Dad's Home!

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats! Dad was gone all day yesterday and pup am I glad he's home! I just love my dad; he's the best dad a guy could ask for!

Dad's home!

He was in a golf tournament in some place called Lawrence (Stormy said that's where those blue-colored Birds live that all the Cats around here squawk about!) and he was going to make a couple stops on the way there. He said he'd stop and pick us up some supper-dupper food (yea!) and that he was going to see someone else, too. Being the curious guy I am, I peeked into one of the brochures he brought back to see who he met and saw something quite startling! Check out this business card!

"Osvaldo"? "OSVALDO"? I knew I hadn't seen him in a little while but I never expected this! It's not enough that the little guy rented out space under all our shrubs and bushes as condos for other bunnies, but now he's selling Toyotas and Scions?!!? What an entrepreneur! And who knew he speaks Spanish!

This is really shocking. I need a cookie. Or some free-holies....

Play bows,
Zim

Work, Work, Work!

Woo, pups and cool cats. It's me, Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind. You wouldn't believe how hard Mom's been working me lately. She even put a video of ME up on her bag blog - you can see me in action at this link! (The video is about half way through that post.) Believe me, if her colors had been off, I'd have been ALL over her!

This weekend, we put a lot of time into a Z Bag we're making for Meeshka's human woman. Here's Mom sewing a pocket into the lining:

The outside is a bright blue, arctic camo. Meeshka's human basically told Mom to go nuts for the inside, so I picked out a bunch of greens. I think her human might like green. Mom can't distinguish greens, so it was all on me. That's right, she really is one of the 0.4 - 0.5% of the population. Now you understand why my services are so invaluable to her! It's vital, exhausting work.

Here I am, taking a break:

Here's a close up of the top of one of the pockets. Mom put lots of pockets on this bag. I let her do the quilting and detail stitching in blue.

Anywoo, yesterday was a LONG day in the Studio. I had to come upstairs and get a nap in before supper-dupper time.

Oh! Before I crash - Meeshka, please let your human woman know we did finish the main bag and will move on to the Hold the iPhone! Bag today! Woo.

Luv,
Dave, GDFTCB

Semi-Silent Sunday

I think I fell. Or missed. Something's not quite right here.

Play bows,
Zim

Shh!

Shhh! (Whispering...) Hi everypuppy and kitty. Are you alone? My mom isn't with you, is she? OK... yes, it's me - Ammy.

Somebody around here thinks I need to be brushed. But I DON'T need to be brushed. So don't tell her where to find me, OK?

Oh, wait. I think this cute pose could get me out of it.

(Resuming normal voice.) Yep. Everything's OK now. I've got Mom just where I want her.

Have a happy, brush-free weekend, everypuppy and kit-cat!

Love,
Ammy

Waiting...

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats! It's me. Zim. I wonder when my best kit-cat pal Huffle is going to get here?

I've got that sunbeam I found last week saved for her. I'll keep my paw on it for her.

Huffs? Are you out there yet?

I'll keep watching for her! I can't WAIT to see her!

Play bows,
Zim

Aww... THANKS!

Woo, it's me, Dave! I hope everypuppy and kitty is having a good day. We got the "I Love Your Blog Award" presented right back to us by our pals China and Madie! You two are really sweet! Thank woo!

AND that dynamic duo Kayla and Maebe also presented it to us! That's a lot MORE sweetness!

It's truly an honor to receive this kind of recognition from our fellow bloggers, and we hope you know how much we appreciate it! THANK WOO, friends! We luv you guys!

Speaking of luv, recognition, and appreciation... I helped Mom finish making a bag the other day, and this is what I got:

Woo. Guide Dogs for the Color Blind are VERY well-paid!

Luv,
Dave

Kansas Skies

Hi everypuppy and everycat! It's me - Ammy, resident Meteorologist at Ao4 Headquarters. We had some of the prettiest skies last night and I just HAVE to share them with you!

First, Mom took the boys out and they saw a gorgeous rainbow in the northeast sky! Unfortunately, it had faded by the time she and I got back out with the camera (because somepuppy was dilly-dallying!) but look! You can still see it!

It's a bit faded, but you can still see it sort of above my left ear. It was really pretty. We had just a splash of rain sprinkles, then sun, then I looked down the street to the north and saw this:

Ooooh, pretty, isn't it? I knew it would look really cool to the west within seconds, so I convinced Mom to let me look out over the backyard.

Wait for it ... it's coming!

And then the sky turned to this!

Isn't it glorious?

Mom took Storm out next. I had told her about the western sky, so Storm said she wanted to go look, too.

Hey, it looks like the neighbors' house is on fire!

It sort of does! Mom and Storms went out on the back deck and took these shots:

It really does look like we're living on Mars sometimes, doesn't it?!? Hee hee hee!

OK, whew! The sky is on fire, not the neighbors' house! Cool sunset!

And one last shot:

I hope you enjoyed the latest look at our Kansas skies! Or is that the skies over Mars? :)

Love,
Ammy

How To Give A Sibe a Pill

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats! It's me - Zim! Have you seen those emails about "How to Give A Cat a Pill" that make the circuit? (You can see the basics at this link.) In many ways, Siberians are like cats - we're independent, we don't feel like we have to come when we're called, and we can be quite challenging to train. Those are just some of the similarities! Let's look at how Mom gives us a pill!

Most of the meds we get are chewable, but I do get one pill every night before bedtime (a Pepcid AC so I don't horka in the morning when my tummy's empty) and we have a routine we follow. It's pretty tricky - so here's the play-by-play!

First, Mom gets my pill, then gets a HUGE thing of cheese out of the magic cold box.

It's about a quarter of a whole inch wide, and a slice deep, and the length of a whole cheese piece! Then she splits the cheese up into four really huge pieces - 'cuz there are four of us. Oh, see... since I get my Pepcid, everyone else has to get something, too. House rules. Here's how that looks:

Look at those HUGE hunks of cheese!!! Isn't it exciting! Then Mom makes a big cheese and Pepcid sammich, like so:

See how well the pill is hidden in there? With all that cheese, I never even know it's in there! THEN the fun part! Here's a video! (Please ignore the really weird voice Mom's using - she doesn't usually sound like that!)

Umm... yeah, OK. Maybe we aren't exactly as challenging as cats when it comes to giving a pill. Or apparently any of the pups Mom's ever been around. Or heard about. But hey, we don't get much "people food", so we really look forward to this nightly cheese fest!

How are the rest of you at taking pills? Maybe your bipeds should hide them in huge hunks of cheese!

Play bows,
Zim

Thinkin'...

Woo, everypuppy and kit-kat. It's me, Dave. Hard-working, enterprising Dave. I was talking to some of my Siber-Mal friends (and Huffle, Honorary Husky) last night - and I was reminded of something. It's true, we in the Ao4 aren't allowed on any of the furniture except for the bed. Sad, isn't it? But we DO make good use of that bed! I know a lot of you learned a lot from Zim's tutorial the other day - but really, you don't have to go to all that trouble moving the covers and the pillows and all to get comfy. Really. Check this out!

Inspiring, aren't I? But then little Cornelia Marie said she isn't big enough yet to even jump on the bed! She said her mom has caught her ONCE trying to jump on the bed (which means she's probably tried a LOT more than once!) but she didn't make it. I told her she needs to stretch and do the hoppy-hop to get up there, but she said it's "a bit high" for her.

I thought maybe I could do a tutorial on how to sproing with those back legs and get up there! (Remember, I'm the guy who helped himself to a snack off the top of the magic cold box!)

Huffle said she thought it would be a "very beneficial lesson to all those poor deprived pups and kitties who are not allowed on the bed (obviously this does not apply to you or me). I think it could work paw in paw with Zimmie's tutorial on how to get the bed covers just right." (Huffle talks real smart like Stormy.) I decided to get right on it!

Yeah... I need to post a tutorial on sproinging!

Like any good plan, you have to do a lot of thinking first.

Look for my tutorial soon. Not REAL soon, but soon. Woo.

Luv,
Dave

Sunday Salute - The Nowzad Dogs and Ben!

Today our Sunday Salute goes out to our buddy Ben the Rotti and an organization known as "Nowzad Dogs".

As most of you know, we love and support the members of our military - and the allies who stand with us, shoulder-to-shoulder! And naturally, we're quite fond of fellow canines, as well. Ha roo roo roo! The Nowzad Dogs organization was born from a group of British Marines serving in Afghanistan who wanted to rescue the stray dogs who had become their companions during their deployment. Now the charity group supports the troops who are trying to help the stray dogs.

In Ben's words, the Nowzad Charity helps ..."support those soldiers who find themselves trying to look after the Afghan strays that seem to have no hope and by further funding the vital work of the Afghan rescue by helping them with their educational programme for children, free neutering programme for stray dogs and cats bought into the rescue and to help with the further welfare and local re-homing of rescued animals. They also support the Mayhew Animal Homes' training programme for vets from developing countries who are working to help the animals in their local communities."

We encourage you to click the icon above for more information or please visit our good friend Ben's blog - he is doing a big fund-raiser to help them out! Let's show Ben our support! Sounds like we'll have some fun in the process, too!

We salute the Nowzad Dogs Charity and our pal Ben! (And Dave sends Ben's mom more "woooo"s!)

The Army of Four

Fun In The Sun

Tail wags, readers, it's me, Stormy. It's a lovely day out there today, as per biped standards. No snow, sub-zero temps, or arctic winds, but you can't have everything. Like I said, it's lovely as far as the bipeds are concerned.

I think I'll take Mom down to the backyard for a little game of fetch.

She just loves throwing my toys then chasing after them. You know, while I run the other way or watch her. Ha roo roo roo! This should be fun.

Have a great day, everypup and kitty!

Tail wags,
Storms

We're So Honored!

Tail wags, readers! It's Stormy here again today. We've just received a couple awards and feel so very honored!

We - especially Zim - received the "Best Buds" Award from his best kit-kat pal, the lovely Huffle Mawson, Honorary Husky and Explorer Cat.

Thank you so much, Huffle! Zim said you are the BEST kit-kat friend he's ever had!

Our sweet friends at the Thundering Herd presented us with the "I Love Your Blog!" Award!

Thank you so much! We love your blog, too! The rules say that we can present it to 7 other bloggers! We'd like to pass it along to:
Frankie, Maddie and Domi
Huffle Mawson, Explorer Cat and Honorary Husky
Jazz & Dixie
Pippin and her flock
Izzie & Moxie over at the Corgi Lounge
Rocky and Mati
China and Madie!

We would also like to thank our friend Oorvi for creating a special badge! It's for those who have solved the special puzzles on her blog - thank you, Oorvi! We're proud to display it in our sidebar! Her blog really makes us think, and we like that!

Have a great day, everypup and kitty! And thank you again for the awards!

Tail wags,
Storms

On The Hunt

Tail wags, pups and kits! It's me, Stormy! As my Zim puppy said yesterday, we ran across a huge, fluffy invader on our walk the morning prior! It was very exciting! We were up in the undeveloped area; we've seen everything up there from hawks to quail to deer to coyotes to kit-cats ... but never one of THESE! It was furry and it was fast! I saw it first and told Dave to go check it out!

Dave! Look! How cool!

Hey... It's black, fuzzy, and fast ... but it's not a Sibe like us!

Here's an artsy look of it, framed by our shadows. It's a Wooly Bear! Did you all see the one on our friend Ari's blog? Aren't they cool? And fluffy.

The redheads wanted to check it out, too. Here they are:

Dad! Dad! It's a bug! Let me get closer!

Look at the concentration on their faces!

Zim and Ammy

Zimmie REALLY wanted to get at it. Check out the cat-like paw stretch!

Can't... quite... reach...
OK, bug... maybe not today... but I'll get you one day!

When Huffle gets here, she'll have to come on our morning road march with us. I'm sure she knows what to do with a Wooly Bear!

Tail wags,
Storms

Scopin' It Out

Ha roo, pups and kit-kats! It's me, Zimmie. Have you heard about my bestest kit-kat pal Huffle? Her parents are going off on some big vacation WITHOUT HER! They're leaving her ALL ALONE! (With Salvador and Aunt Lisa.) Can you believe that?!!? It's so horrible! But now she's planning her own World Tour for while her parents are gone - AND she's going to kick it off here at Ao4 HQs! Isn't that exciting!?!?

I ran it past Stormy and she's thrilled! She talked to Am and Dave, and they assured her they'd treat Huffle like a member of the family. No worries! I already made a little addition to the shopping list to prepare for her visit ...


... and I've been scoping out a good place for Huffs to take a cat nap. I know she likes to find a nice beam of sunshine; I think I found just the place for her! What do you think?

So warm... so comfy...

Plenty of room for BOTH of us!

I can't wait for my best friend to get here! OH! And be sure to tune in tomorrow! We ran across a huge, fluffy invader on our walk yesterday morning! Storm's going to post about it - but really, we may need Huffle's help if we run into that guy again!!!

Play bows,
Zim

Siren Test

Woo, everypup and cat. It's me, Dave. Our city conducted their monthly siren test yesterday, so Zim and I gave ours a run, too.

We always need to be ready to spread the word in the event of an emergency. Woo.

Luv,
Dave

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Hi everypuppy and kitty! It's me - Ammy! Tonight is a full moon, so I thought I'd do something totally different (for me) today! I know Zim has shared Mom's recipe for Empanadas with you, Dave shared the Lemon Oat Bars, and Stormy pawed out the Bananananana Cake recipe for our readers to enjoy. But I'm not really one to help much in the kitchen - unless Mom is making her famous Snickerdoodles!

Yum, Snickerdoodles!

That's right, Snickerdoodles! Mmmm! She uses an old family recipe and said I could share it with you! It's from her mom, so we'll call it ... The Z Family Snickerdoodles! Ready?

The Z Family Snickerdoodles

1 cup soft margarine (Mom swears by Parkay and at other brands; I don't know why)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs (Mom uses extra large ones)
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (Mom only uses King Arthur)
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the first three ingredients; beat well. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients, then add to the rest. CHILL DOUGH THOROUGHLY. Mom often makes the dough in the evening, then bakes the next day.
Roll dough into little balls - about the size of a quarter - or use a little cookie scoop.
Roll in a mixture - oh, wait. Roll the DOUGH BALLS (hee hee hee!) in a mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons of the freshest cinnamon you can get.
Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 400 degrees F (yes, that hot!) for 8-10 minutes or until about the color of Zim. :)

Can you almost smell them?

Mmm... Snickerdoodles!

I hope you'll give them a try. They're really wonderful.

Speaking of really wonderful, a big THANK YOU to my wonderful friends Jazz and Dixie! They sent me a picture of a sign from one of the parks they go to in Japan.

That's right - no brushing your dog! I'm going to enlarge this, print it out, and hang it somewhere for my mom to see! :)

Love and full moon fun,
Ammy

Snuggle Sunday

Woo, it's me - Dave. It's Sunday. Just a couple quick suggestions for some of you who left comments on Zim's tutorial yesterday.

OP Pack - What's to stop you from going up stairs to get on the bed? Rules? We're Siberians. "I'm just sayin'." If it's a barrier, please see my next response.

Thor and Marco Polo - A "gate" is keeping you from the bedroom? Don't you two do agility? I know you do, Thor. Leap that baby (please see my sterling example on that post)! If Marco Polo isn't in to leaping over stuff, knock the gate down for him. I do that for Zimmie and Ammy. Stormy knows how to knock ours right out of the brackets. Woo.

Princess Eva - The door is shut? Hmm. I haven't solved that one yet, but great-brother Booter knew how to open doors. Brice seems rather enterprising - maybe he can figure it out and will open the door for you. He seemed pretty gentlemanly to me when I met him; I'll bet he'd do it for you!

Joey Stains - You said that you always have to kick pillows on the floor to get comfy and speculated that maybe you're part Sibe! As Henry said in Goodfellas, "Only the good part." Ha woooooo! I think you'd fit in around here just GREAT!

And lastly ... before I close my big blues for a quick nap ...

...to the Huffle cat - No need to worry about me. I just know that it pays to stay on Mom's good side. Woo.

And now ... We have another bizarre (but lovely, as far as we Sibes are concerned) cold front that's moved in. It just barely hit 60 degrees F and we have winds of about 35 miles per hour. Time to snuggle in.

Luv,
Dave

PS: Little Domi buddy - Stick with me, fellow pickle nose to be. I won't lead you astray! (And my condolences about your mom buying one of those evil trash cans. Woo.)

My Tutorial

Ha roo, pups and kit-kats. It's me again - Zim! Thanks to all of you who offered to come over and play with me yesterday. It's so good to have friends!

Speaking of friends... I read my best kit-kat pal Huffle's blog this morning. Did you see it? Just when she'd gotten the bed all warm and cozy, her mom actually made her move so she could make the bed. Can you believe that? I can. Only because I suffer the same kind of abuse around here. I have my own way of dealing with this and thought I'd share it with all of you.

I know on a lot of the quilt and bag blogs Mom reads, they offer tutorials on how to do stuff... so let's consider this my tutorial on how to get the bed back to being comfy!

First... wait for your mom to make the bed. Even offer some help, just to throw her off. Then wait for her to leave.

Yep... looks good. All done here, Mom? Why don't you go get yourself some coffee!

Once you're alone, rearrange the covers how YOU want them. I person.... err... Siberianly like to toss them up toward the head of the bed, just ... because. I usually kick some of the pillows on the floor while I'm at it. Give it a go, pups and kit-kats! Go for broke! It's exhausting work; you may want to rest up after that task.

Zzzzz....

Once you've regained your strength, take a moment to admire your handiwork. How's it look? Is everything where you want it?

Perfect!

Then... try it out.

Oooh, yeah. Com-FY!

Enjoy your space while you can. Others will want to come share the fruits of your labor.

Huh? Yeah, sure. You can come in. Just don't touch me or move around.

Dave's my bestest big brother ever, so I guess it's only fair I share my special re-make with him.

Mom? Want me to make Zimmie get down?

Last suggestion: Be careful who you share with.

Play bows,
Zim

PS: Dave! Dave! Let go of my NECK! C'mon....