January thus far

Time has flown by! What have we been up to lately? Well, at home, there's new baby goats....

  

How sweet is that?

Last years babies are very curious about this years babies.

Mama is not impressed.

 

This little one got away from Mama just long enough to extend 

a friendly foot greeting. But don't let this cute scene fool you!

Her foot pulled back very quickly when the bigger goat tried to 

butt her through the fence! There's a reason Mama is so protective!

The cows  have had to be moved a couple times, 

and this past Sunday, we had to separate them, and take 3 to market. 

That turned out to be quite a challenge!

We'll be making some changes before the next ones go.

Lessons learned.

The chickens are not impressed with snow.

They were very glad on this particular day to get out of the coop. 

They made their way to the goat barn, where they love to look

for any bits of grain the goats overlooked.

We had a break in the weather and spent a couple days splitting firewood. I overdid it, and that resulted in several days of an aching back. Several orders for the store came in during that time, so I spent a few days on the couch, unpacking boxes and pricing new inventory. Our living room was total chaos! But it's all in the store now, neatly on display, and I can walk through my living room again. Yay!

My absolute favorite thing to do in January is the end of the year paperwork in preparation for taxes. NOT! A necessary, time-consuming evil.

Another evil that popped up was this:

 

On of our front display windows at the store. We can't prove it, but we and the police feel sure it was a drunk who was mad about who knows what. The whole window was shattered. The cost to us? $1000 that I had set aside for new inventory. Sigh.

On a happier note, I've been doing some crafting, but last night I decided to take a break from that and do some organizing. I'll finish that up today - not a bad job right now. It's nice and toasty in my studio by the woodstove, and it's single digits and teens outside!

I hope you all have avoided the flu! So far, so good here. We all had flu shots, so we have our fingers and toes crossed that we're protected. 

Keep warm!

Our Daughters Christmas Gift Crafts

Our daughter Jessica made some cool Christmas gifts...

 

 

Aren't they great? Believe it or not, this is her first real painting project! And she did it all free hand! Way to go Jessica!

 

Actually, this would be her second painting project. She also painted ornaments for her co-workers at the university where she works, with their school logo. That emboldened her to make the above ornaments for her in-laws and a family friend.

 

The WJU one is the logo of the university she and her husband Brian both graduated from a few years ago.

 

The Pittsburgh Steelers and West Virginia University bulbs are fine for personal gift giving but can't be sold. Why? The respective teams own that logo, and they can't be used for profit without the owner's giving permission, and without the owners getting a cut of said profit. Lots of crafters do it anyway, but if they were ever caught, they would be in trouble.

 

I did a post on that subject once if you care to read it. You can see it here.

 

Jessica also made a gathering apron for her new sister-in-law Katie:

 

 

Katie loves aprons, so Jessica decided to make her one. Isn't it pretty? The reason it's called a gathering apron is that it's long enough to pick up by the bottom corners, and gather produce, or eggs, or whatever needs gathering, and carry it in the apron. Clever!

 

Kevin and Katies wedding colors last summer were purple and orange. The purple waistband is a scrap of fabric that was left over from the wedding. Love it!