It’s Here

It’s only 8:30 and I have already crawled into bed.  Ron and I have spent this week getting ready for what is about to happen.  We have signed papers to sell our house and had a zoom meeting to docusign to purchase one.  We have cancelled utilities in Alberta and arranged for hookups in Ontario.  We have our suitcases packed and hopefully they are hidden enough from the real packers AND tomorrow it begins.  The packers will arrive and get to work while we sit and watch.

I think we will have the weekend to live amongst boxes and they will return on Monday to finish it up.  Tuesday, our house will be loaded into a transport.  That thought always blows my mind.  How can it fit?  I then find out that actually three household items are going to be in one truck and transported to Ontario.

So, good night from me.  It seem to take along time but now we are here.

One Month

One month from today our western life will come to an end.  The movers will be loading our truck on February 13th and we will be spending Valentine’s Day somewhere on the road. 

Abby has always identified me as Nanny out west….I guess we will still be a little west of their home.

In the meantime, we are hibernating.  It’s been a very cold week!

It got down to feeling like -54 Celsius last night!

Snow, Fire and Ice

Last night our weather changed.  Snow arrived and it continues to drop white stuff from the sky. It is supposed to continue to snow throughout the night and into tomorrow.

Last night, we went out to drop off something at a friend’s house.  As we looked ahead, the sky was black.  I glanced down the hill and saw a huge fire.  My heart sank as I thought about someone going through this horrific event.  We continued on our way, only to be beside a business that was totally inflamed.  

Yikes, two fires in our small town blocks apart equaled arson.  It is sad and scary.  Facebook was quick to advise that the culprit was in custody.  The Mounties always get their man!

As the fires raged, the whole town lost internet and tv services.  It’s a small inconvenience for us but much more terrible for the victims who lost their home and business.  The emergency crews worked hard to contain the fires and kept it from spreading to other buildings.  After the immediate danger of the fire was done, the techs took over and the town just got back their services.

After weeks of mild weather and very little snow, it looks like winter has arrived.  With the temperature dropping we were thankful that we didn’t lose power and only had to deal with loss of internet and tv.

We know that the area needs snow for moisture and we hope that a lot comes throughout January and then we are praying for a very dry, non-stormy February to do this move thing.  Who moves in February??  I guess, we do.

30 days until pack day!

Happy New Year

As the calendar switched to 2024, so did our minds take a turn.  Reality has set in.  WE ARE MOVING!  It’s the waiting that is the hardest. Even though the RCMP hire packers, there are still a lot of things to think about.  Ron has been busy on the phone and iPad organizing things.  We have dismantled some equipment and still have others to do.  I took down the Christmas decorations and all the bins are in the middle of the floor downstairs.  For the next five weeks, we will live with clutter and organized chaos.  We are excited about the move but have all those familiar feelings.  We have enjoyed our time in Pincher Creek.  We love the mountains, the hikes, snowshoeing and cross country skiing.  I don’t even like to think about saying goodbye to the friends here. 

On Wednesday, we drove to Calgary to have a visit with our nephew and his family.  This has been another great thing about living in Alberta.  We were able to reconnect with Dustin and Katie and their adult kids. It was a great dinner and a nice time.  I will miss this but am trying to encourage them to come for an Ontario visit.

On Thursday, a family that we adopted, came for a visit.  Japhia brought soup and I made pie.  We played games and enjoyed lots of laughs. Once again, we did our best to sell Ontario so that they would come for a visit.

Yesterday, we drove to Waterton.

 We did a little walk around the village.  It was cool and windy but still so pretty.  

Sarah told us that we are going to miss the park and yes, she is right.

It started to snow when we were going to bed last night and this morning our world has turned white.

The countdown is on…5 weeks and two days and the moving truck will be pulling out with us not too far behind.

Christmas

 With the house decorated, meals planned and a few gifts under the tree, we were ready for the big day.  The morning started quiet with just Ron and I and then by afternoon, our house was full of fur! 🐾🐾🐈‍⬛😺  Stephen and Kylie arrived with a truck load of stuff which included two dogs and two cats.  We settled in for a few days of eating, visiting and LOTS of games.

One of Stephen’s friends came for a couple of nights and it was like old times…sleepover birthday party for Stephen!  Maybe, not just like old times but it was nice to have another person at the games’ table.

The 29th was a mix of emotions for me.  It was Stephen’s 33rd birthday and I wanted to make things as nice as possible.  It was also one year from that day that we lost Tina.  Kylie was so sweet and checked in on me every now and then but we kept the games and meals going to keep me busy.  I made it through.

