Chihuahua Pupdate

Still having problems with the camera but got a few ok pictures...
From left to right, Darci's little fawn boy, Vada's fawn girl, Vada's fawn boy, and Vada's black and white boy...

Tried to get "individual portraits" but some of them were too blurry to post...


The girls are swapping and sharing puppies with no problem!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've solved the mystery, in case you have been wondering where pumpkin pies come from...

It must be true because I've found TWO examples...

Somebody pass the whippped cream!!!

Just What We Needed...

Vada went into labor this afternoon! Randy called me to come home from work, we had a feeling things weren't going right but were comparing the timing to Darci and not quite sure, called my friend Stayce (where I got Darci from) who said it sounds like there is a puppy stuck and suggested we go on in and we decided being a holiday weekend we'd best do it, did NOT want to end up back at the ER because (a) they were NOT nice people and (b) it would cost a lot more - upon arrival the vet prepared us for the worst, she couldn't feel any pups moving! But when they came out almost two hours later we had 3 live pups and mama doing fine... I asked how many pups and they said just 3, so all were saved. The stuck one had feet in the right tunnel and head turning back into the other uterine horn so would never have come out on its own, thank God and Stayce we went in when we did, if we had waited a couple more hours we would have lost at least that pup and maybe all of them.

Darci's pups the first time weighed, in ounces, 2.0 2,0 2.5 and the second time 2.5 1.5 and 3.15 - Vada's pups weighed 6.0 6.5 and 7.0!!! No wonder she was so huge!!! She is spayed and the rest of them will be fixed as soon as we can scrape up the money (anyone want to buy a truck or trailer?), I am so done with this. The donkeys are MUCH easier! Lots of people tell us they want a dog just like ours but we have decided this is their only chance, after this they just have to go look somewhere else. It's not worth risking our girls.

Randy is frustrated with the "grand" vet bill (yes, a THOUSAND dollars!!) but it could have been much worse, at least the pups survived! That's a better percentage than the bill for half that much for Darci with only one pup to show for it... I think breeding dogs is just like breeding horses - the only way to make a little money from it is to start with a LOT!

So all total we have a tiny fawn boy from Darci, and a fawn boy, fawn girl and black/white boy from Vada. Darci is helping Vada with her pups as she is still disoriented from the anesthesia and a little weirded out by these strange creatures since she was asleep when they arrived. But she is settling in and it looks like all will be well.

Unfortunately the pups will not be old enough to leave mama by Christmas but if anyone doesn't mind a late Christmas present they will be ready mid-January. However if anyone needs a puppy for Christmas the boy born last March is available, he is cute as the dickens and really sweet, but the old (86) lady who bought him decided she just can't handle a pup. Justin is already neutered and has had all his shots so you won't have those expenses... she has about $500 in him and would like to get some of that back, she knows she can't get it all back... so feel free to make me an offer to present to her.

There will be no more puppies around here, this IS your LAST CHANCE!!!

Tough Few Days

Well my Darci (chihuahua) had her pups on Saturday afternoon. The first one was stillborn, a boy that looked EXACTLY like Ty... the second was a TINY black girl and then a HUGE fawn boy (well he was more than twice the size of his sister!) The last two were born so close together that the boy came out before the afterbirth for the girl... unfortunately weighing in at 1.5 ounces our little girl was not very strong and although we helped her nurse and even bought supplement to feed her, she did not make it past 36 hours. Darci is understandably pretty intense about her remaining pup but I insist on weighing him several times a day and he is gaining each time so all seems well there. Darci herself was trembling pretty bad and panting late Sunday night, we ended up at the animal ER at 1am and didn't get home until 3am but they couldn't find anything bad wrong, the things they checked were all ok, but they did say she needed to poop and they "helped" her with that. X-ray at the regular vet in the morning ruled out an undelivered pup and there is no fever or unusual discharge so they don't believe she retained any birthing material either. At this point I am thinking that constipation is her problem, so we are working on that. She is not eating real well which worries me a bit but of course we can always tempt her with people food {sigh}.

As a consequence of not much sleep for several days I crashed yesterday, took off work early, was home and in bed by 4pm and slept almost the whole night through except for about an hour around 9pm when I woke up hungry and ate a couple of apples and some Amish peanut butter. I slept so hard I had a bad headache but that's finally almost gone too. I'm really looking forward to hitting my pillow again shortly here... My apologies to my blogger friends, I have not been able to keep up with anyone (including my own blog) but I hope to get back to it soon!

One good result of all the worry over the pups is I didn't eat regularly and this morning the scale said a new all-time low of 184.8 so I broke that 185 barrier... I am sure it will fluctuate back up a bit as it has been fluctuating a couple of pounds either way for a couple of weeks... but maintaining pretty much 186-187 or so.

And our other chihuahua Vada looks like she is about to BURST! Her belly is so tight, and I love to lay my hand on it and feel the pups moving inside - they are really active the last couple of days. Had her checked at the vet too and they said it should be within the week... we are praying for a better result with her litter. It's hard to deal with but the vet said that with the dogs this small, they are actually surprised if they DON'T lose at least one pup. My experience is with bigger dogs - and even Hannah was over 10 pounds and her pups were small but not tiny.

Well good night all.

Introducing... Santana!

Long story short someone else I "know" through the internet has a blog... and a very interesting story from yesterday! So check out Santana and Kathryn on my blog list :)

Once you read it you will understand when I say, I am now off to search Randy's shop and steal his fishing vest ;)

Not Much Today...

I had some really cute shots of Sarah Beth and Charles both, and my pregnant chihuahuas, and some other stuff... but when I went to download them from the disc, they aren't there. Even retook some but still not there... so something is up with my camera! And I'm not good at diagnosing that kind of stuff... so this is all you get today:

Charles playing dead baby... they all do this at some point, and stop my heart until I get close enough to see them breathing...

Of course all the others wanted to know what I was doing out there and the commotion woke him up!

The first four of eight butterflies I am making...

Shades of Mikey LOL... I got 6 of them in one picture! That's Justin in the middle, part of Ty upper left, Vada's head upper right, Radar and Sherman in the bottom right corner and Rocket bottom left


Randy and I made more progress on the dog pen too but by the time we were finished it was too dark for pictures. Not that it would have showed up anyway GGRRR. We also did a major cleaning job in the living room and got the crates set up for the girls. Yes that's plural, crateS and girlS - we have TWO pregnant chihuahuas! Darci could go any time now and Vada soon after... now I'm hoping I can retake the belly pictures for posterity {and blogger} before they pop!

Today I scanned this picture for my friend Mary. This is her favorite picture of her shi tzu Squirt. She was 16 and passed away last night. Her health was getting pretty bad so it's not such a bad thing for Squirt... but it's awful hard on Mary! And then I got caught up on my blogger friends and found out about Mikey's Casper... such a sad weekend!
RIP Squirt and Casper!!!

Veteran's Day - Thank You!

To those serving now, THANK YOU! May God keep you safe from harm and bring you back to your families.

To those who have served in the past, THANK YOU! May God bless you with the strength to deal with your physical and emotional residuals from that service.

To the families of those serving now, THANK YOU! May God bless you with the safe return of your loved one!

To the families of those who have served in the past, THANK YOU! May God bless you as you deal with the residuals of that service.

And to the families of those who gave their lives in service, THANK YOU! May God bless you as you deal with your loss.

And a very special THANK YOU to my very own veteran - LOVE YOU HONEY!!!!!

Busy Busy Week!

Well I don't have any pictures - don't shoot me!! I had a nice ride on Saturday morning with a few neighbors and Lindsey rode Luna who was a total b*tch again. Geez. But I got on her Saturday late afternoon and rode her around the yard and she was perfect.

My dear friend Shirley came over Sunday to ride, perfect timing after a quick trip to Wickenburg for breakfast at Cowboy Cafe for me and Randy :) and a stop at Matt's (Serenity Farms) where I got a few necessities and a new cantle bag, AND a new water bottle carrier - which I discovered, during our 3-hour ride, works REALLY well! My frozen water bottle didn't melt!

A very nice young lady came over on Sunday afternoon to ride Maggie, our horse guest, and they clicked really well. Maggie's owner Mary came over to meet Savannah and her mom Tammy and I got some more good reports on our Ruby as well. And I rode Luna again. That's my goal, to get her going again, even if it's only 10 minutes and one time around the yard, I've got to keep her working.

Then yesterday I got the call that a deal was made, Maggie is going to be Savannah's new horse and her gelding is going to Mary's - but Mary says, he is going to be a horse for hubby and daughter - SHE WANTS RUBY! I am so happy to hear that Ruby is such a good match for Mary!

I rode Luna again and we had a real breakthrough. Normally when I send her around in the round pen without a lead rope on, when I ask her to stop she turns her butt to me - which of course is a BIG NO-NO! I know there is a way to tell her not to do that and I have been shown more than once but I just couldn't get her to face me. So I started using the lead line AND the round pen, and when I ask her to whoa, I give a little tug on the rope and MAKE her face me. Well last night I sent her around without a lead rope and when I said WHOA she just stopped and faced me pretty as you please. WOO HOO!

Of course tonight my plans to ride got sidetracked darn it. But I had Savannah and her mom here to pick up Maggie and drop off Blaze, and Mary came to meet Blaze and ride him a bit, and two other neighbors stopped in to see the new donkey foals AND one of them wanted to meet our rescue donkey Abigail and really liked her, so much she is going to try adopting her as a companion for her horse! So even if I didn't get to ride Luna tonight, it was a very productive evening!

Luna will get a double break though as tomorrow night is Midweek Fellowship and by the time I get home after 10pm I do NOT feel like riding! Blaze is our guest until Friday when I have the day off work and can deliver him - I told Mary I would bring a horse, and maybe a friend, and we are going for a little ride Friday morning as well! I'll try to get some pictures, and some more foal pictures too, very soon!!

Finally! Pictures...

Meet Charles, all dry!






When he first came out all wet, I really thought he was going to be chocolate like his father:

Then when he was almost dry, but it was almost dark, in the flashlight he looked the same color as his mom... And now, I just don't know what to think! I guess we will have to wait and see what he looks like when he grows out of that baby fuzz!

Indian Wife Named Four Horses...

That was me today. Because YESTERDAY I asked Randy to take daylight pics of our new little boy and he FORGOT. I ask you... HOW????????? Some days I just don't understand him. Now everyone is after me to post dry pictures of the little boy and I still don't have any.

So today I am the Indian Wife named Four Horses... have you heard that one? A white man asked the Indian why his wife was named Four Horses. He shrugged and said, "you know....

NAG

NAG

NAG

NAG!"

LOL but I got the job done, Randy called mid-afternoon to say he took some pictures for me. Of course it's Wednesday and we have Midweek Fellowship so I'll have to see if I can stay awake long enough after I get home tonight LATE to get them uploaded and downloaded - or is that downloaded and uploaded?

PS the young man says his name is CHARLES!

Diet Progress and...

Don't worry I have more Sarah Beth pictures for you! But first...

Today is day 8 of our 4th 11-day diet... which means it's veggie day. Can I just say that salad is NOT on my top ten list of things to eat for breakfast? Especially when the exact same thing is on the menu for lunch? However, I just keep picturing in my mind that scale this morning, that said 185.4 WAHOO!! I have promised myself that IF I can get to 180 by the end of this 11-day session, that's it for me on the quick-loss plan. I am getting awful tired of eating this way... and I have found that although it's slower, I do keep losing just following the 45 pages of regular diet tips from this plan. Randy wants to keep doing the 11 days and I'll eat with him when he does, whatever he is eating, but at work or elsewhere, I'm not going to be that strict.

I am ALMOST to a total weight loss of 25 pounds though so i'm extremely happy with my progress so far!

OK, OK, here you go...













Randy took these for me when I got home




And thank goodness I asked Hilary and Randy to take some pictures for me during the day, because even getting home early, with Susie Q going into labor, this is all I got of Sarah Beth myself today!


Dry pictures of our little boy are on order from Randy today :) so check back tonight!

Two For One???? Unbelievable...

I am beside myself with joy guys... to say again, **WARNING** graphic birthing pictures!!!

When I got to work this morning I asked my boss if I could work through lunch and leave at 4, so I could have a little daylight with my new foal and get more pics. She said no problem thank God!!!

Because I wasn't home 15 minutes, changed clothes and went out with Randy and the camera to take my gotta-have-it shot of me holding the baby donkey... We walked in the pen and I heard a gushing sound, turned to look and Susie Q is laying down in a big puddle... I said "Oh my God is Susie in labor" and Randy said yes and oh boy...

She was in the middle of what we call the "garden" - we don't grow veggies or flowers, just donkeys but the gal who lived here before, this section was her garden so we have always called it that. With her little sister, Taffy's youngster and my mini mare in the same pen, we figured Susie Q had to move. Just like Taffy she was up and down so when she got up we led her a short distance into the pen where Taffy delivered this morning and shut the gate on the others.

I know, I know, shut up and get to the pictures...

The bubble...

First hoof

Perfect presentation again, two front hooves and a nose AND a tongue, can you see it?

Hoof breaks the sac

Halfway out (blurry, sorry! i was so excited i had a hard time holding still)

Almost out

Poor little thing was SOAKED, it was weird to see two in one day and so different! There wasn't much liquid with the little girl, but this one had a LOT. Shook its head and water drops flew everywhere, shining in the setting sun. kept sneezing too and drops flying out the nose, but that was a good thing, clear all that out!!!

I started texting while I was watching, but didn't really need the distraction to make the time pass... Taffy took about 45 minutes this morning, Susie Q finished in about TEN!! One friend asked if I was home and could they come over... I said sure, but by the time they arrived baby was out and up already. And they only live 10 minutes away!

The front legs were folded like a pretzel, baby kept trying to get up and falling on its nose. I felt sorry for it and gently untangled those long legs.

Once they were out in front UP baby went... And right back down. So i took the opportunity to look under that tail and found Dillon has another son! For those of you that remember Clementine, this is her little brother.
Another Bambi on the ice!
But he wouldn't give up
And one leg at a time
UP again!!

Mama comes to say how proud she is {I know, blurry again - sigh}

Poor little guy, just like people, mama always trying to clean him up!



First visitors


And now for food...

He knows it's there somewhere...

A little out of kilter but we heard that slurping!

My babies have been pretty good about telling me their names, but sometimes it takes a while. i've got nothing yet on this one, but I told our visitor that if I don't get anything real strong... I just might name this donkey after HIM!

What an incredible day. I should be dead tired, I've been up so long, but I'm flying high!!!