5 Weeks

There's a blog I like to read. She recently was pregnant and showed a picture of her belly each week. I thought Amani deserved the same. Three weeks to go.

Worship Day/Father's Day/Measuring Day/Great Day

I can't recall the last time I was so excited about a day. Today I celebrate.
First I celebrate my church. I love going to church every Sunday Morning. I get there early and putter around doing little things to take care of what's been given. I pick off the dead leaves of the plants, spray for those nasty little gnats that make a home around them and water if they need it. I pick up lint and check the bathrooms for any needed touches. I love getting ready for the worship service. I love being there early enough to worship twice.
Then I am going to celebrate Father's Day. I will have four fathers at my house today. My own father, the father of my children, and the fathers of my grand children. How lucky am I. I'm going to give them all canned apricot jam from last season.
We also get to celebrate Measuring Day today. We will put the grand children up to the post and mark their growth. We will award the fastest grower just for fun. We will measure their running, water balloon tossing, swimming and holding their breath. Don't tell them if you see them but I have added a political category this year. I'm going to ask them who the President of the United States is. I know my four year old will know the answer. He's proud that he knows who "bakobama" is.
I will rush home after church to finish the snacks so my son can eat right away. I will swing by the farmers Market looking for freshly picked strawberries to go with the vanilla ice cream that we will churn when we get home. Can you still call it "churning ice cream" when you just plug it in? I remember hand cranking it with ice and salt and ice and salt. Now that's homemade ice cream.
It's gonna be a great day.
I just know it.

Sunday afternoon nap

IS THIS THE LIFE OR WHAT?

Docking the tails of Cocker Spaniels

I am expecting a litter of pups on July 19th. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm getting myself into. I've been present during the birthing of pups before. I bred Amani with a handsome fellow from El Shaddai cocker spaniels in Cherry Valley. She's agreed to teach me how to dock the tails (the breeder, not Amani), so that will be new for me. I've never cut off the tail of a dog before. Sounds horrible but I guess it's not as bad as cutting foreskin from our little baby boys. I was wondering why the practice was started and found through some reading that there were practical reasons to do so. The reasons varied depending on the breed. Some of the reasons were:
1. guard dogs, to prevent them from being grabbed by the tail
2. herding dogs, to prevent feces from building up in the fir.
3. hunting dogs, to prevent tails from getting tangled in the briar thorns and thistles
4. Terriers, it makes a stable handle to grab the dog and pull it back out of the burrow.

I"m sorry to make you think about cutting off tails but I think it's important to understand why we do things. Also, for those who believe it to be a horrible practice, it's necessary to know that in those countries where tail docking has been banned there has been a tremendous increase in the number of severe tail injuries requiring emergency docking when the dog is an adult. Tails are very hard to heal for two reasons. Anyone care to take a stab (no pun intended) as to why that is?