No welcome mat here.

The old farmhouse we currently live in was built back in 1928. It was the first house built in Yarrow, the land newly reclaimed back then by draining a shallow but very large (20,000 acres) lake. Yarrow was to be a Mennonite colony and the first fellow that came here and built the tiny house was a fellow named Isaak Sawatsky (no relation). Over the years the house has been renovated and added to many times. These additions and improvements included inside plumbing, a basement, a back porch, extra rooms and the front stairs. In the 1970's the Heindrichs bought the house and did a major renovation. It changed hands a few more times before we bought it in 2003.

Our intent from the start was to eventually build a new house on the small acreage, but the shop I enjoy came first, for it provided a space to make our living. Nine years passed, while we dreamed and planned for our dream house - when the time was right. 

The old farm house was laid out in a rather peculiar fashion because it had been aded on to so many times and the rooms were tiny. It didn't really suit us but we patched things together, putting money in when it was critical, but mostly we just made do for it wasn't permanent and would be torn down eventually. We never used the front door of the house for it was hard to get to on the inside. The ivy vines on the front steps quickly got out of control, eventually taking over the entire front porch. We just left it for it discouraged anyone from going there. We weren't bothered by door to door sales folks very often.

The new house will be built between the old house and the road. Because we want it to be as far back on the property as possible the front steps of the old house will now have to be removed. The rest of the house will stand until the new one is done. Today was the day to see what was underneath all that ivy. We hacked and pulled and hacked some more until it was all gone. The railing also got the removal treatment. Pretty soon we'll go up on the roof with a saw and make it a whole lot shorter. Then a big excavator will remove the steps and any hope of ever using the front door again.

It is time for change at the Sawatzky house. The new house will have a welcome mat at the front door. :)

-grampa dan

Picture at last

I often hear from others who craft signs or other projects that they don't have good photographs of their work. Often the pictures they do take are not very good because the sun was at the wrong place or there was a vehicle parked in the way or some such thing. Time passes and they never do manage to get a good picture. It happens to the best of us.

I've learned to never pass up the opportunity to get pictures of our work. With the four blogs I write plus the many magazine articles I author, good pictures of our work in all stages are constantly needed. Thankfully the point and shoot digital cameras have gotten so much better and affordable which makes it so much easier these days. Where I used to have to remember to bring my bulky and extremely expensive SLR camera everywhere, now I keep a tiny digital camera strapped to my belt in a little bullet proof pouch. I have no excuse to not get a good picture of our work, or to document it's progress. 

In the shop I have built stands and tables with wheels so I can work on the projects in the best possible light and them move them to photograph them in appropriate lighting conditions best suited for that purpose. Out on the worksites I have learned to watch the light and then shoot my pictures at the perfect time of day.

But sometimes things don't work out as planned and pictures are missed. Occasionally the final picture has to wait until the owner does the landscaping or until we can get rid of background clutter. Then I must purposely take the time to return and get the shots I need. 

Yesterday I had an appointment for a meeting that I knew would take me past a sign we had installed last year. I had neglected to get the final pictures because the owner had landscaped some time after the installation and the sign wasn't in my normal tavel routes. I added a few minutes to my scheduled travel time and grabbed that missing shot at last.

The shot still isn't perfect as the sky was overcast and the spring flowers were yet to appear. It will have to do until I get back that way later in the growing season.

-grampa dan

Lark Rise sign installed.

Today was very rainy and rather cold but it was the long awaited day to install the Lark Rise sign. It arrived safe and sound. Hailey mixed up the cement and then we tipped the sign into the hole. It didn't take long to fill the hole with concrete, level up the sign and plant a few small rocks around the base for photos. The client will landscape it later - on a nicer day.

The sign fit in to the scenery perfectly!

-grampa dan