A Guest in my own House

Back In NS for Christmas

When we undertook this adventure in Toronto we rented our house in Dartmouth to our daughter Alisha & her husband Derek. She was moving back to Nova Scotia and needed a place to live while she settled back into an East Coast lifestyle and we needed someone to look after our house while we tried out big-city-condo-life in Toronto, so this was a win/win arrangement for all of us. We spent the month of August sharing the house as we packed up to move and she unpacked so, as we emptied drawers, she filled them with her “stuff”. As we progressed through this we made it very clear to her that we wanted her to treat the house as her’s and she was welcome to make changes as she saw fit to make the house their own. As we settled into the rented condo in Toronto, we were comfortable that our house in Dartmouth was in good hands, although I did compose a handy document with suggestions of how to deal with procedures I had developed over the 30 plus years we lived in the house. 

Now, over the years since the children moved out and left us in a house too big for just Regis and I, we decided that Christmas would be alternated between “home” for Christmas in Dartmouth and Christmas with the children in their cities. This worked well and we spent many pleasant holidays in the children’s apartments and houses in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. This year however was scheduled for a Dartmouth Christmas, so Ryan & Ben and Regis & I were flying “home” to spend Christmas with Alisha and Derek in our old house in Dartmouth. When planning this trip, we made it very clear to Alisha that we did not expect her to give us back our bedroom and our nice adjustable king sized bed, we expected to be “guests” and would live in the guest suite downstairs. 

The sleeping arrangements were just fine, but it really was a bit odd to be a guest

Apparently it is now "Bob's Chair

in your own house. Alisha and Derek really have made themselves at home in the house and we had to adapt to their lifestyle. Bob the cat had claimed my favourite chair by the wood stove, and Mochi the dog has taken over the loveseat we left behind. We were there for three weeks and I still looked for the corkscrew in the drawer in the kitchen island every time a new bottle had to be opened. I know I left my big stock pot there, but I never found it; it must be down in the storage room somewhere among the boxes of our stuff and boxes of their stuff so soup stock had to be made in Alisha’s pot. They did not adjust to all of my suggested procedures, and Derek has his own way of lighting and feeding the wood stove that works just fine,  and they haven’t had enough snow to realize that my suggestion of always scraping the driveway clean prevents it getting icy really does work . . . .

Working together 

So, although it was odd being a guest in my own house, it all worked out fine and we spent an enjoyable three week Holiday visit back in Nova Scotia with Alisha and Derek, and Ryan and Ben joined us for a few days over Christmas. 

Mochi

You might recall my post back in June 2018 about the dogs in Kejick where our daughter Alisha works as the school Principal. This post is about another Kejick dog. Alisha is definitely a ‘dog person’, she loves dogs and they love her. As well, she has turned into a bit of a ‘dog whisperer’, showing amazing ability to effectively train dogs. On one trip to visit her in Ottawa we found her dogsitting a little old dog called ‘Peanut’. After two weeks away, Peanut’s owners returned to collect their beloved pet, but were greeted by silence when they entered the apartment. “Oh my god, what happened to Peanut?” They exclaimed thinking he had expired because he always barked like mad when anyone came in the door. Alisha called him and explained that she did not allow that behaviour and had fixed it. I guess you can teach old dogs new tricks. 

Puppy Mochi & Bob

 Alisha found it hard to live among all the Kejick dogs without finding one she was so attracted to that she had to adopt him. This finally happened two years ago as the COVID pandemic hit. She met a little puppy and fell in love with him. He joined the household and has become part of the family. Bob the cat who was already #1 in the pet department was not pleased at first, but eventually whipped this new addition into shape and decided to accept him (He knew he had little choice I suspect). 

 His name is Mochi, and he looks like a lean German Shepherd, but like many of the dogs from the Reserve, he is probably part wolf. However, there is nothing wild about him, he has turned into a kind, gentle, well behaved fellow, and I finally got to meet him on this visit to Ontario. Of course I watched him grow up via Pandemic Sunday Dinner video chats every week, but it was nice to finally get to meet this newest member of the family. I had become friends with Bob the cat during our two visits to Kejick and I think Mochi has approved me as family as well. 

Mochi looking His Best!

 Alisha has done an amazing job training this canine friend. He is so well behaved, and comes instantly when called and follows commands perfectly. Although he will briefly bark at strangers, once he meets you he is calm, friendly and affectionate . He even accepted the indignity and embarrassment of having to wear booties when visiting Ryan and Ben to protect their new hardwood floors. Alisha and Derek bought a boat soon after Mochi arrived and she insisted he learn to be comfortable on the boat, so it has become an activity he really enjoys. He was with us on the Trip through the Trent-Severn locks and was perfectly behaved except for one time he found he was in the boat and Alisha was on the shore watching us through the lock; he worried and fussed about not being with her and Derek said “Yea, he does that for her, but doesn’t much care if I’m not right there.”. He is very definitely “her” dog. 

All Dressed up!

 Every time I saw this dog via video I knew I wanted to meet him and now that I have, I am even more impressed with him. Of course I think it helps that he seems to really like me as well.

Mochi Guiding the Boat

Mochi & Friends at home In Kejick