Work

by

Departure Season

Croft and Gypsy‘s imminent departures from their wintering spots are making my Itch even worse. Four weeks left before I head back to Dawson City!

I had big plans for this winter, but only accomplished half of them, the renos. Unfortunately, my budget did not permit me to do much traveling so I will need to come back to Vancouver Island. I might have another trip up my sleeve this month, but it will really depend on how much further along I am in the preparations for departure.

To be honest, the renos were more important to me. One city is starting to look pretty much like another and there are a lot of forests in Canada, but I only have one home and it hasn’t been working for me as much as it could. I think my travels will be much more enjoyable now.

Today, after putting in several hours at my contract, I cleaned the cab and made sure Miranda starts. Beyond the interior preparations I have a lot of exterior considerations:

-oil change;

-tire pressure check and adjustment;

-fresh water system flush;

-black tank dump and flush;

-gas tank fill;

-propane fill (will be done in Chilliwack)

My last day of work should be April 28th, so departure is still right on schedule for May 1st. A big BOO goes to BC Ferries for hiking up their rates again. I paid $193 to come over. It seems I will now have to pay $214, a $21 increase. BOO!

by

Growing

When I hit the road and headed off into the wonderful world of temporary work, I made a promise to myself that work would be just that, nothing personal, just a way to get to the next place.

My first stop, Oliver, tested this promise. I passed and still failed miserably. I didn’t realise then that I would be facing two challenges as a temporary worker. The first is the temptation to change things that aren’t working, even though I’m just passing through. The second is that I might meet bullies who would want to take advantage of my work ethic.

The nursery job in Oliver sucked, but it was clearly a case of it sucking for everyone. I could deal with it, there was nothing personal. What was going on at the RV park was personal, however, and I handled it very badly. I know that much of my bitterness about what happened there has to do with my decision to just take whatever that manager and colleague dished out and not give them a piece of my mind. I let them attack my integrity without putting my foot down and telling them ‘What you’re saying and doing is wrong and I won’t stand for it.’ I left without any resolution.

Something similar was happening with a colleague this winter. The job has otherwise been fine and I made a friend for life out of one colleague! That said, the one problem colleague made me I snap this week and I did what I should have done in Oliver. I told a bully that what he was saying and doing was not okay even if I’m moving on shortly. This prompted another colleague to stand up to him. I broke my first promise, to not try to change ‘corporate culture’, but it was worth it to regain that little piece of my soul I left behind in Oliver and to know that things will be better at the gas station from now on.

Sometimes it takes a stranger breezing through town, as an objective outsider, to see things that complacency and habit have blinded you to, even if they are very, very wrong. My business in Campbell River is done! 😀

by

Priorities and Work

It’s March 19th already (bonne fête, mom!); I have been here five months now and there is just over a month to go. I suspect the next few weeks will be industrious!

No, I have not made any progress on the renos this work week, which ends at 10:15PM tonight (Friday). I have a very good excuse for that.

My contract requires me to do 10 hours per week to a maximum of 20. Up until this week, there was never enough work to get the minimum 10 hours. This week, there has been. I have been getting up ‘early’ to do up to an hour and a half of contract work, going into the gas station for my eight and a quarter hour shift, and then coming home to do anywhere from an hour and a half to two and a half hours more work at the contract, depending on task availability.

Most days I’ve only been able to do less than than that, today I did more. Their week runs Monday through Sunday, so I have until then to do my ten hours for this week. I am frustrated that there were few tasks available earlier this week when it was too rainy and cold to work on my renos but that the current trend allows me to expect that I will need to put in some serious hours in the next few days, when it will be nice enough to do renos. Gah!

Contract not withstanding, the dishwasher counter is going to be done this weekend. In fact, I intend for every single front room project to be done by Tuesday night. The weather is supposed to cooperate and I am going to make full use of it.

Tonight, I am absolutely beat both physically and intellectually. I have ‘help’ for half of my Thursday and Friday shifts and I always ask the gal to work the cash and do indoor jobs while I go do the outside jobs, which makes both of us happy. Outdoor jobs don’t suck as much as one would expect because you’re outdoors! Unless the weather is really horrible, I’m much happier hauling the garbage, hosing down the carwash, washing the gas pumps (you read that correctly), and sweeping up trash. With it being light out much later now, I can spend a solid two hours doing outside chores.

There was a spring in my step today since I made the decision to switch to my hiking boots. Yesterday was the proverbial straw for me sore feet-wise, where they went from being sore to actually hurting. Working in my boots today was heaven; the only reason I haven’t done so before is their appearance, scuffed beyond redemption and splattered with Nugget City stain. The boots are not yet a year old, but fording rivers, traipsing through snow, fighting muddy bogs, and trekking through sand (not to mention doing hard labour in them) has given them a worn appearance in a very short amount of time. I don’t begrudge them their well-worn appearance as they will be my most trusty and comfortable footwear for many, many years. And they are going to help me get through my next twenty-four or so shifts!

Well, a hot bath is singing its siren song, promising to soothe my aching muscles. I cannot ignore it. 🙂

by

Surrendering to the Weather

Stormy again today. I’m not even going to try to work on any projects. Instead, I’ll focus on putting in several hours at my contracts and getting up to date with my company’s bookkeeping, all tasks that I have been neglecting in favour of just getting these renos done.

I’ve put myself on a slightly earlier schedule and it’s supposed to be gorgeous out when I return to work (growls), so I should be able to put in an hour or two of renos before heading off to work. Not an ideal situation, of course, but this weather removes a lot of choices.

Well, the coffee’s ready and my neighbour’s banana bread is calling, so off to work I go. There are definitely worse ways to spend a day, even if you wish your dishwasher counter was done already! 😀

by

Sore Feet

Croft emailed me tonight to ask if everything is okay since I haven’t blogged in a bit. I looked at the date of my last post and was surprised to see that it was five days ago! The days are starting to blur together and I am oh-so-tired, but I’m making headway in my projects!

The wood flooring is up in all but the stairwell and I’ll be continuing, and finishing, the Allure this coming weekend (Thursday through Sunday).

I decided to concede defeat in regards to one project and called in a ‘pro.’ Her fee would have bought a lot of trim, but I decided that it would be worth it for a good job that was causing me a lot of headaches. Stay tuned tomorrow for the results of that. It’s a matter that has been awaiting resolution since I moved into Miranda!

The convenience store job is slowly wearing my down. My feet are soooo sore. I’ve definitely done in the shoes I’ve been wearing there, but am loathe to get a new pair for this job, so I’m going to try to tough it out. I’m glad I decided to just stay on there, even if the job sucks and I only get along with one of my colleagues. The manager and I have a rapport and the schedule he’s got me on is beyond perfect.

I’m also working on my other contracts, so there really hasn’t been a moment to breathe since the beginning of February. In fact, I can’t figure out where the month went!

So, all is well in my ‘Verse. Come back tomorrow to check out the pics for the latest project!