Today was one of those busy days. I had a doctor’s appointment, a business affair to attend, and then cooking I needed to do to use up the abundance of tomatoes from our garden.
I made 5 quarts of sauce, saw my doctor, dressed up for the business affair and went and then convinced Hubby to take me out for salads and Sweet & Sour Calamari at “Canoe”. Busy, busy, busy, but all good. Especially the Calamari!
The day started off with Arnie and Anneliese horsing around with Hubby. They both climbed in his lap and cuddled and fooled around with him.
Here they are with Hubby in his chair. And below is Anneliese. Isn’t she just beautiful?
But then she is a little devil, and I caught her laughing in this picture!
So tonight, after such a long and busy day I am pretty tired. Tomorrow I promise more puppy pictures and perhaps a video!
Monday found me racing around taking Arnie to the Vet’s with an ear infection, making meals and then racing off to my girlfriend’s baby shower in the late afternoon.
I managed to snap a couple of puppy pictures in the morning while I was changing their bedding. The pups are getting nice and plump and truly they are beautiful! Here are Claus and Caspar. They love each other so much and it seems they are always cuddled up together.
Isn’t this the cutest thing?
Since I was on the go I didn’t take too many more, just this one of Curt.
After this I went off to the baby shower and had a great time with the gals. My friend Shelly is expecting her first baby in October. They are naming her Ella Glo. I just love that!
Here is Shelly with one of the onesies I gave her. Can you tell I picked it out?
Shelly is just the sweetest and she is one of the few people I know that is so cute pregnant! I was not cute pregnant. I looked like I had swallowed a hippopotamus! Shelly, well she is just beautiful!
The party was great and a good time was had by all. I came home and after my shower put my feet up, hugged my little boy, Arnie, and then gave him his ear medication. Life is good.
Makenna was over today and we took about 70 pictures of the puppies. Before you run screaming away from your computer, I can assure you I have edited them down to a 2 minute montage.
Saturday night I actually slept in our bed. We had the door closed, the air conditioner on and Hubby snoring, and yet, when a puppy cried at 3:30 AM, not only did I hear it, but I was up and out of my bed, through the bedroom door and into the puppy room in two seconds flat! All was well, I think Greta may have lay down too close to one of them, and after patting Greta for a minute, I returned to bed.
Sunday saw me putting the twin bed I’ve been sleeping on in the puppy room, back in the office. Then I put a chair, and a doggy bed for Greta in there as well. This is the first stage of the puppies growing independence. All of them not only have open eyes, I believe at least 3 of them have open ears, as they reacted to my voice today.
So sit back and enjoy these pictures. Happy Monday everyone!!!
Our Saturday started with a Skype call to our pal down under in Australia. He is going on an adventure to Qatar and will be leaving tomorrow, so I wanted to wish him a safe journey.
Hubby and I had our breakfast, then headed off to the big city to get our flu shots and some last minute items that I’d forgotten when I did our weekly shopping. We were half way there when the skies opened and it started to rain hard. Luckily, we had two umbrellas and so when we got to the Pharmacy for our flu shots we had covering from the rain.
The Pharmacist gave us our shots. A very pleasant young woman named Stephanie, who had recently graduated from Pharmacology College. She was nice and kind and gave a very good injection.
After that we did a few errands before heading off to our Chinese restaurant for lunch. As we drove in we were surprised to see so many police cars, and officers in the area on foot. We surmised that it was a bank robbery, as nothing else would shut the area down, quite like this. I whipped out my cell phone and took two pictures. Not the best, but it gives you an idea of what we saw.
Poor Hubby. I’m afraid that all during my lunch, all I did was look over my shoulder at what was going on at the bank. Even our waiter, was chatting with us about the excitement. You see, this sort of stuff just doesn’t happen in the area of New Hampshire that we live in. I guess I should say, it didn’t used to….
We drove home and started to play with the pups. Arnie joined us and we got some pictures of him with the babies. Arnie, Me and Curt.
Arnie, Me and Claus.
Arnie and Christel.
We also got some close ups of the pups, showing how grown up they are getting.
Here is Curt!
Caspar.
Christel.
And here is a short video of my two week old babies!
Yes, Curt wins the contest, “Whose Eyes Will Open First”? When I got up this morning and looked into the whelping box, little old Curt was looking back at me with these half opened eyes!
The others all are close, but haven’t gotten to this point quite yet. I expect the next day or so to have everyone showing signs of eye opening!
Arnie continues to sleep in the puppy room with me. What a doll. If I go in for any reason he is right there with me, and loves to watch the babies. Anneliese and Fritz show no interest in the babies, but Arnie sure does.
The nice thing is that Greta doesn’t seem to mind his being in there any more. In fact she doesn’t even growl at him, and he just loves those babies!
Here are Calvin and Curt taking a nap together today.
Here is our Christel. She is quite a beauty!
Here is a very sleepy Claus.
The brood still snuggles all together.
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I went to see “Julie & Julia” today with Hubby. I have been waiting so long to go. What a fun movie! Meryl Streep was fabulous! I wonder if there is anything that she can’t do? I admit to almost drooling while watching the food being prepared on screen and I had a real urge to cook when we left the movie theater, so I came home and made lamb chops for our dinner! Oh Julia, you truly did excite the world with your cooking!
Thursday proved to be a very long and very busy day. Some of it was restful, like when I was getting my hair and nails done, but then I came back home and was consumed with puppy laundry, and cooking. Right now we have tomatoes coming in and we have far more than we can possibly eat, so I am making home-made spaghetti sauce with it. I’ve frozen some of the sauce to enjoy in the middle of a snowstorm this winter, and the rest I am using to make things like Eggplant Parmesan, and Lasagna.
The entire sauce making from beginning to end (including dinner), lasted from 1:30 until 7 pm! During this time I was letting dogs in and out, feeding Greta, who is constantly hungry, and checking on the puppies.
I actually didn’t take any pictures of them on Thursday. I will tell you though that their eyes are just starting to open. There are now lines where the eye lids meet, instead of the way the puppies are born, with the eyes tightly fused together. I wonder which puppy will have their eyes open first?
Arnie continues to be my special little guy. He follows me everywhere and sits by my feet when I am working in the kitchen. If I call to him he runs to me and leaps into my arms! What a guy!
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Today is September 11, 2009. Eight years have now passed since that terrible morning. So many innocent people died, and our safe little world forever changed. I have never understood how anyone could do such an evil thing. It still boggles my mind, and there are times I still hear the voices of those who were on those planes, in the World Trade Center, or in the Pentagon, cry out from their fiery graves.
The victims came from more than 90 countries around the world.
The following are the number of people who died at each site:
World Trade Center 2,823 (includes airline passengers)
Pentagon 125 (not including plane victims)
Flight 11 – 92 people on board
Flight 175 – 64 people on board
Flight 77 – 64 people on board
Flight 93 – 44 people on board
Wednesday was such a busy day. I was running around doing errands, then I would rush back home, check on Greta and the pups and then go on to the next project. What this means is that I got a lot packed into one day, including quality time with the wee ones.
I’m truly amazed at how quickly they are growing. All the pups are well over a pound now and I love watching them lay in their bed. Sometimes on their backs so that their fat bellies are easy to see. Their faces are fuller, and I can see that their eyes are starting to show signs of opening. Then they really will start to look like proper little puppies, and not space aliens!
So here are some pictures of the babies today. First up is the beautiful Christel. Her Pink collar looks somewhat white in this picture, but trust me, she is all girl! She has such a sweet face.
Then we have Claus. (Green) He is already quite the charmer. When I hold him he snuggles down into my hand.
Next we have Calvin. I think he will be the largest pup in the litter. Probably around 19 -20 pounds. I could be wrong, but he has these big paws and big head and I just hope he grows into them!
Caspar is probably the most beautiful. His coat is darker and he has such beautiful markings. Like Claus he is a sweet little cuddler.
And then there is Curt. He is a happy, beautiful, all around great pup. I enjoy watching him crawl around and of course, he is almost always plugged into a teat and nursing!
Makenna was over and she just loves to hold the babies. She is also really good at it too.
So the babies are growing, and their eyes will open soon, and before you know it, they will be off and running. That’s when the real fun begins for me!
It all started innocently enough. I kissed Hubby, and said my good-nights to him and returned to the puppy room to sleep. After all, we know that Greta still wants me to be with her, so I am sleeping in the puppy room. I want to be in my nice, big, comfy, bed, but until Greta is ready, I will be camping out on the twin mattress and boxed spring in the puppy room.
Hubby and Anneliese are fine with my being absent from the family bed. Apparently Anneliese has been stretching out and enjoying the room, but Arnie misses his Mommy something fierce.
Last night I was settling in, and Arnie came into the puppy room. I shooed him away, anticipating Greta jumping up and shredding his little face! But he kept coming back. I would shoo him off, and again he returned. Finally I drifted off and I felt a little body cuddle close to mine. “Oh well”, I thought, if she comes after him, we’ll all die together!
You can see the whelping box behind me, but this is my little corner of the world right now. I do miss my big bed. It’s king sized and has a comfy, cushy foam topper on it. The sheets are crisp and soft against my skin, and the blanket a wonderful medium weight cotton weave that I wrap myself in.
Isn’t that strange? Dreaming about your own bed at night?
Greta seems resigned to having Arnie in there now. She didn’t growl at him and as long as he stays up with me, she is happy.
Now back to Mr. Arnie. He has been at my side constantly, and I realized that he is my boy. Oh, I always knew he was my little guy, but what I am talking about is that he is dedicated to me to the point that he will risk being ripped apart by Greta in order to be at my side.
Arnie is my soul-buddy. I had that with Shubi and I never believed I would have it again. Certainly not with a boy dog. I have always been a female dog lover. Don’t get me wrong. I love all my dogs, but Arnie is earning an irreplaceable position in my heart.
The pups are doing great. All over a pound now and in a few days their eyes will begin to open. Then the real fun begins.
Makenna has been a big help, coming over and sitting, patting the puppies. Little by little they will get used to children and look forward to her visits.
Here she is with Claus.
Well, I’m actually enjoying this whole time. Camping out with Arnie, Greta and the puppies, is a lot of fun. Of course, I will be happy when I can return to my “dream bed”. Along with Arnie!
Last night I crept into my bedroom, closed the door silently, and then crawled into my wonderful, comfortable bed. I breathed a small sigh (probably too loudly) and Greta began to bark and whine for me! So, needless to say, I slept in the puppy room with Greta again last night. I won’t even try my own room tonight, as Greta seems to want the company. Especially at 2:30 in the morning when we go out to visit the great out of doors.
We woke (for good) at 6 AM and I poured some hot coffee into my body, while Greta nursed the crew. I weighed them and discovered that all the puppies now weigh over 1 pound! Yay Greta, for being such a good little milk factory!
I also spent time with my camera trying to get a few pictures, and I absolutely did get a couple that are adorable! One thing that the macro lens shows me is that all the pups will have a very nice wiry coat. This litter really has pretty pups!
Here is our only girl, Christel.
Next is her brother, Claus.
Then we have Caspar.
Then Calvin
And Curt.
In the afternoon Makenna came over and we worked changing collars on the pups. It’s amazing that in a week they have grown so much that their little collars were too snug! Everyone has a nice roomy collar now.
Tomorrow I must trim everyone’s nails and perhaps take the bed out of the puppy room. I’m afraid if I leave it in, Greta will expect me to stay with her for the next two months! Oh how I long for my nice snugly bed!
Meanwhile, Hubby took this beautiful picture tonight of the sunset. For the last 4 or 5 nights we have had the most beautiful sunsets, so I am happy he got this picture!
Sunday found Greta wanting a little more freedom from the brood. She would lay down quietly with them and nurse them, but then she wanted to get up and come out to the family room and visit with us. Of course this didn’t last too long and she would be back at the gate to go in with the babies. So, we decided to allow the gate to remain open and give her the freedom to decide where she wanted to be.
Of course this meant that we had to watch Arnie and Anneliese, who, given the chance, would be right in there trying to help and babysit their brothers and little sister! Arnie is so funny. He would really like to go in and baby sit, like he did with Anneliese’s puppies.
So Greta went back and forth and back and forth all day long. By nightfall she had finally settled in with the babies. I’m even considering sleeping in my own bed tonight, but I will see.
I’m still so thrilled to see the babies each day. Their bellies get rounder by the moment and they are healthy and sweet.
Makenna was over and she held Christel for a while. She was wearing a furry vest and little Christel thought that there might be a milk fountain in there and looked around!
I got a close up picture of Curt today. Greta allowed me to. Over the next few days I will try to get one of each of the pups.
Can you believe how much they have grown?
Calvin, Claus, Caspar, Christel and Curt in front.
