Dackel Princess

20 Pints and a Dackel On The Go

I was just sort of lazing around today, if you can call canning 20 pints of brandied peaches lazing, and enjoying the warm sunshine that seems to have settled into our area. It’s a little late for my poor garden, but I may still get a few tomatoes and eggplants out of my pots on the patio.

The dogs played, yes even Anneliese was up and running about today playing with her brother. It seems the Dackel Princess household is getting back on it’s feet after the most recent bout with raging dackel hormones!

Anneliese has taken over the little doggy bed, but trust me, that’s okay after her desire to hide from every one and every thing! It’s nice to have her back out with us again!

At this point I think I can safely say that we have canned enough peaches and peach jam for the next 12 months. We will be having Stanley Plums come in soon and I always enjoy making jam from them as well.

I will tell all my close family and friends now. For Christmas this year, expect food!

Monday morning Fritzi goes in for his yearly shots. I will take him even though he is truly a terror in the car. I think I will just roll down the window and let him get some air. He loves that!

Aside from that, this week is a work around the house week for me. I have a lot to do here at home, but no pressing engagements! Yay! I need a few days to regroup, do laundry and pay a few bills!

Happy Monday to you all, and have a great week ahead!

A Day In The Life

Saturday Janet and I went up town to the local Craft Fair. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed all the walking around we did. However, I was on my feet walking around so much that at the end of the afternoon I felt like I was walking like a drunken sailor.

Nonetheless, once home I made up 2 big batches of Heavenly Jam, made pulled chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, roasted egg plant and asparagus for dinner. We had Emily and her Dad here for dinner and that was a lot of fun.

Emily was playing around with Arnie, who has to be the most flexible and relaxed dog ever. I mean really, when was the last time you saw a dog falling asleep like this?

While cleaning up the kitchen, and washing a hundred and one pots, pans and dishes by hand, Emily snapped this picture. No make-up and I like it because it shows how well my nose is healing.

I also played with Arnie, planting a big smooch on his nose.

It was a big day and as the day is closing, I admit to being exhausted and needing just a little sleep!

Saturday’s Photo Scavenger Hunt

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

~Wrinkled~

A picture of Anneliese and me, nearly 50 years old, showing just a few wrinkles!

Something Wonderful!

My dearest friend, Uschi lost her beloved doggy, Gilli last spring. He was such a wonderful boy, and without him, I never would have found Uschi. You see, Uschi and I met in a chat room for dog lovers. All too soon it was his time and he went to the Rainbow Bridge. My Uschi was so lost without her companion. I understood her pain so well as I have said goodbye to too many wonderful pets.

Yesterday I got a wonderful post from her showing me a picture of her new baby. His name is Noa! He is too young yet to be away from his mother, but in September he will go home with Uschi and her husband and start his new life with them.

Noa is a Chocolate Labrador! Isn’t he just the cutest thing in the world? I am so happy for Uschi and her husband and I can hardly wait until I can go over to Germany and see this precious new baby!

Strange!

Wednesday was sort of a strange day. It started with me going to Weight Watchers, where I stayed the same. That in itself didn’t freak me out too much, but perhaps the fact that when I headed out to class it was all of 55 degrees (F) did. The air was dry and clear and the sun was shining, but what is up with the fact that it is August and the temperature was 55 degrees?

Strange!

Then on my way home I stopped at the Vet’s office to ask about Anneliese’s false pregnancy and how it had now escalated to the point where I can’t get her to come out of the crate! She has Mr. Bunny in there and has barricaded the door. We’ve decided to allow her to have the bunny for the rest of Wednesday and then in the morning we will de-bunny her. I am sure that this will cause Anneliese great stress, but the fact that she is going through this whole false pregnancy thing is truly a very unusual event. Of course since her mother has had them too, perhaps it is an inherited thing.

Strange!

We canned 13 jars of brandied peaches today, and even though the outside of the peaches skin was mottled by the hail damage, we found that many of the peaches were, in fact beautiful underneath! The peaches also taste delicious, so after a month or so in their juice and brandy mix, they will be absolutely yummy! Still I think of how much more damage there could have been….

Strange!

The day ended with a wonderful meal at the Chinese Buffet courtesy of Emily and her Dad. The food was great, the company super, but….there was a family with three small kids and these children ran around the restaurant singing a horrible tune at the top of their lungs, while their parents just sat there ignoring them. It reminded me of something my former mother in-law told me way back years ago when my kids were small. She told me that she never minded taking my kids out because my girls knew how to behave in a public place. I was so happy to get this compliment because it meant I was doing my job as a parent! I thought to myself tonight how those two parents were really letting their kids down. And that to me was just……

Strange!

Jamin’

Tuesday was jam making day. I had two batches of Heavenly Peach Jam all set and ready to cook and in the late morning I made the first one. It was a new recipe and I wasn’t happy with the way it was tasting. It was a bit on the tart side. It also wasn’t jelling the way I wanted it to. I eventually got it bottled and then I put the jars back in a hot water bath and cooked it for another 10 minutes. That seemed to do the trick.

After lunch I was making the second batch up and I decided that I needed more sugar. I also cooked the mashed peach mixture longer before adding the pectin. I was not only happier with the taste, but I was happy with the jelling.

Once all 17 jars were sealed and set to cool, I sat down with my tea and checked in with Miss Anneliese. She has been quiet most of the day and has stayed in her little bed under the table between Hubby’s chair and my own, with Mr. Bunny. Oh I will be so glad when this is over.

You Asked…Anneliese Part 2

We didn’t make it through the night last night with Anneliese. She cried and fussed so that at 3 AM we were up and decided to put her in her crate in another room. I hated to do it, but I’m not getting any younger, and I need my beauty sleep!

This morning she was still dragging around the hedgehog, until she viewed Arnie’s toy, Mr. Bunny. Suddenly Mr. Bunny became her baby, and she has been dragging that around the house all day. You have to have a heart made of stone to look at this and not want to weep for her.

The Vet did prescribe some tranquilizers for her and this is helping her to relax. You know she was getting so upset looking for her imaginary babies that she was shaking as well as crying.

Phantom pregnancies are not that uncommon in dogs that have not been spayed. It appears that my females are both prone to them, as both Greta and Anneliese have had them this summer. Anneliese’s appears to be a bit worse than Greta’s was.

Erica asked if dogs can develop mastitis from this. Yes they can, and I have been watching her pretty carefully. Greta did experience mastitis with her false pregnancy in June. She required antibiotics to get over it.

Gattina asked what happens to the milk and if it hurts. No, it doesn’t hurt Anneliese, and slowly the milk will be reabsorbed into her body.

At least now she is quieting down and hopefully we all will get a good night of sleep tonight.

The Workings Of Nature

My little Anneliese has been walking around the house crying. At first I thought she was just discovering her voice and I didn’t think much about it. As the days passed, I hoped she would unfind it, as she started to fuss and cry during the day, at night and early in the morning.

She then threw me a curve ball and stopped eating for two days. I was really worried then. Was she ill? I watched her. I tried to calm her. I snuggled with her a bit more than I already do. You know instead of cuddling her 14 hours a day it was up to 20 hours!

Then last night she flipped over for a belly rub and I saw them! Yes, Anneliese is having a false pregnancy. She is full of milk!!! If we had bred her when she had her heat, she would be having puppies now. I hadn’t thought of it, but apparently her internal clock (and hormones) did, and have gotten everything ready for her imaginary babies!

She’s been dragging a little hedgehog stuffed animal around and she mothers it. I mean, this is heart breaking stuff, people!

My sister, ever the helpful one, suggested we get Anneliese some baby squirrels to nurse! Oh yeah, Anneliese the wild one, wouldn’t nurse squirrels…she would eat them!

No, she will just have to get over this on her own. I keep telling her next time baby. Next time, you will be old enough and we will breed you and you will have babies, but somehow I don’t think she is listening.

I may call the doctor tomorrow and get some tranquilizers. For her? What are you kidding! With all this crying I’m the one that needs them!

LOL!!!

Mama Mia!

Hubby and I decided to take in a movie today. I’ve wanted to see “Mama Mia!” since with trailers first started to appear on the television a while back. As with almost everything, it takes movies a while to get to the back woods of New Hampshire.

I was really amazed. It was so much fun, and the singing by people I have never thought of as singers, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Walters and Colin Firth, was actually very good!

I’m also 49 years old. All the music originally done by the musical group ABBA, was popular during the time when I avidly followed pop music. I remember listening to my radio in my bedroom at home as a teen and dancing up a storm. I also knew every word to every song back then, but my memory is failing as I approach middle age, so please don’t ask me to sing each word now.

Today, sitting in the movie theater with Hubby, listening to the music and following the movie plot, brought tears to my eyes. Part of me really just wanted to get up and dance! It brought me back to another time, when I was young, carefree and my body didn’t ache as much!

Go ahead call me menopausal, but I liked the movie. It had heart!

I must add here, go with your friends, husbands, wives, etc. Please do not take your 6 year old child in the hopes that said child will love the music so much they will sit quietly through a movie that is waaaaay over their little heads. The subject matter is adult, and the two little ones sitting in front of us, who were stuck sitting through a 2 hour movie so their Mom could see it, were bored to tears and really doing their best to ruin it for everyone else.

Do go see Mama Mia! I promise you won’t be disappointed and as our friends in Australia warned us, don’t go walking out of the theater until AFTER the credits have rolled through!