Winter Greetings from the Hollow

We send out our warmest  and most fuzzy hugs to all our friends out there in the wide, wild world, and bid you the best of winter.

"Hopalong Hollow Productions"

presents our very amateurish but heartfelt greetings from all who dwell in the Hollow.

(Be sure your volume is turned up loud.)

From

The Donkeys: Ursula, Jemima, 
The Peabody Boys: Hans and Moses, 
The goats: Opal, Rosebud, Cecily , Naomi
The Sheep: Sophia, Beatrix, Margaret, 
The Geese: Hamish, Ivan, Attila, Fiona,
The Ducks: Jangles, Mia, Jeremiah Fisher, Trudy, Pittypat,Winston, Popeye,
The Chickens: Mavis Mudd, Jimmy, Demelza, Rusty, Euel, Esmeralda, Monet, Prudi, Conan... and a few miscellaneous chicksters
The Cats: Peepers, Aretha, Sasha, Moby and Claudette
 The DOG: EZRA
The People: Jeri and the Lord of the Manor, James

  Filmed in the Hollow (by amateur Movie makin- mogul  Jeri )
All movie making tips will be most appreciated!

Fionna Goosefeathers II reports,,,

Greetings and a hearty honk, honk, dear reader!.

Tis I, Fionna Goosefeathers II,
 standing in today for the intrepid gossip columnist,Mavis Mudd . Mavis is indisposed and has taken a leave of absence in order to raise her 2 new baby chickpeas.

Of course, what Mavis does not know, is that those 2 chickpea eggs were slyly slipped into her nest by the Mistress of the Manor, whilst her ACTUAL eggs were snatched and turned into french toast batter! The Mistress confided in me that she didn't need any more little "mutt" chicks running about the place. So she sneakily replaced the mutt eggs with  big pink Buff eggs and  big brown Rhode Island Red eggs and Mavis took the bait! The odd thing is not so much that only 2 eggs hatched out of 20, but that Mavis Mudd did not even notice the "slight of hand"....(and she thinks she is sooo smart!)

  (Oh my, I am really beginning to get the hang of this gossip writing!)

Maybe we should call her Mavis MUTT!!! Ha, ha... I think I do have a real knack for this.

Well , at least Mavis has had a chance to raise yet ANOTHER family. While I, alas, seem destined to remain a spinster... and I am almost 1 year old!

My dreamboat Hamish has been stringing me along with all his talk of running away together to "live happily ever after" in the cattails.

The fact is. he is a wanderer,

and would much rather hang with his buddies, swill a few jugs of aged creekwater and gamble on crawdad races. And when he does accompany me on a swim  UP  and DOWN Wee Minnow Brook, his buddies insist on coming along!

How can a poor little goose girl have romance when her dearly beloved is one of the 3 Musketeers?

Not only that, I don't like the way they all ogle those Canadian Geese Ladies as they fly overhead....it is simply indecent!  

  Oh why, oh why, do I love him so??!!

 It must be that magnificent profile.....

.

It is a good thing I have these teen aged orphaned ducks to look after...

they really need a stern hand....er.. foot. They are such little hooligans, it is all I can do to keep them from running a muck... the Mistress calls them the "wattle and a quack, quack gang".

 It seems that love is in the air, the bluebirds have been checking out all the available real estate for nest building...

 There are plenty of houses available

.And plenty of bird folk flying high above to fill those houses...

I wonder what it is like to fly, My wings will only take me 2 feet off the ground and cover a distance of 6 feet.  It is like hopscotch in the air... Oh, I do wish I could fly.

 The Mistress potting shed has turned into a nursery for sitting hens.... she is quite perturbed, I can tell you.

.

"There are 4 nesting boxes up in that big beautiful barn and  you girls choose to sit in my pine needle mulch!"

"That's right, cackled Plain Jane Black, beneath her breath," We know a cozy spot when we see it."

Say, didn't Jane just raise 4 youngsters less than 3 months back.... what gives??

  
And now for the sad news,

Poor little Jangles has lost his sweetheart MIA

.

They were mates for two years and one night she mysteriously disappeared.. Just like Winston did one week earlier! Oh dear... it makes me worry that someday I may just disappear.... in the dead of night.... and never be heard of again.... and then, AND THEN, what will become of the "wattle and a quack, quack gang"??!! It sends shivers up and down my back feathers.

  Jangles is so terribly distraught WITH HIS LOSS, that the Mistress is purchasing for him 3 new wives!!!

But they will never take the place of our dear MIA. 

While the Peabody boys have just realized that they have no one to woo.. but chicken ladies...

.

 Hans has a better plan.

He is sending away for a mail order bride via the Sears and Robuck catalog,. Not exactly where I would shop for a mate... but what do  I know,  I am just a little spinster goose in love with a cad. 

 Well, that just about covers the important gossip this week. This is Fionna Goosefeathers II, keeping my ears and eyes open till we meet again.

So who is in charge around here??!!!

While the Mistress of the Manor is busy with her pencils, scratch, scratch, scratching away, secluded up in her little studio. who, pray tell will take over as editor and chief of our Gazette???

..

 Can such a responsibility be  given to the Duck and Goose folk?

.

 Good heavens, NO! All they care about is splashing in the water and painting their toenails.

.

 What about the residents of the barn?

Oh puh-lease! Do these look like people you can trust with really important news?!

All they think about is FOOD!

  Besides, they have a lot of laundry to do.

.

  Perhaps some Woodland folk could lend a hand... er paw.

.

  Well, so much for THAT idea!

 And what about these folks, can we expect high quality reporting here?

.

  I THINK NOT!

;

 Since sleeping,

  is what they do best, I daresay.

  Therefore, as always, the job falls to me, the ever dependable, inquisitive, loyal and willing.... Mavis Mudd,

'

Reporter extraordinaire, collector of juicy gossip AND the most intelligent, industrious,  and humble of all the residents of the Hollow. 

 And THIS is what I have to report today. Do you remember Just Jane Black?

 Why, it seems like only yesterday she was writing forlorn letters to Dear Dolores, asking for advice on how to attract a suitor, being that  poor Jane is such a plain and ordinary little chicken with so few prospects. (Quite unlike myself. Suffice it to say that I, have never been at a loss for male companionship and am constantly being wooed)

 Well. Jane disappeared a while back and talk was that she had given up any hope of love and  had traveled to distant lands, becoming a foreign correspondent.

 When lo and behold! Who does Mistress discover hiding in a gully, in the snow, with 5 little chickpeas???

  JUST JANE BLACK!

And do you think Jane will tell any of us the who, what and wherefore of all this? Not a bit! She just spends her days spoiling those little chicklets and strutting about with a coy attitude and  a glint in her red eyes. 

 But, trust me, dear reader, I shall find out the skinny on the story, to be sure!

 And, I hear tell, that Fionna Goosefeathers   has ordered a new bonnet from the Sears and Roebuck catalog, this one to be exact

.

 Has she no respect, doesn't she KNOW this hat has feathers on it!!! And where does she think THOSE came from?

 My word! She has a perfectly good bonnet now.

 Heavens to Betsy, I'VE been wearing the same hat for 3 years.

,

  And that is not all, indeed, she has ordered a corset as well!

;

 I stopped wearing these long ago, they are so confining, and I am a 20th century chicken lady, by golly.

  Of course,  we all know why she has gone to these efforts. She has set her cap on Hamish, goose dude deluxe.

For she has changed from ugly gosling

 to beautiful goose lady since coming to live with us.

.

 She stated, when first  she set eyes upon Hamish, that, "When I grow up, I am going to marry him!"

  But now, she has become quite full of herself, knowing that the Mistress will soon be drawing her portrait, AND she gets a special page in the Mistress's new book. Her vanity is going to be simply unbearable. Nevertheless,  she has her work cut out for her with Hamish. 

 For this gorgeous goose man  has set HIS cap on someone ELSE. And you will never guess who!!! A human!!! In Minnesota!!! What on earth is he thinking!.

  We will do our best matchmaking for dear Fionna,( despite all her vanity), for she will make a much more suitable companion for Hamish. After all, how many humans are willing to dive ten feet deep into a muddy pond, eat tadpoles and party in the cattails all through the night?

 Well, I will keep you informed of all the latest!

  Signing off for now.... Yours Truly, Mavis Mudd of  "Scratchin in the Dirt"

Blond Bombshells and handsome young dandys....

    I have been waiting for these lovely ladies for a few months, blond bombshells every one of em! 

Or maybe they are redheads.... well, no matter.

  These lovely little buffs are the ones you always see running through the farmyard or the village in any Masterpiece Theater Period Movie.
And no wonder! They are divine actresses, loaded with personality, and oh so lovely with  their little rosy faces and pretty pink legs.

    Mine are only 3 months old but when they are full grown, they will be ever so fluffy and fat and feminine. Except of course the rooster. He will be  grandiose and manly. They will lay lots of huge eggs! I can't tell them apart yet, but they have names anyway: Demelza, Prudi, Verity, Elizabeth and Connie. OH , and of course, the rooster is POLDARK .In case you don't recognize any of those names, they are characters from a  series of historical novels by Winston Graham called "Poldark" and a1975 BBC television series based on the books. I just loved those stories.

  And these are our new dandys.... Only 1 year old and not sprouting tail feathers as yet. If they turn out half as wonderful as their daddy, they will be beautiful grownups.

This is the DADDY

    They certainly haven't exhibited much personality yet. They just sort of sit up on their big log perch and look down upon we mere mortals. 

 But Look at the GREAT OUTFITs these youngsters are wearing:

Little white pantaloons, stripy black and white stockings, a green irridescent turtleneck, a multi-colored coat and tails and a splotchy, polka dotty sorta- like vest. And a sporty little headpiece! Such Dandys!

   I am guessing they just aren't used to their new home. They have been living in a pen only 5'x10' for a year. Now, they have acres to roam and a huge barn to enjoy. I am so happy to give them a good home. We named them Gus and Woodrow ( Lonesome Dove). I know these aren't elegant names like Shakespeare or Alexander or Lord Byron , names  worthy of a Peacock. But they are named in remembrance of a pair of TURKEYS I once had.

   Those turkeys ran away.... into the woods.... lookin for love..... with the wild turkey ladies!  I am pretty sure they lived happily ever after, since I saw about 11 young turkeys in our meadow a few month later.... they looked quite domestic.  But I do miss their gobbley little voices.

 But.... this guy is pretty special too.

Romeo the Roo

 Meet Romeo.

   Romeo is looking for his Juliet.

    But he is looking in ALL THE WRONG places.

   Because, he seems to be a bit confused about who he is.....exactly.

   Romeo is hanging out with the wrong crowd, they make him do things that he   doesn't feel quite comfortable with------ Like messing about in all that mud,

 singing in the rain,

 partying into the wee hours of the night.....in the cattails.

     When the gang is splashing in the pond, Romeo stares wistfully from the bank, wondering why he can't swim. And, IF he could swim, why  he would even WANT to.

  And just a couple hundred yards away, prettily playing "ring around the rosy", are all these lovely unattached honeys....just waiting for their very own  Romeo.

                                 but they are looking in

 ALL THE WRONG 

places.

 

GOOD GRIEF!

How will it all end? I bet William Shakespeare would know.