My Life – Page 130 – The Dackel Princess

What To Do….

Okay, what do you do when you are waiting for your dog to multiply? Well, if you are like me and like to keep busy so that you don’t have to think about the impending birth of your grand-puppies, you cook.

On today’s agenda was grape juice. I had about 2 gallons of juice, made from our own Concord Grapes, and today I put together 4 batches of Grape Jelly. That’s 28 jars of jelly!

I love to can jelly and jams, as they make great gifts for people who do not have the time or the fruit in their yard, to make such things. Plus, I think it is very rewarding to actually produce something.

I think the next thing on my list of jams and jellies will be plum jam. It'[s one of my favorites and it appears we will have a good crop of those in about a week. I just hope I have the time and energy with the puppies due to arrive so soon.

Speaking of the puppies, I also decided to get my birthing kit out and ready. You just never know when Greta might pop these babies out and I want to be all prepared. I’ll move the bed into the puppy room on Saturday and then it’s just a matter of time.

Greta was sitting with me today and I had my hand on her belly and I could feel these guys just kicking her like crazy! It make me recall being pregnant and how it felt when the two girls had been kicking me.

I keep saying that what I really need is some rest, but I am starting to think that my nerves about Greta’s impending birth, are making me extremely productive. She better have these puppies soon or my husband will wonder who has kidnapped his real wife, and dropped her double into his house!

What I Did To Relax…Ha!

On Sunday I decided to spend the day just relaxing. The last week has been so busy, and I really wanted to take the day and do nothing but watch some TV or perhaps read. However, I went to the fridge for something and noticed an abundance of cucumbers, and since they weren’t getting any fresher, I knew that today was the day to do something wonderful with them.

But what?

I was tidying up some newspapers and I saw an article on the front page of the Lifestyle section. “Pickles”! It read. Eureka! That’s it!

I found a recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles and decided on that. I needed a gallon of sliced cucumbers. So I washed the cucumbers and got out my food processor and started to slice the cucumbers, and the onion and then made layers. Cucumbers, onion, canning salt and ice, repeat. I did that until I had the gallon of cucumbers done, then I set a full gallon jug of vinegar on a plate on top of it and let it set for 3 hours.

Then we cooked it down and canned the pickles.

And here is one of the 9 jars that we made.

While we did this Greta stretched out near us. She just gets bigger and bigger.

I also had Greta out to play ball in between rain drops. Then she would come back inside and collapse!

So my day was far from relaxing and restful. In fact I didn’t get done with cleaning up until well after 7:30 PM. I’m not too upset about it though because we now have all those wonderful pickles!

A Rainy, But Productive Day

Saturday saw us up early before the fog had lifted. I’d heard that we were going to be getting some rain, but I was able to walk the dachshunds before the sky opened, and rain began to fall.

Our total rainfall on Saturday was 2 and 3/4 inches and it is still raining as I write! Okay, Mother Nature, enough!

Greta spent the day picking various spots to lay down and spread herself out. She tended to stay by me, and since I was cooking in the kitchen most of the day, she lay down by my feet.

What was I cooking, you might ask. Heavenly Jam (again). We now have a total of 28 jars to keep our toast covered!

I think I will take the grape juice I froze last season out and make some jelly with that. Our plums will also be coming in soon and we will be making plum jam!

Later in the day Greta found Hubby’s chair and lay down on her back and got comfortable there.

You know it’s quite funny to think about my life now. When I was a teenager I never even imagined that I would be living the life that I am. I knew I wanted to get married and have children, but I never realized how tied to nature I would become. With my great love for my dogs, my pleasure in gardening, and of course canning what I grow, my life is fuller than I ever could have imagined. Yes, I am blessed, and life is good.

A Busy Wednesday!

Wednesday was a strange day. It started early with Greta getting me up for a visit to the great out doors. I had toyed with the thought of going back to bed, but then I knew I had Weight Watchers and so I decided to catch up on my email and shower before leaving at 8 o’clock for class.

Class went well, with me shedding one and a half pounds this week. I think I can safely say that I am back in the groove after losing it shortly after my father died. It’s not that I completely fell off the wagon, but I just wasn’t able to do the things I needed to do to be successful. Over the last week, I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to and it felt good and easy.

Coming home I found my little mother waddling around. I decided that today would be a good day to set up the puppy room. I placed the little baby pool in the room, placed a nice blanket in there, and two waterproofed pads. Anneliese and Arnie immediately came to see what the fuss was all about, and eventually Greta did too.

