Author: Dackel Princess


Thirteen Things I Really Love

I am just including on this list the things I love.( I could never in my life list all the people and animals that I love, as it would use up all my bandwidth for the next lifetime!)

1. Dark Chocolate. I know, I know, I know. I should put thoughts of this truly delectable evil stuff out of my mind and try to start day dreaming about carrots and celery, but I just can’t do it!
2. Flowers. Don’t ask me to grow them, I have a black thumb. However, I love them. The smell, the way they look, and the way I feel when I get them.
3. The feeling I get inside just before I see people I love again after being apart for a while.
4. When I get a card from someone for no reason. Just because they’re thinking of me.
5. A really good meal. Like the one we had on our anniversary. (You will note here that several of my great loves involve food! Which is why I am always on a diet!)
6. Pajamas! Soft cottony, warm, comfortable pajamas, and the time to spend relaxing in them!
7. Taking a jacuzzi! I love to lie in the hot water, with my eyes closed, thinking about nothing.
8. Watching fruit grow on our trees. I get the biggest kick out of watching the flowers bloom, and then the fruit develop right there on the tree. Then picking the fruit and making things like jam, sauces and canning the fruit. I can also add, eating the canned fruit in the winter. That has been a big thrill.
9. Watching my pups play. In my life watching these beautiful, selfless creatures romp and play has brought such happiness into my life.
10. Seeing something particularly beautiful that is only found in nature. Like the glacier I saw in Alaska, or the volcano in Guatemala, or the Old Man of the Mountain here in New Hampshire, before it fell from the mountains, or going mushroom hunting in Bavaria!
11. When something I do turns out well and makes someone happy. I am such a klutz and often I try things and they go so wrong. How happy I am when I try something and everything goes well.
12. Making a surprise and actually pulling it off. I love to give people wonderful surprises. I like the thrill of doing it and making someone feel special.
13. All the days I have been given in this lifetime. How blessed I am to have had all this time, with all these wonderful people and animals! Yes, all these days, make me very happy!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Janet
2. Elle
3. Shelli

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

This And That Wednesday

I’m in a ramblin’ mood folks. Nothing is happening that would fill a post, but a lot of little things are, so here goes.

Last night as I prepared for bed, I looked up at the wall near my computer. What did I see? A gazillion Black Flies! (blackfly – (Diptera Simuliidae) small blackish stout-bodied biting fly having aquatic larvae; sucks the blood of birds as well as humans and other mammals) What to do, what to do? Well, I got out the vacuum and vacuumed them all up (I also got the cobwebs that I’d been ignoring for the last couple of months). Hubby was puzzled about how they got in. Easy. We open our sliding glass doors a million times a day for the dogs.

Fritz and Greta went in for their heart worm/shots appointments at the Vets yesterday. Greta is definitely my dog. She is a little chubby right now (19 1/2 lbs) and I am to exercise her more and reduce her wet food a bit. She is in good health. She did, however, get all her shots yesterday and last night she was a sore little girl.
Fritz is a skinny dog (73.4 lbs) and he is not a good eater. As I have said before, he is definitely not my dog! All my dogs have been good eaters and like me, on the verge of chubbiness! I talked to the Vet about Fritz being a nervous wreck in the car, and he suggested that on long trips we use Benedryl to calm him down. I sure hope that works. If not, I have the sign made.
shepfree.jpg

As we watched TV I went to pick up Greta who screamed! Hubby was convinced I had done her bodily harm, but a few moments later he went to pick her up and she did the same thing. “It’s the shot’s”, I said. And I am sure that is was.

Now, due to the fact that both dogs got shots yesterday, they were feeling a little punk (under the weather). They both slept late today and this meant that I also got to sleep. What is late? 8:15!!! This is the latest I have slept since Fritz came to our house 2 1/2 years ago!!!

Here are a few pictures from our yard. Spring is just around the corner!!! The first is a lilac bud, not yet open. The second is a baby lilac! The third is a view from our house.

Rambling On A Sunny Tuesday

Yesterday I looked around my family room/kitchen area and decided I needed to get up off my rear end and do some cleaning. No one was around, and I could work in peace while I listened to All My Children. (I simply can’t miss that right now, as Dixie and Tad just saw each other for the first time after she reappeared, after she drove her car off a cliff in Switzerland! Yes, I know!)
So I cleared stuff away, washed shelves down and refilled doggie bowls with fresh water and kibble. Then I dusted. Since I had the dust thing out, I did the entire house. I got to the guest room where hubby was resting and he looked at me with a puzzled expression and said, “What’s gotten into you?”.
I had planned on vacuuming too, but then I started to sneeze and since I could not longer breath after that (allergies), I never did vacuum.
Hubby is well and progressing nicely. He’s actually been working in the yard on his beloved fruit trees, and out playing with the two dogs in the yard. When we go back on May 8th for the appointment with the Orthopedic Surgeon, I’m going to push for the next surgery. I want it to all be over with. Now before you all think I am a terrible wife, Hubby feels this way too.
I went to visit my neighbor on Easter afternoon. We sat with Greta, talking and the subject of sweet Shubi came up. A. loved Shubi like Shubi was her own. A.’s house is above ours on our hill. She looks down on our back yard. She told me that often she looks down and for a second the thinks she sees Shubi running in the yard. I smiled because I’ve had my own Shubi sightings, or maybe feelings would be a better description. I told her that I really believe that when someone or something we love dies that they never really leave us, but remain by our side, sort of like a Guardian Angel.
Today is Vet. day for Fritz and Greta, and Physical Therapy day for Hubby. Life goes on, doesn’t it?

Going On With Life

It’s the time of year when one must register your dogs with the town. I decided today was as good a day as any to get this done. I grabbed the rabies documents for the dogs and went to the Town Hall to pay for their licenses. When I got there I realized I had the rabies documents for Fritz and Shubi, not Greta. I could have just gone back home, but I figured I would go in and see if they had Greta’s documentation on file. They did. The very kind lady began the process of registering the dogs, Fritz, Greta and then she said Shubi.
You all will be proud to know that I did not lose it and start sobbing. I said in a rather flat voice that Shubi had passed away. The lady was very sad to hear this. She remembered Shubi from the times I brought her in to say hello. I paid the fees and got the new tags and got out to the car. I even managed to get the mail and get home with nary a tear.
Then I was telling Hubby about it and that’s when I lost it and started to cry.
Miss you Shubi.

Gas & Taxes

The Gas Man arrived about 7:45 last night. He said he thinks the valve wasn’t screwed on tightly after the last fill. I hope that is all. I did have gas to cook with this morning, so all is well, for now.
I know today is Tax Day. Unbelievably, Hubby got ours done a month ago, and so today is just another day for us! A friend in Florida sent me this funny graphic:

Taxes.jpg

An Easter Story

Easter. A joyous day of celebration.
I’d been working for two days on the cooking, so we would have just the right meal. I made the cake yesterday, baked the potatoes this afternoon so I could scoop them out and make baked stuffed potatoes and then fixed the ham to bake in the oven. I went back to check the ham and realized that the oven was getting cold. Strange that. I tried to turn on a burner and nothing. I tried to manually light a burner, again nothing. I hollered to Hubby, who was outside, to go check the propane tank.
Empty!!!
Worst of all, he could smell propane near the tank, and so we’re not sure if there is a leak or not. So, we called our propane provider. Guess what? They’ve gone out of business. So we called the people who “purchased” their customers. A company based in Canada! No kidding.
We’re now waiting for a gas man to get here to service the tank. Is he also bringing propane? No. Okay, so what’s wrong with this picture? No propane, means no cooking or using my clothes dryer.
I got out an old, and I mean very old hot plate. I cooked the asparagus and hollandaise sauce on that. I tried to carefully warm the ham in the microwave, but lets face it, the microwave just sucks out all the moisture and the ham came out terribly. What a disappointment!
So that’s my Easter Story.
No guts, no glory, no gas!

APPLE MOLASSES CAKE

2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 stick butter
3/4 c. Splenda sugar blend (or 1+1/2 cup sugar)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. molasses
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. applesauce
3 large apples diced
1 c. chopped walnuts

Mix all cake ingredients together and bake in a bundt pan at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes. Cool on wire rack.