Beth, Karla, and I started out with line ups, trying to pet sleepy puppies into oblivion so they could be placed in a row and not wriggle around waking each other up and messing with our design.
First was just the girls.
Then the boys.
And then, ALL of the babies were put in a row. That is an accomplishment.
I was pretty pleased with the heart, too. Afterwards, we tucked them back into their nest and left them to snuggle up on their own.
Karla looked over and noticed they had formed a heart all by themselves!
I said that they are very smart dogs and learned tricks quickly. Plus, they had excellent trainers.
Sugar’s puppies have been so easy to are for, that apart from keeping Shuggie fed and getting some cuddle time with the babies, I have been pretty much free.
They don’t keep me up at night, she keeps them perfectly cared for.
There has even been time to get the baby books done and completely updated. One litter at a time, is certainly the way to go! I was frazzled and exhausted last fall with two at once.
Plus, Honey tends to lay on or step on her babies and I was constantly responding to terrified squeaks from puppies in danger. Sugar is very gentle and these little sweeties have been a pure joy to have around.
In addition to the last round of pups needing more care, it was in the middle of a major puppy shortage and I was getting dozens of applications for a baby every day. I was overwhelmed and not ready for such a huge response.
That made me decide to slow things down with these guys. I haven’t actively marketed them yet. I wanted a week of enjoying them as newborns and learning to tell them apart from each other before FaceTiming so many people a day, it is nice just to be with them, not try to sell them. It has been an ideal interlude, a time to relax and just be happy to have these new, little lives to love.
And I have had time to host some paint pour parties. The paintings above are all done by the participants.
This is one of mine.
So is this one. Acrylic pouring is such a relaxing craft.
Typically, when I paint, I get too detailed, like in the rose behind these landscapes. I decided to try pours to loosen up and get more abstract. It’s not only been good for my style, it has been good for my soul.
Following the paint as it swirls and glides around the canvas can be rewarding and zen like.
Watching family and friends create is every bit as refreshing as doing it myself. I love sharing the technique and watching their colors slide around to form arty creations. Fin and I did this one together.
My friend, Shanna did these two.
Friends are coming by today to see the pups and have a craft date. Soon the puppies will become more demanding, I’ll be training and caring for them more each day. I’ll be finding their new homes, interviewing families too. And I love doing that.
But this last week, when they are all still just mine, not anyone else’s? It has been just what I needed. And thank you to everyone who came for a craft day or to paint with me in the last couple of weeks, I sure have enjoyed it.
Especially the puppy. The off leash parks are the faves of all of us.
Of course I have never met a beach I didn’t like. But I have to admit that Jupiter’s off leash beach is ranked up there with Siesta Key as a perfect destination. The seashell fairy ingredients are abundant!
Last fall, we took a trip to the pumpkin patch, after an extremely LONG time of no regular outings. The grand fairies and I typically had a schedule of getting out and exploring on a regular basis. In the summer, it was the pool, park, zoo, and more. In the fall, we'd go to the pumpkin patch multiple times and host pumpkin craft parties after.
2020? not quite the same. But we masked up, and social distanced our way through the punkin patch, and made the most of a day out. We were pretty happy to be there, too, even with the restrictions and changes that had to be implemented.
We probably bought way too many pumpkins, hoping to have a carving party with Fin and Clover, but the weather didn't cooperate, and we couldn't get together outside, so I made use of the gourds as best as I could.
When the pups were tiny, I liked to do photo shoots with them for their new families, so these were great to use as props for posing puppies.
After Halloween, I spray painted some of them white and added a touch of glitter to the tops, and placed them into flower pots in front of the house. Others got turned into pies.
(The white pumpkins make the best pies, uhm, not the painted white ones, the REAL white ones.)
Now, it is time to clean up the front porch and get rid of the pumpkins who have seen better days. They are squishy and wrinkled, but instead of tossing them out, they went to the hens. The birds don't eat the rind, so didn't even bother with the painted exterior. They went right for the tasty seeds inside.
I guess I didn't have too many pumpkins after all! At least the chickens didn't think so. We have been giving them a couple a week and they are pretty happy with the treats.
No matter how many dog beds I have strewn around the studio, every pup I have had wants to curl up in these bowls.
Back when I stored lace in the bowls, Twinkle decided that it was really meant for her instead.
Once she had her own pups, she showed them just how cozy a hard, ceramic bowl was.
Dorothy and Albie have spent their lifetime sleeping in bowls, so eventually I gave up on trying to get them to use doggie beds and put pillows in the dishes.
And I provided a second one for them. Twin beds.
I doubt if Molly will fit hers for very long. She is already 30 lbs and according to her DNA results, has another 25 to go.
My favorite part about seeing Molly share bowl beds with Dorothy, is that it shows how well all the dogs get along. When we first got Honey, war broke out between the Bigs and Littles.
It was ugly.
Then, Honey had her babies and we kept Sugar. I worked with Honey extensively on resource guarding, but the Littles were still leery of her. Sugar adored them and wanted to play, but they didn’t trust her for a long time. It started to get better.
War had ended, but there wasn’t much love between the two factions.
And now there is Molly. Sweet, gentle, Molasses, who could resist her?
After years of adjusting, or maybe just finally giving up? The individuals are now a pack. Littles and Bigs snuggle together, whether in side by side vintage bowls, in the dog beds, or on the sofa where I tell the Bigs they aren’t allowed.
It was time to take down my holiday decorations and trees. I didn’t do a lot (for me) this year, mostly trees, pinecones, and lots of lights.
The warm white lights had brought me a lot of joy this season. The first thing I did every single morning after letting the puppy out to potty was to flip all of the power strips on to get that cozy glow going. Molly wakes up way too early and everything is still pitch black and feels very wintery. She is desperate to go tinkle and doesn’t care if I am half awake, she is ready to go.
When she comes back in, I take a few moments to snuggle with her before making coffee and getting on with my day. Typically, I am not an early riser, but we enjoy our quiet mornings together with the lights sparkling in the darkened rooms.
January itself is too stark to go from a house full of festivity to none at all. So the lights above the windows are staying for a while. Along with our hot tea and cocoa station. It got de-Christmassed, and we have rules about no cocoa parties unless they are near a Christmas tree.
But we have been known to still sip a cup of hot chocolate now and then…
The mercury glass stayed out too. It fit nicely with the holiday, but I think it will also be pretty for the rest of the winter. Anything that is reflective adds light to the dark months.
The Christmas trees had been decorated mostly in pinecones and twinkle lights in honor of a happy day that Ryan and I had together gathering pinecones last year.
After plucking them out of the branches and packing the trees away, I decided to keep the pinecones out for a while. I stuffed newspapers into the matt white pottery and a few mercury glass candle holders, then topped that with the pinecones. Some rosebuds, dried from an arrangement that came after Ryan’s death were put under glass for a hint of faded color.
Swans from Lesa Daily’s A Snowbird’s Song class are on top of the kid’s game and book cabinet. I like their silhouettes in the mirror.
The hutch previously had lots of mini, battery operated LEDs on its shelves. I took them down, but kind of miss them. I might bring a strand back out. The mantle didn’t get much of a changearoo. I took out the pink shiny brites and left the garland stuffed with hydrangeas and pinecones.
For now, these changes feel right. I have some natural elements from outdoors and mostly neutral, low-color tones with a hint of sparkle throughout. Plus warm throws and lots of extra pillows, for us and the dogs. It always hurts to put the Christmas clutter away, but streamlined, serene surroundings aren’t bad either. I’m spending so much time indoors, it is nice to have the calm decor around me, along with the warmth of the lights that I left in place.
Once the puppies were livingin their new homes in November, I found myself at a loss on what to do with my time. Those babies were pretty much a 24 hour a day job for me for months. Those guys needed so much care they really kept me hopping and I had no time for creativity.
Molly just did not understand when I went from Puppy Servant back to my own life, she had only known me as the lady who spent every waking hour (and some during the night) catering to the needs of her and her fluffy sibs.
Not that she wasn’t still getting plenty of attention, but I was also doing some things just for me too. She soon figured out that she could lay on my feet while I stitched. As long as I was close, she accepted that I wasn’t playing with or petting her.
I am still not completely caught up on sleep, Molasses needs to potty a couple of times during the night, but I have convinced her that 5am wake up calls are not acceptable to me and that she needs to go back into her kennel until at least six.
Some days, she has even made it to seven, if I put Honey in there with her!
She is a very mild mannered, calm girl. But when she needs to go out at 3am, she is quite insistent. While I am not sleeping as much as I wish I was, It is enough that my spark is returning. I had this shirt to embroider for my sweet, hippie kid who loves flowers.
Since I mailed his gift box to North Carolina, and he surprised us by hiding under the tree and popping out on Christmas Eve, I don’t know if it fit him, or if I got a little too dainty with the flowers. If it isn’t what he wanted, he can pass the shirt along to Sugarwings and I will stitch another.
It felt good to be working on a project again and I’d enjoy an excuse to do more. But not a black shirt. That was more difficult than any other stitchery I have done. Typically I use a washable marker to draw on the fabric, but on black, none showed up. I was making it up as I sewed with this one.
I’m sure Molly would be happy to keep me company if I need to work on another shirt. And I appreciate the warm toes on a cold night when she does.
Molly (Molasses, to go with Sugar and Honey) is about as laid back as any dog I have had. Sugar was that way as a pup, too. They seem to understand what is said to them with very little effort. She learned “leave it” and “stay” in one try.
While she is a mature acting pup, she is still just a baby, and is such a spot of joy in our lives. She is a happy puppy, and is always at my feet, looking up to see if she might be getting a petting soon.
Of course she is!
While it seems crazy to have taken on a sixth dog, she is just what we needed. Training a new puppy can be exhausting (she still needs to go out in the middle of the night, is ready for breakfast at 5am, and thinks the vintage paper on the walls or our dirty socks look delicious), she is worth every second of effort.
With Sugarwings going all teenagery on us, Dewdrop and her daddy living across country, and Ryan…
Well, nothing can help with losing Ryan.
But this jolly little Christmas elf might be just what I need to get through the holidays.
Was our cross country trip to pass out puppies only four nights? So many miles, so many places, so many happenings, all in just a few days? Days were long in the car, but between audio books, This American Life podcasts, and naps, it wasn’t bad. We stopped every couple of hours for the pups to stretch their legs, and they all travelled well. They peed on command and mostly slept while driving. Each day we tried to get as far as we could towards our next meet up location and the puppy owners were kind enough to be flexible along with us.
Our hotel stops weren’t planned very far in advance, but we got lucky in finding ideal places with ground floor rooms. Although, I am afraid that I didn’t take advantage of that in the middle of the night. Instead, I was so tired that I lazily sat pups on their peepads instead of leashing them for a walk at 3am. This resort in Tarrytown, NY was our favorite stop. Ruby’s family lived in Manhattan, and obliged us by driving a half hour to meet outside of the city to get her. She is a lucky pup who will live on Central Park.
The hotel was an old estate on a hill overlooking the Hudson transformed into a resort. I would’ve loved to stay longer and explore, but we had a mission. I felt a little like Santa, flying across country to bring joy.
We did get in to Tarrytown early enough for a delicious room service, Asian meal. Restaurants were out due to not only Covid, but to having a passel of pups with us.
Ruby’s family brought us fresh, NY bagels! We got up early to let the babies frolic on the expansive lawns and figured we’d eat a granola bar in the car after Ruby left. These were a magnificent surprise!
And the world’s most delicious bagel. So was the cream cheese. It was so Rich, that it was almost an ivory tone. Do they mix it with butter there?
Delicious!
Driving across country during a pandemic can be eerie. We were extra careful, but it was disconcerting to see so many people with no masks (mostly in Missouri and Indiana) unlike the area we live in. I doubled up and wore a face shield too.
We listened to the news reports of the cases soaring, and swore to be even more careful than planned. We couldn’t do typical tourist stuff, or explore much. We wanted to get back home safely and quickly.
Our first stop in Indiana at my sister’s was much too fleeting, and our first night with the pups was stressful at the hotel.
But finding this mansion estate (under $200, including pet fees) turned our trip around.
We decided then, that we were going to try local foods as we drove cross country and upgrade our hotels along the way. We spent more, but it made the trip feel like a get away, not a chore.
We had a car picnic at a really nice seafood restaurant in Mendon, MA after dropping off a Teddy. (In the two litters, we had three Teddies and one Freddy)
That lucky boy lives in a wonderful home by a lake now.
That night, we stayed in Buffalo at a Hyatt Place. Not a mansion, but a perfect hotel for puppies. There wasn’t as much for them to get into there, those rooms are streamlined. Other places had dangling cords or other temptations. I think Hyatt Place is ready for pets nationwide and most other chains just accommodate animals on an individual basis.
We’ve always been fans of this brand anyway, it’s a well run, comfortable place to stay. I wish we had chosen one on our first night on the road, but that was before we decided to not be on a tight budget and to enjoy the trip.
The puppies are supposed to be a business for me, but they are so much more than that. So, why should I try to be frugal and make a profit on the drive to get them to their homes? We figured it was much more pleasant to treat this adventure as a getaway, because there aren’t very many of those in this day and age.
After getting another Teddy (the poor boy whose previous family didn’t want him) to his Wisconsin family who met us in Chicago, we drove around to sight see and stopped at Portillo's, to get a Chicago style dinner to go.
Local foods made our trip so much more interesting than typical drive thrus would have. And the change of attitude did too. But the best part of the trip? We came home with Molasses, “Molly”. I kept thinking we should try to sell her too, and had many offers. She came with us on the drive as kind of an interview process to see if we were keeping her.
While she was a perfect pup, and quite mellow, I was still iffy.
People asked us if we were keeping her, I answered maybe, Rich always answered yes. I was still getting emails from interested buyers and just couldn’t commit.
Finally, he made me see that she was already family. And now that we are home, tearing down the puppy corrals, packing up supplies, I am so glad that she is here. It is the six month anniversary of Ryan’s death, and I don’t think I could handle losing all sixteen puppies on top of that.
This girl has sweet Angel wings on her chest, that make me think she was sent to me from Ryan to give me someone who loves hugs as much as he always did.
You know who else was glad we kept her? These two mamas were overwhelmed with joy when we got back!
Our cross country adventure with four dogs unexpectedly turned into five dogs instead.
This guy needed to be picked up in Nebraska the night before we left for NY. My husband was my hero, Rich sped off to get the Butterball on a moment’s notice after his new owners decided that his puppyness was a bit much for him.
I stayed behind to get this Sugar Baby sent off with his new family.
It looks like he is happy at his home with a forever best friend.
I’d also made an airport drop off for this baby to go to her mom who was arriving from California.
Plus, we were in the midst of a too short visit from Dewdrop and her daddy. A drive to Nebraska wasn’t in our plans the night before we headed out on a cross country jaunt.
But- No Man Left Behind! We were not leaving him where he was not wanted, so he hit the road with us.
Good thing that he came along, or he would have missed the joys of exploring a hotel room. The puppies were completely mesmerized by the toilet.
They were actually pretty good in the rooms for the most part. Their excitement of being out of the car led to some noise control problems, but overall, they were well behaved.
I am soooooooo happy I trained them to use potty pads as well as to go outside. Being mostly housebroken really helped.
Our first stop was Indiana, where the pups could stretch their legs in Sissy’s pretty, custom fence.
We left Ryder there with Jo Jo.
Her name is after my Ryan, who is JoRenda’s cousin. Ryder has already had her first photo shoot, and she is a talented model. That girl loves to show off her sitting up skills.
We missed her, but I have to admit that five dogs on a road trip is a lot.
On our first pit stop, I struggled to attach leashes on the waterfall of puppies pouring out of their crate, and thought I’d walk them all while Rich grabbed coffee.
It didn’t occur to me that five little babies together added up to over 70lbs and i was very quickly overwhelmed. They wove their leashes in and out and around my legs, then drug me down into a ditch that I couldn’t escape from. I had to holler for Rich to unwrap me and pull me up from the pit I’d been tugged into.
Did I mention there was a dead raccoon in the ditch that they desperately wanted to get to and I desperately wanted to keep them away from?
