Bless Aunt Agnes

It's feeding time for the waterfowl .  As we entered the swan cottage, Aunt Agnes was sitting on the nest keeping the eggs warm.  She's there all the time. 
 Nice looking nest, Aggie!

 This time she got off the nest to come over to say hi. 

 There are still just two eggs. 

 Agnes is gathering more straw and adding it to the top of the nest.    She spends a lot of time sitting on her nest. She's a good auntie!

 And where are the negligent parents, Hazel and Buster?   They don't want to miss a meal!
Dad puts their food in a sheetrock bucket so the greedy Mallards don't come inside and eat all of the grain.   There is another food dish outside for them at the water's edge.   These two really don't spend much time inside the house. 

 This is one the Greglag geese.    Dad has quite a few of these. 

 There is a pecking order when it's time to eat. He's chasing somegoosie away~

 These are Emperor geese~

 If you stare at her feathers long enough, you kinda get dizzy!

The nesting box still doesn't have any takers.   Maybe dad needs to paint the inside walls a pretty color and hang some paintings?!

So that's the latest on the black swan family.  We'll let you know if anything exciting happens!

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

Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly

The Candle Mat Winner

Hi everyone!  It's me, SarahDale and I'm back to announce the winner of the Easter bunny wool candle mat.

 We plugged the 27 comments into randomizer.  The winning number is 16 and the doggies sitting in the number 16 spot are Phantom, Ciara and Lightning!
Congratulations, guys!
Please send us an email at maggiesue710 at yahoo dot com (without the bits) and Molly and I will get your wool candle mat wrapped up and mailed off to you.

Thank you so much for playing along with us!

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

Love ya lots♥
SarahDale and Molly

Easter Bunny Mat Give-Away

Remember we told you that mom was obsessed with making wool candle mats?
She's made another one with an Easter bunny on it and we are giving it away!

The give-away is open to everyone. It doesn't matter where in the world you live.   You have until Friday at noon to leave one comment.  Please, only one comment!   We'll let you know which number the randomizer chose. Good luck, everybody!

Mom and dad were working at Crumpie's a couple of days ago installing baseboards upstairs.  And where were we? At home waiting.  We're not allowed inside the barn again because it's empty and huge and we could do leaps and spins and have so much only  - for some reason, the hoomans don't want to see huge scratches and skidmarks and digs in the newly finished floors.  Heck, it's an antique barn. Why not?!
The oak floor~

 Second floor is maple~

And the third landing is cherry flooring.
Our dad likes to be creative and Mr Crumpie seems to like all of our dad's ideas.  

Isn't this door adorable. It came out of a house from the 1800's~

We love these stairs but we also love our carpeted ones at home~

Mom can't wait to see all of the antique clocks moved into their new home!

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

Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly and SarahDale

Auntie Agnes

Dad brought this black swan egg into the house a couple of nights ago and told mom that they need to rotate it 3 times a day.  Buster and Hazel are the proud parents that laid it only they're lousy parents!  They built the nest inside the swan cottage, laid an eggs and then went outside to celebrate and enjoy the sunshine and water.  The below picture is egg #2 and it was laid a couple days after egg #1. Buster and Hazel could care less about their two eggs.  They take turns sitting on their nest when it fits into their schedule. 
The first egg might have gotten too cold and froze and may never hatch but dad is not giving up.  He brought the second egg inside the house for a couple of nights to protect it from freezing.  This one could hatch into a baby black swan. 

 Dad discovered that Auntie Agnes, the sister of Hazel, is very interested in sitting on the nest and incubating the egg.    So dad brought the egg that was inside our house for the couple of nights out to the swan cottage and he's asking Agnes to please sit on this egg too.   Agnes adores our dad.

 Agnes said yes and into the nest egg #2 goes.

 These are the lousy parents - Buster and Hazel.    They're still courting each other and dad is hoping that there will be more eggs.   Buster is a very attentive and loving husband to Hazel but what about your eggs?!

 This is Auntie Agnes.  She came out for a short dip in the pond and she'll go back inside soon to look after her sissy's family. 

 Mom couldn't help taking a picture of Angel Whooper.   Her beak is getting a deeper yellow. She's such a wonderful swan!

 And here are the Mutes - Margaret and Penny with Margaret's bodyguard FatA**!   FatA** never ever leaves Margaret's side.  It's true love!

So far, no one has moved into the nesting box that dad built.  Dad thinks that it might still be too early and too cold.  It's 10 degrees at our house right now this morning.  brrrrrr    Where is spring?
So that's the latest here.  We'll keep you updated!

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

Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly

Black and White Sunday - Almost

Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly

Stuffed Knuckles

We got to enjoy the stuffed knuckle bones in the workshop that Molly and mom came home with from PetSmart.

 These bones are HUGE!

 And they're stuffed with peanut butter!
You and mom can go shopping together any time!  What a great treat!

 Dad has been building nesting boxes for the geese and it's finally time to move them from the workshop to the pond.
You can't see it, but there are sawbuck legs they go down into the pond muck.  Dad is putting the floor onto the legs.  He built it this way so that it comes apart so it wouldn't be so heavy to carry.

 Next comes the body of the nesting box~

 It sits on top of the floor.

 Dad is screwing on the ramp so that the geese can walk right on in.  The slats on the side are windows so that the geese can see out.  There are peep holes in the back so they can keep their eyes on everything but stay safe and dry inside their enclosure.  The back of it has a small access door, just in case. 

 Next comes the shingled roof.

 Nice job, dad!  You did good!

 It's ready for the first tenant.  Which goose will take up residence?    We'll let you know!
Dad plans to have 3 nesting boxes in the pond.  Maybe we'll have baby geese? We're hoping!

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

Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly

My Morning With Mom

Mom and I ran errands together while Mitch worked with dad at home in the workshop.

Our first stop was the bank drive-thru and I got a cookie!

The next stop was the car wash.  I got to inside with mom and I met a hooman pup who was working a puzzle while she waited for her car to go through the car wash.
At first, I was nervous and I hid behind mom.  I don't meet many young children and I wasn't sure what to expect.  She was sure cute with her cupcake hat and mom would have loved to have taken her picture but mom was too shy to ask.    Curiosity got the best of me and I eventually went over to her and checked out her puzzle.   It wasn't long before we were friends ☺

Our third stop was PetSmart and I got my nails done.   Seeeeeeeee - it's not so bad, Mitch!  At least I can smile!

 Before we left the store, mom told me that I could pick out something to bring home for me and Mitch so we can have something fun to do in the workshop.
Wait till Mitch sees these!

 Next up was a bath for me.   Can you tell it's not my most favorite thing in the whole wide world?!

 We had one fun morning, mom!   High five!

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

Love ya lots♥
Molly

Our New Stairs

Mom has been wanting to carpet our stairs forever and she finally made the call to get the carpet guys here!
This is the "before" shot. 

 Molly's last time up the stairs without carpeting~

 And my last trip down before the carpet guys showed up~

Tada~~
We now have soft cushy padded carpeted stairs!
And it's so much fun to run up and down on them!

 Only ~~
Molly didn't think so at first.  She ran away when we tried to encourage her to climb.
And she slept downstairs all by herself.   She's a stubborn girl, ya know!

 Mom tried to re-train her but Molly wanted none of it. 

 And then yesterday morning, dad came down for breakie and he forgot something and he went back upstairs and Molly was on his heels in a flash!  Molly conquered the stairs!   She got over her temporary fear stubbornness!

 We apologize for this blurry picture but we are having too much fun on our new stairs.

And guess what else?
No more gate at the bottom to keep us on first floor!  For now, mom has taken it away and if we're good pups and there will be no unsafe hooligan antics on the stairs, the gate will stay gone forever!
Mom has one regret - that she didn't carpet the stairs 15 years ago so that angel Maggie would have benefited.  Maggie really didn't like the stairs for her entire life but she dealt with them because she wanted to sleep with her family.

BTW, mom did not paint the masterpiece of Maggie and Mitch and Molly.  Miss Victoria painted the original of Maggie and Mitch. The original is on our sidebar.   Mom took the picture of the painting to ipiccy and added Molly and "painted" the background and textured it and cartooned it! If you've never tried it, it takes time but it's so much fun!   Mom couldn't paint a portrait to save her life!

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

Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly

The Masterpiece Including Me

Look what mom did~

I'm not on the masterpiece painting that hangs in our kitchen but how cool is this! Thanks, mom!

Love ya lots♥
Molly