Back To The Land of WiFi

With being so busy completing the major move and clean up at Jeanette's parents' farm - and with no access to WiFi (other than the small town library) - it's nice to be back in the city of Edmonton where WiFi is readily available.

Setting sun at Jeanette's family farm - Hairy Hill, Alberta

We are at our son and daughter in law's home for the weekend.  We'll decompress from the farm work before our 12 hour return drive back home to the British Columbia coast next Monday.

We have not been able to keep up with the blogs we regularly follow.  I doubt we will have the time to catch up while in Edmonton.  We have plenty of visiting to do.

L-R  Courtney (7 months pregnant) Jeanette's mom, Mary and our son , Deni.

The Edmonton visiting started last night with a wonderful get together with my nephew, Brad, and his wife, Jamie.  Brad - like me - is a motorcycle enthusiast (golfer too) and it's always nice to get together.  Thanks for the wonderful dinner, you two!

No photos from our dinner but...... L-R   Jamie, Meghan, Alyssa and Brad  - (from Brad's Facebook page)

There is so much to write about!  We have hundreds and hundreds of photos too! But we'll spare you the long, long story and focus on the important stuff.

Our son's cargo trailer came in handy to move stuff from the farm. 

The old log home, in the background (photo above), is where Jeanette was born - 61 years ago.  Her father had to play doctor when a major snow storm prevented taking her mom to the local hospital.  A lot of reminiscing was heard about this pioneer farm house.  The newer farm home was built a couple of years later.

Darlene and her mom found this little dress that Mary had sewn many, many years back.

Our time was occupied with cleaning, sorting, moving, hauling and more.  We had a couple of meetings with the lawyer and the bank.  As Power of Attorney, Jeanette had quite a few important things to look after.

We got to know John - owner/operator - from the disposal service we retained.

These past six months, or so, saw us collectively fill over 14 garbage bins.  Stuff that was deemed worthwhile years back was now destined for the trash heap.  Although a huge job, the process was effective.

Bob and I managing some heavy lifting.

The four sisters contributed to the work load - as did Deb's husband, Bob, and I.  We kept busy.  But it was all worthwhile and the job got done.

The old log house housed stuff like this old wringer washing machine.  It was destined for recycling.

L-R   Me, my sister, Paulette, her son in law, Jeff and daughter, Tina

The Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend was a nice distraction.  My sister and her husband - Paulette and Rick - invited us to join their family for a wonderful turkey dinner, this past Saturday.  The 50 minute drive to their home was well worth it.  We enjoyed a great meal and fun chat with everyone.  We did over night at their home because we were driving to Jeanette's sister's place, the next day,  (about 20 minutes south) for another Thanksgiving turkey dinner with Jeanette's side of the family.

L-R  Paulette's husband, Rick, daughter, Karen.....Paulette, Jeff and Tina.

L-R  Jeff and Tina's son, Brenden (a star football quarterback), Karen's son, Jarred ( a politician in the making) and Rick.

It was so much fun to break up the farm work with dinners and fun visits.  The next day (Sunday) we left my sister's home for the drive to Jeanette's youngest sister, Darlene's place, for another outstanding meal.

Beautiful Alberta highway leading from my sister's farm to my sister in law's farm.

The leaves were still offering some rich fall colours....but have since fallen to the ground.

At Darlene and Tom's farm, this (and the unseen turkey) is what we came for.  YUM!

L-R   Sister, Georgina, Mom Mary, Darlene and Jeanette.  The other sister, Deb, was enjoying turkey dinner with her husband, Bob's family.

Deni and Courtney drove the two hours east from Edmonton to partake in the meal.

What a feast! By mid-afternoon, (Sunday past)  Deni and Courtney headed back for Edmonton, and a few hours later, Jeanette and I drove Jeanette's mom back to the Long Term Care facility she now calls home.  From there, we drove to the farm to continue the process of closing up the yard and house for the new owner.

Group shot:  L-R  Jeanette, Georgina, Tom, Darlene, Mom (Mary), Courtney, Deni and Me.

Back at the farm, we had more tidying to do, errands to run (bank, lawyer, care facility, etc.).  We did bring Mary to her farm on several occasions.  It is not easy to see one's life - 64 years - farming this land and tending to the large farmyard close and have the place transferred to a new owner. Mary does have a very positive attitude though.  She is comforted by the fact that the younger neighbour farmer has taken over their property.

The fall weather was fantastic.  Bright blue skies and warm fall days were the norm.  What a treat that was!  Only one year ago, snow covered the landscape around here.  We counted our blessingsto get so much accomplished because of the great fall weather.

Selling the home place was also discomforting, to a certain extent, to Jeanette and her  sisters.  This is where they grew up.  All of them realize that parting with the farm was in everyone's best interest.  The family still owns farm land that is rented to another local farmer.  Tending to a farm yard - house and buildings - that is uninhabited was demanding and problematic.
 

While we were busy in Alberta, our 18 month old grandson, Easton, was busy on the west coast too.  He was hauling his chosen pumpkins from a farm market.  Cute to see.

Easton also dropped by his dad's father's home to help mow the lawn.  Grandpa Warren had to share the driving duties with Easton.

Taking a load of stuff for storage at Darlene's farm.  We hauled from one farm to another.  The stored items were deemed important to hold on to and Tom and Darlene have the storage space.

Darlene took this photo of Jeanette and I by the lake in front of their country home.  What a peaceful setting!

Now that the farm yard transition work is completed - and we are back in Edmonton - (with WiFi Internet access) we'll get to relax and enjoy our visit with Deni and Courtney for a few days.  With a new grandchild expected this very late December/early January, it will be nice to enjoy some time at their home.

I have a brother and sister in law who live in my birth town of St. Paul, Alberta.  We enjoyed a nice visit and dinner at their home last Thursday evening.  As I write this post, Jeanette and Deni drove to downtown Edmonton to select some fresh vegetables from the weekly farmers' market there.  I can 't post photos from our dinner with Bernie and Rita because Jeanette has the camera.  I will post a photo or two when I next write a blog.

One more sunset shot taken from the family farm.

The weather in Edmonton is equally great and the long term forecast for our return drive back the BC coast looks most favourable too.

Thanks for dropping by.