Thoughts from the Whelping Room

As you know, we're on 24/7 Roadster watch until they are big/mobile enough to get out of her way should Bon accidentally lay down/step on one of them. 

As special as the babies are, sometimes sitting in the whelping room for hours on end can get pretty monotonous so Bruce and I have each found ways to pass the time.  For my part, when I'm not snapping pics, organizing pics, making lists, or rereading my Avidog material, I seem to spend my time figuring out better ways to count twelve squirming, wriggling, burrowing puppies without having to start over 5 or 6 times.   Seventeen million times a night (approximately) I glance into the whelping box and count:  two-two-two-two-two-two; three-three-three-three; four-four-four; five-five-two.  Is everyone alive? Is everyone nice and twitchy?  Who in the *&*% is making that infernal racket?  (On the positive side, I have found time to re-watch the LOTR Trilogy - Director's Cut and am now making my way through the commentary which I have never gotten to.)

Bruce, on the other hand, has a small spreadsheet obsession.  He's redone all my spreadsheets (mumbling maniacally something about formulas not being copied down) and has turned his attention to perfecting the weight spread sheet.  His latest attempt?  He's  added in some functions to calculate the maximum % increase for each puppy, as well as their LAST % increase...all relative to birth weight, of course. Plus some conditional formatting so that the ones above average are marked green and the ones below average are marked yellow, just to quickly distinguish.  As illustrated below, little Dk Blue, the smallest at birth, has actually been a champion increaser.  In Bruce's words: "Now we've got a spread sheet!".  Sigh.  He's such a geek.

More on the pups tonight!