Month: May 2014

by

A Kick in the Pants

The only thing missing to make the return to Haven perfect was running water. I was in Willow Bunch today and went to the town office to ask when I could expect the hydrant to be turned on for me, but the office was closed.

Well, late afternoon, there was a knock at my door from a town maintenance guy who wanted to inform me that he’d been procrastinating on getting the hydrant open, but seeing me moved back and settled was the kick in the pants he needed to get the job done! Everyone here is so kind!!!

I’m hooked up and filling the holding tank now, seeing as I need the water pump to get enough pressure for a shower. Once the tank is full, I’ll be able to see if the water heater fires up. Let’s cross all our appendages that I will be able to take a shower at home tonight!

My water system appears undamaged (no leaks) from the harsh winter I just put it through, so I’m cautiously optimistic. But we all know how temperamental my water heater can be…

by

Miranda Back at Haven

I was done with the pressing work for today by 9:15 and immediately packed up to move. I wasn’t going far, so I just made sure the important stuff was secure inside, disconnected propane, put away the power cord, and, most important, remembered to put up my step!

It was too early to go ask Caroline to be a spotter and I decided that I could get out on my own. I got into trouble going into the spot because I underestimated how tight the turn would be. By backing straight out to just a few feet of the trees, I would clear the overhang and then be able to do the “wheels tight to one side, back up as far as possible, wheels tight to the other side, advance as far as possible” method of getting out of a tight spot with little manoeuvring room. It worked beautifully and I had zero trouble getting out!

Getting into Haven, however… Because so many trucks have been going in through the rear alley it never occurred to me that there was a giant branch in the way that I would not be able to clear! I wound up having to back out of the alley to the street, go around the block, and access Haven through a neighbour’s yard. Before I get any looks, that neighbour drives through his yard all the time, so I didn’t make any tracks that weren’t there already!

That put me in a better position to get onto the RV pad. The gravel isn’t level, so I did some back and forthing until I was positioned as best as possible and then used levelers to finish. It’s not perfect, but I suspect I will settle into the spot. At some point, I will ask Charles to help me put blocks under the axles as I am tired of rocking in the wind!

I was done by 10:30. Wow! I then did a quick run to town and had a celebratory lunch. When I got in, I sorted out the internet, managing to get full bars on my Mifi with the new booster and antenna, but zero bars on the iPhone. Very odd. It does have a decent signal strength and Siri is working, so I’ll try later to see if I can surf with it or not.

My front door is presently wide open and I’m off to dig my chairs out of Laura’s garage so that I can have a beer on my porch later. 🙂

IMG_0113 IMG_0114 IMG_0115 IMG_0116 IMG_0117

by

Haven With Power!!!

Wow, do not mess with my electrician! He emailed last night at 10:30 to let me know that he would contact SaskPower first thing in the morning to sort things out for me. He emailed at 10:30 this morning to let me know that was done and that I was promised power by Friday at the absolutely latest. But not more than an hour and a half later, SaskPower rolled into the hamlet!!!

His wiring job is absolutely perfect. I have work to do today, so the move will be tomorrow afternoon.

IMGP7819

All the outlets register 120ish volts. This is the reading from the 30A outlet, just to assuage the fears of those who have seen 30A outlets wired for 220V.

IMGP7821

If you ever need electrical work done in southern Saskatchewan, do not hesitate to call Brad Gould of Gould’s Electric in Assiniboia!

by

Electrical Setback

I don’t know why things usually go wrong at the last second with me. 🙁

The power wasn’t in by 3:00 today, so I called the power company. They called the company that actually does the work and were told that I was not scheduled for today, much less Friday! I emailed my electrician to ask him to call his contacts for me since the power company says that my clock has restarted and it could be another two weeks to get the meter in! Augh! If the weather could just stay in a nice sunny holding pattern, I’d just move and boondock, but I still need the heaters at night.

Anyway, I thought that I would show some of the progress that I am making. I have two giant piles of leaves to transfer to the eastern perimeter, but it’s been too windy to do that. I’ve been borrowing a wheelbarrow, but am going to price them when I go to town so that I can work at this without having to reserve the leaf transportation.

The neighbour to the west, whose house you can just see, came by to chat with me yesterday to see how I was doing, what my improvement plans are, and to tell me that if I want to trim the trees on the property line, clear the mess of weeds behind his shed, etc., I don’t have to ask. He’s just glad to see someone cleaning up and making things look nice.

