Lethbridge

by

Out of Excuses (Except For, You Know, Weather and Lack of Time)

I still have a couple of carpentry projects pending in Miranda, but they keep getting pushed out of the way because they need some sawing and my trusty jigsaw died last winter. This summer, I asked Gary if he had a jigsaw I could borrow and he didn’t.

Fast forward about six months and look what was under his and Jody’s tree with my name on it:

jigsaw (picture taken for my French readers!)

It was all Gary’s idea. Isn’t he great?! Of course, I had to open the box the minute I got home and plug the saw in. Thankfully, I have nothing to saw in The Apartment. 😀

Jody had a lovely pashmina for me and, I can’t believe I was surprised, some Tupperware! Hee hee.

I went over to their place today for a non-light lunch. I am looking forward to deep fried turkey later this week. 🙂

by

A Hellish Week (But Not For Me)

It has been one hell of a week out here in Raeland. My employer said that my blog must be particularly entertaining these days and was very surprised to learn that I don’t blog about work! It really is incredible that my blog is soooo boring these days when my life isn’t!

But I threw out a project idea at them and they don’t have a problem with it. So sometime in late spring, when a bit of time and distance will have passed, I hope to publish The Untold Stories of My Lethbridge Winter: adventures in apartment management. 😀

As a hint, this week has really reminded me of a classic short story by Carl Stephenson that inspired a great episode of MacGyver. Different foe, but, same idea…

It’s a four-day weekend at my end and I’m not doing any holiday celebrating, but I’ll have done 24 hours worth of transcription work by the end of it. So I expect to be as bleary-eyed as everyone else come Tuesday morning!

by

My Lethbridge Winter, So Far

We are well into the end of December and thus far a Lethbridge winter has been about a gazillion times more pleasant than were any of my winters in British Columbia

We did have one cold snap of a few days, but every B.C. winter has had at least one of those. Thus far, I haven’t experienced anything that would have made me unduly comfortable in a properly prepared rig in the right place. I would have needed to be in an RV park with 30A power plus an extra 15A circuit where Miranda could have been skirted as well as sheltered from the wind.

The major difference here is that there is SUN, so the rig would have warmed up considerably inside even on the coldest of days. I went into Miranda during the cold snap where we hit about minus fifteen during the day and even with just one heater running, Miranda’s interior was well above the freezing mark so I don’t think I would have spent any more on heating here than I have in BC where I had to fight the damp.

Of course, it’s only December, but I landed here in late March last year when the weather was already much better than that on the western side of the Rockies, even with that April 1st snow storm. So we really are getting over the hump towards spring.

I frequently have to run between my buildings and not having to put on a coat is great. I just keep the heat down in the office so that I don’t experience a shock when I step outside. I wear fleece or wool and if the wind is particularly biting I’ll add a pashmina shawl. This is so much less cumbersome than what I expected; having to pull on boots and full winter gear each time I have to go outside!

As for snow, it has been negligible and has kept on melting. I decided to not get snow tires for the car and have avoided going out during inclement weather. The four season tires  I bought in Whitehorse have been more than adequate so far. I really agonized over this decision, but as the weeks marched on and I saw no need for them, I decided to spare myself the expense. If I had to drive every day regardless of the weather, then, of course, the tires would have been purchased.

 

by

A Knock at the Door

I got a very late start this morning, so I was still in my PJs at 11, watching some Star Trek and working on my current embroidery project, when there came a knock at the door. Eep! I hoped it was Jody surprising me, but had a feeling it wouldn’t be, so I hurriedly threw on some clothes before checking the peephole. Sure enough, a tenant was on the other side. At least it’s a tenant I enjoy conversing with! I knew she wouldn’t be knocking on my door without a valid reason, so my irritation turned to concern as I opened the door.

So imagine my surprise when she handed me a card, two wrapped items, wished me a holiday season, told me she didn’t want to keep me, and made a graceful exit! One package was a lovely winter-themed tin filled with an assortment of baked goods, including shortbread, white chocolate cranberry bark, something with coconut, something with raisins, and another thing I haven’t identified yet. The other item was a cheese ball (which will go great on crackers with the soup I planned to have for dinner tonight!). I feel so appreciated. 😀