January's Patchwork

There has been a little bit of "this-n-that" going on lately, and I'll just share a few pictures with you of our January's patchwork...

I was the lucky recipient of a generous giveaway by the lovely Barbara who blogs at Small Moments. When the lovingly wrapped package arrived, the glorious aroma of dried lavender tucked into the package just added to the joy of opening the package full of gorgeous quilting fabric, and an assortment of ribbons and lace, accompanied by a sweet card from Barbara.  This package made its way across the ocean from England, and was a lovely delight to receive.  Thank you Barbara, I plan to get busy soon with a project I have in mind for the fabrics.  :)

 

A little winter boredom taking place... Mr. Simba thought it would be fun to tear up some paper for a little excitement.

My six baby chicks that my husband and I rescued back in December are growing so fast, and already I have integrated them with the rest of my flock. Can you believe I now have 30 chickens (28 hens, and 2 roosters)? I can hardly believe it myself.  I can tell you that when I got into having chickens, I had no idea I would one day own so many... they have a way of multiplying! And I love and have each one named too!

Mr. Sal does NOT like the snow.  He comes out for a minute or two, and heads right back into the coop.  He tells me in no uncertain terms just how much he dislikes the snow.

Two dogs who love the snow.  They have "snow" much fun outside in the snow.  The best part, they don't have to run inside for a drink, they just grab a mouthful of snow and keep playing.

Miss Eleanor will come out of the coop if I lay straw down for her.  She seems to enjoy being outside the coop, digging in the straw and snow.

We have often driven by this deserted church in a local community.  I always feel so sad when I see it.  It is such a beautiful building, and it is sad to see it so deserted and neglected.  It looked particularly lovely with the snow covering its roof on this clear and gloriously cold winter day.

Another view of the deserted church.

The extreme cold we have had caused the river to almost freeze over.  I had never seen this river get this close to freezing over.  

You might think it was a lovely warm day with such bright blue skies.  But don't let that fool you.  The temps in this picture were close to 0!

We have had 2-3 weeks of below zero temperatures for most of that time.  The nicest thing about the bitter cold though was that the sun shone gloriously every day.

I put out this big block of birdseed for the turkeys.  With such bitter cold temperatures, there wasn't much for them to eat, and I've had large numbers of turkeys visiting the block.

Every morning at daybreak the turkeys begin their happy chatter, along with Sal and Pepper, my roosters.  Even when I would like to sleep in a little longer, I am compelled to get out of bed thanks to my faithful bird "alarm clocks", lol!

Two dogs with a bit of winter boredom, wrestling and rough-housing in the house where it was warm and cozy.  The dogs love the snow, but with the minus degree weather we had, they too liked to stay inside where it was warm.

Beautifully cold light.

I never, ever cease to be amazed at the glorious world that is all around me.

Lots of walks with Annie, as I bundled up like a little Eskimo to stay warm, with beautiful scenes like this to warm my heart as we walked.

One of the turkeys hanging around... turkeys, like chickens, are quite mean to each other.  See the bright red on her neck, this is where she has been pecked by other turkeys.  It happens so often, and while I hate to see it, I know there is nothing I can do to change nature's way.

A snow draped fence.

And the highlight to our January so far... the newest addition to our home.  Our son has always wanted an Australian shepherd dog.  His best friend's grandparents had a litter of sweet Australian shepherd's, and his heart was stolen by this sweet little girl.

After a long day of work on Saturday (my son works repairing logging trucks when he is not in college), he went to pick up this sweet little girl.  Meet our sweet little Riley.

Is she not the most adorable little thing you ever saw?  Oh, we are all so taken with her.

Here's the funny part.  My son has taken upon himself all responsibility for her care, except of course when he is not at college or working.  Taking care of a puppy is no small feat.  They require almost constant attention.  She is his responsibility when he is home.  And my husband and I have our first taste of feeling what granddoggy-parents feel like.  We are just sitting back, and enjoying our son taking care of all the chores that come with a sweet little puppy, and getting to enjoy the sweet moments while he takes care of all the "chores".  I love it!

And after my son gave Riley her first bath, and then needed a shower himself,  I sat in my rocking chair, wrapped Riley snugly in a warm towel, and patted and rocked and sang her to sleep after a bit of a traumatic event.  She had never experienced a bath before.  It wasn't long before she stopped crying and fell fast asleep.  Such a precious moment for both of us.

And poor Roger is just heartbroken.  Both he and Annie have required a lot of love and extra attention since Riley made her entrance.  They keep sniffing her, trying to figure out who she is.  Within a few hours, they graciously accepted her presence, and Roger keeps trying to play with her, while Annie tries to protect her from Roger's playful attempts... and so the fun continues.  But if Roger could speak, I know he would simply say "why"?... lol!

And so that is just a bit of this-n-that from our January so far.  It has started to warm up this week, and the snow is melting quickly.  Our January thaw is here and in full swing, and the days are getting longer, and warmer too.  It won't be long before it will be time to think about planting... how quickly the seasons move along.  I just try to enjoy the beautiful and glorious in each one.

How has your January been going?