Work

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Nugget City Projects

Here, for your viewing pleasure, are pictures of some of the work I’ve done at Nugget City. The owner has enough projects left to last me until doomsday and I know he’d love to have a certain painter on staff full-time. Oh well. 🙂

This was one of the biggest jobs I did. The whole front of the restaurant in May was covered in mounds of dirt. Using a shovel, rake, and wheelbarrow, I leveled and cleaned up the space of rocks and twigs.

This was one of the biggest jobs I did. The whole front of the restaurant in May was covered in mounds of dirt. Using a shovel, rake, and wheelbarrow, I leveled and cleaned up the space of rocks and twigs.

The deck that ate up a week in May.

The deck that ate up a week in May.

Just two of the several dozen planters I weeded in the spring, planted, and reweeded in the fall.

Just two of the several dozen planters I weeded in the spring, planted, and reweeded in the fall.

My current project is restaining these posts.

My current project is restaining these posts.

The back of the Ore House. I did two coats each on the white trim and the siding. There's one coat of white left to do.

The back of the Ore House. I did two coats each on the white trim and the siding. There’s one coat of white left to do.

The fence that ate up several days and a shocking number of gallons of stain.

The fence that ate up several days and a shocking number of gallons of stain.

This garage door was sky blue when I arrived and driving the owner NUTS. Staff was relieved when I arrived since it meant they would no longer have to hear complaints about the blue door!

This garage door was sky blue when I arrived and driving the owner NUTS. Staff was relieved when I arrived since it meant they would no longer have to hear complaints about the blue door!

The painting project that started it all! I repainted the yellow strip around the island.

The painting project that started it all! I repainted the yellow strip around the island.

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A Craving for Bananas

I spent the day monkeying around, climbing up, down, and around the scaffolding so I could paint the trim and stain the log siding of the activities building proudly called ‘The Best Little Ore House’!

(Mom et grand-maman, c’est un jeu de mots: whore house=bordel, ore house=bâtiment où l’on garde des minerai!)

It was a HUGE job that took me almost 6 hours to do… and I have to do it all over again tomorrow with a second coat. The longest part was having to constantly climb up and down. The scaffolding is narrower than the building, so I’d have to climb down it then up a ladder to finish a section. The upshot of this was that by the end of the day I didn’t care about the height any more!

The weather has not been cooperating, so the focus now is to finish projects rather than add to my list. Today was beautiful and sunny until about 4 o’clock and then huge clouds rolled in at the same time as a bitterly cold wind. If the sun could have only stayed out, I would be working on the second coat right now. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice all day, though.

Looking ahead at the forecast and the owners’ hunting schedule, my last day will probably be the seventh or eighth, so there’s probably less than a week to go! Time sure flies!

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Moving Day

It was much too cold, damp, and windy to paint this morning so, with the realisation that it’s October 1st (!) it was suggested that it would be a good time for me to move out of the RV park so it can be shut down. I packed up quickly, went to dump, filled up the gas tank, and manoeuvred myself into position behind the restaurant, where they have a few spots with 30A and water. Even though the hookups are on the wrong side, my 30A cable and 10′ hose are sufficiently long enough. It’s not nearly as good a spot as being by myself down in the RV park, but there is one huge advantage: treated water. The water in the RV park is straight out of the ground. Even after filtering it, drinking this water is like drinking blood, it’s that iron rich. Moreover, I am irked by the rust spots in my plastic bathroom sink and toilet, so at least they won’t be getting any worse.

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Oh, Internet! How I Have Missed Thee!

I’m online!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The owners can now monitor internet usage and told me that there is tons left for September, so I’m welcome to surf to my heart’s content today. All well and good, but I couldn’t get on. So, the server was rebooted and, voila!, I’m online!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, let’s recap the past week…

Tuesday No. 1

I had a lazy morning in Teslin and pulled out at about 10:30. The ride to Nugget City was easy, but through rain. There is a rest stop right before the RV park, so I pulled in there at about 1:30 to have lunch and read. By the time I rolled out, the sun was out, so after a quick bit of hugging and hellos and rolling into my old spot, I was at work… and covered in primer. 🙂

A big past time out west is Texas Hold ‘Em Poker. I’ve been curious about the game; it was popular at Pacific Border and tournaments are a big draw to Dawson. The owners here play two nights a week and I’m welcome to sit in and watch, which I did Tuesday night. It’s not poker as I know it and I’m not sure it’s a game that can be learned from observation only, but it was fun to watch.

