Our stuff is here…..where are the horses

Well, the household stuff arrived today and it is a welcome sight. We were able to cook in the kitchen without having to improvise measuring devices (those little plastic sandwich containers work well in a pinch) and we no longer have the limited choices of sitting on the floor or standing in the kitchen when we have dinner. The guys who unloaded our stuff worked very quickly and got everything off the truck in about four hours. Thus far, the only damage we have found was a dent in our metal trashcan.

In other news, the painting is progressing albeit a bit slower than I would have liked. In the perfect world we would have completed two rooms prior to the arrival of the household goods, but since our world is anything but perfect, I have just finished the second coating of primer on the master bedroom. With luck, I can paint the whole thing tomorrow and we can move most of our furniture out of the other rooms and into the bedroom. That would mean we could sleep in our house, on a bed, how cool.

The arrival of the household goods is not without a hitch. The staircase that leads upstairs is a bit narrow. The house is 100 years old, it is an old New England style farm house, and the stairs are narrow. Come on, it is 100 years old, and beds were smaller then. Our bed, a queen size, was unable to successfully navigate the stairs. The mattress made it alright, but the box spring got stuck, and since we are renting, we did not feel the comfortable pushing it through. So, we have a mattress upstairs, a box-spring in the garage, and one more item on the “to do” list.

Medical News
Now that we have arrived on the island, I am beginning to get the last minute in person details finished in order to legally work, and receive compensation for that work. To bring things up to date, the process of getting a license to practice on the island was far easier and more straight-forward that things were in Texas.

The process involved completing the application for the College of Physicians and Surgeons PEI since they are the licensing authority. This was pretty straight-forward and did not require any complex actions on my part. Much to my surprise, it was relatively efficient, and not too expensive. The attitude of the College is trust but verify, so I have been granted a temporary license until all of my credentialed are verified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) for PEI.

Again, this was pretty straightforward. I had to complete an application, send some money, and await the verification process to be completed. In less than one week I had received an e-mail from the ECFMG folks telling me that they had received my application, and that it would be reviewed and processed in three weeks. Once this is complete, I am fully licensed.
With all of that rolling along smoothly, we arrive at the last minute details that cannot be completed prior to arrival in Canada. These include things like the application for a billing number, malpractice insurance, and training on the computers at the hospital. The one thing that is currently outstanding is the acquisition of a Social Insurance Number (the Canadian equivalent of a social security number) and we are applying for these tomorrow, as well as squaring away our insurance.

Not bad for a couple of folks from Texas. Now if only our horses would arrive things would be great.

It ain't home till you strip the wallpaper and paint the rooms

C+3

Today we began the repainting process. It seems that no matter where we go, we immediately get involved in the process of repainting the house. Today was no exception, we bought paint yesterday along with all the equipment needed (brushes, paint, tape, drop cloth, rollers, pails, etc). Today we put those to use and began taping off the master bedroom as well as stripping off the wallpaper in the other bedrooms. You would think that we would have gotten quite a bit done today with the painting, but we had social obligations that came first.

Dr Dickieson and his wife wanted us to have brunch with them at the local golf club, and brunch turned the house so they could look it over and render their opinions. So, the noon brunch ended around 3:30 and we began to tape the bedroom and strip the wallpaper. However, we were not to get too much done because at 6:30 we had a dinner date with Pam and Jim at their house and by 11 pm we were back home to gather our things to go to the hotel for the night.

“Hotel for the night? I thought that you were in your house?”
Well that would be correct, we are in the house, but our household goods will not be arriving for another two days, and so we spent last evening at a hotel, and we will spend the next two nights at a different hotel.

“So that is Saturday and Sunday night in hotels, what happened Friday?”
Well Friday we arrived at the house and got things set up in the home (including the movement of the fridge etc) and then we settled in to fall asleep. The trick to the sleeping was that the only bed in the house was the dog bed. Granted it is a nice bed, but it is not a proper bed. As I mentioned yesterday Nancy had the bed and I had a yoga mat. Well everyone insisted that we could not sleep on the floor again, and so they put us up at a hotel. We had the best night of sleep that we have had in several days. Needless to say, when they offered to continue to put us up until our stuff arrived we took them up on it without question.

So, today was wonderful with a series of meals and conversations. We did not get as much taped as we would have like to do so, but we did get some “work” done. Tomorrow we get the last of the customs papers completed and fax off the last of the paperwork for the horses. Also, we will get some painting done.