Miss S decided that she needed a job so that she could earn some money to buy herself some treats that she wouldn't have to share with the other puppies. She offered to write the blog for Mom in exchange for an allowance. It wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. She started by looking things over on the computer. A little while later when Mom checked on her, she was just staring blankly at the screen. She was sure that the lack of thumbs wouldn't hinder her progress. Lots of people only type with their two index fingers, so it couldn't be that hard. The only thing was that she didn't have any ideas on what to write. She tried just staring at the screen for a while. Then she tried snuggling with the mouse, hoping that it would help a puppy out and give her some ideas. Finally she decided to just leave the blogging to Mom. Mom asked Miss M if she wanted a turn blogging, but Miss M wasn't interested in blogging. She decided that looking cute is her best skill, and that she should stick to what she is best at. Mr. C decided that his talents were best used to hold the couch cushions in place. Miss B decided to pose in front of the throw blanket on the back of the couch to make the couch look good too. Miss S decided the best way to make it up to Mom was to cuddle up on top of her on the couch. Mr. M wanted to help too, hoping to earn his own allowance. He's a growing boy, after all. He wants to go shopping so that he can get a fancy new collar to impress the girls. He saw Miss S snuggling and had an epiphany. He is excellent at snuggling. Mom always calls him her teddy bear anyway. He might as well do what he does best.
This past week, Mom has been on Spring Break, and it has been wonderful. The puppies are very glad to stay in bed until it's light outside. They are also very happy to help Mom with the projects she has been working on since being off of work. Mr. C and Miss M were only too happy to hold the quilt in place while Mom was working on it. When they saw Dad with the camera, they were a little worried that he was going to make them get off of it. Mom reassured him that they weren't laying on the part that she was working on. I (Mom) like to make a lot of things by hand. I got tired of trying to find bread that was non-GMO. None of the breads in the local stores are non-GMO. As far as I can tell, the closest store that sells bread without corn or soy in it is Whole Foods, and that's not very close. So in the interest of not eating GMO corn or soy, I've been making all of our bread for over a year. I was making a basic white bread until Grandpa gave me a sourdough starter. The sourdough bread is really mild and perfect for sandwiches. So lately, I've been making a lot of sourdough bread. One of the things I hadn't tried making at home was cheese. Well, that all changed a few days ago. My sister, Aunt P, had gotten a cheese kit a while back, and since I have had a little more time on my hands than normal, I decided to try it. The puppies of course were all to happy to help. I started by heating up two gallons of milk and then adding all of the ingredients. You don't realize how much two gallons of milk really is until you pour it into what you think is a really large pot. Here, the curds are starting to separate from the whey as the mixture sits in warm water in the sink. Note that the sink is normal size, and this is a big stock pot. That's how much milk there was. After a while, the curds were transferred to cheese cloth and had to be hung up to drip dry for an hour. I didn't really think the hanging up to dry part through. While the milk was doing its thing, I had started another project- painting the kitchen cabinets. I only had one cabinet door left with the knob still on it, so that is what I used to hang up the curds. Mr. M was very curious about the dripping bag hanging from the cabinet. Notice the primer on some of the cabinet doors. After letting the curds sit with weights on top for 24 hours, we were left with a block of cheese. Well, okay, almost cheese. It has to air dry for 3 to 5 days and then I will wax it and age it for 6 months. So maybe around Christmas time we will have actual cheese. Hopefully by then I will have finished painting the cabinets. Between all of the cheese making and cabinet painting, something amazing happened. Mr. C and Miss B turned 2!! How did that happen?! It seems like it was only yesterday that we brought them home. It is hard to imagine that we have had them for almost two years already. Of course we had to do something. We got them a little birthday cake and some toys. Everybody shared the "cake" because they wouldn't understand it if we only gave the birthday pups a treat. They don't understand birthdays. We put Mr. M and Miss S in their crates and let Mr. C and Miss B their toys. Normally when we get toys, the little ones take them away from Miss B and Mr. C. Since it was their birthday, we wanted to make sure that they had first pick of the toys and that they had a chance to pull them apart before the others came and took them away. They LOVED it. Miss B was so happy with her toy that she even rolled over onto her back to chew on it. Mr. C spread out on the couch and went to town on his toy. Miss M, who was out with them, was happy to chew on her ball. The birthday "cake," toys and treats. Miss B noticed the birthday spread on the counter. Miss B waiting patiently. Mr. C, Miss S and Miss M waiting for their share of the "cake."
Our puppies don't get to play with other puppies very often. We don't know many people with dogs who wouldn't mind playing with five rambunctious puppies. So our puppies play a lot with each other but not much with other puppies. Occasionally we meet other dogs in Petsmart, and we try to let the puppies say hi when possible, but that's about it. Lately though, they have had the opportunity to see other puppies. Mom's sister (Aunt P) got a new furry kid recently, and the puppies really want to play with her. She is a blue healer, and is as cute as can be. So far Miss M and Mr. C have met her. We are taking the puppies to meet her one at a time because she is still little and is intimidated by our puppies. Miss M just really doesn't understand why she doesn't want to play with her. I think Little Miss Z would like to play but is still a little scared. So mostly, she just stays in her mom's lap while our puppies are there. Miss M gave up on playing with the little puppy and decided to tear the squeaker out of a toy instead. Then she decided to go help Grandma in the kitchen. Surely Grandma would understand her dilemma and give her something yummy. Grandma always has just the thing to make little puppies feel better. She was making chicken and dumplings and let Miss M be the official chicken taste tester. Miss M of course needed to take several bites to make sure the chicken was seasoned right. She's always glad to help out in the kitchen. Miss Z wasn't sure how long Miss M was going to be in the kitchen and wasn't taking any chances. First she tried sitting in Grandpa's lap. Then she went back to her mom's lap, and finally decided that sitting on the back of the couch was the safest place. Once she was certain that Miss M was busy elsewhere, she ate some of her mom's hair and then cuddled up for a nap- on the back of the couch. Being that cute all day wears a puppy out. I think that Winter decided that Texas wasn't worth visiting this year. For the past few weeks, it's been cool some evenings and then other evenings we need the air conditioner. The past couple of days, we have been able to wear shorts around the house. After sitting outside in the afternoon and after a nice brisk walk, Miss M prefers to cuddle up on the couch in the nice air conditioned living room. This past weekend, Mom left the puppies home with Dad for a few hours to go to a baby shower. The puppies are going to get a brand new two-legged cousin soon. Mom can't wait to see how the puppies react to an actual baby. They love kids, but they have never actually seen a real baby. The closest thing to a baby that they have seen was when we saw a toddler at Petsmart one day. Miss M and Mr. C were walking along with us and saw a group of kids sitting by the lizards. After a few seconds, a little girl who was probably only 18 months old or so, stood up and started walking toward Miss M. Miss M wagged her tail and was excited but didn't know what to do. She was a little scared of the little girl and hid behind my legs.
Mr. M met the neighbor girl in the driveway one day. She is about 4 and was a little bit nervous about him. Mr. M was a perfect gentleman and walked up to her and smelled her and let her pet him. He was super happy- tail wagging all over the place- but he never tried to jump on her. He just sat down and let her pet him on the nose. So we are really happy that Mom's brother and his wife are expecting a baby and can't wait to introduce the puppies to her. |
AuthorFirst time pitbull owners who found two pitbull puppies abandoned on the side of the road and decided to adopt them...And then loved them so much, they decided to get two wonderful mastiffs. Archives
November 2024
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