Back to the Backyard!

Woo, everypup and everycat. It's me - Dave! Enough of all these posies -- let's get back to playing in the backyard, OK? I had tons of fun out there with that toy that I showed you on Wednesday!

I ran out into the yard and waited for Mom.

"Throw it, Mom! Throw it!!!"

She threw it a ton of times and I brought it back - then we played that all over again!

"Got it! Let's play some more!"

We also played one of my other favorite games - Tuggy-Tug!!! Here's a little collage of that:

Me and Mom's hand playing Tuggy-Tug!

It was great fun! Then we played more of the throw and catch game - Mom and I call it Fetch! Remember the picture from Wednesday?!!? That was part of our Fetch game! Here I am, waiting for that very throw:

"!!!"

A bunch of you wanted to know if I caught it! It was a tricky throw, but I stuck with it and ... here's a collage!!!

Isn't that cool!?!? And yeah! I ...

"YEAH!"

... GOT IT!!!!!

What a fun time with Mom. She doesn't always remember to take the camera with us, but she got some pretty cool shots the other day!!! There are even more - I'll show you soon, OK?

Luv,

Dave

Photo Finish Friday!

Hi everypuppy and everycat! It's me - Ammy! We'll get back to backyard playtime tomorrow, but Stormy said I should take Photo Finish Friday to show you some of the other things blooming around here. It's photo-heavy, so let's get to it!

I checked around the backyard, but couldn't find anything other than the Texas Quince bushes Zimmie showed you.

"Not much blooming back here yet..."

So then Mom said we should go out front and look around!

"Yea! Let's go, Mom!"

Here's a close-up of the blooms on our neighbors' ornamental fruit tree.

We've had a lot of wind and it blew some of the blooms into our grass. Doesn't this look pretty?

Bloom on our grass

It's like tiny flowers on our lawn! Pretty!

Here's a branch of the tree, with the Ao4 HQs building (AKA our house) in the background:

The sort of purply trees you see in the background on the left are our Redbuds. They aren't quite in full bloom yet; we'll be sure to show you when they are! In the meantime, here's a look at the Redbud in our other neighbors' yard; it's further along than ours are.

Me (Ammy!) in front of the neighbors' Redbud tree

We have more of that Texas Quince in our side yard; here's a close-up of one of those:

Texas Quince blooms

Mom likes the splash of color! Me? I like those ornamental fruit trees! Let's look at more!

They're so soft and foamy-looking, aren't they? Almost like snow! And here's a last look at a branch contrasted against our very blue sky!

You can almost smell it, can't you?

"Ooooh, that smells so good!"

Have a happy Friday!
Love,
Ammy

Garden Blooms

Ha roo, pups and cool cats. It's me - Zim. We've all been out in the backyard lately, enjoying some one-on-one time with Mom. We love to run around and play back there, but sometimes, you just have to take it a bit slower and stop to enjoy the gardens. I thought I'd tour the gardens a bit myself, seeing if anything is blooming out back. Want to come with me? Let's go.

At first, I ran down to the Eskimo Viburnum; Ammy told me she had seen Oswald Lapin run out from under them and into the neighbors' yard. Wow, did I have fun exploring in there, but then for some odd reason, Mom hooked me up to the 30-foot long leash (once she caught me ... ha roo roo roo!) and made me trail that behind me. She wasn't holding it or anything, but that's our reminder to behave. I'm not sure why it works, but it does. I decided to check the middle tier instead.

"Yep, looks like Mom and Dad pruned the Spirea and the ornamental grasses..."

Zimmle Mawson, Explorer Pup!

I walked around that tier and didn't find anything blooming, so I went over to the north-west corner.

"Oh, yeah! This is more like it!"

It's some of our Texas Quince! (We have that all over the place!) I just had to sit there and admire its beauty. Can you feel the Zen of Zim? Would you like a couple close-ups? Here you go, garden enthusiasts!

Look at all that RED! I had to go in for a close-up myself!

"Oh, YEAH! Deeeee-licious!"

"...err... I mean 'beautiful'! Smell nice, too.

What's that, Mom? Time to go in already? Time sure flies in the garden!"

Hope you enjoyed today's garden tour with me! We'll keep you posted on what's blooming as the season progresses!

Play bows,

Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Luv,
Dave

Catch Me If You Can!

Tail wags, pups and kit-cats! It's me, Stormy! As you saw yesterday, it's yard-playing season here at Ao4 Headquarters! After I let Am, Zim and Dave (pix to come later this week) go run around the yard with Mom, I decided I wanted to go out, too.

At first, Mom thought maybe she and I could just kick back in a shady area of the lower deck, but I thought no... I'd like to go run around in the yard!

"Let's go play in the yard, Mom!"

I had all kinds of fun running around, up and down the hill, around the tiers on our path, and checking the AO. Here's a collage for you!

As you can tell, I had a blast. Mom and I played a little game of chase, taking turns as to who was chasing whom. Here I am, stalking Mom:

"I'm gonna get cha, Mom!"

What fun! If it doesn't get too hot today, I'll take Mom out again!

"Your turn to chase me! Catch me if you can!"

I hope all of you enjoy your day!

Tail wags,
Storms

Kicking Off the Week

Hi everypuppy and everycat! It's me, Ammy! I know that for some of you, Monday is a challenging day, so I thought you might like to start the week with a joke.

"How about a joke?"

How does that sound? OK! So ... oh, wait!

"Halt! Who goes there?!!?"

Hrumph. Somebunny was trying to get into our yard. OK ... so two atoms are walking down the street. One ... excuse me again, please.

"Don't even think about it, Oswald!"

I better start over.

Two atoms are walking down the street.

One says, ¨Wait, I think I lost an electron.¨

The other says, ¨Are you sure?¨
The first one says, ¨Yeah, I'm positive.¨

"Hee hee hee! 'I'm positive.' Hee hee hee! I love science jokes!"

Oh, I just love that one! I hope that puts a smile on your faces!

Love,
Ammy

Easter 2010

On this most sacred of Christian holidays, from all of us here at Ao4 Headquarters to all of you...

we wish you a most blessed Easter!

Tail wags, love, play bows, love and many blessings of the day -

Storms, Ammy, Zim, Dave and their bipeds

Super Secret ... Saturday!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats! It's me, Zim! Due to tomorrow being Easter, I thought I'd move this week's installment of our super secret visit up to today. Everyone's been so great about keeping our secret so far ... now remember: not a word to Huffle's parents! They think she's home with Uncle Heath in Australia while they're off on vacation! Huffle very cleverly pre-scheduled some Wordless Wednesday posts as a diversion. I love how sneaky that is!

Anyroo, you saw us last Sunday up on the catwalk. I thought I'd back up a bit and tell you about Huffle's arrival. When she first arrived, I figured she'd be mighty thirsty. Before showing her the guest rooms (I reserved both guest rooms and the private bath for her), I showed her where our water bowls are.

Hey Huffs! If you're thirsty, the water bowls are right here!

Zim, your mom is everywhere with that flashy beast!

I should have warned her. The pup-arazzi are all over the place here!

After we got a drink, I took her upstairs to show her around. I had a special surprise waiting for her up there - an old friend of hers who couldn't wait to say "hello"!

I took her into the back bedroom first. I told her to go on in and that there was a surprise in there for her!

"Is it a good surprise, Zimmie?"

Can you see him up there on the bed? Let's zoom in for a close-up!

"HUFFLE!!!!!!!!"

It's her old friend Roger the Rat!!! They had a lot of catching up to do, then Roger helped show Huffs around the rest of the upstairs. (Mom has a ridiculous rule about "no Siberians on the guest beds", so I let Rog give her the tour.)

Here they are in the front guest room:

"Huffle, you and I have the run of both guest rooms..."

On the rocking chair, there's a sort of puzzle-cat pillow. Roger thought Huffs would like that.

"It's pink and purple, Huffs! You like both of those colors!"

Huffs looked around a little bit...

Comfy!

...and she noticed the sunflowers and one ruby red slipper on the dresser.

Huffs wondered about the one ruby red slipper ... and I reminded her of the story. (Please click here and here.) Ha roo roo roo! We all had a great laugh over that one!

Huffle has settled in nicely and we've all been having a blast together! More to come next week, but in the meantime... we've got some Easter menu planning to do!

"Yeah, Huffs! Many Americans eat HAM on Easter. It's a tradition!"

"HAM!?!?!"

"Zzzzz....."

You can see Roger and I are a bit worn out from all the activities during the week! I think Huffle is excited about the prospect of ham!

Play bows (and remember - mum's the word!),

Zim

(and Huffle and Roger!)

Photo Finish Friday

Woo everypup and everycat! It's me, Dave. Another busy day here at Ao4 HQs - but I do have a couple great photos for you of me working. Working really hard. 'Cuz I'm a member of the Working Breed class.

Before I get to that, our friend Twix is helping promote a fund-raiser for the Children’s Miracle Network. Please visit her blog for details and to find out how you can help! No really... go check it out; I'll hold.

Me. Dave. Working. And holding on.

Oh, you're back? OK. Thanks for checking that out. If you'd like to help by posting about it on your blog, please consider yourselves tagged.

Here are the rules, so our virtual basket is counted:

HERSHEY’S BETTER BASKET BLOG HOP RULES

• Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
• Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
• Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
• Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
• Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop, and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
• This started as a meme of HERSHEY’S donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network up to $5,000 – but after so many bloggers participating, HERSHEY’S decided to donate a total of $7,000 honoring the kindness of blogger community .

Thanks for including us, Twixy! And now... back to work for me.

"Yeah. Right there, Mom."

Luv,
Dave

Just Fooling Around!

Hi everypuppy and everycat! It's me - Ammy! Our weather has been just what the bipeds have been dreaming about for the past several months - sunny, 70-something degrees, that sort of thing. While we prefer the snow and cold, that seems to make Mom and Dad happy, so we're happy, too!

The other day, Mom took the boys and I on an extra afternoon walk to enjoy the weather. We had a wonderful time and she had the iPhone with her and took some pictures. Why don't I show you how it went?!

Here's a collage of us on our way out - and stopping to pose at the water tower:

Everything was pretty ho-hum until Mom took that picture of Zimmie in the bottom-left corner. He said, "Hey, Mom cut my nose off! Ha roo roo roo!!!" and we started giggling (well... maybe especially I started giggling...) and one thing led to another and we were fooling around and Zim asked,

"Hey, Ammy! Heard any good jokes lately?"

Actually, I just heard a bunch from Zim's friend Mango the cat. (They go way back!) (OH! Not to be confused with Mango the Relentlessly Huge.)

"I have heard a few..."

So on the way home, I regaled them with some new (to me) jokes. Like I asked them if they had heard about the dogs named Timex and Rolex? They were watchdogs. Hee hee hee! They were really active and kept doing zoomies and were running in circles. I guess they were winding themselves up!

Since our temps are over 70, it was pretty hot for us - until we get used to it. See... take Dave, for example. He has really thick fur and in the winter he wears his winter coat. In the summer, he wears his coat and pants! Hee hee hee!

"Hee hee hee!"

"I didn't really get that last one, Am..."

"It's a joke, Dave. Coat and pants? And you're panting?!?"

Davy got it once Zimmie explained it to him! Then I thought I'd try one he could relate to a little better. "Hey Davy! Have you heard the one about the dog who boasted about running two miles to retrieve a stick? I think his story is a little far-fetched! Hee hee hee!"

"Oh... ha woo! Now that's a good one!"

And then there's the young Army dog who was forced to stand at attention a really, really, really long time. It ... made the pup tense!

"Hee hee hee!"

"Ha woo, Ammy! Those are some good jokes!"

"Ha roo roo roo - pup tents!!"

Then Zimmie couldn't stop laughing...

"Ha roo roo roo, oh, Ammy, you're killin' me!"

...so I left him with this zinger - "Just remember, Zimmie! To err is human... to make dog puns canine!" Hee hee hee!

"Oh....... AMMY!" [groannnnnn......]

Happy April Fools Day, everyreader! And thank you to Mango the kitty-cat for the wonderful jokes!

Love,

Ammy