Barktoberfest 2007

We had an absolute BLAST today!
We got there about 10 minutes before 11AM and there were already Dales there! Mitch met Scuffer right off the bat! Scuffer is Carol Usher's dog. Carol is the lady that makes the WoolieDales! Here's Carol's donation! Mom dumped 30 tickets in her box but we didn't win! boohoo

It's okay! The money all goes for a good cause!

Barbara Curtiss's husband, Denis does the most awesome metal sculptures and they're everywhere on their property! They're pretty much life size!

This is Chip having his picture taken! Chip drove all the way from Boston to be here!

Hey Asta? Is that you? We met 3 or 4 Wire Fox Terriers today!

That's me in my new pink harness. I now own a harness just like Sunshade's and I absolutely LOVE it! Mitch has one just like mine in black!

We also met several Welsh Terriers!We all got to meet and greet for about 30 minutes - then Barbara Curtiss announced that it was time to go for a nice long walkie up the mountain to the water fall and to fall in behind Denis! Mitch zoomed off and there was no way that I could even begin to think of catching him! Dad said that he led the pack the whole way! For some reason, I just didn't feel like hiking the mountain. Mom tried pulling me along but I was dead set on not going! Mom gave in and we walked back down to Barbara's yard. I was so happy that mom listened to me! Unfortunately, mom had the camera, not dad and Mitch, so there are no waterfall pictures! Sorry!

It wasn't long before Mitch and dad returned along with everybody else! Lunch was served and everybody was shopping and spending money! Mom's peanut butter oatmeal bars were going pretty fast! This recipe is a winner so mom will be making them again!

The costume parade was getting underway! Check out this scary witch!

And here's Bumblebee Boy!

Here's Peter Pan! You know he never lost his hat once! I hate hats! I would have wiped that sucker off my head so fast! But he was just so patient and easy-going!

Here's Chip again - this time in his sheriff's costume! I thought of Oscar more than once today!

This is 18 month old, Gus! She's wrapped in a spider's web!

You've got to see Saxon! He's a "watch" dog! Get it! He has wrist watches everywhere and Timex written on his back on his watch face! His lady said that his glasses really don't go with his costume but that he wanted to wear them! What a ham he is! He's sure a crowd pleaser!

And here's Amelia Aireheart and Miss America!

I just couldn't get over Amelia! I had to have a closer look!

Check out this cute clown! He's just a puppy! That's dad and Mitch in the background!

Here's Saxon again. Look at the whole crowd laughing at him! The poor boy! He actually didn't mind it a bit - or so it seemed!

We had the BEST day! There were lots of snacks to be had - both doggy snacks and people snacks! Here we are in the pick-up on the way home!

We're ZONKED!!!!We can't wait for next year! We had SO MUCH FUN!!!!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie

We're Going To Barktoberfest!

Dad comes home tomorrow from Maine. He's leaving at 3AM Sunday morning so he can go to Barktoberfest with me and Mitch and mom! We are so psyched! This is a once-a-year event for us and it's always such fun! It takes us a good 2 hours to drive there and once we get there, we meet up with approx 75 other Airedales! Mitch has never ever been! Wait till he gets a load of all of the other Dales! OMG, we can hardly wait!

We're hoping to see our friend Carol Usher, who does the outstanding WoolieDales and we're hoping to meet Jake, who we've never met before. His parents and my parents got to know each other on the ferry when we went to Nantucket at the end of August, remember?!

The event starts at 11AM and goes until 2PM. Barbara Curtiss, who is the head of New England Airedale Rescue is the organizer and this wicked fun time just happens to be at her house!

It starts off with a walkie at Kent State Mountain, which just happens to be in her back yard! There is a raffle with all sorts of Airedale paraphernalia that we can win. Mom knit a purse and needle felted on it to donate for the raffle.



















There's a Halloween parade if you want to wear costumes. They vote on who is the cutest and which one is the funniest, etc and they usually have a contest with hotdog bits to see who can grab the most in the least amount of time! It's a lot of fun!

We've been asked to bring a dessert to share. Mom has decided on Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars. We've never made them before so all of these people will be guinea pigs! We love to see how fast the plate empties! This way we know if the recipe is good or not but don't worry - it will be pre-tested before it leaves our kitchen!

This is how the batter looks before it goes into the pan to be baked. ummmmmmmmmmm




















It has peanut butter and brown sugar and oats and flaked coconut and sunflower seeds and raisins in there! We got to taste it before it hit the baking pan!
Don't worry - mom made sure there were no raisins on the spoon that we got to taste test!




















And here it is just out of the oven! TADA! We're hoping that we get to have a tiny taste of the baked masterpiece! We'll let you know how fast it goes tomorrow at Barktoberfest!

Just in case anyone wants the recipe:

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup honey, 1/3 cup melted butter, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 3 1/3 cups Old Fashioned oats, 1/2 cup flaked coconut, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup raisins and the recipe also calls for 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips but mom didn't use an chocolate! Way to go, mom!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F ( 175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl stir together the peanut butter, the butter or margarine, the brown sugar, the honey and the vanilla until smooth.

3. Add all the other ingredients. Stir well.

4. Press the mixture into a 13 X 9 inch greased pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on wire rack before cutting into bars. BTW, mom found this recipe at allrecipes.com

We'll be leaving tomorrow morning for Barktoberfest around 9AM! The camera will be with mom the entire time! We want LOTS and LOTS of pictures! I wish all of you guys could be there with us!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie

Dad's In Maine

Our dad is in Maine! He and mom have been building a cupola since July and this weekend it

was loaded on our friend's trailer and hauled up to Maine!

This is the cupola as the crane is lowering it onto the house roof~

And this is the cupola in place in all its glory with a pretty rooster weathervane!

Dad is away until Sunday, which means that mom eats crazy stuff for dinner! Who wants to cook when you don't have to!

The plan tonight is to watch one of my very favorite movies in the whole wide world and to have popcorn! The movie is "Because of Winn Dixie"!

Mitch has never seen this movie before so it should be even more fun watching him enjoy it!

The weather here is dreary and rainy so it's the perfect night to relax and enjoy!

Light the candle mom and let's get started! I'm ready!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie

Mitchy the Moose

Mom and dad remark that Mitch get bigger every day and they swear he grows overnight while he sleeps! So they've taken to calling him Moose! He has the longest legs and he makes the funniest noises at times - especially at night when he stretching out those long moosey legs! We're really beginning to wonder if he does have some moose blood in him! This is a picture of a baby moose~

Can you see the resemblance?

One of mom's greatest fears is that he gets to be as big as our best Airebuddy,Stanley!

Don't get me wrong - we love Stanley just the way he is but he's 80 pounds and his girl is a whole lot younger than our mom! Fortunately, Stanley is much more mature and doesn't yank and pull his girl around like a ragdoll and unfortunately Mitch does this to mom ALL the time!

Mitch needs to learn lots more manners! We are working on it!

For now, I guess we just have to live with the moose!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie

Dad Came Through!

Dad volunteers at the hospital in New Haven and tonight he made a trip down to visit a lady that needs a heart transplant. He'll keep visiting her until she goes home with her new heart! We pray this happens for her very soon!

When he came home he was carrying a white bag with ice cream in it! One for mom and one for himself!

He brought mom pumpkin ice cream and he brought himself rum raisin! Mom was sorta iffy about us eating the rum raisin because of the raisins. Do you think that it had real rum in it?

Mom grabbed our favorite purple shovel spoon that Putter gave us and dug into that yummy pumpkin!

Awesome!

You didn't forget us after all dad! You're the best father in the whole wide world and we love you so much! Yummmmmmmmmmm - this is SOOOOOOOOOOO good!

Mitch was a happy boy too!

Gosh but he's a sloppy eater! He's got ice cream drool! ewwwwwwwwwwwwww

You've redeemed yourself, dad! We take back all the negative things that we posted last night!

You're okay in our book!

Hey blogging doggies, thanks for sticking up for us and making mom and dad feel real guilty! It worked! We owe you one!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie

We Got Hosed!

Dad has been promising to take us for ice cream for like 3 nights now! Saturday night his buddy Bill was here and they waxed motorcycles and by the time Bill left, it was too late!
Last night was football and baseball and dad wasn't going anywhere! So tonight our mouths were watering for frozen vanilla yogurt! yummmmmm

Mom had her camera and our favorite purple ice cream shovel and we set off for Durham, which is only a 15 minute ride. We got there and guess what? They were closed for the season! Can you even believe it?????

What, no ice cream???????? You're kidding, right? Mitch just couldn't believe his ears!

And I was so upset I couldn't even have eye contact with mom and her stupid camera!

I can't believe we waited all this time and got the fat end! How unfair!

So now it's late and dark and mom and dad just want to go home! Shoot - so no ice cream for us!

Sure mom - go ahead and take a picture of our cute butts side by side waiting and praying for ice cream! I sure hope you feel bad about this! This is a huge let-down!

So until next time - when I'm in a better mood,

Love ya lots,

Maggie

Butchy's Birthday CampOut

We were invited to Butchy's overnight campout! It's his birthday and we're going to have a blast! Butchy tells us that the girls are to sleep in the fish shack and the boys sleep in his mom's hunting shack and there will be wagon rides and a camp fire and lots of scary stories!

Ruby has invited us to fly the friendly skies with her once again. It's you've never flown with Ruby, you're missing a really fun experience!

I've decided to wear my beautiful sweatshirt that Butchy's mom made for me for my birthday! I really haven't had a chance to wear it yet because the weather was so warm so now's my chance!

Mitch says he wants to go comfy too and we found him a nice soft flannel shirt in dad's closet!

Mitch was a little bit nervous when he heard about us telling scary stories around the campfire but I assured him that it would be fun and he'd love it. I think he's okay with it now!

Hey Butchy, mom says that when she was a girl scout, they used to have campfires and sing and tell scary stories too but they always had s'mores to snack on, so we're going to bring the graham crackers

and the marshmallows

and mom also said that there's also a hershey bar on these treats too but because us dogs can't have chocolate, we opted for the carob!

We're hoping that the carob tastes like the hershey bar that mom so fondly remembers! We toast the marshmallows over the campfire and get two graham crackers and put the carob on top of one graham cracker and then when that marshmallow is toasted oh so golden brown and it's hot and gooey and totally yummy looking, we put that marshmallow right on top of the carob and then the other graham cracker to make the yummiest sandwich in the whole wide world! Mitch and I are drooling already!

This is going to be one fun pawty, Butchy! We can't wait for the fun to begin!

BTW, we didn't want to give you all the wrong impression that we totally hate clothes! We do wear winter coats when it's brutal out and we love dressing up for all of your pawties! It's just the Halloween costumes that set us off! The rest is okay!

See you soon!

Love ya lots,

Maggie and Mitch

No Halloween Costumes for Us

Blue tagged us to kick off the Halloween season and get dressed up in our best witches and goblins costumes, ONLY - we don't wear costumes and we're so glad about this!

Mom has never ever made me dress up in a costume -not even for the annual Barktoberfest event that's coming up on October 14th and we are going and we can't wait!

I always feel so sorry for all those poor doggies! You can see it on their faces that they feel totally humiliated while people stand around laughing at them! Yes, I know it's all in good fun, but they don't look like they're having much fun to me!

Mom has pumpkin bananas for us and that's what we'll be wearing!

