Decisions, Decisions...

Woo, everypuppy and all you cats out there.  It's me - Dave!  Mom took me to the yard for some cool one-on-one playtime the other day.  She lined a couple of my toys up on the deck and let me choose which one we'd play with.  I chose my camo Wubba.  I love this toy!

My and my camo Wubba.  And Mom's arm.

I love playing tuggy-tug with it and bringing it back when Mom throws it!  But wait...

Wait a minute...

Do I look distracted there?  No, it wasn't Oswald.  It was...

Umm... time out, Mom!

I really wanted to play with this one.  'K?

I just kept thinking about my cool football and really wanted to play with that, too.  Sometimes it's just so hard to make the right decision right out of the gate (literally and figuratively speaking!).

I did a lot more of this:

Then I was like this:

...and Mom said it was time to go in.  Great coincidence, 'cuz I really needed a bowl of water!  Woo.

Luv,

Dave

Wordless Wednesday

...Love,

Ammy

Pix From the Celebration

Tail wags, pups and kitty-cats!  It's me, Stormy!  Thank you one and all for all the Stormaversary wishes!  We had a lovely celebration, complete with fun walks, yummy cookies, and play time.  I thought I'd share some pictures of me feting my homecoming!

Before I get started, I would like to thank our wonderful friend Mason Dixie for presenting us with this award for watching over our land and oceans:

Thank you so much!  We stand ever vigilent!  In fact, this is a good lead-in to my pictures!  

The first thing I usually do when I get time in the backyard is to make sure the back gate has been secured.  My Gotcha Day was no different!  I raced down to the bottom of the yard to check the gate:

All safe here.

It was shut and locked, so I continued to make the rounds of the yard.  

Oh, hey!  Was Marvin looking for the Yellow Brick Road?  I found the Grey Brick Road; I wonder if that's close enough.

Ha roo roo roo!

"Grey Brick Road".  Ha roo roo roo.  I've got to remember to run that one past Ammy.

Speaking of running past... check out my moves in this next picture!

I had fun running around.  Don't I look happy?  What a great celebration.  I don't feel like a 13 and a half year old!  (I am 13 and a half, though, and don't hear as well as I used to. That's why I'm trailing the long lead behind me.  If Mom needs to get my attention, she can just reach out and give it a slight tug to get my attention.  I can ignore that as easily as I did her calling me. Ha roo roo roo!)  Moving right along...

I checked the upper tier for any security problems, too...

  

Me inspecting the upper tier

... then stopped to do a cool pose:

That's Ao4 HQs up there behind me.  Can you see the system of decks?  The upper part is where we take most of our sunset and small 's' storm photos.  It's actually the main level of the house - the street level from the front.  That's how steep of a hill we live on!

I also mentioned cookies as part of the celebration, didn't I?  There's only one way Mom can get me to sit and pose like this:

That's right - Happy Hearts cookies.  They were the Sweet Potato ones.  I LOVE those!

And the last picture for now... here I am after one of our wonderful family walks:

Great walk, Mom.  Let's go in and get a bowl of water!

Thanks again for all of your kind wishes.  I hope you celebrated with me!  And many thanks to Mason Dixie for the Golden Award!

Tail wags,

Stormy

Where in the Flint Hills Are We?

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zimmie!  Before I get back to my very cool adventure, Ammy, Dave and I would like to take a minute to wish the VERY happiest of Homecomings to Stormy!  Today is the official Gotcha Day - so much happiness to Stormy!  A guy couldn't ask for a better mentor!

As I mentioned on Saturday, I got to go on a really cool adventure with my mom!  We drove in the car to get there, which I just love doing!  We drove way to where I had never been before!  I saw a sign for some place called The Top of the World, but frankly I think that's at the North Pole where Santa lives, not in the Flint Hills.  But then we came to a little park called Washington Marlatt Memorial Park and Mom stopped the car so we could get out.

This place is just perfect for walking!

Let's hit the trail, Mom!

We went inside the park, and there was a cool network of trails.  Mom just kept going on and on about the view.  Here's what she saw to the northeast:

Can you see the water in there?  It's not the Kansas Ocean, it's something called Tuttle Creek Lake.  I think I need to go there, too!  Anyroo, it was a great scenic overview - like where Dave went one time, but a totally different part of town.  We were way up in the north central area, north of the city limits; Dave was more like in the southeast part of town.  Whatever.  

While Mom admired the view to the northeast, I admired this view: 

 

Wowzers, what great sniffies!

Something for everyone!  Here's another view Mom liked; you can see that KS Hill that Dave showed you and to the right of that, the KSU football stadium.

Here's another view I found especially nice:

In case anyone is wondering why parts of my view look black, it had been recently burned.  They do this to help maintain the prairie and to keep it as prairie land!  For a great explanation of why we do this here in Kansas, and a great Google photo that contrasts a burn area with a non-burn area, please visit this link.  It's a really good read!

Mom took more photos that we'll share with you soon.  It's such a cool area and I can't wait to go back and explore!

Play bows and happy Stormaversary wishes,

Zim

We Interrupt Our Normally Scheduled Posting...

...to bring you a special Ao4 Celebration!

Tail wags, dear readers!  It's me, Stormy.  It's a big day here at Ao4 HQs - my Storm-a-versary!  My homecoming!  Adopt-a-Storm Day!  My Gotcha Day!  Whatever you'd like to call it, it's the day I found my forever home.  Well, actually the DATE I was adopted is tomorrow, but since it was on a Sunday and I promised Zimmie he could post about his cool adventure tomorrow, it's close enough!  (This is not my honorary birthday.  We celebrate that in September.)  

A couple years ago, I posted the story of how I got here.  The redheads and Dave thought I should go ahead and post it again instead of linking back to it, since we have a lot of new friends out there reading.  Great idea, pups. Just grab some cookies and a bowl of water and settle in!  We'll join that post, in progress, adding in some pix Mom took of me today ...

"...By late 1996, I had been on the road a long, long time. I won't tell anyone where I came from, but I was picked up by the local Animal Control people and landed in the slammer. (The same one Zim and Dave did stints in, but at a different time.) I had been on the road so long, my paws were bloody. That's a lot of time and a lot of miles. Yes, that means I'm a Roads Scholar. (Ha roo roo roo to those of you who get the pun!) I was adopted from there by a couple who had a rather unfriendly, large, powerful dog who did not care for me. Neither one of us got any exercise ... and that's just torture for pups - especially large ones and especially Siberian Huskies! That made a bad situation worse.

By March (1997), the people gave up on me and tried to return me to the shelter. They couldn't take "returns" and would have had to euthanize me! They pleaded with the people (God bless them!) to please just try placing an ad in the local paper - just one ad! Please?!? Fortunately for me, they agreed - and even more fortunately for me, my dad just happened to be perusing the paper that fateful morning!

Mom made the call - the only one those people got! - and she and Dad drove out to get me. They came into the house and the man there held my collar tight, like I was an attack dog or something. I wriggled free and threw myself at who I knew would be my new dad. "Let's get out of here!" 

Me and Dad reenacting our first meeting 

I gave my future mom my best "Harp Seal Look" even though I was fairly sure I'd won her over already. They told the people they wanted me (me! someone wanted ME!) and we were on our way. The lady followed us out of the house and my new mom asked if I would like to go potty before we headed home. The other lady said, "Oh, I just had her out." Yeah, right. I shot her a look, then went potty for a long, long potty time. We got in the car and never looked back!

Me, giving Mom the Harp Seal look this morning

On the way home, we talked about a name. The other people had called me "Storm". My new parents were going to change my name, mostly so I'd get a fresh start, but as we drove onto Fort Riley, the military installation where we lived, a Kansas storm was blowing in. A detail of soldiers was lowering the American flag at post headquarters and was putting up a "storm" flag -- a smaller, tougher version. Ha ROO! Mom and Dad took it as a sign that the name fit, but softened it a bit by mostly calling me Stormy! Now I go by either one - or Storms. I was about one and a half years old when I came home..."

I hope you enjoyed that!  Celebrate with me today, and celebrate the official date tomorrow!

Stormaversary 2009

Tail wags,

Stormy

Where Are We Going?

Ha roo, everypup and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  The other day, Mom got out the words, "Hey, Zim!  Do you want to..." and I was into the garage and fastened into the passenger seat before she could finish.  How cool!  Just me and Mom - off on an adventure!

I wonder where we're going?

Let me check the rear view mirror...

Hmm...

I should point out to our friends in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, and a few other locales that I'm not driving.  It may look like it to you, but we have our steering wheel on the left and drive on the right side of the road.  I just wanted to clear that up.

Back to our story...

I don't think I've been to this part of the Flint Hills before!

We went where no Siberian had gone before!  (At least no one in the Ao4!)  It was totally cool!

Be sure to tune in Monday to see where we went!

Play bows,

Zim

Photo Finish Friday

Tail wags, all.  It's me, Stormy, with this week's installment of Photo Finish Friday.  I was going to post all kinds of cool pix we took (with Mom's help) over the course of the week, but thought I'd keep it simple with three gorgeous sunsets.

This first one is from last Friday, the 6th.  We had some small "s" storms rolling in, and the heavy cloud cover not only was a great contrast with the melting sun, but it acted like a curtain coming down over it.

Pretty, isn't it?

These next two are from the 11th.  I'm posting them in reverse order of when they occurred; I want to post a great BIG one and I'll save that for last.  (If I don't, it will throw the formatting off.)  Here's one:

And we'd like to dedicate our photo taken about half an hour earlier to our dear friend Marvin, those adorable guys and gals known collectively as the Dughallmor Beagles, and our new friends Martha and Bailey.  We're calling this one Scottish Sunset; I think you'll understand why!

From Army of Four Digest

Tail wags,

Stormy

Civil Defense

Woo!  Dave here, everypup and everycat.  Stormy put me in charge of Civil Defense/Emergency Preparedness for Ao4 HQs.  She said I've got a great "woo", so I would best be able to rally the troops.  Thanks, Storm; I hope to do you proud!

Our sirens started going off the other day and I thought we should all fall in, stand in formation,  and woo along with them.  My kid brother had another idea.  Despite me actually barking at him (I very rarely bark; I usually just woo), he just ignored me.  Can you believe that!?!?  

Here he is - and there I am, too.  I do some woos, but you can hear me barking at him to ... well, you'll see.

Translation of my lines, for any bipeds reading:  

Get on your feety-feet and fall in, SGT Zim!!!

Is it just me, or is he being a lazy sack of potatoes?

Luv,

Dave

PS:  For a double-dose of the Ao4 today, and lots of our friends, surf on over to the OP Pack's Chronicle of Woos!

Woo-less Wednesday

Luv,

Dave - Guide Dog for the Color Blind

Signs of Spring

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats!  It's me, Zim!  I took Mom out back yesterday, in between the rain storms, to have a look around.  Like my bestest friend Huffle Mawson, Explorer Cat and Honorary Husky, I love to explore things.  (Is anypup or kitty missing Huffs as much as I am?)  I saw some signs of Spring and thought I'd share them with you.

As we went down the stairs on the deck, I had to stop on the landing to survey everything.

Ha rooooooo!?!?

This guy answered me back, can you see him?

It was a very dashing male Cardinal.  He sang a real cool song while we were out there.

We saw this one kind of sedum that gets pink flowers that look like broccoli.  A bunch of them are starting to green up!  Oswald and the birds love to munch on those.

I forget exactly what variety of sedum they are.  Other than the pink kind that look like broccoli.  

Speaking of Oswald, I looked around for him.

Hey Oswald!  Are you out here?  It's me, Zim!

I thought I saw him and was going to leap off the retaining wall to go say ha roo.

Mom and the leash she had me on said, "Oh, no you aren't."  It's like ... it's like she doesn't quite trust me or something.  Can you believe that?

Anyroo, we also saw this other kind of sedum springing up:

They're Purple Emperor Sedum; they are a purply-red color and get blooms the same color.

That's about all I have to report for today.  I'll show you more of our garden as things progress!

Play bows,

Zim 

Bedtime Formation!

Tail wags, pups and kitty-cats!  It's me - Stormy.  We've shown you our various Walking Formations and the ever-important Banana Formation, but here's one you haven't seen before!  When Mom and Dad say it's time for bed, we all run into the bedroom and dive into position before getting a bedtime cookie.  

Are you ready?  BEDTIME!

Bedtime Formation at Ao4 HQs:

Bottom left corner, Ammy; In the carrier, Zim

Me (Stormy) and Dave on the bipeds' bed

We don't sleep in those positions, we just go there for Formation.  We can get into Formation in a split second, especially if a certain LabraDave who shall remain nameless opens the gate into the bedroom for us.  Ha roo roo roo!  We've got this down to a science.

Tail wags,

Storms

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hi everypuppy and everykitty!  It's me, Amber!  I have a little bit different Serene Scenery Sunday post for you today.  In reading your blogs, it seems to me that some of you might need a peaceful place to escape to.  A place where no one can find you, no one can do evil things like brush you, bathe you, or brush your teeth.  A place where you can hide!  I've offered to share my own secret retreat with some of you, and I thought I'd show you just how serene it is!  Everypuppy and everykitty, I give you... the dining room table!

There it is, behind me.  When I need an escape, a place of solitude and serenity, I just go under there and I'm safe from all the world's problems.  Let's go in, shall we?

Doesn't it look quiet in there?  Not that you can see me... but if you could!

I can see what's going on in the breakfast room from there and the living room, too.  Here I am, checking out the living room:

See, even though I'm tucked away from where Mom can find me, there are other elements to deal with.  Can you see one of those elements in this next picture?

Yes, that's the Zimstigator on the right side of the photo.  And can you see just over my head, who's back there?  Take a look in this photo:

Yes, it's Davy.  And when the Zimstigator starts zimstigating, Davy just has to respond.  

Dave and Zimmie

Fortunately for me, I'm safely tucked away in my own special tranquil oasis.

Ah!  Sweet serenity!

Have a serene Sunday.  And seriously, if any of you need to share my escape with me, just let me know.  No one will ever find us!

Love,

Ammy