Photo Finish Friday - Decked Out!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with Photo Finish Friday!  Lately, part of our morning routine has been after breakfast and a family walk, Mom and I play crazy zoomie toy games downstairs, then Cammie and I wrestle and play in the living room, and then we go outside to play on the deck!  Usually that's just me and Cam and Mom, but sometimes Zimmie comes, too, and that makes it extra fun!  This week's PFF is all about the fun we have on the deck!

Zim likes to enjoy the sights and smells out there - and he stands guard over us!

Zim on Guard Duty

While Zimmie keeps us safe, Cammie and I play!

"Want to play, Cammie?"
"You're on, little one!"

I love to play!  I gave Cammie a taste of our patented D'Azul/Polargold paw smack:

"Gotcha, Aunt Cammie!"

Sometimes, when we're out there, it's like ... I don't know.  It's like Cammie gets tired or something.  Can you imagine?

Here we are one day this week, having a meeting:

"Yes, Zim.  Please!"
"No problem, Cam!"
"You guys are the best!"

Do you know what we were talking about?  Maybe this will explain:

"C'mon, kid.  Let's go!"
"OK, Zimmie!"
"Hi, readers. Zim and I swapped out."

"Ha roo!"
"Ha rooooo!"

Oh, how I love playing with Zim!  

We also got a little dusting of snow this week!  Cam and I took Mom outside that day, too:

"Ha roo, Aunt Cam!"
"Let's play, Maggie!"

Nice play bow, isn't it?  Mom's been trying to get a good shot of me doing that forever!

Here are Cammie and me on another day:

I have a lot of important things to say, as you can tell!

Sometimes, we go down to the lower deck to run and play - there's even more room down there, so it's extra fun!  Cammie and I play with toys down there; we had a great game of football this week!

Me!

Whoever ends up with the football wins, right?  Isn't that how it goes?

That's about a wrap for this week!

"I'm ready for a beverage!"

Thanks for playing on the deck with us!  Have a lovely weekend!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Eagle Eye!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  Could you tell where Mom and I were when she took yesterday's photo?  We were at a very cold Tuttle Creek State Park!  It was a very exciting day for us!

The drive out was great.  I didn't think we were going to go all the way to the lake, but we did!  Our first stop was by the dam outflow.  I looked all around ...

... and only saw a couple birdie friends - two Great Blue Herons. Here's a shot of one of them:

Is it me, or does he look like he's tippy-toeing? Ha roo roo roo! He was coming in for a landing.

We drove into the park a bit, winding around on some of the back roads. I'm a very good car rider and Mom knows that if I want to stop, we should stop. That's why we stopped to take yesterday's photo. It was a place we've never stopped before and Mom couldn't figure out why I wanted to stop. But we walked down the road/boat ramp thingie, and she took a good look when we got down to the frozen water's edge:

"BINGO!"

Yep. Look across the River Pond. See the dark object high up in that tree over there? It's an eagle's nest.  And as Mom looked closer, she spotted a bunch of Bald Eagles, adults and juveniles, all perched in the tree!  You can see a close-up of the tree-ful here - and a cheat sheet of where each eagle is here.  I like this close-up of one of the adults best:

Not the clearest shot, but he was mighty far away and it was overcast. Mom couldn't believe I knew they were there, but I did! Why else would I have wanted to stop? We watched them fly all around, fishing and racing each other and stuff for a while, then went to check another area!

We saw a bunch of Snow Geese flying around:

... and this couple-year old Bald Eagle perched in a tree:

He's just starting to get his adult feathers! Isn't he cool?!?

"I love coming out here!"

What a great day! If you'd like to see more photos from our outing, please click here!

Thanks for coming to Tuttle Creek State Park with us.  Hope you had as much fun as I did!

Play bows,
Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

Hudson Trail!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Remember yesterday when Mags told you about the Hudson Trail?  We walked right past it on our way to the rodeo!  Mom said we could walk the trail soon - and so guess where we got to go this morning?!?

Here we are, on the way there:

Me, Dad, and Maggie

I have no idea why that photo looks weird. Mom shot as she walked, so that could have something to do with it.

When we got up to the entrance of Hudson Trail, Maggie jumped up on the chunks of limestone and struck a pose:

I didn't feel like doing that - I wanted to hit the trail!

"Let's go!!!"

Isn't that kind of a cool action shot?

Here we all are on the trail:

Except for Mom, of course.

Here's Maggie:

She was on sensory overload! There are SO MANY great smells and everything along the trail!

We took a quick break while Mom took pix of some birdies. I sat right beside her, snuggled up to her leg, so she couldn't really take a good picture of me, but here's Maggie:

"I see birdies!"

Once the birdies left, we got moving again:

It was so much fun walking the trail with Maggie!

"Oh, Cammie!  This was so fun!"
"Isn't the trail wonderful?!?"

We did zoomies and wrestled in the living room to celebrate when we got home! What a great walk!

Cammie!

My First Rodeo!

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  Oh, did Cammie and I have an exciting walk with Mom and Dad yesterday!  We went on a route I've never been on before!

"This is so exciting!"

For those of you who think Kansas is flat, that photo should put that myth to rest!

At the top of the hill was a really interesting path. Cammie said it's called the Hudson Trail; she's been on it before!

"Keep going straight, Maggie!  We'll take the Trail another time!"

Cammie said we were going to something called CiCo Park and that there is always something really fun going on there!

When we got to the park, the first thing I noticed was this sign:

"Manhattan Garden Show?!?"

A garden show didn't really sound that exciting to me, but I thought it would be worth checking out. Then Cammie said, no, that Mom and Dad had already been to the garden show, and there was something way more exciting at the park! That's when my snooter got busy and WOW!

"Over here, Maggie!"
"Oh, MY!!!!"

It was horses!

I did my best Prime Minister pose, so they'd know it was me - Margaret Thatcher!

"Let it be known that I, Polargold's Margaret Thatcher, have entered the park!"

I'm fairly sure they were impressed.

Cammie and I were both raised around horses, back in our homeland of Missouri, so we were very calm around them.  Cam wasn't even that interested in them, to be honest.  But then ... we walked over to another part of the park ...

"BEEF!!!  It's what's for DINNER!"

"OH, MY!"

It was a pen full of bulls!  We were very calm and quiet around them, too ... even though we might have been thinking about things like ... oh ... DINNER!!!  The bulls weren't interested in us at all and walked off.  Mom said if Zim had been there, they would have been up at the fence wanting to make friends.  I need to get him to teach me how to do that.

We walked around for a bit, enjoying the sights and GREAT smells!  Apparently the horses and bulls were there for the KSU Rodeo.  I sure hope they had a good time - I know I did!

We walked past some new horse friends on the way out of the park; they were very friendly.

"Oh... why, yes.  Yes, this IS my first rodeo.  So to speak, anyway!"

If you'd like to see close-ups of some of the bulls and our new horse friends, please click here to visit our set on Flickr.

The way home was fun, too.  When we got back up to the entrance to Hudson Trail, I jumped up on the limestone and struck a pose:

It's something of a family tradition to jump up there and pose.

Thanks for coming to the rodeo with us! I hope you thought it was as exciting as I did. OH! And Mom said we'll walk the Hudson Trail VERY soon! I can't wait!!!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  This week, we have a collection of photos from right here in our neighborhood that made us feel nice and serene.  Are you ready to take a look?

First up is a shot of Zimmie and me!

Me and Zimmie!

That made me feel serene not only because I was on a special walk with Zim, but also because there was still snow on the ground!!! Here's Zim, with more snow:

My handsome brother Zim!  And snow!!!

I went on a walk later with Cammie, and we found a big shady area where there was still a lot of snow! Take a look:

Me!  And snow!!!

Isn't it beautiful? Cammie did some snow-skating on some crusted-over snow:

My beautiful sister Cammie!  And snow!!!

It was super slippery, so she splayed out her paws for extra traction!

Later in the week, we had a lot of melting - and I discovered something else that gave me great joy: MUD!!!

"So close, yet so far!"

For some odd reason, Mom wouldn't let me walk in it. I don't get that.

We had some wonderful all-family walks this week! I usually walk in front, being the leader and all.

"This way, everyone!"

I love being in the lead!  I also like to pause and check back on Cam and Zim.

"What do you guys see?  Did I miss something?"

Sometimes, because Mom and I go faster and she tells me stuff along the way (nothing important, just silly stuff like "leave it" and "heal" and things like that), I can't focus on Mom AND checking out the neighborhood, so I miss things.  It's almost like that's Mom's plan - isn't that crazy?  It's like she tries to keep me busy.  Hmm.

If we get too far ahead of Zim and Cammie, Mom has me sit and wait.

Me, doing a "sit and wait".
Dad, Zim, and Cam at the crest of the hill.

I like to put a little pounce and neck-grabbing action into the game once they get close enough, but that doesn't seem to be part of Mom's idea of serenity.  Go figure.

I hope you enjoyed Serene Scenery Sunday!  Have a great day.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Clean-Up On Aisle Three!

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie. I have no idea how this happened.

And I think our toy tin is moving.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Friday Funny

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie. Over here in the living room.

"Hello."

Would someone please tell me what my mom thinks is so funny?

Have a good weekend.

Cammie!

Dental Health Month

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Did you know February is Pet Dental Health Month?  It's true!  And as part of the celebration, we were asked to review a product by the KONG Company!  A very nice lady named Abby wrote our mom and asked if we'd be willing to participate.  We normally don't accept offers like this, but (a) we love KONG products and have quite a few of them already and (b) we're going through toys around here lately like you wouldn't believe!  Mom jumped on it!

We received some literature in the package; I read it to everyone:

"Gather 'round, everyone!"

It's all about how we pups love to chew. Mom kept looking at Maggie while I was reading it for some reason. Anyway - here are the products we were asked to review:

Maggie, me, and two KONG Dental Chews!

Don't those look great?!? They are designed to be stuffed into a KONG, to keep you chewing for a long, long time!

These aren't on Zimmie's prescription diet, of course, so us girls did the testing. OH! Don't worry. We didn't want Zim to feel left out, so Mom took our KONG Stuff-a-Ball and stuffed some frozen Stinky Goodness (his canned prescription food) into a couple of the grooves.

"WOWZERS!"

Mom stuffed the Chews into KONG toys for Maggie and me.  Mine was put into a traditional red KONG Classic ...

"YEA!"

... and Maggie got hers in a KONG Classic - the extreme/black kind.

"I love this!"

As Maggie has mentioned, KONG toys are the only thing that holds up to her super jaws and teeth.  In fact, it's only the KONG black/extreme ones now.  Mom has already emailed the people at KONG about this, but if anyone else from the company is reading our blog post -- is there any way you'd consider making some of the Dental toys out of the black/extreme rubber?  Just thought we'd ask.

I eventually got my Dental Chew out of the KONG:

"Oooh!  Go, me!"

I can devour similar-sized chews in a matter of seconds, but this one actually lasted about 15 minutes!  Mom was quite happy with that - and happy that I didn't try to swallow it whole.

Zim had a lot of fun with the Stuff-a-Ball; he really doesn't play with toys much, so that delighted Mom.  She decided to take the KONG Dental (the barbell) and squirt some toothpaste in the grooves for him.  He really liked that, too:

"This is so great!  I love chicken-flavored toothpaste on a KONG!"

Meanwhile, Maggie was still working on hers over in 10 Downing Street:

"Chew, chew, chew!"

She eventually got her Dental Chew out of her KONG, too.  It lasted maybe 20-25 minutes!  That has to be some sort of longevity record!

"Do you need any help, Maggie?"
"No, thank you, Cam.  I'm almost done!"

I was just trying to be a good, thoughtful big sister.  Ahem.  You know.  She's just a little puppy and she might not have been able to finish the whole thing.

Once she was finished, she went to get a beverage.  I thought I'd check things out:

"Wait!  This might be a tiny flake of it!"

Unfortunately for me, there were no remnants of the chew to be found in 10 Downing Street.  That's one of the things Mom liked about these chews, as opposed to some of the others we've tried -- no mess!  Also, no strong smell.

Here's our summary - Maggie and I loved the KONG Dental Chews; Zim can't have any, due to his restricted diet, but he loves KONG Dental Toys stuffed with things he can have.  The chews lasted longer than similar ones we've tried, without the mess or strong odor.  Mom would never give these or any other kind of chew to us unsupervised, as there is always a chance we would try to swallow them whole.  (Call it an occupational hazard of being Siberian Huskies; it's just who we are!)  AND ... if there are any product developers out there from the KONG Company who are reading this, please consider making Extreme/black KONG Dental Toys for overachievers like Maggie.  Thank you.

Many thanks to Abby from the KONG Company for inviting us to participate and for the yummy Dental Chews!  What a great way to celebrate Dental Health Month!

Cammie!

PS:  Disclaimer:  We were not paid for this review, but did receive the two free KONG Dental Chews.  The KONG toys shown in this post are ones we already had on hand.  We've since ordered more, as someone got some chunks off the barbell the other night, and we need new Dental Sticks and Jump'n Jacks.  No need to point the paw at anyone in particular, but that certain someone is pretty much only getting Extreme KONG products from now on.  And lots of LONG walks now that her recovery period after her spay is over!!!

PPS:  We have a special set on Flickr of our product review.  Click here to view.