So we have to apologize to Blue for being such spoilsports and not getting dressed to the nines but Mitch and I are so happy that our mom lets us slide on the costume thing!

For those of you who don't get to slide - we'll be thinking of you!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie

Our First Days with Mom and Dad

We weren't tagged by anyone to play this game but we thought that it might be fun to tell our story anyway!
I was born on July 10th, 1998, the same birthday as my mom, as you all know, and the same year that my human sister was a senior in college.

My breeder lives about a half an hour from us. It's been 9 years since mom and dad and Melissa picked me up so mom's memory is fuzzy plus she's very OLD and can't remember beans!

Dad made the decision to get a female, rather than a male, and mom had no problem with that! We arrived at Phil's house and we were welcomed by lots of Airedales barking from a kennel. Mom immediately loved the look of the adult dog and she couldn't wait to see the puppies! My hoomans picked my breed from reading an ad in the newspaper and doing lots of research on it. The ad said that Airedales don't smell and they don't shed and that fact made mom real happy! Mom doesn't have any pictures of me at the breeder's - sorry!

Phil called the puppies to come out, come out, wherever you are, and I came running out of a hole in the ground with my brothers and sisters! He rounded up the 3 girls out of Jett's litter so that mom and dad could pick me! My mom's name is Common Touch Class - call name Jett, and my dad is CH White Rose Road to the Isles. Mom doesn't remember meeting my dad but he most probably was on the premises.

Mom and dad had a blast playing with the three little girls and trying to decide which one to choose. It wasn't long before we pups all wandered off to find something more interesting to do but suddenly I remembered that I needed to tell this nice lady one more thing, so I returned to her and that's when mom said, "That's the one!"

Mom had brought along a tiny red collar (that we still have) and she put it on me and the rest is history! They actually didn't take me home that day. They left me there for another few days while they shopped for a crate and bowls and toys and food, etc to prepare for my homecoming.

Mom still remembers the day that Phil told her that my birthday was July 10th! She honestly thought he was pulling her leg because that's her birthday, but how could Phil know that! It was destiny that I come and live with my family!

These pictures are my first few days with my new family!

Mom can't believe that I was ever this little!

Mom says that I'm her soul sister and heart dog! I love my mom and she loves me more than life itself! (stop crying mom)

Now it's Mitch's turn:

You all know that mom discovered him in a pet store when she and my sister, Melissa, were shopping for mom's mother-of-the-bride dress! Melissa wanted to go into the pet store and all was fine and wonderful until mom's eyes locked onto Mitch! She was instantly sad that this 4 month old bigger-than-all-the-rest puppy was in a crate and most probably would not be sold because he wasn't teeny and cute. Seeing Mitch in the pet store ruined the rest of the shopping day for that special dress for mom.

Mom shared the news with dad about Mitch being in the pet store that very same day. Dad asked the sex of the puppy and mom didn't even have a clue! She just knew that he was 4 months old and that he was adorable!

Mitch was born on November 24, 2006. His pedigree says that his dad's name was King Strider and his mom is Mac's Country Maple Girl. We're pretty sure he comes from a puppy mill south of us.

Mom and dad went back and forth about wanting a second puppy or not. Mom decided that she was very happy with just me and left it at that! Dad had other things on his mind. He called the puppy store and found out that this puppy was a male and he wanted to know the price. Dad made the decision to buy Mitch without mom's knowledge and that fateful Sunday morning, mom and I were out in our workshop with our friends Amy and Phil and in walks dad with his buddy Bill and this 4 month old Airedale puppy!

The rest is history!

Mom ADORES her little boy and wouldn't trade him for all the money in the world! And dad couldn't be happier that mom was thrilled with his decision! Dad and Mitch have a pretty special bond too!

And I love my little brother! Actually, he's not so little! He is taller than I am and weighs more than I do! I think I'll keep him anyway!

So that's the story how the both of us pups came to live with mom and dad!

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

Love ya lots,

Maggie