Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

We just returned from doing an ultrasound on Emma. We didn’t see anything resembling puppies. We will do a formal ultrasound in the next two weeks at the Vet’s office to confirm the situation but it doesn’t look promising.

We are heartbroken for ourselves, but more so for the families who have kept faith with us over our difficult breeding year. Last year if someone was to tell our fortune and guess what misfortunes were coming our way, I wouldn’t have believed them. First, that we would have our two year old, Solo, washed out of being a mom by minor hip issues, followed by our other two year old, Riley, not conceiving using a great stud that we didn’t know was stricken with cancer and who died a few weeks after breeding. And now, despite heroic natural efforts with Emma after the infertility vet was away at a critical time, we are left with only fractured dreams.

Emma doesn’t understand our disappointment, and she was her smiling self in the elevator today leaving the ultrasound.

She is now sitting at my feet while I type this to send out the bad news to everyone who follows the goings on here.

It is heartening to have our other four also close by waiting to see what next adventure I will take them on. Lucy, Solo, and Lily to my left, and Riley on the bed behind me. Riley has her eyes half closed resting, but also half open so she won’t miss anything!
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Having seen the havoc mother nature can wreak on the fertility dreams of many patients, I am not surprised by this turn of events. I also am mindful of how small this disappointment is in the face of the patients I saw this week who are battling life threatening illnesses. So, while my hopes have been seriously bloodied today, we will bend like the reed to this ill wind that 2007 sent our way. I will redouble my efforts in 2008 that we might again hear that so sweet music of puppies at play in our home.

For everyone waiting, I release you from whatever loyalty you have kept with us. Below are four of the best Golden Breeders in the North East. All are my Golden friends, and have done their breeding as full time careers for many, many years
Alphabetically:

• Barbara Biewer, email address: [email protected]
• Cindy Jones, email address: [email protected]
• Donna Talbot, email address: [email protected]
• Berna Welch, email address: [email protected]

Hope is eternal as they say, and I guess it is only fitting that the New Year is only two days away. Then we will start with a slate scrubbed clean of these misadventures, and a renewed spirit to try harder in 2008. God Bless.

Emma’s last litter was born a year ago today. That means our Lucy is one year old along with her six brothers and two sisters. Lucy got her own birthday card in the mail today from her brother Logan. He sent her a poem courtesy of his devoted owners Janet and Andy.

It went like this…

Dear Lucy,

Remember when we were this little? All we did was eat and piddle.

Now we are both big and strong, and most everything we do is wrong.

But our Mommies and Daddies love us anyway, cause they know we’ll be really good someday.

Love, Logan.

Here is a photo of the Logan playing with Lucy this fall on the pool cover.

Thank you Logan for your kind words!

We also got birthday wishes and updated photos from Ollie and Denis and their Tucker.

As well as from Barbara and her boy Tyson.
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Ken and family sent photos of sister Rosie’s Christmas.

And their older house mate, Holly celebrated a recent birthday too!

Our golden friend Cindy sent her best holiday wishes along with photos of her special Kati.

On Behalf of Barbara and I, and of course our birthday girl Lucy, we thank everyone for their best wishes and photos. We wish many more happy years of golden adventures for all of Emma’s most recent offspring.

We hope that when we do Emma’s ultrasound this Sunday, we will have joyous news that another generation is soon to arrive here in dogville.

The girls and I watched the sun come up the other day from the high school hilltop. We had gotten eight inches of snow earlier and then freezing rain. The dogs’ paws and my boots broke through the thin crust with every step, and so the going was very slow and tiring. We abandoned our usual route for the morning, and instead just enjoyed sitting and watching the world awaken.

It was cold, quiet, and peaceful. A great time to reflect on the year almost done, and the approaching bustle of Christmas week. Even the dogs seemed thoughtful, content to be sitting in a group rather than running in a pack.

Best wishes to all for a safe and healthy holiday week.

I am writing this post after a long day in the hospital and after what seemed like an even longer drive home. Our first real snowstorm in Connecticut this winter is still raging outside. Inside the dogs are all at my feet, tired out after a day of play outside in this wintry white wonderland.

I went to Vermont last Sunday to check out our winter home and to make sure that all the winterizing changes had been done for the season. I piled the five dogs into the truck and we stayed overnight. The mountain was deserted and cemetery quiet. There was a foot of snow already on the ground and several more inches fell as we arrived. Besides the pure white beauty of it all, with an ongoing snowfall, there is no sand on the roads, and so the dogs do not track in anything but a little clear water from their paws. The temp was down in the 20’s and with the wind blowing down from the hills, only the ice balls on their paws were what they dragged into the house. So for a change, there was very little cleaning I had to do the next morning before we made the trip back.

Golden retrievers love adventures so they had a ball running through the woods and up and down the mountain road.

Riley, our three year old, loves to bury herself in snowdrifts like the youngster she still is.

After arriving home that morning, I still had a lot of chores to do, and so I missed the nap with the girls. They had no trouble nodding off on the kitchen floor as they recuperated from their outdoor adventures earlier in the day.

What a great life they have!

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I know children everywhere are having sleepless nights awaiting the arrival of Santa in less than two weeks. The child in me is counting the days until I can do an ultrasound in two more weeks to see if Emma is carrying puppies..

We were more blessed on Thanksgiving this year than usual. All of our four children were able to make it home along with our daughter-in-law, Emma, and our two grandsons, Ethan and Alexander as well as my parents. Of course our Goldens get overly excited when we have a crowd visiting, and sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming, especially for non dog people. Ethan is smaller than the dogs and so we introduced him to them gradually and carefully.

If you look closely at the second photo above, you will notice that one of our dogs is in the crate having a time out for bad behavior (probably Solo). Also, the swiffer mop is always out to do quick clean-ups after the girls.

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We do have a dog free part of our home when we absolutely need some dog free time or space. We put invisible fencing in the floor of our dining and living rooms, so there is a haven if we have company that are not into dogs as much as we are. These areas became the safety zones for the grandchildren. They could play on the floor as much as they wanted and not be bothered by the dogs who just wanted to lick their faces.

We got everyone together for a group photo before they all left for their big city lives in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Potomac, MD.

A very memorable holiday for all of us four footed and two footed creatures here.