Day For Two

Today was a day where not much happened yet it was a perfect, memory making, special day despite the appearances of being ordinary.  Nothing amazing or astounding happened. No big life event.  No moment of greatness. Just a continued subtle wonderfulness that won't happen again for quite some time.  I spent the whole day hanging out with my son.  All day long we were together laughing and talking and sharing the day. We didn't do anything extraordinary - except neither of us worked and neither of us had any commitments elsewhere.  We didn't have our cell phones on, we didn't have our computers with us, we just hung out together and enjoyed each other's company for the entire day. It was awesome.  My son is SO funny and so witty. He is a blast to be with.  He had me laughing so hard, I had tears in my eyes and we had just the best time all day long. It was a perfect day.  I think I will make a point to have more days like this in the future.  There will always be a "To-Do" list and there will always be chores and work. However there are hardly enough  perfect days of togetherness where I am submerged in complete happiness just hanging out with my very tall, very mature, very handsome, awesome son. The best part was seeing his smile all day long and knowing without a doubt, he was having a perfect day as well. A day for two? Yes please!!!!!

Pure Bliss

Today....I did.......NOTHING. Yes. Nothing. As in nothing productive whatsoever.  It was pure bliss.  I woke up and sat on a chair in the sun and read...all day long.  I sat in my chair from breakfast until dinner. I didn't work. I didn't email. I didn't really move at all.  I sat there and read the entire book from cover to cover. I can't tell you what a perfect day it was.  I love to read. If I had the time, I would gladly  read every single day. Sadly, I only have a few days a year where I have the luxury of reading so I try to cram in as many books as I can. I usually can read an entire book in a single day and my favorite thing is to have the time to do just that. If I put a book down - who knows how long it will be before I have the opportunity to read again and by that time - I will have forgotten the plot, setting, characters and everything else about the book and have to start over.  I have done that many times thinking...this all seems familiar...oh right..I already started this same book about 10 times. So today was an awesome day. Well at least for me.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres probably doesn't think it was quite so awesome as he had the complete opposite day. Mr. Yesteryear Acres did.....everything. Yes. Everything.  Thank you Mr. Yesteryear Acres! I loved my day!!!!

Beep Beep...Watch Out!

Oh man did we have the BEST day today!  My son and I have permanent smiles plastered to our faces.  We did something we have NEVER done before nor did we ever think the opportunity would arise. Today we rode Segways!!!!!! I don't know about you, but I wasn't all that sold on Segways looking like that much fun, but we were offered a fantastic deal to try one out for 30 minutes and couldn't refuse. OH MY GOSH! They are really really really fun!  My son of course got the hang of it in less that 30 seconds.  My comfort level didn't settle in for about 15 minutes but once it did - I was hooked!!!  It is really a blast!!!! We were doing little back and forth turns and my son did 360* turns with ease.  We got to go full speed and it was just awesome!  My son and I had a whole day off of work. A whole day to be together. AND a whole day of smiles!!!! 

What's my Picture?

To say I am a competitive person would be a slight understatement. I love to play games - and let's face it - I love to win.  Evidently I have passed this trait onto my children as they all love playing games and are equally competitive.  We are really good sports - and are never sore losers - but we do get an extra big kick out of winning!  We love card games, board games, word games - you name it.  I really love playing word games.  I try and play Scrabble every day with my sister - we play one word a day online and never get tired of it. My younger daughter found a drawing game online which is SO much fun.  It is just like pictionary except there is no time limit so you can take your time drawing the clue. I happen to be the WORST artist.  Honestly - even my stick people are awful! The funny thing is  - my younger daughter can guess my drawings just like that!  She is so quick to guess that my horrible oblong sad wimpy blob is actually the globe and the clue is "Earth".  She makes me so happy when she guesses my drawings.  Hers are really cute and now we have started to send each other messages with our pictures so every day I look forward to my picture of the day.  Game playing online - even for just 5 minutes each day - makes the distance between us just melt away.  I can't wait to see what my picture is today!

Magnolia - We Love You!

My favorite tree is our huge Magnolia tree that is right beside our home. It is always filled with the most beautiful blossoms in the spring. I love to take pictures of the magnolia flowers in bloom. I love to sit under the branches and stare up at the sky through the flowers. I love that tree.  Sadly, our Magnolia tree did NOT blossom this spring!  We have never had a spring without Magnolia flowers! Mr. Yesteryear Acres and I cannot figure out what is wrong with our tree.  We are both so sad as we have lots of fond memories associated with our beautiful tree.  We have taken so many puppy pictures with the Magnolia blossoms behind the puppies. We have pictures of our kids through the years with the tree.  My oldest daughter had her high school senior picture taken under the tree.  Our Magnolia tree is a part of our family.  We are working hard to figure out how to save it. Dear Magnolia tree - we love you!  Come back!  Come back!  Please be okay!

MAIL Call

I love getting emails.  I get mail every single day and every single day, I open an email that just makes me smile from ear to ear.  I am really lucky because my inbox always has something really nice waiting for me.  I love getting puppy updates. I often get pictures of puppies happily living in their new homes.  I love the cute pictures with the puppies sleeping with their blankies from Yesteryear Acres. I love the cute puppy pictures with the puppies romping around in their new backyards.  I really love the cute puppy pictures where the puppy has an older doggie best friend to play with. Those are always so precious. I adore getting mail from families that have our puppies from  years ago. I get lots of "Happy Birthday to "_____" type emails with adorable pictures of our puppies all grown up.  I feel fortunate to have puppy pictures and doggie pictures, and updates, and "look at me now" mail almost every day. It is awesome.  I am also really lucky because my daughters both email me just about every day. I love hearing about their days and all the happenings in their lives.  They can write the funniest emails as well and I find myself laughing so hard, tears roll down my face.  They are great writers and even when they have the worst of days, they turn things around and can make me crack up when they share their tales of woe. So thank you to everyone that has taken the time to email me with your stories! I love reading my mail!

I Believe!

We are actually beginning to make progress on our long long long time project of restoring our bedroom. What was supposed to take a few months to do has now crept up to almost three solid years of agonizingly painfully sloooooow work. It is so frustrating because Mr. Yesteryear Acres works so hard. Every day he works from sun up to sun down. Every free minute he has is spent working.  The bedroom is a non-animate, non-emergency, non-priority entity.  It does not need watering. It does not need bathing. It does not need walks, or nails trimmed, or vet check-ups, or snuggles.  And so it sits.  Day after day after day.  Doggie's and puppies ALWAYS trump the bedroom restoration project. Well FINALLY the dark cloud on the project is lifting! Mr. Yesteryear Acres has finished putting up the crown molding! The plaster has all been repaired! The primer coat is going on!!  I believe! I believe it will get finished! I feel full of happy optimism!! Come on Mr. Yesteryear Acres! You Can Do It!

Hey! I heard that!

The little puppies can now hear as their little ears have opened up.  Now when we walk into the kitchen we get greeted with little tiny "barks" of appreciation.  They are getting bigger each day and it won't be too long before they start doing a little exploring.  They still mostly sleep and nurse but you can see little hints of puppyness in there.  I took all new pictures this morning.  You would think that it is very easy to get pictures of teeny tiny little puppies. You would never guess that I have to take over 300-400 pictures each week in order to get a few excellent shots. Well here is why....
You really really really want this picture.......

Awwwww soooooo cute

But

what happens is

You end up getting 100 pictures just like this one.....

You can't make us say "CHEESE!"

OH how puppies LOVE to turn away at the last second!

Persistence (and lots and lots and lots of photos) does pay off in the end

okay okay...you can take my portrait shot

And when they both look at the camera at the same time....

Awwwwww! Success!!!!!!!

There is always one puppy who is willing to pose

Isn't he adorable?!

(If you look really closely, you can see his brother is facing the wrong way)

And

 if you wait long enough......

Three puppies posing at once!

Yea!

Happy Puppy Picture day!

Spring Break Time!

Today is the last day of school for my son and then SPRING BREAK TIME!  I am really excited for spring break this year.  In the past, I have done some really fun things with my girls over spring break. We have had some wonderful adventures together.  My son however has preferred to stay home with his dad and help get all the work done at Yesteryear Acres.  He is a very committed and hard working boy! Last spring break, at the very last second, my son changed his mind and wanted to accompany me but sadly it was too late. I couldn't change the reservation and add him as no changes were allowed at that point.  I felt horrible because I had to leave him behind. My son ended up having an awesome time at home and Mr. Yesteryear Acres made sure they did some fun things together, but I promised my son that we would for sure do something together the very next spring break. And now here it is!  Spring Break 2012! I haven't gone on a fun adventure (not puppy related) with my son and I am so excited.  The thing I am most excited for is......my son will have a vacation! When I say he always is working - I am not exaggerating. He takes all honors classes in high school and gets excellent grades, runs track and field, works at Yesteryear Acres and in his "free" time - takes the doggies out hiking and swimming.  He is always busy and always working.  It is rare to see him sit down.  He takes after his father that way. Mr. Yesteryear Acres is always working and they are both so dedicated to the doggies and puppies - they are the reason that Yesteryear Acres is full of happy 4 legged furry friends!  My son asked me, "how can I go an entire week with NO work?"  I said, "Today - you will find out!"  Let the fun begin!

