October 31, 1879 - Wagon Hit by Train & Morley of Dog Fame Dies - Cambria Freeman

Frank Shaffer hit by train. Father is Cyrus Shaffer.

James Morley - bought the Morley Dog in 1870.

 

Look of Love - 29 January 1977 - The Tribune-Democrat

Seth Richards with little Charlotte.

 

Shaffer Ice

Shaffer Ice - Johnstown - Unknown location

Horsing Around in Nanty Glo

The one and only time my grandfather got on a horse with my grandmother looking on - probably hoping he'd fall off and break his neck....they didn't always get along too well....this was taken at my cousins house in Nanty Glo.

Coal Mining

 

Taken at one of the hundreds of coal mines that used to dot the area.

 

A Trip to Vale Wood Farms

Just a perfect saturday to take a little ride to the farm. In this case - Vale Wood Farms - The Official Dairy of Vintage Johnstown. We are longtime customers and besides loving all their wonderful products - it's great to be able to enjoy home delivery.
There was a little bit of everything for the kids to enjoy at: The Annual Vale Wood Farms Pumpkin Patch will be October 1-21 from 11 am to 5 pm

Come visit the farm for hayrides, games, a maze, pumpkins, fall decorations, pumpkin pie and apple ice cream, apple dumplings, and more!

You can also check out either their FACEBOOK PAGE or their website valewoodfarms.com.

Who can resist this cute little baby calf. Valewood prides itself on being a Certified Cow Friendly Dairy along with being hormone free.

 RJ with a smile on his face.

And of course pumpkins from the small....

to the large...

 RJ trying his hand at milking old Bessie

He's milking it for all it's worth

Some of the animals the kids could see - from this pair of piglets who went wee, wee, wee all the way home

to Susie the Goat - a 4H project - who went to the Cambria County Fair and wasn't supposed to come home. But the teenager who raised her couldn't bare to part with her.

One of the chickens - showing off and strutting around

RJ with his dad - Roger Edwards

Having a ball at the hay maze

Picking out just the right gourds for the Angry Gourd Game

Heading over....

with his mom - Kelly (Cacicia) Edwards

While the boys try to launch their gourds to outer space.

of course - they didn't hit a single target.

After the fun and games - we stood in line to go on a hay ride and tour some of the farm complex.

Just beautiful countryside.

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The milking cows enjoying a snack.

Hay!

The milking barn - sorry this picture isn't the greatest - it was hard taking shots in a moving hay wagon.

The nursery where the newborn calves are kept for a few days.

What a little sweetie

They put these jackets on them to help keep them warm the first couple of days.

As we were waiting in line for the hay wagon tour - RJ was not a happy camper. All he kept saying was that he didn't want to go on any "lame" tour.

 Well - this is the boy at the end and guess what he said - "lets go for another ride!" We all loved it and a special shoutout to the young woman who was our tour guide - she did an excellent job at explaining everything and answering all our questions.

Next up - the corn maze

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To help make it even more interesting and educational - they set up neat questions that you had to guess the answer to. Like this one - how much honey do bees produce in their lifetime - 1/12 tsp or 1 tbsp - the answer 1/12 tsp. No wonder they are always so mad.

This concludes your visit to Vale Wood Farms. Oh and before I forget - what do you think their best selling product is.........why it's 2% milk.

A Walk along the Laurel Hiking Trail

Just a perfect autumn day for a little hike along the Laurel Hiking Trail. As you can see the leaves here in the parking lot off Haw Pike have hardly changed.

 Depending upon how you look at it - this is either the beginning or the end of the 70 mile trail.

RJ at mile marker 70.

Checking out the information board.

He wanted to hike to the shelters but I told him it's a 5 mile trek....he thought better of it after that.

Off to explore....taught RJ when on these types of trails to keep an eye out for the blazing on the trees. They use yellow in this section.

Even though RJ had no idea - he was walking just like his grandfather - Robert Cacicia who died when RJ was only a few weeks old.

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We turned around at the high tension lines.

Heading back down the way we came up.

I love taking pictures of odd and interesting mushrooms - even though I know very little about them.

These could be poisonous for all I know.

Promised RJ I'd showing him Big Spring.

Water level is the lowest I've seen it in a while.

Only a few of the trees have changed.

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I'm teaching the kid how to spot and read animal tracks - though hard to tell from this shot - lots of bear and coyote tracks all over the shoreline.

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As we were leaving I called RJ over when I spotted half a turtle shell alongst the rocks. Well it ends up we found almost the entire turtle.

Pure joy on his face with his prized possession bagged and ready to take home!

The whole thing is kind of mummified.

Smile and say CHEESE!