Monday 21 October 2013

From City Mouse to Country Mouse

My husband and I recently decided to make the change from city life to country life. It's still in the beginning stages right now, so it's hard to determine whether I see myself living this way for the rest of my life. What I do know is how different the lifestyle is! We're definitely not living in the city anymore!

The first night we slept here, loud gun shots woke me up in the morning. Normally, a gunshot would mean something really bad happened. But out here, gunshots come from hunters out hunting for ducks, deer, etc. We walked into a gas station the other day, and the people working there had a full conversation about duck hunting! Never in my life (in the city) did I ever hear of people talking about any kind of hunting!

In our condo, everything was walking distance for us. Mall, grocery store, public transportation, etc. Out here, it's a 30 minute drive out to the city. However, we do have local shops which are 5-10 walking distance. (Grocery store, hardware store, convenience store, etc.) We drove out to the city yesterday afternoon and this town seems super pet-friendly! In just a 10 minute drive, we saw pet shop after pet shop after pet shop! I counted and I saw five pet stores almost side by side! This is my kind of town/city! ;)

It is not recommended to drink the tap water, since it comes straight from the lake, so you have to stock up on bottled water for everything. We use it for cooking, drinking, making coffee/tea, and feeding our kitties. Our mail doesn't come straight to our door, like it did in the city. You actually have to either drive (or walk) to the post office and pick it up from there! I haven't met the post office lady yet, but apparently I'll get to know her on a first name basis lol.

One change I found really amusing was the garbage man. Today was our garbage day, so I was expecting a big garbage truck to come up to the house, like the ones we used to see in Toronto. But the garbage man actually came in a small pick up truck!

Since there is no light pollution out here, the star gazing is incredible. The first night we were here was the first time I saw so many stars bunched up together. The last couple of nights, the moon was shining bright, so the stars were not as visible. But on a clear night, it is just amazing.

It's definitely much colder her up here, but you give and take what you can get. I'm just praying to make this change easy (for us).