Thursday, December 31, 2009

On the eve of 2010

I have been awake since 2am and have had plenty of time to read and reflect on this past year. I noticed that I did not really post too much, not enough time in the days. We delived eleven puppies and then had to give them up. We moved from my HOME to a very nice house. I hope that one day I will think of it as my home and not just a place where I go to bed at night. Nicole moved back home and went on disability. Best news is that she now has health insurance at least. We enjoyed having a swimming pool. I got the Swine flu. Christmas was a huge success and a great disaster. My mom is living with us for a while. I am enjoying her being here. I guess all in all it wasn't such a bad year - looking forward to another wonderful year with my family, friends, and dogs. Wishing you the same.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Recuperated

Well, the Fluharty family has finally recuperated from the move from the house my family lived in for thirty years to a new house with better dog containment and a swimming pool. People, it was hard! Thirty years of accumulated {crap, treasures, garbage, clothes, books}! But move we did. And six months later there are still tons of boxes in the garage waiting to be unpacked and have their contents moved to their new home. I need to get busy because Stephen says if I haven't used it in six months, I must not need it and should throw it all away. Ahhh!

In this picture, Nicole is standing in my office with Shadow, her long-haired chihuahua.


Stephen is standing on the other side of my office holding Sugar Pie, our tiniest little chihuahua. She was born in early January 2009 and might weigh a pound soaking wet. The vet had a hard time getting her delivered because she had such a big head, so we think she had a bit of oxygen loss as she is deaf {or extremely smart and stubborn, fooling us all}. Her tongue is always stuck out. The vet said it is too long for her snout. She is a doll. We love her to death.

You can see where she likes to hide - mainly anywhere to keep warm, but especially under my shirt. That is her mother sitting on the pillow next to me. She is a long-haired chihuahua as well. Her name is Annie Pie-Pie! We did not really intend for her to have puppies, but she mated with one of our male puppies who looked a lot like Sugar Pie. They are with us almost every moment when we are at home.


When we are playing Rock Band, they are right in the middle of everything. In the picture below you can see our third female chihuahua, LuLu sitting behind me on the top of the sofa...or truthfully, you can see her precious little glowing eyes!


One reason we really love the new house is the grandness of this room. We have a futon in front of the sofa which allows room for all four dogs to be sitting with us while we watch the television or play games. It is also large enough to have another love seat and massage chair to either side of the couch. Still with all of this furniture in the room, there is plenty of space for the dogs to run and play. And the wet bar, and the fireplace. We spend most of our time either here or in my office when we are at home.





Here is a close-up picture of Sugar Pie. Even though it is blurry (hard to get that little bundle of fun to stay still), I love the picture. She has the sweetest little face and looks almost like a deer.
The next picture is a close-up of Sugar's mother, Annie. We were surprised that long-coat chihuahuas seem to have a mix of long and short coats when they have puppies. Annie only had three puppies and two were short-hairs.
The floors in the new house are wonderful - we can sweep and mop frequently in the event of accidents or shedding of too much hair. That is a blessing after our last house with carpet and wood floors.



Another benefit is the large fenced in backyard. The dogs love to run and play. LuLu and Sugar like to find small branches and limbs to chew on - in Sugar's case, they are often twice her size. The pool is just to the right of where they are standing. The first day we moved in, Sugar took a running leap into the pool. It was very funny. She knew how to swim, but we scooped her right out since it was a little cold.

We also have a covered porch on the back of the house. It is a wonderful place to sit and watch the rain. The dogs only see it as a place to run with their sticks so they can fight over them. Again, this is LuLu and Sugar. Sugar is three days older than LuLu and they think of themselves as sisters. Although LuLu is much bigger than Sugar, she is usually very gentle with her. With us however, she greets us by nipping at our hands.
And this final picture is of our friend Mia, who lives with us part-time. She works with me at the library. We like having her come over a few days a week - I mean every house should have at least one redhead!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

  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

To participate weekly, visit Luna Nina!

Flusi

Sunday, March 29, 2009

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


To participate weekly, visit Luna Nina!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

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!

Friday, February 13, 2009

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.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

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.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

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

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Annie's puppies born today

Annie had her puppies today. When we knew she was in labor, we took her to the vet because she is so small. She had three puppies - with the last one born extremely large. Strangely enough, they had to give her an episiotomy and almost broke the puppy's neck trying to deliver her. We do not know the sex of the puppies yet - I can barely tell them apart, but I know there is at least one female. And I think one male. The last one will be a surprise when they get a little bigger. They almost make Sofia's babies this time last year seem gigantic. I cannot believe that we have to go through this again soon with Sadie. It will be a little different though because Sadie is a big girl and hopefully will be able to have them on her own. Good Lord folks - this means we have thirteen chihuahuas. I am sure there is a law. And that is not counting the ones to come. Forget what I said in the last post about being fairly normal - maybe we aren't. Pictures will come later.

[In the event it is making you crazy not to know, there are two females and one male.]
Flusi

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy Fuc&i*g New Year

Dear Diary,
Until this morning, I thought that last year had to have been the worst year of my life. Don't really know why, but I just assumed that any year that included the following would be the absolute worst:
1. I turned 55 and while I know this is not ancient, it sure ain't young.
2. My mother was in the hospital for a month - two weeks of which we were given NO hope that she would ever leave - except in a coffin.
3. My family was in shambles with one son losing his job just weeks after buying a house and the other son nearly losing everything since he and his wife were employed in the house selling business which you might recall has not been doing so well of late.
4. My daughter-in-law lost a pregnancy, had surgery to try and correct the problem, lost another pregnancy, and then within two weeks was raped by "a friend". And she still manages to get out of bed in the morning - not sure I would make it.
5. We almost lost our home.
6. Our oldest dog had to be put to sleep, nearly breaking my heart.
7. I am in NO way a material type girl, but the joy of the holiday season is always to find the best present for each person. With no money, we only bought gifts for the babies. No other gifts were exchanged. It was miserable.
8. I let down so many friends - not that I really have any, but if I did, now I don't.
9. Because I work in a two person office, the only time I have off is the three weeks around Christmas, but because I did not get the flu shot this year (secondary to my mom's hospitalization) I have had the flu the entire three weeks. Can't go to the doctor because we don't have any money.
10. To make the three week vacation even worse, my middle son and his wife fought the whole time - I mean seriously. I love them both. I love my son, but he was not really being fair. I love my daughter-in-law, but she needed to get a grip. It was rather hard because she lost her fourth pregnancy in the middle of all of this.

So that is probably the top 10, but I should add that there were many good times. We had baby puppies (I might add that number 11 would be that two of our older dogs are now pregnant and no we do not understand how that happened, except to say that it was possibly secondary to not having enough money to pay to have the newest babies neutered). Our youngest son did very, very well in his first semester in college and I am very proud of him. Of course, he does not really have much time for me because he is in college and needs his own time and friends. Oh yes, I forgot number 12, which can be seen as a blessing and a curse - my only daughter who is almost 30 and had been living with us - helping out tremendously with every manner of home stuff - moved in with her older brother to help take care of his children so his wife could get a full-time job outside the home selling business. I miss her every single day. In other good news, my sister and my husband are speaking to one another again...subsequent to the long hours together in the hospital with my mom. The State of Florida is still in a bad way economically, so for the third year in a row, my husband and I have not gotten even cost of living raises. Which is one reason for the problems financially.

My boss always says that if I wrote a novel about all of the crap that happens in my life, no one would believe it could possibly be true. I wake up every morning hoping it is a nightmare that will go away when I put my feet on the floor. But no, it is all very real.

BUT, I woke up this morning with my typical optimism, that things would be better in 2009. The right man was elected, we will hopefully get on the right path, I still have a good job, my husband has a good job - if you met me on the street, you might think I was fairly normal. And maybe I was until about 11 this morning. Then my life and hope crashed. HARD. My daughter-in-law called to tell me my son had been arrested. Possession with intent to sell. Marijuana. That is when I knew that last year was a lark, a walk in the park. And that I better buck the fuck up and put on my big girl pants because things are getting ready to get really bad. I don't even have enough money to get him out of jail or hire an attorney. I don't know what to do next. Who to call. When to stop crying and get on with it. I don't know how to go to work on Monday. I don't know how to go to sleep. I am not sure I know how to pray. Lord knows I have tried. I don't know how to care about any thing else. I wish I had a friend. I wish I was someone who knew how to fix this mess. I wish his father gave a shit - his response was "He didn't call me, I have other things to worry about, let me know what you do." Fuck you, as always you never have anything constructive to say to me. I wish my son was okay, but he isn't.

So Happy New Year, 2009. I held my arms open for you and all I got was punched in the gut and a broken heart. Welcome.

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