An Unexpected Visit

Last weekend Chuckles went to the country estate on Thursday evening, the night before I went.  He arrived at dusk and everything was just as we had left it the Sunday before.  He hit the hay early, having big weekend ahead of him dismantling the barn stalls.

 

 

Here's the barn that is being converted to our workshop.

 

Here's the interior when we purchased the place.

 

 

And here's the interior currently with stalls down.

 

 

When he awoke Friday morning, he took his cup of coffee and went outside to enjoy the cool morning air, and survey his new empire.  To his astonishment, a large section of the landscape fabric we had laid the week before, complete with rocks around the perimeter to anchor it against wind, had been pulled up and bunched into a perfect little nest!  In the center of the next, there had been a small hollow dug, and the fabric was gathered around the hole.

 

 

 

This is the way the landscape fabric was left last weekend.

 

 

 

And here's a couple of pictures of the little nest!

 

 

 

Jenn and I put it all back together again, when we were bark mulching  but this area of landscape fabric is still exposed, because we are going to cover it with driveway material when we bring that in, as it will be a little parking spot.  So, I hope the critter, whatever it was, doesn't do this again, as now the edges are buried under the bark mulch we laid down.  Since we hear coyotes yipping and howling  most nights, it's likely that is what bedded down here. 

 

 

I went out to the barn late in the day on Sunday to call Chuckles in for a piece of .... blueberry pie, and he snapped this photo of me with the disassembled stall front walls.  That's about the extent of my help with the barn reno so far!

 

 

Everything is Big!

When we bought our "country estate" as we have taken to calling our new 5 acre property, we didn't comprehend that everything about it was exponentially larger than our city lot.

Oh, we knew it was bigger - but it's wayyyyyy bigger - the yard, the shrubs, the trees, the distances between things.

One of the first days we were there I took off my jacket during a hot flash, mindlessly put it down and carried on with what I was doing.  Later, when the sun went down and we were relaxing on the back deck, I got chilled and went searching for my jacket.  To the barn - a football field distance from the house - nope, not there, back to the front yard (the football field again), nope not there.  Was it in the trailer, parked beside the barn?  The football field again...you get the picture.  I got the picture - this place is frigging huge! 

And there have been other situations driving the point home....

Watering the front garden meant either - three of our city size garden hoses joined together from the tap at the deck, OR scrambling all the way through the crawl space under the house to turn the water on at the tap on the front yard side of the house.  After a short period of imagining spiders, newts and other real and imagined creepy crawlies that could be under the house, I gathered up three hoses!

Gardening has exploded to a new level.  The shrubs were all quite overgrown when we took over the place at the end of May, so weekends this past month or so have been all about trimming.  Looking back now, we laugh at our first day on the "job" when we rolled over our wheelbarrow, and cut the first few branches off a 10 ft hydrangea.  Ha - wheelbarrow full in less than two minutes.  Bring on the enormous waste disposal bin fortuitously found on side of road, badly caved in on one side.  Chuckles, being Mr. Handyman, heated the plastic and knocked out the dents, thinking this would be a handy vessel at the country estate.  And it is - as a containment device for rubbish destined for our utility trailer, which has proven to be the best garden implement we own.  That and the former hunting buggy, Chuckles Suzuki Sidekick, which has been commandeered as the tow vehicle for the utility trailer as it will go anywhere on the property.  We can now trim bushes all day long and at the end of the day go four-wheeling to the back of the property where we have established a dump pile - of material to be burned when the cool autumn weather arrives. 

We mowed the lawn once by hand, another laughable situation.  Our friend Nick, who lives nearby the country estate, says the neighbors must all realize when city-folk move in at the sound of push mowers starting up!

It only took us the one time - four hours with both of us working at it - one mowing, one weed whacking, to realize that a ride-on was a must have.  So we have a new John Deere mower in the fleet now.

So far we have bought the mower, a good gas weedeater, and a leafblower.  The list of what we still will need keeps on growing!

 

One thing for sure - we won't be bored here, there is always something to do!

 

What Happens When Your Dog Dies

Hi!  When my dog Seymour passed away suddenly last November, it marked the end of a chapter in my life.  I didn't expect that, but that's what happened.

Poor old Seymour suddenly seemed to be going downhill, so a visit to the vet confirmed he had cancer in his spleen.  That was Saturday.  By Monday night he was unable to get to his feet on his own, and so Tuesday morning we had to put him to sleep.  Hard stuff, he was my best buddy.

And that was it - after the fog of grief lifted a bit, I knew I needed change - big change.
 
I am 54 years old, and have had in the back of my mind that I would "retire" at 55 for a number of years, but it's complicated on a number of levels.

My husband, life-partner, lover, friend, occasional enemy (or person I find really really irritating), soulmate and business-partner Chuck (Chuckles) and I own a small manufacturing business which we both work at.  He's not quite at the retirement age or phase yet, so part of the challenge has been working out how I can slow down a bit while he keeps on working.  He likes having me around, we work well together, and our customers like "us" as a package deal.  For those reasons, hiring a replacement has never seemed practical.

We have dreamed of a larger property often, pouring over the property listings online and fantasizing about the life we would have with space for all Chuck's toys and projects (he's a toy and project guy) and the huge garden we could have (I love gardening) and the outdoor space and privacy we could enjoy (we both are outdoorsy and like our personal space!).

So, in May, we bought 5 acres in the country, near where I grew up, about an hour away from Vancouver, BC where we live now, and we are going to renovate the barn, move our business there, and work from home!  I will still be involved, but won't be locked into the 8-10 hours a day just at work, I can be out in the garden, or playing with my new dog (yes! That's part of the plan!) with my iphone on my belt and can take calls, do the books on rainy days and in general devote more time to my own interests.   

One of the things I have always loved is writing, so I thought I'd start a blog about the experience of moving from a big city back to the country after 30 odd years (back for me, Chuckles has always lived in the city).   So here goes....