Baxter the Brave and the Curious White Box

For Baxter, time marches to a different beat. His idea of multitasking is curling up in one of his many beds with one eye half open so he can simultaneously sleep, keep us company, and be on the lookout for any suspicious activity. Most of the time, sleep manages make itself into the primary task of the day.

This Sunday morning, Baxter had chosen himself a fine bed positioned with prime views of both the kitchen and dining room, both areas in which he knew his mom has been known to spend hours. A wise choice, he figured, considering I was getting things out of the pantry and starting to put things in the mysterious new white box that he could barely see on the counter. Once he confirmed nothing of interest was going to drop to the floor for his possible consumption, he let out a contented sigh and started drifting off to his one-eyed slumber.

The first beep from the white box was just loud enough to make both eyes open. His ears pricked by the second beep. Rarely did Baxter's multitasking efforts end with actually finding suspicious activity, but this white box was certainly starting to look like something he should be concerned about. The curious white box could barely get out its first lump-dump-dump sound when Baxter jumped out of his bed, now fully prepared to alert those around him to impending danger. By the time the white box got into full motion bread kneading mode, Baxter was engaged in the dance of bark and skitter. Bark. There's something strange going on here. Skitter. I think it might eat me. Bark. You better do something about it. Skitter. C'mon, this thing is PO-SESSED! Bark. Go away, white box. If they don't do something about it, I will. Skitter. Hey did that thing just move again???

And so it goes that our brave little barker can handle the meanest of toe sucking vacuum cleaners with nary a chirp, but has now made enemies with our new Sunbeam bread machine. Thank goodness for the overnight delay bake option.