welcome wagon

We had a nice family visit today, just to meet the Clumbers. Goes with the territory when you have a somewhat rare breed. Good breeders and the breed's rescue organization are not going to place a dog with someone who has never met a Clumber. Seeing one on tv or reading about them on the web or in books isn't enough. So a few times a year, we welcome strangers into our home and let the dogs do what they do best.. Few people who have met our dogs end up getting a different breed, in spite of all the hair and drool they end up taking with them.

Penguin was in rare form, showing off the typical Clumber "U", when they are wiggling so much that they bend themselves into a U shape. She let go of the toy in her mouth only long enough to try to lick our guests. Chewy, spotting an easy target, flopped onto his back and waited for the inevitable belly rub.

The family has four kids, all under 6 or so, and all dressed in matching shirts. They were adorable but mostly uninterested in the dogs, save one. They did enjoy playing with Oliver's toys, and fortunately, Oliver didn't seem to mind. He was really overwhelmed at first, but did get comfortable after a few minutes.

After today I can say, without equivocation, two kids will be enough for us, not that it was really in much doubt before today. And while I'm on the subject of kids, I think CD and I decided on a name for Baby v2.0, the girl version, last night. It will be a surprise to everyone but us but I can divulge that she will not be named Esmerelda, Endora, or any other character from Bewitched. We will tell you it's a girl, but you all have to wait for her to arrive before we share her name. We have seen far too many people change their minds based on silly criticism prior to the child's birth. We love the name and as long as it seems to suit her when we first see her, that's the name we will go with. This strategy worked well for us with Oliver and we are going to stick with it. So there.