Who We Are

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Cowboy Hat

Hi everypuppy, it's me - Amber! I thought we could all do with a really funny story today. It involves a cowboy and since Dave is from Texas, I thought he'd really like it.

Are you ready to hear it? OK! A cowboy goes to the doctor and says he hears music when he wears his hat. It's driving him crazy, as he has no idea where it's coming from! The doctor takes the cowboy's hat off and goes into another room, then comes back and puts the hat back on the cowboy. "Do you hear any music now?" The cowboy says, "Nope, what did you do?!!?" And the doctor says ..........

Are you ready for this?

The doctor says, "I took the 'band' out."

Hee hee hee! Get it? He "took the band out..."
Yeah, Ammy. Good one!

Have a happy day, everypuppy!

Love,
Amber

Monday, July 30, 2007

Cartoon Characters

Woo, everypuppy, it's me - Dave! A while ago, our good buddy Echo blogged about what cartoon character he was most like. It got us to thinking ... what cartoon characters are we in the Ao4 most like?

Zim left Echo a comment that Mom and Dad say he walks like the Pink Panther. Well, it's true ... he has that cool-cat saunter...

Zim?

...but he's also my pal. We play together all the time and find cool stuff to do. So I think me and Zimmie are more like Hokey Wolf and Ding-a-Ling.

Hokey and Ding with their friend Huckleberry Hound

Me and Zim

The girls are a little harder. If Lassie had her own cartoon show, that would be who would play Amber in the cartoon of our lives. She's beautiful, strong, smart, protective, loyal, brave ... all that stuff! But if it has to be a cartoon character ...

Bambi

B-Amber

It's true. She's also soooooo sweet and innocent! No offense, Am!

As for Stormy .... I'm not even going to SAY who Zimmie just said she sort of looks like. And sproings across the yard like. No way, no how. Not going to say it. (Of course, to tap into my and Zimmie's thoughts, you could follow those hyperlinks ... just don't tell Stormy!) Personality-wise, we've got to go with Bugs Bunny. Really. Confident, smart, a glint of mischief in the eyes ...

Bugs

Storms

Yep. Gotta be Bugs! Not the other cartoon star we were thinking about.

So what about the rest of you? If a cartoon was made of your life, what cartoon character would play you?

Luv,
Dave (AKA Hokey)

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Sunday Salute - Mango!

Our Sunday Salute this week goes to our friend Mango the cat! You may remember us mentioning Mango way back in January when she helped us get Zim into his cool under-cover disguise. You can click here for a reminder! Mango is one cool, hard-working cat, who deserves her very own Sunday Salute!

Here are a few pix of her hard at work:

Oh, sure, sure. It looks like she's napping, but no! We're pretty sure she is holding up the sides of her mom's sewing cabinet or desk. Really. Here she is again, supervising her friend Cedar, who is trying to spell her so she can get some rest.

OK, Cedar ... stretch this paw out a little further ...

Mango lives out in the country, somewhere in rural Oregon. Her mom told us the cool story of how she adopted them! Her family had lost their other cats (they lived happy, good lives to the ripe old age of 17!) and after lunch one day, they walked down to the animal shelter. There were oodles of little kitties there! The kitty who would become Mango was front and center in her cage, giving Nate (the family's teenage biped) the eye, cooing at him, and showing him her lovely hair. The lady let Nate hold her and they fell in love. Mango was 9 months old; she's about 5 years old now. Mango's former owner had to put Mango up for adoption because he was moving to a smaller house -- Mango's "new" dad is a home inspector who had just done an inspection for that very house weeks before! Sounds like this adoption was meant to BE!

We asked Mango what her hobbies are. She told us she likes to "sleep, eat, sleep, eat, cuddle, sleep, and eat." Hmm. Is there any wonder why some bipeds call Siberian Huskies the "missing link" between cats and dogs? She'd fit in VERY well around here! She views herself as the Queen of the house - though her mom claims differently. Mango said that for the sake of peace, she lets her mom think she is the Queen and that Mango is the Princess. I think we all know better, don't we?

Do I need to get up?

Mango likes to hunt mice, moles, and birds. (How are you with bunnies, Mango? And can you come over?) Her mom told us, "At night, you can see her swatting at moths as they fly by." Wow, she's always hard at work! Here she is, protecting their garden!

My work here is done...

She told us she doesn't like catnip, even though her "Queen" grew a huge catnip bush. She turns her nose up at it and walks away. As Dave reported a while ago, two out of three cats like catnip -- Mango must be the "one" who doesn't! Mighty nice of her mom to grow her some, though.

Mango is an indoor/outdoor cat, and lets it be known where she would like to be. She has mastered the screen door and comes and goes when she wants to, provided the sliding door is open. Pretty smart, Mango!

She is very feminine and prefers not to play unless she feels like it. Very Siberian, if you ask us! Ha roo roo roo! She loves to have her furry tummy rubbed and will stretch out her arms for the full effect.


You may rub my tummy now

Allegedly, this sweet, mellow cat has recently terrorized her Vet hospital. Mango's mom told us, "They said she has been the WORST cat ever to be in their services. She hissed and whacked them and would have chewed their hands off if they came closer." When her mom came to pick her up, she was so mellow, they thought she was a different cat all together. Ha roo roo roo! Good one, Mango! Anything to keep the bipeds guessing!

Mango, for all you do - holding up furniture, coaching Cedar on how to do the same, hunting to keep the homestead and gardens safe, and much, much more ... we salute you!

The Army of Four

PS: Mango just sent us an update. She said she's read about how we like the AC vents, and thought we should see this:

Ha roo roo roo! We just might have a cat in a Sibe suit here! :) Oh ... and Mango, Dave wants to know if that's a Hancock's of Paducah CATalogue you've got there?!?

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Storm on the Deck!

Ha roo roo roo! Not that kind of storm - me! Storm with a capital "S"! Ha roo roo roo!

Usually the boys or Amber show you around our gardens, but I thought I'd show you one of my favorite areas. It's these pots of purple fountain grass down on the lower deck. I was going to do a nice pose by them ...

Hey ... what's that up there?

...but they tickled me!

Ha roo roo roo! These tickle!

They made me laugh and smile!

I really do think they're nice. Dave thinks they're a good splash of color, Zim checks them for any cool bugs that might try to hide in them, and Amber ... basically Amber says they make Mom happy (the bunnies can't get to them!) so she likes them, too. Amber's pretty sweet like that.

In other news, you can see in that last picture how nicely my coat is coming in! There is still a big difference between my shave-y spots from my surgery and the rest of my fur, but I've got nice coverage now! Ha roo!

Also - Echo, thanks for the heads up that the link about the news story on yesterday's post wasn't working! I went back in and fixed it! It should be good to go now!

Tail wags,
Stormy

Friday, July 27, 2007

Tagged by the Kapp Pack!

Ha roo, everypup! Storm here. We were tagged in a new tag game by our friends over at the Kapp Pack! Thanks, guys!

Before we get started, we wanted to share the news story at this link with everypup. It's about one of our canine heroes, serving in Iraq!

On to the tag game!

Where is your favorite place to sleep??

Stormy: I have lots of favorite places to sleep. Sometimes it's right in the middle of everything and everypup, and sometimes I like my space. It just depends!

Me, Stormy, napping in the breakfast room. On the AC vent!

Amber: I like to sleep where I can watch over everyone else in the pack!

Zim: Pretty much anywhere. I like my own space, though.

Dave: Anywhere, just so long as I can touch my mom or dad. Or am half on top of them.

Is there a specific trick your humans make you do to get treats??

Stormy: We're Siberians; we don't do tricks. We do have to sit before we get treats, though. Just to keep us orderly and polite! If asked nicely, Amber, Zim and I will give 5 (or 4, in Zim's case), or will lay down. That's about it.

Amber: What's a trick?

Zim: Stormy said we shouldn't do tricks.

Dave: I won't even lay down on "command". Or do that "gimme 5" thing. It helps counter Storm's claims that I'm really a Lab in a Sibe suit!

If you could spend an entire day doing anything at all with anyone what would you do and with whom??

Stormy: I'll answer for all of us, as I think this is a very favorite thing we agree on. All members of the Ao4 and both bipeds are together, doing this:

Left to right: Amber, Dave, me (Stormy) and Zim

What is your favorite toy??

Storm: I generally only play with toys when it's backyard fun time with Mom. I love playing with my cool arctic camo toy or Mr. Greenie or other squishie toys!

Amber: Whatever Dave has!

Zim: Dave.

Dave: Kong-on-a-Rope! Or Zimmie.

If you could change one thing in your life, what would you change??

Stormy: First let me say that even though we in the Ao4 had rough starts in life, we're all really happy now. I'd love to erase those years for all of us, but that's over and done with. If I could change one thing now .... I'd have puppies! Lots and lots of puppies!

Amber: I agree with what Stormy said about being happy. It's really, really important to me that EVERYONE is happy. So I guess if I could change any one thing, it would be to have the power to make everypuppy and everyone happy. Just so they're happy. Mom says I already do, with the gentle wag of my tail ....

Zim: Ditto what the girls said about the past and being happy now .... plus I'd like to erase coffee from the Forbidden Foods List so I could have cappuccino!

Dave: I like what everypuppy else said. As per changing something now ... probably more time with my mom.

That was cool! Thanks again to Kelsey Ann, Canyon & Sky for tagging us! We're going to tag our friends Marvin, Jazz & Dixie, and Ginger.

Tail wags, all!
Stormy

Thursday, July 26, 2007

New Hiding Place

Hi everypuppy! It's me, Amber! I've discovered a really good, new hiding place! I don't think Mom will ever be able to find me here! It's really great and I think that when Mom gets the evil FURminator or brush or comb out (since I'm still blowing my fluffy coat!) she won't be able to find me!

Really! I think I can relax! She'll never find me here!

Keep this mind if you need to hide from the brushes!

Love,
Amber

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Storm or Squash - You Decide!

Woo, everypup. It's me, Dave! Guess what we got the other evening?

One of these:

Here's another look:

And some of these:

Guess which we liked better?

Mmm... squash!

A big Ao4 thanks to Sitka for giving Mom the idea to let us try squash!

Luv,
Dave

PS: Yes ... most bipeds seek shelter during storms with a small "s"; our Mom goes out on the deck to take photos.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Checking In on the Magic Bean Stalks

Ha roo, pupper-oohs! It's me - Zim! I thought it was time for another p-update on my bean stalks! You know, the ones I'm growing from the magic beans my aunt sent! Yeah, those ones!

Mom and I went into the back yard, and I stopped to check out the pots under the Purple Ash tree. Mom had poppies in there, but had to replace them with portulaca when the you-know-whats ate them. I think Am filled us in on those. Anyroo... I checked those first.

Hey, Mom! Looks like something's been eating the portulaca!

We walked a little further, so I could go check on other stuff. When I turned around, this is what I saw:

Hey, Zim! Wait for me!

Oh, NO! Not only are they getting bold ... but what about my magic bean stalks!?!? We raced right over! I was so worried about them!

Whew! They look OK. I guess drowning them in Bunny-Be-Gone every week is working. This one made me smile.

Glad you're OK, magic bean stalk!

Here's the line up of all three pots. They're looking good, aren't they?

Mom hit them with more Bunny-Be-Gone this morning. Even still, I'm going to have to keep close watch over them!

Before I close, it's our buddy Echo's birthday today! Surf on over to the Daily Echo and wish him a happy day!

Play bows,
Zim

Monday, July 23, 2007

Tagged - 5 Favorite Books!

Ha roo and tail wags! It's me - Stormy! Our dear friend Sitka tagged us in a great game! We have to list our top 5 favorite books! How fun! We love books, as do Mom and Dad.

Sitka, your list was cool! Thanks for mentioning that there's a story (and a picture!) about me in the book It's a Sibe Thing... You Wouldn't Understand! Were you really looking through it in that picture? Did you see pages 97 & 102? Yes, that's my brothers doing zoomies and wrestling! Ha roo roo roo! We're all so very proud of them.

Here's our list!

#1. As a tribute to our great-sisters who came before us, our first choice is a book they just ripped through, so to speak/roo. It was about Nikita Khrushchev. That's pretty much all we know of it, as the book doesn't appear to be in Dad's Soviet Studies collection any more. Mom has mentioned something about them just devouring the book ... so it must have been good!

#2. Both Dave and Amber pick On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals, by Turid Rugass. Amber is a MASTER at these "calming signals", as we have posted before, and uses them quite effectively to keep the peace around here. Dave, on the other paw, says it's a book worth sinking your teeth into. If you know what he means.

Dave endorses "Calming Signals" as a book worth sinking your teeth into!

#3. Like Sitka's feline sister Tia, Zim is quite the legal scholar. The "good Samaritan" who found him running loose and took him in for a while was a lawyer. While he was at work all day, he tried crating Zim. Tried. Zim was scared and bored, so he busted out of the crate every chance he got; he then amused himself with the guy's collection of law books. You know, spent some quality time with them. This interest in the law books could well be part of the reason the lawyer sent Zim to the doggie slammer.

#4. Zim also loves the Robert Heinlein book Starship Troopers! Not only did he get his name from the book, but while he was in the slammer, Mom came to visit him every day until he could be adopted. She read out loud to him to pass the time and to help soothe him - and she read from Starship Troopers! Here's Amber, deciding if she'd like to get a small taste of it.

Amber... getting ready to do some reading?

#5. Lastly, I love ALL books, so it's hard to decide. I'm going to go with a new one in Dad's collection. It's called Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty. It is about true American heroes. I heartily recommend adding this book to your library and reading about these remarkable patriots!

May God bless them all!

So... what's on your Summer reading list?

Tail wags,
Stormy

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Sunday Salute - Blogathoners!

This week, our Sunday Salute goes out to some incredible friends of ours who are doing a great charity event known as the Blogathon in just a few days! The Ao4 sends Salutes to Meeshka! and to Steve, Kat, and Wilbur!

The Blogathon is July 28-29th - just around the corner! What is it? A creative way for bloggers to raise money for their favorite charities! As stated on their web site, "During the Blogathon, people update their websites every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight. For this, they collect sponsorships. Pledges can be a flat donation, or a certain amount for every hour the blogger manages to stay awake." So Meeshka and Steve, Kat & Wilbur will put a new post up on their blog every half hour, for 24 hours! All to raise money for their favorite charities.


Meeshka!

Meeshka is blogging to help raise funds for Harnessed to Hope Northern Breed Rescue. Remember dear little Xia? The money Meeshka raises through the Blogathon will help Xia and other puppers in HTH's care. To sponsor Meeshka, please visit her blog for details or click this cool graphic!

Easy as can be! This is Meeshka's second year doing the Blogathon!

Steve (left), Kat...

...and Wilbur!

Steve, Kat and Wilbur are blogging 'round the clock to raise money for Adopt a Husky of Dallas! Visit their blog for more information on sponsorship, or click this icon:


We think it's great that you're all working to help raise money for rescue pups!!! Best of luck with the Blogathon, everypup and Wilbur! We'll be following your posts!

Kat, Steve and Wilbur - we salute you for helping raise money for Adopt-a-Husky of Dallas!

Meeshka - we salute you for helping raise funds for Harnessed to Hope!

Good luck! (Zim wants to know if your bipeds will waive the "no coffee for pups" rule and let you have cappuccino to help stay awake!)

The Army of Four

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Ask the Ao4 XXI - Dragonflies!

Ha roo, pups! Zim here, fielding a great question from our dear friend MayaMarie! She lives in a place far, far away called Louisiana and asked, "Now, all of a sudden, we have a lot of dragonflies. They keep flying into the kitchen window and when I'm outside I try to catch them, but they are way too fast. What do you'all know about them?" I was really confused at first, MayaMarie, that's why it took us so long to answer. See ... I thought you meant:

but Stormy said you meant:


Whew! OK, I get it now! We have the second kind here, but not the first kind. In fact, Dave caught one just this morning on our walk! It was huge - a good couple of inches long! I didn't know it, but dragonflies are the fastest insects, according to Wikipedia! That says something about how fast Davy is, too! (For the record, Mom made him spit it out. Dad asked how it was, and Dave said it was OK, but he prefers Cicadas, especially when they buzz in his mouth.) Anyway, they also eat mosquitoes and other little bugs, and Mom says that's not a bad thing at all!

There are lots of kinds of dragonflies out there; in North America alone, there are 450 species! Dave said we have the semi-tasty kind. Ha roo roo roo! So ... dragonFLIES are OK ... but beware of the other kind.

Artist's rendition of me (Zim), Dave and a Flying Dragon, variety Firem Breathingis Dragonite

You heard it here first.

Play bows,
Zim

Friday, July 20, 2007

Another Freckle-Nosed Siber-Boy!

Tail wags and happy Friday, everypup! It's me - Stormy. Have you visited our good friend Kelsey Ann's blog lately!??! She, Sky, Canyon and their bipeds are fostering a little puppy named Rocky. You really need to go look at his pictures.

Our bipeds sometimes wonder what Zim, Dave and I looked like as wee puppies, since we were already full-grown when we were adopted. The more we look at Rocky, the more we think that's what Dave looked like! And it would then follow that Rocky also looks like what Dave's twin brother of a different mother Harley looked like, too!

That started me to thinking ...


...is the world being taken over by freckle-nosed Siber-boys? At the time, I thought the following old photo was one Mom "doctored up" with PhotoSuite. Now I'm not too sure!

Invasion of the pickle-nosed Sibes! Scary thought, isn't it?

Seriously, though - ALL the best to little Rocky! And mega-thanks to MaPaw for taking the wee lad into rescue, to all the transporters for getting him into foster care, and to the Kapp Pack for fostering. Word of warning - Dave was "a foster" here, too. Ha roo roo roo!

Tail wags,
Storm

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Ask the Ao4 XX - Quilt Inspiration!

Woo, everypuppy. Dave here, Guide Dog for the Color Blind! We got a really great question the other day from our dear friends Jazz & Dixie. They wrote in, "We have a question about your mum's beautiful quilts - how many has she made and how does she keep coming up with all those great patterns?"

Jazz & Dixie, first Mom said to tell you thank you so very much for your kind words on the quilts! If you two didn't already have my mom wrapped around your little paws, you sure do now! Woo!

Mom has been quilting since about 1987 or '88. She started making small quilts (wall-hangings and miniature quilts!), has helped piece and hand-quilt many large group quilts for various charities, and just within the past couple of years is venturing into machine quilting large-sized quilts. She said that's thanks to her Bernina and wouldn't be able to do what she does now without it! Anywoo, she says she lost count, but has enjoyed each quilt she has worked on!

She said inspiration comes from everywhere! She gets great ideas from fellow quilters, from catalogues, magazines & books, and from going into cool shops. And from just looking around! Here's a picture of me, laying in - I mean working in the inner room of our Studio. See the tall shelf in the corner? That's full of books; that's where a lot of Mom's ideas come from.


I always help with the colors and fabric choices. We just started working on a new project; we're making a quilt for Sitka's mom! (I'm sure it's really for Sitka herself, though!) Sitka's mom left the color choices up to me - woo! Mom thought she had decided on one group of fabric, but then I saw these and I really liked them and thought they'd be PERFECT!

Mom, really! We need to pull from this stack! These are perfect! Trust me - I'm your Guide Dog for the Color Blind!

She wasn't convinced and said she was planning going to go red, beige and blue. I showed her this next picture, and said that's where my inspiration came from!

Sitka in repose

I got a cookie. And we're going with my fabrics. Ha woo woo woo! I am Dave - Guide Dog for the Color Blind!

So... Jazz & Dixie, I can't really tell you how many quilts Mom has made, but it's lots! And she says inspiration is all around us! The quilts range from quite large like this Americana Quilt:

(Mom is currently sewing the binding on this one!)

to minis like these:

The appliquéd hearts on the miniature quilt the bear is holding are about the size of a biped woman's fingernail. Woo. Here's my favorite micro-mini, done in the style of Hawaiian quilts:


The grid the quilt is laying on is inches; the ruler numbers are in inches, with fraction marks. Mom calls this one "Don't Try This At Home". I think we can all understand why. Woo.

Thanks for asking, girls! Maybe you can inspire your mom to do some quilting!

Luv,
Dave