This morning, we woke up at 4:30 a.m. to the whistling of a white-throated sparrow, the "O Canada bird", who sings the opening phrase of our national anthem to announce his presence to the world. He also has a wide range of piercing two-note calls and, now that it's getting hot and we have our windows open, he can jolt us out of a sound sleep.

At the first flutter of an eyelid, Rosie the cat is on the job to finish what the sparrow started. Whether we want it to or not, our day has begun.