After the snow.... and some dog stuff

We were supposed to get a huge storm, but lucky us, it blew to the north and missed most of us!   We only got about 4-5 inches I think, and some blowing and drifting.  But nothing that was treacherous or awful.  Today we are just getting minor snow flurries, here and there.

Here is Winter in Wisconsin... now that all of the holiday festivities are over, it is going to be dreary months of snow snow and more snow:

(this goose ain't cooked, he's more like frozen?)            our view out the front windows

Not sure if this rig is gonna be able to roll south this winter???

We will see if Steve is able to take the time off or not.

But---- the house is warm, the dogs are happy, I am feeling better, and Steveio was able to make it through the snow to work each day.... so what more can we ask for?  

I have been doing some quilting, and got 20 blocks done of this pattern....  now I just have to find some coordinating fabric for the sashings (like picture frames around each to sew them all together)  and find some good backing.  I am going to a quilting class with friend Paula Stuplich at the end of the month over to Wausau.  Wish me good travelling weather?

A while back I ordered this great new sweatshirt from The Animal Rescue Site   All of their items are either made in America or from fair trade countries, and purchasing through them helps feed animals.  Each item you select to buy, it tells you how many bowls of food are available from your purchase!

 I funded 28 bowls of food from my purchase of this sweatshirt

and the doggies both approved of it.

On to puppy news.... things are going great!   There is a stuffed puppy that lives up in our grandtot's bedroom in our home, and Finney recently met him.  He was very skeptical at first, and would growl, pounce, and run away each time he peeked in the room.   Soon the curiosity overcame him and they are now buddies.  Can you tell which is which?

Now each time Finney goes up the stairs, he has to stop and visit his buddy that lives in the Grandtot Bedroom!  LOL


Duke enjoys playing with the pup, but it wears him out quickly.  We only let Duke do 4 or 5 fetches with the soft toys indoors, then make him lay down and watch the pup do the rest of the retrieving....  I bought a couple of these these soft cloth balls that don't hurt anything when thrown indoors.  By having two balls, it's teaching Finney how to bring one ball back at the same time when Duke brings one to me.  Good indoor fun when it's too cold to go outside.

Of course, next is rest time where they have to lay close to each other. 

In the livingroom, we have a doubled up sheepskin that they lay on together.  At bedtime, both were huddling up on the mat we bought from Stockbridge Critter Sitters Daycare for Finney's crate when we first got him.   They both crowd up on the one small mat to sleep together, and many times by morning, Duke is mostly off the mat.  He doesn't even want to go lay on the blue rug folded up that was his before.

I decided Duke should have his own padded soft mat even if he never liked sleeping on one before.   The other day when running errands, we stopped by Critter Sitters and bought a mat for Duke too.  While there, we dropped off some Purina weight circles with Lisa Martin, because she can turn them in to help with neutering/spay bills ---- so if you have Purina pet foods in your house, please cut off the weight circles and send them to me?  Last year Purina helped with almost $2,000 of vet neuter/spay bills at the Appenasha Clinic for the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue Group.

Here is the mat we bought for Duke... 

as soon as we brought it in the house,

 and plopped it on the floor, 

he laid right down on it and claimed it as his own! 

Well, that is about all I can think of to write about for now.... maybe the next blog I will do some more "Before" and "After" shots of projects around the house.  Hard to believe we have had it for a whole year already???