Travels With Miranda

By early afternoon, I was halfway through the work I had to do today and my chores were just about caught up. The sky was that crystal blue shade that screams “It’s bloody cold out here!” But it was so sunny that Outside called me, whispering my name enticingly. I decided I’d earned a long lunch break, so I bundled up and headed out into that bracing air.

Aaaaaaaaah. There is nothing like a dry cold with the snow crunching underfoot and a blinding sun overhead. I set off at a fast gait, planning to hit Value Village, a dollar store, and Subway where I would grab lunch.

My cheeks must have been rosy red when I got to my first destination! I then rediscovered the joy (not) of shopping after going for a long walk in cold weather; let’s just say you start peeling off the layers one by one! I found what I came for (a neutral-coloured wool blend cardigan) and what I’ve been looking for for ages (a light green pashmina shawl), both at bargain prices. Woohoo! The dollar store had a good brand of shoe polish on sale for $1 each and I’ve been needing some brown polish, so that was my next stop. I paid $5 for the same brand of polish in black at Walmart in the U.S. a few months ago! Then came a yummy Subway lunch. I just love their sandwiches.

I got in around 2:15, spun a load of laundry and hung it, got the last load (including my new purchases) soaking, and sat back down at the computer. I alternated transcribing, finishing laundry, and preparing dinner, and finally finished my day around 7:30, a small price to pay for getting some fresh air and exercise this afternoon!

This cold weather isn’t going to last. We’ve already started to climb back up, will hit plus three tomorrow, and are racing towards a high of plus ten midweek.

I’m curious about the week ahead. I’m either going to have very little work because of the U.S. Thanksgiving or I’m going to be swamped because I’m the only Canadian on the team…

I got up very late this morning (9:30!!!) and had no sooner sat down to coffee (which I sip while doing my fun morning online stuff) that an email landed in my inbox asking if I’d be available to do a job this weekend. As anyone who works for themselves will attest, you don’t turn down work when it comes in. But it looked to be a fairly short and easy job, so I decided to start on it mid-afternoon today, do a bit in the early evening, and then work steadily through tomorrow.

Of course, that plan changed in the early afternoon when I got an email from Jody with my favourite subject line: Gary’s cooking. I got in a couple hours of work, put on 50 billion layers, and headed across town around four. Dinner was crock pot taco soup, a new recipe for Gary. It turned out to be a winner and absolutely the perfect thing to eat on a frigid fall night!

I’m not upset at all that my weekend went kind of topsy turvy. I’ve had the most relaxed Saturday in recent memory, a belly full of homemade soup, and plenty of Jody’s delicious muffins to get me through tomorrow. As Croft would say, life is good!

Brr! We just got our first cold snap of the winter. It’s not brutal, but I am so glad to not be in the rig. I have to admit that knowing that this weekend I will be warm with indoor plumbing with no effort on my part is making me much less homesick. 🙂

I strung out 150′ of extension cord yesterday and finally plugged in Miranda. After being parked for a month and a half, the battery was still fully charged. It’s not like I had anything running, of course, but it was nice to see that ‘battery fully charged’ notification beeping steadily all that time.

There’s one heater running full blast in the rig now. I just went in and poked my nose it. The rig was chilly, but not cold. I’ve made a note to go pick up a thermometer so I can take proper readings and determine if I need to get a second heater.

I had really hoped to spend time in the rig this weekend and start repainting the study and putting another couple of layers in the kitchen, but that’s not going to happen at 20 below! After working three weekends straight in a row, I think I might have earned a weekend of lazing about and the weather is forcing me to take it. 🙂