Help Me Wish Maggie ...

... a very happy third birthday!!!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Today is Maggie's third birthday!  Mom and I had all kinds of fun things scheduled for her!  We thought we'd start things off with a nice family walk:

Me and Mags

We wanted to follow that up with a pool party:

Maggie and me chilling out in the pool!

We thought we'd then treat Maggie to one of her favorite things - a little boxing!

"I 💜 boxing!"

After that, maybe some yard zoomies, then a pause to pose in the garden:

My Maggie!  Polargold's Margaret Thatcher!

Well, that's what we had planned.  Unfortunately, we woke up to a raucous thunderstorm.  After the thunder and lightning passed, we did get the aforementioned family walk in ...

"Wow.  It's pouring!"
"Let's go splash in some puddles!"

We had lots of fun anyway and got home before the next round of lightning rolled in.  We gave Maggie a raincheck for the pool party -- I think we're going to substitute having some cantaloupe in for that today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Maggie!!!!  We love you!!!

Cammie!

PS:  For Maggie's first birthday, we posted baby pictures and last year, we did a lot of Maggie's favorite things together!

Serene Scenery ... Saturday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  This week, we're doing our "serene" post on Saturday.  Mom said tomorrow is reserved for something else, but I'm not sure what.  I asked Cam and she just giggled, so whatever it is, those two are in it together.

Anyway, how about a look around the gardens? That's always a good dose of serenity!

"Let's see ... what's blooming ..."

Actually, up behind me on one of the big side tiers, one of our coneflowers is looking good:

Tomato Soup Coneflowers

In case anyone is wondering, the petals do not taste like tomato soup.  Don't ask how I know!

Moving down the top tier in the back ... here is one of my favorite sedums:

"COOL!  It's the Lime Zinger Sedum!"

How can you not love something named "Zinger"!??!  Oh!  And we transplanted some of it into the Wildflower Garden this week.  We'll keep you posted on how it does.  Something already dug it up; Mom said an HBO word and stuck it back in.  We'll see.  Oh.  Right.  Keep it serene.  Moving right along ...

Right across from that is the Bee Garden.  Look who we saw on the Russian Sage!

BEE!

He's right smack in the middle of that shot.  I was impressed that he knew to hang out in the Bee Garden.  We don't have signs up or anything, he just knew.  Just for that, I didn't even try to eat him.

Looking over the wall, here is a shot of part of the Wildflower Garden:

Euonymous Bushes, Blanket Flowers, and PowWow Wild Berry Coneflowers

If you jump into the Wildflower Garden and turn around, this is what's right on the other side of the wall:

Black Eyed Susans and Blue Spruce Sedum -- and cool rocks!

For the record, I did not jump into the garden.

"Seriously.  How can you even think that?!?"

See?  Up on the retaining wall, like the good puppy that I am!

Here's a shot of me posing on the middle tier's wall:

Me, feeling quite serene!

That's Maiden Grass on the left, and the Lavenders on the right.  Mmm, they smell so good!

Big changes in the Friendship Garden this week!  Check it out:

Lots of pots of sedums!

A local place had a 1/2 off sale going on their pottery (Mom LOVES pottery!) and another place had 1/2 off their plants -- so Mom made the most of both!  The pot on the left, she already had, but added the three others.  She filled them with different sedum plants.

She also did a pot-o-sedum for the front bed by the driveway:

Another pot!

She added three other pots - one on the front porch with an existing pot, one by the garage, and one on the other side of the garage!  She may have gone a bit crazy.

Let me close with some exciting news!  First, we have TWO blooms on one of our Gerbera Daisies!

Gerbera Daisies!

Mom hadn't grown them until this year.  She likes how colorful they are, but wishes they bloomed more.

Speaking of blooms, check out the Hummingbird Mint in our Butterfly Garden:

Hummingbird Mint (Agastache)

And lastly, after planting seeds probably 2 years ago or so, Mom FINALLY has a flower on her Blackberry Lily!

Blackberry or Leopard Lily!

It just opened this morning, and Mom is all kinds of happy about it.

We hope our garden tour helped you feel nice and serene! If you'd like to see more photos, please visit our Garden 2016 album on FlickR!

Stay cool, everybody!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Supervised Play

Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie! The other morning after our walk and some deck time, Mom let us play with a couple of our "under supervision only" toys. She gave us the toys in the kitchen, then we ran into the living room with them.

Cam and me with our toys

We like to be together.  Cam got the purple KONG Genius and I got the Zogoflex Tux.  I don't get to play with any of the KONG Genius toys any more.  Something about getting too big of chunks off them ... I don't know.  Anyway, we had fun with our toys, then I ran around for a while, trying to get Cam to chase me.  Then I asked Cam if I could play with her toy.

Cam and the purple Genius

I took that as a "no". Can't blame a pup for trying. Cam will usually trade with me; she's real nice like that. Anyway, I took my Tux over to the middle of the room and got down to business with it.

"La la la la la ..."

The Tux is "super durable", as per their website.

"Umm... Maggie?"

"Yeah, yeah ... whatever."

"Super durable".  Ha!  It's like they're trying to challenge me or something when they say that!

"Wow, is she good!  Go, Maggie!"

Cam was really proud of me.  Mom decided supervised playtime was over for the day.  But, hey!  I didn't swallow any of the pieces, so I still get to use this one under supervision!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

The Dog Days of Summer

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  As we're in what the bipeds call "The Dog Days of Summer" -- which frankly sounds fun to me, but is supposed to be "a period marked by lethargy, inactivity, or indolence" -- I thought I'd do a little something to help relieve the boredom.  There we were, hanging out on the deck with Mom when Mags and I started feeling it.  You know.  The "blah".

"Is this what ennui feels like?  Why am I even using words like 'ennui'?"

I felt the need to do something about the situation.  It went like ... this:

"♫ Oh, Magggg-gggggie!  Come here, little one! ♫"

"What is it, C--"
"BOOM!"

"Yep.  That ought to do it!  That was fun!"

What are you doing to break the doldrums of the Dog Days of Summer?

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Mags and Cam

Important News

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with some important news from our morning walk:

"I got a stick!"

"I got a STICK!!!"

"I GOT A STICK!!!"

It was a really good one. I carried it for at least half a mile, then left it along the trail for someone else to enjoy.

What a great walk!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

No Dilly-Dallying!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Yesterday morning, Mags and I took Mom on a very fast early-morning walk.  There were storms around us, but Mom checked the radar and said we'd be good to go -- provided we didn't dilly-dally!

When we got down to our corner, Mom made an important discovery:

Me and Maggie 

See out on the horizon? A rainbow! And at the base? US! That's right, Mom said we are the pot of gold at the end of her rainbow!

Oh.  Right. No dilly-dallying. Let's get moving.

"Yeah, yeah.  I know I'm shorter than you are, but I could do without the leprechaun jokes, Cam."
"Ha roo woo roo!  Come on, Maggie; no dilly-dallying!"

She knows I was just kidding.

We did need to hurry, though. Look out this way:

Rain on the horizon!

And look up!

Uh-oh!

Mom still said we'd be OK, but between you and me, I've never seen her climb that last hill quite so fast. When we got to the top, we had a quick look around:

"Looks like we made it, Mags!"
"You aren't going to break out in that Barry Manilow song, are you?  I can't stand that guy!"
"Whew.  Great job, girls!"

Not only did we beat the storm, but we never even got any rain from that cell.  (Happily, we DID get a bunch of rain last night and this morning, which we really needed!  Yay!)  Mom was proud of us for not dilly-dallying -- just in case her radar-tracking skills had been off.

Oh.  And sorry for any Barry Manilow ear worm I might have caused.

Cammie!

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello and greetings to all!  Cam and Mags here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  As you know, it is hotter than hot can even think about being hot here.  Mom's gardens are still going strong -- after we walk her and have a pool party, she goes out in the super hot-hot to work in them.  We know seeing all the pretty plants will help everyone feel serene, but as to who would go outside and pose by the posies ... well ...

"Hmm... try it again, Maggie."
"OK.  Wait.  One potato, two potato ..."

... let's just say we had a hard time deciding.  We thought we'd just send Mom out, then we'd go through the pictures and select the ones we like best.  Fair enough?  Let's start in the Butterfly Garden!

Here's a nice look at some of the second-year plants -- in the "purple corner":

At left, Salvia, in back, Hummingbird Mint, and front right, Pincushion Flower

Also in their second year are the three Butterfly Bushes.  The purply ones are nice and tall and have been blooming all Summer!

Butterfly Bush #1

Butterfly Bush #2

And finally, this week, the white one started blooming!

Butterfly Bush #3

The PowWow Wild Berry Coneflowers are also doing well.  Here's a look at one of them:

PowWow Wild Berry Coneflower

Mom put some new plants in the Wildflower Garden this week; one of the local nurseries was having a half-off sale, so Mom got some good "fillers":

3 Angelina Sedum; behind them is one of the baby Butterfly Weed plants

Blue Spruce Sedum, in front of the Black Eyed Susans

Mom really loves those Blue Spruce ones; they are a "new to her" plant.

This week our Blanket Flowers are looking good, too!

Blanket Flowers 

They were definitely an experiment and Mom is happy with the results!

That's pretty much of a wrap for now.  If you'd like to see more, please visit our Garden 2016 album on FlickR!

"Good job, Mom.  Who, us?  Nah, we're nice and cool.  Serene, too."
"Yes.  Very serene.  I think you need a beverage, Mom."

We hope the stroll around our gardens helped you feel nice and serene, too!  Stay cool and stay hydrated, everyone!

Mags and Cammie!

That's Fair!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Guess what's in town?  That's right - the Riley County Fair and Kaw Valley Rodeo!  We just HAD to make sure our walk took us through the park yesterday so we could check everything out!

First we stopped by the Snow Cone concession:

"Wait.  That place over there has Hawaiian Shave Ice - what's the difference?"
"About a dollar.  Ha roo woo roo!"

For some reason, neither the Snow Cone place nor the Hawaiian Shave Ice place is open at 0700.  I have no idea why not - we would have made it worth their while!  Fortunately for us, Dad had our canteen, so we took a couple water breaks instead.

Cam checked out this place:

"Who's ready for some barbecue?!?"

They weren't open, either.  We decided to check out the animals at the fair instead.

"Hey, Mags!  Check this out!  Little horses!"

"Hello, little horsie!"
"Ha roo!"

They were pretty friendly!

We walked around a bit more and I saw these guys!

"What the what?!!?"

They are SHEEP!  I've never seen sheep in real life before - just the ones who do mattress commercials on TV.  They look a lot different in person.  And wow, are they smelly!  It was quite possibly the highlight of our trip to the fair/rodeo, as far as I was concerned!

Speaking of the rodeo, we walked over to where the rodeo stars hang out during the day next.  Cam wanted her picture taken with this guy:

"Hey, Mom!  Take my picture with my new friend!"

We are very good girls around horses and most of them really like us.

This guy was Mom's favorite:

I went over to see if any of these guys would like to meet me.

"Greetings!  I'm Polargold's Margaret Thatcher!" 

Horses always appreciate good manners.  A couple of them came closer to me ...

"Howdy, little pup!"
"Would you like to be my friend?"

I figured since he came over to say "howdy" (that's what rodeo stars like him say), he'd like to be my friend.  And so ...

"❤!"
"Nose bumps!"

He was a very nice horse!

Even though we didn't get to have Snow Cones, we did have a blast at the Fair and Rodeo!  Thanks for letting us show you around!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher