Crawford Notch, White Mountains, NH

Yes, I'm back after a long reprieve. Just busy with things & our computer died.

So hubby & I took a few days vacation at Crawford Notch in the New Hampshire White Mountains. Here is a view of the notch.

Across the road from that view is Silver Cascade.

And in the parking lot from that same view of the notch was a sign that said something like "Dull Pond".......I can't remember the exact name.........we followed the path & came to this little gem in the forest.

We hiked up to Ripley Falls.

Sadie taking a rest at Ripley Falls. We were all out of shape as it was only the second hike we've taken this season. (Forgot the camera on the last one......views weren't as grand as there was a heavy haze from the forest fires in Quebec.)

The next day we took a gondola ride to the top of Wildcat Mountain. Below is a view from the top with Mt. Washington behind us.

We checked out a section of the Appalachian Trail which runs over the top of Wildcat Mountain.

It's very interesting to check out the trees & plant life as the elevation changes. Notice the short trees & haggard looking trees. (They look shorter in person.)


This is called Elephant Head. Do you see the giant elephant coming out of the forest? We kayaked in the little pond next to it & then hiked to the top of Elephant Head.

TTFN!

Felting Challenge

This is my felting challenge entry for Kenleigh's Fiber Studio's Felting Challenge. Voting is going on right now until noon February 12. Hop on over & leave a comment to vote for your favorite!

TTFN

Fiber Arts Gathering

A few weekends ago I hosted the monthly gathering for our Saco Valley Fiber Artists Group.


Everyone brings a dish (or drink) to share (like Sangria & wine!) & a project to work on and show off. We always have a great time & it's such fun to see what everyone is working on & what beautiful projects they've finished & brought for show (which I forgot to get pictures of!).


Below, Janet of http://www.jconnerhookedrugs.com/ is working here on a new idea for kits to make a hooked rug tote/purse.


Joyce was knitting socks.


Barb was working on a needle punch project.


Knitting, rug hooking, needle punch, spinning were the projects going on that day.

Our next gather is coming right up soon & I'm really looking forward to it. In fact, I have a few things I'll be showing off! Can't post about them yet though.....but soon!

Sadie was awfully excited for a while with all the people & attention she was getting. She got so excited she had to take a rest in the other room.

I came in the house this morning from doing chores & these two hoodlums were sitting here like this. It was kinda comical. Sadie was sitting right up against the wall. I came in & out of the room a few times & they both never moved so I was able to get a picture. Sadie looked like a little kid who'd been told to sit in their chair for time out & not move. Ben looked like the kid who felt bad for her but didn't know what to do but just wait until she could come play again.

TTFN.

Friday Funny

A friend sent me this piece. I laughed so hard I had tears running...and not because I've done these things or been in any of these situations but because I've known people who have. Read on.

Important Women's Health Issue

* Do you have feelings of inadequacy?
* Do you suffer from shyness?
* Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask you doctor or pharmacist about Margaritas.

Margaritas are the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. Margaritas can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything. You will notice the benefits of Margaritas almost immediately and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live. Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living with Margaritas.

Margaritas may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Margaritas. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

Side effects may include:

- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Incarceration
- Erotic lustfulness
- Loss of motor control
- Los of clothing
- Loss of money
- Loss of virginity
- Table dancing
- Headache
- Dehydration
- Dry mouth
- And a desire to sing karaoke

WARNINGS:

* The consumption of Margaritas may make you think you are whispering when you are not.

* The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to tell your friends that you love them over and over again.

* The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to think you can sing.

* The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.

Please share this with other women who may need Margaritas.


TTFN.

Christmas Presents

My Christmas present....a Zojirushi bread making machine. I love it! I've made 3 loaves of bread and a cake so far. It makes very big loaves so with just the two of us it lasts a while. You can also make meatloaf and jam in it. I'm excited to try the jam.



My fiber arts group, the Saco Valley Fiber Artists, has a Christmas party every year. We all bring a dish to share & a gift for the gift swap. The gift that I got was two balls of brightly colored roving, a sock making kit (just add needles) and this neat little hand made kind of like a daytimer. My friend Janet made it and did the penny rug design on the front of a heart, sheep & sunflower. Doesn't she do a beautiful job?

The sock kit I've almost finished. I'm making those for myself as I need a new pair of wool socks.

This is the inside of the "daytimer" (for lack of a better name to call it). It is made from a quilted placemat that is folded over, sewn and then sewn to create little pockets to hold things. It could be used for different things....like holding knitting needles maybe.

Tristan & Petnuia got a new scratching post. Poor Tristan kept trying to rub & scratch himself but all he had to scratch on was shiny metal pen panels. So I tied up a pallet for them & they've used it plenty already. There's a nice lanolin "patina" on it. ;o)

Petunia is quite loving. She kept trying to get up to see the camera & I was trying to keep her back a little in the camera view.

You can see her breath in this picture. She's a sweetie.

I am weaving overshot table runners that match the kitchen towels that I did before Christmas. I will probably get 2 runners with the warp that I have left on my loom. This is the first one.

TTFN.

Alpaca Thiamine Deficiency Again

Christopher Gold had thiamine deficiency earlier this month. I caught it in the very early stages. It was the weekend & I was already out in the barn cleaning up manure. He kept humming over & over which he normally is a "talker" but this was not normal so I stopped & watched him. His legs were trembling & his head was starting to tremble also. I felt pretty confident that it was thiamine deficiency again as he had it twice last winter. I went in the house & got the thiamine & gave him a shot of 2cc. He is easy to handle & since he was unsteady & kinda woozy it was easy to corner him, get him haltered & tie him so I could give him the shot. Within an hour there was definite improvement & about 4 hours later you wouldn't even have known. Thank goodness it's a quick and easy fix & I keep thiamine on hand. He is the only one of my alpacas that gets this & so far it has only been in the winter. Here he just wanted to sit & look out the barn door. I had given him his shot but it hadn't had time to take effect yet. Poor Chrissy.





