Ready?

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Are you ready to see some of Mom's birdie pix that I wrote about yesterday?   Maggie and I are ready to show them to you.  You're probably ready to see them.  Unfortunately, there is one part of the equation that isn't quite ready.  Starts with an "M" and rhymes with "bomb".

"Seriously, Mom?  You took how many???"

Apparently, it will take a bit longer than anticipated.  I would be upset with her, but frankly, she did share her sandwich with Maggie and me on the trip, so ... you know.

Stay tuned!

Cammie!

Day Trip!

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  The other day, Maggie, Mom, Dad, and I took a little day trip down to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to do a little birding.  We'll share some of the birdie highlights with you within the next few days, but Mags and I thought we'd share one of the best parts with you today. It came just after us girls had a water break and stretched our legs a bit. We loaded back into the HR-V and then ...

"Dad gave us a bite of turkey and cheese, Mom.  What do you have?"
"He gave us turkey ... and cheeeeeese!"
"I brought some Zukes, girls!"

Mom's not quite as easy to tool as Dad, but ... did I mention turkey?  And cheese?!?

Cammie!

Special Delivery!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  The other day, I got a special delivery.  A nice man brought it right to the door, then Dad brought it inside for me.  Check it out!

"How's this for a special delivery?!?"
"Is Maggie getting treats?"

Is that great, or what?!!?

"I'll be right here, if anyone wants to come over and box with me."
"No treats, and yet she sits in there like that.  I ... just ... don't ... get it."

What a great special delivery!!!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie!

Good News!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  Hey, good news!  Remember I told you about the new drinking fountain, etc. by the Water Tower Trailhead?  I thought maybe the shorter fountain was for Great Danes or something - it's shorter than the one for bipeds, but too tall for Cam and me.  I figured Mom or Dad would have to give me a boost so I could get a drink.  Guess what???  I should have looked on the other side -- check this out!

"Hey!  How cool is this?!?"

It's a pup-friendly drinking fountain!  Pups (and kit-cats) of all sizes can reach it -- isn't that cool?!!?

There were a couple clumps of dirt in there that turned to mud when Dad filled it with water - unfortunately, I got the "nonomaggieno" thing when I tried to drink/eat them.  Mom can be a real killjoy at times; Cam assures me her heart is in the right place, but sheesh!  A little mud never hurt anyone!

Anyway, just thought I'd share the good news.  Once it warms up, this is really going to be handy!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

The Jump CP

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Mom's computer is normally in the kitchen/breakfast room, on the built-in desk.  While they re-work a few things, Dad set up a temporary computer station for her in the dining room.  He refers to it as the "Jump CP" - see the full definition here - basically, what the Army refers to as a "highly mobile command post".  It's where we've been blogging from lately.  It's a change, but we've been doing our best to adjust.

"I like the Jump CP, Maggie."
"So do I, Cam. Nice head-rests in here!"

It's hard, but we'll soldier through it!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  Mom's been able to do some birding locally lately, so we thought we'd share a few highlights.  Pretty birdies always make us feel nice and serene!

She saw a celebrity bird out at Tuttle Creek State Park -- it's Woody Woodpecker!

Pileated Woodpecker

Yeah, OK.  Just kidding - it's a Pileated Woodpecker!  It's the best look Mom's gotten of one!  They are large - 15.5 to over 19 inches long!  Compare that to the other woodpecker Mom saw that day:

Downy Woodpecker

Downies are only 5.5 to 6.5 inches long!  Equally cute, though!

One of the more cooperative birdies Mom ran into was this guy:

American Robin

There are a lot of Bluebirds around:

Eastern Bluebird

They seem to like to hide behind tons of branches and vines.

This guy came out for a nice shot:

Northern Cardinal

There are usually plenty of geese around:

Canada Geese

And one of Mom's biggest birding thrills lately has been discovering this sweet mama on her nest:

Great Horned Owl on her nest!

Mom stayed on the road, by her vehicle to get the shots of her; she is very careful to practice good "nest etiquette", staying a respectful distance away, so she doesn't trouble the birds.  (Also shot with fully extended 150-600mm lens, then photo cropped.)

Anyway, those are the latest bird highlights!

"I hope you all feel nice and serene now!"
"I sure do, Mags!  Good job!"

Have a great Sunday - keep it serene!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Spring Clean-Up

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  This week, Maggie and I helped Mom start doing outside Spring Clean-Up stuff.  I've chosen a supervisory role.

"Just don't fall down this year, Mom."

So, I'm the Supervisor, Mom is the Gardener, and Maggie has chosen more of a "Get Into Stuff While Mom's Not Looking" role.  It's a good distribution of labor, if you ask me.  (Also, Dad will be joining the team this week; I don't want to give the impression that it's all on us girls.)

Cammie!

At The Trailhead

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  On our walks lately, we've noticed these guys doing a lot of digging and planting and more digging and who knows what all else at the trailhead for the Water Tower Trail.  Before anyone asks, they did not let Cam and me help dig.  I know.  But anyway ... finally the other day the people were gone, so we went over to check out what all they'd been doing.

"Nice.  Very nice."
"I wonder if Mom has cookies.  I don't think so ..."

They put in a waste can, a poop-bag dispenser, a bench, and a double water fountain.  And a sign with nothing written on it yet.

"Hey, Dad.  Is that shorter water fountain for us?  I don't think I can reach.  Maybe it's for Great Danes."
"Or does she have cookies?"

Also, it looks like the trees they planted are the kind that drop "ornamental" fruit all over the place, so that's something to look forward to!

"I wonder if more people will actually police up their pups' poop now that there's a bag dispenser?"
"I doubt it, Mags.  I doubt it."

Anyway, pretty nice improvement for the trail.  I wonder if Mom or Dad will boost us up so we can have a sip of water?  That's going to be nice once it gets hot out!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Thursday*

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

*Our editor had day-of-the-week confusion yesterday.

-Stigator

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Maggie and I had a lot of fun on our walk this morning. I mean a LOT of fun.

"What a delightful walk!"

Don't I look happy?!?  There may have been a few outbreaks of Crazed River Otter Games (CROG) along the way.

I may have instigated said rounds of CROG.

"🎶 Oh... Maggie!?! 🎶 Come closer, little one."

Some of you may remember our great-brother Zim, and that one of our friends nicknamed him the "Zimstigator" because he was really good at instigating all kinds of fun.  I'm happy to report that Mom has started calling me the "Cam-stigator"!  Go me!!!

Cammie!

AKA The Camstigator 

Unless You're The Lead Dog ...

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  Mom likes to take pictures of Maggie and me out on our daily walks.  The only problem from her perspective is ... her perspective!  You know the old saying, "Unless you're the lead dog, the scenery never changes." Whatever. It's not like the scenery around us doesn't change, but apparently a couple weeks ago Mom wanted photos of us on a walk from in front of us.  

It was weird - she kept trying to run ahead of us, but I kept pace with her.  I like to walk either beside her of out in front.  I didn't like this popping out ahead thing!  Eventually, I stopped to sniff something and she made her move:

Me and Mags.  From the front.

It seemed to make her happy.  I was unimpressed.

Does your mom do weird stuff like that?

Cammie!

Making Plans

Hello, everyone! It's me, Cammie. Maggie and I are here firming up our plans for the week ...

"... and then we could do neck grabbies---"
"Shh!  Mom's right there!"

...which would be a lot easier to do if Mom wasn't listening in!

Cammie!

Serene Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  The other day was so serene!  It started out like normal -- breakfast, walkies, Crazed River Otter Games, and then ... I got a bath!  A shower, actually.  And.  I.  Liked it.

I know. Strange.  It felt really good, though.  Serene, even!

It was warm out, so after my shower, Mom and I went out on the deck to do the drying off part.

Here I am, all wet:

Me, looking quite wet and non-fluffy

I look grumpy there, but I wasn't really. The sun was in my eyes!

Mom used the ol' Master Blaster on me for probably 87 hours.

Can you tell how thick and lush my coat is?

Fortunately, she let me take a couple breaks!  I was super good - Mom said throughout the shower and blow-dry I was almost Cammie-esque!  That's quite the compliment; Cam is so super-good about stuff like this!

Anyway, eventually, I was all fluffed up and dry!

Me, fluffiness restored!

I'm just now starting to blow my Winter coat out, so the real fun hasn't started yet.  When I get to full coat-blowing stage, I'll get Mom to shoot video while she uses the Master Blaster on me!  I'm going to cause quite the fur-nado!  

Do you feel all serene now?  I do.  I'm not sure why.  But I do.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Ho Hum

Greetings to all.  It's me, Maggie.  Cam and I had a lovely breakfast, went on a nice walk, and had a great round of Crazed River Otter games this morning.  Now we're just kind of ...

"Ho ... hum."

Yeah.  Not much going on.

Are you all doing anything exciting today?

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Whew!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  Mom asked Maggie and me to do some stair landing posing the other day.  Being the ever-helpful Siberians that we are, we were happy to oblige ...

"How's this, Mom?"
"Yeah.  How's this?  No messing around or anything!"

... because, let's face it, there were treats involved.

"You DO have treats, don't you?!?"
"Yeah, Mom!  Don't you?!?"

Don't worry. She did!  Whew.

Cammie!

I Think It's Working

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  The other morning, Maggie and I took Mom and Dad on a walk and we did this:

"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"

When we got home, we did this:

"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"

And eventually ...

"Cam, I can barely keep ... my ... eyezzzz..."
"I love it when a plan comes together!"

That's right.  All part of my plan!

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Mags and Cam

Maybe The Dingo ...

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  So, there we were, on a walk the other day, when we made a very interesting discovery.  I went over to check it out.

"What's this?  Oh.  D-i-n-g-o."

Right here in Kansas.  Interesting.

"I always thought dingoes looked different than this, Cam."

Kind of makes you re-think that whole "...maybe the dingo ate your baby" thing, doesn't it?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Denning

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Under here.

"Hey."

I'm just denning under one of the kitchen chairs.  It makes a swell lair of sorts.  It's not like I'm stuck or anything.  Really.

Of course, if anyone would like to pick the chair up so I can get out, that would be swell.

In the meantime, I'm mighty cozy and comfy.  In my den.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  As we mentioned on our last Serene Scenery Sunday post, last weekend, we all loaded up in the HR-V and headed down to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.  The drive down is beautiful - and the refuge is incredibly scenic and is home to so many birdies! We thought we'd share some of our highlights with you today!

We saw quite a few Snow Geese:

Snow Geese

I mean ... maybe more than quite a few:

Oodles of Snow Geese

You get the idea.

Some of the shorebirds are returning to Kansas, like this little Killdeer:

Killdeer, rocking the Head Tilt

Pretty adorable. Mom should have given him a cookie. Or whatever Killdeer eat -- then she should have given Maggie and me a cookie. Right?

Anyway ...

Mom saw other shorebirds and was trying to photograph them, but this guy kept flying in front of her:

Ring-Billed Gull

Maybe he's their bodyguard or something? Anyway, once she took a few shots of him, he moved over and she got these guys:

Greater Yellowlegs

Killdeer in front, Baird's Sandpiper behind him

She's sorry the Baird's Sandpiper isn't clearer. She was shooting in 45-50mph wind gusts, and it was hard for her to keep her bazooka -- I mean 150-600mm lens -- steady. She was pleased she was able to focus on anything.

Moving right along ...

We saw lots of ducks - especially this variety:

Buffleheads

And although Mom wasn't able to get closer than all the way across the Big Salt Marsh from them, she and Dad did get to see some Sandhill Cranes!

Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, and ducks (maybe Redheads; it's hard to tell)

The Big Salt Marsh is huge - (check out a shot Mom took of it on a previous trip here) - so that made things a bit challenging for her.

We moved on down south a bit to the Little Salt Marsh. They rebuilt the observation tower down there, so Mom braved the winds and climbed to the top. No bird sightings, but she did get a great view:

Little Salt Marsh from the tower

During the trip, we also saw a few Coots:

American Coots

And Mallards:

"You there!  Stay away from my woman!  Stay away, I say!"

We also saw some beautiful hawks like this one:

Rough-Legged Hawk

He was very cooperative - several people in one of Mom's bird groups photographed the very same hawk! He must like having his portrait taken.

I think that's a wrap for today - time to head home.

"Maggie, your winter coat is so nice and thick ... mind if I use you for a pillow?"
"Knock yourself out, Cam."

If you'd like to see more of our photos from this trip, please visit our FlickR album at this link.

Cammie!