Dackel Princess

Happy Heavenly 16th Birthday ~ Arnie & Anneliese

Sixteen years ago, Jack got up in the morning and I told him that I thought that Greta would be having her puppies soon. He examined her and said, he thought he could get a few runs in skiing, but to call if things got going, and off he went!

Greta right before giving birth. She was huge!

Greta looked at me, with eyes that related to me just how miserable her contractions were, and I knew that things were getting close.

Then, all of a sudden, things just sort of stopped. Then started again, and this went on for about an hour. I called the Vet. and I brought her in for an exam.

It was, of course, a Sunday, and so my Vet. had to get his staff to come in and assist in the Ceasean delivery. You see, we had one very large baby and then 4 “normal” sized ones. That was the day that Arnie and Anneliese were born.

I called Jack, who had just gotten up to the slopes, and he turned around and came home, and made their birth!

Arnie was the only boy, and Anneliese was born squealing loudly! I didn’t know then, which puppy I would want to keep, and I certainly never expected to keep 2, especially a male dog, as I had never been a boy dog fan, but I digress…

That was December 10th and by Christmas, I knew Anneliese was going to be my forever puppy girl, and two months later Arnie was rejected by the people who’d wanted to buy him. The woman’s life fell apart following a divorce, her daughter had run off with her boyfriend, and the woman lost her job. I told her she needed this friend, but she declined and he remained, forever with us.

Anneliese and Arnie as babies!

Now I couldn’t imagine life without my two little A-Litter Puppies. I call them “The Twins” even though they aren’t, and if they are outside I will call them “Puppies” and they will both turn their heads and run toward me!

Anneliese went on to have her own babies, and “Uncle Arnie” babysat and helped his sister out with them. It was just so cute!

And in life, they were the very best of friends. When I look back having sibling puppies it was one of the best things I have ever done, even if it was absolutely by accident!

All three, Mommy Greta and Annelise, and Arnie made it to their 14th birthdays. Having these fabulous friends was incredible. When Arnie passed three months before his 15th birthday I was crushed.

But here we are. Heidi is home and she has brought me such love and joy!

Happy Birthday to my Dackel Princess puppies. Knowing you was simply marvelous!
Anneliese, Arnie, Greta, and in front is our dear old Fritz.

The Friday Five December 9th

Well, here we are the end of another week. in just 21 days the year 2022 will end and we will start 2023. I am hoping and wondering what the New Year will bring. So let me give you this week’s Friday Five!

It’s now official. I have finished Christmas shopping for my family! I am so happy. I worry and fret about the gifts and making them happy.
Today I was returning some wonderful Merrell Winter Boots. For as long as I can remember I have worn a solid 10. Today I felt like the ugly step-mother in Cinderella who was trying to shove her foot into the glass slipper and could not. So, back they went.
I brought Heidi with me when I went to return the boots at the UPS drop off point, and I carried her in. First I think my girl is getting a little chunky, but when she saw my friend she was so excited she wee-wee’d all down the front of my coat and troussers.
This meant as soon as I got home, both Heidi and I had to shower and my winter coat went into the wash.
This weekend I have planned to watch Christmas movies while I wrap presents. I found the best wrapping paper. Santa flying through the air being pulled by a team of dachshunds! So very cute.

So that is the week that was. I am thrilled with gratitude that members of my family are feeling better after contracting Pneumonia and Covid.

Christmas is coming and I am really psyched!

The Friday Five ~ December 2nd

Here we are, December 2nd! Just a few more weeks until Christmas and then we bid 2022 adieu. So here we go. Our first Friday Five of December 2022!

I saw the most lovely Christmas Cactus at the grocery store. It was so beautiful that I had to bring it home.
Currently, all the buds are opening and I am enjoying it even more!
Heidi has this new game. She likes to sit close to my laptop computer and touch the screen with her nose, thus throwing off whatever I am writing about. Heidi is a little imp!
Tomorrow I will begin doing my Christmas cards. I’m not doing a letter, I will just write small personal notes inside each one. As it is, I am sending out fewer and fewer.
I have decorated for Christmas in a small way. I used to go the whole hog, but now I have a small tree and some decorations.
Lastly, I bet I will work all weekend on the cards, laundry, and some cooking. Jack has said I can cook anything, just not turkey!

3 AM ~ Really?

There are some things you absolutely must do with both a light and your glasses on. And so it was at 3:00 this morning after I had been outside walking the dogs.

At 3 AM I am really still in sleepy land. However, my darling Lili, who has been very nervous this week, woke both Heidi and me. I pulled myself out of my cozy nest of blankets and got on my coat, hat and gloves, and off we went so both dogs could commune with nature.

I flipped on the lights and the three of us ventured out in the thirty-degree, snowy, windy, weather. The first thing I noticed was that my lighter winter coat simply was not cutting it and I was freezing. Even my hat and gloves were not keeping me very warm. So as I stood there waiting I was urging them to hurry up.

When we came in, I rushed to give them each a little cookie, and then I raced back to my blankets. I’d hoped to fall right back to sleep, but then I heard noises from the kitchen and knew I needed to check it all out.

In the pale glow of the night lite, I saw two forms that worried me. With no glasses on and no strong light, the blobs resembled dead mice. I live in the country and at this time of year, a field mouse or two will try to gain entry to escape the cold. But there was no way I was touching anything without bright lights and glasses and gloves.

As I returned to the scene of the crime in the kitchen wearing glasses, and gloves and turning on the lights, I noticed immediately that both blobs were clusters of dried leaves that had blown into the house when I went out and then came back in. I laughed, picked it all up, and returned to my blankets.

All I wanted at this point was to go back to sleep, but Heidi and Lili wanted to play and Heidi was racing back and forth playing with Lili. So, I turned on my laptop, the morning news and here I sit at 4:23 AM writing about the mice that weren’t!

Today I will need to go out and get the mail, and it is my hope to start writing my Christmas cards.

And let me just say that as I close this at 4:30 AM, both dogs have gone back to sleep and it is once again quiet. It’s my hope that I can get back to sleep too!

The Friday Five ~ November 25th

This week was a very busy one. I worked all day and fell asleep early in the evening and managed a few naps too. In the end, the turkey was wonderful and it made all the prep work worth it. So, here goes.

Monday I drove home from my daughter’s home. I’d gone down on Sunday to watch, “The Wizard of Oz” starring my two grandchildren! This was six-year-old Quinn’s first play. He played Toto and can I just say nothing is cuter than a six-year-old in a puppy suit?
He did a great job and I felt so very proud of him!
Savi had several parts with solos. She played the Coroner who declares the Wicked Witch of the East dead!
She has a beautiful voice and I was so proud of her. She has been acting in plays since she was about 5 years old.
I had a chance to visit with my daughter and Matt’s Mom before and after the play, and both Heidi and I enjoyed spending the night. Monday morning we were up early, said goodbye to the kids as they left on the bus, and on the way home I stopped for last-minute groceries and gas.
Then the work began. I cooked all day Tuesday, and Wednesday, thinking that this would make Thursday easier. I was like a cat on a hot tin roof. By the evening, after two sets of dishes, I collapsed in my chair. Just around nine o’clock, Jack wanted dinner. I swear I wanted to scream. I made him soup and a sandwich. I then walked the two doggy girls and went to sleep.
There was sadness for us this Thanksgiving. The day before I was watching our local news when I saw our old farmhouse.
(It was the cover on the New Hampshire calendar in 1993)

I quickly turned up the volume and listened to the story. There was a fatal shooting there. It was later on that I learned that the man who purchased the Farm from us was the victim. He lived there alone as his family has passed away. We don’t know all the particulars yet, but it appears that the perpetrator was looking for a car and guns. Sadly the 83-year-old man trusted someone he should not have.

I lived there for several years after marrying Jack. I loved it there. The home was very old but had such character. It was built in the early 1800s this was really historical and quaint.

So, sadly this man has died, but thankfully police captured the culprit very quickly.

Today is make the soup day and clean out my pantry. I also watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” which is a reminder to me that as tough as life gets it is always wonderful.

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

The quick and easy way!

1 Can Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
Orange Jell-o
Seedless Orange
Orange Juice
Orange Zest

In a saucepan, add the entire can of whole-berry cranberry sauce. Slice the orange, and use only the pulp sections of the orange. (peel away any white flesh.) Chop up and add to the cranberry sauce. Cut up the orange peel and run it in your food processor to make zest. Add 1 – 2 tbs to saucepan. Add approximately 1/8 – 1/4 cup of orange juice. Add one packet of sugar-free orange jello gelatin to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, and then pour into a serving dish. Cover and chill.

Friday Five ~ Birthday Memories!

This week sped by and so here goes all the details.

The first snow of the season fell. It was about three inches, and now, on Friday, most of the snow is gone. But it is still cold and feels like winter.
Our roofers have been here each day, but on Wednesday when it was raining/snowing.
My birthday started with a Doe and her two Fawns presenting themselves just before dawn. They simply stood silhouetted in the early morning light. I was there watching them, watching me and it was such a peaceful moment. I don’t have a camera that could have done justice to that picture, so it is stored in my memory.
Lili and Heidi are bothered by all the noise. I’ve been cuddling with Heidi today after she had sort of a doggy nervous breakdown. She had two accidents and just couldn’t settle down. Today Lili is quite the worse for wear as the loud noises overhead scare her so much. I had them out and a stack of shingles hit the roof and Lili started to bolt. Thankfully I called her and she stopped, turned, and came back.
For my birthday dinner, we went to George’s Seafood. We both had the fried Whole Belly Clams.
My dinner.

They were so good! My only problem is driving at night and we also had snow flurries. But we made it home. Turning 64 wasn’t so bad after all.

The Friday Five ~ November 11th

The week sped by and suddenly it was Thursday night. So as we listen to continual episodes of Law & Order, I sat down to write.

1. 1. 1. Well, I was busy doing the dishes on Thursday and heard the telltale noises of a dog retching. I stopped what I was doing and ran toward the sound. There was poor Lili throwing up on my bedroom rug! Ugh! I tried to hurry her outside, but she only made it to the family room, where she threw up again on another carpet!
  2. Get a dog they said it will be fun they said!
  
  3. 45 minutes later, I cleaned up the carpets and floor and settled poor Lili.
  
  4. Heidi was worried about her big sister and slept next to her.
  
  5. Lastly, this weekend the Christmas Fairs return to my little area. I will be going to two of them. I have missed them. Crafts, Christmas music, and neighbors. And a slice of normality returning.

Days Are Numbered

Katie was born on Wednesday, November 8, 1978, at 5:30 in the morning. She was our second daughter, who came into our life with tiny red curls and blue-green eyes. She was a happy baby, and even when she had to have her feet broken as a corrective measure, she was still happy.

She loved her family, and she loved all animals. Her heart was a big one.

She enjoyed climbing trees, dancing, playing with Barbie dolls, and dressing up. One year her father made her and her sister a Barbie doll house and Mandy and Katie just loved it.

We went to County Fairs and rode on Merry-go-Rounds and ate popcorn and ice cream.

When asked by an old lady where she had gotten her red curls, Katie smiled and told her “One day Mommy was cutting my Daddy’s beard and it fell on my head and started to grow!”

She had a wicked good laugh and loved to sing everything from songs she heard on the radio, to songs she made up in her head.

I didn’t know that I would only have 2415 days, or 6 years, 7 months, and 11 days with her.

Had I known, I would have laughed more and appreciated every single hour of every single day.

**************

The accident happened. I’m grateful that I do not recall too much of it. I am also grateful that even though Katie never woke up from the coma she was in, at least we were able to hold her and kiss her before she passed away.

This year she would have been forty-four years old. She might have had a family of her very own.

Instead, from June 19, 1985, when she passed away until November eighth, 2022, I look back and see that she has been gone from us for 13,657 days, or 37 years, 4 months, 21 days. When I saw that I felt quite overwhelmed.

Most days I do well. But some days I am not sure how I have managed to cope.

We all miss you, Katie. I wish you were still with us. You were and still are greatly loved.

Kathleen Alynne

The Friday Five ~ November 4th

I woke this morning and realized it was Friday and I had not written a Friday Five. More than likely this is because this week I have been crazy busy. So here I am in the early morning hours of Friday writing.

Although I did not want to, on Wednesday I spent the day going into a larger town with a cheaper grocery store, food warehouse, and gas.
It was a good trip, and I was able to stock up on canned goods and jarred sauces, jellies, and gravies.
We have had the most beautiful weather this week. Sunny and warm and although the leaves are now off the trees when the skies are this blue it almost feels like Spring!
I had my hair done on Tuesday, and that felt great, although the Eczema is currently bad on my scalp. It is both itchy and painful.
Lastly, Heidi had her hair done and it came out so well. She still has a lot of her puppy fur, but we’re working to bring her coat into a full grown-up coat.
We are lucky to have found Christi, who knows how to strip a wire-haired coat!

Have a great weekend, wherever you may be! It is supposed to be a very nice one!