KP Duty

Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie. Every evening, after dinner, I'm on KP duty. A large part of that involves laying right beside the dishwasher, right behind Mom's feety-feet.

Me, in position

Not only is this known in the Siberian world as "helping", but it's known in Mom's world as "trying to trip" her.  That's right - I'm multi-tasking!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

September 11th

We will never forget.

Islamic terrorists flying planes into the Twin Towers in New York City ...

Photo credit AP

... and into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia ...

Aerial view of the damage to the Pentagon occurring on 9/11 (US Navy/Public Domain)

... and the terrorists' plans for Flight 93 being thwarted by some brave passengers over a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Photo credit Library of Congress

We will never forget - not "tragic events", but 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 today.  And may God Bless the United States of America.

 We stand strong.

Cam and Mags

How?

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  I have a question for you.  How on Earth can my mom take this photo of us girls looking ever so sweet and innocent ...

Me and Cam

... and think that we had been up to something?!? She even tossed around the word "shenanigans"! Seriously! How does she come up with these crazy ideas!?!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

It'll Never Find Me

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  I know it's Monday, but no worries!

It'll never find me in here!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  Sometimes, one photo is enough:

We hope you have a wonderfully serene Sunday!

Cammie!

Trying Something New

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  A few days or so ago, Maggie and I tried something new down in the Studio.  Instead of a round of Crazed River Otter Games in the outer Studio, we tried CROG in the smaller, inner room!

"This isn't bad.  A little cramped, perhaps, but ..."
"BOOM!"

There wasn't quite enough room in there.  Especially once Mom came in and wanted to cut at her table.  We decided to move back into the other room.

"Oh, yeah. Much better!  Ready for Round 2?"
"Prepare yourself, fellow River Otter!"

It was most enjoyable!  And Mom was able to get her stuff done this way, too!

"No extra charge for tiring the littlest Crazed River Otter out, Mom!"

"Tired?  Me?  Well ... maybe a little bit!"

That's the quilt Mom was working on.  She's got it all quilted now and ready to bind.  She'll blog about it soon, over on her own blog.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Cammie!

It's Friday!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  It's Friday -- and you know what that means!

"I'm on base!  I'm on BASE!!!"
"Get up and play, Mags!  It's FRIDAY!"

Friday means time to PLAY!!!  Have a great one!

Cammie!

Beware!

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  The other morning, it was super foggy outside.  I thought I should issue a safety warning:

"It's so foggy!  This can only mean one thing ..."

"Beware of werewolves!"

"Ha roo woo roo!  Just kidding!"

Just kidding!  There are no werewolves here.  Maybe vampires or other beings who sink their teeth into your neck ... but no werewolves!

Cammie!

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Probably The Greatest Detective In The World

Bonjour!  It's me, Maggie.  I have been watching the TV series Poirot again.  We watched some episodes a few years ago, but we're back to watching more.

"Maggie is riveted to zees show!"

Monsieur Poirot always talks in the third person.  Maggie finds herself doing zee same.

"Ah, oui!  Tell to me, if you please, M. Poirot!"

M. Poirot always solves the mystery, with the show climaxing with one of his big denouements.  As he says, he does not "beat around the shrubbery"!

Poirot:  "Peut-être she has skeletons in zee armoire?"
"Oui!  Oui, she does, Monsieur!  Maggie thinks this, too!!"

He really IS probably the greatest detective in the world!  Besides me, of course!  Ha roo roo roo!!!

Use your little grey cells, mes amis!

... I need to get a cool, little mustache!  Or glasses like those ...

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Busted!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  So there we were ... down in the Studio.  Cam and I had played several rounds of CROG, I did zoomies up and down the stairs to amuse everyone, and Mom was hard at work at her machine.  It was time!  I knew I could pull it off!  I crept into the inner room of the Studio, opened the closet door, and ...

"Hello, MAGGIE!"
"Oh.  Hi."

How in the world did she get in there so fast?  And without me hearing her?!?  Mom sure can be sneaky sometimes!

What's an explorer pup to do?  I really need to see everything in that closet!  Don't worry, I'll keep trying.

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie, here with Serene Scenery Sunday. Oh, I know, you probably think Cam is more suited to do the serene posts, but I was on a mission yesterday and Mom got some great shots along the way!  Let's take a look!

Mom said something really cool was going to happen out front and asked if I'd like to keep her company and help her look for it.  Basically, that meant sitting around out front, staring off into space.  I LOVE doing that!  ... especially if the neighbors are out.  But maybe that's more like "staring at the neighbors".  Anyway, I was totally game, so she grabbed the really good camera and out we went.

Here I am, checking the scene:

"I don't see anything yet, Mom."

Mom said we were early, so we should grab some garden pix while we were out there.

Our Butterfly Bush is in full swing:

And some of our Liriope are blooming:

Liriope Muscari 'Pee Dee Gold Ingot'

We love that burst of purple in there!  They usually don't bloom until the very end of Summer -- just in time for Kansas State football!  The team color is purple - so that's pretty timely!

"Check out the Mums, Mum!"

We have a big patch of Mums out front, too:

Don't they make you ready for Fall!?!  And cool weather?!?  And college football?!?

Oh.  Speaking of football ... I mentioned K-State!  It was their big season opener yesterday and that's why we were out front.

"Here it comes, Mom!  Get ready!!!"

They had a B29 bomber known as "Doc" do a flyover at the game!!!  We knew the flight path would take it right past Ao4 Headquarters, so ...

BOOM!  The B29!!!

It was very exciting to see!  To read more about this special, historic plane, please click here.

Thanks for hanging out with us while we waited to see "Doc"!  We hope you have a very serene Sunday!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Weekend Plans

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Cam and I are trying to make our weekend plans ...

"And then ... wait.  Is she still there?  I can't look."
"Yep.  Still there, Cam."

... but our meeting keeps getting interrupted!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Keep Her Guessing

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  The other day, Cam and I were once again downstairs helping Mom in her Studio.  She had gone into the inner room, where she cuts and presses stuff, and Cam and I were enjoying a round of Crazed River Otter Games.  We might have been having quite the wild CROG session, as I remember Mom asking if we were OK out there, you aren't disturbing your dad (his office is downstairs, too) are you, and remarking, "You two are WILD today!"  So, as soon as she came back out into the outer part of the Studio, we did this:

"Hi, Mom.  Who were you talking about?"
"Just two sweet, innocent Siberians out here, Mom."
"Weren't you two ... didn't I hear ... ???"

"Ha roo roo roo!  That was great!"
"Nothing to see here, folks!"
"Oh ... good puppies!!!"

Always keep them guessing -- page 392 of the Siberian Husky Manual.

Have a great weekend!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

New Bags!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Mom's been very busy in her Studio lately, as some of you know, and we've been very helpful!

"C'mon, Cam!  Let's get busy!"
"OK ..."

That's from the other day!  We had round after round of Crazed River Otter Games (CROG), then Cam said she was on base.

"I'm on base, Mags!  You can't BOOM me here!"
"Base-schmase!"

I mean, really!  Sometimes the rules must be broken!

"BOOM!"
"Maggie!  I'm on BASE!  Right, Mom?!?"
"Well, yeah ... "

Oh.  By the way, this is what "base" looked like after a bit:

"Sigh ..."

Yeah, whatever.  No one told Mom to wear black shorts!

Anyway - Mom was actually making something for us!  New poop bag holders to hook up to our leashes!  Here's Cam modeling hers out front:

"Look, Cam!  It sort of matches your leash and collar!"
"Sorry, Mom ... the neighbors are out!"

I have one, too.  No photos of me with mine, though.  Mom claims I was making funny faces the whole time.  Not true!  I spent a good deal of time staring at the neighbors, trying to catch cicadas, and seeing what all I could try to snarf.  Making funny faces ... PUH-LEASE!

Anyway - I'm sure you'll be seeing more of them soon anyway!  Have a great day, everyone!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Cam and Mags

The Après Walk

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  After our walk the other day, Maggie wanted to keep going and I wanted to walk around our backyard, enjoying the tranquility.  Dad continued on with Mags, and Mom and I hit the yard.

"How about I do some posing, Mom?"

I got called a "very good girl" for that, if I recall.

"Who's a good girl!?!"
"Who ... me?!?"

It was really peaceful and relatively cool out there!  We walked all over the yard and gardens, just taking it all in.

Mom didn't even have to worry about anyone jumping off the retaining walls! ... for the most part.

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Cammie!

Hard At It

Greetings to all! It's me, Maggie. It's Monday, the start of another work week.

"Hey."

As you can see, I'm already hard at it! Don't worry - I'm a Working Breed. I'll try not to overdo!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  Today, we thought we'd share some garden posing photos with you!  Ready?

Our session started in the top tier.  Mom thought it would be nice to get a shot of Maggie and me sitting on the rock wall under the Amur Maples.  Let's take a look:

Me and Mags, both technically under the Amur Maples

That would be me up on the wall where Mom gave us the "sit" recommendation, and Maggie down on the brick path.

"Margaret Geronimo Thatcher!  Did you jump off that wall when my back was turned?!?"
"Hoo, boy ... here we go."
"Hey, is that Tao over in his yard?!?"

Mom decided we should move down a tier.  I mean, since Maggie  had jumped down there  was there already.

Here we are, in front of some Switch Grass and Lavender -- plus you can see our white Rose of Sharon and Crape Myrtles in the background:

"Oh, like it wasn't a great photo anyway, Mom!"
"I am so staying out of this one!"

We also struck a pose by the Purple Emperor Sedum -- I love those things!

"Cam, do your Serious Face!"
"Oh, come on!  How about some smiles, girls?"
"How's this, Mom?"

Someone was losing interest.

"Hey, what's this?!?"
"Next, please!"

We took our show up to the Friendship Garden after that.

"Yeah, whatever."
"I'm so happy!"

I know what you're thinking - maybe Maggie would have been more cooperative if Mom had treats.  She did have treats!  That's the only way she would have been able to break up any impromptu Crazed River Otter sessions that may or may not have broken out between photos.  What a great time we had!

I hope you enjoyed our time in the gardens as much as we did!  Have a serene Sunday!

Cammie! 

Still "Closed"

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  This morning it was nice and cool, so we all decided to do some exploring together.  We went down to where they closed our sidewalk, and ...

"Huh.  Still closed, Cam."
"Looks ready for business to me!"

Doesn't it look inviting?!?  So, being the adventurers that we are ...

"First Siberians EVER on the new sidewalk!"
"Oh, it's so nice and wide!"

We walked all the way to the top, then headed down Hudson Trail!

"No mud today, but plenty of overgrown stuff we can get into!"
"There's a cicada up there with my name on it!"

What a GREAT walk we had!  I love that we're having some cool mornings now!  And really ... define "closed".

Cammie!