Just Incredible!

I've been so excited about this for almost two weeks now and thought others might like to know.

While listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio one Saturday night, they were talking to a wildlife researcher on the radio about a black bear who is expecting her first cubs to be born this winter...and very soon.

Well, being the nature lover I am, I paid close attention to the conversation! Turns out there is a web site www.bear.org that has web cams right in the bears' dens. I've been keeping an eye on her and Monday Jewel had her first babies.

If you want to get goose bumps, visit this site and you can hear everything. The microphones are incredibly sensitive and you can even hear other animals in the far-off distance. One of the babies 'screams' a lot and it's very distressing to hear both to mama bear and me, but she seems to be a good mother and responds immediately.

I have mixed feelings about the researchers working so closely with the bears (or any wild animals) because it conditions them to not be as afraid of humans as they should be but that's my own opinion. It certainly provides much needed education to others though, so I guess it's a mixed bag. Anything that helps humans understand that the creatures we share this planet with have feelings and should be respected and valued! has my support though.

Check it out - see what you think!

A Beautiful Quilt

Hi fellow bloggers!

Thank you all so much for the kind words about Tinkerbell. It appears there are lots of people who get attached to their farm critters as much as I do and I am very glad for that.

This is a quick post to share a gorgeous quilt that my sister made for me many years ago. I don't think I've ever posted about it so this is way overdue.

She made a log cabin quilt and used very bright colors with black as the binding. I've always loved bright colors on black and one of my most favored dresses that my grandmother made when I was little was a solid black dress with every color of rick rack sewn around the bottom of it. Wish I still had that as a keepsake.


So my sister, Susan, is very detail oriented and is blessed with an abundance of patience (evidently it was all given to her because I have very little myself). Notice in the close up picture that she even changed her thread color to match the portion of the quilt she was working on.


Boy not me! I would have used neutral thread and kept right on sewing! I really appreciate the effort and love that was put into this beautiful quilt and I know you quilters out there can too.

Have a good week folks. I have today off as a holiday and will be making cookies with Alissa. It's the first time I've seen her since Christmas so we're having a fun day together :)

A Tribute to Tinkerbell

The weather was beautiful today and I worked outside all day for the first time in a couple of months.

My day started by burying my special hen, Tinkerbell. She was born here over six years ago and was the only black hen I had. Like several of my chickens, she was named after a Disney character by Alissa.

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that Tinkerbell wasn't roosting at night and chose to sleep on the barn floor. Some of the other hens do that from time to time, so I didn't think much of it at first. But then I noticed some other symptoms and brought her into the garage. She wouldn't eat or drink so I did a Google search and learned that it was probably bacterial in nature. I started administering antibiotics by a syringe orally but she continued to go downhill. I brought her into the bathroom Tuesday night since it was bitterly cold. She was warm and comfortable and lasted till about 7 p.m. Wednesday evening.



She was a friendly chicken
and always close by whenever I was working near the barn.


She got along with all the other chickens very well


I know she was "just" a chicken, but it's so sad to see a pet of any kind die. I prayed that she would go quickly but it was kind of long and drawn out. Because it's still dark when I get home from work, I couldn't bury her till this morning. I had already cried Wednesday so there were no tears this morning, although going through some pictures, it's hard not to cry looking at her.

RIP little black hen.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy New Year!

Here's a toast that 2012 is better for those of us struggling and just as good for those who aren't!

My DS is visiting and we'll be going to the best little quilt shop on the east coast - Thimble Pleasures. They're having a New Years Day sale and it should be lots of fun to go see all the beautiful fabrics they have.

I am still focused entirely on my job but hope I can find a little balance in the near future. That's the closest thing to a resultion that I'm making this year.

Bring it on, 2012!