Let Nothing 'Dull my Sparkle'!

I finally got my mower back - yay! It was a sunny autumn day, the leaves were dry and the conditions perfect for bagging them, so I leapt on. It was like being reunited with an old friend - but it felt different. The slack belt had been replaced with a new tight one, it made engaging the blade more a deliberate arm movement than a casual flick of the lever. The revs were higher, not like the old familiar chug I knew so well.
Still, it worked and I drove lap after lap stopping to empty the bagger each time until......something started grinding - a noise I was unfamiliar with. Then it stopped. Rather the mower stopped going forward even though the engine was still running, it wouldn't go backwards either. I was bewildered.
A week of expensive labour and an exorbitant bill and the stupid thing worked for 20 minutes! Really? The guy is coming back today to mend it, I hope.
Not to let that set-back dull my sparkle, I decided to venture in to the old family homestead which is derelict. It is home to many squirrels in the roof and any other passing wild creature in need of shelter. After we moved here, I took a photo of the old place and sent it to my Mother telling her this was the 'Granny Annexe', the name has stuck ever since!





We have used it over the years to store not-too-precious items such as the steps to the pool, our bicycles, pipe, flower pots and a plastic sunbed. I always shout loudly as I approach the house, there is one way in and one way out and I certainly wouldn't want to corner a skunk or raccoon in there. The roof is now falling in and I picked my way across the floor littered with nuts, bolts, roof tiles and general garbage.
The woman who sold us our house actually lived in there until 1979 with her husband and 3 children. She told me that if she mopped the kitchen floor in the winter, a layer of ice would stay on it until it melted in the spring. I moan if the thermostat goes below 67F! We don't know how good we've got it.
Anyway I rummaged around and on a friend's advice decided to pull some treasures out to sell.
I'd accumulated about 100' of hose over the years to water all the trees I planted, there was also a load of black pipe and Pex pipe, a sump pump, hundreds of flower pots - all worth a few dollars, so I intend to advertise them next week with fingers all crossed!
Today I am packing, not only ornaments into boxes, but also a suitcase. We are off on a road-trip this evening in search of a new home hundreds of miles away.
I am making the King of all picnics to take and sustain us for the 14 or so hours on the road. My daughter and I need to make sure we leave on time otherwise my husband will become the clock-watching tyrant and won't let us stop at every Tim Horton's or photo opportunity we see.
She will take over the whole back seat with her pillow, blanket, DVD player, books, iPod, iPad, snacks and drinks.
Oh to be a kid again.... I think I might join her!


p.s. No Blog tomorrow, too busy watching DVDs from the back seat - sorry!

Please don't forget to feed the chickadees!

Today I woke up early in a reflective mood, so this Blog is a sombre one. I re-ran in my mind our last 5 1/2 years in this house and all the memories we would take with us.
I clearly remember our first visit here on a snowy winter afternoon and as my husband and I climbed across 2 foot snow banks on the drive we both said, 'Can you hear that? Nothing!' We looked out over the fields and could see for miles, no noise, no traffic, nothing. It was bliss. Snowflakes fell like sparkling crystals from the sky and it was magical.


This place has given us so much, we have breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. We have an endless stream of wild animals in our yard that entertain us. We have seen incredible double rainbows, the Northern lights, shooting stars and an eclipse.
Our first experience with Canadian wildlife was a chipmunk. We thought it was a baby squirrel, my Mother thought it was a rat! They busily gnaw away at the bird bells, stuffing their pouches and run frantically away tail high like a flagpole!



We have seen black bears, including an abandoned young cub we named Winnie, Deer have feasted on our acorns. Coyotes jog steadily and foxes sprint over the fields as quick as lightning. Huge white jack rabbits fight and play together in the spring.


 


Bright orange orioles with a beautiful song visit for hummingbird nectar and clumsily hang on to the feeders, we have 'wild canaries', Prairie chickens, skunks, raccoons, eagles, owls and this year we saw a 13 stripe ground squirrel!
This place is where we have loved and lost some best friends and still feeling the emptiness they left behind.





Our home has taught all of us new skills. We have painted, fixed, mended and tamed. During the almost 6 years, we have planted over 200 trees and lovingly watered them throughout the hot dry summers. Family and friends have travelled across the miles to visit us and experience living in the country, down a dirt road, miles from anywhere.
We have just 3 weeks left here before we move. I'm sad to leave the peace, solitude and beauty of the country with all its secrets and hidden pleasures. Will we ever own over 100 oak trees on 10 acres again? I doubt it. What a privilege it's been to live here with all its challenges and surprises. Everything has been captured forever in photographs, videos and most importantly memories.
I'll miss this place and no doubt will cry a few more tears before we go. My daughter will put her arm around me and say something comforting like, 'Oh Mummy, not again!' and my husband will give me a reassuring hug.
I want to leave a letter for the new owners to ask them not to forget to feed the chickadees and squirrels throughout the cold winters or they'll starve. Do they know how to make hummingbird nectar for the 6 regular little visitors that come to the same window every spring? Can I ask them not to shoot and kill the mother deer and her 2 fawns, or the black bear and her cubs? Will the Prairie chickens end up on their barbecue? Will they have an outdoor dog that will chase away the chipmunks forever? There's simply nothing we can do once we leave here but hope that nature will continue to amaze and that all our little friends forgive us for leaving them.





Perhaps our next yard will have a chipmunk in?

Pros and Cons of Buy, Sell and Swap Sites

Due to our impending house move, I am busily sorting through our treasured and not so treasured possessions in to keep, toss, sell or donate piles.
I am not a hoarder, at least I don't think I am compared to some horrors I have seen on the television.
The toss and donate piles are by far the easiest to decide on. If I don't want it, is it good enough for someone else to use or wear, we donate and if not, it's off to the skip for that item!
The dilemma comes when I decide to sell things. I am a member of a few local buy and sell sites which is the ideal place to capture a wide local audience for free.

Firstly, I have a look through these sites to try and decide a price, my husband always sets a higher one than me. Forget eBay, their prices are all vastly inflated compared to these community sales. Having decided on a price, I then painstakingly take the best pictures I can of the item from every possible angle, with and without the light on, careful to not get my shadow or reflection in the frame. 'Click!' and I'm ready to post.
I'm not particularly inventive with my ads, I give it a straightforward title and price, then usually add a rather bland description with the picture.
Some people's ads are really good, witty, funny and original. If I were to try and emulate them though, I think it would just look plain stupid or sad.
Excitedly I click on the 'Post' button and wait to see what happens......
Oh no! Suddenly 3 different people are fighting for my item, I obviously posted too low a price on it. Well too late now, it's not an auction site, so I can't accept the highest bidder. At least the item has gone, I have the money and the space.
Or, no-one is interested in my treasure. What? How could anyone not be tempted by the mock Tiffany-style lampshades for only $10? I liked them, that's why I bought them. They're not THAT bad are they? Suddenly I feel greedy and wish I'd posted them at a lower price from the beginning. Once you add, 'or best offer' to your ad or 'any reasonable offer accepted', then you wonder if people are seeing you as so desperate to get rid of that thing that you'll practically give it away.
After a few weeks of trying, if all else fails and no-one wants my bargain, even at the new knock down price, I have to decide whether I want to keep it or simply donate it to charity.
Garage sales are very popular here in the summer months and a great place to find a bargain. I do think some people mark up their prices just to get knocked down, but I'm often too polite and not brave enough to haggle. So I either pay their inflated price or pass.
We did go to a garage sale some years ago and were surprised to find an old cardboard box with a hole cut out for the head and arms and it was painted in a sort of robot design. It looked like a child had done it, worn it for a week, then threw it in the garage where it had been kicked around and trodden on for a couple of years. Yes, you know what I'm going to say, it was for sale! I think they wanted a couple of dollars for it - unbelievable.
I always have to laugh when I arrange to meet people to drop items off. It's usually outside Walmart or other public place. They see me sat in my car, pull up, pass me money, I pass them a package and they drive off. Sounds like a drug deal doesn't it? One of these days I'll be arrested in the middle of an operation whilst innocently handing a DVD over to a contented Mum, but if it ever happens, I'll save that for another Blog!

Eco Fee, Recycling Fee, Environmental Fee? Just a Cash Grab!

