Puppy Day Two

Hmmmm after a not so restful night of sleep, I wake up to the new.... puppy whining.. in what I hope is the need to go outside. Off I scurry to get on my boots and coat while he patiently waits by the front door... He knows the drill.... Go outside, do business, come back in.... we almost have it down pat by now. Considering I took him out what seemed like at least 7 million times overnight when in reality it was only say 3 times he is probably getting the idea. Genna and I start our day.. Get up rush around get out the door.. adding the puppy into the equation takes a bit of work, however he is headed to the vet(still without a name) I might add. Off to school, work, and vet we go. All is well he checked out like a champ and our new name.... Are you ready..... it is RILEY.... flows off the tongue ..... Here Rileyyyyyy Rilllleeyyyy come here boy, or NO RILEY, drop it.... these are criteria for naming pets. The name must flow when being called or scolded. Riley is now sporting his new navy dog collar with the paw prints and matching leash. We are still working out the logistics of same said puppy but I feel he is becoming a member of the JHF family. When we get home from the vet it is time for the little guy to get the full farm experience. Now keep in mind Riley is 6 weeks old.. full of energy but only 6weeks. Here we go headed to the barn where he meets, all 4 cats, Fred, Ziggy, Milo, and Otis... none of them ready for the little bundle of energy that is know as Riley. Sammy the patriarch dog of the crew sniffs and deems him not worthy of his opinion, Rosie is not so happy about the addition, Chewy is not sure what to think and last but not Least Little Foot has decided that all in all he is not bad for a newbie. We walk through the barn and back to all the pastures and back to the house. Riley is with me step for step... Who knew he would be able to keep up. The ulterior motive was to wear him out for a restful nights sleep.... We can only hope......

Spur of the moment

Have you ever just had one of those days where you have fought the good fight managed to stay strong, resist temptation and then BAM all at once you change your mind on the spur of the moment...... welllll here is that story. For any of you that know me, my family, or the farm you know that animals are a plenty. There is some kind of cosmic force on my farm that says you must have 5 dogs, 4 cats and at least 10 horses on the farm. I have lived there 11 years and it has always been that way. If for some reason those numbers get out of whack something will happen, a stray will appear, a new boarder, someone will beg off a kitten or puppy, depending on the "cosmic need" at the time. This started many many many months ago when the number of dogs fell below the pre-farm requisite of 5. Over the last 11 years dogs have come and gone for any number of reasons but never less than 5. I have even said NO countless times over the last 6 months to those in need of a home. Last Saturday was my downfall. I have been holding out for an Akita puppy for years now. I had them early on and have always loved them.. I just can't justify the expense with so many other needy little souls out there. This story really begins with my daughter Genna. The "mommy can we get a puppy" phrase has become very insistent over the last couple of months. I have managed to deflect them all successfully until now.


Genna went to stay at Suzanne's house for a bit on Saturday to play with her daughter Hanna. As I pulled into the driveway of Suzanne's house I saw the LOOMING sign in the front yard... "FREE PUPPIES" I thought to myself....please please please don't let them be Suzanne's... I was in a hurry so I dropped Genna off and out the driveway I went. I returned several hours later to pick Genna up and there she stood with that look in her eye.... "Mommy can we have a puppy, there free" Now you all know at least the adults that read this post, there is NO such thing as a free puppy. Just doesn't happen in the real world. I looked out the back door and to my surprise were 8 wiggly puppies. I asked casually, "who are the parents?" that was my downfall. The mom some indeterminate breed had the wire hair that looks very similar to Albert Einstein.... (i love that hair on a dog) The dad was your common everyday yellow lab with something thrown in for good measure. Since at that point in the evening I was in dress clothes I did manage to put my daughter off until Sunday. I knew it was just a matter of time. For the next 24hours I heard.... "When are we going back to pick up the puppy????" and "What do you need with another dog" As you can imagine one was my daughter and the other was from every other human being that knows me. :) Sunday arrived... 12noon came, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and then about 6:30 we head to the car. Genna is grinning ear to ear, Don(my boyfriend) is shaking his head and down the road we go. We arrive to find the little yellow bundles of fur all huddled together because now it is dark and getting chilly. We sit on the back porch steps and they look at us with those little puppy eyes... I wanted everyone of them.... I kept that to myself....One of the puppies crawled out of the mound and sat in front of Don "pick me up" (he said with his puppy eyes) This puppy was campaigning for a home. With his little tuffs of hair sticking out all over his head... We deemed him the new puppy and headed for home.


A new puppy is all fun and games until you begin to lose sleep as my 8yr daughter found out.... I came home we played with "the puppy" name was yet to be determined and took him to go potty... I was very pleased that he took to this very well.. Go outside, do business, come back in. wheeeewww hooooo he doesn't mess around.. One point for the puppy!!!!! Next I tuck Genna and the new puppy in the bed, Now you know she would want to sleep with him. This lasted about 5 hours...... about 1am, yes that is in the morning when normal people are asleep, I hear, knock knock, "moooommmmyyy I can't sleep the puppy is keeping me up" Hmmmmm what to do now.. Here I am at 1am sleepy, grouchy with a wiggly bundle of puppy joy, so i take him to go potty... go outside, do business, come back in... wheeewww he is really getting this. We come back in head upstairs and I tuck him in, yes with me. Off to sleep we go and still no idea what to name him. Just look at that face.