Day Eight, Morning - In which I discover that Lori isn't the only puppy who can do the chimney move. I am awakened by a scratching at the bedroom door. My first reaction is to tell everyone to go back to sleep -it's Saturday. But the scratching continues. I wake up and stumble out of bed, realizing that the resident four are not the source of the scratching. I open the bedroom door, and find Sullivan. I have NO clue how he's done this. I have been outsmarted again, by a 10 pound beagle puppy. (A mind in use all the time beats a mind only used sometimes!) I scoop him up and return him to the kitchen. At least the mess is not as overwhelming this morning. All seven dogs go outside while I clean up the mess. I go outside to take some pictures. And then we're off to run some errands, and to attend a picnic.

Day Eight, Evening - In which Pam gets involved in animal rescue. Her heart is in the right place, her timing is off. We were on our way to the picnic when Pam saw a sign for "free kittens". We get to the picnic, she starts talking about the free kittens, and she and a couple other people head back to the house where the kittens are. She comes back with not one, not two, but THREE kittens. One of the kittens is adopted right away. The other two are the stars of the evening for the kids at the picnic, who take turns cuddling and playing with them. I am hoping that they ALL get adopted before the end of the evening, but that was not to be. We have to make a stop at Wal-Mart for kitty litter, food, flea stuff, etc, etc, etc. Two of the kittens are now residents in the spare bathroom. This, of course, is driving the dogs CRAZY. This is just what I need to make Beagle Camp even MORE chaotic.

Pam gets the kittens settled in while I get the kitchen ready for the pups. Drop cloth, newspaper, food, water and then we let the dogs in the house. I play with the pups for a little while, and the residents, except for Daisy, who is retired and not interested in any animal smells whatsoever, make a beeline for the spare bathroom, and bark like crazy at the door. I can't even distract them with food. I pick them up and put them in the bedroom. I play with the pups for awhile, and try to get them settled down so they will sleep. I barricade them in, turn my back for no less than 15 seconds, and Sullivan is outside the barricade. I put him back, and reinforce the barricade. I can't stay awake. I collapse into the deepest sleep I've had since the beginning of Beagle Camp.