Another Movie Night in the Library

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  As I mentioned yesterday, I tried movie night in the Library for the first time over the weekend.  We did so well that we got to have movie night the next night, too!

Just like the previous night, we got the "Let's go downstairs!" request.  Being the gentleman that Zim is, he let me go down the stairs first.  Some people around here have accused me of racing down the stairs so I could ambush Zim in the Studio.

I have no idea where they get that idea! I was merely waiting for everyone else to assemble in the Studio so we could go into the Library together.

"Hey, Cam.  May I escort you in?"
"That's my neck, Zimmie!"

See? Just waiting for Zim, so he could escort me in there. (The Library is that second door on the left there.)

Dad popped the movie in and we (sorry - The Dark Knight) settled in pretty much right away to watch. Here's Mom's view:

Pretty nice, don't you think?

About 5 minutes before the movie ended, Zim went to stand Guard Duty on the stair landing.  I think he wanted to be in place to handle the crowds coming out from the Library.  I kept an eye on Mom and Dad.

I was well-positioned, should something have happened in there.  Really.

Zim and I are hoping for another movie night soon!   Who'd like to join us?

Camo!

Movie Night in the Library

Hello, everyone, it's me, Cammie!  Zimmie and I got to do something I'd never done before over the weekend - watch a movie downstairs in the Library!  I've watched movies in the Living Room, but it was very different watching a movie down there!

At first, when Mom and Dad said, "Let's go downstairs!", I thought I was going to help Mom in her Studio.  I've never done that after dinner, so I thought it was kinda funny, but then, when we got down there, Mom said, "In the Library, you two!"  She may have said "...you two crazed river otters", but I'm not sure.  Hmm.

Zim and I explored the Library for quite a while, played real sweetly with each other for a bit (that might have elicited more of the "crazed river otters" comments...), and then tried to settle in to watch the movie.  We aren't allowed on the furniture in the Library, either, but there are some moderately comfy cushions for us down there.  I tried out this one over by Dad:



Zim sat on the floor by Mom and tried watching the movie a little. (Batman Begins. I know you were wondering.)

"What are we watching, Mom?  Ah, a Batman flick.  Hey, we should invite Bart in!"

I wasn't that into the movie, so I went over and tried out the big cushion. I'd never tried it out before.

"I'm not sure about this."

It was OK, but it's new, so I need to go slowly.

While I did that, Zim did this:

"Hey.  Whatcha doing?"

Mom said it was hard for her to watch the movie with Zim staring at her, so we decided to do this instead:

I'll bet that was better.

There's a lot down there we have to avoid crashing into, according to Zim, so it's very exciting!  We were pretty close to Dad's feety-feet in that shot; I got extra points for getting the closest without touching!

After we played our game, I tried out the big cushion again.

"Maybe this is OK..."

I liked it better that time.  You should always try something twice before you make your mind up about it.  I'm not sure who said that, but it's pretty profound.  And both Zim and I do better if we get to decide to try something on our own, and not be pressured.

We watched a movie in the Library again the next night - tune back in tomorrow to see how that went!

Thanks for coming to the movies with us!

Camo!

Serene Scenery Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim.  For this week's Serene Scenery Sunday, how about we head down into our backyard gardens and slip into the Zen of Zim Zone?  There are all kinds of things in bloom down there.  Ready?

Here's the lavender:

I wish you could smell it! It's very calming. Just on the other side of the "no jumping off it" retaining wall, you can see the Crape Myrtles peeking up at me - and to the left there are the rather massive white Rose of Sharon Bushes.

Down at the very bottom, on the right, we have some Tomato Soup Echinacea in bloom.

Mom tried to zero in on one bloom, but couldn't get her camera to focus. I've seen her stick her hand right behind, to aid the lens, so I thought I'd do what I could to help.

"Is this better, Mom?"

She said "not really". Hmm. Must have been some kind of mechanical error. Oddly enough, she was able to focus on this bloom:

Go figure. Let's move up a tier.

We have a "volunteer" Butterfly Weed growing just to the right of the big Butterfly Weed.  How cool.  You can also see some of the Wine and Roses Weigela (the dark foliage) and beyond those, the big Plume Grass Mom planted last year.

