b. tzu's art of blankie-gami

There are all sorts of blankie configurations that the little kielbasa has perfected since he's come into our home. At first, tiny chumley really didn't know what to do with a blankie when he encountered it on his bed, other than sleep on top of it. Those were the days when his beds stayed neat and tidy, and young Baxter quickly settled into dream suckling slumber.

Perhaps it's when Baxter began to sleep with more regularity in our bed did he develop the habit of pulling his blankies down on his own bed, as if he were pulling the covers back the way he sees us doing it every night. There is blankie and there is bed, and I must be between it, he must have surmised from our nightly rituals. Now, minutes can go by while chumley scratches at his own beds, nudging his blankies every which way until he finds the perfect lumpy configuration. Most of his beds in our house are now a disheveled mess unless I undo his work, remake his bed, so that he can unmake them again.

Add a second blankie into the mix and a world of possibilities opens up for this little wiener dog's blankie-gami pursuits. In the winter, especially on when sleeping on the sofa, little kielbasa often stays completely buried under his blankies, with nary an air hole to let precious heat escape. Now, in the early summer, Baxter's underground blankie oasis reinvents itself as a blankie cave, with an opening just big enough to poke out stubby little feet, a wet nose, and even a little bit of tummy, to help keep things temperature controlled.

Yes, there are days when Baxter is all about the tummy tan, but there are also days like these when it's all about the blankie cave. My name is Baxter, and I am almost three and a half years old.