Saskatchewan

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The Start of My MacGyver Pile

When I had my house, I frequently scavenged for goodies to add to it, using what I found as inspiration rather than letting inspiration dictate what I’d use. I’ve done the same thing with my renos in Miranda, for example making good use of the Campbell River Home Depot’s dumpster.

This afternoon, I went treasure hunting in Hiram’s back yard. As a reminder, he’s the guy who thought he owns my property. He has piles and piles and piles of junk in his backyard and I was given permission to take absolutely anything I want.

Now, most of the stuff in the yard is absolute junk and not worth the trouble it would take to do anything with it, but I still found quite a few diamonds.

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The first item in this photo is some chicken coop-type wiring. Not sure yet what I’ll do with it, but it could come in handy to protect a garden from the resident bunny. Next to that are a few bricks. I’m going to keep my eyes out for bricks to use as edging and paths. Finally, the battered rusty round metal ring is a fire pit! I need to check what the rules are for fire pits here, but everyone seems to have one, so I’m hoping I’ll get to use it. I also found a bucket of good coals to go with it.

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Next to the fire pit are a few sheets of tin roofing material. Not much there, but could be useful to cover my future compost bin.

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Next to the roofing is my big pile o’ leaves. I am not making progress, believe it or not.

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Next up is the start of my pallet pile. If anything, they will be good kindling for the fire pit! Most of the other pallets are too heavy to carry, so I’ll have to borrow a dolly.

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I plan to use some pallets to make a porch. This piece of plywood is in great shape and will make a good topping for the pallets so that I don’t risk going through the slats. An outdoor carpet will be in order as well. Behind that is the bucket of coals.

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Finally, I found a ground plane for my high gain antenna! Just need to find some tin snips to cut it to size, then bang it flat and glue it to my roof.

There is tons of lumber to go through on that lot. All of it has been outside for eons, so it’s in dubious shape, but I think I could build some rough temporary structures with quite a bit of it. For example, I’m thinking of combining some pallets with fencing panels,  2x4s, and the tin roofing to make a temporary shed.

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Co-Oped

Nearly first thing this morning I headed to the post office. I got to meet the post master and received a key for my box. She asked me to return the key when I leave. I laughed and said that I hope to have that mail box for at least 30 years! She gasped. I think that my owning a lot in town wasn’t enough for her to believe I was planning to put any roots down here at all.

I don’t know yet what I’ll do with my mail in the winter, but I gave C&C access to the box when I filled out the paperwork just in case having them check it in the winter ends up being the best solution. I really don’t get any pressing mail except the odd royalty and commission cheque. Jody deposits those for me and I’d have to come up with something similar here.

The important thing is that this is to be my mailing address for as long as the post office here exists. I am sick and tired of having to make an address change! I’ve successfully redirected my mail in the past, so if I go anywhere else in Canada for any length of time, I can get my mail without having to change anything. It’s just trickier to the States; even if I could get mail redirected there, I wouldn’t be able to deposit the odd cheque. I’ve got six months to figure out the best solution.

I then drove into Assiniboia for groceries. Wow, what a madhouse since the store was closed yesterday for Victoria Day. There were crazy traffic jams in the aisles, plus their meat freezers went out over the long weekend, so there were a lot of unhappy carnivores.

I was able to find what I needed and am pleased to say that the produce at the Assiniboia Co-op is most satisfactory; very fresh and tasty even at this time of the year. I even found a good pineapple for $2.99. C&C told me that once their garden starts producing I should shop at their place since they give away the bulk of what they grow, but in the meantime, it’s nice to know I can get good tomatoes and leafy greens. I also discovered I picked a good day to shop since it was scratch and save day. You are guaranteed 5% and can get up to 25%. I was quite happy with the 5% as that was better than nothing!

Western Canada has a chain of stores under the Co-op name. It’s really hard to get information about this brand since each Co-op is independent. Locally, I am under the Southland Co-op. It was $10 to join, which bought me 10 shares and I am now a part owner of the grocery, hardware, and convenience store, as well as the gas bar! The only advantage I see to this is that I will get a share of the equity based on how much I buy locally in a year and I may occasionally get a token cash rebate. If I’m here for the rest of my life and shop here for six months ever year, especially with what I’ll be spending on fuel, this could really add up. At age $69, I would be eligible to get my equity in cash. So for $10, it seemed silly not to join.

I need to get a couple of hours of work done, then I will head back out into the yard and keep working on my leaves since there is very little wind today and I will also move more pallets.

I’m rather glad I don’t have Miranda parked ‘permanently’ yet this summer as I’m getting a chance to see if the corner I reserved for her really is the best. Indeed. It is very shaded, which will be good in the summer, but the passenger side will get all the mid to late day sun; perfect!

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An Exercise in Futility

I went over to C&C’s this afternoon to borrow a wheelbarrow and a shovel so I could keep working on my leaves. What an exercise in futility, what with the wind! But I’m going to keep at it, if only to pull up the rotten layer that is turning to humus and ruining the grass.

While outside, I finally met the easterly neighbour into whose kitchen I look from the office. Let’s call him Nels. 🙂 He’s very nice and was surprisingly chatty. I brought up the subject of the property line and he said he wasn’t too sure, but that it made sense for it to be along the row of mature trees and shed. I joked that his dead pickup sticking out behind the shed is on my lot and he told me he’s trying to get rid of it. That would be nice because once I get the rig on the back of the lot, no pickup will mean a view of the church.

At some point, Laura came by with some goodies for me. The first item was three chairs, the canvas kind on tubing that fold to fit into a bag. I have a few, but they don’t have arm rests or cup holders. She also had a rake for me, the kind for moving dirt, not for leaves, and a water hose. I will be glad to leave my ridiculously long water hose here and take this other one with me on my travels.

Laura also told me that Charles spoke to the disagreeable man (okay, let’s call him… Hiram), who is suddenly a heck of a lot less disagreeable. Hiram has given me permission to help myself to all the pallets on his property and anything else that catches my eye. There is a lot of weathered lumber that I could put to good use and I spotted a cute little BBQ that is in super good shape inside, although the exterior could use a little paint. I’m going to confirm with Charles that anything does mean anything before I grab stuff other than the lumber, though.

The pallets will start off as a nice big deck for Miranda once she’s squared away, and later they will be repurposed when I start working on the grainery. I can also see myself using a few to make a compost bin. I just need to figure out where to stack them so that I don’t have to move them to get Miranda further back or to fit in the grainery. I have a feeling that the grainery is going to come faster than expected.

Tomorrow will likely be a town day as I need some groceries, but I’m really not that eager to go out. I was so sure I’d go stir crazy here, but now that I have friends, the days go by very fast! Since I don’t need very much, I think I will try the store in Willow Bunch, which is much closer, provided the gravel road is in good shape.

I hope we get the promised sun tomorrow. My batteries need a good soak! But they are holding up fine. With an hour of charging in the morning, I’m holding steady between 75% and 81%. Not great, but I’ve been able to do everything I need to do, including print some documents for a work project I’m doing. I’ve come a long way from the electrical struggles I had on the beach!

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Good Timing

I can’t believe the weather right now along the route I took over the last three weeks (can’t believe it’s been that long). For those not following the news, I’m talking about the tornados between Oklahoma City and Wichita.

A recent tornado warning in Shawnee, OK, where I spent three nights, was ‘You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter.’ Wichita news station KSN was dramatically evacuated while live on the air.

The recent Wichita tornado was in L’s part of the city. He doesn’t get concerned until a tornado is bearing straight at him, considering a touch down just two miles away to be of little concern, but I have asked him to check in.

Am I glad I got through before this mess. L did put tornados into their proper context for me, but these events are hitting a little too close for me right now.

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Digging Up the Cache

I was invited to dinner at Charles and Caroline’s last night, with Charles telling me to use my imagination to come up with something to bring. My imagination came up with these incredibly delicious garlic/butter/sour cream/parmesan cheese/oregano biscuits. Thank you imagination!

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I headed over around 4:00 in time to dig up the cache. C&C had put tons of root vegetables into tubs and buried them for the winter. The plan was to have these veggies for dinner. The tubs they had dug up in April were great, but the ones last night were a little disappointing. The ground had warmed up, so the veggies had started to rot. The carrots were a lost cause, but the parsnips, huge beets, and few potatoes were in good shape.

