More Details On The Big R

It has been so busy here in the last few weeks that I really haven't been able to write as much as I wanted. We are in week four of the renovations and things have been moving along a lot better than I expected but there have been lots of in between things that I haven't bothered to mention because I just haven't had time. My Master Spinner level 2 homework has been horrifically on hold for ages. I was going to get some done today but that just didn't happen. I have a sore throat and a head that feels like a football not to mention a back that's as bent as a shepherd's staff. Yesterday was a really busy day.... and I do mean busy!!!! TC and TCMM had done as much on the outside as they could do till some of the orders for materials start arriving. The tin comes on Wednesday (tomorrow) and so they will finish the tin on the roof and finally we will have a ridgecap which means after two weeks, the house will be safe from rain and the elements. I am hoping that they will replace the insulation and vapour barrier tomorrow too. Then we will not be losing the heat of the furnace right out the roof. They came yesterday and framed in the bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom. The electrician was here too and did a fair bit of wiring.

I have moved back into the house to sleep on the floor of the living room (on my old familiar mattress) as my back died after a week of trying to sleep in the fifth wheel holiday trailer. The mattress out there sucks! Hubby and I have been making lots of decisions about upcoming work on the house mostly decisions regarding finish work. It has been a lot of fun, but I think I mentioned that in my previous post.

Let's see where to begin with all the in between things. They all seem important and so it is hard to pick what is the most important of all them. I think one of the highlights of the last few weeks was finding out that Daughter #2 won in the historical fair at the regional level and will be heading off to Victoria for a shot at the provincials. She will be leaving at the end of school. I'm very proud of her.
Next... I finally started to sell my wool.... I have sold two fleeces of my ten and some I will not sell as they do not meet my quality standards. I have had a request for one of my other fleeces and so we will see if it will sell when the fleece is shorn. Shearing has been put on hold right now as we have had some horrific weather in the last few weeks and then Hubby went under the knife. He is out of commission for the next few weeks until his hernia surgery is healed. As with any abdominal surgery he requires six weeks with no lifting, so horking sheep around is something he can't do. He finds it very hard to not lift and he forgets himself frequently. I caught him trying to lift the trap door to the crawl space today and that is well over 10 pounds, which is his doctor ordered limit.

I find that the renovations, while exciting to watch are starting to get on my nerves. I will be happy to have a normal bed and be able to sleep and eat without always having to move things that are in the way. Hubby has begun to call my bed a Murphy Bed because the mattress leans on the wall during the day and is on the floor during the night. The house is full of sawdust and trying to keep it out of the kitchen while I cook is no less than a daunting task. The bathroom is slowly getting back to normal, now that the window is installed but we have to hang a towel over the window every time we use it since I can't put up a curtain rod and curtains until the window sill have been installed and the bathroom will go through another upheaval when the new tub comes anyway. We don't even have hot water at the moment and we can't quite figure that one out. Hubby had a look to see if the hot water tank had somehow been disconnected in the middle of all the craziness, but he can't seem to figure that out. I think it will be showers at Mudder's and Fadder's tonight.

The completion of the renovations will be most gratefully received let me tell you. I have appreciated all that everyone has put into it to help us survive the challenges of an hellish mess (Hubby and I haven't fought once... not once Nah nah na boo boo to all you nay sayers who said they almost divorced through the renovation process!!!) The Daughters are wonderful and I am proud of them for tolerating a mom and dad that are soooo distracted they don't know if they are coming or going. We've lived through wind, rain, snow, freezing rain, sheep births, sheep abandonment and midnight feedings for new born lambs, we've lived through surgery and bad backs and colds, we've lived through bangings and hammerings and photographs and perfect strangers coming to look out of pure curiosity.... but in the end it's all good..... it's all good.... now if I could just catch my breath and get a little work done on that homework of mine.... the clock is ticking and I'm getting down on time......

Before and After

We are having a reprieve from the renos for a couple of days. TC and TCMM won't be back until Thursday when they will be working on the tin for the roof. So I am sitting here trying to catch up on some much needed work. I am trying to catch up on the blog and on the level 2 homework that I have not had time to look at for ages not to mention banking, income tax, sheep stuff etc....

Things have settled down on the sheep front. There are no new lambs though we still wonder if there won't be more. The lambs that we do have are doing well and nursing well and jumping around in the evenings and playing tag and do all kinds of sheep antics. That is good.

The house renos are impressive. TC and TCMM were here yesterday framing in the rooms upstairs. The electrician was here putting in the outlets and fixtures for the rooms upstairs. Hubby and I have decided that even if we have to wait till next year we want to use the cultured stone on the outside of the addition downstairs. We are now in the process of pricing out finishes for the inside. We like pine panel board for the office/studio with polished embossed tin for the ceiling and the flooring is already purchased. The bathroom will have tongue and groove pine painted white with vinyl flooring downstairs. Upstairs we will have the same pine panel board as what is going in the front room and the ceiling will be the same. So it is all coming together nicely. Now for the pictures.....here are some before and after shots taken from as close to the same position .....

Catching Up Again

Another week is gone and I really am sorry about not getting anything on here. It has been unusually busy this last little while. Lambing has slowed down but we are still waiting to see if three more ewes will lamb. We now have 6 lambs one of which...my only white one.... almost didn't make it. Her name is Reece (like Reece Witherspoon in Legally Blond) and she was one of a twin.....born weak to begin with she didn't seem to be doing well and especially after the weather got cold. We even had snow and with the bitter temperature she started laying down in the hay and not feeding and then her Mom gave up and stopped letting her feed. When Hubby and I found her in the barn sort of keeled over in the hay we knew we had to try something. I wrapped her up and brought her into the house and forced her to drink some colostrum and milk replacer and slowly over the next 48 hours she improved. In between feeds we would take her back out to her mom and watch to see if she started shivering and then we would take her back in to warm her up. She improved until one day I noticed that her mom finally started to let her feed again... like she finally realized that her lamb was going to make it and so then we left her alone to take care of her baby. Reece is now jumping around with her sister and Stew, who is a boy lamb born a day after Reece a Rizzo were born. There have been no new lambs since. The house has continued to be renovated and so we are in the stages where soon the contractor will stop till the window come in. Hubby has been off from work for a day surgery performed on Tuesday this week, so he has been able to watch all the changes that are going on too.

Hubby had surgery for a hernia and developed another headcold. He certainly has had his share of them this year. The hernia surgery went very well and he is up and on his feet the same day. He was walking kind of funny for a few days but is much better now. If we could just get rid of that cold everything would be great. He will be back to work on Monday.

The house has totally changed in appearance. Go back a few weeks to my earlier blog posts and you will see how the house looked then. Have a look now:










Not only do I have bats in my rafters but now this too:



I always wondered why there were so many hornets around the house.

Keep watching for further updates.....

A Little Catch Up

A week flies by so fast these days that I can't believe the time is gone. Here are pictures from the house renovations over the past few days.

We are now sleeping in our good friend's fifth wheel.


The TC and the TCMM sheeted in the front deck.... I think it is going to look great.


The TC takes off the roof from the inside while....


the TCMM takes off the roof from the outside.


This is TC's helper (TCH we'll call him)...


How do they do that without falling off.... I'm the proverbial clutz!!! I'd be gone over the edge for long ago....


One bedroom is starting to take shape.


What's that they are lookng at.....


Great!!! We had an infestation of bats.... now that's what I call batty.... o.k. that joke should have been left on the back burner.... bat droppings have been drifting everywhere. Blah!


On with the work....


The pile keeps growing... and growing... and growing....


My roof is the sky... at this point I started to get nervous as it started to cloud over.... All I hoped for was that the rain would pass us by.... cirrus clouds are not a good sign especially when you have no roof...


Hurry we have to get the cracks filled....


Well Tc and TCMM did get some of the tin on and Hubby and a friend covered everything before the rain fell. The next day they got everything closed up and started on the North face... and that's when it began to snow.....

But that's a story for another day.

In The Thick Of Things

Well we are up to our necks in renovations now. The Contractor (TC) and The Contractors Main Man (TCMM) has been here since the beginning of the week. Day by day I have seen changes being made to our wee house. At first it was ripping and tearing and then the construction started to actually show some progress. They started in on the front deck and are making good progress in turning that space into a new office and some much needed studio space. It has been a busy week. I have been trying to get some work done but it just doesn't seem to be happening. I tried to get some spinning done for my level 2 homework and that went nowhere. Today I planned to finish the new skin for the couch that I started way back at Christmas time and that just became a buggered up mess. I wanted to work on the beaded distaffs and that didn't go anywhere either. Everything is about bang, hammer, saw, bang, thunk,thunk, thunk, then the electrician showed up and then it was where do you want this and what about that and tea and getting lunch for him and on and on and on. People keep wanting to drop in to see lambs and see what is going on...... sheesh, I love visitors but I need to get some of this work finished.... and I had better do it soon.

Here are some pictures from the first few days.







Say a prayer for us because TC and TCMM will be back on Monday to remove our roof.... I really don't want rain!!!!

Easter Tidings

Happy Easter to all you folks out there in computer land. It is bright and sunny here, a day full of promise. Daughter #1 and Daughter #2 have opened their Easter baskets to find goodies and gifts and all kinds of fun things. I have managed to scorf down a couple of chocolate bunnies myself. We will be getting ready for church in a few moments and isn't that what this day is really all about? Isn't it about those women who found the tomb open on that fateful morning so many mornings ago. Jesus Christ Is Risen Today. That is one hymn that will be sung all over the place this morning and a lovely hymn too.

To all those folks of Christian belief, here is an Easter morning prayer:
O Heavenly God,
the beauty of spring surrounds us.
As we go forth into the beauty of your world,
let us remember the sacrifice of our risen Lord,
who has given us new eyes with which to see the gifts you bestow on us.
Help us to be respectful always of this world in which we live.
Help us to be in awe of your creation.
Remind us through the birth of new baby animals,
of the budding of the first new plants of spring,
through the silver buds on the trees reflected in the last evening sun,
through the lap of the water on the newly thawed shores,
through the chirps and tweets of the birdsong in the newly returning winged friends that we hold so dear, that you are Creator of ALL.
Your love is abundant and free. What more can we ask for.
AMEN

Ahhh! Spring At Last

Yesterday was the first day of spring... yes, yes, yes. I know that first day of spring turned over on the calendar a few weeks ago but the actual first day of spring weather wise was yesterday. We were out in the barn yesterday morning quite early because Fanny, my Shetland/merino x had her twin babies at about 8:45 a.m. The contractor showed up at about the same time to drop off a load of lumber and insulation at the same time. Fanny did a great job bringing her two lambs into the world. It was a textbook delivery. She's a good little mom and everything went perfectly. She is in the barn keeping her little lambs happy. We will let her out into the paddock today and her little ones can get used to Palmer. Our two new lambs names are Quip and Quill. Quip is an all black female and Quill is a black female with white markings on her face and head. It was a beautiful day to be born. Sunny and warm all day with blue skies and snow and ice melting underfoot.

Such a day made Hubby and I think of shearing and so we started in on Kracker, who is one of Fanny's last year lambs. It was quite something to see Hubby and me struggle with her as we attempted to remove her wool. It took us a good half hour to remove what a professional would do in minutes. She went limp as she was supposed to do when you have her in the right position but from there on it was a fiasco. We managed to get her wool off in one piece more or less but it looked like a bear had done it instead of a human. She looks rather ragged today but she is at least bare of all her wool. We did nick her a couple of times and I do say we because it was like a relay team shearing. When Hubby couldn't reach a certain spot he would pass over the shears to me and I would shear an area. Then when I couldn't reach a certain area then I would pass over the shears to him. We certainly wouldn't take any medals for our work. We then went on and shear Kracker's sister Krunch. This time it was harder to shear her wool but we didn't have as many nicks... just lots of second cuts.

I've already sold two fleeces. I am not selling them for great amounts because I know that the quality of shearing is not great. $5.00 a lb is what I am asking. I am seriously thinking of bringing in a Teeswater Ewe and a Teeswater ram and starting the first and only flock of Teeswaters in Canada. I would like to have a pure bred Teeswater flock. But there is a lot involved in bringing in animals across the border. Anyway it is all something to think about in the future.

I am soooo glad that it is finally spring at last. the weather just begs me to be out doing stuff. This is good in some ways but bad in others since I still have three questions to finish in my level 2 homework. The contractor will be here on Tuesday to start work and so I need to get hopping. Almost done. Navajo spindling here I come....