Now we are really home

It's official. Today Happy Apple's Farm is our only home. The Shawnee house has a new owner and all our possessions are here - well, kinda.

We have spent nearly every day for the last month packing, deciding, selling, packing some more and moving an enormous amount of stuff. It is the stuff collected by a family full of children and fun. It is the stuff that makes up a life. And every box and bin, drawer and closet held history. It was hard and slow and seemed as though it would never end.

literally car full after car full of things were donated

Thankfully, there are many places like Goodwill and Savers that welcomed the donation of our extra things. And we visited at least one of those places in Shawnee nearly every time we went to the house to pack - sometimes more than once a day. What a wonderful service they do! And it feels good to know that most of those donations will be used.

And there is our modern version of the classified ad: Craigslist. We sold and gave away a couple of couches, beds, desks, entertainment centers and fish tanks. And we even made a little bit of extra money.

In spite of all that , we still have two rather large storage units of stuff that we aren't sure what to do about. And there are boxes and bags of things all over our new home that have yet to find their spot.

And to top all of that off, the water heater stopped working Monday night - and won't be fixed until Friday. Ugh.

But, today, none of that mattered much. We had a wonderful bottle of wine and pasta at a nearby restaurant. We did it. We no longer live in a suburban neighborhood. We now live at Happy Apple's Farm :-)

And all my plants came with us, too!
Yep, it's really cozy in here.

Legacy

Lisa's 2015 cake

This week was mostly about moving out of a home with a lot of memories. And, rightly, it was about recognizing the legacy left to us by loved ones. So on Wednesday, Feb. 4, we celebrated Lisa Ragsdale's birthday, as we do each year, with a cake. I know, it's rather crudely decorated, but I didn't have my decorating supplies. This was a "salad dressing" cake which Brent tells me Lisa also had made.

It was only Brent and Jeremy (and, of course, me) who celebrated with some words about what we give thanks for. We smiled and enjoyed the time together considering this woman and her life. There is a lot to say "thank you" to Lisa for - not the least being the 3 wonderful young men Brent and I call ours.

Vivian's cupcakes

Saturday we took a few moments out of our moving day to recognize Vivian Ragsdale's birthday. This "celebration" was very different. As in previous years, I purchased a variety of fancy cupcakes to recognize the day. But we did not say words because, well, there still are none. And, yet, I feel it is good to give this little girl and her memory a day. She is terribly missed by all those who were fortunate to know her.

The Ragsdale sign

We ended our week by placing the Ragsdale marker near the end of the driveway at the farm. Brent and I have dreamed and planned the placing of this sign for, literally, years. It was given to Brent and Lisa by Lisa's parents. Brent, Jeremy and I feel lucky to have it at the farm and lucky to have Rex and Margaret in our lives. Their support is invaluable.

There is also a lot of work happening and some wonderful people who are finding time to help. My parents, Mary and Pete, are a couple of hard-working people. Packing is just no fun at all. The last two weekends they have been packing right along with us. We couldn't get this done without them. (Thanks again Mom and Pete!)

We are thankful for all we are given. In our own ways this week we found time to recognize the wonderful people who are still living with us - even (and especially) those whose time is done. Their legacy is all around us here - at Happy Apple's Farm.

A little pause before the big move

Well, it looks as though we may have sold our Shawnee house, which is awesome! So within a month we will be down to one house payment :-)

It also means we have A LOT of stuff to move in a few weeks. And we have a few more things to finish up here at the farm before we can close on the mortgage here. Hmmm. Generally, we are, well, we're overwhelmed.

After visiting with the bankers about the new house, we swallowed our disappointment and hustled to finish up a couple of things quickly. And now we are waiting to hear what else they need.

We've also prepped a little for the move. Brent will be installing a floor in our attic storage space on Saturday. That will give us space for boxes that can be lifted up the stairs. And we finished up the last closet in the master bedroom.

While Brent is installing the attic floor, I will be packing boxes and clearing out our master bedroom and bathroom at the Shawnee house. Sunday, with the help of my step-dad Pete and his van, some of the furniture will move.

I think the next 3 weekends will be about the same.

Meanwhile, just to keep us smiling, I've been snapping some pictures of the silly, fuzzy boys in our backyard.

The most endearing alpaca pose (sniffing my face).
This is Mr. "T".

Loki and Tigger practicing synchronized chewing.

An alpaca argument (always over food-because there are no girls).
That is Toby on the left.

Mr "T" looking like the boss
(this is my new wallpaper on my phone)

Tigger (foreground) and Tuscany.
Tigger's dad was a mystery until now. I think Tuscany was the guy.

Especially when I found them kissing!
Just kidding. They probably accidentally bumped into each other.

Progress on the barn

Brent, Jeremy and I had a long weekend due to the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. So we took the opportunity to tackle one very difficult part of the barn construction - the roof.

Brent and Jeremy applying metal to the south side of the roof.

Really, it was almost all Brent and Jeremy. There are some real disadvantages to being short. Their long limbs worked much more efficiently than my short ones moving between trusses and handing metal and tools across long distances.

We started on the north side of the building on Saturday. We spent over half a day on Friday reviewing the plans and researching the application of metal trim and insulation. So we understood the sequence of application and where adjustments would be needed to the framing.

There was also a problem to solve: how to stand on the roof to attach the metal after the bubble wrap insulation was applied. You can see in the photo above that Brent devised a ladder that could be moved as each metal panel was attached.

As luck would have it our first day, Saturday, was incredibly windy! That helped us understand the need for those other boards you see on the roof in the picture. Those are helping hold the insulation down. The staples we used are no match for the wind. The north side blew off in a couple of places before we got it covered with metal. But it still looks good.

The alpacas don't know what to think of their new space yet. They seem to be wondering why we have things in the way of their favorite bathroom spot :-)

Remember that fiber that I've been processing?

It's a hat!

 It took me a year but I finally converted the first bits of hand-spinning into a hat :-)

This picture show all of the colors.

When I started learning about alpaca fiber, I was very curious to know what a spinner would think of it. So, as we visited some alpaca owners, I would ask if I could purchase some fiber. All of them just gave me fiber in various amount (sometimes A LOT).

The first, white, fiber I received was already processed into roving. That is the very top of the hat and was my very first attempt at spinning. The rest of the hat was either combed or carded by hand and then spun with a drop spindle into a single ply yarn. Here is a link to the blog post about processing suri fiber and processing huacaya fiber.

My hat is very heavy and very soft. And, best of all, it is all natural alpaca colors - nothing is dyed.

My next creations will be from our very own alpacas. Because they rolled in cockleburs in 2013, their 2014 shearing could not be sent out for mechanical processing. So when I brought them home, I also got their fiber (in seven large trash bags) for hand processing and spinning.

I have a lot of fun ahead of me :-)

Another weekend of barn building

Brent and the boys (except Skylr) worked on the barn over the weekend and made a lot of progress. They installed all of the roof trusses!

Blaine, Logan and Jeremy working on the trusses.

We had several showings at our old house in Shawnee and I needed to move some of the house plants, so I wasn't around to see them putting the trusses up. But sure love the look of their work. After this photo was taken they continued attaching the horizontal braces (purlins). And, now, our barn is ready for the metal.

Brent and I plan to cover the main barn with insulation and metal this weekend. That will give the alpacas a dry spot to be while we built the lean-to roof (the area that is now covered by a tarp).

Hope our fuzzy guys like the new digs!

Nice weather means work outside...

Finally, there were a couple of warm days over our holiday break from work. Brent took the opportunity to tackle a big job - the roof trusses for the barn. I helped a little but, mostly, Brent, Jeremy and Blaine did all the barn work.

Brent cutting off the last 6 poles.

The first truss is up!

In all, 3 of the 7 trusses were raised yesterday.

While the guys were working on the barn, I piddled around and tried to stay busy. One of the projects I landed on was making a feeder for the alpacas. Here's what I came up with:

My first try at an alpaca feeder. I only had to cut 3 boards!

My feeder was made entirely out of lumber from the construction waste. We have a lot of good lumber. The challenge was finding the right size pieces rather than cutting more up and leaving more waste.

My little project didn't make a dent in our piles of waste.
I better get started on that chicken coop!

In addition, Jeremy helped me extend the space the alpacas have available for grazing. We doubled the size of their space and they seemed ecstatic! I think it was the first time I saw them run. It was also the first time I realized how easy it is to contain them. It took several tries to convince them they could move past the old fence posts.

 At the end of the day yesterday, this is how the alpacas' enclosure looked. Their temporary roof was back in place, but you can see the beginnings of the "real" roof to come. Their feeder is in their barn and they have new grass to graze.

Lots of progress for the alpacas.

I'd say we had a productive couple of days :-)