Month: June 2013

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Grocery Sprint

Even though it looked like the transcription marathon was going to stop at the end of this current (very difficult) job, due tomorrow first thing, getting a few groceries today was absolutely necessary. I had originally planned to leave for Stettler on the 10th and didn’t want to leave too much food in the fridge, so I worked down my stores before realising that I’m actually leaving the 14th and that I would have to eat Neelix at some point to get protein. A gal can’t live off rice, veggies, and the odd bit of almond butter forever. 🙂

Since a) I was in a hurry, b) the truck was full of donations for the thrift store, and c) I didn’t want to do a giant amount of shopping, going to Willow Bunch made sense. To my surprise, my trip took me exactly one hour round trip!

The road to Willow Bunch was in decent shape and I actually drove about 80KPH on it even though it’s gravel.

I found the thrift store and Co-op (right across from each other) without trouble. The lady at the thrift store had me go around back through the alley to unload. It felt good to get that stuff out of my truck! She seemed pleased with the donations.

Then, I circled back around and parked at the Co-op. The food store is tiny, but the more I walked around, the better stocked I found it to be. Since the prices are the same as the Co-op in Assiniboia, I didn’t have the small market sticker shock I was expecting. In fact, once I manage to do a good pantry stocking run in a larger community, it would definitely make sense to just top up in Willow Bunch once a week instead of Assiniboia if I have no other errands to do since it’s half the mileage.

I stocked up on produce, including a 99 cent avocado, and then looked at protein. Like in Assiniboia, there was lots of choice, but everything was so pricey. Every time I have tuna (of the canned, non sushi variety) I think that I should start eating more of it. Since tuna was on sale for $1 a can if you bought two (which I think is a decent price for the Cloverleaf brand), I decided to go that route and I also found some nice looking pre-marinated pork chops for $4 that will make four meals, so that sounded like a fair deal. I am most definitely not a vegetarian anymore! 🙂

Today was the day Co-op members got their equity cheques. Of course, I didn’t have one (I’m told I will next year, though…), but that made me eligible for the BBQ. I wasn’t interested in burgers, but I was somehow talked into grabbing a doughnut and coffee “for the road.” Considering I haven’t had anything resembling junk food in a full week and the last time before that was about a week and a half, I have forgiven myself for my weakness. 🙂

The drive home seemed faster than the drive out, especially once I found the country music station out of Moose Jaw (turns out all the radio shows are on the AM frequency).

I came in and assembled a tasty tuna salad (using sour cream instead of mayo) and slathered it on some fresh cheese buns (couldn’t believe they had those; I am a sucker for them). I asked Neelix if he wanted the tuna juice and he answered by getting up on two paws and reaching for the counter. Still, he appeared dumbfounded when I poured the tuna juice into a bowl for him. He’s been wanting to go outside since we got here and so he’s been getting a lot of nos lately. He really enjoyed his treat!

It’s another beautiful, if not super warm, day and the internet has decided to work. *rolls eyes*

Oh, and before I forget, I have to give a shout out to Joni in Salem who sent me a tripod for my camera! THANK YOU! Having a post office right here in the village is such a bonus. I go once a day just for the walk and didn’t expect her package to be here yet, but the postmaster had seen me coming and had it out for me. I’ll be putting it to good use.

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Lots of Typing

My biggest transcription client is keeping me busy this week! I finally learned over the winter to take on as much as I can in such situations even if it means a week of 14+ hour days since the droughts can be quite severe. I still have another four hours to do on the current project, but it’s 9PM and the deadline is 11AM tomorrow, so I may push on for only another hour or so. I worked till 11PM Monday and 10PM yesterday, so I’m feeling a little knackered.

The thing with transcription is that you actually have to work to get paid. It’s not a job where you can stare out the window for five minutes and pad that into your invoice. You’re paid to complete so much audio regardless of how long it takes you. When you have 10 hours worth of typing to do, that’s 10 hours of sitting at your desk moving your foot and hands. You can’t do that straight, at least not for several days in a row. So the days grow quite long as the breaks increase when fatigue sets in.

I put in a good morning, then took a long break for lunch. Charles gave me the heads up yesterday that Nels is returning this weekend to haul stuff out of his yard. So I spent a half hour or so doing a final audit of all the junk and hauling a few more pallets to finish my boardwalk and to bring to Ken. If I catch sight of Nels and he appears more rational than the first time we met, I’m going to see if I can convince him to have the water and power turned on to his property, with me paying the utility bills for the rest of the summer.

Then, I packed up the dolly and tools that I borrowed from Charles and trundled over there with two empty jugs to fill with water. No one was home, so I just left the things in plain sight, filled up, and headed home to make some food.

Reading Apartment Therapy this morning, I found a recipe for onigiri, Japanese rice balls, so I had that on the brain even though I didn’t have nori (seaweed), never mind anything interesting to stuff in them. And then I remembered something my cousin gave me last summer, a sachet she’d been given by a Japanese exchange student. All the text on it is in Japanese so I had no idea what the contents were although I could read (if not comprehend) a lot of the words.

I pulled it out and realised the picture on the front was of onigiri! I was holding mix ins for them! I put some rice on to cook and opened up the sachet. WOAH! It smelled like fish food! I could identify bits of dried nori, salmon, and shrimp as well as coarse salt and sesame seeds. I figured that if it was like most Japanese food, it would be addictive despite the strange smell.
Once the rice was ready, I decided it needed a little something, so I turned it into sushi (rice seasoned with sweet rice vinegar) and then put in a little bit of the fishy stuff before making up a few balls. As I suspected, the fishy stuff was addictive! So this was a very good first introduction to onigiri and you can blame my internet connection for there not being any pictures. I am amused that lunch was made with a sachet from Tokyo given to me in Montreal, vinegar bought in Hampton Roads, and rice bought in Dallas!

I powered through a good chunk of the afternoon, then took a break to restring and clean my new clothesline and make dinner. Now, I’m getting my second wind and should be able to get a little more done tonight so I don’t have to rush in the morning.

I badly need to get some groceries, but that takes about three hours out of the day, so I’m hoping I won’t have time to get any tomorrow… I have decided to go to Willow Bunch since I need to drop some stuff off at the thrift store, so maybe that would cut the grocery run to two hours. I only realised today that prices at their Co-Op would be the same as in Assiniboia, only the selection would be even more restricted.

Back to work I go. I surely have the fittest fingers in all the land!

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Irate

Once I got online Monday, the internet worked like a charm. Yesterday, no problem getting on and I stayed connected for FIFTEEN HOURS STRAIGHT.

So when I got up this morning and couldn’t connect, I actually wasted a full hour trying to get the f’in Mifi to not go dormant. I had a strong signal and was getting pages to come up, but then the Mifi would drop the connection. I rebooted and rebooted and rebooted and finally realised that a full hour had gone by and I was not going to get online at home.

I’m having trouble up here on the hill, too, so it looks like the Mifi is the principle culprit of my internet issues now that the boosting problems have been essentially resolved. Of course, it’s now too late to return it and try something else. Especially frustrating is that I love the Mifi when it decides to work because it’s nice to be able to connect several devices at once.

It is just so ridiculous that less than 12 hours ago, I was streaming Netflix and now I can’t even get online. Absolutely nothing has changed except that I turned the service off overnight.

Anyway, I got my files for the day so I’m off to work. I hate getting such a late start. Looks like another loooong day.

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Hung Out To Dry

C&C stopped in with a gift for me. They spent the afternoon at an old house that is being demolished grabbing reusable materials for their addition. Under a pile of stuff, they saw something that made them think of me:

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That is a clothesline! I need to restring it and find a way to anchor it into the ground. This will do nicely until I can put up a proper one that can hold more than a small load of items.

Now, I won’t have to risk decapitation the next time I do laundry.

We also firmed up our plans for next week. I’m leaving on Friday the 14th for Stettler to visit with Donna and Ken, and then going from there to Kelowna for the RV Lifestyle Seminar. I’ll be gone 11 days total.

Miranda is in no shape to go anywhere, needing new tires, so I’m heading out in the truck only. Neelix is going to stay at C&C’s while I’m gone. They have an adorable one-year-old cat and the two of them should get along great.

Taking the truck only will slice my trip budget considerably (I’m estimating $600 for fuel instead of $1,500 – still OUCH). I’ll be very comfortable in Stettler and will be fine camping in the truck in Kelowna.

I’m looking forward to the seminar, but am continuing to regret what a mess it is making of my finances. I’m just not able to get ahead. and there are more expenses coming up as the summer progresses. And there’s the fact that the truck needs work before we can go. Yes, I’m working, but I sure could use another contract or two. Anyone know anyone who needs a transcriptionist? How about a French/English translator? 🙂

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A Sad Parade

Yesterday, I noticed a big mechanical shovel being carried by a flatbed truck along the road I face from the office. I didn’t think too much of it.

Today, I failed to notice a long line of cars going north on that road, but the parade out was unmissable. I didn’t count, but there had to have been at least 30 cars.

The answer to these strange sights was quite obvious, but I still did a quick Google search to confirm. Just as I got the expected results… the hearse drove by, returning from the cemetery at the end of the road.

It’s rather sad that the only business still active in this community is the graveyard.