Photo Finish Friday

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie Thatcher, here with Photo Finish Friday!  I've gathered up a collection of some fun photos from the week that I thought you might enjoy.  Actually, we're going to start with a couple from last weekend that we forgot to post ...

Both Cammie and I enjoy watching TV, as you might recall.  Dad put on one of our favorite shows so we could all watch:

"Mags!  'Person of Interest' is on!  I hope Bear has a big role in tonight's episode!"

There's an actor we really like - his real name is Graubaer's Boker, but his name in the show is Bear.

"Is he on yet, Auntie Cam?"
"Not yet, Maggie... "

He wasn't on much that episode, but they did have an interesting beeping noise.  Cammie tried to find where it was coming from, but couldn't track it down.  I thought that was just as fun as watching Bear.

In other news, I can jump on the big bed all by myself now!

I have about a 75% rate of making it. I need a running start.

Do I look all grown up in that photo? Mom says not to worry. I'm really still a teeny-tiny puppy.

And a very lady-like one at times:

Hmm. What else happened this week? I went to see my vet - that was pretty fun. I got my last booster shot, though I don't really remember that. What I remember is lots of cuddles and sweet talk, and getting to eat cheese from a can spread on something called a "tongue depressor" but it's really a STICK! Mom said I'd be happy enough just to chew on the stick, but my wonderful vet, vet tech, and students thought I should have CHEESE. Oh, was that ever wonderful!  I love cheese!  And sticks!  It was the best of both worlds!  We don't have a photo of that, but here I am on the way home:

"Home, please, driver!  I mean Mom."

I couldn't wait to tell Cam and Zim all about my visit!

I spent a lot of time with Zimmie this week, studying him, learning from him, playing with him.  He's such a wonderful brother and a puppy can learn so much from him!  Here we are after a tutorial on doing the Sad Eyes Look:

"Good, Mags!  Now try making your eyeliner extend out at the corners ..."
"Like this, Zimmie?"

Zimmie said I'm quickly mastering the Sad Eyes Look and am moving into being able to do a Harp Seal Look very quickly.  All I know is he was right - this is a sure way to wrap Mom around our little paws.

Oh!  Did you notice I'm wearing all my tags now?  Not only do I get to wear my favorite tag, the See Beautiful tag Mr. Goose and his MOM sent me, but I have a rabies tag, an Army dog tag with all my important info on it, and a city tag.  They jingle when I walk; Mom seems to like that a lot.  Oddly, she seems to know where I am all the time now.  Does anyone know what "belling the cat" means?  We don't have a cat!

I'm getting lots of my big girl teeth in now, and have been able to put impressive dents and tears into my toys.  Mom's switching me over from puppy toys to toys for powerful chewers!  Zim and Cam are really proud of me.  Here I am with one of my new toys:

I really like this one a lot, and so far it's holding up well. It's called a Kong Traxx.

I'm getting very good about sitting calmly for treats after walks!

Me, Cammie, and Zim waiting sweetly for treats

Zimmie is over 13 and so some of the rules are different for him. Cammie and I are OK with that.

Here's another look into one of my lessons with Zim:

"Yeah, kid!  You're gonna love it!  I'll teach you how to make a really cool snow fort!"
"Oh, Zimmie!  I can't wait to see this wondrous thing called snow!"

We are expecting our first measurable snowfall over the weekend - and in the meantime, we got a dusting yesterday!  It's my first snow!

Me with a REAL snow nose!

I thought it was just delightful!  Cold, like ice cubes, but soft and fluffy!  I just can't wait for more!

That's a wrap for Photo Finish Friday!  I hope everyone has a lovely weekend - I'll keep you posted about our snow situation!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Road Trip!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  A few days ago, Zim and Mom had their special time together, and Maggie and Mom had their special time together, and so then Mom said, "Hey, Cammie!  How about a road trip?!?"  That sounded so fun - Mom hooked me into my seatbelt harness and off we went!

