Here They Are!

Benchmark's Perucoyo Andraya

In no particular order, introducing the alpacas of Zephyr Hill Farm!


This beauty is Andraya.  She is considered a dark silver grey and will be five in May.  She is what is considered unproven.  In other words she has never given birth.
I will hopefully be bringing her home bred to one of my herd sires.

Benchmark's Peruvian Comanche

This handsome fellow is Comanche.  He is another five year old  and considered a dark rose grey.

Benchmark's Accoyo Rafael

 This cutie is Rafael.  A six year old who tugs at your heart strings.  Oh yes, he is considered white.  Did you know that there are 22 natural alpaca colors?

Benchmark's Peruvian Song Bird

  Birdie, as she is known, is a seven year old proven mom. She is a medium brown.  I would love to also have her bred by the time she comes to Zephyr Hill.

Hom Durango's Sweet Caroline

 Caroline is a medium fawn unproven five year old.  Not for long, I hope, unproven that is.

Benchmark's Coyo Twizzler

Twizzler is a five year old unproven white.  I'm thinking I want to breed her to Rafael so I know I'll have a higher chance of having another white cria. 

The baby Oops Daisy Mae I have no picture of.  Hopefully I will soon.  I'm heading to Benchmark Alpacas this Saturday morning to assist in the shearing.  I'm excited to help, not that I will actually be shearing, but I'll get to experience the frenzy and madness close up.  (Don't tell Jeff I said that, ignorance is bliss.)  Hopefully I won't be so busy tagging fleeces, etc. that I can get some pictures.

(All photos belong to Benchmark Alpacas)

It's Official! Zephyr Hill Farm

I'm so excited.  It's finally happened.  We have become alpaca owners.  Yeah!  We put down a deposit on seven alpacas on Monday.  Now I'm sure you're scratching your head and wondering where the heck we will be putting said alpacas.  I have a plan, never fear.

The woman we are buying them from will be boarding them for us up until September 1st at her farm.  I'm hoping we won't have to wait that long to bring the herd to our farm, but just in case.

We have studiously been visiting alpaca farms for ideas and suggestions on our barn and fencing.  I'm hoping next week we will have a barn plan in place and will be able to start getting bids.

photo: www.simplysuris.co.uk

If you noticed the title of this post also includes the name of our alpaca farm, thanks to Jeff.

ZEPHYR HILL FARM

We have purchased three Suri herd sires (breeding males), and four unproven females (never had a cria/baby).  They come in a range of alpaca colors, including white, dark silver grey, true black, medium brown and dark fawn.  Which thrills me.  We also are acquiring a female white cria who goes by the name of Oops Daisy Mae.  She is a sweet heart.  She was born 12/13/14.  She will be the youngest of our herd.

Let me introduce you to our new herd.
(information courtesy of Benchmark Alpacas)

Hmm, it appears the photos aren't going to transfer to my blog site and like a dummy I was so caught up in the excitement that I took no pictures.  So, pictures to come. The photo to the right I pulled off of Google.  At least you'll know what a Suri alpaca looks like.

Alpacas in The Herd

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BENCHMARK'S Accoyo Rafael ARI# 31405652   D.O.B. 8/27/2008 (6 yrs) Suri, Male| White, Full Peruvian, Proven Sire: Jackpot's Accoyo Aviator Dam: BENCHMARK'S Coyo Twisted Taffy Take a look at this boy and then take a look at his pedigree!

BENCHMARK'S Peruvian Song Bird ARI# 31405577   D.O.B. 8/20/2008 (6 yrs) Suri, Female| Medium Brown, Full Peruvian, Proven Sire: Platinum Marquis Dam: Miss Peruvian Felicity How could you possibly go wrong with this match? Birdie's Dam is Felicity -- AOBA and AAA Futurity winner as well as Half Accoyo

Mac's PeruCoyo Bo Jangles ARI# 1366501   D.O.B. 5/15/2005 (9 yrs) Suri, Male| True Black, Full Peruvian, Proven Sire: DDF Peruvian MacGyver Dam: Miss Peruvian Felicity Luster -- Luster --- Luster! Plus Bo has locks density and is a macho boy. A Black Mac son is rare enough -- but when you add that he is half Accoyo.

HOM Durango's Sweet Caroline ARI# 30494947   D.O.B. 6/21/2009 (5 yrs) Suri, Female| Dark Fawn, Full Peruvian, Unproven Sire: Moon River's Peruvian Durango Dam: Our Peruvian Alibi Caroline is a stunning girl with solid conformation, well defined locks and wonderful luster. She has that great typey head and ropey locks.

15/16 Accoyo BENCHMARK'S Coyo Twizzler ARI# 31695510   D.O.B. 8/16/2009 (5 yrs) Suri, Female| White, Full Peruvian, Unproven Sire: Perucoyo Mostaccioli Dam: BENCHMARK'S Coyo Twisted Taffy

Solid Gray with Accoyo Lines BENCHMARK'S PeruCoyo Andraya ARI# 31695411   D.O.B. 5/23/2010 (4 yrs) Suri, Female| Dark Silver Grey, Full Peruvian, Unproven Sire: GLR Peruvian Manassas Dam: BENCHMARK'S PeruCoyo Angel Rays

1/2 Accoyo DSG BENCHMARK'S PeruCoyo Comanche ARI# 31695572   D.O.B. 8/8/2009 (5 yrs) Suri, Male| Dark Silver Grey, Full Peruvian, Proven Sire: Gunsmoke's Perucoyo Sundance Kid Dam: Miss Peruvian Felicity Comanche is a stunning Herd Sire offering all the characteristics I look for in my breeding stock. He is a solid male and sits squarely on his frame.

 
 

Spring Snow

Hmm, so I thought we were done with snow.  There were just traces left where the drifts had been the deepest.  Last night I pointed out to Jeff that there was grass on the front lawn that was actually turning green!

This was our pond by the road last week. 

This was the pond this morning.

We had a fairy dusting of heavy snow last night that left everything it touched coated with the white stuff.  Though I wasn't pleased to see the snow, it was magical.  The lighting added to the drama.

 

As the morning progressed the sun came out.  By the end of the day the snow had melted away and the sun was shining in a cloudless sky.  I sat on the back deck without a coat and soaked it in.

Getting It Done

There is slow but steady progress being made on the house.   We're hoping for completion before Christmas.  Fingers crossed.

Here is a pictogram of some of our progress to date.

The Kitchen.

BEFORE

 

DURING

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GETTING THERE !

All the lower base cabinets will be the same arctic white as the base cabinet by the refrigerator.  The door with glass inserts to the left of the counter by the frig is where our new pantry will be.  It used to be the door leading to the garage.

 

 

The Fireplace.

 

 

BEFORE

DURING

DONE!

We removed the poorly done river rock facing and too small mantle.  We've replaced the the rock with stacked stone and the mantle with a large slab of three inch pine.  During this process the gas fireplace insert had to be removed entirely while the interior of the "fireplace" was rebuilt correctly.  We were told it posed a fire hazard the way it had originally been constructed.  We were fortunate that we felt large drafts from the fireplace last winter and had it inspected.  Just one of many items done improperly, poorly, horribly wrong in this house.

The Wet Bar.

The wood paneling on the bar front is the wood flooring from the dining room.  We are trying to repurpose as much as we can from the materials that we have removed throughout the house.  The back counter top will be cutdown from the old kitchen solid surface counter.
 

 

 
 I have no before pictures of Jeff's wet bar in the lower level because all that existed there before was a wall and a door into our furnace/mechanical room.  If you recognize the cabinets, kudos.  They are the upper cabinets from the kitchen. 

There are other projects still underway, including the mudroom, installation of the new bamboo hardwood flooring in the dining room, living room, and foyer, and completion of the front porch and installation of the new "cedar" shake siding surrounding the front door.  More pictures to come.

Hope everyone had a outstanding Thanksgiving!

Playing Catch Up

 Good bye Fredmoor home, hello Evart.  This photo seems like a life time ago.
 

Moving Day

So our tidy brick tri-level in the suburbs sold and we closed July 3rd.  We moved the majority of our worldly possessions up to Evart where they have since become causalities of construction dust and grime.  If we had only known, we would have put everything in storage. They will require a serious washing with soap and water. 

 I'm sorry, I digress.  Back to early summer.  Here is our home in Evart before the construction began.

I had forgotten how nice it looked.  The remainder of the summer involved digging a 10 foot trench around the entire perimeter of the house.  There was big excavating equipment and dirt and mud.  The foundation was re wrapped in 6 mil plastic and a tile drain was added around the exterior.  The basement had a trench broken through the cement floor to run a tile drain from the west side of the house to the east side.  Also a septic pump was added.  Then the outside trenches were back filled with pea gravel and sand.  The downspouts were all redirected away from the house.

The cautious exploratory excavation.

Okay now it's beginning to get serious.

Our excavator Scott skillfully maneuvered this behemoth within inches of the foundation without causing serious harm.  Amazing to watch.

It was a monster.

Now you can see how deep the excavator had to go.

The basement trench running from the bedroom on the west side.

The basement trench on the east side with the new sump pump inspection by Linus.  See the blue lines on the floor.  They are where the new walls will go for Jeff's wet bar.

 

No more front porch.

No more front yard!

Order is restored.  The beginnings of the new front porch.  Note the absence of the yawning gap between the house and the sidewalk.  Progress.

We've added stairs off the back deck.

Sadly it is a true construction zone.  Don't those stairs look lovely, though?

The east side of the house.  The air conditioner was returned to it's rightful resting place and reconnected.  The retaining wall was removed. 

Several fresh loads of soil were spread, along with grass seed and straw.  A month later we have green shoots peeking through the straw.  Just in time, for winter is knocking on the door.

The remaining photos are a montage of the summer.  It was gone so quickly.  Farewell!

From the back of our property looking towards the house.

A neighbor cut and baled over 100 4x5 round bales off of our fields.  He came back and did a second cutting at the end of the summer and probably cut another 40 bales.  That is a lot of hay.

This friendly doe was a frequent visitor.  On this day she was intrigued by an unusual disturbance in the grass.  By the way these photos were taken right off our back deck.

Hello?  What is that?

Oh, I see it is the Linus cat.

This is the concrete pad for "new" shed our handy man Bob is making out of the old carport in the background.

Well, November is but a day away.  The work on the house is progressing at a snails pace.  Will it be done in time to host Thanksgiving?  Jeff says no.  I'm reserving judgement.

What do you think Linus?