Serene Scenery Sunday

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats!  It's me, Zim.  The girls have been mumbling something about us guys taking over the blog lately, so we'll have to remedy that next week and have them do more posting.  Sorry, Storm and Am!

Did anypup or anycat guess who I got to meet yesterday?  Ha roo, grab this by the neck and shake it - I met Guinness and Shiloh's mom and dad!  And their friends from Lawrence, too!  How cool is that!?  It was really great meeting them; mom and I both thoroughly enjoyed our visit!  They even brought us really sweet gifts; we'll tell you all about that later!  We sure had a wonderful time!

On to some serene scenery!  These shots are from the little excursion Mom and I took to the Top of the World.  Or Washington Marlatt Memorial Park, if you prefer.  Here's a great shot out across the hills:

It's all so green, isn't it?  There was a lot of yellow, too, and some splashes of purple!  Check it out:

Cool wildflowers, don't you think?

Yeah, yeah.  One man's wildflower is another man's weed.  Oh - and in case anypup is wondering...

Tasty, too!

For whatever reason, that doesn't make Mom serene.  Moving right along... here's a shot near that steep drop-off:

...and here's the trail, leading us home.

Or back to the car, as the case may be.

I hope you enjoyed our serene photos this week!  

Play bows,

Zim

I'm On Top of the World! (Again!)

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  Lots to tell you about today, so let's get to it!

Remember back in March, I told you about me and Mom going to the Top of the World!??  We went there again!  The Flint Hills are all lush and green now, there are tons of wildflowers blooming, and oh, the SNIFFIES!  Wowzers!  Check out the path with me:

Sniff!  Sniff!

Can you almost smell it!??  Let's get started down the trail!

We walked and walked and looked all over the place!

Hey, what's over there?

Then we got to what we thought was the end of the trail, but it really wasn't.  It's just that there's a steep drop-off.  Take a look:

Wowzers!

I could see forever up there!  Can you see the sort of blue thing in the upper right corner?  That's the water tower near Ao4 HQs!  Cool, huh?  I thought we should keep going down the path.  Mom only had her iPhone, not the camera, so we couldn't shoot a cool video like our friends in the Thundering Herd, but I was thinking about them and asked Mom to take some action shots of me heading down the hill.  Here's the only photo she took:

...then we headed back up.  She was mumbling something about a "whole, new appreciation" for the Thundering Herd's bipeds.  Ha roo roo roo!

Back up on top, we came to another cool over-look.  Check out this scene:

I almost saved it for Serene Scenery Sunday, but hey, consider it a jump-start for that.  I found a path heading down there that wasn't quite as steep as the other:

Hey, Mom!  Whatcha think?

She said next time we'd go down there, but for now, she was worried I was getting too hot.

Good point.  Let's go have a cool beverage!

I was thinking Frozen Mocha Latte; Mom was thinking water.  Rats!  (Sorry, not you, Roger!)

As I got ready to mount up, Mom told me she had a surprise for me!  She told me a secret, and it made me smile!

Me, smiling

Want a little clue?  Mom and I are heading out on another adventure today!

Not down this road... though this gives you a good comparison to the last time I was here, doesn't it?  No... today I get to meet the mom of some fellow bloggers!!!  It's someone we've never met before and I'm TOTALLY excited!!!

Can't tell you any more right now; I have to go get ready.  I want to look my very coolest for her.  I'll tell you all about it soon!

Play bows,

Zim

Photo Finish Friday

Woo, everypuppy and everykitty and all you bipeds out there!  It's me, Dave!  Do you know what season it is!??!  That's right... it's... 

WATERMELON season!!!  And Dad brought home a sweet, juicy one!  See that tag on it?  It's from Texas.  Like me.  As such, it's my sworn duty to make sure it's OK.

Woo!

Happy weekend!

Luv,

Dave

About That Wordless Wednesday Photo...

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  I wanted to clear up some of your concerns over yesterday's photo!  

The storm thing!  Ah, no.  Storms with a small "s" don't phase me in the slightest bit.

  Me with a small "s" storm brewing up behind me

On the other paw, Storms with a capital "S" is a force to be reckoned with.  Ha roo roo roo!

Me and Storms - with a capital "S"

I go to the downstairs bathroom when it's hot out. 

Zzzz.....

When it's REALLY hot out, or I'm really overheated, I like to nap in the tub in there.  It's cool and quiet.  That's not where the evil b-a-t-h thing happens.  That only happens in the Master Bathroom or out on the deck.  I have Mom's word on that.  

Thanks for worrying about me!  Gee... I hope all that b-a-t-h talk doesn't give anyone any bright ideas... I better go hide under the table with Am for a while, just in case.

Play bows,

Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,

Zim

It's From Our Scottish Beagle Buddies!

Tail wags, readers!  It's me - Stormy.  We've been wanting to post about a lovely package we received from that fab four Gabbi, Rosie, Alfie and Snoop - collectively known as theDughallmor Beagles.  Mom's been trying to get "good" pictures of us enjoying the treats or playing with the toys, but ... well ... let's just say we've been rather Siberian about that.  Ha roo roo roo!  Here's what we've got, though.

Here I am, checking out the package:

Oooh!  It's from the Dughallmor Beagles!

I knew right away it was from them; I could smell Beagles!  The package was full of lovely (and tasty!) treats, and a couple of toys.  How very kind of Alfie, Rosie, Gabbi and Snoop!  

Mom let Zim check out the toys and he really liked this one:

Wowzers!  How cool is that?!?!

He had to go on Guard Duty, though, and said maybe Ammy could play with it until his shift was over.  (The redheads are really cool about stuff like that.)  Here she is:

Fa la la la la la la...

Check out her little feety-feet in this one:

...la la la la la la la...

Is she cute enough?  She reminds me of our dear little friend Cornelia Marie there.  Or perhaps a Monterey sea otter, cracking open an abalone shell on her belly.  Oh... speaking of cracking open...

...la la ... OOPS!

Ooh, Mom!  Wait.  I ... err ...

That's right.  In less time than it too me to dictate this post, The Jaws of Steel struck again!

I have no idea how that happened.

Needless to say, Zim got to play with the other toy our Beagle buddies sent us.  Mom's camera batteries were too low to take good pictures, but we'll catch him next time.  Until then - many, many thanks to the Dughallmor Beagles and their mom!

Tail wags,

Storms

PS:  What?  You're wondering where Dave was.  Well, he's been very busy in the Studio lately.  Here's a look:

Thanks for asking about me!

Dave works reallllllll hard down there.  You can see he's exhausted himself!

Memorial Day 2009

Today is Memorial Day here in the US, the day we set aside to honor our fallen service members.  We'd like to share with you two very special poems to mark the day.

Bivouac Of The Dead was written in 1847.

  

To read it in its entirety, please click here.

This next poem is one you all have no doubt heard many times before.  Please take a moment to read it again, and to think about the members of our military who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

In Flanders Fields 

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) 

Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow 

Between the crosses row on row, 

That mark our place; and in the sky 

The larks, still bravely singing, fly 

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago 

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 

Loved and were loved, and now we lie 

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: 

To you from failing hands we throw 

The torch; be yours to hold it high. 

If ye break faith with us who die 

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow 

In Flanders fields. 

And lastly, we'd like to leave you with one of our favorite quotes.  We shared it with you a couple years ago, and would like to do so again.  It's by General George S. Patton, "It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."

We do honor and we thank God for these men and women who have died fighting for us, in the service of our nation.  Please take time to remember these heroes this Memorial Day.

The Army of Four

Serene Scenery Sunday

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me - Dave.  I've got lots of serene pictures to show you today, so let me get right to it!

Back in December, Ammy showed you some of the guys who came out to watch our dad golf.  He had some new spectators the other day that brought him joy, so we thought we'd share them with you!  Take a look!

