PUPPIES!
So, we shall start with her. Bardot whelped on Dec, 11 - five puppies: 3 boys, two girls. The labor was long, for me, starting 8pm Sunday with the first pup appearing at 1230pm Monday, thereafter followed at 1:30, 1:50, sometime before 5 (I looked in the whelping box to see 4 pups, not three) and 6:15 (the precise time when the class i was giving in my home - 5 6-yr-olds - was ending, and so kids and parents got a special "treat." I was rather sleep deprived at that point.
The puppies are doing great.
Here is a pic of bardot and pups just after the birth.
Here is a pup, one week old.
BARDOT
Next on the list is Bardot, herself. I have given "notice" to Orna that it's time to find her another home, mainly because her damn food obsession is making me crazy, as is her habit of CONSISTENTLY waking me up at god-awful hour of 530 am. The other day she pulled me and I tripped, bumping my nose, tooth and lip on a low wall and skinning my knee. My nose is still sore, and this happened last Sunday.
We have agreed that I shall keep her until the pups are about 4 months old and Orna will have a good idea of their personalities and whether she wants to keep B in the breeding program, as it doesn't make sense to rehome her to a place who is willing to have a brood bitch, and then spay her 2 months later. I have no problems with this. Bardot is a wonderful soul, and I am sorry to have to let her go, but the fact of the matter is that she is just exhausting me.... having the two dogs and NO HELP with walking them (OK - once in a blue moon, someone will take bardot for a walk around the block for 2 minutes).
KIDS
DS20 - NOSE
DS20 had septoplasty last Sunday (the day I bumped my nose!) to correct a deviated septum. He is recuperating nicely. He was in the hospital overnight. He has a 2-week sick-leave from the army and so is at home, driving me nuts with his fighting with DD13.
On other fronts, his drumming is proceeding really nicely!
DD13 - EYE
Last Yom haatzma'ut, DD13 was sprayed in the eye with some "snow," and has been experiencing blurred vision ever since. After numerous trips to the eye doctor, and being given various drops to try, we have finally found a steroid drop which is helping. She is also being treated at the corneal clinic at Kaplan Hospital, to which we have been twice. She seems to have some viral infection, that has caused rippling of the cornea. She has +10 (!) vision in that eye! After 1 month more of treatment with the drops, they will consider whether fitting her with a hard contact lense might help the problem.
OY.
DD13 - Horses.
WE have started going to a new place and she is doing Western riding. The place is gorgeous and even as a library of horse-books in English, which I am taking to read.
MY BIRTHDAY
As mentioned previously, I turned 50 on November 27th. I didn't want to make a party, as I feel it is a request for presents, so my sister (with my help) organized a get-together with some friends at a restaurant 2 weekends thereafter. I had some half-decent onion soup and some salad with mozerella cheese. I had to ask 5 times for a glass of water, but at the end still chipped in a good piece of the tip, as somehow, I always feel that when people "get together on the bill" the tip is always too paltry. The best part was "splurging" on an Irish coffee!
I got a few gifts, although the idea was that the "gift" was to be them paying my share. The cutest was Rhonda's, as she gave me one "little trinket" for each decade. The gift, in my opinion, that hit the spirit were the balloons, streamers and poppers from one friend! Highest on the list of appreciated gifts were the lotions and potions, as I can use them up! Lowest on the list were the "chuchkillas." Who needs more!
INTERNET
I have been spending umpteen hours working on a new site for my students: www.geocities.com/odelinded. Figuring out this HTML and CSS stuff is a real challenge, and Thursday I bought a nice book (in Hebrew) on the subject for 180 shekels (less 10% because the cover was damaged!) I realize the site looks awful on the Mozilla browser, but I am working on that. 
Oof...while looking for the above image, i found that I could have had the book even cheaper had I ordered from the internet....next time!
I am running out of steam, so shall post this as it is.
