Banana Formation!

Hi everypuppy and everykitty! It's me - Ammy! We all went on a really nice long walk this morning to the park and oh, did I get all kinds of messy with all the road sand and salt and slushy snow all over my legs and belly and then when we got home I had to get wiped off a really, really long time and it took two whole bath towels to get me clean and oh, it was just so horrib----

BANANA FORMATION!!!!

GOTTA GO, Stormy's calling us!!

Left to right: Dave, Zimmie, Storm, me (Ammy!), Dad

Love,

Ammy Chatty Cathy (Seriously. SZK.)

Banana(nananana) Cake!

Tail wags, readers. It's me, Stormy. We've had a few requests to share some of Mom's recipes with you. Dave posted the Lemon Oat Bars recipe and Zim explained how Mom makes Baked Empanadas. Now ... what a lot of you pups have been waiting for ... the Banana(nananana) Cake!

Before I start, please understand this is food for bipeds. Not us. But as with most recipes, there will be left-over something that you'll need to help with. Like cheese from the empanadas ... or figuring out what to do with excess bananas!

We in the Ao4 get banana slices every day - here we are at a recent Banana Formation, to get you in the mood:

Daily Banana Formation
Starting with Dad and going clockwise: Dad, Dave, me, Zim and Am in the top left

Without further ado... here's the recipe!

Banana Layer Cake
By the Ao4

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. plus 1 Tbs. buttermilk*
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup chopped pecans

*Mom never has buttermilk. Here's what you can do if you don't, either. For the amount above, take 1/4 cup of milk and add a hefty 1/4 Tablespoon of lemon juice. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg YOLKS, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Leave the whites sitting in a bowl on the counter. Dissolve soda in buttermilk; add to creamed mixture alternately with the flour, beginning and ending with flour. Stir in bananas (Mom doesn't really mash hers; she just has the mixer going and cuts chunks into the bowl as it goes around) and the pecans. In a separate bowl, beat room temperature egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter.
Pour batter into 2 greased and floured (Mom uses the spray kind) 9" round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans, move to cooling racks and let cool completely.

To make frosting, beat together the following:
8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter (4 Tbs)
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Once the cake has cooled, place first layer on plate - upside down from how you baked it. You know ... so the rounded top is on the plate. Either spread some of the frosting on that layer ... or ... spread a thin layer of melted semi-sweet chocolate on it, then top with sliced bananas. Your choice. Then top that with the other layer - right side up. Your cake will look best this way! Frost with the remaining frosting. Make it look pretty. Mom says if you mess it up, to sprinkle chopped pecans all over it and no one will ever know.
Store covered in the magic cold box.

I hope your bipeds will enjoy this. It's a great way to use up over-ripe bananas - which is another thing you can help with! Remember to take them nice, pups!

Tail wags and bon appétit!
Storms

Bedtime Formation!

Tail wags, pups and kitty-cats!  It's me - Stormy.  We've shown you our various Walking Formations and the ever-important Banana Formation, but here's one you haven't seen before!  When Mom and Dad say it's time for bed, we all run into the bedroom and dive into position before getting a bedtime cookie.  

Are you ready?  BEDTIME!

Bedtime Formation at Ao4 HQs:

Bottom left corner, Ammy; In the carrier, Zim

Me (Stormy) and Dave on the bipeds' bed

We don't sleep in those positions, we just go there for Formation.  We can get into Formation in a split second, especially if a certain LabraDave who shall remain nameless opens the gate into the bedroom for us.  Ha roo roo roo!  We've got this down to a science.

Tail wags,

Storms

Saturday Miscellany

Hi everypuppy and everycat.  It's me, Ammy.  I wasn't sure what to post about today, so I thought I'd just talk about some odds and ends...  plans for the day, pictures to share - that sort of thing.

It's a beautiful day here, so even though we went on a big walk this morning, we'll probably get to go on another big one.  Here I am on a recent adventure with Stormy:

Storm and me

We haven't had Banana Formation yet today, but I'm sure Dad will make sure that happens before he heads out for some golf.

