1. Log :: cabin


2. Plaything :: toy


3. Broom :: Hilda


4. Heels :: High


5. Smoke in :: the water, a fire in the sky


6. Guests :: are like fish
   
7. Attraction :: flirt


8. Shiny:: happy people


9. Risked :: it all


10. Velvet :: bluer than velvet were her eyes

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Flusi

Sad, sad glad, day

We found someone who loves chihuahuas and she is going to take all of our dogs except for Annie, Katie, and the four puppies from the January litter. We had to find a way to take our lives back, we will probably be moving to a different house and there were just too many. I am sad, sad, sad. But it is far better to give them to a woman who lives in the country with a large solarium who used to work as a vet tech and fell in love with the breed. Still, in a matter of minutes they will be gone, forever. Even the newest babies. I can hardly think. But I am glad we didn't have to take them to the pound, which would have been the most difficult penance for our irresponsibility. Thankfully four of the dogs have been spayed or neutered...at least we did that. Did I mention that my heart is broken? Life is hard. I wonder when my time in the sun will come? I wonder if it ever will in this lifetime, maybe in heaven?

Week 322: Unconscious Mutterings

1. Road trip :: Jacksonville


2. Pool hall :: 9th Avenue Billiards


3. Extraordinary :: Jack


4. Jackson :: Hewitt


5. Heartfelt :: Valerie


6. Wet :: slip and slide


7. Strangle :: that bitch


8. .com :: my life


9. Touched :: inspired


10. Insipid :: vacuous

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Good Lord - more puppies Shhh!

Well, it seems that we have two more puppies. IzzyPants had two male puppies last night. Not sure if they were born last night or after midnight. Stephen monitored the whole situation and I was so tired, I went to sleep. All seem to be doing fine.
Here is the vow - no more puppies at the FlibbertyFlu house!

Finally the puppies

Here are the two moms: Annie is the smaller mom with the white chest. She had three pups. Sadie is the one with her tongue out and quite a big girl. The litters are only three days apart with Annie's pups born on January 3rd and Sadie's born on January 6th.

This is Lilly and she will be adopted by a librarian friend of ours. She is quite small and full of spunk.

This is the tiniest of all the babies. Her name is Sugar Pie and she is my heart. At almost six weeks old, she is no bigger than a mite. She eats like a horse, so I think she will just be smaller than her mom.

This is Jack. He will be living with us. We call him Jackaroo and JackAttack. He is very handsome.

This is the first of Sadie's puppies. Her name is Pippin and she is the runt of this large litter. She is unbelievably sweet and a tiny bit shy.





This is the smaller of the males. His name is Star. He has not yet been adopted, but I know that someone will love him.

This is Sir Snuffalump - he is very furry and quite the character. He is not yet adopted either. He is a big kisser and loves to rumble.

This is Daisy and she will be moving in with a good friend of ours who works at the library. I know she will love it there and we will still get to see her from time to time.

This is Peaches and she is a big girl with a heart of gold. She loves to run and play and kisses everyone. She does not have a permanent home yet, but I would not mind her living with us.

This is Lilly LuLu and she will be staying here with us. She captured our heart from the very first. She is also a furry big girl and might give her mom a run for the money when she gets bigger.

This is Rocco. He will be living with my son who delivered the litter of seven. Rocco, who looks like a very tiny Rottwiller was not breathing for some time when he was born and my son saved his life.

Sadie's puppies born today Oh my God!

Here is the thing folks, I am worthless. I cannot tolerate anything that I cannot control or do not understand. I may seem like I am fine but really inside I am dying. Because of the high stress level of the last few weeks, I am especially worthless. So today's drama is that Sadie is having her puppies right now as we speak, and I cannot help in any way. Instead I am in my office with my door closed, crying, and useless. I have office hours tonight and I don't think that I will be able to answer one single question. Not one.

Fast foward a few hours or so: The first puppy was born at 5:30 and by 7:30 she had given birth with Joseph and Mary's assistance to five puppies. For the most part I stayed in my office with the door shut and talked with the five students who showed up for virtual office hours. Every time a pup was born I would run out and check. Then after office hours were done, Stephen watched the puppies try to nurse while I cleaned out the playpen and put in clean blankets and sheets to move the mom and pups. Now, that was a task that required moving furniture in the TV room where they will live for the next eight weeks. Annie's puppies are in a big box in our spare bedroom. By the time the moving and cleaning and washing and doing were done about 9:30, I was burning up and dripping with sweat. Dog birth is hard work. So Stephen is in my office trying to chill and go to bed. I walk back into the room with Sadie and notice that she was having more contractions - I jumped in the car to go get Joseph and Mary who live two minutes away. By the time we got back, Stephen had helped Sadie give birth to puppy number 6 - he had to break the sack and suction the puppy. When we got in Mary tied the umbilical cord and since I was the only one who had not done so, I cut the cord. Between the four of us (my part being so very little of the whole), we birthed six puppies - two males and four females - of all colors and sizes. Now Stephen is in bed, everyone has gone home and I am praying to God that she is done...I am not up for any more fun tonight. Annie is having a bit of a fit because she can hear Sadie's puppies crying.

In one week, we have doubled the number of dogs who share our house. What an insanely delightful nightmare. They are beautiful. Jo and Mary are going to keep at least one of the male pups and possibly one female. If all goes well we are going to give away or sell the others. They are all beautiful. It is going to be a long two or three weeks.

Love,
the not so normal, worthless but loving, Flusi

Addendum: It is now 11:42 and unbelievably Sadie just gave birth to two more puppies - a female and a male. Unfortunately (crying will not cease) the female was dead when I checked on Sadie. We tried to revive her, but she died. The male seems to be fine. So when I knew that the baby pup was dead, I wrapped her in a cloth and put her inside a beautiful Heavenly Angels Victoria's Secret box. Tomorrow we will find a place to bury her. I am so very sad. There wasn't time to go get Jo - I think he could have saved her. I put my mouth over her nose and mouth and tried to breathe air into her little lungs, but nothing I did worked. So now there are seven where there were eight. I hope there are no more. I am undone.

One day and counting

Good morning,
We made it through one night. Annie and her babies slept in a laundry basket on top of a towel and sheet, under which was a heating pad - it has this new-fangled improvement that causes the heating pad to shut itself off automatically. So far, I have not figured out how to disable this "wonderful" feature because of which I did not sleep two seconds in succession last night. As Steve was leaving the vet's office, they said make sure Annie stays with them the whole time and that you have a heating pad on - we had a lady last week who let one of her puppies die because it got cold. AHHHH! Lucky for us, Annie is being a good mother and wants to stay with her babies. They don't seem to be crying much, so I am left to assume that they are getting enough sustenance from Annie.

Oh goodness, thinking back to Sofia's first few days makes me want to fall to the floor in praise. She had a C-section and four puppies. The first time we put her in the box with the pups, she went nuts, yelping at the top of her lungs. They had warned us that she might not have ANY milk at all, so off we went to buy nipples and bottles and formula. The only problem, we could not get them to drink a drop. We were a wreck. As it turned out, all of the puppies must have had plenty. They grew up just fine - fine enough to impregnate Annie and Sadie. This time we are trying to be a little more hands off. Love Annie and make sure she has what she needs. She will take care of the babies.

Round two should be any time. Good Lord.

Flusi