Colour my world....

Colour my world...a song by Chicago which lasts 2:59 minutes.  That song came on last night, it was our wedding song.  Timely since we will be celebrating our 30th anniversary on Tuesday.  What better place to celebrate this milestone than in our new house in Huntsville.  It will be a special day.

Hope you all had a good week.  Ours was very good and the weather has been amazing.  We started the week by going to the local Home Hardware to buy a few things.  As soon as we walked in, Brian, one of the sales associates, recognized us from our first visit at that store and even greeted Cooper by name!  We bought a couple of Oust-A-Mouse, which are lockable, weather resistant bait traps for outside.  It seems that they are working as Mickey and Minnie haven't been around for a while. We must be feeding them well.....

Russell had his hair cut by the same hairdresser that cut my hair and he was happy with the result.  We also took Cooper to the groomer and he quite enjoyed his bath with Teresa.  She is very gentle and thought Cooper was such a delight to groom.  He will be going back on a regular basis.

I also discovered the Farmer's Daughter market.  It is a local market which supports local farmers and producers.  Most of what they sell is home made.  We are quite fond of their cereal bars.

We went for some nice drives to Rosseau, Dwight and Dorset.  Those littles towns have some very interesting boutiques.  Each town has a General Store and each General Store is different and offers something unique.

Our landscaping is now complete, including the planting.  Deb and her team did a great job.  They planted deer resistants perennials such as astilbes, ferns, coreopsis and barberry bushes. It is looking very nice.

The electricians came and installed our generator.  It is a huge one which will more than cover our needs should we be without power.  The propane tank is also installed so we are now running on a full tank.

We have been in Huntsville now for a month and we truly feel like we've been here longer. Everything we need we can find close to home, even good coffee.  We discovered the Muskoka Roastery Coffee which has amazing coffee, equal if not better than Starbucks.  Our preferred blend is the Black Bear blend, which is similar to Starbuck's Italian Roast.

On Wednesday night, we decided to order Swiss Chalet.  An hour and a half later, our dinner arrived.  This proved to be more challenging than we thought.  Although the Swiss Chalet restaurant is only 10 minutes from our house, since our address is not on Google map yet, it took forever for the delivery person to find our house even with precise directions.  That is because the driver ignored our directions and chose to use his GPS instead, which of course was useless since we are not on Google map.  We assume the same will happen if we order pizza.

On Friday, we visited a day care for Cooper.  It is run by a couple, at their own house.  They only take 2-3 dogs at a time.  They have a beautiful fenced in area and the dogs are allowed in and out of the house as they wish.  The have a doodle which is 9 years old.  We were there for about 30 minutes just to get the feel of the place and Cooper had a great time.  This place was referred to us by a local person who uses the day care for his own dogs. We are happy to have found this place.

Cooper taking it easy in 'his' Muskoka chair!

That's about it for this week's news.  We will go for a nice walk later this morning.  It is another beautiful day and the forecast for the week is looking amazing.  Tuesday, we will take Cooper to daycare while we enjoy an anniversary lunch at Tall Trees, a well known restaurant in Huntsville.  Next Saturday, a friend of mine will be coming over.  We look forward to seeing her. I plan on showing her the town!  Have a great week everyone! I attach a picture of Cooper sitting on "his" Muskoka chair.

Full Service in Huntsville

The highlight of this past week was for me to discover a Full Service gas station in downtown Huntsville.  There are very few of those left and there was only one in Mississauga so I was pleasantly surprised to find a Petro Canada Full Service Gas Station in Huntsville.  In a pinch, I suppose that I could pump my own gas if I had to but for some reason, I feel intimidated by the pump so I have always relied on either Russell or full service to pump my gas.  I know this sounds like I'm precious but I am not.  It is about the only thing that I do not do on my own....actually, there is one another thing that I will not do on my own:  pick up a dead mouse.  Russell has been kind enough to pick up a couple that we saw in the house.  Each time, the  mouse was actually roaming around very slowly, so it was easy for Russell to wack it and then dispose of it.  The mice are obviously eating the poison that has been strategically placed in the house (no danger for Cooper) and they are now less active so easier to catch. So, I may not be brave enough to pick one up but I am brave enough to write about it....

This past week was a good one.  Russell's mom spent a few days with us.  We drove around Huntsville, went shopping and took it easy.  The weather was not too bad although it did rain a bit.  Russell's mom's favorite store is Northern Reflections.  Although that store has been around forever, like the full service gas station, there are few left.  She was pleasantly surprised to find one at the Huntsville Mall.  She bought a few things for the Fall.  While at that mall, I ckecked out the hair salon and made an appointment with Tasha. On Tuesday, I got my hair cut.  I was very happy with the result and have booked my appointments for the balance of the year.  Russell will be going this coming Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we drove Russell's mom back to Montreal.  The distance is 700 km, door to door, but we now realize that we took the long way home.  Next time, we will go through Ottawa and shave off about 150 km each way.  With three stops, it took a little less than 8 hours. Cooper slept the whole time. After dropping her off, we went to my parents and spent the night at their house.  My brother made dinner, his famous pork shashlik cooked on charcoal grill.  It was delicious.  It was nice to see my parents again.  They will come and visit us sometime this Fall, so will my brother. We got up early on Thursday and by 7:30, we were on the road back to Huntsville.  It was nice to get back home.  The landscapers were still hard at work and we saw amazing progress in the front yard.  For the first time since we moved in, we were able to walk on large granite stepping stones instead of walking on mud....I have graduated from having to leave the house with my runners to now wearing my sandals without fear of getting muck on my feet. I'm still a city girl!

The landscaping is now complete except for the planting.  This will be done in a week or two.  Dan and Peter, from Natural Images, did an amazing job.  Deb, Dan's wife, has been instrumental in the design of the landscaping and she will do the planting.  They are very nice people.

Our television is ready to go but we have to wait until Tuesday for the satellite dish to be installed, so no TV still, only music, but that's OK.  No big deal.

So, for the most part, all the work inside and outside the house is complete.  The generator will be installed later this week.  Matt will stop by at some point to go over the small things that are left to do in the house.  It is nice to no longer have people coming and going all day long.  Russell and I find it hard to believe that we have been here for a little over three weeks now.  We were reflecting last night on the past year and how overwhelming the building of our house was at times. This is all behind us now and we plan on enjoying our new life in Huntsville.  For the first time, I also feel like I am now truly retired.  It is a nice feeling.

Today, we will be going to Port Carling for a drive and check out the Muskoka Living Store.  We are still looking for a few things for the house, to fill some empty spots.

This coming week should be relatively quiet.  We will continue to explore the area and look for some nice parks for walking.  On Thursday, we will take Cooper to the groomer for the first time.  The Coop is doing fine and it seems that he has now fully adapted to the country life.  His eating is back to normal, he sleeps well and loves to run around his yard.  He is getting used to the various nature sounds.  He hasn't seen a mouse yet but I bet it is a matter of time before he sees one.....

That's about it for this week's blog. I attach a picture taken from our deck this morning. It is a beautiful morning and the air smells good.  I also include our new email addresses:  anne1duncan@bell.net and russ1duncan@bell.net. I wish you all a good week.

Life in Huntsville

Happy Monday morning!  Hope you all had a great weekend.  All is good at the Duncan household in Huntsville.  We are nicely adapting to the country life.  We haven't seen another bear although we keep our eyes open for one.  Deers are now part of our lives, so are the wild turkeys.  We wake up to the piece and quiet of our surroundings, and end the day the same way.  We do not have any neighbours yet but we do not feel isolated either.  We did meet one neighbour last week who will start building in a  month or so with an expected move in date of April.  This means that there will be some activity on lot 9 in the coming months. Lot 7 should start building soon although we have not met the owners yet.  We are lot 8, in the middle of those two lots.

Last week was a good week and the things that were left to do on our house are complete with the exception of a few small things.  Landscaping will wrap up this week.  So, the dust bowl that we have been living in has shrunk considerably. I am used to driving around Huntsville and know my way around.  I still haven't found a hairdresser and that has proven to be a challenge so far. Today, I will be going to the Huntsville Mall and hope to be successful on that front.  I need a haircut badly, so does Russell.  We did find a groomer for Cooper. Her name is Teresa and she has a grooming salon at the Pet Value store, called Groomingdale.  She seems very nice and we hope Cooper likes her.  Cooper is doing well and seems to be more settled now that there is less activity in our house.  He sleeps well but up to now hasn't been in a rush to eat his meals, which is not like him.  But this morning, he devoured his breakfast and that is good news. Otherwise, he is full of life and loves running around his yard.

Last Thursday, Margo came for a visit. She was our first overnight visitor.  It was very nice to see her.  We barbecued and had some nice chats.  On Friday, Peter and Linda stopped by for a visit.  They are the developers of the lot we bought.  They live close to us and are very nice people.  Although they had seen the house as it was being built, this was the first time they were seeing it all finished and furnished. To quote them, "it is not a house, it is a work of art".

On Saturday, we went to the 2012 Havanese Picnic in Brighton.  Not sure how many Havanese dogs were there but there were lots!  It was a lot of fun and Cooper had a great time, so did we.  It was nice to meet many of the Havanese owners.  It was also nice to see a couple of Havanese dogs of Cooper's size.  Not too many are as big as he is.  From there, we drove to Pointe-Claire in torrential rain and spent the night at Russell's mom's.  We left early yesterday morning and arrived in Huntsville around 4 pm.  Mom is with us for a few days.  She was blown away by the house and all that it offers.  We plan on showing her the Town and spending some quality time with her.  The weather so far is nice and warm although they are calling for some clouds.  We've had some much needed rain over the past few days and that means that the sod in Cooper's yard is growing nicely and has taken.

That's about it for this week's blog.  I'm off shopping downtown Huntsville with Russell's mom and later we will go to a look out where, according to someone we met last week, we can see our house.

Anne and Russell on the deck !

Steve, Anne, Cooper and Russell.

Nelson catching a breeze while 'shooting' it as well!

I attach a few pictures taken by Steve when he stopped by with Nelson two weeks ago.  I hope they don't mind having their picture on my blog! We will take more pictures of the house at some point and post them.  Have a great week everyone.

Bear, deers and wild turkeys...all in one week!

We had a great first week in Huntsville and we are settling in quite nicely.  Our lives are somewhat back to a 'new' normal. I say this because we had workers in the house every day of the week, from 7 am to about 5 pm, including the landscapers.  The work is almost complete inside and the landscaping should be done by end of this week.  Having workers in and out of the house means that we've had to mop and dust every single day as we are now living in a dust bowl.  Being the neat freaks that we are, it's been a challenge! It has also been somewhat unsettling for Cooper to have people constantly come in and out of his Kingdom.  We managed to stay out of the way of the workers and spent a lot of time outdoors in Cooper's dog run, which he loves!  He is also adjusting to the various noises inside and outside our house.  When you live in the country, the noises are completely different.  No planes or car noises but lots of bird and wild animal sounds. The house itself is very quiet but the wood sometimes checks (cracks) due to the moisture in the wood. It is an adjustment for Cooper and for us.

We are currently hosting a few uninvited guests, Mickey and Minnie.  This was to be expected and I am not freaking out (truly).  We have hired professionals to take care of this little problem.  Enough said about this.  We do have a lot of friendly animals that come and go.  We always have deers on our property or driveway.  Friday morning, when I woke up, I looked out our bedroom window and saw four wild turkeys walking on our septic berm.  They are ugly and huge but really funny to watch.   We also have some not so friendly animals such as a black bear, though we called him "Yogi".  As we were going up our private road Friday afternoon, we saw a black bear cross the road.  He was a cub, probably one year old, which means his mother was not far away.  Since we were in the car, we were not concerned.  The bear looked at us and carried on with his business.  Luckily, Cooper was napping in the car so he did not see the bear.  When we got home, I immediately asked one of our electricians (who is a hunter) for advise as to what to do if we happen to walk and come across a bear.  We also bought bear bells today, which I will always carry with me.  So, we are not freaking out about the bear either although we do have to be careful. I must admit though that I did not expect to see a bear so soon, or ever......

We have enjoyed sitting on the back deck every night and watching the view.  Our sound system is up and running throughout the house and outside.  Our television is not installed yet so we haven't been able to watch the Olympics.  Our phone was finally installed last week.  Our phone number is different than the one that was given to us back in June.  We still don't have an email address.  We have decided to switch to Bell for email and Internet and they came to set us up last Tuesday.  It was working fine until they left.  It has not worked since.  Bell is coming back tomorrow to see what the problem is.  We hope to have email by then. In the meantime, we are still using the Rogers Rocket Hub for Internet.

On Thursday, we went to Home Depot to buy a few things.  We took Cooper with us thinking that he would be allowed in the store. What we didn't know is that, in May, they changed their policy to disallow dogs in the store. The manager came running after us to let us know that Cooper had to leave. At the same time, she thought he was soooooo cute that she wanted to pat him.  We said "not so much" and left with what we needed.  We then went to the local Home Hardware store and sure enough they love and welcome dogs.  They even have treats for them.  This has become our favorite hardware store.

Friday, we had the pleasure of seeing Nelson and Steve, who came to visit us on their motorcycles. It was a great run for them and the weather was perfect.  I am still amazed that they drove up the gravel road on their bikes.  It was really nice to see them. Their next visit will be with their spouses.  We are looking forward to seeing them.

Yesterday, we went to downtown Huntsville for a walk.  This little town was busy with visitors and cottagers.  The downtown stores are all dog friendly. Our two biggest challenges were to find parking and to keep people from patting Cooper....he now owns Huntsville!  When we got home, we hung up a beautiful Woodstock wind chime that Ben, our Mississauga gardener, gave us.  It sounds amazing!

Last night, we continued our tradition to smoke ribs on a long weekend.  We bought the ribs at a local butcher recommended to us by our landscaper Dan ( see the link, they do amazing work) - Big Daddys.  They were delicious.  This time, however, we had to bring the grate and smoke pouch into the house so that bears would not be tempted by the smell...this is something we have to do from now whenever we smoke or barbecue.  No big deal.  It is all about ensuring that we leave nothing tempting for the bears.  If we do, they will leave us alone.

It is now Sunday morning and it is dark and rainy.  It's been a rough night:  we had the biggest thunderstorm that we have ever seen and it lasted most of the night.  The lightning show was something else.  We have french doors in our bedroom that lead to the screened porch so it is all windows.  The room was lit up most of the night.  As a result, we did not sleep well, neither did Cooper.  He was, and is still, unsettled by the storm.  He did not want to eat his breakfast first thing this morning but he seems back to normal now. All I have to stay is thank you Russell for suggesting that we install a lightning protection system on our house.  Our house is six hundred feet above Huntsville on rock.  No need to say more....

This coming week will be busy.  We have workers coming back on Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Thursday, our friend Margo will be visiting us and staying overnight.  Later in the week we will be going to Brighton for a Havanese picnic organized by Nathan and Darlah and Alex and Yvonne (other Havanese breeders).  From there, we will be going to Montreal to pick up Russell's mom. She will be visiting us in Huntsville for a few days.  I may be late writing my next blog but no worries....I will write it.

Until then, have a great Simcoe long weekend everyone! I include a few pictures of the inside of our house taken by Russell this morning. Enjoy!

Great room.

Muskoka room and fire pit beyond.

Foyer elk antler chandelier.

Muskoka room.

Great room.

Dining room and bedroom beyond.

Great room.