Accommodation

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Shower Snobbery

Having no hot water, I used a resort shower tonight. They’re quite nice and very clean, definitely better than any shower I’ve ever had… except Miranda’s!

Miranda’s shower has several features that make her particularly luxurious to me:

1) The angled design means more width. I can stretch out and turn comfortably. It seems to be a more efficient use of square footage;

2) It has a door instead of a curtain which tends to flap around. I used to find such doors high maintenance until I discovered the squeegee! Now, I just squeegee the doors when I’m done and the doors stay sparkling clean;

3) Storage space!

shower

The caddy has just enough room for all the things I use in a normal shower and there’s even a little shelf for extras. I had never before seen a shower or bath with proper storage!

4) The shower head on a hose is very useful for accessing those difficult to reach parts of the body.

Ah, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home. 🙂

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Swampin’

A little work update…

This week at the nursery has been okay so far. Half days there really suits me. Did I mention that I’m on half days there now? Probably not. The reasons have nothing to do with the nursery. More on that below.

Monday and today, I was swamping. Best I can figure, this job was so named because it is cold, wet, and unpleasant. I’d previously done this job, but it was much more acceptable this week. What it entails is bending down to pick up 20lb boxes of trees from slats, passing them to someone down a line, then loading them onto a trailer. Repeat ad nauseum (99 boxes of trees on the slats, 99 boxes of trees! Pick one up, pass it around, 98 boxes of trees on the slats!). I had a really good crew Monday and today, all ladies who go at my pace and have comparable strength, so it was not strenuous like the time I did it with the crew of three men. In fact, if I could have this crew all the time, I would prefer to do this job until my last day. The work is positively mindless and it’s easy to zone out, so time flies by.

Yesterday, I was put on the packing line, something I’ve decided I was just not born to do. I have very little manual dexterity and small hands, which means that I can either work fast or I can work neat, I can’t do both. Until 11, I was put on a slower line and was able to keep up fine, but then I was put on a faster one for my last hour. The supervisor only got one chance to get on my case since I told her that I know I have no business being on the line and that if she doesn’t like my being there, she should take it up with her supervisor. HMPH.

When I started there, I was told the job would run till about December 15th and now I’m hearing December 22nd. There’s no way I’m staying there that long. Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be going back down to the employment office to see if there’s anything else I could be doing. I can’t believe that on Friday I will have been there for four full weeks!!!

As for The Other Job, if this camp hosting position is typical, then I am never camp hosting again. I’ve written and rewritten and re-rewritten posts on this subject, but I can’t find the right balance between pure emotion and objective reporting. Let’s just say when I was hired the manager knew that I’m not retired.

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Stuck

Well, I installed my heat tape today and it would be a pain to remove the water hose now, so it looks like I’m settled in for the winter. :-S

First step to installing the heat tape was to cut The Hose From Hell down to a six foot length. I didn’t mind doing that since it’s thus far been a) too long and b) leaky. I was just about to cut the hose when my neighbour startled me:

Neighbour: How are you going to attach that hose if you cut it?!

Me (holding up a threaded hose connector): With this.

Neighbour: But your hose is going to leak…

Me (holding up hose tighteners): Nope, I’ve got these.

Neighbour: Oh… How’re you doing for tools?

Me (holding up sizable tool chest): Not a problem.

Neighbour: Oh. Um, your foam tubing looks like it might be too short.

Me: Yeah, I need to go pick up some more.

Neighbour: Just a sec! *rummages through basement and emerges with a length of foam tubing* Would this be enough?

Me: Perfect! Thank you so much!

LOL!!! I’m so glad I found a way for him to help me!

We had a gorgeous day here today, hot enough for me to putter around the rig in just a tee-shirt. But ‘they’ are announcing a below zero night, so I figured it was time to get the heat tape in, even though I’ve already weathered such nights without it in. The foam is installed in my overhead hatches, so all that’s left are the windows and door weather stripping and plastic.

Today, I learned how to read our electric metres. I was advised that my electricity would be paid so long as it is comparable to the average consumption and thus far it is (and is at the lower end). This is very good news! I just hope that adding a second heater won’t change those numbers too much. Then again, I won’t be the only person heating more, so it shouldn’t.

Job hunting continues to suck. I went to the employment office today and got some leads, one of which I’m really excited about. Hopefully, something will come of that one.

I’ve been asked why I don’t just move to Victoria or Vancouver, even Kelowna, where I could get a really good paying job that would pay the rent and the bills. There are lots of reasons I’d rather not do that:

1) The work I’m doing to cover my rent here doesn’t really qualify as ‘work’ in my book. Plus, I can do most of it from home. I’m at work right now, finishing dinner, and keeping an ear out for the office phone (which I bring home with me) and the front gate for late arrivals;

2) The weather is a big factor in wanting to stay put. I’ve endured a lot of winters in a bad climate with inadequate housing. I’ve earned a reprieve;

3) I want this camp hosting experience. Now that I have it (and can keep up my good work to earn a good recommendation), I’ll be able to start sending out resumés to the Yukon in anticipation of the summer season. I’ll have a much better chance of finding something before I arrive than if I had no camp hosting experience at all.

I’m not desperate for work yet, but will be revising my situation in four weeks.

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Settled In

Last night was my first evening working on my own. I got one drive in and one late check in on a reservation. Both scenarios had twists that hadn’t come up in training, but I apparently handled everything fine. Since it was election night, I spent a couple of hours in the lounge watching the results trickle in. I’m allowed to crash on the couch in the unoccupied staff house, but to me it makes more sense to do so in the office where I can see people coming in. At any rate, watching tv is such a ‘once in a blue moon’ type of event that the issue is unlikely to crop up again this winter (unless our government falls again, of course).

Today, I got caught up on my laundry. Boy is it nice to have access to FREE laundry facilities!!! The laundry room in the staff house is right at an exterior door that faces my front door. I probably have less far to go to get to the washing machine here than I did at my last house!

Tomorrow is my first of three days off, so no getting up at 6:30. Yaaaay! I’ll take Miranda out for propane (so much work to go two blocks round trip, *sighs*, and then get to work installing heat tape.

I bought a little space heater at Canadian Tire and it’s managed to keep the heat in here at a cozy 20 today and 18 last night all by itself. So, I think that if I add a second one, I won’t need to use the furnace at all this winter, avoiding the propane tank rental fees. I wish I had a better idea of just how much propane I will need this winter so I can know if it’s worth getting the tank or if I should just put up with the hassle of taking Miranda out a few times. No, propane delivery to my tank is not an option; the company that does propane in this area only fills its own tanks. 🙁

I have a job interview tomorrow afternoon with A&W, a fast food chain, hopefully for the cashier position. Minimum wage in BC is pathetic, so there is no way I could make enough on part-time hours there. So, if I get an offer, I’ll probably have to consider full-time hours, unless I get a surprise and am offered a supervisor position with better pay. Or better pay, period. At any rate, any employment would be welcome right now; if something better comes along later I can always quit. I do very much like the fact that A&W is walking distance from home and right next to the supermarket.

Tonight has been very quiet. It’s nice to be ‘on duty’ and earning my keep, but still able to sit at home with a movie and a top secret project pertaining to the blog. I really enjoy cashing out; it’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of using a calculator and doing basic bookkeeping (other than my own, of course).

Once I have money coming in again and know what my full schedule will be like, I’m going to start taking off on short trips in the toad. It doesn’t make sense to pay gas and campground fees for Miranda when it won’t cost anything to leave her here and a motel would be much cheaper for an overnight (or two).

I still can’t believe that I’m here and that other than the grape picking not happening, my winter is so far progressing pretty much as predicted.

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Heating and Work

I woke up this morning to find my propane levels had apparently dropped dramatically overnight, according to Miranda’s useless sensors. So, I have anywhere from one day to one week’s left of propane (hence the word useless). I noticed that one of my neighbours has a huge tank hooked up to their coach. So, I spoke to the manager about propane delivery and she said that someone is coming by on Tuesday, Monday being Thanksgiving, and that I could get an account set up then for a propane tank rental. However, it could be up to two weeks before I could get a tank hooked up and filled! This is because they have to run a credit check on all customers because of the rental equipment.

The manager repeated that I should get electric heaters and confirmed that I am unmetred (unless I get crazy with my electric consumption). I am going to get heaters, but I just don’t feel that they would be as good for RV-wide heating as the furnace is. It makes more sense to me to use the furnace to maintain a general coach-wide temperature of about 17 or 18 and then use an electric heater to heat up the area I’m in to a comfortable temp of 20+. So, I think that getting the propane delivery set up would still be a good thing even if I go hog wild with electricity heating.

Meanwhile, I’m rationing propane. 🙂 Thankfully, it’s gorgeous outside, so I can cook there on the Coleman or the hibachi (now that I am no longer charring my meals!), and the sun has been doing a fine job of heating the coach during the day.

In other news, I got a bit of training this afternoon and was asked to work all day tomorrow to apply that training. Training for what, you might ask? For signing people in after hours, of course! I have also been asked to put in three hours on Sunday morning in the office so that the day people can go to church. So, I have to learn their computer reservation system, cash register operation, and also tour the campground to learn where all the sites are and how to best direct people into them. There’s a lot to take in! I’m especially glad that there is cash register work to do since that will update my resumé in regards to retail experience.

Last night’s gate closing at 11 wasn’t too bad. I showered and changed into my PJs ahead of time, so it was just a matter on slipping into shoes and a coat and popping out for five minutes and then going to bed straight away after since I was exhausted. But this morning’s 6:25 wake up call was a tad brutal!!! At least, it doesn’t take long to get the gates open. I was back in my still warm bed at 6:30 and managed to fall asleep again. I’m just glad that it’s pitch black out at both those hours because of my sartorial choices! LOL Oh, and the manager says that she also performs gate operation duties in her PJs, so I won’t get weird looks from her if she sees me. 🙂 In a few days, once I’ve learned the necessary procedures, I’ll need to perform ‘cash out’ duties in the evenings. She normally does that at 9 and then goes back out to do the gates at 11, but it’s up to me. I might end up preferring to go out at 10:30 and do everything at once. I suppose it will depend on how cold it is!