July plans

Not a lot going on around here lately, just keeping ourselves occupied puttering around Brad's Mum's house fixing this and that.

This 'deal' on our house is still progressing... 'They' tell us it's a done deal, I'll believe it when I have $$ in hand.

There are several conditions on the sale which are to be completed by a set date (this coming Friday), usually -- once conditions are met they are signed off and the deal would then be a go. However, in Hell where our house is located they don't have a Conditions Removal thing.... I can't make this shit up. Anyway, we've told them that we need the conditions signed off and they are seeing what they can do to give us something for that.

We are doing some dealings with our bank and in order to complete these dealings prior to closing the sale (Aug 15), the bank wants the Conditions Removal... if we have to wait, so be it but sure would be nice to get stuff sorted sooner than later.

The plan at current is to leave Saskatchewan on July 4th ish... stop in Ontario and check on my Dad and his wife as they've had some health issues lately, then move on to the house to get our personal belongings. The furnishings went with the house so its really just the kitchen, offices, bathrooms, etc. of boxes. We will stop once again at my Dad's on the way back.

When looking into a rental to bring our things across to SK I discovered a couple things. First, Uhaul will not rent a trailer to be towed by a soft top Jeep (no idea why, but whatever). Second, it is MUCH cheaper for us to rent the vehicle in SK and drive it to the East Coast and back than it is to fly there, rent it and return it in SK.

RoadTrip!!! We love to travel, obviously, so we're quite excited to be getting on the road again even if we can't take our MotorHome with us. We've been out of our Motorhome since the middle of April (like 2.5 months!), we actually miss it. You'd think after spending 8 months in a small box you'd be glad to be out of it, and we are, but it has become our home (literally, now that our house has theoretically sold) and we miss it.

The timing is working well for us as Brad's Mum returns this coming Saturday from her holiday. We have a few things on the go at the end of July and so we will need to get out there do our thing and get back here in time for all of that. Fortunately, we have learned a thing or two about places to stay without having to get a hotel room. Not sure if we will be getting a blow up mattress and taking the BBQ yet but we will be able to go much more 'stealth' than we could with the MH which gives us more places to stop for the night, especially in ON and QC. Not sure if we will stealth it across or hotel it as we are not planning anything until the Conditions are Removed.

A couple of years ago we learned that we're not 20 anymore and driving across the country in a 'car' in 3 days is not wise. Your ankles blow up like balloons and it takes a week or so to get them back to normal. Since the trip as a rule is 7 days... we're hoping to do it in 5 or 6 (not counting the stop at my Dad's). That will give us 3 or 4 days at the house and then the return trip of another 5 or 6, so essentially the better part of 3 weeks. With plans at the end of July, it will be imperative to be back in time. So a potential for big ankles.

We intend to cut through the US since we returned 7 days early in the spring and the shortcut through the states will use about 4 days there and back. Anyone know of any reason we shouldn't? Let us know. We're totally new to this whole US days counting thing.

Options

Flyer out yesterday shows just what a difference we in Canada pay compared to our American neighbours for alcohol. That bottle of Smirnoff Vodka as an example, we paid $14 for in AZ.

Shhh Don't tell Ace, but we kinda stepped out on him yesterday and did a little browsing of other RVs. There was a big sale going on so we drove out and had a look but didn't see anything worth switching rigs for but we're still keeping an eye out. We'd prefer a couple of extra feet, more bay storage, somewhat larger kitchen, better seating and of course 3 season.

Drove around and looked at a couple of local RV parks on the way back to the city

We found one we really liked (I forgot to take a picture) but it is currently full.

We are in quite a scheduling kerfuffle at the moment since THE DEAL WAS SIGNED ON OUR HOUSE YESTERDAY!!!!! So now we'll likely have to go back out East to our house and get our stuff in July... Brad's Mum left yesterday for the UK and we are looking after her house until the end of June when she returns. All conditions (only house inspection left) must be removed from the deal by the end of June and then we can head out there to get our stuff. Possession is mid August. So we have no idea, really, if the sale will be finalized and won't know for another 2 weeks. Then we have to get out there, grab our stuff, clean house and bring our stuff back out West. So no idea when we'll be needing a place to put Ace. 

