We've got puppies!

Last night's sunset. My camera isn't big enough to catch a west Texas sunset so you can only see this small part. One of these days I'll have a photo shop program where I can put together several pictures to show a panorama

12/21/08 Sunday
Well, we have puppies. It looked like six when I lifted the lid to the doghouse but one or three may have been out of sight under the bedding. Of course Gretchen had to wait till it was well below freezing to have them. When I went to open their kennel only Ben was out so I went to check on Gretchen. When I pulled back the towel I have hanging over the dog house entrance I could hear puppies though I couldn’t see them. It was cold and I had only put on some sweats to quickly let the dogs out so I was freezing in the wind. Didn’t take long for me to decide to come in and dress warmer before I investigated further. Coming in the door I announced “We have puppies”. Of course Cherie wanted to know how many and what they looked like as she put a coat on. When we got out there Gretchen had come out to use the bathroom, which made it easier to look in. I got some fresh water that I put inside the doghouse for all the other water had frozen overnight. We’ll be checking on them a lot today. Probably won’t go to church despite it being so close to Christmas. I always feel bad when we don’t go, not because I missed church but because we didn’t see our friends there
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Cherie and I went into Midland to pick up some things for Gretchen. She read about making a concoction with evaporated milk and egg yolks that is a healthy source of protein for a mama dog. Gretchen loved it when we gave it too her. She didn’t stop to take a breath till it was gone. We also got some canned dog food for her. Peeking in I saw that one of the puppies is white with at least one black ear. It will be a while before we can see them. Cold is one of the biggest enemies of puppies and we read a chill can kill one so we are real careful. Their eyes won’t open for ten to fourteen days. It’s going to warm up over the next few days so when it’s nice I’ll raise the hinged roof so we can clean the inside of the doghouse/nursery. Maybe then we will have pictures.

Just thinking. It was roughly this time of year, seven years ago, that I woke from the coma. Just before Christmas 2001. I don’t know exactly when because waking up was a slow process that took…weeks? The medical records I have are rudimentary and don’t give a lot of details. I can remember when I tried to talk to a nurse and it brought a rush of people into the room. That was a week or two before Christmas. It was a lonely confusing time but I still have the teddy bear thing the staff bought me for Christmas. There were no cards or anything from anyone. It was the strangers who nursed me back to help that I shared Christmas with. By the time Christmas arrived I was able to talk, though it was rough. My mind was confused as it tried to sort the fragments of memories that remained but the loneliness was real. Did I understand at the time how much I’d done, how responsible I was for the place I was, for the condition I was in? I don’t know. It was a dismal start for a new life but after a couple of hard years things have worked out miraculously. Through it all I was reunited with Cherie. I’d write more but have a headache.