Steps To Moving

 One month from today we will take possession of our new home. It certainly is a process.  Our final move is courtesy of the RCMP which means we do everything according to their schedule which is okay when they cover the bulk of the costs. So let’s, step back and see how we got here.

August - we listed our house.  Over the next three months, we had a good number of showings but no offers.  As the three month contract approached, we decided to take the house off the market and wait until spring.  

November - The week before the agreement was to expire, we got the offer. We went to Ontario and shopped hard for a house but nothing firm was completed in the first seven days.  That first week was paid by the RCMP and after that we were on our own.

December - After three long weeks, over 30 houses and our third offer, we found the house we wanted to retire in.  We flew back to Alberta, decorated for Christmas, and had Stephen and Kylie come to celebrate.

January - we undecorated and left all the Christmas bins and boxes in the middle of the recroom floor.  Ron has been busy with talking to lawyers, finding insurance, getting tv and internet disconnected and connected, dealing with the propane company and the hot water heater situation.  I have worked on finances, giving dates for disconnects and making sure that we have hydro when we get to Tamworth. 

Our minds are constantly thinking about what we need to do next and going over lists of what we need to remember.  It will all happen but sometimes we need to just get out and clear our mind and that is what we did yesterday.  

So what else needs to be done:

• Clean out the storage area in the house
• Pull down all of the items from the shelves at the top of the garage
• Clean the appliances when we are done using them (the mini fridge and freezer are already empty)
• Continue to organize by putting things together so they will be packed and unpacked together 
• Go to Lethbridge to sign things at the lawyers and pick up the summer tires that have been stored at Honda
• Do a mail forward at the post office

We have also been doing all of our last appointments.  We had a dentist appointment and a massage. I have booked blood work, a doctor’s appointment and a hair appointment and we both have one more massage appointment.

Looking ahead:  

• February 9 & 12 - packing the house
• February 13 - load day and start our drive

Christmas Catch Up

Normally, I would start decorating our house for Christmas the middle of November but this year things went a little crazy.  Getting an offer on our house right when I would normally be pulling out the many bins definitely threw my schedule off.  So, instead of decking the halls, we were throwing things in a suitcase and heading off to Ontario to buy our forever home.

Finally, after three weeks, many kilometres, three offers and perhaps a few tears along the way…we were able to check that huge purchase off of our list of things to do.

We arrived back in Pincher Creek on Tuesday afternoon and unpacked.  Wednesday morning the bins, boxes and trees came out of hiding.  By that evening, the house was looking very festive.

The next day, Ron and I both had massages.  I was told that my neck was extremely tight. Stress…perhaps!

Friday morning, we headed to the mountains.  A massage may remove some stress but there is nothing like the view of the mountains to help you relax.  

We took our skis and snowshoes to see what activity the snow would allow us to do.  In Pincher Creek, we have green grass but the mountains shared a little winter with us on that day.  We went further than I expected but it was just too nice to stop.  

Apparently, the warm weather has confused the bears because we did see some tracks of them roaming. And yes, we will miss our mountains when we move!

On Saturday, we had a relaxing day and then on Sunday, we went to church.  It was nice to see everyone.  I went to Tracey’s for an afternoon tea and we visited for a couple of hours.  I’m going to miss her.  I’m thankful for modern technology to help friends from far and wide to connect.  It’s not the same but it helps with the goodbyes.

Another week as gone by since then and it makes you wonder how time can fly by so fast.  Christmas will be here and gone before we know it.  January will bring lots of preparations and February will be our move month but stop, I need to enjoy the moment.  I’m sipping on my last bit of coffee with the Christmas lights adding some ambiance…time goes by too fast and so does the coffee.

Family Day

A few years ago a new holiday surfaced in Canada.  The idea is perfect.  Family Day!  A special day for families to spend together.  Back in Ontario, my sister organized a family reunion and I saw some of the pictures.  On Facebook, there were lots of photos of family get-togethers.  Ron and I found ourselves on this year's family day, just the two of us.

So...we did some planning.

First, we planned a cross country ski trip with our son.  We booked an inn in Radium, BC in March.  It will be great.  I'm already planning the menu and looking forward to spending some special time with our boy and his boy, Tanker!

We then went skiing, just the two of us. 

It was a cold day but we dressed the weather.

We stopped at a lookout and my phone rang.  Jenn and the kids called on the way home from the family reunion.  It was so nice for them to call and for my phone to have service at the top of the mountain.

We really enjoyed the day.  The weather was great and my company was the best.

We stay together through a lot of the trails but at one point we split for him to go on the blue trails while I stay on the easy/green ones.  I decided to try a new route.  It was beautiful with the snow laying heavy on the branches.  As the wind blew the snow off of the trees there were times that it felt like I was in a snow globe.  I came around one corner and a "not so green" hill was in front of me.  I tried to snow plow but instead I plowed full speed down the hill and landed head first into a fortunately very soft snow bank.

I got up, dusted the snow off of my hat and continued on down the trail to meet my family...okay, it was just Ron.  He's good family.

On the way home from skiing, we stopped to pick up groceries and guess what?  Family Day is a good day to get Valentine's sales.

When we got home, we did some more family planning.  We booked tickets to go to Ontario at the end of June to pick up three of our grandchildren.

Family day turned out great.  Spending the day with my hubby, booking family get-togethers and eating chocolate!

Forty Minutes To Snow

While the forecast in Ontario seems to be one snow storm after another, we haven't had too much snow in Alberta.  Lots of people dread that kind of forecast but Ron and I go looking for the white stuff.  For us, 40 minutes isn't too far for a couple of hours of winter activity.

Mountains, snow, groomed trails and a few hours means a good day for us.  Since we have been back from Ontario we have cross country skied three days over the past couple of weeks.
Day 1...

There are so many trails to experience.  At first, we went mostly on green (the easy ones).

On this day, I was excited that we tried some blue ones and I didn't have to take my skies off and walk up or down any hills. (It's happened before!)

Although, we did come to a spot where I told Ron to go on and I went another way.  It was a gentle glide down to the main line for me and Ron had more aggressive ride.

After a great morning of skiing, it was time for a snack.  We brought home a new mug to remind us of a great day.

Day 2 of skiing was another beautiful day to be in the mountains.  We still didn't have too much snow around Pincher Creek but the closer we got to the recreation area the conditions looked better.

While we were there the groomers were out which meant fresh trails for us.  In other parts, we used the trails that had been there from the previous days.

It was another great day to be there.

After a good amount of exercise, we headed into Fernie, BC for lunch.  I had goulash while Ron had an elk sandwich.  What a perfect day...skiing in the mountains, lunch in BC and home in the afternoon.
On our way home, we stopped to pick up the mail and found a parcel.

What a nice surprise to find a package from a wonderful friend at work.  Marion sent me a box of chocolates.  Someone had donated chocolates for all of the staff at work and Marion wanted me to have my share.

Day 3....On Ron's change over day (which means he worked days the day before and then worked at 2:00 p.m. the next day), we went for a morning ski.

What a perfect way to spend a morning before Ron went to work.

We really live in a great area.

We got home for lunch.  I made waffles.

After lunch, I sat down to work and Ron went to work.

 

When Ron goes to work, I usually work myself but one day this week I went for a walk for an appointment.  I stopped to take a couple of spicture from a spot that is close to our home.

And this is why we like the area...on the days that we can't get to snow, we can see the beautiful snow covered mountains.  Sometimes, I am amazed that we live so close to the Crowsnest.

Celebrations

Christmas day came and went with little fanfare at our house.  We did have a nice dinner but no gifts.  Then came the 26th and 27th and Ron and I played so many games of pool and darts that finally Donna got enough interest in it to try a shot in pool.

That night I went to bed thinking one more night and then our son would be here and Christmas would begin.  At shortly after 6:00 a.m. I was awaken by Bentley jumping up on our bed.  Christmas came a day earlier than we expected.  Our son had worked and then driven straight to our house.  We had a couple of hours visit and then he crawled into bed.  We decided to take "the boys" for a walk while we waited for him to get up.

And then we waited some more.  Everyone was getting a little anxious to open up their gifts.

And one decided to have a sneak preview.

Finally, everyone was up and the gifts were opened.  As usual, we all felt quite spoiled and paper and boxes were everywhere.  Since, "our Christmas" was a day early than expected we had pizza instead of turkey.  The next day, which happened to be our son's 28th birthday, was also the turkey day.

Dinner was followed by games of pool and darts.  The next morning, we woke up to snow.  We packed up the dogs and our skis and headed to Waterton for a cross country ski adventure.  There was definitely enough snow and off we went on the road towards Red Rock Canyon. 

Our son skis fast with his two dogs pulling him.  We saw him heading back towards us with a story and a picture. 

There was a bear up the road from us.  We kept going.  Since Ron had worked there through the summer he was pretty sure who/what the bear was.

The cut out bear did really look like the real thing from a distance and it is never good to take chances with a bear.  It was good for a laugh.
I talked to a friend today who said that her son and grandson had come to visit and how much she loved it when her grandson crawled into bed with her.  We didn't have any grandkids to join us but we did have grandfur babies.

The next morning, we drove into Crowsnest and went skiing again.  The conditions were perfect.

It's pretty incredible that these trails are only 40 minutes away from our house.  (Bruce and Lynne, if you are reading....this is a fantastic place to ski!...book a room at the Chateau Clark and let's go!)

The boys had another good workout.  This time, no bears were to be found.

It was so great to have our son and his little fur family with us for these adventures.

This Christmas has been extra special.  First, we had Donna (Ron's mom) come all the way from Ontario to spend a month with us and then Stephen here and for Bentley to be our Christmas miracle.  Bentley is still looking healthy and acting very strong.  It was a lot of fun having everyone here.

Ron went back to work last night and our boy and his entourage left this morning.  I got busy taking down the decorations, doing laundry and getting the house clean.  Christmas is over for another year but it was a good one.  Now 2019 has started....what adventures will it hold?