In honour of our imminent confinement on a wintery Saskatchewan farm, Chris has finally had one lifetime dream come true...a 50" plasma screen TV, PS3, media centre...and a few other things that rocked our credit card.
Since our shipment arrived four days ago, Chris has been lost in a blur of cabling and hardware. Several frenzied trips into town, a smoking credit card, the heartbreak of the first TV being damaged and the drama of not knowing if we'd get a replacement have all culminated of a newly minted Man Cave aka our living room.
And truthfully...I like it too.
So, we threw open the doors to our neighbours to enjoy the Greycup game tonight. A magnificent canvas to watch the sporting drama unfold for a group of the best fans in the world...Roughrider fans.
And they lost.
Because they can't count.
But the TV was great!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A REALLY Big Truck!
So began our morning with Dexter running to the front door for the dramatic arrival of the HUGE moving van into the front yard.
Mom sucked in her breath when the truck rolled onto the 'nice' lawn in front of the house to position itself just right, but inspection upon its departure revealed no dramatic craters. Can cross lawn repair off the list of spring must-do activities.
So a lovely few hours was spent checking off tracking numbers and directing placement of boxes and furniture.
At last (okay, it's been barely over a week since we've seen our stuff, but hey, it seems like an eternity...) we are able to fluff our little nest.
We have our bedrooms operational - yay! Our coup for the evening was finally finding the mislabelled 'kitchen' box containing our favourite pillows - or as Dexter, for some mysterious todder-reason calls them, tillows.
It's beginning to feel cosy and familiar in our little part of the house.
Good night!
Mom sucked in her breath when the truck rolled onto the 'nice' lawn in front of the house to position itself just right, but inspection upon its departure revealed no dramatic craters. Can cross lawn repair off the list of spring must-do activities.
So a lovely few hours was spent checking off tracking numbers and directing placement of boxes and furniture.
At last (okay, it's been barely over a week since we've seen our stuff, but hey, it seems like an eternity...) we are able to fluff our little nest.
We have our bedrooms operational - yay! Our coup for the evening was finally finding the mislabelled 'kitchen' box containing our favourite pillows - or as Dexter, for some mysterious todder-reason calls them, tillows.
It's beginning to feel cosy and familiar in our little part of the house.
Good night!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Bureaucracy is alive and well...
Minimal progress to report today...
Sasktel spontaneously changed their service call to tomorrow instead of showing up today and didn't send us the memo...
An attempt to sort out getting the car insured locally resulted in a long list of required documents and DNA testing to prove we are worthy of being included in Saskatchewan bureaucracy...but Dexter got a candy AND a lollipop from the nice lady at the SGI office.
And the cherry on top...a mortgage payment was withdrawn from our bank account yesterday, for a mortgage we no longer have on a house we no longer own. Perfect.
Still, our stuff is arriving tomorrow and the tree in the driveway has been trimmed to allow it to roll up to the house.
Another minor coup was manhandling the golf cart (glamourous estate transportation) into the far, far corner of the garage to make room for our car. Sweet! Indoor parking. Necessary, given that our eastern car doesn't have a block heater.
Tomorrow's goal is to retrieve my sense of humour and find my touque.
Oh...and the snow has arrived! :)
Sasktel spontaneously changed their service call to tomorrow instead of showing up today and didn't send us the memo...
An attempt to sort out getting the car insured locally resulted in a long list of required documents and DNA testing to prove we are worthy of being included in Saskatchewan bureaucracy...but Dexter got a candy AND a lollipop from the nice lady at the SGI office.
And the cherry on top...a mortgage payment was withdrawn from our bank account yesterday, for a mortgage we no longer have on a house we no longer own. Perfect.
Still, our stuff is arriving tomorrow and the tree in the driveway has been trimmed to allow it to roll up to the house.
Another minor coup was manhandling the golf cart (glamourous estate transportation) into the far, far corner of the garage to make room for our car. Sweet! Indoor parking. Necessary, given that our eastern car doesn't have a block heater.
Tomorrow's goal is to retrieve my sense of humour and find my touque.
Oh...and the snow has arrived! :)
Monday, November 23, 2009
Weather report
So our last couple days in Toronto were spent doing various errands, one of the most important of which was buying Chris some serious winter boots.
Having discussed it with me, confirmed it with my sister and having had previous Christmas-visit glimpses, he knew that Saskatchewan farming meant nose-hair-freezing-lung-burning-why-does-anyone-live-here COLD.
He researched and chose his boots in Toronto and then reserved and picked them up in Winnipeg. Take that Centre of the Universe!
They are called Baffin Antarctic, good to -100C...serious cold. Serious trekkers/researches/people-more-accomplished-than-me take them to the South Pole. He's set!
So, what the hell?!?! There is not one flake of snow on the ground here. The biggest 'weather' Chris hit driving over was a bit of rain and fog. Where is winter?!?!
Judging from glimpses on the national news, it's looking pretty sparse all over Canada. We are in serious jeopardy of losing our bragging rights about being SO tough with cold weather.
What is with this? Oh....right...Armageddon approacheth. As Mayans predicted and Hollywood is reminding us (with the last big theatre movie we went to in Toronto - Chris' choice NOT mine), the end is near - winter solstice 2012.
