Birthday Boy

A lovely sleep last night! Oh how good that feels. In fact, I dozed until I became aware of 'Woman's Hour' on the radio - 10 o’clock!

Fortunately, JR was up, taken the dogs out, fed them, and dispatched Archie for the day with Annemique. They went off to the beach, where he had a wonderful time with another collie friend - Molly. (Extra) She is only six months old and full of bouncy fun - not normally Archie's companion of choice - but they got on fine, and had great fun running around all day.

But today belongs to the Birthday Boy - Rufus is 12! That's 84 in human years. I hope I’m as spry as he is when I’m 84. Today he was charging around attacking the hoover.

His mum face timed us this afternoon while he opened his presents - a bottle of 'Pawsecco' and a cake to share with Archie.

I took Rufus out for a walk this afternoon, via the doctors' surgery, where I picked up my 'get out of jail free jury duty' letter. I shall hot foot it down to the courts tomorrow. I must say, it's a novelty to be able to just pick up the dog and go into any shop.

Love this shot. Archie has slyly managed to get his paw in front of Rufus's - that's a first. He's hoping we notice, but Rufus doesn’t.