Maggie and Mitch the Airedales

My Precious Girl

2012-01-29T01:34:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to let you all know that my sweet girl is gone.
Maggie had the saddest look in her eyes yesterday and every time that I looked at her, she was staring at me with those sad tired eyes and I knew that it was time.
George and I held her close and kissed her and told her how much we loved her and that we were going to miss her so very much as the fluid was injected into her IV. She never closed her eyes. That's Maggie - never wanting to miss a thing!

Good-by, my precious girl. I will always love you, forever and ever.

Wings are not only for the birds above
for God gifted you with a dog to love

He knew the love that you could give
for he knew the perfect place for that dog to live

and as you have a void that can't be filled
remember that your memories can't be killed.

The love you gave to your four legged friend
is a gift of love that will help you to mend.

Love from above will always be felt
as the wings are added your heart will melt

When you are feeling low
you will still have a place to go

for you can always talk and share
with a friend who will always be there.

Goodbyes are not forever. Goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean I'll miss you until we meet again!

We love you, Maggie - now and forever
Mom, dad and Mitch

The Dining Room Project

2012-01-28T02:18:00.000-05:00

Before~~

And after~~

Mom decided that to stencil would have been too much of a good thing. We were so hoping to see Airedales running along the ceiling!

So until next time............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Tomato Red

2012-01-26T01:41:00.001-05:00

We're playing True Colors with Reilly and Denny again this week.
This week's color is

Mom is thawing fresh tomato sauce out for this weekend's pasta dindin. Those tomatoes were grown in our garden this summer! yummm

Can you see the tomato red on our taco that Jazzi made us?

The twist~
We didn't have tomato soup in a can so we used tomato paste in a can.

The tomato paste treat machine!

That was fun! We can't wait for next week!

Come on, guys - play along - it's fun!

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

A New Brand

2012-01-25T01:53:00.001-05:00

Hi guys - it's me, Mitch.
Mom bought me a new kind of kibble. I've never had Taste of the Wild before.

I have a meal partner. Thanks for joining me in the kitchen, Maggie. It's beats dindin in bed, don't you think?

That's yummy kibble! I like it!
Mom says I get to have it again! I like that idea!
What brand of kibble do you eat?

So until next time............

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Maggie

What a difference...........

2012-01-24T07:23:00.000-05:00

A day makes~~

What happened to all of our snow?

So until next time...........

Love ya lots,
Miss Maggie

Enjoying Our Snow

2012-01-23T01:46:00.016-05:00

I, Mitch, got to go adventuring with mom this morning. She said walkies were too dangerous on the black ice roads so we stuck to our snow-covered yard. We have a bridge that leads over our brook and across to the small pond area. It's fun over here!

It was in the teens and the wind chill was keeping the temperature right around zero.
This water sure looks cold!

When Mitch came home, it was my turn for a walkie.
Just to let you know - mom did not make my coat. Katie and Sparky's mom did. Mom appliqued the Airedales on there but my beautiful coat was made by Miss Linda, who is Katie and Sparky's mom.

Mom and I checked out the water fowl. Everybody looks happy for these super cold temps!
That crazy looking contraption is our bubbler. It keeps the water defrosted so that the ducks, geese and swans have open water to drink and swim in and it's also for their protection just in case a fox comes to visit.

Even the black swans are happy! Dad says that they stick their long necks in the snow pile and come out with it all over their faces - just like we do!

This is leftover pizza.
Last night, we had company and when the table was cleared, somebody placed the leftover pizza in its original box, too close to the edge of the kitchen counter.
You know where we're going with this, right.
I, Mr Mitch - the non-countersurfer, had the time of my life helping myself to a whole piece of pizza - all to myself!
Maggie wasn't even in the kitchen so she had no clue that a robbery was even taking place!

Mom forgave me. I got a pizza bone!

And I, Miss Maggie, have to tell you that breakfast in bed never tasted so good with pizza bits sprinkled on top of my meal! I may have turned fussy about a lot of foods but pizza is definitely not one of them!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

We Have Snow

2012-01-22T01:55:00.001-05:00

Our weatherman predicted three to 6 inches of snow and guess what? He was wrong. We got a good 9 inches of the fluffy cold white stuff!

Don't you like snow anymore, Maggie?

Don't you want to tuckbuttrun and stick your face in the snow and plow it?

I do!

I'm thrilled to see snow! I love everything about it!

Come on, Maggie. I'll help you. I want us to play together!

Not today, huh? Maybe tomorrow?

I do still like the snow, Mitch but I'd rather gaze at it quietly and peacefully by myself. It's a senior girl's prerogative, ya know!

So until next time...........

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Jury Duty

2012-01-20T01:47:00.000-05:00

Mom has jury duty coming up and it's not one of her most favoritest things to do so she asked me if I wanted to go in her place.
Sure!

What are the qualifications for jury service?
A prospective juror must be:

A United States citizen - I was born in Missouri so I'm a US citizen.
A resident of the county - yup - New Haven county.
At least 18 years old - I'm 5 years old so 5 times 7 is 35. I'm of age!
Able to communicate in the English language - Of course! Mom taught me all of the important words that I need to know, cookie being the most important!
Physically and mentally capable of serving - what do you guys think? I hear lots of BOL so I think that means yes!

It says here in the juror booklet that I can bring my own lunch. I can do that!

And it says to please dress appropriately.
Well~~~

I'm happy to help you out so that you can hand feed Maggie breakie in bed, mom!

Yer favorite son,
MitchyBoy

True Colors Thursday

2012-01-19T01:49:00.001-05:00

We're back to play True Colors with Blue again. This week's color is primrose yellow!

The perfect choice! Our primrose rug that mom bought years ago on Nantucket at the Claire Murray shop!

Inside this bag is a hand knitted gift for a very special friend who is going to have a baby in May. shhhhhhhhhh - it's a secret~

We haven't taken pictures inside the doll house in so long. That's because it's dusty and mom needs to dust it. The problem is that she hates to dust and to get her to dust our house is like pulling toofies but to dust the doll house.............. yikes!

Is it spring yet?

Another block from the Home At Last Airedale quilt.

Did you guys know that Reilly and Denny have started a True Colors blog! Well, they have and we are thrilled about this!
They're going with the color celestial blue this week.

Mom took this picture at the end of September. These leaves were stuck in a spider's web.

This red ware plate seems to be celestial blue.

The Home at Last celestial blue sky~

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Wet Yucky Snow

2012-01-17T09:09:00.000-05:00

Guess what we woke up to this morning?
It's cold and wet and yucky and I slid off the back porch and I didn't like it!

Mom had a load of laundry to do and my blankie just happened to be in the load. What a perfect day to have my warm-from-the-dryer blankie wrapped around me.
Thanks, mom!

So until next time............

Love ya lots,
Maggie

Breakie in Bed

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

For the past 2 days I've been refusing to eat my breakfast and it makes mom mental. She puts my bowl in front of me and I turn my head away. She'll go to any extremes to get me to eat!

Tada - breakfast in bed! You should all try this sometime. This is service at its best!

And after I finished my food - with 3 refills, I might add, she brought me my water!
Please remember the placemat next time, mom. Somebody made a mess in my bed!

This was Sunday afternoon.

Life is good for the time being.

So until next time......

Love ya lots,
Maggie

Who Ate All Of Our Cake

2012-01-15T02:03:00.000-05:00

Our beautiful cake from Miss Sunshade and Jaffa~

Where is the rest of it, Mitch?

Is this all that's left?!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Hold the Broccoli

2012-01-13T01:58:00.000-05:00

A lot of you have been asking how I'm doing. Well, I'm doing just fine.
About 4 days ago, I told mom that she needed to stop the broccoli and cauliflower. I decided that I just didn't like it anymore - so I'm back to butternut squash and onies, along with chicken thighs and hard boiled eggs, of course - and lots of supplements. The good thing is that I haven't missed a meal yet and mom is very happy about this!
I don't run to the kitchen anymore when mom calls me for my meals. I stay on my bed until I feel like moving so I guess you can say that I'm even more of a lady of leisure.

This is the tumor side of my mouth. It oozes sometimes. It's stinky and it's not pretty but mom tells me all the time that I'm beautiful and I smell like lilacs and gardenias and hyacinths and then she hugs me tight!

Miss Elaine suggested these supplements for me to take. We hope that they will shrink my mouth tumor and make it go away.

I still go on my morning walkies - I just don't go too far from home anymore but this isn't new - I haven't walked two miles with mom and dad and Mitch in quite awhile.
Leaving the back steps is a breeze but hopping back up onto my porch when it's time to go back inside is a challenge and I don't like it any longer. I put my front feets on the step and mom picks up my back end and it's working but I still don't like it. I like to do stuff on my own, ya know. This hind end weakness is not fun.

I'm still a very happy girl who loves life. I'm slower to get going in the morning but I do eat my breakie and I finish it all. Daytime is good. I love going out to the workshop with dad and Mitch and hanging out. Dindin is great and the night time is long. We do the best we can, right?

A cupola base update for you. It's finished for now and it has been moved over to the Crump barn. The next phase is the cupola body - the part with the windows!
If dad would have made this base one inch bigger, it never would have made it out the slider door!

Happy Friday the 13th! Stay safe everybody~

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie

True Colors Thursday - Aqua

2012-01-12T02:35:00.000-05:00

We're playing True Colors with Blue again this week. It's fun - join in!
This week's color is aqua!

Mitch's collar has aqua/turquoise stones.

Mom gets to see the beautiful Home at Last quilt every single day of her life and she still thinks it's pretty darn special! These two blocks have aqua in their background.

Francesca's scarf has aqua in it~

So does this book.

Please play along if you want to. True Colors is really fun!

****Blogger is giving us fits! We're trying to read your blogs and when we click on them, they load and in about 2 seconds, they disappear and all we see is a big white blank page. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Is this happening to anybody else?

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

I'm a Working Stiff

2012-01-09T14:29:00.001-05:00

Hey, everyone. It's me, Mitch and I'm going to enter the Working Stiff category for MangoMinster!

It's hard work growing up!

I worked hard to be the best host the day Lenny came to visit me and Maggie. I wanted to show him just how nice I can really be! Lenny is an angel now and we really miss him.

I see that treat on the TinMan's shoulder and I'm working very hard not to be afraid of him so I can snag it!

I helped mom on her hallway project and she said that it wouldn't have come out half as good without my excellent supervision!

I work very hard at being a comic and keeping them laughing!

I take mom and dad for a 2 mile walk every single day. It's a real challenge keeping them in shape!

A fella needs a nap once in awhile for all of his hard steady work~

I work very hard at trying to be most handsome. I think it's paying off!

And I also work endlessly to be my dads very best friend.

It's tough working for treats but somebody has to do it!

You want me in a "down", mom? Sure! Anything for you!

I worked hard to learn BANG and I never forgot it!

I could be mayor, ya know. I'm a very hard worker!

I worked very hard to persuade this kitty to come over and say hi to me. Oh well - you can't win them all!

I'm a great gardener! Mom says that I water some of her plants a little bit too much. OOPS!

I work very hard at being the bestest brother to my sweet sissy. I think she loves me!

I'll work at rooting for your Red Sox every game that they play, dad!

Yup, I'm a hard worker for sure!

Yer friend,
Mitch

Too Darn Cute

2012-01-07T11:13:00.001-05:00

I just happen to think that I'm the perfect candidate to take the Too Darn Cute category at MangoMinster. I don't thing I'm too full of myself at all!

This is me the day I came home to live with mom and dad. Do I look happy or what!

This is my very first Christmas. I'm just under 6 months old in this picture. This red and white stuffie is Pladda. I still have him!

This is my second birthday. I'm on Nantucket - my favorite place in the whole wide world! I'm not too vain checking myself out in the mirror, am I!

Dad and I are playing "heave ho"! I always hated that stoopid game! And noooooooo, I'm not a boy!

How cute is this "old lady"!

I could have played for the New York Rangers. I used to have all the right moves when I was younger!

Don't you just love that snowflake on my cute nose? I thought so!

From cute old lady to cute baby! That's me!

Wrap me up~ I'm the perfect pressie!

The cutest graduate~

Gotta protect my beautiful fur from the sun. I don't need wrinkles at my age!

I'm even cute when I have whipped cream all over my beard!

Is blue my color?

I can be the cutest flower arranger too!

My winning smile!

Who says that my tongue isn't cute!

Or my cute hiney for that matter!

So, what do you think? Aren't I just too darn cute?!

Love ya lots,
Maggie

A Picnic Dindin at Crumpie's

2012-01-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

Mom and dad decided to do a picnic dindin over at the Crump barn later this afternoon.

Turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato and vinegar and oil plus potato chips! yummmm
Yup, they shared a couple of the chips with us~

We enjoyed our dindin and watched the sun set. It was just magnificent!

What a beautiful ending to our day!

So until next time.............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Ruby Red

2012-01-05T01:53:00.000-05:00

We're playing True Colors with Blue! Today's color is Ruby Red!

The Dale's collar is ruby red. Mom made him sometime before Christmas.

We just love all of the ruby red glass in the window over our kitchen sink!

A sledding Wooliedale on a ruby red sled!

Our gram made this mobile years ago. She cut all of the wooden pieces out on her jigsaw and painted each one of them. Isn't it great!

No comment~~

For those of you who asked about Huuwee and the Nooz stayin' or leavin? They're stayin'!

Right now, all three of them are pretty sweet. We shall see come spring!

So until next time.............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Huuwee and the Nooz

2012-01-03T01:51:00.000-05:00

Remember this box? It had Barnacle geese in it last time you saw it.

We've had another landing. It happened a couple of weeks ago.

Dad has missed Grampa, our Greylag goose something fierce. Grampa passed away awhile back and dad wanted a pair of Greylags to replace him.
See that smile on dad's face? It didn't stay that way for long. There were 3 geese packed into this box and it came all the way from North Carolina! These geese are not Greylags. They're a cross between a Greylag and an African goose and they are BIG and they look like a domestic goose instead of a wild goose. And they can fly - not far because they're too bottom heavy.

Dad put the box inside this pen and carefully opened it and out flew the monsters! He and mom were both flabbergasted! They sure didn't expect this!

It took the geese exactly 30 minutes to decide that they didn't like the enclosed pen and they climbed on the wood stack that was inside the pen and flew out! Dad was only trying to protect them from Witchy Dauby!

It's been a couple of weeks and Dauby is still being a witch but she's getting more used to them. The male goose's name is Huuwee and dad calls the two girl geese The Nooz - get it - Huey Lewis and the News!

Check out the undercarriages on these geese. No wonder they can't get their fat butts off the ground to fly!

Can you see that witch biting the Nooz's butt? She is such a relentless meany!

The Baracle geese are doing wonderfully. They are such happy friendly little guys! They want to be pals with everybody on the pond!

Gussie and Myrtle are doing great! Dad has them trained to get out of the water at 8PM and walk right into their swan house for the night. We are thinking that the night light and the milk and cookies are doing the trick *wink wink*

Today is our sissy's birthday!

Happy birthday, Melissa! You are the bestest sissy ever and we love you! We hope you have a wonderful day!

So until next time.........

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

A New Diet

2011-12-31T01:54:00.000-05:00

Remember when I was in kidney failure and Miss Elaine and mom worked together to get me back on track and better enough for me to go on with my life? That was 2 years ago. Without Miss Elaine's help, I would probably not be here chatting away on my blog today. She is one of our bestest friends ever and one of the smartest hoomans we will ever meet!
Miss Elaine is helping me out again now that I have cancer. She suggested to mom that I introduce new foods into my diet.
Cauliflower~

And broccoli~

And coconut oil~
These are good things to fight cancer!

I ate all of my dindin and I can't wait for breakie! I love veges - this is good stuff!

Miss Elaine also said that the pasta must stop and the rice must stop and the treats must stop because they're carbs and cancer thrives on carbs.
But what about our beautiful holiday cake from Sunshade and Jaffa! Mom says that Mitch will now get much larger pieces than I get. Bummer!
There's not much left. We've done a good job on it, huh!

Miss Elaine and mom want to see me reach my 14th birthday and beyond as long as I stay happy and pain-free! I want that too!
But what about ice cream, mom?
Have you checked that out yet?

We got a phone call from Miss Fern and Zoie yesterday. Their computer is sick and at the hospital being repaired. She wanted us to let you all know so that no one would worry about her. We hear that Zoie had another fun playdate the day after Christmas so we're sure that she will tell you all about that as soon as she can.

So until next time................

Love ya lots,
Maggie

The Dining Room Project

2011-12-29T14:28:00.000-05:00

First of all, we have to thank all of you for your crossed paws and kind words of support. We feel so overwhelmed with all of the love! Thank you so very much! We so appreciate it!
As you can see, mom has started with the dining room project already. Monday was a very sad day here and it helped her immensely to have a plan. She took pictures off the wall and stored knick knacks away and moved furniture and rugs upstairs. She must have gone up and down those stairs at least 50 times!
She's into the patching stage. The fun will come later when we can paint and possibly stencil. Stenciling hasn't been decided on 100% yet.

Guess what? I got groomed this morning and it happened in the dining room! Mom says that this will most probably be the one and only time that any pup is ever groomed in our dining room so that means that I'm pretty special, huh!

Mom has already told me about 2,000 times that I'm very beautiful, Mitch. Do you need to tell me too? Thank you!

I feel so much better now. Thank you so much, mom!
Today was a good day for me. I was perky and kept us with the pace! I sure hope tomorrow is a winner too!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie

A Stressful Christmas

2011-12-28T01:52:00.000-05:00

On Christmas day, something happened that really stressed mom and dad out. I had blood clots and fresh bloody drips coming out of my mouth. When mom raised my jowl and saw tumors and yuckiness she was really panicked! I wasn't in any pain but you know how whigged moms can get! Why do these things always have to happen on a holiday?
It wasn't long before mom was on the computer typing in "oral cancer" to try and find out just how serious this new problem was going to be.
Yesterday afternoon, I went to see my vet. They weighed me first - I'm 50 pounds! Mom was really pleasantly surprised about this seeing as I do have kidney disease. I do eat like a horse, ya know, mom!
Dr. A checked out my mouth, which was really not fun but I let him do his thing. He told mom and dad that I have a stage 4 heart murmur and he told them that a full blood panel should be done and chest x-rays should be done to make sure that I don't have active cancer and then the ugly growth could be removed.
Well, I'm 13.5 years old and I'm basically a very happy girl most of the time. I have many aches and pains getting up from a reclining position and I have problems walking from point A to point B a lot of time.
Mom and dad are not going to do the x-ray and they're not going to do bloodwork and they're not going to do surgery. They're going to let me live my life in peace and if and when life gets uncomfy for me, I have tramadol and if it gets really uncomfy and painful for me then we'll cross that bridge when the time comes.

Mitch and I eat holiday cake every day after our walkies. We still have lots left, Sunshade, and we are sure loving it!

Dad took us all to Glenwood for burgers and fries the day after Christmas and yesterday after my vet appointment we had pizza.
Life is good for me for now and I'm liking it.

Our mom has a new project. Not only is she helping dad with the Crump cupola but she's also going to tackle repainting our dining room so she has enough to do now to keep her mind focused and not so much free time to worry about me.

Because, we have been so stressed prior to seeing the vet, we have been reading blogs but not commenting and we apologize for this. We'll try to do better.

Love ya lots,
Miss Maggie

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T01:50:00.049-05:00

We signed up for Jazzi's Christmas pressie exchange again this year and a couple of weeks ago, our package arrived in the mail from Jacque and Pippen. Our evil mom wouldn't let us open our pressie until Christmas Eve!
FINALLY!
Are you sniffing good stuff in there, Mitch?

Their Christmas card is just adorable! What a cute Scottie!

They sent us a squeaky Santa and a rope toy and bacon treats! Thank you, thank you!

yummmmmmmmmmm

And mom got a handmade potholder! She's sure going to put that to good use! Thank you so much!

Mitch has already claimed the Santa and the rope toy for himself! Why does that not surprise me.
Fine, Mitch - the treats can be all for me!

Thank you so very much, Jacque and Pippen! You sent us such awesome gifts. You made Christmas even more special for us!

We wish all of our friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays and a wonderful weekend!

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Christmas Eve Helpers

2011-12-24T07:35:00.001-05:00

Mitch and I are both very busy today. Mitch is helping dad in the workshop. The sheathing is on the cupola and the lead is being nailed on. The corner boards go on next and then the clapboards.
Keep a watchful eye and make sure he's doing it right, Mitch!

Mom and I are busy baking Pineapple Cheesecake for Christmas day tomorrow.
This is the cheesecake's crust -
2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar
3 Tablespoons of butter, melted
Combine above ingredients. Mix well and press into the bottom of a 10-inch pan. We're using a tube pan.

Next comes the filling~
3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 8 1/4 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Beat cream cheese till light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the drained pineapple, the lemon juice and the lemon rind into the cheese mixture.

We can't let any of this cream cheese go to waste!

Spoon the cheese mixture into the crust. It's ready for the oven, mom!
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I get to lick the spatula!

It smells wonderful! We'll be cooling it thoroughly and putting the cherry topping on tomorrow for Christmas dindin.

My work is done! Time for a snooze.

Santa and his elves will be packing that sleigh soon! We hope he treats you all well!

So until next time............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Fabulous Friday

2011-12-23T01:47:00.000-05:00

We spent all morning in the workshop with mom and dad. They have been working every day on the cupola and they're making progress. When we left the workshop and went back to the house to make lunch, we spotted a box on our back porch. This box had our names on it! What could it be and who is it from?

OMD! It's a special holiday cake just for us and it's from our dear friends, Miss Sunshade and Jaffa!
This picture is when we were on vacation at Something Natural on Nantucket. We were having a picnic lunch and it was so much fun!

Wow! What a fabulous cake! It's the most gorgeous cake we've ever seen!

Mom says that it's way too pretty and special to cut into. But the box says that it's edible and we're supposed to eat it, mom! We don't want it to mold and spoil now do we?
It smells as good as it looks. I'll just sample a wee bit before mom notices, Mitch.

Thanks for cutting into the cake mom! Where are your manners, Mitch? You're supposed to keep the cake on the plate to eat it!

We have cake for a long time to come! yahooooooo
But I need to know why we had to cut into MY face first!

Isn't this the most gorgeous cake!

Thank you so very much, Sunshade and Jaffa. What a supernice surprise! You guys are the bestest friends ever!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Red

2011-12-22T05:10:00.000-05:00

We chose this week's color to be red!

This is a carved heart shaped rose that dad's friend Rebecca gave him. It's just beautiful. Thank you so much, Reb!

And this picture is for our good friend, Penny!

Only 3 days left till Christmas!

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

A Surprise From Jazzi

2011-12-21T01:58:00.000-05:00

Dad took us to Lenny and Joe's last night for shrimp bisque and fishie sandwiches and when we got home, we found a wonderful surprise in our mailbox from Jazzi!
OMD, that's us, Mitch, in a fabulous handmade M-n-M frame!

Look at her Christmas card. Jazzi is shoppin'! That lady must be her mom!

She even sent us pictures. There is one of Jazzi and one of Addy! You girls are lookin' good!

We got COOKIES!

I've got my high-five goin' on here, mom! I need a cookie too!

Is that not the most specialest gift ever?! Thank you so very much, Jazzi and Addy! We are just loving this! It is sooooooo creative and so beautiful!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Baking Anginettes with Mom

2011-12-19T01:55:00.000-05:00

One day this week, mom was talking with our mail lady named Carolyn. They were chatting about how much they both love anginette cookies at Christmas time. The one point that came up that both girls agreed on was how dry they always are and how you need to drink a whole glass of milk to wash down one cookie! Carolyn told mom that she has an anginette recipe that is moist and to-die-for and she shared it with mom!So that's what we're making ~

This is Carolyn's recipe. Mom cut it in half and we still got 4 dozen cookies!

2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons lemon extract or anise extract if you prefer -- we used the lemon.
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 pound ricotta
4 cups flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Add the other ingredients and mix well.
Bake for 8 minutes.

Frosting:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1-2 Tablespoons of milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

This is before the cookies are popped into the oven to bake.

The helper ALWAYS gets to lick the beaters! Too bad Mitch is working with the boys today! haha

The cookies bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Mom has always cooled her cookies on newspaper. She learned this from her mom. Does anyone else cool cookies on newspaper?

They get a dab of glaze next.

Merry Christmas to you and your mom, Uncle Bill. We hope you like the anginettes that mom and I baked. Uncle Bill is the man that helped dad rescue Mitch. Bless you always and forever, Uncle Bill!

I love my brother! I know I tease him and bash him a lot but life wouldn't be any fun without Mitch! Did you get all of this down, Santa *wink wink*

Mom is going to be making her pineapple cheesecake for Christmas and she's putting cherries on top!
I can't wait to help out with that!

So until next time...........

Love ya lots,
Maggie

The Winter Project

2011-12-17T09:04:00.002-05:00

Dad and mom have started their winter project which means that Mitch and I are the official supervisors on the job~

Anybody care to guess what this is?

We happen to feel that we're doing a great job, mom! We need treats to keep up our strength, ya know!

Banana break!

It's not the easiest job we've ever done but it's certainly one of the warmest ones for winter time!

BTW, this project is a brand new cupola for the Crump barn. Did anyone guess right? We'll keep you updated as the project progresses.

For our new friends - this is Crump's barn~

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Green

2011-12-15T01:52:00.000-05:00

We're back to play True Colors Thursday! We chose today's color as green!Mr Moose is in his holiday duds!

Christmas ornies on our tree~

Miss Autumn has a Christmas stocking hanging from her tail~

The current book that mom is reading. She says it's a winner!

Thank you for your awesome Christmas card, Wyatt and Stanzie!
Thank you all for your Christmas cards! We sure love getting them in the mail!

We've decided that next week's color should be red!

See you all next Thursday for True Colors!

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

A Package From George

2011-12-12T02:06:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. It's me, Mitch!
I was one of the lucky winners in George the lads draw and a box arrived in the mail for me with my name on it - just my name - not Maggie's!

Wow! There's a dog treat book and a bone cookie cutter in here, Maggie. We need to schmooze mom into making us some homemade cookies!

There was also a rope toy in the box. How did George know that rope toys are my very favorite! Thank you, George!

Hey, Mitch - this is a recipe for Juicy Christmas cakes. Doesn't that sound yummy?

