The Early Bird ...

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags. We left the house super-early this morning and stepped up the pace a TON! Check out this shot of us:

 

"Almost home, Ragnar!  That was a mighty fast 5-plus miles!"
"I think Mom is happy she can see what we're doing now..."  

We usually see the sunrise on our way UP that hill, not the way back down! Something about getting back before the builders show up to work on our house. Good thing we hustled - they showed up early! YAY!

How does that saying go?  "The early bird gets home before the builders"?  Or is that "The early birds get to snarf up the smooshed ornamental fruit because the bipeds can't see anything"?  One of the two, I'm sure.

 

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

PS: We are expecting a big snow storm, possible ice, high winds, and sub-zero temps tonight. What a lovely belated Christmas present! If anyone local is going to be out and about -- please be SAFE!!!

Tunnel

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar. Maggie and I helped a whole lot in the Studio yesterday while someone named "The Plumber" was upstairs with Dad. We did zoomies and Snooter Jousting and did more zoomies! Part of our route takes us through these cool tunnels under Mom's sewing table.

 

"Hi, Mom.  Don't tell Mags where I am, OK?"

It's also a good place to hide from Mags if I need to catch my breath!

Sköl! 

Ragnar

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

New Working Place

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar. I found a new work place for when Mags and I are helping our mom in the Studio.

 

"Zzz ..."
❤❤ "Oh, Raggi!!!!" ❤❤

Mom said I was super helpful.  Cute, too.  I might help her from there again today.

Sköl!

Ragnar

Best Way To Start The Day

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar! The best way to start the day is to get out there and enjoy it! "Carpe diem", as they say. We thought we'd share some pix of our morning walk - it was a gorgeous day out there!

We usually walk past the water tower on our way out - and since it sits at the top of a hill, we have a great view of the sunrise. Check out today's view:

 

"Wowzers, Ragnar!"
"YEAH!"

From there, we headed to The Top Of The World - our favorite place to go! On the first part of the park, we took the middle trail. That goes into woods, and we LOVE that part.

 

"I love this part of the trail!"
"Me, too, Mags!"

"You can go first, bro."
"Thanks, Mags!"

I love going first - I get to be the first one to cross the rickety bridge at the bottom of the hill!  It's great!

On the second part of the park, we took the furthest west trails - it's wide open there.  You can see who else is out there (if anyone) and the sunlight is amazing!

Mags and me on the trail

"I see someone over there, Ragnar!"
"I think it's a Black Lab, Mags."

It was indeed a Black Lab - and we eventually got to meet her.  She was very nice.

Once we got up to the top, we had a good look around:

Mags and me.  Our mom ❤ this photo!

After we looked around, we went down to the other end of the top part before heading home:

"Another stellar walk, Raggi!"
"I love this place, Mags!"

Do you start your day out with a good walk?  Thanks for coming along on ours!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Happy Boxing Day 2021

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags!  And it's that joyous day known as "Boxing Day" today!  Sadly, Santa did not bring me a good sized box this year (the only box I saw was to Mom's ear buds and I don't think I could even fit a paw in that one ...) - SO I thought I'd do a little retrospective this year! The best of the boxes! Ready?

Here I am in my very first box, Fall of 2013:

"Hello."

Ah, what fond memories I have of that one. It's the one that got me hooked! What a great box it was!

In the Fall of the very next year, I found a box growing in the wild! I couldn't help but check it out!

 

"Almost ready to be harvested!!!"

This box made for a GREAT fort!

 

"Can you see me now?"

This one is quite possibly my favorite box of all time - from 2015:

 

"Curse you, Red Baron!!!"

I hit the box jackpot in 2016!!

 

"It's Box-a-Palooza!!!"

And let's finish our retrospective with an action shot - me doing a perfect box dive:

 

"And ... up and in!"

What a great look-back. And hopefully there's a good box in my near future ... right, Mom?

Happy Boxing Day to one and all!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Christmas 2021

Greetings to all and hi everybody!  Mags and Ragnar here to wish you all the joys of Christmas!

We celebrated by taking an extra-long walk this morning - 7.88 miles. AND we got to cross the bridge over Wildcat Creek again!

 

Merry Christmas to all!

We went up a trail we hadn't been on in AGES! Look at how happy that made us:

 

"This is so awesome!"
"Definitely putting the 'merry' in 'merry Christmas'!"

(OK, plus that whole trail is uphill, so even though it was nice and chilly out, we were panting a little!)

On the way back, we swept through Anneberg Park again, where we let Mom take a portrait shot of each of us:

Polargold's Margaret Thatcher - Mags!

Polargold's Einherjar - Ragnar!

That was sort of our gift to our mom.  And ... bonus - there were a couple people to stare at!

 

"Hi, Mom!"
"Raggi!  There are people over there!"

And the most important part of Christmas ...

"And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."  Luke 2:9-14

We hope you all are enjoying Christmas! God's great blessings to all of you!

Mags and Ragnar

Early Christmas Present?

Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar!  I got an early Christmas present today!  We were out on our walk - first we did CiCo Park (no farm animals, sadly), then we headed into Anneberg. We haven't been able to walk the whole Perimeter Trail there in months - they've been doing some kind of maintenance or something. ANYWAY, Mom and Dad said they heard the trail was open and we could give it a try!

"YAY!  The trail's open!"
"Oh, this is SO exciting!!!"

We had SO MUCH to check out!

"Let's check this tree!"
"There are bound to be messages for us!"

Then we finally got to the part they had been working on.

"Oh, they paved it!"
"And coated it in mud!  Nice touch!"

See that bench up ahead? If you go right, you continue on the Perimeter Trail. But if you go LEFT ... you get to cross the BRIDGE!!! Guess which way we got to go?!?!

To view on YouTube, please click here.

It REALLY was like an early Christmas present!  I LOVE crossing that bridge!

"This is so awesome, huh, Raggi?!?"
"The BEST, Mags!"

It's great to have the trail open again!  And they made some nice changes.  I know we'll be back again soon!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Watching And Waiting

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  Raggi and I know we're a bit early, but  ...

"I don't see him yet, do you, Ragnar?"
"Not yet, Mags."

"Let's just watch a little while longer."
"Good plan, Mags."

... it's never too early to look for Santa, is it?!?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

 

Mags & Ragnar

Not Nearly As Bad

Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar.  Today, our mom wanted to get a shot of Mags and me in front of the Santa quilts wearing our Santa hats.

 

"How's this, Mom?"
"Yeah.  Can you see me OK back here?"

Wearing them as bandanas isn't nearly as bad as having to wear them on our heads!

Sköl!

Ragnar

PS:  Oh.  And she had some super-tasty treats!

Golden Hour

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags!  There are all kinds of good reasons we leave for our walks just before dawn:  less people to deal with, getting a jump on the day, beating the heat in Summer/enjoying the bitter cold in Winter*, and, in addition to lovely sunrises, it's what photographers call the Golden Hour!  Check it out!

 

"I feel like I'm in my element, Ragnar!"
"It's all color-coded to you, Mags!  ... except for your pink leash and harness."

See what I mean?  Golden!

"Yeah ... I'm not so sure about the whole 'neon pink' thing."
"Yeah. I'm not swapping, though."

I don't know how he knew I was going to try - except that we can pretty much read each others' thoughts!

Oh, and some people wonder if Ragnar and I walk shoulder-to-shoulder the whole walk. No, not really. Actually, a lot of the time, it's like this:

 

"Oh, wait!  I missed something!"
"Hey!  Someone's in the woods!"

Usually I'm the one sniffing everything, though, and Raggi is the scout.  We do like to mix it up to keep Mom and Dad guessing!

Do you get up and out to enjoy the Golden Hour, too?  What a glorious time of day!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

*Disclaimer:  Not every member of the Ao4 team enjoys the bitter cold weather.

Best Part Of The Trail!

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar! The other day, we got to take the furthest west part of the trail that goes up to The Top Of The World. It's the BEST! Let me show you why:

 

"Look, everybody!  HORSES!!!"

You can't get real close, but ...

 

"Ooooh, yeah!"

... you can certainly smell them!

There isn't a cool bridge on that part of the trail, but I love seeing the horses!  There are cows there, too!  And CHICK-HENS!  It's the BEST!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Game Changer

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags. I was just hanging out, minding my own business earlier, when I sensed my mom prowling about. I know she wants to do more Christmas photos of me and Ragnar, so at first ...

 

"Who?  'Maggie'?!?  Never heard of her ..."

I mean ... I just wasn't feeling it. So, not being able to find me, she tracked down Ragnar, and ...

 

"Ah, c'mon, Ragnar!  I have the squishy Zuke's!!!"
"You WHAT?!?"

There are some things in life that are game changers.

 

"How's this, Mom?"
"Yeah.  How's this?"

The squishy Zuke's are one such thing.

 

"Yeah.  One more shot.  Great idea."
"Yeah.  And another squishy treat, OK?"

What can we say?  They're MIGHTY tasty!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Just In Case

Hi everybody.  It's me, Ragnar.  You know, I've heard Santa has a lot of Siberian Husky helpers.  In case any of them are out there reading our blog, checking in, seeing if we're being the best Siberians a boy and girl can be ... Mags and I would like them to see this:

 

"Ragnar?  Mags?!?  Anyone!?!  Oh, you two are SO Siberian!!!"
"Thanks, Mom!"
"The supreme compliment, right, Raggi?!?"

That ought to revalidate our Siberian Husky ID card!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Happy Now?

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  So ... of all the important things our mom could be doing right now, what does she choose to do?  Right.  Photos of us in those Santa hats. I mean, there are SO MANY better things to do, but ... yeah. 

Just wanting to get this over with -- I mean, she can be as stubborn as a Siberi--uh...nevermind. Anyway ...  I got right down to business.

"Fine.  Santa hat on, sitting nicely ... happy now?"
"Perfect, Mags!  But ... where's your brother?  I wanted to get both of you!"

"Ragn--oh!  There you are!  Where did your hat go?"
"Hat?  What hat?  Do you have any cookies?"
"Oh, hey.  Don't worry about me over here!  I'm just being REALLY GOOD and my hat is slipping!!!!"

"Found it.  C'mon, Ragnar.  Please?!?"
"Fine.  Happy now?"
"I already said that, Raggi!  Let's just get this over with!"

"Oh!  That was pretty good!  Just ... one ... more ..."
"Seriously, Mom?"
"Oh, for the love of Balto!"

Mom decided that one was good enough.  She can be so stubborn sometimes!  Are you being forced to do ridiculous things this holiday season, too?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Mags & Ragnar

Totally Engrossed

Hi everybody.  It's me, Ragnar.  There Mags and I were, hard at work in the Studio yesterday, when ...

"Hey, you two!  Ready to head upstairs?"

"I dunno, Mom.  We're pretty engrossed in our work here."
"Engrossed.  Yeah.  Zzz ..."

I guess it shows that if you really throw yourself into your work, quitting time comes around before you know it!

Sköl!

Ragnar

When A Pose Isn't Really A Pose

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags! Ragnar and I took our bipeds on a spectacular walk this morning to The Top Of The World! The ground is frozen, there were a lot of other dogs out, the sky was blue, it was cold enough ... just about perfect! Here we are on the lower trail on the way out:

"Follow me, everyone!"
"OK, Mags!"

   

Gorgeous! Sure, colder would have been better, but ... you know. Anyway, when we got up to the top, I struck a pose:

Me!  Polargold's Margaret Thatcher!

   

See ... it wasn't really a "pose" pose, because I did it all on my own and Mom surprised me by snapping it. Fear not - I got a cookie anyway, just because we always get a cookie when we reach the cliff. Ragnar makes sure of it. (He has special powers.) 

I also did a lot of stalking -- I mean "tracking", since other pups had been up there:

"I smell Eau de Labrador!"

   

Mom surprised me with that shot, too. I should have charged her a Zuke's, but I was lost in the moment. 

Here's a shot of Ragnar and me back down at the bottom:

"I like the sun on my snooter, don't you, Raggi?"
"Uh ... yeah, Mags."

What a great walk!  And no posing!  Well ... no "posing" posing.  Right?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher