It was the first day of what I call Adventure Days – Missy calls them the weekend. Despite of the good weather, we started with a short walk in the morning which is a sure sign of Things To Come.

There was excitement in the air since last night, Missy had been busy in the kitchen, well, busier than usual, and she pulled out a big bag which still had the smell of the river and the mountain – a trip we took last year. So it was gonna be something special, that was sure!

“You’re gonna meet the Team today, Mia!” Missy announced.

It seemed significant, so to make sure I look good despite the short hair Missy cut me, I rolled on my bed and on the carpet to get that scruffy look I like.

“I’m ready!” I announced, but it took a while for Missy to say goodbye to the cat. Honestly, I didn’t mind leaving her behind, Adventure Days are our thing with Missy, and while it wasn’t bad to have the cat around, there are things I don’t wanna share.

We set off to the usual hill where we take long walks on Adventure Days but while Missy was slower with the big bag, she also didn’t let me stop and smell often. How can she just walk past all these scents and stories, I’ll never understand.

There was an aggressive message from a male dog to say he’s full of himself, and I wanted to tell him off; another left a mark showing she had too much to eat, and I wanted to leave a note saying I hardly had any breakfast. There was a path smelling of rabbits, weak, but still exciting, a cat had walked there before them, and then oh, a fox had found the rabbit-path and followed them, but I never found out what happened, because Missy rudely pulled me away.

No matter, there were new smells, new stories, and a lot of people and dogs, and everyone had an energy of leisure and pleasure that made me smile. What a great day, I thought.

We waited in one place for a long while to gather some people, which was a little boring and frustrating at the same time because there was a lot of good food nearby, and I didn’t get any. Honestly, after having no breakfast either, I was starting to get a little mad.

But then we set off, and I got distracted.

The new people were nice. I got lots of pets (still no food though) but their attention was mostly on the smoke they kept creating. They put great-smelling food next to it but I was told off when I went nearby. Rude! I find it weird that humans are fascinated with smoke, there were a number of them in the area, too, and I have to say, ours wasn’t the best-smelling of the bunch.

But just I was about to say this to Missy, a new friend showed up, Lizzie! She was cute, calm, a little shy at first but then we really hit it off!

Then finally Missy gave us some food, thankfully not the vegetables they were cooking: no matter how much they were saying it looked good, I smelt more delicious things around.

It was warm, so I wanted to go to the shades and dig myself a hole in the cool soil but there was more food getting ready which smelt really great, and as you know, there’s a bigger chance of getting something to eat if you keep close to the food, so I endured the heat, and followed people to give me some small bites. Which they did not.

There were now more people with us, everybody busying around, pulling meat, vegetables, plates out of their bag, combining them this way and that way, with no consideration of the hungry dogs around them who just wanted something quick.

Finally they sat down, everything was ready, even according to them. I was hoping they’d be better than Missy, who never gives me food when she’s eating (except when it’s pizza, which we eat together, but clearly this was not it), but I had to wait a long time to get more of that smoky deliciousness into my belly.

It was a long day, this Teambuilding, I got very tired, and a little grumpy in the end, but let me tell you, if it happens again, I’m in!