Great News!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  I was going to let Maggie post today - either to show you a video of Mom vacuuming her or to show you the walk at Tuttle Creek State Park that we went on yesterday - but we have some breaking news!  Great news, in fact!  It's snowing!  YAY!

By the time we went on our morning walk, we already had about an inch on the ground.  It started out pretty much like every other walk -

"BOOM!"
"Uff!"

-  except for the lovely snow falling all around!!!

Maggie is sporting a Conservative blue leash and I am wearing pink, by the way. Anyway ... the snow made things way more fun, and THEN, when we got down to the entrance to the Hudson Trail, Dad said we should go left instead of right!

"We haven't gone this way in a long time!"
"I know!  Isn't this great, Mags?!?"

It was so wonderful!  We love going that way!

"Just when I thought this walk couldn't get any better!"
"You said it, Mags!"

There were squirrels running everywhere - it was so great!  Here we are, spotting one at Mom's favorite part of the trail:

"Squirrel!"
"DINNER!"

We had all kinds of options when we got to the end of that part of the Hudson Trail - and I was thrilled with the way Mom and Dad chose to go!   Not only was it the longer route, but we got to go down my favorite hill!!!

That's Dad and Mags out front;
Mom and I brought up the rear

It's hard to see Maggie up there, isn't it?  Anyway, I LOVE that hill (check the second to last photo at this link - hey!  almost the same route we took today!) - and walking it in snow makes it even more fun!

We walked up another trail by the water tower:

Mom likes our colors with the snow and the prairie grasses

As you can see, I have quite a bit of snow gathered on my fur. We stopped to shake it off every now and then, but I had let some build up. Because our coats are so thick, it doesn't melt - it just sits there until we clear it off -- and underneath our coats, we're totally dry! No toweling off needed or anything when we get home! Anyway ... Mom wanted another photo of us against the grasses and we stopped to oblige.

"Hey, Cammie?  Do you know what?"
"What is it, little one?"

Oh, I know what you think she was going to do, but if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, you're thinking the wrong thing!

"I love you, Cammie!"
"Oh, my Maggie.  I love you, too."

Hey.  We all have our schmoopy moments!

"OK, let's roll."
"Yep.  Let's do this!"

It was such a great walk - I wish all of you could have joined us! And the really great news is that it still hasn't stopped!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend!

Cammie!

Photo Finish Friday: Because I'm a Working Breed

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with Photo Finish Friday.  Because I'm a Working Breed pup, I helped Mom and Dad rearrange the living room (to include re-wiring the TV, stereo, whole-house speakers ... you know, the whole shebang!).  It was tough work, but since Cammie was  napping in the kitchen  working elsewhere in the house, it was up to me.  This being Friday, I thought I'd let the photos and captions do most of the talking.  Let's go!

"Mom?  Would you vacuum me next?"

Seriously.  If she's going to vacuum behind every piece of furniture I have to watch them move, you'd think she'd use the vac with attachments and then give me a little fluff.  Am I right?

They moved on to Dad monkeying around with 87 million tiny wires.

"This is exhausting!  ... and just a wee bit boring ... "

Then it came time to move the furniture back around.

"Mom?  I think Dad wants you to move."

"Oh.  ME?!?  Well, I guess I could move ... "

Before I knew it, our hard work had paid off, and the living room was all set!  I inspected:

"Nice.  Pretty nice."

I called Cam in, so she could give it all the once-over.

"Yes.  Yes, I would like a cookie.  Thanks, Mom!"
"What do you mean, Cam was more helpful than I was?!?  She wasn't even HERE!"

I just don't get my mom sometimes.  Fortunately, we both got cookies, then proceeded to the final and most important step:  checking out the layout for zoomies and wrestling!

"This is very nice, M--"
"BOOM!!!"

Again, hard work ... but I'm a Working Breed. It's in my blood. I need to talk to Cammie about her getting more involved next time.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Hike At Tuttle

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Yesterday was one of those days here in Kansas that starts with Mom and Dad in parkas, switching to shorts by afternoon, the winds kicking up, and us enjoying a sharp drop in temps and some snow.  Nothing stuck, but it was nice anyway.  While it was "parkas, no gloves" weather, we all jumped into the RAV4 and headed out to Tuttle Creek State Park!

Mom and Dad thought Eagle Pass Trail would be frozen enough still to not be too muddy (yeah ... Mom's shoes are still in the garage waiting for her to clean them ...) ... anyway, this pleased Maggie and me greatly -- we just LOVE Eagle Pass Trail!  Here we are with Dad, on the approach:

Left to right:  me, Mags, and Dad

Mom was trying to photograph teeny-tiny birdies, so we both walked Dad for a while.  When we hit the actual trail, I went back to walk with Mom.  I checked the River Pond for bigger birds:

"I see ducks, Mom!"

After Mom tried a few shots, Mags and I kicked it into gear:

Mags and me.  Can you tell she engaged her turbo blasters?

There's a really cool thing beside the trail that Mom always likes to look at.  Here I am, checking it out:

"There it is, Mom!"

It's a tree that bends in to form its own wreath.  I'm pretty sure it's a time portal or something.  I don't know where I'd end up if I leapt through it, so I haven't tried it.

Over on the other side of the trail, not too far away, is the warning sign about one of the eagle nests.

Maggie, tiptoeing past the eagle nest sign

We are very quiet near the nest and don't go off the path!

OK, let's get going! We're almost at my favorite part!

"Almost there!"

My favorite part?  And Maggie's?  Where the mulch path ends and the mud begins!

"Is this great or what?!?!"
"I'm having so much fun, I can barely stand it!"

All the sights and smells and sounds!  A great hike, family time ... and MUD!!!  I mean, if we don't have snow, at least we have mud!  It was so wonderful -- and it all did this to Mags:

"I can barely keep my peepers open!"

"Mom?  Maggie's ... tired!  I think we should take a moment to let this sink in!"

Never fear, though.  By the time we got home, she was ready to dive back into EVERYTHING, whole-heartedly.  That's my puppy!  ... I mean "sister".  Whatever.

I hope you enjoyed coming with us!  Isn't the Eagle Pass Trail great?!?!

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

More Dental Health Month Celebrating!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Cam and I posted just recently about Dental Health Month, but it's just so important that we are banding together with some of our Blogville buddies to show you how we brush!

As you may recall from that last post, our brushes were looking a bit ... worn.

"How did my blue one get so messed up?"
"Not a clue, Cam ..."

Do we care about that? Heavens, no.

"Still plenty of life left in this baby, Mom!"

Yep.  The purple one is mine and the blue one is Cam's.  The blue one has a bit set of bristles on one end and smaller ones on the other end.  I'm pretty sure I know why - but let's say it with a video, shall we?  Here is a SHORT vid of Cam having her teeth brushed.  I have a cameo role.

If for some reason that doesn't work, you can click here to view it on Flickr.

OK. So ... Mom put new toothbrushes for us on the shopping list. She really prefers the kind for little bipeds because they have soft bristles, fit easily into our mouths, and they're easy for her to hold. Dad was the one out doing the hunting and gathering and ... well ...

I won't say I refuse to use the ones with the princesses on them, let's just say I thought Cammie should have those ones. Ahem.

"I like the pink princess one!  And poultry toothpaste!  Not that minty stuff, please!"

See? I knew she'd like that one.

Cammie and her pink princess toothbrush

We are very good about tooth brushing! Our breeder started us off right, so we were used to having our mouths handled from an early age. Mom said it's one of the many things our breeder and her daughter did for us that are paying off in spades now. I don't know about that, I just know I'm ready for my turn!!!

"That's not one of those princess ones, is it?"

I get to use one of the cool ones with stars and stuff! Awesome!  And the minty toothpaste!

"Dis ish greant, Mom!"

We were done before I knew it!

"All done, Mags!"
"Can't we load it back up and do some more?"

Regular brushing helps to reduce dental disease, bad breath, and even heart and kidney disease! We try to brush our teeth every day - we hope our post will encourage you to give it a try if you don't already do it! Try it -- it's fun and the canine toothpastes are SO TASTY!!!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Weekend Recap

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  We did a lot of daytime hiking and adventuring over the weekend, then at night we settled in to watch some TV.

"Would you please either fast-forward or put something else on?"
"BOOM!"

What did you all do?

Cammie!

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie, here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  Today, I have a handful of photos from a trip we made out to Tuttle Creek State Park yesterday that I think will help you feel all kinds of relaxed and peaceful.  Ready to go?

Everything was thawing yesterday, so we didn't get to walk the Eagle Pass Trail like normal.  Mom thought it would be "too muddy".  Mags and I were a bit disappointed, as there is really no such thing as "too muddy" as far as we're concerned.  The good news, though, is that there was still a bit of snow on either side of the road!

"We should walk over there in the snow!"
"Excellent idea, Cam!"

We walked over to the right-hand side so we could step in the snow.  And to look out over Willow Lake.  Mostly for the snow, if I'm to be honest.

"Oooooh, snow!  How serene!!!"

"Look across the lake!  Birdie!"

Check out what Maggie spotted!

Bald Eagle!

Maggie is really becoming quite the birder!

"Good job, Mags!"
"Thanks, Cam!'

We went around the locked gate, then spotted some tiny birds - like these:

Eastern Bluebirds

Dad held our leashes while Mom took tiny bird shots. She also took this one of us with the good camera:

Maggie and me.  ❤  I'll always have her six!

I like that one.

After our walk, we drove around the park a bit, stopping here and there. We saw our friend Beth, and Mom walked down to where she was. She could tell Beth had something special in a tree and was taking lots of photos of it; Mom didn't want to scare whatever it was away! When she got there, she discovered that Beth had a pet Chickadee (not really ... but it seemed that way!) who was posing for her! He let Mom take some snaps, too. Here are her faves:

Black Capped Chickadee, doing pull-ups

Singing a lovely song

Posing on a branch

Mom had never had a Chickadee let her get that "up close and personal" before, so she was thrilled! And she was quite happy to run into Beth. It's always nice to see friends!

Before we knew it, it was time to head home.

"Thanks for coming with us, everyone!"

I had a wonderful time at Tuttle, as you can see in the photo above!  I hope you enjoyed coming with us, via Mom's photos.  Maggie?  Did you have fun, too?!?

"Oh, yeah, Cam!  Ohhhh, YEAH!!!"

Have a very serene Sunday, everyone!

Cammie!

PS:  If you'd like to see more from yesterday, please click here.

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

Greetings to all - it's me, Maggie!  Our mom started singing that song yesterday.  You know the one - right?  Check the title of this post.  Yep.  That's the one.  And if our mom was singing it, yours might just as well start singing, too.  Spread the ... joy.  But I digress.

Mom was all "Do you want to build a snowman?!?" and invited Cam and me to join her on the deck.  I thought it was an unusual place to build a snowman, but what do I know?  She was working away and before we knew it, she said, "Hey, girls!  Look!"

Mom's snowman

How do you like that?  Corncob pipe, carrot for a nose, and charcoal for his eyes and smile!  Oh, I know what you're thinking --- didn't Cam and I help?  Well, of COURSE we did!  Here's a shot of us hard at work!

"Girls!  Look!"
"Yeah, uh huh.  Good job, Mom!  BOOM!"
"URFF!!"

Did I mention it was a mini snowman?  Her friend Bonz sent her everything but the snow for Christmas!  Isn't that cool?  She made the stuff herself. Here's another look at our snowman:

Our snowman

Oh, I know, I know.  He's missing a few chunks of coal, isn't he?  Before anyone makes any wild accusations, let me just say that the same woman who broke the lamp when she was "puppy-proofing" the house broke them.  That's right -- MOM.

"How could you even THINK I ate them?!!?"
"This calls for a cookie!"

Mom's putting the pieces back together with some waterproof glue today.  Ahem.

We didn't name him, but now, as I look out the door to the deck at him, I'm thinking "Slushy" might be good.  Or more appropriately, "Mr. Puddle".  We were supposed to have an ice storm then more snow, but instead, it's over 50 degrees out there.  Yep.  "Mr. P" isn't looking too good.

Have a great weekend -- and many thanks to Bonz for the cool snowman stuff!!!  We can't wait to build another snowman!  ... once we get more snow.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher