Willow Bunch

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Gravel Déjà Vu

I joked earlier today on Facebook that if I had known I’d have so many status-worthy events today, I would have saved them up for a blog post. Well, here’s the post anyway! 🙂

Today was a pretty dang perfect Saturday, especially since we got our first sunny and hot day in almost a month! I was up earlyish and got my day’s work done by noon. I could then get tomorrow’s work done to have a full day off or do two half-days off. I chose the latter and it wound up being the best choice.

I started the afternoon by going to Willow Bunch to get some produce and to check out offerings at the thrift store. I got a good haul today!

Remember, I’m building a wardrobe entirely from scratch, from underwear to coats, so I’m not going nearly as crazy with the clothes buying as it might seem, plus the bulk of what I bought last year and was hoping to fit in this year is a size or two too big. And, frankly, when you’ve been a size XL or 1X most of your life and you find a super cute dress size S that looks fabulous on you and it’s just $1, it’s not hard to justify finding room for it in your wardrobe. 🙂

I also lucked out and found a good set of pruning sheers for 25 cents! I was going to borrow a pair from Caroline today, so this was good timing!

I got home and put laundry on, then I got on the roof and cut the branches that have been rubbing at the overhang and keeping me up at night. Let me repeat that in case you didn’t catch the significance of it. I went off and did something else while my laundry cleaned itself while not at an RV park or friend’s house where I’m using borrowed laundry facilities, but instead on my own turf! 😀

Once the overhang was branch free, I started at the south end of the eastern perimeter and worked my way north, trimming all the branches I could reach and which were small enough for my sheers to handle (which was a lot bigger than I expected; almost thumb-size!). I also laid down some pallets and piled logs on them in the hope that they will eventually dry. I was grateful that Charles’ trailer was still parked out front so I could get rid of the branches immediately.

While all this was happening, the gravel guy stopped by to make arrangements with me for delivery. On a Saturday! He needed Charles’ trailer out of the way to do that so he told me to give him a call when the coast was clear.

He also reminded me that the gravel this year is even worse than the stuff last year that I was unhappy about. I said that for this year’s application, it would be fine, I just didn’t want to pay the big bucks for it. He said that it would be more expensive than the crap I got last year and I wouldn’t get a discount on it!

He said, “I can bring you pit run,” and I perked up because that’s what I’d initially requested, but kept getting dismissed on the few times I discussed gravel with the RM. ‘Pit run’ is really dirty gravel with big rocks, even boulders in it. I want the rocks for landscaping projects, so this stuff being so much cheaper makes it feel like a real deal to me.

He left and I went in to call C&C to put in a request for Charles to move the trailer. Caroline said he’d check his schedule and get back to me.

Shortly thereafter, I heard the gravel guy again and went out. He said that he’d just spoken to Charles, who was going to move the trailer shortly. Was I really sure I wanted pit run? He pulled out a map and said that he’d just dumped some two miles out and he wouldn’t deliver me a load of it unless I went out to look at what I was ordering.

I knew exactly what I was ordering, but I humoured him and drove out. I’m pleased to say that, “Go about two miles east to the road just before the big turn, not the bad road, the good one, and look at what I dumped right after the Texas gate,” was perfectly sufficient instructions for me to find the place!

The pit run was exactly what I thought it would be, so I came home and called the gravel guy. He asked me again if I was sure. Yup… He said that I was second next in line and he’d be by in a couple of hours.

I hung up with him and thought I heard noise outside, so I went to see if it was Charles. Indeed. I put on proper shoes and jumped in his truck to take the branches to the branch dump, which is just around the corner, by the cemetery.

As usual, his dog, Brutus, was in the front seat, and had no desire to give me more space than necessary, so intent was he at getting some cuddling out of this whole affair. I still can’t believe what a dog person I’m becoming!

I came in and debated whether or not to make dinner or wait for gravel and decided to go for it since I was starting to feel a little faint. I’d been saving a package of Japanese dumplings for a night like this, so I had a nice treat. I even whipped up a frozen banana with some all natural peanut butter for a decadent (yet healthy!) dessert.

Shortly thereafter, I heard the gravel guy again.

He floundered in the mud getting in the yard and almost got stuck, perfectly exemplifying why I was so eager to get the front part of the yard covered!

As it was explained to me, after the old garage that was on this lot got torn down, the lot was back filled with manure. The ground is therefore very, very soft. After a wet period like we just had, with lots of hard rain, I can’t even park on the lot. So I really wanted to add a layer of material to give me a proper driveway and, as a bonus, provide another RV pad.

Once the load was empty, the guy got out of his truck to make sure I was happy and to get the cheque for the material, which has to be paid for on delivery. I’ll get a bill later for the delivery. The gravel was $66 and the delivery will be $189.

I was thrilled with the product, smiling as I noticed one big rock after another. I knew it would be hard work to get it all smoothed out, but I wouldn’t have gotten much better stuff from the RM and it would have been three times the cost!

Instead of crashing with a movie, I went out and starting hauling and raking gravel. Having property is good for my health! I doubt I’ll get lucky again with the neighbour who has the tractor since he’s farming and working very long hours.

So my goal at this point is to rake it out just enough that L can back in his trailer when he arrives in a few weeks. If I do an hour of work a day, that will be easily achievable, and I need exercise anyway!

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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.

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Good News

I got back from a Willow Bunch run this morning to find several emails from insurance brokers in Regina regarding my conundrum. All but one basically said, “Yeah, good luck with that.”

The exception basically said, “Hey, no problem! You’ll get the basic RV insurance from SGI to make it street legal, then we’ll add on some extra coverage since it’s your house and you need more liability, and finally we’ll tack on a basic tenant insurance policy for your contents.”

I forwarded the email to my SGI contact who confirmed that this is doable. It is!!!! Now, I’m waiting for the other guy to get back to me with some answers regarding the coverage they can give me. It’s nowhere near as good as what I’m getting with the Elite coverage and I’m wondering if we can get a little closer to that (eg. being able to get a hotel and restaurant meals if I’m forced out).

Not counting the out of province vehicle inspections, which I’ll get to momentarily, my paperwork is mostly in order. I have all my Quebec claims history and my driver’s abstract. But when I moved from Yukon to Alberta, my Yukon broker refused to give me my claims history and sent it directly to my Alberta broker, after two or three requests. I’m going to request my Alberta claims history and at the same time ask if they have the Yukon information to send along with the Alberta records. I have a Yukon driver’s abstract and SGI can access Alberta records to get my history there.

So the next major hurdle is the out of province vehicle inspections. Since I needed propane, I decided to drive to Assiniboia to talk to someone in person. I went to the SGI website, found the only place in town that could do both vehicles, and headed there. The truck is scheduled for first thing Tuesday morning and Miranda for the Tuesday after that. I forgot to ask about the cost and, really, it’s irrelevant since I need the work done.

Once the truck safety is done and any issues found are addressed, I will be able to get my Saskatchewan driver’s license and health coverage as well as the plates for the truck and the tenant insurance for Miranda. That will mean Miranda will not be street legal but I’ll be okay parked on my property if disaster strikes.

The out of province inspections are a huge wildcard. I have no idea what may be found. The truck was safetied in Alberta last summer, so I’m not too concerned. But I really don’t know about Miranda because of the accident I had last year. I know the brakes won’t be a problem, but there could be alignment issues and I could be forced to buy my tires right then and there when I was hoping to get her into a Montana tire shop.

My feelings about the purpose for the out of province inspections aside, I know that Miranda’s likely due for a thorough inspection, so I’m trying to be zen about this instead of thinking of all the time it’s going to take to pull out, get there, do the inspection, come back, get set up again, and do it all over again in the likely event that she needs work done.

So to reiterate, provided the truck inspection goes smoothly and I get the rest of my claims history promptly, I just may end up being a Saskatchewan resident by the end of the month. And for the rest of my life. The next time I immigrate somewhere, it’s to another country.

(And the word ‘immigrate’ is not hyperbole. I have proof on my desk, a government form from Quebec, that you don’t move to a new province but rather immigrate to it.)

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Feels Like a Proper Saturday

Last night, Laura came by around 7:15 to let me know we weren’t going to be doing canasta. I offered her a beer (L left me enough Dos Equis to get me through the coming apocalypse and then some) and we sat on the porch for perhaps an hour gabbing. She mentioned wanting to go to Willow Bunch today to check out the thrift store and I asked if I could invite myself along. Certainly! The road out has been rough, so I suggested we take my truck.

I spent the morning catching up on my filing, had lunch, then picked Laura up around 12:45 to get to the thrift store right after it reopened from the lunch break. To my surprise, it was dead quiet.

While Laura pretty much struck out, I found many treasures, including 200′ feet of clothesline (a good start to the project!), a silicon loaf pan, a pashmina, several skirts, and a gorgeous jean coat. I spent the grand sum of $17. Their prices are really reasonable.

Laura wasn’t done browsing by the time I was beginning to suffocate on the second floor, so I went down to pay. Thankfully Caroline was in line behind me because I only had a fifty and the cashier couldn’t break it. Note to self, I owe Caroline $20. 🙂

I then went across the street to get a few groceries. I’ve had almost no appetite all week because of my damn lingering cold, but I have been seriously craving pizza. So I splurged on one, hoping it will get the appetite cycle kick started.

When Laura was done at the shop, we walked down the block to the variety store for a chocolate ice cream cone. The weather was perfect for it! And then it was time for the very long, hot, and super dusty trip home.

I’m just going to chill (well, boil) for the rest of the day. I’m not even tempted to get that new clothes laundered. As for work, I’m on call during the week, so it make sense to put in long hours then and then take weekends off. I’m rather enjoying this routine!

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Impromptu Town Run

As I wrote earlier, the last post was interrupted by the postmaster hand delivering me a phone message. Turns out the folks hankering to reach me, staff at the Willow Bunch museum, had lost my email address, knew I live in the hamlet, and figured that the postmaster would be able to get a message to me. Got to love life in a small town!

I needed to get to town to pay my property taxes and get more fuel for the generator, so I decided to close the office early and go to town today rather than tomorrow

First stop was the RM office where I just had to say I was there to pay my taxes; they knew who I was. Scary. 🙂 I also asked about my promised water bill, the missing piece to establishing SK residency once the insurance matters are settled (not likely any time soon), and paid that too even though it wasn’t due till the end of September. Property taxes were about $24 and the bill for water and garbage collection was about $116 for three months.

So not counting fuel for my generator or propane, it will cost me about $250 to summer here, or about $43 a month. Way more expensive than boondocking down in the States (even factoring in dump fees), but crazy reasonable for Canada!

My next stop was the museum to talk with the president. I offered to do some translation for them in exchange for publicity and they sent me home with a thick file to work on! The existing translations are actually pretty decent, just need a little tweaking, so two to four hours a week should get me pretty far. I haven’t done a volunteer project in way too long and this will be a great way to give back to my new community.

Museum business done, I went to the Co-Op to fill a jerry can. The manager pulled in behind me and did the fill for me, yay. I don’t know why, but I hate filling jerry cans! Gas prices are much better than they were at the beginning of the summer, about $1.25 when it was $1.35 to $1.40 earlier in the season.

My final stop was a treat. I usually get my treat on Friday, but I was in town today and have no treats at home. So I popped into the variety store for a chocolate ice cream cone (it was either that or mint and I vetoed them bringing in vanilla). Mmm! Today was a very rare ice cream weather kind of day, so the timing was right!

The drive home promised to be tedious as I was behind a grainery that took up the whole width of the road, but they were able to pull over when the road widened just a tad so that I could squeeze through. Phew. I don’t think I could have done 18KM at about 30KM an hour in that heat. I need to get the AC fixed on the truck!