Winding Down

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  Mags and I had our morning exercise, ate breakfast, and then we went out onto the deck with Mom.  We helped her water the flowers and did a little "unwinding".  You know.  Like this:

"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"

It was very enjoyable!  Here is a short action video - you can tell it's getting hot, even with the Kansas breeze going!

To watch on YouTube, please click here.

And, yes, you saw that correctly. Maggie got tired!

"Ah, sweet bliss! ... wait, are her batteries re-charged already?!?"

What a wonderful morning!  I hope you all are enjoying it as much as we are!

Cammie!

Bird Watching?

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Cam and I were up way past our bedtime last night, but it was totally worth it.  What were we doing?  Well, you could say we were bird watching ...

Here we are, early on:

"Is Mom watching birdies again, Mags?"
"Yes.  Both she and Dad seem pretty excited!"

It was actually another kind of bird Mom and Dad like.  We were watching the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals!!!!

"Oh, it's HOCKEY!"
"I like hockey!  They do a lot of that 'BOOM' stuff!  That gives me an idea..."

I knew exactly how to make things more exciting for us pups!  Cam saw it coming and ran over to sit by Mom.

Mom:  "C'mon, PENS!!!!  You can do it!!!"
"Save me, Mom!"
"Hey, Cam!  Let's get in a little action ourselves!"

"I'll be Sid Crosby and you can be that Subban guy!  BOOM!"
"No... I'll be Matt Murray and you try to score off me!  If you can get past me to Mom, you score!"

You can't blame us both for wanting to be Penguins!  After all ...

they aren't just birdies ...

and they don't just represent the city Mom was born in ...

they WON!!!!!!!

Definitely worth staying up past our bedtime! (And I'm not just saying that because we may have celebrated with a little popcorn!) Do your parents watch hockey? Are you fans, too? How 'bout those Pens!!!!!!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags, here with Cammie.  It's a beautiful day out there!

"What a great day, Cam!"
"It's so beautiful up here!"

We hope you get out and enjoy it before it gets too hot!  Keep cool and keep it serene!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

On The Hunt, Part II

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with the second part of our hunt for the Reddish Egret.  You know, this guy:

"Hello."

Yeah. So ... as Cam told you yesterday, we had a very successful birding spree at Quivira NWR, so we decided to venture into Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area a bit, too. The very first bird we spotted was a "lifer" for Mom - a bird she's never seen in person before!

Cliff Swallow!

The best way to ID him from other Swallows is the blunt tail and the orange-y rump.  Mom was thrilled to get some shots of them!

We saw another type of Swallow we often see at the house:

Barn Swallow

We don't often see them actually holding still like that!  They like to swoop around the fields catching bugs.

At Cheyenne Bottoms, there is an observation tower Mom likes to climb up.  It sits about a story and a half above the wetlands, and you can spot all kinds of cool stuff up there.  So I'm told.  I've never been allowed to go up there for some reason.  Anyway, Mom was about halfway up the steep set of stairs when she caught movement out of the side of her eye.  She turned (slowly and very carefully, we're told) just in time to see a birdie flying by!

Black-Crowned Night Heron!

Mom was mighty excited - she doesn't see them very often!  Here's another look at him:

Check out those cool red eyes!

They don't get the red eyes until they reach adulthood (about 3 years old); before that, they are sort of yellow/orange.  (You can see one of Mom's pix of a juvenile at this link.)  They are mostly nocturnal hunters, but sometimes feed in the daytime, too.  Seeing this guy was definitely worth the side-trip over to Cheyenne Bottoms!  Seeing him was a great "finish" to our trip, and we decided to head back home.

Here's a shot out of the window of the HR-V on the way:

Ah, Kansas!

Mom loves that area!  Wide open prairies, rolling hills ... she can just picture the early settlers coming through!

She was also able to take a quick iPhone shot of one of our favorite signs!  Check it out:

Horse Motel B&B

That's right - a Bed and Breakfast for you and your horse.  AND they sell "pretty good horses".  Isn't Kansas great?!?

Cam and I grabbed a quick meal when we got home, then we did this:

"I'm out!  Zzzz..."
"I can barely keep my peepers open!"

It was another great trip and a successful hunt for the Reddish Egret - but boy, is birding exhausting!  Thanks for coming along with us!  I think we've all earned a nice, long nap!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

PS:  If you'd like to see all of our photos from our most recent trip, please click here to see our album on FlickR.

On The Hunt, Part I

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  A week ago tomorrow, Mom, Dad, Mags, and I headed down to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge once again.  We also hit Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area!  This time, we were on the hunt for a bird that was spotted down there -- a bird rare to Kansas!  Want to come along with us and see if we can find him?!?!  Let's go!

"Buckle up, everyone!  It's a long way to get there!"
"Unless someone wants to play travel Othello, I'm going to catch a little shut-eye."

We saw a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of this on the way down:

Windmills, old and new

Not bad for out the window with her iPhone, while Dad goes 75 mph, right?

The first birdie we saw at Quivira was this one:

Black-Necked Stilt

In a post we did in May, we told you about how long their legs are.  Mom was thrilled to get his entire legs AND feety-feet in this shot.  Now you can see why they're called "Stilts"!

We saw a few of these Sandpipers:

White-Rumped Sandpiper

And quite a few Phalaropes:

Wilson's Phalaropes, male (left) and female (right)

And then ... we hit pay dirt!!!  We found THE rare-to-Kansas bird!

Reddish Egret!

Isn't he beautiful?!!?  Check out the range map at this link, and you will understand just how exciting it was to see him in Kansas!!!  Mom's hunt was a success!  And ...

"I see a FISHIE!!!"

... it looks like his was, too!

We also saw Mom's favorite little birdie:

❤ The Snowy Plover ❤

Mom added those hearts.

Maggie was watching this little Plover through the window of the HR-V and thought he was play-bowing to us!

"Seriously.  Is he cute enough?!?!"

Sorry.  That was Mom.  Anyway, he was actually practicing some nest-guarding behavior.  Having been a parent myself, I think that is just awesome!!!  Maybe they are my favorite little birdie, too!

Maggie, the Reddish Egret, and I weren't the only redheads at the refuge!  We spotted these ducks:

Redhead Ducks

Gotta love our fellow redheads!

There were plenty of Pelicans swimming around:

American White Pelicans

And a good number of Avocets.  Check out this group:

American Avocets, Snowy Plovers, a Dunlin, and a Northern Shoveler in the background!

Look at all those Plovers!!!!!  Oh!  And the Dunlin -- that's a "lifer" for Mom!  (A bird she's never seen in person before.)  She was all kinds of excited.

Here's an Avocet in flight:

American Avocet and 10,000,000 bugs

What can I say?  It's a marsh.  Bugs thrive there.  Mosquitoes, Dragonflies, Flies ... every biting, stinging ... sorry.  That's Mom again.

Here's the last birdie was saw before heading to Cheyenne Bottoms:

Pied-Billed Grebe

They are very small, so Mom was thrilled to see one relatively close!

Please tune back in tomorrow for the rest of our hunt!

Cammie!

Porch Planters

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cam.  Mom finally filled up our porch planters, so while we were outside, she asked me to pose with them.  Just when I sat down and got comfy, Dad handed Maggie off to Mom and she plopped herself down right beside me.  (Mags, not Mom.)  Dad moved over so Mom wouldn't catch his reflection in the door and then ...

"Hey, are you getting treats, Cam?  Wait.  What's Dad doing over there?  Dad?!?"
"See what I put up with around here?!?"

It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

Cammie!

PS: For the record, I did NOT get any treats. And Mom wonders why I didn't want to pose by the mailbox posies! Ha!

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie!

Conversation With My Mom

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  The other day, Mom was sitting on the floor in the bedroom, doing some cleaning in 10 Downing Street for me.  We had a little conversation that went something like this ...

"Hey, Mags.  How does this look?"
"Good.  A little more vacuuming."

"OK, how about --- wha --- do I even want to know what you're doing back there?"
"Vrrooooooooommm!"

"Mags?"
"I was just singing along with the vac!  Vroooo...."

