Valentines

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  As you know, today is Valentine's Day.  Here at Ao4 Headquarters, there is a history of us Sibes writing really great poems to mark the day.  It doesn't come easily, but we work hard -- you know, the whole "Working Breed" thing.  Yeah.  Anyway, Cam and I thought we should give it a go again this year.

We tried to find inspiration while we helped Mom in the Studio yesterday:

"Hmm...
My pickle is green,
this sun-puddle is ... warm
Nah!  Think, Mags!  Focus!  Must ... think!  Must ... zzz..."

I thought I had something at one point -

"Hey, everybody!  How about this one?
This KONG is red,
my left eye is blue ..."
"I like it, but I think you used that one for your very first Valentine, Maggie!"
"Mags?  Do you have the red KONG?"

Then I realized  Cam was right - I'd written about the KONG before.  And, of course, Mom realized I had the red KONG instead of my pickle. Oops.  (I can destroy the black super-strong KONGS in minutes - imagine the fun I was about to have with the red one!)  Anyway ...

Cam got creative on our walk this morning:

"My harness is pink,
yours is green,
you're the cutest crazed river otter
I've ever seen.  BOOM!"
"UMPHHHFFF!"

I kind of liked it, but Cam said we should keep trying.  For the record, I especially like the "BOOM!" part.  Lovely touch!

We tried again when we reached the Kansas Ocean; Cam and I each took a line:

"The Kansas Ocean is frozen
and so are Mom's hands.
Let's look at Dad
cuz Mom's out of treats."

Not all poetry has to rhyme, you know!  I think we have a winner!  

Have a great day, everyone!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Silent Saturday?

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  We just went for a nice, long walk with Mom and Dad.  It was a lovely "real feel" of 11ºF out there; Maggie and I just loved it!  Anyway, now that we're home, we are both drawing a blank as far as a blog post, so we're doing this:

Have a great weekend!

Cammie!

In The Wild

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  So, there we were the other morning ...

"Just don't look at her, Mags.  She'll give up."
"Got it, Cam."

Some of us were ready to get on with our walk, our adventure, and others of us were dragging their feet.  Ahem.  Mom.  Oh, sure, she said she was trying to get "a nice" picture of us in our new gear and all, but come on!  How about a fews action shots instead, right?

We finally continued down the road ... and there it was. Out in the wild!

"GASP!  Cam!  Look!"
"I see it!"

We got closer, using caution, of course!

"Stay alert, Cam!"
"It could be a trap!"

You just never know.  A box in the wild?  Crazy!

"I think it's safe!"
"There isn't a wildcat hiding in there, is there?"

Cam made a good point.  There are wildcats in our area.  (And Wildcats, too -- though I've never known the Kansas State University type of Wildcats to hang out in boxes.)

Anyway, it was a pretty cool find.  I was tempted to jump in, but decided against it.  I'm not sure what the box was doing out in the wild like that - maybe it blew out of someone's box garden while they were harvesting them or something. 

Yours sincerely,
 Margaret Thatcher

Finally!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  As you could see yesterday on Wordless Wednesday, we finally have new leads to match the harnesses Santa brought us!  Knowing that Santa was going to give us some really cool new CTC Dog Gear harnesses, Mom had ordered some webbing back in October that she hoped would match.  FINALLY, with our help, Mom got busy on our new leads the other day!

Here's a shot of us, helping:

Me and Cam.  Perfect angels!

Oh.  Right.  Why were we panting, you ask?  Well.  There's a small chance we had played a few rounds of Crazed River Otter Games.  Maybe a real good chance.  Maybe more than just a few rounds.

While we busied ourselves being very good  crazed river otters  puppies, Mom did this:

Picture in a picture view

Mom said she might get more done if we weren't playing Crazed River Otter Games, (I know, what crazy-talk!)  so I decided to humor her and do this to speed things along:

Me, in a sunbeam

I don't want to say anything, but I'm not the one who kept trying to jump into Mom's lap.  Cammie.

Anyway, before we knew it, Mom said she had something to show us!

"Hey, girls!  Look!"
"Hey, Cam!  Look!  Ha roooo!"
"Ummphhhh!"

After  another round of Crazed River Otter Games on the stairs  walking up the stairs like the sweet girls that we are, Mom put us in our harnesses and hooked us up to the new leads.  We went outside to see if Mom got the colors as right as she thought she had.  (She really wanted these to match the CTC Dog Gear harnesses.)  Nothing like daylight for a check!

AWESOME!

They look great, don't they?!?

We posed over in the front yard:

"I think there's someone across the street."
"I think Mom has some treats!"

As we showed you yesterday, we took the new matching gear out for a trial walk yesterday morning! Here's another shot of us at the trailhead:

Cam and me at the Hudson Trail

And here's an action shot!

"More walking, less talking!"
"Seriously, Cam!"

Mom also tried to get us to pose at other entrances to the trail, but we weren't quite as interested.  This is the best of the bunch:

"Not feeling it."
"Me neither, but I love our new gear!"

Anyway, we're so glad to finally have leads to match our harnesses!  Mom loves the bright, bold colors - and we just love that it all means more walks!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie and Mags

Working in the Studio

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  The other day, Mom went downstairs to do some work in her Studio.  I decided I should go down and help - or at the very minimum, supervise.

Mom sat on the floor, with all of her equipment around her and got down to business.  I got busy, too.

Me.  With my pickle.  In the Studio.

I only get access to my pickle when Mom can be right beside me. You know the deal - something about "chunks", "teeth of steel", "don't swallow the pieces", blah, blah, and blah! Anyway, I got bored after a short while and gave Mom my pickle.

"Here's my pickle, Mom."

She said she was getting bored, too.  I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was ripping zippers out of stuff she was tossing so she could recycle them.  "Ripping"?!!?  That sounded like awesome fun to me, so I told Mom we should switch jobs.  She could play with my pickle and I could ...

"A seam ripper?  Can't I just use my teeth?"

I think we had both had enough by then.  We just sort of hung out together for a while.

"Hey, has anybody seen my glasses?"

That's my imitation of my mom.  Ha roo roo roo!

We hope to get back down there today.  I love working in the Studio!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Important Discovery!

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  I made an important discovery over the weekend.

"What's that, Cam?"
"Broccoli.  Cooked, yet still al dente."

It's good. It's very, very good.

Cammie!

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with today's post.  Before I get started, the answer to yesterday's quiz was indeed Michelangelo's Creation of Adam!  Kudos to Princess Leah for being the first to get it right!  Perhaps we need to interpret more famous pieces of art - what do you all think?

Anyway, for Serene Scenery Sunday, we thought we'd take you on this morning's walk with us!  We logged in just over 4 miles and saw some gorgeous scenery!  Ready to get going?  I'll try to keep the chit-chat to a minimum and let the photos speak.

Down to the big road first, then uphill!

Me and Cam - Up, Up, and Away!

"Hey, Cam.  Who was it who said Kansas was flat?!?"
"Someone who's never been here!"

We took the path that winds through the open hills.

"This is wonderful!""
So many new smells!!!"

We stopped at a little rest area.  Mom wanted us to jump up on the stone table, sit, and look at the camera.

Cam and me

We did two out of the three.  Good enough.  Especially since no one thought to tuck treats into her pocket.  Mom.

We walked up more hill and stopped to pose:

"Whatever."
"What's that?"

We wanted to explore - not pose!

We headed up this cool road that runs along an edge of the golf course after that:

"Look, Mom!  Another hill to climb!"
"This is so awesome!"

Dad reminded Mom that it meant it would be downhill on the way home.

"Except for the inevitable hills to get back up to Ao4 Headquarters, Mom."
"Lots of hil---wait!  What's that?!?!"

Cam was the first to see it!  It was a doe!  A deer!  A female --- yeah, sorry.  Forgive the ear worm?

We stayed with Dad while Mom ran off with the camera to try to get a photo of the doe.  She didn't get it, the deer ran into a cluster of cedar trees, but she did get this shot:

"We aren't deers ... "
"... but we do occasionally act like crazed river otters!"

Ha roo roo roo!  Speaking of which, we did get in some good rounds of Crazed River Otter Games, but Mom didn't think that was fitting with the whole "serene" theme (says who?) so she didn't take any pictures.  Whatever.

Here's a shot of us about to cross a bridge:

Me and Cam.  Crossing that bridge when we came to it.  So to speak.

The bridge crosses a cart path for one of the courses at Colbert Hills Golf Course.  No water involved.

Dad thought it would be cool to get us to pose by the entrance to this one housing development:

"I'm outta here."
"So. Bored."

We weren't feeling it.

Anyway, we kept going and going!  We went past the club house at the golf course, then took a road we've only been on one other time.  It was great.  We made a big enough loop that on our way home, we even went past the Kansas Ocean!

"I see ducks!"
"This is so peaceful!"

It was such a great walk! Thanks for coming with us; I hope you feel nice and serene.

Be sure to get a nice, long drink - even though it's chilly out, we still need to stay hydrated!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Quick Quiz

Quick quiz, everybody!  What famous painting does this remind you of?

Please leave answers in the comments. Answer tomorrow.

Cammie and Mags

Our Lovely Walk

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  Maggie and I have been taking Mom and Dad on some really nice, tranquil walks lately.  It's so good to get out in the cold air, stretch our legs, and enjoy the peacefulness of the morning.  Yesterday, we decided to go on the route that takes us across an undisturbed meadow, through the woods, past the Kansas Ocean, then up the hill to the water tower and home.  Doesn't that sound lovely?  It's one of our favorite routes.

Here we are at our corner:

"Let's go right here!"
"Please, Mom and Dad!?!?"

They often let us help choose the route, which helps keep our walks more interesting for all of us!

Here we are heading across the meadow, toward the woods:

"Isn't this just peaceful as can be?"
"It sure is, Maggie!"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Only one way to make it even more serene!"

"BOOM!"
"Uffff!"

She was a little faster on the draw than I had expected.  Still - what a great way to enhance our lovely walk!

"Great times, Cam.  Great times!"
"The best!"

Do you have fun like this on your walks?!?

Cammie!

Right Here

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  The other day, Cammie had a routine (everything is fine) vet appointment.  I stayed home with Dad and guarded Ao4 Headquarters while she and Mom were gone.  I missed her so much!  She was gone for hours and hours on end!  It was horrible!

OK, maybe it was more like two hours, but I still missed her VERY, very much!  I checked her out from head to toe when she got home to make sure she was OK.  She had to fast before her appointment, and oh, great Balto, did she ever lay a huge guilt trip on Mom!  Anyway, after she had a light meal, she said she was really tired and wanted to take a nap. I was pretty wiped out from worrying about her, so that sounded like a good idea to me, too.

"I missed you so much, Cammie!"
"I missed you, too, little one.  Let's get some sleep, now, OK?"

"OK, Cam, but I'll be RIGHT HERE if you need anything."
"Zzz..."

I missed her so much!  Do you miss your family members when they're gone, too?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie and Mags

Our Sunday Adventure

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  As Cammie mentioned, we had a great adventure on Sunday!  The day started pretty normal - breakfast, a nice all-family walk, that kind of stuff - then I heard mention of "Why don't we all go?"  I love those words!

We all got belted into the HR-V (Husky Recreational Vehicle) and headed down I70.  I had called shotgun, so I navigated while Dad drove.  I also was in charge of the radio.  George Thorogood came on just as we were passing Fort Riley.  I like George Thorogood.

"Marshall Army Air Field!  Are we going to Fort Riley?"

I mean, I was the navigator.  You'd think someone would tell me where we were going, right?

We drove farther west, and just as I was kicking back to some Stevie Ray Vaughn, I saw water and knew where we were going!

"Milford Lake!"

Mom knows there are a lot of Bald Eagles out there, but really didn't know where to find them.  We did a lot of driving around.  Dad put some kind of news or talk radio or something on and I changed the channel with my nose.  It was awesome.  True story.

Anyway, we passed a Kansas windmill that Mom wanted a couple shots of.  Here's one, right from the iPhone:

She and Cammie were playing with the iPhone in the backseat and came up with this special effects version of it:

Pretty cool, huh?  They were real happy with how it came out.  Sort of Edvard Munch-ish.

Before too long, we headed down a little road and Mom called out, "Wait!  What's that?!?"  Mom got out and walked on, while we waited in the HR-V.  Here's what was down there:

Bald Eagle!

Needless to say, we were all thrilled.  Well, OK.  Mom and Dad were thrilled; Cam and I were having fun exploring.

Before we headed home, we stopped by the dam to stretch our legs.

Milford Dam

Even though we only saw one eagle, Mom considered it a smashing success.

"Did you two have fun?"
"Oh, yeah, Dad.  No more talk radio on the way home, though - OK?"
"BIRDIES!"

Oh.  There was a big flock of ducks down in the water - that's what Cam was looking at!  They were mighty far away, but we could hear them quacking!

It was a great adventure!  We're hoping to go back again soon!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Still Feeling It

Greetings to all - it's me, Maggie!  Did you see all the birdie pictures Cam put up yesterday?  They still have us feeling like this:

"Zzz..."
"Zzz..."

We'll add more eagle photos to our Flickr album later, but for now, let's get all snuggled in ...

Me and Cam.  Double honey bun pose!

Yep. Still feeling the serenity. ...especially since we went on a nice, long, active walk this morning!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher