Dackel Princess

Thursday Thirteen #71

Thirteen Things About Me That Start With The Letter F

1. Friends. I am blessed to have friends that I love and with whom I share my life.

2. Faith. I don’t write about it much, but my faith in God gets me through each day of my life.

3. Family. My family is not what you read about in text books, but good and bad they are mine and I love them all.

4. Fruit. Hubby and I grow a lot of fruit here at our home. Apples, Peaches, Cherries, Pears and Grapes. We also really enjoy making things with the “fruits of our labor”!

5. Feast. I love to cook and I think I am happiest when I am creating a feast to share with my friends and family.

6. Fifty. Yes, I will be fifty in November. I still can’t believe it!

7. Fireplace. I love our fireplace and enjoy having fires in it in the evening.

8. Flute. Growing up I played the flute in the school band. Sadly, my ex-husband kept my flute when we divorced. I have not played since.

9. Fragrance. My favorite fragrance is Christian Dior’s “Dune”. However, I can only wear perfume in the winter as I detest bug bites. So in the summer my perfume is “Deep Woods Off”! LOL!!

10. Foreign places. I love to travel, to meet new people, try new things. In a few more years when I am done breeding puppies I will once again travel with Hubby.

11. Free. I am so happy that I live in a country where I am free. I remember my trips into the east block countries at the height of the cold war and I could see that the lack of freedom brought so much unhappiness to people’s lives.

12. Fresh. I love fresh foods, fresh sheets on my bed and fresh flowers!

13. Fortunate. I want to end with the fact that I feel very fortunate in my life. I am loved by an incredible man, and we share a truly wonderful life together, I have a phenomenal daughter whom I love and am so proud of, as well as dear friends whom I love greatly and who love me and the most awesome dogs in the world!

Yes, I am Fortunate!

Pass The Wine

Well the saga of the girl who just said no continues. Once again today, Greta played, frolicked and rolled, but did not allow Bernie….. ahem….. in.

I called my Veterinarian, and took Greta in. Basically he told me to relax, have a glass of wine and let nature take it’s course. He said I should remember that Greta is much smarter than me. She will know when things are right. Okay, I can’t argue with that.

So I have been trying not to think of it. Trying not to dwell on when she will “do it” or when the puppies will arrive.

I made a double batch of Italian Wedding Soup. I made some popcorn and ate it. I did laundry and I worked like crazy keeping Arnie away from his Mom. Oh yeah, that has been fun!

Greta has been quiet since Bernie left. She has done a lot of sleeping except for when the black lab arrived in the yard again, and this time he tried to get in the door. Excitement!

Ah well. I’m not worrying about when she will be ready, I’m just going to sit here with my feet up and the three dachshunds draped all over my lap and relax.

Please pass the wine!

April

Our last day in March we decided to do some errands. Despite the fact that it was snowing again (yes, more snow, because after getting 115 inches of the white stuff this year we haven’t had enough!) Hubby wanted to look at some fruit trees, and I needed to do some grocery shopping. Because Greta is still in the throws of her heat, we once again brought Arnie with us. This cute little boy is getting to be a joy to travel with.

We went and looked at the fruit trees and then stopped at a computer shop to look at scanners, and while Hubby spoke to the sales representative, I went next door to Borders Books and stood in front of the coffee counter. Can I tell you how wonderful it smelled? Oh dear!

“Excuse me, how do you make your Mocha Java Coffee?” I asked.

“We use double chocolate fudge sauce.” the girl replied.

“Oh.” I said feeling lost and forlorn. “Could you make me an Espresso with some skim milk?”

“Are you on a diet?” she asked.

“Yes, Weight Watchers.” I replied.

“Listen, let me make you a special Cappuccino.” she said. “Do you use Splenda or anything?”

“Yes.”

“Go an get the packets you need over there and I’ll make you something really special”.

So I went and got the packets of Splenda at the help yourself counter and brought them back. I could hear the machine whirring and frothing and soon she presented me with a cup of sheer delight!

“It’s only got 1/4 cup of skim milk in it, but it looks like more because it’s been frothed, I hope you like it.”

I put the cup to my lips and sipped. Oh my absolute Heaven! It was soooo good! I tipped her well. What a nice person she was, and that was the best Cappuccino I have had in a very long time!!!

Hubby and I did our grocery shopping before coming back home and getting ready for Bernie’s second visit.

The poor boy is working so hard to win over my fickle female, and the exhaustion was showing. Greta was a bit more receptive today and I think we came extremely close to calling it a home run. Personally, I think Greta likes the idea of scoring a home run with Bernie on April Fools Day! I think it appeals to her slightly strange sense of humor.

