This Morning's Walk

Greetings to all - it's me, Margaret Thatcher.  Nothing too exciting going on here at Ao4 Headquarters, so Cam and I thought we'd just share a few pictures Mom took on our walk this morning.

Dad and I had special Dad-Daughter Time before he left for golf this morning.  It was GREAT!  Anyway - so I already had a couple miles under my belt by the time Mom and Cam were ready to go.  Was I tired?  Perish the thought!  I was more pumped up than the Michelin Man!  (And no, Mom.  We did not stop for a quadruple espresso, contrary to what you and Cammie thought.)  I was ready and raring to go!

Here we are, heading down the hill that leads to the Hudson Trail:

Me and Cam

Looks like we were just plodding along, right? Well, we had been busy, trust me. Check out our handiwork:

"Girls?  Um ... no, really, girls.  How am I ... Have you been taking Macramé classes?"
"Ha roo roo roo!"
"Oh, Mom!"

Nice braiding job, don't you think?  And oh, yeah!  Notice anything?  Since our collars got soaking wet the other day, we are wearing camouflage collars and leashes that Mom made for our great-brothers!  She let Dad pick out what collars we'd wear and he picked these!  Isn't it cool!?!?  I love wearing this combo.  Of course, non-family members seem to confuse me and Cam a lot more, but that's OK!

Here we are on the first leg of the Hudson Trail:

Cam and me on the trail!

It was great! The squirrels have been busy prepping for Winter and we smelled them EVERYwhere!

We stopped to pose on the limestone chunks at the beginning of the next part of the trail:

"Isn't this great, Cam?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Let's get going."

And then ... ALERT!

"Wait!  I see someone!"
"Really?  Who is it?"

I saw some people, but they didn't come over or anything.  Oh, well.  Let's hit the second part of the trail!

Cam and me on the second part of the trail - in perfect step!

When we got to the end of that section, we saw people walking down the hill.  I jumped up on the limestone chunks to pose and stare at them - and so did Cam!

Me and Cam!

Mom tried to get us to look at the camera/iPhone, but we were busy staring.  Oh.  And braiding our leashes again.  Ha roo roo roo!

Thanks for coming with us!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Yes, Yes, It Was

A cruel hoax, that is.  Hello, everyone - it's me, Cammie.  As many of you guessed yesterday, that talk of "family fun time" was nothing more than a ruse to get Maggie and I on board for ... well, let me just show you where we went:

And no, I don't mean the car wash!

We've never been to a place like that before - usually, Mom gives us a bath in the house, then we go out on the deck to towel and dry off in the lovely Kansas wind. She thought (and I'm sure it was her idea, not Dad's - Dad would never do this to me and the little one!) we could give this place a try.

Here's how it went. The shower first:

" 'Let's all go,' they said.  'It'll be fun,' they said..."

And then the blow-dry:

"That feels good, Mom!  Restore my fluffiness!"

I have to admit, I really don't mind a nice bath and a blow-dry!  Mom had never used a high-speed dryer like that before, though I certainly am more than familiar with them! (Remember, I'm a retired show dog!) Anyway, Mom said that was worth the price of admission right there, as it was way more effective than towels and wind!

"I'm almost done.  Hey, Mags - get ready for your turn!"

"I'm working security, Cam.  Maybe you could go again!"

Can't blame a puppy for trying!

"I can't believe this!"

She used one of her superpowers - that FACE! - but Mom somehow was impervious to it.

"This is just so very, very wrong."

You can tell from that picture above that we actually are pretty tiny under all that floof!

Anyway, like me, Maggie was mighty well-behaved for the whole ordeal.  Mom and Dad were really proud of both of us.

"I'm ready for the blow-dry!"

And a mere 15 minutes or so later ...

Fluffiness restored!

It wasn't quite the adventure Maggie and I had in mind, but it wasn't all that bad.  We had a room all to ourselves, with huge windows to the outside, so it didn't feel closed in or anything.  The only drawbacks from Mom and Dad's point of view were that they couldn't lock the four of us in (so we both kept Mom and Dad on-lead the whole time in case someone opened the door) and the latch on the lead in the tub kept coming undone.  Other than that, Mom loved the elevated tub (easier on her back) and really, really loved the high-speed dryer!  Oh.  And not having to clean all the floof out of our shower and bathroom at home!

