Serene Scenery Sunflower Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  It's me, Zim, here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  At this time of year, the sunflowers are in full swing all OVER the place here, so I thought I'd share with you some of the sunny sunflower pix Dave and I have helped Mom take lately!

These ones grow up on the hill, beside one of our neighbor's gardens:

Mom likes the dark backdrop of the pine trees!

You can often see bees busy doing their pollen dance on the sunflowers:

Given the number of sunflowers we see on our walks, that guy's got his work cut out for him!

Here's one, stretching its face up to the sun:

That must feel good! I love a good stretch in the sun!

This sunflower was all alone, in a dried out field:

They can grow just about anywhere here!  Check out these next sunflowers, growing out of a pile of rubble:

Sunflowers just make me want to smile!

I hope they bring a smile to your face, too - and that sweet sunflower serenity!

Play bows,

Zim

Weekend Plans?

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave.  Anybody have any big weekend plans?  Zim and I are planning on doing a bit of what we did last weekend.

We watched a little football:

"Hey, look, Mom.  The Chiefs are losing. "

Maybe college football would be a better choice this weekend...

We helped break in the new grill!

"I'm here for you, Mom!"

I was a big help.  I'm from Texas, so I know about grills and BBQ stuff.  Zim helped, too.  He's not just a Drill Sergeant, he's a Grill Sergeant.  Ha woo.

"Good one, Dave!"

I think there's a good chance we'll try out our grill skills again this weekend!

Mom and I will probably also spend some time in the Studio together.

"You are NOT going to put those colors together - are you!?!?
ARE you??!?  Don't DO it, Mom!!!"

Seriously.  You should see some of the concoctions she tries to put together before I intervene!

AND... because it's another wonderfully mild-weathered Fall weekend, I know we have lots of exploring ahead of us!

"Pretend you're looking at the wildflowers, not at the bugs, Dave!"
"Got it, Zim"

Mom mentioned something about a special visitor today, too, but wouldn't tell us guys who.  I can't wait to see who's coming!

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Luv,

Dave

Photo Finish Friday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats! It's me - Zim! Mom wanted a couple pix of me posing by that big planter of posies for Photo Finish Friday this week, but I wasn't really in a sitting and posing mood!

Sure, I was willing to go over there and check everything out:

Those coleus plants are really looking good, aren't they?  And look, there are some petunias still blooming in there and a few geranium flowers!  Take a look:

They're all thriving, even through our crazy-hot weather. And lack of rain. But they're not what I was most interested in! Check it out:

"Great Dane in the morning!"

Can you see it?!!? It's ... it's not just a huge sweet potato vine ... it's ...

"You're not taking us down!  Not on my watch!"

...THE SWEET POTATO VINE THAT ATE MANHATTAN!!!

Coming soon, to a theater near you. Ha roo roo roo!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Play bows,
Zim

It's My Job

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me - Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind!  Yesterday was just a great day!  We went on a couple walks, played, had a few snacks after lunch, then I settled in right here:

"Hi!"

Mom commented that it was unusual for me to lay there; Zim usually guards the front door. (You know -- in case we have unexpected visitors or something.)  True... but I saw Mom go to the UPS site on the computer to track a certain package we were expecting and ...

BINGO!!!

It was the latest fabric order I helped her place!

"Let's crack this box OPEN!"

I couldn't believe she made me wait to open the package!

Finally she agreed we could open it and have a look at all the fabric. Check this out:

"Aqua!  And lime!  And azure!  And basil!  And ... WOO!!!"

I love it all! All but one are Amy Butler prints. I really like the way Amy puts color together.

"What?!?"

What? Don't look at me like that - I'm a Guide Dog for the Color Blind -- this is my job!

I thought we should go out and admire the fabs in the natural daylight; Mom thought that was a great idea.

Zim came with us to stand guard, as you can see.

Don't they look great?!?! Mom just now got them out of the wash; I'm going to have to supervise her ironing them all this afternoon. I'd best rest up!  Do you all love your jobs as much as I do?!?

Luv,
Dave, GDFTCB

Wordless Wednesday

Luv,
Dave

Full Day's Work!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  It's a beautiful, cool day out there today, so Dave and I have a lot of work ahead of us!  Here's what we've done so far:

Took Dad on a walk.

Dave, me and Dad

He's golfing this morning, so we made sure to get him up early. Got to ... umm ... get him warmed up. Yeah, that's it.

After our walk, we put in some deck time:

That's Dave, trying not to over-do.

Then we took Mom out and did a bit of this:

"Zim!  Check this out!"
"Ha roo!!!"

For some reason, it troubles her when our snooters zoom in on something like that. It's ... it's almost like she thinks we're getting into something. Can you believe that? Crazy!

After that, I had some work to do back out on the deck:

"Birdie!"

And lastly, we did a bit of this:

"Hey!  Is any cat out here?"
"Woo."

It's only 0930, and there's still lots more to do.  What a great day!  Hope you're finding lots to keep you busy!

Play bows,

Zim

New Quilt on our Bed!

Um... I mean on Mom and Dad's bed.  Woo.

And woo again, everypup and everycat, it's me, Dave!  Mom has made several denim quilts over the years (with my help) to have on our bed.  Because that's the ONE piece of furniture we pups are allowed on, she only makes denim ones - so they can stand up to us and stand up to being washed every few days.  Imagine my surprise when I found her putting a NEW quilt on the bed that WASN'T denim!!!

She said she found it in a catalogue for a price she couldn't resist and so we'd just be real careful with it.  Since she didn't make it herself, I wasn't sure I'd like it, but I was willing to try it out.  I actually liked the colors very much!

"I like the colors, Mom.  Especially this aqua/spa blue one!"

Mom said she liked that one best, too. See what a good team we are?

I promised her I'd be really careful on it!

"I'll just lay here like a good little puppy!"

Mom was impressed, I just know it!

It was time to put it in the wash this weekend - and you all know who likes to help with the beds around here! Oh, no! He wouldn't, would he?!?! Not with the new...

"Ha ROOOO!!!"

Oh, no! I thought Mom might get upset at the way he was handling it, but Zim said not to worry - he's always careful. Then he flashed this smile at her ~

"I'm SGT Zim, and I'm here to help!"

Mom said something under her breath about why God made Siberian Huskies so cute ... I couldn't catch all of it.  I asked Zim if he heard, but he said he wasn't listening.

"Oh, Dave's right.  This new quilt is com-FY!  Zzzz..."

I think Zim is studying the fabric real close.  His snooter is right by that aqua and spa blue block, so I think he appreciates the colors and all.  I'll bet he likes that one best just like me and Mom.  

"Hey, all you babes out there.  Does this bring out the blue in my left eye?"

Woo.  Well, at least he was thinking about the colors!

Luv,

Dave

9/11/11

September 11, 2001.

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

The Pentagon.

Flight 93 over Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

We will never forget - not a "tragic event", but an act of war.

We stand strong.  We are Americans.

From all of us here at Ao4 Headquarters ~ God bless the heroes who rose that day and those who continue to fight today.  And may God Bless the United States of America.

A Dave at the Beach

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me - Dave.  It's another beautiful, sunny day out there today - perfect weather to hit the Kansas Ocean!!!

Me, Dave, at the beach
Some strange lomo effect thing done by Mom

Yep, a walk at the Kansas Ocean sounds ideal, doesn't it?  Oh, don't worry; we've heard all about that nasty blue-green algae thing going on and are taking every precaution.  Also, we have two things going for us - 

1. We've never seen the Kansas Ocean mentioned by name in any of the articles
2. I like to stay up on the  sidewalk  boardwalk.  I have no interest in getting my feety-feet wet!

Who's up for a trip to the ocean?  Let's go!

Luv,

Dave

Photo Finish Friday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  For Photo Finish Friday, I thought I'd share some pix of me from a couple of walks we took earlier in the week.  It's been so nice out lately that we can take walks in the morning and in the afternoon!  It's been fabulous!

Here's a look at me out on one of our morning walks:

Can you imagine if I was really as tall as my shadow!?!  How cool would that be?!?  (Mom tried to get all of me in the frame, but I wouldn't fit!)

On one of our afternoon walks, Mom was busy taking scenery shots like this one:

Contrary to what you may have heard on The Great Food Truck Race,
23,000 is the enrollment figure for KSU, not the population of Manhattan!
The City's population is somewhere around 55,000.

It was just a perfect picture postcard kind of day! Anyway, since she was busying herself with sunflowers and stuff, I was getting used to standing around waiting. She lulled me into a false sense of her not taking pix of me and Davy, then she turned and shot this:

She's sneaky, isn't she?  At least she got me looking rugged and outdoorsy!

Play bows,
Zim

Storm Watching How-To

Woo, everypup and almostevercat.  It's me, Dave, here with another one of my very helpful tutorials.  We haven't had any storms here in quite a while, but we did have one rip through the area a couple weeks ago. Since a lot of you are experiencing lots of rain and thunder and lightning and stuff right now, I thought you might benefit from seeing how I deal with storms.  Ready?

Being the weather geek that she is, Mom is constantly monitoring her 10-million weather apps on her iPhone and checks in to see what the local meteorologists and storm chasers are saying on FaceBook.  If there are storms in the area, we often do this:

Me, helping my mom storm watch

Yep. Head out on the deck and watch the storm blow in!  Check out the storm from a couple weeks ago:

Pretty cool, huh? Keep watching, it got better!

We asked the rain to go to Texas to help out our friends who need the rain even more than we do (parts of Kansas are in a drought, but not where we are... we're just "low") - but it wasn't listening. In fact, it not only didn't go to Texas, it didn't even give us any rain!

We did get some loud thunder boomers and a cool light show, though. You can see how excited I got about the whole thing.

"Zzzz...."

And that's my storm watching how-to.  I hope you enjoyed it!

Luv,

Dave

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

We're Back!!!

Woo, everypup and almosteverycat!  It's me, Dave!  Zim and I are BACK!  Actually, we hadn't gone anywhere... but we're back to blogging! It's been a long time, hasn't it? Since last Wednesday.  I hope you haven't forgotten about us!

"Did you miss us?"

Wait a minute!  She did what? When? The very next day?!?  Where?!?!

She was right there, huh?  Well, I don't mind her posing for pix and all, but how did The Bully Cat post to our blog?  She'd have to have the password to do that and ... I just don't know if that's such a hot idea.  Who would ... There's only one other guy who knows the password!!!

"Zimmie!  You ... you wouldn't, would you?"

He wouldn't ... would he?

"Well, yeah, but she said she'd be real nice and all, Dave.  I'm sure we can trust her!"

Trust The Bully Cat?  I think we're back to blogging just in time.  You all have our sixes, don't you?

Luv,
Dave

Greetings From Ao4 HQS

Hi. It's me.

 

Oh. You thought I was that one they call Dave? No. It's me ~

"Meee-owww..."

Maude. The Very Nice Cat from next door. Oh. Don't worry about Zim and Dave. They'll be back in a few days. They're tied up with some out of town guests. I thought I'd fill in for them. You know - being The Very Nice Cat that I am.

This photo brought to you by the letter J

   

Yep. I'm mighty comfy here. I wonder if those boys have seen me yet.

"Hey!  I'm on your sidewalk, posing by your flowers!"

I certainly hope I'm not disturbing them or anything.

"Purrrr.... purrrr.... purrrr...."

I might have to stay a while longer. 

Meow. 

Maude, The Very Nice Cat.