Oracle

             

(The Trash Heap, a wise being (referred to as an "oracle"), serves as the garbage dump of the Gorgs. She and her heckling heralds live near the Gorg's garden, and she gives the Fraggles guidance and advice, which the Fraggles regard with reverence, although they do not worship her.) – Wikipedia.org

                      

Yes this is exactly what you think it is – a pile of garbage, or what I kiddingly named “Oracle” and it grew by leaps and bounds as we emptied box after box of items that I haven’t seen in 2 years.  Our long-term storage stuff arrived on Tuesday, a great set of guys who brought along his significant other (wife, girlfriend…I didn’t really ask) and there 4 month Great Pyrenees, who was the size of Sekaya.  Such an adorable little pup.    There was approximately 50 boxes, a half munched on couch, a peed on Papasan chair and about a dozen odd little items that I honestly thought I had threw out many many moons ago.    We did realize that we both read A-LOT!  I believe we must of kept Chapters in business during our stay in Manitoba consider the amount of boxes that were labelled “Books!”

However, I’m now sitting at my dining room table (very carefully I may add  - our tool box is enroute from Kugaaruk) looking around at my ever changing house.  We now have more stuff in it than we did when we moved in.    We also finally got an answer from Future shop with regards to our appliance order:  RANT ALERT!

So on June 30th Future Shop comes out with this crazy 36hour or 15hour I can’t really remember Canada Day Sale, and one of the sales that caught our eyes was the 15% off all Appliances – now we love Futureshop because of their product service plan and all the great service they gave us over the years.  So we jumped on that sale like you jump on grapes during  St. Martins Day Celebrations.  However, weird as it may seem we didn’t receive a “Congrats you have purchased….” email like you usually do.  However, we did not worry as we thought it was normal because they were big ticket items.  Days went by, and we could see the Order Number on our History page – but it wasn’t pulling up our order.  After spending a week calling Futureshop (3 different occasions) receiving the same “We will take your email address and get back to you with an answer”..Hughie snapped – giving the lady his ‘Bad-dog’ voice…..FINALLY after 8 days of waiting for an answer they decided to honour the price that we were suppose to get….  We then decided to ask for a little pain and suffering discount – I mean we are without our fridge and stove, and considering they are now delivering it within a week – I’d be cooking up a storm right about now , if the order wasn’t lost in limbo..so their idea of  pain and suffering is …….offering us $20.00 dollars off the total price… I was shocked to say the least…… But we filled out a form, and received the same “Give us your email…….”So we are not holding our breath – all we ask for is free shipping…I don’t think that is so much to ask for…. But regardless, our Fridge and Stove will be arriving Thursday!

So, with that above rant said and over with I can continue – we now have a guest bedroom that is all outfitted with the required “guest” bedroom materials – although Chakotay & Sekaya have called that room as their own.  Don’ t worry though, the bed is nicely protected from their hair and paws…and the floors are hardwood so Swiffers take care of the fur quickly.

I can’t believe we’ve been living in Nova Scotia for almost two-weeks so much has happened in that time my head is still swimming.  I’m very much looking forward to working in Middleton in the near future.  I did have another job lined up in a town ~35 minutes away but after driving that highway more than once over the last two weeks I’m very happy to be car pooling with Mr. Fidler for the time being. 

Final Talley of Garbage bags:   5 with about 10 bags of Recycling…a big half munched on Couch, a peed stained papasan chair with the added bonus of chewed up wicker, a old television stand and a couple of half broken items that don’t need a claim…. all and all, not as bad as I thought it would be.

The Difference between the South vs North

 

1.  I don’t know my neighbours or my neighbours kids.

2.  Smiling at random kids may have me arrested.

3.  I don’t know where everything is located in my grocery store.

4.  Shopping in my Pj’s while drinking coffee may have me committed.

5.  Too many have alcohol that shouldn’t, instead of just a few.

6. I have to pluck my eyebrows, wax face, shave legs, apply makeup, shower and wash my hair on a daily basis.

7.  Summertime darkness.

8.  HST.

9.  Recycling (Although we love to contribute to a healthier sustainable environment).

10. Humidity. (For the sake of the argument, I love the humidity, although I know not everyone agrees with me.)

The Difference between North vs South

 

1.  I have only seen one Sewage Truck, and it was driving down the highway.

2.  We have two Tim Horton’s within a 5 minute drive from one another.

3.  When people say they drive a “Honda” they drive a Honda.

4.  Fresh produce all the time!.

5.  Cold Beer (Only makes sense if you lived in a Dry-Community)

6.  Wearing seatbelts

7.  No officially designated “Animal Carcass” pile at the dump.

8. Not one white wall in my house. 

9. My water comes from the ground, not a container under my house.

10. I wore short-shorts & a tank-top while shopping in July.

From the GWN to the GGP (Great Green Province)

I can’t believe it has been well over a week since we left the Great White North.  It really doesn’t seem all that long, but if I actually sat down and put everything in perspective over the last week I only wonder how I’m standing. 

