And They Call It Puppy Love

Seven weeks ago today, LizzieBelle popped these little boys out.

So cute when they're sleeping, and yes, even when they're awake romping all over the place and wrastlin' with each other.  (Not so cute when they're peeing & pooping all over the place and wadding up their pee pads, sigh.  Although, they're getting much, much better about using them, yippee!)

Here's a reminder of what they looked like seven weeks ago...

They're quite a handful now but in a different sense, ha!

They've been lots of fun, an overload of cuteness, a joy to watch and quite the experience!

Tomorrow, they are going for their second vet appointment and will receive their first round of shots.  They'll each get a folder that will have all their information in it and I will also purchase a gift certificate for each puppy for neutering when they're old enough.  I will give the folder and the certificate to their new Mom's & Dad's.

Two puppies will be going to their forever homes this week.  I'm going to miss them but will be glad for a little less to clean up.

The other four puppies?  I'm going to have a lady adopt them out.  She does all the homework on the new owners and even checks out the homes which I think is awesome because I want them all to have a good, loving home where they're a part of the family and not just an animal.  She offered to do this for me and I am so grateful as I have a few things on my plate right now, which I'll be sharing with y'all at some point, and having the puppies taken care of is a huge help and one load off my mind.

LizzieBelle has been a fantastic Mama.  She still loves her puppies and will play with them from time to time.  They try to nurse off her, even though she's drying up, and she's so tolerant of them.

Here's Miss LizzieBelle hangin' out in her crate underneath her blanket...

She's a little blurry in this photo but I thought this was so cute I just had to post it!

Till next time,

LizzieBelle's Hooligans

Let me introduce to you Miss LizzieBelle's little hooligans...

Her firstborn, Onyx (or Blackie, whichever I think of first!)...

Her secondborn, Coolidge (named by the future owner)...

Her thirdborn, Bobbsey twin I...

After that, I don't remember the order.  I couldn't believe she just kept on having puppies!

This is Bobbsey Twin II...

Here we have Socks...

And last, but not least, (actually I think he was last) is Fuzzy...

Six healthy boys.  Aren't they adorable?  I can't resist snatching each of them up whenever I'm in the bathroom and giving them lots of kisses!

I know CountryBoy told me not to name them but we both ended up giving them nicknames.  Having names helps in trying to train them (at least it helps me!).

Both Fuzzy and Coolidge have been claimed.  I'm still hoping to find some good, loving homes for the other four.

All cuteness aside, there were days this week where I was ready to pull my hair out and cry Uncle!

Every morning I was waking up to this...

I would spend an hour, even before my first cup of coffee, cleaning up the mess, feeding them and then cleaning up another mess.

Messes ev.er.y.where.

Did I mention that this was what I woke to ev.er.y.morning?  Ugh!

Not a great way to start the day, sigh.

I had purchased some human pee pads for a couple of bucks at the thrift store because they were large.  And with six puppies bigger is better.  The puppies occasionally used them if they just happened to be standing on them when they needed to go.  

Some friends told me to get the puppy pads and they would do better about going on them.  Supposedly there's some puppy attractant in the pads that lures them to it.

Not so with the hooligans.  For several days after having the puppy pads down I was still waking up to.a.mess.

They must be more fun to play on rather than pee or poop on.

Oh, and let's not forget about the food fights!

When the mess continued all.day.long.ev.er.y.day I decided to take drastic measures.  I completely emptied the bathroom.  Puppies, hamper, jewelry armoire, toilet paper storage cabinet, waste basket, etc. outta there.

I put the puppies in the guest bathroom while I donned my Hazmat suit and went to work.  (Just kidding on the Hazmat suit.  I'm sure I needed one though!)

I cleaned up the mess one more time and then mopped the bathroom really good.  Once it dried, I put everything back in the bathroom including the puppies.

Ah, so much better.  Now if it would just stay that way, ha!

We had several more accidents throughout the evening but I stayed with them as long as possible to try and train them to go to the pads.

I've also been cleaning up the messes and then spraying the area with a homemade citrus vinegar solution to hopefully rid the smell and discourage continued messes in that area.

This morning I woke up to a lesser mess and throughout the day the messes and accidents have been fewer. Maybe we're making progress.

I sure hope so because I was about to go outta my mind!

Enough about the messes.  How bout some more hooligan cuteness?!  (Make sure your sound is on)

Till next time,

Where Does The Time Go?

