Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

New Taste Sensation!

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie!  Maggie and I were just hanging out the other day, watching Mom do some cooking.  Everything was just sort of boring at first; she was making granola and we got the old "it has raisins, you can't have any" thing.  But THEN ...

"That looks awesome!"
"Ooooh, can we taste that, Mom?"

We got to taste it - it was a dried banana chip!  No sugar, just a little coconut oil.  It was so good!  Now when she has her granola, we get to split a chip!  We love regular bananas, but this is an all-new (to us) crunchy taste sensation!  Have you ever had the pleasure?

Cammie!

Peace and Qui--

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  So, the other day, I felt like having some down-time. Mom had just finished making the bed, so I decided a little nap was in order.  Then ...

"Hey!  What are you and Mom doing?  Playing?  Posing for pix?  Can I join in?"
"Um ... Mom?  Are you done making the bed?"

I tried to explain to Maggie that I was looking for a little peace and quiet, but ...

"I was just going to ... ""
Hey!  Here's my Pickle!  You could play with my Pickle!  I've got my GoughNuts stick, too!
What do you think?  Wanna play with our toys?  Or we could chase each other around for a while or play neck-grabbies or something!
C'mon, Cam!  Let's play!  C'mon!!!"

I'll spare you the audio, but she went on like that for a good 10-15 minutes.

"Do you see what I am dealing with here?"

{EYE ROLL}
"How can I resist her?"

She can be very persuasive!

"That was one of my better speeches, if I do say so myself!"

I did get up and play with her.  What can I say?  Who can resist that face?

Cammie!

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie!  Thank you for all the happy Cam-aversary wishes yesterday!  I had a wonderful day!

Mom ran an errand yesterday and thought she would swing by Tuttle Creek to do some birding since it's  on the other side of town  right on the way!  Ahem.  Anyway, she wanted to check in on the owl we told you about a couple weeks ago.  One positive effect (from Mom's perspective) from our still very cold weather is that the leaves haven't come in yet, so she was still able to see the nest.  CHECK IT OUT!!!

Great Horned Owl and her baby!!!

Isn't that beautiful!??! And serene?!?! An owl-puppy!!! Oh, I'm so happy for the mama owl! We've heard there are actually THREE owl-puppies in there - that's a nice sized litter! I hope mama owl is getting some help!

"Heaven knows, I have my paws full with just one puppy!"
"What does she mean by that, Mom?"
"Umm... who wants a cookie?!?"

Oh, sure, they're a lot of work, but don't puppies of all species make you feel serene?  Have a lovely day!

Cammie!

Five Years Ago ...

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!

"Hello!"

Five years ago today, I sat on that very porch and had my picture taken, too -- only it was more like this:

"Hello!"

And do you know why Mom took my picture?!!? It was my Homecoming Day! My Gotcha Day! Adopt-a-Cammie Day!!!

You can read all about it at this link - it was a great day!  I loved my life at Polargold HQs and love and miss everyone, but when I met my Dad and Mom, I knew it was meant to be!  Then I met my brothers Zim and Davy, and we clicked right away!  It was like I had always been a part of the family!

"Happy Adoption Day, Cammie!!!"
"Aw, thanks, Peep!"

We'll be celebrating all day!  Apple slices for everyone!!!

Cammie!

Siberian Standoff?

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  The other day when we got back from our walk, my mom posted the following photo to her FaceBook page, saying it was a "Siberian Standoff".

Siberian Standoff?

Oh, come on! What?!? We were just pausing to enjoy the moment! Loving the togetherness!  Feeling the excitement of the new smells ... you know! And there's Mom, acting like there were some sort of Siberian shenanigans involved. US! And shenanigans! Can you believe th--

"HA!  Can't catch me!"
"Get back here, Cammie!"

OK.  She might be able to read our body language better than I thought.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Something To Smile About

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  Mom, Dad, Cam, and I had a great walk this morning!  The sun is out and two members of the pack seemed to be happy that it was about freezing.

Yeah.  I'll leave you to figure out which two.

But we were all having a great time.  When we got near our water tower, Mom asked us girls to stop and pose for a couple shots.  She asked us to sit and give her a big smile. Cam wasn't smiling at first, so ...

"How 'bout a little kiss, Cammie?!?"
❤ "Oh, Maggie!" ❤

"Looks like that did the trick - huh, Dad?"
"That makes all of us smile, Maggie!"

Of course, Mom wanted us both to smile, so ...

"Yeah ... that makes me smile, too!  I love you, Cam-a-roo!"
"I love you too, little one!"
❤ ❤ ❤ "Sweet, sweet puppies!!!"  ❤ ❤ ❤

We hope our post makes you smile today, too!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Mags and Cam

The Birdies

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cam.  Ready to take a look at the birdies we saw down at Quivira NWR?  We saw an amazing number of different birds, so let's dive right in!

Almost as soon as we entered the refuge, we saw this tiny falcon perched in a tree:

American Kestrel

They are small (about the size of a dove) but mighty!

We saw lots of hawks - mostly Red-Tailed as we drove down the highways - but also several of these hawks, hunting in the refuge:

Northern Harrier

It was a real duck-a-palooza day! We made a positive ID on ten different species of ducks!  We saw Mom's very favorite:

❤❤❤  THE Northern Shoveler!!!  ❤❤❤

Mom added the hearts.  And the exclamation points.  Sigh.

I thought these tiny guys were mighty cute:

Ruddy Duck

As are these even smaller ones:

Bufflehead

We also saw some Scaups:

Female Lesser Scaup

We saw males, too, but not as close up!

In the pond we showed you yesterday, there were lots of different ducks!  Here's one look:

Canvas-Back Duck (with reddish head), Buffleheads, and Ruddy Ducks

The Ruddy Duck on the far right is going into breeding plumage - can you see his rust-colored body and the bright blue bill?  Mom really likes Ruddies.  Not as much as her Northern Shovelers, but they're right up there!

One big surprise was seeing these graceful birdies!

Trumpeter Swans and lots of ducks

We also saw lots of Cormorants:

Double-Crested Cormorants

On the Cormorant on the right, do you see his double crests sticking up?  That's their version of breeding plumage!  It's not always easy to see the crests, so Mom was pretty excited to get this shot!

At one point in the trip, Mom remarked that we hadn't seen any herons yet.  A minute later, they spotted FIVE of them, hanging out together in the marsh!

Great Blue Heron

Mom being Mom, she tried saying that about other birdies, too, but that didn't quite pan out so well! It was worth a try, though!

That's it for this trip.  I'm ready to stretch my legs, get some water, then head home; how about you?

"Maybe some crackers, too..."
"That was a LOT of birdies!!!"

If you would like to see the rest of our photos from this most recent trip, please click here to view our FlickR album.

Cammie!

Let's Get Started!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Mom has hit a temporary glitch with her birdie pix, but I thought we should get started sharing more pix from our trip to Quivira.  Don't you think?  Yeah.  Now, where were we ...?  Oh, right.  Just about here:

"Giiiiiiiivvvvve meeeeee yourrrrrr sannnnndwichhhhhhhhh!"
"I think Maggie speaks for both of us here."

Anyway ... that was during lunch break.  We were by the newly re-built observation tower.  This time, there was little-to-no wind to deal with, so Mom spent more time up there.  She took this shot with her iPhone:

The Little Salt Marsh from the tower

... then she took a few shots with the  bazooka  Canon:

Mom hunts with a Canon.  So to speak.

We'll share pix from that once she gets things sorted out.  Let's drive on through the refuge!

We had a gorgeous day - clouds were finally making way for sun, and the refracted light made for some super-saturated, awesome landscape shots!

Park Smith Pond

We always stop at that pond - lots of different types of ducks like to hang out there!

Dad drives very slowly, so he can stop when he or Mom see something.  We drive past lots of water in the refuge, not just the Little Salt Marsh and the Big Salt Marsh!  There are marshes EVERYwhere!  Marshes, marshes, marshes!  (Ha roo roo roo.)

Marshes ...

... marshes ...

... you get the picture!

And Cam and I ...

"What have we here?"
"Crackers.  With cheese.  Don't mind if we do."

... yep.  We get the crackers & cheese!

More to come!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Easter 2018

From all of us here at Ao4 Headquarters, we wish you a most blessed Easter! He is risen!!!

Cam and Mags

PS:  This is one of Mom's pix from our trip ... just no birdies!

Ready?

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Are you ready to see some of Mom's birdie pix that I wrote about yesterday?   Maggie and I are ready to show them to you.  You're probably ready to see them.  Unfortunately, there is one part of the equation that isn't quite ready.  Starts with an "M" and rhymes with "bomb".

"Seriously, Mom?  You took how many???"

Apparently, it will take a bit longer than anticipated.  I would be upset with her, but frankly, she did share her sandwich with Maggie and me on the trip, so ... you know.

Stay tuned!

Cammie!

Day Trip!

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  The other day, Maggie, Mom, Dad, and I took a little day trip down to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to do a little birding.  We'll share some of the birdie highlights with you within the next few days, but Mags and I thought we'd share one of the best parts with you today. It came just after us girls had a water break and stretched our legs a bit. We loaded back into the HR-V and then ...

"Dad gave us a bite of turkey and cheese, Mom.  What do you have?"
"He gave us turkey ... and cheeeeeese!"
"I brought some Zukes, girls!"

Mom's not quite as easy to tool as Dad, but ... did I mention turkey?  And cheese?!?

Cammie!

Special Delivery!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  The other day, I got a special delivery.  A nice man brought it right to the door, then Dad brought it inside for me.  Check it out!

"How's this for a special delivery?!?"
"Is Maggie getting treats?"

Is that great, or what?!!?

"I'll be right here, if anyone wants to come over and box with me."
"No treats, and yet she sits in there like that.  I ... just ... don't ... get it."

What a great special delivery!!!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Cammie!

Good News!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  Hey, good news!  Remember I told you about the new drinking fountain, etc. by the Water Tower Trailhead?  I thought maybe the shorter fountain was for Great Danes or something - it's shorter than the one for bipeds, but too tall for Cam and me.  I figured Mom or Dad would have to give me a boost so I could get a drink.  Guess what???  I should have looked on the other side -- check this out!

"Hey!  How cool is this?!?"

It's a pup-friendly drinking fountain!  Pups (and kit-cats) of all sizes can reach it -- isn't that cool?!!?

There were a couple clumps of dirt in there that turned to mud when Dad filled it with water - unfortunately, I got the "nonomaggieno" thing when I tried to drink/eat them.  Mom can be a real killjoy at times; Cam assures me her heart is in the right place, but sheesh!  A little mud never hurt anyone!

Anyway, just thought I'd share the good news.  Once it warms up, this is really going to be handy!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

The Jump CP

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Mom's computer is normally in the kitchen/breakfast room, on the built-in desk.  While they re-work a few things, Dad set up a temporary computer station for her in the dining room.  He refers to it as the "Jump CP" - see the full definition here - basically, what the Army refers to as a "highly mobile command post".  It's where we've been blogging from lately.  It's a change, but we've been doing our best to adjust.

"I like the Jump CP, Maggie."
"So do I, Cam. Nice head-rests in here!"

It's hard, but we'll soldier through it!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with Serene Scenery Sunday.  Mom's been able to do some birding locally lately, so we thought we'd share a few highlights.  Pretty birdies always make us feel nice and serene!

She saw a celebrity bird out at Tuttle Creek State Park -- it's Woody Woodpecker!

Pileated Woodpecker

Yeah, OK.  Just kidding - it's a Pileated Woodpecker!  It's the best look Mom's gotten of one!  They are large - 15.5 to over 19 inches long!  Compare that to the other woodpecker Mom saw that day:

Downy Woodpecker

Downies are only 5.5 to 6.5 inches long!  Equally cute, though!

One of the more cooperative birdies Mom ran into was this guy:

American Robin

There are a lot of Bluebirds around:

Eastern Bluebird

They seem to like to hide behind tons of branches and vines.

This guy came out for a nice shot:

Northern Cardinal

There are usually plenty of geese around:

Canada Geese

And one of Mom's biggest birding thrills lately has been discovering this sweet mama on her nest:

Great Horned Owl on her nest!

Mom stayed on the road, by her vehicle to get the shots of her; she is very careful to practice good "nest etiquette", staying a respectful distance away, so she doesn't trouble the birds.  (Also shot with fully extended 150-600mm lens, then photo cropped.)

Anyway, those are the latest bird highlights!

"I hope you all feel nice and serene now!"
"I sure do, Mags!  Good job!"

Have a great Sunday - keep it serene!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher