A Beautiful September

This summer flew by in the blink of an eye. It feels like there should be another month or so left of summer, but we woke up to the first snowfall this morning.

 

So many things happened this summer. It was a fairly wet and soggy one, but we made the most of it. The kids played outside every chance they could. 

Carter learned how to drive his little quad and then moved up to the Power Wheels Jeep, and then to his police car. He cruises around the yard chasing Cailin on her big pink quad. 

More yard work was done, landscaping improvements were made. The kids' birthday parties went really well and were fun. Visits with all sorts of grandparents commenced. More pets were obtained. Surgeries were had, illnesses ran rampant, grieving continues on and life keeps moving in the forward direction. 

In many ways, it was an unpleasant summer. But September really tried to make up for it. 

Buddy and I have reached a peace agreement. He has decided to be house trained, and I have decided to let him in the house. 

As you can tell, he's quite smug about it. 

Cailin has made a new friend. 

She calls him Alex and drags him around everywhere. She saw him in the store and could not leave without him. Once we got him home, she nestled him onto a pillow and told him, "I'm sorry you're dead, but if you just relax for a minute on the couch you might feel better."  Alex is currently sleeping in the bottom bunk. 

I've had to repair Alex's arm a few times now. Apparently he doesn't take his calcium intake seriously enough. 

Carter is growing like a weed, and expanding his vocabulary on the daily. I've been reading to them every night and he's enjoying it immensely. Of course he does throw out a few cuss words here and there to keep us on our toes. 

Bailey is still here, being delightfully Bailey-like in everything she does: 

These guys are new. Meet Jewel and Blu, our new budgies: 

I've been reading everything I can find online about budgies. I am satisfied their cage is now optimized with the proper perches and toys.  I hung up a bell and showed them how to make it ring. That may have been a mistake. Now if they would only eat their darn greens like I showed them. 

A Buddy Tail Continued

It was hard getting used to Buddy when we brought him home. There have been some growing pains in the family and some lessons learned. 

One: He is an outside dog. Therefore he's not wholly comfortable being in the house. It's too hot for him. Plus, there's the added bonus that he lifts his leg and marks his territory INSIDE the house. This has happened three times to date, earning him the moniker of 'Kitchen Pisser'. 

I was completely unprepared for the ginormous puddles he unleashed. It's like he saved up all afternoon in the off chance he would be allowed in the house. Unfortunately, Ryan keeps letting him in the house, much to my dismay. 

Two: He was sleeping in the laundry room at night, and while it's raining during the day. This would be fine and dandy except that he tries to get out and scratches his paws down the vent in the door and whines a lot. He's noisy and after a day full of noise I can't stand any more. Plus if he's in there during the day, I'm effectively locked out of my laundry room. 

One night it was so hot in the house that Ryan put him in the garage where he could keep cool. Silence! Peace! Access to my laundry room! He's been living in the garage ever since. The dog is much happier, and so am I. 

Three: He is a destroyer of flowers. 

After all my hard work, he went and dug up my flower bed to use as a nest. I was steamed! Thankfully I was able to save all the plants and now know not to let him anywhere near there. 

Unfortunately, Ryan didn't get the memo. 

Not long after, he dug up the back flower bed too. Raging anger times two! Thankfully, once again I was able to save the plants. 

Four: His mouth was in worse shape than any of us had predicted. His abscessed canine tooth was beyond bad. Once removed, he was left with a gaping hole that had to be rinsed with saline solution many times a day. He ripped his stitches out and made the hole even bigger. It's been fun. 

The techs at the vet office thought I had let his mouth get into that bad a shape and gave me heck. I let them know he was a rescue and that it wasn't us who almost let him die of eventual blood poisoning and neglect. 

Now he's back on solid kibbles, mostly staying in the yard and seldom allowed in the house. 

For the moment we've decided to keep him, but I often think of shipping him off to Nanny's house.  Oh Kitchen Pisser, Destroyer of Flowers. What am I going to do with you?  

A Tale of Two Buddys

This is a lovely time of year. Birthdays, BBQs, friends, family and good times. It's been so nice to host different events at our house and to entertain, especially now that we have the space. How wonderful it's been to see everyone!

Work on the yard has commenced in full force. The dugout was filled in, the bottom yard was flattened, levelled and seeded. The grass has grown in very well, especially with all the rain we've been getting. 

The brush and debris around the main front area is slowly being cleared away. It's time consuming as the yard has been neglected for quite a while. I've been raking and clearing, and while it's a work in progress, the yard is definitely coming along. 

I built a fire pit with bricks Ryan brought home, and we've been enjoying fires at night after the kids have gone to bed. There is nothing more relaxing than listening to the frogs chirp in the background while relaxing around the warm flames after a full day. 

I planted two flower beds worth of flowers, and despite my lack of green thumbs, the flowers seem to be doing quite well. 

We have fallen into an easy going schedule now that it's nice out. The kids are most comfortable grazing rather than eating full meals so we build our day around their snacks.  There's plenty of playing outside, exploring and Ranger rides. 

Gracie and Odin came and spent a few days with us and that was a lot of fun too. It's really busy with four kids in the house, and especially since each one of them has distinct, strict or downright picky dietary needs. There was a lot of fresh air and playing outside those days - and everyone slept really well. 

Cailin had some trouble with a kidney and throat infection.  She was horribly sick for three days. I took her to the rural hospital out here and she got some medicine. My suspicion is that she had strep, but no mention was made of it.  My only complaint in the hospital is that we were forced to listen to an elderly patient vomit long and loud a few curtains over. And that my dear child found it so fascinating and wondered out loud what color it was, amongst a million other vomit related questions.  I could have lived without that whole scenario. 

Bailey had her teeth cleaned, and seven of the little teeth removed. I was extremely nervous to have her dental work done, but they were fabulous at the vet and she feels much better without the ouchy teeth. 

Life has settled into an easy and comfortable routine. So really, it wasn't all that surprising when it changed again.

It was brought to our attention that someone's mother in law was keeping her retired stud dog locked up in a horse trailer. The details were hard to believe, and would be considered animal abuse. Ryan, being the Good Samaritan and animal lover that he is, decided to go check out what was going on and perhaps rescue this poor creature. I went with him to make sure he didn't bring a dog home. 

Thankfully the stories we heard about this dog's life were exaggerated. He is kept in an old horse trailer, but only because he digs his way out of every other enclosure he's been in. He is walked several times a day, kept fairly clean and is good with people, kids and other animals.  His teeth looked very clean, and he didn't look that old to me, although his owner said he was between 7-9 years old. He is friendly and laid back. His big problem? He isn't fixed, and runs off to father puppies every chance he gets. 

I figured right then and there that we would not be taking him home. Dogs are a lot of work, and I had just adjusted my work load to where I could easily manage it.  

But my mind began to churn over the weekend. I didn't feel good leaving him there and Ryan definitely wanted him. He would be good for Ryan too. So I said yes to having Buddy. Of course, if he didn't work out with us, Ryan's mom was going to take him so he would have a good home no matter what.  

Buddy is a Golden Retriever. I know right? Like there's never been a Golden Retriever named Buddy before in the whole world.  The only thing more cliche than a Golden named Buddy is maybe an English Sheepdog named Max. Sheesh. 

At any rate, Ryan and Cailin went and picked him up. It was love at first sight for Cailin. She adores Buddy, although she swears his name is Fuzzy. He likes her too, but surprisingly the person he likes most of us is ... me. 

I desperately wanted to change his name as we call Carter by his nickname of Buddy all the time. It has led to some confusion already. When I call either of them, they both come running. Maybe that's not such a bad thing though, really.  

Buddy the dog has been trained to follow basic commands (sit, down, stay, shake a paw) and walks beautifully on a leash right at your heel. Some attempt has been made in the past to groom him, but he does have some mats currently. 

We all went for a walk the other night and got caught in a downpour. The kids were snug in the double stroller with the rain shield down, but the rest of us were soaked through. Bailey got a towel drying, but we figured since Buddy was already drenched we would give him a bath. In our tub. 

Pretty sure he's never had a warm bath inside a house before. It was a gong show, but he smelled a lot better after. Unfortunately our house didn't. 

Buddy got a very thorough brushing the next day. He is going for a professional grooming, but it was nice to prep him for that so it isn't so traumatizing for him (or the groomer for that matter).  He very much enjoys getting brushed. I doubt he will have any problems getting groomed. 

So he is bathed, brushed, looking dapper and is fairly well trained. Laid back, good with the kids and Bailey too. That just leaves the issue of getting him fixed. He also has an abscessed canine tooth that needs to be taken care of. He should have all of that taken care of on Monday. He's probably going to want his horse trailer back that day. 

There are a lot of benefits to getting an older dog. His crazy puppy years are behind him. He's already trained. Someone already put in all the hard work I don't enjoy.  Of course the downside is we don't really know if he has any unsavoury habits. He might be a chewer when his tooth gets fixed, but I doubt it. 

I'm going to really give this big dog ownership a try. 

 

Offline

Things are really coming along now in the house. The painting is all done (for now, there's more I want to tackle later on), the living room baseboards are finished and slowly yet surely those pesky corners are all getting cleaned. I'm finding myself busy removing bits of old painters tape from the baseboards and drips of dried paint from the floors. Both were left by previous owners. Apparently they thought they would get to it one day and never did.

All the boxes are officially unpacked now. The spare room is still a work in progress, but is now a functional guest room and craft room type area.

This house hasn't been lived in for several years and that is very apparent by the state of cleanliness I'm encountering. Add that to the fact that it was previously a bachelor pad - minimal "good enough" slap happy type cleaning - and I'm reassured that although this particular cleansing is taking forever, once I'm done it will just be a matter of maintenance care to keep it tidy.

We have a house phone line now too, which is good because of the varying degrees of cell phone service we have encountered here. At first I thought it was kind of charming that we were "unplugged" out here in our new country home. However, after many a time picking up the iPhone to send a quick text and seeing that dreaded 'No Service' staring back, it's getting kind of old.

Texts don't go through sometimes, either sending or receiving, or they take hours to reach their intended party. It's a bit frustrating. Not to mention the constant cycling between three bars to no service runs the battery down fast.

The load times for emails or Facebook differ only slightly - from abysmal to terrible. I'm sure we won't bother with getting Internet access as it's sure to be about the same speed - and dreadfully expensive to boot.

The alarm system was installed today, and that concludes the intrusion of workers into our house for now.

I have a lot to say about the mud around this place. There is so much of it. And if it would quit snowing maybe it would dry up a bit. I'm extremely thankful for the mud room, and for the easy access to washing facilities.

Everyone is settling in really well. The kids help me walk the dog several times a day and play outside in the snow, puddles and mud. The snow melts a bit more each day and exposes a bit more of the yard. Or what is supposed to be the yard. "Pastureland" or perhaps "hayfield" is more fitting at this time. But! We just got a new John Deere tractor that will make short work of it.

There's quite a bit of large scale gravel on the front yard. I've been trying to convince the kids that picking rocks is fun, but they are too smart for that nonsense.

We Have Arrived!

It's been a long process (and a relatively painless one to boot), and we are in the new house! GramE was born not too far from here, so it's really neat to return to the roots of my family.

Moving went well. It took several loads over several days to get everything here, but it went smoothly and swiftly.

The house hasn't been lived in for several years, so quite a bit of dirt had accumulated. Not to mention a few dandy little mouse turds were sprinkled here and there....

I'm still cleaning, but have most of the dirty dirt-dirt cleaned up. I have everything unpacked and put away except one lone box in our bedroom and the craft room/office/guest room. I'm not sure how to organize all that just yet so it can wait until the weekend.

I think the dryer is on the outs, but it might just need a thorough cleaning.

Ryan phoned our painter and he was available this week so he's been working away making our house beautiful. Carter now has a lovely blue room and we couldn't be happier with the color choice. Cailin helped me decide between three colors of blue - I was leaning towards the 'Viking Blue' and that was the one she chose too. He's part Viking right? Right.

The rest of the house is going to be painted a nice warm white. It's currently a greyish color with purple undertones. It's not a bad color per se, but the paint job itself is in pretty bad shape.

I'm excited to pick out a few items to make our home cozy - curtains and such. It took Carter about 24 hours to break the vertical blinds (a record I think) and I removed them with glee. I'm not entirely sure the front window even needs coverings, but a few breezy sheers may look pretty sporty.

The kids are adjusting very well and have been sleeping through the night in their own rooms. Bailey has the cutest little doggie bed in our room. She's been terribly excited to realize there are multitudes of deer to bark at here.

I woke up this morning in our bright sunny room. We are going to be so happy here in our quiet house.

A big huge thank you to my parents. Thank you for all your work, moving us and looking after kids. Letting us live with you for three weeks. Thank you so much!

Thank you GG for helping too. Love you!

Moving!

It's been a while!

This winter has been extremely busy and getting kind of long, especially with the latest snowfall over the past week. Over a foot of the dreaded white stuff!

Updates:

Christmas was wonderful. The kids enjoyed themselves immensely and got very spoiled. We saw lots of family, had some fantastic meals and played with many new toys.

Tragedy struck in mid-January when we lost two beloved family members in the same week. I flew out to be with Ryan during that devastating time. We spent some time with Pammy in Nova Scotia and flew home at the end of January.

At which point the humming and hawing of "maybe" moving to a bigger house suddenly got a turn for The Serious.

We found an acreage that we both instantly fell in love with, put an offer in that evening and found ourselves with an accepted offer a few days later.

This led to a fevered few days of mad prep getting our current house ready for the market. I'll spare you the cleaning/packing details. Especially about how helpful my three little help-y helpertons were. Two frazzled parents and one painter later, the house was sparkling and ready.

Though we were a little worried about listing our house for higher than the realtor suggested, we just went ahead and did it anyway. Within an hour, our house was sold - at $10,000 over the asking price. Needless to say we were pretty happy.

Serious packing commenced. Pammy came and stayed for a week. What a blessing to have her help!! Thank you so much for everything, Pammy! We love you.

My dad came and helped us move. Mom watched the kids while I cleaned the house after the boxes were all gone. I had a moment of sadness locking the door for the last time and walking away from the house we had brought our babies home to.

But as they say, onwards and upwards.

Now:

The new house is quite a bit bigger, all one level and has a lovely kitchen. There's a mud room, a pantry and a fireplace. The ensuite has a soaker tub and walk in closest. There are four acres (fenced and treed!) to call our own. A long driveway up to a clean white house and matching three car garage. Our new "farmhouse".

Possession is at the end of the March. In the meantime we are staying with my parents. Our stuff is happily in storage (Bay 2!) in dad's shop.

All the pesky little administrative moving stuff is done - switching utilities around and getting a mailbox etc - and the final paperwork was signed yesterday.

Now we wait for moving day. And spring!