So Bernie will come here on April Fools Day in the late morning to try to woo her again.

Bernie and Greta

Greta Plays Hard To Get

Yes today was to be the big day for Greta and Bernie to consummate their love and make little baby dackel puppies. However, Greta had other ideas. She was very happy to see Bernie after several months with no contact, which makes me think that this is why she played the sweet coquette with him. She flirted, she batted her big brown eyes at him, she jumped over him, she jumped on him and she teased him unmercifully. In the end, poor Bernie went home feeling unhappy and frustrated.

This means that we get to do this again tomorrow. I told her that she simply has to allow nature to take it’s course, but she laughed at me and reminded me that Arnie and Anneliese are reason enough for her not to give in!

We have a few more days to work on this before I will feel the season pass. I’m sure we can get it all together.

Oddly enough a strange black Labrador showed up in our yard today waiting for Greta to come out and be his girl. The little hussy sat in the doorway and barked at him, and I swear I saw her showing off her cute little panties!

We closed the drapes, and threatened her if she didn’t stop trying to entice that poor boy. In the end he went home too, feeling as let down as dear Bernie.

Lady dogs can be so cruel!

A Simple Saturday

Yesterday Hubby and I drove to the big city to look at a few things. We wanted to check out scanners, as ours is about 12 years old, and we also wanted to stop a Home Show. Since Greta is at the peak of her heat we decided to take Arnie-man along with us. You know Greta is so ~~horny~~ willing we were afraid to leave him lest she open his crate and throw him down on the floor and have her way with him.

So, about 10 o’clock we got Arnie ready with his traveling harness, leash and sweater and off we went leaving poor Fritz to manage the girls!

We decided to go to places in order of where we got off the highway. Our first stop was my favorite outlet store, LL Bean. They are in the middle of remodeling the store so they had many really good items on sale. I got two bath-sheet towels (really big beach size towels) in a delightful pattern for $7.99 each. I got a deep blue fleece throw blanket for the family room for $6.99, and the best buy was a fleece lined navy blue three season jacket, for me at $14.99!! Plus I had a ten dollar coupon so it was all quite inexpensive!

Then we took Arnie into a pet store at the same mall. They encourage you to bring in your pet. On theory this is a good idea, but on a Saturday when everyone is off of work and goes shopping with their dog, not so much. Poor Arnie actually did well until he saw a 125 pound (baby) bull mastiff! He just barked and barked and barked! We finally picked out a nice bone for him and a toy and then Hubby took him out to water a tree or two while I paid for our purchases.

Next we went to the Home Show. I was walking around and I spoke to a woman who is interested in buying a puppy this summer from me. She wanted to see Arnie but couldn’t leave her vender’s stall. So I went and got Arnie out of the car and brought him in. I have said this before about my little man, he is the Frank Sinatra of dogs, just one totally cool dude! He had people from all over the show coming over to say hello and ask about him.

Next we stopped for lunch at a Chinese buffet. I find this an easy place to go and stay on my diet because the selection always includes a lot of vegetables. I did, however, sneak out a little chicken teriyaki and a fortune cookie for my boy who was waiting so patiently in the car.

We had two more stops after lunch before heading home. Upon arriving we found three dogs who were quite jealous of Arnie, and in turn Arnie, who seemed to delight in the fact that he had been the “chosen” one!

Today Hubby is off skiing this morning, and this afternoon Greta’s lover arrives for the first of heir two dates. Seems my little girl couldn’t wait until April Fools Day. She hardly let me sleep last night as she made is quite clear that SHE WANTS BERNIE – NOW!!!

Ah, yes. I remember the last time, Sex and the single dachshund. I hope this breeding is as good as the last!

Saturday Scavenger Photo Hunt

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Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

~High~

This is a cross on a high hill overlooking a volcano in Nicaragua. The steps up were narrow and very steep, but we made it all the way up!

This is a beautiful church in Guatemala that we visited on our cruise. The walls were high and painted yellow with the stark white accents. It was beautiful!

Movie Review

Just when I despaired that there were no good movies out there to watch, our Parks and Recreation Department ran their first in a series of movies tonight. Hubby is on the committee so he encouraged me and our neighbor to come down for the film. The movie was a British movie called “Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont“. It starred Joan Plowwright as a woman in her last years of life. She was a master bringing Mrs Palfrey to life. You come to love her almost as soon as she is on the screen.

I sat there watching the movie and I felt the love and longing that this woman felt for her husband. I could see in my life how I love my own husband, and like Mrs Palfrey, how no one could ever take the place of my beloved.

The movie is a gentle reminder to live life to the fullest, to love those we have, deeply and to never take for granted those people in our life that make us feel loved, and whom we love.

If you have not seen it, take a trip to the video store, or rent it from Netflix. It is worth the time you will spend watching this beautiful story unfold. You will truly be enriched!

Blogging, A Givers Gain

I have always wanted to travel around the world. I’ve actually been lucky to do quite a bit of traveling and the more I traveled the more I wanted to learn about other places.

I have tried to open my mind and my blog to people around this world in hopes that we can share our lives with each other, and I have been lucky, very lucky, to meet some wonderful people who share my interest in learning about each other’s cultures.

I’ve been reading RennyBa’s Terella for a couple of years. I could tell that he was interested in other places, other people and traditions.

I wanted to know more about his Norway, what the people were like, what traditions were held dear, what made Norway tick. Much of this has been answered in his blog, as he writes about the life and culture of Norway, but I wanted to share my little piece of New Hampshire with him and his wife Diane. So Renny and I decided to share packages with each other, containing just a little bit of our worlds! Today Renny is linking to me and I am linking to him so that you can see how our exchange went.

The most interesting was learning about the traditional dress of Norway known as the Bunad. As you can see in the photo below, (click to enlarge) there is a doll with this dress on, but I learned that depending on your particular part of the country there are many Bunad designs.

I am also enjoying the music that Renny and Diane sent to us which included part of the Peer Gynt Suite. What a treat for us! I love the information on the artists of the country as well.

I hope you will spend a moment and go over and visit Renny. Read from his archives and learn a little bit more about his part of our world. Tell him I sent you.

Poor Arnie

And it has started. You can all say, “Poor Arnie” now. Yes, my 15 month old boy knows that his Mom is in heat, and since dogs don’t understand the moral laws of the Universe, he is lusting after her.

This consists of him crying and moaning and generally making himself a pest right now. However, I can excuse this rather annoying behavior because, his is……

Just A Guy!!!

I admit I am not looking forward to the next two weeks, nor am I looking forward to next month when we will go through this when Anneliese goes into heat. I am getting my laundry room ready to turn into a bachelor apartment for Arnie.

Anneliese seems totally oblivious to all of this. She just chews on her bones and plays with her toys and ignores the action around her.

Today I thought I would take the puppies out for a little walk and they ran around and around on top of our snow banks. (Yes, we still have a ton of snow.) That gave them the perfect opportunity to get up and over the wall to our neighbor’s house. Both Hubby and I tracked them down and brought them back. Those darn snowbanks! I can hardly wait for them to be gone!

At this point it’s looking like early next week for Greta to meet up with her lover, Bernie, to make the next batch of puppies, probably on April Fools Day!

Now won’t that make a funny Blog entry!

Eyes

I went to Boston today to see my Eye Doctor. She is a specialist in the field. People refer to her as the doctor of last resort, as she is one of those gifted people who solves the difficult cases. And as you all know my eyes have been a constant worry for many years, and even now I worry about them.

I guess I have every reason to. Although I have good vision now, I have a few things that will need to be monitored over the years, lest I be faced with further problems.

I’ve always thought that life was simple, but these days I am starting to see the fact that nothing is ever really easy and I’m just going to have to accept that, and take care.

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Meanwhile, during the time I waited for my eyes to dilate, and my appointment for the doctor to come, I had a chance to participate in my favorite pastime. People-Watching.

There was the handsome father, neatly dressed, sitting with his arm around his ten year old daughter. While she read her book of ghost stories to him, he closed his eyes and looked peacefully, about to fall asleep.

It made me think of my cousin Janet, who always read those “Ghost Stories” while I was reading “Fairy Tales”.

There was the woman, who was probably my sister’s age, there with her mother. The daughter was trying to get her mother’s paper work filled out, and the mother was more interested in trying to find the chicklets at the bottom of her cavernous purse. I watched them for a long time, amazed with her patience. The daughter’s, not the mother’s.

Then there was the older Asian man. He sat there alone doing nothing at all. Suddenly his cell phone rang and he started speaking in fast Chinese (?) and then suddenly his name was called and he hung up the cell phone,and walked to the technician. She asked if he needed a translator. He stood there looking at her. I wanted to shout at her…”Ah yeah, I think that’s a big yes!”. But I sat quietly, and she finally figured it out.

There were several other people, family members, who like Hubby, had driven or come with their loved ones.

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At the end of the day I was so thankful for Hubby. Not only did he do all the driving for me, but he went out and got me a lovely salad for my lunch, while I waited to see the doctor. He also brought me coffee, and then drove me home after the appointment.

It was a long day made entirely bearable by Hubby. That and the pronouncement that I have 20/20 vision. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things will stay the same and that my eyes will last a lifetime.