British Columbia

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It Doesn’t Rain But It Pours!

Geeze! I had no sooner finished signing the hiring papers for a job when my cell phone rang. I ignored it, of course, and checked my messages a few minutes later. It was another job offer!

I really had to think things over because it wasn’t obvious at first glance which job I should take.

Job no. 1:

  • A position at a tree nursery;
  • 7 to 3:30 Monday to Friday (OUCH. I’m already up at 6:30 because of the gates, but I can’t go to bed before 11 because of the gates.);
  • Repetitive physical labour;
  • Better than minimum wage, but unionized, so I’d have to work a day and a half just to pay the sign up fees for the union, plus 35 bucks per month;
  • Eight week contract.
  • Job no. 2:
  • A retail position;
  • 8:30 to 4:30 Monday to Friday (still OUCH because there would be no sense going back to bed at 6:30 if I have to get up an hour later!);
  • Repetitive work (cashier);
  • Minimum wage;
  • Work guaranteed till spring.The ‘old’ me would have went back to Job no. 1 and said ‘Sorry, something else came up’ and gone for Job no. 2. The ‘new’ me is trying to get away from work that is in line with her university degree and any work that is not relevant to her studies, and back towards work that is is in line with her college diploma. Working at a nursery plus at an RV park? Completely, 100% in line with my diploma.So, I’m going to try the nursery job. I did tell the retail shop that I would appreciate their holding my resumé since I’ll be back in this same position in eight weeks.

    I start Monday.

    Oh, and both positions are equi-distance from home. The retail job is 1km north and the nursery job is 1km south. So, neither would have required driving.

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Stuck

Well, I installed my heat tape today and it would be a pain to remove the water hose now, so it looks like I’m settled in for the winter. :-S

First step to installing the heat tape was to cut The Hose From Hell down to a six foot length. I didn’t mind doing that since it’s thus far been a) too long and b) leaky. I was just about to cut the hose when my neighbour startled me:

Neighbour: How are you going to attach that hose if you cut it?!

Me (holding up a threaded hose connector): With this.

Neighbour: But your hose is going to leak…

Me (holding up hose tighteners): Nope, I’ve got these.

Neighbour: Oh… How’re you doing for tools?

Me (holding up sizable tool chest): Not a problem.

Neighbour: Oh. Um, your foam tubing looks like it might be too short.

Me: Yeah, I need to go pick up some more.

Neighbour: Just a sec! *rummages through basement and emerges with a length of foam tubing* Would this be enough?

Me: Perfect! Thank you so much!

LOL!!! I’m so glad I found a way for him to help me!

We had a gorgeous day here today, hot enough for me to putter around the rig in just a tee-shirt. But ‘they’ are announcing a below zero night, so I figured it was time to get the heat tape in, even though I’ve already weathered such nights without it in. The foam is installed in my overhead hatches, so all that’s left are the windows and door weather stripping and plastic.

Today, I learned how to read our electric metres. I was advised that my electricity would be paid so long as it is comparable to the average consumption and thus far it is (and is at the lower end). This is very good news! I just hope that adding a second heater won’t change those numbers too much. Then again, I won’t be the only person heating more, so it shouldn’t.

Job hunting continues to suck. I went to the employment office today and got some leads, one of which I’m really excited about. Hopefully, something will come of that one.

I’ve been asked why I don’t just move to Victoria or Vancouver, even Kelowna, where I could get a really good paying job that would pay the rent and the bills. There are lots of reasons I’d rather not do that:

1) The work I’m doing to cover my rent here doesn’t really qualify as ‘work’ in my book. Plus, I can do most of it from home. I’m at work right now, finishing dinner, and keeping an ear out for the office phone (which I bring home with me) and the front gate for late arrivals;

2) The weather is a big factor in wanting to stay put. I’ve endured a lot of winters in a bad climate with inadequate housing. I’ve earned a reprieve;

3) I want this camp hosting experience. Now that I have it (and can keep up my good work to earn a good recommendation), I’ll be able to start sending out resumés to the Yukon in anticipation of the summer season. I’ll have a much better chance of finding something before I arrive than if I had no camp hosting experience at all.

I’m not desperate for work yet, but will be revising my situation in four weeks.

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Highway 33

I’ve been out of ‘tourist mode’ since settling for the winter since I haven’t had any money come in. So, I decided that today being the gorgeous day that it was, I would take a mini-road trip to Kelowna and turn it into an adventure by taking highway 33 back, effectively doing a full circle. It would be quite the detour, but a chance to see more of the splendid Okanagan Valley.

First stop in Kelowna was an oil change, then I was off to the Okanagan Heritage Museum. I’m glad that admission was by donation because I was quite disappointed. The museum is tiny! I started by taking a tour of a temporary exhibit about the KGH: Kelowna General Hospital. Then it took about five minutes to go through the rest of the museum. It was an interesting hodgepodge of artifacts from around the world, most of it not immediately relevant to Kelowna. Worth stopping in if you’re in Kelowna, but definitely not worth a detour. I walked around the Marina a bit, had lunch, went to Value Village, and then headed home.

Highway 33 wound up being positively breath taking, a world of valleys and peaks unto itself. The most memorable part of the drive was the section of switchbacks that led me down into Osoyoos.

Pictures.

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Settled In

Last night was my first evening working on my own. I got one drive in and one late check in on a reservation. Both scenarios had twists that hadn’t come up in training, but I apparently handled everything fine. Since it was election night, I spent a couple of hours in the lounge watching the results trickle in. I’m allowed to crash on the couch in the unoccupied staff house, but to me it makes more sense to do so in the office where I can see people coming in. At any rate, watching tv is such a ‘once in a blue moon’ type of event that the issue is unlikely to crop up again this winter (unless our government falls again, of course).

Today, I got caught up on my laundry. Boy is it nice to have access to FREE laundry facilities!!! The laundry room in the staff house is right at an exterior door that faces my front door. I probably have less far to go to get to the washing machine here than I did at my last house!

Tomorrow is my first of three days off, so no getting up at 6:30. Yaaaay! I’ll take Miranda out for propane (so much work to go two blocks round trip, *sighs*, and then get to work installing heat tape.

I bought a little space heater at Canadian Tire and it’s managed to keep the heat in here at a cozy 20 today and 18 last night all by itself. So, I think that if I add a second one, I won’t need to use the furnace at all this winter, avoiding the propane tank rental fees. I wish I had a better idea of just how much propane I will need this winter so I can know if it’s worth getting the tank or if I should just put up with the hassle of taking Miranda out a few times. No, propane delivery to my tank is not an option; the company that does propane in this area only fills its own tanks. 🙁

I have a job interview tomorrow afternoon with A&W, a fast food chain, hopefully for the cashier position. Minimum wage in BC is pathetic, so there is no way I could make enough on part-time hours there. So, if I get an offer, I’ll probably have to consider full-time hours, unless I get a surprise and am offered a supervisor position with better pay. Or better pay, period. At any rate, any employment would be welcome right now; if something better comes along later I can always quit. I do very much like the fact that A&W is walking distance from home and right next to the supermarket.

Tonight has been very quiet. It’s nice to be ‘on duty’ and earning my keep, but still able to sit at home with a movie and a top secret project pertaining to the blog. I really enjoy cashing out; it’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of using a calculator and doing basic bookkeeping (other than my own, of course).

Once I have money coming in again and know what my full schedule will be like, I’m going to start taking off on short trips in the toad. It doesn’t make sense to pay gas and campground fees for Miranda when it won’t cost anything to leave her here and a motel would be much cheaper for an overnight (or two).

I still can’t believe that I’m here and that other than the grape picking not happening, my winter is so far progressing pretty much as predicted.

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Settling In and Training

I don’t feel it would be appropriate to give too many details about my hosting job or my colleagues, but I’ll at least give a taste of what I’ve been up to.

Yesterday, I trained in the office for a full day. It’s been quiet, so I didn’t really learn a lot. Therefore, I was asked to come back in for a few hours today. So, I did the afternoon. I’m learning how to check in guests, use the computer system and cash register, and otherwise see how things are done here.

Mornings, I get up and open the gate at 6:30 and I close them again at 11 at night. This is quite brutal if I need to be up and at ’em like I did yesterday. I went back to bed after doing the gates and had to get up again at 8. Next time, I’ll stay up. But this morning I was able to go back to sleep for as long as I needed, so I felt fine.

Last night, I learned how to cash out for the day and I’ll be doing that again tonight with supervision. Tomorrow, I should get my keys and then do this on my own from then on. I imagine that starting next week I’ll be expected to do my full duties in the evening, which is when I know I’ll really start to learn things. 🙂

Life here has thus far been quite pleasant and I feel that my privacy and personal schedule are respected even though I’m right on site.

I sent out a few more resumés over the weekend after checking out the local newspaper, so hopefully I’ll be able to start paying work soon. Today being Thanksgiving, I didn’t think there was a point of going into town to hand out more resumés.