Today is the day we celebrate Sam's birthday, March 16th. Every day we count ourselves as incredibly blessed and lucky this wise soul is still with us and happy to be with us. Enjoying his life to the fullest! Each year we recognize that he has come another year and is still healthy, enthusiastic, curioius ... we can hardly believe it. Sam was supposed to be euthanized with a tumor growing around his esophagus and windpipe over 8 years ago, yet here he is, wolfing down his food and breathing/snoring/woofing as if he had never had a tumor at all. This year we didn't make a sam-cake with candles as we did last year --Sam was afraid of the lit candles. Today he got the super-dooper-senior-dog treatment: lots of treats and a great walk in the sun. Tim made buckwheat-spelt waffles for all of us this morning. Sam had a plate of waffles with chicken, cherries, cherry-juice along, and a whole piece of sausage. Baggins also shared his food (a half can of tuna) with Sam but says, "only on his birthday." I shot these photos this morning after a late breakfast. Satisfied dog and happy humans. Happy Birthday to you, dear old friend. I wish for you many more days of life and love and joyful-dog-dreams. He's giving out Free Hugs today. Let's Party!