Wednesday No. 1

I did a first coat of Trem-Clad on the garage door and then spent the afternoon with my hands in the dirt, weeding and preparing the flower beds for the spring.

Thursday

Did a second coat on the garage door, weeded, and then watched all of Gone With the Wind while I backed up the iMac, wiped its drive, reinstalled OSX, and restored my files.

Friday

Woke to rain that, thankfully, cleared by my start time of 10AM. Weeded in the morning, then put on the third, and final coat of paint. It was a pretty cold day. Spent the evening watching a four-hour long Civil War era western miniseries (True Women).

Saturday

Spent the morning weeding, then began to apply stain to a huge fence.

Just after I got off work, a really big man dressed in camo knocked on my door. He informed me through the window that he was my neighbour for the night and had some fresh Kenai salmon for sale. I’ve seen this a lot over the summer; fishermen hocking their catch to anyone with whom they cross paths. He explained that the salmon is cleaned and filleted, vacuum packed, and frozen right on site. I decided to take a chance and agreed to buy one pound, for 15$. He came back with some of the reddest salmon I have seen in my life. I opened up the package and the smell was perfect, very fresh and ‘salmony’ without the nasty old fish smell. I baked the whole pound right there since I couldn’t separate the frozen fillets. I had a whole half pound for dinner, just baked to perfection and drizzled with fresh lemon juice. The rest made two fine lunches, mooshed up cold with sour cream, spices, salt, and a squeeze of lemon, then served over crackers. What a treat!

After dinner, I started to read Gone With the Wind after convincing myself that I couldn’t very well spend another four hours watching yet another Civil War-era western (Dances With Wolves)! I looked for a hard back copy of Gone With the Wind for years, scouring antique shops from Maine to Savannah, finally finding one in San Francisco. At more than a 1,000 pages, it’s heavy, so thank goodness Tabitha likes to sit on my lap when I’m reading as she gives me a good place to prop up the book. 🙂

Sunday

It was a good day, bright, but cold, and I could smell snow. I continued to work on the fence until I ran out of stain. I then went to work on the steps, had dinner, then went to observe the poker game.

Monday

Snow fell in big fat flakes all day, so I just stayed in my jammies most of the day and drank too much coffee as I continued reading Gone With the Wind. It was my first real day off in months and I enjoyed it immensely, snug as a bug and impossibly cozy with two cats in my lap and a shawl over my shoulders.

Tuesday No. 2

I awoke to a leaden sky. I’d read that expression many times, but don’t believe I’ve ever actually seen such a sky before. Knowing there would be no painting that morning, I dawdled and decided to go into town early to check my email. Followed a frantic hour-long search for my car keys!!! I tore the house apart and went through the snow outside, finally finding them on Miranda’s bumper covered with almost foot of snow! I must have left them there the last time I went to get something out of a basement compartment.

The drive into Watson Lake was easier and shorter than remembered, mostly because a long gravel stretch was finally paved! I did the email thing and then popped into the grocery store for black bread and gyoza. I’ve decided that the grocery store in Watson Lake is my favourite in the Yukon of all the ones I’ve thus far visited. Products are much fresher than at the general store in Dawson or the Nisutlin Trading Post in Teslin, and there is a greater variety of products than can be offered by the huge grocery stores found in large cities like Whitehorse.

Back home, I continued to read, then went to work at 4:15, since the sun was shining brightly and the fence was clear of snow. I did two and a quarter hours of work and called it a day, coming home to finish Gone With the Wind.

Wednesday No. 2 (today)

I awoke to a clear day and decided to get an early start at 9:30. The fence was done by lunchtime, three hours later. I stained some posts in the afternoon, but it was getting cold and there were a few snowflakes in the air, so I finished early, knowing that there are a few long days ahead of me if the weather will just cooperate.

I am now off to reply to the many comments left over the past week and to catch up on my emails!

To her had come that pleasant intoxication peculiar to those whose lives are a deliberate slap in the face of organized society – the gambler, the confidence man, the polite adventuress, all those who succeed by their wits. She said and did exactly as she pleased and, in practically no time, her insolence knew no bounds.