new email address

Well, we've finally gone high-speed!!! Last week we purchased a Rogers "hub" that will give us wireless high-speed internet service! This is a HUGE improvement from our dial-up service provider, NRTCO, that we have been using for the past 14-15 years. (which makes we wonder what we did for entertainment 14-15 years ago!!!!!) Hard to believe we've been on the net that long!

ANYWAY, going with this Rogers system will allow us to dump the 2nd phone line ($25/month) and our internet service provider, NRTCO, ($25/month) for the hub, at at cost of $35 a month - so sort of a no-brainer, wasn't it? cheaper and FASTER! wheeeee - now we can waste time watching stupid You Tube videos like everyone else!

However, this means after 15 years, a new email address - which is: patrickr401@gmail.com (remember to copy and paste this in your address book, kids)

And changing one's email account is a HUGE deal - translate "huge deal" to pain in the ass!!!!!

Other than that, we've been quite busy with real estate - here's a sample weekend for those who think we hang a sign on a house and then sit around and wait for the cash to roll in. (and I have had people say that to me)

My Saturday schedule consisted of a 10 a.m. appointment in Matawatchan - about a one and a half hour drive from Renfrew - then a 2:00 p.m. Open House back in Renfrew and then a showing on a house in Calabogie area (about 1/2 way back to Matawatchan) at 6 p.m. All arranged, planned & set up.

At 9 o'clock Friday, I received a call cancelling the appointment in Matawatchan - so just the Open House and my showing at 6. As I pull into the house in Calabogie at 6:00 p.m., my cell phone rings - its the couple calling about the showing at 6 - they're still in freaking Ottawa!!!

Some days are like that! Actually many days are like that. One just has to have enough good days to balance it out - and I generally have good days.

A few days ago, a gal at the office gave me a short story about her grandmother who passed away 3 years ago. A local author had written about her grandmother just before she died and it certainly makes one realize that we really are just a couple of generations removed from a completely different way of life. Here are some of the things I remember about this woman's life....

Ethel Sullivan was from Ireland - she came to Canada got married and settled in the Chapeau area. She lived the rest of her life in a small clapboard house that had no hydro or running water until the late 50's and never had any heat other that a wood stove in the kitchen. She had 19 sons in 20 years. During the second world war, a local priest gave her a $5 battery operated radio so she could listen every night for the list of Canadians killed in the war so she would know if one of her sons had died. One year,the village donated 6 sets of clothes to her family, which meant 6 of the boys could go to school - they traded the clothes back and forth so they could all get a turn at school. Breakfast every morning was porridge - lunch was cold porridge between two slices of bread. She lived in that house, raised her boys (mostly on her own and taking care of one son who would never be able to live on his own until she was in her late 80's. When she was asked about the 19 sons in 20 years she said her husband worked away from home in the bush and he came home once a year to "apologize".

I thought it was a neat story and now I think about Ethel Sullivan when I eat my cholesterol-reducing oatmeal/porridge for breakfast!

Today's picture is a neat moth Rick saw yesterday and some ducks on Calabogie Lake. (you might have to enlarge the picture to find the ducks!!!)

p.s. don't forget the email address thing - we'll be cancelling our account with NRTCO in a month or so