Italian Wedding Soup

We helped mom make soup! 
Mom has never made Italian Wedding soup before but her Nonna used to make it all the time and it was sure yummy.
We found this recipe at allrecipes.com

 The meatball making is in progress~

 The recipe calls for carrots.  We were reading our friend, Archie's blog on Tuesday and he was talking about putting heart-shaped carrots in your soup and seeing as mom had planned to make this soup, she decided to give it a whirl.   There is a lot of "waste" but that's what we're here for, right?

 hummmmmm - you will never make it as a gourmet chef, mom.  These hardly look like hearts!

 The recipe also calls for spinach and lots of it. 

 What do you think of spinach, Molly?  It's pretty good, don't you think?

 The meatballs have been dropped into the pot the they're beginning to cook.

 We're making a change here.  Nonna always used pastina, not seashell onies, and her soup was always the best so pastina it shall be!

The soup was yummy and dad didn't even laugh at your heart carrots, mom!  We can't wait to have it again!

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

Wordless Wednesday

Love ya lots,
Molly

Teaching Molly Manners

Molly is a tough cookie at mealtime.
Do you see this picture.
Molly's side of the crate had a huge piece of cardboard on it so she couldn't see me during meals.
She used to give me the stink eye to hurry it up cause I'm comin' over there to finish your food for you, Mitch!    Mom didn't like it so the cardboard went up and it stayed there for quite awhile.
Mom finally decided that it was time to take the cardboard down and see how it goes.   It was going great.  No stink eye and Molly was minding her business and letting me finish my meals in peace.

Molly hasn't slept in her crate since last August.  Once she got a bed upstairs at the foot of mom and dad's bed, she never went into her crate again. It's basically storage for stuffies.

 So no more crate but mom was still leery of putting Molly right next to me at mealtime so this is where we are now.

Mom's goal this year is to get that gate down and have us eating side by side and for Molly to mind her business and stay on HER side!
Wish us luck!  We'll let you know how it goes.

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

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

Together Forever

Our longtime blogging friends, Lele and Tris, have gone to Rainbow Bridge.  Lela crossed in early December and Tris crossed this past Wednesday.  The girls were 13 years old and littermate sissies.

Lele and Tris were the AireChicks.   We blogged with them way back in 2007 - we were new bloggers and they were too.
The girls gave Maggie a cow udder toy for her 9th birthday.

We still have that same cow udder tug toy today!  We've taken good care of it, girls~

The AireChicks also had an ice cream cone contest in July 2007.  This was the entry for Maggie and Mitch~

We had so much fun blogging with Lele and Tris while they were blogging.  Like so many others, they left for facebook so we kept up with them there. 
 
We hope that you girls and angel Maggie are enjoying an ice cone together at the Bridge.
We will never forget you.  You both hold very special places in our hearts and you always will
Huge hugs to your mom, Miss Sherry.

We love you,
Mitch, Molly and Sue

We Got Snow

The tail of an AireGirlie!    hummmmmmm

 You're goin' DOWN, Molly!

We LOVE snow!

Yes, our mom did make the wool heart candle mat.   Thank you so much for all of your wonderful compliments!

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

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

Wordless Wednesday - Heart Candle Mat

Love ya lots
Mitch

More New WaterFowl

Dad was in New York yesterday morning and he came home with 3 new black duckies.  He got them to keep Penny company and to help her to feel more at home here.  Penny wasn't coming out of the swan house and he was afraid that she was depressed.
Not any more!

She was in the pond earlier going for a swim with her new best buddies. 

 Poor Penny is soaked~

 She's drying off quickly!

 Gussie is swan dancing for Penny!  Uh Oh - what will Buster think?!

 He's really keeping an eye on her!

Dad is thrilled that Penny is so much happier!

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

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

Silent Sunday - Sweet Potato Fries

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

The WaterFowl

We have been lax in posting updates on the new members of our waterfowl family. 
We did blog about Dauby's passing. We miss her ever single day. 
You all heard about the 3 lardbuttfatasses, as we call them. They're domestic Grey Lag/African goosie mixes and the largest female is a loud mouth who thinks she rules the pond.   That's them on the right side of the picture. When dad had them flown here from South Carolina, he was planning on them being true Grey Lag geese.  OOPS!
And of course, our dad being dad, kept hunting until he finally found a true pair of Grey Lag's so we now have true Grey Lags that have joined the flock. 
And of course, our dad can never be happy with what he has so this past Wednesday, 3 more Grey Lag geese arrived from New York.  They're on the left side of the picture and they're getting friendly with another Grey Lag goosie that was from the first shipment. 

Dauby's mate, Margaret is still with us.  She's a nice mute swan and gets along with everyone.   We still have the Flintstones - the Barnacle geese.  They're the ones standing at the edge of the ice.  They are the cutest, nicest most friendly little guys ever!  Everyone loves them.

 You know that Gussie's wife, Myrtle died.  She was killed by being too friendly to a predator and it breaks our heart to think about it.   Dad decided that Gussie needed a mate so he has added Buster, who is also a male black swan.   Buster is laid back and Gussie is the more aggressive of the two.  We shall see what happens when they're let out of their pen in the spring.  So far the boys are doing great together!

 This is Penny. She's a young mute swan, actually still considered a cygnet. She still has her grey baby feathers. She'll turn white and have an orange beak like Margaret does when she's an adult. 
Penny arrived yesterday and she's very timid and sweet as can be.  She still peeps like a baby swan does.  She will be staying penned up until she gets a wee bit older.  We hope that she and Margaret will become the best of friends. 

 And I, Miss Molly, went to PetSmart this morning and had my nails trimmed and after that, mom and I took the car to be washed.  It was my very first time at the car wash only I didn't stay inside the car - I got to go inside with mom.  As mom and I stepped out of the car to go inside, we spotted a pretty penny - another hello from our sweet angel Maggie!   Thank you, Maggie!  Not a day goes by that we don't think of you~

 So until next time...........

Love ya lots,
Molly

The First Batch of Mallets

The first batch of timber frame mallets are all done.
These still need to be buffed down and a coat of wax applied and then they're ready to use.

These are waxed and all set for use.  The tiger maple mallet that is stained is in the #4 position - the one with the tiger stripes.  The stain makes the stripes pop!

 These mallets are all finished and waxed too. They feel so smooth and silky in your hand. 

 This is the next batch that are waiting for their turn to be finished. 

This is our friend, Thom.  He's using a timber frame mallet that dad made. He's fine-tuning a mortise on a barn that was raised this past September. 

Mom says the mallets are much too pretty to use.
Dad says they're meant to be used!

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

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

The Lights

We took down our Christmas trees yesterday - both of them.  The one in the family room and the one in the kitchen with all of the Airedale ornies on it.  We are going to miss the lights the most.

This year for the very first time, mom put battery operated candles in our windows.  They got taken out of the windows yesterday too and before she put them away she had this neat idea to see how they'd look lighting up our staircase.

Unlit~

 And lit~

She said she'd love to leave them there for a few days but she figures that we'd knock them over coming down the stairs in the morning.

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

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

Lots of Mallets

Our dad has been making mallets - timber frame mallets.   He uses them and his timber frame students use them and his timber frame students love them and want to buy them so he's been making lots to use and to sell!

The mallets go from this square stock wood to these beauties here.  These mallets still need to have their bottoms trimmed.  The turned wooden handle goes all the way through the brass barrel and then they get wedged.  

 Dad masking tapes the brass so that he doesn't get poly finish all over it.

 The tiger maple ones get dyed - only the tiger maple ones. The rest are their natural color.

 This is dad's lathe that he uses to turn his mallets on. 

 The woods are pear and apple and cherry and oak and black locust and walnut and hickory and tiger maple.

 They have their first coat of poly finish on them.   They get at least 5 coats before they're all done. 

We'll make sure that we take a picture of them all done so you can see. They are truly works of art.

Thank you so very much for all of your wonderful comments about Dauby.   We miss her.

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

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

Dauby

Dauby died yesterday on New Year's Day.  She was 18 years old.

We think she knew that it was her time.  This is one of the last photos taken of her.  It was December 30th when we got our 12 inches of snow. 

After dad finished snowblowing that day, he came to this end of our pond, where mom and Molly took this picture, and he chopped a waterway from this point for more than 100 feet to the other end of the pond where the waterfowl get fed and where there is a bubbler to keep a portion of the pond defrosted so that the birds have open water to swim in and for their protection.
All of the waterfowl followed dad as he chopped a path through the thin ice for them - all except Dauby.    She stayed all by herself at night and the mallards hung out with her during the day.  Dad continued to bring her food but she wouldn't budge.

Yesterday, on January 1st in the early afternoon, dad and mom threw the canoe into the frozen pond and cornered Dauby and brought her to dad's workshop and they started a fire in the fireplace so she could warm up and eat.  Dauby was not in good shape. Dad stayed with her and talked to her and loved her. He never left her and around 8 last night, she died.   She knew that she was loved.

Dauby loved the camera and the camera loved her.
Angel Maggie knew Dauby for her entire life.  This picture was taken in January 2007.

 And this one in July of '09.

 This one was taken in the autumn of 2009.

 And these next 2 were taken in October 2012

Fly high and free, Dauby.  You will be missed for a very long time.

We love you,
Dad, mom, Mitch and Molly