New Threads

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  Hey, remember last week Dave showed you the new camo collars and leashes Mom made us?  Right!  The wild Kansas State University purple for Dave and the Infantry Penn State University blue for me!  (Trying to placate Mom here...)  Anyway, they are made out of a bazillion thicknesses of twill fabric and some other stuff inside for even more strength.  When we have wet weather, though, it's good to use nylon (it dries quicker and doesn't get as messed up), so Dave found some nylon webbing in the Studio and had Mom make some coordinating leashes.

Purple for Dave and blue for me. We tried them out, then Mom thought she'd add a D-ring by the handle to make them easier to hang up:

Pretty cool, don't you think?!? As they say on TV, "But wait! That's not all!" It seems Mom did a little webbing shopping on the web (ha roo roo roo!) and bought some really cool stuff to make us even more new threads! Check it out!!!

Aren't they the coolest?!?!  It's digital "desert" camo and digital "grunt" camo!  ("Grunt" is a military slang term used for Infantry soldiers.)  And see on the right-hand side of the photo?  Mom also bought 2" wide webbing. We've seen some of our cool Great Dane friends wearing 2" wide collars and they looked really comfy; we thought we should give that a go.  Mom bought new 2" wide hardware and made us limited slip collars!  We thought it would be worth trying out!

Here I am, trying on the grunt camo collar with matching leash:

"Hey, is anycat out here?!?  Check out my new collar and leash!!"

I wanted to see what my kit-cat friends thought, but nocat was out there.

Then I tried out the 1" wide (the width we normally wear) and looked for my friends again.  I spotted Fluffy Black in our back yard:

"Hey Fluffy Black Cat!  Come check out my new leash and collar!"
"OK ... meet you around the other side, Zim!"

We met up on the other side of the house:

"C'mon up and tell me what you think!"

She came up the steps a bit, said she liked it ... then got a bit distracted.

"That's nice, Z--OOOH!  Birdies!  There are birdies in your bushes!!!"

I totally understand that getting distracted thing.

Later on, Dave decided since he used to wear desert camo and I wore woodland green camo, it would be fun to switch.  Here we are:

Dave and me

Can you even see me? In the right lighting, me and my collar & leash are all the same color!  Hey... that could be a lot of fun!   Ha roo roo roo!

Mom bought some more camo webbing, so we might switch things around later, but for now, these are our new threads!  What do you think of our color choices?

Play bows,
Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Luv,

Dave

What I Do

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  As you know, Dave works very hard as our Mom's Guide Dog for the Color Blind.  Here's a recent shot of him performing his duties:

Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind, working in Mom's Studio

Some of you might be wondering what I do to keep myself busy while Dave's working in the Studio.  Well, fear not!  I'm hard at work, too!  Oh, I don't do color stuff - I'm on Guard Duty!

I like to position myself on the stair landing, so I can deal with any intruders who might try to use the steps.  No one gets in or out of the downstairs without going past me! Mom shot this pic of me the other day with her iPhone. You can see what an exhausting job I have!

"Zzzzz...."

Well, OK... I might have been taking a break at that point... but only because I had been working really, really hard! (Or maybe because Mom takes us for a long walk before she goes down to the Studio... I'm not sure.)

Here's a look from another day:

SGT Zim on Guard Duty

I was so hard at work that Mom commemorated my act in a special effects photo.  It's a tricky maneuver I'm performing; how about another view?



 I'm a professional; do not try this at home!

As you can see, Dave and I work equally hard while Mom's in the Studio!  He's got her color choices covered, while I stand guard!

Play bows,
Zim

It's Great To Have Friends

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim.  I have to tell you - it's great to have friends!  Take the other evening, for example...

Some of Mom's FaceBook friends have already heard about this, but I haven't told you yet:  there's a bully in the neighborhood.  That's right, a bully.  Her name is Maude.  She's arched her back and hissed at me -- wait -- did I tell you she's a cat?  She is.  Anyway, she's arched her back and hissed at me twice now.  Oh, sure, she comes over to me like she wants to be pals, then she does that hissing thing!  What a bully!  The first time she did it, Stormy told her to knock it off.  The second time she did it, my pal Fluffy Black Cat jumped her.  (Ha roo roo roo!)  So the other evening, I saw my friend Callie-Co Kitty out between our house and the neighbors' house, so I slowly walked over to see her.

