Dachshund diaries day 37

Monday: first day ''proper'' of the holidays! Lie in? Sleep late? No chance,no way! The puppy cacophony started at 6 am and by 6.15 I was up and blearily wandering downstairs- why oh why did I stay up to 1 am reading my most excellent book: Brisingr- which I can highly recommend.

They decided it was playtime and supervision was required as well as the arms of an octopus...

By 7.30 I'm afraid I called in reinforcements from my kids as I needed to cook the breakfast for these hungry and gung ho- very energetic pups. Running all around our kitchen , hallway and living room by now, leaving little presents everywhere and exploring very happily : tails in the air and wagging furiously!!! Can't stay tired for long with such EXUBERANCE about.

Cushions and newspapers are to be tugged at, shoes bitten, chair legs licked....And they loved the new toys: a soft furry squeaky bone, a chewy toy, a large ball with holes in and a couple of cardboard boxes with holes cut in.

By 8am it was breakfast time for Pippa and her pups, Pippa eats separately and then has to be banned to the garden as otherwise she whines outside their cage and the puppies stop eating.

She's probably telling them not to eat it in hound language as she likes it so much herself.

They had milky cereal with a little scrambled egg this morning , they have tired of egg a little now as beef and rice is soooo much yummier....

As I was making the breakfast: one daughter ferried 2 pups to the cage while the other had Tom.
More playtime after breakfast, exploring the kitchen now and then by 9 am they all fell asleep.
This is Tom who had to be washed as he got food ALL over himself and then was a bit shivery so he cuddled up to get warm, when my daughter sat in Pippa's big basket with him, Pippa decided to climb in too: aaah, look don't they look sweet?


9 am- 10. 30 am Peace! We had our breakfast and we planned our day and I made many phonecalls etc, we played games but all too soon: 10.30 Puppies awake again!!!

Alas our videocamera camera battery was flat, the playtime was such fun I dearly wanted to record it! By 12 noon they had lunch: minced fried beef with white rice : all freshly cooked and served in yet 3 more clean small dishes.....
12.30 They fall asleep and we have OUR lunch.....

Household chores beckon and by 2 pm they wake up again! Such a shame they can't go into the garden: I phoned the vet about that but was told not untill after the 8 week vaccination...
It's now warm and sunny and the garden looks so very inviting! They continue to explore the house, good job all floors were cleaned well last night....

2.30 I take mum- Pippa - for a walk and come home to dozing puppies on laps.
3pm we walk into town to catch the bus for a quick trip into Oxford. All the time there we enjoy the break but I worry if the puppies are waking up and what they get up to without us?

Their fighting can get a bit more viscious and will Pippa intervene when that happens?

By 6.45 we're back home and walk in as puppies are playing happily in their pen. The cacophony starts up soon after: weee whiney weeee we want our dinner!!!!

More beef and rice and Tom still gets hand fed as he doesn't eat well in the cage- unlike Jack and Lucy who tuck in lustily as soon as a bowl of food appears.

They fall asleep at 7.30 pm when we have our dinner.....
Then there's lots of giggling and laughing as the girls are playing and dressing up and recording some sort of play or journalistic reporting on a mobile phone device.....THAT is what holidays are for!!! Silly fun between sisters: this makes me feel very happy.

9 pm Tom and Lucy are awake and want to be out of the pen playing - again....By 9.45 I decide they can have their supper- more cooking, more washing up, more changing newspapers, more washing- then decide we should wake Jack or maybe he'll wake us in the night???

This is Tom having his supper at 10 pm tonight....
By 10.15 pm Lucy and Tom are fast asleep- after washing them as they were covered in rice- paws,neck,head you won't believe how they get it all over themselves...

Jack however is WIDE awake....Oooh help! Kids and husband have already gone to bed and here I am playing with Jack and clearing up the kitchen and putting on the 3rd wash of the day- 2 of them were for the puppies!!! Only ONE was a human clothing load....

Luckily we have a game of tug the bone or sock and a few chases and some cardbaord box play and then 23.15 he too falls asleep.

They are all bedded down in a pen with clean blankets( 3) and clean newspapers- THANK YOU JO!!!!- and fresh water and a nice red heatpad in case they get chilly later.
I'm a bit worried about the water because Pippa tends to jump into the box and drink it for them, even though she has her own bowls both in the kitchen and by her basket....

And I do the blog at 23.30 and now it has just turned into the 7th of April: 00.00 hrs says my computer.

That 's a day spent with 5.5 week old puppies..... ooooof that's tiring! 4 home cooked meals for 3 in 12 puppy bowls , lots of fleeces and blankets washed, Poos pickedup/cleared up, papers changed. Puppies groomed and washed, supervised and cuddled.

BUT BEST OF ALL : LOTS OF FUN to watch and play with!!!
An exhausting but BRILLIANT DAY!!!!!