Walking Pix

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Every morning, while we're on our walk, Mom tries to get "good" shots of me and Cam along the way.  Here's one of us at about the one mile mark:

Me and Cam

That was a pretty good one, if I do say so myself.  She tried again when we were about to head into the woods.  It would have been good ...

... if someone wasn't sniffing something.

"Good one, Cam!  Ha roo roo roo!"
"Oops.  Sorry, Mom."

Truth be told, usually I'm the one with my head down, trying to snarf something.  Umm... I mean sniffing something.  Whatever.

Let's head into the woods!

"Bunnies!  And turkeys!  And deers!"
"Oh my!"

I would have used the old "Lions and tigers and bears" line, but I stuck to what we would have a good chance of seeing.  Unfortunately, bunnies, turkeys, and deer were out of the picture, too.  However, when we got to the Kansas Ocean ...

"Ommmmmmm,..."
"Hello!"

... Mom and Dad got all excited because there were some little ducks and a couple Canada Geese in the ocean.  The ducks were too small and too far away for Mom to ID them, so she went back later with the camera.

Two of the ducks were Blue Winged Teals:

Blue Winged Teal

And two were American Wigeons! Mom has never seen them before, so she's all kinds of excited!

Male American Wigeon

Female American Wigeon

It was a great morning - and a great walk! Thanks for coming with us!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

A Piece Of Cake

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter.  We've had quite a few readers ask how Mom is able to get Maggie and me to pose so nicely.  You know - like this:

Me and Maggie
Mom is behind the iPhone with her secret weapon

It's a piece of cake. Well, no ... actually it's a lot of praise and treats. Especially those new peanut butter and apple treats Mom just got us. Yep. That's pretty much how it's done.  Mmm ... peanut butter!  And apples!!!

For the record, there is nothing wrong with being food-motivated!

Cammie!

Easter 2016

"And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him." 

Mark 16:6

Christ has risen!

Indeed He has risen!

On this most sacred of Christian holidays, all of us here at Ao4 Headquarters would like to wish our readers a most blessed Easter.

Cammie, Mags, and our bipeds

Easter Photo Shoot

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  Yesterday, Mom asked Maggie and me to come into the Living Room for the annual Easter photo shoot.  Here's a glimpse into how it went!

"OK, Mom!  We're here!  BOOM!"
"Yeah, Mom!  Present and accounted for!  BOOM!"

Crazed River Otter Games

Apparently, what she had in mind was more us sitting in front of the Easter basket and mini quilts, and less of the Crazed River Otter Games.  Who knew?  Given that she had treats ...

"Yeah, whatevs.  This is a piece of cake.  No hats or anything..."
"Mags, you probably shouldn't have said that!"

Since Maggie is young, she doesn't always remember Mom's "traditions" .... like snooter hanging!  So when Mom asked who wanted to earn another treat, Maggie stepped forward!

"How's this, Mom?!?"
"Perfect, my little Peep!!!"
"O.  M.  G..."

I knew it was coming.  One of us snooter hanging the little bunny quilt is never enough for her.

"This does mean more treats, right?"

I did get another treat - thankfully!  I took it and booked into the kitchen, before Mom got any more crazy ideas.  Maggie hung out with her and checked out one of the tiny bunnies Mom made.

"Is it chocolate or anything?  Can I eat it?"
"It's fabric, Mags ... and no.  We could try something else with it ..."

You may be wondering why I took off.  I've heard tales about those bunnies.  Click here to see what our great-brothers went through one year!  Much safer in the kitchen.

We'll be back tomorrow with our Easter message!

Cammie!

A Day Full of Surprises!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with some wonderful news!  Guess what we got yesterday - in addition to our lovely snow?  Take a look!



Yes! A box! Talk about a GREAT day!  I hope yours was full of wonderful surprises, too!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Springtime In Kansas

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Great news, readers!  Yesterday, here in the great state of Kansas, we nearly hit 80 degrees (26.6ºC)!  It was crazy windy, with gusts up to 60 mph.  We hung out on the deck after Mom did some work and did this:

"Ahhh, Spring!  Isn't this great, girls?!?"
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"

The good news? This is what it looks like out there today!

From inside the house:
"Noooooo!!!"
"Doesn't this look great, Mom!?!"
"Let's go hang out on the deck some more, Mom!"

Isn't Springtime in Kansas GREAT?!??

We had a lovely walk this morning! Here we are on the water tower trail:

"Is this great or what, Cam?!?"
"I love it!"

"What do you figure the wind chill is?"
"Somewhere in the low 20s, I think.  Just lovely!"

And here we are, stopping to have some fun along the Hudson Trail:

"Ha roo!"
"Ha roo to you!"

What a glorious day!

"I ❤ Kansas in the Springtime!"
"Me, too!"

Spring is just full of surprises!  I hope you have a day as lovely as ours!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Mags and Cammie

Relaxing On The Deck

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  This morning, Mom wanted to go out back and do some of the Spring gardening stuff -- you know, cut ornamental grasses and Russian Sage, dead-head stuff, clean out the sedum, and a great big "ETC.".   It's a lot of work, but it's good to get started -- and fear not! Maggie and I were more than willing to supervise from the comfort of the deck.

"Go on, Mom!  Have at it.  We'll be right here, cheering you on!"

It means a lot to her to have our support; I just know it!

"Don't worry, Mom.  I'll keep an eye on Maggie."
"Yeah.  Don't worry, Mom."

Check out the look on Maggie's face.  Mom should have known it was coming.  She just should have known.

"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"

Mom was able to get a lot done, we got to play in the yard for a little while, then we relaxed on the deck for a bit.  What a great morning!

Cammie!

It's What I Do

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Did everyone have a nice weekend?  Ours was splendid - lots of walking, playing, and of course - work!  No, I love to work!  I'm a Working Breed kinda gal; it's who I am, it's what I do!  I love it!  Especially vacuuming!

I like to keep pace with Mom:

"Hey!  You're on the cord, Mom!"
"Thanks, Mags!"

We like to start in the kitchen like that, then hit the living room.

"Careful around the corner, Mom!"
"Thanks, Mags!"

The only downside is that we were using the vacuum without the attachments.  I LOVE the one with attachments!

"C'mon, Mom!  Let's plug that baby in next and give it a whirl!"

She couldn't say "no".  I mean - look at that face!  We switched vacs when we got to the bedroom, and Mom treated me to a nice massage and fluffing session.

To view on YouTube, please click here.

Heavenly, folks.  Just heavenly!  Being a Working Breed does have its perks!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Sunday Funnies

...at least from our perspective.

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  I've just got to tell you the funniest thing I've seen lately.  It came in the mail a couple weeks ago, from Mom's mom.

You all know that our mom has a strong interest in birds, right?  She loves seeing them and photographing them, learning all she can about them.  In fact, here are a couple shots she took just yesterday:

Snow Goose, Blue Morph

Showing us his lovely wings

The Snow Goose was hanging out with some Canada Gooses instead of a huge flock of Snow Geese like they usually do.  (Click here for illustration.)  Interesting.

Anyway, what you might not know is that apparently our mom has always been fascinated with birds  and she wrote a bird book.  It's true.  That's what her mom sent her; Mom wrote it a "few" years ago, and her mom apparently was safe-guarding it for her.  Let's take a look at it, shall we?

Here's the introduction:

Intro!

Awesome. Strong start, Mom! Oh. Did I mention she was in about 1st grade when she wrote this? Nice writing for a little biped, too!

After the intro, she goes into detailed accounts of several different species. Here's an excerpt from her essay on Robins:

Everything you need to know about the American Robin

To keep things lively, she added illustrations! This goes with the info on Robins:

Impressive!

Please note the eggs. I guess since she had said they have three to four eggs, she hid part of that fourth egg behind a branch, so it's like three and a half.  The average.  Good going, Mom!

One of the more lively accounts is that of the Wren.  She doesn't say what kind of Wren, so this must be all Wrens in general.  Take a read:

Wow.  You'd think Mother Wren would show a little gratitude, wouldn't you?

Fear not! There's an action-packed illustration to go along with it:

Somewhere up in that tree, Mother Wren is giving Father Wren's efforts the old heave-ho!

"Brutal, Mother Wren.  Just brutal!"

Yep.  Those are the highlights.  Incredible book, don't you think?  Me?  I'd like to see more.  I'm particularly interested in how Father Wren built a house.  Did he have tiny hammers and saws?  And are those red things flames coming out, as Mother Wren rocketed that thing out of the tree?  I need to know more!  In fact, Mom ought to get the whole thing together and put it on Amazon - make it small, so it could be a pocket field guide or something.  Don't you think?

Getting back to her pix from yesterday, apparently this Canada Goose didn't read Mom's intro:

Canada Goose

Not only is he missing the aforementioned beak or bill, he's missing his whole HEAD!!!

Have a great Sunday, everyone!  We hope our post made you smile!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

What A View!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  I'm going to do some rock-climbing this weekend!

"Wowzers!  I can see forever up here!"

What are your plans?

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Feel Good Friday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  We all have our likes and dislikes, right?  Well, as my wonderful breeders told my mom when I was first adopted, I really love having my face rubbed.  Gently.

My forehead and eye area ...

"... oh, yeah!"

... right between my eyes ...

"Right there, Mom!  Right there!"

... down the length of my snooter ...

"Mmmm... you're so good at this!"

I just LOVE it!

"Do you know what else I love?"

Check it out:

❤❤❤

That's right.  Holding paws with Mom.  She likes it, too!

Do you have a favorite "spot"?

Cammie!

Stalking Robins

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  This morning's walk was for the birds!  Literally, not figuratively!  Mostly Robins, and they were everywhere!  Mom always loves seeing birdies, Dad certainly loves the kind of birdies he gets on the golf course, and Maggie and I have been known to show interest in birdies as well!  Especially Robins!

Let's take a look!  We got mighty close to this one:

"... Stalking Robins, tweet, tweet, tweet..."
"We're stalking Robins!  Tweet, tweety-tweet!..."

He flew off at the last minute!

We heard a lot of birdies along the Hudson Trail, but didn't get close to any:

"I can hear them, I just can't see them!"
"They're all OVER the place today!"

And THEN... when we got a bit closer to home ... I got one!

"Mags!  Check it out!  I got a birdie!!!"

"Oooh!  Good get, Cam!"

I'm not sure what kind it was.

"Hmm... it reminds me of Foghorn Leghorn's sidekick.  You know, that Henery Hawk dude."

Editor's note:  Here's a link, for those who may not have had the same TV viewing experiences as a certain someone did around here.  Ahem.

Anyway ... I don't think it was him, but it was still a cool discovery!  Who knew we'd actually get a birdie today?!!?  It was very exciting!

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie and Mags