Puppydom

I think I can now be a little more official regarding our future puppy. It's looking like we're going to be able to buy one of our friend Dawn's labrador puppies...

Dawn is probably our first official 'St. Peter' friend (besides the folks at Kristen's work that are contractually obligated to hang with us). And, actually, Dawn's family has long-time ties with Kristen's family on her Dad's side (small world, huh?). Dawn's dog, Lizzy had a litter of seven pups, three yellows, three chocolates and one black a little more than 5 weeks ago. Our little man, 'Axel' is the puppy on in the picture on the right with the pink nose. Dawn has been keeping a complete record of the growth of the puppies on her blog -- and, I have to admit, kind of inspired me to start ours.

We're supposed to find out the official, official, final, final word from the bank tomorrow. As it seems things have gone smoothly thus far, I am cautiously optimistic about the remainder of the process. We're still hoping that the closing can take place on or around March 10th. Puppy as soon as we can get the house set to sleep in and puppy-ready. I'm going to try to appreciate our urine-free days between now and then.

(At left: Mike, circa 1986 with beagle-mutt puppy from one Denny Jakobi and family)