We're In!

Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie. We're in! As I mentioned yesterday, Cam and I heard from Meeshka - and we have been accepted into HULA (Husky United Liberation Army). We feel so honored, so proud, so totally jazzed to be able to join ranks with such a prestigious group!

Please click here to read Meeshka's full write-up. I took her advice to heart when she said, "...  I would also suggest you stare at something on the wall, or something behind the humans so they think there's a bug... or axe murderer behind them." Our great-sister Stormy used to do that staring at the wall thing - and Meeshka is right, it is really effective!

I tried it out just last night.  There we were, watching an episode of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.  (For those of you who may have seen my recent FaceBook post about this, I've changed my mind - I'm really enjoying this series.)  Anyway, we were at an especially suspenseful part of the show, and I thought it would be a good time to give it a go.

"Oh, WOW, is this getting exciting!"

I made my move right when Lynley was moving in on the murderer!

"Umm ... Mom?  What's that behind you?"

Worked.  Like.  A.  Charm.

Thank you for the advice, Meeshka!  And thanks from both Cam and me for accepting us into HULA!  We hope to make you proud!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Before I get started, I am beyond pleased to announce that Meeshka has accepted Cam and me into HULA.  More on that tomorrow, but I just wanted to let you all know.

For this week's Serene Scenery Sunday, we thought we'd just show you some photos from our garden.  Mom took some shots, but really ... most of them are a bit uninspiring.

"Sorry ... but it's true."

"It's a bit disappointing, Maggie.  What are we going to use for the post?"

Cam was concerned that we wouldn't have anything serene to post, so I thought I'd give Mom something wonderful to photograph!

"How about a little bit of this?!!?"

"Yeah!  And some of this!"
"And this!"

"Seriously.  Doesn't this beat flowers?"
"We should put a couple up!"

Cam thought we should put a couple of the nicer shots up.  Just to placate Mom.  I mean ... to add a little more serenity.

Here's a Day Lily!

Aunt Janet Day Lily

And one of our Coneflowers:

Pow Wow Wild Berry Echinacea

And one of our famous "shot off the deck with just an iPhone" sunsets:

Does everyone feel nice and serene now?

"BOOM!"
"I feel so peaceful now!"

If you'd like to see the rest of the garden pix, you can click here.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

HULA

Greetings to all - it's me, Maggie!  A very proud day in Ao4 history is upon us.  Cam and I are ready to put in our application to join HULA - the Husky United Liberation Army.  It was after my post about not sitting on the ottoman that Meeshka herself suggested I apply.  We are so excited!  The original Army of Four, Stormy, Ammy, Zim, and Dave, were all members - and now we might be, too!!!  Now ... let's get to it!

"Ready to go?"

Oh.  Right.  Before we get started.  Yes, that's me, above, on the sitzbank.  No, I'm not allowed up there.  Thanks for asking.

The complete application process can be found at this link; let's go through that list of covert deeds!

HULA application:

1. Demonstrating Disruptive Behavior: Some may call it "disruptive". We call it "being Siberians". I'm pretty sure I had this one covered since the day I got here:

"Maggie!"
"Ha rooooo!"

2. Cause Humans to freak out for no real reason: There are no pictures to go with this, but here's something I really enjoy doing! I go somewhere in the house, out of Mom's line of sight, then I cry or whine. Usually, I go lay on the bed in the bedroom. And I wait. Sometimes, I have to cry again. Once Mom hears me, she comes running in with the "Oh, Maggie! What's the matter?!?!" and she's all concerned. Then I give her my Sad Look. Sort of like this:

Yes, that's me on the ottoman.  I'm not allowed up there, either.  I should get bonus points for that. Anyway, once she knows I'm really OK, I get kisses. I like kisses. Then we go do something together. It's fun and is a great way to get Mom to come running to me. I mean - what if I really WAS hurt? She must come check on me.  I'm careful not to do that too often, or it will lose its effectiveness.

3. Destroy Something: Does putting the Lupine "Guaranteed Even If Chewed" promise to the test count? Twice?

"Nice leashes!  Tasty, too!"

4. Human behavior modification: No one can eat fruit in this house without Cam and me helping. We've even brought back the Ao4 tradition of Banana Formation!

Cam, Dad, and me
Notice I'm not sitting all the way.  Bonus points!

5. Humans dress you up: I'm going to assume being in HULA means putting up resistance to wearing props. Cam and I are both pretty good at this. This is us, back in December, when Mom tried to tie a big bow around me:

"I will NOT wear a bow!!!"
"Ha roowooroo!  Go, Maggie!"

And this is Cam from before I got here:

"Really, Mom?  Really?"

Yeah. Mom hasn't tried that again. Let's move along!

6. Love of Kleenex:  We actually have no pictures of either of us with Kleenex.  You can read anything you'd like into that.

I think that should about cover it.

"Oh.  Hi, Mom.  No, we aren't doing anything."
"Yeah.  Hi, Mom.  We're just ... hanging out."

Meeshka, we hope you'll consider our application and accept us into the ranks of HULA.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher
(and Cammie!)

I Can Dig It!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with today's post.  Some of you may remember, that on Sunday, Cammie gave us all a nice tour of the backyard gardens here at Ao4 Headquarters.  What you might not have seen was the comment left by my mentor, Mr. Teddy Westlife, that marvelous mancat from Australia.  He said, "I would like to dig in your garden, Cammie. OH! I have just thought of Maggie's next challenge."  I may still be a puppy, but I can take a hint! Check it out:

"I wonder if this is what he meant?"

Isn't that great?!?

"I can dig it!!!"

Now granted, this wasn't in my garden ...

"Oh, YEAH!"

... but I wonder if that's what Mr. Westlife had in mind?

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Fuel The Cure

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  Today, Maggie and I are participating in our new buddy Oz's blog hop to support Zuke's Fuel The Cure campaign.  For every entry, Zuke's will donate $5 to The Dog and Cat Cancer Fund. We are supposed to make a post showing us loving life -- so let's go do one of our favorite things!

Maggie and me, heading out on an adventure!

We love our adventures!  They are great exercise for us, as well as for Mom and/or Dad.  They are great bonding experiences, good socialization, and help tire a certain almost-11-months-old puppy out!  And perhaps most of all ... they're FUN!!!

"Is this great, or what, Cam?!!?"
"I know, Mags!  I love it!"

In our family, canine cancer has struck hard.  We lost Booter, Ammy, and Zim to different forms of the dreaded disease.  We know that cancer can hit anyone at any time - so we do our best to live life to the fullest and enjoy everything along the way!  We are happy to join with Oz and the other blog hoppers to support Zuke's!

Maggie and me, loving life!

Get out there and do the things you love to do!  And if you'd like to join the blog hop, please click on the links provided!

But now ... it's time for us to head in and get a good drink!

"I'll buy, Cam!"
"You're on, Mags!"

Who knows ... maybe Mom will even give us a Zuke's treat!  We just love those Mini Naturals!

Many thanks to Oz and to Zuke's for this great blog hop!

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie!

Yesterday's Walk

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie.  Yesterday, Cammie and I took both Mom and Dad on a nice, long walk before it got too hot.  We had a great time and saw all kinds of cool stuff - I thought I'd post some of the photos and give you a run-down!  Get a quick drink, then let's get walking!

Me and Cam, at the top of one of the hills 

After we walked past the Kansas Ocean, Mom asked all of us to pose.

Dad, me, and Cam

 Mom just said she wanted us to pose; she didn't specify how we should pose.  I thought I should keep an eye on our six.  Cam was checking for turkeys.  Dad was facing the camera, ready to get walking again.  All doing our own thing.  I like it!

We walked past a lot of Black-Eyed Susans:

Black-Eyed Susans and bugs

And Mom saw all kinds of birdies. She was very excited to get her first shots of an Indigo Bunting!

INDIGO BUNTING!!!

Very pretty birdie!

Speaking of birdies ... we walked up to a little office complex that overlooks Colbert Hills Golf Course.  I wanted to see if we could see anyone getting a birdie or anything.

"Anyone out there?!?"

It's like I had a front-row seat!

