Yes, it has been FOREVER since I last posted and I do apologize. It's been a crazy spring and once you get out of the habit of blogging it can be tough to get back into it, particularly in the weather we have been having this year.
A very long story short, we expected to have our current house for 2-3 years before the owner returned from Newfoundland, she decided to return after just 1 year. I can't blame her, it is her house, but DAMN! It's a pissoff when you've spent so much time, effort and money to make a home and then have to rip it all up and move again. In my case this is the 3rd summer in a row that I've moved. Fortunately we found a house less then 1/2 km away and this time it's a dedicated rental unit. No one moving home after a year. It's an older place that has been renovated but it is a bit of a downgrade for us. No garage, no dining room and 3 small bedrooms but, IMO, it actually has more usable living space. I don't really think of bedrooms as living space, I go there to sleep! How big do they need to be? The current place has a great rec-room that we never use. It's too damn cold in the basement to really spend time down there. The new place has the living room, kitchen and rec-room all on the same floor, thus even heat, the rooms will get used. It has tons of windows, all new gas water heater, fireplace and stove, newer windows, modern bathrooms a decent yard. Without the garage and a big basement it's going to be a tough fit to get everything in but we'll figure it out.
The past few weeks has been sorting through the stuff I haven't opened in the last 2 moves and finally getting rid of it and this past weekend packing and getting ready. Jen has been doing the same and the pile is a bit better looking. Amazing how much crap you accumulate in your life. Found a home for about 250lbs worth of paperbacks (Watson's Mill in Manotick will take them) and the last of the big CRT TV's are in my truck to be dropped at Salvation Army later today. The biggest kicker was after 2 years I finally decided to put the radio's back on the air. I put antennas up, buried radials and made everything look professional so it wouldn't freak the neighbours out and just as I finished it we got the notice to move. I had to take it all back down and dig it all back up. Going to be hard to get motivated to go through putting it all back up again, but we'll get it done in the coming months.
I'm at work today and Tuesday then off Wed, Thur and Fri for the move. Will just be me the first 2 days putting things in the truck and taking them over to the new house. I hope to have the garage stuff all moved on Wed, the main floor stuff done on Thurs, Jen will join me on Friday and we can move the bedrooms, clothing and kitchen on Friday and then I have a rental cube truck on Saturday and some friends coming over to assist with all the heavy stuff - coaches, dressers, mattresses, tables, etc..... Then clean the old place Sat and Sun and be done with it. Then back to work on the Tuesday (long weekend holiday in Canada). It's going to be a BRUTAL week. Fortunately for Jen, she starts 5 weeks holidays on the Friday and she can crash and burn when it's done.
If that wasn't crazy enough, everything else has been just as silly. Jen came down with shingles so she was out of commission for a few weeks and nothing happening on the divorce front (right after it was looking like we were making headway) can't get any info about anything from my ex all she does is give me a hard time about everything instead of just answer the question. For someone who wants money she sure isn't willing to tell me how much she paid or needs to pay. Want to get this foolishness behind me. Not to mention get my name off the mortgage so someday I can buy a house again. Once the move is done I guess I'll have to start kicking things again to try and move it forward.
You'd think with all this amazing weather every weekend we would have put some major miles on the canoe. Nope, we've only been out 3 times so far. Piss poor showing. Busy packing and with Jen down sick it's been tough to get out. The drought has caused one of our prime spots, the Jock River, to be no good for paddling so we'll have to get out on the Rideau soon. Fingers crossed that the weekend weather holds for the rest of the summer so we can have some fun once the move is done.
No new pictures or videos :-( They have pretty much remained packed since I left Bermuda back in April. Terrible I am! Will do my damnist to start getting some pics up soon - particularly of the new place. Hope everyone else is having a good summer!
Later - and I have a few topics to write about when I have more time :-)
