Serene Sunday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Guest Rooms

Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie. The way upstairs of Ao4 Headquarters consists of two guest rooms and a bathroom. It's perfect for when we have over-night friends - everyone has some privacy! Normally, Mom keeps a gate across the stairs so "someone" (???) can't go up there. This weekend, we were having guests, though, so she moved the gate to get everything prepped.

"No, I'm not done up here yet, Mom."

I helped, of course.  I have no idea why Mom thanked Cam so much -- all she did was laze around the main floor.  How is that helping?

Oh, well.  The guest rooms are standing tall.  Who else wants to come over?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher 

Moping, Not Mopping

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, picking up from where I left off yesterday!  As you may recall, I was all excited because our dad brought home a really cool thing!  In a box!  Anyway, I was right about ...

"Ooh, what is it?!?"

... here. Or there. Whatever.

We need a closer look at what's in that box!  I mean, the box was really cool, but a little on the "tight squeeze" side of the spectrum, should I have wanted to get inside. I was more excited about the contents for a change!

"Hey, this is really COOL!"

I thought it was a salad spinner at first, but no.  It was sort of an old school-style bucket and mop with a newfangled twist!  It's the O-Cedar EasyWring Microfiber Spin Mop and Bucket Floor Cleaning System. I couldn't wait to try it out - nor could Mom! She splashed some Mr. Clean in the bucket, filled it with water, and ...

"What do you mean, I can't help?!?"

I couldn't believe it!  A new house-cleaning thingie and I don't get to help?  Unbelievable!

"Fine.  I get to help with the vacuuming, though, right?"

I did get to help with the vacuuming, so at least there's that.  Plus Cam saw that I was moping about the no mopping thing, so she initiated a round of Crazed River Otter Games with me.  Is she sweet, or what?  I have THE best big sister ever!!!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher 

Breaking News!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Today, I was all set to tell you about the really cool thing Dad brought home for me the other day ...

"How cool!  For me, I assume?!!?"

... but as the title of this post says, we have breaking news!

Oh. Right. Sorry, Mom. "Break" is a 4-letter word around here. Anyway ... to our story!

Guess what happened to Mom yesterday?!!? Here's a hint:

Orthopedic tech guy:  "Bzzzzzzz...."
Mom:  "Never have I been so happy to see a man with a saw!"

That's right - they sawed her cast off!  They x-rayed again, then said she could go cast-free!!!!!!

Sing it with me!  To the tune of "Born Free"!

"Cast free!!!  

As free as the wind blows!  

As free as the grass grows, 

cast free to follow your hearttttt...."

OK, cast-free, but not splint free.  She'll be wearing this for a month or so ...
 

"Don't worry.  Dr. Mags will make sure she doesn't overdo."
"YAY!!!"
"Oooh, are we going to get Sibe fluff all over that thing!!!  Let the coat-blowing begin!!!"

Even more good news is that she can take it off to shower and for when she has her occupational therapy appointments!  Needless to say, she is VERY, very happy!

Be sure to tune back in tomorrow to hear about my super-cool new mop!!!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher 

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie!

I Think I've Got It

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie. Cammie and I have never done the "Tongue Out Tuesday" thing, but I thought I'd give it a go this week.  Check it out:

Is that about right?

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Bad Boys! Bad Boys! Whatcha Gonna Do?

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie. Many of you already know that I have a penchant for TV -- especially British detective shows. I do like some American TV shows, too.

So there we were the other night ...

TV:  🎶 "Bad boys! Bad boys!  Whatcha gonna do? ..." 🎶
"Oooh!  COPS!"

I like that show a LOT! Oh, not for the K9 units they sometimes feature -- although those episodes get Cam interested! I just like the show in general. Here's a very short clip of me watching:

To watch on YouTube, please click here.

Yeah ... just not buying it at all!

Do you like to watch TV?  What shows do you like?

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

PS:  Oh. Well, anticipating your question -- yes. I went over and gave my mom a kiss. It's who I am.

Seriously Serene Sunday

Hello, everyone. It's me, Cam. This week, for your dose of serenity, we're showing you our serious side.

"Get our serious side, Mom."
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's my brown-eyed side."

"Do you think she knows what she's doing, Mags?"
"No.  But she has treats, so just keep doing your Serious Look."

Serious Look, serious treat dispensing, seriously serene!

Have a great Sunday!

Cammie!

What I Had In Mind

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  So ... guess where we got to go on today's walk?!?

"Ah!  The Kansas Ocean!"
"Smell that sea air!   Feel that breeze!"

It was wonderful -- so much better than yesterday!

"Are you two happy now?"
"I need my sunglasses, Mom!"
"Yes!!!  Much better route, Mom!"

What a great walk, a great day - and a great way to kick off the weekend!  Have a good one, everybody!

Cammie!

Flower Friday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with Flower Friday!  Let's start with some beautiful flowers Cam and I saw on our walk this morning:

"Cam!  Check these out!"
"Whatever."

Don't mind her -- she was a little bit ... mopey because she didn't want to go this way this morning. True, we went this way yesterday, but c'mon!  There's always something new to see!!!