The next day, the truck was reloaded and they were on their way.  They stopped at Kylie’s parents for the night and then drove 15 hours to get home on New Year’s Eve.

Lilly hangs out with Beemer and Murphy.  She thinks she is a dog.
Apologies to Ace (the cat) for not getting a pic of her.

As soon as their truck was out of the driveway, Ron and I put it into overdrive.  We vacuumed, cleaned the floors, dusted and did a pile of laundry.  We moved all the deck furniture into a spare room in preparation for our move next month.  We don’t want anything to get froze into the ground.  Who moves in February?

Yesterday, we worked at taking down one of our exercise machines.  This move is starting to feel more and more real.

2024 holds lots of exciting things!

We Bought a House!

 Let’s step back a few months…we listed out house in Pincher Creek on August 13th.  We had quite a few initial showings through the month but no offers.  In September, we spent the month in Ontario, hoping for a sale while we were away.  We only had a couple showings through that time.  In October, the showings picked up but still no offers.  Our contract with our realtor was due to expire on November 12th.  We thought at that time, we would take the house off the market for winter and start fresh in the spring.  

We had a request for a second showing on November 3rd and nothing happened.  I was sitting on the couch 3 days later when I received a text from our realtor that an offer was coming in. The first thing that we noticed was that they had picked December 11th as a closing date.  We knew that wouldn’t work for us unless we wanted to be homeless for a while.  We signed it back changing the closing date to February 15th.  On November 16th, the conditions were cleared and by the 18th, we were driving to Calgary.  We flew the next day to Ottawa and arrived at our hotel for a week to house shop.

Some hotel visitors 

Jenn took the day off to join us and the realtor to start house shopping. I had previously sent my organized spreadsheet to our realtor to list the houses that we wanted to see with explanations of why they interested us.  We were prepared.  

November 19th - Day One - we were excited!   We had 8 houses on the agenda. Our top choice sold before we got to look at it.  Our second choice had an offer come in as we drove into the driveway.  Another house owner wanted to change the showing to the next day.  We stumbled through some other showings where we just couldn’t see us living for one reason or another.

November 20th - Day Two - another full day of listings which meant more driving than the previous day.  We looked at some city home with tiny driveways and match box backyards.  We toured houses with no closets and then stumbled on one showing where a tenant had moved in the day before and didn’t allow us to see the home.  

November 21st - Day Three - we pushed our circle a little further out and ended up in areas where we had never been before.  We felt like it was bit of a wasted day.  We did not feel comfortable in any of the homes that we walked into but we did have some laughs.  One house was built in the 1980’s.  It looked like no one was living in it although it did have bed sheets hanging half out of the dryer.  There was a gremlin on the roof.  👻

November 22nd - Day Four - we decided to put in an offer on a house in Kingston.  The house was nice enough.  The garage was a decent size.  The deck was super tiny and the backyard not much bigger and it backed out on a busy street.  It would be a central location between Jenn and my parents.

November 23rd - Day Five - The offer was signed back and when we sent it back, the seller didn’t want to play the game and so we walked away from an empty house.  

It was now the weekend and our time was up at the hotel.  The first week of house shopping was on the RCMP and now the expenses were on us.  We moved to Napanee to be with mom and dad.

Week two began and, instead of excitement, we felt urgency.  We wanted to get this done. Mom joined us to take a look at one house a second time and one other house.  We decided to put in an offer on the house that we had seen twice.  The setting was very nice.  The house felt cozy and the decks were amazing. The owners had added a clause that they needed to get a good well test on their property before we could clear our conditions.  There test was to be done on the Friday.  Our inspections were lined up for the following Tuesday.  

We felt we had some free time and so we did some Christmas shopping, enjoyed a church banquet with mom and dad and went to church with Jenn and the girls.

On Tuesday, we headed to the house.  We were anxious to get the inspections done and be able to get back home to decorate our house for Christmas.  The house inspection was going well.  There was a good water flow but then the quality of the water was drawn to our attention.  I sipped on a glass of water that tasted like I should be gargling.  It had a very high salt content.  

The next day, we searched out some water treatment places and did some online investigation.  We knew that the water consisted of 1770 Total Disolved Solids.  

As we sat thinking about what to do, we got a text from our realtor that the water test came back with some coliform and a little ecoli.  We decided to back out of the offer.

That night, we were more than exhausted, frustrated and felt deflated.

