You Drive a WHAT?!

This is going to be a long post. If you don't have time to read it, you might want to come back later. Or scroll down and check out my Dragonerriers post--it's much funnier, anyway.
Our new house is out in the country. In Edmonton, suburbs are either a part of the city (as in Mill Woods or Callingwood) or else they're their own community, with stores and schools and malls (as in St Albert or Spruce Grove). In Nova Scotia, you leave Halifax, drive through the forest for a while, the suddenly, you're in a residential neighbourhood (as in Williamswood). The really cool thing about that is that you get to live in this beautiful, quiet area, surrounded by forest and lakes, but you still have neighbours. The unfortunate bit is you have to drive in to Hali to go grocery shopping or to rent a movie or to sit in a coffee shop and work. Which is not bad if you have a car, since Spryfield is only a few minutes away (and despite Jody's dire warnings, I haven't been mugged or shot there yet). However, if you don't have a car, you're a little hooped, since the buses don't run to the outlying communities, despite the fact that they're a part of the HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality). Needless to say, this makes Morag-less me feel a little claustrophobic. I COULD ride into Bedford every morning with Trent, take a bus into Halifax, then ride back with him in the evening, but I don't like being that dependent. Besides, if I decide to stay home one day, then discover that we need milk or lightbulbs or something, I'm stuck waiting until 6p.m., when he gets home. So we talk about it and decide that I really do need a car.
Gas prices are ridiculously expensive out here. In fact, the only thing more expensive than gas in Halifax is milk. (Ponder it.) So we decide that I need a nice, fuel-efficient small car. Except that one day it snowed, and all down the Old Sambro Road (the road that leads us to Williamswood) small cars are sliding into the ditch. Also, virtually the whole way into Hali is via highway, and though Grillface (i.e Trent's Toyota RAV4) is great on gas in the city, the engine is too small to be efficient on the highway. Okay. So we decide we need something heavier with a slightly bigger engine--maybe another Taurus or a small SUV. And we decide, yeah, a small SUV is a good idea. That way, when we start to do house repairs, we can fill up the back with lumber and drywall, and we can use it to haul wood for our 2 fireplaces. So Trent gets quiet for a minute, and he says, "I know you aren't going to like this, but a small truck might actually be more practical for that kind of thing. And if we get a 4x4, you'll be safer driving in the winter."
Truck? No way. I don't want someone yelling "Sorry about your penis!" at me. Forget it. I did NOT escape redneck, duelly-driving Alberta to drive a truck.
Except that it starts to make sense. And then on Christmas day, we go to visit Trent's aunt, uncle and cousins in Moncton. They own a Ford dealership there. Next thing I know, I'm signing lease papers on a Ford Ranger XLT extended cab. Sorry about MY penis, indeed.
This is not the end of it though. I am buying a gun rack for that baby, and I'm going to mount the giant Super-Soaker watergun that Trent's dad bought be on the back of it. Sorry about YOUR penis, you soggy jerk.

My Present to You...

Okay, I'll admit it. I thought my Dragonerriers post was pretty clever. Yes, I made myself laugh. But I have to concede the title of Funniest Blog to these guys:
http://www.overheardatwestern.blogspot.com/
Consider it my gift to you, and Merry Christmas!

Dragonerriers

So when you buy a new house, you all of a sudden have to go out and get a bunch of weird stuff that you normally don't think about, like fire extinguishers. Our new house has a main floor, a basement, and a half-upper floor, plus the garage, so we needed 4 fire extinguishers. We go through the checkout at Canadian Tire, and the cashier is giving us a bit of a look. You know--why do you guys need this many fire extinguishers. You pyros or something? And because I'm a smartass weirdo, I shrug and say, "My husband is a fire-blower in the circus." And the girl looks at Trent and says, "Wow, really? That's so cool!" Honestly. And at that point, I can't tell her I was kidding, because then we both look like knobs. Trent and I manage not to start laughing until we get out into the parking lot, and he says we should have told her we're dragon breeders. I say no, we should have told her we're trying to breed our dragon with our terrier.
I told a friend at school this story, and he pointed out that a Dragonerrier would be able to light its own farts on fire.

New Digs

Hey Everyone! (Okay, I'll be honest. Hey Toni and Mom.)
We're in our new house, and our address is:
90 Acres Road
Williamswood NS B3V 1E3
I've kept my Pink Dungeon phone number:
(902) 405-6439
Trent's email address is tasolo@hotmail.com and mine is Rebecca.Babcock@dal.ca -- but please don't sign me up for any lists or contests. I'm trying to keep it spam-free.
I know I keep saying this, but I'll post some pics of our house soon. We just have to make some of these boxes disappear first. We asked about the elves that were supposed to do it, but apparently December is a really bad time for magic elves.

So Much to Say...

Okay, it's been a while. You probably already know that Trent and Marlowe are in Hali now (yay!) and that we are on our last few days in the Pink Dungeon. Yup--take possession of the new house tomorrow, but we probably won't be 100% moved in until the middle or the end of the week. Already planning a party for January. You can still make it... buy your plane tickets now!
The MA students' program doesn't end until September 7th or something, but of course all their leases are up on August 31st so Trent and I offered up 8 days worth of carpet space. Maybe don't plan on visiting the first week or so of September.
Trent got to meet most of my school friends on Friday. The English department had its potluck Christmas dinner, which was fun. Ran around running errands all day Saturday, because Nova Scotia doesn't allow shopping on Sundays. Malls, supermarkets, furniture shops, clothing stores... all closed on Sunday. Talk about a pain. So basically, whatever errands you don't get done on Saturday, forget about it until next weekend. Not enjoying that so much.
Have been enjoying weird Halifax weather, though. When Trent first got here just over a week ago, it was +17C. Friday night, it started snowing, and yesterday, it was gorgeous--everything covered in mounds of fresh white snow. Finally, I believe it's December. Then today, it got really warm and rained. All day. Of course, the power was out basically all weekend. Out Friday night, back on Saturday morning, out just after midnight Saturday night, and not back on again until 7:30 this evening. Thank god, drug stores are allowed to stay open on Sundays, so we went and got some candles.
Funny thing: Marlowe is afraid of the dark!