timbitca
Well-known member
That's how my grandfather used to call his home, and that's what it is.
Little back story here... I was born in 1986 to 19-year old parents who kind of had an accident
Let's just say I wasn't really planned, but they decided to go with it and take the best possible care they could of mine while continuing their educations (mom went off to college, graduated when I was 2) and working (Dad at various jobs), along with help from both sets of grandparents. For the first 5 years of my life me and my Mom lived with my grandparents here while my Father lived with his parents in the neighboring village. We all moved in together after that and lived happily for 3-4 years before things turned sour and they split up, no big deal they're still great friends and I turned out half decent (I guess). After that my father moved 3 hours away to Moncton while my Mother stayed put for a few years then moved in with her boyfriend in another neighboring village. Fast forward to last July... my grandfather had been battling cancer on and off for about 10 years after my Grandmother passed away unexpectedly in 1994 (medical error ) and last summer the disease finally got the better of him and he passed away on July 21st at the age of 84.
Now you have to understand something about my Grandfather. He lived a great life, worked hard, and enjoyed every bit of it. Working was his past-time and his fun. He was brought up on a farm, left school at 8 (after completing 4 grades he says...hmm), went to work in the woods at 14 and then at 16 signed up to work at the paper mill in town and eventually at the paper mill's dock as a longshoreman, where he retired from in 1986 having also worked for the Foundation Company of Canada on the construction of the DEW Line in the 50's. He married late at 40 years old and built his house on land his father gave him (1 mile long x 300' wide approx). Pepere was a very handy man and would do anything himself if it meant he could save a few bucks (himself being a product of the Great Depression, born in 1926) and that included building this house from bottom to top by himself. He also built our garages and sheds and whatever else needed doing or fixing around here.
All that to say that, for him, nothing else could match his land and his house. Countless times I heard him say, "I've been a very lucky guy, very lucky guy" or "This is my little paradise, I couldn't be happier anywhere else" and even while he was in the hospital last spring the first thing he'd always ask me whenever I went to see him was if I'd been at the house to check on things, move the lawn, and get rid of the damned swallow's who've been building their nest under the eave of our house (never at the neighbors, always here!) since he built it. In late May the hospital let him out for a week to finalize his paper work, and to come home one last time which he wanted. After the week was up, he had his son drive him up to see the garden, the fields and the raspberry patch and then as they neared the road to head to the hospital he told him "Well, I guess it's the end of a life, but boy have I ever been lucky" I'm glad I wasn't there because I'd have been a mess of tears (I'm sentimental ok) Anyways, not long after that, the last time I was with him before he drifted off into a coma never to come back he asked me one thing. "Phil, do me two favors please. Take care of our house and take care of your mother please." Boy, hearing that from someone sure turns your stomach into a million knots... it took all my strength to somehow muster up a sheepish, barely audible "Ok". He passed a week or so later and that was that. I took care of the property for the remainder of the summer with the understanding that my Mom and her boyfriend were to renovate the house and move in there once things got settled down later on. Fast forward to November and I show up at my Mom's place and she says "Oh, did you come to help me pack? Me and Marc are splitting up" Ok. So that night I took my stuff and 'moved' over here while bringing along some of her stuff too and over the next two days moved most of her things here. The first night we were both over here, as we walk in the door she turns to me and says "Well Phil, it took us 20 years but looks like we're finally back home." I guess it's true, home is where the heart is and this place has been home since the day I was born and it will be home until the day I died, and nobody is going to take that from me.
This was about a year ago and since then we've completely renovated the interior of the house. The only thing we haven't changed are the hardwood floors in the living room and also the brick fireplace my grandfather built. The rest needed some serious updating as it was still the same as when it was built in 1966-1967. My Mom and her boyfriend also made up and he moved in about 2 months ago. So all's well and well.
So much for a little back story... Sorry about the story-telling but I just flt like writing and maybe it'll show just how much I care about this place.
