the year 2008 in review

OK so its only been three weeks but I had to recap what's been going on! So much, in fact, that i haven't been a very good blogger.

Considering I've had the water pipes freeze up in my house, electricity go out 5 times in 2 days (for several hours at a time), the fan quitting on the woodstove and not having any heat, sick goats, water lines in the barn having to be thawed out daily, lack of snow removal work in January, etc....a lot has been building up.

In all of that high stress, I met someone :)

The day before NYE I met this person online, and we chatted and then talked on the phone for hours. I asked them out on a date and they accepted and we went out on NYD for movie and supper following. We hit it off! We had a lot in common, a connection, with mutual feelings. FINALLY I found someone that can stimulate educated conversations, while making me laugh and smile. Its been an amazing few weeks.

Then I get a phone call tonight saying we need to step back, its going to fast, we need to slow down and think about it all as it has indeed been a whirlwind of a new relationship. I'm all about taking it slow, but I must admit it came as a shock to me. for who knows how long we are not going to communicate so we can figure everything out. While I appreciate the honesty and the straigh forwardness, i still feel like I've been dumped, even though it hasn't been that long.

this blog will be deleted soon as I don't like putting my feelings out on the line, or on the web so to speak. But i needed to vent. It was because of this new relationship that i've been so busy, and so happy, even though the farm itself has been high stress. Now I don't have much to be excited about *SIGH*

Merrymoon Ebonwald I'm a Q.T.

Well after driving all the way to Port Huron, MI to pick her up, it was worth the wait and worth the drive! I left thursday AM around 10 and when I got about 2 hours from home I drove right into a snow storm! All the way to the WI border I drove in that wet heavy snow with white out conditions. It again found me from Madison WI to Rockford, IL. Ice until I got around Chicago and then rain all the way to Port Huron. When I got to PH around 3;30am local time, they informed me no hotel rooms were available in a 50 mile radius due to some Hockey Tournament! So I drove to the nearest rest stop and slept in the back seat of my sisters car. (she let me borrow her Pontiac Grand Am). WOW was that an experience. So with about 4 hours of on and off napping, I went to meet Ell's breeder and we had breakfast. Such a nice lady with TONS of knowledge of the breed! Ell immediately jumped into my arms with happy tail wagging, lots of licks on the face and whimpering. She was happy!

I was so exhausted I drove only to Grand Rapids, MI where I stayed with some Pygmy goat breeder friends. I could not get a hold of Stephen and was hoping I'd be able to see him but it didn't work out this time. BUMMER! I ended up staying the night and getting up early and went to breakfast with my friends. I drove all the way around the bottom part of Lake Michigan and met some friends in Milwaukee for lunch. A few hours later and I was on the road again and made it home for Ell to meet the other dogs and my family.

I must admit Ell's personality and temperament is to die for! She warmed up really quickly to the dogs at my friends house and all three very well fed house cats. She even barked when she heard someone come in the door.....as if she was saying "Who goes there!? This is my house now!" It was very cute.

My favorite photo is the last photo where she is laying in the coffee table. It is every dogs favorite place to be when they are so little. I thought Zoe's blue eyes were hard to say no to....Just look at those dark brown eyes!!

Zoe-miester

Here we see Zoe winning Best Puppy and yet another Reserve Winner's Bitch award at the North Star Herding Group Club in St Paul, MN on January 5th under breeder judge Teddy McDowell. That is indeed my hand but an awful photo of the owner/handler (aren't they always?!!) Zoe sure is maturing nicely!!!