Later in the day Hubby brought in some peaches from our trees. There is enough to make a few batches of Heavenly Jam (peach jam). So late this afternoon we peeled and pitted the peaches and added all the ingredients. Now it must set overnight before we cook it all down and actually make the jam.

I had a dental visit today to repair a broken tooth and filling. All I can say is that after the Novocaine wore off it was painful. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

Just one more day until we find out how many babies Greta has in there! I sure am excited!

Okay, It Works, But…

I went in today and got my eyes examined for glasses. Wow, my left eye is worse than I thought. Once the Optician finished prescribing the lenses I went out and selected frames for them.

It works. I mean, I will be able to see and once again, everything from the standpoint of my vision, will be good. But, gosh darn it, I detest glasses. I guess these will look okay, but I really do prefer myself without them.

However, I really like being able to see, so once they arrive (in about a week), I know I will be happily wearing them. Until then I will brood and make faces and torment myself knowing I will be in these glasses for a while, perhaps forever.

But, at least I can see!

Puppies, Kickers and Eyes

Monday was the first day I really could feel the puppies inside of Greta moving. There is one pup on the left side who is just kicking the heck out of her! A few days ago I could feel butterfly wings when I touched her. Today I felt a football kicker!

It’s the most amazing thing ever. I am so excited, but with Greta there is also a little bit of nervousness. You see, her last litter she had to have a cesarean birth and although it all went well, it also scared me. I love Greta more than anything, and I worry.

We will be having x-rays done on the 21st of August to be sure that all is well with her, that there are many puppies and not just one big one, and that she can deliver them naturally. Perhaps I will relax a little bit more after that.

Greta is so big and getting bigger by the moment! I almost look forward to waking up with her in the morning just so I can check out her expanding belly!

****************

Meanwhile, I will be going tomorrow to be fit for glasses. Since my second cataract surgery I have not had to wear glasses. This was so wonderful for me after a lifetime of glasses and/or contact lenses. However, with the advancing problem of scar tissue on my left eye, the doctor feels that I should get glasses to assist my right eye. You see, the left one has been losing vision and the right one is doing all the work. By using glasses I will ease the burden on the right eye.

I freely admit that I am just vain enough to not want to wear glasses. But I am “pulling up my boot straps”, (now there’s an idiom for you) and going in tomorrow for the exam and the fitting. I will post once I actually have the glasses in about a week or so.

It is Hot, Humid & Hazy here today. I have had the air conditioners on all day and Greta is most comfortable inside stretched out on the floor or my chair. It will be like this most of the week.

Excitement!

Excitement!!!

Today the pedigrees for Anneliese’s litter arrived from Germany! Now I need to sign them over and send them to all my buyers and then my paper work for that litter will be done. I actually will see Bogey tomorrow and so I can bring his pedigree with me and give it to his Daddy! (I promise to take pictures!)

I saw my retinal surgeon today and things have stabilized for now and I can wait a bit longer until I need to have surgery. Good thing. Greta is due in three and a half weeks and then I’ll be busy for a couple of months!

It was quite a lovely day today and just perfect for driving across the state for my appointment. The drive across was great, but driving back, with dilated eyes proved to be a bit of a challenge. But I stopped and got a Latte and I was good to go.

Saturday is the Workshop I’ve mentioned before. I will learn more about training puppies to track and also meet new people from my area of the country who use dogs to find wounded game. This should be lots of fun and very interesting.

A Little Lobster, Anyone?

Sunday, Gail and I decided to do the Outlet Mall. I strapped on my comfortable walking shoes, and easy off and on clothes (quick change for trying on new things) and off we went. It was a cloudy day with a forecast of rain, so the place was mobbed! I found a good spot to park, and off we went. “Jockey”, “Liz Claiborne”, “Jones New York”, and “Easy Spirit” shoe stores. I was careful, thoughtful and got some very good deals!

By noon we were feeling tired and needed a place to sit down, so we went over to a Chinese Restaurant and ordered our meals. They were so yummy, and the green tea, hot and delicious!

After lunch we stopped at one more shop and then drove over to my favorite grocery store. Gail had hinted that she would love to have more Lobster, and when we saw this sign:

(taken with my handy, dandy little Canon Powershot)

I knew we were destined for boiled lobsters for our dinner!

I’m resting up a bit now before I tackle those ferocious beasts! You know it’s is so difficult to wrestle them into the pot! (lol!) I’m also cooking zucchini and summer squash from our garden.

The latest Greta news is, she has cut down on how much she can actually eat at a meal, so I will have to feed her a couple of times a day so she gets all that she needs. Usually Greta is a fierce eater and could devour an entire cow! However, now that she has growing babies there isn’t the room in her stomach.

Have a great week everyone!

The Adventure

Thursday we decided to go out for an adventure. I was a bit reluctant because it was pouring rain and as dark as it is at dusk, but what the heck, we had nothing else to do so….

We hopped into our Jeep. Hubby was driving, Gail sitting in the passenger seat and me in the back. After all, I’d seen this route over the mountains before.

We drove along and all was well. We talked and joked and life was good.

But the rain kept coming down. Hard. We watched the streams rising and the road become flooded with water.

We reached the first wonderful waterfall, and found it gushing with the overflow from the days rain. In the last 8 days we have had 6 inches of rain!

As pretty as it was, it was doing bad things to the road and Hubby had to zigzag down the road to keep away from the giant puddles! Hubby and Gail were fine, but in the back seat I started to feel bad. In fact I grabbed a dog walking (poop) bag and held it, ready to get physically ill at any moment.

We reached the next waterfall and it really was beautiful, but I was dying in the back. I prayed to be released from this torture!

As we got to the end of the mountain pass, we noticed something was wrong with our old Jeep. The temperature gauge went sky high. So Hubby pulled into the first gas station, and as he carefully lifted off the cap to the radiator, out bubbled the scalding water!

Hubby filled it with cold water hoping it was just a leak or something but it turned out that when the water pump failed it ultimately froze up and threw the belt for the power steering and fan, thus making the Jeep un-drivable! We were stuck at the gas station!!!

We called AAA and requested a tow. They told us it would be 30-45 minutes before a tow truck could come and take Hubby and the Jeep to our home. We looked around and saw a pizza restaurant! Eureka!

So we went over, carrying our umbrellas and ordered lunch. I ordered 1/2 an eggplant pizza, Gail got a half a vegetarian pizza and Hubby got a meatball sub.

We no sooner sat down than the tow truck driver arrived and Hubby left to work with him. I got Hubby’s sub, and ran out, carrying my umbrella, and took it to him. Then I returned to have my pizza with Gail.

Oh it was so good!!!

Now once we ate the pizza we needed to fill time. We shopped at a local store, and then did what every other sane individual does, we went for a Latte at Dunkin’ Donuts!

I have to tell you that in the rain, and the cold the hot Lattes were so delicious! We sat talking and sipping until my cell phone rang and it was Hubby. Where were we now? We told him, and before we knew it, he was driving into the parking lot to pick us up.

Dunkin’ Donuts has saved me more than once when I found myself in need of a hot cup of something wonderful!

Once he picked us up, we stopped to buy important things…..Dog Food! Then we drove home and rescued our little lovelies!

Hubby will need to replace the water pump, fan belt and who knows what else. Hopefully, he can get it done soon as this is his off road vehicle, and my winter car.

The day ended with a steak meal, complete with baked potatoes and fresh green beans from our garden. All and all a good meal and a great way to end an adventurous day!

Catching Up

Life has been so full lately that I wanted to quickly catch you up before I get caught up in my next round of activities.

Last weekend I worked at the local Greek Festival. This is my third year working selling goodies there. As I have for the last two years I worked selling Lemon, Fig and Raspberry bars and Apple Turnovers. Previously I have had help with this, but this year it was just me.

Yes I was busier than a one armed wallpaper hanger!

But, I love it and I enjoyed selling all my goodies. They literally flew off of the table. Technically the festival wasn’t due to start until 10 AM, but at 9:15 people were lining up for the Greek and home baked goodies!

Just after the noon hour Hubby and Gail arrived and got in line for the lunch that is served each year. Hubby got an actual luncheon of 1/2 a chicken with Greek spices, a Greek salad and stuffed grape leaves.

I had pastichio, grape leaves, and a Greek salad. I also washed it all down with an ice cold, beer! Oh, did that taste good.

Gail had pretty much what I did. It was a fabulous lunch!

Soon the kids began to do their Greek folk dancing, all dolled up in their Greek costumes. They were so cute and I enjoyed watching them a lot.

What a blast! I can hardly wait until next year!

**************

Then there was Greta’s appointment with Dr. N. where we found out she was pregnant. Here she is being examined. What a perfect little patient she is!

Me with my friend and their technician, Dori.

I’m so excited about Greta and her litter and I can hardly wait for her puppies to come. Oh well, September 1st will come soon enough!!!