Wow was June a wet cold month!  There is no English expression that describes the month as well as the French phrase ‘c’était la flotte’! Parts of eastern SK are under water, communities have been evacuated, and roads are closed. It was just wet and soggy here and I still have a leaky roof, so I’m just glad that summer appears to have finally arrived with hot days and SUN!

Summer’s timing was perfect as it coincided with my first day of an eleven-day vacation! I made enough money in June that I can take eleven days off and work half days the rest of July and still be better off than fine, so I’m enjoying my well earned time off!

My friend L was scheduled to arrive this week, so the priority was to get enough gravel raked out for him to be able to back in his trailer. I’ve been working tirelessly at that, putting in about 24 hours total, including a solid 10 hours yesterday (Wednesday). I’m not done yet, but I accomplished my goal!

I was expecting L late tonight, Thursday, or Friday. Guess who knocked at my door around 9PM on Wednesday night? 🙂 He didn’t know how level my lot was going to be or if he could even back in, so he parked in the driveway of the swimming hole and then came over to see if I was awake, not realising that he had switched time zones and it was an hour earlier than he thought it was.

We caught up over a beer and then headed to bed. He was wiped from a 13-hour driving day, having had to take some unexpected detours because of flooding. By the time he got himself rerouted, he was so wound up he decided to just drive straight through, a decision I’ve made a number of times. I was pretty beat from raking all that gravel!

This morning, I headed over to his trailer where he had breakfast waiting. He then packed up and moved to Haven. There was no trouble backing up onto the gravel pile and the landing spot for the trailer was quite level, although the same can’t be said for where he’s got the truck.

Once he was set up, we headed to town to get our missing supplies for the wagon train. He’s bringing his trailer, so I’ll have not only a kitchen, but also a cook this summer. It’s going to feel like a real vacation! 🙂

He got propane, then we went to the thrift store where I found yet another cute summer dress. I might get to wear it now that the weather has turned. 🙂

While we were parked there, I went across the street to deposit a cheque I got from the Co-Op, $52 cash back on the purchases I made throughout the past year.

We then went for lunch and finished off by picking up groceries. Do we know how to have fun or what?! 😀

Back home, L got puttering while I headed to my neighbour’s place to clean. I came back and crashed with beer and had a couple of drams of whisky (no e means scotch, not bourbon!). I do love me a good whisky, as evidenced by the name of my domain, uskeba coming from the Gaelic phrase for ‘water of life’, uisge beatha, which is whisky. 🙂

Charles and Laura dropped in with Brutus and had a few beers, then I headed over to C&C’s place to help load the wagon onto the flatbed trailer.

Now, I’m off to make the coleslaw that I’m bringing for the Sunday night potluck, coleslaw tasting best after it’s had a few days to marinate. I make the oil and vinegar kind, not with mayo! The preshredded cabbage was on sale, so I decided to go with that. It’ll therefore be a quick salad to put together.

My plans for tomorrow are to start working on getting the truck ready for camping in. It’s really filthy right now, so I want to clean it up well and also wash and put up the curtains. I also need to get my tent open and aired out and pack my clothes.

I haven’t had much luck finding long-sleeved tee-shirts at the thrift stores, so I used an Amazon gift certificate to order four that offer UV protection, a feature that will be appreciated since we’re going into true prairie next week with no tree cover at all.

I need to sort out my jeans and decide which ones I’ll use for riding and I’m bringing my cowboy boots and my new outback-style leather hat. This last item was more than a splurge, but I’ve been wearing it when working in the yard and going for walks when it rains, so it’s become more than just a silly purchase for the wagon train and a new part of my wardrobe.

L only has a tiny fridge, so I’m still going to bring a cooler with me, if only for my lunch things, so I need to drop off some bottles of water into one of C&C’s freezers. Like last year, they should keep my cooler contents cool while providing me with cold water all week as the contents melt.

I’m really looking forward to the wagon train as I will get to ride a lot more this year, although the horse I’ll be riding can only be taken on the trail. So I won’t be able to go off and explore the hills on my own the way I did my first morning on last year’s wagon train. It’s still better than not getting on a horse!

So that’s the scoop from around here. Unbelievably, when I get back from the wagon train, it will be time to start making concrete plans for my October departure to Mexico. It’s going to be a short summer!