New oil tank

As of today we (or rather the prospective buyers) have a new oil tank and completely new lines. The installation was completed by the installer who was finally blessed by Dept of Environment & Labour as certified to a certain number of liters of tank installation. As I mentioned to the DOEL minion who called me to follow up that this detail should be listed on their website to prevent harassment of qualified tradespersons. The poor installer was desperately searching for his credentials last weekend; he did manage to locate his insurance papers but was begging forgiveness of the man of the house when he couldn’t find his certificate. I’m sure he’s thinking he’ll be so pleased to be rid of that crazy woman this guy has been mixed up with so many years.

Tonight daughter # 1 arrived, cooked supper and then took her turn sorting through stuff at the old place. She left with a car full of treasures a short while later. So progress is being made. There are plans to temporarily store a couch and desk for daughter # 2 in the summer neighbours barn until the spring. The man of the house has been given the list of large objects to be moved and the deadline of lobstering looms large as he ticks off the days. Deadlines are always a good thing for procrastinators and packrats.

There was a tragedy on the south coast of NB where the lobster fishery opened yesterday with the loss of a Captain when a vessel sank. As well an RCMP officer was buried with a full regimental funeral after he was shot on duty in the north. For the years that the life partner was a policeman he never once left the house for work that I didn't wonder if I'd see him again. There are just so many crazies in the world and so much unpredictable human behavior. Yet for all the years he's made his life on the water there have only been a handful of occasions when I've been mildly alarmed when the weather changes or he's overdue for some reason. Somehow it seems more manageable that it's him against the elements and he stands more of a chance. And he rationalizes that he's at more of a risk driving to the wharf than on the ocean.

I’m off in the morning to an infection control conference in the city. If I’d been more organized, less into settling the house, and more interested in shopping (Christmas or otherwise) then I might have gotten myself together to travel down with my work team member who headed down at noon today. But with only one day this week in the office the thought of scaling that back to ½ day just didn’t seem to work as well as the fact I’d be heading down almost 24 hrs early than required. Maybe with the house sale settled I’ll feel more inclined to holiday planning.


The winter vacation plans continue to firm up as we received confirmation from our ‘Cuban family’ of the dates of our stay. This is usually accompanied by a wish list – often headed by footwear with the required sizes. Makes the planning seem more official. Well off to pack if not for a sunny location at least an overnight with a built in wine and cheese party in the evening.