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STEPS
These are the little doggy steps that the puppies and even Greta use to get up onto the sofa or my chair. Now that I have trained them to use these steps I can worry a little less about their delicate dachshund backs.
Today was a lovely warm day and we took the Dackel Princess 4 out in the back yard to play. I hope you enjoy this short video and that it makes you smile, just a little. Have a great weekend everyone!
Our big snow storm of Sunday night, turned into rain while I slept. 3 or 4 or 5 inches of rain! It has washed away all of the snow and created giant puddles in our yard. Puddles so deep that Anneliese and Arnie hate to go outside as the rain water touches their bellies!
I was listening to the news and heard that a mud slide had happened in the southern part of the state, very near my daughter’s condo. My daughter’s home is on a HILL! I called her to make sure she was fine and also her home. She is, and so is her home, although there will be a detour for her to use to get home for a while.
Meanwhile, it rained here all day. The wind blew, the rains poured down and each time I took Anneliese and Arnie out I got soaked. I actually changed my clothes three times before finally giving up on staying dry.
My flu returned and I started to run a fever just as Hubby’s fever broke. I have warned him to stay away from me so we do not keep passing this thing back and forth. We did have a little appetite tonight and had french toast for dinner. (**A short note here, we never eat breakfast for dinner. It’s against Hubby’s religion or something, so this was a first. Me? I could eat breakfast at every meal. I LOVE breakfast!**)
Our little Anneliese is feeling the pains of being the smallest member of our family. I’m not letting her dwell on it and I am encouraging her to see herself as a big dog!
Of course she will, always be, my little baby girl!
I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. I got the leashes and walked the pups, who were having so much fun in the snow that they didn’t want to think about why we were there. I finally got them to “concentrate”, and then we came in to play.
I now have my morning routine down. I set up the coffee maker the night before, so when I am on the way out the door with the puppies, I flip on the coffee maker. When I come back in the coffee is made. Ahhhhhh!
So back to today. I sat down, turned on my computer and let it boot up. Once I downloaded my email I realized that I hadn’t written anything for today’s entry! Oh no! How could that be? Call it exhaustion from my never ending cold. It is my only excuse. That, and now that I am the mother of two 15 week old puppies, I am busy from morning until night!
For those of you who have asked how “Uncle” Fritz is doing with the two babies, I thought I would end today’s post with three pictures of him playing with Arnie.
Amazing things are happing at the Dackel Princess house. Old Uncle Fritz is warming up to Anneliese and Arnie and he is actually starting to gently “play” with them. In a rare moment I was able to reach the movie camera and capture this event this morning. Usually as soon as I pick up the video camera, Fritz jumps down, but today, he stayed and played!
I have been trying to increase my drinking of water. I believe in the past I have spoken of my general dislike for water. Yes, it is good to bathe in, and yes it is good to cook in and wash in, but to drink? Not so much. However, I discovered “flavored” water. I love the lemon and cherry and the tropical flavors! I have been known to down 4 or 5 bottles in a day.
Recently I discovered that I am not the only designer water lover.
Hubby is down and out with a bad cough. It started in the night and was so bad and hard it woke me out of a sound sleep. I got up and gave Hubby some cough syrup and told Hubby the guest room bed was made up. (hint, hint!) So off he went to the guest room where is is currently residing. I simply must have my sleep, seeing as I am a new puppy mother and all.
The day began a few hours later, when the sun rose and I surveyed the 10 inches of snow that had fallen overnight. While still in my pajamas, I slipped on my boots, hat, coat and gloves and got the two puppies and off we went for our first morning walk. The snow was up over their little bodies and they were not quite sure they liked this at all, but off we went in the yard. The next thing I knew the dog from next door came running over and went for Arnie. I smacked at the dog, and grabbed both Arnie and Anneliese and picked them up. Since the other dog was not on a leash (Arnie and Anneliese were) I had no choice but to turn around and take them in.
The rest of the day I was able to get them out on their little leashes and they did pretty well. Hubby got out and used the snow blower to clear a path for the puppies and the drive, but once he came in I put him right back to bed.
We enjoyed a traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal, and now I simply want to relax and watch a bunch of mindless television, which is not hard to do on a Saturday night.
Don’t forget to stop over at Mrs Lifecruiser’s site for updates on the First Cybercruise!
