1974 Catherine Letter -Mar10

March 10, 1974

Dear Mom, Dad, John and Mary Virginia, (and Roberta and Serena?),

Hi!  The big news here is that Kuman had 10 puppies last night.  They all seem to have healthy lungs.  We weren't here when the first two were born and evidently while Kuman was taking care of the second one, the first one crawled under the furnace.  When we came home we could here [sic] this pitiful squealing coming from under the furnace, it took awhile but we finally managed to poke it out and then it took about an hour to was all the soot and gunk off of it.  I had blocked off one corner of the basement with cement blocks so that the puppies wouldn't wander off, but evidently Kuman didn't like my selection.  After that episode with the furnace we moved the blocks around where she was.  All but three of the puppies are black.  I haven't been able to get any kind of count on male vs. female.

We went to Boston yesterday for the home show (that's why we weren't here for the beginning of the puppies).  We went through Exeter on our way there so I could show X the library.  We didn't get there until a little after four and that was when they closed so we weren't even able to get inside.  Then we got to the Boston Public Library at 5:55 and we no more than walked in the door (the one we looked in before) when we were shooed out as they close at 6:00.  So our record wasn't very good.  We did have plenty of time to look at the Home Show as it didn't close until 11 P.M.

We've only had a tiny bit of snow since you people were here and the day after it got up to 60º so we lost more snow than we had gained the day before.  Actually, the weather has really been excellent.  It's been warm and sunny.  We've had more nice weather in the last two weeks than we had all last spring almost.  I read some statistics yesterday that there have been alot more fatal auto accidents this year due to the lack of cushioning snow on the side of the road.

The perk test was supposed to have been last Thursday but the guy who s going to do it got sick so I guess it will be next week or the week after.

I certainly was surprised to hear from Mary Ellen last week.  [She and husband Tom Walkley moved to Maine about that time, buying a printing business in Sanford.]  I don't know if what I told her was encouraging or discouraging since I don't know exactly what they are looking for.

We're anxious to hear where John will be going to school next year, and what Mary Virginia got with her birthday money.

Let us know soon how many puppies you would like to have so we can be sure and save you some!

Love, C