Retirement?

Retired again…sort of!

How many times is this?  Well, let’s see… we moved from Swift Current, Saskatchewan in 2013.  We lived on a reserve in northern Saskatchewan and there were no jobs for me.  I did contract work for HR with Innovation Credit Union for the first year of the post while completing my HR Management Certificate.  The second year, I did some supply teaching in the schools.  When we left the north in 2015, I felt at 52 I didn’t want to learn a new job any more and thought early retirement was a good plan.

We moved to Three Hills, Alberta.  There was a Bible college there with a job posting for an Admin Assistant for the Intercultural Department.  I had been a pastor’s wife and a school secretary.  It sounded like a good fit and I was offered the position.  I worked there for the time we were in Three Hills and one more year after we moved to Pincher Creek. It was an interesting position, being a part of sending students around the world to experience missions.  While at the college, I had the privilege of sitting in worship services led by Brian Doerksen or hearing Phil Callaway preach. After a year on working from home, I  decided that I should finish up and thought retirement sounded great at 56.

Well, a year later an Admin Assistant position opened at the school just around the corner from our house.  I applied and got it.  I worked for a couple of years and then it was getting close to Ron’s retirement.  This time it would be the real thing.

After Ron’s retirement in 2023 we travelled and once our house sold, we moved to Ontario.  I stumbled into a job at the church office.  For the past year, I enjoyed working at our home church.  I’ve always enjoyed doing finances and it was fun to be doing what I enjoy. Last week I turned 63 and decided that this time I should really retire.

Today was my last day.  It was quiet in the office with no one else there.   It felt good to have everything left in good order for the person to take over.  Ron came in to take me for lunch.  I worked until almost 5:00 and locked the office up and walked out the door.  I know I will be back to church soon so it didn’t feel too strange.  We celebrated at the Black Cat.

So retired…well, kind of.  I won’t be tied to a desk but I’m still needed to help for a while so Monday morning, I’ll be back in to count the offering, do the deposit and run off some reports but then the rest of the week will be for colour touring…watch for the blogs.

Counting Down

This has been a bit of a different week.  On Sunday, we had a fall kickoff barbeque at the church.  The littles enjoyed the bouncy castles and the adults savoured the barbeque.

Friends from our Frankford church stopped in after church.  It was so nice to have a visit with Al and Donna.

I went to the church Monday morning to count the offering with a couple of ladies.  We got back home, just in time for my doctor’s appointment.  I was lucky enough to have two spots burned off and two others cut out on my leg.  I had a quiet afternoon.

I also have been thinking lately about working.  My next contract date is coming up for renewal.  The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of retirement.  I decided to let the pastor and board know that I would not be looking for an extension.  My last day to work will be October 2nd. which means I only have seven days until retirement!  This time I think it’s the real one!!

On Tuesday, Ron and I went to Kingston and we picked up another footstool for our front porch.  I’m going to need extra relaxing material around.

Today, I worked from home….down to six days left.  We then drove to Bon Echo for a barbeque supper.

Ron already had an active day.  He went kayaking in the morning and golfing in the afternoon. While we were in Bon Echo, he went swimming.  How am I going to keep up to him?

After a hot dog dinner on the beach, we had a nice drive home.  The leaves are starting to change colours and the sunset was beautiful.

Full Days

I am sitting this morning sipping on my coffee listening to worship music.  Sarah went on the bus this morning and Ron left on the motorcycle for a meeting.  Outside my window the changing colours of the leaves paint a perfect picture. I’m tired this morning but it’s a good tiredness coming from an active week.  Having a slower start to the day is refreshing.  

Monday was a day of training at the church office.  When I finished there I changed my admin hat to my 50 plus one.  The tables were all set up for our Tuesday lunch but they needed the final touches….decorating.  That’s the fun stuff.  The ladies of the church had been sorting the supply cupboards and had found tablecloths that were perfect for my fall theme.  I had brought two bins of decorations from home and was able to be satisfied with the way the room looked.  After almost two hours of placing leaves, pumpkins, baskets and other autumn items around the room, I felt ready for the next day.  Okay, maybe not totally…when I got home I made six dozen cupcakes for our luncheon.

Tuesday, we dropped Sarah off at the school and went straight to the church.  Ron worked on preparing for the sermon while my team of kitchen helpers and I did prepping for the lunch.  Ron spoke and did really well.  I think he still has it…that preacher thing!  It was nice to have 50 plus after our 50 plus meeting!  It was especially nice that our friends from Tweed, Janie and Clare came.

The lunch was really nice…build your own sandwiches, banana punch, warm apple cider and chocolate, carrot or lemon cupcakes for dessert.  

When the meal was over and the kitchen was clean, our day was not done.  Sarah had to stay for a basketball game and so Ron and I put on walking clothes and walked ALL over Napanee….just over 20,000 steps for the day.  

There was a prayer meeting in the evening and we decided to stay so we made ourselves some sandwiches from the leftover lunch items.  I picked a book from the church library, made a tea and waited for 6:45 pm to arrive.  The prayer meeting was good and thankfully when we closed our eyes to pray I didn’t fall asleep.  Just after 8:00, we were on our way home and in bed by 9:00.

I am sitting finishing my coffee, typing away and my relaxing is almost done.  I need to soon get going and be off to the church for another day of training.  I’m thinking an extra coffee will get me through.

Who knew that retirement would take us back into pastoring the 50 plus group and me into an office?  I guess retirement is doing the things you enjoy and volunteering so that you can say not today.

I hope your day is full!

My Heart is Full ❤️

Today was a full day.  We left for church early in the morning.  Ron was leading in worship for the first time in quite awhile.  Sarah was helping out.  My heart felt full watching them.

I was in the foyer at the church before and after helping people to sign up for our 50 Plus.  During the service, Sarah went out to help with the children’s ministry.  They announced during the service that the church secretary had resigned and also added that I would be helping in the office during the transition.  We have found lots to do in our church and are enjoying it.

After church Sarah went home with a young family.  The two little boys love to have Sarah around.  She took gifts for both boys, a birthday gift for one and an unbirthday for the other one.

Ron and I came home and rested before we headed out for a walk.  A good friend told us about this trail and it was a beautiful, warm day to enjoy a stroll to the lake.

Tomorrow, Sarah will be off to school and then have a basketball practice.

Ron will be working on 50 Plus plans and I will be doing some training in the church office.

Retirement is interesting!  It’s a new kind of busy.

Tonight, we stepped out on the back to catch some norther lights.  A beautiful day and a gorgeous night!

Bird Watching 101

Ron and I decided to go bird LISTENING.  Yes, most people go bird WATCHING and we did that too but we took along our devices and tuned in on the Merlin App

We headed into Prince Edward County and went on roads that we have never been on before and found a National Wildlife Area.  They do lots of research on our feather friends by capturing, examining, tagging and releasing them.  They had two little birds there to show us and explain the process and then off they went back to their little flock.

We walked along the paths with our apps turned on, picking up a few new sounds to save to our life lists.  It was a beautiful area to walk.

We walked down one lane and were treated to beautiful butterflies gracefully swooping around us and landing on the flowers.  

Pictures don’t do them justice.  How did God think to create these amazing creatures and to know that they came from ugly caterpillars.  I was so hoping that one would land on me but I was not as enticing as the fragrant aromas along the way.

At the end of one of our little jaunts, a lighthouse stood bravely where it has been since 1881.  Although not in use anymore, it was surrounded by spectacular views.

Another path led us through a majestic looking forest.  Grass covered the path and the trees provided a canopy.  It was so peaceful as we strolled listening and looking.

We were careful to stay on the paths in order to avoid contact with poison ivy…we have had enough of that in our house over the past month.  

Anyone see a problem with this picture?

We left the sanctuary and drove through the Sandbanks Provincial Park.  It looked like summer was over with all of the empty parking lots.

After a couple of hours of exploring we decided it was lunch time.  One of our favourite places to go in the County is the  Waring House Restaurant. There are a few businesses on the property and one of them includes a Cookery School. You know that they want a good reputation for their school and the food has never disappointed us.

After a few more stops, we grabbed a coffee and headed for home.  Bird watching was something that I never really thought I would be doing.  My thoughts of this activity went back to the old show The Beverley Hillbillies. (You can watch the video by pressing the link.)  This morning I did not have the bird sight seeing uniform.  I only had my cell phone with the Merlin App.   Just like Miss Jane was always looking for Jethro…

I had my Ron.

So what do we do in retirement….just about everything!

I added a few new birds to my list so the day was productive.

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!