Where's Amber!?!?

Ha roo, pups, it's me - Zim! With some distressing news! Thanks to the intervention of a very dear, bee-roo-tiful and brave friend, everything turned out OK ... but ... well ... here's what happened!

Amber and I went downstairs to the Library/Media Room to help Mom put some finishing touches on the big tree down there.

Hey ... check out these ornaments, Am!

I turned my back for an instant ... and Ammy was GONE!

Ram-a-lamb? Where are you?

I couldn't find her anywhere! I searched high and low, but to no avail. Oh, no! What could have happened!?!? I looked all over the place and saw this guy:

The Nutcracker! He stands guard over the Library/Media Room - maybe he saw what happened!

Hey, Nutcracker!? Have you seen my sister Amber?

Then he told me the horrid news - the reindeer kidnapped her!

Oh, no! The reindeer got her!?!?

He said he saw them take her but couldn't do anything but stand there and watch it happen. Don't hold that against him; I think it's an occupational hazard.

Not knowing what else to do, I went upstairs to see if they'd allowed her to send out a message or anything. It was then that I saw the pictures. Brace yourselves, pups. They're scary!

Here they are, overpowering her:

Look at how scared she is! Obviously, they blind-sided her! Here she is, fighting back as best she can -- remember, she was out-numbered!

Must ... break ... free!

But they were too much for her:

She sent this message out:

It's me. Amber. Please help me - I'm being held captive in the Library by some errant reindeers! Help me! Help me, please!!!
Love,
Amber
PS: Here's the proof. [Photo above.] Don't they usually hold a newspaper in front of their captive to show the date? Hrmph. Silly reindeers!

Want to know who she turned to? Somepup no one would suspect would be an agent as bold and daring as Jack Bauer himself! Somepup who is normally so much like Amber ... sweet, charming, lovely, all things good and kind. Unless that pup's pack is messed with! Tune in tomorrow for our Sunday Salute and see how we won Ammy's freedom!

Until then - play bows,
Zim

Ao4 Headquarters Flag!

Tail wags, pups! It's me, Stormy, with some incredibly exciting news! You've heard Zim mention our Aunt Janet before - she's the Master Gardener who sent Zim the Magic Beans to grow the Magic Bean Stalk, remember? Yeah, that's her!

Well... Mom and Dad got a Christmas package from her a while ago! Mom let her know they got it, and Aunt Janet was all excited and asked Mom, "Isn't it the 25th today?" Dave thought that maybe they use a different calendar in Virginia ... but I think Aunt Janet was dropping hints to OPEN THE PACKAGE! The next time Mom spoke to her, Aunt Janet once again implied that it was already the 25th ... but Mom waited. Finally, she couldn't take it any more and decided to open it! There was a cute little sock monkey Santa tied to the package - Zim really liked it.

Come on, Sock Monkey Santa ... let's take a nap!

Mom let him snuggle with it for a little while, then he traded it in for a cookie.

Then Mom unwrapped the big gift and started making all kinds of those noises bipeds make when they're happy and excited! She "ooh"-ed and "aah"-ed and "Ican'tbelieveitlookathowgorgeousthisis"-ed!!! We didn't pay her much mind ... until she unfurled it for all of us to see! Check this out!!!

It's our very own flag for Ao4 Headquarters!!! Is it the most incredible thing you've ever seen!?!?!? Our very own flag!!! Mom got us to pose by it - a challenge for her, to be sure, but we were semi-cooperative!

How cool is this? The flag, going CLOCKWISE, starting in the upper left corner, is Amber, Dave, Zim then me. Then our set-up, going COUNTER-CLOCKWISE, starting in the lower right corner, is Amber, Dave, Zim then me. Kind of a diagonal mirror image thing. Does this mess with anypup's head? I thought it was cool and had to point it out.

We've tasked Mom to go buy a pole, so Dad doesn't have to hold it up all the time like he is in the photo. We will hang it outside once we have a bit more of a thaw. (The biped weather forecasters are calling for SNOW tomorrow; I'll see what Am has to say later!) We're so excited! All the world will know THIS is Ao4 Headquarters! Ha roooooo!

Thank you, Aunt Janet! And kudos to the craftswoman who made this! It's GORGEOUS! We love it! Oh - and Mom and Dad do, too!

Tail wags,
Storm

Christmas Capers Advice, Part 5

Ha roo, pups! It's me - Zim! Ooooh.... look at this lovely flower arrangement our Aunt Mary sent!

Isn't it lovely? Mom knows how I love all things plant-related, so she let me admire it when it came in.

For some reason, after she let me check it out, she moved it up out of my reach. Hmm. I wonder why? Oh, yeah. She knows me too well. And knows one of my mottos:

Just because they're fake, doesn't mean those red berries aren't tasty!

Simply irresistable. Now that that ice has melted off the ones on the mailbox, I've been bamboozling Mom to take me over there so I can snag a couple! You've got to be quick, pups!

Play bows,
Zim

Package for Us!

Woo, everypupper! It's me - Dave! Guess what?!? We got a package in the mail yesterday!

Mom was out running errands and stuff, and when she called home, Dad said, "The guys got a package from FRANKIE and MADDIE!!!" Oh, WOO! I was so excited, I gave Mom two small kisses when she got home! I'm not normally like that - I'm a snuggly guy, but not a kissy guy! Mom let us open the package! It was exciting ... I saw a bee-woo-tiful pink envelope with MY name on it!

I followed along while Mom read it to me. It was to me from Frankie!

There is a heart sticker at the bottom, after she wrote "Luv, Frankie" and I licked it. She sent me this incredible hat!!! It's got an embroidered design of a very handsome black and white Siberian! She said it's for ME but that I can let my dad "borrow" it when and if he needs it! That's mighty thoughtful, isn't it? Dad saw it and LOVED it and since I love my dad so much, I decided to let him try it out.

Dad and me

I have to say, it looks better on him than on me. It also looks great paired up with his MaPaw sweatshirt, doesn't it? Good color choices, Dad!

I look a little worried in that picture, don't I? It's because everysibe else was all excited and were running around trying to get in the picture! Here - check these pictures out!

See what I mean? I think Storm was ready to jump Zim in that last one. Zim and I were talking to each other, and Amber was coming in to referee. Mom said, "OK, you guys! There's something else in the box, too!" We were all so excited!

First, there was a bee-woo-tiful card with a picture of Frankie and Maddie the Chocolate Labra-bunny on it!

Aren't they gorgeous? Ammy wanted to see the picture, too. Here she is:

This is so pretty! I'm glad Maddie didn't have to wear a babushka!

Storm and Zimmie looked at the card and just loved it, too, but Mom didn't get a picture. Guess what else was in the box? Some incredible peanut butter treats!!! Mom checked the ingredients and gave us the green light to have one! Oh, pups, I can't begin to tell you how much all four of us LOVED it! (Mom said "only one", but I could eat the whole bag!!!)

It was hard for Mom to get a picture of us enjoying our treats, so I said maybe she should just keep giving them to us until she got a good one. Unfortunately, she didn't buy into my advice, but you can't blame a Sibe for trying! Here's one of the ones she took; she stood up on the stairs to take it:

Storm and Amber in front, Zim and me in the back

I must have been wooing at her to hurry up. I can't remember. All I could think about was how YUMMY those treats were and how really sweet Frankie and Mads were to send them!

We love the card and the letter and the hat and the treats! And we love Frankie and Maddie!!! Thank woo, girls!

Luv,
Dave

We Don't Do "Outfits"

Ha roo, pups! Storm here. Some of you may be wondering why you haven't seen pictures of me or the other members of the Army of Four wearing Christmas outfits or other accouterments like antlers, bells, or Santa hats. Two reasons, basically.

First, I may be a very well-behaved 12-ish year old Siberian, but I let Mom know from the day I arrived (and ate a collar with a pansy print on it) that I don't "do" outfits. Unless they're cool. The boys might, if they feel like it ... but only if they do ... and certainly Amber is a no-go.

Secondly, well... I'll let Louie and his lawyer Raymond from Overboard do our talking:

Click cartoon to enlarge

Enough said about that! Ha roo roo roo!

Tail wags,
Storm

There's Snow Business Like Snow Business...

...like snow business I know!

Ha roo, pups! It's Zim! Yeah, you probably thought it was Amber's post given that title, didn't you? Ha roo roo roo! OK, she helped.

As Amber told you, we got a bunch of snow on top of our ice. Snow is a whole lot more fun that ice! My favorite thing to do is to make a cool snow fort. It takes a lot of skill and hard work - here I am in action!

Mom said my fort is pretty. Pretty? Mom ... a fort is not pretty. Cool, yes. Pretty, no. Sheesh.

After fortifying the area at the end of the driveway, I decided to work on it up toward the house a little. Here I am, taking a quick break.

Then I decided to pose for a picture. Mom just loves this shot:

I do look cool, don't I? Then Stormy, Supreme Commander of the Ao4, decided I should quit slacking off and get back to work.

SGT Zim! Get back to work!

She meant business! Here's how our meeting went:



It was a highly productive meeting, as you can see! I got right back to work on our fort.

OK... let me just reinforce the area around the tree...

A Sergeant's work is never done!

Play bows,
Zim

Sunday Salute - Timber!

This week, our Sunday Salute goes to our buddy Timber, down in Miami, Florida! You've met him and members of his family in previous posts, but this week - it's all about the Timber-bear!

It all started with Zim's first post about Christmas Capers advice - you remember, the "ate tiny reindeer" scenario. We showed you a picture of the Z-man next to the tree and the reindeer. Our pal Ruby left a comment saying, in part, "...But by any chance do you know if those said reindeer are tasty...just want to make sure - guilty or not - that I'm not missing out on anything!" We were going to refer her to the bee-roo-tiful Sitka, as she said they have those very same reindeer! But Sitka never mentioned one accidentally falling into her mouth or anything. Then we heard about Timber...

It seems Timber (and Luna, Kito and Auntie Laura) have these reindeer, too. Perhaps they are magic reindeer - how else could they be in Kansas, Georgia and Florida?!!? Timber is the one to answer Ruby's question. You see, it would appear he took the line "ate tiny reindeer" to heart. His brother Kito sent us an email and some pictures on his behalf. (Timber has vision problems, so Kito emailed us for him. He's very thoughtful!) Here is Timber, "getting his licks in on the reindeer," as Kito put it.

Caught in the Act!

Kito continued, "...Here are some close-ups of the damage to the snooter. Otherwise known as 'Snooter Damage'. You have your choice of 'Snooter damage shot' with Luna laughing in the background or 'snooter damage with Timber trying to look innocent' in the background." Ha roo roo roo. Such great pictures - we had to use them both!

Luna, above, looking incredibly cute; Timber giving the innocent look below.

"Reindeer? What reindeer?"

Amber said Luna is giving an incredible "cute look" to deflect any ill feelings her mom might have over the TINY bit of snooter damage that may or may not have been inflicted upon said reindeer by Timber. Regardless of him being caught in the act. Timber obviously is looking around, trying to find the real perpetrator of the crime.

And now we give you the pièce de résistance ... Timber play bowing to the reindeer!

Hey, reindeer! Let's play!

Ha roo roo roo! Guilt? What guilt!? As we've told you before, "Being a Siberian Husky means never having to say you're sorry." Ha roo roo roo! Way to go, Timber! We salute you!

The Army of Four

PS: How was it?

Christmas Decor - The Smallest Trees

Hi everypuppy! It's me, Amber! The good news is you really can't see our ice any more. The even better news is that it's because it's covered in snow. Lovely, beautiful snow! It started falling at about 2130 last night and hasn't stopped yet. :) We'll get Mom to take pictures later!

Our very good friend Joey Stains left an interesting comment on yesterday's post about the sandwich/sand wedge issue. He said, "If you want to be TOTALLY confused, the local pub right by our house is called 'The British Open Pub' and on their menu they call the sandwiches, 'sand wedges'." Wow! That is confusing! We'll have to drive out there, putter around a bit, and find those sand wedges! Hee hee hee! (Marvin might like that one.)

We already showed you our outside Christmas tree and our Patriotic Christmas tree. Storm said I should show you our two smallest Christmas trees! They're both in the living room, with the Patriotic tree. Here is the very smallest one - it's on the fireplace mantle, above Mom's Folk Art Nativity quilt:

It just has some cute red berries (they have to be out of Zim's reach, as he loves fake red berries!) and raffia garland. Mom paired it up with a tiny pottery crèche and some pottery angels. Here's a close up of those:

She bought the angels from a potter here in Kansas; the crèche is from one of her favorite shops in Belgium.

We have another small Christmas tree on top of the TV cabinet. It's filled with tiny wooden ornaments - angels mostly from Germany and a few carved olive wood Nativity scenes from Bethlehem. A couple other angels are at the base of the tree, along with a little music box from Germany and a little thing that spins around if the candles are lit. As Zim explained last year, Mom rarely lights the candles; her larger spinny thing caught on fire one year. We'll show you that one later!

Here's a close-up of the music box.

It plays "Silent Night". Or perhaps "Stille Nacht", since Mom bought it in Germany. Hee hee hee!

On that note, I wish you love,
Amber

Cool Sack!

Ha roo, pups! It's me, Stormy! Hey, remember Tia Curtis of Camp Follower Bags? Right! We did a Sunday Salute to her a little bit ago! She put a tutorial up on her blog about how to do a really cool lunch sack! Mom couldn't resist - she thought it looked so cool! Here is the one Mom did:

The drawstring feature is so cool! It's built into the pant leg of the BDUs, so the work is already done for you! Mom decided to line hers - here's a peek inside:

She made it for Dad. She thought this would be handy for all kinds of things, especially out on the golf course! He has a bag about this size he keeps old golf balls in, so she thought he could use it for that or for any other stuff!

We were all talking about what Dad could put in it; Zim loves to inspect things, so he gave it a thorough going-over, then decided it also makes a good pillow.

Drill SGT Zim, hard at work

Then Dave mentioned some of the golf stuff he's heard when he helps watch golf on TV. He said maybe since Mrs. Curtis calls it a lunch sack, Dad could keep a sandwich in it.

"Dave, I don't think sandwiches are part of the golf scene!"

Dave said he hears the bipeds talk about "sandwiches" all the time on TV golf, how it can help get the golfers out of bunkers or hazards or other challenges ... so just to be sure ... Zim was going to stick his snooter in the bag to see if Mom put one in there.

You never know ...

Then it hit me. "Dave!" I ha rooed. "You mean 'sand wedges', not 'sandwiches'!" Ha roo roo roo! I think Amber might have played a little joke on Dave ... or maybe Dave's been hanging around that little punster a lot!

"Come on, you guys It's 'sand wedge', not 'sandwich'!!"

After they left the room, I decided I'd best be sure.

I'd hate for a good sandwich to go to waste!

Many thanks to Tia Curtis for sharing her tutorial! Mom said it was loads of fun and really easy to follow! And Dad loves his bag! Mom can't wait to do more!

Tail wags,
Storm

Ice is NOT Nice...

...unless it's coming out of the dispenser in the door of the magic cold box. Trust me.

Woo, everypup - it's me, Dave! I've been working hard keeping the bipeds safe and warm - especially the "warm" part. Snuggling is one of my special skills, so I've been very busy!

Anywoo, Stormy said I should put some more pictures up of our ice storm, then we'd get back to normal blogging tomorrow. Mom made a cool bag for Dad that she and Zimmie want to show you. Be sure to tune back in!

OK... here are some front yard shots from last night! This is right after the lights popped on.

Even though I don't like the ice, it is pretty! Here's what the front of Ao4 HQs looked like.

And here's another look at the front door, a little later during the night. Careful not to get smacked in the head by that tree!

Here I am, over by the snowflake lights. You can see by the look on my face I wasn't thrilled out there. It was really slippy! The yard is snow, then about an inch of solid ice, then a dusting of snow.

Here's what things looked like out back this morning. You can see the Giant's new castle out there, and the power lines with the ice all over them.

Sadly, lots of people here in our city still don't have power. The power company spokesbiped said it could take up to 10 days! I hope they have Siberians to help keep them warm! They also caution that as the ice melts, and limbs fall, we could lose power again. Woo.

Here are daytime pix from today! Here's the front yard.

Kind of like Narnia, isn't it? And you can see all our footy-foot prints (and Oswald's) all over the yard. Speaking of whom ... here's a cool, artsy close-up of his main living area.

Looks pretty, doesn't it? Oswald has his own igloo!
That's it for today. Please keep those without power and the people working to restore it in your prayers! It's mighty cold for bipeds. Oh! And the biped weather forecasters are calling for us to get 3-6 inches of SNOW tomorrow! Hmm... I'm going to wait and see what the more-accurate Siberian meteorologist has to say. She's never been wrong!
Luv,
Dave

Ice, Ice Baby

Tail wags! It's me, Stormy - coming to you from Siberia. Well, maybe it isn't quite Siberia, but we think we know what it looks and feels like there now.

Remember Zim blogged on Monday that we were supposed to get an ice storm (small "s") that afternoon? Oh, pup, did we! We're all OK, but were without power and phones for about 24 hours and didn't have cable/internet access until a short time ago. Many people in our town (and across the mid-west) are still without power; our thoughts and prayers go out to them! It's amazing how cold the house can get in a short period of time. We worked very hard keeping our bipeds warm - and they were very grateful to us! We are still on restricted water use, as the pumps that run the water station are on back-up generators, and are also told we could lose power again as the ice melts, refreezes, and the wind kicks up. For now, we are counting our blessings! We know the power company people are working very hard in very harsh conditions to restore service to as many people as they can.

Many, many thanks to those of you who asked about us! Our mom even got to talk on the phone with Sitka's mom - isn't that cool!?!? We hope all of our mid-western blogging pals are safe; please check in when you can!

In the meantime, here are some pictures of our ice storm. This is the view out the front door from yesterday. That tree branch is bent REALLY low; it's not normally right in front of the door like that.

Here's a shot of our Redspire Pear. Click here to remember what it looked like in Spring.

The braches are almost touching the sidewalk! We're hoping once the ice thaws, the branches on most of our stuff will spring back up and will be fine.

Our neighbor has big Weeping Willow Trees that suffered a lot of damage. Here are some shots Mom took off our deck today:

Our King's Choice Elm in front of the fence, and the neighbor's Willow.

See all the broken branches up high? Here's another look:

We're glad the neighbors are safe and that their house wasn't damaged! Here are their power lines, though:

The trees yanked the cables right out of their house! Fortunately, they have power back right now; an electrician did a temporary fix for them and will come back after the thaw to square them away.

Back to the front ... in case you were wondering if a certain somebunny is OK ... he is. We got just under an inch of snow last night, so we have proof. I give you Exhibit A:

There were other exhibits all over the ice and snow, but I didn't think you needed to see pictures of those.

Zim loves the fake garland Mom put on our mailbox, and always tries to eat the fake red berries. Unfortunately for the Z-man, this is what that looks like right now:

The ice makes it really hard for the little guy to reach up and snag some before Mom or Dad can stop him!

Anyroo, just wanted to check in with everypup and let you know we're safe and well! We hope our friends are, too. For those of you in the path of this storm - please take every precaution you can to remain safe! Snow is beautiful, and ... well, OK, the ice looks pretty cool (Mom and Dad have used the word Narnia to describe what it looks like outside ... but then Mom mentions things like bleak, Dr. Zhivago, and frozen wastelands...) but it's trecherous! Beware! Jack Frost can keep that ice to himself; we'll just take the snow!

Tail wags to all!
Stormy