Firm friends

Over the past few days I have sat on the decking with half a dozen peanuts waiting patiently for Chippie.  Everyday he has visited and gladly whisked away the peanuts to his secret store in readiness for winter.  Occasionally he will stay and eat one, but mostly he stuffs them in his cheeks and scampers off.  I put the nuts closer and closer each time and remained quite still but always spoke to him whenever he arrived. Last night, finally, he decided I was kinda OK and decided to take the nuts from my hand.  He also hung around longer and sat at my feet looking expectantly up at me!  I think I have a friend now!

Chippie has a friend called Stumpy on account of his lack of a tail!  Lovely Man decided that if I had a friend in Chippie then perhaps Stumpy might be his friend.  Unfortunately Stumpy is quite young and impatient.  He scurried around Lovely Man's feet and when no nut appeared as quickly as he might have like he bit his toe!

Introducing Chippie...

the magician!  This is Chippie.  He's a real cutie!  He's been coming around most everyday from time to time.  Now he's found we have an endless supply of peanuts his visits are even more frequent.  This morning he decided to pose for a couple of photos.

He's still quite unsure of us and so, just to be safe, he's adopted a 'take 'em by surprise' tactic.  He approaches quietly underneath the decking and pops up through the left hand side railing.  Once he's got what he came for he runs behind the right hand divider rail.  Knowing that we are waiting for him to pop back round said rail he dives, unseen, back under the decking and creeps up behind us from the left again!  He then performs a little magic trick.  Now you see the nut.  Now you don't!!

The Birthday Gift

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It seemed a little odd this year, my birthday appeared and went quite quietly being so far away from everyone.  That is not to say, however, that I missed out on anything!  My mum, who is never one to be caught out, made sure I had a card and gift in my suitcase before I left the UK!  Thanks mum!  I have my first all singing all dancing sewing machine!  Lovely Man bought the perfect gift.  He knew I was getting a little ticked off at there being no bears in the back yard so he bought me my very own bear and cub from the local gift shop!  Thank you also to all my friends and family who sent cards and birthday wishes via email!  To round off the day we found a local cafe on the outskirts of town with free Wi-Fi AND CAKE!  What more could I ask for?!

It's still light!

Day eight.  Still no bears in the back yard, much to my disappointment!  However it is almost 10.30 at night and I just took this picture from my front porch!  Most nights we've been going to bed about 11.30 and it's still not dark!  I just thought this was the prettiest sky.  Most of the houses on this side of the street, and the cars, are glowing pink in the sunset.

Today we started sorting the basement, making lists of what we need and drawing plans.  We found some hidden treasures.  Two huge mirrors.  One very art deco style which will lend itself perfectly to some glass painting, and one in a lovely wood frame with beautiful carving at the bottom.  In fact we spent most of the day in the basement as it was the only place to cool off in the 30 degree heat!  

Tomorrow will bring more treasures in the form of a man from Bell who is going to bring forth some 200 TV chanels.  I don't think Lovely Man will sleep much tonight he's so excited!  Just as well really as I need him out of bed early so I can strip the sheets off the bed!  Just getting into the swing of Canadian life where the washing machine has to go on AND finish before 7 a.m. unless you want to pay peak rate hydro!  Oh and the bear proof garbage bin needs to be put out before 8 a.m. along with all our paper waste neatly tied in a bundle!  Just for good measure I think pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast could be up for grabs!

And to make life just perfect please may I have an email from the shipping company to say my things are ready to be collected from Toronto!  

A case of mistaken identity!

When we moved into the house in Manitouwadge just over a week ago I got just a teensy bit excited.  When we arrived you may recall we had no water and sought the help of our next door neighbour.  It was he who told us that we should always check out the bedroom window for bears in our back yard before leaving the house.  Since then most people we have met have, on hearing where we live, have said "I suppose you've been told about the bears in your back yard" and "oh you'll see bears alright!"

And so for the last seven days I have checked the back yard.  Sometimes I have checked three or four times a day even if I didn't need to leave the house!  I have my camera right next to the window at the ready.  In fact it's the first thing I do every morning as I get out of bed.  I lift the blind and peer out.  It feels like when I was a kid and I would strain my eyes looking into the night sky in the hope that I would see Santa in his sleigh on christmas eve.  After the first couple of days Lovely Man gave up asking and simply pulled the covers over his head.

This morning I got up and lifted the blind.  Lovely Man groaned as the bright sunlight leapt in and slapped him across his eyelids.  "AWW  BABE,  QUICK!"  He almost fell out of bed as I reached for my camera.  I stopped and squinted to focus properly.  Hugely disappointed I realised that this partcular bear had rather a long tail!  It was in fact the black German Shepherd from across the street who had slipped his lead and decided to take an early morning stroll without his owner!

Oh well!  I guess I need to buy a night stand so that I can keep my camera AND my glasses nearby!

The First Few Days

When we arrived it seemed the water had been turned off.  Our next door neighbour sprang to the rescue with a bucket of water to flush the toilet, a case of bottled water to drink and a lift into town to show us where we could get food.  Later he remembered where the stop cock might be located and came back round to turn it on for us!  On day two we figured we should mow the lawn as it was over a foot high.  Our neighbour the other side came along to welcome us and offered to lend us some shears and a rake.  Shortly after that another person appeared with a "whippersnipper' or strimmer to you and me.  He promptly took over the cutting of the long stuff which just left us to trim up and rake up.

In town people were so friendly inviting us over for a drink, offering to fetch things from Marathon for us next time they went in.  We had a visit from the local Bye Law Enforcement Officer, Cherie,  who welcomed us, offered advice on how to keep the bears out of the yard and told me there was a job at the Township if I was interested!

Despite all that however, nothing we'd read or been told prepared us for the waves of panic, isolation and homesickness that ensued over the first few days.  I have to confess that despite all our best efforts to take things in our stride there have been times when out of the blue one or the other of us has suddenly just burst into tears because we miss everyone.  Even to the point that,on some occasions, we have wanted to just turn around and go back to the safety of everything and everyone we know and trust.  And yet everything is just as we expected and wanted.  We both know that to turn tail and run would be as bad as not coming at all,  for later in life we would still wonder whether we could have made it and what it would have been like.  These feelings, I hope, are something common to most immigrants and something that will lessen as we settle in.  In the meantime I guess I just need to keep the tissues handy and get on the phone or Skype!

The Last Leg...

On Sunday 28th June we set off 'Beverly Hill Billy' style with all our belongings crammed inside the car and piled high on a trailer.  The only difference to the TV show was that I travelled inside the car rather than sitting in a rocking chair on top of everything!  Over the two days it took us to drive from Kitchener to Manitouwadge we went through just about every weather condition other than snow!  It was an eventful trip.  The tarpaulin flapped, ripped and at times threatened to give up completely.  At one point we were stopping every half hour or so to try to secure it.  In the end we got so fed up with it we just stopped looking in the rear view mirror!  

The further North we got however, the more beautiful the scenery.  On the last leg of the trip, driving along highway 17, we had to slow down to 50km for road works.  Just as David commented that he was seriously fed up driving so slow, grumbling "at this rate we'll never get there" a Moose lolloped across the road!  Despite all the signs we'd seen and the knowledge that indeed we were 'in the wild' we just gawped at it.  Suddenly though, the message got from Lovely Man's brain to his right foot and the brake was applied quite sharply, equally as sharply as the suitcase that slid forward and belted me on the back of the head!  And No, I didn't get the camera out quick enough!

As we pulled onto the 614 an OPP car joined us and followed us all the way into town.  We didn't know whether it was a welcoming party or whether we looked a little suspicious so we stuck doggedly to the speed limit even though we were desperate to get to our new home at last.

The house was everything we'd expected and a little more.  The back yard it turned out had a huge decked area which is something I'd always wanted.  And whilst we fully expected bears to be somewhere in the forest we hadn't quite bargained for having to check out the bedroom window first everytime we wanted to leave the house!  I guess that's something we'll get used to.  That and leaving the front door unlocked so that if there is a bear in said back yard when you arrive home you can nip in the front door quick!  We also have a resident under the decking.  His name is Chippy and he is the cutest little chipmunk.  He comes out most every day and sits on the decking.