The Story of Barbara Walters

Ha roo, pups! It's me - Stormy! Remember a couple of Sundays ago when I mentioned that I can say "Barbara Walters" in Human English? I meant to get back to you about that earlier ... but you know how that goes. Anyroo... kick back and get comfy ... it's story time!

This happened years ago - before Ammy and the boys joined the family. It was just great-brother Booter, Mom, Dad and me. Booter was really great at alerting us of intruders or other important stuff outside by barking - he was a Black Lab/Australian Shepherd mix and was a great protector! (We alert the bipeds to things, too, but do it by silently staring.) Booter was great at getting their attention! Here he is -- handsome, don't you think?

Great brother Booter '87-'01

One night, Booter started barking like crazy at something out front. Mom hooked me up to go out to investigate. We got outside and stood quietly in the yard - looking and listening. Before we knew it, a coyote dashed across the street and ran off!

Mom and I went back into the house to report to Boots and Dad. Dad asked what all the excitement was; I sat right in front of him and at the exact time that Mom said a coyote was out there, I said, plain as day, in perfect Human English, "Barbara Walters."

Dad was a bit surprised, as he'd never heard me speak Human before, but he looked at us again and asked, "Well, which was it? A coyote or Barbara Walters?" I said "Barbara Walters" again ... so they assumed the coyote's name was Barbara Walters. Ha roo roo roo!

I've said it for friends of Mom and Dad's - but only if I feel like it. Mom can ask me, "What was that one coyote's name? You remember her, Storm. What was her name?" And if I'm in the mood, I'll tell her. Barbara Walters!

Until next time!
Tail wags,
Stormy

Look Into My Eyes

Look into my eyes. Look into my eyes ...

and behold the power of the Siberian. You WILL do as I say. You WILL.

Now... how 'bout a cappuccino?

Play bows,
Zim
Top student at the Stormy Zoluschka Kryschtal School of Siberian Studies,
Currently studying the art of the Siberian Mind Meld

Hammer? Is That YOU?

Ha roo, pups! It's me - Zim! Well, yesterday was one of those bizarre January weather days here in Kansas. It reached at least 62 degrees Fahrenheit (about 17C), winds out of the south/southwest at about 27 miles an hour, gusting to 40 mph. Yep. Nice temp for the bipeds, but a bit breezy. Not the kind of day for certain outdoor activities ... and yet ... a biped showed up to fix a few damaged shingles on our roof! Yikes! Storm said climbing on our roof should be on the "not recommended activities" list!

See... we live on top of a hill and have a multi-gabled house with very steep roof-lines. From the side yard, the area the Roof Guy needed to check is two floors up! You can imagine what it would be like to be up there on a windy day! I thought I should keep an eye on him!

Hi, Roof Guy!

I was all excited at first, because I thought he might have my friend Adrill with him! No such luck, but I knew he wasn't out there alone when I heard all the noise! Mom said it was Hammer. HAMMER!?!? I was so totally excited! Imagine Hammer coming all the way over here from Australia just to work on our roof!

Hey Hammer! It's me - Zim!

But Mom said it wasn't "Hammer" it was "Ahammer". BIG difference! Ahammer just says, "Bang, bang, bang!" the whole time; nothing cool at all!

I decided to supervise the Roof Guy anyway; it was exhausting work, as you can imagine. And truth be told, I was a bit bummed after thinking our pal Hammer might be here then he wasn't.

Me, looking exhausted and bummed

Amber tried to cheer me up by giving me the weather forecast. She was right - it's MUCH nicer today. At 1030, we have a temperature of 14 degrees F (-10C), winds gusting out of the north-west at 25 mph, and a wind-chill of -1F (-18C). Oh, and it's snowing like crazy! Ah... that's soooo much better! It still would be cool if Hammer was here, though!

Play bows,
Zim

PS: Please keep our kitty friend Tia in your prayers!

Bag Tags

Woo, everypup! It's me - Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind. As some of you may know, Mom has expanded her repertoire of what all we make in the Quilt Studio to include bags. Now she's doing bags from original designs and she decided a while ago that we should come up with a logo and have tags made to sew into those bags. Cool!

That sounds like a great idea, Mom!

But then ... she showed me the tags when they came in! Here's a close up of one she put into a bag for Aunt Janet.

Can you see that!?!? Can you believe it!?!? The logo isn't based on me - Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind! It's Stormy. STORMY! Here was my reaction!

Oh, no!

She said it was because she couldn't resist the pose Stormy was in and that it would look cute to "doctor" it up a little, run it in black and white, and have her sort of peeking out of the seam or pocket. I guess she's right ... but I thought since I'm her Guide Dog for the Color Blind I could be the model for the logo, too! Woo.

At least she has named a bag after each one of us. Remember the fabs she was looking at when I was busy with my friend Wonky? She picked her own to use (so don't hold me responsible!) and used them to make "The Deeve Bag". Guess who that's named after!? Woo. Here it is.

The little bag hanging on the side is a "Hold the Phone! Bag". I think Amber might have come up with the name. Here's a closer look at it:

I have to admit, I do like the tag. Just don't tell Storms I said that. I wonder what bag we'll be working on today!? I'll be sure to choose the fabrics, so the next bag is more colorful!

Luv,
Dave

PS: We put an update on yesterday's Salute to Nikki! It's a link to more really cool pictures of her in her new home!

Sunday Salute - Nikki of Northern Cyprus!

This week our Sunday Salute goes out to our very dear friend Nikki of Northern Cyprus - formerly known as Nikki of South Africa! You may recall that our pal Niks made a very, very long trip recently, moving from her home in South Africa to her new home in Northern Cyprus. We are happy to report the quarantine is over, she has moved into her new house, and her stuff is finally there! Ha roo! Now that she has her computer back, she was able to send us some cool pictures!

Home at last!

Here she is, enjoying her first view of the Mediterranean!

Isn't that view gorgeous? Her dad let her get an even closer look!

Oooh! Salty!

Once she got used to it, she thought it felt pretty good under her paws. Here she is, getting her feety-feet wet in the Med!

And after a dip in the sea, there's nothing like kicking back on the terrace!

This really beats that whole quarantine thing!

She's really glad to be home with her bipeds again. She has suffered some cartilage damage in her legs, but has a terrific vet who is helping take good care of her. Her vet even makes house-calls!

Nikki, for enduring that incredibly long trip so bravely and for helping your bipeds settle into their (and your!) new home in Northern Cyprus ... we salute you! Continued happiness to all of you!

The Army of Four

UPDATE! Nikki sent us a link to an on-line album with more gorgeous pictures of her new home in Northern Cyprus! You can visit the album here! Thanks, Nikki!

The Rest of Us and the Toys

Hi everypuppy! It's me - Amber! I hope everypuppy is having a really happy weekend and had a happy week and is just ... happy. We were all really happy earlier this week when we got the package from Sitka, Tia and their mom! We got to play with some of the toys but then Mom took them into the inner portion of the Quilt Studio so she could monitor us as we played with them while she worked. That was fine, until Dave took all of them. ALL of them! Hrumph!

Here are Zimmie, Stormy and me looking into the inner part of the Studio. Well, I actually was so upset, I couldn't even look!

I really wanted to play with one of our new toys! Stormy looked over and told me,

"Hey, Am. I think he's only interested in Wonky.
Go ahead and play with the others; I've got you covered!"

She's really quite the kind leader, you know! I forced myself to look and saw the other toys all alone!

"I see them, Storm! Can you please make Dave move over so I can play with them?"

I didn't want to make any trouble or anything, and I knew Storm could get Davy to move just by sending him a mind-meld message or something else really smart. And she did! She actually gave up the fluffy bed area, so Dave and Wonky would move over there. Isn't she smart? And really nice? She knew he'd move over there! As soon as he did, I went over to play with the other toys!

"Thanks, Storm! I didn't want to cause any problems or anything!"

Sitka and Tia and your mom, we really love these new toys! Here I am playing with the fluffy brown guy. I haven't given him a name yet, but we DID do a really cute pose together!

Love to everypuppy!
Amber

PS: Everypuppy please keep Flurry in your prayers today, as she makes her way to her fur-ever home!!! (Paws up to Khyra for the posts!)

My Friend Wonky

Woo, it's me - Dave! I've got some great videos to show you today! Remember yesterday when Zim said Sitka sent us a VERY cool package and there was a really wonderful Rhino in the box that I just love?!?! I named him Wonky, because that's his favorite thing to say. He always says, "Wonk, wonk, wonk!" to me when we play together! I know usually I do the talking on the videos of me ... but here's Wonky!



Isn't he cool? I just love Wonky! Mom let me play with him in the studio yesterday for over two hours! And Wonky talked to me almost that whole time! I just LOVE him!

