LETTER FROM TESSIE-WOO

Dear Lilli,

Hello again from your furry friend, Tessie-Woo.

Guess what? It is Autumn here now at Wentworth Falls and lots of leaves have started dropping on the ground. People say how pretty they are are when they change colour from green to red or yellow or purple but I can't tell the colours because we dogs can only see things in blacks and whites and grays. I have a favourite spot in Uncle E's living room - it is in front of the heater under the window facing our house. The sun comes in onto the carpet there, just where I curl up in front of the heater, so I have warm sun on myback and the heater blows warm air onto my fur and tickles nicely, like someone is patting me. We have lovely fires in the living room at night and I lie under the glass table with Wups and snooze while everyone else watches TV.

It's Easter here, so Wups and I have been outside looking for the Easter Bunny. We got all wet 'cos it is raining and Wups was naughty and decided to run in the mud and got all dirty, but I didn't, 'cos I'm a good dog. Uncle E had to wipe Wups with a wet cloth to remove all the mud. Wups didn't wipe his feet either, so we had muddy footprints all over the carpets. We haven't decided yet what to do with the Easter Bunny if we catch him. Wups thinks he would be nice to eat, but I said we better not, 'cos a lot of children would be sad and would have no Easter eggs if we gobbled him up and swallowed him. Anyway, we have lots of lovely things to eat which Uncle E gives us. Did you know that dogs are not allowed to have Easter eggs? I wondered why, but Uncle E told me that chocolate makes dogs very sick and we can die if we eat it, so that's why we aren't allowed. It smells awfully nice, though.

I'm a good guard dog and tell Uncle E when people are coming to the door. I've even taught Wups to bark with me. The other day people came and E was working in the cottage and he heard us barking so he came. The people were afraid of us, so they did not dare to open the door thinking we might bite them, but we wouldn't do that. Wups would probably lick them to death. He still likes to jump up on people sometimes and if they are small like you, he knocks them over and sometimes makes them cry, but he doesn't mean to frighten people, it's just his way of saying 'hello'.

We go for walks most days. I like going to the shops best, because we get to walk in the park and then at the shops everyone pats us and says "How CUTE". Jason comes with us on Mondays. He's a bit of a fat skite 'cos he caught a mouse at his house and he has to tell us about it all the time.

I piddled inside when I was frightened to go out because of a storm with lightning and thunder, and carpet feels just like grass. Uncle E didn't yell at me 'cos he knew I was frightened so I will try not to do it again.

Uncle E leaves the back gate open for us to play in the lane and sometimes,when the car is full of kids he can't take us for a ride so we run down the lane and follow the car. He stops the car and gets cross at us and sends us home and so we wait for him to come back. Naughty Wups ran after the car all the way up to the highway one day but one of Ben's friends saw him there and brought him back home. I always go home 'cos I'm better behaved than Wups is. Wups nearly got hit by by a car outside his house last week. He neverlooks carefully before crossing the road. The car made an awful screech and the tyres left skid marks. Wups got a fright and ran home straight away, so he might have learnt something. It's a pity he doesn't learn some manners too - he always pushes in front of me to beat me thru the door or up the stairs or out the dog door. He loves having me living here with him and I like him very much, but he's rough and I'm nice.

Well, my paws are getting a bit tired from doing all this writing so I will say bye-bye with lots of love, licks and wags to you and my dear daddy, Tim and my mummy Shar. I do hope the Easter Bunny gets to your new house and leaves lots of pretty Easter eggs for you.

Tessie-Woo.

P.S. Uncle E asks me to send his love to all of you too.

TESSIE WOO

Lilli has had some lovely letters from Tessie Woo. She is a very talented pooch - I think she should be writing children's stories. Here is the first letter she recieved:

Dear Lilli,

"Woof !!"that means "Hello" from Wentworth Falls to my best and youngest friend {YOU} I am having a lovely time living with uncle E and Ben and Wups 'cos they look after me and give me nice things to eat for breakfast and for dinner and they play with me and each day Wups and I go for a nice walk to the shops. Sometimes Jason comes with us and everybody in the street admires each of us and we get nice pats from people. I get more pats than anyone else. Ha Ha.

I am friends with Rosie too, she likes me because I am gentle. Wups is very rude and pushes her with his nose which she doesn't like. He is so big he could probably gobble her up for breakfast if he wanted, but he wouldn't do that to Rosie.

