It's Our Big Day!

HAPPY SIBER MONDAY!!!!

"Now get out there and embrace your inner Siberian!"
"Then act really cute and innocent afterwards."

Have a joyous day!

Mags and Ragnar

Turkey Day Walk, The Final Chapter

 Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar.  Today, I'll share the last of the pix we took on the super-long walk Maggie and I took on Thanksgiving.  Let's wrap this thing up!

When Mags left off yesterday, we had just passed the KSU stadiums ...

"I think that's about it for KSU stuff for today, Mags."
"Yeah, once we get past the stadium parking lot and the billboard up there."

 We were on one of the main roads through town - it leads right to our area!  We walked and walked and walked, then ...

"Hey, that's CiCo Park on the left!"
"Right-o, Raggi!"

In keeping with trying to provide some background on things here in Manhattan, it's called CiCo for City-County -- both entities have ownership of the park.  Years and years ago, when Dad did his first tour at Fort Riley, he and Mom lived right by the park!

"Over there, Mags?"
"No, we just passed by where they used to live."

"That must have been cool living right there!"
"I'll bet it was!  I heard one time when the rodeo was at the park,
a donkey broke loose and came over to play with our great sisters, Jesse and Lucky!"

Now THAT would be cool, wouldn't it?!!?

Just past the entrance to Hudson Trail, I noticed this sign for the first time:

"Hey, look, Mags.  'Steep hill for bikes'."
"Looks like the rider already took a header off of it.  Ha roo roo roo!"

Maybe it's there for people who think Kansas is flat.  Who knows?!?

That's it for our walk.  We hope you had fun seeing some interesting things in our town.  Thanks for coming with us!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Turkey Day Walk, Part Deux

 Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags, here with the second installment of our Thanksgiving Day walk.  Are you good to keep going?

Once we hit the KSU Gardens, I was fairly sure I knew where we were.  Things started smelling more familiar.  I was sure of it once we hit this intersection:

"Hey, Mags.  It says 'Jardine Drive'."
"Oh, yeah.  And those are Jardine Apartments.  Named after Al Jardine of the Beach Boys."

"And to our right is the Vet School!"
"Ha!  Like I'm going to fall for that!!!"

Sadly, I didn't fool him one bit on the Beach Boys thing, but I wasn't kidding about the Vet School!

"No, seriously, Raggi!  Check it out."
"Oh.  Right.  We don't have to go in, though, do we?"

We were good to go.  Fortunately, all seemed pretty quiet over there anyway.

Right after the Vet Med Center, we came across this place:

"That place looks interesting!"
"I'll say!"

It sounded like a great place to explore, but oddly enough, Mom and Dad said, "No." Not to worry - we kept going and found something even better!

"Check it out, Mags!"
"Oooh!  We should go in!"

   

Yeah! The NBAF! (National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility). Here's a better shot:

NBAF

  

I mean, come on! Just a few security checkpoints to go through, and we'd be on to a really wild adventure! The brakes were put on that idea, too, so we headed back toward the west. We went past the Kansas Wheat Innovation place:

 

I have no idea what they do there. Something involving wheat. Ha roo.  (Seriously, though, I put a link up above!)

We came across the KSU Rowing center:

"Row, row, row your boat ..."
"I wonder how they can fit a river or lake or something in there?!?"

"... gently down the stream..."
"Over there's the football stadium!"

And then we hit the K-State Athletics center:

"I'll bet they're serving breakfast to all the football players."
"We should DEFINITELY go in there!"

We'll stop there for today.  I feel hungry for some reason.  I hope you're enjoying our adventure!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Turkey Day Walk Part I

 Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar!  Yesterday, before we got to have TURKEY (and may I say WOW, I really like TURKEY!) Maggie and I took our mom and dad on another super-long walk.  We had Mom take a bunch of pix so we can spend the next couple of days showing you more cool stuff about our town. Ready to go?!? We headed east and crossed some busy intersections.

There was no traffic at all, so we actually didn't wait for the light like normal.

"The light was taking too long anyway."
"Yeah. Let's GO!!!"

It was crispy and cool outside with lots of frost all over everything.

"The grass almost looks snow-covered!!!"
"It's all sparkly!!!!!!!"

By the time we got to the bank where that rock-plaque for Bluemont College is, it had warmed up to 29 degrees!

"I thought it was getting toasty!"
"It's heating up!"

   

Mom mentioned in passing that if we kept going, we could go past the Riley County Historical Museum and Goodnow House. Sounded good to us! 

Isaac Goodnow is one of the guys mentioned on that plaque - he and his wife, Ellen, built what we now call Goodnow House in 1861. He started the Kansas State Teachers Association and established the college (Bluemont) that became Kansas State University. Here's what Goodnow House looks like:

 

You can read more about it at this link. 

Before too long, we came to Wildcat Landing.   Maggie tried to convince me that's where the first Wildcats who settled here landed, but I didn't fall for it.

"Very funny, Mags!"
"No, really, Raggi!!"

From there, we headed north and eventually got to the KSU Gardens.  Mom wanted a photo of us posing at the gates, but ...

"How about we just stand he--what's that?!?"
"Hi, Mom!"

   

Good enough, right?

The gardens been there since 1877! You can read more at this link!  We did agree to sit and pose by the sign --

"Yeah, whatever ..."
"What's over there, Mags?!?"

I'm pretty sure (a) we were getting a little tired by then and (b) there was something we wanted to stare at across the street. 

Mostly (b) if I'm to be honest here!

Please tune back in tomorrow to see more from our walk!  Did I mention it was a long one?!?

Sköl!

Ragnar

PS:  I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to have TURKEY!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2020

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

Psalm 9:1-2 

"Do we get turkey now?"
"It's still cooking."
"How 'bout a Zuke's, then?"

   

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Ao4 Headquarters to all of you!

Ragnar and Mags

Wordless Wednesday

Ragnar and Mags

More From Our Sunday Walk

 Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  I thought I'd share some more cool discoveries with you from our Sunday walk.  Ready to get going?

We headed out nice and early:

"Mom and Dad said we're going somewhere special today!
"I'm so excited!"

They said we were going to go past all the KSU stadiums again, but take a different route!  How exciting! Ragnar and I love going different ways!

One place we had never been before was this big intersection:

"Wait for the light, everybody!"
"Also check for traffic!  Safety first!"

That was a little nerve-racking for Mom, but we handled it like champs!  My favorite part was when some guy rolled down his truck window and said how pretty we are.  That happened a couple times during the walk.  Too bad they couldn't stop and give us ear rubbies or anything.  Anyway -- on to the adventure!

Before too long, we came to this building:

"Kansas Forest Service?!?  I didn't even know we had forests!"
"Me, neither!"

Who knew?  (To learn more about the Kansas Forest Service, please click here.)

We walked up a lovely hill; the bank at the top was where the plaque for Bluemont College was located.

"39 degrees, Mags!"
"I thought it felt a bit toasty!"

It was really pretty nice out for all four of us!

We made a turn toward the stadiums and found another thing Raggi and I had never seen:

"Huh!  Check it out, Mags!"
"USDA Center for Grain and Animal Health Research.  Hmm."

They do all kinds of stuff there, apparently.  You can read all about it at this link.  All kinds of research goes on here in Manhattan.  Did you know the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF) is here?  It's still under construction, but it will open in 2022.  It's what was at Plum Island, only it will be bigger.  It's right by the Vet School.

Moving right along ...

After the stadiums, we cut over by the hospital to avoid road construction. 

"Check out the cool sculpture, Mags!"
"Very colorful!"

For those wondering, Dad did not let him lift his leg on it.  Besides, he was pretty much out of ammo by then, anyway.

I saw something that caught my eye by St. Thomas More Church!

"Squirrel!"
"Forget the squirrel - the sign says there's a COOKIE CAROUSEL!"

 

I checked, but sadly there were no carousels made out of cookies. Or even cookies on carousels. Basically, no cookies anywhere. The whole thing was a cruel hoax.  Maybe closer to Christmas.  I'll keep you posted on that!

We were further north on the loop back home, so we got to go under the big road instead of having to cross it.

"We aren't taller than 15 feet 5 inches, are we?"
"Our shadows might be!  Ha roo roo roo!"

Such a fun walk, with so many interesting things to see!  Thanks for coming along with us!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher   

She-What?!?

 Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar.  

"Can you see me OK??  Maybe I should get closer."

"How's this?  Oh.  Too close?"

Sorry.  I might have booped the camera with my snooter.

"Better?"

OK!  So ... the other night after dinner, Maggie and I were playing ever so sweetly and gently for a while.  I mean a long while.  I mean we may have gone outside for a potty break we were playing so long.  But like ... sweetly.  Right, Mags?!?

"Yeah, exactly right, Ragnar.  Pay no attention to Mom!  Oh!  Line of Duty's on!"

We really like that show - so we settled in to watch with Mom.

"Zzz ..."
"Good puppies!!!  How could I have accused you two of shenanigans?!?"
"Zzz ..."

I'm not sure what those "shenanigans" are, but I AM sure Maggie and I are totally innocent.  Right?

Sköl!

Ragnar

Serene Sunday

 Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  Ragnar and I took our mom and dad on a wonderful walk this morning!  We did the "to the stadiums" route, but we went a different way.  All new smells -- it was fabulous!  We even learned a little history on the way, and we thought we'd share that with you!

We were at the corner of Claflin and College, an intersection Mom and Dad have driven through TONS of times -- but when you walk, you see different stuff!  Like this:

Bluemont College Historical Plaque!

 How cool!  Our dad especially likes historical stuff.  The plaque reads:

SITE OF 

BLUEMONT COLLEGE

ESTABLISHED FEBRUARY 3 1858

BY

BLUEMONT CENTRAL COLLEGE ASSOCIATION

FOUNDED BY

JOSEPH DENISON     ISAAC GOODNOW

S.D. HOUSTON     JOHN KIMBALL

C.S. PARKS     WASHINGTON MARLATT

BUILDING ERECTED 1859

FARM AND BUILDING DONATED TO STATE OF KANSAS

FEBRUARY 3 1863

SITE OF KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

1863-1875

ERECTED BY

POLLY OGDEN CHAPTER D.A.R.

RILEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

 According to another plaque, it looked like this:

Bluemont College

There's a bank there now.  I wonder what happened to the original building?  Anyway, the names on the plaque helped us understand where a lot of the street, park, and building names around here came from.  And guess what?  Bluemont College went on to become Kansas State University!  If you'd like to read more about it, please click here.

Ragnar and I thought it was too bad they don't have statues of those early settlers of our town.  We jumped up on some nearby rocks and ...

"They could do statues of us here instead, Mags."
"Fantastic idea, Raggi. Strike a serious pose!"

It could work -- right?!?

What a great day - and a great walk!  Thanks for coming with us.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Perfect!

Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar.  We have a couple dog beds in the living room that get moved around from time to time.  Mom left them piled up after the bug guy was here the other day.  I hadn't really paid them any mind at all until last night during TV time.

"Zzz ..."

They're just PERFECT like this!

Sköl!

Ragnar

How 'Bout A Hug?!?

 Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar.  This morning was kind of weird, with everything all out of order!  We had our breakfast, but then instead of going on our walk, Mom got cleaned up and then she and Maggie left!  In the car!  It was terrible!  

... actually, not really.  I just hung out with Dad.  We did guy stuff.

Anyway ... 

Maggie was gone for about 30 whole minutes and I sure missed her!  I checked her out thoroughly when she got home - she had been to the Vet's!  I could tell.  Something about having to get a shot.

"I'm OK, Raggi.  Really!"
"Are you sure, Maggie?!?"

She seemed a little sad, so I thought she could use a hug.

"Mrrrrffff!"
"BOOM!"

I meant a Siberian Husky-style hug!

Oh.  And apparently she wasn't sad, she was doped up on Benadryl to avoid any adverse reactions to the vaccination.  Oh, well.  I think a hug was in order anyway - don't you??

Sköl!

Ragnar

In Our Spare Time

 Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  As you know, Ragnar and I spend a lot of time working - making sure our mom and dad get enough exercise, supervising Mom in her Studio, helping with household chores, doing cute poses -- all that and more.  We DO have some "down time" though, and I thought - even though our mom thinks the photos are crummy - that you might want to take a look into how we spend our spare time.

Pretty much all of it is spent like this:

"Hey, Ragnar!  See if you can catch m--"
"BOOM!"

"Have I mentioned he's mighty fast?!?"
"Check out these moves, Mags!"

"WOWZERS, Raggi!!!"
"ZZZZZzoooommmm!" 

He is SERIOUSLY fast.  Not any faster than me, though!

"... and ... BOOM!  Gotcha, Ragnar!"
"Mrrrrffff!"

Mom needs to amp up her action shot skills, don't you think?

Anyway - that's how we spend our off-duty time!  What about all of you?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

 

Ragnar and Mags

 

We're Here To Help

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags. Ragnar and I are here on KP Duty:

"Can I get through here, guys?"
"Sorry, Mom.  That's a no-go."
"You'll have to go around.  Or stretch."

 

If anyone else needs help in the kitchen, just let us know. 

Yours sincerely, 

Margaret Thatcher