Hanging Out

Woo, everypuppy, it's me - Dave. What an exciting week and weekend we had - now it's time to regroup a bit! We took Mom and Dad on early morning walks today, then decided to go hang out on the deck for a while since it was relatively cool out.

Amber was giggling and telling jokes to Storms.

Hey, Stormy! Where does Oswald eat breakfast?

I think Stormy rolled her eyes... but she couldn't resist.

I don't know, Ammy. Where DOES Oswald eat breakfast?

Am responded with, "At the I-HOP."

Ha roo roo roo! Hey, Dad, did you hear that one?!? "At the IHOP." Ha roo roo roo!

Too bad Dad and Mom couldn't understand what the girls were saying; that's a pretty good one! I would have laughed, but Zim and I were otherwise engaged.

Don't we look scary? Woo. Here's a good one, below, of Zim trying his best to look fierce:

Pretty good. You might think he was a wild coyote about to jump some prey or something. What he was really doing was saying, "Hey, Dave, time out. Could I get past you for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure, but hurry back!"

He needed a break. And saw the "prey" that most interests him.

Mmmm..... Starbuck's... Mmmm...

Yeah. The kid needed a coffee break...

Oh, yeah. Thanks, Dad!

...then we got right back into the game!

Woo! I love having a kid brother. Especially one who's always Zimstigating something!

Stay cool, everypup.

Luv,
Dave

Weekend Salute: Princess Eva and Brice the Handsome

Tail wags, everypup and kitty! It's Stormy, back with part two of our Salute to Eva and Brice. They posted some really cool pictures of their trip here on Eva's blog - make sure you check it out!

Anyroo, so after Ammy was not really quite done flirting with Brice, Mom brought Dave out. (For those wondering, Dad had been in a golf tournament in the morning, then after a quick shower, ran out to Ft. Riley to sign some papers. He got home just in time to meet everyone! But that's why Mom could only bring us out one at a time.)

Here's Dave trying to say "woo" to Eva. Trust me, he can be a bit overwhelming.

Here he is, giving it another go.

Hi, Eva! I'm Dave.

I don't think she was too impressed. I mean ... she's royalty and he's ... Dave. A heck of a nice guy, mind you, but ... he's Dave.

He had a lot to say when he saw Brice. Mom didn't get any good photos - this one is about the best. Something about the shadows and dark-colored pups. Whatever. Eva and Brice's dad got a much better one that Eva posted.

Dave heard that Brice and Eva were going to see Holly next, and he just kept going on and on about a message for her. Honestly, he's going to meet her VERY soon himself, so what's the fuss? Unless he heard Ammy's take on just how handsome Brice is and was a bit concerned Holly would fall for him. Hmmmm....

So then I got to come out! Mom had told me I probably wouldn't get to meet them because I am the alpha and I must reign supreme and I tend to forget I'm 12-1/2 years old. Oh, puh-lease! Anyroo, she said Eva and Brice were just so well-behaved that she wanted to give it a go. Ha roo!

I saw them from the garage and put my hackles up immediately. I do that when I'm excited and am showing the world I am Stormy, Supreme Commander of the Army of Four! Mom saw what I was doing and said something about I could relax, Eva was sweet and Brice was a puppy. A puppy!?!? Really!?!? I love puppies!

With Eva being a Princess, I went over to pay homage to her first. Mom was right - she's really sweet. Very quiet and calm; I love that in a pup!

As I told you yesterday, Eva's been through a lot lately, so I did some quick sniffies and didn't want to push her too much. I gave her dad my winning smile, then assured him I understood.

Don't worry, Eva's Dad!

Her parents really love her a lot and I didn't want them to worry!

Then I went over to meet Brice! Here we are, about to do smackies with each other!

He's really a fun pup! I loved the head-smack thing! I let him do it again - this next picture is a bit blurry, but I really like it anyway.

I don't let just anypup smack me in the head. Like Amber said, though, Brice is really handsome, and like Mom said, he's still a puppy!

Since I am the Supreme Commander of the Ao4 and all of its Troopers, I figured I'd best give Brice some orders. I mean, Eva is a loyal Trooper and if Brice wants to join up, he needs to learn a few rules. Regardless of how handsome he is! I took him aside and whispered in his ear.

Be nice to Eva. Or else.

He asked if I was serious. I assured him I was.

I'm quite serious!

I jumped him to send the message home - just in play, mind you - but to let him know I meant business!

Gotcha!

He pinned those lovely ears of his back...

Yes, Stormy!

...and assured me he'd be a very sweet brother to Eva. Ha roo! Good pupper!!!

I went over and talked to Eva for a bit, letting her know Brice seemed like a good pup and also seemed to understand that she would rule over him.

Mom snapped this picture of her real quick - she really does look regal, doesn't she? Anyroo, so then all the parents thought Eva and I should pose together. Oh, sure, no problem. I know Eva took my SZK SSS on-line class - Cooperating for Photos 1. So when the bipeds got their cameras ready... we struck a fantastic pose!

Me (Storms) and Eva

I am SO proud of her! To see a student of mine do so well ... it's truly what teaching is all about!

Eva and Brice - we're so glad you came by! We ALL thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and your wonderful parents! Thank you, too, for the wonderful treats and toys! What an enjoyable day! We're also glad you got to meet Holly and Summi and are really happy that you're home, safe and sound!

Eva, you truly are a Princess. So lovely and elegant, so sweet and calm. And Brice, handsome Brice, what a gentleman you are! Remember to listen to Eva and you'll be a Prince in no time! We salute you both!

Tail wags,
Stormy

Weekend Salute: A Royal Visit!

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats! It's me - Stormy! As Amber told you yesterday, we were visited by royalty! We've got lots of pictures to share, so we're going to spend today and tomorrow sharing them with you!

Check this out!

Princess Eva!

That's right, we're saluting Eva and Brice! Yesterday, our very sweet friend Eva, her new brother Brice and their bipeds came to see us! It was SO exciting!

Zim went out to meet them first. He thought they were both really nice!

Left to right, Eva, Zim, and Brice

Zim said Eva was incredibly sweet. She's been through a LOT lately and there was just tons of excitement at the breeder's where they picked up Brice, so she wanted to hang back a little. We can all understand that!

Zim and Brice played a little bit and did lots of sniffies.

Hey, Brice! How ya doing?!?
Hi Zim! Nice to meet you!

The boys did great together. Mom wasn't sure if the rest of us would get to meet Eva and Brice; we didn't want to over-whelm anyone and Mom wasn't sure how we'd respond. Zim decided he should fill Brice in on all of us! Even though Eva's read all about us, Zim didn't think she'd had time to let Brice know about the Ao4!

So, yeah. I'm Zim. I've got a big brother named Dave and two sisters - Stormy and Amber.

Brice seemed to take it all in... then he whispered in Zim's ear:

Can I meet the rest of the Ao4? Hey! Did you mention sisters?

Ha roo roo roo! Mom decided things had gone so well with Zim that Amber could come out!

Ever-respectful, Ammy said "ha roo" to Eva first.

Am and Eva

Then she saw ... Brice. The ever-so-handsome Brice! She pinned her big 'ol ears back and got that coy look on her face ...

Ooooh, hi, Brice!

They moved over to the grass, where Ammy proceeded to roll over for him, letting him know pretty much literally that she had fallen head over paws for him.

To say they hit it off would be a vast understatement. Here's their first kiss:

And their second:

(It looks like Brice is smiling in that one, doesn't it?) Here's Ams going in for a third:

Ha roo roo roo! She really liked him! And he liked her, too! He smacked her in the head with one of his paws - and she just loved that! She likes to do that a lot in play, too, so there's something they have in common right away!

Here's one more picture of Ammy and handsome Brice.

He had either just given her a love smack or was about to - see that left front paw? Get her, Brice! Ha roo!

Dave and I got to meet our very special guests, too! I'll share those pictures with you tomorrow! What a special, special afternoon! We and our mom and dad just loved meeting everyone - quadruped and biped alike! Eva and Brice were going to see Holly after they left our place, then hit Summi's place today! We can't wait to hear all about their visits and to see pictures! Safe travels, friends!

Tune in tomorrow to see how it went for Dave and me with Princess Eva and Brice the Handsome. Until then -

Tail wags!
Storms

More storms ...

Hi everypuppy! It's me - Ammy! We had more very severe storms (with a small 's') come through yesterday evening and night. A lot of people on our side of town lost power last night ... and in fixing their power this morning, we lost ours for a few hours. The bad news was that it meant we couldn't get our post up in a timely manner; the good news is that Mom couldn't run the vacuum like she had planned. Hee hee hee.

OK! On to the storm pix! Here's a look off the deck, facing west.

The north looked even worse, so Mom went out front and shot this picture for me:

That doesn't really capture how nasty it looked. She shot a cool video, but we can't get it uploaded to anything right now. I'll try later!

An hour or so later, things got really stormy (again, small 's'). This was the view out back:

Mom shot a short vid out there, too....... but it won't load.

We just got a call, and a certain member of royalty is about 15 miles from our house! Oooh, I can't wait to see her!

Love,
Ammy

PS: Here's a vid of the small 's' storm coming in - this is the view out front. Zim helped Mom film it.


And here's the one from out on the back deck!

Getting a Woo In

Woo. It's me, Dave. I don't want to complain, but it's been really hard to get a "woo" in around here lately. Stormy's been holding class and doing the tag thing; Ammy's been p-updating you about the small 's' storms and the bird puppies; Zim's been making new friends and going to Starbuck's with MY mom. Sigh. Me? I've been doing lots of this:

Love ya, Dad!

And this:

It's a tough job, but somepuppy's gotta do it! Woo.

Luv,
Dave

Language Class ... or "Khlass"

Tail wags, pups and kitties! It's me, Stormy! As Zim told you yesterday, due to how well-received my first on-line classes for the Stormy Zoluschka Kryschtal School of Siberian Studies went over, I decided to offer a special lecture! I have a guest coming in today to do a short course for the foreign languages department!

Our guest lecturer hails from the state of Pennsylvania. She is into Wubbas, protecting her home from squirrels and cats, taking her biped on walks, and tooling around in her Xterra. In her spare time, she has even developed her own language! Yes, our special guest today is my dear friend Khyra!

Khyra, Guest Lecturer at the SZK SSS

We recently sat down together to discuss her Khyraese language. She agreed to allow me to use the content of our conversation for a wonderful, unique lesson here at the SZK SSS! My comments will be in black italics, and Khyra's will be in purple. Let's get started!

Khyra - first of all, thanks for being a Guest Lecturer here at the SZK School of Siberian Studies. As you know, I'm a big proponent of learning, so when I discovered you have your own language, I was fascinated! Before we get into specifics about Khyraese, can you tell me a bit about how it came about?

Hmmmm - woo know, I khan't honestly rekhall where Khyrase furst began to be my preferred language of choice - Perhaps a search of The SiberNut arkhives khould prove helpful - or maybe we khould ask The List 'Moderator'.

Ha roo roo roo!

I guess it just happened - I guess I should have logged the date and time but I never expekhted it to be so well received by the more highly evolved inhabitants of the planet - there are some that don't get it - and don't want to by their own admission!
Like any language and khulture, it just kind of evolves and happens - it started with hard 'c' sounds being replaced by kh's - and due to the suggestion of a linguistikhs export from Kholwoorado by the name of H.A. aka Tukhker's merchandiser - the 'q' sound morphed into khw.
I may have khombined your furst khwery with some additional info - sorry about that - I just get so excited when I get to diskhuss this language!
I did nose around a bit trying to diskhover if it was indeed the written language of the people from Khyrastan - known fur their kharpet fibers. ;-)

Ha roo roo roo! Good one! (Mental note: make sure Ammy sees that one!)

Since it is getting to be my walk and dinner time, I hope we khan khontinue this khonversation later? Otherwise, I'll prattle on and on and not pawmit woo to get anything else done AND dog knows my mom needs her walk too!

We took a short recess at that point. I decided we needed something special to commemorate this class, so I commissioned my mom to do this special effects photo of Khyra and me.

A stuffie, Khyra and me

Very ... khool, isn't it? Let's get back to the ... lekhture!

So, Khyraese sort of just developed! A mind of its own - sort of like Siberian Huskies? Ha roo roo roo! It's mostly a written language, wouldn't you say?

Yes - and sooooo furry well reflekhts the multiple facets of Siberianous!

What are the basics of Khyraese? As you just stated, hard 'c' sounds are replaced by 'kh's and the 'q' becomes 'khw'. Anything else?

Yes, they are the two basikh rules: Hard C's bekhome KH and Q's bekhome KWH - Some of the later written exchanges seem to contain some random Y's for i's and some kh's for k - fur example, kitten seems to be best spelled (and smelled) spelled khytten ;-)
Just as there are no khonkhrete rules as to how Sibes are kholoured, there are no specifikh rules for The Khyraese - The Khyraese khulture is furry happy to have their messages read and passed along, they don't khare if things are misspelled!
I must repeat how honoured I am that woo ofFURed me this guest lekhturer spot at The SZK Skhhool of Siberian Studies - Please feel free to paw-fer more khwestions if woo desire!

This has been most ...instrukhtive, Khyra! Thanks so much for being our first guest lecturer! Your time, knowledge and friendship are most appreciated here at the SZK SSS! I'm sure our readers have enjoyed the lesson as much as I have!

OK, readers! Please try your paw at khommunikhating in Khyraese! If you have any khwestions, please leave them in the khomments sekhtion!

Wow. It's very fun. And I think I'm ready to post this proudly on the Ao4 Digest!

Thanks again, Khrya! And khlass dismissed!

Tail wags,
Storms

Important Meeting

Ha roo, everypup! Sorry I'm putting up today's post so late - I had a very important meeting this morning! Some friends of ours were in town from Georgia to visit family and they came to see us! I was so excited - like the rest of the pack, I just love Aunt Sniggy and Uncle Mike! Then I learned some even cooler news! Do you remember way back a long time ago when we Saluted Slick? Well, he came with Auntie Sniggy and Uncle Mike! AND he brought his new little brother! Oh, wowzers! Mom and Dad said we didn't want to overwhelm the guys but that since I'm really good with other puppers, I could meet them! Ha ROO!

Here I am, meeting Slick!

I got low and looked away, so he wouldn't feel intimidated. We hit it off just great. Isn't he cool? He's just over a year old and is a Beagle/Basset mix.

Check out this picture:

Auntie Snig said it looks like I'm saying, "Right here! I buried it right HERE! I'll have to show you later!" Wow. I knew she was real good at communicating with pups, but I didn't think she'd be able to figure that one out!

Then I got to meet his side-kick, Hank the Cow Dog. Hank is a 14-week old Basset Hound.

Slick was watching closely; Auntie Sniggy calls him Hank's "man nanny". Ha roo roo roo! He takes excellent care of him!

Check out his ears in this shot:

He kept tripping over them. I must say, the little guy was totally adorable - and was one confident pup!

My mom and dad just went bonkers over how cool Hank and Slick are. And I've gotta say... I liked both of them an awful lot, too!

Hey, Hank!

Here's a short video of me and my buddy Hank the Cow Dog. I do a lot of play bowing and stuff to make him feel at ease.

It started raining, so the bipeds decided to go have coffee on the screened-in part of the deck. Hank and Slick hung out there with them. Here are a couple shots of Slick:

You can really see both Basset and Beagle in him, can't you? I think he and Hank enjoyed our view. Here's Hank:

I think Hank might have smelled Oswald and family out there! I'll bet with the highly developed snooters those two have, Hank and Slick would be able to flush out ALL the bunnies in the yard in no time! (Oddly enough, even though Mom complains about how destructive Oswald et al are, she doesn't want to see anything happen to them. Can anyone explain that one to me?) Anyroo, here's one more of Hank the Cow Dog, snuggling with his mama!

We just had a great time together and wowzers, was it great to see Aunt Sniggy and Uncle Mike. Storm, Dave and Ammy got to see the Auntie Snig, too, but only saw the pups through the door. Mom thought it might be too much for the little ones. Mom and Dad had a wonderful visit - and yes, Mom did try to steal Hank and Slick. Ha roo roo roo! Thanks for coming to see us!

Before I sign off, Stormy wanted me to make an important announcement! Her first correspondence course at the SZK School of Siberian Studies (Cooperating for Photos 1) went over so well, she's offering another class! Tomorrow, she has a special guest lecturer coming in to do a short course for the foreign languages department! Be sure to tune in - it's going to be really KHOOL!

Play bows,
Zim