My adventures in Saskatoon first meant leaving the city, for when the oldest son came home and found me online applying for jobs from the back porch and wired into the outside extension cord, he told me his parents were at the cabin east of Humbolt. I debated internally, and then decided to go see the cabin which I had visited in early stages of its building and hang out with them at the lake.
The drive to the cabin felt like a long one after having spent the last two days driving, but it was nice to arrive and find them playing cards while Randy worked outside. I joined him and we tinkered until dinner and then we watched a children’s movie as a family. The next day Randy and I made good on our talk and felled two dead trees that had been under discussion. Once the cleanup from that was done and we’d worked on the dock, it was time to drive back into the city. The family had gone before to visit inlaws, so Randy and I drove to the house and there began the work on a friend’s dishwasher install which was to replace my shingles pain with back spasms. It was easily the worst install I have ever been party to, partially because of decisions made in the past about the flooring and partially just a poor build. Part of my job was to lift and hold the countertop, which easily weighed over a hundred pounds. I felt that the next morning so that when it came time to approach the tree in the backyard, I wasn’t up for it at all. Instead we did more dishwasher work after I took a med to dull the pain, and then persevered.
I left the next day for Winnipeg. My back was slightly better, my shingles a dull ache as a reminder, but oddly a slight intermittent pain in my right ear. I am falling apart.
