Dackel Princess

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.

Seven Things I Love

First of all, Happy Easter to you all. It’s an odd holiday this year, as none of us is able to spend the holiday with our families. We’re stuck at home, praying for the World to return to better health.

But on this Blessed Day, I wanted to remember a few of the things that I am grateful for.

1. Amanda, Matt, Savannah, and Quinn. They make me so happy and I feel so lucky to have them in my life.

2. Jack. We’ve shared 32 years of marriage and shared so much along the way.

3. My dogs Arnie and Anneliese and Lili.

4. My home. I am warm and have food and my bills are paid. Right now I feel very lucky.

5. Weight Watchers. I feel so fortunate to have this program that is helping me reach my weight and fitness goals.

6. My cousin, Janet, me and my sister Mel. How very thankful I am to have these women in my life. I have a couple more cousins that are so special and so loved. Our family is small, but a good and loving one.

7. The living breathing nature around me. We have Doe’s come each year to have their fawns in our field. It is a beautiful thing to see.

Life or Something Like It ~ April 2020

All these self-isolation orders have caused several things to occur in my daily life. Here is a shortlist of just a few things that are big changes for me.

Arnie had oral surgery just before this all began. Afterward, he couldn’t eat anything hard, so I was using baby rice cereal mixed with warm water and a tin of his wet food to feed him. Yesterday, I ran out of the baby rice cereal. I thought I had some, but I did not. In my old life, I would have run out and gotten more at the local grocery store. But since we are not allowed to do this, I made due. I wet his crunchy food and mixed that with his wet food and he wolfed that down. Score!
Jack got a flat tire on the trailer for our tractor. He is doing work on our patio and needs to move heavy square cement blocks from down in our driveway to the back door of our house. I cannot help him here because those suckers are heavy. I did offer to order whatever he needs from Amazon. He could not commit. So we wait. In our previous life, he would have driven over to the tractor shop and had them fix this pronto.
Getting our mail. When we moved here in 1999, we took a Box at our local Post Office. Our driveway is 600 feet long and since we couldn’t see a rural delivery box from our house, we opted for a box at the local Post Office. Each day, Monday through Saturday, we’d toss the dogs in the car, and head to the Post Office to get the mail. Now, I can look online and see what is in our local mail that day, what packages, and then choose when I go to get the mail. No dogs, no Jack, just me in my hazmat suit.
Every Wednesday morning at 7:45 I would leave my house and head to Weirs Beach to go to my WW Class. I would weigh-in, and then as my friends arrived and also weighed in, we would sit and talk, and eat our breakfasts. Now, I attend class online, at different times, and I don’t “see” my friends. We text or talk, but it is not at all the same. I miss the camaraderie with these wonderful women and one brave man, who occasionally joins us.None of them have seen me since a very large portion of my weight loss has occurred.
Likewise, I miss going shopping after class. Usually, I would see my friends at a few local shops, as we simply enjoyed being out in the world. Living in a rural community means that you don’t have big shopping areas locally and have to make do with what is available.
Life right now is to go nowhere unless it is an emergency. One stays in and stays home until this blasted Virus is past us. It is what it is, but I look at how much everyone’s lives have changed. I only hope that it is over soon.

The Friday Five

I cannot say that the time is flying by right now. In fact, it seems to drag by each day. I wish I was feeling more motivated, but I am not. In fact, just the opposite.

It’s Thursday as I write and it is snowing. Not that I think this snow will stick around for long, but my poor doggies sure do not like going out in this mess.
For our anniversary dinner, I am cooking a Ribeye Steak for the two of us. I also will serve a fresh salad. A nice quiet meal.
I survived my trip out on Wednesday and now I have important prescription that have come in the mail, so I have to go out tomorrow to get them. I am not nearly as afraid about it. I will do exactly what I did on Wednesday and I will be fine.
I’ve been watching a series of programs on Air Line Disasters. Oddly enough, it takes my mind off of things.
I’m still working on programming my new computer. It’s a good machine, but that is about all I can say about it. Not the best I have ever used, but not the worst either.

Happy Anniversary to Us

Today is our 32nd Wedding Anniversary. It was a picture-perfect day on Cape Cod, and although it was a small wedding, it was a very nice one.

So, Happy Anniversary, Jack and may we have many more.