Up at the top of the gardens, the Purple Coneflowers are looking pretty spent:

"The birds love to eat these seeds!"

We leave the old seed heads for the birdies!  I also saw a cool bug up there, so that was fun.

Dragonfly!

Let's check on Cam's favorite of the sedum, the Dazzleberry/D'Azulberry sedum:

"D'Azulberry.  Ha roo roo roo!"

Looking mighty good!

Let's head over to the purple & pink Rose of Sharon.

"You've got to stop and smell the roses.  Of Sharon."

They're so beautiful!  I couldn't help but stop and give a sniff!  Here's a close-up for you:



Beautiful, aren't they?

Here's one last shot - it's one of our Russian Sages, standing tall and looking great:

Твоё здоровье! 

Or something like that.

Anyway, I hope you're in the Zone now.  Have a wonderful Sunday and remember to take time out to see all the beauty around you.

Play bows,
Zim

C6ers

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  It would seem that every so often, my brothers and great sisters have shared some of our mom's recipes with you, so I thought I'd do that today.  Mom experimented with some cookies the other evening that we're calling Chocolate Chocolate Chip Chocolate Chunk Cookies (or C6ers).  They came out really good, according to her and Dad, so that's the recipe I'll post!

WARNING:  These are NOT for puppies!!!  Bipeds only!!!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (Mom uses only King Arthur. Because he's the KING.)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup regular sugar
3/4 cup butter (accept no substitutes!) - near room temp.
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
12 oz. Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips
3 of the really big (4.4 oz) Hershey's milk chocolate bars

Preheat oven to 325℉.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the first 3 ingredients using a wire whisk. Set aside.
In a large bowl (Mom used her big KitchenAid mixer that weighs 137 pounds), combine the two sugars. Add butter; mix to form a paste. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing at medium until just combined. Don't over mix. I have no idea why not, but a recipe Mom started with said not to.
Add the flour mixture at low speed, then add in chocolate chips.
Take a Hershey bar and break off a little rectangle. Eat it to "make sure it's OK". (Zim told me it's important to let you know exactly how Mom did this!) Decide it's OK, then start breaking two of the bars into 1/2-inch squares. Test another little piece, just to be sure. Reach into the mixing bowl and fish out one of the Ghirardelli chips, too, and give that a taste. Where was I? Oh. Take the last Hershey bar and decide you should grate it. Use a grater with pretty big holes and go at it. Decide part-way through it would have been a good idea to refrigerate the bar before grating. Throw all the chocolate into the mixy bowl and mix on low. Your dough should look like this:

That's me in the background, supervising. Remember - THIS IS NOT FOR US PUPPIES!!!

At this point, if you want, you could refrigerate your dough. This will give you a bit poufier cookies. A good thing to do while you wait would be to go for a walk with your best friends.

If you're trying to make these as a surprise for someone who's out golfing and you don't have a lot of time on your hands, just hit the yard for a potty break, wash your hands, then get back to it!

Use your big cookie scoop and line the dough up on ungreased cookie sheets:

A couple tablespoons, I would say. Leave plenty of room between them; they will spread - especially if you don't chill the dough.

Bake for about 12-16 minutes, depending on size and whether or not your dough has been chilled. You want them a little bit brown on the edges -- but it's hard to see due to all the chocolate in the dough. Look for the edges to not be shiny; use your best judgement!

What to do while the cookies bake? Try the "Got Your Feety-Feet Game". Mom plays that game with Zim, but I thought I'd play the all-Sibe version. It goes like this:

"Zimmie!  I'm gonna get your footy-foot!"

"No way!  No one touches my feety-feet!"
"Oh, yeah?  Watch this!"

BOOM!
"Got your footy-foot!"

For the record, I got his footy-foot.  And his neck.

OK!  Back to the cookies!   Let them cool on the sheets for a couple minutes before moving to cooking racks for a total cool-down. While you wait ...

"Oh.... Zim.... mieeee..."

... have a little more fun.

Mom thought she ought to taste a cookie before Dad got home from the golf tournament.  She wouldn't want to offer him inferior cookies, right?

Mom says, "Mmmm!" and "Sorry, Zim.  Not for you and Cam!"
Crunchy cookie, chocolate gooey goodness

They will be soft in the middle, but crisp on the edges. Mom got about 4 dozen.

And really.  Mom is well-trained, so don't feel bad for us!  She rewarded us for our hard supervisory work:

"Yea!  Stinky Goodness!"
"Is that a salmon Zuke's for me?!?"

Yum!  Zim and I loved our treats - and Dad and Mom really love the new C6ers!  If you want to be really nice to your bipeds, let them try out our recipe!  And let us know what they think!  (Please remember:  NO CHOCOLATE FOR PUPPIES!  OR KITCATS!!!)

Camo!

Photo Finish Friday!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  It's me, Zim.  I've got some miscellaneous pix for you for PFF that Mom shot on our walk yesterday.  (It was raining when we walked this morning, so she didn't take the camera.  Go figure.)  Anyway ... let's get walking!

We went up and over Little Kitten Creek.  Mom saw a Great Blue Heron flying above the creek, but wasn't quick enough on the draw to get a shot of him.  She got a better photo instead, once we got to the top of the hill and turned the corner:

Cam!

Yep!  The Cam-a-roo! What could be better?  Well... yeah, OK.  A shot of each of us, maybe?  Here you go:

Me!

Dad and I let the girls go first on the walk.  It seemed the gentlemanly thing to do.

Here's another shot of Cam:

"Hey, Zimmie?  Do you know what this thing is?"

She stumbled onto the Manhattan Trolley!  Remember that?  I filled her in on the whole deal.

"Yeah, Cam!  I was going to rent the trolley for the whole Summer last year
to give tours of the Kansas Ocean - but the tourist trade was at a virtual stand-still.
I think it was the drought and record-breaking heat wave."

I still can't believe that didn't pan out.  It would have been so cool!  

"I don't know why everyone wasn't lining up to go, Zim!"
"Can't you just see me driving this baby, Cam?!?"

What can I say?  It's a tough time for the economy.  People just aren't flocking to the Kansas Ocean like you'd think they would!

Speaking of which, that's where we were headed! We saw our deer friends on the way - then stopped by the KSO!

"Ahh!  Smell that salt air!"
"And feel that cool ocean breeze!"

It's great being able to share my morning adventures with Cammie - and with all of you!  She enjoys them every bit as much as I do!

Remember the path she showed you a while ago?  She mentioned we take it sometimes in the mornings.  We did just that yesterday!  Here goes Cam:

"And to think... I thought there weren't hills in Kansas!"

It's nice and wide, so we can keep Mom and Dad out of the tall grass where the ticks and fleas like to hang out.

Anyway, that winds around up the hill, around to the water tower.  There are all kinds of cool smells and views and stuff up there.  Here's one last shot of me, almost at the top:

What a great walk - can you tell by the smile on my face?!?   Thanks for coming with us!

Play bows,
Zim

Oh, My Deer!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim.  I can't wait to tell you about the great walk we (Cam, Mom, Dad, and I) had this morning.  It was nice and (relatively) cool out, so that was great right there, plus we ran into some friends!

Cam saw them first.

"DINNER!"

Here's the first one we spotted:

"Hello?"

Isn't she beautiful?

She struck a pose right in the middle of the path we were on!

We looked to our left and saw more friends:

And then the first friend sort of checked us out:

I think she was doing a "friend or foe" check.

"Oh, you can trust us ... DINNER!"

"Uh-oh!"

I tried to send my calming signals, in an attempt to override Cammie's ... um ... well, you know.

"Ha roo, deer!"

I think I earned us a little trust.

This guy liked me, but still was a little cautious.

He went over to join his friends:

Safety in numbers

"Oh... my... DINNER x 4 !!!"

"We need to hoof it out of here!"

"Hoof" it.  Get it?  Ha roo roo roo!

"Hey!  Where are they going?!?  Was it something I said?"

"See all you deers again soon?!?"

What a great walk.  I think I need to work on teaching Cam more calming behavior and a little less on the ol' prey drive, though.

In other news, Mom finished the new collars and leashes she made for us.  She said between the deer and the bunnies this morning (no shots of them, sorry), the new threads got strength-tested.  Ha roo roo roo!

Play bows,
Zim