So it's Thursday and Andrew will soon be off out to running club. I've just finished prepping some home made pizzas and these will go in the oven to be ready when he returns. Watched the ITT this afternoon on the Tour - Lance has scrambled back into third (riding the most awesome customised bike) with Contador holding what looks like an unassailable lead. Going into the last two stages tomorrow and Saturday there will be everything to play for to see who gets the other two podium places. Much depends on how much Brad Wiggins has got left in the tank - I'm not yet convinced he's got the stamina for two more long climbing stages but it would be interesting to be proved wrong.

We took Booty to the vet yesterday for her big day. A general anaesthetic, shoulder Xray, blood work, and a dental. The vet showed us the shoulder plates - there is a little hook of protruding bone which is causing her the pain and a tiny piece of wear on the other part of the joint. However, it was a relief that nothing else was lurking. Her blood test results were great and the dental went very well with no extractions. The level of residual staining means she still doesn't quite have a Hollywood smile a la Tom Cruise but she does look a lot better and this will have a big impact on her general health.

She was quiet but happy yesterday evening and slept peacefully on the bed with us. Today we took her and Andy over to Heath Park. She bounced, sniffed, growled, barked and trotted with every sign of full on joie de vivre - a pleasure to see. The park is full of beautiful rowans that are covered in berries - seems almost autumnal - aaargh!

When we came back from the park I made some puppy soup for her and Andy as a special treat, involving large quantitites of liver. Liver is my food Waterloo - I have hated it since early childhood and even trying the most beautifully cooked morsels in fine restaurants has never convinced me otherwise. However, in this case, all I had to do was cook it and feed it to the adoring hounds and not surprisingly they loved it.