Ho Ho Ho

I am not introducing the Jolly Green Giant OR 3 ladies of questionable careers but ‘tis the season. On Nov 9th, our family celebrated our Christmas before we head south for the winter. Dawn hosted this year so the rest of us drove east to Napanee for a feast, gifts and family. We all – total 15 for dinner - converged on Dawn mid afternoon. She had a tree set up along with Christmas decorations in the living and dining room. The turkey was smelling wonderful.

 

 

There were 8 grandchildren there from ages 3 to 16 and all the ‘noise’ came from the adults! It was like ‘ole home’ week with talking, laughing and more talking. Soon the bird informed us it was ready to be carved. At times, we were all in the kitchen preparing our own ‘pot luck’ items for this feast. We were all seated around a table and all sorts of scrumptious vegetables and delicacies came by. As you can probably guess, we ate too much! What a meal.

 

Snooping under the tree is a right of passage that really informs us that it is Christmas! Naturally, the little kids – and maybe a few of the bigger kids – already knew which gifts was theirs. First we hung our ornaments and said our tree speeches.  The older grandkids are doing a better job than their parents.  It is great to hear what they all have to say about what happened good or bad this past year.  Alex then assumed the role of Santa and handed out the gifts in a relaxed and controlled way that we all had an opportunity to see what each of us received. It was a wonderful family time for us. All too soon, it was time to turn our attention to the road ahead for the 3 hour drive back to home.  The trip home was less relaxed due to the heavy rains.  Driving slowly got us home safe and sound.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Nov 12th, we drove down to our new house to have another tour of the property and to record some measurements so we can set Barb loose on some designs. We didn’t pick the best day as it was cold and a dusting of snow. Our little house is only 700 square feet but the garage is almost 600 square feet! Wow, look at the stuff we can store! On our first visit, we had heard meow sounds coming from under the house and when we checked, there was a foundation vent that was punched out and would allow any critter access so we knew we would have to contend with that. Barb designed a modified ‘pet door’ that we could make and install that would allow the critter out but not back in. As soon as we take ownership, we’ll install it and then place some food on the outside to coax the critters out.

While we’re planning our exit from this cold climate, Barb continues with some of her quilting projects – Lord of the Rings squares and some Christmas mugmats. We finally bit the bullet and bought ourselves a new duvet for the cool nights coming up on the road.  Well, one can not have a duvet without a cover so Barb pulled out her quilting stash and solved that in a matter of days.  She says the cover is ugly but will due in a rush.  She plans on making better ones for next year.  So, now we’re waiting for the house deal to close on Nov 22nd and then plan to hit the road on Nov 25th. Until then, we hope all is good where you are….

Brrrrrrrr

The doors are back on the fridge and the beer is chill’n again! What an ordeal this has been, especially when you don’t follow the manufacturers instructions! Lesson learned – again - but now the challenge is to remember all these life lessons we have been learning….

So, on Oct 26th, we pull back into Olympia Village for our final month here. We would love to leave right after our family Christmas but we did win the real estate bid on a house in Ft Erie so we have to stay until the closing of the deal. Now that we unofficially have the house, we’re wondering – what have we done! But since we know the intimate details of a hammer, we’re excited about getting started on the re-building of this cute little house. As you know Barb, her mind is whirring with ideas and plans.

Our grandson – Mackenzie – is on his high school football team and we try to get out to watch a game or two. And again, we picked the coldest and rainiest day to stand in the bleachers. To top it off, they didn’t play their best and with several bad calls by the officials and being all hallows eve, they lost. Since we have been watching Mackenzie’s team, they rarely do well and we seem to bring the nastiest weather, we promised Mack that we wouldn’t come to any of his play-off games in hope to improve their chances of winning the conference! We took Mackenzie home and stayed long enough to get spooked by Nathanial’s costume. Corrie has made all the costumes over the years, including Nathanial’s this year – great job Corrie.

Terri & Mark hosted a Halloween costume party the next weekend and of course when someone calls party, we are there! Being frugal shoppers, we came up with a couple of costumes for few bucks. I was supposed to be Dr Death and Barbie was a spooky ghost. Terri prepared some great treats and Barb took a few of her ‘spooky’ items too. She had 40+ guests and hired our nephew to tend bar and the party rocked to the weeeee hours – no, we didn’t last that long!

