MountainMornings

Things are looking up! Last night, Moderna announced a 94.5% efficacy rate for its coronavirus vaccine trial.

Moderna is the second company to report preliminary data on an apparently successful vaccine, offering hope in a surging pandemic that has infected more than 53 million people worldwide and killed more than 1.2 million. Pfizer, in collaboration with BioNTech, was the first, reporting one week ago that its vaccine was more than 90 percent effective.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/health/Covid-moderna-vaccine.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

I may have mentioned that the Bride volunteered for the Moderna study this summer. She won’t know for sure if she received the real vaccine or a placebo for awhile, although I like to imagine that she did get the real deal. That would make her family rather bullet-proof, since the Groom is presumably immune after contracting Covid-19. And it was during his incarceration isolation in the garage apartment that a puppy plan began to take shape.

Call it foxhole faith if you must, but suffering through this election/pandemic/unprecedented year left our little Nashville family in need of some good old fashioned fun. And what could be more fun than a puppy? After all, it’s not as if we had never raised puppies before. When the Bride was about 13, I traipsed our Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Tootsie Roll, out to PA for a few days to breed with a champion male.

And just like that, Bob started building a whelping box!

I phoned the Flapper in desperation one night because pregnant Tootsie was walking all over the house panting and sighing. It was like she wanted to avoid that special place we had designed and built just for her right off the kitchen. I asked my Mother what she did when her dogs were about to give birth. “I wouldn’t know darling,” she said through puffs of cigarette smoke, “they went under the porch.”

Tootsie’s five pups were born in a far corner of the living room; I suspect if we had a porch she would have been under it. None of her puppies looked like her, like a tri-color Tootsie Roll wrapper; they were all gorgeous shades of sable brown, like their papa. I let the Rocker pick his puppy, so we kept Blaze who was the dominant male of the litter with a big white stripe up his forehead.

After that experience, we pivoted to rescue dogs who were mostly already potty trained. Like Joe and Jill Biden, our very first family canine decision was a rescue German Shepherd dog. Little Ms Bean is going on 13 years of freedom from the Charlottesville SPCA. And the Bride and Groom already have two big, black rescue dogs. What was needed now, by the Love Bug and her Mom, was a lap dog!

Coinciding with the good news from Pennsylvania and Georgia, the Bride and Groom surprised their kiddos with a French Bulldog puppy. He is very French, adorable and just so full of himself and mischief. Every day is a new adventure, and an opportunity to laugh out loud at his antics. I wonder if pandemic puppies in general will suffer from a lack of canine socialization, but I’m not worried about our little guy. He’s holding his own with the big dogs.

On Saturday night, Bob and I decided to have a puppy sleep-over party. After all, The Bride was working in the ER all weekend, and the Groom is attending in the Vandy Covid ICU this week – which btw, is filling up rapidly. They both needed a good night’s sleep. Making life and death decisions is hard enough without adding sleep deprivation. We were happy to help. After all, having a new Grand Dog is a sacred responsibility.

And having a dog (or in this case two) back in the White House fills me with hope. ALL of the votes will be certified by December 14th, and within a month, the electoral college will have met, Whether Mr T “decides” to concede defeat, or not, is moot. The transition of power to a sane and rational President-Elect Biden shall go forward.

I can puppy-promise you that.