Month: August 2013

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Walled In

Today’s weather was downright cool and perfect for doing more construction at C&C’s. I contributed one of my drills and a pair of sawhorses so that we could get the exterior plywood cladding up on the first half of the addition. We’re hoping to have the roof on within the week. It’s so exciting to be a part of this!

It’s so nice to be able to spend at least part the weekend outside working hard building something that will most likely outlive me. I can already imagine the number of evenings I am going to sit in that new living room enjoying a glass of home brewed white wine remembering how much fun we all had building the space.

I had a dinner planned for when I got in, but Caroline insisted on throwing together dinner and Laura always has a pie in her freezer so we all ate together. We also averaged 1 bottle of wine each. I think I only had two, maybe three, glasses total, but I suspect Charles might have topped up my glass a few times when I wasn’t looking … 🙂

I might be off the hook for construction tomorrow, which is fine since I need to finish prepping the exterior of the rig for pulling out Monday. It might be good to remember that my house has wheels!

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Applying for Saskatchewan Health Coverage

Since each province administers its own health care plan, applying for said plan varies immensely. Quebec has been the most onerous, Alberta the easiest.

Applying for Saskatchewan health coverage meant having to sign up for a Saskatchewan health online account and filling out an application, which included needing scanned PDF copies of a few of the same documents that I gave to SGI; passport, driver’s license (only this time SK, not AB), and water bill.

And then the waiting began. I applied on Tuesday. Today, two days later, I got an email from SK health updating me on the status of my application. Since a picture is worth a thousand words:

health cardIn case you can’t read that, my status is ELIGIBLE. 🙂 I only just got into iffy territory with the Alberta card so this is excellent news!

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Famous Last Words

Back in 2011, I said in an interview for the Vancouver Sun, “I don’t see myself ever going back to living in one place again.”

To some extent, that is still true. But in 2011, I had no idea that a place like Haven was even a possibility for me. My nest egg had grown too small to expect to be able to buy property, at least in the world that I knew. Accruing more debt to by land just wasn’t an option. I had no idea that within two years I would have seen enough of Canada to know for certain where in this country I’d be willing to put down some roots, much less that this location would enable me to own my property outright.

And that’s what’s changed everything for me. This land is mine. In exchange for very low annual property taxes, I have the security of knowing that I could travel the world for years, never setting foot in Canada in all that time, and still have a place to land when I grow weary of wandering.

With this property, I get another amazing luxury, the freedom to develop as I wish, without interference by building inspectors or local ordinances. I can build a small off the grid structure at my own pace, as funds and materials and labour present themselves, and know that I’ll be left alone to do it.

In 2011, I couldn’t fathom a future that included a paid-for stick house, even in the far off future. Now, that is almost a certainty. I might never live in that house, but knowing it is there just in case is even better than money in the bank.

I used to have two dreams for my life, that of the globetrotting nomad and that of the sedentary homesteader. I thought that RVing was the perfect compromise to both those dreams. I had no idea that it would be the key to fulfilling both of them because it enabled me to travel all over Canada until I found the most travel-friendly province in which to establish residency.

What was becoming clear in 2011 was how difficult it would be to be a true full-timer for any great length of time in Canada. I knew that one day all the lies and half-truths I had to tell to maintain my driving and health care privileges would catch up to me and that there would be hell to pay.

That burden grew heavier as the months marched on until the weight of it was unbearable. When I had the blowouts this spring that caused a lot of damage more than one person said I should go to my insurance company. I’ll say now what I couldn’t say then; I strongly suspected that I would have trouble with the claim having been out of Alberta for a full year by that time. I absolutely had to keep flying under the radar.

This morning, my life as a full-timer took a twist. I’m still bound by the six-month rule to maintain my health coverage, but that rule isn’t so onerous because I will be returning to a place I love that was of my own choosing and where I am a burden to no one. I’ve wandered enough in this country to be content with having a set summer camp.

But my driving privileges are finally unfettered. I can go south for the winter and even for trips outside the province with my truck during the summer without any problems. The government knows what I’m up to and considers that fine and dandy. I don’t even have to pay a supplement for the privilege.

All that to say that, for the cost of a $3 lamp (plus $9 to install it), my truck sailed through her out of province safety inspection this morning. An hour after pulling out of the shop, and thanks to my huge pile of well-organized paperwork and a not insignificant sum of money, I became a Saskatchewan resident.

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I’ve applied for my Saskatchewan health card and as long as all the paperwork is in order, I should have coverage here at the end of next month.

Next hurdle, Miranda’s out of province safety inspection. If the list for a motorhome is similar to that for a light vehicle, my only real concern is about her frame being bent from the accident and her possibly being out of alignment. I already know she’s missing a couple of fuses as the horn and radio don’t work. I’m thinking of rescheduling for the following week as I’ll have more funds then. I’ve gained permission from the shop to pull in after dinner the night before the inspection and sleep on site to save myself a crazy early morning.

I can’t wait for Miranda’s legal stuff to be squared away so I can start firming up my winter plans.

Is it too early to toast my officially becoming a resident of this gorgeous land of living skies? 😀

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A Fun Night Out

After rushing around all morning to do some repairs, clean up the yard, and WORK, I headed to C&C’s to help them with their construction project. We quit early to go to town and have dinner then see a movie, Charles idea.

Assiniboia is sorely lacking in dining establishments. We decided to get the most bang for our buck and go to Andy’s, famous for its (mostly Chinese food) buffet. I’d never gone and was game to try it out. The food was excellent (high praise for me since Chinese is my least favourite dinner option), fresh, hot, and plentiful. Cost? $9.75. Wow!

The movie Charles wanted to see was The Lone Ranger. It wasn’t one I had planned to view, but boy am I glad we went as it was the perfect mix of hilarious and thoughtful; just plain fun!

I can’t believe it’s possible to do dinner and a movie for under $20 (not counting gas) around here! I may have to rethink my Saturday nights. 🙂

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Up On the Roof

The damage from yesterday’s hail storm seems even worse in the light of early day. The entire hamlet is a mess with big branches on main street. The tree across the alley behind the rig is broken in two.

I’ve received comments and emails about what not a big deal this was, how it wasn’t a tornado or golf ball sized. All I can say is that I have literally stared death right in the face barreling down a steep grade in my rig AND been held up at gunpoint and yesterday was still the scariest thing I have ever lived through.

The hail wouldn’t stop and the wind was so bad I could literally feel Miranda’s passenger side lifting. Neelix was flat on the floor, paws over his ears, eyes wide. There were no options for us. If the wind was bad enough to rock the rig, my little truck was no match for it. All I could do was grab him and hold him tight while I crawled into the loft, the only area with where the windows and roof hatches were covered, offering a measure of protection. Never mind how much louder the hail was lying so close to the roof.

I had no idea what I’d find outside. For all I knew, I’d find huge holes in my sidewalls or the roof. I’m not even sure I’m covered for hail damage.

At any rate, it looks like I made out okay. The internet isn’t working great and I don’t know if the antenna has damage inside or if it’s just a network overload issue.

The biggest damage is on the roof. My AC shroud is toast. It has huge holes in it. If it wasn’t so brittle, I’d just eternabond it, but any pressure will cause it to crumble. I am going to apply some white duct tape to it to keep it together and will order a new shroud from Amazon when I go to the states. Thank goodness for Amazon, those things are EXPENSIVE. 🙁

I lost a chance to do about four hours of work yesterday afternoon so now I’m scrambling to catch up. It’s hard to watch the neighbours cleaning up their yards, it makes me feel lazy, but my yard will keep while my work project is due very soon.