A Warm Puppy is the Best Thing on a Cold Night

Barb is on a business trip and Ava has been keeping us company for a few days. Since the last time she slept over, she has calmed down a little bit but she still wants a good solid play time in the evening. Most of the day she is contented to follow us around, or sleep, or accompany Norm on a walk over to the bicycle path in the park and back. She has figured out it's OK to go to bed when Norm does instead of waiting for me, and also that it's going to be Norm, not me, who throws on some clothes and lets her out of a morning. Early morning, almost before light. (Sunrise is at 7:10 at our longitude/latitude right now.) This dog apparently has an embedded microchip that goes off like an alarm clock at 6:50 a.m. CST every day. At least that's when she starts to wake us up. So in addition to being a pretty good playmate, couch throw and foot blanket, she's a reliable wake up call as well.