As good a day as any, I thought this morning, to give Jackie and Jillie haircuts. So out came the scissors, the tiny ear-interior snips and the nail clippers, and settling out on the deck with them, I began with Jillie, the more biddable (which isn't saying much) of the two. It takes about forty-five minutes for me to snip away at each of their haircoats, a process they don't much appreciate, but a requirement fairly frequently undertaken since their hair grows so quickly.

Putting on harnesses; getting ready for our ravine walk

First the snout, then the ears, then the snipping around the pads of their paws, then their underside, then the top and sides, ears and tail. And finally the job is done. That part of it, in any event. That's when my husband takes over and clips their nails, and that's a difficult job since invariably they take exception to it.

After the bath; a hair-drying exercise in the ravine

After which it's both of us together, as I bathe each of them and my husband undertakes the far more time-consuming and finicky job of drying them. With the baths, I start with Jackie and end with Jillie. Jillie just waits patiently while I work on Jackie, but when it's the reverse and Jillie is being washed or dried, Jackie yips and whines and leaps about and it's hard to tell whether he's jealous or concerned.

Wot's taking so long?!!!!

And to complete the entire process, their bedding and their towels get a turn in the washing machine. And then it was time for our ravine walk which lately has been complete with a ripe-raspberry treat for our two brats. There is one bush in particular (it really has become a bush) in the ravine where the tiny berries are ripening day after day and my husband has been harvesting them as they ripen for the past week while Jack and Jill anxiously await the outcome. Which is to divide them into two hands-worth and offer them to be lapped up.

We noted that the sunflowers in the ravine are now beginning to bloom; earlier than what we recall from previous years. And just coincidentally, the sunflowers in our garden, those that I left to grow and mature from the winter birdseed that fell into the garden, are also now beginning to bloom.