Something to Smile About

Tail wags, dear readers. It's me, Stormy. Today is Monday, and ... well ... let's just say it really FEELS like a Monday here, if you know what I mean. Not wanting to dwell on that, I thought I'd get caught up posting about a couple really sweet things! We received two awards lately and wanted to thank the friends who gave them to us!

Our handsome kit-cat friend Ginger Jasper gave us this award:

Thank you so much! We consider your friendship a lovely blessing!

Ginger AND our sweet friend Twix gave us this award:

We feel quite honored by you both; thank you so much for thinking of us!

We'd like to pass these along to anyone who has been whomped upside the head by Monday. Now ... doesn't that help?

At least a little bit?

Tail wags,

Stormy

Serene Scenery Sunday -The Whole Family Edition

Tail wags, pups and kit-cats! It's me, Stormy! Nothing makes our pack happier and more serene than a walk involving the whole family. I thought I'd share a few pix with you that Mom took the other day out on one of our walks. Care to come walking with us?

Dave and I thought that just for a few minutes, we'd let the redheads get ahead of us. You know - it has to do with that whole "unless you're the lead dog, the scenery never changes" thing. Here's Mom's view:

I don't think this is such a bad view, Storm!

It's OK for a few minutes. What's over there?!?

And here's our view:

Not bad, but I need to be in the lead. Mostly because I am the leader, plus there's always a lot of this that goes on:

Hey! Any of you squirrelly-squirrels out there?

He does like to stop and enjoy the scenery!

Really! Anysquirrel out there?!? It's me - Zim!

We don't have squirrels right by our house, but Zim knows where they live and likes to stop and commune with then when we're out in their part of the neighborhood. Or anybunnies... or our kit-cat friends. Anyway, if you're the "keep going!" type, you don't want to get behind the Z-man.

Mom took lots of pix of us walking together on the way home. You can check out our latest FlickR images, if you'd like, plus I put a collage together for you:

We sure enjoyed our family walk. And once we got home and had a round of zoomies, we were all quite serene! Thanks for coming with us; have a lovely Sunday!

Tail wags,
Storms

Tales - And Tails - From the Weekend

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats! It's me - Zimmie! Storm said I should fill you in quickly on what all we did for Thanksgiving here at Ao4 HQs. Let's get busy!

We did a lot of giving thanks to God for all our blessings - health, home, family & friends, our US Armed Forces, and many, many other things ... then we did the following:

Ooooh, a green pea!??! I love those things!

I got to have THREE frozen peas. They were incredible! Storm and Dave got a couple, too. Ammy gave hers to me and got an ice cube instead.

Then we did this:

Mmm... Sweet Potato Pie! Mom, don't you need to leave the room?

Sadly, Mom wasn't as forthcoming with the pie as she was with the peas. We moved on to doing this:

Stormy in the back, Dave on top of Mom's leg

Then we all did a lot of this:

Left to right: Me (Zim), Dave, Ammy and Storms

Oh! And Mom has moved on to this stage in her Super-Secret Project:

She said she's getting there but still has a long way to go!

What all did you pups and kits do over the weekend?

Play bows,

Zim

Photo Finish Friday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats. We were out running an errand together, just me and Mom, when I saw this:

Sonic!

I started concentrating as hard as I could. "Frozen Hazelnut Latte. Frozen Hazelnut Latte...."

I think my powers of sending mind-meld messages are slipping, friends - she kept on driving. Can you believe that?!!? I think I need to get Storms to give me a refresher course.

Play bows,

Zim

Thanksgiving 2009

As we stop to give thanks to God for our many blessings this year, we here at Ao4 Headquarters never forget to give thanks for the men and women who serve our nation in uniform.

For our international readers, we encourage you to click here to learn the history and true meaning of Thanksgiving.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

The Army of Four

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,

Zim

More Work

Woo, everypup and everycat. Dave again, with a report on our work day yesterday. As you may recall, I had a full day ahead of me. I was right about here...

...as I recall. And Mom was right about...

...here. (That's her super-secret big project that I've been helping her with.)

I had worked so much that I sent out for reinforcements. Before I knew it - Zim was helping! Here we are:

Mom said we really helped a lot by running around playing zoomies and neck-grabbies and "ha roo"ing and "woo"ing at each other. So much so, in fact, that she said we could leave the Studio if we wanted to. Wow. We must have helped a lot!

Dad was home by that time, doing his work-out, so SGT Zim thought he'd hang out with him. A little "guy time".

Hey Dad! Let's fire this baby up!

I thought Zim was crazy getting on that thing!

Woo, Zim...

I stayed out in the Studio. In case Mom needed more of my help.

Really! I'm all set, Dad - let's go!

After a work-out on the treadmill, Zim saw Dad doing crunchers on the weight machine. Since Zim is a drill sergeant, he went over to encourage and motivate Dad.

That's it! Get down and gimme 50, Dad!

You call those crunchers? I wanna see those abs ready to pop! Let's go, let's GO!

Then he moved in to encourage Dad some more!

Get going, mister! I'm SGT Zim and I wanna see you sweatin'! You call that...

Aw... Dad! You are sweatin'. How about a nose smoochie?!?

Nose smoochie!??! You know what goes really good with nose smoochies? Hugs. That's when I thought I'd move in and see if I could help Dad, too. I mean - hugs are my specialty!

Woo, Dad! How 'bout a hug!?!?

Then... it was odd. It's like we had already helped Dad enough for one day, too.

Dad? Dad? Are you in there? Zimmie went upstairs, but I'm here if you need me. Dad?

Mom said we'll be hitting the Studio again today. I hope we get just as much work done this afternoon! Woo.

Luv,

Dave

Monday Mutterings

Woo, everypup and everycat. It's me - Dave. Mom's been real busy working on a big project down in the Studio. She got a lot done over the weekend, but is still going hard at it. I've been pretty tied up with things down there, too.

It's going to be a busy week! Woo.

Luv,

Dave

Serene Scenery Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats - Zim here, with Serene Scenery Sunday. Ammy's here, too. We thought we'd post pix from the walk we took to the Kansas Ocean the other day. Nothing can make a pup or a kit feel more serene than a walk to the ocean! Let's go!

Here are some flowers we passed on our way. We see these all the time:

Mom loves the splash of color amid the rocks and pine straw. Anyone know what these are? Anyone? Aunt Janet? Bren? Pink flowers. Ferris? Anyone. Whatever they are, they make Mom smile!

There are still some sunflowers around, too! Here's Ammy checking some out:

Oh. And that's my tail. Ha roo roo roo!

A shout out to our buddy MaxDog in South Africa! He planted sunflowers for us as a Christmas present - and they're blooming!!! I have a feeling Am was thinking of him when she snoofed our sunflowers! Can you feel the love, Max?!

On our approach to the ocean, I felt like someone was watching us. Or following us! I looked up, and this is who it was:

A hawk! Isn't he grand!?!? We love hawks - they're so powerful and majestic!!!

He kept pace with us, almost like he was leading the way. It reminded us to look all around for serene scenery - to include looking up! Here's a collage we put together:

You can click on any of these pix to go to our FlickR page for a closer look! We also have the individual shots in there; Mom said to please keep in mind that as she was holding two leashes that led to pulling puppies (who... us?) and a poop bag, it was a challenge to focus her camera on the hawk. Especially without a tripod. And something about a zoom lens. ("And with two puppies pulling.") (I think I covered that, Mom.) We need to get back to serene things...

Here's the shot all you man-pups have been waiting for - Ammy at the ocean!

Ammy

I must say, she's gorgeous, isn't she? And fear not, babes - here I am, striking a pose:

Me - SGT Zim

Here are some of the sights we saw at the Kansas Ocean:

For some reason, Mom was fascinated by these dried wildflowers:

They look like soldiers standing up, defending the high ground, don't they? What do they make you think of?

Those were the serene highlights of our walk. We'll share more pix later this week, but that's enough for now.

Thanks for coming with us!

I hope you had as much fun as we did! Have a serene Sunday!

Play bows,

Zim

PS: Please don't forget about the fund-raiser for Blake Freking's Iditarod run! International shipping available!!! :)

It Was A Dark and Foggy Morning...

Hi everypuppy and everycat! It's me - Ammy. Mom has taken me and Zimmie on some really, really fun walks lately and I wanted to tell you about the one we went on yesterday! We walked down to the park and back; it was extra fun because it was sort of dark and foggy! Zim and I had such fun!

Up on top of one of the hills, we now have a crossing light; that makes it a lot safer! While we waited for the light, I checked out the fog - you know, since I'm the Ao4's Meteorologist and all! Here I am, up on the crest of that hill. Can you see the fog sort of nestled into the hills down the street!?!?

