Guess What Happened?

The rain stopped . . . .

And the sun peeked out. . . . .

And I am a happy Queen :) 

What do you think? 

Would this work for my new throne?

Kisses,

Mister Higgins Wants to Play

Can we play now? Huh? Pretty please???

This is great fun - C'mon!  Just try it!

Okay, I can wait.....

 I know you are busy - I'll just wait right here.

Ummmmmmm..................just waiting here......

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............

 What a lightweight.  I need to teach that boy how to get what he wants! :)

Kisses,



My New Rug

This is our new runner rug in the kitchen.  The Duchess says it is the exact color of muddy paws and dog hair.  We used to have a green one but Mister Higgins chewed it up so we had to throw it away.

Hopefully he is mature enough now that he won't eat this one.  Time will tell. . .

I must admit this one is much nicer to lay on.  Thicker and softer.

I wonder if it's ever going to stop raining out there?

Probably not. . .

Kissses,



Wordless Wednesday #8

It Pays To Pay Attention

The Duchess has had a vintage hat. It is was all feathers, deep crimson in color, and quite fragile.  She keeps kept it in the guest room high up on the dresser.

One day while sitting in her chair reading a book, something caught her eye.  She looked up from her book to see. . . .

Somehow Mister Higgins had gotten up on the dresser, pulled the hat down, dragged it down the hall, and completely destroyed it right at the feet of the Duchess while she read her book.

Trust me when I say you should all count your blessings that you were not here at the time!

I am innocent I tell you! Innocent!

I wonder if she was more angry with herself or with Mister Higgins :)

Kisses,



The Camera - Because You Asked

As I promised earlier, I am going to try to tell you about the "camera"  and how we use it.  You may be surprised to learn that the camera does most of it.  Here goes. . . . .

The camera is a Nikon D60.  We purchased it from Costco.com in April 2009.  It was a packaged deal with the camera body and two lenses.  The lens we use most of the time is an 18-55mm.  The other lens is larger, 55-200mm.  The large lens is actually our favorite because it is the fastest for action pictures.

When the Duchess purchased this camera she had no idea what a DSLR camera was, she just knew it took good pictures.  She thought she would study the manual and even take a class on how to get the best out of her new camera.  Problem is, she never did it.  The more she read, the more confused she got and the more hopeless it seemed.  The solution she found works best for all of us because there are no "brains" involved :)

It is called "point and shoot".  Seriously.

There are some basic changes she makes on a little dial.  One is for macro, one for action, one for night time, etc...  Mostly she has it on "auto" or "action".  Then she points and shoots - many, many times.  Since there is no film involved she can take a thousand photos if wanted.  Then, after transferring them all to the computer we keep the good ones and delete the bad ones.

Do we photoshop?  Nope.  What you see is straight out of the camera.  The only thing we do is cropping.  Sometimes cropping is needed to get rid of some background and bring the main subject up closer.

So, now you know.  If we can do it, so can you!  But I must warn you, it becomes an addiction for some people.  Especially if you've never taken good pictures before and suddenly you can.  My Duchess loves the Nikon so much that she dreams up places to go and things to do just so she can take pictures!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kisses,

The Grass is Always Greener

On the other side of the fence.

And the Dandelion's are always brighter.

 

And much more yummy!

 

The people are smaller, and the horses are bigger.

Hey, wait just one minute here!

You didn't come here to see the neighbors,

you came to see the Queen, right?

For a minute there I thought I'd lost my kingdom to a couple of little blond braids!

I may have to make a new rule. 

"No one gets on the Royal Blog unless they are Black and White".

What do you think?

What?  You think that is selfish and egotistical???

You are right.  And I was just kidding!

I was just checking to see if you were really paying attention :)

Kisses,

Last Camping Trip of The Season - Part 2

These are our friends Friday and Jazzy. 

They were camped in the site right next to us.

We wanted to make friends with this big guy, but he wanted to chomp us so we just took a quick picture and fled the scene.  I think he has some issues with my status as Queen.  I must say though, he was one powerfully handsome male.  Oh well, you can't win 'em all, right?

The Duke and his Best Friend went fishing on the lake.

There was fresh Trout for dinner.  I didn't get any :(

We got to go for walks on all the trails.

We shared some of the trails with horses.

 This lady was kind enough to stop for a picture!

Then on Sunday we went for a walk down the road.  I couldn't figure out why the Duke kept stopping.  What was he doing???

He and his Best Friend were looking at the bushes.

Blackberries!  Oh my! 

They were picking berries to make a special dessert for the ladies.

Let me tell you - that was quite a surprise!

Two big tubs were filled up and the men proceeded to take over the kitchen.

  I wanted to show you the dessert but it was dark outside by the time it was ready so we didn't get a picture of it.  However, I understand it was scrumpdillyishous!

I thought I could take a picture of it the next morning but I never laid eyes on it again.  It vanished!

Dessert?  What dessert?  I didn't get any :(

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

It was a wonderful camping trip, but I am quite exhausted now.

It's time to begin the Royal Rest & Recovery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kisses,

Last Camping Trip of the Year

We went camping over the Labor Day weekend.  All of us were looking forward to it even though the weatherman said it was going to rain all weekend.  We have raincoats, you know, so a little wet weather won't stop us!

Higgins was his usual rowdy-puppy self, and I am showing you the next three pictures so you can see with your own eyes what I have to put up with.

Here he is attacking me while I am trying to behave.

And in this photo he is trying to attack me from above!

I could stand it no longer and finally put him in his place. 

So in this picture he is apologizing :) 

 I much prefer to go outside with the Duke and make S'mores. 
Of course they never share them with me, but sometimes I get a piece of graham cracker.  Yum!

We had a nice campsite. 

Here we are waiting for that rain to show up.

 Still waiting for that rain. . .

 Boys will be boys.  (He thinks there's food up there, silly pup.)

We waited all weekend for the rain. 

It never came, so we had to just carry on without it! 

C'mon rain - I double-dog dare ya'

The Duchess said the lighting was not good for taking photographs, so I'm just going to show you a few random shots that I liked.

A rare picture of us all together.

Mister Higgins always checking things out.

The Duchess says he gets this look in his eyes because his brain never stops working and I say it has never started!

Here is a picture worth looking at!

That's me, in all my Royal furness!!!

Look!  There's the sun!

We met some new friends and saw some old ones. We went for walks and took snuggly naps. Tomorrow I will post the rest of the pictures and show you what the Duke did that surprised us all.

Till then -

Kisses,