Steve's Workshop Weekend

The sad part is that we didn't get to go to Steve's!  We stayed home in our nice cool house while the timberframers sweated and worked hard outside!
Mom says the best part was that she left before the Peach Brown Betty came out of the oven!  Aunt April had  choices of either ice cream or whipped cream for the top!  Mom came home moaning and groaning that she was stuffed to the brim!  Thanks for thinking of us and bringing us a doggie bag, mom - NOT!

This is the activity on Sunday just as mom arrived with hotdogs and hamburgers for the hungry workers!

The guys are building bents for the raising that will be in just 2 weeks!

This is the foundation where the barn will go up.  The sills are already in place.

This is the cupola that will go on top of the roof on day 2 of the raising in the afternoon right before the barn feast!   Steve has been super busy!  What an accomplishment for him to have gotten his cupola all built and ready to go up too!

 

This barn will be Steve's workshop eventually.  He is a cabinetmaker and builds wonderful Shaker-style furniture.

Steve built all the furniture that you see!

This is the base for his new dining room table!  He's been working on getting that done along with his barn and his cupola!  Mom wonders how he has time to work at his real job or cut grass or sleep but he does it all!

He did the cabinets and the mirror in his bathroom too and his sink is copper!    He does awesome work!

We had a very successful workshop for Steve and he'll be ready for that raising on September 11th and 12th! 

Oh goody! Another weekend that we have to stay home all alone and not get any leftovers!

We can't wait!

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

Love ya lots

Maggie and Mitch

Wishing We Were On Nantucket

If we were going to Nantucket this year, right this very minute we would be in our car and heading to Hyannis to catch the ferry to Nantucket!  How we wish we were going!

We will so miss the  2 hour and 20 minute ferry ride from Cape Cod to Nantucket!

How we will miss arriving at cousin Dick and Jane's house and exploring every room!

And how we will miss our walkies down to Surfside beach every single morning!

This picture is from 2007!  It's Mitch's first trip out to Nantucket with us!

Our header picture is the two of us sitting next to the picnic table at Something Natural and waiting for dad to come back carrying a nice big sandwich that we will all share!

 

How we will miss strolling through town a couple of times a day and meeting so many new doggie friends!

And how we will miss the ICE CREAM and all of the different choices of flavors every single night for a whole week!

And we will miss that gorgeous sunrise heading back home from Nantucket to Connecticut after spending the most wonderful week on Nantucket!

We are so going to miss going to our favorite spot in the whole wide world!

But our calendar is marked already~ 

We'll be seeing you next year, Nantucket and we can't wait!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Copper Penny Carrots

Mom is once again baking and making salads and preparing for our friend Steve's barn workshop this weekend.  September 11th and 12th is his barn raising and the timberframers have work to do to get to that point!

We helped her make Copper Penny Carrots!

Dice 1 small onion

Then dice 3 bell peppers and put aside.

In a small saucepan,  heat 1 minced garlic clove, 1 can of tomato soup, 1/2 cup of salad oil, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2/3 cup of vinegar (we used wine vinegar), 1 teaspoon dry mustard and 1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce. 

Bring this mixtuer to a boil.

Drain three 15 oz cans of sliced carrots and add them to the diced onion and bell pepper.

Pour the boiling liquid mixture over the veges. 

Cover and let the entire salad marinate overnight.    yummmmmmmmmmm

Have you all heard that our friends, Inky and Molly are having a give-away on their bloggie? Head on over and check it out!  You don't want to miss out on this!

We have a new handsome friend that we want you all to meet!  His name is Fabrizio and he is an Italian Spinone pup.   He lives in Germany and right now he is trying to grow a beard!   Mitch was only too happy to let him know that he thinks that apples are the way to go! 

Does anyone have any other special tonic that they might want to share with Fabrizio? 

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Blue's Colored Thursdays - Kiwi and Burgundy

Today's color is kiwi and just in, burgundy!   If you want to play along, just click on this link!  Thank you, Doyle and Mollie!

To be honest, we're kinda unsure about this kiwi color!

Would this teddy's pretty ribbon be kiwi?

Would this cabbage leaf be considered kiwi?

How about this hydrangea blossom that is faded and no longer blue! Would this be considered kiwi?

Bingo!  We got it now! 

This is our first introduction to a kiwi!

We had to scramble to find burgundy!  Mom just happened to have beets in the pantry!

And look what we found in the freezer!  Ice cream with burgundy cherries in it! 

Yup, that's me kissing the carton of ice cream!  Please pop the lid, mom!  I NEED to have some of this!

Next week's color is white!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

Wordie Wednesday

Guess what mom bought for me?  
Forty pounds of glutinous rice and it's all for me?!

Glutinous rice is high in calories and low in phosphorous - the best rice for a kidney girlie like me!  My weight today is 51.5 pounds and mom hopes that all of this rice will help me to gain weight - hopefully not 40 pounds though!

I got a package in the mail yesterday!  It's a belated birthday gift from my gurrrrrlfriend, Sunshade!

These bottles contain a supplement called StemEnhance. 

These green pills are going to make me young again and I'll be racing Mitch on our walkies and I'll be way out ahead and winning!  Sunshade told me this is how it will work and I believe her! She is the smartest girlie I know!

Sunshade also sent something in the box underneath the bottles. 

They are liver treats and she actually made them herself!

Mitch thinks that Sunshade sent them for him but she wrote to me and told me that I was to have the first one!   yummmmmmm

Now it's your turn, Mitch!

Excuse me! Why is HIS piece bigger than mine?

Can you see the drool flowing down his beard?  ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Sunshade said that these treats contain LOTS of phosphorous - a kidney girls' enemy.  Mom says that I should be thankful that I got a small taste!  You're absolutely right, mom!

Thank you so very much for my StemEnhance wonder drug and for the yummy liver treats, Sunshade!  You and your mom and Jaffa are so sweet and thoughtful always!

We will be sending you pictures soon of me skipping down the street with my AireSmile firmly in place!

And now for disturbing news. 
We were at our friend Isis's blog last night.

 She has a sort of neurological tipping disorder and it seems to be causing her to age more quickly! Her family is very concerned.  Can anyone shed light on this for Isis?  Please visit her blog and leave her words of support if you can.  Thank you in advance.

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie  and Mitch

Baking Quick Breads With Mom

We have another barn workshop coming up this weekend and mom and I decided to bake a couple of quick breads for all of the good helpers we will get at Steve's workshop!

About a week ago, we got a box in the mail from our dear friends, Cathy and Frank.  Frank stayed with us for an entire week and the pressie was a thank-you gift but we're the ones that need to thank Frank because he helped us TREMENDOUSLY for that entire week when we had the Crump barn raising!

Mom is just in love with her new loaf pan!

Not only did Cathy and Frank send this beautiful loaf pan that's the most perfect autumn color but they sent us a mix to bake in the loaf pan!

A ready-made mix is a real treat for mom!  She usually bakes everything from scratch!

Yup, it gets my stamp of approval!

The next quick bread is an apple quick bread.
The recipe reads:

Mix together in a medium sized-bowl, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, a sprinkle of mace, 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom, 2 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar and 4 apples that have been peeled and chunked up.

Do any of you grate your own nutmeg like mom does? 

It sure does smell wonderful!

Mitch is going to be so disappointed that he chose to head to Crump's with dad because mom is chunking up apples and I get one! haha

This one passes my taste-tester too, mom!

Into the oven it goes!  Pay no attention to mom's dirty oven that desperately needs to be cleaned but who wants to self-clean an oven in this nasty summer heat?!

Now we just have to let them cool, wrap them up and into the freezer they go till they are needed for the workshop this coming weekend!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie

and the missing Mitch, who is going to be so upset that he missed all of these yummy tastes!

Dindin at Crumpie's and the First Window

We had dindin at the Crump barn site last night!  Mom and dad ordered a chicken parmesan stuffed bread and an order of sweet potato fries!

Uncle Jeff and dad put a huge window in one of the gables a couple of days ago!

This window is on the 3rd level so it's wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy up there!  Should we let dad back in, Mitch?

Mom's job lately has been to wash the windows before they're installed.  This will be her next one to get done before it's ready to go in.

The electrician is working here too.  The barn will have lots of lighting!

And for dessert - ICE CREAM? 

Yes, please!

Many of you guessed correctly.  That is me, Miss Maggie, that mom is planting a kissy on!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch