Happy Easter

(We're recycling the card Mom made 2 years ago...)

From all of us here at Ao4 Headquarters, we wish you a most joyous Easter!

"And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him." Mark 16:6

Indeed, He has risen!
Happy Easter!

The Duck Whisperer

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  You know, with all the coming and going and moving furniture around and everything this past week, it was important for me to get Mom out of the house for some good old-fashioned adventure!  What better way for her to recharge her batteries than with some trips to the Kansas Ocean - am I right here?  Of course.  I thought I'd share some pix from our first trip out there today.

When we first got there, I had a good look around.

"Mom!  There are all kinds of cool ducks and birds out there!"

Mom couldn't see them.  I had to work my magic and lure them a bit closer!  When I did, we saw ...

Redhead Ducks and a Bufflehead Duck!

I know. We'd never heard of Buffleheads, either.  Here's a closer look:

Bufflehead

Look at who was fishing over by the bank!

Great Blue Heron!

Yep!  A Great Blue!  If you look by the bank, just to the upper-left of Mom's watermark, you can see a Killdeer, too!

Here's another shot of the Great Blue!

Great Blue Heron with a Northern Shoveler and a Blue Winged Teal!

Here they are again:

Great Blue Heron with a Northern Shoveler and Blue Winged Teals

We had never seen Blue Winged Teals in real life, either!  What a great day!

Here's a female Northern Shoveler:

Female Northern Shoveler

Isn't she pretty?  Here's her counterpart, the male:

Male Northern Shoveler

Here's another look at some of the Teals:

Blue Winged Teals

I thought they were cool - but you all know my favorite duck, right?  The Redhead!

Redheads rock!

I'd like to think that given how close he swam to me, that we made a connection!  You know, one redhead to another.  Sort of a "birds of a feather" thing.  Ha roo roo roo.

The ducks eventually went fishing on the farther side of the ocean, so I thanked everyone for swimming over and wished them all good hunting.  

"Come on, Mom, let's see what's shaking over by the transoceanic bridge!"

We did a little more exploring, then headed back to Ao4 HQs.  We went back to the ocean the next day and saw more duck friends.  Pix from that trip coming soon!

Play bows,

Zim

Photo Finish Friday: New Furniture

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  It's me, Zim.  As Dave and I have been telling you, we got a shipment of new furniture in here at Ao4 HQs.  Oh, no, it didn't all come at the same time or even on the same day - that would be too easy!  Anyway, the last of it arrived yesterday.  I thought I'd share my reaction to some of it with you today for Photo Finish Friday.  Ready?

Yesterday's shipment was a mattress to go on Mom and Dad's new bed frame.  The guys who delivered it seemed to have some sort of aversion to Siberian Huskies, like the other furniture guys.

"Can you believe that?"

I mean, seriously:  no hugs for Dave, no ear scratchies for me, no exclamations of "Oh, they're so handsome!"... nothing!  It was enough to make my brown  eyes  eye blue.  (And of course, Dave's blue eyes got even bluer!)  After the guys left, Mom gave me some chin scratchies and sweet talk -

My schmoopiest schmoopy look

- and that certainly helped.  THEN she said she needed my help putting the bedding on the new bed, and that really did the trick!

"Ha roo!"

I'm sure she said she needed my help.  Either that, or she asked me to stay in the living room and not to help.  One of the two.  And really, how could she NOT want my help?!?

"CHASE ME, Mom!"

Who would want to take 5 minutes to make a bed alone?  With my help, it takes a good 15 to 20 and is tons more fun!

The new bed is higher than our old one and the mattress is lots different.

"WHOA!  This feels way different!"

It may take me a while to get used to it.

One benefit I've discovered is the higher the perch, the better the view!

"Wow.  I can see everything out back from here!"

It's a crazy-good view from up there now.

"Hey!  Hey, Schnauzers!  I see what you're doing out there!"

Pretty cool.  I think it's a keeper.

Play bows,

Zim

But ... We're Siberian Huskies!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  It's me, Zim.  Remember Tuesday I told you we were having furniture delivered?  It finally got here yesterday.  Hmm.  Anyway, Dave and I were right there to supervise everything.  We put Mom on a leash so she wouldn't run out the door they kept leaving open.

"Ha roo!  I'm Zim!

One of the delivery men mentioned he's afraid of dogs.  Actually, more like "terrified" rather than "afraid".  Mom suggested to me that I get into a down/stay.

"What does him being afraid of dogs have to do with me?  I'm a Siberian Husky!"

He was especially afraid of "the big one".  I think he meant Dave, not Mom - just for the record.

"Hey, Mister!  How 'bout a hug?"
"Maybe he's Hug-a-phobic, DaveDave."

Dave was pretty upset about the whole thing.  I mean - someone coming into our house and not wanting a hug?  It was pretty upsetting for him.

"He's come mighty close to hurting my feelings, Zim."
"Try not to take it personally, Dave.  He has mistaken us for dogs."

Oh, yeah.  All of our beds from the bedroom were piled up there in the living room to get them out of the way.  One of our friends suggested that I should pounce on it - sounded like a great idea to me!

"Ha roo!  I'm the King of the Bed Pile!"

Not as fun as a really cool snow fort, but it was a good substitute.  And it helped pass the time.

This is the activity Dave chose:

"Zzz... hugs... snuggling... tummy rubs... zzz..."

I guess Dave IS pretty scary.  Ha roo roo roo!  

When the guys were leaving, Mom asked the one guy if we had changed his mind about dogs.  Or about Siberian Huskies.  He said we were really impressive and well-behaved ... but "no".  Oh, well.  We did try.  And I still don't get what we have to do with being afraid of dogs!  We're Siberian Huskies!

In other news, did you see the full moon last night?  Dave took Mom for a walk right around moon-rise and helped her take these pix:

I think I feel some howling coming on.  Ha rooooOOOoooooOOOO!  Catch you guys later!

Play bows,
Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Luv,
Dave

There's Snow Out There!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  It's me, Zim.  Our roads are nice and clear after our weekend snowstorm, so I helped Mom run an errand yesterday afternoon.

"Oooh!  Look across the Flint Hills!  Someone's getting more snow!"

Can you see it out there?  We turned the corner and had a better view:

Yep.  Some lucky folks out that way were getting more snow!  I suggested we drive out that way so we could enjoy it, too!

"No, Mom... turn RIGHT!  Mom?  Mom?!?  Mom, you're going the wrong way!"

I don't want to say anything, but someone around here needs to listen to her navigator a bit more closely!

In other news, this is what it looked like when our snow started the other day:

"I think the Yorkie puppy's been here, Zim!"
"Oh, yeah.  That's his mark, alright!"

Have a great day, everyone.  We're having furniture delivered, so I'm off to supervise the whole thing!

Play bows,

Zim

A Tale of Two Siberians

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave.  As you all know, it's now Springtime in Kansas.  Here is a picture of me and Zim out enjoying an afternoon walk a few days ago:

"Beautiful day, isn't it, Zim?"
"Oh, yeah, Dave.  Hey... I think I see a kit-cat friend!"

This being Kansas, we had a snowstorm over the weekend, temps dropped into the 20s, and there is tons of wind.  Overnight last night, we got another "dusting".  That being said, one of us would now prefer to do this:

"Mmm... fluffy, warm, flannel quilt... zzzz..."

"Who's with me on this?"

I'm not the only one!

"Mmmmm ... Mom!  Hi, Mom!"

I might, however, be the only one on four legs around here who feels this way!

"Hey, Mom.  Whatcha doing?  Ready to go on an adventure!??!"

I can't help it.  I'm from Texas.  The warm part of Texas.  Woo.

Luv,
Dave

Serene Scenery Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  It's me, Zim.  Are you ready to kick back and relax?  To let the serenity of some gorgeous Kansas scenery wash over you?  Ready to enter the Zen of Zim Zone?  Then let's head back to Tuttle Creek State Park and look at those photos I mentioned yesterday!

As I said, when Mom and I first got to the State Park, we had a good look around.  We checked the water in front of our parking area, then went down to the look out to see if anything was happening down there.

We walked down to the water's edge, but didn't see any animals to commune with.  It sure was pretty down there, though.  Here's a look up at some of the pond areas:

I've heard there are beaver dams up there!  I'll have to explore that area some more and maybe make some new friends.  Oh.  Speaking of new friends - here's my pelican friend!

American White Pelican

Isn't he a handsome bird?!?

We also saw this gathering of Cormorants out on a tree sticking up out of the water:

Cormorants and Canada Geese

Some Canada Geese were out there with them - and a bunch of assorted ducks in the distance.  Is it me, or are the Cormorants a bit scary-looking?  Let's get back to Mr. Pelican!

"Honk, Zim!"

He was checking me out there!  We made a lot of eye contact, but I made sure to look away so he wouldn't feel threatened or anything.

This hawk was keeping watch over everyone from his perch way up high:

There's a chance that's a juvenile Bald Eagle, but Mom isn't real sure.  Feel free to weigh in on that if you feel strongly either way.

As I mentioned yesterday, my pelican friend swam up one of the narrow parts of the water, following me and Mom.  Here's a shot of him swimming in that area:

When Mom and I got over by our car to drive out to another area of the park, this is what he did:



Yep.  He flew back over to where he was when we first saw him.  I thought it was really cool that he came over to us; I love making new friends!

OK - so speaking of new friends, we drove over to another area of the River Pond and I saw a bunch of gooses!  It was really cool.  Mom said we could walk out just a little bit onto this little dock - so I asked the gooses to meet me out there!

"Ha roo, gooses!  I'm Zim.  Meet me by the dock?!?"

They came swimming over to meet me.  I especially liked this guy:

Canada Goose

You can see by the water that it was mighty cold and windy!  The gooses didn't mind, though - and neither did I!

Mom took a bunch of pix of the gooses; if you'd like to see more of them and more of all the birdies we saw, please click here.  Anyway, Mom spotted some ducks way out beyond my new goose friends and was trying to get some pictures of them.  I thought I'd see what I could do to help out ...

"Hey, gooses.  See those ducks over there?  Are they friends of yours?
Can you invite them to come a little closer?
My mom would like to get some photos!"

"Those guys, eh?  Sure.  I'll go get them, Zim."

Good to his word, my new goose friend swam over then brought some of those ducks back with him.  Mom was pretty excited.

Northern Shovelers

We just had the best time, seeing all the beauty of the River Pond area at the park, making new friends, and just spending time together.  I hope our photos helped you feel a bit more serene today!

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Play bows,

Zim