These Days

With only two days of school left, my head is full of Summer planning and all the things that need to be juggled right now. I've had a pattern ready to release since the beginning of the month, but keep putting it on hold to give myself time for the more important things.

We almost certainly have another litter of puppies on the way, due to be born at the beginning of August. I am already starting to prepare myself, I think it takes me all 60 days of gestation to emotionally prepare to be housebound for the following 7 weeks of puppy care. People ask how I can let those sweet puppies go to their new families, but let me tell you, after being on such a short leash for so long, its always a happy relief to see them going to the homes that are devoted to caring for and cleaning up after them for the rest of their lives!

Speaking of cleaning up... our 13 year old water heater decided to start leaking last week, leaving a soggy mess in the bottom of our hall closet, and requiring a late-night emergency replacement. What is it about this, the 13th year of our marriage? I'm not one to be superstitious, but SO much has happened to us this year, and the water heater wasn't the first large appliance to need replacing. I know... that is just the way life goes, and we learn to roll with the punches, right? All in all, we are so very blessed to have each other and this bit of land to cultivate.

We thought we were going to lose our Bailey dog a few weeks ago. I couldn't even blog about it, it felt so real and imminent. He was super sick and stopped eating over Memorial weekend. We got him in to see the vet first thing Tuesday morning, and of all things, discovered that he had salmon poisoning, most likely from eating the rainbow trout head that my husband had taken out to the woods to bury. Bad dog! He was so bad, that it took a full 3 days of antibiotics before he started to get some pep back in his step and become the usual wiggle-butt excited dog at meal time. We are happy to be able to keep our elderly friend around for awhile longer. He's 9 1/2; we're hoping we get another 5 years with him. We would take even more, but realize it isn't likely he'll find the fountain of youth the next time he's out digging in the woods.

I spent most of Friday and Saturday with my Sister, giving her husband a little freedom to be with baby Clara and spend time with their visitors. She is still on a pretty restricted visiting schedule, needing lots of rest and calm. She is finally able to get up for visits to the NICU to hold her wee baby, which makes everyone happy.

Our garden is growing, but with so much rain lately, we are having to re-seed some veggies, and the weeds are quickly trying to overtake the rows. I earned myself a set of sunburned shoulders yesterday while weeding around the firepit. Careless me, after two days in the hospital, I was in such a hurry to get outside that I completely forgot the sunscreen.

And that's how it goes around here these days. What's up in your world?