Dandy Duke: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Wheelie Wednesday - My Turn In The Garden

Hi everydoggie! It's me, Francesca!

Guess what's blooming at our house? Hydrangeas!
I just happen to be wearing a hydrangea bandana! We match! Mom says that this particular plant hasn't bloomed in 5 years! This must be a lucky year!

Here's a smaller hydrangea. Mom says that it really should be more blue. She's been slaking on her aluminum sulfate treatment! But I like purple, mom!

Guess what else is blooming? Our Shirley poppies! Poppies are a favorite at our house! All kinds of poppies!

And the butterfly bush is just beginning to come into bloom! Pretty soon we'll see lots and lots of beautiful butterflies! This one is a deep purple and our other butterfly bush is a pinkish purple.

And the yellow daylilies are blooming and look so cheerful! Mom bought 3 baby daylily plants in the spring and two of them are going to bloom! We can't wait to see what color they are!

See you all next Wednesday!

Friends forever,

Francesca

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Friday, June 25, 2010

Take Your Pet To Work Day

Mitch and I get to go to work at the Crump barn site with mom and dad practically every day!
It's 8 AM and we're just arriving on the job site!

Break time is at 10:10 AM! Today's snacks are Macintosh apples for both of us!

Mitch is on the upper deck/second floor checking out the working conditions. He's letting dad know that the plywood overlapping could be a tripping hazard and needs to be addressed before someone stumbles. Good job, Mitch! You can never be too careful!

Everything is secure on the upper deck. Now to check on the lower deck! Mitch says the staircase is perfect! Nice and easy to climb!

Our day is coming to an end! Ready whenever you are, dad!

I'll grab the water cooler, Mitch!

A quick peepee for me~

I'm all set to roll, mom! That was a fun day!

Going to work with mom and dad is fun and passes the time very nicely for both of us!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Thursday, June 24, 2010

True Colors Thursday - Mango

Today's color is mango ! If you want to play along all you have to do is let Blue know!

What could possibly be better than mango ice cream?!

How about some mango juice, Mitch!

This melted candle in our tart burner seems to be the right color!

These day lilies seem to fit the bill too! They don't have much of a pretty smell to them!

Next week's color is tangerine, another orange-ish color!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Wheelie Wednesday - Summer Has Finally Arrived

Hi everybody! It's me, Autumn!

The official first day of summer was only 2 days ago! It hardly seems possible with all of the heat we've had already that summer has only begun!

Our lavender is in bloom! LOVE the purple and the aroma is so intoxicating!

And the Astilbe is in bloom! We just love the red. It's so striking in the garden!

The pink Coral Bells are in bloom too - tons of them!

And the chartreuse flowers on the Lady's Mantle blend so well with all of the other summer colors. It's such a pretty plant with dew on it early in the morning.

And our one and only rose is in bloom! Mom hasn't killed this one yet! It's only a matter of time!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

Our friend, Bocci, is having a give-away at his blog that you won't want to miss! Check it out!

See you all next Wednesday!

Love,

Autumn

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Clean-Up Crew

We were over at the barn site this morning with mom and dad and new friends from North Carolina! The hoomans needed to clean up after the workshop pawty and get all of the recycle and garbage down by the road.

Look what I discovered! They're oatmeal cookies with raisins! I promise I won't swallow a raisin mom! I PROMISE!

I found the raspberry brownies too but mom says that they're real chocolate and not a doggie-friendly treat so no tastes of those for us! booooooooooooooo

Potato chip! Sure - don't mind if I do!

Hey Mitch! Do you want a chip too?

Those are yummy looking apples! Can I have one of those too, please?

Look at the size of this ice cube! This will take me awhile to eat! What a perfect way to stay cool!

Now we don't feel so bad that we missed all of the fun at the workshop! We had our own fun!

Happy first day of summer, everybody!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Sunday, June 20, 2010

A Very Successful Workshop

The bad news is that we didn't get to attend the workshop at all! Mom said that there were just too many people and we'd be totally whigged out by too much noisy activity and too many hoomans running around and too much heat!

And the good news is that a temporary staircase is in and it will be much safer and much easier for the timber framers to climb than ladders to get the upper barn structure in place.

The fancy tree-shaped brace that was made months ago in the workshop is now in place.

Cousin Sally and Aunt Jan along with many others preserved 40' long purlin plate timbers!

So much work was accomplished and it got us in such great shape for the barn raising next month! The third bent is up and floor joists for the first two bays are in place!

Mom said that the food was incredible! They ate like kings and queens for 2 days and everyone had to have gained at least 5 pounds! And thanks for letting us know that, mom, seeing as we didn't get a single treat on either day!

Dad is so pleased and he and mom feel so fortunate to be a part of such a wonderful group of people who give and give and give!

Happy father's day to our dad! We wish we could have spent the day with you, but we understand! Tomorrow will be our pawty with you!

Happy father's day to all of the dads out there!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Friday, June 18, 2010

The Crump WorkShop

This weekend is the workshop for the Crump barn project! LOTS of timberframe students will be attending to help raise another bent and to install floor joists in the first bay that is already standing and we're sure dad has lots of other duties on his list of things to get done.
Mom's job today has been to hit the grocery store and prepare herself to feed lots of hungry people for this 2-day event!

First on the agenda is the pasta salad with added chunk chicken and black olives and celery!

Guess who the official taste-tester is?

Cole slaw is next! Mom likes to sprinke poppy seeds on top! yummm

What a shame Mitch is at the barn helping out the guys! He's missing all of the fun here!
Someone has to perform the dreaded taste-testing duties! hehehe

There will be lots of coldcuts there - turkey, ham, roast beef and 3 different kinds of cheeses but our dad is a huge tuna salad fan and dad asked mom if she could please make a batch of her delicious tuna salad to share! Sure! Mom puts hard-boiled eggs in her tuna salad along with the celery and mayo.

You made it home in time to try out the tuna salad with me, Mitch!

This is the trunk of mom's car just before she made her first trip over to the barn site to unload!

What a pawty they're gonna have! We hear that there will also be potato salad and antipasto salad and carrot cake and strawberry shortcake and raspberry brownies - wow - we sure hope that at one point we'll get to go over and check it all out and maybe find some crumbs that someone dropped!

Dad says that the portapottie is for the lady timberframers to use! Nice touch, mom!

Remember that cherry timber with all of those hand carved pinwheels that Uncle Phil worked on for weeks and weeks and weeks this winter? It's in! It's one of the doorway posts! There are pinwheels up and down the whole length of the beam on two sides! Isn't it just a work of art?!

And one of the other unusual fancy huge braces has been installed! This one is quilted cherry!

Guess what was flying up overhead today for the short time that mom was there dropping stuff off? A blimpie! He must have heard that this was a busy weekend at Crumps for us and is checkin' us out! Hello up there!