It's a Beautiful Day For a Birthday

Today is my birthday, the second one I've ever had.  Unlike hoomuns though, I'm not like a two year old tot.  No, dogs age much differently from hoomuns.  If you take a look at this cool age chart you'll see that I am now a Young Adult, similar to when you were about twenty-three.

 If I weren't a dog, I might have graduated from college by now, moved into a home of my own, found a job and maybe even started a family.  Let me tell you, being a dog is so much better!  I get to run out by the river early almost every morning, I get plenty of fresh water and delicious food that I don't have to ever go to work to buy, I never have to pay a bill and... I get to live with  my mom forever!

Birthday Sunrise

Lot's of cool stuff has happened since I was born.  I've made a ton of friends, some I've met and others I haven't yet.

I have hiked up trails, kayaked on the water, swam in the water with my safety vest on, eaten a gardenful of carrots, ran the track at the middle school and played with all my friends at camp.  I love holding paws with my mom, getting my footpads massaged with shea butter and chasing balls.  Yup, anything that includes running after a ball is a real winner with me and I've learned to play soccer and am a fairly accomplished goalie.

I could tell my mom was stirring up something special because, well basically ANYTHING with peanutbutter in it is special to me.  I had no idea what she was making though so imagine my joy at discovering it was a birthday pupcake for me!  Yup, that's right.  It's a combination of applesauce, oatmeal and peanutbutter all mixed up and baked into a delicious little bundle of complete yumminess, just for me.  She frosted it with peanutbutter, added a few treats on top and then placed a carrot stick in the middle.  Oh my goodness...  birthdays sure do taste good.

Later today Mom is taking me shopping for something called a present.   She explained that folks like to celebrate birthdays by giving someone something meaningful, so I'd like to use my new "young adult" boldness by asking each of you for a present too.  In celebration of turning two, I'm asking that each of you do two, not one but two nice things for someone else today.  It can be as easy as looking a stranger in the eye and wishing them a terrific day, or calling someone you haven't connected with for awhile and letting them know you miss them.

As wonderful as my pupcake is, knowing I was able to help spread some goodness around today would be even better.  Ans so, believing that you'll do your part, get started now and lets all make this a most wonderful March 19th EVER!!!

Loves & Licks,
Stella

From the Vaults ~ The Chronicles of Stella

March 9, 2018

So today Mom said I learned an "Important Lesson"  It went down like this... No rain or snow or ice to contend with on our walk this morning, just sunshine and fog.  The fog is kinda fun because you don't get much notice of who'll you'll be meeting next along the trail.

I came upon the most wonderful treasure, a really cool, really big stick.  Much larger and heavier than any I've ever discovered before.  I was trying my best to figure out a way to carry it but it was more unwieldly than I'd expected.

Suddenly, out of the fogs mist appeared my good friend Angel.  I love Angel and Mom enjoys chatting with her mom and dad, giving Angel and I time to goof around and catch up on each others latest adventures.  Angel quickly saw my dilemma and picked up one end of the stick, keeping her head down low enough that I was able to hold the other end.  Together we carried that big stick down the trail together while the Parental Units proceeded to laugh and laugh at us.  Mom laughed so hard that the photo she took turned out all blurry.  The lesson I'm supposed to have learned is that good friends can help to ease our burdens.  I have no clue what a burden is but I'm guessing its just another word for "big stick".

Loves & Licks,
Stella

The Chronicles of Stella: Tri-fecta ~ a run of three wins or grand events......

The Chronicles of Stella: Tri-fecta ~ a run of three wins or grand events......: Yup,  I'd say today is a grand, grand, grand trifecta kinda day!  After a stretch of pretty lousy, rainy, sometimes snowy couple of w...

Tri-fecta ~ a run of three wins or grand events...

Yup,  I'd say today is a grand, grand, grand trifecta kinda day!  After a stretch of pretty lousy, rainy, sometimes snowy couple of weeks, today is BEAUTIFUL!  Because of how pretty it was this morning, and maybe because she was feeling a tad bit bad about cutting our walks short in the snow, Mom surprised me with not just one but three walks!

I love to explore and sniff my way along the river, but I also adore the lake in the middle of our town, and the track at the middle school is a grand place to throw the ball and chase it.  Today we hit all three spots and I had such a wonderful time.  I didn't even mind having to be on the leash at the lake because I can go leashfree at the other two spots and run to my hearts content.

The sun was shinning the entire time with no cranky clouds trying their best to cover it up.  Everyone we me along the way, those with two legs, four legs and even those with wings all seemed to have smiles on their faces.  The sun is very powerful indeed and has the ability to make folks happy.  It sure made me happy!  I even spied, with my two little eyes, a couple of flowers popping their heads up to see if the snow was indeed really gone.

Have you ever seen a dog wearing a yellow bandana before,
and if so, did you know what it meant?  I never had before so I learned something new.  It's kind of hard to do the right thing if you've never had it 'xplained to you so now, you know too.  Just remember that like a traffic light, yellow means "caution" and be extra careful.



Today I'd like to talk about balls.  I have to admit, I'm smitten with them, perhaps even a teeny bit obsessed.  I LOVE to play fetch and I haven't yet met a person who can play as long as me.  The hoomuns throwing the balls always wear out before me.

 My favorite outdoor ball is my glow-in-the-dark Chuck-it ball.  Its a blast to play in the dark and mom just shines a flashlight on it for a second or two to charge it up ~ no batteries required.  Just imagine watching this glowing ball flying through the dark and then getting to run and scoop it up in my mouth.  I swear it even tastes better when it's all lit up.

The Chuck-it ball is great for outdoors but it's gotten me in a little bit of trouble indoors. Knocking stuff over always seems to  result in the ball being put up high, too high for me to reach and that's no fun.  Finally I found the perfect solution.  The pet store had these cool guys in lots of colors and they can be thrown indoors without hurting anything or anybody. 

They feel great to chew on too and we all know how important that feature is.  If you have a pup that likes to play catch or soccer inside the house, this is the ball for them and you can tell them I highly recommend it.  It even just bounced right off Ozzy, my feline brother, and didn't seem to bother him in the least.  Almost magical, huh?

Well, it looks like Mom is getting ready to take a nap and as gifted of a ball player as I am, I also just happen to excel in nap-taking too!
Here's to a lovely, sunny, fun filled day and a peaceful, well deserved afternoon nap.

Loves & Licks,
Stella