Fencing Extravaganza - Reprise (Day 2)

Since yesterday didn't go quite as planned and the fence posts didn't get upright, today was a workday at the farm.

Al and Mark worked hard this morning to get the post pounder working properly and the first run of post in.  David arrived just before lunch and helped them out with the last few posts before lunch break.

David patched up the sheet metal on the goat barn that had loosened in the last windstorm, then took over for Mark with post pounding.

By nightfall (which happens way too early these days, by the way!), the guys had 3/4 of the perimeter finished. 

It was a pretty windy and sometimes stormy day.  But God blessed us with a beautiful painted sky tonight!

 

 

Big thanks today to Mark and David for all their hard work.  We hope you aren't sore tomorrow!

Fencing Extravaganza - Reprise

Since last weeks fencing adventure was so fun, we decided to continue today!  Well, we really need to get the fence up since the goats and winter will be here soon.

Al arranged to rent a tractor for the weekend.  But while we waited for it to arrive, the crew started clearing around the old running sheds and readying them for repair.  They also loaded up the back of the truck and delivered fence posts into the field.

Once the tractor arrived, they discovered that the fence post pounder did not fit this tractor either, so off the guys went to TSC to get the needed parts.  The girls continued to deliver the fence posts until it got too dark.

The work day ended with finally getting the fence pounder attached to the tractor.  Unfortunately, this had to be done in the dark.  But at least it's ready to pound some posts into the ground!

Special thanks today to Mark, Liz and Ruth.  And to Anna who kept me smiling and helped me with the boys so I could get supper ready!

You know you live in the country when ...

You know you live in the country when ... 
the used farm equipment store lets you borrow a tractor and then delivers it - without even checking if they have the right house or asking anyone to sign for it's delivery.

Beautiful Sunrise

This morning started off with a beautiful sunrise!

What a great start to the day!

 

 

Today, Dad M. started work on the tack room in the horse barn. After clearing out all the misc things, and a trip to the lumber yard, he leveled out the floor and started laying barn board down. It was a lot of work to get the base in order!

Mom M. also came out in the afternoon and watched the boys while I took advantage of the sunshine and cleaned up the garden. The previous owners left us all their tomato and pepper plants. A big container of chestnuts was gathered from under the old chestnut tree too.

After Caleb's rest time, I took him out to see what Grandpa was up to. The boy was interested in how the saw worked and even helped Grandpa measure and lay down a couple of boards! And of course, he needed to feed the cats.

You know you live in the country when ...

You know you live in the country ....
When a guy comes to the door and says he's looking for a place to deer hunt and asks if our property extends into the bush.

You know you live in the country when ...

You know you live in the country when ...
you call to order a part for a furnace repair and they offer to drop it off and bill you later.

You know you live in the country when ...

You know you live in the country when ...
when over half of the traffic by your house are tractors.

Work Day

We have such wonderful friends and family!

Today's work included installing a railing on the stairs to the hay loft in the barn as well as the loft walkway.  There was lots of cleaning up to do to make things a little more safe for workers in the barn and for people that may be visiting our future horse boarding clients.

Thanks to Liz, Anna and Earl for their help!

Mark also came and cut our lawn.  It was too long and we don't have a lawn tractor yet.  Mark packed up all his equipment and drove it all the way from his place to ours then spent the day cutting the lawn and trimming and composting the clippings.  That should keep things cleaned up until the spring

Thanks Mark!  It looks great!

Our first guests

Mom and Dad W. not only wanted to see our new place, but wanted to help us get settled.  They were intending on coming for Thanksgiving weekend.  After hearing the long list of things that needed to be done asap, they came a few days early.

Mom W. helped me clean the kitchen, unpack all the kitchen boxes and get things organized and put away.  It took us 3 days.

Dad W. tackled the one room that we needed to redo right away: Nathan's room.

We thought it would be a quick update and get we'd move him straight into his new room on moving day.  But, striping the yellow pansy wallpaper was a nightmare.  And there just wasn't enough time for us to get it ready.

Dad spent the week repairing the walls adding coat after coat of drywall filler and then beautiful coats of blue paint that reminded me of the ocean.

Before:

After:

Many thanks to my wonderful parents for all the hard work and support!

Moving Day

It's moving day!

The day started off like this:

 

And ended like this:

We have a wonderful group of family and friends!

Thanks Shari, David, Steve, Leeling, Betty, Madeline, Mark, Earl, Liz, MaryAnne, Andrew, Ruth, Paul, Kari, Kylen and Loralee who shared their muscle all day!

Special thanks to Mom M., Justin, Jeanette, Ben & Noah for taking care of my precious boys.  And to Shari who made sure they had a place to sleep tonight.

We love you all!

Windows

Opening up all the windows to let some from fresh air in means a bigger job when there are 33 windows to open!

Happy Key Day!

Today is the day!!!

For weeks, we've been counting down with Caleb to what became known as "Key Day".

We waited (not so patiently) for that big phone call from the lawyer saying that the purchase was completed.  It finally came!!!

I was very excited!

 

Our first dinner in our new house!

 



 

The first sunset (of many more to come)!



The Journey

For years we have talked about wanting to live in the country. A place with a little bit of land to spread out on. A place away from the noise and smog of the city. A place for the kids to run and play. A place we can invest in for the future. Kind of like our retirement fund.

On and off, Al would search the MLS listings in hopes finding something that would meet our needs, fulfill our hopes, and convince Andrea to want to leave our first home together.

When new neighbours arrived with issues (and visits by police often), Al desire to have a safer place for his family increase.

The first farm we looked at was south east if Hamilton - 70 acres farm land and a huge barn with stalls for 25 horses. Even though the barn needed some work, there was huge potential in this place. The house on the other hand needed a LOT of work. While we liked it, the resources were not available to purchase a farm of this size and also renovate the house.

It wasn't until the spring, just after Nathan was born, when Al started seriously searching again.

Nathan was just 6 weeks old when we ventured onto another farm near Caledonia. This was a horse farm. The business was well established and the horses would bring in some good income. But again, the house wasn't perfect. It was built in the early 1800's so it had lots of character. But most of the windows needed to be replaced and the floors fixed and without an addition, it wouldn't meet our needs.

We next looked at a small 3 acre horse hobby farm on Hwy 6 near Caledonia. We loved this place ... So much that we put an offer in on it. But, there were two offers presented that day and the owners went with the other people.

We were disappointed. But the search continued.

We found another spot just outside Binbrook that we would have enjoyed calling home. This one had a horse barn and acres of bush. The house was definitely somewhere we could live. But, the owners didn't like our offer amongst four others.

While we were sad, we found ourselves not too disappointed - that place was not for us.

At this point, the rollercoaster ride was getting to my already sleep deprived brain. I needed a break from this project.

But a couple of weeks later, Al found a farm in a great location for a steal of a price. I was convinced to check it out. As soon as we walked up the stairs of the house, we figured out why. Water damage and loose floor boards plagued the whole second floor. Now here was a fix-er-up-er. Al really tried to see if we could make it work since the price was so low, but I was not convince. I just didn't want to move into a place with two small boys that needed that much work.

But, then our gift arrived. An email from our agent caught my attention! It was just out of our price range, but beautiful. I showed it to Al and said this place could be my dream house.

We decided to take a look - and fell in love. I could live here!

Al spent hours researching income potential, township by-laws, mortgage options (farms a lot lot more complicated than just houses) school boards and yes, it may be possible to make an offer. After much conversation and a ton of prayer, we decided to send in our offer.

After going back and forth for a couple of days, we had a contract for purchase! We were so excited!

The home inspection and water testing passed with flying colours. The mortgage approval was another story with the bank holding off on their decision until literally the last hour. We almost had to default on the offer! It was so very stressful, but finally all the conditions were met and in 8 short weeks it would be ours!