Shocking Dog Torture and Other Fun Stuff

Seriously, just look at her face. Did I lie?? This weekend I hope to torture the horses with some similar stuff.....ooowaaaa (evil laugh) I can hardly wait - what fun!!
Ahhhh, come on mom - do I HAVE TO???

Yep, sorry there Annie Banannie - there's always gonna be things in life that you just gotta do.
*sigh*

And this little poochie here is Tiley. She's our friend's little dog. We were dogsitting for the weekend; so we tortured her a little bit too. Mean, aren't we?? Isn't she cute??

I wonder what she was thinking...

Last Sunday afternoon I went up to my very dear friend Betty's house and we had loads of Christmas fun! She has this awesome little barn that her husband converted into her very own workshop. I just love it! It's reminiscent of a Santa's workshop, complete with a little woodstove and a workbench and a desk and all sorts of stuff. It's her very own little personal space for when she needs some personal quiet time. She can walk out there and make a cup of coffee and work on her latest project, or read a book, or take a nap or just veg out for hours all alone with no one to bother her. Ooh, I wish I had my very own little workshop like that!! Just take a look and see for yourselves.

Cool huh? This is her workbench where we proceeded to create masterful works of art in the form of Christmas wreaths. She had all kinds of tree boughs from which to choose. We had Douglas fir, Cedar, Grand and Salal. We also had pine cones and dried flowers and wheat and all sorts of stuff that my friend has collected.

Can you read this sign??? I will give you a little hint, but so far not one person that I know of has been able to figure out what this sign says without being told. Okay, so here's your one hint. You need to be thinking of an old Norwegian guy with an accent like someone who's from Minnesota. Years ago Betty gave us one of these signs and we have it proudly displayed in our barn. hee hee - it's soooo fitting. Well, come on...what's it say??

Give up??? Okay, I'll give you another little hint...

Y IS DER SO MENI MOR ORSIS ASIS DEN DER IS ORSIS ?

Ha!! Cracks me up!! Have you got it??? NO???? Come on you guys!!

Okay, I'll tell ya... Why is there so many more horse's asses than there is horses?? Now, you must say it using an old Norwegian/Minnesotan accent or it just won't make sense! I love this sign. Stumps everybody, but then everybody laughs. And like I said - very fitting, wouldn't you agree?

Here's the little woodstove which we of course had a fire in. It was pretty cold that day and quite wet too. We were all fogged in and it was very Christmasy feeling.

Here's my little friend now. She's making us some hot coffee so we can warm up a bit. Yummy!

And this is a beautiful etched glass portrait that my talented friend made. Isn't it just lovely?? I'm telling you guys, she is one very artistic lady. She makes a mean buttermilk bisquit too!

See those two mossy looking things up there? Those are pieces of bark that my friend has tied together to form a vase of sorts. We later turned those into artistic little treasures too. Oh, and see that rusty barbed wire up there on the wall??? Yep, that's right, it's rusty barbedwire. My little friend has a "thing" for all things rusty and especially barbed wire. She's got quite the collection!

The inside walls are all lined with old barn wood and the interior of the whole place is very rustic and quite homey. With all my friend's treasured collection of delightful goodies, the atmosphere is of comfortable yesteryear. A cowgirl's dream!!!

And speaking of days gone by, this photograph is of my lovely friend and her handsome husband many years ago. They are as much in love today as they were back then. I dearly love them both. In all my years, I've never met more beautiful people than these two. I am truly blessed to count them among my most treasured of friends.

Everywhere you turn, there are more objects of cowboy art.

And of course, we had music!! Christmas songs to sing along with. What kind of a Santa's workshop would it be without Christmas music??

And looky here - she's even got a little sink with real running water! I just love , love, love this workshop!! So much fun...do you think my hubby might make me one for Christmas?? hmmm, now there's a thought...

Sssshhhh!!! This is my friend's "other" boyfriend. She just loves John Wayne. See, I told ya she was a cowgirl!!

I just love all of this stuff!

And here is my wreath. All done with a little raffia bow and some dried red roses. I now have it hanging just outside my door at home. Thanks Betty!!

And here is Miss Betty's gold star that she made out of paper. I think it's beautiful, don't you?

And this is the dried floral arrangement made out of some of the stuff that Betty has in her vast collection of collected goodies. Remember that shot earlier of the bark tied into a vase - well here it is all finished. There is wheat, larkspur, roses, oats, oregeno and all sorts of stuff thrown in for fun. What do you think?? Should we quit our jobs and start up one of those little cottage industries?? Do you think we've missed our callings??? Yeah, you're probably right - we'll keep the day jobs. But, we had a blast making these and laughing and singing and drinking wine oops, I mean coffee and walking in the woods with our poochies and...oh, I almost forgot the dog torture!!

Yep, here they are - the two tortured dogs!! This is the active part of their jobs. The rest of the time they were sleeping. Lazy hounds!! That's Annie on the left and Gus on the right. Aren't they a pair?? They are trail walking fools those two!!

So... this, is my kind of Christmas. Time spent with good friends - talking, laughing, eating, drinking and generally enjoying the simple pleasures in life. Yep, I had a blast and I'll always remember our afternoon spent together in my friend Betty's delightful workshop in the woods.

Thank you my dear friend. I love you, have a very blessed and wonderful Christmas!!