Thanks For The Bath!

Tail wags, readers! It's me - Stormy. As you may recall, I got a bath the other day. (So did Dave; he'll tell you about that later in the week.) No, I hadn't rolled in anything; no, I wasn't dirty; no, I can't think of any logical reason why this injustice was perpetuated on me. Nevertheless, I showed Mom my gratitude.

Oh, hey. Thanks for the bath.

Don't I look adorable?

Fifteen minutes later ...

Did I thank you for the bath yet?

No... I have no idea how the bed got this way.

Ha roo roo roo and tail wags,
Stormy

Shh! It's Sunday!

Hey. It's Sunday.

Can I get a little alone time?

Thanks.

Play bows,
Zim

Who ... Me?

Tail wags, everypup and kit-cat. Mom asked me - Stormy - if I'd like a bath.

Why, no... no, I wouldn't.

Then it hit me. It was one of her rhetorical questions. I summoned all my powers as a Siberian Husky and came up with this.

The perfect sad look

Sadly, it didn't work.

Tail wags,
Storms

Hmmm...

Hi everypuppy and kitty-cat! It's me, Amber. I'm downstairs guarding Mom and Dave while they work in the Studio.

I'm not sure what all they do in there, but they do very creative things. I wonder if any of that creativity will rub off on me?

Umm... wait a minute. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

Do I look OK? I feel funny.

Love,
Ammy

It Went Something Like This...

Ha roo, readers! It's me - Stormy. Another beautiful day here in Kansas. We took Mom and Dad on a nice, long walk, then it was time to do the blog posting. And where was everysibe?

Hey, Am and Dave! I think I see Oswald out there!

I can't see him, Zimmie.
I can't, either.
Keep looking. We're bound to see him sooner or later.

Yep. That's about all they were good for.

Hey, Stormy! If you post, say "woo" to everypuppy for me, OK?

Dave sends his "woo"s along. Oh - and before I go join my brothers and sister, a little reminder: please don't forget to vote for MaPaw! Thanks!

Tail wags,
Stormy

Sitting On The Porch

Tail wags, pups and kit-cats! It's me - Stormy! Mom took Dave and me outside yesterday evening to take a picture of us together. She wanted a nice shot of the two of us sitting side by side on the porch, looking at the camera. Want to see the picture? Here you go:

Dave and me

Oh, yeah. Well, neither of us are looking at the camera, he's sitting, I'm not, and we refused to go on the porch. Just ... because. This is the best Mom could come up with. Ha roo roo roo! She thought I could do a post of some "nice" pix of Dave and me today, but hey. I'm in charge and I had other plans for today's blog post. So Dave and I decided not to give her the shots she wanted. I love having fun with Mom like that.

So anyway, this next photo is for our buddy Ben. He wasn't sure what ramen was when Zimmie posted the cabbage salad recipe the other day.

It's Asian-style noodles, and lots of them, that you can cook up and put in a nice soup. Or use them crunchy in the salad! They're also great right off the floor when your mom is breaking them up. YUM!

Now... about those buns!

Gus, Louie and Callie wondered if we'd share the recipe for the buns. I don't see why not. I mean, it's not like I'm giving out a secret recipe or anything. Zim. Here you go, pups!

MOOMIE'S BUNS – The Ao4's Mom's
Way

This is our mom's adaptation of a recipe from Moomie, a member of King Arthur Flour's message board. It’s also in one of the KA cookbooks – Baker’s Companion – as “Beautiful Burger Buns”.

Make these in your bread machine or your mixer. Mom uses her bread machine!

1 cup warm water (100-105 deg.)
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
3 1/4 cups King Arthur's all-purpose flour (Mom only uses King Arthur; she says it yields more consistent results. All-purpose flour is the "plain" kind.)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons instant yeast

Optional – this is Mom's special mix, and the reason we can't have any of the buns:
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons minced onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Bread Machine Method: Place ingredients into bread machine in the order listed. Let the machine run its complete “dough” cycle. Take your pup or pups for a nice, long walk during this time. Really. It's part of the recipe.

Turn out onto floured surface and knead by hand 1-2 minutes until dough feels "right". Mom says she usually doesn’t have to do this – it depends on how humid it is the day she bakes.

Divide the dough into 8 or 10 pieces to form into burger buns. (Or 6 burger buns and 4 hot dog buns. Or 9 burger buns. Or 8 hot dog buns and 3 burger buns. Or ... Play around with it and see what size you like. They also make splendid rolls, just make them small - at least 16.)

On the message board, Moomie said to “Slap the dough 4-5 times into bun shape” – this led to an interesting discussion about “Do you have to slap it; can’t you just give it a time out?” Ha roo roo roo; good one! Put buns on a lightly oiled cookie sheet (Mom sprays with non-stick spray) and let rise, covered, about 30-40 minutes. (Mom sprays plastic wrap with non-stick spray and covers the buns with that.) This is a good time to take your pup or pups for another walk. Do it. Now!

