Update On House Renovation

Yesterday the electrician was back for a day of work. At least now we are able to turn on lights in the downstairs bathroom and Daughter #2's bedroom and the studio. This is important since the days are shortening and by 8:30 p.m. lights are good. Being able to see where you are going is always a bonus and relying on starlight just doesn't cut it in our house. But with the electrician came a problem.... he tore stuff up that we had just finished putting together. Two steps forward and a whole bunch back again. Hubby and I have spent the morning trying to rectify the mess that the electrician made. Argh.

This is Hubby's birthday and while we really wish we could spend the whole day off in the bush picking berries we really can't afford the time. We have opted to work till 3 p.m. and then head off for a late afternoon of berry picking. Hubby has chosen this as the activity f his dreams for his birthday. Go figure... I like berry picking but that's not my idea of fun let me tell you.

Work on the house has been progressing slowly. I do what I can but I can't lift sheets of plywood and I can't climb ladders too high. I have an unbidden fear of ladders. I tend to stick to trim and paint work and a little framing. Hubby is working on Daughter #2's bedroom today. The goal is to get her into her room before the end of the week and try to get one of the bathroom's finished. I'm not sure this will happen.
Up to date we have the toilet in the downstairs bathroom working and the shower is in place but is not hooked up to any water source or the sewer. The vanity is in and the plumbing is good but the sink was too large and so that has to go back to the store and we'll pick out another. There is a door in the downstairs bathroom and it and one wall has some paneling. Left to be done is hooking up the sink and tub to water and sewer and finish the paneling in there, and then put in the new flooring.

Let's see... the upstairs bathroom has all facilities working but doesn't have any paneling done on three walls and has no door and no flooring (just sub-flooring). It also doesn't have any lights but the electrical boxes are there they just have to have fixtures attached. The closet off the upstairs bathroom is not touched. It needs paneling, electrical, lights, shelves, and door.

Our bedroom has some paneling and the pocket for the door in place. That's it, so we need to install the ceiling and finish paneling and build the closets and that's no small task, then we need to put in our door and the door between the bedroom and the bathroom. We need to cut the door to he balcony and install the window in it, then reinstall the door.

Once all of that is done we need to install the paneling in the studio, install the strapping on the ceiling and install the ceiling tiles. Then we need to panel the stairwell and install the ceiling up over the steps and finish the wall and doors for the laundry closet. Somewhere in there I am hoping to strip the floors in our bedroom and restain and clear coat them. Then back downstairs we need to level the floors and install the new flooring. I have to finish the doors for the pantry and strip and finish the doors for the studio. Outdoors i need to stain the deck (the front one) and stain the facia boards. I also need to install tongue and groove wood on a small portion of wall above the logs under the veranda cover and then stain them. Then we need to cut the office exterior door and install a small door light and it needs a good door knob (the one that is there now sucks)!

In the kitchen we need to install the old shelves and place new counters in there. I think new doors for the old pantry closets are needed.

After all of that is done we need to install all the trim and believe me that will be huge. I'm woodburning and trying to do some as we go but it will be many hours of work yet.

Hmm I think that is it. I wonder if we will be done by Christmas. Forget the fact that we haven't mentioned the stonework on the outside of the house. Scary eh? But what is done looks terrific. We just have to keep going. Eventually it will all be finished and we will be wondering what all the fuss was about. In the meantime have a look...

The newly installed downstairs bathroom door... from the outside looking in..


And from the inside looking out...


The paneling in the downstairs bathroom...


Here's the trim work that I installed in the bathoom..


The recently refixed pantry....


We closed in under the steps so that dust from upstairs wouldn't drift into our food...


This wall needs to be done in the upstairs bathroom as I had to put in the shelf to give us privacy...


We are currently working on our bedroom...
This is the door to the top of the steps with the laundry area which still needs to be enclosed.....


and this is the door way into the upstairs bathroom... my next job is to build the closets there.


The dining area never looked this good....


Neither did the living area.... guess we are getting somewhere with the reno after all...

All Beautiful The March Of Days... again!

We have had two weeks of wonderful weather. Each morning I rise and take my tea in hand to sit in front of this monitor and there I tap away in that early morning, low slanting sun. Hubby sleeps in and so do the Daughters and eventually I will return to bed for a nap before really rising for a day of work. It is my quiet time. It is the time when I get an opportunity to think about what lies around me both outside the house and inside the house. I watch the animals to see if there are any problems and that includes all that animals from cats and dogs, to sheep, chickens, alpacas, and Honeydew. I watch birds and I watch mice scurry through the brush and I watch chipmunks and squirrels. I check out the spiders like Agnes and Waldo. Agnes is the big spider living outside the front door. And I kill flies that pester the daylights out of me.

It is also my time to notice the changing season. The shade of gold that is in the grass today is usually a little richer than the day before. The leaves on my tomato plant are a little drier and a little more curled. The flowers in my basket are not producing new buds they are just trying to support the flowers that are already there. There are fewer birds singing in the morning and more dead flies in the humming bird feeder. The sun is a little weaker and the east face of the poplars is a little whiter and brighter. The pines begin to drop about 50% of their needles as they too prepare for the winter snows. Everywhere there is scurrying and you can be sure that the little guys are storing grain and cones and whatever dogfood they can glean from Duff's bowl. The bumble bees are a little more bumbly and the honeybees are sleepy while the hornets are desperate for something to eat and a lot more dangerous than usual.

The crows have flocked and are starting their trip south and the warblers and hummingbirds left a week or more ago. The sparrows are around but fewer and fewer all the time. No robins hunt worms in the mornings and the owls are quiet in the evenings. Last night I sat out on the deck with our friends and I didn't hear one Night Hawk. The Asters are blooming and the Fireweed has turned to fuzz and those are the last flowers of the season. It is fall for sure. Last night once again I sat out under the stars and watched the great and glorious night sky. It was a perfect night for star gazing.

While it is sad to see the birds leaving, the motion of the seasons feels right somehow... like you are being carried by a current that drifts along lazily. It is like amniotic fluid that feeds you without your even knowing you are being fed. It fills you and lifts you and keeps you sustained. It makes you feel nostalgic and hopeful at the same time. The year ahead is pregnant with possibilities. It is up to me..... and to you to to make the most of them.

All Beautiful The March Of Days

Sometimes I think to myself that I have to be one of the luckiest people alive. I love the outdoors and I can't imagine living where I was surrounded by concrete. I am a bit of a loner and really enjoy being on my own that's one of the reasons that I was so happy to move to this rural setting. I mean HH is not the biggest metropolis with just over 1000 people I would have to say it doesn't meet metropolis standards at all, but when we moved from town to where we are I was as happy as a pig in sh--! I love the fact that I can strip down to the buff in front of a window that has no curtains and not have to worry about a neighbour seeing me. They are all too far away to see anything. I love the fact that I can get up in the morning and have a cup of tea on the deck with nothing on other than a wee nightie. Nobody is going to see me and that in my books is great.

I look out my window and I can't see any sign of people at all well except for Hubby's pile of brush which we will be burning in the late fall when there is snow on the ground. We are about 6 kms away from the nearest town and while that is not a great distance it is actually just about right to avoid community living while being close enough to a community to partake when the mood strikes.

Today we are having a party for Hubby who turns 46 on the 31st. I did start out trying to keep it a secret but with the house in such slings I had to do some cleaning up and I knew he would start asking questions so I told him with the intention of getting his opinion on what I should cook (pork or beef) on the barbecue. As it turns out I ended up having to do some of both since the grocery store didn't have enough of either. I wanted to have something special to do in an effort to celebrate Hubby especially because a week ago he asked me right out of the blue how old he was going to be. He couldn't remember if he was going to be 46 or 47..... that's scary. I knew that it was time to make a big deal of his birthday. We rarely have a party for the dear guy since his birthday falls at the end of the summer when there is no money to support such an event. But this year I am scrounging together enough to make a big deal of the man who brightens my days.

We have about a dozen or so people coming if they all turn out and maybe a few who will come later in the evening. It is a perfectly spectacular evening for a party. It has been hot all day like middle-of-the-summer hot. 27 degrees is really hot these days. We suspended work on the house today and just cleaned the deck and made the living room not embarrassingly dirty. Hubby is gone for a shower and I will be heading there soon too, since we have to be somewhat presentable for our guests.

I know that summer has come to a resounding end when we celebrate Hubby's birthday. I will miss summer but I am looking forward to the tramps through the forest in a few weeks as I start my daily walks and I look forward to the quiet evenings of autumn when we sit by the lamp light and read while the girls work on homework. I also look forward to a steady paycheck and plenty in the pantry. What I do miss this year is the work of the garden. This is not the first year that we did not have a garden. Last year we didn't but the animals were using it and they were so new that we did not resent them using our garden area for living accommodations. I really really want to plant spuds and peas and carrots, beets and beans next year. So the alpacas will have to move over. There will be no house renovations next year and so I hope to have more time for the joys of gardening and more importantly harvesting.

Soon we will be experiencing regular frost in the mornings as we take the girls to school.... you know, days where puddles are frozen over and the trees will be dropping their leaves. This also means getting back to spinning and weaving and knitting. I will have to organize my Knock Out Knitters again for regular Thursday night knitting and I look forward to that. I will also organize spinning and weaving meetings and maybe somewhere in there, I might get another paper making day. Fun fun fun.

The Sears Christmas Wish book is out and time to start thinking about the dreadful time of the year (Christmas). I actually intend on being ahead of the game this year. Ha ha snort! That's a joke... ok?

Well it is 5 and our guests will be arriving in short order so I had better get into the water and make myself presentable...

Hole In My Head

I have a hole in my head. It's one that shouldn't be there. Yesterday I was sitting in the living room minding my own business, chewing my lunch (which by the way was not crunchy, chewy, or hard in any way whatsoever) when I suddenly felt something hard in the side of my mouth that felt like it was in the wrong place. I gently swirled my tongue around separating the hard thing from my lunch and discovered that it was a filling.

Oh No! This just couldn't be! I felt a stomach dropping sense of dismay and realized that the dreaded fear of the DENTIST was about to overtake my system with a resounding EEEECK! I have a terror of dentists. It is not the dentist fault and I have to say that I have never had a bad experience with a dentist other than having your mouth stretched to the point where you look like a deranged Brat doll when you leave his office, and the scattered drilling fiasco when the deadening agent has not quite taken affect, otherwise my trips to the dentist are no more horrifying than anyone else. No my fear of the dentist is completely unreasonable.

That is why when 16 yrs ago, while on a trip home to Newfoundland, I lost a chunk of a tooth and had to have a root canal on a tooth that was vastly overdo for some servicing, and when the dentist completed the work he had said I would need to cap the tooth in Ontario, which is where I was living at the time, because the work he had done needed to cure before it was capped, I decided in all of my great dental wisdom (aka fear) decided to ignore that suggestion and so for 16 years I have had an uncapped, root canaled, stuffed full of lead tooth in my head that was a time bomb waiting to go off. And go off it did in a very timely manner this week.

Remember the blog post last week that hinted at the end-of-summer money blues that most teachers experience in August. Well we are in the depths of those blues as we speak.... We have enough to cover our bills but THAT"S IT, no more money than that. (sigh) A trip to the dentist means money. A crapped out root canal means lots of money. Our dentist has the money police for a receptionist. You can not go to the dentist without a slap up the side of the head if you even remotely look like you might forget to pay on the way out the door. (Frankly I'm more afraid of her than I am of the dentist! and she is a petite little young Chinese woman who looks like she might blow over in a good wind!!) So I sit and wait in fear and anxiety while the date of my appointment which I called and requested right away after the chunk of lead, and I might add some suspiciously enamel looking stuff came out of my mouth, looms closer.

Meanwhile, in my mouth, I have a sharp edged nasty and gross looking black tooth that would make the worst pirate proud. The day the filling fell out my tongue looked like it had been scored a hundred times by a little razor that just so happened to be in my mouth right where my tongue wanted to sit. Ouch! By night I was in such agony that I could not speak properly. While this may be a blessing in some ways it hurt a lot and I was beginning to wonder if I would make it through the week until such time as I was able to get to my dental appointment and my tongue was swollen and looked like a chunk of raw meat. Nasty, I say, just plain nasty.

I was at my wits end when Hubby told me the story of his seniour officer in the Canadian Rangers using his leatherman to file the tooth of his girlfriend on a camping trip when she had a chunk of tooth break and fall off. I was desparate and by this time willing to pretty much try anything and so out came the leatherman that I had given Hubby for Christmas a few years ago.... damn it all there was no file. That is when Daughter #2 stepped up to the plate. She had been watching as her mom had sat on the edge of the bed in tears because of the pain and inability to do anything about it. Remember a few weeks ago I told you all about her magic bag that she carries around just in case she meets up with a dragon or fairies??? Ah yes, the wonderful bag! Daughter #2 had been listening to my frustrated and rather garbled swearing as my tooth continued to slash my tongue and she heard when my frustration hit all new heights when the leatherman did not produce a file. Out came said bag and out came a nail file that I thought I had lost 6 months ago..... Great now I could do something about the razor that was wreaking havoc with my tongue. I stood in the bathroom wih Hubby holding the light for me (we still have got lights hooked up in either of the bathrooms and proceeded to file down my tooth. A few minutes later I hit my bed with a nicely filed tooth that was as smooth as a baby's a--. Problem. The tooth has been filed so smooth that I'm not sure the dentist will be able to do anything. So there may be a little dental surgery in my future to remove said offending tooth. Gee I wish there really were a Tooth Fairy!

Under Starry Skies

I love August. The days are glorious and not too hot. How about that! I finally got a day to see something other than my own back yard....

Yesterday we went to Valleyview to pick up my new sheep. Hubby and I built a box on our friend's flat bed trailer (We've got to get one of those!) on Monday and then yesterday we hit the wide open road and headed out to Valleyview to pick up the sheep. We left at 8 a.m. and 15 hours later drove into the yard with sheep in tow.

We had a great trip. It stared out in cloud cover for pretty much the whole way but that was good because driving with the sun in your eyes can be seriously nasty. We stopped for snacks in Pouce Coupe on the way there and it started to rain shortly after. That was something I wasn't too happy about but Hubby had it under control. The Daughters and Tootsie the wonder chicken herder were with us. They kept themselves occupied by listening to Daughter #1's iPod in the back seat. I must say they were excellent co-travelers and did not fight too much and generally stayed polite which is amazing considering that they were cooped up together for long hours. Anyway, I digress, the trip gave us all an opportunity to see parts of the country that we have not seen for a while. It was nice to hit the highway because I realized very quickly that the colours of fall are everywhere not just my backyard and while any intelligent person would deduce this fact, it still is a bit of a shock when you see it. The turn of the seasons is irrefutable my friends.

Grand Prairie was our stopping place for lunch and it was a stop in torrents of rain. That's why when we finally got to JM's place in Valleyview an hour later it was a bit of a shock to see that she was suffering the kind of drought that we experienced here in the Peace a few year ago. There were grasshoppers everywhere and by the droves. They had polished off the grass and every green thing except for the quack grass for miles. There was one patch of quack grass in her garden that was lovely and rich and green and soft. Nothing and I mean nothing eats quack grass except maybe ducks! They had not had serious amounts of rain for quite a while. The sunshine actually hurt the eyes there. The grass was white it was so dead. She showed us all around the paddocks and barns and at one point she showed us one of her old sheep who wasn't too lively. She was just lying there and the grasshoppers were all over her and they were even eating her wool because they had nothing green left to eat. JM was horrified but I had seen it before because three years ago when we were hit with a draught we had a grasshopper plague like I have never seen before. It was truly the most horrible thing I have ever seen. When God gave grasshopper plagues to the world He knew how to punish, that is for sure.

We were at JM's for about an hour and a half where we had a very interesting tour of her place and then we left, loaded with sheep who have now been named as follows...
Pure bred Merino.... Queenie
Canadian Arcott/Merino.... Sally
Cotswold/Merino (black).... Lulu
BFL/Merino ram..... Ipwitch

The trip home was exhausting most of which was driven after dark. Hauling sheep in a trailer meant that we went slower than normal so they wouldn't get jostled too much. We stopped in GP for supper which had cleared away from earlier in the day and was now sunny. After we left though it meant driving into the setting sun which is never relaxing. Hubby had worn himself out by the time we got back to Pouce Coupe and so I took over driving again. It was dark and so I felt skirting Dawson Creek was a good idea to avoid traffic with a trailer in tow during the dark at night. The traffic between Dawson Creek and Chetwynd was dreadful with vehicles coming at just the right intervals to make you constantly have to flick on and off your high beams. I was glad to head north and get out of that traffic. Problem is though that I was so bleary eyed after driving that long in the dark that when we got to a police road block at Moberly Lake I decided to give Mike, who had been snoozing since I started driving an hour and a half before, the opportunity to drive us home. By this time it was really dark with no little amount of light on the horizon at all. Just before we got to the downward hill that took us into our own little home town, I noticed a strange glow in the sky, which at first I thought was the glow of our town lights. Then I rethought that since it was in the wrong place and thought perhaps it was the lights of a new drilling rig. No that wasn't right either as it had a greenish glow to it and that's when Hubby piped up and suggested that it was the glow of Northern Lights. The Daughters by this time were asleep from pure exhaustion and didn't see a thing.

It was only after we left the lights of our home town behind that I noticed how beautiful were the stars. It was glorious as the heavens were at their best. I can only imagine how the shepherds of old who slept out under the stars would have felt. We close ourselves off from the glorious skies when we go into our homes at night. But some night, if you are adventurous and have the interest, open your door and take a walk out under the skies... try to find a place that doesn't have any street lights because you will be astounded by the number of stars that are in the great dome above us. Who knows you may even catch a glimps of some of those mysterious northern lights... I think I should add that one to my "Glad To Be Alive" list... It is good to be alive when you walk out under the great dome of our world in the ever darkening night, where there are no man made lights to detract from the glorious bounty of the skies, and you see spread out before you all of the universe in cool clear pinpoints of light, gentle light, and realize how incredibly small you are. Inky blackness surrounds you and on the horizon, low in the sky are the evidence of the sun's activity with light dancing in an ever beautiful array of green streaks and you realize how lucky you are to be the reality of a one in one billionth exponential possibility. Then around you are the sleepy baaas of sheepy mom's calling their lambs to them.The still small interests of wee things intermingle with the vastly large and beyond understanding. Yes it is good to be alive......

I slept in this morning, a good thing too since I will be heading in to FSJ at 3:30 a.m. to take Fadder for tests at the hospital that requires
us to be there no later than 5 a.m. But driving in the dark again will mean another opportunity hopefully to look at the night skies and ponder the inconsequence of humanity.

As for the sheep?... they have settled in and are making friends with the others. Pecking order is being established and the little ram is still nervous of this great long necked weird looking white woolly thing (Mishka) that keeps trying to sniff him and check him out! Imagine if you had this look at you....

Barnyard Changes

It is quiet in the house. I've been awake for a while now and it is just starting to lighten on the eastern horizon. To the west there is still the dark-blue-of-an-ink-stain on the horizon. I can hear Duffy snoring gently at the top of the steps and there's a bat outside of the office window going mad after the flies and moths.Hubby is sleeping... at least I hope he is, and the Daughters are sleeping. All is quiet.

Yesterday, Hubby worked in the barnyard prepping things for the four new sheep to come on Tuesday. He pounded in two new fence posts and tightened fencing, he cut a new door in the barn and put in a divider so that it could be gotten into from the two different paddocks. Then the moment arrived when Hubby came to the house to tell me he needed mine and the Daughters help moving animals from one paddock to another. We let the sheep out onto pasture to graze while we opened the gate between the old garden where Honeydew (the llama) and Mishka (the female alpaca) and Greigg and Oscar (the ram) were. They entered the middle paddock with some encouragement from Hubby in the form of a smack on the rump. Daughter #1 closed the gate behind them and tied it tight. Woo hoo! Move number one done. Honeydew and Mishka, and the boys were quite perplexed by what was happening.... but let me tell you that Mishka and my male alpacas were getting to know each other in very short order now that there was only some wire separating them. Obviously keeping a paddock in between them had been a good idea. Coal, who is usually so passive, was trying his best to melt through the fence like butter. This was good because he and the other males were so busy checking out the cute female on the other side of the fence that we were able to sneak up on them and catch them pretty easily.

