Nearly first thing this morning I headed to the post office. I got to meet the post master and received a key for my box. She asked me to return the key when I leave. I laughed and said that I hope to have that mail box for at least 30 years! She gasped. I think that my owning a lot in town wasn’t enough for her to believe I was planning to put any roots down here at all.

I don’t know yet what I’ll do with my mail in the winter, but I gave C&C access to the box when I filled out the paperwork just in case having them check it in the winter ends up being the best solution. I really don’t get any pressing mail except the odd royalty and commission cheque. Jody deposits those for me and I’d have to come up with something similar here.

The important thing is that this is to be my mailing address for as long as the post office here exists. I am sick and tired of having to make an address change! I’ve successfully redirected my mail in the past, so if I go anywhere else in Canada for any length of time, I can get my mail without having to change anything. It’s just trickier to the States; even if I could get mail redirected there, I wouldn’t be able to deposit the odd cheque. I’ve got six months to figure out the best solution.

I then drove into Assiniboia for groceries. Wow, what a madhouse since the store was closed yesterday for Victoria Day. There were crazy traffic jams in the aisles, plus their meat freezers went out over the long weekend, so there were a lot of unhappy carnivores.

I was able to find what I needed and am pleased to say that the produce at the Assiniboia Co-op is most satisfactory; very fresh and tasty even at this time of the year. I even found a good pineapple for $2.99. C&C told me that once their garden starts producing I should shop at their place since they give away the bulk of what they grow, but in the meantime, it’s nice to know I can get good tomatoes and leafy greens. I also discovered I picked a good day to shop since it was scratch and save day. You are guaranteed 5% and can get up to 25%. I was quite happy with the 5% as that was better than nothing!

Western Canada has a chain of stores under the Co-op name. It’s really hard to get information about this brand since each Co-op is independent. Locally, I am under the Southland Co-op. It was $10 to join, which bought me 10 shares and I am now a part owner of the grocery, hardware, and convenience store, as well as the gas bar! The only advantage I see to this is that I will get a share of the equity based on how much I buy locally in a year and I may occasionally get a token cash rebate. If I’m here for the rest of my life and shop here for six months ever year, especially with what I’ll be spending on fuel, this could really add up. At age $69, I would be eligible to get my equity in cash. So for $10, it seemed silly not to join.

I need to get a couple of hours of work done, then I will head back out into the yard and keep working on my leaves since there is very little wind today and I will also move more pallets.

I’m rather glad I don’t have Miranda parked ‘permanently’ yet this summer as I’m getting a chance to see if the corner I reserved for her really is the best. Indeed. It is very shaded, which will be good in the summer, but the passenger side will get all the mid to late day sun; perfect!