Banana Formation:  Zim, Storm, Dave and me.  And Dad.  (He's the tall one.)

I'll probably spend some time with some of my toys, too.

Me and MY blue dinosaur bone.  Not Dave's.

And since Mom is going to work in the Studio, I'll go down and guard her things for her.  This picture is from a week or so ago.  Mom posted it on her Bags by KZK blog to show her readers how hard I work.  I thought you might like seeing it:

Me on duty in the Studio

I'm very good at keeping the boys off Mom's stuff.

And lastly, this is for my very sweet little friend, Cornelia Marie, in response to her "Funny Friday" post.  I think everyone nose what this is, without explanation:

Hee hee hee!

Have a happy Saturday!

Love,

Ammy

Amber's Garden P-update

Hi everypuppy! It's me - Amber! Mom wanted to take a few shots of some of the garden things the other day and asked me to come with her. Unusual, as Zim usually does the garden pictures with her! She said something about "somebunny" has already eaten enough of the plants, she didn't need Zim eating any more. Hmmm... I wonder who she meant?

Oh, yes. I remember now. Hee hee hee.

We took a quick picture by the mailbox...

...but I couldn't concentrate on looking at the camera. The bunny saw me and crossed the street TOWARD us! Those silly bunnies are getting mighty bold!

We decided to go out back, instead. We saw a picture on Guinness & Shiloh's blog of their Purple Basil, and it looks different than ours! Here's a close up of ours:

I think our leaf-edges are curlier or more jagged!

When I came in, Dad was getting out a new golf towel. (For those of you who may not remember, I decided golf makes me sick (and you can follow this hyperlink to read why!) - but Dad sure seems to enjoy himself! Anyroo.... look at this towel!

Oh, no! Their meeting in Pittsburgh is over, but now they're all over the country! I wonder if we're in danger!?! I wonder if Ivy knows about this?! She'll know what to do! Besides... she knows someone who knows someone who knows Super Ivy! Yikes, what does this all mean?!

Well, SGT Zim is howling at us that we need to line up for daily Banana Formation, so I need to go!

Alright, Ao4! Everypuppy fall in! Banana Formation!

Have a great day, everypuppy, and stay cool!

Love,
Amber

Is It Banana Time?

Woo, everypuppy - it's me, Dave! Mom was telling a friend of ours the other day how she and I have conversations. She's been trying to capture one on video, but I usually clam up. Yesterday, I just couldn't help myself. It was time for Banana Formation ... and instead of calling the troops in, Mom kept asking ME if it was Banana Time. I looked to Stormy to bail me out - I didn't want to talk on video, but I couldn't help it! Mom asked me and I had to tell her, "Of course it's Banana Time, Mom!"

Here we are:

I hope you enjoyed my "woo"s. When I was in the slammer, I screamed the Siberian Death Scream for over a month -- until I saw my mom. Then I gave her one of my nice, low "woo"s. She understood exactly what I was saying! I love talking to my mom!

Luv,
Dave

Rainy Day Revisited

Ha roo, pups and cool cats. Zim here again today. I wanted to thank all of you for the excellent suggestions you gave us yesterday about what we could get into err... no, that's not right... amuse ourselves with no, that's not right either... do to help Mom out on a rainy, dreary day. Yeah, that's it. I think we covered most of your recommendations between the four of us. We don't have photos of all of our accomplishments, but we do of lots of them. Let's get started, there's lots of ground to cover!

The top three suggestions centered around zoomies and wrestling, napping, and helping make the beds.

Zoomies and wrestling. Did those repeatedly throughout the day. Especially enjoyable while still damp from going outside. Mom seemed excited about it, too. Oddly, there are no pictures.

Napping. Got that covered really well. Here's Ammy:

Since we normally do Photo Finish Friday, that's our entry for this week.

As an addendum here (Stormy held Vocabulary Class yesterday), the 'Splorin' Wolfies said, "hmmm---are you sure it is raining out--i think i would have to verify that with Amber...." Oh, yeah, we did run it by her. She confirmed rain and not snow, otherwise she would not have been napping. She did smell snow to our north later in the afternoon, but not for us.

Helping make the beds. Lots of great ideas about making beds, fluffing pillows, testing the comfiness of all the beds, pillows, couches and chairs in the house. Sadly, our skills are limited to our own beds and the one biped bed in the Master Bedroom; everything else is off-limits. According to Mom, we did enough work on the big bed to last a while. Happy to help, Mom! Here's Stormy, midway into Holly and Zac's suggestion of kicking all the pillows off the bed:

Me? About to ransack the bed? Where do you GET these ideas?!?

I tried helping down in the Studio for a while. This covered the bum around idea, sniff all over then sniff some more suggestion, and rearrange the toys recommendation.

Anything else I can do for you, Mom?

She thought I had done enough down there. Then I remembered what Max had said... and I offered to rearrange the stuff on the shelves. Mom thought it was fine as is.

Are you sure, Mom? It's no trouble...

You can see the disappointment on my face, can't you? Just to cheer me up and to give Mom some good background music while she worked, Dave led us all in a howl-athon.

Woooo!

That was tons of fun - and before we knew it, it was time to go upstairs for lunch and Banana Formation. That covers snacking and eating in general. Here are me and Dave in formation:

Pretty cool, huh? You can see part of Storm and Dad in there, too. Don't worry, Ammy was there, too!

After lunch, we did many of the same activities. I also worked in pose for the camera. OK, that wasn't one of your suggestions, but it was fun.

Yeah... I know. You want a close-up now, don't you? Here ya go:

It was a full afternoon, let me tell you! But that's not all we did! Back to Holly and Zac's suggestions, they had another idea: Make lots of noise so the bipeds can't hear the TV. Done and done, pals! It all started when Storm settled in to watch some TV...

"House Hunters"? I thought you said you were going to watch "Mouse Hunters"!

She fired off an email to a couple kit-cat pals of hers (Tia and Huffs), then started yelling her protests about the show mix-up. I really think "Mouse Hunters" sounds more interesting, don't all of you?

Thanks to your suggestions, we stayed really busy all day! You guys are the best!

Play bows,

Zim

Tagged By Quincy!

Hi everypuppy! It's me - Amber! My very handsome friend Quincy tagged me the other day in the fun tag game going around! I've been working very hard on my answers and am ready to play! Zimmie played this last week and was very creative. I'm not sure how creative my answers are, but I did have fun thinking about everything!

This is me thinking about my answers!

I have to post 7 weird facts about myself then post the rules! Here goes!

1. I love to herd! Our Siberian ancestors herded reindeer. I mostly herd Mom or members of the Ao4. Once time when we were out walking, Mom slipped and fell on the ice (and none of us were even pulling her!). Even though I had Dad on a leash, I pressed up against Mom and herded her the rest of the way home. She said I was a big help!

2. I was a Mother's Day present for Stormy!

3. I had a mole removed. Well, actually I caught a mole out of an instinctual prey drive, then dropped it when Mom told me to. I'm not sure why I did that!

4. I have a very sensitive, highly calibrated snooter. I sneeze at car exhausts that aren't up to my code standards and at smoky fireplaces; that same sensitive snooter allows me to predict snow! Dad says I could be used to snuffle out truffles; Mom says the only truffles she's interested in are made of chocolate. Hee hee hee!

5. I can count to 4. Every day we have Banana Formation and we all get 4 slices each. Dad gives one to Stormy and me, then one each to the boys. And he does that 4 times. I walk away after I get my fourth slice, even before the boys get theirs - because I know I'm not going to get any more!

6. When I was a little girl, I was afraid to go down steps and across this wooden bridge in the park. We call it the Trippy-Trap Bridge and it was very scary to me. My daddy helped me conquer both the steps and the Trippy-Trap Bridge, and when I did ... I sort of scrambled down the steps or over the Trippy-Trap Bridge. One of my nicknames is The Scrambler because of that.

