The Park in Bloom

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  One of our favorite places to walk to, through and around is our park!  The trees that border it are in full bloom now, so how about we take a walk down there?!  Ready?  Let's go!

Here are me and Dave heading down the main road to get there:

Sorry - I mean Dave and me. Nothing too exciting there, but sometimes we see squirrels, so it's best to stay at the ready!

Here's a look down the road that borders the park - check out the trees!

Aren't they pretty? They're ornamental fruit trees of some sort.  Probably a flowering pear.  I'm not sure.  Let's go take another look!

Me, my shadow and Dad's shadow checking the trees

I wanted to get a little closer, but for some reason, I was accused of checking the AO for squirrels.

"Dave!  Dave!  I see one!  Bushy tail at 2 o'clock!"

Where do they come up with these crazy notions?!?  Really.  I was just enjoying the Red Bud blooms!

Anyway, Dave and I (and Mom and Dad) had a GREAT walk to the park.

"What a great day, huh, Zim?"
"You got it, Dave!"

Thanks for coming with us!

Play bows,
Zim

Photo Finish Friday!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  Zim here with Photo Finish Friday.  While Mom and Dad are out in the yard working on our landscape design, it's important for Dave and me to guard the house.  As you know, although Siberians aren't really known for being watch dogs, we work really hard at it.  It's in our nature - we give every task our full attention!

Anyway, I so focused on watching Dad out front that I must not have heard Mom come in.  She snapped this picture of me at my post:

Me.  Zim.  On Guard Duty.

Oh... err... yeah. If anyone is wondering, I'm still not technically allowed on the sitzbank. I figure if Mom's shooting photos and doing her special effects on them for Photo Finish Friday, it's not really that big of a deal, though. Am I right here?

Happy Friday!

Play bows,
Zim

Spring Routine

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  We seem to have fallen into a new routine here, so I thought I'd share that with you.

After breakfast, Dave and I take Mom and Dad on a nice, long walk.  Here I am, a couple mornings ago up at Grand Mère Village -- long-time readers of the Ao4 Digest will know it as the Giant's Castle!

"Wowzers, it's the Giant's castle!"

Mom took a pic of us guys in front of the castle tower:

Dave, Dad and me.  Dad's the tall one in back.

Don't you love that blue sky? We came home and tackled the next part of the routine - coffee on the deck!

Actually, Dave and I get water, not coffee, but that's OK. After we have our beverages, us boys guard the house while Mom and Dad do tons and tons of "combat landscaping" -- lots of cutting, digging, re-planting, all kinds of crazy stuff that lasts for hours and makes them real tired. The best way to get past all of that "tired" stuff is to take us for another long walk, of course, so we do that in the late afternoon. Then it's on to dinner, zoomies, that kind of thing. Except for yesterday ...

The morning started out pretty normal, except that Mom was doing lots of muttering about stuff - mostly about a dagger sticking in her head, someone using sandpaper in her eyes, wanting to use a scrubby pad in her mouth ... I couldn't quite make it out with all that sneezing she was doing! Anyway, we headed out on our morning walk after she had a swig of coffee - here I am:

It was a nice, sunny day! Oh... it doesn't look like it, does it? No big, blue Kansas sky!  Have a look across town:

No, no storms in the area. It's haze from local prairie fires. They're quite necessary to maintain the integrity of the prairie - for more info, click here. They burn as safely as they can, and it doesn't usually affect us much. But when we got home and checked out the deck (coffee time!) this was the scene:

Yep, that's ash from the fires. There was a lot more sneezing and muttering, then the routine was disrupted! Instead of deck time, Mom jumped in the shower then went out WITHOUT ME AND DAVE. Something about hearing about something called Zyrtec from Meeshka's mom. It was hard breaking up the routine yesterday, but I think we owe Meeshka some thanks (we all know it was her smart thinking!) - we did our normal walk this morning, had coffee on the deck, then guarded the house while Mom and Dad planted rhododendrons.  Spring routine restored! Thanks, Meeshka!  I can't wait for our afternoon walk and those evening zoomies!

What's everyone else's routine like these days?

