Sucker!!!

I am, and always have been, a sucker for a puppy!!!

Izzy finally had her puppies. I've had several talks with her over the past few weeks to remind her that we want males and at the most 4...maybe 5. She didn't listen...

Our neighbor's dog had her pups, too, about a week ago. Hammer (Ernesto thought she was a he when he named her!) is a labrador/boxer cross and Caleb has been wanting one of her pups since Hammer was a baby! Turns out that the daddy of all the pups, both Izzy's and Hammer's, is an adorable and lovable purebred black lab named Benito.

How do we know this? Because they all look the same!!! The mamas had almost the same number of pups and all the same colors.

Yesterday morning, Izzy (who had been resting under the couch -- where we were SURE she would have her pups) disappeared into the bushes for several hours. When she reappeared, she was much skinnier! The kids tracked down her little nest and we transferred the 4 puppies from the nest in the sand to the front patio. By 3 o'clock she had 7 puppies. Then we got word from Esteban that Ernesto's dog was in trouble.

Apparently, a few days ago Hammer was bitten by a rattlesnake. The anti-venin they gave her dried up her milk, and Ernesto is now hand-feeding all 8 puppies. Well, as I said, I'm a sucker for a puppy!

Since Izzy only had 7, and had room for 10 I told Esteban to bring over 3 of them and Izz would nurse them. Ernesto was overjoyed!!! Although the 8 he had were eating, God just didn't intend for puppies (or anyone else, really) to drink cow's milk (that's another soapbox!). They weren't doing too well. Izzy accepted them without batting an eye (she's actually not the brightest crayon in the box, but she's a lover!) and so now she had 10. Thirty minutes after they all finished eating and fell asleep, Izzy had another pup. Now she had 11. Oops.

Well, they are all still doing fine -- 6 males, 5 females. We moved them into the shop last night because we (I) was worried about the mosquitos harming the babies and now Izzy has a comfy bed encircled by bricks to (hopefully) keep the pups from wandering (how do they move so far without being able to walk???) and her own personal fan. The kids keep giving her bowls of water and scraps of food. She's well-cared-for! (Read that "spoiled".)

She's so easy-going!!! I'm such a sucker!!! But they're so CUTE!!!!!

Fantastic Fourteen!!! (with pictures!!!)

Here follow a bunch of photos from Caleb's birthday. Pictures being worth 1000s of words, I won't bother with many actual words...




Caleb was, as per tradition, wet most of the day! Fortunately, it's still really hot, so being wet feels pretty good!

Sarah knows how to make Caleb smile really big -- give him money!

Evie knows that Caleb really likes to use his pocket knife and she really likes jokes, so her card was a practical joke...Caleb got to spend almost 5 minutes opening layer after layer of paper "windows" in Evie's card -- each layer wishing him a happy birthday and encouraging him to open the next layer. What a hoot! After all that, they took a break to play with her present for a bit.

Doug and I got him a new study Bible. We thought it was time to retire the one with the cartoon illustrations! ;^) In the book of Revelation, we inserted a "bookmark" of sorts which said, "I'm coming for you...be prepared!" Pretty ominous, actually, but when he opened the card, it explained that the thing "coming" is a book he's been wanting since he read the second book in the series...except that the book didn't come out in print until the 22 of September...SOOO...we're having it shipped to friends in Washington who are coming down in November. Caleb was very happy -- and the kids are already making a list of who gets to read it 2nd, 3rd, etc. I offered to read it outloud, but they all said NO! (I read too slowly outloud!!!)

Doug also found a taralla (Mexican fishing net) for Caleb. He's looking forward to using it SOON to catch some shrimp and bait for bigger fish!
I learned a few years ago that you can't put candles on a pan of warm-out-of-the-oven brownies, so we improvised!!!
After homemade pizza, brownies and sodapop, the kids all went out and splashed in the pool, played Killer Bunnies, ran around on a sugar high and then retired to the fort the boys had made in which to watch movies and play Nintendo until they went to sleep, but did they actually sleep? I dunno. Doug and I crashed out about midnight!

Another Birthday

Well, Sarah has outdone herself this time! She's such a sweetie-pie (shhh, don't tell her I said that!)! I'll let her post about the cheesecake she actually made, but I wanted to share her virtual cake with all my friends. Click over to Sarah's blog to share a slice of birthday cake with me!!!

Wordless Wednesday -- My Handyman

I said, "Honey, you're so good at this stuff!" and then I took the picture.

Then he said, "I don't have a clue what I'm doing here."

Well, maybe he didn't when he started, but when he finished,

my washer worked again -- better than it ever has!

I love my Mr. Fix-it!!! :^)

Keew Ykcaw -- Wacky Week!

This is WACKY WEEK here at Blogger Friend School! Everything is wacky fun! This week YOU, the student, get to share something of your choice that is little “Wacky”!!!
Have you done something crazy in your homeschool? Do you fingerpaint with your toes? Do you let your children do your hair? Do you wear your pajamas during homeschool? Oh, the list is endless, but it’s up to you and how much fun you want to have.

To make it even “wackier” (not sure if it’s really a word, but hey, we don’t check spelling this week at BFS either!!!…..try and type some or all of your post sdrawkcab. (backwards!)
!keew gnixaler dna nuf a siht ekaM
(…and forwards…Make this a fun and relaxing week!)

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Who, me? Wacky?!!! :^) How did they know I needed a week to goof off?

Have I done anything wacky recently? How much of what we do in a regular day would look a little "wacky" to most sane folks I know? Do I want to answer that?

OK, yesterday...we've been reading a book about the Pharoahs of Egypt -- really good book actually, once you edit out the "hundreds of thousands of years" garbage -- to go along with The Mystery of History and yesterday when it came time to sit down and read, it was too hot. I'd just finished preparing lunch and I had sweat running down my back and streaming down my face. The last thing I wanted to do was to sit in the hot living room and read...fan or no fan. SO I went and put on my swimsuit and told the kids that as soon as everyone was in the pool, I'd read. Was that wacky? I dunno. It felt more like survival!

Sunday morning, Caleb was slow-moving (that happens sometimes...he's 14) and hadn't rolled out yet, so I threatened to sing the song. The other kids started urging, "Do it, Mom!!!" So, I sang...(all caps words are shouted)

WAAAAY up in the trees, the little birds sleep.
Way down in the nest THE LITTLE BIRDS REST
WIIIITH a wing on the left and a wing on the right
The little birdies settle in FOR A LONG NIGHT.
SHHHHH! They're SLEEPING!!!!
With the new dawn of day the little birds wake.
"GOOD MORNING! GOOD MORNING!" the little birds say!

Yeah, I'm a nutcase. That song always worked when I was a summercamp counselor to get the junior and senior high kids out of bed. It works here, too. Is it wacky? Well, maybe, but at least it puts people in a better mood than, "Caleb! You get your little hiney out of that bed right now before I come up there and yank those covers off of you! Get a move on! Come on! Move it, move it, MOVE IT !!!" People tend to be a little "grumpy" when you roll them out that way! As we say around here, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!"

I had a teacher in high school (!deppiks reven I ssalc esohw enO) who had, years before I came through, gotten rid of all the desks in the classroom. There were cushions in the corners, a couple of long tables for projects, a couple of computers on roll-carts (???skrowelppA rebmemer) and shelves of books and supplies. The windows were always open and she gave hall passes freely for kids who wanted to go do their work out on the school lawn. The class was "Critical Thinking", but those of us in the class called it "Geek Study Hall". Mrs. Sharp hardly ever actively "instructed" anything, but she taught me more than all my other teachers combined about how to help kids want to learn. She was wacky! I hope that I take after her in my teaching style. Yeah, I can definitely picture Mrs. Sharp dismissing the class to reconvene in the pool. I've arrived! :^)