I am so late writing this edition of Dackel Princess, as I was out spending money wildly today. Hubby and I had to break down and buy new cell phones. His dates back to 2002 and mine is over 2 years old. I probably could have waited a while longer, but I just knew that if I did, my phone would die, and then we wouldn’t be able to by the phones cheaply. We got a pretty decent 2 for 1 deal. In any case, after that we did our grocery shopping, picked up Hubby’s new glasses and I bought some new make-up at the Clinique counter, and got a special prize for doing so. (More make-up! Yay for me!)
The phone purchase put us way behind our schedule so when we came home it was a mad rush to put away the food, cook dinner and feed the doggies! I did it with a little help from Hubby, who peeled the potatoes, and soon we were all eating our respective meals!
Then the tough part of my day began. I’ve never been able to understand why they must radically change cell phones so that each time you “get a new one” you essentially must learn a new language. Once I had finished the dishes, I sat down with my owners manual and started to study our new phone. A few new features that I like very much, but some are simply a waste of time. And my clock. Now this is something I am very upset about. I can’t have it showing all the time on my phone. I must flip it open in order to see what time it is. I stopped wearing a watch years ago because I keep my cell phone on my belt. Oh well, next time (2 years from now), I will know that I need the darn clock on the outside to work all the time! Darn!
I programmed my phone and then Hubby’s. It took me a couple of hours. How I wish I were a Geek who could type faster with my thumb! Oh well, since it’s only every two years that we do this I think I can stand it.
Anneliese and Arnie are both doing splendidly! They went in for their check-up and shots today and they are just perfect! They enjoyed their ride in the car and seeing everyone at the Vets. They are good little puppies even if I have to spend part of my day tomorrow sewing my braided rug back up after some fierce puppy play.
I can also report that we had a bit of a heat wave here today with our temperatures getting up to 16 degrees (F) before starting to fall again.
Ah, spring!
The temperature never climbed above 1 degree Fahrenheit today. The wind was blowing strongly with gusts up to 46 miles an hour. Greta went out only in her little doggy sweater and Fritz would run out and run back in as quickly as his legs could carry him. It was simply too cold to force the puppies outside. So I was very careful to make sure they had regular newspaper breaks.
Hello? This is March! We are supposed to be heading toward spring. Didn’t Punxsutawney Phil say we were having an early spring this year? Yeah, like I believe that today!
Tomorrow is puppy day. We go to the Vets so that Arnie and Anneliese can get their shots. I hope it is warmer, but if it’s not I will wrap them in a blanket and warm up the car first.
I got my surgery date for my right eye. I’ll be operated on, on May 8th. Springtime. Warmth. Sunshine! Yes, that will be a great time to have surgery. I’m not at all nervous about this. I know my doctor well, respect her work in so many ways, and feel totally comfortable in her hands.
But first, let’s get some springtime warmth here! Brrrrr! It’s too cold for me!
Last night we decided to do the prep work for the tattooing. We got out each pup and shaved the inside of their right ears. I have to tell you right now, there were more yelps and cries during the shaving of the ears than during the tattooing the following day. All I can think is that the noise of the shaver scared the little sweethearts.
Carrie, the co-breed warden for the NATC, examined each of the puppies as well. She checked to make sure that there were no problems with their tails, ears and belly buttons.
Sunday morning after we all had breakfast (puppies and humans), we got down to business. Each puppy is assigned a number. Arnie, because he is a male got the first number.
Then Angelika
Anita
Anja
Anneliese
It’s a fascinating process. Carrie has a punch that she sets with the numbers to be used. The punch is basically a set of pins. She cleans the ear with disinfectant, presses the punch quickly into the ear and then rubs the ink into the holes in the ear. Due to the fact that I chose to have green ink used (like Greta), I now have 5 puppies that look like St. Patrick’s Day doggies! I’ll leave the ink on for a few more days before I give them each a little bath.
To reward them for their good and brave behavior we took them outside to play in the snow for the very first time. They loved it! How wonderful to run and jump and roll in the snow!
So, at the end of the day, they are tired and so are we, but I can happily report to you all that the puppies are fine and happy and not scarred by the experience. Me? Well, just a little! LOL
1. Clean out my attic. I want to reduce the amount of junk up there by half.
2. Send a large portion of this stuff to local charities. I have so many extra blankets, pillows and stuff.
3. Clean the basement out and get things into good storage containers and the rest of the crap to the dump.
4. Fix the seems in the drywall in our family room.
5. Paint the ceiling and wall in the family room.
6. Start my seeds for the garden.
7. Plant my garden.
8. Keep the garden free from weeds this year. Or at least try to.
9. House break the puppy.
10. Work with the puppy on obedience.
11. Work with Greta too.
12. Help Fritz adjust to the puppy.
13. Get back to hiking with the dogs.