Silk Shatters

I collect antique quilts and restore them. But some quilts are beyond hope. I have 2 silk quilts from the 1940's. They have been used and abused to the fullest extended life I gave them. Now they are shattering. The dyes in the silk are breaking down and the fibers are dissolving. It is the natural order of some silk quilts. Silks need to be treated with care and kept out of the sun. While I love their jewel colors they have half the life of cotton and wool quilts. I have had very good luck with most silk quilt restoration. But some silk quilts such as these two are just doomed. So I enjoy them as color for my deck.

New Heights

We have and indoor/outdoor male kitten in training to become a barn cat. Poppy was Wal Mart parking lot find under our car the first week of moving to the Ozarks. He is almost 6 months old now and feeling bold and brave. His newest adventure is tree climbing when I walk to the mailbox. He follows me and the dogs and climbs all trees on the way to the mailbox. After he returns to terra firma he runs through the fields full speed.

Third Snowfall of December

Here in the Ozarks we woke up to another snow filled morning. I hurriedly swept the snow off the deck and stairs to the car. The car had a snow cover shield so we did not have to scrape the windows this morning. Had to get the husband off to work. Then I walked the dogs uphill to get the mail. Got to enjoy the snow fall and silence of the woods. And there were animal tracks in the snow. Mostly birds looking for suet.

Country Trash

I have moved around a lot and have always had trash picked up from the curb or some trash service. Here in the Ozarks where I live; they do not have a trash service provided by the city. If you have trash you can burn it in your own burn barrel, drop it off at a collection site near town, hire a private service or take it to the dump yourself. So this is a big deal for a city girl turned country. It takes a lot of time to organize the recyclables, separate the plastics and bag the true trash if you have never done that before in your life.

The plus side is that my compost has never been so rich. I have put all my greens and organics back into the earth. And this spring I will have great soil for my gardens.

With this do it yourself trash, I have to think about what I have, what I am bringing and what I need to dispose of. We load up our trailer and drive down to the trash recycling center 30 minutes from town. Our trash center tells us what goes where and how much it cost for them to dump it.

The biggest waste I have is food packaging. So much plastic!

Fun with frozen dog water

Here in the Ozarks it has been a bitterly cold December. Our pond has frozen over many times.

In the pictures below you can see the new fallen snow over the frozen pond. In this cold our dog water bowls have frozen over in a matter of hours. A fun time is had by all when we dump the bowls and walk the ice to the pond for ice sliding. These spheres of ice hurled over the pond making for the neatest sounds. Like water music over glass. And the sound echoes down the valley. Some of the pond ice is thin and the frozen dog water just cracks through. But other times the ice skids fast across the pond creating a rare and unique sound. We threw several and some ended on the other side of the pond where it was thawed. The sunken dog water ice chunks created several bubbles under the pond ice creating even more textures to the pond.

We did run out of frozen dog water. We then hacked out some of the ice from the pond itself. The sheets of ice were flat and sharp. We then used the pond ice as Frisbees. These ice sheets also made great music. It was then too cold and our gloves were soaked. Time to call it a day. Until tomorrow when we have more frozen dog water bowls.

Good Brews

My husband brought me Turkish coffee purchased in Baton Rouge. I had never had this kind of coffee before. Wow, it is wonderful! I found directions on how to brew on-line. There are several vendors on-line and on Ebay. I had to get the pot and the tiny cups for the whole experience for this kind of coffee. If you like coffee give Turkish a try.

Yes, Daisy there is a Christmas pighead.

Sometimes those who love us give us strange gifts. This year I was given a pig head night light. I do have country decor and some pigs have been used in my kitchen. But this plastic pig is quite creepy. And its head can be turned, too. I might have to save it until Halloween next year. Just too realistic a pig head.

Christmas Day

This year, living in a new place, we were invited to a Christmas dinner with new friends. While we left so many friends in Houston, TX; we have new relationships here in Missouri. The people in our town are so nice and welcoming. What a blessing to have a relaxing dinner with people living the lifestyle we have sought by moving here. Fine wine, great dinner, conversation and pets waiting for attention whenever the conversation slows. Christmas celebrated in the company of new friends in the Ozarks, what a treat.

A White Christmas

We woke up on a cold Christmas morning to a prayer answered. A white Christmas in the Ozarks. Our first snowfall here in our part of Missouri. The snow came down in fat flakes and stayed until the sun rose. What a treat to see the snow and watch the animals play in it.

Christmas Lights

Just photos of my tree and ornaments for all to enjoy. Hope you all have a safe holiday and a Merry Christmas.

Happy Chickens

We stopped by a neighbors house to wish them Christmas tidings. Our neighbor has a large flock of roosters and hens. They offered to give us their extra roosters.Seems no one needs roosters. But we are wanting to get practice birds to get used to tending chickens on our property. Eventually we will buy some laying hens. We walked around her flock along with her cats and a dog. All her animals seemed to get along.

Road Trip

My husband and I decided to celebrate our 10 years of marriage by driving from the Ozarks to St. Louis, MO. We decided to let the GPS guide our navigations. We drove through very wooded roads and mountains, with nary a car or house in sight. Until we were stopped at a river and the ferry was not operating in winter. So we turned around and headed back on our own. We located a highway and turned on it to see what was out there with the remaining daylight. We found the Twin Pines Nature Conservatory. What a wonderful place to learn about nature in MO. They have animals you can touch, hear and see. They have logging equipment, an antique log cabin and staff ready to answer all your questions. We stayed far longer than we planned. What a great gem of our area.We never made it to St. Louis that day, but found a place far more stimulating. You just never know what awaits you in the Ozarks.

Dog Sled

I had a husky dog growing up, Bear. She could pull anything we put behind her. She lived for almost 20 human years. After moving to the Ozarks, I now have a huge German Shepherd, Osa. She is 70+ pounds of muscle. So I am training her to pull a sled for me. I don't own an ATV and I have to haul stuff out of the woods myself. Now with Osa I can move loads very quickly over the forest earth with her and a sled. Hauling logs and rocks in small trips with dog power is the way to go. I am looking for a dog cart and harness for longer trips into the woods. Osa is very smart and obeys all commands and pulls with zest. We both enjoy the exercise and being outdoors with nature all around. It will be fun when the snow finds us in the Ozarks.

Quilted Stockings

I found a pattern in a Country magazine from 1990's. There was a neat quilted stocking how-to pattern. I had a blast making these as gifts.

Mole-sicle

If you live in the country, you might have moles. They live under the ground forever tunneling like mad.I have seen the tunnels and never single mole. Until winter came. Now every morning there are frozen moles of various sizes and kinds frozen and sticking out of the ground.The are a tasty treat for the dog as she harvest them like an Easter egg hunt. The moles have very soft pelts. Now I understand what "moleskin" means.

On Frozen Pond

We have 40+ acres and 2 spring fed ponds. With all this cold weather in MO we have frozen ponds. A fun thing to do is toss ice across the pond. It makes the coolest sound. Ice sliding across ice makes a sound like no other. It is musical and fun to do. A good way to use up frozen dog water from bowls. It is worth getting the gloves on and bundling up in coats and hats and have an ice tossing.

The Story of Osa

After packing my small dog, 3 cats and 2 rabbits and driving 13 hours straight from TX to MO; I thought these would be my only pets. Ha! When you move into the country new pets soon await you. They appear under your parked car or under your deck one cold morning like the pet fairy came by while you were sleeping. Ah the joys of country living.
One cold morning I let my city dog outside to whiz, a huge German Shepherd scuttled out from under my deck. Startled, I grabbed my 30 pound city dog and made it back into the house for back up. Waking up A. we went outside to see what the dog's story might be. Staring back at us from the deck stood the skinniest female dog I ever saw. She clearly had pups in the past but was a just bag of bones.
So my hubby said we should let her go. But by mid day she was hanging around and not leaving. She had no collar. We fed her and she ate everything and slept the rest of the day. The next day she was still at our house. We called around, searched the Internet and posted found signs and took her to the vet. The vet scanned her and kept her overnight to check her over. The next few weeks we fed her and waited for someone to claim her. No luck.

The vet said she had puppies long ago. So after 2 months we took her to the vet to be fixed, vaccinated and micro chipped. She is now at her goal weight of 70 lbs. and is very strong. She is getting her muscle tone back. And slowly learning to trust men. I guess the pet fairy was looking out for her.

So now I have a great farm dog, only no sheep for her to herd, yet. So she herds my farm cats and my city dog. She keeps the mole population down and lives the best life a dog can have.