Dackel Princess

The Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What’s something you resolved to do this year? Have you done it?

Actually, yes I have. Sitting in my chair just after Christmas, looking at pictures of myself, I really felt bad. I was so unhappy with what I saw and how I felt.

So on New Year’s Eve, I went to the WW App and started their “Green Program” diet. I was worried I would fail, but each day I became more and more steadfast and determined. As of today, I have now lost 34 pounds!

2. Where do you go to find quietude?

I’m not sure that I actually have one place. I certainly have places that I escape to. I love to go to my hometown on Cape Cod, and just sit at Surf Drive Beach.

Me a few years ago at Surf Drive Beach.

April and October are my favorite times there because the tourists are not around.

3. A friend asked this question on her Facebook page and said I could borrow it for the Hodgepodge…you’re only allowed to buy 5 things at the grocery store, and all must start with the first letter of your first name. Whatcha’ buying?

Marinated chicken
Macoun Apples
Moussaka
Meat
Mandarin oranges

4. The television show Survivor, the Gloria Gaynor song ‘I Will Survive’, survival mode, the survival of the fittest…pick one and discuss.

I guess I have felt like I’ve been in “Survival Mode”. Making lists to be sure I have food to eat, bills paid. I’ve had all three dogs to the Vets, as they all chose this time to have one thing after another go wrong. All are on the mend, but I could have gotten along much better if they’d all remained healthy.

5. Share a favorite quote or saying about strength.

“She Stood In The Storm, & When The Wind Did Not Blow Her Way, She Adjusted Her Sails” -Elizabeth Edwards

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I’ve learned a lot during the quarantining of our country. I miss my family. I miss smiling at people. I miss waking up in the morning at my daughter’s home and having my two precious grandchildren climb into bed and cuddle with me.

I miss cook-outs and pool swims and playing with legos and coloring books.

There is so much in our day to day lives that we take for granted. I won’t take these blessings for granted ever again.

What’s the most important thing in life? Love, family, friends, being together.

When this is all over, we will be together again.

It’s All About ~ Staying Safe

Monday morning dawned early and bright. I woke in a very good mood since I had planned out the systematic attack of all my duties for the day!

I walked the dogs, put out the bird feeders and then made my banana pancake. Have I mentioned my banana pancake? It’s so good and made with one mashed up banana, a little vanilla, 1/4 cup of egg whites and a teaspoon of Splenda. I mixed it all together and poured it into a preheated frying pan, that’s been sprayed with non-stick spray. OMG! So good!

After that, I pulled my two-tone hair into a little pony-tale and then put a kerchief on my head.

I packed up the car with the week’s recyclables and put on my country version of a Hazmat Suit, and off I went to get everything accomplished.

The Recycling Center was nearly deserted, so I breezed through and got it all deposited in the proper areas.

I came back to the car, removing my gloves and placing them in my trash bag. I then used hand sanitizer and drove the few miles to my local grocery store, where I carefully went through the shop, buying all we would need for the next 10 days. It was not cheap, but I try hard to plan everything out so I do not need to go out during the week.

As soon as I left the store I took off my gloves, deposited them in the trash, and used my hand sanitizer. (I left my mask on the entire time)

I drove to the Post Office and picked up a week’s worth of mail. Once again I removed my gloves as I have been shown and deposited them in the trash. I then got out my Clorox wipes and wiped off the door handle, steering wheel, my hands, and the keys.

Coming home, I did my usual removal of clothes in the basement and showering before moving the food in and taking care to make sure it was properly handled

And I looked at the clock and it was 12:15 and I had managed to get it all done early! And I was exhausted! However, I felt pretty good about having accomplished so much, safely, in such a short time.

It brightened my spirits because I have started to feel like we will actually make it through this very scary time.

I’ve also learned that I am one tough cookie who can handle just about anything, and find my way through.

The Weekend Wrap

Our Sunday was a pretty nice one. It was sunny and warm (65 degrees) and Jack was able to work outside on our patio replacing cement blocks.

Before

Going strong cleaning and placing new blocks.

Cement is wonderful, but after over 20 years, and more snow than one could imagine, the blocks have all but disinterested. In fact, some actually have fallen apart.

The birds came to the feeders and gorged themselves. Even the birds who are reluctant to been seen like our Cardinals showed up to fill their bellies!

I cooked, and I watched “Blue Bloods” and I gave Arnie an ear trim and cleaning. He has such a heavy coat and his ears were outrageously overgrown!

I got our laundry done and two loads of it I hung outside. I just love the way things smell after drying in the wind!

I have planned my morning tomorrow to go to the recycling center, the grocery store, and the Post Office. I have quite a long list of food items to get. My Hazmat Suit is standing by, as are my hat and mask and gloves.

I also plan to come in and shower as soon as I get home, and then wipe down my groceries and put them away.

Such is a Hermit’s life!

Loons

I was walking the dogs tonight, as I now normally do because of the bears and coyotes when I hear the most wonderful, welcoming sound! The call of our Loons! They’re back and they are calling to each other. I just love the call of the Loon. They are beautiful birds. The Loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia.

