Travels With Miranda

I was laid off from the nursery job today. I can’t believe that I made it all the way to the end of this contract!!! It was a brutally hard time there, sometimes demeaning, always exhausting, but there was laughter and camaraderie, too. It reminded me that I’m not as soft or undisciplined as I think I am. I couldn’t make a career of that particular job, but I think I could do manual labour for the long term, provided it’s a position that’s a better fit for me. I gained 10lbs of solid muscle and lost 5 inches on my waistline doing this job. It sure beat riding a desk for eight hours and then squeezing in an hour at the gym!

It seems that I won’t be working the rest of December (EEP), but I’ll keep looking for work until the 20th.

My options for January are:

1) Remain in Oliver if I find a good job and stay on at the resort as a guest;

2) Remain in the Okanagan… if I find a good job. I am waiting to hear from a ski resort near Vernon that advertised an appealing position;

3) Move the Vancouver area. I’ve found a park in Fort Langley (about 40 minutes from downtown Vancouver) with reasonable rates for January and February. I told them that I will confirm a reservation next week. So, I’m giving myself that long to find a job here. So… I think I’m going to Fort Langley next.

Earlier this week, I decided to get away Friday night to, well, get away. I decided to go to Vernon, thinking it would be a quick drive as the city is just 155km north of Oliver.

Ha.

There have been road closures on highway 97 north of Summerland for months now and the situation is getting ridiculous seeing as that road is the only way to reach the north Okanagan without taking three times as long by using one of the ‘detours.’ Yesterday, I left Oliver at 1:15, figuring I would hit Summerland at 2, at the end of the scheduled 1 to 2 road closure, just squeeze in before the 2:30 closure and arrive in Vernon for about 3:30. Just as I entered Summerland, there came an announcement on the radio that the road would be closed until about 3:30. I finally pulled into Vernon at about 5:15, in the dark, and in freezing rain. Very relaxing. The four hours it took me to drive 155 kilometres doesn’t beat the 9 hours it took me to drive from the Mexican border to north of Los Angeles (less than 200km), but it’s pretty close.

At any rate, I sure was glad to get to the B&B I’d found via trusty old Google, Richmond House 1894. I’d called my hosts, Dinham and Kathy, to let them know I would be very late, so they were waiting for me when I arrived. Kathy lead me up to my room, the Tennyson, and showed me around the guest area. Richmond House is a beautifully appointed Victorian jewel with all the comforts of home. I had a specific reason for picking this B&B:

A sight for sore eyes for an RVer who loves a good soak!

Before the ultimate of all treats, I asked for some suggestions for dinner and Kathy was quick to suggest Sushi 1 on 30th Avenue. Not having had Japanese in way too long, I headed that way. Dinner, while not inexpensive, was fabulous! I went for the evening bento box special which had sashimi, shrimp rolls, tofu, tempura, teriyaki salmon, and more. Add a Sapporo beer and I just about rolled out of there, LOL! One thing I love about Japanese food is that you rarely know what you’re eating, but just about everything is delicious. I easily recognized the salmon sashimi, but there was also some white fish I’d never had before. Both were equally delicious. Raw fish is not at all like cooked fish, it has a very delicate flavour and a ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ texture that is slightly gummy, but not slimy. When I started to eat fish voluntarily several years ago, I actually started with sashimi before ‘graduating’ to cooked fish. So, the bento box is a fabulous deal and I highly recommend Sushi 1 in Vernon!

Then, I had a much needed and well-timed soak as yesterday we moved ‘mega’ blocks weighing 25lbs to 30lbs each and my muscles were sore!

Sleep came easily in a luxuriously soft bed…

Breakfast this morning was the proverbial icing on the cake: fresh juice, excellent coffee, fruit compote with yoghurt, waffles with mounds of berries and whipped cream, two muffins, and a slice and a half of pumpkin loaf. I brought the muffins and loaf home as I was stuffed by the time they came out of the kitchen! The price for all this luxury is worth mentioning as I’ve paid more to stay in crappy motels with no amenities: 75$, taxes included.

It’s really winter in Vernon, with snow, slush, and freezing rain, so I wasn’t too tempted to tool around much this morning. I’d made a list of interesting-sounding attractions open on Saturday mornings and decided to visit the Okanagan Science Centre.

The museum is tiny and kid-oriented. At present, it is between exhibits, so there isn’t really much to see. It was still worth a detour for me because of the reptiles!

First, though, I toured their astronomy section and really enjoyed the exhibit featuring a ‘what if’ scenario for someone stranded on the moon: your craft is damaged, there is stuff to fix it 100km away at a station, and these are the items available for your journey. Which five items will help you and which three will hinder you? I was surprised by some of the answers.

As I was heading out, a lady asked if I want to pet the one snake available for public touching, seeing as the others were digesting after being fed yesterday. Of course! The snake in question was a young (two year old) albino boa (making him cream and orange-coloured) and such a darling! The lady even let me hold him for a surprisingly long time. I love boas! After getting my fill of the boa, I was invited to take a look at the resident anaconda (a member of the boa family), not something I was about to turn down! To my delight, this wound up being a green anaconda, not a black one like I’d seen in San Francisco and Brandon. Her name is Bridget and she’s a beauty, olive-skinned with black spots. Just as I thought the visit couldn’t get any better, I was invited to hold one of the resident bearded dragons! I’d never in my life held such a critter before and it was quite the experience! He was a rolypoly fellow, with a huge tummy and a love of having the top of his head scratched. Anyone who thinks that a reptile can’t show affection has never met Ralph the bearded dragon!

And that was the end of my over night trip to Vernon. The drive home was better, although I still hit an unscheduled 15 minute closure at Summerland.

When I left yesterday, I turned off the space heater, left the radiator on high and the furnace set to 60, hoping that this would keep Miranda’s temperature at 16 even though we were set for another very cold night yesterday. I got in this afternoon and it was 16.5 in here. So, that’s very useful information to file away for the next time I leave her overnight in cold weather.

This morning, I awoke to find Miranda rocking back and forth. It was almost like being on a boat! So, I sure wasn’t surprised when I stepped outside to find the wind gusting at about 30KPH. As we worked this morning in the greenhouses, their plastic coverings flapping ominously, I joked that if the house had wings we could take off. My surly (but sweet!) supervisor actually found that funny. Bitterly cold wind not withstanding, it’s been a beautiful day with sun and a really odd sky colour. I believe it’s called ‘blue.’

As if the day wasn’t surreal enough, we had that coup in Ottawa. I just can’t believe that our politicians, who are of the talking, not acting, variety, conspired together to bring down the current government. Let’s hope the Queen (via the Governor General, of course) signs off on the coalition!

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.

It’s a good thing that today is a stat and that the nursery is closed, otherwise I would have quit last night.

Yesterday morning was fine. The afternoon, however, was a nightmare. We changed tree types and bundle specifications. I was just getting the hang of making bundles of ten trees and was just about able to keep up the pace. Bundles of fifteen trees require a different pattern and the trees are a lot bigger, so I can’t pick them up with one hand. As the afternoon progressed, I got more and more behind and the line supervisor yelled my name more and more, sometimes across the harvest room, and more shrilly every time. It was humiliating. I was obviously doing the best I could, was obviously painfully aware of how inadequate I was, and obviously trying to master in one afternoon a skill the line manager had been working on for years. The 80$ I made yesterday was definitely not worth being belittled like that.

We’ll see how things go tomorrow. I suspect I won’t be put on a line again. If I am and I get yelled at just one time, I’ll be advising the production manager that I won’t be back on Thursday.

*scans the ‘want ads’ hopefully*