Update on the Digging Machine

Woo, everypup and almosteverycat!  It's me - Dave!  Well, as you saw yesterday, someone left a really cool piece of machinery out in our driveway.  Zim and I couldn't wait to fire it up and have a little fun with it!  Of course, it wouldn't start that first time, so we had to come in the house, take a couple naps, have a meal, a snack or two, take another nap - you know - the basics!  Imagine my surprise when I came out and saw this:

"What the ... Zim!  You didn't do this, did you!?!?"

He wouldn't have come out here and torn our driveway to smithereens without me, would he?

He said he didn't do it - and Zim and I always tell each other the truth, so of course I believed him. But then ... who did it?

Sniff... sniff...

Zim checked out the scene very carefully and he only recognized one scent out there.

"Hey, Maude!  Any particularly innocent reason as to why I smell your scent over here?"

The Bully Cat?!!?  I can't believe she'd do something like... well, no wait.  Yes, I can.  I just didn't know she knew how to drive a skid steer!  I think we're in deep kimchee, as they say.

Luv,

Dave

Let's Fire This Thing Up!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  I was all set to tell you about a cool walk Dave and I took Mom on over the weekend, but after our walk and coffee on the deck, we came out front and found some great excitement parked in our driveway!!!  Check it out!

"Dave!  How cool is this?!?
Why don't you hop into the shovel thing right here, then I'll fire it up and we'll go for a spin!"

I mean - if it was in our driveway, it has to be for us, right!??!

I reassured Dave that I had lots of experience with these babies, so he had nothing to worry about!

"OK, Zim.  Gimme a minute to get in..."

I let him get his footing real well...

"OK, I'm good to go, Zim.  Can you jump up into the driver's seat?"
"Oh, yeah, no sweat, Dave!"

Well, actually I wasn't real sure how to get into the driver's seat.  I've been more the passenger than the actual driver.  Hmm.  Dave thought if he got out of the shovel, I could jump up from there...

"Hmm..."

...but that didn't quite work out.  I should call Rusty of the Thundering Herd.  He's got lots of experience with these things!  I can't wait to fire this thing up!

Play bows,
Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Luv,
Dave

Stop Right There!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  Did you see what that chair did to Dave yesterday!?!  That's right - it attacked him!  Dave was minding his own business, laying under the table hoping for something to fall his way, when BAM-O!  It grabbed him!  Well, there must be something in the air or something.

"Oh, no, you don't!!!"

Did you see that?!?!? One of the dining room chairs tried to grab me!!!

"Stop right there, Chair!"

Apparently, chairs everywhere are on the march against us.  Beware, pups and kit-cats.  Beware!  We've got our work cut out for us!

Play bows,

Zim

Feeling Trapped?

Woo, everypup and everycat.  And mostly you bipeds who read the Ao4 Digest.  It's me, Dave, ready to kick off another week.  Yeah, that's right ... it's Monday.  Does that leave you feeling trapped?

I think I can relate. I'm feeling a bit trapped myself.

I mean ... literally.

Should I panic?  Oh, wait... I have a better idea!

"Zzzz...."

Yeah.  Naps are way better than panicking!  Woo.

Luv,

Dave

Serene Scenery Sunday - The Sunset Edition

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me - Dave.  We've had some really gorgeous, colorful sunsets lately, so for this week's Serene Scenery Sunday, I thought we'd head out on the deck and look at those skies!

We've been a tad lax in posting sunsets, so these first ones go back a bit.  These two are from the 13th of September:

What a spectacular display of color! God does amazing work, doesn't He? Here's a look at the next night's sky:

Mom downloaded a panoramic app to her iPhone and shot this panoramic shot with that:

Let's look at a couple more, OK?

I think Mom would like some fabric that echoes these colors:

That would spice things up a bit!

As Mom's Guide Dog for the Color Blind, I like to go out with her and admire the sunset.  Zim likes to come out with us, too, to enjoy the zen-ful surroundings.  Our deck gives us the best views!

Me, Dave, looking into the sunset

Here's one more sunset:

Doesn't that just make you feel that inner serenity?!?  Zim thinks it's really peaceful out there, too. Don't you, Zim?

Zim? ... Zim?

"Aww!  Hi, Fluffy Black Cat!"
"Meow, Zim!  Enjoying the view?  Meow!"

I guess there's something for everyone out there.  Woo.

Have a wonderful Sunday - and keep it serene!

Luv,
Dave

This Just In!

Woo, everypup and everycat!  It's me again, Dave!  Not long after I posted my very helpful tutorial yesterday, I received a great email from my friend Bryn.  (Long-time readers of the Ao4 Digest may remember that we used to do a Sunday Salute; we dedicated three to Bryn and her sister Maui.  You can read them here, here and here, if you're interested!)  Anyway, Bryn wrote to share a tute of her own with me!  This is what she said:

"I watched your supper tutorial and thought you'd like to see mine.  It's more of a system but works for me.  My mom was coming home one night and saw this neat thing a neighbor had put out for the trash..."

She went on to say her mom didn't care if someone saw her trash-picking if it was some neat stuff for her and Maui.  Well, Bryn, Zim and I stand in favor of trash-picking ourselves... though our mom and dad don't seem to like us doing it.  Woo.  I guess this is another one of those "different rules for pups and bipeds" things.

Anyway, Bryn's dad did some customizing on that and look at what he came up with!

How cool is that?!?!  Bryn's own table!  Look at what a happy girl she is:

Bryn and her cool table!

Isn't that great?  No bending or straining her neck!  It seems perfect... except for one slight drawback.  Bryn's not the only one who likes it.

Maui

Woo.

Luv,
Dave

PS:  Many thanks to Bryn and Maui for sending us the cool pix!!!

Photo Finish Friday - A Tutorial

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave.  As most of you know, I do a lot to help my mom down in the Studio, where she does all kinds of quilt-y stuff.  Sometimes she makes things up as she goes along, sometimes she follows a pattern, and other times, she follows cool tutorials.  In fact, that little fabric basket I showed you yesterday was made following one.  I noticed there were a lot of pictures that really helped Mom follow along.  With that in mind, I thought I'd post another one of my helpful tutorials for you - as Photo Finish Friday.  This one is all about how to be a really good eater and clean your supper-dupper bowl.  Ready to get started?

Once your supper-dupper bowl has been placed in front of you and you're given the green light to dig in, have at it!

"Mmmm!  Miff isch reamy good..."

Work the other side of the bowl, too!

Nom nom nom...

Sometimes, the food will try to hide along the edge. Move over and try from a different angle!

"Mrrff... gotcha..."

I know what you're thinking! What about those tasty little morsels that are stuck in the bottom? Here's how to deal with those!

"Hold still..."

Oooh. Wait! There's some on the side of the bowl, too.

"Slurpy slurp...  got it!"

I hope you've found my tutorial helpful. Mom said the best "tutes" are written by those who love what they do and are really good at it. Well... I certainly love supper-dupper time and I'm a very good eater! Woo!

Luv,
Dave

Great Ideas From the Studio!

Woo, everypup and everycat!  It's me, Dave!  Mom gets some really great ideas when we work down in the Studio. Take yesterday, for example!  Zim was helping by guarding the stairs and I helped make this really cool fabric basket:

Me and our cool new basket

Dad bought a new shelf and Mom had an idea to make cool fabric baskets to put on it for storage.  Like what we came up with?  I picked those fabrics myself.  Mom and I have a secret stash of batiks in the Studio that only we know about.  (Oh...  and apparently all of Mom's FaceBook friends, too.  I'm sure they won't tell anyone.)  Anyway, I chose all batiks.

I was so helpful with the basket that we finished way earlier than we thought, so Mom got another great idea - let's go to the Kansas Ocean!!!  Now you're talking!!!

Here's Zim when we first got there:

"Hey.  It's raining over this way!"

It was sprinkling (we really need the rain - can you tell how low the ocean is?) but Mom said it wouldn't last, so we should just keep walking.  Sure enough, by the time we turned around and got back to where Mom shot that pic, the  sidewalk  boardwalk was already dry!

"It's like it was never even raining!"

It was nice and cool out there; needless to say, we had a blast!

Here's a cool special effects pic Mom did of us boys:

Zim and me

I hope Mom gets some more great ideas down in the Studio this afternoon!

Luv,

Dave

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

Cat-ching Up

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  How serendipitous that my friends at the Beaded Tail (Sadie, Angel and Isabella) said this on yesterday's post:  "Between you and your shadow, you won't miss anykitty anywhere!"  What makes me say that?  Well, I was out in the front yard last night,  trying to find some excitement  doing my business like a good boy, when I spotted a friend of mine!  She was over across the street in our neighbors' yard.  Mom let me go over to say "ha roo"!  Check out who it was:

"Meow, Zim!  Mrrr-ow!  Mee-ow!  Mrrrrr-owww!"

It's Callie-Co Kitty!!! Wowzers, I hadn't seen her in a long time! It was so great to see her. We communed for a good, long time - she had a lot to say, as you might be able to see in the photo above. She filled me in on everything she's been doing and stuff. I just listened.  Callie still was cat-ching me up on everything and I really didn't want to leave ... but before I knew it, Mom said it was time to go inside. Can you guess what I did when we got in?

"Callie?  Are you still out there?
Hey, Mom.  I really need to use the yard!  Really!"

I hope I see her again soon! I want to finish cat-ching up!

Play bows,
Zim

Me... And My Shaaaaa...

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats!  It's me, Zim.  Yep, it's me... and my shaaaa....

Me and my shadow

Hey, wait a minute.  Is it just me, or is my shadow not facing the same way I am?  Seriously.  How is that even possible?

I think this is going to be a challenging week.

Play bows,

Zim

Serene Scenery Sunflower Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  It's me, Zim, here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  At this time of year, the sunflowers are in full swing all OVER the place here, so I thought I'd share with you some of the sunny sunflower pix Dave and I have helped Mom take lately!

These ones grow up on the hill, beside one of our neighbor's gardens:

Mom likes the dark backdrop of the pine trees!

You can often see bees busy doing their pollen dance on the sunflowers:

Given the number of sunflowers we see on our walks, that guy's got his work cut out for him!

Here's one, stretching its face up to the sun:

That must feel good! I love a good stretch in the sun!

This sunflower was all alone, in a dried out field:

They can grow just about anywhere here!  Check out these next sunflowers, growing out of a pile of rubble:

Sunflowers just make me want to smile!

I hope they bring a smile to your face, too - and that sweet sunflower serenity!

Play bows,

Zim

Weekend Plans?

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave.  Anybody have any big weekend plans?  Zim and I are planning on doing a bit of what we did last weekend.

We watched a little football:

"Hey, look, Mom.  The Chiefs are losing. "

Maybe college football would be a better choice this weekend...

We helped break in the new grill!

"I'm here for you, Mom!"

I was a big help.  I'm from Texas, so I know about grills and BBQ stuff.  Zim helped, too.  He's not just a Drill Sergeant, he's a Grill Sergeant.  Ha woo.

"Good one, Dave!"

I think there's a good chance we'll try out our grill skills again this weekend!

Mom and I will probably also spend some time in the Studio together.

"You are NOT going to put those colors together - are you!?!?
ARE you??!?  Don't DO it, Mom!!!"

Seriously.  You should see some of the concoctions she tries to put together before I intervene!

AND... because it's another wonderfully mild-weathered Fall weekend, I know we have lots of exploring ahead of us!

"Pretend you're looking at the wildflowers, not at the bugs, Dave!"
"Got it, Zim"

Mom mentioned something about a special visitor today, too, but wouldn't tell us guys who.  I can't wait to see who's coming!

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Luv,

Dave

Photo Finish Friday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats! It's me - Zim! Mom wanted a couple pix of me posing by that big planter of posies for Photo Finish Friday this week, but I wasn't really in a sitting and posing mood!

Sure, I was willing to go over there and check everything out:

Those coleus plants are really looking good, aren't they?  And look, there are some petunias still blooming in there and a few geranium flowers!  Take a look:

They're all thriving, even through our crazy-hot weather. And lack of rain. But they're not what I was most interested in! Check it out:

"Great Dane in the morning!"

Can you see it?!!? It's ... it's not just a huge sweet potato vine ... it's ...

"You're not taking us down!  Not on my watch!"

...THE SWEET POTATO VINE THAT ATE MANHATTAN!!!

Coming soon, to a theater near you. Ha roo roo roo!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Play bows,
Zim