Yup, they came, right on time and yes, that is a picture of Sunny having her babies IN THE GUTTER of the old dairy barn!

Bill and I actually put some thought and discussion into where we should set up a nest for Sunny to have the puppies.  Something comfortable and safe and protected from the elements- heat or cold, who knows this year!  After checking some other blogs of people who have been through the puppy thing it was clear that the best thing would be to build a whelping box complete with little bumpers all around the outside to protect the pups from being squashed by the mommy.  YEAH RIGHT!  Okay so we weren't eaven 100% sure that these would even be purebred after Sunny's neighboorhood antics.  There would be no whelping box building!

We settled on an old kiddy pool, reappropriated from my waterfowl pen.  I washed it out, dried it and collected a bunch of old blankets and towels for bedding and we put it in a quiet corner of our garage.  What could be better?  Cool during the day, out of the elements...We locked her in the garage every night  and as the day got closer she stayed in there most of the day too.  I figured she needed to rest rather than to be pestered by our now pre-teen pup, poncho. 

On Saturday I was looking forward to a day working outside with the kids.  What a gorgeous day.  It was warm and sunny, with the exception of the occasional wind gust, a perfect day.  We had big plans for the day, (after sleeping in until 8:00!)  First on the list, as always, was chores, mainly feed the bottle calf and check on the rest of the critters.  Being such a nice day I turned the goats out for some free feed and brush control.

After chores it was off to Farwell to pick up some feed and make the annual trip to Country Lane Nursery, our favorite local greenhouse, to pich up flowers for the window boxes.  The trip wasn't going to take long so we left the goats and the dogs out to get some exercise.

We returned about an hour later and strangely, Sunny didn't greet us.  I just figured she was resting in the shade- it was getting a little warm out for once.  We got our purchases unloaded and I went to the barn to start loading up the broilers that were to be moved to pasture.  Then I noticed her- Sunny all curled up in the gutter of the barn panting and breathing heavily.  I though "all right, it's time, let's move to the nest in the garage!"  Then I looked closer and saw three squirming yellow sausages near her belly...too late.

I quickly called the kids in and they reluctantly left their sandbox project to come see what was going on.  They both came in the barn just in time to see number four coming out.  They were speechless.

The process continued all day.  Sunny was very patient with the kids checking out her litter, picking up each new puppy after it was cleaned off.  We had visitors too.  Emily, Johnny, Adrianna and Shari Hovendick stopped by to see all the critters.  They enjoyed seeing the pups and Sunny nicely tolerated their petting.  Although she looked exhausted, she had a glimmer of pride in her new litter.  By the end of the day we had nine pups- five girls and four boys at last count.  That may change, if you've ever tried to check the bottoms of hungry squirmy sausages you'd understand.

We did get the window boxes planted and the broilers moved to the garden for free-ranging.  The goats enjoyed playing outside all day, as did the two-legged kids.  After bathtime we all curled up in my bed to read a couple books...we never left!

Sunday was also packed with activities.  After church we cleaned Lily's room!  If you've seen it lately you'll know that this in itself was an amazing feat!  Then it was off to Jack's Spring Fling concert and Preschool Graduation!

The kids performed a number of their favorite songs and skits including "The Chicken Dance" as seen here.  Jack is in the back, second from the right.  Both of the kids have many friends that attend the preschool, and many of them go to the same daycare as Jack and Lily.  It was a fun time for both of them.  Both grandma's came to watch and to our surprise Bill made it too.  We thought he would be sleeping for most of the afternoon in preparation of working the night shift.

Lily was entranced by the kids performing at the Preschool concert

I'll leave you with this scenic view of goats and cattle grazing on the ranch.  The cattle are in the back- where they're supposed to be, fenced in the pasture.  The goats are in the front, actually grazing our lawn (which is excessively overgrown anyway).  Putting up pasture fence for the goats is the next project on the ranch.  Unfortunately it's a task I cannot accomplish by myself so it requires that Bill and I both be home (and awake) at the same time.  I do not recommend allowing goats to free range, but so far it seems to be working here.  I keep the bucks penned up and the does won't venture too far from the boys.  Plus, if they do, there aren't a whole lot of places to go.  I can't imagine them running across a freshly planted 40 acre field!  Plus, these girls are all about ready to pop with their spring kids- except Tabitha who just had her's- they're not all that energetic right now!

Which reminds me...one more... a baby picture...

Now ain't that sweet?