This one is Wheat Crescents, Maggie. Maybe we should ask mom to make this one~

Ohhhhhhhhhh - look at this one! It looks like a yummy cupcake but it's a muesli muffin with banana and blueberries! I'm sold!

And thank you for our beautiful Christmas card too, George and Tess. We love it!

What super nice gifts! You guys are awesome!
Thank you so very much!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Cookies

2011-12-10T01:48:00.001-05:00

Check out what mom baked for us!

They're M-n-M cookies - with M-n-M candies! Do you think we should snitch one of these?

These cookies must belong to Santa because his mug is here just waiting to be filled with eggnog on Christmas eve.

He won't notice if we help ourselves to just one, right - and hopefully mom won't notice either!

Did we fool you?

These cookies are not real! Mom made them out of felt! Mom says they're the non-fattening kind.
Who cares about calories - we just want to eat them!

So until next time...........

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Berry

2011-12-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

We decided that it might be fun to play True Colors today and we've chosen the color "berry". We're not sure that's a color but heck, we're the only ones playing so who cares, right?!
The Barberry~

And the Aire-berry~

And the Christmas berry~

And the string of cranberries and Job's tears~

The Bittersweet berry~

Thank you for checkin' in!

So until next time...............

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Wheelie Wednesday - The Airedale Christmas Tree

2011-12-07T01:45:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. It's me, Autumn!
Our Airedale Christmas tree is up! It's actually been up for about 3 weeks now.
Mom made all of the wooden ornaments on it and all of the felt ones.

We love our Airedale Christmas tree. It's always the first one to go up and the last one to come down. It's in our kitchen so we enjoy it LOTS!

She made a new ornie for the tree this year. Not sure it's going to fit on the tree, mom!

This is the small Christmas tree in our dining room. The round wooden ornies were made by master carver, Craig Farrow and the Dale spoon was made by mom. The WoolieDale on the sled was made by Carol Usher.

And these are more of Carol Usher's brilliant work~

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - the lights are so pretty!

I sure do love the Christmas season!

See you all next Wednesday!

Love,
Autumn

They've Landed

2011-12-04T07:30:00.000-05:00

We would have posted earlier but Gussie and Mrytle didn't arrive until 5PM last night and it was too dark to snap pictures. They arrived from Massachusetts in a carrier and dad made them spend the night in the new house with food and water and clean sawdust bedding and he closed and locked the door. After walkies, he opened the door and let them out so this was actually the first time that we were seeing them in the daylight.

Meet Gussie and Mrytle. They're Black Swans! They were "born" last November so they are just over a year old.

That's Gussie out in front. He has more white on his beak and Mrytle has a big white feather on her side for now. It will fall out with time.

Time to rise and shine and hit the water, guys!

They've never been in a pond before. When they lived in Massachusetts, they only had a large tub and they had to take turns so this will be their first swim together!

ZOOMIES!!!!!! Sorry the picture is blurry but they were having fun!

UH OH! Dauby the policewoman is on the job!
They aren't afraid of her at all but she's sure checking them out and letting them know that she rules THIS pond! And surprisingly, Margaret-Chaz is keeping his/her distance along with the Flintstone Barnacles, who are are best friends with the Mute Swans. They stick to their butts like they're glued to them!
BTW, we're positive that Dauby is a female because she lays eggs. This spring we will know for sure if Margaret-Chaz is actually a girl or a boy!

Yes, Dauby, you're still the most beautiful bird EVER!

The black swans will be staying in this pen for the entire winter so Dauby and Margaret and Gussie and Mrytle will have plenty of time to get to know each other "through the fence".

So until next time............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch (who haven't actually met the Black Swans yet)

Silent Saturday - We're Expecting...........

2011-12-03T01:52:00.000-05:00

Stay tuned...........

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Mini-Mitten Winners

2011-12-01T12:35:00.004-05:00

Thank you, thank you all for participating! Knitting helps keep mom awake at night so you're all doing her a BIG favor! Now she can continue to create and not feel guilty!

And now without further ado, what numbers did you choose and which doggies match up, Miss Maggie?

I chose #2 and #26. The doggie sitting in the #2 spot is Eva the Sheltie. And the doggies sitting in my #26 spot are Chloe and LadyBug.

Eva wins the light colored mitten with the gingerbread men on it and Chloe and LadyBug win the red mitten with the holly and berries. Congratulations, girls!

Those reindeer ears look much better on me, ya know, Francesca!

Okay, Mitch. What numbers did you choose and what lucky doggies are winners?

I chose #8 and #17 and #23. Dave and Zim are in the #8 spot. And Sam, our wheelie friend, is sitting at #17. Last but not least and how the heck did she know is Tweedles, who is sitting in the #23 spot.

Tweedles wins the sock money mitten. Sam wins the blue mitten with snowflakes on it and Dave and Zim win the blue mitten with the needle felted snowman face.
Congratulations, guys!

If you could, please email us your snail mail addys and we'll get these out to you asap.
Our email is maggiesue710 at yahoo dot com (without the bits).
Thank you so much for playing!

So until next time............

Love ya lots and friends forever,
Maggie, Mitch and Francesca

Wheelie Wednesday - Mini-Mitten Give-Away

2011-11-30T01:47:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody. It's me, Francesca!
As you know, mom has been knitting mini-mittens like crazy for the past few weeks and we thought it would be fun to have a give-away and share five of them.

Mitch wrote down 3 of his favorite numbers on this piece of paper.

And Maggie wrote down 2 of her favorite numbers~

The numbers that they wrote down will correspond in the order with the comments that you leave us.
Please leave only one comment so it'll be fair to everyone.

Good luck! We'll be back in a couple of days to announce the winners of the 5 mittens.

Friends forever,

Francesca

We're Celebrating!

2011-11-28T01:45:00.000-05:00

Today is our 5th blogaversary! We can't believe that we have actually been blogging for 5 years already!
We have made so many friends over the years and we love each and every one of you! We've laughed together and cried together and we help each other out when the going gets tough!
So today is all about celebrating!

The pizza pawty is at our house and it starts right now and goes all day long so come on over and enjoy pizza with us!

See ya soon!
Maggie and Mitch

WhatChaBuildin', Dad

2011-11-26T01:51:00.000-05:00

What are you building, dad? Is this new digs for me and Mitch?

I don't see any cushy beds in here and I don't see any source of heat. Winter is comin', ya know!

I do see electricity but where's the frig and where is my microwave oven?
Mitch and I need our ice cream and luxuries!

This is totally not acceptable for either one of us, dad! You need to do better than this!
We have no idea who is gonna live here but it's sure not going to be either one of us!
Get outta my way - I'm leavin' NOW!

I do have to admit that the view is pretty nice.

It's the Flintstone Barnacles! They seem to have settled in and are doin' just fine!

Don't worry, Mitch. I set dad straight on THAT issue! We eat and sleep in the main house and there are no buts about it! No way will we be livin' in the Early American way!

So until next time.................

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Today Is My 5th Birthday

2011-11-24T01:37:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. It's me, Mitch!Today is a very special day. It's Thanksgiving day for a lot of us and it's also my 5th birthday!

Mom remembered that "cake" recipe that I saw in the magazine a couple of months ago?

She sorta copied it using an apple as a base and she added some coffee ice cream and a dollop of yogurt.

Did you notice in the first picture that I'm color coordinated in my blue pawty hat and my handsome blue collar?
We're sure having a yummy pawty, aren't we, Maggie!

OOPS - we lost our hats. Sorry, mom!

Thank you for letting me finish yours, Maggie! You're the best sissy ever!

We wish all of our friends who are celebrating a most wonderful and yummy thanksgiving.
Now for the turkey and don't forget the pumpkin pie, mom!
I think I like having my birthday falling on Thanksgiving day!

Yer friends,
Love ya lots,
Mitch and Maggie

Wordless Wednesday - Bittersweet

2011-11-23T01:41:00.001-05:00

Update: These berries are from the American Bittersweet vine. We decorate with them :-)
Love ya lots,
Miss Maggie

Our First Christmas Card

2011-11-21T01:51:00.000-05:00

We got our first Christmas card of the season on Saturday. It's from Reilly and Denny!
Isn't it just beautiful!

This is the inside of it.

Reilly and Denny's mom makes her own cards and they are just works of art!
Thank you so much, guys. We will be saving this Christmas card forever! It's just gorgeous and so very special!

I, Mitch, got a hAirecut yesterday! Mom says that I'm all set now for my birthday pawty on Thursday!

So until next time............

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

Dad's New Geese

2011-11-19T01:46:00.000-05:00

The post office called us this past Wednesday and told us that they had a HUGE box for us from Tennessee and to please come down to pick it up. We don't live far from the post office and dad was back in no time at all.

Dad ordered 4 Barnacle Geese! We have 2 pinioned pair of them and both pair were born this past spring so they're still under a year old. They have bracelets on their ankles - boys on the right ankle and girls on the left ankle.

