For All Of Our Kit-Cat Friends

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  This morning on our walk, Cam and I made an important discovery!

"Look, Cam!  This must be the street they all live on!"
"Nice that they hung the street name low, so the kit-cats can read it!"

OK!  So ... now that we know the street you all live on, we'll be swinging by to visit!  See you soon!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Flower Friday

Hello and greetings to all!  Cam and Maggie here, joining with our buddy Jakey for Flower Friday!  We thought we'd take you on a virtual tour around our gardens.  Ready?

Let's start here in the shade of the front porch:

Us - Maggie and Cam! - and the planter

As you can see, the flowers in the planter are coming along nicely!

Also out front are the Mums. It's WAY too early for them to bloom!

TOO SOON!!!

They need to get a calendar!

This is a look at the top of the front gardens, mostly the Hostas, standing down in the Butterfly Garden:

Speaking of the Butterfly Garden ... two of the Butterfly Bushes down there are getting huge! Here is one of them:

Butterfly Bush

And here's a closeup of one of the blooms:

"Yeowza!"
"I know, right?!?"

Out back, our rose bush is in full bloom:

And so are our Stella D'Oro Day Lilies:

Let's make our way over to the Bee Garden, where our Russian Sage plants in there are bathed in purple flowers:

Mom's Coneflowers are bursting all over the place! She has them in the Butterfly Garden, the Friendship Garden, the Wildflower Garden, and elsewhere! Here's one of the PowWow Wild Berry Coneflowers:

Our favorite coneflower, the PowWow Wild Berry!

So cool, it almost looks fake!

Maggie!

Well, it does, Cam!  Moving right along ...

Here's a closeup of some Butterfly Weed:

Butterflies LOVE those; Mom put 10 more in this Spring!

Our Lavender plants are looking good. Mom thought the pink one was dead, so she is thrilled to see it bloom. Here's a look:

Rosea Lavender

Mom took 87 million more pix out in the garden. If you'd like to see them, please visit our Garden 2016 album on FlickR at this link.

Before we go, today is not only Flower Friday, but it's Flag Day here in the US AND the birthday of the US Army!!!

"Happy 241st birthday to the US Army!!!"
"And Happy Flag Day!"

Thanks for letting us share our flowers with you!

Cammie and Mags
SaveSave

A Bowl Full Of Summer

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  Today, I'd like to---OH!  WAIT!

"Oh, my fruity goodness!"

I'm sorry.  I must go.  There is a pressing issue that needs my immediate attention.  More tomorrow.

MAGGIE!  Dad's got fruit!  Swarm!  Swarm!  Swarm!

Have a lovely day,
Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie and Mags!

Motivate!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  This morning, Mom was feeling a bit achey (something about too much walking, weeding, moving boulders around -- I don't know) and suggested we just go on a "short" walk today.

"Oh.  A 'short' one.  Really?  Is that REALLLLLLY what's best?"

We got harnessed up and headed out.  Where we'd turn for a shorter walk, Cam and I took control of the situation.

"This way, Mom!"
"Yep.  Let's go, Mom!"
"I said 'shorter'..."

Before we knew it, we were at CiCo Park!

"Is this awesome, or what?"
"I love it when a plan comes together!"
"How did we wind up here?"

It was great!  We even took two legs of Hudson Trail on the way home.  She didn't see that coming either.  Ha roo roo roo!  "A short one".  What was she thinking!?!

Mom says we're great motivators and that she feels better now that she's got a few miles under her belt!  Do you help motivate your bipeds?!?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

About Yesterday's Walk

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags!  As promised yesterday, Cam and I wanted to fill you in on the really cool walk we took Mom on.  Ready to get walking?  Grab a drink of water and come on along!

We walked down our hills to the big road, then kept going up, up, and up.  It was great.  We finally turned in and went all the way to a street we've only been to a few other times.  Here we are:

"Wowzers, Cam!  Check it out!"
"Oh, how WONDERFUL!"

Can you see the name of the road?  Let's get a bit closer - and maybe take a quick pose-break.

Me and Cam - in front of Snowy Reach!

Snowy Reach!  Is that a great name for a road or what?!?!  We looked down the road as we crossed it, and sadly, there was no snow.

"What a cruel hoax!"
"I'll say!"

Anyway, as you can see, the roads are nice and wide!  There are no sidewalks, but not much traffic, so you have plenty of room to move over to the other side - like if some cranky woman with a couple of dogs is barreling right toward you.

"I wonder why Mom didn't take a picture of Miss Crank-enstein?"
"Seriously cranky!!!"

Anyway, no pictures of that woman ... you know, what with her being cranky and all.  But as I said, there was plenty of room for us to avoid her.

Eventually, we came to a sidewalk - I think it's a school zone or something there.  Anyway - look!  I lost my head!

"Hey, Cam!  I lost my head!"
"Oh, no, Maggie!"

"Ha roo roo roo!  Just kidding!"
"I really didn't want to have to go back and look for it!"

Did I mention we had walked pretty far by that time?  And it seemed like the whole thing was up hill?  It was.  Anyway, we went up another hill, then were back at the main road.  Instead of heading down the hill then heading home, Mom wanted to go UP the hill.  Why?  That's what I had to wonder.  My first thought was that she had lost her mind.  Pretty sure that's what Cam was thinking, too.

"I just don't get her sometimes ..."
"Mags, I think she's lost it!  Or maybe she's just lost ..."

Mom said she wanted to cross the street because the grass on our side of the big road was WAY too long and "a certain someone kept trying to eat it".  Hey.  Has she never heard the expression "I am a Siberian Husky and the world is my salad bar"?!?  I think my great-sister Stormy came up with that one.  But I digress -- the only real place to cross the street before the tall grass was up at the light - so that's what we did.

"Hey, Mom. The grass is mighty tall over on this side, too!"
"I thought the grass was supposed to be greener.  Or something like that."

But hey, at least we were finally walking down hill.  For a while, anyway.

"Hey, look!  Jim's got his boat out!"
"You know his wife calls this 'Heart Attack Hill', right?"

Yeah.  So we struggled up that last hill to home.  When we arrived back at Ao4 Headquarters ...

"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"

Yep!  Nothing like a round of Crazed River Otter Games to cap off a long walk!

I hope you had as much fun as Cam and I did!  Thanks for coming with us!  Now, c'mon!  Drinks are on me!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings and hello, everyone!  It's us, Mags and Cammie.  We took Mom on a big, long walk this morning, then we played some Crazed River Otter Games, then we relaxed on the deck for a while.  After that, we guarded the house while Mom went out to tend the gardens, then it was lunchtime, and now Mom and Dad are trying to move the grill down to the lower deck.  Needless to say, it's been a busy day already.  Given all that, this was the most serene photo we found on Mom's iPhone:

Us girls!

That was after our wonderful walk!  We'll fill you in on that some time this week!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Mags and Cammie!

Toys On The Deck

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  The other morning, it was so nice out that after our walk and a big drink of water, we headed out onto the deck with Mom.  Instead of zoomies, Crazed River Otter Games, or other assorted forms of Siberian relaxation, we each got to bring a "supervised only" toy out!  Maggie got her KONG Traxx and I played with my Pink Spaceship!

"This is so fun!"
"I know, right?!?  Chomp, chomp, chomp."

"I love this Pink Spaceship!"
"Yeah, it's --- wait!  BIRDIE!!!"

Maggie got distracted, but only momentarily.  As soon as the birdie left, she was back at work.  Here's a close-up:

Maggie and her Traxx

Because Mags has been known to get chunks off of it, Mom was close by.  Very close by, in fact.  Maggie thought she'd put Mom to work:

"That's it, Mom.  Hold your hand right there, so I can prop up my Traxx."

I like to chew hard on my toys, too, but I never take chunks out of rubbery toys.

"You're MINE, Pink Spaceship!  Chomp, chomp, chomp!"

That little notch that was taken out on the left there was done by Maggie, not by me.

"I think I'm done here!"

We had a great time playing with toys, but it was time for another water break - and to get back into the air-conditioning!

Have a great weekend!

Cammie!

I'm A Bird Watcher

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  After our morning walk and a round of zoomies, I love to go out and relax on the deck with Cam and Mom.  Dad, too, if he's not  playing golf  working on something. After Cam and I relax together, I've started doing this new thing where we just lay around on the deck  or sit and watch stuff.  It's odd.  Anyway, things got pretty exciting the other morning!

"BIRDIE!!!"

It was awesome!  A birdie landed right in our tree, maybe 5 feet from me!

It doesn't replace zoomies or playing Crazed River Otter Games, but it was still really cool!

"... I'm a bird watcher

I'm a bird watcher

Watching birds go by.

My, my, my! ..."

Sing it with me!  You know the tune!!!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

This Morning's Walk

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  Cam and I took Mom on a nice, long walk this morning to tire her out a bit before she went out to pull weeds.  We knew we'd be in here, in the air-conditioning, guarding the house and perhaps staring out the window at her occasionally.  We needed to prepare for that.  So ... anyway, she took lots of pix along the way ... so who wants to go walking with us?

We went all through the neighborhoods and hit CiCo Park.  We skirted around the east flank:

Me and Cam

As you can see, we did a little braiding work with our leashes along the way.

We walked to the southeast corner and struck a pose by the CiCo sign:

"Are those tee-pees?"
"Nice job with your shadow, Mom."
"Sigh."

Or not.  Mom asked us to both look the same way.  Now, she didn't have any treats, but she did say "please", so ...

Cam and me.  And Mom's shadow.

We kept going along the southern perimeter and came upon the Trippy Trap Bridge.

"Look, Cam!  The Trippy Trap Bridge!"
"Awesome!"

No trolls or gruff Billy Goats to be seen.  We did check, just to make sure!

We came down the west side of the park and saw a man coming toward us with a dog.  When we see someone coming, we pull over, sit, and wait patiently for them to pass.  This is even for people without dogs.  Why?  Because some people might be afraid of us, some people actually don't care for dogs (I don't understand that one!), and if it IS someone with a pup, they might need some space!  Here we are, on the other side of the street, being nice and calm, while we waited for the guy and his what looked to be a Malinois passed by:

Me and Cam.  Being very good girls.

We don't normally stop that much in advance, but Mom wanted us to be able to rest in the shade.  We had gone about 2.5 miles by then and it was getting toasty.  She thought we could stand a break.

After they passed us by (and yes, Cammie, the Malinois was "cute" ... whatevs!), we turned up the main road toward home.  We stopped by the entrance to the Hudson Trail for a quick photo op:

Cam and me, up on the limestone chunks by the trail

... then jumped down and headed home.  It was a great walk!  I'm pretty sure Mom got her gardening in, but I'm not sure.  I remember getting a nice, long drink of water, laying down next to Cam, then Mom coming in the house covered in sweat and dirt, looking mighty pleased.  She must have appreciated how hard Cam and I worked, guarding the house.  Yeah.  That must be it.

Thanks for coming on our walk with us!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Thank Heaven!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  So there we were the other night, settling in to watch a little TV.  Dad got down on the floor with me to give me some lovin' and it was just wonderful!  And then ...

"No.... I don't want to play Crazed River Otters right now..."
"Ah, c'mon, Cam!  Nothing good's on TV!  Let's PLAY!!!"

She REALLY wanted to play!  She did a lot of roo-roo-rooing and a lot of ha-wooing and tons of play bows and started to try to wrestle ... and I may have tried to jump into Mom's lap at one point.

"Save me, Mom!"
"BOOM!"

I mean, we had gone on a long, long walk, had played on the deck, did house zoomies - it had been a full, hot day and I was ready to chill out!

"Dad!  Please put something on that Maggie likes!  Please!"
"Ah, c'mon, Cam!  You know you want to play!!!"
"Maggie!  Off the ottoman!  Off!  Maggie?  Oh, never mind..."

And then Dad - the best dad in the world, I might add - hit pay dirt!

"Ooooh!  Father Brown!  I love this show!"

All I can say is thank Heaven for Father Brown!!!

Cammie!

Memorial Day 2016

Memorial Day is the day we set aside to honor our war dead.  It is a day of reverence, reflection, and respect.

We stop to remember those men and women who died in service to our nation so that we may live in freedom.

The hymn Mansions of the Lord
lyrics by Randall Wallace; music by Nick Glennie-Smith

"To fallen soldiers let us sing

Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing

Our broken brothers let us bring

To the Mansions of the Lord

No more bleeding, no more fight

No prayers pleading through the night

Just divine embrace, eternal light

To the Mansions of the Lord.

Where no mothers cry and no children weep

We will stand and guard though the angels sleep

Through the ages safely keep

The Mansions of the Lord."

God bless our fallen service members - and may He comfort their families.

Cam and Maggie

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Mom took me out back this morning after our walk, zoomies, and a lot of playing on the deck with Cammie.  She actually brought the camera instead of the iPhone this time, so we thought we'd post some of the photos she took. Ready to take a stroll through the back yard gardens?

Let's start here:

"Ready to see what we can see?"

That's up on the top tier.  The morning is the only time there's shade back there.  I mean anywhere in the back yard.

If we do NOT jump off the wall (yeah, Mom; got it...) but walk down a bit into the sunny all the time area, we have lots of different varieties of Sedum.  Here's one I especially like:

Lime Zinger Sedum

It will get even a bolder green later in the Summer.  It's totally cool.

Oooh!  Quick!  Look up on the power line!

Brown Thrasher

There had been two of them on our fence, but they left when Mom got her camera.  Of course.  She was happy when one came back for a snack.  Back to the garden!

Here I am, in front of the Bee Garden:

Me!

Mom couldn't get a good shot of the garden itself; the morning lighting is challenging.  Trust me when I say that one of the Russian Sages in there is about 4 feet tall now!  How exciting!

Let's check out the Friendship Garden next!

Me again!

Some of the Sedum Mom rooted is doing so well that she'll be able to remove the flags marking where they are!  That makes her all kinds of serene!

Let's go down the hill a bit.

"Before we go any further, I'd like you all to know that I'm only posing because Mom had treats.
And I was a little bit tired."

Anyway ... I was checking out the Wildflower Garden in that shot.  Here's another look:

"Looking good, Mom!"

On the left, that's a Black Eyed Susan; it's ready to bloom!  And on the right, that is a Mesa Peach Blanket Flower.   Let's very carefully go into the Wildflower Garden!

Guess who?

The Coneflowers are all doing really well!  The one in bloom is a Cheyenne Spirit Coneflower.  Mom forgot to take a shot of it with the camera, but here's an iPhone shot:

Cheyenne Spirit Coneflowers

Cheyenne Spirit Coneflowers can be cream, yellow, gold, orange, scarlet, red, or purple!  Mom put ours in this Fall, so it's the first bloom; we had no idea what color ours were!  We have two other ones that haven't bloomed yet!

Right down from the Wildflower Garden, where the second, or middle tier starts, we have some Butterfly Weed to attract butterflies!

"Here it is!"

It's the orange stuff there.  To the left of that is a big hunk of Becky Daisies. They'll bloom later.  Behind me are the Maximilian that Cammie showed you last week.  They're so nice and tall that even though they're down on that bottom tier, we can see them from up top!

Moving down that middle tier, one of the plants just starting to bloom is the Red Creeping Thyme:

Creeping Thyme.  And quite possibly my snooter on the right.

Yes, it's Red Creeping Thyme, but it's pink.  Bipeds!  I'll never figure them out!

Down near the end of that tier is the lavender!

"Do not eat the bees.  Do not eat the bees.  Do not ..."

Sorry.  I had to concentrate!  But the Lavenders look really nice and smell good.  The bees think so, too!

That's pretty much of a wrap for this week!

"Do you feel serene now?"

We hope you enjoyed walking around the back yard with us and that you feel nice and serene!  Have a terrific Sunday!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher