Holy Cow!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  Ask me if we had fun on our walk this morning!  No, really. Go ahead and ask.  Thanks.  We had a BLAST!

Dad said we were going to start with the back way into CiCo Park (there is a ton of construction work the regular way) and oh my word ... the smells that hit us almost immediately were enough to send Ragnar and me into scent heaven!  We kept walking and then ...

"Ragnar!  Check it out!"
"Holy cow!!!"

There were cows EVERYWHERE!  Mom said it's something called the Aggieville Showdown -- a cattle auction and show, then they're going to do a cattle drive this evening for the winners in the downtown area!

"Mags!  I really want one.  Let's ask Mom and Dad if we can get a cow!"
"Are you kidding, Raggi?!?  Do you know how much room one of those guys would take up in the bed?!!?"

   

I mean seriously.  I can't really picture a cow cuddled up with us on one of Mom's quilts.  Although ... it would be fun to try!

What a fun, fun walk!  And Mom said she and Dad might have a surprise for us this evening.  Maybe they ARE getting a cow for us!!  We'll keep you posted!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

So Happy!

Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar!  Maggie and I took Mom and Dad on a really great walk yesterday!  Well, we did today, too, but it was raining and Mom didn't take many pix.  Anyway, yesterday, we headed to The Top Of The World.  On the way there, I asked if we could take the furthest east trail -- the Bison Loop, as we've learned it's called -- and Mom and Dad gave the green light!

"This is great!  We haven't gone this way in ages!"
"I know!  Oh!  Look at the mud up there!"

Not only was there squishy mud, but LOOK!

"Raggi!  It's your favorite bridge!!!"
"Oh, uh, gee ... I forgot there was a really cool bridge this way!"
"Uh huh ..."

I do love a good bridge!  I was so happy!  In fact, when we got to the top of The Top Of The World, I just couldn't help myself:

"There are people to stare at down there, Ragnar!"
"Hi, Mom!!!  I'm so happy!"
"❤❤ Ragnar!!! ❤❤"

My smile made Mom real happy, too!  I hope it spread to you!  Have a great weekend!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Thumbs Down, Bellies Up

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  The other night, Dad (and Mom) picked out a show for us to watch on our Acorn streaming service.  Ragnar and I really didn't care for his choice, so ...

"This is a real snoozer, Mags."
"I agree!  Let's show him what we think, Ragnar!!!"

It was a definite thumbs down ... or bellies up, given that we don't have thumbs. 

Yours sincerely, 
Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

 

Mags & Ragnar

Interesting!

Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar!  We always find something interesting when we walk to The Top Of The World - and today was no exception!

When we got to the trail, we had a beautiful sunrise:

"Check it out, Ragnar!"
Beautiful!"

 When we got up to the top, it was even prettier:

Sunrise over Manhattan - and a Redbud Tree

Mags and I noticed people and dogs down below, so we stared at them:

"We're going to need to choose our path down carefully, so we can avoid them."
"Yeah.  All those dogs have their owners off-lead."

But the most interesting part came when we were heading back. We saw these two guys get some stuff out of there truck, then start down the trail.  They were firemen, carrying dummies.  One had an adult and the other one was carrying a pack of babies.  We. Were. Fascinated!

"Hey!  Hey, mister!  Where are you going?  Whatcha got there?"
"Can we help?  Hey, come back!  Whatcha doing?!?"

We were going to ask "Where's the fire?" since they rushed off, but that would have been a bit too cliché. We ran into them a couple times on the trail; each time, they had fewer dummies.  Needless to say, it was VERY interesting!

Sköl!

Ragnar

 PS:  Our local fire department has a Lab who works there.  Mom and Dad think the men were probably  hiding the dummies for him to find as a training exercise.  Or it was a bizarre scavenger hunt.  We just don't know!

Feeling Squinty

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags.  Yesterday afternoon, Ragnar and I went to the backyard to check on some work Dad and Mom are doing.  While down there, Mom thought we should pose on one of the limestone walls.

"How's this?"
"Ooh.  You look good, Raggi.  I feel all squinty."

 I'm squintier out of my blue eye than I am from my brown eye -- that's 100% normal.  Mom still had her sunglasses on from doing yard work, so she let me wear them.

"Yeah, that looks -- wait.  They're slipping, Mags."
"Help a girl out, Ragnar?"

"How's that, Mags?  Better?"
"Much better.  Of course, Mom doesn't have treats, so ..."
"Oh, come on, you two!!!"

She really needs to grab treats next time - don't you think?

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Another Sunday Adventure!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags!  Today, Ragnar and I went downtown again!  It was so cool!  Mom took way too many photos, so I'll try to cut the chit-chat short and just show you what all we did! We walked through the historic downtown part again, then headed to City Park.

"I remember this sidewalk from last time!"
"Me, too!  Lots of cool smells here!"

 Once at the park, we stopped by the Pioneer Log Cabin.

"How come there are no pioneers at the Pioneer Log Cabin, Mags?"
"Probably at church.  Or out doing chores."

It was built in 1915 by volunteers from the Riley County Historical Society to represent the type of home our early settlers would have lived in. 

We went through the park and into Aggieville, the part of town next to campus.

Those are my feety-feet, in case you were wondering.

"Mom, I smell coffee!"
"I smell pastries!"
"Mmm... coffee ..."

Have I ever mentioned we walk before Mom and Dad have had breakfast and coffee?

Anyway ...   we headed back into town, walked through town, then hit the Flint Hills Discovery Center!

"Let's make some discoveries!"
"I'm having such a blast!"

There's a very short walking trail around the center, but what we liked best was climbing all the way up to the top of the building! 

"Up, up, and away!"
"This is exciting!"

After the Discovery Center, we walked over to the old Union Pacific Depot!

"How historic!"
 "Let's go around the other side and see if any trains are coming!"       

It was built in 1902 and was Manhattan's train station for many years. 

"We must be between trains, Ragnar!"
"Yeah.  Plus there are only about 50 feet worth of tracks over here ..."

Right.  Actually, trains don't really stop there anymore, but you can rent it out for events.        

We headed back to where Dad had parked the car after that - but on our way past the Discovery Center, we couldn't resist jumping up on the limestone to strike a pose:

"Get my blue-eyed side!"
"Hi, Mom."

Please don't judge; Mom had treats.

Thanks for coming on our latest adventure with us!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

The Linear Trail: Closer To Home

Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar.  Remember when we walked the Linear Trail - a trail we'd never been on before - and we told you that we can even get to part of it on foot from Ao4 Headquarters?!?  Well, that's exactly what we did today!

We cut through a bunch of the neighborhoods, went down one of the big streets, and before we knew it:

"Check it out, Mags!  It's the Linear Trail!"
"How cool is that?!?"

One of the best parts of the trail was there is a really big bridge over Wildcat Creek!

"Remember to check for trolls, Mags!"

"I don't see any over on this side, Ragnar!"

We had to check.  I mean, you just never know!  But we're sure there weren't any - Mom and Dad had us go super slow because it was wet and slippery.  ... which brings me to the next great part about the trail:

"There's mud EVERYWHERE, Raggi!!!"
"I know!  Isn't this awesome?!?"

We walked down a few miles, then turned around and made our way back home.

"We definitely need to do this again!"
"Yeah!"
"Maybe on a less muddy day?"

What fun!  Thanks for coming on our latest adventure with us!

Sköl!

Ragnar

Tuesday's Storm

 Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar!  Tuesday morning, we went on a walk, just like always.  We headed to The Top Of The World - one of our favorite walks!  

"Something's off, Ragnar.  I can tell."
"Yeah, you didn't want to come this way - that's really weird!"

It was odd!  Maggie ALWAYS loves going to The Top Of The World, just like I do!  She was hesitant that day, though ...

"Everything's OK, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it's just ... I have this weird feeling ..."

... then we all looked around, and ...

A Kansas thunderstorm, rolling in!

Mom and Dad had checked the radar, but it was clear when we left the house!  I guess it's that time of year when they can pop up really fast!  Mags must have known!

"I tried to warn everybody!"
"You sure did, Mags!  Wow, look over there!"

It was really beautiful, in a Kansas thunderstorm, really cool lighting kind of way!  Mom assured us we'd be fine, so we continued on our way:

The lighting was awesome!

"Look at how powerful that storm is!"
"Yet beautiful!"
"What good puppies!"

Have I mentioned Mags and I have no fear whatsoever of thunderstorms?  Even so, we decided to stick to the low trails and not take the path up to The Top Of The World.  It just didn't seem safe!  

Here are another couple of shots of the storm:

We usually try to stay out of thunderstorms, but we were already a couple miles from the house by the time we saw the storm so there wasn't much we could do about it.  We ended up getting pretty soaked, but were fine after a good toweling off!

Thanks for coming with us!  We hope you can appreciate the beauty of our storm!

Sköl!
Ragnar

Wordless Thursday (I Know ... I Know)

 

Yours sincerely, 

Margaret Thatcher

The Linear Trail - The Rest Of The Story

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags!  Our internet woes have been sorted out thankfully (way to go, Dad!), so I thought I'd fill you in on the rest of our Linear Trail walk from Easter Sunday!  We'll do Wordless Wednesday on Thursday.  Anyway ...

The Linear Trail goes ALL over our town, hooking up with other trails here and there.  We definitely could walk to part of the Linear Trail from our house, but we drove out to walk the route we chose on Sunday.

"Look to our left, Ragnar!"
"It's the Big Blue River!!!"

This part of the trail runs along the Big Blue and then the Kansas River, so it's very pretty in parts!  It also runs behind the train tracks, behind the mall and lots of the more industrial area of town, so that part isn't too scenic.  We'll stick to the pretty parts! 

Close to where the Big Blue turns into the Kansas River, there is a kayak launch point. We went down to check it out:

"See any kayakers, Ragnar?"
"No ...  I might hear some geese, though ..."

Geese might be even better than kayakers.  I made a mental note to be on the lookout for goose poop. 

We also got to go under an old trestle bridge:

"Oooh!  Scenic!"
"Yeah!  I like this!"

So it starts as sort of a regular trail (where we saw two coyotes, by the way!), then runs along the levee.  Frankly, once we got past the Water Treatment Plant, it wasn't too scenic, so Mom didn't take many pix until we got back to that bridge:

"Check it out, Mags!"
"Glad there isn't a train going over it!  That would be L-O-U-D!"

We'll be walking parts of the Linear Trail again - maybe the part near our house!  Wouldn't that be cool?!? Thanks for coming with us!

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

The Linear Trail!

Hi everybody!  It's me, Ragnar.  Maggie and I are trying to tell you about our Easter walk on the Linear Trail -- a new-to-us trail that we took!  Unfortunately, our internet is out and we're doing this using Mom's iPhone.  Can you say "slower than dial-up"?  Yeah.  Anyway, here's a teaser shot of us out on the trail Sunday morning:

Mags and me on the Linear Trail

We'll try again tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

Sköl!
Ragnar   

Not At The Same Time

Greetings to all!  It's me, Mags!  Did anyone see the Easter Bunny yesterday?  We didn't -- but we did see two coyotes on our walk, so that was pretty cool!  Unfortunately, they were too far away for Mom to get a good photo.  Coyotes must not care for the paparazzi. Speaking of which ...

This morning we went to The Top Of The World.  When we got back down to one of the park signs, Mom and Dad asked us to jump up one the limestone and pose.  No problem!  It went a little something like ... this:

"This is so great!  We got to go to The Top Of The World!"
"Ragnar!  I thought we were doing our Serious Look!"

"Oh.  Right, Mags.  I forgot."
"No problem.  And don't look at Mom."

"But ... I'm just so happy and ... uh ... I think she has treats!"
"I refuse to look!  ... unless you stop smiling at the camera."

"OK ... but she does have treats ..."
"As long as we both don't look at her at the same time, we're OK.  Hi, Mom."

It was a close breach of Siberian Rules, but given the treat situation, no one would have blamed us.  I mean, we can't BOTH cooperate, right?!?  ... unless they're the really good treats.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret Thatcher

Easter 2021

 

From all of us here at Ao4 Headquarters - we wish you a most blessed Easter!

Mags, Ragnar, and our parents

Having A Blast

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  This morning, we all hiked to and up & down what we're calling the Miller Parkway Trail.  We've only done this once before (see this post and this post). It's always fun to change up our routes!  Today we did a little exploring up top, so our mileage came in at 7.85 miles.  Let me tell you - it was a blast!

When we were heading back down the trail, Mom asked Ragnar and me if we were having fun.  This was our response:

"I'm having loads of fun, Mom!"
"Me, too!"

"In fact ... I'm having a BLAST!"

"She's about to jump me, isn't she, Mom?"
"I'll save you, Ragnar."

Ragnar was having a blast, too, but sometimes I get so fired up on our walks I go into leash-zoomies, then I try to BOOM! him.  For some reason, he'd rather do those things at home.  Go figure.

Anyway, what a blast today!  

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

PS:  Fear not!  Ragnar was game for zoomies when we got home, so we kept the party going.  So to speak!