Author: Dackel Princess

Bang, Bang!

The night before last, I woke at 2:14 AM to what sounded like gun fire. I counted the explosions and then it stopped. A moment later, it started again. Rapid fire. Then a single shot, and then one more.

Now I have to tell you, this really scared me.  I lay there in the darkness and wondered, what the heck was going on. It’s not hunting season yet, and it is a little late in the year for fireworks. Especially at 2:14 in the morning.

Yesterday seemed normal during the day and then tonight after dinner, we started to hear the blasts again.

So we called the police. If it is just kids with fireworks, then fine, fireworks are legal in this state, but if it is someone screwing around with a gun, then that is not fine.

This time, Hubby said I was not over-reacting. He was uncomfortable too.

What would you think if you were awoken in the night by what sounded like gun blasts? I admit, that despite the fact that I believe in a person’s right to bear arms, lately I’m thinking that background checks really need to be done. Too many crazy people shooting the innocent.

Pork, Apples & Sauerkraut

Yesterday I decided to make a wonderful Autumn recipe. I’m writing it down because I don’t want to forget this amazingly quick and easy recipe. This is what I did.

  1. One, 1-2 pound Pork Loin. Trimmed of excess fat.
  2. Four or five good size apples, peeled, sliced into wedges. (I used an apple slicer/corer)
  3. A quarter cup of Splenda Brown Sugar.
  4. One half a teaspoon of cinnamon.
  5. One onion quartered and sliced thinly.
  6. A half a pound of good Sauerkraut.

Get out your slow cooker. Add everything but the Pork Loin, and mix thoroughly with your hands. Once everything is mixed well, add the pork and mix it into the pot with your hands, to cover it with the apples, onions and sauerkraut.

Put on high for an hour. Check to be sure it has come up to a bubbling mixture. Once it has, turn down to medium low and cook 4-5 hours.

The meat was tender, and so were the apples. I served it with baked potatoes and pearl onions. Hubby was thrilled with the meal and wants me to make it again! One thing he doesn’t know is that he is getting it for a leftover meal later this week!

The Apple & The Turkey

Our apples are fantastic this year!

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Most days I go out and pick some apples off the tree. Sometimes I just cut it up and sharing bits with the dogs (they love apples!). I am enjoying the juiciest apples I have ever had. Today at lunch, I found two Cortland drops and brought them in, and peeled them, sliced them up and then adding some Splenda brown sugar,  and 1/2 teaspoon of butter, I put it all in a heavy pot and cooked it until the apples were soft. It was like pie filling with no crust.   Hubby and I got a big grocery shopping done, even though it was pouring rain all day. On our way back home we enjoyed the beautiful foliage! Finally, the leaves are turning. 20151008_123548

When we got home, there was the Turkey Family pecking at the apples along our driveway. I never knew, but apparently Turkeys like apples! Who knew!

Tomorrow I am planning to cook a pork loin in the crock pot with apples. Besides wild turkeys, I am also really into apples!

Have a great weekend every one!!!

Friday Five

This week I have been trying to get settled back in at home. There has been so much to do, this being apple season, and I also decided to make some major adjustments in my life.

  1. I resolved on Wednesday to give myself a year to lose all of this weight. It’s a goal I hope to achieve, because, well, quite honestly, I am very unhappy being this over weight. I returned to Weight Watchers with great determination, and confessed my sins.

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    (At least the most recent ones!) I down loaded the Weight Watcher App and have been tracking everything that has gone into my mouth! The real trick is to stay with it and not to get sloppy and lazy with my journaling.
  2. Along this same path, I decided that I would begin doing this thing, I refer to as a four letter obscene word…EXERCISE! I decided the best thing I could do was take Lili for walks. She needs it and I kill two birds with one stone. She gets her exercise while I get mine. **Groan**
  3. Our first day was tricky. Lili pulled me and I feared I was not going to live long enough to lose the weight. However this morning, I got out Fritz’s old training collar, and put it on her. She responded immediately, and stopped pulling, walked by my side and when I would stop her, sit her, and stay her…well, she actually listened. Our walk was so much fun that I hope tomorrow’s forecast of rain is wrong, as I want to go again!
  4. I have decided to continue to drink a large glass of water before each meal. It not only aids with digestion, but it seems to fill me up. I’m not a fan of drinking water, but I’m starting to realize as I get older, that sometimes one must do things they do not like for their health.
  5. I’m planning more fish meals, which is always good. My cousin, Dave, went fishing this summer and brought me back some really beautiful Salmon! And if I watch the sales I will stock up on fish, when I can. I have also discovered another great food.  Flat Out Bread. I made myself an egg roll-up this morning and it was really good, and lunch was a tuna roll up with lettuce and tomato. I must keep things new and interesting, and not get into a rut with the foods I am eating.

So that’s what’s happening this week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and can enjoy the Autumn weather where you are, or in the case of my Aussie friends, enjoy your spring!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. It’s October so let’s get this out there first thing…have you jumped on the all-things-pumpkin bandwagon? How so?

Not at all. I’ve never really understood it. I love pumpkin pie, but all the other stuff, especially pumpkin coffee…not my thing at all.

2.  “We have more power than will; and it is often by way of excuse to ourselves that we fancy things are impossible.” Francois Duc De la Rochefoucauld  

What’s something you once thought impossible, but in hindsight see as more a matter of lack of will?

For me, it is dieting. When I turned 50 I worked so hard to lose the weight, and I did. I was fifty and fabulous. But then I got sloppy and tired of dieting. I am today, this morning starting all over again.

3. The rose is America’s National Flower, but every state also has its own (click here to see the list). Are you happy with yours? If you were in charge what would you declare your state’s flower? If you’re outside the U.S. what bloom would you like to see labeled as your country’s national flower?

I wouldn’t change a thing. New Hampshires State flower is the Lilac. And that is my favorite!

4. What have you lost interest in recently?

Dieting. As I said above, I am so tired of it. But I know, it is important, and for my health, I must do this.

5. In your opinion, who’s the best living musician?

Probably, Paul McCartney. He is still writing songs, performing, and he was part of the group that changed the worlds perception of music. At least modern popular music.

6. S’mores-love ’em or no? Ever make them indoors? Last time you sat around an outdoor fire? Are making s’mores and sitting round a fire pit on your autumn bucket list? Do you have an autumn bucket list?

I have not had a s’more in years. Good thing. I’m just having a big problem with food and need to stay away from those too.

7. Your favorite small town? Why?

My own. We have just under 6000 people who live here year round. In the winter, Meredith is simply a perfect little piece of heaven!

8. Insert your own random thought here

Time to do laundry, go grocery shopping, and make healthy meals for both Hubby and I. I need to get back on the Weight Watcher wagon, and work hard to drop these very unwanted pounds.

I caught sight of myself in the mirror at the hotel (why do these rooms have so many mirrors?) and shuddered at what I saw. Yes, time to stop being self destructive, and get back to doing good things for myself!

It’s Great!

We drove all day, saw a tad of foliage from Rutland, Vermont to about Canaan, NH. However, foliage season is really late. And not breath-taking. At least not yet.

We picked up our mail, thus getting Hubby’s new winter bathrobe, and a weeks worth of mail, and then we turned the car toward home. Somehow, it still knew the way!

Upon arrival, we were met by four thrilled beyond words dogs, our house sitter and a house that was quite literally cleaner than when I left it, despite my deep cleaning.

And it felt wonderful.

It meant that I could sit snuggling dogs, and take my time putting things away. Hubby had a TV dinner and I just ate some toast for our evening meal. Very low key!

Bedtime comes in a bit, and I will snuggle up with my three little dackel bed warmers!

It feels great to be home. Out of the car, in my own chair, feet up and surrounded by brown eyed fur babies!

Life is good and it is fabulous to be home!!!

We’re On Our Way Home

We are half way home. In Rochester, New York. We pulled in about 4 in the afternoon, and got settled in our room. Not quite as glamorous as the room we had in Fairborn/Dayton, Ohio, but nice none the less.(LOL)

He came back and had a menu from an Indian Restaurant. I was game, so off we went. I had a wonderful stuffed Naan.

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It had pistachios, coconut and a sweet raisins. Oh my goodness, it was wonderful! I also had lamb in a yogurt sauce and topped the meal off with Chai. (Tea)

 

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Hubby had lentil Soup, Chicken Marsala and Naan. It was all so good.

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While we ate they had a Bollywood version of MTV. It was really great, with Indian music and dancing. The dancers and singers were all probably twenty-somethings. Anyway, it was fun, and I really enjoyed it.

Now we are back at the hotel and will crash after we watch Madame Secretary.

Our Last Day

Dayton, Ohio. I never thought much about this place, but there is so much here. So much history. From Wilbur and Orville Wright, to The Packard Automobile, to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and home to the Air Force Aviation Museum. And all of that, is just the start!

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Al Capone’s Packard. His last car.I think you could stay for a week or two and never see everything here. We did go off with our friends Jim and Geraldine, to see a few more things today, but we quite simply ran out of time. 20151002_104305

Orville and Wilber Wright.

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So, we stopped at a little Pub Restaurant and had lunch and then returned to the hotel to make our plans for the return trip to New Hampshire, and prepare for tonight’s banquet.

We had the annual membership meeting and Memorial service this morning. I teared up a lot. Several of the men who passed this year were men I have known for a long time. Sad to see them go.

However, our organization gives out scholarships to the grandchildren of our members. It was wonderful to see the youth being enriched by all that these heroic pilots have done.

Here is a funny story. At lunch today our waitress was trying to entice us to have bread pudding. Alas, if we had not had such a big and wonderful lunch, we might have indulged, but no….So she asked if we might like to take some home. I said no, because home, was a long, long, way.

She asked where? I told her New Hampshire. A moment passed and then a man came over. “Is that your Cadillac outside?” he asked. “Why yes.” I answered.

“It’s a 2004 Sedan DeVille, right?” he said.

“Yes.” I answered.

“I have a twin to your car! Right down to the color!”

The only difference is that his car had over 200,000 miles and ours just went over the 100,000 mile mark.

I know, small world!

Now it’s time to finish packing and go home.

This trip went really fast.

Revisiting The Caribou

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Thursday found the group of Retired Army Aviators and families going out to the Air Force Aviation Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

This group of men had flown Otters and Caribou aircraft during their time in service to our country.  This museum has a beautiful Caribou aircraft for all to see.

20151001_100420Hubby and his friend and fellow pilot, Jim. We walked through and saw many other air craft. So many beautiful flying machines, including replicas of the Wright Brother’s Aircrafts. It was simply amazing. And I took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, too many to put here. But here are a few. In the evening we had a lovely buffet dinner and after we were entertained by a Barber Shop Quartet! They were simply amazing! 20151001_195436

Tomorrow we go to Carillion Park, a tour of Dayton and to The Packard Museum. It’s quite a nice area here. We drove through several neighborhoods, and I loved the charming little houses. Definitely a blast from the past.

I am so happy we have come and that for the first time in  a long time, things back home have been going well. We finally have a house sitter who fits the bill and loves our dogs as much as we do!