I'm trying to learn another foreign language.  I already know a bit of Kit-Cat; I thought it would be nice to pick up a little Vac-U-Speak!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher 

Brushing Teeth

Hello, everyone. It's me, Cammie. Mom said there's only one challenge when it comes to brushing my teeth.

"Ready when you are, Mom!"
"Hey, what are you guys d--is that a toothbrush?  Is that the chick-hen flavored toothpaste?!!?"

Yes.  Keeping the toothbrush away from Maggie!

Do your bipeds have any challenges brushing yours?

Cammie!

Serene Scenery Sunday: Decked Out

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  I helped Mom do some planting on the upper deck a few days ago. This week, for our dose of serenity, I thought I'd show you around.

First, we put some deep purple Petunias in some pots by the entrance to the covered part:

Petunias!

Nice, huh?  Oh, right!  How about a shot of me sitting there!

"Oh, please, Mom!  As if I would!"

She can be so accusatory sometimes!

"Must not eat the Petunias...  Must not eat the Petunias... Must not ..."

Well, yeah.  They look so seriously enticing, don't they? But I'm resisting. So far. It has a lot to do with my mom having eyes in the back of her head.

We also filled up the big planters with an assortment of colorful flowers:

To be truthful, we aren't sure what all is in there! Mom likes the taller blue, tiny flowers. Me?

"I like these ones!"

We also have some pots of Purple Emperor Sedum that Mom rooted last year - we're still figuring out where to put them.

"You might want to move the blue pot, Mom.  Really."

She'd be lost without my advice and supervision!

I hope you feel nice and serene now -- if not, come on over and join us on the deck; we'll have you in "the zone" in no time!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher 

Morning Meeting

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cam.  I'm just here with Maggie -- oops!  Wait a sec.

"Act casual, Mags!  Oh, hi, Mom.  No ... we aren't doing anything ..."
"Ho dee doh dee doh ..."

... laying on our plans for the weekend! What are all of you up to? Anything exciting?!?!

Cammie!

Cool!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  As I mentioned yesterday, we are back into our wonderful Spring routine!  This being Kansas, although our mornings are cool (70s, 80s), it gets toasty in the afternoon!

We here at Ao4 Headquarters have a long, long history of how Siberians best deal with the heat.  Our great-brother Dave even wrote one of his famous Haik-Woos about it!  Yes, I'm talking about the very same tip I shared with you a couple years ago -- laying on the air conditioning vent!

Allow me to demonstrate:

"Let's fire this baby up, Mom!"

It's THE best way to stay cool!  If you throw in a Sad Eyes Look like that, there's no way they can refuse you!

Be cool, everyone!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Spring Routine

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Now that Mom is more or less on the downhill slide after her fall, we're getting back to our normal Spring routine!  That means a nice, long walk:

"What a gorgeous day!"
"Blue skies forever!"

Dad's been walking us when Mom couldn't go along, but we've had a lot of all-family walks!  We've even gotten to the point where Mom has walked us alone a couple of times!  She uses the hands-free belt and we are careful to be really well-behaved!

"Must ... not ... grab Cam by the neck!"
"Must ... not ... Cam-stigate play!"

So far, we've been REALLY good!

No, seriously!

Fine, there was one little incident when we just couldn't help ourselves, but we were almost home, and I just couldn't resist trying to get some Crazed River Otter action going and Cammie was game and ... well, it all worked out.  No harm, no foul, Mom's wrists were fine.

ANYway, after our walks, it's time to go relax on the deck!

"Birdie at 2 o'clock!"
"I think it's a Cardinal!"
"Good spotting, girls!"

After that, we like to do a little Siberian-style relaxing!

"Let's play, Cam!"
"You're on, Peep!"

And then, a little mugging for the camera!

"I'm glad you're getting better, Mom!"
"Me, too!"
"Me, too!"

We're all happy to be getting back to the normal routine!!!

"Show everyone how happy you are, Mags!"
"How's this?!?!"

What's your Spring routine like?  We hope you're enjoying yours as much as we are enjoying ours!  Have a happy day, everyone!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher