Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
A Couple of Funny Stories
Well we had those couple of beers with Charlie, and Sandy and I were really tired and ready for bed. But Charlie suddenly got a "second wind" and decided to go back out for more. OK, he's younger than we are and can probably handle it and still get up and go to work in the morning.
I woke up just after 6:00 and quietly turned on the coffee, letting Sandy sleep a bit longer and not a peep out of Charlie's room. That's OK. I'll make sure he's up to get to work. He had said he had to pick Frieda up at 7:30 so there was lots of time. I like my first coffee by myself, anyway.
So I took my coffee out on to the balcony. It was just a beautiful morning. One problem - Charlie's truck wasn't in the parking lot where it had been the night before. Oh no, how can we leave. We don't have a key to lock his apartment - it's a deadbolt key operated only.
No problem, I'll just phone Charlie on his cell and see what he wants us to do. A very sleepy sounding Charlie answered the phone. Here's our brief conversation.
Me: "Good morning, where are you?"
Charlie: "At home"
Me: "Oh, OK"
Hang up.
Didn't make sense, though - no pickup. So I looked in his room and it looked like someone could have been in his bed completely covered. No, it was a body pillow.
So I called him back again, and this time he said, "I'll be right there." I'll let him tell the rest.
Second funny story.
We had to fax Sandy's personal information to head office so they could get our ACE Manifest ready for crossing the border. One thing they needed was Sandy's Birth Certificate. She said it was packed in one of the dresser drawers which was in storage, at the back. OK, we've got to have it. Penske was doing some work on the truck so while that was happening, we'd go get it. The storage unit was just around the corner from Penske's lot, so we would just take a cab over and dig it out. We just got into the cab when I remembered that I had left the key for the storage unit in the pickup which was at H & R's yard, on 170 St. north of the landfill. OK, cab, take us to H & R. Got the key, now take us to Budget. Half an hour of digging and moving stuff produced no Birth Certificate.
OK, we'll go to AMA and get a new one. We got another cab and headed for AMA on 170 St. Six blocks down the road, Sandy says, "here it is". It was in here purse all the time. I didn't say a word because it wouldn't have been nice and the cab driver was present. Anyway, $32 and a lot of digging thru storage later, she had her Birth Certificate. We are finally on our way. The truck was fixed, and we're going to get our load.
But something else got changed. Instead of a meat load out of Brooks, they want us to got to Kamloops with a load, deadhead to Kelowna, load for Calgary, and then Brooks to Illinois.
All went well, even the border crossing. The customs agent has seen me many times. He didn't even ask if we had anything to declare - never asked a question. He just stamped my manifest and said, "head for X-ray and come inside". But that's standard with meat loads. I always have to take my paperwork inside to Agriculture before going to meat inspection.
The trip across Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and into Illinois was routine. It was nice having company. This is what I've wanted for a long time. This morning we unloaded in Bowlingbrook, IL.
Early tomorrow, we have to load about a mile from here. We're taking that load to Nebraska, switching trailers and heading back East to Montreal. We're going to stop for the weekend in Ft. Wayne, IN and meet some of my relatives that I have never met. Then Sunday head up to Montreal.
We've been organizing the truck today so that Sandy will be comfortable. There's a lot of stuff in here, and I didn't know until we reorganized my cupboards how much chili I had bought. Funny I never ate much chili - I just bought it, and a lot of other stuff. I guess we'll just have to eat more and shop less.
Getting late, so I'm off to bed. Sandy's sleeping already. Her TV works great in here, and I've got my Internet.
Everybody's happy.
Catch the next post tomorrow, or in a few days.
I woke up just after 6:00 and quietly turned on the coffee, letting Sandy sleep a bit longer and not a peep out of Charlie's room. That's OK. I'll make sure he's up to get to work. He had said he had to pick Frieda up at 7:30 so there was lots of time. I like my first coffee by myself, anyway.
So I took my coffee out on to the balcony. It was just a beautiful morning. One problem - Charlie's truck wasn't in the parking lot where it had been the night before. Oh no, how can we leave. We don't have a key to lock his apartment - it's a deadbolt key operated only.
No problem, I'll just phone Charlie on his cell and see what he wants us to do. A very sleepy sounding Charlie answered the phone. Here's our brief conversation.
Me: "Good morning, where are you?"
Charlie: "At home"
Me: "Oh, OK"
Hang up.
Didn't make sense, though - no pickup. So I looked in his room and it looked like someone could have been in his bed completely covered. No, it was a body pillow.
So I called him back again, and this time he said, "I'll be right there." I'll let him tell the rest.
Second funny story.
We had to fax Sandy's personal information to head office so they could get our ACE Manifest ready for crossing the border. One thing they needed was Sandy's Birth Certificate. She said it was packed in one of the dresser drawers which was in storage, at the back. OK, we've got to have it. Penske was doing some work on the truck so while that was happening, we'd go get it. The storage unit was just around the corner from Penske's lot, so we would just take a cab over and dig it out. We just got into the cab when I remembered that I had left the key for the storage unit in the pickup which was at H & R's yard, on 170 St. north of the landfill. OK, cab, take us to H & R. Got the key, now take us to Budget. Half an hour of digging and moving stuff produced no Birth Certificate.
OK, we'll go to AMA and get a new one. We got another cab and headed for AMA on 170 St. Six blocks down the road, Sandy says, "here it is". It was in here purse all the time. I didn't say a word because it wouldn't have been nice and the cab driver was present. Anyway, $32 and a lot of digging thru storage later, she had her Birth Certificate. We are finally on our way. The truck was fixed, and we're going to get our load.
But something else got changed. Instead of a meat load out of Brooks, they want us to got to Kamloops with a load, deadhead to Kelowna, load for Calgary, and then Brooks to Illinois.
All went well, even the border crossing. The customs agent has seen me many times. He didn't even ask if we had anything to declare - never asked a question. He just stamped my manifest and said, "head for X-ray and come inside". But that's standard with meat loads. I always have to take my paperwork inside to Agriculture before going to meat inspection.
The trip across Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and into Illinois was routine. It was nice having company. This is what I've wanted for a long time. This morning we unloaded in Bowlingbrook, IL.
Early tomorrow, we have to load about a mile from here. We're taking that load to Nebraska, switching trailers and heading back East to Montreal. We're going to stop for the weekend in Ft. Wayne, IN and meet some of my relatives that I have never met. Then Sunday head up to Montreal.
We've been organizing the truck today so that Sandy will be comfortable. There's a lot of stuff in here, and I didn't know until we reorganized my cupboards how much chili I had bought. Funny I never ate much chili - I just bought it, and a lot of other stuff. I guess we'll just have to eat more and shop less.
Getting late, so I'm off to bed. Sandy's sleeping already. Her TV works great in here, and I've got my Internet.
Everybody's happy.
Catch the next post tomorrow, or in a few days.
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