I found this on Youtube. It shows the beautiful Loons as well as allowing you to hear them.

The rest of our day was as they have all been since this all began. A little computer ~~fun~~ work, meal preparation, and TV watching.

My next foray out to the shops, etc will be on Monday. I am making up a good list and I hope I can get it all at one time.

Old & Wise

Yesterday was one of those weird days. The dogs were restless, Jack was restless and so was I. So, what does this make our house? Yeah, rather unsettled.

I tried to get preoccupied with a project. I’ll plan a great meal. And when I went to the fridge I realized I needed to use up a few things, so last night’s dinner was all leftovers.

Okay, I’ll listen to some music. So I put some on, and then I wondered about the actual band behind the music.

We’re going back to 1995 and the band was “The Alan Parson’s Project”. Now back then I wasn’t such a big fan, but my former husband was. So I knew a lot of their songs, but absolutely nothing about the people involved.

Well, via Wikki I learned a lot and one thing I learned was that a Bass player I have enjoyed for years, David Paton, was one of the founding members of this group.

Now I started following David when he was again, the founding member and lead singer of the group “Pilot”. For us here in the USA their biggest hit was “Magic”. And although I love that song, my favorite, jump out of my seat and dance song is “You’re My Number 1”.

I digress.

There was a lot to learn about “The Alan Parson’s Project” and I went back and was able to get the MP3 versions of some older albums, with great songs.

Sadly the man who wrote most of the music and lyrics, Eric Woolfson, died in 2009. But these beautiful pieces linger on.

Here is my favorite. Sung in a live performance by David Paton.

Enjoy!

The Friday Five

Another week has slowly gone by. I was out twice during the week, but will now be in until at least Monday. Yay! Now, here’s what’s happening at the Dackel Princess Homefront.

As you know, one of my trips out this week was to bring Anneliese to the Vets.The first two days on antibiotics were tricky, but now she is feeling so much better and I can tell she is not in pain and is comfortable. Thank goodness!
I’ve been cooking a lot. Mostly, things have come out very well, but last night was a quasi disaster! We choked it down, but I won’t go near that recipe again!
I’ve been feeling stressed. During the day I can handle it by distracting myself. But at night, when I am asleep, I am clenching my jaw and fists. I woke up the other day and my knuckles looked like I had hit a wall! And the hard part is chewing when even eating yogurt and berries makes your jaw hurt. All I can say is thank goodness for my mouth guard! At least I can’t hurt my teeth.
Since the critters are out of hibernation I have to pull in the feeders at dusk and not put them back out until after dawn breaks. You should hear the birds scold me and praise me!
It’s Spring up here. The first buds are on the trees and shrubs, our grass has gone from brown to green and a few of my flowers have blossomed.
It is so pretty!

Have a great weekend everyone. Stay safe and stay healthy!

Life of a Social Hermit

I’m feeling a tad frustrated right now. I really don’t enjoy this social distancing thing.

When I go out to the grocery store, I actually enjoy smiling at people. My grandmother told me to smile at people. After all, it might be the only smile they see all day. This has been something I have done since I was a little girl. Somehow, it doesn’t work when wearing a mask.

I’ve never been a big ‘go out to eat’ girl. That being said, I do enjoy going out for celebrations. Anniversaries, birthdays, etc. Our 32nd Anniversary, we stayed home and I cooked. That is just wrong, wrong, wrong!

I have now lost over 32 pounds! I am so excited. I’m able to wear clothes that I have not worn in almost two years! I am really starting to look like myself again. And there is no one to see! Imagine Jack’s confusion the other day when he looked out the window to the driveway and there I was taking off my coat and apron and standing there in the driveway in a tada position!

The story is, my neighbor was on her porch and I was hollering with her (social distancing, you know) and took off the outer layer of clothes so she could see my shape!

At no time was I naked, just in my leggings and form-fitting top! And people, I am looking good, just no one is seeing me!

Anneliese is better. I knew that once the antibiotics kicked in she would start feeling like herself. I’ve had her outside and running around and I can see she has more spring in her step. She is also eating well, and slept through the night last night.

I was working on dinner tonight and I was taking inventory of the foods on hand. I’m happy to say I will not need to go out until mid-week next week! Yay!

Have a great day today and very soon, we will all be able to be together again.

The Wednesday Hodgepodge

Once again, I am joining Joyce for The Wednesday Hodgepodge!

1. In Monday’s post, I mentioned I would incorporate the word I was given for letter K into this week’s questions. That word was karaoke. On a scale of 1-10, how excited would you be to find out there was karaoke happening at your next gathering/outing with friends? 10=gimme that microphone!, and 1=I suddenly remembered there’s somewhere else I need to be. Have you ever actually done karaoke? If you had to perform karaoke what would be your ‘go-to’ song?

Oh goodness, I have done Karaoke possibly twice in my life. I think that part of me is very shy. The other, not so much.

2. How do you listen to music these days? Favorite app or do you listen to the old fashioned way? Do you have music playing often in your home? Is there still a CD player in your car?

I usually listen in the car, or at my computer. I just use my music and haven’t subscribed to an app. This may change very soon. I’m thinking of doing Amazon Prime Unlimited. Yes, both cars have CD Players.

3. The HP lands on US tax day this year. Or what used to be tax day before everything including filing your taxes was canceled, delayed, postponed or extended. FYI- filing your taxes has not been canceled, only delayed for a bit.

Besides staying away from anyone and everyone, what have you found taxing lately?

The times I actually have to go out. There is real fear! I have to gather up all my courage, put on my version of a Hazmat Suit, and just do it!

4. You’re without power so no oven, and you can’t open your frig or freezer to keep what’s in there from spoiling. And you don’t have access to take out. What will you make us for dinner?

PB & J! Or perhaps a Tuna Sandwich as I have premade tuna in my pantry.

5. I’ve seen this exercise going around Facebook and thought it would be a good one to include in the HP…what are five things everybody seems to love and go crazy for that you don’t care for?

1. Peeps. My sister loves them, but I just think they are awful! 2. Reeces Peanutbutter Cups. Jack’s favorite, but just not my thing! 3. Packaged Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yuck. I am a purist. 4. Catfish. Some people really love that, and despite the fact that I love fish Catfish is a big dislike! 5. Canned Pasta of any kind. Blech!

6. Insert your random thought here.

My darling Anneliese is sick. She has a severe UTI and is in a lot of pain.

Still my girl smiles. She is simply one of the sweetest dogs on this earth!

The Vet prescribed antibiotics and I know she will be right as rain. Wednesday night I was up with her all night long. All she did was cry. Now she has had her first dose of antibiotics and pain medication she is a lot more comfortable.

A Very Good Day!

Monday, was a pretty good day. Despite the rain, which we really do need, I found that some previously unfinished things in my life were attended to.

I was contacted via text message that I had two packages waiting for me at the Post Office. One was my pills that I take each night, and the other was a package of items I’d ordered some time ago, which came from China.

I was perplexed when I saw the writing on the package. It was written in Chinese! Well, lucky me! I have a cousin who speaks and writes fluent Chinese! I snapped a picture and sent it to her and she translated it for me. How cool is that? Thanks, Cousin!

I’m made a Perdue Chicken in a roasting bag yesterday for Easter. There was no crunchie skin, but the chicken meat was tender and juicy. After dinner, I boned the chicken and put the bones in the crockpot and began the 24 hour cooking of the bones. That gives you the best-tasting stock!

For dinner, we’re having the Chicken and Cabbage Soup recipe I made up. It is so good and very low in points.

Since I was out getting the mail I also got a few groceries before coming safely home. Almost everyone wears masks now. I did see one thing that puzzled me. A woman was wearing a mask and with her was her daughter, about 10 years old. And the daughter had no mask! Where is the sense in that?

The Grocery Store workers were now wearing gloves and masks. That made me feel good. Not because I think they would make me sick, but for their own safety.

I have had a terrible time downloading a program onto the new laptop. I have been working on it for such a long time. Weeks! Well, I did a search on Windows Explorer looking for all the files associated with this program. I deleted them all, and then took a deep breath and did a 100% clean install. And guess what? It worked!

My computer Guru, Brad, told me that I should start at the beginning of a problem. Ask on a search who has had the problem? Then if all else fails, do a clean install, like I finally did.

One more thing Brad always said was to believe in myself. And I do. It seems the more I work at computer problems, the better I get at solving them.

Happy Tuesday!

Bears, Coyotes & Raccoons

I find it amazingly surprising that my Easter Eve and Easter morning were consumed with a little bit of fear.

You see on Saturday night my neighbor called to tell me that the bears were out. Oh, crikey I thought, my bird feeders are still out!

I struggled with the idea of how I would go and get them without being eaten by wild bears. Humor me. After being locked away, feeling paranoid about Covid-19, I just knew the bears would ultimately get me!

Jack told me to bring Lili with me. She would protect me. But wouldn’t the bears get Lili?

After a few minutes Jack, Lili and I went out to get the feeders. Lili shot right up the hill towards the bears, but when I called her back, she was a good girl and came!

I felt relieved that I had gotten the bird feeders in when all of a sudden Lili began making a terrible ruckus at the back sliding glass doors. I turned on the light and I could just make out a creature I thought at first was a Fox. Upon further reflection, I realized it was a Coyote!

That thing did not move. It stared at me as if challenging me to come and get him.

I admit that this Coyote scared me more than the bears. You see, they will grab small dogs and run off with them. Ending their days on this earth in an awful way. A Coyote will fight with a dog of similar size and Lili is just slightly larger. Coyotes are bad.

This morning, as I was outside walking my little ones and Lili, Lili and Arnie took off as there was a Raccoon near our driveway. There I was, in my pajamas, running through my yard, yelling at the dogs to come back. Eventually, they did, but Lili was covered in mud, and I had to drag out the hose and wash her off. All before my first cup of coffee!

I’m still very concerned about the Coyote and will need to leash walk the two dackels at night. For a while anyway. At least until I know he has moved on.