Friday, August 31

I tried mom, I really did....

Yes, mom took us on another walk this morning and there's more to our adventure that she will post later. For now, these 3 pictures will have to tell the dirty story....

Kinda hard to believe that this beautiful looking pond....

can make a dog look like this...



I told her Mom, I really did... I said, "stay out of the mud Schatzie!"
what can I say, she's HOPELESS.

 Sorry the photo is a bit fuzzy...
mom was trying to get out of the splash/mud zone.
BOL.... it didn't work!!




Wednesday, August 29

WARNING...this story ends in a *B* word...

We just love our early morning walks with mom. Some days she's a bit more lax about what and where we are allowed to explore. Today was one of those days!! 

 The target... Mr. Bullfrog

Me surveying the perimeter

Schatzie looks left....

Schatzie tells me there's  dozens of frogs 

I told her to herd them this way

Did you get them Gracie??

Hey look, there's another Schatzie

Schatzie, I don't think this looks good, 
you just might need a bath!! 

**No bull frogs were harmed in the adventure**

gracie 

Special Note: both dogs were given baths!!


Tuesday, August 28

Peachy, just Peachy...


Another Monday and mom didn't have to go to work--I like Mondays!!

We did our usual morning walk about the ranch, it so nice to see a little green again, that 1/2 inch of rain did wonders. As you can see in the following photos the sun was a glow and there was actually dew on the grass. We haven't had a dewy morning in like forever!! The little hummingbirds have returned to the feeder so I guess mom helping the birds and the bees  was all good. Had to include Schatzie today, since we managed 2 laps around the farm she was HOT and decided it was time for a dip in one of the ponds that still has water. Me, I prefer exploring the pond that's dried up!!



Ok, now the story starts getting a little dicey!!

We have two peach trees on the property and both have produce an abundance of juicy peaches, so monday became "preserve the peaches day."   Mom was a slicing, dicing,  baking, and  canning our yummy peaches. Good grief  we now have peach jam, frozen peaches, canned peaches,peach crisp and she even managed to save a few for eating. This was mom's first attempt at preserving peaches and I think she's done a pretty good job. The most amazing feat was this was all done while poppy was in the basement with the water turned off  redoing some of our very old water pipes!! Yes, you read correctly, mom had  no running water! Wow, that's kinda like "Little House on the Prairie" don't ya think??  No need for concern, mom knew ahead of time and had lots of water stored up. At the end of the day we had running water again and a delicious peach crisp and I didn't hear one bad word during the whole process from either one of them.


So my monday was......Peachy, just peachy!!



Gracie

Saturday, August 25

The *G* Project...

A few days ago my dog friend Jack over at Daily Dose of Jack had a post stating he needed some help with a special photo project.  You see Jack or I should say his human is making a Alpha-Pet photo book. All we had to do was select a letter of the alphabet and have our picture taken with our selected letter.
Well you all know what letter mom selected...Yes, "G" for none other than me. So today we've been out in the flower garden with our letter and I'm doing my best to give her a great shot. Here are some of our shots....we've got a few days before we have to submit our photo so, I'm asking you if you think any of the following shots capture my beauty and character or maybe we've gotta go back to the flower garden.
Which is your favorite????
p.s. the best part of this photo shoot was it didn't require me to have a bath!!!

Gracie

#1
that's me in the garden...eating the bird seed,
I mean checking out the bird feeder.
 #2
So you want me to have my photo taken by this BIG *G*??
geesh, humans are weird

#3
mom, this  *G* is scaring me a bit

#4
okay...so something like this???

#5
how bout this mom???

#6
or this????

#7
okay, I won't show my belly...

#8
mom this makes my ears look BIG...

#9
all these photos...I'm getting very sleepy

#10
No more mom til I talk to my agent

#11
okay, okay... one more!!
So what's your favorite???

Linking to camera critters

Friday, August 24

MAX DOG...one of my summer reads....



Wanted to tell you about a book I read this summer. I'm a bit slow at getting to the new releases and this book has been out for a while.  Gotta say I loved it....Anyone who is a dog lover will totally get into this book.
 The author Caryl Moll walks us through her struggles with depression and other life issues. Max the beautiful golden retriever (that was suppose to be her hubby's dog :) became Caryl's beloved sidekick. With Max she was able to overcome a number of obstacles. Max taught Caryl about living...living life to the max.  It's heart warming, it will make you laugh, cry and hug your dog even more. If you're like me you won't want to put it down. You can find it at Amazon.com

So if you haven't read MAXDOG....get it and enjoy the beautiful story of Living Life to the Max. 

You may also be interested in Caryl's Blog, she's writes about her life and adventures in South Africa, you can even check out her African Safari photos from earlier this summer that I found just fabulous.

Hope you are all enjoying your friday...we actually had some blessings today--it was RAINING!  


val


Thursday, August 23

about that Pawty...


Here are some photos of our pawty for Poppy.
Mom made us get up early for our walk and breakfast so we would be ready to tell poppy 
HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY!!

 We dawned (mom made us wear them) our Happy Birthday tiaras and we greeted him when woke up,
 he smiled and giggled a bit--maybe cuz we looked rather silly in these stupid tiaras.

We sang and danced. 

We gave poppy his big bag of presents from US,
 we did our best to assist him in checking out the bag of loot.

Guess what he found in the bottom of the bag....our most favorite things---BIG BONES!!
Wonder how those got in his birthday bag???  BOL
Best part...Poppy said he didn't care for those big bones and said WE COULD HAVE THEM!!

Yes, it was the BEST party EVER.


 We helped mom make this yummy ice cream cake.


MOM's Nutter Butter -Butterfinger Ice Cream Cake
here's what's in it--just in case you want to make one for a pawty.

Crust: 3/4 pkg of Nutter butter cookies

mom says put them in the freezer overnight and then crush them in your blender/food processor (says it doesn't get all clumpy that way)
1/4 cup of melted butter or margarine
Mix crushed cookies and butter and pat into bottom of spring form pan.
Freeze til solid.
*** Oreo cookies is another option for the crust. 

2nd Layer
Place one small jar of chocolate ice cream topping on frozen cookie layer--return to freezer.
**again you can adjust the ice cream topping to match your flavors.

Ice Cream Layer--now you could just soften whatever flavor ice cream you like or mom mixes her own....
1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream and 3 large butter finger candy bars crushed (again freeze before crushing)
Mix ice cream and crushed butterfingers  til soft, and layer onto ice cream topping layer. Freeze.

topping--- save a bit of  crushed cookies and chocolate sauce and layer it on top.

Lots of different combinations of flavors to make--some of our favorites are:
mint chocolate chip/ oreo
raspberry/ oreos
peppermint/ oreo

Mom's blogging friend Sweet Marie posted this yummy puppy treat on her blog, so mom made some for us to eat at poppy's pawty since we can't have chocolate....
It's yogurt, peanut butter and honey!!

Let's just say I couldn't get enough of it and I give it my PAW of approval--
 Thanks Sweet Marie :)
I can hardly wait til Poppy turns 357!!  

That's all for today...

gracie :)

Wednesday, August 22

It was a PAWTY....

Yes, it was a PAWTY, my poppy turned 350 yrs old, oh I mean 50!!  (That would be 350 in dog years :) Mom only has time to post this one photo from the party cuz she's gotta work today.  So check in tomorrow for the whole story.

Gracie

Monday, August 20

What's up MOM????

My mom is acting very weird today, let me explain

Mom didn't have to work today, 
so I thought we'd just spend the day lounging about, but NO, she had other ideas.

 I found this  after our walk
it's all my blankies and toys piled in a heap--what the heck??

 and then this....all my toys and blankies in the washing machine!!
and then the dreaded sucking machine chased me  all over the house.
after that Mom left us for a couple hours, said she had to go shopping.

 When she got home I found this and she said the "B" word

 Really mom, why do I need to have a bath??

 Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse,  I found this....
I was so embarrassed.

 our laundry hanging so everyone can see...
at least it's clean, BOL

 Mom, I'm not very happy with you!!


then Mom said, "Gracie, it's for the PAWTY!!

Pawty....did you say pawty??  

Yes Gracie, tomorrow is a special day....

Since my bath Mom's been busy in the kitchen, she's doing something with 
butter finger candy bars and ice cream. She even mixed something up in her big red bowl and said it was for me and Schatzie to eat at the pawty. We got to lick the bowl, it was tasty.


 I'm going to bed now....
can't wait til tomorrow. 
All I can say is this better be good Mom!!



Monday at Home...

It's been awhile since I've had a monday at home. Since I didn't have to work of course I was wide awake at 5 a.m., why does it  work that way??  Anyhow,  I enjoyed a leisurely walk about the ranch with hubby and the girlz with camera in tow. It was almost chilly and the smell of fall is in the air, I do love the crispness of these type of mornings and it feels so good to wear a sweatshirt.
As I look out my kitchen window the flower garden area is a buzz with all sorts of birds. At one point I had 5 male orioles, 1 female at the birdbath, the 5 young bluebirds have found the meal worms I set out for them, dozens of other little birds all munching away at the new feed that was scattered.  I moved my hummer feeders last night in hopes that the bees wouldn't find them. So far it's worked and the hummers have returned to their feeders. A quick glance from my desk and I find 15 swallows perched on the fence, most are preening, others seems to be chatting. I'd like to believe it's their version of monday morning at the water cooler. Probably just a few more weeks with all  the bird activity as they will soon be headed south. I have so enjoyed observing them this summer.

Wanted to give you some information on the bees.  I contacted Warren a beekeeper from Lincoln and he told me the bees are indeed worker honey bees. Because of the drought and lack of moisture there is no nectar in the flowering plants and they are trying to store energy for the winter.  So it appears that they have found a buffet in my garden.  Knowing that honey bees are in a fragile state right now I just didn't have the heart to pull the plug on the feeders. I did take the feeders down for a couple days and set up a new one just for the bees a short distance from the garden. The bees found it and downed 2 cups of sugar water yesterday!!

 I'm leaving you with a few shots I captured this morning....have a great monday!!

 Skippy sure enjoys his cantaloupe 

 Flash...I think you need to see a dentist!!

 The texture of the milkweed pod is just....

 neat

May your monday be delicious!! 

**For those of you kind enough to leave comments, thank you!!
 I am going to attempt to reply to all via this blog in the comment section. 

Saturday, August 18

the Boys are back....in the pasture

 Flash (the light colored horse) and Skippy are back in our pasture for a few months. Their pasture is bare and in desperate need of rain, so the boys are living the high life with us for a few months. While I am not all that fond of horses (they scare me a bit) these two make me laugh and the seem to enjoy the
 attention we give them. 




 They get  melon and an ear of left over sweet corn  for breakfast every morning. 
Skippy thinks it's lick smacking good!!!







Linking to camera-critters