Is the lack of winter a sign of the End of Time? Will Chris' Uber Boots go to waste? Or is this just a pleasant, gentle entry into a regular, cold winter that is a little late to arrive?
I guess time will tell. In fact, just a little over three years to go...
Having discussed it with me, confirmed it with my sister and having had previous Christmas-visit glimpses, he knew that Saskatchewan farming meant nose-hair-freezing-lung-burning-why-does-anyone-live-here COLD.
He researched and chose his boots in Toronto and then reserved and picked them up in Winnipeg. Take that Centre of the Universe!
They are called Baffin Antarctic, good to -100C...serious cold. Serious trekkers/researches/people-more-accomplished-than-me take them to the South Pole. He's set!
So, what the hell?!?! There is not one flake of snow on the ground here. The biggest 'weather' Chris hit driving over was a bit of rain and fog. Where is winter?!?!
Judging from glimpses on the national news, it's looking pretty sparse all over Canada. We are in serious jeopardy of losing our bragging rights about being SO tough with cold weather.
What is with this? Oh....right...Armageddon approacheth. As Mayans predicted and Hollywood is reminding us (with the last big theatre movie we went to in Toronto - Chris' choice NOT mine), the end is near - winter solstice 2012.
Is the lack of winter a sign of the End of Time? Will Chris' Uber Boots go to waste? Or is this just a pleasant, gentle entry into a regular, cold winter that is a little late to arrive?
I guess time will tell. In fact, just a little over three years to go...
Daddyyyyyyyy!!!!
Dexter woke up from his afternoon nap to find a familiar face smiling at him. "Daddy!!!!" had arrived.
Cruising into the yard early in the afternoon with the requisite Tim Horton's debris in the backseat and grid road dust coating the back bumper, Chris emerged, stretched and declared himself good to keep going. Apparently once he found his groove, he was good to make it to Vancouver. :)
Nonetheless he decided to stay here and was treated to a tour of the rooms which have been cleared out to make way for all our stuff which, incidentally, is arriving on Wednesday. Two more sleeps until we can nest.
Dexter then set a blistering pace on his battery-powered ride 'em tractor on an excursion to go see the cows. He has yet to manage to steer and hit the 'gas' pedal simultaneously, but hey, baby steps.
Sadly, the cows had wandered too far into the bush to be viewed and we had to settle for watching Uncle Peter bringing the big tractor in for the day. Again....ooh..aah.
Today's noteworthy moments...ordered a phone line, to be activated tomorrow...set up an appointment to go visit a daycare as we begin the Relentless Pestering step of working our way through the waitlist...and Dexter has entered his I Love to be Naked phase.
Tomorrow...we tackle car insurance. Wish us luck. And...I will attempt to get some pictures posted.
For now, all is well. Daddy's home! :)
Cruising into the yard early in the afternoon with the requisite Tim Horton's debris in the backseat and grid road dust coating the back bumper, Chris emerged, stretched and declared himself good to keep going. Apparently once he found his groove, he was good to make it to Vancouver. :)
Nonetheless he decided to stay here and was treated to a tour of the rooms which have been cleared out to make way for all our stuff which, incidentally, is arriving on Wednesday. Two more sleeps until we can nest.
Dexter then set a blistering pace on his battery-powered ride 'em tractor on an excursion to go see the cows. He has yet to manage to steer and hit the 'gas' pedal simultaneously, but hey, baby steps.
Sadly, the cows had wandered too far into the bush to be viewed and we had to settle for watching Uncle Peter bringing the big tractor in for the day. Again....ooh..aah.
Today's noteworthy moments...ordered a phone line, to be activated tomorrow...set up an appointment to go visit a daycare as we begin the Relentless Pestering step of working our way through the waitlist...and Dexter has entered his I Love to be Naked phase.
Tomorrow...we tackle car insurance. Wish us luck. And...I will attempt to get some pictures posted.
For now, all is well. Daddy's home! :)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle
"Where are you headed?" he asked. I'm going to a farm just outside Yorkton. I'm going to spend a year there I said. It's a cattle farm. "Beef?". "Yes Sir". "So, your going to castrate them, cut their balls off, slaughter em?" As far I know, someone else handles that, I said. "So, your going to herd them" he said. "You know how to lasso?". "No Sir." "Got a horse?" "No Sir, but we have an ATV". "Well, I guess that will do", he said. "Well if you ever need some help son, let me know. Me and my horse would be glad to lend you a hand."
This was the oddest conversation that I have ever had in my life with a man who bore an uncanny resemblance to Larry from Newhart. You know "Hi I'm Larry and this is my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl" fame. All the while I'm thinking "You've got a horse?" Come on you work in in a Motel. Now what you can't see at 10 o'clock at night with no street lights, but, what is very easy to see in the morning at 8am is that Larry had his horse tied up out back. Huh!
This was the oddest conversation that I have ever had in my life with a man who bore an uncanny resemblance to Larry from Newhart. You know "Hi I'm Larry and this is my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl" fame. All the while I'm thinking "You've got a horse?" Come on you work in in a Motel. Now what you can't see at 10 o'clock at night with no street lights, but, what is very easy to see in the morning at 8am is that Larry had his horse tied up out back. Huh!
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