IMGP7815

I’m not sure yet what I’m doing with my tree stumps. I’m trying to dig up the northmost one since it will be in the way of a building, but the roots are large and widespread. This is just some of the roots that I pulled up. If they are like that, I know I have no hope of getting the big tree stump out without serious muscle!

IMGP7814

Pulling up those roots has made a mess of my yard, not that I particularly care. Most of that will be covered by a building anyway.

IMGP7816

The little guy who sneaked into the picture really wants me to be his mom, but a) he has a mom and b) I really don’t need a dog right now. I don’t know his name and made the mistake of giving him one, which he actually responds to. I might be in trouble!!! It’s Higgins, by the way, after Constable Higgins in ‘Murdoch Mysteries.’ 🙂 He is just so sweet and not well taken care of. He gets to run loose with the hamlet’s other neglected dog, Chelsea. They are best friends, have a lot of fun together, and are a hoot to watch.

So that’s the latest here. Here’s to hoping my electrician continues to be wonderful and gets the meter situation sorted out for me.

by

Small Town Life

I’ve been in Saskatchewan a year now! No, my power’s not here yet. All appendages crossed for Monday…

Last night (Friday), I went to Assiniboia for dinner and a movie. I went to the buffet for dinner and the server brought my drink order (water with lemon) even before I’d said hi. I don’t go there that often (maybe once every six to eight weeks, and usually with friends), so I’m impressed that she remembered!

I am so grateful to have a cinema in town, even if it’s just one screen and we see movies a few weeks behind everyone else. I was just taking my seat when I heard my name called. It was a young girl I met on the wagon train last year. I asked her to bring me a horse this year. 🙂

Today, I went to Willow Bunch for groceries and to drop off more donations at the thrift store. I walked into the door of the thrift store and immediately saw something I wanted, book called Creating the Prairie Xeriscape. One of my goals for Haven is for it to be very low maintenance in terms of yard work so that no one needs to take care of it if I’m not here during the growing season. This book will be a good start to my education. It’s a very nice book, with heavy full colour pages, in brand new condition, for $1, store price $35!

Upon advice from the thrift store cashier, I then headed to the senior centre, which was holding its annual trade show where folks who sell things like Pampered Chef and Watkins can put their names out there. I was hoping there would be a Tupperware rep since one of my collapsible bowls has a crack in it, for which I am not impressed.

As I worked my way around the room, one of the Willow Bunch Museum managers saw me and called me over. I’m still doing some volunteer translating for them (in fact have a project due Monday) and she got me caught up on what’s new. I get free access to the museum, so I look forward to heading there once it opens again.

I eventually found a Tupperware a rep and she told me to bring the bowl into Assiniboia the next time I’m there so she can warranty it. She had some ‘cash and carry’ items and I’ve been wanting some of the little bowls with lids like I got with the last order. She had some, marked $10. I asked for a confirmation on the price and she said that $10 was for four! Needless to say, I grabbed them!  They are the same turquoise as one of the three I got in Lethbridge, but a slightly different shape.

As I was leaving, she asked me how my Ranger and motorhome are doing. Yup, she works at the place where I had my vehicles saftied last August and remembered. Small town life!

I finished up my errands at the grocery store. It’s a tiny thing, so it’s hit (decent looking avocado) or miss (they were out of bananas) as to what I’ll find, but the prices are the same as in Assiniboia and they have the same sales (yay for $3 off my favourite type of coffee!). I was advised that I can call and ask to have things brought down from Assiniboia, like my preferred type of yoghurt. Now that I don’t need propane as often, I’ll be cutting down on my Assiniboia trips and going more to Willow Bunch, like I did last summer, so it’s nice to know that I can get even more groceries at the small store.

BTW, Assiniboia is 20-25 minutes away, while Willow Bunch is 10-15 minutes away depending on the condition of the gravel road, hence why I prefer to go to the smaller community since it saves on gas.

I like it out here. It’s not perfect but if all my wanderings taught me anything, it’s that this is as good as it could get for me in Canada. I definitely wouldn’t be improving Haven if the thought of having a future here made me uncomfortable! I look forward to next winter’s adventure even more knowing that I’ll be okay, even happy,  that the spring will bring me back to Saskatchewan.