It was a dark and foggy morning...

Hee hee hee!

After taking in the weather conditions, I did something else that comes so very naturally to me:

Mouse! Or mole! Or... something! There's something in here!

It's instinctual. I can't help it. I'm a natural hunter.

Ammy... I think we've got the light now.

Zim and Mom made me stop my hunt and cross the street. The cars had stopped for us and we needed to go.

Anyway, once we crossed, Zim had fun posing up on some chunks of limestone.

Ha roo!

This is right at the entrance to part of the Hudson Trail; not the part we usually walk down, but another one. We wanted to try it yesterday, but Mom said something about "mud" and "no way". I wasn't really too disappointed; when you walk with Zimmie, you find entertainment everywhere!

Hey Ammy! I think someone's coming!

He came up with a really funny plan -

With this fog, I'll bet if I start howling like a coyote, I could really freak people out!

Hee hee hee! Isn't he fun? Unfortunately, the people didn't come our way. We're going to try it out next fog, though! I can't wait - I'm going to see if Zim will teach me how to do a coyote howl in the meantime! I hope I can do it right! :)

Have a great weekend, everypuppy and everykit!

Love,

Ammy

Iditarod, Award, Seven Things, and... It's Photo Finish Friday!

Tail wags, pups and kittens! Stormy here. It seems as though we have a lot to cover today, so I'm going to take this post myself. Ready to get to it all?

First up, Dave has told you about a special bag our mom made for a fund-raiser and promised to let you know more "later". Well, it's now "later"! Here are a few words from our mom:

As some of you know, I made one of my custom bags for a fund-raiser for Blake Freking, who will be running a team of Siberians in the Iditarod! For those who wanted a heads up -- the auction has begun! Bonnie's done a great job posting some lovely items; please check them out at this link.

Please check out the great items in the auction, and place a bid if you'd like! My bag currently is on page two; this link should take you there. For those who have asked, international shipping is available!

Thanks for your interest and support!

On the eBay site, Bonnie has provided a lot more info about why the fund-raiser is being held - and Mom wrote a blurb about the bag! You can also read more about the bag on Mom's blog.

Moving right along... we got a really cool award from our friends at Jan's Funny Farm the other day! Thanks, everypup and everycat! Here's the award:

Now we're supposed to list Seven Things about ourselves. Since it's also Photo Finish Friday, I'm going to work that in - a photo for each of the seven things!

1. We like our Kongs empty. Seriously. And the Jaws of Steel doesn't really need any encouragement to chew more aggressively.

Ammy. Looking sweet and innocent. That Kong's on borrowed time. Trust me.

2. We all have new collars and matching leashes! Mom made them. Well... she's not done with Dave's leash yet, but she's getting there. Here are Ammy and Zim with theirs:

Amber and Zim

And here I am with Ammy, getting her to be a little more uncooperative about the whole photo shoot thing.

Ammy and me. Not looking at the camera.

But hey, you can see the leashes; that's the main thing anyway, isn't it?

3. Dave, as most of you are well-aware, is the snuggliest one of all of us. He's not happy unless he's touching a biped, preferably Mom. I think it's part of being a Lab in a Sibe suit.

Dave and Mom. Sweatshirt available through the MaPaw Siberian Husky Rescue store.

4. Zim and I love cats. We enjoy making friends with our neighborhood kitties and keeping in touch with our other cat-pals via texting and emails.

Me and Zimmie

That's a photo my BFF Tia sent me of her and one of her Siberian sisters, Cornelia Marie. Don't they look sweet as can be?!!?

5. The boys and I love going for rides! Ammy... not so much.

Zim and Dave. Road trip!

6. We all love to go exploring! Here is a photo of the redheads from yesterday; they went to the Kansas Ocean!

Zim and Ammy at the KS Ocean

By the way, that's also a good shot of their cool, news leashes! (See item #2 above.)

7. Zim has taken to short-sheeting the bed lately. Several times a day. Ha roo roo roo. He's such a fun pup to have around!

Who.... me?!?!

That's our list; hope you enjoyed it! We're also supposed to tag seven friends, but we're going to do this - if you'd like the award, please take it. But if you do, we'd LOVE to see a list of seven things about you!!! Many thanks to all the crew at Jan's Funny Farm - this was tons of fun!

Tail wags,

Storms