Annette & Grandpa juicing apples after I had my cataract surgery.

Muffin and puppies home from the hospital - about 8 hours old

Just so you can see about how big the puppies are - weighed about 7 ounces at birth

Kathy has been helping me get some pictures up again. I had a lot of little problems and couldn't figure out just how to do this, so now I hope I can keep it up.

Muffin had her puppies on Tuesday, November 25th. She was in labor all day Monday, just pacing and stopping and panting and then starting over again. I felt real empathy with her. I stayed in the family room with her all that night so she wouldn't try and deliver while we were in bed asleep. Grandpa came out about 4:00 a.m. and spelled me off. She started pushing just before 5:00 a.m. and had a puppy started, and then she just quit pushing. So at 6:00 a.m. we took her to the pet hospital emergency room. I told Grandpa I thought we would probably lose the one that was partially born, but we didn't. The vet gave her oxitossin shots to keep her contractions going and she finally had 2 more. Then they had to xray her to see how many more there were because if there was any more than one more they would have to do a c-section because it was too much for her. She only had one more in there, so they gave her another shot and delivered it. So she has 3 females and 1 male.

At first Muffin didn't want to even look at the puppies, but with some urging and help laying down and nursing, she finally got the hang of it, and how she is taking very good care of them.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Jim's house with all of his children and grandchildren, Dave & Kathy & kids, Bill & Karen, Allen & Sioux and Sioux's daughter, Ashley and some assorted people who had been invited also. When we got home we could not put all of the leftovers away, so we did what we could and fixed two bunches of leftovers and took to two of our neighbors who are experiencing very bad times. They were all thrilled and we not only felt great but could now put everything away. We ate pie and turkey sandwiches for breakfast-saved lots of work.

Hope all of you had a great day and lots of good things to be grateful for.

Stuff

I haven't posted anything for awhile and am not sure I can remember what all has happened. I see it has been almost a month since I put anything here.

I had cataract surgery on the 29th of October. Annette came over from Idaho Falls to be my driver. We enjoyed having her here so much. She brought lots of apples for us to juice. While she was here we went to breakfast once and dinner twice. That tells you something about what we enjoy doing! Actually we had planned on Joe's Crab Shack because we had a gift card for there and we knew Annette wanted to go, so that was planned. Because I had to fast before the surgery, none of us ate breakfast so when we got done, we went to JB's for their breakfast bar. Then that evening we were deep into juicing apples so we just cleaned up a bit and went to the Mexican place in town. Then on Thursday night we hit Joe's Crab Shack. Annette and I also managed two trips to the mall and a visit to Sees Candy. We were busy the whole time. Grandpa got right in and helped with the apple juicing. I will try to post a picture of him and Annette working at that.

Our leaves have been steadily falling - four large trees along a very small front yard. It is a recipe for "work". We are very fortunate to have friends and ward members who stop to help us rake. One day I got 4 bags done and quit because my back hurt. The next day when I got home from the doctor's the rest of the yard had been done. Then a week or so ago we looked out our window and there were 4 people raking in the yard. Yesterday I decided I had better make a dent in the leaves and after I had been there 4 bags worth, two young sisters came from around the corner with their rakes and worked with us. Then the Elders stopped and helped also. Looking at the leaves on the trees, I figure we have at least one more yard full to do before we are finished for the year - maybe a little more.

Yesterday one of the sisters I go visiting teaching to called me about her appointment. She had the flu and didn't want us to catch it from her. I asked her if she would like a meal and she was very grateful at the thought. So I took her homemade potato soup (already in the freezer) hot biscuits, fresh homemade choc. chip cookies (cookie dough already in the refrigerator) and a container of home canned peaches. It only took me the time to stick the biscuits and cookies in the oven and thaw the soup.

Then - we went to a baby shower at Chuck E Cheese!! That's right - a baby shower held there. This was for Ashley who is Sioux's daughter. I didn't know if grandpa would go (it was for families) but when I pointed out that we would probably see Carissa and NiTasha there as well as Sioux he went. We enjoyed visiting with all of them. Ashley's baby is due on Jan. 29th. They have a little boy about 3. We ate some pizza - pepperoni which I do not like - and I got some salad which I did like.

My eye is healing well, grandpa is doing well, and Muffin is pregnant. She should have her puppies at Thanksgiving time - not great planning on our part but we don't have a say about when she comes in heat. She is moaning and groaning and having a hard time jumping onto my chair to sit on my lap. I can't think of any more news. I don't always post a comment on your blogs, but I do read and enjoy them. I will try to be better about commenting.