Summer Solstice

It's not the sun rising over Stonehenge, but it was a
beautiful Solstice morning in our backyard. This is the
area where I want to put in a new shed and fence off
a portion for the puppies when they are bigger.

The last couple days have been very pleasant -- less hot, less humid, and our longest days of the year. Things continue pretty much the same around here. The pups are growing. We've got a pretty workable routine established. The oddest thing about this is that we are both house bound more than we've ever been, and together more than we've ever been. That's nice, but it's definitely different. I worry that Clay will go stir crazy, but so far, so good.

Della comes out to play any chance she gets.
We feed her outside too. She needs a break
from the puppies

Della is amazing. We are feeding her 5-6 times a day, puppy food with lots of supplements, including cottage cheese, puppy milk replacement power, pumpkin, chicken broth, etc. Della is looking better, has lots of energy, and she's producing lots of milk. She's feeding all 12 pups pretty much entirely on her own. We feed her, she feeds them. It's a system and so far it seems to be working. The pups are approaching or past the two pound mark now. We weigh them twice a day and give extra attention to the 2 or 3 smallest.

We did have a big outing today, with Della and the pups. We visited the studio of a professional photographer who took everyone's pictures. It was a fun experience and we are all anxious to see the results. Della was great and didn't mind the puppies being in another room most of the time. She actually got more upset when I left.

Serena goes outside when Della is out and the two have
resumed their prior play activities, at least in part.
But Serena isn't getting as much activity as she would
like. I took her and Maya on a short walk on Thursday.

Maya isn't so upset by the lack of hiking as she is by the lack
of daddy time. I'm sleeping with Della and the pups but Maya
is with me in the office all day while I work.

It's becoming a little easier to distinguish the puppies.

My back is better and I need the exercise, so I'll get back to
walking more. 

I put a pretty pink collar on her for our outing today.

A late bloom on our magnolia.

Della cleaning up a pup.

Clay and I mostly stayed with Della in the adjoining room
while the puppies were being photographed.

When we got back home, Della decided that
all the puppies needed a thorough cleaning
before she fed them.

Daenerys Targaryen was called the Mother of Dragons.
I think Della needs a title of her own.

Everyone was wiped out after today's photo shoot.

Feeding Della is paying off for everyone. You can see that
she has more milk now, and I can tell she has more energy.

Open access feeding system.