Lots To Tell

Wow, long break from posting.

I've been sick for a bit (THANKS A LOT, NAY) but today I feel better than I did yesterday, and I can breathe through my mouth AND nose, and I can also speak. My head no longer hurts, and I'm hopeful that the unpleasantness going on in my lungs will subside shortly.

Soooo much has happened. I neglected entirely to tell you about this guy:


and he's now at Nay's kennel because we got this other guy out of the pound on Friday.


I'm pretty sure both will be adopted quickly. We've got to keep the revolving door turning though, as there are reportedly two more dogs still waiting in the pound. We're the only family in the county who can quarantine during cold weather, so it's a needed thing. I'm glad to be making a difference.

Now.

Onto the bigger news.

Much bigger news.

185 acres big, to be exact.

Remember, a while back, when we started our grand hunt for property, and the big messes we were constantly getting ourselves into? Like, submitting a total of eight offers, for - I dunno - maybe four or five different properties, and how it took months and months and was very painful, and involved things like, sellers taking their properties off the market after verbally agreeing to our offer price, and people putting bleach down wells, and me having to call the Real Estate Commission to recover my deposit on a house that a seller didn't sell me? Remember all that fun?

We found a property.

It's right down the road. Nobody did anything weird when we made an offer, and now it will be ours in a few weeks. When we drafted up our offer and sent it on its way, Mark glanced at me with a far away look in his eye and said 'remember when we used to do this every week?'

Sadly, I do. Anyway Mark's been talking about this particular property for months. Word around the county is that the seller really wanted to get rid of it, so when the price came down - significantly - I went up to take a hike through some of it.


Of course, this is January in Canada. The going was not that easy. I parked on the side of the road, hopped a big ditch into a snowbank, and started to plow my way uphill among the trees and undergrowth. The property has large, whimisical boulders and rock formations scattered all around it.


As I went along I came across a large number of well-used deer and rabbit trails in the snow. It didn't take me long to realize that the snow was shallowest where the deer trails were, so after a while I stuck to their meandering paths.


Every now and again I would stop scrambling through the snow long enough to take out my GPS and see how far towards the back of the property I had gone. The answer was always: not very far. There was rumoured to be a logged and re-planted area behind the untouched trees at the front, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally hit it. I was sure I could see the replanted red spruces sticking their little sapling heads up through the snow, but as the snow was now thigh-deep and almost impossible to walk in due to the uneven ground, scrub, and logs hidden under its pristine white cover, I had to turn around. It had taken me an hour to get that far, and I was tired and out of breath. I was also not yet halfway to the back of the property.


Having seen all that I needed to see, I turned around.

Mark and I looked at pictures, considered our acreage wish list, made a decision, and submitted an offer. It looks like all systems are go, and next month we will own the fabled property that escaped us when we tried this last time.

Journey's End

An early morning phone call.

A duffel bag, hastily packed.

We dropped our dogs off at Nay's kennel and drove through the snow to Mark's mother's house where we greeted her with silent hugs. Her mother, Mark's Gran, had died early that morning.

Gran was a hilariously cantankerous human being who never lost an opportunity to let loose with a witty comment or dry observation. Originally a war bride from London, England, she possessed the famous British 'stiff upper lip'. I think Mark inherited his love for animals from her in addition to recently inheriting her two cats, Puff and Toby, whom we have since renamed Snuff and Stogie.

Mark's mom Deb was with Gran when she died. They'd both had a very nice time the evening before, visiting with each other and playing cards. Deb even taught Gran's gentleman friend to play their favourite card game, and they all three passed an enjoyable evening in each others' company.

Then, well, things went downhill and Gran died during the night of a massive heart attack. Like I said, Deb was with her the whole time, and I'm very glad of that.

When we arrived at Deb's house she was sad but composed. We spent the day with her running the sort of errands one needs to run when a family member dies. Gran had not wanted a funeral, so instead we are having a sort of wake for her this coming weekend. Instead of flowers we're asking everyone to make a donation to SHAID in her memory.

Thanks for the condolences we've already received. Don't be sad for Gran. She was ready. We will miss her though.


Pictures courtesy of Mark's brother Matt.

Where's my flying Car?!

So it's 2010. Elvis is dead, the Roman Empire fell long ago, and this is the year that I'm supposed to get a flying car.

Because it's 2010, you know.

So far, for me, this year's notable activities have mainly consisted of both recovering from and cleaning up after holiday celebrations from 2009. Also, due to living in an "underserviced" area of the world in terms of actual physical proximity to real live doctors, this year's notable activities have also consisted of a series of long and short car drives, followed by another series of long and short waiting times, to renew perscriptions for medicines that keeps me alive and healthy.

It's LOADS of fun waiting for five hours in a hospital emergency room in order to ask the doctor to take five seconds to write out a perscription that I've previously taken and now need renewed. Why can't I just renew that mofo myself? On the other hand, I also have the option of booking an appointment in a clinic two hours away. So... short drive, long wait; or long drive, short wait. Either way it takes up a lot of time and does not fall within the realm of "fun leisure activities" for me.

ANYWAY. Please don't take this as an indication that I'm ungrateful to live in a country with such affordable health care. Yes, I have to wait five hours for a perscription, but if my head was falling off? FRONT OF THE LINE, BABY! I'd be waiting less than fifteen seconds if that was my ailment!

Oh, right, where's my flying car, anyway?? Maybe if I had one of those, I could fly to a doctor.

So happy new year. Here's to 2010.