Watch Dogs

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  The other day, Cam, Mom, and I were out on the deck enjoying a lovely day.  Cam and I were engaged in a business meeting ...

"Ha roo!"
"Ha roo to YOU!"

... when we heard something next door!

"Oooh, look!  It's Yuntao!"
"I love that guy!  Ha roo, Tao!"

It was our favorite next-door neighbor with a bunch of his friends.  They've been painting his house; we thought we should watch.

"Please be careful!!"
"I think they're going to need a bigger ladder!"

Anyway, I know a lot of people - to include the "breed standard" - say that Siberian Huskies aren't good watch dogs.  Not true!  We love to watch things - especially people working!  We don't bark at them or anything ... but we do watch!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Mags and Cam

Focus!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  You know, the other day when we did our photo shoot out front, Mom kept saying someone was having a hard time focusing.

"Oooh!  LEAF!"
"Sigh..."

That's funny, because I didn't think Mom had to focus the iPhone.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Spice Girl?

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  Try as I may ...

"Hmm..."

... I don't quite get this whole "pumpkin spice" thing.

"I'm kind of underwhelmed, I must say."

Don't get me wrong, I love playing with my stuffie, but the "pumpkin spice" thing is lost on me.

Cammie!

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie, here with some scenes from right here at Ao4 Headquarters guaranteed to add a little serenity to your Sunday.  Let's start out front by the Mums!

"How's this, Mom?"
"Hey.  There's some guy across the street."

Maggie was right - there was a guy across the street, but Mom had TREATS!

"You should have said that to begin with!"
"Show us the money... errrr, treats, Mom!"

They were yummy!

Here's a shot of the moon!

Hunter's Moon

Mom took that this morning from the back deck.  It was a beautiful moon-set.  We also see pretty sunsets from the deck - here's one from a few nights ago:

Sunset over the hills

Back to the front yard ... the ornamental grasses by the driveway are very showy right now!  Here we are by the Maiden Grass:

"I think he's going to finish painting the house, Mags."
"Yeah.  I think so..."

What can I say?  There was a guy across the street; we HAD to stare at him.  It's what we do.

You can see the smaller Purple Love Grasses in this shot:

"Oooh.  He's staring at us now!"
"We should have a staring contest."

I don't mean to brag, but let me just say this:  never get into a staring contest with a Siberian Husky.  You won't win.

Anyway, I hope you feel more serene now! Have a great Sunday.

Cammie!

Life Savers!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Wowzers, what an exciting walk Cam and I took Mom on this morning!  It started out like any other ...

"Hey, Mom, we should jog!"
"Yeah, Mom, we should do some jogging!"

We had fun weaving through neighborhoods, meeting and greeting lots of different people. It was great. We also saw about 752 squirrels ... but I digress. We had reached about the halfway point, when Cam and I spotted it!

"Cammie!  Look!"
"Oh, my!  It might be hurt!"

The poor thing!  Laying there, right on the sidewalk.  It couldn't even move!

"Are you alright?!?"

It was a butterfly.  A rather large one.  And despite the smile on its face, I could tell it was hurting.

"I've got this, Cam!"

I tried a little CPR while Cam stood by, ready to assist.  That seemed to help.  But I couldn't just leave it there - right?!?

"Come with me, Butterfly!"

I thought I'd take it home and set it free in our Butterfly Garden!  Mom thought its family might be missing it though, and she suggested we leave it there.  After I administered CPR, it seemed strong enough to make it on its own, so I figured it would be OK.  

Cam said I probably saved its life!  Isn't that cool?!!?  What an exciting walk that turned into!  I can't wait to see what the rest of the weekend holds!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Flower Friday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  We're teaming up once again this week with our friends at Dory's Backyard to bring you Flower Friday!  We thought we'd see what we could find our on one of our morning walks!  How about you suit up and come with us?

Before we get to the flowers, we'll do a bit of this:

"Just up this first hill, everybody!"
"Just past that tree line is Little Kitten Creek, if anyone is interested!"

And, naturally, a bit of this:

"BOOM!"
"Ack!  A crazed river otter got me!!!"

Then we'll be ready to look at flowers!

Here in Kansas, there are still plenty of sunflowers around - and that's what we saw! This one was hanging into the street:

This sunflower was housing some funny bugs:

"Hey, what do you call a fly without wings?"
"A walk."

THAT kind of funny bugs!

And this one just plain made us smile:

We hope you enjoyed seeing some of our Kansas Sunflowers!

"Who knew bugs told jokes?"
"I know, right?  What funny bugs!"

Please hop on over to Dory's blog for more Flower Friday!

Cammie!

My Anniversary Present!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Thank you SO MUCH, all of you, for the wonderful wishes yesterday on Adopt-a-Maggie Day.  What a wonderful day it was!  I wasn't sure what all the day would bring, but it started out GREAT with a walk, some cool weather, and Crazed River Otter Games.  After lunch, Dad said something about a FedEx delivery, and I heard Cam cry out, "It's here!"  WOW!  A surprise gift?!?  For me?!?

Dad and Mom brought it into the garage, then said Cam and I could come out.  I couldn't wait!

"Oh, CAM!!!  You shouldn't have!"
"I didn't think they'd just use clear wrapping paper ..."

Dad helped me unwrap it and got some stuff out of it - then let me have my present!  It was the biggest, the best box I've ever seen!  Check out how roomy it is:

"Hey!  All the neighbors can see my cool box!  Ha roo, everybody!"

Can you SEE all the space in there?!?  Plenty of room for anyone to join me - right?!?!  And then it finally happened!!!  It was what I'd been hoping for for so very long -- CAM BOXED WITH ME!!!

"Mom!  You've GOTTA get a picture of this!!!"
"I can't believe I'm doing this.  Only for you, Mags."

Now THAT'S an anniversary wish come true!  Cammie and me boxing.  WOW!!!

"Am I dreaming?"
"Happy anniversary, little one!!!"

"I'm getting choked up, Mom."
"One more photo, then I'm outta here."

It was so magical. So wonderful. It was the best box EVER!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Adopt-A-Maggie Day!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Today is a very special one here at Ao4 Headquarters -- it's the third anniversary of when we adopted my little Maggie!  (You can see the day she arrived here, the first anniversary here, and the second here!).  It was such a special day ...

Here we are, meeting for the first time:

"Hello, little one!"
"Hello, Aunt Cam Cam!"

She was very respectful to me and our great-brother Zim!  Here they are in the living room:

"Ha roo, Zimmie!"
"Hey, kid!"

She adored Zimmie and loved having him mentor her!

Here is a shot of all three of us.  Zim and I were teaching her how to play Crazed River Otter Games!

"So ... we run and round and act crazy and grab each other and stuff?"
"Oh, Zim!  She's a natural!"
"Oh, the things I'm going to teach you, Mag-a-roo!"

Zim and I did our best to help tire her out.  We had  her carrier  10 Downing Street set up for her in the kitchen, so she could catch some naps.

"Greetings from 10 Downing Street!"

She liked taking Big Mean Kitty in there with her.  He's still around, but their playtime is very limited due to ... umm ... Maggie's super powers.  Safer that way.

Anyway, please help me wish my Maggie a VERY happy Adopt-a-Maggie/Gotcha/Homecoming Day!!!  Mags, we're so blessed, so happy, so thankful that you're in our family!!!

Cammie!

One Of My Super Powers

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  It didn't take long.  Really, not long at all.  I even mentioned it briefly in passing yesterday - and it's true:  I've already gotten a small chunk out of the Toppl toy.

"I've got you now, Mags!"
"Ooomph!  See, you guys?  Right there."

That much only took a few minutes.  I'll make mincemeat of it in no time.  What can I say?  Ripping up toys is one of my super powers!

"Mom says as long as it's toys and not other stuff, it's all good!"
"Prepare yourself, Cam!  Super Mags is ready to launch!!!"

As Cam said, Mom doesn't mind.  She says that's what toys are for.  Besides - a pup's GOT to play, right?!?  Speaking of which ...

"C'mon, Cam!  Another round of Crazed River Otter Games!"
"You're on, Super Mags!"

What fun! And I do like the toy ... but my favorite "toy" of all is Cammie!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

PS:  Check out that last photo again -- the pups who live in the fireplace are playing CROG, too!!!

Try Outs

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  I hope everyone had a great weekend - did you do anything exciting?  Cam and I tried out some new toys Mom ordered for us!

Since some of our other West Paw Zogoflex toys are doing well (the Jive Ball is even a "leave down all the time" toy!), Mom treated us to two different kinds! She thought Cammie could try the Tizzi:

"That looks fun!  Do I smell Old Mother Hubbard cookies in there?"
"I could chew those legs off in no time!"

And, because it looks a bit more "substantial", I got to try the Toppl:

"I can see OMH cookies through the peep hole!"
"Looks good, Mom!  We're ready to give those babies a test drive!"

If anyone is wondering, those are both the "large" ones.

Anyway, she gave us our toys and we could basically take them anywhere we wanted to. We both opted to take them here:

"Nom nom nom..."
"Nom nom nom..."

They were fun! And let me just add that Old Mother Hubbard bakes a mighty tasty cookie.

Once we got the treats out, we stockpiled the toys and moved on to other activities.

"Hey, Cammie.  Do you want to..."
"YES!"

"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"

Very fun toys -- we got back to them eventually.  I got to try out the Tizzi for a couple minutes, then I switched back to the Toppl.  Oh.  And yeah.  The Toppl seems to be missing a small chunk of yellow/green/whatever color it is rubber.  At least I didn't swallow it!

So what did you do over the weekend?  Anything fun?  Did you try anything new?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

PS:  Mom purchased these toys, we did not receive them from any corporate sponsor to review.  We just are always on the look out for sturdy, safe toys.  These are both "under supervision only" toys, but they at least are ones we'll be able to play with for a while!

Serene Scenery Sunday: Back To Quivira!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  As Maggie told you, last weekend, we took Mom and Dad back to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to do some birding.  Now that Mom has finally processed her photos, we thought we'd share the ones we like best with you.

Here we are, on the way down:

"I think I'll catch some Zs."
"I need to help navigate."

OK, when we got there, there were tons of Pelicans all over the place! This is my favorite American White Pelican shot:

"Hey!  Watch where you're--"
"Umph!"
"Use your signal, buddy!"

How do they do that without bashing into each other? Amazing!

This Great Blue Heron had a lot to say as he flew by:

"SQUONK!!!  SQUONK!!!"

Speaking of greats, here's a Great Egret:

So majestic! So peaceful! Ah, but the refuge wasn't all serenity and peacefulness!

"Get off of my lawn!  Rocks!  Whatever!"
"Yeah, yeah..."

Somebirdie needs to switch to decaf!  I'm not sure, but this might be the Snowy Egret version of giving that Great Blue Heron the finger:

"And STAY OFF!"

We'd best move along!  Here's a pack-o-Pelicans!

American White Pelicans and friends

If you look closely in the center of the pack toward the left, you can see another birdie!  Can you see him?  I'm pretty sure it's a Penguin.  Or at least a Great Blue Heron doing a Penguin impression.  Really!

Here's one of Mom's favorite photos from the day:

American Avocet

And look at what else we saw:

Monarch Butterfly!

They were all over the place!

Mom photographed this Coot enjoying a bit of tranquility:

American Coot

We saw this Snowy Egret wading through the marsh, just minding his own, when:

"Ho dee doh dee doh..."

"ACK!!!  What the #$@& are these things?!?!?"

He seemed surprised when he saw the Ibises! Here's a look at one of them:

White Faced Ibis

And here's his friend, taking off:

"Later, dudes."

Here's a calmer look at a Snowy Egret:

Our favorite egret -- the SNOWY Egret!

Ahhhh.... snow!

Anyway, let me leave you with the Three Tenors:

Greater Yellowlegs

I hope you feel nice and serene now!

"Thanks for coming with us, everyone!  Snuggle on in here, Mags."
"Oh, I feel sooooooo serene, Cam.  I can barely keep my peepers open!"

Enjoy your Sunday!

Cammie!

PS:  If you'd like to see more of our photos from last weekend at Quivira, please click here.