It's a beautiful day

The sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Finally, summer has arrived. So you'd think that Mollie would leap out of bed, grab a tennis ball and demand to play - but no, she refused to get out of bed. After being called a few times she reluctantly staggered downstairs and flumped onto the beanbag, from whence she gave me a hard stare before tucking her nose under a hind leg and muttering "hrrrrmmmmph" - remember the sound that hovercrafts make when they land and 'deflate'? It's extraordinarily similar. Obviously the cats were obliged to eat her breakfast rather than let it go to waste.

Mollie didn't shift again until it was time to go next door. When I opened our front door she had a brief moment of excitement as there was a strange dog wandering past so she obviously had to run out and chase it, which was rather worrying; luckily there was no traffic! On the way to the neighbour's she was still barking smugly to herself... but once there she went straight upstairs to bed.

Have I mentioned that Mollie doesn't do mornings?

Water Baby

On Tuesday, we went to Sence Valley Forest Park again - and this time we took a camera. It was warm out and it's a 2 mile drive, so by the time we got there Mollie was starting to overheat slightly. We threw the ball as we walked (off and on - when produced from a pocket and squeaked it provides an excellent distraction from other dogs) and by the time we got to the first bridge, Mollie was panting hard. I walk down to the 'stream' to see if I could persuade her to have a drink, but she decided that was enough and flung herself in. We spent a few minutes chucking the ball from one bank to the other, with Mollie swimming across the current, then walked further down to where the path slopes down towards the water, and Trace threw the ball - and off went Mollie. As you can see, she really enjoys swimming now!! When we took her to Bosworth Water Park in April, it took several attempt to get her in the water and she wasn't very confident at all. Since then she's really toned up and got stronger and generally more confident and that obviously helps with the swimming as well.

There are some more photos here, in a slide show. The white gravel in some of the photos shows where the paths were eroded by the flood, and the straw across the path shows where the water was up to at the weekend.

Back in the car, Mollie (with the aid of her wet fur) managed to slip her harness and escape onto the parcel shelf. She then spent almost the entire trip from Ibstock to Loughborough (we went to visit some friends) drying herself and nesting. Here she is drying her muddy face on the shelf - her tail was wagging so hard that it's just a blur!!

The rear windscreen is now a bit filthy... and the harness is going to be adjusted somewhat before it's used again - it was new so I didn't quite tighten it enough...