I am feeling slightly better today. Even so, a PAD on a day like today remains a chore. I had managed to get as far as loading the memory card into the camera and that was as far as my limited imagination had got me.

The light evenings have brought about the most wonderful and unexpected bit of humour into our world. The dogs sit by the garden doors and watch the birds, mice, snuffle pigs and rabbits going about their business in our garden’s very own daily soap opera. It’s really exciting. Will the blackbird with the bad leg stop by? How many long-tail tits will be on the fat ball at one time? Is that rabbit asking to be chased? Will a mouse be a tasty treat if I can catch it? Did that jackdaw REALLY drop a piece of bread on the floor…and will anyone notice if I snaffle it up?

You can tell the level of interest by how close to the glass the dogs’ noses are and where the mice etc are running by the movement of their heads. When it all gets too exciting, Lola will “ask to go out” – we have taught all our dogs to ask to go out by tapping on the door with their paws. It’s a blessing and a curse, believe me! Tonight, the dogs asked to go out and this has a pantomime element to it because JD goes first at full tilt, Lola follows also at full tilt and she’s faster than him so there is this comedy moment where she runs into the back of him and then he turns around to see what’s just hit him!

They’ve been out. They’ve chased away all of the garden’s wild critters. They’ve barked at Emma and Jim’s horses (and possibly Emma and Jim too). They’ve patrolled the borders, sniffed around to see what they can find and now they want to come in.

They knock on the door again but of course now they have muddy paws. Excellent – so, here is a photo of a pair of scallywags asking to come in through doors that are actually clear glass, not that you’d know it! They do look angelic to me and I know the dirt isn’t actually on their faces but it might as well be.