Pics of Chloe and Sophie

Sophie yawning.

Chloe's favorite place to lay.

Chloe 'scratching' Sophie's back.

Chloe and Sophie playing.

Sophie is still the Love of my life

Sophie Loves Chloe.  Sophie snuggles up with Chloe to let her 'scratch' her back.  It is adorable.  At first I was concerned when I saw Chloe nibbling on Sophie.  But then I saw her going back for more.  She likes it.  Chloe is loving on Sophie nothing more.

Teach an ole dog new tricks

I'm trying to teach Chloe to 'stay.'   I got nowhere tonight.  She sits fine.  But when I told her to stay as I walked away,  she follow me every time.  I tried several times.  She just never got it.

I am cooking Chloe's dinner.  Her doctor told me to give her boiled chicken and rice because she has had diarrhea.  I can't wait to feed her tonight.  I think she is going to love this.  

I called Animal Friends to be put on the waiting list for an obedience class for next session.

Tomorrow I am going to a volunteer orientation meeting at Animal Friends.  It is a phenomenal organization.  Please, if you are in the market for a cat or a dog, visit Animal Friends on Camp Horne Road.

Words Chloe Knows

Chloe will sit on command and shake hands.  She does not know the word 'walk' or 'car' or 'ride.'  I'm sure she will learn these quickly.  I would take her in the car with me more, but as soon as she gets in the car she starts drooling and foaming at the mouth--before we even start moving.  If her stomach is full she will throw up once we start moving.  Poor girl.

This is has been the nicest weather to walk a dog.  My side of town takes about 30 minutes to loop.  We just did the loop.  Maybe I will take her again later tonight.  She loves to walk.

Camping with Chloe

Chloe quickly made herself at home in my camp chair.

I brought a rug for her to lay on, but she preferred the dirt.

Chloe laying in the chair bought from Knit One North.

Welcome Chloe to Your New Home

We love you Chloe.  Welcome to your new home.  I am so excited to have you.  I can't wait to go on our next hike at Moraine State Park so we can stop at Bruster's again and to get your free doggie sundae on the way home.

Chloe is so gentle and kind with the cats.  I could not ask for a nicer dog.  I told the adoption counselor at Animal Friends that I wanted a small to medium sized dog who would be good with cats, and that I wanted a hiking and camping buddy.  She told me she had an amazing dog who was not out on the floor yet because there was not room, but was ready for adoption.  Unfortunately, that night she was at the Pirates game for pup night so I had to come back to meet her.  I ended up adopting her Thursday July 2, 2009.  She truly is an amazing dog.  I am so happy to have her.

9 Blocks so far

Dinner on the Princess at the Gateway Clipper

Views from The Princess during a 3 hour dinner cruise on the rivers in Pittsburgh with Automated Health Systems.  I had a nice time relaxing and chatting with my co-workers.

The Point at dusk.

Inner Peace and Joy

Nothing compares to the inner joy and peace I feel when I am camping or hiking through the woods.  Nature soothes my soul.  It is the best medicine I have ever taken.  I have reservations to go camping once a month through October (when the campground closes).  

More Pics:

Another great sky picture.

Toms Run Road is a one way road through the forest.  It follows Toms Run.  I do not know where it comes out.  I walked a mile and a half on it and it went deep into the forest.

Wooden bridges are common because of the all the little streams and springs.  They are great to walk across when they are dry.  But when they are wet they are slick as ice.

A nice fire Tuesday morning, early morning.  Woke at 5am.  The birds were singing beautifully.  Wish I had a way to add those sounds to the blog.

After hiking for two miles I got to the top of the ridge and looked up and saw the beautiful blue sky. I climbed from 1400ft to 1600 ft in about a mile and a half. A nice steady incline. Gave me a good workout.

After hiking for an hour and a half I stopped here to dip my feet in the ice cold water, eat lunch, lay down and read and soak up the sounds of nature--the rippling water, the birds.

I want to buy a cabin in the woods and live there.  Nature soothes my soul.  Cook Forest is absolutely gorgeous.  The trails are well maintained and marked.  There are trees over 300 years old.

I star gazed one night.  I thought about moving my cot out to the open field to sleep.  I should have.  I found the big dipper.  The stars were abundant.  I saw a shooting star.

I've been trying to id birds by their call and by sight.  A little chipping sparrow kept visiting my campsite looking for food.  Learning bird calls is like learning a foreign language.   I hope with time it will get easier.  I have a CD with over 100 birds calls, which accompanies a PA bird book.  A bluejay also visited my sight a few times.  They are beautiful birds, but can be aggressive.  Robins were abundant also.  There is one bird call I want to learn what bird makes it.  It is a beautiful call.  I can hear it in my memory.

Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today, because if you enjoy it today you can do it again tomorrow.

A New Hobby

I'm making a crazy quilt minus the crazy stitching. Here are my first two blocks. We all know about yarn stash. Well, Mom has fabric stash that I am using for this quilt. It is fun rummaging through her stash putting different fabric combination together to get just the right combination. These are 5 3/4 inch blocks. The pattern came from the internet. I am making a quilt for my twin size bed. The inspiration comes from two quilts given to my parents when dad was first diagnosed with cancer.

Happy Quilting!!!

A Piece of Knit One North

A chair from Knit One North has a new home in my home with a new 'customer' relaxing in the seat.  Angel quickly claimed this as hers.  I was pleased when I turned around and saw her laying in it.  She is rarely seen on the furniture and does not like change(s), so I was very surprised to see her take to this chair so quickly.

The scariest moments of my life

I truly experienced the scariest moments of my life nearly 24 hours ago.  I raised the window in my 100 year old building to move the storm window up and bring the screen down.  I placed my hands down near the ledge to move the storm window up and the the heavy window came slamming down on top of my fingers locking them under the window.  The pain was excruciating.  The fear horrible.  I could not leverage my hands to raise the window.  I finally was able to wiggle my left hand free but my right hand was still locked under the window.  With my left hand I tried to get the window up in order to free my right hand but it would not budge.  I stood silently facing the window thinking: I am going to be stuck here forever.  I cried out to God to help me and i finally managed to get the window up enough to free my right hand.  I immediately laid down to recover.

I went for x-rays and nothing was broken.  Three fingers are bruised.  One nail is black.  One finger throbs.  The other two hurt.  Truly the worst moments of my life.

A Small Dose of Heaven

I hiked  Sunken Garden Trail at Moraine State Park.  It was beautiful.  Relatively flat.

Views of Lake Arthur along the trail.

I think I found good shore fishing spots.  I wish Dad was here to take him to them.  Being at Moraine State Park makes me think of Dad because we often went fishing here.  I'd catch the fish and he would filet them.  Good times. 

I passed a couple walking with two small children and a third in a carrier on the man's back.  I thought how wonderful to start the kids out young getting out in nature.  Dad often took me to an undeveloped area in town that we walked around and let the dog run off-leash.  It was good times.  I've always been a nature person.  Not everyone is.  Mom is not.  Dad was.

Too Cute for Words

Angel resting in her hammock.  

Shielding her eyes from the light.

Sophie likes to go high.

Heaven

This is heaven for me.  I went camping near Cook Forest State Park.  I was as happy as I get.  Seneca Trail was uphill all the way for 20 minutes.  At the top was a fire tower that overlooked the forest.

My camp.

I was so happy the entire time I was out here camping.  I thought about jobs that I could get in this area so I could live up here.  Mom would be two hours away.  The winters are brutal for me because of the cold and gloom, but the spring, summer and fall are absolutely gorgeous.  So I just have to make it through the winter and then I can enjoy the rest of the seasons.

I visited Heaven today....

... and it smelled absolutely luscious....

... in the woods at Moraine State Park.  I hiked the Hill Top trail (long) and it only took me 38 minutes.  The combination of the long with the short trail takes about 50 minutes.  It is more strenuous too.

As you can see there is a lot more greenery in the woods now.

Yellow flowers were out in bloom in a sunny area of the woods.

Even I had to duck under this newly fallen tree.

Starbucks with Mom

Mom is always game for a trip to the Northland Library.  

 We went to Starbucks for a beverage treat afterwards.

Beautiful Tuesday May Day

Mom and I took a road trip which was cut short because the economy closed the stores we sought to go to.  We took a trip up to Volant hoping to visit a quilt store.  I want to make a lap quilt for my home.  When we got to Volant we were told the store had gone out of business.  So  we headed to Portersville to the Muddy Creek Quilt store and they were closed Mondays and Tuesdays.  Despite this, it was a beautiful day for a drive and pleasant time with mom.