Introducing 'Shooter'

Meet 'Shooter' our new dog. She is a 3 and half year old Tennessee Bloodhound.

She has the sweetest nature and is very good with the cats.... and they have finally accepted and gotten used to her.

I am afraid that she has entered into even my heart... I was the one who didn't want another dog!

Shooter is sure a great friend and company for Syd during the day. She loves to chase deer, squirrels and take care of her yard. She can run like the wind and has a very powerful 'nose'! She is an unbelievable tracker and heads down the 'cut' and checks out what 'critters' have been visiting the neighbourhood.

We love her!

Winter in Rocky

Well winter has really arrived and so far it hasn't been too bad. Of course we were in Cabo San Lucas for the worst of it, so that has been good.

It started snowing on December 12th and about 1 and half feet of the stuff came down. The temperature dropped to -35 and it was cold. The best part of it was that we were sitting on a beach in Cabo San Lucas through the worst of it.

We returned to a winter wonderland. The snow here is very different from Vancouver snow. Here it is light and fluffy, but you still need a plow to move it and the driveway is far to long to shovel by hand. Our neighbour across the road plowed our driveway for us while we were away so at least we were able to get into the yard. We have found that the people here really help each other. We were blessed with awesome neighbours in Tsawwassen so it is very heartening to see that we have great neighbours here too.

Syd picked up a second hand quad (atv) with a snow blade attached so he can plow the driveway himself now. Also keeping it running should be a full time occupation for him. Russ bought a snowmobile last week so we now have two new toys to play with.

I have been out a few times down the 'cut' to the south west of our property (in the picture) for a walk/hike. It is just beautiful out there when the sun is shining, peaceful, quiet and so close to nature. A few of our neighbours take their snowmobiles down there... you can see the tracks...

Well there is still lots of winter to come and I am sure that it will not be idyllic, so will keep you posted with the harsher aspects that I am sure will be coming our way.

The Sun Shines Bright

Over my western Canadian home...

It is a beautiful sunny day. Syd and I just returned from a walk/hike into the backcountry behind our property. The marsh is frozen over now so we can get across it and check out the countryside behind us. It is quite a lovely. We came across a lot of deer droppings and also met our next door neighbour out walking his pyrenees dog.

We have had a couple of good news items to celebrate lately. The property manager rented the suite in the house so we have a bit on income coming from there now. Also having someone in the house will make the insurance company happy.

Also I was able to find a job. Rocky is a small town and there aren't many jobs for women (other than health care and teaching) that pay very much. Most are clerical positions. Business here is related to the oil and gas industry and most of the jobs are too. There is lots of demand for welders, heavy duty mechanics and anyone knowledgeable in this industry. Many of the men work out of town in the 'field' and their wives and kids live here.

My new job is at ATB Financial (Alberta Treasury Branch Financial - is a bank owned and operated by the Alberta Provincial Government) as an Account Manager. I start on December 1. This will help us in a couple of ways. It will help with the finances and will help us meet people in town.

We now should be in a position to weather the current economic storm that is blowing over the globe.

Birdfeeder and the Deer

If you look closely, you can see the deer under Syd's bird feeder looking at us with those big sweet eyes. Look even closer at the second picture and you will see him licking the seeds off of the tray of the feeder. He has 2 other friends as well......

These pictures were taken this morning at about 8:00 AM.

Have I told you about Alberta Drilling Rigs

Two weeks ago on, October 24th, we (Russ, Miranda, Syd, Ina (Syd's sister from Beasejour, Manitoba) and her husband Gib) all headed into Red Deer to have dinner and watch the Vancouver Giants play the Red Deer Rebels.

We were able to visit with Russ's school friend Pete Toigo (Dad Ron owns the Giants). It was great visiting with him and the Giants won the game... Red Deer fans were very hospitable even when we cheered the visiting team.

Shirley ran into her old Red Deer College friend Gary Stafford and had a good visit with him and then we all headed home to Rocky after the game. A good time was had by all!

When we got home, we noticed loud noises from behind and west of our property. It was 'damned' noisy. Well it turns out that a drilling rig had moved in to the west of the house during the day and had begun drilling for natural gas. The rig was about 150 meters west of the house behind the trees. They operate 7 X 24. Boy were we ever shocked and a tad dismayed. We had no idea what would happen next.

But all is well that ends well. A little research with the locals and we found out that the drilling lasts anywhere from days to about a maximum of three weeks. This one was there for 2 weeks. All is quiet again! :) Russ checked it out for us on Saturday and said that all that was left of the rig and equipment was a 3" pipe with a black cap. It had a florescent orange square spray painted around it. The area had all been cleared away and cleaned up.

The folks that will hook the well up to the pipeline came by this morning to tell us that the 'service rig' would arrive later in the week. They would be there for approximately 1 week and they only operated during daylight hours.......

To all of our Vancouver friends:
Note the clear blue sky. Oh and the sun is shining in it......

Syd Leaves for Rocky

Our beautiful new property and home in Rocky promises to be a retirement retreat that we will enjoy for many years to come. We have 3.7 acres backing onto back country and crown land. We are close to the North Saskatchewan River, Crimson and Twin Lakes and half an hour from many other lakes. We are a 45 minute drive from Red Deer where we will be able to find anything that we will need. And BEST of all we are minutes from our son Russ and his gal Miranda. We love it!

Our house in Tsawwassen was listed and put on the market on May 30th.

Syd left for Rocky Mountain House on June 5th. We needed someone to go there and get that house settled and taken care of.

I stayed in Tsawwassen to take care of our home their while we waited for it to sell.

It was the first time in our over 27 years of marriage that Syd and I had been separated for more than a few weeks at a time. It was very hard on both of us.

Syd arrived in Rocky to a garage filled to the rafters with his tools and all of the 'extra' stuff that had been sent to Rocky. He borrowed a bed from Russ and Miranda and used my sewing table as a kitchen table. It was good thing the previous owners had left a couple of lawn chairs because we forgot to send chairs for him.....

The first task was to buy a ride em lawn mower. There is about 3 acres of grass to cut in Rocky! Of course, Russ went along to help pick it out!

Syd was busy and started to lose weight. He had a lot to do to keep up the yard, sort out and put away all of the 'stuff' that had already been shipped. (27,000 pounds)

The Economy Turns

On May the 5th, the movers arrived in Tsawwassen to pack up the extra 'stuff' so that we could stage the house and put it on the market. Mostly it would be Syd's workshop, tools and wood.

Syd had sold his business and the new owner would move all of the business assets and inventory out of the house. We were almost there.

We had interviewed 3 Realtors and were ready to list the house.

BUT things were changing in the marketplace.

BC Hydro was upgrading a transmission line that wound its way through Tsawwassen and had been strongly protested by residents along the right way. A tremendous amount of negative publicity about the power lines was generated in the press by the group Tsawwassen Residents Against Overhead Power Lines (Trahvol). This caused a lot of negative publicity about Tsawwassen .

Gas prices went up and all of a sudden, people were looking very closely about buying property where they would have to commute. The costs of commuting had almost doubled over night.

People were talking about housing prices having reached their peak... and were about to crash. I heard of many people who had sold and were waiting until 2009 to buy their next home.

I was getting nervous..... was our house going to sell in this marketplace?