One by one, the alpacas were moved to their new digs. Phew! Move number two done! They are now in the paddock nearest the house with a lovely new shelter, under which they can hide away from stormy weather. Still Mishka was in the middle paddock which meant that all my boy alpacas were getting ready to try out their jollies. There was a total loss of male mind power.... like there ever was any (snort). I've never seen a hornier lot than those five male alpacas. I mean you could see them actually trying to figure out how they could high five each other in the battle for girl power. I think Coal was winning though. He wasn't wasting time on the other boys.... he only had eyes for Mishka.

We were able to catch Mishka fairly easily but Honeydew was quite upset by the whole process. She is not good with change. She kept going back and forth trying to figure out how to follow Mishka. Meanwhile Greigg and Oscar the ram got caught behind the barn in a little spot about two feet wide and couldn't get turned around because they just wanted to go forward but going forward got them stuck worse. Honeydew kept looking around going where did everyone go. She couldn't see rammalama-ding-dong (Oscar) and nuts-off (Greigg) stuck behind the barn. Greigg kept trying to get Oscar to move backwards but Oscar wanted Greigg to go forward.... neither one of them was going anywhere. We all backed off and let them figure it out for themselves which took a few minutes being (stupid... did say that?...) sheep. Eventually they managed to extricate themselves from their predicament and decided to check out the barn and surroundings.

Meanwhile Mishka was being led into the far paddock and was quite nervous about what was happening to her. But she survived and started to check out the poo left by her boyfriends.

Hubby went off to fetch a pail of oats and that was the downfall of the sheep. They enjoyed their half hour of freedom grazing on the grass while all the paddocks were being changed, and then back into the paddock they went,only this time it was a different paddock, carefully led by a bucket of oats. Now, all sheep have access to a barn... the barn has been divided so that the girls have access from the west side and the big paddock. Mishka has new friends in the form of the sheep and she also has access to the barn and shelter for the winter. The ram and Greigg have access to the barn from the east side and the middle paddock and even Honeydew can get in there on the most miserable of days.

Meanwhile the five males alpacas have rolling rights in what used to be our garden and they will get a new paddock in the spring. We have also built them a new shelter and though it is temporary, it will work for the winter. They also have fertilizing rights in the garden which is good because they tend to spread their poop more than Honeydew did and the Greigg and Oscar did.

The new ewes coming on Tuesday, will go in the big paddock with the rest of the ewes, and the new ram will have a spot with the boys in the middle which I feel is a better sharing of space. The biggest lot of animals are in the big paddock and the smallest number of animals are in the smallest paddock and the medium sized number of animals are in the medium sized paddock. That's fair... I'd say.

Anyway the barnyard was rather exciting yesterday.... Hey! Look at that... Mr. Bat has departed and there is the sun just coming up.... I must go have a look and see how all the animals faired in their new paddocks overnight..... hmmm... everyone is sharper than usual.... but I guess that is to be expected. At least none have made a break for it and there are none ready to jump the fences. I hope they settle soon.

Fire In The Hole!!!!

The flies are driving me crazy... the one thing about this time of the year that I truly can't stand is the flies that buzz around you and pester the daylights out of you. I walk around, perpetually, with a fly swatter in my hand. They crawl on the dishes in the kitchen and it bugs me.... I have to clean the dishes every time I want to use one. They crawl all over the computer and land on my legs just out of reach (see the fly in this picture) so that they tickle the hairs on my legs (when I forget to shave) and drive me clean square batty like I'm not there already.....

I wish I hadn't had to get rid of Waldo. She could have eaten five hundred of them....

Last night Hubby and I sat on our deck after the long fire ban was finally lifted and watched the glowing embers of our fire die late into the night.... it was lovely.... except the darn flies kept pestering me. Daughter #2 watched a fly streak into the fire and burn crisp in an arial display of complete stupidity and we all agreed that the little blighter deserved to croak in a ball of flames.

The flies are everywhere. You can't sit in the house without being driven insane with the stupid nasties crawling on some part of your body just out of reach. (see the fly in this pic?)

These are not bighting flies they are just little house flies that are too brazen for their own good. I kill them by the hundreds but it is like an oncoming never ending army of pests meant to drive the normal person to distraction.

What I want to do is dig a large pit and encourage everyone for twenty miles to climb in and then..... well look at the title of this blog.

I came up with a great idea.... you know those bug lights that zap bugs left right and centre when the are hung up and electrified..... well I always thought they were stupid. I mean they just zap bugs as five million more are attracted to the light of it and the bats get zapped too which you don't want since they eat bugs. While I was washing the dishes yesterday and going on and on about how there was no end to the little flies that I kept killing between drying the dishes, it occurred to me that if you put a bug light in the house at a strategic place and carefully place a trash basket under it, it would take care of every little nasty flying pest in the house and who cares about the ones outside.... I think it is a great idea..... I like it.

I'm off to burn my house..... uh... I mean burn the trim for my house.... like this...


and swat a few more flies.... sigh! (see the fly in this pic?)

Embarassing Recipe

I went to a birthday party tonight for a friend.... you know one of those affairs where you bring a salad and they provide the meat. Now Hubby and I never have tons of food hanging around the house at this time of the year. We are waiting for that all powerful first check to come in in the middle of September to restock our shelves. This is an annual event. Most people think that teachers make lots of money and while they do ok they do not get paid in the summer... at least this teacher doesn't. As a result taking food to an event such as the one we attended this evening becomes a real exercise in ingenuity.

I took beet salad.... I was embarrassed to take this concoction but take it I did. Now if you are like most people, around about now, you are wondering what is beet salad? Let me explain.

In Newfoundland every summer many small communities have what is called the annual summer garden party. Garden parties are like the biggest potluck you have ever seen. Every woman for miles will spend hours upon hours thinking about what grand and glorious recipe they will try out on unsuspecting recipients at the annual garden party. There is usually every kind of salad known to man as well as every kind of dainty sandwich and desert that could be possibly stirred, blended, ground, risen baked, fried, etc.... you get my drift.

At these garden parties there is a positive potato salad frenzy. Potato salads are a gourmet delight in Newfoundland where there are so many Irish cast offs that potatoes are a staple of the good Newfy's diet. There are potato salads with apple chopped in them... there are potato salads where there is mustard stirred into them... if you can stir it into the potatoes then it is to be expected at the potato salad table. (yes there is a table set aside for the potato salads)!

The quintessential, unavoidable, and very predictable salad is the beet/potato salad. And that is what I made for the party tonight.

I have always prided myself on the recipes that I use for potlucks and events where I have to bring something foodish to the party. I always try to find some gourmet delight that is a veritable proof of my culinary skill. I hoard recipes like some people hoard gold. Beet/potato salad is not one of them.... it is comfort food... it is a recipe (I say that tongue in cheek) that I simply use for the family. It takes no skill, it is not a gourmet delight, and no chef in his right mind would use it. It is simply too simple and totally.... well, yummy.

Tonight.... enter one beet/potato salad.... pink as petunias.... and simple beyond imagining.....

Smash hit.... who knew....

Frankie's Beet/Potato Salad
A bunch of potatoes enough to fill a 4 l stock pot, peeled, boiled, mashed and cooled.
Preserved beet in or not in vinegar.... diced. About 1 1/2 cups.
5 - 6 hard boiled eggs peeled and diced.
2 - 3 big globs of mayonaise or whipped salad dressing

Stir all the above ingredients together and smooth top... place a couple of sprigs of parsley for decoration.... chill and serve.

How easy was that.... they all think I'm some kind of super chef. How bizarre!

Turn Of Days

For a few days now I have been fighting what I call the Autumn Blues. Even though this is my favorite time of the year I know that what lies ahead is all doom and gloom. I'll be honest I hate winter. I hate the cold and I hate.... just hate the snow. I mean don't get me wrong. I can appreciate the beauty of the snow and how it looks at various times of the day. But when I open the door and experience the cold air, when I get up at 9 a.m. and it is still dark these are the things that make winter a miserable time of the year for me.

The other thing that makes this time of the year a time of the Blues is.... I, unlike most other women, like my Hubby home. I actually enjoy the man. Why I cannot say.... maybe for the same reasons that I married him... but you would think that after 17 years of marriage I would now think of him as a nuisance. Most women don't want their husbands under foot in their kitchens, but I like my Hubby in the kitchen... he can actually cook as well as I do. I like his company and miss him when he isn't around.
Actually being married to a teacher and having a man around a lot in the summer, I think, brings us closer together. We do things together and its nice to spend time with the man you fell in love with all those years ago.

I will also miss the girls when they go back to school. I like them and have a lot of fun with them. It gives me great pleasure to watch them growing up and school undermines my time with them. So you see even though the weather of autumn doesn't bother me, I actually like it, there are some serious disadvantages to autumn.

You will note that a few weeks ago I noticed the first signs of fall.... the grass had a golden look to it. Now I have started to notice that the trees are turning colour too. My tomato plants are starting to turn yellow underneath. the tops are still green and so are the tomatoes but underneath the leaves have turned yellow. As a matter of a fact all my flowers on the deck have a decidedly tired look about them.

So in honour of the Autumnal (love that word) changes I have decided it is time for a change to the Ye Olde Batt Blog..... I like the colours that I have chosen.

By the way...Reece is doing much better thank you very much....

Accident!

Poor Reece... she's had an awful night. We found my favorite poor wee lamb (the only white one that I got this year) under a gate which had fallen on her in the night. Who knows how long she was lying down with the heavy gate on her.... Worse, she's hurt! She has not been able to walk properly ever since we found her this morning. We plucked the offending gate off her wee limp body and at first I thought she was a goner, but we were able to see that she wasn't bleeding a lot and that the bit of blood staining her wool was from her struggle to get the gate off her and she had been rubbing and abrading her skin a lot. Then she couldn't stand up and was not able to hold her head upright and I still thought she was a goner. Hubby checked her over and thought she might have a dislocated front shoulder.... I'm not so sure. We tried standing her up and at first she wasn't able to bare her own weight and her knees kept buckling under her. But eventually she was able to get up and move around a bit She has been up on her feet and baring weight on all of her legs so I don't think she could walk with a dislocated shoulder. She stumbles a bit but as the morning is going on she seems to be getting stronger. I don't think that would be happening if she was badly hurt. We have separated her from the other sheep as I don't want her to get hurt or pushed around by the other sheep. Her legs seem to be getting stronger and I am hoping that she is just sore and a little stiff with maybe some muscle injuries that will heal with time.... she will have to be watched closely though. She is lying down now in a temporary pen with lots of green grass, and is eating all the grass that she can reach from where she lies. I will continue to keep an eye on her and hopefully she will improve as the day goes on. We'll see.

Shawl

Two years ago when I was in EM's class for the Level 1 in the Master Spinner's program the instructor gave us a shawl pattern that was her own. We were challenged to go home and make one over the year and enter it in the following year's fashion show. I made one and promptly sold it. This is it...

It is the one on the left. Sorry it is not a better picture.

Anyway, I started right away knitting a new one and I decided this time I would use a stranded knitting technique and so it began. It has been an odyssey, I assure you, because even though it is still not finished, there is quite a story that ended yesterday... well,... sort of!

I have quite a bit of my shawl completed but not as much as I would like. This shawl, I feel is a real work of art. It all started when I was in Level 1 and tried on one of EM's shawls and felt that it was the drapiest and most lovely fitting shawl that I had ever tried on. I'm a big girl and finding things that fit nicely is often a challenge. (I get my biggness from my Dad!) So I can safely say that when I tried on that shawl, and it fit me so nicely, and it felt good and looked... well... great, I was enthusiastic to say the least.

I got right on it and did the Rainbow shawl in the above picture. Knit in a combination of Polwarth and alpaca, it was soft and lovely and sumptuous. But it also was pretty simple. I had knit some rovings that I had purchased from Rovings in Manitoba that were already varigated and spun it all single ply then I spun brown alpaca and in singles and plied the two singles together to get a nice two ply yarn that kept the look of the varigated wool rovings. I called it the Rainbow Shawl. However, I now wanted more of a challenge and so I embarked upon a new shawl in the same pattern but with a different take on it. I decided to knit a Fair Isle style shawl using the same increases so it would have the same drapey feel and using purple and white as the basis for my colour combinations.

I started in right away because I had some lovely purple and white yarn already spun and though I knew it wouldn't be enough to complete the shawl I thought I would be able to spin and knit at the same time. I knit about 18 inches when I ran into problems. Up to that point I had been knitting and changing my Fair Isle style every ten to twenty rows. It was looking lovely and I was pleased with it but I wanted more of a challenge. That's when I started to go through my old knitting magazines.

I have been a collector of Vogue Knitting magazines since back in the eighties when Vogue Knitting was still quite new. I keep them because many of the patterns are classic, adaptable, and clear. Vogue does a very nice job of printing patterns that anyone can use. I think it is by far the best knitting magazine on the market. And believe me when I say I have tried a lot over the years. Not even Interweave Knits comes close and that is saying something because Interweave Knits is awesome.

Anyway I digress.... In the
1990-91 winter edition of Vogue Knitting magazine there is a sweater pattern by Perry Ellis (remember him???) that has a divine city skyline in a two stranded pattern that I have always thought I would incorporate into something that I knit. It is lovely.

So back to the shawl.... I came up with the idea of incorporating that city skyline into my purple and white shawl. I went looking through my stacks of knitting magazines which at that time I kept in my bedroom. I found it after much perusing and getting sidetracked by other divine patterns that I had forgotten about. I then laid it on the headboard of my bed and promptly forgot about it because I went off to do something else..... have you ever done that? Yes... I thought so.

A few days later when I had time for knitting I went to get the magazine which I had laid on my headboard.... (it is a bookcase headboard) that's when all hell broke loose. The magazine was gone. Now my house is ruled by the goddess Chaos, and losing something is not the end of the world.... usually a few days later it turns up in another most obvious place. (Remember Hubby's truck key that I lost after returning from Olds last month..... we never found it but we did find the set of house, car, school, and other keys that he lost two years ago!!!) see what I mean. Eventually, things turn up. But this was a horror because I wanted to knit that pattern and I wanted to knit that pattern NOW!

Well I didn't knit that pattern and all year through the Level 2 (last year) the shawl languished in my knitting bag collecting dust. Every so often I would pick up the knitting bag and think, I should just get on with it.... I don't have to knit a cityscape on this shawl... I can knit anything. but that cityscape haunted me and I knew I would regret not knitting the cityscape of my dreams into that shawl. I turned the house upside down looking for my Vogue Knitting magazine with my cityscape pattern..... I pulled out my bed and looked under it. (This is no small task since it weighs an elephant!) But I did not find that magazine.

Spring came and the infamous reno began... we cleared the top story of the house and still there was no sign of the magazine. I lost hope. This time I really had lost something. I could only think that it got picked up with other papers and went out in the recycling.... I even emailed Vogue to see if I could get a copy of the old pattern... they didn't respond (they need to beef up their customer service if they want it to be as good as the magazine is)! By this time I had begun to despair if I would ever knit my cityscape. I lost hope. I was defeated..... well... not quite. I just needed some graph paper and a pencil and I would do my own cityscape.... but it wouldn't have a bridge alight with faerie lights.... and it wouldn't be... well... just perfect.... (sigh)!

I didn't have the heart I'm afraid, to come up with my own cityscape, and so I thought that maybe I should just carry on in Fair Isle x's and o's, drifting from one pattern to the next. I got out my Fair Isle patterns and my graph paper but there it sat not being enthused over.

Yesterday, I decided to clean the living room... I mean clean it really good. Under the steps are a set of cabinets that can be moved and manipulated into many shapes and sizes. They can be stacked, or put side by side. They can be separated and moved to any part of the room. We keep catalogues and books and liquor and gift wrap in these cabinets. I hadn't cleaned out the catalugues in over a year and so the task lay on my shoulders to go through the catalogues and get rid of everything out of date. I started in and was surprised to discover that Hubby had been shoving my Spin-off magazines in those cabinets..... and among it was... low and behold.... Vogue Knitting from winter 1990-91 Perry Ellis Cityscape pattern #19... woo hoo!!

Shawl here I come!

What Makes You Feel It Is Good To Be Alive

It is 4:30 a.m. and I can't get back to sleep. Our dog, the chicken herder which just happens to be a Shi-tzu, woke me up with a kiss about a half hour ago because he was thirsty and wanted to go out. I forgot to fill the water dish before I went to bed and so our other dog, the big one drank all the remaining water and left none for the little dog. I couldn't get back to sleep and so I started thinking about why it is good to be alive. Here is what I think....

It is good to be alive...
when you smell the rich brown smell of the soil after the first real spring rain and the trees are starting to grow and the grass is starting to grow and the air is warm with the richness of life. Some call that ozone.... I call it creation.

It is good to be alive...
when you see the sparkles of the sun on water as it flashes and wavers with the movement of the earth and the air.

It is good to be alive...
when you wake in the morning with the soft warmth of a puppy dog kiss on your forehead, and then with a snuffle and a sigh the puppy snuggles into your body and you both go back to sleep.

It is good to be alive...
when you walk through the forest and you hear the crunch of the leaves beneath your feet and you smell the ripe smell of berries fermenting from the first frost of fall. Colour surrounds you with rich oranges, browns, and golds and you see your breath for the first time that year.

It is good to be alive...
when you feel the swell of the ocean and the thump, thump, thump, of the engine, beneath your feet as the boat you are on rises and falls on the tide that is bigger than any living thing but feels alive beneath you.

It is good to be alive...
when you open the door to go out and the sun is shining on the frozen air and there are millions of crystals surrounding you that sparkle like magic faerie dust.

It is good to be alive..
when you walk into an empty church and the silence is profound.

It is good to be alive....
when you smell a baby in your arms and they are clean and soft and fresh and new.

It is good to be alive..
when the first buds of the trees pop open and there is that beautiful chartreuse of spring in the air.

It is good to be alive....
when you hear the pretty voices of the birds when they start calling to their mates singing spring into being.

It is good to be alive....
when you hold the hand of your grandfather.

It is good to be alive....
when you lie on a trampoline with your children and stare at the clouds and listen to them talking about the shapes that they see.

It is good to be alive...
when you look at your husband (or wife) and know that the last twenty years feel like it has only been a year or two and you want the next twenty or more to slow down.

It is good to be alive...
when you know that growing old with this man (or woman) is what you want to do with the rest of your life.

It is good to be alive....
when your children give you a hug.... just because.

It is good to be alive...
with steaming hot chocolate in a mug, watching snow fall softly outside your window, blanketing everything in undulating white.

It is good to be alive...
when a butterfly lands on your arm and you don't breath because you don't want it to fly away, and when it does you feel privileged because you have been chosen over the beauty of a nodding flower.

It is good to be alive....
kissing in the pouring down rain.

It is good to be alive....
when you fall asleep at dusk in your lawn chair and wake up to the crystal white of the moon shining on you and your book is still in your lap and you don't feel cold because someone wrapped a blanket around you while you slept.

It is good to be alive...
when you haven't seen someone for a long time but the warm camaraderie of good friendship prevails through warm hugs, friendly chat, and happy silences.

It is good to be alive...
when the sun turns early morning fog yellow and the dew is heavy on the grass and sparkles brilliantly.

It is good to be alive...
when the crackle of the fire you just lit is magnetic and you want to watch the flames all night long.

It is good to be alive...
when the sun, low on the horizon, turns the tops of the trees pink, while everything else lays in the shadow of the earth.

It is good to be alive....
when you wake up with an arm and a knee slung over your body and you feel a bit like a Christmas present... all wrapped in love.

It is good to be alive...
when you have just read a good book or watched a good movie... and you wish it could go on for a just a little while longer.

It is good to be alive....
when your Dad hands you a twenty and says, "spend it on yourself," and you are 40 years old.

It is good to be alive....
when a bubble gum bubble pops and you have to spend twenty minutes washing it off your glasses.

It is good to be alive...
when you drive down a country road in a convertible and the poplar leaves that have fallen onto the road because it is autumn, swirl in the wake you create as you drive by.

It is good to be alive...
when you walk along a beach for miles and miles and then when you have gone a long way you turn around and see your footprints stretching out behind you.

It is good to be alive...
and write your name in the sand and watch it wash away with the next wave.

It is good to be alive...
and smell roses, or lilacs.

It is good to be alive....
and taste homemade bread still warm and fresh from the oven, smothered in butter.

It is good to be alive...
when you wake at night and hear the cry of coyotes (wolves too) a long way off but close enough to be thrilling.

It is good to be alive....
when an owl swoops past you and the only reason you see it is because you happened to notice movement out of the corner of your eye... but you didn't hear a thing.

It is good to be alive....
when you buy something leather and it has that new leather smell.... like a new car.... or a new leather coat.

It is good to be alive...
when you finish something you have worked on a long time and you are happy with it.

It is good to be alive...
when you crawl into bed a night and your back sighs with relief after a long day of hard work.

It is good to be alive...
when you remember all the times you had a really good belly laugh.... and you want to laugh till you cry again.

It is good to be alive...
when you write about 40 things that make you feel good to be alive and you have only just scratched the surface.

It is good to be alive...
when you go back to bed after you have been up early in the morning and the bed feels warm and comfortable and welcoming.

Bye bye!

Waldo

I've decided to name my spider.....

I just can't throw him out. He has become my friend. Waldo it is.... it doesn't matter if it is a female which it probably is but I'm naming him her Waldo.

We've been chinked! There is now chinking in the office/studio. TC arrived yesterday with TCH in tow and proceeded to chink the logs and leave in no time flat. Done! Finito! Like that was quick! Now the office and studio will retain heat while keeping bugs and mice out... o u t out! We have a monster spider gobbling flies in my studio.... I'm going to give him a few more days and then I will transport him to the garden where he can join the rest of the spiders scarfing down yummy flies and avoiding being eaten themselves.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Hubby finished the plumbing for the upstairs vanity and I proceeded to put the trim around the window in the downstairs bathroom. I also put up a shelf and finished the framing for the door in the bathroom. Hubby and I have decided that the door that we were going to use opens the wrong way and so, without him here to say yay or nay I am going to build a false wall to accommodate a pocket door we will lose 4 inches of our bathroom but that is ok..... at least I think so. If I get that done over the weekend then I will start finishing the front of the pantry and I might even enlist the kids to help me with the paneling in the upstairs bathroom. This all "on my own" while Hubby enjoys another weekend of fishing.... (can you tell that I am starting to get a little miffed about Hubby being away again?....)!

There goes a chicken..... what are they up to again??? Hmmm....

Anyway... where was I... oh yes.... As a woman, I do not work on carpentry without the aid of devices that I can handle with my weak hands. So I cut all boards with a jig saw because I can't handle Hubby's circular saw because I would cut off my foot. (I'm already missing one thumb I would like to keep the other!) I could use a chop saw but I don't own one and what is the point... I can cut as straight a line with a jig on short distances as a chop saw does anyway. I wish I had a table saw for long cuts... the jig is not so great for that, but I am getting better and there is always a rasp to whittle away the bad spots. My biggest problem is that my measuring sucks. I measure say 36 1/2 inches when really it works out to be 36 1/4 inches which means that I have to go back and cut a little more off every time.... that's a pain. But at least I always measure too long and not too short.... which is Hubby's problem.... then he has a spoiled board...... ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Women rule! (I'm not really that maniacal! Really!!)

I think the biggest thing for me now with this renovation is that I am having serious fibre withdrawal symptoms..... it's been a while since I've have been able to find time to spin. I was working on some thick cabled yarn and was really excited until I ran into a glitch or two. But that is for another blog. I really want to sit on the deck and get some spinning done instead of banging and hammering away at stuff that I wish were done. Oh well, I guess I should be glad that we are making progress at all. I don't really want to sound displeased or never satisfied.... when I stop to look around at everything that has been done I'm really pleased, but I do long to get back at my fibre addiction. I guess all in good time.

It is turning into a fine day. I think some people had frost last night in our region. If so then that would be the first frost of the year. My thermometre was reading 3 degrees this morning when I got up at 6:30 a.m. so that was pretty close to freezing. Ouch! Still though the fog is burning off and I expect it will be quite nice later this morning. This suits me since it will be cool enough to work without dying from heat..... I guess I should procrastinate no more and get to my false wall. I'll let you know how that goes!

Here is a pic of the pantry so far.... still need to finish the framing on the front and put in the doors...

Covert Operations

You have read here before that we have a lot of early morning fog. You have also read here that we have an uneasy relationship with our chickens. You have also read here that I am an early riser. Put that together and you have.... I'm not sure.... a rug?

It's all very confusing but I think our chickens are up to something..... I mean like planting dynamite under our house..... or spying on human behaviour for aliens or something. Lately (since the bear attacked the chicken coop and broke down the fence that Hubby hasn't had time to repair because he is too busy working on plumbing) the chickens have been entering our territory. But not just coming up toward the house and checking out the joint but they have been acting suspiciously. This morning the chickens were up by the house when I looked out the window upstairs at 6:30 a.m. They were pecking the ground and obviously intent upon getting grit for their gizzards... or so I thought. When I came downstairs a few minutes later they were scurrying off down the path to the chicken coop. Now I know that they know I don't like them up around the house (they poop on the deck which gives me no small amount of misery)
This is chicken poop too close to my deck steps.


because I have thrown rocks at them when I catch them around the steps. I also know they know that I don't want them under the deck because they peck the styrofoam insulation which is just under the ground and wraps our crawl space and insulates it from the cold weather in the winter. (Yes chickens love styrofoam insulation..... in their gizzards!) But as soon as they hear me or see me they bee line it for the chicken coop and I know.... just know they are up to something!

Their little heads are popping above the grass turning this way and that way watching through the early morning fog, and they seem to be watching all the time for something that might come and attack them. Now what on earth could they be watching for?! Certainly not me (who likes to throw rocks at them to keep them away from the deck), and certainly not Tootsie (who is the most brilliant chicken herding dog you have ever seen), and certainly not Hubby (who steals their eggs each day), and certainly not Daughter #2 (who steals their friends away to another chicken coop to be saved from the axe... but they don't know that), and I doubt very much that it's the coyotes (that they can hide from in their really sturdy chicken coop) This is the sturdy chicken coop
and certainly not bears (that attack sporadically like the one earlier this summer)..... nooooo they can't be nervous about these things. What could possibly happen to them. I mean what do they think.... that they are going to get eaten?

And that noise they make when they lay their eggs.... I mean what's that all about? I'm sure they are making it look like the egg coming out of their wee butts is hurting when really what they are doing is practicing some kind of drill. They run away every time you go near them and their territory (which is the bush that grows around their chicken coop) looks like it is a mine field. There are scratch marks all over the place. I think they are planting mines and making it look like they are scratching for worms...... I'm sure they are up to no good!

So the thing is, with all this suspicious behaviour on the part of the chickens, why oh why did I choose chickens to be on my first hooked rug??? I have finally started hooking the rug that I bought while I was in Olds for the Level 3 of the Master Spinners course and so I chose chickens!!!!! I can't believe I did that. What on earth was I thinking? With all the subject material in the world that I could have chosen I can't believe I chose chickens. But I did....

Here's my chicken rug so far...



Here's what it should look like when done.....




I still think they are up to no good..... I'm just not going to tell them that I'm hooking a chicken rug... and let them get the last laugh... no way!

Sweet Breezes

I lay in bed this morning and felt the sweet breezes coming in through my window and knew that I was glad for this house renovation. Before our house was renovated there were two... get that???... two windows in the whole house that opened. Now I have nine. It's fantastic to feel those lovely morning breezes again. Our bed is directly under the window so when the wind lifts the curtain (sheet over the window) it feels like a miracle is blowing through my room.

It is a pleasant morning but there's definitely a feel of fall in the air. This is my favorite time of the year. I love the last three weeks of August and the first three weeks of September, that sometimes stretch into the first two weeks of October. The air is warm but delightfully so without that hot sultry feel about it. There is a coolness in the evenings that make you put on a jacket but don't make you shiver from feeling too cold. There are still some birds around to make the early mornings pleasant with their calls but some of them are getting drunk on over ripe berries. There is a smell of growing vegetables of ripening tomatoes of berries and apples. It is by far the time of the year that I love best. I miss the dragged out autumns of the eastern part of Canada. I miss the richness of the reds of maple trees. I miss the sound of the foghorns late at night when the fog rolls in from the sea. But autumn is lovely where ever you are and there are other things to make up for what I miss. Either way opening that window last night meant that I woke to a happy morning breeze blowing across my face and reminded me that it is good to be alive. How can you not like autumn?

We made good inroads into the construction yesterday. Hubby installed the two false walls in the upstairs bathroom and got the toilet ready and the plumbing installed for that then just as it was almost supper time he discovered that the flange bolts were missing and so he has to go purchase them today. So no toilet but very close. I, on the other hand was able to finish clear coating Daughter #1's bedroom and got her bed put together. We still have two walls to complete in her room but they will wait till we are finished with the upstairs bathroom. I also have to install her lighting and electrical outlets and a switch. Then we will need to install all the trim and some shelves and we are done. On to the next room, but for all intents and purposes Daughter #1 can start moving her stuff back into her room.

Today, I am hoping that I can clear coat the two walls Hubby put up in the bathroom yesterday. He will start on the plumbing for the vanities both upstairs and downstairs. I also have some painting on the backs of the doors for the downstairs vanity. There is no point in putting in the door to the downstairs bathroom until the vanity is in since there are no walls and a door would just inhibit Hubby and his work.

The jist is though that we are making slow progress and hope to continue in that way today and tomorrow until Hubby leaves for his next Rangers recreation trip (recce). Then I'll go batty again waiting for work to get done. (There is a reason that I'm called Ye Olde Bat (oops Batt)!

Anyway here are a few pics for you all to look at of things coming and yet to come.


This is the opening in the wall at the bottom of the steps where the new bathroom door is going.


This is the opening in the wall where the new bathroom door is going from the other direction.



This is the vanity that is going upstairs in the ensuite bathroom but needs serious cleaning up. My job for today.



This is Tootie Wootie checking out the new john in the ensuite bathroom upstairs with paneling complete behind it. Another of my tasks today is to clear coat that.



This is Daughter #1's bedroom with the bed in but not the mattress and mattress support.



This is the wall left to be paneled in the background behind the foot of her bed.

So I am off to get back to the various jobs needing to be done. Hubby just left to go get the new flange bolts that he was missing last night and I am off to clean and paint and build whatever needs doing..... all the time I will be enjoying the sweet breezes through my many new windows!

Culling

I wish that word were sculling. That's because sculling is more fun than culling. I made my decision and I have figured who goes and who stays. A hard job let me tell you. I don't like that in the fall there is a the big decision about which sheep stay and which ones go. Two of my older ewes are on the block which I really hate because they are nice sheep but there is no room for feeding pets and if they are causing problems then it is time to move them out. Two of my last year's lambs that lambed this year are also on the block. The decision is based on primarily fleece, but also factors like age, and friendliness, how they handle, whether they're runners, or they're the type that will stay put on our property, health, etc. It is not an easy decision but I have to put my foot down and just do it. I will be picking up 4 new sheep for my flock next week which will bring my numbers up to 21. Far more than I wanted. With the price of hay this year I want to seriously cull my flock and two of my culls are ones I would have kept had hay been more reasonably priced. I won't say whose going and whose staying. That wouldn't be fair.

I will be keeping all of my alpacas (I don't think I will ever get rid of them... I love them too much) and Honeydew, the llama will be staying put as long as she doesn't run off again. We didn't breed Mishka this year, after all, since she is young and there is so much going on with the house renovations that time was considerably lacking. Hubby suggested that I wait a year and while that was not a decision I liked, I felt he was probably wise in making the suggestion. So we will wait for next year when life is not so hectic, to breed her then. She has a dreadful hair cut this year especially around her tail which might affect her ability to breed. We'll have to do a better job next year.

Last night Hubby and I picked up a much needed bale of hay and with grass not growing very well around here this year we were in for a bit of a shock. This year's bales are selling for $40.00 to $60.00 a bale. Compared to last year at $30.00 that is quite expensive. That is why I have to cull so heavily. Here are pics of some of the keepers...


This is Fanny who is a Shetland/Merino. She is a really god mom.


This Is Honeydew the runnaway Llama who will not be running away anymore... or else...


This is Griegg who is an old geezer and a lovely Shetland cross sheep. We don't know what he was crossed with but that's ok. He loves to watch us in the window at night when the light is on. We feel like fish in a fish tank.


This is Mishka... the unbred female alpaca who has lovely divine fleece. I wish we hadn't been so busy this year I would have liked to have her bred.


This is Oscar who is my favorite sheep. He always comes for a scratch and loves getting behind his ears scratched. He is a Blue Faced Liecester/Merino cross ram. But a bigger pig for hay you have never seen.


This is Nelly who is very skittish and will not let us touch her without a fight.... but she has the most beautiful fleece from the whole flock. This is as close as she would let me get.


This is Eddie.... I just love his ears. He will be a stud.... he has a very soft and thick coat. Prime Alpaca fleece.


This is Coal and though he has a funky thing on his nose where he has lost his wool, he is a stud a will be bred with Mishka.


Benny needs a job done on his teeth which will be done in the next few weeks. He will be castrated.


This is Axton and nobody likes him because he spits. But he has a lovely soft fleece but it is thin. I will castrate him too.


This is Dexter and I likw him a lot but I can't breed him becasue he is too closely related to Mishka.... so he will be castrated too.


This is Krunch who has a pretty nice dark brown fleece bordering on black. She is a Shetland and Merino cross. She bred well with our ram last year and that is why she is a keeper.


This is Palmer and he is a Romney/BFL/ Merino cross. I like his fleece and he is a nice calm lamb.


This is Reece and she is a Shetland/BFL/Merino cross and is a lovely little lamb. She was my only white lamb from this year. We had to bottle feed her for the first few days. She made a good come back and is now as round aas she is long.

There you have it.... my flock... at least until next week when the new ones come.