Long Holiday Weekend

If my scheduled posting works, as you read this, I’m enjoying a nice pasta dinner with a glass of wine and celebrating the company of my wonderful goatsister, Mimi Foxmorton.  I’ve left the farm and am spending this long holiday weekend in New York!  It’s all very exciting as I get to meet a couple of new Facebook goatsisters as well as those I’ve already met.

Don’t worry, my son and mom are taking care of the critters, and my wonderful neighbor is milking Haley.  I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this time if it weren’t for them.

Haley

I’ll have very limited computer time while I’m gone, but I have posts scheduled to go up everyday, and when I get back and can’t do anything because of my toe surgery, I might force you to look at my vacation photos. (Just mostly kidding)

I hope you have a wonderfully blessed and safe 4th of July.

2012: A Pictorial Review

Ashley has decided to let us review our year in pictures through Memories, Dreams and Reflections.  She’s given us some great items to find.  I must say I smiled and I cried as I went through my pictures from 2012.  Some of these I’ve shared here or on my other blogs.  Some I’m sharing for the first time.

1.  Me!  I was playing around at Halloween time and took this self-portrait.

2.  I Love You.  My boy is all grown up, and I don’t get to take many pictures of him these days.  Here he’s helping bale hay.

3.  Still Laughing:  As I headed East this past summer, I updated my trip on Facebook through Beavie.  Here he’s getting gas in Indiana.

4.  Winter Wonderland:  With no winter last year, it’s a good thing we just had a blizzard for some winter wonderland pictures.  While we were still under a blizzard warning, the temperatures dropped enough to give us a sundog.

5.  Birthday:  March was Myson’s original birthday.  I do adore my little boy.

Myson

6.  Friends:  From my trip to New York where I got to meet and spend time with my Goat Sisters.

7. I Was Inspired:  It really is a miracle to be on the farm and witness or assist in this process of life.  This is Pistol’s birth experience, just the way it’s supposed to happen all on her own.  You can see the entire process HERE.

Lolo and Spike

8.  Spring Fever:  Spring can only mean babies!

Nate

9.  Travel or Vacation:  Yep, it’s my New York trip again.  This is a vineyard above Lake Canandaigua.

10.  Summer Days:  There’s not a lot I want to remember about the horrible drought we had this year, so I’ll share the beautiful flower gardens at Sonnenberg Gardens in New York.

11.  A Day in My Life:  My life revolves around the farm, and I will admit the goats are my favorites.  Last year, there were a lot of kids born.  These are Kizzy’s triplets.

Kizzy with Paul, Mary, and Peter

12.  All Smiles:  People often comment on my goat pictures telling me it looks like the goat is smiling.  They do smile.  It’s not just the way their mouth is shaped because they don’t always smile.  Like humans, they will smile when they are happy (or see the camera).  I have to say it was harder to find pictures to illustrate this than I thought it would be.  I could find pictures of them with food in their mouths or smiling or no smiles, but it was hard to find one goat with the two different looks.

13.  Autumn Harvest:  Fall is my favorite time of year, and I took so many colorful pictures this fall.  I do think the eagle flying by the corn and barn is one of my favorites though.

14.  Family or Home:  This is a collage I created for the prompt home earlier in the year.  It’s still true.  My animals are my family now that my son is grown.  Home is where the animals are.

15.  Celebrate!  With the drought we had this year, I was very concerned about the crops, but I had a great harvest, and that was certainly reason to celebrate.

16.  Let’s Do It Again:  How I would dearly love to get together again.

17.  I Miss You:  I lost Mushu, my wonderful companion of nearly fourteen years, this fall.

Mushu

I also lost my beautiful Jilly due to a traumatic birth.

Jilly

18.  Beautiful:  I do think Haley is a very beautiful, elegant lady.  I just love that this was taken in May before the drought made everything dry and dusty.

Haley

19.  Dress Up:  My goats put on several plays this last year, and my wonderful mother was such a good sport to dress up as the troll in Three Billy Goats Gruff.  In this picture, the troll is talking to the littlest of the billy goats.

Mom and Myson

20.  Macro:  This shot is one I took to go with a poem.

21.  Holidays:  I took a lot of holiday pictures this year, but I think the ornament in the snow was my favorite.

22.  My Favorite:  This turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of the year.  It was simply looking between the rows of corn, but it turned out pretty cool.

23.  Don’t Ever Change:  I know it’s going to happen, but I don’t want to watch Snickers change as the cancer continues.

Snickers

24.  Just Because…So There!  Maxine’s baby from this year is Norma Jean.  She was an adorable calf, and she’s grown into a beautiful heifer.  I’m glad I decided to keep her, and I look forward to her return home next fall.

Norma Jean

25. Hopes and Dreams:  I’ve already shared that I want to really refocus my efforts at cleaning up the farm and planning to build an on-farm market and events center.  This is the windmill shot I put on my business card and farm website.

I’d also like to point out that I started a Facebook page for the farm.  You can get there through the button on the sidebar.  I hope you’ll like the page and get to see even more photos from the farm.

Be sure to visit Ashley Sisk for more pictorial reviews of the year.  I’m also linking this to Clever Chicks Blog Hop.

I Left the Farm

I shared that I was actually taking a short vacation for the first time in something like ten years.  It was really a great break for me.  I left the beautiful rolling hills of Iowa and headed east.

The miles across Illinois flew past.

My first stop was in Indiana.  I have no idea who threw their shoe out the car window.  It wasn’t me.

I got to visit the beautiful campus of Ball State University at Muncie, Indiana.

My nephew Chris was kind enough to give me the walking tour of campus.  Too bad it was 102* F for the tour.

Still it was a beautiful campus, and I enjoyed seeing Chris.  The next morning, I continued east enjoying the changing scenery.

Finally I arrived in New York.

It was always beautiful outside my car window.

After 1050 miles, I finally reached my destination in the amazing Finger Lakes region of western New York.  I was attending Beaverfest!  Don’t ask because I don’t think I can explain how my trip was given this name, but it was fun.

Beavie the Beaver

I got to meet the very beautiful Isobelle Golightly and her lady.

I also got to meet The Goat Borrower, Mimi Foxmorton.

Isobelle and all of her friends seemed happy to meet us as well.

Truly this was a wonderful weekend enjoying the company of my goat sisters!

Isobelle’s Lady, Mimi Foxmorton, and Me

I’m sure I’ll have many more pictures from the trip posted on my photography blog through the next few weeks.  I actually might have enough barns for Barn Charm to last into next year.  You can also see more of Beaverfest on the Sisterhood of the Goat Facebook page (link in my sidebar).  Now that I’m back home, I’ll be making my way around the blogosphere to see what all I’ve been missing out on.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday with Project Alicia, Live and Love Out Loud, Create With Joy, Sarah Halstead, and Tina’s Wordless Wednesday.

Linking to You Capture where this week’s theme is summer!