Exterior house painting...

We have been working on many, many projects around the house and property over the last 3 months.  The past 3 weeks, in addition to the many other projects, we have been getting the exterior of the house painted.  It REALLY needed it, as it has been left totally neglected for the past 10 years.  We thought this might be a good time to tell you part of the history of this house.

The front part of the house was built in 1835 by Thomas Shadwick in Lincoln County, about 25 km from here.  I have begun to do some research on him and know that he was a British Loyalist who moved here, married, and settled.  He was on the muster roll for Lincoln County for the war of 1812.  In 1970, the house was found abandoned and in very poor condition.

Someone thought it was worth rescuing and lifted the roof and put the whole house on a flat bed and moved it here to its present location on Effingham Road, joining it seamlessly to a 1950's home that was already on the property.  It was lovingly and painstakingly restored to its original condition by artisans and with attention to the actual detail of the 1830's.  Everything that could be salvaged and used was, and anything else was reproduced.

When all was done, it was given this paint job...

Ownership of the home changed hands over the years, and at some point the paint job was redone, and the colours chosen were the ones still showing when we bought the place a few months ago.

The process of repainting was a very long one, as many of the clapboards were rotten and needed to be replaced.  All the windows and doors also needed replacing, as the wood was rotting and so were window frames etc.  Then all the paint that was peeling and chipping had to be scraped and sanded and then filled.  Then a coat of primer.  And then 2 coats of paint on everything.  Much of it was done at the top of a ladder.

And after all of that work, this is what it looks like today!!

This is the back of the house!  The red around the door is now painted also.

There is still the front porch deck to replace and extend, and the landscaping and gardens to bring back to glory.  We want to add window boxes below each of the front windows and think bright yellows are the way to go with flowers.  I love how "quiet" the house looks now and how nicely it just seems to blend into the landscape.

Phoebes and free bees...

Another long time since I have blogged!  It takes forever to upload my photos, and so I procrastinate writing day after day.  Now my son has shown me how to make the photos smaller so that my slow country internet can do the job, so hopefully that will help.

I have been meaning to blog about phoebes and free bees for over a month now...but the uploading thing has kept me away...But this weekend got real exciting with the bees.

We have had bees "hiving" in our chimney since we moved in.  We noticed them in mid-March, when the weather got unseasonably warm for a few days.

This isn't the best pic but it is difficult to zoom in and keep a steady hand when the bees are so far up.
We called a local beekeeper about coming to rescue them, but he kept assuring us that when May came and the weather was consistently warm, he would come and deal with them.

Yesterday, while working in the garden, we heard an incredible loud buzzing, and looked up at the chimney to see this.

"Our" bees were swarming!!!  They buzzed out of the chimney and into a nearby tree, where they all grouped together to protect the queen.

I called our local bee hotline, and was given so much information.  They hung like this on the tree for about 3 hours, apparently the queen sending out her scouts to find a suitable cavity to move to.  Once a new home was found, she gave the signal, and within seconds they all flew off over the house and down towards a local vineyard.

Amazing!!!  The beekeeper said that very few people actually get to witness such an event.  He said that approximately 60% of the hive will leave to set up new digs, so we do still have bees in our chimney, and probably a large quantity of honey as well.  He said it is better to wait until January to deal with them.  We are going to go to the next beekeepers meeting and learn more, and possibly be beekeeping apprentices.  There has been a very rapid decline in the honey bee population in the past few years, and apparently these Niagara bees have some special adaptation that has made them immune to the devastating mite.  Sounds interesting!!!

And these lovely phoebes have also decided to nest under the overhang of our side porch.

They sing "phoebe, phoebe" and have the distinctive habit of bobbing their tail as they sit.

Sarah thinks it is all quite fascinating.

So do we!!

Aplaca shearing...

It has been so busy around here (and my internet is being very slow) that I haven't had the time to get on here and update y'all.  There is really too much to tell in one post...bathroom almost done, lighting in, bedrooms painted...so one thing at a time.  That one thing would be alpaca shearing.

The couple who bought the alpacas a month or so ago, invited me to come to watch the shearing, and a few weeks ago I did just that.  What an experience!!  I am watching this all happen and snapping photos and thinking to myself, "Who gets to do THIS??!!!  I get to do THIS!!  Life is adventure."

First, these two shearers lead one of the alpacas to the mat, and put each of their feet into a harness.  Once they bring the animal down, these harnesses keep it still and stretched out so that the shearing process is safe and fast.

Once down, one shearer stays with the head of the animal, talking to it, keeping it calm.  The other begins the shearing, starting with the "blanket", which is the flank and midsection.  The fleece around this area is No. 1/top grade of the alpaca fleece.  As the fleece is removed it is put into a bag, one bag for top grade, another for second grade and another for discards.  Each alpaca has three separate bags and all is labelled and kept separate.  The animal is amazingly calm for the whole process.

They even get a new hair do!

A pedicure!!

And a grinding down of their teeth!  Then they look all pretty....and very skinny with no fleece!

All the white or tan alpacas were sheared first.  And then they began on the darker coloured ones.  This little darker one was having his very first shearing, and the shearers took his "blanket" off all in one piece, and it was absolutely incredible...thick and soft and almost black!!!

It was a great morning, and so interesting.  These guys know so much about what they do and are happy to tell you everything they know, so it was very educational.  They say that they will shear about 1800 animals this spring!

I will try to get some more of the house progress up tomorrow.  Off to do errands now.