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AdventApril 23, 2008 A week or so before Rhodry's mom's expected whelping date, I sang in the then annual performance of Messiah. My imagery for "For Unto Us a Child Is Born" was all about puppies. I can't sing or hear that chorus without visualizing eight tiny puppies nestled against their mother. Now it's April, the puppies were born in February, and I'm preparing the way of the puppy. Outside on my deck is a puppy travel crate, borrowed from my friend Elaine. Her German shepherd, Tillo, came home in it three years ago. Given Tillo's current size this is hard to believe, but I remember puppy Tillo so I do believe it. Wendy lent me a baby gate to use at the top of the outside stairs. I've been eyeing the vertical posts around the deck and wondering if a puppy could squeeze between them. I hope not. We'll see. Yesterday I made ferry reservations -- going off on the 1:15 Friday afternoon, coming home on the noon boat on Monday -- and a motel reservation at the Lafayette Motel in Canandaigua, New York, for Saturday night. The ferry reservations I made online. With the motel, which was recommended by the kennel owner, I felt like talking to a real person, so I phoned. I told the nice lady I was coming to pick up a puppy at Masasyu Kennels and she said, "Oh, do you knit dog hair?" I said no, but a friend of mine used to spin yarn out of dog hair and that's one of the reasons I picked this kennel. I hope logic and the Internet never replace good ol' one-on-one communication between real people. I can't wait to meet this lady, or to eat at the diner next door to the motel. I stopped by SBS on my way to the barn. On my way to SBS, I dropped the screen insert for my storm door off at a nearby screen & window shop. The weather the last few days has been so warm I've had the door open a lot, and it won't be long before I want to put the screen back in. While I was moving in a year ago, an errant chair leg poked a hole in the screen. Ever since I took the screen out late last fall, I've been meaning to get it fixed. Now spring is sprung and fixed it is getting. I left SBS with a 40-pound bag of Blue Seal Puppy Formula, which the pups are currently eating, several small chewable items, a brush suitable for a youngster's coat, a ceramic food dish that looks positively dainty next to Rhodry's metal one, and a purple collar that in width and length looks teeny next to Rhodry's last collar. A couple of photos of puppy Rhodry show that the first puppy collar I bought for him was ridiculously large. He eventually grew into, and then out of, it. Here's hoping I haven't guessed too wrong this time around. I just scrubbed out a large, unused wastebasket with a cover. Rhodry could be counted on to leave bags of food alone as long as the top was folded over, but visions of ripped bags and spilled puppy food have been dancing in my head, occasionally accompanied by visions of puppies with upset stomachs. Here's hoping the puppy food bag fits in the wastebasket. It's gonna be close. I've got a supply of squeaky toys for the pup to grow into, not to mention Rhodry's last collar. Among puppy Rhodry's favorite toys were tennis balls stuffed in an old sock, with a piece of baling twine to tie it shut. I hope the new puppy likes them too. I've got a goodly supply of old socks to use up.
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