Out with the old...

One of the most striking things about living in a national monument is the reminder that we are just caretakers passing through. It is such a magnifent structure and one that has had to be maintained for almost 400 years!

And once every 70 years or so, the windmill blades need to be replaced. The process has begun...one that is very time consuming and costly. There aren't too many Mill Maker's left so it is quite a sight to witness this crew hard at work. And, thankfully, the Alkmaar Molenstichting has been busy raising the funds for this kind of project so the cost is not a worry for us.

The first step was cutting off the wooden slats on the blades.

Then they cut the blades into smaller pieces to make them easier to manage.

It looks like this could have been taken 100 years ago!

Good friends Ed, Piet, & Erik taking it all in.

Easy does it.

One of the blades will be used to replace an older one to be used as the world's biggest "teeter-totter"!

It looks so naked without the blades...and we're not exactly sure when they'll return with the new ones to install. What a process....difficult even with machinary. It's so hard to imagine how they did this with just man power and pulley ropes!

Proudly waiting for the next step in the process.

We're looking forward to the next stage and will keep you posted as we go!