KP Duty!

Ha roo, everypup! It's me - SGT Zim! Is everypup gearing up for the big bash at the Corgi Lounge? I can hardly wait!

The sun was out yesterday and my cool snow fort was in melt-down, so Stormy (Supreme Commander, Army of Four) assigned me to KP duty - basically, helping Mom in the kitchen. I love pulling KP duty, so I got right to it!

Mom was doing some baking, one of my most favorite things. Guess what we made together?!? Biscotti! Here are the two varieties we made:

On the left are Spumoni Biscotti - with cherries and pistachio nuts, dipped in semi-sweet chocolate! I really got to work when Mom was chopping nuts! Anything that hit the floor (that wasn't on the Forbidden Foods List) was MINE! It was great!

On the right are Cranberry Biscotti - with sweetened dried cranberries, dipped in white chocolate.

You know why I was especially excited, don't you? It has to do with what goes best with biscotti .... COFFEE! And you know how I love coffee! Especially cappuccino! I was beside myself with joy when I saw Mom fire up the coffee maker! But then ... what's this?

A pansy cup? That's not my coffee cup! I'm not even sure I can get my snooter in there! And it's so... girly!

What do you mean it's not for me anyway?

This is an outrage. I'm going to go watch football with Dad!

"Hey, look, Dad! The Chiefs are losing again. Quel choc!"

This would be a lot easier to swallow if I had a cappuccino to wash it down. Hrmph.

Play bows,
Zim

Sew What Sunday II

Woo, pups! Dave here. Guide Dog for the Color Blind. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays (or Holly Days, as I like to say), we haven't prepared a Sunday Salute. Storm said I should show you some of the cool Christmas projects I helped Mom with instead! Cool!

Before I get started, though - we've been invited to a New Year's party! The Corgi Girls have a big bash planned, and we're going to party down with them. Why not meet us there!?!? It'll be THE party of the year!

OK! Here's a bag Mom and I made for Aunt Janet. (She sent us the cool flag for the Ao4 Headquarters, remember? Oh - the craftswoman who made it, Katie King, left a message on that post! She left her web address, so you can contact her about making you a cool flag, if you'd like!)

It's reversible - here's the inside:

And here's a close-up of the cell phone bag that clips to the strap:

We chose a gardening/recycled denim theme. Can you tell? Mom also made a little change purse. Hey, Kelsey Ann! It's got lady bugs on it! Woo!

She made earrings for Aunt Janet and her girls and our aunt-in-law (?) and her daughter and put each pair in a little mini purse like that. They were made from crystal beads that had been on earrings that belonged to Mom's grandma!

Here's another bag:

It's Mom's own design. She's calling it The Becca Bag. This one has coffee-themed fabric! Zimmie likes that idea!

The front flap has a magnetic snap. Mom had never put one in before, but it worked out real well!

And here's a peek inside at all the cool compartments:

Becca's earrings were in a mini bag within a mini bag! Take a look!

Cool, huh?

Here's a bag Mom is calling The Rachel Bag.

All those hexagons are hand-sewn, and so is the bag itself. The quilting was done by machine. Rachel loves purple, so I helped pick out a bunch of cool purples and stuff that goes with purple.

It started out like this:

Then Mom did something to get it 3-D. I think it was magic! Here's the little mini purse inside!

Sometime this week, I'll show you the purse we made for our grandma, if you're interested. I think this is enough sewing stuff for now, though!

Thanks for reading, everypuppy! And don't forget about Moxie and Izzie's party! See you at the Corgi Lounge!

Luv,
Dave

...And Since We've No Place To Go ...

...let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!

Ha roo, puppers! It's me - Zim! Thursday night to Friday morning, we got another round of snow! I'd say about 5 inches or so - it was great! My cool snow fort had been looking pretty sad, what with the melting and all. I couldn't wait to go out and work on it!

Here I am, hard at it:

I had the western wall pretty squared away, then turned to build up the southern end:

I was hard at work, then I sensed an intruder approaching from the east! Oh, no! It was Dave!

Hey, Zimmie!
Remember how you set me up with that whole "Boxers Day" thing?

Arrrrgh! I was only kidding, Dave! Really! Just a little joke! Lemme go! Lemme ...

And he did. Which was no fun at all. I love to rough-house with Dave!

Hey, where ya going?

Dave said he heard somepup coming, so we had to check it out.

Dave! Storm's coming to inspect my fort! We better get out of here; I haven't finished!

Zim better have this fort squared away!

I knew my fort wasn't up to par yet, so I high-tailed it into the house. Dave came with me ... just because. On our way in, I heard Storm calling for her XO, figuring she'd be doing something productive.

Ummm... yes, Stormy?
I was ...ummm... just checking to see if Oswald has a Snow Evacuation Route. You know ... Safety First!

Oh, OS-WALD!?!?

Stormy was pretty satisfied with what Am was doing. I knew when she came in, she'd want to have some words with me about the condition of my snow fort, though. I knew I'd go back out and work on it later, but I'm a bit tired. If Storm comes looking for me ...

...you haven't seen me, OK?

Play bows,
Zim

Indoor Games

Woo, readers! It's me - Dave. Things got a little busy here, what with Christmas and Grandma's visit (she liked me best, I just KNOW it!) and all. But I wanted to get back to what we did during the ice storm. You know, we really couldn't go anywhere or do anything with all the ice out there. It's not like snow; you can't play in it or make cool snow forts or anything! All we could really do was carefully walk out front with Mom or Dad, do our business, then come back in. We had to resort to finding indoor games to play!

I learned you can really only spend so much time playing with real dinosaur bones or Nylabones & Kongs, posing for pictures, or helping with major decisions in the Quilt Studio. Zim was still on pain killers for his back, so our Zoomies time was limited. While the power was out, Mom started playing with these pieces of cardboard. It intrigued me.

Whatcha doing, Mom?

She explained it was a game called "Solitaire". I thought you needed a computer for that, but apparently not.

Can I play, too?

Mom explained that by its nature, Solitaire is played alone but she suggested another game. This one is called "Poker". Zim was interested at first, because he thought it had something to do with poking someone and yelling, "Ha roo roo roo!" That's one of his favorite games. But Mom said this one is played with the pieces of cardboard. I was game!

She explained the rules to me and "what beats what" and everything. For our first "hand" - or "paw", in my case, Mom was all excited and said, "OK, Dave. I've got 2 pair - 10s and 5s! What do you have?" Woo. That sounded really good.

"I've got three of these guys with a 'J' on them. Is that good?"

What can I say, pups. I'm from Texas.

Read 'em and weep. Woo.

Luv,
Dave

Zim Detection Device

Ha roo, pups! It's me - Zim. We're all pretty wiped out from our visit with our Grandma and her friend Johnnie. You know how us Sibes are - got to do the meet-n-greet, put on a show, let people give us ear rubbie-dubbies, that sort of thing. Exhausting! A short but very nice visit.

Here's a photo of me from my very first Christmas here in my furever home. Mom had just put a little brass bell ornament on the tree and decided from that point forward to call it a "Zim Detection Device". I had to check it out.

That's when Mom came up with the saying, "Every time a bell rings, a Siberian is too close to the Christmas tree." A little long, but as Amber would say, "it has a certain ring to it". Ha roo roo roo!

Play bows,
Zim

Boxers Day!

Woo, everypup. It's me, Dave. Guess what? Our grandma and her friend are coming to see us today! Us boys have never met her ... I sure hope she likes us!

Anywoo, this is going to be short, as we're pretty busy helping Mom. A Sibe's work is never done!

Before I get back to to it, Zim told me it's a special day for many of you out there, so I wanted to take just a minute to wish a happy Boxers Day to Peanut and Lola and Penny and Cubby and everypup. That's so cool that you have your own special ... woo. How come Stormy is ha rooing at me? And why is Ammy giggling?

I should have known Zimmie was setting me up! He'll pay for that later!

Happy Boxing Day. Woo.

Luv,
Dave

Merry Christmas 2007

During this busy Christmas season, please don't forget to stop and remember those wonderful members of our military serving all over the world who stand in harm's way that we might live in peace! We wish them and their loving families a safe and Merry Christmas!

And to all of our readers ~

Merry Christmas from the Army of Four!

Tail wags, love, play bows, and luv,
Storms, Ammy, Zim and Dave

PS: Left to right, Dave, Zim, Amber and Storm.

A Little More Decor

Tail wags, pups! It's me - Storm! We're sure all relieved Amber has been freed from those reindeer captors; many thanks to Luna, Echo, Meeshka and all our other friends who were ready to jump in to save her! I must say, SGT Zim was mighty brave himself! Way to go, everypup!

Speaking of Zim ... he and I were making sure the downstairs was secure and saw some more Christmas decor we hadn't shown you yet. Remember Amber mentioned that in addition to the smaller spinny thing with candles, we have a larger one? The one that caught on fire one year! Yeah, that's the one! Anyroo... Zim and I found that one in the Library. Mom had set it on the floor so she could dust the shelf ...

Hey, Zim! Come check this out!

Ha roo, Storm! These palm trees look a bit ... crispy!

Here's a closer look for you guys:

Ooops. That's why Mom doesn't like to light the candles any more. The way she has this one displayed, though, it catches air from the heating duct so it spins when the furnace kicks on. Cool, huh?

Mom's got some decorations in the outer room of the Quilt Studio, too. To make Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind happy, she decked the halls with his favorite colors - blue and white. She put our cool husky carousel in there, and some other stuff. Would you like to see? Here you go:

The carousel is on the coffee table with some macramé snowflakes Mom made when she was a biped puppy. They're sitting on a table runner she made from some cool Iditarod-themed fabrics. Over to my left (your right), there are some blue glass balls and a bell from Berlin, Germany. Oh... oh, wait. I know what you're wondering.

No. No, we aren't allowed on the furniture down there.

Thanks for asking, though.

I can still learn sooooo much from her!

Tail wags and Merry Christmas, all!
Storms

Sunday Salute - Luna!

Previously ... on the Ao4 Digest ...

"Ram-a-lamb, where are you?"

The nutcracker delivered the horrid news, "The reindeer kidnapped her!"
"Oh, no!"
"Please help me - I'm being held captive in the Library by some errant reindeers! Help me! Help me, please!!!"

This week, our Sunday Salute goes to Amber's very own cosmic cousin, Luna! Yes, Luni is sweet, charming, lovely and innocent (...and has a certain affinity for silly jokes). But, as Luna said herself, "Nobody messes with my cosmic cousins!!! I am sweet and innocent but don’t mess with my cosmic cousins!!!" Amber turned to Luna right away! No one would suspect her!

When Luna received Amber's plea for help, she sprang into action! After she got the pictures of Amber being held by the reindeer, she sent an email right back to her, saying, "...You tell them I have the other half of their family here and if they don’t let you go I’m going to resort to something really bad with their brother, sister and parents! I have 4 of their family members! Tell them, Ammy, tell them!!!!!!!!! Hurry and get back to me and let me know if that works. If not, they will get a hostage photo as well!"

Luni is so brave! Here's her next communiqué: "Amber, did they let you go? Did they? Tell those lil' reindeer I have their family hostage until they let you go! You tell them! Tell Zimmie to show them these pictures and tell me if they let you go. And if they stop standing on your head.
Love, Luni
(P.S. No reindeer were harmed in the shooting of the attached photos)"

(We're pretty sure her mom made her put that last part in ... she loves all animals!)

That's right ... I've got their family members ...

Stop struggling! The only way you're going to get free is if your family members release my cosmic cousin!

Zim wrote Luni back, "...The pix of you with those reindeer hostages are SURE to buy Am's release. Those blasted deers! I can't believe they're doing this to her!!! I'm going to deal with those guys and show them the pictures of OUR cosmic cousin with their family members. You are so brave to have our backs like this!"

Zim sent the pictures to the reindeer, then headed back into the Library. He got some intel from the Nutcracker as to their exact whereabouts, then, knowing they'd be stunned after seeing Luni's pictures, he sprang into action!

Sneak attack .... Zimmie-style!

And he got to her!

Unhand ... umm, unhoof my sister, you reindeer!

The hostiles are down! Make a run for it, Am! Meet me by the tree!

While Zim made sure those reindeer were secured ...

Amber high-tailed it to the other side of the room, happy and relieved to be free!

(Pant, pant, pant!) I'm free!

"I can't believe how brave my cosmic cousin Luni was, helping gain my release! She's just so wonderful! Thank you, Luna!!!!"

Am was exhausted after the ordeal, but Zim wrote Luna back, "Luni! She's FREE! It worked, and we couldn't have done it without YOU! Yes, go ahead and release their family - the crisis is over!"

I'm free! I'm fr... hey... what's this guy looking at?

That reindeer better watch his step. Our buddy Echo knows what to do with his elk. Uh... we mean "ilk"!

Luna, if not for you, Amber wouldn't be free today! Who knows what those reindeer would have done to her!?!? For helping gain her release, for so bravely rushing to the aid of your cosmic cousin, we salute you!

The Army of Four

PS: We salute Echo and his bravery, too! Thanks for guarding our six, buddy!