Caroline set to work washing off the veggies at the outdoor sink while Charles, Laura, and I moved some plants into their stable. Then Laura asked me if I wanted something that was about to rot in her yard and which would need a little TLC. The three of us went across the street so I could check the thing out and it was exactly what I was looking for as the first piece of yard furniture. So we got it on a dolly and trundled it down here:

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YAY! 🙂 I wanted a nice big sturdy table to use as my laundry station. The boards on one side have come loose, but that’s okay because that will let me stand on the long side and I would have likely removed them anyway. The table needs major cleaning, wire brushing, stripping, and refinishing. Another project!

Charles then confirmed my property limits. OMG, this place is HUGE. 🙂 I don’t know how we got on the subject, but I mentioned that I was hoping to find more pallets and he pointed to the place next door, owned by the disagreeable man, and told me to help myself to all the pallets on the property. The guy is giving them away and had told Charles spread the word around. I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with them, besides make a bigger porch but they are oak, so they will come in handy. So today’s projects are to go to C&C’s to borrow a wheelbarrow and shovel, rake more leaves, and then start hauling pallets. And at some point, do some paid work, too, although my projects aren’t pressing and I’ve earned a day away from the computer…

We headed back down to C&C’s and Caroline let Laura and me help her prepare the veggies, then we were banished to the porch with beer. Charles and I got talking about water and he said that between myself, him, and Laura, there is enough hose to go from one of the public taps to my rig. He’s going to have the town turn on one of these taps until I can get my own. It’s not as convenient as having one on site, of course, but it’ll save me a little money to start, especially since I’ll have to pay the water bill.

The dinner bell rang and we went in to enjoy a wonderful meal: fresh asparagus from the garden in lemon pepper butter sauce, salad with biscuits, roast chicken with mashed potatoes, parsnips, beets, stuffing, and gravy. And tons of white zinfandel. YUM.

We were just finishing up when other neighbours, um, let’s call them Isaiah and Grace, came over and we all got along like a house on fire (what an odd expression). Isaiah is Laura’s former son-in-law and a farmer whose life could be a comic strip, the way he expresses his woes being so hilarious.

The subject of my utilities came up and he asked me why I’m planning to go dump in Assiniboia when the ‘lagoon’ is just a mile away. Lagoon? As it turns out, the holding tank pump out truck empties the contents into a pit about a mile from here. Not accessible with an RV, but no problem with a truck. I can just dump into a bucket once a week and go dump it out there instead of paying for the service. Sounds crazy, but simple!

I found out heaps more history about my property. As it turns out, there used to be a town garage and it was on my lot! After that, the lot was used for parties around bonfires, and then went quiet, looking for someone to take care of it.

Isaiah’s father might have a grainery for me. Now that I know the real size of my lot, I am very excited about putting one of these 14’x12′ structures on my lot. They are made of fir, which doesn’t rot, and people put a tin roof and some siding on them. They are tall, so adding a loft inside is very feasible. The plan would be to get it here this year, make it weather proof next year, and then slowly convert the interior into a cozy bunkhouse/shed/work shop. I would get it wired for electricity so that I could have the option of putting a washer and dryer in it at some point. This falls right in line with my plans for the property, except I couldn’t imagine being able to afford such a construction for several years. I’m looking at about $600 to get it here and make it weather proof, versus paying $1,500 just to build a frame from scratch for a building that size.

After a couple more bottles of wine, we all went back into the house for Laura’s apple pie with some ice cream. And then the wine hit all of us and the lateness of the hour began to make itself felt. I walked home with Isaiah and Grace, who live a few doors down, on the other side of the church, carrying home the following:

-pin cherry jelly and apple sauce (from Laura)

-garlic and green onions (from C&C)

All good stuff grown locally. Mmm!

Here’s a rough sketch of the village, to help situate you all a little. It’s about a mile wide, to give you a sense of scale. The top of the map is south.

Legend

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Arrow=road towards the petroglyphs

P=post office (that road continues to the west, winding and wending through the hills, to join highway 2)

I=Isaiah and Grace’s house

+=church and the symbol behind it is a headstone for the cemetery (probably a half mile behind it)

E=easterly non-sociable neighbour

M=me

D=disagreeable westerly neighbour

L=Laura’s house

C=Charles and Caroline’s house (the road continues eastward as gravel towards the town of Willow Bunch)

A=the apartment building

S=the swimming hole

I didn’t put the community hall on this, but it’s between the church and the cemetery. I will update this map as if I get more landmarks, but this should help for now.