Serene Snippets Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with some miscellaneous pictures of things we found very serene throughout this past week.  Ready to take a look?

"Are you?"

Let's head out on a walk!  We always see cool -- I mean "serene" things on our walks.  The other day, Cam and I made an important discovery:

"Look, everybody!  Giant straws!!!""
This is so cool!"

I'm not sure what it exactly means, finding giant straws laying around like that - but Mom said it means we might have some new roads to explore pretty soon!  How great is that?!?

These next four pix are all from this morning's walk.  This whole block right here:

"There's one there!  And there!  And there!  And..."
"...there!  And there!  And there!  And ..."

... Mom now refers to as "The Land of a Thousand Squirrels".  She might be under-counting.  Trust me on that one!

We walked down this road that we don't often go down, so that was fun!  The sidewalk is about 5-10 feet higher than the road, so you can see all kinds of great stuff!  Take a look:

"I love walking up here!"
"I wonder if there are more squirrels up ahead?"

There weren't any squirrels up ahead, but there was this:

"What does 'nononoCACTUSnonono' mean?"
"Whew!  You MUST listen to Mom on that one, Maggie!"

It's something called a cactus.  See where I am in the photo above?  That's as close as I was able to get.  I went to stick my snooter in there and before Mom could pull me back and say "nononoCACTUSnonono!", Cammie jumped in front of me and nudged me away.  I have no idea why Cam did that, but Mom hugged her and told her she was the bestest surrogate mama I could ever hope for.  She even got a cookie when we got home.  I did, too, and kisses on my nose.  I'm still not sure what the big deal was - but I'm 100% in favor of hugs and cookies and kisses!

Anyway ... guess what else we found on our walk this morning!?!?  Take a look:

"A BOX!!!"
"Oh, now this is very interesting!!!"

It was right where most people have little gardens, so Cam figured these people must grow them there!  I've GOT to get Mom and Dad to grow boxes for us!!!  That would be so awesome!

Speaking of growing things and awesomeness ... some friends of Dad and Mom's grew some lettuces and spinach and they gave us some!  Well, they gave some to Mom and Dad ... but we got to try some!

"Oooh!  Let us rejoice!"
"No, that's spinach, not lettuce, Mags!"

Ha roo roo roo!  Good one, Cam!

Anyway, those are some serene highlights from the week.  Is everyone feeling nice and mellow now?

"Can you hit the lights on your way out, please?"

Sure looks like it did the trick for Cammie!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Portraits at the Trailhead

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  The other day, Maggie and I were taking Mom on a walk when she got this  crazy notion  wonderful idea to take some photos of Mags and me posing at one of the entrances to Hudson Trail.  Hmm.

At first, we were like this:

"Whatever."
"I think I see something."

And this:

"Really?  Where?"
"Down there about 50 yards."

But then ... I noticed Mom reaching into her pocket ...

"Wait.  What's in your pocket, Mom?"
"I think it's a birdie, Cam."

She meant a birdie down the street, not in Mom's pocket.  Just to clarify.

"You didn't bring cookies, did you?"
"Yep.  Birdie.  There it goes!"

She did, in fact, have cookies in her pocket!  I let Maggie know, and she forgot all about the birdie flying by!

"Will pose for treats!"
"I'm in, too!"

As I've said many times before - there is nothing wrong with being food motivated!!!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Cammie!

Photo Finish Friday!

Greetings to all - it's me, Maggie!  I have just the thing for a perfect Photo Finish Friday! Let me cut to the chase:  I got a new box!!!

"Best.  Box. EVER!"

It's been way too long since I've done any boxing!  It seems like these days the boxes are way too small for me.  This one was nice and roomy, though!

"Plenty of room in here for you, too, Cam!  Cammie??"

"...Cam?!?"

It took a while, but eventually Cammie came in to join me!

"Shouldn't she jump in here with me, so we can box together?"
"You mean there aren't treats involved?"

For some reason, not only did Cam not jump into the box with me, but she didn't even hang out very long.

"I ❤ my new box!"

"If any of you want to come over and play, there is plenty of room!"

Seriously.  Come on over!  We could box together!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Let Me See Your War Face!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags, out here on the deck at Ao4 Headquarters, getting a little training in with Cam.

"Maggie?  Seriously?  You want to do what?"
"Cam!  Let me see your war face!!!"

"Umm..."
"You got a war face?!?  AHHH!  That's a war face!"

"AHHHH!"
"You didn't convince me."

"Sigh."
"You don't scare me.  Work on it."

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

PS: For those who might enjoy another version, please click here.

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie!
And y/s,
Margaret Thatcher

Head of Security

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  As some of you may remember, one of my duties here at Ao4 Headquarters is being Head of Security!  Because of that role, I got to accompany Mom to Tuttle Creek State Park yesterday!  It was great fun -- here are a bunch of photos, with most of the chit-chat cut to a minimum!

I had a good look around as soon as we got there.

"WAIT!  What's that?!?"

"Oh.  Right.  A bird.  Gotcha."

Well, some of those birdies are mighty large!  It's my sworn duty to protect my mom - no matter who or what the threat is!

I sat patiently while Mom photographed birdies out on the River Pond:

"Shoot away, Mom.  I've got your six."

After that, we got to walk down this cool walkway between the River Pond and Willow Lake:

"Ospreys and hawks and herons - oh, my!"

Cool smells GALORE!!!  And birdies.  Lots of birdies!

After we checked Willow Lake out and explored a little, we hopped back into the car and went over to one of my favorite places -- a dock on the River Pond!

"Fishies!  I see fishies!"

After we were there a while, we drove over to where the River Pond meets the Big Blue River. We saw this on the way:

"Check that out, Mom!"

If we had a trailer, we'd HAVE to have that logo on it - don't you think?

Out at "the point", I sat patiently ...

Me, very happy to be Head of Security

... while Mom photographed some tiny birds. Her two favorites are this Eastern Bluebird:

I wonder if the "warning" was that Mom was there with a camera.  Ha wooroowoo!

And this Yellow-Rumped Warbler:

"Hello."

Mom wasn't sure it was a Yellow-Rumped Warbler until he turned around and did this pose:

"Here.  Check it out."

That was mighty obliging of him, wasn't it?

"Thank you, Mr. Warbler!"

You can see a few more of the photos Mom took at this link, if you'd like.

We checked the area a little bit more ...

"I don't see any more birdies, Mom."

... then decided we should head back home.

We had a great time together - and Mags had special one-on-one time at home with Dad!  Thanks for letting me take you around the park a bit!

Cammie!

Helping

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  As members of the Working Breed Group, Cammie and I have a lot of chores we help out with around the house.  No, it's true.  This is all on top of my duties as the Prime Minister!  I don't mind one bit - everyone should pull his or her own weight!  One of my favorite things to help with is doing the vacuuming!

Mom took some pix of me as we got busy the other day, and I thought I'd share them with you. I like to walk right in front of her when she uses the Oreck upright - like this:

"That's it, Mom.  Back and forth, and back and forth!"

It's important to offer encouragement.

I like the other upright better, because it has attachments and if I've been really good, Mom vacuums my furs. It. Feels. So. GOOD!!! Anyway ... let's get back to work!

"Look over there, Mom.  You missed a spot!"

"Well, you DID!"

For some odd reason, after that, Mom asked me to switch over to Cord Management instead of being her Spotter.

"Fine.  I think my talents are being wasted, though."

I hope we use the other vacuum today. I could really get into a fur massage.

Do you all get to help with chores, too? I hope you have as much fun in the process as I do!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie, here with Serene Scenery Sunday!  We thought once again this week, we'd take you along on our morning walk - it was chilly and windy and so lovely out there!

All four of us went, so that right there made it really special.

I took the lead for awhile:

"C'mon, everyone!  Let's go!"
"Hang on ... I was trying to snarf something!   ... um ... I mean ..."

After a while, Mags took the lead.  She likes to lead.  I'm OK with that.

"Is this a beautiful morning, or what?!?"
"It really is, Maggie!"

Dad suggested we take the trail - which made us so happy!  There are tons of leaves and squirrels and cool smells there!

"Cammie?  Are you coming?"

I like to snoof all the leaves!  There are so many untold stories in there!

"Here I come!"

I like that action shot of me!

Anyway, we went down the trail together...

Me and Maggie

... and then we headed down one of the roads.  Not just any road -- the road where we saw the Giant Cats!!!!  Mags and I were on guard, concerned that they might leap out at us - or follow us with that menacing stare like they did before!  BUT - in keeping with the "serene" in Serene Scenery Sunday - I'm happy to report this is what we found:

"Cam!  Look!  The Giant Cats!  They're ... they're ..."
"... mere shells of their former selves!"

I'm fairly certainly Mags and I scared them into submission.  Or like they've gone into hibernation or something.  At any rate, they won't be staring at US again anytime real soon!

I hope you feel nice and serene now!  I know we sure do - and we loved having you come with us!!!

Cammie!

New Bracelet!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie! Yesterday, Mom got something VERY exciting in the mail!  It was something she ordered from Angel and Isabella's mom!  Mom took it out of the packing stuff, then let us see it!

"Look, Maggie!  The card has a really cute puppy on it!"
"I smell Angel and Isabella!!!"

It was wrapped in super-cute paper with paw prints all over it and had a card that we all got to read (Isabella and Angel's mom sent us KISSES!!!  I LOVE kisses!!!) and a pretty ribbon!  I hope our kitcat friends got to play with at LEAST the ribbon!!!  I didn't try to eat the paper, card, or ribbon, so Mom was really proud of me!

Here's a shot of Cammie with the package -- she really liked the puppy on the card!

"This is so adorable!!!"

Anyway, Mom let Cam help her unwrap it! Inside the box, there was a pretty purple bag ... and look at what was inside!!!!

A bracelet with a PAW PRINT on it!!!  Isn't it beautiful!?!

I promised Mom I'd be "gentle" and wouldn't try to eat the bracelet or anything if she'd let me see it!

"Don't eat the bracelet...
don't eat the --- this is so lovely, Angel and Isabella!!! --- bracelet...
don't eat the bracelet!"

We REALLY love our new bracelet!  Thank you, Isabella and Angel for helping your mom make it!  We can tell you helped!  I hope you got to whap a bunch of the beads and play with the ribbons and papers and stuff!!!

Did you know that Isabella and Angel's mom's company - Beaded Tail - gives 50% of all proceeds to animal charities?!?  Check them out at this link!!!  Thank you again, kitcat friends and your mom!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher