Out with a Bang!

Gasp...a blog post!!  Remember when I used to do these like once a week?  Those were the days.  The days of good internet...good, expensive internet that we later cut out thinking we'd find something cheaper and never did.

Anyway, who cares?

Well, it has been far from the most of exciting of years.  And not just that, but some runs of bad luck as well.  So when we confirmed that Candy was indeed pregnant again, we were thrilled!!  I even took her to the vet for x rays to see how many were in there.  He said 7.  I said, "Sweet!"

So a day or so ago, we'd let Candy outside and she'd bolt for the porch to which she'd try to hide under and nest to have those puppies!  It's happened before, and we've had to send our son under there to get her.
So yesterday, she wanted out so very badly.  I kept trying to coax her into her bed.  I'd say, "Here. Lay down and have your puppies."  But she wouldn't.  She sat there staring at me.  So, like always, I went in and sat down with her and pet her.

Which drove Annie crazy!

And once she knew I was in there to stay, the puppies started coming!!

In an hour she had 7!  Just like the vet had said!
I said, "Good job, Candy, you're such a good mama!"
And I walked out to see how trashed the house had gotten since I'd left the boys unattended.

I came back in and saw her licking and biting a puppy...her 8th puppy!!
 I said, "Oh, you're the best dog ever, Candy!  I love you so much!"
And I went to text my husband, who'd left to run errands, about this 8th one.

I came back in to make sure all was well and figured Candy would be resting.  I counted and recounted and each time I came up with 9 puppies!!!
I texted Sam again and I believe it said
"That vet lives on a throne of lies (name that movie).  We've got 9!"
After that I went in to check on her and I didn't text him again in fear of being crazy...or dumb.  When he came home he went in to see them and came back out to tell me there were 10!!
 I said, "I knew it!!  I'm not crazy!"
That's how many I had counted too but I was too shocked!

She rested easy after that.  That was it, 10 beautiful puppies!
I was so proud of her!

5 girls and 5 boys...all taking on the exact same rat-like features.

And Candy, having not been a mama in over a year, is happy and content too.

She loves them.  And she wants the other dogs at the window to go away.

The boys waited a whole 2 hours, maybe, to touch them.
Words of insight from my son: "Hey Mom, you know what these puppies remind me of?  All the other puppies we've had."

And this one tells people who ask if he likes the puppies, "yes, they are my favorite mammals."

So read into the title of this post however you like...the puppies literally did come out with a bang all in about 2 hours!  Or, this rather unproductive year is definitely going out with a bang!!
Happy New Year everyone!

Spring is here!!I

We've been having some warm weather here finally.  It's great for everyone!  

This week we took the boys to the river to fish.

And the dogs plunged in!!

They loved it!!

Surprisingly though, there wasn't a single fish to catch after 5 dogs ripped through the water!

So obviously, the fishing didn't keep his attention.

Huck isn't much of a swimmer...more of a wader.

The swimming didn't keep the dogs' attention either.  They were distracted by a squirrel that
ran into this tree.

They never did find that pesky thing!
I don't know why they're disappointed, I don't know
that they've ever actually caught one.

This is our new addition, Elsa!  She's still getting used to everything.

But she already looks the part of a Finley River Retriever!

These are my boys.  They are the best of buds, they get along great.

I mean, sometimes they do.
And sometimes they pull each other into the freezing cold water.

This was the catch of the day!
Caught by the bare hands of my very brave boys.
(Yeah right, they screamed.  I caught it.)

But I handed it to them and they thought they were tough.

We can't wait for more of these days to come!

Days where we can all get filthy, 

and tired!

Happy Birthday to our #1 Litter!!

Well, I put out a real effort to get this birthday greeting out right on time.  Obviously it didn't happen.  I'm 3 days late.  But, Finley River Retrievers turned two!  I say that because that was the day our first litter was born.

So many firsts we experienced with these guys!  We were so excited when their eyes started to open.

Candy too, experienced several firsts...like being exhausted.

We had so much fun with these puppies!  We thought putting them in wagon and dragging them around was a good idea.

Here's Mia when she was about 4 weeks old.

Linus

I can't remember who all of these were but this has been one of my favorite pictures ever.

This too!

Mowgli

Mowgli in the middle, Sadie on the left chewing on him.

  

Nikki and my son.  Awe, he too was just a little guy!!

Mowgli

Apolla

I think this is Murphie trying to test out the water...involuntarily obviously.

I think this is Linus in the front?

They also tore up everything too.  But it was cool, they were cute.

Murphie

Those puppies got crazy!  And we loved it!

And here they are now!!
(A few of them anyway)

Bear
All grown up and dignified.

Murphie

Thank you all for the updated birthday pictures of your furry family members!  Thank you for keeping us updated on them.  Thank you for giving them such loving homes.  Thank you for being patient with us too and trusting us with your puppy for 8 weeks.  I'll be honest, we didn't know what we were doing back then!!  We just knew we loved the puppies and wanted to find good homes for them.  I think we did!  They will always be a very special group to us.