Baxter turned four on Friday. For our lazy guy, the very best gift is a good nap. And that’s exactly what Matt and I tried to give him. However, things didn’t work out exactly as planned. I’ll let Baxter tell the story of what happened.

Hey y’all. Birthday Boy Baxter, here.

I knew something special was up when I was invited onto the couch. You see, I don’t get to sit on the couch hardly at all. And to be honest with y’all, it’s kinda hard to get comfortable when I know I’m not really supposed to be there. It just feels wrong.

Plus, Matt and Julia are usually there with me, and they always want to give scratches and kisses and snuggles. I mean, I like them alright, but a dude’s gotta have his own space sometimes.

Well, Matt not only invited me onto the couch, but he and Julia let me have it all to myself. Y’all, it was luxurious.

So much better than my chair. I didn’t have to fold my feet up to my chin or hang my head off the edge.

I stretched myself right out on that there couch and had a little doze.

Now I knew for sure something special was up when I was invited onto the bed. I get invited onto the bed more regularly, but it’s usually just to help Matt pick out his socks (I can’t see into the dresser drawer when I’m standing on the floor). But this time, when I was invited onto the bed, Matt helped me lay down, and he even tucked a pillow under my head. I didn’t just doze. I had a full on sleep! Talk about a birthday present!

I was an hour or so into my dreams when it happened. All of a sudden the pillows jumped me!

You see them in that picture up there how they’re all just sitting there on the bed? They look all proper and stuffy, don’t they? Well, don’t let them fool you. Pillows have a twisted sense of humour. They thought it was a great birthday trick to jump on an unsuspecting dude while he was sleeping.

I bow-wow-wowed and bow-wow-wowed and bow-wow-wowed. By the time Julia came to the bedroom, the pillows and I had all collapsed from exhaustion.

As soon as Julia saw us sprawled all over the bed, she knew exactly what had happened (she knows how weird pillows are). She gave me lots of pats and told me how brave I was for battling the pillows. She told the pillows they had to leave me alone because it was my birthday. We managed to go back to sleep, but I slept with my eyes open, just to be safe.

Aside from Julia: He actually does sleep with his eyes open. It’s creepy.

The rest of my birthday was more naps, lots of scratches, some good walks, a phone call from my Uncle Greg, a visit from Julia’s Dad (who shared his peanut butter sandwich), some chicken, sweet potatoes and cheese. And no more pillows. All good stuff.

Happy birthday, dude.

At Baxter’s annual check up, I had lots of questions for the vet about ticks. He wasn’t too concerned about them. Then he looked in Baxter’s ear and found “a passenger.” We went home with new anti-tick medication, tick removal tools and instructions to check him over carefully after each walk.

Then a few weeks later I felt a bump on my back. I thought, “Gee that pimple came up really fast. And it feels weird.” The mirror confirmed that there was a black dot–not a red one–in the middle of my back. I gathered a container, tweezers and Baxter’s tick tools and went to find Matt. Sure enough, he confirmed I had a passenger of my own.

Ewwww.

I didn’t feel the tick bite me, but he certainly had a good lock when Matt went to remove him. It hurt more than I expected. And Matt found that the vet’s tick removers didn’t get a tight enough grip. The tweezers worked best.

The tick (who was still alive–double eww) went into a jar and was immersed in rubbing alcohol.

My brother-in-law the MD provided assurances that I probably was going to be okay and gave me the symptoms to watch out for (which caused a Google search that I can never unsee–seriously, don’t look).

It’s been a few weeks now, and Baxter and I both seem to be fine. We’re waiting for Matt to have his turn with a “passenger.”

It seems to be a right of passage in country living.

Anyone else ever been bitten by a tick? How common are ticks in your area?

Hey there y’all,

Baxter here. Apparently it’s been a year since I came to live with Matt and Julia. Y’all must be counting in people years, ’cause I swear I’ve been here for longer than that.

I like the farm. I get to sniff and sleep and sunbathe and walk and zoomies. I get excellent scratches, which is helpful ‘specially now ’cause the mosquitoes really, really, really like me. Like as much as Julia and Matt like me.

Besides Matt and Julia, I have a bunch of other friends. There’s Frank down the road, Ella, Penn, Cocoa and Chloe at class, and Pinky, Bluey and Monkey at home. My stuffies are special. When I’m really, really happy, like when Matt comes home, I’ll go and find one of them and share her with Matt ’cause he’s special too.

The one friend I really, really want is Ralph. She still doesn’t like me too much, but she’s coming so much closer to me now. I still want to run up and sniff her, but sometimes when I’m out, we’ll just sit there and look at each other for awhile. I like it that she doesn’t run away or hiss or scratch as much. I’m trying so hard to be patient with her. Julia says it’s working, but I think it’s taking a dog’s age for her to get used to me.

Out of everybody, I like Julia and Matt best.

I’m Julia’s partner. We do lots of things together, and she says I’m a very good help. We hike, wade in the pond, play in the creek, check the fields, garden, cook, paint, build. She gives excellent scratches. She also gives me baths. It’s usually right after we’ve been playing in the pond. I don’t understand that. I mean, I already got wet. Why does she think I want to get wet again? After a big play, I just want to lay down! I do like the towel part, though. It’s like an extra lot of scratches.

Matt and I are good bros. He and I go for long walks to see my friends the turtles, visit Frank the German Shepherd or check the back field. When he calls for his footman, I go and help him find his socks and get ready for walking. I’m a very good footman. The best thing that Matt and I have in common is that we’re really good relaxers.

I think it’s pretty clear that Matt and Julia and me are all related. I mean, I still say y’all, but last week Julia declared me officially a Canadog.

Doggally, I think I was official after the winter. I went outside every day, no matter how deep the snow was or how cold it was. I think that’s pretty Canadian.

I know my accent or my nationality really don’t matter. Neither does the time before or the first year, you know. What really matters is now. Matt and Julia love me. I love them. I’m happy.

Baxter

Read Baxter’s first post from a year ago