Lake livin'

While I was home recuperating from my surgery and while Wes was busy serving our country with Army duty, Cheryl, Alison and a bunch of other Shufflers went for a ride in Uncle Greg's new boat Sunday. Alison and Greg even did some fishing. Glad we weren't counting on them to reel in supper.

While Baxter is recuperating from elbow surgery he had on Thursday (you can see that his front, right paw is still wrapped up), we -- Lexie and Duchess -- decided to update his blog for him. He is doing fine, following doctor’s orders and getting lots of pampering and attention. Too much really. So enough about Baxter. We’ll tell you what we’ve been up to.

Lexie wrote: It’s been years since Baxter and I have been out of each other’s site. So Thursday morning when Cheryl carted him off to the V.E.T. I have to admit I felt a little lost. It really affected my appetite, but only for a little bit. Though his pre-op instructions prevented him from having breakfast that morning I figured Baxter would want me to eat to keep up my strength. To keep my mind off what Baxter was going through, the people gave me a ginormous bone to chew on all day. I could get used to this, I thought. I also hung out in the sunroom and took a few catnaps. Then finally around 4:30 that afternoon, Cheryl and Wes brought Bax home. I sniffed him and licked him until I was sure they brought home the right dog and that he was OK. He was a little high on pain meds and then pretty much crashed. To give him some piece and quiet, Cheryl and Wes took me to Freedom Park where Wes ran and Cheryl and I walked a whole 2 times around the park. I got a lot of catcalls regarding my lion tail. And I met this cool kid named Kevin. He told me the Spanish word for dog is “perro” for boy dogs and “perra” for girl dogs. I like Kevin. When we got back I was afraid Baxter had found my bone and was chewing on it. But he was too tired to. Being the good sister that I am, the next morning as he started feeling better I ended up giving him my bone. Cheryl praised me for it and said maybe it would keep him from chewing on his stitches. So when do we get ice cream? I thought when someone had surgery, everyone got ice cream.

Duchess wrote: The way I see it, Baxter’s surgery is nothing compared to what I went through before Christmas with my illness. Baxter was only in the doggie hospital for less than 10 hours. I had to stay for a whole week. Cheryl says Baxter is a better patient then I was as far as taking medication. I say I’m smarter. I figured out real quick the people were disguising pills in stuff like cheese and peanut butter. Baxter on the other paw just takes it from them and asks no questions. While Bax was away I wanted to take the opportunity to confide in Lexie about some stuff I’ve been going through. But she was more interested in that bone they gave her. So I’ll pour out my soul here. How long does summer last is what I want to know? My daddy the school teacher is home all day long,every day this summer. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with him. But he won’t let me sleep. Something about him wanting to tire me out so I’ll sleep through the night. So he keeps me up during the day by boogering me, teaching me silly patty cake songs and playing country music nonstop. If he doesn’t find a summer hobby and soon, I’m going to end up in the doggie psych hospital. And I vote in honor of Baxter’s recovery we all get ice cream, too.

After skipping a garden last year, the people decided to plant one this year. We have tomato, cucumber, squash, zucchini, okra, pepper and watermelon plants growing and a few of them blooming. We’ve also set out some flowers around front. And Lexie and I have been tending to this weed in our backyard.

As predicted, the day after we got our bath and haircut, Cheryl carted Lexie and I off to the V.E.T.’s office. It was time for our annual checkup. When we first got in the car I wondered if we were going back to the pet cleaners to reclaim all of our lost hair. But when Cheryl took a right at the red light instead of a left, I knew exactly where we were headed. The V.E.T. people oooed and aahhed over our new dos and pampered us while they poked and prodded. They checked our weight (I gained a few pounds, beefing up to 75, Lexie stayed the same at around 93), they took our blood and they gave us our annual shots. The doc asked if we were having any troubles. “When you get to be my age, Doc, yes, you have troubles.” Lexie is a little slower getting up and down, so the doc sent her home with some Deramaxx to pop once a day. I had him check out a knot on one of my knees. As it turns out, I have to have a little surgery in a few weeks and have it removed. Lexie’s blood work came back A-OK. Mine, however, showed some numbers that are too high in my liver, so I’m having to pop SAM-e a couple times a day. We’ll retest in two weeks. Good thing the people started a “Doggy Aliment Fund.” Duchess almost depleted it last year. It’s my turn to dip into it this year. I’ll keep you posted.

3 shaves and 3 haircuts

Faithful followers of my blog, all three of you, will remember last summer when the people let Lexie shave off all of her hair. “Baxter, next year you’ve got to try this,” Lexie told me over and over. “It’s so much cooler. It’s like instead of wearing a fur coat all summer long, you’re just wearing a windbreaker.” Duchess recently got her summer do, too and echoed what Lexie was saying. "Don't be a scaredycat Bax. I get shaved all the time," Duchess would say. If you follow my blog, or my life, you also know I don’t take too kindly to change. So a new haircut was way out of my comfort zone. But I let Lexie, Duchess and the people talk me into it last week. You can see the result. I can feel the result. I hate to admit that Lexie and Duchess were right, but wow, I feel like a new dog. I think it took at least 35 dog years off me and makes me look 10 pounds lighter. Why did I go through nine summers of my life without this buzz cut? As for the type of cuts we got, because Lexie had a few extra tangles in her tail, more of it had to get shaved off. If you want to copy our hairdos, and you want a “lion tail” ask for The Lexie. If you prefer the “Swiffer duster tail,” like mine, ask for The Baxter.

Setting sail

Our Uncle Greg got a new boat and took the folks out for a spin on Saturday. Our cousin Gracie Lee, unlike Lexie and I, loves being on the water and relishes her role as co-captain of the boat. The top photo is an eagle and its nest along the shores of Lake James.

Beautiful Burke

We found this view of Shortoff Mountain from a way-off-the-beaten-path-back road in Burke County.

Picnic fun

The people are on a picnic kick. They've been on three since spring break!

One at Freedom Park.

One at the church.

And one at Lake James State Park.