7. And one of my other nicknames is Jaws of Steel. No one has invented the "durable" rubber toy I couldn't destroy. This includes the real dinosaur bones made of the black "indestructible" rubber. And a few other things.

That was fun! Thank roo, Quincy, for tagging me!

Here are the rules to the tag:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the blogger who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Post 7 random or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 bloggers and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Let's see...


I'm not sure who hasn't been tagged yet, so if you're reading this and haven't played yet - you're it! Have fun - I came up with more than seven things, so I'll share more stories later in the week!

Love,
Amber

HULA

Greetings to all - it's me, Maggie!  A very proud day in Ao4 history is upon us.  Cam and I are ready to put in our application to join HULA - the Husky United Liberation Army.  It was after my post about not sitting on the ottoman that Meeshka herself suggested I apply.  We are so excited!  The original Army of Four, Stormy, Ammy, Zim, and Dave, were all members - and now we might be, too!!!  Now ... let's get to it!

"Ready to go?"

Oh.  Right.  Before we get started.  Yes, that's me, above, on the sitzbank.  No, I'm not allowed up there.  Thanks for asking.

The complete application process can be found at this link; let's go through that list of covert deeds!

HULA application:

1. Demonstrating Disruptive Behavior: Some may call it "disruptive". We call it "being Siberians". I'm pretty sure I had this one covered since the day I got here:

"Maggie!"
"Ha rooooo!"

2. Cause Humans to freak out for no real reason: There are no pictures to go with this, but here's something I really enjoy doing! I go somewhere in the house, out of Mom's line of sight, then I cry or whine. Usually, I go lay on the bed in the bedroom. And I wait. Sometimes, I have to cry again. Once Mom hears me, she comes running in with the "Oh, Maggie! What's the matter?!?!" and she's all concerned. Then I give her my Sad Look. Sort of like this:

Yes, that's me on the ottoman.  I'm not allowed up there, either.  I should get bonus points for that. Anyway, once she knows I'm really OK, I get kisses. I like kisses. Then we go do something together. It's fun and is a great way to get Mom to come running to me. I mean - what if I really WAS hurt? She must come check on me.  I'm careful not to do that too often, or it will lose its effectiveness.

3. Destroy Something: Does putting the Lupine "Guaranteed Even If Chewed" promise to the test count? Twice?

"Nice leashes!  Tasty, too!"

4. Human behavior modification: No one can eat fruit in this house without Cam and me helping. We've even brought back the Ao4 tradition of Banana Formation!

Cam, Dad, and me
Notice I'm not sitting all the way.  Bonus points!

5. Humans dress you up: I'm going to assume being in HULA means putting up resistance to wearing props. Cam and I are both pretty good at this. This is us, back in December, when Mom tried to tie a big bow around me:

"I will NOT wear a bow!!!"
"Ha roowooroo!  Go, Maggie!"

And this is Cam from before I got here:

"Really, Mom?  Really?"

Yeah. Mom hasn't tried that again. Let's move along!

6. Love of Kleenex:  We actually have no pictures of either of us with Kleenex.  You can read anything you'd like into that.

I think that should about cover it.

"Oh.  Hi, Mom.  No, we aren't doing anything."
"Yeah.  Hi, Mom.  We're just ... hanging out."

Meeshka, we hope you'll consider our application and accept us into the ranks of HULA.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher
(and Cammie!)

Sunday Salute - Our Dad!

It's Father's Day here in the States, so it is our total pleasure to Salute our dad!

Our dad is the best dad we've ever had! He takes us on great adventures, runs us, and gives us wonderful treats! Here we are from a few days ago, all lined up for Daily Banana Formation:

Dad's the tall one there by the counter. As you can see, we're all sitting at attention!

He's also really patient with us when we're being ... well, you know. Siberians. He's really patient with mom, too, when she wants to stop to take pictures or to ask his help with our blog. And then there are all the trips to the yard to go potty. Ha roo.

Dave wrote Haik-woo #26 for him last year, and we'd like to post it today, on behalf of all of us:

Remember to honor your dad today! We ran and walked ours early this morning, beating the heat. This afternoon after his golf match, we plan to help him watch the last day of the US Open. Good Dad-Sibes bonding time!

Dad, for the MANY things you do for us and with us, we salute you! Happy Dad's Day!

The Army of Four

PS: As promised, next Sunday's Salute will go to our friend Maui!

Zim's Stinky Goodness Jerky Treats

Ha roo, pups and cool cats! It's me, Zim! I thought we'd kick off the work week a little differently and post a recipe! It might seem like an unusual recipe, and it's one we've considered not posting, but in case it might help anypup or anykitty out there -- let's go!

How many of you are on restricted diets? Oh, I don't mean you have an evil mom like ours who doesn't let you have all the cheese and popcorn and coffee you want - I mean a restricted, prescription diet, as per your vet's orders? Can I see a show of paws? Don't be shy, hold 'em up. Yeah, that's what I thought. Many of you. Well, due to some health conditions (nothing to worry about, I'm fine, blah blah blah), I am on a very restricted diet, and eat a prescription food. Often there are no treats to go along with prescription diets - to include mine.

We all know snacking is very important! And a couple pieces of your dry prescription kibble is an OK treat ... but not all that exciting! (Especially for those of you with pack-mates who still get cookies!) My mom and Dad came up with some ideas that might help you fill in the snack gap! I'll be leading you through the recipe for my favorite treats - a little something we call Zim's Stinky Goodness Jerky Treats! Ready for the recipe? Here we go!

First step, grab a couple CANS of your prescription food, pop 'em open, and slide the food out whole.

Sort of like jellied cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving! Next, get one of those cheese slicers with a wire cutting thingie on it.

Slice the canned food into thin slices. Maybe 1/8 of an inch? Thin. This is about the stage where your biped will understand why they're called Zim's Stinky Goodness Treats. Ha roo roo roo! This prescription food isn't HALF as stinky as the one I tried out first! Ha roo roo roo!

But I digress...

Next, you want to get a Stinky Goodness Machine. Ours was at that Bed, Bath and Beyond place, but they're everywhere, disguised under the name "Food Dehydrator". Go figure. Cut the slices in half-moon pieces and line those babies up in the Stinky Goodness Machine. Two cans will fill a 4-tiered machine, if you cut the way we do.

For the record, my dad, the bestest dad in the world, came up with the idea of getting a Stinky Goodness Machine. I think it was right after Mom tried baking some of my treats in the oven. Wow, the whole HOUSE smelled like Stinky Goodness! It was GREAT!

Anyway, for some reason, my mom puts the Stinky Goodness Machine outside on the screened-in part of the deck.

I have no idea why. We can't smell it out there!

Cook your treats on the high temperature (for jerky) for a couple hours, until they are as crunchy as you'd like them - or even just to the leathery stage! Just keep checking them - a lot depends on your humidity, how thick your slices are, and the exact kind of prescription food you're on.

"Are they done yet? Are they done yet? Are they done yet?"

Once done to your satisfaction and cooled, store in a tightly sealed container in the magic cold box. Mom said that "tightly sealed" part is really important. I have no idea why.

Oooh, doesn't that look great?!!? All that's left now is to do some taste-testing!

"I ❤❤❤ Zim's Stinky Goodness Jerky Treats!"

Mom also makes other treats for me using the kibble. I'll post the recipe for those another time! Also, the people who make my prescription food gave my vet a list of some people food that I can have in very small quantities. Rice and green peas are on the list - that's how we came up with my sushi Kansas Rolls! I love those! Also thankfully, bananas are on the list, so I can still stand Banana Formation with everySibe!

I hope this helps some of you out there!

Play bows,

Zim

PS: Note from the mom of the Ao4: Any derogatory comments aimed at Hills or other pet food companies will be deleted. That would not be helpful, nor is it relevant to this blog post. Thank you for understanding.