Kid's Rooms

Some pictures of the kid's rooms!


Erinn's upstairs room! She has a downstairs one too but that is for when she is older!


Blair perched for the night in his top bunk, the bottom is reserved for sleepovers!


Kirby's neat room! Save this picture because it doesn't look like this too often!

As Promised!

Here's some pictures of inside the house, I had to take them at night because we don't have all the blinds in yet and it was way to bright today.


My reading room.


The kitchen & dining room.


The family room in the basement.


My office in the basement.

Hot off the press!

I went to upload some pictures of the house today and realized I hadn't taken any since its been done!

When I get more time I will upload some of the inside.

Pictures Finally!

Finally we have internet and I can show some pictures of the house and us enjoying life on The Ridge!

Here is how we spent the summer, which wasn't that enjoyable!

Still Loving It!

How could we not? Love it out here that is!

As I sit in my 'reading room', enjoying the peace & quiet, after the kids have gone to bed of course, I look to the south and can see the distant green of the western edge of the Cypress Hills. Occasionally a couple of deer or a lone antelope venture into sight as they feed on the brown grass that has finally seen rain which has been 3 months over due.

A short while later the night is pitch black, or like the other night when the full moon was high in the sky everything is alight with a blue-grey wash of light giving everything an eiry look to it. When I turn to look to the north the horizon appears to be on fire as the lights Medicine Hat line the distant hillsides.

The next morning I sit at the kitchen table and watch the brightly lit semi trucks as they slowly and silently make their way down the highway and disappear over a distant hill-side. When I walk out the front door to head off to work the wind howls through the eaves, a chorus of coyotes yipe and howl in the distance and than fade once again to the sound of the wind, which seems to blow quit often here on the ridge.

As I drive down the road a white-tail buck crosses the road and hops the barbed wire fence along the roadside and disappears in the prairie darkness. My headlights sweep across the prairie as I turn the corner and head down off the ridge, a faint glow is in the eastern sky and the horizon is starting to brighten as the sun begins to rise, a few minutes later all is lost as I enter the bright lights of the city. My enthusiasm for the day ahead disappears as I stop for that first traffic light and listen to the sounds of the hustle & bustle of the city; I can't wait until I get to the end of the day and the drive home...

On the way home I hit the brakes hard as a heard of antelope cross the road in front of me and than watch as they stop and begin feeding in a lush green alfalfa field, the lone buck looks from his heram of does and watches as my car sputters by.

As I make the ascent to the ridge a rattle snake quickly disappears into the tall grass, disappointed it has to leave the still warm asphalt for the cool grass. When I take the curve and the final push for home a tall jack rabbit crosses the road in leaps and bounds and disappears in the sage like it was being chased.

Finally I pull into the drive, the house is lit up, the kids greet me at the door with stories of their day at school, songs to sing and hugs & kisses all around. Carolyn peeks out from the kitchen and flashes me a smile as she finishes cleaning up after the dinner mess.

An hour or two passes and once again all is quiet except for the sound of the wind and Erinn snoring down the hall. I light some candles, turn out the kitchen light, grab a book and settle into my reading chair. Carolyn cuddles in beside me and we both enjoy the peace & quiet of our new country life, of which I know we will find very difficult to ever give up!

I truly feel sorry for all you city dwellers! We were in Calgary this past weekend for my CPS 10 year class reunion, which was a friends house in Crestmont. I almost felt claustrophobic with the houses so close together, the postage stamp sized backyards and the ability to look into all the neighbouring houses from our friend's back deck. There is no way I could handle having to live in the city again!

Bliss

Its been a full week that we've been in the house and we are loving it! Since moving in we haven't been outside, mind you the weather hasn't been all that favourable either, we received 20 mm of rain the other day, turned the yard in to a "soup hole"!

The kids have their rooms set up, Kirby moved in her 17 boxes and it looks like she's been in there for years, we cannot believe what a pack-rat she is! Blair is loving having a computer to play on again, he's just disappointed he doesn't have internet access yet. Erinn is going out of her mind with all her toys and stuffys that she hasn't seen in months, she has been dragging out something new to play with every day.

Carolyn has finally player herself out, we moved on to the picture hanging stage, next is garage clean out, people have been coming to pick up empty boxes which is speeding the clean up process up. She has been having a difficult time adjusting to full-time work again, she's used to the afternoon/evening shift, but she likes the benefits that come with full-time work even though she spends most of the day trying to keep herself busy; big change from what she is used to coming from a busy doctor's office.

We've run into some stumbling blocks; with the rain we were unable to get into the house by vehicle because of the mud, we are getting some gravel down to fix this. Telus wants $500.00 to hook up our phone, we said 'forget it' since we can get VOIP when we get our high-speed internet, which will only cost us $250.00 to install (both internet and the VOIP phone). So if you are trying to reach us please use our cell until the phone is hooked up! TV has been limited to 3 channels; CTV, CBC and french CBC. The satellite TV should be up and running right after the internet goes in; we haven't really missed it, the kids busy themselves reading and playing with their toys that they haven't seen for a while, I've been devouring books like there is no tomorrow (usually 2 novels a week) and Carolyn has been too busy unpacking ot really notice, however she did catch the openning episode of "Survivor China" the other night.

As for me, I was to Calgary yesterday for my MRI and got the results from my doctor while driving back; pinched nerve between my L4-L5, just as we suspects, so it will be up to the back specialist if he's going to operate or try and settle it with meds and therapy. I will keep you posted! Work has been very accommodating, they paid for the MRI ($800), gave me a day's pay for the trip to Calgary, a car and eats, WOW!

Life on the ridge is pure bliss, its dark at night and quiet. Kirby counted 11 dear at the back fence the other night, the wind still blows but it is less noticeable now that we have 4 solid walls around us. In another few weeks we should be completely settled (fingers crossed) and enjoying country life!

FINALLY IN!

At 4 o'clock today Carolyn and her work crew began moving things from their dusty retreat in the garage in to our new house!

FINALLY! June 29th we moved into the camper thinking it would only be for a month, month and a half at the most that we would have to 'camp out', well only a month later and we can finally kiss the confines of our 172 square foot 'camper' home for a much more spacious 1538 square feet; we might lose each other in there! Everyone has pretty much had it with each other so it will be nice to finally have some space to ourselves.

I've been off work for the past 3 weeks due to a pinched nerve in my low back which, as my luck goes, turned into further complications that finally resulted in me having to return to work today, sick as a dog, but with no choice since once again my sick bank is depleted! Oh woe is me! I have my fingers crossed that things will heal up enough to return to regular duties since I am once again stuck on the front desk, the most dreaded position within the department, if things do not get better I maybe collecting unemployment while I wait for things to heal from a back surgery!

So hopefully in a few weeks we will be settled in the new crib and I will once again have access to the Internet from the comforts of home and be able to provide you with some eye candy, until than picture a castle on a ridge, a green castle, full of a happy family with their own space, real beds and a real bathroom! YAHOO!!!