Riding Shotgun

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.

"Hello."

Zim's not the only one who gets to go on really cool adventures, you know!  Not only do I go on special walks or playtime in the yard, but I'm getting the hang of this whole "riding shotgun" thing, too.  We've been taking lots of short, fun trips. (Before coming here, I used to travel in a large van, in the comfort of my crate. It's new to me to just sit in the seat and have my seat belt on!) Anyway, let's head out!

I take riding shotgun very seriously!

I kinda like this!

We ended up going to the Kansas Ocean!  I'm not good at navigating like Zim yet, so Mom's probably hesitant to go too far.  We got out and walked around, then I struck a few poses by the ocean.

I was deep in thought.

Let's go walk some more. Check out this tricky shot:

Doesn't it look like I'm airborne?!?! But I'm not. Mom just held the camera real low and it made it look that way!

We went over to this one path that we take in the mornings sometimes. I decided to pose there, too.  Here's my serious side:

And here's my not-serious side:

Or is that "serious Sibe" and "not-serious Sibe"?

"Ha roowooroo!"

I crack myself up sometimes!

Thanks for coming to the ocean with us!

Camo!

Photo Finish Friday

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats!  It's me, Zim.  Before I get to today's post, all of us here at Ao4 HQs would like to thank all of you for the kind words about Dave that you left in comments, here and on FB, and sent in emails.  We truly appreciate you helping us celebrate the wonderful life he led!  He was the bestest big brother Cam and I could ask for!

Now ... speaking of celebrating, guess what yesterday was?

Give up?

Adopt-a-Zim Day!  My Homecoming!  My Gotcha Day!  That's right, 12 years ago yesterday, Mom and Dad brought me home from the shelter and I got to start living the good life!  In keeping with Photo Finish Friday, here's a shot of me out on an adventure!

To celebrate the day, Cam and I went on a long walk, did zoomies, and basically hung out together a lot.  Come to think of it, we're doing a lot of the same today.  Anyone care to join us?  Stinky Goodness for everyone!

Play bows,
Zim

Celebrate

As readers of the Ao4 Digest know, we like this blog to be upbeat, to celebrate the lives of our sweet pups.  Today, the keyboard has been turned over to me, their mom, so that I can ask you to CELEBRATE with us the remarkable life of Dave.

Dave
(honorary birthday)  15 January 1998 - 17 July 2013

Dave loved life and was so happy just to "be invited to the party".  He had a hug for everyone he met, had one of the richest singing voices, and was such a happy-go-lucky guy.  He loved to play, he loved to snuggle, he loved to help me work with the colors I'm unable to see.

Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind

Every day with Dave was a gift.  He brought love and joy, he brought playfulness, he brought fun to the party.  And I strongly believe he wants that to continue.  For all of us.  He's with his sisters Stormy and Amber now, and has met the rest of our pack, Jesse, Lucky, and Booter.  He can run and play again, he's feasting on beef brisket and watermelon (like the Texan that he is), and other than missing us, he's happy.  His body is no longer a burden to that hearty spirit of his.

Dave was a walking, jumping, gallumping celebration of life.  He plunged into our lives with gusto and changed all of us for the better.  He asked for very little in return.  Maybe for some tummy rubs.

So, please - celebrate the life of our Dave!  Don't be sad - and please don't post about him on your blogs.  Do not post photos of him, don't blog about us losing him.  He would not want that; it would only spread sadness.  If you have something you'd like to say about Dave, please leave a comment here or zip an email to Ao4HQs - at gmail.com.  

Now go do something fun to honor him.  He'd like that.

Thank you for honoring my request - and thank you for celebrating the great life of Dave with us.

From all of us here at Ao4 Headquarters - 

KZK

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

Serene Scenery Tuesday

Or is that Tranquil Topography Tuesday?  Something like that.

Woo, everypup and everycat, it's me, Dave.  As my brother and sister said, due to a slight computer glitch, we temporarily misplaced our pix for Serene Scenery Sunday, but Dad, the bestest Dad in the world, found them!  Let's take a look!

Before I forget, there are tons more photos; to see more, please click here to go to our Garden 2013 set on FlickR and scroll to the end.

