Today has been unusual in that I have been around most of the day. our lacrosse game was rained out, and I was able to enjoy a night at home with everyone…..a rarity in my world. I made dinner for them all and in addition cleaned it all up too. Yep, I am a pretty great dad and husband…..make sure you let them all know the next time you see them!!!

We have decided to put our Volkswagen up for sale. It is a relatively new part of our “fleet,” a convertible, that is in great shape that we bought to have me drive. I really am not fond of having a convertible, but we thought it would get like 35+ mpg. It is really only 25-30 though and if I am going to do all that driving, for that mileage, it might as well be in a more comfortable car. The Cabrio has only 60,000 miles on it (59,990 today!) and we figured we might as well sell it and get something more suitable. As soon as we sell it I will begin to drive Scotty’s car until we find something else. With just under 3 months until he gets his license, I figure I have some time!

Anyway, the porch is quite nice tonight, although sans the cat since Ben has his toy mower out here every two minutes. I suppose the wine and the fresh baked cookies that Amanda has made help. But with that, I will call it a day. I hope yours has been as blessed and restful as mine….and if it hasn’t included a porch or a glass of wine, I do sincerely pray that a cookie has come your way!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

Today my grandma turned 93. I had a great conversation with her on the telephone tonight, and I am so thankful she is in my life. She and my grandpa (God rest his soul) were such big parts of my life…..and my grandma still is.

At 93 she no longer drives, but does just about everything else. She enjoys life and is proud of her family. I cannot imagine a better influence on my life, and I am thankful for her, not just on this day, but everyday! I am who I am today because of her. (So I suppose this means Amanda can blame her)

I remember last year asking her what the hardest part of being 92 was….she said it was telling people she had a 46 year old grandson. Well today she is 93, and soon she will have a 48 year old grandson, and both of us couldn’t be happier.

I have a lifetime of wonderful memories and blessings from her, and plan to have many more years to come.

Happy Birthday Grandma. Thanks for all you do for me! I love you!

Tom+

WOW…..what a day. Steph and Scott were both sick but Ben never got it. The great part was that tonight we were all together and everyone was feeling fine…Praise God!! It doesn’t matter what age your kids are, when they are sick your heart breaks for them. Of course Ben will show it at the most inconvenient time, I know. But at least I can fantasize that we have weathered the storm!

The puppy is doing well, and the other dogs are following suit. It appears that things have leveled off, and I welcome the change. My stress level has been pretty high, and things settling down is just what the doctor ordered!

Hopefully the night will be will take me further into peace!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

It is once again late, and I just got home. Scott and Ben are fast asleep in Scott’s bed, and Steph is in her bed not feeling well at all. And, as I begin this blog, Amanda is on the couch with the puppy watching TV. All alone again!! That also means I have dog duty tonight (not dog dootie). No worries though…..at least they will act as if they are happy to see me!

Hopefully this scenario does not worsen overnight, but we all know that it often does. I have had girls on the lacrosse team fighting something lately, and one girl was even sick at practice today. Another was riding the edge. With a game tomorrow, it makes me a bit worrisome.

Ben will be sleeping with us tonight. He took a wiffleball bat to the head at the babysitter’s by walking into the swing of a 5 year old. It was a hard swing and he apparently went down after being hit, only to stand up, dust himself off to the extent that a 22 month old kid does, and went back to playing. How he could stand it with that lump on his head was beyond me, but like his athletic siblings, his focus was apparently on the game. In our family he will be required to play ice hockey and lacrosse (Steph and Scott will insist upon it), but with his level of toughness already at this age, God save those he will play against. He’s going to be a monster!

With that, I will head back to the infirmary. I am the doctor on call. I know I already will have one patient for tomorrow. Pray for us that there may not be more!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tom+

Yikes….I was waiting for Steph to come home and then we sat out on the porch talking till 11:20. I hate it that she is up so late, but I rarely get the opportunity to talk with her anymore. Kids grow and they have their own lives. I am just thankful to have her here for the time I do!

But with that, I must call it a day. I have had two services today, a lacrosse referee certification, some Ben and Scott time, I made dinner AND cleaned up, plusssssssss about 100 other things too, so I am beat!

My apologies for this short post.

Goodnight and God Bless.

Tom+

Today has been a “scare-free” day, and I have enjoyed it. We played out of town in Culver today and went 1-1, beating Homestead and then losing to Culver. We were blessed in that we played pretty poorly today….not our finest hour, but half our team (most of our starters) were dragging from the late night of Prom.

The good news is that the little fatty we have living in the whelping box with his mom (with every feeding port open for him) had a great day apparently and more importantly, NO PUPPY DRAMA. He may be just a few days old, but I am very proud of him!

With that, it is 10 and I need to run over to St. Patrick’s to make sure we are ready to go there. And THEN, I am going to bed, because I am very tired and I do not want to give time for something to happen!

So goodnight my friends and God Bless…..I hope you, like me, have had a wonderful day.

Tom+

The last pup made it to the vet, had its dew claws removed, and got an initial check-up. He was doing great, but we did have a close call. Scotty decided to sit with him while he watched “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” but when he went down to the whelping box the pup was tangled in his mom’s hair around the throat. Jenny was noticeably upset, as was the pup who was now wailing. Scotty pinned her down and called for me. I took over while he went up for some scissors, and we cut the fur loose. The pup and Scott are now enjoying the movie. If I only believed in curses I would say that this litter was cursed, but I just think has just been a bad week. It is so very nice to see him snuggling with Scott and enjoying some peace.

But the scary part was to see my daughter heading to Prom. Don’t get me wrong, Stephanie is a wonderful daughter and I couldn’t ask for better, but she looked 25. She went with her boyfriend and 9 other couples, 5 of the girls are on the lacrosse team. But it was just another marker in my life of how soon she will be leaving. She was genuinely excited and it was so great to see. I used to laugh when she would go to school with an empty Barney backpack bigger than she was. Now she is a beautiful young woman who is riding the edge of adulthood. I am proud of her, but it will be the death of me yet!!

Anyway, I will now wait till she gets home! Worry worry worry. But I am pleased to say I have made it now till 10:30! I am doing pretty well, all things considered…..as long as Amanda talks me down!!

I am gonna wait up, but you should go to bed!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

We are doing our best here, though failing miserably. The two pups who were struggling did not make it through the night and then another died this evening. We are watching very closely the remaining pup, who has an appointment as the vet opens in the morning. Breeding Goldens is one of the best things we have ever done, but sometimes it can be heartbreaking. Generally yo do not have problems like this, but something is wrong. We knew the first two pups were riding the line, but these last two looked great and acted great all day…..fine at 6, and not at 10. I am praying that we get to the vet with him in the morning. It is Jen’s last litter, and the hardest on us all.

With that, I am going to go back in and check on him. Occasionally a mother dog will accidentally lay on a pup without knowing it, and that is what I suspect happened to this last one. We have a ridge in the whelping box to help pups avoid that, but sometimes they just can’t…they are too little. It generally happens when the mom is exhausted though…here she is not. That’s why we will check all night, and get to the vet in the morning.

We have probably delivered 30-40 pups over the years, and most of them are still living the life of leisure in their owners homes! We were ready to temporarily retire after this litter until Scott graduated and we moved to a farm (in 2011), but this has been a real hard way to retire. We don’t do this for money, we do it because we love the breed and put quality dogs into homes. It has been a real blessing. We will continue in the future, but for now, we will concentrate on tonight.

Keep us in your prayers.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

Today, though very busy, has not been as intense as tonight. Tonight Amanda and I are keeping a close eye on two of the new pups, one in particular that I had to resuscitate. We are struggling to keep them warm, and suckle, and have even tried to bottle feed them. Neither seems interested in that, so after we got them warmed back up I took them down and manually got them latched onto Jen. We will see, but this has all the makings of a long night!

And Ben of course does not understand. To him the puppies are just another thing to play with, and he becomes quite agitated when he is not allowed. Fortunately he is now distracted, so there is at least a sense of peace. And his bedtime is right around the corner.

Please keep us in your prayers though. Amanda’s back is still out, and I am doing my best. It is a tense time, but as I always learned…..you play the hand you were dealt. We are praying here for a big win!

So off to my job as a veterinary whatever I am! I hope to have a positive update tomorrow!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

Sometimes things just ignite and the flames get pretty high, and I suppose that would be a good way to describe my day today. Amanda’s back has incapacitated her, and it has been a lot of extra work to take care of Ben, her, and still work. I moved a meeting to the church this morning and was not even able to to shave this morning……and still haven’t.

What made this day totally on fire was getting home at 2pm and letting out our dogs. Many of you know that we both breed and show Golden Retrievers, and yes, we have one dog who is pregnant. Jenny however didn’t look due at all. We have delivered lots of pups, and we had planned to move her into sleeping in her whelping box within the next few weeks.

When I let them out for their afternoon walk, they all came running and were happy and energetic, including Jen. But there was a high piercing crying that I just couldn’t figure out. But as I went further into the pen I saw her, a small scared, crying pup, that I went and picked up immediately.

What I could not understand was that Jen wasn’t acting in labor, nor did she show any signs of delivery, nor did the pen. We are experienced breeders though, so this warranted a quick call to our vet, the amazing Dr. Vicki Barker Hagerman. Sure enough, Jen and I and the pup went to see Dr. Vicki for a check-up and x-ray.

The diagnosis was that Jen was carrying a small litter, just four, and tonight would be the night. We hustled back home, with the hopes of no car-delivery, and we were successful. I got the box ready, and over the past few hours have seen the other three enter the world. One girl and three boys. Mom and all the pups are healthy. I still haven’t shaved and feel gross. But the day is done and the flames are going down. Thanks especially to the girls on my lacrosse team for being so understanding about needing to cancel practice.

Anyway, I need to check on my wife….she has been a trooper, warming cold puppies on her chest while unable to move herself. Steph and Scott have helped too, and Ben just wants to hold the new puppies. Today has been a mess, but the next few weeks should be awesome!

I hope your day has been wonderful! Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+