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

We went down to the Escapee Chapter lunch since it will be our last before we head to California. John is always trying to surprise Donna, Ray & Jack by our arrival so this time we thought we would surprise John and each time he asked if we were going to make it, we were vague and non-committal but in the meantime, sent Donna emails to say we were coming and we were trying to turn the tables on John – are you lost yet? Well, the surprise or say joke was on us – we didn’t have the correct email for Donna and all of them didn’t go and we only got the chance to say farewell to John & Jack! Boo Hoo….

Well, as you can see by the truck, winter is quickly approaching and our time here is drawing near. Hope all is well wherever you are….

It’s Party Time

Our family Thanksgiving was postponed for a week so we could hold a surprise birthday party for my older brother – a healthy 75 years old. We first started planning it by contacting his kids and then getting every ones consensus on a date and guests. Now with all that done the challenge was to keep it a secret from Larry!

On the Tuesday, Barb & I moved our rig into Larry’s driveway so we could have time to visit and do some of the fine tuning for his surprise. The sun was welcoming as we sat out the back with Larry and Gord at happy hour. As usual, on moving day we have dinner at our favourite fish & chip place with Larry.

As the week gathers momentum toward party time and the day arrives, the turkey is in the oven – Larry thinks it is our family Thanksgiving – which it was – and our families start to arrive. How to get him out of the house to maximise the surprise – a couple of ideas were floated around. Larry thought he should get a new toilet and we spent some time looking on line for one he thought would work. Shino & I said lets go, we can get one at Home Depot and have it installed before lunch. Then realization set in and Larry decided he didn’t need one that bad. Thank goodness for grandkids! Larry’s oldest asked him to take her shopping for something and of course, he couldn’t turn down a kid’s request and off they go at the perfect time for us to decorate and welcome some of the guests.

When Larry & Jessica returned, we all crowded near the door for the loud birthday wishes. The look on Larry’s face was priceless and of course, he was dressed in his Sunday best! With lots of nibblies, beer and wine, good friends and family, we all had a great time. Many past memories were talked about as new memories were made.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, we’re back at Corrie’s for some plumbing work on her new bathroom. The new tub is not the same size and everything needs to move a little. They also bought a new faucet and of course, it does not fit where the old one was. Nathanial was my apprentice, cleaning all the joints and pipe parts with steel wool. In his spare time, he ignited the torch after all the fittings were snug on the dry fit.

Monday, we drove over to see Pat & Carolyn for lunch and to see the new home site in Warkworth. They have had enough of the land lord of their mobile home park and decided to go out on their own. Hiring a mobile home mover and a builder to build the foundation with Pat acting as the general contractor. Now they are having a different kind of fun! They have a beautiful site with a terrific view overlooking the nearby rolling hills.

After lunch, Pat takes us into Campbellford to view the lock there and a hike into Ferris Provincial Park. Crossing the suspension bridge over the Trent River Gorge, the 4 of us trekked through a wooded area on a trail that led us to the spectacular lookout over Ranney Falls. It was cool and threatening rain but it was perfect for a hike through the woods.

 

On Tuesday, we were to head back to Waterdown but we’re still having problems with the fridge gaskets and need to re-do them again. So, instead, we go to Terri’s driveway for a few days. This time, we plan to use Terri’s freezer and fridge to store our stuff and keep the doors off for 48 hours while the gaskets cure and adhere.

This was the day we were to learn if our offer on the house in Fort Erie was accepted by the seller. Barb, Terri & I were having happy hour when the call came in and we learned we were property owners again! How scary is that? It’s been a long time since we were involved with the Real Estate purchasing process. At each hurdle we became a little more nervous, anxious and keep wondering if we’re doing the right thing. But that doesn’t get in the way of a celebration! Now, I could have said that the news blew the doors off the fridge but that wasn’t true, I took them off so we could re-do the gaskets again. Hopefully the fourth time is a charm!

Ok, enough for now, I’m sure your nodding off. We hope all is well where ever you are…..