"Look at all that purple and pink!!!"

Well, Mom and I liked it.

Right here at home, our Redbud Trees are finishing up, but still have little clusters of blooms on the trunk:

Redbud Tree blooms

In full bloom are our Pink Lily of the Valley:

Our Maggie and Mitch Lily of the Valley

You can read the special story behind them at this link.  We love having flowers from our friends!  Speaking of which ...

In addition to our M&M Lily of the Valley, we have regular white ones AND some large white ones from our friend Beth!  They're in bloom, too!

Beth Lily of the Valley

Not only are we growing some of Beth's Lily of the Valley, but as we showed you on our last Serene Scenery Sunday post, we planted some of her White Lilac cuttings a few years ago -- and it's blooming!!!

First blooms on our Beth White Lilacs!

Our Old-Fashioned Lilacs are just about done for the season, but it still has some wonderfully fragrant flowers:

Can you almost smell the Old-Fashioned Lilacs?!!?

Out front, our Dwarf Korean Lilacs are just getting started!  Here's a shot of Cam beside those:

"I really wanted to walk past the Kansas Ocean today..."

I think I'm going to need to cheer her up with some extra Crazed River Otter Games later on!!!

Moving right along, even though they haven't fully opened yet, they're already quite fragrant!  Mom was giving them a little sniff - and I couldn't resist sticking my snooter in, too!   Then ...

"Oh, yeah, Mom!  Tasty, too!"

We moved over to the other side of the yard after that. I have no idea why. 

Anyway, over here, one of our favorites is about to bloom:

Me in front of the Snowball Viburnum Bush

Yep. Our very own Snowball Bush!  I can't wait for those babies to open up, so Cam and I can have a snowball fight!!!

Those are the flowers in our neck of the woods this Friday; we hope they brought you some smiles. (If not, swing by later and join me and Cam in our round of CROG - that always makes everyone around here smile!)

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Carrier Landings

Greetings to all. It's me, Maggie. The other day, I was once again practicing my aircraft carrier landings (my touch and goes) and Mom had her iPhone handy. Let's take a look at how she did!

"Did you get that one, Mom?!?"

She missed.  I took another lap around the living room/dining room and flew in again.

"Woo!  That was a good one!  Did you get it?"

Yeah. She missed my approach again.

"When is that cast coming off, Mom?  It's cramping my photo shoots!"

She wasn't able to get any good shots of the real action -- but she did get some decent shots of the "touch" part of the "touch and go" equation!  

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher 

Wordless Wednesday

Mags and Cam

Easter Parade

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie! The Easter excitement around here didn't end with our traditional poses! Oh, no! We also got to go on an all-family walk in the morning! Things got real interesting down at the corner by the big road! Check it out!!!

"Cam! 11 o'clock! Check it out!"
"It's the Easter Squirrel!"

Can you see him up there in the weeds?  Let's zoom in!

"Uh-oh!"
"SQUIRREL!!!"
"Remember my wrist, Cam!"

Don't worry. I didn't pull Mom at all. I did stare at the Easter Squirrel, though!  He decided it would be best if he hopped on up the tree. Smart move.

Further along on our walk, we saw the Easter Bunny!!!!  LOOK!!!

"It's the Easter Bunny!!!"

He didn't say anything. He didn't even move!  It had to be him, though!

"He must be exhausted from doing all of that 'hippity-hoppity' stuff."

Delivering all those baskets full of eggs and treats must have worn the poor guy out. We just left him there and quietly continued on our way. 

It was quite the exciting Easter walk!  We hope your day was as exciting as ours!

Cammie!

Easter Bonus

Greetings, everyone!  It's me, Maggie!  We have a handful of other photos from our Easter photoshoot that we thought we'd share with you today. Would you like to take a look?  OK, great. Now where were we ...

Right. Right about here:

"Are we done here?"
"How many treats do you have left, Mom?"

Actually, that was Part 2. Part 1 was my solo act. Check it out!

Me, doing a PERFECT snooter-hanging!

Mom was so impressed with my efforts that she didn't even ask Cam to do any snooter-hanging. Wow. Anyway, back to Part 2 -- the two of us together.

"Careful with the pysanky, Maggie!"
"Yeah, yeah, Cam. Hey, Mom ... I'll bet there's something in this basket Cam could pose with!  You know. A little Part 3!" 

That's when Cam made a run for it!

"I'm outta here!!!"
"Hey!  If I have to snooter-hang ..."

She ran into the bedroom before I could tackle her. Pup, is my sister fast when she wants to be!  Anyway, Mom said she could stay on the bed IF she was willing to pose with one of those tiny bun-buns. Cam proposed this:

"How's this, Mom?  Part 3 - all done!"

Mom said that wasn't exactly what she had in mind. They tried and tried and tried ... and then ...

"I can't believe I'm doing this!!!"

I couldn't believe she did the Bunny Balance, either.  Nor could Mom. I think our great-brother Dave taught her how.  Wowzers!!!

Me?  Oh, no way. I did help Cam by removing the bunny from her snooter every chance I got, though!

"Maggie, GIVE!"
"Here ya go, Mom!"

Hey. I got a treat every time I gave it to her, so she must not have minded -- right?  It was pretty fun. And I think we might have a new Easter tradition!

How did your Easter photo shoots go?  I hope they were as fun as ours. 

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher 

Easter 2017

"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

«Христос Воскрес» “Christ has risen.”
«Воїстено Воскрес!» "Indeed He has risen!" 

From all of us at Ao4 Headquarters ... have a blessed Easter!

Cam, Mags, and our mom and dad

Purple Maze

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie. So... I have this   super-power  ongoing issue -- it would appear that I'm still a really fast eater.  I've blogged about it before. I always come up with a fun solution to any of the things Mom tries -- then I snarf everything down "too fast" and do a little burp/regurgitation.  She basically gave up.

She tried the "upside-down bowl in a bowl".  I showed her I could have but didn't break a small glass bowl in my bowl. When she tried it with two stainless steel bowls, I put my paw in and flipped them!   Wow, what a racket they made on the tile floor!  It was really fun!

She tried spreading my kibble out on a cookie sheet. That was awesome!  The first couple of times, I used my nose to push all the food into a pile, then snarfed it all up. Then I decided to get really creative!  You all know what catapults are, right?!?!?  Just one little paw on the edge of the sheet pan and wowzers!  The kibble went flying!!! It. Was. So cool!  Even Cammie liked that!  Mom decided not to repeat that.

Next, she got out a muffin pan and put a little bit of my kibble in each cup. I gathered it all into one cup, then snarfed it down. That wasn't as dramatic as the other attempts to slow me down, but Mom was impressed by my problem-solving skills.

She tried putting a ball in the bowl, so I'd "have to eat around it".  Right. Like I can't reach in, grab the ball, and toss it into the living room?  That was so easy, it was almost a let down. I mean, I like a good challenge!

Mom also thought about a divided tray. All she had was a crystal relish tray, but hey. She's the only one who actually breaks things (including herself) around here, so she decided to give it a try. It worked semi-well until I stepped on the edge to flip it. I mean, it wouldn't have been as dramatic as the metal catapult-sheet pan, but what the hey. Same principle. Mom caught it mid-flip and decided that wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had.  I haven't dined off crystal since, for whatever reason.

And then ... after I thought she had given up ... she decided to go ahead and buy one of those "slow feeder" bowls. She saw that Misty, over at the OP Pack, uses one effectively, sooooooo after studying all the different ones out there ...

"What the fluff is this thing supposed to be?"

Yep. It's like I'm eating out of some kind of purple maze.

Mom says I don't do the regurgitating thing as much, so she's happy. I have worked out a way to push a bunch of the kibble through the maze into a small pile, so I can do some major snarfing. And I'm getting faster and faster with it. Sort of a compromise, I guess. 

It's like that Jimi Hendrix dude sang:

"Purple maze, all in my brain

Lately things they don't seem the same

Actin' funny, but I don't know why

Excuse me while I kiss the sky..."

Or was that "Purple Haze"? Whatever.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

My Peeps

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie. A couple days ago, on our Now And Then post, some of you asked about puppy pix of me!  That was so sweet!

As you may recall, I was 5 years old when I was adopted, but I had Mom check with my peeps back in Missouri. They said we could post the photos they shared with Mom!  With thanks to my most wonderful breeders back at Polargold and D'Azul Siberians (my peeps), I give you .... ME!

Me at 9 days old!

Me at 6 weeks old!

And ...

Me at 6 months - D'Azul's Girl From Ipanema!

I know... what's cuter than a puppy (or a kitty!), right??!!??  

So, many thanks to my peeps back at Polargold and D'Azul Siberians for letting us share!  Oh... and speaking of peeps... here's one more shot of me with my Peeps!

Me, some Peeps, and my Peep!

(Though I don't often use it on the blog, one of Maggie's nicknames is the Peep!!)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Cammie!

Thankful Thursday!

Hello, everyone! Cam and Maggie here today to send out a very special THANK YOU to our friend Princess Leah for the sweet card she sent our mom!!!

"Princess Leah and her mom are so kind!!! By the way, I'm totally impressed that Mom can hold the card and two treats in her right hand."
"They sure are kind!  And yeah. Mom must be getting better!!!"

Thank you, Princess Leah (and your mom)!!!  Your thoughtfulness really means a lot to Mom -- and to us!  What a great morale boost!

Cam, Mags, and our mom

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Now And Then

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie. As most of you know, Maggie and I just love to play together!  Take the other day, for example -- it was a nice, Spring day, so we went outside with Mom to play on the deck!  It started out like this:

"Try to find me, Cam!!!!!"
"Where are you, Maggie?!?"

It hit us that we've been playing this game ever since we adopted my Maggie!  Check us out -- now:

"Hey, CamCam!"
"Maggie!  There you are!!!"

And then:

"Ha roo?!?"
"My Maggie!!!  There you are!!!"

Some things haven't changed!  I do think Maggie was a bit surprised that she doesn't quite fit under the chair as easily as she once did, though!

Here's a short video for your viewing pleasure:

To watch on YouTube, please click here.

Where did my tiny puppy go?

Cammie!