Our Rose of Sharon bushes are in full swing!  Here's a look at lots of different blooms:

I like the white, fluffy ones best.  Speaking of white, here are the Becky Daisies:

The Tomato Soup Echinacea is in bloom now!  Here's a look:

And so are the Pow Wow Wild Berry ones:



Let's look at more of those crazy pink ones:



Mom really likes that variety; so do I!  Here's more pink from our Crape Myrtle:

They're nice and pouffy, aren't they?

For our last of the garden pix, here is a close-up of one of the Amur Maple trees:

They look like butterfly wings to me, but Mom calls those seed pod thingies "helicopters" - you can toss one up into the sky and watch it fly!  Do any of your bipeds do that?  She said they bring back good childhood memories and make her feel serene.  I mean tranquil.

Speaking of which ...

Me in a cool watercolor photo

Yeah.  It all makes me feel mighty serene, too!  I hope it does the trick for you, as well!

Luv,
Dave

Wowzas!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats.  It's me, Zim.  Wow, did I have a great time over the weekend!  There I was, kicking back for an afternoon snooz  gearing up for an afternoon shift on Guard Duty, when Mom asked, "Who wants to go to the park?"  Seriously.  She asked.  Cam offered to stay and take over my Guard Duty shift, freeing me up to go exploring!  Is she a nice little sister, or what?  I jumped at the chance to go; you never know who you might meet walking through the park - right?

I had a good look around when we got there:

"Ha roo?!?"

I didn't see anyone, but my nose was on fire!  Oh, not literally - I could tell we had some special visitors in our park and I tracked them down!  Let's cut to the chase - Dave's not the only one who got up close and personal with a pig lately.  Check it out:

"Wowzas!  It's PIGGIES!"

There were brown piggies and black piggies and black & white piggies and pink piggies!  Not like Dave's friend Pink Pig - like this:

You never know who you're going to see walking around CiCo Park!

How cool is that?!?

I think that piggie might have been my favorite. Mom's too. And she liked us, as well. Check her out:

"Oink!"

Isn't she beautiful?  Check out those eyelashes!  And I think she was smiling at me!  Anyway ...

A few of the piggies took nice, cool showers:

I'll bet that felt good; it was a toasty day. They had big fans for them, too. Nice that they took extra measures to keep the piggies cool. Oh. Yeah, and the bipeds, too.

I had to take a look around in this one out-building -

I always used to check in there for pigeons with my sister Ammy. I need to fill Cam-a-roo in on that tradition!

I saw these little Daschies coming my way:

I wanted to meet them, but had to settle for meeting their mom. Good enough!

Apparently, piggies don't get to ride shotgun in a cool sports car when they go for a ride, like I do. They ride in these:

Those look pretty cool, too.  Some of them were even air-conditioned.  Nice!

The bipeds drove those piggie-mobiles over closer to the buildings, set up ramps, then led the piggies in.

"Oh, to roll around in there for a while!"

Mom and I stood back a bit, to give the piggies and their peeps plenty of maneuver room, then watched them get loaded in.  (I was on-lead, of course, but the piggies weren't.  Apparently, there aren't leash laws for piggies here in the Little Apple.  Besides, we didn't want to tempt any pig!)

Here are a couple piggies getting into one of the air-conditioned piggie-mobiles:

That lady in the pink top was having a good time!  Her piggie wasn't listening to her very well and the guy in the orange helped her out.  Mom wondered if it was a Siberian piggie.  I have no idea what she meant by that!

Here come a bunch more, ready to head home:

You can see some of the cooling fans they used there.

Here are a couple collages of the piggies getting ready to get in their piggie-mobiles and head home. The guy and his pig in the first one were totally cool.

"Oink.  What's shakin'?  Oink."

Seriously. The piggie was strutting. Talk about confidence!

This collage is my favorite:

I think that guy in the striped polo shirt is mighty lucky to have that girl smile at him like that!

Anyway, it was an awesome way to spend a little bit of the afternoon!  I hope you all enjoyed coming with me!

Play bows,
Zim

Start Over Sunday!

Hello, everyone!  It's Cammie!  Guess who has the smartest, most wonderful daddy in the entire world?  Yes, that would be me and my brothers!  Mom restarted the iMac about 20 thousand times yesterday, searched by file name for the lost photos Zim mentioned yesterday, and tried everything she could think of to find them.  She finally gave up and took Zim to the park (more on that tomorrow!).  To make a long story short, Dad found them and now we can start over with what we were going to post!!  Mom still doesn't exactly understand the whole thing, but the bottom line is, Serene Scenery Sunday will be delayed a couple days while we post these pix!

As Zim mentioned, Mom's very, very dear friend who is like a little sister to her sent us all a big box!  Zim helped Mom bring it inside, then checked it out!

"It's from Aunt Shelli!!!  WOWZERS, what a big box!  Maybe Sitka is in here!!!"

Zim gave it a thorough going-over, but sadly, Sitka wasn't in the box.  Then I thought, "Oh, my!  Maybe my niece Cornelia Marie is in there!"  Like me, CM is also a D'Azul Siberian and by blood-lines, she is my niece!  Since she's been in a box before ... I thought maybe she had come to visit me!!

"CM?!?  Are you in there!?!  It's Aunt Cameron!!"

Unfortunately, she wasn't in the box, either.

"But I could SMELL her!  What a cruel hoax!"

I posed by the beautiful painting Aunt Shelli did ...

... then went on Guard Duty.

Just a few minutes later, Mom called out to me and said Aunt Shelli had put some presents in the box for Davy, Zim, and me!

"Ohhh.... Cammmmm-ieeeee!"

Pumpkin-Blueberry?!!?

"Sit patiently until Mom offers the treat ... 
take it gently and sweetly ... 
remember to chew ..."

Sometimes, when excitement overwhelms you, you have to fall back on your training.  About the treats - all I'm going to say is that if you don't have a bag of these at your house, GO GET ONE.  OR TWENTY-FIVE!!!  

Aunt Shelli sent us some really fun TOYS, too!  Davy got to play with one for his one-on-one-with-Mom time yesterday!

"Woo!  Mom, look!  It's a pink pig!!!"

They played in the yard a little bit, then when they got too hot, they came inside.

"This is my new friend, Pink Pig!"

Davy and Pink Pig even stood Guard Duty for a while together!

I offered to ... relieve Pink Pig from Guard Duty, but Mom said I should let him stay with Davy.  I was just trying to help!  Wouldn't want Pink to over-do on his first day here!

Anyway - so the photos are back in iPhoto (go, Dad!), there will be a short delay to Serene Scenery Sunday, and on behalf of ALL of us here at Ao4 HQs, thank you, Aunt Shelli!!!!

Camo!

Restart! Restart! Restart!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim.  Mom took some great pix yesterday, downloaded them into iPhoto, deleted them from the camera and iPhone ... and hey!  Guess what?  Somehow they disappeared.  Yeowzas.  I kept telling her there were pictures of me eating Stinky Goodness Treats in the batch and that I'd be happy to pose for them again, but she wasn't buying it.  She's hoping they'll turn back up after she re-starts the computer for the 10th time, but until then, here are some miscellaneous pix.

Let's start with me!

Yep. Off on an adventure! What could be better?!?

Here's a favorite one of my little sister:

"God bless our great nation!"

Seriously.  Ya gotta love the kid.

Speaking of love ...

Dave and Cam.  And Mom's footy-foot.

Yeah. They're mighty cute together.  I mean, I'm not into the whole "snuggling" thing myself, but I can appreciate cuteness!

The three of us in some kind of weird Lomo camera effect photo

I check on them often, you know!

OK, some of the pix that disappeared (and seriously, we Sibes had NOTHING to do with this!) were of a surprise package that the UPS man brought us this week!  It was from my main squeeze Sitka's mom!  There were some really cool toys for us, some treats for Cam and Dave, AND a gorgeous painting for Mom and Dad!  We managed to not lose one picture of me with the painting - so I thought I'd share!

Me in a crazy special effects photo

I suggested we hang it right above the sitzbank, but I might not win that one.  We just love the beautiful painting, the toys and treats, and most of all our wonderful friends!!!  Thank you, Mom-o-Sitka!

Anyway, hopefully we'll recover those photos later on.  Until then, we hope you enjoyed this hodgepodge.  We're off to restart the computer again.  Have a great Saturday!

Play bows,

Zim