Travel

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I Can Get A Lot Done in a Morning

It was a cold night, just below freezing. I was grateful to be able to turn on my mattress warmer in the wee hours of the morning. Then, around 6:00, my furnace kicked on (thanks to my programmable thermostat) to warm up the rig to an acceptable temperature when I was finally ready to crawl out of my warm cocoon.

This awaited me outside!

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Notice, it’s just in the shade, but I still had snow on the truck when I left for town around nine.

First stop in town was the RCMP detachment to drop off my victim impact statement. Then, I went to a photography studio to have my passport picture taken. Might as well take advantage of my otherwise unnecessary trip into town and get my passport application sent off! I can’t buy a plane ticket until I have my new passport so this needed to be done ASAP.

I had my paperwork all filled out so I was able to go straight from the studio to the post office. $20 for the picture, $22 to XPress post the application to Canada, and something like $160 for a 10-year passport. Thank goodness we have a 10-year option now!!! And the renewal process is so easy. Nice to see one Government of Canada department improving its efficiency. My passport actually doesn’t expire till next March, so I’m kind of “wasting” nearly a year, but with most countries not granting entry unless your passport is good for at least six months beyond your entry, I would have been limited as to where I could go in Europe and forced to come back by March. Brr!

Then, I made a couple of stops. I went to The Bargain! Shop for household things — hand soap, dish soap, and laundry detergent, as well as to check out the clothes. I’m looking for a particular skirt style for my upcoming travels and they get out of season things from good brands, so it’s worth having a peek every now in then to see if they’re carrying any treasures.

I then went to the Salvation Army to do the same thing and also see if they’d brought their prices back down to more reasonable levels. Almost. Not as good as it used to be, but I would shop there again. They had tons of nice handbags and I caved and bought a gorgeous quilted tote with handy pockets in it. I just can’t resist a unique bag…

Next stop was the grocery store, where spent a whopping $20 on produce — a bag of onions, a bunch of bananas, four pink lady apples, two nectarines, a bag of satsumas, and a red pepper that was almost $3. Wow. The store was really chaotic and dusty as they’re laying down the flooring (tiles), with half the produce at one end of the store and the other half on the other side of the store. Most of the meat aisle was inaccessible. I can’t wait for them to be done, especially since I don’t see any real improvements being made. We didn’t need a shiny new store with new coolers. We needed more space…

Finally, I popped into the bakery for a coffee and bun to go because I was feeling a little faint. The bakery’s a little pricy, but it’s a nice treat now and then.

I got in just before twelve. Now, lunch and then I really need to get to work!

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Tuesday Was Memorable

Life at Haven tends to be rather idyllic. But the break-ins over the winter have really changed the atmosphere here, with doors getting locked even when folks are just wandering around the hamlet. My outbuildings are normally unlocked during the day when I’m here, but now I’m getting used to carrying my keys with me. It’s sad.

I awoke to lots of rain on Tuesday, which has turned to sleet today, Wednesday, a perfect day to power through the bit of work on my plate so that I could focus on looking for more today. I was making good inroads when the phone rang just shy of ten. “No number” came up on the display, but I still answered assuming it might be the RCMP calling me back. It was. I spoke to a kind-sounding constable who asked if he could come right down to Haven to take my statement about my attempted break-in. Yes, of course!

About 40 minutes later, the phone rang again. Wow, twice in one day. That has to be a record. It was Scotiabank doing a “courtesy call,” wanting to know how I like my account (a lot), more about my business, and curious about whether I’d consider changing to them as my main bank (not a chance in hell). It was a pleasant conversation and I didn’t mind answering the questions because most of my products are with CIBC right now and it would be good to have a backup. For example, if Scotiabank were to offer me a a credit card, might as well take it. Also, the woman wasn’t trying to sell me anything or convince me to move to Scotiabank. I was about to tell her I had to cut the conversation short as I was expecting a “visitor,” but, thankfully, she kept the call short.

Minutes after I rang off with her, there came a knock at my door. I checked that it was the constable and let him in. I’ve transcribed I don’t know how many statements over the years, so I knew the drill and he noticed that. He offered me victim counseling services (I’m not traumatised, so let’s leave the stretched thin resources to folks who need them) and to provide a victim impact statement. I accepted that because I knew that absolutely nothing was going to happen regarding my own break-in so I wanted something in her file about how she has destroyed the fabric of our community. The constable discovered he didn’t have the form on him but said he would “pick up” my neighbour and when he came back in a few hours to drop her off, he’d bring a form for me. I could then fill out the form and bring it into the detachment next time I was in town. Well, I hadn’t planned to be in town for a bit, so I’ll be doing a special trip for that as soon as the weather clears. Since I’m going through propane for heating, I’ll pretend it’s a propane filling trip not a “my neighbour sucks and is making me waste gas” trip. 🙂

He was back mid-afternoon and said that she denied everything, including stealing a pallet from my property, for which there was an eye witness. Unfortunately, rain destroyed any chance we might have had for fingerprints, which were a long shot anyway since the way the door is damaged makes it look like it was only touched with a tool. There’s no witness. The constable said that he knows she’s lying and that she did it, but he can’t do anything. He seemed incredibly relieved to be dealing with someone who knows the system and wasn’t expecting a miracle. I said to him that what I wanted to accomplish was done — she knows I won’t take her bullshit lying down. Apparently, she broke into some other neighbours’ places and they forgave her since she’s “sick.” Maybe she thought that would happen with me. Not a chance. The constable did say she is willing to take a polygraph, to his immense surprise. That’s not admissible in court, but sometimes the truth can come out in other ways that are admissible. He was surprised that I knew all of that. What can I say, I’ve transcribed the odd polygraph interview too.

I thanked him for his time and then came in to keep working since an unexpected job for Wednesday came in from a client I normally only work on weekends for.

And then, another email came in that really brightened my day.

There is a transcription firm I’ve wanted to work for since I started doing this five years ago. I had a chance to interview for them around that time and was deemed to need more experience. Just before I left Mexico, they emailed to give me a chance to interview again. Just like that, out of the blue. I did the test and then didn’t hear anything back… until yesterday. Soon as I get through my current workload, I’ll start with this new company on a probationary period. Too soon for exclamation marks, but I’m rather chuffed. They are another firm like an existing client of mine who would have as much work for me as I want as long as I meet their standards. I’ve had a run of bad luck with clients this year and I hope the tide is turning. We’ll see how the month goes with them. I’ll feel more comfortable leaving for Bulgaria if I feel I’m solidly in place with them.

The only progress I’ve made on Bulgaria is I’ve set up a price alert for airfare. Soon as I get something around 800CAD all-in (which I saw come up periodically over the winter) at the end of June or sometime in July, I’m buying a ticket. I haven’t decided yet where I want to settle in Bulgaria, but I’m narrowing it down based on the best places in the country to hike. I’ve been reading a lot about hiking in Bulgaria and am getting really excited about getting there!

So that was my Tuesday at Haven. Wednesday is starting off cold and snowy. Pretty strange after landing in summer weather! But things should start clearing up this afternoon and we’ll be back into the 20s by the weekend.

It’s still good to be home. 😀

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Water Day Is Always Exciting

Looks like the RM maintenance man saw I was home and turned on the water for me! He did that last year, so I checked the hydrant yesterday afternoon and this afternoon in case he did it again. Tonight, I hit the jackpot. Woohoo!

I made a rookie mistake while dewinterizing — I hooked up my hose to the RV without filling it with water first. That meant I got tons of air in my lines, which took forever to bleed. Otherwise, the water tank and heater filling was uneventful. Once both were full, I tested my system for leaks.

The tap in the dressing room is dripping, something I’ve avoided dealing with for a while because I don’t have room to work. It’s always corrected itself, so I hope that will happen again… This leak may explain why I have heaps of pressure in the dressing room and almost none in the kitchen. I haven’t found a leak in the lines, so I’m sure it’s that or that there’s still water in the lines leading to the kitchen. Usage will tell. At least, the shower appears to have good pressure!

Then came the fun part — lighting the water heater. Forget doing so from inside. I went out to the control panel and manually forced ignition. I actually got it to light in two tries, but it wouldn’t stay lit. I made some adjustments to the heat probe spacing and after a few more ignition attempts and corrections, I finally got the thing lit for real! Wow. That water heater is exhausting. The one on Isla wasn’t much more reliable, but being on a manual pilot system, I just had to turn on the gas every afternoon and apply a flame to it to ensure I had hot water for a shower. With Miranda’s decrepit water heater, I never know if I’ll be able to ignite the stupid thing from day to day.

I appreciate the irony that I got my water system going right after doing a huge mountain of dishes by hand, including hauling water and heating it on the stove!

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My RV Oven Is So Very Special

Oh, I’ve missed my RV kitchen, especially my oven! I use my oven a lot and I really missed in Mexico.

As some of you may remember, I bought myself a cast iron Dutch oven for Yule. It’s a pot with a tight fitting lid that can go from stovetop to oven. I can’t wait to sear a pork roast in it later this week and then transfer to the oven to slow cook!

Well, quite a few of my friends in Mexico are or were RVers. Those of them who saw the Dutch oven thought I was nuts for believing I could use it in my RV oven. Having seen dozens of RV ovens, I’ve only ever seen another one as large and usable as mine, and that was an upgrade made after purchase, so I understood their concern. Many RVs don’t even have a real oven, just a convection microwave. Some folks, like my friend Vicki, find their oven so useless that they have to make space for a large toaster oven instead.

In my case, I moved the rack to the lowest position to fit the Dutch oven in with an inch to spare at the top, so it will be easy to pull in and out, even when super hot.

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I’ll also be able to store the pot in the oven, with the baking sheets and cast iron frying pans fitting neatly under the broiler.

My oven also heats very evenly and is good for baking. Don’t buy into the myth that you can’t cook or bake in an RV as you can in a stick home. Instead, insist on a better and more usable oven!

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Unpacking Is a Chore

I awoke to sunshine at 6:15 this morning. I really don’t remember mornings here been so bright! I thought I might be able to go back to sleep, but was not able to. I read for a bit until the call of breakfast was too loud to ignore. Interestingly enough, I’d been up over an hour and awake for nearly two before I even thought of having coffee!

After a lazy couple of hours doing a more thorough sort of the mail, I finally dressed and started to bring things in from the truck, unpacking as I went along. I never think that I picked up much extra stuff during my travels until I found myself at a loss as to where to put everything when I get home! But I finally got things under control (nowhere near done) and was able to head to town to get groceries.

The road out to highway 2 was the best I can ever remember it being, with only one or two serious potholes, so the drive went quickly. My first stop was the carwash to fill one of my five gallon jugs with potable water. Thankfully C&C had warned me that there is no water filling at the grocery store right now since the renovations are still ongoing and that the carwash was the place to go. I was not impressed with the carwash station since it does not fill the jugs completely.

I ran a couple more errands and then went into the grocery store. It was a mess. I’m disappointed that so far all the upgrades are cosmetic. There sure isn’t any extra space! Prices were dire, but I shopped the sales and actually had something to show for my $125 (including quite a bit of meat). Kale was on sale, so I’ll be having quite a lot of that in the next week!

Back home, I was able to put together a nice lunch even with the kitchen being only half unpacked, then I headed to C&C’s to get non-potable water for doing dishes and washing myself. Charles was on his way over to my place to level Miranda, so he helped me with the water and then we headed back to Haven with Brutus in tow (he’s so shaggy he looks like a bear!).

It took quite a bit of doing, including two trips back to his house by Charles for different jacks and some tool fetching on my part, for Charles to get Miranda level for me. Even though the gravel is hard packed now, he could only lift Miranda so high before the jack would sink into the ground. He finally got her up using two jacks. She’ll stay on them for the time being, with a large log under the frame also holding some of the weight, but Charles intends to get a different type of jack and some blocks to do a more permanent job. Miranda has been unlevel for so long that it feels strange to have her level! When I moved her last year, I should have brought her west a little bit and out of the dip her left driver’s side tire is in. Live and learn…

After he was done, he graciously helped me get my swing out of the shed and set up. The weather is so unseasonably warm that I know I’ll use it all of this month as well as through June and so it’s worth setting up. Then, I offered him one of my last two Pacificos!

The beer pretty much knocked me flat, so I spent quite a bit of time in the swing, enjoying my view and the fact that I have internet in the yard now!

Then, it was time to deal with the kitchen so I could make dinner. I’m nowhere near done, but I was able to make brown rice, caramalised onions and Brussels sprouts, chicken, and gravy — even if I had about as much energy as it takes to open up a tin of beans and eat them cold! 😀 But the effort was worth it! Fortified by my yummy dinner, I did a clothes putting away blitz and then set up my office since I have a medium-sized job due Monday night that I’m hoping to start on tomorrow.

As promised yesterday, here are some pictures of the door damage. It’s hard to see because of the black on black. Charles is certain the damage was not there when he came by on the 27th and so this would mean the attempted break-in occurred while the neighbour is out on bail…

In this picture, you can see the gap between the door and the frame, as well as scratches and the torn rubber gasket. The door is bulging outwards.

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The door bulge is more visible in this one. The scratches betray the amount of effort made to get in. I’m happy to know my deadbolt and frame are that good!

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And here’s the damage to the frame:

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Finally, all the nasty haze during the day is so worth it in the evening…

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