I've been all over the internet trying to find boondocking in this country and specifically Saskatchewan to no avail. There are plenty of overnight spots but we'd like to avoid living the Walmart life if possible. All I can find so far are Provincial/National Parks which are expensive and have a maximum 2 week limit. I know there are some Regional/City parks and they are an option too but likely we'll end up in a RV Park somewhere for convenience sake. 

Any boondocking suggestions in SK, AB or BC would be much appreciated. We have all this solar...

We've talked again about getting a sailboat, and we may yet, but I think we need a 'home base' first. Sure we could live in a sailboat for the Canadian summers but we have 'stuff' and frankly we need somewhere to store it all. Brad is not the 'get rid of it all' kind of guy and he needs that 'home' for his own warm fuzzy sanity. As regular readers know, Brad loves to garden so I'd like to give him that since he has indulged my travelling gypsy life, seems only fair.

As liberating as it is to be retired so young and have the ability to go/do whatever you want, having so many options available can really bog you down. We could buy a house at the lake, build a house at the lake, buy an RV site, buy a condo in the mountains, get a large catamaran that can hold all our stuff, get a sailboat and keep our stuff in storage, sell everything and move abroad, live in the prairies close to family, live in the mountains, live on the ocean.... aye aye aye. 

We haven't got the foggiest idea what we'll end up doing so until we figure it out - Nobody move! 

We've made a few decisions which were not the brightest in the last 8 years. It was my idea to move to the area where our current house is - that was a terrible idea, it turns out. But worse is that that bad decision led to so many other bad decisions. Now that we have an accepted deal on the house, we are actually feeling like that dark cloud is lifting and we can get on with our lives.

Although in fairness, had we NOT moved to that area and experienced the things that we did, we would not have been able to retire at 44 and 48 years old and be in the position that we are currently. Was it worth it? Yes, I suppose so, but just barely.

Perhaps its because of all the crazy stuff we've had go wrong these last few months but since that deal was signed yesterday, man I feel like a million bucks! It really has had a major uplifting effect on our psyche and we've even been able to laugh. Not that we've been miserable or anything but lets face it so much has been going wrong, what was there to laugh about?! Now with the dark cloud lifting we are really feeling the positive effects and once again look forward to the future.

Gardening finished and a New View for Ace

All that gardening we were doing is finally done. Not that there won't be more to do, there is, but the bulk and the worst of it is finished, ie the weeding. Brad's Mum is heading out in a couple of days for her second 'holiday', going to England this time for a couple weeks, hoping she can come up with a to do list for Brad since he gets sooo bored sooo easy.

During our return trip to Canada, somewhere along the way this chip/crack appeared in the windshield. We genuinely didn't have time to deal with it when we first arrived 'home', but we did eventually manage the time to find an installer Showtime Glass and they dealt with our insurance company, ordered the new glass and in just 3 weeks it was here in Saskatoon so they called to schedule the install. The windshield was installed Friday morning and we let Ace sit until Sunday noon to make good and sure it was set before we jostled it around on the roads.

Brand new windshield. The pro's at Showtime Glass tell us that a lot of RV's are repeat customers every year.... we will be making damn sure we have glass coverage since this windshield was approximately $5500 of which we paid $1000... getting a lower deductible once we have her switched to Saskatchewan plates too.

Brad has filed the documentation to get Saskatchewan Veterans plates and it has been approved so we are awaiting their arrival in the mail. Meanwhile, next step is to get the Saskatchewan safety done on Ace so we can plate her here. Since we just pulled her out and put her back in storage, I'll be trying to get her in for safety somewhere around the end of the month so we're not such a pain in the arse for the RV storage people since it is a large storage shed on their home acreage that she is stored in.

Last Mountain Lake, SK

We are still awaiting word on the deal for our house... told you it was in the boonies, everything takes forever there.