Play bows,
Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

Back to the Garden

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me - Dave.  Hey, remember on Sunday when Zim said we'd try to get some better pix of some of the stuff in our garden and get back to you?  I headed out with Mom the other day to help her with a photo shoot.  Want to see what we got?

Up first, since I'm from Texas, is the Texas Quince.

Texas Quince

We usually take close-ups, but that's a collage of a close-up on top of a shot of one patch of the Texas Quince. We have them in three different areas of the yard; they grow like crazy! Those ones are down in the southwest corner of the back yard. Also down there is a big Old Fashioned Lilac bush. They are just now starting to open up. Up in the southeast corner of the yard, we have what we call a "Skidmore" Lilac bush. The blooms on that are a little further along:

Skidmore Lilacs

The Red Buds out front are starting to open up a lot more.  Want to go up there?

Here's an over-all look at the trees:

Red Bud Trees in front of Ao4 HQs

The blooms are getting fuller each day. While Mom got her close-ups, I sat real still like a good boy.

Me.  Davy.  Being a really good boy.

Here's a branch with the house in the background:

Red Bud branches

And here's a close-up of some blooms:

Red Bud blooms

I hope you liked seeing those.  It took Mom a while to shoot the pix, because we had really gusty winds.  The branches weren't real good about holding still.  Speaking of holding still, don't worry - I found a way to amuse myself while Mom played photographer!

In case you're wondering, Mom said I was really helpful - and yes, the grass is as comfy as it looks!

Luv,
Dave

Carpe Monday!

Woo, everypup and everycat!  It's me, Dave.  I know it's Monday, but that doesn't mean you can't find something you love...

... and grab hold of it!

It'll change your whole outlook!

As they say, "Carpe Diem!"  Or in my case...

...Carpe Mr. Squee Key Moose!

Isn't Monday better already?

Luv,
Dave

Serene Scenery Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim, here with Serene Scenery Sunday!  This week, I thought we'd take a look around Headquarters and see what there is to see.  Ready to get started?

The buds on Red Bud Trees out front are about ready to pop open.

Red Bud Buds

Aren't they pretty? With the warm weather we had yesterday and have today, I should have a great update for you REAL soon, full of beautiful purple blooms.

There's not much else going on out front. Let's have a look around the side yard.

"Hey, any kit-cats out here?"

I don't see any of my friends right now, so let's get back to what's in bloom.  Can you see the red down by the bottom of the fence?  That's Texas Quince.  Mom wasn't happy with how her pix of those came out and will try again.  I'll keep you posted on that, too.

The Mohican Viburnum are just off-camera to my left. They are ready to bloom:

Mohican Viburnum buds

Pretty soon, the bushes will be full of nice, crisp white blooms.

Down in the rock bed under the Purple Ash tree are a bunch of Purple Emperor Sedum.

Purple Emperor Sedum

Tune in next month to SEE-DEM in bloom. Ha roo roo roo!

"Maude?  Is that you?  I heard you meowing out loud over there!"

I know the bully cat is over there somewhere.

"Wowzers!  That's some pile of litter they had delivered for her!"

Want a close-up of the blooms on Maude the Bully Cat's tree while I'm over there?

Ornamental fruit blooms

It's pretty AND drops yummy-tasting fruit all over the place!

Let's head out back; for some reason, the mere mention of that fruit makes Mom start feeling not-quite-so-serene. Something about Dave... snarfing... tummy aches... smooshed fruits on the carpet... I have no idea.

The Juddi Viburnum is also about ready to burst:

Juddi Viburnum buds

This is a large shrub that sits right next to our lower deck. We can smell the blooms when they open; they're really sweet and fragrant! Mom can't wait for them to open!

Here are the tops of some of the branches on our White Ash Tree by our deck:

White Ash Tree

No leaves yet, but they'll be out soon. Aren't the squiggly ends of the branches cool? We have no idea why it's doing that this year! I also dig that blue Kansas sky!!!

That's about all I've got for you this week. I hope looking around our gardens brought you some serenity. I'll keep my eye out for more blooms...

...and will be sure to keep you posted!

Keep it serene!

Play bows,
Zim

It's Saturday

Woo, everypup and everycat, it's me - Dave! And you know what day it is...

"IT'S SATURDAY!!!"

That's right - Saturday!!!  And you know what that means!  Time to kick back...

...and relax!

Have a great one!

Luv,
Dave

Photo Finish Friday: Haik-Woo #43

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me - Dave.  For Photo Finish Friday this week, we couldn't decide what to post.  I thought Zim was going to post more pix of our walks (we've been going on an awful lot of forced road marches -- I mean really nice, long walks lately) but Zim had another idea.

"How about you post your latest Haik-Woo, Dave?"

He wanted me to show you my new Haik-Woo!  He's just the best, most supportive kid brother a guy could ask for!  Oh... he was re-reading a card we got in the mail from Huffle Mawson and her family.  The envelope has really cool military fighter plane stamps on it!  The card was nice, too.

Anyway, I thought I'd go with his idea to share my latest Haik-Woo.*  I'm dedicating this one to my mom, from her Guide Dog for the Color Blind.

I can't wait to get into the Studio and get to work!

Luv,
Dave

*Note:  Many of you are familiar with the Japanese haiku: three lines, 17 syllables total of non-rhyming verse -- 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the middle, and 5 in the last. Haik-Woo is similar, only the last word of that third line has to be my favorite word - "woo". It's very challenging to get your point across descriptively yet briefly. And that's why Haik-Woo is quite the art form.

Mr. Squee Kee Moose

Woo, everypup and everycat! It's me, Dave! There was a little confusion on Zim's post from yesterday. That toy he had looks a lot like his new blue camo collar and leash ... BUT Mom did not make it! It was a gift from our very beautiful and kind friends Mochi and Bali and their mom! (Their mom is beautiful and kind, too!) Here he is, playing with it:

Zim and the cool blue camo toy

You can't tell from the photo, but it makes a really nice SQUEAK!  Zim doesn't play with many toys, so it made Mom really happy to see him play with this. It made me happy, too ... because I got to play with one of the other toys they sent!!!

Me and Mr. Moose

It's my friend, Mr. Squee Key Moose. Can you see him OK? Here he ... oh, wait!

"Are you looking at my moose?!?!"

I don't like the way Zim's looking at him!

"MINE!!!"

Just kidding. Mom says we're very good about sharing.

If you'd like to see a very short video of me and Mr. Moose in action, and to hear him SQUEAK, please click here.

Your comments did get Mom thinking ... and I think I might be trying out some home-made squeaky toys before too long!!!  Woo, way to go, everypup!!!

Luv,
Dave

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

Walk to the Kansas Ocean!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim!  To celebrate our cool day yesterday, we did lots of walking.  Well, OK, we would have done lots of walking anyway ... but Dave and I really liked that chill being back in the air!  In the afternoon, we walked and walked and walked - and guess where we ended up?  Oh... right.  The title of the post gave it away, didn't it?

Here we are, on the sidewalk boardwalk by the Kansas Ocean!

"I see ducks out there, Dave!"
"The sun's in my eyes, Zim!"

We walked along the ocean for a little while, then turned to head back. Instead of going back the way we came, we decided to go up this path that goes to the water tower -- you know, the area I showed you yesterday!  How cool!

Here I am, way out ahead of everyone:

"I wonder where that gate leads?"

Pretty soon, the prairie grasses will be real long in there and the bugs will be back in force and Mom won't think it's a great idea to go that way -- so we made the most of it!

Here are me and Dave, heading up the hill:

Oh, I know what you're thinking -- "Kansas doesn't have hills." Oh, trust me ...

Me and my shadow

...we've got hills!

Here's Dave, heading into the curve:

Mom likes how Dave is sort of curved to match the path. Whatever.

Near the top, you can look over the edge down into a culvert. If I was a coyote, which I'm not, despite what some people might think, that's where I'd hang out.

"Ha roo down there!  Is any-coyote home?!?"

When we reached the water tower, Mom shot a pic of one of her favorite signs around town.

Apparently, there is a shortage of dictionaries at city hall. Ha roo roo roo!

Anyway, we sure had a great walk! Hope you enjoyed coming along with us.

Play bows,
Zim