I can tell that it is not summer temperatures yet ... I've woken up this morning with a runny nose due to the cold night last night. The other thing that awoke me was a certain family canid sticking her muzzle into my face and doing her imitation of a dragon in delight at having found the spare round stick in the house and wanting me to get up immediately and play with her.

Yonja has finally 'lost' her original security stick (or hid it and now can't find it) so I bought her a couple of tennis balls ... the trouble is that she doesn't respond to the word ball - in her lexicon obviously all those things that can be tossed for fetching are called "sticks". We are all feeling a bit silly tossing a ball and telling her to "fetch her stick"!
On the other hand, she has also found that she can bring her round, yellow sticks into the house and hide them more safely than her other long stick. But it is so funny watching her sneaking them into the house because, you know, it is after all a 'stick' and sticks are to be left at the door. I am considering teaching her a new trick, and leaving a basket/bucket by the back door where her 'sticks' can be dropped on her way in. I think sticks are going to have to be left outside, whether they are ex-tree branches or yellow tennis balls ...

Even so, the look on her face this morning when she woke me with her ball in her mouth was really funny — it's nice to wake up with a bit of a laugh!