Closet Change

I guess it is time to admit that thick heavy sweaters, gloves, mittens, scarves, etc. are no longer appropriate clothing items for this time of year. Today will be the 3rd day in a row we have had temperatures over 80*.  It is flat out SUMMER outside! I just about MELTED last night while trying to sleep. It is HOT in my house!!!! This morning, I went to my closet to find something to wear and all I could say was, "no, no, nope, nuh uh, no way, won't work, nope, nada, no and zilch.  I couldn't bear wearing the same T-shirt again so I had to face reality.  Time to switch my closet!  I don't have enough room to hold both my winter and summer clothes so I have to do the big job of switching all the clothes 2x a year.  I started arduous task by finding my summer clothes.  Right there - that is half the battle!  Each year I label the clothing storage bags  ever so carefully and then up to the attic they go.  By the time the next clothing season rolls along...who knows where my carefully placed bags go!  Santa Claus, Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, pool floats, life jackets, snorkel gear - anything and everything is up in the attic and my clothes end up getting pushed aside into the dark abyss. It is a hot and miserable job just to get to my clothes!  Once I had that accomplished, I looked at all the work that lay before me and thought, "well done you!" I gave myself an A+ for getting down my summer clothes and decided to wait for a cooler day to do all the bagging and switching.  I mean it is miserably hot upstairs! I figured I can tackle that job a little later. Now that I have made a definitive commitment to work on my drawers and closet and put away all my winter clothes.......be ready for the coldest weather week EVER. I am predicting a freak snowstorm/blizzard the moment my winter coat is placed in the attic. If a snowstorm heads your way - you will know - in that precise moment.... I have just put the last of my winter clothes away for the summer! Be ready!

Pretty Spring Day

It is so lovely outside!  The flowering trees are all in bloom and everywhere I look is a kaleidoscope of colors. The grass is already really green as well.  It is so beautiful!  I was lucky today and got to go on a walk with my son. I had everything ready to go on a walk by myself when he offered to go with me. That was super nice of him because he ran several miles for his cross country practice after school today so I didn't think he would want to go! I was really happy to have the company because as we all know.....I have no music!  (My iPod is submerged in a bowl of rice so tomorrow we can see if the trick worked!!!) We talked and laughed and had the best time together.  He is awesome company.  I love it when we have time together. I didn't walk as far as I had hoped but did manage to go 1.5 miles. My ankle held up okay and I really think I am finally making progress. Here is a picture that I took with my son's phone.....

We stood under several flowering trees and just looked up towards the blue sky and smiled.  I hope your day is filled with beautiful spring flowers too!

The Day the Music.......Drowned

Today was "let's trim all the doggies' hair around their eyes day". Doodle doggies have a lot of hair and sometimes their hair grows down and covers their eyes.  It is important to note that if you can't see your doodle's eyes......your doodle can't see you. You are severely impeding their sense of sight when the coat hangs down too far. We try to keep our doggies' hair trimmed pretty regularly.  It is a good safety precaution as well because you really don't want your sweet doodle doggie running into things and getting hurt. It is a super important grooming maintenance job. So today was "let's trim all the doggie's hair around their eyes day".  And a little bit of "let's trim all the doodle doggie's wet stinky beard day".  I had a bucket of warm soapy water next to me and was happily working away on my sweet doodles.  I had my iPod nano clipped to me so I could be entertained with hours of music while I worked.  I love music.  I love music to shower by. I love music to cook by. I love music to walk by.  I love music to work by.  Music is the best. I love my iPod nano.  All my songs in just a square inch of space.  Miracle.  I use it all the time.  I use the pedometer on it.  I use the clock on it.  I have my playlists on it.  I love love love love it.  Well do you know what?  iPod Nanos do NOT like "let's trim the doggie's hair day".  They don't like falling in buckets of soapy water.  They don't like baths.  They don't like it at all.  I. Drowned. My. Music.  Today is the day the music.......drowned. sigh.  Despite the fact that I am a certified (albeit expired) lifeguard, excellent swimmer, lover of water....I could not save my poor ipod.  It is dead. Poor little iPod. I loved you dearly. sniff sniff.  I will miss you every day!

So that's what you look like!

Our little puppies are 2 weeks old and their eyes have just opened up. They kind of hold up their wobbly heads and look around saying, "OH so that's what you look like!".  They really can't see all that well quite yet but their vision will improve with each passing day.  They still rely heavily on their scent detection to find mommy and each other.  Most of their day is spent nursing, then cuddling, then napping and then nursing some more.  They are all growing nicely and getting cuter each day!

Our 4 Double Doodle Girls

Our 3 Double Doodle Boys

Our Apricot Labradoodle Boys

Our Chocolate Labradoodle Girls

Our Chocolate Labradoodle Boys

Look for more Watch Me Grow pictures next week!

Target "Tunnel"

I had to run to Target this evening to quickly pick up a few items for my son as he likes to grow taller overnight.  Each week I say something like, "you seem taller again" and then each week he tries to outgrow something. Target had a few men's clothing items on sale so I definitely had to go before the YOU ARE SO TALL clothes were all gone.  They never stock very many items for really tall men so whenever there is a sale, I try to get there that same day. My plan was simple.  Quick in. Quick out. My son and I were almost to the register to check out when we were ushered to the back of the store.  All the store personnel were herding shoppers to the tunnel.  I didn't know Target had a tunnel!  Our county was under a tornado warning so we were not allowed to check out and we were not allowed to leave.  We all headed back to the tunnel. We will be safe from the storm in the tunnel! My son was actually excited.  What does the tunnel look like?  Where is the tunnel?  Welllllllllllllll Target doesn't have a tunnel. It was the stockroom.  As in just a plain stockroom.  Why they called it "The Tunnel" I will never know.  We ended up back in the "tunnel" for over 30 minutes and waited until the tornado warning passed.  We finally checked out and walked outside to a light sprinkle of rain.  We took about 10 steps before the skies opened, hail fell down, thunder and lightning and torrential downpours hit us.  We made it to the car soaking wet to only find the tornado warning had expired but now we were under a severe thunderstorm warning.  No kidding!  We stayed in the "tunnel" during the NO tornado, NO rain, NO thunder, NO lightning part of the storm and then were released during the most torrential thunderstorm I have ever driven through!  The roads actually looked like rivers with currents and everything!  We made it home safe and sound and as soon as we walked in the door, I said - well at least I know what to write for my blog tonight!  And so I did.  Stay Dry!!!!

Bath Day

Today was....BATH DAY!  Yea!!!!  Our mommy doggies, Lola and Autumn, both needed baths and today was the perfect day to make that happen. We had baths full of warm soapy water waiting for them and they loved all the attention.  You know how when you go to the beauty salon and the hairdresser washes your hair, and you just never want them to stop massaging your scalp with the soapy delightful shampoo?  You almost purr with how good it feels. I love having my hair washed.  I think it feels absolutely heavenly.  I don't get that treatment very often but just thinking about it makes me smile.  Well Autumn and Lola were both smiling big time today.  They got luxurious warm bubbly baths with a nice long massage and they almost purred with gratitude. Once they were rinsed and towel dried, they went outside and took a nice sunbath to dry the rest of the way.  The sun was so warm and both doggies just laid out in the warm sunshine soaking up all the goodness.  They both really enjoyed their break in the day and have been wagging their tails nonstop....or should I say....wagging their very clean and wonderful smelling tails nonstop. The puppies think they smell good too.  They eagerly greeted their mommies and are all lined up in a row, nursing away, tails straight in the air, happy and content as can be.  Sunshine and bubble baths make everyone smile!

And the Vultures Circled

Ever since my cast came off my broken ankle, I have been diligently trying to get my ankle back into shape. At first perhaps I was too Gung-Ho with the let's pretend my ankle was never broken and go about my daily routine philosophy. It was quite obvious my ankle was NOT the same. I slowed down a bit and started a new walking routine where I walked very slowly with my ankle all laced up in my ankle brace. At the end of each walk - PAIN.  And my ankle was the size of a watermelon.  I was using my ankle brace religiously but nevertheless, the pain in my ankle was really quite uncomfortable so I stopped walking.  I have been working on rotational exercises and range of motion type exercises at home with really no improvement. What is with this ankle???  I have a pretty good pain tolerance so I can push through the pain but I wonder WHY does this ankle still hurt? It is so frustrating.  Today I thought - maybe I am not doing enough.  Maybe I need to leave the ankle brace at home, put on regular walking shoes, and just go at it.  Maybe my ankle needs MORE movement - not less. I started out on my walk thinking...wow my ankle hurts.  I got to the middle of my walk thinking....wow my ankle hurts.  Then I noticed the vultures.  At first I believed they were circling some poor dead carcass out in the field, but then I saw they were actually hovering over my head.  HEY!  Am I REALLY walking that slowly????  Do I REALLY look that close to death?  Evidently the answer is yes.  By the time I crawled back to my car, almost 30 minutes had elapsed and all I had to show for all my efforts was ONE MILE. Yes. That is it. ONE MILE.  Not even 1.15 miles or 1.23 miles. 1.0 miles exactly.  My son who ran over 3 miles in the same time span asked me how it was possible to only have walked one mile?  Well I did have to escape ravenous vultures!!! I am lucky I made it out alive!!!

Beware the Ides of March

My goodness did we have the most torrential storm roll through here last night!  After the loveliest of days we had the stormiest of nights. It just poured and poured all night long, complete with thunder and lightning that kept us all up.  At first I thought Mr. Yesteryear Acres was playing with flashlights in our room. I woke up and started to yell, "WHAT are you doing with those FLASHLIGHTS?!?" when I realized that it was in fact a violent electric lightning storm and not Mr. Yesteryear Acres.  When the morning came - everything was under water.  Local schools were closed because of all the flooding and several roads are completely under water. Many families had to be rescued from their homes by boat. I feel like we are living in some nightmarish weather pattern where we never know what to expect.  Yesterday's forecast called for a possibility of showers. I will now live in fear of a forecast that calls for torrential downpours! Or perhaps that is the day I will plan an outdoor picnic because surely if the forecast has me preparing for the worst, that will be a blissful perfect day for lounging outdoors.  Beware the Ides of March. Tonight's forecast.....isolated thunderstorms.  Translation: it will rain on top of your house for 10 hours straight, flooding everything.

Why Hello Sunshine!

I hope that wherever you are today - you were able to enjoy some of the BEAUTIFUL weather we were blessed with today!  The sun was out, the breeze was warm and spring was most definitely in the air.  I took a few moments to really appreciate the loveliness of the day and am so glad I did.  The warm sun felt SO good and I sat out on my dock for about 30 minutes just soaking in the happiness.  The fish are just starting to come up to the surface after the long winter and they are even bigger than they were this past Autumn.  It looks like they doubled in size! Maybe I don't want to swim in our pond this summer!  They look like they could eat me!!!!!  Tonight we are going to have good ole yummy hamburgers out on the grill.  I have the homemade potato buns rising in the oven and a quart of our applesauce we made in September is defrosting on the kitchen counter. Sunshine, Blue Skies, Green Grass, Happy Doggies, Nursing Puppies and Hamburger Night......Sounds like a perfect spring day to me!!!  Smile!

My Eyes! My Eyes!

I live in a world where watching a show in "real" time NEVER happens.  If I didn't have a DVR - I would never see a single episode of a single show....EVER.  We have so many interruptions and way too many things going on here to have the luxury of sitting down and watching an entire show, without being late, without pausing, or without missing anything.  Face it - if you have 10 cute puppies running around and one of the puppies has to go potty - you are RUNNING full speed out the door which will be shortly followed by running 9 more times out the door with all the other cute puppies who will instantly think, "I need to go too!" The pause button on my DVR is one of my favorite things in the entire world.  I never miss anything because with just one quick click of the pause button, my show is saved.  It is heavenly. It makes it so I never fret over missing a show.  I know it is safely recorded and waiting for me to watch it whenever I have time.  Sometimes I watch my show later that evening. I usually start watching TV around 11pm or so.  Sometimes it is later in the week or even a week or two later before I get to see my show.  Eventually though,  I get to my shows and I smile. And I am happy. And I watch them with joy. What can go wrong with this scenario? It is perfect right? AU CONTRAIRE! Let's say I am watching a RIDICULOUSLY STUPID show.  And I know it is ridiculous. And I know it has NO redeeming value whatsoever BUT I like it.  I like it and I want to watch it.  Let's say it is a ridiculously stupid reality show where someone gets voted off or someone chooses someone to marry or someone is eliminated from the race or has to pack their knives and go. Now let's say I didn't watch this show when it airs and then the next day I open my email and the header of an email says XXXX chooses XXXX and I see it even though I don't want to see it and then I run around the house screaming, "MY EYES! MY EYES!" because at that moment I KNOW what happens at the end of the show that I DID NOT SEE YET! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Is it too much to ask to HIDE the obvious end of a show inside the email????  Something like - "don't read this if you don't want to know". Or "this email will tell you who won, got voted off, got engaged, or packed their knives" so please don't read it unless you would like to know that information before you ever got the chance to watch it on TV.  It should not say "XXXX chooses XXXXX" so that I see it immediately and despite all my best efforts - it is completely emblazoned on my brain for all eternity. I know have a 3 hour show on my DVR.....and I know the ending. WAH!

Chocolate Doodles, Cream Doodles, Double Doodles, Oh my!

Awwwww our little babies are one week old!  Their little pink noses are now starting to darken in color as their pigment is beginning to come in. The puppies are all nursing like champs and their mommies are doing an awesome job taking care of them. Their eyes will be opening later this week and they will get their first peek at the world.  For now it is still all snuggles and nursing and sleeping.
Here are this week's cute puppy pictures......

Group pose

Time for my close up

Soft blankie!

Soft brother!

Our 2 little polar bear cubs

My favorite pillow

Chocolate Drops!

Shiny soft coats

Are we triplets?

Everyone Loves Chocolate!!!!

See you next week!

Daylight Saving Time .... SLEEPY

Who decided that it would be a good idea to rob us of one whole hour from our day???  I mean what kind of crazy idea is this???  When I woke up this morning at 7am....it was already 8am!  That is so not fair. I needed an extra hour of work today and not only did I miss out on that - I missed out on sleep too!  Sooooooo not fair.  All day it has been....
"It is TWO O'CLOCK already????! (you know that it is REALLY only 1:00pm grrrr)"

"It is 3:30pm already??!!!!! (you know that it is really only 2:30pm! grrrrr)"

"It is dinner time already??!!! (you know that it is really only 6pm! GRRRRRR!)

No one really likes losing an hour around here.  It has been a very busy, no break, work all day, how did the time fly so quickly, kind of day.  Luckily we had some help with the workload so that part was extra nice.  Tonight when I go to bed at 1:00am...it really will only be midnight. I wonder how long that philosophy will last? I am guessing until the fall when I jump for joy over the MOST AWESOME idea ever....Gaining an Entire Hour!!!!!!  Weehoo!  Now that is something worth changing the clocks for!

Denial Doesn't Work

Spring High School Track Season is here.  I am sure there are people with fond memories of track season.  The joys of the hurdles.  The delight of the pole vaulting. The wonders of the discus.  Such joy. Such fun. I have been in a slight state of denial as to the track season actually starting. It isn't that I don't enjoy track season - it is just WHY oh WHY do the meets have to last ALL DAY LONG? Why oh why does the weather have to be either below freezing with hail or blistering hot with heat stroke? Why oh why does track practice after school last 3 hours when they say it will be a short day and then 1 hour when it is supposed to be a long day? Yesterday my son was supposed to have a super short track practice.  I drove to his school, exactly one hour after practice started, and then sat in my car...for another 45 minutes...waiting...and waiting. UGH.  If I get there on time - they are late.  If I get there late - they get out early. I think I need to turn my car into a very comfortable living room or sleeping nap room or office room. It looks like I will be spending a lot of time sitting in my car, staring at the doors to the high school, willing my son to walk out of the doors and to the car.  This morning we had to be at the high school by 7:15am so my son could get on the bus for the track meet. We were outside scraping the ice off the windshield of the car as the sun came up. I guess to be fair when I say, "WE" were scraping the ice...what I really mean to say is "my son" was scraping the ice while I sat inside the frozen car propping up my eyelids and trying to look semi-awake.  Yes, denial doesn't work.  The running season is upon us.  Looks like I need to get in shape!

Happy 2 Year Blog Anniversary

Today marks my 2 year anniversary of writing my daily blog. I have not missed a single day of writing about life here at Yesteryear Acres in all 3 years. I feel like I should adopt the Postal Service creed, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion ..." No matter what is going on here at Yesteryear Acres, I am committed to bringing you my daily updates. When I first started writing my blog, I thought I would just write about puppy things but that soon blossomed into writing about everything.  I mean how many days in a row do you really want to read that I cleaned puppy poop, I let dogs out, I cleaned puppy poop,  I let dogs in, and surprise.... I cleaned puppy poop? That would get quite monotonous!  So even though I still let dogs in, let dogs out and clean up lots of puppy poop each and every day - I have also taken time out of my day to write a little bit about me, my life and Yesteryear Acres.  Some days I have so many ideas swirling around in my head, I have to narrow them down and figure out just what I will blog about.  Most days I keep a running tab in my mind of all the things that were special about my day so I can write about it later.  Knowing you have to write a blog is great for conditioning yourself to be consciously grateful throughout the entire day. You want to share your happiness.  Don't get me wrong - there are days when I just stare at the little blinking cursor and have to think REALLY hard about what happened in my day that might be blog worthy because honestly the only thing that did happen in my day was...puppy poop!  Most of the time though - just knowing that I will be writing my blog - brings a myriad of ideas that I am grateful for and are fun to write about. The best thing about writing my blog every day is that I think people can get a real sense of who I am.  It is hard to look at a website and get a feeling of just who is behind the website, but by writing about my days, I feel it gives everyone a connection to me as a person as well as who we all are here at Yesteryear Acres. Everyone has to know by now that Mr. Yesteryear Acres is just the hardest working and most puppy/doggie loving person on the planet.  He lives for his family....both two-legged and four.  A doggie couldn't as for a better friend! I think another great thing about the blog is that you have to know - we are here - taking care of our puppies, thinking about our puppies, and thinking about all our puppy families and friends every day.  There is a lot of love here!!! Thanks for reading and thank you so much for your friendship and support!

Vinyl Gloves.....my best friends

Don't worry - I won't make today's blog post TOO disgusting. I mean it WILL be gross but I will try to limit my creative and descriptive ways to a minimum so you won't lose your lunch. Or will you?  Let's put it this way.....birthing puppies is a wet and yucky and very messy process. We use baby swimming pools for our mommies that are in labor. Once in a while I have someone ask me why I use a swimming pool and the answer is simple....it holds fluids.  Lots and lots of fluids.  It is a great place for puppies to be born. After the puppies are all nice and dry and fluffy and cute and nursing and all snuggled in, the mommy doggie is still kind of drippy and gross....for days.....and days.  The drippy gross stuff is a dark green yucky color. I will spare you the further details but I am sure you can guess where it comes from. So imagine this scene (if you dare)......
I walk in the kitchen and say, "Why hello, Mommy Doggie!"

Mommy Doggie wags her tail. Tail has yucky green stuff.  Mommy Doggie wags her tail even more.  Now wall has yucky green stuff. Mommy Doggie is sooooooo happy.  She is a happy happy happy doggie.  Wag. Wag. Wag. Wag. Spin Art. Spin Art. Spin Art. I have yucky green stuff.  Door has yucky green stuff. Wall has yucky green stuff. Yucky Green stuff is EVERYWHERE.  Mommy Doggie just wags her tail some more.

Vinyl Gloves....my best friends.

Gadget Addict

OOOOH the torture!!!!  Did you hear? Apple is introducing a new iPad today.  Brand New. So shiny.  So beautiful. I so want it!!!!  I mean I am NOT going out to get one but I can DREAM about the beauty!  A camera is INSIDE the iPad!  I could video chat with my daughter anywhere I go!  A movie camera is INSIDE the iPad!  I could take movies wherever I go! A sweet awesome magnetic cover goes with the new iPad that turns into a stand! It has a new processor and new 4G connectivity so I could be wicked fast with my updates, blogs and emails!  Ooooh. It is so sleek and shiny.  You can paint, color, watch movies, edit papers, play games, answer emails all with one beautiful compact gadget!  I believe I am drooling.  I am without a doubt - "a gadget addict".  Well maybe more precisely  - I am without a doubt - "a gadget addict who wishes she had the gadget but doesn't".  I am like the kid in the movie "A Christmas Story" who has his faced pressed against the glass admiring the Red Ryder BB gun in the window.  Look for me next week.  You might spot me in that same position outside an Apple Store.  Ooooh "I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!" errrr I mean "New HD iPad!"

The Sweet Sound of Happy Puppies

When little newborn puppies first arrive they all kind of stumble around looking for their mommy and aren't the best nursers.  Sometimes the new puppies fall off and we have to help them learn to latch on. The mommy dog also helps.  The baby puppies are just so little and new and the process of learning to nurse is hard work. The first few days of nursing are vital as the puppies receive important antibodies in the mommy's colostrum. After the first few days have passed, the mommy's milk finally comes in and all of the sudden you will hear the sweet sound of "gulp gulp gulp gulp" as the mommy's milk gushes in.  All the little puppy's tails will be straight up at attention and they will be latched on with their little front paws holding on.  You can hear them swallow the big gushes of milk and they all have little milk mustaches.  It is so cute and is the best sound.  You can hear the contentment as they fill their little tummies.  Today our house was filled with the sweet sound of happy puppies!

The Stork Came!

We had such a very busy weekend AND we had a very special guest.....The Stork Came! Times Two!  Both Autumn and Lola delivered their babies!!!!!  Autumn and Seymour are the proud parents of our new little F1 Labradoodle puppies.  We have 4 little chocolate girls, 2 little chocolate  boys and 2 little cream boys.  Mommy and puppies are all doing really well.

Just look at that sweet little bundle of love!  They are all just about the exact same size and are nursing like champs.  Mommy Autumn is keeping them nice and warm and well-fed.  They usually have little milk mustaches on their faces whenever I walk by.  They are too cute.  Just about the time all of Autumn's puppies were dry and nursing well.....Lola thought....HEY what about ME?  She started panting like a freight train and before too long out popped her first puppy.  Lola and Tigger are now the proud parents of our 7 beautiful double doodle puppies. We have 4 girls and 3 boys and they are all doing super.

Lola is taking very good care of her babies and our home is full of puppy love!

Happy Birthday Puppies!!!!!

Looking Up

Ahhhhhh. Things are looking up!  Mr. Yesteryear Acres is UP and off the couch!  He can breathe!  He can stand up!  He can walk!  He can WORK!  YIPPEEE!  He just started feeling better this morning and I can already feel the dark cloud lifting around here.  I even got COFFEE this morning!!!!  Mr. Yesteryear Acres has been too sick to make coffee all week long and I have been forced to drink...INSTANT! ACK!  My day is immensely better already! COFFEEEEEE! YAY! Our doggie is doing SO much better today too!  She got up, ate a bowl of food, drank about 2 pints of water, went potty outside and is back in the house with her tail wagging and is just feeling sooooooo much better! We all just walk by her with the BIGGEST smiles and can't stop petting her.  Her tail has been wagging non-stop all morning.  And if the day seemed like it couldn't get better....big snowflakes started falling from the sky making everything beautiful AND.....puppies are on the way!!!!!  Tomorrow's blog post will have newborn puppy pictures!!!!!!!!! Now let's see...will it be boy, boy, boy, boy? Stay tuned!!!!

So Important - Be Your Own Advocate

Today was somewhat a nightmare of a day. It all ends well - but reaching the good ending was a long drawn out emotional experience. We have an older doggie that just isn't feeling well.  She started feeling poorly Thursday night and I almost took her to the vet then, but it was one of those situations where she felt fine - and then felt sick - and then fine again.  Yesterday was more of the same and last night she was vomiting and had diarrhea and clearly wasn't well.  I went to the vet first thing this morning and the vet I love, the vet I adore, the vet that I can never thank enough for all he has done...was NOT in.  I had a different vet that I have never met before.  I told the vet that I thought my doggie had a minor gastrointestinal issue and she needed IV fluids to feel better.  That the illness kind of just ran her down and she needed re-hydrated and some tummy meds.  Well - this vet didn't listen to ONE word I said. She was one of those vets that clearly believes you have had to go to veterinarian school to know anything. I gently let her know that I have been raising puppies for over 15 years and really know a lot about dog illnesses, general dog health, and animal husbandry. I said I really think she needs an IV.  She didn't hear one word I said. She ordered a whole chem panel, CBC, blood clotting tests - the works.  She said that my doggie didn't have an infection and had no elevated white blood count but she wanted her sent to a different animal hospital right away for a blood transfusion.  She was sure that my doggie needed emergency surgery to have her spleen removed or at least she needed exploratory surgery but that she was in such poor shape - she had a 90% chance of dying from the surgery before they figured out what was wrong with her. She said if we operate - she will die.  If we don't operate - she will die. The whole thing was a nightmare and it ended up with us leaving with our doggie - convinced that she was going to die before the morning. I didn't feel right about taking our doggie in for the blood transfusion and surgery.  I just wanted her back home. I paid the ridiculously expensive bill and drove home. Once I got home, it became clear that our doggie was feeling worse.  We ended up loading her in the car and driving quite a distance to an emergency vet. That vet confirmed my original diagnosis.  He started an IV drip, gave us some meds (that I had originally requested) and now we are finally home with....a happy, tail wagging, perky, FEELING MUCH BETTER doggie. To think that we almost lost our doggie over all of this is just awful.  I am sharing this story with you so if you are ever at a physician's office or veterinarian's office or any other professional type office or situation where you just know in your heart that you are right.....maybe just maybe YOU ARE RIGHT.  Don't give into the pressure.  Listen to your gut instinct. Be your own advocate. It just might end up that you get to spend the evening snuggled up with your doggie - grateful that everything worked out in the end.

In Like a Lion!

Whoa!  The old saying that March can come in like a lion and out like a lamb ...was in FULL force today. If March will end up going out like a lamb... it should be nothing but the nicest of nicest blue skies, warm breeze, yellow sun of glorious days.  I cannot believe the violent storms that ripped through our country. Today I was a mere 22 miles away from some of the strongest storm cells and am lucky to have made it home safely. The evening news reported that more than 150 MILLION people were in the affected storm warning areas.  One town in Indiana was completely destroyed.  Residents had to literally pick up their few remaining items and then walk out of town. They lost everything. Yet again we are reminded of the fragility of life.  How everything you ever had in life can be utterly destroyed in a matter of minutes. There are so many people suffering tonight. I think we should all take a minute to think of those facing heartache.  If you can, lend a helping hand to someone in need. Show the very best of compassion and humanity in the wake of the devastation.  Hug your loved ones close tonight and be sure to count your many blessings. Stay safe.

Poor Mr. Yesteryear Acres

Mr. Yesteryear Acres is sick, sick, sick. Not the "I don't feel well and wish I could just rest" sick, but instead he is for REAL sick. The "We better go to Urgent Care" sick. I took him this afternoon and he has an upper respiratory infection, bronchitis and his bronchial tubes are so infected that his airway is constricted. The doctor gave him antibiotics, inhalers, expectorants, and a nasal spray. He is flat out sick. I have been running back and forth taking care of him, making runs to the pharmacy, Urgent Care, picking up my son from track, running to the vet's office....I haven't sat down all day. I have been doing all Mr. Yesteryear Acres work AND my work. It looks like tonight will be a late night too. We have a expectant mommy doggie that just started breathing REALLY hard.......looks like puppies will be here soon! Sleep?  Who needs sleep?  Looks like an all-nighter here at Yesteryear Acres!!!!!!