The Back Gate

Neighbor Greg had an old gate from a horse stall which he was happy to donate to the “new fence” project. The only problem was that it would have to be painted to seal it for the winter. Now, the Duke is not a painter. He loathes everything about it. The Duchess is not a “painter” either. Although she has a Decorative Painting Studio in the castle, that is entirely different than being a “painter”. However, the Duke volunteered the Duchess to paint the new gate, brushing aside her objections. She was not happy!

Now this is where it gets fun!

The Duchess knew a primer coat would be needed, but the Duke, of course, was oblivious to the details. So off she went to the hardware store – revenge on her mind and in her heart – to buy the boring “brown” paint for the new gate. What she found in addition to the boring “brown” was the perfect answer!

It would make the Duke choke on his words!

When she arrived at the gate with her paint and supplies the Duke was pleased that she was in a much better mood now and assumed that she had gotten over her tizzy fit. Fortunately for the Duchess, the Duke was working at the other end of the property while she put on the primer so he didn’t see it until it was finished.

Here is the primed gate. . . You should have seen his face! Neighbor Greg’s too!

Score one for the Duchess! She’s still laughing!

And here is the finished project. Just like it was supposed to be, right?

But seriously, this whole project was quite an accomplishment because it used to look like this.

And Sir Bear's dignity was the only real casualty today.

He's a little embarrassed about his pink forehead but he'll get over it!

The Volunteer Petunia

A few years ago the Duchess noticed a tiny volunteer Petunia plant growing up between the bricks on the patio. We have had volunteer tomatoes and Sunflowers, but never a Petunia. And never in such an unlikely place. So she decided to leave it be. It had great courage to grow between those bricks. And “grow” it did. Eventually it became an obstacle in everyone’s path. But the Duchess held firm and the tiny plant became a huge flower. The remainder of the summer and well into fall the Petunia brought much pleasure to everyone who passed by. Eventually it was gone and no other has taken its place. But the volunteer Petunia will never be forgotten.

Memorial Day Camping

It has been a busy time around the castle. The Duke and Duchess are still working on the fence (mostly the manly Duke). There was a great deal of rushing around in preparation for the big three day camping trip. And the Mean Dog has found a new home!!!!! Whew! We are all quite relieved. The Duchess took 547 pictures of our camping trip, starting on Friday night when we arrived and ending on Monday afternoon when we headed home. Seriously, she had that camera glued to her face almost the entire trip! I am only going to show you my favorite pictures, but there are a number of them, so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy. Our weather was spectacular. Warm, sunny, and perfect. There were nine of us, and 14 or more humans, depending on which day it was. Almost every campsite in the park had at least one dog, so of course, we have a few of their pictures to share.

Most of the campsites, including ours, had flags displayed for Memorial Day

Here is our campsite, and that is my castle on wheels.

This lady was our next door neighbor. She is a good guard dog.



And of course we had a "camp robber".

Mandy never goes anywhere without her ball. It was too slimy to play with. Yuk!

Mandy's brother is Benji and he is ALWAYS smiling.

Libby thinks that she is the Queen. (We all know who the real Queen is, right?)

And she is easily bored.

This guy is KC. He likes to bark at Sir Bear.

Lucy is Libby's real sister, but she lives with KC.

You might remember my friend Friday.

Oops! I'm not quite sure what happened here!

Auntie Lynn passed out handfuls of treats.

I just know I'm next. . .

Only One???

We named this little guy Pappy.

He was across the road from us and the Duchess wanted to bring him home with us.

I was always welcome at the table. (well, ok, not always)

I spent some time guarding the castle.

And checking out the local vegetation.

I even found some time to take a snooze.

But the very best part of the whole weekend was being together.

Nothing beats spending time with your forever family!

The Royal Family

New Neighbors

I was patrolling my fence line on Saturday when, to my surprise, I spotted some new neighbors through the fence. We didn't know where they came from, or if they belonged there but . . .

You have got to admit this guy is pretty darn adorable. Even if he is a goat!

We walked down to the other neighbors to have a dog party and these guys followed us! They like us - all of us! People and dogs. They had no fear. I guess if I had horns like that I wouldn't have any fear either! We found out later that our neighbor had just had them delivered that morning and they had already figured out how to get through the fence. Looks like we will be having a fun summer after all! So let me introduce you to my new friends, Wisdom (white) and Willy (black). Humph! Silly names for a goat if you ask me.

Did I mention we had a "dog party" Yahoo! Such fun!

This is neighbor Greg getting more attention than I think he really wants.

Tank is getting a little too playful for me today. . .

Hey, back off buddy . . . .

I warned you, Tank!

That's better.

All's well that ends well.

The New Fence is Coming Along

The Duke spent all weekend working on the new fence. As you can see, it's coming along nicely. A group of neighbors turned out to help, so the job went faster. It's hard to see in the photo, but the fence goes about halfway down the property line.

This is the new corner post at the end of the property.

The new fence will eventually make it to this point.

This is the same corner post.
This shows how much clearing still needs to be done across the back of the property.

This is the same post again but looking back towards the part of the fence that is strung. Yes, there's a lot more to do! If you look way down at the end you can see the fence that's in the first picture (only looking at it from the other end!)

And me? I just want it finished so I can "show off" how fast I can run through the trees!

Happy Mother's Day

Sending out big hugs and kisses to all the blogging Mother's.
May your day be filled with more love than laundry!

Portrait of a Queen

This royalty stuff is serious business!

Weekend Visitors

We had visitors on Friday night. The "kids" came down from Seattle and left the "Grandkids" with the Duke and Duchess overnight while the "kids" went to a retirement party somewhere. Anyway, I love the Grandkids, however, they brought this with them too...

This is Joey.

There is something about Joey that makes me want to chomp on him. I haven't really done that, but the Duchess says she can read my mind and that's what I want to do. She's right, of course. There's just something about that little old geezer that bugs me!

These are the "Grandkids" They are pretty special.

We had a birthday party for this little Grandkid girlie when her parents got back on Saturday. She turned 8 years old - overnight!
(There's that stupid dog again! Why isn't she holding me instead?)


And the Duchess just kept on taking pictures of everyone. Everyone, that is, except for me!

Hello????? What about taking my picture? I am the Queen you know! I even went to the Beauty Parlor and I'm so soft and fluffy. Hello??? Doesn't anybody care????
Hello???