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This summer we've enjoyed feeding the birds. It took a few months before the squirrels and chipmunks found our first feeder, which they destroyed. It was a cheap plastic tube feeder and they chewed right through the perch so it was unusable. We replaced it with this wooden feeder we got at the Christmas Tree Shoppe for $10. The squirrels haven't damaged it yet, but the chipmunks have figured out they can get up inside the roof and just sit in the seed while they stuff their cheeks.

Usually when Baxter pulls his blanket out of his crate, he whips it around and pulls out the stuffing. Today, I found him using it as a pillow.

We have a frog that hangs out by our back porch light. He's really good at climbing the walls and things.

Last weekend we went up to my parents' place in Prospect Harbor with both Baxter and Rex. We got to see Uncle Jim, Grampy and Joy, and Tim and Sarah were there with their puppy, Scout.

Heather made Baxter a bed to use in the living room. He doesn't seem to understand how to use it.

Rex has a new favorite hiding spot under my desk. Baxter keeps him supervised at all times.

I made it home from Maine just in time for a snow storm. It seems like the March storms have been the biggest in the last couple years. Between this storm and one last weekend, we have over 2 feet of snow on the ground. Saturday we took Baxter to the park and met some of his friends (and our friends) there for some fun in the snow. Here are a couple pictures of Baxter and his girlfriend, Izzy playing chase.

I thought I'd share a few pictures of our crazy pets, Baxter and Rex.

Rex is not usually much of a cuddle bunny, but here you can see he fell asleep in my arms.

Baxter likes the new location of the couch! He sits on the back and looks out the window at flying kitties. Translation: Flying kitties=birds. Anything out that window is a 'kitty' so the birds must be flying kitties!

New Years weekend we got about 2 inches of snow. I didn't think it would be enough to play in but I babysat for Carli and Max on Tuesday and we went out sledding in the back yard. Baxter joined us too! I hope this isn't all the snow we will see this winter, because its almost gone now!

Baxter has been having some stomach problems and the vet has recommended that after fasting for 24 hours, he go on a bland diet for a few days. This will consist of rice and hamburger. Let's hope he doesn't become a picky eater after a few days of this 'home cookin'. Also lets hope he doesn't drive me crazy in the next 24 hours acting hungry. Ever since he started his seizure medication, he has acted like we are starving him. The vet did say this was a side effect of the medication and will go away in a couple months. He will get his first meal of rice and hamburger tomorrow.

When I got home last night I found this on the floor. It is a toy from a Wendy's Kid's Meal that Heather brought home today. She said Baxter had it destroyed in less than 10 minutes.

Last weekend we took Baxter to the dog park to play frisbee and take a few pictures. It's even harder to get a good picture of him catching a frisbee than it was when he was jumping into the water. He's not catching the frisbee much yet, but he's trying. Here's a composition of three shots of him trying to catch the flying disc.

Here is Rex enjoying some home grown parsley and cilantro...can't get any fresher than this!

The other day I was checking the Kennebec Journal online. For those of you who aren't familiare with it, its the newspaper from my hometown area. There is a blog there that I like to check often. Its called 'A Dog's life'. I found a link to pictures of pets on vacation in Maine. I remembered a picture that we took of Baxter last summer and uploaded it to the site. Click here to check it out. We took this picture while on a hike on the Maine coast with Mom and Dad Straz.

Last weekend we took Baxter to learn how to swim. At first he wasn't that interested in getting wet. He would wade into the water to get a ball, but not past his chest. After a few other dogs joined us in the pond area he got the guts up to go deep enough where he needed to swim. After another ten minutes he was jumping into the water. Here is a series of images I pasted together showing how he gets into the water to retrieve a toy.

Here are a couple pictures of Baxter that I took today. The little bear was given to him by his doggy friends Bumper and Izzy. There is a squeaker in the tummy of the bear, and Baxter loves to make it squeak. He still thinks that he needs to destroy toys as soon as possible, so we can't let him chew on it too much. Maybe someday he will outgrow the need to destroy his toys!

This morning we gave Baxter a rawhide bone to keep him busy while we did some house cleaning. I guess he wanted to hide it because I found it in one of my plant pots with the dirt all disrupted. Maybe he was afraid Rex would steal it? Or more likely, he wanted to save it for later.

Baxter has a habit of destroying toys. This week he quickly shredded a soft rubber pacifier that he usually plays with for several weeks before making holes. Today he started on a rubber tire we ordered from Pet Guys. Within ten minutes he had already chewed chunks off of this "puncture resistant" toy.

After one evening of chewing, here is what the tire looks like now.

We are packing and getting ready to leave early tomorrow morning. I think Baxter wants to go with us. Don't you? Only problem is that he doesn't leave much room for my clothes!

I was searching the net the other day and found this page that was all pictures of Dogs in Cars . I thought it was cute and remembered a cute picture of Baxter from our road trip. I submitted the picture and now its up on the site. If you want to check it out, its in gallery 8, picture #80.

We had a snowstorm on Saturday that brought about 4 inches of fluffy snow. We had alot of fun playing with Baxter in the snow. I think he had a good time too! Here are some pictures of him jumping after snowballs.

Baxter and I both have colds. Actually, he has Kennel Cough, but that's basically a cold. So much for the vaccination that he had against Kennel Cough! I took him to the vet today and $75 later, we were home with antibiotics and cough suppresants. I woke up with a tickle in my throat and now I can tell its a head cold with sore throat. I feel like such a baby, but when you add anymore head pain (from congestion) to my already constant headaches, I just want to cry!

The snow that was promised is just starting after 12 hours of cold icky rain. They are still saying 3-5 inches of snow overnight, but I'm not going to hold my breath...the story seems to change every hour.

Every morning when we get Baxter up he makes a huge production about how his crate is too small by taking extra time to stretch. We knew at some point that we would have to get him a bigger crate, this weekend became that point. We took him to PETCO today and got him a new, much larger crate. It didn't take him but two seconds to get comfortable in it.

I weighed Baxter today and he is up to 30 pounds!

Tonight he and I went to our second night of Puppy Kindergarten. We are going to a school called Tails Up. Baxter really likes our teacher, Elaine, the treat lady! Today we learned Sit and Down, which our star student already knows so he got a bit bored.

Yesterday we took Baxter to the Dakota Woods dog park. It's a 16-acre park where dogs can run around without their leashes. This week we went with Ken and Kristi and their dog Zeke.

Baxter flew to Maine this morning. I was a nervous wreck when I dropped him off at the airport, but he seemed quite content laying in his crate with a few toys and some blankets that smelled like home. The flight went well and Baxter's welcome crew was there to meet him when he arrived in Bangor. Here is a picture of Baxter and his new little friend, Caleb. Looks like a pretty happy puppy to me!

I've finally taken the time to download some pictures.

Here is a picture of my new haircut.

Here you can see Baxter getting a good sniff of Rex.

Baxter was really sleepy towards the end of our Memorial Day BBQ. He took a nap while I was making the hot fudge.

Yesterday was a day of firsts for me and Baxter.

I took Baxter to the dog park for the first time; he had a wonderful time. He was timid about getting in the water but he did wade in a bit. He also had a great time playing with another little puppy named Carter.

I rode my new road bike yesterday for the first time. Its the first bike that I've had with clipless pedals and I crashed twice. Twice in only 4 miles! I even managed to fall once to each side so I'm beat up on both sides! I thought it would be a good idea to ride to the ice cream shop...maybe not.

Believe it or not, all of us at the Straz househould got a good nights sleep last night! We put the puppy to bed at 10 and didn't hear any (more than a couple wimpers in the first 5 minutes) until 6:30 this morning!

He didn't mess in his crate last night and he was even able to wait until I got him outside to potty, even though he was very excited to see me this morning!

I think Rex (our resident bunny) even slept well. Last night he was acting like he was still king of the house and didn't think much of the puppy. We heard a couple loud thumps, but I think he just needed to show the pup where he stands in the household.

Some names we are thinking about, what do you think??

• Baxter
• Dakota
• D O G (dee-o-jee)
• Bruce

Heather has been bugging me for ages to get a dog. She wanted to get one after she finished school. Some how I was able to delay it. In the past few weeks she's gotten very insistent that we get a puppy. Yesterday she found a couple puppies on the Internet and started making phone calls. While I didn't think it was a great idea with a three week road trip planned for June-July, I couldn't tell her, "No." I tried, but not very hard. She went and picked him up today.

He's a 10 week old Sheltie/Lab mix. The poor guy doesn't have a name yet so any suggestions would be appreciated. Read more for a picture from today.

Here is our new puppy playing with his toy carrot on our driveway.

I woke up this morning to find a sick bunny. Rex has not eaten anything today and he is very lethargic. I took him to the vets this afternoon and she had to give him IV fluids and some medicine. I have to give him shots three times a day for the next 5 days. I'm supposed to force feed him and make sure he gets some exercise and rest. I think I have overdone it a bit myself the past two days so I decided that tomorrow Rex and I will share a "getting better" schedule. We will rest at the same time, eat together, and get up and try to get a bit of exercise together. Now, how in the world do you exercise a bunny??