Late Winter Summary

After the puppies were born, life was a blur of bottles and newspapers. The pups took to Bella easily and she was a wonderful mommy. Due to the large size of the litter and Bella's tiny stature, we supplemented formula for a few pups just to give Bella a rest. These long, tiring days were equally rewarding and quickly extinguished my desires to have a baby of my own. The pups came at a perfect time in my life and fulfilled my maternal drive just fine.

When the pups were just 3 weeks old, during the first week of February, we had a real-life bonafide blizzard. Having already experienced what the blowing and drifting snow could do out here in a non-blizzard storm, I prepared much better and hunkered down for two days of alone time. Dan picked up some extra work plowing streets in Rockford, so Buster, Bella, the pups and I were left to fend for ourselves. I wasn't too hard. Snow started falling around nine pm and my morning we were snowed in. Although the snow stopped by about noon, plows didn't make an attempt to move snow until about 3 pm. As the sun was setting, I saw the first earth mover creeping down our road attempting to clear a path. Just at the edge of my property, even the giant earth mover gave up when it became stuck. The driver called for assistance and was picked up by some coworkers. The plow, however, remained in front of my house until assistance could come the next morning. School was cancelled for two days and sometime in the middle of the second day, Dan finally made it home. He had been plowing for nearly 36 hours straight. After a few hours sleep, he was recalled to start the route all over again.

After the blizzard, winter got easier on us. We had several more inches of snow here and there, but nothing significant. We got our own little routine down and settled into our comfortable life here on the farm. Dan used his days to get organized in the barn and I used nights and weekends to settle into the house.

In early March, the puppies started to leave us. Over the course of just two weeks we went from a family of 12 down to just the four of us again. Buster and Bella patiently watched as their pups disappeared one by one. By the time we were down to just a single pup, she had become part of the family. Millie, as we called her, started sleeping in bed with us and became Dan's constant companion. On the Ides of March we had a call from the couple that would become Millie's parents. They asked us to hold her for them until Saturday. In that one week time, she barely left Dan's side. On St. Patrick's Day, she even went to the bar with us to celebrate. Given her own stool to sit in, she curled up and slept through most of the party - when she wasn't getting love from all of our friends.

The week after our last pup left, we enjoyed a nice early spring warm up. With temperatures flirting with 70 mid-week, we planned a family cookout for Saturday only to have temperatures drop back to normal and hover around 50 that day. My sister and her family and my mom & stepdad came out and had fun riding the 4 wheelers and shooting guns. The prize moment of the day may have been my mom, former CeaseFire employee, shooting a handgun. I never thought I'd see the day...

With each passing day, I grow more attached to this place. I've carved out my outside niche on the front porch where I sit writing now. On this early April day we are experiencing temperatures near 80 and winds that must be around 30 mph our higher. Someone through the years erected a small garden windmill in our circle drive. Dan repaired it last week and I fear it won't survive the night. Its twirling at such a speed we could surely generate enough electricity to power our house, if only we had the necessary pieces. Down the road, if we get to stay here, I think a new fangled functional windmill is a must. Bye Bye ComEd!

Puppies Arrive

In the wee morning hours of January 9th, Bella started acting very strangely. From what I had read, I identified these behaviors as early signs that she was going into labor. Not wanting puppies to be delivered in my bed, I moved Bella to her whelping area and pulled the futon mattress out onto the floor next to her. We slept there for the rest of the night eagerly awaiting six puppies to join us.

Finally, somewhere around noon, Bella began to wimper and stare at her rear end. When I checked on her I could see the pup moving into position getting ready to make its way into the world. I turned on the web cam so friends and family could share this experience with us and sat beside Bella ready to help her if she needed it. Within minutes the first pup slithered from the birth canal and into the world. Instincts took over and Bella immediately went to work on the sac and umbilical cord. Once those were taken care of she settled in to give this newest member of our family some love and attention. After an hour, a bath, and some food, the fawn pup was pushed aside as puppy number two started into the world. Pups two through six arrived at 20 to 30 minute intervals. Each pup came without problem and Bella continued to clean and nurse each new baby as it appeared. After the sixth pup, Bella and her litter laid down to rest. It had been a long afternoon for all of us and we were ready to relax. About 45 minutes after the appearance of the final pup, I noticed Bella having contractions again. Much to my surprise, a few minutes later a 7th pup appeared. dan declared victory as he had predicted 7 puppies from day one. He and Buster took off for the store to buy a few puppy items we had forgotten while Bella and I stayed to monitor the babies.

Bella and I marveled over "our" litter and accepted congratulations from around the country as over 50 people had watched the delivery live on UStream. Exhausted and ready for some rest, Bella and I were overwhelmed when we realized an 8th round of contractions was begining. With a little more effort than the first, our finally puppy came into the world just over 4 hours after the first. I happily called Dan to tell him he had been wrong about having seven pups. I could nearly see the dollar signs lighting up in his eyes.

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