One of Guinness’s favorite things to steal for the chase game is a placemat. When I clear off the table, if I forget to put the placemats away, one will be in his mouth within minutes. Our placemats have been washed recently more than they ever have been.

While removing clothes from the dyer, Guinness often sticks his head in the door to the dryer. As I pulled out a sheet, he stole a placemat and off he ran.

On our walk today, when we reached the ballfield, Sonya, a one year old yellow lab whom we have met once before, was there. They had a ball playing; they would wrestle with vicious looking teeth, then close their mouths and you could see their smiles. They had so much fun.

On our way home, Guinness fell in a mud puddle, and it was only 27 F today. He probably slipped on the icy coating; I didn’t see it happen. I was not pleased. That meant I had to pull out the “clean” hose, hook it up to the laundry tub to have warm water. First, I had to hose out the garage as it was full of winter yuck, but that was a good thing that I was forced to clean the mess. Guinness then had his bath with warm hose water in the garage and was banned to his crate to dry off.