The Summer of 2006

They say getting married, buying a home, having children are all stressful times in ones life. I think getting ready to retire should also be added to the list.
Those of you that follow the blog at all will know that we are trying to get things organized to retire.
Our house sold in 2 weeks, had to vacate in 30 days which was great, however when we went to sign the final documents the survey completed many years ago had not wrote back fence on the line on the survey. The lawyer in his wisdom would not accept it for this reason. $1000.00 later we had the surveyors come out to re-survey. Now Calgary is booming to the point that surveyors are backed up 3 weeks. We only had one week until closing. For an additional fee they would come out the next day. What can one do! Pay, pay, pay. Now the rules have changed at City Hall. When we built our deck it had to be 3 feet from the fence. Ours qualified for the measurements. However in 1996 it changed to 3’6". Without a building permit (didn’t need it for the deck) there was no prove of when it was built. Out came the saws, hammers, paint. ( Not really a great thing to do in a house sell). Would the buyers notice an inch or 6 off the deck! We managed to get the surveyors back, a few days later. It seems our fence is not on the true property line. Back in the 70’s our street was show homes and the fences were originally built at that time. We were still an inch out. Could it have been the tears forming in my eyes that this man took pity on us. He would make it work. Ken got it through City Hall in time!
Our move has been ongoing for 2 months. We left the house July 31. Everything had to be put into storage until Sept. 15 when we returned from our holidays. We were officially homeless. We spent Aug 1 – Aug 11 house sitting at another firefighters home. Aug 11 we took possession of the Winfield house which is a major work in progress. Four days later we came back for one tour (4 days) then were headed to Seattle via Kelowna to a engine course. Just outside Calgary Ken’s truck lost its transmission. Not worth fixing. $300 later for the tow to Canmore. Kenny came and picked us and the trailer bound to Kelowna up and returned us to Calgary. We stayed at Kenny’s and Paulette’s as we had no home to go to. The next day we rented a panel van and drove to Kelowna but it was now to late to get to the boat course. I spent 6 days fixing up RJ’s house in 40 C heat. While in Kelowna we bought another vehicle. Ken would remain to continue fixing up the house and I would return the rented vehicle back to Calgary and return to work. I would stay a Lea’s for the week until I flew out to Vancouver to get on the boat.
There is something relaxing about being on the boat nothing seems to faze a person. It seemed like all the time spent living out of suitcase was menial. Ken and I spent a very long day 14 hrs. getting to Gorge Harbour . Skies bright, seas calm all is right again.
We picked up our guests in Campbell River and departed for Herriot Bay fishing all the way. We caught a salmon for dinner. The starboard engine stuffing box was steaming so we headed in to moor for the night. The next day the starboard engine heated up right away. We turned it off and went with the port engine only. Fishing all the way to the Campbell River Government wharf. Yep we needed a new starboard transmission. Transmission. It seems like it should be a four letter word! Not 12! Somehow being on the boat gives you a blase attitude.
The rest of the blog to come !