I Have No Idea

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  After our walk this morning, I went out back for special one-on-one time with Mom.  We opted to play with my double-tennis-ball-on-a-rope toy!  I love that thing!

We played Tuggy-Tug for a bit:

"Tuggy-tug, Mom!"
"Keep it gentle, Mags!"

I'm working on the "gentle" thing.  Whatever.

We played Fetch for a bit:

"Got it, got it!  Here I ... wait.  What's that over there?"

Mom says my attention span could use some "development".  Not to be redundant, but whatever.

Anyway, Mom turned away from me for about 30 seconds to take a picture of a flower, and then ...

"Umm... Maggie?"
"La la la la la la la..."

Wow.  Look at what she found!  Interesting.

"I wasn't done with that!"

My official line is that I have no idea how that happened - in case anyone asks. Or in case my mom reads our blog.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher - and Cammie!

Focus!

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cam.  Thank you for all the kind remarks on my portrait work for Serene Sunday.  Like many of you, I am a professional, so while I might make it look easy ... there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.

In order to get photos like those that you saw on Sunday, we have to go through a lot of this:

"I'm not feeling it, Mom."
"What are you two doing?  Is Cam getting treats?"

We all know what I'm doing here!
Maggie had just said, "Booooo!"

She says "boo" a lot.  I think she's trying to "roo" or "woo", but it comes out as "boooo" so far.  Of course, one of her litter-mate sister's names is Boudica and she goes by Boo or BooBoo, so maybe she just likes to talk about her.  I'm not quite sure.  She's still developing her voice.

Anyway, we usually do that for quite a while, then Mom finally caves.

"Oh.  You DO have treats after all?"
"Do I get some, too?"

Mom's working on being able to get both of us in focus ... and we're working on focusing on the mission at hand. If there are treats involved.

Me.  D'Azul's Girl From Ipanema - Cameron - doing my dignified, regal look
Somewhere, off-camera, "Boooooo!"

The little one still hasn't quite reached pro status yet, but she's learning!

Have a lovely day!

Cammie!

Movie Review

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  As many of you know, I love to watch TV.  British detective shows, Westerns, sports competitions and even movies.  I thought I'd start a movie review series.

Over the weekend, we watched a movie called The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug.

"What's on?  Oooh, Hobbits!  I love Hobbits!"

It held my attention well enough ...

"This guy isn't looking so hot!"

... but frankly, I was a bit disappointed. I kept waiting for the GOOD kind of Hobbit action - like Second Breakfast, Elevenses, Afternoon Tea ... you know, that kind of stuff. But there was none of it. Still, it had a good story line that kept moving. I rate it 4 out of 5 paws.

I'm not sure what we're watching next, but I'll be sure to let you know what I think!  What about you all?  What movies do you like?

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  So ....

... who forgot to plan ahead for Serene Scenery Sunday?  Not me.  But who was tasked to sit for a portrait?!?

"Oh, the hardships I endure around here!"

Does that make you feel serene?  Excellent.

"We're done here."

Let's go inside and get a treat!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Cammie!

When The Fog Clears

Hello, everyone, it's me, Cammie!  We had a really interesting walk with Mom this morning and I thought I should tell you all about it!  Mom took photos along the way with her iPhone - so let me walk you through it, OK?  Ready to go?

It started out like any other morning.  Actually, not really.  This was the view out back:

Fog! It cast a bit of mystery to the day; we knew it wouldn't be just an "ordinary" walk!

As we progressed, though, the fog started to clear.

"Look!  To quote the Beatles, 'Here comes the sun!'"
"Yum!  Beetles!  Right up there with cicadas!  Oh.  Oh, the BEATLES.  Right.  Gotcha."

What can I say?

Anyway, we were walking so nicely that by the time we got to the Hudson Trail, Mom said we could take the long route!

"I love going this way!"
"Me, too!  Something cool always happens!!!"

We walked and walked - and took some turns Mags and I had never taken!  It was very exciting!

We saw a large building and Mom let us go over to do some exploring.  I noticed a sign and went over to check it out.

"Hello?!?  I'd like to order a dolphin to go, please.  And extra horseradish sauce."

I was fairly certain it was a fast-food restaurant; I hoped my order wouldn't take too long.

"I don't see anyone else in line, Peeps.  This shouldn't take long at all."
"Too bad they don't have tunas; I'd get an extra one to send my mentor, Mr. Teddy Westlife.  He loves tunas!"

Mom suggested we walk on down a little bit.  She must have heard them call our order number - because look at what was there!!!

"WOWZERS!  That was fast!"
"Look at the tail on that thing!"

It pays to go when they aren't real busy.  They brought our order out so fast, I didn't even see them!

Maggie went over to check it out:

"Nice and fresh!  It still has water drops on it!"  
"They must have caught it in the Kansas Ocean!"

Nothing like locally-caught fish!  Pretty good service at this place, though they forgot my horseradish sauce.

I'd say that when the fog cleared, we certainly found something interesting!

I hope you're all enjoying the weekend!

Cammie!

Photo Finish Friday

Greetings to all, it's me - Margaret Thatcher.  For this week's Photo Finish Friday, I finally have some actions shots of me that Mom took with the new camera!  Ready to take a look?  Let's go!

We went out back to play with my squeaky red football. Here I am, bringing it back after Mom threw it:

"Got it, got it, got it!!!"

We played a bunch of rounds of Fetch, then I settled down to squeak my football for a minute.

"Wait!  What's that?!?"

I thought I heard something.  It landed up in that tree!

"CICADA!"

It was a cicada, those ever-so-tasty, buzzing, crunchy treats!  I mean "bugs"! Oh, to be able to fly up into that tree and nail that thing!  Oh, well; there are more where that one came from.

Speaking of flying ...

"Wheeeeeee!"

Yeah, I know. I forgot my football. No problem; Mom will police it up.

Mom says I get more and more Siberian every day.  Isn't that great?!!?  Cam is very proud.

Have a great weekend!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

September 11th

September 11, 2001.

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

The Pentagon.

Flight 93 over Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

We will never forget these acts of war.

From all of us here at Ao4 Headquarters ~ God bless the heroes who rose that day and those who continue to fight on behalf of our great nation. And may God Bless the United States of America.

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

and Cammie!

Herb Guard Duty

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Us girls were out on the deck this morning, relaxing after our walk and some zoomie-playtime in the yard.  Mom asked me to keep an eye on the herb garden while she took a couple photos in the yard.  I assured Mom I had it handled.

"I've got it all under control, Mom.  No worries."
"Ha roo roo roo!"

I mean, seriously. I was on the job. What could happen?  Who on Earth would mess with the herbs with me right there?!?!

"Oh!  Does that ever smell good ..."
"Zzz..."

Oh. Right.

"Quick, Mags!  Do a cute pose!  And you don't have to answer that - it's a rhetorical question."
"Well, Mom ... my snooter smells like basil because ... um ..."

Have a great day, everyone! I better get back to Guard Duty.

Cammie!

Hanging Out

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  Did everyone have a nice weekend?  We sure did!  We went on a bazillion walks, so this morning, after our morning walk, we tried something new.

"Hello."

It's called "just hanging out".  It's kind of ... different, but I sort of like it.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie, here with Serene Scenery Sunday!  Yesterday was such a great day! I went on an early morning walk with my dad before breakfast, then another one with Cam and Mom after we ate.  In the afternoon, it was still cool enough for a walk - so we all went again!!!  It was wonderful!  Mom took her camera along, so I thought I'd share the beauty of what we saw with you!  Ready?

The first cool thing we saw was fishies!  In Little Kitten Creek!  Take a look:

Fishies!!!

No wonder we sometimes see a Great Blue Heron in there! (Not yesterday, though. The birds put the word out that Mom had the Canon with us. I don't think we saw one single birdie!)

We saw a lot of sunflowers:

"Look!  Sunflowers!"
"Wait!  I thought I heard a cicada!"

Here's a close-up:

Sunflower

It was breezy out; can you tell?

We saw lots of other wildflowers, too!

This might be Prairie Verbena

Blue Sage

Lady's Thumb

This might be White Prairie Clover

Since Mom was going in for close-ups, I thought I would, too:

"Oooh!  Nice!"

Dad took both of our leashes for a bit, so Mom could get some pix of us looking at the camera.

We were more interested in the scenery!

Just when she was about to give up, Mom got this shot:

Me and Cam, soaking in all the beauty!

Mom took individual portraits at this point!  Here's a very happy, beautiful Cammie:

"I love going on family outings!"

And here I am:

"I love family adventures, too!"

On the way home, we stopped a few times - once for a water break, then up near the roundabout for a quick pose:

Cam, Dad, and me.  Dad's the tall one.

We also stopped in the shade by the Grand Mère Village sign and posed quite nicely:

Dad and us girls

Mom said these pix remind her of a photo she took of Dad with Lucky and Jesse, our great sisters, when they were in France.  (Click here to see.)

OK - one more shot, then let's get going!

Cam, Dad, and me

It was a great walk!  We hope you enjoyed coming with us and seeing all the beautiful things!!!  Have a wonderful Sunday.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Decked Out!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  Now that it's starting to cool down a bit here, we've been spending even more time out on the deck with Mom.  It's so relaxing out there! Here are some shots of us from the other day.

As soon as we got out there, we took a good look around!

Neighborhood Watch

We might have been staring at the neighbors.

Sometimes Maggie gets distracted:

"Birdie!"

Mississippi Kite

Clearly Maggie isn't the only one of us distracted by birdies!

Anyway, after Mags and Mom were done looking at that big birdie, Mags came over to relax with me:

"OK, it's over-under, under-over..."
"OK... I think I've got this!"

We played footsie with each other for a while:

Playing footsie

... then just hung out.

"Hello!"

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Cammie!