"This is better than the Golf Channel, right, Cam?"

"Cam?"

Cam went over to explore the gardens by the office buildings.  Look at the roses she found!

"Aren't they beautiful?"

I couldn't actually see any golfers, so we started home.  On the way, I jumped up and struck a cool pose up on the retaining wall by one of the gardens:

Me!

Here's Cam, taking the lead:

"C'mon, Mags!  About another half mile, then we're home!"

It was such a fun walk - the best part was all of us going together!  If you'd like to see more of the birds and flowers we saw, please click here.  Now ... just one more downhill then uphill, and we're home!  Race you to the water bowl!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Bring Your Sibe To Work Day

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  As many of you know, Friday was "Bring Your Dog To Work Day".  Now, we don't have dogs here at Ao4 Headquarters, but since Cammie and I are Siberians, we thought we should give it a try.  We already spend most of the work day with Mom, so I decided I should go downstairs to Dad's office (our dad works from home) and spend a little bonding time with him.  I have a few photos to show you how that all went; let's get to work!

When I first got there, I had a good look around:

"Hi, Dad!  How's it--ooh!  I didn't know you were teaching Poli Sci this semester!"

One of the college classes he's teaching right now is Political Science!  That's right up my alley!  I mean I am Polargold's Margaret Thatcher!  What a natural fit!

"Well, Dad, it's like my namesake always said, 'The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.' Brilliant, don't you think?" 

He seemed to appreciate my input.  I was hoping we'd do a webinar with his students or something.  Imagine - they could say they studied Poli Sci under Margaret Thatcher!  Alas, Dad didn't have anything like that scheduled.  I looked around a little more and found something else interesting - it was the latest edition of Imprimis:

"Is that an article about Winston Churchill?  I love Winston Churchill!"

I was a ton of help down there, but I think Mom must have missed me - she escorted me up the steps after not nearly enough down in Dad's office.  I was willing to cut Take Your Sibe To Work Day a little short - but I took Imprimis with me.

I thought I'd go lay down on the bed and read it for a while.

"Hi, Mom.  Just settling in to do a little light reading."

Just when I got settled in, Cam joined me.

"Hi, Cam.  I'm reading Imprimis.  Want to read with me?"

We decided to peruse it together.  Two heads are better than one, and all that.

"I found it in the office, Cam. "
"It looks good!"

"What?!?  I only need them when I read."

Did any of you get to participate in Bring Your Dog (or Your Sibe) To Work Day?  I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie, here with Serene Scenery Sunday - a collection of photos we hope will help you feel nice and mellow.  There is a lot going on out in our garden right now, so how about we take a tour around the backyard?

When we first come off the deck, there is a nice array of Day Lilies right across from us.  They are in full bloom right now:

Stella D'Oro Day Lilies

Aren't they pretty?

Let's see if anything is blooming in the upper garden.

"Anything flowery up here?"

Just grasses doing their thing right now; no flowers.  I'll keep you posted.

Oh! Remember the Dazzleberry Sedum plants I showed you last year?  Let's take a look at them now!

Me!  D'Azul's Girl From Ipanema in front of the  Dazzleberry   D'Azulberry Sedum

That's them behind me! They make me smile! Right across from them is something that makes Mom and Dad smile. Take a look:

TOMATOES!!!

I can't wait until Maggie and I get to taste them!

"We will get to try them ... right, Mom?"

Moving right along ...

Me, by the Snow Flower Tree.  No snow currently.
You can also see the Butterfly Weed (orange), the Red Creeping Thyme (pink), and the Purple Emperor Sedum (purple).

Just off to my right, your left, from where I was sitting in that picture, just off-camera, are the Becky Daisies. Here is one of them:

Becky Daisy

Let's go down a little bit this way ...

"Follow me!"

... and take a look at the Lavender!

That's the pink kind (Rosea Lavender) in the foreground, and the regular kind (Blue Fragrant Lavender) in the background!

I hope you liked our garden tour! Do you feel serene now?

"Happy Serene Scenery Sunday!"

I do! And a bit thirsty. Let's get back into the air-conditioning! The drinks are on me!

Cammie!