Month: May 2011

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Around the Lake

Hard to believe that I’ve been in Lethbridge about six weeks and have yet to post about the city! It’s a city that has been very slow to make an impression. Between all the travel around southern Alberta and the desperate search for income, there hasn’t been energy left to discover this city with a most peculiar layout. But there is one thing I can say about Lethbridge is that when it shakes me out of my complacency it’s to stun me with a beautiful view.

Such as that of Nicholas Sheran lake, just a couple of blocks from home. I love going for a stroll around it. The lake’s placement in the middle of suburbia is just so surreal that I’m always surprised that it’s so close by.

Tonight I actually thought to bring my camera!

pathway to Nicholas Sheran lake

pathway to Nicholas Sheran lake

Nicholas Sheran lake

Nicholas Sheran lake

Nicholas Sheran lake

Nicholas Sheran lake

pathway around Nicholas Sheran lake

pathway around Nicholas Sheran lake

Nicholas Sheran lake

Nicholas Sheran lake

bridge over troubled waters

bridge over troubled waters

duck enjoying a swim even though...

duck enjoying a swim even though…

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cheeky little fellow, no?

cheeky little fellow, no?

lovely bridge

lovely bridge

bridge to an island

bridge to an island

the house on the far right of the picture is the last on one of my flier routes

the house on the far right of the picture is the last on one of my flier routes

The colours – two shades of blue, a red, myriad greens – were particularly stunning tonight with the sun low in the sky. It was very windy, but not too cold, so I was happy to do a full lap around the lake.

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Discipline

I think of myself as a very undisciplined person. I procrastinate a lot and need external motivation to do the chores I hate. So I’m always amazed that I can successfully work for myself at home. I dragged myself out of bed at seven this morning (seven!) and was in the office hard at work by eight. I knew that tomorrow’s deadline is doable but would require very long days. I was right; I didn’t clock out till 8 tonight and it’ll probably be the same tomorrow.

But, of course, I don’t work straight through. I took a break in the morning to put ingredients in the breadmaker, had a proper lunch break,  went on a walk in the late afternoon to regain my focus, and had a proper dinner break (mustard chicken with veggies and fresh bread to mop up the sauce!). I still managed to put in close to a ten-hour work day.

This is truly the way I prefer to earn my bread; working in intense spurts at my own pace. I’m not going to give up working at building a viable and steady self-income stream even while I am very open to finding an external job.

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No Trouble Keeping Busy

I didn’t have much planned for today, just a bit of laundry and finishing up my flier routes for the week.

Well…

I woke up to find out my bid for an interesting contract was accepted! It’s a 500 page document that is putting my translation, proofreading, and coding skills to the test. I have to deliver the final product on Monday. It’s going to be a busy weekend!

Before starting on that, I did two flier routes. Doing the fliers is now a joy. My body has adapted to the exercise, I’ve mastered the most efficient way to do them, and except for one day I’ve always had perfect weather to do them. The money is such a joke, but I really am being paid to get some fresh air and exercise so doing them is most definitely worth my time.

I came back in for lunch and to start the laundry. I decided that I might as well do a marathon day of it and do ALL my bedding, towels, and clothes. I stopped counting loads at six… I worked on my project between loads and when the end of the laundry was in sight I headed out to do the last of my flier routes.

It was almost five when I came back in so I switched over some laundry and then made a nice dinner with the last of the salmon I bought in Oregon! YUM. The laundry was all done by the time I finished dinner so I decided to burn a few more calories by making the beds.

The bed in the back was cat-free, so I started on it. Of course, by the time I’d laid the bottom sheet down I suddenly had two cats to contend with. They weren’t happy when I made them move so I could add the covers, but I finally got it done. They flopped down as though they’d been the ones running around like mad all day so I figured I’d be able to do the loft bed in peace. HA. I’d no sooner gotten the sheets in place than Neelix was insisting on helping me!

By the time the laundry was dealt with and the dinner dishes done, I decided I’d earned an ice cream so I went to the convenience store across the street to get one!

I think I’ll put in a couple more hours of work before curling up with the novel I started the other night. Might as well get a head start on the mammoth project; I suspect it’s going to be a race to the finish line!

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A New Addition to the Family

I mentioned to Jody the other day that I wanted to try my hand at keeping houseplants on board, most specifically aloe vera since it’s a good air scrubber and it also has medicinal value. Lo and behold, Jody had an aloe vera plant to give away!

It’s hard keeping plants around my cats, so I’m hoping the aloe vera is getting enough sunlight from the dressing room skylights. If I think it’s doing poorly, I’ll try to hang it from an overhead cabinet in the library by a window.

When it comes time to repot the plant, I’ll pick something that fits into my decor a little more. 😉

And hopefully I won’t have any trouble crossing the border with this plant!

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The Deed is Done

I think that only an RVer can appreciate how much work is needed to pull out of a spot just to go dump. I was completely packed up, unplugged, and fed by 5:30. Jody had said she’d arrive ‘sometime after six’ so I curled up in the back with a novel and my two kitties to wait. She arrived around 6:15 and with very little fanfare helped me out of my spot. I then headed downtown on nearly clear roads. I love driving the rig by itself!

The dump station at the Chinkook Travel Centre was super easy to get into. It’s not a bad setup, but their dumps are about three inches off the ground so waste can back up the hose which was to be an issue…

I went into the rig to flush with clean water, misjudged my angle of approach with the jug, and ended up having to mop up two inches of clean water off the toilet room floor. But at least the black tank was empty! And my floor is clean!

I then went out to flush the grey. Before I could do that, I somehow dislodged the hose from the piece that screws onto the motorhome and, wham, I had a small mess on my hands because the hose was still full, and no hose handy for rinsing except for my white one! I decided to deal with the sewer hose first, screwing it back onto the connector properly, and then I spent about five minutes guiding the contents down towards the dump. Once the hose was empty I pulled on the grey valve to flush and that happened uneventfully. This was by far the worst dump I’ve done since Kapuskasing!

Thanking my lucky stars that I had no witnesses (at least, I hope), I moved the rig ahead away from the mess and spent about ten minutes washing the pad clean with gallon after gallon of fresh water. Satisfied that all was good, I packed up and headed back to Jody and Gary’s arriving around 7:30. I’d been gone only an hour!

Jody and I had a little snack and gab while waiting for Gary to come home. When he did, he wasted no time getting me settled back in. Since we wanted Miranda in the exact spot I was in two hours previously and there were tire ruts to guide us it was very easy to get me back in. We set up my porch and then I reconnected everything.

Neelix was unimpressed by this exercise. Soon as we pulled in front of the house to park and wait for Gary he did his little “Mom!” meow as though to say “Wait, we were just here!” Tabitha seems to have napped during the whole event, though.

Well, it’s been a day I’ve been dreading, but it’s done and I know I won’t have to do this again for another six weeks!

By which point I plan to have mortgaged the rig to buy a macerator pump… 😀