Queenie's pups

It's been pretty quiet here at the farm.  Weather has been up and down and is currently quite cool.  We're doing fine and getting up and down our hill, so can't complain.  I have a little cold, but so does almost everyone I know, so no big deal. We're friends with a wonderful couple who moved here from Germany.  They're both so talented and personable.  Franklin is a wonderful artist and Claudia bakes and sells the most incredible breads and pastries.  Between them they've built a beautiful home and property near Bullet Tree.  They brought with them from Germany a gorgeous pair of registered Irish Setters.  I've admired the dogs and thoroughly enjoy our visits.  Anyway, Queenie recently gave birth to 13 pups, 5 girls and 8 boys.  Wow!  What fun, but I'm glad it was them and not us.  They had to create groups so that they could alternate feeding and took over the biggest share by hand feeding, just giving each pup a short time with mom.  Queenie is a good mom, but as you might expect she's pretty overwhelmed by the numbers. 

We visited Claudia and Franklin today and were thrilled and tickled by the whole lot.  I think it is a testimony to the strength of the parents that all pups survived and they are now 5 weeks old and they are nearly identical and strong without a runt in the litter.  What a treat.  Of course we're arguing with ourselves about taking one of the girls.  I know that Bailey would be delighted, altho' we worry that he'd overwhelm her.  I would hope that Bailey would share with her some of his incredible traits and she would give him a friend and encourage him to get more exercise.  I'll post if we finally make up our minds.  In the meantime I'm including a couple of photos to show our dilemma.

 One of the attached photos shows why Queenie doesn't spend a lot of time in with the pups.  It's like being attacked by a hoard.