Dackel Princess

In The Summertime

Saturday was a wet, wet, day. In the morning and afternoon, it rained like crazy, I got soaked and the grass grew longer! It was also 88 degrees during all this rain, so it wasn’t just wet, but hot too. What a summer!

It was time for me to get my head dipped in the fountain of youth, which was just what I needed. There is something so refreshing and relaxing about this. I also needed a good shaping, and Dianne did a great job. For a change, she blew it out, so my usual curls don’t show right now. However, by tomorrow, the tight curls will be back!

Once again, no make-up.

I really don’t like make-up. I have been told I “have” to wear it to look good. Well, you know, I am, who I am, and I hope that sticky wretched make-up doesn’t make me a nicer person! I am almost sixty years old. I’ve had facial cancer, and sort of had things on my face rearranged. But despite this, I don’t think I look too bad, and actually, no amount of make-up will make me a better person.

Greta is doing beautifully today. I am still keeping her on a leash, so I can guide her around safely, but I think we were very fortunate that it wasn’t worse.

So, as the sun sets over Lake Waukewan and we settle in for the night, I will leave you with a beautiful summery picture of the Lake we live on.

Scary Things

On Friday morning I got up quite early. The dogs followed me to the back door, and I let them out. In the early morning, the dogs all follow me out, do their business and then follow, me back in.

I was on my way back with Anneliese, Arnie, and Lili, and I glanced over and saw Greta walking along the top of the retaining wall toward the house. She has done this a million times in her 14 and a half years, and I expected her to reach the house for her morning treat!

It was then I heard it! YELP! My heart stopped for a second and I ran over to where she had been. She was gone! I called her, frantically, and looked under the fruit trees, and then I heard her cry again and my eyes followed the sound.

Greta had fallen off the wall, about 5 feet onto the crushed stones below! I raced down the stairs, and gently picked her up and carried her into the house. I set her down onto the floor and then asked her to walk toward me. She limped, just slightly, and walked to her little bed and crawled in.

I went over and checked her over, she seemed fine, but I was not sure. Over the next two hours, I checked her gums for color. Pink gums are healthy, white gums indicate internal bleeding. Hers were pink!

I gave her a small dose of her pain medication and then I let her rest most of the day.

There is no doubt that her spinal problems are getting worse. I’m pretty sure she lost her balance and fell off the wall. We talked about it and Greta will need close supervision outside.

Tonight she is quiet and despite the rain showers, we have been outside (on leash) and she’s done her thing. Today gave me an all too real vision of what it will be like on the day that Greta’s spine gives out, and we have to bring her in.

I didn’t like that vision at all.

The Friday Five

I want to know, where is the summer going? Here we are on August 3rd! The first Friday of the month, but all too soon, it will be time for the summer to end the school buses to start coming along down our roads. This summer really has flown by. Am I ready for the summer to end? Well, since we have had one of the hottest summers that I can recall, yes, yes I am! I am ready for cool temperatures, bright Autumn leaves, and believe it or not, shorter days.

So as this week comes to a close, here are the five things that have been on my mind this week.

Our hot-water/heating-system is all repaired and it did not completely brake our bank. The company that did the work was polite, considered what we could afford, and worked hard to stay in our price range. They did all of this, and provided a new master control system for us!
Jack got the results back from his biopsy and it is a Basil Cell Cancer on his nose. Unfortunately, they did not get it all and he will need Mohs Surgery to get the remainder of it. Boy, can I relate to that!
Speaking of Jack, his flip phone is now a thing of the past, and slowly, Jack is learning to use my old Galaxy S5. He knows how to answer it, and how to make a call.

That was lesson #1. The Galaxy S5 is actually a pretty easy phone to use. I have gotten Jack a blue case, as I felt the hot pink wasn’t really his style!
It has been so hot! In the upper 80’s and lower 90’s with high humidity and high dew points. What this all boils down to is that it’s just plain miserable. I hate to leave our air-conditioned house and go out. Worst of all, it is supposed to be like this for the next week!
I did well at Weight Watchers this week, losing one pound! I think my next step, now that I understand the eating plan is to slowly work in a walking plan. I’ve noticed in the last few weeks that my knees have gotten a bit stiff. Old age wear and tear, but time to work them out, so I keep them moving.

So that wraps us this week and brings us to the end of the first week in August. I just know, before I know it, it will be September 1st! Summer will be over!

TBT: My Family

Here I am, with my family, getting married for the first time.

Left to right, my Mom, Me, my sister, Melodie, my brother, Richard and my Dad. This is the last picture I have of the five of us together, as my brother developed cancer a year later, and a year after that, he passed from this life to the next.

I married my High School sweetheart and our marriage produced two daughters and lasted 11 and a half years. The wedding was beautiful too.

I’m glad I can say after all these years that Bob and I are once again friends. We enjoy our daughter and grandchildren and I think we are very lucky.

(PS: I look at this gown now and wonder what could I have been thinking? My taste in clothes really has changed!)

The Beauty of Nature

The beauty of nature seems to surround us right now. Because of an unusual amount of rain, our trees, fields, and shrubs are all deep green. The flowers are blooming, and if the wind is blowing just right, the smell of the flowers in my neighborhood permeates the air!

Add to that the three families of Deer that we have in our small neighborhood and I feel as though I have found my little piece of Heaven on Earth!

We have a lone Doe. Now I think she looks pretty heavy, but it would be pretty late in the season for her to have a fawn. It’s not unheard of, but…

We have our Doe with her twins, and they seem to provide most of the enjoyment in the neighborhood. They visit our neighbors close by and a friend just down the road, spotted them in his backyard. Fortunately, they are staying away from the busier roads.

Our third Doe has a single Fawn. This Fawn is slightly older than the twins, and she and her Mama are also friendly.

So, Here we are living in Deer Central and quite happily so. Our neighbors all feel the same way. Somehow these deer have brought so much delight and happiness to the people in my area.

Now I need to also mention the Bears that seem to be driving one of my neighbors crazy. They somehow keep trying to get into their trash. And they keep coming back.

I was driving home at dusk the other day, and a groundhog scurried across our driveway. He was a pretty fat fellow. I intend to look him up on Ground Hog Day for a reading on Springtime!

The Birds continue to fly about. I particularly enjoy our Cardinals. We have a pair that have lived here for some time. I am always thrilled to see them in our Pine Trees.

I look forward to each day to see who is near us and what they are doing. Life in the wilderness is truly an amazing thing.

It’s All About…Arnie!

Looking back, I remember Greta expecting her first litter of puppies, and how she would lie next to me in my chair and I would feel one pup kicking the daylights out of her. This feisty pup intrigued me and I told Jack that if there was at least one boy, we would name him Arnold, after Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator!

And there was just one male pup in that litter. Arnie was the only boy with 4 sisters! Thus Dackel Princess’s Arnold was born.

Arnie and me shortly after he arrived. He was such a big, lovey, puppy. I had not wanted to keep a male back then. I wanted one of Greta’s daughters to carry on with breeding, once Greta was done. So I was not allowing myself to get too close to Arnie, knowing that eventually, he would be leaving us. I sold him to a college professor. In fact, he was all set to go, but she changed her mind at the last minute and so we kept him. It was the best decision that we ever made. Arnie has filled our world with so much love and happiness and laughter!

Anneliese and Arnie at 10 weeks old.

Watching Arnie and his littermate sister, Anneliese grow, from the moment they were born has been an experience. These two are devoted to each other and even now, at the old age of eleven, they are still enjoying each others company! When Anneliese gave birth, Arnie was there. And when Anneliese was ill or had surgery, Arnie was there to protect her while she recovered.

Anneliese in the front and her snuggling brother Arnie, with his head on her back. They are so close and so tender with each other in a way that is very different from how they relate to their mother, Greta, and Lili.

Arnie has a fan club in our town. There are places we go where they know Arnie. The bank, McDonald’s drive-through, and The State of New Hampshire Liquor Store. At the Liquor Store, they asked for his picture as he is now their Mascot!

The clerks there all look forward to Arnie’s visits and he looks forward to going in because it means cookies and a lot of pats from everyone.

Imagine our surprise yesterday when we were going in and a woman was exiting the building looked over and said, “Hi Arnie” as we were walking in! We later found out that the Clerk had said, “Oh look! Arnie is here!” while she went to get his cookies!

Arnie is an amazing boy and I feel so fortunate to have kept him. He is one of those once in a lifetime animals. And we feel so very fortunate to have him in our lives. Destiny, fate, whatever it was that made the Professor change her mind and decide not to come and get Arnie that day, I am forever grateful!

The Weekend

Sunday morning the dogs woke me at 6:15. I got up, noted that the humidity was less, and after walking the doggies, I made my coffee. I sat, sort of in a stupor, as I did not sleep well the night before. Getting the new air conditioner in, was simply more than my old left shoulder could take, and it was really aching.

I drank my coffee, hoping for that it wake me up. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t working. By 7:15 all I wanted to do was sleep, so I did something I never, ever, do. I went back to bed! Not only did I fall back to sleep, but I slept for two hours! Really, this is something I never do.

When I did get up, I felt groggy and wasn’t moving too fast. I sipped my coffee, and Jack and I talked, about how late each of us had slept! By the time I did make breakfast, it was nearly 11:00! Which basically means, the entire day’s meals have been way off their usual time.

Because tomorrow I expect that I will have an interruption with the water, both hot and cold, while they finish up the new system, I decided to work on laundry. That’s gone pretty well, and I am even ready to cook dinner tonight at roughly 7:30 PM!

I’m cooking a basic dinner of steak, baked potatoes and tonight I am going to try making “Roasted Parmesan Cauliflower”. I am not a cauliflower fan. Jack hower likes it. So he bought a big beautiful head, and I will cook half the way he likes it, and half I will roast. If there is a God in Heaven, I will find I like roasted cauliflower. Then Jack will be able to get me to cook it for him.

Since there wasn’t much happening on TV today, I turned on “National Geographic Wild Channel“, and watched several Veterinary shows. I love animals, and I especially enjoy when these talented Veterinarians can cure an animal.

So the weekend is ending, and I am feeling like I was really able to rest up on Sunday. There are times I am unaware of just how tired I am, and then I find I sleep long hours.

Oh yes, one more thing. The new bedroom air conditioner is working very well. It’s a little noisy, but all in all, I will not complain, because it is keeping me cool.

Have a great week everyone!

Busy Day

On Saturday I woke up with several missions to be accomplished. I was unsure how I would get them all done in a speedy way, but somehow, luck was with me, and I got everything done, and then came back to the house and finished the items I had on my at-home to-do list as well!

After breakfast, which was pretty late because Jack slept in, I quickly showered and headed out. The first stop was the Post Office where I collected an Amazon.com Box! This contained a new Cell Phone Case for my old Galaxy S5, which I am setting up for Jack. I had ordered a nice sedate navy blue Otter Box because I felt that dayglow pink probably wasn’t suitable for him.

Then from there, I was off to the Verizon Store in Laconia. Try as I might, I could not get that darn SIM Card to activate and after a few hours last night I cried “Uncle” and gave up. The nice young man (I swear I could be this young man’s grandmother!) helped me out and got the phone number switched from Jack’s old flip phone to the Galaxy S5. Mission accomplished!

Then I was off to The Greek Festival at the Greek Church in Laconia. I go every year, and this year was no different. In some years, I have worked alongside my friends at the festival, but no one asked, and…I told them next year to let me know because I would love to volunteer again.

While there I bought our favorite sweets, but just a few, as Jack is Diabetic and I do not need the extra calories! Then I got in the lunch line. For Jack, I got the Lamb Shanks dinner, complete with rice with gravy, a fresh roll, and a Greek Salad. I had the Leg of Lamb dinner with the same sides. I brought them all home to have later on for our lunch. Yum!

Once settled in after lunch, I got to work, downloading programs, and setting up Apps on Jack’s new Cell Phone. I was lucky that the technician at Verizon figured out how to move Jack’s much-loved ring tone (When The Saints Go Marching In) onto the new phone from the flip phone. No small feat!

I have also set it up so that when we go away (do we even do that anymore?) he can keep track of his email. I also downloaded three games, set up the Speed Dial App, complete with pictures, to make calling people easier. The next big thing is to sit down with him and actually teach him about the phone. I have a brand new stylist pen that has his name on it, so he can learn all about touch screens. I don’t know about you, but I love stylists!

The sky has gotten dark, and the wind has picked up, and the Weather Channel has just issued a thunderstorm warning. I can hear the rain hitting the air conditioner in back of my chair. The end of another day. Seems they’ve all been closing with this rain. Ah well, at least Jack got most of the lawn mowed today before the rain started!

Waiting

Friday was a day of waiting. Waiting for the new air conditioner to arrive and for the SIM card to arrive for the phone. Now one thing I have to say is that the SIM card came, and while trying to install it, I found that the original SIM card was still in there. So why Verizon needed me to have a new one, I still do not know.

I set about setting up the phone, but after 2 hours of getting nowhere, I have quit and will call Verizon tomorrow and have them walk me through it. I wish I lived closer to a Verizon Store because I am sick to death of doing this!

The new air conditioner came and Jack assembled it and carefully we installed it, turned it on, and my goodness it made a horrific noise! We turned it down to a low fan speed and let it run for a bit and the noise stopped. Thankfully. After five days with no air conditioning in the bedroom, I was ready to leave home! The heat and humidity have made Maribeth a very cranky lady!

As stated above, our heat and humidity continue. The rain was not as bad today, but they say the air quality will not change until Monday or Tuesday. Ugh!

So, while the air conditioner problem is fixed, we still must deal with the blasted cell phone. Ah well, tomorrow is another day!

The Friday Five

This has been an amazingly crazy week for me. But really, it’s all good! One thing I will say about this week overall is that it has been hot, humid, hazy and very wet! We have a rain gauge and just this week we have had three inches of rain!

Kind of funny about the rain. Most of it has come down in absolutely heavy downpours! Not even the dogs want to go outside! And when they do go outside, they get absolutely soaking wet! In fact, as I write this on Thursday at noontime, it has just started to rain again! And Jack, who was outside with Lili, got soaked!

So here I go, with the five things, besides the weather, that has been happening in my corner of the world!

The Plumbing and Heating Workers have been here three days this week. They are completely redoing our system and when they are done, not only will our hot water problem be fixed, but our entire home heating system will not only be fixed but will be working in a more economical way. I am so impressed with all the men who have worked on our system. In particular, Will, who designed the entire new wiring and plumbing system. He is here today (Thursday) to finish up the system and do all the tests. In many ways, although we did not need a new furnace or hot water heater, this Digital Control Center is more costly than one can imagine.
The Air Conditioner in our bedroom died. And it died on one of the hottest and most humid of days. And it died at 5:30 in the evening. I need an 8000 BTU unit for that room, and I knew pretty much what I wanted. Our electric company is giving rebates if you get an energy saving machine, so I knew specifically the one I wanted. Well, it’s July, and our store doesn’t have much inventory left. So I was in the position of ordering online. The first order was rejected by my credit card! Huh? So I called and they told me that this National and well-known company, has a reputation with their website about not being secure. I had to use a different card and talk to the Company, and finally, the machine was ordered and it should be here on Friday. It has not been easy. Meanwhile, I am sleeping in a room where it is 80 degrees and a fan is my only friend.
While grocery shopping on Wednesday I noted that they had Soft-Shell Lobsters for $4.99 a pound. Now at this time of year, the Soft-Shell Lobsters are so tender and sweet. Yum! I immediately sent Jack over to pick out two for our dinner. We also picked up two ears of corn, and some California White Potatoes to boil.

The above picture was taken a couple of years ago by my cousin Janet.

In the evening, I boiled up the Lobsters, melted some butter, cooked the potatoes and corn, and we sat down to quite a feast! We ate and moaned with enjoyment and both of us commented that this was one delicious and very special meal!
Jack’s flip cell phone has died and he is now switching over to my Galaxy S5. I have the phone all cleaned and programmed for him, but last night when I tried to switch it over I learned something new (for me anyway). I need a SIM card for his phone.

Apparently, when I bought my Galaxy S8, the clerk took the old SIM card out of the Galaxy S5 and put it into my S8. Groan. So I ordered one from Verizon and it will also arrive on Friday. Then I can finish the switch. Then the real learning process starts for Jack. I have an entire box of stylists at the ready so he can use the phone easily
.Jack had minor surgery this week to remove a skin cancer. They are hoping it is a Basil Cell Skin cancer, but since he has had Melanoma, before, and it was very close to this site, they are doing a biopsy of the tissue removed. Currently, I am once again his nurse. I have all kinds of sympathy for anyone having surgery to remove cancer on their nose. This was much smaller, but it is close to his eye, and that makes putting on the band-aid really tough. We will learn the results of the biopsy next week, but I am holding out good thoughts on all of this.

So these are the things that have been going on and keeping me occupied. Aside from the skin cancer for Jack, it’s all pretty much positive, and interesting. A new air conditioner, new heating system, fresh lobsters, new(er) cell phone for Jack, and the growth removed from Jack’s nose. (He didn’t want to show it or even the bandage) A full week I think!

Have a great weekend everyone!