Chapter 24

Things moved fast the next day, as if to make up for the week we had spent unable to do anything truly useful.

At 5:30 the next morning, I was up and milking the cows when I could hardly believe my ears as I heard the snowplow roar past on our road. By the time I'd had a go at getting the new calf to drink from a bucket and was doing the rest of the chores, the plow roared back the other way. Then, when I could go in the house for breakfast, I found that the telephone was already restored and ringing. While I ate, the girls were already chatting with people, catching up on happenings in other people's lives while explaining what had happened to us.

I'd hardly had time to eat breakfast before Triple Dub was at the door, asking me if I could use the tractor to plow the snow up to the equipment shed so he could get his snowmobile wreckage loaded into his pickup truck and out of my hair. As soon as he saw the kitty litter on the floor and the way the junked machine was propped up, he started to apologise. I shrugged and told him we got off lucky that I'd found it in time, but I could tell he was quite upset. I tried to explain that it was just as much a lesson for me as it was for him, but I was unsure if he bought that small prevarication.

He still wasn't happy, but he let me swing the conversation around to asking about the tower that Willy had mentioned as a base for a CB antenna. It seemed it wasn't a huge, heavy windmill tower which Willy had thought it was, instead it was a much lighter and more suitable tower that had been used for a small wind-powered generator on an isolated farm. Triple Dub had bought it to use as an antenna base himself, but the town bylaws banned him from using it. Now he was having to pay storage on it, and wanted to get rid of it. We negotiated a price, then shook hands and the deal was done. He couldn't deliver it until the snow was all gone, but I couldn't set it up until I could pour a permanent concrete base to mount it on anyway, so that was no problem.

Once the dead snowmobile was loaded in his truck and tied down, I tried to talk him into coming in the house and having a coffee. However, he was adamant about getting back to town in a hurry for some reason. All I could do was wave goodbye to him and watch him rush off.

While I had the tractor out, I used it to clear away the last of the snow from around the vehicles, then plowed the worst of the drifts from a few other places where letting it thaw on its own was going to be a pain in the butt. Finally, I parked the tractor back in the equipment shed before returning to the house. As I was having a second cup of coffee, I began to make out a list of things I wanted to do and another list of things we needed from town.

Lisa-Marie joined me at the table and brought out a list she'd started, then Andy chipped in as well. In short order we'd decided that a trip to town was definitely in order for the day. Our lists ranged from buying groceries to picking up the CB radio and antenna that we'd need to go with it.

If we'd been able to get cell phone coverage in this area, that's what I'd have wanted, but they'd told Lisa-Marie that service for our area was probably three years away, so we were stuck with CB's for the time being. That being the case, as well as the base station and antenna that Lisa-Marie had bought, I wanted at least two more mobile stations and smaller antennas, one for the pickup and one for the tractor.

Then I went into the room that was going to become the downstairs bathroom and grabbed the supply list for that conversion. I wanted that job done soon, even if I had to do it myself. Grabbing the phone, I called my buddy, the plumber, to check my list of supplies with him. He went over it with me, adding a few items and recommending that I change a couple of fittings that I'd had on my list for ones that he said were better or more reliable. He told me which supplier to go to and said he'd call them right away so I could buy the supplies at his discount.

When I explained that we only had one bathroom on the second floor of the house, but lived with two women who spent most of their time on the first floor, he broke into laughter and teased me about being pussy whipped. I just grinned and admitted it.

He chuckled, then said he'd come out next weekend to help me finish off the job, but told me that if I was in a real hurry, I could probably start myself. I asked what I had to leave for him to do, I could almost hear him shrug his shoulders, as he admitted that he just wanted to be able to see all the joints to be sure there were no leaks in the final hook up. As he said, no inspectors were going to check on the plumbing in an old farm house anyway.

With that done, I asked Lisa-Marie where the telephone book was hidden.

"Why? Who do you want to call?" She asked as she brought it to me.

"The College at Olds, I wanted to see if anyone was in the office today."

"I can save you a call." She grinned, but handed me the phone book anyway. "They know we're coming because Andy called them in case they had any information on the paramedic program. She thought we'd be going by there today to see about you changing your study course to correspondence instead of the going back to the classroom. They'll have your papers ready to sign and some info for her as well."

I simply grinned and threw my hands up in submission that they were doing a good job of helping me run my life.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me, thank Andy." She laughed.

So I did.

After I took the time for a quick shower and a change of clothes, the girls and I were off to town. Oh, but it felt good to be driving the pickup down a clear road and seeing the sunshine on the snow-covered fields. We were in great moods and the day seemed to match.

As we drove, we worked out an itinerary because we wanted to load things in the back of the pickup in a certain order. That way we could be sure nothing important would be damaged or spoiled, either by loading other things or by the weather, just in case the chinook died off and the temperature changed before we got home. Even with all that planning, Andy was insistent that some of the fruits and fresh vegetables were going to be riding back to the farm in the cab of the truck with us. There was no way she wanted to try to cook with things that had been frost bitten or cooled too much. Both Lisa-Marie and I teased her about it, but at the same time we knew she was right.

Since most of the deals Lisa-Marie had made were made while she'd been in Olds, we headed there first.

Lisa-Marie explained that after the first night she'd been staying in our local town, but she and Jean had been travelling to Olds each day to see Matilda Granger. The old lady was in the hospital there, but because of the blizzard, they weren't able to get a motel room in the whole darn city, The motels had all been booked solid. I hadn't realised that until she mentioned it, but it made sense in a way because the police were trying to keep people off the roads.

The idea of all of Jean and her Mom travelling thirty miles each way at least once a day and doing it in a howling blizzard showed exactly how dedicated to that old lady they were. Lisa-Marie told us it hadn't been that bad. The town was on a main road, so the road was plowed at least four times a day and often more than that. Either the snow plow driver or the cops would let them know when the plow was making a trip and they'd arrange to follow him. Having been out in more than one whiteout myself, I just shuddered and the bright sunshine we were in at the time seemed all that much more welcome.

When we got to Olds, I dropped off Lisa-Marie downtown to do some of her shopping after agreeing where to meet her later, then Andy and I carried on to the College. That's where we split up for a while.

The Dean actually wanted to talk to me. It seemed I was the seventh person to approach the College about finishing off our particular course as a correspondence course, but I was only the third one of the year he was going to grant the opportunity to actually do the las while this way. He was only doing it because of the fact that I actually had what he referred to as 'extenuating circumstance.' In other words I had a farm of my own with animals that needed constant care and feeding and he wanted me to be certain that I understood that I was getting special treatment because he didn't want others to feel discriminated against.

I admitted that I was of two minds about the situation because I felt that I was actually learning a lot in class. He reassured me that he didn't have any second thoughts about the situation. He'd checked with my instructors and they felt that even with what I had learned so far, I could pass the final. He warned me that even with that assurance, I was going to need to devote at least a few hours every day to study and review and that I was going to have to come in to write my finals in the classroom.

However, if I did a satisfactory job of the home study course and got decent final grades, they wouldn't mention the fact that I was finishing the course by correspondence. In other words I would get full accreditation for attending the course. It was going to cost me a hundred dollars for the course work I'd need, but I'd save that much in the residence fees alone. Knowing all that, I simply had to take advantage of the opportunity because it gave me so much more freedom.

In the long run, I was only at the college about an hour, long enough to talk to the Dean, then sign out the course work, pick up the books from my locker and pack my gear from the residence.

After that, I went back to the main office and met Andy. She had all the info on taking the EMR (Emergency Medical Responder) course and she found that she had to take that as a prerequisite to taking any further Paramedic courses. She now had a much better idea of what she wanted as well and thought the full Paramedics course was more than what she wanted, but she thought the EMR course wasn't quite enough. Fortunately the Red Cross offered almost exactly what she wanted to have to fill in and that was covered in the Red Cross' CPR/AED course which she then found she had to take as a prerequisite to the EMR course anyway.

The problem was that the only CPR/AED course taking place in Alberta before the June date of her registration for her EMR course was happening in Edmonton and it was taking place the week after next. The College had managed to get her preregistered to take it, but she had to sign in and pay her fees before five P.M. Monday evening prior to the course, which would take up the following two days.

