My pretty girl Misty

This is my pretty mare Misty. She's a Percheron.Quarter horse cross who is jet black and beautiful! (The camera flash creates brown highlights that are not her characteristic colors)

She's a beautiful horse who needs training and I'm fed up trying to progress at my place because of soggy wet ground or frozen ground that inhibits any activity here. 

So I called my friend Melissa McHenry who trains horses and is a real sweetheart and adores horses and the next thing I knew.....Misty was being trailored to Bloomsburg for training camp. 

I had to sew her coat with fishing line because she tore it up by her withers.But only good ol' DUCT TAPE would do the real job of holding it together (hidden from sight).And so I posted 60 different purposes for duct tape that will get you out of a jam (on F.B.)

She nickers across the driveway to other horses. She's a social gal who loves company...and people (:>

Winter Sports for Chickens !!

The new group of Leghorn chickens have finally made it out of the cellar and into the nursery coop outside.They hatched from the incubator and 25 peeps yelled Happy New Year !!!!  Now, seven weeks later,  12 of them were crowing in the cellar.Yes, I have 12 roosters in this bunch.Now they are becoming acquainted with their new house,whispering to each other,"WOW, this is a mansion!". They scratch through the fresh pine shavings and can actually run around.

This little guy stayed glued to the door and kept looking outside , probably in wonder of the environment around him. "You mean there's more to life than the four walls of that brooder?" 

I believe in winter sports for chickens , so I took them for a toboggan ride across the farm .I have five brooders similar to this one but I prefer to make less trips so half the chickens went into each trip. 

I actually think they liked it. They had never seen the sun before.Their parents live in the adult coop on the other side of  the house, about 1.5 acres away.Eventually they'll join them.I still have 25 Jersey Giant peeps in the basement , but they are still little.They will take over the nursery coop in another 2 weeks or so. I shall look forward to new crowing from the bottom of the cellar stairs.

The daylight hours are growing longer and egg laying is dramatically picking up. Some renegade hens send me on egg hunts to the spring house, under junked appliances out back and now recently......this is why you must remember to close your car windows at night. A sudden leap in the car while you're racing against the clock to get to work........just might make you late. This is why I must always keep an extra clean uniform handy , waiting to greet me from its hanger. I never know WHAT experiences these animals will bring on any given day.

Beautiful Snowy Winter February 2014

I don't remember seeing the ground since the end of December, it seems. We have had snow on top of snow. While the lower areas had snow melt,  my village is on top of the mountain and barely does snow melt but more arrives to squelch that idea. Right now I trudge through 18" of snow accumulations in the back yard to get to the nursery coop that I have been trying to get set up.I currently have 25 Leghorn chickens, born in January, in the cellar in brooders that are crowing. I also have 25 Jersey Giant peeps that are 1.5 weeks old. Still not a problem and they will remain downstairs for a few more weeks until they are feathered out.Hopefully I'll be able to finish the nursery coop today.

Turkeys are strutting where they can find a shallow snowy area and the chickens prefer to remain on their roosts in the adult coop.

Ducks plow along the surface in the deeper snow and fortunately don't sink The depth is over my knees here. They come to the garage to get their grain and socialize.The pond is frozen with only a smaller little circle of water where a spring bubbles to the surface. These guys are on their way there now for a little swim.As my friend April would say,"You know it's cold out when you see cattle walking across the pond !". I got a good laugh from that one.

 Country roads  have the appearance of "All Quiet On The Farm" during frigid winter days that is deceiving because within the barns new life is being born .We had 2 little lambs born to Sweetpea,our ewe.

These babies were leaping and playing even though temps hit zero degrees the night after they were born. How do they survive such cold?

They grow so fast and they are so affectionate Here's my Little Lamb (:>  (I'm referring to the one in the brown hat with the moustache)

I don't know what Johnnycake is laughing about. He just got his tail banded.

Winter : A great time to can meats , hearty soups and stews.

It's too cold outside to do much more than feed and water the animals.The manure is like immobile cast iron frozen to the ground. No barn cleaning these days.So I wander about my house looking for something indoors to do. Ahhhh!!!  A few empty canning jars in the cellar gathering dust. I snatch them up, scavenge about in the freezer and find hotsy totsy Italiano sausages just begging to be delivered from their icy cave.Sausage cans up beautifully . I also thaw out bags of frozen tomatoes and bell peppers I stored up from a bumper crop this past summer.Red and yellow peppers add pretty color .

 I sliced up a large onion and, after browning the sausage with diced garlic cloves in olive oil ( in my cast iron pot), stirred it quickly into the sausage.A quick toss of the bell peppers into the pot,stir, then add just enough tomatoes to coat the sausages. Not too much.  Add oregano, fresh or frozen chopped basil leaves , a little salt and pepper and WHALLAH!!  Fill the jars and can away (10 lbs pressure for 90 min for quarts.)

The kitchen is now toasty warm despite frigid temps outside.

Sausages also make yummy soup with vegetables . I use my little red potatoes I dug up in the fall and keep in the cellar refrigerator.Don't bother to peel them.Just cut them up into bite size pieces.Add frozen mixed vegetables ,onion ,garlic,pepper and salt and another frozen bag of tomatoes (thawed in the microwave) and mix it all together in a big pot. Add a few TBS. of cornstarch mixed in a little water to thicken the broth.I also add beef boullion cubes,around 3 cubes per QT of water added.

Challah beard~ WONDERFUL Challah bread!!!

The most WONDERFUL bread in the world is challah bread !!  Because  I don't live in a Jewish area of the state of Pa., I had to learn to make my own challah bread. That's OK , because on line are the recipes of the best ! Vanity dictates letting others know. HAH HAH !!  Their secrets fell into my lap (:> So~~~~~~  I softened the yeast~~~~   then I aded the other ingredients~~~~~   then I kneaded away~~   and thought of you  !!!!~~~~~   hahahaahhahhahaha    yummy    yummy    yummyyyyyy!!!

And here she comes !!!Maybe I'll bring some to work~~~~~      and maybe I won't.       HAHA!!!!    (:>

Kitties and Christmas trees~ what a headache ! But always entertaining.The glitter on the ornaments is irresistible and they just HAVE to give one a swat or two. 

What a great scratching post!!

The next thing I knew a soccer game was in progress with 3 cats swatting the bell  to each other.This one was plastic.I pretended I didn't notice while I wrapped presents~ until SMASH!! One of the glass balls bit the dust. Of course they all went running.Fortunately , this room can be closed off by french doors. As soon as you open the doors a stampede of kitties race through the door from nowhere (:<  I think I'll poke two holes in the bottom of a few stockings and slip  the kitties into the stockings to 'hang out' for awhile to keep them out of trouble.

 It seems that, every year,  tradition holds that an old favorite ornament will break . But a new gift, from a child or grandchild,will be added to be treasured year after year.

What's on our Christmas trees? What do they say about us/ Are they memories  we treasure or just glitz?The decorations we choose have varied importance. Some we buy because they are just 'so dog gone pretty~

others are collectables and  fun novelties~"All Aboard!!!"

Some may tell a story ~

Others have precious memories~ a daughter's lace from her wedding dress that she made into an ornament to be remembered by you.

Or a Secret Pal gift from a friend who left this earth too early, leaving behind young children.

A WW II  blue glass ornament with a paper hanger.Metal was precious in war days and was redirected  for military needs.

My parent's first Christmas ornaments which hung on the trees in my early childhood.

Trees hold precious gifts from children who struggle financially but still remember you, "MOM" this heart has engraved.

Little toddlers need to touch but not break, so the unbreakables but pretty hang on the lower branches.

Christmas gifts to parents are unpacked and re-displayed every year. 

 My hand print,Kathleen Lawler December 1954.

Many an elementary school teacher earned her tenure 10 times over .

And now my grandchildren make me gifts that I treasure , display , and then pack away at the end of our next Christmas celebration.(:>