We still can't get videos to embed without the formatting getting all messed up, so please click here to see it.  It's short - I promise.  It's me, slowly walking over toward Callie (I don't want to scare her!) then laying down.  Mom pointed the camera down the hill and saw Maude the Bully Cat, then Fluffy Black Cat a little further down.  Maude saw me hanging out with Callie, and ... Mom shot a bunch of pix with her iPhone, so I'll caption those for you ...

"Well, well, well... who do we have here?"

"Meow, Maude.  Where are you going?"
"Never you mind, Fluffy Black!"

See?  Can you believe how she talks to Fluffy Black Cat?  What a bully!

"Just going to walk up the Ao4 Headquarters staircase..."
"Uh-oh... I smell trouble!"

"'Trouble'?  No... I'm an innocent little kitty cat, just sitting here..."
"Hmm..."

"Oh... say.  Is that Zim?"
"I knew you were up to something!"

"Ha roo, girls!  Callie and I are just hanging out.  Want to join us?"

I mean, they're the ones who came over to me, so I figured I'd be polite and extend the paw of friendship.

"Really.  You're welcome to ... hey, where ya going?" 

Then she blew past me ...

"Hey!  I'm in a down/stay.  This isn't fair!!!"

... and tried to outflank me! It was so unfair!!! I was in a "down/stay"!

Anyway... Fluffy Black saw what Maude the Bully was up to...

"I knew she was going to pull something like this!"

... and offered to handle the situation for me.

"I've got this handled, Zim!"

I've gotta tell ya ... it's great to have friends!

Play bows,
Zim

PS: No kit-cats were harmed in the shooting of this blog post. Fluffy Black ran Maude the Bully Cat off and Callie-Co went into the honeysuckle to hunt for whatever it is she hunts for in there.  For those who are wondering, YES, I could take care of Maude if I wanted to, but Mom will not allow it.  Let's just not go there.

Serene Scenery Sunday

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me - Dave!  This week's Serene Scenery Sunday post is all about my very first trip to that Tuttle Creek Dam/Ocean place Zim has told you about!!!  I couldn't believe my pointy ears when I heard Mom say I could go!  Are you ready to hit the beach?  Let's go!!!

Here I am down on the path that runs along the shore.

Me.  Dave!  At the Tuttle Creek Dam/Ocean!

Isn't that cool?  My very first time there!  It was everything Zim said it would be!  I snoofed all kinds of great smells and saw all sorts of stuff like the dam/ocean, that castle thing, and the buffalo.  (They still haven't moved, by the way...)

Know what else I saw? A duck! Check him out:

Isn't he cool? We saw a bunch just like him earlier in the day at the Kansas Ocean. I wonder if they followed us?

Oh, yeah. "Us". Guess who else was there?

"Are you guys coming?"

Yep. My dad! But guess who else?  Guess who was trying to make friends with the du... making sure the duck wasn't going to jump us?

"But he's a cute little guy!  We could bring him home and let him live in the bathtub!"

Yep!  Zimmie!!!

Mom told Zim they needed to catch up with me and Dad.  Too bad.  He really liked that duck!  Maybe the next time we walk down to the Kansas Ocean he'll be down there and Zim can invite him over to the house.

Anyway - here we are, checking out the surf conditions:

It was a pretty calm day. I couldn't see any waves at all.

After we turned around to go back, Mom jumped way ahead of us guys so she could get this cool action shot of us:

Zimmie, Dad and me.

We had a great walk - and I sure hope you enjoyed coming with us.  The Tuttle Creek Dam/Ocean is not only as cool as Zim promised, it's a mighty serene place, as well!

Luv,
Dave

Kick Back Saturday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats, it's me, Zim!  It's Saturday and you know what that means.  Yep.  Time to kick back...  Relax...  Unwind...

Hang ten!

Put your feety-feet up!

Play bows,
Zim

Photo Finish Friday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats. It's me, Zim.  What?!!?  It's Photo Finish Friday already?!!?

Hmm... OK. How about this one?

Play bows,
Zim

Where Were We?

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  I know the other day I said I'd get back to you with more about our recent adventure.  Now ... where were we?  Oh, yeah!  Right about ...

HERE! Ha roo! OK... time to ditch the shadows and do some exploring!

"Hey, let's go this way!"
"Hey, let's go this way!"

Mom didn't like either of our suggestions. For some reason she wanted to go straight. "Blah blah blah path, blah blah bugs, blah blah snakes ..." I have no idea.

We walked along the path for a good while, then I pulled over to look out over the valley below. Take a look:

"Ha-loo down there!!!"

I thought I saw some people down there hiking.

"Maybe the people will hike up here!"
"People?  I wonder if any of them need a hug!"

Well, they did hike up around to where we were, but they acted kind of scared of us (or maybe of Mom...), so we stepped off the path and let them have a wide berth to get around us. Dave and I sat real nice; Mom stood. (That's why I think maybe they were scared of her! She didn't sit nice like us! Though I did hear them mutter something about a "coyote". Then they looked at me. How very strange.)

Anyway, we got to a sharp drop-off area and had a great look around.

"Hey!  More hikers!"

I thought I saw people down there, too. I wanted to go meet them, but Dave and Mom said we should turn around.

"...and my brother is NOT a coyote, no matter what those other people might try to tell you!
Let's turn and go the other way, Mom!"

Dave's a really loyal guy.  I couldn't ask for a better big brother!

After we turned, he found something really cool to snoof!

It was a great hike at the Top of the World! I wish all of you could have been there!

"What a great hike!"

Until next time!
Play bows,
Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Luv,
Dave

Shadow Play

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  Dave and I keep meaning to tell you about a recent trip we took to the Top of the World.  It was a great day with clear blue skies and lots of bright sunshine.  We did a lot of walking and snoofing, and Mom did a lot of walking and photo shooting ... so we're going to split it up into a couple posts.  Today it's all about our really cool shadows!  Let's have a look!

Here I am with my shadow, checking out the horizon!

Me and my shadow!

Dave and his shadow were doing some snoofing:

"Woo!  I smell something good!"

Dave and I both wondered why he gets told "On by!" or "Leave it!" but his shadow doesn't.

"Ha woo!"

Mom thought Dave's shadow looked like a puppy entering the "big ears" stage in this next shot:

"My shadow is what I looked like when I was 6 months old!"

I thought I'd try to make my ears tiny; check it out:

Here are Dave and his shadow looking down the path:

"I should write a Haik-Woo about this place..."

Doesn't he look pensive? Then Mom said we should think about heading home and getting some water. Dave and his shadow were all for it:

I hope you liked our shadow show! We'll have more pix from the Top of the World on Thursday!

Play bows,
Zim (and my shadow!)

KSO Photo Shoot?

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me - Dave!  Mom made new camo collars for me and Zim over the weekend.  I helped, of course, and they're really cool.

Me, Dave, helping in the Studio

That's my new really cool collar and leash in the foreground!  Purple camo!!!  I love purple!  After Mom made my set, I helped pick out the right fabric for Zim's new combo - here he is, showing it off out front:

Zim in his new collar and leash!

Doesn't the bright blue look cool on him?!?!

A friend of Mom's (Zim's Valentine Holly's mom) had a great idea; she said we should do a fashion photo shoot by the Kansas Ocean!  When it was time for this morning's big walk, Dad said we should walk down to the KSO and back, so Mom grabbed her camera for the big shoot!

Here's a shot of Zim, looking out over the ocean:

Zim at the KSO

The sun was already pretty bright so we were both pretty squinty-eyed.

Me, Dave, at the KSO

Because this was our first big walk of the day, we didn't really feel too much like posing. Usually we do our shoots in the afternoon - something about tired Siberians being more cooperative. I'm not sure. Zim and I weren't really listening.

"...one dog goes one way, and the other dog goes the other way..."

Umm... here's another shot of me:

On the way home, we saw one of Zim's friends:

I hope she noticed our cool new camo collars and leashes! Woo!

Luv,
Dave