The Sun Is Shining, Let's Play Ball

Yesterday the sun was shining, the temperature was in the mid forties and the birds were singing. When we went outside for our mid-day play, they all sat around looking at me.


It was like little kids saying they were bored. There's no more snow, what are we going to do now?


Then they got together and held a conference.


It was a unanimous decision. We'll play ball.


Everyone ran around picking up balls that had been hidden by the snow. Samba found one.


Tsar doesn't play ball, but he likes to chase the others as they race after the thrown balls.


Suddenly I was very busy throwing balls, one after another. The whole pack was in action.


Sometimes more than one dog ran after a certain ball. Then a big chase happened.


As soon as they could grab them, they came back for me to throw them again.


We had mainly glow balls, but Morgan found a tennis ball that she liked. She loves to peel them, but this one still had it's skin.


Hurry up and throw it.


They were coming back faster than I could throw.


Everyone got into the game.


Here they come again.


The dogs were getting a lot of exercise running up and down the hill retrieving balls.


Noah complained about getting straw in his mouth. I had to stop and remove it for him.


Sometimes I was surprised to see who got to the ball first. They have very competitive spirits.


As they started to tire, some of them used the safe spot under the swing to get a little rest. Here Tess is in the safe zone and the others are waiting for her to come out with the ball. They all respect the safe zone.


Samba made many trips up and down the hill.


She drops the ball for me to throw again.


They stare at the ball as if it's going to move on it's own.


When she gets tired of waiting for me, she barks at the ball.


The game went on for well over an hour and everyone was having a good time. There were enough balls in play so that they could all play and there were no arguments.


They were finally starting to slow down a little and just stroll up the hill.


There was still enough energy for a good chase.


Tsar, the cat-dog, found a good seat to observe the silly water dogs wasting all that energy.


And the winner, as usual, is Morgan. When everyone was tired and ready to go inside, Morgan brought the ball in with her and napped with it beside her.

Then last night the temperature dropped to 11 degrees and there was frost on the ground this morning. More snow is supposedly on the way. I'm glad they got a good ballgame in before winter hits us again.