When you can't sleep.....

....you may as well learn something new. Regular readers of this blog will notice a slight change to the sidebar - the addition of a collage of some of the critters who have shared my home over the past few years, and a bit more information in the "about me" section and related "profile".

Just about bedtime last night I thought perhaps Lucy was going into labour - she was panting heavily and I could see ripples across her belly as the babies moved about. I was puzzled as she wasn't showing any other signs, such as restlessness or nesting, so I decided to check her temperature. It read 36.9 C (98.4 F) and I went into "OMG it's almost time!" mode. Later, when she was snoring deeply and the panting and rippling had stopped, I realized that my lack of familiarity with digital anything, including digital thermometers, meant that I hadn't cleared the numbers from the last reading which was for a potbellied pig. Ooops. A recheck this morning shows she is at 37.3 celsius (99.1 F). Assuming my thermometer is calibrated the same as the vet's, this suggests her temp IS dropping and she will go into labour in the next 24-48 hours but isn't there yet. Okay, Lucy, I'll leave you alone now. You are SUCH a good girl!

Anyway, believing she might be starting labour despite no sign of nesting behaviour or restlessness, I stayed up late. And when I did try to go to sleep I woke up frequently to check on her. Lucy, however, was no doubt chuckling at me under her breath - she had the best night's sleep she has had since she arrived! Each time I checked, she was sawing logs in her very large bed inside her x-pen. She did whine to be let out at 4:00 AM for a pee, but was quite happy to go right back to bed, and to sleep, once that was accomplished.

Since ONE of us was unable to sleep, that one spent a few hours trying to overcome her very inept computer skills in order to create a collage. Having downloaded Picassa 3 onto my computer, I think I have now duplicated all my hundreds of picture files a zillion times - not that I told the computer to do this, it just did! And I have a dozen collages I didn't like that I can't figure out how to delete, and one I like that took me an hour to upload onto the blog because it was never where I expected it to be. Sigh......one of these days I need to take a course in digital photography storage and organization. Meanwhile, I think I better phone my computer guru to come clean up my harddrive.

I made the changes because there are many new readers to my blog who won't have a clue who I'm talking about when I mention Charley or Sadie or the piggies or any of the other critters who have been featured in this blog over the two and a half years I have been writing it. And here is a larger version of my creation, which took me most of the night to do. (You can make it larger still by clicking on it, then using your back browser to return to the blog.)



In the centre of the photo Charley and Sadie, my two senior collie crosses. I've had Charley (13) since she was a pup, and Sadie (11) since March 2008 when I adopted her from Okanagon Collie Rescue.

Starting at the top and going clockwise, you'll see the following:

• Allie, my tortie cat, who is about eight. I adopted her from Abbotsford SPCA when she was a few months old. She is the boss of the house now that Belle has passed away.
• Martin, the alpaca who I found in June 2006 abandoned on the farm I rented in Mission and looked after until I found him a suitable home before I retired in 2009.
• Emma, nearly six, who lives with my ex but who stole my heart when I stayed home caring for her and training her during her first year of life.
• Belle, aka The Princess, adopted in December 2007 and passed away June 2010. She was 14.
• Fizzy, one of a large herd of potbellied pigs I fostered for nearly two years. The parents (Scotch and Soda) were part of an SPCA seizure and the family of 10 piglets made their arrival in my barn a couple of weeks later.
• Caleb, my brindle boy, adopted from the Cowichan and District SPCA in May 2007 at about age 5, he died of cancer in February 2008.
• Oliver, the funniest dancing boy I've ever been blessed to meet. I adopted Oliver in October 2008 and he passed away June 2010 at age 16. Right to the last day, he lived life to the fullest despite being deaf, visually impaired, and having Canine Cognitive Disorder.

And now it is after 9:00 AM, I'm tired, I'm still not dressed, and the dogs have still not been fed. They are all sleeping. No doubt they'll wake up as soon as I try to nap.