Hello, everyone! It's me, Cammie! Did everyone remember to celebrate Saint Nicolas Day on the 6th? You know, you leave your wooden sabots by the fireplace with treats for Saint Nicolas' horse the night before and if you've been good, Saint Nicolas will leave you presents!?! Anyway, we had our sabots (wooden shoes Mom bought back when she, Dad, and our great-sisters Lucky and Jesse lived in Belgium) all set to go!
Mom thought one of us girls should strike a few poses by the sabots, just for good measure!
"Well, Mom, for the right price, I'd ..." "Hey, Cam! Let's play! C'mon! A little Crazed River Otter action!"
I mean ... those Old Mother Hubbard treats were calling my NAME!
"No, really! I'm working here, Mags!" "Just a little boom-boom, Cam!"
Mom moved the bed over to the hearth (I don't like slipping on tile and Mom knows that, so she made sure I had good footing) - and I struck a nice pose by the sabots:
"How's th--uh-oh!" "Hello... fellow Crazed River Otter!"
Can you see her reflection in the fireplace? The temptation to get up and play was strong! But then Mom got the treats out which made me stay, and she got something else out that made Maggie stay on the other side of the room:
"How's this, Mom?"
Just the sight of the Santa hats is enough to send Mags packing! But then Mom saw how sad Maggie was that she didn't get a treat, so she removed my hat and ...
"We hope everyone had a wonderful Saint Nicolas Day!" "Behold, the power of treats!"
We can't help it - those treats are powerful! And fear not! We did erupt into a round of Crazed River Otter Games after the shoot!
I just have to wonder if that's what Mom had planned all along. Hmm...
Hello, everyone! It's me, Cammie! Don't you think we should take a break from all the Christmas posing and go for a walk? Ditch the hats, the sunglasses, the other props that we've been tortured with allowed to pose with, and just GO! Good idea, don't you think? Let's walk!
Lately, we've been going this way:
"C'mon, everyone! This way!" "This sure beats wearing Santa hats!"
This is where the road bisects the Hudson Trail!
"Let's go left, toward Murphy's house!" "Great idea!"
Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie! Now ... where were we yesterday? Oh. Right. Right about ... here:
"Ha roo."
So, yeah. Mom took us back out to the front porch to do a shoot with the Santa hats with the trees plugged in this time. Speaking of that sort of thing ...
"Who turned out the lights?" "Do you see what I have to put up with around here?"
Of course, it's not enough to just wear the hats, there is some required posing, too.
"But the neighbors can see..." "So can Santa, Mags! Let's get it over with. Quick, Mags!"
She had a point. So we did it:
Us posing perfectly!
Then Mom realized she didn't really have the trees in the shot ...
"You know, everyone in the neighborhood has now seen the torture you're putting us through!" "I could be bought off with another one of those Old Mother Hubbard treats, Mom."
Not to break bad on anyone, but sometimes Cam is WAY too cooperative! But in order to avoid the whole "neighbors" issue ...
"Let's go incognito!" "Good idea, Maggie. They'll never know it's us."
Seriously. You can't tell it's us - right?
"Hey, Mom. You still don't have the trees in the shot, you know." "I think this calls for more cookies!"
It's a good thing we're so food motivated so patient.
Hello, everyone. It's me, Cam. Well, we knew she'd find them eventually. The Santa hats made an appearance yesterday. We knew it would happen; we just thought it might take longer. But yes, first the flag, then the trees, and now ...
"Happy now, Mom?" "Yeah. Happy now, Mom?"
And then it hit us ...
"For the love of Balto! The neighbors can see us!" "This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"
"Seriously, Mom?" "Yeah. Seriously, Mom?"
We felt we needed to take matters into our own paws.
Really excellent action shot!
That's when we gave her the money shot!
"Have a cool Yule!" "Don't get the Christmas Blues!"
Of course, after our photo shoot, Mom realized she had forgotten to plug the Christmas trees in, so I have a feeling there will be more escapades today ... but at least there will be treats. Those tiny Old Mother Hubbard ones will do. MOM.
Hello, everyone. It's me, Cam. Yesterday, I showed you that I helped Mom start decorating out front - then had to pose by the Nativity flag. It was hard work, as you can imagine. But, hey, since Santa wasn't watching -- not that I could tell, anyway -- it wasn't too taxing.
Later in the day, Mom thought she'd try to get both of us girls to pose by the flag.
"Go ahead and look for something to snarf, Mags. I still don't see any signs of Santa." "I'm on it, Cam!"
Well, seriously. It's not like Mom had treats on her or anything.
Even later, Mom went out and set up the trees. We knew what was coming. And ... well ... I read the comments some of you left on the blog. In particular, Molly and Mackie (I assume it was Molly, as Mackie is still a wee puppy) said in part, "Santa is always watching this time of year. He stays hidden so you can't seem him but he is watching you!" Ohhh... riiiiight. She's so right! So when Mom asked us to pose by said trees ...
"How's this, Mom?" "Look at us! Sitting and facing the camera and all!"
Hello, everyone. It's me, Cam. Today I helped decorate. Or at least I nosed around the garden while Mom hung the Nativity flag up. Close enough. Then ... the predictable posing requests.
"'Sit.' Check. 'Look at the camera.' Check." "Would you think about smiling, Cam?"
Would I think about it? Well, sure. I'd think about it.
"Is Santa watching?"
I didn't see him anywhere, so ...
"I thought it over, and the answer is 'no'. Sorry, Mom."
I have a feeling this is only the start of things. There was talk of the trees and Santa hats and all kinds of crazy things making an appearance very soon, so I needed to set the tone. You know - show Mom who's really in charge around here.
I really hope those hats have disappeared somehow.
Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie! Did everyone have a good Siber Monday yesterday? We sure did! We went on our morning walk, just like always - and wished everyone we saw a most festive day!
"Have a joyous Siber Monday, everyone!" "Happy returns on the day to one and all!"
You might not think Siber Monday is that widely celebrated, but it truly is! Check out this Red-Tailed Hawk we saw -- he was certainly embracing his inner Siberian:
"Happy Siber Monday!"
And so was this tiny American Goldfinch:
"Siberian joy to all!"
Not only was his back turned, but what great camouflage! We could barely see him in there!
We even saw a Canada Goose at the Kansas Ocean who was in full celebration mode:
"Embrace your inner Siberian Husky, everyone!"
As Mom likes to say, they were all being so Siberian!!! How WONDERFUL!!!
When we got home, Mom asked me if I'd like to play with one of my favorite, under supervision only toys.
"You don't mean ..."
"YAY! It's Sneaky Snake!" "Didn't his tail used to be WAY longer, Maggie?"
Well, yes. He used to be about three times that size, but what was her point? I don't know, either! What I DO know is that I still love playing with Sneaky Snake!
"C'mere, you little Sneaky Snake, you!"
What a great day! I hope all of you enjoyed celebrating as much as all of us did!
Hello, everyone. It's me, Cam. Our internet has been out all day, so we aren't able to put up our planned post for today. I'll just be here playing with my lime green Zogoflex Tux toy.
"Hello!" "Oooh, this one? I could make mincemeat outta this baby in no time!"
Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie! I know ... we usually do our serene post on Sundays, but we wanted to get this over with share our photos from last weekend with you. We had quite the remarkable trip down to - you guessed it - Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.
Here's a shot of Cam and me on the way down:
"Snuggle on in here, Maggie." "Zzz..."
It takes about two and a half hours to get down there, in case you were wondering. Plenty of time to catch a few Zs and still help navigate.
Our first stop at Quivira was just south of the Big Salt Marsh. It was very exciting, as the Sandhill Cranes were swirling all over the place! It's like they were staging themselves, gathering together before they head south!
Sandhill Cranes!!!
At times, they filled the skies!
More Sandhill Cranes!!!
They also have a beautiful song! Mom isn't very good at taking videos, but she did shoot a few clips with Dad's Canon SX60 - take a look and listen!
Isn't their song wonderful?!!? We loved listening to them!
We also saw a few geese out at Quivira:
A "few" geese
That is mostly Snow Geese. We also saw Greater White-Fronted Geese and Canada Geese. Here is a Snow Goose sneaking into a Canada Geese formation:
One of these is not like the others!
I'll bet they spotted him, but he did a good job infiltrating! (He's the mostly white one, near the rear of the formation.)
Other highlights were Mom being able to get some shots of this Eastern Meadowlark:
Eastern Meadowlark on barbed wire
We have both Western and Eastern Meadowlarks here, and usually see the Western (our state bird). The best way to tell them apart is by their song, but Mom didn't hear this guy sing. She went with "Eastern" as the ID because they prefer the wetter grasslands, and since we were in a marsh ... it just seemed right.
We saw a lot of hawks, like this one:
Red-Tailed Hawk
And we saw tons of ducks! This photo is a real "who's who" of the duck world:
American Wigeons, American Coots (not ducks!), Redhead Ducks, and Mallards
Duck-wise, we also saw Green-Winged Teals, Lesser Scaups, Buffleheads, Gadwalls, Ruddy Ducks, Northern Pintails, and Northern Shovelers (Mom's fave!). Oh. And Pied-Billed Grebes -- but like Coots, they aren't ducks, though they like to hang out with them. Anyway ...
Here are a couple buddies hanging out together on the beach:
Greater Yellowlegs and Least Sandpiper
We also saw a lot of deer! This was the biggest one!
White-Tailed Deer
Isn't he beautiful!?!? Mom cautioned him about watching for traffic and hunters. (Still no hunting allowed at Quivira right now, in case there are any Whooping Cranes lingering around!)
We took a rest stop in Ellinwood on the way out and the way back. While Mom and Dad had their sandwiches ...
"Sandddddd... wich....." "Maggie has passed out from hunger, Mom. She really needs a bite of sandwich. I'll take one, too."
Works. Every. Time. (Mom wanted me to point out that she does bring water and snacks for us ... but that doesn't count. Right?)
I helped navigate on the way home:
"OK, now stay straight on this road for 87 million miles ..."
But I have to admit, that first stretch of I70 does this to me:
"She'll be OK, she's just super serene." "Zzz..."
We hope you enjoyed our most recent trip to Quivira! If you'd like to see more, please click here to view our album!
