Sorry I have not posted. On our return from our cruise my right retina detached and since 5 flights out of Atlanta had been canceled going to Boston, we rented a car and Hubby drove me to my sisters in Connecticut, dropped me with her, she put me in her car and drove me to Dartmouth Hospital where my retinal surgeon was waiting for me.
Hubby drove to Boston, returned the rental car and picked up our car before coming home to sleep. He had driven all night and over 1200 miles to get me to my surgeon.
I stayed overnight on Monday and then Hubby came and collected me on Tuesday morning after I’d seen the doctor and brought me home.
I go back to the doctor today, but aside from that, I am down and out until my eye heals.
As I have been telling you all, chestnuts are just my favorite things in the world. Especially at Thanksgiving. Today I roasted them and then made the stuffing.
Preheat oven to 400º
Soak chestnuts in bowl of boiling water
for about 30 minutes.
Drain.
With scissors of knife put an X in the top
of the rounded portion of chestnut.
Roast chestnuts on cookie sheet for
25 minutes. Put in dish towel and crack shells.
Peel. Enjoy!!!!
All peeled.
Meanwhile,
Stuffing
1 Big bag of Pepperidge Farm Stuffing
1 cup chopped onion 1 Tbs. Sage
1 cup chopped celery 1 Tbs. Savory
1 Tbs. minced garlic 2 Tsp. salt
1/2 cup minced carrot 1/2 tsp pepper
24 chestnuts 1 stick butter
chicken stock 1 Tbs. Parsley
Melt butter, saute chopped vegetables until tender. Mix all ingredients with chicken stock until moist. Cool before stuffing your turkey.
We had the puppies in for their next shots today. They were weighed, had their teeth checked, their eyes examined and the boys were all checked for…ahem…their manliness.
It’s a lot of fun to go to see our Vets with the babies. Their first breaths were taken in their office and each time we go back, it is very much like a family reunion.
While we waited for the doctor, I played with the pups. They are so darn cute, and they love their Granny something fierce!
Soon, Dr. K. came in and the exams began. Who did she start with? Yes, her favorite. Wally! Just so Wally’s owners know, she loves the name you have selected for him and says that he really is a Wally!
Wally really has such a great rapport with Dr. K and she just nuzzled him through the entire exam.
Next we were on to Schnapps. Now Schnapps is a bright, energetic and alert little Miss. She never stops and holds her own with her bigger brothers.
What a beauty she is!
Next was our butterball, Curt. He has such a wonderful personality too. He, Schnapps and Calvin have been showing me their great noses and their real interest in what they are smelling.
But in these pictures, he is looking more like he is wondering what is going on!
Calvin was up next and he was the most patient of the pups.
Even when they checked his teeth, he remained calm.
Meanwhile, Wally began to howl.
Then it was Fenway’s turn. He was a little suspicious!
But then, he started to relax.
We did not take Greta with us, but when we arrived home and allowed the pups to run in the yard, we let her out. What did this girl do with her 8 week old babies? She lay right down and nursed them for about 10 minutes.
I am constantly amazed at the beauty of motherhood with my girls. Greta especially was an even better mother the second time around. And I couldn’t be prouder of her!
The day started far earlier than I hoped. 3:30 AM! Groan! I did, however, go back to bed after walking Greta in the early morning darkness. I also got back to sleep, which is rare. So when she barked at 6 AM to go out, I told her to just go back to bed, and she let me sleep until 7 when all the other dogs woke me as well.
The puppies were wide awake and when I came in to weigh them all, they responded with their adorable little barks! They are all gaining well, and are just so totally adorable.
Then I went in to the puppy room and found this adorable sight.
Those two are really something and they make me laugh and laugh the way they are co close to each other. It reminds me a lot of Arnie and Anneliese. They were constant companions from the time they were born, and here are Claus and Caspar repeating that bonding.
The other pup who really caught my eye today was Calvin. What a neat little guy he is!
So I hope to do a thorough cleaning job in the puppy room tomorrow. I’ll have to get Hubby to take Greta out so I can vacuum. I’m afraid she will attack the vacuum cleaner if I don’t. It won’t be too long until we have to rearrange the puppy room so they can toddle around in it. Another 2 weeks and then we’ll have 5 pups on the lose!
I will write more after another cup of coffee. As expected the pups arrived during the night. 2 Boys and 2 Girls! So far,,,,I am still not convinced that there isn’t another pup inside there! Pups and Mom are all well!
That’s a nice feeling, you know? To have both man and beast miss your presence when you have been away. It warms the heart.
I woke up in the night to discover this scene around me. Arnie was curled up near my chest, with his little head resting on my shoulder. Anneliese was cuddled up to the bend in my knees. And Hubby was sleeping facing me, holding my hand. He almost never does that.
I smiled. What a nice scene this was.
Someone was missing! Where was Greta?
Panic!
I slowly got up and still looking at my little human and doggy family with loving eyes, I went out to the kitchen. I called to Greta, but there was no response. I took the little flash light we have there and brought it into the bedroom. Then carefully I knelt down and I shined the beam of light under the bed. There she was, wide awake and staring right back at me.
I turned off the flashlight and climbed back into bed, happy that she was okay and not missing.
A moment later Greta hopped up onto the bed and strong pawed Arnie out of his spot. Then she curled up and kissing my face, let me know, that she too had missed me.
Okay, here I am and it’s 9:45 and I’m thinking that I won’t get to bed before 11:00 again tonight. I really hate that. I’m a creature of habit, and habit says that I am tucked into bed by 9:30-10:00 every night. I also like to just vegetate for the last hour or so that I am up, and it’s not looking like that will be happening either.
What’s keeping me up? Well, to be perfectly honest it’s the holidays. I want you to know that I wrote out and addressed over 100 Christmas cards today, and Hubby is printing out our famous Christmas letter and then I stuff the envelope, seal, stamp and put a return address label on it.
So far all my foreign cards are ready to go in the mail tomorrow. Now I just need to finish up my USA ones and I’ll be done.
So what else did I get done today? Well, I made a Sauer Braten dinner for Hubby. We both love German food and this was my old family recipe! Oh boy is it a keeper.
I worked on my laptop to finish restoring my email program, cleaned up files and helped Hubby finish up the composition of the Christmas letter.
I found out that the male dackel I’d hoped to use to breed with Anneliese is no longer available. What does this mean? It means Anneliese and I will be going to Berlin when she goes into heat and while she is getting a good German husband, I’ll be visiting my best friend, Uschi! That will be happening around February.
Tuesday is a busy day as I get myself all ready to go and see my sister. I’m getting my hair done, and some new nail polish. Then we two sisters, Mel and I, will have our pre-holiday celebration!
Wednesday, as you all know, is Weight Watcher day for me, and hopefully it will be the day I finally get to my goal.