I think it was Mom and baby day, 'cuz check out this next duo:

And here's another look at one of the adult horses:

He shot a great round, so they must have given him inner serenity!

How about a little tour of the garden now?  Let's start out back.  Here's how that Yorktown Snow Flower Tree looks:

It must be done snowing.  Ha woo!   A little further down that tier are the Magic Carpet Spirea.  They're just starting to bloom:

They'll be a sea of pink before we know it.  Up in the first tier, we have Red Prince Weigela growing around part of the deck and around the house.

Me and the Red Prince Weigela

Here's a close up:

Those grow right outside the west-facing windows of our Studio, so Mom and I can see them while we work.

Now let's head out front.  Our peonies are in full swing.  Here's a look at them:

And another look at them:

Mom went kinda crazy taking pictures of them; if you'd like to see more, click on any one of the peony pix to be transported to our FlickR album.  You can see lots more there!  (There are also more horse pix in "The Gallery" album.)  

Thanks for joining us for Serene Scenery Sunday.  We hope you enjoyed our photos.  Please join us tomorrow for a very special Memorial Day post.

Luv,

Dave

Interview and Gardening

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  Lots to tell you about today, so I'm just going to plunge on in!

First up - have you seen our interview with the verrrrrrrrrry lovely and talented Bark Kent?  Surf on over to Suzuki's blog and check it out!

It was such an honor being interviewed by her!  She so smart and gets right to the heart of all the issues... and she's soooooooo gorgeous!  Ha roo!

Anyroo... a lot of you have said really nice things about all the work I do in the garden and how nice everything looks.  I really appreciate that, as I do work very hard out there.  I was chit-chatting with some of my buddies yesterday, and I think it was Steve or Kat who said that I must have a green paw.  Well, actually, that's quite true!  Check it out:

As Sitka pointed out, green toe nails, too.  Ha roo roo roo!  I do try my best to help Mom keep our gardens looking good!  So you can imagine how shocked I was when she accused me (me!) of sticking my snooter in the geraniums and trying to eat them.  WHAT?!?!

Who, me?  Snooter in the geraniums?  What?

Can you believe she'd think such a thing?  Look at me - I'm the picture of innocence!  And you know, she tried tagging me as a geranium eater a couple years ago (check it out at this link).  If she's going to be that way about it, I told her she could get Davy to help her plant the tomatoes!

Sadly, she did.  That's OK with me, though.  I mean, she saw this kind at the plant place and didn't even buy any:

Husky Cherry Red!

Ammy and I thought they'd be perfect, but Mom said something about them being little (then why do they call them "Husky"?) and she wants big, ol' baseball-sized tomatoes.  Hrumph!  It still would have been cool.  And I just know Ams would have thought up a million jokes to tell about them!

Here's Dave helping with the tomato planting:

Yeah... that looks good, Mom.  Keep on doing what you're doing.

You may wonder why he's on the deck, instead of out in the garden or yard.  Well... we're trying something new this year:  trying to actually grow something and not have to worry about how much of it Oswald and crew are going to eat.  So... this is what our tomatoes look like:

Ammy said to tell Huffle they're tomatoes "Down Under".  Ha roo roo roo!  Get it?  They're upside down... and Huffs lives in Australia... ?  Ha roo roo roo!   She just cracks me up!  Think what Ammy could have done if those were Husky Cherry Reds!

Dave and Mom did a pretty good job with those; we'll keep you posted on how they grow.  And now... I'm off to help water the stuff out front.  But one more accusation from Mom and me and my green paw are going to head to the OP Pack's house, so I can help Thunder with his Stuffie Tree.  I just KNOW my gardening efforts will be appreciated there!

Play bows,

Zim

Photo Finish Friday

Tail wags, everypup and everykitten!  It's me, Stormy.  And do you know what today is?

Do you?

Thaaaaaat's right.  It's Friday!

Yes!!!

Have a great weekend!

Tail wags,

Storms