The Size Of A Cow

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  If you're one of Mom's FaceBook friends, you've already heard about this from her side of the story, but it's definitely a "blog worthy" tale.  It went something like this ...

The other evening, Mom, Cam, and I wanted to go sit out on the deck.  It was shady and cool in the screened-in part, so we headed out.  We had barely been out there long enough for Mom to cry out, "NONOMAGGIENONO", when she hustled me and Cam out onto the open part of the deck.  That seemed odd - just when I was about to do a little hunting.

I continued once I got onto the outer deck:

"I can still see you in there!"

Are you familiar with the high prey drive of a Siberian Husky?  Everything they say is true.  And we can't help it.  Instincts.  The prey in question that evening?  Take a gander:

A bee.  A bee the size of a cow.

It was the largest bee in the universe - or at least the largest bee Mom has ever seen!  I wanted it.  I wanted it BAD!!!!

"It's like the King Kong of bees!!!"

Can you tell how big it was?  Bigger than my snooter!!!

Mom was trying to shoo it out the door with a broom, but wasn't having any luck.  I could not leave it alone!  I had to have it!!!

"I can almost taste it!!"

Did I mention that Mom was saying "NONOMAGGIENONO!" the whole time?  Whatever.  The ears close when the prey drive kicks in!

"I will get you, you son of a bee!"

I tried.  I tried HARD, but Mom eventually whisked it out the door and off the deck with the broom.  She kept muttering something about "not enough Benadryl in the world to combat a sting from that gigantic thing!"  She kept hugging me afterwards and saying I need to learn to leave bees alone.  I guess she's right - but I just can't help myself!

Mom said that wasn't the most relaxing time we've ever spent out on the deck.  How about you?  How do you react around bees?  Are you a mighty hunter like me?  Or do you ignore them like Cammie?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

PS:  Seriously.  The size of a cow!

Stop and Smell the Flowers Friday!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Today, I thought I'd show you some of the lovely flowers here at Ao4 Headquarters as well as a few we've seen out on our walks.  Ready to take a look?

This stuff is growing all over the west side of town!

"Mmm!  Purple!  Nice!"

Apparently, it's called Phlox. Mom wants to get some for our garden - wouldn't that be cool?

One of the neighbors has some gorgeous hot-pink Peonies growing:

"Oooh!  Pink smells nice!"

They smell lovely, in case you were wondering.

Back here at home, the stuff in the planter on the porch is doing well:

"Looking good!"

And even though they got pretty pummeled in a recent hail storm, the Gerbera Daisies are making a comeback:

"Orange!  Awesome!"

The Snowball Viburnum is done blooming now, but here I am with it before the blooms got hailed on:

"What?  No.  I don't have to stick my snooter in every flower!"

Back out on one of our walks, Mom saw these beautiful Irises growing in someone's yard:

Deep Purple Irises!

They were right by the road, and Mom tried to get me and Cam to pose by them.

"Not feelin' it, Mom."
"Ha roo woo roo!"

What can I say?  I'd rather look at the flowers than at the camera!

I hope you take time to smell the flowers - or at least to enjoy them - in your neighborhood!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

BOOM!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  You know, the bulk of our walking time we just walk at a nice, brisk pace out in front of Mom and/or Dad - which is what they like us to do.  Actually, sometimes I walk right beside Mom because I like to do that.  Anyway ... so we are what Mom and Dad call "very good girls".  But sometimes, we just can't help ourselves and ...

"Ready, Mags?"
"Ready in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ..."

"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"

It's all great fun!

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Yogurt: The Complete Guide

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  I've been meaning to talk to you about this for a while now.  Today is finally the day.  I'd like to talk to you about yogurt.  As many of you know, I just love yogurt.  I can hear a yogurt container being opened from a hundred paces away.  I.  Love.  It.

Except ...

"What the fluff is this?!!?"

... except for something called "Greek" yogurt.  It's right down there with kale in my book.  Awful!  Awful stuff!  I mean - check out my ears in that shot!  Awful!

Mom wanted to try the Greek kind, but fortunately, we see eye-to-eye on this. She's not much keener on it than I am.  No more Greek yogurt.  No more!  Peace has been restored to my world now. And to Mom's.

