It happened yesterday 07-19-13. Nova gave birth to eleven yellow dogs. In eight weeks I'll introduce you to Belle.

She is here somewhere. Good girl Nova!

08-03-13
After a frustrating morning working on a sick outboard motor on the USS Coalman I hitched a ride with Joe to check my lobster traps. Five bugs made the cooler.

Got back home about 5PM to an empty house. Karen has been spending the weekends with her mom while her dad is recuperating at rehab. Lots of things on my mind.

With those thoughts it took a little over an hour and a half to get ready to head to Sampson's Bay with the yellow dog. I cooked and bagged the lobster along with some refreshing spirits. We hit the road heading north.

All I have to say to Bay is "Camp" and her facial expression instantly changes and her ears point skyward. We arrived just in time for a fading light ride up the mountain on the four wheeler. Bay loves to ride.

The reason for these words happened after we had a roaring fire going and some hair band tunes echoing off the mountain. While sitting in the lounge chair Bay came up in front of me. In an instant she jumped up into my lap, sat down, put her body against me and put her face against mine as to say, "Thank you for bringing me to camp". It was a guy and his dog moment.

Labs know!

08-07-13
One of these is our new grand doggie Belle. 18 days old yesterday. Go Nova!

Coalman,
Looks like you're in for some good times, good stories, and a little sleep deprivation. LOL. Congrats. Can't wait to hear and see your new addition.

08-15-13

28 days old. Their first day at the food bowl.



lking is suppose to see the litter this weekend. Since we don't have the opportunity to watch the litter grow I've expressed to Les and Jim what I look for in a pup.

Les says there is a very light female he has his eyes on for us. It might be the one at 12 o'clock?

In four weeks Belle comes home. We are very excited. Bay doesn't even know her but when you say "Where's Belle?" her ears point upwards. Wait until that little ball of fur gets out of the truck. Bay will know what we have been talking about.

Middlebranch Labs sent me a video of the female pups of Nova's litter yesterday. I played it over and backwards. One struck my fancy as she had a vacuum cleaner nose. Always on the ground.

I have been in contact with Jim weekly as the pups have been growing.

This morning he sent me a video of our new pup Belle. We pick her up in WI in mid September. Road Trip! Talk about an adventure.

Double click on the picture.

Jim sent a picture of six week old Belle with an old teal wing. His comment........

"She loves it!"



It won't be long now.

What an adventure!! Portal to portal 2,916 miles, 52 hours of windshield time, burned 150 gallons of fuel, averaged 19.4 MPG and we traveled through nine states all to pick up a little bundle of yellow dog.


Our road trip lasted 6 days with an average of 500 plus or minus miles per day. My wife, photographer and co-pilot Karen did a great job of keeping us on track.

The highlight of our first night on the road was Niagara Falls.

The Canadian Falls face Canada in the background. The spray was like a heavy rain.



The American Falls



Those people at the bottom of the American Falls were getting soaked.



Sunday evening we went through downtown Chicago in a thunderstorm.

Monday we went to Green Bay, WI. Our hosts Schneider National brought us for a tour and lunch at Lambeau Field where we ate at Curly’s Place.



This is Leggo Lambeau Field



Monday night we met up with a good friend from Green Bay and watched his son play Cal Ripken Baseball. It brought back many memories of when our boys played Little League.

Tuesday morning we drove to Middlebranch Labs in Argonne, WI to pickup Belle. Jim and Marysue treated us like family.

Nova and her girls.



Miss Belle



Spoiling Belle her first night at the hotel.



From there we cut across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and across the Mackinac Bridge to mainland MI. We had this little boat launch/park to ourselves on a pit stop in the UP. That is Lake Michigan.



We stayed in Traverse City, MI Tuesday night right on the shore of Lake Michigan. Thank you Steelhead Fred! It looked more like an ocean. Wednesday night we stayed in Dunkirk, NY at a pet friendly Best Western. Thursday our ship made harbor in the early evening.

Belle took the whole trip home in stride. Not once did we ever see her tremble. No accidents in her kennel and no car sickness. At one stop in the UP we gave Belle a toy. I could tell we had something special when you would toss is a short ways and she would retrieve.



We thank God for his blessings on our road trip for keeping us safe from other drivers and deer. The deer were the worst. We had a very close encounter in the UP of Michigan. And for helping us find puppy friendly pit stops away from the dog walking areas of the highway rest stops.

Karen has most of the pictures. I’ll post more as time allots.

Welcome home Carlton Brook’s Great Bay Belle!

Coalman..I am sure you are going to have a great time with Babe and Belle....good luck....

Partridge Camp 10-07-13 to 10-11-13

Made the trek north with Bay to Aroostook County, ME and our yearly stay at partridge camp. The camp is located four miles in the woods. With a generator we enjoy civilized creature comforts.



Monday it rained on and off all day. We got to hunt a couple hours first thing in the morning and about an hour in the afternoon between torrential downpours. Most birds flushed wild from the roost. We did manage to put one bird in the pot of which Bay made a great woods retrieve to hand.

The image below describes the weather, an out of focus, blurry. wet and foggy picture of Bay with her first bird of 2013.



Tuesday morning broke sunny and clear.



We had a lot of action walking the logging roads. Lots of birds got the pass. The ones I did shoot at I could hear laughing at my marksmanship.

We hunted hard today. It would be our longest walk all week. At the end of the day the pedometer said 8.8 miles. I bet Bay ran more than 30 miles.

Our flushes were far and few between. The highlight of the day was Bay's last flush of a going away bird I didn't shoot at. She turned around and gave me a classic, what the heck look.

Our game bag was light.



And my hero was pooped.



Wednesday my friend John joined us for the rest of the week. It didn't take him long to show Bay his shooting skills.



By the end of day three we had five birds total for the week. John changed his hunting cap for a chef's hat and proceeded to in his words....................

"On the menu for dinner at the hunting camp tonight is marinated boneless skinless organically grown partridge breasts with no growth hormones or artificial flavorings! Cooked on a wood stove nonetheless. Doesn't get much more natural than this!"



Thursday was another beautiful day.



Our AM shooting skills were pretty poor. My PM shooting skills improved slightly.



Thank goodness for John.



Friday Bay and I hunted together in the morning, Our hunt was 2.9 miles and we had nine flushes. The bird below is pretty special to me. My shot was slightly behind. I saw a few feathers fly and knew we had a cripple. The woods off the roads are super thick. Thank goodness for Bay's ability to hunt dead. She found the wounded bird.



With sadness in our hearts we closed up camp in the afternoon. Its next occupants will be deer hunters. Thanks to John for sharing his pictures and his incredible cooking skills.

Aroostook County Partridge Camp 2013 saw a decrease of about half the 2012 encounters from 97 in 2012 and 53 in 2013. Our game bag only consisted of one juvenile bird but a 50% mix of hens to cocks. I did see one cock in full display on the drive into camp Sunday. And we heard two drumming during the week. No woodcock were spotted but a group of three wild turkey hens now call camp woods home. Saw 3 deer and only moose tracks. Canine scat on the tote roads was minimal. We were told a bout of mange had thinned the population.

Partridge Camp with Great Bay Belle in 2014? Stay tuned..............................

10-12-13
Belle is growing fast. She is 99% housebroken already. We have only had a couple accidents. Can you believe she goes to the door and whines or barks to be let out? Every time as with Bay, we take Belle out the command at the door is "Outside". When she is done her business the command is "Inside". She is a very quick learner.

Belle retrieves very well. You throw her toy.....she fetches it. No give command yet. That is fine for me right now. In a couple more weeks of her getting used to her new surroundings we'll start asking for the toy back.

The geese are flying around the house quite often. Bay pays no attention. Belle is eyes and ears to the sky. I gave Belle a partridge wing last night. It is the happiest toy we have seen her play with. She tumbled and tossed it until it was soaking wet. And alas not a feather pulled out. Belle is soft mouth for sure.





Belle knows sit but is still a little jumpy. She sleeps through the night and seems very healthy. She is an eating machine.

We are due for our first woods walk soon. Her size concerns me with hawks and owls. I'm probably overprotective but I'd rather be safe that sorry.

Belle LOVES Bay. To the point Belle is the instigator. Bay is very cautious and gentle with her. I'm glad bay is getting the brunt of the puppy teeth.

It has been MUCH easier to teach Belle. "no bite". She accepts my authority. Something my A personality Bay still had trouble understanding at Belle's age.

My wife had a case of puppy blues last week while Bay and I were in partridge camp for being her sole caretaker. Puppies demand attention.

Overall things are going better or according to plan.

Coalman...as usual thats a great story...Hunting camp in Northeran Maine...I sure have some great memories of my hunting camp stays in Maine....ya can't beat it....

Hi Caddis,
The camp was built in the 1930's. My dad went deer hunting there for 6O years every Thanksgiving week I can remember. RIP Dad!

10-12-13
Our first woods walk went very well last weekend. I know one thing that dog can sure out run this old f_rt.

Water?............no problem. She jumped right in at Bay's training pool.

Belle will be 12 weeks on the 19th. We got a winner here.

10-19-13 The Belle of Sampson's Bay

The lighthouse now has a Belle.



Took Bay and Belle to camp yesterday. If only the homestead could talk?





It is a huge asset having a trained lab to train a lab. After some playful romping in the forsythia...........





It was time for a woods walk. Belle has one of Bay's characteristics. Her nose is a vacuum cleaner.

I'm thinkin', I'm likin' this brace of yellow.

Belle will be 4 months old on the 19th. She is all and more than we expected. The difference from her and Bay at the same age is huge. Bay didn't come with fetch or prey drive. Completely the opposite of Belle. She is a puppy fetching machine. There isn't a bird that flies by she doesn't notice.

The best part is Bay and Belle really love each other. Belle is not shy and plays rough with Bay. Bay on the other hand is very mother like and very tolerant of Belle.

Some cell phone pics

Nosy neighbors.



I wish we could take her off the lead and get some fall pictures but she can run one heck of a lot faster than we can.



Belle the couch potato. She won't be a puppy much longer.



Belle's training has started. The bond between us is like drying cement. It gets harder every day. Time for the basics. Sit, stay, fetch and give. Belle is sitting on hand commands. We have a routine every morning. After her morning outside while Bay is still snoozing with my wife we practice sit and fetch. No treats required like in Bay's training. Belle brings back the ball every time. I reward her with an excited voice and aggressive patting. She loves it.

Another upland hunting labs journey has begun.