Where were you 29 years ago today?

Russell and I were married 29 years ago today, at 11 am, at a beautiful 300 year old Catholic Church in Sainte-Anne-De-Bellevue, Quebec. Where does time go? It's all been good, we've grown older and wiser but our hearts and minds are still young. The best is yet to come! It's been a busy week. I went to New Jersey on Wednesday to continue the transfer of knowledge with my successor then the US team took me out for dinner in Manhattan. It was a very nice evening, we had some good laughs. They also gave me a very nice gift, very fitting of NYC. I am anxious to find out tomorrow how they all managed with the storm that was to hit New Jersey and NYC today.

On Friday, we met with Matt and Ali to go over the recent activity on our home. The permit was filed last Wednesday, the septic is now installed and is apparently an engineering work of art! Excavation has also started, blasting follows. We will be going to Huntsville this coming Friday to check things out and take pictures. We also met with the electrician who will be doing the work on our house. Very nice man who has been in a family business for over 39 years.

On Saturday, we went to the 2011 National Havanese Specialty dog show in Richmond Hill. There were about 30 or so Havanese dogs who were competing for various prizes. It was a lot of fun to watch these cute little dogs parade in front of judges. We also saw our breeders with some of their own dogs. We spent the rest of the day in Toronto and stayed overnight at the Park Hyatt. We had a nice anniversary dinner at Sotto Sotto and came home this morning.

This will be a 4 day week for me as we are closed this coming Friday for a 4 day Labour Day weekend. Not a lot of time left at work and not a whole lot left to do. Just enough time to close the loop on some items.

29 years ago today, after the wedding festivities, we watched the San Francisco and Raiders football game from the Mirabel Hotel near Montreal before flying back to Edmonton where we then lived. I wonder what is on TV tonight??

Have a good week!

It's confirmed...we're expecting!

We received confirmation this week that Treasure is indeed pregnant with 4 puppies ( to be confirmed with x-rays on Aug 30). Her due date will be around September 7. I attach a picture, courtesy of Nathan and Darlah of Talemaker Havanese (http://www.talemakerhavanese.com/) . Originally, we thought they would be born towards end of August but that was before the ultrasound, which was done on Monday. So it's official, we will be the proud parents of a puppy sometime towards mid-November. We will be following the balance of her pregnancy on the Talemaker's website. Very exciting news. This also means that we only have a few months left to enjoy the free time that comes with having no children or pets...

On the log home front, this week was busy. Quotes keep coming in, this time for the foundation and the well. The milling of our logs is going great. Matt is happy with the logs, beautiful and big he says! The site has been stumped and is ready to excavate. Septic is under way, the filterbed will be ready for inspection soon. Matt was going to submit the construction permit to the Town of Huntsville today. Next Friday, we will meet with Matt and Ali again to review a few things, then meet with the electrician to review his quote. It's all coming together.

Only 5 weeks left to retirement. Russell is patiently waiting....

Have a good weekend!

Septic shock....

Since my last blog, we became seriously concerned that our septic permit would not be approved so we had to think about plan "B". We found this beautiful design for a custom log outhouse which we were just about to send to Matt for his review, then came the septic permit on Friday! It was a close call. Actually, the call was not so close, worst case we would have had to cut down many more trees in order to meet the inspector's original requirements, but in the end, all got worked out and we have the permit, with no requirement to cut down more trees! The septic permit is the first and most important step in the approval process for the overall construction permit. Next, we file all other documents, and we hope to receive final approval by end of August.

Logs keep coming and they are now in Matt's yard. That is very good news. Russell and I keep reviewing quotes, and shopping around to get ideas for light fixtures and other decorating ideas. We pretty well have chosen our geothermal heating supplier, as well as our electrician. Just need to fine tune a few details before awarding them the business. We are also shopping around for dog items such as bed, crate, toys, etc. We haven't settled on anything yet but are getting close.

I was in Montreal on Thursday for my farewell tour. It was nice to see everyone again but it was also emotional. I had a nice lunch with some of my colleagues. I will miss them. I will post a few pictures next week.

We are now enjoying another beautiful summer day, with a glass of wine and some good music. Cheers everyone!

If you're feeling nosey, check this out....

Meet Hammerhead....nice guy ( all 700 pounds of him )! It's been relatively quiet since my last blog. Permit approvals are a bit behind due to a glitch with the septic site but that will be fixed this week. Other than that, we are getting more quotes for the various components of our house (geo-thermal heating, plumbing, electrical, security, sound, lightening protection, etc.). Those can be complex and we need to really make sure the quotes include everything to avoid any surprises in the end. We met with Matt and Ali on Friday to go over some of those quotes. Things are progressing. Logs have arrived and Matt will start working on the house next week. After our meeting, with the Davidsons, we went to Huntsville to take more pictures of our lot, a video of which is attached. The lot has now been cleared and is ready for digging, excavating and most likely blasting. We then went to Deerhurst for an overnight stay. Saturday, we went to Port Carling to take in the Muskoka Living Interiors store. Wow, what an amazing store, so much to choose from. We didn't buy anything (yet) but left the store with many decorating ideas for our new home.

I have 7 weeks left at work. Without wishing my life away, I'm at the point now where I just want to get there. Things are slowing down a bit for me at the office, the transition to my two successors is going well (yes, it will take two people to replace me!!), all is in place for the big day, September 23. Until then, Russell and I will enjoy the rest of the Summer and take it easy. The start of the construction will coincide with my retirement, so we will be busy going up North on a regular basis and getting our Mississauga house ready for selling next Spring.

I almost forgot to mention that we will get our first puppy in November, not in January as we thought. Treasure (the mother) went into heat two months earlier than anticipated. Her puppies will be born around August 28 ( our Anniversary ), if all goes according to plan. Darlah and Nathan ( the breeders ) will keep them for 10 weeks to socialize and train them, then one of them will be ours to take home, around mid-November. We are extremely happy about having a puppy sooner than anticipated, although a lot of the work we want to do in our house will have to be done prior to November, but that's OK...it is perfect actually!

I will be visiting our Montreal factory this coming Thursday and say goodbye to my colleagues, many of which I have known for almost 27 years. If I could have done a cross country tour to say goodbye to every single employee, I would have done it, but sadly, it is not possible to do so.

Until my next blog, enjoy the video and the Summer sounds! Video link here; http://youtu.be/Ql4cS4eATIs