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!
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