Katie here.  I would just like to say that my Mama makes me play fetch.

If I don’t look at her she’ll let me take a nap.

We play fetch a lot.

I keep bringing her back the ball.

And even though I get sort of bored with it, I continue till she gives up.

And keep bringing it back.

Cause it makes her happy.

It’s a never ending job.

And that’s my job, to make my Mama happy.

Of course sometimes a girl’s got to say enough!

And I’m very good at it.  Don’t you know.

Thank you, thank you very much.

Last night at the end of a very long and difficult week I told my husband I had thought about checking into a hotel so that I could sleep all night and wake up when I woke up as opposed to when Katie-girl thought I should be up and on full alert.  We laughed about that a little bit and I said that I had high hopes of being able to sleep till 7 because it stayed dark later in the mornings and Katie hadn’t been all that eager to get up at 6 with me all week.  Perhaps she would stay asleep this dark December morning.

My husband, being the hero that he is, took Katie to sleep in the master bedroom with him and I got to sleep in quiet undisturbed luxury in the guest room.  I woke a couple of times, disoriented, but fell right back to sleep and dreamed long and complicated dreams none of which I can quite remember this morning.  I woke up on my own at 7:30!  It was a wonderful thing.

I got up and let Katie out of the other bedroom.  She appeared to be standing patiently by the door, though I hadn’t heard her bark.  How she knew I was up is beyond me.  Sheltie telepathy I guess.  She was very excited to see me, all wriggling and happy kisses.  I think she thought I had gone to that hotel after all.

I took her out to do her morning business and could see the tracks from the night before when my husband had taken her out while I was sleeping.  There was a big circle, his footprints in the middle and at least two rows of little paw prints  at the outside edge.  She’s a circle kind of girl.  This morning her nose went right down into the paw prints and she began to circle, faster and faster, huffing all the way, tracking some beast that had been in her yard.  I laughed at her and asked her if she was trying to track a heffalump.  (Do you remember the Pooh story in which he and Piglet were scared but bravely tracked the heffalump’s footprints around and around a big bush, noting there appeared to be more and more heffalump tracks as they went around?)  Katie huffed at me, tossed her head and did her jobs.  She does not like to be embarrassed by her Mama.

Inside we played a rousing game of fetch and then I promised her a game of Frisbee in the snow covered back yard later this afternoon.  She’s waiting for me at the back door now.  She’s going to make me pay for that dog free night of sweet sleep.

Yes she is.