’Good night, good luck!’ –sleeping with the puppies

Diary entry, 30.10.2011, Bálint Pataky

Pictures of the day (2 images)   

We’ve just finished our chat after dinner, everybody is preparing for bedtime –except me.Now I put on my coat, step into my boots, say good night and leave the house. The wildpark has been closed for hours –not for me. I’m going to sleep with the pups tonight!
It’s foggy, rain drizzles gently, you can’t see the stars. Actually you can’t see anything so a flashlight is very useful and still it’s not easy to keep your tail up! Silence surrounds you,commonly broken byt hefalling acorns from the old oaks or sometimes stones are rolling down speedily –it’s just a chamois. The pigs are snoring, the wild ones are scuffling on the other side. Kilio and Meru are keenly barking at me from the background, I must have arrived. Seven hungry mouths are waiting for me impatiently, complaining and scratching on the door tirelessly.
Making up the mattress is not an easy thing any more as they’re always jumping on the blankets. If I can give you advice, fill the pockets of your pyjama bottom with dry food! And be fast! Otherwise you can sleep on the floor… Try to find a (semi-) comfortable position, now you are together just like an anthill or a beehive. I wouldn’t move, would you? Just breath with them and enjoy their flossy fur! Sometimes you wake up when they’restanding on or licking on your face; you have to deal with it. It’s bitter cold, even the wolves are howling! At dawn they start to play, you can try to fool yourself they will finish it soon and you can have some more rest but the truth is that they won’t stop and you can’t rest anymore. They’re hungry again; they desire what they –think they-deserve. After feeding you still need to clean the house and the enclosure, seven pups produce a lot of muck.
You notice Nuru’s ears are reddish. Just clean it, you can findt he medicine-drops in the cupboard! What would you do if in the meantime Nuru would climb over the dryfood-bucket and would tip out almost 15 kilograms on the floor? You don’t even have time to wonder becouse he starts eating like a hoover. What would you do ifyou would put him back to the others and he would start jumping just for joy and would tip out the water bucket as well? I tell you: you would forgive. Yes, sometimes they anger you, I have to admit they’re cheeky boys, wildpups. But on the other hand they’re also the cutest pups by far and the way they can look with their eyes and wag theirt ails dissolves your anger immediately. You better set your teeth, clean up again! Your day’s just started! Now the pups are sleeping in the grass and you’rewondering about being a Canid… But hurry up if you still want to have some breakfast!
The sun is shining on your way back and now you can see everything you just heard at night. Oh, no! I forgot the laundry!