Laura Wins Silver

Laura had traveled all the way from Vancouver to Halifax to compete in the Atlantic Canada pole competition.  She spent a month practicing her routines.  We were very happy when we saw on Facebook that she had won Silver in the Pro Category and Bronze the Doubles.  She also won the Best Tricks award.

Volleyball Friends

Barb hadn’t told her old volleyball friends she was moving.  She wanted to surprise them.  Unfortunately, our neighbour Julie Dustin met with Linda Becker and Jane Marie Obst and told them before Barb could tell them.

World Champions

I had spent the week watching the Fastball World Championships from Saskatoon on the internet.  Finally, Barb decided to watch the last few games with me.  She thought the Canadian pitcher was crazy the way he jumped off the rubber when he pitched.  It was very exciting to see Canada win the Gold Medal.  One of the Canadian players hit 3 home runs in the championship game.

Canada Dave

Barb and I went to Dave McAleer’s annual Canada Day Party with Barb’s old tennis friends.  Barb gave Dave the autographed Roger Federer cap that she won at the Phil LeBlanc Tournament a few years ago.

We were at the party for quite a while and Barb never told them that we were moving.  Finally, Debbie Pinder asked what the “really big news” was.  Barb asked her how she knew about it.  Debbie said she had met our neighbour at the grocery store recently.

Barrhaven is a hard place to keep a secret.

What the Hell is Going On?

Barb hadn’t told her friends she was moving.  Our neighbours all knew by now since they had seen so much garbage going out.

On day Barb’s pickleball friend, Chris, came over to drop off some money for a tournament.  She walked into the house and saw nothing on the walls.  She immediately said, “What the hell is going on?”

Barb told her we were moving and they had a little cry together.

Helping the Garbage Men

We were throwing a lot of stuff away.  The garbage is only collected every two weeks.  So we had to save our stuff and throw it out all at the same time.

The garbage men were good about it.  One day when I was home I offered to help them.  They said it was okay I didn’t need to help them.

They told Barb they get paid by the ton.  So they like it when they can get a lot of garbage from the same house.

Barb still felt bad for the garbage men and helped even when they said they didn’t need it.

House For Sale

The whole while I was in Ireland with Sarah, Barb was at home getting the house ready for sale.  Even before we signed with the real estate agent, we had an offer on the house from the brother of a neighbour.  The neighbour had two children and the brother had two children the same age.  Their mother also lived down the road.  It was a perfect situation for them.  However, the wife was very fussy.

Barb told him we were asking $369,000.  The neighbour said the brother was thinking of spending around $360,000.  So Barb thought we had a deal.  Then the brother offered us $340,000, $30,000 less than we were asking.  We thought it was insulting.  So we turned them down.

We eventually listed the house with the real estate agent for $410,000.  I based that on what my Dad’s house had sold for in Burlington.  I thought our house was in much better shape than my Dad’s house.