It feels like summer today.

Elaine and I spread a blanket out on the grass in the front yard, and she got to pull up fistfuls of grass for, pretty much, the first time in her life. After about ten minutes of concentrated grass-uprooting, she stopped to declare, "Guh, guuuh, guuh!" That's her word for things she likes.

Before that, Trudy let us take her on a walk. I've been working on her training ever since Patrick died. I had Patrick trained to walk perfectly on leash, but Trudy didn't spend two years walking around Green Lake almost every day as a puppy. So, when we started her training in the fall, I was lucky if she didn't pull me over. Today, we made a five or six block circuit, and, since she and I are equally strong, that success was entirely dependent on her good behavior. That fact was particularly driven home when we passed a man with a pair of Shiba Inus. We had to stand and wait for them, because Trudy wouldn't let me walk away from them, and I wouldn't let her walk toward them. So, until they went by, we were at a complete stand off.

Living in this house, summer has developed a taste: rosemary. There are several bushes of rosemary in the front yard, and, in the summer, we pick it to put on pasta. I will very much miss those bushes when we move.