It was still a cruel hoax, though, and I knew they were up to something!

Previously, on the way to our "adventure"...

"Something just isn't right here ... I can just TELL!"
"Nah!  This is going to be great, Cam!  Really!  I'll bet we're going to the lake or something!"

Well, she was right about the water part, at least.  I hope pleasant adventures are in store for all of you today!!!

Cammie!

Line Up!

Hello, everyone.  It's me - Cam.  Oh, do Maggie and I have something to tell you!  We're far too exhausted to go through it all today, but it started out like this ...

"Who wants to go do something new?"
"Yeah!  Who wants to go somewhere in the RAV4?"
"Fun family time!  All of us together!"
"Won't this be great?!?"
"Everypuppy line up for some fun!!!"

Those were Mom and Dad's voices. We had already gone on a long walk, so we thought we'd be off on a really cool adventure!  I mean - it sounded GREAT, right? And so, of course, this was our reaction:

"I'm in!  ... I guess.  I mean ... this isn't a trick or something, is it?"
"Me first!  I mean, me, too!"

Tune back in tomorrow.  I seem to have a sixth sense about these kinds of things.

Cammie!

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  It seems like we've shared a lot of serene scenery already this week, between our walks and all the shots out in the backyard.  I thought we could look around out front!

Mom brought the camera out so we could take shots of various plants of interest.  Here I am by the Purple Love Grass beside the driveway:

Me and the Purple Love Grass

There's a chance Mom was trying to focus on the grass and I jumped in front of it. In fact, there's a pretty good chance that's what happened. I kept doing that, so Mom decided just to get shots of me blocking different things. ... or something like that.

There are some different colored Mums in back of me in this shot:

Me and my mum's Mums

And there is some Liriope behind me here:

Me and the Liriope

I did not block Mom's shot of the Clematis:

I am not in this picture of Clematis flowers

Do you know why not? Because I saw this:

Franklin's Gull

That's right - a sea gull. There are a bunch of them up there swooping around!  They come fly over our house every year at this time of year, according to Mom.  We're less than a mile from the Kansas Ocean, so they must be on their way there - don't you think?

We also went out on the deck to pick some herbs for Mom to use when she cooks today.

"They're back there, behind me."

Can you smell them?  I like to just give them gentle sniffies.  I'm getting good at doing that instead of trying to eat them.

Anyway, I hope you feel nice and serene now!  Have a lovely Sunday!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

New Territory!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with today's post.  On our walk this morning, we took a route us girls have been wanting to take for a long time - and today Mom and Dad gave it the green light!

We started out on our favorite part of the Hudson Trail -

"I love this part of the trail!"
"Me, too!  I wonder if we're going to the dolphin carry-out place?"

We got to the end of that segment of the trail and that's where we normally turn.  Today, though, we got to keep going on the next segment!  It was so cool!

The trail gets real hilly and you can see all kinds of pretty views!

Cam and me, boldly going where no Sibe has gone before!

No Siberian had ever been on that trail, so it was really remarkable.

We walked all the way to the very end:

End of the Hudson Trail

The really exciting part is that the Hudson Trail links up with a bunch of non-paved trails there! We could walk all the way to the Top of the World from there! (If it wasn't quite as toasty out and if we'd brought water.) We posed for a picture with Dad before turning around:

Cam, Dad, and me.  Dad's the tall one.

Doesn't that next part of the trail look fun!?!? Dad said when it's cooler, we can hike that part, too! I wanted to keep going, but I had to admit, I was getting a little warm. I found something wonderful on the way back home, though - check it out!

"Oooh, this feels nice on my feety-feet!"

And then I just couldn't help myself:

"Got it!"

Wow, was that refreshing!

It was a great walk, and so exciting to explore new territory! Thanks for coming with us!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Photo Finish Friday

Hello, everyone, it's me - Cammie!  After Mags played in the yard for a while yesterday, and after the apparent squirrels destroyed her toy, she recharged her batteries while I went out to do some yard exploring.  I'll share some of the pix Mom took for Photo Finish Friday.

The first thing I noticed out there was this:

"Something's missing!"

At first, I thought that the same squirrels who destroyed Maggie's tennis ball took out the tomato plants! ...and the planters they were in!  Then I remembered seeing the planters up on the deck and that tomato season is over.  Could have been the squirrels, though.  You just never know!

I'm quite partial to the grasses and sedum plants growing over here:

I like to sit and meditate there. It's very peaceful. Speaking of peaceful - probably the most secluded, tranquil part of the garden is tucked up in the southeast corner.

"Ommmmmm...."

It's Mom's favorite spot.

Let's run down to the opposite corner of the yard!

Me and the Pampas Grass

You can see our fence and the concrete strip under it really well there. We are considering doing a "favorite things" series, showcasing some of the best choices we've made for pup-related products. The fence and putting the concrete in would be high on that list! Very, very safe!

Let's check out the lavender!

I like the lavender. Not only does it smell nice, but it allegedly repels spiders. That's a very good thing!  (How many of your peeps are going out to get lavender now?)

"I love my one-on-one time!"

Anyway, Mom and I had great fun in the yard, but as it was after I'd had my big walk and after playtime with Mags ...

"Yawnnn..."

Yep.  It was time to head inside and take a little nap.  Thanks for exploring the yard with me!

I hope you have a great weekend!!!

Cammie!

I Have No Idea

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  After our walk this morning, I went out back for special one-on-one time with Mom.  We opted to play with my double-tennis-ball-on-a-rope toy!  I love that thing!

We played Tuggy-Tug for a bit:

"Tuggy-tug, Mom!"
"Keep it gentle, Mags!"

I'm working on the "gentle" thing.  Whatever.

We played Fetch for a bit:

"Got it, got it!  Here I ... wait.  What's that over there?"

Mom says my attention span could use some "development".  Not to be redundant, but whatever.

Anyway, Mom turned away from me for about 30 seconds to take a picture of a flower, and then ...

"Umm... Maggie?"
"La la la la la la la..."

Wow.  Look at what she found!  Interesting.

"I wasn't done with that!"

My official line is that I have no idea how that happened - in case anyone asks. Or in case my mom reads our blog.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher - and Cammie!

Focus!

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cam.  Thank you for all the kind remarks on my portrait work for Serene Sunday.  Like many of you, I am a professional, so while I might make it look easy ... there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.

In order to get photos like those that you saw on Sunday, we have to go through a lot of this:

"I'm not feeling it, Mom."
"What are you two doing?  Is Cam getting treats?"

We all know what I'm doing here!
Maggie had just said, "Booooo!"

She says "boo" a lot.  I think she's trying to "roo" or "woo", but it comes out as "boooo" so far.  Of course, one of her litter-mate sister's names is Boudica and she goes by Boo or BooBoo, so maybe she just likes to talk about her.  I'm not quite sure.  She's still developing her voice.

Anyway, we usually do that for quite a while, then Mom finally caves.

"Oh.  You DO have treats after all?"
"Do I get some, too?"

Mom's working on being able to get both of us in focus ... and we're working on focusing on the mission at hand. If there are treats involved.

Me.  D'Azul's Girl From Ipanema - Cameron - doing my dignified, regal look
Somewhere, off-camera, "Boooooo!"

The little one still hasn't quite reached pro status yet, but she's learning!

Have a lovely day!

Cammie!

Movie Review

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  As many of you know, I love to watch TV.  British detective shows, Westerns, sports competitions and even movies.  I thought I'd start a movie review series.

Over the weekend, we watched a movie called The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug.

"What's on?  Oooh, Hobbits!  I love Hobbits!"

It held my attention well enough ...

"This guy isn't looking so hot!"

... but frankly, I was a bit disappointed. I kept waiting for the GOOD kind of Hobbit action - like Second Breakfast, Elevenses, Afternoon Tea ... you know, that kind of stuff. But there was none of it. Still, it had a good story line that kept moving. I rate it 4 out of 5 paws.

I'm not sure what we're watching next, but I'll be sure to let you know what I think!  What about you all?  What movies do you like?

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  So ....

... who forgot to plan ahead for Serene Scenery Sunday?  Not me.  But who was tasked to sit for a portrait?!?

"Oh, the hardships I endure around here!"

Does that make you feel serene?  Excellent.

"We're done here."

Let's go inside and get a treat!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Cammie!