What's Leap Day without new photos?
February 29, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

Happy Leap Day! Today is my neice Louisa's eight-month birthday, so in her honor I'm sharing some photos from my recent trip to Baltimore. I got to be her nanny for days and days and I didn't even mind the stinky diapers.

The Magnificent Seven
February 27, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

We call them the Zipcos. Five brown and two black. Six boys and one girl. The girl is brown. As you can see, they are adorable. There were ten at birth, but sadly three didn't make it. They sound like seagulls when they whine. Coco is taking good care of them. I'm pretty much in awe of her instincts. Despite 3-4 meals a day, she is super skinny ... it's a lot of little mouths to keep fed.

I'm back from my trip to Baltimore, and I hope to post pictures in the very near future. I think I'm also due for another garden update. Tom took a trip to another Bahamaian island, Rum Cay, while I was away and he is planning to post about it soon. You're on the edge of your seat, no?

Birth Announcement
February 11, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

Coco delivered her puppies overnight. For the past few weeks she has been digging herself a "den" in the bushes next to our back patio. We thought something might be up last evening when she went into her den and didn't come out for dinner. And then when Tom got up at 6am he could hear puppies whining. We didn't actually see Coco until several hours later, but when she did finally emerge to eat, she seemed to be doing just fine. She is certainly much skinnier. Of course, after two weeks of warm and sunny weather, today is cooler and rainy so I've been worried about all the doggies staying warm and dry. But the bushes are so thick that we can't even see in, so I think they must be pretty well protected in there. We have no idea yet about how many pups she has, but listening to the whines I could identify at least 5 different voices. So maybe 6 to 8 puppies? Coco is being very protective of the den, so we'll only know the count for sure when the puppies start moving around on their own.

I leave tomorrow to visit my family in the states for two weeks. The timing is awful as far as being here for Coco, but I'm just so relieved that I was able to see her make it through the birth just fine. And when I get back, I'm sure there will still be plenty to help with puppy-wise. Until then Grandpa Tom and the rest of the field station will be keeping an eye on everyone!

Inlaws and starfish and rainbows ... oh my!
February 6, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

Tom's parents are here for a visit, so we've been doing our best to have lots of fun in the sun. Here are some of the photo highlights thus far. There are some nice shots of a calm French Bay (which is usually rather rough) so you should take a look.