Mom is saying hi to one of the goosies while she was still inside her traveling box. She's got her hat and scarf on. She'll need these in Connecticut this winter!

We have a duck house that we built years ago and it's been vacant for quite some time. Mom and dad decided that it was time to spruce it up and fix it up for the Barnacles. This guy is getting moved from the box to his temporary home.
Our dad has always loved The Flintstones so he's going to name the geese Fred and Wilma and Barney and Betty Barnacle.

The accomodations aren't the most luxurious but they'll do for a couple of days.

They do have a roof over their heads and a door that closes and locks and food and water to drink and a swimming pool!

Yesterday, dad decided to open the gate and let them meet and greet Dauby and Margaret.
Know what? We're not exactly sure that Margaret is a SHE swan. She sure does act agressively and protective for a girl! Dauby has taken a back seat and she lets Margaret take the lead. hummmmmm
Mom and dad are thinking of changing her/his name to Chaz!
That would explain why Dauby and Margaret were so mean to Carlie, who now lives in Pennsylvania. We feel quite certain that Carlie has probably bonded with a male swan and is happy as can be. We haven't had a call from her new dad but this is what we believe.

So out the gate and down to the pond edge the geese go~

They're going to ask permission to swim on Dauby and Margaret/Chaz's pond.

They're in with no problems. They were even greeted by the visiting Mallards.

So far, so good!

We'll keep our fingers and paws crossed that it stays this way!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Thankful Thursday

2011-11-17T01:32:00.001-05:00

Our mom came back from Florida on Monday and we are so thankful for that. We are also thankful that our dad took such good care of us and showed us a really good time while mom was gone!

Well, we didn't get any of those pizzelles but mom did bring home a beautiful scarf and a cute little silver leather flower purse. What do you think?

I think she should have hidden the pizzelles in the purse - that's what I think!

Mom says she's so happy to be home. She somehow can't stop smiling at us and kissing the tops of both of our heads!

We missed you too and we're so glad you're back, mom!

Can you see what's going on behind Mitch's head? Yup, the Airedale Christmas tree is up!

So until next time...........

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

My Fur Dry Towel

2011-11-15T09:04:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. It's me, Mitch! Our friend, Bocci, had a give-away a few days back and we were the lucky winners!
The package arrived the day before mom left for Florida so I got to open it!

My congratulatory letter~
The letter explains that this towel is uniquely designed to draw water away from my coat and into the absorbent fibers.

Lots of times when it's raining, dad takes me for a walk and he has his slicker on. He stays dry but I come home soaked. Mom says that this towel is going to come in handy for these occasions for sure!
Hopefully mom doesn't figure out that you're supposed to use it after a bath! shhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I really like this! It's nice and warm!

Mom wanted to see how it hooks and attaches but I don't want to get up for fear she'll take it off me!

Okay, I'm up, mom.
This huge bib goes between my front legs and then hooks off to one side.

Yup, you got it right, mom! How do I look?
Pretty snazzy, huh?
I'm not a fan of winter coats and I normally run when I see one coming at me but I really, really like this!

Mom says it's all mine, Maggie! Remember that you prefer being underneath the umbrella when it's raining out!

Thank you so much, Bocci! This is one of the nicest gifts we have ever gotten and know what? It will be my birthday in just over a week!
I can't wait till I get wet and wear my new Fur Dry towel!

So until next time...............

Yer friend,
Mitch

Pizzelles

2011-11-12T03:44:00.001-05:00

Mom and Gram made pizzelles yesterday and before they made pizzelles they made peanut butter fudge!

We sure wish that we could have been there to share in the fun and get a free sample!

Hey, who the heck is that?
Mom says that her name is Lilly!

We hope that she didn't get any of what could have been OUR pizzelles!

So until next time.........

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Yellow

2011-11-10T03:37:00.001-05:00

This week's color is yellow! Thank you, Blue, for hosting this fun meme! We just love True Colors!

Mom is in Florida and she sure does miss us!

I can't belive you offered me a lemon, mom! You know how much I HATE lemons!

So until nex time..........

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Our Mom is Jetting Off

2011-11-07T02:37:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year when our mom heads to Florida to visit gram and gramp. She's been preparing for days and tomorrow is the big day for her~

My supplements are all counted out and in their special little container so dad has an easier time of it. And yesterday morning she made me an entire pound of pasta - all for ME! And today she'll make another one! Am I the luckiest girl, or what?!

It's done perfectly, mom - just the way I like it!

The ground beef has been browned and the veges are all set and the pasta will be frozen along with the other edibles. All dad has to do is remember to thaw it out!

She's only leaving us for 6 days but 6 days will seem like an eternity!
Dad has all sorts of fun stuff planned for us! We'll go to Lenny and Joe's for fish and chips and the Glenwood for burgers and fries and we'll even have an egg salad picnic at the Crump barn.
Hopefully the time will go by really fast and mom will be home before we realize she's gone.

Did you all hear that Bert is having a hat challenge?
You won't want to miss that! Check out the details on his blog.

So until next time.............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Silent Saturday

2011-11-05T01:53:00.001-04:00

Yer friend,
MitchyBoy

True Colors Thursday - Pink

2011-11-03T01:55:00.000-04:00

This week's color is pink! If you want to play along, please do - it's fun!

That sure was a fun snowstorm that we had. Too bad it's almost all gone.

This is one of the blocks on the Home At Last quilt! It was designed and sewn by Gena.

This dolly has a pretty pink sash~

We won't be seeing any flowers in the garden until next spring. We'll just have to enjoy the silk ones!

We are just thrilled that Blue is back and we're playing True Colors once again!

So until next time................

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

A Taco For Me

2011-11-01T01:55:00.000-04:00

Remember Jazzi's taco contest on October 4th? We were one of the winners and today a box came in the mail that was addressed to ME from Jazzi!
See, Mitch! It's addressed to only ME!

Yummy treats!

Thank you, Jazzi. They are delicious!

A ball for ME!

hummmmmmmmmm

Our photos of us eating our homemade tacos that day~
It was the first time that we had ever had a taco and boy, was it ever fun and yummy!

OMG, Jazzi's mom made us a taco with beef and lettuce and tomato and shredded CHEESE! It's a work of art and so cute!

Mom is letting us sniff it but we know there is no way she's going to let us have it. She's so stingy!

Thank you so very much, Jazzi! We have a forever taco from you!

How special is that!

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T01:49:00.000-04:00

BOO!

Did we scare you?

Happy Halloween to all of our friends!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

The Day After

2011-10-30T10:47:00.000-04:00

Mom and dad's Halloween party did not get cancelled even though it was a horribly slushy ride to and from the Crump barn for everyone involved. There were over 100 peeps invited and about 35 brave souls showed up and they had a really fun time! Unfortunately our mom did not bring the camera. Shame on her because some of the costumes were really funny and a few were very scary and the dirt graveyard cake was a work of art!

We feel very fortunate to only have lost our power two times and for only short periods of time. Many are still without it and it's cold and breezy here!

Our Magnolia tree didn't do too well in the storm~

And lucky for us, the pine tree decided to drop her limbs on the ground instead of on our brand new roof!

I know this picture is blurry but look what I found! A snow-covered apple!

This thing in the foreground is our street sign pole that supports mom's wisteria! The wisteria WAS taller than the top of the street sign.

It sure doesn't look like October here at all!

Mom has always said that it would be awesome if the Burning Bush could be in bloom at Christmas when we have snow on the ground. It's not Christmas but mom finally got her wish!

Does anyone need or want snow? We have lots to give!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Candy Corn Bark

2011-10-29T09:59:00.001-04:00

Today is mom and dad's Halloween pawty over at the Crump barn. We're sure you have all heard by now that we're supposed to get snow this evening and into tonight and possibly wake up to 6-10" on the ground. This morning we came back from walkies around 7:30 AM and our power was already out! WHAT???!!! Mom needs to prepare for this pawty!
Around 9 AM it came back on thank doG!

These are the ingredients for the Candy Corn Bark~

This is the first time that I've ever had an Oreo cookie! Mom says that the recipe called for the chocolate ones with the orange cream filling but her store didn't have them so she bought these instead.
How lucky for me that I could try the half that wasn't chocolate!

A pretzel! Thank you!

You lightly butter your cookie sheet and add 16 crushed cookies, 1 1/2 cups of broken pretzel pieces, 1/3 cup of peanuts and 1/3 cup chocolate covered raisins.
The white chocolate is melting in the double boiler on the stove and you drizzle the chocolate over the broken stuff on the cookie sheet.

Well - the chocolate didn't DRIZZLE! It clumped and made a big glop and mom ended up smashing it down on the cookie sheet to "glue" all of the broken pieces together.

Then you sprinkle on the candy corn and let it cool.

It's not supposed to be cut. It's supposed to be broken into pieces and that did work. It's not so bad, right?

Help yourself. There's plenty of it!

We just poked our heads out the back door! Oh no! We love snow but we do want mom and dad's pawty to be a success!

So until next time...............

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Black

2011-10-27T02:16:00.001-04:00

We're playing True Colors Thursday with Blue! We're so glad she's back! Todays' color is black!
I, Mitch, have a big black wet nose! If you squeeze it, it honks, ya know! This is my most favorite cow udder toy!

Francesca's bandana is black with orange pumpkins.

You missed a garden ornament, mom! This one needs to be put away for winter too!

YIKES!

A black crow and one scary witch! BOO!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

The Before and After

2011-10-25T02:11:00.000-04:00

The project that started out as the roof project that led to the rafter project and the end wall project, etc, etc, is complete!

This is the start~

And this is the finish~

We started this project on June 23rd and we can finally say that we're all done! It's been a long haul but it's sure nice to know that no more rain will be leaking in around our chimney ever again!

This is inside looking out.
It's a room that basically just for storage and it's also where mom grooms us. We have quite the view now!

So until next time...........

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

The Home At Last Quilt

2011-10-22T02:02:00.000-04:00

It's here, it's here!

It's a note from Lori telling us how happy she is that we won the Home at Last quilt!
Thank you, Lori. We are absolutely thrilled and mom is shaking all over again. The first time was when she got the call from Jeri telling her that she won! She couldn't believe it! She thought it just had to be a mistake!

This is the back of the quilt with all of the quilter's names. It's embroidered right into the backing and it's there forever and ever!

This is one of mom's blocks! Back in those days, the quilters drew there own patterns. Now we have pattern artists who do awesome work!

I was 3 years old when mom made this block for this quilt.

This is the other block that mom made. Who knew then how important ice cream was going to become to us!

This is mom's first quilt with the Airedale Quilting bee. Do you know how fabulous it feels to be beneath it?

Pictures don't do this masterpiece justice at all. Those Easter eggs are buttons. They are just adorable!

Mitch is remembering the time he rolled Mrs. Turtle down the hill in our back yard!

The butterfly is a symbol of transplant. Dad loves this block!

The center medallion is even more gorgeous to see in person!

What a beautiful work of art and we still can't believe that we own it!

This quilt raised over $15,500 for Airedale rescue this year.
Thank you so much to everyone who donated!
True, we are winners but the true winners are the Dales in need!

We have lost a very dear friend - Miss Claudette. She was Rocky's mom and angel LacyLulu's mom and she was one of the sweetest and most compassionate and loving people ever. We are going to miss her so very much. Godspeed, Claudette. We will never forget you.

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Happy Birthday, Dad!

2011-10-21T02:00:00.000-04:00

Today is our dad's birthday!
We're leaving it up to him if he wants Glenwood or Lenny + Joe's or if he wants to try someplace new. The only thing we ask is that we MUST be invited to go along!
And then of course there will be ice cream! No birthday is complete without ice cream!

Happy birthday from your two most favorite Airedales! We know you'll be taking a spin on the big Chief right after your birthday ice cream! Ride safe!

We love you, Dad!

Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Orange

2011-10-20T02:00:00.000-04:00

True Colors with Blue is officially back! yahooooooooooo We couldn't be more pleased! If you want to play along, please join us. It's so much fun!
Today's color is orange!
It's one of our very favorite colors!
No explanation is needed.

Next week's color is black!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Wheelie Wednesday - Hydrangeas in October

2011-10-19T01:39:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone. It's me, Francesca!

Look at all of the different colored flowers on my one small hydrangea plant - pretty pinks and blues and lavenders!
The orange flowers are naturtiums.

I sure do love October!

See you all next Wednesday!

Friends forever,

Francesca

October is National Pizza Month - The Wordless Edition

2011-10-15T15:12:00.001-04:00

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Green

2011-10-13T02:37:00.000-04:00

We're playing True Colors Thusday again this week and today's color is green!

Our naturtiums did fantastic this year. They are green leaves trailing everywhere!

I'm trying on this green collar with green stones. I'm not sure it's my color. hummmmmm
What do you think?

A green mitten!

A green face! YIKES!

A green purse.

Papa Bunny's green vest!

A green sweater!

That was fun!
Thanks for stopping by!

Love ya lots,
Maggie

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-12T01:58:00.001-04:00

Love ya lots,
Miss Maggie

The Beauty Berry

2011-10-10T01:59:00.000-04:00

Last year when mom saw Wyatt's Beauty Berry bush she knew that she wanted one of these in our yard.
Guess what?
She bought one this past weekend for 40% off! whooooohooooooo
Yes, it's still very small but it has purple berries and it's just beautiful!

I was helping her plant her Beauty Berry when all of a sudden I heard a chipmunk teasing me!

I'm coming to get you!
You didn't know that I could move this fast for a senior girlie, did you?
Think again you nasty chipper!

What a beautiful autumn day now that Mr. Chipper is out of my yard!

OMG, you're really not going to post this picture are you, mom?!
I had a piece of grass stuck on my tongue - no big deal!

Guess what? You're not going to believe this because we still don't!

Mom won the gorgeous Home At Last Airedale quilt! whooooooohoooooooo

We'll be watching for the mailman!

So until next time........

Love ya lots,

Maggie

A Wonderful Discovery - The Sleeping Beauties

2011-10-08T01:54:00.014-04:00

Mom had this brilliant idea to go back into our archives looking for pictures of our smiling faces for World Smile Day. We discovered that Mitch doesn't smile very much and we also discovered this post from May 8, 2007. It was never published!

This is just as it was written:

Mom loves to take pictures of us when we are sound asleep and dead to the world. Somehow she and dad get a big charge out of this! They were watching TV last night and dad had the volumn up a little too loud for my taste so this is what I decided to do so I could catch a few zzzzzzzzzzzzzz's! Can you see that I'm covering my ears?
Mom and dad laughed themselves silly! Here I am again. It's getting warmer now and mom hasn't taken the fuzzy stuff off of the beds yet so to keep myself cooler I like to lay on my back. A girl never gets privacy around here!
Even Mitch isn't spared! The camera snaps away while he's trying to sleep too. He doesn't seem to mind as much as I do though! He has such busy days that when he sleeps he just "dies"! Mom and dad were really hooting about this picture! It looks like Mitch is smelling something bad - yea, himself!

Here's another one of Mitch. He gets himself so tired that he slides off the bed! It's really sort of comical to watch. One minute he's totally on the bed and the next time you glance at him he's only half on the bed!
Check this one out. He totally fell off the bed in this picture! hehehehe

Awwwwwwwwwwwww - now this is a good one! Doesn't the baby look peaceful!

I do have to say, the little dude tuckers me out some days more than others and I sorta just "die" to!

*****************************
I'm only 8 years old in these pictures and we've only had Mitch for a couple of months at this point! Was my brother really that small at one time?!

That was sure fun taking a walk down Memory Lane!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Happy World Smile Day

2011-10-07T02:01:00.000-04:00

Yes, you have already seen this post! We goofed and thought World Smile Day was September 9th! OOPS!

No big deal!
We just get to smile again :-)

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Red

2011-10-06T01:55:00.000-04:00

We thought it might be fun to play True Colors again. We have chosen red!

This is dad's new red heart vase that he came home with from Maine~

We love red glass in our windows. Once mom takes the screen out and washes the window over the kitchen sink, she'll put red glass in that one too!

A wheelie horsie!

The only red mitten!

Mom's new red Etienne Aigner purse that she got at TJMaxx for half price :-)

True Colors Thursday is always so much fun. We'll have to do this again soon.

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Wordless Wednesday - WhatChuLookinAt

2011-10-05T02:04:00.001-04:00

Yer Friend,
Mitch

National Taco Day

2011-10-04T01:56:00.001-04:00

We're celebrating National Taco Day with Jazzi today!

Mitch's taco shell has kibble and lettuce and tomato and cheese and a dollop of yogurt!

And my taco shell has - are you ready for this - ground beef, butternut squash, macaroni, lettuce, cheese, hard boiled eggs and a dollop of yogurt + all of my supplements.

This must be the taco shell, Maggie. We've never had one of these before!

I'm goin' in!

OMG, Mitch - this is just the most awesome treat ever!

Did I spill anything?

Oh no! Mine is all gone too, Mitch!

Can we make everyday National Taco Day, mom?

I'd better check to see if you spilled anything on your side, Maggie~

That was fun, Jazzi! Thank you so much for hosting this!

Today is also our grandpa's birthday!

Do you think we could pass as twinsies?

Have a super special day, Grandpa!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Silent Sunday

2011-10-02T01:54:00.000-04:00

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

A New Adventure for Carlie

2011-09-30T01:54:00.000-04:00

We have been having issues here with the 3 swans. Dauby and Margaret have become BFF and Dauby decided that Carlie was a third wheel and wanted her gone. Dad discovered her one morning unable to walk and that's when this fence went up.
There was no attack but we think that Dauby scared Carlie and she tried to get away and probably twisted her ankle.

She was as good as new after a couple of day's rest.

There was a point where Dauby was charging the fence and really just being a witch. Mom and dad both tried to reason with her but it didn't help a bit - not one bit!

So dad called a man named Dave, who lives in Pennsylvania, and he told us that he has 3 male swans that would love to have a girlfriend.
So we packed her suitcase.

Carlie is heading for a brand new adventure in a brand new state and she will have her pick of boyfriends! It doesn't get much better than that, right!
But look who her traveling companions are - CHICKENS!
There are 5 of them in that crate all clucking away. Wonder what all the gossip is about?

Carlie will most probably be a mommy one day and we think that's pretty cool!

Good-by, Carlie! We feel very honored to have been given the chance to get to know you and we wish you the very best with your new life!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Wheelie Wednesday - Mitten Update

2011-09-28T01:57:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody! It's me, Autumn.

We have been busy knitting away and adding to our mitten garland. Mom has also been having fun decorating the mittens~

She took a ride to Michael's and found some fun snowflake and holly and doggie buttons.
Check out the sock monkey mitten! So far that's my favorite one!

The sock monkey mitten and this snowman are needle felted.

These mittens are all needle felted too. They haven't made it to the garland over the fireplace yet.

Mom is having a blast knitting and decorating all of these mittens. It gives her something to do at night while she watches TV.

This is the next color on the needles!

See you all next Wednesday!

Love,
Autumn

The Rubber Broom

2011-09-26T01:46:00.001-04:00

We forgot to tell you that mom did come home with one item from the Durham Fair.
A rubber broom!

All that good stuff she could have come home with and she's so excited about this stoopid rubber broom.

It's even got a squeegee on it so she can wash windows outside! Whoopee, mom!

Mom is one of these people that NEVER buys gimmicky stuff at fairs. She actually turns her head away so she won't have to be rude and get sucked in and say no to people - but Maureen - the one that was showing off the HUGE warm donut (and yes, mom did eat the whole thing all by herself) said that she already owned one of these brooms and that it worked fabulously! If you bought one, you got the second one for free so mom and Maureen went half and they both went home with a rubber broom!

Mom is extremely impressed with the job that it did in her kitchen on the floors and on the rugs.
She just ran the sweeper yesterday and look at all that dirt! Who could have possibly tracked all of that inside in just 1 day?!

Guess what?
I got groomed yesterday and I am one happy girl in this humid summer-like weather.
What happened to the cool fall temps that we had last week?
Please bring them back in a hurry!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie

The Durham Fair

2011-09-24T02:52:00.000-04:00

We have been having the most humid rainy days lately and Durham Fair last night was no different. The Fair is a tradition - they can't not go! Mom and dad wore their rain coats and carried umbrellas and had a great time with their Durham Fair buddies!

They always start at the top of the hill and work their way down. The first tent has all sorts of fun stuff to see and buy and did they come home with yummy treats for us? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Mom really turned her nose up at this stuff~

But Mikey said that it was delicious!

Dad had a baked potato with all of the trimmings~

And a steamed cheeseburger!

This is what mom waits all year for - the HUGE hot sugared donut!

Can you even believe how big it is and did she bring home even a smidge for us? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The needlework building was next.
The blankies and quilts are just so beautiful!

A man named Doug made this one! Isn't it fabulous!

Dad is a big fan of George Washington and history~

Next was the antiques building. There is just so much to see inside.

The blacksmith~

And the timber framers~

Next were the animals.
This cow looks so pretty in pink!

And this bunny is very relaxed. Dad poked him to make sure he wasn't stuffed.

Mom and Mr. Rooster had quite the conversation going!

And there was a goat judging and there was stacking going on just like they do at dog shows. Who knew that goats stacked too!

No comment.

And they were even judging gingerbread houses!
Do you think they're keep until Christmas?

Mom and dad had a blast at the Fair despite the soggy conditions!
See you next year, Durham Fair!

So until next time...............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

We're Incentive Winners!

2011-09-22T01:59:00.002-04:00

The Airedale Quilting Bee recently had a drawing for the quilting bee ladies only to win this beautiful A is for Airedale necklace.
Guess what?
We won and all we had to do was to donate to this years gorgeous Home at Last quilt!

We feel very fortunate to win it because the "A" block is one of the blocks that mom made for the 2010 Airedale Quilt.

Which one of us do you think should get to keep this awesome necklace for our very own?

This is the 2011 Home at Last quilt and it will be raffled next month and someone is going to be one lucky winner! Mom made two blocks for this quilt! Our paws are crossed that it's going to be us!

You need to check out the bonus quilts that you will have a chance to win if you donate. Each one is a superduper work of art! This one is called "My Bunny". Isn't it just so cute!

This is only one of them. There are 4 of them that you have a chance to win if you donate.

And please check out the video that our friend, Lesley made. Make sure you have a tissue handy!

If you can, please donate. All of the monies helps out the doggies in need!

Thank you!

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Wordless Wheelie Wednesday - Autumn is on the Way

2011-09-21T01:44:00.000-04:00

See you all next Wednesday!

Love,
Autumn

It's a Plan

2011-09-19T01:52:00.000-04:00

This is perfect!

It's an apple shell dish filled with vanilla ice cream!
It's just perfect for my birthday in November!
I don't care hooey about the carmel sauce or the nuts, mom.

What do you say?
Can I have this for my birthday cake? Pretty please?

Love ya lots and lots and lots,
MitchyBoy

The Collette's

2011-09-16T01:50:00.000-04:00

Mom and dad have been collecting Carol Collette's work for years. Mom and I are on facebook and one day we discovered that Carol Collette had a facebook page. Every month she gives away a free hand water colored etching and all you have to do is to "like" it!

Guess what?
We won the September etching! Isn't it just beautiful!
It's called September II

When dad used to work in New Haven, he used to spend time in an art shop and he came to love Carol's work - a lot!

Carol's gorgeous etchings are in many rooms of our house.

We love each and every one of them!

So when mom won the etching she was thrilled beyond belief!

Thank you so much, Carol!
We just adore our new etching!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Wheelie Wednesday - The September Garden

2011-09-14T01:48:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. It's me, Autumn!
It's such a beautiful day and I had to check out what's blooming in the garden.

I'm at the foundation in front of our house. The Autumn Crocus is in bloom!

And the Rose of Sharon is still blooming away~

These nasturtiums are going CRAZY! I keep trying to redirect them so they creep along in the garden. They are sure monsters!

The hydrangea never turned blue even though mom did give it a dose of aluminum sulfate. We'll dump pine needles on it over the winter and dose her again in the spring and see if we can't get her to bloom blue next year.

The sedums are in bloom too. They're so cheerful and the bees love them~

And the rugosa rose is still blooming away and it smells so pretty. And we have red hips all over the bush!

We also have grapes that are climbing all over our hemlock hedge. I don't eat grapes because they're poisonous to dogs but mom says they are so sweet this year!

Thanks for taking a walk with me on this beautiful September day!

See you all next Wednesday.

Love,
Autumn

A Fun Afternoon

2011-09-12T01:53:00.000-04:00

Last week our dad was in Maine having a great time with a lot of our timber framing friends.
We were having our own fun at home!

My microwave has come in handy for more than just heating my breakie and dindin!
Mom made popcorn and we watched Dogs 101 on Animal Planet!

I needed to let this dog know that the popcorn was for us and not for him!
Why are you looking out the window, Mitch? The dog is right here on TV!

We're ready and waiting, mom!

What do you mean it's all gone.

We hope we can do this again soon. We had fun!
Welcome home, dad. We're glad to have you back!

So until next time...............

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

Never Forget

2011-09-11T02:04:00.002-04:00

We had just come back from our walk around the block - just me and mom and dad. Mitch hadn't even been born yet. We headed into dad's workshop and he turned on his radio, like he always does at the start of the day and we heard the shocking news in disbelief.
Dad also has a TV in his workshop. We stood there in horror as the events unfolded right before our eyes!

We will never forget!

God bless America!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Wordless Wheelie Wednesday - Latest Project

2011-09-07T02:03:00.000-04:00

See you all next Wednesday!

Love,
Autumn

Waffles

2011-09-05T01:56:00.000-04:00

Our good friend, Kirsten, gave us a breakfast gift basket which included ground coffee, tea bags, preserves, Nutella, English muffins, pretty napkins, syrup and pancake mix!

Mom loves making pancakes for dindin (she's wierd). She's mentioned it to dad and he prefers waffles over pancakes and you can make either with this mix so waffles it will be!

These are the pretty napkins.
Did I ever tell you about my paper fetish? I LOVE eating napkins and paper towels and kleenex and if any of the paper goods are USED, they're even better!
Mom was trying to get a picture of me with the pretty napkin and I'm actually starting to eat it!

yummmmmmmm
Waffles are a treat at our house!

We hope we can have waffles again soon!

Our friend, Penny crossed the bridge a few days ago and we are heartbroken for her mom and her AireSissy, Patches. She was the sweetest girl and was very shy about having her picture taken. We will miss you, Penny.