Wups loves having me to stay at his place and it feels like it is MY place now. Sometimes he sleeps on MY bed and leaves no room for me, so I found a great new spot to sleep. It is a triangle shaped step with carpet on it, high up at the top of the stairs outside Ben's room. It is a perfect size for me. It is under a window, so I get lovely cool fresh air when I'm sleeping there. I do have to be careful not to fall out of bed though, 'cos I would probably roll down the stairs to the bottom like a bouncy furry ball.

It is lovely having stairs to run up and down on, and I have my special door now at the bottom of that stairs and it is easy for me to pop outside anytime I want. Wups likes using my door and sometimes we race to get outside and I'm always too quick for him but he tries to squeeze thru with me and only gets his nose thru the hole until I am outside. He really is a big boof-head sometimes.

There is a nice lady living at your old house and she has kids who are the same age as you. They love me and are gentle with me and invite me over to play and often I stay all night with them. The kids love using the swimming pool 'cos everyday is warm and sunny here now. I don't bark at them though, 'cos i know they are safe as their mother watches them while they are in the water.

Uncle E gives me lots of cuddles and pats every morning when I wake up and every night when I go to bed. He feeds me all my favourite food. Wups gets jealous, but he gets cuddles too and he sleeps on Uncle E's bed. He told me that you had a sore throat. I do hope it feels better now.

Sometimes I lie still at the top pf the stairs, and, 'cos i am the same colour as the carpet, no-one can see me unless I move. It's like magic and I'm invisible. Then I jump up to surprise Ben and Wups who don't know I'm there cos they can't see me. We have great fun.

Wups plays chasey wth me in his back yard and sometimes we wrestle and he always lets me win. Then I get to stand on his chest with my two front paws 'cos I'm the Champion and Wups is lying upside down on the ground with his head on the grass. He pretends that he's been knocked over, but I know he isn't hurt because his tail is always wagging. We take turn in fetching the ball too, but Wups chews them up into little bits when he can and now we don't have a ball to play with at all. Uncle E promises me he will try to find a solid rubber ball, so Wups can't chew holes in it.

We have a new game with the hose: Wups lives biting the water as it comes out of the hose in a stream and chases the stream everywhere that uncle E points it. Wups gets very wet and I laugh at him. Naughty Wups chewed the end of the hose while no one was looking and made a hole in it annd the water squirted out of it because the tap was turned on. He got all wet and muddy but I didn't. I was good.

We have our own separate bowls for dinner, but when Wups is not looking I like to pinch some of his dinner. He says to Uncle e, "Who did that? " and doesn't know it was me, and Uncle e smiles and pretends he doesn't know either and then gives Wups some more.

Wups and I like to hunt little wiggly lizards every day. We never hurt them but love trying to catch them. Wups found a brown snake in the front garden and told Uncle e, The snake didn't bite any one because we weren't nasty to him. We let him slither away safely. We also have some Cicadas in the yard. They are big orange beetles with lovely wings like fairies or dragonflies have, and they are easy to hear as they make loud sounds like crickets do. They are hard to find, cos they hide deep in the ground. Sometimes they come out and rest on a tree trunk and crawl ot of their old shells when they get too big for them. They leave their dark brown shells holding onto the bark. These look like big beetles but they are completely empty inside.

Sometimes Wups and I go for walks together up the back lane and around the back street without telling uncle e. We are a bit naughty doing so, cos it is not always safe as Wups sometimes walks on the road, but I tell him to stay off and we always end up back at Uncle E's place usually on the mat at his front door where he lets us in and tells us we have been naughty and gives us both a treat and a drink.

I do miss you and Tim and Shar, but I am never sad as it is nice being with Wups and Uncle E and Ben is very kind to me too. He thinks I'm nicer to walk than Wups, because Wups pulls his lead and I don't. Wups is really very rough sometimes, but not with me. Because of the holidays, lots of kids visit Ben every day I'm never bored and I seem to be busy all day so I do not often get time for a nap like I used to. But I go to bed straight after dinner and sleep well all night.

I do hope you like your new home and that you meet some nice kids. Perhaps you could tell Shar some things to write to me on the email and then Uncle e can tell me your news.

Lots of love and warm licks from your favourite puppy dog, TesSie WoO

PS: See you later, alligator. In a while, crocodile. If you wish, Jelly fish.