Bake in 375-degree oven 12-15 minutes or until golden. (Watch them; they go fast!)

Manual/Mixer Method: In a mixing bowl, place flour, sugar, yeast, spices if used, and salt; mix well with paddle attachment of mixer. Add egg and melted butter; begin mixing on low with paddle attachment. Gradually add water; mix dough until well-combined. If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead about 15 minutes or until smooth and elastic (dough should still be quite soft). If kneading by mixer, change to dough hook and knead 3-4 minutes, adding flour or warm water as needed, until dough is soft, smooth and elastic. Place dough into an oiled bowl; cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in size. Then form into buns as above. (Now you know why Mom uses the bread machine.)

These freeze very well after baking!!! You can also sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds before baking.

Warning: You won’t want to go back to store-bought buns after this!

I hope you like the recipe. Mom and Dad just love these buns. If you give it a go, let us know!

Have a great day, everypup, and remember - you're in charge. If you don't want to pose for pix ... see above.

Tail wags,

Storm

Manly Men

Woo, pups and cats. It's me - Dave. I'm here with my kid brother Zim. Yes, I help my mom in the Quilt Studio (and with all other color decisions) and yes, Zim helps with the housework, but we want there to be no doubt out there in the blogosphere that we're manly pups.

Here are some action shots Mom took the other morning out on the deck that should put an end to any doubts about who we are!

That's me on the left and Zimmie on the right. Some of you pups call this game "Bitey Face". We call it "Acting Like Siberians". Ha wooo. Here we are again, positions reversed:

We love playing like that. After we'd pretty much finished huskying around, we played the "How Far Can You Open Your Mouth?" game.

You can't see it, but to be honest, I think Zimmie won that round. Woo.

Luv (in a manly way),
Dave

Wanna See My Mom's Buns?!?

Ha roo, it's me - Zim! Seriously, want to see my mom's buns? Check 'em out:

Ha roo roo roo! Ammy came up with that one for me! Pretty good, huh? Anyroo, Mom made some burger buns and hot dog buns yesterday and I helped. As many of you know, I was named after a Drill Sergeant - and part of my duties include making sure KP duty is done correctly.

More on KP duty in a minute, but here's a side-note to our friends Sunny and Scooter: Yes, I have my own vacuum, but I'm a guy. If you could do sniffies with me, there would be no doubt! It's all part of policing up around here - KP, running the vac, making beds... a drill sergeant's work is never done!

Seriously, I'm a manly pup.

Back to KP duty - I read on Maggie and Mitch's blog about this wonderful cabbage salad they helped their mom make. Our mom makes a similar salad, so I proposed we each post the recipes! Maggie and Mitch put theirs up yesterday; it sounds delicious! Without further ado, here's our mom's:

Cabbage Salad

Two bags of the pre-shredded "deli mix" cabbage, with the added red cabbage and carrots (I don't want to say Mom is lazy for not chopping or shredding her own cabbage...)
Two packages of chicken-flavored ramen
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3 Tablespoons sesame seeds
Mom's secret salad dressing

Break up the ramen into small pieces, making sure some lands on the floor for your helper. Line a small baking sheet with foil (it makes clean-up a lot easier!) and toss the ramen pieces on. Stick that in the toaster oven until lightly browned. You might have to take it out and shake it around, then stick it back in. Set aside to cool. Throw the almonds on the foil-lined sheet and toast those babies up. Set aside to cool. Now take the sesame seeds, throw those on the baking sheet, and hit toast. Watch those - they burn easily.

Get a HUGE bowl and put the bags of cabbage in, along with the ramen, almonds, and 2 tablespoons worth of the sesame seeds. (Retain that other tablespoon!) Pick out a piece of carrot and give it to your helper. Sprinkle ONE packet of the chicken flavoring (the bouillon mix from the ramen package) over the mix. Make Mom's secret salad dressing, pour it over the top, and toss well. Keep in the magic cold box, covered well.

What? You don't know my mom's secret salad dressing recipe? Really? Hmm... what to do, what to do. If I told you... you wouldn't tell anybody what it is, would you? Do you promise not to tell my mom I revealed it to you? Hmmm... OK! Here it is!

Mom's Secret Salad Dressing

1/2 cup canola oil
6 Tablespoons rice vinegar
4 teaspoons sugar (or two packets of Splenda)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Several dashes of Tobasco sauce
That retained Tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds (you did save it, didn't you?)

Put everything in a tall, thin cup and blend REALLY well with one of those stick blender things. If you don't have one of those, use a regular blender. Mom said it's important for the toasted sesame seeds to be all busted up for a burst of flavor. Sometimes Mom adds a smidge of sesame oil. I don't know how much a smidge is. I'd ask, but then she might wonder why I want to know. Remember - mum's the word on this!

