Winding Down

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags. After a long, hard day, Ragnar and I like to do some unwinding together!

 

"Hey, Mags.  Are you thinking what I'm thinking?!?"
"Are you thinking ..."

"... LET'S PLAY!?!?!"
"YES!!!"
"Be gentle, puppies!!!"

"Oh, hi.  Didn't see you there.  No problem, Mom!"
"Yeah.  No sweat, Mom!"
"Good puppies!!!"

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Memorial Day

Photo courtesy of the US Army*

Have a safe and peaceful Memorial Day.  Remember to honor those who died while serving in our military.

Mags, Ragnar, and our bipeds

*For more info on the Flags In tradition, please click here.

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar. Wow, was Mags right -- we had the BEST, the most serene walk yesterday! We sort of knew what was in store when we stopped to pose at the trailhead for the photo we showed you yesterday, but it really hit us when we entered CiCo Park!

 

"Look, Ragnar!  Trailers galore!!!"
"Oh, boy!  Oh, boy!  Oh, BOY!!!"

Not just any trailers, either -- they were cow-carrying trailers!!!

When we got closer, Mags and I showed Mom and Dad we'd remain calm and quiet, then we moved in to make some friends!

"Hello, moo-cows!  My name's Maggie!"

While Mags made friends with those cows, I went a bit further down the fence line:

"Hi, cows!  I'm Ragnar.  Hey, how come you're laying down?  Everything OK?"
"Moooo!"

I don't really speak cow, but the cow seemed sad.  I waited a minute, then made my moooo-ve.

"How about a nose bump?"

Let me tell you something, if you've never nose-bumped a cow, you must try it!  The cow seemed to enjoy it as much as I did!

"We got to meet COWS!!!  That was so cool!"
"I did nose-ies with a cow, Mags!"
"❤❤❤"

Can you tell from our posture how happy we were?!?  It was the BEST time!  And mighty serene, I might add!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Teaser

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags, here with Ragnar. We had SUCH a great walk this morning! In fact, it made us feel SO great that we thought we'd save those pix for tomorrow's Serene Scenery Sunday post. We do have one shot from today to share with you as a teaser:

"Oh, boy!  Oh, boy!  Oh, boy!"
"Play it cool, Ragnar!"

More to come tomorrow!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Posing By The Posies

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar. For the first time in several days, we didn't have to walk in the rain. That put ALL of us in a happy mood! Mags and I even willingly posed by some posies:

 

"Let's give her one, Ragnar!"
"OK, Mags!"
"❤❤❤❤❤!!!"

We got a cookie for that one!  What a great walk!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Don't Believe Everything You Hear

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags. I'm here with my little brother, just hanging out, being very good puppies while our mom does a couple things.

 

"Us?  No, we were here the whole time."
"Dang, that was fun, Mags!"

If you hear anything about a "wilding spree" while she was in the shower, don't believe it. 

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

PS:  One of us needs to work on his poker face.

Wordless Wednesday

Mags (and Ragnar)

New Project

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar. I'm here in the Studio helping my mom start a new project.

 

"We're picking fabrics and getting organized."

"The fabs have penguins and pines and narwhals and polar bears and snow and ... it needs something ..."

"Shouldn't there be Siberian Huskies or at least wolfies in there, Mom?!?"

I mean I AM there to help and advise, aren't I?!?  Seems like a good idea to me.

Sköl!

Ragnar 

Front Garden Pix

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar. Mags did a great job showing you some of the blooms in the front garden last week, so I thought I'd post an update! Ready to take a look around? Let's go!

 

"This smells nice!"
"It's a Peony, Ragnar!"

At first, I thought it was called a "Pee-On-Me", but Mom straightened me out on that.  Who knew?

 

"What's this one, Mom?"
"Another kind of Peony!"

We have several different kinds, apparently!  Maggie showed you yet another variety; you can see it at this link.

The transplanted Iris are doing really well! Here they are:

 

"They're the purple things over -- wait!  The neighbors are out!"
"Ragnar?!?"

After that, Mom decided we should go take a look at some of our potted flowers.  I like these Petunias best:

"Mmmm!  Smells nice!"

That's it for this garden tour - I hope you enjoyed taking a look around.  Remember to stop and smell the roses!  ... and if you don't have roses, Peonies and Petunias will do fine!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags. We had a GREAT walk this morning! For starters, it was 42℉ when we headed out -- perfect walking weather! Then, Mom and Dad kept coming up with all these new-to-us roads to go down! It was so exciting! We ended up going about 6.85 miles and enjoyed every bit of it! When we were about at the halfway point ...

 

"Look!  It's the K-State football stadium!  I didn't know we were going to come out here!"
"Me, neither, Mags!"

Mom and Dad allegedly knew -- my money was on Dad knowing, but maybe not Mom. She's a bit ... directionally challenged.  Anyway, the skies were gorgeous, so ...

"Hey, Mom!  Look at that sky!  You should get us posing with that as the backdrop!"
"Yeah.  Let's sit and smile, Mags!"

I was thinking maybe more of our Serious Look, so Raggi and I went with that.

"Where did those smiles go?"
"We're going with the Serious Look, Mom."
"Yeah, Mom.  Don't we look cool?!?"

What a beautiful day!  We hope you're having a great one as well!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Armed Forces Day - and Birthday Treats!

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags! Before Ragnar tells you all about some of his birthday treats from yesterday, I wanted to thank all those who served or who are serving in our military and wish them a very happy Armed Forces Day!!! OK ... over to Raggi:

Thanks, Mags -- and hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar.  I had a great birthday yesterday, full of wonderful surprises! After our walk, Mom had me and Mags pose for a treat on the stairs:

 

"How's this, Mom?  Sort of my casual, relaxed look!"
"Say ... is this when I get to give Ragnar his present?!?"

"Umm .... I'm just going to slip on down the stairs ..."
"Don't let him leave, Mom!"

I thought she was going to BOOM! me right then and there!  I was wrong, though.  She had something incredible for me!!!

"An APPLE?!?!?"
"I know how much you love them, Raggi!  Happy birthday, little brother!"

We each got to have a slice.  It was SO GOOD!  Mags really surprised me with that!  We celebrated with some snooter jousting and zoomies.

After a bit, Mom said she had a special birthday treat for me.

"Oh, great Balto!  Special COOKIES?!?!?"
"And he can share, right, Mom?"
"If he wants to, Mags."

"Carob with peanut butter filling?!?"
"You ARE going to share, right, Raggi?!?"

Of COURSE I shared with Mags -- we like to share everything!  Those cookies are aMAZing!  I'm hoping we can each have another one this afternoon!

Thanks for all the happy wishes on the day -- and happy Armed Forces to members of our military, past and present!!!

Sköl!

Ragnar

It's My Birthday!

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar! Guess what?!?! I am SIX today!!!

 

Polargold's Einherjar, Ragnar

So far for my birthday, Mom and Dad have sung the Birthday Song to me, Mags and I did zoomies, I had some cookies, AND we had a wonderful cold front move through! That meant a SUPER nice walk this morning -- which is exactly what this six year old wanted!!!

... although I heard through the grapevine that Mom bought some special cookies for later AND there's an apple in the fridge with my name on it. I certainly won't say "no" to either of those!

So far, being 6 is super fun!!!

Sköl!

Ragnar

TAG!

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar! Mags and I took our mom and dad on a nice 5+ mile walk this morning. It was hot and sticky, but fun -- we took a couple water breaks, so we were sure to stay hydrated! After a brief cool-down, we decided a nice, relaxing game was in order:

 

"TAG!  You're it!"
"You better run fast, Raggi - I WILL get you!!!!"

Sköl!

Ragnar

Wordless Wednesday

Mags & Ragnar

Front Garden Peek

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags. I thought we'd take a quick look around our front garden today! 

A couple days ago, Mom and Dad transplanted our Prickly Pear Cactus from a big pot down into the Butterfly Garden.

 

"It's on the left down there, between the rocks and the rock wall!"

It should be happy there - lots of sun and room to spread out!

Right behind me ...

 

"It's the world's largest Hosta!!!"

It will get REALLY huge by Summer's end!

Our Peonies and Iris are just getting started blooming! Here's a look at a couple of those:

 

First Peony bloom!

First Iris bloom -- and another one standing by!

Mom transplanted the Iris back in the Fall (and gave a ton of them to a neighbor), so she's really happy to see them blooming!

Those are the garden highlights for today - thanks for joining me!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Quick Lesson

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags. We walked up Grand Mère Trail today, and when we do, we always stop for a break at the stone benches. Mom usually tries to get a shot of Ragnar and me - and today was no different. We hopped right up ... and I thought I should give Raggi a quick lesson about posing.

 

"OK, Ragnar!  Watch and learn.  Go ahead and pose like a rock star on the next shot."
"OK, Mags!"
"Look this way and smile, puppies!"

"Oh, no, Mom!  We're so terribly back-lit!  This will never do!"
"Ha wooooo!  Good one, Mags!"
"Good boy, Rag---Margaret Thatcher!"

Then she mumbled something about having us turn the other way and ...

"I'll smile, but I won't look at her.  OK, Mags?"
"Oh, c'mon, Mags. Smile!!!"
"No.  The sun's in my eyes!"

That did quite work out as planned ... but we did get a cookie.  And some water.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Scenery Sunday

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar! We had a great walk this morning and it was very scenic, but maybe not the most serene one we've ever taken. Being the weather geek that she is, my mom thought it was cool, but ...

We started the walk by going to CiCo Park. Sadly, no farm animals again today. We headed to Anneberg next. For some reason, Mags thought we should turn and start toward the house.

 

"Mags said we should turn, so let's turn!"
"Good job, Raggi.  We need to get home; trust me!"

Everything was fine - Mom and Dad thought maybe Mags was tired and that 4 miles would be enough.

 

"Did we over do with the zoomies and snooter jousting yesterday, Mags?"
"Not at all.  You'll see in a sec, Ragnar."

We got up to that corner, and when we turned ... here's a shot Mom took:

"I think we better hurry!"
"See?!?"
"Look at how BEAUTIFUL that storm is!!!"

Fortunatley, we were only about 1/2 a mile or so from the house -- and actually that line of storms missed us! But Mags knew there was a storm out there - and Mom and Dad trust her instincts!

We hadn't been home very long when the next round rolled in:

It was mighty intense - but oddly serene!  Or at least scenic.  We got some nice rain (we need it!), and hail, thunder, and lightning.  Mags and I did zoomies and a bit of snooter jousting to celebrate, then napped.

Sköl!

Ragnar

Always Working

Hi everybody! It's me, Ragnar. Even though it's the weekend, Mags and I are hard at work! After our PT (5 1/2 mile walk) and some snooter jousting out on the deck, we helped our mom do some housework. Here we are, helping with the vacuuming:

"Hey, pups!  Would you guys mind ..."
"No, we don't mind, Mom.  Go ahead."
"Yeah.  Oh.  And we're here for you!"

"I meant maybe you could move a little bit?"
"I moved my head, does that count?"
"I don't see that happening.  Oh!  Missed a spot over there, Mom!"

We ARE Working Breed pups - and we're always working! It's in our DNA.

Sköl!

Ragnar

It's That Time Of Year!

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags. It's that time of the year when the four of us can all go out on the deck together. Sometimes it's cool enough after dinner:

 

"Kinda hot except for on this shady spot, Mom."
"Yeah.  Can we have a cookie, though?"

But as our dad likes to say, "It's either too hot or too cold."  Right now, the "too hot" part applies. We get the afternoon sun so it's mighty toasty. After our morning walk, there is still plenty of shade, though, so it's a great time to be on Guard Duty out there.

 

"Stay vigilant, Ragnar!  See anything from your vantage point?!?"

"I ... umm ... zzz ..."

Right.  Well, it's also a great place to recharge our batteries after a long walk.

We're happy to be getting some deck time in again!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Reminder!

Greetings to all! It's me, Mags, here with my bestest kid brother, Ragnar. We've had a few days with temps in the 90s already, so we wanted to post a reminder:

 

"Remember to take water breaks on your walks!"
"Stay hydrated, everybody!"

Walk before the heat of the day, take water with you, and keep an eye on your bipeds!  It they're getting too hot, cut the walk short and get them inside!  For more tips, please click here!

This has been an Ao4 Public Service Announcement!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Mags and Ragnar

PS:  Raggi just looks much larger because he's in front!!!