The College had even taken the time to register her for an EMR course that took place in Calgary in June. One other bit of good news was that all it would cost her for the EMR course was a bit more than a thousand dollars. She'd also have to plan on spending about eight or ten nights in a motel or someone's residence because the courses ran in four sessions of two consecutive days each time, and ran from nine in the morning until five at night. There was no way she could make that the two way trip home each day and still be in shape to study anything.

She had just over a week to get ready and get to the first course in Edmonton, but still she was in a bit of a fluster and was talking a mile a minute. I got her out to the truck, then went downtown, where we picked up Lisa-Marie. The instant Andy saw Lisa-Marie, she started explaining all over again, right from the beginning. I decided that an early lunch was in order so that Andy could talk herself out and drove to my favourite Chinese restaurant for lunch. Andy was still taking about what she had been told when we went inside and found a booth.

When Mama Tang came over with the menus, I winked and held up three fingers and mouthed the word 'Special, ' raising my eyebrows in question and she grinned at me, giving a tiny shake of her head, then nodded toward the two girls, signalling that I should be patient. I just shrugged and grinned back as she left the menus with me and went back to the coffee pot, holding it up, raising her eyebrows in a question. I nodded and held up one finger, but Lisa-Marie caught that motion. She reached out a hand and rested it on Andy's arm, breaking up the flood of words Andy had been spouting.

"If we aren't careful, this impatient S.O.B. is going to order and eat, while we sit here talking. Let's order first, then we'll put our heads together to solve your problems." She smiled at Andy.

"Oh, I am sorry." Andy laughed. "It's just that its happening and I'm so excited."

Mama Tang was at my side in seconds a huge grin one her face. "Hello Tom. You come back! Start class again next week?"

"No, Mama Tang, I'm going to finish off the year by taking a correspondence course. It's just too hard trying to run a farm and go to school at the same time."

"Oh yes, I understand. Didn't know you already owned farm. You need farm worker? Pretty darn cheap. Eldest daughter wants to start farm, grow vegetables, needs experience."

"I think he's got his hands full of helpers already. He's marrying Lisa-Marie, but I'm staying with them because my parents and I don't see eye to eye." Andy laughed softly, holding out her hand toward Mama Tang. "I'm Andy by the way."

"Hello Andy." Mama Tang smiled as she shook hands, and looked at Lisa-Marie, then at me rather strangely.

Her eyes whipped back to Lisa-Marie. "You let him keep just in case - spare around and not get angry?"

Lisa-Marie laughed in delight. "Andy had a bit of trouble and she was my friend. Keeping her around was my idea, but now she's going off to get an education. Perhaps she'll meet a tall dark man and decide to stay with him instead of with us, who knows?"

"Okay, if she does and you start family, then need help, you remember eldest daughter, okay?" Mama Tang smiled. "She good worker, not shirk any job. Now, you ready to order?"

Ordering only took a couple of minutes. The girls having soup and a sandwich while I was having a number two special, then Mama Tang disappeared into the kitchen.

I lifted a hand and pointed a finger at Lisa-Marie.

"You be careful! You might be kidding, but she isn't." I said softly. "My bet is that we get served our meal by Mai-Lin, the daughter Mama Tang was talking about, and I'll warn you, she's a doll!"

"I'm not sure I was kidding." Lisa-Marie smiled. "You were the one who was saying something about that isolation strip that separates the land you lease to Fran and use to prevent the kids from having easy access from her land to the road, something about how it's a pain in the butt to farm a four or five-acre segment all by itself. I was thinking that power and phone are available right at the road and having someone living right there would discourage kids from parking on the road allowance, then walking in to party on the creek banks at night. She could move a trailer onto the site in the spring and we'd have another small source of income as well as a guard who lived there twenty-four hours a day."

"You know, it makes sense." Andy nodded. "She'd have the water from the creek for irrigation and she could grow a lot of vegetables on five acres. You should actually think about it. I'd like the idea of having fresh vegetables without all the work of growing them, even if I would want to grow some special ones myself. Besides, if she did that, perhaps you'd let me talk to Fran about growing some herbs on Fran's side of the fence."

"I give up." I snorted, throwing my hands in the air and breaking into laughter.

"Hi, Big Tom. What's so funny?" Mai-Lin smiled as she came up with our soup as I'd expected.

"Oh, these two women." I grinned at her. "They were wondering how big a place you wanted to rent for your vegetable farm?"