The air has been full of water all week. Dad and I are troopers though: a little bit of rain isn't go stop us from going on long walks! Sure, we try to stay on the green stuff and away from the mushy brown dirt but we still go for long walks in the place with fields.

When I get wet, my fur goes all curly. I like it that way but, for some reason, neither my Mom nor my Dad seem to like the curly hair as much as I do. They always bring out big soft pieces of stuff and try to make me all dry again.

Of course, with the wet and the mushy brown dirt and the sticks out there, I end up something of a mess all over. I get sticks stuck in my fur, especially around my soft underside and my legs, and my feet change colour, often darker than the dirt itself! Sometimes it's so bad I have to step into a bucket of warm wet and wash it off. I don't like that very much.

My Dad just shakes his head. Here we have the wettest week in memory, with muck and mire and sticks and Mom away so no one is here to brush me out properly, and we've got a visit to the groomer scheduled! Poor groomer! I don't think she expected me to be in quite the mess I was in when I got there!

Our Groomer is very nice. She always talks kindly to me and tries not to let it hurt when she cuts and trims and brushes all my stuff. And I always come away from a visit with her looking and smelling like a flower.

If you look at the second picture of me, you'll see what a difference it makes when I spend an afternoon at the groomer! Don't I look pretty? I even have green bows on my ears. And, as I said, I smell like a flower.

Problem is, I don't LIKE smelling like a flower. So, seconds after Dad took that second photo, I rolled around with another four legger on the ground to wipe some of the scent off (and roll some black patches on!). Oh well. My fur is shorter at least, even if, an hour after we left the groomer, it's not much cleaner than it was before.

Tags: Golden Doodle, Marlee

I think my Dad had a nefarious plan. I think he has been trying to wear me out by constantly going for walks and runs with me. I think he was trying to ensure that, while my Mom's away, he'll still be able to sleep the night through without interruption, simply by exhausting me during the day.

I have to admit. It was working. And I was loving it.

It worked really well for the past two days. Dad was home both days so we could go for four walks or more. And we could play ball in the backyard too. We did a lot of that and we went to both the place with the red dirt and the place with the fields each day as well!

But today, it was back to the regular grind. Dad got up, did his grooming, then we went for a short walk among the two-legger houses. Sadly, then I was on my own for a while. He came back after a while and we went for another short walk, then off he went again in the wheeled rolling room.

This isn't as good. And I'm letting him know it. This morning, I said, "No, I will NOT go for a long walk. Just a short one". And then in the middle of the day, I said, "No, if you can't be bothered to spend time with me then I'm NOT going to take you for a walk at all." I just let him play with me in the backyard for a while.

I want to go back to the fields. I want to run free and help him practice his throwing. I want to spend time with him, Riley, Patty and the orange balls. This short walks and then leave me alone stuff is unacceptable. Hmm... Maybe Dad's not going to get a full night's sleep tonight after all!

Tags: Golden Doodle, Marlee

I'm exhausted. I just took Dad for a long run in the place with the red dirt and the many trees and now I just can't catch my breath. Once again, a beautiful day with the ball of fire in the deep blue and not so much air moving. I think my Dad actually got too hot during our walk.

Yesterday was a good day. After our long walk in the morning, I took Dad on another long walk among the two-legger houses, all the way down to the bottom of the hill and back, just after lunch. On that kind of walk, I have to keep attached to Dad by a long rope so he doesn't stray off into the street and get hit by one of those wheeled rolling rooms I keep mentioning. Sometimes those things go fast!

In the afternoon I slept out in our backyard with the fire ball in the sky keeping me warm. That was so nice.

Then I took Dad out to the fields where the eagles and osprey fly for another walk. That's a ball walk. I help Dad get his throwing arm in shape. Every time he throws an orange ball, I run and get it and bring it back to him so he can throw it again. He never gets tired of throwing the orange balls. We met Algie on that walk. I like Algie but he always wants to take away my orange balls.

Finally, after dinner, I slept some more while Dad watched the black box with crazy colours on it. First I chewed my yummy stick, then I drifted off to sleep. So nice and safe.

I took Dad for one last walk before we both went to bed for good. Then he let me sleep all the way until the darkness had disappeared and the ball of fire was back up in the blue.

All in all, a pretty good day, I'd say. Even if my Mom wasn't here to share it. I hope she's having fun visiting the other puppies in her litter!

Tags: Marlee, Golden Doodle

Last night we went in the wheeled rolling room to that place where metal birds come and go. Mom and Dad went into the building but only Dad came back. He told me that Mom's gone home to visit her mom and dad and also to see her litter mates and their own litters of youngens.

I guess that means it's just me and Dad for a while.

I miss my Mom. I don't know when she is coming home (Dad says we'll have to sleep through 12 darknesses before we see her again) but I keep thinking maybe, just maybe, if I search the house hard enough, I'll find her. So I look and I look and I look. No luck so far.

Meanwhile, this morning I took my Dad for a long walk in the place with the red dirt and the many trees. The shining ball of fire was smiling down at us from the great blue but it was still very cold. I don't mind the cold: when it's cold I feel like I can run forever. And that's what I did. Dad threw my bright orange balls over and over again and I ran so fast to get them.

One time this very big brown four-legger took one of my orange balls and wouldn't give it back. That wasn't so nice. But he was bigger than me so I wasn't going to argue. Finally, my Dad managed to convince him to give it back and all was well.

My Dad marvels at how well I can find the little orange balls. One time he threw one and it bounced off a stick and went deep into the trees. At first I couldn't find it and my Dad even had to push his way through the trees to help. We looked and looked and looked and I sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. I was just beginning to lose hope when, suddenly, there it was whispering on the breeze: the scent of the orange ball. I tracked it back through the branches and followed it into a little hollow and then, there was the ball, nestled among the branches at the bottom of a hole.

I couldn't get my nose far enough through the branches to dig it out but Dad came along and stuck his sticky paw down and got it! Hoorray. We're quite a team. Me with my nose and him with his fingers.

Now we're back home and I'm dictating this blog. Dad says, if we write about our day every morning, my Mom will be able to read it each day and know what we've been up to. It's not as good as having her here but at least she'll know I'm thinking about her.

Tags: Marlee, Golden Doodle