Adopt-A-Maggie Day!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Today is a very special one here at Ao4 Headquarters -- it's the third anniversary of when we adopted my little Maggie!  (You can see the day she arrived here, the first anniversary here, and the second here!).  It was such a special day ...

Here we are, meeting for the first time:

"Hello, little one!"
"Hello, Aunt Cam Cam!"

She was very respectful to me and our great-brother Zim!  Here they are in the living room:

"Ha roo, Zimmie!"
"Hey, kid!"

She adored Zimmie and loved having him mentor her!

Here is a shot of all three of us.  Zim and I were teaching her how to play Crazed River Otter Games!

"So ... we run and round and act crazy and grab each other and stuff?"
"Oh, Zim!  She's a natural!"
"Oh, the things I'm going to teach you, Mag-a-roo!"

Zim and I did our best to help tire her out.  We had  her carrier  10 Downing Street set up for her in the kitchen, so she could catch some naps.

"Greetings from 10 Downing Street!"

She liked taking Big Mean Kitty in there with her.  He's still around, but their playtime is very limited due to ... umm ... Maggie's super powers.  Safer that way.

Anyway, please help me wish my Maggie a VERY happy Adopt-a-Maggie/Gotcha/Homecoming Day!!!  Mags, we're so blessed, so happy, so thankful that you're in our family!!!

Cammie!

One Of My Super Powers

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  It didn't take long.  Really, not long at all.  I even mentioned it briefly in passing yesterday - and it's true:  I've already gotten a small chunk out of the Toppl toy.

"I've got you now, Mags!"
"Ooomph!  See, you guys?  Right there."

That much only took a few minutes.  I'll make mincemeat of it in no time.  What can I say?  Ripping up toys is one of my super powers!

"Mom says as long as it's toys and not other stuff, it's all good!"
"Prepare yourself, Cam!  Super Mags is ready to launch!!!"

As Cam said, Mom doesn't mind.  She says that's what toys are for.  Besides - a pup's GOT to play, right?!?  Speaking of which ...

"C'mon, Cam!  Another round of Crazed River Otter Games!"
"You're on, Super Mags!"

What fun! And I do like the toy ... but my favorite "toy" of all is Cammie!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

PS:  Check out that last photo again -- the pups who live in the fireplace are playing CROG, too!!!

Try Outs

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  I hope everyone had a great weekend - did you do anything exciting?  Cam and I tried out some new toys Mom ordered for us!

Since some of our other West Paw Zogoflex toys are doing well (the Jive Ball is even a "leave down all the time" toy!), Mom treated us to two different kinds! She thought Cammie could try the Tizzi:

"That looks fun!  Do I smell Old Mother Hubbard cookies in there?"
"I could chew those legs off in no time!"

And, because it looks a bit more "substantial", I got to try the Toppl:

"I can see OMH cookies through the peep hole!"
"Looks good, Mom!  We're ready to give those babies a test drive!"

If anyone is wondering, those are both the "large" ones.

Anyway, she gave us our toys and we could basically take them anywhere we wanted to. We both opted to take them here:

"Nom nom nom..."
"Nom nom nom..."

They were fun! And let me just add that Old Mother Hubbard bakes a mighty tasty cookie.

Once we got the treats out, we stockpiled the toys and moved on to other activities.

"Hey, Cammie.  Do you want to..."
"YES!"

"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"

Very fun toys -- we got back to them eventually.  I got to try out the Tizzi for a couple minutes, then I switched back to the Toppl.  Oh.  And yeah.  The Toppl seems to be missing a small chunk of yellow/green/whatever color it is rubber.  At least I didn't swallow it!

So what did you do over the weekend?  Anything fun?  Did you try anything new?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

PS:  Mom purchased these toys, we did not receive them from any corporate sponsor to review.  We just are always on the look out for sturdy, safe toys.  These are both "under supervision only" toys, but they at least are ones we'll be able to play with for a while!

Serene Scenery Sunday: Back To Quivira!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  As Maggie told you, last weekend, we took Mom and Dad back to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to do some birding.  Now that Mom has finally processed her photos, we thought we'd share the ones we like best with you.

Here we are, on the way down:

"I think I'll catch some Zs."
"I need to help navigate."

OK, when we got there, there were tons of Pelicans all over the place! This is my favorite American White Pelican shot:

"Hey!  Watch where you're--"
"Umph!"
"Use your signal, buddy!"

How do they do that without bashing into each other? Amazing!

This Great Blue Heron had a lot to say as he flew by:

"SQUONK!!!  SQUONK!!!"

Speaking of greats, here's a Great Egret:

So majestic! So peaceful! Ah, but the refuge wasn't all serenity and peacefulness!

"Get off of my lawn!  Rocks!  Whatever!"
"Yeah, yeah..."

Somebirdie needs to switch to decaf!  I'm not sure, but this might be the Snowy Egret version of giving that Great Blue Heron the finger:

"And STAY OFF!"

We'd best move along!  Here's a pack-o-Pelicans!

American White Pelicans and friends

If you look closely in the center of the pack toward the left, you can see another birdie!  Can you see him?  I'm pretty sure it's a Penguin.  Or at least a Great Blue Heron doing a Penguin impression.  Really!

Here's one of Mom's favorite photos from the day:

American Avocet

And look at what else we saw:

Monarch Butterfly!

They were all over the place!

Mom photographed this Coot enjoying a bit of tranquility:

American Coot

We saw this Snowy Egret wading through the marsh, just minding his own, when:

"Ho dee doh dee doh..."

"ACK!!!  What the #$@& are these things?!?!?"

He seemed surprised when he saw the Ibises! Here's a look at one of them:

White Faced Ibis

And here's his friend, taking off:

"Later, dudes."

Here's a calmer look at a Snowy Egret:

Our favorite egret -- the SNOWY Egret!

Ahhhh.... snow!

Anyway, let me leave you with the Three Tenors:

Greater Yellowlegs

I hope you feel nice and serene now!

"Thanks for coming with us, everyone!  Snuggle on in here, Mags."
"Oh, I feel sooooooo serene, Cam.  I can barely keep my peepers open!"

Enjoy your Sunday!

Cammie!

PS:  If you'd like to see more of our photos from last weekend at Quivira, please click here.

PoTAYto/PoTAHto

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Not much going on. I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Caturday.  I mean "Saturday".

"I don't know... 'Caturday' has a nice ring to it ..."

Yeah. Whatever.  Caturday/Saturday.  PoTAYto/poTAHto -- right?!?

Have a good one!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher
Honorary Kit-Cat

Flower Friday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  This week, we're teaming up with our friends over at Dory's Backyard again to help brighten your week with Flower Friday!

Our Mums are starting to bloom, so what better way to step into Fall than to have a look at them!

"She just said to sit in front of the Mums, right?"
"Right.  Nothing more specific."

"They're lovely.  Think we'll still get a cookie?"
"I don't see why not.  We're doing EXACTLY what she asked us to do." 

Please visit the other blogs on the hop for more Flower Friday!

Cammie!

Because You Never Know!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  Maggie and I took Mom on a nice, long walk this morning.  It was a walk like any other, full of squirrels, other pups, hills, and ... well, brace yourselves!  Just near the top of one of the hills we always go up, we saw something so mystifying, so out of place, so out of the ordinary that ... well ... here's a video.  (Not for the faint of heart or perhaps puppies and kit-cats under the age of 6 months.  Or bipeds with coffee in their mouths.)

To view on YouTube, please click here.

Whew! Talk about a close call! What was it DOING there?!!? It's never been there before.

"The world's a safer place with us on the job!"
"I don't think that hose caddy will mess with anyone EVER!"

Just the beginning of our walk, and already a great success!!!

Oh, right. Isn't the sky cool-looking? Check it out:

There were storms in the area, but not right where we live.

We walked on the Hudson Trail for a while and did this:

"Over, under..."
"...twist and around!"

It was our way to celebrate keeping the world safe from errant hose caddies.

When we got home, Mom wanted us to pose in front of the ornamental grasses by the driveway.  We were still feeling mighty proud from our encounter with the hose caddy, so we obliged.

"How's this, Mom?"
"I think we deserve a reward!"

"Oooooh, I smell a cool breeze from those storms!"
"I smell treats in Mom's pocket!"

"How 'bout some treats for saving the free world earlier, Mom?"
"Oooh!  What Maggie said!"

Who could resist those faces?  Not our mom, fortunately!  We were duly rewarded for our heroic efforts - and I rewarded Mom with this:

Proud hero of the free world!

Maggie is a proud hero of the free world, too, but she had her face buried in the Purple Love Grass when Mom snapped that shot.

Rest easy, everyone!  We are on the job!

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Cam and Mags

Management

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Mom's using the upright without attachments today.  That means I don't get to be vacuumed.  (As some of you may remember, I just love being vacuumed!). Anyway, I did think I should help out, so I've taken a management position.

Cord Management, to be precise.

That's an OK job, but I'd really rather use the other vac, then have it used on me!

Maybe next time - right?

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Wiped Out!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Saturday, all four of us went on another birding trip to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.  It was great fun, but was exhausting!  All that looking cute in the vehicle and playing car games with Cam and spotting birdies for Mom and all!  Whew!

When we got home, Mom and Dad did a ton of unpacking, vacuuming out the HR-V (Husky Recreational Vehicle), washing the HR-V, and Cam and I helped.  Tremendously.  How?  By doing this:

"Sooooo tired.  So very, very tired."
"Hey, Mom.  We'll be right here if you need anything."

Seriously. We were wiped out.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

PS: We'll let Mom share some of her photos eventually. She's still processing them.

Serene Some Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Cam and I took Mom on a great walk the other morning.  Some of the pix she snapped are still making Mom smile, so we thought we'd share them with you.  Ready to start walking?

We went up some hills:

"Who said Kansas was flat, anyway?"
"I don't know where people get these crazy ideas!"

And up some more hills:

"I think we've reached the edge of the world!"
"Looks that way to me, too!"

Just kidding!  It was the tippy-top of the hill!  Here we are on the down-side:

"Wait!  There's something in there!"
"What is it, Maggie?!?!?  Bunny?  Squirrel?  One of those doves that are all over the place lately?!!?"

It was the Fall treat that replaces the Cicadas, now that they're gone -- giant Grasshoppers!  Oh, how I love pouncing on those guys!  Anyway, while I stalked Grasshoppers, Mom snapped a few pictures of other things:

Butterfly on Thistle

Venice Mallow

We eventually got to the Kansas Ocean, and Mom asked us to pose.

"Not feeling it."
"Me, neither."

Oh, she tried and tried and tried, but that was the best one she got.

Did I mention she failed to bring treats with her?

Moving right along ...

There are still lots of sunflowers blooming!

And lots of cool bugs on them, like this ladybug:

There are sunflowers all over the place!  This group was right by our trail:

Mom asked us to pose by them.  Now ... given that sunflowers make us smile anyway ... and since we had given Mom such a hard time by the Kansas Ocean, we decided to go for broke.  Prepare yourselves!

Ready?

Are you sure?

You might want to swallow any beverage you might have in your mouths.

...

OK.  Here we are, in front of the sunflowers:

Me and Cam

Yeah.  I warned you.

"Mom can't stop laughing, Mags!"
"Our work here is done!"

We hope that leaves you feeling serene, too.  Or at least smiling! 

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Drying Off

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  As you may have noticed yesterday, I was mighty wet after our pool party and my shower.  You may be wondering ... did Mom just towel me off?  ... did she let me go inside all wet?  ... did Maggie and I run around and play Crazed River Otter Games until I was dry???  The answer to all of the above is "no".  Back in April of this year, Mom and Dad sprung for the Air Force Master Blaster 8-Horse Power Dryer!

Both Maggie and I were introduced to high-powered dryers when we were tiny puppies back at our breeder's -- so we really don't mind!  And when I was active as a show dog, I certainly was fluffed and dried quite a bit!  Now ... I find it very relaxing, actually.  Take a look:

Please click here to view on YouTube

It's like a sweet, tropical breeze!

Do your bipeds use a high-powered dryer on you? How do you like it?

Stay fluffy, my friends!

Cammie!