"Sooooo much better, Mom!"
"I know, Cam.  Tons better."

"I don't like that Greek kind, Mom."
"Neither do I.  Never again."

And so, here's my guide to yogurt:  Greek kind, bad; regular kind, good.  That's really all you need to know.


Cammie!

Queen of the Deck

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Over the weekend, Maggie and I spent a little time relaxing out on the deck.  We played a little something we call "Queen of the Deck".  It goes something like this:

Click here to view on YouTube

For the record, I won, but  Mags came in a VERY close second.

Did you have a relaxing weekend, too?  What did you do for fun?

Cammie!

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  I have some photos for you that Mom took yesterday out at Tuttle Creek State Park that will hopefully make you feel all kinds of wonderful inside.  Ready to take a look?

The first bird Mom saw was a very amenable-to-posing Eastern Kingbird!

"It's good to be the King!"

Mom must have taken 87 million shots of him. He was highly cooperative.

The next bird wasn't quite so eager to please - the Baltimore Oriole!

"Are you still here?  Go.  Away!"

Yeah. Moving right along ...

There were a few Double Crested Cormorants around.  Here's one, doing his Loch Ness Monster impression:

Double Crested Cormorant

Here's a tiny bird who held still just long enough for Mom to snap this shot through the trees:

Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher

He was small and flighty, but he stuck around longer than the Pileated Woodpecker and the Bald Eagle -- right, Mom?  You couldn't even crank out a shot of either of ... oh.  Sorry.  Right.  SERENE Scenery Sunday.  Let's move on!

Mom was thrilled to see some Red-Headed Woodpeckers on dead tree!  Here's one:

"Hey!  No Starlings allowed!"

OK, that might not have been serene for the Starling.

Here's another Red-Head:

"Oooh!  A bug!!!"

Mom almost walked right past this Coot hiding in the shadows at the water's edge, but Beth spotted him!

American Coot

And this guy certainly spotted Mom and Beth!

"Hello.... photographers....."

Am I the only one who finds him a bit creepy?

Mom liked this guy almost silhouetted against the lighter background:

Common Grackle

And last, but not least, here's a shot of a Canada Goose and her babies:

Canada Goose and Goslings

Happy Mothers Day to her - and to all the mothers out there!  I hope it's a serene one for all of you!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

PS:  If you'd like to see more of our mom's photos from yesterday, please click here.

Saturday Smile

Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie!  How about a great, big smile to start off our weekend?

YEAH! That's what I'M talking about!

Make it a great one today!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Photo Finish Friday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  This week, as Cam told you yesterday, we've been doing a TON of walking - especially yesterday, when Cam and Mom let me choose the route!  Awesome!  Anyway, as a result, we have lots of pix of us posing along the way, so we thought we'd take a look at some of those!  Ready?

Here we are, posing beside our favorite meadow:

Me and Cam

Here's a shot of Cammie just looking so happy!

The Cam-a-roo!  Umm... I mean D'Azul's Girl From Ipanema

I was being "uncooperative", so I wasn't in the shot. So said Mom. Whatevs. It's a great shot of Cam!

Speaking of that "uncooperative" thing, here's a great snap of Cam and me at the Kansas Ocean:

Cam and me, catching a nice, ocean breeze

Dad had his little pocket camera and tricked us! Here's one of his shots:

Cam and Mini-Cam

Mom loves that shot, because it reminds her of when she and Dad used to call us "Cam and Mini-Cam".

Here's one of us at one of the entrances to Hudson Trail:

"Is that a Fruitables?"
"I think so."

Mom had treats.

Here's one of us at one of the other entrances to the trail:

Me and Cam

Now, Mom didn't have treats that time, but she was thrilled that something had captured our attention long enough for her to take a few snaps. When she turned around to see what it was, she thought it was pretty funny. A kind of rough and tumble sort of guy in a suped-up sports car had stopped his car pretty much half out of the intersection. Blocking traffic.  Why? To hang out the window and take pictures of US. Ha roo roo roo! Now there's a guy with good taste, right? Mom owes him a cookie. And us, too!

Anyway, later that same day, we went on another walk and another guy stopped and asked if he could take our picture. We need to start charging. Here's a pose up by the shopping center:

Cam and me - rockstars!

Our favorite shot is from this morning:

Cam and me by a neighbor's garden

She had just told me a really funny joke - can you tell?

Have a great weekend!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Coupler

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  We've been having some of what our mom calls "really nice weather" lately (60s and 70s, lots of sun) and whereas Maggie and I might prefer 20 degrees with snow, Mom thinks this is perfect walking weather.  Go figure.

Lately, Dad's been golfing in the mornings, so it's just us girls, then all of us go again in the afternoon.  When we walk with just Mom, she hooks us up to her hands-free belt and we go, go, go!

  Sometimes, we even trot a bit.  We also have to stop and do poses:

Maggie and me by the Kansas Ocean

That's a lot of work, of course.  You know - posing.  Anyway ...

In an effort to keep Maggie on the path, rather than seeing what she can snarf in the tall grass, and to allegedly prevent someone else from shilly-shallying (who is NOT really shilly-shallying, she's doing VERY important stuff, thankyouverymuch!), Mom came up with this crazy idea to use a carabiner clip to "couple" us together.

"Oh... this is going to be fun!  Let's GO!!!"
"Hello ... Maggie!"

Now she only clips us together after we're a bit tired.  She learned that after her first attempt.  Do you recognize the look I'm giving Mags?  (Click here.)  Have I mentioned Mom doesn't appreciate it when we break into Crazed River Otter Games if it's just the three of us?  Oh.  Right. She also learned she can quickly remove the carabiner and put Mags -- I mean "someone" -- on a short lead, if need be.  

Is the weather biped-nice where you are now?  Are you getting out and enjoying it?

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Smack Talking

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  As most of you know, Mags and I go on a lot of walks.  Something about "A Tired Siberian is a Good Siberian".  Hmm.  Anyway, we have tons of fun on our walks and most of the time, we walk like the sweet Siberians that we are.

Every now and then, however, we do talk a little smack:

"Oh, yeah?!?"
"That's right!  Ha roo woo and ROO!"

"Wait!  Cam, I see someone up there!"
"See?  It's all in good fun!"

"Smile, Cam!"
"I'm on it!"
"Good girls!!!"

Mom doesn't want anyone to get the wrong idea about us, so we try to be calm around other people and pups. We know we're just having fun, but not everyone understands Siberians!

Have a great day, everyone!

Cammie!

Back To Work

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  It's Monday, and that means it's back to work!

Oh, sure. It looks like I'm watching Birdie TV, but really. It's Guard Duty. No, really!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Snoozy Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Today, Cam and I thought you might want some incredibly serene photos.  Basically, it's us after we've had an adequate amount of walking, zoomies, Crazed River Otter Games, and playing.  That's right - it's Serene Snoozy Sunday!

"Ready to take a look?"

Yes, I was doing a partial Paw Tuck there.

Just recently, I've discovered the art of laying on the deck!  Previously, I thought the deck was strictly for pool parties, running around, and playing!  Who know you could kick back and soak up a good sun puddle out there?!?!

"See?  I told you it was nice!"
"You were so right!  Oooh!  Tao's in his yard!  Hi, Tao!!!"

Cam took the shade and let me have the nice sun puddle; she's real nice like that!

Anyway, bringing the snoozes inside ... Mom and Dad bought all of us a new mattress a while ago, and wow, do we love it!  It's got some kind of cooling layer in it - sort of like the pad in my crate, I guess, only bigger.

"Great Balto, is this ever comfy!"
"And sooooooo cool!!!!  I think I love it!"

Please note Cammie's "Thinker" pose in the photo above.  Awesome!

That brings me to some of my favorite snoozy poses -- you could call this the "I Love A Good Headrest" series.  I love the table leg...

"Zzzz...."

... Mom and Dad's feety-feet (Mom's, in this case) ...

"Zzzz..."

... and the chair leg supports:

"Zzzz..."
"Zzzz..."

Cam is back there, snoozing in one of her favorite spots, too.  Speaking of whom, here's the last in my "Headrest" series:

"Zzzz..."
"Please don't anyone wake my puppy!!!"

Cam may not be my biological mama, but don't try to tell her that.  She loves me just like she gave birth to me!  And she makes a mighty fine headrest and snuggle buddy!

I hope you feel nice and serene now!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher