Sort of Out-Takes - and Who's Who

Hi everypuppy and everycat! It's me - Ammy! Before I forget, Stormy wanted me to give a great big thank you! to everyone for all the Storm-a-versary wishes! All of us had a great day together, and reading all of your sweet comments were really the icing on the ... no, wait. We didn't get cake. How about the fish oil on the supper-dupper? Mmm... yeah! That's it!

Anyway, Storm mentioned that she and I posed for some photos and shared one of them with you. Then yesterday, we posted two photos ... and may have caused some confusion! The top photo from yesterday is us girlie-girls. The second photo yesterday is the boys!!! I think next time Mom gets it in her head to do a photo shoot, she should do the black and whites together and the red and whites together - what do you think of that?

We have more pix from the photo shoot, and I thought I'd share some with you, along with some quick captions. These are sort of out-takes, as we weren't really doing what Mom wanted us to do. ☺ Remember:

Storm's comments are in red, her leash is blue camo

mine are green, my leash is hot pink camo

Zim's comments are blue, his leash is woodland green camo

Davy's are in purple, his leash is desert camo.

Whew! Let's get started!

Stormy briefed us all before we went outside and said we should all do our best to look really tough and serious. (As you saw yesterday, Zim and I couldn't quite keep the "serious" thing going the whole time!) This is Stormy and me:

Yeah, I know she has treats, Ammy. Let me make sure the neighbors aren't watching...

I can't help it. I'm going to look at the camera.

They were yummy treats; I couldn't help it. At least I was doing the "serious" look!

In this next one, Storm was acting bored. Well, no. It wasn't an act. She was bored. Hee hee hee. I was trying to see what was going on across the street.

Yeah, yeah. Sit and look at the camera. Whatever.

Is the Pointer's daddy taking her running? I think I see them coming...

I'm not sure what we're doing in this next one.

How many cookies do you have left?

Wait... it's not the Pointer, it's somepuppy else...

Anyway, that was the end of our photo shoot - then Mom brought the boy-ohs out. Apparently, they didn't have as many out-takes as Stormy and I did; they actually like working the camera for treats. Can you imagine? Anyway, for contrast, here's an out-take of the boys:

Stormy said she and Ammy got a zillion cookies. Is that true, Mom?

I'll sit and act "serious". Was there something else I was supposed to do?

Once they had their "Show Me the Cookies" moment, Mom shot some wonderful portraits of them. Dave will post them tomorrow for Photo Finish Friday, along with one each of me and Storm.

I hope you enjoyed our photo shoot!

Love,

Ammy

Wordless Wednesday

Tail wags, love, luv and play bows,

Storms, Ammy, Dave and Zim

It Was a Dark and stormy Day...

Gather 'round, dear pups and kitty-cats. It's me, Stormy, with a story to tell you.

It was 13 years ago - a dark and stormy day - a day much like today. There was a sense of change in the air, the wind was kicking up, and a Kansas storm was blowing in across the prairie.

It was a dark and stormy day...

Have you heard this one before? Because it was also a dark and Stormy day. That's right - it's my Storm-aversary!!! My Gotcha Day! Adopt-a-Storm Day!!! We have a lot of new readers, so I'm going to re-post the story of my adoption. You might want to grab a snack and a bowl of water.

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.

This next part still chokes me up...

By March (1997), the people gave up on me and tried to return me to the shelter. The people there said 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 the man I knew would be my new dad. "Let's get out of here!" 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 me 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!
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.

Many of you have seen this before, but here's an early picture of me with my great-brother Booter ('87-01).

We've already started our Storm-aversary celebration here at Ao4 HQs. Dave and I took Mom on a walk:

Happy Adopt-a-Stormy Day, Stormy!

Thanks, Dave!

Ammy and I posed for a few photos:

Ammy, let's do our 'tough girl' looks!

Got it, Storm!

(Disclaimer: Mom had really tasty treats for us and we were tired from our walks, otherwise we would not have sat and looked in the general direction of the camera!)

And later this afternoon, Zim and I will walk Mom a bit more. This is from the other day; we were looking for our kitty-cat friends!

Do you see anycat, Storm?

Not yet, Zim.

A day spent with my loving family, going on walks, getting treats, taking a few cat-naps... what could be better?!? Celebrate with us, dear friends! And try to do something special each and every day!

Tail wags,

Storms

Walk Out-Takes

Hi everypuppy and everykitty! It's me - Ammy! We're just back from our big morning walk and I couldn't figure out what to post but Stormy said it was my turn so I thought about it and thought it would be fun to post pix from our walk but realized no biped had a camera and it made me think about Zimmie's post from yesterday so I thought I'd do sort of a spin-off from that. (I get a little bit spun up and zoomie-esque after walkies; can you tell? Hee hee hee!)

Anyway, Zimmie wrote about our walks and adventures and sort of a sub-point he made was that we always GO on walks (rain, snow, sleet, dark of night, etc.) but Mom doesn't always bring the camera or iPhone along. Something about we're easier to dry off than the Nikon. We don't mind wet and wind and fog and things like that one bit! The only conditions that stop us from going are lots of ice (a little is do-able) or close-by lightning. (Sadly, the year we moved in to Ao4 HQs, a woman was struck by lightning and killed not far from our house; we are always very careful now!)

SO... sometimes Mom does take the camera or iPhone out when the weather conditions are less that perfect and ... well ... the photos come out like this:

That's me and Zim on a foggy morning in the deep snow. Could you tell? Hee hee hee! Now maybe you know why even though we do go on our walkies ... the camera doesn't!

That photo is in the "out-takes" file, along with others. You see, even when the conditions are great for photos, we have more of those "out-takes". Here's one from a walk Dave, Zim and I took with Mom.

Dave, me (Ammy!) and Zim

Mom thought she'd be clever and bring cookies so she could get a good picture of us. Hee hee hee. Nice try, Mom! Oh - right. Too bad Davy isn't sticking his tongue out, too - otherwise it wouldn't be in the "out-takes", right? Hee hee hee! Well, here's the next one Mom took:

Dave - much better.

Hee hee hee! Mom is really thankful to have digital photography.

Hee hee hee! Way to go, you guys!

Ha woo!

Hey, I wonder if my kit-cat friend is down there?

We'll help Mom take more pictures today. I wonder how many will end up in that "out-takes" file? :)

Love,

Ammy

Serene Scenery Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats! It's me, Zim, here with Serene Scenery Sunday. Yesterday was a typical March day here in Kansas - windy, cold, and rainy. We all went on a couple rounds of walks in the morning and early afternoon. Mom took a chance on the rain holding off and brought her camera; she took a couple pix of Ammy and me that I thought I'd share.

Here we are on the way out on one of the walks:

That's the Yammer in front, and me behind her. I thought I saw one of my kit-cat pals down there in the back yards.

Here we are at about the same place on the way home:

I was still looking for my friend. I just KNOW there was a kit-cat back there!

(Is it just me, or is Ammy holding her nose funny in that second photo? It's like ... she has her nose out of joint or something. Ha roo roo roo! Had to say that.)

It may not seem in keeping with Serene Scenery Sunday to post those pix, but we had such nice walks, and Mom did a pretty good job with those two. (Dave and Stormy were there, Mom just couldn't get any good photos of them.)

In the afternoon, Mom and I headed out on a really cool adventure. She had read about this park we'd never been to where there are supposed to be all kinds of cool birdies; she thought it would be fun for the two of us to check it out! We had a slight change of plans when Mom discovered there are no paved roads to that park (...or a place to turn around once you discover the lack of paved roads), and the dirt roads were really muddy! I thought it would be fun to get out and walk the rest of the way to the park through the mud, but oddly that was a no-go. Instead, we drove out to Anneberg Park. (You may remember us going there before - that's where my goose friends live!)

My goose friends weren't there - they must have been inside having a nice hot cappuccino or something. It was so windy there were white caps on the Amber Ocean! Check out this cool collage:

Can you see how windy it was? If you can't see the white caps, check out my fur in that shot in the middle! The water was making cool sounds on the rocks; I listened to it, but couldn't figure out what it was saying!

Mom and I had a great time. We don't let the weather stop us from having fun and finding serenity. Check out this zen-like moment:

Ah, sweet serenity!

We'll get to that other park one day. Apparently mud and a white sports car don't mix. Or don't mix well. Ha roo roo roo!

Have a serene Sunday, everyone, wherever your adventures take you!

Play bows,

Zim

Photo Tag!

Woo, everypup and everycat. It's me, Dave, here with a fun game of tag from our friend Dory. Maybe from her brother Bilbo, too - I'm not sure. Anyway, we're supposed to open our first photo folder, scroll down to the 10th photo, post that photo and tell the story behind it, then tag 5 more bloggers.

We have so many photos in so many places that we didn't quite know which folder to choose! We decided to go to the first chronological folder in our FlickR stuff and look in there - and it just happened to be my Haik-woo. I'll post the 10th one, then explain:

Haik-Woo #10

I used to write poetry - Haik-woo - and the tenth one is about Stormy!

So what is Haik-woo? Here's the best explanation I've given before:

Basically, it's my own version, the Siberian version, of the Japanese form of poetry called haiku. Three lines of non-rhyming verse, 17 total syllables: 5 in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the last. That's haiku. And it's intense in its brevity! (Stormy taught me that word.) In Haik-woo, it's the same thing - except the last word is always "woo". That's my favorite thing to say, so I finish every poem with it. And it makes it even more challenging to say what you need to say in a limited "space".

This was a great tag, Dory and Bilbo! Thanks for including us! Going back through my old Haik-woo was fun and hopefully will inspire me to start writing again!

I'd like to tag the following bloggers:

Sadie, Isabella and Angel over at the Beaded Tail

Benny and Lily

Maggie and Mitch

Huffle Mawson

and Holly and Zac

If any of the rest of you would like to play, please do! (And if any of the tag-ees would rather not, we totally understand!)

Luv,

Dave

Photo Finish Friday

Tail wags, dear readers, it's me - Stormy. Mom and I almost had to draw straws over who would do today's post. She was going to hijack our blog - can you believe that? Fortunately, she still can't stop laughing, so (as always) I am in a more articulate mode than she is. I'm calling this Photo Finish Friday - The Mysterious Case of the Folded Cushions!

It all started last night as we were getting ready for bed. Dave and Am were already in the bedroom waiting for a cookie getting settled in for the night; Zim was in the kitchen making sure Mom remembered the cookies waiting for Mom and Dad, being the gallant pup he is; I was in the kitchen getting a sip of water; and Mom and Dad were doing whatever it is they do. Dad went over to turn out the front lights - and that's when the great mystery began!

He called out to Mom, "Have you seen this?" Or maybe it was, "Did you do this?" Something like that. I couldn't tell. He was laughing too hard. Mom grabbed the camera (she's learned to do that) and went over to see what he was talking about. She started laughing, too, and said that no, she had not done that. They each assured each other they hadn't done it and ... oh ... perhaps you'd like to know what I'm going on about. Here you go:

The Sitzbank

You're all familiar with the sitzbank by now - not only was an episode of CSI-Siberia conducted there, that's where Zimmie did his Competitive Napping routine for the Cat-O-Lympics. His bronze medal routine! It was quite surprising to see his cushions all folded up so neatly and placed on the floor like that - since both Mom and Dad promised they hadn't done it. How could this have happened?!? Mom has read and watched way too many mysteries and detective shows and decided she should wait by the "scene of the crime".

Still the Sitzbank

Something about the "perp" always showing back up. So she sat on the stairs and waited. I decided I needed to get the show moving along.

"Hey! What are you doing? It's bedtime. Did you remember the cookies?"

Oh, no, no! Don't get me wrong - I didn't do it! Puh-lease! And if I had, the cushions wouldn't be all neat and folded into the cushion cover like that. This was clearly the work of someone with an attention to detail, someone who could fold and place something square to the sitzbank with almost a military precision. I started investigating the scene when Zimmie walked in!

As soon as he saw Mom, he assumed a very non-chalant pose:

"Hey what's keeping everyb--- ohh. Um... (♬ whistle, whistle, whistle ♫)."

Hmm. What to make of Zim showing up?

He looked real innocent and that looking up and whistling thing seemed to be working ... until Mom said, "Oh, whoever did this sure put a lot of time and effort into it! Such hard work!" And Zim just couldn't help himself.

"Oh, not that hard at all, really! Kind of like square-cornering sheets or someth-- uh oh."

Yikes! It was as good as a confession! I leapt into action, coming to the defense of my youngest brother!

"SGT Zim!" I cried. "Double Harp Seal Look on Mom - NOW!"

Me and SGT Zim, double-teaming Mom

(I got too close to the camera for Mom to get both of us in focus!)

I think we did a smashing job. Mom gave us one of those, "Oh, you guys!" and smooched us and Dad, still laughing, said, "Everyone in the bedroom for cookies; let's go!" (For the record, Mom didn't get a cookie, so I think we must be better behaved than she is.)

As per The Mysterious Case of the Folded Cushion? Freak accident, most likely caused by a draft from the front door. Case closed. Nothing to see here, folks; just move along. Ha roo roo roo! (I've got your six, Zim!)

Tail wags,

Storms

Here, There and Everywhere

Ha roo, pups and cool cats! It's me - Zim! Thanks for all the cool comments on yesterday's Wordless Wednesday; you're all the best! We did get some questions about where everyone else was napping, and I'd be happy to show you that today!

Before I get started, a big thank you to our wonderful friends Paco, Milo and their adorable little sister Maya for this cool award:

Thanks, you guys! We love you and love having you as friends!

So about those naps.... you all wanted to know if I'm napping here...

...where is everyone else? Let's take a quick look with a collage:

Napping Here, There and Everywhere.

(Ha roo, Marvin! That's for getting Zim-da-dee-snooze-dah, Zim-diddy-ay stuck in our heads all day yesterday!)

As you can see above, Stormy was on KP Duty, Ams was chilling out on our really cool Army quilt in the living room and Dave ... Dave was trying to get comfy on Stormy's bed in the bedroom. As you can see in the upper left corner, he was having a hard time getting into full nap mode. I told him sometimes you have to really work the bed to get it how you like it, but he isn't into making beds like I am. I told him I'd lend a paw or two - and I got to work for him.

Ya gotta scrunch the covers up like this, Dave, and ...

In fact, I made that bed sooooo comfy, that I just ....

Zzzzzzzzz......

Well, you know how it goes. But don't worry about Dave. He took over my duties on the bipeds' bed:

Zzzzzz.....

So that's the rest of the story on our naps the other day! How about all of you? Where do you like to nap?

Play bows,

Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,

Zim

Let's Celebrate!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats! It's me - Zim! I was very honored to receive a couple awards from my bestest friend Huffle Mawson! She gave these to all of us who entered the Competitive Napping event she hosted for the Cat-O-Lympics.

How cool! Thanks so much, Huffs! She said the rules for these awards are simple - just mention who gave them to you (that would be the Huffster herself!) and share them with some friends. I love this! We really totally appreciate all of our readers - a lot! - so we'd like to present both awards with all of you who leave a comment today! Please accept them with our compliments!

And now... I think a celebration is in order, don't you? How about a cat nap? Yeah... a cat nap with a cool pose thrown in. I'm dedicating this to Huffle - and her very cool mom and dad, too.

Yes, I'm suspending my footy-foot in mid-air; thanks for noticing.

Thanks again, Huffle! And congrats to all of you & thanks for reading!

Play bows,
Zim

Treat Dispenser

Tail wags, pups and kit-cats! It's me, Stormy ! So many of you seemed to enjoy my quick Golf Class a bit ago, that I thought I'd post another quick tutorial. This one is how to use a Treat Dispenser. Ready?

We all know where the treats are kept, don't we? At Ao4 HQs, we have an area of the counters dedicated to our stuff - to include treats! It's right ... here:

Me... awaiting a treat

Go to that area and stare at the nearest biped. If it's in your repertoire, toss a little Sad Eyes Look or Harp Seal Look at him or her. Depending on how well your Treat Dispenser works, it may take some time. Stick with it, it's worth your while. I've got mine down to a mighty fine turn-around time: go to the cookie area, stare, and BINGO --

Mmm... yummy!

That's one of the cookies our sweet friend Mochi sent us. They're little and low-calorie. I think... yes ... I think I'd like another.

Thanks, Mom!

Our treat dispenser works very well! Good luck with yours!

Tail wags,
Storms

Serene Scenery Sunday

Woo, everypup and everycat. It's me - Dave. It's been quite a while since I've done a Serene Scenery Sunday post, so Storm said I should have a go of it today. Let's look around Ao4 HQs and see what serene things we can find.

Are you ready to get started?

Me - Dave!

Up here on the catwalk, we can see lots of stuff. I wonder if I can see out the back windows from here...

Out back is where we see our sunsets. Here's a real pretty one from Tuesday evening:

Aren't the colors great? That's a panoramic shot; you can click it to go to FlickR for a bigger version!

Speaking of colors... Mom's been trying to find time for quite a while now to make a new denim quilt for the big biped bed. With my help, she was able to get it together finally. It will look better and more frayed as time goes on, but here it is right after Mom took it out of the dryer and put it on the bed:

Woo. Comfy, Mom. I feel very serene!

That's not a Hostess Cupcake on by the pillows - it's me. Dave. Ha woo. Mom has to wash whatever quilt is on that bed a few times a week, and denim can stand up to that. She said something about denim standing up to Sibe-wear, too, but I have no idea what she means by that.

Here's the sunset from a couple nights ago:

I don't think that shot does the colors justice, but it does let you see the grandness of it and our wide-open spaces. How about a close-up?

Aren't the colors intense? I love sunsets! Do you know what else I love? And what makes me feel more serene than anything else in the world?

Oh.......... yeahhhhhhhhhh...... snuggling with my mom........

Hope you enjoyed Serene Scenery Sunday!

Luv,
Dave

Snoozing on Saturday

Hi everypuppy and everycat! It's me - Ammy! It's been quite the full, busy week here at Ao4 HQs! Now that we've all taken Mom and Dad on a couple walks and have done some zoomies, we plan to do some of this:

At least for a little while. Then we'll start lobbying for another round of walks! :)

I hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Love,

Ammy

Photo Finish Friday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats! It's me - Zim! Dave and I had a really cool adventure a few days ago, back before the Snow Thief took all of our snow, lovely snow. It's a photo-heavy post, so I thought I'd share everything with you on Photo Finish Friday. Ready to get started? Let's go!

There we were, out on our normal walk in the neighborhood:

Me and Dave, out having fun

There's a cul-de-sac we generally don't go down, but I sent Mom a mind-meld message that I really wanted to go down there. Big time!

Thanks, Mom. I've GOT to go down here!

Oh, yeah, check out how cool my shadow looks in the picture above!

Anyway, here's why I wanted to go down there:

Ha roo?

Up there on the flat limestone, at about 10 o'clock, can you see her?!? I told Mom to zoom in - here's a better look:

New friend!!!

Wowzers! I hadn't met that kit-cat yet! She let me get a bit closer, then I could see that she wasn't sure about me. I started sending all those calming signals I send out to other animals so they don't feel intimidated by me. Here I am, turning my head and not looking at her:

Hey, kit-cat. My name's Zim; I'd love to be pals!

She started warming up to me, and I walked over even closer. Here is a lovely portrait of her:

I complimented her on her camouflage with the Kansas landscape and she seemed to appreciate that. She did some cute poses up on her limestone ledge - she's a natural model! When we got a little closer, I could see that she had a little bell hanging from her collar:

At that point, I decided I'd call her "Belle" - because she is so very pretty! Don't you man-cats out there agree? We spent some time just being quiet together - it was really special.

Mom gave us a while, then said we needed to head home.

See you again soon, Zim?

I told her I'd look for her every time we pass by that cul-de-sac now.

You be careful out here, OK, Belle?

Can you see her up there in that picture? Go at about 1 o'clock from my head. Mom, Dave and I started to head home.

Uh... see ya, cat.

Dave doesn't really commune with kit-cats like I do! Anyway, I turned around to see this:

Hey, can I come home with you? Wait for me!

I told her it would be OK with me, and Stormy would love having a kit-cat pal, but that Amber and Dave... well, they might play too rough with her.

Ohh... wait... maybe we should just meet up out here, Zim!

She decided to stay there, then go home to her own place. I kept looking back for her, hoping to see her again.

Zim... Mom says we need to get home, buddy.

Belle?!?! Meet me here tomorrow, OK?

It was so cool meeting her. I'm going to ask Mom to walk me down there later today so I can see her again.

She's a real cool kit-cat, isn't she Dave?

How do you lure them all in like that, Zim?

Mom says I have this amazing "animal magnetism" thing; all animals are drawn to me. I just know I like making new friends!

Hope you liked coming along with us on Photo Finish Friday!

Play bows,

Zim