i may have gone insane...

 introducing a few new members of the family.  how will i deal with 3 dogs?  i have no idea.  i was holding the lighter girl pup and she fell fast asleep and was all snuggly...that was how Blossom lured me in by the way. then the breeder introduced me to the runt and offered me a discounted price for two doodles.  how could i resist.  they were in my arms and so cute and sweet and they had that puppy smell.

 i was smitten.  i let Blossom check them out, but i must admit she wasn't all that thrilled with the puppies.  i suspect she fears her role as lead princess will be lost.  she is the princess of the house and always will be. i'll just have to make sure she knows that.  i think she will come around in the end.

 i set up the crate upstairs in my room already so the other house furs can at least get used to the idea of it.  wrote the lady to see if i could pick them up a few days earlier than tax day as i will have 4 days off, then just 2 on and another 4 off so that will be a better start i think.

 the litter is big, 12.  they are labradoodles.  first generation so how much curl they will have is to be determined.  the lighter one will for sure have less than the brown pup.  brown pup is the boy.  i'm thinking of naming him Togiak Tusker and then just calling him Togi or Tusker.  the girl will be Ivy Rose (short for Ivory Rosmarus).  Rosmarus is part of the scientific name for walrus.  Togiak is a village near Round Island.  not totally sure yet.  i had been thinking of girl names, but not really boy names.

 i do feel exhausted today.  just the idea of dealing with 2 puppies and a jealous Blossom is a lot to imagine...so yes, i think i am a bit nuts. part of me thinks the puppies will entertain each other and perhaps not be so bothersome to the princess.  my friend i walked with just kept laughing at me trying to rationalize my insane decision all during the walk.  :-)

 so here they are.  cute, right.  time to re-read the dog training books and watch some Cesar Milan tapes.  i always seem to do a refresher before each puppy.

 never heard back from the rescue group about the deaf Great Dane puppy.  i tried.  seems like they should get on that and get that dog a home sooner rather than later.  no doubt they will call next week, right?  sometimes the rescue groups make their own job tougher.  move them in and move them out.  i can see how they would get super selective, but in this case i think it may hinder them.  i feel bad and it would have been a fun challenge, but i always have felt like my departed pup Rio would lead us in the right way as far as dogs were concerned.  i know that sounds insane as well, but we shall see i guess.

 i try not to feel to guilty on the rescue vs breed thing.  truth is often times a rescue dog can come with it's own set of unique issues where as a bred dog you have some idea what you are getting and can train accordingly.  Rio was a dream though, despite all of her unique issues.  we got so lucky with her.  still miss her and am grateful for the many years we had with her.

 today we hit the beach at Kincaid. it was such a beautiful day.  the puppies live right by the park anyway so it was convenient.

 ended up napping through swim time tonight.  stopped by the local PetSmart to pick up a few supplies for the puppies.  talking with one friend and we are thinking a meet and greet party could be fun. if i can get the puppies a few days early...save the date of April 12, Tuesday.  after 7pm!!

 i think i'm finished with the main March pictures..well the ones that i had loaded onto the computer.  still have iditarod pictures from the restart and whatever else is on the camera's that i haven't looked at yet.  that should include more bear photo's.

 the real and forever princess of the house with a snowman

 so nice of the parks department to groom these trails even though we really only had a day or two of skiable snow.

 always love NPR and TedTalks.  so much to learn.  they were talking about aging, well aging of cells. guess that is predetermined.  so a human cell divides i think 50 x before it will no longer divide.  the big Galapogas tortoises cells will divide like 150x before no longer dividing.

 someone was working on aging and saying we have DNA that determines our time of death basically and DNA that can extend our life. finding ways to override the death DNA gene can make you live longer.  this one lady was working with aging in these microscopic worms.  they generally live 14 days but she was able to double and triple that.  noting that just because she can increase the life span of these worms and prevent or slow the aging process does not leap to humans so easily.

 of course, even if you could slow down the aging process in humans....it doesn't necessarily mean that people will breed any slower and you will end up with loads of elderly folks on earth.

 they also were mentioning that some animals don't age, they just get bigger i guess.  lobsters i think do that.  you don't see signs of aging in them.  so the possibility is out there.

 the guy who figured out about how many times human cells will divide before they just stop worked with fetal tissue.  when asked about that, he said years ago people were more rational about these things and he just had contacts in hospitals or where ever abortions were done in those days...he would get a call to come pick up fetal tissue for his research.  many of these fetal cells are still in existence today frozen in labs.

 over 1 billion children have been vaccinated with vaccines made from just one aborted fetus decades ago.  does make you think.  this was what he did, what he worked on.  amazing to think how many children survived due to this one aborted fetus.  he was even able to state the fetus came from a Sweedish women who was in a less than happy marriage and had many children who her spouse did not help with at all.

 the rest of these are at the Iditarod restart.  the race is over but news continues.

 sounds like another female was harrassed by men on snowmachines, some arse grabbing may have occurred.  she did not sound like she appreciated the blogger/reporter who decided to publish this story despite her asking him not to.

 she was a victim.  you would think she would be given the right to not have her name released in relation to an assault.

 far too many males think that groping or grabbing are no big deal.  probably scared the crap out of the poor musher. you are out in the middle of nowhere really.  being pulled off a sled and raped is not an impossibility.

 there are many things that people are willing to do if they think they can get away with it.  also many things they are willing to do if it's a female involved.

 the statistics are generally that at least 1 in 4 women have been sexually assaulted in some form or another.  i'm sure in some areas or populations these ration's are higher and in others lower. the bottom line is women have to endure many sexual advances and inuendo's over their life times.

 the first time i remember a guy flashing his junk at me i was 15.  i've lost track of the many times after that where i was flashed.  was warned at a fast food job to try and never end up in the freezer with a certain co-worker who was a bit older.  he apparently liked to grope.  have had many patients try to get a feel of my boobs or arse or just speak inappropriately.  if these guys are rebuffed they may get angry, they may call you frigid or other choice words.

 i remember reading or hearing about sexual harrassment in Europe.  they didn't have laws forbidding it and i'm not sure if that has actually changed.  i know there were women trying to get sexual harrassment laws on the books there. women in the work force there just know to expect sexual advances on them or groping.  nothing will be done about it.

 always love the feet and the booties.

 we have it much better than most of the women on earth, many of whom are still treated like property.  sold in to marriage or bartered for.  treated like a servant once in marriage.

 feet above and below the rear view...always another Iditarod shot.

 no plans to get this many dogs at this time.  i think having 3 will be tiring enough, especially the first year or so.  i think it will be nice for the two babies to have each other...and for Blossom to have me.

 i try to slip it into Black and White from time to time.  always fun.  the world just looks cool in black and white.  i'm sure i'll be taking a ton of photo's of the new puppies.

 it will be fun to watch and see what sort of coat they turn up having.

 doing updates on the phone and ipad and as always hoping it doesn't totally mess up something.

 guess i shall turn in. should do the taxes tonight.  not sure i'll get to it.  it's already almost midnight.

thankful for:  1.  puppy smell, so exciting.  2.  puppies in general...sweet, cute, fun, funny  3.  friends who are willing to help with the new furs.  thanks!!