Packing, Hunting and More!

So much is going on, I don't know where to start....

I started to slowly try to organize myself at the beginning of last week in terms of packing and cleaning things up. However, late Wednesday afternoon, I got a very big surprise. I got an EMAIL, yes and email, from AECL HR stating my security clearance cleared and I was ready to start...the next starting date would be the 18th....which was last Friday, then in two days!!!!!! WHOA! Jeremy came home about 15 min after I read the email saying I could start in two days, that someone stopped him as he was leaving work and shouted at him that I could start on Friday. I had to try to get my mind around this - I had figured it'd take another 3-5 days at least until my security clearance would go thru and then figured it'd be another week or two before I could start. They have two orientations a month for new hires. I was wondering if I started in two days, how we were going to manage to get everything packed up, painted AND moved when we close Sept 30 and we wanted to have everything moved by the morning on Oct 3 before my sister and her family pulled in the driveway. Somehow I wasn't seeing this working. Then I thought, maybe they'd let me take a few days off to move and to see my sister since they're planning on coming Sat, Oct 3 and leaving Tues, Oct 6th in the morning. So, by the time I called them back Thursday morning once I had grasped starting the next day and after figuring some of the moving out, I had JUST missed the deadline for them to get me into the orientation for Friday. The next start date was to be Fri, Oct 2 (the day we're hoping to get the painting done, pack up the uhaul, and probably the day my parents arrive!). Now, what!?!?!? I'd have to miss all this and miss spending more than one full day with my sister! So, after another couple calls to HR, I've settled on waiting until the NEXT orientation which will be on Oct 16th! I feel much better, although I'll be lacking on the funds for another month, but hey, we've managed this long, what's one more month, right?!?! I'll get the time to pack, have the time to paint, be able to move, be here when everyone arrives, and spend one more full day with my sister, Jack and Bob! Plus, I'll be able to spend the next full week with my parents since they're planning on staying for the rest of the week after my sister leaves. Then, I'll still have one more week to myself to get the house more in order before having to start back full time and to have both of us adjust to both of us working full time for the first time in our relationship. Whew, all that in two days!

Next, guess what? Hunting has started...... Jeremy called up the Banin Game Farm outside of Ottawa, south of Arnprior. We headed down Saturday morning with Hayde and with the truck packed up with hunting gear. We were supposed to start at 10am, but somehow the schedule got mixed up so we had to wait until noon. So, we drove back towards Almonte, a small town northeast of the game farm. We found a little park and took Hayde for a walk, then found a subway to eat lunch at and drove around town for a bit before heading back to the game farm. We drove up to the field following the two guys that were planting the birds for us. They went out to plant 6 pheasants while we got ourselves dressed up and ready. We started by following the ATV path into an open field. We hunted this same field last November when we were there. Before too long, Hayde got birdy and was able to flush a bird. Jeremy waited just long enough and was able to get it. We continued on along the trail and again, Hayde got birdy and managed to flush a bird. Jeremy got this one too. We then started walking all over that part of the field and Hayde was able to flush more birds. At the edge, she found a bird and it ran out of a bush along the ground. Jeremy got it and we realized it was a chuckar - probably from the hunter in the morning. We continued on and Hayde flushed another bird and Jeremy got it, but we were at the end of the field and somehow we were short one pheasant so we retraced our way back a bit and before too long, Hayde managed to flush the 6th pheasant. By this time, it was just after 1pm so we did really well, getting all six pheasants and one chuckar. Hayde was pooping out and was really thirsty. She had finished up all the water in my hydration pack so we decided it was time to get back to the truck. We decided it was too warm to go back out even though there was still one more bird out there from the morning and who knows what else. I had most of the birds in my vest pocket in back (shown in picture below). So, we were all happy and hot and headed back home. On our way back, we did a little scouting by driving by some marshy spots and some small rivers that have some public land around. Jeremy went back out Sunday morning to look a few more spots over and to see if he could find any grouse. I guess Hayde flushed a few, but that's it.

Friday night, Jeremy went online to take the boater's safety test. As of Sept 15th of 2009, it's now law for anyone driving a motorized watercraft of 10hp and over to have taken this test and passed and be in possession of the boater's card. So, last night we were able to get back out in the boat and go fishing on the Ottawa River. We headed in towards the Petawawa River where it meets the Ottawa River, but didn't have any luck. Hayde of course accidentally fell in and I got soaked hauling her out and back into the boat. So, we then started trolling out towards the Ottawa River where it was more sunny and manged to pull in several small to medium sized small mouth bass. It was kinda fun since they were good fighters. By then it was starting to get dark so we headed back to the boat landing and came home.

Today, we got up early enough and headed into Pembroke. Jeremy's main goal was to hit up the walk-in clinic. His knees have been bothering him and he decided maybe he'd go have them checked. We got there just before 8:30am and found it didn't open until 1pm! So, we headed towards the mall and picked up some camo paint. Jeremy wants to do up the canoe for hunting. We did a lot of bits and pieces and driving around trying to bypass time until 1pm! Finally we headed over to the clinic again and went in. There was a line from the inside clinic door all the way to the outer door. 2 hours later, Jeremy finally got called in. Another 30-45 min went by before he emerged. Unfortunately, all the Dr told him was not to exercise and to heat his knees. We then came home and he started painting the canoe.

So, all in all, I've managed to get most of the upstairs packed up and have slowly started in on the downstairs. I hope to get most packed up by the end of the week so the first couple days next week I can work on cleaning up this house and we can focus on painting the new house come Wed eve or Thurs next week and have only the daily things we need to box up quickly prior to actually moving. I'm slowly discarding more and more vegetable plants as they are dying out quickly and so I don't have to move them. It's gotten really close to freezing many nights already. Hopefully we can get off to the gym a couple times a week this week and next amongst everything else going on. I'll try to grab a few minutes to do another post before we move!

VIDEO - Hayde scouting and flushing the chuckar

(watch as she gets nearer, her tail goes wild)