h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Last Saturday was a doozy of a day. The winter storm that was supposed to hit us on Thursday didn't get here until mid-day Friday. It appeared to be much ado about nothing, so I had told my Saturday crew to open on Saturday morning as usual.

Spice was super restless overnight, and I slept very little. I was awakened Saturday morning by my BC custodian pounding on my door. He's been trying to phone me but kept getting a busy signal. My cell was turned off. I never leave it on overnight. The heat at the library had gone off -- for the hundredth time -- and the snow was arse deep and still coming down. I checked the bedroom phone, he checked the one near the computer. Both dead. I have my phone and computer through my cable company, so put on the computer and no Internet.

The next two hours were filled with notifying everyone not to come to work and getting the heating company on the phone. They are nearly 100 miles way, so they walked BC through a reset procedure. The burners fired and I drove home through a whiteout to unwind.

So, there I was with a cup of coffee, minding my own business when I noticed this odd smell. I looked at Spice, who was in the corner of the love seat and saw this awful looking stuff around her, bloody and ropey. I thought she had thrown it up and would need a vet pdq. This was a problem because of the weather and because it was Saturday. I figured I'd have to drive her to the emergency animal clinic in Joplin.

I got some wrm water and paper towels to clean up the mess. When I started poking it to pick it up it squirmed and a tiny face looked up at me. She was having puppies. This was quite a shock since I'd only had her a month and didn't know she was pregnant! Sure, I had remarked that she had a round tummy, but I thought it was due to the ice cream she gets every night for her bedtime snack.

I wasn't expecting puppies so had no box ready for her. She sleeps with me. She doesn't need box. I rushed around building her one since nothing I had was the right size. By the time I got it ready, she had three babies. I located it where I wanted it and while I was carrying her over to it I heard a very loud crash outside.

Once mom and babies were settled I went out front to look. The gutter on the west side of the house had come loose and fallen. Bob knows how much that will cost. It is dangling by one section over the porch and leaning against the railing, which is propping it up. I'll see if the BCs can fix it.

One puppy died, so I have two little squirmy things in the box with Spice. Two more mouths to feed. I've decided to keep them. By the time they're old enough to give away, I'll be too attached to them to part with them. I know myself. So it's better to plan on keeping them from the start. It's too soon to know for sure if they're going to look like Shelties. Hope so. I strongly suspect there was Jack Russel in the woodpile, that the woman who owned Spice knew there were going to be mixed breed pups that would be hard to sell and she decided to just get rid of Spice. I'll love them no matter what they look like.

I have the Internet back, as you can see, but my phone is still dead. It's rather nice, actually.

Gosh, what a mixed bag of and there, Hyp.

What you saved on emergency weekend vet bills will probably more than make up for the gutter. The last time I took a dog in on a Saturday, it cost me $500 for just a couple of stitches on a minor (but very scary looking) puncture wound.

Blimey, life sure does its best to keep you busy, Hyp! Have a , for medicinal purposes, of course...

Oh, yea... and "PUPPIES!"

Awww.... but the likkul puppeees make everything all right

If it's not one thing, it's another! You certainly have your hands full.

Good grief, what a weekend, Hyp.

for the puppies.

I hope the BC's can fix fix the gutter.

Wow! Sounds like it's all happening in Little Doodah.

Puppies
Can we have photos please?

That is one hair-raising story.

The gutter business has me humming 'The Arkansas Traveller', you hillbilly, you.

We've been snowed in over here, mainly because North Carolina can't handle 7 inches of snow...Piedmont drama queens, they love to panic...

Best wishes to mom and pups. What a wonderful, weird surprise.

Wpw dear Hypatia,

You certainly see life where you live. My goodness I think you coped absolutely wonderfully. New puppies, gutters falling down. drives through the night to get hte heating on..You must go away for a rest. !!

Great to hear from you and I give you an A with a distinction for the work you have doen.

I have suvived a rather tricky little spell in hospital. anyway, i did not much care what happened, and so am backl here at my computer hale and hearty.

Now you have to spoil yourself with something my dear friend. !!

All good wishes for the year ahead,

A great deal of affection

Christiane and Keith.

2/2/2010 17:20 GMT

What a story, Hyp.

Any chance of writing it up for (or I could just lift it off your journal)?

photos are here: http://public.fotki.com/Hypatia/puppies-3-days-old/

Bel, when would you need something?

Whenever you manage, Hyp. The next Post will be out next Monday, so if it was to go in there, I'd need it by Sunday (although I wouldn't mind if it was in a bit earlier). If you'd want to have a photo of the puppies to go with it, I'd need it by Wednesday morning.

Right. I'll get something ready for you.

Christiane, is Keith still in hospital? Or did you mean you were in hospital? Is your breathing worse?

Great, I look forward to it!

Those puppies are adorable.

This reminds me of when we were birth coaches for a litter of kittens. Ol' Mehitabel, the weird Greek cat, had never done this before. She demanded a cheering section as she stalked around, meowing loudly at the indignity of it all.

Like I said, it's too soon to really know, but they don't look much like Shelties.

I've helped deliver a lot of kittens over the years but never puppies. The only other litter of pups I had was in Tyler, TX back in the 70s. My dog crawled under the house and had them. She didn't bring them out until they were a week old. I'm a bit embarrassed that I didn't know she was pregnant. But I wasn't looking for it. Sheesh.

Puppies tend to look like nothing much other than puppies for a few weeks. About the only thing I look for is whether they have huge paws. They usually grow into huge paws. Those have cute widdle puppy paws so I doubt their sire is a hound dog or something like that.