Mom tried to get me to do some Guide Dog for the Color Blind work (using a really weird voice ... just ignore that, OK?) ...



...but here's what Wonky and I had to say about that!



Woo! And, "Wonk, wonk, wonk!" You know what they say about too much work and not enough play!

Luv,
Dave & Wonky

We Got a Package!

Ha roo, pups! It's me - Zim! Guess what?!!? We got a package from the verrrrry bee-roo-tiful Sitka the other day! It was so incredibly nice of her! Mom shot a great video of me running to see what was in the box and snuffing through it and all ... but somehow it got zapped out of the computer. I am totally bummed, 'cuz I wanted Sitka to see how excited I was when I heard the package was from her! And from Tia, too! At least the "stills" are still there.

The box had all KINDS of wonderful things in it - like a great card, a gorgeous snuggly blanket for mom (it has her name and a black and white Sibe embroidered on it!), some treats, a Sibe puppy calendar, and some GREAT stuffie toys! Here I am, going through them.

Sitka has been promising me she'd send me something from the ocean! Check this out!

It's an OCTOPUS!! A real OCTOPUS!!!!! WOWZERS!

I wasn't too sure what to DO with an octopus, never having seen one before. This is what I came up with:

Do you think I have it right?

I also liked looking at all the cute Sibe puppies on the calendar.

I wonder if I looked like this when I was a little guy?

Dave REALLY likes the stuffed Rhino! When he plays with it, the Rhino says, "Wonk, wonk, wonk!" to him - or something like that. I'm not too sure; it kind of scares me! Oh! Dave ALSO really was anxious for Mom to let us rip into these:

Pizza flavored! YUM!

The girls are having lots of fun with everything, too. Storms said she thinks she can smell Tia on Mom's snuggle blanket and keeps looking for her! And Ammy really wants the Rhino ... or whatever else Dave has. Ha roo roo roo!

Sitka and Tia! Thank roo soooooo much for everything - especially for your friendship! That is the VERY best gift of all! Please thank your mama for us, too - give her a gentle lick on the nose for all of us!

Play bows,
Zim

We're Rock Stars!

Ha roo, pups! It's me - Zim! Our cool Corgi pals Moxie and Izzie tagged us in a great new game! It's really fun - we're rock stars! The game helps you choose a name for your group (you can decide on what genre of music!), album name and album cover art! How COOL!

First, go to THIS website... the title of the first article that comes up is the name of your band! We are Bayside Shakedown! I like it ... it's got that ocean thing going on. I'd still love to get one (an ocean) here in Kansas one day! And shaking stuff is always fun!

Next, go to THIS website... look at the last quote on the page, the last 4 words of that quote are the name of your album! Ours is Justified in Silencing Mankind. Stormy gave that one a big paws up!

Then, go to THIS website and look at the 3rd picture... that's the art for your album cover!

Now ... put it all together (using the photo editing software of your choice) into a cool album cover!

Here's ours!

I think it works!

We're going to tag whoever wants to play! Give it a try, everypup! You can be cool rock stars, too!

Play bows,
Zim - Lead guitarist for Bayside Shakedown

Dueling Doughnuts

Ha roo, pups. Not much to say today. Just hanging out, keeping the bed warm for the bipeds. You know... for tonight. I'm sure the bed will retain our heat until then.

Tail wags,
Storm

Saturday's Snow Walk

Hi everypuppy! It's me - Amber! We had such a lovely, happy weekend! The temperatures were WAY below freezing and all of our snow was still here and it was sunny and bee-roo-tiful! On Saturday, we waited until it warmed up to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15C) then we hooked Mom and Dad up and took them for a nice, long walk! It was soooooo wonderful!

Stormy reminded Mom to bring the camera! Here is Zim, about to head down the Hudson Trail. Doesn't it look so beautiful!?!

He waited for us to catch up, and we all took in the gorgeous view!

Zim, Davy, Storm and me!

Doesn't that look so pretty?!!? I wish all of you could have been there!

Dave and I were teamed up. Here we are!

"Hey Davy! Does it snow on Pluto?"
"Umm...Pluto? I don't know, Ammy..."
"Well, it doesn't. Not if Mickey lets him inside! Hee hee hee!"

"Dave? Davy? Hey... wait up!"

Hee hee hee! I still think it's funny!

Love,
Amber

Sunday Salute - New Troopers!

This week, we Salute all the new Troopers in the Ao4! Check out how much we've grown at this link! Isn't it incredible?!?! It's outstanding to have you all with us! We ARE Army strong!

To go paw-in-paw with the addition of all our new recruits, I - Stormy - have a new mission for everypup! Yes, we're still working on Operation Bring Beau Home - and we must not forget that! But we are strong - we can work on more than one thing at a time!

I was ready to give out orders, so I had Mom set the camera to "video". Unfortunately, she didn't understand that I was issuing orders and kept babbling to me about saying "Barbara Walters". You see ... I can speak some biped English. One of the phrases I can say very clearly is "Barbara Walters". It's a long story I'll share with you later on this week. OK... so pay no attention to my mom! Ready? Listen up, pups!



Did you get that? Oh, right. I spoke mostly Siberian in that vid, instead of Bark; I forgot many of you don't understand Siberian. This mission is important enough that I'll put the transcript for you here:

"Our little buddy Durango is in the Dogs With Blogs Photo of the Month contest. For those of you who are members ... go over to the Bone Zone and cast your vote for him! Please?!?"

There are hyperlinks in there to provide background info for you. I realize some of you are in the contest yourselves, but the rest of the Ao4 and I would greatly appreciate you joining us on this mission. We are not in the habit of asking for votes, but think you can understand the special circumstances. This would be a great way to bring a smile to the Happy Hounds' mom! We'd love to see the honor of Photo of the Month go to him ... and thought our Troopers would agree. Are you with us?

Thanks to all of our new Troopers in the Ao4 for joining up! For all you do as Troopers ... we salute you!

The Army of Four

Snow Fort Construction

Ha ROO, pups! It's me again - Zim! As promised, I took Mom out and let her take some pictures and a short video of me working on my new, cool snow fort! It was flurrying again as I worked; it was great!

I was going to put it down here on the north side of the driveway like I did before, but it's filled up with tree branches right now. Look!

Hmmm...

Dad had to cut them down after the ice storm. The City said for everyone to stack them on the tree-lawn and they'd be by to get them. They haven't gotten to our part of town yet.

Anyroo... I thought I'd put it in the main part of our yard this time, just on the south side of the driveway. Here I am, picking my spot!

Yeah... this looks like a GREAT place for my cool snow fort!

My very bee-roo-tiful friend Sitka might get some snow down in Georgia today! I'm sure she's never made a cool snow fort, since it hardly ever snows there, so here is a video of me making mine. I hope she can watch it and get some pointers!

Sorry about the noise on the vid. The wind was blowing!

Did you hear my mom ask, "What if Oswald gets in your fort? Where's Oswald?" I looked around for him. That biggest bush there is one of his main hang-outs. I checked the rest of the AO for him, too. He better stay OUT of my fort! ...unless he's really cold and needs a place to seek refuge or something.

Sitka - I hope you get TONS of snow and can build a cool snow fort! Or at least catch snowflakes on your snooter! That's lots of fun, too!

Play bows,
Zim

Snow Time!

Ha roo, everypup! It's me - Zim! Remember yesterday? Amber showed you a picture of herself just as our snow started! Cool, huh? In addition to all the snow that fell, our temps were in the single digits, about 5 degrees Fahrenheit. For those of you who use the "C" scale, we hovered around -15C all morning. It was about -5F (or -20C) with the wind-chill. And that could only mean one thing - time to go for a WALK!

Here are me and Dave, heading down the street:

We weren't the first to break snow, but it was still really fun. I thought I saw somesibe following us, or maybe a coyote or a wolf! Check it out!

Whoa! Who's THAT?

It was just my shadow, though. I look big in my shadow, don't I?

When we got to this corner, I wanted to turn left and Dave wanted to turn right.

Unfortunately, Mom wanted to turn around and head home. She still had to get the girls out on their walk! Hrumph! I don't know why she can't take all four of us at once!

Here are Storm and Ammy heading down the street. Check out the look on Ammy's face!

You can see her smiling, can't you? She obviously was having fun. I'll bet she was telling Stormy some of her jokes!

Stormy said the little terrier who lives across the street was out in his yard and started barking to them. She stopped to listen for a minute, in case he was saying anything important:

She said he was just saying, "Hey!" Amber gave a quick listen, too.

Amber doesn't understand Terrier, but she thought she'd listen anyway. Doesn't she look cool there?!!? What a great pose!

When the girls got back to our yard, Amber stopped to check on Oswald. We all just saw him on Wednesday, so she thought he might be around somewhere.