We drove out to one of our favorite places to explore - Tuttle Creek State Park!  We had the best time!  We did some hiking around at about 4 or 5 different parts of the park and Mom took at least 10 billion pictures.  I've got the best of the best for you today - and there are tons more in a special set on Flickr (click here to view).  Let's get going!

We walked along this one bank for quite a while:

"Dad said I'm Mom's security guard, so I better keep an eye out!"

While Zim is a good navigator, I am very good at providing security!  I take my job very seriously!

There were a lot of Canada Geese out on the River Pond:

"DINNER!  ... I mean ... my brother Zim said to say ha roo to all of you gooses!"

A promise is a promise.

We went over to one of our favorite look-out areas:

"So many great smells and sounds and sights to take in!"

We were hoping there might be some eagles around, but we sure didn't see any. We'll just have to come back - especially now that it's bitterly cold out!  That would be wonderful!!!  (Right, Mom? Mom?  Mom...?)

Moving right along ... I love the view from here:



It's where the River Pond meets the Big Blue River.  You can see a lot, smell all kinds of exciting things, and hear everything from miles around!

Mom likes this area, too. She made this special effects photo of me:

This is what the vivid setting on the camera does!

"Oh, my!  That was a tad on the bright side, Mom!"

We walked along a different bank of the River Pond for a while:

"Look at all these leaves!  I'll have to tell Maggie.  She loves crispy leaves!"

Seriously.  My little Maggie would have LOVED all those leaves!  There's something for everyone at Tuttle Creek State Park!

We snuck up on some Mallards ...

"DINNER!"

For some reason, they flew off before Mom could focus in on them.

"Was it something I said?"

It couldn't have been anything I said - I'm very, very quiet on our outings.  I just stare, I do not bark at prey.  I mean dinner.  I mean small wild animals.  But I do not bark.  I just look.  I did my best to lure them back over.

"Heeeeeeere ducky, ducky, ducky!"

Oddly enough, they did not come back.  Oh.  And yes, is my seatbelt harness obtrusive enough?  With all the in and out of the car we were doing, Mom opted not to take it off.  It doesn't bother me one bit, though looking at the photo above ... is it just me, or do I look like I'm wearing a straight jacket?

"Ha!  'A straight jacket'!
Zimmie will get a kick out of that one.  Ha roowooroo!"

I did a nice pose for Mom further down the shoreline:

Me!  Cammie!

... then we did a bunch more hiking:

"I wonder if I could bring a few of these leaves home for Maggie..."

We drove over to a little dock that Zim and I have shown you before:

I did my best to look for geese and other birdies for Mom, but there just weren't any over there. Mom said it was OK; enjoying each other's company was what our special road trip was all about!

 ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

We really did have the best time together!!!  I hope you had fun coming with us!

Cammie!

PS:  If you'd like to see more photos from our outing, remember you can click here.

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim and Cammie!

Wowzers!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  Mom and I went on one of our special "just the two of us" outings yesterday, and you'll never guess who we saw at the Kansas Ocean!

"Wowzers!  And ha roo, friends!"

That's right - it was a small flock of Canada Geese! How exciting - they don't often hang out at the KSO! I lured them over closer and Mom got a bunch of pix of everygoose. Here's a group shot:

Check out the guy on the right of this shot:

That might be where the term "silly goose" comes from. The goose behind him has the look on his face that Cammie gets when Maggie's doing something she shouldn't be doing. Ha roo roo roo!

A couple of the gooses were getting some good wing stretches in - like this:

... and this:

These two guys were having a diving competition:

Dive!  Dive!!  Dive!!!

I wonder who won?

"I did."
"No, you didn't."

I suggested it was a draw; I'm sure they valued my input.

Mom and I watched my new friends for a while, then decided we'd best get back home to Dad and the girls.  I sure hope they'll be coming to the KSO more often!  I just loved seeing them!

"Thanks for hanging out with me!  Hope to see you gooses again soon!"

Play bows,
Zim

Something Fishy Is Going On!

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Before I get started with today's post, please allow me to wish all of you a very happy Siber Monday from Cam, Zim and me.  Ours was very busy - lots of playing and walking and playing and chewing on everything I could find and playing and learning things from Cam and Zimmie and playing ... AND I got to have special playtime in the backyard!

As we started down the deck stairs, Mom told me something fishy!  She said we were going to play with a very special fish -- but I had left my Fishie in the house, so I was a bit befuddled.  Mom said this fish was different - and that his name is Squeaky Fish!  Oh, I just love squeaky toys, so I couldn't wait!

When we got out to the yard, I chewed on Squeaky Fish a bit - and oh, was Mom right! It's SUCH a fun toy and has the very loudest SQUEAK I've ever heard!

"SQUEAK!!!"

Mom went down to the next tier down and she could still hear my new friend squeaking!

"Maggie!  Come!"
"SQUEAK!!!"

Umm... would you believe I couldn't hear Mom calling me over the loud squeaks?

Anyway, Mom thought I might burn up more energy (whatever that means) if she threw Squeaky Fish and I chased after him and brought him back. It's a game called "Fetch".  I haven't heard of that, and don't recall seeing it as a recommended activity in the Siberian Husky rule book, but I thought I'd humor my mom a bit.  She gave Squeaky a little toss and I gleefully dove into the pool of leaves in the yard to get him!

"Whee!  Gotcha, Squeaky Fish!"

Mom thought that might mean I was ready for some long throws! We went down onto the middle tier of the yard and Mom gave SF a good toss. I flew after him!

Run, run, run!

Then I ran back up to the top tier!

"Here I come!"

Then I ran to Squeaky again, and ran back up to the top tier:

"Here I come again!"

I kept flying along the top tier -- can you see me zooming in this next shot?

Zoom, zoom, zoom!!!

I ran back to the middle tier (and remembered to pick up Squeaky Fish that time), then kept going!  Here I am, zooming on the top tier with Squeaky!

"Squeak!!!"

I had all kinds of fun running around the yard with Squeaky Fish!

Oh.  I might have forgotten about the "bring it back to Mom" part of the game.

"Zim, Cammie, and Sibes everywhere will be so proud of me!"

I had a lovely time playing with my very special new toy!  And as per playing "Fetch" the Siberian Husky way?  Nothing fishy about that at all!

Have a joyous Siber Monday, everyone!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  It's me, Zim, here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  Friday, Mom and her friend went out birding at Tuttle Creek State Park.  I thought I'd share some of the photos she took, hoping they will help you relax and find your inner Zen of Zim Zone.

They started out at a place Mom had never been - the Cove!

They saw a Great Blue Heron fly by and Mom got some quick shots of him:

Then, Mom was very excited to see a bird she'd never seen in person before - Hooded Mergansers!  Since I wasn't there, the ducks didn't swim over, but Mom did the best she could, stretching her camera as far as she could.

Female and male Hooded Merganser (female is at the top of the photo)

If it hadn't been for one lone seagull swimming in with the Hooded Mergansers, Mom never would have seen them!

Hooded Mergansers and a seagull

Thank you, Mr. Seagull!

There were a bunch of sailboats moored in the Cove. Mom did some special effects on this shot:

Totally serene.

This Red Tailed Hawk was keeping an eye on everything:

Mom and her friend also went over to the River Pond area. There were a lot of Canada Geese and some ducks. Here are some geese ...

... and a rather camera shy Mallard behind them!

They also went over to see if anyone was hanging out at Willow Lake:

No one there, but it sure looks peaceful, doesn't it?

They saw Canada Geese flying over the River Pond ...

... and also some Mallards:

We hope Mom's photos have helped you find your inner Zen of Zim Zone.

If you'd like to see more pix from her most recent birding outing, please click here.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Play bows,
Zim