Meanwhile, in an effort to figure out what we want to do with ourselves next regardless of when the house sells... yesterday, we drove down to Last Mountain Lake to see what it was all about.

Nice lake, with homes right on the waters edge that have their own docks - perfect for what we want. There are several options on our list of things we could do next and since we are here currently, we figured why not take a look around and see whats what.

I didn't think to take any pictures of the actual lake.... typical, I know... but if I didn't have all these quirks, you wouldn't love me half as much.

Calf in a field

Brad had quite the time hitting every puddle and destroying our recent car wash on these dirt/mud roads

Prairie land lovers

Beautiful valley down by Regina Beach

While the lake was great, there were no amenities particularly. Regina Beach is very old and the Mom & Pop Greek restaurant we went to for lunch had an overwhelming stench of mold and the food desperately needed some salt but the owners were extremely nice and friendly, so we didn't say anything. Considering how much we love to eat out, not having reasonable restaurants around would be a huge problem. I hate to cook and he hates to eat what I cook.

We only checked out the West side of Last Mountain Lake and we may go back to check out the East side mostly for something to do at some point. 

Dog food update and Family

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have changed Robbie's diet to the Raw Food Diet. He has been on Kibbles & Bits since we got him 8 years ago. I've also previously mentioned that this dog sheds a chihuahua every day. When we got Robbie we were moving to a desolate, isolated part of the country and being unsure what dog food would be available I opted for Kibbles & Bits because I was confident we could get that anywhere and it turned out we could.

In a past life (ex-husband), I had another dog that was on the Raw Food Diet and she didn't shed AT ALL. With the amount Robbie was shedding, I wasn't sure it would make a difference but decided it was worth a try now that we are in civilization once again... He has been on the raw diet now for 2 weeks and it has made ALL the difference. We started noticing a change after just 3 days on the new food but now 2 weeks in, we have brushed him, washed him, brushed him again... almost nothing is coming off of him.

After only a couple of days in my son's car... this was the mess

On the Raw Food Diet and loving it

If you have a shedding dog issue, get your pet on the Raw Food Diet. It works. When you consider that dogs are carnivores and not accustomed to this dry chemical crap 'they' have convinced us is what your dog needs... it only makes sense. Anyway, its working for us - incredibly so and we are grateful for that.

Saturday night my son and his wife had asked us to babysit while they went to see a comedian they like that was in town. Kevin Hart. Having not had little ones for a hell of a long time, we were very scared of what we'd have to deal with, but fully braced and ready for whatever they could pull out of their hats - we arrived at the allotted time and off the parents went...

P A R T Y!!!

We made sure the kids ate all of their supper, gave them popsicles and took them out to the yard to blow off some steam. Once things cooled down outside we went back in the house and kept them amused until bedtime.

I don't know how the kids (parents) did it but my kids never went to bed that easy. Not a once. They got pyjamas on and climbed in, asked for a drink and were out cold instantly. Super duper good kids and us old fogeys were stressed over nothing. Angel children - they get that from my side!

Our youngest Granddaughter had a dance recital on Sunday and her parents bought me a ticket ($30 - insane to watch a 4 yr old in my book) so Sunday was all about dancing. 3.5 hours watching everyones kids dance until she finally came out for her 90 seconds of fame. Her troupe did a great job, especially being so young. I took a few pictures and her mother got a video.

TCUP is no small stage

Show no fear

I've been having great difficulty since hitting the road with trying to keep up with my blog, twitter, instagram and youtube. In fact, I ditched youtube shortly after heading on our adventure - way too much work. Because I couldn't keep up with it, I also stopped bothering with twitter and instagram. 

Well, I've decided to give those one last attempt. I went through my follow list and edited it down to a more manageable size. My apologies if you didn't make the cut, I tried to keep those I was familiar with and who I recognized as interactive. If I balls'd that up, I will notice and begin following again. I just had so much on my feed that it wasn't functional. 

I have already begun adding people back on but I do need to keep it to a reasonable number otherwise it just all becomes a blur when your scrolling and the personal (I want to say relationship... ) vibe with each that I follow suffers.