We had considered getting a new family pet sometime in June, when we knew the kids and I would be home all summer to train a puppy. Jim has wanted a pale yellow lab named Maverick (and another one named Goose) for as long as I can remember. When he heard school was cancelled, and basically everything else in our lives except our jobs, we decided now was a great time! Jim made some phone calls to lots of breeders in the area (and some out of state too), and we found this beautiful boy a few hours' drive away in Yacoult, Washington. We spontaneously kicked the kids out of the house with my parents and made the drive. We got to meet his parents, who were well behaved and beautiful as well, and his brother. Jim quietly suggested we bring home both dogs (!) but we'd only brought enough cash for one and we were over an hour from an establishment in the middle of farmland, and I was not mentally prepared for two puppies at home! So we made the decision to take this sweet boy home ...