Puppy Pandemonium!

Our house has officially been turned upside down and inside out!  We are worn to a frazzle and don't even remember what it feels like to sleep in anymore, let alone sleep through the night.  Dudley has taken over and we're reminded that you don't own a bulldog, the bulldog owns you!  He is definitely king of the castle and we are his lowly servants, attending to his every beck (or should I say bark!) and call. 

I think we're still a little rummied, going through our days like zombies, still in shock that we are parents again.  It's been forever and a day since we had a puppy this young in the house, and we're having to go through the aches and pains of potty training, fending off sharp-as-razor puppy teeth and watching where we step because he's always under foot.  Don't get me wrong though, it's not always "No! No!" and "Ouch!" and "Well for heaven's sake, you want to go out again?"  He does have his sweet, cuddly side too, where he snores in your lap or gives your chin and neck puppy kisses.  And we're running out of room on the computer for all the cute photos and videos we're constantly taking.  He's just so adorable.

According to the puppy potty training websites, we're doing everything right as far as trying to train him, but we were discouraged to learn that it takes up to six months for a puppy to be totally potty trained.  Ugh!  My carpet will never last that long!  Just when we think we've outsmarted him, he throws us for another loop.  He's a sneaky little guy, but oh so cute.  It's hard to get mad when he looks up at you with those beautiful blue-gray eyes and that sweet, wrinkly face.

Our hands and arms and ankles are covered with puppy bites and bruises, so I've taken to wearing gloves when I play with him in the evenings now.  Puppy bites are the worst!  We've bought him a dozen fancy chew toys, but his favorites seem to be our ankles and hands.  He's a ferocious little bugger.  The only good thing about him playing so rough is that he wears himself out so easily that soon enough, he's snoring away.  He's cutest when he's asleep.

We love you Dudley, and we're so happy to have you with us!  Bulldog love is the best there is and we're the happiest two parents in the world right now, even if we are a little tired and worn out!

Never a Dull Moment

A lot of things have been going on around our little place since I last wrote.  Life on the Hollow got turned upside down when we lost our sweet Tubby, but nonetheless it moved along.  Cooter made sure we didn't forget he was our baby too, as he kicked down the fence one day while I was home sick with a migraine.  I was laying in bed with a pillow over my head, wishing away my throbbing headache when all of a sudden I heard what sounded like thunder outside the bedroom window.  I thought to myself, "Oh goodie!  A nice rainstorm to lull me to sleep!" and I slumped down further under the covers.  A few minutes later the thunder rumbled again, only this time I realized the thunder wasn't accompanied by the patter of raindrops on the roof and the sun was shining just a little too brightly through the window for it to be storming out.  Uh oh!  That wasn't thunder!  It was the tell-tale signs of horse and donkey hooves running around the house!

Sure enough, when I got up and looked out the window, there was our neighbor's horse in the front yard and low and behold, there was Cooter standing right beside him!  I got my shoes on and called my nearest neighbor to help round them up.  I knew the horse would be no problem at all, but catching Cooter was going to be a different story!  Long story short, my neighbor and I spent two long hours in the hot sun trying to catch that stupid, old donkey but we never could.  The best we could manage was to steer him into my neighbor's pasture where at least he'd be fenced in and couldn't run amok through the neighborhood causing mayhem and destruction all along the way.  That evening, it took four grown men to rope my wayward donkey and bring him back home.  That was a sight to see, for sure!  I watched from the safety of my back porch as two country boys, a city boy and my sweet hubby (who's a little of both) run up and down my neighbor's hillside chasing that donkey, lassoing him and then holding on for dear life as he drug them all around the pasture and back home.  Cooter's nostrils were flaring and he was covered in sweat and you could almost see the steam coming out of his ears, he was so mad.  Hubby fixed the fence and all was well.  Even my headache was long gone.

A week or two later, we had another farm animal incident.  Hubby and I were sitting in the living room watching tv one night with the front door open.  It was dark out and the lightning bugs were flickering all over the lawn, crickets and tree frogs chirping away and MOOOOOOOOO!  A cow bellowing in the front yard?  Good heavens!  Sure enough, right outside our front door there stood a great big longhorn cow with horns so big they stretched across her head four or five feet!  Sid jumped up and ran for his jeans and boots and I grabbed the phone and the flashlight and started calling the neighbor that owned the cows.  Of course, this late at night, no one was answering the phone so it was up to us to round her up.  He jumped in his jeep as she headed up our neighbor's driveway toward the back pasture.  Way in the back, there was a fence down and this one lone Mama cow had gotten out.  She was crying for her baby, who was back with the rest of the herd.  It was dark as pitch out, and the cow was black, so all you could see was her eyes glowing in the tall grass and hear her mournful cry.  Sid finally got ahold of the owners of the cows and they came down and helped get her back in the fence before the rest of the herd got out too.  Another session of fixing fences and all was well.  Sheesh!  Too much excitement for what's supposed to be peaceful country living!

At the end of July, we brought home another sweet bulldog puppy in hopes of filling our house with some good old bulldog cuddling and snoring.  We fell in love with that cute little bundle of joy, but our time was cut short after the vet found a birth defect and we had to give him back.  Our hearts were broken and the house was empty once again.  We tried to busy ourselves as best we could to keep our minds off the sadness.  Hubby found someone willing to sell us hay for the donkeys for the Winter, so we cleaned out the hayloft of the barn out back by the pond and got it ready for the new hay.  The hay was delivered late one evening right before dark and the forecast was calling for rain later that night.  We went into panic mode because we didn't know how in the world we'd be able to load 145 bales of hay into the top of that barn with just the two of us.  Luckily, we were blessed with several friends and neighbors who showed up right at dark and we all headed back to the barn and got it loaded within two hours!  We had four strong men, three strong boys, a sweet girlfriend to one of the men and me, huffing and puffing to do my share of the work and we got it done without any injuries or mishaps.  Praise the Lord for them all!

Hubby had a birthday party and again we were surrounded with loving friends to help us celebrate.  Later in the month he went on a nice long motorcycle ride with a bunch of his friends and they had a wonderful time.  We had a nice visit from my beautiful Sister and her two dogs that didn't seem to last long enough.  Her visits never do.  She could stay a whole month and it wouldn't be long enough for me.  We ran around town together, shopped and got our nails done, went out to eat, visited and made new friends.  We met a sweet couple from Oregon who live here now and turned a historic trolley car into a food truck downtown.  I never would have met them if Tiff hadn't been with me because I'm the shy one and she's the friendly, outgoing one of the family who doesn't know a stranger.  We also met a nice man who owns a bookstore in town and reminded me of Wild Bill Cody.  He showed us all around his wonderful store and we spent a couple hours looking through old books and swapping stories.  Another person I would have never met if it wasn't for her.  She's so adventurous.  Her dogs got to experience the country life, rolled in cow poo and barked at funny looking long-earred, loud-mouthed donkeys.  Things they don't get to experience living in the big city.

The night after Tiff went back home, we got a wild hair and called about another bulldog puppy.  Just so happened we were able to meet up and bring one home that very night!  We never dreamed it would be that easy!  All of a sudden our life was filled with bulldog love all over again, just like that!  He's nine weeks old and we named him Dudley and he's the cutest thing ever.  We've had him for a week now and he's claimed our hearts and made our house a home again.  You'll be hearing a lot about him, I'm sure.

Life has it's way of ups and downs and you just have to hang on tight and experience the ride.  That's what we've been doing, and will continue to do.  Thank you Lord for our crazy, silly life!