did you miss me?

This has been a very quiet winter for Ms. Piper.

And that's why she has not appeared on the blog for a while.

I've not been getting very interesting pictures.

A typical day might include:

Breakfast, chores, playing outside.

Sleeping.

Tricks and treats!

Sleeping.

Keeping a close eye on things outside the windows and 

Barking Quite Suddenly and Very Loudly!

Acting as if the barking Never Happened.

Sleeping.

Getting the mail on the Driveway of Ice! Wheee!

Sleeping.

Observing indoor activities.

Helping with the laundry.

Chores, playing outside.

Offering to carry one of the empty feed buckets.

Running into the snow and hiding the feed bucket where it will never be found.

Looking really innocent and cute about the feed bucket thing.

Supper.

Sleeping.

 More sleeping.

A pleasant enough way to spend a day, but quiet.

And missing the long walks and woodland runs of Spring, Summer and Autumn.

So today, when the thermometer registered 30F (!!!), we took a ride to the little pond. I managed to get the car into a tiny little pull-out, and swapped my spiked boots (which I needed to get from the house to the car) for my knee-high muck boots (because the snow is still knee-deep), and off we went.

The condition of the snow would have made for pretty good snowshoeing, but honestly, snowshoeing with Piper? It could only indicate a Death Wish.

"Come ON! ComeoncomeoncomeON!"

There was much running, sniffing, rolling, digging. 

There was leaping onto and off of snow banks.

There was leaping and cavorting around companions, as well. 

And eventually, long after I was exhausted, Piper started to look a wee bit tired.

I very slowly took off my mitten and reached deep into my pocket.

And we instantly went from this:

to this:

The miraculous rejuvenating power of the Most Excellent Favorite Treat!

I have yet to discover the treat that can work a similar miracle on my own energy level.

But I'll keep looking for it.

~~~~~

wordless wednesday

quick question

Dear Readers,

If you were my camera, where would you be?

Your friend,

Quinn

~~~

Update:

AND IT WORKED!!!

I have been looking for my camera for four days.

FOUR DAYS.

Today, I reached the point of searching in places 

where no camera could possibly be.

So...I turned to you, my Readers, for help.

Ten minutes after posting the question, I found the camera.

In the trash.

In the TRASH.

Whew.

Blogging is a powerful thing.

~~~~~

post

Very special things arrived in my recently-excavated letterbox this week!

The first was a giveaway prize from one of the Grow Your Blog Party drawings:

Aren't these gorgeous?!

Many thanks to Karen at knitalatte for my lovely handknit mitts!

They are light and warm, and these colors are delightful!  :)

~~~

Next, was another luck-of-the-draw prize.

All the way from Shetland, across the sea!

A bit of background on this one...

Have you heard of the historic Lerwick "Up Helly Aa" fire festival? If not, you may find it is worth watching (at least watching online, as I do) next January. Months of preparation go into this community endeavor and the results are really something. Hundreds of costumed "Vikings," a dragon-headed wooden galley (ship), a massive torchlight procession through the town (that's my favorite part, it is truly stunning), followed by the ceremonial burning of the galley.

Well, this past January the Shetland:Pride of Place folk had a drawing of people from all over the world who tweeted their location during the Up Helly Aa livestream. I was one of the lucky winners, but to be honest, I had forgotten all about it...
when a package appeared!

Music and maps and trinkets and information and a perfect knitting project tote bag.

Now all I need is some Shetland wool to put in the bag.
But with shipping being so costly, I ought to just go over there and get the yarn, right?

Right?

Well, it's a nice dream, anyway  :)

~~~

I hope your weekend is full of nice dreams.

~~~~~

second thoughts

"I know I said I was done with that, but it's kinda chilly today...

do you think we could stick it back onto me somehow?"

It was 2F (-17C) when I got up this morning, but since Acer has chosen to spend most of the day outside, I feel confident he is not too cold. He's actually still wearing quite a bit of his cashmere, and this morning I didn't even comb the pieces that were sticking out of his topcoat, in case he could hang onto them a little longer. Of course, he's probably rubbing them off on a fence right now.

All the goats - and the hens - get extra feed when it's really cold, partly for the extra calories but also for general encouragement. In tough weather, I'd rather have the goats waste a little more hay by playing in over-filled troughs, than have them run out of hay at any point. So it's extra grub all around.

Piper and I have extra grub too, in solidarity.

Heh.

~~~~~