It has been rainy and cold all day. Was a good day to kick back. Veronica and Brandon left early this morning and we just relaxed after that. They wore us out. Guess we are not as spry as we once were. Oh, well.

We spent yesterday morning at the Anne Arundel Youth Football Associations' 2008 Championships. Why you ask? Well, one of our grandsons, Shane, was playing in one of the championship playoff games. He plays in the 80 Pound League and is an offensive tackle. These kids were awesome. The parents were going wild. Closing my eyes, I could see ourselves at a high school or college football game. And to top it all off, they played at the U.S. Naval Academy Stadium in Annapolis. It was a clear, crisp day and the excitement was everywhere. Quite the event. They lost though. But they played one heck of a game to try and beat their opponents. As they grow older and if they keep up their training, they will be awesome in high school and college. What was more amazing was how their coaches talked to them. I can see why they are a championship team. Great kids and terrific coaches.

We now have a match to the name Guinness and a puppy. This is a picture of him at 4 weeks old. He was 5 weeks old yesterday. We made the decision today and, at present, we pick him up at 11 AM on December 13th. The excitement mounts.

Today marks the official beginning of this years Christmas Season. OK, call me politically incorrect, insensitive, whatever, but I refuse to use the term Holiday Season. To me it has, and will always be, the Christmas Season. Since today is Black Friday(click here to see the origin of the term), and we live near a large shopping mall, we will make sure we stay off the main roads today. Hopefully, we will have no need to go out at all.

Our Thanksgiving, yesterday, was very quiet for the two of us. We spent the morning preparing the turkey breast and other fixin's, ate an early meal, then relaxed with some reading, soothing music, some internet research and James Bond movies. Today and the rest of the weekend, however, will be a bit livelier when Veronica and Brandon show up this afternoon. Just gonna hang out and do some cooking.

Our excitement, being generated by the upcoming arrival of Guinness, has brightened up our Christmas spirit quite a bit. He will be five weeks old tomorrow and we will take him home with us two weeks from that. Our house looks like a pet store with all the toys, wire and travel kennels, and other puppy items about. We have also been watching every episode of Victoria Stillwell's It's Me or the Dog airing on the Animal Planet channel. This woman is amazing with her knowledge of training dogs. We'll make sure we post how Guinness' training proceeds. Did I mention we are excited?

We are making final preparations for our annual trip south next week. Most items have been gathered. Just need to wash and prepare the truck, load it and hit the road. Not going to be a camping trip like Maine/Canada was. It will be more comfortable this time. We'll pick up the fifth wheel where it is stored in Georgia, stay there for two weeks, head to Jacksonville for two weeks, back to Georgia for a few days, then back to Maryland. That is always the hardest part. Maybe we can get there permanently by next spring.

Puppy Video

Mountain Creek Doodles are the most awesome family we have seen when it comes to breeders of Labradoodles. They have posted a new video of Lucy's litter and Guinness is in there somewhere. Aren't they the cutest? Can't wait to pick him up. They are growing so fast.

We have decided to increase the size of our family by one. One puppy that is. We had been putting off getting a dog until we have settled on to Berry Oaks, but we did not want to wait any longer. Once we had decided on a Labradoodle, Joyce scoured the breeders list and picked one, the Mountain Creek Doodles, in Simpsonville, SC, just outside of Greenville.

In case you are not familiar with a Labradoodle, it is a mix of a Poodle and a Labrador Retriever. For more information on a Labradoodle, click here. This particular litter is an F1b with a caramel female Standard Poodle, Lucy, and a chocolate male F1 mini-Labradoodle, Wonka.

Lucy's litter was born October 25th. Four boys and five girls. These puppies are expected to be between 25 and 40 pounds. Not much taller than two feet. Just the right size to travel with. We are sure it will love the Fifth Wheel. They are now 3 1/2 weeks old and are growing like weeds in a wet spring. They are adorable. Check out the new pictures and video: (Click here)

We have named the puppy Guinness, for obvious reasons, and are supposed to pick it up the second week in December. We can't wait. They'll be a lot more about Guinness as this blog progresses.