Here's a weird thing we have in Canada, the 'environmental fee', 'eco fee' or 'recycling fee'. It appears on your bill after buying items such as cartons of juice, cans of beer, ear buds, paint, even a microwave!
What on earth is all that about?
When we first came to Canada, I saw the fee pop up on the screen when the cashier scanned some juice in a box.
'What's that?' I dumbly asked.
'That's the recycling fee,' she patiently replied.
'So when I recycle that carton, I get the money back then?' I asked hopefully.
'No, you don't get it back.' She was starting to lose her patience by now.
'So I'm charged a fee for something that I can recycle, but when I do recycle it, I do it for free?' I just wanted to clarify this surreal concept.
'Basically, yeah. That'll be $35, how are you paying?' She looked at the growing line behind me then shot an impatient glance at my purse.
'Debit, who makes these rules then?' I wasn't finished yet as I tapped in my PIN.
She was though, 'the Government, thank you and have a great day.' She droned insincerely.
When I buy a can of paint I am charged an eco fee. Okay, so it's only 60 cents, but I'm annoyed at the principle of it. On Home Depot's website it explains what the fee is for,




''Eco-fees cover the collection, transportation, recycling or safe disposal of hazardous and special materials, which currently have provincially run recycling programs in place.''




So where are these provincially run recycling programs? There may be one at our local refuse tip, but as they charge an arm and a leg to allow you the privilege of dumping your garbage there, we never go.


In fact the only things we can get the fee back on is beer cans and bottles. Not just any beer cans though. They have to be Canadian beer cans. If you have bought beer from the States (as many people do as it's so much cheaper even with the poor exchange rate) and the beer vendor spots the cans from USA (they are not metric like ours), they'll refuse to take them. Nor will they give you money back on any cans that originated from UK or any Canadian cans or bottles that had cider in them - apparently.


I may be missing something here, but am I the only person who just doesn't get it? Perhaps when we move to another Province, things may be different and I can recycle everything and get paid for doing it! I'm not holding my breath though....

Scruffs - the Clothing that Keeps on Giving!

I have just been sorting out laundry. Nothing exciting there, but it crossed my mind as I folded the paint-splattered t-shirt and ripped jeans, how normal are we as a family?
We live in the country and on weekends we like to get outside and get jobs done in the yard eg. chopping up fallen trees for firewood, having huge bonfires, weed-whacking (aka strimming), weeding the veggie patch etc.





Now no-one will wear their best attire doing the above-mentioned tasks. So we wear what we affectionately call 'scruffs'. In fact, most weekends we wear 'scruffs'. There's something about those comfortable clothes you've owned for years and years that fit just right regardless of what they look like.
My husband had a pair of 'scruff' jeans that had a rather indecent split under the crotch. He didn't care and would march outside defiantly in them grab the chainsaw and cut wood! Eventually, it got to the point where my daughter and I had to gang up on him and threaten to have him arrested for indecent exposure in a public place when weed-whacking our front ditch. He finally gave in and reluctantly threw them out, it was as though he'd lost his best friend.
I am the same and have the most comfortable pair of jeans. They too have rips and splits in them but I find they only cause a problem in the summer when the mosquitoes find a new patch of exposed flesh to bite on that I forgot to spray! The previous scruff jeans became cut-offs after they began to split.
I have a couple of t-shirts and a sweatshirt that look great from the back, but turn them round and they look like Van Gogh used them to wipe his brushes on.
My daughter has leggings with split knees - scruffs. Outgrown t-shirts - scruffs. Unfashionable clothing she wouldn't be seen dead in - scruffs.
The thing about 'scruffs' is that you really get your money's worth out of them. They are the clothing that keeps on giving until the seams give way or the material wears out.
Which brings me on to my dilemma. We are soon moving house. We hope to live in a town, in a place with no fallen trees, fires, ditches or a veggie patch.
The new house may need some painting, but that's about all. Am I going to bite the bullet and dispose of our 'scruffs' before we move, leaving us with just one moving outfit each? Or shall I pack everything regardless of its state and take it with us?
Do I really want to fill our new walk in closets with our faithful 'scruffs'? Are we suddenly going to become civilised overnight once we move to a suburban cul-de-sac?
If we keep our 'scruffs' and parade around our new abode, front and back yards or wash the cars on the drive in them, what will the neighbours think?
I'm leaning toward saying a fond farewell to them, perhaps a ceremonial burning one weekend. They are way past the charity shop stage so are no good to anyone.
The question is, what do we wear while burning them........?

Tips for on-line House Hunters

We are currently house-hunting - from a distance. From about 825 miles away in fact (1329 km). To put that in to perspective, Lands End to John o' Groats is only 603 miles.
Because of the sheer distance involved, we are making a list of a number of houses we like the look of on-line and when we can get over that way, we can blitz them in a couple of days and hopefully narrow our choice down to perhaps one.


I can't help chuckling when I see some listings on line. For example, either the realtor or the home owner took a crash course in home staging and decided a colourful picture of a flower would go nicely in the family bathroom. On closer inspection, the picture is propped up against either a towel or some toilet tissue and still has the corner protectors on as if it's just come from the store and is going back later for a refund!
Why do some realtors insist on taking pictures of the owner's furniture? It's not as if the orange pine sideboard against the salmon wall adds anything to its appeal.
I have always been told to depersonalise before selling a house. Some we see still have the baby portraits on the wall, the framed hockey shirts in the den, even bedrooms painted in their kid's favourite team colours. No builder's beige or contractor cream in that house.
Another is a house that does not mention it is a pet friendly home. It doesn't claim to be pet-free either, thankfully. Zooming in on one particular picture I see a large white dog fast asleep on the floor resembling something like a stuffed sheepskin rug! When it comes to animals, if you really are against having a home with an aroma of someone else's dog or cat litter tray, then inspect those pictures with a magnifying glass. The kitchen is a good giveaway, with large food bowls carelessly left on the floor, or a stray tin of cat food left on the counter top!
Another sure sign is to look at the grass and how green it is. Numerous patches of dying grass is usually an indicator of a dog in residence.
How can people really expect to get top dollar for their house when they can't even be bothered to tidy their house before the photo shoot or barely make the bed?
I've seen pictures of sinks full of washing up - an instant turn off. There are beds that look like someone may have died in it overnight and perhaps the realtor didn't notice before snapping away. Another weird one was a hot-tub in the back yard with the downspout from the guttering being diverted straight in to it. I suppose it saves on the water bills?
I love Google Street View and it gives a great insight in to the area surrounding the house.
Ah, so next door has 2 Harley Davidsons on its driveway or the house opposite looks like a likely candidate for the next Hoarding - Buried Alive show. If there is a back lane, Google may have pictures of just what dwells behind and if not to your liking, can save much time.
I prefer to see pictures of a furnished home. It gives you the scale of the room. Otherwise it can be very hard to judge whether a bedroom is a single or a double. It also helps to see what purpose the room is used for, an office, den, gym or bedroom?
Google Street View is also fantastic at showing you how busy the surrounding roads might be. I looked at one place wondering whether there was a school bus route nearby. Street View showed a school bus actually passing the house!
I would like there to be a law passed where the prospective owners were allowed to live in their future home for say a week to see what's it's really like. That way they could discover that the next door neighbours are party animals and play loud music until the early hours or that the local lads congregate at the end of your driveway every weekend for a get together and deposit all their litter in your flower pots before leaving at 2am.
Before we decide on putting in any offers, I want to see the house, take my time viewing, look inside the kettle to see how much limescale there is, flush toilets, test electrical outlets, turn on every tap to see what the pressure is like, go back in the evening and later to see how quiet or noisy the street actually is. This time of year is great for putting in offers less than the asking price as people may want to be in their new homes before the snow arrives and of course, Christmas.
I'm fussy, but I want to know that one of the biggest investments we make will be a sound one. I don't want to stress out over a neighbour's barking dog all day while the owners are at work so CAVEAT EMPTOR! Let the buyer beware and take your time, go with your gut feeling and don't be rushed.
My daughter has already chosen her dream home, it was a show home, has large bedrooms and is within walking distance of her school, oh and Starbucks of course! What more could a girl ask for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday was like a hot summer day and we reached 24C! I suggested we make the most of the weather and armed with a vicious array of knives and spoons we had a pumpkin-carving experience.
I have seen some very artistic pumpkins in the past and I tried to think of an original face to carve but failed miserably.
In fact, none of saw each others offerings until we were finished and I was amazed at how similar they all were!
Not one of us cut out jagged scary teeth and instead made happy, smiling pumpkins! I am sure that says something about our family's state of mind?


Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada and the rain is whipping against the windows and the wind is gusting up to 100km in some places. Different people are thankful for different things, I think my daughter is just thankful that so far today, we haven't had a power outage and the internet still works!