Anyways, since we're on Garage Journal may as well talk about the garage I guess... Besides the 1-car attached garage (that's till full of stuff and unusable right now) our property also has a 1-car detached shop that houses our tractor, another smaller shed and a 20' x 20' shed on top of the hill.
Here's a picture of the house and outbuildings from Google Maps, now this was taken about 4 years ago and you can see my grandfather's old '84 Grand-Marquis parked besides the shed and his '85 F-150 up on the hill at the garden, if you zoom in on Google Maps you can see my grandfather in the garden )
View media item 26546
And here are pictures of my 3 sheds...
This one is the shop and also houses the tractor.
View media item 26547
This one Pepere originally built to use as a camp on the back of our property but never hauled it there and it turned into a storage shed. It used to hold snowmobiles way back in the day.
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This one we built when I was 4 or 5 years old, so a little over 20 years ago, mostly for storing tractor implements and lumber.
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I only get up here on weekends and holidays when time permits so I haven't been able to do a whole lot to them, nor do I have huge plans for them any time soon either. But I have done a big cleanup in the garage (my grandfather bordered on hoarder status!) and have brought my grandfather's workbench and most of his tools up from his basement shop into the garage since we are currently finishing up the basement. Now I have roughly 16-18' of workbench space to make a mess of:
View media item 26551
I have a few things planned for the garage, namely getting some form of heat back in there, maybe a little insulation and some more storage I'm working on but those will be long term projects. I'm not in too much of a hurry to change too much on it either, as for now it feels just right to me and whenever I open the door and step inside I can feel Pepere's presence and that's just fine with me.
I do have a pipe dream, and this is a very long shot, that if I ever come back to settle in the area I'll build my future home on the hill behind this garage, I've always dreamed of that and I won't let it die either but with the local economy and now having started a new life in the southern part of the province it's a long shot, but we just never know what the future holds. If that plan ever comes to fruition then I would likely be reworking the 20' x 20' into a real garage and expanding it (that's if it's still standing). But I know that if the day ever comes that I can realize those dreams, there's going to be a couple up in heaven with great big old smiles on their faces.
Little back story here... I was born in 1986 to 19-year old parents who kind of had an accident
Let's just say I wasn't really planned, but they decided to go with it and take the best possible care they could of mine while continuing their educations (mom went off to college, graduated when I was 2) and working (Dad at various jobs), along with help from both sets of grandparents. For the first 5 years of my life me and my Mom lived with my grandparents here while my Father lived with his parents in the neighboring village. We all moved in together after that and lived happily for 3-4 years before things turned sour and they split up, no big deal they're still great friends and I turned out half decent (I guess). After that my father moved 3 hours away to Moncton while my Mother stayed put for a few years then moved in with her boyfriend in another neighboring village. Fast forward to last July... my grandfather had been battling cancer on and off for about 10 years after my Grandmother passed away unexpectedly in 1994 (medical error ) and last summer the disease finally got the better of him and he passed away on July 21st at the age of 84. Now you have to understand something about my Grandfather. He lived a great life, worked hard, and enjoyed every bit of it. Working was his past-time and his fun. He was brought up on a farm, left school at 8 (after completing 4 grades he says...hmm), went to work in the woods at 14 and then at 16 signed up to work at the paper mill in town and eventually at the paper mill's dock as a longshoreman, where he retired from in 1986 having also worked for the Foundation Company of Canada on the construction of the DEW Line in the 50's. He married late at 40 years old and built his house on land his father gave him (1 mile long x 300' wide approx). Pepere was a very handy man and would do anything himself if it meant he could save a few bucks (himself being a product of the Great Depression, born in 1926) and that included building this house from bottom to top by himself. He also built our garages and sheds and whatever else needed doing or fixing around here.
All that to say that, for him, nothing else could match his land and his house. Countless times I heard him say, "I've been a very lucky guy, very lucky guy" or "This is my little paradise, I couldn't be happier anywhere else" and even while he was in the hospital last spring the first thing he'd always ask me whenever I went to see him was if I'd been at the house to check on things, move the lawn, and get rid of the damned swallow's who've been building their nest under the eave of our house (never at the neighbors, always here!) since he built it. In late May the hospital let him out for a week to finalize his paper work, and to come home one last time which he wanted. After the week was up, he had his son drive him up to see the garden, the fields and the raspberry patch and then as they neared the road to head to the hospital he told him "Well, I guess it's the end of a life, but boy have I ever been lucky" I'm glad I wasn't there because I'd have been a mess of tears (I'm sentimental ok
) Anyways, not long after that, the last time I was with him before he drifted off into a coma never to come back he asked me one thing. "Phil, do me two favors please. Take care of our house and take care of your mother please." Boy, hearing that from someone sure turns your stomach into a million knots... it took all my strength to somehow muster up a sheepish, barely audible "Ok". He passed a week or so later and that was that. I took care of the property for the remainder of the summer with the understanding that my Mom and her boyfriend were to renovate the house and move in there once things got settled down later on. Fast forward to November and I show up at my Mom's place and she says "Oh, did you come to help me pack? Me and Marc are splitting up" Ok. So that night I took my stuff and 'moved' over here while bringing along some of her stuff too and over the next two days moved most of her things here. The first night we were both over here, as we walk in the door she turns to me and says "Well Phil, it took us 20 years but looks like we're finally back home." I guess it's true, home is where the heart is and this place has been home since the day I was born and it will be home until the day I died, and nobody is going to take that from me. This was about a year ago and since then we've completely renovated the interior of the house. The only thing we haven't changed are the hardwood floors in the living room and also the brick fireplace my grandfather built. The rest needed some serious updating as it was still the same as when it was built in 1966-1967. My Mom and her boyfriend also made up and he moved in about 2 months ago. So all's well and well.
So much for a little back story... Sorry about the story-telling but I just flt like writing and maybe it'll show just how much I care about this place.
Anyways, since we're on Garage Journal may as well talk about the garage I guess... Besides the 1-car attached garage (that's till full of stuff and unusable right now) our property also has a 1-car detached shop that houses our tractor, another smaller shed and a 20' x 20' shed on top of the hill.
Here's a picture of the house and outbuildings from Google Maps, now this was taken about 4 years ago and you can see my grandfather's old '84 Grand-Marquis parked besides the shed and his '85 F-150 up on the hill at the garden, if you zoom in on Google Maps you can see my grandfather in the garden
) View media item 26546
And here are pictures of my 3 sheds...
This one is the shop and also houses the tractor.
View media item 26547
This one Pepere originally built to use as a camp on the back of our property but never hauled it there and it turned into a storage shed. It used to hold snowmobiles way back in the day.
View media item 26548
This one we built when I was 4 or 5 years old, so a little over 20 years ago, mostly for storing tractor implements and lumber.
View media item 26549
I only get up here on weekends and holidays when time permits so I haven't been able to do a whole lot to them, nor do I have huge plans for them any time soon either. But I have done a big cleanup in the garage (my grandfather bordered on hoarder status!) and have brought my grandfather's workbench and most of his tools up from his basement shop into the garage since we are currently finishing up the basement. Now I have roughly 16-18' of workbench space to make a mess of:
View media item 26551
I have a few things planned for the garage, namely getting some form of heat back in there, maybe a little insulation and some more storage I'm working on but those will be long term projects. I'm not in too much of a hurry to change too much on it either, as for now it feels just right to me and whenever I open the door and step inside I can feel Pepere's presence and that's just fine with me.
I do have a pipe dream, and this is a very long shot, that if I ever come back to settle in the area I'll build my future home on the hill behind this garage, I've always dreamed of that and I won't let it die either but with the local economy and now having started a new life in the southern part of the province it's a long shot, but we just never know what the future holds. If that plan ever comes to fruition then I would likely be reworking the 20' x 20' into a real garage and expanding it (that's if it's still standing). But I know that if the day ever comes that I can realize those dreams, there's going to be a couple up in heaven with great big old smiles on their faces.
I am down in the southern part of the province, Saint John to be exact. Where are you at when you say southern part....Moncton was east last I checked!