Oh, OS-wald! Are you in there!?!?

The other day when we saw him, Stormy play bowed at Oswald, inviting him to play. I just watched, taking my cues from my mentor - Storm. Dave and Amber were more interested in ... how do I say this? Inviting him for dinner. And to play an active role in it.

When Am indicated he might be home, Mom said it was time to go in. Something about these:

having much better traction than these:

Yeah ... I don't really understand that, either!

I've got a new, cool snow fort under construction. I'll try to get Mom to take some pictures of me working on it today! Congrats to everypup else who got some of this lovely snow!

Play bows,
Zim

An Award and a Reward!

Hi everypuppy! It's Amber today! I hope you enjoyed all the pictures of our visit with the Mala-moms! We had SUCH fun with them and it was such a happy time! Dave KNEW who they were (of course!) and just couldn't believe that his Hollybollyboo's mom and his Mal-pal Summi's mummi (hee hee hee) came to see him! And to answer our buddy Echo's question - yes, Dave is always that schmoozy. :)

Our very sweet friend Lacy Lulu has given us The Extraordinary Gold Star Special Award! She said the award was created by Storm, The Furry Fighter and is for bloggers who have achieved or done something special. The award celebrates beyond what is ordinary or usual. She gave it to us for the small part we've played in launching Operation Bring Beau Home.

Thank you, Lacy!!! You're very sweet! We were so happy to see that you also gave the award to Opy and Charlie the Big Dog, as they are the real master-minds behind this great effort!!!

The rules are:

1) Post the explanation and rules of the award and link back to the blogger who presented you with the award and repeat the reason why you received it.
2) Pass the award on to two other bloggers who you think deserve it and explain why!

This is so hard, because there are so many deserving puppies and other bloggers out there! In light of the incredible journey the Mala-moms went on, though - getting Thunder and Skyler to their new homes and driving 2000 miles in one weekend! - we would like to present the award to Holly and Summit. Without their permission, their moms never would have been able to go on their remarkable rescue mission!

I also mentioned we got a reward! Can you guess what it is? Here's a picture of me when it we just started receiving it!

Isn't it great!?! That's when it just started, like I said, but we eventually got a total of about 3-4 inches, with drifts double that. And it's really, really cold out, too. Single digits, with even lower wind-chills! It's so wonderful! I'll try to get Mom to take more pictures of us. I just LOVE the snow! It makes us all so happy! I hope I can pass this one along to ALL of you who would like it!

Love,
Amber

Where Were We?

Ha roo, pups! It's me - Stormy! I'm going to fill you in on the rest of our visit with the wonderful Mala-moms today! Before I get started, though, Dave sends his thanks for all the birthday wishes. He had a great day - we all got to go on an extra walk! It was wonderful! I hope he enjoys being 10-ish as much as I did!

Now ... where were we? Oh, yes... the Deeve had just shown you his cool license tag with Holly's name on it.

He loves that tag. Mom might have to take it off his collar and put it somewhere special for him, though - she doesn't want him to eat it. Not that he'd do that or anything. Ha roo roo roo.

OK ... so ... after we did our best to entertain Holly's mom and Summi's mummi (that just cracks me up!), Mom wanted us to pose for pictures. Umm... OK. The Mala-moms sat on the ottoman and Mom tried to get us to gather around them. Dave was the first to get into position:

Here's my tummy, if you'd like to rub it!

Note Zim (AKA the Zimstigator) is coming in for a sneak attack on Hollybollyboo's mom.

He was play bowing and "ha roo roo roo"ing, as is his want. Am and I got into position ...

... but Zim was still being ... Zim. I couldn't believe he was being so silly!

SGT Zim! Don't make me discipline you!

But he wouldn't settle down; I had to go grab him!

Come here, you little ...

Notice how amused Holly's mom is! We really did a good job making her and Summit's mom smile! I got him out of the way so Mom could get a good shot of the Mala-moms and Dave. Amber cleared out on her own; she's very thoughtful. Here's a cool action shot of me!

And here are Summi's mummi, Holly's mom and the Deeve. It's the "money shot", as they say.

I love you, Holly's mom! And you, Summi's mummi!

Those are my ears in the foreground. I was still herding Zim out of the way. A Supreme Commander's work is never done!

That's about it, pups! Be sure to check Holly's and Summi's blogs to see their pictures of the great rescue mission their moms went on!

Tail wags,
Storm