Thiamine deficiency (it's not known what causes it) makes them act very "drunken".....dizzy & it will make them go blind. It can be reversed though, luckily. A friend of mine had a llama that had it & had pretty much completely lost his eyesight. She thought for sure he was going to die but he didn't, he made a full recovery.

Next post, my Christmas present.

TTFN.

Ahhh.......This is the Life.....

.....Mama feeds me when I promptly remind her that it's breakfast & dinner time......I get to sleep on the couch & cuddle.....I have a little buddy (Ben) to play & keep company with when no one else is home........................this is life.......

Welcome Tristan & Petunia!

Look who came to live at my house! Welcome Tristan & Petunia!

This is Tristan........

and this is Petunia.

They are both Romney lambs from my friend's farm. I wasn't planning on getting any sheep (well, not just yet anyways). It all started with an innocent visit to my friend Karen's farm to see the white llama born to two dark brown parents.



I turned around & there he was! Tristan!.....with the most adorable face! He looked like an Olde Babydoll Southdown lamb which is what I am interested in getting in a year or two.


Well.......I just had to have him.
And of course you can't have just one by themselves.....so in the next pen were 3 little girls.


I picked Petunia.




They are very happy in their new home.


I just love them!


TTFN!

Fall Time This & Thats

I finished this pair of socks that I made for my neighbor. I am going to give them to him today. They came out really nice. The pattern was called "Hunter's Socks" & they have a double heel. I had never done a double heel before. It was very easy. I bought this wonderful DK weight yarn from Romney Ridge Farm. I was lucky, I had just a few yards left when I finished off the socks! Whew!

Went hiking again over in the White Mountains. I took a co-worker & her daughter with me this time. I took them on the Square Ledge Trail. When we came back down of the ledge, there was a 5 year old boy with his mother waiting for his father to climb to the top. The 5 year old climbs too! She said they started him when he was 2! The Dad is a guide in the White Mountains. You can see the little boy in the picture with his mother right behind him. Dad is at the top.

My alpacas are enjoying the maple leaves I give them. They love to roll in them & of course, eat them. They see me gathering them & they get excited. Some of them let me dump the tote over them & let the leaves fall down around them (since I'm dumping them over a 5ft fence).

You can see the ducks in the background, sitting in the shade of the barn. I don't know why they would want to be in the shade on a November day! Silly ducks!

Gus is getting old. I can see different signs, changes in him. He is about 9 now. He is the first bunny we ever got & he has out lived others.

Christopher was curious about the bucket. He wasn't sure if it was something that would attack him so he checked it out very cautiously. (Even though he sees me with it every day.)

Having their morning hay (before the maple leaves).

I finished spinning some of the brown dyed roving that I bought from Rolling Knolls Farm while at the Fryeburg Fair. I love the variation. I was very happy with how it came out. Now I'm anxious to spin the purple roving I bought from her.

My parents came to visit this weekend. They brought my birthday present & I love it! I have been wanting to get a dutch oven & cook delicious stews. I can't wait to try it. Maybe next weekend! We took them to Cabella's since my Dad had never been to one & my brother talks about it (and has a lot of stuff from there). LL Bean is the big thing out here. Their flagship store is in Freeport which is about 45min from here. I think I may go back & get one of the books on dutch oven cooking so I can use it next weekend. They also brought us some moose meat. My mother got her license this year.

Here is another one of the many projects I have going. I am making this scarf out of Spin-Off magazine (Winter 2004).

Here's mine in progress.

Well, got to get some other stuff done & my apple crisp is just about ready to come out of the oven.

TTFN.

Fryeburg Fair & Draft Horses

I went to the Fryeburg Fair this week. We had good weather for the most part of the fair week. I went & watched the draft horses pulling their wagons. It is a sight to see that I just love to watch. I love these dapple gray Percherons.

I chatted a bit with a gentleman next to me who was from Oklahoma. He and his wife had come out to the Fryeburg Fair because they had seen Oxen pulls listed. So they came out to see that & were surprised and treated to the draft horses pulling their wagons. He said they don't have that event out in the midwest. He said most of the horses are light horses that are ridden & that they don't have a lot of draft horses. I found that interesting.

I also was invited by one of the women who owned some of the draft ponies to come take driving lessons from her husband. Oh, the temptation! Someday...when I have more time!

This beautiful team of Percherons was from Sennett, New York. They won first place in the 8 horse hitch. They did work very nicely together.

These were also Percherons from Hi Lo Farm from Springfield, Vermont.

These draft ponies were really beautiful & they also worked very well together.

Oxen being taken for a walk.

Being scrubbed down for his show.

I went to see Jamey Johnson in concert Saturday night. It was a good concert, I like his singing. It was pretty cool when he sang "In Color" & the whole audience sang every single word to the song & drowned him out. He also sang "Give It Away" which he wrote but George Strait sings. I like Jamey singing it much better. It just fits his voice & persona much better.


I also bought some beautifully dyed Finn/Romney roving from Lisa of Rolling Knolls Farm. I love browns & the color was so beautiful I had to get it. Here it is spun singles just waiting for my to ply it. Like I don't already have enough of my own fiber to spin......well, it's always fun to try different fibers & colors.

I also bought some purple roving from her. Can't wait to spin this up, too!

TTFN.