Sing It With Me!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  Who's up for a sing-along?

"... ♩ Stinky! Stinky Goodness! Tastiest treats in the land!!! 
Stinky!  Stinky Goodness!  Mom's got it all over her hands...♩"

Yep! Yesterday was New Batch of Stinky Goodness Day! My involvement went something like this!

"Ohhh, yeah!  Looks like a mighty tasty batch, Mom!"

You know there must be some taste-testing - right?  I mean we CAN'T put sub-standard Stinky Goodness Treats into the Stinky Goodness container!  I had to convince Mom!

"Look into my eyes.  Deeper... DEEPER..."

I saw her reach in ...

"What's in your left hand, Mom?!?!"

Wait for it!

"BINGO!!!"

Yep.  It was hard work, but somebody had to do it!

"... ♩ Stinky! Stinky Goodness!  La la la la la la la... ♩"

Play bows,
Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

Have A Ball!

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  As some of you might know, I have a blue ball that I like to play with downstairs.  It's one of those "under supervision only" toys, so Mom and I play Siberian Fetch with it!  For those readers not familiar with Siberian Fetch, it goes like this:  Mom throws the toy, I run after it with great gusto, then run off with it and play!  Sometimes I bring it back to where she is (I don't give it to her, I just show it to her).  And we repeat that over and over!  It's great fun and we both get a lot of exercise!

Here I am, in the outer room of Mom's Studio with it:

"Got it!"
SQUEAK!!!

It squeaks - did I mention that? I LOVE a good squeaky toy!

"Good throw, Mom!"
SQUEAK!!!

Mom can throw it from her Studio into the Gallery or even all the way into the Library, so we can run, run, run a LOT! I like to take it over to the large puppy bed that's in there to squeak it for a while!

SQUEAK!!!

I give it when Mom asks for it - then she usually throws it again for me.

"Mom?  Mom?  Where are you going with my squeaky ball?"

Umm...

"Oops."
Squeak....

It would appear the blue squeaky ball has an appointment with the Stuffy Surgeon.  I'll keep you posted on how recovery goes.  

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Miscellaneous Monday

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  I thought I'd show you some miscellaneous photos of Maggie and myself from some of our longer walks.  Ready to take a look?

Here we are on a path that goes through a pretty, wooded area:

Sometimes we see deer when we go on that route, but we didn't that day.

Here we are on another day, at the entrance to the Hudson Trail.  Mom wanted us to both pose on the limestone chunk.  This was my version of posing on the limestone:

"Isn't this fun, Maggie?!?"
"Yes, I love big walks!"

Close enough, don't you think?  And we were both smiling nicely.

Then Mom wanted us to sit at the entrance to the trail - you know, instead of walking down it and getting to smell all the cool stuff!  This is what we opted to do:

"I think I see something!"
"Sigh."

She just said, "Sit" -- she didn't specify in what direction or that we shouldn't look totally bored or anything.  We like WALKING on the trail a lot better than posing -- so let's GO!!!

Much better!  You can't tell, but we were both smiling there.

Here we are up near the top of a path that goes by our water tower.

"Check out that view, Maggie!"
"This is so fun!!"

Sometimes we walk up that path, and sometimes we walk down it -- like so:

Mom likes walking down the path better.

Of course, that means we need to walk up a hill somewhere else, but Mom said if you look at the path from the bottom, you can see why she doesn't love going up it -- here I am on another day for a look at that:

Maggie and I think it's fun, no matter which direction we go!

Thanks for walking with us!  I can't wait to see where we'll go on our next walk!

Cammie!

TV Time

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie.  In lieu of Serene Scenery Sunday, I thought I'd show you all how I've been relaxing in the evenings lately.  How does that sound?

After dinner, we all go on a nice little walk, I jump Cammie a few times, then it's time to settle in for a little bit of TV.  By then, I usually look like this:

Me.  And my pickle.

I generally stay that way, or maybe chew on a toy, unless Dad puts on a show I'm interested in.

"It's Wallander!"

I love a good mystery - and Wallander is one of my favorites!

  "I love this show!!!"

I like the British version best.

"Oooh, look!  He adopted a Black Lab!"

I like the Black Lab who stars in the show.  I wonder if he knows my friend Dexter?

Some evenings, if things go my way ...

"Can we watch another episode?  Please?!?"

"YES!  'Dogs of Riga'!  This sounds like a good one, Dad!"

If you pay close attention, you can put all the clues together and solve the mystery!

"Who is it, Kurt?  What is it?  Is it a clue?!!?"

My only complaint (other than a couple episodes I didn't quite care for) is that Kurt really needs to change the ringtone on his cell phone.  Really.

Anyway, it's a great way to relax in the evenings!  Do you like TV, too?  What are some of your favorite shows?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Nothing To See Here!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  Yeah.  Just me.  Just me hanging out.  Being good.

Oh. Cam and Maggie? Nah, I have no idea where they are.

I'm sure they're off somewhere on guard duty or just relaxing or something. It's not like they're about to engage in Crazed River Otter games or anything.  You know - they're just off being good girls and all.

Yep.  Not like we're all about to launch into wild zoomies or anything.  Not at all.  We're just hanging out, being good.  Nothing to see here, folks! Nothing at all.

Play bows,
Zim

New Buff!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  We got a new Buff in the mail yesterday and I got to be the first one to try it on!

Check it out!

Pretty cool, isn't it? It sports the logo for the North Wapiti Kennels, Karen Ramstead's awesome team of Siberians!

"Can I see it, Zimmie?  Oooh, it says 'Iditarod 2014' on it!"

The girls were interested in it, too, as you can see, so Mom let them try it on. Here's Cam:

"I'm not sure this is my color."

When Mom let Maggie try it, she went over to check out her reflection in the door:

"How do I look?"

"Oooh, I like it!  Isn't red a power color?"

My sisters sure looked great, didn't they? But we all know who wears the Buffs in this family.

ME!

Have a great weekend, everyone!  (Don't worry; I'll share with my mom.  Ha roo roo roo!)

Play bows,

Zim

Anyone?

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie.  I have a full day ahead of me, jam-packed with all kinds of fun activities, but I thought I'd take a quick break to ask you a question.

"Hello."

Does anyone need help with the dishes?

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

Here I Come!

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie.  Guess what was delivered to our door the other day?  A box!  And not just any box - a nice, big one! Once Dad emptied it, Aunt Cam and I went over and I jumped right in to try it out!

"Oooh.  Spacious!  Want to come in, Cammie?"
"Mom.  Is she serious?"

It was a very nice box! I was enjoying myself to the fullest when ...

"Is that Dad?"
"Yes!  And it sounds like he needs help!"

I flew to the rescue!

"I'm coming, Dad!  I'm coming!"
"Go, Mags!  He needs you!!!"

He needed the help only I could give him!

"OK, Dad.  Hook the thingamajiggy to the whatchamacallit..."

A new printer AND a big, new box!  What fun!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Oops

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  I thought I'd share a couple more photos from our all-family walk the other day.

"Sigh."
"Hey, Zimmie!  Hey, Zim!"
"You're crackin' me up, Mag-a-roo!"

It would appear that one of us was going the wrong way.

"This way, Mags."
"OK, Cammie."
"That's it, kid!  You got it!"

Oops.  I didn't say it wasn't me!

Yours sincerely, 

Margaret Thatcher

PS:  A couple of you noticed Dad was in shorts!  Yes!  We had bitterly cold temps and even a dusting of snow one day, then it was in the mid-60s and nice biped weather the next!  That's what Kansas is like in the Spring, apparently.

Safe and Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie, here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  Yesterday, Mom was supposed to go birding with her best birding buddy Beth, but Beth got called in on an emergency.  Mom was all set to go, so Dad said she should go ahead and go - but not alone, of course!  Safety first - it's part of keeping it serene.  Mom decided to take the Head of Security at Ao4 Headquarters with her -- me!

It was cloudy, breezy, and about 20 degrees Fahrenheit out - beautiful weather!  I couldn't figure out why Tuttle Creek State Park wasn't jam-packed with people!  We made a bunch of different stops, looking for birdies, but didn't see many at all. Here are a bunch of shots of those we did see, and what all we did. I'll try to keep the chit-chat to a minimum!

"Is this where you and Zim saw a bunch of eagles?"

We didn't see a lot of eagles, but there were a few there, way across the River Pond. I saw these gulls:

Gulls on ice
I like the one toward the left, imitating a Flamingo

While Mom took photos, I kept watch!

On alert!

Here's one of those gulls:

Ring-billed Gull in flight

Doesn't it look like a cold, grey day?!?  It was great!

"Keep shooting, Mom.  I've got your six."

Mom appreciated me keeping her safe.  And since there weren't many birdies around, she decided to take a bunch of pix of me.  I got to walk down this concrete ramp a few times:

It was pretty fun.  It was almost like being back in the show rin--- GOOSE!

Canada Goose!

Sorry.  You have to be ready and quick in the birding biz!

I struck a pose up on the bank; Mom likes this shot a lot:

Me.  Cammie.

An adult Bald Eagle landed over on the tree across the pond, so Mom zoomed in on him.  Check out his pose:

Bald Eagle

I decided I'd pose like that, too:

Me again.

Pretty good, don't you think?

We decided to go hike on some of the cool paths in the woods.

"Oh, my!"

I think one of our big storms a while ago did that, but I'm not sure.  It wasn't me.  Ha roo.

"Look at the size of this stick!  I should bring it home for Maggie!"

Mom nixed my idea, for some reason.  And don't worry - I was still actively engaged in my role as Head of Security!

"Wait!  I hear something!"

It was nothing.  This time.  But I was totally on the job!

I don't really have the sense of direction Zim does, so even though I was marking the trail, we didn't venture too far.  Once we got back to where we started, we took the trail up above where we had been.  

"Careful not to trip on the tree roots, Mom!"

Keeping Mom from tripping is part of my job, too.  I made her go slow.  Look at this great path:

It was so inviting!  Before Mom followed me, I made sure she saw this log:

"Watch out for this log!"

We hiked a nice amount of time, then turned and retraced our steps.  Good thing I marked every 50 feet or so, so we didn't get lost!  

We had a great time - and a safe, serene time - at Tuttle Creek State Park!

"This mission's a wrap!"
(My serious Head of Security look)

Thanks for coming with us.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Cammie!

PS:  If you'd like to see the rest of our photos from yesterday, please click here.