Larry holds our little brown boy

He was number six in the birth canal and he came out struggling to live.  His breathing was a series of gasps, then after a few moments, gasps with cries.  Larry and I sat by Amelia’s puppy box and prayed out loud to Jesus.  When Amelia turned her loving  tongue to the seventh puppy that followed,  I stroked his little brown back to keep him stimulated.  He seemed so weak that we feared he wouldn’t be up to the struggle to survive.  But minute after minute passed, and then he crawled to his mother and found a teat underneath the pile of his siblings on top.  He’ll be easy to spot: he’s the brownest, the smallest.  And he’s a fighter.  He is second from the left in the photo below.

Our incredible Amelia Earhart and her seven pups

It all started at 4:00 A.M.  Curiously, it was the father of the pups, Monkey Biscuit, who sent the alarm.  He started shaking badly, shivering, as Amelia maneuvered around the bed between Larry and me.  I realize now that he seemed exactly like a nervous father.

Amelia’s water broke and we moved into puppy mode.  For the next two and a half hours, puppies were born one after another.  She would clean one up, and get ready for the next.  The first wave of puppies gave us three females and two boys.  Amelia seemed to relax, and to get sleepy as all the pups found a teat.  We moved them to the puppy box our foreman Menny built.

Two hours later, I heard Amelia licking hard and found that the little brown boy had been born.  So now we have a total of  three males and four females.  All with different markings.  All of them perfect.  Each one a blessing.

New Pinto Calf

I caught this stretching motion from one of our six new calves yesterday as Larry and I were out checking out the babies.  This group was clustered around a hay bale, to the right, and the pinto calf had been asleep until we pulled up in our farm truck, Old Blue.

The mahogany bay horse coming towards us is Hawks Blue Sue, known to Ranch riders simply as Blue.  She’s Larry’s trusted and beloved saddle horse.  And she correctly assumed Larry would have brought her some sweet grain for a late afternoon snack.

We have more calves on the way.  Come see them!

Amelette and Julio

We love this picture of two of our babes.  That’s Amelette’s head on the left, and her body on the right.  This photo reminds me that we all want to feel this close to those we love.  And how blessed we are to have people, and creatures to love.  By the way, their mother, Amelia Earhart, is about to give birth to her second litter of pups.  Some of our friends have started to call this combination of purebred Jack Russell and purebred Toy Fox “Larry’s Terriers”.  We’ll put pictures of the new pups on the blog soon.

Cotton arrives at the Ranch and begins her inspection

Meet Cotton, our new nine week old American Bulldog. She was born near Statesboro, Georgia in cotton country.  So far, Amelette seems to be her best pup pal.

Amelette in pup pursuit

She is very bright, vocal and playful.  She loves to have her round belly full, and rubbed.  And she is chewing on everything in sight.  Especially if it’s expensive or electronic.

We’ve seen her brothers, and we expect her to top out at about 90 pounds.  We hope she’ll grow up strong and one day join the other “big dogs”  who go out with our horse back riders.  In the mean time, she’s getting lots of loving and beauty sleep.

Come meet her while she can still fit in your lap!

In  January Larry and I went to see the Cavalia Odysseo horse show in Atlanta, and memories of this incredible event are still fresh. 

If you have seen Menny work with the horses, you will have an even greater appreciation of the level of horsemanship and athleticism the two and four legged participants exhibited.  Watching a half dozen riders lead four horses each,without lead ropes, in a complicated equine ballet, was a thrill.  After the show, we visited horse master Benjamin Aillaud and toured his stables to see his remarkable steeds.  Several of them are American Quarter Horses.  Beautiful!

Larry and Pam on their way to Cavalia