Backyard Sentry Duty

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  Me again, Zimmie!  And it's all because of the great comment my bestest friend Huffle Mawson, Explorer Cat and Honorary Husky left on Sunday's post!  She said, "Mum would like to say that the last photo is VERY cool.  I would like to say I need to see more photos of my bestest friend Zimmie."  Ha roo roo roo, isn't she just the coolest best friend?!?  Storm said I just can't disappoint Huffs, so today I'm posting pictures of how I do Sentry Duty in the backyard.

Here I am, down at the bottom of the yard.  I had just ignored the toy Mom threw for me and raced down there.  I saw some guy walking a dog I didn't know.

Hey!  Hey!  Hi, my name's Zim!

Oh, some of you had asked how long that lead is.  It's 25 or 30 feet.  Mom doesn't even hold on to it, it just trails behind me in case I ... say ... go under the bushes to find something and won't come out.  Just a hypothetical.  I don't always wear it, but Mom is concerned about baby bunnies right now.  Anyway... back to Sentry Duty!

The man had the audacity to ignore me!

Hey!  Can't I meet your pup?

I couldn't believe it!  I tried to go out to meet them, since they wouldn't come to me.

I'll bet I could just squeeeeeeeze through here...

...or maybe not.

Anypuppy know why Mom and Dad had this concrete strip put under the fence?  Hrumph!  The coyotes who sing to me at night get in here somehow; I've got to figure out how they do it!

Sadly, I didn't get to meet the pup who walked by - but on the other paw, Ao4 HQs was safe!  No one gets past me when I'm on Sentry Duty!

Now about that toy Mom threw up on the top tier...

Play bows,

Zim

Winter/Spring Storm

Ha roo, pups and cool cats, it's me - Zim!  As many of you know, we got smacked with a Winter Storm over the weekend.  Or as Ammy kept asking, "How can they call it a Winter Storm, if it's Spring?"  I must say, she has a valid point there.  

So... Thursday, it was in the 60s.  We'd heard the bipeds on TV and radio talking about a Winter Storm warning for our area, but we don't usually believe them.  We trust our own Meteorologist; she's never been wrong about snow!  We can't say that about the bipeds.  

Anyroo... she went out and checked ...

Hmm...

...then made her prediction: 

Yep!  We have snow coming!

Like I said, she's never been wrong, so even though it was in the 60s, we all believed her.  Mom double-checked ...

Yes, I'm sure!  

(How could anyone doubt that face?!?!?) 

...and let the OP Pack know.   The storm was due to hit us before them, so we thought we should give them a heads up!

The next day, there was still no snow... and Mom began to doubt.  Just to make sure, she took Am out to check yet again.  She was certain it was coming... and while she was out on the deck ... well, check out this picture Am sent our friends in OP (check out her fur!):

Here it comes!

The rest of that day and all through the night, we had lots and lots of bee-roo-tiful, fluffy snow.  I even took Mom out at 0400 to enjoy it!  It was GREAT!  But then... the ice started.  Sleet fell, some sort of "wintry mix" fell, and it compressed my snow and made this hard crust of ice on top of it all!  It was a slippery, icy mess!

Sure, we were all proud of Ammy for her accurate prediction:

Woo!

See, Davy?  Snow!  Lots of snow!

... but honestly, how was I supposed to build a cool snow fort if there's ICE all over everything?

This crust of ice wasn't here at 0400!  How am I supposed to make a cool snow fort now?!?

Sorry, Zim.  Maybe next Winter/Spring Storm.

To make matters worse, it's almost all melted now and it's supposed to be "nice" today.  "Nice" according to the bipeds.  Oh well.  On to the next adventure!

Play bows,

Zim

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hi everypuppy and everykitty!  And bipeds!  It's me, Amber!  This week, we have a real mix of serene photos for you to enjoy.  

First up is a sunset view from Wednesday evening:

From Army of Four Digest

Here are three panorama shots of our sunset last night.  You should be able to click all of these to enlarge.

From Army of Four Digest

From Army of Four Digest

From Army of Four Digest

Notice the snow and ice?  The snow was lovely and fun; the ice that came on top of it ... not so much.  

Now I have a couple shots from warmer times.  Actually, a week or so ago.  Apparently, the bipeds actually prefer those warm, sunny days over the Winter Storm we were smacked with and want this warmth to return.  Dad especially seems to want this scene back:

That picture seems to bring him serenity.  Hmm.  Golf.  Not my favorite thing.  I do like that one club head cover, though.  It shows Dad is thinking about us!  

And lastly... some hay from Kansas.  Or as I like to say, "Hey, from Kansas!"  :)

From Army of Four Digest

Love,

Ammy

D-Dave Day

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's Dave!  That's right - two days in a row!  Or as Ammy said, "Two Daves in a row."  Ha woo.  She's so funny.  

Before I get started, remember the picture I posted yesterday of the cat and a Sibe shadow?  Those of you who guessed that it was Zim were right!  He is a cat magnet for sure.  It's got to be like his bestest friend Huffle said, "All the cats know he is an honorary kitty cat so it's okay."  Makes sense to me.

On to our game!  The Dughallmor Beagles' mom tagged me, Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind, in an alphabet type of game!  I gave this a lot of hard thought...

Me... deep in thought

...then came up with my answers.  Here goes!

1. What is your name? Dave

The following answers must all begin with the first letter of your name.

2. A four letter word? Dirt

3. Girl name: I’m going to go with Dakota, as in the bee-woo-tiful Dakota of the OP Pack

4. Boy name: Dirk, the Black Lab who lives down the street

5. Occupation: Drill Instructor

6. Color: Dove Grey

7. Piece of clothing: Dress Blue Uniform

8. Food: Doritos

9. Item in the bathroom: Dental floss, Drano

10. Place/City: Dallas

11. A reason for being late: Daydreaming.  (Or as Ammy says, "Dave dreaming.")  (See photo above)

12. Something you’d yell: Since I was tagged as Mom’s Guide Dog for the Color Blind, I’ll go with: Don’t put those colors together!!!

13. Movie: "Dances with Wolves" (quite disappointing; I thought it was going to be about something else altogether!)

14. Something you can drink: Diet Coke (not me, but I've seen Mom drink it)

15. Band: Dave Brubeck Quartet!

16. Animal: Dingo

17. Street name: Dave’s Road!  Seriously!  Check out this picture of it my friends Sitka and Cornelia Marie took for me:

18. Car: Daewoo

19. Song: Dr. Woo by Steely Dan. OK... it's really Dr. Wu...

20. Activity that includes more than one participant: D-Day took a lot of people

 Thank you for the tag, Nicky; I feel very honored!  If I could, I'd hug you right now.  Since I can't, here's an air smoochie for you:

Smoochies!

Would anypup or anykitty else like to play?  If so, please consider yourselves tagged!  Have fun!

Luv,

Dave

Photo Finish Friday

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave, bringing you our latest installment of Photo Finish Friday.  I've got a bunch of pretty cool pix to share with you today, so let's get right to it!

First up - remember last Thursday's post about me playing in the yard?  Look at this cool version of me and my squeaky football!

Woo!  I like that one.  Even if Mom did mess up her watermark down at the bottom.  Like Stormy says, "She's only human".  I try not to hold that against her.

Here's a cool sunset from last week:

Aren't those colors nice?  I find them very inspiring in my work as Mom's Guide Dog for the Color Blind.

Here's one of all four of us, plus Dad.

It's from our regular morning routine, when Storm, Mom and I go find Dad and the redheads.  We found them!  Can you tell who's who?  

Speaking of "who's who"... Dad took this picture the other morning:

I don't know who the kitty is... but guess who's shadow that is?  The fact that the kit-cat is just laying there should give you a hint.

Lastly, here's one of yours truly:

Mom?

And my mom.  MY mom.  My mom-mom-mom who stopped petting me for a minute.  Woo. 

Luv,

Dave 

Awards/Tags!

Hey everypup and everycat!  It's me - Zim!  Wow, we received a couple really cool awards/tags lately!  I wanted to take a few minutes here to show you the cool awards and to thank our friends!

First up is the "Your Blog is Fabulous" award from our very cool friend Ludo.  You may know him as Ludwig Van Puppy!  

Ludo said we are "wise dogs" and that he always learns lots from us.  Ha roo!  Thanks, pal!  We learn lots from you, too.  In fact, we're hoping to do our own post one day soon like your Tricky Tuesday!  Won't that be something!

We also received an award/tag from my bestest friend, Huffle!  It's the "Life is Grand" award!

Huffle said we're supposed to post 5 reasons why we think life is grand, then pass it along to 5 more blogs.  For me, there are way more than five reasons life is grand, but here are the first five that come to mind, in no particular order:

1.  I'm not chained to a tree any more.

2.  Storm makes life grand; she teaches me important things every single day.

3.  Ammy makes life grand; she taught me that it's OK to love and trust, and gives me constant reassurance.

4.  Dave makes life grand; he showed me how to play when he joined the family.  He's always game for zoomies or neck grabbies!

5.  I have a Mom and Dad who love me and treat me with kindness and take me on cool adventures.

There are tons more things, like I said, but those are sure the basics.

I'm never sure who to pass awards along to, so I'm going to do a little criss-cross action here!  I'd like to give the "Life is Grand" award/tag to Ludo!  And I'd like Huffle to have the "Your Blog is Fabulous" award!

Many thanks to both of you - 

- we all appreciate your thoughtfulness and think having you as friends makes life grand, also!

Dave was tagged by the Dughallmor Beagles and will get on it within the next few days!

Play bows,

Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,

Zim

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

That's "stormy" with a small "s".  Although I certainly got the most out of the night, too...

Tail wags, pups and kitty cats!  It's me - Stormy.  Spring has sprung here in Kansas, and that means Storm Season!  I made sure Mom stayed up to enjoy the whole thing, start to finish.  While we still had daylight, she took some cool pictures that I'll share with you.  

All day, we'd had winds gusting up between 50 and 60 miles an hour, then the warm front and cold front collided.  This was shortly after 1600:

We were under severe thunderstorm warnings, high wind advisories, and a tornado watch.

Here's what it looked like when we started "rocking and rolling":

Dave thought the clouds were cool shades of purple.  We got massive amounts of rain and hail - reports in our county were of golf ball sized hail, but ours wasn't quite that big.  If it had been, I wonder if Dad would have gone out and knocked a few around?  Ha roo roo roo!

In this next picture, you can see how hard the rain is coming down, the water hitting the deck railing, and the hail piling up.

I sent Mom out onto the screened in part of the deck and had her open the door.  Here's how deep the hail was at one point:

Anyroo, night fell shortly after that, so I have no more photos to show you.  Well, here's one more Storm picture:

Ha roo roo roo!  With my favorite meteorologist in the background.  (Sorry it's fuzzy; the lighting was dim.)

As I said, I made sure Mom didn't miss anything all night, which I'm sure she appreciated.  I know she appreciates a good storm.  And a good Storm.  :)

Tail wags,

Storms

Every Walk is an Adventure...

... especially if Zim is with you.  Hi everypuppy and everykitty, it's me, Amber.  Have I told you lately how special my little brother is?  Everywhere he goes, he finds an adventure - even if we're just going to the corner!  Take the other day for instance!

We sent Mom a mind-meld message that we'd like to walk down to the corner - just to see what was going on.  We had only gone a hundred meters or so, when Zim froze.  Mom didn't know why, but she got behind him and took this picture.

Can you see what he's looking at?  Try a closer view:

Sigh.  Yes, a kitty cat.  One Zim hasn't won over to his side yet.  (Most of the other neighborhood kitties like him.  I mean they like him!)

Zim laid flat down, in his extremely unassuming,  non-threatening pose and refused to move.  He does this with anyone he meets who might feel intimidated.

Hi, little kit-cat!  I'm Zim!

Usually when he does this, whoever he's trying to win over will come meet him.  It didn't work this time for some reason.

Who are you looking at, Zimmie?

I wonder why?  :)

Give it up, Zimmie.  You'll have to con Mom into bringing you out alone.

It was all Mom and I could do to get him on his feet and get him moving again.  That Zimmie!  He can find adventure (and new friends) where EVER he goes!

Love,

Ammy

Serene Scenery Sunday

Tail wags, everypup and everykit!  It's me, Stormy, here with another Serene Scenery Sunday post.  These scenes are all from the Top of the World, where Zim went with Mom last week.  

First up is a video, panning from the northeast, around to right where the sun is setting in the west.  It will help give you an idea of how incredible the vistas are up there.

And here are some still shots:

And here is our favorite!  A great view of our lovely Flint Hills!

Ah!  Kansas!

Have a serene Sunday!

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

Photo Finish Friday - or Sweet Dreams

Sleepy greetings, everypuppy and everykitty.  It's me - the Z-man.  Dave was telling me about a post he read yesterday on our friend Mason Dixie's blog; she posted a video of her dreaming and everyone was guessing what her dreams were.  That led us to start talking about what our dreams are filled with.  

I have this recurring dream... let me try to capture it... let me get there...

Me.  The Z-man.  Zzzzz.....

It's coming... entering Dreamland... trying to find it... it's so beautiful...

Yes... there we are... can you see it?  I'm walking down a snowy lane.  Off to my right are Dave, Storm and Ammy.  Mom and Dad are there, too.  I can't really see them, but I sense that they're there.  It's sort of foggy or something, but I look down the path... and... who's that running toward us?!!?

Could it be?  It's Sitka and Cornelia Marie!  Tia can't be far behind them!

So... how about you?  What are your dreams filled with?

Sleepy, stretchy play bows - and sweet dreams!

Zim