I hope you'll give it a try. I can't wait to help Mom make Maggie and Mitch's mom's recipe! For now, I'd best go see if the bed was made correctly!

Play bows,
Drill SGT Zim

Sun(ny)day

Hi everypuppy and kit-cat. It's me, Ammy. It's a beautiful, breezy, sunny Sunday here in Kansas. I read Beau's Sunday Sermon, took Mom and Zimmie for a walk, and I feel good!

The amber waves of grain even waved at me!

Have a very happy day, everypuppy and everycat!

Love,
Ammy

And Now... A Woo From Dave

Woo, everypup. It's me - Dave. Have you seen how hard my buddy Ben the Rotti is working? As we've mentioned before, he and his mom are raising money for the Nowzad Dogs. It's not too late to donate to that VERY worthy cause!

I'd like to address Ben's mom, if I could. (Ben, please show this to your mom!) See, I was thinking about all the hard work they're putting into their cool contests and everything. I really think Ben needs some extra treats and some big hugs from those sweet "beans" of his. (That's what he calls his biped sisters.) Are you out there, Ben's mom? Here's my sad look ...

Can Ben please have some treats and hugs?

That's usually enough to do the job with my mom. In case yours is a hard sell, Ben ... I'm going to pull out all the stops. This, Ben's mom, is for you:

Short and sweet, but I think that should do the job, Ben. Woo.

Luv,
Dave

White Tail in the Sunset...

Ha roo and meows, readers! It's me, Stormy. Have you voted for MaPaw at the Animal Rescue site yet? Please don't forget! You can vote every day until the 14th of December!

Ammy and Zim got a lot of sweet comments on their "A to Z" post the other day! Aren't my little redheads adorable?!? I love them to pieces! Thank you for all the kind words.

Also, we've received several emails about the "cleaned up" version of the award Am mentioned in that post. We are more than happy for you to post our version of it on your blogs - please just right click it and save it to your computer, then post it on your blog!

Ammy received some comments expressing concern about how cooperative they were for the photos she posted. Fear not! We in the Ao4 aren't making a habit of it - trust me. In fact, I thought you all might enjoy a little picture Dave helped Mom take of me the other evening.

Isn't that great? Had his tail not framed the left-hand side of the shot, the lighting would have been just right and Mom would have had a lovely shot of me enjoying the sunset. Quel dommage! I'm so glad he had my six like that! Way to go, Dave!

Have a great weekend everypuppy and kitty!

Tail wags,
Storms

You Can Help - With Just a Click!

Tail wags, readers. It's me today - Stormy. Supreme Commander of the Ao4. I'm here with an important, yet easy mission for you! It's a quick, fun, painless way you can help a wonderful Siberian Husky rescue group - MaPaw! They're trying to win $25,000 from the Animal Rescue Site to help Sibes in need and we can help! I'll explain what you can do while Ammy keeps an eye on my brothers.

According to an email I intercepted from MaPaw, here is all you have to do - CLICK HERE! Once there, scroll down a bit. Under Search and Vote for a Shelter, please enter MaPaw for the name, USA for country, and PA as the state. Then click and cast your vote! (You may be asked to confirm your vote after that.)

That's it - just click! You can vote once a day, every day, from now until December 14th. (It will even save your info to make it easier for you to vote the next day!) Won't you please help us make a difference for Sibes in need? Think of how many animals we can help for $25,000!

If you feel so inclined, please add the button and link above to your bl0g and encourage people to vote for MaPaw!

You may be wondering just how Ammy was able to keep the boys occupied while I typed up this post. For a peek at what was going on in the living room and into the upstairs; please click here. (Sorry; Blogger won't upload the vid and we cannot get Photobucket vids to embed.)

What can I say? It was chilly outside when we went on our morning exercise and we're just a wee bit pumped up. Ha roo roo roo!

Thanks for helping us help MaPaw!
Tail wags,
Storms

A to Z

Ha roo, everypuppy and everykitty! It's me, Ammy! And I'm here with my little brother, Zim. Did you see our fluffy-tailed friend Khyra's blog the other day? She did an "A to Z" post. Here we are, A to Z.

Am and Zim

Get it? A to Z? Anyroo, in Khyra's post, she gave all of us SMSers a very nice award! Thank roo, Khyra! Here it is!

We made a little change to it, in keeping with our pledge to keep our blog "G"-rated. Here's another change:

Z to A

Thank roo for the award, Khyra! :)

Love from all of us,

Ammy

Dad's Home!

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats! Dad was gone all day yesterday and pup am I glad he's home! I just love my dad; he's the best dad a guy could ask for!

Dad's home!

He was in a golf tournament in some place called Lawrence (Stormy said that's where those blue-colored Birds live that all the Cats around here squawk about!) and he was going to make a couple stops on the way there. He said he'd stop and pick us up some supper-dupper food (yea!) and that he was going to see someone else, too. Being the curious guy I am, I peeked into one of the brochures he brought back to see who he met and saw something quite startling! Check out this business card!

"Osvaldo"? "OSVALDO"? I knew I hadn't seen him in a little while but I never expected this! It's not enough that the little guy rented out space under all our shrubs and bushes as condos for other bunnies, but now he's selling Toyotas and Scions?!!? What an entrepreneur! And who knew he speaks Spanish!

This is really shocking. I need a cookie. Or some free-holies....

Play bows,
Zim

Work, Work, Work!

Woo, pups and cool cats. It's me, Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind. You wouldn't believe how hard Mom's been working me lately. She even put a video of ME up on her bag blog - you can see me in action at this link! (The video is about half way through that post.) Believe me, if her colors had been off, I'd have been ALL over her!

This weekend, we put a lot of time into a Z Bag we're making for Meeshka's human woman. Here's Mom sewing a pocket into the lining:

The outside is a bright blue, arctic camo. Meeshka's human basically told Mom to go nuts for the inside, so I picked out a bunch of greens. I think her human might like green. Mom can't distinguish greens, so it was all on me. That's right, she really is one of the 0.4 - 0.5% of the population. Now you understand why my services are so invaluable to her! It's vital, exhausting work.

Here I am, taking a break:

Here's a close up of the top of one of the pockets. Mom put lots of pockets on this bag. I let her do the quilting and detail stitching in blue.

Anywoo, yesterday was a LONG day in the Studio. I had to come upstairs and get a nap in before supper-dupper time.

Oh! Before I crash - Meeshka, please let your human woman know we did finish the main bag and will move on to the Hold the iPhone! Bag today! Woo.

Luv,
Dave, GDFTCB

Semi-Silent Sunday

I think I fell. Or missed. Something's not quite right here.

Play bows,
Zim

Shh!

Shhh! (Whispering...) Hi everypuppy and kitty. Are you alone? My mom isn't with you, is she? OK... yes, it's me - Ammy.

Somebody around here thinks I need to be brushed. But I DON'T need to be brushed. So don't tell her where to find me, OK?

Oh, wait. I think this cute pose could get me out of it.

(Resuming normal voice.) Yep. Everything's OK now. I've got Mom just where I want her.

Have a happy, brush-free weekend, everypuppy and kit-cat!

Love,
Ammy

Waiting...

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats! It's me. Zim. I wonder when my best kit-cat pal Huffle is going to get here?

I've got that sunbeam I found last week saved for her. I'll keep my paw on it for her.

Huffs? Are you out there yet?

I'll keep watching for her! I can't WAIT to see her!

Play bows,
Zim

Aww... THANKS!

Woo, it's me, Dave! I hope everypuppy and kitty is having a good day. We got the "I Love Your Blog Award" presented right back to us by our pals China and Madie! You two are really sweet! Thank woo!

AND that dynamic duo Kayla and Maebe also presented it to us! That's a lot MORE sweetness!

It's truly an honor to receive this kind of recognition from our fellow bloggers, and we hope you know how much we appreciate it! THANK WOO, friends! We luv you guys!

Speaking of luv, recognition, and appreciation... I helped Mom finish making a bag the other day, and this is what I got:

Woo. Guide Dogs for the Color Blind are VERY well-paid!

Luv,
Dave

Kansas Skies

Hi everypuppy and everycat! It's me - Ammy, resident Meteorologist at Ao4 Headquarters. We had some of the prettiest skies last night and I just HAVE to share them with you!

First, Mom took the boys out and they saw a gorgeous rainbow in the northeast sky! Unfortunately, it had faded by the time she and I got back out with the camera (because somepuppy was dilly-dallying!) but look! You can still see it!

It's a bit faded, but you can still see it sort of above my left ear. It was really pretty. We had just a splash of rain sprinkles, then sun, then I looked down the street to the north and saw this:

Ooooh, pretty, isn't it? I knew it would look really cool to the west within seconds, so I convinced Mom to let me look out over the backyard.

Wait for it ... it's coming!

And then the sky turned to this!

Isn't it glorious?

Mom took Storm out next. I had told her about the western sky, so Storm said she wanted to go look, too.

Hey, it looks like the neighbors' house is on fire!

It sort of does! Mom and Storms went out on the back deck and took these shots:

It really does look like we're living on Mars sometimes, doesn't it?!? Hee hee hee!

OK, whew! The sky is on fire, not the neighbors' house! Cool sunset!

And one last shot:

I hope you enjoyed the latest look at our Kansas skies! Or is that the skies over Mars? :)

Love,
Ammy