So until next time...............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Blue Ribbons From Wyatt

2011-09-02T01:51:00.000-04:00

We got a box in the mail yesterday from Wyatt and Stanzie!

Remember the Wyatt County Fair?
Mitch won his blue ribbon in the home grown category for his delicious and perfect apples and I won my blue ribbon for floral arranging!
Our blue ribbons are works of art with our photos right dab in the center! OMG, they're just beautiful, Wyatt and Stazie!

Okay, who thinks this is funny!

You're embarrassing me, mom!

Thank you for the cupcake, Wyatt!

Wyatt and Stanzie also sent a squeaky tennis ball. Mitch claimed that for himself before we barely had the box open!

Roast chicken treats!
YUMMMMMMMMMMM

Thank you so much for the thoughtful goodies, guys! Mom has already swiped our ribbons so they'll stay beautiful for ever and ever!

You guys are the best!

Love ya lots

Maggie and Mitch

A New Pole

2011-08-31T14:27:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone. It's me, Mitch.
Guess what I have in my mouth?

Did you guess right?

I took a bite of my apple, picked it up and we're continuing on our morning walkie.

This is the corner of our property where the big tree came down. We have a new pole and all that's left of the big tree is the stump. The workers have been working hard!

This neighbor of ours has 2 Labbie girls - one black and one chocolate. His Labs are littermates and we run into them often on our walkies. Irene made this tree fall on his garage. He said it was an easy fall with no damage! WHEW!

Who the heck are you? Want to join us for walkies?

Our neighbors, Chris and Heather, lost their tree that was uprooted by Irene. Luckily, it didn't do any damage. It landed on their stone wall. So many of our neighbors have enough firewood to take them through the winter!

Things are getting back to normal at our house. The yard is pretty much cleaned up and mom and dad are back on the project clapboarding! Yup, we're supervising and doing a great job!

So until next time...............

Yer friends,

Mitch and Maggie

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-30T09:30:00.000-04:00

We are back! A tree took our power out on Sunday morning at 3:45 AM and we just got it back late last night.

The worst part of Irene was going out to pee and poo and having to come back inside soaking wet! We told mom we needed her to hold an umbrella over us while we did our business but she only laughed at us and told us that Irene would only blow the umbrella inside out and we'd get just as wet!

This telephone pole is on our property and it was our tree that snapped from the wind and tore down the power lines.

Another tree came down at the other end of our street and took down those power lines too. Falling trees and downed power lines were the biggest problem for hoomans in our area.

Yesterday we cleaned most of the leaves and sticks from the storm. Leaves and sticks are down EVERYWHERE!

Mom's wisteria got damaged and this time the pruning saw came out. :-(

We did have a generator so our refrigerator did stay cold and we did have water and we had pizza 3 times so how tough did we have it?!

At one point, I needed eggs and veges made for my dindin so we borrowed dad's hotplate from his workshop. It took a whole lot longer for water to boil but beggers can't be choosers, right?

We were listening constantly to our battery-powered radio to stay updated and we did have our lemon meringue pie candle going.

We feel so fortunate that all we lost was tree limbs and a couple of lilac trees. So many others didn't fare as well as we did and so many others are still without power! Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected.

Please be patient with us as we make the blogging rounds. We are anxious to see what we've missed these last few days!

So until next time...............

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Fresh Tomato Sauce

2011-08-27T02:05:00.000-04:00

We have so many red tomatoes in our vege garden that they're going to go to waste so mom decided to fill a basket and make fresh tomato sauce!

They're having a boiling hot bath so their skins will split and mom can remove them.

Now we just have to wait for them to cool and off come those skins.

Some people just chuck the whole tomato in a blender. They don't mind the skins and seeds but mom isn't a big fan of the skin in her fresh sauce.

All set to make the sauce.

We sauteed about 1/4 of an onion in olive oil till it was nice and then added our tomatoe paste.

Now to squish the tomatoes and add to the paste-onion mixture.
We added some salt and pepper and sugar and Italian seasonings.
It's beginning to smell delicious!

Time for dindin!

Mom and dad finally got the windows in on our project! We are praying that Irene is kind to us!

We are crossing our paws that all of our friends in Irene's way will be safe!

So until next time..............

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

True Colors Thursday - Purple

2011-08-25T01:57:00.000-04:00

We thought it might be fun to play True Colors again and this week we've chosen the color purple.

Where are our purple ice cream spoons, mom?

Okay, so it's not purple. It's kind of periwinkle instead.

We can't wait for snow and snowmen!

Nope, I'm not giving it up, Maggie, no matter how hard you try!

That was fun!

So until next time................

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Happy Birthday, Wyatt

2011-08-23T01:53:00.000-04:00

Today is our friend, Wyatt's birthday! He's three! We'll be spending our day at the Wyatt County Fair with him and having a great time eating all kinds of fAire foods that mom would NEVER let us have and we'll be going on the ferris wheel and the rollie coaster and having the time of our lives!

I picked flowers from our garden early this morning and have entered them in hopes that my arrangement will get me a pretty ribbon!

And I have an entry in the quilts and crafts. This is the Dale runner that's on our kitchen table. I sure hope it takes a ribbon too!

And Mitch has entered his most perfect apples hoping to snag a blue ribbon!

We are ready to pawty with Wyatt and Stanzie!

Hope to see you at the fAire!

We snagged a picture from cousin Trish of our dad and Jeff at the barn raising. Jeff is the owner of this beautiful building.

This is the barn at the end of Saturday. The timber framers are fast workers and they do beautiful work!

And this is the end of day #2, which was this past Sunday. Afterwards was the huge barn pawty. Dad said that the chicken and pulled pork was fabulous!

So until next time............

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Jeff's Barn Raising

2011-08-20T11:46:00.002-04:00

This weekend is our friend Jeff's barn raising.

Dad left early this morning because he's the man in charge. Mom took us for walkies and left an hour later taking cookies with her. She did share one with us before she left! yeaaaaaaa

That's our dad in the red bandana. They're preparing to raise the first bent. A bent consists of 3 posts and a tie beam and hurricane braces.

This is the director's chair that Jeff and his wife Marsha presented to our dad. Dad never sits down at a raising but if he needs to, he has his very own personal chair! He also has a voice that booms so we're not sure about the megaphone!

OOPS, the video should be before this photo because this picture shows that the first bent is already up.

This is bent #1 going up!

And this is bent #2 going up.

See what we mean about our dads booming voice!

This is bent #3 being shuffled into place.
There isn't enough room on the foundation to work with 4 bents all at once, so two are placed on the foundation and raised and the other two are off in the grass all built and ready to go and when they're needed, the timber framers carry them up on deck one at a time.
There is also not enough room to lift these guys into their permanent home in one shot, so they are raised and then carefully shuffled into place

Mom took a peak in Jeff and Marsha's family room at the clock that everyone was talking about. Wow! What a cool clock!

And check out this cake that timber framer, Katie made. What a talented girl! They aren't actually going to cut into that work of art, are they?

Mom did bring us a pressie. A hat! We were sorta hoping for edibles, mom!

Tonight is the first barn pawty and this is the bottle that will be presented to Jeff and Marsha!

Barn raisings are a lot of fun! We wish we could have gone to this one. We hear that pizza is on the menu for tonight!

So until next time................

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

The Imposter

2011-08-19T01:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the Rocky Creek Scotties posted about a fake Frontline that's out there - a fake Frontline that has killed pups! If you haven't seen the article, here is the link.

This is the picture that they posted:
The imposter is on the left and the good stuff is on the right.

Mom has her Frontline box right in front of her computer screen to remind her to reorder so it didn't take her long ro realize that we have the imposter and we can say that we have had 2 doses of the imposter and it's stressful for us to wonder if our previous boxes were imposters too.
We are alive and we feel so horrible for the dogs and their families that didn't make it because of this nasty imposter.

We did not buy our box from Foster and Smith or 1-800-PetMeds and we didn't buy it from our vet but rest assured, we will be buying it from our vet from now on so we can view the box before we purchase it and the extra cost will be well worth it! We will also be sending an email to the site where we did purchase this Frontline and hopefully they will respond.

We want to thank the Rocky Creek Scotties for getting the word out there. Mom had 2 more green vials sitting on the counter just waiting to apply to our backs any day now. Thank doG she waited and and thank doG Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh, Ruairi and Ivy posted!

Please read the article and please check your Frontline boxes if you happen to use Frontline.
You can never be too safe!

Do you like our new header picture? It's a gift from JD, Max and their mom Clare.

They Sand-Script for the Crossed Paws Organization! They sent us 5 beautiful photos for only $1. The donations go directly to helping doggies and kitties in need. All of the photos were fabulous and we can tell you that we had a really hard time choosing just one!
We won't be going to Nantucket again this year and this makes us very sad but these gorgeous pictures make us very happy and it's for a great cause!

So until next time.............

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch