.

The deck that ate up a week in May.

Just two of the several dozen planters I weeded in the spring, planted, and reweeded in the fall.

Just two of the several dozen planters I weeded in the spring, planted, and reweeded in the fall.

My current project is restaining these posts.

My current project is restaining these posts.

The back of the Ore House. I did two coats each on the white trim and the siding. There's one coat of white left to do.

The back of the Ore House. I did two coats each on the white trim and the siding. There’s one coat of white left to do.

The fence that ate up several days and a shocking number of gallons of stain.

The fence that ate up several days and a shocking number of gallons of stain.

This garage door was sky blue when I arrived and driving the owner NUTS. Staff was relieved when I arrived since it meant they would no longer have to hear complaints about the blue door!

This garage door was sky blue when I arrived and driving the owner NUTS. Staff was relieved when I arrived since it meant they would no longer have to hear complaints about the blue door!

The painting project that started it all! I repainted the yellow strip around the island.

The painting project that started it all! I repainted the yellow strip around the island.

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A Craving for Bananas

I spent the day monkeying around, climbing up, down, and around the scaffolding so I could paint the trim and stain the log siding of the activities building proudly called ‘The Best Little Ore House’!

(Mom et grand-maman, c’est un jeu de mots: whore house=bordel, ore house=bâtiment où l’on garde des minerai!)

It was a HUGE job that took me almost 6 hours to do… and I have to do it all over again tomorrow with a second coat. The longest part was having to constantly climb up and down. The scaffolding is narrower than the building, so I’d have to climb down it then up a ladder to finish a section. The upshot of this was that by the end of the day I didn’t care about the height any more!

The weather has not been cooperating, so the focus now is to finish projects rather than add to my list. Today was beautiful and sunny until about 4 o’clock and then huge clouds rolled in at the same time as a bitterly cold wind. If the sun could have only stayed out, I would be working on the second coat right now. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice all day, though.

Looking ahead at the forecast and the owners’ hunting schedule, my last day will probably be the seventh or eighth, so there’s probably less than a week to go! Time sure flies!