A most wonderful day.

 What a great morning it was!  12 miles of mountain climbing, descending, trail running, road walking. . . it was great!  My brother and I participated in the Frozen Snot trail run near McElhattan PA.  Time-wise, he was faster.....because he ran the course.  I hiked it and ended up with some beautiful pictures and having met some great people.  I learned never to underestimate the steepness and height of Pennsylvania mountains. Wow!  Such gorgeous territory and so close to home!

Goodbye Dolly Llama

 Goodbye Dolly Llama.  I love you still. Please give my dad a hug from me.

Next up.

 This is a quilt that I made for one of my daughters years and years ago.  It is not finished.  It needs faces embroidered onto the frogs, it needs some fish and other waterlife appliqued onto the borders.  After my mom's quilt is done, this is my next project to finish.  Unfortunately.....I found this pattern at Crabapple Hill Studio online shop.I'm sure that after I've saved up the money, I will buy this pattern.

Dolly Llama is about the same but she is warm and comfortable.  I have been giving her warm water and molasses along with her meds with a turkey baster.  Honestly, I think she is going pull out of this. I sure hope so.

When I went outside tonight, NO chickens were on the goat fence.  Which means they noticed that it was a million degrees below zero and went inside to roost.

The other dogs want nothing to do with the cold.  Even Casper has been content to just sleep on his rocking chair.

One heartbreak too many.....

There comes a point when an old goat's heart has dealt with one too many losses.  I believe that I'm nearing that point. It seems as if Dolly Llama has come to the end of her life.  On the coldest day of the year but yet lying out in the field with her, it didn't feel cold at all.  I'm hoping and praying that tomorrow she will be up on her feet again, glaring at me the way she does......I would give anything to have that again.  I want to see her crooked little mouth, her gnarly teeth........ I love Dolly Llama - beyond comprehension.  I know that when you have a farm, you always deal with losing animals.  I know that. Unfortunately that is my weak spot as farmer.  But seriously? I thought that I would be passing Dolly down to my great-great-grandkids.  I never thought I would outlive Dolly Llama.

I don't want her to die.  I've given her warm molasses water in a turkey baster, I've scratched her back, given her medicine.  At one point, she was so ticked off at me that she tried to jump up.  I couldn't get her mad again.

I really don't want her to die.  Aside from my goats, Dolly was my first farm animal.  She's Clover's buddy.  What will Clover do without Dolly?  Everyone knows that a pony needs a pal.  The goats don't count because they are squirrely, will sneak away, and will not make good pony friends.

I really, really want to walk out tomorrow morning and see my Dolly Llama....my good girl.  I want to know that animals go to heaven too.

How lucky are we?

 ....to have two beautiful winter days in a row!  It has been grand....hiking solo yesterday and then today with my daughter!  The roads to where we were originally going to hike were way too icy to drive on in my little car but I'm so glad we ended up where we did!  It was a gorgeous hike....not one other soul around. Well, there was a couple signed in this morning on the trail registry but we saw no signs of anyone.  There is just something about traipsing up the rocky hills/mountains of Pennsylvania with no other sounds than the snow runoff splashing over the rocks, the birds and the occasional crashing of deer through the woods.  My daughter and I just really enjoy each other's company and hiking in the woods just makes us closer.  We talk about everything...today the focus was mainly on our upcoming weeklong hiking trip.  We talk about school, we talk about God, we talk about every little thing that is important to us.
It was truly a grand day.

Whadda day!

Today was spent scoping out next weekend's trailrun.  It was an absolutely glorious day!I only hiked about a third of it~about the last three miles so I was hiking up part of the run that we will be running down.  I got to the top of the first ascent - full prepared to climb down when.....yowie!!!  It was straight down!  Now this is a trail run.....not a hike.  But you can bet that I won't be running straight up the side of the mountain!    But next Saturday is going to a blast!  There is nothing wrong with a day spent in the forest whether you are running or walking, whether it is snowing or raining....something about the trees calms my soul and makes me  happy.  

This is the top of the last mountain/hill. We will be running up this. And this is the smallest of the elevations.

Get to know me at the Grow Your Blog party!

My latest handquilting project approved by Mr. Wienie

I'm participating in a great Grow Your Blog event by Vicki at 2 Bags Full. I really appreciate that she has done this and hope you will take a look at her blog (she has some beautiful photos)!

Hi -- my name is Beth and I am an old goat :)  Other than being old as dirt, I'm also kind of a farmer....of goats (I have six of them, all with names), umpteen chickens, 1 pony named Clover, and a cantankerous llama named Dolly (Dolly Llama).  That is outside.....I share my home with my 3 youngest children  - 15 year old twin daughters and a 13 year old son.  I have two older children - a 26 year old son who lives in Colorado and a 30 year old daughter who lives in NW PA. I have the most gorgeous 6 year old grandson and will have a brand new grandchild in July/August!  I also have 5 dogs who live in the house with me and many of my blog posts relate to my adventures with them.....particularly my deaf boxer Casper.

I started sewing very young....my grandmother taught me in her little sewing room. I can still remember sitting beside her at her sewing machine in between lunch and the start of her soap opera.  For many years afterward, I sewed lots of clothing and things and when I was 25, I decided to actually make a quilt.  I've always, always loved quilts and fabrics.  But like many things, I never brought myself to actually take the next step and make one.  My first quilt was the world's heaviest quilt.  I made it from a kit from Hearthside Quilts. It was a tumbling blocks quilt sewed to a foundation and then quilted.  I hand quilted it in the ditch and it took forever to get it done.  It really was a bear to handquilt through all of that fabric and batting!  But the work was worth it because my mom still loves it! And uses it!  Right now, I'm finishing up a quilt for her - a very, very happy quilt - one that hopefully will make her smile whenever she uses it.  I still handquilt - partly because I could never get the hang of machine quilting and partly because handquilting is very relaxing for me.

And now for my first giveaway ever.......a name will be randomly chosen on February 1st for a package of 3 OneOldGoat soaps. Included will be a coffee soap, a shampoo bar, and a marigold bar. To enter leave a comment, for a second entry follow me and leave me a comment telling me so.

Cold wienie.

Tucker aka Mr. Wiener

 An epic day: 5 inches of snow, 2 hour school delay - both high school and the University. Of course, I was at home sick and wasn't able to truly enjoy being able to go into work late but I was very thankful that the large percentage of the workforce would not have to venture out before the roads were treated.

One thing about having animals, no matter how crummy you feel, they still need to be taken care of.

The goats were happy with their hay and pine trees, Dolly Llama and Clover were cuddled in their warm little houses, the dogs jumped and played in the snow...........and the chickens still sat on the fence!

And today  I am grateful for a warm home and many quilts to sleep under.

Ick.

I feel like crud today. Headache, sore throat, fever......crud.  I guess it was my turn.

It has gotten colder, it's supposed to snow and the chickens still sleep on the fence. Go figure.

I've been trying to figure out how to photograph the beautiful sunsets we get around here. I used to be able to do it on my old camera but I haven't had much luck with the camera I got last year. I'm too impatient to figure out the settings and as a result, I end up with blurry photos.  Blurry. That's how I feel.  Blurry and monotone. That is me.

But I've decided to make a note each day of something special that I am thankful for.  At the moment, I am thankful that I have the means, if not the knowledge, to photograph the beautiful views around my home.

And what I accomplished.

Much was accomplished yesterday and I am proud to say that the back of the quilt looks just fine.  As if I had planned it (which I did not).  I measured (twice!) and trimmed the existing back, sewed it, steamed it, and basted it!  Now all that is left to do handquilt a design in the blue border - kind of a squared chain link with the lucky spider web and spider in one of the corners.  A rainbow striped binding will finish it.

And then.......off to work on my Audubon BOM and my 30's kitty quilt.  Oh and I need to do the embroidery on Jordan's frog quilt (which should be done first).  Hmmmm so much to do!

What it is not.

No one wants to be depressed.  Being depressed is not fun.  It is NOT the bittersweet sadness that makes you just want to curl up under a heavy blanket and watch TV all day long.  It is the agonizing cement block that slams on top of you and doesn't let you up, doesn't let you breathe.

Being depressed is NOT mind over matter.  It isn't just getting up and looking at the bright side of things because when you are depressed, you can do those things.  It just doesn't work.

Being depressed is NOT feeling sad.  Being depressed is NOT feeling. At all.

Not quite done.

So I've joined an online quilting group that will be my motivation to get a few things done.  Basically it is a group of quilters who post online their projects, progress, and finishes for each month.  This could be very good for me.  This is my January project.  This quilt has been an absolute delight! It always makes me happy when I work on it.  I joined a sew-in last night, and got all of the quilting done. Now I need to make a trip to Verna's and pick up some more blue fabric to add to the backing. Once I get that done, I only have the quilting to do on the edge and the binding to do. Then I can finish up the smaller version of this that I made for a baby who is now entering college (not really)!  I'm trying to think of something unusual to quilt on the edge......I handquilt so I need to take that into consideration.

So off I go, feed the animals, go to the fabric store, stop and do a little bit of hiking and then hopefully this quilt will be back in the frame and I'll finish up the border tonight!