Author: Dackel Princess

A Carrot Anyone?

The dackels have been watching me.

Why, you might ask? Well, I decided after the German Judge criticized Anneliese that perhaps all three of my dackels were a bit over weight. So I weighed them. Ah, well, let’s just say, I’m a good doggy cook.

So their diet immediately started. I got them some special diet canned food, and then I cut back on how much they are allowed to eat of the crunchies. Greta and Anneliese are not big crunchy fans, so they have been doing very well. I also stopped all plate scraps for them. Fritz, the lucky devil, gets it all. Slowly, they are both losing weight. Even Arnie is starting to look a little better.

I want to get Greta back to 18-19 pounds, Arnie at 18 and Anneliese down to 16-16 1/2 pounds. Fritz? Well let’s just say that the boy needs to maintain the weight he has and even put on a bit as he is very slender. But the boy runs and runs and runs and I can hardly keep the weight on him.

The dackels? Well, as I said they are following me everywhere. Watching, hoping, for a little cookie or treat. What do they get? Carrots! Luckily they love the baby carrots and are happy for those.

Oh I can truly relate to them. Today is my Weight Watchers meeting and I am really hoping for a good weight loss. I sure have been working hard and measuring every little thing that has gone into my mouth.

What can I say? Food is food, be it people food or doggy food, and we are all subject to putting on a little spare tire, aren’t we?

Dogs, Frost & New Things

It was one of those days that began with a hard frost and ended with dropping temperatures. Another frost is coming! The mid part of the day was mild, but not warm, thus reminding me that it is Autumn and winter is on it’s way.

The dogs were in their glory, especially Fritz who just lives for the cooler temperatures. He was outside all day basking in the glory of the pristine day.

Yesterday the three dachshunds were all outside playing when they found the same mound of smelly crap to roll in. They came in stinking to high, high heaven!

This required me to give all three of them baths. So into the sink they went, with warm water and shampoo. By the time we went to bed, they were dry and smelling like flowers!

Hubby spent the day painting the trim of the house and getting the outside ready for winter. He is doing a great job!

I changed my side bar picture today. The new picture was taken by my sister while she was here.

Tonight our friend and house sitter came over for dinner. We finalized our plans for the cruise and had a nice steak dinner. She visited with her favorite babies and we chatted until we were both ready to hit the hay!

I’m lucky to have Dori as she really loves my four babies and takes very good care of them.

Have a good day everyone!

The Hobo Railroad Ride!!!

On Saturday we got up and headed down to catch the foliage train on the Hobo Railroad! It left from Meredith, New Hampshire, and went along the Pemigewassett River. We chugged through mile after mile of beautiful bright leaves, until we reached a deer farm.

Now I have always been a sucker for a cute deer, and so I set up and kept snapping! All the pictures taken were taken while the train was going between 15 and 20 miles an hour.

I think the deer must be used to the train noise because they didn’t run off and a few came right up to the fence and smiled for us.

The train took us slowly to Plymouth, New Hampshire where we stopped at The Common Man Inn & Spa. They had a hot buffet luncheon for all those aboard the train. They served Turkey, stuffing, butternut squash, mashed potatoes, rolls and hot broccoli & apple soup, which was surprisingly good. I admit to eating what was served and I felt guilty for about 5 minutes, and then I reminded myself that it was okay and that on Sunday morning I would get back on the diet.

Then we all climbed back on the train and went up to Livermore Falls, where we took a few pictures before heading back. In Plymouth, the engine unhooked, came around on a side track and hooked up again so that it could pull us back to Meredith, instead of push us!

The ride back was pretty and we  were chatting about the colors, when I thought I saw someone I knew. I stopped the man and asked if he was in fact Wes D. and he was! I’ve known him for over 20 years, but hadn’t seen him an a few. We were talking and I asked if he had seen a mutual friend named Sally recently. He laughed and told me that she was on the other end of the train! So at the next stop we actually got to see Sally and her new husband. Hubby has known Sally since he was in college, as Sally’s late husband was his fraternity brother, and I met her just after Hubby and I married.

So here is a short montage of our trip. I hope you like it.

Here is a picture of Me, with Sally and my Hubby!
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As you could see, it was a beautiful day, followed by a wonderful evening with Mel, Ron, M. and Mandy at Canoe.

Wonderful Family!

My sister is up visiting, along with her husband, and tonight Mandy and M. came up to join us for dinner. We went to Canoe for our meal. My favorite restaurant. Hubby and M. had Prime Rib, Mandy had the Lobster Macaroni and Cheese, Mel’s husband, Ron had the Seafood Stir fry and Mel and I had the tossed greens salad with Shrimp, goat cheese and spiced walnuts! And I shall burn in hell for eating 1/2 of the apple strudel, but it was very, very good!

We took pictures before and during the dinner. It was so nice as it is not often that we are all together.

Mandy, Me and Mel.

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Me and Melodie.

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Mandy and Me.

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Jack and M. talking.

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Ron and Mandy.

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We arrived back home, all feeling full and a bit sleepy after eating such a big meal. However, we were happy! Yes, Canoe does that to you!

Now we’re watching the Red Sox play, hoping they can win and stay alive in the playoffs one more day.

Tomorrow I’ll write about our trip aboard the Hobo Railroad. It was beautiful and brought back so many happy memories of train rides in the past.

31 Days

I got this message this morning when I woke up and logged onto my email.

31 days until your next cruise!
7-day Southern Caribbean Explorer
Ship: Caribbean Princess
Embarkation Port: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Number of Days: 7

CSE070lg

I am really looking forward to this cruise and to getting away from it all. It’s been a really busy Autumn for us. A lot of running around, a lot of catch up work around the house, and some stress.

Mostly I get stressed about the little things. Isn’t that silly? I really shouldn’t, but I do. I need to learn to just let it roll off of my back, but I find it very difficult to do that.

I also need to not take things so personally and allow people’s words to hurt me so much. Yes, it’s been a tough fall.

Now I am looking forward to my 50th Birthday Cruise. That will be fun, relaxing and we will see several new Island Countries that we have not been to before.

Yes, I’ll be sending reports and pictures along the way. How could I leave you all behind? Oh yes! One month and counting!!!

I can hardly wait!!!

It Was A Thrill!

On a beautiful October day Hubby and I went to the Weirs Beach Boardwalk to hear Governor Sarah Palin speak. She is a breath of fresh air in a campaign that is filled with career politicians. Gov. Palin was speaking and a woman near me turned to me and said, “You know, she is one of us. She knows how hard it is to put food on the table for your family, she knows what it means to be humble”.

Quite true. Unlike the other candidates, Gov. Palin grew up normally. She was your average girl next door, worked hard to get herself through college in Idaho and then went back to the state that she loved (Alaska) and married her High School sweetheart. She worked with him to feed their family, by working on her husband’s fishing boat, as well as taking care of their children.

I know that there are many of you who do not like this woman, but there is one thing you cannot deny, and that is that Gov. Palin has spent all of her life working very hard, for her family, for her state and for her country.

As I listened to her today I had hope. Hope that there is really someone out there in politics that believes in us, the United States Citizens!

She does not believe we need more government. She doesn’t believe that we need to raise taxes. And she certainly doesn’t believe that the government should be telling you how to spend your money.

We already pay too much in taxes!!!

Is she qualified to be president? Well first she isn’t running for president, but if she were I would say this, she actually has more experience in the political world than Barack Obama does, and I’d like to see just how well Sen. Obama would do getting through a winter in a place as challenging as Alaska.

Alaska is one of the most beautiful places I have been to! But it’s beauty is tempered with the vastness of the countryside, and the ruggedness of the glaciers. Winters are long, cold and the snow is deep. Summers are short. You learn early on how to take care of yourself and your family.

So I watched her, I listened to her and to those around me and I felt good. Here are a few photo’s of the event.

I do not write about politics on Dackel Princess nor do I make comments on other blogs because I have felt such a terrible hateful intolerance from so many people. However, when I listen to people make statements against a woman such as Sarah Palin, who is a strong, intelligent, decent, and capable woman, I felt that I had to share with you how I feel. She may not belong to the political party you belong to, but she is one heck of a person.

I wish we had more people like her getting involved in politics today. We need more real people going into that, not professional hacks that are being turned out by Ivy League Colleges and ACORN.

The New Me!

I was off to my hair stylist’s Tuesday afternoon and when I arrived I sat down in her chair with a frown and showed her this:

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Flat hair on the top, wild sides and a style that was nearly impossible for me to do. Add to that the fact that it was making my face look fat and it all ads up to one unhappy lady!

Margarita went to work. I explained that I wanted layers and lots of them, while keeping my length. She cut and measured and cut some more. I glanced at the floor and was amazed at the amount of hair she had trimmed off. Apparently my hair had really gotten quite long and full.

Once she was done with the snipping, she gently fingered my hair while she blew it dry and these small curls formed.

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Margarita styled it a bit fancier than I will, but she showed me how to encourage the curls and then to style my hair so that it actually is pulled back away from my face naturally.

I know from previous cuts that having this style will be easy for me. The really funny thing is that when I was a little girl, I had tight blond curls. Then one day in a fit of pique my mother cut them all off. After that my hair never grew back curly. Wavy, yes, but no curls.

Now, as I enter my 50’s I suddenly have found that my curls returned with a vengeance. I suppose I could cut them off again, but let’s face it, I can’t afford another 50 years for them to return!

I’ll be playing with the new style now and seeing what I can do.

What do you think?

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PS: I opened the door at the end of the evening to walk Greta and found Fritz doing a frantic dance. The smell that hit me was so overwhelming that I knew he’d been hit by a skunk! While Hubby made an emergency run to the grocery store for tomato juice, I washed Fritz down with brown soap and rinsed him well. All this was done outside in the 54 degree weather!

Hubby returned from the grocery store and we started to wash Fritz with the tomato juice. Sponging it into his fur until he was completely covered. Then we got out the hose and started to rinse him off.

We now own a Pink German Shepherd!

He is now drying off in the basement where he will spend the night. I sure hope we got it all and that tomorrow Fritz will be back to normal. Well, besides the pink hue to his fur, that is!

LOL!!!

Health, Hair & Happiness

I went to the doctor with Hubby today to get the results of tests we both had recently. I expected to breeze through my exam and have Hubby be the patient with the problems. After all he is a diabetic, and he does have marginally high blood pressure, and he is twenty years older than me, so I thought that the tests might show a problem with one of his ailments.

Was I wrong. Apparently turning 50 causes ones body to melt down and turn to mush.

My cholesterol level is too high and I’ve been given 6 months to get it in line or he wants me to be on medication. My blood sugar is also incredibly low and he is concerned about that. And although my blood pressure is extremely low (I should probably be unconscious) I come to find out that the combination of low blood sugar and low blood pressure isn’t actually a good thing.

The highlight of the exam was finding out that he feels I am close to a good goal weight for a woman my age!

A woman my age!!!

Well, I knew it had to happen. I am close to becoming (in just about a month) a woman “my age”!

I never thought that 50 was old. Wait I did. I remember thinking that being 50 meant being close to having one foot in the grave, but then, I was 9 years old at the time. Now at 49 years and 11 months both my body and my brain are failing me.

As I looked in the mirror today I wasn’t too thrilled at the face that was peering back. So I started to check things.

Eyes? Not bad, although the lids are looking a little tired. Nose? Thankfully the plastic surgeon did a good job. Mouth? Still good, not many lines around the edges.

So what was wrong?

My hair.

It’s long, almost all one length now and I am totally unable to do it on a regular basis. I either leave it curly like Little Orphan Annie, or pull it into a pony-tail.

So while you are reading this, I will be at my favorite salon getting the hair cut into a style that says “WOW”! And is easy to keep under control.

I shall report tomorrow on the makeover!