Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cam.  Remember a couple days ago when Maggie told you that I saw FOUR bunnies in our backyard a while ago?  Well, it's true.  And I was still a very good girl about posing.  More or less.  I mean, we have some nice photos from the outing, so I must have been good!  I thought I'd share a couple of those photos with you today for Serene Scenery Sunday.

Here I am, checking out our Wildflower Garden:

"BUNNY!!!"

You can't see it in the photo, as it hopped away very fast, but one of those baby buns was in the Wildflower Garden!  I'm pretty sure he was eating some of Mom's plants.

Here I am, up on the top tier of the yard, surveying our yard:

"Ah, such serenity!"

Mom came around to get a nice portrait shot when I saw bunny number two or three.  Oddly, there is no photo for me to share with you of that.  The very next shot seems to be me down by the Crape Myrtle:

"And stop eating my mom's plants!"

Note my leash is being held again at that point.  Oh well.  Makes for a pretty shot, though, doesn't it?!?

Have a serene Sunday, everyone!

Cammie!

Umm...

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cam.  Umm ...

"She's right behind me, isn't she?"
"Hello, Cam-o."

Have a great Saturday, everyone!

Cammie!

Garden Posing

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with some garden poses!  OH, I know.  Cam is the ACE of garden posing, but really!  She's not the only one who can go out there and strike lovely poses!  Check this out:

Me.  Polargold's Margaret Thatcher

See?  Mighty good, don't you think?  And Mom wasn't even holding my leash.  And NO, I did not try to jump off that retaining wall.

"How could you even think that?!?"

Seriously.  Some of you have no faith in me whatsoever.  (... I'll include my mom in there.)

Anyway, I was doing so well, posing so very wonderfully, that we went down a tier and I struck a pose on that retaining wall.

Me, being a Very. Good. Girl

I think that shot is right up there with the one Mom got of Cam a bit ago right in that very spot!

Just down from there are some of our Rose of Sharon bushes. They're on the bottom tier, but you can enjoy the blooms from this retaining wall. Let me show you!

"Oh, nice!"

I have no idea why my mom decided to start holding onto my leash like that!  No idea whatsoev--

"HEY!  ANYBODY HOME?!?"

Oh. Did I mention that last week Cam saw FOUR baby bunnies in that area?  FOUR.  And that our new neighbors' kit-cat got out and decided to come over and nap under that bush?  Yeah.  You understand - I couldn't help myself.  Not that I'd hurt anything, especially since Mom seems to be wise to my ways and pre-leashes me.

"Yeah, yeah.  'On lead.'  I get it, Mom."

I DID give Mom some nice garden poses ... but then ... well, come on.  I have a reputation to maintain!  All work and no play makes for a dull Mags, right?!?  Good times.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Tower of Power

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Some of you were wondering what I was up to in yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post, so I thought I'd let you know what Mom and I were up to!  We were having a little one-on-one time, playing one of our favorite games -- Toy Tower!  It's a game where Mom takes a bunch of my toys and builds a tower while I wait ever so patiently ... then I knock it over.  It's great fun!  It goes something like this:

"Ready, Mom?"
"Go for it, Maggie!"

"Hey, look!  How did that happen!?"

It is so seriously fun!  We played several rounds!

"Can we go again?"

Side note - my GoughNuts toy makes a great chin-pillow!

OK - back to the action!

"Wowzers!  Look at that - a partial tower knock down!"

It was really cool!  And look at how that ball is balancing!  It gave me an idea!

"Check this out!   I can balance the ball, too!"

As you can tell by my ears, it took great concentration to do that!  Unfortunately, it gave Mom one of those crazy ideas she gets.  The things I put up with around here ...

"Yeah.  Funny, Mom.  Fun-ny."

Yeah, so even with that "GoughNuts on My Head" pose tossed in, it was a super fun Toy Tower session!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Who's A Good Girl?

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  It was hot again yesterday (something about "Summer", "Kansas", "thank God for air conditioning"... I'm not sure) so Mom resorted to indoor games.  Again.  Now, even though I had a good coat-blowing/Fur-nado-making session a couple of weeks ago with Mom and the Master Blaster, I still have to get brushed a lot.  Mom tries to do a little bit every day.

Since it was too hot to do the brushing outside, Mom did a little bit in the living room yesterday.  Afterwards, Mom asked, "Who's a good girl?" and I struck this pose:

"Who IS a good girl?!?"

THEN she said that I am a good girl!  ME!  It was so cool!  I even got a treat!

"Just for that, I'm going to help clean this mess up, Mom!"

It was awesome!  And I must admit, I rather enjoyed the brushing session.  I mean, I'm no Cammie -- I'm not going to fall asleep while Mom brushes me, but it was rather relaxing!  I thought since she gave me a treat, I should pitch in and help clean up.  It's only fair - right?  Like a treat for Mom.

"Mom?  Could you move, please?"

Do you ever help out with the vacuuming?  I just love it!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Keep Them Guessing

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Like many of you, we've been dealing with temps way over 100 degrees, with heat indexes in the 120s.  Hot.  Very hot, you could say.  We exercise early, then enjoy indoor activities for the rest of the day.  Of course, we do need to go outside to "use the yard".  Cam goes on the nearest patch of grass, then turns to come right back into the air-conditioning.  Me?  I like to do this:

"Mags?  Let's go! Ready to come in?"
"Nah, I'll just sit here for a bit."

What can I say?  I like to keep them guessing.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday?

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with this photo for you today:

Me, watching intently!

I know. You're wondering, "Birdies? Bunny? Kit-cat?" Even better. My very favorite neighbor Tao is replacing his mailbox. I offered to help, but he seems to think he can do it without me and Mom didn't want me sitting in his driveway, watching. Fine. But I'm not giving up.  I'll stay right here and supervise from here.  You know -- in the air-conditioning.  It's hot out there!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Beat The Heat

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Yesterday, I took a very early morning walk to get out there before it got way too hot.  To burn more energy later in the day, Mom and I played indoor Siberian Rules Fetch with my Squeaky Red Football. Here's one of the times I ran off with the Squeaky Red Football and tried to destroy it:

"You're going down, Squeaky Red!"

It's a great way to beat the heat!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Photo Finish Friday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  The other day, Mom wanted Cam and me to do some porch posing for her.  This is pretty much the best we gave her:

"Hey.  I see someone across the street!"
"Is it the new neighbors?"

Sadly, it wasn't the new neighbors, nor did Mom have treats.  It is a nice shot of the Sweet Potato Vine and all the other stuff in the porch pots, though!

Stay cool, everyone.  It's beastly-hot out there!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher 

YAY!

Hello, everyone! It's me, Cam. So there Maggie and I were last night, just relaxing before dinner, when I heard Mom start slicing up a ...

"CANTALOUPE!"
"CANTALOUPE!"

Quite possibly my very favorite food in all the lands.  And this one is a real beauty, too.  We were more than happy to do a quick taste-test for Mom, to make sure it was OK.

Mmm.... CANTALOUPE!!!!!!  Do you have a favorite food, too?

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Cam and Mags

PS:  Mom says thanks for the kind words on yesterday's post.  This was for the thumb on the non-broken wrist side, to clear up any confusion.  She really knows how to fall!

PS again:  Burgers!!!

Road Trip!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cam.  Yesterday morning, we all got up and moving before the crack of dawn.  Maggie and I wondered what was going on, but seeing as how we did get breakfast, I wasn't too concerned.  We all loaded up into the HR-V, and hit the road.

We had been going for a couple of hours (with a rest stop for us girls tossed in) when ...

"Did you forget your camera, Mom?"
"Hey ... this isn't the way to Quivira!"

It was very odd.  We started going the Quivira way, then headed toward a city.  Hmm.  Eventually, we pulled into the parking lot by a bunch of huge buildings, got to walk around the grassy areas a little, and had some water.  Then Maggie and I got back into the HR-V with Dad, cranked up the air conditioning, and just hung out.  For quite a while.

Meanwhile, Mom had gone into one of the buildings and stared at this for a couple hours:

"Zzz..."

There were also a bunch of people who came and went and bent her thumb all around and looked at the x-rays and MRI they had taken at Fort Riley and then someone called "the specialist" said the words Mom was hoping to hear - "no surgery needed".  YAY!

Remember the fall Mom took back in March?  In addition to everything else, she also did some damage to the ligaments in her left thumb.  The orthopedic surgeon she had been seeing at Ft. Riley wanted her to see another orthopedic surgeon with more specialization in injuries to the hand/wrist, and gave her a referral to a guy in Wichita.  That's where we went!  (And we girls only went because Mom and Dad didn't know how long it would take and as is, it was shorter than they thought but we were gone almost 8 hours.)

Anyway, we celebrated the good news by going to a magical place called Spangles afterwards!

"I smell burgers!"
"I smell chick-hen!!"

It was totally worth the trip!  Maggie and I got a bite of Mom's burger!  It was the tastiest burger we've ever had!

And don't worry, Maggie and I are continuing to take good care of our mom.

"Don't do anything we wouldn't do, Mom."
"Hey, Mom. Looks like you're only up by one in the Opposable Thumbs Game now."

Mom is relieved and we all hope that this will allow her ligaments to heal up - it's just going to take time.  And patience.

Some of you have been asking about Mom's recovery, so that's why we shared this.  Everything else is going splendidly.  We appreciate you asking very much.

Have a great day, everyone!  And stay cool!

Cammie!

PS:  Did I mention we stopped for burgers??????

Monday

Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie.  It's Monday morning, and you know what that means, right?

"You DO know what this means, don't you?"

"Keep it down, Mags; I'm working."
"Thaaaaaaaaat's right.  Nap time."

Seriously. We've got a schedule to maintain here.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  This week, for Serene Scenery Sunday, Cam and I thought we'd show you around our gardens to see what's in bloom.

"Someone other than us needs to walk around and take some garden shots. Mom."
"Yeah. It's getting hot.  Time for us Sibes to head inside."
"No problem, girls."

She's not a Northern Breed like us; she'll be fine.

This is going to be photo-heavy, so I'll keep the chit-chat to a minimum!  Let's start in the gardens out back!

Beth Coneflower in the Friendship Garden

Day Lilies

Butterfly Weed in the Wildflower Garden

Moonshine Yarrow in the Wildflower Garden

Let's look at what's blooming on the south side of the house!

Hummingbird Mint on the lowest side tier; it's over 3 feet high now!

Blackberry Lily in the Butterfly Garden

PowWow Wild Berry Coneflowers in the Butterfly Garden

Common Milkweed in the Butterfly Garden

The Monarch Butterflies are going to LOVE that milkweed!  It's over 4 feet tall and is ready to burst into blooms!

Now let's look around at the street-level bloomers!

Fire and Ice Hosta in bloom

Sorbet Lantana by the mailbox, mixed in with Silver Mound

Begonia on the front porch

Another Begonia on the front porch

I like the curly-cues in the center of that one!

One of my favorite pots of posies is right by the garage.  I check on it just about every time I go outside.

"Ha roo, Petunias!"

I'm pretty sure those flowers are doing so well because of my encouragement!

We hope our garden tour helped make you feel nice and serene!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Road Block

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cam.  So there Maggie and I were the other day, trying to get cool on the tile floor, when ...

"Excuse me, girls!  Can I get through, please?"
"You're not going to get up, are you, Maggie?"
"Nah.  Just ignore her.  She can step over us!"

I mean ... we had just gotten comfy!  

Have a good weekend, everyone - and stay cool!

Cammie!

Is That You?!?

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  The other morning after our walk, Cam and I went out on the upper deck with Mom before it got too hot to be out there.  I was walking around, checking everything out when ...

"Hey ... what's this?!?  I smell something on the underside of the deck!  I ... I hear something!"

It was really odd ... but I did have a vague idea of what it was!  I decided I should call for backup, just in case there was trouble, like they do in the really cool detective shows I like to watch.

"I need to call in the big guns!"

Fortunately for me, Cam was right there, and was ready to investigate!

"Is it what I think it is, Cam?!?"
"Yes.  Yes, I think it is!  Hey!  Hey, you down there!!!"

Can you guess what -- or should I say who -- it was?!?  Long-time readers of the Ao4 Digest will probably get this one -- it was Bart!

Our great-brothers and great-sisters first posted about him in 2007.  Bart is a little Brown Bat who lives under our upper deck!  We can see him from the lower deck, but Mom hasn't gotten a decent shot of him yet this year.  (Please click here to see a shot from a couple of years ago.)

Mom always is very careful to wash all the guano off the lower deck before we go down there, so we've never really gotten a good smell of him before -- but we did now!  This calls for one thing, and one thing alone!  A round of Crazed River Otter Games!

"BOOM!"
"Oh, no!  It's a crazed rive--UMPH!!!!"

Cam was a little quicker on the draw than I was, but I jumped right in!

"Gotcha, you little crazed river ott---"
"BOOM!"

What fun!  Who'd think you could have a bat AND crazed river otters on the same deck - right?

Mom is always happy to see Bart.  Little guys like him can eat up to 1,200 mosquito-sized insects per hour! He's a great friend to have "hanging around" Ao4 Headquarters!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher