Writing this on our way back to Edmonton, I can only conclude that this weekend was a huge success. Driving up here on Friday morning, I could not wait to spend two full days and two half days at our new homestead. Since yesterday evening I have been dreading this moment of having to go back to Edmonton. I have never felt so much freedom since buying our acreage. We can do what we want when we want, plan however we want, and just enjoy nature, the birds, the smells, everything. It is so quiet yet so loud at the same time. Serenity pure. Although we did so much stuff this weekend, it really felt like a holiday, from which we are now pulled back into reality. The city…

Luckily it will not be long like this anymore.

Arriving on Friday with yet another fully loaded car, we first had to unpack the essentials, after which we could eat a small lunch (I was starving!), after which we unloaded the whole car. The rest of the afternoon we used it for some small tasks, and we installed one of the dressers we bought (this week) for ourselves. In the evening, we enjoyed our dinner and were so tired that we went to bed at 9 PM already.

Saturday was yet another busy day. But we started with a nice breakfast with nice croissants (which is very important) and a nice walk with the dogs, during which we met some of our neighbors, a really nice, retired couple. Of course, Kima embarrassed me by jumping on the lady, who was wearing very pretty, light-colored linen pants, after playing in the water and dirt! Luckily, they did not mind, although I still find it difficult to assess the people here, because they are always so unbelievably friendly! Continuing the day, we installed the second dresser and drew the upper floor into CAD so we could continue our planning of the house itself. Once back, we let the cats out for the first time. Usually, you wait one to two weeks because they need to get used to the new house and everything. But they were so relaxed and really wanted to go outside that we decided otherwise. Kitty was the first to go and within a minute I could not find her at all anymore. Being afraid we might have made a wrong decision she showed up a minute later with a dead mouse. Within the first 10 minutes, she caught 3 more mice. Palin followed soon after and has been setting her perimeter ever since. She already has her standard round and is (we did not expect this) more outside than Kitty. Afterward, Sébastien used a large part of the day to cut away a lot of the small trees around the house and clear out the windows, to let more light into the house. In the late afternoon, we cleaned out the woodworking shed. We used the trees, Seb cut during the day to fill up one of the mud holes (arisen after all the driving and rain) and we did the same with the wood chunks from the shed. Not knowing that our temporary solution (which we came up with until we can lay a gravel road) would be put to the test this weekend already. The rest of the sawdust we put in boxes, to be used later as soil for the chickens and rabbits or for the outdoor toilet. We did not finish cleaning the sawdust; the evening was there, and my back was dead. We ate a very nice dinner: Gourmetting with pancakes. Which is basically baking pancakes on a small grill, where everyone can make their own variations they want, with bacon or cheese or both or with apples and so on. It is a very fun and cozy way of eating, but it takes up a lot of time. I think we ate for like two hours. After the cleaning and everything it again was 9 PM and we went to bed.

Saturday night was a very heavy night for me. I got a very bad cramp in my right calve. I have had cramps before but not like this. I even woke up Sébastien with my breathing, half screaming/crying. I tried to pull my toes up to pull the muscles away from each other. But it was such a heavy cramp that of course, I did not manage, being that my legs are way stronger than my arms. Being pregnant I have been supplementing with the maximum dose (written on the package) of magnesium already. So not knowing how to fix this, I consulted one of the telegram groups I am in, which is all about pregnancy and motherhood, and how others dealt with such problems. Turns out being pregnant a woman can easily pump the dosage up from 450mg a day to 600 mg and even more if needed. It did work, thank God, the cramps and feeling of almost cramping have left since then.

Sunday, we started the same as Saturday with a nice breakfast (again with croissants) and started working straight away. Seb did a lot of stuff outside, and I started to pack the dressers for us and the baby (still feeling my back I had to start the day with lighter tasks). In the afternoon I joined Seb and as a break, we decided to check out my quad. It took quite a while, especially a lot of patience from Seb, to get it started. This quad does not start with a battery but old school with a Kickstarter. Seb had been jumping on it for at least 15 min and filling up the tank before she started running. Then the first thing was pumping up the wheels and taking her for a test drive, which Seb also did. With which I am very happy because it turned out that once you let go of the gas, the quad will give gas by itself for another 5 seconds (even in reverse). We made a movie and sent it to Seb’s dad who is a mechanic and could give us two tips which should fix this problem. One of them we would buy on Monday and the other Seb will have to do later once he has a bit more time on his hands. But the quad is running, so that is a very good thing! Unfortunately, our drive together will have to wait a bit longer still. We finished the day by cleaning up the rest of the sawdust, again a nice dinner, and straight to bed.

Monday (today) we were supposed to get up early and head into town for tools, the post, registering our company, and filling up one of the tanks with water to clean it. Early did not work, but we did get most of the stuff done in the morning. Our company name has been cleared so at 1.00 PM we could come back to officially start the company in our name. The filling up of the water tank was a very funny story though, which I really must tell you guys. So, on Sunday we wanted to fill her up with agricultural water, but that did not work, because we think you need a key and a membership for that. It was not very clear, so this week we will have to give them a call. Thus, today we went to town to fill her up with drinking water. We arrived just now a big truck (the one that brings the water to the people) was filling up. Waiting two more cars behind us arrived, and I joked to Seb that hopefully, we would not make fools out of ourselves, it being our first time. Well… That did not work out as planned. Seb was already a bit stressed since more people were waiting. He first tried the big hose for which we could pay by card. That did not work out. So, we switched to the smaller hose, for which you pay with coins. Seb reparked, but the how being a bit too short I had to reverse a bit more. I must add, here that I was skeptical of the length and the angle of the hose, but Seb said it would work. So, he put in the coins and the water started flowing, yes, but wait. Because of the water pressure, the hose jumped out of the tank and started filling up our trunk. Being stressed because, let’s face it, it is a waste of water and money, Seb screamed that I should quickly jump in and fix the hose back in the tank. But being 26 weeks pregnant things do not go so quickly anymore. So, he had to jump in while I opened the trunk to let the spilled water out. After that, it all went smoothly, and we were out 5 minutes later already. Lesson learned, never joke about what you don’t want to happen, because exactly that is what the universe will give you. It took Seb a bit longer than me before he could laugh about the happening. Being back at the property we let the water into the smaller tanks to give them a first cleansing too. We did end up having to be creative because the connections to the hoses or pumps or the water pressure cleaner were not working. One of our to-do’s for this week. At 5.30 PM we left for our way back to Edmonton. All in all, it was a great weekend. And our goal is to get back there either on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. The last pieces for Starlink should already be delivered and then hopefully the internet will be fast enough that I can work indefinably from there. We are taking the risk that it will be fast enough (let’s face it, it must work, because there is no alternative in this case) and bring the dinner table too.