Hi, all my friends! I know you must have been laying awake last night wondering if I had a good birthday. You can sleep well tonight knowing I did. I want to tell you about my day, OK?
The first thing to tell is that we have all been taking turns sleeping in bed with Mommy and Daddy. But I got to sleep in bed with them the last two night as a special treat for my birthday. Besides that, Mommy says I’m her special, baby girl, and loves to fall asleep holding me. Except when my bee hind is in her face, of course. When we got up, Mommy looked at me and said those dreaded five words, “You need a bath.” Then she added, “But it’s your birthday, so we’ll wait ’til tomorrow.”
When Mommy checked her email, she found this:

After breakfast, Mommy took me outside , not in the fenced dog lot and let me do my thing.

These drainage pipes have always fascinated me, so I decided to check them out. Mommy ran over one of them with the lawnmower this year, so it was easy to stick my head in it.

I’m sure I smell something in there. Is it another chippie?

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Fine! I’ll just lay here and wait.

Maybe it’s lizards. I haven’t had any lizards to chase since the snake ate them all last summer.

I can smell you!

I thought maybe the critter got out and ran along the wall, but I still couldn’t find it!

OK, Mommy, I’m done with that, and ready to move on.

I love our backyard. There’s so many things to smell! I’ve gotta decide where to go next. I could spend the whole day out here!

I decided to ‘splore behind the shed. It’s one of my favorite places, with lots of leaves and wood and especially smells!

I don’t usually get to run through the wooded area, so I tried to be careful and not get in any poison ivy.

My last place to ‘splore was the cactus garden. I found a new chippie hole and got my nose all the way down it, but didn’t find a chippie. I’ll check back later.
After all that digging and ‘sploring, Mommy changed her mind and I got a bath after all. Drat. But, along with it being my b-day, it gets me another night in the big bed!
The next nice thing was Mommy filling up all the treat puzzles and giving them to us.

Riley wouldn’t eat his breakfast today, but I noticed that he not only got all the treats out of his puzzle, but he checked out all of ours when we were done. I helped Lucy a little bit, too. Hers is just like mine, and I showed her how to do it better.
Chia: Does this mean I have to wish Xena a happy birthday?
Xena: Ignore her. We find that usually works best. So tonight, I got lots more meat in my supper, and I’m ready to chill out with Mommy. With that said, I’ll say nighty night, and wish you a great Wednesday.
XOXOX Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess Birthday Girl
We got news last night of River Song of Small Tales suddenly having to cross the Rainbow Bridge. We are all very sad about that, and offer POTP and prayers for her family. Run free, dear friend.