Highs and Lows

September has been a month filled with highs and lows … but mostly lows.  It started off on a devastating note with our beloved Jasper passing away (something we are still trying to deal with), then it moved onto happier moments with finding a house we wanted to buy. If you had read the previous entry on this blog, you would have found that we were really looking forward to moving into the house even though the steps for moving into it were keeping us really busy.  Probably it was a good thing as it helped to keep our minds off of Jasper.

Unfortunately, at the last moment (literally) we had to walk away from the house.  There were several “Red Flags” cropping up but the final decision to walk away came when the two most critical documents that were needed to finalize the deal could not be produced by the vendors.  One document was a change in the restrictive covenant to say that we could build a garage on the property at a location of our choice.  Without being able to build a garage we were not interested in the property at all.

The second document needed was a Water Quality Control test that was due September 21, 3 days prior to closing.  The vendor couldn’t produce that either.  If there had been a problem with the water and a new well had to be drilled, the cost would have been between $4000 - $5000.  Without those two documents we were not willing to risk taking possession of the house.  Like I said before, there were other “Red Flags” that I am not at liberty to say at this time, but without those 2 documents it was enough for us to legally walk away from the deal.

Now you would think that because the documents were not produced in time, and we were legally in the right to walk away, that our deposit of $5000.00 would be returned and we would carry on with life.  No such luck.  The vendors have decided to be vindictive and are refusing to allow the release of our deposit.  They can’t give a valid reason for it, but apparently all they have to do is say don’t release the deposit and they can tie it up for months … or even years!

Of course anyone who knows me, KNOWS that I will not just lay down and take that!  No … not me!  We have now filed a law suit in Small Claims Court here in Summerside.  It’s not what we had planned on doing for our retirement but we are not about to walk away from $5000 … especially when we were legally in our rights to walk away from the property!  We are supposed to be spending this winter in Florida or some place warmer than what it is going to get here in PEI.  Because of how long the process is to file with the courts and get it before the judge, it looks like we are going to be here for the winter.  We will have to get a motel to stay in once the weather gets too cold … or the snow starts flying.  The moho just isn’t equipped to withstand living in it in below zero weather.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned …. all the RV parks have now closed for the winter so I bet you are all wondering where we have been staying since September 24^th.  Well I’ll give you a hint … “Welcome Wal-mart Shoppers”.

September started off in the worst possible way and ended not much better.  October can only get better … we hope.

Getting Ready for PEI Living

It has been a whirl wind of activities ever since we bought a house in PEI.  There is so much to do when you move to another province.  We have a list of things we have to do, and the list is VERY long!  Little by little we are nibbling away at the list, but there are still so many things to do!

At the moment we are staying at Crystal Beach in New Annan, which is just outside of Summerside.  We have been here for the past 2 months.  But it seems that everything we want to do regarding the house, we have to travel to Charlottetown about an hour away.

Last week we went to Charlottetown to CAA to see about house insurance.  We wanted to do the car insurance at the same time, but found out that you have to do a few things before you can get car insurance.  We had to contact ICBC back home and have them email us a driver’s abstract, then we had to go and get the car inspected.  Apparently this has to be done every year.

We had the car inspected, and printed off the driver’s abstract that was sent to us, gathered 2 pieces of mail with the new address on it and headed back to Charlottetown today to get the car insurance. 

After we got the car insurance done, we headed over to the Access Centre in Charlottetown to get my new PEI driver’s license and new PEI license plate for the car.  They were very nice at the access centre, especially since I walked into the office just 4 minutes before they closed.  The girl took all the information for my driver’s license got me to smile for the camera and told me to wait 2 minutes until the license was done.  They printed it right there!  No waiting for it to arrive in the mail.  This was service!

Then, when I asked about the license plate, she looked at me and said “I thought you only wanted a driver’s license.”  Now they close at 4:00 p.m. and it was now 4:13 p.m.  She looked at me and then looked at another girl ready to walk out the door and said “what should I do?”  The other girl said, “Just give it to her.  It won’t take you long.”  then the girl walked out the door.  The receptionist came over and gave the clerk a hand getting  all the paper work together.  I told them “I owe you big time.”  They worked late because of me but were very nice about it.  It was 4:28 p.m. by the time I got out of there.  I’ll go  back to the Access centre the next time I’m in Charlottetown with a little something for the two of them for staying so late for me.

There are so many things we have to put a change of address in for, as well as organizing a lot of things like getting our things shipped from BC to PEI, getting quotes for building a garage, arranging lawyer appointments, shopping around for a ride on lawn mower and more importantly a Snow Blower!  Sometimes I wonder if it will all get done!  We move into our new house in one week!!

We are really looking forward to moving into the new house, but we are getting exhausted trying to get there!

Time For Good News!

I know I’ve been absent from blogging ever since Jasper passed away.  We needed time to grieve and decide what we were going to do.  We had two choices.  We could continue looking for a place to live, although time was running out until they closed the campground, or we could plan our future trip down south for the winter.  I decided to keep my options open and do both.

I kept my eye on the real estate market on line but we also talked about where we wanted to go down south and looked up resorts to stay at on line.  I didn’t feel very optimistic that we would be finding a place any time soon.  I found that I was looking at the same properties over and over again on line and it was getting very frustrating. 

There was one property that I kept looking at on line.  I really liked the photos that I saw on line, although we have found out in person that photos aren’t always what they seem, and the price was really low.  The only thing was, there was no garage.  That was a deal breaker in our eyes.  With the winters they have in PEI, you really need a garage for your vehicles.

One night I was talking to my sister and told her about the property.  She looked it up on line and really liked it.  She started to read the description on the property and mentioned a basement!  The listing I was looking at didn’t mention it or show any photos of it.  It turned out to be a fully finished basement!   With the price that it was offered at and the fact that it was only 4 years old … I told Ron that we could build a garage!

We went to take a look at it and I instantly fell in love with the place.  It was exactly what we were looking for.  It is a 4 year old, 2200 sq. ft. Rancher, open concept, 5 bedrooms, a sitting room off of the Master Suite with a water view, 3 full bathrooms, 3 separate sun decks all with water views, a Gazebo on the back sun deck, and 1.06 acre.  It also had a fabulous sandy beach just 5 minutes up the road.  It was perfect!

We started the negotiation process and started looking into how much it would cost to build a garage.  We were lucky enough to have the vendors agree to a quick possession date … 3 weeks!  This worked out perfectly with the closing of the campground.  Things went back and forth a few times but we were able to come to an agreement on the price.

The only condition we had was a home inspection, which is a must these days.  Ron met with the home inspector and spent 4 hours checking everything in the home.  We found a few problems that needed to be addressed.  We went back to the negotiating table and the vendors agreed to fix the serious problems and gave us a reduction on the sale of the property so we could address the remainder. 

So … the deal is done!  We now own a home in PEI.  We have an acre of land, which Ron was looking for, and we have a water view, which I was looking for.  We are having a garage built and making it large enough so Ron can have a workshop in the garage.  This is what we had envisioned for our retirement.  Our retirement dream, is coming true!



Kitchen & Dining Room

 

Back of House with Gazebo





Downstairs Family Room




Living Room




Beach 5 minutes from home




View from all 3 Sun Decks







Feeling right at home



R.I.P. Jasper Huybers

Jasper Huybers
April 11, 2007 - September 1, 2012

It is with a very sad heart to have to inform you that our beloved Jasper passed away this morning.

We went to the University of PEI Veterinary Hospital where he has been staying for the past 2 days. If you read the earlier post from yesterday, you would know we were hoping to be able to bring Jasper home. We found out, that wasn't to be. 

Jasper had been bleeding internally for the past week and a half.  He had several blood tests, a blood transfusion, and an ultra sound done. Yesterday he had an endoscope procedure done and didn't recover from the anesthetic as well as he should have. The doctors felt that his liver was giving out.

Shirley was able to sit and hold Jasper for a long time.  He snuggled right into her neck where he usually liked to sleep. I know that he felt comforted with us being there.

It was a hard decision to put Jasper to sleep.  Shirley was able to hold him while they gave him the injections giving Jasper a sense of peace. We will miss him terribly.  He was a wonderful member of our family.  

R.I.P. Jasper Huybers - April 11, 2007 - September 1, 2012  We will always love you.

Ron & Shirley & Bailey Huybers

Jasper

I have to apologize for the lack of entries in our blog lately but we have been a bit busy and worried about our little dog Jasper.

For the past week and a half Jasper has not been well.  We started noticing that he had very runny stools and they were coming out black.  He had slowed right down and had no spunk.  He used to love to go for walks around the campground but now he walks across the sidewalk in front of the moho and then stops.  He just didn’t want to go any further.

We took him to the vet in Kensington on Friday August 24^th and she gave us some antibiotics and told us if he didn’t get better to come back.  Jasper continued to have no energy and now he had developed constipation and had no poops for 3 days. 

We went back to the vets in Kensington and got a different vet.  She did a thorough examination and said that she thought he had internal bleeding.  She took some blood but had to send it out to the lab.  She gave us another medication to help line the intestines where she thought the bleeding might be occurring. 

The next day she called to say that Jasper’s red blood cells were low and there might be a problem with his liver.  She suggested that we take Jasper to the University of PEI Veterinary Hospital for an ultra sound and further tests.

With the long weekend approaching we were unsure that we would be able to get an appointment with the hospital.  Luckily the Vet in Kensington called down and gave them a sense of urgency and we were able to get an appointment for the afternoon.  Jasper had slowed right down by now.  He had no energy and had to be carried into the hospital. 

The Vet took his history and gave him an examination.  She had a lot of ideas of what she thought it might be.  She felt it best that we leave Jasper with her so she could run some blood tests and do an ultra sound.  She felt that there was internal bleeding and wanted to find out where it was coming from.

We came back to the hospital around 4:30 p.m. and the Vet told us that the blood results came back and they weren’t good.  Jasper’s red cell count should have been around 45 but had dropped down to 19 which was lower than the blood tests that were run the day before.  She said he was bleeding out and he needed a blood transfusion.  She was also worried about the liver and thought that there might be a problem with that as well.  She did the ultra sound and it had come back clear.  She didn’t find anything. The Vet wanted to keep Jasper over night to keep a check on his red cells and to see if Jasper would be strong enough for endoscope the next day.

The next day the Vet called us to let us know that she did the endoscope on Jasper.  She found a large mass of blood mixed with food in the lower stomach.  She felt that there was a lesion in the lower stomach and that is where the blood was coming from.  She wanted to keep Jasper another night in the hospital as he couldn’t hold his head up or stand yet from being under the anesthetic.  She also wanted to watch him on the new medication she was going to give him.

As you can imagine, this past week and a half has been an emotional roller coaster for us.  We lost our beloved dog Barclay six years ago while on a trip across Canada.  Watching Jasper get sick like this was like a flash back of what we went through back then.  We felt for sure that Jasper wasn’t going to make it. 

We now have some hope that he might be alright.  Only time and medication will tell for sure.  I just wish we knew what made him sick in the first place.  The doctors still don’t know where the bleed is coming from.  I’m just hoping that the medication will heal it and stop the blood loss. 

We were told tonight that we might be able to pick Jasper up in the morning.  It sure will be good to get the little guy home.  We sure miss him!!

For those of you who wonder what the cost of all these medical tests, Vet visits, medications and hospital stay cost?  Well … it’s expensive!!  We will get the final bill tomorrow.  The final cost of everything will be between $2500 - $3000 … but he is so cute … he’s worth it.

So I hope you will understand the delay of stories on our Retirement Adventure.  I will try and post more often for those of you who tune in from time to time to see what we have been up to.

Twilight Air Show

Tonight we went down to Summerside Harbor to watch the Twilight Air Show.  It is a preview of the Atlantic Air Show that is happening this weekend. They had stunt planes, older planes, a bi-plane and a glider that was in the dark but set off fireworks from the wing tips of the plane.

We arrived down at the harbor and found that parking on the street was very busy.  We managed to get a parking spot just 2 blocks from the park.  We walked down to park and found a spot right in the middle of where the action was going to happen.  We laid out our towels to sit on and settled in.  The dogs were really good.  Jasper, who wasn’t feeling well, sat with me and Bailey sat in front watching all the people.  As the night air fell it got a little chilly for them so Bailey snuggled in under the blanket along with Jasper.  They were very good all night.

The crowd was a good size that grew as the night went on.  The first stunt plane that came speeding by was really good.  He would climb up really high and then go into a spiral down spin trailing smoke behind.  He also did loop de loops and came incredibly close to the water.

The highlight of the evening came after dark.  A glider plane came but you couldn’t see it because of the darkness until he set off the fireworks from the wing tips.  It was so cool.  The plane went up and down trailing a flow of sparkling lights.  It was pretty amazing.

Then another stunt plane came and started with the music opening from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  When the tones started to happen, you could see the underside of the plane flashing back the tones that were just played.  Then it went onto other musical numbers while the plane flashed lights and lit off fireworks from the plane.  I have never seen fireworks discharged from a plane in flight.  It was awesome!

After the show was over the crowds dispersed very quickly and the traffic jams were everywhere.  Ron and I took our time to leave the park giving everyone else a head start on leaving.  We got to the car and buckled the dogs into their car seats and noticed that the traffic on our street had gone.  Ron had the great idea of driving 2 blocks down and getting an ice cream cone.  By the time we finished the ice cream, all the traffic was gone and we drove back home.  It was a great evening!!

 

Dogs are cozy under the blanket

Glider with Fireworks

Stunt Plane with Fireworks

Date Night

Every once in a while you need to go out with your mate with just the two of you.  We call it “Date Night”.  This means that Ron and myself get to go out of the house (or moho in our case) without the dogs.  Tonight … was “Date Night”.

We decided to take in some of PEI’s locale festivities.  There was a free concert at Spinnaker’s Landing so we decided to go.  When we got there we decided to go to the Deckhouse for dinner.  We got a table over looking the concert area and facing the stage.  It was the perfect spot.  I had been craving fish and chips for days, so that’s what I had.  Ron had chicken fingers and fries.  They were both really good.

After dinner we went out to listen to the concert.  It was pretty good.  We then walked around the boardwalk checking out the shops.  When I turned around, Ron was gone.  I figured he had wandered off while I was in the last store.  I started to walk to the back where the water is and I heard my name being called.  I turned around but didn’t see anyone, then I looked up.  There was Ron on top of a lighthouse!  He had a bird’s eye view of the whole place.  I climbed up the lighthouse to join him.  What a view!!

The sun was just starting to go down and the refection in the water was amazing.  Looking from the top of the lighthouse you could see the stage in the distance where a lot of people had gathered for the evening entertainment.  In front of us we could see a class of highland cloggers practicing for a show on the wooden boards which formed the walkway.  It was interesting to watch and it reminded me of my days as a tap dancer.  Around the other side of the lighthouse was the water.  There we saw rows of boats tied up at the docks that looked beautiful with the sun glimmering on them and the water.  You couldn’t help but just look out over the water in awe.  It was so beautiful.

It was such a nice evening.  The weather cooperated and was a perfect temperature.  The food was good and I couldn’t ask for better company.  It was so nice to get out with just the two of us.  We both decided that we must do “Date Night” again … and soon.

To enlarge the photos, just double click on the photo.



Having dinner at the Deckhouse



The view from our table in the Deckhouse



Ron watching the concert




Police Boat




Looking for Ron



The view of Spinnakers Landing from the Lighthouse



Watching the highland clogger on the walkway

  

Beautiful view of the boats





Overlooking Spinnakers Landing




Concert goers at Spinnakers Landing