Sunday's Fun on Monday

 I found my ball!  

We had light rain here last night and my beautiful snow is all soft and mushy and the temps are 40 degrees and my snow is melting😞

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Saturday Snow

 We got eight beautiful inches of snow overnight!   I have to tell you that mom bought me an Orvis coat that she found on ebay.   When it came, the chest was too long and it covered my peepee.   She got the sewing machine out yesterday and took it in and it's a perfect fit and it's nice and warm.

Out we go!

It's the kind of sticky snow that makes ice balls all over my furs!   

I had the bestest fun in my snow.  The only bad part was that I lost my green ball and mom insisted that it was time to go inside and get warm.  She told me that no one will take your ball, Duke.  It will be there waiting for you tomorrow!

Happy Saturday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Our Christmas Gifts

 First of all and for Nature Friday - the reason for the season~

We had a blast on Christmas Eve with Missy and Tommy.  Mom got a wooden personalized ornie of me for my Christmas tree~

She also got a sweatshirt and two dish towels~

Christmas morning - it was my turn to see what Santa brought me!

To say that I was SuperExcited is the understatement of the year.  Mom says that I was out of control!

What a great Christmas I had!

I hope that all of you had just as much fun on Christmas Day as I had!

We have exciting news~

On Tuesday, the 23rd,  Missy and Tommy adopted Coco and we couldn't be any happier for them!

Mom wrapped up a pink tennis ball that Molly never got to play with, with  a pink bandana that both Maggie and Molly wore and we gifted them to Coco.  Coco has the best family ever♥

Happy Friday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas to all of my friends!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

A Busy Tuesday

 Guess what?     We have snow here - not much but enough to have fun in for a brief period before it started to sprinkle down rain.

I hear the rooster!  Doesn't he know that we're awake and have been for several hours!

Mom made Gram's recipe for German Chocolate cake for Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow with Missy and Tommy.   She was pretty mean and didn't share any of it with me - not the yummy batter or the to-die-for frosting.     She says that tomorrow will be better for me as she will be making homemade applesauce to go with the pork roast and veggies.      

Our Christmas cards~

Happy Tuesday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

A Monday Meet-Up

Miss Laura finally put her Creche out this past weekend (minus Jesus, of course) and she wanted me to meet the donkey.

I put my hinny in the air and barked at the entire bunch of them.   No way do I want to meet the donkey!  

Stop laughing, mom!

Happy Monday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Silent Sunday Selfie

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Nature Friday

 We are joining Rosy and Sunny this week for Nature Friday~~

We have been playing in the yard for most of the week. 

Mom doesn't like it when there is snow on the road and there isn't enough room for us to move over just in case.   We left the house two hours later than usual hoping for less traffic.

Landlady Maryanne's pond is frozen!

The grasses look so pretty in the snow~

A Christmas gift arrived for mom a few days ago.  It's from her brother.  He got her Harry and David Bulbs of the month club for 6 months!   Mom couldn't be any happier.  Who doesn't want to see and smell flowers in the winter and spring!

According to the website the bulbs here are:  

• 13 preplanted bulb [1 rock ‘n’ roll amaryllis, 3 white marvel tulip, 1 white pearl hyacinth, 8 balansae ornithogalum]
• Blooms in approximately 2-6 weeks depending upon temperature of growing environment.

  

Mom checks on them multiple times a day encouraging them to grow, grow, grow☺

Mom latest puzzle~~

It wasn't the easiest one to do but it's so pretty!

Happy Friday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Thankful Thursday

 I got to play in my snow before the evil rain takes it away and for that I am most thankful♥

Love ya lots♥

Duke

An Early Christmas Pressie

 Yummy cookies arrived in the mail for me and mom told me that I didn't have to wait till Christmas and she opened the package!

The ingredients are whole wheat flour, pumpkin puree, peanut butter and chicken stock with no salt~

Each and every cookie has my name on it!  How cool is that!

Yes, please!

Duke's homemade treats are the best and I sure do love an early Christmas pressie!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Tasty Tuesday

 Mom loves her mom's Easter bread.  The thing she doesn't like about it is that you have to shape your loaf instead of it going in a 9x5" pan, which makes it easier to slice and toast in a toaster.   She looked for a sweet bread recipe that was made in a loaf pan and decided to give this one a try.   We halved the recipe and only made one loaf.  

Amish Sweet Bread

Prep Time 1hour hr 45minutes mins

Cook Time 30minutes mins

Total Time 2hours hrs 15minutes mins

Servings2 loaves

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups water
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 5 1/2 to 6 cups All purpose flour

Instructions

 

• Heat 2 cups of water to 110℉. If you don’t have a thermometer try this tip. It works every time. Heat up 1/2 cup of water in a microwave safe bowl for one minute. This will boil the water. Then add tap water from the faucet until you reach 2 cups of water.
• Add the sugar to the water you just heated and stir it.
• Add the yeast to the sugar water and let it set for exactly 10 minutes. It will become frothy. See before and after photos below.
• Mix in the oil and salt into the yeast liquid.
• Slowly add one cup of flour at a time to this yeast mixture. You might not use all of the flour. It depends on how wet the dough is towards the end. You want to get to a good non-sticky dough consistency and it will form a ball.
• Once the dough forms a ball, you will need to knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the surface with flour before you begin. When you feel the dough get sticky, sprinkle more flour over the top of the dough as you are kneading it. When this process is over you should be able to lift a small piece of the dough without it tearing. 
• Spray a large bowl with non stick cooking oil and place the dough into the bowl. Cover this bowl with a damp towel.
• Let this dough rise for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
• After the dough has risen, punch the middle part of the dough and pull the dough from the sides of the bowl.
• Use a dough cutter and split the dough into two equal parts and place them in a greased loaf pan
• Let these loaves sit uncovered for another 3o minutes to rise again.
• Now place them in a preheated oven at 350℉ for about 30 minutes or until they are cooked thoroughly.

*******************************************************

She probably cut into in before it was completely cool. Who doesn't like butter spread on warm homemade bread!

It is very good - not as good as mom's but mom's has butter, sugar and eggs, which makes it richer but this was very good. 

It's a keeper, mom!

Happy Tuesday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke

Sunday's Fun on a Monday

I got the snow that I wished for!

Mom told me that shoveling comes first and then playtime.  As luck would have it, Farmer Will arrived to plow while mom was shoveling so that meant that I didn't have to wait so long for fun to begin☺  Thank you, Will!

Snow is so much fun!

My furs were started to get loaded with snowballs in unmentionable areas and mom said it was time to go in as I was walking like a cowboy.

We have below temps arriving so this might be my only day to have fun in my snow.   

Mom found a Christmas card from Landlady Maryanne in the mailbox.  What a cute card!

Happy Monday!

Love ya lots♥

Duke