A birthday. And rats. And no, they don't go together.

OK.  It's a special day.  It's my human's mother's BIRTHDAY and she turns.....I guess I'm not really supposed to reveal her age.  So I won't.  I'll just say it's somewhere between 87 and 89.  Somewhere in that area.  OK - she's actually 87 going on 55.  She's a very cool octogenarian. She uses her email every day, reads Facebook and LOVES her iPad.  She was at our house for birthday cake the other night.  So we celebrated with her.  We dogs didn't actually GET any cake - we were too busy chewing on the moose antlers from the extravaganza.  Isn't it funny - all the bones or antlers can LOOK the same - but there is always ONE that everyone wants.  Happens every time.

And speaking of the extravaganza that WE didn't get to go to... while my human was there, she apparently learned about something NEW for us to try.  She had heard about this before - but never knew there was an ACTIVE group in Nova Scotia.  It's a group that runs barn hunts.  No - that doesn't mean you go and look for lost barns.  What you do is go and look for RATS in barns.  Seriously.  But it is ALL well controlled.  The rats are placed in protective containers - so they cannot be hurt.  And the containers are then hidden in bales of hay in a barn.  At least that's my limited understanding of this thing.  And then, a dog goes and tries to find the rats.  And it's not JUST for terriers - who are used to finding vermin.  Apparently ANY dog can do it.  Or at least TRY to do it.  They hold workshops and trials.  So you KNOW my human HAD to put her name on the list.  I think I could probably get the hang of it - and I'm thinking Elroy would probably enjoy it too.  But not Einstein.  I just can't see him doing it.  He's just not the barn type.   I think my human is figuring if she can get ONE of us interested, maybe we can help to get the moles.  She figures we can't ruin the lawn any worse than it is already.  

Well time to go on security patrol.  Ever since my human installed Big Brother, we feel the pressure to be on patrol if she is not home.  No lounging around anymore - we have to look like we are being ever-vigilant.  Unless, of course, we can manage to move just out of camera range.

So Happy birthday to my human's mother today - from her favorite grand-dog!  OK.  ONE of her favorite grand-dogs!  And cheers to many more!