Had to post this after Ceridwen's one yesterday

Hello - I'm Max (see yesterday's portrait) and I'm in charge here and going to take over writing this bloggy thing while HICOF (her-in-charge-of-food) is here for me to look after while she spends time poking her black box into flowers and bugs and things.

Yesterday was spent teaching her what I like and don't like - again... She was here last year when Him who has to be obeyed took his Mrs on holiday - but she's forgotten most stuff and I have to be patient and accommodating. Actually everyone was pretty sneaky yesterday because HICOF made out she was dying to go for a walk around lunchtime which is usually when we all snooze but I played helpful and agreed to accompany her - but when we got back Him who has to be obeyed and his Mrs had done a flit - they hadn't even shown me they were packing suitcases 'cos they know it upsets me. Ha! Can they ever be trusted again?

This morning HICOF was awake at 5 a.m. when the golden oriel started up but she got up at the right time because she'd set her alarm and we walked out through the vine fields and back up through the woods. We went a bit further, faster and quicker than I'm used to but she says I'm not as svelte as I was last year (should you use that term for a man?) and need to get a bit fitter. Actually what she is remembering is the fact she took the scissors to me last year and we both thought I looked pretty smart and it was certainly cooler in the temperatures of over 80'F. My Mrs was fearfully upset and said I wasn't the dog she remembered leaving. So this year she's hidden the scissors and left instructions NOT to clip - and really, with this bitter wind I'm awfully glad not to be reduced to a little blue goose pimple.

Anyway, for my first attempt at a bloggy thing that's enough for today. HICOF has taken a picture for you to see - she left me to go to the market, visited an Iris farm where they had 400 different varieties and had a friend to lunch and they drank wine so she's doing alright I think.

P.S. We went for another long walk tonight and got caught in the rain. HICOF discovered a cherry tree in a hedge and managed to reach a few to nibble on the way home but I had fun chasing and putting up a grey partridge. Extraordinary really as I didn't think anything could be left alive after tripping over empty cartridge cases every few yards on my walks!