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post.  Sheesh!

I really don't know where the time goes.

It was a rather hectic week, though, so I'm guessing that had something to do with the time disappearing on me.

With the onset of Fall I am hoping to get into somewhat of a routine again... house cleaning, yard work, blogging, work (I clean our church on a weekly basis), filling sewing and crocheting orders for customers, cleaning up after puppies, decluttering and simplifying our home and life, etc.

And with the cooler temps we've been having I want to be outdoors again.  Even if I'm just piddling around out there.  I'm thinking that might put a kink in my routine, haha!

I have so many things on my plate right now that I NEED to get into a routine just so that I can stay sane!

I am the type of person that likes to stay busy but I don't like to be overwhelmed.  I like to pace myself.  But, there are times, especially this time of year, when it seems like everything happens at the same time with so many holidays back to back.  So, I'm going to have to make sure that I have some down time every now and then.  It is for the best interest of everyone around me!

Burgundy Lily

I just finished drinking some Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin ground coffee.  Delish!  I will definitely be buying some  more next time I'm in town.  I do love anything pumpkin!

I mentioned the puppies earlier.  Their vet appointment went well last week.  The vet was pleased with how healthy they were and she complimented me on the health of LizzieBelle and the pups.  She said that the care I gave LizzieBelle during her pregnancy resulted in such healthy puppies.  Yay!  I do believe Miss LizzieBelle was rescued just in time!

The puppies and LizzieBelle got a dose of worming medicine at their appointment and the second dose was administered yesterday by myself and a neighbor.  I'm so thankful she came over to help as it would have been difficult for me to hold them and slowly give them the medicine.

The puppies are five weeks old today.  They are eating soft puppy food and LizzieBelle supplements their diet every once in a while.  She is slowly weaning them.  God-given animal instinct amazes me!

At times I feel overwhelmed with the care of the puppies and the constant cleaning up after them.  I am going to get some puppy pads tomorrow when I'm in town and I'm hoping that the puppies will use them on a regular basis.  I am currently using pee pads for humans (bought at a thrift store for a couple of bucks) but the puppies use it only 50% of the time.  I'm told that there is a scent in the puppy pads that will attract the puppy to use it.  I'm crossing my fingers this is true.  Cleaning up after six puppies gets crazy!

Cicada on a clothespin

On a sad note, last week one of our drakes died.  Country Boy noticed that it wasn't eating with the rest of the ducks and chickens.  We managed to catch it and upon closer inspection I noticed that one side of his head was swollen.  We found a puncture wound.  We have no idea what happened.

Lately, the ducks have been sleeping in the run at night rather than in the coop so I'm wondering if a snake came in and bit it.  I know a snake wouldn't dare come in the run during the day with all the chickens running around!

That's the only thing I can think of that may have caused the wound.

Then this evening, while I was doing the evening chores, I found a female duck lying on the floor in the coop with her legs straight out behind her.  I picked her up and tried to get her legs back under her.  After a bit I managed to get them under her but they would not stay.  I put her in the water to see if that would help but it didn't.  I put her back in the coop and I'm expecting her not to make it through the night.

CountryBoy seems to think that maybe one of the drakes broke her back while he was, ahem, doing his thing with her.  It's possible as she did seem to be paralyzed from 'the waist down'.

Times like these are the hardest part about caring for farm animals.  Sometimes I feel so helpless.

The above cicada was on my clothesline one day.  He patiently posed while I tried to figure out my new Raynox Macro lens.

I still need a lot of practice with the lens but I've not had the time to work on my macro shots.  Some day!

Well I've rambled on long enough.

Till next time,

Four Weeks Old

Four weeks ago, Miss LizzieBelle gave birth to six healthy puppies.

Today, they are little bundles of energy for a bit and then wore slap out the next.

Mama and the puppies have their first vet appointment tomorrow.

I'm hoping they'll be able to tell me the mix of these puppies.

It's so cute how they sleep all over each other!

A few of them are starting to get some teeth so it shouldn't be long before they're weaned.  I think poor Miss LizzieBelle is ready for them to be weaned already!  Their teeth and little claws have got to hurt.

Here's a little video of playtime taken about a week ago...

 

They're getting around much better since this video was taken.  They still wobble and fall over at times but they can actually run now.  So cute to watch!

  



Till next time,