Saturday brought rain, sleet and slush which froze overnight on just about everything.
Colder weather is arriving later in the week so this ice will be with us for awhile. This is what our yard looks like today – a rough skating rink!
If I fall and break a bone, who will take care of everybody? If Rick falls and breaks a bone, I’ll have to take care of him, too. I am very careful when I walk outside.
This was just last Friday – the goats were enjoying the yard and each other. It’s funny that they can get along while outside together but put them all in the barn in the same pen and all of a sudden there’s a pecking order leaving some of those on the low end standing outside while those in charge guard the door. Why can’t they all just get along????
While the chickens were locked in the barn during the weekend inclement weather, I gave them a head of cabbage to break the boredom – it took only a few hours to eat the entire head!
Hazel stays real close to Reed when he’s here.
This was taken at supper time Friday night – we sewed till 10 pm! Church was cancelled on Sunday morning and I was not able to get to his house to get help with the photos. At least I THINK I got our huge photo deleted but can’t find our logo.
I finally got my new glasses this morning – I have not been able to see this well for quite a few years. I hated the reading glasses – what a hassle!
I just finished quilting the two red and white chair covers and hope to bind them tonight.
I put them both on the machine at once with one piece of backing which worked great.
Connie is finishing up the very last quilt for the second new Civil War book with Martingale. She can’t wait to get back to her bright fabrics again. A steady diet of any one color palette gets boring – fast.
Please be getting your book titles together because I’ll be asking for them in the next day or so. That month went fast, didn’t it.
Here’s Hazel having a nap on my lap last night while I watched Garth Brooks at Notre Dame Stadium. Wasn’t it fun to sing along?
I’ll be posting some info about the Bullseye Quilt Along starting January 1. We will also have a couple patterns available for January. So that’s it for today – thanks for hanging in there with me!
Great pics! Reed and Hazel are very cute together.
Gail in Toronto
Do be careful out there, no one needs a broken bone or two this wintery season……the ice is wicked!
Loved seeing the goats out there enjoying the freedom. As far as pecking orders, it isn’t just goats I think. The llamas definitely have a pecking order – The oldest female is the Alpha and all the others have to pay attention. Then the next oldest female, then the next, and then the oldest gelding and then the next gelding. It is definite and very obvious. The “baby” is now 5 months old and they don’t consider her a baby any more so she is just a pest! They do all get along as long as they remember that!! Hazel has both you and Reed as her favorites, she is such a cutie!! Hang in there, will be looking forward to the Bullseye Quilt Along.
I’ve slipped on ice when we lived “up North” and have dislocated knees as a result so know the fear of slipping. Isn’t there a product you can put on the sidewalk and/or driveway icey areas that will destroy the ice already there and prevent more from forming? You’d think in this hi-tech day and age someone would have come out with such a thing.
I love cabbage-loving chickens! I wish I would have thought of this when I had chickens, though we always fed them food scraps. They really loved spaghetti–I think they thought it was worms! Ha! Cantaloupe and watermelon rinds were also a big hit and they loved warm water in the winter. Maybe it’s the chicken version of tea. I so enjoyed watching them gobble up their treats.
I just fell on the ice on Saturday–it was hidden under snow. Ouch! Be careful out there!
Mary…
Light snow started falling up here about noon. We have ice here n there like shown in your sidewalk picture. Some friends have slip on safety cleats for ice weather. Better than the result of falling!
Reed and Hazel are quite a photogenic duo. Your twin chair covers look great side by side.
Watched some of the Garth Brooks concert fronm the Norte Dame stadium last night as well; quite a sing along!
Enjoy your new glasses, Mary?
I love your wintery pictures!! Phoenix, AZ, just doesn’t have that… Christmas atmosphere, you know?! 😂
As far as the goats go…. sounds like my kids when they were coming up… or any group of kids! (think school playground!
One of these days/months/years(?!) I’m going to quilt something again and not just read about others quilting… In the mean time though, I enjoy reading all about yours. I also enjoy reading about your adventures with Reed. What a sweet relationship and a sweet boy.
Thanks for brightening up my day!!
the pictures are so good they make me feel cold. i guess animals are like humans in many more ways than we know. pecking order, how funny. chair covers are looking good. i have pulled some fabrics from the re-cut bins and need to start sewing for bonnie’s mystery quilt. why not use what is already cut. seriously think about taking a bin of squares (say 3.5 or 4) and just sewing them toether for a quilt. patti in florida
Love those paws of Hazels while she layed in your lap. We use the pet friendly product called Paw Thaw for our back steps that get slippery and I am afraid of slipping on them. The way this winter is looking I might need to stock up on it. Please be very careful. Go slow. I have a pair of those grippers for the bottom of my shoes so this could be the year I need to wear them too.
It just started to turn colder this afternoon as I was coming home from our senior comfort quilters group Christmas lunch. Now it’s snowing so glad to be off the roads. Yesterday we were 60 degrees here!
I just love your barn !!!
Your yard pictures look like our house, the snow came over the Thanksgiving weekend, then it warmed up into slush and then froze again! Try some ice melt on your walkways, that’s what we use. Cleats that fit over the shoes help, too. We have sunny days until next Sun/Mon when the next round of snow is forecast.
As far as your animals and their behavior, why do we expect them to get along when us humans can’t? LOL
Take care and have fun sewing. I’m got my Bernina 830 embroidery machine humming along right now. I’m working on finishing the OESD Starry Night Santa tile scene. I’m on tile #26 out of 32 total. Then I get to sew them together and have a new holiday wall-hanging done for my entry hall! I can hardly wait to finish it!
Great post! Be careful in that ice…Elaine moved to her new place over the weekend…that was challenging with the ice.
Is that a new building to the right of the barn…with the pickup front of it? I don’t remember it being there.
Be careful!
Last week we got 12 inches of snow, Friday rain for 3 days, now it is all ice. Found out my back is arthuritis and my old rotator surgery is degenerative arthuritis. I don’t know when I will be able to sew. It’s been 4 years now with pain. Please be very careful on the ice. I do enjoy your stories and your quilts. Glad you can see better and your pictures are so much better. I guess with your new I-pad. I guess the kids are just acting like kids. Look forward to your new book release. Looking give me hope of what might be able to do by spring. Stay off the ice.
Why can’t the goats get a long inside? I bet one has body order (LOL)
Winter came to soon this year but I knew it would be a cold one. I never had as many acorns before…happy squirrels here! Love your pictures and I watched Garth Brooks,too. Loved “Hey Jude”..lots of memories. Reed is adorable and so is Hazel. Stay warm and definitely upright! It is cold in Illinois..more snow today but the streets are clear.
Mary I forgot to ask you the name of the Bonnie Hunter quilt you are working on.
I am working on Bonnie Hunter’s mystery called Good Fortune.
Mary I hope you have ice creepers on your boots or shoes. They are the best. The ones I gave are called stabilizers.
Go to Walmart and buy 3-4 pair of Non Slip Snow Grabbers (Winter Ice Treads on code). They are wonderful and will keep you from slipping on ice and very easy to slip over the bottoms of your shoes or boots. Well worth the money and better than taking chances of falling.
We got the same weather on Friday night thru Sunday. I didn’t go out on Saturday and Sunday only to shovel the ice off part of the sidewalks. We do have to be ready for this stuff. I’ve lived in the cold winter all my life. The air just felt so nice and fresh when I shoveled. Could do without the wind, but that is a given. We were north of the worst part of the storm. The snow was very wet and heavy which makes it hard to measure. Has to be at least 7″ here in town. It settled and then snowed more. Now we have ice. Such is life.
Finally decided where this year’s 47 knitted stocking caps are going. Now to get them delivered. Always a place for the caps in this country. That will make more space in the living room.
Take care and be careful.
Love the photos of your goats!
Yes, watch out for the dark ice-not fun anywhere you live.
Do be careful walking on the ice. When you get a chance, please get some ice melt (calcium chloride) for your walkways. Maybe some sand for the corrugated ice on the driveways if you don’t use rock salt or something else?
Be Safe!
Be careful with all that ice. Enjoyed all the animal pictures and Reed’s. I am finishing a penny rug for a gift swap next week then on to making a baby quilt. This will be my first baby quilt I have made so hoping it will be satisfactory. I am using all bright colors with animals in the center of stars. Nine stars total.
Sounds like everyone will be in the mix for a storm coming across country this weekend. Good weekend to sew and do some Christmas baking.
Carolyn B Shenandoah Valley VA
Good advice from Betty. I bought them for everyone last year for Christmas. I do the “Tim Conway Shuffle” when I go out and I’m not sure about the footing. Drives my husband nuts because I look just like TC!!
Cute pics of all the “gang”. I am hoping to try the Bulls Eye quilt. Thanks for sharing, Mary. Stay safe:)
Mary, I hope you will get a pair of those ice gripping shoes. I see Betty already suggested it. You have a great distance to go between barn and house, at least when it is so icy.
Hazel and Reed are very cute together. Young animals always seem to love being with young people, don’t they?
Glad to hear about your glasses.
Hi
I love your posts. I especially love seeing the goats and chickens and your cute dogs! Thankyou for every post they are so wonderful.
Thankyou
Beatrice knight
Bea Knight – I still have the picture of your dogs somewhere – I absolutely loved it and those little terriers were a contributing factor to getting 3 JRT’s over the years including my current little terrorist, Hazel! Thank you, Bea, for your friendship over the past many, many years!,
Thankyou so much!!!
Mary, Have you heard of Yak Trax? They are these things you slip over your shoes or boots and they have spikes that give you traction on the ice. I gave some to my mom years ago.
Also, a question from this city girl. When it’s time for the goats to go back in the barn, how do you get them all to go back in?
Noel from KY – I get the goats back into their respective pens inside the barn when it’s chore time. As you can see they are all good eaters and can’t wait to get to the grain from my bucket. I dole it out into pans and hanging feeders and they all know which one is theirs. Sorta like church – there aren’t assigned seats or in this case pans but it seems we’re all creatures of habit, sitting in the same pew each week and eating from the same pan if you’re a goat. Haha!
Ha! And thanks! Similar way I get the dogs inside…lure them with a treat.
I’m glad to know you were watching Garth with me! I have met him and can tell you that he is a genuinely nice fella and enjoys talking to people all the time.
Maybe the goats have trouble confined in the barn and when outside create their own space…who knows. I enjoy seeing your yard especially in the winter when your red barn is a welcome site among all the white.
Please keep your sewing and quilting up and running. I don’t respond all the time, but I read your blog each day.
Thanks for the effort, Marilyn