The Dackel Princess

The Agony of Defeat

Growing up in a world with four TV stations (on a good day, no cable or satellite, just finicky rabbit ears) and very limited choices of what to watch, I was thrilled each Saturday afternoon when ABC presented the Wide World of Sports. I can still see that unfortunate ski jumper racing down the ski jump, only to fall and forever become “the agony of defeat”.

For those of you who aren’t old enough to remember this, Slovenian ski jumper Vinko Bogataj was the unlucky jumper on March 21, 1970. He sustained a severe concussion and a broken ankle. He never did win a medal at the Olympics, but he coached for a while, retired to his hometown, married, and had two daughters. Best of all, he has had a good life.

There are several reasons that I am thinking about this today. I am watching the women’s training runs. There was no women’s ski jumping until February 2014! You should see these women fly!

Back to The Wide World of Sports. It was on from April 29, 1961, until August 2006. ABC Sports came under ESPN’s oversight as part of the relaunched ESPN on ABC. The Wide World of Sports was over.

I still miss it. Not only did they introduce us to various sports, but also to different countries. The coverage captured Mark Spitz’s seven gold medals and Olga Korbut’s incredible gymnastic performances.

I wonder who still remembers their coverage. Did you like it? Do you remember “the agony of defeat”?

Stay warm and enjoy the Olympics! And thank you, ABC, for the first-of-its-kind sports programming!

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Grandma Honey!

February 4th is my Grandma Honey’s 128th birthday. It isn’t easy to imagine her at that age. She passed from this world into the next 42 years ago. She was a very important woman in my life and taught me so much. Even now, I miss her like crazy!

Here she is, Mary Frances Daniell, the day she married my Papa, Frederick Carl Prussman.

Here is a picture of Melodie and me with our Grandmother at Goodwill Park.

This was back in the days when families would meet up at beautiful parks for picnics. Remember those? And here we were with Grandma, all dressed up in a pretty summer sundress, her white sandals, and her woven basket purse. We all really loved this wonderful woman.

Grandma Honey and Papa Fred. Theirs was indeed an epic love story! They met when they were less than ten years old. Grandma was friends with Papa’s sister, Kätchen, and taught Kätchen to speak English at the house. The family had recently arrived from Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany, and aside from the eldest sister, Hedwig, who worked as a Nanny, no one spoke much English.

Papa always said he fell in love with Grandma then, and as a teenager, he would chase off any beau that tried to court her. My great-grandfather eventually allowed them to become engaged, but insisted Mary finish college before marriage.

They were married until Mary eventually passed from one life to the next. He joined her 8 months later.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Grandma Honey!

Mary Francis. My Grandma Honey.

It’s All About…

Staying safe and warm.

A hearty hello from New Hampshire’s North Pole! I woke to -5 degrees today with a strong wind, giving us a wind chill of -25! I have layered up, and Heidi continues to love her puffer jacket.

I went out yesterday, gassed up my car, picked up my mail, and got the last groceries I will need to get through the big storm, which begins on Sunday afternoon and goes through until late Monday afternoon. They have pretty much shut down New Hampshire during that time, as the forecast is for 12-18 inches of the fluffy white stuff! They are advising people to get their houses ready and then stay home.

On Friday, we had light snow all day. I checked my oil tank on Tuesday and saw it was only half full. I called my supplier and was assured they would fill it on Friday morning. By 4:15 pm, I was nervous that they had forgotten me. Well, they said I wouldn’t get my tank filled until Sunday! If I do not get my fuel oil before the big storm, I will be looking for a new oil supplier. I do not like the feeling of worry I get when the oil is low. After all, in subzero weather, pipes freeze, and so do Heidi and I.

So, gentle readers, stay warm, break out the hot chocolate, watch some entertaining movies, and of course, football on Sunday!

Getting Old-er

I woke on Friday and saw I had a ton of mail and boxes at the Post Office, where I get my mail. One piece of mail was from the United States Government. My first thought was “Oh sweet mother of all that is holy, what do they want now?”

So, I got Heidi in her puffer jacket, grabbed my tote bags, and off we went. Given the high flu cases here, I also brought masks to wear to protect myself.

I got my packages and mail, and I opened the US Government one first. After Jack passed, I went through a long period of getting mail that was very hard to deal with.

It was my new passport! I sent my application two weeks ago. I’d gotten an email saying my new passport had been approved and would be on its way in two weeks. So, call me surprised.

As I opened the new passport and stared at the picture inside. I knew what it looked like when I submitted the paperwork, but as I gazed at the completed document, I was shocked! Who was that old woman?

I know I’m 67 years old, but the picture certainly makes me look much older. Looking into a mirror, I grimaced.

Yes, the last few years have been tough ones. And it shows in my face.

I will be going to my 50th High School reunion in September. I hope people will still recognize me and perhaps be kind.

The Friday Five ~ January 9th

My week has been a whacky one. Between snowstorms and cell phones, I’ve been finding my days slipping by. In any case, here is this week’s Friday Five.

Heidi’s new puffer jackets arrived. The other two shrunk when they got wet, so my poor baby only had half of her body covered.
I bought the next size up, and she really loves this!
I sat down, paid my bills, and took a deep breath. The repair of my furnace and the need to get oil done in the space of four weeks made my Amex card go tilt.
I have a home system that I needed to download on my phone. I had it working, but couldn’t get into the dashboard because I forgot the password, and I stewed about it for 24 hours. Then I woke up in the morning and had an idea. I raced to enter the password into my phone. And it worked! Once done, I quickly wrote everything down!
We had some warm weather today, which helped melt the snow and ice on the patio. Much easier for Heidi to go out.
Lastly, this week I found out that several of Jack’s and my friends have passed away. These are mostly people in their 80s. A dear friend of mine who served with Jack in the Army and also as a Pan Am pilot sat me down and told me to think long and hard about marrying someone so much older. (20 plus years) In a kind way, he wanted to prepare me for the day when they were all gone, and I would be alone. I was twenty-nine at the time and thought I had all the time in the world to enjoy Jack and our friends. Life goes by quickly, my friends.

So, here I sit with my Heidi, now my Emotional Support Doggy. She truly is my little love-baby!

Snow…

It’s Wednesday morning in New Hampshire. It is snowing as hard as it did when George Bailey ran onto the bridge thinking his life was over.

It is beautiful, but quite honestly, I wish it would let up a little.

This has been a crazy week for me. Monday started off well enough, but you know me and electrical items. I should have been prepared. I was doing something I never do. I was playing a game on my cell phone when it rebooted. When it turned back on, I swear the phone had been possessed. Gone was my wonderfully organized screen, and in its place were micro widgets, and nothing brought back my ability to make a call, text, or basically do anything.

After freaking out, I grabbed the phone, another older phone of mine, put Heidi in her puffer jacket, jumped in the car, and headed to Verizon.

I arrived at 4:45, give or take a minute or two, and after tucking Heidi into her blanket, went in. I controlled my hysterics and sat down and explained what had occurred. He tried a few things and then mentioned it could be sent in for repair.

Or, it was actually within a window for me to get a new phone. I opted for the new phone. Since I brought a much older phone with me, they used it to transfer my old pictures and the programs I use most. Fortunately, I had recently downloaded the current pictures from the now possessed phone onto my laptop. When he was finally done, and I reached home, it was 6:45! Heidi and I were exhausted.

Bedtime came early for us, and at 2:00 AM, give or take a minute or two, I woke feeling stuffed up, coughing, chilled, and achy. I got up and took my temperature. 102 degrees! Yep, I was sick.

Tuesday found me cancelling appointments and then hunkering down with Heidi to watch a marathon of the PBS series “POLDARK,” which is being shown on NETFLIX. What a great series!

I am programming my phone, watching TV, and snuggling with Heidi.

Monday, Monday….

Today is laundry day, and I’m planning the next six months of work to do around the house. I’ve been tossing the plans around in my head over the weekend, but I am not sure what is next.

I am so happy that the fuel oil was delivered last week. We’ve had frigid morning temperatures in the single digits, and they aren’t predicting any warmups any time soon.

Just before Christmas, I bought a Zima machine, which cleans mouth guards. I’ve been wearing mouth guards for several years because I clench my teeth and need protection. My biggest complaint was that I hated the taste of the mouth guard, even after cleaning it with my hand. The Zima machine, an ultrasonic machine, does a fabulous job.

I have always been someone who didn’t believe the hype about a product, but I decided to give it a try. Well, it is truly amazing and the best thing I have done for my mouth in years.

My lake is frozen over, and we even had ice fishermen out there over the weekend. One group was a family with kids, and it made me smile to watch them.

I hope your week is a happy one and also a bit warmer than it is here!

This & That

I was thinking the other day, as I was trying to put a new bulb into my closet light, that back in high school, they should have had a class in how to do simple home repairs. This light has two components: a fuse and a bulb. The fuse wasn’t too difficult to replace, but the actual bulb, which you rotate into place, is a real challenge!

First, to do this, I must be on a step stool. That alone adds to the difficulty. So far, the fuse is in, one bulb turned on, but when I attempted to install the second bulb, it stopped working. Ugh! I finally quit last night and will get back to it later today.

The second closet is nearly done, just doing the last bits of organizing. Then my next project is to organize all my computer and cell phone cables.

Still so many things to do to organize the house. Next, I need to take the Christmas decorations down and dust! There is always dust!

Have a great day and a wonderful week ahead.

Cold & Getting Colder!

The moon is setting over the lake.

When I woke on Friday, it was 1 degree Fahrenheit, with a bit of wind.

I delayed my shower so I could have a hot cup of tea and catch the local weather. I had noted the previous day that I had about a third of a tank of heating oil, and that made me nervous. Our temperatures are set to remain relatively low, and the thought of a cold house and frozen pipes haunted me. I resolved to call at 7:30 when the office opened.

While sipping my tea, I heard a noise outside in my driveway. Heidi and I jumped up to see who was there.

Yes! The Oilman Commeth!

I always go out to say hello and thank the deliveryman, and I want you to picture this. I was wearing knee socks, boots, a long nightgown, a winter hat, a down parka, and gloves. I have to laugh at that!

He filled the tank, and all I can say is, if colder weather is on its way, bring it on!

The rest of the day was spent with the usual tidying. I know many people took down their Christmas trees, but I left mine up. There is something so pretty about the ornaments and lights. Maybe next weekend.

Have a great weekend!

The Friday Five January 2, 2026

Welcome to a new year! 2026! If last year proved anything, it was how quickly a year can rush past us. So, as Heidi and I drove around a bit today to look at the recent snowfall and icing, I couldn’t help but think that I am ready for spring! To start this year’s Friday Five, here we go!

I know I have mentioned that I had one more closet to clear out in 2025. I filled up crates with all the shelf and floor stuff and brought it out to the family room. While watching TV, I have gone through everything, and by tomorrow, I will begin arranging the shelves in my two closets. Finally, this will be done!
This is a special time of year for me. Four years ago, I flew to Nashville and then drove up to pick up Heidi.
She was such a little snuggler, even from the start

Our first night together at the hotel.

I remember holding her for the first time. I am so grateful that I found this girl. What a loving companion she is for me.
The year has started with a fair amount of snow and ice. Yes, it is pretty, but with it comes the bills for heating oil and snow plowing. Ah well.
Next week I’m going to an Optician for an eye exam and to order new glasses. Oddly enough, the idea of getting new glasses is something I am looking forward to.
Today, I will enjoy the beauty all around me. How fortunate Heidi and I are to live amongst such beauty, even if it is cold!

Happy New Year!