A new house came on the market and so we added it to some of the old listings that we hadn’t looked at yet.  The weather was a little nasty but we continued our hunt for a house.  I think both of us felt that we were going to have to settle for something that was good enough.  We looked at all of the houses on our list.  Our realtor had been so patient with us.  We saw a nice house in a not so nice location.  We saw nice locations with not so nice houses.  We came to the end of our list and I was ready to cry.  Another new listing came on in the afternoon.  Our realtor called and got us in for 6:00 pm.  My hopes weren’t high and Ron hadn’t even looked at the listing.  

We walked in the door and it didn’t take us long to know that this was our forever home.  Our realtor went right home and drew up the offer.  The offer was accepted the next day.  Inspections were lined up for the next Monday.

We were cautiously optimistic that things would work out.  We went to a banquet at Jenn’s church on Saturday night. We did a walk through candy cane lane before the banquet.  We went to mom and dad’s church on Sunday.

Monday arrived and we were at the house with the inspectors.  The water level was good.  The dissolvable solids were in the acceptable range were in the “sweet spot” for drinking! The house inspector was pleased which put a smile on our faces.  We left the house, booked our flights and were off to Ottawa within hours.  We flew home the next morning.

We are not homeless! It only took us looking at over 30 houses.

P.S. next blog will include Christmas decorations and mountain pictures!

Listed

We were finally given the go ahead to list our house.  It’s always a strange feeling when it happens.  All the clutter is hidden in drawers or closets.  The regular appliances that are usually on the counter have found places in cupboards or the pantry.  Sometimes it is a bit of a scavenger hunt trying to remember where we put something.  The result is a show home.

We signed the contract with our realtor on Sunday.  On Monday afternoon, we had our first showing.  Tuesday, the rooms were photographed and the sign went up in our front yard.  It’s feeling real now.

Today, the listing went live. The routine kicks in.  Every morning the bed gets made with extra care.  The counters are cleaned off after toast and coffee.  The floors and furniture are dusted.  

We got a text today for another showing.  Dishes go in the dishwasher and everything else finds a hiding place.  Ron is good at hiding his glasses (drinking and eye). 😂

We don’t know how long the house will be on the market.  In Ontario, our home took 5 months to sell.  When we moved from Swift Current, it was only two weeks.  In Three Hills, we almost gave up hope.  It was over a year of living with things in their hiding places.  So, the waiting, cleaning, and showings begins.  It will happen when it is supposed to happen.

We will continue with our adventures here until someone falls in love with our house and then we will go on a search for our forever home.

wAiTiNg!

Yesterday we had a little visit with Ontario.  Haylee and Josiah had been living in Trail for the past two years.  Whenever we would go that way, we would stop and have a little visit.  

Haylee is the daughter of one of my “kindred spirit” friends.

Yesterday, they started their journey back to live in Ontario.  Her dad and brother had flown out to help with the move.  They stopped in Pincher to gas up and have lunch.  It was so nice to see them.

Penelope, the cat wasn’t too sure about this move but she was on her way to a new adventure.

When we said goodbye we told them we would see them in Ontario.  Saying those words caused a little change in me.  I enjoy the area here but when you know there is a next step coming, you just want to see the process started.  Ron started the retirement process in January.  We were told that we would be contacted in June.  It is now past the middle of July and still no word. 

And so, we WAIT!

Ten Years!

Ron and I sat in church yesterday.  He turned to me and said "Ten years ago today was my last day of pastoring." 

I remember that Sunday so well.  Our church family in Frankford expressed their love to us and they will always be in our hearts.

How did this whole strange journey start?  That's too long of a story for a blog but 10 years ago our lives changed.  From that handshake in Kingston to welcome Ron into the brotherhood of the Mounties, it's been interesting..

We had to keep the whole process a secret until Ron was accepted because we didn't really know where it would end up.  As the time was getting closer Ron tried to give little hints on the church sign.

Real Christians Must Pray.....RCMP

God Remains Constant....GRC

He's a tricky guy!  When Ron whispered that to me in church, we didn't really have time to think about it because right at that moment the Pastor asked Ron to serve communion.  God is faithful to continue to let us minister in small ways.  We are not full time pastors but our hearts are still for His people and we are eager to serve in whatever way we can.

So in 10 years....Ron has been posted to 5 different postings, he has been promoted from Constable to Corporal.  We have found a church family in each place ...in a Pentecostal church in Swift Current, an Alliance church in Flin Flon, an Evangelical Free in Three Hills and now back to Pentecostal here in Pincher Creek.

10 years!  It came and went so fast.  In the next 10 years we will be deciding on where to retire and will hopefully be sitting somewhere looking at each other and say....20 years ago today was our last day of pastoring, now let's go to church and worship with our church family.  Hmmm....I wonder where that will be?