He's just a little fellow, likely a juvenile. We catch glimpses of him now and again scuttling through the garden. And Jackie and Jillie certainly get to sniff a lot of his scent. In the winter, Irving would clean up his droppings because for sure Jackie and Jillie would regard them as we do Smarties, to be gobbled up. Last night they alerted us to his presence on the porch, our nosy, noisy little pups. 

He was aware we were observing him, delighted at his presence, still and attentive under the porch bench. It wasn't yet dark, dusk had just started to move in. He was waiting for us to go away so he could relax and enjoy the offerings on the porch. And sure enough, as soon as we moved away he mustered the confidence to emerge from his little hiding space to finish up what the squirrels and our resident raccoon had left.

This morning we spent quite a while out of the house. Jackie and Jillie know the drill and it's not one they're pleased with. We come downstairs first thing in the morning, take them out to the backyard, set the table for breakfast, then tell them to behave and go off to do the grocery shopping just as the doors open, to ensure we're not shopping in a crowd of people. J&J no longer stand at the door as we leave, howling.

As soon as we've come back in the house from the backyard and begin setting the table, on this particular day of the week, they run back upstairs to bed, and stay there. They no longer see us off, whining and begging to be taken with us. They know they won't be. And as we leave, Jackie emits a few short, sharp barks: 'come back soon!'

As it happened we weren't. Back soon, that is. We ran a few other errands; went to the Dollar store to pick up a few things and saw that some of their aisles were closed off; COVID regulations that only necessary products may be sold while we're under lockdown. And we went over to a garden centre to see if we could find any bedding plants. When I asked one of the many young women who milled about doing things (more service personnel than customers at that time of day) where I could find the zinnias, she asked if they were annuals or perennials. They had none. In fact they had little of anything, though it's a huge space. But I did get some needed bonemeal to enrich the potting soil.

What a reunion when we returned home...leaping and kissing and thanking the heavens on high that we hadn't deserted them, after all. Treats all around, more visits to the backyard, shower and breakfast. Oh yes of course, putting all the groceries away in short order.

After breakfast Irving drove the car down to CanadianTire (the store is closed but the auto repair portion open under COVID lockdown rules) for an oil change. It's warmer today than the previous five days, the temperature reaching 24C, sunny and windy. So it was a pleasant walk for him to return home, after leaving the car. And then we went off to the ravine for our afternoon tramp through the forest trails.

The forest is vividly green. It leafed out in record time this year. An odd combination of a cool April morphing into a suddenly-warm early May did wonders for the forest. We could hardly believe the swift transformation. The appearance of the forest wildflowers seemed earlier than usual. But oddly, few blossoms on the wild apple trees. And in the papers I read an account by someone from Environment Canada, noting just how speedily this year everything greened up. So it wasn't just our imagination.

Speaking of the newspapers, in today's edition of the local paper there's a feature story on the front page of the comedy of errors taking place with the second dose of the COVID vaccines which over-80s were urged to make appointments for. Our experience was anything but rare. The booking glitches were fully revealed. The provincial premier may have extolled the move for the "most vulnerable, the people who need the most protection first", but that's not how things turned out when those "most vulnerable" were informed second doses weren't available for them, after all. 

 It isn't Premier Ford's fault, to be sure, but that of the Prime Minister of Canada whose epic failure to secure vaccine contracts in a timely manner had failed the country.

We're catching up, however, at least in the administration of first doses. Ours was in late March, and now our second dose is scheduled for mid-July. Unorthodox to the manufacturer's specifications, but that's how it's worked out.