The dogs managed the trip – not much squawking or screaming – but on a huge 737 you really don’t hear all that much anyways.  The red-eye flight from Edmonton to Nova Scotia was clutch.  Although considering how tired they were when we arrived in Halifax, I hardly think they slept all that much.  Apparently their seat-buddy down in the cargo hold was a CAT.  I’m sure Chakotay was thinking more along the lines of “this was his airline snack”.

I have to admit we lucked out with the purchasing of our house, by this I mean we had a great team of Lawyers and Realtors – I highly recommend, if you are moving to the Greenwood Area to speak with David Proudfoot & Paul Mann (Lawyer and Realtor respectively) – they held our hand (figuratively speaking of course) the whole way through.  David took the time to outline and made us understand the legal aspects of our mortgage while Paul was a god sent! He helped us more than he ever will realize. 

With that said, we are now living in our house! I’m falling more in love with it every day.  There is still lots to be purchased and organized but I love the feel of knowing that “this is mine”.  I promise I will post pictures as soon as I can, we are still waiting for some valuable items.  [There is a rant with regards to shopping via online with Futureshop for Appliances, but I’ll save that for another post].  Nova Scotia is just as beautiful as I remember – lush trees and grass as far as the eye can see.  I have yet to see a pile of snow or a dog tied up on the outskirts of town with no one around for miles (although I’m sure it does happen). 

I look forward to visiting every nook and cranny of my Province, but for now I’m off to bed – Long term storage is arriving tomorrow.  Anyone like to guess how many bags of garbage that will be.

Packers become Movers

I’m exhausted, drug out and rung through the ringer, and all I did yesterday was run 5K and watch packers = pack my house.  I didn’t lift a finger or offer up any lifting help – I just sat down and offered them coffee and cookies every couple of hours. (Well once an hour for three hours).  I love to move, to purge, to clean and reorganize but I find the Pack/Load day to be the worse.  Not that I mind people packing up my worldly goods – I just rather do it myself (and get the insurance coverage..).  I find it hard to justify that we had two men fly up from Edmonton, stay over night in our Inns North (I’m hoping they shared a room) and then fly back this afternoon with all our goods on the plane.  It would have been so much easier to allow me to pack up my stuff over the last couple of days and have it placed on the plane.  Although, with that said I’m sure I’d be complaining about packing myself vs allowing someone to come in to pack for me.  C’est La Vie…

So after all the curling brooms and 4-bags of dog food are packed we end up with 35 boxes, approximately 15 boxes less than what we arrived with.  Like I said, I love to purge.

One big negative to all this, my house doesn’t feel like my home anymore – so I’m definitely ready to head to NS now!  4-days until we head home…5 days until I can grab a Grande Non-Fat Latte!

Trials Tribulations and ____

As I sit here covered in dog-hair (Yoga pants love dog fur )I can’t help but feel a excitement burning in the pit of my stomach. I’m finally happy with the amount of clothes and accessories I have semi-organized in my two pieces of luggage.  The movers arrive on the plane tomorrow and will spend at least an hour or two packing up my house.  If I had to guess I would assume there would be at least 25-30 boxes full of household effects that will be making its way down from Kugaaruk to Nova Scotia.   I use to feel apprehension with random strangers coming into my house touching my “stuffs” but not anymore, I guess it comes with the territory – once you get through your first Government move all the rest are just formality – something you accept and love, as you don’ t have to do it yourself.  My favorite part of moving is the purging that I can get away with – I’ve thrown out so much stuff this weekend I have filled my garbage bin and still have 5 garbage bags sitting in my cold-porch.  I’m sure over the next 24/48 hours I will fill a couple more bags of stuff that no one wants..or at least never asked for.

At this point, I don’t think there is anything left to do with regards to our official move South.  We have all our move organized as well as our airplane tickets – we leave on Saturday!  (I did a quick overview of our route in my last blog).  Our house possession will take place a week from Tuesday, all we have left to do at this point is the final walkthrough and to pay for our down payment…Then we will have the KEYS!  There is lots to organize with the actual house, we have started an Excel file which is basically 3 lists in one, trying to figure out what we need ASAP, not ASAP, what is in our household affects that have been in storage for the last 18 months.  I look forward to having a big yards ale to get rid of all the “University” style furniture we have gathered over the years.

I have a busy week forthcoming, although once our household goods are packed and gone there isn’t much for me to do but do a major clean of the house.  I’m not sure how much I’ll be blogging in the near future.  We have Eastlink coming by our place on the 7th – so hopefully I won’t be away from the Internet for too long.   I’m also changing the name of my blog..to Trials Tribulations and ____________.  I need a new word that starts with the letter “T”.  If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them.

Long Walk Home.

I promised myself I was not going to do the official countdown anywhere, either on my blog or on Facebook but I’m biting at the rope that is holding me in Kugaaruk.  Everyday is stretching into the next compounding the amount of paperwork that needs to be completed in order for us to be free.  It doesn’t help that I’ve been having a fascination with any song that has the word HOME in the title – and  last night while watching the NHL Award (Congrats Sedin!) one of my old favorite bands, who I saw by  complete accident when they opened for Bon Jovi in Toronto 6 or 7 years ago (I know I’m getting old when I don’t remember official dates) – Goo Goo Dolls; and they just released a new song..HOME, CD is to be released the end of August.   

I guess I’m not helping matters as I’ve been downloading all songs (that fit my genre of music) that have the word HOME in the title.

Carry Me Home - AC/DC             

Home – Goo Goo Dolls

Home – Daughtry

Mama I’m coming Home – Ozzy

Home Sweet Home – Motley Crue

Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

He calls Home – Candlebox

Home Tonight – Aerosmith

Long walk Home – Bruce Springsteen

Welcome Home – Metallica

Who says you can’t Home – Bon Jovi

**You really don’t realize how many songs have the word Home in the title until you start looking, but with that said…..

I haven’t blogged in over a week, with so much going on in my life I find it hard to sit down and put my thoughts in order.  Should I be sad or happy…should I be happy or sad – it is a double edge sword.  For so long I wanted out of this town, and I was almost willing to jump on the closest dogsled and mush my way out of town – but now that the time is rolling to a close I’m wondering why I wanted to leave so badly.  It is funny how a stretch of nice weather combined with a relatively _uiet town makes you forget about all the shit you’ve dealt with in the past.  The winters are long and harsh on the head.  They can mess with your head – and no one is really to blame but yourself.  Thank god we are moving in the Summer.

We are almost ready to book our plane tickets – we were very happy to see a direct flight from Edmonton to Halifax, although it is the red-eye, we should be able to get some sleep enroute to Halifax.  It will be much easier on the dogs too – we leave Yellowknife at ~7:30; have a hour and a half layover in Edmonton and then onward and upward to Halifax where we would arrive in the wee-hours as the sun is rising at 6:30am.   We haven’t booked it yet but it automatically lowers our stress.  Our dogs are our fur-kids, we treat them as they were two legged vs four legged, well almost …they still have to eat out of a bowl on the floor.  Sekaya doesn’t so much mind flying as she was kennel trained from day one, but Chakotay as he is getting older he is getting “set in his ways” and he prefers to have all four paws firmly planted on the ground.  {I’m not sure he forgives Hughie for lifting him up last night to weight him….and low and behold, he has lost 5lbs! prior to moving up he weighted ~60lbs, he is now ~55lbs!}

He seems happy about the weight-loss

               

We celebrated Aboriginal Day this past Monday as well as Summer Solstice – I’m not a Pagan but I just feel a shiver of joy course through my soul on Summer Solstice.   

Aboriginal Day - National Aboriginal Day is a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

We celebrated by the guys getting dressed up in their finest and serving Hot Dogs/Juice/Cookies to the town and chatting with all the parents/kids that came along for lunch.  It was a great time, but WOW the amount of people that turned out this year compared to last year was fantastic.  It was nice to see the community come together. 

*I’ll post some pictures soon, either on here or on Facebook.

I look forward to a few more blogs over the next couple of days – I’m hoping to get outside for some photo-walking over the next couple of days, I just keep waiting for the “perfect” day…